What is the difference between the Internet and the web?
It's often assumed that there is no difference between the Internet and the Web (or World Wide Web to give it it's full title). However this is a simple confusion brought about by the Web's extensive use of the Internet and that most people's experience of the Internet is the Web. Some of what you read below may sound a little technical - please don't be put off. You can skim over the technical stuff, I've just added it because I wanted to give a good explanation of the differences. If you don't understand anything other than that the Internet and the Web are different things then this page will have done it's job.
The Internet is a network of computers
The Internet is the system (both hardware and software) that allows the connection of computers all over the world. It uses a protocal known as TCP/IP to form those connections. This protocol allows the network to be divided up into lots of smaller networks which can then communicate with each other using a common computer laungage. Messages are passed through the networks to each other and if one path becomes blocked (let's say a network crashes) then information will work out a route through another of the connected networks.
There are many forms of communication that happens through the Internet other than the Web with email presently being the most popular. Telephone Texting is sometimes referred to as being the most popular activity on the Internet but this is a misunderstanding. Texting takes places over the cellular network (see wikipedia) which is connected to the Internet but is something distinct from it.
You can learn more about the Internet on wikipedia.
The World Wide Web (aka Web or WWW)
The World Wide Web is the second biggest source of traffic on the Internet (just behind email). The WWW is a collection of billions of pages that are linked together using hyperlinks (popularly called links) and URLs (Universal Resource Locators - that is the bit you type into a browser to get to a web site e.g. webchristian.org.uk). These pages sit on computers (known as servers) that serve web pages when they are requested. The pages are sent through the Internet using a protocol known as HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol).
There is another protocol called FTP (File Transfer Protocol) that allows web pages to be passed between computers and this is generally used by web masters/web designers/web developers/etc to upload the files that are necessary for a web site.
Web sites are written in a form of XML known as HTML. This is a way to quickly pass information to a local computer which can then use a program known as a web browser to render the page. The browser (on your computer probably Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, etc) receives the HTML of the page and then works out from the HTML how to display the page. A more recent version of HTML is called XHTML and there is CSS which helps the browser understand how to display the page.
A word about Web 2.0
There is actually no such thing as Web 2.0. This was a phrase used by Journalists to describe a new form of web site that was emerging in the 1990s. These are web sites that make use of software and browser software features to allow people to interact with a web site. This predominately means using server side programming languages (progamming software that is on the same computer as the web site - aka the server or host computer) like PHP, ASP, Java, etc and browser based programming languages (part of the browser software) like Javascript (different to Java) to provide a better user experience. Often this means connecting to databases and providing information to users. Typical Web 2.0 applications are Facebook, Second Life, Twitter, etc. However, online shopping, bulletin boards (Forums), Chat rooms, etc would also qualify as Web 2.0.
Digital Space
Some Christians are now referring to something called "Digital Space" which seems to refer to any new Technology that connects people through the Internet. This would include Email, Web and Mobile Phones (although most of the technological advance in Mobile phones has come through the incorportation of mini computers that connect to the Internet and Web - it isn't the phone that has advanced it is the computer that connects to the Internet) at present but in theory could include any technology that makes use of the Internet.
Personally I think the introduction of another title is confusing and perhaps we would do better to understand the names we already have and use them properly. As far as I can see what is known as the Digital Space is in fact simply the Internet.
Don't get confused by the different terms
It's too easy to get confused between the Internet and the World Wide Web but it is important not to. I know there are a lot of technical bits in this page but I want to make sure I'm giving a proper answer. Don't let the technical stuff stop you from understanding that the Internet and the Web are two distinct things.