INTERNET

I N T E R N E T A N D T H E W O R L D W I D E W E B

The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link billions of devices worldwide.

HISTORY (DEVELOPMENT) OF THE INTERNET

The Internet was started by the U.S Department of Defense in 1969 as a network of 4 computers called ARPANET. Its aim was to connect a set of computers operated by several Universities and Scientists doing military research so as to enable them share research data.

The original network grew as more computers were added to it. By 1974, 62 computers were already attached.

In 1983, the Internet split into 2 parts; one dedicated exclusively (solely/only) to military installations (called Milnet), and the other dedicated to university research (called the Internet), with around 1,000 host computers.

In 1985, the Canadian government developed the BITNET to link all the Canadian Universities, and also provided connections into the U.S Internet.

In 1986, the U.S National Service Foundation created NSFNET to connect leading U.S universities. By the end of 1987, there were 10,000 host computers on the Internet and 1,000 on BITNET.

In 1987, the National Science Foundation leased (acquired/rent) high-speed circuits to build a new high- speed backbone for NSFNET. In 1988, it connected 13 regional internal networks containing 170 LAN‘s and

56,000 host computers.

The Canadian Research Council followed in 1989, replacing BITNET with a high-speed network called

CA*net that used the Internet protocols. By the end of

1989, there were almost 200,000 host computers on the combined U.S and Canadian Internet.

Similar initiatives (plans/projects) were undertaken by other countries in the world, such that by the early 1990s, most of the individual country networks were linked together into one worldwide network of networks.

Each of these individual country networks was different

(i.e., each had its own name, access rules, and fees structure), but all the networks used the same standard as the U.S Internet network. So, users could easily exchange messages with each other.

By 1990s, the differences among the networks in each of the countries had disappeared, and the U.S name; Internet began to be used to mean the entire worldwide system of networks that used the Internet TCP/IP protocols.

ADVANTAGES OF USING THE INTERNET

·   Unlimited Communication

The Internet has made it easy for people to communicate with others because it is cheap

and convenient. Services such as Skype have helped people from geographically segmented countries to interact and share ideas. The Internet acts as common global platform where people explore ideologies and cultures without limitation.

·   Abundant Information and Resources

The Internet is swamped with information about anything and everything. There are multiple search engines that have made it easier for Internet users to find information. For example, it is now common for people to look for free advice from the Internet on all sorts of issues. The premise here is that whatever problem you are experiencing, someone somewhere has experienced it and probably solved it. You can also get the latest news, breakthroughs in all fields including medicine and even research publications at the click of a button. The

Internet is basically a globally accessible

repository of knowledge, and the best part is everyone gets to chip in.

·   Easy Sharing

With the Internet, sharing information is fast and seamless. Using social media sites such as Facebook, whatsapp or an IM app allow instant multi-sharing of files like pictures, music, videos etc.

·   Online Services and E-commerce

Today it is possible to carry out financial transactions online. You can transfer funds, pay taxes and utility bills or book movie tickets over the Internet in the comfort of your office or home. The growth of e-commerce has made it possible for people to shop for most things online. This has seen the emergence of retail giants such as Olx, Amazon, Ebay and Alibaba which sell consumer goods globally.

·   Entertainment

This is one of the major reasons why many people enjoy surfing the Internet – entertainment. You can watch movies, listen to music, read your favorite celebrity gossip columns and play games over the Internet. The Internet has become a mammoth amusement park that never closes.

DISADVANTAGES OF USING THE INTERNET

·   Spam Mail

Spamming is the sending of unwanted and useless emails to random people. These emails obstruct the recipient needlessly. They are illegal and can cause frustration because they make it hard for people to access their email accounts. Bots are used to bombard your inbox

with endless advertisements. This is quite perplexing as it always gets mixed up with important emails. Luckily, most email service providers have a security system in place to prevent spam emails from going to your inbox. All emails that are deemed suspicious get their email ID or IP address blocked or sent to the Spam folder.

·   Virus, Trojan & Other Malware

These are malicious programs that attack a computer with the sole intent of causing harm. They can make the computer malfunction or even this can be very costly especially if you lose important data. Worse yet is the fact that you can easily fall victim to malicious software by clicking on a link on the Internet that appears genuine

·   Leakage of Private Information

The fact that the Internet has become a market place has also seen a rise in fraud cases; Credit/debit card details are particularly vulnerable. This calls for extreme caution when transacting online. Make sure to use a reliable payment processor instead of sending your details directly to an individual or business.

·   Addiction to Internet

Just like everything else, people also get addicted to the Internet. This may sound bizarre, but some people spend more than their

fair amount of time on the Internet. This affects their social interactions a great deal. Internet addiction has been known to be a major cause of obesity and has, in some cases, led to some diseases like carpal tunnel syndrome.

