    Institute for Scientific Information (ISI).

Then we entered our search term: "LIVER AND CYST/". The search word
"CYST/" signified that "cyst" should match any words starting with
these four characters.
   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 continued in the same way with a "Scanning Dialog databases."
    When the search results were presented, we glanced quickly at
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 Norway by mail a few weeks later.
    The whole 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 the costs: The online tour was done manually,  |
  | using full menus. We discussed our search strategy while    |
  | connected, which 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.                        |

Right now? I have promised to donate one kidney to my wife when the
time comes. This has prompted me (1993) to join a mailing list for
"Organ transplant recipients and anyone else interested in the
issues" (TRNSPLNT@WUVMD.BITNET).

Cancer
------
FidoNet has the forum CARCINOMA (Cancer Survivors). BITNET has the
discussion lists CANCER-L@WVNVM and CLAN (Cancer Liaison and Action
Network on CLAN@FRMOP11). CompuServe has a Cancer Forum. NewsNet
offers the newsletter CANCER RESEARCHER WEEKLY.
    In September 1992, the following message was posted on CANCER-
L by a member from Brazil:

  "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 regarding 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."

There were several helpful replies. This came from a member in 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)
   cancernet%icicb.nci.nih.gov@nihcu ( BITNET)

  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."

CancerNet is the U.S. National Cancer Institute's international
information center. It is a quick and easy way to obtain, through
electronic mail, recommended treatment guidelines from the National
Cancer Institute's Physician Data Query system.
    To access CancerNet, send email to:

    cancernet@icicb.nci.nih.gov

Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the mail message, enter
HELP to receive instructions and the current contents list.
    The National Cancer Center in Tokyo Japan has a gopher service
at gopher.ncc.go.jp. The World Health Organization (WHO) has one at
gopher.who.ch.

Disabilities
------------
Bulletin boards and 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's 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, 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 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 and misc.handicap. It covers
all areas of disabilities, technical, medical, educational, legal,
etc. UUCP has handicap. It is presented in the following words:

    Contact: wtm@bunker.shel.isc-br.com
    Purpose:  The Handicap Digest provides an information/discussion
    exchange for issues dealing with the physically/mentally
    handicapped.  Topics include, but are not limited to: medical,
    education, legal, technological aids and the handicapped in
    society.

CompuServe's Disabilities Forum has the following sections: General
Interest, Develop. Disabilities, Emotional Disturbances, Hearing
Impairments, Learning Disabilities, Vision Impairments, Mobility
Impaired, Rights/Legislation, Education/Employment and Family
Life/Leisure.
    AUTISM@SJUVM.BITNET is devoted to the developmentally disabled,
their teachers, and those interested in this area. The list BLIND-
L@UAFSYSB.BITNET focuses on "Computer Use by and for the Blind."
COMMDIS@RPIECS.BITNET is a mailing list discussing "Speech
disorders."
    DEAF-L@SIUCVMB.BITNET is the "Deaf Discussion List," and
DEAFBLND@UKCC.UKY.EDU the "Deaf-Blind Discussion List." STUT-HLP
(LISTSERV@BGU.EDU) is a support forum for people who stutter and
their families.
    On L-HCAP@NDSUVM1.BITNET, the focus is on Technology for the
handicapped. BACKS-L@UVMVM.BITNET discusses research on low back
pain disability.
    The Handicap Digest is an electronic mail only digest of
articles relating to all types of issues affecting the handicapped.
The articles are taken from the Usenet newsgroup, the Handicap
News. (misc.handicap) and various FidoNet conferences such as
ABLED, BlinkTalk  SilentTalk, Chronic Pain, Spinal Injury, Rare
Conditions, and several others. Subscribe by email to

    wtm@bunker.shel.isc-br.com

Handicap.shel.isc-br.com (129.189.4.184) is the email address to an
anonymous ftp site that has disability-related files and programs.
The disk has some 40 directories with 500 or so files covering all
types of disabilities. (This service can be used through FTPMail.
See chapter 12 about how to do this.)

Getting old
-----------
BITNET has the "BIOSCI Ageing Bulletin Board" on AGEING@IRLEARN .
Usenet has bionet.molbio.ageing, while CompuServe's Issues Forum
has a message section called "Seniors."
    Ageline on Dialog 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 so in the Online World. All people are treated the same
way. It is impossible for others to know your age, unless someone
tells them.

Holistic Healing and Health
---------------------------
HOLISTIC on LISTSERV@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU 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 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're 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.

HomeoNet, a service of the Institute of Global Communications
(IGC), is for those interested in homeopathic medicine.

List of health science resources
--------------------------------
The Bitnet/Internet online list of health science resources is
available by email from:  LISTSERV@TEMPLEVM.BITNET . Send the
following command:

  GET MEDICAL RSCRS

This will give a long list of BITNET, Internet, and Usenet forums,
data archives, electronic newsletters and journals devoted to
health science.
    Here are some examples from the list that may be of interest to
people not working in the health profession:

    * ALCOHOL@LMUACAD.BITNET - a discussion list for Alcohol and
      Drug Studies,
    * BEHAVIOR@ASUACAD.BITNET - Behavioral and Emotional Disorders
      in Children,
    * DIABETIC@PCCVM.BITNET is the "Open Discussion forum for
      DIABETIC patient counseling,"
    * DIARRHOE@SEARN.BITNET (or DIARRHOE@SEARN.SUNET.SE through the
      Internet) is a forum for information exchange and discussions
      on all aspects related to diseases, disorders, and chemicals
      that cause diarrhoea in humans and animals,
    * DIET@INDYCMS.BITNET - Support and Discussion of Weight Loss
    * DRUGABUS@UMAB.BITNET - Drug Abuse Education Information and
      Research,
    * FAMCOMM@RPIECS.BITNET - Marital/family & relational
      communication.
    * FIT-L@ETSUADMN.BITNET - Wellness, Exercise, Diet, for
      exchanging ideas, tips and any type of information about
      wellness, exercise, and diet.
    * GRANOLA@BROWNVM.BITNET - Vegetarian Discussion.
    * HERB@TREARN.BITNET - Medicinal and Aromatic Plants discussion.
    * MSLIST-L@NCSUVM.BITNET - Multiple Sclerosis Discussion and
      Support.
    * RZAMAL-L@DKAUNI11.BITNET - Dental Amalgam Fillings and
      chronic mercury poisoning.
    * SPORTPSY@TEMPLEVM.BITNET - Exercise and Sports Psychology.
    * talk.abortion on Usenet.

These mailing lists usually let you search old messages for topics
of interest. 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. Send the
following command to LISTSERV@ASUACAD.BITNET to subscribe:

     SUB MEDNEWS Your-first-name Your-last-name

Chapter 7: Electronic mail, telex, and fax
==========================================

Electronic mail is one of the most popular online services. People
living thousands of miles apart can exchange messages and documents
very quickly.
    International Resource Development, Inc., an American research
organization, claimed (1992) that we can send electronic mail to
more than 10 million personal mailboxes. We believe the figure to
be much higher. The Matrix News (Texas, U.S.A.) claims the number
is over 18 million (March 1993).
    The Boardwatch Magazine (U.S.A.) believes that new callers are
coming online for their first time at a rate of close to 10,000 per
day (January 1993).
    Electronic Mail & Micro Systems (New Canaan, Conn., U.S.A.)
estimated an average of 27.8 million messages sent per month in
1990. Mail through the Internet and grassroots services on free
bulletin boards (like FidoNet) is not included in their figure.
    The annual rate of increase in the number of messages is over
30% and increasing.
    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). See chapter 15 for a breakdown of
this cost.
    If you live in Norway, and send the letter by ordinary mail to
a recipient in Norway, postage alone is US$0.53 (1992). The cost is
seven times higher than using email.
    To send the same letter from Norway to the United States by
ordinary mail will cost 11 times more. This letter takes several
days to reach the destination, while email messages arrive almost
instantly.
    Often, you can send email messages to several recipients in one
operation - without paying extra for the pleasure. Compare this to
sending to several parties 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 call your favorite email service to send the letter.
    The recipient does not have to sit by the computer waiting for
your mail. Upon receipt, it will be automatically stored in his
mailbox. He can read it when he has time.
    The recipient can print it locally, and it will be a perfect
document, no different to one typed in locally. He can also make
corrections or comments, and email onwards to a third party. In
this way several people can work jointly on a report, and no time
is it re-typed from scratch.
    When you receive several messages in the morning, you can very
quickly create replies to them one at the time at your keyboard,
and then 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 through email is easy and economical.
    By the way, the simple but miraculous thing about email is that
you can quote easily and exactly the point to which you are
replying. This is a revolution in communication, no?

How to send email?
-------------------
This is what it normally takes for a CompuServe user to send me
a message:

    Type GO MAIL to get to the "post office," and then type
    COMPOSE.
         "Start writing," says CompuServe. Type your message
    manually, or send a file (text or binary). Type /EXIT when
    done.
         "To whom?" asks CompuServe. You enter: "Odd de Presno
    75755,1327," or just my mailbox number (75755,1327).
         CompuServe asks you to enter Subject. You type: "Hello,
    my friend!" Your message has been sent.
         A few seconds later, the message will arrive in my
    mailbox. If I am online to CompuServe at the moment, I will
    probably read it right away. If not, it will stay there until I
    get around to fetch it.

Above, we used the term "normally takes to send." Please note that
many users never ever TYPE these commands! They use various types
of automatic software to handle the mechanics of sending and
receiving mail (see Chapter 16).
    Other systems require different commands to send email. Ulrik
at the University of Oslo (Norway) is a Unix system. So is The Well
in San Francisco. On such systems, mail is normally sent using
these commands:

    Type "mail opresno@extern.uio.no". When the computer asks for
    "Subject:," enter "Hello, my friend!"
         Type your message or send it. When done, enter a period
    (.) in the beginning of a line. Ulrik will reply with "Cc:" to
    allow you to 'carbon copy' the message to other people. If you
    don't want that, press ENTER and the message is on its way.
         While I wrote this book, I had to go to Japan. A simple
    command allowed me to redirect all incoming mail to CompuServe.
    As a result I could read and send mail by calling a local
    CompuServe number in several Japanese cities.

Though the commands for sending email differ between systems, the
principle is the same. All systems will ask you for an address and
the text of your message. On some, the address is a code, on others
a name (like ODD DE PRESNO).
    Most systems will ask for a Subject title. Many will allow you
to send copies of the message to other recipients (Cc:).
    Some services allow you to 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 and text files, and sound files.
    Many online services let you send messages as fax (to over 15
million fax machines), telex (to over 1.8 million telex machines),
and as ordinary paper mail. We have tested this successfully on
CompuServe, MCI Mail and other services.
    On CompuServe, replace "Odd de Presno 75755,1327" with ">FAX:
4737027111". My fax number is +47 370 27111.
    On MCI Mail type "CREATE:". MCI asks for "To:," and you type
"Odd de Presno (Fax)". MCI asks for "Country:". You enter "Norway".
By "RECIPIENT FAX NO" enter "37027111" (the code for international
calls). The country code for Norway, 01147, is added automatically.
By "Options?," press ENTER. When MCI Mail asks for more recipients,
press ENTER. Type your message and have it sent.
    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 SU), enter ">TLX:871161147 ZETO SU"
when sending from CompuServe.
    By entering ">POSTAL", CompuServe will send your mail to a
business associate in California or Brazil as a professional laser-
printed letter. It will take you through the process of filling out
the various address lines. The letter may well arrive faster than
through ordinary mail.

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.
    The 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. This is the case with my bulletin board, the Saltrod
Horror Show. To send mail to a user of this system, you'll have to
call it directly and enter it there. This bulletin board is not
connected to the outside world for exchange of mail.
    If your favorite system lets you send mail to other services,
make a note about the following:

    * You need to know the exact address of your recipient, and
      whether he's using this mailbox regularly. Many users have
      mailboxes that they use rarely or never. For example, don't
      try to send mail to my mailbox on Dow Jones/News Retrieval.
      I only use this service sporadically.
           Think of the easiest way for a recipient to respond
      before sending a message to him or her.

    * You 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. (More about this later.)

    * The recipient's mailbox system may be connected to a network
      that does not have a mail exchange agreement with your
      system's network(s). Sometimes, you can use a commercial mail
      relay service to get your message across (see chapter 9).
      Users of the Internet can send messages to recipients on the
      Dialcom network through the DASnet relay service.

    * Sometimes, you need to know how to route a message through
      other systems to arrive at its destination. For example, a
      message sent from the Ulrik computer in Oslo must be routed
      through a center in London to get to Dominique Christian on
      the Difer system in Paris (France),

Internet
--------
is the name of a computer network (here called "INTERNET"), and
a term used of a global web of systems and networks that can
exchange mail with each other (here called "Internet").
    INTERNET is a very large network that has grown out of ARPANET,
MILNET, and other American networks for research and education.
This core network has many gateways to other systems, and it's when
we include these systems and their connections that we call it the
Internet. Others call it WorldNet or the Matrix.
    Internet users can exchange mail with users on networks like
EUnet, JANET, Uninett, BITNET, UUCP, CompuServe, MCI Mail, EcoNet,
PeaceNet, ConflicNet, GreenNet, Web, Pegasus, AppleLink, Alternex,
Nicarao, FredsNaetet, UUNET, PSI, Usenet, FidoNet and many others.
We therefore say that these networks are also "on the Internet."
    If you have access to the Internet, you can send email to users
of online services all over the world. You can send to people using
Bergen By Byte and Telemax in Norway, TWICS in Tokyo, and Colnet in
Buenos Aires.
    Now is the time to take a closer look at the art of addressing
mail through the Internet.

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:

    opresno@extern.uio.no

You read the address from left to right. First, the local name of
the mailbox (my name abbreviated). Next, the name of the mailbox
system or another identification code (in this case EXTERN, to
show that I have no affiliation with the University), the name of
the institution or company (here UIO or "Universitetet i Oslo"),
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 users must send their messages through a gateway to the
Internet. In these cases, the address may have to be changed to
reflect this:
    Users of AppleLink use opresno@extern.uio.no@INTERNET# . Those
on JANET use opresno%extern.uio.no@eanrelay.ac.uk. On SprintMail,
use ("RFC-822": <opresno(a)extern.uio.no>, SITE:INTERNET) .
CompuServe subscribers use >INTERNET:opresno@extern.uio.no .
    The core of these address formats is "opresno@extern.uio.no",
in one way or the other.
    We call this basic addressing format a Domain Naming System.
"EXTERN.UIO.NO" is a domain. The domain may also contain reference
to the name of a company or an organization, like in twics.co.jp,
compuserve.com, or IGC.ORG. The CO, COM, and ORG codes identify
TWICS, CompuServe and IGC as companies/organizations.
    To send mail from the Internet to my CompuServe mailbox, use:

    75755.1327@compuserve.com

Normally (except on AppleLink), 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 the
address by %-characters. Here is an example:
    BITNET uses a different addressing method (USER@SYSTEM). Let's
assume that you are subscribed to the club for lovers of Japanese
food (J-FOOD-L@JPNKNU10.BITNET, see chapter 6). You have a mailbox
on INTERNET, and want to send a recipe to the other members using
the address J-FOOD-L.
    On some Internet systems, you can simply use the address:
J-FOOD-L@JPNKNU10.BITNET , and your mailbox system will take care
of the routing for you.
    If this addressing method doesn't work, you can use different
gateways into BITNET depending on where you live. The preferred
method is to route through a gateway near to you. If living in
North America, you may route CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU using the following
address:

    J-FOOD-L%JPNKNU10.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 will happen: First, the message will be sent to
system CUNYVM at the EDUcation site CUNY. CUNYVM investigates the
address, and discovers that the message is for BITNET. It cuts off
all text to the right of "JPNKNU10," and replaces the % with an @.
The message is forwarded to the mailbox J-FOOD-L on the BITNET
system JPNKNU10 at the Kinki University in Japan.

Bang addressing
---------------
"Bang" is American for "exclamation point" (!). The UUCP network
uses this 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.
    Some email systems can use bang addresses directly. (Note that
the ! character has a special function on Unix computers. Here, 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. This
character may also have to precede other special characters.)
    Other systems do not accept bang addresses directly. Here, the
users must send such 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 absolutely refuses to accept exclamation points in
addresses, try to turn the address into a typical Internet address.
Write the address elements in the Internet sequence (left to
right). Replace the exclamation points with %-s, like this:

    jsmall%cdp%pyramid@uunet.uu.net

This method works most of the time. When it works, use this
addressing form. Bang paths may fail if an intermediate site in the
path happens to be down. (There is a trend for UUCP sites to
register Internet domain names. This helps alleviate 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,
and it did work:

   hpda!hplabs!hpscdc!hp-lsd.cos.hp.com!oldcolo!dave@uunet.uu.net

It used to be the Internet 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:

   extern.uio.no!opresno.

Addressing international electronic mail sometimes looks like black
magic. To learn more, read some of the books listed in appendix 5.
We have found "The Matrix" by John S. Quarterman to be particularly
useful.
    The conference INFONETS (General network forum) is another
source. Here, the INTERNET postmasters discuss their addressing
problems. Activity is high, and you will learn a lot about the
noble art of addressing. (This is not the place to ask for Olav
Janssen's Norwegian email address, though. This question should be
sent to a Norwegian postmaster.)
    You can subscribe to Infonets by sending the following mail:

    To: LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET
    Subject: (You can write anything here. It will be ignored.)
    TEXT:  SUB INFONETS Your-first-name Your-last-name

If your mailbox is on another network, alter the address to route
your subscription correctly to this LISTSERV.

  | Hint: You can search the database of old INFONETS messages by |
  | email to LISTSERV@DEARN.BITNET. See "Directories of services  |
  | and subscribers" below for information about how to search    |
  | LISTSERV databases.                                           |

While the global matrix of networks grows rapidly, it is still
behind in some lesser-developed nations and poorer parts of
developed nations. If interested in these parts of the world, check
out GNET, a library and a journal for documents about the efforts to
bring the net to lesser-developed nations.
    Archived documents are available by anonymous ftp from the
directory global_net at dhvx20.csudh.edu (155.135.1.1). Chapter 12
has information on how to use FTP if you only have mail access to
the Internet.
    To subscribe to a conference discussing these documents, send
a request to gnet_request@dhvx20.csudh.edu.

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 other addressing methods.

X.400 addressing
----------------
X.400 is a standard for electronic mail developed by CCITT. It is
used on large networks like AT&T Mail, MCI Mail, Sprintnet, GE
Information System, Dialcom, and Western Union, and on other public
and private 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
(opresno@extern.uio.no), you may have to write it like this:

   (C:NO,ADMD:uninett,PRMD:uninett,O:uio,OU:extern,S:opresno)

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":<opresno(a)extern.uio.no>)

   ("RFC-822": <opresno(a)extern.uio.no>, SITE:INTERNET)

   '(C:USA,A:TELEMAIL,P:INTERNET,"RFC-822":<opresno<a>extern.uio.no>) DEL'

   (site: INTERNET,ID: <opresno<a>extern.uio.no>)

   "RFC-822=opresno(a)extern.uio.no @ GATEWAY]INTERNET/TELEMAIL/US"

To send an Internet message to a mailbox I once had on the X.400
host Telemax in Norway, I had to use the following address:

   /I=D/G=ODD/S=PRESNO/O=KUD.DATASEKR/@PCMAX.telemax.no

To send from Internet to Telemail in the US, I have used this
address:

   /PN=TELEMAIL.T.SUPPORT/O=TELENET.MAIL/ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/@sprint.com

If you need to route your message through gateways, then complexity
increases. One Norwegian UUCP user had to use the following address
to get through:

  nuug!extern.uio.no!"pcmax.telemax.no!/I=D/G=ODD/S=PRESNO/O=KUD.DATASEKR/"

To send a message 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. Another 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.
    Here are some important X.400 codes:

    C       the ISO country code (on most services)
    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.

Returned mail
-------------
When an email address is incorrect in some way (the system's name
is wrong, the domain doesn't exist, whatever), the mail system will
bounce the message back to the sender.
    The returned message will include the reason for the bounce. A
common error is addressing mail to an account name that doesn't
exist.
    Let's make an error when sending to LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu.
Enter "pistserv@vm1.nodak.edu" instead of "LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu".
    This address is wrong. Below, we've printed the complete
bounced message. It contains a lot of technical information. 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 mail 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: <MAILER@VM1.NoDak.EDU>
  Received: from vm1.NoDak.edu by pat.uio.no with SMTP (PP)
    id <07610-0@pat.uio.no>; 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 <MAILER@VM1.NoDak.EDU>
  To: opresno@extern.uio.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:<opresno@extern.uio.no>
  250 <opresno@extern.uio.no>... sender OK.
  050 RCPT TO:<pistserv@NDSUVM1>
  250 <pistserv@NDSUVM1>... recipient OK.
  050 DATA
  354 Start mail input.  End with <crlf>.<crlf>
  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)
            id <07590-0@pat.uio.no>; 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: opresno@extern.uio.no
  Message-Id: <9212181153.AAulrik20516@ulrik.uio.no>
  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'll find the following interesting
line:

  554 No such local user: PISTSERV

Ah, a typo!
    If your original message was long, you're likely to be pleased
by having the complete text returned in the third part of the
bounced message. Now, you may get away with a quick cut and paste,
before resending it to the corrected address.
    The text and codes used in bounced messages vary depending on
what type of mailbox system you're 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) send nothing but a
note telling you the reason for the bounce.

  | Note: When you fail to understand why a message is being  |
  | bounced, contact your local postmaster for help. Send him |
  | a copy of the complete text of the bounced message up to  |
  | and including the line "Subject:" at the bottom.          |
  |    You do not have to send him the text of your original  |
  | message!                                                  |

Replying to an Internet message
-------------------------------
On the Internet, electronic messages have a common structure that
is common across the network. On some systems, you can reply by
using a reply command. If this feature is not available, use the
sender's address as given in the mail header.
    The bounced message contained two mail headers: the header of
my 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, this message contains the following two 'good' addresses:

  From: Network Mailer <MAILER@VM1.NoDak.EDU>
  From: opresno@extern.uio.no

The Network Mailer located the second address line above in my
original message, and used this address when sending the bounced
message. (Note: there is no point in sending a message back to
MAILER@VM1.NoDak.EDU since this is the address of an automatic mail
handling program. Write to Postmaster@VM1.NoDak.EDU to talk to a
"real person" at this 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.

  | Note: Exercise caution when replying to a message sent by  |
  | a mailing list. If you wish to respond to the author only, |
  | make sure that the only address you're replying to is that |
  | person's. Don't send it to the entire list!                |

Directories of services and subscribers
---------------------------------------
There is no complete global directory of available electronic
addresses. On many systems, however, you can search lists of local
users.

  | Normally, you'd be better off by calling the recipient for |
  | his or her email address.                                  |

Sometimes, the information given you by the recipient is not enough.
Maybe the address needs an extension for the message to be routed
through gateways to the destination.
    Another typical problem is that the syntax of the address is
wrong. Perhaps you made a mistake, when you wrote it down (KIDCAFE
became KIDSCAFE).
    The return address in the received messages' mailer headers may
be wrong. It may use a syntax that is illegal on you email system,
or it may suggest a routing that is unknown to your system. When
trying to send mail 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 most Internet hosts this is simple. If you have a
mailbox on the ULRIK computer at the University of Oslo, send a
request for help 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, should write to SYSOP.
    It may not be that simple to locate the postmaster on UUCP.
The postmaster ID may exist on some systems, but often he's just a
name or a user code.
    You can get the email address of known Internet systems by
sending a message to SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL . In the subject of the
message, write the command WHOIS host-machine-name. Do not write
anything in the text (will be ignored). You will get a report of
the desired mailbox computer, and the address of the local
postmaster.  Example:

    To:       SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL
    Subject:  WHOIS AERO.ORG
    Text:

Sometimes, you just don't know the name of a recipient's mailbox
computer. When this is the case, start at the "top of the pyramid."
    Say your desired recipient lives in Germany. The ISO country
code for Germany is DE (see appendix 6). Send the message

    To:       SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL
    Subject:  WHOIS DOMAIN DE
    Text:

This will give you the email addresses of the main postmasters for
this country. Most postmasters are willing to help, but please note
that most of them are very busy people. It may take days before
they get around to respond to your inquiry.
    There are over 100 other "whois-servers" in more than 15
countries. The systems whois.nic.ad.jp and whois.ripe.net cover
Japan and Europe. The rest of them provide information about local
users. (A list is available via anonymous FTP from sipb.mit.edu in
the file /pub/whois/whois-servers.list . Chapter 12 has information
about how to get this list by email).
    If your recipient is on UUCP, try netdir@mcsun.eu.net . To
locate the postmaster of the mailbox system "amanpt1", use the
following format (write nothing in the text):

    To:       netdir@mcsun.eu.net
    Subject:  amanpt1
    Text:

BITNET provides information about connected systems through many
sources. Scandinavian users use LISTSERV@FINHUTC.BITNET in Finland.
Try a LISTSERV on a host closer to where you live. For example,
North American users may use LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET, which is a
host in North Dakota.   Japanese users should write to the host
LISTSERV@JPNKNU10.BITNET.
    When retrieving for BITNET host information mail, your search
will have to be done in two steps. Here, your commands are NOT to
be entered on the Subject line. Enter all commands in the TEXT
field (text on the Subject line will be ignored). Example:

    You want information about the BITNET computer FINHUTC (called
    a "node in the network"). Your first message should have the
    following text:


      // job echo=no
      database search dd=rules
      //rules dd *
      search * in bitearn where node = FINHUTC
      index

    LISTSERV sends you the following report:

      > search * in bitearn where node = FINHUTC
      --> Database BITEARN, 1 hit.

      > index
      Ref# Conn  Nodeid   Site name
      ---- ----  ------   ---------
      0910 85/11 FINHUTC  Helsinki University of Technology, Finland

    Send a new search message to the LISTSERV containing the same
    commands as above. Add one line in which you ask for database
    record number 0910 (given in the column Ref#).
    Like this:

      // job echo=no
      database search dd=rules
      //rules dd *
      search * in bitearn where node = FINHUTC
      index
      print 0910

    LISTSERV will return a report with a lot of information.
    Here is part of it:

      Node: FINHUTC
      Country: FI
      Internet: FINHUTC.hut.fi
      Net: EARN
      Nodedesc: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
      P_hsalmine: Harri Salminen;LK-HS@FINHUTC;+358 0 4514318
      P_pautio: Petri Autio;POSTMAST@FINHUTC;+358 0 4514318
      P_vvoutila: Vuokko Voutilainen;OPR@FINHUTC;+358 0 4514342
      Routtab: RSCS (NETSERV,POSTMAST@FINHUTC)

For more information about searching BITNET databases, send this
message to your favorite LISTSERV, or use the address below:

    To:       LISTSERV@FINHUTC.BITNET
    Subject:  nothing
    TEXT:     GET LISTDB MEMO

X.400 systems are developing an address directory according to
CCITT standard X.500. The plan is to connect several directories.
The developers hope 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.
    X.500 will certainly help X.400 users. The problem is that
most email is still carried by other types of systems, and that
X.500 has no concern for mail transported through "foreign
systems."

Dialcom
-------
is a commercial, global online service, which have many nodes in
Africa and Latin America. To send mail from Dialcom to the Internet
you must use commercial gateway-services like DASnet (see appendix
1).
    To send mail from one Dialcom system to another, use the syntax
6007:EWP002. This address points to mailbox EWP002 on system number
6007.
    To send mail from Internet to Dialcom user YNP079 on system
10001, use the following address when sending through DASnet:

    10001_ynp079@dcdial.das.net

Note: Only registered users with DASnet can use this method.

FidoNet
-------
Users of this global 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:

      To: opresno@extern.uio.no

    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:

 <firstname>.<lastname>@p<point>.f<node>.n<net>.z<zone>.fidonet.org

Where <firstname> is the person's first name
      <lastname>  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.

For more information
--------------------
If you have access to BITNET or Internet mail, get "The Inter-
Network Mail Guide." It describes how to send mail between
electronic mail systems like AppleLink, BITNET, BIX, CompuServe,
Connect-USA, EasyNet, Envoy, FidoNet, GeoNet, Internet, MCI,
MFENET, NasaMail, PeaceNet, Sinet, Span, SprintMail, and more.
    Send a message to the BITNET address LISTSERV@UNMVM.BITNET. In
the TEXT of the message enter:

    GET NETWORK GUIDE

This list is also posted monthly to the Usenet newsgroups
comp.mail.misc and news.newusers.questions.
    The document "FAQ: How to find people's E-mail addresses" is
regularly posted to the Usenet group news.answers. It is also
available by email from mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu . To get a copy,
put the command "send usenet/news.answers/finding-addresses" in the
body of your message.

