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From: [e-mail] (C Harris)
Newsgroups: misc.writing,misc.writing.screenplays,misc.answers,news.answers
Subject: Internet Research for Writers FAQ
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Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 19:34:40 GMT
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Summary: This posting gives help for writers and others in using the Internet for research, giving suggestions as to which methods are best for different needs, and including worked examples.
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Last-modified:     Sept 27, 1996
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                     INTERNET RESEARCH FOR WRITERS

                                                FAQ

(Update: added material on gophers (4.3.2) and directories (4.3.3)

********************************************************************

Introduction: Why this FAQ?

Recently, I shared my frustations at using the Internet for research
as a writer. When I did, many others wrote to express similar feelings
and to add their own ideas. Out of this grew a useful compilation of
suggestions, opinions and experiences, which has now taken its first
hesitant steps as a FAQ.

It is intended to be posted roughly the last week of each month,
circumstances permitting, to: misc.writing and
misc.writing.screenplays.

This FAQ is available on the web at:
http://www.purefiction.com/pages/res1.htm

Urls For A Rainy Day is in HTML format on
http://www.purefiction.com/pages/res2.htm, and separately at
http://www.owt.com/users/dibrager/urls-all.htm

All suggestions and comments are welcome. Please send to
[e-mail].

********************************************************************

1.      WHAT IS THIS FAQ?
2.      DISCLAIMER
3.      WHY USE THE INTERNET FOR RESEARCH?
4.      HOW CAN I FIND INFORMATION?
       4.1      How Can I Find Specific files and Text?
       4.2      How Can I Find Specific information?
       4.3      How Can I Find More General Background Information?
5.      HOW CAN I FIND INFORMATION FASTER?
6.      SHOULD I PAY FOR INFORMATION?
7.      WHERE CAN I GET FURTHER HELP?
8.      WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?
9.      URLS FOR A RAINY DAY
10.    END CREDITS

********************************************************************

1.     WHAT IS THIS FAQ?

Although this posting was compiled originally for writers, it should
be of use to anyone who wants to find their way around the Net.

It grew out of a cry for help that I sent out, in desperation. As a
professional writer, I wanted information of a variety of types. One
day I might want specific dates, another day just background
information. I wanted to know if I could use the Internet to find
these different types of information quickly and reliably. And I
wanted to know which of the many different bits of the Internet would
be good for which different type of research.

However, the vast majority of books, articles and Usenet postings do
not address the question from the point of view of the user, and tend
to be obsessed with either vague surfing or searching out free
software. The last thing I wanted was yet more software.

I was pleased to receive a number of responses - useful and
supportive, many of which have been included, in edited form.
 The FAQ tries to look at the Net from the point of view of the user.
So it is divided into the kinds of questions that researchers might
have. It also includes "worked examples" where possible, to clarify
the methods that can be used. Finally there is a list of useful URLs
(Urls For A Rainy Day) which includes most of those mentioned in the
main text and is also available at
http://www.owt.com/users/dibrager/urls-all.htm

I haven't tried to explain what all the technical terms mean (eg: URL,
ARCHIE, FTP...) These are very adequately explained in a thousand
postings, books and magazines. The problem is knowing which to use in
which circumstances.

The Internet is constantly changing, and so I welcome any suggestions,
criticisms and additions.  However, most users are snowed under with
URLs, etc, so please send personal recommendations, or that of someone
you know, and say why or how it is useful. (For example, state that a
particular URL is good for geographical queries, or how you used
Gopher to research background for your romantic novel).

************************************************************************

2.  *DISCLAIMER*

URLS, e-mail addresses, etc, are passed on herewith without prejudice!
I've not checked all of them out, and make no guarantees that they are
still there, or in fact ever were. I take no responsibility for any
loss, damage or waste of time in using them. Sorry. But please do tell
me if an URL turns out to be useless, or non-existent, so that the
information can be kept up- to-date.

************************************************************************

3.  WHY USE THE INTERNET FOR RESEARCH?

3.1   If you want to use the Net effectively, you need to be prepared
for what it can and can't do.

The Internet is not a substitute for a good library. The Internet can
be very frustrating. The Internet is very variable. The Internet is
not well indexed. And the Internet is not comprehensive. So is it
worth using at all? Well...

3.2   The Internet is an additional source of information, which often
can't be found, or isn't as up-to-date, elsewhere.

"Searching for data on Internet can be frustrating but what you find
often can't be found in a library -- the same is true in reverse.  I
didn't stop using the library when I started using the Internet."
(Laurence A.Moore)

3.3  The Internet is convenient, and supplies information in usable
form.

"One handy thing about Internet research is that when I'm done, the
results are on my computer.  With the library, the best I can do is
photocopy what I find, or bring the books home and type the data in.

