Introduction to the Internet: Getting Started Step 1

What Is the Internet?

The Internet is:

• a communication and information retrieval system using computers
• a worldwide network of computers
• a global infrastructure for education, research, government, business, organizations, and individuals

The Internet has a lot in common with other forms of communication: Like the U.S. Postal Service, the Internet allows anyone who knows your Internet address to send you a letter. (It's called electronic mail, or email for short.) Like the telephone, the Internet allows you to "chat"with other people by participating in online discussion groups. Like the library, the Internet contains information on almost any topic you can imagine in many formats, including books, articles, videos, and music recordings. Like the newspaper, the Internet can give you new information every day, including world news, business, sports, travel, entertainment, and ads.   Parents 'Guide to the Internet. U.S. Department of Education, 1997.

How Did the Internet Start?

The Internet began in 1969 as ARPAnet, a project developed by the U.S. Department of Defense. It originally connected four university databases to allow scientists to share information. One of its initial purposes was to enable researchers and military personnel to communicate in the event of a nuclear attack; a unique feature of ARPAnet was its ability to route information around sections of the network that might be knocked out by a natural disaster or by nuclear attack. The official birth of the Internet was in 1983 when a new communication standard was developed that allowed all sorts of independent networks around the world to communicate with one another. In 1992 the graphic-oriented World Wide Web was developed by a Swiss physicist as a way to organize information and resources on the Internet, very similar to the WWW today. Millions of people around the globe are presently connected to the Internet. No one - no country, no organization, no company - is in charge of the Internet; it's growing and being changed by its users every day.

For a detailed account of the history of the Internet, see the Discovery Channel's Internet Timeline.

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