Have you ever wondered about the whereabouts of Internet?

Have you ever wondered about the whereabouts of Internet?

Push that button there, plug in that plug into the jack and there you have it, “ding, ding, ding.” The awesome computer world infiltrated by the surfing net exists by the switch of a button. It is as equivocal as it is clear. You don’t have to worry about anything just click on the internet window and you are there! Do your research, listen to the music, watch a movie, talk to your friends, and engage in an annoying survey (just because it is there)... But then, where is all the information stored, all these packets of instant information transfer? Where are my e-mails, when I am not looking through them early in the morning? It’s definitely not waiting for me inside my computer, as I can access my e-mails from about any computer. So, does internet surfing information work like a radio?

Where is the information stored when we don’t use it? 

Is internet forever suspended amidst the air and we pass through it as walking through invisible objects of information? The more one thinks about it, the more abstruse it becomes. At a surface research, it says that there are giant servers that store information across the whole world and in many different locations. Ok, it still does not answer my question. It’s like, tiny trucks are stored in bigger trucks, that’s how! Umm.... What? Some websites like www.examiner.com, tomsum.hubpages.com , www.independent.co.uk, www.boutell.com, claim that, “The information on the Internet is stored on the hard drives of web servers all over the world. Web servers are, at heart, ordinary computers just like yours. They just happen to run web server software. That software allows them to speak the HTTP protocol. In English, that means that the software listens for requests from web browsers (the software you're using to read this page right now!) and answers back with web pages, images, and other data.” -www.boutell.com. Good news, the internet has a house, it’s not just like some information floating amidst the air at all times.

What is a computer server? 

Some of us have no clue of what a computer server is. Just a year ago I had a group discussion about computers within an organization. I was mentioning that a certain computer does not transmit information efficiently, and the reply was as such, “We just changed out computer screens last month.” Errr... What does a computer screen have to do with information processing? The simplest explanation to what is a server; “A server is a system... [that] responds to requests across a computer network to provide, or help to provide, a network service.” --en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_server. When I mentioned that the information is not being transmitted properly, I was automatically referring to a server problem and not computer screen. Computer screens merely allow us to see the display of information in a visual manner, but it has nothing to do with how the information travels.

What happens when an e-mail is sent? 

Let’s examine an example, where my friend sends me an e-mail during the late evening hours and I get to check it only early next morning. As internet is “a gigantic collection of millions of computers, all linked together on a computer network. The network allows all of the computers to communicate with one another.”( http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-server3.htm) The information travels to an internet service provider, and then to more general, larger internet service providers like the one made out of fiber optics and sometimes satellites (and I thought it was packets of information suspended amidst the air – although true, but not entirely).

Here is an example; 

My friend plans a surprise birthday party for my other friend and sends me an e-mail with all the information at 12am. Each computer has its own computer name, or an ip address. The computer address permits your computer to communicate with the main server. E-mail types, for example gmail, yahoo, and hotmail are the same servers with easy to read addresses. The types of e-mail address my friend use and to whom it will be sent, all is communicated to the main server. This information remains there, the main servers (or information/date centre) until the next morning, 6am.

I open the internet browser; my computer IP address interacts with ISP asking for yahoo.com and e-mail. There are two security questions (which I often either forget or get a typo) user name and password. When the user name and password align, my e-mail window opens and I can see an e-mail from my friend. It came in at 12am, eh?!” Now – Who sends out e-mails at 12am? I think to myself