Preface (3 of 3) -- HOW IT WORKS

     The worldwide Net is actually a complex web of smaller regional
networks.
     To understand it, picture a modern road network of trans-
continental superhighways connecting large cities.  From these large
cities come smaller freeways and parkways to link together small towns,
whose residents travel on slower, narrow residential ways.
     The Net superhighway is the high-speed Internet.  Connected to this
are computers that user a particular system of transferring data at high
speeds.  In the U.S., the major Internet  backbone  theoretically can
move data at rates of 45 million bits per second (compare this to the
average home modem, which has a top speed of roughly 2400 bits per
second). This internetworking "protocol" lets network users connect to
computers around the world.
     Connected to the backbone computers are smaller networks serving
particular geographic regions, which generally move data at speeds around
1.5 million bits per second.
     Feeding off these in turn are even smaller networks or individual
computers.
     Nobody really knows how many computers and networks actually make up
this Net.  Some estimates say there are now as many as 5,000 networks
connecting nearly 2 million computers and more than 15 million people
around the world.  Whatever the actual numbers, however, it is clear they
are only increasing.
     There is no one central computer or even group of computers running
the Internet -- its resources are to be found among thousands of
individual computers.  This is both its greatest strength and its
greatest weakness.   The approach means it is virtually impossible for
the entire Net to crash at once -- even if one computer shuts down, the
rest of the network stays up.  But thousands of connected computers can
also make it difficult to navigate the Net and find what you want.  It is
only recently that Net users have begun to develop the sorts of
navigational tools and "maps" that will let neophytes get around without
getting lost.
     The vast number of computers and links between them ensure that the
network as a whole will likely never crash and means that network users
have ready access to vast amounts of information.  But because resources
are split among so many different sites, finding that information can
prove to be a difficult task -- especially because each computer might
have its own unique set of commands for bringing up that information.
     While the Internet was growing, parallel networks developed. Large
commercial services such as CompuServe and GEnie began to offer network
services to individuals.  Phone companies developed their own
electronic-mail services.  Some universities started their own
international network. Hobbyists began networks such as Fidonet for MS-
DOS computers and  UUCP  for Unix machines.
     Today, almost all of these parallel networks are becoming connected.
It is now possible to send electronic mail from CompuServe to MCIMail,
from Internet to Fidonet, from  Bitnet  to CompuServe.  In some cases,
users of one network can now even participate in some of the public
conferences of another.
     But the Net is more than just a technological marvel. It is human
communication at its most fundamental level.  The pace may be a little
quicker when the messages race around the world in a few seconds, but
it's not much different from a large and interesting party. You'll see
things in cyberspace that will make you laugh; you'll see things that
will anger you.  You'll read silly little snippets and new ideas that
make you think.  You'll make new friends and meet people you wish would
just go away.
     Major network providers continue to work on ways to make it easier
for users of one network to communicate with those of another. Work is
underway on a system for providing a universal "white pages" in which you
could look up somebody's electronic-mail address, for example.  This
connectivity trend will likely speed up in coming years as users begin to
demand seamless network access, much as telephone users can now dial
almost anywhere in the world without worrying about how many phone
companies actually have to connect their calls.
     And as it becomes easier to use, more and more people will join this
worldwide community we call the Net.
     Being connected to the Net takes more than just reading conferences
and logging messages to your computer; it takes asking and answering
questions, exchanging opinions -- getting involved.
     If you chose to go forward, to use and contribute, you will become a
citizen of Cyberspace.  If you're reading these words for the first time,
this may seem like an amusing but unlikely notion -- that one could
"inhaibit" a place without physical space.  But put a mark beside these
words.  Join the Net and actively participate for a year.  Then re-read
this passage.  It will no longer seem so strange to be a "citizen of
Cyberspace."  It will seem like the most natural thing in the world.