Introduction to ICT

• Internet
• Services of Internet
• Basic terminologies of internet
• Web browsers
• Search engines
• Types of websites
• Cookies
 Internet
• Internet is the largest computer network that
connects millions of computers all over the world.
• Computers connected to the internet can exchange
information with each other.
• These computers are connected through different
telecommunication links like
– Phone Lines
– Fiber Optics Lines
– Satellites and Wireless Connections
 Internet
• Some important advantages of internet are
– Information search
– Email
– E-Commerce
– Fast Communication
– Online education
– Job search
– Research advertisement
 Internet
• Internet also has certain disadvantages as
– Hacking
– Security Problems
– Viruses
– Wastage of time
 Services of Internet
• www
• Email
• Mailing List
• Newsgroups
• Message Board
• Social networking
 Services of Internet
• www stands for World Wide Web.
• It is also called web.
• It is a collection of documents or web pages
stored on web servers connected to the
internet around the world.
• It provides the facility to publish information
on the internet.
 Services of Internet
• A webpage is a document on the world wide
web.
• It may contain text, graphics, audio and video.
• A collection of related webpages is called a
website.
• Anyone can view the webpages through a web
server.
 Services of Internet
• Some uses of www are
– Advertisement
– Shopping
– Flight information
– Government authorities
– News
– Search engines
 Services of Internet
• Email stands for electronic mail.
• It is the exchange of text, messages and files
through internet.
• Messages can be in the form of graphics,
sounds, video clips or simple text.
• It is a fast way if delivering messages
anywhere in the world in a very short time.
 Services of Internet
• Every email account has a unique email
address.
• An email address usually has two parts
– User ID
– Identity of email service
• These two parts are separated by the symbol
@.
 Services of Internet
• Some advantages of Email are
– It is very fast and cheap.
– The users can send and receive messages
anywhere in the world.
– The user can share any information with different
people.
– It is possible to send and receive email through
mobile phones.
 Services of Internet
• Some limitations of Email are
– Lack of privacy
– Junk email
– Possible delay
– Communication problems
– Spreading of viruses
 Services of Internet
• A mailing list is a group of email addresses.
• An email sent to a mailing list is received by
everyone in the mailing list.
• The users can subscribe to a mailing list to receive
emails.
• The users can unsubscribe from the mailing list at
any time to stop receiving mails.
• Thousands of mailing lists exist on a variety of topics
in the areas of business, computers, society, culture,
health, recreation and education.
 Services of Internet
• A newsgroup is an online area where the
users conduct written discussions about a
particular subject.
• A user sends a message to newsgroup to
participate in a discussion.
• Other users in the newsgroup read and reply
to the message.
 Services of Internet
• The entire collection of internet newsgroups is
called Usenet.
• It contains thousands of newsgroups on
different topics.
• Some major topic areas include education,
news, recreation, business and computers.
 Services of Internet
• The user must use a program called a
newsreader to participate in a newsgroup.
• It is included in most of the browsers and is
used to access a newsgroup to read an article.
• Users can also add any article related to the
type of newsgroup and this procedure is called
posting.
 Services of Internet
• Message board is a web based discussion
group.
• Message boards are also called discussion
boards and are easier to use than news
groups.
• They do not require a news reader.
• Many websites provide message boards for
their users.
 Services of Internet
• Social networking is a way of building online
communities.
• People use social networking websites to
interact with one another.
• Facebook and LinkedIn are popular social
networking websites.
 Basic Terminologies of Internet
• Website:
– A collection of related web pages is called website.
– Each website has a unique address and it must be
stored on a web server to be accessible all over the
world.
• Home Page:
– Most websites have a starting point called a home page.
– It is similar to a book cover or table of contents as it
provides information about the site’s purpose and
content.
 Basic Terminologies of Internet
• Hyperlink:
– A hyperlink is simply part of the text or graphics
on a webpage.
– When user clicks on it, it automatically
• Takes user to a different part of the same page.
• Takes user to a different page of the same website.
• Takes user to another website.
 Basic Terminologies of Internet
• URL:
– URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator.
– URL is the web address for any given website and
each website has a unique URL
– http://www.google.com
 Basic Terminologies of Internet
• Web server:
– A web server is a computer that is used to store
information for the users on the internet.
– It may be located anywhere in the world and is
much powerful than ordinary computer.