"Looking out the window above my computer, I see birds and
autumn-colored trees and calm, quiet, gently-falling rain.  As soon as
I send this, I'm going to bring a mug of fresh coffee back from the
kitchen and take off on Internet.  Can't do that at my local library!"
(Laurence A.Moore)

3.4   However, the Internet has to be worked at. The "superhighway" is
still substantially under construction. Or as one writer put it: "the
Internet is an enormous library in which someone has turned out the
lights and tipped the index cards all over the floor."

***********************************************************************

4.  HOW CAN I FIND INFORMATION?

What's the best and most efficient way to look for what I need?

4.1  How can I find Specific Files and Texts?
   -------------------------------------------------------

4.1.1   How can I find specific file by name?

The more precise you can be with your search, the better. So if you
have a precise filename, you've got the best chance of finding what
you want. There are many books, articles, etc, on the Internet which
show how to search for specific filenames, using Archie, etc, so this
is not dealt with further in the FAQ. However, writers rarely have a
precise, or even imprecise, filename. So....

4.1.2   How can I find a specific text?

 There are an increasing number of web and FTP sites which hold public
domain copies of a wide range of classic texts, song lyrics, etc. Some
URLs are given in URLs For A Rainy Day (Section 9).

You can also link to some of these via:
http://www.foresight.co.uk/jane

There are history archives on the Internet and a number of libraries
on the Net. For example, David Brager suggests the Library of
Congress' American Memory section - "Large collections of primary
source and archival material relating to American culture and
history."

http://rs6.loc.gov/


4.2    How can I find Specific Information?
       ----------------------------------------------

(eg: dates and places. Or questions like: "what is a...?" "who
is...?")

4.2.1   SEARCH ENGINES are popular for this. You type in a key word or
phrase (such as Spain, or Spanish Civil War) and wait to see what they
provide.

 No search engine covers 100% of the Net. The trick with using a
search engine, is to know what each is good for and to look carefully
at the hints and tips that they offer. For example some engines will
only search for a precise phrase if you put it in quotes - such as:
"Spanish Civil War." (Note, you may not get access to the hint pages
unless you're accessing directly via the search engine's home page).

The magazine .net printed an excellent review of most of the best
search engines (issue 14 and on the Net at
http://www.futurenet.co.uk/).

Richard Broke described such a search: "There are remarkable amounts
of free information on the Internet.  I looked up the Spanish Civil
War in Lycos (in my view the best search engine on the Net). It came
up with (inter alia):

"http://www.civeng.carleton.ca/SiSpain/history/civil.html
http://tigerden.com/~berios/spunk/Spunk336.html
http://press-gopher.uchicago.edu:70/CGI/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/99/beacon/88043317..ctl
http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/subguides/milhist/home.html
http://www.nypl.org/admin/../research/chss/subguides/milhist/home.html
http://www.anatomy.su.oz.au/danny/book-reviews/h/The_Last_Mile_to_Huesca..html
"

Lycos is at: http://lycos.com/

Laurence A.Moore started with Yahoo:

"First, I went to http://www.yahoo.com and ran a search for Spanish
Civil War

"Then I went down to the bottom of Yahoo's home page where there are
several other search-engine links, and ran a search with Lycos.

"Those two searches pulled several interesting items, and each had
links to other sites.  The most interesting site from this quick
search was http://www.civeng.carleton.ca/SiSpain/history/civil.html

"If I'd really been doing research on the Spanish Civil War, I would
have followed the links, and also used the other search engines."

However, TJ had mixed feelings: "I find that using a keyword or Yahoo
gets me much more than I wanted.

"For some reason, I feel as if all I have to do is type in a subject
and I'll find everything referenced on that one subject.  Doesn't
happen that way, does it?"

Recently, many writers have been speaking very highly of AltaVista as
a search engine (http://www.altavista.digital.com).

Mike Casswell: "The best feature of all, is the Advanced Query Page,
which is a different page (linked from the Simple Query page). This
has a number of clever search tools. I often use 'near' which is both
simple and powerful. There is also a help page for the Advanced Query
syntax."

Planning is necessary. Do some advance work with a Thesaurus and list
a fair number of relevent search terms. Remember that search engines
aren't like "Find" facilities on word processors. Unless you specify,
they probably won't exclude material just because it doesn't have
every search term in it. So you can afford a scattergun approach,
trying a number of possible words in case one of them hits home. For
example: a search for items on dealing with tiredness might use the
key terms: fatigue overwork tired exhausted exhaustion sleep.

Most search engines treat key words as potential parts of words. So in
the above example fatigue will also find fatigued, and sleep will find
sleepy, sleepless and sleeping pill. But while exhaust would find
exhausted and exhaustion it has been avoided so as not to pull out
articles on car engines and pollution!

For more on preparing for searching, see Marnie Froberg's excellent
web site at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/3223

4.2.2   USENET NEWSGROUPS are useful for asking specific questions.

Beth Porter: "Post messages in classy newsgroups and fora. Can be
dodgy, but it's paid off for me quite a few times."

And Yvonne Hewett: "I use the Net for research by the simplest method
possible:  going into the list of Newsgroups and searching it for the
topic I'm interested in, and then posting to the group.

