KEYfamily

What the Internet is

According to the Federal Network Council (FNC – today: The National Coordination Office for Information Technology Research and Development), the organization that has had among its members the creators of the Global Network (Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn), «"Internet" refers to the global information system that:
• is logically linked together by a globally unique address space, based on the Internet Protocol (IP) or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons;
• is able to support communications using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons, and/or other IP-compatible protocols;
•provides, uses, or makes accessible, either publicly or privately, high level services layered on the communications and related infrastructure described herein».
Furthermore:
« Internet (pronounced Ìn-ter-net, which consists of the Latin word inter, "between" and the English word net) is perceived as the greatest worldwide computer network, and connects hundreds of millions of computers among themselves. In reality, the Internet was intended by its inventors to be the network of networks. After a few decades, today it has become the global network».

This definition may be consulted in Wikipedia, which is a symbolic phenomenon of the Web, as well as the basis and the result of what the Internet means nowadays for the “world” system. It is a “free” encyclopedia, as stated in the heading, and the repository of anyone’s knowledge, since anybody may add something of his/her own. The fact that someone may modify its contents, makes it extremely fragile. Nevertheless, once something reveals its weakness, it also lets people take part in its immense strength, as a writer recently wrote on her personal Skype account, another phenomenon of the virtual world.
What can be pointed out is that by starting from a definition, we have already mentioned some of the main features belonging to the Internet. One may access the “concept links” through which it is possible to come to know practically everything, beginning from very little. If one searches for a specific piece of information, he/she will most likely end up with a countless number of other items of information “layered on the related infrastructure”, as stated in the FNC’s definition mentioned above. One may easily get lost in the midst of this chaos.

This is where Gestweb comes forward to act as a guide, or at least as a starting point, in order to inspire interest and give useful information to net-surfing parents and others.
Our effort is not focused on teaching how to use the Internet, since there certainly are others who can do that better than we can, who have more knowledge, and “know their way around” better than us. Our purpose is to offer a point of reference and to make it available to whoever has access to our information resources. Ours is just one more of the probably thousands or millions of other points of reference or manuals available on the Web. Most likely, one does not even know of their existence or how to find them because a) People ignore they exist, b) People do not know how to search for them, c) People do not know how to find them. As a matter of fact, searching and finding them are two very different things. This is also the Internet.
My name is Matteo and I am a Gestweb Research Information Manager. Very often have I searched for information with the help of a search engine, such as Google, for example. Thousands of references listed on hundreds of pages would appear before my eyes. After spending hours going through the first ten pages (which would direct me to other sites, from which I would then gain access to other hundreds of pages), I had enough of it, without even finding what I was searching for.
This happened quite often some time ago. It happens a little less often nowadays, since I realized how important searching for the key words is. It became a point of being able to sum up in a few words the core of my search. I would ask myself what I was looking for. What was the object, the type, and the shape? I would then continue and go deeper into the matter of my targeted search.
It is just a decision tree. Luckily or unluckily, from its first joint originate countless other branches at whose joints thousands and millions of other branches reconnect in series, and so on.
Is it possible to calculate n, when n = infinity? And if n were a number not so big, for instance 179?
The calculator on my computer says 179 raised to 179= infinity
This is what being abandoned on the Internet means: drifting into infinity.

It is not easy to find one’s way in a sea of information, which at times is not even convincing.

As previously mentioned, Gestweb proposes itself as a guide, possibly the most reliable and vital one. The only factor Gestweb claims the right to is its reliability. Reliability is the scope in which we daily work, as well as the peculiarity that distinguishes us.
Gestweb strongly believes in NetEducation and wants to reasonably provide a guidebook for net surfers, a manner to approach the Web without fear of getting lost. Gestweb wants to furnish a point of reference so as to have a number of ideas to begin research and development of new and old interests.
In this regard, I would like to give just two examples.

1. One day, during a chat with some friends, for no specific reason, the following question came to light: “When and where was bread made for the first time?” Several different answers were given, with stubborn confrontations over totally different opinions. As the bad habit of always wanting to have an opinion on everything grew stronger, I said to myself that I wanted to learn about the history of bread. Once home, I turned on my computer and logged onto the Internet with my ADSL. I typed “history of bread” on the Google search bar, and I discovered when, where, and how bread was made for the first time. If you happen to be curious, do as I did. It only takes a few seconds. There are no specialized magazines or meetings with specialists. The answer is only a few clicks away. This is the magic of the Internet.
   

2. Another day, fascinated by the description of a particular kind of bird called the bower-bird, I quickly searched on the Internet for images that would reveal to me the astonishing works of art made by this animal in order to conquer the female of its species. Simply extraordinary!

NetEducation is nothing else than the “distribution of experience” by a number of people devoted to the Web and who work on the Web every day. We will try to give and accept suggestions aimed at Logical Navigation, develop lengthy or limited lists of centers of interest, and tactfully suggest, without bearing any profit, a number of sites that we have found worthwhile in terms of contents. We have found these sites worthwhile also because of the way the contents are exposed, because of their fantasy, creative and technological ability, intensity of emotions conveyed through text, images, sounds, or a combination of these features. We also want to suggest sites and information we believe can stimulate interest in parents, who may want to explore them together with their children.

As previously stated, we want to reiterate the fact that we do not consider ourselves more qualified than others to illustrate how the Internet works, especially people who already work on the Internet, play games on it, or simply spend some time on it. Our NetEducation openly addresses people (parents and others) who are approaching the Web for the first time or who have come in contact with it only very recently. NetEducation also addresses people who simply feel a bit doubtful about their Internet manual abilities; people who believe that it is always possible to learn something from someone; people who believe they might come across even as much as a single link that may be pleasant to visit or that may open new fact-finding prospects.

What is Gestweb’s purpose? Simply to share experience. That is what makes the Internet so magical!

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