Internet features. The structure of the Internet. Functions of the Internet: information, communication, commercial, advertising, entertainment What is the integrating function of the Internet

The site is a multifunctional tool. The site provides its owner with continuous contact with other Internet users. It serves at least one purpose, but may have several functions, as listed below:

Information function of the site- exchange of news, useful tips, story about your hobby, personal page

Commercial function website a - services, online store, paid consultations, services.
Almost all well-known sites combine these listed functions, and are, for beginner site builders, an example to follow.

Consider the development of such a site as an example:

For example, being a private entrepreneur, you decided to create a simple business card website, which consists of one page. This page contains the necessary information about your current activities and, to contact you, contact information.

Later, using the information, you will learn that, in order for search robots to better see your site, it would be good to place a couple of articles on this site that give information about you and your company.

But then you will definitely have a desire for closer contact with your emerging customers and partners in the future. This leads to the emergence of interactive forms of communication in the form of a blog, comments on articles and speeches, a guest book, a news column, a forum, and so on.

Therefore, you yourself, without noticing it, are turning your most simple and primitive business card website into a large-scale corporate website of your successfully prospering company.

Further, appetite increases. Developing with success, your company and your site will have a huge number of business partners and, accordingly, there will be a desire and need to install advertising blocks on the site in the form of news columns from your partners, banners, links,

And over time, you will want to use the possibility of ordering, as well as the purchase of your products and services offered, without leaving your site. Install a full-fledged and almost fully automated online store on the pages of your site.

After passing through these stages, in the end you will get this very site that performs all the functions necessary for it, namely:

Information function- communicate all available information about you and your company to the attention of your partners, as well as potential customers;

commercial function– acceptance and processing of applications for the purchase of products, services and services sold by you.
And also, perhaps, become a model for the emerging new generation of website builders who are just starting their journey, just like you once were.

By the way, if you are so worried about the technical difficulties you have in the Internet business - all of them can be solved in one fell swoop. With the help of this thing -

The company must have a commercial website. Most managers know about this, and therefore order its creation on a new host. However, the functions of such an Internet resource are not always clearly understood. It performs three main functions.

Informational

The site is primarily intended to provide users with useful information about the company, goods or services that are offered. One of the most serious mistakes when filling the site is the provision of such information in an incomplete volume. This leads to the fact that there can be a lot of visitors, but they are in no hurry to become consumers.

This is due to the fact that people will not use the service, will not buy the product if they do not know all its detailed characteristics. Thus, the information component plays one of the most important roles.

And so, what are the sites, and why unique website design ?
After all, there are sites business card website, also website online store, even do free sites, and this is also beneficial to someone.

Communication

Establish communication with your target audience- this is extremely important. You can establish a communication channel just through a commercial site. Most clients have certain questions that cannot be left unanswered.

In order for the communication process to be comfortable for visitors, it is necessary to create a communicative environment. Can be used a large number of various tools - feedback forms, online consultants. Large firms even create forums and blogs on their Internet resources. One of the latest trends is the creation of pages on social networks.

Marketing

It is also one of essential functions, since it is it that makes it possible to increase the level of sales and receive stable profit. It is necessary to convey information to the visitor not only about the characteristics of the product or service, but also about what advantages they have, why it is beneficial to take advantage of the company's offer.

Thus, with the help of the site it is necessary to stand out favorably among competitors. You can do this in different ways. Helps to create a user-friendly interface, simple tools for ordering and paying for goods, etc.

Internet has no organizational structure. Users of its services connect to various national or international, commercial or government companies in telecommunication systems. A complex multi-stage scheme has been formed for users to access the Internet through numerous intermediaries (“providers”). Provider - network service provider - a person or organization providing services for connecting to computer networks. Some organization that has a modem pool for connecting with clients and accessing the worldwide network acts as a provider. There are many thousands of companies and intermediaries providing access to the Internet. They own communication lines, but more often they rent them, determining different tariffs for services. Therefore, there is a fierce competition between them for profits. They often attract network users by providing certain benefits. Often, individual telecommunication channels experience severe congestion during business hours and cannot cope with excessively concentrated information flows over the Internet networks.

