The Internet is one of the most, if not the most used computer technology today. The Internet is a tightly woven network of networks, which connects thousands of computers together. Millions of megabytes of information travel through it each day. The Internet is used by millions of people around the world to send electronic mail (e-mail), talk to each other via chat rooms or message boards, or to use the newest and hottest form of Internet communication, instant messaging. When most people use the Internet, they are just using the part known as the World Wide Web (WWW). There are other parts of the Internet, but I am going to mostly talk about the Web. The Internet is very popular because of its graphical interface, which is very user friendly.
What is the Internet For?
The Internet was originally to be used by the military and by schools only, but when they saw how big it could be, it was expanded it to be commercial. Businesses and citizens around the world use the Internet. Companies use the Internet for electronic commerce (e-commerce), which involves buying and selling their products, and also for advertising over the Internet. Companies also use the Internet as a way of distributing their products. Many companies also use the Internet for customer service. Businesses use the Internet to do financial work as well. The Internet is a great way for companies to exchange information with each other. Voice and video conferencing enables employees to work far away from their company. This is called telecommuting (working from a computer at home, using the Internet to connect you to your company). (encarta.com, Internet article, page 1)
Entertainment companies also use the Internet. They use it because of its ability to show pictures, movies and animated graphics. They can create elaborate web pages using advanced programming languages like Java or Flash. The Internet is also a great place for advertising because so many people see it every day. Search engines have a lot of ads because they are the most frequently accessed sites.
Schools and colleges use the Internet as a way to allow scholars to publish papers and other works, and also as a way to let students create their own web sites. Anybody who has access to the Internet can have his or her own free web page. Many companies such as Yahoo! have this as an option. Colleges often have web pages that give information about their school. Since the Internet is so visual, these sites are often filled with pictures.
The Internet is used by millions of people around the world to do research, find information, buy and sell items, as well as for entertainment. The Internet has something for everybody, if you know where to look. Search engines can help in finding web sites. They allow you to type in a word or phrase, and then have access to a list of all the web sites it can find that have to do with your 'keyword'. The Internet is very diverse; so many people use it. (encarta.com, Internet article, page 1)
How Do You Connect?
There are two different ways a computer can be connected to the Internet. Both ways involve the computer that is connecting and an ISP (Internet service provider). A dial-up connection involves a modem, which first dials the number of the ISP and waits until one of their modems picks up. The dialing computer converts the Internet data into sound waves, sends it through the telephone lines to the other modem, and that modem converts it back into its true form. As you can imagine, this isn't the most reliable way to connect. Since the dial-up connection sends sound through your telephone lines, it ties them up, so you can either be using your phone or the Internet, not both. (How the Internet Works, pages 9-11)
The other way is called a dedicated connection, in which the user is always connected. Dedicated connections use cable modems or DSL (digital subscriber line) connections. Cable modems are much faster than telephone modems, and send data through the cable TV lines. A DSL connection sends waves over the telephone wires, but it sends them at a different frequency so that it does not tie up the phone line. A computer that uses a DSL connection must be a certain distance from the ISP, to ensure that it works properly. Dedicated connections are a little more expensive than a dial-up connection, but are much more reliable.
Those connections are good for small businesses and individuals, but most large companies have much more powerful dedicated connections set up to use high capacity cable. There are a few other ways to connect, like using satellites when dialing up from a hand-held unit such as a cell phone, or by being connected to a network that is always on the Internet. There is also something called Web TV, in which a 'set top box' allows you to view the Internet from your television. The Internet is not too expensive, so almost anybody can be connected. If a home has a second telephone line, they can be connected through a dial-up modem and still be able to talk on the phone. (How the Internet Works, pages 9-11)
How Does the Internet Work?
Once a computer is connected to the Internet, it isn't a very complicated system, just a lot of wires and cables, and a satellite or two, not to mention routers and other networks. No, but really, the Internet isn't all that complex. It is very widespread, and uses technologies that are very advanced in some places, but to know the basics of how it works is not very hard.
When you connect to your ISP, you have access to the Internet. The ISP Mainframe is connected, through lines such as T1 lines (a cable that can send data at 1.544mbps (mega bytes per second)), to other computers on the Internet. When you go to a web site, you are connecting to another computer that houses that site (encarta.com, Internet article). Sometimes data must travel over great distances to reach a site. In order to access the Web, you must have a browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. The browser software connects to other computers and networks to allow you to view Web pages. When accessing a Web page, your browser searches for the data needed and gets it from another server, then it displays the results (How the Internet Works, page 127). The information for web pages is found on the computer that is hosting it. When you connect to a Web page, your browser searches the Internet for the computer host, retrieves the needed data, then it displays the page on your computer.
