The Online World resources handbook

Contents of The Online World resources handbook by Odd de Presno http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/index.html 

Since 1993 

Home page 

Odd de Presno 

Preface 

Search 

Expanded index 

What's New? 

Verification of links 

Registration 

Faster access 

Hint for IExplorer users 

Hint for Lynx users 

Illustrations 

Search 

The Online World 

resources handbook 

Updates stopped October 2003! 

Hypertext version October 31, 2003 

PART 1: AN ONLINE WORLD 

1. Will going online make me rich? 

2. The online world 

3. Using online services 

PART 2: APPLICATIONS 

4. Hobbies, games, and fun 

5. Home, education, and work 

6. Your personal healthnet 

7. Electronic mail, telex, and fax 

8. Free expert assistance 

9. Your electronic daily news 

10. Looking for a needle in a bottle of hay 

11. Getting an edge over your competitors 

PART 3: WORKING SMARTER 

12. Practical tips 

13. Cheaper and better communications 

14. Keep what you find 

15. You pay little for a lot! 

16. Automatic communication 

17. Gazing into the future 

Appendices 

i. List of selected online services 

ii. Getting started 

iii. Your first online trip 

iv. Frequently used terms 

v. Books and articles 

vi. Web and Internet tools & pointers 

vii. Services offering access to Internet 

Feedback please. 

Copyright 2000 2 Odd de Presno 

Advanced search options 

1 of 1 23.11.2009 15:43

The Online World resources handbook: Preface http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/f.html 


resources handbook 

ISBN 82 7820 017 3 

(Version 1.0 released in Aug. 93) 

by 

Odd de Presno 

Mail: 4815 Saltrod, Norway (The photo) 

Voice (registrations only): +47 370 31204 

FAX: +47 370 30193 

Internet mail: presno@eunet.no 

Faster access to the handbook 

[INDEX] 

PREFACE 

The Online World resources handbook deals with practical aspects of using the rapidly 

growing global on line information resource,in which the Internet plays an increasingly 

important part. 

The book is distributed in a form designed to be easily accessible with the maximum 

range of computers, printer types, and search programs. In this way, it is compatible with 

most electronic reading devices for the blind. Many frills, such as fancy formatting, 

extraneous characters or tags, have been omitted to achieve this. 

The main subject of the handbook is what you can get out of the global online 

resource. 

Expect an outline, not a comprehensive list or directory of all available offerings. 

We explore selected applications across network and service boundaries to show how 

selected needs may be satisfied. In the process, we give information about how to reach 

many interesting offerings. 

The applications range from entertainment and the bizarre to databases and special 

services for professionals and organizations. 

You are not expected to live in the United States or Norway. Focus is on 

international offerings available through major services and networks like the Internet, 

Usenet, CompuServe, and others. These services can be accessed from almost 

anywhere. 

Talking about the Internet, we must still assume that many readers are unable to get 

full interactive access at an affordable price, and therefore only have access to these 

offerings by electronic mail. 

1 of 3 23.11.2009 15:43


I wrote The Online World for anybody interested in knowing more about this 

"Global Village", they be parents or youth, teachers, students, business people, social 

workers, psychologists, young, or old. 

You can read it like a novel to get an idea of what goes on, as a practical guide book 

to databases and news sources, or a book of reference. It is meant to be both tutorial and 

practical, so there are lots of actual commands and Internet addresses listed herein. 

However, you do not have to be a computer expert or an experienced "onliner" to find it 

useful! 

The hypertext version can be used as a navigation tool, and the TOW mailing list as 

a awareness service. 

While not a textbook on data communications, it contains information to help 

novices get started. For an introduction to telecommunications, read appendix 2 and 3 

before continuing with Chapter 1. 

Warning: New services are born every day, while others are closing down. Most 

services in this book are probably still around when you read it, but the text certainly 

needs to be updated regularly. Therefore, all feedback is welcomed with thanks! 

Please tell me what you like, what you don't, what you think I have missed or 

have got hopelessly wrong. 

This book is not free 

The book is not public domain. It is copyrighted material, and can only be distributed in 

accordance with this license. You are granted a limited read and use license of the 

book to see if it is for you. 

Please give to others 

Permission is granted to reproduce and distribute the Online World book if: 

(1) No remuneration of any kind is received in exchange. A distribution fee 

may be charged for the cost of a diskette, shipping and handling, if the total 

(per disk) does not exceed US$8.00. 

(2) Distribution is without ANY change to the contents of all accompanying 

text files, including the copyright notice and this license. All files in this 

package are to be distributed together. 

(3) No publication of the book or individual articles from the book in print is 

permitted, in any language, without the express written consent of the 

author. 

Any other use is prohibited without express, written permission in advance. This 

includes bundling of any of the book's chapters or appendixes for your own distribution. 

If archiving this book for use in a library, please include all files. Use the name 

ONLINE34, as in ONLINE34.ZIP, or ONLINE34.LZH. This will provide consistency 

for future updates. 

How to read the book 

You may read the handbook using any web browser or search program. My favorites 

are: 

Using Windows 95/98 

Internet Explorer 4.0 for browsing, and AltaVista Discovery for searching 

(see Chapter 14). 

Print versions of The Online World 

The Online World handbook is not meant for any specific area of the world. Local 

versions are being printed and published in various countries through local partners. 

2 of 3 23.11.2009 15:43


These versions of the book are adapted to local conditions, and contain many local 

examples and references. 

The following local versions of the book have been printed: 

English/Canada 

"The Online World How to Profit from the Information Superhighway" by Mike 

Weaver and Odd de Presno. Publisher: Productive Publications, P.O.Box 7200, Station 

A, Toronto, Ontario M5W 1X8, Canada. ISBN: 0 920847 89 7. 

German 

"ONLINE world," by Dr. Karl Sarnow and Odd de Presno. 312 pages. ISBN 3 

88229 035 8. Publisher: Verlag Heinz Heise GmbH & Co KB, Helstorfer Strasse 7, 

D 3000 Hannover 61, Germany. Fax: +49 511 53 52 129. Price: DM 58. 

Icelandic 

"Netheimar" by Lara Stefansdottir, Lars H.Andersen and Odd de Presno. 280 pages. 

ISBN 9979 60 112 4 Published December 1995. 

Norwegian 

"Ut i verden fra egen skjerm," Norwegian text, Datatid A/S, 1992. 220 pages. ISBN: 

82 90628 67 6. 

Do you want to become a partner? 

If you are interested in becoming the coauthor of a local language version of the book 

for your country, please write me at presno@eunet.no to discuss. 

Saltrod (Norway) 

Yours, 

Odd de Presno 

| Chapter 1 | Top of page | Index | Expanded index | Register | 

Search: 

The Online World resources handbook's text on paper, disk and in any other electronic form is © 

copyrighted 2001 by Odd de Presno. 


*) Photo by Bernhard Ertl 

3 of 3 23.11.2009 15:43

Will going online make me rich? http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/1.html 

The Online World resources handbook 

PART 1: AN ONLINE WORLD 

[INDEX] [Expanded Index] [Search] [NEXT] [PREFACE] 

Chapter 1: 

Will going online make me rich? 

There are so many sources of information and services out there, and each of them has 

to be searched or used separately. Therefore, half the battle is figuring out where to 

look. 

Information is abundant, even overwhelming. At risk of drowning in that vast sea, 

anyone navigating the online world needs to know what is available, and how to find and 

use it. 

Getting there takes time, but the potential rewards are interesting: 

Knowledge is power. 

The value of critical information is increasing, and information is now available 

for everybody! 

A large personal network gives you a punch. 

So, how to use the resource WR P\ DGYDQWDJH" 

You will also discover that using the online resource can be quite fun and entertaining. 

After all, there is more to life than business and work. 

Knowledge is Power 

My wife has a rare and dangerous kidney disease. One day her doctor joined us on an 

online research session to look for experiences and advice in other countries. We sat 

down in my office in Norway. I turned on my personal computer and started a 

communications program. 

After some keystrokes, we could hear the attached modem dial the number of 

CompuServe, a North American information utility. (A modem is a piece of equipment 

that converts computer signals to and from sound codes, so data can be sent by phone.) 

It took just a few seconds to make the connection. A greeting scrolled over our 

screen, followed by a menu of available choices. 

For an introduction to practical telecommunications, check out appendix 2 

and 3. in this book. 

We selected "Health," and "Database for Rare diseases" from a new menu. Here, we 

1 of 6 23.11.2009 15:43


found the address of a foundation for "cysts in kidneys," which is the name of her 

disease. My wife made contact. Since then, she has received regular reports of research 

results and experiences gained in the field. (The organization is called The Polycystic 

Kidney Research Foundation. 

We sent a request for help to an electronic forum for doctors. This resulted in 

several useful pointers. We searched a magazine database for medical articles containing 

the word "kidney." Paper copies of the most interesting finds arrived by mail a few days 

later. My wife gave them to her hospital doctor as background reading. 

Kenya Saikawa is paralyzed. He communicates with his PC and modem using light 

key strokes and Morse code. Online communications allow Kenya to be in regular 

contact with people outside the walls of his Tokyo hospital. 

We met online in a "Handicap Club" on a computer center called TWICS in Tokyo. 

He was there to exchange experiences with others with disabilities. I called in by modem 

from Norway. Geographical distance is no problem in the online world. 

CompuServe's Cancer Forum has a similar function. "It's a blessing that I can visit 

here 24 hours a day," one visitor said. "When I'm unable to sleep at night, I often sit 

down by the PC to read and write messages to others." 

The forum works like a family. The file library is full of information about cancer. 

Members can go in there and pick up whatever they want to read. 

Dave Hughes from Old Colorado Springs, Colorado in the United States has had a 

long career as a professional soldier. He has fought in places like the Yalue river in 

Korea and Vietnam's jungle. When he retired, he became a political online force. 

"I'm using the new tools of the individual mind to change the world," he says. 

Native American Indians are among those, who have benefited from Dave's energy and 

knowledge. He has helped them show their culture to the outside world in a graphical 

form. 

9ODGLPLU 0DNDUHQNRY IURP WKH &ULPHD LQ WKH 8NUDLQH LV PDQDJHU LQ D FRPSDQ\ 

called VINKO. In early 1993, he distributed an offer of partnership with foreign 

companies through a mailing list for traders on Internet. VINKO is into aluminium 

processing. He wrote: 

"From our own production we can offer some one metals and aniline dye for 

cotton, viscose, wool, silk, leather. We are interested in deliveries of chemical 

production (gamma acid, H acid) and not quickly deteriorating foods (food 

concentrates, canned food etc.)." 

George Pavlov is Planning and Reporting manager with an American computer 

manufacturer. Daily, he logs on to online services to monitor industry product 

announcements and daily news from several electronic sources. It helps him stay ahead 

of rapid technological developments. 

Chairman Bill Gates of Microsoft says messaging is his most important application 

personally. He spends as much as five times more time in electronic mail as in 

spreadsheets or word processing, and claims "it's probably the most mission critical 

application for Microsoft in running the company." 

IBM relies on the Internet to give users and developers around the world a way to 

retrieve documentation, technical interface specifications, fixes and upgrades. 

Eduardo Salom heads Software Plus SA in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He discovered 

the online world in 1988, and uses it to find information that can help his company 

develop industrial applications. 

The Norwegian civil engineer Kai Oestreng regularly calls specialized online 

computer clubs to discuss his computational needs, fetch programs and monitor 

developments. 

Mary Lou Rebelo was born in southern Brazil. Today, she is married to a Japanese 

and lives in Tokyo. She teaches Portuguese and works as a translator. The modem 

enables her to keep in touch with others around the world interested in Portuguese and 

Spanish language and culture. 

Sheena Macleod teaches in a primary school in Lusaka, Zambia. She integrates the 

online world in her teaching to motivate her students. Her classes are involved in 

international projects with schools all over the globe. 

In August 1991, the "Old Stalinists" made a coup d'etat in the Soviet Union. The 

news media were silenced, but they forgot the country's many bulletin boards. Early one 

morning, a foreign caller picked up the following messages from a Moscow BBS: 

2 of 6 23.11.2009 15:43


From: Valery Koulkov 

To: All Msg #560, 00:42am 

20 Aug 91 

Subject: Moscow, August 19, 23:00 

Some news from the square news RSFSR white building, 23:00. Local 

inhabitants are very welcome for the people guarding 'white 

building', they carry food and some garments to the square. 

Approx. 8 tanks stand by the house under the RSFSR flags! There is 

an information that 'white house' is surrounded by the soldiers 

from Vysshee Desantnoye uchilische from Ryazan. The people are not 

so desperate than some hours ago. There are more and more people. 

From: Stas Stas 

To: Alexey Zabrodin Msg #562, 02:53pm 

20 Aug 91 

Subject: Russia In Agency news 

I have sent two files RIA4.txt & ria5.txt 

It's msgs of Russia Information Agency 

Spread it as much as you can!!! 

From: Andrew Brown 

To: All Msg #563, 06:31pm 

20 Aug 91 

Subject: What's happening? 

I am a journalist on the London Daily newspaper *The Independent*, 

and I am trying to discover whether this technology, like fax 

machines, is being used for independent communication now that the 

censors have clamped down on everything else. 

Can people describe what is happening, and what they see? 

Something similar was done on Compuserve during the Gulf War, by 

subscribers who where in Israel and were able to describe Scud 

missile attacks without censorship. 

Andrew Brown 

Select: 564 

From: Valery Koulkov 

To: All Msg #564, 00:52am 

21 Aug 91 

Subject: Moscow events 

There is shooting near the American embassy and RSFSR state 

building. Informer said (by phone) that he saw several victims 

shot and killed under the tanks. there is fire near the RSFSR 

building. Moscow, August 21, 1:15 am 

Telecommunications played a role in this historic event. While CNN televised the coup, 

it was not the images, but the words of men like Yeltsin that held sway for Russian 

citizens. Within hours of Yeltsin's statement in defiance of the coup leaders, handbills 

reproducing his statement papered the walls of the Moscow metro and Leningrad 

houses. 

Another one: On Friday, Feb. 26 1993 at 12:18 p.m., a bomb exploded in the World 

Trade Center in New York City, U.S.A. Four minutes later, the Dow Jones News 

Service flashed this headline: "NYC Fire Dept. Says Fire At 3 World Trade Center." 

Then there is this Norwegian friend of mine, Svein Erik Dahl, photographer by 

profession. His passion in life is playing bridge. Each night, he logs on to BPLive. Here, 

he fights other enthusiasts of the green table until the early morning. 

"...for many companies the information coming in from the outside is of far 

more significance than the internal knowledge of staff." (Neil Infield, 

Information World Review, England, November 1997.) 

A resource for everybody! 

3 of 6 23.11.2009 15:43


Online communication is not just for the privileged or those with a special interest in 

computers. It is for you, me, everybody. 

There is much to learn in the "online land," and the medium is fascinating. It makes 

learning fun. You can learn about your hobbies, your profession, life in other countries, 

languages, other people's views about whatever, and more. Often, you will find reports 

about experiences and know how that it is hard or impractical to get in other ways. 

Some go online to learn how to do things better. Teachers want to give their 

students a better and more motivating learning environment. Architects, engineers and 

companies want increased competitiveness and sales. They seek timely information 

about competitors, technologies and tools, partners and trends. 

You can take a Masters Degree in Business Administration while sitting in front of 

your computer at home. You can join online seminars arranged by local or foreign 

educational institutes. You can even study at night, when the rest of your family has 

calmed down. 

Some build their own educational programs supported by databases, online forums 

and associations of various kinds. 

You may feel helpless in hospital, or when visiting your doctor. Knowledge about 

your disease will make you better equipped to handle the situation. 

The online resource is just keystrokes away, and knowledge is power. 

To get this power, you must know what you can get from the online world. This 

book is filled with examples of what are available, and practical tips about how to use 

the many offerings. 

A large personal network gives strength 

Most of us belong to one or several networks. They consist of persons that we can call 

on when we need help. Your network may be private, like your family. You may be 

member of associations, or part of a group of people with common interests within a 

company or organization. 

The modem allows you to be part of more personal networks than you can possibly 

cope with in the "real world." Besides, it's easier to develop personal networks in the 

online world. 

We have used words like "clubs" and "associations." By this we mean groups of 

people interested in helping You and in participating in what You happen to be 

interested in. That is what networking is all about. 

Today's communications technology lets us network with people in other countries 

at a very low cost. Many describe it as networking "beyond time and space." Write a 

message and send it to someone in your network. It arrives in his/her "mailbox" within 

minutes (sometimes seconds), and stays there until the recipient wants to read it. 

This built in ability to send messages to other people's electronic mailboxes reduces 

the power that time and geographical distances have over our lives. 

A friend in a remote country gets out of bed nine hours after you, but keeps going 

well into what, for you, is the next morning. No problem. You can send letters when you 

are awake, and receive replies when asleep. Pick up and read your friend's messages the 

next day or when you feel like doing it. This is how two people as far apart as Arendal, 

Norway and Auckland, New Zealand could be involved in the development of this book. 

Sometimes "real time" discussions are important. Consider the cancer forum 

example above. You can call there any time, day or night, seven days a week. Whenever 

you feel like it. You will always find someone to chat with who understands and shares 

your problems. 

So, how do I use the resource to my advantage? 

There are millions of online databases out there. These infobases are repositories of 

electronic information. They contain full text and reference books, magazines, 

newspapers, radio and TV shows, reports, and more. In the online world, you will find 

information about almost anything. 

There are also hundreds of thousand online forums or conferences where people 

4 of 6 23.11.2009 15:43


call in to read messages and information, or just have a good time. 

The entrepreneur sees the online world as a new, profitable playground. Many have 

made it their profession to search for information for others, and they earn a good living 

doing so. 

Others advertise and sell products and services by modem. Some set up their own 

services to sell knowledge and know how, be it of aqua culture, wine production, 

marketing, or about the petroleum offshore market. 

In business, it pays to be one step ahead of the competition. Early warnings of 

customers' needs, competitors' moves, and emerging opportunities can be turned into 

fortunes. This can reduce potential losses and help develop businesses in more profitable 

directions. 

Turn this to your advantage. Build your personal early warning system to monitor 

online information sources and networks. 

Have fun 

The online world has an abundance of joke clubs, dramatic adventure games with 

multiple players, and large archives filled with computer game software. You can 

transfer these programs to your personal computer and be ready to play in minutes. 

Others may feel more entertained when things get "interesting." Surely, those 

calling Moscow in August 1991 for news about the coup must have had a strange 

sensation in the stomach. 

Some online users react quickly when dramatic events occur. They go online to read 

news directly from the wires, from Associated Press, TASS, Reuters, Xinhua Press, 

Kyodo News and all the others. 

Usually, online news comes directly to you from the journalists' keyboards. Often, 

you heard it here first. 

Others prefer to socialize. They meet in online "meeting places" to debate 

everything from Africa and the administration of kindergartens to poetry, LISP 

programming, and compressed video for multimedia applications. 

Some claim that increased use of online networking in a country can effect social 

changes within politics, economics, communication and science. It can support 

democratic tendencies, the transition to a market economy, the formation and support of 

businesses, the spreading of interpersonal and mass communication, the forging of 

invisible colleges among scientists, and breaking up of traditional and closed information 

systems developed in some societies. 

No matter whether your application is useful or just a pastime, online services 

queue up to help give your life a better content. 

Some people fear that language might be a problem, and in particular if English is 

not their first language. Don't worry. There are many other languages used in the online 

world, and increasing. Besides, you are in the driver's seat. If something is hard to 

understand, just log off to study the difficult text. Take your time. Nobody is watching. 

Remember Albert Einstein's words: 

"A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new." 

Will your being member of the online world make you rich? Probably not. On the other 

hand, it provides the means to help you achieve such a goal, no matter how you define 

the word "rich." 

Go for it! 

| Next | Preface | Top of page | Index | Expanded index | Register | 

Search: 



Updated at November 7, 2000. 


5 of 6 23.11.2009 15:43


Illustration by Anne Tove Vestfossen 

6 of 6 23.11.2009 15:43

The Online World: What is it? http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/2.html 


Chapter 2: 


[INDEX] [Expanded Index] [Search] [NEXT] [BACK] 

This chapter is about the structure and contents of the online world. You will read about 

Bulletin Board systems, discussion lists, conferencing systems, online databases, packet 

data services, and network services like FidoNet, and the Internet. 

Structure and contents of the 

online world 

Database producers and 

information providers. 

Online services 

Gateways and networks 

The services 

Electronic mail 

Services (contd.) 

'Chat' 

File transfers 

Conferences and 

discussions 

News 

Databases 

Just for fun 

From papyrus to bits and bytes 

Services (contd.) 

The user interface 

The data transporters 

and Internet 

access providers 

The user 

Around 1500 B.C., the world's first library was set up in Tell el Amaran, Egypt. Eight 

hundred years later, the first public library opened in Athens, Greece. 

It took another two thousand years for the first full scale stored program computer 

to be invented (The EDSAC. Wilkes, Cambridge, England. 1949), and for people to 

express ideas like what Nikola Tesla said in an interview with Collier's, January 30, 

1926: 

,W LV PRUH WKDQ SUREDEOH WKDW WKH KRXVHKROG V GDLO\ QHZVSDSHU will be 

printed 'wirelessly' in the home during the night. 

Tesla was a famous Serbian electrical engineer and inventor, who devised among other 

things the alternating current systems that underlie the modern electrical power industry. 

He also did notable research on high voltage electricity and invented wireless 

communication. 

Incredibly enough, hypertext (used in World Wide Web documents) was proposed 

as early as 1945 (by Vannevar Bush). 

In 1954, the first online search service was launched by the Naval Ordinance Test 

Station, in Michigan, U.S.A. Six years later, MEDLARS, a full text bibliographic 

database containing references to medical literature was launched. 

1 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43


From now on, things started to roll faster: 

1969: ARPANET (U.S.A.), the predecessor to the Internet, starts 

research into computer networking. 

1972: Dialog (U.S.A.) opens their Educational Resources Information 

Center and National Technical Information Service databases for 

online searching. (Appendix 1 contains information about the 

major online services referred to in this book.) 

1974: Dow Jones News/Retrieval (U.S.A.) launches a financial 

information service for stock brokers. The design of a 

Transmission Control Program, TCP as in TCP/IP, is specified 

(U.S.A.). Usenet is set up (U.S.A.). 

1978: The first bulletin board opens in Chicago (U.S.A.) 

1979: CompuServe (U.S.A.) launches a service for home users. 

USENET set up. 

1981: Minitel (France) and BITNET (U.S.A.). 

1982: The Internet is born as TCP/IP is adapted by ARPANET (U.S.A.). 

1983: ARPANET (U.S.A.), the predecessor to the Internet, starts. 

FidoNet (U.S.A.) 

1991: The World Wide Web is born (Switzerland). 

1993: The number of countries reachable by electronic mail through 

the Internet reaches 137. The World Wide Web explodes (annual 

growth rate at 341,634%)! 

1994: Japanese prime minister comes online. 

1995: The Vatican web site opens. 

(For more about developments and milestones from 3500 BCE till present, see http://www.ciolek.com 

/PAPERS/milestones.html.) 

Thus, the online world was born in the United States. Little happened in the rest of the 

world until the late 1980s. American companies and users may still appear to be 

dominating, but they are no longer alone. 

There are now millions of public databases available from online systems ("host 

computers") all over the world. With so many online services, and a large variety of 

access methods, it is difficult to find our way through the maze of offerings. 

Telecommunications has therefore often been presented as one of the more difficult 

things to learn to do on a computer. 

The good news is that it was never all that terribly difficult and its getting easier all 

the time. 

It may help to have a picture in your mind of the various parts of this "online world" 

before we embark on the applications. The book therefore starts with an analogy. Think 

of it as a "map" of the online world. 

The structure and contents of the online world 

The online world can be visualized as a cake with multiple layers. The information 

sources are the bottom layer, and you, the user, the marzipan figure on the top. The 

online world contains the following tiers: 

1. Database producers and information providers 

2. Online service companies 

3. Gateways and networks 

4. The service offerings 

5. The user interface 

6. The data transport services 

7. The User. 

2 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43


If you are a novice, this may seem complex but none of these levels are difficult. It often 

helps to visualize what level you are dealing with at any given time. Therefore, let us 

consider them in more detail. 

1. Database producers and information providers. 

For years, I operated a free bulletin board system in Norway. It run on a small personal 

computer, and offered shareware and public domain software. Anybody could call this 

BBS and have programs transferred to their personal computers by modem (see 

appendix 2 for how to achieve this). 

When you called it to "download" (retrieve) a free program, you wouldn't find any 

made by me. I do not write programs. All available programs were written by others. 

When you connect to Data Star or Individual.com to read news, you may find some 

stories written by these companies. Most of their news, however, has been written by 

others. 

The Associated Press, an American news agency, let online services like Dialog, 

CompuServe, and Nexis 'resell' their news to their users, and also provide news directly 

to end users through the Web. 

Free Bulletin Board systems, Data Star, Dialog, CompuServe, Nexis, and 

Brainwave for NewsNet are online services. We call those who have provided the news 

and information on these services for information providers or database producers. 

The information providers sell the right to distribute news. What you pay to an 

online service to read news may be imbedded in its standard access rates. Some services 

will ask you to pay a surcharge when reading news. 

CompuServe subscribers pay a monthly membership fee for unlimited use of a 

variety of services like The Associate Press Online News (Hourly News Summaries, 

Sports, Entertainment, Business, News, This Day In History), UK News Clips, and 

Deutsche Presse Agentur Kurznachrichtendienst. 

CompuServe pays Associated Press part of what they earn whenever you read their 

news. There is no surcharge for reading AP news on this service. Some services, like 

Brainwave for NewsNet, charge per article found and viewed. 

Information providers may have subcontractors. Ziff Davis' Computer Database 

Plus, a database with full text articles from magazines like Datamation and Wall Street 

Computer Review, depends on them. 

Datamation pays journalists to write the articles. Ziff Davis pays Datamation for the 

right to distribute the articles to CompuServe's subscribers. CompuServe pays Ziff Davis 

part of what you pay when reading the text. 

Some information providers also distribute information through free bulletin boards. 

The Newsbytes News Network, Boardwatch Magazine, and the USA Today newsletter 

services (http://www.usatoday.com) are three examples. 

Rates for reading the same article may differ considerably depending on what 

online service you are using. If you are a regular reader, shop around for the best price. 

The cheapest place is the World Wide Web. There, you can read tons of news for free. 

2. Online services 

The term "online services" refers to the services that are provided by computer systems, 

large or small, to owners of personal computers with modems. 

Their services may include access to electronic mail, online shopping malls, 

discussion forums, hardware and software vendor support, access to libraries of 

programs and data, games and entertainment, financial data, stock market quotes, 

research capabilities, or simply access to other service providers as with many Internet 

hosts. 

You do not always need a phone and modem to "log on." Some services can be 

accessed through leased phone lines, amateur radio, the Internet, or other methods. 

Appendix 1 contains a list of major services mentioned in this book, with addresses, 

phone numbers, and a short description. 

American Online (U.S.A.), TWICS (Japan), and Orbit (England) are commercial. 

They charge you for using their services. 

3 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43


Some online services are priced like magazines and newspapers with a flat 

subscription rate for basic services. You can use this part of a service as much as you 

like within a given period. CompuServe, America Online, and many for pay BBSes offer 

such pricing options. 

Other online services charge for 'connect time'. They have a rate per hour or 

minute. Yet others, use a "no cure, no pay." You only pay to send or read mail, or read 

items found in a database. To check for unread letters in your mailbox is free. 

There are all kinds of creative pricing schemes. Some have different rates for access 

during the day, night and weekends. Others charge users living far away less, while 

others again charge the remote user more than ordinary subscribers. 

Still, most online services are free, and available through the Internet. This is also 

true for the over hundred thousand bulletin board systems of the world. The owners of 

these services often regard them as a hobby, a public service, a necessary marketing 

expense, or do it for other reasons. 

Some users fear that using online services will increase their telephone costs 

dramatically, and especially when using services in other countries. This is often 

unjustified. Read in chapter 13 and 15 about how to keep your communications costs 

down. 

3. Gateways and networks 

CompuServe users select the Computer Database Plus from a menu. This prompts 

CompuServe to dial another service provider and lets you use this service, as if you were 

still using CompuServe. You hardly notice the difference. You are using Computer 

Database Plus through a gateway. 

When you search the IQuest databases, you may get a welcome message like this: 

One moment please... 

Connected to 19EASYN 

Welcome to IQuest 

F 7HOHEDVH 6\VWHPV ,QF 

U.S. Patent No. 4,774,655 

Through another gateway, CompuServe connects you to the online service Telebase 

Systems, Inc. Telebase lets you go through other gateways to search in databases located 

on services like BRS, MEDLINE and Brainwave for NewsNet. 

While searching, you may get such progress reports: 

Dialing BRS 

Connect BRS 

Scanning .... Please wait 

Dialing Medline 

Connect Medline 

Scanning .... Please wait 

All the time, your modem is connected to CompuServe. You are mentally using 

CompuServe and not other online services. Technically, you are going through various 

gateways to reach the information libraries. You pay CompuServe for the privilege. 

They, in turn, pay a fee to the others. 

You can read The New York Times on Down Jones News/Retrieval through 

gateways from MCI Mail and GEnie. (You can also get to it through the Web at 

http://www.nytimes.com.) 

Users of BBSes connected to RelayNet or FidoNet can join in global discussions. 

Participants in other countries also call their favorite local systems. To the individual 

user, it looks as if they all use the same bulletin board system. 

The networks that tie these boards together regularly send new discussion items to 

the other participating boards. Write "This is not correct!" in a distributed conference on 

a Norwegian FidoNet BBS, and others may soon read your line on San Bernardino BBS 

in Colton (California), Wonderland Board in Macau or the HighTech BBS in Sidney 

(Australia). 

4 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43


Kidlink is a global project for kids and youth through the secondary school level. It 

allows kids to discuss through a system of electronic mail. 

Part of the dialog takes place by the children sending email to a recipient called 

KIDCAFE TOPICS. A message to 'the cafe' goes through the international networks to a 

host computer in North Dakota (U.S.A.). There, a computer program called LISTSERV 

distributes copies of the message to names on an electronic address list. (Conferences 

controlled by a LISTSERV are called 'discussion lists' or 'mailing lists'.) 

SciLink in Toronto is one recipient. Messages forwarded from North Dakota are 

made available for users there as entries in a 'local' conference called KIDCAFE 

TOPICS. A user in Toronto can read a message, as if it had been entered locally. If she 

wants to reply, her answer is sent back to the LISTSERV for redistribution to the world. 

Western Michigan University (U.S.A.) is another recipient. Here, another 

LISTSERV program is in charge of forwarding the mail to yet another list of (local) 

addresses. We call it a 'mail exploder'. 

This mailing exploder has been set up by local administrators to reduce costs as the 

individual user does not have to receive his own copies of messages all the way from 

North Dakota. One Michigan recipient may be a local area network that further spreads 

the messages. 

This is how the online world got started. Two systems were interconnected for 

exchange of electronic mail. Then, another system was added, and another, until it 

developed into a large network of computer systems. 

Some network systems are connected by leased telephone lines. Other networks, 

like FidoNet, depend mainly on dial up using regular voice grade telephone service. 

Each BBS dial regularly to other computers in the network to send or receive mail and 

files. They may do it once per day, twice per day, or whatever. 

One day, someone got the idea of interconnecting networks. FidoNet was 

connected to the UUCP network, which was connected to the Internet, which in turn 

was connected to the Bergen By Byte BBS in Norway, CompuServe, SciLink, MCI 

Mail, and various local area networks for exchange of email and other offerings. 

Today, the online world is a global web of networks. The world is 'cabled'. You, I, 

and all the other modem users stand to benefit enormously. 

4. The services 

The most popular online services are electronic mail, chat, file transfers, conferences 

and discussion forums, news, reading of online journals and grassroots publications, 

database searching, and entertainment. 

The online world has many niches, things that people are interested in and have fun 

doing. 


is not just like paper mail. Email is faster, easier to edit and use in other applications. 

Your mail may be private, or public. It can be 'broadcasted' to many by a mailing 

list. The principle is the same on all systems. 

Typically, an email message is sent to your mailbox in the following form: 

To: Odd de Presno 

Subject: Happy Birthday 

Text: I wish you well on your birthday. Ole 

The sending system automatically adds your name (that is, the sender's return email 

address), the creation date, and forwards it to the recipient. If the recipient's mailbox is 

on another system, the message is routed through one or several networks to reach its 

destination. 

When the message gets to the receiver's mail system, it is stored in her "mailbox" 

until she logs on and chooses to read it. Besides reading the message, she can print it, 

VDYH LW WR D GLVN IRUZDUG LW WR VRPHRQH HOVH RU VHQG D UHSO\ 

Depending on the mail system, if the reply option is chosen, the address is 

automatically supplied from the original mail piece and you have the option of including 

5 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43


all or parts of the original message. 

Several email services offer forwarding to fax, telex or ordinary postal service 

delivery. Some offer forwarding to paging services. With these, when new mail arrives in 

your mailbox, a message with text like 'MAIL from presno@eunet.no' will be displayed 

on your beeper's small screen. 

By the turn of the century, it will probably be difficult to tell the difference between 

fax messages and email. The services may automatically convert incoming faxes to 

computer readable text and pictures, so you can use them in word processing and other 

computer applications. 

Automatic language translation is another trend. You will soon be able to send a 

message in English, and have it automatically translated into Spanish for Spanish reading 

recipients, or into other languages. Conference systems with automatic translation are 

already being used in Japan (English to/from Japanese). 

One day we may also have a global email address directory where you can ask, 

"What is the address of Nobuo Hasumi in Japan?", and have it supplied. This will be nice 

since email addresses are more volatile than normal (snail mail) addresses. Now, since 

they are spread over many different networks and systems, and the sharing of email 

between systems is still fairly young, this has yet to be set up. 

World Wide Web 

The Web brought Internet out of the closet. This global information service lets you 

retrieve and view (and often listen to) multi media documents from computers all over 

the world. 

The types of documents that you retrieve include news articles with accompanying 

illustrations, moving pictures (video), music and other sound files, forms that you can fill 

out and return to start some action (for example, to buy something, or to search a 

database), and more. 

You may think of the Web as a large, living online encyclopedia containing 

hundreds of millions of documents (called Web pages). 

Most people use the World Wide Web with a computer program called a Web 

browser. The browser is typically run in a Windows environment. To retrieve a 

document, they submit an Internet address to the Web by clicking on a highlighted word 

found on their screen, or on a reference found in a listing of addresses. The addresses 

can also be entered manually. The following address retrieves the author's home page: 

http://home.eunet.no/~presno/presno.html 

Usually, the retrieved document is temporarily stored on your disk, and then 

displayed on your screen. The effect is that you can more quickly go back to the 

previously viewed page (by clicking a return icon) than if you had to reload the page 

from scratch. 

Instead of menus, WWW uses a hypertext interface with cross links between 

subjects. When you click on highlighted words, you "jump off" onto another track. 

Documents can be, and often are, linked to other documents by completely different 

authors much like footnoting, but you can get the referenced document instantly. 

For more background information about the Web, see Appendix 6. 

'Chat' 

Email has one important disadvantage. It may take time for it to be picked up and read 

by the recipient. The alternative is real time conferencing, a form of direct keyboard 

to keyboard dialog between users. We call it 'chat'. 

Most large systems let you chat with many users simultaneously. Even small 

bulletin boards usually have a chat feature. 

Chat is set up in several ways. On some systems, you see each character on the 

screen as it is entered by your dialog partners. Other systems send entries line by line, 

whenever you press ENTER or RETURN. Here, it may be difficult to know whether the 

other person is waiting for you to type, or if he is actively entering new words. 

You will find regular chat areas and conferences throughout the Internet, as well as 

on commercial services. 

6 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43


In May 1991, Kidlink arranged a full day chat between kids from all over the 

world. Line, a 12 year old Norwegian girl, started the day talking with Japanese kids at 

the Nishimachi and Kanto International School in Tokyo. When her computer was 

switched off late that night, she was having an intense exchange with children in North 

America. 

The chats took place on various online services and networks, including Internet 

Relay Chat (IRC), BITNET's Relay Chat, Cleveland Free Net (USA, now defunct), 

TWICS in Tokyo, the global network Tymnet, and the Education Forum on 

CompuServe. 

The discussions had no moderator. This made the meetings chaotic. but the kids 

enjoyed it! One line messages shot back and forth over the continents conveying intense 

simultaneous conversations, occasionally disrupted by exclamations and requests for 

technical help. 

Speed is a problem when chatting. It takes a lot of time as most users are 

slow typists. 

If an individual message spans more than one line, there is always a risk that it will be 

split up by lines coming from others. It takes practice to understand what goes on. 

Users of SciLink (Canada) use a method they call 'semi sync chat'. The trick is to 

use ordinary batch mode conferences for chatting. Instead of calling up, reading and 

sending mail and then log out, they stay online waiting for new messages to arrive. This 

approach allows the entry of multiple line messages without the risk of them being 

broken up by other messages. The flow of the discussion is often better, and each 

person's entries easier to understand. 

File transfers 

Millions of files are transferred to and from the online services each day: Books and 

articles, technical reports, graphics pictures, files of digitized music, weather reports, and 

much more. Retrieval of free or inexpensive software is a very popular service on the 

Internet, and other free services. 

In February 1994, users downloaded 105 megabytes' worth of public domain and 

shareware programs from of my BBS, though it only one phone line and a 9,600 bits/s 

modem. Add to this the megabytes being downloaded from hundreds of thousands of 

other bulletin boards. The number is staggering. 

If you want to download software, check out appendix 3 for additional 

information. 

Downloading is simple. Just connect to a service, order transfer of a given file, select a 

file transfer protocol (like XMODEM), and the file comes to you through the phone line. 

On the Internet, you may just locate the file with your browser, and then simply 

click on the file name to transfer it. Often, files are also transferred using a command 

called FTP (File Transfer Protocol), or by using special computer programs for file 

transfers. 

If you cannot receive files as explained above, check if you can have files 

sent by email using a technique called UUENCODEing. Here, the file is 

converted before transfer into a format that can be sent as ordinary mail 

(into a seven bits, even character code). 

When the file arrives in your mailbox, you 'read' it as an ordinary 

message and store the codes in a work file on your disk. Finally, you 

decode the file using a special utility program (often called UUDECODE). 

Read more about this in Chapter 12. 

Conferences and discussions 

Online conferences have many things in common with traditional face to face 

conferences and discussions. The main difference is that the participants do not 

7 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43


physically meet in the same room. They 'arrive' by modem and discuss using electronic 

messages. 

There are conferences about nearly every conceivable topic, from How to start your 

own company, Brainstorming, Architectural design, Investments, The Future of 

Education, to AIDS, The Baltic States, Psychology, and Cartoons. 

Instead of calling these discussions "online conferences," some services use terms 

like echos, discussion or mailing lists, web rings, clubs, newsgroups, round tables, SIGs 

(Special Interest Groups), and forums. They use other terms in an attempt to make their 

offerings more attractive and exclusive. 

Others refer to "conferences" by using the name of the software used to control the 

discussions, like LISTSERV, PortaCom, News, Usenet, Caucus, or PARTIcipate. 

Note that we in many of these conferences are still based on email. 

However, while private mail is usually read by one recipient only, 

'conference mail' may be read by thousands of people from the whole 

world. 

,Q PRVW RQOLQH FRQIHUHQFHV DOO SDUWLFLSDQWV FDQ WDON DQG GLVFXVV 6,08/7$1(286/< 

It is almost impossible for one individual to dominate. The number of active participants 

can therefore be far larger than in 'face to face' conferences. 

The conferencing software automatically records all that is said. Every character. 

Each participant can decide what to read and when. He may even use the messages in 

other applications later. Opinions and information can easily be selected and pasted into 

reports or new responses. 

Some conferences are public and open for anybody. Others are for a closed group 

(of registered) participants. 

Conferences are normally structured by topic and influenced by the participants' 

behavior. If the topic is limited, like in "The football match between Mexico and 

Uruguay," it may start with an introduction followed by comments, questions, and 

answers like pearls on a thread. After some time, the conference is 'finished'. Other 

conferences go on for ever. 

The content and the quality of the discussion are what separates one 

online conference from others. 

How a conference develops, depends in part on the features of the software used by the 

online service. However, this is much less important than the kind of people you meet 

there, their willingness to contribute, and the features of the software you're using. Still, 

let's take look at some differences in features between offerings. 

Messages in the PC Hardware Forum on CompuServe are divided into 11 sections. 

Section 2 is called Printers' utilities. If you have problems with an old Epson FX 80 

printer, send requests for help to "All" (=to everybody) and store it in this section. 

CompuServe's subscribers call in from all over the place to join the forum. Some are 

there to show off competence (read: to sell their expertise). Others visit to find solutions 

to a problem, or simply to mingle or learn. 

A conference with many users increases your chances of meeting others 

who are compatible and have relevant skills. As always, the quality of the 

people is the first requirement of a good conference. 

On CompuServe, professional 'Sysops' (system operators) moderate the discussion. They 

earn a percentage of what you pay CompuServe for using their forums. To them, being a 

sysop is a profession. They spend considerable time trying to make the forum a lively 

and interesting place. 

The Printers/utilities section is not just about Epson FX 80. Its members have 

hundreds of different printers, each with their own set of user problems. Let's use this to 

explain differences between some conferencing systems. 

Each message in CompuServe's forums contains the sender's name (his local email 

address), subject, date, and the text itself. We call this the 'bulletin board model'. 

Messages posted on Usenet, Internet and BITNET mailing lists, and most bulletin boards 

have a similar structure. 

8 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43


A CompuServe message typically looks like this: 

#: 24988 S10/Portable Desktops 

22 Jul 91 10:05:38 

Sb: #T5200 425meg HDD 

Fm: Gordon Norman 72356,370 

To: Menno Aartsen 72611,2066 (X) 

Menno 

Can you share the HD specs on that 425'er...random 

access time, transfer rate, MTBF, etc.? 

Gordon 

The problem is that this message may not interest you. Daily, thousands of messages 

outside your areas of interest are being posted. You do not want to read all these 

messages. The good news is that most services that use the bulletin board model allow 

selective reading of messages. You can select all messages containing a given word or 

text string in the subject title ('Sb:' above). You can read threads of messages from a 

given message number (replies, and replies to replies). You can read all messages 

to/from a given person, from a given message number, and from a given date. There are 

many options. 

Now, let's look at The PARTIcipate conferencing software as it functions 

diametrically opposite to CompuServe's forum's bulletin board style. PARTI is used on 

TWICS (Japan), and some other systems. 

PARTI lets the user log on using an alias. For example, she can use the identity 

'BATMAN'. You may never get to know the true name of the other person. On the other 

hand, this allows people to talk about controversial topics, with which they may not 

want to have their names associated. 

Anyone can start a conference. The conference may be public, private or a 

combination. Combination conferences allow public review of the messages in the 

conference, but restrict the number of people who can contribute to the discussion. 

To start a new conference, simply enter 'write'. PARTI will prompt you with "Enter 

the text of your note, then type .send or .open to transmit." You can enter the welcome 

WH[W IRU \RXU QHZ FRQIHUHQFH OLNH , GLG LQ WKLV H[DPSOH 

"This conference is based on a series of articles about shareware and 

public domain programs for MSDOS computers, which I wrote for 

publication in England. Since the editor cheated me and they never 

reached the printing press, I've decided to make them available online 

instead of letting them rot on my hard disk. Join to read, discuss or 

(hopefully) enjoy!" 

The conference was presented to the other users of TWICS like this: 

"MSDOS TIPS" by ODD DE PRESNO, Feb. 23, 1990 

about GOOD PD AND SHAREWARE PROGRAMS (7 notes) 

Few systems of the bulletin board model let users start new conferences at will. New 

topics must be stored in a given structure. The administrators (sysops) of the services 

manage the evolution of the 'conference room'. Periodically, old messages may be 

deleted to make room for new. 

On PARTI, all participants read all notes. Selective reading must be done in other 

ways (by searching conference contents). 

These two conferencing models seem to attract different types of discussions. 

PARTI has given birth to more discussions on topics like the following (from PARTI on 

The Point, January 1992): 

"HELLO BEEP" by THE SHADOW on Sept. 17, 1991 at 19:20, 

about BEEP'S ADVENTURES IN JAPAN, AND THE LIKE 

(840 characters and 22 notes). 

"MEMORIES" by LOU on Dec. 21, 1991 at 12:31, 

about .......I REMEMBER WHEN...... 


9 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43


"PUERTO RICO" by PACKER on Jan. 18, 1992 at 20:47, 

about PARA DISCUTIR ASUNTOS PUERTORIQUENA 


Systems using the bulletin board model rarely have conferences like "MEMORIES." In 

PARTI, one note conferences are allowed to stay. In the bulletin board environment, 

they'll soon disappear. 

In larger PARTI conferences, the notes can be read like a book. Often, side 

discussions appear like 'branches' on a 'tree'. Join and read them, if you want to, or just 

pass. 

The bulletin board model systems and PARTIcipate are at two extremes of the 

spectrum of conference systems. Toward the BBS model, there are systems like Usenet, 

FidoNet Echo, RBBS PC, and PortaCom. Toward the PARTI side, there are systems 

like Caucus. Mailing lists are in the middle. 

On Norwegian bulletin boards, the primary language is Norwegian. In France, 

expect French. Local systems usually depend on messages in the local language. 

Services catering to a larger geographical area may have a different policy. 

English used to be the most common language for international discussions online. 

Spanish possibly number two. This is changing as connectivity opportunities flourish in 

the non English speaking parts of the world. (See http://babel.alis.com:8080/ for more on 

languages.) 

News 

Most large news agencies have online counterparts. Often, you can read their news 

online before it appears in print. This is the case with news from sources like NTB, 

Agence France Presse, Associated Press, Kyodo News Report (Japan), Reuters, Xinhua 

English Language News Service (China) and TASS. Some news is only made available in 

electronic form. 

News may be read in several ways, depending on what online service you use: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

From a list of headlines. Click on the title or enter a story's number to receive its 

full text. The news may be divided into groups, like Sports, International news, 

Business, and Entertainment. 

Some services let you hook directly into a news agency's 'feed line' to get news as 

it is being made available. At 11.02, 11.04, 11.15, etc. 

News may be 'clipped' and stored in your mailbox twenty four hours a day, seven 

days a week. Clipping services search articles for occurrences of your personal 

keyword phrases while you are offline. In this way, you can watch new products, 

companies, people, events, and countries, even when you are not online. 

Some services even let you search current news articles from hundreds of sources 

from around the world. 

Newspapers used to receive news through the wires before the online user. This built in 

delay has now been removed on many services. Industry and professional news is 

usually available online long before it appears in print or even on television. 

Databases 

Years ago, most databases were bibliographic. They only contained references to 

articles, books and other written or electronic sources of information. A typical search 

result looked like this: 

0019201 02 88 68 

TRIMETHOPRIM SULFAMETHOXAZOLE in CYST Fluid 

from Autosomal Dominant POLYCYSTIC KIDNEYS. 

Elzinga L.W.; et al. W.M. Bennett, Dept. of Med., 

Oregon Hlth. Sci. Univ., 3101 Southwest Sam 

Jackson Park Rd., Portland, OR 97201. 

Kid. Int. 32: 884 888. Dec. 1987 

10 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43


Subfile: Internal Medicine; Family Practice; 

Nephrology; Infectious Disease; Clinical 

Pharmacology; Highlights of General Medicine 

You had to take the reference to a library to read a printed copy of the article, though 

VRPH VHUYLFHV GLG OHW \RX RUGHU D FRS\ RQOLQH WR EH VHQW \RX E\ snail mail from a 

copying service. 

Full text searching is now the rule. When you find an article of interest, you can 

have the full text displayed on your screen at once (often without accompanying 

pictures and tables, though). The search commands are also much simpler and more 

powerful. 

Just for fun 

Many online services focus on your leisure time. They offer reviews and news about 

movies, video, music, and sports. There are forums for stamp and coin collectors, travel 

maniacs, passionate cooks, wine tasters, and other special interest groups. Besides, 

several services are entertaining in themselves. 

Large, complex adventure games, where hundreds of users can play simultaneously, 

are popular choices. Some people sit glued to the computer screen for hours. 

Others prefer 'Chat', a keyboard to keyboard contact phone type of simultaneous 

conversation between from two and up to hundreds of persons. It works like a 

combination of a social activity and a role playing/strategy/fantasy/skill improving 

game. 

Shopping is the online equivalent of the traditional mail order business. The 

difference is that you can buy while browsing. Some commercial services distribute 

colorful catalogues to users to support sales. Some distribute pictures of the merchandise 

by modem. 

You can buy anything from racer fitness equipment and diamonds to cars. Enter 

your credit card number, and the Chevrolet is yours. The online mail order business is 

becoming increasingly global. 

Level 5: The user interface 

Part of the character of all online service providers is the way they interact with the 

user. The term "user interface" refers to how the online service is presented to you, in 

what form text, pictures and sound appear on your computer. 

Most online services offer the first three of these four levels. Some offer more: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

Menus for novices (as in Gopher menus), or pages with hyperlinks (as on Web 

pages). The user can select (navigate) by pressing a figure, a letter, or clicking on 

a word or an icon. 

Short menus or lists of commands for the intermediate user. The user knows some 

about how the service works, and just wants a short reminder to help navigate. 

A short prompt (often just a character, like a "%"), which tells the expert user 

where he is in the system right now. Those knowing the service inside out, do not 

need reminders about what word or command to enter at this point. 

Some services offer automatic and super fast access without any menus or visible 

prompts at all. Everything happens in a two way stream of unintelligent data. The 

only menus that the user sees, are those belonging to the program running on his 

personal computer. 

Colors, graphics and sound are highly desirable in some applications, like online games 

and weather forecasts. Even where it is not important, there will always be many 

wanting it. However, to the professional on a fact gathering mission, such features may 

slow down data transfers, and give other problems for the users. Therefore, some prefer 

clean text with no extras for such applications. 

Sports cars are nice, but for delivering furniture they're seldom any good. The same 

applies to user interfaces. No one is best for all applications. 

11 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43


Level 6: The data transporters and Internet access 

providers 

When the host computer for an online service is far away, the user often faces the 

challenges of: 

1. Noise on the line, which may result in unreadable text, errors in the received 

material, or inability to maintain a desired transmission speed level. 

2. Expensive long distance calls (especially if using a low speed modem). 

There are many alternatives to direct long distance calling. Some offers better quality 

data transfers and lower costs. 

The Internet is a global network offering a very large range of interesting services, 

such as the World Wide Web, and cost efficient mail exchange with private and public 

networks throughout the world. Modem users typically dial up to a computer center in 

the vicinity that functions as an Internet access provider. Once online, they can access 

remote services in other countries to retrieve files, read texts, view pictures, talk with 

others, and more. 

Competitively priced alternatives to using modem exist in many countries. (More 

about this in Chapter 13.) 

Level 7: You the user 

This is you, your computer and communications equipment. Turn the page to Chapter 3 

and read about how to use the online services. 

| Next | Back | Top of page | Index | Expanded index | Register | 

Search: 






12 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43

Using online services http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/3.html 

The World Wide 

Web 

Web documents 

Navigating by menus 


Chapter 3: 

Using online services 


Test drive 

Selecting an expert 

level 

Tailoring your services 

Displaying information on the 

screen 

Connecting the first time 

The term 'user interface' refers to how information is displayed on your screen when you 

call an online service. It is about graphics, menus and help screens, and various options 

to tailor the service to your personal preferences. 

The World Wide Web 

is essentially a vast repository of files (or documents) stored on computers (often called 

Web sites) connected to the Internet. The service that lets you get to these files is built 

to be used by a computer running in a windows environment, but it can also be accessed 

by non graphics programs (like Lynx), and by electronic mail. 

Most of the things you can do on the Internet take place in two places at once 

your computer and the computer it is connected to over the network. 

In general, the software program that you are running on your computer is called 

the client (or, browser), and that on the remote computer is the server. Do something 

on your computer, and the client software translates it into a form that the server can 

understand. 

Tell your client to retrieve information at a given World Wide Web server address, 

and it will go get it for you. A World Wide Web page can look like anything. It can be a 

text, like the one you read now, with some words highlighted in a special way. You can 

"click" on these emphasized words with your mouse to jump off to another track. 

Example: If the term "World Wide Web" in the paragraph above is highlighted, and 

you click on this term, then you will receive a definition of this Internet service. Many 

people think this method is easier than having to "page forward to appendix 6 for a 

definition." (Yes, appendix 6 does contain general information about the Web.) 

In the online hypertext version of this handbook, the term "appendix 6" above is 

highlighted. Click on it to get there. When you are done browsing the appendix, you can 

"click back" to this chapter to continue reading. In most browsers, you can do this either 

by clicking at an arrow pointing leftwards or a similar icon, or by using the browsers' 

menus. 

Some World Wide Web services have hypertext links imbedded in pictures or other 

graphics. These pointers are impossible to see unless you use a windows program to 

access the service. However, they work in the same way. Click on these pointers to get 

to the other tracks, which may be serving text, video, sound, a picture, or whatever. 

Web documents 

1 of 6 23.11.2009 15:44


are identified by a coded address called an URL 8QLIRUP 5HVRXUFH /RFDWRU RU :HE 

Page Address. These addressses typically look something like this: http://www.site.com. 

The prefix "http://" must be used to tell the Internet that you want to use the 

HyperText Transfer Protocol. The rest,"www.site.com," is the actual address identifying 

the web site, and the document you want to retrieve. 

Your computer's browser activates embedded graphics designed into the document, 

unless you have turned this feature off in your software. Some documents even offer 

motion video clips and sound bites. 

One document may have any number of hyperlinks creating an inter woven system 

of infinite size and depth. This is how the World Wide Web got its name. 

Practical hint: Sometimes, when you click on a hyperlink, your browser tells you the 

requested file cannot be found though the address seems to be right. What can you do? 

Try to locate a workable page by editing the Adress field in your browser. The trick is 

to know that the slash character (/) in the URL signifies the start of a new directory (folder) 

on the web server. 

Start by clicking in the Address field at the end of the URL, and backspace of the file 

name, then press Enter or Click Go. 

If this works, you'll see either a default page for that directory or a list of accessible 

files. This page might have a search tool that lets you find the page you were looking for. 

If this doesn't work, go to the Address field again, and backspace to the next directory 

level to try again. 

Navigating by menus 

Many online services use menus to make them easier for novices to use. In its simplest 

form, a menu may look like this: 

R)ead messages 

Q)uick search available messages 

W)rite messages 

C)omments to Sysop 

D)ownload programs 

?) for help 

G)oodbye. This is enough! 

Enter a letter (or ?) to select a function. Enter R to read messages. There is hardly any 

need to read the documentation to use this service. 

Internet's Gopher services use the following type of menus: 

The Online World resources handbook (de Presno) 

> 1. Introduction. 

2. The Online World resources handbook/ 

3. Retrieving the handbook/ 

4. Printed versions/ 

5. The Online World Monitor newsletters/ 

6. The TOW mailing list/ 

7. Press here if you have a Web browser. 

3UHVV " IRU +HOS T WR 4XLW X WR JR XS D PHQX 

The "/" at the end of a menu item shows that this choice will give you another menu. 

Enter '2' to get another menu. Failing the "/", the item will give you a file. 

If you access a gopher service using a Web browser, then the item numbers are 

replaced by icons. The numbers are not needed in a graphical environment. The icons 

tell you whether the choices are files, directories, graphics, search services, or other 

things. Click on the item to make your choice. 

Similar codes and commands are used on several other online services. Some 

services also offer commands like "go service name," "join service name" (or just J), 

"delta service name," or just the code or name of the offering as in 'mail'. 

On some services, and especially if a selection requires just a letter or a number, 

you do not need to press return to make it happen. This method is used on many bulletin 

boards. Some codes are standard. This is particularly the case with '?', 'H', or Help for 

more information. Case seldom matters. 

2 of 6 23.11.2009 15:44


Test drive 

Several commercial systems let you try the service for free, or at lower rates. You can 

check it out without paying for the exploratory connect time, and get some free training 

in how to use the service. Examples: CompuServe's Practice Forum (GO PRACTICE). 

Note: You must go to the 'real' databases for results. You cannot retrieve 

actual information during a test drive. 

Selecting an expert level 

Most services regard all new users as novices. The software designers assume that users 

do not want (or are unable) to read lengthy explanations. They think that most users 

prefer navigation by going from menu to menu. 

Commercial services may support this view for financial reasons, and especially 

when charging for access by the minute. (Some of them let you read their help screens 

for free, though.) 

Menus are important when browsing new offerings, or accessing services that we 

seldom use. Frequent users of a service, however, quickly learn how to do things. Menus 

may soon begin to annoy rather than please. Reading them costs money, and it slows our 

communications down. 

We do not need menus when accessing online services in fully automated mode. 

Your communications program remembers exactly what to do, and does all the typing 

for you. 

There is no point in paying extra for having menus. You'll not read them anyway. 

The aim is to access the service at maximum speed and the lowest possible cost. 

Most online services can be tailored to your personal needs and preferences. Many 

let you choose between: 

Full menus 

Short menus 

A prompt line with a list of the most often used commands, 

a prompt character or word (click here for examples). Prompts can be used by 

automatic communication script files to trigger the next action. 

If concerned about costs, note that you can use expert mode without being a true expert. 

Just print the menus, and keep them by your keyboard while moving around. 

Some users draw 'road maps' of the services to navigate more quickly. Others 

automate the process using automatic communications scripts. 

On the Web, we're speeding up things by creating bookmarks in our browser 

programs. This allows us to return to a given page directly rather than "click down to it" 

from the service's home (top or welcome) page. 

Tailoring your services 

Many online services let you to tailor the way information is sent to you. 

Some communications programs, like Internet browsers, also lets you change the 

way things happen. For example: 

Most Internet browsers let you turn graphics ON/OFF. I usually visit World Wide 

Web pages with graphics viewing set to OFF. When I find something worthy of 

being seen, I switch the option ON, and reload the page to view. (Click on View, 

Reload.) 

Many Internet browsers are preset to load automatically a selected Web page 

upon startup. This may take more time than you like. With Netscape, you can 

click Options, Preferences, Styles, and mark off "Start with blank page." 

Alternatively, you can set it to load your personal hotlist of sites from your hard 

disk. Remember to save the new settings when done! 

3 of 6 23.11.2009 15:44


The need to tailor the online service's prompts and menus differs considerably from user 

to user. We have all kinds of needs, and use all kinds of computers for communication. 

Some screens are large. Other screens can only display a few lines of text at a time. 

Some users even use pocket calculators and handheld computers with tiny, tiny screens. 

If you are satisfied with how things are, skip the next couple of pages and read from 

"Connecting the first time." If curious of your options, read on for a brief technical 

overview. 

Besides a selection of various types of menus, some online services also let you set 

the following preferences: 

What menu is to be the first, when you access the service? 

Users of Web browsers can usually do this within their software. For 

example, users of Netscape Navigator may click on Options, 

General Preferences, select the Appearance page, mark off 

"Browser starts with Home page", and put in any Web page of 

choice in this field. They may even let Netscape display a file on their 

local disks. 

The first menu is to be a tailored menu containing your favorite offerings, and 

nothing else. 

Colors, graphics, or no colors/graphics. 

Choice of prompt character, or prompt text string. This is useful when 

communicating by script files. On CompuServe, I have asked the system to add 

the BackSpace character (ASCII character number 8) to the end of all forum 

prompts. Since this character is rarely found in messages or other texts, I can 

safely let scripts depend on this prompt character for unattended communication. 

Preferred file transfer protocol (to avoid a question each time you want to transfer 

a file). 

Desired terminal emulator, like TTY, VT 100 or VT 52. 

CAPITAL LETTERS or Mixed Case. 

Selection of what ASCII character code to represent the DELETE function. 

How many spaces to insert when expanding TABs in your mail. 

Number of lines per screen, for example, 24 on an IBM PC, or eight on a given 

handheld computer. Determines whether scrolling is to pause after each screenful 

or not. 

Determines the number of characters per line (for example, 80 lines on a old PC, 

or 40 on a handheld unit.) 

Determines if the linefeed character is to be sent or not. 

Determines whether blank lines are to be sent. 

Determines whether the service is to check when you log on to see if you are 

using special software (as in 'Inquire for VIDTEX' on CompuServe). 

The use of 'echo'. Is the service to return the characters that you enter on your 

keyboard? 

Use of delay when sending line feeds. (Useful if capturing text to a dumb printing 

terminal. If text scrolls too fast for the printer, you risk losing some of it.) 

Displaying information on the screen 

An 'A' is not an 'A' no matter what service you use. When I called Tocolo BBS in Japan 

with a non Japanese MS DOS computer, the welcome text came up like this on my 

screen: 

D0:[ BBS (] =3 > 3 (@^2K.3 03 205 9315) 

3]V3 24


displayed on your screen. 

The characters you see on your computer's screen are based on a code. The 

computer finds the characters to display from a table built into your system's hardware 

or software. 

Most personal computers can be preset to use various tables depending on your 

needs. When communicating in English, you may want it to show Latin characters. 

When writing in Japanese, you may want it to display Kanji characters. 

Those writing in Norwegian, often want to use the special Scandinavian characters 

¯ÿÊ Â . If the first two of these Nordic characters read like the symbols for Yen and 

Cent, you are not set up for Scandinavian characters. If your system is set up correctly, 

they should look like an 'o' and an 'O' overwritten by a '/'. 

To read or create non Roman web pages or email, you may be required to have 

these special fonts installed in your computer. 

The code telling your computer what to display, may also contain information about 

where to put characters and what colors to use. 

An online service may order your computer to display a given character in column 

10 on line 2, and to print it in blinking red color. If you are not set up correctly, these 

codes may show as garbage on your screen rather than as a colorful character in a given 

position. 

If you call a service set to display text in VT 52 format, and your communications 

program is set accordingly, then you should be OK. VT 52 is a setup that makes a 

program or a service 'behave' like a DEC VT 52 terminal. 

Being able to view VT 52 coded text on your screen, does not guarantee that you 

can capture this 'picture' to a file on your disk. Your communications program may need 

special features to do that. If these features are missing, you are in for a surprise. The 

text in your capture file may look like in this example (on my computer, it came on a 

single, long line ): 

**H*J*Y"4 Innhold*Y%> 

*Y&4Emneoversikt 1 Brukerprofil 6*Y) 

4Stikkord A ] 2 Bruker *Y*4 veile 

dning 7*Y,4Informasjons 

*Y 4leverand|rer A ] 3 Teledatanytt*Y.W 

8*Y04Personlig indeks 4*Y2H *Y3 

4Meldingstjenesten 5 Avslutte9*Y64 ]pningsside 

*00# *Y 4TELEDATA 880823 1538* 

Y74 NTA01 00a*Y74 

*Y74*Y74 

The character '*' in this example refers to the ESCape character (ASCII number 27). 

ESC is used to tell your computer that what follows is a VT 52 display command. The 

codes following ESC say where text is to be printed on your screen (from line number x 

and column number y). 

If your communications program cannot save VT 52 coded text in a readable way, 

you'll need auxiliary programs to remove or convert the codes. Some communication 

programs let you take snapshots of the screen, and store the result in a file. This usually 

gives good results, but it may be a cumbersome approach. 

Minitel (in France and the U.S.) belongs to a group of online services called 

videotex (or viewdata). They believe that beautiful color graphics, large characters, and 

menus give them a competitive advantage. 

Viewdata services use graphical display standards with names like CEPT, Captain 

(Character and Pattern Telephone Access Information Network System), Telidon, 

Minitel, Teletel, GIF (the Graphics Interchange Format), Viewdata, and NAPLPS (The 

North American Presentation Level Protocol Syntax). 

Often, you'll need special terminal machines to use viewdata services. On other 

services, you must use special software plus an emulator card in your computer. 

Many MS DOS based bulletin boards let you set access defaults to colors and 

graphics. Most of them use ANSI graphics in welcome texts and menus. Users must set 

their programs to ANSI (or ANSI BBS) to take advantage. 

Capture these welcome texts and menus to a file on your hard disk, and view them 

with an editor. They are filled with ANSI escape codes, and thus hard to read or search. 

5 of 6 23.11.2009 15:44


The good news is that most conference and forum mail rarely contain such codes. 

Many users routinely keep captured online information on their hard disks for later 

reference. If this is your intention, make sure that text is sent to you in plain ASCII, or in 

a mode that your software can handle. 

If you want 'TTY' or 'ASCII', and these are not on your online services' lists of 

options, try 'Others' or 'Other computers'. These settings usually identify your computer 

as unable to handle 'standard' colors, sound and graphics. 

Connecting the first time 

If you have low cost access to a local Internet provider, or unlimited financial resources, 

go ahead and call up services all over the world. Learning by doing is exciting. 

If your resources are limited and the service is expensive, start by reading user 

information manual. Go online to capture key menus and help texts. Print them out on 

paper for further study before going online again for 'real'. 

I always hurry slowly during my first visits to a commercial online service. I call up, 

quickly capture information about how to use it, and disconnect. It may take days to 

study the material. My goal is to find what the service offers so that I can plan how to 

use it most efficiently. 

The first important command to look up is the logoff command. There is nothing 

more frustrating than to get an error message after submitting BYE. If lost, try "quit," 

"exit," "logoff," "off," "logout," and "G" in the hope of finding the correct command. 

These are the most usual variations. You should also try ? or HELP. 

If you really can't figure out how to get off a system, just hang up on it (cut the 

connection). However, be careful. Some systems will continue to charge for a period 

after you have disconnected by hanging up. 

Note: If you are using a dialup modem to connect to online services, make 

sure that it is always set to watch the presence of the carrier signal. On my 

modems, this is set by the command: AT &D2. If this feature is not set, then 

you may not get disconnected from the online service until the phone line 

is physically disconnected from your modem! 

One of the first things that I do, is set my options to expert status, though I am obviously 

an amateur at this stage. 

Often, I also start automating the process during my first visits. I write script files 

for automatic access and quick navigation to key offerings. Another good strategy is to 

look for automated offline readers or systems (see Chapter 16 for details). 

Others prefer paper and pencil. They write a list of required commands on a piece 

of paper, like this: 

Call 0165 

At CONNECT: ENTER @SP ENTER 

At the NUI prompt: Nxxxxxppppp a170041 

At Enter 'dix' and : dix 

At More : ENTER 

At Your name: Odd de Presno 

At Password: hemmelig 

At What do you want to do: 

when no unread mail goodbye 

when mail to read ENTER 

Put the list by your keyboard before calling the service. Follow it carefully. After a while 

you may remember the procedure, and can throw away your notes. 

| Next | [Back | Top of page | Index | Expanded index | Register | 


Search: 



Updated at February 14, 2002. 


6 of 6 23.11.2009 15:44

The Online World resources handbook: APPLICATIONS http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/part2.html 


PART 2: APPLICATIONS 


"Imagination is more important than knowledge" 

Albert Einstein 

This part of the book is the core of the matter. Here, we want to give you an idea of 

what is out there. 

The bad news is that the online world has too much. We have been forced to make 

a selection. So, if there are important pointers you feel have been left out, please drop 

me a line. Maybe it can be included in a future release of the handbook. 

Terms used in this book 

While references to offerings with terms like "on CompuServe," and "on TWICS" may 

be easily understood, you may not be used to our terms referring to resources on the 

Internet. These include the following: 

anonymous ftp 

gopher 

telnet 

RFC, FYI, FAQ 

archie 

WWW 

WAIS 

Do not despair. Explanation is given in appendix 6. You can also search the book for 

additional information. 

Throughout the book, we will use the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) format 

when referring to Internet resources. These codes are basically in the format 

method://site.name/filepath 

The "method" part tells if the URL points to a hypertext document (http), a gopher menu 

(gopher), an anonymous ftp host for file transfers (ftp), etc.. Examples: 

Web addresses 

URL: http://home.eunet.no/~presno/index.html 

This means: "Connect me to the site login.eunet.no, and show me the hypertext 

~presno/index.html file." This URL will give you the Online World resources 

handbook's World Wide Web home page. The tilde character (~) in the directory 

name "~presno" is a special notation used on Unix systems. 

1 of 2 23.11.2009 15:44

The Online World resources handbook: APPLICATIONS http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/part2.html 

Read under WWW in Appendix 6 for more, including how to get Web pages by 

electronic mail! 

Usenet Newsgroups (conferences) 

Newsgroup: news.newusers.questions. 

If you have a special Usenet news reader, you may enter this newsgroup's name to 

get a list of recent discussion items. Using Web browsers, you must often prefix 

the name with the code "news:" to tell them that you want a given newsgroup. 

Example: "news:newusers.questions" Your browser program must be set to 

connect you to an NNTP server (Appendix 6). 

Note: Few NNTP servers carry all available newsgroups, so newusers.questions 

may not be on yours. To read messages posted to unavailable newsgroups, visit 

Google Groups (Chapter 10). 

Transfer of files 

URL: ftp://ftp.eunet.no/pub/text/online.txt 

When given to a Web browser, this means: "Do anonymous ftp to site 

ftp.eunet.no, and get the file /pub/text/online.txt." This URL links to the text 

version of this handbook. 

You can also use the contents of this address for retrieval by email, when using 

Internet's ftp command ('anonymous FTP RU VSHFLDO IWS UHWULHYDO SURJUDPV 

Gopher information resource 

URL: gopher://home.eunet.no 

This URL is an Internet Gopher address given in a form that can be used directly 

by World Wide Web browser programs. You can also use the contents of this 

address in other ways, like for retrieval by email, or by using Internet's gopher 

command. Read under Gopher in Appendix 6 for more. 

Chapters 

Hobbies, games, and fun 

Home, education, and work 

Your personal healthnet 

Electronic mail, telex, and fax 

Free expert assistance 

Your electronic daily news 

Looking for a needle in a bottle of hay 

*HWWLQJ DQ HGJH RYHU \RXU FRPSHWLWRUV 


Search: 



Updated at January 3, 2002 


2 of 2 23.11.2009 15:44

Hobby, games and fun http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/4.html 


Chapter 4: 

Hobby, games and fun 

Locating game software 

Computer viruses 

Chess 

Bridge 

Agreeing on a time for your meeting 

Other online games 

Chat 


Jokes 

My hobby 

Music 

Pets 

Wine and food 

Outdoor life 

Roots 

Him and Her 

Other hobbies and interests 

Programs for hobbyists 

Online shopping 

Planning your vacation 

Politics 

Online services have one thing in common with newspapers, magazines and books. Their 

offerings vary from provider to provider. The next chapters will focus on the contents of 

the offerings. Appendix 1 has details about how to access the major service providers. 

Often, small online services have interesting offerings in specialized areas, and 

especially when they are based on local phenomena or events. These services tend to be 

more personal. They often present their 'wares' in a local language, and offer large 

collections of free software. 

The larger online services have hundreds of thousands of users. Activity is often 

high. They usually attract interesting (and competent) participants to their conferences 

and forums, have more free software for download and more news sources and 

databases to search. In short, they generally give you a wider choice. 

In this handbook, we focus on the larger international services, and the Internet in 

particular. These services are generally available from anywhere without too much 

effort, and using them comes surprisingly cheap. Therefore, please remember that this 

book just covers the top of the iceberg. Cheaper services may be found elsewhere, and 

they may even be better tuned to your particular areas of interest. 

Locating game software 

There's an overwhelming number of game programs for all types of microcomputers on 

BBSes, commercial online services, and in Internet archives. 

Many games are free. We call them "Public Domain" or "Freeware" programs. 

Others are distributed free. You do not have to pay to get and try them out. If you want 

to use them, however, the copyright owner expects you to pay a fee. We call them 

"shareware" or "user supported" programs. 

When the game program has been transferred to your personal computer, you can 

play without worries about communications costs, or the busy signal on your phone line. 

1 of 12 23.11.2009 15:44


My favorite game is a shareware MS Windows solitaire game (patience) called 

Arachnid created by SP Services, P.O. Box 456, Southampton, SO9 7XG, England. The 

desired registration fee is UKP 15.00 (English pounds). You can download it from 

http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/wincard.exe. The distribution file is 106 kilobytes 

large. 

WINCARD.EXE is a special distribution file, which contains three games and all 

supporting files. The EXE extension may fool you into thinking that it is a program, and 

in a way it is. The file is a self extract file, meaning that you just enter "WINCARD" on 

an MS DOS computer to extract the game files from the "package." 

Games are usually distributed in special distribution files. All files used by a game 

(or several games) are put into one file by special software, and compressed in size. This 

makes retrieval of programs easier and cheaper. You do not have to download many 

related files individually. The transfer takes less time. (Read in appendix 3 about how to 

extract programs from distribution files.) 

You may want to search the archives of the comp.archives.msdos.announce 

newsgroup using Google Groups' Power Search feature. 

GamesDomain is a central reference point for all things "games related" on the 

Internet. It also points to information about PBMs, MUDs, MUSHes, Interactive games, 

and similar offerings. 

GameWeb offers a comprehensive gaming search engine in addition to a cheats 

database, reviews, demos, patches, game software, tournaments, and links to ranked 

gaming sites on the Internet. 

If you just have email access to the Internet, read this: 

Try Archie, a distributed index to all the files available by anonymous ftp 

on the Internet. The Archie database maintains a list of millions of million 

files containing over 100 Gigabytes from hundreds of anonymous FTP 

archive sites. You can search the database by email to find where files are 

located. Some Archie systems maintain a list of libraries all over the 

world, while others concentrate on a more limited geographical area. 

Once Archie has told you where desired programs and files are located, 

you can retrieve them by telnet, anonymous FTP, FTPmail, and WWW. 

Read "File transfers through the Internet" in chapter 12 IRU GHWDLOV DQG 

Appendix 6 about how to use Archie. 

Getting programs by email is a three step process: 

1. Use Archie to find file names and where they are stored, 

2. Send a message to an FTPmail server to have them retrieved and 

forwarded to you by email, and 

3. Use a utility program to convert the file to a useful format. (See 

"Binary files transferred as text codes" in Chapter 12.) 

Chances are that online services in your area also have many programs to offer. Most 

free bulletin boards have more software than you'll ever get around to try. 

Usually, there is a natural specialization between boards. Those using the Unix 

operating system, have the largest number of programs for such machines. Those 

running on MS DOS computers, have more programs for such computers. 

Some games are trite and bad. Others are brilliant. There are ladder games, racer 

car driving, flight control, war, subsea games, electronic versions of traditional games 

like BackGammon, Yatzy, chess and bridge, educational games for geography, 

mathematics and history, puzzles, fractal programs that draw beautiful pictures on your 

screen, psychological tests, text based adventure games, and more. There is something 

for everybody. 

If you want to get rich in a hurry, go for programs that increase your chances of 

winning horse race bets, or other "real world" money winning games. 

If you are into beautiful girls, fill your hard disk with picture files in GIF, PCX or 

other graphics formats. (Sorry ladies, there are not many pictures of naked boys around.) 

There is an abundance of shareware programs that will display the pictures on your 

computer screen. 

Keen users of the more popular games often want to swap tricks and discuss 

2 of 12 23.11.2009 15:44


experiences: Players of SNES, Nintendo, Gameboy, Nintendo 64, and the Virtual Boy 

regularly meet on the N Games mailing list. Also, make a note about GAMES L the 

Computer Games list. 

The ancient Chinese I Ching can hardly be called a game. People use it to tell their 

fortunes. Explore the power of prophecy and how it can affect you. Concentrate on a 

problem or question facing you now. When you have it well visualized, select 

http://www.facade.com/Occult/iching/ to get your reading. 

Usenet excels when it comes to games. Here are some newsgroups: 

rec.games.board Discussion and hints on board games. 

rec.games.board.ce The Cosmic Encounter board game. 

rec.games.design Discussion of game design related issues. 

rec.games.go Discussion about Go. 

rec.games.misc Games and computer games. 

rec.games.pbm Discussion about Play by Mail games. 

rec.games.trivia Discussion about trivia. 

rec.games.video.arcade Discussions about coin operated video games. 

With so much going on, it is difficult to stay current on new programs and new versions 

of old ones. For announcements, check out the Usenet newsgroup called 

comp.archives.msdos.announce. 

It is probably easier to relate to references like "rec.games.video on 

Usenet," than to TOW@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU. References to mailing 

lists are made in various ways throughout the book, as is the case online. 

This is the basic rule: 

On the Internet, mailing lists are 'managed' by programs called 

LISTSERV, Majordomo, Listproc, etc. These programs handle subscription 

requests, requests for files, and more. When you see a reference like 

TOW@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU, then this means that you MUST send your 

subscription request to one such program at the LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU 

site. Mail to the TOW forum, however, must be sent to the address 

TOW@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU to be forwarded to the other members. 

(TOW is this handbook's support forum.) 

In this book, we typically provide references to these forums in the 

following way: 

The TOW mailing list (on 

listserv@listserv.nodak.edu). The SWONDER mailing 

list (on majordomo@darkwing.uoregon.edu). 

The subscription/signoff addresses are given in parenthesis, and the 

forum's name is typically given as upper case text. 

You may also find it useful to read about email addresses in Chapter 

7, and about LISTSERV in appendix 6. 

Computer viruses 

Few online users ever live to see or experience a computer virus, but they do exist. So, 

read this: 

A virus is a small, hidden computer program that can cause the loss or alteration of 

programs or data, and can compromise their confidentiality. It can spread from program 

to program, and from system to system, without direct human intervention. 

The chance of your computer being infected is small, but you are never safe. 

Therefore, download a program for virus detection and identification, like VirusScan 

from McAfee Associates. They also have virus disinfection programs. 

For background on viruses, start by checking The AntiViral Toolkit Pro Virus 

3 of 12 23.11.2009 15:44


Encyclopedia (AVPVE). Consider joining the VIRUS L mailing list. Usenet has 

comp.virus, alt.comp.virus, and more. 

The good news is that most large providers of computer programs now have 

sophisticated virus scanning programs integrated into their services. 

Chess 

First, familiarize yourself with the Chess Frequently Asked Questions files, and 

Chessfaq. The Chess Archives include a Beginner's Page, an Opening Library, Logical 

Chess: Move by Move, and much more. 

To play or watch real time chess with human opponents, try the Internet Chess 

Club. Here, you can play 24 hours a day with people from all over the world. Blitz chess 

and slow chess. Get ratings, watch games, make friends, play in tournaments, study 

games with people, search their database of Grandmaster games. Scheduled visits from 

internationally famous Grandmasters. Guest visitors can play unrated games, or watch 

others play, for free. 

Check http://www.brokersys.com/~kcyong/ for links to Xiangqi, Weiqi (GO), and 

Taijiquan. 

Bridge 

7KH JDPH RI EULGJH LV RQH RI WKH ZRUOG V PRVW IDVFLQDWLQJ FDUG JDPHV ZLWK WKH VDPH 

rules all over the world. For good starting points, link to http://www.okbridge.com. If 

you don't mind paying a membership fee, check out BPlive. Usenet has the 

rec.games.bridge newsgroup. 

Agreeing on a time for your meeting 

Interactive games, like bridge and chess, chat, and use of Internet phone technology, 

often lead to the inevitable question: "When should we meet?" 

If your partners live in your country, a quick "Let's meet at 20:00!" may be 

enough. It may not be that easy if they live elsewhere. Terms like "My time" or "Your 

time" are often misinterpreted because of differences in local daylight savings times 

(also called "summer time"). 

Local daylight savings times? The Worldwide daylight saving SDJH PD\ SURYLGH 

an answer. 

The solution is to use a time that does not change by season and location. 

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is one such number. It has long been used as a basis for 

standard time around the world, and is also called Universal Time Coordinated (UTC), 

Zulu time and World Time. Normally expressed in 24 hour time. 

The Time Zone Converter lets you find the time anywhere in the world using our 

frequently updated time zone database. 

Many services provide the time right now expressed in GMT. My favorite is at: 

http://www.kidlink.org/cgi bin/gmt. The real thing is at http://www.greenwich2000.com 

/time.htm. You may also find The World Clock Meeting Planner and World Time 

Server useful. 

Now, just say: "Let's meet at 20:00 GMT." Connect to the Web address above to 

find out what this means. If your local time right now is 14:00, and GMT is 13:00, then 

you have a meeting set for 21:00 your time. 

Other online games 

Why not investigate online adventure games? There are many alternatives. On the 

World Wide Web, Nintendo is at http://www.nintendo.com . Among the offerings is a 

"chat room." Here, online gamers can talk with other gamers, Nintendo's Game Play 

Counselors, invited guest speakers, and video game celebrities. You'll find 

BackGammon at http://www.bkgm.com/. 

4 of 12 23.11.2009 15:44


On Exec PC, play Startrek. Select an identity and "play it out" according to its 

character. If a real aficionado, check out rec.arts.startrek.info on Usenet. 

MUD is also a popular game. 

Multi User Dungeons (MUD) is a structured and user modifiable online 

environment. It allows users not only to interact with each other, but to do 

role playing, build and furnish living areas and interaction areas, extend 

and create the interactive "space," and make rules for using that space. 

As programmers create new types of MUDs, new names appear. 

These include TinyMud, DUM, MOO, MUCK, MUG, and many others. 

For information, including addresses to places where you can try 

them out, consult the Frequently Asked Questions files. Perform a keyword 

search for "mud." 

Then, check http://www.godlike.com/muds/ 

Chat 

Chat, or "keyboard talking," is a popular attraction, and in particular on the large online 

services. 

Your first attempt will probably be a strange experience. Your monitor will look 

like an unfolding screenplay, with you speaking one of the several parts. 

When many people talk simultaneously in chat, incoherent sentences seem to fly 

over your computer screen. It takes some training to be able to read what each of them 

is saying. 

Some users are serious about chatting. Several large companies are heavy users, 

and it also has educational applications. Although this kind of talking is a slow process, it 

has advantages. It is easy to document the discussion. People from places geographically 

far apart can meet and talk at a low cost. 

Jokes 

The India Humor, Jokes & Fun Site is filled with jokes, cartoons, funny facts. For 

South African humour, jokes and fun, visit the za.humour newsgroup. For the 

occasional joke, visit The Barking Spider. 

