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CONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTS

Internets and Intranets 5

Connection Methods 5

What Different Types of Connection, Hardware and So ftware are needed for Internet and Intranet Access? 5

The Internet – What is it and how does it work? 5

What is the Intranet? 6

The World Wide Web (WWW) 6 A Web of Computers 6 How the Web Works 7

Broadband or Dial Up? 9 Always On 9 Shared Phone Line 9 Cutting Costs 9 Business Development 10 Staying Competitive 10

Types of Connection 11 Dial Up Connections 11 DSL Connections 11 Cable Connections 13 Wireless Connections 14 Satellite Connections 14

The Essentials for Broadband 16 Minimum Specifications and Equipment 16 Internet Service Providers 17 Security 17 The Internet Users Shopping List 17 Plug-ins 18

Comparison between Connection Types 19 Bandwidth 19 DSL or Dial Up? 20 DSL or Cable? 20 “The Need for Speed” 21 Recommendations for Speed 22 Download Limits 22 Recommendations for Download Limit Deals 23

Tips on choosing an ISP 23 Local Loop Unbundling 23 Other Factors Affecting Choices 24

Factors Affecting Groups of Users 26

The Disabled User 26 Vision 26 Hearing 27 Mobility 27 Cognitive and learning difficulties 28 Dyslexia 28 Colour Blindness 29 Epilepsy 32

The Elderly 32

Those Whose 1 st Language is Not English 32

Web Users from Outside the Industry or New Users 33

Summary 33 Advantages of the Internet 34 Disadvantages of the Internet 35

Different Ways the Connection Can Be Used 36

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The NHS National Programme for IT 38

What is N3? 38

National Programme Systems and Services 39 N3 39 NHS Care Records Service 39 Picture Archiving Communications Systems (PACS) 39 Choose and Book 39 Electronic Prescription Service 39 Support for GP IT 39 NHSmail 39

Benefits for patients 40

Benefits from New Infrastructure (N3) 40

Novell ZENworks 40

Internet and the NHS 40

NHS Choices 41 Medical advice now 41 Find services 41 Health A-Z 41 Compare hospitals 41 Live Well 41 Carers Direct 41 Behind the headlines 41 The NHS in England 41 NHS Talk 41 Videos, multimedia tools and links 41 NHS Choices mobile 42 Your comments 42 Get your own account 42 NHS Choices Intermediaries Training Programme 42

Health Space 42 Choose and Book 42 Health and Lifestyle information 42 Calendar and Address Book 42 Summary Care Record 42

NHS Direct 43

NHS Mail 43

NHS Connecting For Health 43 NHS Data Model and Dictionary Service 44 The Map of Medicine 44 The Logical Record Architecture 44 The Electronic Prescription Service 44 And much more 44

NHS Jobs 44

East Lancashire PCT and the Stop Smoking Department 45

East Lancs PCT Website 45

East Lancs PCT Intranet 45 SORCE 45

The Stop Smoking Database (EPRS) 45

Microsoft Access Reporting System (MARS) 46

Request Forms 46

Browser Facilities 47

Facilities available in browser software and how to make the most of them 47

What is a Web Browser? 47

Types of Web Browsers 47 Internet Explorer 47 Mozilla Firefox 47

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Safari 47 Opera 48 Google Chrome 48 Netscape Navigator/Netscape 48

Browser Performance and Settings 48 Internet Options 49 Performance of the Computer 49 A Fast Web Browser 49 Tabbed Browsing 49 Simultaneous Connections 50 Add-ons 50 Disable Pop-ups 50 The Cache & Temporary Internet Files 50 Cookies 51 Browsing History 51 Turn off Phishing Filter 51 RSS Feeds 52 ClearType 52 The Accelerators in Internet Explorer 8 53 Web Slices in Internet Explorer 8 53 Privacy and Optimising Utilities 53 First Computer Literacy Support Services (1st C.L.A.S.S.) 54 Online Support from the Manufacturer 54

What’s available on the Internet, Intranets and the World Wide Web 56

Opportunities to Post or Publish Material to Web Si tes 57 Social Networking Sites 57 Blogging 57 WIKIS 58 Social Bookmarking Sites 58 RSS 58 Multi-Media 59 Real-time Communication 59 Tags 59 Web Forums and Newsgroups 60

Multi-Media on the Web 61 Plug-ins, Media Players and Multimedia Types 61 Audio 61 Video 61 Live Cams/Live TV 62 Embedded media 62

The World of Search Engines 63

General Search Engines 64

Meta Search Engines 64

How they work and How to use them 65 Subject Searching 65 Natural Language Searching 65 Keyword Searching 66 Relevancy Rankings 66 Meta-tags 67

Refining Your Search 67 Boolean Operators 68

Creating Websites 69

The Basics 69

Courses 70 My Website 1st C.L.A.S.S. 70 Scribd 71 You Tube Video 72 The Audio Documentary 73 Online Courses and Tutorials 73

Website Builders 73

Security Risks in Using the Internet 74

Why is Internet Security Important? 74

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Spyware 74

Computer Virus 75

Adware 75

Security Measures 76 A Handy Security Tools Checklist 77

PC Remote Access 78 Remote Desktop Configurations: Windows XP Professional 78 Configuring Remote Desktop Connection to Enhance Security 78

Computer Hacking 79 Effects of Computer Hacking 79

Restricting Internet Usage 79 Policies and Procedures 79 Filters 80

The Laws and Guidelines that Affect People’s use of IT 82

The Health and Safety Issues in Using IT 82

Regulations and Obligations for Employers 82 Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 82 Health & Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 82 Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1992 84 Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992 84 Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 85 Ergonomics 85

The Risks 86 Musculoskeletal problems 86 Eye strain 87

Action and Prevention 88 Avoiding Musculoskeletal problems 88 Avoiding Eyestrain Problems 89 General working environment 89 My Health & Safety Web Site 89

Copyright law: the basics 90

What is protected by copyright? 90

Is material on the internet protected by copyright? 91

Do I need to take formal steps to register my copyr ight? 91

When is someone infringing my copyright? 91

How long does copyright protection last? 92

Can I sell my rights in copyright? 92

Control and exploitation of copyright material onli ne 93

Accessibility and the Law 94

What the law says - Disability Discrimination Act 1 995 94

So what is an accessible website? 94 W3C 95

The Data Protection Act 1998 96

The Caldicott Principles 97 The Caldicott Principles 98

Computer Misuse Act 1990 98

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environ mental Information Regulations 99

How to Communicate about the Laws and Guidelines 99

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Internets and Intranets

Connection Methods

What Different Types of Connection, Hardware and So ftware are needed for Internet and Intranet Access? The Internet – What is it and how does it work? The term stands fro International Network, which is exactly what the Internet is. It is a series of interconnected networks which enable communication and the transfer of information between computers around the world. The internet provides four main services: • E-mail – the ability to communicate with anyone around the world using electronic mail. • World Wide Web – a worldwide library of information delivered via web pages. • File Transfer – the ability to transfer files from one computer to another using the File Transfer Protocol, FTP.

Copying files from a remote host (server) to your computer is known as downloading. Copying files from your computer to a remote host (server) is called uploading.

• Telnet – this enables you to establish a session with a remote computer from your own computer. Once the

connection is made, you can log into that computer as if you were sitting in front of it. Telnet also allows two programs to work co-operatively by exchanging data over the Internet.

The origins of the Internet go back to 1969. US military agencies set up a project to enable their research centres to keep in touch and exchange information more efficiently. This was known as ARPAnet. At the beginning it consisted of just 4 computers at universities in the US and by 1972 ARPAnet consisted of 50 computers. The UK joined in at the end of 1970s when the first academic network was established between 5 UK universities. In the 1980s networks began to interconnect and the term ‘Internet’ was first used. The Internet’s growth began in the early 1990s. The introduction of the World Wide Web as one of the services that the Internet could deliver combined with improved telephone access made it easy to connect to the Internet and use it. No one actually owns the Internet. Individuals, companies and other organisations own their own part of the network and their own web sites, but the Internet itself is a co-operative effort. The Internet is an ever expanding mass of networks, software and linking devices all with their own role to play – storing information, directing the flow of messages, giving users access to the network, or keeping different parts of the network in touch. The reason that the computers and other hardware on the Internet can communicate with each other is because they all speak the same language – and agreed-upon set of rules, known as a protocol. The protocol used on the Internet is Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). TCP is the way data is sent and received on each computer, and IP is the way data is routed across the networks that make up the Internet. As well as the users’ computers on the Internet, there are servers and routers which manage the communications and connections. When you work on the Internet, your computer connects to a server, which contains files, databases and other information you can access. Every network has at least one server – the Internet has hundreds. With all the ‘traffic’ on the Internet (messages and data travelling around from one computer to another), there has to be some direction and control. This job is handled by routers. Routers provide the links within and between the different networks. They find the best routes for data and messages to travel over the networks. When you select the Send button in your e-mail application, you are starting an electronic race to get your message delivered as quickly as possible. Your message is broken down into small chunks of data – known as packets. These packets contain the message and the unique address you are sending it to. These packets are routed around the networks. Each packet may take a different route and arrive at a different time, so the message

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doesn’t arrive in the same order that it was sent in. However, each part of the message has a unique identifier so that it can be reassembled in the correct order when it reaches its destination. Your message travels across a number of relay points, controlled by routers. Their job is to find the most efficient physical path across the interconnected networks. Routers may switch the data packets from one path to another, to complete the trip in the most efficient way. Each router sends the packet along and hands it to the next router. Each race – and there are millions of them going on simultaneously – is completed in seconds. What is the Intranet? An intranet uses the same technology as the Internet and often looks the same. However, an intranet is a private network for use within an organisation. It is not accessible to the general public. Companies use intranets to manage projects, provide information to employees, distribute data, etc. Users of an intranet can exchange e-mail, send and receive files, browse web pages and connect to other computers within the intranet. Because an intranet is usually hosted on a server that is internal to your organisation, you do not need to physically connect to the intranet. When you click on the intranet icon a message may appear asking for some log on details so that your credentials can be authenticated and verified before it lets you in. The World Wide Web (WWW) The World Wide Web (WWW) is a computer-based network of information resources that combines text and multimedia. The information on the World Wide Web can be accessed and searched through the Internet, a global computer network. The World Wide Web is often referred to simply as “the Web.” The Web started to become a popular resource after 1993 when the first widely distributed browser provided a convenient way to access a variety of information on the Internet. The Web uses multimedia, which means that information can be displayed in a wide variety of formats. Users can read text, view pictures, watch animation, listen to sounds, and even explore interactive virtual environments on the Web. A user can move seamlessly from a document or Web page stored on the computer to a document or Web page stored on another computer. The Web offers a place where companies, universities and other institutions, and individuals can display information about their products, services, facilities, or research, or their private lives. Only a small percentage of information on the Web is restricted to subscribers or other authorized users. The majority of Web pages are available to anyone who can access a computer that connects to the Internet. The Web has become a marketplace for many companies selling products or services, and a forum for people to exchange opinions and information. Museums, libraries, government agencies, and schools post information on the Web to make it available to others. A Web of Computers All communication on the Web is carried out among a set of computers that are interconnected by a computer network. Web technology can be used across an intranet (a network within a company or organization) or across the global Internet. As with all communications among computers, computers that comprise the Web employ two types of software: client and server. To make information available, a computer runs a server program. To obtain and display information from a server, a computer user runs a client program. The client contacts a server to request information; the server responds by sending a copy of the requested information. To ensure that the exchange is meaningful, the client and server programs must follow a communication protocol, a set of rules that the two programs use to talk to one another. Like a language, a protocol specifies both the form and meaning of each possible message In principle, any computer can run a client or a server. In practice, however, large, powerful computers are usually chosen to run server software, and small personal computers (PCs) are sufficient to run client software. Powerful computers are chosen for server software because they must be able to handle requests for information from millions of people and do so quickly so that users who request information from the server will not experience long delays. PCs, however, are used by a single person to request a Web page. After a user makes a request, the user waits for the information to be displayed. Thus, the client program running on a user's computer only needs to handle one activity at a time. A server, however, must handle simultaneous requests from many clients, possibly millions. The difference between the Web and the Internet is similar to the difference between a trucking service and a highway system. The Internet corresponds to a highway that allows traffic to flow between computers, and the Web corresponds to a service that uses the highway to move information from one computer to another. Confusion about the difference between the Web and the Internet has arisen because the Web has become extremely

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popular and currently accounts for the majority of Internet traffic. However, other services also use the Internet to carry their traffic. For example, the Internet's electronic mail service permits users to send and receive textual messages, and the file transfer service allows a user to transfer a copy of a file from one computer to another. Although many services use the Internet to carry data from one computer to another, each service follows a separate set of rules that define the messages used in the exchange. The Web uses the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), electronic mail uses the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and file transfer uses the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The application programs that users run to access the Internet often blur the distinction among these services. For example, an application program that can send e-mail also allows a user to transfer the contents of a file, and an application program used to access the Web also allows the user to process e-mail. How the Web Works To access the Web, a user must have a computer connected to the Internet and appropriate software. The connection between the user's computer and the Internet can consist of a permanent, dedicated connection or a temporary, dial-up connection. A dial-up connection uses a modem to send data over the telephone system to another modem. It offers the lowest cost but requires the user to wait for the connection to be established each time the modem is used. A permanent connection uses a technology such as Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL, also known as DSL), a cable modem, or a dedicated leased circuit. It remains in place and is ready to use at all times. Permanent Internet connections cost more but offer higher capacity—that is, they can send more data at a faster speed. Two pieces of software are needed to access the Web: (1) basic communication software that a computer uses to transfer data across the Internet and (2) a Web application program known as a browser that can contact a Web site to obtain and display information. Basic communication software, which is usually built into the computer's operating system, allows the computer to interact with the Internet. The software follows a set of protocol standards that are collectively known as TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). Because it is built into the computer's operating system, TCP/IP software remains hidden from users. The software is invoked automatically by application programs that use the Internet. The second piece of software needed for Web access consists of an application program known as a Web browser. Unlike basic communication software, a browser is directly visible to the user. To access the Web, the user must invoke the browser and enter a request. The browser then acts as a client. The browser contacts a Web server, obtains the requested information, and displays the information for the user. Information on the Web is divided into pages, each of which is assigned a short identification string that is known as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL encodes three pieces of information: the protocol a browser should use to obtain the item, the name of a computer on which the item is located, including its domain name, and the name of the item. The domain name indicates whether the site is operated by a commercial or nonprofit business. For example, .com is a commercial site whereas .org is a nonprofit site. Many other domain names exist, including .edu for Web sites established by educational institutions. In 2001 many other unique domain names were created. They comprised .info for informational sites, .biz for businesses, .name for individuals to register their name for a Web site or for an e-mail address, .museum for museums, .aero for the aviation industry, .coop for business cooperatives such as credit unions and electric coops, and .pro for professionals such as accountants, lawyers, and physicians. As of March 2002, all of these domain name suffixes were operational, with the exception of .pro. Only the computer name is required in a URL. If the protocol is omitted, a browser assumes “http://,” and if the name of an item is omitted, the server chooses a page to send. Thus, the URL encarta.msn.com, which consists only of a computer name, is also valid. Before it can obtain information, a browser must be given a URL. A user can enter the URL manually or click on a selectable link. In each case, once it has been given a URL, the browser uses the URL to obtain a new page, which it then displays for the user. The URL associated with a selectable link is not usually visible because the browser does not display the URL for the user. Instead, to indicate that an item is selectable, the browser changes the colour of the item on the screen and keeps the URL associated with the link hidden. When a user clicks on an item that corresponds to a selectable link, the browser consults the hidden information to find the appropriate URL, which the browser then follows to the selected page. Because a link can point to any page in the Web, the links are known as hyperlinks. When a browser uses a URL to obtain a page, the information may be in one of many forms, including text, a graphical image, video, or audio. Some Web pages are known as active pages because the page contains a miniature computer program called a script or applet (a small application program). When a script or applet arrives, the browser runs the program. For example, a script can make images appear to move on the user's screen or can

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allow a user to interact with a mouse, keyboard, or microphone. Active pages allow users to play games on the Web, search databases, or perform virtual scientific experiments. Active pages are also used to generate moving advertisements, such as a banner that keeps changing or a logo that appears to rotate. The codes that tell the browser on the client computer how to display a Web document correspond to a set of rules called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). An HTML document consists of text with special instructions called tags, which are inserted to tell the browser how to display the text. The HTML language specifies the exact rules for a document, including the meaning of each tag. Thus, a person who creates an HTML page is responsible for inserting tags that cause the browser to display the page in the desired form. Not all Web pages use HTML. Graphics images are usually encoded using the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) or Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) standards. Active pages are written in a computer programming language such as ECMA Script or Java. There are 4 things that are necessary to "get on the net" with a full graphic interface (picture, sounds, animation, etc...). 1. A computer - preferably with a fast processor (around 100 MHz or more) and lots of memory. 2. A modem - preferably 56,000 baud or high speed digital. 3. Browser Software - often installed with your operating system or can be downloaded off the Internet. 4. An ISP - An Internet Service Provider is a service that connects your home or office computer to the Internet.

Once you have purchased an account with an ISP you will be given an account name. This is often your email address as well. You will also be given a password and should also be provided with instructions on how to change the password to a unique and personalized. The generic password provided with your account should be change to one of your own. It is important to protect ones password as one would any personal identification number (PIN) number. The ISP will also provide information on how to configure the software. This can be simple or difficult depending on your Operating System. Once configured you simply run the software to connect your computer's modem to the ISP's modem, giving you access to the Internet. There are a number of pieces of software that work together to connect you to the Internet. The first and most complicated is the dialer or socket software. This is the software that makes the physical connection with the ISP's computer and the internet. This needs to be configured only once but you will need instructions from your ISP on how to do this as each ISP has a different setup. The second piece is an Internet browser . This is the program that locates websites for you and allows users to maneuver around (surf) the World Wide Web and view web pages. Some of the more popular browsers are Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Mosaic was the first browser and most modern browsers still use the basic model that the first browser used. Some other browsers are Opera, Safari, Netscape as well as dozens of others. Before graphic browsers Lynx was the most popular browser and is still available for text browsing. New browsers are being developed and current browsers are constantly updating their programs. It is extremely important to update your browser every once in a while. Some ISP’s have a proprietary type of browser though most have given up this practice as it limits the users abilities to browse the Internet. Type the url or web address of the website that you want to visit in the address bar of your browser and press Enter or click Go. Collect your favorite websites by adding them to your Favorites or Bookmarks. To go to a Favorite or Bookmark, click on the menu and click on the link. Another piece of software is an email program. This program controls sending, composing and receiving email. Most email programs can also be used to read postings on newsgroups. Microsoft has an email program already built into its operating system as a kind of ‘freebie’. In XP this is Outlook Express and in Vista is called Windows Mail. In a modern office environment one would use Outlook which comes with the Office range of products. It has the functionality of being able to send and receive mails but also has a calendar, journal, notes, tasks, the ability to schedule meetings, reminders and much more. Once you are connected you will have access to Email, Newsgroups, the World Wide Web (WWW), File Transfer Protocol (ftp), Internet Relay Chat (irc), Search Engines, ICQ and other Internet Services. Technology is developing rapidly and methods for connecting to the Internet change almost daily and there are many options available including broadband, satellite, cable and wireless connections. There are various connection types on offer from the different internet service providers and ones will depend on how often and how one intends to use the internet.

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Connecting to the internet over a telephone line using a modem, either connected to or installed inside a computer, is known as standard dial-up internet access. With a standard dial-up service, users wait for a dial-up connection from their phone line to use email or the internet. Broadband or Dial Up? Standard dial-up access is what many people currently get from their Internet Service Provider (ISP), however more and more people are recognising the benefits of a broadband connection. Broadband is an internet connection with a bandwidth of 512kbps or more and can be accessed through telephone line, cable line, radio signals, or even by satellites. Broadband connections need special modems which should be capable of sending and receiving data very fast. Broadband also demands faster processing speed and good memory (Random Access Memory) from your computer. Slow computers without minimum requirements of processor speed and internal memory affect the downloading speed of web pages. Broadband internet services are usually provided over a standard telephone line; however the phone and internet signals are separated - so you can use your phone at the same time as the internet. Broadband gives you fast access to the internet. Basic packages can be up to ten times faster than a standard connection, which means you can download large files (such as video and music files) in seconds. Broadband is constantly connected so you don't have to wait for a connection to be made when you want to use the internet. Always On Broadband allows immediate online access. Your computer is always connected to the internet 24/7, without you ever having to dial-up. The internet becomes like any other utility, such as electricity or water, it’s available when you need it, without having to give it any thought. All you have to do is open your browser and you’re connected. This permanent connection is normally charged at a fixed monthly rate, so you can benefit from constant access to the internet, whenever your computer is switched on, without incurring any additional charges. With constant access it is possible to establish a free flow of information between the internet and you, which makes many new things possible: • You receive emails almost as soon as they are sent (to avoid missing important messages or enquiries). • You can establish permanent connections to other offices and maintain constant links to third-party services

(for instant updates on critical information). • You can establish secure off-site servers (enabling remote working from home or on the move and also remote

data back-ups). • You can subcontract ICT support and software to specialists off-site (to practise a more cost effective leasing,

rather than purchase, model). In addition, your computer can be used as a phone for short-distance, long-distance and international calls — ready to receive and make calls at all times - at a greatly reduced rate if calling a traditional phone, or free when calling a similar computer-based phone. Shared Phone Line Your computer connects to broadband in a very similar way as it does to dial-up – by linking to the internet via a modem. It is just the broadband technology behind the scenes that changes. No matter what technology you use, the broadband connection allows you to make telephone calls at the same time as being on the internet. So using the web will never prevent you from making a phone call and vice versa. This is useful when you want to look at the same website as the customer or supplier you are talking to on the phone. This is particularly beneficial if your services and products are richly supported on your website, because you can lead customers to online illustrations, dimensions, prices etc. over the phone. With an eye on costs, if you have an extra phone line for the internet you could consider giving it up. It also means that your phone line is no longer engaged when you are using the web — so you need not worry about preventing customers getting through on the phone. A broadband connection supports more than one computer. So you can connect a number of computers to the internet at the same time, through the same connection and still use the phone. Cutting Costs There are many ways that a broadband connection can help cut business overheads.

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Being able to send and receive large files or images online offers a simple but effective benefit. It means that most information, such as brochures, images, designs and documents that previously had to be posted, couriered or faxed can now be emailed, at no cost. The print numbers of brochures and literature can also be reduced, if they are made available on the web. By providing business information in a secure online environment, it’s possible for staff to work from home, as well as on the move, and companies to employ freelancers and contractors, reducing overheads by not having to station everyone under one roof. It’s not just financial costs of course; less travel reduces pollution and promotes a better work/life balance. Unnecessary travel can also be cut by hosting meetings online (for which free software is available). Online meetings provide an environment for all parties to look at and amend the same documents simultaneously. They can be supported by instant messaging, internet-based conference calling or video conferencing, as free or reduced cost alternatives to using the phone. Just one online meeting could pay the price of a year’s broadband connection. Business Development One of the most beneficial effects of broadband is to open up new ways of doing business. You are not restricted by your proximity to customers - wherever they are, a business can reach them quickly and easily. This gives access to a much wider market place and new clients, who previously seemed too distant to support effectively. There are also opportunities to sell in a different way. The success of e-commerce is breaking down traditional sales channels with more companies selling direct to customers and more customers looking to buy online rather than step on to the high street. It’s also possible to vastly improve the ordering process with suppliers. Access to online centralised business or project data allows teams to work from different locations and for new partnerships to be established and realistically managed. Smaller companies can combine their strengths to compete against larger rivals. Online business information can also improve processes to reduce delivery times. Using data online, such as electronic banking or procurement, is significantly reducing the burden of administration. Marketing has also taken a giant leap forward. Rich media, virtual tours and high-quality photos & videos permit customers to truly understand a product, give a chance to sell a brand like never before, and let customers appreciate the quality on offer. Staying Competitive The take-up of new internet applications has been growing significantly; however there are still many businesses that have ignored the opportunities, allowing the early adopters a chance to steal a lead over their competitors. A major benefit is in customer support. Businesses are keeping customers up-to-date with the latest information, such as notifying new deals or price changes, as they happen, or ‘real-time’ reports on the progress of an order or delivery. A business can also promote brand values by providing relevant visual information on high-quality web cameras, such as the wave conditions beside a surfing school, or the efficiency of a well-managed tool shop. Premises-sited web security cameras can also provide peace of mind when a factory or office is empty. Interestingly, the concept of ‘business ICT’ is beginning to shift from something a business has to buy and manage, to a professional service that can be rented from a specialist. A permanent internet connection can provide constant access to software and hardware that is fully backed up, updated and managed by off-site IT experts. This business model is very competitive and, in addition, puts otherwise prohibitively expensive, software within reach of smaller businesses, levelling the playing field, to allow them to reap the benefits that larger companies take for granted. For other businesses, staying competitive has become a question of survival, with some large businesses now insisting that their suppliers invoice over e-procurement systems Odds are that you'll choose an ADSL connection for Broadband as it's widely available and easy to set up. Cable might be another option if it's available in your area. Which begs the question: ADSL or Cable? The truth is, one isn't better than another and it really depends more on where you live and how good the supplier is. So, your choice will probably be based upon the deal offered and the reputation of the ISP that provides the service. I have attempted to go in to some detail about this in the following pages.

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Types of Connection Dial Up Connections Dial-up connections are one type of internet connection available from ISPs, they are the slowest and (usually) the most inexpensive. A dial-up connection allows you to connect to the internet via a local server using a standard 56k modem, your PC literally dials (hence the name) a phone number (provided by your ISP) and connects to the server and therefore the internet. Data is transmitted through an analogue phone connection. You connect to the Internet by using your phone line to dial into an ISP’s line. An analogue connection is the slowest type of connection available, and will not permit you to use your telephone for a voice connection at the same time that you are connected to the Internet. Dial-up connections allow only one computer at a time, per line, to be connected. Once connected you can utilise all aspects of the internet, the drawback with a dial-up connection is the speed, a standard 56k modem can theoretically transfer 56 Kilobits of data a second, this means that you can (again theoretically) transfer up to 7 Kilobytes a second. When you consider the average web page including images is around 50 Kilobytes, this means it would take around 7 seconds for the web page to completely load in your browser. On top of this many internet service providers charge by the minute for your connection, so the longer it takes to load the pages you visit, the more you pay for your connection. The cost is usually the same as you would pay for a local phone call so as long as they are used sensibly they can be a very cost effective internet connection. Dial-up Pros Dial-up connections can be very economic and are widely available, the cost is usually the same as a local phone call or priced as a monthly plan. As these connections use a standard modem the hardware costs are minimal. Dial-up Cons Dial-up connections are very slow compared to other connection types. When connected to the internet the same phone line cannot be used for phone calls so if anyone phones you when you are connected they will get the busy signal. Dial-up connections transfer data over an analogue line so before the data is sent it has to be converted from digital to analogue, likewise when data is received it has to be converted from analogue to digital (this is what the modem does), this adds a performance overhead which affects the speed of the connection. DSL Connections DSL and its variations (such as ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), use normal phone lines to transmit and receive data digitally. Unlike a cable connection, DSL allows you exclusive use of the line – there is no signal degradation caused by other users. Like cable connections, DSL offers high-speed connectivity, and allows you to use your phone and be online at the same time. DSL can be used for individuals who want to connect one computer to one line, or for an extra investment DSL can be used to connect a building to the Internet. ADSL is the technology used in the broadband connections accessed through telephone line. The majority of broadband connections worldwide are accessed through ADSL, and three-fourths of broadband connections in UK use this mode of broadband connection. Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) technology allows faster downloading than uploading and its micro-filter uses the existing telephone line both for making calls as well as for surfing the net at the same time. ADSL is ideal for people who regularly download videos, mp3 music and software updates. Broadband speed connections such as cable and ADSL are referred to as “asymmetric” (The A in ADSL) due to the fact that the rated download and upload times are not equal. When viewing a given Internet web page, you are downloading the data from its server source. By increasing the download speed, you can drastically increase your Internet connection speed as a whole due the fact that pages will load quicker and files will download quicker. The problem with this is that the upload speed is of course downgraded, causing it to take a great deal longer to upload data to the Internet. This can be problematic for small businesses or web site hosts who do a great deal of uploading. For the general public, however, the ability to download and have a faster Internet connection speed supersedes the need for quick uploading capability. ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscribers Line) connections are becoming more and more widely available and can provide an excellent internet connection. The connections work by splitting your phone line into two separate channels, one for data (internet) and one for voice (phone calls) which means you can talk on the phone and be connected to the internet at the same time.

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Some providers also offer SDSL services. An SDSL connection is very similar to an ADSL connection. The difference is that ADSL can download data from the Internet faster than it can upload data, while SDSL is just as fast at uploading as downloading. But since SDSL requires an extra telephone line, separate from the one you use for voice calls, SDSL is not a popular option for the home user. SDSL is really just a specialist option for some businesses that need to send large amounts of data. The fact of the matter is, however, that symmetric systems are somewhat outdated due to the fact that they only work for Internet connection speeds equal to or less than 33Kbps. (This is a slow Internet speed even for dial-up modem connections) You will often see ADSL connection services advertised as having different speed specifications, below are some common configurations:

• 256Kbps/128Kbps

• 512Kbps/128Kbps

• 1Mbps/256Kbps

• 2Mbps/512Kbps

• 8Mbps/1024Kbps

Notice there are two values to each configuration, the first figure states the download speed and the second figure is the maximum upload speed. As an example let's take the second configuration 512Kbps/128Kbps, this means that you can potentially download data at a speed of 512Kbps and upload data at 128Kbps. The most important figure is the download speed, this depicts how long it will take to view a web page, download a music file or an email attachment. As an example of how the different download speeds can affect your connection, below are some figures to give you an idea of the differences: Average Web Page (50 Kilobytes including images)

• 256Kbps download speed - roughly 1.56 seconds to view page.

• 512Kbps download speed - roughly 0.78 seconds to view page.

• 1Mbps download speed - roughly 0.39 seconds to view page.

• 2Mbps download speed - roughly 0.195 seconds to view page.

• 8Mbps download speed - roughly 0.048 seconds to view page. Average MP3 file (music file) (4 Megabytes)

• 256Kbps download speed - roughly 2 minutes and 8 seconds to download.

• 512Kbps download speed - roughly 1 minute and 4 seconds to download.

• 1Mbps download speed - roughly 32 seconds to download.

• 2Mbps download speed - roughly 16 seconds to download.

• 8Mbps download speed - roughly 4 seconds to download.

The figures above are theoretical as there are many other factors which determine the real download speed (such as the speed of the server/host you are downloading from). As you can see ADSL offers incredible performance compared to standard dial-up connections and is becoming the first choice for most internet subscribers. Most ISPs that offer ADSL packages charge a flat monthly fee which normally includes a certain amount of bandwidth each month. The bandwidth refers to how much data (web pages, music, videos, etc) you can download per month without incurring additional charges from your internet service provider.

Pros of DSL Faster internet connection: DSL is advantageous since it provides faster internet connection than dial-up connection. The speed of dial up connection may never even reach the typical speed of a broadband.

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No need to build infrastructure: Since it uses telephone lines that are already there, there is no need to build new infrastructure to sustain the current needs of consumers.

More reliable: As compared to other types of internet connection DSL provides reliability which is one of the most important factors when deciding to get your own internet service provider. They rarely break down and if they do, the service is returned after few minutes or hours from the time you have made a report. Because DSL transfers data digitally it eliminates the usual performance overhead associated with standard dial-up connections, in other words ADSL doesn't need to convert the data from digital to analogue and back again.

Use both phone and internet at the same time: Apart from the obvious speed advantages that DSL connections offer, DSL technology eliminates the need for a second phone line by allowing voice and data transfer at the same time (you can use the phone as normal while connected to the internet).

Easy installation: Working on a DSL connection doesn’t require much frills and accompaniments on the user as it can immediately connect to only one phone line – the phone line that the user already has. When a DSL is connected to the phone line, this usually comes with a modem as provided by the network company.

Better security: Security is another good thing that DSL can give. Cables and lines are not shared by other internet subscriber as most subscribers make use of their own private telephone lines. Therefore, most users have secure and private connections.

ADSL connections are always on: The usual long wait to connect is a thing of the past.

Cons of DSL Only available at populated areas: DSL is not available everywhere since there are still areas that are not saturated with telephone lines. For example, there is not much DSL availability in rural areas such as farms. You should always ensure that you have ADSL coverage in your area (an ISP will check for you). The hardware costs can be quite significant as you will need a special ADSL modem and ADSL filters to use the service, most ISPs allow you to hire these items which can reduce the initial cost. There is a huge cost associated with building technological infrastructure and these costs may not at all be feasible and profit-earning.

Weaker as provider’s base gets farther: DSL Internet connection is that it gets weaker and weaker in performance and data transmission as the provider’s base gets farther. This means the Internet connection gets slower in terms of speed as the head office gets farther from the end consumer. Firewall: Because DSL connections are always on you will need a firewall to protect your PC, which of course adds to the expense for a consumer to buy decent software.

Cable Connections Cable data connection transfers information from the Internet to your computer and from your computer to the network, through your cable television connection. Cable connections provide high speeds of data transfer downstream, from the Internet to your computer, but are slower when sending data from your computer to the network. Additionally, transfer rates are affected by the number of subscribers online simultaneously. All connections originate on one line per street, so signals degrade as more subscribers come online. Cable connections can be used by individual subscribers to connect one computer to one line, or can be used to connect multiple computers in a building to the Internet.

Cable connections are considered one of the best types of internet connection available to the home user; they offer very fast and reliable connections with a fixed monthly fee. Cable companies usually offer different packages to suit different internet subscribers, your choice of package, as with all internet connections will depend on how you intend to use the internet. The different packages will offer different speed specifications and bandwidth limits. Because a cable connection uses a totally separate medium to transfer data it doesn't affect your ability to make/receive phone calls.