Chapter 8: Free expert assistance
=================================

This may sound too good to be true. Many computer experts are ready
to help YOU without asking a dollar in return. The same is the case
with experts in 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, and get help.
    If you have problems with your communications program, post a
message on a bulletin board. Do the same thing if you want to sell
equipment. Learn from other people's experiences with computers or
software that you plan to buy.
    You will get a reply - if the subject or you attract interest.
In the process, you'll get new friends, and be able to follow the
development in a dynamic marketplace.
    The following message from CompuServe is typical:


  16-Nov-91  15:16:14
  Sb: Back & Forth software
  Fm: Joan Healy
  To: John Nelson

  Changed my mind about GrandView:

  1. Learning curve like Mt. Everest.  Give me intuitive or give me
     death.
  2. Lack of patience with "  ".
  3. Lack of time.
  4. It may be unsuited for what I wanted (outlining a book). Since
     becoming a born-again Galaxian, I've started using that for the
     outline, and I'm happy.  There's nothing like a  decision and a
     permanent bonding and lifelong commitment to make a woman
     happy. Remember that, you louts. :-)

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.
    The reactions to one simple question may be overwhelming, but
most of the time the contributions are useful and educational.
Since the discussion is public, regard it as your personal online
university. Offer opinions when you have something to contribute,
or keep silent.
    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. Do not feel bad about being silent. Most other
members are there only to watch and learn as well.
    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 messages with complaints
of the new program before buying.
    When you have received your new program, return to read other
users' experiences and to pick up practical advice. It will never
hurt to offer your own two cents' worth in the process.

  | Visit online services that have many users who know more than   |
  | most. There, you will usually get faster and better replies to  |
  | your questions. It is far cheaper to ask than to search.        |

Start with bulletin boards. If you have never visited a BBS, call
one in your neighborhood to get a feel for what this is. Most of
them can be accessed free. Usually, their only requirement is that
you answer some self-presentation questions before being granted
full access to their system.
    Most bulletin boards offer conferencing and archives filled
with shareware and public domain software. Many also 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,
the more skilled people are likely to "meet" there regularly.
Therefore, if local bulletin boards fail to satisfy your needs,
visit the large commercial services. CompuServe and EXEC-PC are two
services in the top league. BIX is another good source of
information for professional computer specialists.
    One exception: When you need contact with ONE particular
person, who knows YOUR problem in detail, go where he uses to go.
    Examples: If you need top advice about the communications
program GALINK, call Mike's BBS in Oslo (at +472 -416588). If you
buy modems from Semafor A/S, the best place for expert advice is
Semaforum BBS (tel. +4741-370-11710). If you have a Novell local
area network, visit the Novell forums on CompuServe.

For users of MS-DOS computers
-----------------------------
I visit the following CompuServe forums regularly:

    IBM Communication - about communication software for MS-DOS
        computers.
    IBM Hardware - about new IBM compatibles, expansion cards,
        displays, hard disks, IBM PS/2, software for performance
        evaluation, printers, etc.
    IBM Systems/Utilities - about DOS, utilities, shells, file
        utilities, and much more. A large software library.
    IBM Applications - about all kind of applications. The forum
        has a large file library full of shareware and public
        domain software.

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.

CompuServe has hundreds of other forums with associated libraries
of files and programs.
    FidoNet has the PC_TECH and PCUG conferences, and a long list
of product specific echos like QUICKBBS, PCTOOLS, ZMODEM, DESQVIEW
and WINDOWS.SHAREW .
    BITNET has CLIPPER (CLIPPER@BRUFPB), I-IBMPC (I-IBMPC@UIUCVMD),
PC-L (PC-L@UFRJ), and the abstract service INFO-IBMPC (IBMPC-
L@BNANDP11). On EXEC-PC, look under MS-DOS systems. Usenet has
many offerings including the following:

  comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc    Discussion about IBM personal computers.
  comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest  The IBM PC, PC-XT, and PC-AT. (Moderated)
  comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware        XT/AT/EISA hardware, any vendor.
  comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt      Topics related to IBM's RT computer.
  comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware       Microchannel hardware, any vendor.

For help with Lotus 1-2-3, there are two CompuServe forums. There
is a LOTUS conference on RelayNet. WordPerfect Corp. has a support
forum on CompuServe. WORDPERF is the equivalent offering on
RelayNet. On ILINK, visit WORDPERFECT. For support about Ami Pro,
visit CompuServe's LDC Word Processing Forum.

For owners of Amiga computers
-----------------------------
FidoNet has a long list of conferences for Amiga users:

   AMIGA              Amiga International Echo
   AMIGAGAMES         Amiga Gaming
   AMIGA_COMMS        Amiga Communications Software and Hardware
   AMIGA_DESKTOP      Amiga Desktop Publishing
   AMIGA_INFO         AMIGA_INFO
   AMIGA_LC           Amiga Lattice/SASC C Echo
   AMIGA_NET_DEV      Amiga Network Developers.
   AMIGA_PDREVIEW     Amiga PD Reviews & Requests
   AMIGA_PERFECT      Amiga Word Perfect & Word Processing
   AMIGA_PROG         Amiga Programmer's International Conference
   AMIGA_SYSOP        Amiga SysOp's Discussion/ADS Echo
   AMIGA_UG           Amiga User's Groups
   AMIGA_VIDEO        Amiga Video and Animation

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.
    Usenet's com.sys.amiga hierarchy has entries like advocacy,
announce applications, audio, datacomm, emulations, games,
graphics, hardware, introduction, marketplace, multimedia, misc,
programmer, reviews and more.
    Abstracts of comp.sys.amiga conferences are available through
several BITNET mailing lists, like AMIGAHAR@DEARN, AMIGA-D@NDSUVM1,
and AMIGA-S@NDSUVM1.
    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 and get the
following welcome menu:


   Amiga Forums
    1 Amiga Arts Forum
    2 Amiga Tech Forum
    3 Amiga User's Forum
    4 Amiga Vendor Forum
    5 Amiga File Finder

   Commodore Forums
    6 Commodore Arts and Games
    7 Commodore Applications Forum
    8 Commodore Service Forum
    9 Commodore Newsletter

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

    5 Your Comments About File Finder

Choice four lets us search for files using keywords, file creation
dates, forum names, file types, file name extension, file name or
author. Our choice was searching by keywords. The result was a long
list of alternatives:

   Enter Search Term: comm

   Amiga File Finder

    1 AMIGATECH/C Programming  COMSRC.ARC
    2 AMIGATECH/C Programming  PMDSRC.LZH
    3 AMIGATECH/C Programming  PNTSRC.LZH
    4 AMIGAUSER/Communications  BBSIND.LZH
    5 AMIGAUSER/Communications  INTOUC.ARC
    etc.

By entering numbers, we asked for short descriptions of file number
4 through 13. Here is one of them:

   Filename : INTOUC.ARC  Forum: AMIGAUSER
   Lib: Communications  Lib #: 5
   Submitter: [76702,337]   24-Mar-89
   Size: 51200   Accesses: 157

   This is a modified Comm1.34.  It supports both VT100 and ANSI.
   The VT100 emulation is based on Dave Wecker's VT100 program.
   There is automatic dialer, split screen that is configurable,
   phone book, and other nice features.

This is what we were looking for. First, enter GO AMIGAUSER to get
to the forum. Enter "DL 5" to get to Downloading Library number 5.
INTOUCH.ARC was retrieved using the CompuServe Quick B transfer
protocol. This protocol is usually the most efficient choice on
this service.
    There are also active Amiga forums on BIX, GEnie, and CIX
(England).

Apple users
-----------
FidoNet has an APPLE conference. BITNET has APPLE2-L (APPLE2-
L@BROWNVM). CompuServe has Apple II Programmers Forum, Apple II
Users Forum, Apple II Vendor Forum, Mac Community Clubhouse Forum,
Mac Developers Forum, Mac Fun/Entertainment Forum, Mac Hypertext
Forum, Mac New Users/Help Forum, Mac System 7.0 Forum, Mac System
Software Forum, MacUser Forum and MacWEEK Forum.
    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: 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 probability that you can find online
support for almost all of them. This is so even if the vendor is
out of business long ago. CompuServe is a good place to start.

Chapter 9: Your electronic daily news
=====================================

   Read national and global news before they are announced by
   the traditional media. Get those interesting background
   facts. Read special interest news stories that seldom
   appear in print.

Sure, you read newspapers, watch TV, and listen to radio. But did
you know how limited their stories are?
    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 to discover the difference. The 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.
    Most commercial online services offer news. Most of their
stories come from large news agencies and newspapers. You can also
read and search articles from magazines, newsletters and other
special publications.
    The online users' ability to search today and yesterday's news
makes these offerings particularly useful.
    The cost of reading a given news item varies by online service.
What will set you back 20 cents on one service, will cost you two
dollars on another.
    It may be many times more expensive (or cheap) to read the same
article from the same news provider on another online service. So,
professional online users compare prices.

National news
-------------
In Norway, we have long been able to read local language news from
print media like Aftenposten, Dagens Naeringsliv, Kapital, and news
wires from NTB and other local sources. Similarly, local language
news is available online in most countries.
    The cost of reading local news on national online services
tends to be more expensive than on major global online services. As
competition among global news providers increases, however, this is
bound to change.

International news
------------------
"The Global Village" is an old idea in the online world. News from
most parts of the world has long been globally available.
    A while ago, a well-known Norwegian industrialist visited my
office. I showed off online searching in NewsNet newsletters and
stumbled over a story about his company. "Incredible!" he said. "We
haven't even told our Norwegian employees about this yet."
    Often, American online services give news from other countries
earlier you can get it on online services from these countries.
Besides, the stories will be in English.

  | In 1991, the United States had 56 percent of the world's online |
  | databases (Source: the research company IQ, September 1991).    |

Sure, most Norwegians prefer to read news in Norwegian. The
Japanese want news 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 language
of the online world.
    Another thing is that reading local language news is risky.
Translators often make mistakes. One reason is time pressure,
another poor knowledge of the source language.
    The risk of inaccuracies increases when a story, for example
initially translated from Spanish into English, then are being
translated into a third language.
    Avoid news that has been translated more than once. If not,
you may experience something like this:

    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."

Your "personal online daily newspaper" will often give you the news
faster and more correctly than traditional print media. Some news
is only made available in electronic form.

Seven minutes 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.
    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.
    When I had entered my user ID and password, a menu of stories
came up 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 had ten lines about how to write
addresses for international fax messages.
    The command GO APV brought me directly to Associated Press News
Wires. You'll find such tricks by reading 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 a new list of stories:

    AP Online

    1 Women, Minority Businesses Lag
    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
(the videotext page number is given in the upper right corner of
each menu display). I selected "World" for global news, which gave
me this list:


    AP Online

    6 Two Killed In Nagorno Karabakh
    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 in
a couple of weeks, and entered 8 at the MORE ! prompt to read. A
screenful of text was transferred in a few seconds.
    "This is for later study," I said, pressed M to return to the
menu, and then ENTER to get the next listing:


    AP Online

    1 Bomblets Kill American Troops?
    2 No Movement On Hostage Release
    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 !

Here, I used another trick from the user manual. Entering "5,6,9"
gave three stories in one batch with no pauses between them. Five
screens with text. If I had read the menu more carefully, I might
probably also have selected story 0. It looked like an interesting
item.
    "This is enough of the Associated Press," I thought,  and typed
G NEWS. This gave me 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. The service 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
transmitted daily to The Business Wire's subscribers."
    Then #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."
    The list of newspapers included Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune
and San Francisco Chronicle (known for many interesting inside
stories from Silicon Valley).
    Choice 8 gave news from England. There, I selected UK News
Clips, which gave the following options:

  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 are the release times of the stories.
They flow in from the wires in a continuous stream.
    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 (with selected stories from The Daily
& Sunday Telegraph, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times/Sunday
Times, Today, The Independent, Lloyd's List and The Observer).
    Searching the UK Newspaper Library costs US$6.00 for up to ten
hits. You get a selection menu of the first ten stories found. A
menu with an additional ten stories costs another $6.00, etc. You
pay US$6.00 to read the full text of selected stories. These rates
are added to CompuServe's normal access rates.
    The news service Soviet Crisis was my final destination. This
was just a few weeks after the attempted coup in Moscow, and I was
eager for reports.
    I found the following interesting story from OTC NewsAlert:

OTC  09/19 0750  FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE SOVDATA DAILINE IS LAUNCHED

This selection gave me 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 Mead
Data Central (Nexis/Lexis), and that it would be made available
through like Data-Star, FT Profile, Reuters, Westlaw, and GBI.
Undoubtedly, the name has changed by the time you read this.
    Finally, a fresh story about the fate of 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 am confident that your "daily online newspaper" will contain
other stories. If you're into computers, you may want to start with
Online Today, CompuServe's daily newspaper. It brings short,
informative news stories about the computer industry.
    NewsBytes is another interesting source for computer news. It
offers global headline news from its bureaus around the world. The
articles are sorted in sections called APPLE, BUSINESS, GENERAL,
GOVERNMENT, IBM, REVIEW, TELECOM, TRENDS and UNIX. A favorite!
    Newsnet is also available through Genie, ZiffNet on CompuServe,
NewsNet, Dialog, in the newsgroup clari.nb on Usenet, and various
BBS systems around the world. I read it through a Norwegian BBS
(EuroNet in Haugesund).
    For general news, start with major newswires, like Associated
Press, Agence France-Presse, Xinhua, Reuters, and the like. You
will find them on many commercial services including NewsNet,
CompuServe, and Dialog.

FROGNET - The French Way
------------------------
If you know French, check out FROGNET. This French language service
brings daily news from Agence France Press, and often has added
excerpts from the French dailies.
    FROG is distributed by the services of the French embassy in
Washington. It covers world affairs, European and French items,
assembled, naturally, from a French point of view.
    The service is free. To subscribe, send a message through the
Internet to FROG@GUVAX.GEORGETOWN.EDU . It should contain your
answers to the following electronic application form. Replace the
%s with your inputs (This is French, right?):

     NOM:   %
     PRENOM:  %
     NAISSANCE:../../..%
     ARRIVEE:../../..%
     DEPART:../../..%
     EMAIL:    %
     ECOLE D'ORIGINE:  %
     QUALITE:  %
     ADRESSE DE RECHERCHE:   %
     PAYS:   %
     STATE:     %
     UNIVERSITE:   %
     RECHERCHE:   %
     MOTSCLES:   %
     DOMAINE:  %

Complicated? OK, here's some instructions in "French ASCII":

   * Pour les dates veuillez utiliser le format Francais
     (DD/MM/YY). Arrivee: c'est la date d'arrivee dans le pays
     ou vous etes actuellement.
   * QUALITE: Etes vous VSN, PHD, MASTER, INGENIEUR, POST-DOC ...?
   * ECOLE D'ORIGINE: Diplome obtenu en France
   * PAYS: US, Australie ....
   * STATE: pour les US en 2 lettres (NY, TX, CA)
   * UNIVERSITE: actuelle ou societe
   * RECHERCHE: Soyez explicite !
   * MOTSCLES: (ex: Neuronaux, polymeres, TVHD...)
   * DOMAINE: En 3 lettres confere nomenclature ci-dessous


Nomenclature de la National Science Foundation.

   AGR   AGRICULTURE
   BIO   BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
   HES   HEALTH SCIENCES
   ENG   ENGINEERING
   CIS   COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SC.
   MAT   MATHEMATICS
   PHY   PHYSICAL SCIENCES
   AST   Astronomy
   ATM   Atmospheric & Meteorological Sciences
   CHE   Chemistry
   GEO   Geological Sciences
   PHS   Physics
   OPH   Other Physical Sciences
   PSY   PSYCHOLOGY
   SOS   SOCIAL SCIENCES
   HUM   HUMANITIES
   HIS   History
   LET   Letters
   FLL   Foreign Languages & Literature
   OHU   Other Humanities
   EDU   EDUCATION
   EDG   Education General
   TED   Teacher Education
   TEF   Teaching fields
   PRF   PROFESSIONAL FIELDS
   BUS   Business & Management
   COM   Communications
   PFO   Other Professional Fields
   OTH   OTHER FIELDS

News is more than news
----------------------
After some time, your definition of the notion "news" may change.
Since so many conferences are interesting sources, they should also
be a part of your news gathering strategy. Check in regularly to
read what members report about what they have seen, done, heard, or
discovered.
    By the way, professional news hunters have also discovered
this. Online conferences are popular hunting grounds for reporters
of the traditional press.
    FidoNet has many conferences with specialized news contents:

      ANEWS                 News of the US and World
      BBNS                  BBS News Service
      BIONEWS               Environmental News
      EL_SALVADOR           Analysis and News About El Salvador
      NICANET               Analysis and News About Nicaragua
      PACIFIC_NEWS          Pacific News
      PANAMA                Analysis and News About Panama

BITNET has mailing lists like:

      CHINA-NN         CHINA-NN@ASUACAD  China News Digest (Global News)
      CURRENTS         CURRENTS@PCCVM    South Asian News and Culture
      INDIA-L          INDIA-L@TEMPLEVM  The India News Network
      PAKISTAN         PAKISTAN@ASUACAD  Pakistan News Service
      SEDSNEWS         SEDSNEWS@TAMVM1   News about Space from SEDS
      TSSNEWS          TSSNEWS@PSUVM     Tunisian Scientific Society News

RFERL-L (on LISTSERV@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU) distributes the RFE/RL
Research Institute Daily Report. It is a digest of the latest
developments in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.  The
report is published Monday through Friday by the RFE/RL Research
Institute, a division of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Inc. in
Germany.
     Some mailing lists bring a steady flow of news from various
sources. SEASIA-L@MSU - The Southeast Asia Discussion List - is one
example. The list is "designed to facilitate communication between
researchers, scholars, students, teachers, and others interested in
Southeast Asian studies with an emphasis on current events."
    SEASIA-L defines Southeast Asia loosely as Burma/Myanmar across
to Hong Kong and down through Australia and New Zealand. Regularly,
it brings full-text news stories from Inter Press Service, regional
news agencies, and newspapers/radio. Some examples:
    On Jul. 30, 1992, a full-text story from IPS:  "PHILIPPINES:
RAMOS URGES REPEAL OF ANTI-COMMUNIST LAW." On Aug. 13, 1992, full-
text story from The New Straits Times (Singapore): "Schoolgirs
involved in flesh trade, says Farid." On Aug. 31, "ANTI-VIETNAMESE
FORCE TURNS UP IN CAMBODIA" (Reuter).
    SEASIA-L also brings "underground" reports like "The Burma
Focus," a bimonthly newsletter published by the All Burma Students'
Democratic Front.
    ECUADOR brings news from Ecuador. Daily news bulletins from
"Diario Hoy" are posted to the list. Send rone@skat.usc.edu your
subscription request.
    Many CompuServe forums have news sections. If you're 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."
    NewsNet's list of newsletters that you can read or search
online is long, and back issues are also available. For example:

      Africa News, Agence France-Presse International News, Applied
      Genetics News, Asian Economic News, Asian Political News,
      Business Travel News, Catholic News Service, CD Computing
      News, Computer Reseller News, Electronic Materials Technology
      News, Electronic Trade & Transport News, Electronic World
      News, High Tech Ceramics News, Inter Press Service
      International News, International Businessman News Report,
      News From France, Northern Ireland News Service, Online
      Product News, Sourcemex -- economic news on Mexico, and
      XINHUA English language news service (China).

The Inter Press Service's newsletter International News focuses
on Third World countries, and news from Europe/North America of
interest to these countries (also available through Impress on
Nexis).
    Usenet brings news from Bangladesh, India and Nepal in
misc.news.southasia. The ClariNet hierarchy gateways newsgroups
from commercial news services and "other official" sources, like:

      biz.commodity     Commodity news and price reports.
      feature           Feature columns and products
      canada.briefs     Regular updates of Canadian News in Brief.
      biz.economy       Economic news and indicators
      biz.top           Top business news
      books             Books & publishing.
      briefs            Regular news summaries.
      bulletin          Major breaking stories of the week.
      consumer          Consumer news, car reviews etc.
      demonstration     Demonstrations around the world.
      disaster          Major problems, accidents & natural disasters.
      economy           General economic news.
      entertain         Entertainment industry news & features.
      europe            News related to Europe.
      fighting          Clashes around the world.
      hot.east_europe   News from Eastern Europe.
      hot.iraq          The Gulf Crisis
      hot.panama        Panama and General Noriega.
      news.top          Top US news stories.
      news.top.world    Top international news stories.
      news.trends       Surveys and trends.
      news.urgent       Major breaking stories of the day.

A feed of ClariNet news is available for a fee and execution of a
license.  (Write info@clarinet.com for information.)
    UUCP has which brings regular news bulletins from Poland
(Contact: przemek@ndcvx.cc.nd.edu).

Behind the news
---------------
In an effort to garner new subscribers and retain 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" to BYTE's writers on BIX, and 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.
    InfoWorld, an American computer magazine, runs the InfoWorld
OnLine service on CompuServe. Enter GO INF to get to the following
menu:

InfoWorld On-Line      INFOWORLD

WELCOME TO INFOWORLD
 1 About InfoWorld Online
 2 Read Current Week's News -  1/13/92
 3 Read Prior Week's News   -  1/06/92
 4 Download Current Week's Reviews,
    Comparisons and Test Drives ($)
 5 Download Prior Week's Reviews,
    Comparisons and Test Drives ($)
 6 Searching Help
 7 Search Review/Comparisons/
    Impressions/Test Drives
 8 Comments to InfoWorld

InfoWorld highlights comprehensive computer product comparisons and
reports. You can browse this or previous weeks' comparisons and
reviews, or search the entire collection. You can search by company
name, product, software and hardware category.
    Britain's two best-selling PC magazines share the PC Plus/PC
Answers Online forum on CompuServe (GO PCPLUS).
    PC Magazine, another American magazine, has several forums on
CompuServe. They also operate a bulletin board. People from AI Expert
Magazine can be encountered in the AI Expert Forum. Dr. Dobb's
Journal is in the Dr. Dobb's Journal Forum.
    The Entrepreneur's Small Business Forum (CompuServe) is managed
by representatives from the magazine. Live Sound!, a magazine devoted
to the MIDI sound field, occupies section and library 9 of the MIDI B
Vendor Forum.
    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.
    The Online World shareware book, the one you're reading just now,
also has a forum. For information about how to join, send email to
LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu (or LISTSERV@NDSUVM1 on BITNET). In the text
of your message, write the command "GET TOW MASTER".

Chapter 10: Looking for a needle in a bottle of hay
===================================================

Experienced users regularly clip news from online services, and
store selected parts of it on their personal computers' hard disks.
They use powerful tools to search their data, and know how to use
the information in other applications.
    Regular clipping of news is highly recommended. It is often
quicker and easier to search your own databases than to do it
online.
    Since your data is a subset of previous searches, your stories
are likely to have a high degree of relevancy.
    There are many powerful programs for personal computers that
let you search your personal data for information. Read Chapter 14
for more on this.
    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 direction of primary
sources from where more in-depth information may be elicited.

When your personal database fails to deliver
--------------------------------------------
Regular "clipping" can indeed help you build a powerful personal
database, but it will never satisfy all your 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
online offerings is bewildering. To be successful, you must have
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.

    What is likely to happen, is that the search term IBM gives 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 general 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 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.
    We suggest the following strategy:

    Step 1: Locate sources that provide relevant information,

    Step 2: Check if the information from these sources is at a
            satisfactory level of details, and that the volume
            is acceptable (not too much, neither too little).

    Step 3: Study the service's search commands and procedures,
            PLAN, and then SEARCH.

Start by asking others!
-----------------------
Step 1 is not an easy one. Start by asking other online people for
advice. This may be the fastest way to interesting sources.
    If looking for information about agriculture and fisheries,
visit conferences about related topics. Ask members there what they
are using.
    If you want information about computers or electronics, ask in
such conferences.

  | When you don't know where to start your search, ask others! |
  | Their know-how is usually the quickest way to the sources.  |

If this doesn't help, check out GEnie's Home Office/Small Business
RoundTable, a hangout of online searchers. Visit CompuServe's
Working From Home Forum, which has a section for information
professionals (#4), and the section for new librarians in the
Journalism Forum.
    Patent searchers are a very specialized group. They discuss
common problems on Dialog's DialMail. Their bulletin board is named
PIUG.

Buy user manuals
----------------
Some online services send free user information manuals to their
users. Others charge extra for them. If they do, buy! They're worth
their weight in gold.
    The user manuals from Dialog, Dow Jones News/Retrieval and
CompuServe make good reading. The last two also publish monthly
magazines full of search tips, information about new sources, user
experiences, and more. Dialog distributes the monthly newsletter
Chronolog.
    NewsNet customers periodically receive a printed listing of
available newsletters by subject area, and a presentation of their
information providers. The NewsNet Action Letter (monthly) is also
distributed by mail.
   On some services, you can retrieve the help texts in electronic
form. Doing that is not a bad idea. It is often quicker to search a
help file on your disk, than to browse through a book.

Monitor the offerings
---------------------
Professional information searchers monitor the activity in the
online world. They search databases for information about new
sources of information, and regularly 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.
    NewsNet lets you read and search the following newsletters:
Worldwide Videotex Update, Worldwide Databases (#PB44), Online
Newsletter, The Online Newsletter, and The Online Libraries and
Microcomputers.
    The last two are also available as a database from Information
Intelligence, Inc., (P.O. Box 31098, Phoenix, AZ 85046, U.S.A.
Tel.: +1-602-996-2283). You can read the text on NewsNet about one
week before it appears in print.
    These two newsletters can also be read and searched on Dialog
and Data-Star, as part of the Information Access PTS Newsletter
Database. Information Access is a full-text database with many
specialized newsletters for business and industry.
    On CompuServe, you can get to Information Access through the
IQuest gateway to NewsNet.
    Subscribing to THE ONLINE NEWSLETTER costs US$50.00 per year
(10 issues) for companies, and US$35.00 for personal use (1991).
For both newsletters, the price is US$75.00.
    These newsletters are also available on CD-ROM. The disk
contains four databases: the Online Newsletter, Online Hotline,
Online Libraries and Microcomputers, Major Online Vendors and
*Joblines* with more than eight thousand full-text articles from
January 1980 until today.
    The CD-ROM version is delivered with a menu-driven searching
program. Each word in every article and headline has been indexed
and can be located in all databases. The price for subscriptions
of the printed version is US$99.95. Price for nonsubscribers:
US$199.95.
    The September 1991 issue of The Online Newsletter had the
following index (partial):

   *****************************
   *NEW & FORTHCOMING DATABASES*
   *****************************

   10)  MULTIMEDIA CIA WORLD FACT BOOK (CD-ROM) [REVIEW]
   11)  NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS ON CD-ROM (CD-ROM) [REVIEW]
   12)  WORLD CERAMICS ABSTRACTS (ORBIT)
   13)  GENE-TOX (TOXNET/NLM)
   14)  UK TRADEMARKS (ORBIT) [RENAMED]
   15)  BRS ADDS DATABASES TO ITS OFFERINGS
   16)  CURRENT PATENTS (ORBIT)
   17)  NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE ON CD-ROM (CD-ROM)
   18)  ALUMINUM STANDARDS DATABASE [AAASD] (STN
   19)  PLASNEWS (STN INTERNATIONAL)
   20)  EPIC ANNOUNCES NEW DATABASES
   21)  DISCLIT: AMERICAN AUTHORS (CD-ROM - OCLC)
   22)  CROSS-CULTURAL: CRIME AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS (CD-ROM)
   23)  INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL ABSTRACTS (CD-ROM)
   24)  RINGDOC (CD-ROM - SILVERPLATTER)
   25)  CODUS (ESA-IRS)
   26)  MOODY'S COMPANY DATA (CD-ROM)
   27)  FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE (DIALOG)
   28)  INPADOC DATABASE TO BE MADE AVAILABLE IN JAPAN (DIALOG)
   29)  SOFTWARE CD: DESCRIPTIONS & REVIEWS (CD-ROM)
   30)  MONARCH NOTES ON CD-ROM (CD-ROM)

An earlier issue of the newsletter reviewed The Encyclopedia of
Information Systems and Services, a three-volume "bible" for online
users and producers (9th edition):
     EISS covers more than 30,000 organizations, systems, services,
more than five thousand databases, publications, software products,
etc. Their international listing covers 1,350 information
organizations in 70 countries, and has 535 pages.
   Topics: online host services, videotex/teletext information
services, PC oriented services, data collection and analysis
services, abstracting  and indexing services,  computerized
searching services, software producers, magnetic tape/diskette
providers, micrographic applications and services, library and
information networks, library management systems, information on
demand services, transactional services (new category), document
delivery services, SDI/current awareness services, consultants,
associations, research and research projects, and electronic mail
applications.
    Contact: Gale Research  Company,  645  Griswold, Detroit, MI
48226, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-313-961-2242. Price per set: US$ 420.00.

