The Internet or the Net is the World's largest worldwide information network, consisting of more than 4.8 million host computers used by up to 45 million users according to 1997 statistics. It connects all sorts of computers from personal computers to the most sophisticated super computers. It links businesses, governments, educational institutions, scientific establishments, schools, and the home.

No one can understand all there is to know about the Internet and no one is in charge of this giant network of networks. But, for the first time in history, unlimited numbers of people are able to communicate with ease. The Internet is the first global forum and the first global library. The Internet is both the people who use it and the Information that resides there.

The Internet grew out of a collection of computer networks developed in the 1970's. The United State Department of Defense started a network called Arpanet. By the late 1980's, other networks were in existence: USENET, BITNET, CERFnet, and NSFNET. The original Arpanet has since been expanded and replaced, its descendants now form what we know as the Internet. Today the Internet is a web of different, intercommunicating networks funded by both public and private entities.

Computers on the Internet all communicate via a protocol called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). This protocol enables computers that differ widely to transmit information to each other.

The Internet is an ever changing landscape, a "moving target". Because of this, knowing some basic navigational tools is of often essential for finding specific information. Various founding tools have been developed to help locate information on the net quickly. These include gopher, archie, veronica, and WAIS. World Wide Web servers and the various navigational tools that exist for this use the concept of hypertext links for moving around on the net. The Web makes other Internet tools much easier to use.