Internet

Overview[]

The internet is a platform for mass global systems of interconnected media that uses a standard protocol to connect people and devices worldwide. The internet is an large computer network that contains a variety of information and provides new ways of accessing, interacting, and connecting with people and content. When most people think of internet in modern times, they generally think about the World Wide Web and use it interchangeably. However, the "Internet" is the physcial network of computers all over the world while the "World Wide Web" is a virtual network of websites and is part of the internet.

Definition and History[]

Conceptual Overview[]

The internet is used to connect any one computer in the world with another using dedicated servers and routers. When these two or more computers are connected, they are allowed to receive and send any form of media such as visual, textual, or auditory.

The Early Internet[]

The history of the internet begins with the development of computers in the 1950s. Computer science researchers around the world such as in the United States, Great Britain, France were dedicating their research into a way to standardize the way networked computers interact - packet switching. Packet switching is a digital networking communications method that groups all data, which was any form of digital media, into a standardized size [5]. In the United States, the US department of Defense funded organizations such as ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency's Wide Area Network) to further develop the internet. As soon as the 1960s, the first message was sent using this protocol from the University of California, Los Angeles to Stanford Research Institute [6]. Similar networks emerged in other countries at the same time and significant research was performed into being able to interconect these networks. This would revolutionize the way internet was being used because this gave access to Internet Service Providers (ISP) worldwide to provide internet services to the audience, people with connected devices, worldwide.

The Modern Internet[]

Since the 1980s, the internet has grown to such an extent that it impacts society and culture in almost every way. Electronic mail, instant messaging, VoIP, video calling, forums, blogs, social networking, online shopping; the internet can be seen or felt in almost aspect of life. Today, the internet continues to expand its reach in all corners of our world driving more and more information everyday, serving more and more people, and commercializing more and more products worldwide.

Examples[]

Some examples of the common uses of the Internet are include social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is an online social networking website that allows users to connect and share information to friends and family all over the world. Many other websites have integrated Facebook into their online server. Twitter is another social networking website that enables users to contribute and read a live feed of events occuringg in another user's life. In addition, Twitter allows users to share their own beliefs on current events going on across the world. While both of these are servers of the Internet, they differ in how they are used.

There are also various internet providers worldwide and some of the examples of Internet Service providers include AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast. Internet providers uses fiber technology or Ethernet to connect customers to a a high speed network that allows them to access the online server. Internet is only provided through these channels, but serves over billions of people worldwide. It has the capacity to connect every single individual with a functioning global interconnectef device.