4: PTI Assignment 3

PTI Assignment 3: Pages 112-113 of textbook Discovering Computers
Lecturer: Mr. Tri Djoko Wahjono, Ir, M.Sc.

By: Veronica Ong (1701317660) of class 01PCT

Task: Complete questions 1 - 11 on pages 112-113 on the textbook Discovering Computers.

1. How did the Internet evolve?

The internet, also called the Net, is a worldwide collection of networks that links millions of business, government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals. The Internet has its roots in a networking project started by the Pentagon’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), an agency of the US Department of Defense. ARPA’s goal was to build a network that allowed scientists at different locations to share information and work together on military and scientific projects and could function even if part of the network were disabled or destroyed by a disaster such as a nuclear attack. The network called ARPANET, became functional in September 1969, linking scientific and academic researchers across the United States.

As researchers and others realized the great benefit of using ARPANET to share data and information, ARPANET underwent phenomenal growth. By 1984, ARPANET had more than 1000 individual computers linked as hosts. Today more than 550 million hosts connect to the internet.

Some organizations connected entire networks to ARPANET to take advantage of its high-speed communications. In 1986, the National Science Foundation (NSF) connected its huge network of five supercomputer centers, called NSFnet, to ARPANET. This configuration of complex networks and hosts became known as the internet.

2. What are the Various Types of Internet Connections, and What Are the Differences between Broadband and Dial-Up Connections?

Many home and small business users connect to the Internet via high speed broadband internet service. With broadband Internet service, your computer or mobile device usually is connected to the Internet the entire time it is powered on. Examples of broadband Internet service include cable, DSL, fiber, radio signals, and satellite.

Cable internet service provides high speed Internet access through the cable television network via a cable modem. DSL (Digital subscriber line) provides high speed internet connections using regular copper telephone lines. Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) uses fiber optic cable to provide high speed Internet access to home and business users. Fixed wireless provides high speed Internet connections using a dish shaped antenna on your house or business to communicate with a tower location via radio signals. A cellular radio network offers high speed internet connections to devices with built in compatible technology or computers with wireless modem. A Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) network uses radio signals to provide high speed internet connections to compatible or properly equipped wireless computers and devices. Satellite internet service provides high speed internet connections via satellite to a satellite that communicates with a satellite modem.

However, some home users connect to the internet via dial up access, which has a slower speed technology. Dial up access takes place when the modem in your computer connects to the internet via a standard telephone line that transmits data and information using an analog (continuous wave pattern) signal. Users may opt for dial-up access because of its lower price or because broadband access is not available in their area.

3. What Are the Types of Internet Access Providers?

An Access Provider is a business that provides access to the Internet for free or for a fee. Access providers are categorized as regional or national ISPs, online service providers, and wireless internet service providers.

An ISP (Internet Service Provider) is a regional or national access provider. A regional ISP usually provides Internet access to a specific geographic area. A national ISP is a business that provides Internet access in cities and towns nationwide. For dial up access, some national ISPs provide both local and toll-free telephone numbers. Due to their larger size, national ISPs usually offer more services and have a larger technical support staff than regional ISPs. Examples of national ISPs are AT&T and EarthLink.

In addition to providing internet access, an online service provider (OSP) also has many members only features such as instant messaging or their own customized version of a web browser. The two more popular OSPs are AOL (America Online) and MSN (Microsoft Network). AOL differs from many OSPs in that it provides gateway functionality to the Internet, meaning it regulates the Internet services to which members have access. AOL also provides free access to its services to any user with a broadband Internet connection.

A wireless Internet service provider, sometimes called a wireless data provider, is a company that provides wireless Internet access to desktop and notebook computers and mobile devices, such as smartphones and portable media players, with built-in wireless capability (such as Wi-Fi) or to computers using wireless modems or wireless access devices. Wireless modems, which are usually in the form of a USB flash drive or a card that inserts in a slot in a computer or mobile device, generally dial a telephone number to establish a connection with the wireless Internet service provider. An antenna on or built into the computer or device, wireless modem, or wireless access device typically sends signals through the airwaves to communicate with a wireless Internet service provider. Some examples of wireless Internet service providers include AT&T, Boingo Wireless, Sprint Broadband Direct, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless.

