INTERNET AND E-MAIL

Definition of the Internet

Internet can be defined as:

1. Internet is a large network of networks that covers the whole world and enables millions of
computers from different organizations and people to communicate globally; or
2. Internet is a vast network of networks ; or
3. Largest net of networks; or
4. Internet is a world-wide computer network linking countless thousands of computer networks,
through a mixture of private and public data and telephone lines
Internet is sometimes called the Information Superhighway because of its large size and great
volume of information that passes through it.

Computer Network is formed when two or more computers are connected together to enable
communications among them

1.0 History of Network

The Department of USA defense established an agency to fund a project to allow dissimilar
computers to communicate with each other through a WAN. This project started in 1969 and it was
referred to as ARPHANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). The military intention was
to build a network that could continue to work in the event of war even if parts of the network were
disabled. ARPHANET connected four universities which were the University of California at Los
Angeles Stanford Research Institute, the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University
of Utah.

In 1982 the Defence Communications Agency (DCA) and DARPA(Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency) established a protocol, known as Transmission Control Protocol and Internet
Protocol (TCP/IP), as the standard connection protocol used on the ARPHANET.

The conversion of TCP/IP on the ARPHANET was completed in January 1983, and the term “Internet”
came into use in place of “the Internet Protocol (IP)”. The Internet Activities Board was formed so as
to oversee activities regarding Internet.

National Science Foundation Network was established 1986 which established a network connecting
Five supercomputer centres to enhance and network research capabilities in the United States (US).

As the number of computers connected to the Internet grew, the Internet work bone grew to a 1.54
Mbps WAN in 1988 and a 44.736 Mbps WAN in 1992. Today the internet has grown and covered the
whole world.

1.1 Importance of Internet

- Increased productivity

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 Staff in a company don’t waste time moving from one office to another to pick a document hence
promoting output.

- speedy and inexpensive communication

Internet provides a speedy, inexpensive and convenient 24-hours world-wide service means of
communication via its electronic mail facility.
- Improved research tool: Internet is well-stocked research tool, which is able to provide any kind of
information.
- Sharing of resources and information : Devices like printers scanners and all files containing any
information can be shared.
- business transaction
- leisure
- news and information dissemination
- Communication services: It attains three forms as follows; like E-mail, Chat (real-time one-to-one
or group conversation, with discussions in typed form), Conferencing (dynamic exchange of all
kinds of information where each participant contribute responses to any items in the
conversations. The participants are at different geographical locations.
- Education like Virtual learning whereby students log on to the Internet to attend classes.
- Software downloading: there is a large variety of software on the Internet that users can
download and use i.e Public domain (free) software.
- E-commerce like online shopping, online Banking, online travel, arrangements.

1.2 Internet Connectivity Requirements

For one to access the Internet the following requirements should be put in place:

a). Data terminal equipments – which are devices used to process, host and transmit data on a
network e.g. computer mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAS).
b). Transmission media – refers to physical or wireless pathways used to transmit data and
information from one point to another e.g. telephones lines, radio waves, microwaves and satellite.
c). Telecommunication lines – A computer is connected to the external World through a telephone
line and has to dial a remote computer via modem on the net to establish connection for data
transfer. Dial up connection is slow and unreliable and is being replaced by Dedicated digital leased
lines and fibre optic cables.
d). Modem
The modem is a special digital to analog interface card connection, via telephone or cable- T.V lines
between your computer and a computer network that provides Internet access. Modem is a short
form for Modulator – demodulator. Modem changes data from digital to analog (modulation) so as
to be transmitted on telephone lines and on receiving end the data is changed from analog to
digital (demodulation) for computer to understand.

The Modem may be external (a separate box connected to your CPU);or internal *built into your
CPU so that you do not see it).

The wires that carry information between your computer and the outside world are plugged into
your modem, which in turn allows your computer and the outside world to connect to the Internet.

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e). Satellite transmission – is used for intercontinental transfer of data by having satellite base stations
transmitting the data through a wireless uplink channel to the satellite. The satellite then sends the
data signal to the base station on another continent where it is picked up and sent to telephone
exchanges for transfer to the destination computer.
f). Internet Service Providers (ISP’s)
ISP’s are companies that offers Internet services to end users through dial-up connections as well as
broadband services at a fee. There are several ISP services from which a user specifies the one
he/she needs. These include:

i). Limited access – this offer is for those who doesn’t need the service all the time. the user sub-
scribes for only the number of hours he/she needs the service per day.
ii). Unlimited Access - this is meant for those users who need to be connected to the Internet all
the time (24 hours).

