
The Internet Business Journal
     Commercial Opportunities in the Networking Age

The first and foremost information source for the
commercial Internet community.

Volume 1,  Number 5 - November 1993

Note: A free PostScript version of THE INTERNET BUSINESS JOURNAL 
(December 1993, 1.6) is now available. 

FTP to nstn.ns.ca
Directory: /pub/internet-business-journal/
Files: ibj6_1-11.ps and ibj6_12-19.ps

Please note that the pages may not print properly (or at all) on some printers. 

For subscription information, contact Mstrange@Fonorola.Net

VIP -- Gopher to gopher.fonorola.net for the official IBJ Gopher archive.

Electronic version featuring the full text. Note that The
Internet Business Journal is a hardcopy (print)
publication. This is a special free online issue. This
sample may be copied an unlimited number of times,
archived in any format and distributed in any medium, so
long as no fee is charged. This freely available
electronic edition has been designed to be compatible
with electronic reader devices for the print challenged,
therefore, no extraneous characters, lines, or tags have
been used.

New Editor

The publishers are pleased to announce a new Editor-in-
Chief for The Internet Business Journal --  Aneurin
Bosley. Mr. Bosley will continue to guide the growth of
IBJ into a resource-orientated, practical, and easy-to-
read survey of the latest trends, resources, tools, and
strategies for both the new and experienced business user
of the Internet.

CONTENTS IN BRIEF:

Advertising on the Internet
  This article discusses some of the pitfalls that
advertisers will encounter when they venture onto the
Internet.

Satellite-Delivered Usenet Newsfeed
  Home satellite receivers are now available which can
deliver Usenet news from over 6000 groups right to the
user's home. Ideal for those without access to all
newsgroups.

Software on the Net
  Documentation on eight useful pieces of publicly
available software that will help you use the Net more
effectively.

The Newspaper of the Future
  The electronic newspaper can offer many advantages over
its paper counterpart. Here is one idea about what
newspapers may look like in the future.

Government Online
  A selection of eleven government-oriented resources for
research and general interest.

Industry Profile: O'Reilly and Associates
  An overview of one of the Internet's biggest publishing
success stories.

The Essential Internet:
The Emergence of Electric Gaia
An article about the rise of a new global culture where
time, space, and personal identity are redefined.

Resources for Business, Commerce and Industry
  Twenty-four Internet-accessible resources and services
for the networked business.

Internet Publishing News
  Fourteen items of interest to Internet-facilitated
publishers.

How to Use the Internet
  A new section documenting helpful guides and discovery-
oriented tools available on the Internet.

The Merger - Bell and TCI
  An analysis of the highly publicized merger of two
industry giants --  Bell Atlantic and TCI.

Articles:

Advertising on the Internet

Advertising on the Internet is a new regular column by
Michael Strangelove, publisher of The Internet Business
Journal, and author of the new book, "How to Advertise on
the Internet: An Introduction to Internet-Facilitated
Marketing." Advertising on the Internet will examine
cultural issues for Internet advertisers; explain tools,
tips, and trends in Internet-facilitated marketing; and
review the variety of advertising that appears on the
Internet, both good and bad. The focus will be on
informing the business community of the responsible and
effective use of the Internet as a marketing and
communication tool --  for what is good advertising if
not good communication?

Advertising on the Internet is not a new phenomenon --
it has been going on for a long time in a variety of
fashions: passive, active, unsolicited, direct mailing,
subtle hints, bold statements, and free samples. Yet most
advertisers will fail in their initial attempt at
Internet-facilitated advertising. This is not at all
surprising given that most advertising in any medium is
woefully ineffective, mind-bogglingly boring, and
uncreative at best --  deceptive and annoying at worst.

Why will most advertisers fail when they succumb to the
seduction of the virgin fields of the Internet?
Traditional advertising will fail to achieve results on
the Internet because this virtual community is oriented
towards content. In contrast, advertisers usually sell
through promoting image and style --  broad archetypes
delivered to mass audiences. But the language of the
Internet, for the majority of its population, and for
some time to come, is low ASCII (Aa-Zz, 1-9 text plus a
few miscellaneous characters). More than being a mainly
text-based environment, the Internet is first and
foremost an oral culture, where the keyboard mediates the
spoken word to a complex matrix of subcultures.
Sensitivity to Internet culture will define success for
any business entering into this global matrix.

The business world is going to have to learn a new
language when it communicates to the Internet community -
-  the language of content-based, interactive, community-
orientated dialogue. Unidirectional pontification coming
from the lofty heights of corporate sales and marketing
offices will only alienate the typical Internet user. To
be accepted by the majority of Internet users, a business
will need to participate in the virtual communities they
wish to reach. This means that business must be willing
and prepared to enter into dialogue in an appropriate
manner on the appropriate forums. Unlike any other medium
familiar to advertisers, the Internet is fully bi-
directional. Businesses must be prepared to answer for
their products or services if they are less than 100%
satisfactory. The Internet user will not hesitate to make
their complaints known to both the offending business and
to the rest of the Internet community!

