Chapter Outline

THE INTERNET AND THE WEB

I. Telecommunications

1. Telecommunications is the electronic transmission of information including data, television pictures, sound and facsimiles, which usually involves a computer, modem, software, and a printer.
2. Telecommunications should be used because it is easy and convenient, decreases car pollution, saves time and money, allows the home to serve as an office, and promotes distance learning in which students can share information and computer research findings.
3. Hardware is the equipment that sends the data over some kind of communications line, while software controls the flow of this data.

II. Networking

1. Networking means several computers are connected together, in order to communicate with each other.
2. A network system generally includes a file server, which is a large computer with a large data capacity that serves as a repository for information and directs the flow of information to and from the computers in the network.
3. If networking capabilities are not built or plugged into a computer, the user needs cables, wires, hookups, and operating system software, as well as networkable software that runs on the network.
4. A network needs a variety of devices to connect parts of a network or handle traffic among the various components.
5. The computer’s network cables can be either copper or fiber optic. Fiber optic cables are more expensive and are a transmission medium consisting of glass fibers that can transmit digital signals in the form of pulses of light produced by a laser. Two, glass optical fibers can transmit 6, 000 telephone conversations at a time, which would require 250 copper wires.
6. A wireless network allows the user to transmit data between computers, servers, and other network devices without physically using cable or wire.
7. The three most common network arrangements are the ring, the star, and the shared-bus.
8. Local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), and telephones are three types of networks.
9. Advantages of networking
10. Disadvantages of networking

III. The Internet

1. The Internet is a large network that links smaller computer networks together.
2. The Internet is made up of more than 65 million computers in more than 100 countries, in commercial, academic, and government efforts.
3. The number of U.S. public schools classrooms connected to the Internet was 63% in 1999.
4. Access to the Internet means the user can tap into thousands of databases and talk electronically with experts worldwide on any subject.

IV. Historical Background

1. In 1969, the Department of Defense created the Internet for military research purposes, with major goals to ensure mass communication of information with maximum security.
2. The original network was called ARPAnet, as it was designed by the Advanced Researched Projects Agency, with a goal of building a centralized network that would run even if nuclear war destroyed part of it.
3. Researchers devised a protocol for sending data efficiently called Internet Protocol or IP, to be used along with Transmission Control Protocol, or TCP.
4. In its initial stages, the electronic highway provided a way of exchanging electronic mail and linking on-line libraries to government agencies and universities, which served as testers for the service’s integrity.
5. In the early 1980s, the original ARPAnet divided into two networks, ARPAnet and Milnet.
6. In 1986, the National Science Foundation encouraged nondefense use of the Internet by creating a special network called NSFNet, which connected five, new supercomputing centers across the country, into which universities all over the country began connecting.
7. Different national networks appeared, and more countries joined the Internet to share its rich resources.
8. By the late 1980s, students gained Internet access when they registered at their colleges.
9. More businesses and individuals have accessed the Internet since it became available to them, with 65 to 108 million users reported in year 2000.
10. Figures given by researchers on Internet use differ according to the age definition of the user population.
11. Al Gore called for the creation of national networks known as "information highways" in the 1980s.
12. In 1994, Apple, Microsoft, and IBM began including connectivity to on-line services as part of their operating systems, and software programs such as ClarisWorks, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, and HyperStudio incorporated Internet components into their programs.
13. Electronic services such as CompuServe and American Online offered browsers or software programs, so subscribers could easily access the Internet, thus extending the Internet’s influence even more.
14. Universities, research organizations, companies, organizations, and individuals pay for access to the Internet, while the government channels huge amounts of tax dollars through the National Science Foundation and agencies such as NASA, in order to help finance the Internet.

V. How the Internet Works

1. Swiss researchers developed the World Wide Web, a system that lets the user move smoothly through the Internet, jumping from one document to another.
2. Software programs were developed that made access to the Internet resources uncomplicated.
3. Several problems exist with the Internet.

VI. Growth of the Internet

1. In the last half of the 1990s, the Internet’s surge in growth occurred because of two developments: the Internet’s bringing of the world together for electronic mail (e-mail), and the explosion of graphics-based Web browsers.
2. Delphi was the first online service to offer access to the Web.
3. Free Internet services exist such as Bluelight and Freelane.
4. The Web provides a vast array of information and is the storehouse for drivers, updates, and demos that are Downloaded by using the browser.

