The Internet-The Great Information Superhighway

Chapter 2

2How the Internet Developed

The Internet developed from a research project started by the U.S. Defense Department in 1958.ARPA-Advanced Research Projects Agency created after SputnikRAND corporation suggested decentralized computer network was a way for govt and military leaders to communicate in nuclear war scenario.

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Internet is Born ARPANET-first designed for military

Researchers began to use in colleges

Protocols-set of rules for network operation

TCP/IP-became the protocol of Internet

Soon ARPANET expanded to the Internet

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Modern InternetThree inventions that spread the use of

the Internet were: The personal computer (early 1980s)The World Wide Web (1989)

Uses Hypertext to link information (word association)Made up of websites on the Internet

The browser (1991)Allows users to locate and display informationMosaic was the firstFollowed by Explorer, Netscape, Firefox etc.

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Connecting to the Internet In order to connect to the Internet you

must have:A modem or router: allows your computer to send and receive signals though telephone lines, cable tv or satelliteAn Internet service provider (ISP): required for all home connections AOL, COMCAST, BELL SOUTH ETCBrowser software: might need plug-in programs to retrieve some types of media applications

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Plug-ins and Streaming Retrieving information

Plug-ins-Hardware or software that adds a feature to your computer

Adobe Reader, Shockwave, Flash, Quicktime

Streaming Media-technique for transferring audio and video files to play as soon as they reach the PC

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Navigating the Web In order to work with multimedia on

the Internet, you must understand:The browser screen and its standard elementsURL addresses and the information they contain (Uniform Resource Locator)

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Standard Browser ElementsAdditional links Navigation buttons Menu bar Web address or URL

Sidebar Main display area Hyperlinks

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Navigating the Web Domain Name is the name of the

websiteExtension tells you the type of domain that the website is…

.com-commercial; .gov-government; .edu-educational; .mil-military; .org-nonprofit; etc

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URL Elements

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Searching the WebUse search engines to find the right Web page:

Create search queries that include keywords.

Use Boolean search strategies to narrow your search.

Use the right search engine to conduct faster, more efficient searches.

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Search Engines

Basically large data bases-match keywords to websites

Examples-AltaVista, Dogpile, Excite, Google, Yahoo

Adding words to your search query will help refine the search.

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Boolean Search

Uses formulas with operators to tell the search engine how to search

Generally these type of searches are more precise

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Boolean operators

AND-includes both words you list

OR-includes either of two keywords

NOT-excludes keyword

NEAR-finds pages where keyword before the operator appears near the keyword after the operator

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Boolean Symbols

Quotation marks-search for exact phrase enclosed withinParentheses-Group keywords or operators to control the order the engine uses themAsterisk-Represents a sequence of unknown characters in a keyword gradua* will find: gradual, graduation, graduating, graduate etc.

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Communicating on the Internet There are several ways to communicate on

the Internet: E-mail: Sent to a specific e-mail address. Can have attachments. NOT PRIVATE!File transfer protocol (FTP): Often used to transfer large files from one computer to another.Chat rooms: “Virtual” rooms where you can exchange typed messages with others who are in the room.Instant messaging: Allows you to communicate in real time with one person.

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Netiquette Guidelines generally accepted and

followed:

Don’t violate privacy or confidentialityDon’t use all caps; flame or spam.Don’t send large files (especially at work)Don’t send information that is private or should be private. The Internet is NOT a private place.