Technology Guide 5 The Internet & the Web

What is the ‘Internet’? The Internet (“the Net”) is a network that connects hundreds of thousands of internal organizational computer networks worldwide. Participating computer systems, called nodes, include PCs, local area networks, database(s), and mainframes. A node may include several networks of an organization, possibly connected by a wide area network. The Internet connects to hundreds of thousands of computer networks in more than 200 countries.

The History of the Internet The Internet grew out of an experimental project of the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense. The project was initiated in 1969 to test the feasibility of a wide area computer network. The main network that links the nodes is referred to as the backbone, a fiber-optic network currently operated mainly by telecommunication companies such as MCI. No central agency manages the Internet. The cost of its operation is shared among hundreds of thousands of nodes.

Next Generation Internet Services Very High-Speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS) is a high-speed network designed to support the academic Internet2 and the government-sponsored Next-Generation Internet (NGI) initiative Internet2 is a collaborative effort by large U.S. research universities, working with industry and government, to develop advanced Internet technologies. The Next-Generation Internet (NGI) initiative is a multiagency, U.S. federal government research and development program that is developing advanced networking technologies and revolutionary applications.

Accessing the Internet PC and modem From home From work or school, via the organization’s LAN Television set, a special connection device, and a telephone connection. Combined PC and TV Internet kiosks are terminals placed in public places like libraries and coffee houses. Cell phones and pagers are becoming another popular way of accessing the Internet.

The TCP/IP Protocol Procedures and rules for transferring data across the Internet are called telecommunication protocols. The information that passes through the Internet is divided into small portions, called packets. One member of the TCP/IP family of protocols is Telnet, a service that allows users to connect to computers other than their own.

Internet Resources An online service sells access to large (usually nationwide) databases. Several magazines deal exclusively or mainly with the Internet. Internet Business Advantage, Internet World , NetGuide, Wired There are also many organizations involved in Internet activities. Internet Society (isoc.org), Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org) Wide area information servers (WAIS) is an Internet directory designed to help end-users find and retrieve information over the networks by providing efficient search methods.

The World Wide Web The World Wide Web (or “the Web”) is a vast collection of interconnected pages of information that are stored on computers around the world that are connected to the Internet. A Web site is a computer network, such as the one in your university, that has a connection to the Internet. The Web is based upon a set of standards for storing, retrieving, and manipulating information, using a special tool called a Web browser. Documents accessible on the Web contain hyperlinks to other documents. The home page is the starting point for your search.

Web Programming Languages The most common web programming language is HyperText Markup Language (HTML). Another programming language, Java, makes it is easy to develop special applications in finance, manufacturing, marketing, and education. A technology that has evolved from Java is called Jini, a network protocol that sends messages to other parts of the network. e.g, If a new printer is added to a network, it can tell the PCs on the network that it is there via the Jini protocol.

Search Engines A search engine is a tool that enables you to locate information by using key words in the same way that you would search online library resources. Google, Yahoo, Lycos, HotBot, WebCrawler, Alta Vista, and Excite. To get better even results, metasearch engines integrate the findings of the various search engines to answer queries posted by the users. Spider, Savvy Search, Metacrawler, All-in-One, and Web Compass

Using the Internet A uniform resource locator (URL) indicates the location (or address) of a Web site you want to visit. A predecessor to the Web, Gopher, is a “burrowing tool” that provides access to a wide range of textual information available on the Internet. Many software packages can be downloaded on the WWW. Some are free as public domain (cheapware). Others are called shareware, meaning you can use them on a trial basis. Many of the documents are transferable from the Internet using a member of the TCP/IP family called file transfer protocol (FTP).

Electronic mail Electronic mail (e-mail) allows multiple-access communication delivered exclusively on a computer network. Several vendors produce e-mail software. e.g., Microsoft Outlook, LotusNotes, QuickMail E-mail is also becoming connected to voice mail, and sometimes the two are integrated. Many Web-based e-mail providers offer e-mail accounts for free. e.g., Hotmail, Coolmail, and Yahoo! Mail

Chat Rooms & Newsgroups Chat programs allow you to send messages to people who are connected to the same channel of communication at the same time. There are two main types; Webchat allows you to send messages to Net users using a Web browser and visiting a Webchat site. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is an e-mail-based (text only) program often used in business. Newsgroups communicate via messages posted in a different time/different place mode. The groups are organized in a directory according to categories and subcategories.

Mailing Lists & Electronic Bulletin Boards Mailing Lists are a useful way of communicating to large groups. To add your e-mail name and address to a mailing list, you subscribe; to remove your name, you unsubscribe from the mailing list. Electronic bulletin boards (EBBs) are mailing lists on which users can leave messages for other people and receive massive amounts of information. A portal is a Web site designed to offer a variety of Internet services from a single convenient location. e.g., Altavista, Excite, Lycos, Yahoo!

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) provides a universal open standard that enables users to access Web-based interactive information services and applications from the screens of mobile phones. The communication language being used between the Internet and the mobile phone is Wireless Markup Language (WML). It is expected that in 2002, more than half of the e-commerce transactions will be conducted with mobile phones.