The Internet
 
Introduction

The Internet
-Brief History
-Today's Internet
-Working Basics
-World Wide Web
-Top 10 Reasons

Communication
 -Asynchronous
-Synchronous

MultiMedia
-Streaming
-Virtual Reality
   *Virtual Tours
    *Avatars

Online Sources
-Field Trips
-Lessons/Games
-On-line Courses
-Research
-Scavenger Hunt
-Web Quests
-WebCams

Applications
 -GIS
-PowerPoint
-WebCT

Security
-Copyright
-Firewalls
-Filters

 The Future
-Internet2
-Wireless Class
-Quicker Band

What is the Internet?
The Internet is a network of computers linked together.  An Internet user has access to a wide variety of services such as email, file transfer, interactive collaboration, streaming video, breaking news and much more.  The Internet has changed dramatically over the years. 

Brief History:  The Internet was conceived in the 1960s as a concept to link computers together throughout the country.  Basically the internet was an emergency military communications project.  It was designed to allow secure interactions between government agencies and academic institutions.  The Department of Defense wanted a computer network that would continue to function in the event of a disaster.  This network was named ARPANET, which linked U.S. scientific and academic researchers.  It was mainly used for accessing files and sending email.  In 1989 ARPANET shut down and thus entered the Internet as we know it today.  

For more information on the background of the Internet and a timeline, visit Greatest Achievements and PBS Life On the Internet.

Today's Internet:  The Internet today, has become a low-cost technology that has dramatically changed the world.  From about 1983 onwards, the Internet has accommodated a lot of changes and continues to keep developing.  The Internet continues to evolve with it becoming available on mobile phones and pagers and possibly in the future on televisions. The Internet has become a worldwide collection, or network, of millions of computers linked together.  This vast network of information is not owned or controlled by any company, corporation or nation.  There are, however, organizations that oversee and standardize what happens on the Internet. 

Working Basics:
Even though you don't have to know how the Internet functions, it's important to know the basics.  The Internet is a global network of computers, each computer connected to the Internet which must have a unique address.  This address is known as an IP (Internet Protocol).  If you connect to the Internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP, a company that provides access to the Internet for a monthly fee), a temporary IP address is assigned for the duration of your dial-in session.  If you connect to the Internet from a local area network (LAN) your computer might have a permanent IP address or it might obtain a temporary one.   In any case, if you are connected to the Internet, your computer has a unique IP address. The Internet operates by dividing data to be transferred into small packets.  Routers and computers move the packets from their origin to their destination.  Once the packets reach their destination they are reassembled in their original format. 

All this sound confusing?  Who cares, as long as it works, right?  To further indulge in this cloud of information visit  How Does the Internet Work? 

 Well What is the World Wide Web (WWW)?
 The web can be described as an illustrated version of the Internet.  A computer-browsing system developed in the late 1980's designed to make it possible to navigate the Internet.  It links documents in different computers, as long as they are connected to the Internet.  The web is like a super highway of information.  Until 1982 the web was primarily text-based.  In 1982 Marc Andreesen developed the first browser that made it easier to access different web sites and brought about the use of sound and video files.

A browser is a company that provides access to the web.  A browser reads the HTML text and converts it into a page, much like the one you're reading.  The protocol that makes the web work is HTTP (short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol).*  It's the protocol that web browsers use to communicate with each other over the Internet.  The web uses a formatting language called HTML (hypertext markup language), that supports links to other documents as well as graphics, audio, and video files.  The web is an excellent source for information, but can be confusing when launching a search.  The most efficient way to find information on the Web is to use a search engine. 

Educators often think that the Internet is just for leisure use, but there are so many reasons to use the Internet in the school system, whether it be grade school, high school or college.  From "The Educator's Guide to the Internet and the World Wide Web" here is a list of the Top Ten Reasons to use the Internet and the WWW in the school systems:

Why should educators, administrators, parents and other stakeholders support the use of the Internet and World Wide Web in classrooms and schools?

  1. Equity of Access to New and Evolving Forms of Literacy
  2. An Infinite Resource of Information
  3. A Window to the World
  4. Teachers As Learners
  5. Students As Learners: Active Participation
  6. Motivational Influence of Authentic Learning Activities
  7. A New Mode for Self-Expression and Presentation of Self
  8. Community and the Role of Audience
  9. Student Inquiry and Cooperative Learning
  10. Assessing and Improving Student Progress

**When searching the Internet , stress the importance to all students using the Internet to use with caution and practice responsibility!**

*(Just as a note:  There is a difference between FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and HTTP.  FTP is used to upload files from a workstation to a FTP server.  When FTP appears in a URL it means that the user is connecting to a file server and not a Web server and that some form of file transfer is going to take place.