Cable Pros Speed is a major reason for having a cable connection, with very high speed packages available it is an excellent choice for those who don't like to wait around tapping their fingers when downloading big files such as music or large attachments.

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Like ADSL connections, cable connections transfer data digitally, eliminating any digital/analogue conversion overhead. Cable connections are always on, eliminating long waits to make a connection.

Cable Cons Cable connections are not available in every area; you will need to contact the cable company of your choice to ensure that you have coverage. Because Cable Connections are always on you will need a firewall to protect your PC, which of course adds to the expense for a consumer to buy decent software

Wireless Connections This is a high-speed technology that transmits data over radio waves. Wireless transmission can be used to provide connectivity from an ISP to an entire building, however, service will be dependent on the existence of a clear line of sight between the ISP and the building. Within a building, a wireless local area network (LAN) can connect multiple computers to each other and to the Internet. Wireless is a technology that is continually developing.

There are various types of wireless Internet connection like Wireless LAN, Global System for Mobile Communication or rather GSM, personal communication service, Wi-Fi, D-AMPS, Fixed wireless data and more. Wireless LAN uses radio signals to transmit data between computers while the GSM uses mobile phone.

Wireless Pros The chief advantage of wireless network is that it helps in avoiding those muddled cable wires. Another key benefit of using this Internet connection is that it is the best and the easiest way to communicate or send some data overseas within fraction of a second. A significant advantage of using wireless Internet is that you can easily roam around from place to place accessing the Internet wherever you go.

Wireless Cons The main disadvantage of wireless Internet is that it is comparatively slow than other networks. Another key factor that affects the wireless connectivity is called the ‘multi path effect’. This occurs when several signals from the same source is received by your antenna. This will affect the reception strength and also will not give you the desired result. Another disadvantage of wireless connectivity is safety and security, this Internet connection is not very safe as anyone can break through the signals and there are possibilities that you lose some of your important data. The more the advantages of using wireless Internet, the more the risk factor involved in it. While using wireless Internet you have to make sure that your network is protected so that others cannot connect to your network.

Satellite Connections Broadband internet access can be brought into your home via satellite. Currently, there are two type of satellite broadband available: 1. one way 2. two way access One way access provides a very fast connection, but you can only receive information e.g. you can download internet pages and files but not upload email attachments. If you need to send information back, you would still have to use a cable modem, or dial-up service. Two way enables information to be sent both ways; so you can send data files back as well as receive them via your satellite. However, sending information back via this service is slow and expensive. The advantage of using satellite broadband services is that it can be used anywhere. Satellite internet is primarily famous for those who can't get any other high speed services. A quick example of a problem could be, if you live in the country or your area simply can't get internet do to being too far from cities or bad reception then Satellite might be your only option in place of a slow dial-up connection. In future years Satellite internet will be a very popular and valuable asset for a lot of home owners as it already is becoming a better option for businesses to get the fastest speeds possible with the least amount of trouble.

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High speed Satellite internet is a wonder for anyone who's only other option is dial-up. If you have had dial-up before and you know how frustrating the slow speeds can be then you should know that Satellite internet can be accessed in most urban and remote areas spinning with the earth's orbit to give you consistent high speeds and a stress free service when it comes to checking day to day e-mail. Satellite Internet has taken the world by storm and for good reason. This method of connecting to the Internet is extremely fast, reliable, versatile, flexible, and affordable. All these benefits rolled into one product are seldom seen. Whether being used for fun by playing interactive online games or for business meetings with participants around the globe, satellite Internet is without doubt the most impressive technology known. However, as with any new development, there will always be good and bad things to consider. One of the advantages is the speed. Satellite Internet is 50 times faster than dial up and about 25 times faster than high-speed cable. With download speeds between 700 Kbps and 1.5 Mbps, nothing compares. Even the upload speeds, which reach as high as 256 Kbps, are something that no other Internet connection can accomplish. The only disadvantage is that during peak times, these speeds might fall slightly. Probably one of the greatest benefits of using satellite Internet is that with signals coming from space, power outages would very rarely cause the connection to be lost. For instance, during a severe rain or snowstorm, satellite Internet remains up. Now, if the weather were extremely bad, it could slow the connection but this is rare. To ensure connection never goes down people need to choose a reliable provider, one that uses the most innovative dishes. The reliability of satellite Internet is one of the reasons so many people are moving away from cable. Again, while severe weather might cause a slow down, other than that, a person with satellite Internet should never need to worry about having a broken connection. The satellite dish used outside, as well as cables are rugged and designed to hold up to tough situations. For maintenance of satellite Internet, no ongoing requirement exists. Sometimes, people may notice that the speed slows down at which time a professional technician from the provider would likely need to tweak the dish. For instance, for satellite Internet to work, the dish has to have a clear view of the Southern sky. If for some reason the dish were to move, the technician may need to aim it differently or even relocate it to a more effective spot. Now, while upload and download speeds of satellite Internet are impressive, people need to understand that providers of this service must follow Fair Access Policies. This means the user still has some limitations as to the amount of information, video, or audio that can be downloaded at a single time. In fact, providers of satellite Internet actually have to follow stricter rules than cable providers do. However, with speeds being so fast, the process is still easier and faster than with any other Internet connection. Pros of Satellite Available worldwide: You can access to Internet everywhere around the world, whether on a cruise or in the jungle of Africa. Faster Internet speed: Satellite broadband provides faster Internet speed for faster surfing, downloading and web pages access. You don’t have to wait for the page to load up. You don’t even have to dial to connect to your Internet connection. Cons of Satellite Affected by weather: The weather has an effect on the signal. More expensive: Satellite broadband is more costly than a DSL connection or a cable Internet access. A satellite dish is too expensive. A Slow Broadband: Even if this type of broadband is proven to be faster than dial-up connection, it is still observed to be a slow broadband service as compared to DSL and cable. In fact, the slowest type of DSL connectivity is as fast as satellite broadband without the signal delay. High latency situation: Since the signal has to travel thousands of miles to the outer space and then travel back again back to earth to relay the signal, there are delays in the signal. Satellite dishes are big and heavy: Satellite dishes are designed to support several functionalities for satellite signals and therefore are big and heavy. However, there have been recent developments in this product as observed in the decreased sizes of satellite dishes. In summary, a satellite dish may be expensive, heavy, and may have latency issues. But then, this is far better that having nothing. In this time where almost everything is done online, one cannot afford the absence of Internet access.

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The Essentials for Broadband Minimum Specifications and Equipment If the users’ computer has been bought in the last three years, you should have very little trouble connecting to broadband. For Microsoft Windows based machines, the minimum specification for a PC to connect to broadband is as follows: • Operating System: Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP • Processor speed: Minimum of 266 MHz (400Mhz recommended) • RAM: Minimum of 64MB of RAM (128MB recommended) • 1 free USB or Ethernet port • 150MB free hard drive space • 4-speed CD-ROM drive (if software is required from your ISP) It is wise check with the Internet Service Provider (ISP), as this information changes with each organisation. The point to remember is that old PCs running Windows 95 were not even designed to connect to the internet, so connecting to broadband would not be supported by many ISP’s. Many older machines do not have USB or Ethernet ports, which is how the broadband modem connects to your computer. The newer the computer, the greater the RAM, the faster the processor speed, the better your experience with broadband will be. The equipment you will need is a broadband modem which also comes with a data cable as part of the package, some filters and that's it!

Some ISP’s may charge for the setting up of broadband up to £100 whilst others may not charge at all. Again, some broadband suppliers offer a modem free whilst some charge from

£20 to £100, so it is best to check.

There will be a subscription fee that the consumer will have to pay every month which includes all Internet calls.

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The only other thing to be aware of is that some broadband suppliers may charge a delivery fee for the modem. The computer user also needs to be aware of what the minimum contract is when they sign up. Most suppliers only work on a minimum 12 months contract but as the market gets more competitive, some companies are offering 1 month minimum contracts.

Internet Service Providers In order to get access to the internet at a computer user will need an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and a modem to connect to the ISP. ISPs often provide a device called a router to let you share an internet connection over a local area network, which means more than one computer in your house can use the broadband connection at the same time. The devices are connected with cables and a hub or switch.

A good place to start looking for an ISP is the Internet Service Provider Association (ISPA). Although this is a voluntary body it's recognised by government for its knowledge and expertise. All ISPs listed on the ISPA site have agreed to certain rules and standards set by the ISPA. This means you can be confident an ISP listed by ISPA has good business practice.

Similarly, you might find it helpful to get recommendations from friends who have an ISP as there is no better substitute for getting a recommendation from someone you trust. If you are going to look for the ISP on your own try to get as much information as you can about what they offer.

There are many ISPs offering a range of services, the choice is up to you. Initially, check for local availability, and see who’s providing what services in your area from www.broadbandchecker.co.uk

As most ISPs offer broadband, by using your existing supplier you may not need to change your current email address. Many ISPs will allow you to keep your email address even if you connect to broadband through an alternative provider. When deciding which broadband package to subscribe to, a computer user should consider: connection type, connection speed, monthly charges, technical support offered, and any restrictions to the service offered.

Security When one uses the internet one may be connected to thousands of other computers that are exchanging information and data with, including personal details. It is important to make sure the computer, ones information and ones privacy is as secure as possible.

Broadband provides a high-speed connection to the web that, for most users, is always on when a computer is on. This higher level of access to the Internet leaves a computer more vulnerable to unauthorised access from unknown users because the internet is, in turn, always connected to a computer.

To protect the hard drive a computer user needs to install a firewall. A firewall acts like a security guard on the computer, monitoring inbound and outbound traffic and stopping any unauthorised access. There are many free and proprietary ones to choose from but having one is essential.

Later in this report I will detail in more depth about Internet Security Risks.

The Internet Users Shopping List 1. Computer with internet connection . PC or MacIntosh is fine. You can also browse the Net with a Pocket PC,

a WebTV, or even a Citrix or Sparc workstation, if it is setup correctly. As you might know, there are coffee shop "Internet Cafes" that will rent usage of connected computers to you.

2. Internet account with a connection provider . Often called "ISP" (Internet Service Provider), these are usually phone or cable companies that charge you varied amounts a month for internet access. Note: if you browse the Net from work, your company eats this cost as part of their operations. They also will have rules for you to follow. If you browse from an Internet Cafe, you will need to pay varied amounts per hour.

3. Internet browser software . The most popular is called Internet Explorer – the current version is version 8 ("IE"). The second most common browser is Mozilla Firefox. Other browser choices include: AOL, Opera, and Netscape.

4. Anti-virus software . Symantec/Norton or McAffee are the two most common. These will help defend you against nasty programs that will erase parts of your hard drive.

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5. A Firewall . A firewall is a barrier between your computer and the rest of the internet, there to make sure you are as safe as you can be from hackers, worms, viruses and all the other nasty people and programs out there. In real life, if you look at the roof line of a row of terraced houses you will often see them, sticking up a few bricks above the tiles between each house. A firewall on a computer does the same job, and if you have a broadband connection to the internet then you need one for your own protection.

6. Anti-malware software . Anti-virus programs are good protection when kept up to date. However, they frequently miss certain types of malware, such as Trojans and spyware, so it is a good idea to run at least one anti-adware program in conjunction with anti-virus. Running two is even better. Utilizing a firewall is also helpful. While it won't keep malware out, it can keep such programs from accessing the internet and delivering your personal information to the intended target. Anti-malware can be downloaded for free such as the ever popular Spybot and Comodo BO Clean but many are included as part of a commercial Internet Security Suite of Products such as Norton Symantec 360, Kapersky Internet Security, F-Secure Internet Security, etc.

7. Email software . You can choose from the very popular Outlook or Outlook Express, less-common email software’s like Eudora or Groupwise, or the free "web-mail" offered by Yahoo or Hotmail or Google mail.

8. Plug-In software . This is a big topic in its own right, but here are the most-common you will need: Java Virtual Machine, Macromedia Flash Player, Windows Media Player, Real Audio music player, Apple Quick Time.

9. Optional: stereo speakers, microphone, and webcam. These hardware devices will allow you to hear game sounds, do Internet telephoning, and send images to your friends and family.

10. Optional: Anti-Spam software.

11. Optional: Censorware, to help police what your kids can see.

12. Optional: graphic software, so you can edit pictures you like.

13. Optional: printer.

14. Optional: wheel mouse, to quickly scroll pages up and down.

Plug-ins While a plain web browser allows you to view static HTML pages, Plug-ins are optional software additions that enhance and/or add functionality to a web browser. This means that above and beyond reading a basic web page, plug-ins let you watch Internet movies and animation, hear sound and music, read special Adobe documents, play online games, and do 3-D interaction.

Although new plug-in software is released every week, there are about 12 key plug-ins and add-on software that will serve most people 99% of the time:

1. Adobe Acrobat Reader (for .pdf files)

2. Java Virtual Machine (JVM to run Java applets)

3. Macromedia Flash Player (to run .swf movies)

4. Macromedia Shockwave Player (to run heavy-duty .swf movies)

5. Real Audio Player (to listen to .ram files)

6. Apple Quicktime (to see 3d Virtual Reality schematics)

7. Windows Media Player (to run a variety of movies and music formats)

8. Windows WinAmp (to play downloaded .mp3 and .wav files)

9. "Pop-Up Killer" software (to reduce the annoying advertisements)

10. Anti Virus software

11. Optional browser toolbars, like Google toolbar, Yahoo toolbar, or StumleUpon toolbar

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12. WinZip (to compress/decompress downloaded files)

Although technically not plug-ins, WinZip and AV software work as silent partners to help a user download web files, and to prevent nasty programs from infecting a computer.

Anytime a user visits a web page that includes more than simple HTML content, they are likely to need at least one plug-in.

For example, on a daily basis, Flash Player is perhaps the most needed plug-in. 75% of the animated advertisements you see online are Flash .swf “movies” (Shockwave format).

The second most common plug-in need is for Adobe Acrobat Reader .pdf (Portable Document Format) viewing. Most government forms, online application forms, and a multitude of other documents use .pdf format on the Web.

The third most common plug-in would be a movie/audio player to run .mov, .mp3, .wav, .au, and .avi files. Windows Media Player is perhaps the most popular for this purpose, but a user can use a multitude of other movie/audio choices.

The fourth most common enhancement to get is WinZip, which allows you to download large files in “compressed” (shrunken file size) .zip format, and then expand the compressed files for full use on your computer. This is the smartest tool for sending either large files, or batches of many smaller files. Technically, WinZip is not a "plug-in", but it certainly is recommended as a web browsing partner tool.

Depending on your browser habits, the likely fifth-most-common plug-in need would be for Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The JVM allows a user to run online games and online program “applets” that are written in the Java programming language.

Comparison between Connection Types Applications determine bandwidth needs and costs. Health monitoring, for example, requires very little bandwidth but saves lives and has high value. If a company’s applications only need to send text and data, then dial-up modems can provide enough bandwidth for their needs, and they cost less than broadband. The Internet experience is enriched by added graphics, images, sounds and video, but this requires more bandwidth. If a company’s applications primarily transmit text and data, then a dial-up modem may provide enough bandwidth for their needs and cost far less than broadband services (cable modem, DSL, or satellite). Even web browsing can be fast at 56Kbps if you turn off graphics, but network speed has been driven largely by efforts to improve the user interface with graphics and sound. Bandwidth In computing Bandwidth refers to the capacity of a communications line/channel to transmit/receive information and is measured in bits, bytes, kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes. Internet Service Providers Bandwidth (when specified by an ISP) is the monthly quota of data that you are allowed to upload and download with your internet connection, your monthly bandwidth allowance will (usually) be measured in Megabytes or Gigabytes, the amount of bandwidth you need depends on how you intend to use the internet. For example, if you will be using the internet just to view websites, then you won't need as much bandwidth as someone who is downloading music and video for the same amount of hours. note: one Megabyte (MB) = 1024 Kilobytes (KB).

• The average webpage is around 50KB (kilobytes) including images • The average MP3 audio file is around 4MB (Megabyte)

So you would use the same amount of bandwidth to download one MP3 audio file as you would to view eighty one webpages (50Kb) on the internet. As you can see it depends greatly on what a user is using the internet connection for as to how much bandwidth is needed.

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Web Hosting Companies When in the context of web hosting companies it refers to how much traffic a web hosting company will allow each month. In essence, there is no difference between uploading data and downloading data aside from the direction of the data transfer. The better your Internet connection speed, the faster your uploading and downloading capability. Bandwidth, otherwise referred to as the transfer rate of your connection to the Internet, plays an integral role in both your upload speed and your download speed.

Your broadband speed refers more or less to your internet connection speed as a whole. Your broadband speed interacts with that of the site or server that you are accessing. Because of this, you could have an extremely fast download and upload ability yet still suffer through a slow connection if the site or server from which you are transmitting / receiving does not have a great deal of bandwidth. Low bandwidth levels will yield low broadband speed and a slow Internet connection. Bandwidth can similarly be eaten away through high volumes of traffic. Sites occasionally fail to load or function properly due to internal server errors resulting from such bandwidth overloads.

Some people opt to have a high-speed DSL connection installed in their home rather than having a dial-up connection. The reason to this is quite obvious. Aside from the name itself, which says high-speed, having a DSL connection is a lot more efficient than what anyone else thinks.

DSL or Dial Up? DSL is relatively cheaper To some, having a high-speed DSL connection is still cheaper than having a dial-up connection. The monthly cost of having a dial-up connection may be quite the same or similar to that of having a high-speed DSL connection but think of the benefits and additional features that a high-speed DSL connection has to offer. With such additional attributes, having a high-speed DSL connection comes in a lot cheaper. Besides, to some internet providers, the additional costs involve in having a dial-up connection is paying for the phone line that will connect the user to the internet.

DSL has faster connection Having a high-speed DSL connection also means no busy signal and that it connects to the internet immediately. Dial-up connection, on the other hand, means a long wait and there might also be some problems that occur between waiting and getting connected to the internet.

DSL serves two ways: Phone and Internet When the user has also installed his high-speed broadband connection, it serves him in two ways. Not only can he surf the net for some information but he can also use his phone at the same time – an act that is not possible with the dial-up connection. The user needs to wait to finish surfing before he can use the phone for his personal uses.

DSL or Cable? Speed In terms of speed, both of them are way better than your average 28 to 56 kbps dial-up speed. However, if you’d compare the two, Cable has the advantage because it is said to be faster than a DSL connection. Both DSL and Cable have evenly matched upload speed which could run from 100 kbps to 400 kbps. But, the download speed for Cable is higher than DSL. The download speed for DSL is about 1.0 to 1.5 mbps, generally 20 times faster than your dial-up connection. But Cable connection is faster though with a 2 to 3 mbps rate.

Security In terms of security that DSL Internet Services and Cable Internet Services offer, reports have shown that though they have varied security models, they are both secure enough for use and are able to meet the consumers’ needs.

Popularity In terms of popularity, Cable Internet Access is said to be more popular but recently, DSL has been gaining the upper hand. It is therefore safe to say that both Cable Internet Access and DSL Internet Access have an increasing demand in the US and other parts of the world. Looking at the Customer Satisfaction Surveys, it was observed that DSL gets higher ratings from the customers as compared to Cable Internet Services.

Cost When it comes to the cost, however, DSL connections are cheaper than cable connection.

Once a computer user has looked into the options and knows which types of broadband Internet are available in his or her area, the next step is to choose the best deal. The biggest factor to consider when choosing a deal is speed. How fast is the connection? And is it fast enough to do all the things you would like to be able to do?

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“The Need for Speed” When talking about Internet connection speeds, things can be really confusing! For a start, Internet transfer speeds are measured in kilobits per second and megabits per second, and those are not the same as the kilobytes and megabytes we use when we're talking about hard disks and files.

It’s best not to worry about the numbers. What matters is how they apply to the kinds of things one is going to do on the Internet.

Here's a table to make it simpler:

Internet

Connection

Speed

Time to load a

typical web

page

(assuming 100

kilobytes of data)

Time to

download a

typical 5-minute

song

(assuming a 5

megabyte MP3

file)

Streaming

Video Quality

56K dial-up

modem 14 sec 12 min 30 sec

256K broadband 3 sec 3 min Low Quality

512K broadband 1.6 sec 1 min 30 sec

1Mb broadband 0.8 sec 41 sec

2Mb broadband 0.4 sec 20 sec Medium Quality

4Mb broadband 0.1 sec 5 sec

6Mb broadband Instantaneous Instantaneous

8Mb broadband Instantaneous Instantaneous TV Quality

Note: all figures are approximate and represent best-case download speeds.

Actually speeds will generally be lower.

So you can see that an entry level 512K broadband Internet connection is around ten times faster than a 56K dial-up Internet connection, allowing a user to view web pages with barely any noticeable delay, whereas with an 8Mb broadband connection, a user could watch TV quality video over the web!

Any of the broadband speeds will be perfectly good for viewing the majority of web pages - having to wait a second or two for a page to load is perfectly acceptable. But the Internet is so much more than just pages of text and a few images: what about music, video, animations, games and all the other stuff that makes the Internet so much fun?

Consider the download time for a typical 5-minute pop song - around one and a half minutes with a 512K connection. The time it takes to download is less than the time it takes the song to play. What this means in practice is that a computer will be able to play the song while it downloads. This is called streaming - the sound 'streams' to the computer fast enough that it can be played as it arrives, without all that waiting around.

Streaming also applies to video. A user may find that many web sites allow him to watch video, even live video, without having to wait around for more than a few seconds for it to start. In many cases video is offered in two or more different sizes or at different qualities - so that he can choose the one that plays best with his connection speed. Having a faster connection means he can watch the video at a larger size and better quality.

And what about gaming? Well, it depends on the type of game. For those of us who want to play a little backgammon or a card game on a wet afternoon, any kind of broadband connection will work fine.

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If however if the user is one of those people who want to take on the world at Counter-Strike or Doom 3, or connect your XBox to the Internet, he may want to consider going for the fastest connection he can practically afford: playing first-person shooters is one of the most demanding ways to use a broadband internet connection. But don't worry too much - most providers will allow one to upgrade to a faster connection at any time (one will just pay a higher monthly charge).

Recommendations for Speed The Best All-Rounder - For the majority of Internet users, a 1Mb deal will offer the best balance between price and performance.

Entry-Level - (256K or 512K) doesn't offer the performance one will need to be able to get the best out of

streaming audio and video. Of course, if you only use the Internet to read web pages and send email, a slower

connection may be adequate.

Heavy or Shared Usage - A faster connection (2Mb or faster) is probably worth considering if a user intends to

play a lot of games, or if he intends to share the Internet connection between more than two or three computers

at home or in the office. A connection at the higher end of the scale (4Mb upward) will allow him to take

advantage of newer trends - such as video and music on demand or Digital Broadband Internet TV.

Download Limits Another important factor in a pesons choice of a broadband Internet deal is whether there is a download limit (sometimes called a usage allowance), and how high this limit is.

Not every broadband provider imposes a limit on how much use a person can make of his or her Internet connection, although most have clauses in their terms and conditions to prevent what they consider to be excessive use. Where download limits are imposed, they can range from as little as 1Gb (one gigabyte) per month to 15Gb or 30Gb per month.

What do these numbers mean?

Well, a gigabyte is a bit less than the amount of data that fits on two CD-ROMs. Doesn't that depend on the size of the CD Rom? If 700 then it's a lot less than on 2 CDs? Whether or not that seems like a little or a lot depends largely on what you intend to do while connected to the Internet.

Here's another table to show you what download limits could mean for us in practical terms:

Usage Allowance

(Gb per month)

Number of web pages

(assuming 100 kilobytes

of data per page)

Number of songs

(assuming 1 song is a 5

megabyte MP3 file)

1Gb 10,500 205 (about 20 albums)

2Gb 21,000 410 (about 40 albums)

6Gb 63,000 1229 (about 120

albums)

15Gb 157,000 3072 (about 300

albums)

30Gb 314,500 6144 (about 600

albums)

Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited

Note: all figures are approximate.

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Recommendations for Download Limit Deals

Limits will only become a problem if a person starts to use the Internet to download (or stream) a lot of audio or video files or to download a lot of software. If he or she spends several hours of hours a day online, perhaps making use of online radio stations, or playing games, then it's surprising just how much of their usage allowance they will get through. A person should avoid any deal with a monthly allowance of 1Gb (one gigabyte) or less, unless they are a very light Internet user or can only afford one of the cheaper deals. Many deals currently available offer a 15Gb monthly allowance; for most people this should be more than adequate, although if they shop around they may be able to find a deal with an unlimited allowance for the same price. If a user thinks they are likely to want to download large numbers of files, or are a serious online gamer, they should go for a larger download limit - or better still a deal with no limit.

As previously stated, bandwidth (when specified by an ISP) is the monthly quota of data that you are allowed to upload and download with your internet connection, your monthly bandwidth allowance will (usually) be measured in Megabytes or Gigabytes, the amount of bandwidth you need depends on how you intend to use the internet.

For example, if you will be using the internet just to view websites, then you won't need as much bandwidth as someone who is downloading music and video for the same amount of hours.

note: one Megabyte (MB) = 1024 Kilobytes (KB).

The average webpage is around 50KB (kilobytes) including images

The average MP3 audio file is around 4MB (Megabyte)

So you would use the same amount of bandwidth to download one MP3 audio file as you would to view eighty one webpages (50Kb) on the internet.

As you can see it depends greatly on what you are using your internet connection for as to how much bandwidth you will need.

Tips on choosing an ISP Checking your equipment: Make sure you have the right computer and software to work with any chosen ISP as some ISPs require specific browsers and some services don’t work with a Mac. Also, to get some connection speeds you’ll need a specific modem. What the ISP offers you: Find out what your ISP offers and decide what you actually need. Consider how long you expect to be online, the size of the files you will be transferring and when you are most likely to be online. It is not recommended to select an ISP by price alone Metered access: 'Metered' access gives you access to the internet for on a pay as you go basis and might also include a monthly fee. Generally metered internet access is at local call rates and you may get some free hours each month. Subscription access: Connecting to the internet during the day can be more expensive than at evenings and weekends so consider an 'unmetered' tariff if you will be going online a lot in the daytime. Monthly subscriptions for 'unmetered' tariffs also mean you don't need to worry about telephone bills for the time you are online. Broadband: If you want to use the phone whilst you are online, you can choose a broadband connection or get a second line installed specifically for internet access. A broadband connection lets you be online all day, get instant emails, surf the internet much faster, exchange large files and can provide a connection for several computers. Building your own website: If you are thinking of building your own website, choose an ISP that offers hosting space as part of the package. Technical support: Find out what technical support is available and how much the ISP charges for this service. Ask what the ISP does to prevent or manage system failures. Local Loop Unbundling When researching broadband ISPs you might have come across something called LLU or LLU pricing and often it’s this kind of jargon which puts the consumer off. But, like most jargon, it’s just a complicated name for something which is actually quite simple.

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LLU stands for "Local Loop Unbundling" and this "local loop" is another word for the actual cable through which you receive your broadband, and telephone calls, based on the standard ADSL connection. The vast majority of local loops are owned by BT, the UK’s major telephone exchange. This is where the "unbundling" comes in; the term refers to the process which allows ISPs other than BT to use the local loops to provide you with your broadband connection. In most cases it is just the broadband element of the connection which is unbundled which is why you can receive broadband from one ISP whilst retaining a BT line for making telephone calls. This is how you can receive ADSL broadband from PlusNet, for example, whilst your next door neighbour has a contract with AOL. Basically it involves ISPs renting the telephone lines from BT and it is because of the financial agreement between the ISPs and BT that additional costs may be incurred, and these might be transferred on to you. Since the process began hundreds of thousands of local loops have been unbundled from BT, freeing them up for use by major ISPs. In particular AOL has been instrumental in the national unbundling; having paid BT £120 million to unbundle 100,000 lines they are now the UK’s largest LLU operator. Be Broadband are also champions of "unbundling" as they use super-fast ADSL2 technology not supported by a standard BT ADSL line. Benefits of LLU AOL, Be and other suppliers can install their own particular brand or style of broadband, with differing speeds and download limits to those offered by BT. For example, because AOL and Be are not just re-branding what is available from BT, they can design their own broadband to suit their customers meaning potentially faster and possibly cheaper deals for you the consumer. Other Factors Affecting Choices Cost Expect to pay a minimum of £15 per month for a package, more if you're going for one of the faster connection speeds. The ISP Talk Talk offers “free broadband” when you subscribe to their telephone service. This is the one I have and although there are a few problems with poor speeds and drop offs in connection I guess I have got what I have paid for. It is a cheap and cheerful basic broadband package that I can live with because of the free broadband. Make sure you factor in any one-off costs such as installation fees and any extra equipment you might need to purchase. For an easy comparison of broadband services from UK Internet service providers I would highly recommend going to www.broadbandchecker.co.uk. Broadband Checker performs a live availability check for broadband ADSL, Cable and Satellite. It compares offers from several major service providers including Tiscali, BT, Orange, Virgin, AOL, Be Broadband and more. They can also now also check for LLU broadband services from several specialist providers. It pays to do your research and this site can save endless hours checking and searching for the best offers available in an area. Your Existing Computer Is your computer up-to-date? If it's less than 5 years old, there's probably nothing to worry about, but you should check that your computer meets any minimum requirements the provider specifies in their small print. If your computer is too old and slow, it may be unsuited to a broadband connection; in this case an upgrade may be necessary. And make sure your operating system is supported - your computer may be fine, but if you're still running Windows 95, it may be time to upgrade your software! If in doubt, the supplier should be able to offer advice. Extra Equipment Will you need to install any extra equipment inside your computer, such as a network card? Will the Internet service provider send someone to set up your computer to work with the broadband connection, or will you need to make your own arrangements? Check the details of the deal carefully to make sure there are no hidden installation costs or potential pitfalls. Support How will the company respond if things go wrong? It's easy to overlook this factor when comparing deals from different suppliers, but you should give it some consideration. If your Internet connection stops working, how quickly will you be able to get through to someone who can resolve the problem for you? This is where word of mouth can really help - either from people you know or through reviews in magazines or online. If a company's reputation is made up of horror stories about hours spent on hold, or engineers not turning up to install equipment, you may decide to take your money elsewhere.

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Your email address If you are switching from a dial-up Internet account to a broadband account and are changing companies, consider what will happen to your email address. If you use a web-based email provider such as Hotmail, your email will not be affected when you switch to broadband. However, if your email is provided as part of your existing Internet package, you probably won't be able to take it with you to a new company. If keeping your old email address is important to you (perhaps you use it for business), you may be restricted to staying with your existing provider and any broadband deals they may have on offer.

