The Internet's origins can be traced to communications technology research sponsored by the federal government as early as the 1960s. Since then, collaboration between government, educational, and commercial interests has led to the present day Internet infrastructure.
Users access the Internet infrastructure in a variety of ways.
E-mail, one of the earliest ways to access the Internet, allows people to easily send and receive text messages between computers. Using other software, referred to as web browser software, users can view web pages displaying text and graphics and other multimedia elements such as sound and video. Each page of a WWW site may also be accessed by its unique Internet address. In setting up a WWW site, an organization can employ an Internet service provider for space on a computer and for the connections, which can be used to host the WWW site. Or, an organization can set up its own WWW site using its own hardware and software.