What is the Internet?
A group of computers that are connected to share information is called a network. When two or more networks are connected it is called an internet. The Internet connects networks of computers from around the world. It allows for the sharing of any kind of information that can be stored on a computer (text, images, music, video, etc.).

In the past few years the Internet has revolutionized the way we get and share information. We can expect that it will continue to evolve; bringing even more revolutionary changes to our world.

The Early Years
The Internet began in 1969 as a network established by the U.S. Department of Defense to share information between the government, universities, and research institutions. It was originally called ARPANET.

Over the next twenty years, new ways to share information (all text based) were developed, but the Internet remained a place for professionals.

In 1991, Tim Berners-Lee of the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) developed the concept of today's Internet -- the World Wide Web.

The World Wide Web (WWW)
Tim Berners-Lee along with others at CERN developed HTML (hypertext markup language) to provide for displaying information on the Internet in a more flexible way. HTML is a computer programming language that enables another program called a browser (such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer) to display a web page in a format suggested by the web page author.

The World Wide Web is the largest subset of the Internet. By clicking on hyperlinks an individual on the Internet can "jump" to different web pages of related information. No individual or organization controls the content on the Internet. It is therefore a medium for self-expression and open communication. This is important to remember when finding information on an Internet web site.

Tim Berners-Lee has this to say about the WWW concept:

The dream behind the web is of a common information space in which we communicate by sharing information. Its universality is essential: the fact that a hypertext link can point to anything, be it personal, local, or global, be it draft or highly polished.

Terminology
There is a fair amount of terminology unique to the Internet environment. Here are some kew terms to get you started.