My hobby 

There are online forums for most hobbies: collection of stamps and coins, genealogy, 

music, holiday travels, skiing, purchase of consumer electronics, video, filming, and 

more. 

The people you meet in these "clubs" share your interests. They come there to 

exchange information and experiences, to listen, swap stamps or coins, participate in 

club auctions, and exploit favorable group discounts when buying things for their hobby. 

The main attraction is the open messages that people write to each other. Many 

clubs also have libraries filled with special software, like database programs for 

collectors, and information files. 

You'll find links to stamp collectors organizations world wide at 

http://www.stampshows.com/clubs.html. Also, check out the alt.stamps, 

rec.collecting.stamps and rec.collecting.postal history newsgroups. 

The GoSKI Network World Resort Database OLVWV RYHU PRXQWDLQ UHVRUWV 

with skier and snowboarder reviews, facts, contact information, and snow conditions. It 

said this about Hemsedal in Norway (1996): 

Hemsedal, Norway [IMAGE] 

240 km northwest of Oslo 

(about 4 hours by train/bus). 

Vertical Drop: 800m/2,624' 

Lifts: 15 (5 chairs, 10 surface) 

5 of 12 23.11.2009 15:44


Trails: 30 

Marked Runs: 40 km 

Cross Country: 90 km groomed 

Snow Conditions: 32 06 22 55 

Tourist Office: 32 06 01 56 

Looking for something special for your kid? What about the Beginner's Guide to 

Shortwave Radio? 

Music 

Sony Online has an Internet based service providing data from its music, movie and 

electronic publishing companies. Here, users can retrieve or watch music video clips, 

and hear brief sound samples from current and upcoming projects. 

The Musical Instrument Encyclopedia lets you experience a sampling of 

instruments, complete with images and music samples. 

If you prefer classical music, and have a sound card in your computer, point your 

Internet browser at The WebMuseum Auditorium 2IIHULQJV LQFOXGH -RKDQ 6HEDVWLDQ 

Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in d Minor," Johann Strauss's "Le beau Danube bleu," and 

Beethoven's "Hymne a la joie." Visit The Classical Music Pages for background 

information. 

Operabase hosts a database of 500 opera houses and festivals, searchable by 

keyword or browseable alphabetically or via clickable maps. Database entries feature 

full details on each house, including contact and booking information, accessibility, 

neighboring venues, a link to the house's Website, and details on current, past, and 

future seasons. Travelling opera fans can click on a calendar icon and receive details of 

other performances within seven days and 125 km. Strong on North America and 

Europe. 

Then, there's Ludwig van Beethoven's "home page", The Asian Classical Music 

MP3 Home Page, and the Classical Music Navigator. 

The Classical MIDI Archive offered Classical Music files in MIDI Format from 

Composers (January 2000). Let it be said: J.S.Bach; Beethoven; Brahms; Byrd; Chopin; 

Debussy; Handel; Haydn; Liszt; Mendelssohn; Mozart; Scarlatti; Schubert; Schumann; 

Tchaikovsky; [Others > 16th C.]; [Early Music]; [Inspirations and Aspirations]; 

[Encores...], and more. 

Select an artist, and enjoy their "homebases": Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, 

David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, The Beatles. 

The Internet Bandsman's EVERYTHING WITHIN provides "Links to Brass 

Band related Web Sites, contacts and reference information. Band websites across the 

world, brass ensembles, people, suppliers, music, books, recordings, organisations, 

history, humour, and more!" The Brass Band WWW Page is at 

http://www.smsltd.demon.co.uk/ . 

You want to buy music, preferably at a low price. CDnow! has hundreds of 

thousands of CDs, cassettes and videos at discount prices , accepts credit card 

payments, and ships around the world. Search for artist name, like "Bjork" to order this 

Icelandic artist's "Debut" CD, or "Venus as a boy," and charge it to your credit card. My 

wife wanted classical music by Albinoni, Vivaldi, and Pachelbel played by the Berlin 

Philharmonic Orchestra. (By the way, Bjork is at http://www.bjork.co.uk/bjork/.) 

You may buy at even lower prices at the Used Music Web. 

Tablature/chords for guitar is available from several archives. To find the Online 

Guitar Archive (OLGA), check the newsgroups alt.guitar.tab, or 

rec.music.makers.guitar.tablature for a list of archive locations. 

There are several Lyric/Music Servers, including the one at 

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/Menu/mus_archs.html . 

For Chinese music, visit http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/multimedia/chinese music/ . 

Choose between Model Beijing Opera, Ceremonial songs and music, Songs during the 

"Cultural Revolution" (mostly for Mao), Dream Of Red Mansion, Folk songs and local 

opera, Historical Voices, Pop songs after the down fall of "Gang Of Four," Post 

Liberation, Pre Liberation, Current Hits, Chinese traditional music (various 

6 of 12 23.11.2009 15:44


instrumental). Also included are some music from Taiwan and the Hong Kong area. 

Mailing lists: 

The LUDWIG mailing list is about the life and musical compositions of the 

German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. 

The CLASSM L mailing list 

The Elton John mailing list 

BLUES L 

MILES (about Miles Davis) 

On SATURN, they discuss Sun Ra, the free jazz big band leader. 

The U2 (Wire) mailing list 

HEY JOE for fans of Jimi Hendrix 

HWY61 L the Bob Dylan discussion list 

The Fiddle Players' Discussion List. 

COMANDO the Mandolin playing and enjoyment list 

The Guitar Flatpicking list 

For an overview of music oriented mailing lists, check the Entertainment | Music 

category at http://www.topica.com. 

Usenet has 

rec.music.country.western 

rec.music.bluenote (jazz) 

rec.music.indian.misc 

alt.music.enya 

alt.punk 

alt.rap 

alt.rave 

alt.rock n roll.hard 

alt.rock n roll.metal 

Genesis is at alt.music.genesis 

UHF PXVLF EHDWOHV 

and over forty other music groups. 

Pets 

The web has Frequently Asked Questions information about dogs page. The Dog 

Information page DOVR KDV LQWHUHVWLQJ LQIRUPDWLRQ The Cat Fanciers Home Page has a 

plethora of frequently asked questions about all issues cat related. 


Usenet has: 

The CANINE L mailing list covers a wide variety of dog related topics. 

The FELINE L mailing list is for people who have cats as companions in their 

lives 

DOM_BIRD is for owners, breeders and farmers of domesticated birds. Topics 

include anything from the nutritional requirements, to the shows and events held 

for displaying the many variety of fancy breeds of domesticated birds. If you wish 

to discuss equipment used for incubating eggs, the veterinary care and 

management of adults or chicks, or find the best way to handle any aspect of 

domesticated bird ownership, you can be expected to be welcome. 

Discussion forum for Horse fanciers 

rec.pets Pets, pet care, and household animals in general. 

rec.pets.birds 7KH FXOWXUH DQG FDUH RI LQGRRU ELUGV 

7 of 12 23.11.2009 15:44


rec.pets.cats Discussion about domestic cats. 

alt.pets.rabbits Coneys abound. 

alt.pets.hamsters Pretty popular rodent pets 

alt.aquaria Fish and Aquarium discussion 

alt.aquaria.killies Killifish, members of family cyprinodontidae 

sci.aquaria Scientifically oriented postings about aquaria 

rec.pets.dogs.activities Dog events: showing, obedience, agility 

rec.pets.dogs.behavior Behaviors and problems: housetraining, chewing 

rec.pets.dogs.breeds Breed specific breed traits, finding breeders 

rec.pets.dogs.health Info about health problems & how to care for dogs 

rec.pets.dogs.info General information and FAQs posted here 

rec.pets.dogs.misc All other topics, chat, humor, 

rec.pets.dogs.rescue 

Information about breed rescue, placing and 

adopting 

For more on pets, try Pets World. It has over 1400 pet related links covering 19 subjects 

(1997). 

Wine and food 

Some people prefer to fill the stomach rather than their ears. If this sounds right, what 

about some French culinary art? Visit chef Paul Bocuse at the Lyon Life Gastronomy 

page. Learn how to make Truffles Soup Ilysie, and read Paul's wise words about 

cooking: 

"Memory and hunger are the main ingredients of cooking. I still think to the 

roast calf that my grand mother used to make. I still see her digging a 

small well in the mashed potatoes to pour the sauce whose inimitable taste 

still makes me salivate. Cooking is the dish that one places on the table, 

which steams, which smells good, which one serves twice. There is only one 

cooking, the good one." 

While his web address may be hard to remember, not so with the taste of Paul's truffle 

soup! 

Too advanced? OK! Here are some nice bread and soup resources. 

Visit the Global Gourmet site. Browse an abundance of recipes in this file archive: 

ftp://gatekeeper.dec.com/pub/recipes/, and check the Kitchen Link D FRRNLQJ LQGH[ 

with links to recipes, cooking pages, cookbooks, and more. 

However, if your kitchen works like mine, there's some fish you'd like to cook, or 

some ingredient that you'd like to include in a meal. Visit SOAR, the Searchable Online 

Archive of Recipes, enter "cod" or "mackerel" to get overwhelmed by excitement. In 

September 2000, the database contained 67,784 recipes... 

The World Wine Web and The Wine Encyclopedia has French and English 

language details about vineyards, viticulture, winemaking and aging by producer and 

vintage. Wine information by area: 

South African wines (see S¸dafrika Wein for a German language resource) 

Spanish wines 

German wines 


OZWINE is for the discussion of Australian and New Zealand wines. 

Tasting is the Wine Tasting's List 

Usenet has rec.food.cooking rec.food.recipes, rec.food.restaurants, rec.food.drink, and 

8 of 12 23.11.2009 15:44


rec.food.veg for vegetarians. For links to European recipes, try 

http://www.goodcooking.com/euro.htm. 

Bon apetit! 

Outdoor life 

As usual, Usenet has a lot. These are some examples: 

rec.backcountry Activities in the Great Outdoors. 

rec.birds Hobbyists interested in bird watching. 

rec.boats Hobbyists interested in boating. 

rec.boats.paddle Talk about any boats with oars, paddles, etc. 

rec.climbing Climbing techniques, competition announcements, etc. 

Scoutnet RIIHUV D OLVW RI scouting mailing lists. Supplement with the official web site of 

the World Scout Movement. SCUBA L is the Scuba diving discussion list . 

Photo enthusiasts may want to start with The ACE Indexes "Reading Room". It 

has links to almost 100 online photo and digital imaging magazines from around the 

world, describing each in detail. Here is also information on over 500 photographic 

commerce web sites, including camera stores, and manufacturers. 

If you're into 3 d (stereo) photography and closely allied subjects, enroll in the 

PHOTO 3D mailing list. Here, they define 3D as the presentation of separate and 

different single images for the left and right eyes. 

There are clubs for all popular outdoor hobbies. 

"Contact 3d request@bfmny0.bfm.com" above means that you must write a 

message to this Internet email address with a subscription request, or to 

receive further information about how to join. This mailing list does not 

have automatic subscriptions. 

Roots 

Tracing family history used to be difficult. In the days before personal computers and 

data networking, performing the necessary record research in far flung libraries, 

courthouses and cemeteries could take a lifetime. Sometimes logistical barriers 

prevented the proper research from ever being carried out. 

With data networking capabilities, researchers can exchange information, tips and 

family records. Now, a genealogy buff in Toronto or Wien can ask a favor of a comrade 

in Buenos Aires or Sidney to look up a record or two, check out a graveyard or provide 

some missing bit of information about local history and family names. Sometimes these 

networking hobbyists even discover that they are related! 

You may want to start with the Genealogy Beginners Guide's tips, news, articles 

and resources to help you research your family history and trace your ancestors. 

ROOTS L, and the many Usenet newsgroups in the soc.genealogy hierarchy (like 

soc.genealogy.misc for starters), are all about genealogy. Here, you will get tips about 

tools and techniques. You can exchange information about ancestors, and find new 

friends and partners for joint research, and learn about genealogical Web sites. 

On the World Wide Web, start with the following genealogy links: 

http://www.genhomepage.com/ (World Wide resources) 

http://www.ucr.edu/h gig/hist preservation/genea.html 

http://www.sol.no/disnorge/whoarewe.htm (Scandinavian resources) 

Him and Her 

Members of the female sex have their favorite meeting places. Usenet has alt.feminism 

9 of 12 23.11.2009 15:44


and soc.feminism. 

The LIBFEM mailing list describes its purpose as follows: 

LIBFEM (liberty & feminism): The mailing list for Liberty and Feminism; 

individualist feminists feminism based on an individual rights approach 

to feminist issues, supporting liberty, diversity and social cooperation. 

The focus of LIBFEM is the classical liberty and individual rights 

perspective as applied to feminist issues, such as issues about ideology, 

politics, culture, gender, etc., to create a network for information, 

discourse, cooperation, encouragement and consciousness raising. There 

has always been an element of individualism in the various women and 

feminist movements, although this element seems to have been somewhat 

neglected in recent movements. 

There is also the FEMISA mailing list , and remember to check this Web site: 

http://www.igc.org/women/feminist.html 

%LVH[XDOV KDYH Sappho". There are also BIFEM: "a social and general mailing 

list for online and real life Bisexual and Lesbian Women and their friends", BISEXU L, 

and others. 

Spanish speaking users can subscribe to ARENAL (Lista de discussion para 

hispanos/as que desean acabar con la homofobia). Usenet has lots of it: soc.motss, 

alt.politics.homosexuality, alt.sex, alt.sex.bondage, alt.sex.pictures.d, alt.sex.motss, and 

alt.sex.pictures. 

&RQIHUHQFHV FDOOHG 6(;8$/,7< DUH DOLYH RQ 7KH Well. CompuServe has a 

Human Sexuality Adult Forum and a Human Sexuality Open Forum. 

Finally, there are many pictures of nudes in all possible and impossible positions. 

Most of them are childish, some are decidedly pornographic, a few are beautiful and 

erotic. Then there are Penthouse Magazine and Playboy Magazine, of course. 

The online services' policies vary about what kind of pictures and picture programs 

to make available. The larger the service, the more conservative they tend to be. 

Other hobbies 

The Popular Mechanics magazine (USA) has a great Web site. 

KUNGFU is an open, unmoderated discussion list about Kung Fu and the martial 

arts. KUNG Fu, Tai CHi and other martial art styles and techniques are likely to be 

discussed. Click "home" for lots of information from Kung Fu Online. 

A Barbie Doll fan? Not me, please! However, if interested, hear this: 

The official Barbie Doll web site for fans of all ages! For young girls 

there are activities to play, create and learn new things. For our 

collectors we have hundreds of photos, facts and doll information. 

Finally, there's the Harry Potter Home Page. 

Programs for hobbyists 

It is no rule that a service need to have a conference about a hobby, to have interesting 

programs available for downloading. Programs float around from service to service 

much easier than conference items. Still, the best programs for a given hobby are 

normally found on services where hobbyists meet to discuss. 

You will find: 

Chess and bridge programs, 

Morse code training programs for ham amateurs, 

Astrology programs, 

Database systems for keeping track of music cassettes or records, video 

cassettes, books, stamps, coins, etc. 

Information systems for wine lovers, 

Recipe programs (tell me what you've got, and I'll tell you what you can 

10 of 12 23.11.2009 15:44


make), and much more. 

On the Internet, search the Virtual Shareware Library for things of interest . 

Online shopping 

Online, you can buy almost anything : video cameras, books, music, Bonsai plants, golf 

equipment, canned cakes from Gimmee Jimmy's Cookies, Levi's trousers, a four door 

Nissan Pathfinder SE V6 car, air tickets for Mexico, and computer equipment (see 

"Buying computers and stuff" in Chapter 5). 

Shoppers who let their modem do the "walking" are already a few steps ahead of 

people still stuck shopping the old fashioned way. Experienced online shoppers know 

that you can tap a world of stores without ever leaving your keyboard, and that you can 

browse and buy with very little effort. 

Some services present their wares "for your information only." It is like reading 

newspaper ads. You must contact the seller to buy. Other services have large online 

supermarkets with many stores, and you can by while you visit. 

There's a directory of links to U.S. Shopping Mall Retailers. 

BMW DIGEST Links LV IRU IDQV RI %0: DXWRV 7KHUH V DQ ITALIAN CARS 

list, and click here for links to British Cars resources. If you're into Skoda cars, visit 

their Czech Republic Web site. 

Then there is Alfa Romeo (Italy), the Porsche Net home page, Roadsters Muscle 

Cars. PartsVoice lets you find auto parts online, and 100hot claims a list of the Top 

100 Automotive websites. Last, but certainly not least, make sure you visit the Bugatti 

pages. 

Click here for this part of the chapter. 

Planning your vacation 

Politics 

Start by visiting the Links to Government Servers and Information page. It is long, 

but very comprehensive. The Parliamentary Elections Around the World page offers 

an extensive database by country on election results and parties. 

The Politician Government Address Directory offers addresses of most nations' 

leaders and provincial governors on the planet. 

These newsgroups are filled with political discussions: 

alt.politics.british Politics and a real Queen, too. 

alt.politics.clinton Discussing Slick Willie & Co. 

alt.politics.datahighway (OHFWURQLF LQWHUVWDWH LQIUDVWUXFWXUH 

alt.politics.economics War == Poverty, & other discussions. 

alt.politics.elections All about the process of electing leaders. 

alt.politics.greens Green party politics & activities worldwide. 

alt.politics.homosexuality As the name implies 

alt.politics.korea $ IRUXP IRU SROLWLFDO LVVXHV LQ .RUHD 

alt.politics.libertarian The libertarian ideology. 

alt.politics.org.misc Political organizations. 

alt.politics.radical left Who remains after the radicals left? 

alt.politics.reform 3ROLWLFDO UHIRUP 

alt.politics.sex Not a good idea to mix them. 

alt.politics.socialism.trotsky Trotskyite socialism discussions. 

alt.politics.usa.republican Discussions of the USA Republican Party. 

11 of 12 23.11.2009 15:44


alt.religion.sexuality The politics of sexuality and religion. 

relcom.politics Political discussions. 

soc.culture.arabic 

soc.culture.burma 

Technological & cultural issues, *not* 

politics. 

Politics, culture, news, discussion about 

Burma. 

soc.culture.jewish Jewish culture & religion. 

soc.culture.palestine Palestinian people, culture and politics. 

soc.culture.polish Polish culture, Polish past, and Polish politics. 

talk.politics.animals The use and/or abuse of animals. 

talk.politics.china Discussion of political issues related to China. 

talk.politics.drugs The politics of drug issues. 

talk.politics.medicine 

talk.politics.mideast 

The politics and ethics involved with health 

care. 

Discussion & debate over Middle Eastern 

events. 

talk.politics.theory Theory of politics and political systems. 

talk.politics.tibet The politics of Tibet and the Tibetan people. 

za.politics Politics in Southern Africa 

Amnesty International is at http://www.amnesty.org/, and Greenpeace International 

at http://www.greenpeace.org/index.shtml. 

The Fourth World Documentation Project documents important documents 

about the social, political, strategic, economic and human rights situations being faced 

by Fourth World nations. They have a historical archive of the political struggles waged 

by Indigenous Peoples in the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia, Melanesia and the Pacific 

to assert their rights as sovereign nations. 

The European Union's Europa site has a " European Governments on line" page. 

For the fifteen EU member states, it provides annotated links to the executive branch, 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and sometimes other important national civil service sites, as 

well as several unannotated links to other governmental bodies. For each of the non EU 

nations, one annotated link is offered, generally to the main governmental server, 

executive branch, or Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Ah, and then, we have: The White House (U.S.A.), The Tasmanian Government 

Web Server, the Australian Commonwealth Government, The Government of 

Pakistan, Iceland's Althingi, the Japanese Government, the Government of the 

Republic of Croatia, Albania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of 

Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran. For more, try 

http://www.soc.umn.edu/~sssmith/Parliaments.html. 

)LQDOO\ WDNH D ORRN DW WKH OHDGV LQ Chapter 9 and 11. 


Search: 



Updated at January 3, 2002. 


12 of 12 23.11.2009 15:44

Home, education and work http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/5.html 


Chapter 5: 

Home, education and work 

House, garden and finances 

Buying computers and stuff 

Education, teaching and the exchange of 

knowledge 

Language learning 


Learning online 

Example: 

KIDLINK 

Gateways to knowledge 

Parenthood 

Your personal network 

House, garden and finances 

Watch your 

words 

Religion 

Philosophy, etc. 

Job hunting 

Homeowners are logging on to solve their household problems. They check into conferences, forums, 

newsgroups, and mailing lists for feedback from contractors, architects, and fix it experts on anything 

from broken ceiling fans and whistling dryers to rotting decks and other annoyances. They're seeking 

advice on anything related to house, garden, and finances. 

The CHIMNEYS L mailing list is about chimney maintenance. Topics of interest include fire 

prevention, safety issues, new products, trouble shooting, cleaning technics, and anything you can 

think of about the chimney cleaning industry. 

The newsgroup misc.consumers.house on Usenet is where you can discuss anything related to 

owning and maintaining a house. For antiques, join a newsgroup in the rec.antiques hierarchy. 

Several software libraries offer shareware and public domain programs to help you plan and 

maintain your house. 

There are also personal inventory programs (to help you keep track of belongings), and 

SURJUDPV WR KHOS \RX SODQ DOORFDWLRQ RI WKH VSDFH LQ \RXU KRPH 

Other programs will help you prepare tax return forms, plan next year's taxes, calculate interests 

and down payments on your loans, and do double entry money management (personal book keeping 

and checkbook balancing). 

To succeed as a private investor, the experts say, you must have a strategy that is appropriate 

to your unique circumstances, resources for keeping up to date on investment options, and tools for 

managing the process of investing. It sure is an information intensive activity and a constant learning 

process that requires the up to date, exhaustive, and anecdotal information that online services are 

perfectly suited to meet. 

Usenet has several newsgroups under the misc.invest hierarchy. Browse them at Google 

Groups. 

House is also home. To bring more "life" into life, some devote themselves to fashion. For links 

to fashion related Usenet newsgroups and mailing lists, visit http://members.tripod.com/~cjlutz 

/Usenet.html. 

Others consider adopting a child. For information and experiences, check out the ADOPTION 

mailing list. 

Then there is television. The Interactive Satellite Chart covers all satellite TV channels 

worldwide with links to broadcasters' home pages. 

Select your region of world for a list of reachable satellites. The regions are (1) Europe, Africa 

and Middle East, (2) North and South America, (3) Asia and South Pacific. Click on a satellite, like 

Hispasat at 30 degrees W, for a list of TV channels with frequencies, Web links, encoding schemes (if 

any), sound frequencies, and TV text information. 

Some sample TV station pages: 

1 of 9 23.11.2009 15:45


Deutsche Welle (Germany) 

RTL 2 (Germany) 

Swedish TV 

BBC 8QLWHG .LQJGRP 

Sky (United Kingdom) 

Travel Channel 

Discovery Channel 

Arte (French/German) 

Hrvatska Radio Televizija (Croatia) 

You will find "Die Tages uebersicht aller Sender nach Genre" for European TV channels at Pro Sieben 

Online. Categories include Spielfilm, Information, Unterhaltung, Sport, Serie, Musik. 

Check Zap2it.com for links to your favorite TV show's home page and information. They offer 

thousands of links to popular programmes, most of them made in the US. 

Some sample links: 

The Jeopardy Quiz Show 

Late Show with David Letterman 

The Internet Movie Database is at http://www.imdb.com/. Addicted TV viewers can follow 

alt.tv.muppets on Usenet, or some of the many other offerings in the alt.tv hierarchy of newsgroups. 

Read about how to get that book in Chapter 10 if you would rather read mystery novels by the fire 

place. 

Other cinema/movie resources: 

traditional Turkish cinema 

Russian movie database 

The cinemas of China, India, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan 

WebMuseum features online exhibits at the world famous art museum Louvre in Paris, France. 

When we "visited," they offered French medieval art, a collection of well known paintings from 

famous artists, and a tour around Paris, the Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysees. There are also 

pointers to museums in other countries around the world. 

Many of the pictures are large. "The Cry" by Norwegian painter and printmaker Edvard Munch 

was 110 KB in size, so if you have a dial up connection and a slow modem to the Internet, it will take a 

while. 

The French government has made its JOCONDE database of more than 130,000 paintings, 

prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures, and other pieces of art kept in over 60 museums throughout 

France available . The database can searched by topic, artist, location, century, etc. 

There are even offerings for "the perfect house wife." Personally, I can think of no better pastime 

than origami, the traditional Japanese art of folding paper. Try alt.arts.origami. For images showing 

folded paper procedures/products, check out alt.binaries.pictures.origami. 

Oh, I almost forgot The Internet BONSAI Club. Bonsai is the Oriental Art of miniaturizing trees 

and plants into forms that mimic nature. This conference is for the discussion of the art and craft of 

Bonsai and related art forms. On Usenet, try rec.arts.bonsai $ )$4 RQ %RQVDL LV DOVR DYDLODEOH 

through the nets. 

Join CompuServe's Investors Forum to learn how to play the stock and money markets, and 

other moneymaking 'instruments'. Discuss investment techniques with others, read reports about 

economical trends, and retrieve useful programs to use on your personal computer. 

Buying computers and stuff 

Each month, tons of articles comparing computers, modems, software and gadgets are being 

published. The good news is that you can find much such information on the Web. Internet's largest 

collection of free test reports are available through Ziff Davis' ZD Net search engine. Here, you can 

search all Ziff Davis publications in one operation: Anchordesk, Computer Life, Computer Shopper, 

FamilyPC, Inter@ctive Week, MacUser, MacWeek, PC Computing, PC Magazine, Underground 

Online, Windows Sources, ZD 3D, ZD Internet Magazine, and Yahoo Internet Life. 

A search using the term "seagate" (the hard disk manufacturer) found 320 documents 

(September 1996). All articles were available in full text. A search using "storage technology" found 

9,786 documents. I expanded the term with 

"storage technology" and prices 

This means that the two first words are to be adjacent, and that the word "prices" is also required in 

2 of 9 23.11.2009 15:45


found documents. This gave 4,672 documents. Finally, I narrowed the query down to 

"storage technology" and prices and comparative 

The result was 2,155 documents. If you are interested in a specific product, add the name to the list to 

narrow the query further. 

ZD Net's hit report lists the most relevant articles first. Ranging is reported as a percentage after 

the date. The report started like this: 

Magazine Date Title 

PC Magazine 03 26 96 100 PC Magazine: Server Power (03/26/96) 

Computer Shopper 07 00 96 100 Pro Business 

Computer Shopper 06 00 96 100 Shopper's Guide to Hard Drives: Room to Spare 

Computer Shopper 06 00 96 100 Certified to Plug & Play 

Computer Shopper 09 22 96 100 Disk Jockeys 

At http://www.pview.com, ZD Net also offers a free, personalized news service tailored to include only 

your favorite topics. Here, you can track information on several subjects, issues, or companies, get 

relevant news and press releases from over 650 worldwide sources, get links to the most recent ZD 

Net articles on your favorite topics, and more. 

You may also find the Index to Multimedia Information Sources interesting, and there is 

usually interesting things to be found in Usenet's FAQ texts. Search the contents of Web FAQ texts at 

Planetweb Galactic. 

There's a list of hardware oriented newsgroups sorted by categories at http://www.landfield.com 

/faqs/finding groups/pc hardware/. Its categories include: 

Networking/networks, PC Networking hardware/cards/cables, Home built personal computers, 

Laptops & notebooks, Palmtops, Servers, Modems, Printers, SCSI devices, Other peripherals, 

PCMCIA devices, Acer, Dell, Gateway, Micron, Zenith, Zeos, Technical topics on PC soundcards, 

Discussion of forsale items (also Macintosh), Monitors/video cards, Modems/fax cards/communication, 

Hard/floppy/tape drives & media, CD ROM drives & interfaces, Computer vendors & specific systems, 

System chips/RAM chips/cache, and Other hardware questions. 

The Boston Computer Exchange is interesting if considering to sell or buy used computers. 

While those living outside the US may not be prepared to buy from them, it can help find price levels 

for use in local negotiations. 

In some countries, computer prices are high while import duties are low. If this is the case for 

you, then there may be money to be saved by importing directly from the United States. My 

experiences are good. 

Here are some Internet stores to check out: 

http://www.internet.net 

http://necxdirect.necx.com:8002/cgi bin/auth/docroot/index.html?nonce=guest 

http://www.powerexpress.com Batteries for portable laptops, cellular phones, and camcorders. 

Education, teaching and the exchange of knowledge 

Use of modem is opening new worlds of opportunities for students, teachers, and institutions alike at 

all levels. The list of conferences, forums, clubs, and services focusing on education in its broadest 

meaning of the word is long. 

No longer is it hard to find information about educational offerings. On the Web, one starting 

point is the international College and University Home Pages. In March 1996, it listed 2500 links to 

universities in 73 countries. Mainly text. You can search by country or name. The Study Abroad 

Programs lists programs from over 725 institutions in 110 countries. 

There are online courses, workshops, and seminars for students of all ages, databases to help 

you select a school for yourself or your kids, and all kinds of discussion forums for educators. For 

examples, check the online distance education catalog of The Open University in England. It offers 

undergraduate and post graduate courses (some leading to M.Sc.) for study via the Internet. 

There's a British "Internet Learning Resources Directory " page with special interest lists for 

the visually handicapped, foreign language resources, Internet demographics, and current awareness. 

Usenet and the Internet have long traditions in education. There are offerings for teachers within 

all subject areas, from finance and accounting, through history, languages and geography to technical 

subjects on all levels. 

Wigglebits.com offers a basic and easy to follow guide for teachers and students who want to 

construct a Website for their school or personal use. It covers topics such as a basic introduction to 

HTML, using a Web editor, standards, bandwidth, search engine placement, and animation. 

3 of 9 23.11.2009 15:45


This is a selection of other mailing lists to suggest the span of topics: 

Civil Engineering discussions 

DRUGABUS Drug Abuse Education Information 

The Lesson Contains over 30 pages of lesson plans, site and software reviews and computer 

education related content. 

Here are some Usenet conferences: 

comp.edu Computer science education 

sci.edu The science of education 

comp.ai.edu Applications of Artificial Intelligence to Education 

The HOME ED mailing list is for discussion of all aspects of home education. This includes reasons for 

homeschooling, how to help a child learn to read, learning experiences of homeschooling families, and 

how to design or select a homeschooling curriculum. There's a home schooling resource page at 

http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/. 

The EDUPAGE newsletter is a twice weekly summary of news items on information 

technology, provided by a consortium of colleges and universities "seeking to transform education 

through the use of information technology." Compact and informative. I like it! Typical example: 

FROM CYBERSPACE TO OUTER SPACE 

Internet users can now reach out and touch the Endeavour space shuttle, through 

NASA's Web site: http://astro 2.msfc.nasa.gov. Information available includes 

Endeavour's exact location over Earth, stellar observations by Astro telescopes and sky 

charts, crew and ground control team photos, snapshots of the cockpit, and taped 

conversations from four of the astronauts. More than 350,000 requests for shuttle 

information have poured in since Endeavour's lift off last Thursday. (St. Petersburg 

Times 3/6/95 A1) 

Edupage is translated into Estonian, French, German, Hungarian, Spanish, and Portuguese. 

Here are some other interesting links: 

Canada's SchoolNet 

U.S. Department of Education 

AskERIC Educational Resources Information Center 

You will find many similar offerings on the commercial services and free bulletin boards. 

There are many private conferences in the online world. All conferences referred to in 

this book are open for anybody to join, unless explicitly told to be private. 

Language learning 

If you're looking for a dictionary, check the handbook's chapter 10. Here, we will indicate the tons of 

language learning offerings on the Internet, including: 

BASQUE Basque, Spanish, French, and English 

Moderated discussion about Basque Culture and related topics. The list is mirrored to 

the soc.culture.basque newsgroup. 

The Vocabulary Builder will help you to increase your Spanish Vocabulary. Select a 

group. Click at each picture to hear the Spanish word. All sound files are in the WAVE 

format. Categories include: Food, Transportation, Sports, Animals, Verbs, Days, 

Months, Clothing, Weather, Numbers, and Telling Time. 

CAUSERIE French 

For more in French, check The Algerian Scientific and Technical Information 

Research Center (CERIST). 

The Learning Chinese Online page 

Kanji a day is a free daily newsletter delivering a Kanji with few examples to your 

mailbox. 

4 of 9 23.11.2009 15:45


GAELIC L Irish, Scottish, and Manx Gaelic. 

BTW L Italian 

This is a "distribution only" mailing list for ByTheWIRE, a biweekly newsletter written 

entirely in ITALIAN that covers topics related to the global Internet. 

UN INDICE suddiviso per soggetto dello spazio Web italiano. Italian. 

Tamil.Net "to use the common interest in Tamil language and culture to unite Tamils 

from all over the world." 

The Spanish Language Page 

Information on dictionaries, grammar, translation, forums, literature, conferences, 

Spanglish, etc. 

WELSH L Welsh (also Breton, Cornish) 

If English is a foreign language, reading interesting articles online is in itself a great master. Learning 

to write it, however, is not equally easy. Often, you find yourself trying to find a word that properly 

expresses your meaning. 

The English as a Second Language page may be worth your visit. It has links to help on 

grammar, idioms, dictionaries, online conversation practice, listening training, and more. For more on 

English grammar, see www.edunet.com/english/grammar/index.html. 

Casey's Snow Day Reverse Dictionary may not be able to help in such cases, but it is worth a 

try. It tries to determine matches between a query (the definition that you type in) and definitions in 

the dictionary. 

For a starting point for resources of foreign languages to English, try Human Resources. 

Languages covered include Arabic, Chinese, Czech, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Middle 

English, Portuguese, Russian, Scandinavian Languages, South Asian Languages, Spanish, Swahili, 

Tagalog, Turkish, Yiddish, as well as links to other "foreign" language learning resources and home 

pages. Languages Online is worth checking out, and in particular if interested in Albanian, Chinese, 

Croatian, German, Italian, Latin, Polish, Russian, and Spanish. 

For lists of Spanish language Web servers and Internet resources, try these pages 

http://mel.lib.mi.us/humanities/language/LANG spanish.html 

http://www2.mmlc.nwu.edu/mmlc/language/spanish/ 

The Human Languages Page is a super resource for anyone interested in foreign languages. Their 

database contains links to over 1.900 Internet resources about more than 100 different languages 

(2000). 

It lists regional databases across the world where information about foreign language Web 

pages, mailing lists, and newsgroups is stored. It has links to Schools and Institutions, Linguistics 

Resources, Text & Book Archives, Languages and Literature, Commercial Resources. 

Offerings include dictionaries (like "English German Dictionary"), tutorials (like "Let's Learn 

Arabic," and "Travelers' Japanese Tutorial"), literature, other references and resources. 

Languages covered include Aboriginal languages, Afrikaans, African, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, 

Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, 

Hawaiian, Hebrew, Indonesian, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Klingon, Kurdish, Latin, Lojban, Mongolian, 

Maori, Native american languages, Nepali, Persian, Philippine, Polish, Portuguese, Rasta/patois, 

Romanian, Russian/eastern european, Sardinian, Scandinavian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, 

Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Urdu, Viennese, Vietnamese, and Welsh. 

For a competitor's offerings, check Language and Translation links. You may also find the 

Multilingual E Translation Portal interesting. 

The Yamada WWW Language Guides offers a Font archive, which gives access to 

downloadable fonts for a broad range of languages. It also has links to an annotated list of language 

related news groups, and to language related mailing lists. 

Also, make a note about The Ethnologue for the languages of the world. This is a catalogue of 

more than 6,700 languages spoken in 228 countries. Its Name Index lists over 39,000 language 

names, dialect names, and alternative names. 

These Chinese language related information pages 

http://www.webcom.com/~bamboo/chinese/chinese.html 

http://www.cnd.org:8022/WWW HZ/WWWChinese.html 

China Study Resources (USA) 

point to Chinese language related resources, has links to viewing and listening to Chinese on the web, 

language study courses, educational and viewer software, FTP sites, and more. If you really want to 

go there to learn Chinese Language, China Business (taught in English), and Martial Arts, check 

http://www.worldlinkedu.com/. 

Joyo'96 provides information about written Japanese online tutorials: 144 page katakana tutorial, 

5 of 9 23.11.2009 15:45


Japanese Ministry of Education's Joyo Kanji complete with etymology, stroke order, movies, and 

mood music. Links to books, software, and free stuff. 

There's a Teach Yourself Russian page (requires installation of KOI 8 fonts) . The Russian 

Dictionary With Sounds and Images page has pictures of animals and food paired with Cyrillic text 

and recordings of a native speaker pronouncing the words. 

If you understand French, and take an interest in "de la Francophonie," check out the Web pages 

of l' Agence de Coopiration Culturelle et Technique (ACCT) in Paris. Try http://stp.ling.uu.se 

/call/french/ for an online course in French. 

Even if you're not in secondary school, you may enjoy the Latin America Data Base. This 

resources for educators has several databases of lesson plans, resource materials, teacher partners, 

a photo archive of images of Latin America and the Caribbean, lists of links to embassies, and 100 

other Internet sites dealing with Latin America or teacher materials. It covers various subjects, 

including Spanish, Social Studies, Science, Mathematics, Art and Language Arts. 

Language Learning.net has a Language Course Finder, a database of over 6,000 schools in 

80 countries teaching 70 languages. 

Learning online 

takes different forms in different programs. In some, students simply read lecture notes and readings, 

and interact with their professors via email. In others, especially at the graduate level, the exchange of 

comments among students is the highlight of the learning experience. 

Unlike students in face to face classes, online students usually have ample time to review "class 

discussion" and ponder their contribution before entering it. The result is often a high quality of 

interaction. 

Example: KidOLQN 

Many parents and teachers regard the online world as a learning opportunity for their kids. Some of 

them turn to Kidlink, a global service for youth through secondary school. This free service is 

operated by a grassroots network of volunteers. 

The aim is to get as many youth as possible involved in a global dialog. To help youth build a 

global personal network. 

Before joining the discussion, each youth must respond to the following four questions: 

1. Who am I? 

2. What do I want to be when I grow up? 

3. How do I want the world to be better when I grow up? 

4. What can I do Now to make this come true? 

The kids can write in any language. Click here for further instructions. 

Once they have submitted their responses, they are invited to 'meet' the others in one of the 

many KIDCAFE forums. There, they can discuss anything from pop music to how it is to live in other 

countries. The cafes are split up by language. There are cafes in many languages, including English, 

Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Icelandic, and Norwegian. Click here for a glance at the action: 

English: http://listserv.nodak.edu/archives/kidcafe individual.html 

Portuguese: http://listserv.nodak.edu/archives/kidcafe portuguese.html 

The service also has forums for collaborate projects between schools, a private "chat" network (IRC), 

an art gallery, and support forums for educators. Schools all over the globe integrate it with their 

classes in languages, geography, other cultures, history, environment, art, etc. 

KiGOLQN grew from an idea in 1990 to children participating from 176 countries (by November 

2006). The work is supported by a multi lingual platform for collaboration and public mailing lists. 

Gateways to knowledge 

Visit The United Nation Publications's CyberSchoolBus site. Imagine the United Nations as a vast 

land of resources you can travel through. You can stop on the way and pick up information on water 

pollution or on housing and urban problems, you can drop in at any one of the four major UN 

conferences, say the one on population held in Cairo, or you can visit all of the peace keeping sites 

around the world. You can also take a tour of the UN and then stop by the bookstore to order 

instructional materials, charts and posters. 

Exploring Ancient World Cultures is interesting to students of all ages. This introductory, 

online, college level 'textbook' of ancient world cultures is constructed around a series of pages 

consisting of: The Ancient Near East, Ancient India, Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, Ancient Greece, 

Ancient Rome, Early Islam, and Medieval Europe. 

The home pages contain essays by subject specialists, an anthology of readings from the 

period, a chronology, bibliographic resources, hypertext links to related sites, and computer graded 

6 of 9 23.11.2009 15:45


quizzes. You can also navigate the site by topic across cultures. You can click on a year and culture, 

and then another culture, to compare cross cultural developments of the same period. 

We dived into Ancient China, retrieved the chronology of rulers, and got lost in pictures of the 

Great Wall. Did you know that it is over 5,000 kilometers long? 

The Gateway to World History page has links to documentary archives, and online resources. 

You can search for resources by keyword or by subject. 

Here are some other places to try: 

African History African Cultures 

Ancient history search engine 

http://www.msstate.edu/Archives/History/ 

Discovery Channel Online 

EMuseum 

Geography, and Country Rankings and World Statistics 

History of China 

History of India 

Plant Image Gallery 

Rulers lists of heads of state and heads of government going back to about 1700. 

The European Schoolnet Schools Projects 

Questacon is a hands on science centre in Canberra, Australia. 

Study, reference, and research link categories on Study Web include: Agriculture, Animals & 

Pets , Architecture, Business & Finance, Communications & Media, Computer Science, Criminology, 

Delete, Education, Family Science, Fine Arts , Geography, Government & Politics, Grammar & 

Composition, Health & Nutrition, History, Home & Garden, Literature, Math, Medicine , Mental Health, 

Metaphysics, Music, Philosophy, Reference, Religion , Science, Social Studies & Culture, Teaching 

Resources, Transportation , Writing & Writers. 

Parenthood 

The misc.kids newsgroup is for parents, soon to be parents, and others interested in children. They 

discuss issues about pregnancy and child rearing, ask for advice from others on many parenting 

concerns, and seek and provide support and encouragement about raising kids. Check the Kids FAQ 

at http://www.cis.ohio state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/ 

The alt.parents teens newsgroup is for parent teenager relationships. TWINS is a mailing lists 

for issues related to twins, triplets, etc. 

Your personal network 

Network is a word with many meanings. It can be a system set up to transport data from one 

computer to another. It can be an online service with many conferences, and a friendly connection 

between people (like in "old boys' network"). Here, we use it in the latter meaning of the word. 

We use our personal networks more than most of us think. We have a chain of people who we 

call on to ask for advice, help, and invite to participate in projects or parties. When they ask us for 

help, we lend a hand. 

The online world has some interesting characteristics. One is that most participants in online 

conferences already have received so much help from others that they feel obliged to pay back. They 

do this by helping others. 

Those who help, know that helping others will be rewarded. The reward, however, may not 

come from the persons that they help. The contributions help maintain and develop the online world as 

one giant personal network. 

A typical example: In CompuServe's Toshiba Forum, I read an open message from a user who 

had bought a 425 megabyte hard disk for his laptop computer. I also wanted one, but before placing 

an order, I wrote to check if he was still satisfied with the unit. 

The happy user did more than reply. He told about other vendors and offered to help return my 

computer after the upgrade. He made it clear that he had no financial interest in the companies selling 

the upgrade. By the way, we had never been in touch with each others before that date. 

The online world is full of such examples. The list of what people do to help others is indeed very 

long. 

In most conferences and forums you'll get help. Just like that. There is always someone 

prepared to help. Still, it is wise to invest to increase the odds of getting quality help when you really 

need it. This is what to consider: 

Your best long range strategy is to be visually present in conferences that matter to you. 'Being 

visually present' means that you should contribute in discussions and help others as much as you can. 

You see, positive contributors get a lot more friends and a disproportional amount of help from 

others. 

For example, you may contribute by telling others about your interesting finds in the online world. 

Keep that up over a stream of weeks or months, and you may find that others start sending you 

things, quite unprovoked. 

7 of 9 23.11.2009 15:45


Helping others is what it takes to build a personal network. One day you may need it. It will give 

you an incredible advantage! I have seen people get jobs, partners and clients through such contacts. 

The online world is full of opportunities. 

Watch your words 

Written communications are deprived of the body language and tone of voice that convey so much in 

face to face meetings and even in telephone conversations. Therefore, it makes sense to work harder 

to build in humor, sarcasm, or disagreement to avoid that your words come across as stupidity, 

rudeness, or aggressiveness. 

One way of defusing misunderstanding is to include cues as to your emotional state. One 

technique is to use keyboard symbols like : ). We call them emoticons (Emotional icons. Pictorial 

representations of the emotions of the moment). 

What : ) means? Tilt your head to the left and look again. Yes, it is a smiling face. 

Here are some other examples to challenge your imagination: ; ) (Winking Smiley), : ( (Sad), 8 ) 

(User wears glasses), : o (Shocked or surprised), and : > (Hey, hey). 

A bracketed is shorthand for grin, and means grinning, ducking, and running. Some 

people prefer to write their emotional state in full text, like in these two examples: *grin* and *evil 

smile*. 

Do not misunderstand. You still should not allow yourself to write the most appallingly insulting 

things to other people, and then try to shrug it off with a . 

Watch your words. They are so easy to store on a hard disk. 

Usenet offers 

Religion 

soc.culture.jewish Jewish culture & religion. 

soc.religion.christian Christianity and related topics. 

soc.religion.eastern Discussions of Eastern religions. 

soc.religion.islam Discussions of the Islamic faith. 

talk.religion.misc Religious, ethical, & moral implications. 

alt.pagan Discussions about paganism & religion. 

alt.religion.computers People who believe computing is "real life." 

clari.news.religion 

Religion, religious leaders, televangelists. (Validation required 

for access to Clarinet.) 

ISLAM L is a non sectarian forum for discussion, debate, and the exchange of information by students 

and scholars of the history of Islam. For links to software, FTP archives, and network resources such 

as online academic conferences and newsgroups related to Islamic topics, check 

http://www.islamicity.org/. MUSLIMS is The Islamic Information & News Net, and there is a Muslims 

Internet Directory. 

At http://www.the quran.com/index.html, you can have the entire Holy Quran (the Koran) recited 

over the net. It is also available for downloading. There is also a link to translations into English. For 

other translations, see http://www.arabiaweb.com/religion/quran.shtml 

The Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library is a comprehensive directory of Buddhism. It has 

links to sources of information about Buddhist studies networked resources, major Buddhism WWW 

sites, Buddhist texts and translations, databases, newsletters and journals, organizations, art, and 

more. 

The Rangjung Yeshe Tibetan English Dharma Dictionary is a compilation of Buddhist 

terminology and translation terms to bridge the Tibetan and English languages. The Dictionary of 

East Asian Buddhist Terms is a digital dictionary containing over 5000 terms from Chinese, 

Japanese and Korean Buddhism. 

For Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma, check Hindunet and Dharmacentral.com. 

The Catholic Kiosk page is devoted to cataloging Catholic resources on the Web. Links include 

parish and diocese information, educational and research resources, prolife pointers, and subject 

menus on various Catholic subjects. The WWW Bible Gateway RIIHUV VHYHQ WUDQVODWLRQV RI WKH ERRN 

in six languages, and a contents search service. 

For Scientology, try http://www.scientology.org/scn_home.htm. 

BELIEF L is where personal ideologies can be discussed, examined, and analyzed. 

PAGAN HOME is for those wanting to explore paganism and neo paganism. 

You can search the Book of Mormon, the Quran, King James' Bible, the BUDDHA L mailing list, 

and other religious resources at http://www.ub2.lu.se/auto_new/auto_39.html. For more, check the 

Virtual Religion Index at Rutgers University, and this Religions page. 

8 of 9 23.11.2009 15:45


Philosophy, etc. 

Check The Chinese Philosophy Page. For more links to Su Tzu, Kong Fu Zi Confucius, Tao, Lao 

Tze, Chinese Classics, and other old Chinese masters, take a look at http://www.gac.edu/oncampus 

DFDGHPLFV SKLORVRSK\ OFKLQHVH KWPO. 

The talk.religion.newage newsgroup focuses on esoteric and minority religions & philosophies. 

Yogabasics.com offers a basic introduction to yoga and its history, an illustrated guide to yoga 

postures, introductions to and links for information on Pranayama and the seven Chakras, free yoga 

.mp3s, free yoga music radio, and a forum. The Kundalini Yoga web site is at 

http://www.kundaliniyoga.org/. If you know what New Age is about, then try The New Age Directory 

for a long list of links. 

Job hunting 

Unemployment is a global problem, and losing a job is usually a bad experience. Job hunting is the 

solution. If you have a job, you may be looking for something better. 

There are many forums and conferences devoted to job hunting. If your potential employers have 

an email address, you can send dozens of job resumes while reading the newspaper! 

The Web service at http://www.discribe.ca/yourhbiz/howto/helphint.htm offers "Helpful Hints for 

Home Businesses." You may also find these Web resources interesting: 

http://www.overseasjobs.com/resources/ 

http://www.dbm.com/jobguide/ 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp adv/classifieds/careerpost/parachute/parafram2.htm 

Home based business opportunities may exist within areas such as desktop publishing, desktop video, 

high tech equipment repair, import and export management, and professional practice management. 

Learn from others in forums or conferences on related topics. 

For some, the biggest challenges of being out of work is losing that day to day contact with the 

people in their industry. The online world is an excellent way to stay in touch. Whatever your industry, 

there are places online to hang out, learn the latest developments and stay connected. 

Being a member of an online forum does not mean that you are overtly looking for a job an 

activity that your current employer may not appreciate. By being there, however, you have put yourself 

out there to be discovered. The discovered candidate is always more interesting than one who sends 

in his resume along with 300 other applicants' resumes. 

The good news is that many organizations are also having problems finding qualified candidates 

for their vacant positions, and that some of them are turning to the online world for help. This is what 

one of them did (from an online announcement): 

Because it is difficult to locate qualified candidates for positions in special libraries and 

information centers, and to help special librarians and information specialists to locate 

positions, the student chapter of the Special Libraries Association at Indiana University 

has formed a LISTSERV, SLAJOB, in connection with the Indiana Center for Database 

Systems. 

The LISTSERV, available on both the Internet and Bitnet, will help special 

libraries and information centers in the sciences, industry, the arts and within public 

and academic libraries to have a central location for announcing special library and 

information science positions. 

The LISTSERV is available to individuals or organizations that have an Internet or 

Bitnet network connection. For those on the network, subscribe by sending an email 

message to: 

listserv@iubvm.ucs.indiana.edu 

Leave the subject line blank and then type the following in the message of the text: 

subscribe SLAJOB [firstname] [lastname] 



Search: 



Updated at October 31, 2003 


9 of 9 23.11.2009 15:45

Your personal HealthNet http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/6.html 

Emergency medicine 

AIDS 

Example: Kidney 

disease 

Alcohol 

Cancer 

Diabetes 

Emotional support 


Chapter 6: 

Your personal HealthNet 


Getting old 

Getting fertile 

Disabilities 

Drugs 

Headache 

Herpes 

Complementary and alternative 

medicine 

Weight loss 

Health information 

resources 

Other health related links 

Smoking 

Red Cross and Red 

Crescent 

Computers and health 

The Visible Man 

Health is a concern in most families. Where a family member or a friend is suffering 

from cancer, AIDS, a serious disability, or a rare disease, finding help is urgent. 

Fortunately, there are many sources of information for those who want to know 

more. 

First, you should check out the online world's health related clubs and forums. In 

these, you can meet others with a given disease or problem 24 hours a day. Those who 

cannot sleep at night, are free to log in any time to "talk" with others. 

The members of these forums often feel part of a community. As in communities 

everywhere, people share both the good times and the not so good times. Many online 

communities have pulled together during crises, sharing the grief caused by the death of 

a fellow forum member, a loved one of a member or, occasionally, a celebrity. 

While the social aspect of joining a forum is important, it may be equally important 

to learn about other people's experiences with alternative treatment methods, doctors, 

medicines, and to get practical advice. 

Second, you should check out Usenet's Frequently Asked Questions texts on 

medicine related topics. The FAQs represent information that newsgroup participants 

find essential in their disciplines. For example, the diabetes FAQ presents collected 

wisdom about diabetes resources. Read about how to retrieve these texts in Appendix 6 

(under FAQ). 

Here are some examples to illustrate the width of the offerings in the online world: 

Emergency medicine 

Practicing First Aid without proper coaching can be as dangerous as not doing it at all. A 

little knowledge can be a dangerous thing! The tips found on these links are not meant to 

be a substitute for attending a professional First Aid Course! 

http://www.redcross.org/hss/facpr.html (General) 

http://www.familyinternet.com/babycare/dkfirsta.htm (Babies) 

http://www.pe.net/%7Eiddpc1/emergenc.htm (Dental) 

1 of 12 23.11.2009 15:45


AIDS 

The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease home page is a rich 

resource of AIDS related information. The World Health Organization's Global 

Programme on AIDS is at http://www.unaids.org/, and the Official American Medical 

Association's (AMA) AIDS resource at http://www.ama assn.org/special 

/hiv/hivhome.htm. 

GIS claims to be the largest HIV/AIDS web site in the world. Its Today's HIV 

News, also available via email subscription, provides the latest news on treatment, 

statistics, policy, and research. 

This Hong Kong page at http://www.iohk.com/UserPages/mlau/aidshome.html has 

general information on AIDS, treatments and infections information, organizations, 

many links, etc. 

Usenet has newsgroups like sci.med.aids (AIDS: treatment, pathology/biology of 

HIV, prevention), bionet.molbio.hiv, sci.med.aids. For more information, see 

http://www.aids.wustl.edu. 

HIVNET is an international network for HIV and AIDS information and 

discussion. For information, try one of these links 

http://www.hivnet.nl/ 

http://hivnet.fhcrc.org/ 

Example: Kidney disease 

In Chapter 1, I told you that my wife has a rare disease called Polycystic Kidneys. Let 

me provide more details about what happened during the "online health trip" to 

CompuServe with her doctor: 

The command "GO HEALTH" gave us the following menu: 

1. HealthNet 

2. Human Sexuality 

3. Consumer Health 

4. NORD Services/Rare Disease Database 

5. PaperChase (MEDLINE) 

6. Information USA/Health 

7. Handicapped User's Database 

8. Disabilities Forum 

9. Aids Information 

10. Cancer Forum 

Another menu, listing available "PROFESSIONAL FORUMS," had choices like AAMSI 

Medical Forum and Health Forum. We also searched several medical databases. 

Menu selection five gave us The National Library of Medicine's database 

(MEDLINE), full of references to biomedical literature. 

This database had more than five million references to articles from 4,000 

magazines from 1966 and up to the time of our search (1991). In 1994, it had grown to 

seven million references. Easy navigation by menus. Easy to search. 

Those with no medical training may find it difficult to understand the information 

retrieved from MEDLINE. If this is the case for you, consider using databases of 

consumer health information, such as HealthNet or Health Database Plus on 

CompuServe. 

The AAMSI Medical Forum (MedSIG) is sponsored by The American Association 

for Medical Systems and Informatics (AAMSI). It is for professionals within health care, 

people within associated technical fields, and ordinary CompuServe users. Its members 

meet to find, develop and swap information. 

MedSIG has a library with programs and information files. This is an example of what 

you can find there: 

2 of 12 23.11.2009 15:45


ATLAS.ARC 21 Sep 88 30161 

Keywords: STEREOTAXIC STEREOTACTIC STEREOTAXIS 

ATLAS THALAMOTOMY MAP FUNCTIONAL GIF 

This contains several of the most useful stereotaxic 

maps from the Schaltenbrand and Wahren Atlas in GIF 

format. If you can get GIF into your CAD or drawing 

program, you can scale the maps to fit your 

individualized patient's AC PC distance, thereby 

generating a customized map for your patient. 

CompuServe offers many programs for reading GIF files, and converting GIF files to 

other graphical formats. 

Through IQuest, we searched medical databases. Simple menus helped define 

relevant search terms. When done, IQuest searched selected databases for us, and 

presented the selected articles on our local computer screen. 

We used the "SmartScan" search mode in the "Medical research" area. IQuest 

searched several databases with a minimum of manual intervention. 

First, it reported that the following databases would be included in the search: 

BRS databases: 

Ageline Contains references to and abstracts of materials on aging and the 

elderly. Covers psychological, medical, economic, and political concerns. 

AIDS Database Includes critically selected articles covering all aspects of AIDS, 

(Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), and AIDS related research. 

AIDS Knowledge Base Provides an online textbook of the most current 

information on AIDS available from San Francisco General Hospital. 

Combined Health Information Database For professionals, patients, and the 

general public, CHID contains references to a variety of materials on arthritis, 

diabetes, health education, digestive diseases, and high blood pressure. Provides 

abstracts. 

Embase Includes extensive abstracts of articles related to biomedicine from 

medical journals worldwide. About 40% of the references are online only. 

Rehabdata Covers articles, books, reports, and audiovisual materials dealing with 

the rehabilitation of the physically and mentally handicapped. References only. 

Sport Database Indexes publications dealing with sports, including training, 

medicine, education, and history. Drawn mostly from English and French with 

technical articles from other languages. 

Dialog databases: 

BioBusiness Deals with the business aspects of biotechnology and biomedical 

research. Draws from BIOSIS and MANAGEMENT CONTENTS. 

BIOSIS Previews Provides international coverage of all aspects of biological 

science. 

Cancerlit Monitors articles from journals and other technical publications dealing 

with all aspects of cancer research throughout the world. Includes abstracts. 

Clinical Abstracts Covers human clinical study articles of major importance 

selected from leading medical journals. Includes all aspects of clinical medicine. 

Corresponds to Abstracts in Internal Medicine. Abstracts available. 

Life Sciences Collection Abstracts technical literature in the life sciences from 

journals and other scientific publications worldwide. 

Medline (1966 to date) Indexes articles from medical journals published 

worldwide. Corresponds to Index Medicus, International Nursing Index and Index 

to Dental Literature. Includes abstracts in roughly 40% of the records. 

SciSearch Monitors worldwide literature across a wide range of scientific and 

technological disciplines. Produced by the Institute for Scientific Information 

(ISI). 

Next, we entered our search term: "LIVER AND CYST/". The search word "CYST/" 

signified "cyst" should match any words starting with these four characters. 

3 of 12 23.11.2009 15:45


While searching, IQuest gave the following progress report: 

Scanning BRS databases. 

Accessing Network...........Completed. 

Accessing Database Host.....Completed. 

Logging on..................Completed. 

Logging on (second step)....Completed. 

Selecting Databases.........Completed. 

Each period equals one line 

of scanned data. This may take 

several minutes....................... 

It reported in the same way while "Scanning Dialog databases." 

When the search results were presented, we quickly browsed the article abstracts, 

ordered two articles to be sent us by mail, and typed BYE. 

CompuServe reported "Off at 09:12 EST 17 Nov 88 Connect time = 0:35." The 

two articles arrived in Norway by mail a few weeks later. 

The trip, including visits in medical forums, took 35 minutes. The cost, including 

local telephone and network charges, was US$95. Of this total cost, the extra cost of 

searching through IQuest amounted to US$54.00. We all felt that the costs were well 

justified. 

A note about costs: The online tour was done manually, using full menus. 

We discussed our search strategy while connected. This is more expensive 

than logging off to plan the next moves. Also, note that the extra cost of 

searching IQuest ($54) was not time dependent. Note that the cost of doing 

an equivalent search today may well be lower. 

Since then, I first promised to donate one of my kidneys to her when the time came. This 

prompted me (in 1993) to join a mailing list for "Organ transplant recipients and anyone 

else interested in the issues" (the TRNSPLNT mailing list). 

In October 1995, came D Day. We were both enrolled at the Rikshospitalet in 

Norway. Her two kidneys were taken out, and my left kidney was put in there instead. 

The time at the hospital was critical, and we almost lost her. However, in late spring 

things started slowly to pick up again!! 

If you're facing a transplant, visit The TransWeb Transplantation and Donation 

page. It is well informed and useful with information of interest to patients as well as 

professionals. 

Alcohol 

Has your life been affected by someone else's drinking? The Al Anon & Alateen 

WWW Server is offered by a world wide organization for the families and friends of 

alcoholics. Alateen is for teenagers. 

If you are concerned about someone else's drinking, or were raised in an alcoholic 

home, then this resource may be for you. It offers a self help recovery program for 

families and friends of alcoholics whether or not the alcoholic seeks help or even 

recognizes the existence of a drinking problem. Information is provided in several 

languages. 

Cancer 

Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of 

abnormal cells. If the spread is not controlled, it can result in death. Anyone can get 

cancer. Since incidence rises with age, most cases affect adults in mid life or older. 

Researchers estimate that if everything known about the prevention of cancer was 

applied, up to two thirds of cancer could be prevented (source: The American Cancer 

Society). 

Subscribe to the CANCER L discussion list. A while ago, a member from Brazil 

4 of 12 23.11.2009 15:45


posted the following message on CANCER L: 

"A close friend was just diagnosed with acute leukemia of a type called 

calapositive pre B linphoplastic. It is supposedly an early diagnosis since 

he is not anemic. We are very shocked but he is reacting quite bravely and 

all he wants is to have access to literature on his condition. Are there any 

new genetic engineering developments effectively clinically available? 

What is the present state of knowledge about this specific form of 

leukemia? 

He was diagnosed three hours ago, is 48 yrs old, and will start 

chemotherapy tomorrow. He was informed that chemotherapy is quite 

effective in this type of leukemia. But we wonder if there isn't a possibility 

to use gene therapy. 

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Dora." 

Dora had several helpful replies. This came from the United States: 

"In response to the request for information on treatment for leukemia, I 

recommend that you access CancerNet, the National Cancer Institute's 

mail server on the Internet which provides current information on 

treatment for leukemia. To request the Contents List and Instructions, send 

a mail message to 

cancernet@icicb.nci.nih.gov (Internet address) 

Leave the subject line blank, and in the body of the mail message, enter 

"HELP." When you receive the Contents list, request the statement for Adult 

Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (cn 101024). 

There are also News and General Information items, under the Heading 

PDQ Database Information in the Contents List which provide information 

on centers which have access to Physician Data Query, NCI's database of 

cancer treatment information which includes clinical trials information 

for leukemia. Cheryl." 

&KURQLF 0\HORJHQRXV /HXNHPLD 2QOLQH 6XSSRUW *URXS is an information list and 

online support group for patients, caregivers, and medical professionals. 

CancerNet is the U.S. National Cancer Institute's international information center. 

It offers a quick and easy way of getting recommended treatment guidelines from the 

National Cancer Institute's Physician Data Query system. Languages are English and 

Spanish. Check these links: 

http://cancernet.nci.nih.gov 

http://wwwicic.nci.nih.gov/icichome.htm 

http://imsdd.meb.uni bonn.de/cancernet/cancernet.html [Germany] 

Other links: 

National Cancer Center, Japan 

International Agency for Research on Cancer ,$5& LQ )UDQFH 

The World Health Organization (WHO) 

The International Union Against Cancer in English and French 

OncoLink 

The German Cancer Research Center 

(Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum) in German and English 

healthfinder in Spanish and English 

Check Breast Cancer Information Clearinghouse's "After Diagnosis: Common 

Questions & Expectations of Cancer Patients and Their Families". 

Oncology Tools hosted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center 

5 of 12 23.11.2009 15:45


for Drug Evaluation and Research offers information related to cancer and approved 

cancer drug therapies for consumers, patients, and health care professionals. 

The Medical Information Archives links to an index of archived messages from 

Usenet groups dealing with cancer. 

The Online Leukemia Support Group is for for patients, caregivers, and 

professionals who are interested in and involved with all types of leukemia. Archives of 

Leukemia can be accessed from http://www.rwneill.com/publishing/ and 

http://reference.com. See http://www.egroups.com/list/leukemia/info.html. 

You should also check the HEM ONC listserv site. 

Diabetes 

The patient oriented Diabetes FAQ has been collected among members of the 

misc.health.diabetes newsgroup. Also, check these resources: 

Diabetes Symptons 

http://www.ability.org.uk/diabetes.html 

http://www.diabetic.org.uk/index.htm 

http://www.niddk.nih.gov/tools/faq.htm 

The Diabetes News Page provides the latest news on diabetes and related subjects, and 

has informative links. Diabetic World provides information on English and Spanish. 

The DIABETIC mailing list is where diabetic patient can exchange ideas, 

comments, gripes, fears, or whatever, related to his or her condition. Expect to find lots 

of "real world" accounts about living with diabetes. 

Disabilities 

Online conferences give equal access to all persons. Everybody is treated the same way, 

regardless if they sit in a wheel chair, have a hearing impairment, stutter, cannot speak 

clearly, have difficulties in thinking or acting quickly, or just have a different looks. 

You need not worry about typing errors. Those who read them will never know 

whether it is because you never learned how to write on a computer, or if it is because 

you have difficulties in controlling your movements. 

You alone decide if others are to know about your personal disability. If you want 

it to be a secret, then it will remain a secret. 

Nobody can possibly know that you are mute and lame from the neck and down, 

that computer communication is your main gate into the outer world, and that you are 

writing messages with a stick attached to your forehead. Therefore, joining the online 

world has changed the lives of many people with disabilities. 

Computer communications have opened a new world for those who are forced to 

stay at home, or who thinks that it is too difficult to travel. Those who can easily drive 

their car to the library, often have difficulties in understanding the significance of this. 

Usenet has alt.education.disabled. It covers all areas of disabilities, technical, 

medical, educational, legal, etc. CompuServe's Disabilities Forum has sections called: 

General Interest, Develop. Disabilities, Emotional Disturbances, Hearing Impairments, 

Learning Disabilities, Vision Impairments, Mobility Impaired, Rights/Legislation, 

Education/Employment and Family Life/Leisure. 

The AUTISMTALK mailing list is devoted to the developmentally disabled, their 

teachers, and those interested in this area. 

The BLIND L list focuses on "Computer Use by and for the Blind." BLINDFAM 

is for blind people and their families. Sighted people are welcome to take part if any 

PHPEHU RI WKHLU IDPLO\ KDV D YLVXDO LPSDLUPHQW 

DEAF L is the "Deaf Discussion List," and DEAFBLND the "Deaf Blind 

Discussion List." 

DEAF MAG is a weekly Deaf Magazine. The Central Institute for the Deaf is at: 

http://cidmac.wustl.edu/, and there's a Deafdigest. 

BACKS L discusses research on low back pain disability. You'll find many 

disability related information and links at http://www.eskimo.com/~jlubin/disabled.html, 

6 of 12 23.11.2009 15:45


and interesting information at the Back and Neck Pain site. 

ADVOCACY is a discussion list dedicated to addressing the issues of people with 

disabilities in bettering their lives and protecting their rights. 

Here are some Web sites devoted to the blind and disabled: 

http://www.nfb.org/default.htm 

http://www.rit.edu:80/~easi/ 

The Internet Mental Health Resources home page (Canada): 

http://www.mentalhealth.com/, and the US National Institute on Mental Health resource 

page. 

LD OnLine offers information on learning disabilities, learning disorders, attention 

deficit disorder, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dysnomia, speech 

disorder, reading difficulties, special education, parenting, teaching, psychologists, 

pediatricians. The Down Syndrome site informs about symptoms, treatments, causes and 

incidence.. 

Drugs 

For information about drugs, check http://www.links2go.com/more/http: 

/www.drugtext.org/. It offers an abundance of links to information about drug abuse, 

drug dependence, and about drugs like Amphetamines, Cannabis, Cocaine/Crack, 

Ecstasy, Ketamine, LSD, Nitrites/Poppers, Opiates/Heroin, Solvents, Steroids, 

Tranquillizers. 

Emotional support 

There are over 200 resources on the Internet offering emotional support. Areas covered 

include Abuse, Addiction, Anxiety and panic, Attention Deficit, Broken Relationships, 

Divorce, Depression, Loneliness, Obsessive Compulsive, Personality Disorders, 

Schizophrenia, Low Self Esteem, Suicide, etc. Examples 

The Panic Anxiety Page 

healthfinder (in Spanish and English) 

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention 

If you are already addicted to the Internet, click for "Netaholics Anonymous." 

Getting old 

Ageing is focused at http://alpha.genebee.msu.su/agenews.html. The page has links to 

bionet.molbio.ageing, sci.life extension, and archives of old postings at BIOSCI/bionet. 

The Alzheimer's disease What's New page brings summaries of the most recent 

research and news updates. The Arthritis page is set to help people manage 

osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and the many different forms of this disease. 

Ageline is a database produced by the American Association of Retired Persons. It 

does an excellent job covering research about older persons, particularly on consumer 

issues and health care, by summarizing journal articles and the contents of other 

published reports. 

While our "face to face" world sometimes makes it difficult for older people to 

participate in discussions between young people, this is not the situation in the online 

world. All people are treated the same way. It is impossible for others to know your age, 

unless someone tells them. 

Getting fertile 

The Atlanta Reproductive Health Centre informs about women's health issues such as 

infertility and endometriosis. An online book for couples describing infertility treatment 

7 of 12 23.11.2009 15:45


is included. A photo gallery illustrates various problems that result in pelvic pain and 

infertility. Various surgical treatments are shown. Text and graphics explore the latest in 

high tech fertility options. 

Headache 

ACHE Understanding Headache is worth a visit for sufferers. Understanding the 

problem is the first step towards solutions. 

The Migraine page provides answers to: What is a Migraine Headache? How is it 

treated? 

Herpes 

"In the U.S. alone, an estimated 40 million adults have genital herpes, and 50 million 

might have oral herpes (cold sores)," said the Herpes Education page. It covers 

symptoms, diagnosis, transmission, treatments, medications, self help, pregnancy, 

recurrences, current research, personal experiences, diet and nutrition, products, and 

have pointers to other Web sites. 

Also, visit http://www.racoon.com/herpes/ for more information and links on 

treatment, support, research. 

Complementary and alternative medicine 

The US National Institute of Health's OAM Complementary and Alternative 

Medicine (CAM) Citation Index consists of more than 90,000 bibliographic citations 

from 1966 to 1997, obtained from the National Library of Medicineís Medline database. 

Users may perform a search of the bibliographic data or browse through citations 

organized by CAM system, disease, or method. 

"Healthcare in India" offers Holistic Healing, a 20 part series on the ancient art of 

holistic healing and mind body integration. 

HOLISTIC L is dedicated to "providing information and discussion on holistic 

concepts and methods of living which provide a natural way of dealing with the 

challenges of life." Here are some topics dealt with in this forum: 

Various Dimensions of Holistic Healing and Health 

States of Consciousness 

Meditation and the role it plays in spiritual/physical health 

The impact of a healthy diet including Herbs and Vitamins 

Bodywork such as Rolfing, Trager bodywork, Reichian, etc. 

Acupuncture/pressure 

Hypnosis and Biofeedback 

Visualizations and Affirmations 

Spiritual Healing Psychic healing methods 

Bioenergetics 

The holistic connection between mind and body 

Honest discussion of topics relevant to personal/spiritual growth And 

anything else within context for the betterment of the world. 

The following message is typical: 

From: Helen Subject: Re: Asthma and Sinus Problems To: Multiple recipients of list 

HOLISTIC 

My condolences to fellow people allergic to cats. Cats and strawberries 

are two of the most allergenic substances. Behavorial changes have 

proven to be EVERYTHING to me. The techniques I've employed have 

helped many others. First, try sleeping at a 45 degree angle. This usually 

requires piling up pillows. The elevation of the head facilitates drainage 

from the sinuses. When the situation gets really bad, I've slept sitting up on 

8 of 12 23.11.2009 15:45


a couch or arm chair propped up by numerous pillows and cushions. This 

technique can take some getting used to, but, it works like a charm and is 

kinder to your system than drug therapy. 

Second, try "ephedra" tea. This is an herb found in Chinese herb shops. 

Ask the herbalist how to prepare it. 

I highly recommend the book "Natural Health, Natural Medicine" by 

Andrew Weil, M.D. of U of A Med School in Tucson. See pages 253 256 for 

more information on asthma. 

Fourth, stay hydrated. This means not only drinking PLENTY of 

fluids, but humidifying the house (that is if you are not also allergic to 

molds). 

Basic behavorial techniques are important....diet, exercise, etc. etc, 

...but this is the holistic network...I'm preaching to the choir... 

Finally, take heart! Being allergic to cats is not well received by cat 

lovers...often we're cat lovers ourselves. Depending on the breed of cat, 

there is a good chance you will eventually habituate to those you are 

around over the long term. Good luck, the advice about sleeping with your 

head significantly elevated is the best I have ever given out to fellow sinus 

problem sufferers. It really works!! 

Helen. 

+RPHR1HW D VHUYLFH RI WKH ,QVWLWXWH RI *OREDO &RPPXQLFDWLRQV ,*& LV IRU WKRVH 

interested in homeopathic medicine. The Homeopathic Internet Resource List is a 

catalogue of net resources on Homeopathy. 

Also, you may want to check these sites: 

http://www.people.virginia.edu/~pjb3s/ComplementaryHomePage.html 

http://www.cc.emory.edu/WHSCL/medweb.html 

http://www.healthwwweb.com/ 

http://dir.yahoo.com/health/alternative_medicine/ 

Islamic Medical Manuscripts is an illustrated, online catalog of essays on featured 

texts accompanied by thumbnail images, physical descriptions, provenance, and 

additional resources. 

Weight loss 

The Diet bflo mailing list is for the discussion of Weight Loss issues Sure, there is 

NO one way that is perfect for everyone, and the members share ups and downs and 

in betweens. 

List of health information resources 

Browse Internet Clinical Medicine resources, and check Medterms.com when you 

encounter an unknown medical term (classic or contemporary). 

The Michigan Electronic Library maintains some interesting links to resources 

such as Dictionary of English Medical Terms, Multilingual Glossary of technical and 

popular medical terms in nine European Languages, and A Dictionary of Alternative 

Medicine Methods. 

Medscape offers free searching of the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE 

abstracts database, and lots of information and news in full text for practitioners and 

health care consumers. 

OMNI is a gateway to Internet resources in medicine, biosciences, health care and 

health management. You can browse and search the comprehensive list of United 

Kingdom resources or the best resources from around the World. 

At http://www.people.virginia.edu/~pjb3s/Acupuncture.html, you'll find a 

comprehensive list of acupuncture links. 

Here are some resources that may be of interest to people not working in the health 

9 of 12 23.11.2009 15:45


profession: 

ALLERGY About all types of human allergies how allergies influence 

our health and lifestyles, treatments for allergies from the 

consumer perspective and experience, self help prevention 

of allergy symptoms, allergy self care, allergy support 

systems, and basic facts. Related topics also include hives, 

sinusitis, asthma, itches, eczema, rashes, sinus, nasal and 

respiratory difficulties, mastocytosis, etc. 

AMALGAM 0HUFXU\ 3RLVRQLQJ IURP 'HQWDO $PDOJDP 

BEHAVIOR Behavioral and Emotional Disorders in Children. 

HERB Medicinal and Aromatic Plants discussion. Make sure you 

also visit http://sunsite.unc.edu/herbmed for databases 

containing a wealth of interesting information. 

SPORTPSY Exercise and Sports Psychology. 

talk.abortion About abortion. 

MALARIA a forum for anyone wishing to ask, preach, or communicate 

on the general subject of malaria. 

These mailing lists often save all messages in log files, and let you search these files for 

topics of interest. Thus, they are both living discussion forums and interesting searchable 

databases! 

Mednews is a weekly electronic newsletter. Its columns bring regular medical news 

summaries from USA Today, Center for Disease Control MMWR, weekly AIDS 

Statistics from CDC, and more. 

The World Health Organization provides access to world health statistics, WHO 

press releases, full text of selected WHO publications and more . 

You can easily find where to find information about different health topics 

provided by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) by using the irsearch service at 

http://search.info.nih.gov/. 

Other health related links 

The MEDLINEplus Medical Encyclopedia contains over 4,000 articles and medical 

images organized in eight topical sections: Disease, Injury, Nutrition, Poison, Special, 

Surgery, Symptoms, and Tests. 

The Ear, Nose, and Throat Manual offers general information regarding some of 

the more common diseases in ear, nose, throat such as: ear infections, ear tubes, tinnitus, 

nasal obstruction, rhinitis, nosebleeds, sinusitus, sinus surgery, endoscopic sinus surgery, 

septoplasty, tonsillitis, adenoid hypertrophy, tonsillectomy, snoring, adenoidectomy, 

obstructive sleep apnea, uvulopalatopharygoplasty, hoarseness, head and neck cancer . 

AllAllergy.net is a metasite of resources on allergies, asthma and food intolerance. 

The ChiMed webpage functions as a clearinghouse for scholars who study the 

history of medicine in China. 

CYSTIC L is a free email service dedicated to the exchange of information and 

support specific to cystic fibrosis. An extensive Cystic L Handbook is available on line 

(contains much CF information, and references to other CF resources. 

Information about the Hepatitis B Information and Support List can be found at 

http://hbv.web page.net. 

Multiple sclerosis MS is the site of the International MS Support Foundation. 

Hundreds of articles and links. For those with MS, their family, and friends. Also, check 

this portal to MS information. 

Diarrhoea: http://www.bdf.org.uk/leaflets/diarrhoe.html. Medline Plus has a 

comprehensive psoriasis resource. 

The US National Center on Sleep Disorders Research (NCSDR) offers information 

on sleep disorders and related resources for both the general public and the scientific 

community. Talkaboutsleep.com is an Internet sleep information community providing 

10 of 12 23.11.2009 15:45


information about sleep and sleep disorders with chat support, and message boards, and 

articles. 

Many additional health and medicine links: http://www.HealthAtoZ.com/ 

The Disability and Medical Resource Directory covers disability products, medical 

products and resources for the disabled, elderly, caregivers and healthcare providers. 

Smoking 

The No Smoke Cafe supports people recovering from addiction to cigarettes. It is for 

anybody with an interest in quitting smoking or in helping others quit. The NOSMOKE 

mailing list is for "support to people who want to quit smoking cigarettes, cigars or stop 

using smokeless tobacco products. It is for people who want to quit, are already quit, 

or anyone supporting a significant other who would like to quit." 

(Avoid Usenet's alt.smokers about "Puffing on tobacco," Cigarsoft.com, and the 

Cigar Intelligence Agency. 

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has their Web 

home page at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/nhlbi/nhlbi.htm For comprehensive information 

about cardiology, coronary care, angioplasty, heart attack, stroke, vascular disease, 

tachycardia, angina, cholesterol, blood pressure, heartburn, atherosclerosis, 

hypertension, see http://www.hearthome.com/. 

Red Cross and Red Crescent 

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has a presence at 

http://www.ifrc.org/. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is at 

http://www.icrc.ch. 

Computers and health 

Oh, yes! Almost forgot Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI). You may know it as typing 

injury. Start by browsing The Typing Injury FAQ document, then follow the leads. 

The RSI Newsletter is for people who suffer from keyboard related injuries. It is 

regularly posted to the SOREHAND mailing list, for Discussion of Carpal Tunnel 

Syndrome, Tendinitis, etc. 

There is a Chronic fatigue syndrome / Myalgic encephalomyelitis Web page, an 

interesting Carpal Tunnel Syndrome page, and a Co Cure mailing list "the Chronic 

Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Information Exchange." 

If you have even the slightest pain in your arm or shoulder that could be related to 

your use of a computer, check out these leads. Personally, I lingered too long, and it 

took me over nine months to be reasonably well again. 

Act now! 

The Visible Man 

For 3 dimensional digitized images of the human body, point your browser at 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html. Beware! While these 

pictures are very interesting, they are also big. You may also want to try Human 

Anatomy On line. 

If you need more, visit Galaxy Net's Medicine page. It contains several subject 

areas as well as powerful search engines tied to specialty and subspecialty areas. Galaxy 

searches Internet documents and offers listings tied to specialty areas and topical 

interests. 

| [Next | Back | Top of page | Index | Expanded index | Register | 

Search: 

11 of 12 23.11.2009 15:45




Updated at May 4, 2003. 


12 of 12 23.11.2009 15:45

Electronic mail, telex, and fax http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/7.html 


Chapter 7: 

Electronic mail, telex, and fax 

Email for free 

Sending email 

Mail through the Internet 

Finding a friend's email 

address 

Directories of 

subscribers and services 

Domain name addressing 

Non Latin characters 

(The extended character 

set) 

Anonymous mail 


Things Take Time! 

Returned mail 

How do I know my message 

is received? 

Receiving email 

Attachments 

Web links in messages 

Privacy 

Junk mail (spam) 

Managing your mailbox 

Changing your email 

address 

Using two or more 

mailboxes 

The Traveller's Dream 

Replying 

Email: When everything 

fails 

Hints 

Web by email 

Some old stuff 

Bang addressing 

cc:Mail gateways 

Email to Fax 

Email to Telex 

When the recipient is using 

another mailbox system 

X.400 addressing 

FidoNet 

For more information 

Electronic mail is the most popular application of online services, and its usage is 

growing at a phenomenal rate. 

Way back in 1994, BIS Strategic Decisions (USA) forecasted over 25 billion email 

messages for the coming year, more than twice the number for 1992. By one estimate, 

over a trillion email messages were sent during 1996. 

Oh, well. Messaging Online reported 891.1 million email accounts globally at 

year end 2000, up 67 percent on the previous year. Over 451 million of the total for 

2000 were outside the US. In the early 1990s, there were 15 million email accounts in 

the world. At the end of 2000, IDC Research estimated that 10 billion emails were being 

sent every day. 

If a given email service charges you US$30 per hour, it will cost you a meager 

US$0.075 to send one typewritten letter (size A 4, or around 2,200 characters). On the 

Internet, the cost is almost negligible for most users. See Chapter 15 for a breakdown of 

1 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


this cost. 

If you live in Norway, and send the letter by ordinary mail to a recipient in 

Norway, postage alone is US$0.63 (2001). The cost is seven times higher than when 

using email through a commercial email host. Using the Internet, the postal charges are 

ridiculously high. 

To send the same letter from Norway to the United States by ordinary mail will 

cost 11 times more than commercial email. The letter takes several days to reach the 

destination, while email messages arrive almost instantly. 

You can send email to several recipients in one operation without paying extra for 

the pleasure. Compare with the costs of sending to several recipients by fax! 

You do not have to buy envelopes and stamps, fold the sheet, put it into the 

envelope, and bring it to a mailbox. Just let the computer send the letter. 

The recipient does not have to sit by the computer waiting for your mail. It will be 

automatically stored in his electronic mailbox. He can read it when he has time. 

The recipient can print it locally. It will be a perfect document, no different to one 

typed locally. He can correct, make comments, and email it onwards to a third party. In 

this way several people can work jointly on a report. There is no need for you to re type 

the text from scratch. 

When you receive several messages, you can quickly create replies to them one at 

the time at your keyboard, and send them in one go. No need to feed five different 

pieces of paper into a fax machine or envelopes for five different people. 

Where you can find a telephone, you can also read mail. In most countries, 

communicating by email is easy and economical. 

