The Internet
The Internet
The world’s largest network is the Internet. The Internet is a worldwide collection of networks that links together millions of business, government agencies, educational institutions and individuals.
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Network: a collection of computers and devices connected together by communications devices and media.
How the Internet works
Most users connect to the Internet in one of two ways:
1. Through an Internet Service Provider; a company that supplies connections to the Internet as well as website hosting services.
2. Through an On line Service Provider, that provides internet access, as well as a variety of other specialised content and services such as financial data, hardware and software guides and news.
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Information access:
Accessing information on the Internet is achieved by using application software called a browser as shown in the diagram. This software comes as a part of operating system and the icon that represents it is usually found on the desktop. Among the many Internet browsers available, the most popular ones are Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox.
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Browsers
To open your browser double click on the icon – this should open the browser and your desktop should look somewhat like the browser diagram.
The browser has now ushered you into what is known as cyberspace. All documents in this space are located at websites and each website has a unique address called a Universal Resource Locator (URL). The Google site, for example, in the browser diagram above has URL http://www.google.com.jm. The browser provides an Address bar in which you can type the particular URL and the browser will seek to locate the site wherever it is in cyberspace.
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Cyberspace: A metaphor for describing the non-physical terrain created by computer systems. Unlike real space, though, exploring cyberspace does not require any physical movement other than pressing keys on a keyboard or moving a mouse.
Search Engine
A program that searches documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found.
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How to search the Web�
1. To perform a search, you'll need to navigate to a search engine in your web browser, type one or more keywords—also known as search terms—then press Enter on your keyboard. In this example, we'll search for recipes.
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2. After you run a search, you'll see a list of relevant websites that match your search terms. These are commonly known as search results. If you see a site that looks interesting, you can click a link to open it. If the site doesn't have what you need, you can simply return to the results page to look for more options.
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Most browsers also allow you to perform a web search directly from your address bar, although some have a separate search bar next to the address bar. Simply type your search terms and press Enter to run the search.
Search suggestions
If you don't find what you're looking for on the first try, don't worry! Search engines are good at finding things online, but they're not perfect. You'll often need to try different search terms to find what you're looking for.
If you're having trouble thinking of new search terms, you can use search suggestions instead. These will usually appear as you're typing, and they're a great way to find new keywords you might not have tried otherwise. To use a search suggestion, you can click it with your mouse, or select it with the arrow keys on your keyboard.
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Refining your search
If you're still having trouble finding exactly what you need, you can use some special characters to help refine your search. For example, if you want to exclude a word from a search, you can type a hyphen (-) at the beginning of a word. So if you wanted to find cookie recipes that don't include chocolate, you could search for recipes cookies -chocolate.
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You can also search for exact words or phrases to narrow down your results even more. All you need to do is place quotation marks (" ") around the desired search terms. For example, if you search for recipes "sugar cookies", your search results will only include recipes for sugar cookies, instead of any cookies that happen to use sugar as an ingredient.
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These techniques may come in handy in certain cases, but you probably won't need to use them with most searches. Search engines can usually figure out what you're looking for without these extra characters. We recommend trying a few different search suggestions before using this method.
Content-specific searches
There may be times when you're looking for something more specific, like a news article, picture, or video. Most search engines have links at the top of the page that allow you to perform these unique searches.
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In the example below, we've used the same search terms to look for images instead of websites. If you see an image you like, you can click to visit the website it originally came from.
You can use the extra search tools to narrow down your results even more. These tools will change based on the type of content you're looking for, but in this example we can filter our images by size, color, image type, and more. So if you wanted to find cookies with pink frosting, you could search for images that are mostly pink.
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Advertisements
One final thing to note: Most search engines include advertisements with search results. For example, you can see advertisements at the top of the search results below.
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Webmail providers�
Today, the top three webmail providers are Yahoo!, Microsoft's Outlook.com (previously Hotmail), and Google's Gmail. These providers are popular because they allow you to access your email account from anywhere with an Internet connection. You can also access webmail on your mobile device.
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Adding attachments�
An attachment is simply a file (like an image or document) that is sent along with your email. For example, if you are applying for a job, you might send your resume as an attachment, with the body of the email being the cover letter. It's a good idea to include a message in the body of your email explaining what the attachment is, especially if the recipient isn't expecting an attachment.
Remember to attach your file before you click Send. Forgetting to attach a file is a surprisingly common mistake.
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In this lesson, we'll discuss writing more effective emails using good email etiquette, both for personal use and in the workplace. We'll also talk about different strategies for using email safely.
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Tips for email success�
Here are some basic rules you can follow to write better emails, no matter who you're emailing. In some cases, it's OK to break these rules. Use these rules as a starting point, then tailor each email you send based on the situation.
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Email attachment etiquette�
Attachments are an easy way to share files, photos, and more, but many people aren't aware of some of the most common attachment mistakes. Be sure to follow these basic rules when including attachments in your emails.
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Email safety�
Email is not totally secure, so you should avoid sending sensitive information like credit card numbers, passwords, and your Social Security Number. In addition, you may receive emails from scammers and cybercriminals. The first step in dealing with email safety concerns is understanding them so you know what to look for.
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THANK YOU
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