INFORMATION NETWORKS

WHAT IS A NETWORK?

A group of computers and devices

interconnected by communications
channels that facilitate communications
among users and allows users to share
resources.
 What constitutes a
Network?
1) A computer with a network card

2) A computer (network server) with a

network operating system e.g.
Windows 2000 server.
What constitutes a Network contd…

3) Networking Equipment:
Includes switches ,hubs ,modems
and routers.

4) Communications Media:
The media that carries the
transmitted signal from one point to
the next(Wired cable or wireless
media)
 Types of networks

 LAN (Local Area Network)

 MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)

 WAN (Wide Area Network)

 LAN (Local Area Network)
 This is a network which only connects
together computers in the same
building/site e.g. office or building or
university campus.
 Each computer on a network is called
a workstation or terminal
 If the workstation has processing
ability it is known as an Intelligent
Terminal otherwise Dumb Terminal.
 MAN (Metropolitan Area
Network)
 A network that interconnects users
with computer resources in a
geographic area or region larger than
that covered by a local area network
(LAN) but smaller than the area
covered by a wide area network
(WAN)
 Usually designed for a town or city.
WAN (Wide Area Network)
 Connects computers in different
geographical locations.
 For example computers in a Harare
office connected to the
organization's Chinhoyi offices.
 Two or more LANs or MANs can be
connected together to form a Wide
Area Network.
 ADVANTAGES OF USING A
NETWORK?
 Networking allows users to share
resources including files and programs,
printers or modems and share the
Internet connection as well.
 People can also communicate over a
network using programs such as Google
Talk , Skype or Microsoft Outlook.
 What is a Modem?

 The term modem means MOdulator-

DEModulator. It is a device that
translates digital(machine) signals to
analogue(signals carried by the media)
and vice versa.
 This means it understands both the
languages of the computer and the
telephone.
 The modem is necessary for e-mail and
the Internet.
 Electronic Mail
 This is the transmission of written
messages by electronic means via a
computer network.
 Each user of the e-mail has an e-mail
address to which messages are sent.
 The messages can be notes entered
from the keyboard or electronic files
stored on disk and a message can
take a few seconds to arrive.
 Electronic Mail cont…
 The recipient of the message does
not have to be on-line when the
message is sent and he can see the
message whenever he accesses his
message store or mailbox.
 Hence e-mail systems are based on a
store and forward model.
 Youcan get a free e-mail address
from the following web sites:
www.yahoo.com
www.hotmail.com
www.google.com
www.cooltoad.com
What does one need to send
and receive e-mail
 One must have
1. An e-mail address

2. A computer that is capable of

being connected to the Internet.
 The following is an example of an
e-mail addresses:
cutstudent@yahoo.com
 The Internet
 This is a huge international network
made up of smaller networks that are
linked together like a spider web.
 It is a wide area network that covers
a wide geographical area.
 In other words it is a combined
collection of academic, commercial,
government and private networks
connected over international
telecommunication backbones and
routed using IP addressing.
 The Internet cont…

 Activities
that are facilitated by the
internet include communication,
education, commerce, entertainment,
collaboration ,data transfer and work.
 World Wide Web

A term often confused with the

internet. Also known as the web.
 The difference is that the internet is
the term referring to the physical
connection of the world-wide network
whilst the WWW holds all the
information which moves around the
Internet.
 World Wide Web Cont..
 Itcan be defined as a system of
interlinked hypertext documents/web
pages contained on the Internet.
Contains web pages that may contain
text, images, videos, and other
multimedia and one can access them
by using hyperlinks.
 What is needed for access to
the internet
a) A computer
b) Phone line
c) Modem
d) An account with an Internet
Service Provider (ISP)
e) An internet browser program e.g.
internet Explorer
 What are Search Engines

 These are web sites that enable

users to query an index and then
return results relevant to the query.

 Youcan search by typing the

concept, keyword, site and/ links.
 Search Engines cont..
 After searching the search engine will
display the results and the user can
select the appropriate site.
 Examples include
i. www.bing.com ,
ii. www.infind.com ,
iii. www.google.co.zw
Search Box Mail Log-in
Option
Google Web-Site
Address
Bing
 Web Browsers
 Computer programs (such as Internet Explorer
or Mozilla Firefox) that enables internet users
to access, navigate, and search World Wide
Web sites.
 Browsers interpret hypertext links and allow
documents formatted in hypertext markup
language (HTML) to be viewed on the
computer screen, and provide many other
services including email and downloading and
uploading of data, audio, and video files.