The European Common Market
--------------------------
Many services bring news and information from the European Common
Market. The Common Market's free database service,  I'M-GUIDE, is
a good place to start.
    I'M-GUIDE is available through ECHO in Luxembourg by telnet to
echo.lu . At the question "PLEASE ENTER YOUR CODE," enter ECHO and
press Return.
    You can search I'M-GUIDE for information sources, send email
inquiries to ECHO, and more. Searches can be done in English,
French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, and Portuguese.
    If you have problems using I'M-GUIDE, call the ECHO Help Desk
in Luxembourg at +352-34 98 11.

More sources about sources
--------------------------
The "Internet-Accessible Library Catalogs and Databases" report is
available by email from LISTSERV@UNMVM.BITNET. Put the following
command in the TEXT of your message:

     GET LIBRARY PACKAGE

Cuadra/Elsevier (Box 872, Madison Square Station, New York, NY
10159-2101, U.S.A. Tel.: +1 212 633 3980) sells a Directory of
Online Databases, which lists databases available around the world.
The catalog can be searched on Orbit and Data-Star.
    The Online Access Publishing Group Inc. (Chicago) sells "The
Online Access Guide." Annual subscription for this printed manual
costs US$18.95 (six issues - 1992).
    The LINK-UP magazine is another interesting source. If living
in North America, contact Learned Information Inc., 143 Old Mariton
Pike, Medford, NJ 08055-8707, U.S.A.. If living elsewhere, contact
Learned Information (Europe) Ltd., Woodside, Hinskey Hill, Oxford
OX1 5AU, England, if you live outside North America. Tel.: +44 865
730 275.  Price: US$25.00 for six issues/year (1993). An online
version is available through ZiffNet's Business Database Plus on
CompuServe.
    Two monthly magazines, Information World Review (price: GBP
30/year) and  FULLTEXT SOURCES ONLINE from BiblioData Inc. in the
United States, is also available through Learned Information.
(BiblioData, P.O. Box 61, Needham Heights, MA 02194, U.S.A.)
    FULLTEXT SOURCES ONLINE publishes their listing of full-text
databases twice per year. The price is GBP 50 GBP per booklet or
GBP 90 per year.
    The newsletter SCANNET TODAY (c/o Helsinki University of Techn.
Library, Otnaesvaegen 9, SF-02150 ESBO, Finland) presents news of
Scandinavian databases by country. Subscription is free.
    Computer Readable Databases from Gale Research is available
both in print and online through Dialog. Write to Gale Research
Company, 645 Griswold, Detroit, MI 48226, U.S.A.
    Many electronic journals and newsletters are available through
the Internet, covering fields from literature to molecular biology.
For a complete list, send a message to LISTSERV@ACADVM1.UOTTAWA.CA
with the following commands in the BODY of your text:

    GET EJOURNL1 DIRECTRY
    GET EJOURNL2 DIRECTRY

Practical hints about online searching
--------------------------------------
We cannot give a simple, universal recipe valid for all online
services. What is the best approach on one service, may be useless
on others.
    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.
    Make a note about the following general tricks:

    In conferences and forums:
    --------------------------
    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.

    Online searching often starts by selecting databases. The
    next step is to enter search words (or text strings), and
    a valid time frame (as in "between 1/1/90 and 1/1/91").

    The following sample search terms are used on NewsNet:

    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.

    SONY AND VIDEO          The word SONY and the word VIDEO. Both
                            words must be present in the document
                            to give a match.

    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.

    Many services let you reuse your search terms in new search
    commands. This can save you time and money, if there are 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*".

    In 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.

    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/Printer

    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.

Using ANDs and ORs
------------------
Boolean searching may seem confusing at first, unless you already
understand the logic. There are three Boolean operators that
searchers use to combine search terms: AND, OR, and NOT.
    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).
    Be careful when using the NOT operator. It 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."

Searching by email
------------------
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. Dialog,
Dun & Bradstreet, NewsNet, and Individual Inc. have signed up for
the program.
    You can request a search by direct email to say Dialog. The
search results will be returned to you via MCI Mail or MCI Fax.
     With Dun and Bradstreet, you call them for a credit report and
they send it to you. With History Associates, you send them a
message via MCI Mail, and they report to you.

Using BITNET discussion lists through Internet
----------------------------------------------
To get a directory of Internet/BITNET mailing lists, send the
following email message:

    To:  LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU
    Subject: (keep this blank)
    Text:
    LIST GLOBAL

You will receive a LONG list of available sources of information. A
recent copy had over two thousand lines of text. Each mailing list
is described with one line. All these mailing lists can be used by
email through the Internet. Here is a random selection:

Network-wide ID  Full address      List title
---------------  ------------      ----------
AESRG-L          AESRG-L@UMCVMB    Applied Expert Systems Research Group List
AGRIC-L          AGRIC-L@UGA       Agriculture Discussion
AIDSNEWS         AIDSNEWS@EB0UB011 AIDS/HIV News
ANIME-L          ANIME-L@VTVM1     Japanese animedia and other animation news.
BANYAN           BANYAN-L@AKRONVM  Banyan Networks Discussion List
BRIDGE           BRIDGE@NDSUVM1    Bridge Communication products
CHEM-L           CHEM-L@UOGUELPH   Chemistry discussion
EJCREC           EJCREC@RPIECS     Electronic Journal of Communication
FAMCOMM          FAMCOMM@RPICICGE  Marital/family & relational communication
SOVNET-L         SOVNET-L@INDYCMS  USSR electronic communication list

The column "Network-wide ID" contains the names of the mailing
lists. "Full address" contains their BITNET email addresses. "List
title" is 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
----------------------------
Each line in the list above refers to a mailing list, also often
called 'discussion list'. They 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 BITNET mailing lists are controlled by a program called
LISTSERV on the host computer given in column two above (for
example @UMCVMB). They offer "conferencing" with the following
important functions:

    * All "discussion items" (i.e., electronic messages sent to the
      lists' email address) are distributed to all subscribers.
    * All messages are automatically stored in notebook archives.
      You can search these log files, and you can have them sent
      to you as electronic mail.
    * Files can be stored in the lists' associated file libraries
      for distribution to subscribers on demand.

Where to send a subscription request, depends on where you are
communicating from relative to the host running the LISTSERV. If
this host is your nearest BITNET LISTSERV, then send the request
to the address in column two by replacing the list name by LISTSERV.

    Example:
    AESRG-L@UMCVMB is administered by LISTSERV@UMCVMB. Subscribe
    (or signoff) by email to LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET .

If there is a LISTSERV closer to where you live, then you should
subscribe to the nearby system rather than to the remote. This
helps keep the total costs of the international network down.

    Example:
    You live in Norway. The nearest LISTSERV is at FINHUTC. To
    subscribe to AESRG-L@UMCVMB, send to LISTSERV@FINHUTC.BITNET .

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!! If you do, it will be forwarded to all
members of the mailing list. Chances are that nothing will happen,
and 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 SOVNET-L, send this message through the Internet (assuming that
NDSUM1 is your nearest LISTSERV host):

    To:  LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET
    Subject: (You can write anything here. Will be ignored.)
    Text: SUB SOVNET-L Jens Jensen

When your subscription has been registered, you will receive a
confirmation. From this date, all messages sent to the list will be
forwarded to your mailbox. (Send "SIGNOFF SOVNET-L" to this address,
when you have had enough.)
   Some lists will forward each message to you upon receipt. Others
will send a periodic digest (weekly, monthly, etc.).
    To send a message to SOVNET-L, send to the BITNET address in
column two above. Send to

    SOVNET-L@INDYCMS.BITNET

Review the following example. Most BITNET lists will accept these
commands.

Example: Subscription to the China list
---------------------------------------
CHINA-NN is listed like this in the List of Lists:

    CHINA-NN   CHINA-NN@ASUACAD  China News Digest (Global News)

Scandinavians may subscribe to CHINA-NN by Internet mail to
LISTSERV@FINHUTC.BITNET . North American users may send their mail
to LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET .
    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: LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET
    Subject: (nothing here)
    SIGNOFF CHINA-NN

NOTE: Send the cancellation command to the address you used, when
subscribing! If you subscribed through LISTSERV@FINHUTC, sending
the SIGNOFF command to LISTSERV@NDSUVM1 will get you nowhere. Send
to LISTSERV@FINHUTC.
    Never send the SIGNOFF command to the discussion list itself!
Always send to the LISTSERV.

Monitoring the action
---------------------
THINKNET is an online magazine forum dedicated to "thoughtfulness in
the cybertime environment." It brings reviews of significant and
thought-provoking exchanges within our new electronic nation.
    This electronic publication is free. If you're interested in
philosophy, subscribe by sending a message through Internet to
thinknet@world.std.com . Write the following in the TEXT of the
message:

SEND THINKNET TO Your-Full-Name AT UserId@Your-Internet-Email-Address

    Example:
    If your email address is opresno@extern.uio.no and your name
    Odd de Presno, use the following command:

      SEND THINKNET TO Odd de Presno AT OPRESNO@EXTERN.UIO.NO

THINKNET is also available through the Philosophy conference on The
Well, and on GEnie in the Philosophy category under the Religion
and Ethics Bulletin Board. (Hard copy versions can be bought
through THINKNET, PO BOX 8383, Orange CA 92664-8383, U.S.A.).
    If you're on The Well, read the topic "News from Around Well
Conferences" to learn about new developments.
    These are some mailing lists that may help you locate sources
of interest:

 NETSCOUT    (NETSCOUT@VMTECMEX) The BITnet/Internet scouts.
             Subscribe by email to LISTSERV@VMTECMEX.BITNET
             with the following in the TEXT of your message
               SUB NETSCOUT yourfirstname yourlastname

             This is where you can discuss and exchange information
             about servers, FTP sites, Filelists, lists, tools, and
             any related aspects.

 HELP-NET    (HELP-NET@TEMPLEVM) BITNET/CREN/INTERNET Help Resource.
             Send email to LISTSERV@TEMPLEVM.BITNET with the text
              SUB HELP-NET yourfirstname yourlastname

             The list's main purpose is to help solve user problems
             with utilities and software related to the Internet
             and BITNET networks. The library contains several good
             help files for novice networkers. A great place for
             new Internet users!

Other sources available through the Internet
--------------------------------------------
The Interest Groups List of Lists is available by electronic mail
from mail-server@nisc.sri.com . Send a message with the following
text in the message body:

   Send netinfo/interest-groups

Note that as of April 1993, the file was over 1,100,000 bytes in
size. It will be returned to you in moderately sized pieces.
    You can search the List of Lists by email. Say you're looking
for a mailing list related to Robotics. To find out, send a message
to LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU containing the following commands:

   //ListSrch JOB   Echo=No
   Database Search DD=Rules
   //Rules DD *
   search robotics in lists
   index
   search robotics in intgroup
   index
   search robotics in new-list
   index

Replace the search word 'robotics' with whatever else you may be
looking for.
   The Usenet list of news groups and mailing lists is available on
hosts that run Usenet News or NetNews servers and/or clients in the
newsgroups news.announce.newusers and news.lists.
   The members of news.newusers.questions, alt.internet.help,
alt.internet.access.wanted, and alt.internet.new-users readily
accept your help requests.
   Alt.internet.services focuses on information about services
available on the Internet. It is for people with Internet accounts
who want to explore beyond their local computers, to take advantage
of the wealth of information and services on the net.
   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 FTP pictures from space, how to find
agricultural information, public UNIX, online directories and
books, you name it.
   Dartmouth maintains a merged list of the LISTSERV lists on
BITNET and the Interest Group lists on the Internet. Each mailing
list is represented by one line. To obtain this list, send a
message to LISTSERV@DARTCMS1.BITNET . Enter the following command
in the text of the message:

   INDEX SIGLISTS

InterNIC Information Service maintains an announcement-only service
at LISTSERV@is.internic.net called net-happenings. It distributes
announcements about tools, conferences, calls for papers, news
items, new mailing lists, electronic newsletters like EDUPAGE, and
more. To subscribe, send a message to the LISTSERV containing this
command:

    subscribe net-happenings Your Name

InterNIC's automated mail service is at MAILSERV@RS.INTERNIC.NET.
It allows access to documents and files via email. To use it, send
email to the Mailserv with the word "HELP" in the subject field of
your mail.

How to get more out of your magazine subscriptions
--------------------------------------------------
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. Logon to PC MagNet on CompuServe.
Type GO PCMAG to get the following menu:


   PC MagNet

    1 Download a PC Magazine Utility
    2 PC Magazine Utilities/Tips Forum
    3 PC Magazine Editorial Forum
    4 PC Magazine Programming Forum
    5 PC Magazine After Hours Forum
    6 PC Magazine Product Reviews Index
    7 Free! - Take a Survey
    8 Submissions to PC Magazine
    9 Letters to the Editor
   10 Subscribe to PC Magazine

Choice six lets you search for stories. Once you have a list with
page/issue references, turning the pages gets much easier.
    PC Magazine is owned by the media giant Ziff-Davis. PC MagNet
is a part of ZiffNet on CompuServe. So is Computer Database Plus,
which lets you search through more than 250,000 articles from over
200 popular newspapers and magazines. The oldest articles are from
early 1987. The 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 the database, CDP, you pay an extra US$24.00 per
hour. In addition, you pay US$1.00 per abstract and US$1.50 per
full-text article (1992). These fees are added to your normal
CompuServe access rates.
    ZiffNet also offers Magazine Database Plus, a database with
stories from over 90 magazines 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 and U.S. News & World Report.
    In the next chapter, we will present another ZiffNet magazine
database: the Business Database Plus.
    Magazine Index (MI), from Information Access Company (U.S.A.),
is another source worth looking at. It 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 Dialog, CompuServe,
BRS, Data-Star, Dow Jones News/Retrieval, Nexis, and others.
    Say you so often get references to a given magazine that you
want a paper subscription. Try the Electronic Newsstand, which is
available by gopher or telnet to gopher.netsys.com. If these
Internet commands are unavailable, try mail to staff@enews.com.

Finding that book
-----------------
Over 270 libraries around the world are accessible by the Internet
telnet command. Some of them can also be accessed by Internet mail.
This is the case with BIBSYS, a database operated by the Norwegian
universities' libraries.
    I am into transcendental meditation. I'm therefore constantly
looking for books on narrow topics like "mantra". To search BIBSYS
for titles of interest, I sent mail to genserv@pollux.bibsys.no .
The search word was entered 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. I have forwarded it 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 Danish library database REX may be accessed through most
international packet switching networks. Its Network User Address
(NUA) is 23824125080000. When connected, enter RC8000 and press
return. Press ESC once. The system will respond with ATT. Enter KB
REX, and you're ready to search Dansk Bogfortegnelse since 1980,
Dansk Musikfortegnelse since 1980, and ISDS Denmark.
    BARTON is the library system of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. Its database contains everything received since 1974
except magazine articles, brochures, and technical reports from
sources outside M.I.T.  Phone: +1-617-258-6700 (1200 bps). Press
ENTER a couple of times to access the system.
    On CompuServe, there is a section for book collectors in the
Coin/Stamp/Collectibles Forum, and a Weekly Book Chat section in
the ScienceFiction & Fantasy Forum. In the Electronic Mall, you can
buy books directly from Ballantine Books, Penguin Books, Small
Computer Book Club, The McGraw-Hill Book Company, Time-Life Books
and Walden Computer Books.
    On the Internet, Roswell Computer Books Ltd. (Canada) has an
online bookstore with a database of over 7,000 titles (1993).
Gopher to nstn.ns.ca, select "Other Gophers in Nova Scotia", and
then "Roswell Electronic Computer Bookstore". Failing access to
gopher, send your email requests to roswell@fox.nstn.ns.ca .
    The Book Review Digest (GO BOOKREVIEW) is CompuServe's database
of bibliographical references and abstracts of reviews (since
1983). You can search by title, author, and keywords found in the
text of book reviews. CompuServe also offers book reviews through
Magazine Database Plus.
    "Books in print" is a North American bibliographic reference
database. It is available on BRS and CompuServe.
    South African Bibliographic and Information Network has a
gopher service at info2.sabinet.co.za.
    FidoNet has COMICS (The Comic Book Echo), BITNET the list Rare
Book and Special Collections Catalogers (NOTRBCAT@INDYCMS). NewsNet
has the COMPUTER BOOK REVIEW newsletter and on The Well you'll find
the "Computer Books" conference. OCLC's WorldCat is a reference
database covering books and materials in libraries worldwide.
    Bookworms may appreciate the BITNET discussion list DOROTHYL
(LISTSERV@KENTVM.KENT.EDU), and especially if they like Agatha
Christie, Josephine Tey and Dorothy L. Sayers.
    On Usenet, you will find alt.books.reviews, k12.library,
alt.books.technical, rec.arts.books, and misc. books.technical, and
more.
    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 now online (1992).
    An up-to-date directory of libraries that are interactively
accessible through Internet can be had by anonymous ftp from
ftp.unt.edu (then: cd library). File name: LIBRARIES.TXT. Check out
the end of Chapter 12 for how to get the file by email (ftpmail).
    You will also find full electronic versions of books. This book
is one example. Many texts are courtesy of Project Gutenberg, an
organization whose goal is to develop a library of 10,000 public
domain electronic texts by the year 2000.
    Since books are often quite large, they are somewhat bulky for
email transfer.  If you have direct Internet access, use anonymous
ftp instead.
    Many books are available through the /pub/almanac/etext
directory at oes.orst.edu. For more about how to use the Almanac
information server, send Almanac@oes.orst.edu the following email
command:

        send guide

For a list of books, add the line

        send gutenberg catalog

Among the offerings, you'll find The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Mysteries, The Unabridged Works of Shakespeare, Aesop's Fables,
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Holy Bible, The Love
Teachings of Kama Sutra, The Holy Koran, The Oedipus Trilogy
(Sophocles), Peter Pan, Roget's Thesaurus (1911), and The World
Fact Book (1990 - CIA).
    If quite impossible to locate a given book, try the Rare Books
and Special Collections Forum at EXLIBRIS@RUTVM1.BITNET.
    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.
    Still interested? If yes, subscribe to CHPOEM-L@UBVM.BITNET .
Be prepared to use your Big5 and GuoBiao utilities.

Chapter 11: Getting an edge over your competitor
================================================


    We must be willing to risk change to keep apace with rapid
    change.

    The key is moderation and balance, supported by sufficient
    information to allow meaningful feedback.

    It 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, it treats how to monitor competitors, prospects,
suppliers, markets, technologies, and trends. It winds down with
marketing and sales by modem.

Project coordination
--------------------
So far we have mainly been looking at sources of information. Let
us start this chapter with some words about 'online conference
rooms' for project coordination.
    Several services offer rental of private conference areas to
businesses. Corporations have discovered them to be an efficient
way of coordinating a group of people, who are far apart from each
other geographically. They are also useful when team members are
constantly on the move and hard to gather face to face.
    Many international companies use such services regularly. The
applications are different. They range from tight coordination with
suppliers and subcontractors, to development of company strategies
and new organizational structures.
    Renting an online conference room has advantages over doing it
in-house. The company does not have to buy software, hardware,
expensive equipment for communications, and hire people for to run
and maintain a conferencing system. The more international the
business, the better.
    For ideas about how to set up and operate a coordination
conference. Study how volunteer organizations do it. One place to
check out is KIDPLAN, one of several coordination conferences used
by KIDLINK (see Chapter 2 and 5).
    KIDPLAN is usually most active during April and May each year.
This is when their annual projects are being closed down, and new
projects are started. Read the dialog between coordinators to get
an idea of how the medium is being used.
    Old conference messages are stored in notebook files. You can
therefore have the full coordination dialogs sent you by email.
Send all requests for notebook files to

    LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU

Getting notebook files is a two-step process. In your first message
to the LISTSERV, ask for a list of available files. Do this by
using the following command in your email:

    INDEX KIDPLAN

The LISTSERV will return a list of files. The following part is of
particular interest:

101/2/  KIDPLAN  LOG9105B   ALL OWN V      80  2397 91/05/14
    23:40:22 Started on Wed, 8 May 91 00:11:09 CDT
102/2/  KIDPLAN  LOG9105C   ALL OWN V      80  3141 91/05/21
    20:44:16 Started on Wed, 15 May 91 01:24:51 CDT
104/2/  KIDPLAN  LOG9105D   ALL OWN V      80  2685 91/05/28
    22:34:31 Started on Wed, 22 May 91 17:01:21 +0200

Don't bother about the details. You just want file names, and
dates. The file LOG9105B contains all messages from 8 May 1991
until 15 May.
    If you want all these three files, send another message to
LISTSERV with the following lines:

    GET KIDPLAN LOG9105B
    GET KIDPLAN LOG9105C
    GET KIDPLAN LOG9105D

The files will be forwarded to your mailbox.
    Note: Some mailbox services have restrictions on the size of
incoming mail. This may prevent you from receiving large notebook
files. If this happens, contact your local postmaster for help.
    Some email systems are unable to forward your return-address
correctly to LISTSERV. If you suspect that this is the reason for
lack of success, try the following commands:

    GIVE KIDPLAN LOG9105B TO Your-Correct-Return-Address
    GIVE KIDPLAN LOG9105C TO Your-Correct-Return-Address
    GIVE KIDPLAN LOG9105D TO Your-Correct-Return-Address

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 substantial thus causing an information
overload for some participants.
    To overcome this, many companies appoint moderator-organizers
for their online conferences. 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 don't just happen. Hard work is required.
A few people must be responsible for getting the meetings fired up
and keep the discussion rolling.
    The meeting's organization may depend on the number of
participants, where they come from, the exclusivity of the forum,
and the purpose 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 needed in conferences that are open to customers
and media. The main purpose, however, is to help participants cope
with the absolute flow of information.
    A conference can have an educational purpose. If so, you may
bring in someone who can add value by bringing experience and
expertise to the group.
    You will also need someone to do all the dirty jobs everyone
expects to be done - but never notices until they are not done.
This person must keep 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.
    Now, back to the 'normal' applications of the online resource.

Monitoring what others do
-------------------------
The best business opportunities are outside your company, in the
external world. We need to monitor 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, complete and accurate market lists
are most valuable commodities.
    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 joint-venture 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?
    Each company has its own priorities when it comes to watching
the external environment. The information needs are different from
company to company, depending on what products and services that
are offered, the technological level of the company, the markets
that they address, 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 man, or has a position in finance
or production.
    Remember your priorities when going online to search. You
cannot possibly capture and digest all information that is there.
Your basic problem remains to find the right information in the
right form at the right time.

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.
    Also, 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
their hard 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, since 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 hard disk in seconds.
    In seven seconds, I just searched the equivalent of 2000 pages
of printed text for all occurrences of the combined search words
'SONY' and 'CD-ROM'!
    My tool was the shareware program LOOKFOR (see Chapter 14). It
searched through 4.2 megabyte on my 80486-based notebook computer.
If you use an indexing program, the search may be completed even
faster.
    I guess you can see it coming. My personal databases usually
give more direct value during my working day, than what I have on
paper, and have available online.
    My hard disks contain megabytes of texts retrieved from various
online services, but only what I have decided to keep. This private
database therefore contains more relevant information per kilobyte
than the online databases I'm using. Searching the data often gives
enough good hits to keep me from going online for more.

  | I repeat: You will often get better results when searching your |
  | own subset of selected online databases, than by going online   |
  | to get 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 all the time.
    Also, the search terms used for your daily intake of news will
never cover all future needs. Occasionally, you must go online to
get additional information for a project, a report, a plan.
    Updating your database means going online often to find new
supplementary information.

  | Regular monitoring gives the highest returns, and is required |
  | if you want to have an edge over your competitors.            |

For beginners, the best strategy will often be to start with the
general, and gradually dig deeper into industry specific details.
Let us now review some good hunting grounds for information, and
how to use them.

Clipping the news
-----------------
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.
    Several services make news immediately available, when they
have been received by satellite. The delay previously used to
protect the interests of print media is disappearing quickly.
Online services usually deliver news sooner than in print media,
radio or TV.
    You select stories by giving the online service a set of search
terms. The hits are then sent to your electronic mailbox, for you
to retrieve at will.
    'Clipping' gives an enormous advantage. Few important details
escape your attention, even when you cannot go online daily. The
stories will stay in your mailbox until you have read them.

'Clipping' on CompuServe
------------------------
CompuServe's Executive News Service (ENS) monitor more than 8,000
stories daily. They use sources like Deutsche Press-Agentur, Kyodo
News Service, TASS, Xinhua News Agency, the Washington Post, OTC
News-Alert, Reuters Financial News Wire, Associated Press, UPI and
Reuters World Report, IDG PR Service, Inter Press Service (IPS),
Middle East News Network and European Community Report.
    One of them, Reuters, has 1,200 journalists in 120 bureaus all
over the world. They write company news reports about revenue,
profit, dividend, 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
news from some 1,500 publications in over 40 countries. It includes
Reuters' own news services, and has translated abstracts of stories
from some 17 languages. The database reaches back 10 years and is
updated at around one million articles per year. (Textline is also
available on Nexis, Data-Star, and Dialog.)
    Another one, the IDG PR Service, sends out high-tech related
news gathered by the staffs of IDG's magazines.  InterPress Service
covers Third World countries. Middle East News Network integrates
the contents of 28 information sources covering this region of the
world.
    The Executive News Service lets you define up to three
'clipping folders'. Supply up to seven 'key phrases' that define
your interests. These key phrases will be used when searching
stories as they are sent. Hits will be 'clipped' and held in a
folder for you to review at your convenience.
    Each folder can hold 500 stories. When creating a clipping
folder, you set an expiration date and specify how many days a
clipped story is to be held (maximum 14 days).
    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 you many
unwanted stories while too narrow phrases will cause you to miss
pertinent stories. Let me illustrate with an 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 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 of US$15/hour over base connect
rates.

Clipping on NewsNet
-------------------
NewsNet greets users with this opening screen:

                          -----------------
                          - N E W S N E T -
                          -----------------
                  W O R K I N G   K N O W L E D G E

   ***New--Electromagnetic Field Litigation Reporter (EY86) tracks
   developments in every important legal action involving
   electromagnetic radiation from power lines, cellular phones,
   VTDs, and radar and microwave equipment.

   ***The title of HH15 has been changed to Cancer Researcher
   Weekly. This service was formerly entitled Cancer Weekly.

   ***Important work in the blood field throughout the world is
   covered by Blood Week (HH44), including research, literature,
   and upcoming events.

   ***TB Weekly (HH45) is an internationally-focused newsletter
   that concentrates on tuberculosis-related news and research,
   including business developments.


   New Services on NewsNet:

   TB Weekly (HH45)
   Blood Weekly (HH44)
   Electromagnetic Field Litigation Reporter (EY86)
   Chapter 11 Update (FI82)
   Tobacco Industry Litigation Reporter (HH48)
   Trade and Development Opportunities (GT50)

For details on new services, enter READ PB99# or HELP followed by the
service code.

NewsNet's clipping service, NewsFlash, will automatically search
all new editions of newsletters selected for monitoring. The hits
will be sent to your mailbox, and be retained there for up to ten
weeks besides the current week.
    Your selection of newsletters can be extended to include news
stories from United Press International (UPI), Reuters News Reports,
Associated Press, Business Wire, PR Newswire, and others.
    For some time, I clipped newsletters in the telecommunications
group using the keywords  'Victoria' (an American communication
project) and 'KDD' (the Japanese telecom giant). When I called
NewsFlash to check, it typically reported:


                    NEWSFLASH NOTIFICATION
****************************************************************
   4 Total Newsflash hits. Use STOP to stop and delete all.
  New Hits =   4    Saved Items =   0

TE01      7/17/89     ==     VICTORIA               ==       Headline #1
  COOKE SELLS CABLE HOLDINGS TO 6-MEMBER GROUP FOR NEARLY $1.6 BILLION
    Jack Cooke's cable systems will be sold to 6-member consortium

TE11      7/17/89     ==     VICTORIA               ==       Headline #2
  BOCs' PROGRESS TOWARD INTELLIGENT NETWORK ARCHITECTURE INTERTWINED
WITH DIFFICULT INTERNETWORKING NEGOTIATIONS, PENDING DECREE COURT

EC89      7/18/89     ==     KDD                    ==       Headline #3
  KDD OPENS NY/LONDON OFFICES
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 JUL 14 (NB) -- Kokusai Denshin Denwa (KDD),

EC89      8/22/89     ==     KDD                    ==       Headline #4
  FOREIGNERS CAN BUY INTO KDD
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 AUG 17 -- The Japanese government is planning

Enter Headline numbers or ALL to read, MORE, AGAIN, SAVE, STOP, or HELP
-->

NewsNet's databases grow by more than 400 stories per day. Your
search profiles may contain an almost unlimited number of subjects.
Delivery of hits is concurrent. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days
a week.
    Sprintmail's clipping service (U.S.A.) scans stories from more
than 15 international newswires. FT Profile's E-mail Alert searches
daily on that particular day's issue of the Financial Times.
    Dow Jones News/Retrieval has NewsScan (//CLIP). It can deliver
by fax or email to a mailbox on another online service. On GEnie,
use QuikNews Express, a personalized news clipping service that is
integrated with the Quik-Comm System email service.
    Clarinet, a commercial news service available through Usenet,
also has a clipping program.

