Christopher Smith,Gleaner Online Writer

There is a generation of youngsters who have never known the world without the Internet and the instant access to information and knowledge that it offers.

The way we communicate has changed radically and will evolve even further over time as new technologies forces our habits to adjust. Truth be told, not many will remember the Y2K bug - a date-related fault in computer design that had the potential to send systems crashing at the advent of year 2000, forcing corporations and governments into a scramble worldwide to fix it - let alone how the Internet and the World Wide Web all started.

Massive network

Since the Internet's inception almost 30 years ago, it has been transformed from a primitive device for sharing thoughts and ideas, into a massive network, which perhaps, was never even foreseen by its pioneers.

The year 1974 saw the first use of the term 'Internet', by Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn in a paper on transmission control protocol (TCP).

TCP is a core protocol of the Internet suite. Without it, we could never send emails and do file transfers, which is now commonplace.

Revolutionary applications

The Internet allows for revolutionary applications, such as electronic mail and online chat, which many teens today cannot live without. It also carries with it the now ubiquitous service of the World Wide Web.

Many people may confuse the Internet and the World Wide Web, commonly shortened to the Web, and even use them interchangeably.

However, the reality is one is actually a part of the other.

The Web is a system of interlinked documents - hypertext documents to be exact - accessed via the Internet, which itself is a series of interconnected computer networks.

The Web came about in 1989 and was pioneered by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. However, the first major web browser (Mosaic) did not come about until 1992 and was officially released in 1993. Mosaic was very popular in its time and was considered the browser that opened up the Web to the general public.

What is a blog?

In 2001, blogs - a name which arose out of the term 'web log' - emerged.

A blog is essentially a website, but a special kind. It usually has an ordered layout with regularly updated entries of commentary, news or other such content, with the most recent item being displayed first.

Many individuals use blogs as more of a personal online diary, which also gives readers the ability to leave comments on blog entries.

christopher.smith@gleanerjm.com