General Paper: What Use Is The Internet?

General Paper: What Use Is The Internet?

The internet is the world's largest, globally inter-linked network of

computer systems. It allows users to transmit and receive data

digitally, across the telephone network system. This concept of data

transmission on a world-wide scale, has opened the doors to a vast

range of possibilities for this data sharing capability.

Initially, the internet was developed under a government funded

project called ARPANET (Advanced Research Project Agency), in late

1962, directed by members of MIT who saw great potential in the

ability to transmit data across a global network system i.e. the

telephone system. The intention was mainly to design a system that

would enable the sharing of information on research and development on

scientific and military aspects. In addition, it was to provide an

alternative communication network, which could be re-directed across a

number of alternative routes, in the event that a site was destroyed

by nuclear attack.

Since the internet's first stages of development, today, it is still

used as a data sharing agent. Whilst in the past, it was used

primarily used by government specialist and large organizations, it

can now be found in use, in the homes of more than 500 million

households worldwide, according to estimated statistics at Telecom

from a number of surveys in August 2001. This figure accounts for

around 100% of the world population. The increasing number of Internet

Service Providers (ISPs) has allowed millions of remote country

residents', access to the network, contributing to the 17%growth rate

in internet usage. Nowadays, the volume of data transmitted across the

network, is hundreds of times larger in size and transfer speeds have

surpassed any other means of global digital data transmission.

For many, the internet can be referred to as 'The Information

Super-Highway'. The millions of users connected to the internet can

broadcast their data from their computer to the network, providing the

user with a near limitless scope of fields of information and

educational resources, such as current news, sports, inventions,

discoveries and research material. The main problem with this is that

some of it may not be very reliable and often specific topics may be

difficult to find.

Along with the development of the internet, the number of

possibilities of uses for it has increased tremendously. Besides

simple text-based information, the foundation of the internet, a

variety of audio and visual components is now available. These include

pictures, graphics, movies and videos, sounds, interactive tools,

colour-rich diagrams and charts, which help enhance the user's

research and educational experience. A minor drawback of this is that

these types of data tend to be very large and often slows the