For the immediate future, the costs of Internet-
facilitated advertising will not be associated with
expensive visual productions, but with the labour
required to dialogue with the desired market areas found
within over five thousand discussion forums. This labour
factor will become a critical consideration for truly
responsible, responsive, and effective Internet
advertising as the staggering Internet growth rate pushes
these numbers to tens of thousands of forums and hundreds
of millions of users over the next decade.

For quite some time to come, the Internet will not
represent a mass market such as TV where content is
controlled and packaged to a limited number of predefined
and demographically homogenous audiences consisting of
millions of viewers. There are no mass markets on the
Internet --  only micro communities with distinct
histories, rules, and concerns. The challenge for the
Internet-facilitated business is to find a way to reach
these communities on their terms, respecting their local
customs.

Watch this column for specific techniques on using the
Internet to engage in that unique form of business
communication called advertising.


Satellite-Delivered Usenet Newsfeed

by Duane J. Dubay djd@pagesat.net

Much of the on-line world continues to strive for
connectivity with the Internet and, understandably, the
features most desired are e-mail and Usenet Newsgroups.
Most of the user population wants access to the Usenet
Newsgroups and seeks a volume-oriented, economical source
for the 6000 or so current newsgroups arranged in more
than 80 categories. Many users gain access via a UUCP
connection to a host computer to download the 50 to 60
megabytes a  day posted to the newsgroups. However, even
at 14.4 Kbps the costs of downloading such a volume can
be quite high. Also, the pattern of the data transfer is
extremely asymmetrical, that is, the groups themselves
are made up of various postings from individuals on
thousands of systems around the world. While the data
being downloaded into one particular site may run 45 to
50 megabytes daily with peaks to 90 megabytes, the daily
output from that site may be nominal (a few response
postings, or so).

Enter PageSat Inc. of Palo Alto, CA (415-424-0384).
PageSat has been in the satellite data broadcast business
for a number of years offering satellite distribution of
paging traffic to national paging companies. PageSat is
also an Internet gateway which offers full turnkey
installations for 56k and T1 rate Internet Connections,
including services such as E-mail, Telnet, FTP, Archie,
Gopher, IRC, and Usenet.

The satellite-delivered Usenet newsfeed is a melding of
both of these offerings. What PageSat has done is to
strip-off the Usenet newsgroups and multiplex them into
the satellite uplink on a dedicated channel separate from
the paging traffic. The newsgroups are then bounced off
the satellite and delivered to the receiver and
ultimately to the desktop in a continuous 9600 bps
stream, seven days-a-week, 24 hours-a-day.

The data is received at PageSat's facility via leased
line Internet connections which use several NNTP feeds
with high speed UUCP dial back-up. The data is then
processed, spooled, and fed from the UNIX computers into
the uplink stream to the satellite.

Receiver hardware consists of a small receive antenna,
the satellite receiver itself, and a special satellite
modem. The Ku band antenna itself can be as small as 18"
and includes a high stability, low noise blockconverter
required for signal reception. A 50' segment of RG59 coax
is included and brought indoors to the PCSAT 300(tm)
Satellite Receiver. The signal is selected to the proper
channel using dip switches mounted on the front panel of
the receiver. There is an RJ11 telephone jack on the back
of the receiver where a standard 4 conductor RJ11
telephone cable is run to the UDI-2 Universal Data
Interface. The UDI-2 is similar to a v.29 G3 fax modem.
It receives an audio input from the PCSAT 300 and
demodulates it, and converts it to a asynchronous data
stream. The data is then fed into the host as standard
async ASCII text uncompressed at 9600 Kbps via user
supplied standard RS232 cable.

Software is also supplied with the system that writes the
incoming feed to the hard drive. UNIX and DOS platforms
are supported and there is a version that runs under
Windows. The incoming Usenet newsgroups are written in
standard r-news batches and are non-censored and
completely unedited. Any 286 or greater processor running
DOS 3.1 or higher can be used.

A complete system can be purchased for as low as $1200.
The first year of the feed is free and a flat monthly
rate of $30 is initiated in the second year. While the
PageSat satellite-delivered Usenet newsfeed is not for
everyone it can be a boon to anyone who is not within a
local call of a newsfeed, or cannot find a source for all
the desired newsgroups. It is remarkably easy to install
and the dish size makes it extremely unobtrusive. It is
the latest in satellite data broadcast technology.


Selected software available in the public domain
  Software on the Internet  ... free  :-)

Hytelnet for Macintosh version 6.6
Hytelnet for the Macintosh version 6.6 is now available.
FTP: ftp.usask.ca
Directory: /pub/hytelnet/mac/Hytelnet6.6.sea.hqx


Cello Winsock alpha r6
Cello Winsock alpha r6 is now available. Cello is a
multipurpose Internet browser which can access data from
WWW, Gopher, FTP, and CSO/ph/qi servers, as well as X.500
directory servers, WAIS servers, HYTELNET, etc., through
external gateways.
FTP: ftp.law.cornell.edu
Directory: /pub/LII/Cello/winsock_alpha
Send queries to mosaic-mac@ncsa.uiuc.edu.

