Using the Internet

By John Kantner


The World Wide Web is probably the most powerful resource available over the Internet for accessing information and services. Originally developed as a way for scientists to share their work, the World Wide Web has become a major tool for education, business, and government. Soon it will be accessible through common bulletin board services like American Online and CompuServe. What makes the Web so powerful is its ability to integrate virtually all other Internet resources, ranging from simple text files to free software to Usenet newsgroups to Gopher sessions, using an extremely simple graphical interface that even the most computer illiterate person can use. This is because the Web is based on hypertext, with which the user can zoom around the world simply by clicking on words of interest, much like the Hypercard stacks or other multimedia tools with which many of us are familiar. Unlike a relatively simple multimedia program, however, the Web links together millions of "Web sites" or "pages" that, combined, represent an astoundingly vast source of knowledge.

Accessing the full potential of the World Wide Web generally requires three elements: a computer with a windowing environment, such as a Macintosh or Windows computer; access to the Internet; and a "Web browser." The browser is the interface between your computer and the Internet, and most are free for educational purposes (over the Internet, of course). There are some Web browsers, such as Lynx, that are textual only and therefore do not require a windowing environment, but these do not allow the user to have a complete Web experience.

The easiest way to access the Web is to come into the Social Science Computing Facility, sit down at one of the Macs or Windows machines, and double click on the Netscape (a popular browser) icon. You don't even need an Internet account to do this. In contrast, although setting up your own computer at home can be done, the process can be a bit complicated.

Exploring the Web is extremely simple to do. If you see something of interest, and if it is highlighted in blue, clicking on it will either open a link to either another Web page or site, or it will provide you access to another Internet service, such as a newsgroup or FTP site. As you explore the Web, you'll soon realize that it is an unorganized, eclectic, and often chaotic mess. Therefore, you may find it useful to open up the History window (in the Go menu) so you can keep track of where you are. If you find a Web site that you'd like to return to at some point in the future, you should create a "bookmark" for easy access; otherwise, you'll probably never be able to find the site again.

As a start, you might want to check out the Web sites that are in my own bookmark list. Appropriately, almost all of these have some anthropological theme. To access these sites, click the Open button in the Netscape browser, and type in the address (a.k.a. "URL") EXACTLY as it appears in the parentheses. Remember that the Internet is constantly evolving, so some addresses many have changed or some sites may not exist anymore. The Internet is also very busy and can be slow at times. Have fun!!

For those of you who are inspired, some of us are working on a Web site for the UCSB Anthropology Department. If you are interested, we encourage everyone to develop their own "personal" pages, which can include virtually anything you wish, as well as "project" pages, which can display to the world some of the cool things you might be working on. If you are interested, there are numerous editors for creating Web pages. Or, alternatively, you can provide us with some text and photos or graphics, and we can assemble a page for you (at our leisure, of course).



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