I get the inspiration for my columns from a number of sources; one of them is my wife. She is about as anti-tech as you can get, and although she now uses the Internet fairly heavily, she really doesn't understand the underlying structure and hence why things work (or don't work) as she thinks they should. I thought that a column on basic Internet usage would be in order.
Now, to a lot of people, this is going to be pretty basic stuff. Although I try not to get off on the technical weeds very much in this column, I still try to target what I believe are the mainstream readers. This column is a bit more basic. Anyhow, plowing on…
The Internet is merely a way to exchange information - the Internet itself doesn't care what the information contains, or what format it is in. Over the years, this information has been "organized" into certain known types. Here are the basics.
The World Wide Web, or WWW: The web actually came about fairly late in the development of the Internet, but it has become its chief component. Web pages are usually not interactive - when you access somebody's webpage, you are just seeing a presentation that they create. What content they put on their webpage is entirely up to them. You can find it all - good, bad, and ugly. To create a web page, you have to get some storage space on the Internet - usually you get this through your Internet Service Provider (ISP). You then have to write the programming that creates this presentation; although this is a bit complicated there are programs available to help you do it. To access a webpage, all you need is a web browser, like Internet Explorer (IE) or Netscape. Since IE comes free with Windows these days, everybody has it.
The best analogy to the WWW is television - you just watch the screen and see what the TV station has programmed. Instead of changing the channel, you go to a new website.
E-mail: E-mail is very simply letters sent between individuals (or lists of individuals). The best analogy is the written letter. E-mail goes directly between users - it does not use a central server or database. All you need for e-mail is an e-mail identification or name (again, you get this from your ISP) and a program to compose and read it - usually Outlook Express that also comes with Windows.
Chat Groups: Chat groups are group discussions that occur immediately (or as we say in the business, in "real time"). Chat groups require a special chat program to be running on your PC that allows you to enter the chat environment. Many people can chat at one time, and sometimes it gets pretty complicated sorting out who is who! But, of course, the chat is by typing. There are also some chat groups that work using your web browser instead of a chat program.
Instant Messaging: IM is like chat, although it usually occurs just between two people. Again, you need an IM program, such as AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) or ICQ. The primary advantage of these programs is that they show you which of your buddies is on at the current time. IM is like using the telephone, as opposed to chat rooms which are more like a meeting hall.
IM programs also do use voice and even video images, but that is an advanced topic for this column.
Newsgroups: Newsgroups actually have nothing to do with news. They are like chat systems in that a number of people can interact on a particular topic. But newsgroups are run more like e-mail - instead of typing directly to the chat room, you send a note (like an e-mail) that will be added to the discussion. The discussion is stored on a server somewhere on the Internet. Thus, you don't have to be right there - you can add a note and then come back hours later to read the responses. To access newsgroups, you need a News Reader - one is available in Outlook Express.
This has been a very basic overview of some of the ways the Internet is used. By the way, all of the programs I cited above are available at no charge. Next week I will go into the security aspects of Internet use.
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).