The simple but miraculous thing about email is that you can easily and exactly 

quote the point to which you are replying. It is truly a revolution in communication. 

Some online services have a limit on the size of your mailbox. If you 

receive a lot of mail, you must regularly read and make room for new. If 

your mailbox is full, new mail may be rejected without warning. You may 

never know that a person tried to reach you. Select a service that has room 

for all your mail! 

A special warning to those with their email programs set to "Leave mail on 

server", and "Skip messages over xx K in size". Unless you regularly delete 

mail from server, your mailbox will become full without you even knowing 

the reason! 

Email for free 

Many services on the Internet will let you do email for free or almost free in 

exchange for the right to put an advertisement on every page you read. Here's some 

popular US providers: Hotmail , USA.NET , RocketMail, MailCity , Juno, 

MailExcite, iName. 

They let you read mail using a standard web browser. All you need is access to the 

web, at a library, at school, at work, on an airport, an Internet cafe. Anywhere. You get 

email without having to pay for an account with an Internet Service provider! 

HushMail uses a Java applet to encrypt (with 1,024 bit encryption) and decrypt 

messages sent between users with HushMail accounts. 

Hint: Most these services require that you must be connected to the net while 

reading and replying . Those using a dial up modem, may find this expensive. Outlook 

Express as of version 5.0 lets you read and reply to mail offline ("web mail"). You dial 

up to send and receivel, then hang up your phone. Read and reply at your own pace, and 

reconnect to send and check new mail when ready. 

If you insist on using a service where you must be connected to the net while 

reading and replying, select an international service if your main application is use while 

travelling abroad. Else, you will find it cheaper and easier to use a local service. To 

find a service, try the Free Email Providers Guide. 

Beware: Many email for free services will give you more disk space for your 

mailbox, but it will cost you. "No need," you might thing. However, you should think 

again. If you get a lot of spam mail, then a few days absence from your mailbox might 

2 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


fill it up. When full, mail to you will be rejected. You wouldn't want that, right? One 

solution is to pay for more space... 

How to send email? 

Many users just "talk" with an email program to send and receive mail. Internet users of 

programs like Eudora (my favorite) and Pegasus Mail may compose mail before calling 

the access service. They click on a "write new mail" icon, enter an email address, a 

subject, write the text, and click at Send. 

When all outgoing messages have been composed, they logon to the Internet. Their 

mail is sent in one batch, and incoming messages are simultaneously retrieved. 

Interaction with the online service is transparent to the user. Simple. Safe. Quick. Cheap. 

(see Chapter 16 about automatic email programs). 

CompuServe users of programs like OzWin or TAPCIS do it in a similar way, but 

they can also do it manually. Other systems require different commands to send email. 

On some Unix system, mail may be sent using the following type of commands: 

1. Type "mail presno@eunet.no". 

2. When the computer asks for "Subject:," enter "Hello, my friend!" 

3. 7\SH \RXU PHVVDJH RU VHQG D SUH SUHSDUHG WH[W 

4. When done, enter a period (.) in the beginning of a line, and the message is on its 

way. 

Though commands for sending email differ by system, the principle is the same. All 

systems will ask for an address, and the text of your message. On some, the address is a 

code, on others a name (like ODD DE PRESNO). The same applies to the email 

programs. 

Most systems and programs will ask for a Subject title, and let you send copies of 

your mail to other recipients (Cc:). 

Some let you send binary files as email. Binary files contain codes based on the 

binary numeration system. Such codes are used in computer programs, graphics pictures, 

compressed spreadsheets, word processed text files, and sound files. 

Some email programs let you send mail in web format (formatted in html). This lets 

you make your mails very beautiful, and you may include photos and clickable links to 

web pages in a practical way. 

Make sure the person you are writing to can receive such emails, or risk confusion 

at the other end. Also, when including links to web pages, be careful about punctuation 

especially periods right after a web address. Include a space before the punctuation, or 

risk that the program at the other end thinks that that last period after the URL is part of 

the URL. Also, you should also include the http:// part of the web address. 

Example: You want to write: "You are adviced to look up www.kidlink.org." Write: "Your 

are adviced to look up http://www.kidlink.org ." 

To make sure everything comes across fine, always put URLs on a separate line. Some 

URLs are so long that they will get split into two lines in your message. To increase the 

chance that a long URL will be interpreted by the other person's program, it may help if 

you put the link in brackets (), as in . 

Mail through the Internet 

Internet's core network has gateways for electronic mail to systems on many other 

networks. When we include these systems and their connections, we call it the Matrix, 

or WorldNet (more at Appendix 1). 

If you read this handbook, you probably already have access to the net. If you 

want to check your options, take a look at the links in the appendix "Services offering 

access to Internet". 

If you are on the Matrix, you can send email to users on networks like UUCP, 

CompuServe, MCI Mail, EcoNet, PeaceNet, ConflicNet, GreenNet, Pegasus, 

AppleLink, Alternex, UUNET, PSI, Usenet, FidoNet and many others. 

3 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


When people talk about this phenomenon, they often refer to it as "Internet mail," 

even if they are just using the Internet as kind of a telephone exchange. 

Let us take a closer look at the art of addressing mail through the Internet and the 

Matrix. 

Finding a friend's email address 

The best method of finding a friend's email address is usually to call your friend and ask. 

Many people have several mailboxes. Only by asking will you find out which mailbox is 

being used! 

So, you don't know the telephone number? Try http://www.contractjobs.com/tel/. 

This site offers links to online telephone, fax, and business directories around the world. 

Sometimes, the information provided by a recipient is not enough. Maybe the 

address needs an extension for mail to be routed through gateways to the destination? 

Typically, the syntax of the address is wrong. Perhaps you made a mistake, when 

you wrote it down (KIDCAFE TOPICS became KIDSCAFE TOPICS). 

The return address in the received messages' mailer headers may be wrong. Yes, 

this happens surprisingly often. It may use a syntax that is illegal on your email system, 

or suggest a routing that is unknown to your system. When trying to send a reply to this 

address, the Mailer Daemon complains: "This is a non existent address." 

Again, the first person to contact for help is your local postmaster. On many 

Internet hosts, this is simple. If you have a mailbox on the ULRIK computer at the 

University of Oslo, send your request to postmaster@ulrik.uio.no . If you are on 

COLNET in Buenos Aires, send to postmaster@colnetr.edu.ar . 

POSTMASTER is also the address to turn to on BITNET. Users of FidoNet or 

RelayNet, write to SYSOP. 

There are hundreds of "whois servers" around the world. The systems 

whois.nic.ad.jp and whois.ripe.net cover Japan and Europe. Others provide information 

about local users. (For a list, see ftp://sipb.mit.edu/pub/whois/whois servers.list.) 

Note: You need to know the exact address of your recipient, and whether he is 

using this mailbox regularly. Many users have mailboxes that they use rarely or 

never. $OVR WKLQN RI WKH HDVLHVW ZD\ IRU D UHFLSLHQW WR UHVSRQG EHIRUH VHQGLQJ D PHVVDJH 

to him or her. 

Directories of subscribers and services 

While many hosts let you search lists of local users, no complete global directory of 

available electronic addresses exists! 

Several services on the Internet offer help. My favorite is the Usenet address 

database ,W LV DOVR DFFHVVLEOH E\ HPDLO WR mail server@rtfm.mit.edu. To query, put the 

following in the body of your text: 

send usenet addresses/[name searching for] 

The "name" should be one or more space separated words for which you want to search. 

Since the search is "fuzzy" (that is, all the words you specify do not have to match), you 

should list all words you think might appear in the address, including first and last name, 

possible username, and possible parts of the host name. The case and order of the words 

you list are ignored. (Send the command "send usenet addresses/help" to this address for 

more information.) Example: 

send usenet addresses/odd de presno 

X.400 systems use an address directory according to ITU TSS standard X.500 that 

connect several directories. The developers hoped that routing of X.400 messages may 

eventually be done automatically without the user needing to know the identity of the 

recipient's mailbox computer. However, it never became a big success. 

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) was introduced as an 

alternative to X.500 to become "the comprehensive Internet wide e mail address 

directories of the future". It is a subset of the Directory Access Protocol (DAP) used to 

4 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


build X500 based directories. 

Information contained in LDAP databases include vital data such as name and 

e mail address, and may include supplemental data including address, phone, fax, and 

even the person's public key which can be used to encrypt messages the user is sending 

them. For more information, see the LDAP home page. 

Supplement by checking the "How to find people's E mail addresses FAQ". 

Domain name addressing 

On the Internet, the general form of a person's email address is: 

user name@somewhere.domain 

My main, international Internet mailbox address is: 

presno@eunet.no 

Read the address from left to right. First, the local name of the mailbox (my name 

abbreviated). Next, there is sometimes the name of the mailbox system or another 

identification code (previously, I had "login" in this position of my mail address), 

followed by the name of the institution or company (here "EUnet, a Norwegian Internet 

provider), and finally the country ("NO" for Norway). 

People have sent mail to my mailbox from New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Guatemala, 

Peru, India, China, Greece, Iceland, and Armenia using this address. 

Some of them had to send their mail through a gateway to the Internet, and the 

address sometimes had to be changed accordingly: 

Users of AppleLink used presno@eunet.no@INTERNET# . Those on JANET used 

presno%login.eunet.no@eanrelay.ac.uk. On SprintMail, they used ("RFC 822": 

, SITE:INTERNET) . CompuServe subscribers used 

INTERNET:presno@eunet.no . (These procedures may have changed now!) 

The core of these address formats is "presno@eunet.no," in one way or the other. 

We call the core addressing format a Domain Naming System. "EUNET.NO" is a 

domain. The domain may also contain reference to the name of a company or 

organization, as in compuserve.com, twics.co.jp, or IGC.ORG. The .CO, .COM, and 

.ORG codes identify IGC, TWICS, and CompuServe as companies or organizations. 

To send mail from the Internet to my CompuServe mailbox, use (do not expect a 

reply, as I'm rarely there!): 

75755.1327@compuserve.com 

Normally, a domain address can only contain one @ character. When an address has to 

be extended with gateway routing information, replace all @ characters to the LEFT in 

WKH DGGUHVV E\ FKDUDFWHUV +HUH LV DQ H[DPSOH 

USER%SYSTEM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU 

The rightmost @ in this address is maintained. The one to the LEFT has been replaced 

with a %. The term ".BITNET" tells the gateway machine where to forward the 

message. 

The following used to happen with this address: First, the message was sent to 

system CUNYVM at the EDUcation site CUNY. CUNYVM investigated the address, 

and discovered that it was for BITNET. It cut off all text to the right of "USER," and 

replaced the % with an @. The message was forwarded to mailbox USER on the 

BITNET system SYSTEM. Replace USER and SYSTEM with your real addressing data. 

How to get a personalized domain name? 

If you're a small business, you may like to have a personalized 

domain name like the big ones. Microsoft uses microsoft.com, IBM uses 

ibm.com, HotBot uses hotbot.com, and it sure would be nice to have your 

own yourname.com. 

For cost efficient ways of getting a personalized domain name, check 

5 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


out the email for free services. USA.NET is one vendor. 

Non Latin characters 

"Foreign" characters, they call it in some places. Internet experts call it Extended 

Character Sets. Those of us with a regularly need to write or read in other languages 

than English, might simply call them The Challenge. 

In 1982, when email was defined, the decision was made to encode email in such a 

way that only 128 different characters letters, numbers, punctuation, and so on could 

be transmitted from one computer to another. We are still suffering from this decision! It 

means that many people have difficulty sending and receiving mails containing 

characters like ‰, Á, and ÿ, to mention a few. 

The good news is that there is a way of encoding data so that 256 different 

characters can be represented, called "quoted printable". 

The bad news is that the underlying transport is still limited to 128 different 

characters, so the email gets converted to the more limited set, transmitted, then 

(hopefully) converted back on the other end. If the receiving software doesn't know how 

to do quoted printable, the extended characters will show up as an equals sign and two 

letter/digit code as in this Spanish language text: 

Ah=ED van mis saludos y mis =E1nimos para ti y para todos los = argentinos. Sigo 

desde hace tiempo con preocupaci=F3n lo que pasa en = vuestro pa=EDs. Me 

sabe mal que tengais que pasar por =E9sto y me siento = impotente, sin saber 

qu=E9 hacer. No perdais la esperanza ni la = confianza en un futuro mejor. 

Finally, even if your friends' email programs know how to convert codes back to 

extended characters, different computers have different symbols for the same codes. For 

example, the trademark symbol, bullet, and "curly" quotation marks are all legal 

characters in both Windows95 and MacOS, but are in different places in the character 

set. For example, Windows thinks that character number 241 is a Ò, while the Mac 

thinks that character number 241 is a “. 

Anonymous mail 

Some day, you may want to send a message anonymously. Try Hushmail, designed by 

hackers for total security. The mail message's headers are gone. Nobody knows where or 

who you are. 

Internet's Anonymous re mailers will also let you do that. Check 

http://anon.efga.org/~rlist/rlist.html for a list of servers and directions. 

Then, visit the alt.privacy.anon server and alt.anonymous newsgroups for more on 

anonymous email. 

Things Take Time! 

How long does it take a message to get from Hyougo in Japan to Saltrod in Norway? To 

Dominique Christian in Paris? 

Sometimes, mail travels from mailbox to mailbox in seconds. This is usually so with 

messages from my mailbox in Norway to Dan Wheeler in U.S.A. and Mike Burleigh in 

London. 

Messages that must go through many gateways may take more time. How long it 

takes, depends on the degree of automation in the mail systems involved, and how these 

systems have been connected to the global matrix of networks. 

Speed is high if the computers are interconnected with fixed, high capacity lines. 

This was not so for my mails from Oslo to Dominique in Paris. Although the Paris is 

relatively close, mail was routed through a system in London, and then forwarded only 

once a day through a dial up connection. My mails usually took at least one day to reach 

the destination. 

6 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


Returned mail 

Once you have learned the basics of Internet mail, it is relatively easy. However, be 

ready for some glitches and hiccups due to incompatibilities between email systems, 

gateways, protocols, clients, etc. While this is not an "Internet problem" by itself, it will 

look like one. 

Returned mail is one of the results. When an email address is incorrect in some 

way, the mail system will bounce (route) the message back to the sender. Reasons may 

be that the system's name is wrong, the domain does not exist, or because there was 

some configuration problem on the receiver's end. This also happens if the receiver's 

mailbox is full. 

The most common error is addressing mail to a non existent account name or 

network address. For example, I have seen many users trying to send mail to 

LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU using LISTSERV@VML.NODAK.EDU. When the 

address is written in lower case letters, a user may easily interpret the number "1" in the 

address as the letter "l". Alas, the result is an error message. 

Let us construct an error when sending to LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU. Let us 

send a mail to "pistserv@VM1.NODAK.EDU" instead, which is a wrong address. 

The good news is that the returned message will include the reason for the 

bounce. Below, you will find the full text of the bounced message. It contains much 

technical information, and most lines have no interest. Also, the message is much larger 

than the original message, which contained three lines only. 

When browsing the bounced message, note that it has three distinct parts: [1] The 

mailer header of the bounced message itself (here, the 13 first lines), [2] The text of the 

error report (from line 14 until the line "Original message follows:"), and [3] the mailer 

header and text of your original message (as received by computer reporting the error): 

From MAILER@VM1.NoDak.EDU Fri Dec 18 12:54:03 1992 

Return Path: 

Received: from vm1.NoDak.edu by pat.uio.no with SMTP (PP) 

id ; Fri, 18 Dec 1992 12:53:54 +0100 

Received: from NDSUVM1.BITNET by VM1.NoDak.EDU (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) 

with BSMTP id 9295; Fri, 18 Dec 92 05:53:27 CST 

Received: from NDSUVM1.BITNET by NDSUVM1.BITNET (Mailer R2.07) 

with BSMTP id 3309; Fri, 18 Dec 92 05:53:26 CST 

Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 05:53:26 CST 

From: Network Mailer 

To: presno@eunet.no 

Subject: mail delivery error 

Status: R 

Batch SMTP transaction log follows: 

220 NDSUVM1.BITNET Columbia MAILER R2.07 BSMTP service ready. 

050 HELO NDSUVM1 

250 NDSUVM1.BITNET Hello NDSUVM1 

050 MAIL FROM: 

250 ... sender OK. 

050 RCPT TO: 

250 ... recipient OK. 

050 DATA 

354 Start mail input. End with . 

554 Mail not delivered to some or all recipients: 

554 No such local user: PISTSERV 

050 QUIT 

221 NDSUVM1.BITNET Columbia MAILER BSMTP service done. 

Original message follows: 

Received: from NDSUVM1 by NDSUVM1.BITNET 

(Mailer R2.07) with BSMTP id 3308; 

Fri, 18 Dec 92 05:53:25 CST 

Received: from pat.uio.no by VM1.NoDak.EDU 

(IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with TCP; 

Fri, 18 Dec 92 05:53:23 CST 

Received: from ulrik.uio.no by pat.uio.no with local SMTP (PP) 

7 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


id ; Fri, 18 Dec 1992 12:53:24 +0100 

Received: by ulrik.uio.no ; Fri, 18 Dec 1992 12:53:18 +0100 

Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 12:53:18 +0100 

From: presno@eunet.no 

Message Id: 

To: pistserv@VM1.NODAK.EDU 

Subject: test 

index kidlink 

The first part of the bounced message is usually of no interest. Hidden in the second 

part, you will find the following interesting line: 

554 No such local user: PISTSERV 

Ah, a typo! 

If your original message was long, you are likely to be pleased by having the complete 

text returned in the third part of the bounced message. This may allow you to solve the 

problem with a quick cut and paste, before resending to the corrected address. 

The text and codes used in bounced messages vary depending on the type of 

mailbox system you are using, and the type of system that is bouncing your mail. 

Above, MAILER@VM1.NoDak.EDU returned the full text of my bounced mail. 

Some systems just send the beginning of your original text, while others (in particular 

some X.400 systems) just send a short note telling the reason for the bounce. 

Note: If you don't understand why a message bounces, contact your local 

postmaster for help. Send him a copy of the full text of the bounced 

message up to and including the line "Subject:" at the bottom. (There is 

no need to send him the TEXT of your original message! Just the header 

information.) 

Returned due to error in contents 

When you write a message to a real person, you may usually write your text any way 

you want. However, not so when the recipient is a computer program, like a LISTSERV, 

or a World Wide Web by email server. 

Example: Often, users can fine tune the way they use electronic mailing lists by 

sending an email to some administering host computer. On LISTSERV based lists, the 

command "set kidlink index" may help fight information overload. However, the 

command should be written starting in your mail's line 1, column 1, If the text starts with 

something else, chances are that you will get an error message rather than the requested 

change of setup. 

Many users access the Internet through gateways from a company's internal mail 

system, and some of these mailers insist on adding extra information to the text, like in 

this Swedish example: 

Microsoft Mail v3.0 IPM.Microsoft Mail.Note 

Fr}n: Johan Svensson 

Till: TOW 

Ang}ende: Message headers 

Datum: 1994 07 23 19:39 

Prioritet: 

Brev ID: FE0257B9 

Konversation ID: FE0257B9 

If the mail system's administrator is unable or unwilling to let you send Internet mail 

without extra headers, then you may have problems. To get around it, check if it is 

possible to send your message as a file. 

How do I know my message is received? 

On some networks, it is outright impossible. On others, you can request that an 

automatic acknowledgement be returned, when your mail has been received. 

8 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


Internet users can often have their mailer add a Return Receipt To:


you in the process. 

Privacy 

The level of online privacy differs by network, service, and application. Whatever a 

service may claim, always expect that someone, somewhere, can watch, even record. 

All mailbox services have at least one person authorized to access your personal 

mailbox in case of an emergency. Most of the time, they do not have a right to read your 

mail without your permission, but they can. 

In some countries, mailbox services may let outsiders (like the police) routinely 

read your private email to check for 'illegal' contents. Here, email is not safer than 

ordinary mail. 

The good news is that most 'inspectors' and 'sysops' are good, honest people. On the 

other hand, it is useful to know the situation. 

It is not safe to send sensitive information (like credit card details) by private 

electronic mail. True, the chance of an outsider getting hold of and take advantage of 

such information is very small, but it is not safe. 

On the Internet, it is child's play for someone to intercept your mail. The typical 

email message travels through many computers. At each computer, people may access 

your personal and business correspondence. 

On the other hand, with so much mail traveling the network, it is highly unlikely 

that they will, but they can. 

Encrypt your email to protect sensitive information. Encryption will also 

guarantee the identity of the sender of a message, a most useful attribute 

when financial transactions are involved. 

The PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) software has become the Internet standard for 

encryption of email and files so snoops cannot read them. For more information on 

encryption, check 

http://world.std.com/~franl 

http://www.isoc.org/internet/issues/encrypton/ 

http://www.chem.swin.edu.au/~graeme/pgp.html 

Sometimes, we need to be certain that a message was written by the sender quoted in the 

mail's message header. As it is child's play to send an Internet message carrying other 

people's return email address, and name, you may want to use PGP to make sure the 

correspondence is authentic. 

For this reason, be very skeptical if you ever get a message purportedly from your 

Internet access provider telling you to change your password to "k00l/d00d!" 

One simple trick to check if correspondence is authentic: If in doubt, investigate the mailer 

header. It shows step by step how an incoming mail has travelled through the net, with a time 

stamp at each level. If it seems to come from somewhere else, be sceptical. You will not be 

able to track all jokers in this way, just the more obious cases. 

Privacy is also a concern when talking in the open. Always assume that someone is 

recording all that is being said in online conferences, chats, and other interactive social 

gatherings. In chats, anyone using a personal computer as a terminal can log the 

conversation, or use screen dump to capture 'interesting parts'. 

Many PC users can scroll back the screen. They can wait and decide whether to 

save the conversation in a file until after the conversation has taken place. With these 

capabilities widely available, users of chats and talk should always assume that their 

conversations are being recorded. 

Do not say indiscreet things in small, informal discussions. Others may record and 

repost it under embarrassing circumstances. An unauthorized forward of your private 

correspondence is extremely easy, and completely outside your control! 

Some people routinely use anonymous remailers when sending email to Usenet 

newsgroups or persons to make sure that the recipient (and snoops) cannot tell their real 

name or email address. Personally, I never use these services, but note that some do. 

10 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


You may be at the receiving end. For more on anonymous mail, check out the 

alt.privacy.anon server newsgroup. 

The files RFC 1113 through 1115 are about 'Privacy enhancements for Internet 

electronic mail'. 

Usenet has alt.privacy (Privacy issues in cyberspace), alt.security.pgp, 

comp.society.privacy, comp.security.pgp.announce, comp.security.pgp.tech, 

comp.security.pgp.discuss, comp.security.pgp.resources, and more. 

Junk mail 

Junk mail, also called spam, is one of the curses of modern society. Spam is email 

messages that you never asked for, unsolicited commercial mail distributed to many 

people simultaneously. Typically, they contain advertising of some product, service, 

business, scheme, Web site, etc. Sometimes, such mail promote political ideas. 

Junk mail takes time to retrieve, browse, and delete, one by one. It distracts. For 

some, it may grow out of proportions, and become a major nuisance. Most users must 

pay to receive it, to a local phone company or an Internet service provider. 

What to do? If you get on someone's mailing list, you can ask the sender to take 

you off that list. This may help a little, but not much! There are too many spammers out 

there. Besides, now the unscrupulous sender will know that your address is valid, and 

you will undoubtedly received more of the same! 

Personally, I delete them, and keep quiet. My communications costs are low, and it 

takes too much effort to get off that list. 

Others go a long way to protect themselves by being wary of giving out their email 

addresses, and of subscribing to newsgroups and mailing lists. However, sadly enough, 

the only 100 percent effective method is to close your mail account, and open another 

one. Then you should safe, but only for a while... 

If you're at all active on the net, your address will be picked up by spammers. It's 

so easy! Programs like Email Magnet can scan Web sites, newsgroups, and chat 

channels to retrieve any string looking like an email address. 

When you buy online or ask for information about something, your email address 

usually ends up in a database. Many online vendors sell their collection of addresses to 

others with information about what browser you are using, the domain you are calling in 

from, etc. Others consolidate your data with information from hundreds of other 

databases, each having some other bits of information about your use of the net, 

preferences, buying habits, etc. 

List brokers offer megabytes of lists or CD ROMs full of addresses to anyone 

willing to pay. Organizations and individuals offer to send spam mail to names in their 

private databases. For a fee, of course. 

Filtering is option. Most modern email programs have a filtering function that lets 

you automatically send spams to Trash. They'll filter out mail from given senders, and if 

they find certain strings in the subject title or the body of the text. 

Example: Some dangerious virus distribution schemes are set to send dangerous code in 

seemingly empty messages. They exploit a hole in the way .html is being displayed in email 

messages. 

To delete mails that are obiously hostile, I let my email program (Eudora Pro) search 

the body of the incoming mail for the string , and send them 

directly to trash. 

Another filter searches headers of incoming mails for aol.com (some hostile mails 

have this in common), and marks mails containing this string red in the list of incoming 

mails. In this way, it is easy for me to delete mails that are evidently unimportant, or if 

needed, to investigate their contents in a more careful way. 

Finally, consider using non Microsoft email programs like Pegasus Mail or Eudora 

Lite (both are free. This will make you less exposed to these risks. Don't open unlikely 

looking mail, like a message from the tax man with the subject "I love you". It almost 

certainly contains the infamous "I love you" virus. Don't forget that you can get viruses in 

attached Microsoft Word documents, too. 

Spam stoppers are used to prevent hostile software to pick up your email address from 

Usenet newsgroup. A spam stopper is additional characters that makes your address 

invalid while making it possible for real users to find out what your real address looks 

11 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


like. 

Example: One of my addresses used to be presno@grida.no. By instructing my news reader 

to show it as presno@remove this bit for my real address, the information is made useless 

for spam software. 

Note: You are making it difficult for those you talk with when doing this. I wouldn't. 

You can also buy mail related utility programs, like MailJail, a mail filtering add on for 

the Eudora email programs. It's first release came with 250 rules to help thwart spam 

mail. 

Some users even join initiatives like the SPAM Filter, a free register of people who 

do not want to receive junk mail. It aims at using their list to filter their addresses against 

addresses collected by programs such as Floodgate (which automatically builds mailing 

lists from newsgroup ostings). 

Others report the incident to the spammer's Internet service provider (ISP). If you 

do, make sure to save the original email message with all headers intact. The email 

header is the part of the message that shows where the message originated. While your 

email program may not be set to display email headers, most programs let you do it. 

Generally, ISPs will not take action against one of their accounts without proof of the 

origination of the spam. They often require the original spam message to be forwarded to 

them before they will take any action, with the email header included. 

Then, there is HTML email. These permit inclusion of illustrations in messages, 

thus forcing a call to get them from a remote site when the mail is opened. When it does, 

the remote site will be able to record your email address, know if you have indeed 

opened (read?) the message, and your current IP address. The sender of the message 

may also be able to set a cookie in your browser, and thus identify you the next time you 

visit their site... 

The good news is that some email clients, like Eudora Pro, allows you to prevent it 

from automatically downloading HTML graphics. Recommended, and in particular if 

you're using modem. 

Finally, Whenever you subscribe to an email based mailing list, save the welcome 

message that the service returns on your disk. These messages usually contain 

information about how to get off the list if the volume should become too high. You may 

find it easier to consult these files than try to get off by writing the mailing list 

administrators. 

There's a FAQ on spam, a SPAM L mailing list, hints on reading email headers, 

and a tutorial for those in search for more. 

Purportal.com lets you search five of the most well known sites dedicated to 

setting the record straight: Snopes Urban Legends Archive, About.com Urban Legends, 

CIAC Hoax Database, CERT Computer Security Database, and Symantec (Real) Virus 

Encyclopedia. Last, but not least, there are a number of laws against spam. 

Managing your mailbox 

If you receive a large volumes of email, it becomes important to organize your mailbox 

to handle the most important mails first. Here are some hints: 

Consider using filters (message rules) to automatically move incoming mails to 

logical folders of your choice. For example, if you work in sales, you may move 

messages to folders called New opportunities, Follow up, Internal, and Private. 

Then, consider how much time should be allocated to handling the mail in each 

folder. Spam and mail from new persons will not be moved, and thus easier to 

handle. In MS Outlook, you may do this by clicking at Organize, or by selecting 

Tools | Message rules. 

Another trick is to give each mail from a known sender an automatic color code. 

For example, mark all mails from customers with red, those from members of your 

family with green, and mails from your boss with blue. Mails from new persons 

will have no color, and easier to single out for handling. 

If your email program can handle it, consider making copies of all received mail to 

an archive mailbox of your choice. Personally, I keep all important mail on my 

12 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


disk dating back to 1990. It does not take much space, and allows you check 

history whenever needed. 

Changing your email address 

If you change your email address for any reason, you must take steps to ensure 

continued delivery of mail to your new address: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

Before cancelling your old account, send a change of address mail to all regular 

correspondents. There are two reasons for this: 

Some recipients use the filtering features of their email programs to block 

mail from unwanted addresses, and this may include all unknown people. 

Write immediately to make sure your mails are not discarded. 

Maintaining two email accounts simultaneously, even for a short transitional 

period, may be a hassle unless you use an email program that can deal 

with several accounts automatically (like Eudora Pro). 

Note: If you maintain two email accounts simultaneously, it is very 

important to set your client so that all new mail originates from your new 

address! So that people can send reply messages to the correct address. 

Consider to send the change of address message at three different times: 

1. As soon as your new account is operational. 

2. A reminder to anyone who sends mail to your old address during the 

transition period.. 

3. At the end of the transition period. 

Attach a change of address message to your customized signature file (if you use 

one) at the end of all email that you send. 

Before you cancel your old account, change your subscription to any automated 

mailing lists in accordance with the list's particular instructions. 

Use your old account to send the SIGNOFF command to unsubscribe from 

the list. This will save you trouble. If it is too late, you may have to write to 

the moderator of the list and ask her to sign you off manually. 

Use your new account to resubscribe to the mailing list. 

Since some of the people who might want to send you email will not receive your 

change of address message, make sure that email address directories contain your 

new address. 

Make sure that all web pages that contain your email address are being updated. 

If you are maintaining web pages, and have your email at the bottom of the page, 

don't forget that these entries must also be updated. 

If you have ever sent a message to a Usenet newsgroup, send another one (to any 

newsgroup). This will add your new address to databases being used to find 

Internet user addresses. 

Changing your email address is bothersome, so some users prefer to hunt for a 

permanent email address. The traditional means is to reserve your own domain name. 

Once done, your email address can move to whatever Internet server hosts your domain. 

A cheaper alternative is provided by mail forwarding services like Pobox and 

NetBox. An even greater bargain may be the services providing email for free.. 

Using two or more mailboxes 

Many users have one mailbox for work and one or several mailboses for private use. 

Often, these resides on different Internet Service Providers' (ISPs) machines. 

Modern email software, like Outlook Express and Eudora, let you automatically 

check mail in all mailboxes in one go. All it takes is to dial into the net through one of 

your ISPs, and hit "Check new mail." You do not have to dial up each ISP individually. 

While this is easy, special attention must be paid to how you send mail. If you set 

the properties for your second email account as instructed by your ISP, you risk 

receiving error messages saying "Relay not permitted." This happens when an ISP (quite 

commonly) refuses to send mail from you if you are logged on to a different ISP. Only 

13 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


messages logged on to the ISP that owns the server will be allowed through. They do this 

WR SUHYHQW QRQVXEVFULEHUV IURP XVLQJ WKHLU VHUYHUV H J WR VHQG spam mail. 

The solve this problem, specifiy in the Properties dialog for the second email 

account that it is to use the first account's outgoing server (smtp server). (In Outlook 

Express, do this in Tools|Accounts|Properties.) 

Example: Usually, I use four different mailboxes for outgoing mail. When at home, 

I might be sending all mail from all mailboxes through the smtp server of the Tele2 ISP. 

When travelling, I often change to the smtp server of my Eunet Traveller account. 

Thus, the mail you receive from presno@eunet.no might have been sent from the 

Tele2 server. The fact will be recorded in the small details of the mailer header of my 

mail to you. 

Warning: You can do this because most outgoing mail servers (SMTP) do not 

require that you identify yourself by password when sending mail. Therefore, you can 

even send mail using a fake address, like Michael.Jackson@heavens.org. Also, it means 

that others can send mail using your name. So, if in doubt about mail you're receiving, 

check the mailer header to see where it comes from. If it comes from a different server, 

you may return a request for confirmation. As receipt of mail is password protected, the 

fake sender will not be able to reply. 

The Traveller's Dream 

Email for free services may appear to be the traveller's dream. They let you get to your 

email while travelling without the hassle of finding a local access point for your Internet 

provider, or buying from a local service. 

An even better solution is MailStart. Like the email for free services, everything 

is done by Web browser. Enter your email address (as in "presno@eunet.no"), and your 

login password (the one you normally use to get your mail when at home). MailStart will 

get your mail for you, and let you handle it in a safe way. 

You do not have to be concerned about using several email addresses for your 

mail. Replies to your mails will go to your main account, and not to an account that you 

may forget to check for incoming mail later. 

Check Xmail for an alternative. 

Replying 

On the Internet, electronic messages have a structure that is common across the 

network. On most systems, you can reply using a reply command. If this feature is not 

available, use the sender's address as given in the mail header. 

Note: Exercise caution when replying to a message sent by a mailing list 

(also called a distribution list). If you wish to respond to the author only, 

make sure that the only address you are replying to is that person's email 

address. If you are not careful, your mail will go to the entire list! 

A bounced message contains two mail headers: the header of your original message (in 

part three), and the header of the bounced message (in part one). 

The 'good' reply address is laid out in the 'From:' header. Thus, the message showed 

above contains the following two 'good' addresses: 

From: Network Mailer 

From: presno@eunet.no 

The Network Mailer located the second address line in the original message, and used 

this address when sending the bounced message. 

Note: there is no point in sending a message back to the service that sent 

you the bounced message, like MAILER@VM1.NoDak.EDU above. This is 

the address of an automatic mail handling program. Write to 

Postmaster@VM1.NoDak.EDU if you want to talk to a "real person" at this 

14 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


computer center. 

The exact order of a message's header may vary from system to system, but it will 

always contain the vital 'From:' line. 

Email: When everything fails 

Communications is simple when you master it. Occasionally, however, you WILL lose 

data. You may even experience the worst of all: losing unread mail on your hard disk. 

A while ago, this happened to my sister. She logged on to her mailbox service using 

the communications program Procomm. 

After capturing all mail, she tried to send a message. For some reason, the 

computer froze. It was impossible to close the capture file. She had to switch the power 

OFF/ON to continue. All retrieved mail was obviously lost. 

One day, I had a similar experience. After having written a long and difficult letter, 

something went wrong. The outfile was closed without warning. The resulting file size 

was 0 bytes. 

Both problems were solved by the MS DOS program CHKDSK run with the /F 

option. If you ever get this problem, and have an MS DOS computer, try CHKDSK or 

Scandisk. This may save your day. 

Hints 

Web by email 

Read about how to receive web pages by email in chapter 12. Chapter 11 presents some 

neat ways of receiving notifications by email about changes in web pages out there 

(including news). 

Some old tricks 

Bang addressing 

"Bang" is American for "exclamation point" (!). The UUCP network uses it in their 

variation of the domain addressing scheme. 

Example: User Jill Small on Econet in San Francisco used to have the address 

pyramid!cdp!jsmall . Read this address from right to left. The name of her mailbox is to 

the right. The name of the organization is in the middle. "Pyramid" is the name of the 

network. 

Note: The ! character has a special function on Unix computers. You may 

have to type the address as pyramid\!cdp\!jsmall to avoid unwanted error 

messages. The \ character tells Unix to regard the next character as a 

character, and not as a system command. You can also precede other 

problematic characters with \ in case of problems. 

Some email systems can use bang addresses directly. If your system is unable to handle 

them, then you must send these messages through a gateway. The American host 

UUNET is a frequently used gateway. If routing through UUNET, you may write the 

address like this: 

pyramid!cdp!jsmall@uunet.uu.net 

If your system refuses to accept exclamation points in addresses, try converting the 

address into a standard Internet address. Write the address elements in the Internet 

sequence (left to right). Replace the exclamation points with % s, like this: 

15 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


jsmall%cdp%pyramid@uunet.uu.net 

This method works most of the time. If it works, use this addressing form. Bang paths 

may fail if an intermediate site in the path happens to be down. (Most UUCP sites are 

registering Internet domain names now. This helps lessen the problem of path failures.) 

Some messages must be routed through many gateways to reach their destination. 

This is the longest address that I have used: 

hpda!hplabs!hpscdc!hp lsd.cos.hp.com!oldcolo!dave@uunet.uu.net 

It used to be the address of a user in Colorado, U.S.A.. Today, he can be reached using a 

much shorter address. 

If you are on UUCP/EUnet, you may use the following address to send email to 

Odd de Presno: 

eunet.no!presno 

Addressing international electronic mail sometimes looks like black magic. To learn 

more, read some of the books listed in Appendix 5. 

cc:Mail gateways 

Many Local Area Networks have been connected to the global Matrix of networks. 

CompuServe offers a cc:Mail gateway. Lotus cc:Mail is a PC Lan based email system 

used in corporate, government and other organizations. 

When sending from CompuServe Mail to a cc:Mail user through this gateway, a 

typical address may look like this: 

>mhs:pt support@performa 

To send to this user from the Internet through CompuServe's MHS gateway, write the 

address like this: 

pt support@performa.mhs.compuserve.com 

Other vendors of LAN gateways use different addressing methods. 

Email to Fax 

Some services let you send messages to fax machines, as telex, and as ordinary paper 

mail. 

On CompuServe, we replaced "Odd de Presno 75755,1327" with "FAX: 

4737030193". My fax number is +47 370 30193. Services and user interfaces change 

regularly, so it may not work like this today... 

The "How can I send a fax from the Internet?" FAQ is posted regularly to 

alt.internet.services, alt.online service, alt.bbs.internet, alt.answers and news.answers on 

Usenet. 

Email to Telex 

To send a telex, you'll need the recipient's telex number, an answerback code, and the 

code of the recipient's country. If the message is meant for telex number 871161147, 

answerback ZETO, and country Russia (country code 871), enter "TLX:871161147 

ZETO" at CompuServe. 

When the recipient is using another mailbox system 

When the recipient is using your mailbox service, writing addresses is simple. Not so 

when your email has to be forwarded to mailboxes on other online services through the 

16 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


Internet, X.400, or similar. 

A typical inter system email address consists of a user name, a mailbox system 

code, and sometimes also routing information. The problem is that there is no universal 

addressing format. Finding out how to write a given address may be surprisingly 

difficult. 

Some services are not set up for exchange of email with other services. 

If your favorite system lets you send mail to other services, make a note about the 

following: 

You may need to know how to rewrite the recipient's address to fit your system. 

For example, you may have to use a domain address to send through Internet, and 

a different form when sending through an X.400 network. 

The recipient's mailbox system may not be on a network that has an email 

exchange agreement with your system's network(s). Sometimes, you may have to 

use a commercial email relay service to get your mail across (see Chapter 9). 

You may need to know how to route a message through other systems to arrive at 

its destination. For example, mail from the Ulrik computer in Oslo for Dominique 

Christian on the Difer system in Paris (France) used to be routed through a center 

in London. 

Example: If you have problems sending email to me at the address 

presno@eunet.no, you may succeed by rewriting it as 

presno%login.eunet.no@listserv.nodak.edu . The message will go to 

listserv.nodak.edu, which will turn it into presno@eunet.no and forward it there. 

(More under Domain Name addressing.) 

While it may be easy to enclose binary files when sending to someone on your 

system, this may be impossible when sending across mailbox system boundaries. 

While it may be possible to send text containing embedded control codes and 

special language characters to users of your system, they may disappear when sent 

to people elsewhere. Your safest bet is to send your text as standard 7 bit ASCII 

text (see Appendix 4). It is the lowest common denominator between computers, 

software, networks, and users. 

Example: A user in Norway tried to send the Norwegian language line: "Jeg bor pÂ 

Karls¯y i Troms, Norge." The text was stored using Windows Latin1. The receiver 

got: "Jeg bor pe Kalsxy i Troms, Norge." Another user received the word "pÂ" as 

"p=E5." 

If you are using WordPerfect or Word for Windows on an MS DOS computer, 

consider storing your text as DOS text before sending. 

X.400 addressing 

X.400 is a standard for electronic mail developed by ITU TSS. It is used on some large 

private and public networks throughout the world. 

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) uses X.400 as a transport mechanism for 

coordination of electronic part ordering, stock control and payment. X.400 is used to 

connect EDI systems between companies and suppliers. 

The X.400 addressing syntax is very different from domain addressing. To send a 

message from an X.400 mailbox to my address (presno@eunet.no), you may have to 

write it like this: 

(C:NO,ADMD:uninett,PRMD:uninett,O:eunet,OU:login,S:presno) 

Alas, it's not so standard as the domain addressing schemes. On other X.400 networks, 

the address must be written in one of the following formats or in yet other ways: 

(C:US,A:Telemail,P:Internet,"RFC 822":) 

("RFC 822": , SITE:INTERNET) 

'(C:USA,A:TELEMAIL,P:INTERNET,"RFC 822":) DEL' 

(site: INTERNET,ID: ) 

"RFC 822=presno(a)login.eunet.no @ GATEWAY]INTERNET/TELEMAIL/US" 

S=presno/OU=login/ORG=eunet/P=uninett/C=no 

17 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


To send from the Internet to a mailbox I once had on a Norwegian X.400 host 

(Telemax), I had to use this address: 

/I=D/G=ODD/S=PRESNO/O=KUD.DATASEKR/@PCMAX.telemax.no 

To send from the Internet to Telemail in the US, I have used this (on one long line): 

/PN=TELEMAIL.T.SUPPORT/O=TELENET.MAIL/ADMD 

=TELEMAIL/C=US/@sprint.com 

If you must route your message through gateways, complexity increases. One 

Norwegian UUCP user had to use the following address to get through to me (on one 

long line): 

nuug!extern.uio.no!"pcmax.telemax.no! 

/I=D/G=ODD/S=PRESNO/O=KUD.DATASEKR/" 

To send from an X.400 system to my CompuServe mailbox, I have used the following 

address elements: 

Country = US 

ADMD = CompuServe 

PRMD = CSMail 

DDA = 75755.1327 

The addressing methods used on X.400 systems vary. Example: Some use the code 

C:USA rather than the ISO country code C:US. MCI Mail uses C:NORWAY, C:USA, 

and C:SWEDEN. 

Some important X.400 codes: 

C WKH ,62 FRXQWU\ FRGH RQ PRVW VHUYLFHV 

ADMD domain code for public system (abbreviation A) 

PRMD domain code for connected private system (abbreviation P) 

O organization name 

OU organization unit 

S surname (last name) 

G given name (first name) 

I initials (in the name) 

DDA domain defined attributes, keywords defined and used by the individual 

systems to specify mailboxes (user name, list, station, user code, etc.), direct 

delivery devices (attention name, telex addresses, facsimile, etc.) 

PN personal name 

(a) the character @ cannot be used when routing messages 

from X.400 to Internet. Try (a) instead. 

(p) the character % cannot be used when routing messages 

from X.400 to Internet. Try (p) instead. 

(b) the character ! (used in "bang" addresses). 

(q) the character " used in email addresses. 

RFC 822 this code tells X.400 that an Internet domain address follows. Does not work 

on all X.400 systems. (See http://info.internet.isi.edu/in notes/rfc/files 

/rfc822.txt) 

The space character (ascii 032) is a special challenge. Some services let you replace it 

with an '_' character. If the X.400 gateway supports MIME, you may use the 

hexadecimal code (=20) as specified in RFC1341 (see "quoted printable"). If you do, 

remember to replace the '=' character with =3D, as in '/S=3DPRESNO' (instead of 

'/S=PRESNO'). 

Addressing mail from the Internet to/from X.400 is difficult, unless the mailer 

header of a received message gives the senders address in the proper addressing format. 

To set up an email link between an Internet and an X.400 mailbox, start by trying 

18 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


to send an email from either mailbox to the other. If one of them succeeds, then the 

mailer header of the received message may explain how to send a reply. 

Example: This is a typical Internet mailer header on a message received from an 

X.400 service: 

From MSGSUPPORT@smc tm22.sprint.com Thu Oct 27 02:44:55 1994 

Return Path: 

Received: from sprintf.merit.edu (sprint.com) by grida.no with SMTP 

id ; Thu, 27 Oct 1994 02:44:52 +0100 

Received: from sprint.com by sprintf.merit.edu (8.6.5/merit 1.0) 

id VAA01624; Wed, 26 Oct 1994 21:45:12 0400 

X400 Received: by mta merit in /PRMD=internet/ADMD=telemail/C=US/; 

Relayed; Wed, 26 Oct 1994 21:44:54 0400 

X400 Received: by /ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/; Relayed; Wed, 26 Oct 1994 

21:41:29 0400 

Date: Wed, 26 Oct 1994 21:41:29 0400 

X400 Originator: MSGSUPPORT@smc tm22.sprint.com 

X400 Recipients: non disclosure:; 

X400 Mts Identifier: [/ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/;UGJE 6721 7167/27] 

X400 Content Type: P2 1984 (2) 

Content Identifier: VL72373 27 

From: MSGSUPPORT@smc tm22.sprint.com 

Message Id: 

To: PRESNO@GRIDA.NO 

Subject: RE: HELP 

Here, it is simple. Both the Return Path line and the From: line have the correct Internet 

address. 

If the mailer header does not contain such information, converting the X.400 

addresses into a RFC 822 addresses may well be regarded as a black art. Also, note that 

you cannot send email from the Internet to all X.400 users on the globe. Some gateways 

DUH RQO\ DFFHVVLEOH IURP FRPPHUFLDO VHUYLFHV 

For example, continued attempts to send from an Internet mailbox in Norway to an 

X.400 address in a Nigerian company failed, while mail to/from CompuServe worked 

well. 

FidoNet 

Users of this network can send and receive mail to/from the Internet. For example, a 

FidoNet user may use the following method to send to my Internet address: 

Send the message to user UUCP at 1:105/42. The first line of the TEXT of 

the message should contain: 


Add a blank line after the address before entering the text of your message. 

FidoNet addresses are composed by three or four numbers; 

zone:net/node 

or 

zone:net/node.point 

The FidoNet address 1:105/42 has three elements. "1:" tells that the recipient lives in 

Zone number 1 (North America). 105/42 refers to Node number 42, which receives mail 

through Net number 105. This node has an automatic gateway to the Internet. 

Another example: Jan Stozek is sysop of "Home of PCQ" in Warsaw, Poland. The 

Node number of his BBS is 10. He receives mail through Net number 480. Poland is a 

country in Europe, Zone number 2. The address to his system is: 2:480/10. His user 

name is Jan Stozek. 

You can send an Internet message to anyone in FidoNet by using the following 

template (on one long line): 

19 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45


.@ 

p.f.n.z.fidonet.org 

Where is the person's first name 

is the person's last name 

To send a message from the Internet to Jan, use this address: 

Jan.Stozek@f10.n480.z2.fidonet.org 

One final example: Ola Garstad in Oslo has the FidoNet address 2:502/15. Use the 

address Ola.Garstad@f15.n502.z2.fidonet.org , when sending mail to him through the 

Internet. 

An updated list of global FidoNet nodes can be retrieved from most connected 

BBS systems. (More in Appendix 1.) 

For more information 

Start with the E Mail Resources, Reviews and Books page, then check the Beginner's 

Guide to Effective Email. 

The Inter Network Mail Guide describes how to send mail between mail systems 

like AppleLink, BITNET, CompuServe, Connect USA, EasyNet, Envoy, FidoNet, 

GeoNet, Internet, MCI, MFENET, NasaMail, PeaceNet, Sinet, Span, SprintMail, and 

others. 

It is posted monthly to the Usenet newsgroups comp.mail.misc and 

news.newusers.questions. 

Search it at http://alabanza.com/kabacoff/Inter Links/cgi/inmgq.cgi . It is also 

available by anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.csd.uwm.edu/pub/internetwork mail guide. 

The "Frequently Asked Questions: How to find people's E mail addresses" 

document is regularly posted to news.answers. (Retrieval information is given under 

FAQ in Appendix 6.) 


Search: 


copyrighted 2000 2 by Odd de Presno. 

Updated at April 3, 2002. 



20 of 20 23.11.2009 15:45

Free expert assistance http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/8.html 


Chapter 8: Free expert assistance 

[INDEX] [Expanded Index] [Search] [NEXT [BACK] 

Resources on the Internet 

For users of Microsoft Windows and 

DOS computers 

For owners of Amiga 

computers 

Apple users 

Other computers 

For journalists and 

authors 

Virtual Knowledge 

Communities 

Marketing 

Utilities 

It may sound too good to be true, but many computer experts are prepared to help YOU 

without expecting a cent in return. The same applies to experts in many other areas. 

You have an impossible decision to make. A lawyer has a dotted line that requires 

your signature, or a surgeon has a dotted line in mind for your upper abdomen. You're 

not comfortable with the fine print or the diagnosis and wonder if a second opinion is in 

order. Just ask to get help. 

If you have problems with a communications program, post a message in a suitable 

Usenet newsgroup, or on a bulletin board. This is also the thing to do if you want to sell 

equipment. Learn from other people's experiences with the computers and software you 

plan to buy. 

Chances are that you will get a reply if your subject or query attract attention. In 

the process, you'll meet new friends, and be able to follow the development in a dynamic 

marketplace. 

The following message from the alt.winsock newsgroup is typical: 

Wed, 14 Feb 96 14:57:18 EST 

From: Robert Donahue 

RE: FREQUENT DISCONNECTION OF PPP. NEED HELP!!! 

In article , 

bz418c@ttp.natp.gmeds.com says... 

>problem. But recently I have got a very strange problem: 

>I was disconnected every time after I got PPP connection 

>for a while. The disconnection happens most likely when 

>I was downloading a big file using Netscape or CuteFTP 

>(I can only get about 200KB before the line drops), but 

1 of 7 23.11.2009 15:46


>it also happens sometimes when I click on regular web 

pages. 

>This problem didn't exist before with the same software 

Sounds a little like a problem I had a while back. My modem would hang 

up the phone at random (usually during a big transfer). It turned out to be 

the bios in my modem. The early US Robotics 28.8K Sportster had a bug 

that would cause them to hang up instead of down shifting the baud rate 

when the phone line got cranky. I forgot the revision number of the bad 

bios. I had to get a new bios chip from US Robotics to fix the problem. I 

would never had known what the problem was if my service provider 

hadn't posted a warning. 

Bob D. 

Many users prefer open conference messages to private email for their technical 

discussions. This gives "the group" a chance to read, comment, provide additional facts, 

and return with new questions. 

One simple question may give an overwhelming number of responses, but most 

contributions are likely to be useful and educational. Since the discussion is public, 

consider it a feature of your personal online university. Offer opinions when you have 

something to contribute, or keep silent. 

Stop by a technical forum where beta testers and programmers hang out, and you'll 

probably get a concise, three sentence answer. Stop by a forum dedicated to helping 

users fire up a new product, and you may find long, chatty, but informative diatribes. 

Different forums. Different responses. 

In most conferences, some members are critical to "lurkers." A "lurker" is someone 

who read without ever contributing. Don't let them get to you. It is legitimate to remain 

silent. Most others are also there to watch and learn only. 

If you consider buying a newly released computer program, tune in to the section of 

your favorite online service that deals with products from this manufacturer. Count 

complaints and error reports before buying. 

When your new program has been installed on your system, return for other users' 

experiences and practical advice. Pay back your dues by reporting your own 

experiences in the process. 

Focus on conferences and newsgroup where many competent users hang 

out. There, you will usually get faster and better replies to your questions. 

Asking other users may be faster and better than searching. Complement 

by searching Google Groups (Chapter 10). 

If you have never visited a BBS, call one in your neighborhood to get a feel for how 

they work. Most of them can be accessed free. Usually, their only requirement is for a 

self presentation before being granted full access to their system. 

Most bulletin boards have conferencing and archives filled with shareware and 

public domain software. Many have files or bulletins listing telephone numbers of other 

boards in your country or area. 

The trick is to find know how. The larger the online service or conference, the more 

skilled people are likely to "meet" there regularly. If the local bulletin boards fail to 

satisfy your needs, try the Internet or some large commercial services. 

One exception: When you need contact with ONE particular person, who knows 

YOUR problem in detail, go where this person usually hangs out. 

For expert advice about how to use the Eudora email program, check out the 

comp.mail.eudora.ms windows (MS Windows), or comp.mail.eudora.mac (Macintosh) 

newsgroups. There are several online support forums for users of Eudora. 

The site at http://www.internetvalley.com/top100mag.html provides links to the top 

100 computer and software related Web magazines. 

Resources on the Internet 

2 of 7 23.11.2009 15:46


Usenet's Winsock based TCP/IP Application Software group contains: 

comp.os.ms 

windows.apps.winsock.mail 

comp.os.ms 

windows.apps.winsock.news 

comp.os.ms 

windows.apps.winsock.misc 

Usenet also has: 

Winsock based electronic mail 

applications and utilities 

Winsock based Usenet news readers 

and servers 

Winsock based applications other 

than news and email 

comp.os.msdos.mail news $GPLQLVWHULQJ PDLO DQG QHZV VRIWZDUH RQ 

Windows and MS DOS. 

comp.protocols.tcp 

ip.ibmpc 

Discussions about the use of TCP/IP on PC 

systems 

NETSCAPEWEBMASTER is a discussion list for Netscape Webmasters to trade tips, 

techniques, and other information. 

There's a range of mailing lists and newsgroups focusing on the Linux operating 

system. Check Linuxnewbie.org for experiences, tips, and tricks, and assistance, and 

more. 

For users of MS Windows and MS DOS computers 

Usenet has many newsgroups in the comp.os.ms windows and comp.os.msdos 

hierarchies. Those focusing on Microsoft Windows are usually divided into these groups: 

Setup and Installation, General (Windows 3.x, Windows 95, and Windows NT), 

Application Software, Winsock based TCP/IP Application Software, Software 

(Compatibility Issues), Networking, Programming and Software Development 

(Techniques, Development Tools, and Device Drivers), Visual Basic and Delphi Groups, 

Windows Archives (FTP and Web sites), and Other Related Groups. 

The Setup and Installation newsgroups are: 

comp.os.ms 

windows.setup.win3x 

comp.os.ms 

windows.setup.win95 

The Windows Archives newsgroups are: 

comp.archives.ms 

windows.announce 

comp.archives.ms 

windows.discuss 

Here are some other newsgroups to wet your appetite: 

comp.os.ms windows.pre 

release 

comp.os.ms 

ZLQGRZV DSSV FRPP 

There are many mailing lists, including: 

Questions and problems with setting up and 

configuring Windows 3.x 

Questions and problems with setting up and 

configuring Windows 95 

Announcements for new and/or updated 

Windows ftp/web sites, uploads to sites and 

other information. 

Discussions about Windows ftp/web sites. 

Discussion about unreleased and future 

versions of Windows 

&RPPXQLFDWLRQV DQG ID[ DSSOLFDWLRQV 

3 of 7 23.11.2009 15:46


The Windows 98 Give And Take List 

The Windows NT Discussion List 

WINDOWS NT mailing list (for users and administrators) 

The Windows 95 Give And Take List 

The MS Excel Question and Answer List: (EXCEL G) 

QBASIC for discussions of tips, tricks, and instructions related to the QBasic and 

QuickBasic programming languages. 

WPWIN L WordPerfect for Windows 

ACCESS L the Microsoft Access Database Discussion List 

Visual Basic Beginner's List and Visual Basic List 

ZDNet Updates.com is an excellent starting place to keep the software and drivers on 

your computer up to date. Windows 95 QAID offers interesting information, both on 

Windows 95 and Visual Basic. More interesting links: 

Windows information Technical resources and support to tweak, manage and 

secure the Windows operating system. 

Annoyances.org hints for Windows 95 and 98 users 

Windows Registry Guide (Windows 95, 98 and NT registry hints) 

FrontPage Technical Support Area offers 100+ pages covering Microsoft FrontPage 

Frequently Asked Questions, Active Server Pages, Databases, How To's and Tips, 

Problem Solving, and much more. 

The Microsoft Technical Support Knowledge Base offers access to tens of 

thousands of product support documents. Articles tell about new developments in 

software programs, and how to most effectively use a particular package. You can 

search by product name, and by keywords. 

SearchWin2000 is a portal for Windows NT/2000 Specific information offering 

news, technical tips, resources, a search engine, and more. 

Help.com offers tips and answers to a wide variety of computing questions. The 

core of the site is a collection of hundreds of thousands of questions and answers culled 

from Usenet newsgroups and submitted by users around the world. These are organized 

under these top headings: 

Hardware (Desktops, Notebooks, Motherboards) 

Software (Operating Systems, Business and Productivity, Graphics) 

Internet (Browsers, Email, Chat) 

Web Building (Web Development, HTML, Web Design) 

Consumer Electronics (Cell Phones, Digital Cameras, Audio) 

Games (Game Systems, Mac Games, Action) 

Many CompuServe forums are operated or sponsored by software and hardware 

vendors, like: Adobe Systems Inc., Aldus Corp., Ashton Tate Corp., Autodesk Inc., 

Borland International, Broderbund Software Inc., Buttonware Inc., Cadkey Inc., 

Crosstalk Communications, Customs Technologies, Enable Software, Datastorm 

Technologies Inc., Microsoft Systems, Nantucket Corp., Lotus Development Corp., 

Novell Inc., Peter Norton Computing, Quarterdeck Office Systems, Quicksoft, Sun 

Microsystems (TOPS Division), Symantec Corp., Toshiba, Turbopower Software, and 

WordPerfect Corp. 

They also have hundreds of independent support forums with associated libraries of 

files and programs. 

For owners of Amiga computers 

Usenet's comp.sys.amiga hierarchy has entries like advocacy, announce applications, 

audio, datacomm, emulations, games, graphics, hardware, introduction, marketplace, 

multimedia, misc, programmer, reviews and more. 

Exec PC has the Amiga Hardware and Amiga Software conferences, and a large 

library with shareware and public domain files. ILINK has the AMIGA conference. 

4 of 7 23.11.2009 15:46


Most online services have "Find this File" commands. The most powerful ones are 

often found on free bulletin boards. 

On CompuServe, type GO AMIGA to get to CBMNET. A while ago, we visited 

CBMNET to find a communications program. From the menu above, selection five took 

us to The Amiga File Finder service, and this menu: 

File Finder AMIGA 

1 About File Finder 

2 Instructions For Searching 

3 How to Locate Keywords 

4 Access File Finder 


(see http://support.info.apple.com/support/support.html). 

Usenet has several newsgroups, including: 

alt.sources.mac 

Source file newsgroup for the Apple Macintosh 

computers 

comp.sys.apple2 Discussion about Apple II micros. 

comp.sys.apple2.comm Apple II data communications. 

comp.sys.mac.digest Apple Macintosh: info&uses, but no programs. 

Similar services are found on many other online services. You will also find conferences 

devoted to support of popular commercial software for Apple computers. 

Other computers 

There are so many types of computers and operating systems. First, Unix, of course 

.(See the Unix Wizards Mailing list). Then : Atari computers, the TRS 80 series and 

others from Tandy, DEC computers, mainframes from IBM, Hewlett Packard 

computers, CP/M machines, users of LDOS/TRSDOS or OS9, Apricot, Z88, 

Timex/Sinclair, Archimedes, Psion, and Armstrad. 

Even so, there is a high chance that you can find online support for most of them, 

even if the vendor went out of business years ago. For such computers, CompuServe is a 

good place to start. 

For journalists and authors 

ProfNet is a cooperative of more than thousand international public information officers 

giving journalists and authors quick and convenient access to expert sources. Mostly, 

members represent colleges, universities, and a wide range of government, corporate, 

and non profit entities oriented to scholarship and research. 

There is no fee for conducting ProfNet searches, nor is there any limit to the 

number or frequency of your queries. 

Virtual Knowledge Communities 

Internet lets us share knowledge with others across geographical boundaries, and often 

also across language and culture borders. We can easily work with someone in 

Montevideo, Tokyo, Kautokeino, Moscow, and Accra, just as if they were living in your 

local neighborhood. 

The effects of being visible in the net's knowledge sharing communities include 

learning from others, having an inter personal network you can share, finding great 

people to work with on issues affecting you. 

For an example, check how the Kidlink organization reach out to network teachers 

around the world. 

Where to find a suitable knowledge sharing community? Check our pointers in 

Chapter 10 (Mailing lists and web forums, Usenet). 

Marketing 

For a list of mailing lists of interest for advertising, public relations, and marketing, try 

http://www.webcom.com/impulse/list.html. 

Utilities 

Sure, you can use the Internet as a calculator! Check the Calculators On Line Center 

for links to converters and calculators. It has thousands of links to calculators for Unit 

Conversion (temperature, weight, area, etc.), Agriculture & Horticulture, Automobile, 

6 of 7 23.11.2009 15:46


Code Translators, Distance (How Far is it?), Finance Loans, Mathematics, Statistics, 

Medical & Health Science, Navigation/GPS, Nutrition, Radiation & EHS Safety, Science 

& Engineering, Aeronautics, Sunset & Tide, Weather, etc. 

Online Conversion lets you perform thousands of different types of conversion 

calculations. Conversions are organized by type (temperature, length, cooking, etc.), and 

each conversion page includes numerous options. 

For more information about currencies, try the Currencies of the World page. 

Besides valuable background information, it provides daily exchange rates for 49 

currencies. 


Search: 






7 of 7 23.11.2009 15:46

Your electronic daily news http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/9.html 


Chapter 9: 

Your electronic daily news 

Local news 

International news 

Seven minutes in 1991 

An overwhelming 

choice 

News by mail 

Searching the news 

Voice and video, 

please! 

Computer, 

Communication, 

Internet News 

News is more than 

news 


Links to news spanning 

the globe 

Africa 

China 

Japan 

Middle East 

Other countries in 

Asia and the 

Pacific 

&HQWUDO DQG 6RXWK 

America 

Links to news... 

Europe 

North America 

Russia and its neighbors 

Special interest news 

Also see Chapter 14: Desinformation, 

P\WKV KRD[HV IUDXG GHFHSWLRQ DQG 

errors. 

Read, see or listen to national and global news before they are announced by the 

traditional media. Get those interesting background facts. Get special interest news 

stories that seldom appear in traditional print. Sure, you read newspapers, watch TV, and 

listen to radio, but did you know how limited their stories are? Are you content with the 

VDPH ROG ILUHV DQG PXUGHUV WHUULEOH WKLQJV WKDW KDSSHQ GD\ LQ DQG GD\ RXW" 

Traditional news media just give you a small part of the news. Their editors are not 

concerned about YOUR particular interests. They serve a large group of readers, 

viewers or listeners with different interests in mind. 

Go online and discover the difference. Online news has an enormous width and 

depth. Besides "popular" news, you will find stories that few editors bother to print. This 

may give you better insight in current developments, and in as much details as you can 

take. 

Balance your news intake between traditional and digital offerings, letting one 

complement the other. Get your news in whatever format and time frame that suit your 

needs. Decide what stories are important based on your own interest, and enjoy the 

feeling of freedom, diversity, and power. 

Most commercial online services offer news, and free news is exploding on the 

Internet. Most stories come from large news agencies and newspapers. Often, you can 

read and search articles from magazines, newsletters and other special publications. 

Although not as convenient to carry as a real newspaper or as easy to watch as the 

6 o'clock news, online news is a valuable resource for those whose jobs depend on 

up to date information. The ability to search today and yesterday's news makes it 

1 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


particularly useful. 

You can even take it one step further: Access raw news feeds from major world 

wire services, automatic article clipping folders, Internet mailing lists, and paperless 

electronic newsletters. Interact with the digital media as broadcast and print outlets bring 

their stories, staffers, and the occasional name in the news into the realm of the modem. 

The cost of reading a given news item varies by online service. An article that sets 

you back three cents on one service, may cost two dollars to read on another, or be free 

on the Internet. 

Note: Expect it to be many times more expensive (or cheap) to read the same article 

from the same news provider on another online service. So, compare prices. 

Local news 

In Norway, we can read local language news from print media like Dagens Naeringsliv, 

Aftenposten, Kapital, and news wires from NTB and other local sources. Local language 

news is available online in most countries. 

Reading local news on national online services used to be more expensive than on 

major global online services. As competition among global news providers escalates, this 

is changing. In addition, many newspapers now offers articles for free on the World 

Wide Web. Here are some examples: 

The Daily Record and Sunday Mail, a Scottish tabloid newspaper based in 

Glasgow, offers News, Sport, Features, a Magazine section, Tourism information, 

Historical Information, Telephone Dating, Competitions, Cartoons, Crossword, Agony 

Aunt, Picture Gallery and much more. 

Aftonbladet (Sweden) is at http://www.aftonbladet.se, and Dagbladet (Norway) at 

http://www.dagbladet.no/. For a country by country listing of online newspapers 

throughout the World, check http://www.webwombat.com.au/intercom/newsprs/. 

International news 

My favorite provider of free daily international news top stories is Integrated 

Newswire's World News section. This is a selection of headlines dated December 17, 

1996: 

Boeing merger creates airline superpower Johannesburg Star 

Zimbabwe earmarks farms for seizure Johannesburg Star 

Annan to press U.S. on U.N. debt MSNBC World 

Mother Teresa suffers erratic heartbeat MSNBC World 

Unions, Courts Deliver Blows to Milosevic Reuters World 

Several Said Hurt in Attack on Saddam's Son Reuters World 

Rwandan refugee tide swells CNN World News 

Amid tensions, Arafat telephones Netanyahu CNN World News 

Their offerings also include Information Technology News, Science & Technology 

News, and Business News. 

At Infoseek's News Center, you can search for specific names, phrases or words in 

the past 30 days of news stories from Reuters, Business Wire and PR Newswire. In 

addition, you can search current headline news as published by Chicago Tribune, CNN, 

Los Angeles Time, MSNBC, and The New York Times. Click to access the full texts. 

You can "Personalize" your news, and have Infoseek deliver only the news that 

interests you every time you return to the site. Also, you can have news headlines sent 

you by email. 

Once per week, my communications system sends off a message to the WWW by 

email service at agora@kamakura.mss.co.jp (ref. Chapter 12). The message contains the 

command 

send http://www.mediainfo.com/ephome/news/newshtm/webnews/globarc.htm 

2 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


After a while, a list of files in the Global Interactive News Briefs Archive arrives in my 

mailbox. Each brief contains a digest of articles about the Internet printed in media 

around the world. I return the URL of the most recent news brief to the Agora server to 

receive the full report. 

Some time ago, a well known Norwegian industrialist visited my office. I showed 

off online searching in Brainwave for NewsNet newsletters, and stumbled over a story 

about his company. 

"Incredible!" he said. "We have not even announced this to our Norwegian 

employees yet." 

Sometimes, American online services give news from other countries earlier than you 

can get it on online services from within these countries. Besides, you may prefer stories 

in English. 

Most Norwegians prefer to read news in Norwegian. The Japanese want it in their 

language, and the French in French. If they can get the news earlier than their 

competitors, however, most are willing to read English. 

Few master many languages. Unless you live in a country where they talk Arabic, 

Chinese or French, chances are that you cannot read news in these languages. English, 

however, is a popular second choice in many countries, and it has become the unofficial 

Esperanto language of the online world. 

Reading news translated from another language has its risks. Translators often make 

mistakes. One common reason is time pressure, another inadequate knowledge of the 

source language. Their cultural background may prevent them from writing an unbiased 

shorter version of the source text. 

The risk of inaccuracies increases when a story, for example initially translated 

from Spanish into English, are being translated into a third language. 

Avoid news that has been translated more than once, or risk the following type of 

experience: 

On September 19, 1991, Norwegian TV brought news from Moscow. They 

told that Russian president Boris Yeltsin had a heart attack. 

The online report from Associated Press, which arrived 7.5 hours 

earlier, talked about "a minor heart attack" with the following additional 

explanation: "In Russian, the phrase 'heart attack' has a broader meaning 

than in English. It is commonly used to refer to a range of ailments from 

chest pains to actual heart failure." 

Still, expect your "personal online daily newspaper" capable of giving you the news 

faster and more correctly than traditional print media. Some news is only available in 

electronic form. 

Seven minutes way back in 1991 

On September 19, I called CompuServe to read news and gather information about 

online news sources. 

According to my log, I connected through Infonet in Oslo (see Chapter 13). The 

total cost for seven minutes was US$6.00, which included the cost of a long distance call 

to Oslo. (Today, using CompuServe's Standard Pricing Plan, the cost is much less!) 

I read some stories, while they scrolled over the screen. All was captured to a file 

on my hard disk for later study. The size of this file grew to 32.000 characters, or almost 

15 single spaced typewritten pages (A 4 size). If I had spent less time reviewing the lists 

of available stories, seven minutes would have given a larger file. 

Right after having logged on, a menu of stories appeared on my screen. The 

headline read "News from CompuServe." 

The two first items caught my attention, and I requested the text. One had 20 lines 

about an easier method of finding files in the forum libraries, the other ten lines about 

writing addresses for international fax messages. 

The command GO APV gave me Associated Press News Wires. You will find many 

3 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


similar short cut tricks in the online services' user manuals. This command produced the 

following menu: 

AP Online APV 1 

1 Latest News Updated Hourly 

2 Weather 

3 Sports 

4 National 

5 Washington 

6 World 

7 Political 

8 Entertainment 

9 Business News 

10 Wall Street 

11 Dow Jones Average 

12 Feature News 

13 Today in History 

I entered "9" for business news, and got this list of stories: 

AP Online 

:RPHQ 0LQRULW\ %XVLQHVVHV /DJ 

2 Child World Accuses Toys R Us 

3 UPI May Cancel Worker Benefits 

4 Drilling Plan Worries Florida 

5 UK Stocks Dip, Tokyo's Higher 

6 Dollar Higher, Gold Up 

7 Farm Exports Seen Declining 

8 Supermarket Coupons Big Bucks 

9 Cattlemen Tout Supply, Prices 

0 Tokyo Stocks, Dollar Higher 

MORE ! 

The screen stopped scrolling by "MORE !" Pressing ENTER gave a new list. None of 

them were of any interest. 

Pressing M (for previous menu) returned me to the "APV 1" menu. On CompuServe, 

such videotext page numbers are given in the upper right corner of each menu display. I 

selected "World" for global news, which gave: 


7ZR .LOOHG ,Q 1DJRUQR .DUDEDNK 

7 Yugoslavia Fighting Rages On 

8 Storm Kills Five In Japan 

9 Afghan Rebels Going To Moscow? 

0 19 Killed in Guatemala Quakes 

MORE !8 

Oh, a storm in Japan! Interesting. I was due to leave for Japan soon, and entered 8 at the 

MORE ! prompt to read. My screen was filled with text in a few seconds. 

"This is for later study," I thought, pressed M to return to the menu, and then ENTER to 

get the next listing: 


%RPEOHWV .LOO $PHULFDQ 7URRSV" 

1R 0RYHPHQW 2Q +RVWDJH 5HOHDVH 

3 Baker Plans Return To Syria 

4 Baker, King Hussein To Confer 

5 Madame Chiang Leaving Taiwan? 

6 Baker Leaves Syria for Jordan 

7 Klaus Barbie Hospitalized 

8 Iraq Denounces U.S. Threat 

9 Yelstin Said Resting At Home 

0 SS Auschwitz Guard Found Dead 

MORE ! 

4 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


Here, I used another trick gleaned from the user manual. Entering "5,6,9" gave me three 

articles in one batch with no pauses between them. Five screens filled with text. If I had 

UHDG WKH PHQX PRUH FDUHIXOO\ , PLJKW DOVR KDYH VHOHFWHG VWRU\ ,W ORRNHG OLNH DQ 

interesting item. 

"This is enough the Associated Press," I thought, and typed G NEWS for an overview of 

all available news sources ("G NEWS" is an abbreviation for "GO NEWS," or "GO to 

the main NEWS menu"): 

News/Weather/Sports NEWS 

1 Executive News Service ($) 

2 NewsGrid 

3 Associated Press Online 

4 Weather 

5 Sports 

6 The Business Wire 

7 Newspaper Library 

8 UK News/Sports 

9 Entertainment News/Info 

10 Online Today Daily Edition 

11 Soviet Crisis 

First, a quick glance at 6, which presented itself in these words: "Throughout the day 

The Business Wire makes available press releases, news stories, and other information 

from the world of business. Information on hundreds of different companies is sent daily 

to The Business Wire's subscribers." 

Then choice 7: "This database contains selected full text stories from 48 newspapers 

from across the United States. Classified ads are NOT included in the full text of each 

paper." 

Their list of newspapers included Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune and San Francisco 

Chronicle. The latter is known for its many inside stories from Silicon Valley. 

Choice 8 gave news from England. There, I selected UK News Clips, and received the 

following menu of news reports: 

U.K. News Clips 

93 stories selected 

1 RTw 09/19 0818 YUGOSLAV AIR FORCE HITS CROATIAN COMMUNICATIONS 

2 RTw 09/19 0755 CROATIA BATTLES CONTINUE AS EC PONDERS PEACE FORCE 

3 RTw 09/19 0753 ARAB PAPERS SAY MOSCOW WANTS MIDEAST PARLEY DELAYED 

4 RTw 09/19 0749 DOLLAR STANDS STILL, SHARES DRIFT LOWER IN ... 

5 RTw 09/19 0729 EARNINGS GLOOM REVERSES LONDON STOCKS' EARLY GAINS 

6 RTw 09/19 0716 SOVIETS NEED 14.7 BILLION DOLLARS FOOD AID, EC SAYS 

7 RTw 09/19 0707 IRA SAYS IT KILLED TIMBER YARD WORKER IN BELFAST DOCKS 

8 RTw 09/19 0706 BRITISH CONSERVATIVE CHIEF PLAYS DOWN TALK OF ... 

9 RTw 09/19 0630 FINANCE RATES 

10 RTw 09/19 0603 REUTER WORLD NEWS SCHEDULE AT 1000 GMT THURSDAY ... 

The numbers in column four signify the release times of the stories. The articles are fed 

continuously from the news wires. 

Next stop was the UK Newspaper Library. Here, you can search in full text stories 

from The Daily and Sunday Telegraph, Financial Times, The Guardian, UK News. The 

latter offers selected articles from The Daily & Sunday Telegraph, Financial Times, The 

Guardian, Today, The Independent, Lloyd's List, The Observer, and The Times/Sunday 

Times. 

In 1991, the rate for searching the UK Newspaper Library was US$6.00 for up to 

ten hits. For another US$6.00, I could get a menu with an additional ten stories. The rate 

was US$6.00 to read the full text of selected stories. These rates were added to 

CompuServe's normal access rates. 

For more about "clipping" of news, check out Chapter 11. This Chapter is also contains 

pointers to business related news. 

5 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


The news service "Soviet Crisis" was my final destination. It was just a few weeks after 

the attempted coup in Moscow, and I was eager for reports. 

OTC NewsAlert had the following interesting story: 

OTC 09/19 0750 FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE SOVDATA DAILINE IS LAUNCHED 

The selection gave three screens with information about a new online service. Briefly, 

this is what it said: 

"The SovData DiaLine service includes an on line library of more than 

250 Soviet newspapers, business and economic periodicals, profiles of 

more than 2,500 Soviet firms and key executives that do business with the 

West, legislative reports and other information." 

It also said that part of the database was available through LEXIS NEXIS, and soon 

through Data Star, FT Profile (http://www.ft.com), Reuters, Westlaw, and GBI. 

Undoubtedly, the name has changed by now. 

Finally, a fresh story about the fate of the KGB. I read another fifty lines, entered OFF 

(for "goodbye CompuServe"), and received the following verdict: 

Thank you for using CompuServe! 

Off at 09:03 EDT 19 Sep 91 

Connect time = 0:07 

Seven minutes. Fifteen typed pages of text. US$6.00. Not bad! 

An overwhelming choice 

I assume that your "daily online newspaper" will contain other stories. But where do you 

start? 

On the Internet, consider Clarinet, an electronic publishing network service 

providing commercial news and information. It provides general, international, sports, 

technology, entertainment and professional financial news, special features and columns. 

Worldnews.com, a multilingual news portal, offers several hundred online news 

sources in 20 languages and presents them in over 500 subject and geographical 

categories. Most of its contents are fully searchable. 

Individual.com provides commercial news . With more than 25,000 pages 

refreshed daily, over 1,500 topic areas broken down into 240 categories within more 

than 20 industries, it covers a lot of ground. They claim receipt of up to 20,000 news 

stories each day from over 700 English language sources newspapers, magazines, trade 

weeklies, newsletters, news, and press release wires. (October 1996) 

You can read preselected news by topic area, or have your own "individualized" 

issue based on your own keywords sent you by e mail every business morning. 

Individual.com's sources include the following international titles: Newsbytes, 

Advertising Age International, Euromarketing, Inter Press Service, ITAR/TASS, Lloyd's 

List, Korea Economic Daily, Kyodo News International, Network World, Nikkei English 

News, OPEC News Agency, Reuter Business Report, Reuter E.C. Report, Reuter 

European Business Report, Reuters Asia Pacific Business Report, Traffic World, Xinhua 

News Agency, Agence France Presse, Asian Aviation News, BioWorld Today, 

BioWorld Weekly, Business China, Business Eastern Europe, Business Europe, 

Business Latin America, European Media Business & Finance, International Banking 

Regulator, International Petroleum Finance, Japan Chemical Week, PHARMA Japan, 

Reuter Corporate World News, Reuter Energy Report, Reuter Money News Service, 

Reuter Transcript Report, Reuter World News Service, World Airline News, World 

Airport Week, World Gas Intelligence. 

Reading article abstracts is free. By paying a symbolic subscription fee, you get 

access to the full texts. 

For general news, start with major newswires, like Associated Press, Agence 

6 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


France Presse, Xinhua, Reuters, and the like. 

Check links to broadcasting sources of news in many languages at 

http://www.markovits.com/broadcasting/. Choices include BBS, Channel 4 (United 

Kingdom), Deutsche Welle (Germany), Teletekst from NOS (Holland), Scandinavian 

broadcasters, Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, CBS, Radio Japan, the 

Internet Multicasting Service, US based radio stations, CPB and NPR (USA), Radio 

Canada, Radio France, Radio and TV schedules from Finland, and more. 

Inter Press Service (IPS) has a World News Index with news in English, 

Dutch/Flemish, Finnish, German, Kiswahili, Norwegian, Spanish,and Swedish. 

Voice and video, please! 

Current Awareness Resources via Streaming Audio & Video is a compilation of links to 

audio/video services that can be of use to the information professional who monitor 

current events. It focuses on news/public affairs services that are available in English. In 

most cases these links will take you directly to the service (it will start playing 

immediately) or to within ONE click. 

Sites offering voice and video news through the net include: 

canalweb.net (France). Example: "Tin Tuc TV": Franco Vietnamese bilingual 

Internet TV channel dedicated to cross cultural issues (philosophical, ethnic and 

social): reflexion, tolerance, satire. Every fortnight on canalweb.net. 

BBC (England) online radio broadcasts. Example: Broadcasts in Central Asian 

languages, like Uzbek, Kazakh , Azeri, and Russian. 

Here are some other interesting choices: The Online radio stations worldwide; 

Publicradiofan.com has a database of program listings for hundreds of public radio 

stations around the world; Current Awareness Resources via Streaming Audio 

& Video. 

News by mail 

Some newspapers and news sources invite you to receive their news by email, but not 

all. Whenever this is the case, check out Web2Mail in Chapter 11. 

Searching the news 

The News Index news only search engine indexes current articles from hundreds of 

sources from around the world. It is not an archive, but a resource for finding more 

information on current topics you are interested in. The news is broken up into various 

topics such as business, politics, sci tech, and opinion. Use it to read different versions of 

a story, and hopefully derive some semblance of what actually occurred. Use it to find 

multiple sources if your first choice want to charge you for reading it. 

By following a large number of papers, you can follow ongoing stories as they 

happen. Use it to monitor what goes on within a topic of interest. Search for a topic by 

submitting keywords. Hits containing all keywords are listed first. Click on the link to get 

an article's text. 

Daypop searches and indexes over 6600 news web sites and weblogs for current 

events just for today. You can limit your to news, weblogs, headlines, or all pages. 

Search results include the title of a site, brief excerpt, and a cache link with the cache 

date. (Cache refers to a copy of the page being kept on the daypop server.) 

We typed the search word "Arendal," which is the name of a small 40,000 

inhabitants town in Norway, and received a long list of hits, also from local 

newspapers... 

Interestingly for some, the Advanced Search option lets you limit a search to one or 

several languages (like English, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, 

Spanish, Portuguese, Italian. You can also limit your search to one or several geographic 

areas, ranging from United States to the United Arab Emirates. 

7 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


Google's News Search is refreshed with new content every hour and contains 

material from over 100 English language sources (March 2002). Each entry includes a 

time stamp of when the content was first crawled and links to related articles (if 

available). The following limit syntax terms work: intitle: terms in the headline; intext: 

terms in the text of the article; site:cnn.com limits from a particular source (if available). 

These search engines also focus on today's news (English language sources only): 

NewsBot 

NewsBlip 

NewsTracker 

Lycos 

TotalNews 

For more, check NewsCenter's list. Panda Newsfinder DOVR LQFOXGHV KLVWRULFDO DUFKLYHV 

AllTheWeb's News Search includes some foreign language material. 

In Financial Times' Global Archive, you can search and read over 6 million 

articles from 3,000 periodicals worldwide (March 2000), most of them for free. 

Keyword searches may be modified in a number of ways, and you can select to search 

one, several, or all of the indexed publication groups. Registered users may save 

searches for later reference. A powerful tool for anyone searching for current business 

related news and writing. 

NewsTrawler is a meta search engine that lets you search hundreds of news 

archives on the web in parallel. The collection includes news, magazine and journal 

sources from a broad range of countries. 

Note: While the search for information itself is free, a number of news 

resources provide free summaries but charge for the full retrieval of 

information. 

