Pengantar Teknologi Informasi: Chapter 2

Dicky Almoedir Pitra (1701316292)

Student Assignments 3: Pages 112-113 of textbook Discovering Computers

Lecturer: Tri Djoko Wahjono, Ir, M.Sc

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.

3. What Are the Types of Internet Access Providers?

An access provider is a business that provides access to

The Internet free or for a fee. An ISP (Internet service provider) is a regional or national access provider. An online service provider (OSP) provides Internet access in addition to members-only features. A wireless Internet service provider provides wireless Internet access to desktop and notebook computers and mobile devices with built-in wireless capabilities (such as Wi-Fi) or to computers using wireless modems or 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.

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.

7. What Are the Types of Web Sites?

A portal is a Web site that offers a variety of Internet services from a single location. A news Web site contains newsworthy material. An informational Web site contains factual information.
A business/marketing Web site promotes or sells products or services. A 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 wiki is a collaborative Web site that allows users to create, add to, modify, or delete the Web site content via their Web browser. An online social network, or social networking Web site, encourages members to share their interests, ideas, stories, photos, music, and videos with other registered users. An educational Web site offers avenues for teaching and learning. An entertain- ment Web site provides an interactive and engaging envi- ronment. An advocacy Web site describes a cause, opinion, or idea. A Web application, or Web app, is a Web site that allows users to access and interact with software through a Web browser or any computer or device connected to the Internet. A content aggregator is a business that gathers and organizes Web content and then distributes, or feeds, the content to subscribers for free or a fee. A personal Web site is maintained by a private individual or family.

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

Some Web pages use multimedia, which combines text with graphics, animation, audio, video, and/or virtual reality. A graphic is a digital representation of nontext information such as a drawing, chart, or photo. Animation is the appearance of motion created by displaying a series of still images in sequence. Audio includes music, speech, or any other sound. Video consists of full-motion images played back at various speeds. Virtual reality (VR) is the use

of computers to simulate an environment that appears as three-dimensional space. A plug-in, or add-on, is a program that extends a browser’s capability to display multimedia elements.

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.

Never read someone’s private e-mail.