You've signed on with an
Internet Service Provider. You've installed the necessary Internet software
and perhaps upgraded to a speedy new 28.8kbs modem. Now, sitting with hands
poised above your keyboard in breathless anticipation of your maiden voyage
across the Internet, you may realize that you are not exactly sure what to do
next.
The first thing you need
to understand is what the Internet is. A business, a government agency, or an
educational institution that connects a group of computers together to share
information and resources is a network. When a group of networks are connected
together they form an internetwork or internet, for short. The Internet, spelled
with a capital "I" is a very large internetwork made up of thousands
of smaller networks. You, now, are part of that Internet, and here are just
a few of the many exciting ways that you can use this new tool. You will not
be disappointed.
Email
Email, short for electronic
mail, can be any letter or document that you might send by postal mail; but
rather than using paper and an envelope and waiting three days for it to be
delivered, you send this mail electronically, via the Internet. Without a stamp,
without an envelope, and without a postman, it arrives almost instantly, whether
you have sent it across town or to the other side of the world.
Email is delivered, not
to your home address, but to your email address at your Internet Service Provider
where it is waiting for you when you are ready to read it. When you receive
email, you can read it and then delete it, or you can store it on your computer
for future reference. You can make changes to it and send it back, or you can
forward it on to someone else. All of this is done with a simple click of your
mouse and without using a single piece of paper. Of course if you want it on
paper, you can print it also.
The World Wide Web
The World Wide Web consists
of an enormous collection of documents, known as Web pages, stored on computers
all over the world. Many businesses, organizations, towns and individuals post
Web pages to promote themselves or something that interests them. You can access
and view these documents using a special software known as a Web browser. With
text and color graphics, most of these Web pages appear similar to a page you
might find in a book or magazine, but they are unique because they contain words
or phrases that are links to other Web pages all over the world. With a few
clicks of your mouse you can quickly jump from a Web page in Texas to one in
Australia to one in Japan. One page can contain many links going in many directions,
like a web.
Now that you can click
yourself all over the world, what can you do when you get there? That depends
on what your interests or needs are. You could find a nice Vermont bed and breakfast
for next month's vacation. Or maybe you need to do some research for that English
paper due on Monday. Do you want to sell your car, but you're not sure how much
it's worth? You can find out on the Web. You can find information on leisure
activities, hobbies, health, education, business, professions, etc. The World
Wide Web has information available on just about any topic that might interest
you.
In addition, if you sign
on with an Internet Service Provider, you will usually be allowed some space
on their computer for Web pages of your own. You can become not just a browser
of the World Wide Web, but a contributor as well.
Newsgroups
At last count there were
over 15 thousand newsgroups on the Internet. Newsgroups are essentially discussion
groups with topics that vary from the serious to the ridiculous--biotechnology,
suburban folklore, white-collar crime, and fans of Fabio.
If you have something to
say, you can find a place to say it in a newsgroup. Someone "posts"
a comment or question to any newsgroup that interests them. A person reading
that newsgroup can then "post" a reply, to which someone else can
reply. The same topic of discussion can go on for months.
Newsgroups are a place
to find people all over the world that share your interests, or to seek help
on just about any topic.
IRC
The IRC or Inter-Relay
Chat, like the newsgroups, involves discussion groups called chat channels.
The difference is that the IRC involves real-time communication in which a message
sent is received instantly by everyone currently on that channel and can be
responded to by any or all of them. With sometimes dozens of people on a single
channel and everyone "talking" at once, that can be quite interesting
if not a little confusing. The channels center around various areas of interest
or age groups-teens, singles over 40, seniors.
This is just a little of
what the Internet has to offer. If you are an Internet novice and would like
to learn more, or if you are an expert and would like to help those who are
not, come join the new Internet club. The first organizational meeting will
be at the Seguin Guadalupe County Library on Saturday, June 22 at 10am. For
further information or to offer ideas for future articles for this column, please
contact:
Gloria Rivera, 303-4764, riverag@connecti.com
Alton Hierholzer, 303-9260, altonh@connecti.com
Jerry Weers, 303-0818, weersjt@texas.net