What is the Internet?

The internet is a global computer network that connects people with each other all over the world through their personal computers. The Internet consists of thousands of networks interconnected by fibre optic cabling, satellite and other means. The Internet is people, computers and information electronically linked to each other around the world.

More information about the Internet and its uses is available from the Victorian Government's website.

A brief history of the Internet is available from the Brief History of the Internet published by the Internet Society.

Uses and benefits of the Internet

The internet allows people from all over the world to communicate with each other in a multitude of different ways through the use of a personal computer. It makes information, video and sound available to the public via the World Wide Web (hence the "www" at the front of website addresses), it enables people to have live/online conversations (often called real time) in chat rooms, it enables people to play games with each other, it enables people to get day-to-day tasks such as their banking done more efficiently, and it enables people to communicate with each other through the ever-popular electronic mail (e-mail).

The Internet has also allowed for the formation of virtual communities - groups of people with common interests who are not necessarily in a similar geographic area. By making information available anywhere in the globe almost instantly, the Internet has broken down many of the barriers to communication that have existed in the past. The Internet enables people from different cultural backgrounds, with different religious beliefs, with different socio-economic status and who speak different languages to talk to each other as equals.