DITA Coursework Part 1
The World Wide Web and its impact on society
We probably couldn’t imagine a single day without computers
and access to the Internet. Regardless to our age or status the service,
namely, the World Wide Web provided by the Internet is essential in many aspects
of our life. The huge impact it has is undeniable. I will be discussing what
the World Wide Web is and what impact it has.
When we use our computers to access the internet for
information search or retrieval or for communication purposes we actually use
the World Wide Web (WWW). It’s quite common for consumers to use the Internet
and the World Wide Web terms interchangeably. The most obvious distinction
between these two terms is that the later is the former’ service as mentioned
above. WWW has been around from 1990 and was created by Tim Berners-Lee. The
main purpose of it was to allow remote access to academic documents and it was
so successful in academic field that very quickly it
spread to other areas. By 1995 the Internet and WWW proved their enormous
significance world wide.
The hypertext mark-up language
(HTML) was invented by Tim Berners-Lee to define the structure of web pages. It
tells the browser how to display text and pictures to users so they do
understand tem. The design was so good that it started to be used for vast
range content representation as well. HTML has a very simple design. There are
a few main elements in HTML such as <html>, <head>, <body>.
They are called nested elements as they contain other elements within them.
Some elements like <p>, <a> have start tag and end tag, some of
them like <br>, <hr> are empty content. Take for instance tag
<br>, it stands for single line brake and doesn’t have end tag. Opposite
to it, tag <p> defines a paragraph and has an end tag </p>, the content
is typed between these two tags. Linking in HTML document is specified by
anchor element <a> and its attribute href which specifies a destination
of the link. The anchor tag can be inserted anywhere in document body.
Another specification which can be
used in HTML is Cascading Style Sheet. The simple HTML documents are static and
can be used to read the texts and move from one document to another by using
the links. However, these documents can be styled as well. It’s done by a) linking
to external style sheet, b) inserting style element in <head> element, c)
importing style sheet and d) using it as style attribute on element.
These simple HTMLs developed with the time and are more
interactive today.
The World Wide Web works on client-server base: client sends
request to server, server receives it and responds by sending digital message
back to client, when respond is received client interprets it and displays as a
web page.
CLIENT
|
NETWORK
|
SERVER
|
CONNECTION
|
This picture is the simplest way in representing information
request on the Internet. There is more than just one server and there are many
more than one client sending requests to different servers so in reality the
system is more complicated. As client wants to receive reply relevant to its
inquiry it has to send request to the server which actually holds required
information.
Therefore, client sends request by
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) which was developed by Tim Berners-Lee
and which specifies where precisely the required
information is stored.
“index.html” is a file which is
placed in “~abkc925” folder where “~” indicates that it’s individual’s not a
company’s page. The folder is on server www at “city” (computer owner name) and
belongs to academic domain “ac” in the United
Kingdom “uk”.
“http” stands for hypertext transfer protocol which means that document is a
World Wide Web hypertext document transferred using hypertext transfer protocol. Hypertext means the text
which contains links to other texts and is used in the World Wide Web.
In XXI century it would be hard to make use of computer if
it doesn’t have connection to internet. The first computers acted as the
systems of storage. Today when WWW can be employed for information retrieval they
act as tools for communication, creation and learning. The computer connected
to internet is essential part of our personal and professional life. We use it
for research purposes, for sharing information, for social interaction, for
payments. The popularity of internet is due to the fact that it’s easy to use
and there is a vast amount of information which can be searched in a little
time. Take for instance the libraries. They are connected to the Internet for
public access and for staff use. As the Internet and the World Wide Web
developed libraries became hybrid libraries providing access not only to books,
journals, newspapers, etc as a hard copies but electronic variations as well. They
started to offer far better delivery of information than before. The links and
cross-search improved library services to users; local libraries use OpenURLs which
“consists of the address of the link resolver and the bibliographic data needed
to identify the requested resource”. (Brophy 2007)
The experience of librarians to organise and provide access
to information as well as search, brows and index are used to organise digital
information. Most of libraries’ resources today can be reached on web pages.
The catalogues can be accessed on line from the comfort of your own home. On
another hand, access to the internet in public libraries is used to attract
more users.
One can argue that there is information overload today.
However, consumers can develop skills required for efficient browsing and
information evaluation with help from their local libraries. Furthermore, most
of the web pages are well organised which makes it easy to navigate and find
what you are looking for. A new generation starts surfing internet from their
early years and develop their practical skills exceptionally fast. The older generations are still in process of learning.
Nonetheless, the Internet and the World Wide Web have a huge impact on
everyone’s life.
References and Resources
Brophy, P. (2007), The Library in
the Twenty-First Century, Second Edition, London:
Facet Publishing
MacFarlane, A., Butterworth, R.,
Dykes, J. (2011), Lecture 2: The Internet and World Wide Web, INM348 Digital
Information Technologies and Architecture, City University London: http://moodle.city.ac.uk/file.php/26243/SESSION02/lecture2.pdf
Morville, P. and Rosenfeld, L.
(2007), Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Third Edition, Sebastopol: O’Reilly Media
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/URL
(visited on 22.10.2011)
http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/HTML
(visited on 22.10.2011)
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1990
(visited on 29.10.11)
http://www.livinginternet.com/w/ww_html.htm
(visited on 22.10.2011)
http://www.netvalley.com/cgi-bin/intval/net_history.pl?chapter=10
(visited on 22.10.2011)
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS1/
(visited on 29.10.11)
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/default.asp
(visited on 22.10.2011)
