EXPLORING THE INTERNET
What is the Internet?
The Internet is the connection of millions of computers around the world into a network.. The computers are linked together or inter-connected. The Internet's primary purpose is to inter-connect net works.
Currently the Internet connects over 50 million users worldwide. No one individual, company or government owns the Internet. The Internet is composed of thousands of small networks that are independent of each other.
Internet services
Some people think that the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) are the same. However, the WWW is an application or an Internet service. Others include:
· email: electronic mail
· search engines: program that helps you to find information on the WWW
· newsgroups: way of sharing views on the Internet
· chat rooms- Internet Relay Chat (IRC): a program which allows you to chat on the Internet
· and others
Connecting to the Internet
The Internet is a network of computer networks. To get on the Internet, you need to be able to access a computer, which is part of this network.
To connect to the Internet you need the following:
· hardware
· software
· network access.
Hardware- you need a computer and a modem.
Software-
· a communication program such as the Dial-Up Networking program which comes with Microsoft Windows and
· a browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.
When you buy a new computer, you'll find these items already built into the computer. The main thing you'll need to do is shop around for network access, which is provided by numerous Internet Service Providers.
Connecting your own computer
How is your computer connected to the Internet. This picture shows how a computer is connected to the Internet. You can see two modems. The first modem belongs to the computer. The other modem belongs to the ISP.
What is the World Wide Web?
Many people confuse the Internet with the World Wide Web (WWW) but they are really different.
The Internet is a collection of linked computers.
The World Wide Web is a collection of information or web pages.
Each page may contain links to other pages of information, known as hyperlinks . Each page can contain text, graphics, buttons, animations, sounds and video.
Why use the Web?
The advantage of using the web is:
· The Web is easy to navigate (just point and click on a link)
· Web pages can be used for -
o business advertising
o educational learning materials
o documents, manuals, books etc.
· Web pages can look better than plain text.
· Web pages can be interactive.
A web page is a single text document in the web. Most web pages contain links to other web pages.
Following links to more web pages is called browsing or surfing. Browsing is fun. You go where your interests lead you.
What is a home page?
A home page is the starting page for a collection of web pages. This will usually have links to all the other web pages in this web site.
The home page is the most important web page because it is the front door to your house of information.
What is a browser?
A browser is a computer application, which lets you view and interact with web pages. There are a variety of companies that make browsers, and many are free.
The main browsers used today include:
· Netscape Navigator
· Internet Explorer.
The browser needs to be set up to communicate with the Internet. If you have Microsoft Windows you'll probably have Internet Explorer.
What is an Internet address?
It is hard to find a file on one computer!
/ Imagine how difficult it is to find information from millions of computers!Now, you can simply enter an Internet address that is called a URL ( uniform resource locator) . This address will help you find the information you require. The following is an example of an address:
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/features.htm
The URL is made up of the following parts:
http:// / the protocol usedwww.abc.net.au / the domain name
rural / the directory name
features.htm / the type of file
Getting to a Web page
To connect to a web site and web pages you need to enter the Internet address (URL) of the web site you wish to visit. In Netscape you type it into the Location field. In Internet Explorer you type the address in the Address field like this:
To change to a different web site you:
1. Move the cursor to the Address field.
2. Click (or highlight the text) in the Address field.
3. Delete whatever is in the Address field.
4. Type in the Internet address you wish to visit.
5. Press enter to start Internet Explorer getting the web page.
When Netscape Navigator Internet Explorer starts to load a web page from the Internet, you should see:
· the icon at the top right moving or
· the status bar (bottom of window) indicating some activity
· the cursor changing to a wait (hour glass) cursor.
What is a link?
When a web page is displayed in your browser, you will need to identify where you can go from here. These are links (hyperlinks) to other web pages. Hypertext is a link to more information.
When you move your cursor over the top of a hyperlink, the cursor changes to a picture of a hand.
You'll see the location of the link displayed on the status bar.
Hyperlinks are usually:
· underlined text, eg TAFE NSW
· or in a different colour.
Browsing the Internet
It is possible to follow a lot of links in a short time. The browsers have buttons that allow you to follow links more easily. For example, the Back and Forward buttons allow you to return to web pages that you were at previously.
Each time you visit a web page, its address is added to a History list. You can use the back and forward buttons to retrace your steps one at a time.
Here are a few other buttons:
Browser buttons / Used for…Reload or Refresh / If you need to have the browser get the page again.
Home / Go to the web page that is set up as the starting page for your browser.
Search / Click on this and you will be taken to a search engine.
Print / Print the current web page.
Stop / Stop the current web page from loading.
Activity 1: The World Wide Web and browsing
· Open your Internet browser and type the following addresses into the Location or Address field. Find some information of interest to you on each of the sites.
http://disney.go.com
http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au
http://www.ninemsn.com.au
Saving interesting sites
You've been surfing and have found a lot of interesting sites. You may like to come back to these sites.
There is a feature called a bookmark or favourites . This feature allows you save the address of a web page in a special list. You can access this list and go straight back to a web page without having to type the URL into the address field.
