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INTERNET

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 INTERNET
• The internet, as it name suggests is an interconnection of networks.

• It is the largest network in the world with many millions of users all over
the world.

• The most unique feature of the internet is that it has no known central
authority and its actual size is not known.
• One reason the internet is so strong and versatile today is because it was
originally designed during the cold war to withstand nuclear attack.

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 INTERNET(CONT)
• In the 1960s, most universities and government agencies had
individual mainframe computers. These computers were not
interconnected and were mostly incompatible with other
computers.

• In 1969 the U.S Department of Defense’s Advance Research

Projects Agency (ARPA) built an experimental network called the
ARPAnet which connected four major mainframe computers in
California and Utah.

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 INTERNET(CONT)
• ARPAnet proved so versatile that 200 more computers systems
joined in the next decade.

• Many of these early networked computers were at universities

and research centers with ties to the military.

• By the early 80s, when the number had grown to about 2000, the
Department of Defense separated the military activities from the
main portion of the networking.

• ARPAnet later evolved into the “internet”

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 INTERNET(CONT)
• The National Science Foundation (NSF) gave the internet a boost in the
mid-1980s by building NSFnet.

• NSFnet is an internet accessible web of high speed transmission lines

spanning the United States.

• NSFnet was primarily designed to link supercomputers so that

universities could exchange research information and share computing
power.

• NSFnet’s high-speed lines soon became the internet’s new backbone,

spurring growth. 01/26/20245
 INTERNET(CONT)
• In early 1995 NSF sold its transmission system, effectively
ending US government involvement data transmission.

• Since then, commercial uses of the internet have been

legal, prompting a rapid expansion of internet use.

• By early 1996, the number of host computers had soared

to more than 7 million.

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 INTERNET(CONT)
The key to the success of the internet is because it provides
solution to two important issues

• How ordinarily incompatible computer should

communicate.

• How a network can survive even when some of its

computer links fail.

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 INTERNET(CONT)
 The problem of incompatibility of computers is
addressed by the use of protocols.

 A protocol is a standardized method of addressing and

formatting transmission.

 The internet accepts only those transmissions that use

its standardized TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/
Internet Protocol).
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 INTERNET(CONT)
 Every new network that joints the internet must
designate at least one computer to recognize these
protocols, and if necessary, translate for the rest of its
computers. The designated computer is sometimes
called Domain Name Server (DNS)

 The internet also requires that large transmission of

data be broken down into chunks of data called
“packets” TCP/IP identifies each packet with its own
electronic label and mailing address.
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 INTERNET(CONT)
 The individual packets are routed through the network from one
computer to another, and are reassembled at their destination. The
system is known as ‘packet switching’.

 Dividing a lengthy data transmission into small packets helps

prevent it from tying up a communication line. Packets from other
computers continue to get through but as a slower rate.

 The Key to the internet’s reliability is decentralization.

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 INTERNET(CONT)
Merits and Demerits of the Internet

• The internet does not have a Central Computer that sorts

messages, instead each of the internet’s many hosts sites provides a
computer that sorts transmission packets and passes them on to its
internet neighbors.

• These thousands of computers treat each other as equals, routing

packets from one another until the data reaches its final
destination.
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 INTERNET(CONT)
• If any computer or transmission line along the way is
broken, the other computers simply route the packet
another way.

• Instead of a simple star, the layout of the internet

resembles a complex web.

• Authority is decentralized throughout the internet.

• The internet has no central owner or controller.

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 INTERNET(CONT)
• The closest thing to a board of directors is the internet
society (ISOC), a voluntary, nonprofit organization
worldwide.

• One branch of the ISOC sets standards for protocols

and reviews any proposed change to internet hosts (i.e.
host computers) so that no two host are assigned the
same internet address.

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 INTERNET(CONT)
The ugly side
 Transmission can be slow.

 A message can take less than one second to get to its destination
or it might wander from one routing computer to another for
hours.

 It is almost impossible to regulate or stop the sharing of

objectionable material such as pornography, hate speeches,
terrorism etc. via the internet
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 INTERNET(CONT)
o It is difficult to enforce local laws on a medium that
crosses international boundaries so many times
and so fast.

o The internet may run slowly when it is overloaded

or when sections are under repair but there is no
record so far of the entire internet crashing
completely.
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 INTERNET(CONT)
 Host/central computers
acquire and maintain
links to their nearest
Internet hosts.

 Any network or
individual computer in
the world can join the
internet and be treated
as an equal.
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 INTERNET(CONT)
 There are about 3.7 billion internet
users worldwide

 Out of these, 340 million are from

Africa

 According to NCC, there are 94

million internet users in Nigeria, 99%
of which access it via GSM networks

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 INTERNET SOFTWARE TOOLS
Many of the popular tools in use today are facilitated by the
internet.

