The Internet for Graduate Students
Defining the Internet - Key Concepts

Some types of information found on the Web

  1. Professional organizations and company information
  2. Government information
  3. Graduate student support groups
  4. Directory type information
  5. Resumes
  6. Reference - statistics, dictionaries

Some types of information best found in the library

  1. Indepth information

  2. Archives

  3. Newspapers

  4. Books

  5. Periodical Indexes

  6. Peer reviewed articles

The Internet: 

The Internet is a computer network made up of thousands of networks worldwide. All computers on the Internet communicate with one another using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol suite, abbreviated to TCP/IP. The Internet is the transport vehicle for the information stored in files or documents on another computer. It can be thought of most easily as a complex highway system. The Internet itself does not contain information. It is a slight misstatement to say a "document was found on the Internet." It would be more correct to say it was found through or using the Internet. 

To see how the internet works, click here 

For a fascinating history on the Internet and how it was developed, go to the Internet Society's "A Brief History of the Internet".

No one is in charge of the Internet. There are organizations which set standards for creating applications on it, but no governing body is in control.

Computers on the Internet may use one or all of the following Internet services:

 
  • Electronic mail (e-mail). Permits you to send and receive mail electronically.  Internet Service Providers (ISP) usually provide email accounts but you can also get free email accounts through services such as Hotmail and Yahoo!. NAU provides free email services. 
  • Internet Service Providers (ISP) - A vendor that provides access for individuals to the Internet, World Wide Web, email accounts, and other services.  NAU provides free internet access to students, staff, and faculty.
  • Usenet lets you communicate with an open group versus a closed mailing group. Messages are posted rather than being delivered to your email.  Consider it like a worldwide conversation among online users, in the context of groups of users interested in the same subject.  Also called newsgroups.
  • Chat rooms or instant messaging - Real-time, on-line electronic mail that allows users using the same software  to see that the other is online and send real-time messages.
  • FTP or File Transfer Protocol. Allows your computer to retrieve and transfer text or files from a remote computer.
  • Telnet or remote login allows you to connect to other computers on the Internet.  
  • The World Wide Web (WWW or "the Web"). The primary interface to access information available via the Internet.

The World Wide Web (WWW): 

The WWW incorporates all of the Internet services above and much more. When you log onto the Internet using Netscape or another browser such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer, you are viewing documents on the World Wide Web. The web uses hypertext  and multimedia techniques to make it easy for anyone to search and browse. 

The authoring software language used on the WWW is HTML or Hypertext Markup Language.   HTML is a standardized language that contains the textual content, images, formatting instructions for display on the screen, and provides highlighted words which link users to other documents on the Web.

Web Browsers: 

Both Netscape and Internet Explorer are web browsers. A browser is software that allows your computer to view WWW documents and access the Internet taking advantage of text formatting, hypertext links, images, sounds, motion, and other features.

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