Note: Netscape uses the term ‘Bookmark' and Internet Explorer uses the term ‘Favourites'. The steps are familiar for both.
To add a site to Favourites or Bookmark
1. Open a web page that you would like to add to your Favourites list or Bookmarks.
2. Click on the Favourites or Bookmarks button. A popdown menu will appear.
3. Then select ‘Add to Favourites' or Add Bookmark' and click OK.
To use a Favourite or Bookmark
1. Click on the Favourites menu or Bookmarks button. A popdown menu will appear.
2. Then select the bookmark.
The web page will then start loading into your browser.
Activity 2: The World Wide Web and browsing
· Try the following addresses for major newspapers. Type the addresses in, browse and then when you've found a page or a section you like, try adding it to your list of bookmarks.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au
http://www.smh.com.au
Uses of various web sites
You're probably becoming aware that there are a huge variety of websites.
Activity 3: The World Wide Web and browsing
Many people use the Internet to get information. Give examples of information that people may find on the Internet.
______
People also use the Internet to carry out day-to-day tasks.
Activity 4: The World Wide Web and browsing
Think of tasks that people complete on the Internet.
______
Email is short for electronic mail .
What is email?
Email is an electronic version of sending a letter.
· You can send it at any time of the day without leaving your home or office.
· It will arrive in the receiver's mailbox minutes later, even if the receiver lives on the other side of the world. Mind you, the person still has to check their mailbox to get the message.
How does email work?
Let's think about ordinary mail. When ordinary mail is delivered to your mailbox, there is no way of knowing whether you have mail unless you check the box. It's up to you when you actually get your mail. Once you have retrieved your mail, you don't have to read it straight away. If it looks like a bill, you may want to put it aside until you feel like dealing with it!
After reading a letter, you may decide to reply to it, to file it for future reference or to throw it away. Again, what you do with it, and when is very much up to you.
This is similar to email: you need to check if you have received any new mail; you can read it when you want and you can file it, reply to it or throw it away as you wish.
Email is very, very quick. An email sent from Australia could be received on the other side of the world within hours or even minutes. But remember it is a mail system: just because your message could be read within minutes doesn't mean it will be. That's up to the person receiving your mail!
You can use email to send messages for work, to family or friends. You can also send documents, photos or other files.
All you need is an email address. The person you are sending the message to must have an email address as well.
Email addresses
When you sign up with an ISP, they will usually give you an email address..
There are a number of providers of free email on the Internet (they make their money from advertising).
These email providers are called web based email because they use the web to send email messages. You can check your email anywhere, as long as you are connected to the Internet.
An example of an email address :
JCitizen is the login name (or sign-in name ) that you have given to your email provider
hotmail.com is the address of the email server.
When you sign up for email, write down your username and your full email address. You will also have a password. Do not give this to anyone. You are the only one who should have access to your mail.
Free Internet email
You can get a free email account from a variety of web based email providers. These include:
www. start.com.au
www. hotmail.com
www. yahoo.com
www. excite.com
If you type in the Hotmail address, you will see the following Sign-in field:
If you are a new user you click on the button ‘Sign up!' and fill in the registration forms and click submit. You will be given an email account.
Make sure you remember your username and password!
Once you have an account, you can go back to the logon screen and enter your Sign-in name and password. Click the ‘Sign in' button.
Are you ready to try signing up with Hotmail now?
Activity 1: Signing up for free email
1. Go to hotmail by typing in http://www.hotmail.com in the address field and pressing enter.
2. Click ‘Sign up' link
Fill in the registration forms. Two things you must select are your login name and your password. Your logon name is what you will be known by..
3. When you have finished, click on the Submit Registration button again.
Write down the email address that has been reserved for you. Your email address will be in the form of , where login name is the name you reserved for your logon name.
To access your new email account,
1. go back to the hotmail logon page at www.hotmail.com .
2. Fill in the Sign-In name and Password fields,
3. click on the Enter button with your mouse. If you have typed them both correctly, you will see the inbox.
Searching on the Internet
The Internet holds a vast amount of information, more than you could ever read through.
Uses of the Internet
Think of all the things you do in a normal day: shopping, reading newspapers, studying, gardening, working, playing computer games, reading and sending emails etc. Many of these things and more can be done via the Internet. Let's explore the Internet to see how we can do some of these things.
Use these links to browse the Internet, to explore their different uses, like shopping. You might find a few links worth bookmarking or listing as favourites.
LinksShopping / www.woolworths.com.au
Current news (eg newspapers) / www.smh.com.au
Business / www.brw.com.au
Entertainment, movies, radio / www.hoyts.com.au
Educational course and research / www.det.nsw.edu.au
Gardening / www.yates.com.au
Job search / www.seek.com.au
Computer games / www.nintendo.com
Communication (eg email) / www.hotmail.com , www.telstra.com
Advertising / www.tradingpost.com.au
Banking / www.commbank.com.au
Internet issues
The Internet is a very fast, cheap and convenient way of giving people access to information. The Internet also lets you do many daily things such as banking.