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Click on words that are
blue to find out what they mean.
- What is the Internet?
- The Internet is made up of computers all
over the world. These computers are connected to each other by phone lines or cables. All
of these computers share a language: the language of the Internet. Not all computers are
connected to the Internet. If your computer is connected to the Internet, it can help you
to get information from other computers, send messages to a friend who lives far away, or
do lots of other amazing things like hear a song or see a famous painting.
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- Show me a picture.
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- What can I do on the Internet?
- Once your computer is connected to the
Internet, you can visit places all over the world -- well, almost! It's not the same as
really going to these places, but it's a fun way to meet new people, talk to friends,or
learn about many different things. You might use the Internet to do your homework, or
watch a movie clip, or play a game. Some people use the Internet to get the latest news
stories or talk to people on the other side of the world. It's even possible to order a
pizza on the 'Net.
How does it work?
- Just as people in France can understand
each other because they all speak French, computers on the Internet understand each other
because they "speak" the same computer language. This Internet language is
called TCP/IP.
Let's pretend that you want to send e-mail to a friend in Puerto Rico. You write the
message and tell the computer what Internet address
to send it to. Your computer uses phone lines or cables to carry your message to the place
it needs to go. Instead of carrying your voice, the phone lines carry the words you typed
into your computer. Your friend's computer gets your message. It can understand the
message because it also speaks TCP/IP, the language of the Internet. Only minutes after
you send it, your friend might be reading the e-mail message!
Getting information from the Internet
works in a similar way. Imagine that you are doing a school report and you need
information about the planets in our solar system. Using a computer which is connected to
the Internet, you can find information and have it sent to your computer for you to read.
When you do a search, you might find that NASA (which studies space and sends out the
space shuttles) has some great information about planets. You type NASA's Internet address
on your computer. This tells your computer where to look for the information you need.
Your computer talks to NASA's computer using TCP/IP, the language of computers on the
Internet. NASA's computer sends your computer information about the planets, and you pass
in an excellent school report!
- What is the World Wide Web?
- The World Wide Web (WWW) is part of the
Internet. On the Web, bits of information are linked together -- just like strands in a
real spider web -- to make things easier to find. Imagine if all the books in the Boston
Public Library were thrown into a big pile, and you needed to find one book about George
Washington. It might take you days to find the book! This is how the Internet feels
sometimes. There is a lot of information, but it's hard to find. The Web makes it easier.
Having the Web is like taking that huge pile of books, putting them in order, and putting
up some nice signs that will tell you exactly where to go. That way, you can go right to
the books about George Washington without wasting time.
The Web does this by creating links. Links are shortcuts to information. They are
usually blue and underlined, and if you click on them, they can take you to a new place
very quickly. If you click on the word "links" above, you will see what a link
does.
- What is Netscape?
- Netscape is a browser. A browser helps you to understand the
information your computer finds for you on the World Wide Web. If you visit Russia, and
you don't know how to speak Russian, you will need a translator to help you understand the
information around you. A browser is like a translator, but it helps you understand and
use information from the Web. Netscape is the name of one browser, but there are many
others, such as Mosaic or Lynx. They all look a little different, but they all can help
you to use the Web.
- What do I need to have to use the
Internet?
- You will need to have a computer, of
course! Your computer will need to be connected to a modem.
A modem is a small box that sits between your computer and the phone line coming into your
house. When you send a message to another computer, your computer first sends the message
to your modem. The modem is what lets the telephone lines send messages or information
instead of just sending your voice. Once you have a computer and a modem, your family will
need to find an Internet service provider. This is a
company that will create an Internet address for you and help you connect to the Internet.
These companies offer different services at a variety of prices.
- What does http://www.bpl.org
mean?
- These letters might look like nonsense,
but they mean something important! That string of letters and marks, http://www.bpl.org,
is an Internet address. By reading the parts of the address, computers on the Internet
know where that address is. In the same way that an address on a letter allows the post
office to deliver it to your mailbox, Internet addresses allow you to find people and
information quickly and easily.
A
person's e-mail address usually starts with their name or initials, such as gwashington.
This is followed by @, which means "at", and then the place where a person can
be found. For example, @whitehouse.gov means "at the White House." When
it is all put together, it might look like this: gwashington@whitehouse.gov. This
is the e-mail address for a person named G. Washington who lives at the White House.
There are other Internet addresses
besides e-mail addresses. The address http://www.bpl.org is the Boston Public
Library's World Wide Web address. Addresses on the
Web are called URLs. These addresses, or URLs, will
not point you to people. Instead they point you to pages that have information. The
address http://www.bpl.org points your computer to the place on the Web where the
Boston Public Library (BPL) has its information page. You are reading a Web page right
now, and if you look at the top of your screen, you should see a box with this page's
address in it.
- Does the Internet have rules?
- The Internet, just like the world we live
in, has rules that people should follow. If you steal someone's car, you are breaking the
law. If someone tries to steal your money using the Internet, they are also breaking the
law. Someone has probably told you a little bit about manners, like saying please and
thank you and not putting worms in your brother's lunch box. There is also a special set
of manners for the Internet. They include tips such as who you should give your Internet
address to and how to avoid hurting someone's feelings with e-mail. To learn more about
Internet manners, which are called netiquette,
use your mouse to click on the words "More Tips About Netiquette" below. You
should also take a minute to read "My Rules for Online Safety."
For more information about the
Internet, try one of these:
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