4. What Is the Purpose of an IP Address, and What Is Its Relationship to a Domain Name?

The internet relies on an addressing system much like the postal service to send data and information to a computer at a specific destination. An IP address, short for Internet Protocol address, is a number that uniquely identifies each computer or device connected to the internet. The IP Address usually consists of four groups of numbers, each separated by a period. The number in each group is between 0 and 225. For example, the numbers 72.14.207.99 are an IP address. In general, the first portion of each IP address identifies the network and the last portion identifies the specific computer.

These all-numeric IP addresses are difficult to remember and use. Thus, the internet supports the use of a text name that represents one or more IP addresses. A domain name is the text version of an IP address. For example, the IP address 72.14.207.99 refers to the domain name www.google.com. As with an IP address, the components of a domain name are separated by periods.

5. What Is the Purpose of a Web Browser, and What Are the Components of a Web Address?

A Web browser, or browser, is application software that allows users to access and view Web pages or access Web 2.0 programs. To browse the web, you need a computer or mobile device that is connected to the Internet and has a Web browser. The more widely used Web browsers for personal computers are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Google Chrome. With an internet connection established, you start a web browser, which then retrieves and displays a starting Web page, sometimes called a home page. The home page usually contains links to other Web pages. A link, short for hyperlink, is a built-in connection to another related Web page or part of a Web page or part of a Web page. A Web page has a unique address called a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), or Web address. A web address consists of a protocol, a domain name, and sometimes the path to a specific Web page or location on a Web page.

6. How Do You Use a Search Engine to Search for Information on the Web, and What Is the Difference between a Search Engine and a Subject Directory?

Two types of search tools are search engines and subject directories. A search engine is a program that finds Web sites, Web pages, images, videos, news, maps, and other information related to a specific topic. A subject directory classifies Web pages in an organized set of categories, such as sports or shopping, and related subcategories.

A search engine is helpful in locating information for which you do not know an exact Web address or are not seeking a particular Web site. Thousands of search engines are available. Some search through Web pages for all types of information. Other search engines can restrict their searches to a specific type of information, such as images, videos, audio, publications, maps, people or businesses, or blogs. Search engines require that you enter a word or phrase called search text or search query that describes the item you want to find, known as a keyword.

A subject directory provides categorized lists of links arranged by subject. Using this search tool, you locate a particular topic by clicking links through different levels, moving from the general to the specific. Each time you click a category link, the subject directory displays a list of subcategory links, from which you again choose. You continue this way until a search tool displays a list of Web pages about the desired topic. The biggest disadvantage of a subject directory is that users have difficulty in deciding which categories to choose as they work through the menus of the links presented.

7. What Are the Types of Web Sites?

There are thirteen types of websites: portal, news, informational, business/marketing, blog, wiki, online social network, educational, entertainment, advocacy, web application, content, aggregator, and personal.

Portal: a website that offers a variety of Internet services from a single, convenient location. Most portals offer these free services: search engine, news, sports and weather, web publishing, reference tools such as yellow pages, stock quotes, and maps, shopping, and email and other communications services. Popular portals include AltaVista, AOL, Excite, GO.com, iGoogle, Lycos, MSN, and Yahoo!.

News: A news Web site contains newsworthy material including stories and articles relating to current events, life, money, sports, and the weather. Many magazines and newspapers sponsor Websites that provide summaries of printed articles, as well as articles not included in the printed versions. Newspapers and television and radio stations are some of the media that maintain news Web sites.

Informational: An informational website contains factual information. Many United States government agencies have informational Websites providing information such as census data, tax codes, and the congressional budget. Other organizations provide information such as public transportation schedules and published research findings.

Business/Marketing: A business/marketing website contains content that promotes or sells products or services. Nearly every enterprise has a business/marketing Web site. Allstate Insurance Company, Dell Inc., General Motors Corporation, Kraft Foods Inc., and Walt Disney Company all have business/marketing Web sites. Many of these enterprises also allow you to purchase their products or services online.

Blog: Short for Weblog, is an informal Web site consisting of time-stamped articles, or posts in a diary or journal format, usually listed in reverse chronological order. A blog that contains video clips is called a video blog, or vlog. A microblog allows users to publish short messages usually between 100 and 200 characters, for others to read. Twitter is a popular microblog. The term blogosphere refers to the worldwide collection of blogs, and the vlogosphere refers to all vlogs worldwide. Blogs reflect the interests, opinions, and personalities of the author, called the blogger of vlogger, and sometimes site visitors. Blogs have become an important means of worldwide communications. Business create blogs to communicate wit employees, customers, and vendors. Teachers create blogs to collaborate with other teachers and students. Home users create blogs to share aspects of ther personal life with family, friends, and others.

