ADE 6606 eTroy T1/13 Janice A. Malone Basic Internet Concepts

Brief History of the Internet 1962, MIT – idea of an Intergalactic Network is born 1971, Intel – introduces microprocessors 1977, U. of Wisconsin – is created 1981, IBM – introduces the PC 1982, Time Magazine – the computer is the “Man of the Year” 1990, worldwide – “The Net” has over 300,000 hosts

URL – Uniform Resource Locator Basic URL: Protocol Domain Name with Suffix Suffixes –.com Commercial Business.gov Government.edu Educational Institutions (Note: If the URL begins with http or https, it is usually simply called a “web address”.)

Navigation of a Website Primary Navigation The first page encountered on a website has links to which the creator or owner of the site wishes to draw the most attention. It is recommended there be no more than seven such links. [Hours of operation, advertised specials, the most current article, etc.] Secondary Navigation Useful or necessary information that one wishes to include elsewhere in the site. [FAQs, career opportunities, shipping policies, etc.] A site map will help a user navigate through all areas of the site.

Bookmarks, Favorites, Online Organizers O Bookmarks – Web browsers allow the user to form a quick and handy link to often-visited websites. O Favorites – Usually a function found while saving a bookmark, marking a site as a favorite places the link into a folder for quick future reference. O Online Organizers – Usually subscribed to at low cost, these sites provide organization for anything from passwords and family budgets to students’ grades and assignments.

Search Engines Programs that retrieve links to sites bases upon keywords associated with those sites. These programs send out a second program called a spider that “crawls” across the web in search of the keywords. The two most used search engines in the world are Google and Yahoo Search. There are search engines specific to different interests, such as FlixFlux for films, IceRocket for blogs, Nikado for addresses, CVFox for resume searches, Properazzi for real estate, and WebMD for health information.

Evaluation of Websites O Who or what organization published it? O Is there objectivity in the writing? O How old is the information? O Are there references to other sources? O Can the information be verified by an independent source? (Many times sites quote from other sites, and the same information appears verbatim again and again.) In pre-internet days, some people thought if something were printed in the newspaper, it must be true. Now, the same applies to the internet. ?

Troubleshooting the Internet Now is the time to use Slide #6, search engines! Troubleshooting an error message or faulty connection one experiences while using the internet may be readily solved by searching for:  Blogs that discuss the same problem you are having.  The help page of your ISP (internet service provider.)  Keep on hand the phone number of your ISP’s technical support department in case the internet cannot be accessed at all.  Be familiar with the items connected to your computer, such as the router, modem, etc.

Problems and Pitfalls Downloads containing viruses, malware, worms, etc. Accidentally accessing inappropriate material. Data, articles, wikis, etc. may lack rigorous review. Links can become broken or sites removed from internet. May want to keep a text copy of material. The web has made plagiarism easier. Searching the web can be daunting because of the innumerable sites on the web.

References Current pitfalls in internet use. (2006). Retrieved from pitfalls-internet-use/ Evaluating web sites: criteria and tools. (2012, September 19). Retrieved from Exhibits – Internet history. (2004). Retrieved from Holter, E. (2001, March). Website navigation techniques – Text or icons? Retrieved from website_navigation_techniques_text_icons Kibbee, J. (n.d.) The world wide web as an information resource: Pitfalls and potential. Retrieved from

References Knight, K. (2011, June 6). Planning and implementing website navigation. Smashing Magazine. Retrieved from planning-and-implementing-website-navigation/ Search engines. (2013). Retrieved from TERMS/S/search_engine.html Term – URL. (2013). Retrieved from The search engine list. (2010). Retrieved from