Internet Basics
Ann Hubble
Today's Agenda
- What is the Internet?
- Focus on two aspects of the Internet
- Electronic mail (email)
- World Wide Web (WWW)
- What's needed to get on the Internet
- Computer Equipment and software
- Access: Internet Service Providers
- Hands on Exercises
- Questions welcome
- Handouts
What type of Internet experience do you
have?
- Background
- Email, WWW
- Expectation of workshop today?
What
is the Internet?
Internet History
- Began in 1969 Department of Defense network -
ARPANET ( Advanced Research Projects Agency)
- Designed to support military research--in
particular research about how to build networks that could
withstand partial outages (like bomb attacks) and still
function
- Allowed sharing of information for ARPA
projects
- NSF created 5 supercomputers centers and made
available to researchers
- Connected university, military, and defense
contractors
- No central authority (Internet Society -
Advisory)
- No one owns - everyone owns
- WWW : 1989 Tim Berners-Lee CERN ( European Nuclear Research
Center)
- Networked hypertext transmission of
documents
What
is it?
- Many definitions:
- Worldwide network of computers
- Worldwide network of networks
- A community of people who use and develop
those networks
- A collection of resources that can be
reached from those networks
- Internet composed of many things
- WWW
- Electronic mail (email)
- News groups, FTP sites (file transfer protocol), telnet, search engines, gopher
- Internet vs. the World Wide Web
- Internet - Global network: cables and
computers
- Web (WWW) - body of information - pictures,
sights, sounds
- Internet vs. Intranet
- International growth
- 1985, there were only 100 networks within
the Internet
- February 1995 Estimated size: Internet
Society (professional non-governmental organization)
- 50,000 different networks, 160
countries, 20 to 40 million users worldwide
How do computers connect to the Internet?
- Computers are on the Internet either by
- A network, attached via a gateway
(businesses, schools) LAN (local area network)
- A phone line with a modem, connected to an
Internet Service Provider (home)
- Computers send and receive information
- Information transmitted via protocols
- TCP/IP
- Rules for creating, sending, addressing
packets of information
- Information routed, like trucks, planes postal
service
- Routers - computers act like postal
substations
Communication on the Internet
- Electronic mail (email)
- Like Voicemail
- Send, forward, reply
- One to one or one to many
- Distance not related to charge
- Create messages - similar to creating message
in word processor
- Send electronically, like a letter
- Delivered to recipient's mailbox
- Your PC doesn't have to be "on" to receive
mail
- Central post office
- Private mail boxes
- Userid, password
- Different mail programs used to
read/send/receive mail
- Unique commands
- Header, To, From, CC, BCC, Body of message,
Signature file
- Eudora, cc:Mail, Pine
- Not secure
- Like a regular postcard
- System administrator (Postmaster)
- Encryption software
- Other communication methods: Special Interest
Groups
Internet Addresses
- Computers on Internet have unique
addresses
- Example: URL (Universal Resource
Locators)
- http://www.cruzio.com
- protocol--server
address--domain name
- (Hyper text transfer
protocol)
- Users: email
- ahubble@cats.ucsc.edu
- username@host
computer.subdomain.domain name
Organizational Domains: USA
|
Domain
|
Category
|
|
com
|
Commercial
|
|
edu
|
Education
|
|
gov
|
Government
|
|
int
|
International
|
|
mil
|
US Military
|
|
net
|
Networking
|
|
org
|
Non-profit
|
World Wide Web
- Collection of pages
- Pages written in HTML ( HyperText Markup
Language)
- Each Web page has its own URL address (Uniform
Resource Locator)
- Uses browser to read information and display
it
- Use mouse to click on hyperlinks (blue or
underlined words)
- Takes you to another page, part of page,
picture, sound, etc.
Hands On Exercise 1
- Go to the CRUZIO: http://www.cruzio.com
- Look for a business like yours
- Or, choose an Internet Service Provider (ISP)
from the list provided
- Find out what services individual Internet
Service Provider (ISP) offers
- Or, explore Cabrillo's Business
Online
http://www.businessonline.org
How do I connect from home?
1) Access: One option,
either a, b or c
- a) Networked computer, network is on a
gateway
- b) Internet Service Providers (ISP)
- c) Internet gateway, such as AOL or
Compuserve
2) Computer Hardware :
- PC computer -
- Minimum 486 (highly recommend -
Pentium)
- 8 MB RAM, Windows 3.1 or 95
- Minimum 20 MB available Hard Drive
- Color monitor
- Macintosh computer
- Minimum Quadra (highly recommended-Power
PC)
- Minimum of 8 mg RAM and color
monitor
- OperatingSystem - Mac 7.1 or above
- Modem for dial-up service
- As fast as possible
- Minimum 14,400 baud (28,800 baud
recommended)
- Phone Line (or ISDN) - unless on a
network
3) Software:
- Communication software to get to the
ISP
- Procomm (DOS/Windows) Zterm or Microphone
(Mac)
- or
- SLIP/PPP software
- Single-purpose (Email, Web browser news
reader, FTP client)
- Multipurpose (Netscape, Microsoft
Explorer)
4) Internet Service Provider Account:
Computer---Modem---ISP---the Internet
What can the Internet do for Your Business?
- Electronic mail - 24 hours a day
- Within your business
- Business to business
- Customers
- World Wide Web
- Advertising
- Customer Service
- Making Connections
- Finding Sources
- Sales
- Information about competition
- Finding Information
- Research
- Obtaining Software
- Asking for Information (listservs and
usenet)
- Reliability
- As more users get on the WWW, it becomes
slower, slower
- Time consuming
Decisions
- What services do you need?
- What is the intended use?
- Email, web
- Looking for or providing
information?
- Hosting a page?
- Cost?
- Overhead
- Time learning vs. contract out
- Computer Equipment, Software
- Maintenance, upgrades
- Is speed important?
- Phone Line/ISDN
- Modem
- Computer
Finding Information on the Web
- Knowing a URL
- Advertisement, Newspaper, TV
- Using a Catalog or directory
- Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com
- WWW Virtual Library
- Virtual Reference Desk
- http://libwww.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/html/virrefdsk3.html
- Using a search
engine
Where to get more information?
- Other training sessions
- Putting Your Business on the Web
- Marketing on the Internet
- Books, newspaper articles
- Consulting services
- The Web
Hands On Exercise 2