When clipping is impossible
---------------------------
Many services do not offer clipping. Here, your alternative is
various methods of regular selective reading.
    Many conferencing systems let you select messages by keywords.
BIX has Keyword Indexer. It let you search public conferences after
a key word or phrase and report hits. Then it offers you to review
(or retrieve) messages of interest.
    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 (see Chapter 12) can do automatic selection of
news stories based on the occurrence of keywords (e.g., a company
name) in headlines. I have developed such a system for selecting
news from the Online Today magazine on CompuServe.

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 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
       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 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
economical 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:

   * MARKETING RESEARCH REVIEW (Analyzes and evaluates commercially
     available marketing research and technology assessment reports.
     Publisher: High-Tech Publishing Co., U.S.A.)
   * GERMAN BUSINESS SCOPE and THE WEEK IN GERMANY
   * NEWS FROM FRANCE
   * COUNTRY RISK GUIDE: EUROPE
   * EASTERN EUROPE FINANCE, and EASTERN EUROPEAN ENERGY REPORT
   * EUROPEAN COMMUNITY: BUSINESS FORECAST
   * INVESTEXT/EUROPEAN REGION
   * PRS FORECASTS: EASTERN EUROPE, and WESTERN EUROPE
   * AFRICA NEWS ON-LINE
   * PRS-FORECASTS: MID-EAST & NORTH AFRICA
   * PRS-FORECASTS: SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
   * 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.)
   * MID-EAST BUSINESS DIGEST
   * LATIN AMERICA OPPORTUNITY REPORT
   * COUNTRY RISK GUIDE: SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
   * COUNTRY RISK GUIDE: ASIA & THE PACIFIC
   * PRS FORECASTS: ASIA & THE PACIFIC
   * PRS'S POLITICAL RISK LETTER
   * SALES PROSPECTOR (Monthly prospect research reports for sales
     representatives and other business people interested in
     commercial, and institutional expansion and relocation
     activity. Separate services grouped by geographic area in
     the United States and Canada.)

Many newsletters are focusing on technology intelligence:

    Sensor Technology
    -----------------
    Provides updates on research being conducted in this rapidly
    evolving technology. Besides analyzing advances in the field,
    it offers ideas on how this technology can improve products and
    services.

    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, Technology Access Report, Inside R&D, Japan
Science Scan, New Technology Week, Optical Materials & Engineering
News, Performance Materials, Surface Modification Technology News,
Genetic Technology News, Battery & Ev Technology, and much more.

Newsletters on CompuServe
-------------------------
Many newsletters are being made available through forums' file
libraries on CompuServe. Consequently, they are a little harder
to locate. Some examples (1993):

    Abacus Online - Quarterly newsletter on executive computing.
    (In the Lotus Spreadsheet forum, Library 3.)

    Anime Stuff - News and reviews of Japanese animation software.
    (Comics/Animation Forum, Library 5.)

    Communique - The quarterly newsletter of the International
    Association of Business Communicators U.K. Chapter. (PR and
    Marketing Forum, Library 8.)

    Distance Education Newsletter - Analyzes the impact of elec-
    tronic communication on academic research. (Telecommunications
    Forum, Library 13.)

Hint: To find newsletters in the IBM PC oriented forums, enter GO
IBMFF to search. Select "Keyword" as search criteria, and enter
"newsletter". Add further keywords to narrow the search to your
areas of interest. CompuServe also has other file find services.

Databases with an international orientation
-------------------------------------------
Information Access provides reference databases to businesses. You
can search 10 databases with full-text stories, abstracts, and
indexes from international magazines.
    PROMPT (Overview of Markets and Technology) is the largest of
them. It provides international coverage of companies, markets and
technologies in all industries.
    The other databases cover areas like Aerospace and Defense,
Advertising and Marketing, New Product Announcements, Industry
Forecasts and Time Series.
    The Information Access' databases are available through online
services like Dialog, Data Star, Financial Times Profile (England),
Nikkei in Japan and on the Thomson Financial Networks. They are
regularly published on CD-ROM.
    ZiffNet offers the Business Database Plus through CompuServe.
Here, you can search in full-text stories from around 550 North
American and international publications for industry and commerce
(1993).
    The articles are about sales and marketing ideas, product news,
industry trends and analysis, and provide company profiles in areas
such as agriculture, manufacturing, retailing, telecommunications,
and trade. This is a partial list of the database's magazines:


    Agra Europe, Agribusiness Worldwide, Air Cargo World, Belgium:
    Economic and Commercial Information, Beverage World, Beverage
    World Periscope Edition, British Plastics & Rubber, British
    Telecom World, 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, The Economist, Erdol und Kohle, Erdgas,
    Petrochemie: Hydrocarbon Technology, EuroBusiness, Euromoney,
    Europe 2000, European Cosmetic Markets, European Rubber Journal,
    Financial Market Trends, Financial World, Finnish Trade Review,
    Food Engineering International, Forest Industries, Gas World,
    Graphic Arts Monthly, The Printing Industry, High Technology
    Business, IDC Japan Report, Inc., International Trade Forum,
    Investment International, Israel Business, Japan Economic
    Newswire, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of
    Marketing Research, Kyodo, Market Research Europe, Medical World
    News, MEED Middle East Economic Digest, Middle East
    Agribusiness, OECD Economic Outlook, The Oil and Gas Journal,
    Oilweek, Petroleum Economist, Plastics World, Purchasing World,
    Report on the Austrian Economy, Restaurant-Hotel Design
    International, Royal Bank of Scotland Review, Seafood
    International, Soviet Aerospace & Technology, Supermarket
    Business Magazine, swissBusiness, Training: the Magazine of
    Human Resources Development, World Economic Outlook, World Oil.

Dialog's ASIA-PACIFIC DATABASE covers business and economics in
Asia and the Pacific. It contains over 80,000 references from
newspapers, magazines and other sources in North America and
international.
    The Asia-Pasific Dun's Market Identifiers on Dialog is a
directory listing of about 250,000 business establishments in 40
Asian and Pacific Rim countries.
    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 (e.g., on NewsGrid/CompuServe), Down Jones News/Retrieval,
and Information Access.
    The Jerusalem Institute for Western Defence provides a monthly
newsletter with research of the Arab press. It has unedited quotes
from around the Arab world. Write LISTSERV@jerusalem1.datasrv.co.il
to subscribe (Command: sub arab-press Firstname Lastname).
    The International Reports financial newsletter may be read and
searched on NewsNet, Information Access, and Mead Data Central.
    NewsNet also has Brazil Service, Mexico Service, Country Risk
Guides and Weekly International Market Alert.
    Use CompuServe's Consumer Report to spot trends in the consumer
markets for appliances, automobiles, electronics/cameras, home.
EventLine (IQuest, CompuServe) monitors international conferences,
exhibitions, and congresses. The Boomer Report concentrates on the
habits of the "the baby-boom generation."
    Affaersdata in  Sweden offers the Swedish-language service
"Export-Nytt," which brings short news stories about export/import
from all over the world. Information providers are the Swedish
Export Council, the Norwegian Export Council, and the Suomen
Ulkomaankauppaliitto in Finland.
    Orbit has an English language database of Japanese technology.
It contains abstracts of articles, patents and standards from more
than 500 Japanese magazines.
    Dow Jones News/Retrieval brings full-text stories from the
Japan Economic Newswire. The Business Dateline contains news from
more than 150 regional business publications in the United States
and Canada.
    The ABI/Inform business database (UMI/Data Courier) contains
abstracts and full-text articles from 800 business magazines and
trade journals. The sources include the Asia Pacific Journal of
Management, Business Korea, and the World Bank Research Observer.
    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.
    Glasnost in the former Soviet Union produced a long list of new
online information sources, including:

    The Soviet Press Digest (stories from over 100 newspapers),
    The BizEkon Reports (financial news from 150 business and
        financial magazines),
    SovLegisLine (law),
    BizEdon Directory (detailed information about over 2,500
        companies, who want to do business with foreign companies),
    Who's Who in the Soviet Union and
    The Soviet Public Association Directory.

Some of these may have changed their names now. Contact Mead Data
Central (Nexis/Lexis), Data-Star, FT Profile and Reuters for more
information.
    DJNR also offers full text from the Paris-based International
Herald Tribune, publications like the Guardian and others from the
United Kingdom, and from sources in the former Soviet Union (like
Soviet Press Digest, BizEkon News, Moscow News, and others.)
    E-EUROPE is an electronic communications network for doing
business in Eastern Europe countries, including CIS. Its purpose is
to help these countries in their transition to market economies. It
links business persons in Western Europe-Asia-North America with
those in Eastern Europe.
    Subscription is free and for anyone. To subscribe to E-EUROPE,
send email LISTSERV@PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU (or a LISTSERV closer to
you) with the body the message containing this line

    SUB E-EUROPE YourFirstName YourLastName

E-EUROPE also offers International Marketing Insights (IMI) for
several countries in this region, including Russia, Hungary, Czech,
Germany, Estonia, Poland, Bulgaria, and Lithuania.
   The IMI reports important developments that have implications
for traders and investors. Typically brief and to-the-point, they
are prepared by American Embassies and Consulates.
   The reports cover a wide range of subjects, such as new laws,
policies and procedures, new trade regulations, changing dynamics
in the marketplace, recent statements by influential parties and
emerging trade opportunities.
    For a list of E-EUROPE IMI offerings, send the following
commands to LISTSERV@PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU:

    GET E-EUROPE IMI

IMI update notices are not posted to E-EUROPE, but you can
subscribe to updates to these files.
   The English-language newsletter "St. Petersburg Business News"
is published in Russia by the Committee for foreign economic
affairs of LECC. For information and subscription, send email
to aag@cfea.ecc.spb.su .
    The Financial Izvestia weekly, the joint publication of London
Financial Times and Moscow-based Izvestia, is available by email.
The complete feed includes the full text of all articles published
in the Russian language newspaper, and financial and statistical
tables on the commodities and financial markets. Write Legpromsyrie
at root@sollo.soleg.msk.su for information.
    Several Russian newspapers, including Commersant Daily, Nega,
and press services like Postfactum and Interfax, have digests or
complete editions available for Relcom network subscribers, usually
for a nominal fee.

Interested in the European Common Market?
-----------------------------------------
Pergamon Financial Data Services, NewsNet, and others, offer Dun &
Bradstreet European Marketing Online. It contains company profiles
of around two million European companies.
    Pergamon's ICC U.K. Company Databases contains data on over
140,000 British companies with up to ten years' financial history,
addresses, key people, mother firms/subsidiaries, stock quotes.
Its Comptex News Service brings daily business news from the
European arena.
    The UK Company Library on CompuServe has financial information
about more than 1.2 million British companies from sources like
Extel Cards, ICC British Co. Directory and Kompass UK.
    Data-Star offers Tenders Electronic Daily, a database of
European Community contract offers.
    Investext offers a series of bulletins authored by Europe
Information Service (EIS): European Report (biweekly), Tech Report
(Monthly), Transport Europe (monthly), Europe Environment
(bimonthly), European Energy (bimonthly), European Social Policy
(monthly), and Multinational Service (monthly).
    Investext is available through Data-Star, Lexis/Nexis, Dow
Jones News/Retrieval, Dialog, NewsNet, and others.
   The German Company Library (on CompuServe) offers information
about some 48,000 German companies from databases like Credit
Reform and Hoppenstedt's Directory of German Companies. Its
European Company Library contains information about over two
million companies in the area.
    Nexis (Mead Data Central International) brings news and
background information about companies and the different countries
in Europe. Their Worldwide Companies database contains company
profiles, balance sheets, income statements, and other financial
data on the largest companies in 40 countries.
    Nexis also has Hoppenstedt German Trade Associations directory,
four more newsletters from the Europe Information Service: Europe
Energy, Europe Environment, Transport Europe and European Insight,
a weekly brief on European Community-related happenings, and
Notisur, a biweekly news and analysis report on South American and
Caribbean political affairs.
    LEXIS (also Mead) 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.
    Check out KOMPASS EUROPE 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. (On Dialog)
    ILINK has the EEC-I conference (Discussion about the European
Common Marked). Profile offers full-text searches (and a clipping
service) in stories from Financial Times. The database is being
updated daily at 00:01.
    Those exporting to the EEC need to master German, French,
Italian, and Spanish besides having a common 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.
    For help, check out the Eurodicautom online dictionary through
ECHO (and others.) Start by selecting a source language (like
English), and up to seven languages for simultaneous translation.
The translation is word-for-word, but may be put in the correct
context if required.
    ECHO also offers the European Commission's CORDIS database
(Community Research and Development Information Service) containing
information about research results within scientific and technical
fields. Keywords: Race, Esprit, Delta, Aim, Fast, Brite, Comett,
Climat, Eclair and Tedis.
    CONCISE (COsine Network's Central Information Service for
Europe) is a pan-European information service to the COSINE
scientific and industrial research community. COSINE (Cooperation
for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in Europe) is part of
the European Common Market's Eureka project.
    CONCISE brings information about the COSINE project, networks,
conferences, networking products, special interest groups, projects
databases, directories, email services and other networked services
in Europe. It is intended for researchers in all fields, from
astronomers through linguists and market researchers to zoologists.
    CONCISE is accessible by email through the Internet, by FTP,
and interactively (telnet) over the European academic and research
networks, over public data networks and over telephone links. (See
ECHO in appendix 1 for more information.)
    The mailing list EC@INDYCMS.BITNET is dedicated to discussion
of the European Community, and is open to all interested persons.
Subscribe by email to a LISTSERV close to where you live, or to
LISTSERV@INDYCMS.BITNET.

Scandinavia
-----------
Most countries have several local language news services. In
Norway, Statens Datasentral lets you search stories from the NTB
news agency. Aftenposten, a major newspaper, offers full-text
stories from their A-TEKST database, from Dagens Naeringsliv (DNX),
and the Kapital magazine.
    Before meeting with people from Norsk Hydro, go online to get
recent news about these companies. 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 ONLINE offers information about over 180,000 companies
and 34,000 products in Scandinavia, Finland, Germany, Switzerland,
and Great Britain. The information is presented in the local
language of the different countries.
    KOMPASS is used by easy menus. 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.

The database is available through Affaersdata (Sweden). New users
pay a one time fee of around US$85. Searching costs around US$3.00
per minute.
    The TYR database on the Finnish service VIEXPO (tel.: +358 67
235100) offers information about 2,500 companies in the Vaasa and
Oulu regions with addresses, phone numbers, contact persons, main
products, revenues, and SIC industry classification codes.
    We can go on like this. The list of available services is long
in many countries.

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) Select online services that offer clipping of stories and
    information based on your search words or phrases. Examples:
    NewsFlash on NewsNet, //TRACK on Dow Jones News/Retrieval, The
    Executive News Service on CompuServe. Use these services for
    automatic monitoring of stock quotes and business news.

(2) Read what investment analysts and advisors write about your
    competitors. Most markets are well covered by databases and
    other sources of information.

(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 medium? Of course not!
Don't 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.

Intelligence by fax
-------------------
Financial Times' Profile has Fax Alert. Predefine your interests
using search words. Stories will be cut and sent to your personal
fax number whenever they appear. Price depends on the number of
characters transmitted.
    Other online services offer similar services.

The Bulletin Board as a sales tool
----------------------------------
Many companies - large and small - use bulletin board systems as a
marketing instrument. Here is an example:
    The San Francisco-based Compact Disk Exchange (Tel.: +1-415-824-
7603) offers a database of used CD records. Members can call in to
buy at very low prices. They can sell old CDs through the board or
buy from other members. (1992)

Marketing and sales by modem
----------------------------
The Americans have a gift for this. 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.
    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.
    Besides, the volume of information in the best conferences for
your marketing effort is probably too high to make traditional
advertisements worth the while.

Electronic mail
---------------
Here is a list of other useful applications of electronic mail:

    * to distribute quickly lists of important prospects to your
      sales force,
    * to avoid lengthy telephone conversations,
    * to receive order information faster and more efficiently than
      by traditional mail or fax,
    * 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.

If this isn't enough, ask for information from the International
Business Network at 70724.311@compuserve.com (or, at 70724,311 on
CompuServe).

Chapter 12: Practical tips
==========================

- Quick transfers with a minimum of errors
- Rescuing lost files
- Copyright and other legal matters
- Unwritten laws about personal conduct
- Privacy
- Fax services weigh less than your printer
- File transfers through the Internet

Speed and safety
----------------
Read about MNP, CCITT 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 messages in conferences. They
ensure 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).
    Some online services let users retrieve conference messages
using a special 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. This
file is then transferred using ZMODEM or similar protocols.
    Some services offer unattended online work with a variation of
the "get compressed file" method. Read about 'offline readers' in
chapter 16 for more about this.
    The more advanced your software is, the more time it will take
to learn how to use it. The rewards are lower telephone costs,
faster transfers, and less time spent doing technical online work.
    Recommended.

Different needs, different solutions
------------------------------------
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. The
goal is 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 all of it to disk. Don't study it until disconnected
from the service. Evaluate the material to prepare for your next
moves: FOCUS and ACT.
    As you learn about offerings, users and applications, your use
of the service changes. What was interesting on your first visits,
lose out to new discoveries. Some applications may stay as 'regular
online functions', like when you decide to read a given news report
on Monday mornings.
    Here are some other hints:

    * Find out what you do NOT have 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,
which you have previously captured to your hard disk. Do this to
check if your use of search words is sensible.
    Who knows, you may even have what you are searching for right
there.  Besides, it is imperative that you use the correct search
terms to find what you're 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 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. 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.

When everything fails
---------------------
Data communications is simple - when you master it. Occasionally,
however, you WILL lose data. You may even experience the worst of
all: losing unread private email on your hard disk.
    A while ago, this happened to a friend. She logged on to her
mailbox service using the communications program Procomm.
    After capturing all her mail, she tried to send a message. For
some reason, the computer just 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.
    The other day, I had a similar experience. After having written
a long and difficult letter, something went wrong. The outfile was
inexplicably closed. 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 it. It may save your day.

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 (like
Prodigy in the U.S.) 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 pieces out of a whole and use in your own writing. What
you cannot do, however, is copy news raw to resell to others. If
an online service discovers you 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 'there' use of their time to help you and others.
Often free. The atmosphere is one of gratitude, and a positive
attitude toward all members.
    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
can 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 get in touch with them  (their email address, phone
      number, address, etc.). Limit your personal "signature"
      to maximum four lines.

    * 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
         >Fidel Castro in this way!

     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're shouting.

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 chances for further romance).

Fax services weigh less than your computer's 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.

Privacy
-------
The level of online privacy differs by network, service, and
application. Whatever these services may claim, always expect that
someone, somewhere, is able to watch, even record.
    All mailbox services have at least one person authorized to
access your personal mail box in case of an emergency. Most of the
time they not have a right to read it 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. In this respect, 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 your
situation.
    It is not safe to send sensitive information (like credit card
details) by private electronic mail. True, the probability that an
outsider should get hold of and take advantage of such information
is small, but it definitely is not 100 percent safe.

    Encrypt your email to protect sensitive information.

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 just 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. It
may be recorded and reposted under embarrassing circumstances.
    The program PGP has become the defacto international Internet
standard for public key encryption.
    For more on privacy, check out ETHICS-L@MARIST.BITNET. The
files RFC 1113 through 1115 are about 'Privacy enhancements for
Internet electronic mail' (see appendix 1 for how to get them).
    Usenet has alt.privacy (Privacy issues in cyberspace), and
comp.society.privacy (Effects of technology on privacy).

File transfers through the Internet
-----------------------------------
The Internet is a term used of 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 mailbox computer that you are using. 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.

Transfer to your local mailbox host
-----------------------------------
We will explain the most commonly used method for those who only
have access to file transfer by email. This method can be used by
everybody.
    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.
    To transfer a text to another user, just send it as an ordinary
electronic message.
    Getting text files from a library on a remote computer is a
special case. Often, they can be had by sending a retrieval command
(like GET) by email to the 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: The file BINSTART can be retrieved from the KIDART
directory on a computer center in North Dakota, U.S.A. It explains
how to retrieve binary art files from the KIDLINK project's file
libraries.
    To get the file, send a message to the center's mail forwarding
'agent' at LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU. Use the following command
syntax in your text:

    GET <directory name> <file name>

To get the BINSTART file, write the following command in the TEXT
of your message:

    GET KIDART BINSTART

Note that the command has to 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, note that lists of available files are usually available
by using an "INDEX <directory name>" command. To get a list of
files in the KIDART directory, add the command "INDEX KIDART" in
your message above.
    Non-LISTSERV libraries 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
-------------------------
Users with a direct connection to the Internet usually have access
to the FTP command (File Transfer Protocol). If they do, they often
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 will have to use "FTP by mail," or
other tricks to transfer such files. More about this in a moment.
    The FTP command gives access to a special file transfer service.
It works in the following way:

    1. Logon to your local email host and enter 'FTP remote-
center-code'. 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.

    2. When connected to the remote center, you can request transfer
of the desired file to your 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, initiate
the transfer by entering a "GET file name" command.

    3. 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.

Binary files transferred as text codes
--------------------------------------
If you do not have access to FTP, 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
  To: opresno@EXTERN.UIO.NO
  Subject:  Part 1/1 SIMTEL20.INF PD:<MSDOS.STARTER>

  The file PD:<MSDOS.STARTER>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

and the last line 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 BINSTART 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
--------------------
Denis Pchelkin in Protvino (Russia) is 11 years old, has two cats
and one dog, and has contributed beautiful computer graphics art to
the KIDLINK project (1992).
    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.
    You can retrieve Denis' creation by sending a GET command to
LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU . Put the following command 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 BINSTART 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. 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. (Or
use shareware GIF-viewers like PICEM, VUIMG, and VPIC for MS-DOS
computers. These programs are available from CompuServe's IBM
forums and other services.)
    Sending binary files in uuencoded form has weaknesses. One is
the lack of automatic error correction when sending/receiving e-
mail. 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.

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. The most popular is at DEC
Corporate Research in the U.S.
    For more information, write a message to one of the following
addresses:

              ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
              ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au

In the TEXT of your message, put the word "HELP".
    FTPMAIL lets you uuencode binary files for transfers. It can
split large files up into several messages, thus helping you around
local restrictions on the size of each incoming mail message.

Chapter 13: Cheaper and better communication
============================================

    Packet data services and data transportation
    services like Tymnet Outdial, Infonet, Internet,
    and PC Pursuit may help keep costs down.
    About reducing the cost of using mailing lists.

Many users access online services by calling them directly. A lot
pay extra for long distance calls to other cities and countries,
even when this means inferior transmission quality (like when noise
characters degrade the data).
    Others investigate other routings for their data. One option is
the packet data networks. Most countries have Public Data Networks
(PDNs) operated by local telecommunications authorities. These
services are often cheaper than direct calls for some applications,
but more expensive for others.
    Before using a packet data network, you'll need to establish a
"Network User Identification" (NUI) with the PDN carrier. You must
also know the Network User Address (NUA) of the hosts that you want
to access.
    In Scandinavia, the local PDNs are called Datapak. They 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
many 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.
    Their 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 charge by the hour, while others charge by volume
(number of characters transferred per minute).
    When volume is low, your best bet is to use network services
with a low price per minute and high prices for volume.
    When volume is high, you may be better off using those charging
by the minute.
    To estimate costs reliably, you'll need statistics. Since your
usage probably differs from what others do, start accumulating
experience data now. Like this:

    On services only charging for connect time
    ------------------------------------------
    Capture trip information to a log file. Register the following
    information:
    * number of minutes connected
    * modem speed
    * number of characters transmitted.
    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 this 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. It's like driving through
a big city at 150 kilometers per hour. Red lights will reduce the
average speed considerably.
    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. Then, most
      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, level of MNP),
    * 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 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.

It's 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 our needs, will take time, but
is well worth the effort. I think the figures may 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 tends to drop dramatically when using a packet data service.

Using national packet data 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. Few PDNs 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, and I thought that the cost was
acceptable. Not so anymore.
    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 log out after a successful visit to CompuServe through
Datapak, the two services give me similar reports:

  Thank you for using CompuServe!

  Off at 10:11 EST 24-Nov-87
  Connect time = 0:15

  CLR PAD  (00) 00:00:14:55 537 75

The last line comes from Datapak. It tells that I have received 537
segments and sent 75.
    The "Segment" is Datapak's volume measure. A segment contains
up to sixty-four characters and/or carriage returns. The price is
calculated accordingly.
    At today's prices, Datapak is still my cheapest alternative
calling CompuServe for chats.
    I use Datapak when connecting to TWICS in Tokyo, as the only
alternative today is direct calls at a prohibitive cost. Once i-Com
(see below) starts offering outdial to Japan, I expect this service
to be substantially cheaper.
    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.)

  | 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.)   |
  | Username or password is not required to use this service.   |

Outdial through PC Pursuit
--------------------------
Sprintnet (formerly GTE Telenet) lets American users call bulletin
boards in North America at lower rates through their PC Pursuit
service.
    They pay a modest subscription to call a local number for
access to PC Pursuit. Once connected, they can enter an electronic
phone-number to connect to a so-called 'outdial modem' in another
city.
    Once connected to the outdial modem, they can give it dialing
commands and have it call any local number. This way, they can use
PC Pursuit to call an online service in the area, or the private
modem of a friend.
    We call PC Pursuit an Outdial service. Such services 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.

Outdial through i-Com
---------------------
i-Com offers outdial to North American online services by reselling
capacity from Tymnet's network (owned by British Telecommunications
PLC).
    In the United States, Galaxy Telecomm Corp. offers a similar
service under the name Starlink. Outdial to numbers in Japan and
Europe is planned.
    i-Com markets its services to users in Europe and Japan, and
have local access in Brussels, Paris, Lyon, Milano, the Hague,
Eindhoven, Zurich, Geneva, London, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol,
Cambridge, Edinburgh, Leeds, Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Madrid,
Stockholm, Copenhagen, and more.
    The basic fee for access to the service is US$25.00 per hour
(1992). You don't pay volume charges. The monthly subscription fee
is US$8.00. You can pay using VISA or MasterCard/Eurocard.
    In Norway, I have used i-Com to connect to The Well in San
Francisco, MetaNet in Virginia, EXEC-PC in Wisconsin, and SciLink
in Toronto, Canada. At the time, i-Com was cheaper than direct
calls and Datapak for access to these services.
    While an ID on your local PDN is only valid in your area or
country, your i-Com ID can be used all over the world including
several cities in North America. Once your plane has landed in
Milano, you can dial the local i-Com node to connect to your
favorite service.
    i-Com also has a bulletin board (US$13.00/hour). These are some
of its services:

    * Search a database to find BBS numbers in a given area of
      interest, or to locate outdial numbers in a given city or
      area code.
    * Conferences about how to use North American bulletin boards.
    * Retrieval of shareware and public domain software.
    * Online shopping of American goods at American prices.

Cheaper access to CompuServe
----------------------------
Wherever CompuServe has local access points, you'll be better off
using these. You do not have to sign any special agreements. Your
CompuServe ID is all you need. Payment for using these services
will appear on your CompuServe bill.
    CompuServe has special deals with a list of network services,
like InfoNet Europe (formerly Computer Sciences Corp.), Istel,
FALNET, FENICS, CompuPass, LATA Networks, Tymnet/Sprintnet. Enter
the command GO LOG on CompuServe to get access information, and GO
RATES for rates.
    I have been using CompuPass from Japan, CompuServe's own
network in the United States, Istel, InfoNet, and PDN services in
Europe.
    When at home, I usually use CompuServe's 9600 bps node in
Stockholm, Sweden. It is even cheaper than calling Oslo for a 2400
bps node for most of my jobs. There is no surcharge when accessing
at non-prime time, and US$7.70 per hour during prime time (weekdays
08:00 to 19:00 local time). In addition, I pay long distance rates
to call the node. CompuServe has no extra charges for volume.

  | 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 (like TAPCIS,|
  | OzCIS, or ATO). 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, Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Holland, South Africa,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and England.
    You can also access CompuServe through i-Com and other outdial
services.
    CompuServe has exchange of electronic mail with Internet. You
can also access the service by telnet to hermes.merit.edu (binary
transfers are impossible, though).