OCLC FirstSearch lets you search the Fact on File World News Digest, a full text 

coverage of world politics, international affairs, the environment, science, medicine and 

health, economics and business, crime, education and social issues. Articles are drawn 

from over 100 global news sources. The 70,000 record database contains the complete 

full text of Facts On File since 1980 (1998). 

Computer, Communication, Internet News 

For free daily news about the Web, NewsLinx Daily Web News is a favorite. The 

page for May 3, 1996, simply started like this: 

Full Speed Ahead For The Internet (c|net) 

Can't Sell Famous Web Names" (Boston Globe) 

Gates Says Don't Worry About Web Jambs (News Tribune) 

Pointcast Network Hot (Chicago Tribune) 

Create Web Pages With "Liquid Motion" (Web Review) 

Web Connects Siblings (Boston Globe) 

Job Searching On The Web Becoming Standard (Detroit News) 

Germany Plans Minor Net Regs (Reuters) 

Computer Checkup Via Web (Interactive Age) 

Strange Unibomber Site (Web Review) 

Click on a title to get the full text. 

NewsLinx features links to stories culled from the mainstream press, with an update 

posted each business day. Although there are many business or technology listings on 

the Web, this service provides links to the best stories, a simple one page interface, and 

focus exclusively on the Web. 

C|Net's NEWS.COM is another fine source for this kind of news, as is The New 

York Times' Computer News Daily section. NEWS.COM is divided into several 

sections, and focuses on products and services being developed for the Internet, stories 

on hardware and systems, Intranets, and technology business news. A free electronic 

8 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


newsletter is also available. 

Individual.com offers commercial news within these categories 

Computer Hardware & Peripherals Computer Hardware & Peripherals 

Computer Software Computer Software 

Computer Professional Services Computer Professional Services 

Data Communications Data Communications 

Interactive Media & Multimedia Interactive Media & Multimedia 

Semiconductors Semiconductors 

Telecommunications 

If you are into computers, you owe it to yourself to check out Newsbytes. This service 

offers global headline news from bureaus around the world. The stories are sorted in 

sections with names like IBM, UNIX, Government, Telecom, Trends, Business, Apple, 

Personal Computers, DOS, Windows, Pen, Networks, General, Education, Health, 

Online, Broadcast, Legal, Personal Digital Assistant, Chips, Super Computers. A 

favorite! 

The IM Europe Newsdesk provides links to news originating within the EU on 

information markets, multimedia, the information society, and information and 

communication technologies. The site can be accessed in English, French, and German. 

News is more than news 

After some time, your definition of the notion "news" may change. Since so many 

conferences are also interesting sources, they should also be a part of your news 

gathering strategy. Check in regularly to read what members say about what they have 

seen, done, heard, or discovered. 

Professional news reporters have also discovered this. Online conferences are 

popular hunting grounds for writers of the traditional press. 

Many CompuServe forums have news sections. If you are into Hot News and 

Rumors about Amiga Computers, read messages in section 3 of the Amiga Tech Forum. 

Consumer Electronics Forum has the section "New Products/News." The Journalist 

Forum has "Fast Breaking News!" The Motor Sports Forum has "Racing News/Notes." 

The Online Today Forum has "In the News." 

Below, we have therefore combined the traditional news providers with 

conferences to provide some interesting sources sorted by part of the world: 

Links to news spanning the globe 

Abyz News Links provides very easy to use links to over 15,600 newspapers and other 

news sources from around the world (March 2001). Fast to use.. 

Kidon Media Link (The Netherlands) is another worldwide index of online news 

sites. 

Lastminutenews.com allows users to select a country and city via pull down menus 

and then the newspaper's homepage in a new window. 

HomeTown Free Press offers over 1,500 links to free local news and information 

sites in Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Eastern and Western 

Europe, Middle East, North, South and Central America, West Indies (December 1999). 

Sites include newspapers, radio and television stations, schools, civic and civil 

organizations. NewsCenter is another fine resource. 

WRAL TV5 delivers free international news via continuous feeds from Reuters, 

Associated Press and The Sports Network. 

United Nations Daily Highlights: http://www.un.org/News/dh/latest.htm. 

BBC Worldwide Monitoring's news reports draw upon radio, television and news 

agency reports from over 3000 sources in over 140 countries, to provide fast, reliable 

coverage of political and economic news. When each report comes in, it is translated 

into English, but without editorial comment or analysis. Includes a transcript service, and 

an alerting service, providing summaries of monitored reports as stories unfold. 

Finally, check CRAYON for the free "CReAting Your Own Newspaper" service. 

9 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


Mark off your selected batch of information sources, and have a customized newspaper 

delivered to you. There's a worldwide daily news index at 

http://www.lastminutenews.com . 

Ah! And click here if you just want the weather. 

Africa 

Africa News Online offers news from over 50 different sources, including 34 top 

African news organizations. The site is managed by Africa News Service, a non profit 

agency. Dispatches from the Panafrican News Agency are also available. You'll find a 

wide range of country and topic specific news, including stories relating to arts and 

entertainment, science and health, business and finance, and sports. An archive of past 

stories is searchable. 

PeaceNet's World News Service offers several digests on Africa, covering 

different regions of the continent, with coverage from the Inter Press Service (IPS): 

$IULFD *HQHUDO 2YHUYLHZ RI WKH (QWLUH &RQWLQHQW 

Southern Africa Kalahari, Cape and Islands 

West Africa Niger Basin 

West Central Africa Congo Logone 

North Africa Maghreb and Niles 

Eastern Africa News Rift Valley and Red Sea 

IPS' writers are all local people covering the areas in which they live, and their articles 

appear three days after copyright. Other sources include the Pacific News Service, the 

United Nation Information Centre, Third World Network Features, PeaceNet and 

EcoNet. 

Financial Times' News by E Mail delivers selected stories each weekday. After 

free registration, subscribers can select the topics that interest them, from industry 

specific news (autos, chemicals, transport, etc.) to various summaries (US news, world 

news and comment, etc.). Available in HTML or text form, the email news stories are 

linked to research, online discussions, and other resources. Users can add or drop topics 

at any time. 

The Weekly Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg, South Africa) also offers news by 

email. Their searchable news archive goes back to July 1994. 

ZAMNET provides links to the Africa Information Afrique News Archive. The 

archive contains articles from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, 

Namibia, SADC, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe published 

over several years. 

Visit http://www sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/somalia.html for links to 

specialized news sources on Somalia. 

China 

China Daily On the Web delivers English language news from China under the 

headings Top News; Home News; China Business; World Business; Money; Opinion; 

Sport; Feature; World News. 

China News Digest (CND) is a voluntary non profit organization aiming at 

providing news and other information services about China related affairs. All CND 

services are free of charge. 

CND's English language publications include CND Global (three issues per week), 

CND US (one issue per week), CND Canada (one issue per week), CND 

Europe/Pacific (one issue per week), CND China (two issues per month). 

China News Service & Agency offers daily business news from China, Hong 

Kong, Macau, and Taiwan to subscribers. The Ta Kung Pao Chinese Daily has daily 

coverage of news about China and Hong Kong in Chinese . Requires Big5 or GuoBiao 

software to read. 

Usenet's talk.politics.china is for Discussion of political issues related to China. 

10 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


Japan 

Japan Press Network provides the latest news covering Japan's high tech industries as 

well as finance, economics and the Japanese press. Nikkei (on FP Profile) has an 

English language service with news articles from Nikkei and other Japanese newspapers. 

7KH -DSDQHVH -RXUQDOV ,QIRUPDWLRQ :HE offers Current Awareness using access 

to tables of contents of current Japanese journals and magazines. In addition, it has The 

Union List of Japanese Serials and Newspapers (ULJSN) currently includes information 

on 4,844 titles held by twenty libraries or accessible over the web (1999). 

To read many of the tables of contents, where these are not presented as 

graphics files, you must have a computer that can display Japanese text. 

The union list includes romanized information. 

Middle East 

The al Jazeera 24 hour news satellite channel in Qatar is the CNN of the Arabic 

speaking world. It publishes in Arabic, explores taboo subjects, and welcomes criticism 

of governments. 

Arabic News delivers daily Arabic country by country news: Politics, culture, 

recipes, book reviews, weather, sports, arts. Covers Egypt, Egyptian life, pyramids, 

Lebanon, Iraq, the Gulf, its oil, Arabian horses and camel races. 

The Middle East News Network publishes daily news, analysis and comments from 

19 countries in the Middle East produced by Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish and Persian press. 

You can read these news through Reuters, Down Jones News/Retrieval, and Information 

Access. 

Arabnet brings up to the minute Arabic news in Arabic characters. For uncensored 

(by the Israeli) Palestinian news, check the Birzeit University site. 

Other countries in Asia and the Pacific 

For interesting links to sources of political, social and economic news about mainland 

China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tibet, check http://freenet.buffalo.edu/~cb863 

/china.html . 

Asia Times Online is a daily publication covering the Asia Pacific region with an 

emphasis on politics, economics and business. Covers China, Southeast Asia, Japan, 

Koreas, India/Pakistan, Central Asia/Russia, Oceania. AsiaNow KDV VWRULHV IURP 

Asiaweek, Time Asian Edition, those broadcasted by CNN International to Asia, and its 

own columnists on Asian politics, Asian Business and Technology. It also has live news 

feed from global news agencies like AP and Reuters, video and audio. 

EurasiaNet provides daily news and analysis on Central Asia and the Caucasus, 

and developments in Russia, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia that bear on this 

region. Users can sign up to receive a weekly bulletin by email. 

PeaceNet's World News Service KDV D 6RXWKHDVW $VLD GLJHVW ,W LQFOXGHV FRYHUDJH 

from the Inter Press Service (IPS) on Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Cambodia, 

Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, The People's Republic of China, Malaysia and the region as 

a whole. 

The Star, Malaysia's leading English language daily newspaper, brings its news at 

http://www.jaring.my/~star/. Singapore's Straits Times is at 

http://straitstimes.asia1.com/. Thailand News Web Directory has links to newspaper, 

TV, radio, magazine and Thai goverment's reports. 


Pakistan News Service, and Pakistan News Service Discussion (PNS L) 

The Kashmir Journal 

The Pakistan News Service is at http://www.paknews.org/, and IndoNews delivers 

"Indonesian Daily News Online Berita dari Indonesia." IraqNet a multilingual virtual 

11 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


community for Iraqis everywhere offers headline news on Iraq. 

Usenet has 

soc.culture.bangladesh ,VVXHV GLVFXVVLRQ DERXW %DQJODGHVK 

misc.news.southasia News from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, etc. 

alt.culture.indonesia Indonesian culture, news, etc. 

The Hindu, a national Indian newspaper, is experimenting with an online edition. 

IndoLink is an interesting source of Indian news, information, articles. Economic and 

Political Weekly (EPW), India, is a social science journal featuring research articles in 

economics, sociology, political science and other disciplines. 

Bangla2000 lets you subscribe to receive daily news by email about Bangladesh. In 

English and Bangla. 

The Tibet Information Network is an independent news and research service 

providing information and analysis of current events in Tibet. UzWeb offers news from 

Uzbekistan by email. 

Central and South America 

PeaceNet's World News Service has a Latin America and the Caribbean digest with 

coverage from IPS. The America Latina digest is the Spanish language equivalent. The 

digests feature regular news from sources like La Agencia Latinoamericana de 

Informacio'n (ALAI), Third World Network's Revista del Sur, and Tercer Mundo 

EconÛmico. 

News from Cuba, Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa is available daily from 

Radio Havana &XED (O 7LHPSR &RORPELD LV DW http://www.eltiempo.com/. There's 

another source of news as seen from a Cuban perspective at http://www.cubanet.org/. In 

Spanish, German, French, and English. 

The Latino News Network provides multimedia news to those interested in 

learning about Latinos both as a market and as a community. 

Europe 

Start by visiting Editor & Publisher for European daily news and weather. Here are 

links to Radio Amsterdam, Deutsche Welle, Der Spiegel, L'Unione Sarda (Italy), RTI 

(Ireland), Baltic News Service, The Vogon News Service (target is British ex patriots) 

and The Electronic Telegraph in United Kingdom, Bulgarian news, Croatian Radio 

News, Danske nyheder (Denmark), Gazeta Wyborcza on line (Poland), and much more. 

You can search the Guardian OnLine Archives in England, and the Economist is at 

http://www.economist.com/. 

For a peek at El PeriÛdico de Catalunya (Spain), point your browser at 

http://www.elperiodico.es. 

The Austrian "Wiener Zeitung" claims to be the oldest existing daily newspaper in 

the world (neary 300 years old). Its Web page covers domestic and world news in 

German, general information about Austria's government, the house of parliament, the 

president, articles from the weekly computer page, and the Friday supplement, reviews 

of books, records and cultural events, a chess page, and more. The DE NEWS mailing 

list is about "what's going on in Germany a summary of daily news from Germany (in 

English)." (Try GERMNEWS IRU WKH *HUPDQ ODQJXDJH HTXLYDOHQW 

For more English language daily news covering the Baltic countries, check Editor & 

Publisher. 

The Dutch language Internet newspaper InterNetKrant brings news from the 

Netherlands. You may also want to try the News, Magazines & Information Servers 

page. 

Der Spiegel (Germany) is at: http://www.spiegel.de. 

The HELLENIC NEWS database is at http://www.greeknews.ariadne t.gr/. For a 

page with Greek newspapers, try http://www.spark.net.gr/perip_e.html. 


12 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


The ALBANIAN list for discussion of various issues related to Albania, Kosova, 

and the Albanian population in the Balkans (FYR of Macedonia, Montenegro, 

Serbia, Greece), as well as Albanian communities world wide. 

MAKNWS L Macedonian News 

Dow Jones Interactive offers full text from Wall Street Journal Europe, Agence France 

Presse WKH 3DULV EDVHG ,QWHUQDWLRQDO +HUDOG 7ULEXQH WKH *XDUGLDQ DQG RWKHUV IURP WKH 

United Kingdom. 

The Vatican Radio is at http://www.wrn.org/vatican radio/, and Radio Vaticana 

Kurznachrichten (in German) at http://www.kath.de/rv/. More links to international 

broadcasters: http://www.wrn.org/stations.html. 

If you know French, check the Francopholistes l'annuaire des listes de diffusion 

francophones page. 

North America 

There's an abundance of online news sources covering North America. We are therefor 

just including a few pointers here, like 

The Wall Street Journal http://interactive.wsj.com/ (English) 

http://interactivo.wsj.com/ (Spanish) 

The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com 

USA Today http://www.usatoday.com 

/RV $QJHOHV 7LPHV http://www.latimes.com 

Newslink offers links to many U.S. newspapers, broadcast networks and affiliates, 

magazines and publishers, and sites of special journalistic interest on the World Wide 

Web. 

Check out Editor & Publisher for more. 

Russia and neighbors 

Press Rover offers free full text search of an archive of Russian newspapers and 

periodicals. Your search may be limited to the following areas: Government & Society, 

Business & Economy, Culture & Arts, and Family & Entertainment. Payment is 

required for document retrieval only. 

There's a Russian News Links page with links to Federal News Service, Izvestia, 

ITAR TASS, InterFax/Maximov, Nezavisimaya gazeta, Pravda 5, and an extensive list 

of other Russian newspapers and magazines on the Internet, including audio radio 

resources. It also have good coverage of other NIS countries, including Ukraine, Belarus, 

Armenia, Georgia, Kirghizistan, Azerbaijan, The Baltics. 

The Jamestown Foundation publishes The Monitor, a daily digest of news reports 

from Russia and other former Soviet republics. 

A daily news summary of events in Southeastern and Eastern Europe, the Caucusus 

and the Trans Caucusus is available from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In 

addition to news briefs, RFE/RL offers features, analysis, special reports, and press 

reviews. Countries covered include Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, 

Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kirgistan, Latvia, Lithuania, North Caucasus and Transcaucasia, 

Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Slavic, Tajikistan, Tatar Bashkir, Turkmenistan, 

Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. 

Other English language sources with news from Russian include Moscow Times, 

and The St Petersburg Times. For a fee, East View Publications offers searchable 

databases of articles from the daily Russian newspapers Nezavisimaya Gazeta and 

Sevodnya. 

Usenet has: 

13 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46


alt.current events.bosnia The strife of Bosnia Herzegovina. 

soc.culture.bosna herzgvna 

alt.news.macedonia News of Macedonia in the Balkan Region. 

alt.current events.ukraine Current and fast paced Ukrainian events. 

English language news from Croatia is at http://www.carnet.hr/news/media_eng.html. 

BosNet distributes information relevant to the events in/about Republic of Bosnia 

Hercegovina. Daily posting typically consists of newsbriefs compiled from reports by 

UPI, RFE/RL, NYT, Reuter, as well as other sources, such as: LA, SF, Chicago dailies; 

WP, WSJ, The Economist, White House, New Republic, Boston Globe, various Ministry 

Reports, FPB, etc. 

Special interest news 

Freedom Press is the world's oldest anarchist publishing group (founded in 1886). Their 

FPI mailing list sends extracts from their publications with an emphasis on news. 

MagPortal lets stay abreast of recent free magazine articles available online. 

Updated each business day, the site organizes the articles in categories like Business, 

Internet, Family and Home, Sports, Health, and Science and Technology, and others. A 

keyword search engine is provided. If interested in environment protection, check 

The Environmental News Network. 

The Newseum is definitely special interest. It is an interactive museum of News. 

Online exhibits include News Stories of the Century, the Berlin Wall and the Media and 

the Space Race. You may also enjoy a visit to Historical Newspapers Online, which 

includes Palmer's Full Text Online, 1785 1870. 


Search: 



Updated at October 30, 2003. 



14 of 14 23.11.2009 15:46

Finding a needle in a bottle of hay http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/10.html 


Chapter 10: 

Finding a needle in a bottle of hay 

Prepare by clipping 

When your personal 

database fails to deliver 

Locating interesting 

sources E\ VHDUFKLQJ WKH 

net 

Special 

Meta searching 

Searching a topic 

area 

Searching for non US 

information 

Non English language 

searches 


Searching Usenet 

Searching Mailing 

lists and Web 

forums 

Searching 

specialized 

databases 

The "deep"web 

Your "last" resort 

Read the user 

manuals 

Monitor the 

offerings 

More sources about 

sources 

Practical hints about online 

searching 

Dictionaries and encyclopedias 

The Usenet resource (FAQs) 

Other sources available through 

the Internet 

Getting more out of your magazine 

subscriptions 

Finding that book 

Online books 

Also see Chapter 14: Desinformation, 

P\WKV KRD[HV IUDXG GHFHSWLRQ DQG 

errors. 

There is little doubt that the databases of the online world contain nearly everything 

needed to complete a major research project, fuel an information needy business, or just 

help get the school homework done. 

Online research is faster, provides more depth and is cross referenced to help 

researchers locate obscure resources. It makes you an "instant expert" on a subject 

matter. The main problem is learning how to get a confident grip on the searching 

process. 


Experienced users regularly "clip" news from online services, and store selected parts of 

what they get on their personal computers' hard disks. They use powerful tools to search 

their data, and know how to use the information in other applications. (More about 

clipping in Chapter 11.) 

Regular clipping of news is highly recommended. It is often quicker and easier to 

search your own databases, than to search online. Your data is a subset of previous 

searches. Therefore, the stories on your disk are likely to have a high degree of 

relevancy. 

There are many good programs for personal computers that let you search your 

personal data for information. See Chapter 14 for ideas. 

1 of 10 23.11.2009 15:46


While secondary research can never replace primary information gathering, it often 

satisfies most information needs related to any task or project. Besides, it points in the 

GLUHFWLRQ RI SULPDU\ VRXUFHV IURP ZKHUH PRUH LQ GHSWK LQIRUPDWLRQ PD\ EH HOLFLWHG 

When your personal database fails to deliver 

Regular "clipping" can help you build a powerful personal database, but it will never 

satisfy all information needs. Occasionally, you must go online for additional facts. 

When this happens, you may feel like Don Quixote, as he was looking "for a needle 

in a bottle of hay." The large number of offerings is bewildering. To succeed, you'll need 

a sound search strategy. 

Your first task is to locate useful sources of information. The next, to decide how 

best to find that specific piece of information online. You must plan your search. 

Although one source of information, like an online database, is supposed to cover 

your area of interest, it may still be unable to give you what you want. Let me explain 

with an example: 

You're tracking a company called IBM (International Business Machines). 

Your first inclination is to visit forums and clubs concerned with products 

delivered by this company. There, you plan to search message bases and file 

libraries. The search term IBM will probably give so many hits that you 

almost drown. To find anything of interest in these forums, your search 

terms must be very specific. General news providers, like Associated Press, 

may be a better alternative. Usually, they just publish one or two stories on 

IBM per week. Don't expect to learn about details that are not of interest to 

the public. AP's stories may be too general for you. Maybe you'll be more 

content with industry insiders' expert views, as provided by the Brainwave 

for NewsNet newsletters OUTLOOK ON IBM, or THE REPORT ON IBM. 

The level of details in a given story depends in part on the news providers' readers, and 

the nature of the source. The amount of "noise" (the level of irrelevancy) also varies. In 

most public forums, expect to wade through many uninteresting messages before finding 

things of interest. 

Try the following strategy: 

Step 

1: 

Step 

2: 

Step 

3: 

Locate sources that provide relevant information, 

Selecting sources is half the battle in making a good search! 

You probably won't find what you need if you're not looking in the 

right place. 

Check if the information from these sources is at a 

satisfactory level of details, and that the volume 

is acceptable (not too much, nor too little). 

Study the service's search commands and procedures, 

PLAN, and then SEARCH. 

Locating interesting sources 

Step 1 is not an easy one. There is such an abundance of directory services and pointers. 

My current favorite is Google. By December 2001, it claimed to index over 3 

billion documents, i.e. Over 2 billion web pages (html, pdf, other formats), 700 million 

Usenet posts and 300 million images. Its Usenet postings date back to May, 1981. 

Compare notes with Searchenginewatch.com, and Searchengineshowdown.com. They 

regularily gauges the comparative sizes of each major search engine's index. 

Google rates sites based on who links to whom. Ranking depends on the number of links 

to a site and its rating position, thus giving a type of peer review of the Web itself. It 

puts search terms in context by displaying an excerpt of the text that matches a 

2 of 10 23.11.2009 15:46


particular query with the search terms included in bold. Several languages. 

If you worry about search engines selling data collected from your searches to third parties, 

try the Google powered Topclick search engine. They use no cookies, no banner ads, and 

strives to protect your privacy. 

Google lets you use a plus sign (+) to include words or a minus sign ( ) to exclude words 

in the search, as in +online +world computer. This search will only return hits 

containing the words "online" and "world" but not "computer". 

You can limit your search to .pdf files by using the syntax filetype:pdf. A Boolean 

"OR" is available with Google. For it to function, capitalize the OR. Note that Google 

only makes searchable the first 110 k of a page. Long documents may have substantial 

content invisible to Google. 

One nice feature in this age of dead links is that Google saves a copy of the indexed 

page. So, if you are unable to get to a desired page, select the cache copy. 

It's only worth using Google if you bear in mind the sort of material which 

might be posted in your subject area. Since anyone can publish almost 

anything on the Web, pages vary from personal pages set up by any 

student who has Internet access, to those set up academic or research 

institutions, those set up by not for profit organizations, and those from 

commercial organizations. 

Warning: The largest search engines index less than 1/10th of the web! 

"Two scientists from the NEC Research Institute in Princeton carried out a study on 

the Net's loudest search engines and found that not only do they not index the best part 

of the Net but they are most likely to index commercial over educational, US over 

European and popular over relatively unknown," reported Nua Internet Surveys in 

July, 1999. 

Search engines are not indexing their databases daily. In early 2002, 

Google refreshed their database once per month! A web page made 

available on the web on Thursday might not appear in any search engine 

for weeks. 

Simply because many pages from a site are available does not mean that 

the engine makes every page of an entire site searchable. This is a good 

reason for not relying on one search engine only. 

Fast Search and Alta Vista are second choices. Sometimes, I play Google against Alta 

Vista or Fast Search for maximum result. If I want a query to contain a string from a 

Web address, Alta Vista would be my first choice. In other cases, network access speed 

will decide. If getting to one of them takes to long, I go to the other. Arnoldit.com 

For international search engines, check Arnoldit.com. 

Disabled Internet surfers may want to search these offerings through 

SETI search.com. This search service is particularly interesting foor those who are 

blind, or have very low vision as it works smoothly with their assistive technology 

devices. 

Special 

FindSame allows users to search for documents using large pieces of text rather than 

keywords. It treats your search query as an entire document and returns a list of 

"documents that contain any fragment of that document that is longer than a certain 

length. That length is about one line of text." Alternatively, users can enter the URL of a 

document and FindSame will return pages that contain at least a few sentences that 

appear on that page. 


Meta search agents let you search several search engines in one operation. For example, 

3 of 10 23.11.2009 15:46


Super Searches searches major search engines like Alta Vista, Excite, Galaxy, HotBot, 

Lycos, Web Crawler, Yahoo, WWW Yellow pages, Meta crawler, Google Groups, 

Aliweb, Hotbot, Lycos, and more. Also, try Dogpile, Highway61 

One word of warning: The meta search agents treat the product of search engines as 

data: changing it, organizing it, and making it simpler to use for the consumer, without 

understanding that this information is more like a publication than raw data. 

Usually, these services do not support Boolean, temporal, or proximity operators, 

and therefore give very poor precision. Set building is not possible. Most well known 

meta engines send a query to many entirely "pay for placement" engines. 

Searching a topic area 

Narrowing a search down to a specific topic area can be a challenge with the general 

search engines. Sometimes, you may be better off using a more targeted search service. 

There are many services linking you to topic area search engines. Example: 

SEARCH.COM links you to search services within areas like Arts, Automotive, 

Business, Computers, Directories, Education, Employment, Entertainment, Finance, 

Government, Games, Health, Housing, Legal, Lifestyle, News, People, Politics, 

Reference, Science, Shopping, Sports, Travel, Usenet, and Web. 

Langenberg Search is a gateway to some of the most popular search engines for a 

variety of subjects grouped under : Acronym, Area Codes, Books&Pubs, 

BusinessFinder, Cooking, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, Entertainment, Government, Jobs, 

Maps, Medicine, Metasearch, Misc, Money&Stocks, News&Sports, PersonFinder, 

Religion, SearchEngines, Shipping, Translation, Travel, Usenet, Weather, Zip Codes. 

SearchEngineGuide.COM offered links to 2341 search engines sorted by area in 

December, 1999. The BIG Search Engine Index may also be worth your visit. 

Some other interesting offerings: 

Today's news 

Acronym Finder (over 225,000 acronyms, abbreviations and definitions Jan. 

2002) 

Agricultural Search Engine (English, French) 

Archives of yesterday's news 

Airport Search Engine 

Animals 

Asia (Search Asian Studies WWW VL Web Space) 

Browser applications, all the small application programs that run in web browsers. 

Computer companies, hardware, software, peripherals. 

Computers, etc. 

Country music 

Clip art, icons, background images, animations, sound clips 

Currency exchange 

Education 

The Internet guide to engineering, mathematics and computing (EEVL) 

English (to find the meaning of this very special English word) 

Films (Online Short Films) 

Financial only content 

Food recipes 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

Games on the Net. 

Games II 

'Geo' Industry Search Engine (GIS, GPS) 

Geography blank map outlines 

Glossaries Arts & Culture, Business , Careers & Employment , Computers & Internet , Economy 

& Finance , Education , Entertainment , Family & Relationships , Government, Politics & Military , 

Health, Medicine & Fitness , Humanities & Social Sciences , Law and Justice , Lifestyle , Media , 

News & Weather , Reference , Science , Sports & Recreation , Technology , Transport , World, 

Regions, Countries & Travel 

Health 

Health 

4 of 10 23.11.2009 15:46

)LQGLQJ D QHHGOH LQ D ERWWOH RI KD\ http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/10.html 

Historical web pages. "The Internet Archive's" WayBack Machine lets you surf 

the net as it was. Also, includes Usenet postings, archival movies, Arpanet 

historical documentation, and more. 

Html, dhtml, Perl, Java: for Web developers and programmers. 

Sourcebank Programming resources on the internet, source code for Java, 

C, C++, research papers and online magazine articles. 

Image Search (Google) 

Locating mailing lists with interesting discussions 

Topica 

Liszt 

L Soft (the LISTSERV vendor) 

Mailbase 

Onelist 

Neosoft 

New Lists 

Catalog.com 

Findmail 

Mail order catalogs 

Maps 

Marketing: For Online Advertisers, Marketers, and E Commerce 

Multimedia files such as movie scenes, pictures, music clips, concerts, sporting 

events: Lycos, Scour.net, arribavista.com, Altavista. 

Music (MP3 format) 

Mythology and folklore 

Non Profit Organizations 

.pdf documents documents (Adobe) 

Old newsreels: more than 3,500 hours (1896 1970). 

Postal codes DURXQG WKH ZRUOG 

Sample sounds and sound effects. 

Scientific information. | Scirus 

Software shareware and public domain: Lycos, Tucows 

Time related links . An extensive collection. 

Weblog searches 

Web searches. In addition, searches in million of articles from 5,400 premium 

sources, such as books, magazines, databases, and newswires not available 

elsewhere. 

WebData.com. Access to specialized online databases. 

Finally, check AltaVista's Search Guides for guidance about how to search for some 

types of information. W3engine is a search engine's search engine. It helps you find 

search engine sites; meta search sites; index directories; specialty engines; yellow pages; 

and more. You can also locate search engines by country. InfiniSource has a portal with 

links to specialized search engines, as has Universitet Leiden in Holland. 

Searching for non US information 

No search engine indexes the whole Web, and most US based services tend to be best at 

US contents. US services focusing on other geographical areas tend to miss local 

organizations having registered .com, .org, or other global addresses. 

For contents in other geographical areas, you may be better served by engines 

specialized on these areas. To locate such engines, try Search Engines Worldwide 

(with frames). 850 search engines and directories from 130 nations (April 2000), listed 

alphabetically by country. 

Some examples: 

Africa 

Europe: Euroferret 

India Related Search Engines: Utexas.edu, KHOJ 

5 of 10 23.11.2009 15:46


Israel 

Middle East 

Russia 

Scandinavia 

South Africa 

United Kingdom 

For links to search services in other countries, try Search Engines Worldwide, Search 

Engine Colossus, and Country Specific Search Engines. 

The Financial Times Global Archive is another interesting offering. It has over 10 

million articles from 2000 publications. Their news database is updated on a 24 hours / 7 

days basis from selected international publishers and agencies. Search the five year 

archive of the Financial Times Newspaper as well as archives of European, Asian and 

American business sources. 

In the comp.infosystems.search newsgroup, discussion is focused on web searching: 

"Discussion about the different aspects, ramifications and use of search engines and 

associated technology." 

Non English language searches 

There are major structural differences between languages. An indexing system built for 

English text may therefore not be suitable for a text written in the language you're 

searching, and in particular if the other language uses special fonts. Using special 

purpose search engines may be the way to go in such cases. Some options: 

Arabic 

Chinese 

French (http://lokace.iplus.fr/ and http://www.ecila.fr) 

German (http://www.aladin.de/ and http://www.dino online.de/suche.html) 

Italian 

Japanese 

Spanish (Spanish language search engines). 

Another problem using the English language search systems is that you don't just have to 

understand English to get the most out of them, you'll have to understand English well. 


After searching the Web, my next step is usually Google Groups, a large indexed 

database of archived Usenet news dating back to 1981. We're talking about over 700 

million messsages here (2001)! It is by far the most complete collection of Usenet 

articles ever assembled and a fascinating first hand historical account. 

You can use the service for research, or to locate interesting newsgroups worth your 

subscription. 

Google Groups' powerful filter lets you limit what records will be searched by a 

query. A search may be limited by date, author, newsgroup name (using wildcards, or 

range operators), wildcards (compan* matches companies, company, and much more. 

The order of the records in the hit list may be set to reflects how often the words 

you're searching for appear, as well as the importance you have given the posting date. 

This scoring will give you the records that best match your search at the top of the list. 

Once you have found an interesting message in a hitlist, you can retrieve the thread 

as it appears on the screen. 

InfoSeek lets you search many Internet newsgroups, news and business information 

from real time newswires, publications, broadcast programs, financial and government 

databases, World Wide Web pages, mailing list archives, and technical support 

information (including over a year of Computer Select database of the full text and 

abstracts of about 100 computer magazines). 

6 of 10 23.11.2009 15:46


Queries can be entered as plain English, or by just entering key words and phrases. 

There is a Japanese language version at http://japan.infoseek.com. 

Searching Mailing lists and Web forums 

BoardReader claims to let you "search 732,456 forums and message boards from the 

Web, information that most search engines do not retrieve." The forums and boards are 

sorted in these top level topic groups: Art & Antiques, Automobile, Boating, Computers, 

&RQVROH *DPHV +REELHV +RPH *DUGHQ 0RWRUF\FOHV $79V +HDOWK 

Entertainment & Music, Outdoor Recreation, Sports, Social, Travel. 

Reference.COM (Chapter 11) indexes messages posted to several mailing lists and 

Web forum. This includes Kidlink's announcement lists. 

Several mailing lists let you search their archives of postings through the Web. For 

example, all postings to the TOW mailing list since 1993 are searchable. Hits can be 

filtered by strings found on the subject line, strings in the author's email address, or by 

giving a date range. 

Microsoft lets you search several of their mailing lists, like those on ATL, ActiveX, 

Active Server Pages Scripting, Authenticode, CIFS, Client Scripting, Cryptographic API, 

Distributed COM Based Code, Internet Explorer Html. 

Some other mailing list archive sites: 

American.edu 

Anet (via rutgers.edu) 

Buffalo.edu 

Asu.edu 

Emory.edu 

Gmd.de 

Hea.ie many lists focusing on Irish, Celtic and Gaelic culture and languages. 

Indiana.edu 

Lsoft 

Nih.gov mainly medicine and health related lists 

Nodak.edu carries all public Kidlink lists 

Polito.it 

Psu.edu 

Spc.edu 

Stjohns.edu 

Temple.edu 

Uta.edu 

Yorku.edu 

Catalist is the official catalog of LISTSERV mailing lists. This site lets you search for 

mailing lists of interest. It guides you to their web archive interface, if available. The 

LISTSERV web archive interface allows you to search the list's archive, and browse 

postings chronologically. 

Searching specialized databases 

If you are looking for more specialized databases, try The Internet Sleuth. It links to 

over 3,000 searchable databases on the Internet on a wide variety of subjects. 

Sleuth's categories include: Agriculture, Economics, Internet, Regional, Education, 

Legal, Sciences, Astronomy, Employment, Literature, Shopping, Aviation, Engineering, 

Mathematics, Social Sciences, Biology, Physics, Entertainment, Medicine, Software, 

BioSciences, Environment, Arts, Music, Sports, Business, Finance, News, Technology, 

Business Directories, Food & Drink, People, Trade & Industry, Chemistry, Genealogy, 

Travel, Commercial Databases, Government, Politics, Usenet News, Companies, Health, 

Computer Related, Recreation, Veterinary, Humanities, Reference, Web Search 

Engines. 

Database Central links to over 4,000 database resources. The resources vary 

widely, from software, shareware, and middleware to tips, tutorials, and white papers to 

7 of 10 23.11.2009 15:46


books, magazines, and discussion forums. You may browse by category or use a 

keyword(s) search engine. 

The "Deep" Web 

Then, there's the "deep" web, also called the Invisible Web. These are the terabytes of 

information available in digital form through hidden databases that cannot be seen or 

searched directly by most Web search engines. They include databases, archived 

material, and interactive tools such as calculators and dictionaries. About 95 percent of 

this information is available to the public and is not subject to subscription fees. 

In early 2002, experts estimated that the "surface Web" contained 1 billion to 2 

billion documents, while the "deep Web" could contain as many as 550 billion. Put 

another way, the surface Web contained about 19 terabytes of information, while the 

deep Web contained about 7,500 terabytes. 

A terabyte is a measure of data storage. One terabyte is the equivalent of about 

1,600 CDs or 1,000 gigabytes. 

Reasons for the invisibility of the deep Web include that search engines cannot find 

them (they identify "static" pages rather than "dynamic" pages used by large databases), 

have made a conscious decision not to index them, or that the information is stored in a 

format that search engines are unable to index. For example, search engines can record a 

database's address, but can tell you nothing about the books, magazines or other 

documents it contains. 

Links to some Invisible Web resources: 

The Direct Search page 

InvisibleWeb.Com 

CompletePlanet 

The Big Hub 


If your success is still meagre, consider asking other onliners for advice. Actually, as this 

may often be a fast way to interesting sources, you may even want to put it higher on 

your list. 

When looking for information about agriculture and fisheries, visit forums and 

conferences about related topics. Ask members what they are using. 

If you want information about computers or electronics, ask in such conferences. 

When you do not know where to start your search, ask others! 

Their know how is usually the quickest way to the sources. 

Google Groups will help you locate relevant newsgroups for your questions. To find 

interesting mailing lists, check Topica, or its subsidiary, the Liszt Index of Electronic 

Mailing Lists. Liszt can also be searched by email. 

The Liszt Index lets you enter any word or phrase to search their directory of over 

90,095 listserv, listproc, majordomo and independently managed mailing lists (as of 

March, 1999). It will not allow you to search the message bases, but it sure will help you 

locate potentially interesting discussions. 

The Listserv home page lets you sort LISTSERV discussion groups by 1st letter of 

list name, by country, by server name, and more. The description pages of the individual 

discussion groups, however, is not to much help. Try Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists 

for an alternative. 

Also, there are over 250,000 Web based discussion forums (June 26, 1998). By 

November 25, 1996, the number was just 37,000. Search for discussions of interest at 

http://www.forumone.com/. 

Note: There is much free information on the Internet, but be prepared to pay for 

current and relevant information. Your payment is for filtering, sorting, and 

emphasizing of what matters to you. 

8 of 10 23.11.2009 15:46


Read the user manuals 

Some online services let you retrieve their user information manuals by modem for free. 

Others send them to all users, while some charge extra for them. If they do, buy! They're 

worth their weight in gold. 

User manuals from commercial services like CompuServe make good reading. The 

latter two also publish monthly magazines filled with search tips, information about new 

sources, user experiences, and more. 

Whenever it is possible to retrieve these help texts in electronic form, consider 

doing that. It is often faster to search a help file on your disk, than to browse through a 

book. 

Monitor the offerings 

Professional information searchers watch the activity in the online world. They 

subscribe to announcements about new offerings, regularly search databases for new 

sources of information, and read about new services. 

On most online services, you can search databases of available offerings, and a 

section with advertisements about their own 'superiorities'. Keep an eye on what is being 

posted there. 

There's an announcement only service called NET HAPPENINGS. It is a favorite 

for monitoring Internet's offerings. 

The service distributes announcements about tools, conferences, calls for papers, 

news items, new mailing lists, electronic newsletters like EDUPAGE, and more. 

Net happenings is also at comp.internet.net happenings. Their archives can be 

searched at http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/index.html. 

NEW LIST regularly distribute notices about new discussion lists (conferences). 

You can search the postings. Also in the bit.listserv.new list newsgroup. 

"Seidman's Online Insider" is an informative newsletter. You can subscribe to 

have it delivered weekly to your mailbox. Subscription information at 

http://www.clark.net/pub/robert/listserv.html. 

Heriot Watt University Library (Scotland) publishes the free INTERNET 

RESOURCES Newsletter. Emphasis is on Engineering, Science, and Social Science 

related sources in the United Kingdom. You can subscribe to have an alerting message, 

plus the table of contents sent via email, each time a new issue appears. 

The Usenet newsgroup alt.internet.services focuses on information about services 

available on the Internet. Services for discussion include: 

things you can telnet to (weather, library catalogs, databases, and more), 

things you can FTP (like pictures, sounds, programs, data) 

clients/servers (like MUDs, IRC, Archie) 

Every second week, a list of Internet services called the "Special Internet Connections 

list" is posted to this newsgroup. It includes everything from where to retrieve pictures 

from space by FTP, how to find agricultural information, public UNIX, online directories 

and books, you name it. 

On The Well, read the "News from Around Well Conferences" topic to learn about 

developments. 

The LINK UP magazine is an interesting paper source. In North America, contact 

Learned Information Inc., 143 Old Mariton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055 8707, U.S.A. In 

Europe: Learned Information (Europe) Ltd., Woodside, Hinskey Hill, Oxford OX1 5AU, 

England. 

Two monthly magazines, Information World Review and FULLTEXT SOURCES 

ONLINE from BiblioData Inc. (U.S.A.), are also available through Learned Information. 

(BiblioData, P.O. Box 61, Needham Heights, MA 02194, U.S.A.) Learned Information's 

"Learned InfoNet" is at http://info.learned.co.uk/ 

More sources about sources 

9 of 10 23.11.2009 15:46

)LQGLQJ D QHHGOH LQ D ERWWOH RI KD\ http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/10.html 

Scott Yanoff updates an interesting, selected list of Internet resources WZLFH SHU PRQWK 

John December's "Information Sources: the Internet and Computer Mediated 

Communication" has pointers to information describing the Internet, computer 

networks, and issues related to computer mediated communication. It lists Internet texts 

for new users, comprehensive Internet guides, and specialized and technical information. 

The Gale Directory of Databases contains detailed descriptions of over 11,500 

publicly available databases accessible through an online vendor or batch processor or 

for purchase on CD ROM, diskette, or magnetic tape, or as a handheld product (Feb, 

1999). It is a comprehensive guide to the electronic database industry worldwide. They 

also offer listings of database producers and vendors. 

For lists of electronic journals about the Internet ("E zines" or "Ejournals"), click at 

http://www.edoc.com/ejournal/ 

Several electronic journals and newsletters are available through the Internet, 

covering fields from literature to molecular biology. For a large list, try 

http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e zine list/. 

The NEWSLTR list distributes various network newsletters. Offerings include: 

Edupage, Hitek, HPC, Infosys, IAT Inforbit, and many more. 

The Argus Clearinghouse offers over 1,000 topical guides to the Internet's 

information resources. The guides are created by librarians and other information 

professionals, and cover a diverse range of topics, from Theatre, Law, and Chemistry to 

Midwifery. 

Interested in CD ROM? The database at http://www.microinfo.co.uk/ offers details 

about thousands of information products and services mainly CD ROMs. Products are 

classified in 27 topics ranging from agriculture and food to theology. 


Search: 



Updated at October 14, 2003 



10 of 10 23.11.2009 15:46

Finding a needle ... (Part II) http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/10b.html 


Chapter 10: 

Finding a needle ... (Part II) 


When your personal 

database fails to deliver 

Locating interesting 

sources E\ VHDUFKLQJ WKH 

net 


Searching a topic 

area 

Searching for non US 

information 

Non English language 

searches 



Searching Mailing lists 

and Web forums 

Searching specialized 

databases 

The "deep"web 


Read the user manuals 

Monitor the offerings 

More sources about 

sources 

Practical hints about online searching 

Practical hints about 

online searching 

Dictionaries and 

encyclopedias 

The Usenet resource 

(FAQs) 

Other sources available 

through the Internet 

Getting more out of your 

magazine subscriptions 



We cannot give a simple, universal recipe valid for all online services. The best 

approach on one service, may be useless on others. 

Besides, recommendations will vary considerably depending on whether you want 

"focused searches" designed to find and retrieve a specific set of documents providing a 

specific set of information, or "satisficed searches" designed to find just some hits that 

are "good enough" regardless of the source. 

On some services, searching starts by selecting databases or type of source. This 

may help you get rid of some irrelevancies. On other services, this selection is assumed. 

The next step is to enter your search words (or text strings), and a valid time frame 

(as in "between 1/1/90 and 1/1/91"), where such an option is available. 

Here are some sample search terms used on the net: 

SONY AND VIDEO The term SONY and the term VIDEO. Both 

words must be present in the document 

to give a match. 

VIDEO* search for all words starting with 

VIDEO. "*" is a wild card character 

referring to any ending of the word. 

VIDEO* matches words like VIDEOTEXT 

and VIDEOCONFERENCE. 

1 of 13 23.11.2009 15:47


SONY WITHIN/10 VIDEO Both words must be present in the text, 

but they must not be farther apart than 

ten words. (Proximity operators) 

IBM OR APPLE Either one word OR the other. 

Some services have adjacency operators, and some automatic truncation. Truncation 

allows searching on different word endings or plurals with the use of a truncation wild 

card symbol. For example, if the truncation symbol is *, then the search term econ* will 

return items that contain economics, economy, economic, and econometric. Car* will 

return items that contain cars and cartoon, so it is advisable to use truncation symbols 

carefully. 

Many services let you reuse your search terms in new search commands. This may 

save you time (and money), when you get too many hits. For example: if IBM OR 

APPLE gives 1,000 hits, limit the search by adding "FROM JANUARY 1st.," or by 

adding the search word "NOTEBOOK*". 

Most services offer full online documentation of their search commands. You can 

read the help text on screen while connected, or retrieve it for later study. Expect the 

quality of these texts to be variable, but browse them all the same. 

Make a note about the following general tricks: 

The use of ANDs and ORs 

is called Boolean searching. It allows search terms to be put into logical groups by the 

use of connective terms. 

Using AND, OR, and NOT search operators may seem confusing at first, unless 

you already understand the logic. Here are some hints that you may find helpful: 

Use the Boolean operator AND to retrieve smaller amounts of information. Use 

AND when multiple words must be present in your search results (MERCEDES AND 

VOLVO AND CITROEN AND PRICES). 

Use OR to express related concepts or synonyms for your search term (FRUIT OR 

APPLES OR PEARS OR BANANAS OR PEACHES). 

The purpose of NOT is avoid listings of irrelevant records. Be careful when using 

this operator. NOT gets rid of any record in a database that contains the word that 

you've "notted" out. For example, searching for "IBM NOT APPLE" drops records 

containing the sentence, "IBM and Apple are computer giants." The record will be 

dropped, even if this is the only mention of Apple in an article, and though it is solely 

about IBM. 

Use NOT to drop sets of hits that you have already seen. Use NOT to exclude 

records with multiple meanings, like "CHIPS Not POTATO" (if you are looking for 

chips rather than snack foods). 

Often, it pays to start with a "quick and dirty" search by throwing in words you 

think will do the trick. Then, look at the first five or 10 records, but look only at the 

headline and the indexing. This will show you what terms are used by indexers to 

describe your idea and the potential for confusion with other ideas. 

Use proximity operators to search multiword terms. If searching for "market share," 

you want the two words within so many words of another. The order of the words, 

however, doesn't matter. You can accept both "market share" and "share of the market." 

Relevance ranking, and more 

Some claim that boolean searches only find between 20 25 percent of the relevant 

information. The problem is that you must know the terms to search on before you 

begin. Many people don't know these terms and cannot guess them. 

Several online services are busy trying to supply better "search engines" using 

techniques like natural language searching, relevance ranking, concept searching, 

automatic subject grouping, and more. 

Relevance ranking tries to measure how closely the retrieval matches the query, 

usually in quantitative terms between 0 and 100 or 0 and 1,000. It usually provides a 

ranked listing of search results, with a score for the relevance of the result, based on the 

2 of 13 23.11.2009 15:47


occurrences of the terms used and also their position in the document. It provides 

somewhat the same results as AND searching. Also, it offers the benefits of OR 

searching as all the terms in a query need not be present in the result. 

Alta Vista offers both boolean and enhanced relevance ranking searches. For 

example, you can require that selected terms be found in the results. The query "+apples 

+bananas oranges" will not find a document missing the words apples and bananas. 

Those files that contain oranges will listed before those that do not contain this word, but 

files without this word will also be listed. 

Some services let you search specific types of information. For example, Alta Vista 

allows searches for characters or words in an URL (a Web address), or a hyperlink. 

Application: My Web pages are at http://home.eunet.no/~presno/. The 

query "+link:eunet.no/~presno/ url:eunet.no/~presno/" will most likely find 

all links to my pages on other Web servers except my own. The " " 

character in front of a word works as a NOT operator. The "link:" phrase is 

for searching in hyperlinks across the Internet. The "url:" code lets you 

search in the URL addresses of the found pages. 

Key Word In Context (KWIC) searching will return the key word and N words near the 

key word to give the user the context in which the key word was found. 

Phrase Searching allows searching of phrases when available. Note that some 

systems can be confusing if you think "Online World" is searching the two words 

together as a phrase, when in fact the engine is searching Online OR World. 

Fuzzy searching is another interesting concept. This option allows you to search 

when you don't know the exact spelling of the word. Some systems use the Soundex 

algorithm invented over 70 years ago to search name files. Names that sound alike 

should have the same Soundex number. It uses these basic rules: 

Vowels are ignored. 

Consonants that sound alike in a pronounced name have the same "number". 

Successive consonants with the same number are counted as one (Willitt is equal 

to Wilith). 

Note: Information in English may be just a small part of that available in a country's 

national language. When English language sources fail to meet the need at hand, 

consider the services of a skilled bilingual searcher. 

Spelling errors are very common reasons for search failures. Make sure you have 

that terminology term or person's name right. Also, names are not spelled the same way 

in all countries, and those who produce texts also make spelling errors. For example, the 

name of the composer Tchaikowsky is supposedly spelled in 36 different ways on the 

nets. 'Ciaikovsky' is one of them. 

Important: Some users get so fascinated by advanced methodology used 

by a search engine that they forget the purpose of the task: to find good 

and relevant information. If a search engine does not hold this information 

in its database, then it having the best search features on the net does not 

justify using it! 

Bare Bones 101 is a collection of lessons designed to help users get their web searches 

on the right track quickly and easy. The tutorial has 20 independent lessons, addressing 

topics such as meta searchers, subject directories, evaluating sites, Boolean logic, and 

field searching. It offers overviews of the most popular search engines. 

Searching file libraries 

The commands used to find files are similar to those used in traditional databases. Often, 

you can limit the search by library, date, file name, or file extension. You can search for 

text strings in the description of the contents of a file, or use key words. 

On the Internet, the Virtual Shareware Library LV D IDYRULWH ,W OLQNV WR D IURQW 

end which catalogues about 120,000 software files available from the 22 largest 

shareware and freeware archives on the Internet (1996). Its search engine lets you 

3 of 13 23.11.2009 15:47


search descriptions, locate, retrieve, or order files. 

Narrow your search by stating the desired hardware or software platform, as in 

Commodore Amiga, Atari, MS DOS, Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh, Novell 

Netware, IBM OS/2, Unix/Linux, etc. 

Use Boolean operators (AND and NOT), specify case requirements, use wildcards 

(like *, | and ?), delimit by file creation dates, demand matches in paths and file names, 

and limit the size of the search report. 

Using a program like Netscape, just click on the desired files to have them 

transferred to your local disk. Easy. 

To search a huge database of files on the Internet, try FTP Search . In September 

1996, their index contained over 62 million files. 

FTP Search features advanced search options to help you narrow down to the file 

you want, including case insensitive/sensitive substring searches, limiting to a given 

domain and path, as well as many formatting options. 

On bulletin board systems, there are many different search methods. 

Example: You're visiting a bulletin board based on the BBS program 

RBBS PC. You want a program that can show GIF graphics picture files. 

Such files are typically described like this: 

VUIMG31.EXE 103105 07 15 91 GIF*/TIFF/PCX Picture Viewer 

From left to right: file name, size in bytes, date available, and a 40 character 

description. 

You can search the file descriptions for the string "gif". You do this by 

entering the term "s gif all". This will probably give you a list of files. Some 

will have the letters GIF in the file name. Others will have them in the 

description field. 

CompuServe has several "Find this File" services. 

Searching conferences and forums 

On Usenet, it is easy. Simply connect to The Deja News Research Service above. Many 

mailing lists maintain log files, and offer ways of searching them. Often, you must be a 

subscriber to search, so it is more cumbersome. Many services have commands for 

selective reading of messages. For example, on CompuServe you can limit your search 

to given sections. You can also select messages to be read based on text strings in the 

subject titles. The command 

rs;s;CIS Access from Japan;62928 

displays all messages with the text "CIS Access from Japan" in their subject titles 

starting with message number 62928. Most users have their programs do this 

automatically for them. For examples, OzWin and TAPCIS handles this well. Such 

message filtering is also common in Usenet newsreaders. For example, the Free Agent 

program from Forte Advanced Management Software, Inc. lets you go online to 

retrieve message headers, mark off those you want to read, and then call back to retrieve 

the selected message bodies. 

Searching by email 

When searching a database stored on another continent, then the speed of response may 

be a problem. In such cases, note that several databases on the Internet can be searched 

by email. Reference.COM (Chapter 11) allows for searching of Usenet postings, while 

the Agora servers let you search many databases using World Wide Web by email 

services (Chapter 12). MCI Mail and MCI Fax have a program called Information 

Advantage, under which online services and newsletters can deliver search results and 

other information over the online services. 

Using discussion lists through the Internet 

4 of 13 23.11.2009 15:47


For instructions about how to get a directory of LISTSERV based mailing lists, send the 

following email message: 

To: listserv@listserv.nodak.edu 

Subject: (keep this blank) 

Text: 

LIST GLOBAL 

You will receive a LONG list of available sources of information. The list dated March 

8, 1996, had over twenty three thousand lines. Each mailing list is described with two 

lines. Here are some examples from the list: 

Network wide ID Host address and list description 

AARWA L listserv@postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu 

African & Africa Related Women's Assoc.(AARWA) 

AAT L AAT L request@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU 

Art & Architecture Thesaurus Discussion List 

ACADEMIA listserv@technion.technion.ac.il 

Academia Forum on Higher Education in Israel 

BBS TR listserv@vm.ege.edu.tr 

BBS Listesi (Turkish) 

CAPES L listproc@listas.ansp.br 

Grupo de discussao da CAPES 

EUROTRI_CV majordomo@uv.es 

Foro de las OTRIs de la Comunidad Valenciana 

HIRIS L listserv@icineca.cineca.it 

HIgh Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy List 

The column "Network wide ID" contains the names of the mailing lists. "Full address 

and list description" contains the email addresses that members use when submitting 

discussion items, and a short textual description of each conference. Keep the list on 

your hard disk. This makes it easier to find sources of information, when you need them. 

Subscribing to mailing lists 

These mailing list, also often called 'discussion list', work like online conferences or 

message sections on bulletin boards, but technically they are different. (Read about 

Kidlink in Chapter 2 for background information.) All these lists are controlled by a 

program called LISTSERV on the host given under "Full address" above. Thus, to 

subscribe or signoff to the AAT L mailing list above, write to listserv@listserv.uic.edu. 

Mailing lists offer "conferencing" with the following important functions: 

All "discussion items" (that is, electronic messages sent to the lists' email address) 

are distributed to all subscribers. 

Messages are usually automatically stored in notebook archives. You can search 

these log files, and you can have them sent to you as electronic mail. 

Files can often be stored in the lists' associated file libraries for distribution to 

subscribers on demand. 

The term "Network wide ID" signifies that you do not need to subscribe by email to the 

host running a mailing list's LISTSERV. If there is a LISTSERV on a host in a country 

closer to where you live, then you can subscribe to this rather than to the remote. This 

helps keep the total costs of the international network down. 

Example: 

You live in Norway. There is a LISTSERV in nearby Finland at 

listserv@fiport.funet.fi. You can send your AAT L subscription request 

(SUBSCRIBE AAT L FirstName LastName) to this address, rather than to 

listserv@uicvm.uic.edu. 

5 of 13 23.11.2009 15:47


Use the addresses in column two when sending messages to the other members of the 

discussion lists, but DO NOT send your subscription requests to this address!! Your mail 

will be forwarded to all members. Chances are that nothing will happen, while 

everybody will see how sloppy you are. So, you subscribe by sending a command to a 

LISTSERV. The method is similar to what we did when subscribing to Infonets in 

Chapter 7. If your name is Jens Jensen, and you want to subscribe to CAPES L, send 

this message to a LISTSERV: 

To: (enter a preferred LISTSERV address here) 

Subject: (You can write anything here. Will be ignored.) 

Text: SUB CAPES L Jens Jensen 

When your subscription has been registered, a confirmation text will be returned to you. 

Note that some mailing lists will ask you to return a subscription confirmation before 

accepting. From now on, all messages sent to the list will be forwarded to your mailbox. 

(Send "SIGNOFF CAPES L" to this address to unsubscribe from the mailing list.) Some 

lists will forward each message to you upon receipt. Others will send a periodic digest 

(weekly, monthly, etc.). To send a message to HIRIS L, send to the address in column 

two above. Send to 

HIRIS L@ICINECA.CINECA.IT 

Review the following example. Most mailing lists will accept these commands. 

Example: Subscription to the China list 

CHINA NN is listed as follows in the List of Lists: 

CHINA NN listserv@asuvm.inre.asu.edu (Peered) 

China News Digest (Global News) 

You can send your subscription request to listserv@asuvm.inre.asu.edu. Scandinavians 

may subscribe by mail to listserv@fiport.funet.fi. North American users can also send 

their mail to listserv@listserv.nodak.edu. If your name is Winston Hansen, write the 

following command in the TEXT of the message 

SUB CHINA NN Winston Hansen 

When you want to leave CHINA NN, send a cancellation message like this to the 

LISTSERV where you subscribed: 

To: listserv@asuvm.inre.asu.edu 

Subject: (nothing here) 

SIGNOFF CHINA NN 

If you subscribed through listserv@fiport.funet.fi, sending the SIGNOFF command to 

listserv@asuvm.inre.asu.edu will get you nowhere. Send to listserv@fiport.funet.fi. 

Never send the SIGNOFF command to the discussion list itself! Always send to the 

LISTSERV. 

Note: If the mailing list has a web page with a public message archive, then it may 

be easiest to subscribe from this page. At the CHINA NN list archive page, just hit "Join 

or leave the list (or change settings)." 

Searching mailing list log files 

Many mailing lists maintain logs of messages sent through the list. Search commands 

differ both by mailing list system, and version number. Check with the administrator or 

other members of your lists about how to search these resources. To search mailing list 

log files controlled by listserv@listserv.nodak.edu, send an email with the following 

command in the text of your mail: 

search in 

6 of 13 23.11.2009 15:47


Replace with your desired search term, and by the name of the 

list. Example: To find all messages in the log files of the KidOLQN mailing list containing 

the word "janeiro" (as in Rio de Janeiro), send the following command to the Listserv's 

email address: 

search janeiro in Kidlink 

The Listserv returns the following type of report (Abbreviated. Only the first hit is 

shown below): 

From: "L Soft list server at North Dakota HECN (1.8c)" 

> search janeiro in kidlink 

> 15 matches. 

Item # Date Time Recs Subject 

000373 93/10/06 00:06 54 The first response from France 

To order a copy of these postings, send the following command: 

GETPOST KIDLINK 373 

>> Item #373 (6 Oct 1993) The first response from France 

I will also give speeches in Maceio (the site of the 

Portuguese language KIDLINK forums), Rio de Janeiro, 

^^^^^^^ 

and Goiania/Goias. A lot of fun! 

You could also restrict searches like this: 

SEARCH search_string IN KIDLINK SINCE 96/01/01 

SEARCH search_string IN KIDLINK WHERE SENDER CONTAINS NATHAN 

The Usenet resource 

Some interesting Usenet information articles are being posted regularly. We call these 

articles Frequently Asked Questions texts, or just FAQs. They tend to be useful both 

for novice and experienced users, and usually fall into one of these groups: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

How to articles explaining the basics and fine points of network usage, standards, 

etc. Examples: "How to Read Chinese Text on Usenet," and "How to find more 

information about blues and jazz." 

Introductory notes about one or more newsgroups, covering policies for 

submissions to that group, usage, etc. Common questions and answers pertinent to 

a newsgroup(s). 

Indexes of archives, or pointers to archives for various groups. Periodic 

newsletters, calendars, pointers to publications. Examples: "PostScript interpreters 

and utilities index," "Index to the rec.radio.amateur.* Supplemental Archives," 

and "FidoNet Newsletter." 

Statistical information and reports about Usenet; tables of Usenet hosts, links, etc. 

Miscellany, including small useful sources, "fun" lists, and more. 

The resource at http://www.cis.ohio state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/ provides an 

alphabetic list of all Usenet FAQs found in the news.answers newsgroup. Many of these 

FAQs are presented in the same format as they appear in the newsgroup, while others 

have been further processed and split into additional documents. Click on individual 

FAQs to read. The list of newsgroups and mailing lists is available on hosts that run 

Usenet News or NetNews servers and/or clients in the news.lists news group. The 

members of news.newusers.questions and alt.internet.access.wanted will readily accept 

your help requests. 

Other sources available through the Internet 

7 of 13 23.11.2009 15:47


The Galaxy service offers: Search Galaxy Pages, Find Galaxy Entries, Search the World 

Wide Web, Search Gopher Space, Search Hytelnet Services (includes traditional ``top 

down'' interface), and has pointers to searchable indexes and databases at many other 

sites. 

Free vs. commercial sources: On commercial online services, the profit 

motive provides continuous pressure to keep data plentiful and 

approachable. On the Internet, the information you'll find is there often 

because of someone's good will. So, unless the resource is sponsored or 

commercial in another another way, beware of outdated information. 

The Northern Light Search Engine's "Special Collection" is a database of million 

books, magazines, journals, newswires and databases that aren't generally available via 

the Web . Searching the database is free, but there is a modest fee for documents 

actually retrieved. 

The Electric Library has more than 1,000 publications in its archive (1996). Users 

can enter a plain English question to search over 900 full text magazines, over 150 

full text newspapers, over 2,000 complete works of literature (Shakespeare, Monarch 

Notes), 20,000 photographs, news wires, television and radio transcripts, book, movie 

and software reviews, and Compton's Encyclopedia. They also have a dictionary, 

thesaurus, almanac, fact books, and more. 

Talking about Shakespeare. There is also a site offering the Complete Works of 

William Shakespeare's plays and poetry. 

Getting more out of your magazine subscriptions 

To garner new subscribers and keep current readers, magazine publishers turn to online 

services to create an ancillary electronic version of their print product. Their readers are 

being transformed from passive recipients of information into active participants in 

publishing. 

You can "talk" with PC Magazine's writers through ZiffNet on CompuServe. Their 

forums function as expert sources. Here, you will often learn about products and trends 

sometimes before the magazines hit the newsstand. Time magazine has a forum on 

America Online. There, readers can discuss with magazine reporters and editors, and 

even read the text of entire issues of Time electronically before it is available on 

newsstands. 

Stanford University's HighWire Press lets you search in the full text of hundreds of 

thousands of science articles. 

Time Warner's Pathfinder provides the full text of Time magazine, including a 

feature called Time Daily, updated with the latest stories each evening around 8 p.m. 

ET. 

PC Magazine (U.S.A.) is one of those magazines that arrives here by mail. We 

butcher them, whenever we find something of interest. The "corpses" are dumped in a 

high pile on the floor. To retrieve a story in this pile is difficult and time consuming, 

unless the title is printed on the cover. Luckily, there are shortcuts. Connect to ZD Net 

Search. Here, you can search for stories. Once you have a list with title references, 

turning the pages gets much easier. However, as the articles are in full text, you may not 

want to hit for the floor at all. 

FindArticles.com offers free access to the full text of articles published in over 

300 magazines and journals dating from 1998. Users can search the database by 

keyword and subject categories (Arts & Entertainment, Computers & Technology, 

Reference & Education, Sports, and more). 

On CompuServe, ZiffNet offers Computer Database Plus. It lets you search through 

more than 250,000 articles from over 200 popular newspapers and magazines. The 

oldest articles are from early 1987. Their database is also available on CD ROM, but the 

discs cover only one year at a time. 

CDP contains full text from around 50 magazines, like Personal Computing, 

Electronic News, MacWeek and Electronic Business. Stories from the other magazines 

are available in abstracted form only. To search, you pay extra per hour. In addition, you 

8 of 13 23.11.2009 15:47


pay a fee per abstract and per full text article. These fees are added to your normal 

CompuServe access rates. 

ZiffNet also offers Magazine Database Plus, a database with stories from over 130 

magazines (1994) covering science, business, sport, people, personal finance, family, art 

and handicraft, cooking, education, environment, travel, politics, consumer opinions, 

and reviews of books and films. 

The magazines include: Administrative Management, Aging, Changing Times, The 

Atlantic, Canadian Business, Datamation, Cosmopolitan, Dun's Business Month, The 

Economist, The Futurist, High Technology Business, Journal of Small Business 

Management, Management Today, The Nation, The New Republic, Online, Playboy, 

Inc., Popular Science, Research & Development, Sales & Marketing Management, 

Scientific American, Technology Review, UN Chronicle, UNESCO Courier, U.S. News 

& World Report, and World Press Review. (In Chapter 11, we present another ZiffNet 

magazine database: the Business Database Plus.) 

Magazine Index (MI), from Information Access Company (U.S.A.) covers over 500 

consumer and general interest periodicals as diverse as Special Libraries and Sky & 

Telescope, Motor Trend and Modern Maturity, Reader's Digest and Rolling Stone. Many 

titles go as far back as 1959. 

Although most of the database consists of brief citations, MI also contains the 

complete text of selected stories from a long list of periodicals. It is available through 

several commercial vendors. 

The Ei Compendex database (Ei CPXWeb) from Engineering Information offers 

information on various disciplines of engineering, from marine to chemical to electrical 

to nuclear. Over 3 million summaries of journal articles and conference proceedings, and 

220,000 new additions every year. 

What to do if you have so many references to a given magazine that you want to 

check it out? Try the Electronic Newsstand. It has links to over 2,000 magazine sites 

(1996). If you like, you can subscribe (with discounts) to over 300 of them. 


Many libraries are accessible through the Internet. For a list of links to library web 

servers, look up Libweb, or webCATS. Both Libweb and webCATS have geographical 

indexes with links to libraries in Africa, Americas, Asia/Pacific Rim, and Europe/Middle 

East. Also, check the Searchable Bibliographies & Major Library Catalogs page. 

Some libraries can be searched by Internet mail. This is the case with BIBSYS, a 

database operated by the Norwegian universities' libraries. 

I am into transcendental meditation, and therefore constantly look for books on 

narrow topics like "mantra." To search BIBSYS for titles of interest, I sent a mail to 

genserv@pollux.bibsys.no. The search word was in the subject title of the message. By 

return email, I got the following report: 

Date: Fri, 21 Jul 93 13:54:18 NOR 

From: GENSERV@POLLUX.BIBSYS.NO 

Subject: Searching BIBSYS 

Search request : MANTRA 

Database id : BIBSYS 

Search result : 5 hits. 

The following is one of the references that I forwarded to my local library for 

processing: 

Forfatter : Gonda, J. 

Tittel : Mantra interpretation in the Satapatha Brahmana 

/ by J. Gonda. 

Trykt : Leiden : E.J. Brill, 1988. 

Sidetall : X, 285 s. 

I serie : (Orientalia Rheno traiectina ; 32) 

ISBN : 90 04 08776 1 

1 UHF 90ka03324 UHF/INDO Rh III b Gon 

The Russian State Library has a books by e mail system that lets readers around the 

9 of 13 23.11.2009 15:47


globe read any of its 42 million books, manuscripts and documents at the click of a 

mouse. All it takes is by paying a few cents per page. They send maximum 40 percent of 

a book. 

The Modern Chinese Literature and Culture Resource Center is a bibliographic 

site devoted to the culture of twentieth century China. It contains: (1) lists of 

translations of modern Chinese literature; (2) bibliographies of literary studies, media 

studies, visual arts, education, and music; (3) lists of important journals in the field (with 

links to their websites); (4) announcements, lists of relevant associations and institutions; 

(5) an image archive; (6) links to Chinese e text; (7) relevant internet resources; (8) 

links to websites of university course; and (9) information on how to join the associated 

MCLC mailing list. 

The British Library is at http://www.bl.uk/. "Book Lovers: Fine Books and 

Literature" has links to writers and poets, libraries, publishers and booksellers, both of 

new and second hand/antiquarian books. 

7KH &RPSOHWH *XLGH WR 2QOLQH %RRNVWRUHV is a handy guide to the net's offerings. 

Their list is broken down into categories like: Academic bookstores, Alternative, 

Archive, Australian, Automotive, Business & Career, Children's, City, Computer & 

Technical, Cooking, Co Ops & Book Trading, Gay & Lesbian, General, German, Health 

& Nutrition, How To, Israeli, Irish, Martial Arts, Medical & Chiropractic, Multilingual, 

Museum, Mystery & Fantasy, Future Fantasy, Nature, Organizational, Photographic, 

Progressive, Rare Books, Religious, Special Interest, Spiritual, Swedish, Travel, 

University & College, and more. 

Roswell Computer Books Ltd.'s online book store in Canada has a large database 

of titles. The Internet Book Shop in the United Kingdom offers over 750,000 (1995), 

while Book Stacks Unlimited offers over 410,000 titles. Search online, read book 

reviews, enter order and credit card information to have the books shipped. They also 

offer several free virtual volumes. Amazon.com claims over 1.5 million titles. For yet 

more books, check http://www.barnesandnoble.com. 

)RU PRUH RQ VFLHQFH ILFWLRQ EURZVH William Gibson's self destructing electronic 

book "Agrippa". 

OCLC's WorldCat is a reference database covering books and materials in 

libraries worldwide. Their Online Union Catalog (OLUC) is the world's largest and most 

comprehensive bibliographic database. 

The Peking University Library (Beijing, China) contains about 4,500,000 items. It 

includes 2,700,000 items in Chinese and 900,000 items in different foreign languages. 

There are also 650,000 volumes of periodicals and other documents and 160,000 rare 

books. The National Library of China (NLC) is at http://www.nlc.gov.cn/etext.htm. 

Bookworms may appreciate the DOROTHYL list, and especially if they like 

Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey and Dorothy L. Sayers. The Mark Twain forum 

(TWAIN L) is at listserv@yorku.ca. 

For Stephen King, check out http://www.wco.com/~pace/king.html. Usenet has 

alt.fan.holmes, and there is a "Sherlockian Connection" Web page with many links. 

The Internet Poetry Archive brings selected poems from several contemporary 

poets in different languages, including text, photo of poet, voice of poet reading the 

poem, select bibliography, and brief biographical note. 

If you are into Very Rare Books, visit the Vatican Library, one of the world's 

oldest and most tightly restricted libraries. Founded in the mid 1400s, the library houses 

over 150,000 manuscripts and a million printed books, including 80,000 books published 

during the first fifty years of the printing press. 

Digital images of several full printed volumes, manuscripts, and artworks are 

gradually being made available through the Internet. 200 of its most precious 

manuscripts, books, and maps many of which played a key role in the humanist 

recovery of the classical heritage of Greece and Rome, is available. 

If quite impossible to locate a given book, try EXLIBRIS, the Rare Books and 

Special Collections Forum. 

The Bibliophile Mailing List is for collectors and sellers of old, rare, scarce, 

and/or out of print books. It is a forum for buying, selling, and trading books. 

On Usenet, they have alt.books.reviews, k12.library, alt.books.technical, 

rec.arts.books, and more. 

10 of 13 23.11.2009 15:47



You needed strong muscles to read the earliest books. In ancient Babylonia and Assyria, 

books consisted of numbered collections of rectangular clay tablets. They were inscribed 

with cuneifom and packaged in a labeled container. Taking a book from the shelf and 

carrying it to a reading table required the help of several assistants. 

Today, you'll find full electronic versions of books on the World Wide Web and in 

other types of Internet archives. 

The first issue (version 1.0) of this virtual book is one example. You can find it in 

the archives of Project Gutenberg. You can retrieve it to your disk for later reading, or 

read it with your Web browser. 

Project Gutenberg's offerings include The Complete Sherlock Holmes Mysteries, 

Aesop's Fables, The Unabridged Works of Shakespeare, The Love Teachings of Kama 

Sutra, Tarzan, The Oedipus Trilogy (Sophocles), Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee, 

Frankenstein, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Holy Bible, Peter Pan, The Holy 

Koran, Roget's Thesaurus (1911), Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, and The World 

Factbook (CIA). 

The Electronic Text Center offers a collection of thousands of English, French, 

German, Japanese, and Latin texts. 

The Alex Catalog of full text Electronic Texts gives pointers to more offerings. 

The catalogue is divided into Search the catalog, Browse the catalog (by author, date, 

host, language, subject, or title), and Information about cataloging Internet resources. 

Books in other languages 

On the Internet, there are a rapidly growing number of library online public access 

catalogs (OPACs) from all over the world. Some provide users with access to additional 

resources, such as periodical indexes of specialized databases. More than 270 library 

catalogs are online (1992). 

For Chinese books in Chinese (and in English language), check the China 

International Book Trading Corporation. 

Non Chinese speaking people will probably classify Chinese poems as 'rare'. Many 

of them are impossible to read, unless your computer can handle the special characters, 

and you know their meaning. Interested? Subscribe to the CHPOEM L mailing list. Be 

prepared to use your Big5 and GuoBiao utilities. 

Dictionaries and encyclopedias 

OneLook Dictionaries, The Faster Finder, lets you search words in several 

dictionaries and glossaries in one operation. By March 1999, it had 2,299,280 words in 

461 online dictionaries indexed. A search for "backbone" returned definitions in six 

specialized dictionaries. 

Your search may be limited to specific dictionaries/glossaries sorted in groups like 

Computer/Internet, Science, Medical, Technological, Business, Sports, Religion, 

Acronym, and General Dictionaries. 

A Web of On line Dictionaries has links to online grammar resources for 

languages ranging from 'Armenian' to 'Urdu'. It also offers Multilingual Dictionaries, 

Specialty English Dictionaries, Thesauri and Other Vocabulary Aids, Language 

Identifiers and Guessers, An Index of Dictionary Indices, and A Web of On line 

Grammars. 

The Xrefer reference search engine meta searches and cross references several 

encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, books of quotations, and a number of subject 

specific titles. After a simple keyword search, initial returns consist of a brief description 

and the source. Full returns can vary significantly in length, some quite brief, with a 

useful collection of cross references and adjacent entries displayed on the right hand 

side of the browser window. 

The Research Institute for the Humanities in Hong Kong offers extensive links 

11 of 13 23.11.2009 15:47


to reference works, dictionaries and thesauri in many languages. Their offerings include 

Chinese, Dutch, English, Esperanto, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin, 

Norwegian, Qur'anic Arabic, Russian, Slovak, Spanish and Welch dictionaries; 

Dictionary of Acronyms; Quotations; Abbreviations for International Organizations; 

History related reference works; Philosophy related reference; Computer related 

reference; White & Yellow Pages; Maps; Encyclopaedias. Lexicool links to more than 

500 translation dictionaries and glossaries. 

travlang links to online translating dictionaries. Languages covered include: 

Afrikaans, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Finnish, French, Frisian, German, 

Italian, Latin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish. 

A Web of Online Dictionaries is another great resource. For example, it contains : 

BURMESE: Burm. Eng. Burm. On line Dictionary. CHINESE: Chin. 

Character Dictionary Web; A Chin. Syllabary Pronounced According to the 

Dialect of Canton by S. L. Wong; Chin. Eng. Chin. Character Dictionary; 

Chin. Eng.; Chin. Japanese Korean Dictionary of Buddhist Terms; Chinlex 

Chin. German Socio Economics Dictionary; Eng. Chin. (gopher); 

Eng. Chin. (PC DOS download); Eng. Chin. Eng. Dictionary of Commerce 

and Trade; Eng. Chin. Eng. Dictionary of Medical Terms; Eng. Chin. 

Dictionary; Guoyu Cidian Chin. Dictionary; Marjorie Chan's Index of Chin. 

Online Glossaries and Dictionaries; World Wide Web CJK Eng. 

Dictionary/Database; Zhongwen Zipu Chin. Character Genealogy; Kingsoft 

Chin. Eng. Chin. On line Dictionary; Dictionary of Chin. Characters; 

Hakka Dictionary romanized (Dylan's Sa Tdiu Gok Hak Ga Su Dien); 

Hakka Pronouncing Dictionary; I Ching Lexicon; Kanji Base Query form 

(50,000 chars). TAIWANESE: Daiwan Way Taiwanese On lineDictionary; 

Modern Literal Taiwanese Dictionary. TIBETAN: Rangjung Yeshe 

Tibetan Eng. Dictionary (85,000 chars); Tibetan Eng. Dictionary of 

Buddhist Teaching and Practice; Jim Valby's Tibetan Eng. DOS dictionary 

(FTP download); Zhang Zhung/Tibetan/Eng. Dictionary. 

There's another comprehensive resource at http://www.xlation.com/, and then there is 

"an annotated listing of dictionaries, glossaries and encyclopedias that have some sort 

of version online or, if you will, a glossary of glossaries". 

The Places for THINKers web has links to sources like Webster's Dictionary, 

Roget's Thesaurus, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, and FAQs about Copyright. 

The real Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases can be found at 

http://www.thesaurus.com/


acronyms, quotations, maps, phone numbers, postal information, package tracking, 

financial info and more. 

The UNESCO trilingual Thesaurus (English/French/Spanish) contains more than 

7,000 terms for education; science; culture; social and human sciences; information and 

communication; and politics, law and economics. It also includes the names of countries 

and groupings of countries (political, economic, geographic, ethnic and religious, and 

linguistic groupings). 

At the Phrase Finder page , type in a word to get a list of phrases related in some 

way to that word. The database includes: Lines from Shakespeare (or phrases related to 

the word Shakespeare), Quotations (or phrases related to the word quotation), and 

One liner jokes. 

Searching and reading well known encyclopedias like Grolier's Academic 

American in full text costs money. Some services, like Dow Jones Interactive, will give 

you access at discount prices. 

The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia has made over 17,000 articles 

from their Third Edition searchable for free. (Related links turn the encyclopeida into a 

subject oriented front end to the fee based Electronic Library.) 

The Encyclopaedia Britannica's 32 volume site also gives access to articles from 

over 75 magazines. Detailed encyclopedia entries and articles (as well as related books 

and Websites) for specific topics are accessed through the keyword search engine at the 

top of the page. 


Search: 






13 of 13 23.11.2009 15:47

Getting an edge over your competitors http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/11.html 


Chapter 11: 

Getting an edge over your competitors 

Project coordination 

Making online meetings 

work 

Watching what others do 

Monitoring your 

own business 

Monitoring other 

people's Web pages 

Build your own, local 

'database' 

Clipping the news (Current 

Awareness services) 

'Clipping' on the 

Internet 

'Clipping' on 

CompuServe 


Clipping the news (Current 

Awareness services) 

Other clipping services 

When clipping is 

impossible 

Subscription services 

Databases and forums with an 

international orientation 

Census data 

Market data 

Ways of doing business 

Stock/financial 

information 

Legal resources 

International 

organizations 

Locating country 

specific 

information 

More on how to 

monitor your 

competitors 

Using the net as a 

marketing tool 

Strategic 

considerations 

International trade 


We must be willing to risk change to keep apace with rapid change. The key is 

moderation and balance, supported by enough information to allow meaningful 

feedback. Going online requires adaption by management and staff in developing the 

necessary skills and vision. This chapter starts with how to use the networks to manage 

projects. Next, we will show you how to watch competitors, prospects, suppliers, 

markets, technologies, and trends. It winds down with marketing and sales by modem. 

Project coordination 

Several services offer private online conference areas to businesses. It is an efficient 

solution when coordinating a group of people geographically far apart, or when team 

members are constantly on the move. 

Some claim people are more candid and meetings more efficient when they 

communicate online. They favor online discussions for brainstorming and productivity 

tasks, even when individuals and facilities are available for face to face meetings. 

Applications range from tight coordination with suppliers and subcontractors, to 

development of company strategies, and new organizational structures. 

Renting an online conference area has advantages over doing it in house: The 

company does not have to buy software, hardware, expensive communications 

equipment. It does not need to hire people to operate and maintain the conferencing 

system. The more international the business, the better the external alternative. 

Many Internet access providers offer email based distributed conferencing for 

private groups. Take it Offline offers it for free. Some also offer interactive, live chats 

1 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47


in private virtual meeting rooms on the net. 

For ideas about how to set up and operate a coordination conference, study how 

volunteer organizations do it. One place to check is KIDPLAN, a coordination 

conference used by Kidlink. Browse the discussion that took place between May 8, 

through May 28, 1991. 

Agreeing on a time for your meeting across time zones may also be a challenge. 

Check "Agreeing on a time for your meeting" in Chapter 4 for solutions. 

Making it work 

Making online conferences and task force meetings work, can be a challenge. Most of 

the dialog is based on the written word. The flow of information can be strong. This may 

cause an information overload for some members. 

To overcome this, consider appointing a moderator organizer for your online 

conference. This person: 

Adds value by setting agendas; summarizing points; getting the discussion(s) 

back on track; moving on to the next point; mediating debate; maintaining 

address and member lists; acting as general sparkplug/motivator to keep 

things flowing by making sure that contributions are acknowledged, relevant 

points are noted, new members are welcomed, silent "Read Only Members" 

are encouraged to participate, and the general atmosphere is kept 

appropriate to the goals of the conference/task force meeting. 

Great online conferences do not just happen. Those set to get the meeting fired up and 

keep the discussion rolling must work hard on it. 

The meeting's organization may depend on the number of participants, where they 

come from, the exclusivity of the forum, and the goal of the meeting. 

In large meetings, with free access for outsiders, the best strategy may be to appoint 

a Moderator Editor. This person 

filters contributions, gathers new information, summarizes scattered 

contributions, does background research. 

Filtering may be desirable when conferences are open to customers and media. Its main 

purpose, however, is to help participants cope with the absolute flow of information. 

A conference can have an educational purpose. You can bring in someone who can 

add value by bringing experience and expertise to the group. 

You also need someone to do the dirty jobs everyone expects to be done but never 

notices until they are not. This person keeps the show running by serving as a 

benevolent tyrant, sheriff, judge, mediator, general scapegoat, and by playing a role in 

setting the general policy and atmosphere of the meeting. 

To support the work, you may use an online PIM (personal information manager) 

like the one offered by AnyDay. It offers calendar, task list, and contacts through the 

web. 

Now, back to the 'normal' applications of the online resource. 

Watching what others do 

Peter Drucker says (Forbes ASAP 8/29/94, p. 104): 

"Most CEOs still believe that it's the chief information officer's job to 

identify the information he requires. This is, of course, a fallacy. The 

information officer is a toolmaker; the CEO is the tool user. 

