| So what's it all about then? | ||
| QUESTIONS ABOUT:
OTHER USEFUL BITS: |
all items in blue can be
clicked on and you will be taken to the relevant place The Internet is possibly one of the most hyped 'inventions' of the 20th century. The best way of looking at it is probably as an enormous encyclopaedia containing information on just about anything you can imagine. If you need to find out something, no matter what your question, you will find it if you look on the Internet. Which brings me to probably the most frequently asked question related to this: I want to find some information, where do I start?And a very good question it is too. It's all very well saying the Internet is a mine of information, but if you don't know where to look you could be sat there for quite some time. Which is why there are programs called Search Engines lying around. These programs allow you to type in keywords, for example if you were looking to fix your car's engine, you would type in 'Car Engines', and all the places where you can find information on that particular topic will be listed. Basically, the Internet without Search Engines is like a car without wheels. For a list of these search engines click here. So where does the information come from?The Internet relies on people to write articles about things for other people to read. Most of the information on the internet is available free of charge - however some places require you to purchase an ID before you can continue, which is usually done by an electronic credit card transaction.
DEFINITIONS USED ON THIS PAGE: Internet - Short for international network. Now a household name, the Internet (or World Wide Web) consists of millions of computers linked together to provide people with access to information from anywhere in the world. Most people connect to the Internet using a telephone line. Website - a collection of pages on one specific thing, for example this website gives information about the Internet. Search Engine - a website which allows you to type in a question and it will give you a list of websites which may have the answer you're looking for. Keyword - a word (or words) which briefly sum up a topic eg. if you were looking for holidays in hotels in Switzerland, the keywords may be HOTEL SWITZERLAND HOLIDAY Yahoo! - best for finding businesses Infoseek - best for finding general information about things WebCrawler - similar to Infoseek Lycos - best for finding news articles |
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| copyright Chris Edwards June 1998 |