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Factors Affecting Groups of Users The Disabled User Most people today can hardly conceive of life without the internet. It provides access to news, email, shopping, and entertainment, at any hour of the day or night. Some have argued that no other single invention has been more revolutionary since Gutenberg's printing press in the 1400s. Now, at the click of a mouse, the world can be "at your fingertips"—that is, if you can use a mouse... and see the screen... and hear the audio—in other words, if you don't have a disability of any kind. When a designer is designing or modifying Web sites to allow access to people with disabilities, he or she should make the Web accessible. New Web sites and applications, however, are introducing new problems and barriers. There are complex graphics and multimedia applications that assistive technology simply has not solved. Assistive technology is a piece of equipment or a software product that is used to increase, maintain, or assist the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. In short, it can be any device or technique that assists people in removing or reducing barriers and enhancing their daily activities. Assistive technologies include magnifiers, screen readers, closed captioning, keyboard enhancements, and highlighting software. Assistive technology uses the coding and content of your Web site and makes it accessible. Many people then, with disabilities use “assistive technology” to enable them to use computers and access the Internet. Blind people who cannot see computer monitors may use screen readers – devices that speak the text that would normally appear on a monitor. People who have difficulty using a computer mouse can use voice recognition software to control their computers with verbal commands. People with other types of disabilities may use still other kinds of assistive technology. New and innovative assistive technologies are being introduced every day. Poorly designed websites can create unnecessary barriers for people with disabilities, just as poorly designed buildings prevent some from entering. Designers may not realize how simple features built into a web page will assist someone who, for instance, cannot see a computer monitor or use a mouse. One example of a barrier would be a photograph of a Mayor on a town website with no text identifying it. Because screen readers cannot interpret images unless there is text associated with it, a blind person would have no way of knowing whether the image is an unidentified photo or logo, artwork, a link to another page, or something else. Simply adding a line of simple hidden computer code to label the photograph “Photograph of Mayor Jane Smith” will allow the blind user to make sense of the image. Meeting the standards of an accessible Web site first requires an awareness of the special needs of users who have disabilities. The four main categories of disabilities are visual, hearing, mobility, and cognitive and learning disabilities. Each person with a disability might encounter one or more barriers that can be eliminated or minimized by the Web developer, the browser, the assistive technology, or the underlying operating system software and hardware platform In 1995 a new era of accessibility for disabled people began. The DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) was passed, stating that, “It's unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public”. A website is regarded as a service and the RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) and DRC (Disability Rights Commission) have been quick to apply pressure on to organisations to push this law into practice. So, how do disabled people access the Internet? Vision People with visual disabilities are individuals who are blind, have low vision, or have colour blindness. People who are blind need text equivalents for the images used on the Web page, because they and their assistive screen reader technology cannot obtain the information from the image. A person who has a visual disability will not find the mouse useful because it requires hand and eye coordination. Instead, this person must navigate the Web page using only the keyboard. For example, the Tab key is used to move the focus to the item that needs to be selected. A screen reader then announces the item so the user knows where the focus is on the page. The user then presses the Enter key instead of "clicking" the mouse button. Those who have low vision need the assistance of a hardware or software magnifier to enlarge the text beyond simple font enlargement. People who are colour blind or who have low vision benefit from good contrasting colours. When information is presented by colour alone, a

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person who is colour blind misses that information. Similarly, if information is presented using any attribute by itself (for example, contrast, depth, size, location, or font), a user who has low vision might not detect the difference. Magnification might reformat the location, change the contrast, or distort the size and fonts of the text and objects on the Web page. It is best to use multiple attributes. For example, if both colour and a fill pattern are used on different bars on a graph, they can be viewed in either colour or black and white. Instead of using size attributes on the font element to denote a heading, the heading element should be used to correctly mark up a heading so that assistive technology can identify headings. Internet users who have no sight at all may utilize a screen reader, which reads the content of the web page, or rather the HTML code of the page, back to them. These machines sift through the HTML code and the technology deciphers what needs to be read aloud and what should be ignored. A blind user can download the JAWS screen reader for a free 30-day trial. Jaws is one of the most commonly used screen readers used by people with no or limited vision, others include Window-Eyes, Hal and IBM HomePage Reader. To take full advantage of the Internet, users with partial or poor sight may need to be able to enlarge the text on web pages. A website allows them to achieve this on Internet Explorer by going to ‘View > Text size > Largest’. If a site is accessible to this group of users then the size of the text throughout the page will increase. Text embedded within graphics isn't resizable and may cause difficulties for this group of web users. Users with poor vision may also use a screen magnifier to enlarge the text size. Again, text embedded within graphics may cause difficulties as it can appear blurry and pixelated when magnified. Hearing People who are deaf or hard of hearing require visual representations of auditory information that the Web site provides. Solutions for these disabilities include closed captioning, blinking error messages, and transcripts of the spoken audio. The primary concern is to ensure that audio output information is provided in a redundant equivalent visual form. Deaf web users are often able to access the Internet in much the same way as able-bodied people, with one key exception - audio content. If it's a key function of a website for people to be able to hear a message, then it is important that the maker of it is sure to provide subtitles or a written transcript. An additional disadvantage deaf users may face is that British Sign Language is actually their first language. As such, they may be unable to understand some advanced English words and sentences. Mobility This is a very broad category and can include weakness, limitations of muscular control (such as involuntary movements, lack of coordination or paralysis), limitations of sensation, joint problems or missing limbs. It is important to remember that restricted mobility problems can be either long term or short term. For example; a user who has broken their arm and temporarily cannot use a mouse. Some physical impairments can include pain that impedes movement such as arthritis or an injury. These conditions can affect the hands and arms as well as other parts of the body. To use the internet people with restricted mobility affecting the hands or arms may use a very wide variety of assistive technologies. Examples of these are: •Specialised mouse and keyboard that may be much larger for ease of use •A single handed keyboard •A pointing device such as a head-mouse, head-pointer or mouth-stick •Voice-recognition software; so users can ‘tell’ the computer what to do People with mobility disabilities have physical impairments that substantially limit movement and fine motor controls, such as lifting, walking, and typing. Mobility impaired individuals experience difficulties in using the computer's input devices and in handling storage media. Solutions for persons with mobility disabilities include switches, latches, and controls that are easy to manipulate, and diskettes and media that are easy to insert and remove. Additional solutions include alternate input capabilities, such as voice input or the ability to enter information at the user's own pace. For example, sequences of keystrokes can be typed, one at a time, rather than simultaneously as in Ctrl+Alt+Del. Many of these needs are supported by assistive technology, operating systems, and hardware

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platforms. Furthermore, making the Web site accessible will make it more compatible with voice input and control technologies. Cognitive and learning difficulties People with cognitive or learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and short-term memory deficit, need more general solutions, which include providing a consistent design and using simplified language. For example, by using a template, a Web developer can reuse the same layout and design for each page, so a person with a cognitive disability can more easily navigate through a Web site. People with cognitive or learning disabilities can also benefit from redundant input, such as providing both an audio file and a transcript of a video. By simultaneously viewing the text and hearing it read aloud, they can take advantage of both auditory and visual skills to comprehend the material better. It is worth noting here the deeper issues surrounding dyslexia and colour perception for their relevance to web accessibility and design. Dyslexia People with dyslexia frequently experience discomfort when reading because they find it more difficult to ‘decode’ the words on the page, and can also find it difficult to remain focussed on a particular piece of text. Some people may also have to concentrate more to remember what they have already read, which means they will tire more easily. Jack Pickard in his article ‘Web Designing for Dyslexia’1 lists the following criteria to make the page an easier place to be for those with dyslexia. Text size The minimum recommended font size for users with dyslexia is 12pt. Printed material should always be made available at this size. Text scaling On a website you may wish to use a default size smaller than 12pt. If so, use a font size which scales easily, such as percent (%). This way, users with dyslexia (or poorer vision) can adjust their own settings to increase the font size. Note that if you start with a base font size of around 80% (used by a lot of websites), Internet Explorer will allow a font size increase to over 12pt at the largest setting, but at 70%, a user with Internet Explorer will not be able to reach a font size of 12pt. Font style Use a rounded font that is easy on the eye. Use a sans-serif style font (i.e. without curly bits). Commonly used fonts for this purpose are Arial, Comic Sans, Verdana, Helvetica, Tahoma and Trebuchet. It is important to note that not every dyslexic user dislikes serif fonts: many have no problem with them provided the line spacing is sufficient. Capitalisation Avoid the use of capitalisation for emphasis. All capitals can make text more difficult to read and gives the impression of ’shouting’. Background An off-white background can be easier to read from than a ’shiny’ white background. Text is also harder to read on a patterned or tiled background. Spacing Use line spacing between paragraphs to break up text. Justification Don’t right justify text. This leads to variable spacing between words and can create visual patterns of white space which are difficult to ignore and are sometimes termed ‘rivers of white’ running down the page making it extremely difficult to read. Italics Avoid them. They make text more difficult to read.

1 Taken from www.d.umn.edu/itss/support/Training/Online/webdesign/accessibility.html

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Paragraphs Keep them short. Use lists to bullet point items rather than presenting continuous prose and number menu items where appropriate. Writing style Use short words where possible, and write in simple sentences. Refer to the reader as ‘you’. Navigation Ensure your navigation is simple and stays the same across the site. It is helpful to include a site map and a search facility. Moving text This creates problems for dyslexic users and users with other visual impairments. Don’t use it. Columns Dyslexic people find that the further text is presented from one side of the screen to the other, the more difficult it becomes to read. Ideally a column should be no more than 70-80 characters wide. Pictures Where a picture will aid comprehension, use one. Document structure As a general rule, the more structured your document is, the easier it will be to understand. Use headings, bulleted lists, numbered lists and indented quotes where appropriate. Abbreviations Always expand the first occurrence of any abbreviation on a page. For subsequent occurrences, consider use of <acronym> and <abbr> elements to aid understanding. The BDA (British Dyslexia Association) Style Guide says, “Presenting information in a format which makes it easily accessible is vital, if the information it contains is to be understood by everyone” Everyone is susceptible to eye strain and tiredness when working. When a person concentrates for a long period on a particular piece of text the words may go blurry, though this is only temporary. Dyslexic people frequently experience visual discomfort when reading. Some dyslexic people focus on the spaces rather than on the words. This is often described as seeing 'rivers' moving down the page. The words and text can appear to be moving around the page or wobbling. Anything that disturbs concentration, such as visual discomfort, makes the problem worse. With a few small alterations however it is possible to alleviate the pressures of visual discomfort. Colour Blindness Colour blindness is mostly neglected and even most of the people do not consider this as a serious problem.2 However, colour blindness can be a problem that disrupts many tasks. Colour blindness is a problem in seeing colours as most others see them. But it is not blindness; it has nothing to do with the eye sight. These people confuse some colours, and may not see some ones at all. Many people think colour blind users only see black and white - like watching a black and white movie or television. But only a few people really do not see all colours. At the back of our eyes there are cones (blue, red, and green) that pick up colour and rods that pick up brightness. Colour blind people have fewer cones than normal, so they get colours confused. Colour blindness is mostly inherited, or it may be acquired as a result of some illness, such as head trauma, or treatment. There is evidence that environmental factors (such as industrial pollution) and sun may cause colour blindness as well. Also, although not called colour blindness, when people grow older, their corneas typically turn yellowish, severely hampering their ability to see violet and blue colours Colour blindness has several forms. Trichromats are the people who have full colour vision. Dichromats are the people who can see only two of three primary colours of light (red, green, blue). Dichomacy has several forms. Achromatopsia is the inability to see any colours which may be called the actual colour blindness. These people see life in monochrome, or greys.

2 Information researched from www.otal.umd.edu/uupractice/colour

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In the context of web site design, accessibility is a measure of how easy it is to access, read, and understand the content of a web site. This is directly related to making a page usable by as many people as possible. It is important to consider the needs of individuals with disabilities during the initial product development phase. One of most serious accessibility problems given the current state of the web probably relate to the users with visual disabilities since most web pages are highly visual. Colour blind people are as likely as the general population to use computers and the Internet. Therefore, web designers must consider colour blind users when they are designing web pages. It can often be quite challenging to select colours that will be appropriately viewable to all users. Developers should also consider the potential for improperly adjusted monitors and projectors, resulting in poor contrast even for users with normal colour vision. These factors combine to make proper colour selection not only important but also difficult. It is quite common to see combinations of background and foreground colours that make pages virtually unreadable for colour blind users. Background, text, and graphics colours should be carefully chosen to allow for people with colour blindness. Designing for colour blind people is complicated. It's not a matter of green/red or yellow/blue combinations. The most important issue is not to use colour as a primary means to impart information. Colours and colour combinations should be selected carefully as well. Not only colour blind users but all computer users benefit from having the ability to customize display settings. Web pages should be designed to allow users to customize the interface to meet their needs. While designing web pagers, designers should never assume that users will see the colours they choose. Not only colour deficiencies, but running on a gray-scale monitor, or using their own browser's options to override designers choice of colours affect the perceived colours of the pages. Karagol-Ayan at the Department of Computer Science in Maryland offers the following recommendations in designing a web page, and, in fact they can be used while designing other documents to improve their accessibility to colour blind users: The most important issue in designing for colour blind users is not to rely on colour alone to convey information. Instead, provide redundant means of conveying information. Colour-based distinctions may not be visible to people who are colour blind. Therefore, ensure that all information conveyed with colour is also available without colour, such as from examples or context. For instance, when asking for input from users, do not write "Please select an item from those listed in green." Instead, ensure that information is available through other style effects (for example, font effect) and through context (such as comprehensive text links) A possible solution is to design in black and white, and adding colour only for emphasis since colour should never be the only visual cue for anything. If colours must really be used to distinguish items, then use blue, yellow, white and black. These combinations are less likely to be confused than others. It is important to distinguish between features that a user must be able to see in order to use the web page and those that would be nice to see. Creating a flexible user interface is very important. The designers should provide user customizable font styles and sizes and user customizable foreground and background colours using the operating system display settings or application specific preferences. Using FONT colours is an issue. Designers should be careful to avoid the use of these unless necessary, since if the users have their colours set to override those of the document, they may be incompatible colours with the FONT colour used in the page and may make the text unreadable. When specifying colours for a web page, use the hexadecimal colour codes (such as "#FF0000"), and not the names of the colours (such as "red"), as some browsers do not support the colour names. Fortunately despite the multiple terminologies, the colours and hexadecimal codes are the same. When designing pages, designers should also keep in mind that many users view in 256 colours or less, and that the colour palettes differ on different platforms and browsers, so make sure to keep web pages readable in 256 colours. In order to ensure cross-platform consistency in colour scheme, it is common and recommended to design web pages with the 216 common browser-safe colours, which are also referred to as Web-safe palette. Sufficient contrast for reading is a key factor when considering accessible colours on web pages - not only for page text but also in images. Even totally colour blind readers can differentiate similar colours which contrast bright with dark. Avoid using (red - green - brown - grey - purple) (next to - on top of - changing to) (red - green - brown - grey - purple).

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Designers who practice proper colour selection would select colours with greater contrast to make the information more pleasing to the eye. If for some reason this sort of colour combination is necessary, another approach may be darkening one colour and lightening the other, which is a way of increasing contrast. When specifying one of the colours (BGCOLOUR, TEXT, LINK, VLINK, ALINK), it is important to specify them all to ensure a pleasant and readable mix. Even when using a background image, BGCOLOUR should still be specified, because the users may not have image loading on. Table BGCOLOUR should be used when necessary, since the text may become unreadable in a browser that doesn't support table BGCOLOUR. In addition, a foreground colour should be specified with a background colour as well (and vice versa). Designers should avoid using colours in images to denote special areas, such as bar charts, maps and navigation bars. Instead, consider using textures or line shading instead. An alternative is providing additional written labels. Another issue is avoiding graphics which dither badly enough that they are undecipherable since some users may use grayscale or black and white displays. Since colour blind users may be able to decipher a text label easier than they can recognize an icon, providing text labels for all iconic elements and ALT="..." text for all images so they can be rendered by screen readers can be helpful. Another issue is passing through operating system settings that will impact accessibility, such as colour, contrast, and font size settings; cursor styles and blink rates, and system sounds. There are some ways to test whether a page can be viewed by colour blind users. In order to see whether a document still works without colours, it can be viewed with a monochrome monitor or browser colours turned off. Another way is setting up a colour scheme in the browser that only uses black, white, and the four browser-safe greys and see how the page holds up. To test whether colour contrast is sufficient to be read by everybody, printing pages on a black and white printer (with backgrounds and colours appearing in greyscale) is an option. A great way to test of showing what things look like to someone who is colour blind is by using Vischeck3. Vischeck can run online on image files or run on a web page. It can also be downloaded to run it on a computer. To sum it up then, individuals see a different range of colours, they confuse colours. Colour blindness can express itself in many variations and degrees of severity. Web sites, just like buildings, can be designed to meet the needs of all people, including those with disabilities. Unfortunately, most current web pages contain major access barriers. Colour perception problems are important considerations when developing web sites to ensure that all users have access to the content and the functionality of sites. Missing visual information can be as much of a problem as missing words in spoken sentences. What particular colour is seen, how colour is used does matter. If a colour is a primary carrier of information and is confused or not seen, transfer of information is severely restricted. The solution is to avoid using colour as the only indication of what to do, or the information you are trying to get across. Instead, colour should be used only as an unimportant hint to the users. Although there is no one right set of colours that will fit the needs of all individuals with all colour blind users, some guidelines, as I have outlined above, will enable the majority of people with colour blindness to access the web sites. In designing a website then there are issues surrounding the accessibility of it. There are 10 million people in the UK with some form of disability4, that's about one in seven of the population. If my website isn't accessible then not only could I be turning away potential customers but I may also be falling foul of the law. Web designers may test their pages online as well. Cynthia Says5 is an online Web Site Accessibility Verifier that checks a site for both accessibility and correct HTML mark-up. If the page earns a four star rating, the designer may display the "Cynthia Says" graphic on the web page.

3 For more information go to www.vischeck.com/ 4 Information sourced from www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/RightsAndObligations/DisabilityRights/DG_4001070 5 Official site - www.icdri.org/test_your_site_now.htm

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The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) makes it illegal for companies to provide an inferior service to, or discriminate against, a disabled person. This legislation extends to websites. In March 2003 the Disability Rights Commission announced its decision to test 1000 websites for accessibility. There was no intent to name and shame or indeed take legal action. It was an exercise to ascertain the level of accessibility awareness and implementation in websites across the UK. The results, published in April 2004, were astonishing. Only 0.2% of the sites tested achieved anything like the level of accessibility deemed acceptable. More alarmingly, 81% of the tested sites failed to reach the most basic accessibility guidelines. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), is an international consortium devoted to promoting accessibility on the web. Their Web Content Accessibility Guidelines6 (WCAG) are generally accepted as the definitive guidelines on web accessibility and accessible design techniques, and many other apparent sets of standards and guidelines actually refer back to the WAI guidelines. Designing for the disabled and taking into account accessibility is a very serious thing indeed, with consequences laid down in law and statute for those who do not comply. Epilepsy Epilepsy is termed as a ‘hidden disability’ as it is not obvious like some other impairment. Epileptic users access websites in much the same way as someone who is not impaired in any way. Epileptic internet users may have images, animations and other multimedia turned off in their web browser as seizures can be triggered by visual flickering between 2 and 59 flashes per second or by certain frequencies of audio. The Elderly The process of making a site more accessible doesn't just help those with specific accessibility requirements, though. The methods and measures used have been proven to improve a site's usability, and will increase a site's impact. Forty percent of the UK population will be over 45 by 2010; eyesight, hearing and dexterity all tend to deteriorate with age. As more elderly people learn to use the internet a higher percentage of the web using audience may require accessibility options. Making sure you’re a websites text can be resized through the browser is a simple example of catering to this audience. Those Whose 1 st Language is Not English We live in a diverse society, so you cannot assume that all your disabled customers have English as their first language – or can speak English at all. Some might rely on sign language to communicate. Providing alternative language versions will also help those whose first language is not English or who do not use English. Website owners can access basic translation services for free. Marking up language changes will help those using text to speech, or Braille devices. The RNID can be contacted about providing information for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) See it Right Guide says: “It is…important to develop materials in a range of languages for people whose first language is not English.” The W3C guideline 4 says, “When content developers mark up natural language changes in a document, speech synthesizers and Braille devices can automatically switch to the new language, making the document more accessible to multilingual users. Content developers should identify the predominant natural language of a document's content (through mark-up or HTTP headers). Content developers should also provide expansions of abbreviations and acronyms. In addition to helping assistive technologies, natural language mark-up allows search engines to find key words and identify documents in a desired language. Natural language mark-up also improves readability of the Web for all people, including those with learning disabilities, cognitive disabilities, or people who are deaf.

6 Please refer to www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20 for a full breakdown of the guidelines.

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When abbreviations and natural language changes are not identified, they may be indecipherable when machine-spoken or Brailled.” Some recommendations for the makers of websites may include the following measures: • Use plain English. • Keep sentences short and simple. • Use active verbs. • Use ‘you’ and ‘we’. • Avoid jargon, and archaic language. • Use positive language. • Use lists. • Write as if you were speaking to your reader. Writing in a clear, concise way helps all readers. Getting a message across simply will increase its effectiveness, save a readers’ time and save money! Jargon is alright if it is for a specialised audience and one is sure the readers will understand it. Otherwise, if a web site does use it then it is best to provide an explanation. Using clear and simple language promotes effective communication. Access to written information can be difficult for people who have cognitive or learning disabilities. Using clear and simple language also benefits those whose first language differs from ones own, including those people who communicate primarily in sign language. The Plain English Campaign says that the main advantages of plain English are: It is easier to write; it is easier to read; and you get your message across more often, more easily and in a friendlier way. Web Users from Outside the Industry or New Users It is important that all readers can understand a web site. The makers and owners of a site may be familiar with the subject matter, but the audience may not. Even if plain English is used a web site may still need to use technical terms, acronyms and abbreviations. If this is the case it is wise to provide a glossary for readers and make it easy to find. It is possible to provide hyperlinks on websites to a dictionary/thesaurus at little or no cost. Expanding abbreviations the first time they appear not only helps the unfamiliar reader – it also assists those using assistive technology. Some recommendations may be for owners and makers of sites to: • Provide an explanation of technical terms, acronyms and abbreviations. • Provide expansions/explanations of abbreviations and acronyms in print and on websites. • Provide an easy to find glossary of technical terms in print and on websites. • Provide access to a dictionary or thesaurus on websites. Summary The internet is one of the best things that ever happened to people with disabilities. You may not have thought about it that way, but all you have to do is think back to the days before the internet to see why this is so. For example, before the internet, how did blind people read newspapers? They mostly didn't. Audiotapes or Braille printouts were expensive - a Braille version of the Times would be too bulky to be practical. At best, they could ask a family member or friend to read the newspaper to them. This method works, but it makes blind people dependent upon others. Most newspapers now publish their content online in a format that has the potential to be read by "screen readers" used by the blind. These software programs read electronic text out loud so that blind people can use computers and access any text content through the computer. Suddenly, blind people don't have to rely on other people to read the newspaper to them. They don't have to wait for expensive audio tapes or expensive, bulky Braille printouts. They simply open a web browser and listen as their screen reader reads the newspaper to them, and they do it when they want to and as soon as the content is published. Similarly, people with motor disabilities who cannot pick up a newspaper or turn its pages can access online newspapers through their computer, using certain assistive technologies that adapt the computer interface to their own disabilities. Sometimes the adaptations are simple, such as having the person place a stick in the mouth and use it to type keyboard commands. In other cases, the adaptations are more sophisticated, as in the use of special keyboards or eye-tracking software that allows people to use a computer with nothing more than eye movements.

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People who are deaf always had the possibility of reading newspapers on their own, so it may seem that the internet does not offer the same type of freedom that it does to those who are blind or to those with motor disabilities, but they can read online transcripts of important speeches or view multimedia content that has been fully captioned. Many people with cognitive disabilities can also benefit greatly from the structure and flexibility of web content. Despite the web's great potential for people with disabilities, this potential is still largely unrealized. For example, some sites can only be navigated using a mouse, and only a very small percentage of video or multimedia content has been captioned for the Deaf. What if the internet content is only accessible by using a mouse? What do people do if they can't use a mouse? And what if web developers use graphics instead of text? If screen readers can only read text, how would they read the graphics to people who are blind? As soon as one starts to ask these types of questions, one begins to see that there are a few potential glitches in the accessibility of the internet to people with disabilities. The internet has the potential to revolutionize disability access to information, but if decision makers are not careful, they could place obstacles along the way that destroy that potential and which would leave people with disabilities just as discouraged and dependent upon others as before. The web offers so many opportunities to people with disabilities that are unavailable through any other medium. It offers independence and freedom. However, if a web site is not created with web accessibility in mind, it may exclude a segment of the population that stands to gain the most from the internet. Most people do not intend to exclude people with disabilities. As organizations and designers become aware of and implement accessibility, they will ensure that their content can be accessed by a broader population. Although, many people still think e-mail and World Wide Web as the principle constituents of internet, there is lot more in store than e-mail, chat rooms, celebrity web sites and search engines. It also became the best business tool of modern scenario. Today internet has brought a globe in a single room. Right from news across the corner of the world, wealth of knowledge to shopping, purchasing the tickets of your favourite movie-everything is at your finger tips. Internet has great potential and lot to offer… however, like every single innovation in science and technology, internet has its own advantages and disadvantages. Advantages of the Internet Communication : The foremost target of internet has always been the communication. And internet has excelled beyond the expectations .Still; innovations are going on to make it faster, more reliable. By the advent of computer’s Internet, our earth has reduced and has attained the form of a global village. Now we can communicate in a fraction of second with a person who is sitting in the other part of the world. Today for better communication, we can avail the facilities of e-mail; we can chat for hours with our loved ones. There are plenty messenger services in offering. With help of such services, it has become very easy to establish a kind of global friendship where you can share your thoughts, can explore other cultures of different ethnicity. Information : Information is probably the biggest advantage internet is offering. The Internet is a virtual treasure trove of information. Any kind of information on any topic under the sun is available on the Internet. The search engines like Google, yahoo is at your service on the Internet. You can almost find any type of data on almost any kind of subject that you are looking for. There is a huge amount of information available on the internet for just about every subject known to man, ranging from government law and services, trade fairs and conferences, market information, new ideas and technical support, the list is end less. Students and children are among the top users who surf the Internet for research. Today, it is almost required that students should use the Internet for research for the purpose of gathering resources. Teachers have started giving assignments that require research on the Internet. Almost every coming day, researches on medical issues become much easier to locate. Numerous web sites available on the net are offering loads of information for people to research diseases and talk to doctors online. Entertainment : Entertainment is another popular reason why many people prefer to surf the Internet. In fact, media of internet has become quite successful in trapping multifaceted entertainment factor. Downloading games, visiting chat rooms or just surfing the Web are some of the uses people have discovered. There are numerous games that may be downloaded from the Internet for free. The industry of online gaming has tasted dramatic and phenomenal attention by game lovers. Chat rooms are popular because users can meet new and interesting people. In fact, the Internet has been successfully used by people to find life long partners. When people surf the Web, there are numerous things that can be found. Music, hobbies, news and more can be found and shared on the Internet.

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Services : Many services are now provided on the internet such as online banking, job seeking, purchasing tickets for your favourite movies, guidance services on array of topics engulfing the every aspect of life, and hotel reservations. Often these services are not available off-line and can cost you more. E-Commerce : Ecommerce is the concept used for any type of commercial manoeuvring, or business deals that involves the transfer of information across the globe via Internet. It has become a phenomenon associated with any kind of shopping, almost anything. You name it and Ecommerce with its giant tentacles engulfing every single product and service will make you available at your door steps. It has got a real amazing and wide range of products from household needs, technology to entertainment. Disadvantages of the Internet Theft of Personal information : If you use the Internet, you may be facing grave danger as your personal information such as name, address, credit card number etc. can be accessed by other culprits to make your problems worse. Spamming : Spamming refers to sending unwanted e-mails in bulk, which provide no purpose and needlessly obstruct the entire system. Such illegal activities can be very frustrating for the user, and so instead of just ignoring it, one should make an effort to try and stop these activities so that using the Internet can become that much safer. Virus threat : Virus is nothing but a program which disrupts the normal functioning of your computer systems. Computers attached to internet are more prone to virus attacks and they can end up into crashing your whole hard disk, causing you considerable headache. Pornography : This is perhaps the biggest threat related to children’s healthy mental life. It is a very serious issue concerning the Internet. There are thousands of pornographic sites on the Internet that can be easily found and can be a detrimental factor to letting children use the Internet. Though, internet can also create havoc, destruction and its misuse can be very fatal, the advantages of it outweigh its disadvantages.

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Different Ways the Connection Can Be Used 3D Sales Catalogues : An online sales catalogue that uses engineering companies) 3D imagery to display products. Particularly useful for businesses with highly detailed products (e.g. where items are best illustrated in 3D. Often these sites allow the viewer to rotate and zoom in to examine the images in detail. Application Service Provision (ASP): ASP providers offer subscriptions for software applications, and manage the software application on behalf of their clients. The advantages are that smaller companies can now take advantage of advanced applications, without the need for full-time IT support. Closed Circuit Television : CCTV but using Internet technology with web cameras. Content Management : Sometimes called 'knowledge management', content management is used to refer to the process of capturing, storing, sorting, integrating, updating and protecting any and all information. Customer relationship management (CRM ): Creating meaningful valued, ongoing relationships with existing and potential customers. CRM strategies involve improving the people, processes and technology associated with marketing, sales and services in order to enhance customer satisfaction. Data Transmission : The electronic transfer of information between two computers. E-Commerce : Electronic Commerce refers to the general exchange of goods and services via the Internet. E-Learning : Education via the Internet, network, or standalone computer. E-learning refers to using electronic applications and processes to learn, these include web-based learning, CD ROMs, virtual classrooms, and digital collaboration. Email : Electronic mail, a service that sends messages on computers via local or global networks. Email Server : A computer connected to a network that sends and receives email traffic to other computers. Extranet : The part of a company or organisation's internal computer network which is available to outside users, for example, information services for customers. File transfer : Transferring a copy of a file from one computer to another, the case study examples normally refer to very large files. High Resolution Imagery : Resolution refers to the number of pixels per square inch, the higher the resolution the better quality the picture. Internet : A network of networks; a group of networks interconnected via routers. The Internet (with a capital I) is the world's largest internet. Intranet : A local area network which may not be connected to the Internet, but which has some similar functions. Some organizations set up Web servers on their own internal networks so employees have access to the organisation's Web documents. Instant Messaging : A service that alerts users when friends or colleagues are on line and allows them to communicate with each other in real-time through private online chat areas. Media Downloads : The downloading of large files often containing video, moving graphics, and/or audio. Mobile Technology : Covers a variety of mobile devices, but where all data is transferred wirelessly. Multiple Text Messages : Ability to send text messages to multiple recipients from a single computer, or originator. Online Banking : Access to banking facilities that enable nearly all transactions, except cash withdrawal, to be handled online. Online Booking : Software applications that allow customers to book hotel rooms, tickets, or other services, online. Online Databases : A database located on a remote computer and accessed through the Internet.

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Online Gaming : Growing more and more popular, the playing of games online and in real-time with other online players. Online Meetings : These can take a variety of forms, from text messaging to video conferencing. There are many software applications that facilitate this — some of them free, which can be used to reduce the amount of unnecessary travel. Online Security : With access to web cameras, web users can see their homes or business premises from a distance to check on security. Remote Assistance : This refers to IT support given remotely; one computer can take temporary control of another computer. This allows smaller companies to gain access to high quality IT support without the need for hiring full time staff. Remote Bac kup: Where essential data is saved on to an online server, so the location of the server is no longer bound by the location of the person doing the work. Remote Diagnostics : Similar to Remote Assistance, where computer problems can be analysed and fixed from a distance. Remote Presentations : Where detailed, and media rich presentations can be shown to clients without the need for travel. Some of the example case studies show how UK based businesses are able to conduct business around the globe while cutting costs. Remote Working : The ability to work away from the office, or on the move, while having full, secure access to a company’s computer networks. Rich Media Streaming : Refers to any media, video, animation, audio etc. that is being provided or accessed online and in real-time. Shared Business Logic : Where two or more users share access to information via an application (like Customer Relationship Management software), they share business logic. Shared Network Environments : Where information is centrally stored in a secure server online, providing access to the same (up to date) information for a range of people based in different locations. Software Downloads : Referring to the downloading and updating of software applications on a computer, saving the need of visits from IT specialists. Can also cover automated updates, so that companies have access to the latest versions of software they’ve purchased, seamlessly and without costly IT overheads. Supply Chain Logisti cs: Software applications that facilitate the monitoring and management of logistics based businesses or departments. Uploading Websites : The updating of content to websites, the case study examples cover issues regarding speed and ease of updates. Video Conferencing : Real-time video to allow multiple users to broadcast and receive sound and vision simultaneously. Video conferencing has been around for a while, and used to involve specialist and expensive equipment. The advances in online video conferencing, often involving just a web cam and free software, enables business meetings, or family gatherings, to happen without the need for travel. Virtual Private Networks (VPN) : A method of using the Internet, to give individual users or remote offices secure access to their company's network. Virtual Reality Tours : Usually referring to 360 degree ‘panorama’ photographs, these can be used as an effective marketing tool to show views of a city, conference facilities, hotel rooms etc. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) : Enables users to make phone calls across computer networks, providing a low cost and efficient way to complement traditional phone systems. Web Cams : Cameras that are connected to the internet to provide 24 hour imagery, for marketing, information and security.

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Website Updating : Improved access to the internet to allow websites to be changed and updated in a fraction of the time taken on a dial-up connection. Of course not all of the above are used by the NHS and indeed even less by the Smoking Cessation Department that I myself work for.

