Communications and the World Wide Web n241.tplt Goals Be able to separate exaggerations from realities about the Internet Become familiar with the general background of network communications Become familiar with the important features of Web browsers Learn to use the tools necessary to find information in the WWW The Changing Role of Computers Initially, computers were used exclusively as calculating machines Today, computers are still used for calculating, however, their primary role is as a means of COMMUNICATION Charts show the results of calculations Documents E-mail The Internet Evolution of Communications Mainframes The PCs LANs Allowed sharing within an organization "Information Island" Problems: Machine Compatability The Internet ARPANET Before the Internet, military communication was like a string of "old" Christmas lights A dvanced R esearch P rojects A gency NET work Began in 1969 with 4 computers linked TCP/IP Developed in mid-1970's Became core Internet protocol in 1983 NSF - National Science Foundation Late 1980's linked Supercomputing Centers 1990 DOD disbanded ARPANET and it was replaced by NSFNET backbone Early 1990's - NSFNET charter changed to encourage personal and commercial use NSFNET and other large networks formed the Internet The Internet is NOT Owned or controlled by anyone NSF and InterNIC (Internet Network Information Center) exercise some limited organizational power A single entity A "Den of Iniquity" The domain of "Computer Geeks" A safe haven for wayward viruses The Internet IS Global in scope A vast repository of information-some very reliable; some very "bad" Relatively universal Dynamic Number of users is increasing exponentially Information changes every second The Problem How do we take advantage of the available information? How can we find the information we want? What kinds of information are best solved using the Internet? The Tools World Wide Web (WWW) What is the World Wide Web? A Protocol - format for storing, retrieving and transferring information on the Internet Uses a model based on pages using hypertext Web Browsers Software programs used to view web pages Two most popular: Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) All have features to make navigating WWW easier Commands within Browsers Commands can be given by using the Menus Commands can be given by clicking on a Button Commands commonly found on Internet Browsers Previous Page Home Page Search - Finding specified words or phrases Directory - Lists of links organized by content History Bookmarks Using STAIR to search the WWW S tatement of the Problem: What are you trying to find? T ools: Which ones? Search Engine or Directory The commands to reorient yourself from deadends A lgorithm: General or Specific? I mplementation: Try your search! R efine: A constant process