"I've found that the Net is like most places where there are people
with expertise:  if I approach them properly and ask intelligent
questions, the answers are usually forthcoming. If answers aren't, I
often get pointers to people who are in the know.  And like any other
research, it takes time and patience to work through the masses of
non-indexed information."

Almost all newsgroups have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions list)
which can be a mine of useful information, or at least tell you if
you're in the right place. FAQs can be got at
http://wwwcgi.umr.edu/faqs - or by FTP from rtfm.mit.edu. And
newsgroups can be searched with DejaNews and AltaVista search engines:

http://www.dejanews.com
http://altavista.digital.com/

But please note that some Newsgroups take well to being "used." Lurk
for a little while first, to check out the prevailing mood. Avoid
assuming that they are only there to provide you with free answers to
your questions.

4.2.3   MAILING LISTS can be helpful in similar ways.

For a list of mailing lists send an email with the single word HELP in
the body of the email, to [e-mail] or
[e-mail].

4.3   HOW CAN I FIND MORE GENERAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the searches become wider and less specific, the Internet becomes
more tricky to use.

4.3.1    NEWSGROUPS and MAILING LISTS remain useful nonetheless.
Either for posting specific queries, obtaining FAQs, or just lurking
and seeing what ideas crop up.

Jane Dorner: "Quite honestly the best thing is to join a newsgroup
dedicated to the research subject in hand and trawl that until you
find what you're looking for."

4.3.2   GOPHER, ETC.

 Few writers mentioned Archie, Veronica, Gopher, WAIS or any other use
of FTP or Gopher- space.

Marnie Froberg researched police corruption using Archie (for ftp file
site searching) and Veronica (for searching worldwide gophers) and
WAIS based search engines (einet.galaxy and harvest both of which run
WAIS in the background). She promises to write up how she did it:
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/3223

"AmyWriter" found great success with Gopher: "Through Gopher, I've
downloaded some great files that go beyond what the encylopedia has,
e.g. for Haiti, I got info on all the political stuff that is
happening NOW from news articles, white papers, etc. This is info that
would be dated in the encyclopedia.

"Basically, I go into Gopher and type in, "Jamaica," for example. This
brings up a list of reports on many topics of interest which I scan
and select and then print out. For example, there might be a college
professor's report on current Jamaican politics. "

Gopherspace can give very quick and informative answers to queries,
but has become a tad neglected in parts, as more organisations have
moved over to the Web. However, gophers cover a large number of
databases that are not on the Web and which contain a wealth of
information and texts. In addition, dedicated gopher software can
often be faster than a Web browser. Having said that, you can access
gopher space from a Web browser by typing the gopher's address (it
starts with gopher:// instead of http://) usually followed by a port
number (typically 70) as in gopher://ic.ac.uk/70.

Gopher search engines are called Veronica or Jughead. Veronica is more
recent and more sophisticated. (To use Veronica via the Web try the
list at gopher://scs.unr.edu/11/veronica and look out the "how to"
file that you find with most Veronicas for further help on how to
phrase the search.)

A typical Veronica search (on the single word "uranium") brought 146
items within seconds. Some of these (again typically) were out-of-date
or the connections didn't work. The rest gave me everything I might
have wanted to know about uranium, from its elemental properties to
the latest uranium mining figures from various parts of the world.

Gophers are generally run by universities and government departments,
so seem to be best for academic and governmental type searches,
although there's some quite non-academic stuff there as well.

4.3.3   WEB DIRECTORIES may be better for vaguer background research
than search engines because they allow you to follow through a line of
thought on a root and branch principle. Try clicking on the
appropriate "branch" of Yahoo (for example) and then narrowing down:
http://www.yahoo.com.

However, Yahoo is starting to look rather limited, with a relatively
small database. Follow the line from ART to ART HISTORY, ARTISTS and
then PAINTERS, for example, and you'll find Rossetti, but not Matisse.

Galaxy (http://galaxy.einet.net/galaxy.html) is much more clearly laid
out than Yahoo - easier to see where the different sub-headings are,
and seems generally a better choice at the moment. However, Galaxy
don't seem too keen on ensuring people know it's there on their home
page. If you find only a search engine, click on the "Galaxy" link and
you should find the directory hidden there.

4.3.4   GUIDES are also possible. These are more detailed than
ordinary directories and search engines. Clearinghouse
(http://www.lib.umich.edu/chhome.html). provide "topical guides to the
Internet... Resources such as the Clearinghouse guides and the WWW
Virtual Library, aren't as comprehensive but provide value-added
descriptive and evaluative information ideal for researchers." As
these sound interesting, I'm breaking the FAQ rules and including the
mention without a recommendation. If anyone would like to check them
out, I'd be interested to hear from you.

4.3.5   SEARCH ENGINES, however, appear to grow less useful as the
query becomes vaguer. Much of the problem lies in knowing how to
phrase the key words. On wider background searches these can become
confusingly all-encompassing.