IXI - a European alternative to PDN
-----------------------------------
IXI is an X.25 data network for European academic, industrial and
governmental research centers. It is sponsored by the EEC under the
ESRIN project, and is operated by the Dutch PTT.
    IXI interconnects national research networks, many national
public data networks and several specialized international
networks. It works like a national PDN service, but uses its own
Network User Addresses. Echo, STN, DIMDI, Data-Star and other
database vendors can be accessed through IXI.
    The service is not available to most users having email access
through the Internet.

Using DASnet to cross network boundaries
----------------------------------------
DA Systems forwards electronic mail and files (also binary files)
across mailbox system boundaries for customers. They can send your
mail to several large in-house systems, information networks, and
over 60 commercial mailbox systems in 30 countries.
    These are some systems on their list: ABA/net, Alternex
(Brazil), ATT Mail, BIX, BITNET, CESAC (Italy), CIGnet, ComNet
(Switzerland), CONNECT, Dialcom, Deutsche Mailbox, Dialcom, Envoy
100, EIES, EasyLink, Euromail (Germany), FredsNaetet (Sweden),
Galaxy, GeoNet (hosts in Germany, England, U.S.A.), GreenNet, INET,
INFOTAP (Luxembourg), Mailbox Benelux, MCI Mail, MercanMail (Asia),
MBK Mediabox (Germany), MetaNet, Nicarao (Nicaragua), NWI, OTC
PeaceNet/EcoNet, Pegasus (Australia), PINET, Portal, PsychNet, San
Francisco/Moscow Teleport, Telexphone (France), TeleRede
(Portugal), Telehaus Nordhorn (Germany), Telemail, TEXTEL (the
Caribbean), TWICS (Japan), UNISON, UUCP, Web (Canada), The WELL,
Internet.
    This list may suggest lack of connectivity between networks
that do indeed have connections. For example, Internet email may
easily be sent to ATT Mail, Alternex, BIX, BITNET, FredsNaetet,
GeoNet, GreenNet, and many others on this list. Connectivity changes
constantly. Check to see if you really need it, as this service is
far from free.
    DASnet also lets you send email as telex, fax and by ordinary
mail. They charge you by the number of characters transferred, and
the destination address. (Contact Anna B. Lange, DA Systems, Inc.,
U.S.A. Tel.: +1-408-559-7434, or write her at AnnaB@11.DAS.NET).

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.
    Most FidoNet boards have conferences, and allow you to send
mail to users of other systems. NetMail is a term often used for
private FidoNet email. EchoMail is used about its international
conferences. The selection of echomail conferences on a given
FidoNet board can be as unique as the rest of the system.

RelayNet
--------
is another 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.

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,
as well as to the Internet. Thus, the ability to send global email
is extended to new users every day.

Other services
--------------
The PDN Connect-USA competes with Starlink in North America.
(Connect-USA Communications, Inc., 2625 Pennsylvania NE Suite 225,
Albuquerque, New Mexico. 505-881-6988 (voice), 505-881-2756 (FAX),
505-881-6964 (BBS). )
    Global Access is a similar service reselling time on the
Sprintnet network in North America.

Reducing the cost of using mailing lists
----------------------------------------
The problem of subscribing to 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 BITNET LISTSERV software provide commands
that solve this problem:

    SET <list name> DIGEST
    ----------------------
    This command is sent to a LISTSERV to make all daily messages
    come to you in one, single message. Example: Say you've joined
    KIDCAFE@vm1.nodak.edu, which usually has a large number of
    messages each day. Send the following command to the LISTSERV:

    SET KIDCAFE DIGEST

    It will typically reduce the number of lines received from this
    mailing list by around 50 percent.


    SET <list name> INDEX
    ---------------------
    This command is sent to a LISTSERV to get a daily list of
    messages, like in this example from KIDCAFE:

    Index Date  Size Poster and subject
    ----- ----  ---- ------------------
    22839 06/22   26 From:    David Chalmers
                              <David.Chalmers@p3.f155.n633.z3.fidonet.org>
                     Subject: Conor Dublin Ireland

    Based on this list, you can use the LISTSERV's search commands
    to retrieve individual messages of interest. These commands are
    similar to those used for searching in chapter 7.

    For more about searching mailing lists' message bases, send a
    message to LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu with the following command in
    the text of your mail:

    GET KIDLINK TIPS

    Some LISTSERVs offers simplified search commands and macros
    to make retrieval of individual messages simpler.

Chapter 14: Keep what you find
==============================


    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 build a personal data base on your
own hard disk. We continue by investigating strategies for finding
interesting information on 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 the first online trips,
they may feel as if moving to the other side of the globe to start
over: They need new newspapers, magazines, information sources, and
services.
    Trial and error are required to find online gold mines. As you
get more experience, focus tends to shift from getting information
to digesting.
    Getting the data gets 'into your fingers', and doesn't bother
much anymore. The number of retrieved lines increases. The only bad
news is that your reading speed remains at the same old level.
    In our time, people tend to talk more than they listen, and you
usually find more information than knowledge. Therefore, say NO to
irrelevant information. It is seldom worth keeping.
    There is generally no good reason to learn things that you
really don't need to know. Practice "selective ignorance."
    Regularly evaluate your online sources critically, and discard
those costing you more than they are worth. Concentrate on those
giving the best returns.
    Adjust the frequency with which you visit selected services to
match 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.
    Plan 'overview' and 'details' with different frequencies.
'Overview' refers to online trips to get an impression of what
generally goes on. An example:

My script system is set for automatic visits to the CompuServe
Toshiba forum. Whenever I visit, it 'digs out' unread messages
based on key words on the item's subject line.
    During 1991, it searched for these strings: '5100', T2000', and
'425'. Once, This gave the following message to read:

     #: 29550 S6/Hi-Power Notebooks
         05-Oct-91  17:27:30
     Sb: #T2000SX Recharger
     Fm: Steve Kitahata 75166,1741
     To: All

     I tried to order the battery recharger for my T2000SX from Jade
     Computer last weekend.  The sales rep said it would take about
     a week, so I called today to check up on it.  He told me that I
     could only buy the recharger with the car adapter as a bundled
     set for $260.  They had both advertised in their flyer as
     separate items, which they should be.  Has anyone heard of
     this?

     Does anyone know of any sources that have the battery recharger
     available?  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanx.

     -- Steve

My script found the search word "T2000" in the subject line's text
(Sb: #T2000SX Recharger), and subsequently selected the message.
    Once per month, the same system "scans the horizon" to give me
an idea of what is going on. This is done by requesting a list of
subjects being discussed. Here is part of one such list:

     29555:  DOS 5 Upgrade
             6 replies

     29540:  TDOS Upgrade questions
             3 replies

     29585:  Toshiba DOS 5.0 ships!
             1 reply

     29586:  DOS 5.0 Upgrade Solution

     29580:  ToshibaDOS=bad business
             8 replies

     29581:  DOS 5 / Stacker
             1 reply

Reading the list, allows me to see if new and interesting topics
are up for discussion. If I use Stacker and want contact with other
users, I can request message number 29581 and the subsequent reply
(1 reply). That should give me some email addresses.

  | Several advanced communication programs and offline readers    |
  | have built-in quick scan features. For example, TAPCIS does    |
  | this just fine in CompuServe forums.                           |
  |                                                                |
  | When retrieving conference messages from bulletin boards using |
  | 1stReader at high speed, like 9600 bps or above, then the cost |
  | of downloading all new items may be insignificant. Therefore,  |
  | you might just as well do it.                                  |
  |                                                                |
  | Later, when reading the captured mail, 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 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, you must maintain
and cultivate it.

Store incoming information
--------------------------
Chances are that you will retrieve more information than you can
read. Sometimes it takes weeks for me to get up to date with my
own readings.
    If you visit several online services, consider storing the data
in files with different names. Use part of the file name to show the
source of this information.
    If visiting a service regularly, consider using the date as
part of the file names. This will make it easier to select, read
and search them in a useful sequence.

  | Example: Say you're regularly visiting TWICS in Tokyo. What you |
  | download on November 10, you may store in a file named          |
  |                                                                 |
  |           TW1110.TMP                                            |
  |                                                                 |
  | My scripts do this automatically. On some services, they also   |
  | split retrieved data into URGENT and MAY BE READ LATER files.   |
  | Private mail from TWICS is stored in NB1110.TMP. By storing     |
  | private mail separately, it is easier to see if somebody wants  |
  | a quick reply.                                                  |

All file names in this example have the extension .TMP (temporary).
This signifies that these files are unread.
    When I read them, and select parts for permanent storage on my
hard disk, I use different names. Often, I use the year, or a
month/year code in the file name extension. For example, the file
DIALOG.93 contains information from DIALOG collected during 1993.

Postprocessing the data
------------------------
The 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 texts,
    * Cut and paste selected parts to archive or work files,
    * Prepare responses to your electronic mail. This may include
      quoting part of the incoming messages in your replies.
    * Finally, delete all temporary files.

Many advanced programs have these features built in. If not, you
may use your favorite word processor, or something else. There are
many alternatives.
    LIST is my favorite MS-DOS shareware file viewer program. It
can be downloaded from most bulletin boards. Using LIST, it is
difficult to destroy your precious retrieved data while reading,
cutting and pasting.

  | MORE ABOUT LIST:                                                |
  | Assume that all input data is stored in the disk catalog C:\IN  |
  | and that you're using the file name convention suggested above. |
  | Type LIST and press Enter. A list of file names will appear on  |
  | your screen. Press S to sort the list, and then 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    |
  | that you want to read and press Enter. Scroll up and down in the|
  | file by pressing the PgUp/PgDn or the arrow keys.               |
  |     Let's assume that you are reading TW1110.TMP right now.     |
  | 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. You enter TWICS.93,   |
  | 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, then press D. LIST asks   |
  | if you really want to delete the file. Press Y, and TW1110.TMP  |
  | is gone.                                                        |
  |     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 of 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 many
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.
    Then, 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
open questions, go online to complement.
    On MS-DOS computers, you can search the files with WordPerfect,
LIST, the DOS utility FIND, and a long list of other programs. 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: My favorite search utility is LOOKFOR. It can     |
  | be downloaded from many bulletin boards. The MS-DOS program    |
  | is small, fast, and is superior for searches in DOS text files.|
  | 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 this evening, or should it be circulated? Should it be
stored on your hard disk, or be refined before storage?
    Use standard file names that are easy to remember. If you
don't, 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 your TO-DO files. Give the original file a name that
makes it easier to move later. Have a procedure that prevents
duplication of effort.

Desinformation, deception and errors
------------------------------------
Always use several sources of information. Some people write to
lead you astray.  The online world exposed some interesting
incidents that came out of the former Soviet Union before the
attempted coup in 1991.
    Desinformation hurts everybody and comes from all sides. Even
professional 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. Their interpretation of the situation may be
wrong. Supplement online news with what knowledgeable people say
(by email or in conferences), when knowing the facts is important.
    Another point: 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 these corrections.

Chapter 15: You pay little for a lot!
=====================================


Calculating costs
-----------------
Those living in Norway may read up to twenty-six pages of news from
Associated Press in the United States and Financial Times (England)
for US$ 0.64, or less.
    The trick is to dial long distance to a 9600 bps node in Sweden
when the telephone company and CompuServe's non-prime time rates
are in effect.
    At 9600 bps, you may transfer text at up to 960 characters per
second. One page of text (size A-4) holds around 2200 characters.
A typical news story is one to two pages of text.

  | Users watching the 'taximeter' can use online services at a  |
  | very low cost. For many, global communication is almost free.|

Reading exactly the same news through another network or service,
may cost you 300 percent more. Through yet another online service,
the cost may double again.
    A full issue of the NewsBytes newsletter is around 150,000
characters, or 68 pages of text. Retrieving it from a local BBS
typically costs me around 29 cents. Retrieving the full text from
CompuServe would cost me over 500 percent more.
    Using NewsNet for the job, at 2400 bps through Datapak, would
increase my current cost by more than US$30.00.
    The time of day may be important. Some services have different
rates for access during the day, the evening, and the weekend.
    Use your calculator often.

When you pay by the minute
--------------------------
When using bulletin boards, phone charges are often the only cost
items. Some boards require a subscription fee for full access to
the system. Still, it is easy to calculate the costs of your calls.
Divide the subscription fee by an estimated number of calls, and
add to the cost of using the phone.
    The same applies to users of CompuServe. Their total cost is
simply the sum of all connect charges, any network charges (to
CompuServe and others), part of the basic subscription fee, and
local phone rates (for direct dialing to the service, or to reach
the network's node).
    Where a service uses a monthly subscription rate, add part of
this to the time charges. Distribute the rate using an estimated
number of online hours per month.

    Example:
    You pay US$30/hour to access a service during prime time. Your
    modem speed is 240 cps.

    Theoretically, if the data flows without pauses at system
    prompts, you can transfer 392 pages of text in one hour.
    Even when you deduct some characters due to stops in the
    transfer, the resulting transferred volume remains respectable.

    To transfer one page of text takes around nine seconds (2200
    characters divided by the speed, which is 2400 bps, or about
    240 characters per second). The cost is nine cents.

    A given binary file (a program) is 23552 bytes large. Using the
    XMODEM protocol, you can transfer it in about four minutes and
    thirteen seconds. The cost is US$2.10. To find the cost when
    paying by the minute is simple. Just calculate the cost per
    minute or second, and multiply by the estimated connect time.

    On many services, it will take a minute or two before you can
    start to receive text or files. Disconnecting also takes a few
    seconds. Add this to the connect time when calculating costs.

Pauses and delays in the transfer 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.

    Example: 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.

    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.

Try to 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, then read
news from the services that you want to compare.
    When a network service charging for volume (like Datapak) will
also be part of a comparison, measuring volume is particularly
important. Do not assume that you know the answer in advance.

  | NOTE: Always calculate the cost based on a fixed volume, like |
  | for the transfer of 1000 characters. This is particularly     |
  | important when you need to use different transfer speeds to   |
  | access competing services.                                    |

Network load varies considerably throughout the day depending on
the number of simultaneous users, and their applications. This also
applies to online services. The load is normally lowest, when the
bulk of the 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 a lot 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.

    * 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.

    * Get the information and disconnect. It is expensive - and
      usually unnecessary - to read captured text while online.
      Log off to read. Call back for more to read, disconnect, and
      then call back again.

    * Learn how to write your mail offline, and send the letters
      "in a batch" to your mailbox. Your messages will often have
      fewer typing errors, be better thought out, and the cost
      will be considerably lower.

    * Consider automating your communication (see Chapter 16).
      I use Bergen By Byte 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. Yesterday, 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 under the following conditions:

    * When navigating the online service considerably reduces the
      effective speed, and you access the service manually.
    * When you pay considerably more for access at higher speed.
      (CompuServe charges extra for 9600 bps access, but not much.)
    * When your networks do not offer higher speeds.
    * When the relative price of a faster modem in your country
      is prohibitive.

On the other hand, a modem doing 9600 bps or more, does give you
considerably faster communication. If doing things faster is more
important than keeping costs down, then it is a wise investment.
This is the case for me. Besides, often it is definitely cheaper.
    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 don't 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, like Datapak in Norway, 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, the online service's menus become
luxury items. Using quick commands for navigating is cheaper.
    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' rather than 'number of
characters transferred'.
    Datapak and many other PDN services reports your sessions like
this:

       CLR PAD  (00) 00:00:14:55 537 75

These numbers say that you have been connected to a service for 14
minutes and 55 seconds, that 537 data 'packets' have been received,
and that 75 have 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.     |
  |                                                                |
  | Consequently, 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, just the number of
minutes counts. Use the time reported by the online service, and
not your stop watch. CompuServe gives this type of report:

       Thank you for using CompuServe!

       Off at 10:11 EST 24-Nov-92
       Connect time = 0:15

If the size of your log file was 15 KB after the first test, and 11
KB after the second, then just adjust the latter to compare (Actual
Cost/11*15). It is easy to compare services that only charge by
the minute.

More practical hints
--------------------
It is more expensive to call a service daily "to check the news,"
than to call it once per week to retrieve the same stories.
    Navigating by menus is more expensive than going directly to a
source, or going there by stacking commands (i.e., combining quick
commands into one).
    Many services let you read selective items in conferences by
entering a search string. On my BBS, the following command

    r extended 100+ c

lets you read all messages containing the search string 'extended'
in the 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 the next chapter.
Chapter 16: Automatic communication
===================================

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.
First, because it keeps the costs down. Second, because it lets
you do the job faster and safer.

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 them 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 postprocessing 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.
    If it takes 15 minutes, however, there may not be enough time.
If you also need to read a help text to find out how to do it, you
may not even consider it. The mind is full of other things right
now.

  | When using a system for automatic communication, you do not |
  | have to 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 keypress 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. 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 to a service automatically.
    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 with Procomm
-----------------------
Procomm is one of the most popular communications program in use
today (see appendix 2). A Procomm script file is a text file, which
can contain a list of commands for dialing and navigating on an
online service.
    When writing a Procomm script for auto-logon, your first step
is to list the commands that you believe required. Enter them in a
text file (as DOS or ASCII text).
    In such scripts, you can test for the occurrence of a small
piece of information that the online service is supposed to send at
a given time (like the question "Password?").
    When this information is found, Procomm can be set to send the
proper response or command (here, your secret password).
    Scripts can be tied to your favorite online services through
Procomm's dialing directory. Press a key to start the appropriate
script file for access to a service.
    The following is a simple PROCOMM script file. It can be used
to access my 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 with PROCOMM and PROCOMM PLUS
   ;
   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"

It is not difficult. You probably understand a lot already. Here is
the 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?" from
      my BBS. 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 in Procomm
-----------------
Above, we used a script to log on automatically to a service. When
Procomm gives us 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 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 NewsNet. 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.

Automating the full task
------------------------
It's a long way from automated logon scripts and the use of macros
to automating the whole task. 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, I go directly from bed to my office to
switch my communications computer on.
    While I visit the bathroom, my communications program calls
three online services, retrieve and send information.
    When the script has disconnected from the first service, which
is my bulletin board, it analyzes the received data. I want an
alphabetic list of visitors since my last visit, a sorted list of
downloaded programs, and names of those calling in at 9600 bps or
higher.
    Sometimes, the unexpected happen. There may be noise on the
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 my 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.
    I started writing scripts for ProYam over seven years ago. The
system is constantly expanded to include new services, refined to
include more functions, and enhanced to become more robust.
    The scripts make my system work like an autopilot. It calls
online services, navigates, retrieves and sends data.
    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

    - 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. Therefore, it is only for the specially interested.
    On the other hand, those going for it seldom regret. Tailor-
made communication scripts give a wonderful flexibility. The
software does not cost much, but again, it takes a lot of time!

  | 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 to get to that point.            |
  |                                                                |
  | Build a timeout feature into your scripts, so that they don't  |
  | just hang there waiting for you after an encounter with fate.  |

Alternative 2: Use scripts made by others
-----------------------------------------
Some script authors generously let others use their creations.
Earle Robinson of CompuServe's IBM Europe Forum, share his ProYam
scripts for automatic usage of CompuServe with others. They are
available from the IBM Communication Forum library.
    Enter GO XTALK on CompuServe to find advanced script files for
Crosstalk Mk.4.
    ZCOMM and ProYam scripts for visiting my board automatically
can be freely downloaded there. They split access up into these
three phases:

    Phase 1: Menu driven offline preparation.
    Phase 2: Automatic logon, navigation through the system, and
             automatic disconnection.
    Phase 3: Automatic offline postprocessing.

You will find scripts for other programs on many online services.

Alternative 3: Special software
-------------------------------
Several online services sell communication programs with built-in
functions that provides you with automation. They can have offline
functions for reading and responding to mail. The degree of
automation varies.
    There are also many programs written by third parties. Most
programs assume that you use 'expert' as your default operating
mode on the online service.
    TapCIS, Autosig (ATO), OzCIS, CISOP, CompuServe Navigator (for
Macintosh), AutoPilot (for Amiga), ARCTIC (for Acorn Archimedes),
and QuickCIS (for Atari) are popular choices on CompuServe. TapCIS
is my personal favorite. (CIM does not offer much automation!)
    Aladdin is for GEnie. It automates your use of RoundTables
(conferences), file areas, and mail. Dialog users turn to Dialog-
Link.
    Nexis News Plus (for Nexis, US$50) has pull-down menus and
detailed selection of commands. This MS-DOS program helps users set
up detailed search commands before logging on to the Mead Data
Central. Your search results will be downloaded automatically.
    Personal Bibliographics Software, Inc. (Ann Arbor, Mich, U.S.A.
Tel.: +1-313-996-1580) sells Pro-Search to Dialog and BRS users
(for Macintosh and MS-DOS).
    Pro-Search will lead you through menus to find information on
both services. It translates your plain English search commands
into the cryptic search language used by the services. It logs on
automatically, connects to these services, finds your information,
and shows you the hits.

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 get commands (see Chapter
15), 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, transmitted
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.
    Using offline readers is probably the easiest, cheapest, and
safest way of using online services. These "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.
    The most popular systems on the PCBoard based Thunderball Cave
BBS are Offline Express, Megareader, Session Manager, Rose Reader
and EZReader. These 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. Cost: US$49 (1992).
    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.               |
  |     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 (version 1.11) contains a powerful script based   |
  | communications module. It lets 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 communication 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 2400 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 established,
    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.

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 call my bulletin board with an auto-learned script made
    yesterday, chances are that everything works well. If you call
    twice on the same day, however, you're in for a surprise. The
    board greets you differently on your second visit. You will not
    get the menu of available bulletins. It will take you directly
    to the system's main menu. 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
possibilities 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 such are
able to do the job. On other services, I usually depend on my own
tailor-made scripts.
Chapter 17: Gazing into the future
==================================

Thoughts about things to come.

Newspaper of the future
---------------------------
Some 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 that it is
a dreadful way of receiving the news."
    MIT's Media Laboratory had developed a new type of electronic
newspaper. Daily, it delivered personalized news to each researcher.
The newspaper was "written" by a computer that searched through the
news services' cables 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 that 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 is front page news. Email from your son
will also get a prominent place.
    "What counts in my newspaper is what I consider newsworthy,"
said Negroponte.
    He claimed that 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."

The technology is already here. Anyone can design similar papers
using powerful communication programs with extensive script
features. I have tried.
    My test edition of The Saltrod Daily News did not convert news
to sound. It did not look like a newspaper page on my screen. Not
because it was impossible. I simply did not feel these 'extras'
worth the effort.
    My personal interest profile was taken care of by my 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 my first edition:

    "Front page," Thursday, November 21.
    Under the headline News From Tokyo, the following items:

     TOSHIBA TO MARKET INEXPENSIVE PORTABLE WORD PROCESSOR
     TOHOKU UNIVERSITY CONSTRUCTING SEMICONDUCTOR RESEARCH LAB
     MEITEC, U.S. FIRM TO JOINTLY MARKET COMPUTER PRINTER INFO
     TOSHIBA TO SUPPLY OFFICE EQUIPMENT TO OLIVETTI
     NISSAN DEVELOPS PAINT INSPECTION ROBOT
     MADE-TO-ORDER POCKET COMPUTER FROM CASIO

    These 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:

     * DAY ONE COMDEX.
     * IBM'S PRE ANNOUNCEMENT OF "CLAMSHELL"
     * AT&T TO JUMP IN SOONER WITH LAPTOP COMPUTER
     * COMMODORE THIRD CONSECUTIVE QUARTERLY LOSS
     * 2 ZENITH UNVEILS TOUCH-SCREEN
     * HP's EARNINGS DROP

    Hot News From England came from several sources, including
    Financial Times, and Reuters (in CompuServe's UK News).
    Headlines read:

     * 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 collected from
    NewsNet's newsletters. "Page 4" had stories about personal
    computer applications.

As the cost of communicating and using online services continues to
decrease, many people will be able to do the same. This is where we
are heading.
    Some people say 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 on a small PC by the
fireplace in my living room. The computer is hardly any larger or
heavier than a book.
    (Sources for monitoring notebook trends: NEWSBYTES' IBM and
Apple reports, CompuServe's Online Today, and IBM Hardware Forum.)

Electronic news by radio
------------------------
If costs were of no concern, then your applications of the online
world would probably change considerably. Pay attention, as we are
moving fast in that direction.
    Radio is one of the supporting technologies. It is used to
deliver Usenet newsgroup to bulletin boards (example: PageSat Inc.
of Palo Alto, U.S.A.) Also, consider this:
    Businesses need a constant flow of news to remain competitive.
Desktop Data Inc. (tel. +1-617-890-0042) markets a real-time news
service called NewsEDGE in the United States and Europe. They call
it "live news processing." Annual subscriptions start at US$20,000
for ten users (1993).
    NewsEDGE continuously collects news from more than 100 news
wires, including sources like PR Newswire, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Business News, Dow Jones News Service, Dow Jones Professional
Investor Report and Reuters Financial News.
    The stories are "packaged" and immediately feed to customers'
personal computers and workstations by FM, satellite, or X.25
broadcast:

    * All news stories are integrated in a live news stream all day
      long,

    * The NewsEdge 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
------------
A global amateur radio network allows users to modem around the
world, and even in outer space. Its users never get a telephone
bill.
     There are over 700 packet radio based bulletin boards (PBBS).
They are interconnected by short wave radio, VHF, UHF, and
satellite links. Technology aside, they look and feel just like
standard bulletin boards.
     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.
    Packet radio equipment sells in the United States for less
than US$ 750. This will give you 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. Many amateurs use 1200 bps, but speeds of up to
56,000 bps are being used on higher frequencies (the 420-450 MHz
band in the United States).
    Hams are working on real-time digitized voice communications,
still-frame (and even moving) graphics, and live multiplayer games.
In some countries, there are also gateways available to terrestrial
public and commercial networks, such as CompuServe, and Usenet.
    Packet radio is demonstrated as a feasible 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 assistance 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 LISTSERV@AUVM.BITNET. Use the command SUB DEVEL-L
<First-name Last-name>.
    For more general information about packet radio, check out
HamNet on CompuServe, and especially its library 9. Retrieve the
file 'packet_radio' (Packet radio in earth and space environments
for relief and development) from GNET's archive (see chapter 7).
    ILINK has an HAMRADIO conference. There is a packet radio
mailing list at PACKET-RADIO@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL (write PACKET-
RADIO-REQUEST@@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL to subscribe).
    Usenet has rec.radio.amateur.packet (Discussion about packet
radio setups), and various other rec.radio conferences. There is
HAM_TECH on FidoNet, and Ham Radio under Science on EXEC-PC.
    The American Radio Relay League (AARL) operates an Internet
information service called the ARRL Information Server. To learn
how to use it, send email to info@arrl.org with the word HELP in
the body of the text.

Cable TV
--------
Expect Cable TV networks to grow in importance as electronic high-
ways, to offer gateways into the Internet and others, and to get
interconnected not unlike the Internet itself.
    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 provide the capability to download whole books and other
information at speeds up to 10 million bits per second.

Electronic mail on the move
---------------------------
For some time, we have been witnessing a battle between giants. On
one side, the national telephone companies have been pushing X.400
backed by CCITT, and software companies like Lotus, Novell, and
Microsoft.
    On the other side, CompuServe, Dialcom, MCI Mail, GEISCO,
Sprint, and others have been fighting their wars.
    Nobody really thought much about the Internet, until suddenly,
it was there for everybody. The incident has changed the global
email scene fundamentally.
    One thing seems reasonably certain: that the Internet will
grow. In late 1992, the president of the Internet Society (Reston,
Va., U.S.A.) 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."

We, the users, are the winners. Most online services now understand
that global exchange of email is a requirement, and that they must
connect to the Internet.
    Meanwhile, wild things are taking place in the grassroots
arena:

    * Thousands of new bulletin boards are being connected to
      grassroots networks like FidoNet (which in turn is connected
      to the Internet for exchange of mail).

    * Thousands of bulletin boards are being hooked directly into
      the Internet (and Usenet) offering such access to users at
      stunning rates.

    * The BBSes are bringing email up to a new level by letting
      us use offline readers, and other types of powerful mail
      handling software.

Email will never be the same.

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$200. In many countries, 14,400 bits/s modems are already the
preferred choice.

Wild dreams get real
--------------------
In the future, we will be able to do several things simultaneously
on the same telephone line. This is what the promised land of ISDN
(Integrated Service Digital Networks) is supposed to give us.
    Some users already have this capability. They write and talk
on the same line using pictures, music, video, fax, voice and data.
    ISDN is supposed to let us use services that are not generally
available today. Here are some key words:

    * 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.

    * Database searches in text and pictures, with displays of
      both.

    * Electronic transfers of video/movies over a telephone line
      (fractal image compression technology may give us another
      online revolution). Imagine dances filmed by ethnologists
      at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., or an
      educational film about the laps in northern Norway from
      an information provider called the Norwegian Broadcasting
      Corp.