... the information you need the really important information you 

cannot truly get from your information system. Your information system 

gives you inside information. But there are no results inside a business." 

At the heart of any profit making company is sales. No matter how wonderful the 

technology or how dedicated the manufacturing staff, without sales, the company fails. 

2 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47


To sell products and services, you need sources for identifying potential buyers. With a 

little ingenuity, you can probably create your own list of targeted sales leads, simply 

using your modem. 

How would cosmetics sell in Japan? What about sneakers in Mexico? In the age of 

the global business community, questions about expanding product services beyond 

national borders abound. 

It is safe to claim that the best business opportunities are outside your company, in 

the external world. 

Companies need to watch customers and markets, find technologies to help develop 

and build products, research new business actions, find new subcontractors and 

suppliers, people to hire, and persons to influence to boost sales. 

In this marketing age, where sales calls cost hundreds of dollars and business 

to business marketers use the telephone or the mails to reach prospects, maintaining 

complete and accurate market lists is important. 

There are many other questions: What are our most important customers and their 

key people doing? What new products are they promoting? Who are their partners? 

What else may influence their willingness to buy from us? 

What prices are our major suppliers offering other buyers? Should we get other 

sources for supplies? What major contracts have they received recently? Will these 

influence their ability to serve our needs? 

What new technologies are available now, and how are they being used by others? 

Threats are the reverse side of opportunities. What are our competitors doing? What 

products and services have they launched recently? Are they successful? What are our 

competitors' weaknesses and strengths? What relationships do they maintain with our 

most important customers? How is their customer support functioning, and what 

methods are they using in their quality assurance? 

Are new trade regulations being introduced in important foreign markets? 

Each company has its own priorities when it comes to watching the external 

environment. The information needs differ depending on what products and services are 

being offered, the technological level of the company, the markets that it addresses, and 

more. 

Needs and priorities also differ by department and person, for example depending 

on whether a user is the president, a marketing manager, product manager, sales person, 

or has a position in finance or production. 

Remember your priorities when online. You cannot possibly capture and digest all 

information that is out there. Your basic problem is to find the right information in the 

right form at the right time. 

Consider appointing an online manager. Select and empower a central manager to 

oversee the process of exploiting the online resource. A "make things happen" person, 

who can also be a contact point for upper management. 

Monitoring your own business 

What kind of news about your company is being published? What do others say about 

your products and services? What kind of exposure do your new product 

announcements get in the media? 

Maybe you will find useful sources to monitor at NewsCenter? 

Monitoring other people's Web pages 

Monitor changes in your competitors' "What's New" or "Product Description" pages by 

subscribing to the MyMindit service. For a small annual fee, you'll get a notification by 

email each time an identified Web page changes. Alternatively, have the Web page sent 

you as html mail or mail attachment, or the notification sent to your pager or cell phone. 

&KDQJHV LQ 0LFURVRIW :RUG )UDPH0DNHU DQG $GREH $FUREDW SGI ILOHV PD\ DOVR EH 

tracked. There is a more comprehensive service for webmasters. 

Web2mail also delivers web pages as attachment to email whenever they change. 

You can also request files of the following formats: PDF (Adobeô Acrobatô files), 

GIF, and JPG image files. Subscriptions may be done from the web page or by email. 

3 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47


You can receive a web page instantly with or without images by sending an email 

to www@web2mail.com with the web page you want as the subject of the message. 

Finally, because users only subscribe to the best pages on the web, they offer a search 

engine of the pages their users subscribe to. Use it to find fresh pages you haven't seen 

before. Pages are ranked by the number of web pages mailed out, so you see the most 

popular pages at the top of the list. 

Both services let you monitor search results. For example, to track the Russian 

company Vimpelcom using the Daypop news service request monitoring of changes at 

http://www.daypop.com/search?q=Vimpelcom&t=a . Your searches may be as simple or 

complex as you want. 

The two services have differing features, and only experience will tell which one 

that might serve you needs best. 

The free Spyonit service will just send a notification when a web page has changed. 

Northern Light Search Alert Service will notify users via email whenever new 

information meeting their search criteria is found in daily updates to its database of 

webpages and Special Collection articles. Special Collections articles may only be read 

after paying a fee. 

Build your own, local 'database' 

It does not take much effort to check one hundred different topics from multiple online 

sources on a daily basis. The computer will do it for you. 

You do not have to read all stories as carefully as you would with printed material. 

Most experienced users just read what is important now, and save selected parts of the 

retrieved texts on local disks for later reference. 

We handle printed material differently. Most of us make notes in the margins, 

underline, use colors, cut out pages and put into folders. These tricks are important, as it 

is so hard to find information in a pile of papers. 

Not so with electronic information. With the right tools, you can locate information 

on your computer's disk in seconds. 

In seven seconds, I searched the equivalent of 2000 pages of printed text 

for all occurrences of the combined search words 'SONY' and 'CD ROM'! 

The search tool was a MS DOS shareware program called LOOKFOR . It 

searched 4.2 megabytes on an 80486 based notebook computer. 

With Windows 95/98 on a 233 MHz Pentium, and a powerful indexing 

program, the search will be completed much faster. Using AltaVista 

Discovery (see Chapter 14), the same search took about two seconds 

across over a gigabyte of documents. It found the words in web pages and 

text documents. The search could easily be extended to include my email 

archive. 

During a typical work day, my personal "databases" usually give me more direct value 

than what I have on paper, or can get online. 

My disks contain megabytes of texts retrieved from various online services, but 

only what I have decided to keep. My personal databases contain more relevant 

information per kilobyte than the online databases that I am using. Searching the data on 

P\ GLVN RIWHQ JLYHV HQRXJK JRRG KLWV WR NHHS PH IURP JRLQJ RQOLQH IRU PRUH 

You will often get better results when searching your own subset of 

selected online databases, than when you go online to find information. It 

is usually easier and faster. 

On the other hand, your in house database will never be fully up to date. Too many 

things happen every day. 

Also, the search terms used for your daily intake of news will never cover all future 

needs. Occasionally, you have to go online to get additional information for a project, a 

report, a plan. 

Updating your database means going online regularly to find supplementary 

information. 

4 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47


Regular monitoring gives the highest returns, and is required to get an 

edge over your competitors. 

For beginners, the best strategy is often to start with the general, and gradually dig 

deeper into industry specific details. Let us review some good hunting grounds for 

information, and explain how to use them. 

Clipping the news 

Too much to read and not enough time to read it? If you feel this way, you are not alone. 

Keeping up with critical developments that affect you and your business can be a 

daunting task. "Clipping" cannot do the reading for you, but it sure can help you gather 

and manage business information more efficiently. 

Several online services offer 'clipping services'. They select the news that you want 

24 hours a day from a continuous stream of stories from newspapers, magazines, 

news agencies and newsletters. 

You select stories by giving the online service a set of search terms. The hits are 

sent to your electronic mailbox, for you to read at will. 

Many make the news available as soon as they have been received by satellite. The 

delay before used to protect the interests of print media is disappearing. Online services 

usually deliver news sooner than print media, radio and television. 

'Clipping' gives an enormous advantage. Few important details escape your 

attention, even if you are unable to go online daily. The stories will stay in your mailbox 

until you have read them. 

'Clipping' on the Internet 

Reference.COM is a personalized conference postings delivery service that covers over 

150,000 newsgroups (Usenet), mailing lists, and Web forums. You subscribe by 

submitting keywords that describe your interests. Postings that match your profiles 

(based on content, no matter which conferences they fall into) will be sent you 

periodically via email. 

The search profiles can include operators like AND, OR, AND NOT, WHERE 

ORGANIZATION CONTAINS, WHERE SUBJECT CONTAINS, and WHERE date 

. You can adjust the frequency of delivery, the volume of articles, and the length of 

subscription. 

One interesting application of the netnews service is to find which newsgroups may 

or may not be covering a subject area. When you have found the names, subscribe to 

those for direct inquiries, postings of queries, to converse with experts, etc. 

Institute for Scientific Information offers an alerting service built on a Current 

Contents database of over 7,000 journals, 2,000 books, and proceedings from the world's 

core research literature. ISI's Coverage includes publications in the fields of life 

sciences; agriculture, biology and environmental sciences; physical, chemical and earth 

sciences; clinical medicine; engineering, computing and technology; social and 

behavioral sciences; and the arts and humanities. 

ZD Net offers a free, personalized news service tailored to include only your 

favorite topics. 

PointCast provides free personalized news from Reuters. S&P Comstock's stock 

ticker, SportsTicker, AccuWeather, and Variety. Select to receive news on any of 35 

industry topics. 

For a modest fee, Individual.com (see Chapter 9) will send you a customized daily 

news report right to your electronic doorstep. The report will contain the day's headlines 

and news briefs relevant to your needs. To get the full text of a selected article, connect 

to the shown Web page and read it. 

Clarinet allows the use of software filters to display only messages that include 

certain keywords, and can subscribe to subsets of the wire service offerings. Users' 

newsreaders can do some individualized filtering as well. 

Knight Ridder's News Alert provides fee based filtered information from AFX 

5 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47


(European business news), A.M. Best, Business Wire, Comline Business News 

(Japanese business news), Federal News Service, Futures World News, Global 

Information Network, Knight Ridder Financial, PR Newswire, Sports Ticker, US 

Newswire, and other sources. Email and fax delivery available. 

World News Connection (WNC) is a foreign news alert service from the U.S. 

Government. For a moderate fee, you get access to time sensitive news gathered from 

thousands of foreign media sources, including political speeches, television programs 

and radio broadcasts, and articles from newspapers, periodicals, and books. 

Contents include unclassified military, political, environmental and sociological, 

scientific and technical data and reports from around the world. All the material is 

translated into English. Regional categories covered include: Central Eurasia, East Asia, 

Near East & South Asia, China, East Europe, West Europe, Latin America, Sub Saharan 

Africa. Note: U.S. information is not included. 

Some subscription plans include clipping. Define the type of information in which 

you are interested. On a daily basis, WNC will review all articles being added to the 

service, identify those meeting your profile, and email them to your mailbox. 

CARL (Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries, U.S.A.) offers a table of contents 

alert service. Users with an "UnCover profile" may create a list of journal titles in which 

they are interested. When the next issue of any of those titles is entered into UnCover, 

the table of contents will automatically be emailed to them. Ordering an article is as easy 

as replying to the email message. 

'Clipping' on CompuServe 

CompuServe's Executive News Service (ENS) monitors over 8,000 stories daily from 

sources like Deutsche Press Agentur (Germany), Kyodo News Service (Japan), 

ITAR/TASS (Russia), Xinhua News Agency (China), Pacific Rim News Service, The 

Washington Post, OTC News Alert, Reuters Financial News Wire, Associated Press, 

UPI, Reuters World Report, IDG PR Service, Inter Press Service (IPS), Middle East 

News Network, European Community Report, and Dow Jones News Service. 

One of them, Reuters, has 1,200 journalists in 120 bureaus all over the world. They 

write company news reports about revenues, profits, dividends, purchases of other 

companies, changes in management, and other important items for judging a company's 

results. They write regular opinions about Industry, Governments, Economics, Leading 

indicators, and Commerce. 

Reuters also offers full text stories from Financial Times and other leading 

European newspapers. Its Textline is a database with general and business news from 

some 2,000 publications in Western and Eastern Europe, North and South America, 

Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. It includes Reuters RZQ QHZV VHUYLFHV DQG WUDQVODWHG 

abstracts of stories from some 17 languages. The database reaches back more than 10 

years and is updated at around one million articles per year. 

The IDG PR Service distributes high tech related news gathered by the staffs of 

IDG's magazines. The InterPress Service covers Third World countries. The Middle East 

News Network integrates the contents of 28 information sources covering this region of 

Asia. 

The Executive News Service lets you define up to three 'clipping folders'. Supply 

'key phrases' that define your interests. These key phrases will be used for searching 

stories as they are sent. Hits will be 'clipped' and held in a folder for you to review at 

\RXU FRQYHQLHQFH :KHQ FUHDWLQJ D FOLSSLQJ IROGHU \RX VHW DQ H[SLUDWLRQ GDWH DQG 

specify how many days a clipped story is to be held. 

To browse the contents of a folder, select it from the menu. Stories can be listed by 

headlines or leads. Select those you want to read, forward to others as email, or copy to 

another folder. Delete those that you do not need. 

Defining key phrases is simple. The important thing is not to get too much, nor too 

little. General phrases will give many unwanted stories while too narrow phrases will 

cause you to miss pertinent stories. Example: 

The phrase APPLE COMPUTERS will only clip stories that have the words 

APPLE and COMPUTERS next to each other. This may be too narrow. 

Specifying just APPLE or just COMPUTERS would be too broad. Entering 

6 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47


APPLE + COMPUTERS is a better phrase since the words can appear 

anywhere in the story, and not necessarily next to each other. 

ENS carries an hourly surcharge over base connect rates. 

Other clipping services 

Dow Jones' Interactive has a comprehensive clipping service for business users. Sources 

include Financial Times' international business reports grouped within primary industry 

segments. 

Filtering may also be used when retrieving news through QMail gateways on 

BBSes. For example, I use the 1stReader program for communications with a Norwegian 

PCBoard BBS that carries hundreds of newsgroups and mailing lists from Usenet, 

Internet, BITNET, and other networks. By having 1stReader upload a list of keywords 

through the BBS' QMail door, all new messages containing these words or phrases from 

given conferences will be selectively retrieved, compressed, and downloaded. A 

powerful feature! 

There are also clipping offerings on a host of other free and commercial services. 

When clipping is impossible 

Many services do not offer clipping. On these, you can use various methods of regular, 

selective reading. 

Many conferencing systems let you select messages to read by keywords. 

CompuServe's forums have efficient 'read selective' and 'quick scan' commands. 

Another trick is to limit your reading to specific message sections. 

The high forum message volume is a special problem on this service. Old messages 

are regularly deleted to make room for new ones. (Often called "scroll rate.") Some 

popular forums do not keep messages for more than a couple of days before letting them 

go. You must visit often to get all new information. 

Many bulletin boards can be told to store unread messages about given topics in a 

compressed transportation file. This file can then be retrieved at high speed. Special 

communication programs (often called offline readers) and commands are available to 

automate this completely. 

Powerful scripts and offline reader programs (see Chapter 12) can do automatic 

selection of news stories based on the occurrence of keywords (for example, a company 

name) in headlines or the messages' text. 

Subscription services 

It is useful to dig, dig, and dig for occurrences of the same search words, but digging is 

not enough. Unless you periodically scan "the horizon," you risk missing new trends, 

viewpoints and other important information. 

It can be difficult to find good sources of information that suits your needs. One 

trick is to watch the reports from your clipping services. Over time, you may discover 

that some sources bring more interesting stories than others. Take a closer look at these. 

Consider browsing their full index of stories regularly. 

If your company plans exportation to countries in Asia, check out MARKET: ASIA 

PACIFIC on Brainwave for NewsNet. The newsletter is published monthly by W Two 

Publications, Ltd., 202 The Commons, Suite 401, Ithaca, NY 14850, U.S.A. (phone: 

+1 607 277 0934). Annual print subscription rate: US$279. 

The index itself may be a barometer of what goes on. Here is an example. Note the 

number of Words/Lines. Do these numbers tell a story? 

July 1, 1993 

Head # Headline Words/Lines 

1) THE PHILIPPINES IS AT A TURG POINT 616/78 

2) CHINA AND KOREA WILL LEAD REGIONAL ECONOMIC BOOM 315/41 

7 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47


3) ASIAN COMPENSATION IS STILL LOW, BUT RISING QUICKLY 303/38 

4) CONSUMER GOODS WON'T BE ALL THE CHINESE BUY 221/29 

5) WOMEN BEAR THE BRUNT OF CAMBODIA'S TROUBLES 284/34 

6) TAIWAN MAKES A MOVE TOWARD THE CASHLESS SOCIETY 243/29 

7) TIPS ON MANAGING CULTURAL HARMONY IN ASIA 264/37 

8) TAIWANESE BECOME MORE DISCERNING, HARDER TO REACH 217/27 

9) DIRECT MARKETING HEADED FOR GROWTH IN SINGAPORE 205/27 

10) TOURISM IN MALAYSIA WILL GROW 610/76 

11) CHONGQING: FUTURE POWERHOUSE 2708/342 

It is a good idea to visit Brainwave for NewsNet to gather intelligence. Review indexes 

of potentially interesting newsletters. Save them on your hard disk for future references. 

You never know when they may be of use. 

The newsletters within computers and electronics bring forecasts of market trends, 

evaluation of hardware and software, prices, information about IBM and other leading 

companies. You will find stories about technological developments of modems, robots, 

lasers, video players, graphics, and communications software. 

The Management section contains experts' evaluation of the economic climate with 

forecasts, information about foreign producers for importers, tips and experiences on 

personal efficiency, management of smaller companies, and office automation. 

Other sections are Advertising and Marketing, Aerospace and Aviation, 

Automotive, Biotechnology, Building and Construction, Chemical, Corporate 

Communications, Defense, Entertainment and Leisure, Education, Environment, 

Energy, Finance and Accounting, Food and Beverage, General Business, Insurance, 

Investment, Health and Hospitals, Law, Management, Manufacturing, Medicine, Office, 

Publishing and Broadcasting, Real Estate, Research and Development, Social Sciences, 

Telecommunications, Travel and Tourism, Transport and Shipping. 

Several newsletters focus on specific geographical areas, like: 

THE EXPORTER (Published by Trade Data Reports. Monthly reports on the 

business of exporting. Functionally divided into operations, markets, training 

resources, and world trade information.) 

SALES PROSPECTOR (Monthly prospect research reports for sales 

representatives and business people interested in commercial, and institutional 

expansion and relocation activity. Grouped by geographic area in the United 

States and Canada.) 

OPEC Daily Bulletin is a daily news report on oil prices, exploration, and consumption. 

Other newsletters focus on technology intelligence: 

Advanced Manufacturing Technology 

Reports on desktop manufacturing, computer graphics, flexible automation, computer 

integrated manufacturing, and other technological advances that help increase 

productivity. 

High Tech Materials Alert 

Reports on significant developments in high performance materials, including alloys, 

metallic whiskers, ceramic and graphite fibers, and more. Concentrates on their 

fabrication, industrial applications, and potential markets. 

Futuretech 

Provides briefings on focused, strategic technologies that have been judged capable of 

making an impact on broad industrial fronts. Includes forecasts of marketable products 

and services resulting from the uncovered technology and its potential impact on 

industry segments. Advanced Coating & Surface Technology, Electronic Materials 

Technology News, Flame Retardancy News, High Tech Ceramics News, Innovator's 

Digest, Inside R&D, Japan Science Scan, New Technology Week, Optical Materials & 

Engineering News, Performance Materials, Surface Modification Technology News, 

8 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47


Genetic Technology News, Battery & Ev Technology, and much more. 

Databases and forums with an international orientation 

Internet users have access to thousands of sources of current government information 

from around the world census data, Supreme Court decisions, world health statistics, 

company financial reports, weather forecasts, United Nations information, daily 

government press briefings and much more. 

General 

Country Indicators for Foreign Policy (The CIFP project) identifies and assembles 

statistical information conveying key features of the economic, political, social and 

cultural environments of countries around the world. The CIFP database can be queried 

in four ways: By Region View regional snapshots, compare regions on key indicators, 

obtain time series for regional data; By Issue Area View top 10 and bottom 10 lists for 

key indicators; By Regional and Global Organization Collect data grouped by dozens 

of inter governmental organizations; Through the Quick Query page Advanced users 

can choose the data they need using drop down list boxes. (Password required for 

access, which is free.) 

Census data 

Statistiska centralbyrÂn (Sweden) provides links to the government statistics agencies of 

the countries of the world, broken down continents and regions of the world and with 

links to international organizations. 

For global demography and population information, check this Australian resource 

http://coombs.anu.edu.au/ResFacilities/DemographyPage.html. 

At http://grid2.cr.usgs.gov/globalpop/1 degree/, you can retrieve a population 

database depicting the worldwide distribution of population in a 1X1 latitude/longitude 

grid system. There are other global population databases at http://grid2.cr.usgs.gov 

/globalpop/1 degree/description.html and http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbnew.html. 

The latter is the U.S Census Bureau's International Data Base (IDB), a computerized 

source of demographic and socio economic statistics for 227 countries and areas of the 

world. 

Market data 

World Competitiveness On line offers the World Competitiveness Yearbook published 

by International Institute for Management Development. The Yearbook aims to "capture 

in a single index the capacity of a country's economic structure to promote growth." 

The Economist Group (United Kingdom) offers analysis and forecasts of the 

political, economic, and business environment in more than 180 countries. Access to the 

public areas of their web siterequires a free registration. Their full text publications, 

databases and other information are accessible by subscription only. 

The European Union has a Market Access Sectoral and Trade Barriers 

Database covering over 50 countries worldwide, in 26 sectors, and 13 divisions of 

measurement. 

Emerging Markets Companion (http://www.emgmkts.com/) is another window into 

the emerging economies of Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. 

The IPE mailing list is for the discussion of international political economy. Topics 

include NAFTA, regional trading blocs, trade regimes, international debt, long cycles, 

historical world systems, EEC, currency and market crises, democracy and governance 

in Latin and South America, Africa and Asia, commodity negotiations. 

On Usenet, check out the biz and clari.biz hierarchies of newsgroups for leads (biz = 

business postings). Many ClariNews groups cover the business and financial world. 

The International Affairs Network offers a comprehensive hypertext guide to the 

worldwide network accessible resources available to scholars in the study of 

International Affairs. The guide contains pointers within such areas as: International 

9 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47


Political Economy, Foreign Policy, Economic Development, Technology, Science, and 

Environmental Policy, International Law, Area Studies Resources, and more. 

There is another interesting international law resource on the World Wide Web, at 

http://www.law.ecel.uwa.edu.au/intlaw/. 

The Transport Web is an information service for the international transportation 

industry. 

Information Access Company provides several reference and full text databases 

targeted at businesses. Coverage includes news and information on companies, 

industries, products, markets, and applied technologies, and on subjects such as 

computers, marketing, management, health, law, aerospace, popular culture, and 

scholarly research. 

PROMPT (Overview of Markets and Technology) is IAC's largest database. It 

provides international coverage of companies, markets and technologies in all industries. 

Users of Data Star, LEXIS NEXIS, and Reuters have access to international 

political and economic coverage from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Split 

into five regional parts across over 140 countries, Summary of World Broadcasts makes 

up a daily political document, with coverage of legislation, policy, labor issues and 

foreign relations. The Weekly Economic Report covers topics such as energy, 

agriculture, and transportation. (BBC is also at http://www.bbc.co.uk.) 

In the Business Database Plus at CompuServe \RX FDQ VHDUFK LQ IXOO WH[W VWRULHV 

from hundres of North American and international publications for industry and 

commerce. 

The articles are about sales and marketing ideas, product news, industry trends and 

analyses, and provide company profiles in areas such as agriculture, manufacturing, 

retailing, telecommunications, and trade. This is a partial list of the database's magazines: 

Agribusiness Worldwide, Air Cargo World, Beverage World, Beverage 

World Periscope Edition, Business Perspectives, CCI Canmaking & 

Canning International, CD ROM Librarian, Chain Store Age General 

Merchandise Trends, Coal & Synfuels Technology, Communication World, 

Communications Daily, Communications International, Consultant, 

Cosmetic World News, Dairy Industries International, Direct Marketing, 

Financial Market Trends, Financial World, Food Engineering International, 

Forest Industries, Gas World, Graphic Arts Monthly, The Printing Industry, 

High Technology Business, International Trade Forum, Investment 

International, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of 

Marketing Research, Medical World News, OECD Economic Outlook, The 

Oil and Gas Journal, Oilweek, Petroleum Economist, Plastics World, 

Purchasing World, Restaurant Hotel Design International, Seafood 

International, Supermarket Business Magazine, Training: the Magazine of 

Human Resources Development, World Economic Outlook, World Oil. 

Trade Show Central is a large searchable database of international trade shows. 

Market research reports from Frost & Sullivan are available through Data Star. It 

produces over 250 market reports each year, in 20 industrial sectors. These reports 

cover results of face to face interviews with manufacturers, buyers and trade association 

executives, supplemented by a search and summary of secondary sources. 

Ways of doing business 

International Business Practices is full text of a U.S. Department of Commerce 

reference work that provides overviews of import regulations, free trade zones, foreign 

investment policy, intellectual property rights, tax laws and more in 117 countries. 

Brainwave for NewsNet has the Worldwide Business Practices Report. It offers 

monthly detailed information on such country specific topics as business customs and 

protocol, negotiating tactics and bargaining tips, marketing strategies travel 

recommendations, local government regulations, social interaction and etiquette, safety 

and health issues. 

You should also take a look at the continent related pointers listed in 

10 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47


Chapter 4 and 9! 

Stock/financial information 

The Syndicate is filled with links to stock exchanges and financial information around 

the world. Besides the usual United States links, you'll find links to countries like 

Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Ireland, 

Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Singapore, 

South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and countries in Latin 

America. 

The Italian FINANCE AREA page is another good source for global finance 

information. For links to banks around the world, check http://www.gwdg.de/~ifbg 

/bank_2.html. 

Legal resources 

The Foreign and International Law Resources on the Internet page contains a long 

list of annotated pointers within international law, and topical resources. 

The Lawtel subscription service offers a fully indexed database of all official EU 

documents, such as case law, adopted and proposed legislation, commission reports, 

commission notices dating back to 1987, and more. 

International organizations 

United Nations (UN) carries UN DPI Press Releases, General Assembly, Security 

Council and ECOSOC resolutions, and more. 

8QLWHG 1DWLRQ V )RRG DQG $JULFXOWXUH 2UJDQL]DWLRQ (FAO) offers several 

searchable databases. Their FAOSTAT Database contains extensive agricultural data 

from many countries. Data is provided for production, trade, commodity supply and 

demand balances, population, land use, and fisheries. 

For more, try the Official WEB Locator for the United Nations System of 

Organizations. Categories on their home page include: Alphabetical Index, Official 

Classification, What's New, Frequently Requested Information, Related Information and 

Other International Organizations. 

OECD (The Organization for Economic Co operation and Development) is a forum 

permitting governments of 29 industrialized countries to study and formulate policies in 

economic and social spheres. It offers economic data on the members states, analysis of 

QRQPHPEHU FRXQWULHV DQG OLQNV WR VWDWLVWLFDO UHVRXUFHV RQ WKH QHW 

Some other international organizations: 

ILO, the International Labor Organization 

UNESCO 

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 

The World Health Organization (WHO) 

Statistical Resources on the Web 

More 

How to monitor your competitors 

Sales managers need to know what competitors are doing. Lacking this knowledge, it is 

risky to maneuver in the market. 

Start by making a strategy for online market intelligence. Here are some practical 

hints: 

1. 

2. 

6HOHFW RQOLQH VHUYLFHV WKDW RIIHU FOLSSLQJ RI VWRULHV DQG LQIRUPDWLRQ EDVHG RQ \RXU 

search words or phrases. Use such services for automatic monitoring of stock 

quotes and business news. 

Read what investment analysts and advisors write about your competitors. Most 

markets are well covered by databases and other sources of information. 

11 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47


3. Read what competitors write about themselves. Their press releases are available 

from online databases in several countries. 

4. Compare your competitors with your own company and industry. Items: stock 

prices, profits, revenue, etc. 

5. Regularly monitor companies and their particular products. 

6. Watch trend reports about your industry. Search for patterns and possible niches. 

7. Save what you find on your hard disk for future references. 

Can you get everything through the online media? Of course not! 

Do not expect to find production data, production formulas, detailed outlines of a 

company's pension plan, or the number of personal computers in a company. Such 

information rarely finds its way to public databases. 

Using the net as a marketing tool 

Many companies large and small use the networks as a marketing instrument. 

Some set up web sites to provide technical support to customers all over the world. 

They offer technical information, help, upgrade software, list of agents, technical 

bulletins with lists of products, and new products. Examples: Microsoft, Toshiba, 

Quarterdeck, Digital Research, Tandy, Novell. 

The Internet provides an unparalleled way to present the image an organization 

wishes to project, and to communicate all its messages to a diversity of self selecting, 

interested audiences. Businesses can also use their Internet presence for intelligence 

gathering, as a feedback loop, and an early warning system for itself at an amazingly 

low cost. 

Microsoft's Knowledge base is one example. It is a database collection of 

case study examples, tips, updates and related articles about Microsoft products. Here 

are some other interesting examples to check out: 

http://www.jango.com 

http://www.pizzahut.com/ 

http://sunsolve1.sun.com 

http://www.mastercard.com 

http://www.americanexpress.com 

http://home.eunet.no/~presno 

Mind you, having a Web page has no value if nobody visits it. Make sure you send 

information about your site to the net's announcement services! 

First, study "How To Announce Your New Web Site" , WebCom's "Publicizing 

Your Web Site" which also includes "Registration to Spanish Indexes," and the 

,QWHUQHW $GYHUWLVLQJ 5HVRXUFH *XLGH. You may also want to check your site's 

popularity at LinkPopularity.com, sign up for a monthly report, and read their hints on 

how to increase the "popularity index." 

For discussions about Internet Advertising/Marketing techniques, join the 

I Advertising mailing list, and browse EPage for advertising examples. 

Other interesting places include the Online Advertising Discussion lists (at 

http://www.tenagra.com and http://www.o a.com/), and The Internet Sales Moderated 

Discussion List. For a long list of Marketing related Discussion and Announcement 

Groups on the net, visit http://www.wolfbayne.com/lists/. 

Then, find a service that can help you submit your Web address widely to the net's 

search engines and directories. Here are some ideas: 

http://www.openmarket.com 

http://www.yahoo.com/ 

http://galaxy.einet.net/ 

Browse the "Internet Marketing" site, and study ActivMedia's focus look at online 

marketing trends. Check Web Promotion UK. 

Use the Google Groups search engine to find newsgroups or bulletin boards related 

to business. 

12 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47


Go to the Google Groups website. Under the search box, a list of the top newsgroup 

hierarchy with a short description. Click at any of these group names to receive a list of 

newsgroups. Use your browser's search feature to locate groups that might be interesting. 

An option is to search for a term of interest to your organization. Above your list of hits, 

there will be a list of "Related groups." These may be interesting, and worthy of further 

checks. Hit "Advanced Groups Search," and limit your search to any given newsgroup (like 

biz.ecommerce). If you do this without entering any other terms, you will get a list of recent 

posts, and an idea about the group's focus. 

In some businesses, contacts result in meetings of some sort, and some oral presentation 

supported by multi media. The more expensive the products or services being offered, 

the more will such presentations be tailored to the audiences' needs. If you regularly 

address audiences face to face, consider subscribing to the free GREAT SPEAKING 

newsletter. Backissues at http://www.antion.com/ezinebackissues.htm. 

Strategic considerations 

The Americans have a gift for marketing and sales by modem. You meet them in online 

forums all over the world, in person or through agents, and especially in computer 

oriented conferences and clubs. 

Their main strategy is reference selling. Make key customers happy, and make sure 

they tell others. 

In Chapter 5, I told you what happened when a member wrote about his upgrade to 

a 425 megabytes hard disk in CompuServe's Toshiba forum. It made me place my order 

with his preferred seller. 

One common sales strategy is to be constantly present in relevant conferences, and 

spend a generous amount of time helping others. This takes time. By proving 

competence and willingness to help, you build a positive personal profile. This profile is 

the key to business, information about competitors and other benefits. 

Another approach is to ask for information or suggestions. It's a more benign way of 

publicizing yourself than a blatant sales approach. 

To drop quickly into a conference to post an "advertisement," is a waste of time. 

The message may be read by some, but chances are that you will be criticized (in public) 

for having "polluted their environment" with a commercial message. On the Internet, it 

is considered inappropriate to send out unsolicited information. 

A North American business person tried this approach. He posted a long sales letter 

to all conferences and newsgroups that he could find. The text started like this: 

Subject: Court Ordered Liquidation Computer Memory 

CPU's & DSK Drives 

Choice Trading Company, Court Appointed Liquidators, have been 

assigned to liquidate the following Multi Million Dollar inventory 

of computer Memory Chips, CPU's and Hard Disk Drives. All items are 

new and come with applicable manufactures warranty. Prices quoted 

include all state and local taxes plus shipping and handling. 

Order Cost 

Number Mfg. Description (EACH) 

Memory 

1524 Toshiba 30 Pin Simms 1x3 70ns 1 meg $ 25.00 

1525 Toshiba 30 Pin Simms 1x9 70ns 1 meg 25.00 

etc. 

Three days later, his mailbox was closed. Furious users had bombarded it with 

everything from hate mail to megabytes of rubbish. His access provider had to close 

down the account to avoid serious operational problems. 

Another reason for not using the "advertisement" strategy is that the volume of 

information in the best conferences for your marketing effort probably is too high to 

make traditional advertisements worthwhile. 

13 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47

*HWWLQJ DQ HGJH RYHU \RXU FRPSHWLWRUV http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/11.html 

When you distribute commercial information, preface it with a concise summary 

that can be followed up with more detail if requested. Also, make sure that the 

information provided is of significant value to readers. 

If you're an entrepreneur running a home business, visit the Usenet group at 

misc.entrepreneurs. 

International trade 

The International Trade Network is on the IntlTrade mailing list. It is for 

advertisements of exports, imports, services, and direct investments. Trade 

advertisements may be posted gratis by anyone, and are relayed worldwide by email to 

subscribers in a daily digest. 

You'll find a glossary of terms used in the business of trading at http://centrex.com 

/terms.html. 


Here is a list of other useful applications of electronic mail: 

to distribute lists of important prospects quickly to your sales force, 

to avoid lengthy telephone conversations, 

to receive order information faster and more efficiently than by traditional mail or 

fax (and from a larger geographical area), 

to distribute quickly reports and memos to key people all over the world, 

to send new prices and product announcements to customers, 

to exchange spread sheets and analyses between users of personal computers. 

| Next Back | Top of page | Index | Expanded index | Register | 

Search: 



Updated at April 25, 2002 



14 of 14 23.11.2009 15:47

Business: Locating country specific information http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/11b.html 


Chapter 11: 

Getting an edge over your competitors 

Locating country specific information 

Africa 

China 

India 

Japan 

Middle East 


[INDEX] [Expanded Index] [Search] [BACK] 

Yet more Asian pointers 


The European Common Market and Central Europe 

Scandinavia 

North America 

Russia and Eastern Europe 

Below, there are many pointers to country specific information, sorted by continent. To 

get more, try this trick: 

Search the Internet using Alta Vista. See Chapter 10). Compose a query that 

contains the international standard top level code for the country in question (click on 

link in Appendix 6 for a list of country codes). Insist that the code be present in the 

URLs of found resources. Qualify further by adding other words or phrases if your query 

gives too many hits. 

Example: +url:.kr 

"+url:" insists that the preceding string be found in the URL. "KR" is 

the top level code for Korea. This code is often found at the end of the 

location part of URLs pointing to this country, unless the server uses a 

non country specific code (like .net or .com). This search is likely to return 

links like http://kpd.sing kr.org/ (Korea Progressive Directory). 

Expect the two character code to exist in URLs pointing to resources in 

other countries also. However, the result is usually good. For example, MN 

is the code for Mongolia. Using "+url:.mn" in your query will also find 

URLs like http://www.an.cc.mn.us/depts/he/raynauds.html. 

Check The Economist "Country Briefing" Pages. For each country, there is succinct 

forecasts, economic and political profiles, core statistics, essential recent articles and 

in depth surveys from The Economist. 

Africa 

Brainwave for NewsNet has several interesting newsletters 

Africa Intelligence Report 

Africa News On Line 

political, economic and cultural developments 

Country Risk Guides: Sub Saharan Africa 

Country Risk Guides: Mid East & North Africa 

Monthly Regional Bulletin Southern Africa, 

1 of 9 23.11.2009 15:47


PRS Forecasts: Mid East & North Africa 

PRS Forecasts: Sub Saharan Africa 

Southern Africa Business Intelligence 

The Information Bank on African Development Studies (IBADS) is a mailing service 

provided by the Africa Technical Department at the World Bank. Its aim is to send out 

information about development studies on Sub Saharan Africa. Investext brings regular 

reports about activity in the African region. 

For leads in South Africa, start with ExiNet. This South African trade information 

resource has information on South African Exporters, South African Trade Fairs and 

Exhibitions, Travel and Tourism, South African Publications, South African Property, 

and South African Demographics: A Regional Summary. ExiNet boasts a database of 

over 70,000 South African companies. 

Other South African sources on the Web include The Africa Commercial home 

page in Cape Town , and Compustat. 

African Census data is at http://lexis.pop.upenn.edu/world/africa. See 

http://grid2.cr.usgs.gov/globalpop/africa/ for the African Population Database. 

The SUDAN L mailing list is where you will find information and sources of 

information about Sudan. 

China 

China Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), a major 

component of China's national economy. Has Essentials of China's Foreign Economic 

Relations and Trade, China Trading Opportunities, and more. In English and Chinese. 

&KLQD 6WDWLVWLFDO ,QIRUPDWLRQ 1HWZRUN offers the Chinese government's statistical 

yearbook. The State Intellectual Property Office of P.R. China offers information of 

the country's laws and regulations, as does the comprehensive Chinese National Law 

and Regulations site (in Chinese). 

Chinamarkets, another MOFTEC offering, covers information on thousands of 

industrial products, from machinery and electronic products to textiles and foodstuffs, as 

well as company information and a business news section. 

China Dimensions offers China Administrative Regions GIS Data, GB Codes for 

the Administrative Divisions of the People's Republic of China, Fundamental GIS: 

Digital Chart of China with layers for roads, railroads, drainage system, contours, 

populated places and urbanized areas, access to the China Census of Population, Data 

on Population and Agriculture, Data on Provincial Economic Yearbooks, China Micro 

Economic Database, Agricultural Statistics, Data on Hospitals and Epidemiology 

Stations, and the Priority Program for China's Agenda 21. Many data sets are available 

at the county level. 

CDN Global provides news and information about China and Chinese that are of 

general interests to readers all over the world. Published three times a week. 

China Business News publishes updated economic news to those into doing 

business with China. Chinese Business World SURYLGHV LQIRUPDWLRQ DERXW EXVLQHVV 

travel, and culture. 

Reports on World Bank Projects in China are at http://www.worldbank.org 

/html/extdr/offrep/eap/cn2.htm. 

A WWW service for the Chinese community exists at http://www.edu.tw/. Most of 

the local texts support Chinese BIG5 only. 

Kompass has information about companies in China. 

India 

There is a comprehensive Web site about India, it's economy and industry, called the 

Indian Economy Overview. The site has complete coverage of the recent Indian 

Financial Budget, including full text, live coverage, commentary, analysis and reactions. 

The aim of the non profit National Centre for Trade Information (NCTI) is to 

promote "trade, investment and technology flow among different countries". For 

statistical information about economy, population, etc., see http://www.nic.in/gistnic/. 

Check IndiaWorld. Their offerings include Indian news, business and 

2 of 9 23.11.2009 15:47


entertainment information with links to India Daily, khoj daily, The Indian Express and 

The Financial Express, Madhya Pradesh Chronicle, India Trade Daily, and more. 

The Economic Times is the largest selling business daily in India. Kompass has 

information about Indian companies. 

Japan 

The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), provides Japanese government 

procurement information from Kampo, the governments official journal, alongside 

economic information about Japan. One hyperlink points at "Japan Economic Trends, 

Industry, Markets, Business Practices." This page contain such things as First Steps in 

Exporting to Japan, Doing Business in Japan, and The Japanese Consumer. 

The Mizuho Securities RESEARCH & LINKS page provides links to English 

language resources on Japanese economy, finance and politics. 

The Japan Information Center of Science and Technology (JIST) offers a range 

of commercial English language databases in the broad spectrum of science, technology 

and medicine. 

Orbit has an English language database of Japanese technology. It contains 

abstracts of articles, patents and standards from more than 500 Japanese magazines. 

Reuters offers the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's best selling daily newspaper. Tradstat 

offers Japanese import and export statistics. 

Dow Jones Interactive brings full text stories from the Japan Economic Newswire 

(Kyodo News International), which covers Japanese company, industry and financial 

markets; government, defence and science news. It also brings full text stories from 

many other international publications including New Era Japan, New Food Products in 

Japan, New Materials Japan, and PDS's Japan Auto Industry Survey, Power Asia. 

The Investext database has English language profiles of thousands of Japanese 

companies sourced from Teikou, Japan's largest business credit agency. 

Kompass has information about Japanese companies. LEXIS NEXIS, Dialog, 

NiftyServe, PC VAN, and G Search have the Teikoku Databank, with directory and 

income information about over one million Japanese firms. 

Middle East 

ArabNet focuses on the Arab world in the Middle East and North Africa, and offers 

links and information about Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, 

Kuwait Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, 

Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen. 

The Israel Industry R&D Information System (MOP) have an information server 

at http://www.matimop.org.il/. There's a weekly newsletter called "The Arab Press on 

Israel." 

The Israel Information Service is at http://www.israel.org/ (some documents are 

in French and Spanish). Choices include Basic Statistics, The Economy, Culture, 

Communications and Media, and Basic Laws and Legal Issues. 

Kompass has information about companies in the region. 


The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 

offers "Asia Pacific in Figures". The online version has HTML and Excel files with 

socio economic statistics for: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, 

Brunei, Cambodia, China, Georgia, HK, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, 

Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, 

Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, North Korea, South Korea, Russian 

Federation, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, 

Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. Also, it includes statistics for a number Pacific countries. 

Asia Pulse, a real time commercial intelligence wire designed for corporate users, 

delivers information about Asian infrastructure, private investments, government 

3 of 9 23.11.2009 15:47


procurement, company and industry developments, politics, exports, retail trade, and 

regulatory issues. Covers 50 industry categories in over 20 countries. 

Asia Intelligence Ltd, an online source for economic, political, and strategic 

intelligence on Asia, brings daily briefings, a conflict monitoring service, and an election 

watch. 

AsiaSource provides information regarding the cultural, economic, social, 

historical, and political dimensions of Asia. With a worldwide events calendar, a 

glossary of terms, annotated links and opinion pieces, news services, country profiles, 

special features, and more. 

7KH $VLD 3DFLILF (FRQRPLF &RRSHUDWLRQ (APEC) brings information about the 18 

current members' economies, calendar of APEC activities, press releases, and more. 

The Asian Development Bank is at http://www.asiandevbank.org/, and Asian 

Buying Consortium at http://www.abcflash.com. 

The Far Eastern Economic Review Interactive Edition (Hong Kong) focuses on 

Asian current affairs, business, economies and investment. Straits Times (Singapore) is 

at http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/, and Singapore Business Times is at http://business 

times.asia1.com.sg/. 

Dun & Bradstreet has hard to find company information on developing markets 

such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia. 

Tradstat has import and export statistics on Hong Kong and Taiwan. Asia, Inc., the 

Hong Kong published business magazine, contains articles of Asia's executives and their 

enterprises, daily financial information, and more. 

7KH +RQJ .RQJ 7UDGH 'HYHORSPHQW &RXQFLO offers comprehensive trade and 

business information on Hong Kong and Mainland China, online trade enquiry, trade fair 

registration, and more. 

The ASIA PACIFIC DATABASE covers business and economics in Asia and the 

Pacific. 

Dun's Market Identifiers provide directory listings of businesses throughout the 

Asian and Pacific Rim countries. AFX Asia delivers 400+ subscription based Asian 

financial news stories from all of Asia each day. Operated by providers such as Financial 

Times Group, AFP, Nikkei, and Australian Association Press. 

The ELC file on LEXIS NEXIS contains financial and marketing information on 

Southeast Asian corporations (1993). Kompass has information about companies in 

Australia, Hong Kong, Israel, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, 

Thailand, Taiwan, etc. Investext also monitors the region closely. 

Yet more Asian pointers 

The Asian Studies area of the WWW Organization's international directory of 

networked research and educational resources (WWW Virtual Library) tracks 

information and research resources (ftp, gopher, wais, www) for Burma, China, Hong 

Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, 

Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, and Vietnam. Check http://coombs.anu.edu.au/asia 

www monitor.html to follow developments regularly, or search its full text database of 

past issues. 

Eurasia Research Center offers links to news and other resources on the Balkans, 

Baltic States, Central Europe, the Caucasus, formerly Soviet Central Asia, Russia, 

Belarus, Iran, Ukraine, Moldavia, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. 

The EXPORT IMPORT INVEST Vietnam Business Directories pages are in 

English, French, Spanish, and German. 


Organizacion de los Estados Americanos' (OEA) "Programs and Issues" page gathers 

information on current OAS activities in the areas of trade, democracy, environment, 

human rights, drug abuse control, telecommunications and information infrastructure, 

and others. Every country in the Americas is a member of the OAS (except Cuba). In 

Spanish and English 

Business News Americas brings daily news in English, Spanish, and Portuguese on 

4 of 9 23.11.2009 15:47


industries such as telecommunications, ecommerce, electric power, oil and gas, mining, 

metals, infrastructure, privatization, banking, environment. Latin America Related 

Information Service is at http://lanic.utexas.edu/. 

Tradstat has import and export data on Brazil and Argentina. For South American 

census data, try http://lexis.pop.upenn.edu/world/latin_america. 

The Latin American Data Base (LADB) has SourceMex (economic news and 

analysis on Mexico), Chronicle of Latin American Economic Affairs (reports on trade 

policy, privatization, monetary policy, and macro economic figures), and Central 

America Update. 

RNP Rede Nacional de Pesquisa (National Research Network) has links to most 

ftp, gopher and WWW servers in Brazil. Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial 

offers Brazilian patents data. 

Investext closely monitors the region. Dow Jones has Mexico Service, 

InterAmerican Opportunities, and Latin America Opportunity Report. 

The European Common Market and Central Europe 

Those exporting to the EEC need to master languages like German, French, Italian, and 

Spanish besides having a working knowledge of English. Conversation is the easy part. 

The problem is writing, and especially when the task is to translate technical expressions 

to the languages used within the Common Market. 

Check the European Commission's Translation Service for help. Its database 

contains around five million entries in twelve languages, including technical terms, 

abbreviations, acronyms and phraseology. The search interface offers several options, 

including source and target languages, subject field, and the kind of data (terms, 

abbreviations, or phraseology) sought. 

The Europe Homepage offers multi lingual information on the European Union's 

goals and policies. EUROPA represents EU's institutions, and is run by the European 

Commission. Here are also links to official documents from the Union, publications, 

online services, statistics, news, and other Web servers of the area. 

The Common Market's free database service, I*M EUROPE (Information Market 

Europe), is set up to "support the actions of DGXIII of the European Commission in 

stimulating the European electronic information services market and multimedia content 

industries." It offers information on topics such as the Telematics Applications 

Programme, the INFO2000 programme, Task Force Multimedia Educational Software, 

and links for more about EU's organizations and programmes. 

The European Commission's CORDIS (Community Research and Development 

Information Service) is a database of all European Community information related to 

Research and Technological Development programmes. 

You're offered multi lingual searches in databases on topics such as News, 

Programmes for finding opportunities in your research areas, Projects for Who is doing 

What, Results for exploring Innovation, Partners for your Business Research, 

Publications for Key R&D, Published Items, Contacts to People who Can Help, 

Acronyms relevant to Community R&D, Understanding EU R&D decision making, and 

more. Here are also links to R&D in the European Union. 

The EC's DANTE provides advanced international computer network services for 

the European research community. The WISE Information Board on R&D Activities 

in the European Union is at http://www.igd.fhg.de/wise/. 

The Guide To European Legal Databases provides links to European resources on 

the web. 

ACTS NewsClips is a bi weekly newsfeed about developments in the European 

Commission's Advanced Communications Technologies and Services programme. You 

can also sign up for deliveries by electronic mail. 

EUbusiness provides daily overviews of business news and information about the 

European Union. Topics include Agriculture, Competition, Consumers, 

Employment/Training, Eastern Europe, Energy, Environment, Food/Drink, 

Living/Working, Media/communication, Pharmaceuticals/health, Social policy, 

Trade/external relations, Transport, Economy, EMU, Tenders, Facts/Figures, Finance, 

Markets update, and much more. 

5 of 9 23.11.2009 15:47


The Zagreb Stock Exchange is at http://www.zse.hr/. The Vienna Stock market 

(Austria) is in German. 

For economics, check out http://netec.wustl.edu/NetEc.html for access to BibEc 

(bibliography of working research papers), and WoPEc (a collection of working papers). 

The European Business Directory offers economic analyses and indicators on the 

main European markets, and practical information for doing business in Europe. 

Information is available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. 

Dun & Bradstreet offers company profiles of more than two million European 

companies. 

For up to the minute news from England, try the Press Association Online's wires. 

The British IEE (Institution of Electrical Engineers) are at http://www.iee.org.uk/. 

Search their IEE Library Online Catalog. In 1996, it held some 65,000 books and 

pamphlets covering all aspects of electrical engineering, electronics, manufacturing and 

control engineering, computing, IT, and telecommunications. 

The ELC file on LEXIS NEXIS contains financial and marketing information on 

thousands of European corporations . Tradstat has import and export trade statistics on 

all major European countries collected by European national statistical agencies and 

international bodies. 

Data Star is strong on information of Europe: 

European Community: Tenders Electronic Daily, a database of European 

Community contract offers. Its Textline is an excellent source of 

information about European companies. CELEX (European Community 

Law). European Chemical News. Dun & Bradstreet European Marketing 

File. DRT European Business Reports. Business Opportunities in Europe. 

ABC EUROPE: European Export Industry. Euromonitor Market Reports. 

Euromonitor Market Direction. Spicers Centre for Europe European 

Community Law. Spearhead UK Analysis of EC Law. 

Austria: Creditreform Austrian Companies. Hoppenstedt Austria. 

KREDITSCHUTZVERBAND Austrian Companies. 

Benelux: the Belgian newspaper De Financieel Ekonomische Tijd (in 

Flemish), INFOTRADE Belgian Company Financial Data, Hoppenstedt 

Benelux. 

France: The FRFF/FREFF files hold balance sheets of over 335,000 

French companies (1994). Telefirm French Companies Register. French 

Companies Full Financial Data. Firmimport/Firmexport French 

Importers/Exporters. Le Monde. SCRL French Companies Financial 

Profiles. 

Germany: German Business & Industry Directory, German Business 

Opportunities, Aerzte Zeitung Online, BDI German Industry, Biotechnology 

Information. Creditreform German Companies. German Buyers' Guide. 

EcoRegister German Company Registrations. EcoNovo German 

Companies in Bundesanzeiger. German Business Statistics. German 

Company Financial Data. FINF TEXT German Company News. 

Hoppenstedt Germany. ManagementInfo Wirtschaft. Sueddeutsche 

Zeitung. Wer Gehoert zu Wem Who Belongs to Whom. Who Supplies 

What? (Germany & Austria). ZVEI Electro/Electronics Buyers' Guide. 

Italy: Il Sole 24 Ore, L'Impresa, and Il Mundo Economica in Italian. 

Italian Company Profiles Financial. MAST Market Structure and Trends 

in Italy. Sistema Ditte Operanti con l'Estero. La Stampa. 

Switzerland: In its Swiss News Agency wire service, you have a choice 

of French or German. Credit Suisse Information on the Swiss economy. 

Swiss Educational Documentation. Neue Zuercher Zeitung. Serials in Swiss 

Libraries. Swiss Newswire. Societe Generale de Banque Banking. 

Schweizer Handelszeitung. ELSA Swiss Sportwire. Dun & Bradstreet Swiss 

Companies Dun & Bradstreet. Swiss Companies Full Financial Data. 

Scandinavia: Trademarks and applications for Denmark, Norway, 

Sweden and Finland. 

United Kingdom: Key British Enterprises Financial Performance. ICC 

Full text UK Company Reports ICC Directory of UK Companies ICC UK 

6 of 9 23.11.2009 15:47


Financial Datasheets. JordanWatch UK Companies. Pharm line UK 

Pharmacy. British Trademarks. UK Importers. 

Country reports, Financial Focus, Political focus, and International Economic Outlook 

from the Union Bank of Switzerland, and more can be found in the Quest Economics 

Database (QED) on Data Star, FT PROFILE, and Genios. 

Investext offers a series of stockbroker research reports on European companies 

and sectors from around 400 contributors based on the continent. Their reports offer 

detailed analysis, important financial data, and forecasts on everything from the mayor 

players to the small manufacturing firms. 

LEXIS NEXIS has the Hoppenstedt German Trade Associations directory, 

newsletters from the Europe Information Service: Europe Energy, Europe Environment, 

Transport Europe and European Insight, a weekly brief on European Community related 

happenings. 

LEXIS NEXIS has databases with information about English and French law, and 

other law material from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland and North America. 

Their Martindale Hubbell Law Directory has information on over 700,000 lawyers and 

law firms worldwide. The directory can be used for referrals, selection of associate 

counsel, and evaluation of competitive counsel. The European Patent Office (EPO) is 

also on the web. 

Check out Kompass when planning exports to the EEC. Its database contains 

details about companies in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom, Holland, 

Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Norway. Try GENIOS for more on Germany. 

The German Federal Government is at http://www.government.de. 

ILINK has the EEC I conference (Discussion about the European Common 

Market). FT Profile offers full text searches (and a clipping service) in stories from 

Financial Times. The database is being updated daily at 00:01. 

ZiffNet's Business Database Plus has Agra Europe, Belgium: Economic and 

Commercial Information, British Plastics & Rubber, British Telecom World, The 

Economist, Erdol und Kohle, Erdgas, Petrochemie: Hydrocarbon Technology, 

EuroBusiness, Euromoney, Europe 2000, European Cosmetic Markets, European 

Rubber Journal, Report on the Austrian Economy, Royal Bank of Scotland Review, 

swissBusiness. 

Globalbase has Nouvel Economiste among its many offerings. Questel offers 

access to 250,000 logos and images of French trademarks (1993), and patent 

information from several European countries. 

Dialog, Orbit, and STN are also great sources for patents data. 

Scandinavia 

Before meeting with people from Norsk Hydro, go online to get recent news about the 

company (Chapter 9). It will only take a couple of minutes. What you find may be 

important for the success of your meeting. 

If you know the names of your most important competitors, use their names as 

keywords for information about recent contracts, joint venture agreements, products 

(and their features), and other important information. 

Kompass offers information about companies and products in Scandinavia. 

Information is presented in the local language of the different countries. You can search 

by 

company name 

product or service (optionally using an industry classification code for companies 

or products) 

number of employees, type of business, postal number, telephone area code, 

export area, year of incorporation, bank affiliation. 

North America 

There are so many sources focusing on North America, and we have already mentioned 

7 of 9 23.11.2009 15:47


several. This section is therefore kept intentionally short. 

The U.S. Commerce Department's Economic and Statistics Administration offers 

STAT USA (http://www.stat usa.gov/), which provides statistical information on 

economy, energy, foreign trade, business, and industry. Fee based subscription 

required. 

Then try The White House , the subject index of online government information, 

and The Government Information Locator Service. 

The National Technical Information Service provides access to more than 100 

U.S. Government operated bulletin boards and online systems. 

Official Gazette is a weekly publication from the United States Patent and 

Trademark Office covering new patents and trademarks, expired and reinstated patents, 

re examination and re issue applications, announcements, changes in procedures and 

requests for comments. Its archive contains every issue from the last 20 years. 

The US Patent Database offers bibliographic information about the patents, 

claims, reference and abstract information. You can view the images, and order patents 

online. The the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is at http://www.uspto.gov/. 

Statistics Canada is the country's national statistical agency. Kompass is also an 

interesting source. 

PRESSline is a database of press releases, pictures and logos that is available free 

of charge. Companies and organizations are charged a small fee for storing their 

releases. In English, German, and French. 

Information on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is available 

from several sites, including http://www.nafta.net/. 

Russia and Eastern Europe 

InfoMarket brings Russian Securities Market News in English, and is an invaluable 

source for Russian commercial financial information. The Russian Industry 

Enterprises Web contains information about over 100.000 Russian enterprises within 

agriculture, oil processing, electric energy, communications, and more. 

Russian Regional Database combines official statistics with survey data to present 

a comparative picture within areas such as economic competitiveness; labour market 

change; social cohesion and stability. 

Dow Jones offers BizEkon News, and others. Commercial vendors LEXIS NEXIS, 

Data Star )7 3URILOH DQG Reuters also have many interesting sources. 

The St. Petersburg Business Journal is at http://www.spb.su/. For more 

newspapers covering the region, visit Editor & Publisher Interactive. 

The European Information Network, a Prague based Web publishing company, 

posts daily Russian news reports . The site offers a databank of information about 

election laws, Russian government addresses and the Russian constitution. 

Friends and Partners, jointly "developed by citizens of the US and Russia to 

promote better understanding between the people of our countries," has a a 

Commerce/Business section. 

Maximov News Information And Guide To The Russian Federation offers 

full text news, contact and information sources from the former Soviet Union. In English 

and Russian. 

Business Central Europe offers the latest monthly or quarterly statistics and 

annual historical data going back to 1990 for most countries in the region. Through 

DATATIMES, you can research English language versions of The Budapest Sun and 

the Prague Post. 

Czech Economy Internet Resources has similar information for Slovakia, 

Poland, Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, 

Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia. The Prague, Budapest and Warsaw Business 

Journals are in English and covers business news and industry information from Central 

Europe. 

The Central Europe Online Navigator publishes daily news an industry reports 

on Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Poland, and Russia. Includes political and 

economical analyses. 

8 of 9 23.11.2009 15:47


| Back | TOP of page | Top of page | Index | Expanded index | Register | 

Search: 






9 of 9 23.11.2009 15:47

PART 3: WORKING SMARTER http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/part3.html 


PART 3: 

WORKING SMARTER 


In some countries, the costs of communication are outrageously high, in others almost 

free. In some places, it is rare to experience noise on the telephone line, while it may be 

almost impossible even to connect at 2400 bits/s in other countries. 

Another problem is one of affluence. The Internet has given us all too many powerful 

resources. How do I get the best out of Internet without drowning in unneeded details? 

What is the recommended approach? What pitfalls to avoid? How to get more done in 

less time without upgrading my connection to the net? 

Working smarter is the theme in the third part of this book. 

Contents: 

Practical tips 

Cheaper and better communications 

Keep what you find 

You pay little for a lot! 

Automatic communication 

Gazing into the future 


Search: 





1 of 1 23.11.2009 15:48

Practical tips http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/12.html 

Favorite Internet tools 

Winsock 

What web browser to 

select? 

Lynx 


Chat 

Usenet netnews 

Speed and safety 

Surfing strategies. 

Using email gateways to 

Internet resources 

Coping with other languages 

Also see Chapter 14: 

Desinformation, myths, hoaxes, 

fraud, deception and errors. 


Chapter 12: 

Practical tips 


The World Wide Web by 

email 

Searching 

GDWDEDVHV E\ PDLO 

Searching 

today's news 

Searching 

Alta Vista 

Searching 

Google 

Groups 

Usenet by email 

More Usenet by 

email tricks 

Handling email overload 

Getting off that mailing list 

Favorite Internet tools 

Copyright notices and 

legal stuff 

Unwritten laws about 

personal conduct 

File transfers through 

the Internet 

Transfers by 

email 

Transferring 

binary files 

Binary files 

transferred as 

text codes 

Transfer of 

pictures 

FTP by email 

Fax services weigh less 

than a printer 

Free telephone calls 

More 

Working smarter is a matter of having the right tools, and being able and willing to use their features. 

The programs below are my current favorite tools for tapping the Internet resource. They all work 

under Microsoft Windows. 

Winsock 

If you're using Windows 3x versions or DOS, then Trumpet Winsock is what you need. I have used it 

successfully on dial up SLIP, PPP, SLiRP, and TIA (Internet Adapter) lines. If you need help setting it 

up, consult the alt.winsock newsgroup. See Chapter 15, and Appendix 2. The program can be 

retrieved from libraries all over the Internet. 

Users of Windows 95 and later do not need this! 

What web browser to select? 

My current favorites are Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Opera. They have different strengths 

relative to my needs. Examples: 

A considerable amount of my private information has been stored as local web pages on my 

PC's harddisk for fast access. MS Internet Explorer beautifully understands all kinds of 

absolute and relative links on my harddisk, while Opera will often say "File not found." 

When writing articles, I often want to retrieve many web pages as fast as possible, and then 

study their contents offline. Opera is the fastest, hands down, because of it's ability to handle 

multiple pages. Click Window, Clone Window to make a quick copy of the current window, for 

example a menu of articles. Press Ctrl TAB to quickly go from window to window. 

Hint: Consider leaving the graphics behind to travel the Web at much higher speeds. In Internet 

1 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48


Explorer, click at "Tools," "Internet Options," select "MultiMedia," and unmark "Show pictures" (and 

maybe some other stuff while you're at it. 

Have a Macintosh? Why not check out the iCab browser out of Germany? For a long list of 

alternatives for many platforms (including Windows and Macintosh), click here. 

Lynx 

When I was using DOS, most of my Web accesses were done using Lynx. It lets you enjoy the Web 

using DOS and your old communications program. I called my Internet provider, got the Unix prompt, 

and just entered "lynx URL" to get it at lightening speed. See Appendix 6 for details. 


Eudora Pro is my favorite email program. It has stronger filtering features (much needed), handles 

html mail well, and around 100 incoming mails per day. There is a free (advertising supported) version 

available, which works nicely. 

Other great email programs with html handling and strong filtering features include Netscape 

Messenger, Microsoft Outlook, Netscape (after 3.0). You should also check the free Pegasus Mail. 

Chat 

Check out the mIRC VKDUHZDUH SURJUDP IRU :LQGRZV [ DQG :LQGRZV 0DQ\ ,5& OLQNV DUH EXLOW 

into mIRC for you. Just click and go. 

Usenet netnews 

A growing number of people use web services like Google Groups to browse Usenet netnews, read 

and search resent postings, and look up things posted years ago. A specialized news program will 

give you other things: 

Free Agent allows dialup modem users to set it for online or offline operation in order to balance 

convenience and economy. I have used my Microsoft Windows version successfully both over a PPP, 

SLIP, SLiRP, and TIA/SLIP dialup connection. Having a color screen is important. 

The program t lets you quickly sample threads and newsgroups. You can browse articles in one 

newsgroup while retrieving headers for another at the same time, or download long articles while 

continuing to browse. It does multi level article threading, using both the subject and the article ID. You 

always know exactly what posting an article is responding to. It offers Watch and Ignore commands 

for threads, and rapid navigation within and among threads. 

You can post and receive articles with binary attachments, with automatic splitting and combining 

to span multiple messages. If the attachment is viewable (images or sound), then you can view it from 

within the news reader. 

To hear what others think, check alt.winsock, news.software.readers, and the CompuServe 

WINCON forum. 

Speed and safety 

Read about MNP, ITU TSS V.42, and V.42bis in Appendix 2. These are popular methods for 

automatic error correction and compression of data. Compression gives faster transfers of data. 

To use them, your modem must have these features built in. They must also be enabled in the 

modem of the service that you are calling. 

Compression is particularly helpful when sending or receiving text, for example news stories and 

conference messages. It gives faster transfers. 

They are not of much help when transferring precompressed texts and programs. They may even 

make file transfers with protocols like ZMODEM, Kermit, and XMODEM impossible. If this happens, 

temporarily turn off the MNP and V.24/V42bis settings in your modem (more about this in Appendix 2). 

The more advanced your software is, the more time it may take to learn how to use it efficiently. 

The rewards are lower telephone costs, faster transfers, and less time spent doing technical online 

work. 

Pegasus Mail and Eudora for Internet mail let you retrieve your full mailbox in one batch, and 

reply to your mail offline. When finished, you can shoot them back to your mailbox for distribution in 

one shot. 

Some BBSes and online services let you retrieve conference messages using a get or grab 

function. This function often comes in two versions: 

Grab to display: New messages and conference items are received in an uninterrupted stream 

without stops between items. Retrieval of text can happen at maximum speed. 

Grab to compressed file: New messages and conference items are selected, automatically 

compressed and stored in a file. The file is then transferred automatically using ZMODEM or 

2 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48


some other protocol. 

Read about 'offline readers' in chapter 16 for more about this. 

Recommended. 

Surfing strategies. 

Frank Burns of the American online service MetaNet is spokesperson for the strategy Scan Focus 

Act. 

On your first visits to a new online service, you SCAN to get an overview of what is being offered 

and find out how to use it most efficiently. Notes are made of interesting bulletins, databases, 

conferences, messages, news services, public domain and shareware programs, games, and more. 

Capture everything to disk. Don't study it until disconnected from the service. Rate the material to 

prepare for your next moves: FOCUS and ACT. 

New Netscape users may have problems doing this. However, it is not as complex as it 

sounds, and in particular if you take the trouble to retrieve shareware utilities like 

Cache Master or Web Saver from the net. They let you read and search the Web texts 

saved in Netscape's cache on your hard disk. Use http://www.shareware.com to locate 

them. 

Another option is to have Netscape mail you the pages. 

As you learn about offerings, users and applications, your use of the services changes. Things that 

caught your attention on your first visits, lose to discoveries. Some applications may be promoted to 

"something I want to do again," like when you decide to read a given news report on Monday 

mornings. 

Here are some other hints: 

Find out what you do NOT need to know and have enough self confidence immediately to 

discard irrelevant material. Walk quickly through the information. Select what you need now, 

store other interesting items on your hard disk, clip references, and drop the remainder of your 

capture file. 

Learn when and how to use people, computers, libraries and other resources. Prepare well 

before going online. Note that the online resource may not necessarily be the quickest way to 

the goal. If you want the name of Michael Jackson's latest album, you may get a faster answer 

by calling a local music shop. . . . 

Make an outline of how to search the service before going online. If required, start by going 

online to collect help menus and lists of search commands (unless you already have the printed 

user information manual). Study the instructions carefully, plan your visit, and then call back. 

Often, it may be useful to do trial searches in online data captured to hard disk during previous trips. 

Do this to check if your use of search words is sensible. 

Who knows, you may even find what you are searching for right there. Besides, you must use the 

correct search terms to find what you are looking for. 

Write your search strategy on a piece of paper. If you know how to write macros for your 

communications program, consider writing some for your planned search commands. Few people 

can type 240 characters or more per second. Using macros may save you time, frustration and 

money. 

It may be wise to do your search in two steps. On your first visit: Get a LIST of selected 

headlines or references, and then log off the service. 

Study your finds, and plan the next step. Then call back to get full text of the most promising 

stories. 

This strategy is often better than just 'hanging online' while thinking. When you feel the pressure of 

the taximeter, it is easy to make costly mistakes. 

Novices should always go the easiest way. Don't be shy. Ask SOS Assistance services for help, 

if available. When using commercial services, invest in special communication programs with built in 

automatic online searching features. They are designed to make your work easier. 

Limit your search and avoid general and broad search terms. It is often wise to start with a 

search word that is so 'narrow' that it is unlikely to find articles outside your area of interest. Your goal 

is not to find many stories. You want the right ones. 

You should periodically go back to the SCAN phase, and not concentrate on FOCUS 

and ACT alone. 

Using email gateways to Internet resources 

Things are so simple with Netscape. If you want a file, just click on the link, and it gets transferred to 

3 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48


your hard disk. Still, some people opt to do it by email. One reason may be that it is the only way they 

can get them. Another good reason is to save time. 

For most users, time is an important consideration. There is connect time (may cost you money), 

the number of minutes it will take to get a task done (calendar time), and the number of minutes and 

hours you must "work" to complete a desired task. 

If you must complete a task by 11:55, then a direct connection to the remote source may be the 

only answer. Interactive methods like the World Wide Web, Gopher, anonymous ftp, and telnet are the 

probable choices. 

However, as the number of people using the Internet grows, response time periodically is slow. If 

you are out of luck, that important file from somewhere may snail toward you at a speed less than 300 

bits per second. To sign on to a remote telnet site can take minutes. You may have to wait what feels 

like a small eternity for the next WWW page or gopher menu to show up. 

If getting more out of your hours online, then read on. Batch processing of online work can save 

you much waiting time. 

On the Internet, there are servers set up to give you Web pages by email. There is FTPmail, the 

batch alternative to ftp transfers of files. Archie can be used by email. GopherMail lets you browse 

Gopher menus by email (see Appendix 6). Sure, it may take more time to get the desired information, 

but you will not waste time waiting in front of your display. 

You can even search many data bases on the Web by email! 

Batch searches of what others say on specialized matters is another exciting opportunity. (See 

the discussion on how to search LISTSERV log files, and archives of other mailing list systems, in 

Chapter 7 and 10). 

Coping with other languages 

The typical method is to start with some language training. The next step is usually to reach for some 

language dictionaries or software. 

On the web, you can also use an automated online language translator, like the free Babel Fish 

service. It allows you to paste in your English language and have it automatically translated into 

French, German, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese, or go the other way. Other options include Russian to 

English, French to German and German to French. The result is far from perfect, but may be enough 

to understand or make understood. Babel Fish has a World Keyboard, which let's you write with the 

native characters of six languages, including Cyrillic letters. 

Check FreeTranslation.com (Spanish, French, and German to English, and more), and 

Langenberg. 

The World Wide Web by email 

Several services let you retrieve Web pages by email. Click here for a list of servers. This page also 

lists FTP mail servers, gophermail servers, and Archie servers. 

The method described below works with my current favorite, a Web by email service called 

Agora in Japan. For help instructions, send a mail containing the world Help to agora@dna.affrc.go.jp. 

Web2mail LV DQ DWWUDFWLYH DOWHUQDWLYH DV LV WWW4MAIL. 

5HTXHVW ::: SDJHV E\ VHQGLQJ HPDLO WR agora@dna.affrc.go.jp. Put the retrieval commands in 

the BODY of your mail, like this 

send 

The term "URL" may be thought of as a Web address. See Appendix 6 for more and explanation. 

Here's an example: If you send the following command: 

send http://www.eunet.no/~presno/presno.html 

to the Agora Web page server, then a copy of my personal WWW page will be returned to you by 

email. 

An interactive user of the World Wide web can "click" on marked hypertext words, or mark them 

in other ways, to retrieve associated pages with information. The WWWmail user does this by 

resubmitting URL codes found appended to the received pages to the Agora server address. 

Words of warning: 

If the requested document is too large, this WWWmail service will only send you the first 5,000 

lines. 

If the service is unable to connect to the requested WWW server, you will receive an error 

message without much explanation. The reason may be a spelling error on your part, but also 

that the network connection between the LISTSERV and the requested server was "bad" at the 

moment. Therefore, check your spelling, and try again. 

Only the first 5 lines of requests will be processed. 

4 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48


See http://members.aol.com/bombagirl/freeware/email4u.txt for more hints. Then try the Email Faq. 

You may also find the Website By Email "tutorial on creating and maintaining an Internet presence 

using email only methods." interesting. 

Searching databases by mail 

You can search Google by email by sending a mail to google@capeclear.com with the text of your 

query in the "Subject" line. You'll receive your search results via email. Example: Do the query 

"site:www.capeclear.com ceo" to find out Cape Clear's CEO. 

It is also possible to search many databases by WWWmail. The trick is to find the correct URL to 

use when submitting your search terms. Some are given in our examples below. 

The search URLs of some popular search engines are also given in WWWmail service's help 

texts. For example, send the word HELP to Agora to receive hints on searching Lycos, Yahoo, the 

WAIS server at Oxford University, WebCrawler, Hyper RFC, MetaCrawler DQG $OWD 9LVWD 

If a desired service is not on the list, you can often find out yourself: First, log on to make a 

manual, interactive search using almost any browser. Save the reported Web address (URL) of the 

resulting report for analysis. Finally, test variations of this URL with different search words to find one 

that works. 

Using the Lynx browser, first make a search using a typical combination of search terms. When 

the hit report is on your screen, press "=" to show file and link information. Mail this data to yourself, or 

make a copy before logging off. 

Then, investigate the URL under "File that you are currently viewing." Locate your original search 

terms among the codes of the URL, replace them by new search terms, and send the revised URL 

back to the search service to see if it works. 

Note: Search URLs are usually long and cumbersome. Therefore, experienced users often save 

them as templates on disk for easy retrieval and editing on the fly. Many email clients, like Pegasus 

Mail and Eudora, let you pick from a list of permanently saved messages, edit, and resend the revised 

search command with a click. 

Other users tie frequently used search commands to specific keystrokes. Example: Enter 

keyword "news" followed by Ctrl E to have the string "SEND http://www.newsindex.com/cgi bin 

/process.cgi?query=" put into the text of your mail. Add search words, and you're ready to send. 

Searching today's news 

In Chapter 9, we mentioned the News Index news only search engine. To find today's articles about 

the term "netpc" using Agora, send this command: 

SEND http://www.newsindex.com/cgi bin/process.cgi?query=netpc 

To search for two terms, like "sun" and "java", use this command: 

SEND http://www.newsindex.com/cgi bin/process.cgi?query=java+sun 

Searching Alta Vista 

If you want information about a person named Bill Gates, try this command (write it on one line): 

SEND http://www.altavista.com/cgi bin/query?sc=on\&hl=on\ 

&q=%2BBill%2BGates\&kl=XX\&pg=q 

This command was made after an interactive AltaVista search. I simply copied the web address of my 

browser's result page, and pasted it into an email message to the Agora server (after the word 

"SEND"). 

In my search, I had used "+Bill+Gates" as search terms. The "+" signs forces AltaVista to only 

display pages containing both terms. As the + sign also works as a separator between terms, I did not 

bother to use a space. 

In this way, you can construct complex search strings to satisfy your applications. Just store your 

successful search term on your disk, and edit them according to needs. 

The parameters of the search URL are separated by "\&". Thus, the search term (+Bill+Gates) 

can be found in this part of the string (separators are boldfaced for clarity): 

\&q=%2BBill%2BGates\& 

The "+" signs (and also some other signs) are converted to their hexidecimal equivalents, and 

displayed as %2b. Thus, "\&q=%2BBBill%2BGates" is equivalent to manually entering "+Bill +Gates" at 

the AltaVista web form. 

If you really want to include a space between terms, try %20, as in \&q=%2BBill 

%20%2BGates\&. 

5 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48


Now, to search for "apples," but not "oranges," edit the string above to become 

\&q=%2Bapples%2Doranges\&. "%2D LV WKH KH[DGHVLPDO FRGH IRU WKH PLQXV VLJQ 7KH 

mail you send to the Agora server will be: 

SEND http://www.altavista.com/cgi bin/query?sc=on\&hl=on\ 

&q=%2Bapples%2Doranges\&kl=XX\&pg=q 

From time to time, AltaVista changes their search commands. Whenever this happens, you 

must change your email messages accordingly. 

Searching Google Groups 

The trick is the same as for AltaVista. Search for "Bill Gates" by using this command (on one single 

line): 

send http://groups.google.com/groups?q=bill+gates&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search 

Easy. To make a more complex search, first go online and do it interactively. Copy the url off your web 

browser when you get the hit list, and edit this url for your search by email applications. For Google 

Groups searches you must separate words with a "+"sign. 

Send the word "help" to agora@kamakura.mss.co.jp for more information about using this Agora 

server. For more about searching the Web by email, make sure to check Gerald Boyd's "Email 

Only" information pages. 

Usenet by email 

You can retrieve a list of recent postings to a given newsgroup by sending email to a WWW by email 

service. Use use the following type of commands: 

send news:alt.winsock (returns a list of recent postings) 

deep news:alt.winsock (returns the list AND the postings) 

The first command (send) will give you a list like this: 

Newsgroup alt.winsock, Articles 26012 26031 

(Earlier articles[1]...) Articles in alt.winsock 

"Program wanted" Leslie Mark Styles[2] 

"[HELP] twinsock (makefile vs Makefile)" Scott Ehrlich[3] 

*** References from this document *** 

[orig] news:alt.winsock 

[1] news:alt.winsock/25992 26011 

[2] news:175@lmsprog.win uk.net 

[3] news:3d04qm$c72@narnia.ccs.neu.edu 

Now, if you want article [3], just send a mail back to the WWW by email service with the following 

command in the body of your mail 

send news:3d04qm$c72@narnia.ccs.neu.edu 

Note: Some Agora servers may return the list of recent postings to you in html format, presented 

something like this: 

Newsgroup: alt.winsock 

 

Newsgroup: alt.winsock 

HERE WE CAN PUT INFORMATION AND EXTRA LINKS 

 

Re:Determining Winsock Version David Beaver 

 

NEEDED Someone who really knows KA9Q,DOS and 

PPP dialup Steve 

 

Re:Eudora Mail Program for Win95 

J. Wayne Waller 

6 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48


These lists are harder to read unless you use an offline Web browser. To retrieve individual items, the 

trick is to isolate the address codes between the two html code pairs'' in the list. 

Example: The first article above is written by David Beaver, and the title is "Re:Determining 

Winsock Version". The associated address code is given as "32365905.2574992@newsvr". You can 

send this code to a WWW by email service as given above using the format 

send news:32365905.2574992@newsvr 

More Usenet by email tricks 

Many newsgroups are connected to mailing lists that you can subscribe to by email. Articles submitted 

to the newsgroup through these mailing lists will often pass through a moderator, who reviews the 

submissions before posting them. 

In some cases, articles are stored in log files that may be searched. In other cases, you can have 

selected newsgroup articles sent to you by email. 

Some mailing lists will not let you search unless you are a subscriber to the given list. 

However, you may not have the time, nor be interested in, reading all the postings. You 

just want those items containing your specific keywords. 

For example, I want to track references to this book. The search term "Online 

World" is likely to give too many false hits. Regular searches for the word "Presno" is a 

better search strategy. 

The trick is to adjust your subscription, so you will receive no mail. You can 

achieve this by sending an email to the LISTSERV in question containing this 

command: 

SET NOMAIL 

Now, search whenever you like. 

For a list of newsgroups with associated mailing lists, send mail to listserv@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be 

containing the command "//NNHELP" for instructions. Add "//NEWSGROUPS" for a current list of 

available newsgroups. 

Many documents that appear periodically in newsgroups are available for retrieval over the net. 

Read under FAQ in Appendix 6 about how to retrieve. 

Reference.COM (see Chapter 11) lets you search for recent Usenet articles that are already in 

the local database on this host. For example, to search for articles related to "information filtering," 

send an email message to email queries@Reference.COM containing the following command in the 

TEXT of your mail: 

find 'information filtering' 

Several News Mail Servers let users post to Usenet news by email. Note that none of these support all 

existing newsgroups. Example: Send your mail to [news group name]@cs.utexas.edu . Replace 

[news group name] with the name of the desired newsgroup, as in mail comp sys 

misc@cs.utexas.edu . 

Other News Mail Servers: 

[news.group.name] news@newsbase.cs.yale.edu 

[news.group.name]@pubnews.demon.co.uk 

[news.group.name]@paris.ics.uci.edu 

[news.group.name]@crs4gw.crs4.it 

Send a messages to mg5n+remailers@andrew.cmu.edu for a list or remailers with detailed 

instructions. For information on anonymous remailers, try http://www.skypoint.com/~gimonca 

/anonmail.html. 

Note: All gateways will reject posts without Subject lines. Also, make you read about the 

Unwritten Laws about Personal Conduct below before using this feature! 

Finally, for more on what you can do by email, check G.E.Boyd's How To Do Just About 

Anything by E mail. 

Handling email overload 

It is easy to get overwhelmed by the quantity of messages in mailing lists and discussion groups. 

Luckily, there are things you can do. 

Learn more about the software you use for reading mail. Some programs have filtering features 

that permits automatic storage of incoming mail in folders or files depending on sender, subject, or 

7 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48


other characteristics. This potentially makes it easier to follow discussions on mailing lists. 

Many programs let you create a list of all incoming mail organized by subject header. You may 

find this to be a big help as headers usually reflect what is being discussed. 

Do not feel that you must read every message. If the header does not show anything interesting, 

just skip it. If curious, you can always look at one of the messages to see what the general area of 

discussion is about before deciding. 

Learn about the capabilities of the LISTSERV, Majordomo, or LISTPROC that distribute the 

conference messages. Using features like DIGEST or INDEX can reduce your load (see Chapter 13). 

A LISTSERV will also allow a subscriber to TURN OFF the mail during an absence. Some 

LISTSERVs will even permit a command to save the mail and send it later. There are many commands 

to explore. 

If the mailing list is on a newer version of LISTSERV, then you may be able to join, 

leave, and set your defaults from the web. 

Example: To join KidOLQN's newsletter distribution list, KIDNEWS, go to the web 

page http://listserv.nodak.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=kidnews&A=1. 

To join any other list at listserv.nodak.edu, replace "kidnews" at 

?SUBED1=kidnews above with the desired list name to get to its settings page. 

Getting off that mailing list 

A while ago, you subscribed to that mailing list. Now you cannot get off it. You have tried SIGNOFF, 

UNSUBSCRIBE, and other likely commands, only to receive "Bad command" messages in return. 

If it is a LISTSERV mailing list, and the list you want to get off is called TOW (at 

listserv@listserv.nodak.edu), use the command SIGNOFF as in "SIGNOFF TOW". Put the 

command in the body of your mail, and send it to the LISTSERV. 

Never send signoff commands to the mailing list itself, unless you want all 

members to learn about your ignorance. 

The SIGNOFF command is not a global command that works with all types of mailing list. If it doesn't 

work, try UNSUBSCRIBE . If that also fails, try the HELP or INFO. You may try putting the 

words both on the subject line and in the body of the mail. 

Sometimes signing off from a list fails because your email address has changed since you 

subscribed. 

Example: A while ago, I was trying to get off a list. When I subscribed, it was made 

either from a mailbox with the address opresno@ulrik.uio.no, or from 

opresno@extern.uio.no. These addresses are now presno@eunet.no. When I tried to 

signoff, I was told that neither address could be removed from the mailing list. 

One solution is to write to the administrator of the list, or to the postmaster of the 

KRVW ZKHUH WKH PDLOLQJ OLVW SURJUDP LV UXQQLQJ 

Hint for Netscape users: To get off a list that you subscribed to from another email 

address, set Netscape up with your old e mail "from" address under menu 

Options/Preferences/Images, Network, and Mail. It's easy. Just put your old e mail 

address into the box labeled "Your Email" and send a "SIGNOFF " to the 

LISTSERV. 