4.3.6   BOOKS AND BOOKMARKS

Ultimately, you can't beat a good set of URLs in a well-maintained
(and backed-up(!)) bookmark list. Some of the best URLS come from
experience. Others can be culled from books, newspapers and magazines.

Beth Porter: "Get hold of Computer Life's Road Map to the WWW, which
is sweetly laid out in category globules [Sports, Media &
Entertainment, Politics]; there's also  the Internet White Pages,
published by IDG Books [Godin & McBride] ... more URL's than you've
had hot dinners."

If you want to see all this in action, .net (issue 15) ran an
interesting article by a writer who used the Internet to research his
first crime novel. It shows how he mixed newsgroup lurking, search
engines, URLs and hot-links. (See Futurenet's URL above).

**********************************************************************

5    HOW CAN I FIND INFORMATION FASTER?

5.1    First, there's the obvious: get a faster modem, or an
extra-fast connection like an ISDN line or cable connection. Or
upgrade your processor, RAM and video RAM. These cost money, and
you're still at the mercy of a slow connection somewhere the other
side of the world.

5.2   If you don't need pictures, then load web-pages without them.
Unfortunately, there are still some sites which are virtually unusable
without them. Luckily, not many, but surprisingly the British "Times"
newspaper site is one of them.

5.3   Less obvious is the question of efficiency. The Net is so large
that it takes time to get to know any one subject area - to suss out
some databases you can trust, assess which sources are best for which
kinds of information. You can make on-line life easier for yourself if
you focus on relatively small subject areas for relatively long
periods of time. It's more difficult if your work or inclinations lead
you to research civil engineering one day, single parents the next...

5.4   Consider going on-line at more expensive times of day (if you
have to pay for phone calls), or using Internet providers with better
bandwidth and modem/user ratios. The extra cost may well be outweighed
by the greater efficiency and faster access times. Talking of
money....

********************************************************************************

6.    SHOULD I PAY FOR INFORMATION?

6.1   OUTERNET.

Richard Broke:  "One of the problems of the Internet is that it is
free!   So, basically, you get what you (don't) pay for - much of the
time.   The Outernet is the name given to pure knowledge databases
which are SUBSCRIPTION ONLY.    Probably the biggest is called Dialog
(sometimes aka Knowledge Index).

"Because they are selling data, these outfits are reliable (by which I
mean accurate) and up- to-date."

However this probably is mainly of use to those whose work can justify
the expense. Dialog begins with an annual sub of 30 UK pounds (or
equivalent). However, to that you must add on-line charges which
depend on where you live and which database you access. Some databases
charge $12 per hour, while others go as high as $225. Then there's
charges for displaying documents (say 60c per document), extra charges
if you print stuff out, connection charges if you're outside the US...

Those who are interested can phone:

UK: 0171-930 5503
USA: 800-334-2564 or 415-254 7000

I have phone and fax numbers for other European countries if wanted.

6.2  HIRING RESEARCHERS

There are other ways of paying too. Alex: "As with traditional
research, you may find it pays to hire someone to find the information
for you."

Alex gave details of Mindsource....an organisation that finds
information for people. Costs start as low as $50/Quarter, but you get
more the more you pay. At the moment Mindsource is probably not as
useful as it could be - but that may change. For details of
Mindsource: send blank email to [e-mail].

6.3 INTERNET SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

Finally, there are subscription on-line services on the Internet
itself, eg: Encyclopaedia Brittanica (http://www.eb.com). Brittanica
offers a free trial, and then subs from $150 p.a. I can't decide
whether that's cheap (compared to buying the set) or expensive
(compared to walking round to your local library and reading them for
free)!

**********************************************************

7.  WHERE CAN I GET FURTHER HELP?
    --------------------------------------------------

7.1   ALCS is to have a dedicated writers' server, put together by
Jane Dorner and Chris Barlas. (http://www.alcs.co.uk)

Chris writes: "One of the features we'll have is a writers'
information directory, which will comprise a series of hyperlinks that
writers have found useful for research purposes. If writers have
favorite places for research we can expand this list until it becomes
a really useful resource (an RUR) for us all."

Society of Authors have also developed a site
(http://www.writers.org.uk/society) put together by Storm Dunlop.

7.2   WRITERS' PERSONAL RESOURCE PAGES

There are a number of personal writers' pages now with useful links.
Some are listed below (9.8).

David Brager also says: "Although I don't have it listed as a link in
my homepage area, you may want to copy verbatim my page that attempts
to teach how to use the Internet for homeschool:

http://www.owt.com/users/dibrager/hmschool.html"

7.3   SCRNWRIT MAILING LIST

 Marty Norden tells of the screenwriters list called SCRNWRIT: "There
are plenty of folks there who might be able to direct you to the right
sources.  If you'd like to join, just send the one-line message
"Subscribe SCRNWRIT" to [e-mail]   Be aware, however,
that SCRNWRIT is an unmoderated and *very* active list.  You'll easily
receive 50- 100 messages *per day* from it, sometimes more."

