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The concept of the internet originated in 1969 as a government project. Originally named ARPNET, it was designed to be a communications network between military bases and missile silos. The primary concern here was to ensure that needed information would reach its destination in a timely manner and across great distances, if need be.
Network expansion needs prompted the making of BITNET as universities and schools made use of the network through government contracts and research needs. The term "internet" came into being in the 1970s, though it was still only used by a select group of the population.
Since then, the internet received government funding in the 1980s through the National Science Foundation, wherein a super-fast core network was put in place. The internet as we know it today has since been taken over by commercial companies with little to no government infrastructures in place. -
The structure of the internet is made up of hardware components and a system of software applications. The Internet Protocol Suite is designated as the networking standard on which the internet is run.
As a model structure, the internet is divided into a four layered system.
1. Application Layer--This is the web browser interface.
2. Transport Layer--This layer enables the sending of applications across host servers.
3. Internet Layer--This is where individual computers connect by use of transit networks.
4. Link Layer--This layer connects the host server networks to each other.
What allows networks to work together as a whole is known as internet protocol, or IP. With the continuous growth of the internet, the internet protocol has gone through many upgrades, with the IPv4 and IPv6 models being the protocols in use in 2008. -
The fundamental locater of computers, networks and servers on the internet is the IP address, or "internet protocol address." Each computer connected to the internet has an IP address--an address that allows individual computers to connect with web servers.
Each IP address has two interchangeable names. One is numeric with a format of ###.###.##.## and the other one is readable letters and words (i.e. www.digg.com). While the numeric address pretty much references itself, the readable letters represent identifying parts of the address.
· 'www' points to the host name
· 'digg' points to the domain name
· '.com' points to the top-level domain
From there the domain name servers(DNS) map each IP address to it's letter-name counterpart. Domain name servers exist all across the internet. -
As of June 30, 2008, there are 1,458,632,361 users on the internet. By region this breaks down into --
· 39.3 percent of users from Asia
· 26.4 percent of users from Europe
· 17.0 percent of users from North America
· 9.5 percent of users from Latin America and the Caribbean
· 2.9 percent of users from the Middle East
· 3.5 percent of users from Africa
· 1.4 percent of users from Oceania and Australia
Approximately 21 percent of the world's population are internet users. The number of internet users has increased by 304.1 percent since the year 2000. -
The internet has opened up an information highway unlike any in the history of society. It's effected the areas of education, print media, marketing, dating, work environments and social networking, just to name a few.
The internet has gained such mass popularity that it's spawned an addition-type fame for some users. As such, a New York psychiatrist by the name of Dr. Ivan Goldberg introduced the term "Internet Addiction Disorder" (IAD) into the Diagnostic Statistical Manual used by the American Psychological Association.
The groups most affected and influenced by the internet are the pre-teen and teenage populations.
