THE ONLINE WORLD
The Online World book's text on paper, disk and in any other
electronic form is (C) copyrighted 1993 by Odd de Presno. All
rights reserved worldwide.
xxxx
SHAREWARE BOOK
*********************
* THE ONLINE WORLD *
*********************
Version 1.1 - September 1993
By Odd de Presno
4815 Saltrod, Norway (Europe)
Voice (registrations only): +47 370 31204
Internet mail: opresno@extern.uio.no
Data/BBS: +47 370 31204
FAX: +47 370 27111
PREFACE
=======
This is the ASCII online distribution of the Online World. It deals
with the practical aspects of using the rapidly growing global online
information resource.
The book is distributed in a form that is designed to be easily
accessible with the maximum range of computers, printer types, and
search programs. Also, it has been designed to be compatible with
electronic reading devices for the blind. Therefore, many frills
(such as fancy formatting, extraneous characters or tags) have been
omitted.
The main subject of the book is what you can get out of the
online resource.
Expect an outline, not a comprehensive list or directory of all
available offerings. This book explores selected applications
across network and service boundaries, to show how these needs may
be satisfied.
In the process, it gives access information for a large number
of specific online offerings.
The applications range from entertainment and the bizarre to
databases and special services for professionals and organizations.
You are not expected to live in the United States or in Norway.
Emphasis is on major international offerings available through
services and networks like the Internet, BITNET, CompuServe, Echo,
FidoNet, Usenet, Dialcom, Dow Jones/News Retrieval, MCI, NewsNet
and UUCP. These services can be accessed from almost anywhere.
Talking about the Internet, we do not expect that it will be
easy for you to get full access. We assume that most people can get
access to this network by electronic mail only.
I wrote The Online World for parents and youth, teachers,
students, business people, social workers, psychologists, young,
old, for anybody interested in knowing a bit more about our
current "Global Village."
You can read it like a novel, to get an idea of what is going
on. It can be used as a practical guide book to online data bases
and news sources, or as a book of reference.
You need not be a computer expert or an experienced "onliner"
to find it useful.
While not being a textbook on data communications, it contains
much information to help novices get started. For an introduction
to telecommunications, check out appendix 2 and 3 before continuing
with Chapter 1.
Before you start, one word of warning. New online offerings are
born each day, while others are being closed down. Chances are that
most services in this book will still be around when you read it,
but I will need to update the text regularly. Therefore, all
feedback is welcomed with thanks.
Please do also tell me what you like, what you don't, and what
you feel I may have missed -- or have gotten hopelessly wrong. Send
by electronic mail to me at opresno@extern.uio.no .
This book is not free
---------------------
The Online World book is NOT public domain. It is copyrighted work
and may be distributed only pursuant to this license.
You are granted a limited read and use license of the book to
see if it is for you. Any unregistered use other than to determine
if the book meets your needs is a violation of this license and is
forbidden.
If you like the book, please become a registered reader. Your
contribution will support further research and development of the
text.
The important benefit of registering is that you will receive
the latest version of the book on diskette (MS-DOS only). This will
allow you to have current information on your hard disk that you
can search whenever you want to.
The online world is dynamic. Services and offerings come and
go. So read appendix 8 to find out how to stay updated.
The registered shareware version of The Online World including
shipping and handling is
NOK 105.00 for payment by credit card
(around US$ 15.00)
US$ 20.00 for all other types of payment
(check or SWIFT bank transfer)
As an alternative, you can also register for six updates of the
book during one year. The updates will be mailed you on computer
diskette:
US$60.00 for all types of payment
The special rates for organizations to make the text available to
employees etc. over a network are explained in appendix 8.
Please note: As I do not receive any renumeration from vendors
of shareware disks, you must register your copy to have a legal
license for use of the book beyond an evaluation period.
Please give to others
---------------------
Permission is with this granted to reproduce and distribute the
Online World book so long as:
(1) No remuneration of any kind is received in exchange.
A distribution fee may be charged for the cost of a
diskette, shipping and handling, as long as the total
(per disk) does not exceed US$8.00.
(2) Distribution is without ANY modification to the contents
of all accompanying text files, including the copyright
notice and this license. All of the files in this package
are to be distributed together.
(3) No publication of the book or individual articles from the
book in print is permitted, in any language, without the
express written consent of the author.
If archiving this book for BBS use or library use, please include
all files and use the name ONLINE10, for example, ONLINE10.ZIP, or
ONLINE10.LZH. This will provide consistency for future updates.
No copy of this book may be distributed without including a copy
of this license. Any other use, including bundling of any of the
book's chapters or appendixes for your own distribution, is
prohibited without express, written permission in advance from the
author.
The Online World book is regularly being updated. Information about
where to get the latest version of the book can be retrieved from
TOW, a mailing list set up to support the project. For information,
send electronic mail to LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu (LISTSERV@NDSUVM1 on
BITNET) containing the command "GET TOW MASTER".
How to read the book
--------------------
You may read the book using any ASCII viewing or text searching
program. My private favorites are:
LIST - Shareware MS-DOS file viewing program,
LOOKFOR - Shareware boolean text search program.
Print versions of The Online World
----------------------------------
The Online World does not cover any specific area of the world.
Local versions will be printed and published in several countries
through joint venture partners. These versions of the book will be
adapted to local conditions, and contain many local examples and
references.
The following local version of the book is available:
"Ut i verden fra egen skjerm," Norwegian text, Dataforlaget A/S,
1992. 220 pages. Phone: +47 22 63 61 62. Fax: +47 22 63 60 09.
Price: NOK 245,-. ISBN: 82-90628-67-6.
Local language versions of the book are due be published soon by
partners in Denmark and Germany. For information, please contact:
Claus Berg (Denmark) at Claus_Berg@SKOLE-KOM.UNI-C.DK
Publisher: Teknisk Forlag A/S, Skelbaekgade 4, 1780 Kbh.V.,
Denmark. Fax: +45 31 21 09 83.
Dr. Karl Sarnow (Germany) at karl@dadoka.h.ni.schule.de
Publisher: Verlag Heintz Heise GmbH & Co KB, Helstorfer
Strasse 7, D-3000 Hannover 61, Germany.
Fax: +49-511-53 52-129.
Do you want to be a partner?
----------------------------
If you are interested in becoming the author of a local language
version of the book in your country, please write me at
opresno@extern.uio.no to discuss the possibility of a joint-
venture.
Saltrod (Norway), September 1, 1993
Yours,
Odd de Presno
-------------------------------------------------------------
The Online World book's text on paper, disk and in any other
electronic form is (C) copyrighted 1993 by Odd de Presno. All
rights reserved worldwide.
-------------------------------------------------------------
INDEX
=====
PREFACE
1. Going online will make me rich, right?
Knowledge is Power. A larger personal network gives you a stronger
punch. The value of information, and of having a great time. . .
2. The online world
The structure and content of the online offerings. About
Bulletin Board systems, discussion lists, conferencing systems,
and online data bases. About packet data services, and network
services like FidoNet, i-Com, Infonet, Internet, and others.
A constantly changing environment.
3. How to use online services
Short introduction. How to use menus, and how to navigate like
an expert. Tailoring online services to your interests and needs.
4. Hobbies, games, and fun
About computer programs, online adventure games, threatening viruses,
planning holidays, collecting coins and stamps, genealogy, music,
shopping and other leisure activities.
5. Home, education, and work
Tips for house owners, for those more concerned about money, about
education and the exchange of knowledge, electronic conferences.
Building a personal network. Job hunting by modem, and about
working from home.
6. Your personal healthnet
About support for diseases like AIDS, cancer, and kidney diseases.
Forums for people with physical or mental disabilities, like
hearing impairments, learning disabilities, vision impairment,
mobility problems.
7. Electronic mail, telex, and fax
How to communicate globally at a ridiculously low cost, with
notes about how to address your global electronic mail.
8. Free expert assistance
How to get free advice about your computer, software and
other things.
9. Your electronic daily news
Read national and global news before getting it through the
traditional media. Get those interesting background facts.
Read special interest news that the media never bother to print.
10. Looking for a needle in a bottle of hay
Notes about searching data bases. How to locate interesting
books and articles.
11. Getting an edge over your competitor
Using the networks to manage projects. Monitor competitors,
prospects, suppliers, markets, technologies, and trends.
Marketing and sales by modem.
12. Practical tips
How to get more out of the time spent online.
13. Cheaper and better communications
Using packet data services or competing data
transport services like Tymnet Outdial, Infonet,
Internet, PC Pursuit, and others.
14. Keep what you find.
Build your local personal data base. Strategies for
locating interesting information. What separates good
from bad information.
15. You pay little for a lot!
How to figure out costs.
16. Automatic communication
Get a lead on your competitors.
Avoid duplication of effort.
Reduce costs.
Reduce boring repetitive work.
No need to remember all the "tricks" of communications
anymore.
17. Gazing into the future.
Thoughts about things to come.
---------------------------
Appendices:
1. List of selected online services
2. How to get started
About your personal computer, modem and
communications program.
