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Introduction to the Internet

Why are you here?

Because the Internet is:

Revolutionizing education

Enhancing the way teachers teach

Turning students into life-long learners

Providing information for all facets of life

Giving access to vast opportunities

Schools are using the Internet to...

Post information for the world to see

Take virtual tours of museums, cities, foreign countries

Give students access to the latest information available

Allow participation in global projects

Bring experts to the classroom

Interact with people from all over the world

The Basics

What is it?

How does it work?

How do I connect?

How to I acquire an E-mail account?

What is the Internet?

A means of exchanging information

Computers

Computer Networks

People

A telephone network connecting computers together

An Enabler--access to everything

Links more than 60 million people in 160 countries

Internet growth

Amazing 10% growth per month

50% of traffic is educational

WWW is key to expansion (GUI--Graphical User Interface) pictures

Web doubles every three months

E-mail represents 40% of web use

Why the Internet?

Born November 21, 1969

Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)

Department of Defense

UCLA

Stanford

USC at Santa Barbara

U of Utah

Internet Design

Two major concerns

that the net be non-platform specific

that the net be totally redundant and fault tolerant

Fiber optic cable

1980--National Science Foundation

1991--Public

What’s on the Internet?  How is it organized?

What You Can Do on the Internet

E-mail

On-line conversation

Information Retrieval

Promote your business

Distribute information

Participate in public forums

Getting Connected

Computer--RAM is important!!

Minimum of 16 megs

32 megs better and 64 megs better (there is no end!)

Will work with 8 but very SLOW

Modem--determines speed in bps (bits per second)

33.6 minimum today

Current speed 56K (Not available for all telephone lines)

Telephone Connection

Standard phone line in your home is required to carry a minimum of 9600 and can go to 33.6bps

ISDN--ability to double capacity (available but at an additional cost)

Cable modems--being test marketed (can go to 1 1/2 million bps) Web TV (Microsoft)

Software

Usually given to you by your Internet provider

Each function of Internet has a program

E-mail, FTP, Telnet, WWW Browser

Web Browsers are integrated programs

The URL

Uniform Resource Locator, the address for a Web resource

http://www.abc.com/NewProgram/snoops.html

The protocol specifies the type of web resource (http:www)

The Host name specifies the server where the resource is located (abc.com)

The Directory name specifies a particular part of the server (NewProgram)

The File name identifies the actual document to be retrieved. Web pages are all .htm or .html, signifying that they are created in the Web language HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)  (snoops.html)

How people get access--Internet Service Provider 

Dial In Direct Connection

Commercial Gateway--local number no matter where you are located.

Usually makes access selections (point and click with mouse menu system)

Examples--AOL, Prodigy, CompuServe

Dial In Direct Connection

Local Service Provider--usually only access by local number no connection unless long distance if you travel

Unlimited connection (you must know how to navigate the web)--Infonet, Pennicle, WHRO

Choosing a Provider

Cost

Reliability

Performance--ratio of users to ports (telephone lines)

Services

Restrictions

Security

Login Name

Beginning of your address

Identifies you to your service provider

Is case sensitive--usually always lowercase

Is usually some form of your name

Passwords--Guidelines

Usually must be eight characters long

Choose a combination of letters and numbers

Change your password regularly

Choose one that uses maximum number of characters

Choose something you can remember

Don’t share it with others

E-Mail

A tool to send and receive text messages over the Internet

Time zone independent

Fast--near instant delivery

Cheap--no long distance costs

Convenient--can attach pictures, sounds, video clips, and even software

Much like letter but in a brief, informal, conversational style

Send/receive through E-mail software (Eudora most popular)

E-Mail Attachments

Create files in a word processing program

Write E-mail message and use program to make attachments

Windows 95 had plug-ins for various programs

Attachments

Can literally be any type of text, graphic, audio, video, or executable file

Often compressed (zipped) in order to transfer more quickly

Must be converted if zipped format in order to be properly received.

What can you and your teachers do with E-mail?

Interpersonal exchanges

Information collection

Collaborative problem solving

Gather information quickly and conveniently

Why use E-mail?

Enhance the writing skills

Get teachers and students thinking about audience, tone, cultural diversity (especially when sending to a foreign country)

Practice foreign language with native speakers

Improve keyboarding skills

Benefits of E-mail for educators

Enables individual teachers to share classroom strategies

Trade success stories

Encourage others

Professional development

Gather information

E-Mail Address

Username (only thing that you control)

@ at symbol

host your Internet provider

sub domain

domain

Read right to left--goes from least specific to most specific

Common Organizational Domains

Mail Servers in US

com Commercial

edu Educational

gov Government

mil Military

org Organization

net Network

int International

E-Mail Addresses

Always in lower case

president@

Remember read right to left

Always put something in the subject field

this is all that shows in individual’s mail box

Free E-Mail Accounts

www.juno.com

Free e-mail and software

Need computer and modem

www.hotmail.com

Free e-mail from Microsoft

Sites to Visit

www.exploratorium.com

www.si.edu

whyfiles.news.wisc.edu

www.earthwatch.com/indexs.html

info.er.usgs.gov

www.nhc.noaa.gov

www.spaceweather.com

space.jpl.nasa.gov

 
This page was updated on:  04/10/02