Computing essentials 2017 chapter 2

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Chapter Outline

 The Internet and the Web o Internet

 ARPANET – Advanced Research Project Agency Network

 Launched in 1969  Network infrastructure – connects computers around the world

o World Wide Web  Introduced in 1991  Prior to the web the Internet was all text based  Web made it possible to include multimedia resources

o First generation of the web, Web 1.0 – focused on linking existing information o Second generation of the web, Web 2.0 – evolved to support more dynamic

content creation and social interaction. Facebook is a Web 2.0 application

o Third generation, the current generation, of the web, Web 3.0 – focuses on computer generated information requiring less human interaction to locate and

to integrate information such as traffic reports and delays.

o Internet and the Web  Can get Internet and Web confused, they are not the same thing –  Internet is the physical network. Made up of wires, cables, satellites,

and rules for exchanging information between computers connected to

the network. Called being online.

 Web – is a multimedia interface to the resources available on the Internet

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o Uses of the Internet and the Web  Communicating-the most popular Internet activity  Shopping-one of the fastest growing Internet applications  Searching-finding information has never been so convenient  Education (e-learning)-you can take classes online in almost any

subject

 Entertainment-endless opportunities to find music, movies, games

 Internet Access o Internet and the telephone system are very similar in that computers connect to

the internet similar to how a phone to a telephone system

o Providers  Most common way is through an ISP – Internet Service Provider.

 Already connected to the Internet and provide a path or connection for individuals to access the Internet.

 Commercial Internet providers

 Provide access through telephone lines, cable, and/or wireless connections

o Some of the best known providers in the US include AT&T, Comcast, Spring, T-Mobile, and Verizon

o Browsers  Provide access to web resources

 Connects to remote computers, opens and transfers files, displays text images, and multimedia and provides in one tool

an uncomplicated interface to the Internet and web documents

 Examples: Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox.

 Allow connections to remote computers

 Location/address – URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

 URL’s have two basic parts; many have additional parts o First-Protocol

 Rules for exchanging data between computers  http is used for web traffic and is the most

widely used Internet protocol

o Second-Domain name  Specific address where the resource is located  Top-level domain (TLD) – last part of the

domain name following the dot (.) which

identifies the type of organization. For example

.com indicates a commercial site

 Display text and images

 Interprets the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) code from the different documents

 Displays document as a web page o Web pages can have hyperlinks that connect to other

documents containing related information

 Web pages can also be highly interactive and animated using the following technologies:

o Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) – separate files inserted into an HTML document that control the appearance of

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web pages and helps to ensure that related web pages

have a consistent presentation.

o JavaScript -- used within HTLM documents to trigger interactive features, such as opening new browser

windows and checking information entered in online

forms.

o AJAX -- advanced use of JavaScript used to create interactive websites that respond quickly.

o Applets -- programs that can be downloaded quickly and run by most browsers, used to present animation,

display graphics, provide interactive games.

 Mobile Browsers - special browsers designed to run on portable devices

 Web Utilities o Specialized utilities that make using the Internet and the web easier and safer o Some of these utilities are browser-related programs that either become part of

the browser or are executed by the browser

o Plug-ins are programs that are automatically started and operate as a part of browsers. Many websites require one or more plug-ins to fully experience the

content. Widely used plug-ins include:

 Acrobat Reader—for viewing and printing a variety of standard forms and other documents; saved in a special format called PDF

 Flash Player—for viewing videos, animations, and other media  Quick Time from Apple-for playing audio and video files, See Figure

2-6

 Windows Media Player from Microsoft—for playing audio, video files and more

o Filters block access to selected sites by parents or organizations o File Transfer Utilities are used to copy files (download) to computers from

specially configured servers or copy files (upload) from computer to another

computer on the Internet. There are three popular types of file transfer

 FTP and secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) allow efficient copying of files across the Internet

 Web-based file transfer services make use of a web browser to upload and download files

 BitTorrent distributes file transfers across many different computers for more efficient downloads

o Internet Security Suite is a collection of utility programs designed to maintain security and privacy when connected to the web. These programs control

spam, protect against computer viruses, provide filters and more

 Internet security suites are McAfee’s Internet Security and Symantec’s Norton Internet Security, See Figure 2-11

 Communication o The most popular Internet activity o Family, friends, businesses all use electronic communication o E-mail

 The transmission of an electronic message over the Internet  Basic elements

 Header includes the address, subject and attachments

 Message

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 Signature

 Two basic types of e-mail accounts: o Client-based e-mail systems require a special program

known as an e-mail client to be installed on a computer.