3. Your first online trip
Getting started. Typical pitfalls and
simple solutions. Down- and uploading.
4. Explanation of some frequently used terms
5. Books and articles for further reading
6. International standard country codes
7. About the author
8. How to register
---------------------------
Chapter 1: Going online will make me rich, right?
=================================================
The number of services is enormous. It takes time to find the
truly interesting stuff.
- Knowledge is power.
- A large personal network gives you a punch.
- The value of information, and of having a good time.
Knowledge is Power
------------------
My wife has a rare and dangerous kidney disease. One day her doctor
joined us on an online research session to look for experiences and
advice in other countries.
We sat down in my office in Norway. I turned on my personal
computer and started a communications program.
After some keypresses, we could hear the attached modem dial
the number of CompuServe, a North American information utility. (A
modem is a piece of equipment that converts computer signals to and
from sound codes, so that data can be sent by phone.)
It took just a few seconds to make the connection. Soon, a
greeting scrolled over our screen, followed by a menu of available
choices.
For an introduction to practical telecommunications, check out
appendix 2 and 3. Appendix 1 lists major services mentioned in
this book.
We selected "Health" and the "Data Base for Rare diseases." This
gave the address of an American foundation for "cysts in kidneys,"
which is the name of her disease. My wife made contact, and has
since received regular reports of research results and experiences
gained in the field.
We sent an open request for help to an electronic forum for
doctors. The result was several useful responses. We searched a
magazine data base for medical articles containing the key word
"kidney." Paper copies of the most interesting finds arrived by
mail after a few days. My wife gave them to her hospital doctor as
background reading.
Kenya Saikawa is paralyzed. He communicates with his PC and
modem using light key strokes and Morse code. Online communications
allows Kenya to be in regular contact with people outside the walls
of his Tokyo hospital.
We met online in a "Handicap Club" on a computer center called
TWICS in Tokyo. He was there to exchange experiences with others
with disabilities. The club is a personal support group for those
in need of help.
CompuServe's Cancer Forum has a similar function. "It's a
blessing that I can visit here 24 hours a day," one visitor said.
"When I'm unable to sleep at night, I often sit down by the PC to
read and write messages to others."
The forum is like a family. The file library is full of
information about cancer. Members can just go in there and pick
up whatever they want to read.
Dave Hughes from Old Colorado Springs, Colorado in the United
States has had a long career as a professional soldier. He has
fought in places like the Yalue river in Korea and Vietnam's
jungle. When he retired, he became a political online force.
"I'm using the new tools of the individual mind to change the
world," he says. Native American Indians are among those, who
have benefited from Dave's energy and knowledge. He has helped them
show their culture to the outside world in a graphical form.
Vladimir Makarenkov from the Crimea in the Ukraine is manager
in a company called VINKO. In early 1993, he distributed an offer
of partnership with foreign companies through the mailing list E-
EUROPE. VINKO is into aluminium processing. He wrote:
"From our own production we can offer some one metals and
aniline dye for cotton, viscose, wool, silk, leather. We are
interested in deliveries of chemical production (gamma acid, H-
acid) and not quickly deteriorating foods (food concentrates,
canned food etc)."
George Pavlov is Planning and Reporting manager at an American
computer manufacturer. Daily, he logs on to online services to
monitor industry product announcements and daily news from several
electronic sources. It helps him stay ahead of rapid technological
developments.
Semafor A/S in Arendal, Norway, produces modems and other types
of telecommunications equipment. They operate an electronic bulletin
board for customers, users and prospects. Anybody can call in to
get information about products and offerings. If they need help,
they can leave a message to Semafor A/S day and night. A response
will be waiting for them, when they call back.
Eduardo Salom heads Software Plus SA in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. He discovered the online world in 1988, and uses it to
find information that can help his company develop industrial
applications.
The Norwegian civil engineer Kai Oestreng regularly calls
specialized online computer clubs to discuss his computational
needs, fetch programs and monitor developments.
Mary Lou Rebelo was born in southern Brazil. Today, she is
married to a Japanese and lives in Tokyo. She teaches Portuguese
and works as a translator. The modem enables her to keep in touch
with others around the world interested in Portuguese and Spanish
language and culture.
Mike Wright teaches at St. Andrew's College in Grahamstown,
South Africa. He integrates the online world in his teaching to
motivate his students. His classes are involved in international
projects with schools all over the globe.
In August 1991, the "Old Stalinists" made a coup d'etat in the
Soviet Union. The news media were silenced, but they forgot the
country's many bulletin boards. Early one morning, a foreign caller
picked up the following messages from a Moscow BBS:
From: Valery Koulkov
To: All Msg #560, 00:42am
20-Aug-91
Subject: Moscow, August 19, 23:00
Some news from the square news RSFSR white building, 23:00. Local
inhabitants are very welcome for the people guarding 'white
building', they carry food and some garments to the square.
Approx. 8 tanks stand by the house under the RSFSR flags! There is
an information that 'white house' is surrounded by the soldiers
from Vysshee Desantnoye uchilische from Ryazan. The people are not
so desperate than some hours ago. There are more and more people.
From: Stas Stas
To: Alexey Zabrodin Msg #562, 02:53pm
20-Aug-91
Subject: Russia In Agency news
I have sent two files RIA4.txt & ria5.txt
It's msgs of Russia Information Agency
Spread it as much as you can!!!
From: Andrew Brown
To: All Msg #563, 06:31pm
20-Aug-91
Subject: What's happening?
I am a journalist on the London Daily newspaper *The Independent*,
and I am trying to discover whether this technology, like fax
machines, is being used for independent communication now that the
censors have clamped down on everything else.
Can people describe what is happening, and what they see?
Something similar was done on Compuserve during the Gulf War, by
subscribers who where in Israel and were able to describe Scud
missile attacks without censorship.
Andrew Brown
Select: 564
From: Valery Koulkov
To: All Msg #564, 00:52am
21-Aug-91
Subject: Moscow events
There is shooting near the American embassy and RSFSR state
building. Informer said (by phone) that he saw several victims
(shot and killed under the tanks. there is fire near the RSFSR
building. Moscow, August 21, 1:15 am
Telecommunications played a role in this historic event. While CNN
televised the coup, it was not the images, but the words of men
like Yeltsin that held sway for Russian citizens.
Within hours of Yeltsin's statement in defiance of the coup
leaders, handbills reproducing his statement papered the walls of
the Moscow metro and Leningrad houses.
You can!
--------
Online communication is not just for the privileged or those with a
special interest in computers. It is for you, me, everybody.
There is much to learn in the "online land," and the medium is
fascinating. It makes learning fun. You can learn about how to use
your computer, about your profession, other people's views about
whatever, and more. Often, you will find reports about experiences
and know-how that it is hard or impractical to get in other ways.
Some users go online to learn how to do things better. Teachers
want to give their students a better and more motivating learning
environment. Architects, engineers and companies want increased
competitiveness and sales. They seek timely information about
competitors, technologies and tools, partners and trends.
You can take a Masters Degree in Business Administration while
sitting in front of your computer at home. You can join online
seminars arranged by local or foreign educational institutes. You
can even study at night, when the rest of your family has calmed
down.
Some build their own educational programs supported by data
bases, online forums and associations of various kinds.
You may feel helpless when in hospital, or when visiting your
doctor. Knowledge about your disease will make you better equipped
to handle the situation. The online resource is just keypresses
away, and knowledge is power.
To get this power, you'll need to know what you can get from
the online world. This book is filled with examples of what is
available, and practical tips about how to use the offerings.
A large personal network gives strength
---------------------------------------
Most of us belong to one or several networks. They consist of
persons that you can call on whenever you need help. Your network
may be private, like in your family. You may be member of various
associations, or be part of a group of people with common interests
within a company or organization.
The modem allows you to be part of more personal networks than
you can possibly cope with in the "real world." Besides, it's much
easier to develop personal networks in the online world.
We have used words like "clubs" and "associations." By this we
mean groups of people interested in helping You and in participating
in what You happen to be interested in.
Today's communications technology lets us participate in
networks in other countries at a very low cost. Many describe it as
participation "beyond time and space."
Write a message and send it to a person in your network. It
arrives in his/her "mailbox" within minutes (sometimes seconds)
and stays there until the recipient wants to read it. This built-in
ability to send messages to other people's electronic mailboxes
reduces the power that time and geographical distances have over
our lives.
A friend in a remote country gets out of bed nine hours after
you, but keeps going well into what, for you, is the next morning.
No problem. You can send letters when you're awake and receive
replies when you're asleep.
You can pick up and read your friend's messages the next day or
whenever you feel like doing it. That is how two people as far
apart as Arendal, Norway and Beijing, China could be involved in
the development of this book.
Sometimes "real time" discussions are important. Consider the
following example. CompuServe has a Diabetes Forum. You can call
there any time, day or night, seven days a week. Whenever you feel
like it. You will always find someone to chat with who understands
and shares your problems.
