The Internet
The internet (capitalized as in Internet when it first came into widespread use) is defined as
a worldwide network connecting to a million of computers via dedicated routers and servers.
When computers are connected to the internet, end-users could start sending and receiving
different types of information. These types of information can be sent and received via electronic
mails (emails), text or video chats and/or conferencing, and computer programs, among others.
Now, most telephone companies all over the world also function as internet service providers.
In the Philippines, the PLDT, Inc. (formerly known as Philippine Long Distance Telephone
Company) is the largest network company; Smart Communications, Inc. and Digitel Mobile
Philippines, Inc. (commercially known as Sun Cellular) are collaborating with PLDT while Globe
Telecom has acquired Bayan Telecommunications (commonly known as BayanTel or Bayan).
These telecommunication companies use high-speed fiber-optic cables to transmit data. But no
one actually owns “the Internet”. Large internet service providers own infrastructure through which
internet is delivered.
The Internet: Then and Now
Even though today's internet bears little resemblance to its forebear of almost 50 years ago,
it still functions in basically the same way. The internet has evolved into something different from
the special-purpose, restricted-use network its planners originally envisioned it to be (Norton,
2012).
The Internet started from the Advanced Research Projects Agency's Wide Area Network
which is called the ARPANET. This was established by the U.S. Department of Defense in the
1960s so that the military's research unit could collaborate or partner with business and
government laboratories.
Before it became known as the Internet, ARPA's network served universities, defense contractors, and a
few government agencies.
Source: https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/computer-history-timeline--67
Afterwards, other universities and U.S. institutions were connected to ARPANET that
resulted in the growth of ARPANET different from everyone's expectations. ARPANET then
attained the name of "Internet."
The advancement of hypertext-based technology known as World Wide Web, WWW, or just
simply as the Web has provided the channels for displaying text, graphics, animations, etc. Its
other features of enabling easy search and offering navigation tools prompted the internet's
unpredictable worldwide growth.
The Internet2 Environment: Future Empowerment
Internet2 is a not-for-profit networking consortium founded in 1996 by 34 university research
institutions in the U.S. It provides a collaborative environment where U.S. research and education
organizations work together and develop advanced technologies and innovative solutions such
as telemedicine, digital libraries and virtual laboratories, and virtual laboratories to assist
education, research, and community development.
Internet2 manages the Internet2 Network, a next-generation optical and internet protocol
network that is capable of delivering enhanced network services and is better, faster, and more
efficient than the typical internet or broadband connections. Internet2 maintains a secure network
testing and research environment. It began operating the Internet2 DCN (dynamic circuit
network), an advanced technology that allows user-based allocation of data circuits over the fiberoptic network.
As of May 2016, this community comprises 317 U.S. higher education institutions, 81
corporations, 64 affiliates and affiliate members, 43 regional and state education networks, and
more than 65 national research and education networking partners representing over 100
countries.
The Philippines, via the Philippine Research, Education and Government Information
Network (PREGINET), is among the international peers reachable via Trans-Eurasia Information
Network (TEIN), one of the Internet2's peering relationships. Just in August 2017, a national
training course on nuclear neurology was held in which nationwide webcast among hospitals was
made possible through the high-speed connectivity provided by PREGINET and the video
conference server hosted locally at the Department of Science and Technology-Advanced
Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI). By supporting telemedicine or telehealth in the
country, this information infrastructure, therefore, enables Philippine hospitals to keep abreast of
new medical diagnostics and world-class treatment options without having to travel abroad.
Internet Today: Still Growing
Today, the internet connects thousands of networks and billions of users around the world.
The number of internet users as of January 2018 is 4.021 billion which means that more than half
of the world's population is now online as revealed by, We Are Social and Hootsuite in their 2018
Global Digital suite of reports. Despite this huge number, the internet has no central ownership.
It means that no single person or group controls the network. Although there are several
organizations (such as The Internet Society and the World Wide Web Consortium) that propose
standards for internet-related technologies and guidelines for its appropriate use, these
organizations almost universally support the internet's openness and lack of centralized control.
As a result, the internet is open to anyone who can access it. If one can use a computer and
if the computer is connected to the internet, he or she is free not only to use the resources posted
by others, but also to create resources of his or her own; that is, the internet user can publish
documents on the World Wide Web, exchange email messages with other users, and perform
many other tasks.