Individual users connect to the network through the computers of local Internet service providers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which have a permanent connection to the Internet. A regional provider connects to a larger nationwide provider with nodes in various cities across the country. Networks of national providers are combined into networks of transnational providers or first-level providers. The combined networks of first-level providers make up the global Internet network.

In its structure and content, the Internet is a complex interweaving of social, technical and technological, cognitive and socio-cultural dimensions, connections and interdependencies. We are interested in the Internet from the point of view of understanding the technology and technology of network information processes and their content.

As a social phenomenon and as an independent object of social relations, the Internet becomes the subject of legal science and academic discipline information law.

What is the technological nature of the Internet and its features? The difficulty lies in the fact that there is no single definition in the computer science literature.

The Internet is a global information and telecommunications technological system, consisting of a set (array) of information intended for transmission over communication lines and presented on the portal (website), access to which is carried out using organizational, software and computing tools, as well as other elements of the network infrastructure.

Signs of the Internet is the presence of:

hierarchically organized arrays of information ( information resources);

· global network international lines and communication channels;

complex telecommunications equipment;

computer technology (workstations, computers);

· organizational and technological infrastructure;

systems of data presentation and access to them (portals and sites).

Some authors note that the Internet is a global network for the transmission of information in the form of data. Others write that the Internet is international networks and interconnection based on them. Probably both are right.

The structure of the Internet as a system includes structurally complex elements of the network technological infrastructure - a network of lines and communication channels (telecommunications) and complex telecommunications equipment, special software, intended for placement (presentation) on the website, transmission and use of data.

Internet is a worldwide information computer network, which is an association of many regional computer networks and computers exchanging information with each other via public telecommunications channels (dedicated analog and digital telephone lines, optical communication channels and radio channels, including satellite communication lines).

A communication network channel (data transmission) is part of the Internet and connects (connects) each pair of communication end devices (terminals) to each other. To connect communication lines to computers, special electronic devices, which are called network cards, network adapters, modems, etc.

Information on the Internet is stored on servers. Servers have their own addresses and are controlled by specialized programs. They allow you to send mail and files, search databases, and perform other tasks. Servers connected by high-speed backbones make up the basic part of the Internet. The exchange of information between network servers is carried out via high-speed communication channels (leased telephone lines, fiber optic and satellite communication channels).

There are also computers that are directly connected to the global network. They are called host - computers (host - owner). A host is any computer that is a permanent part of the Internet, i.e. connected via the Internet protocol to another host, which in turn is connected to another, and so on.

The transmission of information on the Internet is ensured by the fact that each computer on the network has a unique address (IP address), and network protocols ensure the interaction of different types of computers running different operating systems.

The network technological infrastructure includes organizational and technological requirements specially created for simultaneous data transmission - standard rules for organizing the reception / transmission and use of data (TCP / IP protocols).

To the organizational technological elements also includes a hierarchically distributed system of registration and identification of network computers (domainnamesistem).

The technological elements of the network infrastructure include a web browser - a special program designed to view web pages. Such a program (for example, Internet Explorer) is installed on the computer of the network user.

In addition, the technological elements of the network technological infrastructure include a program for integrating network documents using special languages ​​for creating and presenting, as well as searching and using documents that are logically related to each other. keywords and phrases, and providing their quick search and viewing (hypertext). Such programs use, for example, the markup languages ​​HTML, XML, etc. Based on the principles of functioning and use of these elements of the infrastructure, the modern system creation and presentation of information on the Internet (WWW - WorldWideWeb). This abbreviation is associated with various names of elements of the Internet (web server, web portal, website, web page, web client, etc.).

Finally, the technological elements of the network infrastructure include a portal (site, page) - an information and telecommunication system of organizational, technical, technological, linguistic means of presenting (distributing) information on the Internet, as well as direct access to it by users by domain names and (or) by network address.

The Internet is an environment for the existence of communications of various types Lukina M.M., Fomicheva I.D. Mass media in the space of the Internet. Series "Internet journalism". Issue 1. - M., 2005. - S. 61 ..