Electronic Mail (Email)

• Electronic mail is a software tool that is used for sending and

receiving messages between networked computers over
telecommunication networks.
• An email can also include data files, software, multimedia
messages and documents as attachments.
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INTERNET SOFTWARE TOOLS(CONT)
 E-mail software can route messages to multiple end users based
on-predefined header, and address/distribution lists
 It provides password security, auto message forwarding and
remote user access.
 It also allows the user to share messages in folders, as well as
allow adding files as attachments to a message.
 E-mail also enables the user to edit and send graphics,
multimedia.
 Similar software provide bulletin board and computer
conferencing facilities.

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 INTERNET SOFTWARE TOOLS(CONT)
 Subscriptions to and Notifications from News, chat rooms even
social media can be filtered and automatically sent to the
appropriate user’s mailbox and/or folders.

 An e-mail address is usually formed by the user’s name, the @sign

and the service provider’s or company’ name. e.g
unilag_csd@compuserve.com.

 Where unilag_csd is the user name and compuserve.com is the

name of the internet service provider (ISP).
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 INTERNET SOFTWARE TOOLS(CONT)

 Most e-mail programs supply a standard list of options such

as

 Reply/Forward/send: to reply the sender or pass a message to

another e-mail address

 If the recipient chooses to “Reply”, the program will

automatically fill in all the necessary memo headings including
the correct address.
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 INTERNET SOFTWARE TOOLS(CONT)
 Reply All: this option allows the user to send a
response to all who were copied on the original
email
 Cc: copy the following recipients
 Bcc: Blind copy – copy the following recipients, but
don’t show their names/email address
 Delete: to discard a message’s file and store in a
folder (Thrash)
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 INTERNET DISCUSSION GROUPS
LISTSERV Mailing

 It lists letters, articles, comments from people all

over the world.

 It distributes e-mail message to all members of a

group about a particular subject they are
interested in, if they have included their names of
the mailing lists.
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 INTERNET DISCUSSION GROUPS(CONT)
Usenet News Groups

• It is a different kind of on-line discussion group that does not

send message directly to a participant as e-mail.

• Instead all the news group’s messages are collected on the

Usenet (an internet accessible electronic message board)
where the participant can read them at leisure.

• Any participant can ‘post’ comments that can be read by any

other participant on the Usenet.
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 INTERNET DISCUSSION GROUPS(CONT)
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
o It is an internet communication standard designed specifically for sending files.

o If a user has to send a large data file or a computer program, this can be done via
FTP.

o Transferring a file from another computer (usually a server) to your computer is

called downloading, sending a file is called uploading via FTP.

o FTP allows download of data files, programs, reports, articles, magazines, books,
pictures, sounds and other types of files from various sources to a user’s computer
system. It can also be used to upload data files from your computer to another on the
network
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 INTERNET DISCUSSION GROUPS(CONT)

TELNET

It is an internet protocol that allows a user log on

from a network into a remote computer system
and use its resources. e.g. the library of a distant
university or research centre.

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 INTERNET SEARCHING TOOLS
• The easiest way to find information on the internet is by using
one of the world wide web’s (www) search engines

• One of the commonest and most popular search engines is

Google, so much so that some people use the word “Google”
interchangeably with “search” or “lookup”

• Some search engines are able to search primary sources outside

of the web. This often involves ransacking the listings of other
searching tools services e.g. gopher, wais, Archie.

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 INTERNET SEARCHING TOOLS(CONT)
 Gopher is an electronic catalog of internet
resources e.g. literature, history, science,
religion organized in a hierarchy of categories.

 WAIS (Wide Area Information Services) provides

an index to all texts accumulated by the Internet

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 INTERNET WEBSITE
• A web site is an application made up of web pages. Text and Graphical information
can be displayed in a web browser.
• Web browsers are software tools for retrieving, presenting and traversing
information resources on the web. Browsers can also access information on web
servers in private networks
• An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) which
may point to a web page, an image, a video etc.
• Hyperlinks (usually indicated in blue text), enable easy navigation to information
resources on the web
• Common web browsers are: Internet Explorer (Microsoft), Chrome (Google),
Firefox (Mozilla), Safari (Apple), Opera, Netscape

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 INTERNET WEBSITE(CONT)
• Web pages are stored as hypertext files transfer protocol
(http, which always precedes the web address of a
company.
• For example to access the CNN website, the address
(URL) is http://www.cnn.com
• Most times, the http://www can be omitted

• Note: secure sites use https instead of http, because

https is encrypted
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 INTERNET WEBSITE(CONT)
Navigation

• All web browser provide users with a variety of tools that

enable them to navigate through often complex collections of
World Wide Web (www) pages.

