A Summary of
the Major Components of the Internet
Investigate all underlined words for detailed information.
Email ( MS
Outlook & Eudora ) ( Send
& Receive Messages *
Send & Receive Attachments )
E-mail (electronic mail) is the exchange of computer-stored
messages by telecommunication. (Some publications spell it email; we
prefer the currently more established spelling of e-mail.) E-mail
messages are usually encoded in ASCII
text. However, you can also send non-text files, such as graphic images and
sound files, as attachments sent in binary
streams. E-mail was one of the first uses of the Internet and is still the most
popular use. A large percentage of the total traffic over the Internet is
e-mail. E-mail can also be exchanged between online
service provider users and in networks other than the Internet, both public
and private.
World
Wide Web ( WWW is most popular Internet component but it is not the Internet! )
A system of Internet servers that support specially formatted documents. The documents
are formatted in a markup language called HTML (HyperText
Markup Language) that supports links to other documents, as well as graphics, audio, and
video files. This
means you can jump from one document to another simply by clicking on hot spots. Not all
Internet servers are part of the World Wide Web. There are applications
called Web browsers
making it easy to access
the World Wide Web; most popular being Netscape Navigator
and Microsoft's
Internet Explorer then ( Firefox & Opera
)
Chat
Room/Instant
Messaging ( Abbreviations for
Chat
Room & Instant Messaging )
WebBlog Digital Kids
A chat room is a Web site, part of a Web site, or part of
an online service such as America Online, that provides a venue for communities
of users with a common interest to communicate in real time. Forums and
discussion groups, in comparison, allow users to post messages but don't have
the capacity for interactive messaging. Most chat rooms don't require users to
have any special software; those that do, such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
allow users to download it from the Internet
Instant messaging (sometimes called IM or IMing) is the ability
to easily see whether a chosen friend or co-worker is connected to the Internet
and, if they are, to exchange messages with them. Instant messaging differs
from ordinary e-mail
in the immediacy of the message exchange and also makes a continued exchange
simpler than sending e-mail back and forth. Most exchanges are text-only.
However, some services, such as AOL, allow voice messaging and file sharing.
Mailing
List (Listserv or Newsletter * L-Soft Gateway to Listservs
)
A mailing list is a list of people who subscribe to a periodic mailing distribution on a particular topic. On the Internet, mailing lists include each person's e-mail address rather than a postal address. Mailing lists have become a popular way for Internet users to keep up with topics they're interested in. Many software producers and other vendors are now using them as a way to keep in touch with customers.
Bulletin
Board (Usernet or NewsGroups * Deja’s
Portal to Usernet's )
A bulletin board system (BBS) is a computer or an application
dedicated to the sharing or exchange of messages or other files on a network.
Originally an electronic version of the type of bulletin board found on the
wall in many kitchens and work places, the BBS was used to post simple messages
between users. The BBS became the primary kind of online community through the
1980s and early 1990s, before the World Wide Web arrived.
File
Transfer Protocol ( FTP is mostly used for: Downloading & Uploading
)
File Transfer Protocol (FTP), a standard Internet protocol,
is the simplest way to exchange files between computers on the Internet. Like
the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP),
which transfers displayable Web pages and related files, and the Simple Mail
Transfer Protocol (SMTP),
which transfers e-mail, FTP is an application protocol that uses the Internet's
TCP/IP
protocols. FTP is commonly used to transfer Web page files from their creator
to the computer that acts as their server
for everyone on the Internet. It's also commonly used to download
programs and other files to your computer from other servers.
Web Resources used for this study guide Webopedia Dictionary and
SearchNetworking.com