The Internet is a fascinating tool for locating and sharing information. However, it can also intimidate new users because of new concepts, jargon, and software. Several documents describe the Internet better than I can, and some of them are listed below. These documents are relatively large, and you will want to read them off line, so I suggest that you turn on your "Load to Disk" option before downloading them. Remember to turn off your "Load to Disk" option after you have saved the document to disk.
You may also want to visit the LISTSERV User Guide which is a World Wide Web (WWW) server.
I will attempt to describe some aspects of the software used to access the Internet in order to assist our employees in using the Internet effectively. Hopefully, this information will also be useful to the Natural Resources Community and to the General Public. Please note that reference to a commercial site does not constitute an endorsement.
There are various levels of Internet access. Basic access can be defined as the ability to send and receive electronic mail via the Internet. This level of access also enables one to subscribe to list servers, list processors, and library servers.
List servers and list processors are tools by which people with common interests, ex. biology, can share questions and ideas via email. When you subscribe to a list, you will receive copies, via email, of all messages posted to that list. If you wish to reply to a particular message, you can reply to the entire list or to the author of the message directly. Library servers allow users to submit requests for specific files by means of email messages.
A variation on this theme is a news server. Use of a news server has several advantages over list servers and list processors. For example, a news server will not deposit volumes of email messages in your mail box. In addition, with a news server you can see what you want to see when you want to see it. Also, it is easier to subscribe to and "unsubscribe" from news groups than from list servers and list processors. In order to access a news server, you must use news reader software such as WinVN which is available via anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Some of the multi-purpose client software packages described below include news readers.
Telnet access could be considered the second level of access. Telnet software enables one to log in to a host computer and run programs on that computer. In other words, Telnet software enables your workstation to function as a dumb terminal.
The third level of Internet access involves contacting remote servers in order to upload files, download files, and run queries. Examples of types of servers are WWW Servers, Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS), FTP sites, and Gopher sites. A user works with these servers by means of client software. The client software runs on his or her workstation, and it is used to send commands to the server. The server processes the commands and returns the results to the client software.
Some client packages can interact with only one kind of server. For example, an ftp client can access only ftp sites. There are several multi-purpose clients that enable one to access a variety of servers such as WWW, FTP, Gopher, and Telnet. The obvious advantage of multi-purpose clients is that you have to learn only one client software package. Examples of public domain (free) and commercial multi-purpose clients are (in alphabetical order): AIR Series from Spry, Incorporated, Cello from The Legal Information Institute of the Cornell Law School, Enhanced NCSA Mosaic from Spyglass, InternetWorks from Navisoft, Inc., MOSAIC from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Netscape from Mosaic Communications Corporation, Quarterdeck Mosaic from Quarterdeck Corporation, SlipKnot from MicroMind, and WinWeb from EINET.
Be aware that multi-purpose clients are actually a collection of programs. These clients often require you to configure (set up) the software in order to define what programs to use for handling graphics, sound, video, etc. Some clients may also require you to define what telnet and ftp software to use.
Also be aware that the multi-purpose clients listed above cannot access WAIS servers directly. A multi-purpose client that can access WAIS servers directly is XMOSAIC (the UNIX version of MOSAIC) from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. If you are not running XMOSAIC, you will probably have to use a WAIS client to access most WAIS servers. A public domain WAIS client is WinWAIS from the U.S. Geological Survey. A commercial WAIS client is winWAIS from EINET.
The reason I used the words probably and most in the above paragraph is that many organizations running WAIS servers are also implementing WWW servers and WAIS gateways. This configuration enables people using a multi-purpose client to access a WWW page and then create a WAIS query by means of a form built into the WWW page. The query will be passed automatically to the WAIS server and the result will be passed back to the multi-purpose client. Therefore, in the not too distant future, most WAIS servers will be directly accessible by means of multi-purpose clients.
Our WAIS servers are accessible in the manner described above.
If all this seems confusing, be patient. All new technologies have a learning curve and you have already started to climb.
Please direct questions and comments, via email or telephone, to:
Dr. Alan R. Fisher National Data Administrator U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fishera@mail.fws.gov 303-275-2400