7.4  CINE-RESOURCE

Finally, and most impressively, Marnie Froberg, who owns Ionosphere
Research. IR does custom on-line search and retrieval. She wrote:

"I hear frustration like yours expressed every day and would like to
offer my assistance *gratis*.

"I have created a WWW page called Cine-Resource to help to alleviate
people's frustrations in this kind of research. It's not the fanciest
page-I'll stylize it up at a later date. I do hope that people drop by
the page and drop me a line on what you think of it. "I will put
together some tips lists for operations like Boolean searching, search
limiting, using WAIS (sometimes far more efficient than the web search
engines) or other topics of interest.

"If anyone has any query or any more they would like to add, e-mail me
privately, and I'll see what I can do for you. Additionally when a
topic is ready I'll either post it or a notice of it.

"I just want to make sure the information is readily available to all
who need it. When I say free I mean free with regards to specific
questions.(I'll send you my company *manifesto*- to anyone who wants
it-but I have to finish writing it first. You will then understand why
I do things pro bono sometimes - Does "information wants to be free"
ring a bell with anyone?)

"I may not be able to jump right on them within the hour so to speak
but I'll do my best. I just feel like I want to give something back."
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/3223
E-mail: [e-mail]

*********************************************************

8.  WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?

Things are clearly changing all the time. The web is growing bigger -
and there are more and more search engines appearing.

Clearly, there'll be a need for services to pay for themselves, and
that may mean more subscriptions. On the other hand, there are other
ways of skinning a cat. Many sites will pay for themselves by
advertising, while sites set up as corporate PR will find they need to
offer more than pretty pictures to attract the browsers. Finally,
there's publication spin-offs. Times Educational Supplement found that
their free Internet site actually led to *increased* sales of the
printed publication rather than the decreased sales that might have
been expected.

*********************************************************

9   URLS FOR A RAINY DAY

(also available in HTML format at
http://www.owt.com/users/dibrager/urls-all.htm )

A compilation of various suggested URLs for writers

9.1  Favourite General Searchers:

http://www.altavista.digital.com  (Alta Vista)
http://www.infoseek.com/  (Infoseek)
http://lycos.cs.cmu.edu/   (Lycos)
http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~dreiling/smartform.html  (Savvy Search:
access to numerous search engines from one page)
http://www.yahoo.com/  (Yahoo Directory)

9.2  Lists, Groups and Experts:

http://www.dejanews.com/  (DejaNews: Searching Usenet)
http://wwwcgi.umr.edu/faqs  (FAQs Repository )
http://www.liszt.com/  (Listserv Mailing Lists: Liszt: search almost
16,000 Listservs by keyword)
http://www.vyne.com/profnet/  (Profnet: Finding Experts to Answer
Questions: )
http://www.synapse.net/~radio/profnet.htm  ((User's Guide to Profnet))

9.3  Other Search Engines & Directories:

http://www.nexor.co.uk/public/aliweb/search/doc/form.html   (Aliweb:
Search Form)
http://www.albany.net/allinone/   (All-in-One)
http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/archie.html   (Archie Request Form)
http://www.lib.umich.edu/chouse/search.html   (Clearinghouse Guides to
Resources)
http://www.excite.com/   (Excite)
http://inktomi.berkeley.edu/   (Inktomi Search Engine - U.C. Berkeley)
http://Altitude.CAM.ORG/~intsci/   (InterFace)
http://home.netscape.com/escapes/internet_directory.html   (Internet
Directory)
http://home.netscape.com/escapes/internet_search.html   (Internet
Search)
http://www.intbc.com/sleuth/   (Internet Sleuth)
http://ipl.sils.umich.edu/classroom/userdocs/internet/engines.html
(IPL Web)
http://metacrawler.cs.washington.edu:8080/   (MetaCrawler)
http://www.nosc.mil/planet_earth/everything.html   (Planet Earth -
Everything)
http://www.opentext.com:8080/   (Open Text)
http://www.mckinley.com/   (Search Magellan)
http://webcrawler.com/   (WebCrawler)

9.4  Arts/Humanities Searchers/Guides:

http://www.gu.edu.au/gwis/cinemedia/CineMedia.HUBH.html  (Humanities
HUB:   Griffith
Univ., Brisbane, Queensland, Australia: Links to software, resources
and eJournals for researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences)
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jlynch/research.html  (On-Line Literary
Research Tools: collection of Web sites useful to literary scholars.
The links are organized by period: classical and biblical, medieval,
renaissance, and so on. Includes pointers to archives of electronic
texts, libraries, hypertext editions, etc.)
http://pathfinder.com/@@3jEWJnEmvwEAQLuL/vibe/mmm/music.html
(Miscellaneous Music Lists)
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/readings/index.html  (University
of Virginia Related Readings Page)
http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/  (Voice of the Shuttle: Web Page for
Humanities Research)
http://www.concourse.com/wwar/  (World Wide Arts Resources:   search
engine for visual and performance arts)

