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- World Wide Web (www)
- The terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably these days to refer to the
volumes of information stored on computers for public and private use. Technically, the Internet is
the worldwide network which includes more than 10,000 smaller networks and millions of
commercial, educational, governmental, and personal computers. The web is the system for
exploring the Internet using hyperlinks (see below). The web offers an easy to use format for
viewing information on the Internet.
Imagine a spider’s web hanging in a doorway, where you can see all the connected threads. Each
intersection on the spider’s web is analogous to a computer linked to other computers on the web.
Because any computer on the web can connect to any other, information is accessible to users all
over the world.
- Web Sites
A web site consists of one or more linked files which are stored on a computer on the web.
Information - presented as text, pictures, sound, or video - is organised into one or more web
pages, which are accessed through the use of hyperlinks.
- Hyperlinks
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A hyperlink is a picture or text which you click on to tell the computer to load the page to which the
link refers. When you clicked on the ‘Doorway’ picture on the Welcome page at the start of this
session, you were clicking on a hyperlink.
Most hyperlinks (just ‘links’ for short) are shown as underlined text, usually in blue. When your
mouse pointer passes over a link, the pointer changes from an arrow to a pointing finger, then when
you click the mouse the pointer changes to an hour glass whilst the new page is loading. If the
traffic on the internet is busy, this can take a while to load, especially if there are large pictures on
the page it’s loading.
Some hyperlinks will just take you to a spot further down the page you are on. This is useful if the
page is very long (like this one) and you don’t want to scroll down and read everything to find the bit
you’re looking for.
- Broken Links
The web is full of broken links because it is a constantly changing medium. All the time people are
putting up new pages, deleting old pages, and not keeping the links on their pages up to date.
A link is ‘broken’ if the page the computer is trying to load no longer exists or the link has been
incorrectly programmed by the author of the page. If this happens you will get a message such
as:
“No dns entry”
“Error 404”
“Forbidden - you do not have access to this page”
“The page you are looking for no longer exists on this server”.
If this happens click on the Back button of your Browser and the page you came from should
re-load.
- URL
U.R.L. stands for ‘Universal Resource Location’. It contains the unique ‘web address’ of a single
page on the web. The different components of the address, separated by a dot (.) or a forward
slash (/), tell your Browser (see next entry) where to look for the page you want. The world is big
and so is the web, so some addresses can be quite long.
- http:// etc.
http stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. This is the ‘protocol’ or form which everyone on the
web uses to ‘address’ their pages. This is a remarkable step forward for mankind! Along with
‘HTML’ (Hypertext Markup Language) it’s a kind of Esperanto which all computers on the web
understand. Remember all those problems with Betamax and VHS video recorders!
There are other ‘protocols’ which are recognised on the web, such as ‘gopher’ and ‘ftp’, but you
don’t really need to worry about any of them until you start to publish your own web pages.
- File types
Every file, wherever it exists, has a file extension. When you need to, you can tell what type a file is
by looking at its ‘file extension’ - the three or sometimes four letters which appear after the dot in a
filename.
.doc are usually word processor documents
.htm or .html are webpages
.jpg or .jpeg, .gif, .bmp, and .tiff are all picture files
- Browsers
A browser is a program on every computer which provides an interface for you to access the web
and ‘browse’ its pages. There are lots of browsers around, and as with computers, there are
constantly newer and better versions being developed. The two main rivals are ‘Netscape
Navigator’ and ‘Microsoft Internet Explorer’ (MSiE). Every Windows PC comes with MSiE installed
on it, and Bill Gates wants you to use it!
There are advantages and disadvantages with both Netscape and Microsoft browsers - I prefer
Netscape and so I believe does the Teachers’ Centre. Web pages will often say ‘best viewed with
Netscape’ or ‘best viewed with MSiE’ - my pages have been constructed and look best with
Netscape. Any browser can be used but the layout of pages may look slightly different from
browser to browser.
- Search Engines
These are really what make the web function. Using one is a bit like looking in the index of an
enormous encyclopaedia. But much faster. Much, much, much faster!
There are quite a number of search engines, some are dedicated to one particular subject area, but
the main ones will cover anything from Aardvark to
Zymurgy.
