The Internets (Part II)

Your first assignment is to gather information about the Internet. I will provide you with links below, and for each, I will explain what you must learn at that particular site. Learning this information is up to you; it will be tested at the end of our unit, and there is always the possibility of a (slightly announced) pop quiz.

Please note that we are using Wikipedia entries for some of our information-gathering; however, I will always try to give you at least one other place to visit. We will come back to Wikipedia after we have set up our blogs and hurdled the background below.

First, click here. Your first task it to learn what is meant by "the Internet" and what is meant by "the World Wide Web." You can also find this information at isoc.org, which has a brief (this is brief?) history of the Internet. Use that last link, or perhaps this one, to learn the following pieces of information:

- During what decade did the idea behind a "global network" begin to circulate?
- What was the ARPANET?
- What does "IP" stand for, and why is it important?
- When did the version of the Internet and World Wide Web we know today first come into being?

You might also find some answer by using a glossary of Internet terminology (here's one). That kind of resource will help you learn the following:

- What does "HTTP" stand for, and where is it found?
- What does "HTML" stand for, and where is it found?

Skim the rest of the history of the Internet, but be careful to note what applies most to the common user; in other words, we don't need to know what "transfer packets" are, or what it means to switch to those from traditional circuits. We need to know what allows us to see websites.

We also need to know facts and figures. Google "internet facts and figures" and you're likely to find more advertisers looking for your money than anything else; however, you might check this site (or even this clandestine one) to start learning the following kinds of information:

- Approximately how many Internet users existed in the mid-1990s?
- In the early 2000s?
- How many exist now (last two years or so)?
- How many exist in the United States?

You'll get more topics to research in class.