The American social scientist G. Lasswell believed that any social communications perform three main functions: they serve to control the surrounding reality; they are a means of correlation (connection and correlation) of the attitude of various social subjects to reality; allow the transfer of culture (knowledge, values, norms, traditions) in time, i.e. subsequent generations.

The named universal functions of communications are also inherent in the Internet. However, historical development The media led to the formation in their activities of a number of specific functions, the implementation of which was inevitably influenced by the socio-political and economic situation in specific countries, expanding technological possibilities for the production and dissemination of information. For example, the function of the media as channels of social participation was realized late, in the second half of the 20th century, the possibilities for its implementation increased many times with the advent of the Internet, but it has so far been implemented only to the smallest extent.

The research should help the professionals of the Web and its users to make the best of its potential. “Technology is good or bad depending on how we use it. They are an extension of ourselves” Castells M. Internet Galaxy. M., 2003. - S. 217 ..

The functions of the media on the Internet, on the one hand, preserve the content inherent in all media. On the other hand, they acquire the specifics inherent in this media environment.

The communicative function of the Internet

The means of communication, by definition, are designed to connect people, to serve as a means of their communication. Mass communications serve as a means of communication for the mass subject.

Communication via the Internet is arranged in such a way that a professional producer of information acts at one pole, and at the other there always remains a mass subject - a set of anonymous users that is in advance indefinite in number. Even the pole of information production often gravitates towards anonymity, such is the strength of its nature in this media environment. No wonder there is so much information on the Internet, the origin of which is not established. This was realized again with the advent of flash and smart mobs, where anonymity was elevated to the principle of Men E. Once again about the smart crowd // Critical mass. - 2003. - No. 3 ..

By virtue of anonymity, a realm of fictional characters unfolds, changeable and stable masks. Of course, various kinds of substitutions, the lack of identification of participants in communication also take place in traditional media.

Internet technology makes communication cross-border. Communication ceases to be tied to the location of those who communicate. On this basis, the Internet can perform a social and creative function, that is, form new communities with a single information base and a common value-normative foundation. The general direction of the development of information dissemination means is to establish a heterarchical (horizontal, equal) order in place of a hierarchical (vertical, with the dominance of one of the subjects of communication). There is a transition from a one-way to a two-way communication model.

In the conditions of the Internet, the audience can participate in the production and exchange of information, including among themselves. The audience ceases (if it wants to) to be only the recipient of messages. However, here the use of interactive features will never overcome the natural division of roles.

Three aspects are distinguished in network interactivity: “people and documents” (the ability for the user to form and implement a request for information), “people and technology” (fitness, convenience of information technology for users) and the most interesting aspect for a sociologist is “people and people”. In the latter case, we are talking about the adaptability of this communication to two-way communication, about social communication technologies that help achieve positive social goals; about how the possibility of communication between journalists, society, government and business is realized - the main subjects identified in the analysis of the functioning of modern society.

Analyzing the communicative function of the Internet, one should distinguish between the concepts of "interactivity" and " Feedback". The first is wider than the second. Feedback is a reaction, a response of the subject to information impact. It is in this capacity that the "forum" function is most often used on the Internet. Yes, and traffic indicators also act as feedback: they indicate whether users are interested in the site and its content. Interactivity also implies other possibilities: user control over the content (request, evaluation), participation in its formation through posing problems for coverage and discussion, initiative in discussion, authorship, exchange of opinions with other users, etc. Some possibilities of this kind can be used in traditional media as well. But what has never been there is the possibility of communication horizontally, between users.

However, the potential new technology realized only through the activity of people.

Communications in which the subjects representing the two poles of communication have the opportunity to both send and receive messages, which means that their roles are reversible. G. Lasswell suggested calling them bilateral. In the media, reciprocity can never be complete.

However, the degree of polarization rigidity can be different. It is possible to distinguish between mass media channels built on a one-sided, monologue or two-sided, dialogic principle. The American researcher distinguishes three levels of interactivity:

1. double-sided;

2. reactive, or quasi-interactive communication, where one pole receives messages about the reaction of the other (that is, feedback takes place;

3. fully interactive communication, where all subjects of communication can participate in the exchange of information "on an equal footing".

