 Internet Basics I
Fulton County Public Library
Mobile Digital Media Lab
Basic Concepts
 What is the Internet?
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A network of computers around the world,
used to share ideas and information
 What is it used for?
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Finding information
Sharing information
Cat pictures :)
 What is “information”?
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Any file on your computer
Why Internet?
 Free and Open (relatively speaking)
 Constantly Changing/Updating
 Communication Tool eMail, Instant Messaging (IM)/Chat, VoIP, Blogs
 Entertainment
 Case by case basis:
Does the benefit outweigh the cost?
Internet: Diversion or Tool?
Some people just use the web for fun
Others make their living on the web
Others still buy things online
People use it to connect to others, to
share ideas/work together
 The Internet is everywhere!
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 Not just home PCs; laptops, cell phones,
tablets, other portable devices
Web browsers
 What is a web browser?
A web browser is a computer program which
allows you to view web pages located on other
peoples’ computers/servers
Ex.: Internet Explorer, FireFox, Google Chrome
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 How does the internet work?
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A person creates a web site and shares it on their
computer
Another person (you) types the address of that
website into the address bar of their web browser
The web browser reads & displays the web page
History of Internet
 A (brief) History
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1950’s - a message was sent from a computer at UCLA to a
2nd computer at Stanford.
Early 1960s - ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency
Network) [limited to military sites and universities]
Late 70’s Early 80’s - BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) which were
the precursor to modern Forums websites
Dec. 1974 - “Internet” is coined as shortening of
“internetworking”
1982 - Domain Name Servers are created, allowing for “.com”
names instead of strings of numbers
1986 - NSFNET sets up the first 56k (“modern” dialup) internet
1989 - Europe’s internal internet goes global
1989 - CompuServe is first to offer consumer internet
History of Internet 2
 Modern History
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1989
1989
1990
1991
1993
1994
1995
1996
1998
2003
2004
2008
– AOL offers largest “walled garden” internet service
- “The World”: first commercial dialup
- The outdated ARPANET is decommisioned
- WorldWideWeb: world’s first web browser
- Mosaic: first browser to display images on webpages!
- Netscape Navigator (from the creators of Mosaic)
- Internet Explorer (a clone of Mosaic)
– Opera web browser
- “Mozilla open source project” allows for new browsers
– Safari: Apple’s web browser
– Mozilla Firefox
- Google Chrome
Parts of the internet/browser…
Address Bar
Menu Bar
Tab(s)
Exit
Settings
Favorites
Home
Page
Scroll
Bar
Site
Index
Text links
underlined
Pictures /
buttons
often
“clickable”
Zoom
Favorites
 Shortcuts to websites
 Also called “bookmarks”
 Remember site addresses for you in
browser
 Can be transferred to other browsers
 People are creatures of habit
 Browsers remember where you have
been for you to make it easier next time!
History
 In “View” menu, under “Explorer
Bars”
 Remembers where you have been
today, yesterday, last week, last
month, last year, etc…
 Useful for remembering sites you’ve
recently visited.
The World Wide Web, summary
 The internet is not to be feared.
 If harnessed properly, one can make
it work for and not against us…
 Practice makes perfect
 It is your portal to information and
like the public library, it is free and
open to all…