Factors to consider when choosing an ISP

 Ease of use- do they provide you with a simple –to-install set of software that will get you online
with no hassle?
 Support – will they provide you with the help you need? Do they offer 24 hours customer
support or offer services only during business hours?
 Cost – consider setup costs, monthly costs and toll costs for extra hours of use.
 Services – should provide up-to-date tools and software to provide e-mail and Internet access.
 Trial – can you try out the services before you buy?
 Content – if you are interested in the information available within a service you should check
out their promotional material.
 Performance – watch out for sluggish performance during peak hours or excessive down time.
also ask people who have accounts with the provider about performance to assess.
 Privacy – do they have a solid privacy policy? will they assist you in how to filter undesirable
content?
Examples of ISP’s in Kenya and Africa:

o Africa Online
o Nairobinet
o Wananchi Online
o KenyaWeb
o Formnet
o Telkom
o Access Kenya®
o Swiftglobal®
o Bidii.com
o Interconnect
o Todays Online
o safaricom

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g). Internet Software
Communication software is required to manage your connection to Internet. Windows already has
built-in communications software to access the Internet. Internet software help facilitate your
access to Internet.

To access internet services, a computer must be installed with an Internet protocol, a browser and
e-mail client.

Internet protocol

To achieve communication between computers and telecommunication devices that have different
hardware and software configuration a special software called IP Protocol is needed. A protocol is a
set of rules that governs how two computers can send and receive data on the network.

There two types of protocols used with Internet:

i. Transmission control protocol (TCP)

It governs how data is transferred from one computer to the next.

ii. Internet Protocol (IP)

It determines the addressing system on the Internet.

Browsers

 Is a special program that lets the user surf or browse the internet
 A web browser can also be defined as a program used for displaying and viewing pages on the
World Wide Web. The most common Web Browser are:
 Netscape Navigator
 Internet Explorer
 Mozilla browser
 chrome
Before accessing the Internet, a person must start the Browser software.

E-mail software

E-Mail software is a communication software specifically designed and developed to help a person to
compose, send and receive (read) text documents on the internet. Both the sender and the receiver
MUST have an e-mail address. Examples of e-mail software:

Microsoft Outlook Express, Yahoo mail, GMail, etc.

1.3 Internet Services

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a). E-mail
This is the exchange of electronic letters, data and graphics on the Internet.

b). Electronic learning (E-Learning)

Can be defined as:

- The use technology to deliver learning and training programs using interactive medias such as CR-
ROM, Internet, wireless and mobile media to facilitate learning; or
- Learning through interaction with special programs on the computer.
c). Electronic Commerce (E- commerce)
Is the trading in the internet where goods and services are sold over the Internet. The Internet gives
an opportunity for sellers of goods to advertise them on the websites where the consumers can be
able to place an order from any corner of the World. Payment is done via internet’s -commerce.

Advantages of E-commerce

- Company can access customers all over the world and is not limited by space and time.
- It has allowed companies to create low cost distribution channel
- It has created opportunity to new companies to enter previously impenetrable markets.
- Small companies have established websites to auction / advertise their goods reducing operation
costs and increasing sales.
d). World wide web
- WWW is a vast virtual space on the Internet where information pages called websites are installed;
or
- WWW is a vast virtual space on the Internet where information is made available; or
- WWW is a wide area hypermedia information retrieval initiative that aims to give universal access to
a large universe of documents.
The World Wide Web is driven by two fundamental technologies: HTTP and HTML. HTTP is the
Hypertext Transfer Protocol that controls how Web servers and Web browsers communicate with each
other. HTML is the Hypertext Markup Language that defines the structure and contents of a Web page.

In order to connect a network to the internet, the local area network needs an Internet Server. This
server is given the name World Wide Web (WWW) and has all the information that others on the
internet access. This information is made available on:

Web pages

A web page is a single screen of information, which may contain text, images, animation, sound and
video. You view a web page via the web Browser software.

A website

Is a collection of web pages, or other resources located on a web server. The first page on a website is
called a home page.

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Individuals and organizations establish Websites where their web documents can be placed for easy
access by external world. These sites have a special address called Uniform Resource Allocation (URL)
used to access them.

Web portals – offer specialized services such as searching, e-mail, sports updates, financial, news and
links to selected websites.

A blog – a website that contains personal information which can easily be updated.

Multimedia sites contain photos, movies, music, web TV and internet radio. They are meant for
entertainment.

Examples of WWW Client programs are:

(i). Internet Explorer

(ii). Netscape

Links

To get from one Web page to another within a website, or another Web sites altogether, you have to
find Hypertext or Hypermedia on the Page you are viewing.

