The Internet: A NonTechnical, NonScientific Introduction

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The Internet A Non-Technical, Non-Scientific
Introduction

• LIB 120
• Amanda Izenstark

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What is the Internet?

• The Internet as we know it today was made
  possible by a series of events, some
  governmental, some individual.

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Where did the Internet come from?

• 1940s 1950s US government and technology
  companies started building and improving
  computers
• Eisenhower and the Defense Department established
  the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)

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Where did the Internet come from?

• ARPA planned an information sharing network that
  would allow access to information in the event of
  a national emergency
• 1969 ARPA developed ARPANET, an experimental
  network connecting four universities UCLA,
  Stanford, UCSB, and Utah

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Where did the Internet come from?

• In the 1970s, new sites (mostly research
  universities) were added to this network at the
  rate of about 1 site per month.
• In 1977, a message is sent from California to
  London to Virginia, to show that the network
  could be international.

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The Non-Government Side...

• 1970s 1980s
• People started getting more computers, at work
  and at home
• This led to the development of USENET, a network
  which originated as a place where UNIX users
  could share information.
• This also led to the development of the BBS --
  Bulletin Board System.

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The Non-Government Side

• Hobbyists (and sometimes companies) would set up
  a BBS -- a place for people to post information,
  files, and sometimes chat.
• To use a BBS, you would use your modem to call
  another computer. That computer may have had
  only one incoming line, or many

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The BBS

• But in many cases, that was it.
• You could dial up a computer, then browse,
  upload, and/or download files on that computer,
  maybe chat with a couple of other users
• But it was otherwise a dead end.

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The BBS

• And, oh, it was S L O W
• Todays dial-up speed 56k, or 56,000 characters
  per second.
• Back then 300 baud, or 300 characters per
  second.
• There no pictures, just text.
• If you wanted a picture, you downloaded it
  individually, and it didnt even look that good.

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NSFNET

• National Science Foundation stepped in with
  NSFNET in 1989.
• This linked even more institutions, and took over
  from ARPANET.
• Non-commercial, government funded network.

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NSFNET

• The NSF provided the foundation of the Internet.
• The majority of institutions involved were
  universities and military research facilities.
• Primarily US, but then Finland, Canada, Japan,
  Israel connected to the network
• And there were no ads. (It was illegal!)

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1990s

• BBSs and other small networks are linking to the
  Internet.
• 1995 The government stops funding the Internet.
• Commercial funding takes over.
• And the ads and spam start spreading

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What about the World Wide Web?

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Inventing the Web

• In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, a researcher in Europe,
  came up with the idea of linking documents to
  other documents at places they had in common.
• This would create webs of information.
• The Web became a reality a few years later

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Hypertext

• The invention of Hypertext Transfer Protocol
  allowed users to follow links to relevant
  information wherever it was located.
• Think of text as just words on a page. Hypertext
  are words that take you beyond the page.

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Web-like things before the Web

• Gopher -- a system of menus and links developed
  at the University of Minnesota
• Archie -- An archive of Gopher menus
• Finger -- a simple way of seeing if someone was
  online, or checking to see if the soda in the
  machine at Carnegie Mellon was cold.

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How does the Web work?

• Web pages are stored on computers called
  servers.
• You type an address or click on a link to a
  document.
• Your computer sends your address and a signal to
  your destination to see if the server is on and
  responding.

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How does the Web work?

• If yes, your computer downloads a page of
  information, and stores it on your machine until
  your cache (memory) is filled.
• This allows you to view the page on your
  computer.

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How does the Web work?

• When your cache is filled, old stuff gets booted
  out in favor of new material.
• Keep in mind that your cache and history contain
  information of where youve surfed -- and people
  using your computer can get to that information,
  too.

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Parts of a Web Address / URL

• Transfer protocol
• Domain Top Level Domain
• Directory / Subdirectory
• File
• Format

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URLs

• URL stands for
• The URL is the address that a web page uses, and
  it may be words (most common, and easier to
  remember!) or a series of numbers, called an IP
  address.
• If it werent for domain names, wed have to
  remember the numbers!

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Transfer Protocols

• These are some ways of using the Internet
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol http//
• This transfers web pages
• File Transfer Protocol ftp//
• Transfers files from one computer to another
• Telnet telnet//
• Allows a user to log in to another computer system

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Transfer Protocols, contd.

• Newsgroups news//
• Used to post messages to a newsgroup
• Gopher gopher//
• Allows you to access Gopher servers (if you can
  find one!)

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Domain Name

• Sometimes known as the server or host.
• The computer where the Web page is stored.
• www.uri.edu is the URI domain.

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The Top Level Domain

• The far right part of the domain name
• .edu
• .mil
• .gov
• .com
• .ca
• .uk

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The Top Level Domain, contd.

• These are less clear-cut...
• .org
• Used to be non-profit organizations, now can be
  used by nearly anyone.
• .net
• Used to be Internet providers, now can be used by
  nearly anyone.

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More TLDs

• In November 2000, ICANN voted to create new
  domains to meet demand, including
• .biz businesses
• .name individuals
• .museum museums
• .pro professionals

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Directory / Subdirectory

• These are the files that the page youre viewing
  are stored in.
• www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/index.html
  
• The page that lists the Reference Databases is
  stored in the library and reference databases
  directory.

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File / Format

• The file is the last bit of the URL.
• If its a Web page, it ends in .htm or .html
• Other formats include
• .mp3 audio file
• .jpg , .gif graphic file / picture
• .pdf Adobe Portable Document

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For More Information

• Cerf, Vinton. History of the Internet.
  http//www.isoc.org/internet/history/cerf.shtml
• Internet Society. Histories of the Internet.
  http//www.isoc.org/internet/history/index.shtml
• Templeton, Brad. Origin of the Term spam to
  mean net abuse. http//www.templetons.com/brad/sp
  amterm.html
• Spam Celebrates Silver Jubilee. BBC News,
  5/4/2003. http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/29
  96319.stm