Surgery on the Internet. Part 1: The origins of the Internet

The last few years have seen a dramatic increase in the size and use of the Internet; indeed recent figures estimate that the number of people with Internet access is increasing by up to 20 per cent monthly with over 30 million people now connected world wide. Many organisations, including The Royal College of Surgeons of England, now offer their own world wide web (WWW) sites. There are a number of areas and facilities on the Internet which are of particular interest to the surgeon; these include access to journals and textbooks, information of surgical units world-wide, e-mail and newsgroups discussing various surgical topics. The aim of this article, together with the two others in the series is to explain the steps necessary to get connected to the Internet and to illustrate some of the main areas of interest to the surgeon. This, the first of the articles will describe the origins of the Internet and the equipment and process required to get connected.