To use a search engine simply type in a words or words related to your topic. Different engines
work in slightly different ways, but with most the following apply:
- Always use lower case letters unless you are looking for a proper name (e.g. when you search for
paris, you'll find Paris, paris, and PARIS in your result pages. However, when you search for Paris,
you'll only see Paris in the result pages)
- Using double quotation marks around a phrase will look only for that phrase
- No quotation marks will look for any combination of the words in the phrase
- To make sure that a specific word is always included in your search topic, place the plus (+) symbol
before the key word in the search box
- To make sure that a specific word is always excluded from your search topic, place a minus (-) sign
before the keyword in the search box
There are many other intricate and subtle ways of searching very precisely for the information you
want, including Boolean operators using (brackets), OR, NOT, AND, NEAR commands
(Mathematicians enjoy!). Most search engines have a help button to tell you how to use these.
When you’ve entered your search words and pressed ‘Search’ or ‘Go’, after a few moments you will
be presented with a list of links to webpages which contain one or more of your search words. At
the bottom of the page you can click on a link to the next list of links. Depending on the order of
your search words, the list is organised so that the best matches come first.
How do the search engines know what’s out there? Because people who own websites want other
people to find them, so they register their pages with the main search engines, who then add them
to their databases. Search engines also send
‘web robots’ out on the net to search ISPs and catalogue their pages.
Everyone seems to have their own favourite search engine which they always start with, moving on
to others if they can’t find what they want. Then there are engines which will search all the other
engines to provide you with a list! I always start with Alta Vista.
Here’s a Search Page for the main search engines.
- Back button
This is usually in the top left corner of your browser and is an arrow pointing to the left. When you
click on it the browser loads the previous page you visited.
- ISP
I.S.P. stands for Internet Service Provider. This is a company which provides access to the web for
people, companies or organisations who subscribe, and they can be situated anywhere in the world.
Depending on how much they charge, ISPs provide differing levels of services, the cheapest of
which provides a connection to the web alone - costing around £10 a month. All you have to pay on
top of this is the cost of a local phone call.
There are now FREE ISPs where you pay absolutely nothing, but your browser will display
advertisements before every page you visit - which can be quite annoying at times!
- Modems
A modem is a box of electronics which translates your computer’s commands into a stream of
noises so that they can travel down the ‘phone line, and delivers a similar stream from your ISP to
your computer. Most new computers have a built-in modem - all you see is the connecting wire
which goes into your telephone socket.
- ISDN
This stands for Integrated Services Digital Network, a dedicated digital connection to an ISP. It’s
faster and more reliable than an ordinary telephone line. And more expensive.
- Networks
A network is a number of computers connected together via a server (see next entry). Many
schools now have a network which allows information to be shared between computers. Everyone
‘logs-on’ to the network with a password which allows them access only to certain parts of the
network - teachers and network administrators can have privileged access through their password,
to areas and functions which students don’t have. This might allow you to place work in individual
students’ folders or copy their work to your folder. You can also look at what other users are doing
on their computers via your own.
- Servers
A server is a computer which holds the files which can be used by everyone connected to it via a
network. ISPs also have a server. A server ‘serves up’ files when they are requested from it.
- E-mail, Bulletin Boards and Newsgroups
I expect most of you know that this stands for Electronic Mail. Generally e-mail is separate from the
web. In order to send and receive e-mail you need to have an ‘account’ with an ISP which will give
you password access to download your mail.
Most schools have e-mail, and it should be possible to have it configured with your own individual password,
so that mail addressed to you isn’t read by anyone else.
Some web pages give you the opportunity to fill out a form and send e-mail messages to the author
of the page, but it won’t accept your e-mail unless you provide a return e-mail address.
E-mail is a wonderful cross between letter writing (now called ‘snail-mail’ because it takes so long to send
and receive) and the immediacy of a telephone conversation. It means you don’t have to be as
formal as in a letter, but it still gives you a chance to consider your reply in the way a ‘phone
conversation doesn’t.
The other wonderful thing about e-mail is that you can reply to specific sentences or paragraphs from someone,
and display the text your answering or commenting on - something you would be unlikely to do in a letter or on the ‘phone.
When you receive an e-mail and click on the ‘reply’ button, a window is opened for you to type your message which also contains the
text of the message you have received in italics. You can then edit or delete it as you wish.
Here’s a short (trivial) example:
Initial message:
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| Hi!
How are you? Just thought I’d drop you a line to say how much I enjoyed your Inset yesterday.
You must have put an awful lot of work into it. I just hope making web pages is as easy as you
suggested.
