The Internet is an electronic network that allows computers to send and receive messages.
It's also called:
- cyberspace
- the Information Superhighway
- the Net
Since the Internet was established about 30 years ago, it has grown tremendously. Today, computers around the world are linked in cyberspace. The information that is available to governments, corporations, universities and scientific or cultural centers can be available to your family, too. Your children can use the Internet to make new friends, build reading, science or math skills, learn about other countries and much more.
As parents, our challenge is to encourage our children to enjoy the advantages of the Information Superhighway. At the same time, we need to help them understand that cyberspace is a public place ... and what that means to them.
Every Internet address has several parts. The address below is in the World Wide Web, the part of the Internet that contains graphics, pictures, sounds and text.
http://
The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW). Hypertext is generally any text that contains links to other documents, words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.
www.
This address is part of the World Wide Web.
the-dma
The screen name. It may be the name of a company or group
.org
The section directly after the screen name is the domain. It usually indicates the type of site. For example, ".org" is a non-profit group; ".com" is commercial or profit-making company; ".gov" is a government agency; and ".edu" is an educational institution. The domain might help you decide which Web sites you want to visit.
For example, you may want to search for children's Web sites that are in the domain ".edu".
