Applications of Information and

Communication Technology
Lecture # 8

Muhammad Nasir
Department of Computer Science
CUI Lahore Campus
[email protected]
The slides are adapted from the publisher’s material
Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow (Ch8)
Overview
 This chapter covers:
– The evolution of the Internet
– The Internet community
– Internet searching
– Common applications available via the Internet
– Societal issues that apply to Internet use
Internet
 Internet: Largest and most well-known computer
network, linking millions of computers all over the
world
 Furnishes a standard way of obtaining information, disseminating
information, accessing entertainment, and communicating with others
 While Internet has become a household word only during the past two
decades, it has actually operated in one form or another for much longer
than that
Evolution of the Internet
 ARPANET: The predecessor of the Internet, named after the
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), which
sponsored its development
 Initially connected four supercomputers
 Eventually evolved into today’s Internet
 The World Wide Web: The collection of Web pages available
through the Internet
 Proposed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989
 Originally only text-based content; release of the Mosaic browser in 1993
led to graphical content
 Wide variety of content available via Web pages today (social networking,
blogs, wikis)
Evolution of the Internet
Evolution of the Internet
 The World Wide Web and the Internet are not owned by
any person, business, or organization

 Primary infrastructure that makes up the Internet

backbone is typically owned by communications
companies
The Internet Community Today
Most members of the Internet community fall
into one or more of the following groups:
 Users: People who use the Internet
 Internet service providers (ISPs): Provide
access to the Internet, typically for a fee
 Internet content providers:
Provide Internet content
 Businesses, non-profit
organizations, educational
institutions
 Individuals
The Internet Community Today
 Application service providers (ASPs): Companies that
manage and distribute software-based services over the
Internet
 Web-based software, Software as a Service (SaaS), cloudware
 Often fee-based business software
 Web service: Added to a Web page to provide specific
services for end users
 Infrastructure companies: Own or operating the physical
structure of the Internet
 Conventional and mobile phone companies, cable companies, and
satellite Internet providers
The Internet Community Today
 Hardware and software companies
 Provide the hardware and software used in conjunction with the
Internet and Web
 Government and other organizations
 Some countries limit information and access
 FCC influences communications
 Internet Society (ISOC): Addresses issues impacting the future of
the internet
 Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN):
Domain and IP management
 W3C??
Myths About the Internet
Myth 1: The Internet is free
 Most people and businesses pay for
Internet access
 Businesses, schools, and libraries lease
communications lines from phone
companies
 Fee-based content is growing at a rapid
pace
 Music/movie downloads
 Donation based sites
Myths About the Internet
Myth 2: Someone controls the Internet
 No single group or organization controls the Internet
 Governments can regulate Internet use within its country, but difficult to
enforce
Myth 3: The Internet and World Wide Web are
identical
 Internet = physical network
 WWW = one resource (Web pages) available via the Internet (Explore
other differences)
Quick Quiz
The Internet began as an experimental network known
by which name?
a. ARPANET
b. Internet2
c. World Wide Web
Searching the Internet
 Effective Internet searching: A very important skill
 Search sites: Web sites specifically designed to help
users search for Web pages that match specified
keywords or selected categories
 Typically use a search engine in conjunction with a database containing
information about Web pages to locate appropriate Web pages
 Many search sites available (Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask.com, Cuil, etc)
Beyond Browsing and E-Mail
 Many types of other online communications methods exist
 Instant Messaging (IM) and Text Messaging
– Instant Messaging
 Exchanging real-time messages
 Example of presence technology
– Text Messaging
• Used by mobile phone users
• Also called Short Message Service (SMS)
• Beginning to replace e-mail for personal
communication
• Can be group messages
Beyond Browsing and E-Mail
 Twittering and Social
Networking Updates
– Users post short updates
called tweets
– Used in both business and
personal lives
– Other types of status updates are
available via some social networking
sites
Beyond Browsing and E-Mail
 Forums
– Web page that enables individuals to post messages on a
particular topic for others to read and respond to
 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
– Making telephone calls over the Internet
– Computer to computer
 Skype, IM, etc.
– More permanent VoIP setups replace landline phones
– Relatively inexpensive—as little as $25 per month
– Does not work when Internet connection or
power is out
Beyond Browsing and E-Mail
 Web Conferences and Webinars
– Web Conference
 Face-to-face meeting (videoconferencing) taking
place via the Internet
 Typically takes place using a personal computer
or mobile phone
 Used by individuals and businesses
 Business Web conferencing is often used for
meetings between individuals located in different
geographical locations
Beyond Browsing and E-Mail
– Webinar
 A seminar presented via the Web
– Webcast
 A completely one-way presentation
Social Networking/Social Media
– Social Networking Site
 A site that enables a community of
individuals to communicate and share
information
– Social Media
 The collection of social networking sites and other
communications channels used to share information
Online Entertainment
 Online Music
– Music played or obtained via the Web
 Online TV, Videos, and Movies
– Videos watched or downloaded via the Web
– Live or recorded TV shows available via the Web
– Feature films available via the Web
– Video-on-demand (VoD)
 Downloading movies and television shows, on
demand, via the Web
 Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) – content delivered
directly to your TV
Online Entertainment
Online Entertainment
 Online Gaming
– Playing games via the Web
– Web-based games, online multiplayer games, etc.
– Quite often associated with Internet addiction
 The inability to stop using the Internet or to prevent
extensive use of the Internet from interfering with
other aspect’s of one’s life
– Gamification trend involves using gaming elements
(earning points or rewards) in a non-entertainment
context, such as for customer and employee engagement
Online Education and Writing
 Online Education
– Using the Internet to facilitate learning
– Web-based learning management systems
 Used to deliver course content, manage assignments
and grades, and more
– Student response systems
 Students use a special device or their mobile phone to
respond to surveys or review questions during lectures
Internet and Network addresses
 A Network Address is a logical or physical address that
uniquely identifies a host or a machine in a
telecommunication network
 Primarily they are logical addresses i.e., software-
based addresses.
 The most widely used network address is an IP address. It
uniquely identifies a node in an IP network
Network Addresses
Hostname
A name made up of words separated by dots that uniquely
identifies a computer on the Internet
IP address
An address made up of four one-byte numeric values separated
by dots that uniquely identifies a computer on the Internet

Is there a correspondence between the parts of a hostname

and an IP address?
Network Addresses

What is wrong with the IP4 strategy?

Network Addresses
IPv4
The last block was assigned in 2011
IPv6
128 bits organized into 4 groups of 8
FE80:0000:0000:0000:0202:B3FF:FE1E:8329
Domain Name System
Host number
The part of the IP address that specifies a particular host
(machine) on the network Yes, but what is it?
Domain name
The part of a hostname that specifies a specific
organization or group
Top-level domain (TLD)
The last section of a domain name that specifies the type
of organization or its country of origin
Domain Name System
Domain name system (DNS)
A distributed system for managing hostname resolution
Domain name server
A computer that attempts to translate a hostname into an
IP address

Should the tables containing hostname/IP mappings be

sorted or unsorted? Why?
Domain Name System

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Domain Name System
Organizations based in countries other than the United States use a
top-level domain that corresponds to their two-letter country codes
Who Controls the Internet?
Control of IP addresses and domain names
 Internet began as ARPANET, a project of the US
Dept. of Defense
 Control subcontracted to ICANN in 1998
 US gov’t to further reduce role as early as 2015