Some LISTSERV mailing lists let you send the command "REVIEW " for a list of 

subscribers (example: REVIEW TOW sent to the LISTSERV address above). This list usually contains 

the address of the administrator. 

In some cases, usage of the REVIEW command is blocked. Then inspect the mailer header of 

messages from the mailing list. For example, if it says 

From: listserv@w3.org 

then there you have the address of the host computer. Try "postmaster" instead of "listserv" to reach a 

live person for help. 

Copyright notices and legal stuff 

Most commercial online services protect their offerings with copyright notices. This is especially so for 

database information and news. 

Some vendors make you accept in writing not to store captured data on a local media (like 

diskettes or hard disks). Others force clients to use communication software that makes it impossible 

to store incoming data to disk. 

The reason is simple. Information providers want to protect their income. 

In most countries, you can quote from what others have written. You can cut out parts of a whole 

8 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48


and use in your own writing. What you can not do, however, is to copy news raw to resell to others. If 

an online service discovers that you're doing that, expect a law suit. 

Read copyright notices to learn about the limitations on your usage of data that you receive. 

Unwritten laws about personal conduct 

Some services let their users be anonymous. This is the case on many chat services. If you want to 

pose as Donald Duck or Jack the Ripper, just do that. 

Many free BBS systems let you register for full access to the service during your first visit. It is 

possible to use any name. Don't do that. Use your true name, unless asked to do otherwise. It's 

impolite and unrespectful of the other members to participate in online discussions using a false 

identity. 

Being helpful is an important aspect of the online world. The people you meet use their time to 

help you and others. Often for free. The atmosphere is therefore often one of gratitude, and a positive 

attitude toward all members of the various groups. 

If you use rude words in public, expect your mailbox to fill with angry messages from others. 

Those who respond carefully to personal attacks, will never regret it. Don't say things online that you 

would not have said in person. 

REMEMBER: Words written in a moment of anger or frustration may be stored on at least one 

hard disk. Your 'sins' may stay there for a long time to resurface when you least want it to. 

Here are some guidelines (often called 'online netiquette'): 

If mail to a person doesn't make it through, avoid posting the message to a 

conference. Keep private messages private. 

It is considered extremely bad taste to post private mail from someone else on 

public conferences, unless they give you explicit permission to redistribute it. 

Many users end their messages with some lines about how to reach them (their 

email address, phone number, address, etc.). Limit your personal "signature" to 

four lines. 

Hint: Do not include a signature when sending commands to email based services. 

It can confuse the servers. 

Do not send test messages to a public conference, unless they are set up to 

serve this purpose. 

If someone requests that readers reply by private email, do that. Do not send to 

the conference, where the request appeared. 

When replying to a message in a public conference, many users 'quote' the 

original message prefixed by '>' or another special character, as in 

You wrote: 

>I strongly believe it was wrong to attack 

>)LGHO &DVWUR LQ WKLV ZD\ 

When you quote another person, edit out whatever isn't directly applicable to your 

reply. By including the entire message, you'll only annoy those reading it. 

Note that if you USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, people will think you are shouting. 

For more on "netiquette," join the mailing list of the same name. In the owner's own word, it is 

devoted to network etiquette, the informal set of rules, civilities, and social graces that 

have evolved in cyberspace, the do's and don'ts of online behavior. What are the rules? 

How have they evolved? How can responsible net.citizens avoid breaches of Netiquette? 

How should we respond to the breaches of others? Is flaming an art and if so, how can it 

be mastered? What's being said about Netiquette on the net and in the media? 

To subscribe, send email to netiquette request@albion.com with the following command in the subject 

field: 

subscribe Firstname Lastname 

For a copy of the "Core Rules of Netiquette" document, send an email to the same address with the 

following text in the subject field: 

archive send core 

Finally, smile with me about the following story: According to Time Magazine (7/19/93, p. 58), three 

women who corresponded with Mr. X over the network discovered his duplicity and went public on the 

network. The incident sparked a lively debate over electronic etiquette (and ruined Mr. Casanova's 

9 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48


chances for further romance). 

File transfers through the Internet 

The Internet is a network interconnecting hundreds of thousands of computer centers around the 

world. These centers use different types of hardware and software, and different methods of file 

transfer. 

What method to use for file transfers depends on the source host and the type of connection and 

software that you are using. For those using a web browser, it is usually very simple. Just click on the 

file's hyperlink to start the transfer. 

For those using the original method transferring files by FTP, the transfer usually takes place in 

two steps: 

1. Transferring files from a remote data center to your local mailbox host. 

2. Transfer from your local mailbox host to your personal computer. 

Transfers by email 

Transferring plain text files is easy. Files with imbedded word processor control codes will often have 

to be treated as binary files. More about this later. 

Getting text files from a mailing list library on a remote computer is a special case. Sometimes, 

these files are available from a web page or an ftp archive. If this is the case, clicking on a hyperlink is 

usually all it takes. 

However, sometimes you must send a retrieval command (like GET) by email to a remote center. 

After a while, the file will be sent to your mailbox by email. You can read it like you read other mail. 

Example: Retrieve the file MSDOS1. It explains how to retrieve binary art files from the Kidlink 

project's file libraries. You can also get it by sending an email to listserv@listserv.nodak.edu. Use the 

following general command syntax in your text: 

GET . 

To get the MSDOS1 file, write the following command in the TEXT of your message: 

GET KIDART.MSDOS1 

Note that these commands must always be put in the body of the mail and not in the subject field. The 

file will arrive in your mailbox after a while. 

Also, lists of available files are usually available by using an "INDEX " command. 

To get a list of files in the KIDART directory, add the command "INDEX KIDART" in your message 

above. 

On some LISTSERV servers, the period between list name and file name is not being used. 

Libraries of other types of mailing lists may use other retrieval commands. Often, you can get 

information of what commands to use by sending the word HELP to a mailing service (in the Subject 

area or in the body of the text). 

Transferring binary files 

The easiest way of retrieving binary files across the Internet is by using a World Wide Web browser 

like Netscape, or Internet Explorer. You just give the program a file location address (URL), as in 

ftp://ftp.eunet.no/pub/text/online.txt.Z 

This address will give you the most current version of this handbook in Unix Z compress format. 

(Remove the trailing ".Z" to retrieve the ascii text version.) 

Users with a direct connection to the Internet usually also have access to the FTP command (File 

Transfer Protocol). Some of them prefer FTP for transfers of binary files like computer programs, 

pictures, sound, and compressed text files. 

The bad news is that the FTP command is not available to all users of Internet mail. These must 

use "FTP by mail," or other tricks to transfer files. More about this in a moment. 

The FTP command gives access to a special file transfer service. It works in the following way: 

Logon to your local email host and enter 'FTP remote center code', as in this example: 'ftp 

134.129.111.1'. 

This command will connect you to the center in North Dakota mentioned above. Here, you will be 

prompted for user name and password. Enter 'anonymous' as user name, and use your real name or 

email address as password. 

This way of logging on to retrieve files is called "transfers by anonymous ftp." You can use this 

method on many hosts on the Internet. 

When connected to the remote center, you can request transfer of the desired file to your 

10 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48


mailbox. Before doing that, you may have to navigate to a given file catalog (cd directory), and tell the 

host that the transfer is to be binary (bin). Finally, start the transfer by entering a "GET file name" 

command. 

The file will be transferred to your local mailbox computer at high speed. When the transfer is 

done, you logoff from the remote center to "get back" to your mailbox computer's prompt line. 

Now, you can transfer the file to your personal computer using communications protocols like 

Kermit, XMODEM, ZMODEM or whatever else is available. 

Note: I usually prefer Lynx for retrieval jobs using URLs like you would use with Netscape, as in 

"Lynx ftp://ftp.eunet.no/pub/text/online.txt". 

Binary files transferred as text codes 

If you do not have access to FTP or Lynx, you must use ordinary email for your binary transfers. 

Usually, email through the Internet can only contain legal character codes (ASCII characters 

between number 32 126). Most systems cannot transfer graphics or program files directly, since 

these files normally contain binary codes (which are outside this ASCII character range). 

The solution is to convert binary files to text codes using a utility program called UUENCODE. The 

encoded file can be sent by ordinary email, as in this example: 

From TRICKLE@VM1.NoDak.EDU Fri Aug 16 16:32:37 1991 

Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1991 09:31:34 CDT 


Subject: Part 1/1 SIMTEL20.INF PD: 

The file PD:SIMTEL20.INF has been uuencoded before 

being sent. After combining the 1 parts with the mail headers 

removed, you must run the file through a decode program. 

Part 1 of 1 

begin 600 SIMTEL20.INF 

M6T9I;&4Z(% )351%3#(P+DE.1B`@("`@("`@("`@("`@("`@("!,87 T(')E 

M=FES960Z($IU;F4@,C@L(#$Y.3%=#0H "B`@(%M.;W1E.B!$=64@=&\@9&ES 

M:6P "AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH: 

M&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH: 

6&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&@(Z 

end 

End of part 1 of 1 

When you receive a message with uuencoded text, download it to your personal computer's hard disk. 

Use an editor to cut out the codes and paste them to an empty work file. Using the example above, 

the first line in your work file should contain: 

begin 600 SIMTEL20.INF 

The last line of your work file should contain 

end 

Now, use a utility program called UUDECODE to convert the file back to its binary form (or whatever). 

More information about uuencoding and uudecoding is given in the MSDOS1 file mentioned above 

(for MS DOS computers). It has a detailed explanation, BASIC source code for making the program 

UUDECODE.COM, and a DEBUG script for those preferring that. 

Versions of UUDECODE are also available for other types of computers. 

Transfer of pictures 

In 1992, Denis Pchelkin (Protvino, Russia) was 11 years old, had two cats and one dog, and was a 

famous contributor of beautiful computer graphics art to the Kidlink project. 

The file ART019 in the KIDART catalog of the North Dakota center contains one of his creations. 

It is a UUENCODEd picture in GIF graphics format. 

Retrieve Denis' art by sending a command to listserv@listserv.nodak.edu. Put the following in the 

TEXT of your message: 

GET KIDART.ART019 

The LISTSERVer will return a message filled with strange uu codes. We assume that you have 

already retrieved the MSDOS1 file, and that you have a version of the conversion program. Your next 

step is UUdecoding: 

Read the message into an editor or a viewing program. Cut and paste the codes to a work file. 

11 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48


Keep the original as backup. Use the UUDECODE.COM program to convert ART019 into a GIF 

formatted file. Now, view the picture with your favorite graphics program. 

Sending binary files in uuencoded form has weaknesses. One is the lack of automatic error 

correction when sending/receiving email. Noise on the line can easily distort the picture. 

File size is another problem. UUENCODEing typically increases file sizes by almost one third. 

Some mailbox systems restrict the length of individual messages that you can receive, and the file may 

just be too big. 

If the uuencoded file gets too big, some services can (or will by default) split it up in parts and 

then sent separately. 

Tons of uuencoded public domain and shareware programs are available for retrieval by ordinary 

email. 

MIME encoding can also be used (see Appendix 6), but is less common. 

FTP by email 

While some services accept commands like GET KIDART.ART019 by email, this is not so with the 

many so called FTP libraries. Many of them can only be accessed by FTP. 

Services exist that will do FTP transfers by email for those not having access to the FTP 

command. For more information, write a message to one of these addresses: 

bitftp@vm.gmd.de Germany 

ftpmail@ftp.uni stuttgart.de Germany 

bitftp@plearn.edu.pl Poland 

ftpxcorreo@ftp.rcp.net.pe Peru 

bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu United States 

In the TEXT of your message, put the word "HELP" for information. Check http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk 

/ftpmail servers.html for a longer list of ftpmail servers, and check availability at Steve Harris' FTPMail, 

Agora, etc. statistics page. 

These services will fetch the desired file from the FTP library, uuencode it for email transfer and 

possibly split large files into several messages, thus helping you around local restrictions on the size of 

incoming mail messages. 

Using FTP by email can be nice even for those with full Internet access, as some FTP servers are 

heavily loaded and interactive response can be very sluggish. It makes sense not to waste time and 

connect charges in these cases. 

Note that FTP mail servers tend to be quite busy. Your reply may not arrive for several hours, or 

days, depending on when and where you send your request. Also, some large files may be split into 

smaller pieces and returned to you as multiple messages, and binary files may be uuencoded by the 

sender. 

Fax services weigh less than a printer 

Many online services let you send electronic mail as fax messages. This is an interesting feature when 

in that far away place without a printer. Send the draft contract or other texts to your hotel's fax 

machine or to your client's office to get a printout on paper. 

For more about how to send (and receive) faxes, check "How can I send a fax from the 

Internet?". 

Free telephone calls 

Anyone can make free telephone calls through the Internet. All it takes is a computer having the right 

phone software, a sound card, loudspeaker, and microphone installed. If your Internet connection is 

good, then the sound quality will be comparable to a regular phone call. 

For more about how to get started with Internet telephony, start with the Internet Telephony 

Software page, and follow the links. 

More 

Then, there is online file storage. MyDocsOnline lets you upload files to their server, with a maximum 

of 20MB total file sizes. You can then access your files from any web enabled device, move files 

between computers, or send/share with others. It's great for people who have multiple computers, 

students, business people that travel frequently, or anyone that is tired of using floppies or email 

attachments. 


12 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48


Search: 

The Online World resources handbook's text on paper, disk and in any other electronic form is © copyrighted 2002 by Odd de 

Presno. 

Updated at June 28, 2002 



13 of 13 23.11.2009 15:48

Cheaper and better communication http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/13.html 


Chapter 13: 

Cheaper and better communication 

Reducing the cost of using the Web 

Reducing the cost of using mailing lists 

Using Packet Data Networks 

What is cheapest? 


Outdial services 

Cheaper access to CompuServe 

FidoNet grassroots playground 

Other grassroots networks 

In some areas, packet data services and commercial data transportation services may 

help keep costs down. However, in most parts of the world, accessing through the 

Internet access providers is usually the cheapest solution. 

This chapter is about reducing your costs of using the web, mailing lists, and the 

Internet and online services in general. 

Connecting 

Long distance calls may be preferable for some applications. One example: A Norwegian 

Internet provider has a very lousy connection to the rest of the country's network. 

Anything but reading web pages on their server is too slow for my taste. The same web 

pages are normally received two to three times faster by calling long distance to an 

access provider in Oslo. Therefore, this is my favorite when working under 

time pressure. 

Where long distance communication is unreliable, the ability to link a local call with 

DQ LQWHUQDWLRQDO RQOLQH QHWZRUN PD\ DOVR EH OLEHUDWLQJ 

Others investigate alternative routings for their data. One option is the packet data 

networks. Several countries have Public Data Networks (PDNs) operated by local 

telecommunications authorities. These services mey be cheaper than direct calls for 

some applications, but more expensive than using other options mentioned in this 

chapter. 

Another option is to use traditional commercial online services like CompuServe 

and American Online. 

"CompuServe!" you protest. "I just want Internet." The interesting thing is that 

CompuServe, American Online, and others like them, let you connect to the Internet 

through their network. You can even use your web and Internet mail program. In some 

countries, it may be cheaper to use CompuServe and AOL as your Internet provider. 

For years, it was an exciting experience to retrieve web pages from the United States 

through CompuServe. No local Norwegian Internet providers could provide the pages 

you're reading now from http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/ at the same blitzing speed. 

Having an extra route may also be important that day when your local access 

providors let you down. This regularly happens to me. Late one evening, called a 

journalist doing a story for the next morning edition. I provided an important web 

address in the US, but the journalist said access was unavailable. I checked with two 

local internet providers, and indeed, access to any US web address was impossible at the 

moment. Only by going through CompuServe, could I provide the desired information. 

There are also other global networks worthy of investigation. Include The IBM 

1 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48


Global Network, and The Microsoft Network (MSN). (See Appendix 1 for links.) 

Reducing your cost of using the Web 

There are so many things that you can do to reduce the cost of your use of the Web, and 

pointers to them are given throughout the handbook: 

The speed of your modem or network connection. A minimum of 28.8 kbps or 

higher is recomended for connecting with a modem. With anything less than 28.8 

kbps you will notice a significant "lag time" when attempting to download 

software or view graphic intensive Web pages. Since there are many places on the 

Web to get the same information, try to avoid such overly large, slow loading 

pages. 

Select an Internet access number that matches the speed of your modem. If you 

are dialing into an access number that only supports 28.8 kbps modems, 28.8 kbps 

is as fast as you will ever connect, even if you have a 56 kbps modem installed in 

your computer. 

Line noise on the phone line running into your home can adversly affect your 

ability to maintain a consistent Internet connection with a modem. To check for 

line noise, plug a phone into the same line that your modem uses and listen for 

static (while you are not connected to the Internet). Static can cause disruptions in 

the transmission of data to and from the Internet causing you to lose your 

connection. If you hear static on the line, you might want to call your phone 

company and have the line checked. 

Use the web at times when traffic is low. Web traffic tends to increase throughout 

the day and peaks around the early evening. As traffic increases, speed decreases! 

See the Internet Traffic Report for hints. 

Retrieve Web pages by electronic mail (see "The World Wide Web by email" in 

Chapter 12). 

Leave the graphics behind and travel the Web at much higher speeds. To set it: 

In Netscape, click on Options, Autoload Image, and Save Options. 

A faster PC processor (say 500 Mhz) will allow you to surf the Web at faster 

speeds than a slower one (say 200 Mhz). 

A computer with more available memory will tend to surf faster than one with less. 

One way to avoid slowdowns in this area is to avoid opening other software 

applications that are not needed while you are surfing the Web. 

A full or highly fragmented hard disk can act to slow Web surfing considerably. To 

deframent your hard disk in Windows 95 or 98, click Start> Programs > 

Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. It will prompt you for the drive 

to defragment. Choose the drive letter that corresponds to your hard disk (usually 

C), click "Ok" and "Start". 

Your Web Browser's cache is a storage area on your computer's hard disk. As you 

surf the Web, the browser stores the Web pages you visit in the cache, up to the 

disk space limit that you set. Your browser can display cached Web pages faster 

since it doesn't have to go to the Internet to retrieve them; rather it goes right to 

your hard disk. Consider increasing your browser's cache size limit. 

If you're using DOS, use Lynx from your provider's Unix prompt to read Web 

pages where graphics don't matter. (See Appendix 6.) 

Then there's the issue of offline preparation. What else would you expect here than a 

plug for having the handbook on your hard disk? Registered readers can retrieve the html 

version after each update as one compressed file. 

Decompress the transportation file, and store it in a directory of choice on your hard 

disk. Netscape users can click on File, and then Open File... Open the location of the 

handbook's index file (index.html), and add it to your browser's Bookmarks for easy 

access. 

Retrieve a copy of the free AltaVista Discovery program (see Chapter 14) for 

Windows 95/98, or the Lookfor shareware program for MS DOS from the page 

referenced above. Use either of these programs to locate interesting Web pages. 

2 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48


Quick capture, read offline. 

Netscape uses a special cache directory for temporary storage of files. It is set by 

clicking on Options, Preferences, Cache and Network. I use a 600 KB Memory Cache, 

and a 1500 KB Disk cache. 

Whatever files are received from the Internet are stored in this cache. They will 

probably remain there until specifically removed (deleted), even after leaving 

Windows. Therefore, unless you use the "Clear Disk Cache now" option on the Setup 

menu regularly, you can read them offline. 

Everything is there. This means that you can go online, get the pages, log out, and 

read the pages as local files off your cache directory. 

Reducing the cost of using mailing lists 

The problem of using mailing lists is that all discussion items come to you in individual 

messages. Each message comes with its own mailer header, and this information is 

generally completely useless. (Read "Returned mail" in Chapter 7 for details.) 

Newer versions of the LISTSERV software provide settings that solve this problem, 

notably the DIGEST and the INDEX options. You can set these options by email to the 

server, or (easier) using the mailing list's web interface. 

The DIGEST option 

makes all daily messages come to you in one, single message. This is a big help on 

systems with limits on the number of messages that can be received. It will help manage 

the flow of message. Also, it makes the messages easier to retrieve, print, and deliver as 

individual messages. 

The INDEX option 

gives you a daily list of messages as in this abridged example from Net Happenings: 

Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 10:15:25 0600 

Reply To: NET HAPPENINGS Search request@HYPATIA.CS.WISC.EDU 

Sender: Net Happenings 

From: Automatic digest processor 

Subject: NET HAPPENINGS Index 3 Feb 2000 to 4 Feb 2000 Special issue 

(#2000 61) 

Index Date Size Poster and subject 

018502 02/04 55 From: Gleason Sackmann 

Subject: K12> [ClassWeb] Technology, Learning & Children 

Symposia call for presenters 


Subject: UPDATED> TURTLE TRACKS Native American Newsletter 

for Children 


Subject: K12> The School Teacher Mailing List/ Web Site 


Subject: MISC> [DUC] HUMOR AND WISDOM: How to Deal With All 

of the Complaints That theVet Pet List is TOO USEFUL 


Subject: K12> S.O.S. Help for Busy Teachers 2/4/00 

The sizes shown are the number of lines in the messages, not counting mail 

headers. 

To order the messages you are interested in, simply reply to this message and 

include the original text, just as when you are replying to a normal message 

and want to quote what your correspondent said. Before sending the message, 

delete the lines corresponding to the items you are not interested in, and make 

3 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48


sure your reply is going to 

"NET HAPPENINGS Search request@HYPATIA.CS.WISC.EDU", NOT to 

"NET HAPPENINGS@HYPATIA.CS.WISC.EDU". 

Many Listservs have this as an undocumented feature. 

In some mail programs, like Eudora Pro 4.2, this is very easy: 

1. Mark off the index number you want to retrieve 

2. Click on the "Reply" button, and a mail is automatically prepared with just the 

marked text in place 

3. Hit the "Queue" or "Send" button to send. 

Click here to see how users of the KidlinN mailing lists do it. 

Using Packet Data Networks 

Before you can use a packet data network, you must get a "Network User Identification" 

(NUI) from the PDN carrier. You must also know the Network User Address (NUA) of 

the hosts you want to access. 

In Scandinavia, the local PDNs are called Datapak. In China, it is called CNPAC (or 

CHINAPAC). PDNs can be accessed by direct local calls or through leased lines. To 

personal users, direct calls are least expensive. A leased line may be cost efficient when 

the daily volume is high, like in a company. 

When you communicate with online services through a PDN, the latter will split 

your data and bundle it in standard envelopes or 'packets'. 

Each packet is marked with a code and sent out into the data stream. Based on this 

code, the packet is routed from computer center to computer center until it reaches its 

final destination. There, the information will be reassembled into its original form before 

being handed over to a user or online service. 

It is almost like traveling by train. The price per packet or traveler is lower than 

what it costs to rent the whole train for your trip. 

National telecommunications monopolies were the first to offer packet data 

services. Their rates were moderately lower than for long distance calls, but it was hard 

to find the relationship between real costs and prices. This is still the situation in several 

countries. 

Throughout the world, efforts to privatize nationwide phone networks continue. In 

many countries, this has given us some interesting competitors offering attractive rates 

for similar services. 

Rates differ considerably from country to country, as does the quality of 

transmissions. The advantage of using packet data also varies considerably, by 

application and by country. The best routing for retrieval of online news may be 

impossibly expensive for chats or complex online jobs. 

We can offer no hard rules of thumb, except this: 

Compare rates regularly! 

What is cheapest? 

Some networks and access providers charge by the year, month or hour, while others 

charge by volume (number of characters transferred per minute). 

A reasonable fixed rate per year is always your best option, but you may not be able 

to find such offerings in your area. 

When your transmitted volume of data is low, as is the case with chats, your best 

bet is to use services with a low price per minute and high prices for volume. However, it 

usually makes a lot of sense to avoid services charging for volume! 

When volume is high, your best bet is to use services charging by the minute. 

To estimate costs reliably, you need statistics. Since your usage is likely to differ 

from what others do, start gather experience data now. Like this: 

On services only charging for connect time 

4 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48


Capture trip information to a log file. Register the following information: * number of 

minutes connected * modem speed * number of characters sent. Some communication 

programs can do this automatically for you. 

On services charging for time and volume 

Log the following information: * number of minutes connected * modem speed * 

number of segments or packets (measurements of volume) You need these numbers to 

estimate the average volume of data transferred by minute. Here are some general 

experiences and hints: 

Long streams of data without stops are cheaper through services that only charge by 

the minute. Retrieving software is a typical high volume application. 

Trips that include navigation from conference to conference, with a little bit of up 

and downloading here and there, make the average transfer speed fall dramatically. 

Surfing the World Wide Web is usually in the same class. It's like driving through a big 

city at 150 kilometers per hour. Red lights will considerably reduce your average speed. 

The actual transferred volume of text per minute will differ from place to place 

(geographically), and often also from call to call. It depends on factors like: 

How fast you can enter commands and how much time you spend staring at the 

display before pressing keys, 

How long it takes for an online service to react to your commands. For example, 

the response time on CompuServe at 04:00 GMT on a Friday morning (it is 

evening in the U.S.) is much worse than at 10:30 GMT on a Sunday morning. By 

now, most North American users are asleep. 

The load on your packet data network while you use the service (or the amount of 

noise and retransmission, when calling direct), 

The type of modem you are using (speed, compression level), 

The number of commands you (or your scripts) have to enter during your online 

visit. An increase in the number of commands reduces the average transfer speed. 

The amount of transfer overhead for color and screen handling (like, VT 100 or 

html codes) that is transferred with your text. 

Your use of menus and help texts while online, or whether you come as "expert" 

with a minimum of prompts. 

Whether your browser is set to capture all pictures and sound files that it comes 

across, or just the text. 

It is impossible to calculate the practical effects of these items. You will just have to bear 

them in mind when estimating typical jobs, measuring speeds, calculating costs, and 

comparing networks. 

Finding the optimal network for your needs will take time, but it is well worth the 

effort. Expect the figures to surprise you. 

The network services in this chapter will often give you better quality transfers than 

a direct call. On the other hand, calling direct may give more characters transferred per 

minute. The average speed may drop dramatically when using packet data services. 

The cost of using PDN services 

Most commercial online services can be reached through national PDNs, but you may 

have problems finding the correct NUA (Network User Address) to get there. Your PDN 

may not have a directory of available "electronic telephone numbers" for you to consult. 

The Norwegian PDN, Datapak, used to be my only alternative for access to foreign 

online services. At the time, I thought the cost was acceptable. Not so any more. 

My applications require that data be pumped back and forth at maximum speed. On 

network services charging by a combination of volume and time, 80 percent of my costs 

are typically for volume, while 20 percent is for connect time. 

When I logged out after a successful visit to CompuServe through Datapak, the two 

services gave similar reports: 

5 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48



Off at 10:11 EST 24 Nov 87 


CLR PAD (00) 00:00:14:55 537 75 

The last line were from Datapak. It tells that I had received 537 segments and sent 75. 

The "Segment" is Datapak's volume measure. Their segments contained up to 

sixty four characters and/or carriage returns. The price is calculated accordingly. 

At today's prices, Datapak is no longer my cheapest alternative even when calling 

CompuServe for chats. It is much cheaper to use the Internet telnet command through a 

local access provider. Then, the lack of speed matters less as I do not have to pay for 

volume. 

The slower your modem speed, the more attractive is Datapak compared with direct 

calls. 

To get access to a national PDN, you must have a user identification and a 

password. Getting temporary access to PDN services while traveling abroad is often hard 

and expensive. You're better off using some of the other global networks as your 

"roaming" service. 

Note: If you have access to a national PDN, but need information about 

PDNs in other countries, try Hostess, the Global Network Service's 

information service from British Telecom in England. The NUA is 02342 

1920101013 (02342 is the Data Network Identifier Code section of the 

address.) User name or password is not required to use this service. 

Outdial services 

SprintNet used to let American users call bulletin boards in North America at lower rates 

through their PC Pursuit service. For a modest subscription rate they could call a local 

access number. Once connected, they entered an electronic phone number to connect to 

a so called 'outdial modem' in another city. Once connected to the outdial modem, they 

could enter dialing commands and have it call any local number. They could use PC 

Pursuit to call an online service in the area, or the private modem of a friend. 

We call such services for Outdial service. They normally offer lower rates for access 

to remote bulletin boards than what it costs to call by long distance. Besides, they reduce 

the chances for noise on the line. 

With the start of the Internet, outdial services have lost most of their appeal. PC 

Pursuit is no longer available. Most others are also dead. 

Cheaper access to CompuServe 

Wherever CompuServe has local access points, you will probably be better off using 

these. No special agreement is required. Your CompuServe ID is all you need. The cost 

of using these services will appear on your CompuServe bill. 

If you have access to Internet's telnet command, then this is an option well worth 

checking out. 

CompuServe has special deals with a list of network services, like InfoNet, Istel, 

FALNET, FENICS, CompuPass, LATA Networks, Tymnet/Sprintnet. Enter the 

command GO PHONES on CompuServe for access information, and GO RATES for 

rates. 

I have used CompuPass from Japan, CompuServe's own network in Brazil, Europe 

and the United States, Istel, InfoNet, and PDN services throughout Europe. Most of the 

time my application is Internet mail. 

You can forward your Internet mail to CompuServe by entering the 

following command at your access provider's Unix prompt: 

echo "70000.0000@compuserve.com" >~/.forward 

6 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48


Make sure you're in your home directory when entering the command, and 

replace the fake CompuServe address above with your own. 

When you return home, use this command to cancel the forward 

instruction: 

rm ~/.forward 

You can also use this trick to forward your mail to other Internet hosts. 

When at home, I usually use CompuServe's 28,800 bps node in Oslo, Norway. Datapak 

is never considered. It is too expensive. CompuServe's nodes in Stockholm and 

Copenhagen are my backups. 

Whenever CompuServe opens a new node in your vicinity, or upgrades the 

modem speed on one of their nodes, look at the effects on your total costs. 

Use software for automatic access and navigation. They give higher 

volume per minute and make your accesses even more cost efficient. 

Before leaving for a business trip, visit CompuServe to find local access numbers in your 

destination cities. The list of countries includes Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, 

Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Holland, Peru, 

South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, England, and many more. 

FidoNet grassroots playground 

FidoNet is an amateur network consisting of tens of thousands of bulletin boards all over 

the world. The network is "loosely coupled," meaning that most of the participating 

boards are not always connected. They call each others at regular intervals to exchange 

mail, often in the middle of the night when the rates are low. (See Appendix 1) 

Other grassroots networks 

It doesn't take much to set up a bulletin board service, and it is as easy to connect BBS 

systems to each other in a dial up network for regular exchanges of email, files and 

conferences. 

All over the world, grassroots networks keep popping up with names like ILINK, 

AmNet, Suedd MB Verbund, Starmail, MagicNet, A NET, MausNet, Zerberus Netz, 

SMBX NET, BASA NETZ, you name it. 

Many boards offer access to more than one grassroots network, and also to the 

Internet. Thus, the ability to send global email is extended to new users every day. 

RelayNet is one of these global network of bulletin boards. It offers exchange of 

email between systems. Messages and conference items entered on one system will 

automatically be copied to other participating boards. Your costs for "talking" with 

others in other parts of the world are very small. 


Search: 






7 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48

Keep what you find! http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/14.html 


Chapter 14: 

Keep what you find! 


Search and throw away 

Dig for 'overview' 

Post processing the data 

Reuse data on your hard disk 

Desinformation, myths, hoaxes, 

fraud, deception and errors 

Little is gained by being skillful at locating and accumulating information, and then 

becoming drowned in an avalanche of data that one cannot manage or use. This 

chapter starts with how to handle retrieved information, and build a personal database 

on your own hard disk. We continue by investigating strategies for finding interesting 

information on own your disk, before winding down with some words about what 

separates good information from bad. 

Search and throw away 

To novices, everything is difficult. During their first trips online, they may feel as if 

moving to the other side of the globe. There, they would meet other newspapers, 

magazines, information sources, and services. It takes time to find your way around in 

this new environment. 

To find online gold mines, trial and error are necessary. As you get more 

experience, however, focus tends to shift from getting information to digesting. 

Retrieving the data is 'in your fingers', and doesn't bother much anymore. 

The bad news is that your reading speed remains at the same old level, while the 

amount of retrieved data grows. Most users therefore need a strategy for handling the 

resource. This is my take: 

In our time, when people tend to talk more than they listen, we'll usually find more 

information than knowledge. Therefore, say NO to irrelevant information! It is 

rarely worth keeping. 

There is no good reason to learn things that you really do not need to know. 

Practice "selective ignorance." 

Regularly rate your online sources. Critically. Discard those costing you more 

time, money and effort than they are worth. Concentrate on those giving the best 

returns. 

Regularly adjust the frequency with which you visit selected services to match 

1 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48


their usefulness. What used to be daily visits, may have to be downgraded to once 

per week or month. Consider replacing daily news monitoring by clipping services. 

Dig for 'overview' 

Plan 'overview' and 'digging for details' with different frequencies. 'Overview' refers to 

online trips made to get an impression of what generally goes on. An example: 

Using Agora World Wide Web by email servers, it is easy to request a list of 

articles from Usenet newsgroups at preset intervals. For example, email programs like 

Eudora Pro let you have the same message scheduled to be sent at a certain time and 

date every month. The trick is explained in Chapter 12 under Usenet by email. 

Digging for useful information in today's news may also be done by Agora mail 

coupled with a system or feature that let the web address (URL) be sent at desireable 

intervals. You may want to check out NetMind in Chapter 11 for the job if your email 

program is unable to do it. 

On one workstation, I use a shareware Windows utility called BarClock to warn 

me once per day. "You should send your Agora mail now!" The warning flashes up on 

my screen in such a way that it cannot be ignored. On another workstation, a MS DOS 

based robot does it automatically for me. No manual intervention required. 

Say you want to monitor what goes on in the alt.winsock newsgroup on a monthly 

basis. Prepare a monthly message containing the following: 

To: agora@dna.affrc.go.jp 

Cc: 

Subject: 

Text: send news:alt.winsock 

Each 30 days, you should now receive a mail giving you a list of topics discussed in the 

newsgroup. It would look something like this: 

Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 05:38:57 0500 (CDT) 

From: agora@dna.affrc.go.jp 

Subject: Document requested (was:)(URL: news:alt.winsock) 

Newsgroup alt.winsock, Articles 86509 86528 

(Earlier articles[1]...) Articles in alt.winsock 

"Re:Error Code 16" Phil Joy[2] 

"Re: Netscape Mail" Schaft[3] 

"Re: OFFLINE NEWSGROUP READER ??" djl[4] 

"Re: OFFLINE NEWSGROUP READER ??" Matthew McDonald[5] 

"Re: OFFLINE NEWSGROUP READER ??" Derek Woodlands[6] 

"Re: OFFLINE NEWSGROUP READER ??" Matthew McDonald[7] 

"Re: AOL coexistence, mcs.support" Leonard Grossman[8] 

"Re: Netscape Mail" David Woolley[9] 

"MAKE 50 K IN 1 MONTH" The One[10] 

"Re: OFFLINE NEWSGROUP READER ??" Melanie Ley[11] 

"Re: *** ANNOUNCE: new W95 FTP beta ***" [12] 

"Re: Win 95 FTP Server" [13] 

"selecting multiple items with mouse instead of ctrl" [14] 

"Re: Win 95 FTP Server" Alun Jones[15] 

"free agent purge thinger" [16] 

"help" w4100@epix.net[17] 

"Re: Win 95 FTP Server" [18] 

"Re: AOL coexistence, mcs.support" Randy Hubbard[19] 

"Upgrading win95 winsock" boomer[20] 

"I have no idea what i'm doing" mal4273@tamu.edu[21] 

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB 

Post to alt.winsock[22] 

5HIHUHQFHV IURP WKLV GRFXPHQW 

[orig] news:alt.winsock 

[1] news:alt.winsock/86489 86508 

[2] news:51g25t$g1l@news.internetmci.com 

[3] news:51g24d$ora@nntp1.best.com 

[4] news:323bbaae.105680122@news.aimnet.com 

[5] news:323bcd4a.8728606@news.netspace.net.au 

[6] news:323be00d.2515074@news.mt.net.au 

2 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48


[7] news:323bf639.6886883@news.netspace.net.au 

[8] news:51gtbh$61o@nntp1.mcs.net 

[9] news:DxqqEG.wq@djwhome.demon.co.uk 

[10] news:323C0C0C.63F4@cyberway.com.sg 

[11] news:32404693.99526427@nntp.crl.com 

[12] news:51hltp$gfp@tetsuo.communique.net 

[13] news:51hls1$gfp@tetsuo.communique.net 

[14] news:51i3gi$bbg@tetsuo.communique.net 

[15] news:51i7iu$100_002@alun.eden.com 

[16] news:51i6n2$10s1@tetsuo.communique.net 

[17] news:323CC90B.3BE7@epix.net 

[18] news:51i8km$15eb@tetsuo.communique.net 

[19] news:323CAADC.A2@wwnet.com 

[20] news:323C9F2E.5412@sprynet.com 

[21] news:51imni$t4v@news.tamu.edu 

[22] newspost:alt.winsock 

Browsing the index will give you an idea about what's on the members minds for the 

moment. If you like, you can also request individual articles from the list. 

Say you want to check out the topic "OFFLINE NEWSGROUP READER ??" To 

do so, send a mail to the Agora server containing the following commands: 

send news:323bbaae.105680122@news.aimnet.com 

send news:323bcd4a.8728606@news.netspace.net.au 

send news:323be00d.2515074@news.mt.net.au 

send news:323bf639.6886883@news.netspace.net.au 

Note: Some Agora servers let you send for these articles by returning item numbers 

rather than the full addresses. 

One of these articles came back with the following text (abbreviated): 

Subject: 

(URL: news:323bf639.6886883@news.netspace.net.au) 

Reply to matthew@sv.net.au (Matthew McDonald)[1] 

RE: OFFLINE NEWSGROUP READER ?? 

Sun, 15 Sep 1996 12:27:59 GMT 

kingpin@mail.mt.net.au (Derek Woodlands) wrote: 

>On Fri, 13 Sep 1996 22:11:37 GMT, nephite@worldaccess.com 

>Jacob Proffitt) wrote: 

> 

>>I'm really pleased with Agent, the commercial version 

>>of Free Agent. FA is also a good app, and it is free.8 ) 

>> 

>>I agree. Free Agent is a good way to get a feel for it. 

>>Except that it doesn't handle MIME. Nor does Agent .99 

The next release of Agent, due any time now will support 

MIME.. 

Regards 

Matthew 

The message also contained 14 references to the other articles in the topic thread, to the 

author, and other newsgroups where the message had appeared. 

Several communication programs and offline readers have built in quick 

scan features. For example, TAPCIS does this in CompuServe forums. 

When retrieving conference messages from bulletin boards using 

1stReader at high speed, then the cost of retrieving all new items may be 

insignificant. You might as well do it. :KHQ UHDGLQJ FDSWXUHG PDLO 

1stReader lets you select messages to read from a list of subjects. You can 

save what you want to keep, and delete the rest. 

By regular scanning subject headers, you reduce the risk of missing important trends, for 

example because authors were using other terms on the subject line than you expected. 

Scanning also lets us discover if the discussion is heading off in other, interesting 

directions. 

After a while, you'll have a set of sources, persons, and tools that will provide you 

with what you need. This is your personal infrastructure of electronic information. Now, 

3 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48


you must maintain and cultivate it. 

Chapter 12 contains hints about how to search World Wide Web indexes like 

Lycos and Alta Vista by email. Use this method regularly to check what is being said 

about yourself, your company, a technology, a hobby, whatever. 

Filtering incoming information 

Chances are that you will retrieve more information than you can read. Sometimes it 

takes weeks or even months for me to get up to date with all my electronic readings. 

Several email programs can automatically filter retrieved information in folders, for 

example based on information found in the From or To line of incoming mail. This 

feature is very helpful! 

Example: I get a lot of mail. Upon receipt, messages are automatically filtered into 

the following groups (folders): 

Urgent 

mail 

General 

mail 

All mail coming from a predefined list of senders. 

All mail that was not captured by my filtering commands. 

KidOLQN Selected conference mail from a defined list of Kidlink 

mailing lists. 

Errors Error messages received by mailing lists that I manage (the 

TOW announcement list for readers 

of the Online World handbook is one of these lists. At 

listserv@listserv.nodak.edu). 

Browse Information that is less time critical, and that it is enough to 

browse for interesting information. 

Read Information that I want to read once I get the time. (If I don't 

get the time, it still there on 

my disk until deleted, and I can therefore search it's 

contents.) 

Outgoing Archive of all sent mail. 

Periodically, my life is so hectic that I just have time for my Urgent mail. Whenever this 

happens, it is very useful to have them filtered out and stored in one place. 

Example: Daily, Web by email services (see Chapter 12) provides me with lists of 

available news stories on the net. One of my sources is NewsLinx. 

I'm supposed to read through these story menus, select what I want to read, and go 

fetch them. However, I rarely have time to do this, so I've asked the Eudora Light email 

program to do part of the job for me. 

Several filters are set to search for "newslinx.com" on the incoming mails' subject 

line. Other settings initiate a search in selected messages to see if there are stories on 

desired topics. 

One filter look for the word "newspaper" in NewsLinx menus. Whenever the word 

is found, the incoming message is marked as High Priority, and the subject line changed 

to say "Keyword newspaper found." This helps me avoid missing useful articles on 

interesting topics. 

Post processing the data 

Your data capture is completed, and the retrieved data is stored on the hard disk in more 

or several files. Your next task is to 

Read the received material. 

Cut and paste selected parts to archives or work files. 

Prepare responses to electronic mail. 

When done, delete all temporary files. 

4 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48


Some people just delete all mail they don't want, and let the rest remain intact in their 

original folders. Most mail folders are easy to search with tools like AltaVista 

Discovery and Lookfor (see below), so this may be a solution for them. 

Personally, I get too much mail for that. When I read it, my preferred method is to 

cut out what I need, and store the texts without the lengthy mailer headers in a more 

systematic way. I do this to reduce disk storage requirements, and speed up searches. 

My mail is stored in files and directories using names that show the source of the 

information. This makes it quick to find where to search. A set of macro commands 

make cutting and appending mail easy. 

Often, I use the year, or a month/year code, in the file name extension. For 

example, the file TOW.96 contains messages retrieved from the TOW mailing list during 

1996. 

Some advanced email programs have these features built in. With Eudora Light it is 

easy. Click on Transfer, and dump the message into a mailbox (or folder) of your choice. 

You may also use your favorite word processor, or something else. There are 

several alternatives. Personally, I use the LIST utility in my system. 

LIST is my favorite MS DOS shareware file viewer program. You can retrieve it 

from the Internet, and most bulletin boards. Using LIST, it is difficult to destroy your 

precious retrieved data while reading, cutting and pasting. 

MORE ABOUT LIST: Assume that you want to postprocess Eudora's 

IN.MBX file, and that you are using the file name convention suggested 

above. Type LIST and press ENTER. A list of file names in your Eudora 

directory will appear on your screen. Press S to sort the list, D to have 

them sorted by creation date. The newest files are at the bottom of the list. 

Move the cursor (using the Arrow keys) to the input file you want to 

read, and press ENTER. Scroll up and down in IN.MBX by pressing the 

PgUp/PgDn or the arrow keys. 

On your screen is a piece of information that you want to keep for 

future reference. Mark the text with ALT M commands (keep the ALT key 

pressed down, while pressing M), and then ALT D. LIST will ask you for a 

file name. If the information is from the TOW mailing list, and the year is 

1996, enter TOW.96, and the text is appended to what is already there. 

This method allows you quickly to mark and append parts of your 

input file to various archive files. Press ESC to return to the file list when 

through. If you press D, LIST asks if you really want to delete the file. 

Press Y, and IN.MBX is gone. However, you'd better use Eudora for 

deleting mail! 

LIST lets you find information stored in your archives (string 

search). What you find can be marked and copied to a work file. It can 

also be set to invoke an editor or a word processor for the selected file. 

Reuse data on your hard disk 

Over time your personal archives will grow in size. You begin to experience the benefits 

of having all this information on your hard disk. Yesterday's news is today's history, and 

may be used in interesting ways. 

One business executive regularly monitors key technologies, customers, 

competitors, and suppliers. He does it by tapping sources like Kompass, Associated 

Press, and Reuters. Interesting bits of information are regularly stored on his disk. 

Tomorrow, there is an important meeting with a major customer. First, a quick 

search through the personal customer database to be reminded of important events since 

the last meeting. An unfamiliar person is also going to be present. Maybe there is some 

background information, for example about a recent promotion. 

Next, a quick check on major competitors. Maybe they are up to something that he 

needs to know about. 

With efficient tools for searching your hard disk, finding information takes only a 

few seconds. If you are still left with questions, go online to complement. 

Several modern email programs have built in search features that can do more than 

5 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48


search invidually named files (as in mailboxes) or messages. On MS DOS/Windows 

computers, you can search your files with WordPerfect, Word, LIST, the DOS utility 

FIND, and a long list of other programs. 

Personally, I prefer programs that let me search for more than one word at the 

time, like in HYDRO AND PETROCHEMICAL AND CONTRACT, or EXXON OR 

MOBIL. 

MY FAVORITE Windows 95/98 search program is AltaVista Discovery. 

Not only does it let me perform complex searches through my megabytes 

of in and outgoing email messages, it also lets me search my local web 

pages (including those in my cache), Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, 

and more. 

MY FAVORITE MS DOS search utility is the Lookfor shareware 

program. It is small, fast, and is superior for searches in text files. You can 

store your finds in work files, or print them out on paper. LOOKFOR is 

not an indexing program. It is ready to search anywhere, anytime. 

Discipline and organization is required to get the most out of your file archives. You 

must decide what to do with each piece of information: Should it be printed out and be 

read in front of the fireplace in the evening, or should it be circulated? Should it be 

stored on your disk, or be refined before storage? 

Use standard file names that are easy to remember. If not, risk having to view files 

to find out what they contain. 

It may take longer to find a piece of information in a casual file on a large disk, 

than look up a piece of information on paper in your inbox. Therefore, finish handling 

your capture file while you read it on your screen: 

Send the pieces to their final destination. Make immediate transfers to TO DO 

files. Give the original file a name that makes it easier to move later. Have a procedure 

that prevents duplication of effort. 

With Eudora, simply transfer messages requiring action to a mailbox named 

TO DO. When the task is completed, you can transfer the letter to its final destination. 

Desinformation, deception and errors 

Always use several sources of information! There are people out there writing to lead 

you astray, in articles, forum postings, private emails, and web pages. 

In early 1999, a bogus Bloomberg News story claimed that ECI Telecom Ltd. in 

Israel was about to purchase PairGain Technologies in the US. The story mimicked the 

look of Bloomberg's World Wide Web site in order to pass it off as the real thing. Many 

believed it to be true, and the "news" promptly drove the value of PairGain's shares up 

to US$200 million. 

PairGain's stock price rose by as much as 32 percent, before Bloomberg announced 

that the story was fake, and PairGain denied any knowledge of the deal. 

Often, rumors start with a private message mentioning a theory or a suspicion. 

After having been copied, and copied again, it can get more exposure than you get at a 

broadcast station, and some will even start considering it as "truth." 

If you want to learn more about the "truths of the net," visit the Urban Legends 

page. The alt.folklore.urban newsgroup is devoted to the discussion and debunking of 

urban legends and related issues. NewsWatch is another interesting place to visit. It is 

operated by The Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonpartisan research 

organization that conducts scientific analyses of the media. They promise to "tell you 

when [news is] accurate, when it's wrong, and why." 

Without clear, convincing evidence to appease doubting minds, conspiracy theories 

abound, sometimes with good cause, frequently with little substance. 

Stock promoters and con artists have spread rumors to pump up a stock's price and 

generate quick profits at the expense of gullible investors. The Internet is a place where 

investors should be wary of stock scams. 

Desinformation hurts everybody and comes from all sides. Even famous news 

agencies, like Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France Presse, regularly stumble. 

Most news is written by journalists reporting what they have seen, read or heard. 

6 of 7 23.11.2009 15:48


Their interpretation of the situation may be wrong. Supplement your news with what 

knowledgeable people say (by email or in conferences), when knowing the facts is 

important. 

Another hint: Errors will occasionally be discovered and reported by the news 

sources, but always after the fact. Always store these reports in your archives, and make 

it a rule to search to the end when looking for something. Otherwise, you may never 

discover the corrections. 

Links for warnings and more information: 

http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACChainLetters.html 

http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html 

http://www.kumite.com/myths/ 

http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/ 

You're also using search engines to find information on the net. When you do, remember 

that anyone can become a publisher. All they need is a web connection, server space, 

and something to say or share. Once the content goes onto a server and once a crawler 

finds it, the search engines will make it available to everyone. So, ask yourself where 

this information is coming from and why it is being placed online. the reputation and 

background of the site creator, their qualifications. 

How do we evaluate the quality of net information? For an introduction, take a 

look at the Information Quality on The Internet SDJH

You pay little for a lot! http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/15.html 


Chapter 15: 

You pay little for a lot! 


&DOFXODWLQJ FRVWV 

When you pay by the minute 

Example: World Wide Web 

Items to consider 

Pauses, delays and bottlenecks 

Planning and self discipline pays off 

Modem speed and cost 

More practical hints 

Calculating costs 

Some years ago, a person living in Norway could read up to twenty six pages of news 

from Associated Press (the US) and Financial Times (England) for about US$0.38. At 

the time, this was very cheap. 

The trick was to dial long distance to a 9600 bps node in Sweden when the 

telephone company and CompuServe's non prime time rates were in effect. 9600 bps 

gave transfers at up to 960 characters of text per second. One page of text (size A4) held 

around 2200 characters. A typical news story had one to two pages of text. 

Reading exactly the same news through another network or service would cost 300 

percent more. Through yet another online service, the cost would double again. 

A full issue of the Newsbytes newsletter was at around 150,000 characters, or 68 

pages of text. Retrieving it from a local BBS used to cost me around 29 cents. Retrieving 

it from CompuServe set me back 500 percent more. On old NewsNet, at 2400 bps 

through Datapak, the cost increased by another US$30.00. 

The time of day was important. Some services had different rates for access during 

the day, the evening, and the weekend. Also, it would take much longer when network 

traffic was high, resulting in an increased cost per page received. 

Today, these costs are indeed much lower for many! 

The online news scene has changed considerably. Many users can read almost all 

the news they want for free via the Internet. The retrieval speeds are much higher. The 

number of sources for news is staggering. 

However, in some countries, reading news is still expensive. Users pay big money 

for accessing the Internet, using the phone for communications, and buying modems. 

In many places, getting connected to the Internet at high speed is limited, or 

outright impossible. Low capacity links connects the local Internet providers to the 

global Internet. The result is further decreases in actual news retrieval speeds. 

1 of 6 23.11.2009 15:49


If you don't pay for retrieval of online information, then this chapter may not be for 

you. Otherwise, stay tuned. 

When you pay by the minute 

When using free bulletin boards, phone charges are often your only cost item. 

Calculating costs is easy. Often, you will be able to receive large amounts of data at a 

YHU\ ORZ FRVW


Web browser's local disk cache after having disconnected (or, by email after having 

mailing them back to yourself). 

Finally, we'll have to add time spent digesting the contents of the menu to make a 

choice of what articles to read. Use your stop watch to arrive at your estimate. 

If you on average spend 10 minutes per day on your news, and do it every 

weekday throughout the year, then you'll have spent over 43 hours at the end of the 

year. 

If you pay US$10/hour to access the Internet, then the cost amounts to US$430. 

Add the cost of connecting to the service by phone to get the total cost. 

Items to consider 

Retrieving information stored on your Internet access provider's hard disks will usually 

go much faster than getting it from any other disks on the network. 

The load and capacity on the pipes going from your access provider to other hosts 

on the Internet will probably vary considerably, even within your own country, 

depending on the time of day and day of the week. Therefore, when speed is a concern, 

VRPH XVHUV PDLQWDLQ XVHU QDPHV ZLWK VHYHUDO ,63V 

Personally, I have accounts on three Norwegian ISPs, plus on CompuServe in the 

United States. I connect to the latter by making a long distance call to Oslo in Norway. 

Whenever the links from my local ISPs to Web servers in North America are 

clogged, going through CompuServe typically gives much faster retrieval. In one recent 

case, the local providers gave me the data at around 10 cps. Going through CompuServe, 

I realized over 1000 bps! This more than made up for the extra cost of calling long 

distance. 

Pauses, delays and bottlenecks 

Beware of pauses and delays in your transfers. They can be caused by you or others, 

and may have a dramatic impact. It is particularly important to take this into account 

when comparing alternatives using different networks. 

Let me explain using an old, but relevant example: Years ago, transfers to TWICS 

via Datapak at 9600 bps rarely gave me higher effective speeds than 100 cps. The 

reason was that the connection between the Japanese telcom network and TWICS went 

through a 1200 bps gateway. So, regardless of my network speed, it was impossible to 

achieve more than 120 cps. 

This is why a high speed connection to your data transporter's network does not 

guarantee a high speed connection to the remote computer. 

I used to go through Datapak at 9600 bps to a computer center in Oslo. There, I 

was connected through a local area network to the host computer. The effective speed 

was rarely higher than 4800 bps. Calling direct gave twice the speed. 

Today, I connect to a local Internet provider at up to 56,6 Kbps, but still data from 

some remote Web servers crawl towards me at speeds as low as 10 cps. Using an ISDN 

line would not give me the data noticeably faster. Bottlenecks en route from the source 

determine the effective speed. 

Try measure the effective transfer speed before selecting a routing for your data. 

Transfer the same amount of text through various networks. 

If future transfers are likely to take place at a given time of day, test at that time. If 

your planned application is retrieval of programs, retrieve programs. If you want to read 

news, read news from the services that you want to compare. 

When a network service charging for volume (like Datapak) is part of a 

comparison, measuring volume is particularly important. Do not assume to know the 

answer in advance. 

Always calculate the cost based on a fixed volume, like for transfer of 

1000 characters. This is particularly important when you must use 

different modem speeds to access competing services! 

Network load varies considerably throughout the day depending on the number of 

3 of 6 23.11.2009 15:49


simultaneous users, and their applications. This also applies to online services. The load 

is normally lowest, when most users are asleep, and during weekends. When the load is 

low, you get more done per minute. 

Planning and self discipline pays off 

The actual cost of using a given set of services depends much on your self discipline, the 

tools you use, and on how well prepared you are: 

If accessing manually, use "quick" commands rather than menus to move at 

maximum speed to desired sources of information. 

On the Web, let your browser's bookmark feature take you directly to the desired 

page rather than navigating down the tree from a home page. 

Do not set your services to be used with colors, sound, or special methods for 

displaying graphics, unless you have no choice, or are willing to pay the extra 

cost. They increase the volume of transferred text, and lower effective speed. 

Experienced Web users disable receipt of images to reduce the volume of data. 

Later, all it takes is to click at "Reload Images" to get images you absolutely want 

to see. 

If your primary interest in the Web is text, then test out Lynx, if available on your 

ISP's host (see Appendix 6). No windows based graphical browser can match its 

speed. 

Get the information you want and disconnect. It is often unnecessary to read 

while online. Log off to read. If cost is high, call back for more to read, 

disconnect, and then call back again. 

Most popular Web browsers store received pages and images temporarily in a 

cache on your hard disk. For example, Netscape stores them in the default 

\NETSCAPE\CACHE directory. Make sure that your browser uses its cache. It 

may increase speed considerably! 

Internet's shareware libraries have many tools designed to let you read and use the 

cached Web pages after your online visit. Look for programs with names like 

Cache Master and WebSaver. 

Learn how to write your mail offline, and send letters "in a batch" to your 

mailbox. In addition to the time and cost benefits, your messages are likely to 

contain fewer typing errors, and be better thought out. 

Consider automating your communication (see Chapter 16). I use a local BBS this 

way. A while ago, it gave me the following progress report: "Time on: 17 hrs 43 

min, today 0 hrs 0 min, total 827 times." In average, I spend around 1.3 minutes 

per call. The other day, I was connected for 2:48 minutes. The result was 106 

kilobytes' worth of conference mail. 

Modem speed and cost 

2400 bps is a sensible modem speed for some applications, and used to be a good 

starting point for new onliners. The benefits of using a faster modem may be marginal 

when 

navigating your favorite service considerably reduces the effective speed, and you 

access the service manually. 

you pay considerably more for access at higher speed. 

the relative price of a faster modem in your country is prohibitive. 

your network does not offer higher speeds. 

On the other hand, a modem doing 14400 bps or more, will give you at least six times 

faster communication. For some applications, this means much lower costs. Also, if 

doing things faster is more important than keeping costs down, then it is a wise 

investment. 

If you plan to use the World Wide Web with a graphical browser, then 

4 of 6 23.11.2009 15:49


anything slower than 14.400 bits/s will be too slow. You can technically do 

things with a slower speed, but it is frustrating. 

Your applications have a considerable impact on your costs. If you mainly use your 

modem for retrieval of programs and large data files from bulletin boards and do not 

have to pay extra for volume then higher modem speeds will immediately give reduced 

costs. 

A slower speed modem may also stop you from getting what you want. For 

example, there are several shareware programs on my board that users of 2400 bps 

modems are unable to download within their allotted 30 minutes per day. 

When you pay for volume 

Some network services have high rates for volume, and very low rates for connect time. 

When using such services, automatic communication becomes less useful. Rather than 

connecting, getting a piece of information, disconnecting, and then going back for more, 

you may find it cost efficient to review menus and results while online. 

When paying for volume, or per minute connected, the online service's menus 

become luxury items. Using quick commands for navigating is cheaper. The best is to 

use a program for fully automatic access. 

Your comparisons will never be accurate when comparing with services charging 

for connect time. It is particularly difficult when the measure of volume is 'packets' 

UDWKHU WKDQ QXPEHU RI FKDUDFWHUV WUDQVIHUUHG 

For example, Datapak used to report my sessions like this: 

CLR PAD (00) 00:00:14:55 537 75 

These numbers told that I had been connected to a service for 14 minutes and 55 

seconds, 537 data 'packets' had been received, and 75 had been sent. Use these figures 

to calculate the cost of the call. 

One data 'packet' or segment contains up to 64 characters. Think of it as a 

measure of the number of lines. Each line can have a maximum of 64 

characters. If you send the character A and a carriage return, then this 

also counts as a segment. So, it is hard to use the Datapak record to 

estimate the real number of characters transferred. All we know is that 

537 + 75 segments were transferred, and that 612 segments may contain 

up to 39,168 characters. 

When calculating the cost of a direct call in connect charges, just the number of minutes 

counts. Use the time reported by the online service, and not your stop watch. 

CompuServe used to give this type of report: 


Off at 10:11 EST 24 Nov 92 


Set your software to store all incoming information, and use this to find how much data 

you receive. Run the test several times, and use averages when making your estimates. 

It is easy to compare services that only charge by the minute. 

More practical hints 

It may be more expensive to call a service daily "to check the news," than to call it once 

per week to retrieve the same stories, if this feature is available. 

Navigating by menus is more expensive than going directly to a source, or going 

there by stacking commands (that is, combining quick commands into one). 

Some services let you read selective items in conferences by entering a search 

string. On RBBS PC systems, the following comman 

5 of 6 23.11.2009 15:49


r extended 100+ c 

used to let you read all messages containing the search string 'extended' in the body of 

text, starting with message number 100. 

If you forget the "c" parameter, the flow will stop after each message. This will 

reduce the average effective speed. Always use "nonstop" commands when reading 

stories, conference items, and other texts. 

Now, read Chapter 16. 


Search: 





6 of 6 23.11.2009 15:49

Automatic communication http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/16.html 


Chapter 16: 

Automatic communication 


We all have different needs 

The minimum solution 

Auto logon to the Internet 

Auto logon with Procomm 

Macros 

Automating the full task 

Alternative 1: Write your own system 

Alternative 2: Use scripts made by others 

Alternative 3: Special software 

Alternative 4: Offline readers 

Automatic automation 

Limitations 

Automatic data communication as a development strategy. 

To get a lead on your competitors. 

To avoid duplication of effort. 

To reduce costs. 

To reduce boring and repetitive work. 

To avoid having to remember technical details. 

Automatic communication is both for professionals and amateurs. It helps keep your 

costs down. Also, it lets you do the job faster and safer. Sometimes, it is the only way to 

get the job done. 

We all have different needs 

Automation will never be the same for everybody. Our needs are too different. 

Some get excited when a program can dial a bulletin board, retrieve a program, and 

then disconnect without having to touch the keyboard. 

Some want an "answering machine" that can respond to and forward email when 

he or she is away from the office. 

Others want a communications system that can tap selected news sources, search 

databases, and do post processing on the retrieved material. 

For most professionals, doing things manually takes too much time. Time is better 

spent reading, digesting, and using, rather than on stupid technical retrieval work. 

Computers can do that. 

To others again, automation is a question of being able to use the online resource at 

all. If it takes 60 seconds to get a piece of information, it may be possible to get before 

running for the next meeting. 

However, if it takes 15 minutes, there may not be enough time. If you must also 

read a help text to find out how to do it, you may not even consider doing it. Your mind 

is so full of other things right now. 

When using a system for automatic communication, you do not have to 

1 of 9 23.11.2009 15:49


learn and remember online commands. The system will do it for you. 

The minimum solution 

Automatic data communication in its simplest form entails the following: 

One keystroke to get the communications program to dial a number, and send user 

name/password when the online service requests this information. 

Macro commands (like in a word processor) for navigating through an online 

service, searching, and to send complex commands by pressing one key. 

Most communication programs have a macro language or a script language. There are 

also macro programs designed to be used with Microsoft Windows. In many instances, 

users are taking advantage of these features without even knowing it. This is the case for 

many of those connecting to the Internet with a simple mouse click. 

If this has not been done for you, then you will probably never regret time spent on 

learning how to use these features. At a minimum, you should be able to have your 

system log on automatically to your favorite service provider. 

Autologon spares you the task of remembering your user name and password. 

Besides, most people are only able to use the keyboard at a low speed. They easily get 

frustrated by having to correct typing errors. 

Auto logon to the Internet 

Trumpet Winsock is a popular program used to set up a TCP/IP protocol connection 

with the Internet. It can dial up an Internet access provider, logon, and set up a SLIP, 

PPP, or a pseudo SLIP connection to the net using SLiRP or The Internet Adapter 

(TIA). 

You can use Trumpet by entering commands manually, but most users prefer to let 

the program do it for them. This is achieved by having all commands in a file called 

LOGIN.CMD. Trumpet reads this file when you click on Dialer, Login, and then logon 

to your service as instructed. 

We call LOGIN.CMD a script file. It is a text file that can contain a list of 

commands for dialing and navigating on an online service. You can write and edit it 

using Windows Notepad, DOS EDIT, or another utility that allows you to save the file as 

DOS or ASCII text. (Most popular script languages have the same requirement.) 

Trumpet's scripts can contain commands that test for the occurrence of small 

pieces of information sent by the access provider at given times (like the prompt 

"Password?"). 

When this information is found, Trumpet can be set to send the proper response or 

command (in this case, your secret password). 

Let us look at a typical Trumpet LOGON.CMD file. Comments are written in lines 

above the given commands preceded with a #. 

# The output command tells Trumpet to send text to 

# the modem, in this case "ATZ" to reset the modem. 

# The "\13" refers to ascii character number 13 

# (Return). The effect is the same as if you were 

# typing ATZ followed by a press on the Return 

# key. 

output atz\13 

# The input command tells Trumpet to wait for the 

# preceding string, here for "OK" followed by "\n" 

# (short hand for \10, the Line Feed character). 

input 10 OK\n 

7KH QH[W RXWSXW FRPPDQG VHQGV D PRGHP VHWXS 

# string. Note that this string is particular to 

# my modem. You may well need other commands. 

# Also, note that the "\" character has a special 

# function in Trumpet. Therefore, AT commands like 

2 of 9 23.11.2009 15:49


# "AT\N5" must be written as "AT\\N5". 

output at&C1&d2\\V2\\N5W1S9=12S11=50\\K3\\Q2 &S1\13 

# Waiting for another "OK" from the modem. 

input 10 OK\n 

# Sending autodial command and phone number to the 

# modem 

output atdt,22568862\13 

# Waiting for the "CONNECT" report from the modem 

# when a connection with the remote modem has been 

# set up. 

input 50 CONNECT 

# Wait until it's safe to continue sending. Some 

# modem's hang up if you transmit characters 

# during a connect set to monitor the carrier 

# signal detector (DCD). 

wait 30 dcd 

# Now, prod the remote terminal server by sending 

# a Return 

output \13 

# Wait for the username prompt ('login:'). 

input 30 login: 

(QWHU \RXU XVHUQDPH ,Q WKLV H[DPSOH WKH XVHU 

# name is 'Presno'. 

output Presno\13 

# Wait for the password prompt 

input 30 sword: 

# Enter the secret password. In this example the 

# password is "secret" 

output secret\13 

# we are now logged in 

I use this script to dial a PPP server. When Trumpet signals "PPP ENABLED," I can 

open Netscape for the World Wide Web, WinVN for reading news, or Pegasus for mail. 

Trumpet uses a variant of this script when calling in to a Unix host to use SLiRP (or 

The Internet Adapter). In these applications, it waits for the host's prompt (@gaia%) 

before starting the SLiRP application to get PPP (or SLIP). This is achieved by adding 

the following commands after "# we are now logged in" above. 

# The @ and % characters are rather unique, so 

# instead of 'input 30 \64gaia\37', I just use 

input 50 \37 

# Finally, the pseudo SLIP startup command 

output slirp P\13 

input 20 SLiRP Ready ... 

Trumpet signals "PPP ENABLED," and I am ready to go. 

Auto logon with Procomm 

3 of 9 23.11.2009 15:49


Procomm is a general communications programs. Many other programs, like Qmodem 

and Telix, have equivalent capabilities. 

When writing a script for auto logon to a new service, your first step is to list the 

commands that you believe required. Enter them in a text file (as DOS or ASCII text). 

Procomm, Qmodem and Telix let you list your favorite online services in a dialing 

directory, and tie these entries to your scripts. Press a key to start the appropriate script 

file for automatic access to a service. 

This simple PROCOMM script used to work for to access my now defunct bulletin 

board in Norway. It assumes that your name is Jens Mikkelsen, and that the secret 

password is FOXCROOK4. You'll have to change this before testing. 

; 

;Script file for auto logon to SHS 

; 

WAITFOR "our FIRST Name? " 

PAUSE 1 

TRANSMIT "Jens^M" 

WAITFOR "our LAST Name? " 

PAUSE 1 

TRANSMIT "Mikkelsen^M" 

WAITFOR "ots will echo)? " 

PAUSE 1 

TRANSMIT "foxcrook4^M" 

WAITFOR "^JMore (Y),N,NS? " 

PAUSE 1 

TRANSMIT "n^M" 

WAITFOR "^JMore (Y),N,NS? " 

PAUSE 1 

TRANSMIT "n^M" 

WAITFOR "R] to Continue? " 

PAUSE 1 

TRANSMIT "^M" 

The commands are different from Trumpet, but easy to understand. Here is an 

explanation: 

the ";" character at the beginning of a line identifies it as a comment line. 

Procomm is to ignore it. We use such lines for notes. 

WAITFOR "our FIRST Name? " has Procomm wait for the text string "our FIRST 

NAME?." It is a part of the question "What is your first name?" 

PAUSE 1 halts the execution of the script file for one second. 

TRANSMIT "Jens^M" sends the name "Jens" followed by a RETURN (the code ^M 

in Procomm). 

WAITFOR "our LAST Name? " makes Procomm wait for the question "What is 

your LAST Name?" 

The script continues like this. In WAITFOR commands, we use part of the text that is 

displayed on our screen once the scrolling stops. 

Make sure that the search term is unique. It must not appear elsewhere in the text 

coming from the host computer. If it does, your name and password may be sent too 

early. 

You can call the script HORROR.CMD, and attach it to the entry for my board in 

your Procomm phone directory. When you call it the next time, Procomm will execute 

the commands in the file and "turn the keyboard over to you" when done. 

Macros 

$ERYH ZH XVHG D VFULSW WR ORJ RQ DXWRPDWLFDOO\ WR D VHUYLFH :KHQ 3URFRPP JLYHV XV 

access to the keyboard again, we must continue manually. 

What we want to do online varies. Sometimes, we want to read new messages in 

conferences. In other cases, the purpose is to check new programs in the file library. If 

we find programs of interest, we may want to download them. 

Shorthand macros can help you do this faster and safer. For example, one macro 

can take you quickly to a conference for new messages. You can make Procomm start 

4 of 9 23.11.2009 15:49


this macro whenever you press ALT 0 (keep the ALT key down, then press 0). 

You can have the macro key ALT 1 send other commands when in the file 

archives. 

When I started using MS DOS computers for data communications, PC TALK 

became my favorite program. It has many of the same macro capabilities that Procomm 

has. 

With PC TALK, I did autologon to the now defunct NewsNet service. Macro 

number one sent commands that gave me the contents of various newsletters. Macro #2 

picked up the contents in another group. Macro #3 picked up stories from my mailbox, 

and macro #4 logged me off the service. My mission was completed by pressing four or 

five keys. 

The bookmark files of Netscape's Navigator and Microsoft Explorer are also nice 

macro features. 

Automating the full task 

It's a long way from automated logon scripts and the use of macros to full automation. 

The major difference is that with full automation, you do not have to look at the screen 

while the script is working. You can do other things. Sometimes, you may not even be 

present when the job is being done. 

On a typical morning in my house, I go directly from bed to my office to switch my 

communications computer on. 

While I visit the bathroom, my communications program calls two Internet service 

providers to retrieve and send information. 

When the script has disconnected, it analyzes the received data. I want important 

mail highlighted. Some information is to be automatically appended to storage files. 

Retrieved news menus are to be analyzed to see if there are any articles that I want to 

read (compared with a set of keywords). "Spam" messages (unsolicited advertisements) 

are to be deleted automatically, etc. 

Sometimes, the unexpected happen. There may be noise on the phone line, or a 

sudden disconnect. Usually, my script can solve this without manual intervention. It is 

therefore allowed to work unattended most of the time. 

When I get to my office after breakfast, it is all done. My communications program 

is set for reading and responding to today's email. I can sit down, and immediately get to 

work. 

After having written all my replies, I say "send" to my system. For me, it's time for 

another cup of coffee. I am not needed by the keyboard while mail is being sent. 

This is what an automatic communications system can do. My scripts also help plan 

and prepare online visits, and ease my work by postprocessing results. 

When your communication is fully automated, you need not read incoming 

data while it scrolls over your screen, and then again after logging off the 

service. You do it only once. 

How to get it? Here are some alternatives: 

Alternative 1: Write your own system 

You can write procedures for powerful script driven programs like ProYam (from Omen 

Technology) and Crosstalk MK IV for DOS. 

I started writing scripts for ProYam way back in 1985. The system is constantly 

expanded to include new services, refined to include more functions, and enhanced to 

become more robust. 

My system work like an autopilot. It calls online services, navigates, retrieves, 

sends data, and logs off. 

Postprocessing includes automatic reformatting of retrieved data, transfers to 

various internal databases, statistics, usage logs, and calculation of transfer costs. 

Such scripts can do quite complex operations online. For example, it can 

5 of 9 23.11.2009 15:49


Buy and sell stock when today's quotes are over/under given limits, 

Select news stories and other types of information based on information found in 

menus or titles. 

Script writing is not for everybody. It is complicated, and takes a lot of time, so it may 

not be for you. 

On the other hand, those going for it seldom regret, and you may find systems 

offered by others that you automate more of your work. Tailor made communication 

scripts give a wonderful flexibility. The software does not cost much, but it sure takes a 

lot of time! 

Hints for script writers: 

Do not use large and complex script files before you know the online 

service well. The scripts let you do things quicker and safer, but there is 

always a possibility for unexpected problems. 

Test your scripts for a long time to make them robust by "training" 

them to handle the unexpected. Leave them to work unattended when you 

are reasonably certain that they can do the job. It may take months or 

years to get to that point. 

Build a timeout feature into your scripts, so they do not just hang 

there waiting for you after a meeting with fate. 

Alternative 2: Use scripts made by others 

Some script authors generously let others use their creations. Earle Robinson of 

CompuServe's European Forum, share his ProYam scripts for automatic usage of 

CompuServe with others. They are available from the PC Communications Forum 

library (GO PCCOM). 

Enter GO XTALK on CompuServe to find advanced script files for Crosstalk 

Mk.4. 

=&200 DQG 3UR


commands. This MS DOS program helps users set up detailed search commands before 

logging on to the LEXIS NEXIS service. Your search results will be downloaded 

automatically. 

Alternative 4: Offline readers 

The alternatives above have one important weakness. Noise on the line can prevent the 

"robot" from doing the job. All it takes is for noise to give a prompt another content than 

is expected by your program or script (as in "En@er a number:" instead of "Enter a 

number:"). 

You can avoid noise problems by using grab or get commands (Chapter 12), and by 

making the online service use its minimum prompts ('expert mode') . Still, this does not 

give full protection. 

The best is to let the online service do the navigation. Think of it as logging on to 

run a batch file on the remote computer. Combine this with automatic transfers of your 

commands, sent in of one stream of data with automatic error correction (in the software 

and in the modem), and you have a very robust system. 

The program logs on to the service. Then the service takes over. It registers your 

user identity, checks your user profile for personal interests, retrieves and packs all 

messages, news and files into one compressed file, and sends it to you at high speed. 

Your outgoing messages, search commands, commands to join or leave 

conferences, and more, are transferred to the remote computer in a similar packet 

(compressed file). 

When received by the remote computer, it unpacks the transfer file and distributes 

messages and commands to various services following your instructions. 

Your "physical" contact with the service is when your modem is disconnected. The 

help menus that you read belong to your program, and not the online service. You read 

and respond to mail in a reading module (ref. the term "offline reader"). 

Some offline readers give the caller access to more tools than is available on the 

online service itself. They may have spelling checkers, multimedia support, let you use 

your favorite editor or word processor, and offer various storage, search, and printing 

options. 

They may let you sort incoming conference mail by "threads," and permit you to 

place obnoxious writers on a "kill" list. 

Using offline readers is probably the easiest, cheapest, and safest way of using 

online services. You even risk writing more concise and thoughtful messages. The 

"readers" are popular among bulletin board users, and some commercial services are 

also starting to accommodate them. 

There are many offline reader programs. The most advanced take over completely 

upon logon, and manage transfers of commands and compressed information files to and 

from the host. (Example: Binkley Term on FidoNet) 

Global Link is an offline reader for EcoNet. Bergen By Byte offers the BBS/CS 

Mail Grabber/Reader, a script system used with the communications program Telix and 

the service's "auto get" function. 

NUPOP (MS DOS), Eudora for Windows (Windows and Macintosh), and 

WinQVT/Net (Windows) are offline readers for use when calling Unix hosts. 

The most popular systems on the PCBoard based Thunderball Cave BBS are 

Offline Express, Megareader, Session Manager, Rose Reader and EZReader. Freddie is 

a reader for Macintosh. 

These readers are used with scripts written for various communication programs. 

Some of them have built in communications (and script) modules. 

EZReader from Thumper Technologies (P.O. Box 471346, Tulsa, OK 74147 1346, 

U.S.A.) lets users retrieve mail from several online systems using transfer formats such 

as QWK, PCBoard capture files, ProDoor ZIPM files, XRS, MCI Mail, and others. 

1stReader from Sparkware (Post Office Box 386, Hendersonville, Tennessee 

37077, U.S.A.) is my personal favorite for accessing Qmail based online systems. 

Note: Some offline readers contain all the features required for fully 

automated communications. Some bulletin boards allow up and 

downloading to start right after CONNECT. 

7 of 9 23.11.2009 15:49


Off Line Xpress, an offline mail reader for QWK (Qwikmail) packets, 

does not contain a communications module. It just does pre and 

postprocessing of mail packets. 

You can use the Off Line Xpress as one element in a larger 

automated system. For example, a system for access to PCBoard bulletin 

boards may consist of Off Line Xpress software, PKZIP and PKUNZIP 

(popular shareware programs to compress/decompress mail packets), the 

QMODEM communications program, and a script to navigate to/from the 

QWK packet send and receive area on the BBS. 

1stReader contains a powerful script based communications module. 

It let you compose replies, set search commands, subscriptions to services, 

add and drop conferences, and enter download commands offline. 

Automatic automation 

We have explained how to write scripts with Procomm. However, there are simpler and 

quicker ways. Many communications programs can make scripts automatically using a 

learning function. It goes like this: 

Start the learning function before calling the online service. Then log on, navigate 

to the desired services, do what you want to automate, and disconnect. 

The learning feature analyzes the received data and builds a script file for 

automatic communication. 

If you call again with the new script, it will "drive the same route one more time." 

ZCOMM and ProYam have a learning feature. This is how I made a script for 

accessing Semaforum BBS using ZCOMM: 

ZCOMM asked for a phone number. I entered +47 370 11710. It asked for 

speed, and I entered 14400 bps. Next, I had to choose one of the following: 

(1) System uses IBM PC (ANSI) line drawing 

(2) 7 bits even parity 

(3) 8 bits no parity 

My choice was 1. 

ZCOMM dialed the number. When the connection was set up, I 

entered my name and password, navigated to the message section, read 

new messages, browsed new files in the library, and entered G for 

Goodbye. This was the "tour" that I wanted to automate. 

When disconnected, I pressed the F1 key. This prompted the learning 

process based on a record of the online tour. The log described everything 

that had happened in detail, including my pauses to think. Now I was 

prompted by the following question: 

'newscr.t' exists. Append/replace/quit? 

I selected append. Then: 

Do you want this script file as a new entry in your 

telephone directory (y/n)? 

I entered "y," and named it "semaforum." After a few seconds, my new script 

was ready: 

Your new script is in the file 'newscr.t' !! You can append the file 

to your current script file (for example PHODIR.T) or have the 

commands executed by entering: 

call semaforum.newscr.t 

It was time to test the new wonder. I entered 

call semaforum.newscr.t 

at the ZCOMM command line, hit the ENTER key, and off it went. 

ZCOMM called the BBS and repeated everything at far higher speed 

than I had done it manually. It went on hook as planned when done. 

8 of 9 23.11.2009 15:49


Limitations 

Auto learn programs can create a script file that let you "drive the same route." For 

some applications this is enough. For others, it's just part of the way. You have to refine 

the script manually to get what you want. 

Example: 

If you some bulletin boards with an auto learned script made yesterday, 

chances are that everything works well. If you call twice on the same day, 

however, you may be in for a surprise as the board may greet you 

differently on your second visit. If this is the case, then your script must 

take this into account. 

On most online services, many things can happen at each "junction of your road." At 

one point in one of my scripts, up to twenty things may happen. Each event needs its 

own "routing." 

Twenty possible events are an extreme, but three to four options at each system 

prompt is not unusual. All of them need to be handled by your script, if you want it to 

visit online services unattended while asleep. 

It is quicker and simpler to use other people's scripts and programs, although this 

might force you to use a different program for each service. 

Personally, I prefer offline readers on services where they can do the job. On other 

services, I usually depend on my own tailor made scripts. 


Search: 





9 of 9 23.11.2009 15:49

Gazing into the future http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/17.html 

Newspaper of the future 

Electronic news by radio 

Packet radio 

Cable TV 

The next generation dial up 

modem 


Chapter 17: 

Gazing into the future 

Thoughts about things to come. 


Satellite communications 

Electronic mail on the move 

The commercials go Internet 

Cheaper and better 

communications 

Wild dreams get real 

Newspaper of the future 

Rates 

Cheaper transfers of 

data 

Powerful new search 

tools 

Sources for future 

studies 

Years ago, Nicholas Negroponte of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that 

today's newspapers are old fashioned and soon to be replaced by electronic "ultra 

personal" newspapers. 

"If the purpose is to sell news," he said, then it must be completely wrong to sell 

newspapers. Personally, I think it is a dreadful way of receiving the news." 

MIT's Media Laboratory developed an electronic newspaper that delivered daily 

personalized news to each researcher. The newspaper was "written" by a computer that 

searched through news services' wires and other news sources according to each 

person's interest profile. 

The system could present the stories on paper or on screen. It could convert them 

to speech, so the "reader" could listen to the news in the car or the shower. 

In a tailor made electronic newspaper, personal news makes big headlines. If you 

are off for San Francisco tomorrow, the weather forecasts for this city makes the front 

page. Email from your son will also get there. 

"What counts in my newspaper is what I personally consider newsworthy," said 

Negroponte. 

He claimed the personal newspaper is a way of getting a grip on the information 

explosion. "We cannot do it the old way anymore. We need other agents that can do 

prereading for us. In this case, the computer happens to be our agent." 

Testing the concept 

1 of 8 23.11.2009 15:49


The first test version of The de Presno Daily News appeared in 1987. It did not convert 

news to sound. It did not appear like a newspaper page on my notebook's screen. Not 

because it was impossible at the time. I just did not feel the 'extras' were worth the 

effort. 

My personal interest profile was taken care of by scripts. If I wanted news, the 

"news processor" went to work and "printed" a new edition. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, 

and Saturdays, I got an "extended edition." 

This is a section from the first historical issue: 

"Front page," Thursday, November 21, 1987 

Under the headline "News From Tokyo," items like these: 

TOSHIBA TO MARKET INEXPENSIVE PORTABLE WORD PROCESSOR 

TOHOKU UNIVERSITY CONSTRUCTING SEMICONDUCTOR 

RESEARCH LAB 

TOSHIBA TO SUPPLY OFFICE EQUIPMENT TO OLIVETTI 

NISSAN DEVELOPS PAINT INSPECTION ROBOT 

MADE TO ORDER POCKET COMPUTER FROM CASIO 

The articles were captured from Kyoto News Service through Down 

Jones/News Retrieval. 

The column with news from the United States had stories from 

NEWSBYTES' newsletters. Hot News From England came from several 

sources, including The Financial Times and Reuters +HDGOLQHV UHDG 

THE CHRISTMAS SELLING WAR 

BIG MACS GOING CHEAP TO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS 

"Page 2" was dedicated to technology intelligence. "Page 3" had stories about 

telecommunications, mainly from Brainwave for NewsNet's newsletters. 

"Page 4" covered personal computer applications. 

