  By the 1960s, plans for developing a vast network of computer networks (i.e., what was eventually to become the Internet) were well underway. And by 1970, work had begun on the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), which is commonly viewed as the predecessor of the Internet. This US-based project was funded by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) into the late 1980s, when the National Science Foundation Network (NSFnet) took over the project (Spinello 2011). Although multiple computer networks existed during this period, they were not easily able to communicate and exchange data with one another; a common protocol was needed for the various networks to exchange data between systems. The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) architecture was eventually selected as the standard protocol for the newly emerging Internet. With the implementation of this new standard, there was considerable optimism (especially among many in the academic research community) about the potential for sharing the data that resided in the various computers systems comprising the fledgling Internet. However, one very important challenge still remained: How could Internet users locate the rich resources potentially available to them? To do this, a sophisticated search program/utility, with a robust indexing system, was needed to point to the available computer databases that existed and to identify the content that resided in those databases. The first indexes on the Internet were fairly primitive, and as Halavais (2009) points out, “had to be created by hand.”