There are different ways you can connect to the Internet. We discussed them and described how information is passed along through the network of computers. We even demonstrated how to trace the route of a message.
Guests
Mark McCahill
Mark McCahill
Mark McCahill is the creator of GOPHER, a precursor to today's Web browsers. He is currently the director of the University Technology Development Center, Office of Information Technology, University of Minnesota.
John Miller
John Miller is the associate director of Networking and Telecommunications Services, Office of Information Technology, University of Minnesota.
Arthur Harkins
Professor Arthur Harkins, Department of Educational Policy and Administration, University of Minnesota, is the author of numerous recent articles on the economy, society, and wireless computing in the future.
For Your Files
When you are choosing an Internet Service Provider (ISP), Mark told us where to look for help.
"...ask friends and family for recommendations. After that, there are a bunch of options. There are a bunch of ISPs that [include] advertising. There is also a pretty good Web site called http://www.dslreports.com that has reviews of different ISPs. Then as you can see they have rating categories: 'Smooth Ride,' 'Mixed,' and 'Horror Stories.' People review the experience of getting connected and what the service is like."
After you have selected an ISP and have connected, Mark had one other piece of advice:
“When you connect, one thing to think about is you’ve gone from having your computer being out in the woods, not talking to anyone, to being in the big city, and now it’s a little bit different: you probably want to pay a little bit of attention to security, just like if you move to the city, you probably want to have locks on your door. A lot of these connections will come with something called a firewall that helps keep the bad guys from getting into your computer.”
Download
To transfer (especially software) from the storage of a larger system
to that of a smaller one.
ISP
Internet Service Provider. An institution that provides access
to the Internet in some form, usually for money.
Modem
(MOdulator, DEModulator) A device that you connect to your
computer and to a telephone line that allows the computer to talk
to other computers through the telephone system. Basically, modems
do for computers what a telephone does for humans.
Server
A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind
of service to client software running on other computers. The
term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a Web
server, or to the machine on which the software is running, e.g.,
"our mail server is down today, that's why e-mail isn't getting
out." A single server machine could have several different
server software packages running on it, thus providing many different
services to clients on the network.