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The Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW)
There are two key terms that dominate the online world. They are:
- the Internet
- and the World Wide Web (WWW).
These terms are often confused with each other but they have quite different roles.
Internet
The Internet 
is a worldwide collection of networks that link together millions of businesses, governments, educational institutions, and individuals via modems, telephone lines, and other communications devices and media. Each of these networks provides resources and data that add to the abundance of goods, services, and information accessible via the Internet. The Internet is commonly referred to as the 'Net'.
In Australia, the Internet began in the early 1990s, as a university-controlled network termed the Australian Academic Research Network (AARNET ). In 1995 Telstra was given control, and subsequently Internet Service Providers (ISPs) obtained connections through Telstra. The original AARNET is only used in relation to the University part of the Internet. However this sector is technically called AARNET2, the name given to the contract that was awarded to Optus in 1997.
Internet connections are managed by a number of different Internet Service Providers (ISPs ), including Telstra , Optus and Ozemail , each of these organisations running their own networks within Australia. The Net underlies what is referred to as the information superhighway. Every continent is connected, although a number of third world countries have limited access. Depending upon the source you reference it would appear that the Internet is growing at the rate of 10% every month.
Currently the Internet is used for a variety of purposes including electronic mail, computer file transfers and access to computer programs.
Further Information
World Wide Web (WWW)
Definition
One definition that can be used to define the Web could be:
'The World Wide Web is a Virtual Network consisting of pages of information residing on a computers distributed across the Internet, with text and images on each page acting as hyperlinks to other pages’
The World Wide Web (WWW), or simply the Web, has been responsible for making the Internet so popular. Until the Web was created, the Internet was text-only, with no colour or graphics of any kind. It was great for scientific reports or government documents but not much else. Primarily only scientists and engineers used the Internet.
A group called the WWW Consortium (W3C) developed a project aimed at making access to the Internet easier. They developed a new protocol referred to as the World Wide Web This simplified access to a whole range of information and services. The Web uses hypertext, which is a computer-based system, for linking documents to other related documents. Hypertext links are possible using the web protocol Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) .
Hypertext is a different way of moving through information. Instead of reading text from beginning to end, you interact with it. You click a link (actually a hyperlink) and suddenly you're not moving through the text from start to finish like you would in a book or a magazine article. Instead, you're making a quick side trip or jump.
These hyperlinks, allow users to navigate quickly from one Web page to another, regardless of whether the Web pages are located on the same computer or on different computers in different countries.
Two high profile software browser programs Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer provide an interface to the various applications that are available on the Web.
Further Information
Further links on the Internet and the World Wide Web
Teachers Discovering Computers resources from the Shelley Cashman series of books (Thompson Learning).
Using the Internet The Department of Education, Employment, and Training, Victoria
Intel ‘The journey inside’, A fascinating look inside the world of Computers and the Internet
Netskills: Quality Internet training Online Netskills interactive course
Internet guide for journalists
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