NCSA Mosaic for the Macintosh
This is the Beta 4 release of NCSA Mosaic for the
Macintosh. To run this tool you will need the following;
System 7.0 (or higher), MacTCP (2.0.2 is preferred) and
a network connection (Apple Remote Access can be used
through a modem for the network connection).
FTP: ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu (141.142.20.50)
Directory: /Mac/Mosaic/NCSAMosaicMac.B4.sit.hqx.
Send queries to mosaic-mac@ncsa.uiuc.edu.

NCSA Mosaic for MS Windows
NCSA Mosaic is a distributed hypermedia system designed
for information retrieval and discovery over the
Internet. Mosaic is capable of accessing data via
protocols such as Gopher, WWW, FTP and NNTP (Usenet News)
natively, and other data services such as Archie, WAIS,
and Veronica through gateways.
FTP: ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu (141.142.20.50)
Directory: /PC/Mosaic

InfoPop/Windows (release 1.12)
InfoPop/Windows is a WINHELP (hypertext) guide to the
Internet, Compuserve, BBS systems and more.
FTP: ftp.gmu.edu
Directory: pub/library

Hypercard Toolkit
At-Your-Service 1.0 is a HyperCard communications package
that provides a toolkit for installing self contained
communications capabilities into new or existing stacks.
The installed facilities provide a fast, simple and
secure way of launching multiple, simultaneous
communication sessions.
FTP: mac.archive.umich.edu
Directory: /mac/hypcard/mactools
or
FTP: sumex-aim.stanford.edu
Directory: /info-mac/card/at-your-service-10.hqx
For more information, contact Francis Peter Sainsbury,
francis.sainsbury@lib.utas.edu.au

A Windows Sockets Gopher WinSock Gopher Version 0.9f
WSGopher is a Gopher client for Microsoft Windows 3.1 and
Windows Sockets (or WinSock) version 1.1. It was designed
from the ground up to take advantage of, and build up,
Windows and WinSock.
FTP: sunsite.unc.edu
Directory: /pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-windows/winsock/apps


Search and Retrieve Library Software
The National Library of Canada has made a suite of
software publicly available. It conforms to the ISO
Search and Retrieve Standard and was developed by
Software Kinetics Ltd..
FTP: ftp.nlc-bnc.ca
Directory: /public/irtool/target/origin
or
FTP: owl.nstn.ns.ca
Directory: /pub/irtool.target.origin


The Newspaper of the Future

by Brad Templeton info@clarinet.com

The press is full of stories about the commercial
potential of the Internet, but few realize that a small
number of companies have been conducting business on the
Internet for several years, even during the period when
most believed it was non-commercial.

The Internet has been around in various forms for some
time. Its immediate predecessor, the ARPANET, was funded
by the Department of Defense, and was primarily a
research network. ARPANET mailing lists were the first
form of electronic conferencing. Since then, electronic
conferencing in its various forms --  bulletin boards,
on-line forums, mailing lists and USENET newsgroups --
has become one of the most popular and important network
applications.

USENET newsgroups have become the de facto standard for
discussion and community on the Internet. They developed
on the Internet as part of a co-operative effort sending
messages over phone-lines with modems, and in some cases
over the ARPANET. The history of USENET, along with a
good understanding of the real nature of the Internet,
allowed ClariNet Communications Corp., to be among the
first to do business on the Internet.

While many today continue to believe that the Internet is
non-commercial, simply because the NSFNet backbone and a
few regional networks have acceptable use policies
(AUPs), this is inaccurate. Commerce in support of
research and education has always been allowed and even
expected. When the NSFNet was first envisioned, one of
its declared purposes was to allow researchers to access
remote supercomputers and other specialized resources.
Nobody expected that supercomputer time to be free.

ClariNet began its commercial operations in two ways.
Since ClariNet delivered an electronic newspaper in the
non-proprietary USENET format, it could deliver the news
to sites over the phone-lines, using modem protocols such
as UUCP that already worked well for sending USENET-style
messages.

On the Internet, ClariNet started by providing news to
universities and major research labs. Giving educators
and researchers the pathways they needed to buy useful
information was part of the charter of the network.
Nonetheless, there was some initial resistance. Customers
would often call (or more commonly e-mail) asking how
ClariNet could offer a for-pay service over what they
viewed as a free non-commercial net.

In offering an electronic news service over the Internet,
ClariNet exploited one of its most important features --
permanent virtual connectivity. The Internet gives the
user the illusion that the information of interest is
actually on her desktop, not somewhere far away and
difficult to access. Even if the speed of an Internet
connection is slow, this permanent connectivity allows
information to flow unattended into a computer.
Subscribers do not need to connect to ClariNet's
computers to read the news, rather it is streamed into
their machines without any effort on their part, and then
read directly on their machines and LANs using the
subscriber's choice of reading software. The result is
the instantaneous access that only a local application
brings, and the result of that is positive user response.
ClariNet has grown dramatically since its inception four
years ago. It now services over 40,000 regular readers on
sites of all sorts, mostly through the Internet. Today,
the NSFNet Internet backbone runs on the ANS network,
which also allows commercial traffic. In addition, many
regional networks (including the ones ClariNet is
connected to) allow all types of traffic and are members
of the Commercial Internet Exchange.

