The Internet: A constantly changing place

  1. Objectives
  2. Engage Yourselves:
  3. Procedure:
  4. Extensions
  5. Evaluation

Objectives

Competencies

Engage Yourselves:

Before we teach you about the internet, we would like to know what you already know about it. Open up a word processor (by going to Applications, Office, and OpenOffice.org Word Processor), and type in a few facts that you already know about the internet. If you find yourself struggling for information, here are some questions to help get your mind moving. Do you know what a web browser is? If so, which one is your favorite? Do you know what a search engine is? If so, what is your favorite one? If you don't know the answers to any of these questions and you are struggling for facts, you can just type, "I don't know what a web browser is." or "I don't know what a search engine is." Or, you can research facts about the internet, while using it, and maybe pick up some things along the way. Have a discussion with your classmates, asking if any of them know interesting facts about the internet. Once your done with this, call your teacher over to your workstation and ask for permission to continue with the lessons.

Procedure:

First Step: Understanding the evolution of the Internet

The internet is constantly changing. There will be a big switch in the way that the internet works soon, when everyone switches from using IPv4 to IPv6. You might ask... "Why get rid of IPv4, what is wrong with it?". Well, IPv4 has very few IP addresses, and it uses a system of classes which group the addresses. This is bad, because big companies fight over getting a good address class, and this just causes unneeded chaos. One of the changes with IPv6, is it will provide many more IP addresses, and that means that more people can get the domain of their choice. Also, all addresses will be more or less the same (no classes like in IPv4).

Assignment: Now, to show that you can demonstrate knowledge of this, research IPv6, and record facts about how many possible addresses there are with IPv6, and record five facts that make IPv6 different than IPv4. These facts should be recorded in a webpage you create. It might be a good idea to make them into a ven diagram format

Second Step: Becoming aware of emerging internet technologies

The internet was originally formed for the military, so that they could communicate more rapidly and easily in a time of war. However, the internet's purpose has changed quite a bit from those times, and even the way that the internet is presented to you is changing. Most people, when asked to visualize the internet, think about going onto a computer, and accessing it from there. However, this is no longer necessary because devices are now being created that allow people to access the internet in a variety of places, and a computer is no longer necessary. Can you think about what devices can do this? For one, cell phones are getting more and more features put onto them, and along with music playback capablity, games, etc., cell phones are now being created with internet capability. What good does this do for you? Well, you basically can access the internet from a portable source that doesn't way over a pound. Most cell phones internet capabilities are limited however, and for a while, internet on a cell phone was no big deal, because you could hardly use it. However, Apple has recently released the iPhone, which surpasses all other cell phone internet techonologies and capabilites. The iPhone gives you the same internet that you would find on a computer. AT and T, the phone company that the iPhone runs on, is now providing wireless internet that connects to your iPhone. This means, that wherever you can make a call on your iPhone, you can also access the internet from that point. Another example, of a wireless internet accessor would be a laptop. Laptops, sometimes called notebooks, are nice because they are smaller, more compact, and more versatile computers, that are able to do anything that a computer can (depending on the fact that they both use the same operating system). Also, perhaps a little older now, is the blackberry. The blackberry came out years ago, and what made it special, is that you could send e-mail over the air through a device that was no larger than 2'' by 3''.

Your Assignment: Research some devices like PDAs, cell phones with internet capabilities, etc., and record how the device uses the internet and how it is unique to just using a laptop or a computer with an internet connection.

Extensions

Describe how a device like a PDA or a cell phone with internet capabilities works. That is, describe how it connects to the internet, and how it functions. Go into depth, and give examples of what you're talking about.

Evaluation

ComponentPoints
Completed Activities/7
Understood Activities/3
Total/10