Internet History & How it Works

• Chapter 3 is titled "Using the Internet: Making the Most of the Web's Resources"

Origin of the Internet

• The Internet is a network of networks
• It established a secure form of communication
• Created a means of communication for all computers
• The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was an early packet switching network and the predecessor of the Internet
• In 1958, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was established for the U.S. Department of Defense
• ARPANET was the beginning of the Internet
• In 1963, ASCII code was developed as the standard for computers from different manufacturers to exchange data
• In 1964, a new network scheme was developed with multiple paths
• In 1969, researchers at UCLA sent the first message via a networked computer system to researchers at Stanford University
• The World Wide Web began in 1991
• It uses HTML
• Tim Berners-Lee developed it at the European Organization for Nuclear Research

How the Internet works

• Consists of a Client/server network
• The client asks for data, the server receives the request and returns data and uses the Internet backbone
• Everything is linked by the Internet Protocol (IP) address
• Computers use IP addresses to identify each other
• Websites have unique IP addresses, which also have text versions

Mass Communication and Collaboration

• Social networking sites include Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and LinkedIn
• Online collaboration and files can be shared on Google Docs and Microsoft Office Online
• Screen-sharing or videoconferencing is possible using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Hangout
• Music, pictures, and videos are shared on Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, and SoundCloud
• Blogs, or weblogs, are online journals
• Video logs (vlogs) are video-based blogs
• Microblogs also exist
• Podcasts deliver audio/video files via RSS (Really Simple Syndication) with an aggregator
• Webcasts are broadcasts of streaming audio or video content over the Internet

Personal Communication over the Web

• E-mail serves as a primary means of sending written messages asynchronously
• Email is generally not private
• Email requires etiquette
• There are Web-based e-mail and Desktop client options
• Texting and Instant messaging (IM) are used to communicate in real time

Cloud Technologies

• Cloud computing stores data, files, and applications on the Internet
• Allows access and manipulation of these files and applications from any Internet-connected device
• Examples include Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, and iCloud

Conducting Business Online

• Common types of e-commerce business models are:
  • Business-to-consumer (B2C)
  • Business-to-business (B2B)
  • Consumer-to-consumer (C2C)
• Social commerce is a type of e-commerce
• Mobile commerce or m-commerce is also an element of conducting business on the web

E-commerce Safeguards

• Guidelines to make shopping safer include:
  • Avoiding public computers.
  • Checking for a secure website, indicated by secure sockets layer protocol
  • Using well-known, reputable sites.
  • Paying by credit card, not debit card.
  • Checking for a return policy.

Navigating using Web Browsers

• Web browsers and Graphical browsers are used

Web Browser Examples

• Google Chrome is the most popular and can run on any device and with any OS
• Microsoft Edge is the default browser with Windows
• Firefox is open source
• Safari is developed by Apple for macOS and iOS

Web Browser Features

• Tabbed browsing
• Pinned tabs/Tear-off tabs
• Thumbnail previews
• Tab isolation
• SmartScreen filter

URL Parts

• URLs, protocols, and domain names make up web addresses
• Protocol determines how data is transferred
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol is a common protocol
• Domain name indicates the website's address
• Top-level domain includes extensions like .com, .org, etc.

Country Codes

• .au = Australia
• .ca = Canada
• .jp = Japan
• .uk = United Kingdom

Common URL Domain Names

• .biz = Businesses
• .com = Originally for commercial sites, but now used by anyone
• .edu = Degree-granting institutions
• .gov = Local, state, and federal U.S. governments
• .info = Information service providers
• .mil = U.S. military
• .net = Originally for networking organizations, but no longer restricted
• .org = Organizations (often not-for-profits)

Navigating the Web

• Hyperlinks are clickable connections to web resources
• Breadcrumb trails show the path through a website's hierarchy
• Bookmarks/Favorites save specific pages for easy access
• History tracks visited websites
• Tagging/social bookmarking allows categorization and sharing of web pages

Searching the web

• Search engines employ keywords, spiders, indexers, and specialized software
• Specialized search engines focus on specific topics
• Metasearch engines aggregate results from multiple search engines
• Boolean operators refine search queries

Obtaining Better Search Results

• Use Boolean Operators
• Use a Wild card (*)
• Search for a Phrase
• Search within a Website

Evaluating Websites

• Authority
• Bias
• Relevance
• Audience
• Links

Ethical Web Use

• Deepfakes are digital videos or images manipulated using AI
• Deepfakes create images and sounds that appear to be real
• Deepfakes can make a public figures appear to do or say something they did not
• Companies are working hard to detect them
• Detecting deepfakes is becoming increasingly difficult
• There are questions around who should remove fake content and fake news

Using the Internet Ethically

• There are questions about posting what you want
• There are questions being responsible was wrong
• It's important to behave in a mature and professional manner