Information Systems/Internet

The Internet is a global wide area network that connects computer systems across the world. It includes several high-bandwidth data lines that comprise the Internet "backbone."

Objectives and Skills

Objectives and skills for the Internet portion of CLEP Information Systems include:

• Web browsers (URLs, protocols, standards, history, cookies, resource allocation)
• Internet and other online services and methods (World Wide Web, protocol, Web search engines, Web bots, intranet, cloud computing, communications, push/pull technology, W3C)
• Web technologies (HTML, XML, Javascript)
• Web site development (analysis, design, functionality, accessibility)

Readings

1. Wikibooks: Introduction to Computer Information Systems/Internet
2. Wikipedia: Internet
3. Wikipedia: Web browser
4. Wikipedia: Browser security
5. [Outside Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/5-ways-to-protect-yourself-online-a6834636.html]]

Multimedia

1. YouTube: How the Internet Works in 5 Minutes
2. YouTube: What is the World Wide Web?
3. YouTube: Web Development Tutorial for Beginners
4. YouTube: JavaScript Tutorial for Beginners
5. YouTube: Push Notifications
6. YouTube: Cloud Computing Explained
7. Youtube: How does Wi-Fi Work
8. Youtube:How To: Improve or Optimize Your WIFI Signal
9. Youtube:How to: Install VPN on Windows
10. Youtube: What is the Internet?
11. Youtube: Wi-Fi Security as Fast as Possible
12. YouTube: What is a DNS?
13. YouTube: How the Internet Was Invented Part 1

Activities

1. Complete the tutorial GCF Learn Free: Internet 101: Browser Basics.
2. Review Learn the Net: Master the basics and Learn the Net: The Web At a Glance.
3. Review Google: How Search Works.
4. Build a website one or more of the following ways :
   • Use Google: Web Designer to build an interactive website through pre-determined templates.
   • Review 2 Create a Website and follow the directions to build a website from scratch using HTML and code.
   • Use Codecademy: Make a Website to make your own website.
5. See how well your web browser scores on the HTML5 standards test, view how other browsers scored, and compare your browser with other browsers.

Research and Discussion

1. How is the Internet changing education and the learning institutions today? Describe how distance learning has changed how you learn.
2. Do you think the Internet needs controls or censorship? Support your answer.
3. Communication over the Internet has expanded and broadened everyone's lives. The Internet can have positive and negative affects as we spend time online. Is living in the digital world good or bad for people? Support your answer.

Lesson Summary

Overview

• The internet also has the ability to "talk" to other computers. The internet is connected to the point where access to just about anything is derived from the internet. The internet is a globally connected network system that uses TCP/IP to transmit data via various types of media. The internet is a network of global exchanges – including private, public, business, academic and government networks – connected by guided, wireless and fiber-optic technologies.

Web Browsers

• Web browsers are used to deliver information resources, which are identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URL/URI). The user via a client/server model, can view and access information from the world wide web.
• A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web.
• All web browsers follow standards of HTML and XHTML to ensure information is easily shared and communicated. All web browsers utilize protocols, that allow information to be routed between the source host and the user host.
• Cookies and history are used to personalize the users experience on a web page. They are also used to track, retrieve, and present information regarding of past activities on a website. Cookies and history data can be used to modify the user's current activity on the same website. Cookies may be deleted using a browser's Settings or Preferences options.

Internet Services

• The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link several billion devices worldwide.
• The World Wide Web is an information system of interlinked hypertext documents and other digital resources that are accessed via the Internet.
• The Internet operates without a central governing body.
• A web search engine is a software system that is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web.
• A web bot is a computer program whose developers claim is able to predict future events by tracking keywords entered on the internet. Typically, bots perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than would be possible for a human alone.

Web Site Development

• Web development is a broad term for the work involved in developing a web site for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network).
• Web development can range from developing the simplest static single page of plain text to the most complex web-based internet applications, electronic businesses, and social network services.
• Web development takes into account many security considerations, such as data entry error checking through forms, filtering output, and encryption.
• Many people use the terms Internet and World Wide Web, or just the Web, interchangeably, but the two terms are not synonymous.
• The World Wide Web is only one of hundreds of services used on the Internet. The Web is a global set of documents, images and other resources, logically interrelated by hyperlinks and referenced with Uniform Resource Identifiers(URIs).
• URIs symbolically identify services, servers, and other databases, and the documents and resources that they can provide. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the main access protocol of the World Wide Web.
• Web services also use HTTP to allow software systems to communicate in order to share and exchange business logic and data.
• World Wide Web browser software, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Apple's Safari, and Google Chrome, lets users navigate from one web page to another via hyperlinks embedded in the documents. 
• Client-side software can include animations, games, office applications and scientific demonstrations. 
• The Web has also enabled individuals and organizations to publish ideas and information to a potentially large audience online at greatly reduced expense and time delay. Publishing a web page, a blog, or building a website involves little initial cost and many cost-free services are available.
• Publishing and maintaining large, professional web sites with attractive, diverse and up-to-date information is still a difficult and expensive proposition.  
• Many individuals and some companies and groups use web logs or blogs, which are largely used as easily updatable online diaries. Some commercial organizations encourage staff to communicate advice in their areas of specialization in the hope that visitors will be impressed by the expert knowledge and free information, and be attracted to the corporation as a result. 

