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Basic Internet and Email

Basic Internet and Email Steven A. Gillis Albert L. Scott Library Alabaster Alabama The Internet What is it? A large network of computers Worldwide communication through standards Standards allow computers in China to access data from Zimbabwe or New York Not like a phone line

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Basic Internet and Email

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  1. Basic Internet and Email Steven A. Gillis Albert L. Scott Library Alabaster Alabama

  2. The Internet • What is it? • A large network of computers • Worldwide communication through standards • Standards allow computers in China to access data from Zimbabwe or New York • Not like a phone line • Phones dedicate a connection even the silence • The internet uses “packet switched” data.

  3. Packet Switched Networks • A packet is just that, a tiny bit of information • The packet has a FROM address and a TO address just like a letter • The packets have an order, and are reassembled at the other end • The packets can be received in any order and take different routes to get there

  4. Standards • The standards just make sure we are all playing the same game • If every country had different standards there would be no interoperability… we’d just be babbling 0’s and 1’s at each other • The Standard for the internet is TCP/IP • Over 200 protocols • Includes rules for email, FTP (Downloading), telnet (remote access to a computer) etc.

  5. What this means to you • Since the data is not continuous it might get interrupted • All information has to get to your computer any way it can, sometimes things get lost or data gets confused, this is why trying again often works with the internet • The small packets work much faster than a direct connection, there’s not really much “dead time” like on a phone

  6. Everything comes to you • Data comes to your computer, has to be processed there, then displayed • We may call it “Surfing” but we’re really gathering data • Almost all the data is decoded from 0’s and 1’s into text, because text is CHEAP to transmit. • Each 0 or 1 in a “set” is a bit. 8 bits are a byte. 256 different combinations!

  7. Tell me what to do! • The 0’s and 1’s become text, the text becomes orders, the orders become a display. • The “translator” standard used for most of the internet is HTML. “Hyper Text Markup Language. • The program we use to display this language is called a browser

  8. Browsers • Code looks strange! • <body class="mediawiki ns-0 ltr page-Byte"> • <div id="globalWrapper"> • <div id="column-content"> • <div id="content"> • <a name="top" id="top"></a> • <h1 class="firstHeading">Byte</h1> • <div id="bodyContent"> • <h3 id="siteSub">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</h3> • <div id="contentSub"></div>

  9. Browsers • The browser takes all that text and uses it to create what you see on the screen. • Different browsers have different translations. Although the web tries to be uniform, things may not always display the same. • There are standards for the Web portion of the internet, but not all companies adhere to them.

  10. Internet Explorer • One of the most common browsers is Internet Explorer, it is what we have here in the library. Many other browsers exist and often people have strong opinions on which is best • Sometimes the text sent to your computer requires MORE than just the HTML decoding by your browser…

  11. Scripts • In order to do complicated things not covered in the display language of HTML we use “Scripts” • These are sets of text that tells your computer to do something, but require you to have a program that interprets the commands • Java, PHP, ASP etc. are all scripting languages.

  12. Where’s the script • Most scripting languages are included in a computer’s operating system but may need to be updated regularly • Scripts can cause problems with older systems • Scripts are more and more common as computers get faster, complex scripts take more processing power than HTML

  13. Where can I get my 0’s and 1’s • The internet is a lot more than the HTML “World Wide Web” but today we’ll be using just the browser • The browser connects to the network with some kind of modem • Modem means Modulation/Demodulation • It converts digital On/Off (0’s and 1’s) to sound that travels over the phone lines

  14. Modems • Basic modem sound conversion uses the normal phone line which wasn’t designed for digital data. A single line has a maximum speed of 56,000 Bytes per second, and is often slower • These days 14336000000 a second is slow! • Cable modems use a more digital friendly line and can be very fast

  15. Broadband • ADSL is Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Link (Asymmetric because download is usually much faster than upload… you do more receiving than sending so this is fine) • By using frequencies much higher than human speech it gets around the slow limit of the telephone 56,000 Bytes • Can be very fast • Cable/DSL connections are “Broadband”

  16. Bandwidth • Bandwidth is the amount of data you can shove in at one time. The “Broader” your band the better. • “Broadband” is becoming common enough that browsing can be painfully slow without it. • Text is fast, images are slow • A picture really IS more than a thousand words! Color/Brightness/position…

  17. 1000 words? • The bandwidth to save the word “monkey” a 6 character word 1000 times, in an 8 bit code like ASCII (one of the simplest codes for English) is about 600 bytes • This small picture is about 3400 bytes • He would also like us to know he is an APE not a Monkey…

  18. Internet Savvy • No matter what browser you use some things will be similar • The address of the internet site you are accessing (Really you are downloading the code into your computer FROM that location • Usually displayed in a “Bar” at the top • “Buttons” Forward/Back, Stop, Refresh, Home • A Title Display for the webpage • Menus for options or actions you can perform

  19. The Address Bar http://www.cityofalabaster.com/Default.asp?ID=188&pg=Library The URL: Uniform Resource Locator The Root: www.cityofalabaster.com The Script: ASP The title of the page is above the buttons and address bar: City of Alabaster, Alabama: City of Alabaster-Albert L. Scott Public Library

  20. What the root can tell you • .gov • Government sites in the United States at any level, city, county, state, federal etc. • .org • Organization or individuals • .com • Commercial (for profit) • .net • Network providers

  21. Rule of thumb • Commercial sites usually have a financial motive, treat them like a salesman when they make statements about quality or capability. • Org sites often have biases just like we all do. Remember that without some verification there are a lot of opinions that are stated as facts.