Real-time chatting may become expensive, but you are free to
decide your level of involvement. If you think that $10 spent is
enough, then just stop there.
What is the point?
-----------------
Thousands of commercial and noncommercial online services offer
over 5,000 online databases. These infobases are repositories of
electronic information. They contain full-text and reference books,
magazines, newspapers, radio and TV shows, reports, and more.
In 1992, BiblioData (USA) found that around 4,000 titles (i.e.,
magazines, newspapers, etc.) were available online in full-text.
You will find facts and figures about almost anything in the online
world.
The world has over 100,000 public bulletin board systems
(1993). Most are small information centers, running on personal
computers using a simple computer program and modems. People call
in to read messages and information, retrieve free software, or
just to have a good time.
Most BBSes are free. Some charge a small annual fee. The
largest board has 213 telephone lines, seven gigabytes of storage
for letters, conferences, computer programs, and more (1993).
Mind you, 7 gigabytes is a lot. It is equivalent to more than
7,000,000,000 characters, or a whopping 12,000 copies of this
book!
The entrepreneur sees the online world as a new, profitable
playground. Many of them have made it their profession to search
for information for others, and they earn a good living doing so.
Others advertise and sell products and services by modem.
Some set up their own online services to sell knowledge and know-
how, be it of aqua culture, wine production, marketing, or about
the petroleum offshore market.
In business, it pays to be one step ahead of the competition.
Early warnings of customers' needs, competitors' moves, and
emerging opportunities can be turned into fortunes. It can reduce
potential losses and help develop businesses in more profitable
directions.
Turn this to your advantage. Build your own early warning
system that monitors online information sources and networks.
Have fun
--------
The online world has an abundance of joke clubs, dramatic adventure
games with multiple players, and large archives filled with computer
game software. You can transfer these programs to your personal
computer and be ready to play in minutes.
Others may feel more entertained when things get "interesting."
Surely, those calling Moscow in August 1991 for news about the coup
must have had a strange sensation in the stomach.
Some online users react quickly when dramatic events occur.
They go online to read the news directly from the wires, from
Associated Press, TASS, Reuters, Xinhua Press, Kyodo News and
others.
Usually, the online news is coming directly to you from the
journalists' keyboards. Often, you heard it here first.
Other people prefer to socialize. They meet in online "meeting
places" to debate everything from Africa and the administration of
kindergartens to poetry, LISP programming and compressed video for
multimedia applications.
It has been claimed that increased use of online networking in
a country can effect social changes within politics, economics,
communication and science. It can support democratic tendencies,
the transition to a market economy, the formation and support of
businesses, the spreading of interpersonal and mass communication,
the forging of invisible colleges among scientists, and breaking-up
of traditional and closed information systems developed in some
societies.
No matter whether your application is useful or just a pastime,
online services queue up to help give your life a better content.
Some people fear that language might be a problem, and in
particular if English is not their first language. Don't worry. You
are in the driver's seat. If something is hard to understand, just
log off to study the difficult text. Take your time. Nobody is
watching.
Will you being member of the online world make you rich?
Probably not. On the other hand, it most certainly provides the
opportunities to help you achieve such a goal, no matter how you
define the word "rich."
Chapter 2: The online world
===========================
This chapter is about the structure and contents of the online
world. You will read about Bulletin Board systems, discussion
lists, conferencing systems, online data bases, packet data
services, and network services like FidoNet, i-Com, Infonet,
and the Internet.
From papyrus to bits and bytes
------------------------------
Around 1500 B.C., the world's first library was established in Tell
el Amaran, Egypt. Eight hundred years later, the first public
library opened in Athens, Greece.
It took another two thousand years for the computer to be
invented. The first known mention of a possible future online
information service was printed in the Atlantic Monthly magazine in
1945.
Nine years later, the Naval Ordinance Test Station opened their
online search service in California (U.S.A.) The first full-text
database came six years later. MEDLARS was a bibliographic database
containing references to medical literature. From now on, things
started to roll at a faster pace:
* In 1972, DIALOG (U.S.A.) opened their Educational Resources
Information Center and National Technical Information Service
databases for online searching. (Appendix 1 contains infor-
mation about the major online services referred to in this
book.)
* In 1974, Dow Jones News/Retrieval (U.S.A.) launched a
financial information service for stock brokers.
* In 1978, the first bulletin board was put into operation in
Chicago (U.S.A.).
* CompuServe (U.S.A.) launched a service for home users in
1979.
The online world was born in the United States. Little happened in
the rest of the world until the late 1980s. American companies and
users still dominate, but they are no longer alone.
Today, we can access over 5,000 public databases. They are
available from more than 500,000 online systems ("host computers")
all over the world.
With so many online services, it is difficult to find our way
through the maze of offerings. This book therefore starts with a
map of the online world.
The structure and contents of the online world
----------------------------------------------
The online world can be described as a cake with multiple layers,
where the information sources are the bottom layer. You - the user
- are the marzipan figure on the top. The online world contains the
following tiers:
(1) Database producers and information providers
(2) Online service companies
(3) Gateways and networks
(4) The services
(5) The user interface
(6) The data transport services
(7) The User.
1. Database producers and information providers.
------------------------------------------------
I have a bulletin board system in Norway (at +47 370 31378). My BBS
is running on a small personal computer, and offers shareware and
public domain software.
Anybody can call my board to have programs transferred to their
personal computers by modem (see appendix 2 for how to do this).
When you call this BBS to "download" a free program for to your
computer's hard disk, don't expect to find one made by me. I don't
write programs. All available programs have been written by others.
When you call Data-Star in Switzerland, or CompuServe in the
U.S. to read news, you may find some stories authored by these
companies. Most of their news, however, are written by others.
InfoPro Technologies delivers Russian scientific and technical
articles from "Referativnyi Zurnal" through online services like
Orbit, Pergamon and BRS. InfoPro is not the originator. The text
has been prepared by VINITI (the Institute for scientific and
technical information of the xUSSR).
My BBS (the "Saltrod Horror Show"), Data-Star, NIFTY-Serve,
Orbit, Pergamon, BRS, and CompuServe are online services. We call
those who have provided the news and information on these services
for information providers or database producers.
The American news agency Associated Press is an information
provider. They write the news, and sell them to online services
like Dialog, CompuServe, Nexis and NewsNet. These online services
let you read the news by modem.
The information providers sell the right to distribute their
news. Your news reading charges may be imbedded in the online
service's standard access rates. Some services will ask you to pay
a surcharge when reading news.
Most subscribers pay US$12.80 per hour (1993) to use CompuServe
at 2400 bits per second (bps). At this speed, you typically receive
around 240 characters of news per second. If you access at higher
speeds, you will have to pay more.
CompuServe pays Associated Press part of what they earn each
time you read their news. There is no surcharge for reading AP news
on this service.
Others charge more. To read Mid-East Business Digest through
NewsNet, you pay a surcharge of US$72.00 per hour at 2400 bps
(1993). Scanning newsletter headlines and conducting keyword
searches are cheaper. You pay the the basic connect charge, which
is US$90.00 per hour at this speed.
Thus, your total cost for reading Mid-East Business Digest
amounts to US$2.70 per minute.
CompuServe's database service IQuest lets you search NewsNet
through a gateway to find and read the same articles. Here, reading
will only set you back US$21.50/hour (provided the articles are
among the first hits in your search).
Many information providers also distribute information through
grassroots bulletin boards. The Newsbytes News Network and the USA
Today newsletter services (also in full text on Dialog and Nexis)
are two examples.
The rates for reading the same article may therefore differ
considerably depending on what online service you are using. If you
are a regular reader, shop around for the best price.
Information providers may have subcontractors. The Ziff-Davis
service Computer Database Plus, a database with full-text articles
from magazines like Datamation and Wall Street Computer Review,
depends on them.
Datamation pays journalists to write the articles. Ziff-Davis
pays Datamation for the right to distribute the articles to
CompuServe's subscribers. CompuServe pays Ziff-Davis part of what
you pay when reading the text.
2. Online services
------------------
The term "online services" refers to information services provided
by computer systems, large or small, to owners of personal
computers with modems.
What is offered, differ by system. It may include access to
libraries of programs and data, electronic mail, online shopping
malls, discussion forums, hardware and software vendor support,
games and entertainment, financial data, stock market quotes, and
research capabilities.
You do not always need a phone and a modem when "dialing up."
Some services can be accessed through leased phone lines, amateur
radio, or other methods.
Check out appendix 1 for a list of major services mentioned in
this book, with addresses, phone numbers, and a short description.
CompuServe (U.S.A.), Twics (Japan), and Orbit (England) are
commercial. They charge you for using their services.
Some online services are priced like magazines and newspapers
with a flat subscription rate for basic services. You can use this
part of a service as much as you like within a given period. GEnie,
CompuServe, BIX, America Online, and Delphi are among those
offering such pricing options.
Other online services charge for 'connect time'. They have a
rate per hour or minute.
MCI Mail uses "no cure, no pay." You only pay to send or read
mail. To check for unread letters in your mailbox is free.
