focus_on_informatics

common interests, and to connect withothers. It is also possible to find a large circle of existing acquaintances, especially if a site allows users to utilize their real names, and to allow communication among large existing groups of people. Sites like meetup.com exist to allow wider announcement of groups which may exist mainly for face-to-face meetings, but which may have a variety of minor interactions over their group's site at meetup.org, or other similar sites.

The first generation is now being raised with widespread availability of Internet connectivity, with consequences for privacy, identity, and copyright concerns. These "Digital natives" face a variety of concerns that were not present for priorgenerations.

In democratic societies, the Internet has achieved new relevance as a political tool, leading to Internet censorship by some states. The presidential campaign of Howard Dean in 2004 in the United States became famous for its ability to generate donations via the Internet. Many political groups use the Internet to achieve a whole new method of organizing, in order to carry out Internet activism. Some governments, such as those of Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, the People's Republic of China, and Saudi Arabia, restrict what people in their countries can access on the Internet, especially political and religious content. This is accomplished through software that filters domains and content so that they may not be easily accessed or obtained without elaborate circumvention.

In Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden, major Internet service providers have voluntarily (possibly to avoid such an arrangement being turned into law) agreed to restrict access to sites listed by police. While this list of forbidden URLs is only supposed to contain addresses of known child pornography sites, the content of the list is secret. Many countries, including the United States, have enacted laws making the possession or distribution of certain material, such as child pornography, illegal, but do not use filtering software. There are many free and commercially available software programs, called content-control software, with which a user can choose to block offensive websites on individual computers or networks, such as to limit a child's access to pornography or violence.

The Internet has been a major source of leisure since before the World Wide Web, with entertaining social experiments such as MUDs and MOOs being conducted on university servers, and humor-related Usenet groups receiving much of the main traffic. Today, many Internet forums have sections de-

voted to games and funny videos; short cartoons in the form of Flash movies are also popular. Over 6 million people use blogs or message boards as a means of communication and for the sharing of ideas. The pornography and gambling industries have both taken full advantage of the World Wide Web, and often provide a significant source of advertising revenue for other websites. Although many governments have attempted to put restrictions on both industries' use of the Internet, this has generally failed to stop their widespread popularity.

One main area of leisure on the Internet is multiplayer gaming. This form of leisure creates communities, bringing people of all ages and origins to enjoy the fast-paced world of multiplayer games. These range from MMORPG to first-person shooters, from role-playing games to online gambling. This has revolutionized the way many people interact and spend their free time on the Internet. While online gaming has been around since the 1970s, modern modes of online gaming began with services such as GameSpy and MPlayer, to which players of games would typically subscribe. Non-subscribers were limited to certain types of game play orcertain games. Many use the Internet to access and download music, movies and other works for their enjoyment and relaxation. As discussed above, there are paid and unpaid sources for all of these, using centralized servers and distributed peer-to-peer technologies. Some of these sources take more care over the original artists' rights and over copyright laws than others.

Many use the World Wide Web to access news, weather and sports reports, to plan and book holidays and to find out more about their random ideas and casual interests. People use chat, messaging and e-mail to make and stay in touch with friends worldwide, sometimes in the same way as some previously had pen pals. Social networking websites like MySpace, Facebook and many others like them also put and keep people in contact for their enjoyment. The Internet has seen a growing number of Web desktops, where users can access their files, folders, and settings via the Internet. Cyberslacking can become a serious drain on corporate resources; the average UK employee spent 57 minutes a day surfing the Web while at work, according to a 2003 study by Peninsula Business Services.