Jobs the Internet Can Do
Internet users may wonder about the jobs that the internet can do. However, there is only
one simple job that the internet does, and it is to move, transfer, or assign computerized
information from one place to another. This information can be in the form of text documents,
images, audio, video, and software programs, among others. All this information is known as
data. The internet can handle different kinds of information and assist people to perform various
jobs from the simple tasks of handling email, searching on websites, and sending chat messages
to the more sophisticated function of creating websites and programming possible through various
software programs.
How Data Travels the Internet
Data and information are transferred around the world through wired or wireless transmission
media. In the Philippines, the transmission media that make up the internet backbone allow
information or data exchanges between networks at several locations across the country, such
as La Union in the northern part, and Batangas, Cavite, and Davao down south. The high-speed
equipment in these sites functions similarly to a highway interchange. Data is transferred from
one network to another until it reaches its final destination
Much of the internet runs on the ordinary public telephone network. However, there is a big
difference between how a telephone call works and how the internet carries data. For example,
friend A gives friend B a telephone call; the telephone then opens a direct connection (also known
as the circuit) between friend A's home and friend B's home. In this scenario, a direct line can be
pictured out, running along miles of cable, from friend A's telephone to friend B's telephone. As
long as the two friends are over the telephone, that connection or circuit stays open between the
two telephones. This method of linking the telephones together is called circuit switching.
Circuit switching is one of the most common schemes utilized to build a communications
network, such as the case of ordinary telephone calls. Circuit switching, however, is inefficient
because if you stay connected with your friend or relative over the phone all the time, the circuit
is still connected, and is, therefore, blocking other people from using it. A traditional dial-up
connection to the net, in which a computer dials a telephone number to reach the internet service
provider, uses circuit switching. This appears inefficient because browsing the internet and using
the telephone at the same time are not possible.
As time goes by, technologies are improved and developed as well. Most data that moves
over the internet in an entirely different way is called packet switching. This is a mode of
transmission in which the message is broken into smaller parts (called packets) which are sent
independently, and then reassembled at the ultimate destination. Suppose an email from the
Philippines is sent to someone in South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, China, Italy, the U.S. and
other countries. Instead of having a knotty circuit between the home in the Philippines and those
in the mentioned countries, and sending the email in one go, the email is "broken" into tiny pieces
(happens at the back of the system). Theoretically, these packets are assigned their ultimate
destination. They travel via different routes, and when they reach their definitive destination, these
packets will then reassemble to make the email message one and complete.
Compared to circuit switching, packet switching, therefore, is much more efficient. A
permanent connection is not necessary between the two places communicating, which avoids
blocking the entire chunk of the network each time a message is sent.
What Computers Do on the Internet
Computers do different jobs on the internet. Some computers work like electronic filing
cabinets that store information and send it when clients request so. These are called servers.
A server is a computer that is designed to process any requests for data and delivers data to
other client computers over a local network or the internet. A client is a computer or device that
gets information from a server. Any computer running with special software can function as a
server, and servers have different roles to play. A computer that holds the user accounts,
computer accounts, organizational units, and application services is called the Active Directory
Domain Services (AD DS). Another machine that helps the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
(DHCP) server is a server that configures IPv4 and IPv6 addresses specifically in giving names
to each IP address up to its root recognition which is called domain name system (DNS) server.
Another machine that holds and manages documents is known as the file server while the other
one that holds users' mail services and Web services is referred to as Web Server II. A device
that connects printers to client computers through the internet is called a print server. It accepts
print jobs from the computers, queues these jobs, and sends them to the appropriate printers.
Besides clients and servers, the internet is made up of a hardware device designed to
receive, analyze, and send incoming packets to another network. This is called a router. Having
several computer devices both at home and in school, you probably have a router that connects
all of your devices to the internet. The router can be compared to a simple mailbox placed at the
corner of a street and which represents your single point of entry to the worldwide network.
The World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (www) is referred to as the collection of public websites that are
connected to the internet worldwide, together with the client computers which include personal
computers, laptops, iPads, and cellular phones that access its content.
Web Technologies
The WWW is considered to be one of the applications in the internet and computer networks.
This is based on three fundamental technologies that are said to be part of the WWW
development:
●
Hypertext markup language (HTML) – is a standard markup language used for creating
web pages. HTML is classified as the set of markup symbols or codes appended in a file
intended for presentation on a World Wide Web browser page.