  22. More dependable • .gov sites are usually dependable. Remember that Ketchup is a vegetable! • Although the USDA never passed this into standards… the government is far from infallible. They are still some of the best. • .edu sites are probably the most reliable but be aware of biases • Not all .com sites are sales • www.cityofalabaster.com for example!

  23. Refresh Back Forward Print Home Stop BACK FORWARD STOP! REFRESH HOME SEARCH FAVORITES HISTORY EMAIL PRINT These are some of the buttons found somewhere on most browsers

  24. History Button shows where you’ve been!

  25. Some great sites • www.snopes.com • Investigates urban myths, scams, and rumor • en.wikipedia.org • An online encyclopedia maintained and updated by users, be careful with controversial topics! • www.gutenberg.org • Free access to books no longer copyrighted! User added content, even has audio files!

  26. Gateways to the Web • Search engines sift through the text on the web and try to find things that match. Different search engines bring different results back! • Two commonly used search engines • www.yahoo.com • www.google.com • Our library’s home page for public computers is www.yahoo.com.

  27. What a Search Engine Isn’t • It doesn’t check content for you • There are also filters that are sometimes in place that reduce your content! • It doesn’t guarantee veracity • Just like a book or a newspaper, a webpage can be wrong, or very biased • It doesn’t filter out garbage for you • In fact it may be set to filter out good stuff • It can’t figure out what you really meant  • It only knows the letters you type and the order

  28. Googling  • Google has been such a popular search engine that people use the term as a verb  • Google it! • Since it is so popular, and unlike Yahoo!, isn’t categorized I’ll show you some tips and tricks

  29. www.google.com • But wait, there's more! • There are a lot more things to Google than the basic search. The first thing to notice is the labels at the top. These change your search type. • You can click on the “advanced search” link next to the Google search box to really specify what you want.

  30. Google Advanced The Advanced Search link just to the right of the normal Google search bar gives you lots more control! Limit byfiletype (Like .ppt for power points!) or root domains! .ORG .GOV etc.

  31. Google Images Images, Maps, and More!

  32. Be Aware of your Settings! Moderate Safe Search tries to edit out offensive images from your search The “Images” search just looks for pictures! “Web” is the default search

  33. Search Box Tricks • “Monkey time” : would search for monkey time, in that order exactly • Monkey time : would search for any page with monkey AND time on the same page • Monkey OR time : would search for any page with monkey on it, or any page with time on it • Monkey –time would search for any page with monkey but without time (- = not)

  34. Search Box Tips • ( ) can be used to enclose a search • (Monkey OR banana) time : would search for any page with monkey or banana that ALSO has time on it. • Searches can be very exacting! • (“monkey with a banana” OR “monkey in a tree”) AND (time lunch spotted (lost OR found)) : the AND is not needed but won’t mess the search up either, and helps make it more clear  ( ( stuff) ) is called “Nesting”

  35. Neat Search Filters • www.rollyo.com • Roll your own search engine • This site has some pre-made search limits like “reference” and “tech news” or you can make your own search, using sites you trust • www.alltheweb.com • Searches a lot of content that text browsers miss Owned by Yahoo!, filters by type, useful for audio and video • http://www.pipl.com/ • “Deep Web” search of personal records databases

  36. Yahoo! Mail • We gave Google some good press so we’ll use Yahoo! mail as our example for web emails. • If you don’t have an email account Yahoo! will provide one for you for free • My last class slides have instructions on how to set up an account. I can go over it with you if you need after this class

  37. Mail.yahoo.com works  If you don’t have an account start here!

  38. If you have an account start here!

  39. Your mail comes to an “inbox” The new Yahoo! Mail has several ways to get there Yahoo mail has a “CLASSIC” View which is better for older computers. From now on all displays will use this option. Once you set the “CLASSIC” view Yahoo! will remember and always use it.

  40. Inbox The new Yahoo! Mail has a lot of bells and whistles but it can be slow. If your computer is loading the New Yahoo! Mail slow it will prompt you to change to “classic” view.

  41. Advertisements appear at the top, often they are flashy, with large images that change if your mouse goes over them. This slows down your system and demands more memory. Most computers can cope. Hey it’s free  Unread mails appear in bold text. Attachments are shown by the “Paperclip” image. Attachments can hold viruses, Yahoo pre-scans but it’s not perfect, so be careful.

  42. Clicking on the email name will open it Click on an attachment to open it

  43. Compose lets you SEND a new email You can DELETE an email REPLY to the sender FORWARD it to another email address mark it as SPAM or MOVE it to another folder (Like the TRASH FOLDER)

  44. TO is the email address or addresses you want to send the mail to. Add CC lets you send copies to others Add BCC lets you send email copies but won’t include that persons address in the other mails (Carbon Copy and Blind Carbon Copy  just like the old days!) Attach Files Here Type text here!

  45. When you click attach files you “Browse” to the file you want. Usually it is easiest to find on the “Desktop”. Save a file you need to email somewhere EASY to find!

  46. Once you find the file you want, left click on it and hit “open” The file doesn’t really open it “Attaches”

  47. The file now appears on the list, you can attach many files at once, Yahoo defaults 5 slots, but you can add more 

  48. After you check to make sure this was the file you meant to attach… continue to message Yahoo shows you an “You did it!” screen Plus one more chance to show you an advertisement 

  49. Once you finish your email text, and attach all the files that you want to attach click SEND! Yahoo! Will ask if you want to add this person to your address book so you can keep track of the address. Or you can return to your inbox.

  50. Always remember to SIGN OUT! Especially here in the library! You can click on your SENT mail folder to make sure the mail was sent out. Yahoo! Keeps a copy until you delete it. It even keeps a copy of attachments.

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