Glossary

cyberslacking – "сачкование в сети" (использование оплаченного работодателем доступа в Интернет в личных интересах и в ущерб производству)

drain on corporate resources – «утечка» корпоративной информации

elaborate circumvention – тщательный обход (процедура преодоления затруднений на время подготовки исправления программы)

fast-paced – стремительно развивающийся

forbidden URL (uniform resource locator) – запрещенный унифициро-

ванный указатель информационногоресурса

MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) – много-

пользовательская ролевая игра в сети

MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) – многопользовательская сетевая игра

peer-to-peer technology – технология соединения равноправных узлов ЛВС, отличающаяся отсутствием выделенного файл-сервера

privacy, identity and copyright concern – проблема конфиденциально-

сти, подлинности и авторского права

random – выбранный наугад, случайный

relevance – зд. актуальность, значимость

to agree voluntarily– добровольно согласиться

to enact law – вводить закон

to filter domains and content– фильтровать домены и содержание

to generate donations via the Internet – собирать пожертвования че-

рез Интернет

to put restrictions on smth– накладывать ограничения нач-л.

to restricts access to sites – ограничивать доступ к сайтам

usability – удобство работы, простота использования

Exercises:

1.Without lookingback at the article,how much canyou remember about the following?

a.www.meetup.com

b.Internet censorship

c.multiplayer gaming

d.cyberslacking

2. Look back at the article. Find wordswhich mean:

1)the ability of a computer, program, device or system to connect with one or more others (paragraph 2)

2)to finish something successfully or to achieve something (paragraph 3)

3)to communicate with or react to(paragraph 6)

4)a view on a computer screen which is intended to represent the top of a desk andwhichcontains icons (paragraph 7)

5)the use of an employer's Internet and e-mail for personal activities during work hours (paragraph 7)

3.How many word partnerships can you make by combining the adjectives and nouns in the left hand box with the nouns on the right?

Referringback to the article willhelp you with some of them:

social	page
widespread	board
face-to-face	interaction
personal	gambling
filtering	networking

content-control	usability
message	meeting
multiplayer	gambling
online	gaming
	software

4. Which of these statements are true? Correct the false ones:

1)Facebook and MySpace are social networking websites that have created a new form of interaction.

2)The Internet has made it possible to indicate common interests and to connect with others.

3)It is possible to find existing acquaintances only if a site allows users to utilize their real names.

4)In democratic societies, the Internethas become a political tool.

5)In the People's Republic of China one can access on the Internet political and religious content.

6)Filtering software is not used in the United States.

7)Multiplayer gaming is one of the main forms of leisure available on the Internet.

8)Non-subscribers are limited to certain games.

9)A great number of employees spent time surfing the Web while at work.

5. Answer the followingquestions:

1)What are the basic features of the Internet that have let it create new forms of interaction?

2)What a new form of socialization and interaction has social networking websites created?

3)How can people stay in touch via the Internet?

4)What are the main functions of social networking websites such as Facebook and Myspace?

5)Why is the Internet treated as a powerful political tool?

6)In what countries is the Internet access restricted with relation to its political and religious content?

7)How can offensive websites be blocked?

8)Why is the Internet considered to be the greatest source of entertainment?

Section V (Website)

Text 20. Website

Part 1

A website (also spelled web site) is a collection of related web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that are addressed with a common domain name or IP address in an InternetProtocol-based network. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via the Internet or a private local area network.

A web page is a document, typically written in plain text interspersed with formatting instructions of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML, XHTML). A web page may incorporate elements from other websites with suitable markup anchors.

Web pages are accessed and transported with the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which may optionally employ encryption (HTTP Secure, HTTPS) to provide security and privacy for the user of the web page content.

The user's application, often a web browser, renders the page content according to its HTML markup instructions onto a display terminal.

All publicly accessible websites collectively constitute the World Wide Web. The pages of a website can usually be accessed from a simple Uniform Resource Locator (URL) called the homepage. The URLs of the pages organize them into a hierarchy, although hyperlinking between them conveys the reader's perceived site structure andguides the reader's navigation of the site.

Some websites require a subscription to access some or all of their content. Examples of subscription sites include many business sites, parts of many news sites, academic journal sites, gaming sites, message boards, web-based e-mail, services, social networking websites, and sites providing real-time stock market data.

History

The World Wide Web was created in 1990 by CERN engineer Tim Bern- ers-Lee. On 30 April 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free to use for anyone.

Before the introduction of HTML and HTTP other protocols such as file transfer protocol and the gopher protocol were used to retrieve individual files from a server. These protocols offer a simple directory structure which the user navigates and chooses files to download. Documents were most often presented as plain text files without formatting or were encoded in word processor formats.