The NHS National Programme for IT Throughout 2006/07 the NHS introduced new computer systems and services to improve how information is stored and shared in the NHS. This new information technology (IT) provided opportunities for the health service to make changes and deliver better, safer care for patients. Supporting better, safer care is the main aim of the National Programme. It is central to investment. The National Programme has a number of key projects. Each has its own purpose and contributes to the overall goal of linking a patient’s health information together, helping those providing them with care. Some projects, such as implementing a new broadband network for the NHS provided important foundations for other work. These projects were planned and delivered in the early part of the Programme. Others have longer time frames. Financial and efficiency savings will increase as more new computer systems and services begin to be installed in hospitals, GP practices and other care settings. This will provide increased opportunities to support real transformation and to improve the quality and safety of care for patients. The NHS has been using paper based systems for many years as well as computer systems that don’t link up. However, old fashioned systems do not support the information sharing that is needed for modern care. That care can be both technically complex and delivered by more than one organisation. Patients can receive treatment from a team of health care professionals. They may be based in different buildings or organisations across primary and secondary care, or out in the community. By enabling information to be linked electronically, staff caring for the patient will have secure access to accurate, up to date patient information twenty four hours a day, seven days a week improving diagnosis and care. The patient’s information will ‘follow’ them as they receive treatment, rather than being stuck in a filing cabinet or on a particular computer. This should end the paper chase between GP surgeries, hospitals and departments, resulting in fewer lost records and test results. The new systems and services also support increased choice and convenience for patients in booking outpatient appointments and obtaining their repeat prescriptions. And, by improving patients’ access to their information, they will be assisted in making more informed decisions about their care. New front line systems and services will increasingly deliver such benefits but, before they could be implemented, firm foundations had to be laid. These foundations have strengthened and improved technical and security standards as well as putting in place vital infrastructure, like a state of the art secure broadband network to link NHS organisations across England. By updating and replacing old technology, efficiency and quality improvements have been made. In many cases this has helped us towards the NHS main goals of better, safer care for patients and better value for money for the NHS. It is however the new front line systems and services which will deliver the greatest potential benefits for the NHS and patients. Every day the number of new front line and clinical systems in daily use is accelerating. Some of these systems, such as digital x-rays and scans and electronic booking of appointments are now widely available throughout the NHS. Whilst IT investment will not in itself deliver all potential benefits, it does provide opportunities for profound and wide ranging changes in the way healthcare can be delivered for the benefit of whole health communities. These changes come not just from implementing new computer systems and services, but in equipping people with new skills to take advantage of that IT, adopting more efficient processes and making the best use of facilities. The NHS change programme began in July 2000, with the publication of the NHS Plan. It was followed by the health reform programme which introduced patient choice, practice-based commissioning, payment by results, foundation trusts and independent sector treatment centres. The investments and reforms are driving the transformation which will deliver real and significant benefits for patients. Infrastructure provided by the National Programme for IT is helping to enable this transformation. What is N3? N3 is the National Network for the NHS. It provides reliable, supporting IT infrastructure, world-class networking services and sufficient, secure connectivity and broadband capacity to meet current and future NHS IT needs. N3 has replaced NHSnet, the previous private NHS communications network in England. It provides connectivity to all NHS organisations in England, as well as those non-NHS sites providing NHS care, ensuring a reliable service

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at every site where NHS services are delivered or managed.In facilitating Programmes like the NHS Care Records Service, Choose and Book and the Electronic Transmission of Prescriptions, N3 is essential to the future of a modern NHS. It enables the delivery of better care to patients and a truly 21st century infrastructure. It is the largest Virtual Private Network in Europe and is a project of a scale and complexity that has never been attempted before, in the UK or abroad. At present It delivers: • A fast and reliable network for every NHS site in England, supporting all National Applications, both current and

new. • The flexibility to cater to future needs of the NHS, including the ability to take early advantage of updates and

improvements in networking technology. • Bespoke networking solutions and services for the individual needs of different NHS organisations. • Support for NHS organisations in implementing innovative new services – for example, the use of video

conferencing for appointments with consultants. • Substantial savings on the cost of telephony by enabling NHS organisations to converge their voice and data

networks. N3 is being delivered by NHS Connecting for Health, the organisation responsible for NHS IT systems and services. An N3 Service Provider (N3SP) was appointed by NHS Connecting for Health to take responsibility for integrating and managing the service. Currently, as of 2009 this is British Telecom. The N3 service has been procured from a number of subcontractors to ensure value for money. The N3SP is bringing together the separate elements into a complete and seamless end-to-end network, whilst ensuring flexibility and best value for the NHS. The N3SP also manages the network, dealing with, for example, fault reporting and customer relationship management. National Programme Systems and Services The core projects which make up the National Programme are: N3 – the secure broadband National Network for the NHS in England. NHS Care Records Service – the backbone of the new IT systems and services, enabling patient information from different parts of the NHS to be linked electronically, with detailed records held locally and a Summary Care Record available across all NHS organisations in England to support out of hours and emergency care. Picture Archiving Communications Systems (PACS) – digital x-rays and scans to replace outdated film-based systems for fast, accurate diagnosis. Choose and Book – an electronic booking system to improve choice and convenience for patients requiring a first outpatient referral. Electronic Prescription Service – enabling prescriptions to be sent electronically from the prescriber to the pharmacy. Support for GP IT – including a choice of GP systems and GP2GP which enables a patient’s records to be transferred electronically when they change GP practice. NHSmail – a secure email and directory service for the NHS. In addition, there is support for local NHS organisations to implement a range of other essential local front line and clinical systems across primary and secondary care to meet their needs and priorities. These include Single Assessment Process systems for care of the elderly; Map of Medicine to support prescribers; patient administration

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systems; radiology, A&E and theatre systems; ambulance communication systems; community, clinical and child health systems; systems to support care in prisons; and systems to support processes, such as data miner systems, tray management systems, portal systems and order communications systems. As one can see the systems that have developed are considerable and I can only touch upon the better known ones as above. The impact here is to improve the experience for both the patient and staff. It allows for greater patient involvement in their NHS and gives them more control and informed choices for the health and well being. For staff it is a great resource base for communication, research and sharing good practice. Benefits for patients These systems provide major opportunities for NHS organisations to make significant changes that make a big impact for patients, enabling choice, faster diagnoses and reduced waiting times. Choose and Book, for example, allows patients to choose their outpatient appointment according to their own priorities – whether that is the first available date, the hospital closest to their home, or fitting their appointment around their family or work commitments. For patients with complex conditions, the systems offer those involved in their care the opportunity to plan a care pathway more efficiently. They may work in different specialties, and be based in different locations, but everyone can have access to up to date electronic information. Similarly, digital x-rays and scans enable a second opinion to be given electronically, in real time, by a specialist in a different location. All of the above supports the delivery of care at the right time and in the right place. Benefits from New Infrastructure (N3) The National Network for the NHS (N3) is now in place, replacing old technology and providing efficient, secure, high quality network and broadband connectivity for NHS computer systems and services. This has brought savings for the NHS of £192 million and will continue to save the service almost £95 million each year as old networks are replaced. In addition to generating cash savings, N3 is bringing benefits for the other frontline applications which simply could not function without it. The new network supports the secure, rapid electronic transmission of prescription messages from GP surgeries to pharmacies, as well as the transfer of a patient’s complete GP record from one practice to another in a fraction of the time it used to take. And in secondary care, the secure central storage of digital x-rays and scans enables them to be effectively shared across multiple hospital sites within a healthcare community. This can assist a more rapid diagnosis and effective ongoing care for the patient, with healthcare professionals able to retrieve appropriate images whenever they are needed, rather than waiting for x-ray films to be physically transported to them. Now the infrastructure is in place, front line local clinical systems can be delivered according to local needs and priorities across England. National IT systems, such as digital imaging and the Electronic Prescription Service will also deliver increased benefits for NHS staff and patients as they become more widely available across the NHS. In addition, NHS organisations have the opportunity to make the most of the infrastructure which is now largely in place. For example, significant savings are already being made on telephone calls by using internet technology offered through the National Network for the NHS (N3). Novell ZENworks NHS Connecting for Health, the IT arm of the NHS as outlined above, currently contracts Novell to provide its infrastructure and software services. ZENworks offers asset management, remote desktop control and application deployment. It enables NHS organisations such as ELPCT to have a unified view of their IT resources. NHS Connecting for Health signed its Enterprise Wide Agreement with Novell in October 2005. Novell ZENworks is a suite of software products developed and maintained by Novell, Inc. for computer systems management, aims to manage the entire life cycle of servers, of desktop PCs, of laptops, and of handheld devices (such as PDAs). ZENworks supports multiple server platforms and multiple directory services.

Internet and the NHS There are several websites that the NHS has on the Internet, some are nationally based and some are particular Primary Care Trusts. Further still, some GP surgeries and clinics have their own sites on which patients can book appointments; view information and order repeat prescriptions. Below are some of well known ones at a local and regional level, whilst others I have touched on previously in my outline on the NHS Programme for IT as above.

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NHS Choices The NHS Choices website provides information on local NHS services – for example, service performance, the facilities they offer, waiting times and national information about what the NHS does. NHS Choices is a comprehensive information service that helps to put you in control of your healthcare. The service is intended to help you make choices about your health, from lifestyle decisions about things like smoking, drinking and exercise, through to the practical aspects of finding and using NHS services in England when you need them. Since the integration of the online arm of NHS Direct in October 2008, NHS Choices provides a single 'front door' for the public to all NHS online services and information through the country’s biggest health website. The many sections include: Medical advice now Information for those with an immediate medical worry, including: • The self-help guide: a quick and easy way to check symptoms and decide whether to seek medical help, • Common health questions: answers to topical and frequently asked health questions, and • The online enquiry service: submit questions and receive answers by email on non-urgent health matters. Find services People can find telephone numbers and full details for all the health services in the area they live, everything from GPs and dentists to carer services and gyms. There are around 30 national directories people can search by simply entering a postcode. Health A-Z This section explains more than 750 conditions and treatments in an easy and comprehensive way in words, pictures and video. Top doctors and health professionals share their knowledge and advice while patients give an insight into coping with particular conditions and treatments. Compare hospitals If someone is referred to hospital to see a specialist or to have treatment, he can compare hospitals he might go to by various criteria covering such things as cleanliness, experience of a particular procedure and, in some cases, survival rates, through to car parking arrangements, general facilities, or availability of A&E departments. Live Well Live Well is a lifestyle section that provides guides, tips and high-quality information on how to live a healthier life. Covering around 80 broad topic areas, there's always something new to find, with articles, videos and interactive tools being continually added. Carers Direct Carers Direct is a support service for the five million people in England who look after someone else. The site is full of information covering all aspects of caring, including advice and support, benefits, local services and more. Behind the headlines Provides an unbiased and evidence-based daily analysis of the science behind health stories that make the news. It aims to respond to stories the day they appear in the media. The NHS in England People can get a wealth of information about the health service in England, from its history and how it's organised to ones rights and what one can get from it. NHS Talk People can read blogs with the latest views, news and tips on a range of topics and conditions from more than 100 patients, carers and medical professionals. This is an expanding area which will soon include a range of discussion forums and an “Ask the doctor” feature where GPs will select the most interesting questions and publish the answers. Videos, multimedia tools and links All NHS Choices video and audio content, along with a growing range of interactive tools - symptom checkers, quizzes, calculators and information features - are collected in a multimedia library. And the Links library offers more than 1,200 addresses of health-related websites offering specialist support and information.

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NHS Choices mobile NHS Choices mobile is a joint service run by NHS Choices and DirectGov. The text service enables anyone to find local NHS services, such as hospitals or dentists. It also offers several interactive tools, for example, you can check your alcohol intake, the costs of smoking or see if you are healthy weight. Your comments People can add their comments to the site in several areas. One of the main features allows people to comment on hospitals, saying what one did or didn’t like and what one thinks could be improved. A persons comments will eventually become part of an overall “ranking” showing the public’s opinion of every hospital that does NHS work in England. People can share their hospital feedback Get your own account Creating an account will let people tailor NHS Choices to their interests, save information such as details of their GP and dentist, index pages that interest them and receive emails on their chosen topics and health goals. NHS Choices Intermediaries Training Programme Through the development of a dynamic online learning platform, and regional face-to-face workshops, NHS Choices aims to provide training and support to professionals and volunteers who provide health and wellbeing to the public. Health Space HealthSpace is a free, secure online personal health organiser. It can help people to manage their health, store important health information securely, or find out about NHS services near you. Anyone living in England, aged 16 or over, with a valid email address can register for a Health Space account. It contains the following sections: Choose and Book People can Choose and Book their hospital appointment using the online Choose and Book service. They do not need to register for a Health Space account to use Choose and Book. When a patient and their GP agrees that they need an appointment with a specialist, Choose and Book shows their GP which hospitals or clinics are available for treatment. Their GP discusses with them the clinically appropriate options which are available for treating their medical condition. If they know where and when they would like to be seen, they may be able to book your appointment before they leave the surgery. They will be given confirmation of the place, date and time of their appointment. They may want more time to consider their choices. If so, they can take their appointment request letter away with them and book the appointment later. In some cases they will need to telephone their chosen hospital directly to make their appointment. This is because the hospital computer does not link to Choose and Book. This will change over time as the old hospital computers are replaced with new ones. Choose and Book has also its own dedicated website which answers more detailed questions about it. Health and Lifestyle information People can manage their health and lifestyle by keeping track of their information like weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and medications. Calendar and Address Book Patients can use the calendar to keep track of appointments and events, or the address book to store their NHS contacts like their GP, dentist or local pharmacy. Summary Care Record A Summary Care Record (SCR) contains important information taken from the electronic medical records that the NHS holds for us. The information could help people treating us, particularly in an emergency. So far, Summary Care Records have only been created for people living in a small number of areas (known as Early Adopter areas). If a patient lives in one of these areas, they will receive more information from the NHS locally about how to register to see their Summary Care Record in Health Space.

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NHS Direct NHS Direct operates a 24-hour health advice and information service, providing confidential information on: what to do if you or your family feel ill; health conditions and treatments; local healthcare services; self-help and support organisations. When someone phones NHS Direct, a nurse will give them confidential advice and information. They can ring for advice if they are feeling ill and are not sure what to do, or for health information on particular conditions such as diabetes and allergies. NHS Direct has joined forces with NHS Choices and is now another option on that site. NHS Direct will continue to provide the telephone service on 0845 4647, providing health advice and information 24/7. All NHS Direct website health content will also be available on NHS Choices, including the following popular services: • Self-help guide – provides you with quick and easy ways of checking your symptoms and deciding whether you

need to seek health advice. • Health encyclopaedia - provides reliable information on more than 800 conditions and treatments. • Common health questions – allows a person to obtain answers to topical and frequently asked health

questions. • Online enquiry service – a person can submit and receive answers to non-emergency health questions. NHS Mail NHSmail is the secure email and directory service for NHS staff in England and Scotland, approved for exchanging patient data with NHSmail and GSi users. Staff get an email address for their whole NHS career, accessible anywhere. NHSmail has been upgraded and is now based on Microsoft Exchange 2007. NHSmail is the secure email and directory service available to all NHS staff and has the following features:

• secure email, calendar, directory, fax and SMS service • available for use, without charge to organisations, by any and all NHS staff in England and Scotland. • NHSmail is a secure service - it is approved for the transmission of patient data. Government accredited to

'RESTRICTED' status, no other email service available to the NHS has this level of security • NHSmail is a resilient service - it is based in two data centres. If one data centre suffers a catastrophe the

other one takes over. Our DR (disaster recovery) design has been fully tested and proved • NHSmail is available anywhere - on any NHS site or on the move via secured encrypted devices. It is

available over the NHS N3 network and the internet • NHSmail is a 24x7x365 service. It doesn't get switched off and, night or day there is always someone you

can call for help. We publish our performance targets and how we do against them • Your NHSmail account stays with you for as long as you stay in the NHS - no need to accumulate accounts

as you move through your career. One career, one email address • NHSmail is national - you can share your calendar (or other mailbox folders) with colleagues in your

organisation or any other NHS organisation. You can create a community of interest regardless of where members are based

• NHSmail is available to NHS staff and NHS partners (Pharmacists, Dentists, Optometrists) - secure business workflow doesn't have to stop at the NHS boundary

• NHSmail is free to use - whether for sending email, or sending SMS messages (for appointment reminders for example), there is no charge to you or your organisation. NHS organisations can decommission their existing local email service and allocate the savings elsewhere

• NHSmail uses Microsoft Exchange 2007 for providing the functions to manage your email, calendar and personal contacts - representing the gold standard in functionality

• NHSmail is built to scale up to 1,000,000 users. The NHSmail Directory contains over million NHS contacts already - both NHSmail users and non-NHSmail users

• No advertisments! NHSmail is centrally funded and does not need to rely on advertising • No spam or viruses - there are several layers of anti-virus / anti-spam protection to keep unwanted material

out of your mailbox. It is easy to block senders, if you wish. NHS Connecting For Health NHS Connecting for Health came into operation on 1 April 2005 and is a Directorate of the Department of Health.

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NHS Connecting for Health supports the NHS in providing better, safer care, by delivering computer systems and services that improve how patient information is stored and accessed. They are helping the NHS to deliver new computer systems and services to improve patient care and safety. The systems above have been developed by professionals at Connecting for Health but below are some more systems and services that NHS staff, the media and patients can use to learn about the work and its benefits. It includes: NHS Data Model and Dictionary Service The NHS Data Model and Dictionary Service provides the development, maintenance and support of NHS data standards. The NHS Data Model and Dictionary provides a reference point for assured information standards to support health care activities within the NHS in England. The Map of Medicine The Map of Medicine is a tool for achieving clinical consensus throughout a healthcare community. • Delivers current, evidence-based clinical knowledge from the world's most authoritative sources, constantly

reviewed. • Displays this knowledge in an easy-to-use Pathways format, reflecting the patient journey • Provides a framework for creating local Pathways using modified or new content specific to a healthcare

community. The Map creates an overarching benchmark for clinical process, a framework for sharing knowledge across care settings, and a tool for mediating a multi-disciplinary dialogue about the care process. The Logical Record Architecture The Logical Record Architecture (LRA) for Health and Social Care is an initiative that has arisen out of the increasing need to treat information flows holistically throughout the NHS, from one care encounter to another, through to public health and strategic planning services. The Electronic Prescription Service The Electronic Prescription Service will enable prescribers - such as GPs and practice nurses - to send prescriptions electronically to a dispenser (such as a pharmacy) of the patient's choice. This will make the prescribing and dispensing process safer and more convenient for patients and staff. And much more : Addressing Blood safety tracking pilot Capability & Capacity Choose and Book Clinical Dashboards Data Services Demographics Deployment support Education, Training and Development (ETD) Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) ePrescribing GP Support Health and Social Care Integration Programme HealthSpace Implementation Independent Sector Healthcare Programme

Information Governance (IG) Map of Medicine N3 - The National Network NHS Care Records Service (NHS CRS) NHS Gateway NHSmail NHS Number NHS Strategic Tracing Service (NSTS) Pathology Messaging Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) Professionalising Health Informatics (PHI) Registration Authorities and Smartcards Research Capability Programme Spine Secondary Uses Service (SUS) Systems & Service Delivery

NHS Jobs This is a dedicated website for looking and applying for all and any jobs within the NHS and the process is all done online. To apply one must first register for an account. It’s easy to do and free to use.

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East Lancashire PCT and the Stop Smoking Department East Lancs PCT Website East Lancashire Primary Care Trust has its own website at www.eastlancspct.nhs.uk. The functions of the PCT and the website are to engage with local populations to gauge feedback to improve health and well-being. The website serves as an easy access and information point for all residents of the East Lancs area. They can find out information about a particular Service or any of the Premises that they operate out of. There are dedicated main sections all about: ELPCT and what it does; Patient Information; Professional Support; News; Getting Involved and Careers. There are also special sections on the NHS 60th birthday, accessibility; jargon busters, and much more. My own main usage of this site is to gather information from the Policies and Procedures section in the Professional Support Section. Often, I am asked by my Manager to download a PDF and print it off or send it to her via email attachment. My own Department, the Stop Smoking Service, is on this site and provides an email link for patients, details of clinics, venues, times and services along with thumbnails of the team – including myself. East Lancs PCT Intranet NHS Trusts have performance targets and staff/patient data to collate and report on a regular basis. They also have a large number of personnel working at locations and in the community throughout their areas. ELPCT use SORCE. SORCE is a packaged intranet product with everything that ELPCT needed to design and deploy a business ready intranet in a matter of days, not weeks. It enables this and other Health Trusts that use it to manage communication and collaboration more effectively and is a valuable tool for collecting and reporting on key performance indicator (KPI) data. The makers of it state that “SORCE is a highly flexible and adaptable product that can be tuned to the specific information management requirements of NHS Trusts”. SORCE specialises in intranet, extranet and portal solutions. They help customers to deliver more business value through better communication and collaboration and improved business processes. Employees, customers, business partners and suppliers benefit from immediate and secure access to the information and knowledge they need to work more productively and effectively. SORCE technology powers intranet and extranet solutions for over 150 organisations and they have more than 175,000 users worldwide. Our clients cover a wide range of sectors from finance to manufacturing, not for profit organisations such as charities and housing associations as well as local authorities and other public sector agencies. The IT Department have created a script that makes the Intranet appear on screen as soon as one logs in to ones workstation. There is no way of over-riding this command. There is no requisite to log in to the Intranet again should one close it down and then choose to go on it again. Unfortunately, I never use the ELPCT Intranet. I have browsed through it once and sadly found it poor in design, functionality, interest and usefulness. There is a directory of email addresses there for some departments but as Microsoft Outlook has a Global Address book anyway I find that it negates the need for one on the Intranet. Outlook is easier to navigate and to search for names with its auto fill feature and better designed User Interface. There are links to GP lists and Pharmacies in East Lancs which are quite useful for some Departments but do not really pertain to ours. There are bulletins and newsletters on there if anyone wants to read them, but I have found that if it is not requisite then colleagues and other staff choose not to do so. Workloads are high and people do not want to browse the Intranet in their lunch breaks. In an Administration role such as mine, this is particularly pertinent as I spend up to 40 hours a week at my computer. All staff at ELPCT are sent a newsletter in PDF format by email attachment on a regular weekly basis. It is more likely, in my experience, that colleagues and staff will read the attachments that come via mail rather than download them from the Intranet. Everybody I have spoken to has been of the same opinion and finds it an annoyance to run at start up. The Stop Smoking Database (EPRS) This is the mainstay of my work in the Department and is an Electronic Patient Recording System that is built on the Microsoft Access Database architecture. It is bespoke built by a company called Data Warehouse who has been contracted by ELPCT to create, manage and provide reporting and recording systems for the whole of the

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Trust. The database lives on a secure server many miles away and so the department needs Internet access to use it. Security logons and passwords are needed to open the EPRS and its functionality. Microsoft Access Reporting System (MARS) MARS is a business automation and report scheduler product which has been designed to work with Microsoft Access for exporting, distributing and delivering Microsoft Access reports, queries and macros. It can send the reports to print, fax, disk, ftp or email in a number of standard formats. In ELPCT the MARS reporting system has been integrated with Explorer and is available as a web based reporting tool using data from the EPRS above. I have saved the link to MARS in My Favourites in Internet Explorer and I run the queries manually. I can then export to Excel and send off this report as an attachment. Again, as with the EPRS, security logons and passwords are needed to open MARS and its functionality. Request Forms Both the IT Department and Data Warehouse have their own on-line request forms for logging jobs and requests. These are simply links that I have saved to ‘My Favourites’. There are a number of Fields such as name, contact, department and the nature of the problem or request that are obvious mandatory fields. When the request is sent a log or job number is generated and an email confirmation is received automatically. On a personal note I find the forms to be time consuming and a hindrance. On my part it is easier to make a telephone call and speak to somebody directly and immediately. I imagine that online forms such as these are more beneficial to the IT Dept or Data Warehouse so that they can better filter their work and assign it to their staff. However, the downside is that this reduces human interaction and one often feels uncertain anything has happened when more than a day passes and no action has been taken on the request, (in some cases – more than a week). I feel that technology is all well and good but sometimes people may hind behind it and become ‘invisible’ for accountability and responsibility.

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Browser Facilities

Facilities available in browser software and how to make the most of them What is a Web Browser? A web browser is an interface that helps a computer user gain access to all the content that is on the Internet and the hard disk of the computer. It can view images, text documents, audio and video files, games, etc. More than one web browser can also be installed on a single computer. The user can navigate through files, folders and websites with the help of a browser. When the browser is used for browsing web pages, the pages may contain certain links which can be opened in a new browser. Multiple tabs and windows of the same browser can also be opened. Web browsers are an old concept in computers. As time passed, browsers with advanced functionality were developed and updated. The primary and secondary features and facilities offered by web browsers include downloads, bookmarks, and password management. They also offer functions like spell checking, search engine toolbars, tabbed browsing, advertisement filtering, HTML access keys and pop-up blocking. Types of Web Browsers Internet Explorer This is the most widely-used web browser by people around the world. It was developed by Microsoft in 1994 and released in 1995 as a supportive package to Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. It is presently known as Windows Internet Explorer, was formerly called Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE), and more is commonly known as IE. People have a misconception that browsing the Internet is possible only through Internet Explorer. They are unaware of various web browsers that are available. This simply proves that Internet Explorer is used by the majority. According to statistics, its usage share from 1999 to 2003-04 was around 95%. Since then, there has been a lot of competition in the market, with many software companies coming up with web browsers that challenge IE in their features and usage. Microsoft occasionally releases updates to their previous versions of IE, which have some enhanced capabilities. The latest version is Internet Explorer 8 which is a free update. The 'favicon', which is the favorites icon was introduced first in IE, and was later adopted by many other web browsers. Initially, IE did not support tabbed browsing, but today, it can be used even in the older versions, by installing toolbars. Mozilla Firefox It is owned by Mozilla Corporation and was the result of experimentation. This browser has gone through many name changes due to name clashes with other products. 'Mozilla Firefox' was officially announced in February 2004. It was earlier named Phoenix, Firebird, and eventually Firefox. It is the second-most famous browser after Internet Explorer, as there were around 100 million downloads within a year of its release. Until November 2008, 700 million downloads were recorded. Since the release of Firefox, the sale of Internet Explorer has gone down drastically. It has around 22% of the market share at present. It has undergone many updates and version changes that were made to improve usability to the universal users. It can be used on most operating systems, but was found to be more prone to vulnerabilities. However, the problems were fixed in the newer versions. As it is open source software, its source code is available, thus allowing everyone to access the code. It supports tabbed browsing that allows the user to open multiple sites in a single window. Session storage is also an important feature of Firefox, which allows the user to regain access to the open tabs after he has closed the browser window. Apart from these, there are many user-friendly features that Firefox offers. Safari This is a web browser from Apple Inc., which is compatible with Mac OS X operating system, Microsoft Windows, and the iPhone OS. Safari was released by Apple in January 2003 as a public beta. As of March 2009, the market share of Safari has gone up to 8.23%. The Safari 4 beta release claims to have many features like Voice-Over Screen Reader, that reads aloud everything that takes place on the screen, with text and web links. It also has features like CSS Canvas, LiveConnect, XML 1.0, and JavaScript support, and Cover Flow. 'Grammar Checking' is an interesting built-in feature, which performs a grammar check on the typed text and gives suggestions to correct your sentence if wrong. If you need to fill an online form with your personal information, AutoFill is a feature that automatically does that for you, with the help of information that is stored in your address book or Outlook. Safari supports all the functions that are available in other web browsers.

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Opera This web browser was developed by Opera Software in 1996. It is a well-known browser that is mainly used in Internet-activated mobile phones, PDAs, and smartphones. Opera Mini and Opera Mobile are the browsers used in PDAs and smartphones. It is compatible with many operating systems such as Solaris, Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows. Though it is not a renowned computer web browser, it is popular as a web browser in mobile devices. It is also compatible with Symbian and Windows Mobile operating systems for smartphones and PDAs. Opera 9.64 which is the latest version, provides an e-mail client known as the Opera Mail. The company claims that Opera is the fastest browser in the world. It also has some common functions like zoom and fit-to-width, content blocking, tabs and sessions download manager with BitTorrent, and mouse gestures. Google Chrome This web browser was developed by Google. Its beta and commercial versions were released in September 2008 for Microsoft Windows. It has soon become the fourth-most widely used web browser with a market share of 1.23%. The browser versions for Mac OS X are under development. The browser options are very similar to that of Safari, the settings locations are similar to Internet Explorer 7, and the window design is based on Windows Vista. Netscape Navigator/Netscape It was developed by Netscape Communications Corporation and was most popular in the 1990s. Exceptional features were provided at the time of its release, which helped it rise to fame with a market share of more than 50% in the 1990s. It was compatible with almost every operating system. Since 2002, it has almost disappeared from the market due to strong competition from rivals like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, etc. It had undergone many version changes to maintain its stake in the market, none of which were very successful. Although there are many web browsers available and many more are likely to arrive in future, only those which are exciting and user friendly will be able to survive market competition and hold on to a substantial market share. Browser Performance and Settings Web Browsers are not the quickest beasts in the computer jungle. Although recent releases of most of the popular browsers are several orders of magnitude faster and more efficient than the lethargic browser suites of earlier desktops, there are still a number of problems that web browsers can have that will have a major impact in both system and browser performance. A lot of the more popular web pages are quite simply crammed to the edges with Flash, Java, Javascript, blinking ads, eight zillion different fonts, 500K image maps with no "bypass this" button, midi files, music, narration, animation and video in dozens of different formats. This is a phenomenal volume of data that would drive quite a number of very capable game engines to their limits. It's understandable that a web browser, which doesn't have "to the metal" access to ultra fast video display memory, the advanced video functions on video cards, or any specialized or optimized functions like game engines do, might have some trouble keeping everything moving at full speed. But also unlike game engines, most web browsers are equipped with a wide variety of "off switches" and fine tuning capabilities which make it possible to increase performance dramatically. There are also browsers available for just about every operating system that are both more specialized and faster than standard browsers precisely because they can't do all of the stuff that the larger suites can. The first and most important potential area for performance slowdowns with a web browser is graphics. The reasons for this are as varied as the individual web sites. Each can have different graphics formats, file sizes, and page layouts. Despite the fact most web connections are on high speed hardware, a page with 50MB of 24-bit non-progressive JPEGs or PNG files is going to be a heavy load for any browser. Browsers are not only limited by download speed, but they have to make room in system memory first, then video memory second for every single one of those files, and that can take a lot of CPU cycles. Again, browsers have to be lowest common denominator applications. They can't have super fast display functions, because they have to support just about any hardware. The second is animation. Adobe Flash is a great technology and it has done a number of great things for the web, but animation puts a lot of stress on both the CPU and system memory. The doubly difficult part is that Flash animations, even if they are off-screen, can still chew up CPU cycles and extra system memory. Since Flash is almost never the central feature of a web page, it is usually that animated banner ad that is using up a third or more of the CPU cycles that could be put to better use running the rest of the computer.

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Third are features that are programmed into web sites using scripting languages like Javascript or compiled virtual machine languages like Java. With a very few notable exceptions, Java is almost always a massively slow addition to any web site. The reason for this is that a browser must load an entire client side virtual machine into memory so a Java program can run. If the virtual machine isn't already in memory this can take several seconds during which time the browser and system may have difficulty doing anything else. Unless it is turned off in advance, a Javascript interpreter is almost always running in most browsers, so it doesn't have the same potential for a system slowdown as Java does. Nevertheless, Javascript can and does slow down web sites, especially poorly written Javascript. Internet Options Microsoft Windows allows you to customise the way the Internet works on your computer through Internet Options. While some of these functions apply to any program that uses the Internet, many of these settings only apply to Internet Explorer. One way to get to Internet Options is to go to the Control Panel then double-click on Internet Options (Windows XP users will need to be in Classic View to see this Control Panel). Another way to get to it is by starting Internet Explorer and finding it at the bottom of the Tools menu. Now the obvious answer would be to simply turn everything off and read the web in 12 point Times New Roman font, but that's really not terribly exciting. The web is supposed to be the future and all. There are ways to increase browser performance, however. Performance of the Computer 1. Firstly, confirm that the computer itself is operating at maximum efficiency. It is very common for computers,

mainly those using the Microsoft Windows operating systems, to become sluggish after as little as a few months of operation. This can make users think that their internet connection is extremely slow and can become an incentive to convert to a more expensive broadband connection, change ISP’s, etc.

Often, the best solution is to optimize the Performance of the Computer. There are several causes of sluggish performance, most notably (a) a full, or nearly full, hard disk drive (HDD), (b) an older computer with a slow microprocessor and limited memory and (c) the presence of viruses or other malware. Typically, the first of these is the easiest to correct; this can be accomplished by removing little-used files and programs. Performance should also be maintained by using the disk defragmenter and disk clean up tools in the accessories to be found in the Programs List.

A Fast Web Browser 2. Use A Fast Web Browser. There are large differences in the speeds at which browsers render (i.e., convert to

the final form) web pages. The fastest is said to be Opera, followed closely by Firefox. Also, the newest versions of these browsers are generally the fastest. Reasons for these high speeds include improvements in coding and in how previously visited pages are stored in the browser cache. Many experts avoid using Internet Explorer because it is the slowest of the major browsers, has inferior security and it lacks other advanced features. However, with the advent of Internet Explorer 8, the newest version, I believe that their worries may become a thing of the past. For those who are still unconvinced about IE8, Opera and Firefox can be downloaded from the Internet at no cost and are available for use with most major operating systems.

Tabbed Browsing 3. Use Tabbed Browsing. Tabbed browsing is an innovation built into advanced browsers such as Firefox and

Opera and then adopted by IE7 onwards. It allows multiple pages to be open simultaneously in what appear to be different pages in a single browser window. Each of these pages is easily accessible by clicking the appropriate tab along the top of the window. This can be much more convenient than having to open each page in a separate browser window when it is desired to have a number of pages open simultaneously. Moreover, it can also speed up the web surfing experience by making it more convenient to be downloading other pages while one page is being read.

Create browser bookmarks that consist of sets of URLs rather than just single URLs. This is possible with browsers that have advanced tab capabilities such as Opera, Firefox, IE7 and IE8. Thus, for example, if a user visits a certain group of web sites every morning, a bookmark titled Morning could be created that will automatically open all of those pages, each in a different tab. The same thing could be done for afternoon, evening, days of the week, areas of interest, users, etc. This can further speed up the effective web experience by eliminating the need for some amount of mouse movements and typing.

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Simultaneous Connections 4. Increase the number of Simultaneous Connections in Internet Explorer: This tip has been around for a while,

but if you haven't implemented it yet, you can see a real boost to your browsing speed. It entails a Registry edit, so create a restore point before you begin, just in case. With your Registry backup in place, click Start > Run in XP, or press the Windows key in Vista, type regedit, and press Enter. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings, right-click in the right pane, and choose New > DWORD Value. Name the value MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server, double-click it, give it a value of 10, click Decimal, and then OK. Now create another new DWORD Value, name it MaxConnectionsPerServer, double-click it, give it a value of 10, choose Decimal, click OK again, and close the Registry Editor.

Browsers just naturally seem to slow down over time. Maybe it's because the add-ons start to accumulate, or because a user forgets to clear their cache and perform other standard maintenance via Windows Disk Cleanup application. Add-ons 5. I suggest turning off any animation or programming language that isn't necessary to the central feature of a

given web site. If, for example, a user is browsing articles on gardening written in text with a few pictures here and there, having Flash and Java running is unnecessary and will just slow the gardening site down if they have to load an advertisement or something.

Add-ons are great tools for enhancing ones Internet experience, but they can also bog things down tremendously, especially when they start to conflict with a browser or each other. To disable add-ons individually in IE, click Tools > Internet Options > Programs > Manage add-ons, select those you don't need one at a time, and choose Disable. When you're done, click OK twice. You can also go the extreme route of removing them all at once by resetting IE to its defaults: Click Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Reset. Keep in mind that this should be your last resort when IE has become too unstable to use. To disable add-ons in Mozilla Firefox, click Tools > Add-ons > Extensions, select the one you want to disable, and choose Disable.

Disable Pop-ups 6. Importantly, even if performance isn't an issue, is to set your browser to Disable Pop-ups. Each new window a

browser is required to open will reduce the amount of system memory available for quickly displaying web pages. Every pop-up window uses the same amount of memory as a new browser window even if it is only displaying a small ad, and those memory uses can add up as more pop-up windows appear.

The Cache & Temporary Internet Files 7. One is to make sure the browser has adequate cache space. Cache is disk memory allocated to a browser so

it can keep local copies of pages that have already been visited. This means browsers don't have to re-download information if a page is visited more than once in a given browsing session. Every time you visit a web page on the internet, your web browser will store a copy of that web page, including images and sounds in the Temporary Internet Files folder. This is often referred to as the cache. You may well notice how quickly a web page loads in your browser the second time you visit it, if you have not cleared your cache. Conversely, once you have cleared your cache, a site will take longer to load the first time round as it has no previous information to access from memory. The more space that is allocated to cache, the more pages that can be saved client-side and the faster those pages can be re-displayed if visited again. When these caches become very large, they can consume considerable space on a HDD and thus slow down computer operation in some cases, including the displaying of web pages.

