All document-search techniques on or off the web, have the same basic structure. You specify a search question, which is your description of an ideal document that would satisfy your need for information. But on the web there is so much information, you can get lost.
BrightPlanet has released a study estimating that there are more than 100,000 "content-rich" searchable databases available on the Web. The study estimates that this "deep Web" has nearly 550 billion individual documents, and 95% of it is publicy available. All of these documents are stored in countless computers all over the world, linked together by a network called the Internet. The Internet enables the individual user to reach other people and institutions all over the world and exchange or obtain information.
When you start looking for information on the Internet, you use a computer. Such a computer functions as a so-called client (= customer). The computers on which you find the information desired are called servers. Clients and servers are linked via telecommunication links. All these computers together form a worldwide network of computers (and computer networks): the Internet, is a decentralized worldwide computer network.
Anyone who has access to the Internet can make use of this network to search for information or to communicate via electronic mail (e-mail), mailing list services, news groups, chat boxes and the World Wide Web.
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This file prepared and presented as an aid to help students understand the web. Send questions or comments to Royce Shook