On-line activists will find many hours fascinating reading in the immense amounts of information being put on line by the Clinton administration.
The information revolution is spurring the big software producers to scramble after Internet support in their operating systems.
For example, Novell will offer a program called Corsair, expected to provide Internet access for NetWare users. Another Novell program, Ferret, will offer users the ability to click a mouse on familiar symbols such as books or buildings in a simulated city to call up data from inside their own company or over external networks.
Why do the makers of operating systems bother with the Internet? Well, when IBM puts into the next version of OS/2 (Warp) numerous Internet connectivity tools (such as the means to establish a SLIP connection plus an integrated suite of Internet optimised software for e-mail, news group readings, gopher, FTP, WWW and Telnet clients), the software will offer navigation via pre-configured icons to popular Internet locations, probably through IBM's Global Network.
The IBM Global Network is an international voice/data network, use of which will undoubtedly cost money. Therein lies the rub. You will buy the hardware and software navigation tools relatively inexpensively, but on-line time will be (depending how long you stay jacked in) a costly business.
The same "inexpensive hardware, expensive on-line time" model will likely apply increasingly to Apple's long-awaited eWorld (a Macintosh oriented on-line virtual community) and NewtonMail.
The eWorld service is planned to be launched in the UK this month (October), with our own launch not far off.
So that is the trend. If you are interested in seeing how existing PC manufacturers are setting up Internet navigation facilities (access to which is built into the machines they sell from the outset), jack into US PC assembler and reseller firm PC Express's ExpressNet at http://www.pcxpress.com:8086/
This leads you to impressive sites such as the Planet Earth Home Page (http://white.nosc.mil/future_unix.html) and many others which provide complex, good-looking graphics to represent a wealth of information, software and well-constructed Internet tours.
PC Express claims to be the first PC manufacturer and seller to "bundle full, easy-to-use Internet access" with its systems. Their further step, to provide all PC users on the Internet with "an icon-based navigational tool to PC Internet resources", has been particularly well implemented.
You can get comprehensive information about PC Express and its partner in the Internet tour enterprise, Netcom, at http://www.pcxpress.com:8086/about/about.html
The "What's New With NCSA Mosaic and the WWW" homepage (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/whats-new.html) is an excellent place to find good new World Wide Web sites to visit.
Among the best most recent offerings are:
The CIA World Factbook has been available on CD-ROM for some time but is now accessible via the Internet.
It will not teach you how to fire an AK-47 assault rifle behind enemy lines or set you up to emulate Harrison Ford in "Clear and Present Danger", but does provide an excellent annual, unclassified collection of basic demographic, economic, political and military info on countries round the planet.
The CIA's World Factbook 1993 (published in 1994) is now available at the URL: gopher://umslvma.umsl.edu:70/11/library/govdocs/wf93
The URL for the latest version of the World Factbook will always be:
gopher://umslvma.umsl.edu:70/11/library/govdocs/wf93/wflatest
It is also worth noting that a gigantic amount of financial and global development information (agriculture, transport, politics etc in countries all over the planet) is available from the World Bank (http://www.worldbank.org).
One way of finding what you want on the Internet is through keyword indexes. To explore some examples, check out:
http://fuzine.mt.cs.cmu.edu/mlm/lycos-home.html
or
http://cui_www.unige.ch/w3catalog
If, for example, you were interested in finding out about the O J Simpson case, a search would return URLs such as http://www.cs.odu.edu/~cashman/OJ.html or ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/carasso/www/oj.html which even include images.
On-line activists will find many hours fascinating reading in the immense amounts of information being put on line by the Clinton administration.
Eric Wainwright from the National Library of Australia (e.wainwright@nla.gov.au) recently pointed out that in keeping with President Clinton's drive to create a new national information infrastructure (NII), he has circulated two papers: last May's "Putting the Information Infrastructure to Work", and now, "The Information Infrastructure: Realizing Society's Goals"
The latest is available at gopher iitf.doc.gov - choose "1. Hot Off the Press! New Items", then "1. The Info Infra: Reaching Society's Goals" where you'll find options such as: "Arts, Humanities, and Culture" and "Supporting Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice".
Meanwhile, a stylish Japanese World Wide Web page has been started by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication, at http://www.mpt.go.jp/
The colorful graphic options are a very good looking way to access some excellent information such as the Japan Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications' Council Report : Reforms toward the Intellectually Creative Society of the 21st Century. You can access this direct at http://www.mpt.go.jp/Report/Report1993No5/contents.html
But if you're intent on zeroing in on our own political scene, try subscribing to the Austral-PolSci-L electronic forum at ANU. Send e-mail to majordomo@coombs.anu.edu.au with the message: subscribe Austral-PolSci-L
Natural resources investors should find a swag of useful information on The Mining Channel, a WWW home page which gives people information on mining and exploration companies.
The URL is http://www.wimsey.com/Magnet/mc/index28.html which guides you to information about publicly trading mining companies on global stock exchanges including full reports, the latest news releases and the current closing quotes of participating companies.
Jason Romney works on information law at Australian solicitors Price Brent, writes a weekly column about the Internet and World Wide Web for The Age newspaper, is theatre critic for the Herald Sun newspaper and co-hosts a live computer radio show on 102.7 3RRR-FM on Mondays at 7.00pm.
His e-mail address is jromney@werple.mira.net.au
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