When a computer program is unable to allocate sufficient memory for its tasks or when a program has to work on data larger than the address space provided by the system architecture, temporary files are created. The creation of temporary files by a computer program may also be the result of some form of inter-process communication.

The Internet browser cache consists of Temporary Internet Files. The files that are downloaded with web pages are stored as temporary Internet files. Thereby, a cache of the web pages visited, is created on the computer hard disk. They remain there until the user deletes them manually.

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Temporary Internet files give rise to Internet privacy issues, as it is due to these files that the pages visited by a user remain available to the other users using the same local computer for Internet access. They also consume a fair amount computer memory. But that does not make them worth only the deletion. They can be useful in certain ways. Cached websites are available offline, thanks to the temporary Internet files. Temporary Internet files help a computer maintain traces of the websites visited. It is advisable to clear your cache regularly, not only to prevent your browser from loading out of date information about a site or image but, because cache takes up a lot of disk space and will eventually cause your computer to slow down. To clear your cache in Internet Explorer 7 and 8, simply open a browser, click on Tools, then Internet Options, under Browsing History click Delete and there you will see the options to delete temporary internet files, cookies, history, form data, passwords and In-Private Filtering Data. To clear up space and increase performance I would suggest selecting them all for deletion. You can adjust your settings to automatically clear the cache whenever you close your browser. If you are using IE7 or IE8, simply go to the Tools menu, and click Internet Options. Click the Advanced tab. In the Settings box, scroll down to the section labelled Security (look for the padlock icon), and click to check the box next to the Empty Temporary Internet Files Folder When Browser Is Closed option. Click OK to finish. This option will clear your cache of other files when you close your browser, but it does not delete cookies.

Cookies 8. Delete your Cookies. Cookies are small bits of data sent to your computer by websites to keep track of details the

site wants your computer to remind it about between visits. If cookies haven't been set up properly by a website's designers, they can severely slow down your browsing. Clearing cookies once in a while can help speed browsing up, but it also means you might be logged out of all your favourite sites the next time you visit!

Browsing History 9. Clearing the Browsing History. This is useful if you've been browsing somewhere you're not keen for other

people to know about. It’s a privacy issue really but deleting your history will clear up some disk space and increase the performance of a users chosen browser a little bit.

Turn off Phishing Filter 10. Turn off Phishing Filter. This feature supposedly helps to prevent you from being tricked into accessing a rogue

web site that is masquerading as a bona fide web site. I've personally found this feature to really slow down web access at times. Microsoft released a patch that supposedly fixes the problem, but my computer has the patch and I still notice this feature slowing down web access. If you think you can live without the extra protection of IE7 anti-phishing (or in IE8 it is called the Smart Screen Filter) you can disable it by starting IE7 and then going to: Tools->Phishing Filter and then clicking on Turn Off Automatic Web Site Checking. Then click OK on the subsequent popup window:

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In IE8 just go to Tools in the Menu Bar and turn off the Smart Screen Filter from the selections in the drop down dialog box.

RSS Feeds 11. Automatically checking for RSS Feeds is reported to slow IE7 performance and you can turn this off by going

to: Tools->Internet Options->Content->Feeds->Settings and then unchecking all boxes shown:

ClearType 12. Use of ClearType with IE7 has been reported to slow IE7 performance. You can disable Cleartype in IE7 by

going to: Tools->Internet Options->Advanced and then moving the slider on the right until you see Always use ClearType for HTML*, at which point you can uncheck that option.

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Two of the new features of Internet Explorer 8 are the Accelerators and the Web Slice. The Accelerators in Internet Explorer 8 The new Accelerators in Internet Explorer 8 are designed to help a user to quickly perform his everyday browsing tasks without navigating to other websites to get things done. It may be used to map an address, translate a word, or perform other routine tasks online. Until now it was likely a series of cutting and pasting information from one webpage to another. Now there's a better way. He just simply has to highlight text from any webpage, and then click on the blue Accelerator icon that appears above his selection to obtain driving directions, translate and define words, email content to others, search with ease, and more. For example, with the "Map with Live Maps" Accelerator in Internet Explorer 8, he can get an in-place view of a map displayed directly on the page. You can discover other useful Accelerators by selecting the More Accelerators option on the right-click menu, or visit Microsoft’s Accelerators gallery. You can easily delete, disable, or enable Accelerators by clicking on Manage Add-ons from the Tools button on the upper right-hand corner of your browser window. This is a function for Power Users I think. Personally, like any other add-on, it’s up to the user to decide to turn it off or not depending on whether they want the full singing and dancing surfing experience or they just want to get some information from the Internet quick. I am the latter and use it as a tool rather than for entertainment – I just don’t simply have the time. Web Slices in Internet Explorer 8 Using Web Slices, can keep up a user with frequently updated sites directly from the new Favourites Bar. If a Web Slice is available on a page, a green Web Slices icon will appear in the upper-right hand corner of the browser. A user needs to click on this icon to subscribe and add the Web Slice to the Favourites Bar so he can keep track of that "slice" of the web. It may be used for example, to check for updates to e-mail, weather reports, sports scores, stock quotes, auction items, email and so on. Until now this was a manual process, where a user had to repeatedly visit sites to check for updates or new information. Again, this is for the Power User who spends a significant amount of time of the Internet to merit its enablement. If its just simple quick browsing for information then I would suggest, for the sake of performance over interactivity then do not use it. Of course, the user will not have as much as a enhanced browsing experience but this is the compromise for performance over level of interactive experience. It’s really up to the user to decide what he wants from his browsing and how his browser can be tuned to that requirement. The main thing to understand is that web speed isn't just about download speed. What is happening on the client machine can have a dramatic effect on overall performance, and turning off services that aren't needed can make the web faster and more efficient. It’s really down to what the computer user wants from the Internet and how far he wants to take his browsing experience. Power Users may not want to turn off any of the add-ons because they want all that technology has to offer whilst other just read the occasional blog or check on the racing results. I can’t recommend what others should do because there is no ‘best’ way. Everyone is different and for many performance and speed isn’t really an issue. Besides, as broadband speeds get faster and faster there is less to worry about the cache slowing down the browser. Privacy and Optimising Utilities If a computer user has Internet Explorer 6 or earlier or any other browser that he or she does not know how to maintain the performance of, I would highly recommend using Privacy and Optimising Utilities like CCleaner. CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from a computer system, allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of online activities such as the Internet history. It will clean the following:

Internet Explorer Temporary files, history, cookies, Autocomplete form history, index.dat.

Firefox Temporary files, history, cookies, download history, form history.

Google Chrome Temporary files, history, cookies, download history, form history.

Opera Temporary files, history, cookies.

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Safari Temporary files, history, cookies, form history.

Windows Recycle Bin, Recent Documents, Temporary files and Log files.

Registry cleaner Advanced features to remove unused and old entries, including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more... It also comes with a comprehensive backup feature.

Third-party applications Removes temp files and recent file lists (MRUs) from many apps including Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Microsoft Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and many more...

There are many other tools such as this but personally, after using CC Cleaner for over 3 years I think this one is the easiest, feature rich and safest to use…and it’s free! Further, tools like CC Cleaner, Eraser, Window Washer, etc. are not only time savers for the technically minded who may know how to do these things manually, but also are real gems for the newbie or computer illiterate. The computer user does not need to navigate all over the Control Panel and Browser Options, Tools and so on, because it’s all done for him with just one click. Easy! First Computer Literacy Support Services (1st C.L.A .S.S.) Should this fail then I would use the services of First Computer Literacy Support Services (1st C.L.A.S.S.) or somebody like them. Of course, I am 1st CLASS and I have created a Prototype Website to offer my services which I will be developing further and then posting it on the Web as ‘sideline’ to my main job as Administrator at Stop Smoking Services. A CD with the 1st CLASS website is included with this report (front of folder) along with many of the resources embedded within it or uploaded to another host site and available for download. All the available products, tutorials, guides, galleries, animations, etc. are all of my own creation. Here is an extract from the Home Page:

I provide a computer literacy and support service in the comfort of your home. My coverage is the Rossendale BB4 I provide a computer literacy and support service in the comfort of your home. My coverage is the Rossendale BB4 I provide a computer literacy and support service in the comfort of your home. My coverage is the Rossendale BB4 I provide a computer literacy and support service in the comfort of your home. My coverage is the Rossendale BB4 area but I am availablarea but I am availablarea but I am availablarea but I am available outside this area for a small charge to cover my travel costs. Unlike most technical support e outside this area for a small charge to cover my travel costs. Unlike most technical support e outside this area for a small charge to cover my travel costs. Unlike most technical support e outside this area for a small charge to cover my travel costs. Unlike most technical support

services and large computer retail shops I will not charge you a fortuneservices and large computer retail shops I will not charge you a fortuneservices and large computer retail shops I will not charge you a fortuneservices and large computer retail shops I will not charge you a fortune.

Here are just a few things I can help you with:Here are just a few things I can help you with:Here are just a few things I can help you with:Here are just a few things I can help you with:

• Setting up your computer and showing you how to take control of its settings and functions.

• Installing your softwares and helping you to use them.

• File management, navigation and PC performance.

• Protecting your PC against trojans, malware, viruses and worms!

• Surfing the 'net', setting up email accounts and showing you how to use email and web browser programmes.

• Downloading pictures from your camera and showing you how to manipulate, enhance and store your images with your chosen graphics or photo editing software.

I can teach you how to master I can teach you how to master I can teach you how to master I can teach you how to master the Microsoft Office Suite of programmes.the Microsoft Office Suite of programmes.the Microsoft Office Suite of programmes.the Microsoft Office Suite of programmes.

• Word - documents, templates, flyers, leaflets, layouts, labels, mail merge, macros, defaults.

• Excel - spreadsheets, tables, formulae, worksheets.

• Powerpoint - presentations, slides, backgrounds, animations, special effects.

• Publisher - desk top publishing, newsletters, printing, cards, posters, flyers, creations.

• Access - creating and using a simple database.

• Outlook - email, calendar, settings, notes, archiving and configuration.

I can teach you how to use a wide vI can teach you how to use a wide vI can teach you how to use a wide vI can teach you how to use a wide variety of 3rd party programmes, including:ariety of 3rd party programmes, including:ariety of 3rd party programmes, including:ariety of 3rd party programmes, including:

• Photo editing, graphic design and image manipulation software.

• Recording and manipulating music, voice and sounds using audio editing software.

Online Support from the Manufacturer

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Of course, if all else fails then Microsoft have excellent support pages for all of their products including Explorers 7 and 8 on http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/internet-explorer/download-ie.aspx. Microsoft has online video tutorials, walkthroughs, user forums and more. Mozilla Firefox has a similar support page on http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox+Help+2?style_mode=inproduct. Either way, there is plenty of support out there – just Google it and see.

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What’s available on the Internet, Intranets and the World Wide Web I have previously covered this earlier on in this report but to reiterate: The Internet is a worldwide collection of computer networks, cooperating with each other to exchange data using a common software standard. Through telephone wires and satellite links, Internet users can share information in a variety of forms. The size, scope and design of the Internet allows users to: • connect easily through ordinary personal computers and local phone numbers • exchange electronic mail (E-mail) with friends and colleagues with accounts on the Internet • post information for others to access, and update it frequently • access multimedia information that includes sound, photographic images and even video • access diverse perspectives from around the world. Having a computer connected to the Internet gives us immediate access to current information, vast collections of books, journals, research data, and many educational, commercial and entertainment sites. An additional attribute of the Internet is that it lacks a central authority—in other words; there is no "Internet, Inc." that controls the Internet. Beyond the various governing boards that work to establish policies and standards, the Internet is bound by few rules and answers to no single organization. In addition to text documents, the Internet makes available graphics files (digitized photographs and artwork), and even files that contain digitized sound and video. Through the Internet, you can download software, participate in interactive forums where users post and respond to public messages, and even join "chats," in which you and other users type (and, in some cases, speak) messages that are received by the chat participants instantly. Among the ways that users like us are taking advantage of the Internet are: • Sharing research and business data among colleagues and like-minded individuals. • Communicating with others and transmitting files via E-mail. • Requesting and providing assistance with problems and questions. • Marketing and publicizing products and services. • Gathering valuable feedback and suggestions from customers and business partners. • Find educational resources, including up-to-the minute news, copies of important documents and photos, and

collections of research information on topics ranging from weather conditions to population statistics. • Improve technology and information skills necessary to find and use information, solve problems, communicate

with others, and meet a growing demand for these skills in the workplace. • Learn and have fun together by sharing interesting and enjoyable experiences.

The Internet's potential is limited only by users' vision and creativity, and as the Internet grows, new and innovative uses will surely follow. I have listed many of these earlier on in this report and it is unnecessary to repeat them here. The World Wide Web is the name given to the entire part of the Internet a person can access with their chosen web browser software. The World Wide Web, or WWW or web for short, consists of millions of web sites and millions of web pages. A web page is kind of like a word-processing document, except it can contain pictures, sounds, and even movies along with text. Anyone who knows a little HTML (hyper-text markup language) or has a program capable of saving in HTML can make a web page. The main difference between a web page (or 'home page') and a web site is that a web site generally contains multiple web pages, all linked to one another in some fashion. Some people use the term web page and web site interchangeably but those with Internet experience know the difference. One of the beauties of the World Wide Web is the ability to hyperlink. A hyperlink is one of those little (usually) blue and (usually) underlined pieces of text that you can click on to go to a different web page. When someone makes a web page they can place a link on it to virtually anywhere they wish on the web. When someone visits their web page they can just click the link and the visitor's computer automatically loads the linked site in the web browser window. Most people use links to help their sites' visitors find other useful sites. When someone makes a page about himself or herself just for fun they'll usually add links to pages created by their friends.

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Opportunities to Post or Publish Material to Web Si tes People are able to participate in and therefore control their experience of the Web. The Web allows anyone with an Internet connection to join in. (Unfortunately, some of this capability is blocked in certain countries). With the proper tools, anyone can create content either alone or collaboratively, share their content, and comment on the content of others. This is typified by Social Networking Sites. Social Networking Sites These are online communities in which members interact. A site that specializes in social networking is focused on making connections among its users. The activities may be limited to one activity or interest, such as sharing videos, to multiple activities such as creating a personal profile, posting ones current activity or state of mind, making "friends", engaging in discussions, joining groups, sending messages, and so on. Social networking can involve individuals or institutions, and can be used for recreational, informational, academic, and professional purposes. Examples: Facebook, FriendFeed, MySpace, Scribd, Digg, etc. Interactivity among social networking sites is slowly evolving. This means that anyone can share content, friends, and activities among many sites. FriendFeed is a good example of a site that gathers the activities and shared items of a person and their friends from numerous social networking sites. It is also becoming easier to share content from around the Web. Let's say I have read an article that I want to share on my Facebook account. Web sites, especially blog and news sites, sometimes offer an easy way to post this content to the social networking site of which I am a member. Here is an example of the many sharing options featured on a technology blog. If you have an account on any of these services, you can share the posting there with just a few clicks. The ShareThis application is shown in the example below.

Blogging A blog is a journal entry system organised around postings about which readers can comment. Entries are usually organised with the most recent postings first. The word "blog" comes from "Weblog" because a blog consists of a Web-based signed and dated log of individual postings. Blogs often focus on personal narratives or opinion and are usually maintained by single individuals. However, there are also plenty of blogs maintained by groups of people who share the same interests or expertise. The social nature of blogs comes from reader responses to the blog author's postings. These are known as comments. Readers can respond not only to postings, but also to their comments, resulting in a lively conversation. Most comments are written in text. However, video comments are also possible. Anyone can start a blog for free. Take a look at Wordpress and Blogger for a couple of examples. If I rented some space on a Web server, I could download blog software and run my own customized blog. Some excellent blog software is available at no cost, including WordPress and MovableType. Technorati and Google Blog Search are two useful search engines for locating content posted to blogs.

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Microblogging is also popular. This is exemplified by Twitter. With Twitter, you can create an account and blog in spurts of up to 140 characters. Also, excerpted postings or headlines from "regular" blogs can be sent automatically to your Twitter account. For an example, visit the TechCrunch page on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TechCrunch With a Twitter account, you can choose to "follow" other members and receive their "tweets" on your own page. Twitter is used by the famous and non-famous alike for recreational, professional, commercial, and informational purposes. As with many other social networking sites, a universe of creative tools have been built by the Web community to enhance the Twitter experience. for an example, check out 99 Essential Twitter Tools and Applications from Smashing Magazine at http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/17/99-essential-twitter-tools-and-applications. Personally, I was completely gobsmacked by the sheer number of diverse tools that could be integrated into Twitter. These are split into the following categories: Tools and Productivity Apps, Statistics and Analytics, Find New Twitter Friends Apps, Search Twitter Apps, Web-Based Mobile Apps, WordPress Twitter Plug-Ins, Adobe Air Twitter Apps and Firefox Twitter Extensions. The phenomenon of blogs has helped to advance the practice of commenting across the Web. In fact, one hallmark of the social Web is the option for public comment. For example, you can comment on YouTube videos and Flickr photos. Many news sites offer their readers the option to comment on stories. Commenting is showing up in all kinds of Web sites and in all kinds of contexts, so be on the lookout for opportunities. The nature of any comment you make is up to the person writing it. Comments can range from polite to insulting and anything in between. Even search engines are getting into the action. The search engine URL.com includes user voting and comments to help rank its results. WIKIS A wiki is a publishing platform on which many people can contribute new content and revise existing content. The content benefits from the collective knowledge of the contributors, so wikis can be very beneficial for group projects. Some businesses and organizations use wikis to maintain documents. Wikis allow visitors to view the history of page edits. For this reason, wikis are an excellent option for hosting documents that need ongoing edits or updates. Entire books can be published on a wiki; for examples, visit Wikibooks at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page As with blogs, anyone can start a wiki for free. Two options are PBwiki and Wikidot. Examples: Wikipedia, Digital Research Tools, EduTech Wiki Social Bookmarking Sites Social bookmarking allows you to save articles, news stories, blog postings, etc. from the Web and organise them into folders and/or tags. The addition of new bookmarks can often be followed with an RSS feed. A benefit of social bookmarking is the fact that your bookmarks are online, rather than on your local computer. With Web-based bookmarking, you can access your bookmarks from anywhere. The aspect of public sharing is also important. Examples: Delicious, CiteULike, Connotea RSS RSS is a feed format that is used to distribute frequently-published content. The feed format is a standardized subset up the mark-up language known as XML. The resulting feeds can be pushed to RSS readers and Web pages. The initials RSS can stand for different things, including Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. RSS content is often referred to as syndicated content because of its wide distribution. Users can subscribe to the RSS feeds of their choice, and then have access to the updated information as it comes in. The presence of an RSS feed is often signalled by an orange icon of some type. Two examples are shown here. RSS is an important part of the participatory Web. It has been said that RSS is the "glue" that holds the social Web together. You will encounter RSS in all sorts of places and used for all kinds of purposes. Wherever content is frequently added, you will probably find an RSS feed. This is because many sites on the social Web automatically create RSS feeds and add to the feed as you add content. If you want to keep up with the latest contributions by people on the social Web, reading RSS feeds is one of the best ways to do it.

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To experience RSS, you first need to subscribe to the feed using an rss reader, or aggregator. This is software that displays new items posted to your feed subscriptions and stores the old updates. It is similar to e-mail software, except that the incoming items are derived from RSS feeds. There are all kinds of RSS readers. Popular Web browsers such as Internet Explorer 7 and 8 and Mozilla Firefox offer integrated RSS readers. You can also download a reader to your computer or mobile device or you can use an RSS reader on the Web, for example the Google Reader or Bloglines. The advantage here is that you can access your RSS feeds from any computer that is connected to the Web. Subscribing to an RSS feed is as simple as adding its address to your reader's subscription list. As noted earlier, RSS is especially popular for distributing news updates and for announcing new content added to the social Web. Various media types can also be updated via RSS feed, including podcasts. If you click on any of the feed links you see in your browsing journey, you will be taking the first step toward subscribing to the feed. After clicking, you will be prompted to save the feed to your browser's feed reader, if you have one. Otherwise, you can click on the feed link with your right mouse button and select the option to Copy Link Location. You can then paste the location into the feed reader of your choice. Multi-Media Multimedia is a prominent part of the social Web. Users create audio and video files and share them with the public. Photo sharing is also a popular activity on the social Web. There are also TV broadcasts, radio stations, and Web cams set up by users. There are also social web based communities that share books, documents and literature such as Googledocs and Scribd. There are also sites to upload and share Power Point Presentations such as authorstream and slideshare. On many multimedia sharing sites, users are invited to post comments. The list is probably endless and possibilities boundless. I cannot hope to name them all but a couple of the better known ones such as Flickr, YouTube, Blip.tv and iReport. Real-time Communication Real-time communication on the social Web is big. The terms chat and instant messaging (IM) are sometimes used interchangeably, and refer to the real-time communication between people through typing and other means. With chat and instant messaging, a user on the Web can contact another user currently logged in to the same service and start a conversation. Multiple people can join a chat, and everyone can see each new message as it comes in. Chat is sometimes included as a feature of a Web site, where users can log into the chat room to exchange comments and information about the topic in the particular room. You can download IM software onto your computer, or use the chat function sometimes offered on the software creator's Web site. Most famous is America Online's (AOL) Instant Messenger, but there are many others. Pidgin and Meebo are examples of chat programs that integrate the chat functionality of several individual services. Some chat software can be embedded on your Web page (should you have one) so that your visitors can easily chat with you. Video chat is also an option. For example, people who use Google's GMail can engage in voice and video chat. More enhanced programs offer a combination of text chat, voice, and video communication. These capabilities allow people to conference and collaborate in real time. Such features as whiteboarding, document sharing, and collaborative browsing can also be available. This is often referred to as conferencing software. Examples include: Meebo and Meebo Rooms, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Yahoo! Messenger and Pidgin. Furthermore, anyone can also make phone calls on the Web. Skype is a service that allows you to do this for free. All you need is a microphone and the Skype software downloaded to your computer and the computer of your companion. If you have a Web cam, you can make video calls. Tags How can a person organise their content on the social Web? One way is with tags. People who create or share content on social networking sites often have the option of assigning topic words to their content. These are known as tags. Tags can help organise content into concepts or categories. With so much information on the Web, topical labelling can be useful. Once tags have been assigned, users can then click on a tag of interest and see all the content assigned to that tag.

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The choice of tag words is up to the creator. This is one of the drawbacks of tags: different people use different tags to describe similar content. However, it is possible for people to get together and agree on common tags to describe similar content. The use of tags is showing up in many contexts, as many social networking sites offer its members the option to assign tags to their content. Anyone can be a part of the tagging phenomenon! Tags are especially popular on blogs and social bookmarking sites. The online reference management tool Zotero allows users to organise citations with tags. Another good example to check out is the display of popular tags on Flickr. The type of display used there is known as a tag cloud. The larger the font assigned to the tag, the more often the tag has been assigned. The tag cloud to the right here is derived from a technology blog. Web Forums and Newsgroups Sometimes called a bulletin board or message board, a Web forum is an online centre for ongoing, in-depth discussions of specific topics and issues. In the United States and some parts of Europe, most Internet forums require registration to post. Registered users of the site are referred to as members and are allowed to submit or send electronic messages through the web application. A forum is not a "chat room." That is, users cannot participate in real-time discussions. However, users can ask and respond to questions, explain service techniques and strategies, share helpful anecdotes, and lend their expertise to others in the field. Forums are governed by a set of individuals, commonly referred to as administrators and moderators, which are responsible for the forums' conception, technical maintenance and policies. Most forums have a list of rules detailing the wishes, aim and guidelines of the forums creators. There is usually also a FAQ section contain basic information for new members and people not yet familiar with the use and principles of a forum. Individual messages are organized by topic and discussion title. A discussion (also known as a "thread") is a series of messages along a specific topic of conversation. Each discussion begins with a comment or question that elicits feedback from others. By reading each post (that is, each individual message) in a discussion, the reader can see how it has evolved. The topics listed on a forum home page are open for comment. The reader can select one of them to view the directory of active discussions within that topic. Web Forums are so similar to Newsgroups that they are often taken for one and the same thing as are chat rooms sometimes confused with them. What is the difference between them? A chat room is an environment in which users have real-time conversations with each other online. Messages are immediately visible to everyone in the room, and usually disappear after a few more messages. Most chat services offer users the option of creating private rooms with as few as two users. Chat rooms are found through Internet service providers (such as America Online) as well as Web sites. Newsgroups are a separate Internet service from the Web. To access a newsgroup, you need to know the address of a news server to get the news from. Most ISPs offer newsgroup services; a computer user should ask their ISP if he doesn’t know the server address. Many e-mail programs, such as Outlook Express, can also be used to read newsgroups, and there are news-reading programs as well. Newsgroup messages can be viewed by other subscribers and usually stay up for extended periods of time (a few hours to a few days to a few weeks, depending on the particular newsgroup). Replies to a message are posted as substrings to the original message, so that the whole thread of a topic stays together. Newsgroups are often moderated and subject to stricter rules than chat rooms. Many newsgroups provide FAQs (frequently asked questions) in order to acquaint newcomers with the rules, regulations and "netiquette" of the particular group. Newsgroups tend to be very focused: The discussion might be only about folk music, or only postings of recipes (no discussion!) or only about programming for Windows. Web forums, also called discussion boards, function in a similar way to newsgroups, except that they are available through individual Web sites. A Web site for graphic design, for example, might have a forum attached to it.

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Multi-Media on the Web Today's Web presents a diversified multimedia experience. In fact, the Web has become a broadcast medium, offering live TV and radio, pre-recorded video, photos, images, and animations. A computer user should expect to encounter multimedia just about anywhere on the Web. Plug-ins, Media Players and Multimedia Types Plug-ins and media players are software programs that allow you to experience multimedia on the Web. These terms are sometimes used interchangeably. File formats requiring this software are known as MIME types. MIME stands for Multimedia Internet Mail Extension, and was originally developed to help e-mail software handle a variety of binary (non-textual) file attachments. The use of MIME has expanded to the Web. For example, the basic MIME type handled by Web browsers is text/html associated with the file extention .html. MIME types area also used to process multimedia on the Web. A few examples: • Jpeg photos: image/jpeg • Flash presentations: application/x-shockwave-flash • Quicktime movies: video/quicktime • MP3s: audio/x-mpeg-3 Nowadays, many personal computers come pre-loaded with plug-ins and media players. This is an acknowledgement of the importance of the Web multimedia experience. If your computer doesn't have a particular piece of software, it can be easily obtained from the Web site of the company that created it. Downloading is easy and instructions are usually provided. Plug-ins are software programs that work with your Web browser to display multimedia. When your browser encounters a multimedia file, it hands off the data to the plug-in to play or display the file. Working in conjunction with plug-ins, browsers can offer a seamless multimedia experience. The plug-ins needed to experience Web multimedia are available for free. A common plug-in used on the Web is the Adobe Reader. This software allows you to view documents created in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). These documents are the MIME type "application/pdf" and are associated with the file extension .pdf. A PDF is a type of image file. When the Adobe Reader has been downloaded to your computer, the software will open and display the file when you click on its link on a Web page. Media players are software programs that can play audio and video files, both on and off the Web. The concept of streaming media is important to understanding how media can be delivered on the Web. With streaming technology, audio or video files are played as they are downloading, or streaming, into your computer. Sometimes a small wait, called buffering, is necessary before the file begins to play. Extensive pre-recorded files such as interviews, lectures, televised video clips, podcasts, and music work very well with these players. They can also be used for real-time radio and TV, including Web-only TV. Popular media players include the Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, QuickTime Player, and Flash Player. Audio Audio files, including music, are an important part of the Web experience. Listening to music on the Web is a popular pastime. Audio files of many types are supported by the Web with the appropriate players. The MP3 file format probably the most popular option for audio files. MP3 files are also the source of podcasts. These are audio files distributed through RSS feeds, though the term is sometimes also used to describe video programming (or vodcast). You can subscribe to a podcast's RSS feed, and listen to the podcast series, with a special type of player called a podcatcher. A podcatcher can be either available on the Web or downloaded to your computer like any other plugin. iTunes can serve as a podcatcher. Video Streaming video is the backbone of live and pre-recorded broadcasting on the Web. YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the Web for pre-recorded video. A live professional broadcast from a conference, company, or institution is sometimes referred to as a webcast. A variation on this is a webinar, a seminar broadcast on the Web.

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To watch video discussions by experts in their fields, take a look at: Academic Earth, a collection of free video lectures by top scholars http://www.academicearth.org/ BigThink, where experts discuss current events http://bigthink.com/ Bloggingheads.tv, where academics, journalists, and others have two-way conversations, or diavlogs, on substantive topics http://bloggingheads.tv/ iTunes U, which offers free lectures from a handful of universities http://www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning/ Live Cams/Live TV These are another aspect of the video experience available on the Web. Live cams are video cameras that send their data in real time to a Web server. These cams may appear in all kinds of locations, both serious and whimsical: an office, on top of a building, a scenic locale, a special event, a fish tank, and so on. Some people wear portable cameras and allow the public to observe their lives - an intense form of reality TV. For example check out Justin TV on http://www.justin.tv/ or Blip.tv at http://blip.tv/ Embedded media As a person browses the Web, they can experience multimedia on the sites of the people who sponsor or create the broadcasts. There are also aggregator sites they can visit, including Flickr and YouTube. It's also possible to embed multimedia on their Web pages. The capacity for unlimited distribution is a major reason why multimedia on the Web has become so popular. Also, it's quite easy to do. In most cases, embedding a media file is just a matter of copying code and pasting it onto ones own Web page.

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The World of Search Engines A search engine is a searchable database of Internet files collected by a computer program, called a crawler, robot, worm, or spider. Indexing is created from the collected files, e.g., title, full text, date last modified, URL, language, etc. Results are ranked by relevance; this will vary among search engines. In essence, a search engine consists of three components: • Spider: Program that traverses the Web from link to link, identifying and reading pages. • Index: Database containing a copy of each Web page or other file gathered by the spider. • Search and retrieval mechanism: Technology that enables you to search the index and that returns results in a

relevancy-ranked order. Google isn't the only search engine on the Web! There are other excellent search engines that deserve to be explored. New search engines are appearing all the time. Because Google has become so dominant, innovative new engines are sometimes called alternative search engines (ase's). Search engines don't index all the documents on the Web, far from it! Here are some examples of the type of content (often referred to as the deep web) that usually does not appear in your search engine results: • Pages behind password-protected sites, such as the research databases and e-journals licensed for use by

libraries and made available only to affiliated users. • Pages behind a firewall. • The content of databases - a vast amount of content on the Web. • Multimedia. • The very latest pages posted to the Web. • Pages excluded from search spiders by Web server software at the host site, or by a command within the Web

page itself. • Pages that are not linked to other pages, and are therefore missed by a search engine spider as it crawls from

one page to the next. • Many of the activities on the social Web. As with most things, there are exceptions to these rules. Some search engines do retrieve a limited amount of content from the deep Web. Most search engines have a search box on the main page as well as a separate page for advanced or more focused searches. A user should be sure to explore both options and to use the one that is most useful for his or her search. The user should also keep in mind that many advanced search pages are easier to use than the input box on the main screen because they offer a form you can fill out to construct the search. They are also a great way to discover the features offered by the search engine. The example below shows a shot of the advanced search from on Yahoo.

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Because of the potentially large number of pages that can be retrieved by a search, good relevancy ranking is important. Search engines use various criteria to construct a relevancy rating of each search result and will present your results in this order. On the page ranking : All search engines look at the Web page itself in determining its relevancy to your search. This usually takes the form of term relevancy ranking. With this common type of ranking, your results will be listed based on the presence of your search terms on each page. For example, ranking can be based on: the presence of search terms in the title, URL, first heading; the number of times search terms appear on the page; search terms appearing early on the page; search terms appearing close together; etc. Off the page ranking : This ranking pays attention to factors beyond the Web page itself. This can take several forms, for example: link ranking, semantic term matching, and the bundling of results into concept categories, domains, and sites in addition to term relevancy. This type of ranking looks at "off the page" information to determine the order of your search results. Often human judgment and actions are factors in the ranking of results. • Google uses its PageRank system: it ranks by the number of links from the greatest number of pages ranked

high by the service; this is a type of peer ranking. • Clusty sorts results into categories representing concepts derived from your search. • Hakia derives results from librarian-recommended pages and emphasizes the most current content as well as

content that is semantically relevant to your search terms; it also organizes results into concept categories. • URL.com offers changeable results based on the votes of searchers. Search Engines are not perfect and the computer should be wise to be cautious of search results! Some search engines load the top of their results pages with paid listings. These are sites whose owners have paid for high placement. In other words, they are advertisements. Not all search engines do this, and some are clearer than others about what has been paid for and what has not. General Search Engines A general search engine is a search engine that covers the overall Web, using its own spider to collect Web pages for its own index. When to use a general search engine :

• When you have a well-defined topic or idea to research. • When your topic is obscure. • When you are looking for a specific site. • When you want to search the full text of millions of Web pages. • When you want to retrieve a large number of Web sites on your topic. • When you want to search for particular types of documents, sites, file types, languages, date last modified,

geographical location, etc. General search engines have been popular and newsworthy for many years. Examples include, Google,Yahoo! and BananaSlug. Each of these search engines has something special to offer. Google features all kinds of special searches and services. I suggest the reader has a look at the ‘More Google Products’ page. Yahoo! is an entire portal of information services. BananaSlug was included in the list above to give the reader an idea of some of the creative things you might find when you try out a different search engine than the norm. BananaSlug uses the Google index for its results, but also throws in a series of random word categories which the reader can search for unusual results. Meta Search Engines A Meta Search engine searches multiple search engines from a single search page. Meta search engines work in various ways. With some, a single, simultaneous search retrieves results from multiple sources, usually with the duplicates removed. Others offer a separate search of multiple content sources, allowing you to select the source(s) you want for each search. When a single simultaneous search is offered, only a limited maximum number of pages from each source are returned. The cut-off may be determined by the number of pages retrieved, or by the amount of time the Meta engine spends at the other sites. Results retrieved by these engines can be highly relevant, since they are usually grabbing the first items from the relevancy-ranked list of results returned by the individual search engines. The computer user should keep in mind that complex searches, such as field searches, are usually not available.

