Introduction to the Internet

[andrewducker]

In response to green_amber's request for an introduction to how the internet works, so she can hand it to non-technical people who deal with the internet, I've written this on my Wiki.

I'd really appreciate people taking a look and leaving comments here.

Comments

[red-cloud.livejournal.com]

A non-techie audience will stop reading the moment you use the synonym TCP/IP. Actually, you're on probation the moment you use the terms "mainframe" and "server farm" in the introduction (hell, even I only have a vague idea what a server farm might be). You've lost your non-technical audience at TCP/IP. That moment, right there.

[allorin.livejournal.com]

He's right, y'know....

[red-cloud.livejournal.com]

Of course I meant acronym, not synonym, so what do I know?

[andrewducker]

The whole point is a simple guide for people who _have_ to understand the internet or _want_ to understand the internet. People who don't care won't read it at all, people who need to read it can work their way through it.

"Server farm" can be replaced by "huge rooms full of computers" tho - good point.

[red-cloud.livejournal.com]

It's my understanding that the audience is non-technical. I think the document gets too technical too soon. Generally, even the brightest non-technical people (e.g. lawyers) don't think in quite the same way as technical people. What may seem perfectly clear and reasonable and logical to a techie can look like Swahili to the most intelligent non-techie. Techies are concerned more with how something works rather than what it does, but non-techies in my experience prefer things the other way around.

To use your car analogy, a lawyer can be an expert on the laws surrounding car use without knowing where spark plugs fit in the scheme of things.

The document goes from simple, high-level analogies (restaurant, university) straight to concrete, low-level technical details (TCP/IP, IP addresses, HTTP). I think there's a step or two missing in there.

For example, it might be worthwhile explaining what a network is, describing the client-server paradigm, how the Internet is essentially a network of networks (hence the name), and so on, before attempting to explain the details of the technology that makes it all happen. I think the technical details are possibly irrelevant: the choice of technology is arbitrary, an historical accident of passing interest (and probably obsolete in five years anyway). What the Internet is and does is much more important and useful to know than how it currently does it. I see you've actually addressed most of this later in the document, but I feel it needs to come before (or instead of) any technical details.

Good luck with it. I'm interested to see what other people think.