Wild Wild Web Guide

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Internet

• The Internet is a global network of computer networks.
• Organisations, governments and individuals use networked computers to share information and ideas.
• The Internet is not “owned” by anyone, the participating networks are controlled by various interest groups.
• It is becoming increasingly commercial, characterised by rapid growth.
• The Internet has existed since the 1950's, although the World Wide Web is a phenomenon of the 1990's.
• Access to certain sites may be limited by password protection or other forms of restricted access.
• Sites come and go with great frequency.

The Internet may provide:

• Information
• Communication (eg. E-mail)
• Co-operation (informal co-operation between individuals and organisations).

World Wide Web

• The World Wide Web is the graphical interface of the Internet that we see, offering pages of text, images, sound and videos.
• The current foundation on which the WWW functions is Hypertext using HTML. This is a system that provides highlighted LINKS to documents or other sites on the web.
• A graphical browser is software that allows you to see the contents of the WWW and lets you control the way some information is displayed.
• The most popular browsers are Netscape and Internet Explorer

Internet Access

• On Campus you need a JCU User ID/Account Code and Password to access the Internet. If you don’t have these you can get them from InfoHelp.
• Off Campus there are a number of ISP's with different options that may suit you.
• Internet Accounting has been in operation at James Cook University since January 2000. This allow the University to budget properly and should also improve network response times. This Internet Accounting Guide provides information on usage allocations and tips to reducing costs.

Search Engines

• Huge databases collected by a computer program (e.g. spider, crawler, robot).
• Biggest search engines index less than 20% of the Web.
• A simple search may return thousands of hits.
• The search engine scans its stored files for the matches to the keywords you typed in.
• There is no selection criteria for the collection of files.
• Still the best means for a general search of the Web.

Invisible/Deep Web

• Consists of information stored in searchable databases mounted on the Web.
• Search engines cannot search these databases.
• Examples of databases include journal indexes (for finding journal articles), ariline flights, new job postings.
• It is estimated that the content on the invisible Web may be 500 times larger than the content provided by search engines.

Netscape Browser Features

ToolBar Buttons

JCU Home Page Features

CyberSpace & Quick Links

• Use the CyberSpace website to access useful JCU sites.
• Use the Quick Links website to access useful and popular links related to Library and Computing Services

FAQs

• Internet and World Wide Web Frequently Asked Questions and answers can be found at the Infohelp FAQ site.

Finding Other Sites

You can access sites on the WWW via the following methods.

• Following links found in web pages or word documents.
• Clicking on sites you have Bookmarked
• Using Search Engines
• Typing in a known URL

Online Tutorials

• Have a go at some of these online tutorials. They range from beginners to advanced and include searching and evaluation techniques.
• Enhance your computing and IT skills with LearningFast@JCU. Modules include: IT, PC,WWW and MS Office skills.
• Try out InfoHelp's VISA - Virtual Information Skills Activity to improve your information literacy skills.

Email

• You can access JCU email from on campus or anywhere in the world.

Scavenger Hunt

• Print out this very simple quiz to test and hone your new skills.

Help

• Still need help, go to InfoHelp, JCU's 'One-Stop Information Shop' for library and computing assistance.