Viewing Web pages is not that complicated; it is just finding the page data, then viewing it. If you view a personal page that is hosted by Yahoo!, for instance, your browser first finds the Yahoo! Mainframe, then it goes through and finds the site in the personal web page section. Many Mainframe computers house quite a few Web pages and have links to others. The Web works off of these links. When you click on a link, your browser finds out where to find the site it links to, then goes there. Older Web pages are written in the language of HTML, but newer pages are beginning to use Java and Flash a lot more because they allow for better graphics and fancy movies and animation. When you access a site that has pictures or graphics, your computer sometimes saves them in a folder called Temporary Internet Files, which makes it so that you don't have to get the data for those pictures every time you visit the site, so it loads faster. (A Students Guide to the Internet, pages 87-89)
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When you send e-mail, or in some other way make information travel across the Internet, such as by clicking on a link and telling your browser to find a Web page, it can travel long distances, but in a short amount of time. When you send e-mail, the information first passes to your ISP, who sends it to a router that will send it closer to its destination. A router is a device that is located at the intersection of many networks. It looks at what you are sending, and to where you are sending it, and either sends it into a regional network directly connected to its destination, or on to another closer router. (How the Internet Works, page 10)
There are two different types of regional networks. There is an Ethernet Network, which is when all the computers involved are hooked up through one main computer. There is also a Token-Ring Network, where all the computers are connected to each other in a large ring, so you might have to go through another computer to access another. (How the Internet Works, page 10)
What is the History of the Internet?
The Internet was started in 1969. It was originally designed to allow communication across the US, even after a nuclear attack. Routers could send the information in a different path if the path it would normally take was destroyed. In the beginning the Internet connected four colleges in the south. They were UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, UCSB and the University of Utah. Within the next year or two, dozens of other universities joined by being connected to the Internet. Within the decade, the Internet spread worldwide. The Internet was not accessible by everybody, especially because of the fact that it was so hard to use. Computers were definitely not as advanced as they are today, and certainly not as user- friendly. The Internet was still only accessed by the military/government organizations, by scientists and by scholars and college personnel. The Internet was being used to exchange ideas and research with schools around the world; even NASA was using the Internet. Other large organizations began using the Internet to exchange information. E-mail started in the mid- 70s, and was used for communication of information and research. There were not many sites, but the Internet was definitely growing by the 1980s.
In the late 80s, the Internet was beginning to be indexed. Users could use a program called Archie to search the Internet. In 1991, at the University of Minnesota, they developed a way of searching the Internet that involved the use of menus. The technology was named Gopher after the college's mascot.
In the beginning, the Internet was only to be used for research and education. The government, who first started the Internet, prohibited commercial use, at least until the early 90s. Small commercial companies and organizations began starting networks to link their businesses. In just a few years, it was possible for a company on the East Coast to access a company on the West Coast without ever using the government's lines.
In May 1995, the National Science Foundation stopped running the Internet, so commercial companies had to keep it alive. Internet companies began to make steps in home use, which was aided by advancements in the computer technology. In the mid to late 90s, the Internet grew tremendously. Companies began to create browsers for the Internet and modems became more advanced and less expensive. Bill Gates took large steps in capitalizing on the Internet by adding browsers to Windows. The Internet soon became available to home users. The prices of equipment and software went down as research was done, so the Internet was more easily accessible. (*whole history* The Internet, pages 3-7)
What Does the Future Have in Store?
As you know, today the Internet can be accessed almost anywhere. You can even check your e-mail at the mall. Domain Names (such as www.yahoo.com) are running out with all the increased popularity of the Internet. It used to be that one organization controlled all the domain names, but now you can go to many different places to register www.your-name.com. The Internet traffic has doubled over and over again. Every year the number seems to get much, much higher. In the future, it is hoped that the Internet will be more censored. The US government has tried to pass laws regarding Internet censorship, but people say they infringe on their right to free speech. (encarta.com, Internet article, page 2)
The Internet is becoming more advanced every day, but in the future the Internet will be much faster and more reliable. Research is being done to build new, high capacity cables that hold more information and send it at higher speeds. New types of Internet Backbones (a very high capacity wire) are being developed and tested. Some very large companies already use these technologies, and in the future so will we. New satellite links will be made to connect people in remote countries that can't connect now. Also, many organizations are looking into the option of free Internet access. (The Future of the Internet, pages 10-17)
As you can tell, it is hard to say where the Internet will go from here, but it is sure to become easier and faster to use, and who knows, in ten years, we might not be paying for the Internet. The Internet is a great way to connect people and places, and it is advancing to allow more and more people to connect. With billions of bytes of data running through the Internet every day, it is definitely a well-designed idea. The Internet has surely grown since its inception, but the simple concept remains the same. Hopefully, the Internet will bring new possibilities to future generations. Who knows, the Internet is expanding so fast that the possibilities are endless for the future. One thing is for sure, the Internet has helped colleges, businesses and homeowners do research and trade data, but most importantly, it connects people across the whole world.
Bibliography
"Internet," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2000 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
The Future of the Internet, Cozic, Charles P., Greenhaven Press, San Diago, 1997.
A Students Guide to the Internet, Marshall, Elizabeth L., Millbrook Press, Brookfield, 1996.
The Internet, Young, Gray, The H.W. Wilson Company, New York, 1998.
How the Internet Works, Preston Gralla, Macmillan Computer Publishing, Indianapolis, 1999.
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