Library / Literature & Fiction

Surfing the Internet: An Introduction Version 2.0.2

by Jean Armour Polly

Pages
about 33
Category
Literature & Fiction
Language
English
Reading time
36 min at 250 wpm
Start readingThe whole book, as cards or one word at a time. 20 min at 450 wpm in Read mode.

From the opening

c. 1992 Jean Armour Polly. Material quoted from other authors was compiled from public Internet posts by those authors. No copyright claims are made for those compiled quotes. Permission to reprint is granted for nonprofit educational purposes. Please let me know if you find this compilation useful. This first (much shorter) version of this appeared in the June, 1992 Wilson Library Bulletin. Please include this entire copyright/copy notice if you duplicate this document. Updates may be ftp'd:

Today I'll travel to Minnesota, Texas, California, Cleveland, New Zealand, Sweden, and England. I'm not frantically packing, and I won't pick up any frequent flyer mileage. In fact, I'm sipping cocoa at my Macintosh. My trips will be electronic, using the computer on my desk, communications software, a modem, and a standard phone line.

I'll be using the Internet, the global network of computers and their interconnections, which lets me skip like a stone across oceans and continents and control computers at remote sites. I haven't "visited" Antarctica yet, but it is only a matter of time before a host computer becomes available there!

This short, non-technical article is an introduction to Internet communications and how librarians and libraries can benefit from net connectivity. Following will be descriptions of electronic mail, discussion lists, electronic journals and texts, and resources available to those willing to explore. Historical details about the building of the Internet and technical details regarding network speed and bandwidth are outside the scope of this piece.

Until you use a radio receiver, you are unaware of the wealth of programming, music, and information otherwise invisible to you. Computer networks are much the same. About one million people worldwide use the Internet daily. Information packet traffic rises by 12% each month.

About 727,000 host computers are connected, according to a January, 1992 report (Network Working Group Request for Comments: 1296) by Mark K. Lottor. So, what's all the excitement about? What's zipping around in that fiber and cable and ether, anyway?

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