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How does the Internet work?
Three different illustrations that attempt to describe the Internet may
help. One is the spider web - hence the "world wide web." A
second description involves libraries. The third is the human
brain. In all three cases, you have to have a way of finding
stuff. If you would like Internet history, check out the link at the
bottom.
The Spider WebFirst, imagine a spider web that envelopes the world. Now imagine that at every intersection of the web is a computer (a "server"). Each of these computers may have one or more websites stored on it. Each website has a unique address (Universal Resource Locator = URL) just as homes and businesses have a unique address so that we can find them. All of these servers with websites on them are interconnected world-wide through telephone and other types of wiring or by wireless communication. This is the "webbing" of the world wide web. The LibrariesWe already know what libraries are. They are places where information is stored. This information is in the form of books, newspapers, magazines, CD's, computers, microfilm, etc. Each server on the Internet is like an individual library. Imagine what would happen if all the libraries in the world were connected together. You would then have something like the Internet. The difference is libraries, by and large, collect physical or tangible items containing information. The Internet is a collection of libraries - servers - that have information stored digitally (on computer). You can't actually hold information stored on a server in your hand. The BrainYou can also imagine the Internet as one giant brain with ideas, information, and memory. What if humans could communicate through telepathy with any other brain in the world at any given time? You would then have, essentially, one giant brain with all kinds of information and memories. We talk about "remembering" or "retrieving a memory." We do that on the Internet as well when we "retrieve" information. The Internet is like one big memory bank accessible from anywhere at any time. Searching & Retrieving Information on the InternetThe Internet will do you no good if you cannot find the information you want. There are three main ways to find what you want on the Internet:
URLIf you know the Internet address of what you want, that's the easiest. You just type that into the address box of your browser and you will be transported to a server - somewhere in the world - that matches that URL. Search EnginesSearch engines are - going back to the library illustration - like a reference librarian. You can "ask" a search engine to retrieve websites with the type of information you want by entering keywords. Keywords are like a short name for the information you are searching for. The more precisely you can "name" your information, the more likely you are to find relevant information. This can be illustrated by a search in a phone book for an individual. Suppose you are looking for an individual named, "James Fitzpatrick Johnson." You will quickly find that there are a bunch of Johnsons. You will also find that there are many James Johnsons. You are most likely to find the individual you are looking for when you look for James Fitzpatrick Johnson. Chances are that you will not find many. Looking for information using a search engine is like that. The more keywords you can provide, the better chance of retrieving relevant information. Search engines - historically speaking - go out and "read" everything (this is over-simplified) on a website. This means that you can search on any word that appears on the website. Examples of search engines are AltaVista.com, Google.com, HotBot.com, etc. Directories are different. DirectoryDirectories are very much like a telephone book's yellow pages. In the yellow pages, businesses are listed by category such as restaurants, banks, hardware stores, etc. Internet directories do much the same. Unlike a traditional search engine, an Internet directory only has the title of a website and a short (usually 25 words or less) description of the website. When you search at a directory, you are searching for keywords which appear in the title and description only. Examples of directories include Yahoo.com and dmoz.org. Many search sites use both search engine information and directory information to give you the best of both worlds. Internet HistoryIf you would like more technical information, or first-hand information about the history of the Internet, try the Internet Society.
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