Lesson 10
Internet
Fig. 10.1. Internet
Before the Internet, when you needed to find
information for an English paper, you had to go to
the public library, look through a bunch of drawers
that had information written on cards and filed in
the drawers in alphabetical order. The cards had
numbers which you had to write down on scraps
of paper, and then you had to go to the rows and
rows of bookshelves to find the book you needed. Maybe the book you needed wasn’t
even in the library, and you had to wait for it to come back. And when you finally got all
the books you needed for your research, the information in them was really old. When
you stop and think about it, your research paper would have taken three to four weeks
to
research and write about outdated
information.
With the
research
hours to
you write
date
invention of the Internet, your
paper may take only three to four
research and write and the information
about will be the most current, up-tofacts.
For
some, the Internet is fun and exciting.
For others, it is complicated, frustrating and mysterious. For all, the Internet has put
information at our finger tips and made many jobs
Fig. 10.2. Library card catalog
easier and faster to complete.
Learning Outcomes
10.1
Understand how the Internet works and the differences between the Internet,
World Wide Web, and browsers.
10.2
Know the vocabulary of the Internet: domains, hyperlinks, homepages,
favorites/bookmarks, plugins, tabs, browser history, downloads, and uploads.
10.3
Explore the risks of computing and study the negative impacts on society.
10.4
Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and
technology.
10.1: Internet
Understand how the Internet works and the differences
between the Internet, World Wide Web, and browsers.
Brief History
The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite on October 4, 1957. Sputnik was an
unmanned satellite that circled the earth. This may seem like nothing to you today, but
back then it was a big deal.
Scientists in the United States had always felt superior to those in other countries until
Sputnik. Fearing the loss of their scientific superiority, US scientists went to work to
create the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPANet) in The purpose was to
have a communication system that would function even if part of the United States was
under attack. In 1969, the first four nodes (locations) came online:
•
•
•
•
The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
Stanford Research Institute (SRI)
The University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB)
The University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah
This connection of computers marks the birth of what we now call the Internet.
Developments in technology over the decades allowed data to be sent faster and to
more places. In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee developed a program that could exchange
information using uniform resource locators (URLs), hypertext transfer protocol
(HTTP), and hypertext markup language (HTML). Today, no one person or group
owns the Internet. However, the Internet is of great importance to how you live, work,
and communicate now, and in the future.
The Internet is a collection of many small,
medium, and large computer networks that are
connected for the purpose of communicating
and sharing information. When you first get on
the Internet, your computer connects to a host
computer (your ISP or Internet service
provider) that acts as the central hub of the
smaller network that you belong to. This host
computer then allows your computer access to
the rest of the Internet. Information is sent and
received by breaking it up into smaller chunks
called packets.
The following video explains how information is broken into packets and travels across
the internet. (1.33 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj6EHgSsx_U
Note: the Internet allows connection to people.
The following video explains how the Internet works. (5:37 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5oe63pOhLI
The Internet is used for many different purposes. The most common is the World Wide
Web or web, which uses a language all its own called hypertext markup language
(HTML). HTML is the set of instructions a computer uses to create the pages that you
see on your screen. When you type in a web address, your computer is requesting that
the code for the site be sent to your computer. Your computer receives the code and
then builds the page(s) according to those instructions so that you can view it.
For all of this communication to work, you must have three things: a browser, an ISP,
and an IP address.
Note: the web allows connection to information.
The following video explains how common website names are changed to IP
addresses. (4:48 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_LPdttKXPc
The following video explains the difference between the terms Internet and the Web and
gives a brief history of the Internet. (10:54 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scWj1BMRHUA
Broadband wiring is used to bring the Internet to you. Journalist Andrew Blum explains
how wiring has been placed around the world to access the Internet. (11:59 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE_FPEFpHt4
What else can we use the Internet for? The following video explains about the “Internet
of things.” (12:29 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S64s3GrZlSM
This video shows what happens in one second on the Internet:
http://onesecond.designly.com/
10.2: Vocabulary
Know the vocabulary of the Internet.
Browser
Using a software program called a browser, you can surf, search, and explore
information on the web. You can have many hours of fun traveling the world through the
Internet without ever leaving your home or office. The browser reads the HTML sent
over the World Wide Web and builds the pages so that they can be viewed. You can
easily look at the code for the web page you are viewing. In any browser, right click on
the background and choose View Source Code or View Page Source. All those words
and symbols you will see are the instructions your computer is using to build the page
you see on the screen.
There are many browsers available that are designed to help you use the Internet.
Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, and Mozilla Firefox are the
most common.
Internet Service Provider (ISP)
While a browser lets you view web pages on the Internet, an Internet service provider
(ISP) is needed for your computer to connect to the Internet itself. An ISP is a business
that provides you with a connection to a host computer which then allows you access to
the rest of the Internet through a phone line, cable, or other connection. Most ISPs
charge you a monthly fee for this service.
Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol or TCP/IP
The next piece needed to access the Internet is transmission control protocol (TCP)
and Internet protocol (IP) or TCP/IP. This communication language provides the
addressing system needed to deliver packets of information to your computer. All
computers that connect to a network (the Internet is the largest network) must have a
TCP/IP address. Data is broken up into smaller packets and the addresses of both the
sending and the receiving computer is attached to each packet. Just like mailing a
regular letter through the post office, you need a sending address and also a return
address.
An IP address contains four sets of numbers followed by periods, as you see in this
example: 207.46.197.113
Each part of the address directs the packet of data along its way from your computer,
through your network or Internet service provider, through routers, switches, servers
and finally to the destination computer.
Web Domains
IP addresses are hard to remember, so a user-friendly method was created called a
domain name. Domain names are text versions of IP addresses. You have probably
used a domain name or two when surfing the web. Here is an example of an IP address
with its domain name:
Domain Name: www.microsoft.com
IP Address: 207.46.197.113
Many businesses display their domain name in media such as TV, radio, newspaper,
magazines, and so on, for the purpose of promoting their business. Domain names are
purchased through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN,
pronounced “eye-can”). You may remember a website named www.askjeeves.com. A
few years ago, the owners of Ask Jeeves decided to sell their business. The new
owners purchased the business and then decided to change the name of the business.
A new domain name was purchased. Today the business is known as www.ask.com.
Ask.com is a well-known search engine. You will learn about search engines in lesson
14.
DNS
A domain name service/system or DNS is a computer server responsible for taking
the common domain name that users enter into the browser and finding the IP address.
This video explains a little more about how DNS works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72snZctFFtA (6:03 minutes)
“Because domain names are alphabetic, they’re easier to remember. The Internet
however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, a DNS
service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. . . . The DNS
system is, in fact, its own network. If one DNS server doesn’t know how to translate a
particular domain name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct IP address is
returned” (Beal, 2015).
Did you notice the .com on the end of the domain name? It means commercial: the site
is part of a business, which is set up to make money. Domain names are grouped
according to their primary function or business. Check out the common domain groups
below:
Domain
Description
Purpose
.com
commercial
to make money
.edu
education
to teach
.org
organization
to inform or persuade
.net
network
to inform or persuade
.gov
government
to inform
.mil
military
to inform
.tv
media
to entertain
.int
international
world organization
Originally, the common domain groups were considered all that people would ever use.
Recently, the Internet has become so vast that additional domain names needed to be
created. You may have already seen some of these.
New Domain Groups
Domain
Description
Purpose
.aero
airlines
travel information
.biz
business
to inform, to sell
.coop
business
to inform, to sell
.info
general use
to inform, to sell
.museum museums
to inform
.name
personal
to inform, to sell
.pro
professionals to inform, to sell
The country domains were added about the same time as the new domain groups. This
gives people and businesses the opportunity to identify themselves with a specific
country.
Country Domains
Domain Country
Domain Country
.au
Australia
.nl
Netherlands
.br
Brazil
.no
Norway
.ca
Canada
.za
South Africa
.fr
France
.se
Sweden
.il
Israel
.tw
Taiwan
.it
Italy
.us
United States
.kr
Korea
HTTP
The hypertext transfer protocol provides rules for exchanging files such as music,
movies, images and text.
HTML
The hypertext markup language is the programming code used to display web pages.
URL
The URL box (sometimes called the address bar) accepts the user-friendly domain
name and searches for the web pages requested. URL means uniform resource
locator. This is the final piece needed to access pages on the Internet.
There are several parts to a URL. Let’s take a look at the BYU Independent Study URL:
http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/index.cfm
Protocol
Domain name
Path
Web page name
http://
ce.byu.edu
/is/site/
index.cfm
The first part of the URL, called the protocol (in this case, http://), are the rules for
exchanging files, images, sound, and so forth, on the web. The domain name (in this
case ce.byu.edu), is the user-friendly text address, and, as you can see by the .edu, this
address belongs to an educational institution.
The next section in the URL is the path on the BYU server where the file is located. In
this case, /is indicates a folder or directory and /site indicates another folder or directory.
Finally, the file for the BYU Independent Study homepage is /index.cfm.
Homepage
A homepage is the location that your browser goes to every time you first access the
Internet. This is called the default homepage. When you open your browser your default
homepage is normally set to your ISP’s homepage. You can change your default
homepage by selecting Tools from your Menu Bar and choosing Internet Options and
then typing a new address in the homepage box.
A website is normally made up of many different pages. Usually the first page you go to
is the website’s homepage. It contains general information about the website, such as
the name, the owner or creator, the copyright date or the date the site was last updated,
hyperlinks to other pages within the site or links to other websites, and a site map or
index. From the homepage, you can explore the site by using the links provided.
