Internet jargon is an alphabet soup of acronyms. TCP/IP refers to the method computers use to communicate via data lines - phone lines, cables, satellites. You probably will not need to know much about this in order to start your research, but it is helpful to understand when someone starts talking to you about things like "lost packets."
When computers connect to send information back and forth, they do so using a system in which the data is sent in chunks of information, known as packets. The packets are numbered and given an address to the target computer. They are then sent through the Internet to be delivered. On the receiving end, the target computer grabs up the packets and reassembles them in their original order. The nice part is when you send something, you do not have to worry about the packets and how they work. The Internet routes the packets through different routes, allowing the system to operate efficiently. The receiving computer tests to ensure that all the packets arrive correctly, and if errors are found, it asks the original computer to send the packet again.
The specification standards by which all these computers send each other information - or "talk" - are called protocols. There are hundreds of different types of protocols including ones to send email and ones to copy files from one place to another.
Lots of researchers are able to conduct their business without ever understanding the following few paragraphs. However, there may come a time when you need to understand the system of protocols and how they work in order to pass your information around the Internet. The two most important protocols are the ones that allow data to be transported as packets. They are called IP or Internet Protocol, which moves the packet data from one place to another, and TCP or Transmission Control Protocol, which manages the flow of packets and ensures they arrive without errors. Together they are called TCP/IP.
A few other protocols are important depending on what you are sending. When you are setting up your domain name, you will use a DNS or Domain Name System, which translates domain names like c b s . com to IP numbers. FTP is File Transfer Protocol, which allows you to copy entire files between computers. HTTP is the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, which allows the distribution of web data through hypertext, the language that gives you the ability to link one site to the next. POP is the Post Office Protocol, which is needed to get email messages from a mail server. When you use a POP, you check your email and download the email to your computer before you can access them. SMTP is Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, which allows you to send messages to a mail server and finally MIME or Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, encodes different types of data so you can send them via email. Other programs that may work instead of using POP are web mail, IMAP4, and mail forwarding.
IMAP servers, or Internet Message Access Protocol servers, are sometimes used as alternatives to POP. POP is great when you are using your own computer, because you must download the email before you can read it. If you travel away from your PC or cannot take your laptop with you, downloading your messages onto other people's computers can be a big problem later. That is where IMAP comes in handy. With IMAP, you leave the email on the server, so you can read the messages at your convenience. They stay on the server until you delete them. That way you can check them from the office and again from home, or when traveling, before you delete them. Most ISPs prefer you use a POP server so that they do not have to store your messages. You can also use web-based email services that allow you to send and receive mail using only your web browser.
Web mail works through the World Wide Web instead of using a separate email program. The information rests on a server on the Web, and you never download it to your hard drive. Under web-based mail, the browser acts as your simple email program. The big advantage of using web mail services is they tend to be free since you already have the browser, and you can access them from almost any computer in the world. It also allows those without their own computer to receive email. It also provides a modest level of privacy or anonymity, allowing you to write email from your office when you do not want to use your work email address. I strongly recommended that you get a web-based email address as a backup to any POP-based email service in case your regular email is not working.
There are a few downsides however to web-based email services. These services can be extremely slow at times, and are often loaded with advertisements. Even worse, some of these services put advertisement tags on the bottom of every piece of email so even your recipients will see the ads. The worst part of this is that they are notorious for being the recipients of spam and there is almost no way around it. Mail forwarding is another option. With this type of email, your mail is redirected to wherever you choose. This allows you to switch Internet Service Providers without losing your regular email address. This can also be accomplished by setting up what is called an alias.
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