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The World Wide Web and Internet safety

1  Going online

What do you do on the Internet?

  • Look at websites
  • Watch films
  • Play games
  • Talk to people
  • Share information
  • Keep in touch
  • Send emails
Figure 1 If you are using the Internet then you are ‘online’.

The World Wide Web

  • The World Wide Web is all the web pages that are stored on computers connected to the Internet.
  • We call the ‘World Wide Web’ just ‘the web’ for short.
  • Web pages have links that connect to other web pages.
  • If we drew all the links between all the pages, it would look like a big spider’s web.
Figure 2

2  What is a browser?

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).
  • A browser is a program or app that we use to look at web pages. Watch this video to find out more.

Activity: Web browsers

Can you name these web browsers?

Figure 3
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Answer

Top line, left to right: Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer.

Bottom line, left to right: Opera, Safari.

3  Examples of web browsers

Table 1 Web browsers
Internet Explorer is available on most computers that run the Microsoft Windows operating system (most commonly called PCs).
Safari is available on computers that run the Apple operating system, or iOS. These are commonly called Macs (short for Apple Macintosh).
Firefox is a web browser that you can download onto any device. It is made by a group of people who want to make a free program for all of us to use.
Chrome is made by a company called Google and is linked to lots of their other programs – like Firefox, it is available for (almost) any device.
Edge is the latest browser from Microsoft and comes with their Windows 10 operating system.
Opera is a browser from a research project that is now available for everyone to use.

4  Using the World Wide Web

  • Most of the time we use a computer we are probably using the World Wide Web, or ‘the web’ as we call it. We use the web to get information about things, watch movies, listen to music or buy goods.
  • The computer has a special program on it to look at web pages called a web browser. When we use a web browser, we often say that we are ‘browsing or surfing the net’, or ‘browsing or surfing the web’. They mean the same thing: we are looking at web pages on our computer that have been created by other people and are stored all over the world.
Table 2 Using the World Wide Web
What we do How we do it
Type in the name of the website we want to go to
Type in what we want to search for
Use the bookmarks for websites we have been to before and like

5  Getting the right web page

  • If we want to look for something on the Internet, we can type it into a search engine to find web pages that may have the information that we are looking for.
  • If we were to type in the address of the web page or select a bookmark of a page that we’ve visited previously, the web browser would display the web page we asked for. If we searched for it, we would be given a list of links to possible pages, some of which may be what we want. But beware! Some pages will have paid for their website to appear near the top of the list. They are usually trying to sell you something.
Figure 4

Want to find out how a telephone works? The first results are all paid advertisements trying to sell us a telephone!

Activity: Searching the web

This activity can be linked with the Barefoot activity on Solar System Simulation. (Note that you will need to register and log in to use the Barefoot Solar System Simulation.)

  1. Use a search engine to find out about the planets in our Solar System.
  2. Fill in the table below, starting with the planet nearest to our Sun at the top.
Name Distance from sun (km) Size (diameter in km)
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To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
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Words: 0
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6  Being safe and responsible online

If you’re going online, you need to be SMART. But what does SMART stand for?

Safe

Meeting

Accepting

Reliable

Tell

  • Keep safe by being careful not to give out personal information to people you are chatting with online. Personal information would be things like your full name, email address, phone number, home address, photos or the name of your school.
Figure 5 Does someone in this picture feel safe?
  • Meeting someone you have only been in touch with online can be dangerous. You should only do this with your parents’ or carers’ permission, and even then only when they can be present.
Figure 6
  • Accepting emails or IM messages, or following hyperlinks or opening files or texts from people you don’t know or trust can lead to problems – they may contain viruses or nasty messages!
Figure 7
  • Information you find on the Internet may not be true (reliable), or someone online may be lying about who they are. Make sure you check information before you believe it.
Figure 8
  • Tell your parent, carer or a trusted adult if someone or something makes you feel uncomfortable or worried, or if you or someone you know is being bullied online.
Figure 9

Activity: Being safe on the Internet

Answer the scenarios below about what to do when using a computer or smartphone.

What do you do if …

a. 

Say no.


b. 

Ignore or delete.


c. 

Tell someone.


The correct answer is a.

a. 

Say no.


b. 

Ignore or delete.


c. 

Tell someone.


The correct answer is b.

a. 

Say no.


b. 

Ignore or delete.


c. 

Tell someone.


The correct answer is c.

a. 

Say no.


b. 

Ignore or delete.


c. 

Tell someone.


The correct answer is a.

a. 

Say no.


b. 

Ignore or delete.


c. 

Tell someone.


The correct answer is c.

a. 

Say no.


b. 

Ignore or delete.


c. 

Tell someone.


The correct answer is c.

Activity: The Adventures of Smartie the Penguin

Now read a story produced by Kidsmart about Internet safety called The Adventures of Smartie the Penguin.

7  Additional resources

For more information on the issues discussed in this course, take a look at the following resources.

8  End of course quiz

Now it’s time to test what you’ve learned in a quiz.

9  Acknowledgements

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources:

Figure 1: © Sergey Nivens/123RF.com

Figure 2: © Sergey Khakimullin | Dreamstime.com

Table 1: Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, Edge and Opera

Figure 5: Andrew Smith This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by/ 4.0/

Figure 6: Andrew Smith This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by/ 4.0/

Figure 7: Andrew Smith This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by/ 4.0/

Figure 8: Andrew Smith This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by/ 4.0/

Figure 9: Andrew Smith This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by/ 4.0/

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