The last time I started a discussion on internet familiarization. Don’t get me wrong…I never said you don’t know, or never heard
about those things, only that I just felt you might want to brush your idea
about these things, or you might need to quickly be reminded of them and this would
just be right there for you. But more importantly, for those internet users who only hears internet terminologies but has never got time to really know the
meaning. No knowledge is a waste, so they say.
Buddies, let's ride on….
E-MAIL
Electronic mail, or e-mail, allows computer users
locally and worldwide to exchange messages. Each user of e-mail has a mailbox
address to which messages are sent. Messages sent through e-mail can arrive
within a matter of seconds.
A powerful aspect of e-mail is the option to send
electronic files to a person's e-mail address. Non-ASCII files, known as binary
files, may be attached to e-mail messages. These files are referred to as MIME
attachments. MIME stands for Multimedia Internet Mail Extension, and was
developed to help e-mail software handle a variety of file types. For example,
a document created in Microsoft Word can be attached to an e-mail message and
retrieved by the recipient with the appropriate e-mail program. Many e-mail
programs, including Eudora, Netscape Messenger, and Microsoft Outlook, offer
the ability to read files written in HTML, which is itself a MIME type.
TELNET
Telnet is a program that allows you to log into
computers on the Internet and use online databases, library catalogs, chat
services, and more. There are no graphics in Telnet sessions, just text. To
Telnet to a computer, you must know its address. This can consist of words
(locis.loc.gov) or numbers (140.147.254.3). Some services require you to connect
to a specific port on the remote computer. In this case, type the port number
after the Internet address. Example: telnet nri.reston.va.us 185.
Telnet is available on the World Wide Web. Probably
the most common Web-based resources available through Telnet have been library
catalogs, though most catalogs have since migrated to the Web. A link to a
Telnet resource may look like any other link, but it will launch a Telnet
session to make the connection. A Telnet program must be installed on your
local computer and configured to your Web browser in order to work.
With the increasing popularity of the Web, Telnet
has become less frequently used as a means of access to information on the
Internet.
FTP
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is both
a program and the method used to transfer files between computers. Anonymous
FTP is an option that allows users to transfer files from thousands of host
computers on the Internet to their personal computer account. FTP sites contain
books, articles, software, games, images, sounds, multimedia, course work, data
sets, and more.
If your computer is directly connected to the
Internet via an Ethernet cable, you can use one of several PC software
programs, such as WS_FTP for Windows, to conduct a file transfer.
FTP transfers can be performed on the World Wide Web
without the need for special software. In this case, the Web browser will
suffice. Whenever you download software from a Web site to your local machine,
you are using FTP. You can also retrieve FTP files via search engines such as
FtpFind, located at /http://www.ftpfind.com/. This option is easiest because
you do not need to know FTP program commands.
E-MAIL DISCUSSION GROUPS
One of the benefits of the Internet is the
opportunity it offers to people worldwide to communicate via e-mail. The
Internet is home to a large community of individuals who carry out active
discussions organized around topic-oriented forums distributed by e-mail. These
are administered by software programs. Probably the most common program is the
listserv.
A great variety of topics are covered by listservs,
many of them academic in nature. When you subscribe to a listserv, messages
from other subscribers are automatically sent to your electronic mailbox. You
subscribe to a listserv by sending an e-mail message to a computer program
called a listserver. Listservers are located on computer networks throughout
the world. This program handles subscription information and distributes
messages to and from subscribers. You must have a e-mail account to participate
in a listserv discussion group. Visit Tile.net at /http://tile.net/ to see an
example of a site that offers a searchablecollection of e-mail discussion
groups.
Majordomo and Listproc are two other programs that
administer e-mail discussion groups. The commands for subscribing to and
managing your list memberships are similar to those of listserv.
USENET NEWS
Usenet News is a global electronic bulletin board
system in which millions of computer users exchange information on a vast range
of topics. The major difference between Usenet News and e-mail discussion
groups is the fact that Usenet messages are stored on central computers, and
users must connect to these computers to read or download the messages posted
to these groups. This is distinct from e-mail distribution, in which messages
arrive in the electronic mailboxes of each list member.
Usenet itself is a set of machines that exchanges
messages, or articles, from Usenet discussion forums, called newsgroups. Usenet
administrators control their own sites, and decide which (if any) newsgroups to
sponsor and which remote newsgroups to allow into the system.
There are thousands of Usenet newsgroups in
existence. While many are academic in nature, numerous newsgroups are organized
around recreational topics. Much serious computer-related work takes place in
Usenet discussions. A small number of e-mail discussion groups also exist as
Usenet newsgroups.
The Usenet newsfeed can be read by a variety of
newsreader software programs. For example, the Netscape suite comes with a
newsreader program called Messenger. Newsreaders are also available as
standalone products.
FAQ, RFC, FYI
FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. These are
periodic postings to Usenet newsgroups that contain a wealth of information
related to the topic of the newsgroup. Many FAQs are quite extensive. FAQs are
available by subscribing to individual Usenet newsgroups. A Web-based
collection of FAQ resources has been collected by The Internet FAQ Consortium
and is available at /http://www.faqs.org/.
RFC stands for Request for Comments. These are
documents created by and distributed to the Internet community to help define
the nuts and bolts of the Internet. They contain both technical specifications
and general information.
FYI stands for For Your Information. These notes are
a subset of RFCs and contain information of interest to new Internet users.
Links to indexes of all three of these information
resources are available on the University Libraries Web site at
/http://library.albany.edu/reference/faqs.html.
CHAT & INSTANT MESSENGING
Chat programs allow users on the Internet to
communicate with each other by typing in real time. They are sometimes included
as a feature of a Web site, where users can log into the "chat room"
to exchange comments and information about the topics addressed on the site.
Chat may take other, more wide-ranging forms. For example, America Online is
well known for sponsoring a number of topical chat rooms.
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a service through which
participants can communicate to each other on hundreds of 2channels. These
channels are usually based on specific topics. While many topics are frivolous,
substantive conversations are also taking place. To access IRC, you must use an
IRC software program.
A variation of chat is the phenomenon of instant messenging With instant messaging, a user on the Web can contact another user
currently logged in and type a conversation. Most famous is America Online’s
Instant Messenger. ICQ, MSN and Yahoo are other commonly-used chat programs.
That's it!
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