By the way my computer’s feeling a bit under the weather at the moment and keeps saying “non
system disc error” whenever I switch it on. Any ideas what I can do?
See you down the pub sometime?
Regards,
Frank
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How the reply might look:
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| Frank [Frankincense@wiseman.co.uk] wrote:
Just thought I’d drop you a line to say how much I enjoyed your Inset yesterday.
Thanks - all compliments gratefully received.
You must have put an awful lot of work into it.
I did!
I just hope making web pages is as easy as you suggested.
It’s a steep learning curve initially, but fairly straightforward once you get the hang of it.
By the way my computer’s feeling a bit under the weather at the moment...
Suggest you make sure you didn’t leave a disc in the A: drive when you switched off. If that doesn’t
work you need expert advice!
See you down the pub sometime?
A T-totaller like me? Surely not!
Let me know if you have any more queries.
Regards
G
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A friend of mine was studying for the priesthood at the English College in Rome and we conducted
some fascinating philosophical and theological discussions in this way.
Another use for E-mail is in ‘Listserve’ discussion groups. Some websites allow you to subscribe
(free) to a Listserve discussion. In your e-mail everyday you receive similar e-mails to the one
above on the topic you’ve subscribed to. You can then reply to the List in the same way, and your
message is sent automatically to everyone on the list. These Listserves are monitored by the
owner who can remove anyone from the List who breaks the rules of etiquette etc.
I used to be subscribed to the 'GodList' run by Wes Morriston of the Philosophy Department at the University of Colorado.
The discussions were fascinating and had an immediacy which one doesn’t get with books or even
letters. Every day the thoughts of the great and good university philosophers from various parts of
America and beyond, appeared in my e-mail in-tray.
To begin with I read them and even used them in my A-level lessons, but didn’t have the courage or
time to send my own thoughts to the List. I remained a ‘Lurker’ - someone who listens and
observes but never says anything themselves. As time became more pressing I stored them to
read later, which of course I never did. In the end I unsubscribed myself from the List.
Some websites have Bulletin Boards which have a similar function, but they are not restricted to
subscribers - anyone can post all sorts of rubbish, and anyone can read it on the web together with
the e-mail address of who sent it. Some of them are monitored but removing obscenities can take
time.
Like Bulletin Boards, Newsgroups are another way of acquiring and posting information, but the
difference is that they tend not to be monitored by anyone, and they are often abused by people
who treat them like a toilet wall. My advice is to stick to ListServe if you need this kind of
contact.
- Chat Rooms
These are, as the name suggests, much like telephone chat lines, where you type your
conversation instead of speaking it - but a lot cheaper, because it’s always only the cost of a local
call to your ISP. You see the other person’s typing appear in a window on your screen as they type
it, and vice versa.
These can be very much like Newsgroups in usefulness and content (i.e. educationally zero). They
have the added problem that you don’t know who you may be talking to - people can present
themselves under any identity they choose. From a student’s point of view they feel very safe in
front of their computer screen - there’s a certain remoteness from reality like watching TV - and this
can lead them to say things they would never dream of doing in ‘real life’.
Under no circumstances should a student give any personal details out over a chat line or on a web
page such as their address, telephone number, or where they go to school, nor should they ever
agree to meet anyone with whom they make contact.
Educationally I can see no value in Newsgroups or Chat Rooms.
- Freeware and Shareware
Freeware is a piece of software which someone has developed and given away - it is totally free.
The Html program which I’ve used to design these webpages is freeware and you can get it from
ToniArts.
The reason authors issue software for nothing is so that they can get noticed and maybe later pick
up employment and then start selling their work. Some, of course, are just altruistic!
Shareware on the other hand, is not free.
Shareware is copyrighted software which anyone can try for a specific period of time without having
to pay any fee. This period is called the evaluation period. Once the evaluation period expires, the
user must either acquire a license to continue using the software or discontinue using it. In
most cases the evaluation period last about 30 days but may vary as determined by the author.
In some cases the software stops working after the evaluation period and you need to purchase it
to acquire a password to unlock it. In other cases it carries on working, but to continue using the
software beyond the evaluation period without registering it is in violation of international copyright laws.
Registering may provide technical support, automatic e-mail notification of product updates,
sometimes free upgrades, discounts on subsequent upgrades and new products etc.
Shareware users should not underestimate the fact that by registering their software, they also
allow the author to improve the software and to develop new useful shareware products.
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