There are all kinds of creative pricing schemes. Some services
have different rates for access during the day, night and weekends.
Others have different rates for users living far away. Sometimes
the remote subscriber pays more, in other cases less than ordinary
subscribers.
Still, most online services are free. This is particularly true
for the over hundred thousand bulletin board systems around the
world. The owners of these services often regard them as a hobby, a
public service, a necessary marketing expense, or do it for other
reasons.
The cost of setting up and operating a bulletin board system
is low. Consequently, the BBS systems are as varied as the people
who run them. Each BBS has its own character.
My BBS is also free. I consider it an online appendix to this
book and the articles I write.
National Geographic BBS in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. (tel.: +1-
202-775-6738) is run by the magazine of the same name. This board
is also free. They regard it as a part of their marketing strategy.
It provides them with input to the editors, and it is an easy way
of maintaining contacts with schools.
Semaforum BBS in Norway is run by a company. Its purpose is
customer support and to give information to prospective customers.
The cost is a marketing expense.
Some large, international online services on the Internet,
BITNET, and UUCP are almost free. They address research and
educational institutions and are financed by public funds. These
services are now being made available to other users at very
moderate rates.
Some users fear that using online services will increase their
telephone costs dramatically, and especially when using services in
other countries. This is often unjustified. Read chapter 13 and 15
for tips about how to keep your communications costs down.
3. Gateways and networks
------------------------
CompuServe users select the Computer Database Plus from a menu.
This prompts CompuServe to dial another online service and lets you
use this, as if you were still using CompuServe. You hardly notice
the difference. You are using Computer Database Plus through a
gateway.
CompuServe users searching the IQuest databases get the
following welcome message:
One moment please...
Connected to 19EASYN
Welcome to IQuest
(c) 1991 Telebase Systems, Inc.
U.S. Patent No. 4,774,655
Through another gateway, CompuServe connects you to the online
service Telebase Systems, Inc. Telebase lets you go through other
gateways to search in databases on online services like BRS,
MEDLINE and NewsNet.
While searching, you may get similar progress reports:
Dialing BRS
Connect BRS
Scanning .... Please wait
Dialing Medline
Connect Medline
Scanning .... Please wait
All the time, your modem is connected to CompuServe. You are
mentally using IQuest and not other online services. Technically,
you are going through various gateways to reach the information
libraries. You pay CompuServe for the privilege. In turn, they pay
a fee to Telebase, and others.
You can read The New York Times on Down Jones News/Retrieval
through gateways from MCI Mail and GEnie.
Accessing information through a gateway is often simpler than
logging on to several online systems. Calling several systems
often costs more, and it certainly takes time.
Users of BBSes connected to RelayNet or FidoNet can join in
global discussions. Participants in other countries also call their
favorite local systems. To the individual user, it looks as if they
all use the same bulletin board system.
The networks that tie these boards together regularly send new
discussion items to the other participating boards. Write "This is
not correct!" in a distributed conference on a Norwegian FidoNet
BBS, and others may soon read your line on San Bernardino BBS in
Colton (Canada), Wonderland Board in Macau or the HighTech BBS in
Sidney (Australia).
SciLink (Canada) administers a network for distribution of
conferences between systems using the Caucus software system.
Participants in Tokyo, Toronto and San Francisco can discuss as
if they were all logged on to the same online service.
The main purpose may not be to make it simpler or cheaper
for the user. One typical motive is to reduce an online service's
own communications costs.
KIDLINK is a global project for children between 10 - 15 years
of age. It allows kids to discuss through a system of electronic
mail.
Part of the dialog takes place by the children sending email to
a recipient called KIDCAFE. A message to 'the cafe' goes through
the international networks to a host computer in North Dakota
(U.S.A.). There, a computer program called LISTSERV distributes
copies of the message to names on an electronic address list.
(Conferences administered by a LISTSERV are called 'discussion
lists'.)
SciLink in Toronto is one recipient. Messages forwarded from
North Dakota are made available for users as entries in a 'local'
conference called KIDCAFE. A user in Tokyo can read a message, as
if it had been entered locally. If she wants to reply, her answer
is sent back to the LISTSERV for redistribution to the world.
Western Michigan University (U.S.A.) is also a recipient. Here,
another LISTSERV program is in charge of forwarding the mail to yet
another list of (local) addresses. We call it a 'mail exploder'.
This mailing list has been set up by local administrators to
reduce costs. The individual user is not allowed to receive copies
of messages all the way from North Dakota.
One Michigan recipient may be a local area network. You will
find many smart technical solutions in the online world.
Actually, this is how the online world got started. Two systems
were interconnected for exchange of electronic mail. Then, another
system was added, and another. One day it was a global network of
computer systems.
Some network systems are connected by leased telephone lines.
Other networks, like FidoNet, depend mainly on dial-up using
regular voice-grade telephone service. Each BBS dial regularly to
other computers in the network to send or receive mail and files.
They may do it once per day, twice per day or whatever.
Then someone got the idea of interconnecting networks. FidoNet
was connected to the UUCP network, which was connected to the
Internet, which in turn was connected to the Bergen By Byte BBS in
Norway, CompuServe, SciLink, MCI Mail, and various local area
networks.
Today, the online world is a global web of networks. The world
is 'cabled'. You, me and all the other modem users stand to benefit
enormously.
4. The services
---------------
The most popular online services are electronic mail, chat, file
transfers, conferences and discussion forums, news, reading of
online journals and grassroots publications, database searching,
entertainment. The online world has an infinite number of niches,
things that people are interested in and have fun doing.
Electronic mail
---------------
is not just like paper mail. Email is faster, easier to edit and
use in other applications.
Your mail may be private, or public. It can be 'broadcasted' to
many by a mailing list. The principle is the same on all systems.
Typically, an email message is sent to your mailbox in the
following form:
To: Odd de Presno
Subject: Happy Birthday
Text: I wish you well on your birthday. -Ole
The mailbox systems automatically add your name (i.e., the sender's
return email address), the creation date, and forward it to the
recipient. If the recipient's mailbox is on another system, the
message is routed through one or several networks to reach its
destination.
Several email services offer forwarding to fax, telex or
ordinary postal service delivery. Some offer forwarding to paging
services. When new mail arrives in your mailbox, messages with text
like 'MAIL from opresno@extern.uio.no' will be displayed on your
beeper's small screen.
Soon, you can send electronic mail to anyone. By the turn of
the century, it probably will be difficult to tell the difference
between fax messages and email. The services will automatically
convert incoming faxes to computer-readable text and pictures, so
that you can use them in word processing and other computer
applications.
Automatic language translation is another trend. You will soon
be able to send a message in English, and have it automatically
translated into Spanish for Spanish-reading recipients, or into
other languages. Conference systems with automatic translation are
already being used in Japan (English to/from Japanese).
One day we may also have a global email address directory.
"What is the address of Nobuo Hasumi in Japan." Press ENTER, and
there it is.
Today, the largest commercial players email vendors are MCI,
Dialcom, Telemail, AT&T Mail and CompuServe. The fight for
dominance goes on.
'Chat'
------
Email has one important disadvantage. It may take time for it to be
picked up and read by the recipient. The alternative is real-time
conferencing, a form of direct keyboard-to-keyboard dialog between
users. We call it 'chat'.
Most large systems let you chat with many users simultaneously.
Even small bulletin boards usually have a chat feature.
Chat is set up in several ways. On some systems, you see each
character on the screen once it is entered by your dialog partners.
Other systems send entries line by line, that is, whenever you
press ENTER or Return. Here, it may be difficult to know whether
the other person is waiting for you to type, or if he is actively
entering new words.
You will find regular chat conferences in CompuServe's forums.
Often, they invite a person to give a keynote speech before opening
'the floor' for questions and answers. John Sculley of Apple
Computers and various politicians have been featured in such
'meetings'.
In May 1991, the KIDLINK project arranged a full-day chat
between kids from all over the world. Line, a 12-year old Norwegian
girl, started the day talking with Japanese kids at the Nishimachi
and Kanto International School in Tokyo. When her computer was
switched off late at night, she was having an intense exchange with
children in North America.
The chats took place on various online services and networks,
including Internet Relay Chat (IRC), BITNET's Relay Chat, Cleveland
Free-Net (U.S.A.), TWICS in Tokyo, the global network Tymnet, and
the Education Forum on CompuServe.
The discussions had no moderator. This made the encounters
chaotic at times. The kids enjoyed it, though! One-line messages
shot back and forth over the continents conveying intense
simultaneous conversations, occasionally disrupted by exclamations
and requests for technical help.
Speed is a problem when chatting. It takes a lot of time since
most users are slow typists.
If individual Messages span more than one line, there is always
a risk that it will be split up by lines coming from others. It
takes time to understand what goes on.
Users of SciLink (Canada) use a method they call 'semi-sync
chat'. The trick is to use ordinary batch-mode conferences for
chatting. Instead of calling up, reading and sending mail and then
log out, they stay online waiting for new messages to arrive.