Key Terms

3G

The third generation of mobile telecommunications technology, based on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile telecommunications introduced in 1998.

4G

The fourth generation of mobile telecommunications technology, based on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile telecommunications introduced in 2008.

5G

The fifth generation of mobile telecommunications technology, based on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile telecommunications introduced in 2017.

Active Server Pages (ASP)

A common Microsoft server-side scripting language.

application server

A software framework that provides both facilities to create web applications and a server environment to run them.

Application Service Provider (ASP)

A business providing computer-based services to customers over a network using a standard protocol.

blog

A discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries typically displayed in reverse chronological order.

Business-to-Business (B2B)

A situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another.

Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

A situation where a business makes a commercial transaction with a consumer.

cable modem

A type of network bridge and modem that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a hybrid fibre-coaxial and RFoG infrastructure.

cloud computing

A model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand access to a shared pool of Internet-based configurable computing resources.

communication protocol

A defined set of rules and regulations that determine how data is transmitted in telecommunications and computer networking.

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)

A situation where a consumer makes a commercial transaction with another consumer.

Content Management System (CMS)

A software development system that enables adding or updating text, images, and other Web site content without coding in HTML or using a Web authoring program.

cookie

A small file deposited on a user’s hard disk by Web sites, enabling sites to remember what they know about their visitors between sessions.

cyberspace

A term used to describe the Internet and other online networks, especially the artificial realities and virtual communities that form on them.

dial-up

An early form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) by dialing a telephone number on a conventional telephone line.

digital divide

A term that describes the divide between the people who do and do not have access to the Internet.

Domain Name System (DNS)

A system that translates a computer’s numerical IP address into an easier-to-remember string of names separated by dots.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)

A family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines.

dynamic IP address

An IP address that is assigned to a device when it connects to a network; when that device disconnects from the network, the IP address may be reused.

e-commerce (electronic commerce)

Trading in products or services using computer networks, such as the Internet.

email (electronic mail)

A method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients.

email server

A specialized server that acts like a local post office for a particular Internet host.

extranet

A website that allows controlled access to partners, vendors and suppliers or an authorized set of customers.

file server

In a LAN, a computer used as a storehouse for software and data that are shared by several users.

file sharing

File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

A communications protocol that enables users to download files from remote servers to their computers and to upload files they want to share from their computers to these archives.

filtering software

Software that, for the most part, keeps offensive and otherwise inappropriate Web content from being viewed by children, on-duty workers, and others.

Global Position System (GPS)

A space-based navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more satellites.

grid computing

The collection of computer resources from multiple locations to reach a common goal.

hotspot

A physical location that offers Internet access over a wireless local area network (WLAN) through the use of a router connected to a link to an Internet service provider.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

A text file that includes codes that describe the format, layout, and logical structure of a hypermedia document.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

An application protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems used as the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web.

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)

is a communications protocol for secure communication over a computer network which is widely used on the Internet.

hypertext

Text displayed on a computer display or other electronic devices with references or links to other text which the reader can immediately access, or where text can be revealed progressively at multiple levels of detail.

I-commerce

Broad term covering all commercial activity on the internet, including auctioning, placing orders, making payments, transferring funds, and collaborating with trading partners. Internet commerce is not a synonym for electronic commerce (e-commerce) but one of its subsets.

Internet

A global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link several billion devices worldwide.

Internet bot

Also known as web robot, WWW robot or simply -bot-, is a software application that runs automated tasks (scripts) over the Internet.

Internet safety

The knowledge of maximizing the user's personal safety and security risks to private information and property associated with using the internet, and the self-protection from computer crime in general.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

A business that provides its customers with connections to the Internet along with other services.

internetworking

Connecting different types of networks and computer systems.

intranet

A private website, accessible only to an organization’s staff. Gives employees the ability to communicate, collaborate, share documents and other information.

Java

A platform-neutral, object-oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems for use on multiplatform networks.

JavaScript

An interpreted scripting language that enables Web page designers to add scripts to HTML code.

m-commerce (mobile commerce)

The delivery of electronic commerce capabilities directly into the consumer’s hand, anywhere, via wireless technology.

malware

Malicious software used and spread on the Internet includes computer viruses which copy with the help of humans, computer worms which copy themselves automatically.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG)

Web browser-based games, in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a world.

net neutrality

The principle that Internet access should be free from restrictions related to the type of equipment being connected and the type of communication being performed with that equipment.

open standards

A standard that is publicly available and has various rights to use associated with it.

optical fiber

A flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair.

packet-switching

A digital networking communications method that groups all transmitted data into suitably sized blocks which are transmitted via a medium that may be shared by multiple simultaneous communication sessions.

platform

Whatever environment a piece of computer software or code object is designed to run within, obeying its constraints, and making use of its facilities.

plug-in

P software extension that adds new features.

pull technology

Technology in which browsers on client computers initiate requests from server machines before any information is delivered.

push technology

Technology in which information is delivered automatically to a client computer.