Wiki is a collaborative Web site that allows users to create, add to, modify, or delete the web site content via their web browser. Many wikis are open to modification by the general public. Wikis usually collect recent edits on a web page so that someone can review them for accuracy. The difference between a wiki and a blog is that users cannot modify original posts made by the blogger. A popular wiki is Wikipedia, a free Web encyclopedia.

Online social network, also called a social networking website, is a website that encourages members in its online community to share their interests, ideas, stories, photos, music, and videos with other registered users. Most include chat rooms, newsgroups, and other communications services. Popular social networking websites include Facebook and Myspace.

A media sharing website is a specific type of online social network that enables members to share media such as photos, music, and videos. Flickr, Fotki, ad Webshots are popular photo sharing communities; Pixelfish and YouTube are popular video sharing communities.

Educational: An educational web site offers exciting, challenging avenues for formal and informal teaching and learning. On the web, you can learn how airplanes fly or how to cook a meal. For a more structured leaning, companies provide online training to employees; and colleges offer online classes and degrees. Instructors often use the web to enhance classroom teaching by publishing course materials, grades, and other pertinent class information.

Entertainment: An entertainment website offers an interactive and engaging environment. Popular entertainment websites offer music, videos, sports, games, ongoing Web episodes, sweepstakes, chat rooms, and more. Sophisticated entertainment sites often partner with other technologies. For example, you can cast your vote about a topic on a television show.

Advocacy: An advocacy Web site contains that describe a cause, opinion, or idea. These Web sites are usually present views of a particular group or association. Sponsors of advocacy Web sites  include the Democratic National Committee, the Republican National Committee, the Society for the Prevention of the Cruelty to Animals, and the Society to Protect Human Rights.

Web Application: Web app, is a web site that allows users to access and interact with software through a Web browser on any computer or device that is connected to the internet. Some web applications provide free access to their software. Others offer part of their software free and charge for access to more comprehensive features or when a particular action is requested. Examples of Web applications include Google Docs (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations), TurboTax Online (tax preparation), and Windows Live Hotmail (e-mail).

Content Aggregator: a business that gathers and organizes Web content and then distributes, or feeds, the content to subscribers for free or a fee. Examples of distributed content include news, music, video, and pictures. Subscribers select content in which they are interested. Whenever the selected content changes, it is downloaded automatically to the subscriber’s computer or mobile device.

Personal: a private individual or family not usually associated with any organization may maintain a personal Web site or just a single Web page. People publish personal Web pages for a variety of reasons. Some are job hunting. Others simply want to share life experiences with the world.

8. How do Web Pages Use Graphics, Animation, Audio, Video, Virtual Reality, and Plug-Ins?

Most web pages include more than just formatted text and links. The more exciting web pages use multimedia. Multimedia refers to any application that combines text with graphics, animation, audio, video, and/or virtual reality. Multimedia brings a web page to life.

Graphics: A graphic, or graphical image, is a digital representation of nontext information such as drawing, chart, or photo. Today, many web pages use colorful graphical designs and images to convey messages. The Web contains countless images about a variety of subjects. You can download many of these images at no cost and use them for noncommercial uses. Graphics can be in form of jpg, bmp, gif, png, and so on.

Animation: Appearance of motion created by displaying a series of still images in sequence. Animation can make web pages more visually interesting or draw attention to important information or links. Web page developers add animation to Web pages using a variety of techniques. Web page authoring programs, such as Adobe Flash and Microsoft Expression Web, enable web site developers to combine animation and interactivity in Web pages. Animation can be used in GIF.

Audio: On the web, you can listen to audio clips and live audio. Audio includes music, speech, or any other sound. Simple applications consist of individual audio files available for download to a computer or device. Once downloaded, you can play the contents of these files. Audio files are compressed to reduce their file size, like mp3, which is reduced to an audio file about one tenth of its original size. To listen to an audio file on your computer, you need special software called a player. Audio web file formats can be in form of AAC, AIFF, ASF, MP3, Ogg, WAV, WMA, RA, QT, and so on.

Video: consist of images displayed in motion. Most video also has accompanying audio. You can use the internet to watch live and/or prerecorded coverage of your favorite television program, or enjoy a live performance of your favorite vocalist. You can upload, share, or view video clips at a video sharing Web site such as YouTube. Video files are often compressed because they are quite large in size.

