Chapter Review A

Explain how and why the Internet was created.
The Internet was created in the 1960s. It started with ARPANET, Advanced Research Projects Agency NETwork. It was basically a group of computers networked together. ARPANET was disbanded in 1990, but its technology started the Internet. The network of computers grew bigger and bigger to include the international community. The Internet was created as a project by U.S. military strategists who were afraid of an enemy attack that would render the government unable to communicate with eachother. The government wanted a network that could function even after connections were destroyed.

Describe the technology that’s at the heart of the Internet:
The technology at the heart of the Internet is called the TCP/IP protocol, or the transmission control Protocol/Internet Protocol. TCP/IP was developed as an experiment in connecting different types of networks and computer systems. The TCP protocol is like a postal system. When you send a message on the Internet, it is divided into packets which has all the information routers need to transfer the packet from network to network until it reaches its destination. The packets may follow different routes, however, at the end, they all reach the destination where they are reassembled into the original message. The IP protocol is the addressing system of the Internet. Every computer has an IP address, a string of four number separated by periods. IP addresses can be static, or a permanent address, or dynamic, used for computers temporarily connected to the Internet. THey recieve a new address everytime they log on.

Describe the technology that makes the Web work as a multimedia mass medium.
Plug-ins are available through Web browsers. These plug-ins download new features onto their computer that allow them to use different mulitmedia and applications on the Web.

Discuss the tools people use to build Web sites.
People use many tools to build websites. People can use codes such as HTML and XML in any word processor and publish that, or they can use some of the many availabe web-authoring softwares, like Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage.

Discuss the trends that are changing the Internet and the way people use it.
As more people log on to the Internet, it rapidly changes. People use the internet for communication, entertainment, shopping, sharing music, movies and other files, and watching or reading the news.

Discuss some of the most important social and political issues raised by the growth of the Internet.
Some social and political issues raised include equality of access, the abuse of freedom and censorship. Not everyone, especially those in low-income communities, are not able to access the Internet or even buy a computer. People are able to share files through the internet. This may lead to copyright issues as people share files protected by copyright. This in turn hurts those who supply these products the legal way. Also, governments may choose to block a website because of objectionable content.

Describe various ways that governments restrict access to the Internet.
Governments have certain websites, or topics blocked so that when they are searched, these websites are blocked.