Definitions for teachers by teachers

Internet

This worldwide information highway is comprised of thousands of interconnected computer networks, and reaches millions of people in many different countries. The Internet was originally developed for the United States military, and then became used for government, academic and commercial research and communications. The Internet is made up of large backbone networks (such as MILNET, NSFNET, and CREN), and smaller networks that link to them.The U.S. National Science Foundation maintains a major part of the backbone (NSFNET). The Internet functions as a gateway for electronic mail between various networks and online services.The World Wide Web facility on the Internet makes possible almost instantaneous exchange of information by linking documents around the world. Internet computers use the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol).

There are over six million hosts on the Internet: mainframes, minicomputers or workstations that support the Internet Protocol. The Internet is connected to computer networks worldwide that use various message formats and protocols; gateways convert these formats between networks so that the Internet functions as one big network. UNIX utilities such as FTP, Archie, Telnet, Gopher and Veronica have been widely used to access the Internet. The Internet sometimes appears to be amorphous and unregulated, but there are several administrative bodies: the Internet Architecture Board, which oversees technology and standards; the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, which assigns numbers for ports and sockets, etc.; InterNIC, which assigns Internet addresses; the Internet Engineering and Planning Group, Internet Engineering Steering Group, and the Internet Society.

by Constanza Bacca & Pedro Willging

Internet

(1) A large network made up of a number of smaller networks.

(2) (Internet) "The" Internet is made up of more than 65 million computers in more than 100 countries covering commercial, academic and government endeavors.  Originally developed for the U.S. military, the Internet became widely used for academic and commercial research. Users had access to unpublished data and journals on a huge variety of subjects. Today, the Internet has become commercialized into a worldwide information highway, providing information on every subject known to humankind.

The Internet's surge in growth in the latter half of the 1990s was twofold. As the major online services (AOL, CompuServe, etc.) connected to the Internet for e-mail exchange, the Internet began to function as a central gateway. A member of one service could finally send mail to a member of another. The Internet glued the world together for electronic mail, and today, the Internet mail protocol is the world standard.

Secondly, with the advent of graphics-based Web browsers such as Mosaic and Netscape Navigator, and soon after, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the World Wide Web took off. The Web became easily available to users with PCs and Macs rather than only scientists and hackers at UNIX workstations. Delphi was the first proprietary online service to offer Web access, and all the rest followed. At the same time, new Internet service providers rose out of the woodwork to offer access to individuals and companies. As a result, the Web has grown exponentially providing an information exchange of unprecedented proportion. The Web has also become "the" storehouse for drivers, updates and demos that are downloaded via the browser.

Although daily news and information is now available on countless Web sites, long before the Web, information on a myriad of subjects was exchanged via Usenet (User Network) newsgroups. Still thriving, newsgroup articles can be selected and read directly from your Web browser. See Usenet.  

 Chat rooms provide another popular Internet service. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) offers multi-user text conferencing on diverse topics. Dozens of IRC servers provide hundreds of channels that anyone can log onto and participate in via the keyboard.  See Internet Relay Chat.  

The Original Internet
The backbone of the Internet was originally a series of high-speed links between major supercomputer sites and educational and research institutions within the U.S. and throughout the world. A major part of it was the NFSNet, managed by the U.S.  National Science Foundation. In 1995, large commercial Internet providers (ISPs), such as MCI, Sprint and UUNET, took responsibility for the Internet backbones and have increasingly enhanced their capacities. Regional ISPs link into these backbones to provide lines for their subscribers, and smaller ISPs hook either directly into the  national backbones or into the regional ISPs.  

Internet computers use the TCP/IP communications protocol. There are more than 20 million hosts on the Internet, a host being a mainframe, mini, workstation or high-end PC that is online via TCP/IP. The Internet is also connected to all types of computer networks worldwide through gateways that convert TCP/IP into other protocols.  

Although most new users interact with the Internet via their Web browsers, for years, command-line UNIX utilities have been used. For example, an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program allows files to be downloaded, and the Archie utility provides listings of these files. Telnet is a terminal emulation program that lets you log onto a computer in the Internet and run a program. Gopher provides hierarchical menus describing Internet files (not just file names), and Veronica lets you make more sophisticated searches on Gopher sites. See FTP, Archie, Telnet, Gopher and Veronica.

 Ironically, some of the original academic and scientific users of the Internet are developing their own network once again. The Internet is so jammed these days that they no longer enjoy the quick access they were used to (see Internet2). See World Wide Web, how to search the Web, intranet, NAP, hot topics and trends, IAB, information superhighway and online services.

It Has Gone Commercial
There has been more activity, excitement and hype over the Internet than any other computer or communications topic that was ever conceived. Using the World Wide Web, thousands of companies, from conglomerates to mom and pop shops, are trying to figure out how to make the Internet a worldwide shopping mall. Will it become "the" model for commerce in the 21st Century? Will traffic bog down like the Los Angeles freeway? Or, will it just become one more option for doing business in a world rich with choices? Stay tuned!

How the Internet Is Connected Small Internet service providers (ISPs) hook into regional ISPs, which themselves link into major backbones that traverse the U.S. connecting major metropolitan areas.  This diagram shows what a typical national backbone might look like as well as a county and state provider. While local ISPs may offer services only within their county, regional providers often span state lines.

by Steve Ramsdell

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