The Internet Essays - Cultural Globalization, Digital Technology

The Internet Abstract The Internet is a source of more information then most of us know. In this report I highlight some of my favorite things. Also, I highlight some of the things that we as users and buyers need to be cautious of before using. What is the Internet? What comes to a your mind when they think of the Internet? Well, I will tell you what used to come to my mind. When I thought of the Internet, I thought of x-rated Web pages and chat rooms. I envisioned a medium that was so full of disgusting and perverted pictures that parents needed a "cybersitter" to make sure that their children did not get into the Web pages that they were not supposed to. I thought this was the way it was because that is what I had heard about, but I'm a experimental type person and decided to investigate for myself what was really on the Internet. What I found surprised me greatly, for although there are a lot of things that a person would not want their children to see or read, a person has to intentionally search out these things to find them. When you compare the wealth of information you can retrieve off the Internet, it is worth the effort that it takes to make it where children can work on the computer without fear of them being exposed t! o something they should not. One way to make it safer for your children and teens is done when you origianly sign up with your Internet provider. What you do is turn on teen access only, or children acess only, but since nothing is foolproof, keep the computer in a open spot where the you can always see what is going on, for supervision is always the best solution. What does the Internet do? That is a concise question with a broad answer. The facts show that the Internet does nothing. We travel through it to get to our destination ,but we do not use it as itself. It is a tool in our human communications capability. In my research the article compared the Internet to the telephone system, and said that it was similar to our Interstate highway System. The Internet extends the reach of people so that ideas and services can be exchanged, but this does not happen by itself. The Internet is actually a global network of networks. Millions of computers are able to share information with each other using the telephone lines. In fact, the Internet links at least 3 million computers at any one time, and that does not count the people logging on just to surf the net. It only counts the institutions providing some type of Internet service, or information sharing programs. How did the Internet begin? I thought this was interesting. The Internet began like most things in our society, that is to say that it was started by the government. The Internet started out as a experimental military network in the 60's. It then expanded to other governmental agencies and then to higher education. Now the Internet is well known all over the world, for just about anywhere you go, people know what the Internet is. Not everyone knows what to do with the Internet, but most know what it is. Now, unlike a few years ago, the Internet is accessible to just about anyone with a computer. The individual needs only a modem, but they also needs internet access to be connected. At this point it would be good to distinguish between Internet providers and commercial services providing Internet access. As I mentioned before the Internet started with the government and spread to education. These two groups comprised the bulk of the Internet until the late 1980's when companies began linking to the Internet. So a University or Government agency that provides internet access to their students and employees are providing what is considered full Internet access. They do not pay for their Internet access it is part of their studies and employment. On the other hand, the average Joe can get hooked online through a commercial service such as America online, prodigy, and other large communications company such as AT&T and GTE. These companies provide Internet access that is much mo! re user friendly, and was designed with the consumer in mind. One thing I forgot to mention, is that before you can be connected to an online service