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When to use a Meta Search engine: • When you want to retrieve a relatively small number of relevant results. • When your topic is obscure. • When you are not having luck finding what you want. • When you want the convenience of searching a variety of different content sources from one search page. Examples may include, Browsys and Dogpile. Again, as with general search engines each one is a little different, using different indexes and sources. For example, Fasteagle searches a variety of popular sites, including YouTube, Delicious, Digg, and eBay. Yooci is nice if a computer user is tired of getting huge numbers of results, since it will return no more than 250 Web pages per search. How they work and How to use them Search Engines make finding things on the Internet relatively easier. Search engines are run by companies that collect information from the Internet, sort and categorize it and present the information to the user based on keyword searches or through directory listings. It is worth taking some time to learn how to make an effective keyword search as the amount of information that these search engines provide can be overwhelming. It is common to be provided with 10s of thousands of references to any given search term. By narrowing your search to a specific phrase you can target your searches more effectively. Many search engines require that you enclose a search phrase in quotes (e.g. "the cat in the hat"). Different search engines will display different results and sort those results differently. If you don't find the information you want on one search site try another. Some search companies offer meta searches, as outlined above, which are compiled from a number of different search engines' results. Most search sites offer directory listings as well. The information is categorized in a hierarchy from general categories to specific categories. To find a specific web site follow the links down to the category that matches your interest. The results from a search are a list of pages with links to the documents that match your search. Each search engine has a different way of displaying the results but generally you will see a list with the name of the organization or title of the page. You may also see a short description of that web page. Clicking on the title will take you to that page. Though there are hundreds of search engines on the Internet there are only a couple dozen that the majority of people use. If you choose "customize" in your browsers search tool you will see a list of some of these search engines. Not all search engines work search in exactly the same way, but essentially they perform the same function. You can try searching for the same topic in several different engines to determine how they work and how they may fit the requirements for your particular search. One of the drawbacks to the web is that there are so many millions of pages that no one search engine can find everything. Another factor is that search engines do not know if the information they retrieve really is valid, or is what you were looking for. They are simply fulfilling a command to send you a list of sites that contain the keywords or subject you requested. Subject Searching The two most common ways to search are by subject or keyword. A subject search is useful if you want information on a general topic. Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com) is a popular place to conduct this type of search. At the top of Yahoo's main page is a box containing a list of general categories (i.e., Education, Entertainment, Science, Travel, etc.). If you click on one of these categories you will be taken to a list of subcategories related to that topic. Each of these links takes you to a page with more related categories. The broadest topics are first, and they get more specific as you go deeper. Eventually, you should find a page with a list of links related to your topic. Natural Language Searching Some search engines allow you to try a "natural language" query, which means you ask a question in ordinary spoken English (which you type into a text box), and the search engine interprets the request and sends a list of the closest matching answers. Ask, formerly called Ask Jeeves (http://www.ask.com) is an example of this kind of search engine. For example, you type in a question such as, "What time is it in the Philippines?" and Ask will present you with a list of related questions that should contain the answer to your question. You choose the question that appears to be the most relevant. Ask will not always have an answer for you, but will refer you to another search engine to continue your search.

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Some search engines are experimenting with having a variety of search services combined in one. Many of them provide both a subject directory and keyword search, and other services such as news updates, electronic maps, online shopping and free email. Some are also adding the Ask type of natural language query. Keyword Searching This is the most common form of text search on the Web. Most search engines do their text query and retrieval using keywords. What is a keyword, exactly? It can simply be any word on a webpage. For example, I used the word "simply" in the previous sentence, making it one of the keywords for this particular webpage in some search engine's index. However, since the word "simply" has nothing to do with the subject of this webpage (i.e., how search engines work), it is not a very useful keyword. Useful keywords and key phrases for this page would be "search," "search engines," "search engine methods," "how search engines work," "ranking" "relevancy," "search engine tutorials," etc. Those keywords would actually tell a user something about the subject and content of this page. Unless the author of the Web document specifies the keywords for her document (this is possible by using Meta tags), it's up to the search engine to determine them. Essentially, this means that search engines pull out and index words that appear to be significant. Since search engines are software programs, not rational human beings, they work according to rules established by their creators for what words are usually important in a broad range of documents. The title of a page, for example, usually gives useful information about the subject of the page (if it doesn't, it should!). Words that are mentioned towards the beginning of a document (think of the "topic sentence" in a high school essay, where you lay out the subject you intend to discuss) are given more weight by most search engines. The same goes for words that are repeated several times throughout the document. Some search engines index every word on every page. Others index only part of the document. Full-text indexing systems generally pick up every word in the text except commonly occurring stop words such as "a," "an," "the," "is," "and," "or," and "www." Some of the search engines discriminate upper case from lower case; others store all words without reference to capitalization. The Problem With Keyword Searching Keyword searches have a tough time distinguishing between words that are spelled the same way, but mean something different (i.e. hard cider, a hard stone, a hard exam, and the hard drive on your computer). This often results in hits that are completely irrelevant to your query. Some search engines also have trouble with so-called stemming -- i.e., if you enter the word "big," should they return a hit on the word, "bigger?" What about singular and plural words? What about verb tenses that differ from the word you entered by only an "s," or an "ed"? Search engines also cannot return hits on keywords that mean the same, but are not actually entered in your query. A query on heart disease would not return a document that used the word "cardiac" instead of "heart." Relevancy Rankings Most of the search engines return results with confidence or relevancy rankings. In other words, they list the hits according to how closely they think the results match the query. However, these lists often leave users shaking their heads on confusion, since, to the user; the results may seem completely irrelevant. Why does this happen? Basically it's because search engine technology has not yet reached the point where humans and computers understand each other well enough to communicate clearly. Most search engines use search term frequency as a primary way of determining whether a document is relevant. If you're researching diabetes and the word "diabetes" appears multiple times in a Web document, it's reasonable to assume that the document will contain useful information. Therefore, a document that repeats the word "diabetes" over and over is likely to turn up near the top of your list. If your keyword is a common one, or if it has multiple other meanings, you could end up with a lot of irrelevant hits. And if your keyword is a subject about which you desire information, you don't need to see it repeated over and over--it's the information about that word that you're interested in, not the word itself. Some search engines consider both the frequency and the positioning of keywords to determine relevancy, reasoning that if the keywords appear early in the document, or in the headers, this increases the likelihood that the document is on target. For example, one method is to rank hits according to how many times your keywords appear and in which fields they appear (i.e., in headers, titles or plain text). Another method is to determine which

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documents are most frequently linked to other documents on the Web. The reasoning here is that if other folks consider certain pages important, you should, too. If you use the advanced query form on AltaVista, you can assign relevance weights to your query terms before conducting a search. Although this takes some practice, it essentially allows you to have a stronger say in what results you will get back. As far as the user is concerned, relevancy ranking is critical, and becomes more so as the sheer volume of information on the Web grows. Most of us don't have the time to sift through scores of hits to determine which hyperlinks we should actually explore. The more clearly relevant the results are, the more we're likely to value the search engine. Meta-tags Some search engines are now indexing Web documents by the meta tags in the documents' HTML (at the beginning of the document in the so-called "head" tag). What this means is that the Web page author can have some influence over which keywords are used to index the document, and even in the description of the document that appears when it comes up as a search engine hit. This is obviously very important if you are trying to draw people to your website based on how your site ranks in search engines hit lists. There is no perfect way to ensure that you'll receive a high ranking. Even if you do get a great ranking, there's no assurance that you'll keep it for long. There is a lot of conflicting information out there on meta-tagging. If you're confused it may be because different search engines look at meta tags in different ways. Some rely heavily on meta tags, others don't use them at all. The general opinion seems to be that meta tags are less useful than they were a few years ago, largely because of the high rate of spamdexing (web authors using false and misleading keywords in the meta tags). Note: Google, currently the most popular search engine, does not index the keyword metatags. Be aware of this is you are optimizing your webpages for the Google engine. It seems to be generally agreed that the "title" and the "description" meta tags are important to write effectively, since several major search engines use them in their indices. Use relevant keywords in your title, and vary the titles on the different pages that make up your website, in order to target as many keywords as possible. As for the "description" meta tag, some search engines will use it as their short summary of your url, so make sure your description is one that will entice surfers to your site (here I am writing this report on the basis that the reader has or is interested in having a web site). Refining Your Search With all of these choices and varieties of searching techniques available, finding the exact piece of information you are looking for can be a complicated task. One strategy many people use is to find two or three search engines that generally provide adequate results, and then learn to use them very well. Help pages with searching tips and advanced level search techniques are available from most search engines' main pages. Taking a short amount of time to learn how a particular search engine works can help you get more relevant results and save you a lot of time browsing through long lists of results. Most sites offer two different types of searches: "basic" and "refined" or "advanced." In a "basic" search, you just enter a keyword without sifting through any pull down menus of additional options. Depending on the engine, though, "basic" searches can be quite complex. Advanced search refining options differ from one search engine to another, but some of the possibilities include the ability to search on more than one word, to give more weight to one search term than you give to another, and to exclude words that might be likely to muddy the results. You might also be able to search on proper names, on phrases, and on words that are found within a certain proximity to other search terms. Some search engines also allow you to specify what form you'd like your results to appear in, and whether you wish to restrict your search to certain fields on the internet (e.g. the Web) or to specific parts of Web documents (i.e., the title or URL). Many, but not all search engines allow you to use so-called Boolean operators to refine your search. These are the logical terms AND, OR, NOT, and the so-called proximal locators, NEAR and FOLLOWED BY.

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Boolean Operators The Internet is a vast computer database. As such, its contents must be searched according to the rules of computer database searching. Much database searching is based on the principles of Boolean logic. Boolean logic refers to the logical relationship among search terms, and is named for the British-born Irish mathematician George Boole. In its simplest terms Boolean logic is a type of decision making utilized by computers to decide if a statement is true or false. Searching through an index involves a user building a query and submitting it through the search engine. The query can be quite simple, a single word at minimum. Building a more complex query requires the use of Boolean operators that allow you to refine and extend the terms of the search. The Boolean operators most often seen are: Boolean AND means that all the terms you specify must appear in the documents, i.e., "heart" AND "attack." You might use this if you wanted to exclude common hits that would be irrelevant to your query. Boolean OR means that at least one of the terms you specify must appear in the documents, i.e., bronchitis, acute OR chronic. You might use this if you didn't want to rule out too much. Boolean NOT means that at least one of the terms you specify must not appear in the documents. You might use this if you anticipated results that would be totally off-base, i.e., nirvana AND Buddhism, NOT Cobain. Not quite Boolean + and - Some search engines use the characters + and - instead of Boolean operators to include and exclude terms. NEAR means that the terms you enter should be within a certain number of words of each other. FOLLOWED BY means that one term must directly follow the other. ADJ , for adjacent, serves the same function. A search engine that will allow you to search on phrases uses, essentially, the same method (i.e., determining adjacency of keywords). Phrases are the ability to query on phrases is very important in a search engine. Those that allow it usually require that you enclose the phrase in quotation marks, i.e. "space the final frontier." Capitalization is essential for searching on proper names of people, companies or products. Unfortunately, many words in English are used both as proper and common nouns, e.g. Bill, bill, Gates, gates, Oracle, oracle, Lotus, lotus, Digital, digital…the list is endless! I would suggest that the user types and prints out the following to place on their desk next to their workstation as a quick and handy guide. There are four common ways to narrow a search: 1. Any word with an addition sign (+) in front of it must be on the page. 2. Any word with a minus sign (-) in front of it must not be on the page. 3. Words with quotation marks around them must appear as on the page exactly as typed. 4. Words in parentheses must appear near but not necessarily next to each other on the page. Of course, all the search engines have different methods of refining queries. The best way to learn them is to read the help files on the search engine sites and practice.

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Creating Websites The Basics All you need to build a website is a computer, an internet connection and a little knowledge of HTML - the language that websites are made with. Building a website can be a very simple task, but it can also become overly complicated if each stage of the building process is not planned. There is no point having a state-of-the-art website designed if there isn’t any web space to host it in, so it is necessary to have all the right elements in place at the beginning. Before starting to build a site, I would suggest making sure the right equipment and information to get it up and running is at hand. Here is a quick check list of things needed to build a website. 1. A computer. 2. A modem 3. Internet access via an ISP 4. A domain name (optional) 5. Web space 6. Web authoring or HTML editing software 7. FTP software 8. Some good ideas 9. Plenty of time! 10. Some good advice! The only equipment needed to build a website is a computer (either a PC or Apple Macintosh) and a modem. The modem provides the internet access to view, publish and publicise the website. The computer helps to build, store and back-up the site. I would advise any budding designer to check if their ISP has provided them with a free domain name and some web space because they might want to use them later on. In addition, they will need some web authoring software, which allows them to build and edit the files that will make up the website. We will also need some FTP software which securely transfers the files that make up the site from a computer to the web host's server where other people can visit it. Every website has an address, or domain name, which we type into our web browser such as news.bbc.co.uk. Often when we subscribe to our ISP, they will supply us with our own domain name and a certain amount of space on their server to build our site. This is generally for free; however, our domain name will probably be something like http://www.isp.co.uk/yourname/ - which isn't terribly catchy. If the computer user prefers his own choice of domain name, he’ll need to go to one of the domain registration companies. Network Solutions at http://www.networksolutions.com/ used to have a monopoly on selling domain names ending in .com but now there are thousands of companies selling them. That's good for prices but can make it a bit difficult to choose the one we want as there are so many companies offering different services. Some offer the names with free web hosting and other services while some offer them alone. A lot of them are listed at www.dmoz.com. Also, go to www.nominet.org.uk for a list of all the companies that sell domain names that end in .co.uk. There is often a minimal charge for buying the domain name, but once you own it, you own the URL and every single e-mail address ending in that domain name. The budding website author, namely me with my 1st C.L.A.S.S. site, outlined below, will then need to find a company to host the site. A web host is a company that provides a computer, or server, at a remote location, with permanent access to the internet. This server stores my website pages (along with other peoples') so they can be viewed by everyone via the world wide web. The Web authors ISP will often provide some free web hosting space for him to store his website on their server, but he might also want to consider purchasing his own web space from a specialist hosting company. Although the web space from his ISP is free, his website might be tied to the ISP's domain name, and he might not get the same added features he would get with a specialist hosting company.

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However, when building a first website, most ISPs will provide a customer with adequate web hosting facilities, such as visitor statistics, so they can save themselves the extra cost until their site develops into something bigger. To see reviews of companies offering web hosting services I suggest having a look at the performance charts at the back of many internet magazines. Most websites are built using HTML (hypertext text mark-up language) which is a special code that formats and creates the pages so you can see them via ones chosen browser. In fact all you need to write HTML is a simple program like Microsoft's Notepad. Notepad's fine if a person is willing to learn HTML but if they aren't they can easily get some clever software to help you do it. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) html editors require very little knowledge of HTML and are relatively easy to pick up. If you know how to use a word processor you'll find them pretty familiar. FrontPage, Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive are three of the better known WYSIWYG editors. They let you build a web page, by dragging and dropping text boxes, images and tables into a blank Word-style page, whilst behind the scenes it is creating all the HTML code for you. For first-time web editors, the WYSIWYG editing method is great because a user does not have to worry about complex code, and the software guides him through each step of the way, from background colour, text size and inserting a picture to even publishing his finished pages. Even if the novice chooses to start with a WYSIWYG editor, he might want to get hold of a basic teach-yourself HTML book, and find out a little bit about the language he is working with. Programs like FrontPage offer different wizards to take him through each step of inserting images, text and tables, but he can learn the simple HTML tags and codes to do it yourself. That will allow the novice to tweak the code if you aren't happy with the results from the WYSIWYG editor. Once we are happy it all works we can then publish our masterpiece to the internet. To transfer all the files that make up my, for example, 1st C.L.A.S.S. website to my web space I will need to get some FTP software. Alternatively, editors like FrontPage often have a special web publishing wizard, which would take me through all the basic stages without the need for added software. The FTP process simply takes my website files and moves them to my web space, so when someone next types in my domain name into their web browser, they'll be able to see my site, 1st C.L.A.S.S. Each time I change a file or page on my site, I will need to upload the new page via FTP so that the change appears on the site. Courses Dramatic though it sounds a computer user can attend a course at a local college to learn how to design and create a website…I did. Recently, I finished a course in Interactive Media at NCFE Level 2. I learned some basic HTML, Dreamweaver and a bit of Flash. As a result of the course I have made my own website and will be launching it on the unsuspecting public when I have some spare time in my incredibly busy schedule. The site, I have mentioned previously in this report, is about providing a Computer Support and Literacy Service for the residents of Rossendale. My Website 1 st C.L.A.S.S. I have enclosed a CD in the front of this folder which included the website on file and it also includes many of the elements within it such as my tutorials on the Windows XP Control Panel, galleries of my creative products, an audio documentary I created for a radio station, an animated flash object, an animated gif banner, an embedded You Tube Video to showcase my skills and creativity, a guide to creating a flyer on Publisher and a Guide to Living and Working in Rossendale. Some of these, such as the embedded You Tube video and the links to my documents on Scribd I have outlined previously in this report. As such I am demonstrating to the reader that I am not only demonstrating knowledge and understanding of this unit but have taken this further into practice and application in a very real way. I firmly believe that the whole concept for the site, to provide Computer Literacy and Support Services to the residents of Rossendale, is a great one. I was reminded of a need, again, for such a service only at the time of writing this reprt when a colleague of mine approached me with a computer related problem. She had lost some folders on her home laptop and her new license of Norton Internet Security would not install. Of course, after some hours I fixed this for her. I encounter these things everyday and it is obvious to me that there is nowhere for the home PC user to turn to. The competition I have encountered only really caters for businesses and not private individuals. Their charges are out of the reach of most people, starting from a basic £30 to ridiculous amounts. Other alternatives such as the Tech Guys at PC World have branding recognition but again, they are expensive and only deal with issues relating to hardware, virus checking and networking. Their remit is narrow and for the

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home PC user not a realistic option for helping and supporting with projects. I have discovered a niche in the market which nobody else, perhaps, can offer a sustainable living from. Scribd Scribd is an online document sharing community that is used worldwide by students, academics, businesses, colleges and professionals. A member of Scribd can upload their own documents on there for storage or make them available for world wide viewing. All of this is free and accessible to everyone. I have several documents I have uploaded ranging from ‘How to Guides’ to ‘Accounting Course Books’. Hundreds of people download my products everyday and I have made ‘Hot Lists’ on a few of my books. In fact, by typing in the name of some of them into Google you will be very surprised to see that I can make number 1 on Google. Many people find my products very useful and comments on these are available to read from people all over the world, just follow the links! The links will open up a web based application called i-paper which I will configure to open in a new window. The documents can be read, navigated or even downloaded from there to keep, print or whatever. The i-paper allows for a fair degree of participation from the visitor as it offers navigational controls and different ways to read and download the documents. I believe that most visitors to my site will be impressed by the array of stimuli on offer, and the different ways in which they can actively engage with their own browsing experience along the way to downloading great freebies, and learning stuff relevant to their needs. Scribd enables me to upload and store my documents so that I can copy and paste a URL to the page where they are kept or embed an i-paper link as I did in my site. Without this great resource I would have had to save my documents as a web page from their respective applications, e.g. Word, Publisher, etc and created a hyperlink to them from the main body of the web page. This is a poor mans option and most visitors would have been less impressed by my credentials should I have gone down this route. The Tutorials are about some of the applets in the Control Panel, as this is something that a visitor can download and keep for free. The links offer a side road into another interactive learning experience with which to engage and explore. Learning about computers is relevant to their needs (otherwise they would not be visiting my site) and so they will be able to practice and exercise at their own discretion – no pressure to buy or learn! Here, I will be establishing my site not just as an advertising marketing site for products but as an information site where people can go to learn about computer literacy issues and problems. In fact the site will be of both a commercial and educational nature – double whammy! I believe this will make my site stand out from the rest who simply do not offer much as I have here and on the next few pages. Again, the use of tutorials will establish me as knowing what I am talking about and so the company is one to trust – especially when freebies are given out for encouragement. The How to Guide to Creating a One Page Flyer in Publis her is a product I made in 2008 to help friends and family with basic desktop publishing, but has, in fact, never been distributed. It is a colourful, step by step novice’s guide, with instruction and screen prints to do just what it says on the cover. I have uploaded it to Scribd for free reading and it is now a popular document that gets downloaded by the dozens every single day. The inclusion of this link is identical, in principle, to the tutorial links that will be available on the ‘Taking Control’ page. It lends weight to the fact that I know what I am talking about and proves that I am qualified to help with creative projects because I have written a guide on how to do it with a desktop publishing application. It adds depth to my web site because I will add the dimension of learning and education into what could otherwise be a completely commercial site with adverts and gimmicks. What I will provide, such as with my guide, is real practical help that is accessible for beginners and intermediate computer users. Best of all – for the consumer, this guide is free and that will go down very well. The great comments I receive on Scribd back up my claims because I receive nothing but positive feedback – all of this is available to see, just follow the links and explore my comments and documents on there. The Web Gallery of 1 st C.L.A.S.S. Products is a gallery of some of the leaflets, flyers and other products I have made for fun or for previous employers. Again, it demonstrates unequivocally to the visitor that I can do what I say that I can do. Think of it as a Portfolio, I am taking to a job interview and the viewer/visitor is the employer. In fact, come to think of it the whole of the website is one big portfolio to market 1st. C.L.A.S.S., that, of course, being me! In a similar fashion to the web gallery I made for the ‘Taking Control’ page, this is intended to add extra colour and depth to this page. It is about products and so it makes perfect sense to display them in a gallery here. The gallery is a product in itself and so it did not hurt my attempts to further impress the visitor with this glossy commercial for my services and support. I wanted to add as much interaction to my site as possible and the web gallery helped me to do add something a little different than what I usually see in my own web browsing experiences. I believe it shows originality and my hope is that the visitor will enjoy using the gallery, find it entertaining and feel positive enough about it to return to it, recommend it or become a customer. The Welcome to Rossendale publication is a document that I made in 2007 for migrant workers coming to live and work in the Borough. I feel it will be well placed in my web site, simply because it is a great product that I will be giving away for free from Scribd. The publication is a well researched and comprehensive document about coming to live and work in the UK and residing in Rossendale. It has lots of information from how to rent a house to registering with a doctor. It also has directories of services and facilities throughout the different sections. It will

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be very useful not only to migrant workers but, in fact, anyone at all living in Rossendale – and some way beyond. It was very well researched by me and is a colourful and creative document that is nice to read and nice to print and keep if anyone wants to download it for this purpose. People like free things and are more likely to tell their friends, family and colleagues about it if they feel good about my website, i.e. more visitors. The publication is, once more, a reaffirmation to the visitor that I am a creative and competent individual, who can pull together many different elements to create and produce many different types of product. The subject matter is also pertinent to the fact that my remit of service and support is the Borough of Rossendale. It is ideally targeted at local residents because that is my target audience. However, I feel that the download in itself will impress enough visitors to come and use my website or services regardless of where in the UK they live (or even outside of it!). You Tube Video This video was of entirely my own making sometime in the late summer of 2007. It derives from a PowerPoint presentation I created to showcase and advertise my skills to potential employers in an interview situation. It has animation within it, text effects, colour, photographs, products and a powerful soundtrack to drive it through with purpose and intent. It has the lot and covers a wide range of my skills and talents, not only in the making of it but also in the content of it. It was perfect for my web site and was something I simply could not leave out. I converted the PowerPoint presentation into a recognisable avi. format that allowed me to upload it to YouTube. I then embeded it into the Media web page for interactive control and subsequent viewing at the viewer’s discretion. The video has sound but a visitor will not realise this if they turn off their built in monitor speakers by default for unobtrusive browsing experiences. This is okay, it is their choice to browse in silence should they wish. Many people browse at work, perhaps in their lunch breaks, and so this will be, more often than not, the case. However, to give the visitor the heads up that an audio experience is also available in the video I got around this by simply saying so next to the video – problem solved. The soundtrack gives a momentum and context to the video that must be seen and heard to appreciate fully. The inclusion of this video showcases many of my skills and products in an engaging and stimulating way. The You Tube video comes complete with controls to play, pause, stop, mute and so on. It invites the visitor to be an active participant in their experience. They will control this bit of their browsing experience and I believe that this extra Wow! Factor in my site will lead to a feel good factor towards First Class Computer Literacy and Support Services. You Tube cannot handle PowerPoint presentations but is able to take quite a few other formats as listed on their site. I am fairly computer literate and so this was more of an inconvenience than a problem. The format I chose to convert and upload my Presentation was the ubiquitous AVI and I used a converting tool I downloaded from the internet. Unfortunately, I was able to find only one converter that could handle all of the interactive elements of my presentation – there was simply too many layers and actions going on with it for them to process and convert it into AVI. The converter that I did the trick was a trial version that placed a small watermark in the top left hand corner of the video. This was a slight inconvenience that I was prepared to live with. Although not ideal, I have worked within my resources and cannot afford to buy expensive converters unless I did this kind of thing all the time. One has to work within ones own resources and I think I did quite well to pull it off! The video itself was customisable and so I was able to create a control frame that matched the colour scheme of the web site/page. This allowed for consistency by using a uniform set of colours throughout to strengthen my brand recognition. This facility is more than a gimmick for us budding designers who want to match our colour schemes and use colour to full effect. The ability to embed video in my own website is a real bonus and something that it is really easy to use for a Dreamweaver Novice person like me. You upload the video, copy the code that they give you, and add it to your website. It is an incredibly rich medium that can be effective in itself, or in complementing other means of communication, such as the documentary I included on the same webpage. The video medium is different, I am broadcasting to people sitting at their desk at a computer so I realised I needed to keep it short. Also a short film is less likely to suffer from technical problems. My PowerPoint conversion was perfect for this purpose. My audio documentary was a little less so at 10 minutes and only the interested will listen it through to the end. At the very least, it demonstrates to the visitor that I can help with recording projects and the rich mix of media I have used throughout my site provides hard tangible proof of creativity and initiative on my part. Overall, I believe that my video strategy is a good one. I have made intelligent use of the free methods of video distribution available to me and I have succeeded in incorporating video in a meaningful way. I will also benefit from the fact that the video is hosted externally, and will not contribute towards web space or file transfer limits, which is important if the video becomes very popular. Embedded videos tend to play more smoothly and give the viewer a more pleasurable viewing experience than a Windows Media download. It is a simple, effective, and affordable way of generating new interest for ones company or project.

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The Audio Documentary The documentary was, again, a product of my own making. I made a ten minute documentary, sometime back in 1994, using a professional audio and sound engineering application called Cool Edit Pro. This was bought by Adobe sometime ago and is now called Adobe Audition. I was an assistant producer on a community radio station in North Manchester and made this documentary for inclusion into a programme. It is called ‘Ghosts and Hauntings in Moston’, and is about just that. It took many weeks to make, not just because of the making of it in Cool Edit Pro, the definitive industry standard audio application, but also because of the research needed to pull it all together. This is not a mock documentary but includes real interviews along with some great sound effects I have spliced from music tracks, soundtracks, movies and CD effects libraries. It includes all the creative elements needed to make an entertaining and quick documentary. It was originally made in .Wav format but I converted it to Mp3 using a sound editing tool I have called Audacity. Mp3 is the ideal format to use here because of its use of compression, and its compatibility with browsers, operating systems and media players. The intention is that it will reduce the huge Wav. File size down considerably for ease of playback and download and the Mp3 will impact little on sound quality. The sound file is not a music track that needs to cover both the top end and the bottom of the sound spectrum for bass and treble and so I think I will get away with it. I used Audacity for my sound editing needs because, for one, it is free, and two, it is absolutely brilliant and is, in fact, a powerful editor that matches some commercial applications. It does all that I need it to do. As with the video, I not only want all my interactive elements to be both a marketing device for my skills and products but also to be entertaining. Online Courses and Tutorials There are some great free resources out there for the computer user to learn how to build a website. Many of them offer step by step tutorials such as http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/chapX1.shtml, http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingstarted/startwebsite.shtml, http://www.quackit.com/create-a-website/, http://build-website.com/, and hundreds more. There is certainly no shortage of help and advice out there, just Google it. One of my favourites is http://en.kioskea.net/faq/sujet-173-how-to-create-your-own-website. Website Builders There are two kinds of web site builders: on-line proprietary tools provided by web hosting companies which cater to people who wish to build and publish their website without learning the technical aspects of web page production and software which runs on a computer, creating pages off-line and which can then publish these pages on any host. On-line website builders typically require customers to sign up with the web hosting company -- most offer free trial periods -- and choose the page design that best suits their purpose from a huge variety of templates, images, animations and so on. They offer a variety of services, anywhere between creating basic personal web pages or social network content (Widgets) to making full blown business/e-commerce websites, either template based or - on the more flexible platforms - totally design free. Some companies' tools allow the user to see the source code, that is, the HTML behind the page he is building. Many do not, meaning that only certain designated areas on the page can be modified. Usually, these areas are: headers, text and some graphic elements. These web builders are WYSIWIG or “what you see is what you get” meaning that the page can be edited as in a word processor. Examples of Web Site Builders are http://www.webeden.co.uk/, http://www.moonfruit.com/about.html, http://www.site2you.com/, http://www.esitesbuilder.com/, and literally hundreds more. Web Builders such as Moonfruit provide the software that allows users, with no previous web technology experience, to build and develop websites. There is no requirement of them to learn any programming languages or specific web codes; users are limited only by their own imaginations. The software features unique drag and drop tools that allow users to edit and introduce site functions and facilities by clicking a mouse. Website features, like a message board, shopping basket or chat room, can be achieved through a simple click and drag format. Users can either obtain the Moonfruit SiteMaker 4.0 software free, with advertising, or as a subscription product, as will be the case for other similar Web Design Builders. Offline web builders cater to professional web designers who need to create pages for more than one client or web host. Modern off-line web builders are usually both WYSIWIG and allow direct editing of source code and CSS styling. They are generally quicker and more flexible to use than on-line builders, but may be expensive to buy. An example is Adobe Dreamweaver (previously Macromedia Dreamweaver). There are some open source web builders which may be downloaded free of charge. Sea Monkey is an example of an open source free web builder.

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Security Risks in Using the Internet

Why is Internet Security Important? Without adequate protection, your PC will get infected. Studies have shown that an unprotected PC is attacked within minutes of being connected to the Internet. Year after year, hackers develop and set free a plethora of viruses, trojans, worms, and other forms of malware. The average computer user hasn't a clue how easy it is to get infected and what's needed to avoid it. Worse yet, will the advent of spyware, you won't even know you are infected. The term Malware was created as a catch-all name for all forms of malicious software. Viruses and spyware are by far the most common. The more skilled hackers used to write viruses just for the fame. Now they do it for money. The best of the best have even written programs that allow far less technical people to create their own viruses. These are called script kiddies, and there are many. While script kiddies still mostly mess around. Identity theft has become big business and spyware is the best way to steal it. Just imagine coming home to find your computer dead in the water or all your files erased. Hopefully you'd at least have a back up of all your data. Most people don't. A typical virus is designed to wipe out your master boot record. Without this, your computer is a paper weight. If this happens, your only recourse is to reformat your hard drive and start fresh. Ouch! Just imagine what it would feel like to have lost all your documents, spreadsheets, music, and pictures! The best Antivirus programs are designed to stop viruses before they ever reach your hard drive and keep your computer safe. Researchers have determined that more than 80% of home computers have spyware installed on them and the users don't even know it. Spyware, or sometimes called adware, is a small piece of software that embeds itself in your Internet browser. As you surf the internet, signing into email, social networks or bank accounts, the spyware program reports back to home base with all your personal information. Before long, your resources are drained, your computer slows down, and some stranger knows everything about you. Another type of spyware is called a Rootkit. In this case, a hacker takes control of your computer, without you knowing, and infects others by using your hard drive and IP address. Without the help of top antivirus software, this type spyware is virtually impossible to detect. While not costly, computers are extremely valuable for what they hold, i.e. Pictures, music, banking information, and most precious of all - memories. When you leave your house, you lock your door. When you use your computer, you must ensure the same. The battle between malware producers and antivirus software producers continues to intensify, and it escalates daily. Remaining unprotected is a sure-fire way to become collateral damage in this war. The cost to prevent and protect yourself is much lower than the cost of replacing your computer and restoring your identity. It is absolutely necessary to protect ones computer and ones personal information from these threats and to use all the security software needed. I have established then that when one logs on to the Internet, there are many kinds of threats to data security which are looming around the corner and that these primarily arise from Spyware, Adware and Viruses that spread via the Internet. The user may begin to experience certain things while operating his computer such as the system slowing down, the system crashing often, data corruption, several pop-up windows opening up when he surfs the net, slowing down of Internet speed and so on. The worst case scenarios are when his personal information is stolen and used for malicious purposes or when his hard disk is formatted rendering his computer useless. Let us look at these 3 threats individually. Spyware Spyware software’s are installed secretly onto a user’s computer in order to spy on the user’s activity over the computer. Personal data such as passwords or credit card numbers can be stolen by making a record of the user’s keystrokes. They can also interfere with the operation of the computer by installing other software which can slow down the computer normally and while surfing the Internet. These spyware software’s can also make a record of the websites the user visits frequently. Sometimes spyware software’s are bundled up with regular free to download programs that are available on the net. These free spyware software’s then install themselves onto the user’s computer and begin to spy on his activities on the computer. Fortunately, there are a variety of spyware detector software’s available. They perform the function of detecting and removing these spyware software’s from a user’s computer. However, one should always ensure that these

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spyware detector software’s are from a reliable source, as nowadays spywares have even begun to disguise themselves as spyware removal software. Computer Virus A computer virus is a program that is able to self replicate or copies itself and thus infects a computer. The user does not have any knowledge of this nor has he given any permission for this. Modern computer viruses are able to modify the copies made, or the modified copies are able to modify themselves. These are known as ‘Metamorphic Viruses’. A virus spreads from one computer to another via a network or the Internet, and via removable storage media such as CDs, Floppy Disks, or USB Drives. Some viruses disguise themselves as executable files (or EXEs) which appears harmless until it is executed. These are known as ‘Trojan Horses’. Some viruses execute only when the computer boots. They are known as ‘Boot Sector Viruses’. What viruses do is that they damage programs, delete files and even re-format hard disks on a user’s computer. Some viruses make their presence known under certain instances by displaying a message on the computer screen. Viruses are also known to slow down the system speed of the user’s computer and cause widespread data corruption and data loss. Below is a list of some of the Types of Computer Virus’s out there: • Trojan horse : These are programs that claim to do one thing but actually do something else (usually damaging

activity). • Resident virus : These dwell in the RAM memory and work by overcoming and interrupting all of the

operations executed by the system including corrupting of the files and programs that are opened and closed. • Direct action virus : This has a main purpose of replicating and taking action when it is executed. The batch

file of this virus is always found in the root directory of the hard disk. • Overwrite virus : These are characterized by the fact that they delete the information that is contained in the

files that they infect, and this renders the files as being partially or even totally useless once they have been infected.