Inheriting the forms of feedback acquired by traditional media and its general ability to interactivity, the Internet can develop them to the level of true two-way, real interactivity, that is, to a combination of synchronous (simultaneous) and asynchronous (non-simultaneous) feedback, on the one hand, and the possibility of information exchange between users, that is, true two-sidedness, on the other. All this takes place in the same media network environment, which, of course, makes it easier for the user to master all the possibilities provided.

Introduction

The surrounding reality daily convinces us that the world is constantly changing. And the changes are happening more and more rapidly. Their especially high rate is typical for the sphere of information technologies.

Information has been a commodity since time immemorial. But only recently information and technologies for its processing began to have such a radical impact on economic processes. Even the most conservative analysts have no doubt that Internet trading will exceed a trillion dollars in the next few years and will account for 10% of all business transactions in the global economy. If the beginning of the millennium was marked by a significant lead by the United States in the field of e-business, it can now be argued that the share of Europe and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region will increase, at least in global e-commerce.

The development of society has led to the birth of a new environment - the information space, or cyberspace. The information space exists independently, regardless of the intentions of people and the will of the people who participated in its creation. Cyberspace develops according to its own laws and transforms human life, creating a new factor of human existence - virtual reality.

Much in this area resembles our usual life, and at the same time there are radical differences. The emergence of the information space is the next round of the evolution of mankind, which means its access to new level development. The Internet is a new tool used to conduct economic activities in cyberspace. On the base information technologies The Internet has made it possible to implement new, more efficient business models, which, in turn, have an impact on the information infrastructure of cyberspace.

The Internet has taken the world by storm. He blew up technological barriers and opened the doors to the virtual economy. Thanks to him, we can already guess about the future of business and about what an amazing variety of opportunities opens up for our personal and social life. He perceived life itself in its dynamics, and we are struggling to keep up with him.

Purpose: to consider the use of Internet technology in e-commerce systems

Objectives: to define e-commerce, to characterize modern online stores, to show in practice the work of online stores, to identify the problems of e-commerce.

The object of the course work are e-commerce systems in all its manifestations.

1General characteristics of Internet commerce

1.1Internet as a medium mass communication

Many generations of our ancestors used the only means of accumulating, storing and transmitting information - the spoken word. With the advent of paper, the invention of typesetting and the printing press, and then the printing press, the spread of the printed word becomes widespread. With the advent of electronic means of communication in the 20th century, the nature of the media has changed radically. Some researchers of mass communications began to talk about the coming era of "mediacracy" - the power of the media, which not only reflect and interpret reality, but also construct it according to their own rules. There is a globalization of mass media and communication, the entire structure of human communicative experience is being transformed. Mass communication becomes not only a "magic window" through which we look at the world, but also a "door" through which ideas enter our consciousness. This applies to all means of mass communication, and, above all, to the worldwide computer network Internet.

According to traditional ideas, communication is the process of transferring information between the addresser (the sender of information) and the addressee (the recipient of information). In other words, the concept of communication is based on the well-known scheme "addresser - information transfer - addressee". However, each element of this scheme is changing in the conditions of mass development of communications in cyberspace. The Internet "plays" with the traditional "source - message - recipient" scheme, sometimes keeping it in its original form, sometimes giving it a completely new character.
Compared to traditional media, the Internet wins in several ways at once:

Multimedia. The Internet has the ability to combine the visual, audio, print and video aspects of other media, the cost of sending a letter across e-mail much lower forwarding via regular mail.

Personalization. The Internet provides the necessary information at any level of interest of individuals or groups of people; in this case, delivery can be provided according to the preferences of users through content personalization, email distribution and cable television.

Interactivity. The Internet involves dialogue, not the monologue that traditional media implies. Interaction, dialogue and feedback between hundreds of users is possible through e-mail, bulletin boards, forums, chats and teleconferences.

The absence of intermediaries. The Internet enables direct access of the government to the population and vice versa, the population to power, without interference and manipulation by the media.

One of the main properties of the Internet environment is the high efficiency of the presented and assimilated information, which significantly increases the opportunities for strengthening the relationship between enterprises (firms, companies) and consumers.