This approach allows you to enter multiple-line messages
without risking that it to broken up by other messages. The flow
of the discussion is often better, and each person's entries easier
to understand.
File transfers
--------------
The availability of free software on bulletin boards brought the
online world out of the closet. Today, you can also retrieve books
and articles, technical reports, graphics pictures, files of
digitized music, weather reports, and much more.
Millions of files are transferred to and from the online
services each day. File transfers typically represent over 75
percent of the bulletin boards' utilization time. Downloading free
software is still the most popular service.
In June 1991, users of my BBS (which has only one phone line)
downloaded 86 megabytes' worth of public domain and shareware
programs. (86MB equals around 86,000,000 bytes.) In May 1993, users
downloaded 108 megabytes distributed over 1,446 files.
Add to this the megabytes being downloaded from hundreds of
thousands of other bulletin boards. The number is staggering.
If you want to download free software: read in appendix 3
about how to do it.
Downloading is simple. Just dial an online service, order transfer
of a given file, select a file transfer protocol (like XMODEM), and
the file comes crawling to you through the phone line.
Services on the Internet offer file transfer through gateways
using a command called FTP (File Transfer Protocol). It works like
this:
Say you're logging on to the ULRIK service at the University of
Oslo in Norway. Your objective is to download free programs
from a large library in Oakland, U.S.A.
After having connected to Ulrik, you enter the command
'ftp OAK.Oakland.Edu' to connect to the computer in California.
A few seconds later, the remote host asks for your logon
id. You enter 'anonymous', and supply your email address as
password. This will give you access.
You use the cd command (change directory) to navigate to
the desired library catalog on the remote hard disk. You locate
the desired file, and use a GET command to transfer the file
to your file area on Ulrik.
When done, you logout from the remote computer to be
returned to Ulrik's services. Your final job is to transfer
the file from Ulrik to your personal computer using traditional
methods.
Being able to send Internet mail does not guarantee access to the
ftp command. If ftp is unavailable, you may transfer the file by
email using a technique called UUENCODEing.
Here, the file is converted before transfer into a format that
can be sent as ordinary mail (into a seven bits, even character
code).
When the file arrives in your mailbox, you 'read' it as an
ordinary message and store the codes in a work file on your disk.
Finally, you decode the file using a special utility program (often
called UUDECODE). Read more about this in Chapter 12.
Conferences and discussions
---------------------------
Online conferences have many things in common with traditional face-
to-face conferences and discussions, except that participants don't
physically meet in the same room. They 'come' by modem and discuss
using electronic messages (sometimes also through "Chat").
There are discussions about any conceivable topic, from How to
start your own company, Brainstorming, Architectural design, The
Future of Education and Investments, to AIDS, The Baltic States,
Psychology, and Cartoons.
Instead of calling these discussions "online conferences," some
services use terms like echos, discussion or mailing lists, clubs,
newsgroups, round tables, SIGs (Special Interest Groups), and
forums. They use other terms in an attempt to make their offerings
more attractive and exclusive.
Others refer to "conferences" by using the name of the software
used to administer the discussions, like LISTSERV, PortaCom, News,
Usenet, Caucus, or PARTIcipate.
On the bottom line, we're still talking email. However, while
private mail is usually read by one recipient only, 'conference
mail' may be read by thousands of people from the whole world.
All of them can talk and discuss SIMULTANEOUSLY. It is almost
impossible for one single individual to dominate. The number of
active participants can therefore be far larger than in 'face-to-
face' conferences.
The conferencing software automatically records all that is
said. Every character. Each participant can decide what to read and
when. He may even use the messages in other applications later on.
Opinions and information can easily be selected and pasted into
reports or new responses.
Some conferences are public and open for anybody. Others are
for a closed group (of registered) participants.
They are normally structured by topic and the structure is
influenced by the participants' behavior. If the topic is limited,
like in "The football match between Mexico and Uruguay," it may
start with an introduction followed by comments, questions, and
answers like pearls on a thread. After some time the conference is
'finished'.
Conferences called 'IBM PC' or 'MS-DOS' often contain so many
different sub-topics that they seem chaotic to the outsider. The
message subject headings typically have references to computer
equipment (like in 'Wyse 050 or TVI 925'), requests for help (like
in 'Need Xywrite help!'), experience reports, equipment for sale,
news reports, etc. The sequence of messages are often illogical.
The contents and the quality of the discussion are what
separates one online conference from others.
How a conference grows into something useful, depends in part on
the features of the software used by the online service. But this
is much less important than the kind of people you meet there and
their willingness to contribute.
Messages in the IBM Hardware Forum on CompuServe are divided
into 11 sections. Section 2 is called Printers' utilities. If you
have problems with an old Epson FX-80 printer, send requests for
help to "All" (=to everybody) and store it in this section.
CompuServe has over one million subscribers (1993). They call
in from all over the place to join the IBM Hardware forum. Some are
there to show off competence (read: to sell their expertise).
Others visit to find solutions to a problem, or simply to learn.
A conference with many users increases your chances of meeting
others with relevant know-how. As always, the quality of the
people is the first requirement of a good conference.
Professional 'Sysops' moderate the discussion in IBMHW. They
get up to 15 percent of what you pay CompuServe for using their
forum. To them, being a sysop is a profession. They use a fair
amount of time trying to make the forum a lively and interesting
place.
The Printers/utilities section is not just about Epson FX-80.
Its members have hundreds of different printers, each with their
own set of user problems. Let's use this to explain differences
between some conferencing systems.
Each message in CompuServe's forums contains the sender's name
(his local email address), subject, date, and the text itself. We
call this the 'bulletin board model'. Here, a message typically
looks like this:
#: 24988 S10/Portable Desktops
22-Jul-91 10:05:38
Sb: #T5200 425meg HDD
Fm: Gordon Norman 72356,370
To: Menno Aartsen 72611,2066 (X)
Menno-
Can you share the HD specs on that 425'er...random access time,
transfer rate, MTBF, etc.?
Gordon
This message may not be of interest to you. Each day, hundreds of
messages OUTSIDE your area of interest are being posted. You do NOT
want to read these messages.
CompuServe allows selective reading of messages. You can select
all messages containing a given word or text string in the subject
title ('Sb:' above). You can read threads of messages from a given
message number (replies, and replies to replies). You can read all
messages to/from a given person, from a given message number, and
from a given date. There are many options.
The PARTIcipate conferencing software functions diametrically
different from CompuServe's forum software. PARTI is used on TWICS
(Japan), Unison (U.S.A.), NWI (U.S.A.), and The Point (can be
accessed through a gateway from CompuServe).
PARTI lets the user log on using an alias. For example, he can
use the identity 'BATMAN'. You may never get to know the true name
of the other person. On the other hand, this allows people to talk
about controversial topics, which they would otherwise not want to
have their names associated with.
Anyone can start a conference. It can be public, private or a
combination. Combination conferences allow public review of the
messages in the conference, but restrict the number of people who
can contribute to the discussion.
Enter 'write', and PARTI will prompt you with "Enter the text
of your note, then type .send or .open to transmit." Enter the
welcome text for your new conference, like in this example:
"This conference is based on a series of articles about
shareware and public domain programs for MSDOS computers, which
I wrote for publication in England.
Since the editor cheated me and they never reached the printing
press, I've decided to make them available online instead of
letting them rot on my hard disk. Join to read, discuss or
(hopefully) enjoy! "
When done, I entered ".open odd de presno", added the name of the
conference ("MSDOS TIPS") and a short description ("GOOD PD AND
SHAREWARE PROGRAMS").
The conference was presented to the other PARTI users on TWICS like
this:
"MSDOS TIPS" by ODD DE PRESNO, Feb. 23, 1990 at 11:57 about
GOOD PD AND SHAREWARE PROGRAMS (7 notes)
Few systems of the bulletin board model let users start their own
conferences at will. All new topics must be stored in a given
structure. The administrators (sysops) of the service manage the
evolution of the 'conference room'. After a while, old messages may
even be deleted to make room for new.
In PARTI, conference messages are organized under a topic, or
any sub-topics that can be derived from the main topic.
Conferences are modeled after their counterparts in the face-
to-face world. They start with an introduction followed by a
discussion about a narrow topic, like here:
"SMART PEOPLE" by MACBETH on Jan. 4, 1992 at 12:27, about WHO ARE
THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST (504 characters and 17 notes).
In this example above, the welcome message is 504 characters long.
Following that, there are 17 other messages (called notes).
Notes are stored without individual subject headers and the
name of a recipient. Everything is posted to 'the group'.
If CompuServe message above had been posted on PARTI, then the
first five lines might have been reduced to:
12 (of 12) SHABBY DOG Jul. 22, 1991 at 10:05 (119 characters)
On PARTI, all participants read all notes. Selective reading must
be done in other ways (by searching conference contents).
These two conferencing models seem to attract different types
of discussions. PARTI has given birth to more discussions on topics
like these (from PARTI on The Point, January 1992):
"HELLO BEEP" by THE SHADOW on Sept. 17, 1991 at 19:20, about
BEEP'S ADVENTURES IN JAPAN, AND THE LIKE (840 characters and 22
notes).