      The "Internet Talk Radio" is already delivering programs by
      anonymous ftp (e.g., through ftp.nau.edu in the directory
      /talk-radio).

    * 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).

      The Sierra Network has been playing 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 books after some 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. With the technical advances
      in the art of transferring pictures, some of these may grow
      to become tiny online "television stations."

These wild ideas are already here, but it will take time before
they are generally available. New networks need to be in place. New
and more powerful communications equipment has to be provided.
    Farther down the road, we can 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 have a choice
between the following:

    * To use voice when entering messages, rather than entering
      them through the keyboard. The ability to mix speech, text,
      sound and pictures (single frames or live pictures).

    * Messages are delivered to you by voice, as text or as a
      combination of these (like in a lecture with visual aids).

    * Text and voice can be converted to a basic text, which then
      may be converted to other languages, and forwarded to its
      destination as text or voice.

One world
---------
Within the Internet, the idea of "the network as one, large
computer" has already given birth to many special services, like
gopher and WAIS. Potentially, we will be able to find and retrieve
information from anywhere on the global grid of connected systems.
    Bulletin boards have commenced to offer grassroots features
modeled after telnet and ftp. These alternatives may even end up
being better and more productive than the interactive commands
offered "inside" the Internet.
    The global integration of online services will continue at full
speed, and in different ways.

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, move
toward a scheme where users only 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 CompuServe's IQuest, you pay a fixed price
for a fixed set of search results.

Cheaper transfers of data
-------------------------
Privatization of the national telephone monopolies has given us
more alternatives. This will continue. Possible scenarios:

    * 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.)

So far, data transporters have been receiving a disproportionate
share of the total costs. For example, the rate for accessing
CompuServe from Norway through InfoNet is US$11.00, while using the
service itself costs US$12.80 at 2400 bps.
    Increased global competition in data transportation is quickly
changing this picture, supported by general access to the Internet.
Prices will most likely continue their dramatic way toward zero.

Powerful new search tools
-------------------------
As the sheer quantity of information expands, the development of
adequate finding tools is gaining momentum. Our major problem is
how to use what we have access to.
    This is especially true on the Internet. Expect future personal
information agents, called "knowbots," which will scan databases
all over the online world for specific information at a user's
bidding. This will make personal knowledge of where you need to go
redundant.
    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 not just be in the normal chronological
order. It will be ranked by what seems to be closest to the query.

Sources for future studies
--------------------------
It seems appropriate to end this chapter with some online services
focusing on the future:
    Newsbytes has a section called Trends. The topic is computers
and communications. ECHO has the free database Trend, the online
edition of the Trend Monitor magazine. It contains short stories
about the development within electronics and computers (log on to
ECHO using the password TREND).
    Usenet has the newsgroup clari.news.trends (Surveys and
trends). Why not complement what you find here by monitoring trends
in associated areas (like music), to follow the development from
different perspectives? The music forum RockNet on CompuServe has a
section called Trends.
    CompuServe's Education Forum has the section Future Talk. What
educators think about the future of online services (and education)
is always interesting. The Well, based just outside Silicon Valley
in the United States, has The Future conference.
    UUCP has info-futures. Its purpose is "to provide a speculative
forum for analyzing current and likely events in technology as they
will affect our near future in computing and related areas."
(Contact: info-futures-request@cs.bu.edu for subscription.)
    Usenet has comp.society.futures about "Events in technology
affecting future computing."
    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!


Appendix 1: List of selected online services
============================================

To make a list of online services is difficult. Services come and
go. Addresses and access numbers are constantly changed. Only one
thing is certain. Some of the details below will be outdated, when
you read this.

Affaersdata i Stockholm AB
-------------------------
P.O. Box 3188, S-103 63 Stockholm, Sweden. Tel.: + 46 8 736 59 19.

America Online
--------------
has the CNN Newsroom (Turner Educational Services), The Washington
Post, the National Geographic magazine, PC World and Macworld. AOL
has tailor-made graphical user interfaces for Apple, Macintosh, and
PC compatible computers, and about 300.000 users (in June 1993).
Sending and receiving Internet mail is possible.
   Contact: America Online, 8619 Westwood Center Dr., Vienna, VA
22182-2285, USA. Phone: +1-703-448-8700.

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:

    Alternex (Brazil). Email: support@ax.apc.org
    Chasque  (Uruguay). Email: apoyo@chasque.apc.org
    ComLink e.V (Germany). Email: support@oln.comlink.apc.org
    Ecuanex (Ecuador). Email: intercom@ecuanex.apc.org
    GlasNet (Russia). Email: support@glas.apc.org
    GreenNet (England). Email: support@gn.apc.org
    Institute for Global Communications (U.S.A.), includes
            EcoNet, PeaceNet, ConflictNet, LaborNet.
            Email: support@igc.apc.org
    Nicarao - CRIES (Nicaragua). Email: ayuda@nicarao.apc.org
    NordNet (Sweden). Email: support@pns.apc.org
    Pegasus (Australia). Email: support@peg.apc.org
    Web (Canada). Email: support@web.apc.org

While all these services are fee based, they bring a wealth of
information on environmental preservation, peace (incl. Greenpeace
Press Releases), human rights, grant-making foundations, Third World
Resources, United Nations Information Service, Pesticide Information
Service, and more.
    For information about APC, write to apcadmin@igc.apc.org , or APC
International Secretariat, Rua Vincente de Souza, 29, 22251-070 Rio
de Janeiro, BRASIL. Fax: +55-21-286-0541.
    For information about the PeaceNet World News Service, which
delivers news digests directly to your email box, send a request to
pwn@igc.apc.org.

Bergen By Byte
--------------
Norwegian online service with conferences and many files. Modem
tel.: +47 05 323781. PDN (Datapak) address: 0 2422 450134. Telnet:
oscar.bbb.no (192.124.156.38).
    English-language interface available. Annual subscription
rates. You can register online. Limited free usage.

BIBSYS
------
Book database operated by the Norwegian universities' libraries.
Send Internet mail to genserv@pollux.bibsys.no with your search
word in the subject title of the message.

Big Sky Telegraph
-----------------
is an online community for educators, business people etc. living
in rural areas in North America. Address: 710 South Atlantic,
Dillon, Montana 59725, U.S.A.

BITNET
------
"Because It's Time NETwork" started in 1981 as a small network for
IBM computers in New York, U.S.A. Today, BITNET encompasses 3,284
host computers by academic and research institutions all over the
world. It has around 243,016 users (source: Matrix News 1993)
    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. Several
national or regional bodies administer the network.
    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.
    Normally, a BITNET email address looks like this:

         NOTRBCAT@INDYCMS

The part to the left of the @-character is the users' mailbox code.
The part to the right is the code of the mailbox computer. It is
common for Internet users to refer to BITNET addresses like this:
NOTRBCAT@INDYCMS.BITNET .
    To send email from the Internet to BITNET, it has to be sent
through special gateway computers. On many systems, this is taken
care of automatically. You type NOTRBCAT@INDYCMS.BITNET, and your
mailbox system does the rest.
    On some systems, the user must give routing information in the
BITNET address. For example, North American mail to BITNET can be
sent through the gateway center CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU . To make mail to
NOTRBCAT go through this gateway, its mail address must be changed
as follows:

         NOTRBCAT%INDYCMS.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

Explanation: The @ in the initial address is replaced with % . Then
add the gateway routing: ".BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU".
    If you must use a gateway in your address, always select one
close to where you live. Ask your local postmaster for the correct
addressing in your case.
    BITNET has many conferences. We call them discussion lists or
mailing lists. The lists are usually administered by a computer
program called LISTSERV. The dialog is based on redistribution of
ordinary email by mailing lists. Consequently, it is simple for
users of other networks to participate in BITNET conferences.
    A list of discussion lists (at present around 1,600 one-line
descriptions) is available by email from LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET.
Write the following command in the TEXT of your message:

    LIST GLOBAL

NEW-LIST@NDSUVM1.BITNET and NETMONTH (from BITLIB@YALEVM.BITNET)
distribute regular notices about new discussion lists. Subscribe to
NEW-LIST by email to LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET. Use the following
command:

    SUB NEW-LIST Your-first-name Your-last-name

This is how we usually subscribe to discussion lists. Send your
subscription commands to a LISTSERV close to where you live.
    The command "SENDME BITNET OVERVIEW" tells LISTSERV to send
more information about the services.

BIX
---
is operated as a joint venture between General Videotex Corp. and
the North American computer magazine BYTE (McGraw-Hill). To some
extent, it mirrors what you can read on paper. BIX offers global
Internet email, telnet and ftp, multiple conferences. In 1992, the
service had about 50,000 members.
    The NUA address is 0310600157878. On Internet, telnet
x25.bix.com . At the Username: prompt, enter BIX as a user name. At
the second Username: prompt, enter NEW if you don't already have an
account on the service.
    You can sign up for the service, and play during your first
visit to the service. Read BYTE for more information, or write to
General Videotex Corporation, 1030 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge,
MA 02138, USA. Phone: +1-617-354-4137.

BRS
---
Bibliographic Retrieval Services is owned by InfoPro Technologies
(see below). BRS/After Dark is a service for PC users. It can be
accessed during evenings and weekends at attractive rates.
    InfoPro offers connection through their own network in Europe,
and through the Internet. BRS contains about 120 databases within
research, business, news, and science. The service's strengths are
medicine and health.
    Membership in BRS costs US$80 per year, plus hourly database
usage charges. It is also available through CompuServe (at a
different price).
    Contact in Europe: BRS Information Technologies, Achilles
House, Western Avenue, London W3 OUA, England. Tel. +44 81 993
9962. In North America: InfoPro Technologies. Tel.: +1-703-442-0900.
Telnet: brs.com (US$6/hr).

Canada Remote Systems
---------------------
is North America's largest bulletin board system (1992). It has a
software library of more than 500,000 programs and files, and over
3,500 public forums and discussion areas.
    Canada Remote provides several news and information services,
including the United Press International and Reuters news wires,
North American stock exchange results, the twice-weekly edition of
Newsbytes, and other publications.
    Tel.: +1-416-629-7000 (in the U.S.) and +1-313-963-1905 (Canada).
Canada Remote Systems, 1331 Crestlawn Drive, Unit D, Mississauga,
Ontario, Canada L4W 2P9.

CGNET
-----
is a network interconnecting a group of international research
organizations. Besides email, CGNET provides news clipping
services, airline reservation information, and database search.
(See Dialcom)
    Contact: CGNET Services International, 1024 Hamilton Court,
Menlo Park, California  94025,  USA. Telephone: +1-415-325-3061.
Fax:  1-415-325-2313 Telex: 4900005788 (CGN UI) .

CIX (England)
-------------
British online-service available by telnet, through PDN services
and by direct dial. Telnet cix.compulink.co.uk.
    Compulink Information eXchange Ltd. claims to be Europe's
largest conferencing system. Sign-up fee (1993): GBP 25.00. Monthly
minimum: GBP 6.25. Off-peak connect rate GBP 2.40. Peak rate is
3.60 per hour.
   The service has full Internet access, and email exchange with
CompuServe and Dialcom. CIX has many conferences, ISDN access,
Usenet News, telnet and ftp.
    Contact: The Compulink Information Exchange Ltd., The Sanctuary
Oakhill Grove, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 6DU, England. Tel.: +44-81-390-
8446. Fax: +44-81-390-6561. NUA: 2342 1330 0310. Data: +44-81-390-
1255/+44-81-390-1244. Email: cixadmin@cix.compulink.co.uk .

CIX (USA)
---------
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 network publishing service providing information and
news in over 100 newsgroups by subject matter on Usenet. Read
Chapter 9 for more information. Single-user (individual) prices
available.
    Clarinet Communications Corp., 124 King St. North, Waterloo,
Ontario N2J 2X8, Canada. Email: info@clarinet.com .

Commercial Mail Relay Service (CMR)
-----------------------------------
This service is not available anymore. They used to be available
on this address:
    Intermail-Request@Intermail.ISI.EDU

CompuServe
----------
has about 1.3 million users (August 93) all over the world, over
1,500 databases, 200 forums, 500 newspapers, online shopping from
more than 100 shops and entertainment. It's like a large electronic
supermarket.
    You can access the service though local access numbers in over
100 countries, through Packet Switching Services, and outdial
services. The international NUA address is 0313299999997.
    A list of available forums can be retrieved from the IBM
Communication Forum. Participation in forums is normally free (no
extra charge).
    The IQuest database service gives access to more than 800
publications, databases, and indexes within business, public
affairs, research, news, etc. Bibliographic and full-text searches.
    Some IQuest databases are physically residing on other online
services, like NewsNet, Dialog, BRS, and Vu/Text (U.S.A.), Data-
Star (Switzerland), DataSolve (England. It has TASS in the World
Reporter database), and Questel (France). Sometimes, it is cheaper
to use these services on CompuServe, than by a call to these
services directly.
    The connect charge for CompuServe's Alternative Pricing Plan is
US$12.80/hour at 1200 and 2400 bps. 9600 bps costs US$22.80/hour.
Monthly subscription US$2.50. Using the Executive News Service
(clipping service) costs an extra US$15/hour.
    An optional flat-rate pricing plan (the Standard Pricing plan)
is available for US$8.95 per month. It gives unlimited access to
over 30 basic services, including CompuServe mail, The Electronic
Mall, news, weather and sports, member support services, reference
and travel services.
    Hourly rates for Standard Pricing Plan members using extended
services go from US$6/hour for 300 bits/s to US$16/hour for 9600
bits/s access. (Feb. 93)
    In addition, there are network charges. These differ a lot by
country. For example, access through European CompuServe nodes has
no communication surcharges during non-prime time (19:00-8:00 local
time).
    CompuServe can be accessed by telnet to hermes.merit.edu, or
35.1.48.150. Host: CompuServe.
    CompuServe Information Services Inc., POB 20212, 5000 Arlington
Centre Blvd., Columbus, Ohio 43220, U.S.A.
    In Europe, call voice: +49-89-66550-111, fax: +49-89-66 550-255
or write to CompuServe, Jahnstrasse 2, D-8025 Unterhaching b.,
Munich, Germany. To contact CompuServe Africa, call  (012) 841-2530
in South Africa, or (+27)(12) 841-2530 for everywhere else.

Cosine
------
COSINE (Cooperation for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in
Europe) is a European Common Market "Eureka" project. It works to
establish a communications network infrastructure for scientific
and industrial research institutes all over Europe.
    IXI is the international packet data network on which the
COSINE project is based. It is available Europe-wide providing
links of up to 64 Kbit/s, carries non commercial traffic for the
research communities, and provides links to several public data
networks.
    The CONCISE online information service is a focal point for
information of interest to European researchers. It has lists of
sources of information.
    Internet users can access CONCISE through Telnet. Connect
either to concise.ixi.ch (130.59.2.16) or concise.funet.fi
(128.214.6.181). Login: concise, password: concise.
    For help, send email to helpdesk@concise.level-7.co.uk with the
following command in the body of the text:

     start
     help cug-email

This will give you the `CONCISE User Guide - Email Access'.

DASnet
------
forwards mail between systems that do not have any email exchange
agreements. See description in Chapter 13. Contact: DA Systems,
Inc., 1503 E. Campbell Ave., Campbell, CA  95008, U.S.A.

DataArkiv
---------
Major Scandinavian online service based in Sweden. Contact:
DataArkiv, Box 1502, 171 29 Solna, Sweden. Fax: +46 8 828 296.
Tel.: +46 8 705 13 11.

Data-Star
---------
Formerly owned by Radio-Suisse in Switzerland, Data-Star is now
owned by Knight-Ridder (U.S.A.). It offers over 200 databases
within business, science and medicine.
    SciSearch is a database with references to over nine million
stories from 4500 newspapers and magazines.
    Other databases: Current Patents Fast Alert, Flightline (with
stories about air transport), The Turing Institute Database on
artificial intelligence, Information Access (international market
data), parts of SovData, Who Owns Whom, etc..
    Access through Internet: telnet to rserve.rs.ch  [192.82.124.4]
and login as rserve , and follow standard login procedure.
    Contact in North America: D-S Marketing, Inc., Suite 110, 485
Devon Park Drive, Wayne, PA 19087, Tel.: +1-215-687-6777.
    Contact in Scandinavia: Data-Star marketing AB, Maessans gt. 18,
Box 5278, S-402 25 Gothenburg, Sweden. Tel.: +46 31 83 59 75.

Delphi
------
has full access to Internet. Write to: General Videotex Corp., 1030
Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Dialcom
-------
is owned by British Telecom and is a network of data centers in
many countries. Dialcom is selling its services through many agents
(like EsiStreet for the music industry, and CGNet for agricultural
research).
    Some selected services: The Official Airline Guide, news
(Financial Times Profile, Newsbytes, AP, UPI, and Reuters), mail
(Dialcom400), fax services and several conference type offerings
(like Campus 2000 for the education market).
    Today, most Dialcom users are unable to exchange mail with the
Internet (DASnet is a commercial alternative), but mail can be sent
to users of SprintMail, IBM Mail, AT&Ts Easylink, MCI Mail,
Compania Telefonica Nacional de Espana, and other X.400 systems.
    Contact: Dialcom, 6120 Executive Blvd., Rockville, MD 20852,
U.S.A. The British service Telecom-Gold is a subsidiary of Dialcom
UK. In North America, contact BT North America at tel.: +1-408-922-
7543. In Europe, contact British Telecom.
    CGNET can be reached through the Internet. Send a message to
postmaster@cgnet.com for more information.

Dialog Information Services
---------------------------
is owned by Knight Ridder and has more than 400 databases online.
They offer a long list of newspapers including the San Francisco
Chronicle in full-text, Newsbytes, Information Access, the Japan
Technology database, most major global news wires, Trademarkscan,
USA Today, Teikoku Databank from Japan.
    Knowledge Index offers evening and weekend reduced-rate access
to more than 100 popular full-text and bibliographic databases and
50,000 journals (1993).
    Dialog has gateways to other services, like CompuServe and iNet,
making the databases available to a larger market. Many databases
are also available on CD-ROM.
    In Europe, contact DIALOG Europe, P O Box 188, Oxford OX1 5AX,
England. You can telnet to DIALOG.COM (192.132.3.254, US$ 3/hour in
1992).

Down Jones News/Retrieval
-------------------------
focuses on news for finance and business. DJN/R is the sole online
distributor of The Wall Street Journal (with articles from the
international editions), Barron's, Dow Jones and Telerate's
newswires in full-text.
    Further, it has PR Newswire, many other newspapers in full-
text, clipping service, online charting for investors, and gateways
to other services like Info Globe (Globe and Mail in Canada).
    Address: P.O. Box 300, Princeton, N.J. 08543-9963. DJN/R is
also accessible through a gateway from MCI Mail.
    You can telnet to djnr.dowjones.com . At the WHAT SERVICE
PLEASE prompt, enter DJNR and press Enter. An ENTER PASSWORD prompt
will appear. Here, enter your normal DJNS account password.

ECHO
----
European Commission Host Organization is accessible via CONCISE.
Telnet either to  concise.ixi.ch (130.59.2.16) or concise.funet.fi
(128.214.6.181). Login: concise, password: concise. The NUA address
is 0270448112. You can also telnet to echo.lu . Login as echotest
or echo.
    ECHO's I'M GUIDE is a free database providing information about
online services within the European Common Market. It includes CD-
ROMs, databases and databanks, database producers, gateways, host
organizations, PTT contact points, and information brokers in
Europe.
    ECHO's other databases are classified under the headings
Research and development, Language industry, Industry and economy.
    For information contact: ECHO Customer Service, BP 2373, L-1023
Luxembourg. Tel.: +352 34 98 1200. Fax: +352 34 98 1234.

Exec-PC Network BBS
-------------------
is based in Milwaukee (Wisconsin, U.S.A.). In August 1991, it had
238 incoming phone lines, 9 gigabytes of disk capacity, more than
100 new programs/day, 300,000 programs available for downloading
(including the complete selection from PC-SIG California) and more
than 130,000 active messages in its conferences. More than 3,300
persons called EXEC-PC each day.
    The service focuses on owners of IBM compatible computers
(MS/PC-DOS, Windows, OS/2, Windows, Unix), Apple Macintosh, Amiga
and Atari ST through over 200 conferences.
    You can access EXEC-PC through i-Com's outdial service, Global
Access, PC-Pursuit, Connect-USA, and by direct dialing. Annual
subscription costs US$60.00. You can sign on while online.
Unregistered users get thirty minutes per day free.

FidoNet
-------
was founded in 1984 for automatic transfers of files from one place
to the other at night, when the telephone rates are low. FidoNet is
one of the most widespread networks in the world. It 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. There are
nodes in around 70 countries. In June 1993, the net had 24,800
nodes throughout the world (source: FidoNet nodelist). The number
of nodes is growing at about 40 percent per year.
    Most nodes are operated by volunteers, and access is free.
FidoNet is believed to have over 1.56 million users (1992).
    Conferences (called ECHOs or Echomail) are exchanged between
interested nodes, and may thus have thousands of readers. A typical
FidoNet Echomail conference gets 50 to 100 messages each day. Any
connected BBS may carry 50, 100, or more echomail conferences.
    Net Mail is the term for storing and delivering mail. FidoNet
users can send and receive mail through the Internet.
    The list of member bulletin boards is called the Nodelist. It
can 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 denotes 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, etc.,  (3) Oceania, (4) America Latina, (5) Africa,
(6) Asia.
    For information, contact the International FidoNet Association
(IFNA), P.O. Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141, U.S.A. You can also
write to postmaster@fidonet.fidonet.org .
    The FIDO subdirectory in the MSDOS directory on SIMTEL20 (on
the Internet) contains extensive information, including explanation
of FidoNet, guide for its nodes, gateways between FidoNet and
Internet, and various programs and utilities. (See TRICKLE in
Chapter 4 for more about how to get these files.)

Fog City Online Information Service
-----------------------------------
is the world's largest bulletin board with AIDS information. Based
in San Francisco (U.S.A.) it offers free and anonymous access for
everybody.
    Call +1-415-863-9697. Enter "AIDS" by the question "First
name?" and "INFO" by the question "Last Name?".

FT Profile
----------
has full-text articles from Financial Times in London, from several
European databases (like the Hoppenstedt database with more than
46,000 German companies), and the Japanese database Nikkei.
    Profile is available through Telecom-Gold, and can also be
accessed through other online services. Clipping service. CD-ROM.
    Contact FT Information Services at tel.: +44-71-873-3000.

GEnie
-----
General Electric Network for Information Exchange is GE's Consumer
Information Service. GEnie gives access to many databases and other
information services. It has around 350,000 users (1992).
    The basic rate is US$4.95/month plus connect charges. The
surcharge is US$18/hour between 08:00 and 18:00, and US$6.00/hour
for some services, like email, downloading of software, "chat,"
conferences, and multi-user games. Access to Internet email is
available as a surcharged add-on service. (Addressing format:
userid@GEnie.GEis.com)
    For information call +1-301-340-4492. GE Information Services,
401 N. Washington St., Rockville, MD 20850, U.S.A.


GE Information Service Co. (GEIS)
---------------------------------
Online service operated by General Electric. Available in over 32
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. Contact: tel. +1-301-340-4485

GENIOS
------
German online service (tel.: +49 69 920 19 101). Offers information
from Novosti (Moscow), data about companies in the former DDR, the
Hoppenstedt business directories, and more.

GlasNet
-------
is an international computer network that provides lowcost
telecommunications to nonprofit, nongovernment organizations
throughout the countries of the former Soviet Union. Email, fax,
telex, public conferences.
    For nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations, basic GlasNet
service fees are 350 rubles/month after a one-time registration fee
of 1000 rubles.  This does not include faxes or telexes. (1992)
    Write to: GlasNet, Ulitsa Yaroslavskaya 8, Korpus 3 Room 111,
129164 Moscow, Russia. Phone: (095) 217-6182 (voice). Email:
fick@glas.apc.org .

Global Access
-------------
is a North American outdial service (see Chapter 13) owned by G-A
Technologies, Inc. It has an information BBS at +1-704-334-9030.

IASNET
------
The Institute for Automated Systems Network was the first public
switched network in the xUSSR. Its main goal is 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 Information Network
-----------------------
The IBM Information Network, based in Tampa, Florida, is IBM's
commercial value-added data network offering the ability to send
email and data worldwide. It is one of the largest networks in the
world, with operator-owned nodes in over 36 countries.
    To send mail from the Internet to a user of Advantis IBMmail
(also called IMX or Mail Exchange), address to their userid at
ibmmail.com. You need to know their userid (IEA in IBMmail
terminology) in advance.
    An IBMmail user can find how to address to Internet by sending
mail to INFORM at IBMmail with /GET INET in the body of the text.

i-Com
-----
offers outdial services to North America (ref. Chapter 13).
Contact: i-Com, 4 Rue de Geneve B33, 1140 Brussels, Belgium. Tel.:
+32 2215 7130. Fax: +32 2215 8999. Modem: +32 2215 8785.

ILINK (Interlink)
-----------------
is a network for exchange of conferences between bulletin boards in
U.S.A., Canada, Scotland, England, Norway, France, Australia, New
Zealand, Sweden, and other countries.

Infonet
-------
is a privately owned vendor of packet data services with local
operations in over 50 countries, and access from more than 135
countries. Contact: Infonet Services Corp., 2100 East Grand Ave.,
El Segundo, CA 90245, U.S.A.

INTERNET
--------
started as ARPANET, but is now a large group of more than 6,000
interconnected networks all over the world supporting mail, news,
remote login, file transfer, and many other services. All
participating hosts are using the protocol TCP/IP.
    There are around 1.3 million host computers with IP addresses
(March 1992. Ref. RFC1296 and RFC 1181). The number of users is
estimated to more than ten million people. Some one million people
are said to exchange email messages daily.
    In addition, private enterprise networks have an estimated
1,000,000 hosts using TCP/IP (Source: Matrix News August 1993.)
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.
    Some claim that these figures are low. They believe it is
possible to reach around 50 million mailboxes by email through the
Internet.
    Several commercial companies offer full Internet services.
Among these are Alternet (operated by UUNET) and PCI (operated by
Performance Systems, Inc.). The UK Internet Consortium offers
similar services in Great Britain.
    INTERNET gives users access to the ftp and telnet commands. Ftp
gives them interactive access to remote computers for transferring
files. Telnet gives access to a remote service for interactive
dialog.
    The Interest Groups List of Lists is a directory of conferences
available by ftp from ftp.nisc.sri.com (192.33.33.53).  Log in to
this host as user "anonymous." Do a 'cd' (change directory) to the
"netinfo" directory, then enter the command "GET interest-groups."
The list is more than 500 KB characters long.
    You can also get it by email from mail-server@nisc.sri.com .
Write the following command in the TEXT of the message:

    Send netinfo/interest-groups

You can telnet several bulletin boards through Internet. Here is a
sample:

 Name                       Login as       Description
 ----                       ----------     -----------
 CONRAD.APPSTATE.EDU        info           World news collected by
                                           monitoring short wave
                                           broadcasts from BBS and
                                           other global sources.
 ISCA.ICAEN.UIOWA.EDU       ISCABBS        A large amount of public
                                           domain programs
 ATL.CALSTATE.EDU           LEWISNTS       Electronic newspapers and
                                           the Art World.
 TOLSUN.OULU.FI             BOX            Finnish service. English
                                           available as an option.

"Internet Services Frequently Asked Questions and Answers" can be
retrieved by email from mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu . Write

    send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/faq

in the body of your message.

Internet
--------
is a term used on something many call "WorldNet" or "The Matrix."
It includes the networks in INTERNET, and a long list of networks
that can send electronic mail to each other (though they may not
be based on the TCP/IP protocol).
    The Internet includes INTERNET, BITNET, DECnet, 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), BIX, Portal,
PsychNet, Telemail, TWICS (Japan), Web (Canada), The WELL, CARINET,
DASnet, Janet (England)
    "Answers to Commonly Asked New Internet User' Questions" is
available by email from SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL . Send email with the
following command in the message's SUBJECT heading:

    RFC 1206

One important feature of the Internet is that no one is in charge.
The Internet is essentially a voluntary association.
    Another thing is that there are rarely any additional charges
for sending and receiving electronic mail (even when sending to
other networks), retrieving files, or reading Usenet Newsgroups..

Intermail
---------
See Commercial Mail Relay Service.

Istel
-----
A privately owned vendor of packet data services, who has operator-
owned nodes in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
Holland, Spain, Sweden, England. Contact: AT&T Istel. Tel.: 0527-
64295 (in England).

Kompass Online and Kompass Europe
--------------------------------
These databases are available through many services, including
Affaersdata in Sweden and Dialog. Contact: (voice) +47 22 64 05 75.

