ICT 121

COMPUTING SKILLS FUNDAMENTALS I

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Lecture 3: Information and Communication

Computing Skills Fundamentals 1

The Internet
 The Internet (the “Net” or “net”) is a worldwide
computer network that connects hundreds of
thousands of smaller networks. These networks link
educational, commercial, non-profit, and military
entities, as well as individuals.
 A global system of interconnected computer
networks that use the standard Internet Protocol
suite (TCP/IP) to link several billion devices
worldwide.
 An international network of networks consisting of
millions of private, public, academic, business, and
government networks, linked by a broad array of
electronic, wireless, and optical networking
technologies.
 AKA The Net, Info. Superhighway, Cyberspace. 2
Internet penetration

ICT121 – 2015/16 3
Who owns the Internet?
 No one owns the Internet, and no single person
or organization controls the Internet in its
entirety
 The Internet is more of a concept than an actual
tangible entity
 It relies on a physical infrastructure that
connects networks to other networks
 History of the Internet begins with the
development of electronic computers in the
1950s

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How the internet work
■ The Internet is basically a huge network that
connects hundreds of thousands of smaller
networks.
■ Central to this arrangement are client/server
networks
– Client: computer requesting data or
services
– Server or host computer: central computer
supplying data or services requested of it

Client

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Connecting to the internet
■ To connect to the Internet you need
1. An access device (computer with modem)
2. A means of connection (phone line, cable
hookup, or wireless)
3. An Internet access provider
Connecting to the internet
However you connect to the Internet, the bandwidth will
determine the speed of your connection.

■ Bandwidth: Expresses how much data can be sent

through a communications channel in a given amount of
time.
■ Baseband: Slow type of connection that allows
only one signal to be transmitted at a time.
■ Broadband: High-speed connections (Several signals
can be transmitted at once)

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■ Data Transmission Speeds
– Originally measured in bits per second (bps)
– 8 bits are needed to send one character, such as
A or a
– Kbps connections send 1 thousand bits per
second
– Mbps connections send 1 million bits per second
– Gbps connections send 1 billion bits per second
– Uploading & Downloading
■ Upload—transmit data from local to remote computer
■ Download—transmit data from remote to local
computer
Intranet vs. Extranet
 Intranets—use infrastructure and standards of
the Internet and the web, but for an
organization’s internal use only.

 Extranets—similar to intranets but allows use by

selected outside entities, such as suppliers.

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Internet services and Uses
 Email And Discussion groups
 Research & Information
 News
 Entertainment
 File Downloading
 E-Shopping
 Financial matters
 Online Auctions
 Career advancement
 E-Business
 Social Networking
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World WideWeb (WWW) ?
 Def:
• The web and the Internet are not the same; the
web is multimedia-based, and the Internet is not.
The Internet is the infrastructure that supports
the web.
• The World Wide Web (the “Web” or the “web” is
an interconnected system of Internet computers
(called servers ) that support specially formatted
documents in multimedia form.
• An information-sharing model built on top of
the Internet, hence a way of accessing
information over the medium of the Internet.
• A system of interlinked hypertext documents that
are accessed via the Internet 11
Useful concepts
 Hypertext: text displayed on a monitor or with
references (hyperlinks) to other text which the
reader can immediately access
 Hyperlink: a reference to data that the reader can
directly follow either by clicking or by hovering or
that is followed automatically
 Hypertext Markup Language (HTML): An
authoring language used to create documents on
the World Wide Web.

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Web Browser
 Commonly referred to as a Browser
 A software application for retrieving, presenting
and traversing information resources on the World
Wide Web.
 An information resource is identified by a
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
◦ E.g: web page, image, video or other piece of
content.

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Web Browser Cont…
 Uses a client-server model
◦ Browser: client running on a computer that
contacts the Web server and requests for
information,

◦ Web server: sits somewhere on the internet

 sends the information back to the Web browser
which displays the results on the computer or
other Internet-enabled device that supports a
browser.

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Examples of web browsers
 The two most popular browsers:
Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox,
 Other major browsers include Google
Chrome, Apple Safari and Opera,

 While most commonly use to access information

on the web, a browser can also be used to access
information hosted on Web servers in
private networks such as INTRANETS.

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Mobile browsers

 Also referred to as a microbrowsers

 Designed for web access through mobile devices
 Mobile browsers are
◦ typically "stripped down" versions of
everyday Web browsers and offer fewer
features in order to run well on mobile
devices.
◦ optimized to display web content on smaller
mobile device screens which have far less
computing power and memory capacity as
desktop or laptop.