• Some of the most common tools include:

• Navigation Buttons: These enables user to move backward

and forward through the list of pages previously viewed.
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 INTERNET WEBSITE(CONT)
o History: All web browser maintain a list of pages
previously viewed the user.

o The user is able to display the list and can revisit any
of the pages previously viewed.

o Address bar: Users are able to enter the location of

a www page or file via address bar.
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 INTERNET WEBSITE(CONT)
Caches and Cookies
• In order to increase the speed and efficiency with which a web browser
functions, a temporary storage space is used to store copies of any pages
that the user has viewed.
• If the user returns to a given location, the Web browser retrieves the
required page from the temporary storage space, rather than transferring
a fresh copy from the computer.
• The use of cache improves the speed with which previously viewed pages
can be displayed.
• Cookies are small pieces of data sent from a web site and stored on the
user’s computer. They are designed to make future loading of pages from
that website faster and also remember the last activity performed on that
site
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 INTERNET WEBSITE(CONT)

Hypertext
These are words or phrases highlighted (in
blue) that represent links (hyperlinks) to
other documents or web pages. Hyperlinks
are activated by clicking on the link.

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 Understanding URLs
• Every time you click on a link or type a web address on a browser, that is a URL. It is
like a street address, with different parts indicating the house #, street name, area,
city, state, country etc
• Every URL begins with a scheme – mostly http:// or https://
• Next is the domain name e.g. www.unilag.edu.ng
• “.edu.ng” is the top level domain. Other examples are: “.com”, “.co.uk”, “.gov.ng”,
“.org”
• “unilag” is the second level domain. You can have sub-domains or lower level (3rd, 4th
etc) to the left of the second level domain e.g. “science.unilag.edu.ng” – this is the
home page of Faculty of Science, University of Lagos
• Anything that comes after the domain name is called a file path and it describes the
particular document or page the browser should load
• Example of a whole URL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump
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 Tips for identifying fake websites
• Check the domain name carefully, is it trying to mimic a well-known name ? e.g
amaz0n.com “nyke.com”, “vanguardngr.local-reports.com”
• Watch out for bad spellings or bad grammar in the body of the website.
• Check the scheme - “https” is more secure, more trustworthy than “http”
• Check the top-level domain “.net”, and ”.com” though not inherently fake, are very
easy to obtain. “.biz” and “.info” tend not to be credible
• Type or copy the URL into a new browser page, and watch the window – if the
address changes or is re-directed too many times, it is probably fake
• Do a “WHOIS” lookup. E.g “whois cnn.com” or “whois saharareporters”
• If the Contact us page does not have a phone #, email or street address but only
requires you to fill a form, it is most likely fake
• Test the contact information, call the number or check if the street address looks
legit
• Watch out for invasive advertising, ads that take up the whole page, or those that
force you to enter personal information before you can continue
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 INTRANET SOFTWARE
 An intranet is a private network
within a single company that enable
access to company information
using the familiar internet tools such
as Web browsers.

 Intranets can be created only if

there is a network platform on
which they can reside. Intranets are
popular since they can produce
major cost savings.

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 INTRANET SOFTWARE(CONT)
o They provide a cheap and easy way for connecting
key people in organization with the information they
need.

o It also offers advantages to network managers

looking for more efficient and flexible means of
running business applications.

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 INTRANET SOFTWARE(CONT)
Intranets give the following opportunities:

A cross platform medium for delivering applications,

which is important for large corporations with a range of
client computers such as
• Windows PCs

• UNIX workstation.

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 INTRANET SOFTWARE(CONT)

 Lower support costs and costs of

ownership to the information system
(IS) providers in a company,

 Web browsers are relatively easy to

configure and administer compared to
other applications.
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 INTRANET SOFTWARE(CONT)
Examples of typical Information that can be stored
on a company’s Intranet include:

Staff Personal Details

This includes personal information about staff within

the organization such as phone, position within the
organization. etc.
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 INTRANET SOFTWARE(CONT)

Staff bulletins or newsletters

Bulletins generated meant for

distribution to staff within the
organization can be pasted on
electronic billboards on the intranet.
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 INTRANET SOFTWARE(CONT)
Training Courses
Training policies of companies provide facilities for
members of staff within the organization to register online
for the courses and notifications sent automatically via
email.
Training materials can also be posted online, thereby saving
time and stationery costs.

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 INTRANET SOFTWARE(CONT)
Net Chats/meetings

Net chats or net meetings for facilitating

virtual meetings online between different
members of staff regardless of the
geographical architecture of the
organization.
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 EXTRANET SOFTWARE
When intranets are extended to allow restricted external users i.e.
people outside the organization.
Examples of External users (also known as Third parties) are:
• customers
• suppliers
• Distributors

Networks which allow this are known as Extranets.

Please note that Extranets are still regarded as private networks and are not
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 EXTRANET SOFTWARE(CONT)
Features

The features are similar to that of the intranet.

The only difference is the option to allow third

parties access to parts of the organization’s system
and network.

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 EXTRANET SOFTWARE(CONT)
Benefits of giving a supplier access to the
company’s extranet include:
• Corporate organizations have a more cohesive
relationship with their key third party business
partners.
• No need for surplus inventory since supplier can
“see” stock levels and act accordingly. It is even
possible to have a zero-inventory system
• Reduction in transportation, stationery and
telecommunication costs
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 EXTRANET SOFTWARE(CONT)
Benefits of Extranet (contd.)
• Improved customer service:
o Shorter time to deliver products and services
o Cheaper products and services, leading to increased
sales

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QUESTIONS
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