• Boot virus : These affect the boot sector of a floppy or hard disk. • Macro virus : These infect files that are created using certain applications or certain programs that contain

macros. • E-mail virus : These can infect your desktop email system. They proliferate through e-mail messages and

usually replicate by automatically e-mailing copies to all entries in your e-mail address book. • Worm : These are programs that are able to replicate on their own over computer networks. It scans a network

for computers with same security hole that it can exploit to infect that machine, scan other machines for that security loophole, and continue replicating itself independently.

To prevent oneself from virus attacks, it is preferable not to download files from unknown sources, or open e-mails from unknown senders. There is a variety of antivirus software available which detect and remove a wide variety of computer viruses. Nowadays, there is a great amount of antivirus software which also provides protection from spyware and adware as well. These are called Internet Security Suites because they have the full range of protection that includes anti-spyware, anti-virus and firewall protection. Some of them have other utilities such as back up schedulers and privacy cleaners. Adware Adware literally means ‘advertising supporting software’. Once these are installed on a user’s computer, the adware automatically downloads, plays or displays advertising material when the application is used. Some types of adware are also spyware. Thus, by definition, adware’s come bundled with some other software. Some programmers see it as a way to recover the costs of programming. The software may be free to use while it will display advertisements, or the user may have an option to pay and disable the ads from being seen.

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There are a variety of adware removal tools which are available. They detect and remove adware from a user’s computer. All these are the basic types of data security threats that any surfer on the Internet faces every single day. It is said that 9 out of 10 computers have spyware, adware or virus present on them. This opens the door for many malicious elements stepping in and invading your privacy, stealing your data and causing you a host of other problems. Therefore, it is best that one take care of one’s computer by ensuring that one has reputed and reliable software that takes care of all these threats. One should ideally look for such a software that works in real time, i.e. it informs the user as soon as the virus / spyware / adware is detected so that the user can ideally keep or remove the malicious program on his computer. Security Measures I have written here a list of measures that should help protect against the risks I have written about in my report.

1. There are three security software applications everyone should have: Firewall Protection Antivirus Software Anti Spyware Software

Go on the offensive. Fight spyware before it even arrives on your computer. Make sure you have a good ‘anti-virus software’ program running on your PC. Many ISPs (Internet Service Providers) now offer anti-virus programs or even purchasing a commercial product is to your advantage. Get a program or product that is regularly updated to fend off the latest viruses, adware, worms, trojans and spyware. As stated before, the best option is to obtain an Internet Security Suite that contains all of these and to keep them updated for up to date definitions. Alternatively, one can use separate applications from different vendors or makers and as long as they are compatible with each other, it should be fine. This technique is called ‘layering’.

2. The computer user should also be aware of your passwords, and protection of these. A good thing to

remember is to never use the same password for all their accounts, and never share it with anyone. I strongly advise the user not to store their passwords on their computer either. I would use passwords that contain both letters and numbers and preferably special characters.

3. Put up a Firewall. A Firewall should be one of your first lines of defence against spyware. A Firewall is simply a system or gateway designed to prevent unauthorized access to your computer or network. A respected free firewall is www.zonealarm.com. A good tip for Windows XP users is to make sure that the included firewall is turned on.

4. Don’t open Emails and Attachments from people you don’t know. Use common sense, DON’T open any

emails from people you don’t know. Especially, do not open any Attachments until they are scanned for spyware and viruses. Many mail servers will do these scans for free.

Anti virus software is necessary to protect oneself from viruses. Many viruses are sent via email as an attachment, and others are sent through file-sharing applications. Others are sent via instant messaging programs such as Windows MSN. With a good antivirus solution that auto updates itself; a user should be well protected. It is a good idea to scan all files that are downloaded, and to check all incoming mails too. Many antivirus programs are installed with an email scanner.

5. Keep Your Operating System Up to Date. Be aware of what’s on your system - do regular spyware and adware scans to see exactly what’s on your computer. Know your machine! You may be horrified to learn someone may be monitoring your every ‘keystroke’ and every ‘image’ you’ve viewed on your computer. So scan regularly and also make sure you download the newest updates from your Operating System; these often contain patches or fixes for serious breaches of security of your PC.

6. Back-up Your System. If all the above steps fail, nothing is foolproof, any computer that uses the Internet

can be hacked, so you need to back-up your important data. You can use floppy disks, CDs or use a second computer that’s not connected to the net just for storage or back-up of your sensitive data/programs. An inexpensive notebook computer can be used to make daily/weekly back-ups of your vital data and programs

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A Handy Security Tools Checklist If you connect an unprotected computer or computer without any security software to the internet, cyber criminals, hackers or identity thieves can attack your computer within seconds. So, to avoid such security problems and identity theft, you should have security software with at a minimum, firewall, antispyware and antivirus protection. There are various internet security software’s available on the internet with basic firewall protection. However you should also look at the additional security tools and features available with these software’s for complete security on internet. The checklist below can help you to select the proper security software for your computer, so that you can go online and surf the internet with confidence. Firewall: Firewall is necessary to block the unauthorized access to your computer data. It monitors the inbound and outbound traffic from your computer to the internet and blocks any suspicious traffic coming to your computer. Firewall could be network and program firewall and operating system firewall. Network and program firewall: Internet security software’s provide network and program firewall to protect your network from suspicious traffic and to shield your programs from malware. It should be a multi-layer firewall or with multiple layer of security for high level of security. Operating system firewall: Some internet security software also provides operating system firewall to protect your operating system. This tool blocks any malicious software from causing damage to files in your core windows operating system. It also blocks entry of hard to remove spyware with kernel-level threats to computer to protect your operating system from any damage. Full Stealth Mode: This feature is required to make you invisible to hackers, so that you can surf the internet without any fear of getting hacked. Antivirus: Antivirus is necessary to protect your computer from damages by viruses, worms and trojans. You should never connect your computer to the internet without updated antivirus program with the latest definition files. Antispyware: Integrated antispyware is required to protect your computer from spywares and intruders to protect your personal information. Spywares get installed on your computer without your knowledge and gather your personal data, information and web activities and transmit that data to others. Complete Spy Site Blocking: Spyware distribution websites are the main source for spywares. This feature blocks these websites and also blocks you from visiting these sites by mistake or redirection to websites, which distribute spywares. Identity theft protection: Identity theft protection is necessary to protect your identity and personal information on your computer. With increase in e-commerce, online buying and credit card usage on internet, identity theft could be major problem. So, nowadays, protection against identity theft is a must while accessing the internet. Real time updates: Real-time security updates for protection against any new possible attacks and viruses. Anti Spam and Anti Phishing and Email protection: It protects you from phishing e-mails and e-mail fraud. Instant messaging protection: IM protection protects your instant messaging session from hackers, spammers, spywares and virus attacks. You can also use this tool to restrict your kid to use instant messengers only with trusted people. Parental control: This feature is necessary to prevent your kids from accessing inappropriate websites and objectionable content on web sites.

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Credit Card Monitoring alerts: Some internet security software provides credit card monitoring alerts which alert you if your credit card number appears online. This tool is very useful if you use your credit card on internet for transactions. Although firewall, antispyware and antivirus protection is must in any internet security software, but additional security tools can also help you to improve your security on internet. With the checklist I have written above the computer user can make the right choice for his or her security software program. PC Remote Access The Remote Desktop Connection tool on windows XP and above can help a computer operator (usually a technician from the IT Department) connect to a terminal server. With the help of Remote Desktop, applications can be made to run on the remote computer from any other computer which has a Windows operating system. While the applications run on the remote computer, keyboard and mouse input and the display data are transmitted over the network from the local computer to the remote computer. The components that make Remote Desktop access possible are Remote Desktop Protocol and client software’s like Remote Desktop Connection and Remote Desktop Web Connection. Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 all support Remote Desktop. This allows users on a remote computer to connect to your computer and access resources as though they were physically seated at your desk. If you have no intention of using Remote Desktop, you should disable this option to increase security on your computer. If you occasionally use this feature, you may even want to leave it disabled and only enable it when you need to use it. You can easily disable Remote Desktop on your computer. Simply right click My Computer on your desktop and click Properties. Select the Remote tab and remove the check beside the Allow users to connect remotely to this computer option. Once you Click OK, users will no longer be able to connect to your computer. Remote Desktop Configurations: Windows XP Professio nal To enable Remote Desktop on computers with XP professional as the operating system:

1. Log on to the computer using the administrator’s credentials. 2. Right click on ‘My Computers’ and select ‘Properties’. 3. In the ‘System Properties’ tab, select the ‘Remote’ tab. 4. Select the checkbox against the label ‘Allow users to connect remotely to this computer’. 5. Next, select ‘Remote Users’. 6. Click on ‘Add’ in the ‘Remote Desktop Users’ dialog box. 7. Add the name of the user or the group who has to be given permission to access the computer remotely. 8. Lastly, install the Remote Desktop Connection or the Terminal Services Client on the local machine from

which you need to access the computer remotely. Configuring Remote Desktop Connection to Enhance Se curity Some measures that you can incorporate to enhance the security of a network are:

1. Set a Complex Password: As the Remote Desktop relies on the Windows login password, ensure that the password is complex which cannot be guessed. A strong password of 10 to 16 alphanumeric characters is recommended.

2. Change the Listening Port of Remote Desktop: On the host machine, change the default port that is used by the Remote Desktop Connection. This change has to be made in the registry.

3. Configure the Router: All routers come with the same default password. It should be changed immediately. You will have to configure your router so that inbound connections to the remote computer are allowed which involves the process of mapping a port on the router to a port on the local computer. This port should be disabled when you foresee long periods of inactivity.

4. Disable Clipboard Redirection: By disabling this feature, you can prevent users from copying text from the host computer to the local computer and pasting text from the local computer to the host computer.

5. Disable Printer Redirection: By disabling this feature, the user cannot use the printer connected to their local computer to print any document that is stored on the host computer.

6. Disable all advanced features: This point is not related to the security feature but the speed with which the Remote Desktop sessions work. To increase the speed, ensure that all the advanced features on the host computer are disabled. To do so, click on Control Panel – System – Properties – Advanced – Performance Settings Button – Adjust for Best Performance.

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Computer Hacking Computer hacking is the act of modifying computer hardware or software, in order to cause damage to sensitive data on a computer or to simply steal confidential information. Computer hackers often target home and office computers that are connected to the Internet. The Internet is a gateway for a computer to connect to the world, which also makes it vulnerable to attacks from hackers from across the globe. Effects of Computer Hacking Computer hacking is a breach of computer security. It can expose sensitive user data and risk user privacy. Hacking activities expose confidential user information like personal details, social security numbers, credit card numbers, bank account data and personal photographs. User information, in the hands of computer hackers, makes it vulnerable to illegitimate use and manipulation. Hackers may even delete sensitive information on gaining access to it. Deletion or manipulation of sensitive data with intent to achieve personal gain is another effect of computer hacking. A user whose computer has been hacked is at the risk of losing all the data stored on his/her computer. Manipulation of sensitive user data is a grave consequence of hacking. Identity theft is another important consequence of computer hacking. Identity theft is a fraud that involves pretension to be someone else, with intent to gain unauthorized access to information or property. It refers to an illegal use of someone else's identity for personal interest or gain. The advances in technology have led to the evolution of key-logging software, which is capable of tracking and recording every key stroke by the user, thereby stealing passwords and account details. Another serious effect of computer hacking is the denial of service attack. The DOS attack, as it is called, refers to the attempt of making computer resources unavailable to authorized users. Often, websites fall prey to denial-of-service attacks, whereby they are made unavailable for long periods of time, causing inconvenience to users while also hampering website business. Computer hacking can lead to theft of critical business information. Important information about business clients and customers can be lost or manipulated through computer hacking. Hacking can expose email addresses to hackers, which they might use for spamming and hampering email privacy. Information critical to national security, confidential government data, information related to national defence, security and crime, if exposed by means of hacking, can have grave consequences on the welfare of the nation. Hacking of highly sensitive data can potentially risk the national security and stake the overall well-being of the country's citizens. Hacking can be used to convert computers into zombie’s i.e. Internet-enabled computers that are compromised by hackers or computer viruses. Zombie computers are used for fraudulent activities like spamming and phishing. How would anyone know whether their computer had been hacked? An unexplained decline in computer performance, an unexpected increase in file size, unexplained modifications to files, sudden changes in network settings of the computer and frequent disk crashes are some of the warning signs of a hacked computer. Installing reliable antivirus software’s, enabling a firewall before connecting to the Internet and installing operating system updates on a regular basis, can help the computer user combat hackers. What could happen to you in case you hack a computer? Well, computer users have a right to secure personal information under the data protection act. Not abiding by this act can have serious consequences like heavy fines or imprisonment. The degree of punishment depends on the severity of the damage resulting from computer hacking. Hacking is a computer crime. Restricting Internet Usage Internet usage is common in business and is a step forward for working conditions and performance of employees. But the non-business use of the web can also have negative repercussions on business. Policies and Procedures By regulating (not prohibiting) access to the Internet, it is possible to improve the functioning of a company on several points: • Gain productivity.

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• Use more professional internet (information concerning the company). • Risks of attacks (virus) reduced network. • Internet connection (bandwidth) faster. The negotiated regulation of Internet access through codes of conduct and policies and procedures is an appropriate method that is adopted by most companies and organisations, such as the NHS for which I work for. It is a system of individual control for which I am obliged to follow the policies and procedures, as are the other employees. Negotiation and communication with employees remains one of the most effective ways to regulate Internet access. The goal is to make users "responsible" in their surf. Regulating access to the Internet can be classified into two types of actions: 1. Limit the time of internet usage. 2. Filter the content accessed. For more efficiency, a good organisation can combine these two modes of regulation. The NHS has such measures and uses a combination of Filter Blocking and Codes of Conduct in the Use of Email and Internet in the Policies and Procedures. Organisations, businesses, etc may choose to limit the time of internet usage for their employees. This is a solution "friendly" way to deal with internet usage and again the NHS has such a policy for allowing browsing between certain times for a certain duration permitted. With special software, it is possible to restrict the access to the internet on each PC (connection limited to Internet and instant messaging). This is an unfriendly way to treat employees but it is a measure that is technically viable. Filters On the Internet, content filtering (also known as information filtering) is the use of a program to screen and exclude from access or availability Web pages or e-mail that is deemed objectionable. Content filtering is used by corporations as part of Internet firewall computers and also by home computer owners, especially by parents to screen the content their children have access to from a computer. Content filtering usually works by specifying character strings that (if matched) indicate undesirable content that is to be screened out. Critics of content filtering programs point out that it is not difficult to unintentionally exclude desirable content. Content filtering and the products that offer this service can be divided into Web filtering and email filtering. Web Filtering A Web filter is a program that can screen an incoming Web page to determine whether some or all of it should not be displayed to the user. The filter checks the origin or content of a Web page against a set of rules provided by company or person who has installed the Web filter. A Web filter allows an enterprise or individual user to block out pages from Web sites that are likely to include objectionable advertising, pornographic content, spyware, viruses, and other objectionable content. Filters can be applied at three levels: 1. URL: The filter bans certain Internet addresses, e.g. web videos online, sensitive site, social networking sites. 2. Keywords typed: The filter defines a list of banned keywords. The user can not access results in a search

engine. 3. File Types: The filter prevents the download of certain files (e.g. video, music, etc.). This limits the possibilities

of attacks and infections in the organisations network (viruses). This will also keep the bandwidth or internet connection faster.

Email Filtering Spam or Junk Mail is unsolicited e-mail on the Internet. From the sender's point-of-view, spam is a form of bulk mail, often sent to a list obtained from a spambot or to a list obtained by companies that specialize in creating e-mail distribution lists. To the receiver, it usually seems like junk e-mail. Spam is roughly equivalent to unsolicited telephone marketing calls except that the user pays for part of the message since everyone shares the cost. A spam filter is a software program that sorts incoming mail in order to identify and pull out junk mail. A spam filter can be installed on an Internet mail server, on a private network server, or on a personal computer. Spam is not only bothersome but can be used for spreading malicious code like viruses and Trojans, and for perpetuating phishing scams. For these reasons and more, a spam filter is a great way to help protect your computer or network and cut out junk mail.

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A spam filter works by comparing parameters in incoming mail to lists of configurable rules. For example, a spam filter can be set to check the subject heading of incoming mail for terms associated with pornography, pharmaceuticals and other common spam products. The sender field might also be filtered for ranges of IP address associated with spammers or marketers. Benefits of Filtering Employers may feel that content filtering provides the following benefits to their company, department or organisation, as follows:

• Enforce Internet usage policies and compliance regulations. • Increase employee productivity. • Free network from viruses and other malicious applications. • Avoid legal liability issues resulting from pornography and other trademarked, copyrighted or illegal content

residing on corporate equipment. • Preserve network bandwidth by limiting Internet access to certain websites and shaping bandwidth usage. • Be able to monitor, audit and report on all usage.

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The Laws and Guidelines that Affect People’s use of IT

The Health and Safety Issues in Using IT There are several health issues that are related to using computers but many of these can be avoided by the correct layout of the computer area and by following good practices when using the. Furthermore both employers and employees must be aware of the regulations surrounding computer health and safety. Posture, lighting, furniture, work organization, and other work conditions and habits cay affect the way you feel and how well you work. By adjusting your work environment and personal practices, you may be able to minimize fatigue and discomfort, and reduce the risk of resulting strains that some scientists believe can lead to injury. Whenever you use a computer, you make choices that can affect your comfort and potentially your safety. This is true whether you use a desktop keyboard and monitor in an office, laptop computer, wireless keyboard on your lap, or handheld at the airport. In every case, you choose your working posture and your body’s position relative to your computer, phone, reference books, and papers. You may also have some control over lighting and other factors. Many factors in our work environment determine whether we work efficiently and in a manner that promotes good health and safety. Some studies have suggested that long periods of typing, improper workstation set up and incorrect work habits could lead to injury. The warning signs of these disorders can occur in the hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, neck, back and the eyes. These may include aching, pain, tightness, stiffness and blurred vision. Symptoms may be felt during typing, while using the mouse, or even when no work with the hands is being performed. If you experience these symptoms or any other kind of recurring discomfort then you should consult your doctor and, if possible, your company's health and safety department. The earlier a problem is properly diagnosed and treated, the less chance there is that it will end up as a disabling condition. The number of computers in the workplace has increased rapidly over the last few years and it is now quite normal for most staff to be exposed to computer usage. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 lays down legal standards for computer equipment and requires employers to take steps to minimise risks for all workers. Workers have received substantial damages for injuries caused through use of computers where the employer could have foreseen the risk but did nothing about it. Regulations and Obligations for Employers Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 The prime objective of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is to set out the general duties of employers to ensure the health and safety and welfare of themselves and others who may be affected in any way by what they do or fail to do. The duties are qualified in the Act by the principle of “so far as is reasonably practicable”. The Act applies to all work activities and premises and everyone at work has responsibilities under it including the self-employed and employees. Individuals are responsible for: • Taking reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by what they do

or do not do. • Co-operating with their employers on health and safety. • Correctly using work items provided by their employer, including personal protective equipment (PPE), in

accordance with training and instructions. • Not interfering with or misusing anything provided for their health safety or welfare. The main regulations covering the use of computer equipment include: Health & Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulati ons 1992 The 1992 Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations offer a legal framework to control many of the risks identified above, and the general risk assessments required by other legislation should address any outstanding issues. Musculoskeletal problems These can be split between upper limb disorders and back problems.

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Back problems associated with DSE work most frequently arise because of a combination of poor work practices and inadequate (or incorrectly adjusted) seating.Upper limb disorders can result from poor posture and/or equipment set-up, incorrect work organisation, work overload, poorly designed software requiring too much use of a mouse etc. The first key control for all musculoskeletal risks is training: all staff working with DSE should be trained to understand: The importance of proper ergonomic set-up; How to achieve a proper ergonomic set-up including how adjustment mechanisms for items such as chairs operate correctly; The importance of following arrangements for breaks/changes of activity; What to do to report difficulties with equipment or early stage symptoms of pain; The key aspects of the DSE regulations, including such things as arrangements for eyesight testing; Training should be repeated after a suitable interval, to ensure that staff retain the information and skills. Once proper training systems are in place, the next key control measure is workstation analysis - or risk assessment. Each workstation must be assessed to identify risk factors and to plan actions to reduce those risks to the lowest possible level. Risk assessments should be undertaken on a one to one basis, and should take into account what the person uses the VDU for, how often, for how long, etc. They should be recorded and kept updated. The assessment should identify whether the user is comfortable and able to work without risk to their health. It is preferable for all workstations to receive a follow-up visit from an assessor. Workstation checks should be repeated if any changes occur and regularly reassessed to ensure that information is up to date. Where a workstation may be used by more than one person, a separate analysis is required for each worker who uses the workstation. In such 'hot desking' situations, particular attention needs to be paid to any equipment provided for the needs of an individual member of staff - for example, how does someone who has a non-standard chair ensure that they have access to it, regardless of which workstation they may be using? Work routine and breaks The other key part of controlling musculoskeletal risks is work routine and organisation. The DSE Regulations place a legal duty on employers to ensure that workers' daily work is organised so as to break up long periods of VDU work. This is best done by ensuring that there is a mix of VDU and non-VDU work, but the regulations realise that this is not always possible and in such circumstances it requires physical breaks from screen-based work. There is a lot of guidance about how and when such breaks should be taken: the key issues are that employees should have some discretion over when to take a break, that more frequent shorter breaks are preferable to longer, less frequent ones and that breaks/changes of activity, whether part of other duties or a formal break, should allow the worker to leave the workstation, to stand up, move around and change posture and should avoid duties that utilise the same sort of postures and muscle groups as used for VDU work. Care is needed to ensure that breaks are not too short to allow adequate recovery time - which can occur when employers rely on what are termed 'micro-breaks': very short breaks from using a keyboard which can occur as part of daily work routine, but which don't allow for posture change or movement away from the workstation. Eyes and eyesight Although medical evidence does not support any idea that VDU usage can damage eyesight, there are several issues that can result in visual fatigue or other eye and eyesight problems. For example: If lighting condition are inadequate, including causing glare and/or reflected images in the screen; Prolonged screen use, without adequate breaks; Dry eyes, where humidity levels are low. This can be a particular problem for wearers of contact lenses; The visually demanding nature of intense screen work can also highlight problems arising from uncorrected vision defects that might otherwise pass unnoticed. To guard against this, the DSE regulations prescribe that every user of DSE equipment should be entitled to an eye/eyesight test BEFORE they start DSE work and at regular intervals thereafter. The cost of the eye test should be borne by the employer. 'Regular' is not defined in the regulations and most employers rely on the optician's recommended re-test interval. Additional tests before a scheduled retest can be obtained, at the employer's expense, if visual difficulties occur that can reasonably be considered to be caused by the DSE work. Where an eyesight test reveals the need for 'special corrective appliances' to correct vision defects for DSE usage, the employer is liable for the cost of a basic corrective appliance.

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Lighting and DSE It is vital that lighting is correct to avoid glare, reflections and over- or under-lit working environments. Failure to do so can cause headaches and visual fatigue. It can also be a source of musculoskeletal problems, if workers have to adopt incorrect postures to see round screen reflections. The Schedule of Minimum Standards for workstations, part of the DSE regulations, has detailed requirements on provision of adequate lighting, prevention of glare, reflections and provision of blinds or other means of screening workstations from daylight/sunlight from windows. These Regulations on DSE, place a duty on employers to ensure the protection of health and safety of employees and also the self-employed who habitually use DSE for the purposes of an employers undertaking as a significant part of their work. In this context a self-employed person is described as an operator and an employee as a user. Employers must decide which of their employees are DSE users and also whether they make use of other users or operators. In the regulations and with few exceptions, DSE means any alphanumeric or graphic display screen regardless of the display process involved. What comprises a workstation is also defined whether it be situated on the employers premises, at a persons home or another employers premises. Employers are also directed to ensure that they comply with general duties place upon them by other overlapping Acts and Regulations. The Regulations require employers to minimise the risks in DSE work by ensuring that workplaces are well designed. They have to analyse workstations, and ensure that they meet minimum requirements by reducing the risks. This includes: looking at the whole workstation including equipment, furniture and the work environment; the job being done; and any special needs of individual staff. Employees should be encouraged to participate in the risk assessments. Other compliances are:

a) Planning the work to provide breaks or a change of activity (excludes self-employed). b) Arrange eye tests if requested and provide special spectacles if needed (excludes self-employed). c) Provide health and safety training and information. d) Employees should make full use of the equipment provided and adjust it to get the best from it and

avoid potential health problems. Training should cover such matters. If DSE users think that they have problems connected to their work they should talk in the first instance to their supervisor, manager or safety representative. If this doesn’t help, then users and employers should get assistance from the relevant authorities.

Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1 992 These regulations explain many of the duties which were implied in the HASAWA Act 1974 and provide a framework within which employers can manage the health and safety aspects of their undertaking. Overall, they have the effect of requiring employers and the self�employed to assess the risks at work (Regulation 3) and to devise and implement appropriate control measures (Regulation 4). The duties of employees are also set out in greater detail (Regulation 14). The regulations include such matters as; health and safety arrangements, health surveillance, health and safety assistance, information for employees, capabilities and training, protection of young persons, risk assessment for new and expectant mothers. Other of these regulations is related to the consequential amendment and revocation of certain other different regulations where they affect one another.

Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 199 2 The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) are made under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The primary objective is to ensure that work equipment should not result in health and safety risks regardless of its age, condition or origin. PUWER applies to the provision and use of all working equipment including mobile and lifting equipment. It applies to all workplaces and work situations where the HSW Act applies and extends outside GB to certain offshore activities in British territorial waters and on the UK Continental Shelf. The Regulations cover anyone with responsibility directly or indirectly for work equipment and its use. This includes; employers, employees, the self employed, those who hire work equipment and other specified duty holders. Main aspects covered by the regulations are:

a) Suitability, maintenance, inspection specific risks, training, information and instructions. b) Conformity with EC requirements, dangerous parts of machinery and protection against specified

hazards. c) High or very low temperatures, starting and stopping controls and emergency stops.

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d) General controls, isolation, stability, lighting, maintenance operations, markings. e) Warnings, regulations specific to mobile work equipment, miscellaneous items.

Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 These regulations apply to all workplaces except domestic premises (private dwellings) and other exclusions as per Regulation 3. They expand on the duties of employers imposed under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The regulations are intended to protect the health and safety of everyone in the workplace, including disabled persons and to ensure that adequate welfare facilities are provided for people at work. Employers have a duty to ensure that workplaces under their control comply with these regulations. Tenant employers are similarly responsible. Landlords and owners of premises are also responsible for matters within their control. Tenants should cooperate with one another and with the landlord. A risk assessment would show that the workplace may need reorganisation to satisfy requirements. Facilities should be readily accessible but can be located in neighbouring workplaces if required. Main aspects covered by the regulations include:

a) Maintenance of the workplace, equipment, devices and systems. b) Ventilation, temperature in indoor premises and lighting, windows etc. c) Cleanliness and waste materials, sanitary conveniences and washing facilities. d) Room dimensions, space, workstations and seating. e) Facilities for rest, eating, changing clothes and their storage. f) Provision of drinking water. g) Condition of floors and traffic routes, walkways, escalators, doors, gates, h) Organisation of traffic routes and pedestrian walkways. i) Protection against falls and falling objects.

Health and safety regulations which related specifically to the use of visual display units (VDUs) and computers in the workplace came into effect in January 1993 to implement an EU directive. The regulations apply to staff that habitually use VDUs as part of their day to day job, i.e. any display screen or monitor, usually forming part of a computer, that displays text, numbers and graphics. Employers must: • Analyse work stations and assess and reduce risks. This includes the equipment, furniture, the work

environment; the job being done and any special needs required by staff. • Provide adjustable chairs and suitable lighting. • Plan work so there are breaks or changes of activity away from the computer. The breaks are not required to

be a specific length of time but the general advice is to provide more frequent, shorter ones as opposed to less, longer ones. Ideally, the operator should be allowed a certain amount of discretion as to when to take breaks away from the screen.

• On request, provide eye tests or spectacles if special ones are required. Employees can ask their employer to

pay for eye tests and there is also a requirement to test at regular intervals. • Provide health, safety and training information specific to the safe use of working with VDUs and computers. In order to provide the satisfactory equipment for their employees, employers use ergonomics to assist the equipment design process. It is the science concerned with designing safe and comfortable machines for humans. This includes furniture design and the design of parts of the computer like keyboards. Ergonomics Ergonomics is about 'fit': the fit between people, the things they do, the objects they use and the environments they work, travel and play in. If good fit is achieved, the stresses on people are reduced. They are more comfortable, they can do things more quickly and easily, and they make fewer mistakes. So when one talks about 'fit', it doesn't just mean physical fit, as ergonomics is concerned with psychological and other aspects too. That is why ergonomics is often called 'Human Factors'. Many scientists believe that working intensely, or for a long time in uncomfortable positions on a Visual Display Unit, (VDU), has consequences for your health, safety and comfort. Posture, lighting, furniture and other work conditions and habits may affect the way you feel and how well you work. By adjusting your work environment and

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practices you may be able to reduce the risk of the resulting injuries and strains that some scientists believe can lead to injury. It is important for both employers and employees alike to note that regulations exist, in law, that are about the usage of Visual Display Equipment, i.e. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992. Improving health and safety practice should be taken seriously, although it need not take much time or expense. Measures employers should take include: • Understanding the law - making sure that someone in an organisation, company, etc. has a health and safety

brief covering all areas, not just computers. • Being aware of the health risks - the government officially recognises some of the risks although there are

some grey areas that an organisation, company, etc, needs to make up its own mind about. • Assessing the risks - a company needs to use procedures set out in the law - they need to be systematic and

get help if they need it. A health and safety audit can done by a competent organisation if necessary. • Taking steps to minimise the risks - this may only involve taking simple measures. • Training all users to recognise the risks - if people aren't aware of the dangers they can't take adequate

precautions to protect their health. • Taking users views seriously - if users feel there is something wrong there often is. The Risks With the increase in computer use, a number of health and safety concerns related to vision and body aches and pains have arisen. Many problems with computer use are temporary and can be resolved by adopting simple corrective action. Most problems related to computer use are completely preventable. However it is important to seek prompt medical attention if you do experience symptoms including: • continual or recurring discomfort • aches and pains • throbbing • tingling • numbness • burning sensation • stiffness It is important to seek help even if symptoms occur when you are not working at your computer. Laptop computers can present particular problems due to small screens, keyboards and inbuilt pointing devices (e.g. a small portable mouse or touchpad). Prolonged use of laptops should be avoided. If using a laptop as a main computer (i.e. use as a normal desktop computer in addition to use as a portable), it is advisable to use the laptop with a docking station. This allows an ordinary mouse, keyboard and monitor to be used with the laptop. The main risks associated with using computers include: 1. Musculoskeletal problems. 2. Eye strain and a greater awareness of existing eye problems. 3. Rashes and other skin complaints have also been reported, although it is thought these are caused by the dry

atmosphere and static electricity associated with display units rather then by the display units themselves. There are potential risks from radiation though this is a contentious area.

Musculoskeletal problems These can range from general aches and pains to more serious problems and include: • Upper limb disorders such as repetitive strain injury (RSI) tenosynovitis and carpal tunnel syndrome - by far the

most important as it can quickly lead to permanent incapacity. • Back and neck pain and discomfort. • Tension stress headaches and related ailments. There has been much debate over recent years regarding health risks associated with VDU's. The most widely reported risk is RSI type injuries from over-use of the keyboard and mouse. Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is the name given to a group of injuries affecting the muscles, tendons and nerves primarily of the neck and upper limbs. It is an umbrella term and is also known as Work Related Upper Limb Disorder (WRULD).

