INTERNET AND THE WEB BY Abikoye, O.C & Akintola, A.G. Department of Computer Science Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences Corresponding Author e-mail address: kemi_adeoye@yahoo.com, abikoye.o@unilorin.edu.ng
The Internet Often referred to as the Net A means by which a computer is connected to any other computer anywhere in the world via dedicated routers and servers. Computers connected over the Internet can send and receive all kinds of information such as text, graphics, voice, video, and computer programs. Any computer on the internet is identified by an Internet Protocol (IP) address.
The Web Also referred to as World Wide Web (WWW) A way of accessing information over the medium of the Internet. Collection of interconnected documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). The Web also utilizes browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera Mini, Google Chrome etc to access Web pages. Web documents also contain graphics, sounds, text and video. WWW is one of the services provided by the Internet.
Internet Service Provider(ISP) An organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the internet activities. ISP may be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community owned, non-profit, or otherwise privately owned. Services provided by ISPs include Internet access, Internet transit, domain name registration, web hosting, Usenet service, and collocation. Connection technologies used by ISP include dial-up, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), cable, and wireless modems. An ISP can be categorized into Access provider ISPs, Edge provider, Mailbox provider, Hosting ISPs, Transit ISPs, Virtual ISPs, Free ISPs and Wireless ISPs. An ISP serves as the main entry or gateway access to the world largest network of computers, the Internet. Some ISP companies in Nigeria include NETOM Africa, SWIFT, IPNX Nigeria, ETISALAT, SPECTRANET, SMILES, GLOBACOM, VDT Communications, MTN Nigeria and VISAFONE.
Connections A connection is the successful completion of necessary arrangements so that two or more parties (for example, people or programs) can communicate at a long distance. It has a strong physical (hardware) connotation although logical (software) elements are usually involved. & Protocol Set of rules that makes communications possible between computers Protocols specify interactions between the communicating entities. The two most important protocols that allow networks to cooperate with one another and exchange information are called TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol). Collectively, these two protocols are known as TCP/IP. Other protocols include FTP, HTTP: RTP, TFTP, UDP, PPP, etc
Mailing System Mailing system always involves the sender and receiver. At the sender end, data is broken into packets and sent to the nearest node (router). At each router, it sends the packet to another router that is closer to the final destination. At the receiver end; packets are reassembled to get the original data Examples include E-mail Electronic mail, most commonly called e-mail or e-mail since around 1993. A method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. It is an information and communication technology. There are many software platforms available to send and receive. Popular e-mail platforms include Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, Outlook, and many others. A typical e-mail address consists of four basic components which include the user name, the "@" symbol, the mail server and the top-level domain. Example of an e-mail address is abikoye.o@unilorin.edu.ng
Internet Services Electronic mail File sharing Remote terminal Resource distribution File transfer: This is the achieved by FTP, Newsgroups World Wide Web Video conferencing Games
E-Commerce Known as electronic commerce or EC is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the Internet. EC draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, internet marketing, online transaction processing, Electronic Data Interchange(EDI), Inventory management systems and automated data collection systems. Three basic types of e- commerce are business-toconsumer, business-tobusiness, and consumer- toconsumer. Other types of E-commerce include Business-togovernment e-commerce or B2G, M-commerce (mobile commerce), Consumer-to- Business (C2B), Business-to- Administration (B2A) & Consumer-to- Administration (C2A)
A web browser is a client program that requests services from a web server. Web sites are hosted on dedicated computers known as web servers. Web browsers display web pages delivered from a web server. Browsers access the Web, allowing you to surf or explore. Some related terms are: URLs HTML JavaScript Applet Mobile browsers Browsers Examples include: Opera, Firefox, icab, Safari, Konqueror, Google Chrome, Epiphany, SeaMonkey, K-Meleon, OmniWeb
Search Tools Search allows you to search content created by tools within a worksite or course. Search indexes many different types of content, including messages, web pages in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) format, documents in DOC, Portable Document File (PDF), or Rich Text Format(RTF) format, spreadsheets in XLS format, and Wiki pages. There are three basic types of search tools : Search Engines Subject Directories MetaSearch Tools A search engine is a computer program that is used to find or locate information on the internet. It includes Google, Infospace, Bing, info, Yahoo! Search, DuckDuckGo, Ask, Blekko, Aol Search, Contenko, Wow, Dogpile, Webcrawler, Alhea, My WebSearch Subject Directories are generally smaller and selective than search engines. They use categories to focus your search, and their sites are arranged by categories, not just by keywords.
A good example of a search directory is Yahoo, a combination search engine/search directory/search portal, or one of the original search directories, Open Directory or DMOZ for short. A metasearch engine is also known as an aggregator. It is a search tool that uses another search engine s data to produce their own results from the Internet. Examples of Meta-search Engines include Blingo, yippy(formerly Clusty), DeeperWeb, Dogpile, Excite, HotBot, Info.com, Ixquick(StartPage), Kayak and sidestep, Mamma, metacrawler, Mobissimo, Otalo, PCH Search and Win, Skyscanner, WebCrawlerr
Web Utilities Web utilities are specialized utility programs that make the use of the Internet and the Web easier and safer. There are two categories of web utilities: Plug-ins Programs that automatically load and operate as part of your browser. Many web sites require plug-ins for users to fully experience web page contents. Some plug-ins are included in many of today s browsers; others must be installed. Some widely used plug-ins are: Shockwave Quicktime Helper Applications (add-ons) Independent programs that can be executed or launched from your browser.
Four types of helper applications are: Off-line browsers automatically connect you to selected web sites, download HTML documents and save them to your hard disk. Example: FlashSite Information pushers automatically gather information on topics areas (channels) and send them to your hard disk Examples: PointCast Backweb Off-line search utilities automatically submit your search request to several search engines. receive the results, sort them, and eliminate duplicates Examples: Metacrawler Dogpile
Filters Programs that can allow parents or organizations to block out selected sites. they can monitor usage and generate reports detailing time spent on activities. Examples: Cyber Patrol Cybersitter NetNanny
File Transfer Utilities File transfer utilities copy files to (downloading) and from (uploading) your computer. Three types are : File transfer protocol (FTP) and secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) Web-based file transfer services make use of a Web browser to upload and download files. BitTorrent distributes file transfers across many different computers.
Intranet An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to share information, operational systems, or computing services within an organization. An intranet is also basically a network that is local to a company An intranet can include Local Area Networks (LANs), private Wide Area Networks (WANs) and Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs). Extranet An extranet is a private network that uses Internet technology and the public telecommunication system to securely share part of a business's information or operations with suppliers, vendors, partners, customers, or other businesses. An extranet is also an extended intranet, a network between organizations.
Firewall A firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. It typically establishes a barrier between a trusted, secure internal network and another outside network, such as the Internet, that is assumed not to be secure or trusted. It is a part of a computer system or network that is designed to block unauthorized access while permitting outward communication. It is also a device or set of devices configured to permit, deny, encrypt, decrypt, or proxy all computer traffic between different security domains based upon a set of rules and other criteria. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both.