Introduction
The Internet

Even though the dotcom bust of the last year or so has calmed things down a bit, the growth in the use of the Internet over the last decade has been nothing short of phenomenal. This growth was fueled by the confluence of several different factors coming together at the right time.  One of the factors that did not emerge during this time, though, was the actual idea of a global communication system.  The Internet is not an overnight sensation; it has taken over 40 years for this system to get in place. For most of that time, only scientist and other academics that had computers and were familiar with the arcane languages of computers used the Internet and its predecessors (NSFNET, DARPANET, etc.) to send and access information. What occurred during the 1990's that spurred the huge increase in Internet use was the development of high speed communication and user-friendly web browsers that made it possible for the average user to take advantage of the system.

Over time, the amount of information that has been accessible through the Internet has been increasing at an exponential rate. The reasons for this are quite simple.  As more people become connected to the Internet, the more information becomes available as they create their own space on the system; as more information becomes available on the system, the more people want to connect to it as it becomes more useful.  This ability to just hook into the Internet and release your information has occurred because the system has been, for the most part, unregulated.  All that one needs is an IP address (which can be purchased from several different companies, if you do not want to go through the hassle of creating your own computer network), a communication line, and a webserver in order to start posting information at a fraction of the cost of printing it in a book or a magazine.

The decentralized nature and vastness of the Internet does have its drawbacks.  Sometimes, finding the information that you want can present a tremendous challenge.  Initially, the only way to navigate the Internet was to either know the exact address that you wanted, or to rely on links that others had posted on their website that they thought were "cool".  During the mid 1990's, a major change occurred when the first widely used search engines were created.  Initially, these search engines were little more than databases that were maintained by people sending the link to their website to a common area.  Today, the use of programs that search the Internet and archive data make the possibility of finding things in obscure places even greater.

The websites below discuss the history of the Internet and provide links to some search engines that are useful for finding information on it. There are also a few websites listed that contain information about environmental issues.

Internet History

Search Engines

Yahoo
Google
Ask Jeeves

Environmental Websites

ENN - Environmental News Network
Capitol Reports
Yahoo

After reading through these and any other sites that you might find, answer the following questions

• How has the Internet changed over its history? How is it likely to change in the future?
• Suppose that you wished to look up information on the Persian Gulf War. How would you go about doing this?
• Suppose that you wished to look up information about the air quality in your area. How would you go about doing this?