Introduction to the www and the Internet

Millions of people around the world use the Internet to search for and retrieve information of all sorts of topics in a wide variety of areas including the arts, business, government, humanities, news, politics and recreation. People communicate through electronic mail, discussion groups, chat channels and other means of informational exchange. They share information and make commercial and business transactions. All this activity is possible because tens of thousands of networks are connected to the Internet and exchange information in the same basic ways.

The World Wide Web is part of the Internet. But it’s not a collection of networks. Rather, it is information that is connected or linked together like a web. You access this information through the interface or tool called a Web browser. The number of resources and services that are part of the World Wide Web is growing extremely fast. In 1996 there were more than 20 million users of the www, and more than half the information that is transferred across the Internet is accessed through the www. By using a computer terminal (hardware) connected to a network that is part of the Internet, and by using a program (software) to browse or retrieve information that is part of the www, the people connected to the Internet and World Wide Web through the local providers have access to a variety of information. Each browser provides a graphical interface. You move from place to place, from site to site on the Web by using a mouse to click on a portion of text, icon, an image or region of a map. These items are called hyperlinks or links. Each link you select represents a document, an image, a video clip or an audio file somewhere on the Internet. The user doesn’t need to know where it is, the browser follows the link.

All sorts of things are available on the www. One can use the Internet for recreational purposes. Many TV and radio stations broadcast live on the www. Essentially, if something can be put into digital format and stored in a computer, then it’s available on the www. You can even visit museums, gardens, cities throughout the world, learn foreign languages and meet new friends. And, of course, you can play computer games through www, competing with partners from other countries and continents.

Just a little bit of exploring the www will show you what a lot of use and fun it is.

Vocabulary

World Wide Web to retrieve variety recreation network to share humanities business transactions access

to browse browser программа поиска информации to provide provider компания, предоставляющая доступ к WWW через местные телефонные сети broadcast live site to link hyperlink to compete

Exercise 22

General understanding

1. What is the Internet used for?

2. Why so many activities such as e-mail and business transactions are possible through the Internet?

3. What is the World Wide Web?

4. What is a Web browser?

5. What does a user need to have an access to the www?

6. What are hyperlinks?

7. What resources are available on the www?

8. What are the basic recreational applications of www?

Exercise 23

TRUE/FALSE

1. There are still not so many users of the Internet.

2. There is information of all sorts of topics on the Internet, including education and weather forecasts.

3. People can communicate through e-mail and chat programs only.

4. Internet is tens of thousands of networks which exchange the information in the same basic way.

5. You can access information available on the www though the Web browser.

6. You need a computer (hardware) and a special program (software) to be a www user.

7. You move from site to site by clicking on a portion of text only.

8. Every time the user wants to move somewhere on the web he/she needs to enter links and addresses step by step.

9. Films and pictures are not available on the Internet.

10. Radio and TV-broadcasting is a future of the Internet. They are not available yet.

Exercise 24

Define the following using the vocabulary:

Internet, www, web browser, Internet provider, hyperlinks

Exercise 25

Find the equivalents

1. Объем ресурсов и услуг, которые являются частью www, растет чрезвычайно быстро.

2. Каждая ссылка, выбранная вами представляет документ, графическое изображение, видеоклип или аудио файл где-то в интернете

3. Интернет может быть также использован для развлечения.

4. Вы получаете доступ к ресурсам Интернет через интерфейс или инструмент, который называется веб-браузер.

5. Вся эта деятельность возможна благодаря десяткам тысяч компьютерных сетей, подключенных к Интернету и обменивающихся информацией в одном режиме.

6. Пользователи общаются через электронную почту, дискуссионные группы, чаты (многоканальный разговор в реальном времени) и другие средства информационного обмена.

Exercise 26

Match the following:

You access the information through one interface or tool called a ….	web browser
People connected to the www though the local … have access to a variety of information.	providers
The user doesn’t need to know where the site is, the …follows the ….	link
In 1996 there were more than 20 million users of the ….	www
Each … provides a graphical interface.
Local …charge money for their services to access …resources.

Exercise 27

Group discussion

1. Some people think that the Internet is very harmful, especially for young people, because it carries a lot of information about sex, violence and terrorism. Do you think that some kind of censorship is necessary on the www?

2. World famous authors and publishers say that the Internet violates their copyright because Web-programmers put all kinds of books, pictures, music, films and programs free on the Internet and this reduces their sales and profits.

3. What difficulties did you have working on the Internet?

4. Have you got fun?

5. How much useful information did you retrieve?

6. Why so few people experience working on the Internet?

Exercise

What is your idea of computer translators? Does the problem exist today? Read the following passage and say whether the author is optimistic or sceptical about it? Find the facts to prove your idea.