ERIC DIGEST               ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources
 EDO-IR-92-7                                       Syracuse University
 September 1992                          Syracuse, New York 13244-2340
                                                 Phone: (315) 443-3640
                                                   Fax: (315) 443-5448
                                      Internet:  ERIC@SUVM.ACS.SYR.EDU

                             INTERNET BASICS
 
                             By Roy Tennant
 
 This digest briefly describes the Internet computer network, the
 physical connections and logical agreements that make it possible,
 and the applications and information resources the network provides.
 
 The Internet
 
 The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks. It is
 comprised of thousands of separately administered networks of many
 sizes and types. Each of these networks is comprised of as many as
 tens of thousands of computers; the total number of individual users
 of the Internet is in the millions. This high level of connectivity
 fosters an unparalleled degree of communication, collaboration,
 resource sharing, and information access. In the United States, the
 National Science Foundation Network (NSFNet) comprises the Internet
 "backbone" (a very high speed network that connects key regions
 across the country). The NSFNet will likely evolve into the National
 Research and Education Network (NREN) as defined in the High-
 Performance Computing Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-194, signed into law by
 President Bush on December 9, 1991).
 
 Physical Connections and Logical Agreements
 
 For the Internet to exist, there must be connections between
 computers and agreements on how they are to communicate. Connections
 can consist of any of a variety of communication media or methods:
 metal wires, microwave links, packet radio or fiber optic cables.
 These connections are usually established within areas or regions by
 the particular networking organization with authority or economic
 interest in that area. For example, a university academic department
 may lay Ethernet cable to connect its personal computers and
 workstations into a local area network (LAN), which is then connected
 to the cables the campus laid to connect its buildings together,
 which is then linked to cables laid by a regional network, which
 itself ties into the NSFNet backbone, the infrastructure for which
 was funded by the U.S. government. Therefore the path between any two
 points on the Internet often traverses physical connections that are
 administered by a variety of independent authorities.
 
 For disparate computers (from personal computers to mainframes) to
 communicate with other computers over a network, there must be
 agreements on how that should occur. These agreements are called
 communication protocols. At present, the Transmission Control
 Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite of protocols defines how
 Internet computers are to communicate. In the future, the Open
 Systems Interconnection (OSI) suite of protocols promulgated by the
 International Standards Organization (ISO) may be supported on the
 Internet as well. These protocols define how certain applications are
 to be accomplished:  electronic messaging, online connections, and
 the transfer of files.
 
 Electronic Mail
 
 Electronic mail, or e-mail, is a fast, easy, and inexpensive way to
 communicate with other Internet users around the world. In addition,
 it is possible for Internet users to exchange e-mail with users of
 other independent networks such as CompuServe, Applelink, the WELL,
 and others. Internet users often find that the expanded capability to
 communicate with colleagues around the world leads to important new
 sources of information, collaboration, and professional development.
 
 Besides basic correspondence between two network users, e-mail
 presents additional opportunities for communication. Through various
 methods for distributing e-mail messages to lists of "subscribers,"
 e-mail supports electronic discussions on a wide range of topics.
 These discussions bring together like-minded individuals who use such
 forums for discussing common problems, sharing solutions, and arguing
 issues.
 
 Another type of electronic communication that is growing in
 popularity is the electronic journal, or "e-journal." Although some
 e-journals require certain types of software and hardware to display
 each issue, most e-journals are distributed to a list of subscribers
 as an e-mail text message, either complete as one issue, or
 retrievable at the article level by mailing a command to a software
 program that automatically sends the appropriate file. The very
 definition of a "journal" is undergoing change in the electronic
 environment, as e-journal publishers experiment with different
 publication models (e.g., sending articles out individually as soon
 as they are ready rather than waiting until a group of articles are
 gathered for an "issue").
 
 Remote Login
 
 Remote login is the ability of a computer user in one location to
 establish an online connection with another computer elsewhere. Once
 a connection is established with a remote computer, the user can use
 that remote system as if their computer were a hard-wired terminal of
 that system. Within the TCP/IP protocol suite, this facility is
 called Telnet. Utilizing Telnet, an Internet user can establish
 connections with a multitude of bibliographic databases (primarily
 library catalogs), campus information systems of various
 universities, full-text databases, data files (e.g., statistics,
 oceanographic data, meteorologic data, geographic data, etc.), and
 other online services. Many of these systems are available for any
 Internet user to access and use without an account.
 
 What makes this application truly remarkable is that ease and speed
 of access are not dependent upon proximity. An Internet user can
 connect to a system on the other side of the globe as easily as (and
 generally not much slower than) he or she can connect to a system in
 the next building. In addition, since many Internet users are not at
 present charged for their network use by their institutions, or at
 least are not charged by the level of their use, cost is often not a
 significant inhibitor of usage. Therefore the barriers of distance,
 time and cost, which are often significant when using other forms of
 electronic communication, can be reduced in the Internet environment.
 A compensating disadvantage is that initial costs for Internet
 connection can be high, and access can be technically demanding.
 