InfoPro Technologies
--------------------
Previously Maxwell Online. InfoPro's services include BRS Online
and Orbit Online. BRS owns BRS Online, BRS Colleague, BRS After
Dark, and BRS Morning Search, which focus on medical information.
Orbit focuses on patent and patent-related searches.
    Orbit carries an annual membership fee of US$50 (1992), and
hourly fees that differ according to database.
    Contact: InfoPro Technologies, 8000 Westpark Drive, McLean,
VA 22102, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-703-442-0900.

Maxwell Online
--------------
See InfoPro Technologies.

MCI Mail
--------
MCI Mail, Box 1001, 1900 M St. NW, Washington, DC 20036, U.S.A.

Mead Data Central
-----------------
operates the Nexis and Lexis services. Contact: Mead Data Central
International, International House, 1, St. Katharine's Way, London
E1 9UN, England.
    TELNET lexis.meaddata.com or 192.73.216.20 or 192.73.216.21 .
Terminal type = vt100a. Note: If characters do not echo back, set
your terminal to "local" echo.

MetaNet
-------
Contact: Metasystems Design Group, 2000 North 15th Street, Suite
103, Arlington, VA 22201, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-703-243-6622.

MIX
---
A Scandinavian bulletin board network exchanging conferences. For
information, call Mike's BBS in Norway at the following numbers:
+47-22-416588, +47-22-410403 and +47-22-337320.

Minitel
-------
French videotex service, which is being marketed all over the
world. It is based on a special graphics display format (Teletel),
has over 13,000 services, and appears like a large French online
hypermarche with more than seven million users (1992).
    Access to the French Minitel network is available via the
Infonet international packet data network on a host-paid and
chargeable account basis.

Mnematics
---------
Mnematics, 722 Main Street Sparkill, NY 10976-0019, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-
914-359-4546.

NEC PC-VAN
----------
Japan's largest online service measured both in number of users and
geographical presence. Your communications system must be able to
display Japanese characters to use the service.

Netnews
-------
See Usenet.

NewsNet
-------
The world's leading vendor of full-text business and professional
newsletters online. Offers access to over 700 newsletters and news
services within 30 industry classification groups (1993). Includes
the major international news wires.
    You can read individual newsletter issues, and search back
issues or individual newsletters or publications within an industry
classification. NewsNet's clipping service is called NewsFlash.
Enter PRICES at the main command prompt for an alphabetic listing
of all available services.
    Contact: NewsNet, 945 Haverford Rd., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, U.S.A.

NIFTY-Serve
-----------
is Japan's number 2 online service. It had 250,000 subscribers in
January 1992. Access is possible via a gateway from CompuServe.
Your communications system must be able to display Japanese
characters to use the service.
    Nifty-Serve is jointly operated by Fujitsu and Nissho Iwai
Trading in a licensing agreement with CompuServe.

NWI
---
Networking and World Information, Inc. One time subscription fee:
US$20 (US$5 is given to charity. US$15 is returned to the user as
free time). Non-prime time access costs US$10.70/hour at 300 to
2400 bps. Otherwise, the rate is US$23.50. The service is available
through PDN and outdial services. (1992)
    Contact: NWI, 333 East River Drive, Commerce Center One, East
Hartford, CT 06108, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-203-289-6585.
    CompuServe users can access NWI's PARTICIPATE conferences
through a gateway.

OCLC
----
is a nonprofit computer library service and research organization
whose computer network and products link more than 15,000 libraries
in 47 countries and territories. It serves all types of libraries,
including public, academic, special, corporate, law, and medical
libraries. Contact: OCLC, 6565 Fratz Rd., Dublin, OH, U.S.A. Tel.:
+1-614-764-6000.

Orbit
-----
is owned by InfoPro Technologies (formerly Maxwell Online and
Pergamon Orbit Infoline Inc.). It offers more than 100 science,
technical and patent research, and company information databases.
   Contact in North America: InfoPro Technologies, 8000 West Park
Drive, McClean, VA 22102, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-703-442-0900.
   In Europe: ORBIT Search Service, Achilles House, Western Avenue,
London W3 0UA, England. Tel.: +44 1 992 3456, Fax. +44 1 993 7335.
Telnet orbit.com (US$6/hr in 1992).

Pergamon Financial Data Services
--------------------------------
See Orbit.

Polarnet
--------
is a Scandinavian distributed conferencing system available through
many boards, including Mike's BBS (see above).

Prestel
-------
is owned by British Telecom. It is a videotex service based on a
special graphics display format. The service is also available
as "TTY Teletype." NUA address: 02341 10020020.

Prodigy
-------
is a North American videotex service owned  by IBM and Sears. You
must have a special communications program to use the service,
which claimed 2.5 million subscribers in early 1992. (Analysts
estimated only 850,000 paying users).
    Rates: US$12.50 per family per month for up to six family
members and up to 30 email messages. Annual subscription: US$
119.95. The packet sent new users contains a communication
program and a Hayes-compatible 2400 bps modem. Price: US$ 180.
(early 1992)
    Contact: Prodigy Services Co., 445 Hamilton Ave., White Plains,
NY 10601, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-914-962-0310. Email (through Internet):
postmaster@inetgate.prodigy.com .

RelayNet
--------
Also called PcRelay-Net. An international network for exchange of
email and 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
has a gateway to IASNET.

Saltrod Horror Show
-------------------
Odd de Presno's BBS system. Tel.: +47 370 31378.

The Sierra Network
------------------
is one of the best things out there for online games. The service
claimed more than 20,000 subscribers in 1993. Contact: The Sierra
Network, P.O. Box 485, Coarsegold, CA 93614, U.S.A.

SIGnet
------
Global BBS network with over 2500 nodes around the world (1993).

SIMTEL20 Software Archives
--------------------------
is a system maintained by the US Army Information System Command.
It contains public domain software, shareware, documentation and
mail archives under the following top-level headings: HZ100, INFO-
IBMPC, MSDOS, PC-BLUE, ADA, ARCHIVES, CPM, CPMUG, PCNET, SIGM,
STARS, UNIX-C, VHDL, ZSYS, MACINTOSH, MISC, and TOPS20.
    All files are accessible by Anonymous FTP. For information,
send a message to the address LISTSERV@RPIECS.BITNET with the
command 'HELP' in the first line of your text.

SprintMail
----------
is a large, commercial vendor of email services. It has local nodes
serving customers in 108 countries through its SprintNet network
(1991).
    Internet mail to the SprintMail user identity 'T.Germain' can
be sent to T.Germain@sprint.sprint.com .
    For information, contact SprintMail, 12490 Sunrise Valley Dr.,
Reston, VA 22096, U.S.A.

SuperNET
--------
is an international network for exchange of conferences and mail
between SuperBBS bulletin board systems. Contact: SuperNet World
Host through FidoNet at 2:203/310 (+46-300-41377) Lennart Odeberg.

TCN
---
is a Dialcom network. Internet email to TCN is only possible if
either the sender or recipient has registered with DASnet. The
email address would be: TCNxxx@das.net (where xxx is the TCN
number).

Thunderball Cave
----------------
Norwegian bulletin board connected to RelayNet. Call +47-22-
299441 or +47-22-299442. Offers Usenet News and Internet mail.

Tocolo BBS
----------
Bulletin board for people with disabilities in Japan, or with
"shintaishougaisha," which is the Japanese term. Call: +81-3-205-
9315. 1200 bps, 8,N,1. Your communications system must be able to
display Japanese characters to use the service.

TRI-P
-----
International outdial service. Contact: INTEC America, Inc., 1270
Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2315, New York, NY 10020, U.S.A. In
Japan, contact Intec at 2-6-10 Sarugaku-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101.
Fax: +81-3-3292-2929.

TWICS BeeLINE
-------------
English-language Japanese online service with PARTIcipate, Caucus
and Usenet netnews. Half the users are Japanese. Others connect
from U.S.A., England, Canada, Germany, France, South Africa, and
Scandinavia.
    The NUA address is: 4406 20000524. Direct call to +81 3 3351
7905 (14,4KB/s), or +81-3-3351-8244 (9600 bps). At CONNECT, press
ENTER a few times. Wait about a second between keystrokes to get to
the registration prompt.
    New users can sign on as GUEST for information. You can also
write postmaster@twics.co.jp, or send mail to TWICS/IEC, 1-21
Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160, JAPAN.
    Foreign users have free access (1992).

UMI/Data Courier
----------------
620 South Street, Louisville, KY 40202, U.S.A.

Uninett
-------
delivers networking services to Norwegian research and educational
services.

Unison
------
North American conferencing service using PARTIcipate software. NUA
address: 031105130023000. Password: US$35.00. Monthly subscription:
US$6.25. Non-prime time access: US$12.00/hour. Prime time access:
US$19.00/hour. Enter SIGNUP when online the first time and follow
the prompts. (1991)

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 16,300
hosts in January 1993 (source: UUCP map) serving more than 489,000
users.
    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.
    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.

Usenet
------
Usenet, Netnews, or just "News" are common terms for a large
many-to-many conferencing (only) system distributed through UUCP,
Internet, FidoNet, and BITNET.
    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.
    Usenet's newsgroups are carried by over 69,000 host computers
in five continents, and has over 1,991,000 users (source: Brian
Reid, 1993). Many of these hosts have access to the Internet. The
European portion of Usenet is called EUNET (European Unix NET).
    The local administrator of each individual 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 of these
classifications 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.
   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, relating to 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
        appreciable amounts of generally useful information.

"news"  Groups concerned with the news network and software
        themselves.

"rec"   Groups oriented towards hobbies and recreational
        activities.

Also available are many "alternative" hierarchies, like:

"alt"   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. (Requires payment of a fee and
        execution of a licence. More information by email to
        info@clarinet.com).

Most Netnews hosts offer both global and local conferences. 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 are normally
available from hosts offering Netnews, and on NETNEWS servers.
    All users should subscribe to news.announce.important .

Vu/Text
-------
325 Chestnut St., Suite 1300, Philadelphia, PA 19106, U.S.A.

The Well
--------
The Whole Earth Lectronic Link is a commercial online service based
in Sausalito (U.S.A.). It has its own conferencing culture and is
an interesting starting point for those wanting to "study" what
makes the area around Silicon Valley so dynamic.
    The Well has several hundred conferences, public and private,
about 7,000 members, and is available in a variety of ways. The
service has full Internet access, and can be reached by telnet
to well.sf.ca.us (or 192.132.30.2).
    Modem tel.: +1-415-332-6106 at 1200 bps or +1-415-332-7398
at 2400 bps. You can subscribe online. Rates: US$ 20/month plus
US$ 2/hour (invoiced by the minute online - 1992).

ZiffNet
-------
markets its services through CompuServe (ZiffNet and ZiffNet/Mac),
Prodigy, and its own online service in the U.S.A. Their offerings
include the Ziff Buyer's Market, the ZiffNet/Mac Buyer's Guide,
Computer Database Plus, Magazine Database Plus, NewsBytes, and the
Cobb Group Online.
    Contact: Ziff Communications Company, 25 First Street, Cambridge,
MA 02141, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-617-252-5000.

Appendix 2:

Short takes about how to get started
====================================

* a computer
* modem and a communications program

You must have a computer
------------------------
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. This
is seldom a problem. An MS-DOS computer with 256 KB RAM is enough
when using popular programs like PROCOMM.
    Your computer does not have to be very powerful and super fast,
unless you want ultra fast transfers, use a slow communications
program, or a complex system of script files. If this is the case,
you'll know to appreciate speed and power.
    You do not need a hard disk. Many do without. Not having one,
however, means more work, and less room for storage of all the
nice things that 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.
    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 are approved for usage in your country.
    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.
    Modem user manuals often give transfer speed by referring to
some international classification codes. Here are some CCITT codes
with explanation:

V.21       0-300 bps        Still used by a small group. Cannot
           full duplex      communicate with the American Bell
                            103 standard.

V.22       1200 bps         Partly compatible with the American
           full duplex      Bell 212a standard. Sometimes it
                            works, sometimes it fails.

V.22bis    2400 bps         Used all over the world. Very
           full duplex      common.

V.23       600 &  1200      Rare protocol. Used mainly in Europe.
           bps w/75         Half duplex.
           bps return ch.

V.26ter    2400 bps         Used mainly in France
           full duplex

V.27ter    2400/4800 bps    Used in Group III fax
           half duplex

V.29       4800, 7200 and   Used in gr. III fax and in some (Ame-
           9600 bps         rican) modems. Do not buy V.29 if you
           half duplex      want a 9600 bps modem.

V.32       4800/9600 bps    Current standard for 9600 bps modems
           full duplex

V.32bis    4800/7200/9600,  Full duplex with faster interrogation.
           12000/14400 bps

V.34       14400 bps        A proposed high speed protocol that
                            never made it.

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, i.e., in up to 38400 bps
                            using a 9600 bps modem. Very common.

V.Fast                      Upcoming standard. If approved by
also called                 CCITT, it will support speeds to
V.32terbo                   28,800 bps for uncompressed data
                            transmission rates over regular dial-
                            up, voice-grade lines. Using V.42bis
                            data compression, up to 86,400 bps
                            may be achievable.

When you consider buying a modem with higher speed, remember that
going from 1200 bps to 2400 is a 50 percent increase, while going
from 1200 to 9600 bps gives 800 percent!
    On the other hand, if you currently have 9600 bits/s, going to
14.400 will only give you 50 percent.

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 acknowledge message is sent back to
the sending modem. If there has been 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 the 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 my bulletin board daily. My personal computer is set to
communicate with a V.32 modem at 19,000 bps. The modem sends data
to the telephone line at 9600 bps, which is this modem's maximum
line speed.
    Data is received by the remote computer's V.32 modem at 9600
bps, and forwarded to bulletin board at 19200 bps.
    Why these differences in speed?
     MNP level 5 compresses data in the modem before transfer, and
gives error-free transfer to and from the bulletin board at higher
speed than by using 9600 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 obtain an effective speed of
around the double when transferring such data.

File transfers using MNP
------------------------
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 popular communications program, like Procomm and Crosstalk,
tells the modem to "dial a number" or "go on hook," then the Hayes-
compatible modem will do just that.
    When you press ALT-H in Procomm, the modem will disconnect from
the remote modem.
    If you press ALT-D followed by the number "2," Procomm 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 established,
your modem will report back to you with a message like CONNECT
2400. This tells that a connection has been set up at 2400 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 2400 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), i.e., when someone
called in, 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 Procomm to call a bulletin board, it first sends a
sequence of Hayes commands to the Semafor modem. The purpose 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 Procomm 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 ensure
minimal interference with 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.
    Here are some items to consider when shopping communications
program:
    * 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 details.)
    * 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
(e.g., .COM and .EXE files). They are also used when transferring
compressed files, graphics and music files.
    * Does it let you tailor it to your taste/needs? Some programs
let you attach batches of commands to function keys and keypress
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 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, e.g., with
       2400 bps, 8 bits word length, 1 stop bit, no parity. (This
       is the most common setup.) Then set the program to "online."
    (2) Call the number (e.g., +47 370 31378)
    (3) When you hear the tone from the remote modem in the phone,
       press DATA to get the modems to connect to each other
       (i.e., 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
       CONNECT has been established, 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 probably the most commonly used communications
program for MS-DOS computers. It's been like this for many years,
though there are many better and cheaper alternatives.
    An older version of the program (version 2.4.2) is still being
distributed through bulletin boards all over the world. You may
give copies of this version to anyone. The requirement is that you
pay a contribution of US$25 to the vendor if you like it and start
to use it.
    Procomm is simple for novices, can automate the work for
advanced users and be run on almost any MS-DOS computer. Here is
some of the 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 external protocols
like ZMODEM is relatively simple.

Appendix 3:

Online with the world
=====================

- Practical data communication
- Your first trip online
- Typical pitfalls and simple solutions
- Receiving (downloading) letters, text and programs
- Sending (uploading) letters, text and programs

Practical data communication
----------------------------
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 set up your equipment 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 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).
    In this example, your modem is tested by calling my bulletin
board at +47 370 31378. Not because this is the best board in the
world, but because I have full control over how it looks and feels
for those using it.

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. 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.
    2. 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 "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 don't know what communication port the modem has been
connected to, you have to find out by testing. Do this by entering
(i.e., 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 remain blank at all times. Your problem may be the
cable, your choice of modem port, or the modem setup.
    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 at the same time. 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?
-------------------------------------------------
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 to my BBS. (You may
have to prefix the number with an international code, and the
country code for Norway. If international calls require the prefix
009, enter ATDT009-47-37031378).
    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, that it has been 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.

Configuring your 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.
    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. (Do not enter the "!" character. This is
Procomm's code for ENTER.)
    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.

Dialing
-------
Now, test your setup by calling your favorite online service. We
will show how to log on to my bulletin board.
    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 Horror Show somewhere on the list. I
have it as number 2. Answer the questions like this:


    Name: Saltrod Horror Show
    Number: 009-47-370-31378
    Baud: 9600
    Parity: N
    Databits: 8
    Stop Bits: 1
    Echo On? N
    Command file: (press ENTER, meaning that you don't want to
                   use a script file 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 interrogating for the use of
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

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.
Only rarely will you 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 the Saltrod Horror Show
-------------------------------
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" my system. The software will
automatically detect your speed and adjust accordingly. The same
applies for many services. On some, you're just asking for problems
by not waiting patiently (often the case when the remote software
starts by checking if you use an offline reader).
    * My BBS accepts from 300 to 9600 bps asynchronous, full duplex
communication. You may not succeed with 1200 bps half duplex, Bell
300 bps or 1200 bps.
    * 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 (select U for
Utilities, and then G for Graphics to change setting),
    2. Set your computer for colors and graphics. This feature is
only available for callers with an MS-DOS computers. You may need
to add the line DEVICE=ANSI.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS.
    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 local disk."
    You are downloading, when you call my board to retrieve a
program.
    When you, overwhelmed by gratitude, send one of your favorite
programs TO my bulletin board, then we call it uploading.
    Data can be many things. It may be news from 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 - it is important to know
whether you are appending information to an existing file, or
overwriting it (i.e., 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.

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 consequences.
    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 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.
    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 when exchanging files having 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 to check the transfer. The protocol is
much faster than XMODEM.

ZMODEM
------
is currently the fastest 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
available through most bulletin boards.

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," i.e., 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, then these may 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.
    "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 my bulletin
board using XMODEM:

    1. Navigate to the file area. Tell SHS what you want by using
       the following command:
              u;test.txt;x
    2. Press PgUp, select XMODEM, enter a file name (TEST.TXT), and
       the transfer will start. (If you're too slow, SHS may be
       tired of waiting for your commands . . .)
    3. When the transfer is completed, my board will ask for a
       short description of the file. Enter it, and you're done.

Enter G (for Goodbye), and disconnect.

Appendix 4:

Explanation of some frequently used terms
=========================================


We have included some terms that are commonly used in the online
world. For more information, get a copy of "FYI: Internet User's
Glossary." To get this file, send email to SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL with
the following command in the Subject of your mail:  RFC 1392 .

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.

Anonymous FTP
-------------
The procedure of connecting to a remote computer, as an anonymous
or guest user, to transfer files back to your computer. See FTP for
more information.

ANON-FTP
--------
See Anonymous FTP.

ANSI
----
(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 these codes to help improve the sending of characters
to communication programs. It uses the escape character, followed
by other characters, to move the cursor on the screen, change
color, and more.

Archie
------
An electronic directory service for locating information throughout
the Internet. You can use Archie to locate files on anonymous ftp
archive sites, other online directories and resource listings. It
is useful for finding free software.
    Archie offers access to the "whatis" description database.
This database contains 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.
    This book emphasizes email access to Archie. You can also reach
archie servers by telnet to one of the following addresses:

    archie.au               139.130.4.6     (Australian server)
    archie.mcgill.ca        132.206.44.21   (Canada)
    archie.funet.fi         128.214.6.100   (Finland/Europe s.)
    archie.th-darmstadt     130.83.128.111  (Germany)
    archie.cs.huji.ac.il    132.65.6.15     (Israel server)
    archie.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp 130.54.20.1   (Japan)
    archie.sogang.ac.kr     163.239.1.11    (Korea)
    archie.nz               130.195.9.4     (New Zealand)
    archie.ncu.edu.tw       140.115.19.24   (Taiwan)
    archie.doc.ic.ac.uk     146.169.11.3    (UK/England server)
    archie.rutgers.edu      128.6.18.15     (U.S.A.)

Archie server
-------------
An email-based file transfer facility offered by some systems
connected to the Internet.

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.
    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.  Consequently, 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).

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.

BBS
---
Bulletin Board or Bulletin Board System. See Bulletin Board.

Bell
----
Standard frequencies used in older modems made in the United
States. The standard for 300 bps is called Bell 103. The standard
for 1200 bps full duplex is called Bell 212A. Modems using these
standards are normally unable to communicate with CCITT standard
modems at these speeds.

Big5
----
Coding scheme developed in Taiwan for using Chinese on computers.
There are different 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.

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.

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 amount of characters transferred per
second (cps) by dividing the number of bps by 10. Example: 2400 bps
transfers around 240 characters per second.

Boolean
-------
Search algorithm built on the algebraic theories of the English
mathematician George Booles. Boolean algorithms are used in online
databases to help narrow down the number of hits using the words
AND, OR, and NOT.

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.

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 and may
also offer other services (like news, data base searches, and
online shopping).

Carrier
-------
The tone that the modem sends over a phone line before any data is
sent on it. This tone has a fixed frequency and a fixed amplitude.
It is then modified to indicate data.

Character
---------
Here used about a letter, a number or another typographical symbol
or code.

CCITT
-----
The Consultative Committee for International Telephony and
Telegraphy. An international consultative committee, organized by
the United Nations. Membership includes Telephone, governmental
Post, and Telegraph Authorities, scientific and trade associations,
and private companies.  CCITT is part of the International
Telecommunications Union, a United Nations treaty organization
based in Geneva, Switzerland.
    CCITT sets international communications recommendations. These
are often adopted as standards. It also develops interface, modem,
and data network recommendations. The X.25 protocol for access to
packet-switched networks was originally a recommendation of CCITT.
    A wide range of CCITT documents is available through The
Teledoc database of The International Telecommunication Union
(ITU):

   * CCITT and CCIR administrative documents
   * lists of contributions (substantive input/proposals)
     to CCITT and CCIR study groups
   * lists of CCITT reports and Recommendations
     (i.e., standards)
   * summaries of CCITT new or revised Recommendations
   * CCITT and CCIR meeting schedules and other
     information concerning Study Groups structures
     and activities.

For information, write to shaw@itu.arcom.ch or bautista@itu.arcom.ch
The database is at teledoc@itu.arcom.ch .

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.

Conference
----------
Also called 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.

CPS
---
Characters per second. See Bits per second.

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."

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.

Discussion list
---------------
See Mailing list.

Domain Name System (DNS)
------------------------
Email addressing system used in networks such as Internet and
BITNET. The Internet DNS 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.

Doors
-----
A service offered by many bulletin boards to allow the user to
leave the (remote) main software system to use one or several
independent programs, like games and databases.

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 the sending device can be sure it was received
correctly.
(2) Term used on FidoNet for this network's system of exchanging
conferences (parallel conferencing).

Email
-----
Abbreviation for Electronic Mail.

FAQ
---
"Frequently Asked Questions" about services on the Internet. A list
of FAQ documents is posted every four to six weeks to the Usenet
newsgroup news.announce.newusers.

File server
-----------
A file server is a device that "serves" 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.

Finger
------
A program on computers directly connected to the Internet that
returns information about a registered user on a system. Finger is
useful before initiating chats, known on the Internet as "talk."

Flame
-----
A "flame" is a conference message sent by someone who generally
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.

Fractal
--------
A mathematical algorithm from which an image can be created. A
fractal formula generates a fractal picture composed of an image
based on a basic pattern. An outgrowth of chaos mathematics, it is
being used for compressing and decompressing high quality images.
Generally, a fractally compressed image has an extremely small file
size.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
----------------------------
A program on the Internet for sending and receiving files to and
from a remote computer to your local host. FTP lets you connect to
many remote computers, as an anonymous or guest user, to transfer
files back to your computer.
    FTP only lets you list file directories on foreign systems, and
get or retrieve files. You cannot browse menus, send email, or
search databases.
    Usually, type ftp at your system prompt, login on the remote
system, and ask for the file you want to receive. It transfers to
your local host machine. (For more on this, read under "Internet"
in appendix 1.)
    Unless your computer is directly connected to the Internet, the
retrieved software will have to be transferred from your local host
machine to your PC.
    Where ftp is not available, you may use FTPMAIL (see chapter
12).

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).

FYI
---
"For Your Information." On the Internet, a subseries of RFCs that
are not technical standards or descriptions of protocols.

Gateway
-------
Here, we use the term gateway about an interconnection between two
(or more) online services, set up to allow a user of one service to
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.

Gopher
------
A world wide information service with many implementations. It
works from a top-level subject-oriented menu system that accesses
other information services across the Internet. Gopher combines a
finding and fetching capability in one tool.
    Gopher gets information from certain locations on the Internet
to which it is connected, and brings the information to your
computer. It can also get information via other Gophers at other
locations connected to yet other hosts. The Telneting or file
transfer protocols are transparent to the user.
    "Common Questions and Answers about the Internet Gopher" are
posted to the following Usenet newsgroups comp.infosystems.gopher,
comp.answers, and news.answers every two weeks.
    The most recent version of this FAQ is also available by
anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu in the /pub/usenet/news.answers
directory. The file is called gopher.faq.
    To get it by email, write mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the
command "send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" in the body of
the text.

GuoBiao
-------
Coding scheme for using Chinese on computers developed in mainland
China. For more information, send email to LISTSERV@UGA.BITNET with
one of the following commands in the text of your mail:
    GET PC HELP                   (for PC users)
    GET MAC HELP                  (Macintosh users)
    GET CXTERM HELP               (X Windows users)

Half duplex
-----------
The term half-duplex means the transmission of data in either
direction but only one direction at a time.

Ham
---
Amateur radio.

Handle
------
An alias used on a bulletin board or online service instead of your
real name. Often used in chats.

Header
------
(1) In an email message, the part that precedes the body of a
message and contains, 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.

Hytelnet
--------
(1) An Internet service offering access to many other services,
including university and library catalogues around the world.
Prefers VT-100 emulation. (telnet herald.usask.ca. Login: hytelnet)
    The Hytelnet anonymous ftp archive is at ftp.usask.ca. Get the
README file in the /pub/hytelnet directory.

(2) A memory resident utility (MS-DOS) that provides instant
information on Internet-accessible library catalogues, Free-Nets,
Campus Wide Information Servers, Gophers, WAIS, and much more.
   The program is available by ftp from access.usask.ca in the
/pub/hytelnet/pc/ directory. File name is hytelnxx.zip where xx is
the number of the latest version.
   HYTEL-L@KENTVM.BITNET is a mailing list for announcements of new
versions.

Information utility
-------------------
A term often used about online services (not unlike the term power
utility).

Internet
--------
See appendix 1.

Internet number
---------------
See IP Address

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.
   For more information, send a message to service@nic.ddn.mil with
the following text in the subject title: RFC 791 .

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 of 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.

IRC
---
Internet Relay Chat is a worldwide "party line" protocol that
allows one to converse with others in real time.

ISDN
----
An emerging technology being offered by many telephone carriers of
the world. 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 CCITT.

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.
    ISO@NIC.DDN.MIL is a mailing list focusing on the ISO protocol
stack.

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 (standardized on JUNET). Unfortunately, it
incorporates the ESC character, which some systems will filter out.
(This problem can be overcome by using UUENCODing.)
    Some services, like APICNET in Tokyo, converts outgoing Kanji
messages automatically to 7-bit format.

JVArcServ
---------
Archive server for FidoNet modelled after Archie for the Internet.
It maintains file lists from FidoNet systems throughout its area
and will do searches on these file lists based on netmail requests
made to it by remote systems.
   JVArcServ lets you search through file listings for the program
you are looking for. It will send you an email message back telling
you the BBS name, phone number, and file section of all the systems
in the network that match the given criteria.

KB
--
Kilobyte. A unit of data storage size which represents 1024
characters of information.

Kbits
-----
1,000 bits.

Kermit
------
Protocol designed for transferring files between microcomputers and
mainframe computers developed by Catchings at Columbia University.
    There are both public domain, and copyrighted Kermit programs.
Some of these programs are complete programs in themselves offering
the communication functions needed for the particular machine on
which they are running.
    The complete Kermit protocol manual and the source code for
various versions are available from:

     Kermit Distribution, (212) 854-3703
     Columbia University Center for Computing Activities
     612 West 115 Street,  New York, NY 10025

Knowbot
-------
Experimental directory services using intelligent computer programs
that automate the search and gathering of data from distributed
databases. The concept behind the Knowbot is that it is supposed to
be a Knowledge Robot -- something that goes hunting for information
on the Internet.
    To reach a Knowbot: telnet CNRI.Reston.va.us port 70

LAN
---
Local Area Network. A data network intended to serve an area of
only a few square kilometers or less.

