Medicine and the Internet. What can I learn from the Internet?

What is the Internet? The Internet is the biggest network of information resources the world has ever seen and is growing rapidly each day. The Internet and the World Wide Web (The Web) represent the first technology to fully integrate the communications found on bookshelves, magazine racks, catalog files, fax machines, symposiums, in television/radio studios and the common mail system into a global infrastructure with extraordinary capabilities to deliver timely health care information. Unlike conventional media like newspapers or television, the Internet provides rapid one-to-one communication between millions of individuals. Television and newspapers communicate from "a few" (the writers and advertisers) to "many" (the readership). On the Internet, everyone is a "peer," being both an information provider and consumer on a 24-hour, 7-day a week basis. This article will discuss ways you can use the Internet's information resources in your own personal and professional life.