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Webpages vs.Websites
 Webpage: A document commonly written
in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) that is
accessible through the internet or other network
using a browser.
 Website: A collection of one or more web pages
grouped under the same domain name.
 A domain name is your website name. A domain
name is the address where internet users can access
your website. For example,
www.ActNowDomains.com is this web site's
domain name.
 Web pages and websites are accessed by entering a
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) addresses

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URL
 URL: A global address of documents and
other resources on the World Wide Web
 Consist of three parts
◦ Network protocol (protocol identifier: what protocol to
use)
◦ Host name or address (the domain name where the
resource is located)
◦ File or resource location (www resource)
 These substrings are separated by special characters as
follows:
◦ protocol :// host / location
 Typical URL protocols include http://, ftp://, and mailto://

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Examples
 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt
 http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/WhatIs/images/
coaxla.gif
 ftp://www.somecompany.com/whitepapers/widgets.ps

ICT121 – 2015/16 15
Static webpages
 Delivered exactly as stored
 Displays the same info for all users, at all times
 .html files
 Easily created (no programming skills)
 No need for web server
 E.g. a student’s personal profile page

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Dynamic webpages
 Prepared with fresh content or layout for each
viewing. Customizes itself frequently and
automatically, based on certain criteria.
 Dynamic web pages are used where the
information is changed frequently, for example,
stock prices, weather information, etc.
 Changes with time, user, user interaction, context
 Client-Side scripting
◦ e.g. JavaScript (presentation)
 Server-Side scripting
◦ e.g. ASP (Active Server Pages), PHP (PHP
HyperText Processor)
 E.g. online store: different prices, reviews, user
information
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HyperText Transfer Protocol

 HTTP: is a protocol used for viewing webpages

on the web. It is the foundation of data
communication for the World Wide Web.
 File Transfer Protocol (FTP): A network protocol
used to transfer computer files from one host to
another host over a TCP-based network, such as
the Internet.
◦ FTP is built on a client-server architecture

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Internet Security Protocols
 HTTPS: In standard http all information is sent in
clear text. HTTP with a security feature. Encrypts the
data that is being retrieved by the HTTP.
 Secure socket layer (SSL): a standard security
protocol for establishing an encrypted link between a
server and a client. Sensitive data such as credit card
numbers, social security numbers, and login
credentials can be transmitted securely
 Transport Layer Security: latest industry standard
cryptographic protocol. The successor to SSL
 Advanced Encryption Standard (AES): an
encryption algorithm for securing sensitive data
over the internet

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FIREWALL
 FIREWALL: A system designed to prevent
unauthorized access to or from a
private network.
 Firewalls are frequently used to prevent
unauthorized internet users from accessing private
networks connected to the internet e.g. intranets.
 All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass
through the firewall for examining
 Firewall blocks those messages that do not meet the
specified network security criteria

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Search engines
 Systems or websites designed to search for
information on the World Wide Web
 Several engines out there (next slide)
 Search results are normally presented as a list of
results
◦ Often referred to as search engine results pages

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Examples of search engines

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Email services
 Electronic mail, most commonly referred to
as email or e-mail
 First email sent in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson to
himself

ICT121 – 2015/16 27
Email addresses
 Gmail.com
 Yahoo.com
 Hotmail.com
 MySpace.com
 Fastmail.com
 Mail.com
 Fanbox.com

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Composing an email
 TO: List of addresses/everyone you sending
message to
 Carbon Copy (CC): List of
addresses/everyone you copying the message
to. They can see original recipients and also
visible to intended recipients
 Blind Carbon Copy (BCC): List of
addresses/everyone blind copied on the email
message. The cannot see other recipients and
also not visible to intended recipients
 SUBJECT: Message title display

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Email parts

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■ Email Attachments
– A copy of a file or document that you send
attached to an email to one or more people
– Recipients must have compatible software to open
the attachment; for example, if they don’t have
Excel, they probably can’t read the spreadsheet
you sent them.
– Be careful about opening attachments:
■ Many viruses hide in them; scan them with
antivirus software
■ Know who has sent the attachment before you
open it
Challenges of Using the internet
▪ Privacy Issues
▪ Security issues
▪ There is no central governing body
▪ Some unauthorized websites

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Computing Skills Fundamentals 33