Real-Time Communication (RTC)

An integrated communication environment that permits computer users to exchange multimedia and audio content in real time.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS)

An XML-based format for publishing frequently updated information.

satellite internet

Internet access provided through communications satellites.

search engine optimization

The process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's unpaid results.

spam

Unsolicited or undesired electronic messages.

static IP address

An IP address assigned semipermanently to a particular device connected to a network.

social networking

A platform to build relationships among people who share similar interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections.

streaming audio

Sound files that play without being completely downloaded to the local hard disk.

streaming video

Video clip files that play while being downloaded.

telecommuting

A work arrangement in which employees use technology to reduce or eliminate commuting time.

Telnet

An application protocol used on the Internet or local area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communication facility using a virtual terminal connection.

Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)

A string of characters used to identify a resource

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

The address of a Web site.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A dedicated connection to a local area network via the internet.

Voice over IP (VoIP)

A methodology and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over IP networks, such as the Internet.

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The main international standards organization for the World Wide Web.

web authoring software

Programs that work like desktop publishing page layout programs to allow users to create, edit, and manage Web pages and sites without having to write HTML code.

web bot

an internet bot computer program whose developers claim is able to predict future events by tracking keywords entered on the internet.

web development

A broad term for the work involved in developing a web site for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network).

web portal

A Web site designed as a Web entry station, offering quick and easy access to a variety of services.

web search engine

A web search engine is a software system that is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web.

web server

A server that stores Web pages and sends them to client programs that request them.

World Wide Web (WWW)

Part of the Internet, a collection of multimedia documents created by organizations and users worldwide linked by hypertext.

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

A markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format which is both human-readable and machine-readable.

Review Questions

1. A web browser is _____.

   A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web.
2. Web browsers are _____. 

   Web browsers are used to deliver information resources, which are identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URL/URI), to the user via a client/server model, so that the user can view and access information from the world wide web. 
3. All web browsers follow standards of _____.  

   All web browsers follow standards of HTML and XHTML to ensure information is easily shared and communicated and all web browsers utilize protocols, allowing information to be routed between the source host and the user host.  
4. Cookies and history are used to _____.  

   Cookies and history are used to personalize the users experience on a web page and also used to track, retrieve, and present information regarding past activity on a website and use it to modify the user's current activity on the same website.  
5. The Internet is _____.

   The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link several billion devices worldwide.
6. The World Wide Web is _____.

   The World Wide Web is an information system of interlinked hypertext documents and other digital resources that are accessed via the Internet.
7. The Internet operates _____.

   The Internet operates without a central governing body.
8. A web search engine _____.

   A web search engine is a software system that is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web.
9. A web bot is _____.

   A web bot is a computer program whose developers claim is able to predict future events by tracking keywords entered on the internet. Typically, bots perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than would be possible for a human alone.
10. Web development is _____.

    Web development is a broad term for the work involved in developing a web site for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network).
11. Web development can range from _____.

    Web development can range from developing the simplest static single page of plain text to the most complex web-based internet applications, electronic businesses, and social network services.
12. Web development takes into account _____.

    Web development takes into account many security considerations, such as data entry error checking through forms, filtering output, and encryption.
13. Many people use the terms Internet and World Wide Web, or just the Web, interchangeably, but _____.

    Many people use the terms Internet and World Wide Web, or just the Web, interchangeably, but the two terms are not synonymous.
14. The World Wide Web is only one of _____.

    The World Wide Web is only one of hundreds of services used on the Internet. The Web is a global set of documents, images and other resources, logically interrelated by hyperlinks and referenced with Uniform Resource Identifiers(URIs).
15. URIs symbolically identify _____.

    URIs symbolically identify services, servers, and other databases, and the documents and resources that they can provide. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the main access protocol of the World Wide Web.
16. Web services also use HTTP to _____.

    Web services also use HTTP to allow software systems to communicate in order to share and exchange business logic and data.
17. World Wide Web browser software, such as _____, lets users _____. 

    World Wide Web browser software, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Apple's Safari, and Google Chrome, lets users navigate from one web page to another via hyperlinks embedded in the documents. 
18. Client-side software can include _____. 

    Client-side software can include animations, games, office applications and scientific demonstrations. 
19. The Web has also enabled individuals and organizations to publish _____.

    The Web has also enabled individuals and organizations to publish ideas and information to a potentially large audience online at greatly reduced expense and time delay. Publishing a web page, a blog, or building a website involves little initial cost and many cost-free services are available.

Assessments

• Flashcards: Quizlet: Information Systems - Internet
• Quiz: Quizlet: Information Systems - Internet
• Quizlet test internet

See Also

• Internet Fundamentals
• Wikibooks: Introduction to Computer Information Systems
• Wikipedia: Comparison of web browsers
• hastac.org: Distance Learning and E-Learning
• techriki: What is the Internet

References

Type classification: this is a lesson resource.

Completion status: this resource is considered to be complete.

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