"MEMORIES" by LOU on Dec. 21, 1991 at 12:31, about .......I
REMEMBER WHEN...... (423 characters and 1 notes).
"AMENDMENT II 1991" by PASSIN THRU on Dec. 25, 1991 at 20:55,
about OUR RIGHTS TO OWN AND POSSESS FIREARMS, AND THE MYTH
REGARDING ASSAULT WEAPONS. (3036 characters and 38 notes).
"TV SHOWS" by THE SHADOW on Nov. 16, 1990 at 18:00, about
DISCUSSION OF TELEVISION SHOWS (105 characters and 37 notes).
"PHILOSOPHY FOR AMATEURS" by MACBETH on April 13, 1990 at 10:08,
about TALKING ABOUT THINKING (187 characters and 97 notes).
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOTO" by PONDER on Jan. 2, 1992 at 14:34, about
AND I BET HE THOUGHT I FORGOT. (86 characters and 15 notes).
"ONLINE LOTTERY" by DEEDUB on Jan. 3, 1992 at 07:40, about
MULTIPLYING OUR CHANCES TO WIN THE LOTTERY (1238 characters and
62 notes).
"WHO SHOT KENNEDY" by MATT on Jan. 3, 1992 at 22:29, about THE
ASSASINATION OF JOHN F. KENNEDY; THOUGHTS, COMMENTS, QUESTIONS
AND THEORIES! (529 characters and 83 notes).
"THE ECONOMY" by LOU on Jan. 5, 1992 at 16:40, about THE ECONOMY,
AS IT AFFECTS US ALL. (167 characters and 49 notes).
"PUERTO RICO" by PACKER on Jan. 18, 1992 at 20:47, about PARA
DISCUTIR ASUNTOS PUERTORIQUENA (166 characters and 9 notes).
Systems using the bulletin board model rarely have conferences like
"MEMORIES." In PARTI, one-note conferences are allowed to stay. In
the bulletin board environment, they soon disappear.
You can probably still join MEMORIES on the Point to add your
own feelings or point-of-views.
In larger PARTI conferences, the notes can be read like a
book. Often, side discussions appear like 'branches' on a 'tree'.
Join and read them, if you want to. Or just pass.
The bulletin board systems (including CompuServe's forums) and
PARTIcipate are at two extremes of the spectrum of conference
systems. Toward the BBS model, there are systems like FidoNet Echo,
RBBS-PC, and PortaCom. Toward the PARTI side, there are systems like
Caucus.
Many companies set up bulletin board systems to provide technical
support to customers. McAfee Associates, Inc. in California is one
example. They offer technical information, help, upgrade software,
list of agents, technical bulletins with lists of products, and new
products through agents' support BBSes all over the world. For
example, when in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago call the Opus
Networx BBS at (819) 628-4023.
Setting up a professional BBS is not very expensive. You can
easily have 32 people online to the same conference simultaneously
on a standard 80386-based PC, running Xenix and Caucus conferencing
software. This is what the Washington Information Service Corp. in
U.S.A. did. There's an abundance of software to choose from.
Many companies rent private 'conference rooms' on commercial
online services rather than doing it in-house. The advantage is
easier access to an established multi-user system and user base.
Microsoft, Toshiba, Quarterdeck, Digital Research, Tandy,
Novell and hundreds of others rent public support forum space on
CompuServe to keep in touch with customers all over the world.
Others rent space on regional bulletin boards.
Other corporate applications of such services include internal
organizational development and communications, and coordination of
projects.
On Norwegian bulletin boards the main language is Norwegian. In
France, expect French. Local systems usually depend on messages in
the local language.
Services catering to a larger geographical area often have a
different policy. English is the most common language for
international discussions. Spanish possibly number two. Example:
TWICS in Japan is an English language system. Its Spanish language
conference ESPANOL has participants from Japan, Mexico and Norway.
On MetaNet (Arlington, U.S.A.) the conferences are divided into
conference areas. One area was called The Salon. The welcome
message said: 'All conferences and responses posted here may freely
be ported to other conferencing systems'. MetaNet regularly 'ports'
(exchanges) conference notes with systems in Europe, Asia and North
America.
Exchanging conferences have long traditions in the bulletin
board world. To some, it is routine to call Thunderball Cave BBS in
Oslo to discuss photography with people in California. New messages
are exchanged daily across country boundaries.
The global web of connections between computers enables us to
discuss with people living in other parts of the world, as if they
were living next door.
Things Take Time!
-----------------
How long does it take a message to get from Hyougo in Japan to
Saltrod in Norway? Or to Dominique Christian in Paris?
Sometimes, mail travels from mailbox service to mailbox service
in seconds. That is usually the case with messages from my mailbox
in Norway to KIDLINK's LISTSERV in North Dakota, U.S.A.
Messages that must go through many gateways may take more time.
How long it takes, depends on the degree of automation in the mail
systems involved, and how these systems have been connected to the
global matrix of networks.
Speed is high if the computers are interconnected with fixed,
high-capacity lines. This is not so for mail from Oslo to Dominique
in Paris. His mail is routed through a system in London and is
forwarded once per day through a dial-up connection. It usually
takes at least one day to reach the destination.
News
----
Most large news agencies have online counterparts. You can often
read their news online before it appears in print. This is the case
with news from sources like NTB, Agence France-Presse, Associated
Press, Kyodo News Report (Japan), Reuters, Xinhua English Language
News Service (China) and TASS. Some news is only made available in
electronic form.
News may be read in several ways, depending on what online
service you use:
* From a list of headlines. Enter a story's number to receive
its full text. The news may be split up into groups, like Sports,
International news, Business, and Entertainment.
* Some services let you hook directly into a news agency's
'feed line' to get news as it is being made available. At 11.02,
11.04, 11.15, etc.
* News may be 'clipped' and stored in your mailbox twenty-four
hours a day, seven days a week. Clipping services search articles
for occurrences of your personal keyword phrases while you're
offline. In this way, you can monitor new products, companies,
people, and countries, even when you're not online.
NewsFlash is NewsNet's electronic clipping service, a powerful
resource that lets you monitor NewsNet's newsletters for topics of
interest.
On the Executive News Service (CompuServe), you can search for
words in story headlines. You can also search for first three lines
of text from 8,000 stories/day from Washington Post, OTC NewsAlert,
Associated Press, United Press International and Reuters Financial
News Wire.
Newspapers used to receive news through the wires before the
online user. This built-in delay has now been removed on many
services. Industry and professional news is usually available
online long before it appears in print.
Databases
---------
Some years ago, most databases just contained references to
articles, books and other written or electronic sources of
information. The typical search result looked like this:
0019201 02-88-68
TRIMETHOPRIM-SULFAMETHOXAZOLE in CYST Fluid from Autosomal
Dominant POLYCYSTIC KIDNEYS.
Elzinga L.W.; et al. W.M. Bennett, Dept. of Med., Oregon Hlth.
Sci. Univ., 3101 Southwest Sam Jackson Park Rd., Portland,
OR 97201.
Kid. Int. 32: 884-888. Dec. 1987
Subfile: Internal Medicine; Family Practice; Nephrology;
Infectious Disease; Clinical Pharmacology; Highlights of General
Medicine
You had to take the reference to a library to get a print copy of
the article. Some services let you to order a copy while online, to
be sent you by mail from a copying service.
Full-text searching is now the rule. When you find an article
of interest, you can have the full text displayed on your screen at
once (normally without accompanying pictures and tables, though).
The search commands are simpler and more powerful.
Just for fun
------------
Many online services focus on your leisure time. They offer reviews
and news about movies, video, music, and sport. There are forums
for stamp and coin collectors, travel maniacs, passionate cooks,
wine tasters, and other special interest groups. Besides, many
services are entertaining in themselves.
Large, complex adventure games, where hundreds of users can
play simultaneously, are popular choices. People sit glued to the
computer screen for hours.
'Chat', this keyboard-to-keyboard contact-phone type of
simultaneous conversation between from two and up to hundreds of
persons, is also popular. It works like a combination of a social
activity and a role-playing/strategy/fantasy/skill-improving game.
Shopping is the online equivalent of traditional mail order
business. The difference is that you can buy while browsing. Some
commercial services distribute colorful catalogues to users to
support sales. Some distribute pictures of the merchandise by
modem.
You can buy anything from racer fitness equipment and diamonds
to cars. Enter your credit card number and the Chevrolet is yours.
The online mail order business is becoming increasingly global.
Level 5: The user interface
---------------------------
This term describes how the online service is presented to you,
that is, in what form text, pictures and sound appear on your
personal communications computer.
Most online services offer the first three of these four
levels. Some offer more:
1. Menus for novices. The user can select (navigate) by
pressing a figure or a letter.
2. Short menus or lists of commands for the intermediate user.
The user knows some about how the service works, and just
wants a short reminder to help navigate.
3. A short prompt (often just a character, like a "!"), which
tells the expert user where he is in the system right now.