 File Transfer
 
 Another application of the Internet is the ability to transfer files
 from one Internet-connected computer to another. This function is
 provided by the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) of the TCP/IP protocol
 suite. In a method similar to using Telnet, network users initiate an
 online connection with another Internet computer via FTP. But unlike
 Telnet, this online connection can perform only functions related to
 locating and transferring files. This includes the ability to change
 directories, list files, retrieve files, etc.
 
 Types of files that can be transferred using FTP include virtually
 every kind of file that can be stored on a computer: text files,
 software programs, graphic images, sounds, files formatted for
 particular software programs (e.g., files with word processing
 formatting instructions), and others. Many computer administrators
 have set aside portions of their machines to offer files for anyone
 on the Internet to retrieve. These archive sites support "anonymous"
 logins that do not require an account to access, and therefore are
 called anonymous FTP sites. To locate files, Internet users can use
 the Archie service, which indexes files from over 900 separate
 anonymous FTP sites (Tennant, 1993).
 
 Extended Services
 
 The three basic Internet applications of electronic mail, remote
 login, and file transfer are also building blocks of more
 sophisticated applications that usually offer increased functionality
 and ease of network use. Tools such as Gopher, WAIS, and World Wide
 Web go beyond the three basic Internet functions to make information
 on the network easier to locate and use. Gopher is a project of the
 University of Minnesota that uses a series of menus to organize and
 automate access to information and other online systems wherever they
 reside on the Internet. The Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS)
 project of Thinking Machines, Apple Computer, Dow Jones & Co., and
 KPMG Peat Marwick, seeks to provide a common interface to a multitude
 of Internet databases. World Wide Web is a hypertext interface to
 Internet information resources that was developed at CERN in
 Switzerland (Tennant, 1993). This trend toward more powerful, user-
 friendly networked information resource access systems is likely to
 continue as the Internet grows and matures.
 
 Future Possibilities
 
 The backbone infrastructure for the United States portion of the
 Internet (the NSFNet, or the Interim NREN) is largely supported
 through federal government funding. For this reason, use of the
 network has been limited to non-profit research and educational uses,
 and commercial companies have established networking arrangements
 that avoid using the NSFNet. Most recently, however, dialogues have
 begun about commercialization and privatization of the NSFNet
 infrastructure. The full effects of such a move on current Internet
 users, especially research and educational institutions, has yet to
 be seen. One certainty is that the breadth of information and the
 services offered on the Internet will continue to burgeon, at an ever
 more rapid rate.
 
 Further Reading
 
 Bishop, Ann P. (1991, December). The National Research and Education
 Network (NREN): Update 1991. ERIC Digest. Syracuse, NY: ERIC
 Clearinghouse on Information Resources. (EDO-IR-91-9).  [Also in ERIC
 as ED 340 390]
 
 Farley, Laine (Ed.). (1991). Library resources on the Internet:
 Strategies for selection and use. Chicago, IL: Reference and Adult
 Services Section, American Library Association.
 
 Kehoe, Brendan P. (1993). Zen and the art of the Internet: A
 beginner's guide to the Internet. (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
 Prentice Hall.
 
 Lynch, Clifford, & Preston, Cecilia. (1990). Internet access to
 information resources. In Martha E. Williams (Ed.), Annual review of
 information science and technology.  26 (pp. 263-312). Medford, NJ:
 Learned Information.
 
 Malkin, Gary Scott, & Marine, April N. (1992). FYI on questions and
 answers: Answers to commonly asked "new Internet user" questions.
 Network Working Group, Request for Comments 1325. [Available through
 anonymous FTP from host ftp.nisc.sri.com, directory rfc, filename
 rfc1325.txt]
 
 Polly, Jean Armour. (1992). Surfing the Internet: An introduction.
 Wilson Library Bulletin. 66(10), 38-42+.
 
 Scientific American. (1991). Special issue: Communications,
 computers, and networks. 265(3).
 
 Stanton, Deidre E. (1992). Using networked information resources: A
 bibliography. Perth, WA: Author. [Available through anonymous FTP
 from host infolib.murdoch.edu.au, directory pub/bib, filename
 stanton.bib or stanton.bib.wp]
 
 Tennant, Roy; Ober, John; & Lipow, Anne G. (1993). Crossing the
 Internet threshold: An instructional handbook. Berkeley, CA: Library
 Solutions Press.
 
 U.S. Congress. (1991). High-Performance Computing Act of 1991. Public
 Law 102-194, December 9, 1991. Washington, DC: U.S. Government
 Printing Office. [Available through anonymous FTP from host
 nnsc.nsf.net, directory nsfnet, filename nrenbill.txt]
 *=============================================================
 This digest was prepared for the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information
 Resources by Roy Tennant, Public Service Automated Systems
 Coordinator, The Library, University of California, Berkeley.
 September 1992.
 *=============================================================
 ERIC Digests are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced
 and disseminated.
 *=============================================================
 This publication was prepared with funding from the Office of
 Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education,
 under contract no. RI88062008. The opinions expressed in this report
 do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of OERI or ED.