What is the Internet? What does it do?

The Internet (Internet for short), started in the United States in 1969, also known as the Internet, is a global network, a carrier of public information, and a type of mass media. It is fast and popular, and is one of the most popular and popular media today. This mass media is faster than any previous communication media. The Internet is a network connected by a number of computers that communicate with each other using a common language, that is, an international computer network composed of wide area networks, local area networks, and stand-alone computers in accordance with certain communication protocols.

The role of the Internet:

1. Travel around the world

Newspapers, radio and television are the three traditional media for humans to obtain information. Media is a necessity for human existence. As the fourth type of digital media, the Internet has become the largest communication media in the world today. In terms of capacity alone, even newspapers with the largest pages feel like a river flowing into the sea in front of the Internet.

There are also a large number of professional outlets on the Internet, which provide relatively comprehensive information services for research topics in their professional fields, such as the China New Energy and Renewable Energy Technology and Product Information Network (). The main content is to promote China's research and development of new energy and renewable energy technologies and products, and introduce China's new energy and renewable energy development policies, relevant national research and development promotion plans, organizational management and research and development institutions, and China's new energy and scientific and technical literature on renewable energy, etc.

On the Internet, you can see the beautiful scenery all over the world without leaving home, and watch the changes in the world.

2. Sending email

E-mail is the most widely used service on the Internet. Email on the Internet is faster and more reliable than ordinary mail. A female college student at Tsinghua University in my country once cured a disease using email. In early 1996, this female college student suddenly fell ill. Domestic medical staff could not diagnose the student's condition. Her friend who was studying at Peking University sent an email asking for help on the Internet. Soon hundreds of people responded and analyzed the cause of the disease. Some experts conducted research on the Internet. After a special "global remote consultation", she was quickly diagnosed with rare "thallium poisoning". Then domestic medical staff prescribed the right medicine and quickly put the female college student out of danger.

3. Electronic shopping malls

The development of the Internet today has made electronic shopping malls a reality. Consumers can see the style, color, and price of goods in the e-mall, and can order and pay. Electronic shopping malls are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Whenever you want to shop, you just need to turn on the computer connected to the Internet at home, type a few keys and click the mouse, and someone will deliver the goods you selected. You can check out the "I Want to Shopping" section of 6to23.

4. Online scientific research

The Internet is an ocean of information. Through the Internet, scientific research workers can retrieve data from various databases and find information from libraries around the world. Express different views on a certain point of view in a certain topic; and enable various disciplines to keep up with the latest international developments, avoiding many problems such as outdated topic selection and duplication of work. Now the Internet has become a communication lifeline for academic exchanges and academic conferences at home and abroad.

5. Publishing electronic advertisements

In view of the fact that publishing information on the Internet has a wide range of publicity, lively forms, flexible interactive methods, convenient user retrieval, no time restrictions, no geographical restrictions, With the advantages of easy changes and timely access to feedback information, electronic advertising on the Internet, an emerging form of advertising, is quietly emerging and booming with the development of the Internet; thus, the Internet has become the largest advertising market in the world. For now, when electronic advertisements are published on the Internet, the customers they face are more than 60 million users distributed in more than 160 countries, and this customer base is growing at a rate of more than 10% every month.

6. Electronic banking savings and settlement

On May 23, 1996, the world's first Internet electronic bank, the Secure First Network Bank (SFNB) in New York, USA, was officially opened. Internet e-banking allows you to handle deposits, transfers, payment and other services without leaving your home, and it is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so you don't have to wait in line. Take SFNB as an example. After you type in its website address, the screen will display a screen similar to a bank business hall, with "Account Settings", "Customer Service", "Personal Finance", "Information Inquiry" and "President" opened on the screen. Waiting for the counter, you can click the mouse on the corresponding position to get the required service.

7. Hold online meetings

Since the Internet can transmit audio and video in real time, online meetings have become possible.

Network meetings are not limited by time or geography. As long as they are connected to the Internet, people from any corner of the earth can participate in the meeting and speak freely like ordinary meetings. Online meetings greatly reduce meeting travel costs, save a lot of time, and improve work efficiency.

8. Telemedicine and teaching

Using network conferencing technology to realize remote expert consultation and remote surgical guidance can greatly alleviate the difficulties in seeking medical treatment caused by the lack of medical staff or uneven distribution. Through the computer network, two-way transmission and communication between the remote teacher's teaching situation and the on-site lecture situation can form a remote "face-to-face" teaching environment, make full use of the tutoring teachers, and save a lot of manpower and material resources.

9. Internet telephony

Internet telephony allows users connected to the Internet to make real-time phone calls through computers. Its principle is to use a new software that allows The Internet is used to make long-distance voice phone calls between any two parties with an Internet connection, a full-duplex sound card, and a microphone. The call charges are much lower than ordinary long-distance calls.

10. Internet Profitability

Since the Internet was allowed to carry out commercial applications in 1991, its function has developed from a pure information sharing media to both "practical" A "money generator" for use, that is, commercial use. There are many ways to make money from the Internet, the most common ones are: selling advertisements, charging subscription fees from people who enter the website, and selling goods directly on the Internet. An American lawyer couple, by chance, advertised on the Internet to promote immigration visa legal consulting services. They attracted 25,000 clients and made a business of US$100,000, but only spent US$20 in communication fees. There are many more examples like this. According to data published in the US "Business Week", the turnover of merchandise transactions on the Internet was estimated to reach US$518 million in 1996, and is expected to surge to US$6.6 billion by 2000. There are unlimited business opportunities on the Internet, and it is an indisputable fact that the Internet is business opportunity.

Advantages of the Internet:

1. The Internet can exchange information without space restrictions

2. Information exchange is time-domain (fast update speed)

3. The exchange of information is interactive (people can interact with each other and information)

4. The cost of information exchange is low (through information exchange, instead of physical objects exchange)

5. Information exchange tends to be personalized (easy to meet everyone's individual needs)

6. There are many users.

7. Valuable information is integrated by resources, and the amount of information stored is large. Efficient and fast.

8. Information exchange can exist in various forms (videos, pictures, articles, etc.)