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The difference between the internet and World Wide Web

The Internet is so useful and convenient when travelling, and so pervasive, that it really is essential for the 21st Century traveller.  But do you really know what the internet is, and how it relates to the World Wide Web?

What the internet is

The Internet is a digital data network used for sharing information.  

 

It’s a network that connects many different devices such as computers, smartphones, and tablets, and allows information to be shared between them.  That Information is in the form of digital data (raw information), which can be encoded to carry all sorts of useable information, but you will mostly know that information as emails and web pages. 

 

Information that is kept on any of the devices connected to the internet could potentially be accessed by any of the other devices connected to the internet, including your own devices.  However, in practice, most of the information is kept on larger computers that are called network servers, and is accessed by smaller computers and other devices, like the ones that you use, which are technically known as network clients. 

 

The communication channels that are used to move the information through the network can take many forms: they may be electrical connections, they may be fibre optics, or they may be different sorts of radio waves.

 

So the internet, in its simplest definition, is the hardware (and the software that operates that hardware) that makes it possible to share information between computers and other devices, which may be situated anywhere in the world.

What the World Wide Web is

It’s a common misconception that the World Wide Web is the same thing as the internet; but it isn't. 

 

The World Wide Web is an application that runs on the hardware on the internet, just as applications run on the hardware of your computer or smartphone.  The World Wide Web is just one way of sharing information using the internet; but there are many other ways (one of the other ways is email.)

 

The World Wide Web comprises documents called web pages, which are kept on devices that are connected to the internet all over the world.  The World Wide Web is the application that administers the names and locations of all of these web pages.  The name of a web page is its web address (officially known as a Uniform Resource Locator – URL).  A web address looks like this: http://www.abc.net.au, which I'm sure you’re familiar with.  

 

Actually, because computers are better at dealing with numbers rather than names, part of the World Wide Web converts the name of each web page to an exclusive number, which is used to locate the page.  The part of the World Wide Web that does this is called a Domain Name Server (DNS), and the number is called the Internet Protocol Address (IP address); but don’t worry, you don't need to know that.

 

The world wide web application also uses these addresses to administer links (the coloured text in a web page that you click on to go to another web page) between the web pages; it's these links that turn the individual web pages into a web, the World Wide Web.


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  • Travelling with and hiring a car
  • Travelling and the internet
    • Accessing the internet while travelling
    • Using Wi-Fi to access the internet
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    • The moral code of Wi-Fi connections
    • The difference between Wi-Fi and Mobile data
    • The difference between the internet and World Wide Web
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Archive

Find all of my posts here:

February, 2019

A day in Tasmania's Liffey Valley

January, 2019

Visiting Bridestowe Lavender Estate

Our pets of 2018

December, 2018

Rocky Cape National Park

Poppies in Tasmania

October, 2018

Hobart street art

Tulips on Table Cape

September, 2018

Flying over the Australian landscape

August, 2018

Climbing Mount Barrow

Climbing Mount Arthur

July, 2018

Walking the South Esk track

A pastoral walk in nth Tasmania

Launceston’s beautiful churches

Return to Launceston

June, 2018

Injidup Natural Spa

A walk to Bob’s Hollow

May, 2018

Augusta’s swimmers’ beach

Seeking big trees in S-W WA

Margaret River vineyards

St Ayles skiffs at Augusta

Cowaramup Bay

Jewel Cave

April, 2018

Walking at Cape Leeuwin

Boranup Gallery’s timber furniture

March, 2018

Flying, and observing humanity

February, 2018

January, 2018

December, 2017

Our House-sit in Mountain River

November, 2017

A visit to Ben Lomond

Our Trevallyn house-sit and its views

More of Launceston’s Macaque monkeys

House-sitting and kayaking at Beaupre Point

October, 2017

Climbing Mount Cygnet

Bushwalking in the snow!

September, 2017

Question Time at Parliament House

August, 2017

Walking to Mt Ainslie & Mt Majura

 A walk on Coila Beach

July, 2017

June, 2017

 Vincent Van Gogh at the NGV

May, 2017

April, 2017

Climbing Platform Peak, Tasmania

The Tasman Bridge Disaster 

Climbing the Tasman Bridge  

Cornelian Bay boat sheds  

March, 2017

Walking the Alum Cliffs track

A surprise find: HMAS Curlew

Paddling to the Coningham NRA

Kayaking at Snug Beach

A break at Snug Beach

February, 2017

January, 2017

December, 2016

November, 2016

 

Barossa Farmers Market

October, 2016

Navigating the wilderness - Handy GPS

Travelling with a desktop monitor

Free-range pasture eggs

Parking in Melbourne, Australia

September, 2016

August, 2016

July, 2016

Get a scarf!

Macaques of Launceston

Launceston's Cataract Gorge

June, 2016

May, 2016

April, 2016

Planning a great Aussie road trip

A evening at Coolum Beach, Australia

Jimdo – Inserting YouTube videos

March, 2016

Our house-sit in Marcoola, Australia

February, 2016

Window seats

The amazing-ness of aeroplanes

January, 2016

November, 2015

December, 2015

October, 2015

Our house-sit in Cazorla, Spain

A Porto attraction

September, 2015

More gum trees in Portugal and Spain

Port wine in Porto

Porto, Portugal, and its bridges

A disturbing event

Australians living in Portugal

Staying in Lagos

Faro sea food

Portuguese pavement

Faro, Portugal

August, 2015

Kilkenny (beer)

Ringo the killer cat

Our house-sit in Ballycarrigeen Lower, Ireland

July, 2015

Best food in Melrose

Porridge in Scotland

 Highland games

Hiring a car

A short trip to Edinburgh

 Melrose

Crossing the River Tweed valley
Our house-sit in Melrose

The Eildon Hills

House-sitting in Scotland

House sitting

June, 2015

I've been TSA'd!

A big day's travel from the US to the UK

May, 2015

Bison in Yellowstone NP

Driving in Iceland

April, 2015

March, 2015

Spontaneous artistic ice-up

Flying to the Arctic Circle (nearly)

The secure area at Incheon Airport 

Incheon Airport, Korea 

Stopping over in Korea – Incheon Grand Hyatt

Flying into Incheon Airport, Korea

'Night' flying with Korean Air 

Flying to Seoul, Korea

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