Virtual Reality (VR): is the use of computers to simulate a real or imaginary 3D space. VR involves the display of 3D images that users explore and manipulate interactively. Using special VR software, a web developer creates an entire 3D environment that contains infinite space and depth called a VR world. A VR world, for example, might show a house for sale. Potential buyers walkthrough rooms in the VR house by moving an input device forward, backward, or to the side.

Plug-Ins: Sometimes, a browser might need an additional program, called a plug in. A plug-in, or add-on is a program that extends the capability of a browser. You can download many plug-ins at no cost from various websites.

9. What Are the Steps Required for Web Publishing?

Web publishing is the development and maintenance of web pages. The five major steps in web publishing are as follows:

1)  Plan a Web site: Think about issues that could affect the design of the web site. Identify the purpose of the web site and the characteristics of the people whom you want to visit the Web site. Determine ways to differentiate your Web site from other similar ones.

2) Analyze and design a Web Site: Design the layout of elements of the Web site such as links, text, graphics, animation, audio, video, and virtual reality. Required hardware may include a digital camera, Web cam, scanner, sound card, and microphone.

3) Create a Web site: Use a word processing program to create basic Web pages that contain text and graphics. Use web page authoring software to create more sophisticated web sites that include text, graphics, animation, audio, video and special effects. For advanced features such as managing users, passwords, chat rooms, and email, you may need to purchase specialized Web site management software.

4) Deploy a website: Transfer the web pages from your computer to a web server. Many internet access providers offer their customers storage space on a web server. Another option is a web hosting service which provides storage space on a web server for a reasonable monthly fee. To help other locate your web page, register your web address with various search engines to ensure your site will appear in the hit lists for searches for certain keywords.

5) Maintain a website: visit the web site regularly to ensure the web site contents are current and all links work properly.

10. What Are the Types of E-Commerce?

E-commerce, short for electronic commerce, is a business transaction that occurs over an electronic network such as the Internet. Anyone with access to a computer or mobile device, an Internet connection, and a means to pay for purchased goods or services can participate in e-commerce. Some people use the term m-commerce (mobile commerce) to identify commerce that takes place using mobile devices. There are three types of e-commerce, they are business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer, and business-to-business. Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce consists of the sale of goods and services to the general public. Customer-to-customer (C2C) e-commerce occurs when one consumer sells directly to another, such as in an online auction. With an online auction, users bid on an item being sold by someone else. The highest bidder at the end of the bidding period purchases the item. Most e-commerce take place between business, which is called business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. Businesses often provide goods and services to other businesses, such as online advertising, recruiting, credit, sales, market research, technical support, and training.

11. How do E-mail, Mailing Lists, Instant Messaging, Chat Rooms, VoIP, Newsgroups and Message Boards, and FTP Work?

Email (short for electronic mail) is the transmission of messages and files via a computer network. A mailing list is a group of email names and addresses given a single name, so that everyone on the list receives a message sent to the list. Instant messaging (IM) is a real-time Internet communications service that notifies you when one or more people are online. A chat room is a location on an Internet server that permits users to conduct real-time typed conversations. VoIP (Voice over IP, or internet protocol), also called Internet telephony, enables users to speak to other users over the Internet, instead of the public switched telephone network. A newsgroup is an online area in which users have written discussions about a particular subject. A message board is a web-based type of discussion group that is easier to use than a newsgroup. FTP (File transfer protocol) is an internet standard that permits file uploading and downloading with other computers on the internet.

12. What Are the Rules of Netiquette?

Netiquette, which is short for Internet etiquette, is the code of acceptable behaviors users should follow while on the internet.

In email, chat rooms and newsgroups:

-keep messages brief. Use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

- be careful when using sarcasm and humor, as it might be misinterpreted.

-be polite: avoid offensive language.

-read the message before you send it.

-use meaningful subject tlines.

-avoid sending or posting flames, which are abusive or insulting messages. Do not participate in flame wars, which are exchanges of flames.

-Avoid sending spam, which is the internet’s version of junk mail. Spam is an unsolicited email message of newsgroup posting sent to many recipients or newsgroups at once.

-Do not use all capital letters, which is equivalent to shouting.

-Use of emoticons to express emoticon.

-Use abbreviations and acronyms for phrases.

-Clearly identify a spoiler, which is a message that reveals a solution to a game or ending to a movie or program.

Read the FAQ (frequently asked questions), if one exists. Many newsgroups and web pages have an FAQ.

Do not assume material is accurate or up-to-date. Be forgiving of other’s mistakes.

Never read someone’s private e-mail.