OVERVIEW

• The Internet has two main features that can support a

wide range of learning activities in the classroom:
– Information resources
– Communication technologies

• The Internet supports both synchronous and

asynchronous communication channels.

• Synchronous communication requires all communicating

parties to be present when communication occurs,
whereas asynchronous communication does not.
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 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
INTERNET
• The Internet is a global network of networks through
which computers communicate.

• It is an infrastructure consisting of computers,

cables, wires, and other telecommunications devices
plus the protocols to allow these computers to easily
communicate with each other.

• The Internet was developed in the 1970s as a U.S.

Department of Defense network called the ARPAnet.
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 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
INTERNET…
• The Internet today uses the ARPAnet structure and is
a collection of computer networks linked through
different media, connecting many campus networks,
commercial networks, and government networks
across the world.

• By the end of 1989 the original Department of

Defense ARPAnet had been retired and turned over
to the National Science Foundation to form what is
now called the Internet.
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 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
INTERNET…
• Thereafter, the Internet linked universities around
North America and then connected to research
facilities in Europe.

• Use of the Internet exploded during the 1990s, when

it was expanded to allow private companies and
individuals to connect to it.

• Today the Internet is a loosely structured network of

computers that cross geographical, political,
educational, and cultural boundaries.
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 AN OVERVIEW OF
INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES
• Although we use the term Internet to refer to a single entity or
structure, the Internet is actually the infrastructure that
provides access to or exchanges of information using several
telecommunication services, or technologies, across numerous
networks.
• In contrast to the Internet, an intranet is a private network that
resides within an organization and is not accessible to the
public.
• It uses networking hardware and software for communicating
and storing or sharing files within the intranet.
• Usually a networked computer can access both an intranet and
the Internet. 5
 AN OVERVIEW OF
INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES…
• Internet technologies provide access to information that
would have been impossible to access just a few years ago.

• Using the World Wide Web, students have access to virtual

libraries, electronic databases, and powerful search engines.

• The Internet also permits interaction and communication

among peers and with experts outside the local classroom,
both synchronously and asynchronously.

• Internet technologies support interaction and collaboration

that allow students to share ideas, ask questions, and discuss
classroom projects.
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 Old Internet Technologies
• Old Internet technologies were used on the Internet
prior to the beginning of the World Wide Web and
now are not widely used.

• Gopher
– Gopher brought hierarchically organized text files from
servers all over the world to a user’s computer.
– Gopher was developed at the University of Minnesota
(where sports teams are called the Golden Gophers) and
was prominently used from about 1992 through 1996,
when it was effectively replaced by the World Wide Web.
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 Telnet
• Telnet is a protocol that permits basic
communication between two host computers.

• It was developed in the early days of the Internet as

an accommodation to overcome simple differences
among computers, such as what kind of character set
to use.

• Telnet allowed a person to log on to a host computer

through the Internet as a regular user with whatever
privileges were granted to the specific application
and data on that computer. 8
 Recycled Internet
Technologies
• Recycled Internet technologies were used on the
Internet prior to the beginning of the World Wide
Web but were modified to work as a Web service or
are still widely used.

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 Bulletin Board Services
• Bulletin board services (BBSs) are electronic
message centers that host specific interest groups.

• A BBS may provide archives of files, personal

electronic mail, and any other services or activities of
interest to the bulletin board’s system operator.

• Bulletin boards are a particularly good place to find

free or inexpensive software products.

• Messages on BBSs are typically categorized by topics,

and any user can submit or read any message.
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 Electronic Mail
• E-mail was one of the original Internet technologies, yet it
remains probably the most popular technology used on the
Internet.
• E-mail allows messages comprised of text and other media to
be sent between computers.
• It was invented during the 1960s, when computer scientists
devised ways of exchanging short messages within a large
time-sharing computer system.
• By 1970 electronic message traffic was moving smoothly on
the Department of Defense network, and by the early 1980s
network mail was called e-mail and the @ sign became an
indispensable component of e-mail addresses.
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 Electronic Mail…
• An e-mail account is identified by an e-mail address, which has two parts,
separated by an @ symbol.
• To the left of the @ symbol is the account or user name; the part on the
right identifies the domain of the mail server where your account resides.
• The account or user name can be chosen or assigned, but it must be
unique within the domain in which it is used.