9.5  Award Providers:
(These sites search for new sites, rate them, and provide "Best of the
Best" type listings, in all subjects)

http://nyx10.cs.du.edu:8001/~rebell/writprj.html  (The Bad Writing
Project(!))
http://wings.buffalo.edu/contest/  (Best of the Web)
http://www.GEnie.com/hotspots/picks.html  (GENie Hotspots)
http://gnn.com/wic/wics/top.new.html  (GNN 50 Most Accessed Sites)
http://gnn.com/wic/botn/index.html  (GNN Best of the Net)
http://www.web21/com/services/hot100/index.htm  (Hot 100 WebSites)
http://www.hotwired.com/surf/  (Hotwired's NetSurf)
http://www.interlog.com/~ohi/inkspot/site.html  (Literary Site of the
Week)
http://www.pulver.com/netwatch/topten/topten.htm  (Netwatch Top Ten)
http://www.zdnet.com/~pcmag/special/web100/top100f.htm  (PC Magazine
Hot 100 Websites)
http://www.pointcom.com/  (Point Communications Top 5% of All Web
Pages)
http://webcrawler.com/WebCrawler/Top25.html  (Webcrawler Top 25)
http://gnn.com/gnn/wic/top.toc.html  (Whole Internet Catalog Top 50
Sites)

9.6  General Subject Guides and Resource Links:

http://www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/bardhtml/  (BARD: Oxford/Bodleian guide to
databases)
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/CoombsHome.html  (Coombsweb: Australian Nat'l
University guide to Soc. Sci. and the Humanities)
http://www.tntech.edu/www/acad/hist/history.html  (History: Guide to
Internet History Resources)
http://ipl.sils.umich.edu/  (Internet Public Library)
http://www.dgsys.com/~editors/resource.html  (Key Resources for
Journalists/Researchers)
http://www.refdesk.com/main.html  (My Virtual Reference Desk:   (There
is an Australian sister site to this page - I don't have the URL but I
know it's listed on this page)
http://sunsite.Berkeley.EDU/Libweb/  (LibWeb: lists of libraries on
the Web - worldwide)
http://www.vtourist.com//  (Virtual Tourist: guide to worldwide web
sites by geographical location)

9.7   General Texts

gopher://rsl.ox.ac.uk:70/11/lib-corn/hunter  (Alex: catalogue of
electronic texts (uk mirror))
http://www.samizdat.com/   (B&R Samizdat Express)
http://the-tech.mit.edu/Classics/   (Classic e-texts)
http://www.datatext.co.uk/library/   (Data Text Library - e-texts)
http://cethmac.princeton.edu/CETH/elcenter.html   (Electronic Text
Centers)
http://www.nova.edu/Inter-Links/library/books.html   (On-line Books)
http://jg.cso.uiuc.edu/pg_home.html   (Project Gutenberg)

9.8  General Writers Resources pages:

http://bel.avonibp.co.uk/bricolage/toc.html  (Bricolage)
http://bel.avonibp.co.uk/bricolage/resources/websites/writingresources.html
(Bricolage links)
http://www.mindspring.com/~cbi (scroll down to: CWRC Research Center -
direct links to search engines, best research sites, newsgroups etc.)
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/jane.dorner/jd_links.htm (Jane Dorner:
Writers' Links)
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/3223  (Froberg Writers' Resources
Links and research advice, regularly updated)
http://www.inkspot.com/~ohi/ink/inklings.html  (Inklings Newsletter
for Writers (published every 2-3 weeks)
http://www.aloha.com/~william/vpwg.html  (Writers Gallery)
http://www.vmedia.com/shannon/writing.html  (Writers Resources I)
http://execpc.com/~dboals/write.html  (Writers Resources II)

9.9  Media Sites with Archived Material:

http://www.cnn.com/  (CNN)
http://www.pathfinder.com/@@f3HaEiDkgwEAQKoz/twep/  (Time/Warner's
Pathfinder)
http://www.timeinc.com/pathfinder/Welcome.html  (Time/Warner's
Pathfinder: Welcome Page)

9.10  Movies

http://www.imdb.com/ (Internet Movie Database)
http://allmovie.com/amg/movie_Root.html  (AMG: All-Movie Guide:
another version of a credits database)
http://www.bizmag.com/contents.htm  (The Biz:   an excellent ezine,
really, but also with news and resource listings)
http://www.gu.edu.au/gwis/cinemedia/CineMedia.HOME.html
(Cinemedia:Australia: )
http://www.afionline.org/CINEMEDIA/CineMedia.home.html  (Cinemedia:
U.S. Mirror: )
http://www.ern.com/ern.htm  (Entertainment Resources Network)
http://www.enzian.org  (Enzian (searchable))
http://www.infi.net/~rriddle/filmind.htm (Guide to the Internet for
Video and Filmmakers)
gopher://gopher.UH.EDU/1/Colleges  (H-Film:   and
Academics/HFAC/History/Guide to FTV Resources)
http://www.echonyc.com/~mvidal/Indi-Film+Video.html  (Independent Film
and Video Resources)
http://www.rtvf.nwu.edu/links/links.html  (Omnibus: Mega-Media Links
(searchable))
http://www.sa.ua.edu/TCF/welcome.htm  (Screensite: Film & TV Studies)
http://neog.com/timelaps/tvlink.html  (TV Links: Film & Television Web
site Archive)
http://www.yahoo.com/ENTERTAINMENT  (Yahoo - Entertainment)

