...almost 1 billion people use the Internet around the world? And about 250 million people in North America alone?** That's a lot of people to be wandering around a lot of content online.

Would you stand in a shopping mall of 1 billion people, giving away your name and where you live?

Or just believing anything they handed you?

Question:
How does the Internet work?

Answer:
Good question! Click here to see an overview of how the web works.

Question:
Who owns the web?

Answer:
Lots of companies own lots of pieces. Web pages and their content are owned by people and companies. Access to the web from your home is owned by your cable company or ISP (internet service provider). The backboned is owned by other folks. But no one owns or is in charge of the whole Internet.

Question:
Who invented the Internet? And what is the Internet vs. the World Wide Web?

Answer:
There are lots of jokes about Al Gore saying he invented the Internet, and due to the large number of web pages stored, you can see the CNN transcript.... Seriously, lots of people are responsible. For example, in 1969, the first Internet message was sent from computer science Professor Leonard Kleinrock's laboratory at UCLA. Take a look at this link on PBS for a timeline and comments.

A good answer to the Internet vs World Wide Web is at this link. Mostly, the Internet is the computer system and connections, while the Web is the content that we access on the websites.

Question:
What do all those internet terms mean? URL? HTTP?

Answer: Check out http://www.netsmartz.org/safety/definitions.htm for a great list of basic definitions

Question:
What do .com, .edu, and all that stuff mean?

Answer:

Question: How much does it cost to create a web site? How can I make one?

Answer: Very little, which is why you have to be careful about believing everything you see online. Individuals can have Internet sites for less than $5/year for the URL name and $4 or even free (with ads) for the sites themselves. So anyone can put anything up.

How can you do so? Check out