By working within the Internet community, ClariNet has
achieved most of its growth through the word-of-mouth
that is the essence of a networked community. People on
the network are more in touch with one another than in
any other type of market. This has consequences both good
and bad. Word about a new product from a small company
can spread quickly and widely if there is excitement;
conversely, problems can be reported with equal speed and
breadth. This requires companies on the Net to be
constantly on their toes when it comes to customer
service.

ClariNet's growth can also be attributed to a growing
consumer awareness of the need for newspapers to go
electronic. Today's newspapers eat away forests of trees
in an effort to give readers the news a full day after
the electronic media have already presented it.
Right now, newspapers are valuable because they offer
more depth in a format that is more convenient for many
purposes than radio and TV. The electronic newspaper
changes all that. It's an ideal network application
because it offers all the advantages of the print
newspaper (including, eventually, its portability) with
the speed of the electronic media. Instead of shipping
data in trucks, the electronic newspaper ships data over
wires - the way it is supposed to travel. Currently
progress is being made towards a multimedia electronic
newspaper that will be able to deliver higher-quality
photographs, audio and video as well as text. And all
this takes place without making a negative impact on the
environment through the consumption and waste of paper,
ink, and fuel.

The benefits don't stop there, however. While hypertext
(text that contains easily followed links to other text
and other media) has been discussed a great deal, serious
hypertext applications have been few in number. The news
cries out for hypertext and other forms of linking,
grouping and classification that are not possible on
paper.

The newspaper of the future will offer a selection of
text, headlines and pictures, but these will not be the
static objects they are in print. As the reader delves
into one story, he may be able to access more photos, or
hear from the participants. One avenue might lead to TV
coverage from NBC or CNN or other organizations. Another
avenue will lead to background information, and perhaps
most importantly, to the original statements of those
involved in the story and their response to the coverage.
No one will be too small to be heard directly if there is
public interest in what they have to say.  This means the
end of the one-sided medium, and a reduction in some of
the extended influence the press has today.

There is also no need for readers to get their
information from only one source. As noted above, readers
might find a menu of video and written reports on a
specific topic, all from different news agencies. They
might view one or several of those, and there are a
number of different solutions which can allow for fair
compensation to the providers of the information without
requiring the subscriber to deal with each one
independently. Information packagers (such as ClariNet,
which buys almost all of its coverage from other
traditional sources such as newswires) and editors will
build services for the subscriber providing them with
high quality interfaces and access to news from different
sources.

Providing professional information in this manner is
crucial to the information explosion that the world is
experiencing. There is already no shortage of material to
read on the networks. ClariNet has built a successful
product by providing material, written by professional
reporters that is organized so that people can access it
with ease. ClariNet takes the broad spectrum of news
found in a daily newspaper and places it in one or more
of 200 different categories (done as USENET newsgroups).
Readers can use the newsgroups to build a personal
profile of the information and topics they find
interesting. Categorization is both by priority (so that
people can identify  front page news in various areas)
and by topic, so that people can follow all the news in
topics of interest to them, ranging from computer
industry sectors to corporate mergers to women's rights.
There is still a long way to go, and as the popularity of
the electronic newspaper concept grows, fancier and more
labour-intensive features will come into play. Editorial
work will become the key aspect of news delivery, with
editors filtering, classifying and adding useful links to
the information surplus.

As an added bonus, the distinction between local and
global news will blur, with each reader having access to
news and views from all over the world, and editorial
selections of all perspectives. While people have written
about the Global Village envisioned by Canadian media
analyst Marshall McLuhan, that village has been seen only
as presented by the economies of scale of the mass media
and their sometimes self-fulfilling perceptions of the
interests of their readership. For example, the US media
are known for under-reporting international news, yet the
international newsgroups on ClariNet are among the most
widely read.

In the past, newspapers have had to decide what, among
all the news, was fit to print. Today electronic
newspapers can truly provide all the news before it's
printed, and classify it so that readers find just what
they want. A major change in the nature of the news media
is just beginning, and the Internet is the place that is
giving birth to, and will nurture, that change.

Brad Templeton is president of ClariNet Communications
Corp.


Government Online -- selected government resources

Internet Resources:  US Federal Government Information
The fifth edition of this guide, compiled by Maggie
Parhamovich (magoo@nevada.edu) is now available. The
guide includes Telnet, Gopher and FTP sites containing
government information The guide is divided into three
sections: Internet Sites, Library Catalogs and Discussion
Lists. Internet sites are listed by agency or topic. For
each agency a short description of what is available is
provided as are access instructions. The 33 topics range
from agriculture to education, congress to the EPA, the
FDA and NASA.
FTP: nevada.edu
Directory: /liaison/

Library of Congress Information System (LOCIS)
LOCIS includes more than 15 million catalog records for
books, microforms, music, audiovisuals, manuscripts,
microcomputer software, serials, maps, name and subject
references, and in-process items. LOCIS also contains
citations to federal legislation (1973-- ), copy-right
registrations and legal documents (1978-- ), braille and
recorded materials for those unable to read print,
information about amendments and the complete text of
most public laws (1982-- ), selected foreign legislation
(1976-- ) and foreign legal references (1989-- ), and a
listing of 13,000 organizations that provide information,
arranged by subject. LOCIS is a great source for
addresses which can be found in the Congressional
Directory. Telnet: locis.loc.gov