Several years later 

The technology is here. We have services "pushing" filtered news to our desktops. We 

can subscribe to filtered news in many other ways. Anyone can design personal 

"newspapers" using powerful communication programs with extensive script features. 

My personal "newspaper" now works as follows: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

Daily, article menus are automatically retrieved from NewsLinx (Chapter 9), 

Individual.com, and two similar Norwegian services. Retrieval is done by a system 

build on use of the Agora Web by email services (Chapter 12). 

Upon receipt, my tailormade news system analyzes the menus, and suggests 

stories to read based on words or phrases found in the titles. Enter to read, 'n' to 

skip. Desired articles are automatically prepared for retrieval by Agora mail. Later 

that day, the articles arrive in my mailbox, and I can read them when I get time. 

Adding or deleting terms to search for in the menus is easy, and takes seconds. 

My system also analyzes my incoming electronic mail for interesting contents, 

including those coming from selected clipping systems (Chapter 11). Interesting 

finds are highlighted on screen, on my newspaper's front page if you like. 

News meta services, like NewsLink, individual, Riksagenten, and Nettvik, are here to 

stay. Then there is push. Expect more alternatives. 

Having news delivered to your mailbox or screen is the easy part of the equation. 

Selecting and reading is the difficult part. Most people do not have time to read the most 

interesting articles published each day. I do not even have time for the daily selection 

menus. Without automation, I'd be lost. 

Enabling Internet users to select articles automatically may well be the next 

important battle field. 

Some complain it is too difficult to read news on a computer screen. Maybe so, but 

pay attention to what is happening in notebook computers. This paragraph was written 

2 of 8 23.11.2009 15:49


on a small PC by the fireplace in my living room. The computer is not much larger or 

heavier than a book. 

(Sources for monitoring notebook trends: Newsbytes' IBM and Apple reports, Ziff 

Davis' ZD Net). 

An update of MIT Media Lab's thinking on "News in the Future" can be found at 

http://nif.www.media.mit.edu/. 

Electronic news by radio 

Radio technology is being used to deliver Usenet newsgroup to bulletin boards 

(example: PageSat Inc. in the US). Also, consider this: 

Businesses need a constant flow of news to remain competitive. NewsEdge 

markets a real time news service called NewsEdge Live. They call it "live news 

processing." It continuously collects news from hundreds of news wires, including 

sources like PR Newswire, Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, Dow Jones News 

Service, Dow Jones Professional Investor Report, Reuters Financial News. 

The stories are "packaged" and immediately feed to customers' personal 

computers, workstations and intranets by FM, satellite, X.25 broadcast, or the Internet: 

All news stories are integrated in a live news stream all day long, 

The software manages the simultaneous receipt of news from multiple services, 

and alerts users to stories that match their individual interest profiles. It also 

maintains a full text database of the most recent 250,000 stories on the user's 

server for quick searching. 

Packet radio 

Global amateur radio networks allow users to modem around the world, and even in 

outer space. Its users never get a telephone bill. They are specifically designed for email, 

and cannot be used to access interactive Internet services. 

There are hundreds of packet radio based bulletin boards (PBBS). They are 

interconnected by short wave radio, VHF, UHF, and satellite links. See 

http://www.wallycom.com/~wally/packet.html for information. Technology aside, they 

look and feel just like standard bulletin boards, and some of them also support TCP/IP, 

and have web pages. 

Once you have the equipment, can afford the electricity to power it up, and the 

time it takes to get a radio amateur license, communication itself is free. Typically, you'll 

need a radio (VHR tranceiver), antenna, cable for connecting the antenna to the radio, 

and a controller (TNC Terminal Node Controller). 

Most PBBS systems are connected to a network of packet radio based boards. 

Some amateurs use 1200 bps, but speeds of up to 56,000 bps are being used on higher 

frequencies. 

Hams are working on real time digitized voice communications, still frame (and 

even moving) graphics, and live multiplayer games. In some countries, there are 

gateways available to terrestrial public and commercial networks, such as Internet, and 

Usenet. Packet radio is proved as a possible technology for wireless extension of the 

Internet. 

Radio and satellites are being used to help countries in the Third World. 

Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA), a private, nonprofit organization, is one of 

those concerned with technology transfers in humanitarian aid to these countries. 

VITA's portable packet radio system was used for global email after a volcanic 

eruption in the Philippines in 1991. Today, the emphasis is on Africa. 

VITA's "space mailbox" passes over each single point of the earth twice every 25 

hours at an altitude of 800 kilometers. When the satellite is over a ground station, the 

station sends files and messages for storage in the satellite's computer memory and 

receives incoming mail. The cost of ground station operation is based on solar energy 

batteries, and therefore relatively cheap. 

To learn more about Vita's projects, subscribe to their mailing list by email to 

3 of 8 23.11.2009 15:49


listserv@auvm.american.edu. Use the command Sub DEVEL L . 

The American Radio Relay League (AARL) operates an Internet information 

service called the ARRL Information Server. For information, send email to 

info@arrl.org with the word HELP in the the text. 

The WWW server for Amateur Radio will give you easy access to the Frequently 

Asked Questions and more. There's another one at http://buarc.bradley.edu/. 

Cable TV 

Cable TV networks increasingly offer gateways into the Internet and other online 

services. One possible next step is for the cable TV networks to be interconnected not 

unlike the Internet itself. We'll see. 

Example: Continental Cablevision Inc. (U.S.A.) lets customers plug PCs and a 

special modem directly into its cable lines to link up with the Internet. The cable link 

bypasses local phone hookups and provides the capability to download whole books and 

other information at speeds up to 10 million bits per second. 

See http://www.teleport.com/~samc/cable1.html for more about Cable TV 

communications, try 

The next generation dial up modem 

New technologies with names like ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), VDSL 

(Very High Digital Subscriber Line), and HDSL, have quietly been sneaking up from 

behind. These modems can transmit data at speeds from 176 kbits/s to 52 Mbits/s, 

depending on line length. 

ASDL modems are connected to ordinary copper phone lines (2 wired), and will 

typically enable users to receive information at 6 mbits/s and up depending on the 

distance from the telephone exchange. Usually, they can only send at 176 to 640 kbits/s. 

This is enough for many applications, including video on demand. 

See http://www.adsl.com/ for background information, and supplement with a 

quick search using Alta Vista in Chapter 10. 

Satellite communications 

Hughes Network Systems (USA) markets DirecPC, a small satellite dish that picks up 

digital signals from the air on personal computers. Users can get news, sports, and stock 

information as part of a "basic access" content package. The basic service also includes 

a "Turbo Internet" application so subscribers can receive megabytes of Internet 

documents at high speeds of up to 24 Mbps. 

Globalstar is a wholesale provider of mobile and fixed satellite based telephony 

services for voice calls, Short Messaging Service (SMS), roaming, positioning, fax, and 

data communications via 48 low earth orbiting (LEO) satellites. As a wholesaler, 

Globalstar sells access to its system to regional and local telecom service providers 

around the world. It is due to start operations in the year 2000. 

Iridium went broke, and was reborn. In 2001, they offered data communications at 

a whapping 2,400 bps. Upgrade pacages promising 10 Kbps are on the horizon... 

Teledesic Corp. plans a network of 840 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites covering 

95 percent of the earth's surface by the year 2002. The idea is that we will have access 

to information from almost anywhere. With a small bit of hardware, By 2005, Teledesic 

will let you communicate at 16 Kbps duplex anywhere on the globe. With slightly bigger 

equipment, up to 2 Mbps. 

Bill Gates has invested heavily in Teledesic, so there might eventually be a 

Microsoft involvement. 

A consortium lead by Sky Station (USA) plans an international transmission system of 

balloons just 21 km over earth. In the year 2000, they will offer wireless, 1.5Mbps T1 

4 of 8 23.11.2009 15:49


links directly to computers. The transmissions can also be used for portable videophone 

and Web TV applications, according to the company. 

Satellite program producer Japan Image Communications Co. plans to start satellite 

broadcasts for home computers during 1997. Offerings will include economic news and 

game software on the Internet, using the JCSAT 3 communications satellite. 

Other interesting satellite projects on the horizon include Skybridge (Alcatel 

Espace, France), CyberStar (Loral Space & Communications, USA), Lockheed Martin's 

Astrolink, AT&T's Voicestar, and Motorola's Celestri and M Star. 

The biz.pagesat newsgroup on Usenet is "For discussion of the Pagesat Satellite 

Usenet Newsfeed." 

Electronic mail on the move 

For years, national telephone companies, backed by ITU TSS, Lotus, Novell, Microsoft 

and other software companies, pushed the X.400 email standard, while commercial 

online services like CompuServe, Dialcom, MCI Mail, GEIS, and Sprint promoted their 

own proprietary solutions. 

Nobody really cared much about the Internet, until it suddenly was there for 

everybody. It has changed the global email scene completely. 

In 1992, the president of the Internet Society made the following prediction: 

".. by the year 2000 the Internet will consist of some 100 million hosts, 3 

million networks, and 1 billion users (close to the current population of the 

People's Republic of China). Much of this growth will certainly come from 

commercial traffic." 

If this comes true, then proprietary email systems (like those built on X.400) will fade 

away and even possibly disappear. 

Watch the Internet Mail Consortium. Their focus is on "cooperatively managing 

and promoting the rapidly expanding world of electronic mail on the Internet." Also, 

watch the proliferation of free email for everybody RQ WKH ,QWHUQHW 

The commercials go Internet 

Daily, new databases and information services appear on the Internet. Most are free. 

World Wide Web, hypertext, and distributed text searching systems (like WAIS) make 

it easier than ever to find information. 

While this puts pressure on the old commercial services, it also creates new 

opportunities. Many have already opened shop on the Internet. Others focus on making 

it easier for users to connect directly from this global matrix of networks. Eventually, we 

may well find everybody there. 

Telebase Systems resells Dialog and other professional and business database 

information to individual consumers through services like IQuest. 

Their offering is a top level subject oriented menu system. Subscribers can use it 

interactively at http://www.telebase.com/. Pricing depends on the database being 

searched. It offers databases with primarily business information from well known 

sources, such as Standard & Poor's, Dun & Bradstreet, TRW Business Credit, 

magazines, newspapers, etc. 

Dun & Bradstreet is at the Web address http://www.dnb.com/. You will find 

Elsevier Science, the scientific communications branch of Reed Elsevier, at 

http://www.elsevier.nl/. 

Cheaper and better communications 

During Christmas 1987, a guru said that once the 9600 bps V.32 modems fell below the 

US$1,200 level, they would create a new standard. Today, such modems can be bought 

at prices lower than US$100. In several countries, 56 Kbs modems are emerging as the 

preferred choice in competition with even faster ISDN and cable modems. 

5 of 8 23.11.2009 15:49


Expect developments within data compression to have a further impact on the 

costs of global communications. 

Wild dreams get real 

ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Networks) already lets many users do several things 

simultaneously on the same telephone line. They can write and talk while using the same 

line for transfers of pictures, music, video, fax, voice and data. 

However, ISDN is just an intermediate step towards much faster speeds for 

everybody: Ordinary phone modems at 56 Kbps; 2 Mbps communication by satellite; 2 

Mbps by cable modem; up to 52 Mbps communication by ADSL. Increased transmission 

speeds are opening up for "a new world" of opportunities. Some of them are here 

already. 

Here are some key words about what increased speeds may give us: 

Teleconference with your mom on Mother's Day or send video email. 

Chats, with the option of having pictures of the people we are talking to up on our 

local screen (for example in a window, each time he or she is saying something). 

Eventually, we may get the pictures in 3 D. 

microWonders Inc. (Toronto, Canada) promotes Internet Global Phone (IGP), 

free software that provides two way voice communications over Internet 

connections. The program will run on any PC equipped with a SoundBlaster 

compatible sound card, speakers, and a microphone. The compression technology 

(GSM) makes real time voice connections practical over any common 

modem based Internet connection from 14.400 bits/s up. 

Fujitsu Cultural Technologies and CompuServe Information Service offer 

WorldsAway, a graphical 3 D chat environment where animated "avatars" 

interact in a virtual cocktail party. Each participant can control his or her avatar, 

making it walk across the room, sit down, etc., Conversation is depicted 

cartoon style in a balloon over the avatar's head. Characters can move, examine, 

exchange and sell objects online using tokens, and can even invite other 

characters to their own private residences for some one on one chat time. 

Database searches in text and pictures, with displays of both. 

Electronic transfers of video/movies over a standard telephone line. 

The "Internet Talk Radio" have delivered radio programs over the net for a long 

time. 

Paramount Pictures has a Web site dedicated to the motion picture Star Trek 

Generations. It offers a galaxy of unique Star Trek elements for retrieval, 

including pictures, sounds and a preview of the movie, in addition to behind 

the scenes information. 

Online amusement parks with group plays, creative offerings (drawing, painting, 

building of 3 D electronic sculptures), shopping (with "live" people presenting 

merchandise and good pictures of the offerings, test drives, etc.), casino (with real 

prizes), theater with live performance, online "dressing rooms" (submit a 2 D 

picture of yourself, and play with your looks), online car driving schools (drive a 

car through Tokyo or New York, or go on safari). 

WorldPlay Entertainment has played around with these ideas for quite some 

time. 

Your favorite books, old as new, available for on screen reading or searching in 

full text. Remember, many libraries have no room to store all the new books that 

they receive. Also, wear and tear tend to destroy paper based books over time. 

Many books are already available online, including this one. 

Instant access to hundreds of thousands of 'data cottages'. These are computers in 

private homes of people around the world set up for remote access. Technical 

advances in the art of transferring pictures will turn some cottages into tiny online 

"television stations." 

Before you know it, scientists will be able to collaborate with near TV quality 

video and sound connections. 

Find information about and navigate cities using three dimensional models 

(VRML) that are exact mirror like copies of their originals. Meet and interact with 

6 of 8 23.11.2009 15:49


citizens at virtual meeting points. View public areas in real time. Access cultural 

services online. Make purchases in shops. Conduct business with officials. Use toll 

or advertising financed entertainment services. Make PC and video phone calls. 

Visit amusement parks and casinos. Meet members of clubs and associations. See 

Virtual Helsinki 2000 for an example. 

These "wild" ideas are already around, but it will take time before they are generally 

available all over the globe. New networks need to be in place. Powerful 

communications equipment must be provided. 

We also see the contours of speech based electronic conferences with automatic 

translation to and from the participants' languages. Entries will be stored as text in a 

form that allows for advanced online searching. We may be able to choose between the 

following options: 

Use voice when entering messages, rather than typing them in through the 

keyboard. The ability to mix speech, text, sound and pictures (single frames or live 

pictures). 

Have messages delivered to you by voice, as text, or as a combination of these 

(like in a lecture with visual aids). 

Have text and voice converted to a basic text, which may in turn be converted to 

other languages, and be forwarded to its destination as text or voice depending on 

the recipients' preferences. 

Pointer: CompuServe's multilingual machine translation of its MacCIM Help Forum and 

World Community Forum messages. Every three minutes, English messages in the 

forums are translated into German, Spanish and French and German. Spanish and 

French messages are translated into English. 

Regardless of which language version of CompuServe a user has, the user may 

choose whether translated messages in the forums are received in English, German or 

French. 

Rates 

The Internet is pressing commercial service rates. There is a trend away from charging 

by the minute or hour. Many services convert to subscription prices, a fixed price by the 

month, quarter or year. 

Other services, among them some major database services, let users pay for what 

they get (no cure, no pay). MCI Mail was one of the first. There, you only pay when you 

send or read mail. On IQuest, you pay a fixed price for a fixed set of search results. 

Anyone who buys an Internet connection can in principle be a reseller of Internet 

access services. This presses the cost of Internet access towards cost. In turn, new 

technologies promise to reduce access providers' costs dramatically. They also promise 

to reduce the importance of a provider's geographical locations. The users win. 

Cheaper transfers of data 

Privatization of the national telephone monopolies has opened further for more 

alternatives. Possible scenarios: 

Free access to the Internet in exchange for receipt of advertisements. 

In 1998, several organizations began offering free Internett access in 

countries such as Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom. 

Major companies selling extra capacity from their own internal networks, 

Telecommunications companies exporting their services at extra low prices, 

Other pricing schemes (like a fixed amount per month with unlimited usage), 

New technology (direct transmitting satellites, FM, etc.) 

Increased global competition will press end users' communications costs down toward 

7 of 8 23.11.2009 15:49


the magic zero. 

Powerful new search tools 

As the amount of available information increases, the development of adequate finding 

tools is gaining momentum. Still, finding and using what we can get remains a major 

problem, and particularly on the Internet. 

Personal information agents, whether they be called "knowbots" or other things, 

will increasingly do a better job at scanning databases and other information offerings 

for specific information at a user's bidding. Gradually, this may make specialists' 

knowledge of what sources to use redundant. 

Search services will gradually cope better with the Internet's growth in Web pages 

and offerings, across language and cultural barriers, and offer indexes updated by the 

minute. 

Some of these features will be built into your local software or operations systems, 

while others will be services offered through the net. Some will exploit the hypertext 

concept, universal data linking, massive cross indexing of information, dynamic 

customization of your interactions to the various services, and more. 

Artificial intelligence will increase the value of searches, as they can be based on 

your personal searching history since your first day as a user. 

Your personal information agents will make automatic decisions about what is 

important and what is not in a query. When you get information back, it will even be 

ranked by what seems to be closest to your query. 

Sources for future studies 

Let's end this chapter with some online services and sources focusing on the future: 

Internet Surveys is a free monthly newsletter that digests the most important 

surveys and reports on the Internet. 

The European Commission publishes an "Information Society Trends" 

newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it by email . 

Usenet has the comp.society.futures newsgroup about "Events in technology 

affecting future computing." 

Dataquest, a U.S. market research firm, often offers interesting free texts. George 

Gilder's interesting views on the communications revolution and its implications for the 

future are at http://www.forbes.com/asap/gilder/. 

Why not complement what you find here by monitoring trends in associated areas 

(like music), to follow the development from different perspectives? 

It is tempting to add a list of conferences dedicated to science fiction, but I'll leave 

that pleasure to you. 

Have a nice trip! 


Search: 





8 of 8 23.11.2009 15:49

Selected online services http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/v1.html 

Agence France 

Presse 

America Online 

APC 

ASCII Net, Japan 

BITNET 

Brainwave for 

NewsNet 

BRS 

CDP Plus 

CGNET 

CIX (England) 

Clarinet 

CompuServe 

DATEX J 

Data Star 

Delphi 

Dialog 

DIMDI 

Dow Jones' 

Interactive 


Appendix 1: 

Selected online services 


ECHO 

Exec PC Network BBS 

FidoNet 

FT Profile 

GEnie 

GE Information Service Co. 

(GEIS) 

GENIOS 

GlasNet 

Global Access 

IASNET 

IBM Global Network 

i Com 

ILINK (Interlink) 

Infonet 

Internet 

Internet and The 

Matrix 

Istel 

Kompass 

MCI Mail 

Microsoft Network (MSN) 

LEXIS NEXIS 

MetaNet 

Minitel 

NEC PC VAN 

Netnews (see Usenet) 

Newsbytes News Network 

NewsNet (Brainwave for 

NewsNet) 

NIFTY Serve 

OCLC 

Pergamon Financial Data Services 

(see Orbit) 

Questel Orbit 

RelayNet 

Relcom 

Reuters Information Systems 

SprintMail 

STN International 

TWICS BeeLINE 

UMI/Data Courier 

Unison 

UUCP 

Usenet (User Network) 

The Well 

ZiffNet 

Making a list of online services is difficult. Daily, new services are born, while others 

disappear. Addresses and access numbers are constantly changing. Only one thing is 

certain: Some details given in this handbook will be outdated, when you read it. 

Agence France Presse 

America Online 

offers Internet access, the CNN Newsroom (Turner Educational Services), the National 

Geographic magazine, PC World and Macworld, tailor made graphical user interfaces 

for various types of personal computers, and more. It had over 17.6 million subscribers 

1 of 11 23.11.2009 15:49


by Deptember1999, plus the many using the services of their CompuServe subsidiary. 

APC 

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is a worldwide partnership of 

member networks for peace and environmental users with host computers in several 

countries around the world. The APC nets have full Internet access (except FTP). 

While all these services are fee based, they bring a wealth of information on 

environmental preservation, peace (including Greenpeace Press Releases), human rights, 

grant making foundations, Third World Resources, United Nations Information Service, 

Pesticide Information Service, and more. 

See Appendix 7 for more information. 

ASCII Net 

Japanese PC network for hobbyists. This online service had around 120,000 members in 

October 1996. Full Internet connectivity. 

BITNET 

"Because It's Time NETwork" started as a small network for IBM computers. In 

October 1994, BITNET encompassed 1,481 host computers by academic and research 

institutions all over the world. It had around 111,000 users (source: Matrix News 1995). 

Today, it is a dying network. 

All connected hosts form a worldwide network using the NJE (Network Job Entry) 

protocols and with a single list of nodes. There is no single worldwide BITNET 

administration. 

The European part of BITNET is called EARN (European Academic Research 

Network), while the Canadian is called NetNorth. In Japan the name is AsiaNet. 

BITNET also has connections to South America. Other parts of the network have names 

like CAREN, ANSP, SCARNET, CEARN, GULFNET, HARNET, ECUANET, and 

RUNCOL. 

BRS 

Bibliographic Retrieval Services . BRS/After Dark is a service for PC users. Has 

adatabases within research, business, news, and science. The service's strengths are 

medicine and health. 

CDP Plus 

Focuses on medical information. Offers databases mostly relating to biomedical fields. 

CGNET 

A network interconnecting a group of international research organizations. 

CIX (England) 

Compulink Information eXchange Ltd. (England) claims to be Europe's largest 

conferencing system. British online service available by telnet, PDN services and direct 

dial. Full Internet access. 

CIX (USA) 

2 of 11 23.11.2009 15:49


The Commercial Internet eXchange is a North American association of commercial 

Internet providers in which they agree to carry each others' packets of mail, and more. 

Clarinet 

A commercial supplier of wire services to Internet users: general, international, sports, 

technology, entertainment and financial news, plus special features and columns, press 

releases from major companies. Their stories are delivered by email, the web, and 

Usenet. The Usenet newsgroups for Clarinet begin with clari. (also called ClariNews). 

CompuServe 

has over 1,500 databases, 600 forums, 500 newspapers, online shopping from more than 

170 stores and entertainment. It's like a large electronic supermarket. It was sold to 

America Online in September 1997. 

The IQuest database service gives access to over 450 databases spanning the fields 

of business, government, research and news. Bibliographic and full text searches (check 

http://www.iquest.n2k.com/). 

Some IQuest databases are the property of other online services, like Brainwave 

for NewsNet, Dialog, and BRS, DataSolve (has TASS in the World Reporter database), 

Data Star, and Questel Orbit. However, it may be faster and cheaper to search them on 

CompuServe, than by directly contacting these services. 

Knowledge Index offers over 120 of Dialog's more popular full text and 

bibliographic databases, the full text of 33 major newspapers, scientific abstracts, 

reference sources, and more within 27 subject sections (1993). 

CompuServe can be accessed though local access numbers in over 100 countries. 

DATEX J 

A service of Deutsche Telekom (Germany) having around 800.000 subscribers (1995). 

Data Star 

In 1996, it offered over 400 databases from a broad scope of disciplines. Data Star is 

strong on pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology, and automotive industries. 

Delphi 

Dialog 

One of the first commercial dial up online services. In 1995, The DIALOG service 

offered over 450 online databases, covering almost every discipline. Besides significant 

science and technology databases, it also boasted a large collection of full text sources, 

plus a large collection of intellectual property files covering patents, trademarks, and 

copyrights. 

DIMDI 

&RPPHUFLDO VHUYLFH SURYLGLQJ *HUPDQ EXVLQHVV DQG ELRFKHPLFDO LQIRUPDWLRQ 

Dow Jones' Interactive 

covers around 5,500 business and financial information sources . This includes a mix of 

newspapers (96), newswires (42), market reports, and company financials. (1998). Their 

3 of 11 23.11.2009 15:49


Publications Library is a vast searchable database that includes all Dow Jones's 

publications. Also, DJI offers a comprehensive clipping service: continuous email 

notification of news items or articles or articles added to the Publications Library on 

topics and in publications selected by the user. 

Business portal. 

ECHO 

European Commission Host Organization. Its I'M GUIDE provides information about 

online services within the European Common Market. 

Exec PC Network BBS (U.S.A.) 

In January, 1995, it had over 300 incoming phone lines, and more than 650,000 files 

available for downloading (including the complete selection from PC SIG California). 

Over 200 conferences focusing on owners of IBM compatible computers (MS/PC DOS, 

Windows, OS/2, Windows, Unix), Apple Macintosh, Amiga and Atari ST. 

FidoNet 

is an amateur electronic mail network founded in 1984 for automatic transfers of files 

from one place to the other at night, when the telephone rates are low. FidoNet are in 

countries all over the world, and consists mainly of personal computers (IBM/Amiga 

/Macintosh...). 

FidoNet systems exchange documents by using a modem and calling another 

FidoNet system. Communication can be either direct to the destination system (calling 

long distance) or by routing a message to a local system. 

Each computer connected to FidoNet is called a node. In November 1995, it had 

over 35,000 nodes in 96 countries (source: FidoNet host table). The number of nodes 

used to be growing at about 40 percent per year, but this levelled off when the Internet's 

strong growth started. In 1997, it had around 30.000 nodes. 

Most nodes are operated by volunteers, and access is free. FidoNet is believed to 

have over 2.56 million users (1994/Matrix News). 

Conferences (called ECHOs or Echomail) are broadcasted between interested 

nodes, and may thus have thousands of readers. The selection of echomail conferences 

on a given FidoNet board can be as unique as the rest of the system. A typical FidoNet 

Echomail conference gets 50 to 100 messages each day. Any connected BBS may carry 

50, 100, or more echomail conferences. 

In addition to, electronic mail, Fidonet distributes programs, pictures, and text files. 

NetMail is Fidonet's simple, person to person, electronic mail message system. FidoNet 

users can also send and receive mail through the Internet. 

The list of member bulletin boards, the Nodelist, may be retrieved from most 

boards. Each node has one line on this list, like in this example: 

,10,Home_of_PCQ,Warszawa,Jan_Stozek,48 22 410374,9600,V32,MNP,XA 

The commas are field separators. The first field (empty in this example) starts a zone, 

region, local net, Host, or shows a private space (with the keyword Pvt). 

The second field (10) is the node number, and the third field (Home_of_PCQ) is 

the name for the node. 

The fourth field (Warszawa) is a geographical notation, and the fifth field 

(Jan_Stozek) is the name of the owner. The sixth field is a telephone contact number, 

and the other fields contain various technical information used in making connections. 

FidoNet has six major geographical zones: (1) North America, (2) Europe, 

including Russian Asia, (3) Australasia, (4) America Latina, (5) Africa, (6) the Asian 

Pacific. 

FT Profile 

4 of 11 23.11.2009 15:49


has full text articles from Financial Times in London, from several European databases 

(like the Hoppenstedt database), and the Japanese database Nikkei. Profile is available 

through Telecom Gold, and can also be accessed through other online services. Clipping 

service. CD ROM. Web address: 

GEnie 

The General Electric Network for Information Exchange was initially set up as a joint 

venture between GE and Ameritech. 

GE Information Service Co. (GEIS) 

Online service operated by General Electric. Available in many countries. GEIS' 

QUIK COMM service integrates multinational business communications for public and 

private mail systems. Its services include Telex Access; and QUIK COMM to FAX, 

which allows users to send messages from their workstations to fax machines throughout 

the world. 

GENIOS 

German online service. Offers data about companies in the former DDR, the 

Hoppenstedt business directories, and more. 

GlasNet 

International network providing low cost telecommunications to nonprofit, 

nongovernmental organizations throughout the countries of the former Soviet Union. 

Email, fax, telex, public conferences. Email: support@glas.apc.org. 

IASNET 

The Institute for Automated Systems Network was the first public switched network in 

the former Soviet Union. Its main goal was to provide a wide range of network services 

to the scientific community in the xUSSR, including access to online databases, a catalog 

of foreign databases, and conferencing (ADONIS). 

IBM Global Network 

was announced in July 1994 as a worldwide value added network (VAN) incorporating 

the Advantis network. In December 1998 it was purchased by AT&T (U.S.A.), offered 

access in 900 cities in 100 countries, and Internet access from 1350 places in 53 

countries. 

Its IBM Internet Connection gives users access to the full range of Internet services 

(World Wide Web, Gopher, FTP, Newsgroups, Telnet and E mail), and OS/2 Warp 

provides an easy to use graphical interface for the user. 

ILINK (Interlink) 

A network for exchange of conferences between bulletin boards. At the peak, they had 

BBSes in U.S.A., Canada, Scotland, England, Norway, France, Australia, New Zealand, 

Sweden, and other countries. 

Infonet 

5 of 11 23.11.2009 15:49


Vendor of packet data services with local operations in many countries around the 

world. 

Internet 

The name comes from "inter networking," which is the process of connecting multiple 

host computers and their associated networks together to create a larger network. 

What started as ARPANET, was by July 1996 a large group of over 134,000 

interconnected independent networks in 175 countries supporting mail, news, remote 

login, file transfer, and many other services (source: http://www.nw.com). All 

participating hosts use the TCP/IP protocol. 

While electronic mail and the World Wide Web are the net's most popular 

applications, users also have access to ftp and telnet. Ftp gives interactive access to 

remote computers for transferring files. Telnet gives access to a remote service for 

interactive dialog. You can telnet several bulletin boards through Internet, like 

telnet://conrad.appstate.edu. (Login as "info") 

It is not possible to calculate the number of interconnected networks any more, but 

by July 1997, hosts in 214 countries provided net connectivity. 

There are other major wide area networks, such as the BITNET and DECnet 

networks that are not based on the TCP/IP protocols and are thus not part of the 

Internet. However, it is possible to communicate between them and the Internet via 

electronic mail because of mail gateways that act as "translators" between the different 

network protocols involved. See The Matrix below. 

The number of hosts grew from 213 in 1981, through 313,000 in 1990, to 

93,047,785 in July, 2000. (Source: Internet Software Consortium). A host used to be a 

single machine on the net. The definition has changed due to virtual hosting, where a 

single machine acts like multiple systems (and has multiple domain names and IP 

addresses). 

The number of users is claimed to double every year. In January 1994, the 

Internet Number FAQ estimated some 16 million users. Two years later, Matrix News 

estimated 36 million users of computers who could distribute information by interactive 

TCP/IP services (like WWW, and FTP), and 57 million users who could access 

information by interactive TCP/IP services. 

By June 1998, the Internet had an estimated 129.5 million users, according to Nua 

Internet Surveys. By November 1997, the number was 86 million users. 

For a different view of the figures, check Global Internet Statistics. They 

estimate the number of each language population on the Internet (native speakers): those 

who have access to the Internet on a worldwide scale (that is, who have email access) or 

to the Web. They classify by languages instead of by countries, since people speaking 

the same language form their own online community no matter what country they 

happen to live in. 

Already by August, 1991, over half the registered networks on Internet were 

commercial. 

In addition, private enterprise networks have an estimated 1,410,000 hosts using 

TCP/IP (Source: The Internet Demographic Survey, January 1994.) These offer mail 

exchange with the Internet, but not services such as Telnet or FTP to most parts of the 

Internet, and are estimated to have some 7.5 million users. 

One important feature of the Internet is that no one is in charge. The Internet is 

essentially a voluntary association. Somehow it all works. 

Some of its direction comes from a group of volunteers called the Internet Society 

run more like a council of elders than a business. 

No one organization collects fees from Internet users or networks. Each user and 

service pays its own way. There are rarely any additional charges for sending and 

receiving electronic mail (even when sending to other networks), retrieving files, or 

reading Usenet Newsgroups. 

For more on the Internet, check out the sources listed at the end of Appendix 6. 

Statistics 

6 of 11 23.11.2009 15:49


History 

CyberAtlas. Also has a free weekly newsletter. 

NetFactual.Com 

The Zooknic Internet Geography Project 

http://www.isoc.org/guest/zakon/Internet/History/HIT.htm 

http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.html 

http://www.caslon.com.au/metricsguide1.htm 

Internet and The Matrix 

The Matrix is also called "WorldNet." It includes all the networks in Internet, and in 

addition a long list of networks that can send electronic mail to each other (though they 

may not be based on the TCP/IP protocol). Think of it as a larger network using the 

Internet as a telephone exchange. 

The Matrix includes Internet, BITNET, DECnet, Minitel (France), Usenet, UUCP, 

PeaceNet, IGC, EARN, Uninett, FidoNet, CompuServe, Alternex (Brazil), ATT Mail, 

FredsNaetet (Sweden), AppleLink, GeoNet (hosts in Germany, England, U.S.A.), 

GreenNet, MCI Mail, MetaNet, Nicarao (Nicaragua), OTC PeaceNet/EcoNet, Pegasus 

(Australia), Portal, PsychNet, Telemail, TWICS (Japan), Web (Canada), The Well, 

CARINET, DASnet, Janet (England), X.400, SprintMail, and many more. 

These peripheral networks create a larger Matrix Internet that reaches 155 

countries (January 1995), and provide many millions of people with lowest common 

denominator email connectivity. 

Matrix News estimated that 71 million users were able to exchange email with 

other users on the Matrix, versus 27.5 million as of October 1994 . 

Istel 

Vendor of packet data services, who used to have operator owned nodes in Belgium, 

Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Holland, Spain, Sweden, England. 

Kompass 

Publisher of corporate directories with affiliates all over the world. Their databank has 

about 1.5 million companies in 70 countries (2000). Also at www.kompass.net. More 

details in Chapter 11. 

MCI Mail 

0LFURVRIW 1HWZRUN 

MSN started in September 1995. They claimed 250,000 members by mid October, 

1,000,000 members in March, 1996, and 2.3 million customers in July 1997. The service 

had relationships with long distance carriers to provide local access numbers in 50 

countries, and it's access software was localized in 26 languages. 

LEXIS NEXIS 

A full text legal information service offering many specialized law libraries, covering all 

areas of law practice. 

MetaNet 

7 of 11 23.11.2009 15:49


Minitel 

French videotex service marketed in several countries by France Telecom. It was 

originally based on a special videotex graphics display format (Teletel), had over 25,000 

services, and appeared like a large French online hypermarche. In October 1998, it 

claimed over 35 million users. Access required software for emulating Minitel menus 

and function keys, or any VT100 compatible terminal. 

NEC PC VAN 

Used to be Japan's next largest online service with around 1,77 million users by the end 

of 1996. 

Newsbytes News Network 

Brainwave for NewsNet 

In 1997, NewsNet was taken over by Telebase and integrated with its Brainwave 

service. 

The Brainwave database of newsletters contains the full text of specialized industry 

newsletters that provide information on companies, products, markets, and technologies; 

trade and geopolitical regions of the world; and government funding, rulings, and 

regulation and other legislative activities which impact the industries and regions 

covered. It provides searchers with facts, figures, analysis, and current information 

affecting a broad range of industries and sectors. 

The database includes more than 650 specialized industry newsletters published, 

with additional titles added on a regular basis. Sources include such varied titles as 

Air/Water Pollution Report, Asian Economic News, BOC Week , Communications 

Daily, Defense Daily, Inside R&D, NTT Topics, and The Private Placement Letter. 

For a fee, you can read individual newsletter issues, and search back issues of 

individual newsletters or publications within an industry classification. 

NIFTY Serve 

had 2 million subscribers by September 1996, and is Japan's largest online service. To 

use it, your communications system must be able to display Japanese characters. Offers 

Newsbytes in Japanese. 

Nifty Serve is jointly operated by Fujitsu and Nissho Iwai Trading in a licensing 

agreement with CompuServe. 

OCLC 

Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is a nonprofit computer library service and 

research organization whose computer network and products link more than 21,000 

libraries in 63 countries and territories (1996). It serves all types of libraries, including 

public, academic, special, corporate, law, and medical libraries. 

Questel Orbit 

Specialized in patent and trademark information. 

RelayNet 

Also called PcRelay Net. An international network for exchange of email and 

8 of 11 23.11.2009 15:49


conferences between more than 8,500 bulletin boards. The Relaynet International 

Message Exchange (RIME) consists of some 1,000 systems (1992). 

Relcom 

means 'Russian Electronic Communications.' This company provides email, other 

network services, a gateway to Internet, and access to Usenet. In early 1992, RELCOM 

had regional nodes in 25 cities of the xUSSR connecting over 1,000 organizations or 

30,000 users. RELCOM had a gateway to IASNET. 

Financial online service. 

Reuters Information Systems 

SprintMail 

Commercial vendor of email services. In 1991, they had local nodes serving customers 

in 108 countries through its SprintNet network. 

STN International 

The Scientific & Technical Information Network is operated cooperatively by 

Fachinformationszentrum (FIZ) in Germany, Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) of the 

American Chemical Society (ACS), and the Japan Information Center of Science and 

Technology (JICST). Databases in Science, Technology, Patents, and Business. 

TWICS BeeLINE 

English language Japanese online service with PARTIcipate, Caucus and Usenet 

netnews. 

UMI/Data Courier 

Unison 

North American conferencing service using PARTIcipate software. 

UUCP 

UUCP (UNIX to UNIX Copy) is a protocol, a set of files and a set of commands to copy 

files from one UNIX computer to another. This copying procedure is the core of the 

UUCP network, a loose association of systems all communicating with the UUCP 

protocol. 

UNIX computers can participate in the UUCP network (using leased line or 

dial up) through any other UNIX host. The network now also has many MS DOS and 

other hosts, and consisted of 18,800 hosts in October 1994 (source: UUCP map) serving 

more than 564,000 users (source: Matrix News). 

The UUCP network is based on two systems connecting to each other at specific 

intervals, and executing any work scheduled for either of them. For example, the system 

Oregano calls the system Basil once every two hours. If there's mail waiting for 

Oregano, Basil will send it at that time. Likewise, Oregano will at that time send any 

mail waiting for Basil. 

There are databases with connectivity information (UUCP maps), and programs 

(pathalias) that will help you decide the correct routing of messages. However, many 

UUCP hosts are not registered in the UUCP map. 

9 of 11 23.11.2009 15:49


EUNET is a UUCP based network in Europe. JUNET is an equivalent network in 

Japan. There are many gateway machines that exchange mail between UUCP and the 

Internet. Among these, UUNET.UU.NET is among the most frequently used 

(http://www.uu.net). 

Usenet (User Network) 

Usenet, Netnews, or just "News" are common terms for a large many to many 

conferencing (only) system distributed through UUCP, Internet, FidoNet, and BITNET. 

The European portion of Usenet is called EUNET (European Unix NET). 

This grassroots driven "network" has grown out of the global university and 

research domains. It is a service rather than a real network. It is not an organization, and 

has no central authority. 

In 1993, Usenet's newsgroups were carried by over 69,000 host computers (sites) in 

five continents, and had over 1,991,000 users (source: Brian Reid). In January 1995, 

Reid estimated 16.5 million users. In February, the number of sites were estimated at 

260,000 (source: The Internet Index). Many of these sites also have access to the 

Internet. 

The local administrator of each node in the network decides what newsgroups to 

receive and make available to its users. Few systems offer access to all of them. 

NetNews is organized in groups of 'conferences'. Each classification is organized 

into groups and subgroups according to topic. As of June 1, 1993, there were 4500 

newsgroups and 2500 regional newsgroups. Several sites are carrying over 2600 topics. 

In July 1995, there were over 15,000 newsgroups. In December 1996, PC/Computing 

estimated the number of newsgroups at over 28,000. 

On a typical day in December 1993, 43,000 Usenet articles were posted. In 

November 1996, 754 megabytes of information were posted daily to Usenet. 

The groups distributed worldwide are divided into seven broad classifications: 

"comp" Topics of interest to both computer professionals and hobbyists, 

including topics in computer science, software source, and 

information on hardware and software systems. 

"sci" Discussions marked by special and usually practical knowledge, 

about research in or application of the established sciences. 

"misc" Groups addressing themes not easily classified under any of the 

other headings or which incorporate themes from multiple 

categories. 

"soc" Groups primarily addressing social issues and socializing. 

"talk" Groups largely debate oriented and tending to feature long 

discussions without resolution and without much useful 

information. 

"news" Groups concerned with the news network and software 

themselves. 

"rec" Groups oriented toward hobbies and recreational activities. 

"alt" 

Also available are many "alternative" hierarchies, like: 

True anarchy; anything and everything can and does appear. 

Subjects include sex, and privacy. 

"biz" Business related groups 

"clari" Newsgroups gatewayed from commercial news services and 

other 'official' sources. 

Most Netnews hosts offer both global and local conferences. These include Australian 

and Australasian (aus), and Jewish (shamash) newsgroups; groups coming from 

BITNET (bit), /CL Netz (cl), Z Netz (z netz), and Fidonet (fido) ; German (de), 

Japanese (fj), French (fr), Norwegian (no), Cyrillic (relcom), and Finnish (sfnet) 

10 of 11 23.11.2009 15:49


language groups; United Kingdom (uk) groups, Taiwan (tw), Microsoft (microsoft) and 

more. 

Many newsgroups can be read through bulletin boards, commercial online services, 

or through gateways from connected hosts (like from some BITNET hosts). 

A full list of available groups and conferences is normally available from hosts 

offering Netnews, and on NETNEWS servers. The Master List of Newsgroup 

Hierarchies lists all hierarchies (not the names of the newsgroups themselves) with a 

brief explanation of their affiliation, purpose or topic areas. 

Harley Hahn's Master List of Usenet Newsgroups lets you search by keyword for 

individual newsgroups. Also, you may browse lists of newsgroups by category and topic 

(example: Hobbies: Scale models: Model rockets). If you have a newsreader installed, 

the provided link will take you right to the messages. 

The FAQ "What is Usenet?" is regularly posted to news.admin.misc, and 

news.answers. Also, make sure you check out the Usenet Info Center Launch Pad. 

An online book titled "Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the 

Internet" is at http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/. At Planetweb Galactic , 

\RX FDQ VHDUFK WKH FRQWHQWV RI :HE )$4 WH[WV 

The Well 

The Whole Earth Lectronic Link is a commercial online service (U.S.A.). It has its own 

conferencing culture, and is an interesting starting point to "study" what makes the 

Silicon Valley area so dynamic. 


Search: 



Updated at May 22, 2003. 


11 of 11 23.11.2009 15:49

Getting started http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/v2.html 

You must have a modem 

External modems 


Appendix 2: 

Getting started 


Asynchronous or synchronous modems? 

Choice of speed 

MNP error correction and compression 

The speed of your computer's COMM port 

MNP and efficiency 

File transfers using MNP and V.42bis 

You must have a computer. 

Dumb or intelligent modem? 

The Hayes standard 

A standard on the move 

The modem cable 

Connecting your equipment to earth 

The communications program 

Connecting to the online service 

Getting started with Procomm 

It is not important what kind of computer you have, though you may find out that it is an 

advantage to have a popular one. The most common type of microcomputer today is 

called MS DOS computers (or IBM PC compatibles or IBM clones). 

Your computer should have enough memory for communication. Available 

memory impacts communications speed on many modern computers! 

You do not need a hard disk. Many do without. Not having one, however, means 

more work, and less room for storage of the nice things you may want to retrieve by 

modem. 

Personally, I want as much hard disk space as I can possibly get. When you have 

read the book, I guess you'll understand why. 

Others may want to delay the purchase of a hard disk until they can spare the 

money. If you can afford it, however, do it! It is a decision that you'll never regret. 

You must have a modem 

Some computers are always connected to a network. If this is your situation, then you 

probably have what you need already. The rest of us need a modem. 

A modem is a small piece of equipment that is translating the internal, electrical 

signals of the computer to sound codes. These codes can be sent over an ordinary 

telephone line. You may think of it as a type of Morse alphabet. 

In some places, a computer can be connected to the Internet and other networks 

through cable television networks. Cable modems use the same lines that transmit cable 

television to provide two way telecommunications. 

There are also ISDN and ASDL modems. Sometimes these are called Terminal 

1 of 9 23.11.2009 15:50


Adapters to set them apart from traditional modem technology, but from the users' 

perspective, modems they are. 

The recipient of data also needs a modem. In his case, the sound codes will have to 

be translated back into their original form as digital codes. When this is done, he can 

view text and pictures on the screen, and use the received data in other applications. 

You can buy modems on an expansion card for installation in your computer, or in 

a separate box. Often, a modem has already been built into the computer, when you buy 

it. 

Whether to buy an internal or an external modem is a question of needs: 

A portable computer with an internal modem is easier to bring on travels than an 

external modem with a modem cable and a power adapter. 

An external modem can serve several computers. Some of them are so compact 

that they fit besides your toothbrush in the toilet bag. 

An internal modem blocks one of your serial ports. 

External modems 

The options are many. The modems differ on speed, features, prices and whether they 

DUH DSSURYHG IRU XVDJH LQ \RXU FRXQWU\ 

Some of them are connected to the phone line by cable. Others are connected to 

the handset (to the talk and listen part) by two rubber cups. We call such modems 

acoustic modems (or acoustic couplers). 

Acoustic modems are useful where connecting other modems to the telephone is 

difficult. The bad news is that you'll get more noise on the line. Acoustic modems can 

therefore not be recommended for use in other cases. 

Asynchronous or synchronous modems? 

Formerly, data communication was done by sending job commands to a mainframe 

computer, and having the result returned in one batch. The modems were called 

synchronous. Such modems (and computers) are still in use in some large corporations. 

Most of today's online services are based on an interactive dialog between the user 

and the remote computer. The user enters a command, for example a letter or a number 

in a menu, and the result is returned almost immediately. The modems used for such 

work are called asynchronous (See "Explanation of some words and terms" in Appendix 

4). 

Unless you know that you must have a synchronous modem, buy an asynchronous 

one. 

Choice of speed 

Speed is measured in many ways. One method is to use baud. Another is to use 

characters per second (cps) or bits per second (bps). 

Bps is a measure of how many data bits that can be transferred over a data channel 

in one second. (Each byte is split up into bits before transfer during serial 

communication.) 

The relationship between baud and bits per second is complex, and often misused. 

Bits per second is unambiguous. In this book, we will use it as bps. 

We can estimate the number of characters per second by dividing the number of 

bps by ten. For example. 1200 bps is roughly 120 cps. 

In 1987, 300, 1200 and 2400 bps asynchronous modems were the standard in many 

countries. Around 1990, the growth in 9600 bps modems and modem with faster speeds 

gained momentum. Today, 28000 bps modems are very popular. 

Modem user manuals often give transfer speed by referring to some international 

classification codes. Here are some ITU TSS codes with explanation: 

V.21 0 300 bps 

full duplex 

Still used by a small group. Cannot 

communicate with the American Bell 

2 of 9 23.11.2009 15:50


V.22 1200 bps 

full duplex 

V.22bis 2400 bps 

full duplex 

V.23 600 & 1200 

bps w/75 

bps return 

ch. 

V.26ter 2400 bps 

full duplex 

V.27ter 2400/4800 

bps 

half duplex 

V.29 4800, 7200 

and 

9600 bps 

half duplex 

V.32 4800/9600 

bps 

full duplex 

V.32bis 4800/7200 

/9600, 

12000/14400 

bps 

V.Fast also 

known 

asV.32terbo 

V.FC 

V.34 28800 bps 

V.34bis 33.6 Kbit/sec 

103 standard. 

Partly compatible with the American Bell 

212a standard. Sometimes it works, 

sometimes it fails. 

Used all over the world. 

Rare protocol. Used mainly in Europe. 

Half duplex. 

Used mainly in France 

Used in Group III fax 

Used in gr. III fax and in some 

(American) modems. Do not buy V.29 if 

you want a 9600 bps modem. 

Current standard for 9600 bps modems 

Full duplex with faster interrogation. 

28800 bps Proprietary protocols supporting speeds 

to 28,800 bps for uncompressed (raw) 

data transmission rates over regular dial 

up, voice grade lines. Using V.42bis data 

compression, up to 86,400 bps may be 

achievable. Some claim throughput of up 

to 115.2 kbps with V.42bis compression. 

Incompatibility between brands. 

A standard high speed protocol approved 

by ITU TSS (1994). 

V.42 Error correction protocol (an appendix 

yields compatibility w/MNP gr. 2,3 and 4. 

See MNP below). For V.22, V.22bis, 

V.26ter and V.32. 

V.42bis Data compression for V.42 modems. 

Meant to replace MNP and LAP. Text 

can be transferred three times faster than 

with MNP. With a 9600 bps modem, you 

may achieve speeds of up to 38400 bps. 

Very common. 

V.90 56 Kbits/sec 

Receives up to 56.000 bits/s over 

ordinary telephone lines, sends at 33.600 

bits/s. Still under development. 

Proprietary systems. Both you and your 

online service provider must be 

connected to a digital line. Two types: 2x 

modems, and K56flex modems. 

3 of 9 23.11.2009 15:50


?? 

112 

Kbits/sec 

Boca Research Inc. was the first to 

announce such a modem (November 

1997). 

:KHQ \RX FRQVLGHU EX\LQJ D PRGHP ZLWK KLJKHU VSHHG UHPHPEHU WKDW JRLQJ IURP 

ESV WR LV D SHUFHQW LQFUHDVH ZKLOH JRLQJ IURP WR ESV JLYHV 

percent! 

If you now have 9600 bits/s, going to 28.800 will potentially triple the speed. 

MNP error correction and compression 

The Microcom Networking Protocol (MNP) is a U.S. industry standard for modem 

to modem communication with automatic error correction and compression. 

Automatic error correction is useful when there is noise on the telephone line. 

MNP splits the stream of data up into blocks before transmission. They are checked by 

the other modem upon receipt. If the contents are correct, an acknowledging message is 

sent back to the sending modem. If there is an error in the transmission, the sending 

modem is asked to retransmit. 

When using compression, files are being preprocessed before transmission to 

decrease their size. The result is that the modem has to send fewer bytes, and the effect 

is higher speed. 

MNP Level 3 and up send data between two modems synchronously rather than 

asynchronously. Since sending a start and stop bit with each transferred byte is no longer 

required, the effect is higher speed. 

MNP 4 or higher have automatic adjustment of block length when there is noise on 

the line. If the line is good, longer blocks are sent. The block size is decreased if the line 

is bad causing many retransmissions. 

MNP 5 has data compression. This gives a further increase in transfer speed by 

from 10 to 80 percent depending on the type of data sent. MNP 7 is capable of a three 

to one compression ratio. 

Both users must have their modems set for MNP to use it. 

The speed of your computer's COMM port 

Installing a super fast modem does not guarantee an increase in the effective transfer 

speed. The serial port of your computer may be a limiting factor. 

Owners of older MS DOS computers often have UARTs (serial port processors) in 

the Intel 8250 or National 16450 series. With these in the computer, it is difficult to 

achieve speeds above 9600 bps without losing data. 

Take this into account when investing in a modem. 

MNP and efficiency 

I call the Internet daily. My personal computer is set to communicate with a 28.800 bps 

modem at 57.600 bps. The modem sends data to the telephone line at 28.800 bps, this 

modem's maximum line speed. 

Data is received by the remote computer's 28.800 bps modem at 28.800 bps, and 

probably forwarded to the Internet server at an unknown higher speed. 

Why these differences in speed? 

MNP level 5 compresses data in the modem before transfer, and gives error free 

transfer to and from the Internet server at higher speed than by using 28.800 bps all the 

way through. 

The compression effectiveness differs by the type of data. When sending text, the 

effective transfer speed may double. Speed will increase further if the text contains long 

sequences of similar characters. 

Text is typically compressed by up to 63 percent. This means that a 2400 bps 

modem using MNP 5 may get an effective speed of around the double when transferring 

such data. 

4 of 9 23.11.2009 15:50


File transfers using MNP and V.42bis 

Files are often compressed and stored in libraries before transfer. Online services do this 

because compressed files take less space on their hard disks. Also, it is easier for users to 

keep track of files sent in a library file. 

You rarely get speed advantages when transferring precompressed files using MNP 

or V.42bis. With some modems, you must turn MNP and V.42bis compression off before 

retrieval of compressed files. 

Dumb or intelligent modem? 

Some modems are operated with switches or buttons on a panel. They do not react to 

commands from your computer. We call them dumb. 

You must dial numbers manually, and press a key on the modem, when you hear 

the tone from a remote modem. Only when the modem is connected to the remote 

modem, can you ask your communications program to take over. 

We call those modems 'intelligent' that can react to commands from your 

computer. Most of them react to commands according to the Hayes standard. 

Buy intelligent, Hayes compatible modems even when other standards may seem 

better. Most of today's communication programs are designed to be used by such 

modems. 

Note: Buy modems that use the Hayes extended command set. 

When a communications program, like Windows built in Terminal, tells the modem to 

"dial a number" or "go on hook," then the Hayes compatible modem will do just that. 

When you click on Dialer and Login in the Trumpet Winsock program, it will dial 

your Internet access provider automatically. When you click on Dialer and Bye, it will 

ask the modem will disconnect from the remote modem. 

If you press ALT D in the communications program Telix followed by the number 

"2," then it will locate the number to an online service in your telephone directory, and 

dial that number. 

When the connection with the remote modem has been set up, your modem will 

report back to you with a message like CONNECT 14400. This tells that a connection 

has been set up at 14400 bps. 

If I select "k" from a menu provided by my communications program's command 

scripts, then my system will retrieve today's business news from Tokyo and put them up 

on my screen. 

In the process, my system tells the modem to do several things, including "call a 

number," "speed 28800 bps," "redial if busy," "go on hook when done." The only thing 

that I have to do, is press "k". The communications program and the modem will do the 

rest. 

Automatic communication is impossible without an intelligent modem. 

The Hayes standard 

The U.S. company Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. pioneered command driven 

modems. Their Smartmodem became a success, and "Hayes compatibility" a standard 

for intelligent modems. 

Today, it is as unimportant to buy a Hayes modem to get access to Hayes 

commands, as to buy an IBM PC to run PC software. 

Automatic dialing (autodial) was one of Smartmodem's important features. The 

modem could call a number and prepare for data communication, once a connection had 

been set up. If the line was busy, it could wait a while and then redial. The operator 

could work with other things while waiting for the equipment to be ready for 

communication. 

The modem had automatic answer (autoanswer), that is, when someone called in, 

5 of 9 23.11.2009 15:50


the modem could take the phone off hook and set up a connection with a remote 

modem. The modem enabled a connected PC to act as an electronic answering machine. 

Hayes compatible modems can report call progress to the local screen using short 

numeric codes or words like CONNECT, CONNECT 1200, CONNECT 2400, NO 

CARRIER, NO DIALTONE, BUSY, NO ANSWER, RING etc. 

There can be small differences between such modems. The message DIALTONE 

on one modem may be DIAL TONE on another. Most of the main progress messages, 

however, are the same across brands. 

The old Smartmodem had switches used to configure the modem. Most modern 

Hayes compatible modems come without switches and have more commands than their 

ancestor. 

Today's Hayes compatible modems have a core of common commands, the "real" 

Hayes commands, and several unstandardized additional commands. Here is an 

example: 

A standard on the move 

On the Quattro SB2422 modem, 2400 bps speed without automatic speed detection is 

set by the command "AT&I1". The equivalent command on Semafor's UniMod 4161 is 

"AT+C0". 

Automatic detection of speed is a feature that lets the modem discover the speed of 

the remote modem to set its own speed at the same level. (Other modems may use 

different commands to set this.) 

When I want Windows Terminal to call a bulletin board, it first sends a sequence of 

Hayes commands to the Semafor modem. These commands are stored in Terminal's 

settings (Click Settings, Modem Commands. Originate to update or change them.) 

The purpose of these commands is to "configure" the modem before calling. It 

sends the following: 

AT S0=0 +C0 S7=40 S9=4 &D2 

The cryptic codes have the following meaning: 

AT "Attention modem. Commands following.." 

S0=0 No automatic answer 

+C0 No automatic speed detection (fixed speed) 

S7=40 Wait 40 seconds for an answer tone from 

the remote modem. 

S9=4 Wait 4/10 seconds for detection of carrier 

&D2 Go on hook if the DTR signal is being 

changed. 

If this command is sent to the Quattro modem, it will reply with "ERROR." The code 

"+C0" must be replaced with an "&I1". The rest of the commands are the same. (Note: 

when a modem responds with "ERROR," it has usually rejected all commands sent to 

it!) 

This setup is held in the modem's memory when Terminal sends its dialing 

command: ATDT4737031378. AT stands for ATtention, as above. DT stands for Dial 

Tone. Here, it is used to dial the number 4737031378 using tone signaling (rather than 

pulse dialing). 

The modem cable 

If you have an external modem, you must connect your computer to the modem with a 

cable. Some modems are sold without a cable. 

This cable may be called a serial cable, a modem cable, a RS232C cable, or 

something else. Make sure that you buy the correct cable for your system. 

Make sure that the connectors at each end of the cable are correct. If a male 

connector (with pins) is required in one end and a female (with holes) in the other, do 

not buy a cable with two male connectors. 

Some connectors have 9 pins/holes, while others have 25 or 8 pin round plugs 

(Apple computers). Use a shielded cable to make sure there is minimal interference with 

6 of 9 23.11.2009 15:50


radio and television reception. 

At this point, some discover that there is no place on the PC to attach the cable. 

Look for a serial port at the rear of your machine, labeled MODEM, 

COMMUNICATIONS, SERIAL, or with a phone symbol. 

If you find no suitable connector, you may have to install an asynchronous 

communication port in the box. 

Connecting your equipment to earth 

Secure your computer and modem against thunderstorms and other electrical problems. 

Securing the electric outlet in the wall is not enough. Problems can also enter through 

the telephone line. 

Thunderstorms have sent electrical pulses through the telephone line destroying 

four modems, three PC fax cards, one mother board, and at least one asynchronous 

communication port. 

To prevent this from happening to you, disconnect electrical and telephone cables 

from your equipment during thunderstorms. 

The communications program 

A powerful communications program is half the job. In my case it's the whole job. Most 

of my work is done automatically. 

The communications program will help you with the mechanical transportation of 

data in both directions. It lets you store incoming information for later use and reduces 

the risks of errors. 

There are several basically different types of communications programs: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

Programs that connect you to an Internet access provider using the TCP/IP 

protocol. Example: Trumpet Winsock. In some cases, this is all they do. Sending 

email, looking up the World Wide Web, and transferring files are done using 

various client programs, like Netscape or Mosaic. Other programs, like SlipKnot, 

can connect and perform client functions. 

General purpose asynchronous communications programs, like Windows 

Terminal. These let you call a large range of BBSes, commercial online services, 

and Internet hosts. Your dialog with the host can be manual, or governed by 

automatic scripts. Connecting to the Internet using TCP/IP is rarely included. 

Special purpose communications programs. These are canned programs designed 

to do specific tasks on defined services. They are rarely useful on other services, 

and for other applications. 

Some items to consider when shopping general purpose programs: 

Seriously consider buying automatic programs ('robots') for access to individual 

online services, even if that means having to use several programs for different 

applications. (Read Chapter 16 for more.) 

Menus and help texts are important for novices, and in environments with "less 

motivated personnel." Advanced users may find it boring. 

Ability to transfer data without errors. The program should have transfer protocols 

like XMODEM, Kermit, XMODEM/CRC, YMODEM and ZMODEM. The 

XMODEM protocol is the most commonly used. You need these protocols if you 

want to transfer compiled computer programs (for example, .COM and .EXE 

files). They are also used when transferring compressed files, graphics and music 

files. ZMODEM is considered the best protocol by many. 

Does it let you tailor it to your taste/needs? Some programs let you attach batches 

of commands to function keys and keystroke combinations. For example, by 

having your computer call your favorite online service by pressing the F1 key. 

Does it let you "scroll back" information having disappeared out of your screen? 

This may be useful when you want to respond while online to an electronic mail 

message. The sender's address and name, which you need to respond, have 

7 of 9 23.11.2009 15:50


scrolled off the screen. If you cannot review the "lost" information, you may have 

to disconnect and call back later to send your mail. 

Connecting to the online service 

The first couple of times, most people think that it is very difficult. Soon it becomes a 

simple routine. 

On some computers, you just press a key, and that's it. On others, you have to call 

and press, and watch, while things are happening. Cheap is often a synonym for more 

work. 

If you have a dumb modem connected to your personal computer, these are the 

typical steps that you must take: 

1. Start your communications program and set it up, for example, with 28.800 bps, 8 

bits word length, 1 stop bit, no parity. (This is a common setup.) Then set the 

program to "online." 

2. Call the desired number. 

3. When you hear the tone from the remote modem in the phone, press DATA to get 

the modems to connect to each other (that is, to start to "handshake"). 

4. A front panel indicator may tell you when the connection has been set up. You 

can start transferring data. 

With an MS DOS computer, an automatic modem and a powerful program preset for the 

job, the steps may be as follows: 

1. Start the program and display the telephone directory. Select a service from the 

list by pressing a number. 

2. The modem will call automatically to the service. When the connection has been 

set up, your user identification and password are sent at the prompts for such 

information. When this is done, you are free to take control. 

With an MS DOS computer, TAPCIS, and an intelligent modem, you start by selecting 

forums and services to access on CompuServe. Enter 'o' to upload and download 

programs, or 'n' to have it fetch new message headers and messages. TAPCIS will dial 

the number, do the job, and tell you when it's done. Meanwhile, you can go out to look 

at the moon, or sing a song. 

Getting started with Procomm 

Procomm is cheap and a popular communications program for MS DOS computers. We 

will use the old shareware version as an example here, though there are many better and 

cheaper alternatives. 

The program is simple for novices, can automate the work for advanced users and 

be run on almost any MS DOS computer. Here are some of its features: 

Press ALT F10 for a pull down window text listing features and commands. Press 

ALT+D to call a number, update the telephone directory, or select a script file for 

autologon to a service. 

Procomm can emulate (pretend to be) different terminal types, like IBM 3101 and 

DEC VT 100/VT 52. Most services covered in this book may be well served with the 

setting ANSI.BBS. 

It let you use both dumb and intelligent Hayes compatible modems. If you have the 

latter, select numbers from the telephone directory for autologon. If the number is busy, 

Procomm can call back until you can get through. 

You can define macros to automate your work. You can have one keystroke send 

your user identification, another for your password, and a third key to send a sequence 

of commands. Macros make your communication faster and safer. 

You can write script files to automate the online work further. You can transfer 

text files and binary files using automatic error detection/correction protocols, like 

XMODEM, YMODEM, Telink and Kermit, at speeds from 300 to 19200 bps. Adding 

8 of 9 23.11.2009 15:50


external protocols like ZMODEM is relatively simple. 


Search: 






9 of 9 23.11.2009 15:50

Your first trip online. Typical pitfalls and simple solutions http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/v3.html 


Appendix 3: 

Online with the world 

Your first trip online. Typical pitfalls and simple solutions 


Practical data communication 

Assembling the equipment 

Installing the program 

The dial tone 

Does your computer have contact with the modem? 

Does your modem have contact with the phone line? 

NO DIALTONE 

Configuring your general purpose communications 

program 

Configuring Trumpet Winsock 

Dialing 

What may go wrong? 

When dialing through a switchboard (PBX) 

No answer from the remote computer 

Sorry, no luck! 

Testing a BBS 

Partial success 

Practical data communication 

Downloading programs 

Downloading text 

The term "append" 

The term "strip" 

National characters 

Protocol transfers 

XMODEM 

XMODEM/CRC 

YMODEM Batch 

Kermit 

Super Kermit 

ZMODEM 

Downloading public domain 

software 

The protocol transfer method 

explained 

Decompression of files 

Transfer problems 

Uploading 

Sending electronic mail 

Slow down with "pacing" 

Protocol transfers may be easier 

The first thing novices want to know is how to set up the modem and computer for 

communication. This may take more time than expected and often seems complex for 

the uninitiated. You can save yourself much sweat and frustration by asking others for 

help. 

To enable your computer for communication is a one time job. Once done, you can 

almost forget what you did and why. 

There are so many different modems, computers and programs out there. We just cannot 

give practical advice on the use of all of them in one short appendix. Instead, we will use 

one example. Your job is to "translate" the text into a terminology that fits your tools. 

Once your system is set up for communication, your first job will be to find what keys to 

1 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


press to get the job done. How you use your communications program may vary 

considerably from our example. In general, however, it will be the same for most people 

doing manual communication. Once online, the environment is the same for all users. 

If you plan to use automatic communications as explained in Chapter 16, this chapter 

may not be that important. Your program will do the job for you. Still, take a few 

minutes and browse through the text. It may enable you to handle unexpected problems 

better. 

Our example assumes that you have an MS DOS computer. Not because this is the best 

microcomputer in the world, but because there are more of them than anything else. We 

assume that you have an external, intelligent Hayes compatible modem and the 

communications program Procomm (version 2.4.2). 

Assembling the equipment 

You have the modem, the cable (to connect your modem with the computer), a phone 

cable (to connect your modem with the phone or the wall jack), and a communications 

program. 

Check that the modem's power switch is off. Place the modem by the computer, and 

plug the power supply cord (or the power adapter cord) into the AC wall socket. Switch 

on the modem. 

Do NOT use 115 volt equipment in 250 volt sockets! 

Connect modem and computer using the modem cable. There may be several optional 

sockets on the computer. These are usually marked RS 232, COMMS, MODEM, or just 

nothing. The connector may be of a flat 25 pins, 9 pins, or a round 8 pins type. Use 

communication port number 1, 2, or whatever else is available for this purpose. 

If you have several options, and the socket for communication port number 1 seems 

free, use this. If not, try one of the others. 

Next, connect the modem to the telephone line. If in luck, the modem came with a 

phone cable that works with your setup. If so, it is simple: 

1. 

2. 

Disconnect the phone cable from the telephone. Insert the modular plug into the 

right jack on the modem. This jack is often marked with the word LINE, with a 

drawing of a modular wall jack, or another understandable icon. 

You may be able to connect the phone to the modem using the phone cord that 

came with the modem. This may allow you to use the phone for voice, when the 

line is not busy with communication. (You may have to make changes in this cord 

to make it work with the connected phone.) 

This concludes the technical assembly of your equipment. Next step is to install the 

communications program. When this is done, we will check it out. 

Installing the program 

Let us assume that you have received Procomm on a diskette, and that it is set up with 

its default configuration. PROCOMM.EXE is the program. The other files have no 

importance here. 

Enter Procomm and press ENTER. Our first task is to prepare it for communication: 

If you are using a monochrome display, use the command 

PROCOMM /B 

The program will greet you by a welcome text. At the bottom of the screen, the message 

2 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


"CREATING SYSTEM FILES" may appear (if these have not been created yet), 

followed by a message from the creators of the program. 

Press ENTER when you have read the text. The screen will be blanked, and a text line 

will appear at the bottom. 

Now is the time to test if the technical installation has been successful. 

The dial tone 

Lift the receiver from the phone and check if you can hear the dial tone. If you can, turn 

the pages to "Does the computer have contact with the modem?" 

If you hear nothing, there are several possible causes: 

The phone is not working. This is easily checked. Disconnect it from the modem, 

and connect it to the wall (using the original cable!). If you get a dial tone now, 

then the phone is in order. 

The cable between the modem and the wall jack may be broken, or wrongly 

configured. To check this, we must first check the connection between the modem 

and the computer. 

Once we know that the connection between the modem and the computer is in 

order, we can use the modem to check our phone cable. 

The cable between the modem and the phone may be in disorder. For example, 

the modular phone connector may have a cabling that differs from what is 

assumed in your country. If there is no dial tone, then the cable between the 

modem and the telephone must be repaired, or replaced. 

Does your computer have contact with the modem? 

When you first use Procomm, it is preset for communication at 300 bps, use of port 1 

and ANSI BBS. (The control line at the bottom of your screen should read: ALT F10 

HELP, ANSI BBS, HDX, 300 N81, LOG CLOSED, PRT OFF, CR and CR.) 

If your modem is unable to communicate at 300 bps, you must change the setup. 

Press ALT P (keep the ALT key down while pressing P) to get the menu LINE 

SETTINGS. Choice 9 gives 2400 bps with 8 bits word length, no parity and one 

stop bit. This is a common setting. Select 24 "Save changes" to make the setting 

permanent. 

If you know that your modem is not connected to the computer's port number 1, 

then change this from the same menu. Choice 21 gives COM2, and choice 22 

gives COM3. 

If you do not know what communication port the modem has been connected to, you 

have to find out by testing. Do this by entering (that is, sending to the modem) the 

characters AT. Now, the modem is supposed to respond with an OK (or with the number 

"0," if the modem is set to reply with numeric codes). 

If you get an "OK" or a "0" on your display, continue reading from "Does the modem 

have contact with the phone line?" 

If you can see "AT" on your screen while you enter it, you have contact with the 

modem. This is true even if it does not send any confirmation. The modem may have 

been instructed not to confirm. If you see the AT characters, read from "Does the 

modem have contact with the phone line?" 

If there is no contact between the modem and the computer, the screen will always 

remain blank. Your problem may be the cable, your choice of modem port, or the 

modem setup. 

3 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


First, check if the modem is switched on (the power switch), and that the plugs are 

firmly in the jacks. 

Then let's check the modem. It may have been set not to respond to your commands. 

Let's try to change that. Enter the following command, and press ENTER: 

ATQ0E1V1 

This should make your modem: give result codes on your screen (Q0), show the 

characters that you enter (E1), and use OK instead of the numerical result code 0 (V1). 

If you still get no OK, the reason may still be in the modem. I have seen modems get 

"indigestion problems" when too many commands are given to them. 

Try give a command to return it to its factory setting. This command is not the same on 

all Hayes compatible modems. On most of them, you can use one of the following: 

AT&F, ATF or ATZ (on some modems ATZ is used to reset to the stored configuration). 

Locate the correct command to use in the modem's user manual. Then, try ATQ0E1V1 

again. 

If you are still without success, check your choice of modem port. If there are several 

communication connectors at the back of your computer, test these. If this doesn't help, 

connect the modem cable to the most probable jack. 

Now, test the communication port for a response from the modem using another 

communications program setting. Press ALT P, select another port (choice 20 23), 

press ESC and try "AT" again (or ATQ0E1V1). If there is still no reaction, test the 

computer's other communications connectors. 

If you have a mouse connected to your computers, make sure that it is not 

using the same port as your communications program. 

Problems with the communications port are often caused by other 

equipment. Remove all extra equipment (like a PC fax card or a mouse), 

and all associated software (often represented by a line starting with 

"DRIVER=" in CONFIG.SYS, or a resident program driving a mouse). 

Remove all resident programs from memory before testing. 

If you are still at the same unfortunate stage, chances are that the problem is either in 

the cable or the modem. If you know others who are into data communication, visit 

them for help. Bring your cable and your modem to have them tested in an environment 

where things work. It is easier to isolate a problem by testing your units in sequence on 

your helper's system. 

First, the cable. Connect it between his computer and his modem. Test the connection to 

his modem with your cable as the only foreign element. If the test is successful, your 

cable is OK. 

Next, the modem. If the test is successful, your modem is in order. The most probable 

cause of your problems is your computer's communications port. 

In communications, many parts have to work together. You may have 

problems with more than one of them. Therefore, the rule is to test step by 

step to eliminate possible problems. 

If you get no reply from your modem, when it is connected to your friend's computer, 

chances are that it needs to be repaired. Call the seller for help. 

A last refuge is to buy an extra communications card for your computer . . 

Does your modem have contact with the phone line? 

4 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


You have contact between your computer and modem. The modem answers "OK" as 

assumed. We now have to test if there is contact with the phone line. That is easy. 

Enter the following command and press ENTER: 

ATQ0E1V1 

When the modem answers OK, enter the dialing command: 

ATDT37031378 

The modem will try to call 37031378, the number that used to give you my BBS. Don't 

try it. My BBS has now been closed down. Replace the number with a local one. 

Your modem will wait for CONNECT a preset number of seconds (rarely longer than 60 

seconds). 

If your modem does not detect the dial tone (within the preset waiting time), it will give 

you the following error message 

NO DIALTONE 

All other messages (except ERROR) declare that the modem did detect the dial tone. If 

it did, continue reading from "Configuring your program." 

NO DIALTONE 

The most probable causes of NO DIALTONE are that your phone cable is not 

connected, is damaged, or that it is the wrong cable for the job. 

The latter cause is common in many countries. For example, a cable made for a 

telephone network in the United States, may not work in Norway. A cable made for 

connection to a switchboard, may not work when connected to a domestic phone line. 

A standard, domestic American phone cable contains four lines. Two of these (line 

number 1 and 4) carry sounds. The others are not being used. A standard Norwegian 

domestic cable is set up in the same way, but here line number 1 and 3 carry sound. 

Changing the configuration of such cables is often simple. Just cut the cable in two, and 

put the lines together correctly. This is typically required when your modem assumes 

that you use it in North America, while you are in a country with different cabling. 

One other possible reason for the NO DIALTONE message: Your modem may be 

unable to recognize the tone. The solution is to tell your modem to ignore it (ATX3), and 

just go ahead dialing. 

Some years ago, I had this problem in Hotel Watson, Mekuro, Japan. My solution was: 

[1] Add the following string to the modem AT setup command: "X3", [2] Use this dial 

command: "ATDP0W3739 9968." 

The "ATDP0" portion dialed 0 to provide an external line. Thanks to the X3 setting it 

ignored the perceived absence of a dial tone. The "W" command portion made it wait 

for an external dialtone. Upon detection of the tone, the number was dialed 

(3739 9968). 

Configuring your general purpose communications 

program 

The modem answers. The dial tone is being detected. Procomm is installed on your hard 

disk. Now, check if the program has been correctly configured. 

5 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


Press ALT S to get the Setup Menu. Select 1, Modem setup, from this menu. 

Choice 1, Modem init string, is a general setup command. This command will be sent to 

the modem each time you start Procomm. You are free to make is as long and powerful 

as you want. Our purpose now, however, is to check if it works. 

Most modems do not react if one element in your setup command is wrong. 

They respond with ERROR (or the numeric code), and disregard the rest. 

Procomm's standard Modem init string has the following commands: 

ATE0 S7=60 S11=55 V1 X1 S0=0! 

These work well with most modems, provided the speed is legal. 

Go back to the blank screen (using ESC). Test the init command by entering it manually. 

'R QRW HQWHU WKH FKDUDFWHU 7KLV LV 3URFRPP V FRGH IRU (17(5 

If the modem reacts with ERROR, check with the modem manual to find out what is 

wrong. (Check if the values S7=60 and S11=55 are not too high.) 

If you have to change the init command, go back to the Modem init string menu choice. 

Enter the correct commands. Remember to add the "!" at the end. 

Press ESC to get to the main configuration menu and select 2, TERMINAL SETUP. 

Check if Terminal emulation is ANSI BBS. Change choice 2, Duplex, to FULL. The 

other factory settings are NONE, CR, CR, DEST, BS, OFF, ON, 350, OFF. 

Return to the SETUP MENU (press ESC). Press "s" to save the setup to disk. Your 

setting has now been stored, and Procomm is ready to be used. 

Configuring Trumpet Winsock 

The easiest is to ask your Internet access provider to do it for you. To do it yourself, 

click on File, Setup and fill out the form based on the data that your access provider has 

given. 

Pay attention to Slip Port. This is where you enter the number of your communications 

port. Make sure you select the correct one, and not the one used by your system's 

mouse. Baud rate may be set to higher than your modem's dial up rate if it is supported. 

If your computer has an old UART, then this figure should not be higher than 9600. 

Dialing 

Now, test your setup by calling your favorite online service. This is how it was possible 

to log on to my now defunct bulletin board in Norway using the old Procomm shareware 

program. 

You can call manually by entering ATDT followed by the phone number. The most 

practical method, however, is to use the built in phone directory. 

Press ALT D to get to the phone directory. Press "R" to revise the list, and enter Saltrod 

+RUURU 6KRZ VRPHZKHUH RQ WKH OLVW , KDYH LW DV QXPEHU $QVZHU WKH TXHVWLRQV OLNH 

this: 

Name: Saltrod Horror Show 

Number: 009 47 370 31378 

Baud: 9600 

Parity: N 

Databits: 8 

Stop Bits: 1 

Echo On? N 

6 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


Command file: (press ENTER, meaning that you do not 

want to use a script at this point) 

Baud can be anything from 300 bps to 9600 bps. It's up to you, and depends on your 

modem's capabilities. 

When done, enter "2" and press ENTER. The modem will dial the number (that you 

have as item 2 on the list), and try to connect. 

If the number is busy, you will get a warning. You can now leave Procomm (ALT+X), 

or set it for redialing (ALT+R). When set for redialing, Procomm will call back until a 

connection has been made. When CONNECT is received from your modem, Procomm 

announces the fact with a beep in the computer's loudspeaker. 

Text will start scrolling over your screen. First, a short welcome text pops up. Your 

interactive dialog with the bulletin board can start. 

The first question is "What is your First Name?" Enter your first name. Then, "What is 

your Last Name?" Enter your last name. 

Your dialog with the remote computer will continue like this. The board will ask you 

questions, and you will enter your answers. 

What may go wrong? 

A setting that works beautifully when calling one bulletin board, may be a disaster when 

calling another service. Here are some typical problems: 

When dialing through a switchboard (PBX) 

Remember to add 9 or 0 for a city line, when dialing out from a PBX. If you forget, 

you'll get nowhere. 

Use the following command (assuming that you must enter 0 to get a city line, and use 

tone signaling): 

ATDT0W4737031378 

If you must use 9 for a city line and pulse dialing, use the following command 

ATDP9W4737031378 

Register your standard dialing command in Procomm's MODEM SETUP. Enter ALT+S 

and then select 1, Modem Setup. Choice 2, Dialing command. The default entry is 

ATDT. Replace this with ATDT0W, ATDP9W or whatever makes dialing work for you. 

No answer from the remote computer 

Your computer has to "talk the same language" as the remote host. If the parameters of 

your communications program have been set incorrectly, it may be impossible to set up 

a connection with the service. 

Sometimes, you get CONNECT, but your screen only gives you strange, unintelligible 

'noise' characters. The reason may be CONNECT at an incompatible speed, a service's 

use of special codes for displaying text (including special language characters), or that 

the service requires use of a special communications program or method (as when a 

service starts by checking to see if you're using an offline reader). 

Many online services require that you use certain settings. Most services, however, may 

be reached when using the following: 

Speed: 2400 bps 

8 bits word length, no parity, one stop bit 

7 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


Some services (notably some Unix hosts) demand 7 bits, even parity, one stop bit. 

Sorry, no luck! 

Try again, just in case. The remote computer may have had a temporary problem, when 

you called. The PTT may have given you a particularly noisy telephone line on this 

attempt. 

If this doesn't help, recheck each point in the communications process. It is so easy to do 

something wrong. 

If nothing helps, read the service's user information manuals. You will only rarely be 

able to blame the communications program (unless you have made it yourself), or the 

equipment. Most errors are caused by finger trouble and misunderstandings. 

Testing a BBS 

First time visitors often experience problems, and in particular if this is their first time 

online using a Hayes compatible modem. 

Here are some typical problems with suggested solutions: 

Disable Guard Tones from the modem when dialing. If it has this feature, you can 

often turn it off. Put the required command in your Modem init string. 

Don't press ENTER to "wake up" the system. The software will usually 

automatically detect your speed and adjust accordingly. You may just be asking 

for problems by not waiting patiently (often the case when the remote software 

starts by checking if you use an offline reader). 

Start with your communications program set for 8 bits word length, no parity and 

one stop bit. Try 7 bits, even parity if there is too much noise on the line (you 

cannot retrieve programs using this setting, though). 

When your modem is set at a low transfer speed, it may not wait long enough for 

carrier from my modem. Most modems let you set this waiting time longer by 

giving a value to a S register. (Read in your modem's manual about how to do 

this). 

Partial success 

Some bulletin boards offer colors and music. If your equipment is set up correctly, you 

can receive the welcome text in full color graphics accompanied by a melody in your 

computer's speaker. 

If it is not, chances are that you will get many strange codes on your screen, and an ugly 

feeling that something is wrong. 

There are two ways out of this problem: 

1. Ask the bulletin board to send text only. This is usually simple to achieve from a 

settings menu. 

2. Set your computer for colors and graphics. 

Finally, you must have a communications program that allows you to display colors on 

your screen. Procomm set with ANSI BBS does that. 

Downloading programs 

We call the transfer of programs and files from a remote computer for downloading. It 

means "transfer of data to your computer AND storage of the data (down) on YOUR 

8 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


local disk." 

You are downloading, when you call a bulletin board to retrieve a program. 

When you, overwhelmed by gratitude, send one of your favorite programs back TO the 

bulletin board, we call it uploading. 

Data can be many things. It may be news from the Washington Post, a digital picture, an 

executable program, a pile of invoices, a piece of music, a voice file, an animated 

sequence of pictures and music, or compressed library files. 

Downloading "plain text" (also called "plain ASCII" or "DOS text" on MS DOS 

machines) is relatively easy. Such text usually only contains characters between number 

32 (space character) and 126 (the ~ character) in the ASCII table. 

Characters with lower numbers have special functions (like the control characters 

ESCape and CTRL+C). These may not even be displayed on your screen. Characters 

with higher numbers are used for graphics, special national characters, and other 

applications. 

Special transfer methods are often required, when your data contains text with 

characters outside ASCII number 32 through 126. Read under "Protocol transfers" 

below for more information about how to do this. 

Downloading text 

Most communication programs require that you begin by opening a file. They ask you to 

enter a file name. From this point and onwards all incoming text will be stored in this file 

until you say stop. 

Communication programs do this in different ways. Some let incoming data flow through 

a temporary storage area using the principle first in, first out. When you open a file, it 

starts storing data from the beginning of the temporary storage area, though this text 

may have scrolled off your screen some time ago. 

Most communication programs start storing data from NOW. Procomm works this way. 

You start downloading of text by pressing the PgDn key. A window will appear on your 

screen giving you a choice between various methods. Select ASCII. 

In another window, you are asked to enter a file name. When done, storage of incoming 

data starts. You stop the process by pressing the ESC key. 

Procomm has another method called "file logging." You start this by pressing ALT F1. 

Procomm requests the file name, and the storage process starts. (Read under "Strip" 

about the difference between these methods.) 