●
Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) - is classified as the set of standards allowing users
of the World Wide Web to interchange information seen on web pages. Port 80 is the
standard port for HTTP connections.
●
Web servers and web browsers - is a software application for recovering, presenting,
and navigating information resources on the World Wide Web. There are different browser
applications that are currently used in the WWW such as Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome,
Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and more.
The World Wide Web Today
Last March 12, 2017, WWW turned 28 years, a milestone that recalls the invention of the
WWW which has changed humanity forever, and developed a new virtual world within a
generation.
There are known websites that enhanced their features in terms of design and development
style to adapt to the speedily growing techniques of the users' way of retrieving the Web from
large screen computers to small-screen mobile phones.
It is observed and shown that the way the Web works is reasonably simple having its four
basic stages: connection, request, response, and close. The first stage is where many users
access the browsers such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox (some of the
most used browsers) to connect to the Web server. Browsers work by using a unique protocol
known as the HTTP which demands a particular programmed text from the web server. The text
is actually written in HTML format that informs the browser on how it will display the text on the
user's screen. Different technical terms are used in explaining how the Web works. One of the
most important terms to know is the uniform resource locators (URLS) which is sorted as the
internet address. A URL contains four parts, namely the protocol identifier which indicates the
protocol to use, the domain name which specifies the IP address where the resource is located,
the path, and the file name (Mitchell, 2017).
Searching for Information on the Web
A website is maintained by its owner, called a web administrator. The owner can modify the
website content as well as add new information in it. However, no single organization controls
additions, deletions, and changes to all websites. This means there is no single repository for all
the websites found on the internet. Several companies, however, maintain organized directories
of websites to help people find information about specific topics (Shelly, Cashma, & Vermaat,
2011).
There are two mainly managed search tools that people use in locating information on the
web: subject directories and search engines. Subject directories are developed and maintained
by human editors and not by electronic spiders or robots that are used to fetch web pages
automatically. A search engine, on the other hand, uses small programs called spiders or bots
(like Googlebot, Yahoo Slurp, and MSNbot) that polish the internet, follow links, and return
information to the search engine's indicator.
If you enter a phrase with spaces between the words in the search text, most search engines
return links to pages that include all of the words. There are several techniques that can be used
to improve web searches such as:
●
Using specific words and placing the most important terms first in the search text or phrase
●
Using quotation marks to create exact phrases-this helps the search engine find what it is
looking for by using the exact sequence of words
●
Listing all possible spellings, for example, organization and organisation
In addition to searching for web pages, many search engines allow searching for images,
news articles, and various reports in different formats.
One of the most popular search engines now is Google. Below is an overview of some of the
most useful Google search tricks released in 2016, from basic tips to new features.
1. Use quotes to search for an exact phrase - By typing in double-quotes (") at the start
and end for a certain word or phrase, Google will provide the exact word or phrasing you
need.
2. Use an asterisk within quotes to specify unknown or variable words - the asterisk
symbol () will provide possibilities. It is helpful, for example, if you are trying to determine
a song from its lyrics, but you forgot some of the words or if you are trying to complete a
sentence, but could not remember what it was.
3. Use the minus sign to eliminate results containing certain words - While the asterisk
gives you possibilities, the minus sign (-) eliminates results of certain words. Just type the
minus sign prior to the word you do not want to include in the search.
4. Search websites for keywords - You can specify certain content, format, or files you
want Google search to provide. For instance, if you want to specifically search for PDF
files regarding a certain topic, simply type the keyword PDF followed by a colon symbol
(:) and the topic you are searching for.
5. Compare using “vs" - By using the "vs" or "versus" between two words you want to
compare, Google will provide an in-depth analysis of the two words, such as pointing out
similarities and differences.
6. Use “DEFINE:" to search for the meaning of words- slang included - The "DEFINE:"
keyword provides a dictionary definition of a word. Also, you will be able to see etymology
and a graph of its use over time.
7. Search images using images - Using your mobile device's camera, you can search for
images online by going to Google Images, activating your camera phone and taking a
picture of the image you are searching for. Google will provide you with similar images on
the web.
Additional Search Functions
Link >> https://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/20-tips-use-google-search-efficiently.html
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