Overview

Organized by function, a website may be

a personal website

a commercial website

a government website

a non-profit organization website

It could be the work of an individual, a business or other organization, and is typically dedicated to some particular topic or purpose. Any website can contain a hyperlink to any other website, so the distinction between individual sites, as perceived by the user, may sometimes be blurred.

Websites are written in, or dynamically converted to, HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and are accessed using a software interface classified as a user agent. Web pages can be viewed or otherwise accessed from a range of computer-based and Internet-enabled devices of various sizes, including desktop computers, laptops, PDAs andcell phones.

A website is hosted on a computer system known as a web server, also called an HTTP server, and these terms can also refer to the software that runs on these systems and that retrieves and delivers the web pages in response to requests from the website users.

Static website

A static website is one that has web pages stored on the server in the format that is sent to a client web browser. It is primarily coded in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

Simple forms or marketing examples ofwebsites, such as classic website, a five-page website or a brochure website are often static websites, because they present pre-defined, static information to the user. This may include information about a company and its products and services via text, photos, animations, audio/video and interactivemenus.

This type of website usually displays the same information to all visitors. Similar to handing out a printed brochure to customers or clients, a static website will generally provide consistent, standard information for an extended period of time. Although the website owner may make updates periodically, it is a manual process to edit the text, photos and other content and may require basic website designskills andsoftware.

In summary, visitors are not able to control what information they receive via a static website, and must instead settle for whatever content the website owner has decided to offer at that time.

Dynamic Website

A dynamic website is one that changes or customizes itself frequently and automatically, based on certain criteria. Dynamic websites can have two types of dynamic activity: Code and Content. Dynamic code is invisible or behind the scenes and dynamic content is visible or fully displayed.

The main purpose of a dynamic website is automation. A dynamic website can operate more effectively, be built more efficiently and is easier to maintain, update and expand. It is much simpler to build a template and a da-

tabase than to build hundreds or thousands of individual, static HTML web pages.

Glossary

be blurred – быть размытым /смазанным/расплывчатым

brochure website – рекламный веб-сайт

build a template – создать шаблон

CERN (The Central European Research Network) – Европейская органи-

зацияпо ядерным исследованиям (ЦЕРН)

client web browser – пользовательский /клиентский веб-браузер

collection of related web pages – совокупность взаимосвязанных вебстраниц

customize oneself – адаптироваться (к требованиям заказчика)

digital assets – цифровые ресурсы

display terminal– дисплей

dynamically converted– динамическипреобразован

employ encryption– применять кодирование

file transfer protocol– протоколпередачи файлов

gopher protocol – сетевой протокол распространения электронной информации

HTTP Secure – Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (расширение прото-

кола HTTP, поддерживающее шифрование)

Hypertext Markup Language– язык разметкигипертекста

Hypertext Transfer Protocol – протокол передачи гипертек-

ста/базовый протокол для соединения клиентов и серверов

Internet-enabled devices – устройства, функционирующие через Интернет

interspersed with formatting instructions – изобилующий /усеянный форматирующими инструкциями

IP address – IP-адрес (используется для идентификации узла в сети и для определения информации маршрутизации; состоит из идентификатора сети network ID) и идентификатора хоста (host ID), присвоенного сетевым администратором)

maintain, update and expand – поддерживать, обновлять и расши-

рять

manual process – неавтоматический /совершаемый вручную про-

цесс

markup anchor – добавочная точка привязки

PDA(personaldigitalassistant)–карманныйперсональныйкомпьютер

present pre-defined information – предоставлять определенную/ пре-

дусмотренную/ заранее заготовленную информацию

publicly accessible websites – общедоступные /имеющие открытый доступ сайты

render the page content – воспроизводить /отображать содержимое страницы

retrieve and deliver the web pages – находить и передавать веб-

страницы

retrieve files – изымать /извлекать файлы

settle for – довольствоваться чем-либо

software interface – программируемый интерфейс

Uniform Resource Locator (URL) – адрес ресурса в сети/единый ука-

затель ресурсов

user agent – клиентское приложение

ХHTML – Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (расширяемый язык разметки гипертекста)

Exercises: