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CyberSurgeonGetting connected
Basic connectivity to the Internet and all of its vast resources, both health- and non-health-related, is rapidly becoming a standard in personal computing. Be it in your office, in your home study, or on the road, the variety of user interfaces and the expanding number of service providers is making ubiquitous access to the Internet and the World Wide Web a reality. First, a few basic terms deserve definition. The Internet grew from an interconnection of mini- and mainframe computers (mostly UNIX machines) that were designed by the military and originally known as the ARPANET, for Advanced Research Projects Agency network.* This network was then adopted by most major universities as a backbone for electronic mail (e-mail) and for transferring information between their computers. The basic information transfer protocol used over this network is TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol). TCP/IP describes a universal packaging of information to be used over the Internet that can be sent and recognized by almost any computer operating system today. Computers that use the Internet are not necessarily connected to one central information dispatching source, but can be interconnected to one another in any number of ways. If you were to draw the myriad of interconnections that exist today, the resulting picture might resemble a spider's web. Since the Internet is a world wide information resource, the term used to describe it is WorldWide Web, or WWW. Within the past few years, the potential for information distribution over the Internet (or the WWW) became apparent, not only to the government, the military, and educational institutions, but also to commercial enterprises. Specialized software was then developed for the WWW. "Servers" make information available on the WWW, and "browsers" are used to retrieve information from the WWW. The most basic forms of browsers were the "gophers," which allowed users to retrieve information from servers by selecting an item from sequential menus in a standard outline format. Ultimately, this method of presenting information became cumbersome; it was difficult to follow and to trace a pathway because it did not follow a natural method of text-based reading. From this deficiency evolved the "web servers" tools to distribute information over the WWW and the "web browsers" tools to retrieve and read information from the WWW that we know today. The most common names associated with web browsers are Mosaic and Netscape. These are computer programs that provide the user with normal English text with special words embedded in the text that link (or automatically refer) the reader to documents specific to those words. These special words are called "hot links," and different colors or highlighting are usually used to indicate them within the text of a web browser. This system of using naturally flowing English text with hot links is created using what is called HTML, or HyperText Markup Language. Most of us use one of the web browsers that are produced by a commercial service provider such as American Online, CompuServe, or Prodigy. These companies provide not only connections to the Internet and the tools to browse the Internet, but also added value above and beyond the standard Internet tools such as e-mail, software, forums for discussions on interesting topics, and on-line news and financial services. All are accessible via a modem over a standard phone line, and all have a local access number (no toll charges) in most major metropolitan areas. For those of us lucky enough to have a direct Internet connection because we are at a major educational institution with a PC on a network, the web browsers such as Mosaic or Netscape can be used directly without one of these service providers. Lastly, if we want to have Internet access only from our home or offices without the benefit of direct, hard-wired connects but don't want the additional utilities that a provider like America Online supplies, there are Internet service providers that can set up Internet connections to our PCs via standard phone lines NetCom and PSI, for example, are among them. (A listing of service providers and their contact numbers are listed at the end of this article.) With regard to hardware, connectivity to the Internet and the WWW is possible using the entry level hardware that is sold today. For PC-compatible systems, a 486 or higher processor (the Pentium-75 is the entry level desktop processor today) with 8 Mb of RAM (8 megabytes or 8* 1,048,576 bytes), a 500 Mb hard drive, a 15" high-resolution color monitor, and a modem are the basic elements. The modem should be able to connect at a speed of at least 14,400 bps or higher. While such modems used to be expensive, technologic advance has dropped the cost of a 14,400 bps modem (otherwise known as v.32bis modem) to about $60, and the higher speed modems (28,800 bps, v.34 modems) to about $200. If these modems are purchased for laptop computers, they are a bit more expensive because of the small size that is necessary to fit their electronics into the card format that is used in connecting modems to laptops (the PCMCIA card). While a dedicated phone line is not essential, many of us have found it to be a necessity. Although this hardware configuration might seem prohibitively expensive, you will be pleasantly surprised to know that the system outlined can be assembled for as little as $1,400 or less. The recommended operating system is Macintosh , Windows 3.1, or Windows 95. Even though there was concern about the stability and compatibility of Windows 95, Internet connectivity with this new operating system is significantly easier than it has been with older products. In fact, Windows 95 will soon become the de facto standard for the home and small office desktop operating system. In the not too distant future, connections to the Internet will be available via high-speed lines known as ISDN, or Integrated systems Digital Networks, that will allow voice and data to be transmitted via a single line. Today, ISDN is expensive, but its price is rapidly dropping, and it allows data transfer rates of 128,000 bps. One day, our cable vendors may provide hard-wired network access via the cable that we have in our homes today for television reception. Following is a short list of service providers, by category, and other useful resources for getting started on the WorldWide Web. Welcome to the WWW and the information age! Commercial online services offering WWW access and added value services America Online CompuServe Prodigy Commercial service providers offering Internet access and e-mail only Netcom PSI, Inc. ANS Remote O'Reilly Associates Useful reference books
The Complete Internet. Harley Hahn and Rick Stout. McGraw Hill, Berkeley, CA 1994. $30. Comes with a trial offer for Internet access. Lots of examples and a catalog of Internet resources with their electronic addresses, including freenets and other public (free) resources. Internet World. Easy-to-read articles and helpful hints, software reviews, and so on, for beginning Internauts. $29/yr. Subscriptions: P.O. Box 713, Mt. Morris, IL 61054. Try sending them e-mail at info@mecklermedia.com. Glowniak, JV and Bushway, MK: Computer networks as a medical resource; Accessing and Using the Internet. JAMA, 271(24): 1934-39, 1994. Kantor, A. Getting on the Internet. Internet World, 1994, Vol. 1 Sept: 26-28. Schatz, BR and Hardin, JB: NCSA Mosaic and the World Wide Web: Global hypermedia protocols for the Internet. Science, 265(5174): 895-901, 1994. *ARPA still exists today as DARPA (Defense ARPA), and is heavily invested in new technologies. Operating system: The software program that controls your computer and the programs or applications that run on it. The most common operating systems today are: Windows 95, Windows 3.1, and DOS for the PC, and System 7.5 for the Mac. Dr. Krusch is associate professor of surgery, University of Rochester (NY) School of Medicine and Dentistry, and Chairman of the Board of Regents' Committee on Informatics. ____________________________________ Reprinted from the Bulletin of the American College
of Surgeons
by the American College of Surgeons, Chicago, IL 60611-3211 |