LAP-M
-----
Link Access Procedure for Modems is a CCITT standard for modem
modulation and error control. It is the primary basis for the CCITT
V.42 protocol.

Library
-------
is used on online services about a collection of related databases
(that you may search in) or files (that may be retrieved).

List
----
File-viewing program for MS-DOS computers (see chapter 14).
Registration: US$37 to Buerg Software, 139 White Oak Circle,
Petaluma, CA  94952, U.S.A. (1993).

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.
   Similar lists, often using the Unix readnews or rn facility,
are available on the Internet.

LOOKFOR
-------
Fast and flexible shareware program for boolean searches in text
files. Registration: US$15 plus postage to David L. Trafton, 6309
Stoneham Rd., Bethesda, Md. 20817, U.S.A.

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.

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:

    send mailbase overview  (for a general guide to Mailbase)
    send mailbase userhelp  (for a User Guide)
    lists                   (for a list of available forums)

This mailbase managed 403 mailing lists in July 1993.

Mail Gateway
------------
A machine that connects to two or more electronic mail systems
(including dissimilar mail systems) and transfers messages among
them.

Mailing list
------------
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.
    (See LISTSERVers)

Mail path
---------
A series of machine names used to direct electronic mail from one
user to the other.

Mail server
-----------
A software program that distributes files or information in
response to requests sent by email.

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 has been
augmented with a directory naming service and binary attachments.

(2) Message Handling System. The standard defined by CCITT 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.

MNP
---
Microcom Networking Protocol. A proprietary standard of error
control and data compression.

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
---------
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.

MUD
---
Multi-User Dungeon. A multi-user, text based, virtual reality game.

NAPLPS
------
North American Presentation-Level Protocol Syntax.  A text and
graphics data transmission format for sending large amounts of
information between computers.
    It was designed for the encoding of alphanumeric, alpha-mosaic,
alpha-geometric and alpha-photographic constructs. The standard is
resolution independent and device independent, and can easily
accommodate international character sets, bit-mapped images in
color, animation and sound.
    NAPLPS was originally developed for videotext and teletext
systems through the Canadian Standards Association (CSA-T500-1983.
It was later enhanced by AT&T, and in 1983 became an ANSI standard
(ANSI-X3.110-1983).
    Some videotext systems, including Prodigy (U.S.A.), are based
on NAPLPS. On CompuServe, NAPLPS has been replaced with a newer
protocol called GIF, Graphics Interchange Format.

Netfind
-------
Internet directory services that allow users to get information
about individuals. Search by name and organization/location.
For more information, send email to LISTSERV@brownvm.brown.edu
with the following text in the body of your mail "GET NETFIND
HELP".

Netiquette
----------
A pun on "etiquette" referring to proper behavior on a network.

Netnews
-------
See: Usenet.

Network
-------
A data communications system which interconnects computer systems
at various sites.

NIC
---
Network Information Center. An organization that provides users
with information about services provided by the Internet network.

NREN
----
The National Research and Education Network. A proposed computer
network to be built in the U.S.A.

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.
    Typically, you first connect to an online service (often a BBS)
to capture new mail in a compressed file (typically through a
"QMail door program.") Many offline mail reader programs are idle
while this goes on, while others can do communications as well.
    When disconnected from the service, the offline reader works as
a combination message data base and message editor. It gives you
the feeling of still being connected to the online service, while
actually being completely disconnected.
    When you have read and replied to all messages offline, the
offline reader creates a compressed "packet" containing any replies
entered. Some also let you prepare packets containing commands to
join or leave conferences, subscribe to or signoff from special
services, and download files.
    Then, you dial back to the BBS to upload (send) the packet,
either using the offline reader's communications module, or another
communications program.
    Readers are available for MS-DOS, MS-Windows, Macintosh, Amiga,
Atari ST, Unix, and CP/M computers. The programs may be downloaded
from many BBSes, and commercial services.

Online
------
In this book, it signifies the act of being in direct communication
with a remote computer's central processing unit.
   An online database is a file of information that can be directly
accessed by the user.

OSI
---
Open System Interconnection. A set of protocols designed to be an
international standard method for connecting unlike computers and
networks.

OZCIS
-----
DOS-based program that automates access to CompuServe using an
elaborate array of menus. Free for personal use. Contact: Ozarks
West Software, 14150 Gleneagle Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80921,
U.S.A.

Packet
------
(1) A group of bits sent by a modem that comprise 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 transmit 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 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.

PC
--
Personal computer.

PDN
---
See Packet data networks.

Postmaster
----------
On the Internet, the person responsible for handling electronic
mail problems, answering queries about users, and other related
work at a site.

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 #, <H>elp, or <CR> to continue?
    Action ==> (Inbox)
    Command:
    Enter command or <RETURN>
    -->

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 (e.g., the order in which
bits and bytes are sent across the wire), or high-level exchanges
between allocation programs (e.g., the way in which two programs
transfer a file across the Internet).

ProYam
------
Powerful script-driven communications program. US$139 + $5 for
postage from Omen Technology Inc., 17505-V NW Sauvie Island Rd,
Portland, Oregon 97231, U.S.A. (VISA and Eurocard - 1992)

PSS
---
British Telecom's Packet Switch Stream, an X.25 packet data
network.

PTT
---
Postal Telegraph and Telephone. A telephone service provider, often
a monopoly, in a particular country.

QWK
---
Qwikmail. A common 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.)
    See "offline reader."

RFC
---
The Internet's Request for Comments document series. Working notes
of the Internet research and development community.

Script files
------------
A set of commands that enable a communications program to execute a
given set of tasks automatically (macro commands).

Server
------
A provider of resources (e.g., file servers and name servers).

SIG
---
Special Interest Group.

Snail mail
----------
A pejorative term referring to the national postal service in
different countries.

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.

Talk
----
A command on the Internet, which may remind of IRC, but is a single
link between two parties only.

TAPCIS
------
A program for automatic access to CompuServe. It lets callers read
and respond to personal email and forum message threads offline,
and download files. Contact: Support Group, Inc., Lake Technology
Park, McHenry, MD 21541, U.S.A.  Also: TAPCIS Forum. Internet mail:
74020.10@compuserve.com. On CompuServe: 74020,10. Registration: US$
79.00.

TCP/IP
------
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. Set of
communications protocols that internetwork dissimilar systems
connected to the Internet. TCP/IP supports services such as remote
login (telnet), file transfer (FTP), and mail (SMTP).

Telnet
------
A program on the Internet that allows logins to another computer to
run software there. Telnet allows a user at one site to interact
with a remote system at another site as if the user's terminal was
connected directly to the remote computer.
    With telnet, 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.
    Telnet is not available to users who have email only access to
the Internet.
    To telnet a remote computer, you must know its name. This can
either 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.
    For a list of SPECIAL INTERNET CONNECTIONS, send email to
bbslist@aug3.augsburg.edu. You can also get it by ftp or gopher to
csd4.csd.uwm.edu, and through alt.internet.services on Usenet.

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.

TRICKLE
-------
Servers on the Internet offering the SIMTEL20 shareware and public
domain files by email (uuencoded). These servers include:

          TRICKLE@TREARN.BITNET    (Turkey)
          TRICKLE@BBRNSF11.BITNET  (Belgium)
          TRICKLE@TAUNIVM.BITNET   (Israel)
          TRICKLE@IMIPOLI.BITNET   (Italy)
          TRICKLE@DB0FUB11.BITNET  (Germany)
          TRICKLE@AWIWUW11.BITNET  (Austria)
          TRICKLE@UNALCOL.BITNET   (Colombia)

For more information and a list of TRICKLE servers, send a message
to one of these addresses with the command "/HELP" in the body of
your text.

TTY
---
Abbreviation for TELETYPE, a special type of writing terminal
(electrical/mechanical). Also, known as 'dumb terminal'.

TTY mode
--------
This is when a communications program emulates a TTY machine, which
only involves printing characters and recognizing the linefeed,
carriage return and backspace characters.

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.

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.

UUCP
----
See appendix 1.

Veronica
--------
A service on the Internet. Maintains an index of gopher items, and
provides keyword searches of those titles. The result of a search
is a set of gopher-type data items, which is returned to the user
as a gopher menu. The user can access any of these data items by
selecting from the returned menu.

WAIS (Wide Area Information Servers)
------------------------------------
A kind of indexed online search tool to locate items based on what
they contain - usually keyword text searches. It is a powerful tool
for concurrent searches of large databases and/or newsgroups on the
Internet.
    Example: Telnet QUAKE.THINK.COM (or Telnet 192.31.181.1). Login
as "wais".

WAN
---
Wide Area Network.

The 'whatis' database
---------------------
Archie (see above) also permits access to the whatis description
database. It contains the names and brief synopses of over 3,500
public domain software packages, datasets and informational
documents located on the Internet.

Whois
-----
An Internet program that lets users query a database of people and
other Internet entities, such as domains, networks, and hosts, kept
at the NIC (see above).
    For example, Whois lets you scan through a registry of
researchers in the network field to find an Internet address, if
you have only the last name or part of it. It will give you the
person's company name, address, phone number, and email address. It
had around 70,000 listings in December 1992.
    To access the WHOIS, telnet to rs.internic.net. When greeted by
the host, type "WHOIS" and press RETURN. It also has a gopher
service (type "gopher" go access, instead of "wais").

WWW (World Wide Web)
--------------------
is much like Gopher in that it provides top level access down to
other services on the Internet. WWW uses a hypertext interface with
cross links between things. You can use highlighted words to jump
off onto another track.

WYSIWYG
-------
What You See is What You Get.

X.25
----
A CCITT 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 transmitted, 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.

X.400
-----
The CCITT and ISO standard for electronic mail.

X.500
-----
The CCITT and ISO standard for electronic directory services.


Appendix 5:

Books, articles, newsletters, etc. for further reading
======================================================

Internet
--------
"The Matrix:  Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems
Worldwide," John S. Quarterman, Digital Press, Bedford, MA, 719
pages, 1990. (Internet address: mids@tic.com. Gopher service at
gopher.tic.com.)

"Matrix News," a 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.
   Online subscription: US$25 for twelve monthly issues, or US$15
for students.  Paper subscriptions: US$30 for twelve monthly
issues, or US$20 for students; for overseas postage, add US$10
(1992).
    Contact: Matrix News, Building 2 Suite 300, 1120 South Capitol
of Texas Highway, Austin, TX 78746, U.S.A.  Email: mids@tic.com .

"!%@:: A Directory of Electronic Mail Addressing and Networks," by
Donnalyn Frey and Rick Adams (O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 632
Petaluma Avenue, Sebastopol, CA 95472, U.S.A.). 408 pages, US26.95.
Write to nuts@ora.com for ordering information.

"The User's Directory of Computer Networks" by Tracy L. LaQuey
(Ed.), University of Texas, Digital Press, 12 Crosby Drive,
Bedford, MA 01730, U.S.A. 630 pages, 1990.

"Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide, Second
Edition" by Brendan P. Kehoe, Prentice-Hall Series in Innovative
Technology, 1993. 112 pages, ISBN 0-13-010778-6, US$22.00.

"The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog," by Ed Krol. 1992.
Published by O'Reilly and Associates, Inc., 103 Morris Street,
Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472, U.S.A.. 400 pages, US$24.95. ISBN 1-
56592-025-2. Email questions to nuts@ora.com or uunet!ora!nuts .

"A Guide to Electronic Mail Networks and Addressing," by Donnalyn
Frey and Rick Adams. 1989. O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 103 Morris
Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472, U.S.A. Email address:
nuts@ora.com .

"Managing UUCP and the Internet." Published by O'Reilly and
Associates, Inc., 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472,
U.S.A. Email address: nuts@ora.com .

"The Internet Companion: A Beginner's Guide to Global Networking"
by Tracy LaQuey, with Jeanne C. Ryer. Addison-Wesley, 1992, $10.95,
p. 196, ISBN 0-201-62224-6. Order direct from Addison-Wesley
Publishing Co., Inc., 1 Jacob Way, Reading, MA 01867, U.S.A.

"Internet: Getting Started," April Marine, ed., SRI International,
Menlo Park, CA, May 1992. ISBN: none, US$39.

"The New User's Guide to the Internet" by Daniel P. Dern, McGraw-
Hill, New York, USA. 1993.  ISBN 0-07-016510-6 (hc). ISBN 0-07-
16511-4 (pbk).

"An Internet Primer for Information Professionals: A Basic Guide to
Networking Technology," by Elizabeth S. Lane, and Craig A.
Summerhil, p. 200, Meckler Corp., Westport, CT, USA. US$37.50. ISBN
0-88736-831-X.

"Crossing the Internet Threshold," by Roy Tennant, John Ober, and
Anne G. Lipow, p. 134, Library Solutions Press, 1100 Industrial
Rd., Suite 9, San Carlos, CA 94070, U.S.A. 1993. ISBN: 1-882208-01-
3 . US$45.00 plus shipping and handling.

"The Internet Passport: NorthWestNet's Guide to Our World Online"
by Kochmer, Jonathan and NorthWestNet. 4th ed. 515p.  Bellevue, WA,
USA: NorthWestNet, 1993. ISBN:  0-9635281-0-6. Price:  US$39.95.
(US$19.95 nonprofit and educational). Fax: +1-206-562-4822.

"Internet: Mailing Lists 1993 Edition." Franklin F. Kuo, SRI
Internet Information Services. Published by PTR Prentice Hall, New
Jersey, USA. ISBN: 0-13-327941-3. Paperback, 356 pages.

"Internet Connections: A Librarian's Guide to Dial-Up Access and
Use" by Mary E. Engle, Marilyn Lutz, William W. Jones, Jr., and
Genevieve Engel. Library and Information Technology Association's
Monographs Series, #3, 1993. 166 pages. ISBN 0-8389-7677-0.

"Internet World magazine", Meckler Corporation, 11 Ferry Lane West,
Westport, CT 06880, U.S.A. (meckler@jvnc.net)

"The Internet Business Journal," 1-60 Springfield Road, Ottawa,
CANADA, K1M 1C7. Fax: +1-613-564-6641. Publisher: Michael
Strangelove <72302.3062@compuserve.com>.

"Netpower: Resource Guide to Online Computer Networks," by Eric
Persson, Fox Chapel Publishing, Box 7948, Lancaster, PA 17604-7948,
U.S.A. US$ 39.95. 1993. 800+ pages. Email: NetPower1@aol.com .

"Information Highways." Magazine. Annual subscription: $98.00CDN.
Information Highways, 162 Joicey Blvd., Toronto, Ontario, M5M 2V2,
Canada. Fax: +1-416-488-7078.

Bulletin Board systems and networks
-----------------------------------
BoardWatch Magazine, 7586 Weat Jewell Ave., Suite 200, Lakewood,
CO 80232, U.S.A. Email: jrickard@boardwatch.com .

CompuServe
----------
"CompuServe from A to Z," by Charles Bowen, Bantam Computer Books,
1991. US$24.95. Paperback, 520 pages.

GEnie
-----
"Glossbrenner's Master Guide to GEnie," Alfred Glossbrenner,
Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1991, US$39.95, paperback, 616 pages.

Various
-------
"EcoLinking: Everyone's Guide to Online Environmental Information,"
by Don Rittner. Peachpit Press, 1992, US$18.95, paperback, 352
pages, appendices, index.

"Online Information Hunting," by Nahum Goldman, TAB Books, Inc.,
1992, US$19.95, paperback, 236 pages.

"SysLaw: The Legal Guide for Online Service Providers" by Lance
Rose, Esq., and Jonathan Wallace, Esq. Sold by PC Information
Group, 1126 East Broadway, Winona, MN 55987, U.S.A.  US$34.95 plus
$3.00 shipping.

"The Information Broker's Handbook," by Sue Rugge and Alfred
Glossbrenner, Windcrest/McGraw-Hill.

"Dvorak's Guide to PC Telecommunications," John Dvorak and Nick Anis
(1992, 1128 pages, US$39.95). Second edition.

Articles
--------
The following articles are available by email from LISTSERV@UHUPVM1
(BITNET) or LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU (Internet). In the TEXT of your
message, write the GET command shown after the article's citation
below:

  Bailey, Charles W., Jr.  "Electronic Publishing on Networks: A
  Selective Bibliography of Recent Works."  The Public-Access
  Computer Systems Review 3, no. 2 (1992): 13-20.  GET BAILEY PRV3N2
  F=MAIL.

  Harnad, Stevan.  "Post-Gutenberg Galaxy: The Fourth Revolution in
  the Means of Production of Knowledge."  The Public-Access Computer
  Systems Review 2, no. 1 (1991): 39-53.  GET HARNAD PRV2N1 F=MAIL.

  Halbert, Martin.  "Public-Access Computer Systems and the
  Internet."  The Public-Access Computer Systems Review 1, no. 2
  (1990): 71-80.  GET HALBERT PRV1N2 F=MAIL.

  Arms, Caroline R.  Review of Library Resources on the Internet:
  Strategies for Selection and Use, by Laine Farley, ed.  In The
  Public-Access Computer Systems Review 3, no. 2 (1992): 29-34. GET
  ARMS PRV3N2 F=MAIL.

  Barron, Billy.  Review of Zen and the Art of the Internet: A
  Beginner's Guide to the Internet, by Brendan P. Kehoe.  In The
  Public-Access Computer Systems Review 3, no. 1 (1992): 57-59. GET
  BARRON PRV3N1 F=MAIL.

  Cook, Dave.  Review of The User's Directory of Computer Networks,
  by Tracy L. LaQuey, ed.  In The Public-Access Computer Systems
  Review  2, no. 1 (1991): 177-181.  GET COOK PRV2N1 F=MAIL.

Appendix 6:

International Standard Top-level Country codes
==============================================

Top-level country codes derived from the International Standards
Organization's international standard ISO 3166, except United Kingdom
that should be called Great Britain (GB) instead of UK.

Domain    Country                               Comments
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AD        Andorra
AE        United Arab Emirates
AF        Afghanistan
AG        Antigua and Barbuda
AI        Anguilla
AL        Albania
AM        Armenia                                Ex-USSR
AN        Netherland Antilles
AO        Angola
AQ        Antarctica
AR        Argentina
AS        American Samoa
AT        Austria
AU        Australia
AW        Aruba
AZ        Azerbaidjan                            Ex-USSR
BA        Bosnia-Herzegovina                     Ex-Yugoslavia
BB        Barbados
BD        Bangladesh
BE        Belgium
BF        Burkina Faso
BG        Bulgaria
BH        Bahrain
BI        Burundi
BJ        Benin
BM        Bermuda
BN        Brunei Darussalam
BO        Bolivia
BR        Brazil
BS        Bahamas
BT        Buthan
BV        Bouvet Island
BW        Botswana
BY        Bielorussia                            Ex-USSR
BZ        Belize
CA        Canada
CC        Cocos (Keeling) Isl.
CF        Central African Rep.
CG        Congo
CH        Switzerland
CI        Ivory Coast
CK        Cook Islands
CL        Chile
CM        Cameroon
CN        China
CO        Colombia
CR        Costa Rica
CS        Czechoslovakia
CU        Cuba
CV        Cape Verde
CX        Christmas Island
CY        Cyprus
DE        Germany
DJ        Djibouti
DK        Denmark
DM        Dominica
DO        Dominican Republic
DZ        Algeria
EC        Ecuador
EE        Estonia                                Ex-USSR also via .su domain
EG        Egypt
EH        Western Sahara
ES        Spain
ET        Ethiopia
FI        Finland
FJ        Fiji
FK        Falkland Isl.(Malvinas)
FM        Micronesia
FO        Faroe Islands
FR        France
FX        France (European Ter.)                 ???
GA        Gabon
GB        Great Britain (UK)                     X.400 address gateway
GD        Grenada
GE        Georgia                                Ex-USSR
GH        Ghana
GI        Gibraltar
GL        Greenland
GP        Guadeloupe (Fr.)
GQ        Equatorial Guinea
GF        Guyana (Fr.)
GM        Gambia
GN        Guinea
GR        Greece
GT        Guatemala
GU        Guam (US)
GW        Guinea Bissau
GY        Guyana
HK        Hong Kong
HM        Heard & McDonald Isl.
HN        Honduras
HR        Croatia                                Ex-Yugoslavia via .yu
HT        Haiti
HU        Hungary
ID        Indonesia
IE        Ireland
IL        Israel
IN        India
IO        British Indian O. Terr.
IQ        Iraq
IR        Iran
IS        Iceland
IT        Italy
JM        Jamaica
JO        Jordan
JP        Japan
KE        Kenya
KG        Kirgistan                              Ex-USSR
KH        Cambodia
KI        Kiribati
KM        Comoros
KN        St.Kitts Nevis Anguilla
KP        Korea (North)
KR        Korea (South)
KW        Kuwait
KY        Cayman Islands
KZ        Kazachstan                             Ex-USSR
LA        Laos
LB        Lebanon
LC        Saint Lucia
LI        Liechtenstein
LK        Sri Lanka
LR        Liberia
LS        Lesotho
LT        Lithuania                              Ex-USSR
LU        Luxembourg
LV        Latvia                                 Ex-USSR
LY        Libya
MA        Morocco
MC        Monaco
MD        Moldavia                               Ex-USSR
MG        Madagascar
MH        Marshall Islands
ML        Mali
MM        Myanmar
MN        Mongolia
MO        Macau
MP        Northern Mariana Isl.
MQ        Martinique (Fr.)
MR        Mauritania
MS        Montserrat
MT        Malta
MU        Mauritius
MV        Maldives
MW        Malawi
MX        Mexico
MY        Malaysia
MZ        Mozambique
NA        Namibia
NC        New Caledonia (Fr.)
NE        Niger
NF        Norfolk Island
NG        Nigeria
NI        Nicaragua
NL        Netherlands
NO        Norway
NP        Nepal
NR        Nauru
NT        Neutral Zone
NU        Niue
NZ        New Zealand
OM        Oman
PA        Panama
PE        Peru
PF        Polynesia (Fr.)
PG        Papua New Guinea
PH        Philippines
PK        Pakistan
PL        Poland
PM        St. Pierre & Miquelon
PN        Pitcairn
PT        Portugal
PR        Puerto Rico (US)
PW        Palau
PY        Paraguay
QA        Qatar
RE        Reunion (Fr.)                          In .fr domain
RO        Romania
RU        Russian Federation                     Ex-USSR
RW        Rwanda
SA        Saudi Arabia
SB        Solomon Islands
SC        Seychelles
SD        Sudan
SE        Sweden
SG        Singapore
SH        St. Helena
SI        Slovenia                               Ex-Yugoslavia also via .yu
SJ        Svalbard & Jan Mayen Is
SL        Sierra Leone
SM        San Marino
SN        Senegal
SO        Somalia
SR        Suriname
ST        St. Tome and Principe
SU        Soviet Union                           Still used.
SV        El Salvador
SY        Syria
SZ        Swaziland
TC        Turks & Caicos Islands
TD        Chad
TF        French Southern Terr.
TG        Togo
TH        Thailand
TJ        Tadjikistan                            Ex-USSR
TK        Tokelau
TM        Turkmenistan                           Ex-USSR
TN        Tunisia
TO        Tonga
TP        East Timor
TR        Turkey
TT        Trinidad & Tobago
TV        Tuvalu
TW        Taiwan
TZ        Tanzania
UA        Ukraine                                Ex-USSR via .su domain
UG        Uganda
UK        United Kingdom                         ISO 3166 code is GB
UM        US Minor outlying Isl.
US        United States
UY        Uruguay
UZ        Uzbekistan                             Ex-USSR
VA        Vatican City State
VC        St.Vincent & Grenadines
VE        Venezuela
VG        Virgin Islands (British)
VI        Virgin Islands (US)
VN        Vietnam
VU        Vanuatu
WF        Wallis & Futuna Islands
WS        Samoa
YE        Yemen
YU        Yugoslavia
ZA        South Africa
ZM        Zambia
ZR        Zaire
ZW        Zimbabwe

Some other top level codes being used:
--------------------------------------
ARPA      Old style Arpanet
COM       Commercial
EDU       Educational
GOV       Government
INT       International field                    used by Nato
MIL       US Military
NATO      Nato field                             being replaced by .int
NET       Network
ORG       Non-Profit Organization

The codes (domains) in this section are special in that some of
them are used in more than one country.


Appendix 7:

About the author
================

Odd de Presno (born 1944) lives in Arendal, a small town in Norway,
with his computers and modems. He has written twelve books. Half
these focus on various aspects of the Online World. The rest is
about practical applications of MS-DOS based personal computers.
Published in Norway and England. His book "The Online World" is
distributed globally as shareware.
    Over 700 of his articles have been published in management and
technical magazines in Scandinavia, England, Japan, and the U.S.
    Writer. International public speaker. Consultant. Operates an
English-language bulletin board system in Norway (since 1985).
    Area of special expertise: applications of global sources of
online information, computer conferencing, global electronic mail,
automation of information retrieval, MS-DOS computer applications.
    Founder and Project Director of KIDLINK, an international non-
profit organization promoting a global dialog among the youth of
the world. Since its start in 1990, KIDLINK has involved over ten
thousand kids in the 10 - 15 years range in over 50 countries.
    Educational background includes a Diploma Degree in Business
Administration from Bedriftsoekonomisk Institutt (Norway).
    He founded the software company Data Logic A/S (Norway) in 1967
and was president for five years. Sales manager Control Data Corp.
seven years (in charge of CYBERNET/Norway, an international online
service). Marketing manager IKO Software Service A/S, two years.
Currently running his own business.
    Member of the Computer Press Association (U.S.A.) since 1983,
and NFF (Norway). Listed in Marquis' "Who's Who in the World" from
1991.


Appendix 8:

             HOW TO REGISTER YOUR COPY OF THE ONLINE WORLD
             =============================================

The online world is extremely dynamic. Services and offerings come and go.
Your registration will support further research, and production of updates.

You can register your current copy, or sign up for six updates of the book
during one year. Details are given below.

==============================================================================

    Please send to:

    Odd de Presno
    4815 Saltrod
    Norway (Europe)


    Please add me as a supporter of the Online World book:

    Name    ______________________________________________________________

    Company ______________________________________________________________

    Address ______________________________________________________________

            ______________________________________________________________

    City    ________________________________State _______ Zip ____________

    Country ________________________________

    Email address  ______________________________________________________


    Please mark off your selections with (x) below:


    Basic Registration for individuals
    ----------------------------------
    (  ) NOK 105.00   For payment by credit card.
                      (around US$ 15.00)

    (  ) US$  20.00   For all other methods of payment.
                      (or, in Norwegian currency: NOK 140.00.)

    Option (for Basic Registration)
    -------------------------------
    (  ) US$  2.00    Add to have a copy of the most recent version of the
                      book sent you on diskette. Only with registration!
                      (In Norway, NOK 10.00)

                     (  ) 5.25" MS-DOS disk   (  ) 3.5" disk 720KB MS-DOS


    Registration with Six Updates for individuals
    ---------------------------------------------
    Six updates of the manuscript will be sent you during the next 12 months.

    (  ) US$  60.00   For all methods of payment.


    Registration for businesses
    ---------------------------
    All Corporate site licence options include six updates during the
    next 12 months.

    (  ) US$    500 Distribution for up to   100 people on a single network

    (  ) US$  3.000 Distribution for up to  1000 people on a single network

    (  ) US$  6.000 Distribution for up to  2500 people on a single network

    (  ) US$ 10.000 Distribution for up to  5000 people on a single network

    (  ) US$ 15.000 Distribution for up to 10000 people on a single network

    (  ) US$ 25.000 Distribution for over  10000 people on a single network


    Discounts for schools and public libraries
    ------------------------------------------
    Special rates are available for schools and public libraries. For details,
    send a message to LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu (BITNET users can send it to
    LISTSERV@NDSUVM1). In the text of the message, use the command:

    GET TOW SCHOOLS
    GET TOW LIBRARY

    (  ) Please identify what type of discount you are taking advantage of:

         Ref: ______________

         Description: ____________________________________________________

                      ____________________________________________________



    Amount  ____________________ Date   _______________

    (  )  Check or money order payable to Odd de Presno in U.S. funds enclosed
    (  )  SWIFT transfer to 6311.05.27189 (Kredittkassen 4800 Arendal, Norway)
    (  )  VISA    (  )  MasterCard    ( ) American Express


    Credit card number __________________________________ Exp date _______



  If you already have an evaluation copy of the book, where did you get it?

  ________________________________________________  Version number: ____



  Comments or suggestions for improvement of The Online World __________

  ______________________________________________________________________

  ______________________________________________________________________

  ______________________________________________________________________



    Date ___________________

    Signature _________________________________


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