Relationship Between World Wide Web And Internet Information Technology Essay

The Internet is a worldwide system of interconnected computers used for the storing and transmission of data. The Internet was launched in 1969 in the United States to develop a national computer to connect a research computer from a university to other research computers at other universities for the users to share information (Leaver, 2011). It was designed in such a way that it would still work even if a nuclear attack were to take place (Howe, 2010). It runs on packet switching and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), also known as the Internet Protocol Suite for communication of networks and sharing of information between networks (Leaver, 2011). The Internet has contributed to a fair deal of convenience, especially in terms of communication and information transmission.

Invented by Tim Berners-Lee, the World Wide Web is an internet-based hypermedia initiative designed for worldwide information sharing which began as a networked information project at the Centre of Nuclear Research in 1992. The Web is a series of ‘hypertext’ document linked to each other to form literally a ‘web’ of information (Leaver 2011). Hypertext is the reference to the linking system that enables users to move from one page to another. In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee and his colleagues developed the necessary tools for the World Wide Web to run. The tools developed were a Transfer Protocol, known as the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), a web server, a language to display information, also known as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and a web browser, which was named the WorldWideWeb. With all these tools the Web became more ‘social’; users from all over the world can communicate with one another and form their own social networks, such as forming new friends online. The reason why the Internet is common among the public today is all thanks to the existence of the World Wide Web.

Reference

Leaver, T. (2011). Topic 1.2: …And the World Wide Web? [Online lecture notes]. Retrieved from Curtin University Online Student Portal.

World Wide Web Consortium. (n.d.) Tim Berners-Lee. Retrieved from http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Overview.html#Bio.

What is the relationship between the World Wide Web and the Internet?

The Internet does not equate the World Wide Web. The Internet is a system which enables multiple computers to connect to each other. The Web is an application that makes use of the system (Leaver, 2011). Without the Internet, there is no access to the Web. The Web is an application on the Internet that allows people to communicate and share information, whereas the Internet is the connection between computers for data transmission.

Tim Berners-Lee (1999), in a talk to the LCS 35th Anniversary celebrations at Cambridge Massachusetts said, “the basic idea of the Web is that an information space through which people can communicate, but communicate in a special way: communicate by sharing their knowledge in a pool. The idea was not just that it should be a big browsing medium. The idea was that everybody would be putting their ideas in, as well as taking them out.” (World Wide Web Consortium, n.d.)

However, one would need a web browser to gain access to the World Wide Web, and through this, the Web, using ‘hypertext’, one can ‘jump’ from one document on a page to another document on other pages (Leaver 2011). The Internet is a network of paths between computers and the World Wide Web is one of the many applications that run on it.

Reference

Leaver, T. (2011). Topic 1.1: What is the Internet? [Online lecture notes]. Retrieved from Curtin University Online Student Portal.

_____. Topic 1.2: …And the World Wide Web? [Online lecture notes]. Retrieved from Curtin University Online Student Portal.

World Wide Web Consortium. (n.d.) Transcript of Tim Berners-Lee’s talk to the LCS 35th Anniversary celebration at Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1999. Retrieved from http://www.w3.org/1999/04/13-tbl.html.

What are three purported differences between the World Wide Web as it first emerged, and the more recent Web 2.0?

The version of the Web prior to Web 2.0 is increasingly referred today to as the retronym, Web 1.0, since the emergence of Web 2.0. In terms of content, the pages in Web 1.0 sites are static, which is why the Web 1.0 era is called the ‘Read-Only’ era. Users gained information from sites and the information in the site would remain just as it was, and not updated. However, Web 2.0 enabled users to not only own their own sites such as blogs, they are also able to update information on it.

Another difference between the earlier Web and Web 2.0, is the interactivity of both versions. The web prior to Web 2.0 was not interactive as users could not contribute ideas or information to a site. Unlike the earlier Web, Web 2.0 allows users to participate and even create their own sites.

The third difference between the two versions is that Web 2.0 comes with metadata, which makes the search engines in the web more effective. Metadata is data about a certain subject or an item and tags it with keywords related to it.

Reference

Leaver, T. (2011). Module 2: What is Web 2.0? [Powerpoint lecture slides]. Retrieved from Curtin University Online Student Portal.

O’Reilly, T. (2005). What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. Retrieved from http://oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html.

What is RSS and why is it significant to Web 2.0?

RSS is a cluster of formats that separates the content from a website to inform the users of the web about updates on that website, without having to actually visit the site itself. This web syndication makes information travel faster and more convenient for the users. RSS is significant to Web 2.0 because it replaces the traditional techniques of the prior version. Web 2.0 allows users to change, alter and update information on a site, whenever they want to. And because information updates on a site occurs unexpectedly, RSS allows users to receive these updates about sites without having the users visit relevant sites from time to time. With the many sites existing on the web, it can be tedious to be visiting each site from time to time and it can be time consuming.