And these two sites in Australia:

http://www.filmtv.com.au/  (Online Service Directory/Australian Film &
Television Industry)
http://netspace.net.au/~haze/  (RML Movie Page:   not just Australian
links, but some local flavour)

9.11  News

http://www1.trib.com/NEWS/APwire.html   (Associated Press Wire
Stories)
http://www.dtic.dla.mil/bosnia/   (BosniaLINK)
http://www.cnn.com/   (Cable News Network)
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/index.html   (CNN - Technology News)
http://www.cs.vu.nl/%7Egerben/news.html   (The daily news -- just the
links)
http://www.slip.net/~earthenv/   (Earthweek)
http://www.trib.com/news/local.html   (Local News)
http://www.nbc.com/index.html   (NBC - HTTV)
http://www.nytimes.com/   (New York Times)
http://nytsyn.com/   (New York Times Syndicate)
http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/docnews.html   (News
Documents)
http://www.newslink.org/   (NewsLink)
http://ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu/carrie/news_main.html   (The Omnivore)
http://censored.sonoma.edu/ProjectCensored  (Project Censored's Top
Ten Underreported Stories of 1995)
http://www.pbs.org/   (Public Broadcasting System)
http://www-e1c.gnn.com/gnn/news/reuters/index.html   (Reuters
NewMedia)
http://www.smh.com.au/   (Sydney, Australia, Morning Herald)
http://www.sfgate.com/   (San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco
Examiner)
http://www.pathfinder.com/@@@@h7hIBmIAAAQOEw/time/   (Time Magazine)
http://www.clickit.com/touch/news/news.htm   (Touch Today - News)
http://www-e1c.gnn.com/gnn/wic/wics/news.news.html   (WIC Daily News
Sources)

9.12  Reference

http://cedr.lbl.gov/cdrom/doc/lookup_doc.html   (1990 U.S. Census
LOOKUP)
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/95fact/index.html   (CIA
WorldFactbook 1995)
http://www.cc.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/   (Columbia Univ. Library
Reference)
http://www.xe.net/currency/  (Currency Conversion)
http://www.eff.org/   (EFFweb - The Electronic Frontier Foundation)
http://www.probe.net/~niles/ Finding Data on the Internet - links to
online databases for fact-checking or statistics
http://galaxy.einet.net/GJ/general-ref.html   (General Reference
Resources)
http://ipl.sils.umich.edu/reading/   (Internet Public Library Reading
Room)
http://aristotle.sils.umich.edu/ref/   (Internet Public Library
Reference Center)
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/map_sites.html
(Map Sites)
http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/ndrd/fndrd.html   (Natural Disaster
Database - NASA)
http://www.commerce.com/net2/library/ref_desk.html   (Net Squared
Reference Desk)
http://www.xmission.com/~mgm/quotes/links.html   (Quotation Links)
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/bartlett/   (Quotations -
Bartlett)
http://pomo.nbn.com/library/refcoll.html   (Ready Reference
Collection)
http://thorplus.lib.purdue.edu/reference/index.html   (Reference Desk,
Virtual)
http://www.nova.edu/Inter-Links/reference.html   (Reference Shelf)
http://vsl.cnet.com/   (Software Library, Virtual)
http://www.acs.oakland.edu/oak/   (Software Repository, OAK)
http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/time.html   (Time, Directorate of -
Official Time)
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/   (UC Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE)
http://www.usps.gov/ncsc  (U.S. Postal Service, ZIP Codes, rates)
http://www.albany.net/~ms0669/cra/libs/libs.html   (WWW Libraries)

