Dr. Bob Rankin is without a doubt, the Internet's guru of e-mail. His greatest claim to fame is his free "Accessing The Internet By E-Mail" guide. It was released only in 1994 and it has already been translated into 17 languages and has quickly spread around the globe. Dr. Bob's latest gift to the Net is the Internet TourBus, where he teams up with Patrick Crispen to give a virtual tour of the most interesting and most useful resources on the Internet.

As far as I am concerned, Dr. Bob is the Grandfather of the AutoNet. The popularity of his e-mail guide clearly has shown that there are many people around the globe that want to be able to do more with e-mail.

The TourGuide:

Bob, can you tell us a little bit about your background, including the origin of the medical moniker?

Dr. Bob:

Ed, I've been computing in one form or another for about 20 years. I'm a computer programmer by profession, but my passion is writing about computers and the Internet in a way that makes sense to both the novice and more experienced user.

As for my nickname, I always say "I'm not a real doctor, but I play one on the Internet." Friends and colleagues started calling me Doctor Bob because I always seemed to have the cure for what ailed them - when it came to computers or networking. :-) I get a kick out of it, and it helps to establish an identity in the online world.

My claim to fame (if that doesn't sound too pompous) is the free "Accessing The Internet By E-Mail" guide I wrote to help folks understand that you can access almost *anything* on the Net using simple e-mail commands. Since the initial publication in early 1994, I've heard from readers in every corner of the world and volunteers have translated it into over 15 languages.

The TourGuide:

How did you first become involved with computers and when where you first introduced to the Internet?

Dr. Bob:

My first computer was a TI-58 programmable calculator, which I taught to bark, sit, and play yahtzee. My high school had a 300-baud dial-up line to a nearby university computer which helped me get into all sorts of mischief! So I guess it was only natural from that point that I would pursue computer programming as a career.

My first contact with the Internet was in 1993 through a conferencing system internal to IBM, where I worked at the time. I was used to networking with people around the world, but it seemed that the Internet held much greater treasures in store.

What I found "on the outside" was both a surprise and a shock. There truly was a wealth of information available via the Net - from online databases to government documents to cheesecake recipes. But the tone of discussion on Usenet was far from the polite professional discourse I was familiar with.

I am still dismayed at the lack of civility on Usenet. People seem to think it's OK to be rude and crude just because their face is hidden from view. I don't buy into that... when I converse online I make every effort to be overly polite and sensitive. Won't that get us further in the long run?

The TourGuide:

I would like to think that as electronic forums and electronic mail become more of a central part of our lives, people will begin to communicate with more respect. Do you feel that the Internet of the future will be an improvement on what exists today?

Dr. Bob:

I think so. Part of the problem is that most of the online inhabitants today are young males. As the Net becomes more popular, a better cross-section of humanity will be participating and anti-social behavior will tend to regulate itself.

The TourGuide:

You certainly are doing your part to make the Net more enjoyable and accessible for everyone. You mentioned your free "Accessing The Internet By E-Mail" guide earlier. Could you tell us about the inspiration for this guide and also how you learned about the tricks inside?

Dr. Bob:

Hmmm, inspiration... I guess it was a combination of my Scottish heritage and information anxiety. Rumor has it that the Scots are always looking for ways to pinch pennies, so maybe that explains my quest to find ways of doing as many Internet activities offline as possible.

When I first started online, I was using one service that charged outrageous hourly fees so I looked hard for ways to do FTP and gopher retrievals with e-mail servers. I would compose my requests offline, dial in, fire them off and then hang up. After some time elapsed, I would dial in again and download the goodies in my inbox. I soon learned how to do searches with Archie, Veronica, WAIS and even Lycos by e-mail. This cut down my online bill and satisfied my need to surf, albeit vicariously.

I did a lot of research to find ways to do things by e-mail, and readers also sent in tips. I didn't really invent anything new, but I did develop some creative ways to access Usenet, WAIS and Web search engines by e-mail.