Government Information Locator Service
A draft document is available regarding the establishment
of an agency-based Government Information Locator Service
(GILS) intended to help the public locate and access
public information resources throughout the US Federal
government.
FTP: ftp.cni.org
Directory: /pub/docs/gils/
File: gils1017.txt

Canadian Tech. Policy
ISCNEWS will distribute the News Releases and Fact Sheets
issued to the public by the Communications Canada section
of Industry and Science Canada. The News Releases are
information regarding Canadian government communications
policy. The Fact Sheets contain information about
developments in communications technology and
applications in Canada. To subscribe to the list, send e-
mail to: listserv@debra.dgbt.doc.ca
in the body of the message write the command:
subscribe iscnews Firstname Lastname

Industry, Science Canada Gazette Archive
Archives of Gazette Notices are available via FTP and
Gopher
FTP: debra.dgbt.doc.ca
Directory: /pub/isc/iscnews
Gopher: debra.dgbt.doc.ca (port 70)

National Health Security Act
Instructions for retrieving the Health Security Act, and
the President's Report to the American People.

e-mail: health@ace.esusda.gov
no message required

The full formatted text of the National Health Security
Act is available on Sunsite via FTP and Gopher. Related
texts such as the President's report on health care and
others are also available.

Gopher: gopher.unc.edu
Select:13. National Health
Security Plan

FTP: ftp.sunsite.unc.edu
Directory: /pub/academic/political-science/Health-
Security-Act/

Travel Warnings and Consular Information Sheets
Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department
decides, based on addressing all relevant information, to
recommend that Americans avoid travel to a certain
country. Consular Information Sheets are available on
every country in the world and include information such
as the location of the US embassy or consulate in the
subject country, unusual immigration practices, health
conditions, minor political disturbances, unusual
currency and entry regulations, crime and security
information, and drug penalties.

As the State Department releases updates to Travel
Warnings and Consular Information sheets, a
representative of the US State Department Bureau of
Consular Affairs posts them to the travel-advisories
mailing list.

To subscribe to the travel-advisories mailing list e-
mail: travel-advisories-request@stolaf.edu
in the body of the message write
subscribe travel-advisories

Archives of past postings are available via the following
methods:
Gopher: gopher.stolaf.edu
Directory: /Internet Resources/US-State-Department-
Travel-Advisories

FTP: ftp.stolaf.edu
Directory: /pub/travel-advisories/advisories

E-mail retrieval:
E-mail: ftpbymail@stolaf.edu
command: Help

Hawaii State Legislature
Here is a sample menu of the information now available by
Telnet at the Hawaiian State Legislature.

1 - Legislative Documents & Keyword Search
2 - Legislative Timetable
3 - Legislative Information & Directories
4 - How a Bill Becomes Law
5 - How to Participate in the Legislative Process
6 - Digest of Senate and House Bills
7 - 1993 Special Session Information
8 - ACCESS Net
9 - Bills Pending, Signed or Vetoed by the Governor
10 - Energy and Environmental Summit Information
99 - Exit System

Telnet: uhcc.hawaii.edu
No login required


Technology for Economic Growth
President Clinton's speech to Congress about his
Technology for Economic Growth program is on the
Internet.

Gopher: gopher.unc.edu
Select: National Information Infrastructure in the main
Gopher menu

FTP: ftp.sunsite.unc.edu
Directory: /pub/academic/political-science/internet-
related/
File: technology-initiative-summary

Accounting Office and U.S. Supreme Court Documents
The Cleveland Freenet has made available, to all of its
members, documents from the Accounting Office.
Additionally, opinions of U.S. Supreme Court documents
made available through Project Hermes can be accessed by
the Freenet's members. To get a free account at the
Cleveland Freenet contact the Cleveland Freenet.

Telnet: hela.ins.cwru.edu

Or contact Project Hermes:
aa584@cleveland.freenet.edu

Privacy Report
The US Government Accounting Office has issued the report
Communications Privacy: Federal Policy and Actions, which
addresss privacy, cryptographic standards, and the FBI's
legislative proposal regarding telephone systems that use
digital communications technology. To access:
FTP: cu.nih.gov
Directory: /NIH/
File: OSI-94-2.TXT


Industry Profile: O'Reilly & Associates
  by Kevin M. Savetz savetz@rahul.net

O'Reilly & Associates had its beginnings in 1978, when it
was simply a technical writing consulting company. Today,
O'Reilly & Associates is the leading publisher of books
about UNIX and other open systems. O'Reilly's ubiquitous
books on UNIX and the Internet have dominated and
continue to dominate the market. Among its other feats,
O'Reilly & Associates has created a definite Internet
presence for itself. Although there are thousands of
businesses on the Net, only a few have made themselves as
accessible as ORA.COM. Rather than simply setting-up an
electronic mail address for orders or technical support,
O'Reilly has continually broken new ground by offering
FTP-able source codes to accompany its books, a gopher
server, electronic product updates and a new
WorldWideWeb-based publishing experiment.