·   Kids Exposed to Adults-Only Content

The fact that Internet has all information you could ever need is both a good thing and a bad thing. This is because it contains age- inappropriate content like pornography. Unfortunately, such content can be accessed by children.

Requirements needed to access the internet

·   A computer

·    A modem and telephone line (if you are using dial up access)

A data line of some sort (if you are not using dial up access)

·    An Internet browser (software) and software to connect you to the ISP

·   An account with an Internet Service Provider

(ISP)

MODEM (MODULATOR-DEMODULATOR)

A modem is a network device that both modulates and demodulates analog carrier signals (called sine waves) for encoding and decoding digital information for processing. Modems accomplish both of these tasks simultaneously and, for this reason, the term modem is a combination of “modulate” and “demodulate.”

The Modem is necessary if you are using a telephone line to access the Internet. In simple terms, it translates the language that computers talk into a language that can travel across the phone lines, and vice versa. This process of converting a digital signal to an analog signal is known

as modulation. On the receiving end, the incoming analog signal is converted back to digital form in a process

demodulation.

ISP – INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER

An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization

that provides services for accessing and using the Internet. Examples of ISPs in Uganda include: Africell Uganda, MTN Uganda, Uganda Telecom, Jollis telecom, Infocom etc. Internet services typically provided by ISPs include:

·   Internet access

·    Internet transit: Internet transit is the service of allowing network traffic to cross a computer network, usually used to connect a smaller Internet service provider (ISP) to the larger Internet.

·    Domain name registration: A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System (DNS). Any name registered in the DNS is a domain name.

Domain names are used in various networking contexts and application-specific naming and

addressing purposes. In general, a domain name

represents an Internet Protocol (IP) resource, such as a personal computer used to access the Internet, a server computer hosting a web site, or the web site itself or any other service communicated via the Internet. In 2015, 294 million domain names had been registered.

·    Web hosting: A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web.

·    Usenet service: Usenet is a collection of user- submitted notes or messages on various subjects that are posted to servers on a worldwide network. Each subject collection of posted notes is known as a newsgroup.

·    Colocation: A colocation centre (also spelled co- location) is a type of data centre where equipment, space, and bandwidth are available for rental to retail customers. They are sometimes also referred to as “carrier hotels.” Colocation facilities provide

space, power, cooling, and physical security for the server, storage, and networking equipment of other firms—and connect them to a variety of telecommunications and network service providers—with a minimum of cost and complexity.

Factors to consider when choosing an ISP

1)  Price: choose the best ISP with the best rates and terms and conditions

2)  Support Services / Customer care: Clarify how

support is offered – 24 hours a day? 7 days a week? Is this done through a premium rate phone number?

3)  Speed/Performance: Whether you‘re paying for a high-speed connection or just using dial-up, you should check the ISP‘s track record for such things as uptime, downstream and overall throughput. For example, even when using 56- Kbps dial-up modems, you can often only

connect at 28.8 Kbps or 33.3 Kbps because of the

modems used at the ISP.

4)  Availability: You should check the services of your ISP because not all services are available on all locations especially the Wireless access services (Wi-Fi). Cables are also limited especially in rural places.

5)  Restrictions of use: Check for limits on amount of information you can download, or

transferability of package to either personal or business use.

6)  Email or Web Browser Advertising: Does the service include advertising at the bottom of your

e-mails? Does the ISP insert any advertising or solicitation material on your web browser? Services that require you to download their software (other than a dialer configuration) will often alter your browser to be able to serve ads to you as you surf.

7)  Equipment flexibility: Some ISPs enable customers to supply their own modems. Take advantage of these opportunities, as supplying your own network equipment not only allows you to select the quality you want but potentially lowers costs, too. Occasionally, ISPs lease modems to customers

8)  Equipment quality: ISPs often don’t provide a choice of modem; they just deploy the model they support. When comparing two ISPs’ bids, consider the quality of each firm’s equipment. The less time an IT pro must spend on site administering, reconfiguring, or restarting network equipment, the better.

BROWSER

A web browser (commonly referred to as a browser) is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI/URL) and may be a web page, image, video or other piece of content. Hyperlinks present in resources enable users easily to navigate their browsers to related resources.

Although browsers are primarily intended to use the World Wide Web, they can also be used to access information provided by web servers in private networks or files in file systems.

The major web browsers are Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, and Safari.

Features common to web browsers

Most major web browsers have these user interface elements in common:

·    Back and forward buttons to go back to the previous resource and forward respectively.

·    A refresh or reload button to reload the current resource.

·    A stop button to cancel loading the resource. In some browsers, the stop button is merged with the

reload button.

·   A home button to return to the user’s home page.

·    An address bar to input the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the desired resource and display it.