Hyperlink
A hyperlink is a URL that will take you to another web page within the site or to a
completely new website. When you click on a hyperlink, the web page that it refers to is
displayed in the URL address window. Depending on your browser settings and the kind
of link it is, the new website will open in either your current browser window, a new
browser window, or a new tab.
When you mouse over a hyperlink in a web page, the mouse pointer changes to a hand
letting you know that it is a hyperlink. Some hyperlinks are pictures, some are buttons,
and some display text in color.
Another tool to help you navigate web pages and accomplish tasks is the toolbar.
Broadband
The broadband is the amount of information a connection is capable of carrying,
measured in bits per second. As fast as hardware and wiring is when accessing the
Internet or data over a network, the system can get overloaded. As companies grow,
the network should grow with it, but sometimes this is easier said than done because of
cost of resources and cost of manpower to update and maintain a computer network.
Toolbar
The toolbar has buttons for tasks that are most common. Mouse over the buttons to see
what each does. Here are some of the common functions between browsers:
The Stop button is used to stop an action. For example, if you have typed in a URL and
then decide not to go there, click the stop button on the toolbar to stop the action and
remain where you are.
The Back button is used to return to the previous web page. If you keep clicking it, it will
continue to take you to the previous page until you are eventually at your home page
where your searching began. The forward button is used if you want to move forward in
the list of sites you have visited.
The Refresh button is used to display the current screen again. Use this button if an
error message appears, if the page is slow to display, or if the page did not load
completely. Most of the time the Refresh button helps, but there are times when it does
not. When the page does not refresh, it could be that the owner of the website you are
trying to go to is doing maintenance on the site. Try the website again at a later time.
The Home button is used when you want to quickly go to your default homepage.
The Print button is used when you want to print the page. Sometimes pressing the print
button will only cause the advertisements or the page menus to print. Using the Print
Preview option will show you what you are about to print before you actually do it. You
may have to select the desired text, copy it, and paste it into a word processing
document, then print.
The History button is used when you want to see a history of sites that you have
previously visited. This history is kept for several weeks. New addresses are added to
the list and the oldest ones are bumped off the list.
Favorites
Your browser will keep track of your favorite websites and organize them for you. Some
browsers call this process “bookmarking.” In your favorites or bookmarks list you can
create folders and store URLs for quick access the next time you want to go to that
website. Use the instructions below to learn how to add to your favorites list.
History
Browsers will show the history or a list of all the websites recently visited. This is called
the browsing history. Browsers will keep this information until new websites are visited
and the old history is dropped from the list.
Cookies
Cookies are small software codes that are downloaded to a computer’s hard drive by a
website. Some cookies are used to store passwords. Some cookies allow users to place
items in shopping carts. Other cookies track the websites visited, sending information
back to the website which then sends advertisements directed to your interests. Many
cookies residing on your hard drive can slow your computer down. And some cookies
can contain inappropriate content that may pop up on your computer.
Web Bug
Web bugs are HTML code found on web pages or in e-mail messages that will track
your movements and silently collect data of your travels on the Internet. Some bugs will
even let the creator of the bug read your e-mail messages.
Spyware
From dictionary.com: (1) Spyware is software that secretly gathers information about a
person or organization. (2) Any malicious software that is designed to take partial or full
control of a computer’s operation without the knowledge of its user.
10.3: Risks
Explore the risks of computing and study the negative
impacts on society.
Whenever users connect to a network or the Internet, there are a variety of risks:
Privacy Attacks
Privacy attacks include risks to data such as personal information in the form of stolen
passwords, e-mail accounts, bank accounts, social security numbers, credit card
information, medical records, and even tracking the websites you like to visit through the
use of cookies.
Integrity Attacks
Integrity attacks include risks to hardware, software, and peripheral devices through
known problems in the software code for the hardware or device.
Denial-of-Service Attacks
Denial-of-service attacks include risks to employee productivity by preventing the use of
computer equipment or the Internet through massive email delivery (called spam), virus
attacks, or filling up the hard drive preventing user files from being saved.
“Risk management is the process of weighing threats to computer data and the cost of
protecting crucial data” (Parsons, 2002).
10.4: Responsible Use
Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of
information and technology.
Many sources have developed the Ten Commandments for computer users. The list
below is from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments_of_Computer_Ethics
1.
Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.
2.
Thou shalt not interfere with other people's computer work.
3.
Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's computer files.
4.
Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.
5.
Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness
6.
Thou shalt not copy or use proprietary software for which you have not paid.
7.
Thou shalt not use other people's computer resources without authorization or
proper compensation.
8.
Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual output.
9.
Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you are writing or
the system you are designing.
10.
Thou shalt always use a computer in ways that ensure consideration and respect
for your fellow humans.
Because the subject of safe practices and computer ethics is extremely important and
laws have been enacted to govern the use of computers and the Internet, more about
legal and responsible use will be covered in lesson 12.