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Searching the Internet |
Introduction
The Internet is a loose collection of thousands of smaller computer networks connected in different countries around the world. A network is a group of computers that share and exchange information and equipment. The internet links thousands of academic, government, military and public computer systems together, enabling millions of people from diverse cultures to share information and other resources. At the time of writing this, there were 194,895,882 hosts connected to the Internet and 792,497,192 users. (See [1] for up to date data)
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The Internet came into being in the early 1970's as a U.S. Defence Department network called ARPAnet (Advance Research Projects Administration). This was an experimental network created for military research, initially, for the design and testing of network survival under wartime conditions.
ARPAnet was so successful that universities and government agencies wanted to connect their computers over large distances and share resources and it was simpler to connect to an existing network. In the early 1990's, the pace quickened greatly as the personal computer became more affordable and those with access to the net at work also wanted that access from home and smaller offices. The name Internet was used to describe the resulting super network.
The Mosaic browser developed in 1993 by Marc Andressen at the National Centre for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign was the basis for the graphical web browser commercialised with fantastic success by Netscape. Via the World Wide Web, the Internet became available to the masses and business saw it as the next frontier for commerce.
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No one person, organization or government controls the
Internet. There are few government regulations. The owners of each individual
network make decisions about whether to connect and what facilities what services
they will provide to their users.
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Information
The Internet contains billions of pages of information ranging from ancient history to cutting edge medical research.
Electronic Mail
Email allows almost instantaneous communication around the world. It is possible to attach drawings, spreadsheets, photographs, video, music etc to your Email. All staff at the College have Email facilities available.
Online shopping
You can purchase your groceries, car, computer, and airline tickets etc, etc. etc. etc (get the idea!) from the Internet.
Chat rooms
Meet other people from around the world. Have private or group conversations.
Discussion Groups
Discussion groups allow people from around the world to "meet" people with similar interests such as: sport; music; computer interests; food etc.
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The easiest way to access the Internet is via the World
Wide Web (WWW or W3 for short). Originally, the Internet was a text-based system,
which was difficult for novices to navigate. The WWW was developed in 1993 to
provide a user-friendly graphical user interface. (GUI)
A web browser is a program that allows the end user to 'surf' the net.
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The Department of Education and Training provides access
to the Internet for schools and TAFE.
The cost of providing this service to every school is enormous. In the interest
of the public, DET has some regulations pertaining to use of the Internet. Refer
to DET Regulations
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When you connect to a web page, all the material you are viewing
is subject to copyright regulations. The written content, the graphics, the
sound etc are all copyright law protected. If you find a program to download,
it will be subject to copyright law.
While the Internet contains a wealth of information, copyright must be respected.
See Copyright - a summary
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To connect to the Internet from home, you will need to have a computer, web browser software, a modem, a phone line and an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Internet Service Providers provide access to the Internet through a user-pay system. In addition to providing access to the WWW, it is usual for an ISP to provide Email facilities to account owners.
Schools are connected to the DET servers in Sydney using
an ISDN line. Most computers in the College have the software required and are
connected to the DET server through the school's local area network
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Copyright © Dubbo College 2003 - Bryan Jeffress HTTL
Last updated July 2003