Those knowing the service inside out, don't need reminders
about what word or command to enter at this point.
4. Some services offer automatic access without any menus or
visible prompts at all. Everything happens in a two-way
stream of unintelligent data. The only menus that the user
sees, are those belonging to the program running on his
personal computer.
Some services emphasize colors, graphics and sound. They may
require that users have certain hardware or special add-on cards
in their communications computer. Often, a special communications
program is also needed.
Other services use methods for presenting colors and graphics
already built into their users' computers (and programs).
Colors, graphics and sound are highly desirable in some
applications, like online games and weather forecasts. But even
where it is not important, there will always be many wanting it.
To the professional on a fact-gathering mission, these features
may give slower data transfer and problems when saving text to disk
for later use. Therefore, many prefer ASCII text with no extras.
Sports cars are nice, but for delivering furniture they're
seldom any good. The same applies to the user interfaces. No one is
perfect for all applications.
Level 6: The data transporters
------------------------------
When the online service's host computer is far away, the user often
faces the challenges of:
1. Noise on the line, which may result in unreadable text or
errors in the received material.
2. Expensive long distance calls
There are many alternatives to direct long distance calling. Some
offers better quality data transfers and lower costs.
The regional packet data services used to be a popular option.
In Scandinavia, the offerings of the local PTTs are called Datapak.
Similar services are offered in most countries, often by a national
telephone monopoly.
Competitively priced alternatives are appearing in many
countries as national telecom monopolies are brought to an end. For
example, Infonet, TRI-P, and i-Com compete successfully with former
monopolies for transport of data to and from North America.
The Internet is a global network serving millions of mailboxes.
It provides very cost-efficient mail exchange with private and
public networks throughout the world.
IXI is a packet data network operated by European Research
centers. DASnet offers transport of mail between mail systems that
have no direct connection with each others. (More about this in
Chapter 13.)
Level 7: The user
-----------------
This is you and me. Turn the page to the next chapter and read
about how to use the online services.
Chapter 3: How to use the online services
=========================================
The user interface refers to what you get on your computer screen
and how, when you call an online service. It includes menus and
help screens, and various options to tailor the service to your
personal preferences.
Navigating by menus is simpler
------------------------------
Most online services have menus to make them easier for novices to
use. A typical menu looks like this:
R)ead messages
Q)uick search available messages
W)rite messages
C)omments to Sysop
D)ownload programs
?) for help
G)oodbye. This is enough!
Enter a letter (or ?) to select a function. Enter R to read
messages. There is hardly any need to read the documentation to
use this service.
CompuServe greets European users with this menu:
CompuServe Europe EUROPE
COMPUSERVE EUROPE MAIN MENU
1 About CompuServe
2 What's New
3 Member Assistance
4 Electronic Mail
5 Personal Computer Support
6 Company Information
7 Logon Instructions (Europe)
8 CompuServe Information Service (U.S.)
Enter '8' to get another menu:
CompuServe TOP
1 Member Assistance (FREE)
2 Find a Topic (FREE)
3 Communications/Bulletin Bds.
4 News/Weather/Sports
5 Travel
6 The Electronic MALL/Shopping
7 Money Matters/Markets
8 Entertainment/Games
9 Hobbies/Lifestyles/Education
10 Reference
11 Computers/Technology
12 Business/Other Interests
You can "go" to Associated Press' newswires or the section for
home-schooling in the Education Forum by entering numbers listed in
menus. The service is like a tree with menus by every set of
branches.
A code in the upper right-hand corner of each screen tells you
exactly where you are. The last menu has the code 'TOP' meaning
that this menu is at the 'top of the tree'.
By each CompuServe system prompt, the command GO followed by a
destination code will take you directly to a desired location.
Enter GO IBMHW to go directly to the IBM Hardware Forum.
The GO command will save you time and money. Similar codes and
commands are used on several other online services.
On many systems, the first menu encountered when logging on is
a list of announcements and new offerings. The following is from
GEnie, General Electric's Consumer Information Service (U.S.A.):
GEnie Announcements (FREE)
1. July 1991 GEnie Billing Completed. To review yours, type:....*BILL
2. Hot Summer Nights continues to SIZZLE.........................*HSN
3. NEW...Quality Product and Amazing Value in....................SOFTCLUB
4. LAST CHANCE---Blue GEnie Sweatshirts..........................*ORDER
5. Color hypermedia in Apple II world. HyperStudio RTC in........A2
6. Meet the Product Manager, FREE RTC............................SFRT
7. "Future of Online Gaming" RTC with GEnie Game Designers in....MPGRT
8. A Revolutionary Credit Service - TRW CREDENTIALS..............TRWCREDIT
9. 900 Numbers: Ripoff or Good Business Sense - RTC 8/11 9PM.....RADIO
10. Air Warrior Convention set for Sept.26-29. in Washington......AIR
11. SEARS Fall/Winter Catalog On-line NOW.........................SEARS
12. How to Sell your CRAFTS for Profit............................HOSB
13. Stellar Warrior Campaign starts with a FREE weekend...........WARRIOR
14. Followup Investment RTC with Mickey Friedman in...............REAL ESTATE
15. Federation II, the adult space fantasy........................FED
Enter #, <H>elp, or <CR> to continue?
At the 'Enter #' prompt, enter '7' to go directly to the "Future of
Online Gaming" conference (RTC=Round Table Conference). Enter H for
Help, or press Return to get to the systems' main menu.
You can "go" to selected services by entering a videotext page
number code or a number (selected from the menu). Type 'mail' to
get to your mailbox, 'backgammon' to play, or 'SEARS' to visit the
online version of this North American shoppers' paradise.
'Mail' has page number 200. Enter 'm 200' to go there directly.
To go to NewsBytes' technical news reports by subject, select "5"
from menu page number 316.
GEnie even has a faster way. Like some other services, it let
you stack commands. Instead of issuing one command, and then wait
for the system to respond before issuing the next command, stacking
allows you to put all commands on one line. The command "m 316;5"
will take you directly to choice 5 from the menu on page 316
without displaying intermediate menus.
Many online services use the same template. They have commands
like GO SERVICE-NAME, JOIN SERVICE-NAME (or just J), DELTA SERVICE-
NAME, or just the code or name of the offering as in 'mail' and
'sears' above.
Entering H or ? (for help) usually give you assistance. Few
services are fussy about whether you use lower or capital letters
in commands.
On some services, and especially if a selection requires just
a letter or a number, you don't even have to press return to make
it happen. This method is used on many bulletin boards.
Some codes are standard. This is particularly the case with "?",
H, or Help for more information.
Test drive
----------
Several commercial systems let you try the service for free or at
lower rates. You can check what's out there without paying for the
exploratory connect time, and get some free training in how to use
the service.
CompuServe's Practice Forum (GO PRACTICE) does not carry any
connect charges, but applicable communication surcharges are still
in effect. They also have a free 'Guided Tour'.
Free trials are particularly useful before a search in an
expensive database. Use DialIndex on Dialog. Orbit has DBIN (The
database Index), and Data-Star has CROS. They are master indexes to
the databases on the system. First, select a general subject area,
then enter your search terms. The systems will respond with lists
of databases and hit counts.
Note: You must go to the 'real' databases for results. You
cannot retrieve actual information during a test drive.
Selecting an expert level
-------------------------
Most services regard all new users as novices. The software
designers assume that users don't want (or are unable) to read
lengthy explanations. They think that most users prefer navigation
by going from menu to menu.
Commercial services may support this view for financial
reasons, and especially when charging for access by the minute.
(Some of them let you read their help screens for free, though.)
Menus are important when browsing new offerings, or accessing
services that we seldom use. Frequent users of a service, however,
quickly learn how to do things. Menus may soon begin to annoy
rather than please. Reading them costs money, and it slows our
communications down.
We do not need menus when accessing online services in fully
automated mode. Your communications program remembers exactly what
to do, and does all the typing for you.
There is no point in paying extra for having menus. You'll not
read them anyway. The objective is to access the service at maximum
speed and the lowest possible cost.
Most online services can be tailored to your personal needs and
preferences. Many let you choose between:
* Full menus
* Short menus
* A prompt line with a list of the most often used
commands,
* a prompt character or word (see "prompt" in appendix 4
for examples). Prompts can be used by automatic
communication script files to trigger the next action.
If concerned about costs, note that you can use expert mode without
being a true expert. Just print the menus, and keep them by your
keyboard while moving around.
Some users draw 'road maps' of the services to navigate more
quickly. Others automate the process using automatic communications
scripts.
Tailoring your services
-----------------------
The need to tailor the online service's prompts and menus differs
considerably from user to user, as they use all kinds of computers
for communication.
Some screens are large. Other screens can only display a few
lines of text at a time. One user of my BBS even used a Hewlett
Packard pocket calculator with a tiny, tiny screen.
Many online services allow you to tailor the way information
is sent to you.
If you are satisfied with how things are, skip the next couple
of pages and read from "Connecting the first time." If curious of
your options, read on for a somewhat brief and technical overview.