Why has O'Reilly invested so much energy in the Internet?
"Putting information out on the Net wasn't something we
thought a lot about at first," notes Tim O'Reilly,
president of ORA. "It just seemed the right thing to do.
One of the things that has always distinguished us as a
publisher is that we come from the technical community
that we publish for. It seemed like the obvious thing to
put examples of our books up for anonymous FTP."  This
growing Internet presence began to be used in unexpected
ways --  the company received book proposals, unsolicited
e-mail, and gained the ability to monitor the Usenet for
questions about its books.

O'Reilly's attitude toward marketing is, no doubt, a
major contributing factor to ORA's success in the
information age. "We believe that the best way to sell
any product is to provide lots of useful information
about it."  (Indeed, the company's catalog - more akin to
a magazine than a catalog - is rife with Internet news,
tips, book excerpts and detailed descriptions of
products.) " Then we started up a listserv, so we could
send out a lot of this information to customers
automatically, whenever a new book came out."  One
current method of information distribution is the ORA-
news mailing list that, according to O'Reilly, has many
thousands of subscribers.

ORA's remarkable presence on the Net continues to grow.
Says O'Reilly "Once gopher became widely available, it
made sense to make available our information through this
means."  ORA's latest on-line publishing experiment, the
Global Network Navigator, was introduced October 1st,
1993. With reference to this latest experiment O'Reilly
points out: "One thing that's very important is that we
provide a lot of valuable information. We're not just
trying to peddle our wares, but leading with stuff that
people really want."

How is this tactic working for the company? The Gopher
and FTP servers are accessed hundreds of times daily.
When ORA introduced the Global Network Navigator, they
received thousands of subscription requests in the first
few days. "We think our Net presence is an important
channel for our business. But because there aren't yet
really good ways to order products directly over the net,
it's hard to quantify just how great the impact is in
dollars and cents.

"We're absolutely convinced that the information we
provide over the Net (and the word of mouth service we
get from Net users passing along recommendations to
others) is one of the most effective publicity methods
available."  This tact, combined with the speed of the
Internet and the public's insatiable desire for
knowledge, does present a minor problem though:
"Bookstores are always amazed when people come streaming
in looking for a book they haven't even received yet, or
have just received. This is always particularly amazing
to the international resellers. They haven't become
accustomed to the "same day"  notification that e-mail
provides. Our old distributors were always getting caught
without books in hand. We've got a new network in place,
so we have books overseas by air now within a couple of
days. That's still not soon enough, but it's a lot better
than six weeks,"  reports O'Reilly.
Will businesses like O'Reilly soon need to have
information servers on-line to be competitive? "That's
probably going too far,"  O'Reilly says, "but I would say
that it's certainly a source of competitive advantage."
Certainly for a technical business like ORA, it couldn't
hurt.  Or, could it? Net users have heard the term
"commercialization of the Internet"  seemingly hundreds
of times in recent months and their concerns for the
future of the Net are shared by O'Reilly. "One thing that
we worried about some in the beginning was the
Appropriate Use Policies (AUP) on the Net. Those are
breaking down now, but in any event, I was heartened
fairly early on by a conversation with Steve Wolff of the
National Science Foundation (NSF). He pointed out the NSF
AUP approved activities that were in support of research
and education, and added "If what you guys do isn't in
support of research and education, I don't know what is!"

O'Reilly also worries about businesses running into
trouble by treating the Internet like an enormous, free
billboard or junk-mail service, an approach that has
already caused Internauts to severely flame several
businesses. Cautions O'Reilly, "If people [businesses]
get on the Net without understanding the net culture, it
could actually work against them."  O'Reilly offers three
simple rules for businesses thinking about advertising on
the Net: (1)  It is unacceptable to send-out unsolicited
information. (2) When information is provided, it is
important that it be prefaced with a concise summary,
which can be followed-up with more detail if requested.
(3) Information provided must be of significant value.
"If you look at most advertising, you'll see how little
real information it includes. The words are designed to
say as little as possible. We always try to be as direct
and honest in our promotional writing as we are in our
books."

O'Reilly & Associates has released some truly innovative
products (everything from the UNIX Power Tools book and
CD to "Smileys,"  a more-or-less complete listing of
digital happy faces :-). But will ORA stick with tried
and true media, or venture into new methods of
publishing? "We've had an effort underway for three or
four years to figure out the right way to do on-line
publishing. We're very aware of the management dictum:
What business are you really in? (If the railroads had
realized that they were in the transportation business
they'd be airlines today.) We're in the information
business, not the book business. We find things that
people want to know, and then we try to inform them in
ways that they find useful.

"We still expect to do a lot with CD-ROM-- more book/disk
software combinations like UNIX Power Tools, and also
information on CD.  But the same technology can be used
to make Internet-based delivery possible as well. It
became clear to us years ago that we needed to figure out
ways to deliver information on-line. Our first product
was a Hypercard stack containing information from UNIX in
a Nutshell and Learning the UNIX Operating System. We
thought it might catch on if Apple's A/UX ever took off.
More than that, it was a way to learn something about on-
line presentation.