If you forget to tell Procomm to store incoming data, then you will most 

probably lose this data for ever. 

Do not waste time and money by forgetting to store what you receive! 

The term "append" 

When downloading text or anything you must know whether you are appending 

information to an existing file, or overwriting it (that is, destroying the old text). 

Most communication programs complain with an audible signal, when you try to 

overwrite an existing file. They will ask you if you really want to delete it, or append the 

current data. 

9 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


The term "strip" 

The purpose of 'strip' is to remove something from incoming data or to change it on the 

fly. 

When you use ASCII downloading with Procomm, ALL incoming data are being stored. 

This includes so called ESCape sequences. If you use File Logging, all control 

characters (except the line feed and new page characters) are being removed (filtered). 

If you download text from a computer that uses other ASCII characters for linefeed and 

return, save time by having the communications program convert them on the fly to their 

correct form for your computer. 

You define strip procedures through Procomm's SetUp menu (ALT S). You can also 

request automatic conversion of characters to graphics values, or local language 

variants. 

National characters 

Special national characters cause problems in many countries. One reason is that they 

are represented by different internal codes on various hardware platforms, and that some 

networks are unable to transmit 8 bits data. 

Some systems represent these special characters by a 7 bit code, others by an 8 bit code. 

Some depend on the computer having an internal national language ROM, or that it uses 

a special (resident) conversion program. 

What gives good results on an MS DOS computer, may give rubbish on a Macintosh, 

Amiga, Atari, or a PC using MS Windows. 

Many communication programs have features that can help you solve at least some 

these problems. They let you make translation tables for automatic conversion of special 

incoming and outgoing characters. 

If you call a Scandinavian online service using 7 bits even parity, many transfer the 

national special characters using the ASCII code equivalents of number 91, 92, 93, 123, 

124, and 125. Similar, more or less formal standards are in place in other countries. 

Protocol transfers 

If your purpose is to transfer digitized pictures, a computer program, a batch of invoices, 

a piece of music or an animated sequence of pictures, it's important that each character 

(bit) arrives correctly. We achieve this by using protocol transfers. 

These files often contain control or binary characters. You cannot transfer binary files 

without the use of special methods. 

It is easy to understand why we need protocol transfers when retrieving plain text as 

tables of numbers, statistics, and financial reports. Transfer errors may have fatal results. 

Protocol transfers are also required when transferring word processor text files having 

imbedded control codes (like text made with WordPerfect), and compressed files. 

Here is an example: 

Downloading public domain software 

First, you need the names and features of the programs that can be downloaded from a 

10 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


service. On most bulletin boards, you must enter a command to navigate to the File 

Library. Here, they normally greet you with a menu listing available commands. 

Try H (for Help!) or ? when you are stuck. 

Public domain and shareware programs are stored in subdirectories on my bulletin 

board. The directories have numerical names. Utility programs for MS DOS computers 

are stored in directory 10. Games are stored in directory 17. 

Enter L for a list of available directories (other bulletin boards may use different 

commands). Enter "L 17" to list the files in directory 17. This will give file names, 

lengths in characters (to help you estimate download time), creation dates, and a short 

description of each file. 

You can search for files of interest. When looking for programs that can help you get 

more out of a printer, you may search using keywords like "printer." 

Some programs are made available in text form. This is the case with older BASIC 

programs. (The file name extensions .BAS, .ASC or .TXT suggest that the files contain 

plain text.) You can download these files using ASCII. 

Most programs are stored in their executable form, or as one executable file among 

several in a compressed transfer file (a library of files). On my board, most of these files 

have the file name extension .EXE or .COM. 

What transfer protocol to use, depends on what is available in your communications 

program. 

The protocol transfer method explained 

The protocol transfer algorithms use methods to check the transfer with automatic error 

correction. In principle, they work like this: 

The sending program calculates a check sum based on the contents of the file. The 

receiving program does the same calculation and compares the result with the senders' 

check sum. If the figures match, the transfer was successful. If not, all or part of the file 

will be retransmitted. 

These are some popular protocols: 

XMODEM 

has automatic error detection and correction. Most modern programs have this feature. 

XMODEM exists in programs for MS DOS computers, CP/M computers, Apple, TRS 80 

Model 100, etc. It is the most commonly used transfer protocol. 

XMODEM assumes 8 bit settings in your communications program. The file to be sent is 

split up into 128 bit sized blocks (or "packets") before transfer. The sender calculates the 

check sum and adds a check sum bit at the end of each packet. (Packing, sending and 

checking is done automatically by the software.) 

The receiving program calculates its own check sum and compares with the sender's. If 

an error is detected, XMODEM will request retransmission of the last block. 

XMODEM is reasonably good when there is little noise on the telephone line is low. 

When the line is bad, however, there is always a chance that the transfer will stop. You 

cannot use XMODEM on computer networks that use ASCII flow control or ESCape 

codes. 

The transfer commands must be given to both computers. You can only transfer one file 

per command. 

11 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


XMODEM's "packet size" (block length) is short. This has an impact on transfer speed, 

and especially when downloading from timesharing systems, packet switched networks, 

via satellites, and when using buffered (error correcting) modems. 

The control method (8 bit check sum) and unprotected transactions give a low level of 

safety against errors in the transmission. The transferred file may contain 127 bytes with 

noise characters (at the end). The creation date of the file is lost in the transfer. 

These weaknesses have given us better methods. Here are some of them: 

XMODEM/CRC 

CRC is an abbreviation for Cyclical Redundancy Check. The method guarantees 

99.9969 percent free transfer. It still has the other weaknesses of ordinary XMODEM 

transfers. 

YMODEM Batch 

is faster than XMODEM and gives a high level of safety in the transfers. When used 

with some programs, YMODEM can transfer the files' creation time/date. You can 

transfer updated documents. This will replace documents with an older creation date. 

Only one party must enter the file name. YMODEM takes care of the rest. 

Kermit 

is used on many computer platforms, and especially where they use a terminal emulation 

mode (like VT 100) which makes the use of XMODEM impossible. Kermit is one of the 

few asynchronous error correction protocols that functions well exchanging files with 

half duplex IBM front end machines. 

Kermit can transfer more than one file at the time. 

Super Kermit 

is also called Kermit with Sliding Windows. It can transfer many packets before stopping 

WR FKHFN WKH WUDQVIHU 7KH SURWRFRO LV PXFK IDVWHU WKDQ ;02'(0 

ZMODEM 

is the fastest known transfer protocol for many applications. All transactions are 

protected with a 16 bit or 32 bit CRC. ZMODEM is immune against most error 

conditions that prevent traditional protocols to achieve correct transfer. 

ZMODEM transfers the creation date of the file and its exact contents. The file name is 

read once, and all transfer commands may be given by the sending program. 

Decompression of files 

If a file has name extensions like ZIP, LZH, ARC, PAK, LQR, LBR, ZOO, ARJ, or 

QQQ, you are facing a compressed file. We use such files to achieve faster transfers. 

Files having the extension .EXE or .COM may be compressed files that have been 

converted into a self extract format. To retrieve the files from a self extract compressed 

file, just enter the file's name. 

To decompress files that have not been made self extract, you need a utility program. 

These programs have many names and are widely available through the Internet. 

12 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


Transfer problems 

Most transfer problems are caused by the communication programs and their (lack of) 

features. 

Some Procomm users have problems with the Kermit protocol. Tip: use 8 bit world 

length and no parity in your program setup. 7 bits and even parity does not always work 

(on version 2.4.2). 

Uploading 

The transfer of data "the other way," that is, from your disk to a remote computer, 

requires that you start by making some decisions. Is the file to be sent as plain ASCII? 

Should I compress it in a distribution file to reduce transfer time, and make it easier to 

handle for the recipient? 

If you are transferring a text file containing special national characters, or a text written 

in a Windows word processor, then it may first have to be converted to another format. 

If your text contains blank lines (like blank lines between paragraphs), you may have to 

insert a space character at the start of all such lines. Some systems interpret a blank line 

as a signal telling that transmission is done. The invisible space character prevents this. 

Some hosts have limitations on line length. They may require that lines be shorter than 

80 characters. If you send lines that are too long, the result may be fatal. 

Sending electronic mail 

If you send your mail too fast, some online services tend to get digestion problems. You 

must be very accurate with the format of your message. It has to agree with the host 

machine's rules about line length, and maximum number of lines per message. 

Let's assume that you want to send the following message to an electronic mailbox: 

To: Datatid 

cc: Anne Tove Vestfossen 

Sj: Merry Christmas! 

Text: Thanks for the box with herring. The taste was 

formidable. etc .. etc... etc... 

Greetings, Odd 

If this is all you have to say, doing it manually may be as fast as doing it automatically. 

However, if the line containing "etc .. etc .." is two full pages of text, you may feel 

differently. Then, the best may be to upload a prewritten letter. 

Many Procomm users prefer to split the job in two. They enter the first four lines 

manually, and upload the body of the text (when the remote computer is ready to 

receive). 

Press PgUp to get a menu of various uploading protocols. Select ASCII for transfer of 

plain text. Procomm will ask for the name of the file, which contains your letter. Enter 

the name, and the file will be sent. 

Slow down with "pacing" 

Sometimes, the PgUp method is just what you need. On other days, strange things may 

stop you in the middle of your transfer. One typical reason is that Procomm is sending it 

too fast for the recipient. 

13 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50


"Pacing" is a method used to slow the speed of the transfer to a level that the recipient 

can handle. 

Procomm lets you set a tiny pause after each line sent. Another technique is to ask the 

program to wait for a given character (a "Go character"), before allowing it to send the 

next line. For example: the character ":" is often used in the prompts for the next line on 

bulletin boards. 

Protocol transfers may be easier 

You may find it easier to use a transfer protocol. With Procomm, press the PgUp key, 

and the program will ask for a protocol. Select Kermit or something else. The program 

will ask for a file name, you enter it, and off it goes. You will have no problems with 

blank lines, or lines that are too long. 

At times, even this will fail. The most common reasons are: 

The recipient requires that Procomm be set for 8 bits word length, no parity, 1 

stop bit, when using this protocol, but you have it set differently. 

You think that the recipient's version of YMODEM is the same that you have. 

Wrong! Total failure. 

Do the following to upload the file TEST.TXT to an old RBBS PC bulletin board using 

XMODEM: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

Navigate to the file area. Tell the BBS what you want by using the following 

command: 

u;test.txt;x 

Press PgUp, select XMODEM, enter a file name (TEST.TXT), and the transfer 

will start. (If you are too slow, the BBS may be tired of waiting for your 

commands . . .) 

When the transfer is completed, the board will ask for a short description of the 

file. Enter it, and you are done. 

Enter G (for Goodbye), and disconnect. 


Search: 






14 of 14 23.11.2009 15:50

Frequently used terms http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/v4.html 

Access number 

Acronym 

Address 

ANSI 

ASCII 

ASCII_download 

Asynchronous_transfer 

Autodial 

Bandwidth 

BBS 

Big5 

Binary 

Binhex 

Bits 

Bits per second (bps) 

Boolean 

Bounce 

Bps 

Browse 

BTW 

Bulletin board 


Appendix 4: 

Some frequently used terms 


Carrier 

Character 

CCITT 

COM port 

Compress 

Conference 

Connect time 

cps 

Cryptography 

Cyrillic 

Data 

Database 

DCE/DTE 

Decompression 

Default 

Dial up access 

Downloading 

DTR 

Duplex 

ECHO 

Email 

Ethernet 

File Name 

Extensions 

File server 

File transfer 

Flame 

Freeware 

Full duplex 

Full text_database 

Gateway 

GuoBiao 

Half_duplex 

Ham 

Handle 

Header 

Host 

Intranet 

ISDN 

ISO 

ITU 

JIS, 

JPEG_(JPG) 

KB 

Kbits 

LAN 

LDAP 

Leased line 

Library 

Login 

Lurking 

Mail_Gateway 

Mail_server 

Megabit_(Mb) 

MHS 

MIDI 

Modem 

Moderator 

Mojikyo 

MPEG 

MUD 

No>m 

NAPLPS 

Netiquette 

Network 

Nodes 

Access number 

Telephone number dialed to access an online service or Internet provider. 

Acronym 

NUA 

Search_engines 

NUI 

Server 

Offline 

Shareware 

Offline_Reader Snail_mail 

Online 

Spam 

OSI 

String_search 

Packet 

Sysop 

Packet_data_networks System 

Packet_radio T1 

Packet_switching T3 

Password 

TAR 

PDF 

7HUPLQDOBHPXODWRU 

Petabit 

UUdecoding 

Port 

Unicode 

Prompt 

Unix 

Protocol 

Uploading 

PTT 

Virus 

Public_domain VRML 

Qalam 

X.25 

QWK 

X.400 

Real time 

X.500 

Router 

Routing 

Script_files 

ZIP 

A word formed from the initial letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a 

compound term. Examples: BTW (by the way), FYI (for your information), IMHO (in 

my humble opinion). 

Acronym Finder is a searchable database containing common acronyms and 

abbreviations about all subjects, with a focus on computers, technology, 

telecommunications, and the military. 

Address 

The string of characters that you must give an electronic mail program to direct a 

message to a particular person. The term "Internet address" often refers to an assigned 

number, which identifies a host on this network. 

ANSI 

1 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


(1) ANSI is an organization that sets standards. 

(2) 'ANSI graphics' (ref. the term ANSI BBS) is a set of cursor control codes that 

originated on the VT100 terminal. Many online services use them to enhance their 

transmission of characters to communication programs. The escape character, followed 

by other characters, are used to move the cursor on the screen, change color, and more. 

ASCII 

The American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A standard seven bit code 

created to achieve compatibility between various types of data processing equipment. 

ASCII, pronounced "ask key," is the common code for microcomputer equipment. 

The Standard ASCII Character Set consists of 128 decimal numbers ranging from 

zero through 127 assigned to letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and the most common 

special characters. Each code can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 

through 1111111. 

The Extended ASCII Character Set also consists of 128 decimal numbers and 

ranges from 128 through 255 representing additional special, mathematical, graphic, and 

foreign characters. 

ASCII download 

Retrieval of plain ASCII text (without special codes). Normally, it takes place without 

automatic error correction, but it is typically managed by XON/XOFF flow control. 

Asynchronous transfer 

Serial communication between two computers. When signals are sent to a computer at 

irregular intervals, they are described as asynchronous. Data is sent at irregular intervals 

by preceding each character with a start bit and following it with a stop bit. 

Asynchronous transmission allows a character to be sent at random after the 

preceding character has been sent, without regard to any timing device. So, in case of 

line noise, the modem can find out right away where the next byte should start. 

Autodial 

When a modem dials a telephone number automatically. Autodial may be started by the 

user entering the number manually, or the number may be sent automatically by the 

communications program (for example after having been selected from a phone 

register). 

Bandwidth 

How much you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits per second. 

Baud 

A unit of measurement that shows the number of discrete signal elements, such as bits 

that can be sent per second. 

Bits per second (bps) is the number of binary digits sent in one second. There is a 

difference between bps and baud rate, and the two are often confused. For example, a 

device such as a modem said to send at 2400 baud is not correct. It actually sends 2400 

bits per second. 

Both baud rate and bps refer to the rate at which the bits within a single frame are 

sent. The gaps between the frames can be of variable length. Accordingly, neither baud 

rate nor bps refer accurately to the rate at which information is actually being 

transferred. 

2 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


BBS 

Bulletin Board or Bulletin Board System. See Bulletin Board. 

Big5 

&RGLQJ VFKHPH GHYHORSHG LQ 7DLZDQ IRU XVLQJ &KLQHVH RQ FRPSXWHUV 7KHUH DUH 

varieties of Big5 codes, the most common being ET Big5 (the code used by the 

Taiwanese program ETen, pronounced Yi3tian1) and HKU Big5 (the code used for 

programs developed at Hong Kong University). 

ET Big5 files must be read with the ETen operating system. Check out the Archie 

server at telnet://archie.TWNIC.NET (login: archie) to locate software and get more 

information. Also, check Mojikyo. 

Binary 

The base 2 number system in which only the digits 1 and 0 are used is called the binary 

system. The binary system lets us express any number, if we have enough bits, as a 

combination of 1's and 0's. Also used to express conditions like on/off, true/false, yes/no. 

Binhex 

Macintosh software and documents (other than text files) are often "encoded" into text 

files for transmission over the network. A common standard for such encoding is 

referred to as BinHex. You can usually tell that a file contains a BinHex encoded Mac 

ILOH DV WKH ILOH QDPH HQGV LQ KT[ 

BinHex5.0 format is a MacBinary format, while BinHex 4.0 files are Macintosh 

ASCII format. 

To keep transmission times short, the BinHexed files are often "compressed" using 

a utility like StuffIt. To reconstitute the Mac application or document you may need to 

"un StuffIt." The freeware program, StuffIt Expander, will BinHex and unstuff most 

Mac files. Uncompression programs are available from archives on the Internet. 

Examples: xbin23.zip (DOS), mcvert (Unix), and binhex (VM/CMS). 

Bits 

Bit is an abbreviation for Binary digIT. Computer words and data are made up of bits, 

the smallest unit of information. 

A bit can be either zero or one, represented in a circuit by an off or on state, 

respectively. The bits are set on or off to store data, or to form a code that in turn sends 

instructions to the computer's central processing unit. 

Bits per second (bps) 

Bits per second (bps) is the number of binary digits sent in one second. It refers to the 

rate at which the bits within a single frame are sent ('frame' is another term for 'packet'). 

The gaps between frames can be of variable length. Accordingly, bps does not refer to 

the rate at which information is actually being transferred. 

We usually estimate the number of characters transferred per second (cps) by 

dividing the number of bps by 10. Example: 2400 bps transfers around 240 characters 

per second. 

Boolean 

A Boolean search is a search that allows logical relations between parts. This means that 

you power your request with the ability to find all relevant documents that fulfill one 

condition AND (OR) another one. Other common operators include NOT and NEAR. 

The search algorithm is built on the algebraic theories of the English mathematician 

3 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


George Booles. 

Bounce 

The return of a piece of mail because of an error in its delivery. 

Bps 

Abbreviation for bits per second. See above. 

Browse 

To view and possibly edit a file of data on screen similar to handling text in a word 

processing document. 

BTW 

(By The Way) A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum. 

Bulletin board 

A computer, often a microcomputer, set up to receive calls and work as an online 

service. The BBSes let users communicate with each other through message bases, and 

exchange files. They may also offer other services (like news, database searches, and 

online shopping). 

Carrier 

Carrier is the tone modems send over a phone line before any data is sent on it. This 

tone has a fixed frequency and a fixed amplitude. It is then changed to show data. 

Character 

Here used about a letter, a number or another typographical symbol or code. For a list of 

special, email and .html characters, see 123Promote. 

CCITT 

The Consultative Committee for International Telephony and Telegraphy. Was an 

international consultative committee, organized by the United Nations. Now replaced by 

ITU TSS. See ITU (below). 

COM port 

A COM port (or communication port) is a communications channel or pathway over 

which data is transferred between remote computing devices. 

MS DOS computers may have as many as four COM ports, COM1, COM2, COM3, 

and COM4. These are serial ports most often used with a modem to set up a 

communications channel over telephone lines. They can also be used to send data to a 

serial printer, or to connect a serial mouse. 

(1) To compact data to save space. 

Compress 

(2) Common compression function on the Internet. Depending on the distribution of data 

LQ D ILOH FRPSUHVVLRQ PD\ UHGXFH LWV VL]H E\ WR 

COMPRESS files are often, but not always, noted with the file extension .Z. Data 

4 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


archive and compression processes can be combined to form files like filename.tar.z (see 

TAR below). 

If you download a file with a file type showing that it is compressed, you will need a 

program to expand it before you can use it. Search the net for files starting with 'comp' 

(as in COMP430D.EXE) to find programs that can expand .Z files. 

Conference 

Also called mailing list, web board, SIG (Special Interest Group), Forum, RoundTable, 

Echo. A conference is an area on a bulletin board or online service set up as a mini 

board. Most conferences have separate message bases and often also file libraries and 

bulletins. Conferences are focused on topics, like politics, games, multimedia and 

product support. 

Connect time 

A term used for the hours, minutes, and seconds that a user is connected to an online 

service. On several commercial services, users have to pay for connect time. 

Characters per second. See Bits per second. 

Coding for privacy. 

cps 

Cryptography 

Cyrillic 

There are several different coding systems for Cyrillic characters (Russian). Most 

important are the KOI 8 Unix standard, and CP 1225, primarily used for Microsoft 

Windows. 

Cyrillic fonts and keyboard maps are available from several sources. See 

http://www.free.net/Docs/cyrillic/notes.en.html IRU LQIRUPDWLRQ 

Data 

Information of any kind, including binary, decimal or hexadecimal numbers, integer 

numbers, text strings, etc. 

Database 

A database is a highly structured file (or set of files) that tries to provide all the 

information assigned to a particular subject and to allow programs to access only items 

they need. 

Online services offer databases that users can search to find full text or 

bibliographic references to desired topics. 

DCE/DTE 

Data Communications Equipment/Data Terminal Equipment. Equipment connected to 

an RS232 connector must be either a DCE (like a modem or a printer) or a DTE 

(computer or terminal). The term defines the types of equipment that will "talk" and 

"listen." 

Decompression 

Files available from online archives are often compressed to save space, and reduce 

retrieval time. A FAQ about how to decompress 'anything' is regularly posted to the 

5 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


comp.compression newsgroup. 

Default 

When a value, parameter, attribute, or option is assigned by a communications program, 

modem, or online system unless something else is specified, it is called the default. 

For example, communication programs often have prespecified values for baud 

rate, bit size and parity that are used unless alternative values are given. These 

prespecified values are called the defaults. 

Some services give users a choice between two or more options. If a selection is not 

made by the user, then a selection is automatically assigned, by default. 

Dial up access 

An indirect connection to the Internet or an online service through a modem or a digital 

phone network adapter. 

Downloading 

The transfer of data from an online service and "down" to your computers' disk. 

DTR 

Data Terminal Ready is a circuit which, when ON, tells the modem that your computer 

is ready to communicate. Most modems are unable to tell your computer that a 

connection has been set up with a remote computer before this circuit has been switched 

off. If your computer turns this signal OFF, while it is in a dialog with a remote 

computer, the modem will normally disconnect. 

Duplex 

Describes how you see text entered by the keyboard. When the setting is HALF 

DUPLEX, all characters entered on your computer for transfer to an online service (or 

your modem) will be displayed. In addition, you will normally receive an echo from the 

online service (or modem). The result will often 'bbee lliikkee tthhiiss'. 

When using the setting FULL DUPLEX, typed characters will not be shown. What 

you see, are characters echoed back to you from the online service and/or your modem. 

ECHO 

(1) When data is being sent, the receiving device often resends the information back so 

WKH VHQGLQJ GHYLFH FDQ EH VXUH LW ZDV UHFHLYHG FRUUHFWO\ 

(2) Term used on FidoNet for this network's system of exchanging conferences (parallel 

conferencing). 

Abbreviation for Electronic Mail. 

Email 

Ethernet 

A very common method of networking computers in a LAN (Local Area Network). 

File Name Extensions 

Consult the Whatis.com list of file name extensions RU VXIIL[HV WKDW LQGLFDWH WKH IRUPDW 

or usage of a file. There's also a brief description of that format. 

6 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


File server 

A file server is a device "serving" files to everyone on a network. It allows everyone on 

the network to get files in a single place, on one computer. Typically, it is a combination 

computer, data management software, and large capacity hard disk drive. 

File transfer 

The copying of a file from one computer to another over a computer network. 

Flame 

A "flame" is a conference message sent by someone who disagrees so violently that they 

are willing to sink to personal attacks. Flames can be extremely annoying, and can get 

the writer banished from several conference networks. 

Freeware 

A program, text, or file in which the author still holds the copyright but allows the item 

to be used and distributed free of charge. 

Full duplex 

The term full duplex means the transmission of data in two directions simultaneously as 

from a terminal to a computer or from the computer to the terminal. Full duplex is 

simultaneous two way communication. 

Full text database 

A database containing the full text of an article, a chapter in a book, or a book. The 

contents are not limited to abstracted information (indexes, bibliographic information). 

Gateway 

In this book, the term gateway is used about an interconnection between two (or more) 

online services, set up to let a user of one service use the other service's offerings 

through the first service's user interface. 

The term also has other meanings: 

A gateway provides an interconnection between two networks with different 

communications protocols. Gateways operate at the 4th through 7th layer of the OSI 

model. For example, a PAD (a packet assembler/disassembler) is a device used to 

interface non X.25 devices to an X.25 network. The PAD serves as a gateway. Protocol 

converters are gateways between networks. 

The gateway, provided by an adapter card in a workstation, enables the network to 

perform as if it were a mainframe terminal connected directly to the mainframe. 

GuoBiao 

Coding scheme for using Chinese on computers developed in mainland China. 

Half duplex 

The term half duplex means the transmission of data in either direction but only one 

direction at a time. 

Ham 

7 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


Amateur radio. 

Handle 

An alias used on a bulletin board or online service instead of your real name. Often used 

in chats. 

Header 

,Q DQ HPDLO PHVVDJH WKH SDUW WKDW SUHFHGHV WKH ERG\ RI D PHVVDJH DQG FRQWDLQV 

among other things, the message originator, date and time. 

(2) On a packet switched network, the portion of a package, preceding the actual data, 

containing source and destination addresses, and error checking and other fields. 

Host 

A term for host computer, remote computer or online service. Here, we use it about a 

timesharing computer, a BBS system, or a central computer that controls a network and 

delivers online services. 

Intranet 

An internal (corporate) network using Internet technology. Usually it involves the use of 

the TCP/IP protocols. 

Pointers for more information: 

http://www.intrack.com/intranet/ 

http://www.innergy.com/ix/index.html 

ISDN 

A technology being offered by many telephone carriers. ISDN combines voice and 

digital network services in a single medium, making it possible to offer customers digital 

data services as well as voice connections through a single "wire." The standards that 

define ISDN are specified by ITU TSS. Connection speed is typically up to 128 Kbps. 

For more information, visit http://www.itu.int/home/Search/, and enter "isdn" as a 

search term. 

ISO 

The International Organization for Standardization. A voluntary, nontreaty organization 

responsible for creating international standards in many areas, including computers and 

communications. Its members are the national standards organizations of the 89 member 

countries, including ANSI for the U.S. ISO is coordinator of the main Internet 

networking standards that are in use today. 

ITU 

The International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations treaty organization based 

in Geneva, Switzerland. Membership includes Telephone, governmental Post, and 

Telegraph Authorities, scientific and trade associations, and private companies. 

ITU consists of three "sectors:" the Radiocommunication Sector, the 

Telecommunication Standardization Sector (TSS), and the Development Sector. 

ITU TSS sets international communications recommendations. These are often 

adopted as standards. It also develops interface, modem, and data network 

recommendations. 

A wide range of ITU documents is available from their server. 

8 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


ITU TSS is the Standards Sector of ITU . 

JIS 

A Japanese industry standard code for presenting the Japanese character set Kanji on 

computers. JIS defines special ranges of user defined characters. Only the most popular 

ones are included. The newer Shift JIS standard sets aside certain character codes to 

signal the start of a two character sequence. Together, these define a single Kanji 

metacharacter. 

There are many oddities to be found in handling Kanji over the network. Sending 

JIS encoded messages through the Internet is done using a 7 bit code, called "OLD JIS" 

(standardized on JUNET). Unfortunately, it incorporates the ESC character, which some 

systems will filter out. This problem can be overcome by using UUENCODing. 

Kidlink operates two Japanese language mailing lists: KIDLEADER JAPANESE 

IRU WHDFKHUV DQG FRRUGLQDWRUV DQG KIDCAFE JAPANESE (for children only). See 

their "How to send and receive Kanji text" help file. 

See http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/fll/JapanProj/Je mail/ for more about 

sending and receiving electronic mail in Japanese. 

JPEG (JPG) 

Standardized compression method for full color and gray scale images that often 

reduces the size of bitmapped images by a factor of 10 or more with little or no 

discernible image degradation. Designed to handle "real world" scenes, for example 

scanned photographs. Cartoons, line drawings, and other non realistic images are not 

JPEG's strong suit. On that sort of material you may get poor image quality and/or little 

compression. 

KB 

Kilobyte. A unit of data storage size that represents 1024 characters of information. 

1,000 bits. 

Kbits 

LAN 

Local Area Network. A data network intended to serve an area of only a few square 

kilometers or less. 

LDAP 

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. Email address directory. See the LDAP 

home page 7KH /'$3 SURWRFRO LV GHVFULEHG LQ RFC 1777, and is an open standard for 

directory services on the Internet. 

Leased line 

Refers to a phone line that is rented for exclusive 24 hour, 7 days a week use from your 

location to another location. 

Library 

is used on online services about a collection of related databases (that you may search 

in) or files (that may be retrieved). 

Login 

9 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


Noun: The account name used to gain access to a computer system. Not a secret 

(contrast with Password). 

Verb: The act of entering into a computer system, for example, "Login to the WELL and 

then go to the GBN conference." 

Lurking 

No active participation by a subscriber to a mailing list, a conference, or Usenet 

newsgroup. A person who is lurking is just listening to the discussion. 

Mail Gateway 

A machine that connects to two or more electronic mail systems (including dissimilar 

mail systems) and transfers messages among them. 

Mail server 

A software program that distributes files or information in response to requests sent by 

email. 

Megabit (Mb) 

2^2 bits of information. Usually used to express a data transfer rate, as in, 1 

megabit/second (= 1Mbps). 

MHS 

(1) Message handling Service. Electronic mail software from Action Technologies 

licensed by Novell for its Netware operating systems. Provides message routing and 

store and forward capabilities. MHS has gateways into PROFS, and X.400 message 

systems. It also has a directory naming service and binary attachments. 

(2) Message Handling System. The standard defined by ITU TSS as X.400 and by ISO as 

Message Oriented Text Interchange Standard (MOTIS). MHS is the X.400 family of 

services and protocols that provides the functions for global email transfer among local 

mail systems. 

MIDI 

Musical Instrument Digital Interface. A specification that standardizes the interface 

between computers and digital devices that simulate musical instruments. Rather than 

transmit bulky digitized sound samples, a computer generates music on a MIDI 

synthesizer by sending commands just a few bytes in length characterizing the pitch and 

duration of sounds (and the instruments that produce them). Each channel of a MIDI 

synthesizer corresponds to a different instrument, or "voice," and you can program 

several channels simultaneously to produce symphonic sound. 

Modem 

An acronym for MOdulator DEModulator. It is a device that converts digital data from a 

computer or terminal into analog data that can be sent over telephone lines. On the 

receiving end, it converts the analog data back to digital data. 

Most modern modems can handle the dialing and answering of a telephone call and 

generate the speed of the data transmission, measured in bits per second, or baud rates. 

The telephone industry sometimes refers to a modem as a dataset. 

Moderator 

10 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


A person, or a small group of people, who manage moderated mailing lists and 

newsgroups. Moderators are responsible for deciding which email submissions are 

passed on to list. 

Mojikyo 

The Mojikyo font set (aka Konjaku Mojikyo, the 'Mirror of characters of old and new 

days'), is a new approach to handling Chinese characters on personal computers. It uses 

TrueType fonts for Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, 'Oracle Bone' 

(kookotsu bun) and Siddham characters. 

MPEG 

Motion Picture Experts Group. A multimedia video playback standard that allows digital 

video to be compressed using a combination of JPEG image compression and 

differencing (encoding a video sequence by recording differences between frames rather 

than entire images of each frame). 

There are two MPEG standards: MPEG 1, which supports a playback quality 

roughly equal to that of a VCR, and MPEG 2, which supports high quality digital video. 

MP3 stands MPEG 1 layer 3, a method of storing high quality music files on a disk 

in such a way that the file size is relatively small. More at http://www.mp3.com 

/dummies.html. 

MUD 

Multiple User Dimension, Multiple User Dungeon, or Multiple User Dialogue. A 

computer program which users can log into and explore. Each user takes control of a 

computerized persona/avatar/incarnation/character. You can walk around, chat with 

other characters, explore dangerous monster infested areas, solve puzzles, and even 

create your very own rooms, descriptions and items. 

For information, retrieve the various MUD FAQs from these directories 

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/games/mud faq/ 

http://tecfa.unige.ch/pub/documentation/MUD/ 

No>m 

The No>m Standard Code for Information Interchange (NSCII) is a 16 bit character 

encoding standard used in Vietnam. No>m has been the writing system, based on 

ideographic (Chinese) characters, in use since the tenth century for the spoken 

Vietnamese language. 

NAPLPS 

North American Presentation Level Protocol Syntax. A text and graphics data 

transmission format for sending large amounts of information between computers. 

Netiquette 

A pun on "etiquette" referring to proper behavior on a network. 

Network 

A data communications system that interconnects computer systems at various sites. 

Nodes 

Devices on a network that demand or supply services or where transmission paths are 

11 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


connected. Node is often used instead of workstation. 

NUA 

Network User Address. The network address in a packet data network. The electronic 

number that is sent to the network to connect to an online service. Also, called X.121 

address. 

NUI 

Network User Identification. The user name/password that you use to get access to (and 

use) a commercial packet switched network. 

Offline 

has the opposite meaning of "Online" (see below). It signifies that your computer is not 

in direct communication with a remote online service. 

Offline Reader 

A computer program making the handling of mail and files from online services easier 

(and cheaper). Some also provides automatic mail and file transfers. 

Online 

Being connected via modem or a digital phone adapter to a computer service. 

OSI 

Open System Interconnection. A set of protocols designed to be an international 

standard method for connecting unlike computers and networks. A FAQ, Introductory 

information about OSI, is posted each month to the comp.protocols.iso, comp.answers, 

and news.answers newsgroups. 

Packet 

(1) A group of bits sent by a modem that make up a byte of information. 

(2) A group of bytes sent by a file transfer protocol. 

Packet data networks 

Also called Packet Switching Networks (PDN). Value added networks offering long 

distance computer communications. They let users access a remote computer, by dialing 

a local node, or access point. 

The packet data networks use high speed digital links, which can be land lines or 

satellite communications, to send data from one computer to another using packets of 

data. They use synchronous communications, usually with the X.25 protocol. The routes 

are continually optimized, and successive packets of the same message need not 

necessarily follow the same path. 

Packet radio 

is a method of communications by radio in which digital information prepared on a 

computer is converted to short, swift audio bursts ("packets") by a "terminal node 

controller" or "packet controller," and sent through a radio to another location where a 

similar station delivers it error free to the receiving computer. It can send text as well as 

binary files. 

12 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


Packet switching 

Sending data in packets through a network to some remote location. The data to be sent 

is subdivided into individual packets of data, each having a unique identification and 

carrying its destination address. This allows each packet to go by a different route. The 

packet ID lets the data be reassembled in proper sequence. 

Password 

A code used to gain access to a locked system. Good passwords contain letters and 

non letters and are not simple combinations such as "virtue7". A good password might 

be: Ho/t$1 6. 

PDF 

A method for displaying information on computers made by Adobe Acrobat. 

PlanetPDF is a useful resource for everything PDF. Resources include news, tools and 

plugins, articles and papers, information for developers, tips, and a forum. 

A million billion bits. 

Petabit 

Port 

Three meanings. First, a place where information goes into or out of a computer, or both. 

)RU H[DPSOH WKH VHULDO SRUW RQ D SHUVRQ FRPSXWHU LV ZKHUH D PRGHP PD\ EH 

connected. (See COM Port above.) 

On the Internet, "port" often refers to a number that is part of a URL, appearing 

after a colon (:) right after the domain name. Every service on an Internet server 

"listens" on a particular port number on that server. Most services have standard port 

numbers. For example, Web servers normally listen on port 80. Services can also listen 

on non standard ports, in which case the port number must be specified in a URL when 

accessing the server, so you might see a URL of the form: 

gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/ 

This shows a gopher server running on a non standard port (the standard gopher port is 

70). 

Finally, "port" also refers to translating a piece of software to bring it from one type 

of computer system to another, for example to translate a Windows program to make it 

run on a Macintosh. 

Prompt 

Several times during interactive dialogs with online services, the flow of data stops while 

the host computer waits for commands from the user. At this point, the service often 

presents the user with a reminder, a cue, a prompt. These are some typical prompts: 

? 

! 

WHAT NOW? 

(Read) next letter 

ulrik 1> 

System News 5000> 

Enter #, elp, or to continue? 

Action ==> (Inbox) 

Command: 

Enter command or 

> 

13 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


Protocol 

A formal description of message formats and the rules two computers must follow to 

exchange messages. Protocols can describe low level details of machine to machine 

interface (for example, the order in which bits and bytes are sent across the wire), or 

high level exchanges between allocation programs (for example, the way in which two 

programs transfer a file across the Internet). 

PTT 

Postal Telegraph and Telephone. A telephone service provider, often a monopoly, in a 

particular country. 

Public domain 

Free from copyrights or patents, these programs, texts or files may be used by the public 

without any payments to the creators. 

Qalam 

is an Arabic Latin Arabic transliteration system between Arabic script languages and the 

Latin script embodied in the ASCII character set. The Qalam system is designed to 

transliterate Arabic script languages for computer mediated communication by 

individuals literate in those languages. 

QWK 

Qwikmail. A n offline message file format for bulletin boards offering mail through a 

QMail Door. The .QWK door and file format has been used to develop entire BBS 

networks (example: ILINK.) 

There are QWK format mail readers for Apple, Amiga, Atari, C64/C128, 

CoCo/OS9, CP/M, Macintosh, MS DOS, OS/2, Unix, Windows and Windows NT. 

Real time 

Having the appearance of immediate action. For example, typing messages that appear 

on another's monitor almost instantly. 

Router 

A special purpose computer (or software package) that handles the connection between 

two or more networks. Routers spend all their time looking at the destination addresses 

of the packets passing through them, and deciding which route to send them on. 

Routing 

The process of delivering a message across a network or networks via the most proper 

path. While simple in principle, routing is a specialized, complex science, influenced by 

a plethora of factors. The more networks are interconnected, the more esoteric routing is 

set to become. 

Script files 

A set of commands that enable a communications program to execute a given set of 

tasks automatically (macro commands). 

Search engines 

14 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


A search engine looks up the word(s) you input in an index to Web documents. Indexes 

vary in size. None will be completely comprehensive and up to date though most are 

updated regularly and some are huge. Some also cover Usenet news archives, and there 

are others for gopher servers. 

Server 

$ FRPSXWHU RU D VRIWZDUH SDFNDJH WKDW SURYLGHV D VSHFLILF NLQG RI VHUYLFH WR FOLHQW 

software running on other computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of 

software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine on which the software is running. 

(Example: mail server is down today, that's why email isn't getting out.") 

A single server machine could have several different server software packages 

running on it, thus providing many different servers to clients on the network. 

Shareware 

Copyrighted programs, texts, or other types of application files sold on a try before 

you buy basis. If you continue using the item past a certain evaluation period, you must 

pay the author a given "registration fee." Also often referred to as "user supported." 

Snail mail 

A pejorative term referring to the national postal service in different countries. 

Spam (or Spamming) 

An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, a conference, or another networked 

communications facility as if it was a broadcast medium by sending the same message to 

many people who didn't ask for it. 

String search 

A method for searching a database. Works like the search function in a common word 

processor program. 

On online services, your commands will often search the full document (including 

the title, subtitles, keywords, and the full text). Sometimes, string searches just return a 

line or a few lines around the hit. In other cases, they return the full screen or the full 

document. 

Sysop 

Common name used on bulletin boards for System Operator. This is the person in charge 

of maintenance and helping users. 

System 

Generic name for a computer with connected equipment or for an online service or 

bulletin board. 

Leased lines come in different grades of which T 1 and T 3 are examples. A T 1 link 

provides a communications link at up to 2.048 megabits per second. 

T1 

T3 

A term for a digital carrier facility used to send a DS 3 formatted digital signal at 44.746 

megabits per second. 

15 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


TAR 

.TAR or .tar is a file name extension used by a Unix utility for archiving files, often used 

with "compress." The resulting files can contain both files and directories, and may 

include the subdirectory structure needed to restore the files. The way in which a 

"tarred" file is "untarred" depends on the operating system you are using. Utilities to 

extract on DOS machines may be retrieved from many sources around the net. 

Terminal emulator 

A program that allows a computer to emulate a terminal. The workstation appears as a 

given type of terminal to the remote host. 

Unicode 

A 16 bit standard system for encoding characters of all the world's languages. The first 

128 codes of Unicode are the same as in ASCII. The system uses two bytes for each 

character rather than one, and can handle 65,536 character combinations rather than 

ASCII's just 256. 

Unicode can house the alphabets of the world's languages, including a complete 

complement of Chinese, Korean and Japanese specific characters. ISO defines a 

four byte character set for world alphabets, but uses Unicode as a subset. 

Unix 

An operating system that supports multi user and multitasking operations. 

Uploading 

The act of transferring data from your computer's disk (up) to an online service and 

storage there. 

Virus 

A computer virus is a small computer program created by a computer literate vandal 

with the purpose of destroying data or even applications programs in other people's 

computers. 

VRML 

The Virtual Reality Markup Language aims at extending the World Wide Web into the 

domain of three dimensional graphics. VRML "worlds" can depict realistic or 

otherworldly places, which can contain objects that link to other documents or VRML 

worlds on the Web. For information, see The Virtual Reality Entertainment Resource 

Guide. 

X.25 

A ITU TSS standard communications protocol used internationally in packet data 

networks. It provides error checked communication between packet data networks and 

their users or other networks. 

Rather than sending a stream of bits like a modem, an X.25 router sends packets of 

data. There are different packet sizes and types. Each packet contains data to be sent, 

information about the packet's origin, destination, size, and its place in the order of the 

packets sent. There are clear packets that perform the equivalent of hanging up the 

phone. There are reset, restart, and diagnostic packets. On the receiving end, the packet 

assembler/ disassembler (PAD) in the router translates the packets back into a readable 

format. 

16 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50


X.400 

The ITU TSS and ISO standard for electronic mail. 

X.500 

An ITU TSS and ISO standard for electronic directory services. 

More information 

Irving Kind's Glossary of Computer Oriented Abbreviations and Acronyms. 


Search: 






17 of 17 23.11.2009 15:50

Books, newsletters, etc. http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/v5.html 


Appendix 5: 

Books, newsletters, etc. 


Internet 

Books are published almost daily covering everything there is to know about the 

Internet. Use the World Wide Web to locate things of interest. Here are some 

bookstores to visit: 

http://www.coop bookshop.com.au/ (Australia) 

http://www.roswell.com (Canada) 

http://www.lob.de (Germany) 

http://www.paraweb.com/pcbook/intbook.htm (Singapore) 

http://www.bookshop.co.uk/ (United Kingdom) 

http://mkn.co.uk/books (United Kingdom) 

http://www.amazon.com (U.S.A.) 

http://www.books.com/ (U.S.A.) 

Many books are available online in full text. Check Computer and Internet Books for 

links. 

The "Un official Internet Book List" by Kevin Savetz is a large list of books on the 

Internet, its users, software, hardware, use, and abuse. Top level categories include 

Internet introductions and guides, Site indices and guides, Intermediate/advanced books, 

and Servers and system administration. You can search the book descriptions by 

keyword. 

Internet newsletters/magazines 

Top100Mag has links to some of the most popular English language magazines. 

"Matrix News," a monthly newsletter about cross network issues. Networks frequently 

mentioned include USENET, UUCP, FidoNet, BITNET, the Internet, and conferencing 

systems like the WELL and CompuServe. Matrix News is about all computer networks 

worldwide that exchange electronic mail. 

"Internet World magazine," Meckler Corp. 

1 of 2 23.11.2009 15:51

Books, newsletters, etc. http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/v5.html 

Internet Business Report. CMP Publications (Network Computing, Communications 

Week, etc.). Newsletter for corporate strategists interested in the Internet as a channel 

for information products and services, or to extend support for current operations. 

Monthly in an 8 page hardcopy format. For a complimentary sample issue, send email to 

ibr@cmp.com. Specify "free copy" in the subject line. They have a free technology 

information service at http://techweb.cmp.com/techweb. 

Wired ,661 QG 6WUHHW 6DQ )UDQFLVFR &$ 8 6 $ $ WUHQG\ 

glossy magazine frequently highlighting electronic networking. 

BoardWatch Magazine. 

Bulletin Board systems and networks 


Search: 





2 of 2 23.11.2009 15:51

Web/Internet tools and pointers http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/v6.html 


Appendix 6: 

Web/Internet tools & pointers 

Anonymous FTP 

Archie 

ASP (Active Server 

Pages) 

Backbone 

Bandwidth 

Bot 

Browser 

Browser Add Ons 

CGI 

CU SeeMe 

Cookies 

CSS 

Discussion list (see 

Mailing list) 

Domain Name System 

(DNS) 

Eudora 

FAQs 

Finger 

Firewall 

FTP (File Transfer 

Protocol) 

FYI 

Gopher 

Gophermail 

Home page 

HotJava 


HTML 

HTTP 

IMAP 

International Standard 

Top level Country codes 

Internet number 

IP (Internet Protocol) 

IP Address 

Internet provider 

IRC 

Java 

ITR 

Linux 

LISTPROC 

LISTSERV 

Lynx 

MAILBASE 

Mailing list 

Majordomo 

MIME 

Mirror 

Netnews 

Newsgroup 

NNTP server 

Anonymous FTP 

Ping 

Postmaster 

POP3 

PPP 

Proxy servers 

Resource Description 

Framework (RDF) 

RealAudio 

RFC 

Shockwave 

SLIP 

SMTP 

Talk 

TCP/IP 

Telnet 

URL 

Usenet 

UUCP 

VMS 

Routers 

Web Forums 

Winsock 

WWW (World Wide 

Web) 

For more 

The procedure of connecting to a remote computer, as an anonymous or guest user, to 

transfer files back to your computer. Usually, you are asked to logon using the identity 

"anonymous," and to use your email address as a password. (See FTP below for more 

information.) 

Archie 

Directory service for locating information throughout the Internet. Used to locate files 

1 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


on anonymous ftp archive sites, other online directories and resource listings. 

Offers access to the "whatis" database of descriptions that include the name and a 

brief synopsis of the large number of public domain software, datasets and informational 

documents located on the Internet. 

You can access Archie by email to one of these addresses: 

archie@archie.au $XVWUDOLDQ VHUYHU 

archie@archie.mcgill.ca Canada 

archie@archie.doc.ic.ac.uk England 

archie@archie.funet.fi Finland 

archie@archie.th darmstadt.de Germany 

archie@archie.kuis.kyoto u.ac.jp Japan 

archie@archie.sogang.ac.kr Korea 

archie@archie.nz New Zealand 

archie@archie.luth.se Sweden 

archie@archie.ncu.edu.tw Taiwan 

archie@archie.rutgers.edu U.S.A. 

Put the word HELP in the body of your mail for instructions. 

To access Archie by telnet, just turn the addresses above into telnet addresses, like 

in this example: 

telnet://archie.funet.fi Finland 

Archie is also available from the following Archie Web server page: 

http://www polisci.tamu.edu/lab/archie.htm 

ASP (Active Server Pages) 

Dynamic ASP scripts add user interactivity and convenience to web pages. The result is 

programmable web pages that mix HTML, ODBC database reading and writing, and 

other services.Active Server Pages script resource: http://www.vra.net/code/. 

Backbone 

Internet's data flows on high speed lines called backbone lines. A high speed line or 

series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network. The term is relative 

as a backbone in a small network will likely be much smaller than many non backbone 

lines in a large network. 

Bandwidth 

The amount of frequencies a device can handle. The amount of bandwidth a channel is 

capable of carrying tells you what kinds of communications can be carried on it. In 

computer mediated communications, bandwidth is often used when talking about 

conference users' capacity for reading, digesting and responding to conference items. 

Bot 

is short for "roBot" in popular Internet language. Netters also use terms like IRC 

roBOTS, Software Agents, InfoBots, Intelligent Agents, World Wide Web Bots, 

Wanderers, and Spiders. You'll find a Bot FAQ file with many links to more information. 

There's also interesting information at the UMBC's AgentWeb. 

Browser 

2 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


A program that lets you view various Internet resources. Netscape and Microsoft 

Internet Explorer are popular browsers. Internet browsers let you follow World Wide 

Web hyperlinks. 

For links to sites where you can retrieve most popular browser programs, click here. 

For more information, see the Web Browsers OpenFAQ. 

Browser Add Ons 

Software that gives your browser programs more power. Visit this page for a list of your 

options. 

CGI 

Common Gateway Interface. Used by html writers to let a page communicate with other 

programs running on the server. For links to information and resources, check The CGI 

Resource Index, and Scriptsearch. 

9LGHR &RQIHUHQFLQJ RYHU WKH ,QWHUQHW 

CU SeeMe 

Cookies 

A cookie is few lines of text that is part of an http transaction. It was originally invented 

to help you navigate the web. When you are connected to a particular Internet site, the 

server doesn't actually remember you from one instruction to the next, much less one 

visit to the next. The server therefore sends you a cookie, and uses the information 

contained therein to remember your preferences (without bothering you), keep track of 

items in your shopping cart, or simply count you accurately as a single visitor and track 

your navigation through the web site.. 

When you retrieve data from a site using a cookie, the server transmits the cookie to 

your browser along with the rest of the html document requested. Your browser stores 

the text on your hard disk. When you later retrieve the same Web page, the cookie is 

transmitted back to the server. The latter may then send an updated cookie. 

You can delete any cookies that are on your disk without harm. However, if you set 

your browser to refuse all cookies, then you may be unable to use certain sites to their 

full capabilities. 

Because the rendering engine used in web browsers is also woven into email clients 

and Usenet news readers, it is possible for someone who sends you email or posts and 

html article to a newsgroup to cause your machine to access images on his site when 

your read the mail or the article. If the sender customizes the URL in the message so that 

it contains your email address, he will also know exactly who you are. 

Click here for more information. 

CSS 

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is an Internet tool that separates the presentation from the 

structural markup of a Web site. CSS keeps the structure of a document lean and fast 

while controlling the appearance of its content. (Frequently asked questions regarding 

CSS). 

Domain Name System (DNS) 

The Internet DNS gives names to locations on the Internet, and consists of a hierarchical 

sequence of names, from the most specific to the most general (left to right), separated 

by dots, for example nic.ddn.mil. 

DNS is also a system that translates a domain name from letters (eg. 

www.google.com) into a numerical IP address (e.g. 204.71.200.73). Letters make it 

3 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


easier for humans to remember and understand things, while computers thrive on 

numbers. So, these numbers are used to ensure email gets to the right address, that you 

get the web page you requested, and so on. 

To check if a domain (web address) is taken, and who the owner is, try 

Register.com. 

Eudora 

Popular email system for Windows, MS DOS and Macintosh computers. Free versions 

are available . 

FAQs 

"Frequently Asked Questions" are information files about services on the Internet, and a 

wide range of other topics. Useful pointers to resources, and a fairly reliable source of 

answers that have been tested by real users. 

FAQs can be found all over the Internet. Several Usenet newsgroups have one 

specific to their subjects. Some have several FAQs on different, pertinent subjects. 

Browse Usenet's FAQs at http://mailserv.cc.kuleuven.ac.be/faq/faq.html and 

http://www.cis.ohio state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/, or retrieve them by email (see 

"WWW by email" in Chapter 12). You can search (and read) Usenet FAQS at 

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/faqsearch.html 

http://faqfinder.cs.uchicago.edu/ 

Reference.COM (see Chapter 11) is an efficient way of keeping track of changes in 

important Usenet FAQs. For example, try the search term "australia/oz net faq" to keep 

WUDFN RI WKH 1HWZRUN $FFHVV LQ $XVWUDOLD )$4 

Finger 

A program that returns information about registered users on a host that is directly 

connected to the Internet via TCP/IP. You cannot use finger to find user addresses on 

BITNET or UUCP, or any other networks gatewayed to the TCP/IP Internet. 

Useful before starting chats (known on the Internet as "talk"), to check your 

assumption of a person's email address, to learn more about a person, or to get other 

kinds of information. 

For finger by email, send an 3mail to agora@dna.affrc.go.jp. Put the following 

command in the body of your mail: 

send http://www.mit.edu:8001/finger? 

Replace with your desired email address, as in 

send http://www.mit.edu:8001/finger?presno@eunet.no 

Finger is also being used as a general information system. For example, finger 

help@dir.su.oz.au for information about how to search some databases using finger. 

Databases include Archie, Internet, Newsgroups, and Postcodes (Australian Postcodes). 

Finger to normg@halcyon.halcyon.com for weekly U.S. TV ratings according to 

the Nielsen rating system, and to solar@xi.uleth.ca for 24 hour solar x ray flare activity 

reports. 

A FAQ file: http://www.citilink.com/~kae/faq/resources/finger.html. 

Firewall 

Method used by several organizations to protect users from the "unsecure" network, and 

disallow unwanted logins or file transfers from the Internet. An Internet site will be 

denied a connection if an attempt is made to login to the firewall server. 

Users behind a firewall can get to servers on the Internet. They can use WWW, 

4 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


Gopher, FTP, and TELNET, but cannot supply resources through these protocols to 

people outside the company. 

Check the Firewalls FAQ for definitions, justifications, what firewalls can/cannot 

do, virus, and other interesting links. 

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) 

A program for sending and receiving files to and from a remote computer to your local 

host. Lets you connect to many remote computers, as an anonymous or guest user, to 

transfer files back to your computer. Lets you list file directories on foreign systems, get 

or retrieve files. You cannot browse menus, send email, or search databases using FTP. 

The easiest is to use ftp with a Web browser like Netscape. Just feed the browser 

the file's location, in a format like this ftp://ftp.eunet.no/pub/text/online.txt.Z. The codes 

after the "//" show first the host name, then the directory, and finally the file name of the 

desired file. 

Some users type ftp at their system prompt, login on the remote system, and ask for 

the file they want to receive. It transfers to their local host machine. (For more on this, 

read under "Internet" in Appendix 1.) Finally, unless their computer is directly 

connected to the Internet, the retrieved file must be transferred from their host machine 

to their PC. 

Where ftp or WWW is not available, you may also use FTPMAIL (chapter 12). 

FYI 

"For Your Information." A subseries of RFCs that are not technical standards or 

descriptions of protocols that are available from http://www.rfc editor.org and many 

other sources on the Internet. 

Gopher 

Gopher is a tool for exploring the Internet and to find a resource if you know what you 

want, but not where to find it. Gopher systems are menu based in a top level subject 

oriented way, and provide a user friendly front end to Internet resources, searches and 

information retrieval. 

Gopher gets information from certain locations on the Internet to which it is 

connected, and brings the information to your computer. It can get information via other 

Gophers at other locations connected to yet other hosts. The Telneting or file transfer 

protocols are transparent to the user. 

To access gopher services, run a browser program. The browser reads documents, 

and can fetch documents and files from other sources. Some services let you fetch 

gopher information by electronic mail (see Gophermail below). 

"Common Questions and Answers about the Internet Gopher" are posted to the 

Usenet newsgroups comp.infosystems.gopher, comp.answers, and news.answers every 

two weeks. (See FAQ above.) 

Pointers to Gopher sources may be given in this form: 

Type=1 

Name= United States GOVERNMENT Gophers 

Path=1/welcome/peg/GOPHERS/gov 

Host=peg.cwis.uci.edu 

Port=7000 

URL: gopher://peg.uci.edu:7000/11/welcome/peg/GOPHERS/gov 

If your browser cannot use this information directly, try to deduct the information from 

the URL line. In this example, it translates into 'gopher peg.uci.edu 7000' , select peg / 

gophers/ gov. 

If the gopher command is not available on your system, then you may telnet to the 

gopher site, and login as 'gopher' or 'info'. 

The gophers of the world, sorted by country, are at 

URL: gopher://liberty.uc.wlu.edu/11/gophers/other 

5 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


Also, see Veronica below. 

Gophermail 

To use Gopher by electronic mail. Messages containing menus and gopher link 

information are mailed you in response to your requests. You reply to these messages 

and show which menu items you want. Lets you use the Gopher without having a direct 

"live" Internet network connection. 

Send a message to one of the following addresses for more information: 

gophermail@cr df.rnp.br (Brazil) 

gomail@ncc.go.jp (Japan) 

gopher@dsv.su.se (Sweden) 

If you send a blank message, a help screen will be returned to you. 

GopherMail's options include: 

Requesting the Gopher menu for a specific host name, 

Message splitting after a certain file size (for those with a size limit on email 

messages), 

Re using links to selected gopher menus by saving them in a local "Bookmarks" 

file. 

Binary and Sound Files are sent as uuencoded files. 

To perform a search, select that menu item with an "x" and supply your search 

words in the Subject: of your next reply. Note that your search criteria can be a single 

word or a boolean expression such as: 

computers and (macintosh or ms dos) 

Home page 

An Internet document created with HTML (the HyperText Markup Language) often 

containing graphics, text, and hypertext links to other "pages." 

HotJava 

A modular, applet aware, extensible World Wide Web browser written in the Java 

programming language. 

HTML 

The HyperText Markup Language is used to compose WWW pages. Sources for 

information (also, see "WWW" below): 

A Beginner's Guide to HTML 

WebMaestro (Spanish) 

W3Schools 

HTML FAQ for beginners 

HTML Alphabetical Reference List by Name 

Intermediate HTML FAQ 

HTML standards 

Compendium of HTML Elements 

Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) 

HTTP 

Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Hypertext is text with pointers to other text. Thus, 

6 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


hypertext is a term used of linking related information. 

Some information providers on the Internet run programs that will let you access 

hypertext. Examples: Lynx, Mosaic. 

You use a special HTTP browser program to access the information. Examples: 

Netscape, Internet Explorer. 

IMAP 

The Internet Mail Access Protocol (originally Interactive Mail Access Protocol) offers easier 

administration and more power than the old POP 3RVW 2IILFH 3URWRFRO ,W OHW \RX 

remotely manipulate your mailbox on the mail host without having to retrieve it to your 

local PC first. You can access email stored on multiple hosts and in multiple folders on 

one host. 

IMAP allows for the creation of hierarchical folders on the remote server, where 

POP3 creates local folders. Messages can be stored, sorted, filtered, and managed on the 

server, making it possible for users to maintain a system of folders that they can access 

from multiple computers. 

Client programs can resynchronize mailboxes with the server, so that messages 

transferred to folders or deleted will appear in (or disappear from) each client's view. All 

clients display the same messages. 

More information: RFC 1730 and RFC 1733. 

International Standard Top level Country codes 

Top level country codes derived from the International Standards Organization's 

international standard ISO 3166. For a current list, retrieve the International E mail 

FAQ. It is regularly being posted to the comp.mail.misc, comp.mail.uucp, 

news.newusers.questions, alt.internet.services, alt.answers, comp.answers, and 

news.answers newsgroups. 

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is 

working on introducing seven new top level domains (TLDs) to supplement the familiar 

.com, .edu. .gov, and so on. The new domains will be .info, .biz, .name, .pro, .museum, 

.coop, and .aero. 

See IP Address 

Internet number 

IP (Internet Protocol) 

The Internet standard protocol that provides a common layer over dissimilar networks, 

used to move packets between host computers and through gateways if necessary. 

TCP/IP packets are the basic units of communication across the Internet. The 

information they carry includes your system's IP address, the IP address of the server 

you're trying to contact, and data communicated (like the contents of a World Wide 

Web document). Routing information is added to the packets along the way. 

For more information, see http://info.internet.isi.edu/in notes/rfc/files/rfc791.txt. 

IP Address 

Every machine on the Internet has a unique address, called its Internet number or IP 

address. Usually, this address is represented by four numbers joined by periods ('.'), like 

129.133.10.10. 

The first two or three pieces represent the network that the system is on, called its 

subnet. For example, all the computers for Wesleyan University in the U.S.A. are in the 

subnet 129.133, while the number in the previous paragraph represents a full address to 

one of the university's computers. 

For technical background information, see Technical information on the DNS links. 

7 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


Internet provider 

An organization that gives customers access to the Internet via the provider's computers 

and connections. (See Appendix 7.) 

IRC 

Internet Relay Chat is a multi user, multi channel chatting network. It allows people all 

over the world to talk to one another in real time. 

Each IRC user has a nickname they use. All communication with another user is 

either by nickname or by the channel that they or you are on. It requires that you use a 

service that has a direct connection to Internet. 

A FAQ file, "IRC Frequently Asked Questions," is regularly posted to the alt.irc 

newsgroup. On the World Wide Web, the most comprehensive IRC help resource is at 

http://www.irchelp.org/. 

Java 

Java is two things: a programming language and a platform. See the Java Tutorial at 

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/ and 121 java script tutorials.com. 

Javapowered lets you retrieve free applets to use on your website. Java scripts.net 

offers free cut and paste javascripts, like rotating images and banners, popup 

java scripts, timer and clock javascripts, frame and window java scripts. 

ITR 

Internet Talk Radio. For general information (a FAQ) about the Internet Multicasting 

Service radio programs, send email to info@radio.com. 

A list of archive sites that make the Internet Talk Radio sound files accessible via 

anonymous FTP is irregularly posted to the following newsgroups: alt.internet.talk radio, 

alt.answers, news.answers. 

Linux 

A free operating system based heavily on the POSIX and UNIX API's. It supports both 

32 and 64 bit hardware. Visit http://www.linux.org.uk/ for information and downloads. 

LISTPROC 

An automated mailing list distribution system similar to the LISTSERV program (see 

below). To subscribe to a LISTPROC list, send an email containing the following type of 

command in the body of your mail 

SUBSCRIBE Your name 

LISTSERV 

An automated mailing list distribution system enabling online discussions of technical 

and nontechnical issues conducted by electronic mail throughout the Internet. The 

LISTSERV program was originally designed for the BITNET/EARN networks. 

Usually, you subscribe to a LISTSERV mailing list by using the command 

SUBSCRIBE 

Example: If your name is Oleg Moskwa, and the list name is KIDLINK, send an email to 

the LISTSERV address above with the following command in the body of your text: 

SUBSCRIBE KIDLINK Oleg Moskwa 

8 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


Note: Some LISTSERVs will reply by sending you a request to confirm the subscription 

by replying with an OK and a unique number. After 48 hours (this can vary) the request 

is dropped, and the user will have to start over. While this may seem like a hassle, it is 

really in your interest. The confirmation system prevents others from subscribing you 

onto lists pretending to be you. 

Usually, you can get off a LISTSERV mailing list by using the command SIGNOFF 

, as in 

SIGNOFF KIDLINK 

Important: All subscription commands must be sent to the LISTSERV address, and not 

to the mailing list itself. If you send it to the mailing list's address, the LISTSERV will 

forward your mail to all subscribers, and nothing may happen. 

To temporarily turn off mail, use the command 

SET NOMAIL 

2WKHU PDLOLQJ OLVW SURJUDPV H[LVW 6RPH DUH XVLQJ WKH 8QL[ UHDGQHZV RU UQ IDFLOLW\ 

Others are called MajorDomo and LISTPROC. Commands differ. On some lists, you 

must use "UNSUBSCRIBE " rather than SIGNOFF. 

Some may require that you ask for permission to join. A central moderator may 

review your contributions before mailing, or use them to compile a periodic "digest" for 

subscribers. 

Example: To subscribe to non LISTSERV mailing lists you may have to send an 

email message to LIST REQUEST@ADDRESS, where "list" is the name of the mailing 

list and "address" is the moderator's e mail address, asking to be added to the list. 

Lynx 

If you don't have a TCP/IP connection to an Internet provider, the easiest way to access 

the World Wide Web is through Lynx. This text only based browser works on any 

VT100 (ASCII) emulating terminal program using full screen, arrow keys, highlighting, 

and can be found on almost any Internet host. 

Set your communications software to vt 100, dial up, logon, and type "lynx" to see 

if it is available. If not, try telnet to ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu 

(telnet://ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu). At the login prompt, enter www and press return to 

access a Lynx browser. Online help is available. Note: You can not use this service to 

access a random Web address! 

If Lynx is available on your local computer, just type "g" for go, and then type the 

URL of the document you want. Type "h" for help. 

Even if you have a TCP/IP connection, you may find Lynx faster than most 

Windows based browsers for some applications. It provides fast navigation of cross 

linked hypertext documents (minus multimedia) over a low speed dial up connection. 

You can even use it with a 2,400 bits/s modem. 

Newer versions of the program have extensive HTML 3.2 support, supports 

image maps and frames. 

MAILBASE 

A program functioning like a LISTSERV. For more information about the Mailbase at 

Newcastle University (England), send email to MAILBASE@MAILBASE.AC.UK 

containing the following commands: 

help (for a general help file) 

send mailbase user guide (for a User Guide) 

lists (for a list of available forums) 

Mailing list 

9 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


A possibly moderated discussion group on the Internet, distributed via email from a 

central computer maintaining the list of people involved in the discussion. 

Anyone can send a message to a single mailing list address. The message is 

"reflected" to everyone on the list of addresses. The members of that list can respond, 

and the responses are reflected, forming a discussion group. 

Think of mailing lists as magazines you subscribe and unsubscribe as your needs 

and interests change. 

Majordomo 

is another program that organizes mailing lists. Commands for subscribing and 

unsubscribing are similar to those used with a LISTSERV except that the name is not 

given at the end of the subscription line. Further, rather than sending e mail to 

LISTSERV at the site that houses the list, send to majordomo@csn.org. 

For a list of mailing lists served by this Majordomo server, send the command 'lists' 

in the body of your email message. Add the command 'help' on the next line for a short 

help file. 

MIME 

The Multi purpose Internet Mail Extensions is a specification that offers a way to 

interchange text in languages with different character sets, and multi media email among 

PDQ\ GLIIHUHQW FRPSXWHU V\VWHPV WKDW XVH ,QWHUQHW PDLO VWDQGDUGV 

MIME lets you create and read email messages containing these things: 

character sets other than ASCII 

enriched text (text with markup commands like to make it more readable) 

images 

sounds 

other messages (reliably encapsulated) 

tar files 

PostScript 

FTPable file pointers 

other stuff 

MIME supports several pre defined types of non textual message contents, such as 8 bit 

8000Hz sampled mu LAW audio, GIF image files, and PostScript programs. It also 

permits you to define your own types of message parts. 

For details, check ftp://ftp.eunet.be/pub/documents/faq/mail/mime faq/, 

http://info.internet.isi.edu/in notes/rfc/files/rfc1341.txt, and the comp.mail.mime 

newsgroup. 

Note: A MIME message received by someone on a host without MIME installed, 

may be encoded in a binary format (BASE64) and be impossible to read. If you have 

this problem, try the small free utility that is available through the TOW archive. Send 

GET TOW.MASTER (as explained in the preface of the book) for retrieval instructions 

and file name. 

Mirror 

Term used about one or several hosts on the Internet that maintain a complete copy 

("mirror") of selected contents from another host on the net. 

See: Usenet. 

Netnews 

Newsgroup 

Term used for online conferences on Usenet. See Appendix 1 for more. 

10 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


NNTP server 

Usenet netnews are being distributed globally through local servers, called NNTP 

servers. You should use a local server. if available, for higher speed. Reading programs, 

like WinVN and Netscape, require that you put the address of a NNTP server in the 

configuration file. Netscape example: 

NNTP_Server=nntp oslo.uninett.no 

NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) is an extension of the TCP/IP protocol that 

describes how newsgroup messages are transported between compatible servers. Lists of 

free NNTP servers: http://home.eunet.no/~kjetilm/news.htm and http://www.krusty.net 

/usenet.shtml. 

Ping (Packet Internet Groper) 

A program to test a network connection on the Internet. Used to check if a connection to 

another host is available, when your email seems not to reach a receiver. 

Ping sends a message (an ICMP echo request packet) to a specified host, and waits 

for a response. It reports success or failure and statistics about its operation. It gives you 

the time taken for your packets to travel across the network too. 

Postmaster 

On the Internet, the person responsible for handling electronic mail problems, answering 

queries about users, and other related work at a site. 

POP3 

Internet's Post Office Protocol version 3.0. An off line mail client (like Eudora or 

Outlook Express) connects to a mail server, as requested by the user, and downloads all 

the mailbox data to the client's computer. In the setup of your Internet mail client 

application, the IP address of the POP3 server is pointing at the host receiving our email. 

By default, once the download is successful, the client deletes the data from the 

server, known as the maildrop. 

You create folders in your email program in which you store individual messages, 

you add signatures at the time of composing without the need to store a separate 

signature file on your server, and you can compose and read your mail offline with a 

familiar interface. 

See: RFC 1225 IRU GHWDLOV 6HH IMAP for a popular alternative. 

PPP 

Point to Point Protocol. A serial communications protocol for connecting to the Internet 

by direct or dial up lines. PPP systems can receive and transfer files without having to 

use the intermediate host as a transfer and rest stop. It is generally considered to be 

superior to SLIP, because it features error detection, data compression, and other 

elements of communications protocols not included in SLIP. 

A FAQ is posted to the comp.protocols.ppp, news.answers, and comp.answers on a 

weekly basis. A must for those interested in connecting to Internet via serial lines. 

Proxy servers 

A proxy server is a machine which retrieves documents on command. The advantage 

with a proxy server is that it normally caches documents, and makes it considerably 

faster to retrieve documents from the proxy rather than directly from a machine eg., 

overseas. 

Resource Description Framework (RDF) 

11 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


RDF is a basis for encoding and using data about documents or Web pages which 

purports to facilitate the automation of their processing. See: http://www.w3.org/RDF/ 

RealAudio 

Software tool that supports transmissions of real time, live or prerecorded audio. You 

can get satisfactory performance using a 14.400 bits/s modem. The client software is 

free. 

You can link to an Internet rock n roll station (like http://www.netradio.net/), set it 

to play, and then switch to your word processor for some real work while you listen. 

RadioTower Control Center (http://www.radiotower.com/) has links to radio stations 

around the world. 

RFC 

The Internet's Request for Comments document series. Working notes of the Internet 

research and development community. A document in this series may be on essentially 

any topic related to computer communication, and may be anything from a meeting 

report to the specification of a standard. 

Note: Once a document is assigned an RFC number and published that RFC is 

never revised or re issued with the same number. There is never a question of having the 

most recent version of a particular RFC. It is therefore important to make sure you have 

the most recent RFC on a given topic! 

You can retrieve most RFC texts at http://www.rfc editor.org/rfc.html, and search 

RFC documents at http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/rfc/index.html. In Spanish: 

http://lucas.hispalinux.es/htmls/estandares.html 

Shockwave 

Macromedia Shockwave: viewing of interactive multimedia content inside a Web 

browser. 

Hint: Shockwave files reside on the hard drive after they've been viewed, in the 

Internet Cache folder. You may view them offline with tools like the free and fabolous 

IrfanView. 

SLIP 

Serial Line Internet Protocol. A method for connecting to the Internet. SLIP systems can 

receive and transfer IP packets over a serial link, such as a dial up or private telephone 

line. 

IP (the Internet Protocol) is the most important of the protocols on which the 

Internet is based. It allows a packet to traverse multiple networks on the way to its final 

destination. 

See the "Personal Internet Access Using SLIP or PPP: How You Use It, How It 

Works," and the "PPP Client Howto" texts for more information. 

SMTP 

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. The Internet standard protocol for transferring electronic 

mail messages from one computer to another. SMTP specifies how two mail systems 

interact and the format of control messages they exchange to transfer mail. 

SMTP mail servers do not authenticate the users when sending mail. Therefore, 

you can use any SMTP relay host to have your mail sent. 

Talk 

A command on the Internet, which may remind of IRC, but is a single link between two 

parties only. 

12 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


TCP/IP 

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. Communications protocols that 

internetwork dissimilar systems connected to the Internet. TCP/IP supports services 

such as remote login (telnet), file transfer (FTP), mail (SMTP and POP). 

An old FAQ is available at: 

http://www iso8859 5.stack.net/pages/faqs/tcpip/tcpipfaq.html 

You should also take a look at 

ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/internet/tcp ip 

Telnet 

$ SURJUDP RQ WKH ,QWHUQHW WKDW DOORZV \RX WR H[HFXWH FRPPDQGV RQ UHPRWH FRPSXWHUV 

as though you were logged in locally. You can browse menus, read text files, use gopher 

services, and search online databases. Sometimes, you can join live, interactive games 

and chat with other callers. Usually, you cannot download files or list file directories. 

To set up a telnet connection, you need to know the name of the computer site you 

want to access and have a valid user name and password for that site. 

The site's name can be in words, like "VM1.NODAK.EDU," or a numeric address, 

like "134.129.111.1". Some services require that you connect to a specific "port" on the 

remote system. Enter the port number, if there is one, after the Internet address. 

Some telnet sites allow for guest logins. Guest accounts typically are restricted to 

the types of actions they can perform during a session. Although your telnet session is 

actually running software directly on the site's telnet computer, you will be running a 

program that prevents you from accessing the general capabilities of that computer. 

Once you are connected to a telnet site, you will often see a menu driven system which 

is under the control of the telnet site, and guides you through the actions you may 

perform at that site. 

Note: If you get a return message saying that the host was unknown or unavailable, 

first check if your address syntax was correct. If it is, try later. Also, your telnet address 

may have changed. 

Another common use of telnet is for users to be able to log into their computers 

from remote locations. In this case, users enter their own user names and passwords and, 

therefore, have the same user privileges they would have when logged in without using 

telnet. 

Accessing commercial services like CompuServe via telnet gives you the 

convenience and time savings of not having to log off and on as you move from one host 

system to another. There is normally no real time cost advantage, unless your location is 

closer to an Internet node than any of these services' regular access point. 

Telnet is not available to users who have email only access to the Internet. 

URL (Universal Resource Locator) 

A Universal Resource Locator is the address of any multimedia resource on the Internet. 

A sort of standardized description of the location of a given network resource, and the 

protocol used to access the resource. 

A URL may point to a WWW page file (an HTML file), a GIF image, an MPEG 

movie, an AU sound file, a ftp file or directory of files, a gopher menu, a Usenet news 

group, a telnet port, and so on. URLs identify the type and location of network and local 

resources. 

Many users with interactive connection to the Internet, use remote network 

resources through local programs. These programs are called local clients, and there are 

such programs for anonymous ftp, irc, Mosaic, WWW, and more. 

The local clients programs often require a terse, machine readable resource 

addressing format, called "Universal Resource Locater" (URL). It is a draft standard for 

13 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


specifying an object on the Internet, such as a file or newsgroup. 

Example using WWW: The URL format resource address is 

This tells us: 

http://home.eunet.no/~presno/index.html 

the tool: http (see above) 

the host: login.eunet.no 

the path: /~presno/index.html 

The first part of the URL, before the colon, specifies the access method. The part of the 

URL after the colon is interpreted specific to the access method. In general, two slashes 

after the colon show a machine name (machine:port is also valid). 

A Gopher example: URL uses the following 

gopher://nutmeg.ac.uk/archive/uunet/archive/Health.Care/report 

/forward.txt 

The URL tells us: 

the tool: gopher 

the host: nutmeg.ac.uk 

the path: archive/uunet/archive/Health.Care/report 

the file: forward.txt 

A ftp example, showing site, directory, and file name: 

ftp://ftp.rpi.edu/pub/communications/internet cmc.html 

A telnet example: 

telnet://database.carl.org/ 

The general format is: telnet://[@][:port] 

A newsgroup example: 

news:alt.bbs 

A file example, showing site, directory, and file name: 

file://localhost/mysub/mypage.html 

Usenet 

A global bulletin board, of sorts, in which millions of people exchange public 

information on every conceivable topic. For more information, see Appendix 1. 

See Appendix 1. 

UUCP 

VMS 

Virtual Memory System. A multiuser, multitasking, virtual memory operating system for 

the VAX series from Digital Equipment. 

Routers 

Routers are the pathfinders of the Internet. Your stream of packets may pass through 

large numbers of routers before they reach their destination. 

14 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


Web Forums 

are also called Browser Message Boards. They are conference systems using Web 

technology. Users must visit a particular website for each web forum to read messages 

from others and post their own. 

See http://bbs.augsburg.edu/~schwartz/ebbs.html for a list of BBS Sites on the Internet, 

including Web browser message boards. Several Web forums are indexed at 

Reference.COM. 

Winsock 

The Windows Socket standard. An application programming interface (API) designed to 

let Windows applications (such as a Web browser) run over a TCP/IP network. 

Requires a direct connection to the Internet, or access to a SLIP, or PPP server. 

With Winsock, you can simultaneously run several applications that make use of the 

Internet. 

There is a fine introduction to Winsock in the alt.winsock FAQ. The Winsock 

Application FAQ can be retrieved by email to info@LCS.com, Subject: FAQ. 

For more information, check out the newsgroup comp.protocols.tcp ip.ibmpc and 

alt.winsock. 

WWW (World Wide Web) 

A global information service that provides top level access down to documents, lists, 

databases, and services. It includes resources such as FTP, and Gopher. 

To access the Web, use a browser program (often referred to as a "client." The 

browser reads documents, and can fetch documents and files from other sources. 

For a comparative list of Graphics Web browsers, go to the WWW Servers 

Comparison Chart page. For DOS based Web browsers and tools, see 

http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/. 

If at all interested in the web's history, you must visit Deja Vu! 

The Scout Toolkit page will help you identify the network tools most appropriate for 

your needs. Netscape and Microsoft Explorer are not the only browser programs that 

will let you use the web. For example, Lynx may be good for some dial up users with 

slow access to the Internet, or for users with old computers. 

Web pages may be retrieved by electronic mail (Chapter 12). These services are 

mostly for retrieval of text. Generally, most of them cannot retrieve large files 

containing graphics, sound, or other types of binary files. 

For comprehensive information about the web, start at http://www.w3.org. A Word 

:LGH :HE )UHTXHQWO\ $VNHG 4XHVWLRQV file about WWW is available, while updates are 

posted to news.answers, comp.infosystems.gopher, comp.infosystems.wais and 

alt.hypertext. 

Netcraft counts the number of hosts providing a Web service (http service) on 

computers connected to Internet. Here's some figures showing the growth: 

Year Month # of Web sites % growth 

1995 August 18,957 

1996 August 342,081 1,800% 

1997 August 1,269,800 371% 

1998 August 2,807,588 221% 

1999 August 7,078,194 252% 

2000 August 19,823,296 280% 

2001 August 30,775,624 155% 

15 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51


2002 August 35,991,815 116% 

In January 2000, Inktomi and the NEC Research Institute claimed there were more than 

one billion unique documents on the Internet on 6,409,521 servers (around 64% of the 

number reported by Netcraft). 

For a list of mailing lists and Usenet News groups related to WWW, visit 

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ucs/WWW/WWW_mailing_lists.html. 

The Web Developer's Virtual Library is a must for Web page developers. Topics 

span Authoring, Annotation, CGI, Database, Forms, HTML, HTML Editors, 

Imagemaps, Images and Icons, Java, MIME, Perl, SGML and CyberVR to Mail, News, 

Protocols, Security, and much more. 

There's a collection pointers to tools, technical documentation, and standards, both 

current and under development, for World Wide Web and the Internet in general, is at 

http://www.mcs.com/~lunde/web/aboutwww.html, and you should also visit The Html 

Station. 

Run your web pages through Bobby, a free web based service that will help you 

make web pages accessible to people with disabilities. It also finds HTML compatibility 

problems that prevent pages from displaying correctly on different web browsers. The 

Making Accessible Web pages tips page is translated into many languages.. 

Also, make sure you visit the Best Viewed with any Browser Campaign, and its 

competitor, www.anybrowser.com. 

For more 

You may want to start with the "Internet Services FAQ" (see FAQ above). 

John December's Internet tools list contains information about network tools and 

information resources like Archie, Gopher, Netfind, and WWW. 

The Multilingual Internet Glossary Project (NETGLOS) have terminology 

definitions in Bahasa Indonesia, Brazilian, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, Hrvatski, 

Hebrew, Portuguese, Norwegian, Zhongwen, English, and some other languages. 

"Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia" is a large technical reference to the 

protocols that run the net. 


Search: 



Updated at July 2, 2003 . 


16 of 16 23.11.2009 15:51

Services offering access to the Internet http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/v7.html 


Appendix 7: 

Services Offering 

Access to the Internet 


Most users cannot connect directly to the Internet. They must hook their computers to 

"host" computers on corporate or institutional networks which are already a part of the 

Internet, or to a commercial company which has bought an Internet connection, and 

re sells access to the Internet through that connection. 

To find Interness Access Providers that serve a given area, try these web pages: 

Internet Access Providers Meta List 

TheDirectory.org 

NetAlert.com 

Netusa.net 

TheList 

International E mail accessibility World Map is a system of clickable maps which 

lets you obtain further information about E mail and Internet access in a country of your 

choice. 

If you want it real cheap, check if there's a Free Net offering in your area. Try: 

http://www.lights.com/freenet/ on the Web for more. 

If you live in the US, and want completely free access, check the FreeISPs 

mailing list. 

Travelling abroad 

EUnet Traveller 

With one login name and one password, you can connect through thousands of points 

of presence (POP) around the world. You don't pay when you don't connect, so you can 

have an EUnetTraveller account stand by without paying for it. It has has well over 

3000 "POPs" (1999). For current list of countries, see http://traveller.eu.net 

/html/pops.html. 

I have used in Per˙, Bolivia, Brazil, Puerto Rico, the United States, Romania, The 

Netherlands, Norway of course, and several other places. Neat! 

1 of 2 23.11.2009 15:51

Services offering access to the Internet http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/v7.html 

CompuServe 

For years, I used CompuServe for Internet access when far away from home. Today, I 

have it in case EUnetTraveller should fail to deliver. 

The service has local nodes in a very large number of countries around the world. 

Type GO PHONES to get phone numbers in your destination cities. If your mail 

normally goes to a Unix mailbox, use the .forward file to redirect it to CompuServe 

before leaving home. 

If you are in a country with no local access, or in a place where you have to make 

an expensive long distance call to a slow node, consider calling direct to CompuServe's 

own nodes in the United States at high speed. 

Example: In Lagos, Nigeria, I connected successfully at 14,400 bits/s with 

compression to a CompuServe node in the United States. This was much cheaper and 

better than calling nearby South Africa at 2400 bits/s through an Infonet network node 

(1994). 


Search: 





2 of 2 23.11.2009 15:51

The Online World resources handbook

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?