Compared to traditional media, the Internet provides the consumer with a much greater degree of control and freedom of choice, and makes it possible to access more differentiated information. Although the Internet business is about differentiation, its main goal should be to ensure customer loyalty. After all, without generating potential customer loyalty to a site, the likelihood that consumers will visit it a second time is very low.

However, the Internet not only helps to create conditions for the development of e-business, but sometimes also plays an active role in their destruction.
It is known that the Internet allows consumers to express their point of view. The question is whether they want to do it through the company's own website or through some kind of online forum. When consumers really feel neglected, they even create special sites designed to attack the companies that “offended” them.
McDonald's may be the most obvious victim of online consumer harassment, but much smaller businesses can just as easily be targeted by such consumers. It is alarming that many companies have no idea that they are being discredited online. There are various types of anti-sites that are often created to deliberately harm a company:

Parody sites. Parody sites are sites that look like the sites of the companies they are making fun of;

Hate Sites. Perhaps the two most notorious victims of hate sites are Microsoft and McDonalds. These sites do not strive for subtle parody or objectivity. Their sole purpose is to cause as much damage to companies as possible. Hate sites are often organized by influential groups with political weight;

Sites-opinions. As a rule, opinion sites are organized by consumers who have a strong belief about a particular company. This gives them another opportunity to express their feelings about her products or services. Such sites can also become a source of news for journalists and an occasion for writing articles.

Fearing the potential power of such feedback, some analysts say the Internet poses a threat to companies that used to be untouchable. Now consumers are no longer just users, they can show their emotional attitude.
Although it is impossible to completely stop the operation of such sites, it is still possible to take actions that, first of all, prevent their occurrence and, if they do appear, turn the negative situation into a positive one. It is recommended, for example, to ensure and supervise the creation of an unofficial website in support of the company, so that information can be presented there in an objective way. Such sites, which represent a kind of neutral territory between the company and consumers, can be the most effective. It is also necessary to monitor what issues are raised on anti-sites and respond to customer complaints by emailing them directly.

So, since the Internet is an active medium, largely initiated by the user, Internet company founders must be very attentive listeners to avoid online discredit, especially now that today's digital age consumers are no longer passive consumers of marketing messages.

1.2 Essence and content e-commerce

Electronic commerce, referred to abroad as "e-commerce", is trading via the Internet using the computers of the buyer and seller of goods. In fact, any product (goods, services, real estate, banking products, etc.) can be the subject of electronic commerce. Today, the main products of e-commerce are food products, industrial products, information product.

The federal law "On Electronic Commerce" provides the following definition of electronic commerce: electronic commerce - the conclusion by exchanging electronic documents of the following transactions provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (but not limited to them): purchase and sale, supply, paid services, transportation, loan and credit , financing against the assignment of a monetary claim, bank deposit, bank account, settlements, storage, insurance, commission, commission, agency, trust management of property, commercial concession, simple partnership, public promise of a reward, public competition, as well as the acquisition and implementation using electronic means of other rights and obligations in the field of entrepreneurial activity.

The value of e-commerce for buyers lies in the fact that it significantly saves the buyer's time to find and buy the goods he needs. For the seller, the value of e-commerce lies in the potential to reach an innumerable number of buyers with their trade.

The beginning of the emergence of electronic commerce can be considered 1970, when electronic data interchange over computer networks - EDI (Electronic Data Exchange) - and electronic money transfer by banks in computer networks - EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) appeared in the United States.

Internet-based economic activity can be broadly classified into four categories: Business-to-Business (B2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) and Consumer-to-Business (C2B). . There are also: "Enterprise - State" (B2G) and "Exchange - Exchange" (E2E), but they are used much less frequently. Figure 1 shows the e-commerce categories. Such a systematization allows a more accurate assessment of the advantages and difficulties of electronic commerce for an adequate response.

The development of the Internet has led to a sharp increase in the popularity of this trading technology among all trading firms and citizens. The Internet has stimulated the development of electronic commerce at the level of an individual business entity. Small businesses and citizens got the opportunity to conduct their commercial transactions and other operations in an operational electronic mode - in real time (on-line). On-line mode is a mode of operation of an ATM, when information is exchanged between the bank and the processing center constantly and all transactions on the account are performed in real time.