 "Dale Dougherty did that original product, and he's been
heading up our  Digital Media Group' ever since. The next
focus of his work was to find ways to put our X books on-
line. We had a lot of workstation vendors (most of whom
ship our X books as documentation) asking us to port our
books to their proprietary documentation systems (Sun's
AnswerBook, IBM Info Explorer)."  Dougherty saw that a
future of maintaining multiple parallel electronic
versions of the book was unappealing, and started a group
to create a common interchange format for on-line
documentation. "That's been a quiet but very influential
effort."  The format, called the Docbook DTD, has been
adopted by USL, Novell, HaL, and has been recommended as
the standard interchange format by the UNIX International
DocSig. HP, Sun and DEC are also supporting it.

"Somewhere in there, we decided to make a travelling
Internet kiosk, which we could use to demo the Internet
at bookstores, and help sell Ed Krol's book, the Whole
Internet User's Guide and Catalog. We originally planned
for the kiosk just to be a raw Internet connection, which
people could use by following the instructions in Ed's
book. But Pei Wei suggested that he could cook up a nifty
lquote point and click' version of the Whole Internet
Catalog.  Instead of typing in long commands to access
Internet services, people could read the on-line catalog,
and then just click a button to access a service they
were interested in. We took one look at that, and said
"That's not a demo, that's a product."

What that project evolved into is a full-fledged
"Internet Information Center"  called the Global Network
Navigator. GNN is a WorldWideWeb-based service that can
be accessed using browsers like NCSA Mosaic,  Cello or
Lynx. In addition to its ground-breaking GNN, O'Reilly
and Associates will continue with more traditional media
as well as Internet tools, CD-ROMs and anything else that
falls into their business of publishing information about
UNIX and the Internet.

To receive product and service news on-line from O'Reilly
& Associates, you can subscribe to the "ora-news"
mailing list. Address an e-mail message to
listproc@online.ora.com and put your name and company
name in the body of the message as: subscribe ora-news
"Your Name"  of "Your Company" .

Kevin Savetz is a writer living in Arcata, California
with his fiancee, his Macintosh, and an increasingly
large number of cats. All of them can be reached via e-
mail at savetz@rahul.net.

The Essential Internet:
The Rise of Virtual Culture and the Emergence of Electric
Gaia

This essay by Michael Strangelove, author of "The
Directory of Electronic Journals and Newsletters", and
"The Mystic's Guide to the Internet", originally appeared
in the October 1993 issue of Online Access: The Internet
Special Issue --  Your Guide to the Information Super
Highway.

At the heart of the Internet phenomenon is not
terabytes and technology, but culture. The Internet is
really about the rise of not merely a new technology,
but a new culture, a global culture where time, space,
boarders, and even personal identity are radically
redefined. In a world obsessed with style and oppressed
by the fear of the other and the alienation of the
self, the Internet represents a return to the
fundamental dynamics of human existence: communication
and community.

What makes the Internet such a powerful catalyst for
change is the almost banal, but nonetheless real,
truism that we are living in the midst of the
Information Age. Everything critical to Western
civilization rests upon information. The creation,
legitimation and propagation of information informs and
directs all structures of modern existence: democracy,
religion, careers, personal identity, even our
sexuality depends upon the flow of information.
Information informs and creates us much in the same way
that DNA orchestrates the structure of life. One
infinitesimally small change to the DNA chain and the
results can be as dramatic as they are unpredictable.
So it is with the Internet. By gradually moving us away
from a paper-based society to an electronic-text based
society, by altering the way information flows and is
accessed, by massive participation in the Internet, the
"Net" stands to have an all encompassing impact on our
socially constructed and information-reliant realities.

What people do on the Internet, above all else, is
communicate. They exchange e-mail. They talk to each
other. They do the low ASCII dance. The result of this
exchange is an emerging Internet culture: a distinct
social phenomenon with identifiable members, heroes and
villains, rules, metaphors, values, shared history and
growing subcultures. One of the more prominent Internet
subcultures is the cyberpunk movement -- the spiritual
heirs of the flower child generation who challenge the
present on its own terms: information and the right to
freely access and share it among all peoples. It is a
beautiful twist of fate that the youth of the nineties
have named information as the key issue and see the
computer networks as the new battle ground for the
struggle to maintain democratic freedoms.

One of the earliest and most active users of computer
networks is the Native American community. A people
with a strong sense of community which have been
marginalized by society have found that the Internet is
a means to maintain a distinct identity and foster
community across vast distances. This should stand as
an indication of what the Internet is all about: not
high tech and hot machines, but communication,
community, and identity.

Until roughly three years ago, Internet culture was
largely rooted in the scientific, academic, military
and technical realms of the Western nations. But the
vast majority of Internet growth has occurred in the
past two years, resulting in an explosion of a great
diversity of user groups. Today, the commercial world
constitutes over 50% of the Internet and is the fastest
growing part of the Net. The research, government,
educational and defense community make up the remaining
50% of the Internet community. All this means that the
Internet is both a catalyst for change while at the
same time undergoing enormous transformation itself.