Hypertext - a system of storing images, text, and other computer files that allows direct links to related
text, images, sound, and other data

Hypermedia – (multi-media hypertext system): a hypertext system that supports the linking of
graphics, audio and video elements, and text. The World Wide Web has many aspects of a complete
hypermedia system.

e). Internet fax

Internet provides you with complete fax facilities from your computer. You can configure fax
settings, send and receive faxes, track and monitor fax activity and access archived faxes.

f). Instant messaging - this a messaging service that allows two or more people to communicate
directly. To get the services, you must first register with an instant messenger such as Yahoo!
messenger.
g). Newsgroup
These are organized groups of Internet users who wish to share ideas and interests. Once you join a
newsgroup, you can participate in discussion forums and debates.

h). News media on the net

All major media houses post their daily news on the Internet for clientele to access.

i). Health information

Through Internet we can get latest medical news and research findings for practitioners and
scholars.

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j). Music and entertainment on the net
You can listen to music on the web and watch video clips if the computer is multimedia.

k). Chatting on the net

People can sign into a chat room and exchange ideas freely through discussions.

Try accessing www.try.com to see listings of chat topics you can participate in on-line.

(l) Searching :Search engines

Can be defined as:

o Special programs that help the user easily search for information on the internet.
o Special programs that maintain lists of hyperlinks available; or
o It is a program that searches documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the
documents where the keywords were found; or
o Are special programs that allows the user to type keywords that are run against a database.
Common search engines include:

Google (http://www.google.com )

Hotmail (http:// www.hotmail.com)

Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com)

Alta Vista (http:// www.altavista.com)

Excite (http:// www.excite.com/search)

hotBot (http:// hotbot.lycos.com )

Multi-threaded search engines are search engines that allow the user to search multiple databases
simultaneously via a single interface.

1.4 Accessing the Internet

Before accessing the Internet, a person must start the Browser software.

a) Log-in / Sign – in
Before you can have access to any mail box, the process of authentication must be done. This is
done by providing the correct user name and password for that account.

Logging-in/signing-in: is the process of authenticating yourself to the computer so as to be allowed

to check the contents (mails) in a mail box.

You will only be allowed entry after provision of the correct username and password. This is
normally for ensuring that there is enough security in storing mails in the internet.

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 To access the Website, type the full address of the website in the address bar then press enter key
or go icon. Some websites allow free access to all their pages by visitors while others require people
to be members hence a new visitor has to register (sign up).

b) Browsing / surfing
Browsing / surfing is the process of accessing Internet resources like web pages and websites, using
URL address or Hyperlinks.

c) Hyperlinks URLs and Search engine

Hyperlink are used to navigate from one web page to another. Cal also be explained as a text or
picture on an electronic document, especially web page that causes web pages to open when the
link is clicked.

Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) – is the Internet address of a particular Web page, it connects
the user to a particular website.

The URL has two basic parts

 Protocol – standard used to connect to the resource e.g. Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(http://) and file transfer protocol (ftp://). E.g. http://www.google.co.ke display Google
home page is displayed.
 Domain name – name of the web server where the resource is located.

d) Downloading / saving / printing web content

Success of finding what you want online increases with experience.

Downloading

Is the transmission of data files or applications from the server on the Internet to your local
computer.

Free ware or shareware

Are software available on the web for free downloading. You do not have to pay to use them.

Basic guidelines to note when downloading something:

1) Be careful about Beta (or evaluation) software since these are not fully tested programs and
they could end up damaging your computer.
2) Only download software from trusted sites, so that you do not risk getting viruses.

Downloading procedure

1. Right click the hyperlink to the file

2. On the shortcut menu, click the Save target as command.

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 3. After some searching the Browser displays the Save As dialog box. Specify the folder or drive
where the file is to be saved then type a unique name for the file in the name box.
4. Click the Save button and the download progress dialog appears on the screen. Unless
otherwise selected, the download will notify the user at the down load process.
5. Open the file in its application to view it.

Printing

To print a file, open it in the application in which it was created then send it to the printer for printing.
You can also print a web page directly from the browser window by clicking File then Print.

5.7 Electronic Mail (E-mail)

E-mail refers to the sending and receiving of electronic letters ands documents on the internet.

E-mail software

E-Mail software falls under special application packages communication software specifically designed
and developed to help a person to compose, send and receive (read) text documents on the internet.
Both the sender and the receiver MUST have an e-mail address.

The e-mails are usually stored in separate folders as described below:

Inbox – all incoming e-mails are stored here.

Outbox – contains e-mails that are waiting to be sent.

Sent – contains the e-mails that have already been sent.

