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How does a middle-aged Mom, HR Manager complete her last semester of college while holding down her family commitments, job, household and sanity?  Hopefully by the end of April we’ll have this answer.  I hope you will visit often as I first learn more about the internet and blogging while managing my life.

Having used the internet for many years, you might think you know everything there is to know about it. For me I am starting this semester to re-learn the basics.  According to Shelly, Napier and Rivers (2010): “The internet is a worldwide network of computers that allows individual and business users of computers around the world to share information and other resources.” For me this means I can talk to my colleagues in Liechtenstein, Europe, anytime I need to, to send important files and information and even have a face-to face meeting.  I can also download resources from websites and organizations that I belong to such as World at Work and SHRM (The Society of Human Resource Management) that is necessary for me to obtain the latest and greatest in formation that I need to do my job.

What you may not know is that there is a “standard set of rules called a protocol that a network uses to transmit and receive data across high-speed, fiber-optic networks which are operated by communication carriers such as Verizon.” (Shelly et al.., 2010, p.4, 5) Please check out this video by WYDEA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv0XCaUkfNk

When I was a very young girl in the sixties, the internet was being born. I guess you could say that I am older than the internet – YIKES! Most computers used during this time were owned by businesses. The US government actually had a project with the Dept. of Defense called Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) headed by J.C.R. Kicklider who wrote the first references to the internet and outlined the idea of data networking and sending information over a circuit much like the phone company uses. A network was created, ARPANET, to connect a few businesses with universities as a test model. From these “packets” of information developed the first protocol to provide flow control through Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) from which all computers and devices must be connected to in order to use the internet.  By the late 1970’s these networks began to be available to the general public. (Shelly et al.., , 2010)

In the early 1990’s did you own a computer? I remember having a huge monitor and tower that took up a large amount of space on my desk. We can thank CERN employee, Tim Berners-Lee from Switzerland (right next to Liechtenstein) for originating the World Wide Web and its’ explosion of use of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that defines how Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) documents are transmitted to your computer. Didn’t you always wonder what those initials stood for?

As connections have developed over the years from Dial-up to DSL to CABLE to Fixed and Mobile Wireless we know can enjoy being connected EVERYWHERE. What do you think – Is this a good thing?

Citations:

Shelly G., Napier H.,Rivers O., 2010, Discovering the Internet. Mass: Cengage Learning

Downloaded from the Internet: http://www.wydea.com/:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv0XCaUkfNk