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- SUBJECT: N-1-4-016.30
-
- Dee Knight, DMIS Customer Services Section
- <dee.knight@undp.org>
- Malcolm Chapman, Coordinator, UNDP Internet Server
- <malcolm.chapman@undp.org>
-
- UNDP: A global two-way information system via the Internet
-
- Have you ever wondered how you could find someone who works in the
- United Nations, and then send a message to them? Or find out some
- information about the UN and what it does? Many people inside the
- UN system have, and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has found
- a partial solution, using the Internet.
-
- UNDP has linked its internal e-mail system (Higgins) to an Internet
- gateway, and established an Internet Server as part of its New York
- Headquarters' central LAN services. Through the Internet Server,
- UNDP is beginning to make a contribution to Internet's global
- information resources.
-
- You can use "gopher" software to access the UNDP Internet server's
- host at nywork1.undp.org. You'll see a menu of information:
-
- - The UN, what it is, what it does. Here you'll find
- descriptions of the UN System's Structure, addresses of
- Country Offices, Inter-Agency Bodies, Special Missions,
- Refugee Camps, UN Info Centers, Online Databases (by name
- only at this point), Organizational descriptions, Member
- Countries & Missions, Associated Bodies & Programmes, Info
- Services, Databases, Applications Software, Sales Offices,
- Collections of UN System Publications, Resources including
- UN Volunteers, Fellowships & Scholarships, Personnel, Goods
- & Services & Subcontracts... and a whole menu on Development
- Activities & Capital Financing Activities with lots of
- tables. (Courtesy of ACCIS, the Advisory Committee for the
- Coordination of Information Systems, based in Geneva).
-
- - Documents from the recent UN Conference on Development
- (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro (documents are listed by
- title, or you can do a free-text search);
-
- - A UNDP Directory (with phone numbers and Internet
- addresses).
-
- You can also query a "who is" facility to find out how to reach
- someone you think works in UNDP--even if you're not 100 percent
- sure of their whole name. Send a message to whois@undp.org and in
- the text of the message just type "who is ___", with some letters
- from the person's name (first or last). The message is received by
- the UNDP Internet server, which conducts a search of the internal
- E-mail list. In a few seconds, you'll see a list of "hits" with
- their phone numbers and Internet addresses. You can then follow
- through with a message that will show up in your recipient's
- "inbox" on the internal system.
-
- UNDP's "development partners" can request an account on the
- headquarters Internet server and dial in direct to access
- information stored there, helpful to those who do not have their
- own Internet access vehicle. Available information includes a
- growing array of "General UNDP Infobases". These include the
- "Country Field Office" directory, listing all staff in offices
- around the world, plus address, phone and E-mail information.
-
- More "Infobases" of general interest will be available online soon
- through the Internet Server. To see them, just logon!
-