Drafts – contains e-mails that have being worked on, and are not yet ready been sent.

Deleted items – contains e-mails that have been deleted. You can recover a deleted e-mail as long as
you have not emptied this folder.

Spam – contains mails from suspected sites e.g. may contain computer viruses.

An e-mail address directs the computers on the Internet on where to deliver the e-mail messages. A
typical e-mail format is described below:

Format: Username@Internat_address

Example: [email protected]

[email protected]

Each user ID is made up of two components: Username and Internet domain separated by an @ sign.

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 1) fauzifa – is the User name/ personal identifier and is usually coined by the user during e-mail
account registration.
2) @ is the symbol for ‘at’ which separates the username from the rest of the address.
3) Yahoo.com – is the name of the Host computer in the network i.e. the computer on which the e-
mail account is hosted.
4) The period “.” Is read as dot and is used to separate different parts of the e-mail address.
5) Com identifies the type of institution offering a particular service(s) and is called the domain
name.
6) .ke- is the country indicator.

Other domain names are

.com – commercial institution

.gov – government

.net – network centre

.edu – educational institutions

.mil – military site

.org – organizations

Most network addresses end with a country code, such as:

.ke – for Kenya

.ug – for Uganda

.tz – for Tanzania

.jp – for Japan

.au – for Australia

.uk – for United Kingdom, etc.

The two letter extension is added after the domain name to show the country where the cite is located
e.g. [email protected]

E-mail facilities

1). Mails

a) Checking mails

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 In order to check mail the user has to open the e-mail account by providing the correct user name
and password. In e-mail account, click the inbox folder command to view link list of all received
mails.

b) Compose e-mail
Composing implies writing. To compose click the compose command. The command header
element in the new e-mail window are:

To: here, you enter the e-mail address of the recipient.

From: here, your e-mail software will enter your address automatically.

Subject: should contain a few words outlining the nature of your message. It is not mandatory to
enter something here, but it generally helps the recipient to know what is contained in the e-mail.

Cc: stands for Carbon Copy, and is used to copy an e-mail to other recipients. The main recipient is
able to see who the e-mail has been copied to.

BCC: stands for blind Carbon Copy, meaning that a copy of your message is sent to an extra
address, without any indication of that action appearing in the main recipients copy of the
message.

Date: the date and time the message is sent are indicated automatically from e-mail software.

Attachments – the name and location of any file you may be sending along with the e-mail.

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c) Sending e-mail
To send mail, type the correct e-mail address of the recipient in To: text box, type your letter then
click Send command.

d) Forward e-mail – a received mail can be forwarded to another recipient. After reading click
Forward command and then provide the address of the recipient.

2). File Attachment

E-mail software enables a person to attach other files like pictures, music, movie clips, etc. the source of
attachment files can be from the hard disk or other storage devices e.g Flash disk.

To attach click the Attach button on the window; or

i. Click the Insert menu then File Attachment. A dialog box appears where you choose the file you
want to attach.
ii. Select the file then click the Attach button. An attachment bar is inserted in the e-mail window
with a name of the file you choose.
iii. Click Send to send the e-mail.

3). On-line meeting

It’s possible to hold on-line meeting with people by sending mails to them. E.g. on-line interviews may
involve a person sending electronic mail composed of interview questions to a recipient who can read
and question back.

4). Telephone messages

Because of integration between mobile telephony and the Internet technology, wireless Access Protocol
(WAP) makes it possible to send e-mail to a mobile handset and a mobile message to e-mail account.

5). Contact management

Most mails programs allow the user to develop an address book which holds contact information like e-
mail address of different people. To create a new contact:

i. Start e-mail window

ii. Tools menu / Address book.
iii. From the address book window click File then Contact.
iv. Click the Name tab and enter the contact details, then click Add.
v. Close the contact window then the address book.

5.8 Accessing Information on Emerging Issues

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Internet is a storehouse of information, presented in the from of text, documents, pictures, sound and
even video. Emerging issues refers to things like HIV/Aids, drug Abuse, moral issues and environmental
issues.

5.9 Effect of internet on the society

Although internet is such an important resource, it has also brought with it some challenges. These
include;

 Accessibility of dirty sites such as pornography by the young hence affecting their morals. The
solution is to restrict the known offensive sites using filter programs such as CyberPatrol,
Cybersitter or net Nanny.
 Security and privacy – Internet has made it easy for criminals to illegally access organizations
private information hence posing security concerns. To improve on security, install a Firewall
and antispyware programs.
 Spread of malicious software – which includes Viruses, Trojan horse and worm. This results in
frustration and loss of data. Install Internet security program and update it regularly.

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