Scout Report: Week ending November 11, 1994

November 11, 1994

The Scout Report is a weekly publication provided by InterNIC Information Services to assist InterNauts in their ongoing quest to know what's new on and about the Internet. It focuses on those resources thought to be of interest to the InterNIC's primary audience, researchers and educators, however everyone is welcome to subscribe and there are no associated fees.

The Scout Report is posted on the InterNIC InfoGuide's gopher and WorldWideWeb servers where you can easily follow links to resources of interest. Past issues are stored on the InfoGuide for quick reference, and you can search the InfoGuide contents to find the items reported in all previous issues. The Scout Report is also distributed in an HTML version for use on your own host, providing fast local access for yourself and other users at your site.

http://www.internic.net/infoguide.html gopher is.internic.net choose Information Services/Scout Report

Comments and contributions to the Scout Report are encouraged and can be sent to scout@cs.wisc.edu.

See the end of the report for additional information and detailed access and subscription instructions.

Highlights In This Week's Report:

  • For those who live in both the real and virtual worlds: THE NETWORKED PLANET, an exhibit at the Computer Museum in Boston, MA.
  • Ask-a-Geologist: Email Q &A for students
  • NII section is full of telecom information sources
  • Star Trek: Generations movie homepage: see Kirk and Picard together! Hear Data laugh!
  • The Rolling Stones live on the 'Net: 20 minutes on the MBone. What have they named the service? ... StoneBone

World Wide Web

  • The Dictionary of Cell Biology (Second edition) is now available on the WWW. The search engine allows regular expression searches, and also allows users to submit their own comments, revisions or new entries directly to the editors. The copyright holders, Academic Press, have generously allowed this Dictionary to be made available as an experiment.
  • Federally-Funded Research in the U.S. is a series of databases that provide information about research funded by the Federal Government. These databases contain the names and addresses of Principal Investigators, grant titles, abstracts, and keywords associated with grants funded by the NIH - National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, the USDA - U.S. Department of Agriculture, the SBIR - Small Business Innovation Research Program and the ATP Advanced Technology Program.
  • Find out how your representatives are addressing your environmental concerns. EcoNet has released the League of Conservation Voters' 1994 National Environmental Scorecard via the Internet. A click-able image map allows viewing by section of the country. The Environmental Scorecard rates House and Senate representatives according to their voting records on critical environmental issues for the past year. You may also access the Scorecard via electronic mail at scorecard@econet.apc.org.
  • Immunization Action Coalition, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, works to boost immunization rates in the United States. The Coalition promotes physician, community, and family awareness of and responsibility for appropriate immunization of all people of all ages against all vaccine-preventable diseases. The Coalition's WWW home page will provide people with electronic versions of their newsletters, "Needle Tips" and Hepatitis B Coalition News", as well as provide a mailing address to their organization on the Internet.
  • The Interfaith Health Program of The Carter Center (President Jimmy Carter, Chairman) and Saint Francis Hospital of Evanston, Illinois are pleased to announce their W3 site for The International Network for Interfaith Health Practices (IHP-NET). IHP-NET is an Internet electronic forum for dialogue and resource sharing among persons of all religious traditions, regarding the dynamic relationship between spirituality and health, especially its practical expression in the advancement of human wellness. The Web site includes IHP-NET documents, digests, a collection of Internet Health Resources and sampling of congregation and community health promotion models.
  • MathMagic, the innovative K12 problem solving project that involves teams of students "talking" about math now has a new Web site. Find out about how to join this majordomo mailing list project and see examples of past and present challenges.
  • Stanford Center For Tuberculosis Research, USA.
  • The Shakespeare database project at Westf=8Alische Wilhelms-Universitat Munster, Germany posts project news and information on publications its own WWW Home-Page. There is also a preview on the Shakespeare Database CD-ROM to be presented at the 1994 Frankfurt Bookfair.
  • Time, Inc. now has an experimental World Wide Web server that includes full text articles from Time, Vibe, and Entertainment Weekly magazines. Time's "Pathfinder," also includes a feature called "The Virtual Garden" which they are touting as "the most comprehensive collection of consumer information on gardening available online." Two versions of the service are available; one includes full-color images while the other is oriented towards those with text-only access. {Access is slow, but it's worth checking-out.}

Gopher

  • The University of Calgary Library has constructed a Polar Information Sources Gopher for information relating to the Arctic, Antarctic and other cold regions. All subject areas for these regions are considered. Sections include: Polar Libraries, Polar Bibliographic Databases, Polar Information Directories, Polar Research and Other Institutes, Polar Electronic Serials and Newsletters, and Other Polar Internet Sources
    [Note: Originally reviewed as a gopher site; gopher site has been replaced by web site.]