– Servers are connected to the internet 24 hours a
day.
 Basic Terminologies of Internet
• Web Apps:
– Web app is a type of application software that is
accessed with a web browser.
– Most web apps do not require any installation on
local computer or handheld device.
– The software typically runs on a remote computer
connected to the internet.
– Computer requires a web browser and an internet
connection to use the web app.
 Web Browser
• It is a software used to view web pages.
• It acts as an interface between the user and
the internet and can display text and graphics.
• A browser is often included in the operating
system of a computer or a mobile device.
• Some popular web browsers are Mozilla
Firefox, internet explorer, safari, Google
chrome and opera.
 Search Engines
• Search engine is a website that provides the facility
to find the required websites on a particular topic.
• A user can search any topic on internet using search
engines.
• Search engines contains the record of many
websites, it searches the required websites and
display them to the users.
• They are very powerful tools for finding information.
Some popular search engines are google, yahoo and
ask.
 Types of websites
• A website is a collection of related web pages,
including multimedia content, typically
identified with a common domain name.
• There are many different types of websites
e.g. portal, news, social news sites, social
networking sites, social media sharing sites,
informational sites, educational sites and
entertainment sites.
 Types of websites
• Portal is a website that provides different
types of internet services such as search
engine, news, sports and weather, auctions,
emails etc.
• Some popular portals are yahoo, AltaVista and
iGoogle.
 Types of websites
• News website provides different types of news
related to current affairs, politics, sports,
weather etc.
• They provide stories, articles and other related
material.
• Popular magazines and newspapers provide the
news on websites.
• Some examples are www.express.com and
www.bbcurdu.com.
 Types of websites
• Social news sites are interactive and allow the
users to share their findings.
• They are different form traditional media news
sites as some of the content is submitted by
the users.
• The content gets the most votes is promoted
to the front page.
• Some common examples are reddit and Digg.
 Types of websites
• Social networking sites such as Facebook and
LinkedIn are online communities that combine
many features.
• Social networks are used to chat in real time,
post messages for all and send a personal
message.
• Social networking allows the users to keep in
touch with friends and make new one.
 Types of websites
• Social media sharing sites such as youtube
and flickr are used to share media.
• Youtube is the largest online video hosting
website in the world.
• It allows the users to subscribe to other user’s
channels, send messages and recommend
videos.
 Types of websites
• Informational website provides information
with facts and figures.
• Governments provide information about
different departments and policies for general
public.
• Some examples are www.pakistan.gov.pk and
www.punjab.gov.pk.
 Types of websites
• Educational websites provide educational
material related to teaching and learning.
• Many website provide online training classes
where people can learn different skills.
• Educational institutes also display results and
course material on websites.
• Some examples are www.pucit.edu.pk and
www.uaf.edu.pk.
 Types of websites
• Entertainment website provide material for
recreation and enjoyment.
• These websites provide music, videos, sports,
games and chats.
• Many websites also provide online shows and
live sports.
 Cookies
• A cookie is used to maintain information
about a user state.
• Cookies can be used to store user preferences
and user information that can be used across
pages in the website.
• A cookie is stored as text strings on the
computer.
 Cookies: Example
• For example the website www.amazon.com uses cookies.
• The user fills a form with the name and address to order a
book.
• Amazon assigns an ID, stores user's information with that ID
in its database on the server.
• It also sends the ID to the user’s browser as a cookie.
• The browser stores ID on the hard disk.
• The browser sends the ID back to the server when the user
visits Amazon again.
• The server customizes the web page according to the user
ID.
 Cookies: Types
• Cookies can be temporary and permanent.
• Temporary cookie also known as session
cookie is temporarily stored in browser’s
memory and is deleted when the browser is
closed.
• Permanent cookie also known as persistent
cookie is permanently stored in computer’s
hard drive. It it is deleted, it will be recreated
when the user visits the website again.
 Cookies: Uses
• Most websites use cookies for personalization
of user preferences.
• Some websites also use cookies to store user’s
passwords. The user do not need to enter the
password again and again.
• Some websites use cookies to track visits of
users and webpages visited by the users.
 Cookies: Browser Settings
• The browser can be set to deal with cookies as
follows:
– Browser can be set to accept cookies
automatically.
– It can be set to prompt the user to accept a
cookie.
– It can be set to disable the use of cookies
altogether.