1.8  HOW IT WORKS
 

The worldwide Net is actually a complex web of smaller regional networks.  
To understand it, picture a modern road network of trans-continental 
superhighways connecting large cities.  From these large cities come 
smaller freeways and parkways to link together small towns, whose 
residents travel on slower, narrow residential ways.  

The Net superhighway is the high-speed Internet.  Connected to this are 
computers that use a particular system of transferring data at high 
speeds.  In the U.S., the major Internet "backbones" theoretically can 
move data at rates of 45 million bits per second (compare this to the 
average home modem, which has a top speed of roughly 9,600 to 14,400 bits 
per second).  Connected to the backbone computers are smaller networks 
serving particular geographic regions, which generally move data at 
speeds around 1.5 million bits per second.  Feeding off these in turn are 
even smaller networks or individual computers. 

Unlike with commercial networks such as CompuServe or Prodigy, there is 
no one central computer or computers running the Internet -- its 
resources are to be found among thousands of individual computers.  This 
is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness.   The approach 
means it is virtually impossible for the entire Net to crash at once -- 
even if one computer shuts down, the rest of the network stays up.  The 
design also reduces the costs for an individual or organization to get 
onto the network.  However, thousands of connected computers can also 
make it difficult to navigate the Net and find what you want -- 
especially as different computers may have different commands for 
plumbing their resources.  It is only recently that Net users have begun 
to develop the sorts of navigational tools and "maps" that will let 
neophytes get around without getting lost. 

Nobody really knows how many computers and networks actually make up this 
Net.  Some estimates say there are now as many as 12,000 networks 
connecting nearly 4 million computers and more than 20 million 
people around the world.  Whatever the actual numbers, however, it is 
clear they are only increasing.   

The Net is more than just a technological marvel. It is human 
communication at its most fundamental level.  The pace may be a little 
quicker when the messages race around the world in a few seconds, but 
it's not much different from a large and interesting party. You'll see 
things in cyberspace that will make you laugh; you'll see things that 
will anger you.  You'll read silly little snippets and new ideas that 
WILL make you think.  You'll make new friends and meet people you wish 
would just go away. And you'll do it all in a community that transcends 
state lines and national borders.
 
major network providers continue to work on ways to make it 
easier for users of one network to communicate with those of another.  
Work is underway on a system for providing a universal "white pages" 
in which you could look up somebody's electronic-mail address, for 
example.  This connectivity trend will likely speed up in coming years 
as users begin to demand seamless network access, much as telephone 
users can now dial almost anywhere in the world without worrying about 
how many phone companies actually have to connect their calls. 

Today, the links grow ever closer between the Internet and such 
commercial networks as CompuServe and Prodigy, whose users can now 
exchange electronic mail with their Internet friends.  All of the major 
commercial networks, such as CompuServe and America Online are gradually 
bringing internet access to their users (one network, Delphi, already 
offers complete access). 

And as it becomes easier to use, more and more people will join this 
worldwide community we call the Net. 

Being connected to the Net takes more than just reading conferences and 
logging messages to your computer; it takes asking and answering 
questions, exchanging opinions -- getting involved. 

If you chose to go forward, to use and contribute, you will become a 
citizen of Cyberspace.  If you're reading these words for the first time, 
this may seem like an amusing but unlikely notion -- that one could 
"inhabit" a place without physical space.  But put a mark beside these 
words.  Join the Net and actively participate for a year.  Then re-read 
this passage.  It will no longer seem so strange to be a "citizen of 
Cyberspace."  It will seem like the most natural thing in the world.   

And that leads to another fundamental thing to remember: 
 
                You can't break the Net!
 
As you travel the Net, your computer may freeze, your screen may erupt 
into a mass of gibberish.  You may think you've just disabled a million-
dollar computer somewhere -- or even your own personal computer.  Sooner 
or later, this feeling happens to everyone -- and likely more than once. 
But the Net and your computer are hardier than you think, so relax.  You 
can no more break the Net than you can the phone system.  If something 
goes wrong, try again.  If nothing at all happens, you can always 
disconnect.   If worse comes to worse, you can turn off your computer.  
Then take a deep breath.  And dial right back in. Leave a note for the 
person who runs the computer to which you've connected to ask for advice.  
Try it again. Persistence pays.  

Stay and contribute.  The Net will be richer for it -- and so will you.