 Two of the most widely used e-mail clients are Microsoft’s Outlook and Apple’s Mail.

o Web-based e-mail systems do not require an e-mail program to be installed on a computer. Most ISPs offer

webmail services

o Three free webmail service providers are Google’s Gmail, Microsoft’s Hotmail, and Yahoo!s Yahoo!Mail

 E-mail can be a valuable asset to both personal and professional lives, however there are some drawbacks that include:

o Unsolicited and unwanted e-mails, Spam  Can contain computer viruses and be dangerous  Spam blockers and spam filters identify and

eliminate spam

o Messaging  Text messaging, also known as texting, SMS (short messaging service)

 Short electronic message typically less than 160 characters using a wireless network to another person who views the

message on a mobile device such as a smartphone.

 MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) allows the sending and receiving images, video and sound

 Instant Messaging (IM)

 Allows two or more people to contact each other via direct live communication

 To use, register with an instant messaging service provider

 Specify a list of friends

 IM notifies you when your friends are online

 Includes video conferencing, file sharing, and remote assistance

 Two of the most popular instant messaging services are Facebook Messenger and Google Hangouts

o Social Networking  Connecting individuals to one another  One of the fastest-growing and most significant Web 2.0 applications  Focus is on connecting people and organizations that share a common

interest or activity.

 Typically provide a wide array of tools that facilitate meeting, communicating, and sharing.

 Three of the best known are:

 Facebook o Three basic categories of Facebook users:

 Individuals

 Create Facebook Profiles which may include photos, lists of personal interests,

contact information, and other personal

information.

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 Profiles available to friends, family members, and others who share a

common interest.

 Businesses

 Create Facebook Pages to promote products and services

 Public figures such as politicians and entertainers

 Communities

 Create Facebook groups who share a common interest

 Facebook groups are organized around topics, events, or ideas

 Google+, Google Plus

 LinkedIn o Premier business oriented social networking site. o Largest social networking site focusing on business

professionals.

o Provides tools to maintain business contacts, develop extended business networks, research individual

businesses and search for job opportunities

o Blogs, Microblogs, Webcasts, Podcasts, and Wikis  These sites help ordinary people communicate across the web

 Many individuals create personal websites, called web logs or blogs, to keep in touch with friends and family

o Blog postings are time-stamped and arranged with the newest item first

o Used by individuals, groups and businesses to share information

o Considered a quick publishing method

 Microblogs – publishes short sentences that only take a few seconds to write. Twitter is an example of a microblog.

 Webcasts and podcasts – deliver media content such as music and movies over the Internet to your computer.

o Webcasts use streaming technology – downloaded during webcast and after a webcast has been completed

there are no files remaining on your computer.

o Typically broadcast live events using webcasts o Podcasts do not use streaming technology – before a

podcast can be run the media files must be downloaded

and saved on a computer.

 Wikis - a Web site specially designed to allow visitors to use their browsers to add, edit, or delete the site’s contents

o Wikis support collaborative writing for a community of interested people

o Wikis support collaborative writing o Wikipedia is an example of a wiki o Creating Bblogs and wikis are examples of web

authoring

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 Search Tools o Over twenty billion pages and more are being added to the Internet daily o A number of search services or search providers help users locate the needed

information

 Maintain huge databases of the pages on the Internet and Web  Special programs called spiders continually look for new information

and update databases

 Search Engines

 Specialized programs that help locate information on the web and the Internet

 Searches for information based on keywords and phrases and after comparing the entry against its database it returns a list of

hits, or sites that contain the keywords

 Each search service maintains its own database so hits returned by one search engine will not necessarily be the same hits

returned by another search engine

 Specialized search engines

 Focus on subject-specific websites

 See examples in Figure 2-20 of specialized search engines  Content evaluation

 Not all information found on the web is accurate

 To evaluate accuracy of information on the Web consider these:

o Authority – is the author an expert? o Accuracy – was the information critically reviewed? o Objectivity – is the information factually reported?

Does the author have a personal bias?

o Currency – is the information up to date? Are the site's links operational? If not, the site is most likely not

being actively maintained.

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 Electronic Commerce o Also known as e-commerce o Buying and selling over the Internet o Advantages to the buyer

 They can buy things 24/7  They can shop from anywhere

o Advantages to the seller  Lower costs  Reduced inventory  Ship goods directly from warehouse

o Disadvantages  Inability to provide goods immediately  Can’t “try on” purchases  Security issues with online payments

o Business-to-consumer commerce (B2C)  Sale of products and services to the general public or end users  Fastest growing type of e-commerce  Three most widely used B2C applications

 Online Banking

 Financial trading

 Shopping o Amazon.com is one of the most widely used B2C sites

o Consumer-to-Consumer E-commerce (C2C)  Individuals selling to individuals  Consists of electronic version of the classified ads or Web auctions

 Buyers and sellers seldom meet face to face

 Popular site is eBay.com, See Figure 2-21 o Business-to-business (B2B)

 Sale of a product or service from one business to another.  Typically a manufacturer -supplier relationship.

o Security – The two greatest challenges for e-commerce include  The development of fast, secure, and reliable payment methods for