The Structure of an E-Mail Address

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 File Transfer Protocol
• File transfer protocol (FTP) is a standard Internet protocol
that permits the exchange of files between computers on
the Internet.

• Like Telnet, FTP was developed in the early days of the

Internet (it was released as a standard protocol in 1972) to
make it possible to share files between computers.

• FTP is now commonly used to transfer Web page files from

the Web page author’s computer to a Web server. FTP is
also commonly used to download programs and other files
from a Web server to a user or client computer.
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 Listservs or Discussion Lists
• Discussion lists (or listservs, discussion forums, electronic
mailing lists, or just mailing lists) are automated mail lists—
basically, e-mail distributed to a large group.
• A listserv, or mailing list manager, is a program that receives
messages and automatically sends them out to the e-mail
addresses of a group of users who have subscribed to the list.
• Thus, list subscribers can communicate with other list
subscribers without having to send individual e-mails to
everyone on the list.
• Each subscriber can post a message to the e-mail address of the
mailing list, which serves as an alias for all list subscribers’
addresses. 14
 Listservs or Discussion Lists…
• Discussion lists can be structured in several ways:
– Moderated
– Unmoderated
– Open
– Closed
– One-way or broadcast
– Two -way

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 Newsgroups
• Newsgroups began as a means of communication
between mainframe computers at large universities.

• Newsgroups use a network service called Usenet.

• Usenet permits any member to participate in a public

dialogue with everyone else in the newsgroup.

• As it grew to become international in scope, it

became probably the largest decentralized
information resource in existence until the advent of
the World Wide Web.
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 Newsgroups…
• Usenet newsgroups are distributed among
thousands of computers called news servers, which
are operated by Internet service providers,
universities, companies, and other organizations.
• Each server receives copies of all messages in a
newsgroup and stores them in a database.
• News servers automatically exchange, or propagate,
these messages among themselves, to keep each
other’s databases up to date.
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 Newsgroups…
• Newsgroups are different from discussion lists in
several ways.

• Postings to a newsgroup are made to a central

location rather than to e-mail accounts, and Usenet
articles remain on a server, whereas discussion list
messages come to an e-mail account.

• Further, discussion lists need only an e-mail program

to view the discussion; newsgroups need a news
reader or Web browser.
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Newsgroup Discussion
Categories

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 Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol
• TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet
protocol) is the basic communication language, or
protocol, of the Internet.

• It can also be used in a local area network. The

collection of networks eventually called the Internet
was named for the first word of Internet protocol.

• The Internet can best be described as one large

worldwide network connecting many smaller
networks.
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 Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol…
• It is a packet-switching network. Packets are like little
envelopes of information packaged and routed
according to network availability.

• Each packet has a destination address and is transported

from one place to another until it is delivered to the
correct address.

• A packet may go through a series of networks before it

reaches its final destination; the protocols that make the
packet transformation possible are called transmission
control protocol and Internet protocol, or TCP/IP.
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 Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol…
• TCP/IP is a two-layer program.

• TCP manages the assembling of a message or file

into smaller packets that are transmitted over the
Internet and are then reassembled into the original
message.

• The other layer, IP, handles the address part of each

packet so that it gets to the right destination.

• A Gateway computer checks the address to see

where to forward the message.
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 Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol…
• TCP/IP uses a client/server model of communication,
in which a computer user (i.e., a client) requests and
is provided a service, such as receiving a Web page,
by another computer (i.e., a server) in the network.

• TCP/IP communication is primarily point to point,

meaning each communication is from one point, or
host computer, in the network to another point, or
host computer.

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 New Internet Technologies
• New Internet technologies support the use of the
World Wide Web.

• Chat
– Chat is real-time communication between two or more
people using computers, usually through the Internet.
– Any online, real-time conversation is chat or a form of
chat.
– Most networks, online services, and conferencing
programs offer a chat feature.