Email

  • Ask-A-Geologist - US Geological Survey offers new Internet service. Have you ever wondered about why there so much oil in Texas, but not in Wisconsin? What are the deepest canyons in the United States? (The answer might surprise you!) While the answers to many of these questions might be as close as an encyclopedia, some questions are difficult to answer without checking many sources. The USGS now offers a new, experimental Internet service - Ask-A-Geologist. All electronic mail to Ask-A-Geologist will be routed to the geologist of the day. The geologist will reply to your question within a day or two, or provide referrals to better sources of information. All questions and answers will be part of the public record. After collecting questions and answers for a few months, we will make a Frequently Asked Questions list (with answers) available via anonymous FTP and World-Wide-Web. We encourage grade school and high school students with electronic mail access to send in questions -- but we can't write your reports for you! In limited testing, we've had an enthusiastic response from many grade school students. If you have any questions about this service, but not about geology, please contact the system administrator - Rex Sanders at rex@octopus.wr.usgs.gov.

    For geology questions:
    send email to: ask-a-geologist@octopus.wr.usgs.gov

  • Under the host sponsorship of Canada's SchoolNet, INCLASS is a moderated Internet discussion list about using the Internet in the classroom. By extension, INCLASS is a research tool for educators, scientists and education sector marketers. As well, INCLASS is designed to provide interactive hands-on help for Internet newcomers, with plenty of resource pointers. Above all, INCLASS promotes the use of the Internet as a means to keep students interested in life-long learning, focusing on adapting successfully and creatively to change, concentrating on aiming for personal excellence.

    send e-mail to: listproc@schoolnet.carleton.ca
    in the body of the message type:
    subscribe INCLASS yourfirstname yourlastname

  • LIVEwire from D.C. -- Supercomputing '94 coverage from the folks who bring us HPCwire. Receive free, daily coverage of the Supercomputing '94 conference whether you are attending or not, whether you're a subscriber to HPCwire or not, by sending mail to the address below. You'll receive a brief Table of Contents in the HPCwire format.

    send email to: live-dc@hpcwire.tgc.com
    leave subject line and body of message blank

National Information Infrastructure

NetBytes

  • On November 12, 1994, The Computer Museum, located in Boston, MA. opened a new exhibit THE NETWORKED PLANET, the first exhibit to make the "information highway" and global networks accessible to the general public. In one hour, visitors to the exhibit can see, feel and use the "information highway" and understand when and how it touches them. The only exhibit of its kind in the world, THE NETWORKED PLANET: Traveling the Information Highway(TM) is a $2 million microcosm of global networks. The exhibit reveals the inner workings of the large-scale "invisible" networks that we rely on, such as global banking systems, telephone networks, and aircraft tracking systems. It also provides access to new networking opportunities at home, work and school through first-hand experiences with the Internet and on-line services. A July 1994 Harris poll showed that while 48 percent of adult Americans have heard of the "information highway," most of them don't know much about its key components. The Computer Museum decided to build the exhibit to address this confusion. The exhibit is designed as a ride along the "information highway" with electronic tour guides at every stop. Issued a Key Card, visitors log in and pick a "Network Guide." In each new area, their guide explains both the technology and impact of the network being highlighted, and prompts them to weigh the costs and benefits of the technology. The issues of privacy, information overload, and life and love in the new electronic age are raised. For example, visitors to the exhibit can travel down a 3D animated telephone line and find out how all kinds of network connections (e-mail, cellular calls or fax) are made over the phone system; track the location of all commercial planes in the air; or follow the flow of over $3 trillion around the globe each day through the S.W.I.F.T. banking network.

    This exhibit involves the creative and technical expertise and support of over 200 people from over 50 corporations and institutions around the world. The exhibit runs on its own computer network, enabling the Network Guides to track visitors. Sprint fiber optic T1 lines permit live network feeds from around the globe. The NETWORKED PLANET is made possible with support from: Principal Sponsor: Sprint. Major Underwriters: National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities. Major Sponsors: Apple Computer, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Novell, Inc., NYNEX Corporation, Stratus Computer, Inc., S.W.I.F.T. Supporting Sponsors: Banyan Systems Inc., Chipcom Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Fannie Cox Foundation, Harvard Community Health Plan Foundation, Morgridge Family Foundation, Pisces Productions, Paul and Kathleen Severino, Sun Microsystems, Inc., Thomson Financial Services, and Wellfleet Communications, Inc. Contacts:
    Gail Jennes (East Coast) 617-426-2800 x341
    Internet: jennes@tcm.org
    Carol Welsh (West Coast) 415-323-1909
    Internet: welsh@tcm.org

  • The Third International World-Wide Web Conference: Technology, Tools and Applications '95, which will be held in Darmstadt, Germany, April 10-14, 1995, will bring together researchers, developers and users of the World-Wide Web. It will provide participants with the opportunity to come together and share comprehensive knowledge, research and discussion of the most current activities related to the Web
  • The new edition of the Learned NewsWire 1.5 is hereby published for free browsing on the Internet. Among other news, top stories this month include reports on the comings and goings in the information industry, new European services, speculation surrounding the sale of Mead Data Central, the developing Chinese information industry, new electronic library developments, and projections of prosperity in the world of on-line information services.

