We all know that the Internet moves digital information from one destination to another. That digital information is comprised of ones and zeros, like a light bulb on or off. For example, two light bulbs on and one light bulb off could represent the letter B. in uppercase. Whereas two light bulbs on could represent the letter B. in lowercase, and so on. The string of possibilities of ones and zeros or light bulbs on and off is infinite. So how does a computer understand how to assemble those ones and zeros in a manner that humans can understand?

If you have the ability to look at a computer screen very close you would see that the screen is made up of a series of dots. Those dots or pixels on the screen never change position and are in the same position on every computer monitor. In other words, the 15th pixel down on the left and the 15th pixel to the right of that one is the same on every computer. When we ask a website for information by clicking on a link, the computer understands how to assemble that information so that it is in the exact same position on the screen as the author of the information intended. In other words, if the 15th pixel down on the left and the 15th pixel to the right of that one is supposed to represent the color red when the information was created, it will be reproduced on your computer screen in that exact location, 15 pixels down and 15 pixels to the right. Obviously 1 colored pixel on the screen would be worthless unless it was surrounded by other appropriately colored pixels. The bigger question is how does this menagerie of ones and zeros understand how to find your particular computer and get reassembled correctly?

If you are a teacher.

A great way to teach a classroom of students a simplified way to understand how information travels across the Internet is to conduct a fun exercise. Divide the class into groups and assign each group a color. One group is red, another green and so on. Have the students take out a piece of paper that is blank on both sides. Ask the students to draw 4 vertical lines from the top of the page all the way to the bottom. Then ask them to draw 4 horizontal lines completely across the page left to right dividing the paper into equal sized boxes. Now ask one of the students to write the color of their group at the top of each box in the grid. Next ask a student to mark each box in the first column on the left side with the letter A. Then mark the the remaining columns. The second column with the letter B from top to bottom, the third column C, the fourth D and the 5th column with the letter E, top to bottom. Now mark each row with a number. Starting with the top row, put the number 1 all the way across in each column next to the letter. The next row down should be marked with the number 2 all away across etc. When it's all done, each box on the grid will be marked with the color of the group, a letter and a number corresponding to its position in the grid. Next have the students draw a picture on the other side of the paper. Once the picture is done use scissors to cut the picture into squares following the grid lines on the back.

Now you can take all the squares from all the pictures and dump them into a box and have a student shake it up. All that's left to do now is empty the box and have the students reassemble the pictures using the corresponding grids that they created. Use cellophane tape to reassemble the paper demonstrating how information can be reassembled on their computer screen.

The official way that computers do this is by using Internet protocol addressing, also known as packets. When digital information stored on a server is requested by a home computer, the information is divided into small packets and sent on its way. Since the information is assigned a particular grid location on the screen of one particular computer, the route that information takes is unimportant. In fact, the ability for packets to take separate paths is an essential part of how information is delivered to a home computer across the internet. Because networks get busy or shut down, the packets need to find a different way to their destination. Once that information leaves the server and travels across the Internet, every packet can literally go in separate directions. The important part is that once the information arrives at the user's home computer, it is reassembled in the appropriate grid on the monitor screen. Students can also demonstrate this by taking some of the pieces of paper out of the box and walk around the school in different directions. Once they get back to the classroom, it is easy to reassemble every picture using the simulated packets they created.
Mike A., GetMyTips

The first Internet 1792.

The Internet that we know today is used primarily to send and receive information over a great distance. But did you know that a man named Claude Chappe, invented a system back in the early 1790s to send messages across a network that, what was at the time, a breathtaking speed of over 100 mph. In the early 1790s, Claude Chappe, started erecting strange looking towers approximately 10 miles apart around France. The towers were positioned in such a manner that each tower operator could see the tower in front of him, and the tower behind him using a telescope. On top of these towers were mechanical arms that could be rotated to 90 different positions. Each different position of the arms represented words or letters of the alphabet. To send a message, the tower operator would position the mechanical arm on his tower and wait for the next tower operator to duplicate the mechanical arms position on his tower. At the time, this became a revolutionary new way to send messages. By the way, when Napoleon seized power in 1799 he knew right away that there were military advantages to this type of high-speed communications. He ordered that hundreds of towers be erected connecting France's major cities. The concept caught on and towers started to appear across Europe and Russia. The inventor of the system, Claude Chappe, originally called his invention the tachygraphy, meaning fast writer, but later settled on the name telegraph.