Besides a selection of various types of menus, you can usually
also set the following preferences:
* What menu is to be the first, when you access the service?
* The first menu is to be a tailored menu containing your
favorite offerings, and nothing else.
* Colors, graphics, or no colors/graphics.
* Preferred file transfer protocol (to avoid a question each
time you want to transfer a file).
* Desired terminal emulator, like TTY, VT-100 or VT-52.
* CAPITAL LETTERS or Mixed Case.
* What ASCII character code to use for the DELETE function.
* How many spaces to insert when expanding TABs in your mail.
* Number of lines per screen (for example, 24 on an IBM PC, or
eight on a TRS-80 Model 100. Whether scrolling is to pause
after each screenful or not.)
* Number of characters per line (for example, 80 lines on a PC,
or 40 on a TRS-80 Model 100.
* If the linefeed character is to be sent or not.
* If blank lines are to be sent.
* Whether the service is to check when you log on to see if
you're using special software (as in 'Inquire for VIDTEX' on
CompuServe).
* The use of 'echo'. Is the service to return the characters
that you enter on your keyboard?
* Use of delay when sending linefeeds. (Useful if capturing
text to a dumb printing terminal. If text scrolls too fast
for the printer, you risk losing some of it.)
* Choice of prompt character, or prompt text string. This is
useful when communicating by script files. On CompuServe, I
have asked the system to add the BackSpace character (ASCII
character number 8) to the end of all forum prompts. Since
this character is rarely found in messages or other texts,
I can safely let scripts depend on this prompt character for
unattended communication.
Displaying information on the screen
------------------------------------
An 'A' is not an 'A' no matter what service you use. If you call
Tocolo BBS in Japan (Tel.: +81-3-205-9315. 1200 bps, 8,N,1.) with a
non-Japanese MS-DOS computer, chances are that the welcome text
will look like this:
*--------------------------------------------------------------*
* D0:[ BBS (<^/9] 7.8) *
* 62>] =3 ---> 3 (@^2K.3 03-205-9315) *
* 3]V3 <^6] ---> 24 <^6] 6D^3 C=D A-3 *
* (Wed 9:00-17:00 J R]C I @R 5T=P C^=) *
*--------------------------------------------------------------*
You'll need a Japanese ROM (Read-Only Memory) in your computer, a
special graphics program, or a Japanese language operating system
to have the Kanji characters displayed properly on your screen.
The characters that you see on your computer's screen are based
on a code. The computer finds the characters to display from a
table built into your system's hardware or software.
Most personal computers can be preset to use various tables
depending on your needs. When communicating in English, you may
want it to show Latin characters. When writing in Japanese, you
may want it to display Kanji characters.
Those writing in Norwegian, often want to use the special
Scandinavian characters øØæÆåÅ. If the first two of these Nordic
characters read like the symbols for Yen and Cent, you're not set
up for Scandinavian characters. If your system is set up correctly,
they should look like an 'o' and an 'O' overwritten by a '/'.
[** TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: The 6 'special characters' above were
re-coded incorrectly and have been reconstructed. The source
character codes for all six were:
0x1B, 0x1D, 0x11, 0x12, 0x06 and 0x0F. These seem to be offsets from
0x80 in Code page 856.]
The code telling your computer what to display, may also
contain information about where to put characters and what colors
to use.
Thus, an online service may order your computer to display a
given character in column 10 on line 2, and to print it in blinking
red color. If you're not set up correctly, these codes may show as
garbage on your screen rather than as a colorful character in a
given position.
If you call a service set to display text in VT-52 format, and
your communications program is set accordingly, then you should be
OK. VT-52 is a setup that makes a program or a service 'behave'
like a DEC VT-52 terminal.
Being able to view VT-52 coded text on your screen, does not
guarantee that you can capture this 'picture' to a file on your
disk. Your communications program may need special features to do
that. If these features are missing, you are in for a surprise. The
text in your capture file may look like in this example (it came on
a single, long line on my computer):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
_*H*J*Y"4 Innhold*Y%> *Y&4Emneoversikt
1 Brukerprofil 6*Y)4Stikkord A-] 2 Bruker- *Y*4
veiledning 7*Y,4Informasjons- *Y-
4leverand|rer A-] 3 Teledatanytt*Y.W 8*Y04Personlig indeks
4*Y2H *Y34Meldingstjenesten 5 Avslutte
9*Y64 ]pningsside *00# *Y 4TELEDATA
880823-1538*Y74 NTA01-00a*Y74 *Y74*Y74
--------------------------------------------------------------------
[**TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: the first character in the example above was
0x14, but has been replaced with an underscore.]
The character '*' in this example refers to the ESCape character
(ASCII number 27). ESC is used to tell your computer that what
follows is a VT-52 display command.
The codes following the ESC say where text is to be printed on
your screen (from line number x and column number y).
If your communications program cannot save VT-52 coded text in
a readable way, you'll need auxiliary programs to remove or convert
the codes. Some communication programs let you take snapshots of
the screen, and store the result in a file. This usually gives good
results, but it may be a cumbersome approach.
Prestel (British Telecom, England) belongs to a group of online
services called videotex (or viewdata). Minitel (in France and the
U.S.), Alex (Canada), and Prodigy (U.S.A.) are also in this group.
They believe that beautiful color graphics, large characters, and
menus give them a competitive advantage.
CompuServe is often called a videotex service because of its
emphasis on menus. However, most call it 'ASCII videotex' as it is
not depending on special display formats. Their philosophy is that
'plain text' is required to attract many users across hardware
platforms.
The viewdata services use graphical display standards with
names like Prestel, CEPT, Captain (Character and Pattern Telephone
Access Information Network System, in Japan), Telidon (Canada),
Minitel, Teletel (France), GIF (the Graphics Interchange Format),
Viewdata, and NAPLPS (The North American Presentation Level
Protocol Syntax).
You often need special terminal machines to use some viewdata
services. On other services, you must use special software plus an
emulator card in your computer.
Users of the communications program Procomm Plus can buy a
Viewdata module for conversion of Prestel videotex text to plain
ASCII, i.e., plain text without imbedded special codes.
Many MS-DOS based bulletin boards let you set access defaults
to colors and graphics. Most of them use ANSI graphics in welcome
texts and menus. Users of Procomm must set their program to ANSI
BBS to take advantage.
Capture these welcome texts and menus to a file on your hard
disk, and view them with an editor. They are filled with ANSI
escape codes, and thus hard to read (and search). The good news is
that conference and forum mail only rarely contains such codes.
Many users routinely keep captured online information on their
hard disks for later reference. If this is your intention, make
sure that text is sent to you in plain ASCII, or TTY mode.
TTY sends one line at a time, and only uses the codes TAB,
BackSpace, Carriage Return and LineFeed during the transfer.
The rest is 'plain text'.
Most online services offer TTY format. You can use the setting
almost everywhere. Even the videotex service Prestel offers an
option called 'TTY Teletype'.
If 'TTY' or 'ASCII' is not on your online services' list of
options, try 'Others' or 'Other computers'. These settings usually
identify your computer as unable to handle 'standard' colors, sound
and graphics.
Viewdata pages may provide "selling pictures," but the screens
often have a low contents of information compared with TTY-based
services. They are therefore not my favorite services for news in
full-text.
In other applications, like games, colorful graphics are a
definite advantage.
Connecting the first time
-------------------------
If you have unlimited financial resources, go ahead and call up
services all over the world. Learning by doing is exciting.
If resources are limited, start by reading user information
manual. Or, go online to capture key menus and help texts. Print
them out on paper for further study before going online again for
a 'real' visit.
I always hurry slowly during my first visits to a new online
service. I call up, capture information about how to use it, and
disconnect. It may take me days to study the material. My objective
is to find what the service has to offer in order to plan how to
use it most efficiently.
The first important command to look up is the logoff command.
There is nothing more frustrating than entering "bye" only to get
an error message. If lost, try "quit", "exit", "logoff", "off" and
"G", in the hope of finding the correct command. These are the
most usual variations. You should also try HELP or "?".
If you really can't figure out how to get off a system, just
hang up on it. Be careful, though. Some systems will continue to
charge for a period, even after you have disconnected by hanging up.
One of the first things that I do, is set my options to expert
status, though I am obviously an amateur at this stage.
Often, I also start automating the process during my first
visits. I write script files for automatic access and quick
navigation to key offerings. Another good strategy is to look for
automated offline readers or systems (see Chapter 16 for details).
Others prefer paper and pencil. They write a list of required
commands on a piece of paper, like this:
Call 0165
At CONNECT: ENTER @SP ENTER
At the NUI prompt: Nxxxxxppppp-a170041
At Enter 'dix' and <Enter>: dix
At -- More --: ENTER
At Your name: Odd de Presno
At Password: hemmelig
At What do you want to do:
- when no unread mail goodbye
- when mail to read ENTER
Put the list by your keyboard before calling the service. Follow it
carefully. After a while you may remember the procedure, and can
throw away your notes.
Good luck!