Hi Folks, First, congrats to Barry on his coedited book, which started this whole discussion. Second, I'd like to second David on his point that the "whys" behind periodization are at least as important than the "whats." Too often, matters of classification are treated as "merely technical" considerations, but they carry with them a good deal of philosophical and ideological baggage. Do we periodize the internet according to patterns of use? Organizations of the technology? Practical understandings of the net? Scholarly approaches? The answer, of course, is that it depends. But the overwhelming majority of histories I've read of the 'net thus far have tended toward considering periodization as merely "technical" and as a result, they accept the whig interpretation of Internet history, with all the standard "great men" and institutional players playing the standard roles. There are exceptions, of course, but it seems to me that this periodization question is actually quite central to how we tell the history of the internet and to what end. The nice thing about Barry's stages is that at least they break open the idea of the internet as a closed system. Do I smell a panel or roundtable for Toronto? Best, --Jonathan, who's glad he can finally stop using that damned capital "I" in the word.