The Living Internet

If there ever was an entity that is living, breathing, growing and works in mystical ways that most people don't understand, it's the Internet.

How much do you really know about the Internet? How does it work? Who invented it? At this site, (http://livinginternet.com/) you'll find the definitive answers to all of your questions about the Internet. Whether the question is "What's a MUD", "Is there any value to IRC", "Who invented the concept of Hyperlinks?", "How was the Internet conceptualized back in the 1960's"? You'll find answers at this site that are easy to read, understand, and immediately use, in fact, you'll find answers to not only these questions but just about everything else you ever wanted to know about our online world.

Many people have an endless curiosity for information about the Internet and web. While there are countless sites that cover specific topics, it's surprisingly rare to find comprehensive resources that are both thorough and up to date.

What makes this site different?

The Living Internet is one of those wonderful sites that will pull you in and hold your attention for hours. The site has been under development since 1996, and is updated weekly. It sports a simple, consistent interface to the user, but don't let the sparse design fool you. The site consists of more than 500 pages, with 2,000 intra-site links over 2,000 external links woven into the text.

How do they manage to organise this much information?

The Living Internet is organized into eight major categories: Internet, Web, Usenet, Email, Mailing Lists, IRC (Chat), and MUDs (the once important but now somewhat archaic "multi user dungeons" popular with online gamers).

Each section is organized into a further eight sections:

• How it was invented
• How it works
• How to use it
• Advanced usage
• Why it's important
• Security issues
• Help
• More information

That’s a lot of explanation - how do they support that much information?

In addition to the eight major categories, there are numerous links to a melange of other interesting and useful information. This includes links to recommended software, books and reviews, and a selection of brief biographies of notable Internet pioneers and personalities.

Help? See you mention the sites got "help". You don't find that on most Web sites these days -- and if you do it's usually garbage. Same here?

A lot of how-the-Internet-works type help on the Internet, and elsewhere for that matter, is geared toward either beginners or grizzled veterans, but this site manages to accommodate both camps. Comprehensive, well-structured and graphics-free (for a quick download), it invites both start-to-finish reading and quick skimming for information

Who had the creativity to design such a site?

The site's creator, Bill Stewart, based in Ontario - Canada, is a computer science and system engineering manager for a leading aerospace company. The site has some very serious credibility. The "comments" page is full of very laudatory remarks from more than a dozen people directly involved in the creation and development of various parts of the Internet.

It seems that nothing really good in life is free, how much does it cost?

We often comment on some of the "less than wonderful" aspects of the Internet but The Living Internet is an outstanding example of the web at its best. It is a freely available labor of love that not only contains a wealth of information in its own right, but points to not only a very carefully selected but wide range of additional, excellent online resources.

Arthur Hissey
Computer Research & Technology
www.crt.net.au