Re: [TCLUG:17423] short description of the Internet

[George Swan <g-swan@maroon.tc.umn.edu>]

This is a tough one.

You want an analogy, like Tannenbaum's at the beginning of his book on
Networking, but on the other hand, you're going to need to simplify the
presentation of this concept to such an extent that you are going to end up
.... well .... lying, or feeling like you're lying or leaving something out.

Hmmmm... does "talking on the telephone" as a metaphor work?
(When you click on your browser for a page, it makes a really fast phone
call to a server computer....  ftp is like leaving or retrieving a voice mail
... telnet is like..... etc.)

BTW, are you going to have any pictures or diagrams?

gs

At 07:56 AM 5/9/00 -0700, you wrote:
>I want to distribute a document throughout the company that gives a basic
>description of how the Internet works. I'm trying to make it as simple as
>possible, because the target audience is non-users who still think that 'The
>Internet' is an icon on your desktop. My basic goal is to dissuade them of
>that notion, so they don't say things like "I need the Internet on my
>computer!!"
>
>here's a rough draft of what I've come up with. comments, flames,
>suggestions are welcome. :)
>
>Carl Soderstrom
>********************
>
>This is a short description of how the Internet works.
>
>At it's most basic level, the Internet is a network of wires physically
>running between every computer connected to it. This means that the computer
>on your desk is connected by a wire running to every other computer on the
>Internet (with a lot of switches in between, of course).
>
>On top of this wire, is a _Communications Protocol_ called TCP/IP
>(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). TCP/IP is what carries
>information from one computer to another; whatever the information may be.
>
>On top of TCP/IP, carried by it, are higher-level network connections. These
>are things like the World Wide Web (what most people think of when someone
>says 'Internet', because it has pictures), FTP (File Transfer Protocol; a
>way to move files quickly), and e-mail services.
>
>Carried by these higher-level networks, is the actual _content_ of the
>Internet; pictures, text, sounds, etc. These are what programs on your
>computer display.
>
>The part we actually see, are the programs presenting the content. When you
>launch Netscape or Internet Explorer to browse the Web, or a RealPlayer to
>listen to music over the Internet, or an FTP program to transfer files; you
>are just looking at one way to represent the content that has been
>transmitted over the Internet. This is what you are doing when you click on
>an icon to launch Netscape or the like; you are not 'starting the Internet',
>you are starting a program which can show you some of the types of content
>of the Internet (which you are likely already connected to) in a certain
>(limited) way.
>
>
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George Swan
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