We explain what the acronym WWW means and how the website works. Why is it important and what are its characteristics.
What is the World Wide Web (WWW)?
It is called the World Wide Web (abbreviated WWW) in computing. a global network which consists of a complex system of hypertext and hypermedia interconnected with each other and which can be accessed through an Internet connection and a set of specialized software.
The software necessary to visit the WWW is a browser or explorer such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, etc., which represents each web page visited in a series of windows equipped with text and multimedia. The latter usually require an html address (HyperText Markup Language) that begins with the acronym www.
The World Wide Web, commonly referred to as “the Web” or “the Network,” It was developed between 1889 and 1990 by scientists at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, Switzerland, and was published in 1993. Since then, this new virtual space has grown and multiplied to become the main means of consulting digital information and of telecommunications in the contemporary world.
See also: ISP
How does the World Wide Web work?
The Web operates based on a procedure of three major steps, which are:
- Translation The URL (the one you enter in the browser) is linked to an IP address through a large distributed Internet database (called DNS). Once the IP address is obtained, communication is established between the user and the web server, and data transmission begins.
- HTML request The browser then requests the resource and obtains the parts of the web page from the requested resources for graphics, text, etc.
- Rendering The browser then follows the instructions of the html or ccs code to assemble the web page correctly, putting every graphic in its place and every text as it should look. The user can then see it on the screen and can, at their discretion, jump to similar ones.
Features of the World Wide Web
The Web is a dimension of information exchange and multimedia telecommunications interactive and distance, in which the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of human beings are largely reflected.
Statistically, it was estimated in 2002 that of the 2,024 million existing web pages, 56.4% were in English, compared to 7.7% in German, 5.6% in French and 4.95% in Japanese, followed by 4% in Spanish.
Many accuse this predominance of the Anglo language of serving as a mechanism for imposing (American) language and culture on the rest of the world, thus operating as an imperialist agent at the heart of computer globalization.
However, other studies point to a tendency towards the creation of a 2.0 culture, that is, a culture specific to digital media that would transcend the traditional limits imposed by borders and cultures.
Importance of the World Wide Web
The appearance of the Web changed the world forever. Allowed new and diverse forms of remote access to information thus changing the way we investigate and overcoming enormous distances to allow communication.
The sending of confidential information, the promotion and even sale of products, the incorporation of the user into social (social networks) and recreational communities, in short, a gigantic variety of activities are available to today's human being thanks to this new computer space.
Of course, this has also had serious repercussions, such as a new dimension of crime (computer crimes or cybercrime), unrestricted access for users to all types of information: legal or illegal, sensitive or public, intimate or informative, which constitutes a challenge when filtering and going to reliable sources, or protecting children from information overexposure.
Continue with: Cultural globalization