9.13  Research - Academic, Political and Various Sundry Links

http://atlantic.evsc.virginia.edu/julia/AW.html   (Ancient World Web)
http://www.terraquest.com/   (Antarctica)
http://www.city.net/   (City Net)
http://www.europeonline.com/   (Europe Online)
http://www.fedworld.gov/   (U.S. Government Home Page)
http://gs213.sp.cs.cmu.edu/prog/dist/   (How far is it? - distances)
http://www.cgi.umr.edu/faqs/   (FAQs repository)
http://www.internic.net/ds/dspg01.html   (InterNIC Directory &
Database Services)
http://www.loc.gov/   (U.S. Library of Congress)
http://www.lsoft.com/lists/listref.html   (LISTSERV list reference)
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/   (Lonely Planet Online)
http://sciencenorth.on.ca (Nursall, Alan: Science North: personal
answers to scientific questions: wildlife biology, geology,
meteorolgy, electronics, human physiology, astronomy.)
http://icewall.vianet.on.ca/pages/nursall (Nursall, Alan: alternative
address)
http://www.nosc.mil:80/planet_earth/world_1.html   (Planet Earth
-World Region 1)
http://www.nosc.mil:80/planet_earth/world_2.html   (Planet Earth
-World Region 2)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/index.htm   (Science Daily)
http://science-mag.aaas.org/science/   (Science magazine)
http://www.piperinfo.com/~piper/state/states.html   (U.S. Local
Governments)
http://www.un.org/   (United Nations)
http://www.planet-hawaii.com/global/universy.html   (Universities,
American-1)
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/clas/american-universities.html
(Universities, Amer-2)
http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/cdemello/univ.html   (Universities and
Colleges)
http://www1.whitehouse.gov/WH/Welcome.html   (U.S. White House)
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/   (VolcanoWorld)
http://www-e1c.gnn.com/gnn/wic/wics/index.html   (Whole Internet
Catalog)

9.14  Scripts and Screenwriters/Playwrights Home Pages

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html  (The Children's Literature
Web Guide   - Includes info on movies/tv based on children's books)
http://www.io.org/~cincan/cfs/cfs.htm  (Cyber Film School)
http://www.teleport.com/~cdeemer/scrwriter.html  (Charles Deemer   -
POVs own - the best of sites - info and links)
http://home.cdsnet.net/~nikko11/scripts.htm  (Drew's Scripts-O-Rama -
links to scripts on the Net)
http://www.azstarnet.com/~poewar/writer/writer.html  (John Hewitt's
Writing Resource Center: screenwriting and general writing links and
info)
http://www.hollywoodu.com/  (HFI Cyberspace Film School)
http://hollywoodnetwork.com/Crime  (Hollywood Crimewriting Network)
http://www.hollywoodnetwork.com:80/hn/index.html  (Hollywood Network)
http://www.axsamer.org/producer/sof.htm  (The Megahit Screenplays   -
Analyzes the dramatic and comic structures found in some of the most
popular motion pictures ever produced - part of a book as an
advertisement)
http://metro.turnpike.net/~cyber/writers.htm  (MJ'S Cyberport   -
annoying graphics, but many links to writers resources)
http://www.well.com/user/vertigo/cliches.html  (Movie cliches)
http://www.io.orb.cincan/  (POVs Yvonne Hewett article: Surviving As A
Freelance, on the Cinema Canada Web Page)
http://users.aol.com/blcklab666/home.html  (Screenwriters Nebula
Drive)
http://www.hollywoodnetwork.com:80/hn/writing/screennet.html
(Screenwriters' Network)
http://Screenwriters.com/TV/  (Screenwriters' Network II)
http://screenwriter.com/insider/news.html  (Screenwriters On-Line)
http://www.teleport.com/~cdeemer/columns.html  (Screenwriting Columns
- links)
http://www.scripts-onscreen.com  (Scripts-OnScreen   - A feature film
and television script advertising and listing service)
http://www.vantagepoint.com/ghayes/Lists/screen.html  (The SCRNWRIT
Mailing List - the digest version on the web each day for those who
want to sample this high-volume list before subscribing:  Note:
SCRNWRIT FAQ - FAQ for screenwriters prepared by SCRNWRIT list owner
(and POV member) Jack Stanley: GOPHER to PANAM.EDU Select # 3.
Societies, Groups, and Discussion Lists. Then select # 2 Motion
Picture & TV Screenwriting Discussion List. Next select # 2 FAQ)
http://www.fpa.pdx.edu/depts/fpa/playwriting/intro.html  (Richard
Toscan's "The Playwriting Seminars"   - some info on screenwriting,
too)
http://www.best.com/~market/fadein/  (The Writers Network/FADE IN.
Table of Contents of a magazine for screenwriters by this script
doctoring organization with some of the articles online)

*********************************************************

10   END CREDITS
-----------------------

Complaints, criticisms, suggestions etc, to Charlie Harris:
[e-mail]

Many thanks (in alphabetical order) to:
Alex: [e-mail]
Chris Barlas: [e-mail]
Steven Blacher
David Brager
Richard Broke
Mike Casswell: [e-mail]
Huw Colingbourne
Marnie L. Froberg: [e-mail]
Yvonne Hewett:  http://www.mandy.com/hew001.html
         [e-mail]
TJ
Laurence A. Moore: [e-mail]
Marty Norden
Pat
Beth Porter: [e-mail]
AmyWriter

And to all those who sympathised with my/our plight and lent support.
If I've missed anyone out, please tell me.

(c) Charlie Harris 1996

(This FAQ may be copied in whole or in part for non-profit making
purposes, provided adequate credit is given to those who helped
towards it)

--
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Charlie Harris - Footloose Films

Please send me an email of your follow-up

[e-mail]

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