VII. Internet Resources

1. Electronic mail (e-mail) can be used to send messages to individuals at local or distant locations in seconds, is less time-consuming than social interaction, and can generate answers quickly and inexpensively.
2. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) allow the user to do computer conferencing on the Internet, with IRC channels on a wide range of topics that take place on the IRC servers around the world; once the user joins, messages are broadcast to everyone listening on that channel.
3. Chat rooms provide another Internet service, a discussion by keyword on a specific topic, addressing various subject and allowing individuals to have private conversations on the Internet, with services available from American Online, Web sites, and the IRC system.
4. Instant Messenger Programs such as American Online let the user receive instant alerts, send instant messages, share photos, pictures, sound, enjoy conversations and chat online.
5. Wide Area Information Service (WAIS) accesses many databases that are distributed around the Internet. The user tells WAIS what databases to search, then views or prints the results of the search.
6. Telnet is a utility software that lets the user log on to a remote computer.
7. File transfer protocol (FTP) is the standard tool for copying the many files, containing text, pictures, sounds, and computer programs, that are spread around the Internet in large and small archives from the host computer to the user’s computer.
8. The Archie server helps the user find a file that is stored at an anonymous FTP site, easily downloaded using FTP once the name is known.
9. Gopher displays a simple series of menus through which the user can access any type of textual information on the Internet, with Gopher systems locally administered and now diminishing in popularity.
10. Finger service lets the user find out information about another Internet user, including the name of the person behind the userid.
11. The User’s Network (Usenet) is not really a network, but a place for thousands of discussion groups, through which individual articles can be disseminated.
12. Multiple User Dimension (MUD) is a program that involves rudimentary virtual reality, with participants taking a role and exploring it in interactions with others.
13. Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) are central computers that store messages from other individuals, often set up in a person’s home, with the individual in charge called a system operator or sysop.
14. Newsgroups differ from e-mail and are like public bulletin boards in which users reads messages that others have written and display their own thoughts, with a range of topics discussed.
15. The World Wide Web (WWW) is a collection of computers containing documents accessed with special software that allows one to view text, graphics, video, and photos and to easily link to another document on the Web.

VIII. Internet Access

1. Investment banker Goldman Sachs predicts the percentage of homes with broadband or high-speed transmission lines will increase from 5% to 66% in the years from 2000 to 2008, with the increase driven by consumer adoption of cable modems and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology.
2. Competition exists between DSL and cable Internet for who will provide the faster service.
3. DSL is a digital technology that offers high-speed transmission over standard copper telephone wiring.
4. Cable modems let the user connect to the Internet with the same cable that attaches to a standard television set and provide point-to-point transmission, with greater bandwidth, the amount of data it can transmit in a fixed time, than DSL, but with the cable shared and transmission slowed by many users.
5. Satellite service uses a satellite dish to connect to the user’s computer, gives 400 Kbps for downloading, and can be connected to via an analog modem, with expensive installation charges.
6. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), designed in the early 1980s, is a replacement for analog telephone service that uses high-speed digital phone lines offered by the phone companies in most areas, with connections from 64 Kbps to 128 Kbps and not universally available or affordable.
7. Modems are devices that adapt computers to analog telephone lines by converting digital pulses to audio frequencies and the reverse.
8. T1 and T3 lines are digital, high speed, high bandwidth leased lines that connect to the Internet.

IX. The World Wide Web and the Internet

1. The terms World Wide Web and the Internet are used interchangeably but represent two, different things.
2. The World Wide Web is an invaluable resource for people interested in knowledge, with a vast reservoir of information.

X. Connecting to an Online Service

1. To access the Web, the user needs a connection to the Internet through a commercial on-line service such as American Online or CompuServe.
2. Online services provide access to a range of information, email, news, downloading of free programs, free help from experts, connections to the Internet, participation in conferences, and hardware/software support.
3. Most services initially give free time on-line, and then charge a monthly fee for their service.
4. Most commercial on-line services have bulletin boards.
5. The three most popular commercial services are American Online (AOL), Prodigy, and CompuServe, differentiated by the services they provide, with American Online as the world’s largest online information service, Prodigy as the first service with a built-in Internet Web browser, and CompuServe as the oldest online service.
6. Internet connections can also be obtained through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) such as Microsoft Software Network (MSN) or Earthlink.
7. The List lets the user search for providers by country, state, or area code.
8. The local Yellow pages give information on ISPs.
9. Web surfing requires software called a browser that enables the user to take advantage of the Web’s multimedia capabilities.
10. New technologies promise to increase modem speeds greatly and increase bandwidth capacity, the amount of data that can be transmitted through the computer network in a certain speed.
11. Current online service transmission choices are the 56 Kbps modem, ISDN, digital subscriber line or DSL, modems, cable modems, and satellite data services.

XI. Getting Started With a Browser

1. To take advantage of the Web, the user needs a software program called a browser, which when first launched displays a toolbar with commands such as Print, Back, and Forward.
2. When live links are clicked on, the arrow or pointer becomes a hand.

XII. Visual Communication Via the Internet

1. Visual communication is in demand from users who want graphics, animation, sounds, communications in distance learning with clipart, photos, and scans on Web pages, and downloaded movies from camcorders.
2. Distance education means getting an education from a remote teaching site via TV or computer.

XIII. Distance Learning Technologies

1. The first attempt at distance education was by correspondence, with students using self-study instructional materials, is still used today but with limited interaction between teacher and student.
2. Different technologies are being used to enhance distance learning such as radio, telephone, and television.

XIV. Integrating the Internet into the Classroom

1. The percentage of public schools with Internet access and the ratio of students per instructional computer have increased greatly since 1994.
2. The Internet offers many exciting possibilities for the classroom, with many online projects and tutorials. See pp. 183-184 for a description of several Internet-based lesson plans.