tesol.html

PCI: "Getting Your Virtual Feet Wet" -
The Story of the Internet

Presented by George Jor (Monday, January 16, 5:00-9:00 p.m. in the Electronic Village, TESOL'98 at Seattle).

What is the Internet? (Diagram 1, 2, and 3)

a huge network of computer networks
sometimes called the "information superhighway"
Estimated some 30 million Internet users
Some facts:
- accessible in over 100 countries,
- more than 1,000,000 Web servers worldwide
- an average web page has about 500 words
- the average Web users is 35.2 years old and access primarily from home.
The Internet is not owned by one institution, or government. No CEO.
- directed by the Internet Society (a group of volunteers)
- the Internet Architecture Board works out issuses of standards, addresses, etc.

How did it orginate?
Grew out of academic, governmental and military communities.

1969 Department of Defense, ARPAnet (Advanced Research Project Agency)
1971 Linked 2 dozen sites including MIT and Harvard.
1974 Linked over 200 sites
1980s NSFnet own network, allowed everyone access, only "technies"
1990 APRAnet officially disbanded,
1991 Senator Al Gore proposed NSFnet be expanded to NREN (National Research and Educational Network)
1992 World Wide Web software released; first graphical user interface
1994 Netscape Communications released Netscape Navigator browser
1995 Microsoft released Internet Explorer
1997 The two browsers were in a head-to-head competition for a place on each Internet user's computer.

Hardware
- Macintosh (with a CPU of 60480 or higher)
- PC (with a CPU of 80486 or higher)
- At least 4MB RAM (8 is recommended)
- A 250 MB hard drive
Sofware
- E-mail software (Eudora, PINE: Program for Internet News & E-mail, etc.)
- World Wide Web browsers (such as Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communicator, Internet Explorer, etc.)
- File Transfer Protocol (Fetch for Macintosh, WS_FTP for Window)
Connectivity
- Dai-up with Modem (28.8 Kbps or even higher) to a server
- Dedicated high speed network [T1 (10 Mbps) and T3 (100 Mbps), etc.]
- Types of Connectivity Table