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History of the Internet
 Began in 1969 as a network of computers at
UCLA, UC @ Santa Barbara, Stanford &
Univ. of Utah.
 It was funded by the U.S Dept. of Defense.
 The first network was called ARPANET.
Reason for Internet
 The 1st goal was to develop hardware &
software needed to create geographically
dispersed network that could function even
if a network was destroyed or disabled.
 2nd goal was to create a way for scientists at
different locations to share info &
collaborate on military projects
What is the Internet?
 It links computers to computers sharing the
TCP/IP protocols.
 The internet is the transport vehicle for the
information stored in files or documents on
another computer.
 The Internet itself does not contain
information.
Definition of Internet
 The term Internet, is used to describe a
world wide group of connected networks
that allow public access to information and
services.
 No single organization owns or controls the
Internet.
Quote
"Too many young people believe if
they see it on the Internet, it must be
true." Alan November
Getting connected to the
Internet?
 To access the Internet you need:
– A computer
– A modem
– Software to dial into an ISP
– An ISP (Internet service provider)
The World Wide Web
 1991 Tim Berners-Lee released a program
that allowed you to create a document
called a Web page that had built in links to
other related documents.
 The collection of hyperlinked documents on
the internet is known as : World Wide Web
or WWW or W3 or simply the Web.
What is the World Wide Web?
 Microsoft Explorer or Netscape are the
browsers that allow you to view documents
on the internet.
 The current foundation on which WWW
functions is Hypertext using HTML.
 HTML provides highlighted links to other
documents
What makes “the Web” work?
 HTML: Hypertext Markup Language
 This is a standardized language of
computer code, imbedded in a”source”
documents behind all web documents.
 The browsers are programmed to
interpret HTML for display.
 HTML can be found in other
programming languages & applications
such as Javascript, SGML & XML.
What makes “the Web” work?
 URL: Uniform Resource Locator
 This is the unique address of any web
document
Anatomy of a URL
 http://www.utexas.edu/welcome
 http:// - this is the type of file
 www.utexas.edu - this is the domain name.
Identifies computer that stores the web.
 /welcome – this is the directory pathidentifies where the web page is stored.
What are you really searching?
 WWW is currently estimated at over 1
billion documents.
 It is not indexed in any standard vocabulary,
unlike a library’s catalogs.
 The web is the totality of the many web
pages which reside on computers called
servers all over the world.
Domain Owner
 Why would I want to know who owns a
web site? You may want to know who
publishes the information you are reading
or identify the group that pays for the site.
 Ownership of a web site can be found by
going to alltheweb.com
“Searching the Web”
 It is not possible to search the web directly.
 Your computer will access one of the
several intermediate databases & or webpages which contains selections of other
web pages organized to allow you to find
other web pages.
 They provide you with URLs to other
pages.
Search Tools
 Search Engines: Alta vista, Hotbot, Lycos,
Excite, Dogpile, Metafind
 These search by keyword, trying to match
exact words.
 Use no browsing & no subject categories
 Can search from minimal to specialized up
to 90+% of the web.
Who made money on my search?
 Search pages like Google, Altavista and
Yahoo make money by selling key words to
companies
 Companies pay per click to have their web
site listed first in the major search pages.
For more information: Alan November’s web site
Subject Directories
 These are hand-selected sites picked by
editors.
 Organized into hierarchical subject
categories. Can only search the subject
categories & descriptions.
 Examples are librarian’s indexes,
Britannica’s & Yahoo galaxy
Subject Guides
 These are web pages of collections of links
on a subject
 Complied by “expert” subject specialist,
agencies & associations
 Examples are: www virtual library & Argus
clearinghouse.
Web search strategy
Four Steps to search strategy
Step 1
Analyze your topic
Step 2
Pick the right
starting place
Step 4
Don't bog down
in any strategy
Step 3
Learn as you go
Vary your approach
What not to do!
 Browsing searchable directories
 “Simple” searching in large search engine
databases.
 Following links to sites recommended by
popular vote or commercial interest.
Hoax Web Sites
Boilerplate:
http://www.bigredhair.com/boilerplate.html
California's Velcro Crop under Challenge:
http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcro.html
Mankato, Minnesota:
http://lme.mnsu.edu/mankato/mankato.html
The Onion
http://www.theonion.com/3939/
Recognizing Domain Types
 ..edu
a U.S. college or university
 .com
a commercial, for-profit entity
 .orga non-commercial, non-profit entity
 .gov
U.S. government
 .milU.S. military
 .net a computer network
 .int an international organization
 .jp, .ru, .ca, .au, etc. country identifiers