Okay. So far I have come up with this. Some of it is from different websites, and some from my teaching files. I have tried to summarise it but some you will have to go through and explain more simply. As I said I do this with slighter older children. I hope some of it might be usefulto your DS:
What - The Internet consists of thousands of connected networks around the world. A network is a collection of computers that are connected to share information. The Internet is made up of the WWW and e-mail mainly, but it is to do with all the computers linked together for lots of different reasons.
Who - It was the U.S. Defense Department who first thought of the Internet idea.
Why - It began as a military research project. The US government created a network that covered a large geographic area and that could withstand a nuclear attack. If part of the network failed, information could find a new route around the disabled computers. So that even in a nuclear attack the US computers would still be able to talk to each other and people could communcicte through the computers.
When - The idea to connect computers together so that they could talk to each other started in the 1960s. By the late 1960s this was being developed.
How it has changed in last few years - The network of computers conencted together quickly grew to include scientists and researchers across the country and eventually included schools, businesses, organizations and individuals around the world. It is now available to people at home, in schools and universities, and in public libraries and "cyber cafes." By 1999 there were 150 million users on the Internet. On the World Wide Web part of the Internet there are over 800 million web pages accessible.
ds's vision of what it will be like in future - well that is for him to decide;
advantages of having access to the internet -
It is changing cultural patterns, business practices, the consumer industry, and research and educational pursuits.
It helps people keep up to date on world events, find a restaurants or a cheap flight for holidays, play games, and discuss everything from
apples to zoology.
It has marshaled support for human rights in suppressed nations, saved the life of a child in Beijing, and helped a man in Iowa find a lost family member in Brazil.
It helps businesses - For example, meetings can take place using video conferencing where lots of people can sit at their computers at see and hear each other. This means that businesses save money as they don't have to send their workers on long visits around the country and abroad as much
The Internet gives us instant communication using e-mail and Messenger
You an even do education over Internet - For example, people who live in remote islands can use Internet links to watch lessons, to talk to teachers, to do and submit work and have it marked
You can use it to keep in touch with people abroad (messenger, e-mail, can have web cams and see and talk to each other)
Adults might use it to sort out their banking and finance stuff
Today people can search thousands of databases and libraries worldwide in several languages, browse through hundreds of millions of documents, journals, books, and computer programs, and keep up to the minute with news, sports, and weather reports.
An increasing number of people shop, bank, and pay bills on the Internet. Many invest in stocks and commodities online.
It's a powerful symbol of society's expectations about the future - fast-moving technology that adds convenience and efficiency to their lives.
Problems this can pose.
Look here: www.chatdanger.com/home/index.htm for lots of child-related safety hints about how to use the Internet safely. Very important!!!
Lots of great info on the WWW but can sometimes be too much information - lots to writing and pages to look through through and find out what is useful. People need to learn how to use search engines well (for kids www.ajkids.com is good).
The Internet is not owned or controlled by any company, corporation, or nation so can cause problems as they all have their own rules, and every countries laws about the Internet is different.
I'd be really pleased to hear his progress and how it gets on. Good luck to him (and you)!