·    A search bar to input terms into a web search engine. In some browsers, the search bar is merged with the address bar.

·    A status bar to display progress in loading the resource and also the URI of links when the cursor

hovers over them, and page zooming capability.

·    The viewport, the visible area of the webpage within the browser window.

·   The ability to view the HTML source for a page.

·   Bookmark features: A bookmark is a Uniform

Resource Identifier (URI) that is stored for later retrieval in any of various storage formats.

UNIFORM RESOURCE LOCATOR (URL)

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), commonly informally termed a web address is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it.

A typical URL could have the form http://www.schoolsuganda.com/index.html, which indicates

Ø  A protocol (http),

Ø  A hostname (www. schoolsuganda.com),

Ø  A file name (index.html).

SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE INTERNET

1.  World Wide Web (WWW): The World Wide

Web is an information space where documents and other web resources are identified by URLs, interlinked by hypertext links, and can be accessed

via the Internet.

2.  Telnet

3.  File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

4.  Chat Groups: Internet provides the facility to Internet users to chat (talk) with people online all over the world. Different programs like MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, AOL online, Skype, whatsapp etc. are available for chatting on the Internet. Chat rooms allow the users to participate

in a chat on the Internet. A chat room is any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even

asynchronous conferencing that involves sharing

information via text with a group of other users.

5.  Cloud Computing: the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer.

6.  E-Mail (Electronic Mail): An E-mail is a message distributed by electronic means from one computer user to one or more recipients via a network.

Parts of an e-mail

a)   Message Header

The message headers contain information concerning the sender and recipients. The exact content of mail headers can vary depending on the email system that generated the message. Generally, headers contain the following information:

·       To: The email address(es), and optionally name(s) of the message’s recipient(s). Indicates primary recipients (multiple

allowed), for secondary recipients see Cc: and

Bcc: below.

·       Cc: Carbon Copy; Secondary recipients, all other recipients of that message can see that person you designated as a cc: recipient.

·       Subject: A brief summary of the topic of the message.

·       Bcc: Blind carbon copy to tertiary recipients who receive the message. The primary and

secondary recipients cannot see the tertiary recipients.

·     Sender: Address of the actual sender acting on

behalf of the author listed in the From: field

b)   Message body: The body of a message contains text that is the actual content. The message body also may include signatures or automatically

generated text that is inserted by the sender’s email system

Advantages of using E-mail Communication

·   It‘s free, once you‘re online, there is no further

expense.

·   Easy to reference

Sent and received messages and attachments can be stored safely, logically and reliably. It’s a lot easier to organize emails than paper.

·   Easy to use

Once you‘re set up, sending and receiving

messages is simple. That goes for a host of other email functions like spell checkers. Data storage and contacts can be accessed quickly and easily.

·   Easy to prioritize

Incoming messages have subject lines that mean you can delete without opening. How much time does that save compared to ‗snail mail?‘

·   Speed

Emails are delivered extremely fast when compared to traditional post

·   Environment friendly

Computers themselves aren‘t ‘green’, but email

offsets some of the damage by reducing the environmental cost of contact. Postal mails use paper as a medium to send letters. Electronic mail thus, saves a lot of trees from being axed. It also saves fuel needed in transportation.

·   Leverage

Send the same message to any number of people. Adaptations are simple, too. If you have a product or service to sell, email is an effective medium to get your message out.

Disadvantages of using email communication

·    The recipient needs access to the Internet to receive email.

·    Viruses are easily spread via email attachments (most email providers scan emails for viruses on your behalf).

·    Phishing – sending an email to a user falsely claiming to be a legitimate company to scam the

user into providing information, such as personal information and bank account numbers on a fake

website. The details will then be used for identity

theft.

·    No guarantee the mail will be read until the user logs on and checks their email.

·   Spam – unsolicited email, i.e. junk mail.

Email etiquette

When using email, use these basic rules to help you to

gain respect of other online users:

   Do not type using all capital letters – this is read as shouting in an email.

   Do not leave the subject line blank.

   Do not use coloured text and backgrounds. These are more difficult to read and can take up a lot of space in an email inbox.

   When sending a number of people the same email use ‗bcc‘ rather than ‗cc‘ as it protects their email addresses from being passed on and reduces the chance of them getting junk mail.

   Do not forward chain letters and similar types of email as these can take up valuable space in an email inbox.

   Do not give out any personal details like phone numbers, passwords, bank account details, etc. in emails.

   Email communication is private. In most countries, you are likely to be breaking the law if you post the

content of an email to you in a public place without

the sender‘s permission.

  Compress or zip email attachments where possible before sending them. This will allow larger documents or other files to be sent quickly and take up less storage space in the inbox.

Watch the video below to learn more about how the internet works