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 Chat...
• A chat room is a virtual space where a chat session
takes place.

• Technically, a chat room is a communications

channel, but the term room supports the chat
metaphor.

• Because chat is intended for two-way

communication, it supports a high level of
interactivity among users.
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 Chat...
• Chat can be used effectively to support Web-
enhanced learning in the classroom. Some of the
benefits include the following:
– Chat sessions are a good way to access experts in a
field of study.
– Teachers can provide online office hours as a chat
session, allowing more than one person to benefit
from the discussion.
– Most chat tools keep a record or a log of
conversations.
– Chat sessions can be relatively spontaneous.
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 Hypertext Transfer Protocol
• Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) is the underlying
protocol used by the World Wide Web.

• HTTP defines how messages are formatted and

transmitted and what actions Web servers and Web
browsers should take in response to various
commands.

• For example, when you enter a URL in your browser,

you send an HTTP command to the Web server
directing it to fetch and transmit the requested Web
page. 27
 Hypertext Transfer Protocol...
• FTP is a two-way system in which files can be
transferred back and forth between server and client
computers.

• HTTP is a one-way system in which files are

transferred from the Web server into the Web
browser of the client computer.

• When HTTP appears in a URL, it means that the user

is connecting to a Web server and files are
transferred but not downloaded and stored.
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 Hypertext Markup Language
• Hypertext markup language (HTML) is the language
in which Web pages are written.

• HTML uses a simple system for denoting instructions,

called tags, to convey the content and structure of a
hypertext document, or Web page.

• Hypertext, Web pages now commonly include other

media, and it may be more accurate to use the term
hypermedia instead of hypertext.
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 Hypertext Markup Language...

• HTML files, or Web pages, use HTTP to transfer Web

pages from a Web server through the World Wide
Web to a client computer, where they are parsed
and displayed using a Web browser program.

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 Instant Messaging
• Instant messaging is a form of chat that provides a
more personal or private interaction between
chatters but requires specialized software to be
downloaded to a user’s computer.
• There are several different instant messaging
systems available, including ICQ, AOL Instant
Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and MSN Messenger.
• With instant messaging you create buddy or contact
lists of other users with whom you wish to
correspond, all of whom must be using the same
instant messaging program. 31
 Instant Messaging...
• Because of the lack of an instant messaging
standard, instant messaging may not be a good
choice for Web-enhanced learning in the classroom.
– It is difficult for a teacher to provide instant
messaging support to students without installing
multiple programs.

• Instant messaging has a number of advantages over

online chat rooms.

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 Internet2
• Internet2 is a consortium of over 200 universities
working in partnership with industry and
government to develop and deploy advanced
applications for learning and research.

• The Internet2 project is not a single, separate

network but joins its members together through
many advanced campus, regional, and national
networks.

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 Internet2...
• Internet2 is itself a collection of communication and
information-sharing technologies.
– For example, a major function of Internet2 is adding
sufficient network infrastructure to support real-time
multimedia and high-bandwidth interconnections and thus
to enable applications such as telemedicine, digital
libraries, and virtual laboratories that are not possible with
the technology underlying today’s Internet.

• Internet2 is not intended to be a future replacement

for the Internet.
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 Message Boards
• Message boards, bulletin boards or forums, or
threaded discussions usually refer to a Webbased
asynchronous communication tool that allows you to
post a message for people to read at their own
convenience.
• Message boards work similarly to newsgroups but
function differently from discussion lists.
• With discussion or mailing lists, messages are
received in subscribers’ e-mail inboxes because
messages are pushed from the Web server to the
client computer. 35
 Uniform Resource Locator
• A uniform resource locator (URL) is the address or location on the
World Wide Web of a document or file that resides on a Web
server connected to the Internet.
• The URL is the most fundamental innovation of the Web, it is the
specification used by any program, computer, or server connected
to the Internet to locate a resource on the Web.

