ABSTRACT
Most people who drive a car, use the telephone or watch television manage to do so despite the fact that they understand little about the workings of a car engine, digital exchanges or television transmission. It is equally feasible to locate and download information from Internet sources without comprehending its structure or how data is carried over it. This chapter offers a brief overview for those who are interested in understanding the way in which the Internet is structured and how information is transmitted over it. Those readers who have neither the time nor the inclination to delve below the bonnet can quite easily skip this chapter without impacting on their ability to locate, download, and manipulate information accessible over the Internet. Some of the terms explained here crop up in other chapters. The Glossary provides brief definitions of them and the Index makes reference to the pages where more detailed information is available.
