Using the World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a relatively recent invention. It began
when, in 1990, the CERN physics laboratory in Geneva,
Switzerland, created a multi-media branch of the Internet.. In
1993, with the idea of making the Web easier to use, computer
science students at the University of Illinois put together a
graphics program they called "mosaic" which was the
first true browser and the forerunner of Netscape (Katie
Hafner and Matthew Lyon, Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The
Origins of the Internet, (NY: Simon + Schuster, 1996)
258-259.).
Today, the WWW is the forerunner of an information and
commercial explosion. All manner of ideas, services, and products
are peddled through the Web. Federal Government officials are
uring that access to the WWW be available in classrooms,
libraries, and governement facilities. Every year WWW useage
grows exponentially.
The odds are that you will have to either use the web or
create information for the web in your professional or personal
life. So...here is some information to make that easier. Oh, by
the way, you're using the Web right now.
Myths, Lies, and Fallacies
- If it's on the Web...it must be true.
Bwah Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha...oh ,sorry, that one still makes
me laugh. anyone with a PC and an internet service
provider can put a page together. In fact, those folks
who used to mimeograph their hate literature and hand it
out on street corners now use the Web. And thanks to the
nature of the Browsers, they look just as credible and
professional as the cites at CNN or the Smithsonian.
Don't accept information on the Web as Gospel just
because it's on the Web.
- If I surf, I'll get a virus. Only if the
person in the chat room agrees to meet you later. In
order to get a virus, you must dowload it as a program
file and execute it. Filling out forms, responding to
surveys, and reading email is harmless. For more virus
information head to Computer
Virus Myths home page.
- If I Surf,
dirty pictures will just pop up on my machine.
Only if you want them there. To get to porn cites, you
must search for them and then enter the URL AND pass
through a page or two warning you that the material that
follows is only for adults. It's only when you catch
adolescent boys looking at Playboy Online that the belief
that porn automatically sneaks into your machine arise.
- It's too hard to find anything.
Searching for Web information is like playing an
instrument. It takes practice.
- This will replace all other forms of research.
Not in my class kiddo
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