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Muscolo-skeletal disorders are commonly reported by VDU users. These include backache, stiff neck and shoulders and cramps in the fingers and hands. Other symptoms of RSI - type conditions include tingling sensations, sharp pains in the arms and hands and loss of power or grip. These conditions appear slowly over a period of time, rather than occuring overnight. The problem here is that people don't notice that their discomfort is increasing until it becomes really problematic. The main cause of these conditions is undertaking repetitive tasks for prolonged periods without taking any breaks or changes in activity. Static posture, insufficient recovery time, and stress is often a contributing factor to injury. The muscles and tendons become overloaded and over a period of time they will be damaged. RSI is preventable and treatable. It is vital not to ignore the early warning signs. Back pain and neck pain can be caused by sitting for prolonged periods putting increased stress on the neck, arms, back and legs as well as the back muscles and discs. Sitting in a slouched manner can cause the spinal ligaments and muscles to become overstretched. Poor ergonomics can cause damage to your body. The spine, particularly the lower back and neck, are the most commonly injured areas leading to recurrent pain. If you have a slumped posture you are more likely to have pain and discomfort. Is your spine flexible enough to allow you to sit with good posture? Are your postural muscles strong enough and do they have the endurance to help you to sit correctly throughout the day? Having a muscle imbalance will cause poor posture. Poor posture has also been linked with poorer health. A forward slumped posture is also associated with restricted breathing. These types of problem can be caused by:

• Maintaining an unnatural or unhealthy posture while using the computer. • Inadequate lower back support. • Sitting in the same position for an extended period of time. • An ergonomically poor workstation set up.

Eye strain Computer users can experience a number of symptoms related to vision including: • Visual fatigue • Blurred or double vision • Burning and watering eyes • Headaches and frequent changes in prescription glasses People who use VDU's regularly often complain of tired eyes, including deterioration in focus, dryness in the eyes and general discomfort. Other symptoms include headaches and loss of concentration. This is caused by people staring at a fixed distance for prolonged periods. Their eye muscles become stiff and tired. With the rising number of people using computers at work and at home there has also been an increase in the number of people complaining of eye strain. Although scientific research has not proved a link between using computers and permanent eye damage using VDUs for a long period of time can cause some minor eye problems. Computer vision syndrome is a common eye condition amongst VDU users. Symptoms can range from tired eyes to blurred vision. If you do experience any of the following symptoms you could have computer vision syndrome. If you find it difficult to focus on distant objects after using a computer, you have headaches, eyestrain or dry eyes you need to take extra care when using a VDU to avoid getting computer vision syndrome. It is also best to visit your optician for an eye test to rule out anything more serious. Computer work hasn't been proven to cause permanent eye damage, but the temporary discomfort that may occur can reduce productivity, cause lost work time and reduce job satisfaction. Eye problems are usually the result of visual fatigue or glare from bright windows or strong light sources, light reflecting off the display screen or poor display screen contrast. These symptoms can be relieved by:

• Using screen filters as they can remove a high percentage of the harmful rays emitted from a computer screen.

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• Using screens that do not flicker, suing modern flat TFT monitors and setting the correct resolution in the settings.

• Taking regular breaks - do not work for more than one hour without a break. • Lighting must be suitable and blinds fitted to windows to reduce glare.

Action and Prevention Quite simply, prevention is better than the cure and there are several relatively straightforward precautions that can be taken by computer users to avoid problems. Avoiding Musculoskeletal problems General precautions to avoid musculoskeletal problems include: 1. Taking regular breaks from working at your computer - a few minutes at least once an hour. 2. Alternating work tasks. 3. Regular stretching to relax your body. 4. Using equipment such as footrests, wrist rests and document holders if you need to. 5. Keeping your mouse and keyboard at the same level. 6. Avoiding gripping your mouse too tightly - hold the mouse lightly and click gently. 7. Familiarise yourself with keyboard shortcuts for applications you regularly use (to avoid overusing the mouse). It is also important to have your workstation set up correctly. Your workstation includes monitor, keyboard, mouse, seating, desk, and where appropriate, footrest (to enable you to put your feet flat if they would otherwise not reach the floor), wrist rest, and document holder. Monitors should:

• Swivel, tilt and elevate - if not use an adjustable stand, books or blocks adjust the height. • Be positioned so the top line of the monitor is no higher than your eyes or no lower than 20° below t he

horizon of your eyes or field of vision. • Be at the same level and beside the document holder if you use one. • Be between 18 to 24 inches away from your face.

Keyboards should:

• Be detachable and adjustable (with legs to adjust angle). • Allow your forearms to be parallel to the floor without raising your elbows. • Allow your wrists to be in line with your forearms so your wrists do not need to be flexed up or down. • Include enough space to rest your wrists or should include a padded detachable wrist rest (or you can use

a separate gel wrist rest which should be at least 50 mm deep). • Be placed directly in front of the monitor and at the same height as the mouse, track ball or touch pad.

Chairs should:

• Support the back - and have a vertically adjustable independent back rest that returns to its original position and has tilt adjustment to support the lower back.

• Allow chair height to be adjusted from a sitting position. • Be adjusted so the back crease of the knee is slightly higher than the pan of the chair (use a suitable

footrest where necessary). • Be supported by a five prong caster base. • Have removable and adjustable armrests. • Have a contoured seat with breathable fabric and rounded edges to distribute the weight and should be

adjustable to allow the seat pan to tilt forward or back. Tables and desks should:

• Provide sufficient leg room and preferably be height adjustable. • Have enough room to support the computer equipment and space for documents. • Be at least 900 mm deep. • Have rounded corners and edges.

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Avoiding Eyestrain Problems Precautions for avoiding eyestrain may include the following:

• Exercising the eyes by periodically focusing on objects at varying distances. • Blinking regularly. • Keeping the air around you moist - for example using plants, open pans of water or a humidifier (spider

plants are said to be particularly good for this and removing chemical vapours from the air). • Adjusting the screen height / seating so that when sitting comfortably your eyes are in line with the top of

the monitor screen. • Adjusting the brightness control on your monitor for comfort. • Adjusting the contrast on your monitor to make the characters distinct from the background. • Adjusting the refresh rate of your monitor to stop it flickering. • Positioning monitors to avoid glare (e.g. not directly in front of windows). • Keeping your monitor the screen clean. • Keeping the screen and document holder (if you use one) at the same distance from your eyes. • Servicing, repairing or replacing monitors that flicker or have inadequate clarity. • Regular eye testing - do this at least once every 2 years and more frequently if necessary - especially if you

are experiencing eye problems related to using display equipment. Indicate the distance from your eyes to the monitor to your optician and talk to them regarding special lenses or the use of bifocals.

General working environment Don't forget that rules for all electrical appliances apply in a computer room. This means:

• There should be no trailing wires. • Food and drink should not be placed near a machine. • Electrical sockets must not be overloaded. • There must be adequate space around the machine. • Heating and ventilation must be suitable. • Lighting must be suitable with no glare or reflections. • Benches must be strong enough to support the computers.

Summary Computers are an essential tool in the work of most organisations. Although problems can occur through their use, with the proper equipment, ergonomic workstation design, proper techniques and working practices, the risk of problems can be greatly reduced. The law places certain responsibilities firmly with the employer; however, as individuals there are practical measures we all can and should take to avoid harming our health. It is a good idea to promote a health and safety culture within a workplace and to make sure that everyone recognises that they have a responsibility for health and safety within it. My Health & Safety Web Site Please note that I have created a Web Site dedicated to the Health and Safety usage of IT. This incorporates a lot of the information as detailed above in this report and it also contains some very useful links to specialist organisations and governmental departments. The Web Site is available to view on a CD in front of this report folder.

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Copyright law: the basics In creating a website there are a number of issues that a computer user needs to think about such as: what is protected by copyright, where do I get it and what common fallacies and myths might cloud my judgement on what I can use in my site. The law surrounding copyright is one that a computer user should become aware of as it undoubtedly affects the way he uses IT. Of course, the extent to which it affects a user will largely depend on his job and what his roles, duties and responsibilities are with his use of IT. A data inputter will have little to do with copyright law than a web designer will have to. However, as the use of IT becomes more and more deeply entrenched in our lives it will be inevitable that we will have to deal with information, data, a picture, a leaflet or almost anything out there on the internet that will be of a copyrighted nature. The handling and usage of it may be restricted, prohibited or protected in some way and so it is wise for the computer user to brief himself on the basics of copyright law. My research here is based on UK law7 and was last updated in statute in August 2008.

Copyright gives the author of certain types of material rights to control the use or commercial exploitation of the work that he or she has created. This includes rights to authorise or prohibit the copying, issuing of copies, renting or lending, performing, showing, playing, broadcasting or adaptation of the copyright material.

Copyright covers a very wide range of subject matter including books, films, videos, plays, music and drawings, all of which can make it onto the internet in some form or another8.

Computer software is protected as a literary work, and the databases which form the backbone of many sites are now protected following the Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997. Unlike the US, Europe has no registration process for copyright works. Once the work is created, copyright exists. Copyright prevents the reproduction of the copyright work in any material form, the making of any adaptation of the work, the making of a translation of the work or the publishing of the work without the consent of the copyright owner. The Copyright and Related Rights Regulations extended the scope of protection originally provided by the Act (partly in response to the internet phenomenon and the increase in content which is in digital form), by introducing a new right for authors and performers to control any communication to the public of their work and the making available of their work, covering, for example, actions such as enabling internet access to works. One of the objectives of these regulations was to encourage right holders such as music and film industries in their attempts to pursue unauthorised use of their works in digital form.

In the event of an infringement, the copyright owner can apply to the court for an order to prevent the act that is taking place – known as an interdict in Scotland and as an injunction elsewhere. The Act also allows for an order to be granted for the infringer to "deliver up" the offending articles and, in certain circumstances, payment of damages. In the event that the act is identified and the infringer located, in Scotland certainly there are effective remedies. Again in recognition of many of the new difficulties which the internet poses to rights holders, the Regulations also provide the court with the power to grant injunctions against service providers (for example, ISPs) who have actual knowledge of use of their services to infringe copyright.

The legal remedies available to copyright owners are reasonably straightforward. Copyright gives the owner the right to prevent others from copying the product. It protects the form of reproduction, not the ideas themselves, and so will only arise in relation to original works involving some degree of skill, effort and judgement. What is protected by copyright? The sorts of material (referred to in copyright legislation as "works") which benefit from copyright protection are set out by statute, and are broken down into the following categories: • Original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, including computer programs and some databases; • Sound recordings, films or broadcasts; and • Typographical arrangements of published editions. Literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works will only be original if they are the result of independent creative effort. They will not be original if they have been copied. The key to protection is independent creation. Even if two works

7 UK Intellectual Property Office - www.ipo.gov.uk 8 The law of copyright is contained in the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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are almost identical they will still be original if they have been created by their respective authors independently of each other. Sound recordings, films and published editions do not have to be original but they will not attract copyright if they have been copied from existing sound recordings, films and published editions. Broadcasts also do not have to be original, but no copyright will arise if they infringe copyright in another broadcast. Ideas are not protected by copyright. Copyright will only protect the textual or literary expression of ideas rather than the ideas themselves. Names, titles and internet domain names also do not attract copyright. These can however be protected in other ways, for example by a registered trade mark or a common law action to prevent passing-off. Logos may be protected under copyright as artistic works. Is material on the internet protected by copyright? Material sent over the internet or stored on web servers is generally protected in the same way as material in other media. It is a fallacy that once material is posted on the internet it somehow enters the public domain. Anyone placing copyright material on the internet, or distributing or downloading material that others have placed on the internet, must therefore ensure that they have the permission of the copyright owner unless the use of the material falls within an exception. A copyright notice on a website will often set out what you can and can't do with the material on that site. It should be noted that copyright material may have been put on the internet in other countries without infringing copyright there, but could still be illegal to use without permission in the UK, particularly if the website is aimed at users based in the UK. Do I need to take formal steps to register my copyr ight? Not in the UK. Provided that the work in question is one that qualifies for copyright protection, copyright will arise automatically as soon as the work is created without any need for registration. A copyright owner may mark copyright material when it is published with the international copyright symbol © followed by the name of the copyright owner and year of publication. This is not essential in the UK, but may assist a copyright owner in the event of infringement proceedings. It will also be necessary if a copyright owner wishes to enforce his or her copyright in certain foreign countries. When is someone infringing my copyright? Copyright allows the owner, and the owner alone, to copy, issue copies, rent or lends, perform, show, play, communicate or adapt the copyright work.

Copyright is infringed by a third party who performs any of the actions listed above without the permission of the copyright owner, unless the act carried out falls within an exception.

In addition a person may commit a secondary infringement of copyright if, among other things, they import into the UK, possess, sell or distribute an article which they know or have reason to believe is an infringing copy. The main exceptions are: • Minor infringements – copyright is only infringed if the unauthorised use involves the whole or a "substantial

part" of the copyright work. However even small parts of a copyright work may count as a substantial part. What is or is not a substantial part is assessed on the basis of quality rather than quantity. The question is therefore whether the level of skill and effort invested in producing the relevant part of the work is substantial rather than whether the relevant part constitutes a substantial portion of the whole work.

• Temporary copies – there is no copyright infringement where a person makes a temporary copy of a copyright work as an integral and essential part of a technological process, the sole purpose of which is to enable transmission of the work in a network or a lawful use of the work and which has no independent economic significance (e.g. where work is cached in a computer). This exception does not apply to computer programs or databases.

• Fair dealing – there is no copyright infringement when the use is fair and is for one of a list of specified purposes (for example where it is for the purposes of review and criticism, non-commercial research or private study) .

• Incidental inclusion – there is no copyright infringement if copyright work is incidentally included in an artistic work, sound recording, film or broadcast (so-called 'passing shot' use). However if music is deliberately included in a work (e.g. playing on a radio included in a scene in a film) its inclusion cannot be said to be incidental.

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• Educational use – there is no copyright infringement if a protected work is used for the purposes of instruction and examination. This principle applies even in the case where the whole work is played, performed, recorded or photocopied. However such instruction/examination must (among other conditions) not be for commercial purposes, reprography must not be used, and the rights of the author must be given sufficient acknowledgement.

• Libraries, archives and public administration – various exceptions apply to libraries and archives provided they are recognised by statutory instrument. There is also no copyright infringement where copyright work is used for administrative purposes, for example as part of judicial proceedings.

• Works permanently situated in public places – for example, there will be no copyright infringement where sculptures, works of artistic craftsmanship, buildings etc. are photographed.

• Public interest – in certain circumstances it is a defence in a copyright claim to show that the publication or use of the copyright material is in the public interest, for example where the material is injurious to public life, public health and safety or the administration of justice.

• Copying for the visually impaired – copying for the purpose of making copies accessible by the visually impaired is not copyright infringement, subject to conditions.

If a person is using copyright material it is also generally necessary to include an acknowledgement of the name of the copyright work and its author. This is particularly relevant to a budding web designer like me. During my scouring of sites for material and images a lot of ‘free stuff, such as animated gifs, pictures, sounds and so on do indeed demand some degree of recognition from their authors. If this is to be the case in any site I use I will abide by these rules and will not credit someone else’s work for my own. How long does copyright protection last? The duration of copyright protection depends on the nature of the protected work. The position can be summarised as follows: • For literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, copyright expires 70 years after the end of the calendar year in

which the author dies.

• For films, copyright expires 70 years after the end of the calendar year in which the death occurs of the last to survive of the principal director, the authors of the screenplay and dialogue, and the composer of any music specially created for the film.

• For sound recordings, copyright expires 50 years after the end of the year in which it was made or, if published in this time, 50 years from the end of the year of publication. If the work is not published during that 50 year period, but it is played in public or communicated to the public during that period, the period of copyright protection is 50 years from the first of these to happen. Note that the European Commission has proposed an extension to the term of copyright protection for sound recordings, to 95 years. The proposal will need to be backed by the European Parliament and then a majority of national governments in the European Union in order to go ahead.

• For broadcasts copyright expires 50 years after the end of the calendar year in which the broadcast was made.

• For typographical arrangements, copyright expires 25 years after the end of the calendar year in which the edition was first published.

Can I sell my rights in copyright? Copyright is a property right which, like rights in physical property, can be bought or sold, inherited or otherwise transferred, either wholly or in part. Copyright may therefore subsequently belong to someone other than the author of the protected work.

Copyright owners may choose to license others to use protected works while retaining ownership themselves. The terms of any such licence should deal with the following issues:

• the exclusivity of the license: is an exclusive licence to be granted to one licensee (which would also exclude the copyright owner from using the work in that manner) or is a non-exclusive licence to be granted to a number of licensees? Is the copyright owner to retain rights to use the copyright work (which would mean that an exclusive licence would not be appropriate to grant)?

• the term of the licence: is the licence intended to last forever (often described as "perpetual"), or do the copyright owner and licensee intend for it to last for a specified period of time?

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• the assignability of the licence, or the licensee's ability to sub-licence his or her rights: can the licensee transfer his or her permission to carry out the restricted acts to third parties, or grant licences of his or her permission to third parties?

• the scope of the licence: is the licensee entitled to carry out all of the restricted acts, or does the copyright owner wish to retain some of those rights? ? Will the licence be limited to a particular territory, market or purpose?

Control and exploitation of copyright material onli ne There are a number of well known myths about the law on the internet9, and in particular the law of copyright. These include: • "If it doesn't have a copyright notice, it's not copyrighted"

• "If I don't charge for it, it's not an infringement"

• "If you don't defend your copyright you lose it"

• "Somebody has that name copyrighted"

• "They can't get me, defendants in court have powerful rights"

• "It doesn't hurt anybody – in fact it's free advertising"

• "If it's posted to Usenet it's in the public domain"

While courts in many countries have been willing to intervene where there has been an infringement of copyright, the real difficulty for the owners of copyright is the sheer scale of the internet, and the speed at which reproduction of material can be achieved.

The simplicity of copying material found on the internet has fuelled the myth that there is nothing wrong with doing so.

Copyright law first developed at a time when it was relatively difficult to make copies of written work. Large scale copyright infringement could only be achieved if the infringer had substantial industrial backing in the form of a printing press and time.

The advent of the photocopier posed the first real test of modern copyright law. Then came audio recording, video recording, and the computer, which needs to copy material in the form of computer files and code just to operate.

With the internet, where many computers are linked together, there is no need for an infringer to have serious financial backing. This is especially so where the "original", whether text, picture, video or sound, is in digital form. There is no longer a physical original that could be the ultimate point of reference. It may now be almost impossible for the courts to identify "the" original work. Infringers can also take advantage of the internet as a communication and publication network using the likes of P2P file sharing systems; user generated content sites, social networking sites and blogs. The challenge for copyright holders has never been greater.

I can only comment here that I myself have created 2 websites (at the front of this folder) and I was very mindful of being very careful, in fact I suggest the best way to avoid copyright infringements is to create as much original material as possible, and this is what I exactly did.

9 Taken from an article in E-commerce Law and Policy by John MacKenzie, August 2008.

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Accessibility and the Law In recent years, accessibility of websites has become one of the key things website designers need to consider when producing sites either for clients or themselves. The aim of website accessibility is simple - to make the information on a website available to as wide an audience as possible. Now, for users of standard desktop PCs this is fine as this the norm for designing, however there are other users, often with disabilities, which may be left, forgotten. These include conditions such as: • Blindness • Dyslexia • Colour Blindness • Being unable to use a mouse What the law says - Disability Discrimination Act 1 995 The prime piece of legislation which governs website design and accessibility in the UK is the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The relevant parts of this document can be found below:

1. “The Act makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public.”

2. “From 1st October 1999 a service provider has to take reasonable steps to change a practice which makes

it unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of its services.” 3. “What services are affected by the Act? An airline company provides a flight reservation and booking

service to the public on its website. This is a provision of a service and is subject to the act.” 4. “For people with visual impairments, the range of auxiliary aids or services which it might be reasonable to

provide to ensure that services are accessible might include … accessible websites.” 5. “For people with hearing disabilities, the range of auxiliary aids or services which it might be reasonable to

provide to ensure that services are accessible might include … accessible websites.” So what is an accessible website? There are a range of answers to this really. The W3C through its Web Accessibility Initiative (http://www.w3.org/WAI) guides one through techniques of how to make ones website accessible. In their guidelines they have three levels of accessibility criteria - Priority 1 through to Priority 3. Information about what each priority means can be found below: • Priority 1 - A website MUST satisfy this criteria otherwise one or more groups of users will find it IMPOSSIBLE

to access information. • Priority 2 - A website SHOULD satisfy this criteria otherwise one or more groups of users will find it DIFFICULT

to access information. • Priority 3 - A website MAY satisfy this criteria otherwise one or more groups of users will find it SLIGHTLY

DIFFICULT to access information. So, as the reader can see from this list, all of the Priority 1 criteria need to be met by a website for it to be legally accessible. However, if the Web author can it would be useful to incorporate as many of the priority 2 and priority 3 criteria to make his or her website as accessible as possible. In today’s world, the likelihood of being sued because of having an inaccessible is low but the risk is there. More often than not, if a business, company or organisation has an inaccessible website the people affected will contact them telling them the issue and they will have to change their site accordingly. In designing a website then there are issues surrounding the accessibility of it. There are 10 million people in the UK with some form of disability10, that's about one in seven of the population. If a website isn't accessible then not only could the owners be turning away potential customers but they may also be falling foul of the law.

10 Information sourced from www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/RightsAndObligations/DisabilityRights/DG_4001070

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Web designers may do well to test their pages online. Cynthia Says11 is an online Web Site Accessibility Verifier that checks a site for both accessibility and correct HTML mark-up. If the page earns a four star rating, the designer may display the "Cynthia Says" graphic on the web page. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) makes it illegal for companies to provide an inferior service to, or discriminate against, a disabled person. This legislation extends to websites. In March 2003 the Disability Rights Commission announced its decision to test 1000 websites for accessibility. There was no intent to name and shame or indeed take legal action. It was an exercise to ascertain the level of accessibility awareness and implementation in websites across the UK. The results, published in April 2004, were astonishing. Only 0.2% of the sites tested achieved anything like the level of accessibility deemed acceptable. More alarmingly, 81% of the tested sites failed to reach the most basic accessibility guidelines. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), is an international consortium devoted to promoting accessibility on the web. Their Web Content Accessibility Guidelines12 (WCAG) are generally accepted as the definitive guidelines on web accessibility and accessible design techniques, and many other apparent sets of standards and guidelines actually refer back to the WAI guidelines. I have listed already these guidelines above but have included here some background for the reader as to the W3C W3C The W3C was started in 1994 to lead the Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. What is the W3C?

1. W3C Stands for the World Wide Web Consortium 2. W3C was created in October 1994 3. W3C was created by Tim Berners-Lee 4. W3C was created by the Inventor of the Web 5. W3C is organized as a Member Organization 6. W3C is working to Standardize the Web 7. W3C creates and maintains WWW Standards 8. W3C Standards are called W3C Recommendations

How The W3C Started The World Wide Web (WWW) began as a project at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), where Tim Berners-Lee developed a vision of the World Wide Web. Tim Berners-Lee - the inventor of the World Wide Web - is now the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). W3C was created in 1994 as a collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), with support from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and the European Commission. Standardizing the Web W3C is working to make the Web accessible to all users (despite differences in culture, education, ability, resources, and physical limitations). W3C also coordinates its work with many other standards organizations such as the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Wireless Application Protocols (WAP) Forum and the Unicode Consortium. W3C is hosted by three universities: • Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. • The French National Research Institute in Europe • Keio University in Japan

11 Official site - www.icdri.org/test_your_site_now.htm 12 Please refer to www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20 for a full breakdown of the guidelines.

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W3C Members Because the Web is so important (both in scope and in investment) that no single organization should have control over its future, W3C functions as a member organization. Some well known members are: • IBM • Microsoft • America Online • Apple • Adobe • Macromedia • Sun Microsystems The Full List of Member Organisations includes a variety of software vendors, content providers, corporate users, telecommunications companies, academic institutions, research laboratories, standards bodies, and governments. W3C Recommendations The most important work done by the W3C is the development of Web specifications (called "Recommendations") that describe communication protocols (like HTML and XML) and other building blocks of the Web. Each W3C Recommendation is developed by a work group consisting of members and invited experts. The group obtains its input from companies and other organizations, and creates a Working Draft and finally a Proposed Recommendation. In general the Recommendation is submitted to the W3C membership and director, for a formal approval as a W3C Recommendation. Designing for the disabled and taking into account accessibility is a very serious thing indeed, with consequences laid down in law and statute for those who do not comply. The computer user who has some input into placing his or her work out there for everyone to see on the World Wide Web (notably in Web design and authoring) should bear this in mind.

The Data Protection Act 1998 Businesses, organisations and companies that have processes that deal with personal information MUST comply with the Data Protection Act 1998. In terms of this unit on the Internet and the Intranet this applies to those that have websites that have an online presence and collect or store information from prospective clients, patients, customers, etc. They must apply for registration under The Data Protection Act 1998. This applies to companies and businesses that collect and store e-mail addresses via an enquiry form or personal information for the purpose of supplying goods or services. Registration is inexpensive, but they must only use the Government Web Site13 for the registration process. Notification is a statutory requirement and every organisation that processes personal information must notify the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), unless they are exempt. Failure to notify is a criminal offence. Notification is the process by which a data controller informs the Information Commissioner of certain details about their processing of personal information. These details are used by the Information Commissioner to make an entry describing the processing in the register of data controllers that is available to the public for inspection. The principal purpose of having notification and the public register is transparency and openness. It is a basic principle of data protection that the public should know (or should be able to find out) who is carrying out the processing of personal information as well as other details about the processing (such as for what reason it is being carried out). Notification, therefore, serves the interests of individuals in assisting them to understand how personal information is being processed by data controllers. The Data Protection Act gives individuals the right to know what information is held about them. It provides a framework to ensure that personal information is handled properly. The Act works in two ways.

13 http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/data_protection/notification.aspx

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Firstly, it states that anyone who processes personal information must comply with eight principles which are based on 3 key concepts: Purpose – personal data must only be held for a clear purpose or purposes. Fairness – personal data must only be processed for legitimate purposes. Transparency – data subjects must be given certain basic information about the personal data held about them. The 8 principles are: 1. Personal data must be processed fairly and lawfully . The subject must give permission for information to

be kept about them. The only time that the subject’s permission is not required is if the processing of the data is to protect them.

2. Personal data shall be obtained only for one or mor e specified and lawful purposes . The data controller

must specify the purpose for which the personal data is to be obtained either to the subject or by notifying the Data Protection Commissioner.

3. Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not e xcessive in relation to the purpose for which it is

processed. Organisations are required to state the purpose for which data is processed and cannot process it for any other purposes without further notification.

4. Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessar y, kept up to date. The data controller must take

reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of the data. Organisations must carry our checks at regular intervals. This is usually done by sending the personal details held to the subject for them to verify the accuracy.

5. Personal data processed for any purpose shall not b e kept longer than is necessary for that purpose. 6. Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under the Act. The

subject is entitled to make a written request to the data controller and be given details of their data within 40 days. There is normally a fee that is charged for this service. The information they are given must include a description of their data, the purposes for which it is processed, people to whom it may be disclosed and the name of the organisation actually carrying out the processing of the data. The subject has the right to have inaccurate data amended or deleted. The subject also has the right to prevent processing that is likely to cause damage or distress and to prevent processing for direct marketing purposes.

7. Appropriate technical and organisational measures s hall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful

processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data . The data must be kept private and secure. The data controller must ensure that the data is backed up regularly, virus checked and restricted to a named authorised person or persons, e.g. by using passwords.

8. Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area,

unless that country or territory ensures an adequat e level of protection for the rights and freedoms o f data subjects in relation to the processing of pers onal data. The only exemptions to this are if the data subject has given consent to the transfer of the transfer is necessary for reasons of public interest, is in the interests of the data subject or is for legal reasons.

The second area covered by the Act provides individuals with important rights, including the right to find out what personal information is held on computer and most paper records. Should an individual or organisation feel they're being denied access to personal information they're entitled to, or feel their information has not been handled according to the eight principles, they can contact the Information Commissioner's Office for help. Complaints are usually dealt with informally, but if this isn't possible, enforcement action can be taken. The Caldicott Principles The Caldicott Principles are guidelines that are followed by Social Care and Health professionals regarding the use of person-identifiable and confidential information. They are principles of working that are in line with the Data Protection Act as I have outlined above. Everyone who works for the NHS, as is relevant to myself, receives a booklet that details the Caldicott Principles in relation to their legal obligations to the Act and how this translates to their duties, roles and responsibilities. The Caldicott Committee, chaired by Dame Fiona Caldicott, was set up by the Chief Medical Officer for Health following increasing concerns regarding the way information flowed, not only within NHS organisations, but also to

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and from non-NHS organisations. The resulting report, 'The Caldicott Committee: Report on the Review of Patient-identifiable Information', was published in December 1997. The Report made sixteen recommendations. One of the key recommendations was the appointment of a Caldicott Guardian, who should be either a senior health professional or an existing member of the management board, for each organisation. Among the Guardian's roles is responsibility for agreeing and reviewing protocols for governing the disclosure of personal- identifiable information across organisational boundaries. The Committee also developed a set of six general principles for the safe handling of personal- identifiable information, and these Principles are the guidelines to which the NHS works. They work hand-in-hand with the Principles of the Data Protection Act 1998, which came into force on 1 March 2000. They both cover information held in whatever format - electronic, paper, verbal, or visual. The six Caldicott Principles must be adhered to when collecting, transferring, or generally working with personal-identifiable information. The Caldicott Principles Justify the purpose(s) of using confidential inform ation. Every proposed use or transfer of patient-identifiable information within or from an organisation should be clearly defined and scrutinised, with continuing uses regularly reviewed, by an appropriate guardian. Do not use patient-identifiable information unless it is absolutely necessary. Patient-identifiable information items should not be included unless it is essential for the specified purpose(s) of that flow. The need for patients to be identified should be considered at each stage of satisfying the purpose(s). Use the minimum necessary patient-identifiable info rmation that is required. Where use of the patient-identifiable is considered to be essential, the inclusion of each individual item of information should be considered and justified so that the minimum amount of identifiable information is transferred or accessible as is necessary for a given function to be carried out. Access to patient-identifiable information should b e on a strict need-to-know basis. Only those individuals who need access to patient-identifiable information should have access to it, and they should only have access to the information items that they need to see. This may mean introducing access controls or splitting information flows where one information flow is used for several purposes. Everyone with access to patient-identifiable inform ation should be aware of their responsibilities. Action should be taken to ensure that those handling patient-identifiable information – both clinical and non-clinical staff – are made fully aware of their responsibilities and obligations to respect patient confidentiality. Understand and comply with the law. Every use of patient-identifiable information must be lawful. Someone in each organsiation handling patient information should be responsible for ensuring that the organisation complies with the legal requirements. Caldicott Guardians are senior staff in the NHS and social services appointed to protect patient information. Computer Misuse Act 1990 The Computer Misuse Act 1990 was passed to deal with the problem of hacking of computer systems. There are 3 offences under the Act: Unauthorised access to computer material. This includes finding or guessing someone’s password, then using it to get into a computer system and have a look at the data in contains. This is an offence even if no damage is done and no files are deleted or changed. The very act of accessing material without authorisation is illegal. This offence carries a penalty of imprisonment for up to 6 months and/or a fine. Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facili tate commission of further offences. This builds on the previous offence. This offence covers, for example, guessing or stealing an on-line banking password and using to access a person’s bank account and transfer the money to another account. This offence carries a penalty of up to 5 years imprisonment and/or a fine.

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Unauthorised modification of computer material. This could include deliberately deleting files, changing the computer set up or introducing a virus with the intent to impair the operation of the computer, or access to programs and data. This also includes using a computer to damage other computers, even though the computer used to do this is not modified in any way. This offence carries a penalty of up to 5 years imprisonment and/or a fine. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environ mental Information Regulations Every employee of East Lancs PCT is obliged to know about the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the EIR as it has important ramifications on the records that it keeps and how the rights of the public to access them. The right under the Freedom of Information Act (the Act) and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) to request information held by public authorities, known as the right to know, came into force on January 2005. The Act and the EIR allow you to access recorded information (such as e-mails, meeting minutes, research or reports) held by public authorities in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Under the Act, a public authority includes: • Central government and government departments • Local authorities • Hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, dentists, pharmacists and opticians • State schools, colleges and universities • Police forces and prison services

How to Communicate about the Laws and Guidelines Every employee should be made aware of the laws and guidelines that affect people’s use of IT (as I have outlined in some detail above) and their responsibilities under the various laws and guidance. Information about Acts of Parliament should be distributed to all employees in an easy to understand form. Most people would agree that using a computer to commit fraud is clearly wrong. For example, most computer users would not realise that playing around with the computer settings can also be interpreted as computer misuse under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. A business or organisation may provide clear parameters as to the use of Email and Internet in their own policies and procedures. They may then make it clear to employees that it is their duty and responsibility to acquaint themselves with it. This could be done by providing a checklist to each department so that every member of staff ticks it along with a signature and date to confirm they have complied with their obligations. Within my organisation, East Lancs Primary Care Trust, such a measure is taken and the manager of each and every department must ensure that they have a written statement from all of their staff that they have read the policy. This procedure is repeated every year at the employee’s annual review. The Policy is significant in size so I can not repeat its contents here. However, all of the Polices and Procedures of the Trust are available to download from East Lancs PCT website at http://www.eastlancspct.nhs.uk/welcome. Other organisations may set up their own committees or working groups to decide how to go about cascading guidelines to their employees. In the Health and Private Sectors I have written, above, how the Data Protection Act 1998 has been applied to the work that they do and how the Caldicott Committee came up with the working principles that they did. Every employee should be given a user friendly copy of the Caldicott principles in their induction week. The induction of staff is perhaps the best time to capture employees into good working practice that hopefully they will keep up to date with. Other ways of disseminating information about laws and guidance is using in-house courses on these matters. Voluntary attendance is not a sure fire way of making sure that everyone will use them so I would suggest mandatory attendance. In the NHS there are a number of mandatory courses but, as yet, none of them relate to the use of computers, rather they focus on patient health and clinical care matters – not Information Technology.