Visualisation Of The Internet

[Kondoru]

Having a bit of a bender in between Uni work and watching some filums.

Latest was Disneys `Ralph Breaks the Internet`.

Which is, if you do not know, a story in which a 1980s video game character gets into the Internet.

The Internet is visualised as a futuristic city, which made me think.

Is the Internet something that can be depicted?

 

[Xanatic*]

I would depict it a bit like a flow chart.

 

[Herr Cloaca]

Yes. There are quite a few, based on data from the routing tables.

Back in the day, you could even buy a poster of the Internet.

 

[Ermintruder]

Back in the day, you could even buy a poster of the Internet.

(the URL below has a much higher resolution version of the above map: I strongly recommend you have a look at both renderings)

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/13ad2603-668b-map-of-the-internet

 

[James_H]

Isn't it some kind of 'superhighway' or 'web' that is somehow possible to 'surf'?

Or, alternatively, a series of tubes.

Or, here is a rather beautiful image of a small portion of the internet I found on wikipedia (large version)

Partial map of the Internet based on the January 15, 2005 data found on opte.org. Each line is drawn between two nodes, representing two IP addresses. The length of the lines are indicative of the delay between those two nodes. This graph represents less than 30% of the Class C networks reachable by the data collection program in early 2005. Lines are color-coded according to their corresponding RFC 1918 allocation as follows:

• Dark blue: net, ca, us
• Green: com, org
• Red: mil, gov, edu
• Yellow: jp, cn, tw, au, de
• Magenta: uk, it, pl, fr
• Gold: br, kr, nl
• White: unknown

 

[Kondoru]

Thats a neural network, isnt it?

 

[ChasFink]

Dave Chappelle did a sketch a while back that depicted the Internet as a kind of shopping mall, where shops that sold things at reasonable prices did poorly competing against those that gave them away for free, and creepy guys pretending to be your buddy tried to sell you snake oil that would dramatically increase the size of your genitals. And there's porn.

That sums it up for me.

"What if the Internet was a Real Place?" Is available in its full (around 6 minutes) length in a few places on line, but I suspect most of them are shops giving it away for free, so I won't advertise them here.

Kind of proved my point.

 

[CharmerKamelion]

From "The IT Crowd" - Jen holds the Internet very carefully because she doesn't want to break it.

 

[Cloudbusting]

There are so many ways you could visualise/represent it, and different factors you could focus on.

I have a book called Information is Beautiful (by David McCandless) which makes several attempts at this. It includes a spatial graph which shows links between routers based in different countries, to more niche topics like the most contested articles on Wikipedia. It is a fabulous book, really interesting and great for visual thinkers.

He's released similar books called Knowledge is Beautiful and Beautiful News. He covers a wide range of topics too, from tech and science to pop culture and general knowledge. I highly recommend.

 

[Kondoru]

Ermintruder; but it isnt a map; bits can be added, can be removed.

And I suspect bits can move around.

 

[Ermintruder]

Ermintruder; but it isnt a map; bits can be added, can be removed.

Well, indeed, this is the major problem with a 2-D paper quasi-representation of any dynamic multi-dimensional process: the instant it's created, it's partially-useless in terms of accuracy.

But the artist who has produced this clever pseudo-neo-classical interpretation of The Internetwork has got around this problem by continually creating annual revisions. I'm an eternal member of DeviantArt - The Largest Online Art Gallery and Community, wherein they've been selling annually-updated copies for years.

 

[Herr Cloaca]

Here you go. Map of the Internet:

https://as2914.net/#/galaxy/internet?l=1

 

[escargot]

Here's an old one.

 

[Coal]

Thats a neural network, isn't it?

I recall Lyall Watson made the observation many years ago that the number of computers and interconnections both exceeded and resembled the connections in a brain.

 

[Ermintruder]

the number of computers and interconnections both exceeded and resembled the connections in a brain

This is often envisaged, but I think it's a false corollary. Whilst it could be true in terms of sheer quantity of nodes, I suspect that the fundamental topology of the internet is far more disparate and 'flat' (both logically & physically) than the interwoven dynamic multimatrix marvel that is the functional human brain.

 

[brownmane]

Here's an old one.

Well at least you can see where you are and can't get lost in any rabbit holes

 

[Coal]

This is often envisaged, but I think it's a false corollary. Whilst it could be true in terms of sheer quantity of nodes, I suspect that the fundamental topology of the internet is far more disparate and 'flat' (both logically & physically) than the interwoven dynamic multimatrix marvel that is the functional human brain.

Agreed!