The Structure of a URL

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 Videoconferencing
Technologies
• Webcasting is a term taken from World Wide Web and
broadcast.
• Sometimes called Netcasting, Webcasting refers to the real-
time transmission of encoded video under the control of a
server to multiple recipients who all receive the same content
at the same time.
• Webcasting is used to deliver live or delayed versions of
sound or video broadcasts.
• It also refers to the delayed or preview versions of movies,
music videos, or regular radio and television broadcasts,
which promote the live broadcasts.
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 Videoconferencing
Technologies...
• Webcasting uses so-called push technology, in which a Web
server seemingly pushes information to the user, in contrast
to pull technology, in which the user seeks and downloads
information, as with a Web browser.

• In reality, the pushing of information is triggered by a user or

a network administrator who preselects the service, it arrives
only as the result of client requests.

• An Internet whiteboard is an Internet application that allows

users to draw objects that can then be transmitted to other
users who are simultaneously using the same application.
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 Videoconferencing
Technologies...
• This electronic concept is similar to that of a real-world
whiteboard: One participant draws objects that others can
see, and the other participants can then add to or delete
these drawings.
– An electronic whiteboard allows communicating parties to share
textual and graphic information in real time.

• Internet videoconferencing is becoming a widely used

technology. Its applications and services are usually based on
technologies that allow real-time video and audio to be sent
and received through computer networks.

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 Videoconferencing
Technologies...
• The advantage of these technologies over older
videoconferencing is that they allow
videoconferencing to occur over the Internet rather
than only through phone lines.

• In both cases you need a video camera and a

digitizing card to transmit video signals.

• A microphone, speakers (or headset), and an audio

card are required for audio transmission.
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 Web Log
• A Web log, or blog, is an online journal in the form of a Web
page that is comprised of links and postings in reverse
chronological order.
• The activity of updating a blog is called blogging, and the
person who maintains a blog is a blogger.
• The totality of Web logs on the World Wide Web is often
called the blogosphere.
• Web logs are not actually an Internet technology but use Web
publishing technologies and tools to disseminate information
on the Web.
• Two features common to Web logs are blogrolls and
commenting, or feedback.
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 Web Log...
• A blogroll is a list of other Web logs that are linked to a Web log
entry or article.
• Blogrolls are one way a blogger creates a context for a blog by
listing other blogs that are similar.
• Blogrolls can be used as a measure of blog authority, ranking blogs
according to the number of references found in other blogs—much
like Google rankings of search results.
• Many Web logs are syndicated on the Web by distributing their
headlines along with hyperlinks and summaries through a
technology called Really Simple Syndication (RSS).
• An RSS feed simply repackages the content of an entry in a Web log
as a list of data items, such as the date of the posting, a summary of
the article, and a link to it.
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 World Wide Web
• The World Wide Web (WWW, or just Web) is the second
most popular Internet application, second only to e-mail.

• The Web is an application built on top of the Internet and

used to access information resources through the Internet,
using specific protocols to identify and locate that
information.

• The World Wide Web is a body of software, protocols, and

conventions that provide for the viewing and publication
of text and multimedia documents stored on computers
known as Web servers.
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 SYNCHRONOUS AND
ASYNCHRONOUS MODES
• The Internet supports both synchronous and asynchronous
communication channels.

• Asynchronous communication is communication that occurs without

regard to time or location; it is not necessary for all communicating
parties to be present when communication occurs.

• With asynchronous communication a message is sent but is not

necessarily received (accessed and read) immediately.

• Synchronous communication is communication that occurs in real

time and is highly interactive; all communicating parties are
simultaneously present.

• With synchronous communication a message is sent and immediately

received. 44
 NETIQUETTE
• Because of the unstructured nature of asynchronous and
synchronous communication, it is important to establish clear
rules and expectations for Internet communication sessions.

• You should establish ground rules ahead of time that focus

discussions on learning goals and make it easier to evaluate
student participation.

• Rules and expectations for information exchanges should be

made clear in general guidelines for online communication.

• Netiquette means network etiquette and refers to the dos

and don’ts of online communication. 45
Classification of Internet Technologies

46