I saw tremendous potential in the Internet, and quickly noticed that the Net "heroes" were those who provided useful information at no cost. I put together the "Accessing" guide and made it available in FAQ form as a service to the millions worldwide who are "access-impaired" and as a way to gain recognition as an expert in one small niche of the online world.

I've gotten tremendous feedback from readers in every corner of the world, and so far volunteers have translated the guide into 17 languages! And it even helped me to get my foot in the door to write a monthly column for Boardwatch Magazine. I've also got a couple of interesting irons in the online fire...

The TourGuide:

Could you tell us a bit about the other Internet projects you've been responsible for in the past and any others that you may be working on now?

Dr. Bob:

Most of my projects involve writing and the Internet. I have a friend who wanted help setting up a virtual publishing company and electronic bookstore on the web. You can check out the fledgling E-Literate effort at http://csbh.mhv.net/~eliterate

My latest and most exciting project is The Internet TourBus, a twice-weekly mailing list which takes "riders" on a virtual tour of the Internet. Patrick Crispen (the ROADMAP guy) and I collaborate on this, and it's been a lot of fun so far. One of our goals is to attract a large audience and sell net-friendly advertising on the list - and hopefully make a living by providing high quality Internet content.

You can subscribe to TOURBUS by sending e-mail to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM with "SUBSCRIBE TOURBUS Firstname Lastname" in the body of the note, or view back issues on the web at http://csbh.mhv.net/~bobrankin/tourbus

The TourGuide:

You certainly have done a great job with Patrick on The Internet TourBus. It's definitely something that no one on the Internet should miss. I'd like to thank you for your continued efforts in making the Internet a bit friendlier and also for your time given for this interview. Before we bring the interview to a close, I'd like you to wrap things up by describing your vision of what the Internet will be like in five years from now.

Dr. Bob:

The Internet five years from now? I was never very good at predicting the future, but I'll take a shot at it. What the heck - if I'm right I'll be hailed as a visionary hero. If I'm wrong, nobody will remember my name. :-)

Let's look *back* five years and see how far we've come. In 1990, there was no World-Wide Web. A gopher was a furry animal that dug under the ground. Commercial use of the Internet was strictly taboo, and the online world was primarily the playtoy of academics.

Today the Web is exploding exponentially. Gopher has gone from a nifty information retrieval tool to nearly extinct, and the 'Net is just brimming with commercial activity while the edu's whine about their minority status.

I think in five years we'll see a continuation of the rapidly expanding online population. Only 1 in 4 U.S. households have a computer today, and of those only 10% are online - so there is a huge segment of the population that will inexorably be drawn into cyberspace as media coverage continues and more and more companies begin to offer deals to their "wired" customers. Today there are about 20 million Internet users - I'd look for that number to grow tenfold (worldwide) by the turn of the century.

TV will invade the Web. As technology enables high-speed data transfer by the masses, you'll be able to download the evening news or Star Trek reruns and watch at your leisure.

Usenet will grow, but it's value will diminish as millions of teenage buttheads invade. Private commercial mini-Usenets will evolve to fill the void - people will pay to tap into higher signal-to-noise conferencing.

You will be able to make long distance phone calls anywhere via the Internet, basically for free. The telcos will go wild with rage and try to recover by getting into the Internet provider game in a big way. Look for AT&T to start selling Internet access for $7.95/month via aggressive telemarketing campaigns. "And a free personal web page if you order now!"

Mail order catalog houses will all be online, paper catalogs will quickly become a thing of the past. Look for 800-number access to LL Bean's BBS where you can download the latest interactive catalog at 112Kb. (Nobody will settle for those dusty old 56Kb modems in the year 2000!)

Your bank, broker, and even the local supermarket will be online, offering services you couldn't even imagine today. They used to say in computer circles "We don't know what the dominant computer language will be in the year 2000, but it will be called Fortran." I guess in that vein, I could say "We don't know what the Internet will look like at the turn of the century, but it will still be called Cyberspace!" And you'll look back to the 90's and wonder how we ever managed with those slow Pentiums and 28.8 modems....

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