Weekend Scouting

  • Paramount Pictures and Viacom Online have developed a World Wide Web site to herald the upcoming motion picture Star Trek Generations. The site offers a galaxy of unique Star Trek elements for downloading, including pictures, sounds and a preview of the movie, in addition to behind-the-scenes information. Make sure to give Paramount "Your Input"- all respondents will receive a digital version of the Star Trek Generations movie poster.
  • The Rolling Stones have announced that they will be broadcasting minutes of their November 18th Texas Cotton Bowl concert live on the MBONE. Interested folks should check the list of registered StoneBone viewing parties or Register their site for a local viewing party.

About the Scout Report

The Scout Report is a weekly publication offered by InterNIC Information Services to the Internet community as a fast, convenient way to stay informed about network activities. Its purpose is to combine in one place the highlights of new (and newly-discovered) online resources and other announcements seen on the Internet during the preceding week.

A wide range of topics are included in the Report with an emphasis on resources thought to be of interest to the InterNIC's primary audience, the research and education community. Each resource has been verified for substantial content and accessibility within a day of the release of the Report.

The Scout Report is provided in multiple formats -- electronic mail, gopher, World Wide Web, and now HTML. The gopher and World Wide Web versions of the Report include links to all listed resources. The Report is released every weekend.

In addition to the ascii version, the Scout Report is distributed in HTML format via a separate mailing list. This allows sites to easily add the Scout Report to their local WorldWideWeb servers each week, providing fast access for local users. Subscription information for the scout-report-html mailing list is included below. Note that permission statements appear on both versions of the Scout Report, and we ask that these be included in any re-posting or re-distributing of the report. Thank you.

If you haven't yet subscribed or told your friends and colleagues, now is the time. Spread the news by word-of-net. Join thousands of your colleagues already using the Scout Report as a painless tool for tracking what's new on the 'Net!

Comments and contributions to the Scout Report are encouraged and can be sent to scout@cs.wisc.edu.

-- InterNIC Info Scout (SM)

Scout Report Access Methods

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Resource Addressing Conventions

After each resource in the Scout Report one or more network addresses are listed. In all cases a convention is used for listing the network address of each resource. It is assumed that users recognize the type of address and know how to use it. However, for those users unfamiliar with the Internet we provide here the order in which addresses are listed (by network tool) and instructions for accessing additional information in the InterNIC InfoGuide about each network tool. A brief explanation of one tool, WWW is included below.

The four network tools referenced most often in the Scout Report are World Wide Web, gopher, email, and FTP. Occasionally WAIS and Telnet addresses are also listed.

After each resource at least one address is listed, and sometimes more. This is because some resources are available through multiple network tools. The network tool addresses are always listed in the same order after each resource:

  • World Wide Web (WWW)
  • Gopher
  • FTP
  • Email
  • Telnet
  • WAIS

A WWW address is called a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and always begins with a string of characters followed by a colon and two right brackets. For example:

http://www.internic.net/
gopher://gibbs.oit.unc.edu:70/11/research.d/grants.d
ftp://ftp.digex.net/pub/access/hecker/internet/slip-ppp.txt

To access the resource through the WWW you will need a WWW client installed on your host computer. Clients are available for all major computer platforms, including Macintosh, PC, and UNIX. To use a WWW client on your computer, you will need a TCP/IP connection to the Internet, either through a dedicated line connection or a SLIP/PPP connection. See the InfoGuide for additional information about the World Wide Web and for sites which archive WWW clients. For more information about SLIP/PPP, which can be used over a dial-up connection, see the document listed in the NetBytes section above.

gopher://is.internic.net/11/infoguide/using-internet/basic-resources/email/

Gopher to: is.internic.net
** Choose: Information Services/Using the Internet/

Send email to: mailserv@is.internic.net
In the body of the message type:

send INDEX
Copyright 1994 General Atomics.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the Scout Report provided the copyright notice, this permission notice, and the two paragraphs below are preserved on all copies.

The InterNIC provides information about the Internet and the resources on the Internet to the US research and education community under the National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement No. NCR-9218749. The Government has certain rights in this material.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, General Atomics, AT&T, or Network Solutions, Inc.

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