Internet: Introduction to the WWW

What is the World Wide Web?

The World Wide Web is actually a very simple concept.

It is a set of rules for formatting plain text documents so that they can be displayed in a nicely formatted manner by a program known as a browser.

In addition to the rules for formatting text, there is also a set of rules for the display of pictures and there is a simple system for connecting different documents together via clickable spots know as "hyperlinks".

The text and images are stored on computers connected to the Internet known as servers.

Anyone in the world can connect their computer to the Internet, run a browser program, and access the text and images from any Web document on any server.

The Web can also be used to collect information from people who view web pages and to transfer software (or other types of computer files) to a user's computer.

From this very simple concept, the Web has emerged as the most exciting new medium for transmitting information.

It is suitable for online publishing of newspapers, magazines and scientific journals, official documents, filling out applications , online shopping, advertising, interactive tutorials, etc.

For only a few dollars a month, anyone can become an online publisher.

All documents on the Web are essentially equal - it is the choice of each individual computer user which pages they wish to read.

The openly distributed nature of the Web also makes censorship and editorial fact checking virtually impossible - so let the reader beware, just because you read it on the Web does not make it true! If everyone owns a printing press, how do you decide which books to read?

A. Using Netscape to Surf the Web

Everyone seems to agree that the Web is the coolest place to be on the Internet, so how do you get there?

Fortunately, from a computer connected to NYU net (ethernet) at NYUMC, it is very simple.

Install a web browser program such as Netscape Navigator and ta-daa: you are on the net.

Now where do you go? This is a very open ended question since the Web provides such a bewildering array of (useful and useless) information

Lets confine our discussion to legitimate molecular biology research:

searching the annotation fields of DNA sequences in a databank
searching a databank for sequences similar to one that you have determined in the lab
looking for a company that sells a particular reagent
an online literature search for relevant journal articles

One good starting point for locating molecular biology information on the Web is the RCR's Web page of links to the most useful molecular biology sites
http://www.med.nyu.edu/rcr/molbiolink.html

This is a highly selective list of my favorite Web sites - but each of these sites contains links to other sites, which have links to still other sites ... so within a few minutes of searching and clicking you should be able to find whatever you are looking for.

Whenever you do locate a Web page that contains valuable information or that provides a useful service, create a bookmark so that you can easily return to that page.

In Netscape Navigator the command is Add Bookmark from the Bookmarks menu.

B. Searching the WWW for Specific Information

Another way to locate information on the Web is to use a search engine.

A search engine is a server that contains a searchable index of (almost) all of the pages available anywhere on the Web.

Each search engine has slightly different rules about how to structure search requests and contains a slightly different set of Web pages.

It is important to be as specific as possible when you make a search request or else you might end up with 10,000 hits and no way to sort through them.

The Yahoo search site is set up in a hierarchical structure that lets you zero in on a topic by navigating down through several layers of indexes.

This is a very helpful way to get a feeling for all of the information available on the Web over a broad range of related topics.

Have a look at Yahoo's Biology index to get an idea of how this works:
http://www.yahoo.com/Science/Biology/

D. The future of the Internet and the WWW

Trying to predict the future of the Internet is a good way to destroy one's credibility, but I'm going to take a stab at it anyway.

In addition to the advent of the Network Computer and the growth of online access to molecular biology databases that I have discussed above, there are several other trends that are beginning to manifest.

First, more and more information that was once only available in print (newspapers, journals, textbooks) will be placed on the Web.

Second, users will be charged for access to this information.

Third, information that once lived only on dedicated computer systems running obscure database programs (such as your medical, insurance, or credit card records; or the airline reservation system) will be accessible over the Internet.

Access to this information will be controlled by passwords and/or authentication of users with magnetic ID cards or other security schemes.

The result will be a sea of information that is available to those with the access codes regardless of their location on the planet.

The CyberSurf is up.

Using Computers for Molecular Biology
Stuart M. Brown, Ph.D., RCR, NYU Medical Center
Comments to: browns02@mcrcr.med.nyu.edu