We can speak of the Internet as being in the process of
becoming both the ultimate tool of "Big Brother" and
the new hope of the dispossessed. We can be certain
that like the printing press, the Net will be used to
inform democratic action and politize a fragmented and
disempowered population. It will most certainly also be
used to manipulate the consumer and assist the giant
engines of dehumanizing beauracracy and big government.
As with the introduction of television and the rise of
mass culture, we stand ignorant before the uncertain
future of the massive forces presently at work.

Only a few decades after the invention of the Gutenberg
Press, there were fifty million books in Europe. The
result of this, for better and worse, was the Age of
Enlightenment and the rise of modern civilization.
Unlike the coming interactive cable TV systems, which
may only allow us to interact with our wallets and 500
channels of shit on TV, the Internet represents not
simply a new era of entertainment, but a new era of
communication and self publication. The era of
electronic pamphleteers has quietly begun.

With a computer, modem and an Internet connection,
every person has the potential to become a publisher, a
mass distributor of knowledge, information and
misinformation, fact, fancy and fiction. Never before
in history have so many people been able to communicate
so much to so many. The ability to communicate to mass
audiences has been the privilege of the elite -- now it
is within the grasp of the person on the street. How
governments and international corporations will attempt
to control this new power is uncertain, but such power
and freedom will certainly not escape the attention of
those "in control" for long. For now at least, the
Internet is the largest uncensored medium of
communication in history, and may indeed become the
last stand for free speech -- an otherwise historically
rare phenomenon.

Within the Internet a convergence is taking place that
will shake the foundations of the powerful. Free-Nets,
community telecomputing networks that provide urban
areas with free Internet e-mail accounts and access to
government information, are spreading across North
America. Before this millennium comes to a close, most
major urban areas in North America will be connected
through a global web of Free-Nets. These Free-Nets will
provide a new generation with their first experience of
e-mail and the Internet.

At the same time, state after state is beginning to
offer free Internet accounts to students and teachers.
Where I was taught to use a slide-rule, my children
will play and learn in the fields of the Internet. What
will happen when the Free-Net population erupts onto a
diverse and matured Internet culture is certain to be
as dramatic and far reaching as the invention of mass
printing. The dawn of the next century will reveal a
truly networked nation of citizens demanding greater
access to government information, elected officials,
and corporate decision makers. The convergence of the
children of silicon valley with the emergence of
Free-Nets and the larger Internet will redefine our
concept and experience of community, reshape our
relationship to information, see the triumph of content
over style, and forever change our perception of self,
time, space, and the Other in much the same way as
seeing the earth from outer space has irreversibly
changed the modern mind.

We are at one and the same time the children of Mother
Earth and the midwives of Electric Gaia. Our children
are destined to participate in a new form of global
consciousness that is the birthright of a people who
are in the process of defining themselves as one
community on one planet. Behind the technology, behind
the hidden dangers, behind tomorrow is this -- the
essential Internet.

Michael Strangelove (Mstrange@Fonorola.Net or 613-565-
0982) is the founder of Strangelove Internet
Enterprises, Inc., an entreperneurial company that publishes
The Internet Business Journal and "How to Advertise on
the Internet: An Introduction to Internet-Facilitated
Marketing".


Job Hunting on the Internet

Forty US corporations have formed a non-profit employer
association to develop and manage a national public-
access database on the Internet for recruiting,
outplacement, career assistance, and communications.
The database includes job listings and full-text resume
files with online keyword search. It also provides
electronic distribution of information between Internet
and major networks such as GEnie, CompuServe and America
Online.

"Online Career Center has taken advantage of the
exploding popularity and usage of the Internet to provide
recruitment and outplacement opportunities never before
available to individuals, corporate recruiters or
staffing managers,"  says Rodger Sellers, recruitment
executive at Computer Task Group in Atlanta. Employers
enjoy the freedom of unlimited employment advertising on
the Internet and other major networks plus the option of
e-mail between corporate recruiters and individuals.
Valuable assistance to displaced employees is available
through access to thousands of employment opportunities -
-  plus resume distribution to potential employers
nationwide. Employers support Online Career Center by
paying a one-time association membership fee for
development costs, administrative services, and technical
support.

There are no charges for individuals to access the more
than 8,000 job listings, view company information and
profiles, enter resumes into the company-sponsored
database, or e-mail resumes to potential employers.
Individuals may also receive career assistance
information on subjects such as career fairs, job
searches, resume writing, and other career resources. For
more information, contact William O. Warren
(occ@mail.msen.com), Executive Director, Online Career
Center. To access the Online Career Center, Gopher:
gopher.msen.com


Resources for Networked Business, Commerce, and Industry

New Internet Fax Service

Internet e-mail users can now easily and affordably send
faxes worldwide from their terminal. AnyWare Associates
introduces FAXiNET, a utility which transforms e-mail
messages to facsimile transmissions, going beyond the
reaches of e-mail communication. With FAXiNET you are
able to send messages to anyone with a fax machine even
if they do not have e-mail capability. Corporate charges
include a $35 installation fee and a $9.95 monthly
maintenance fee. Individual subscribers pay a $20
installation fee with no monthly fees. Each transmissions
costs $0.49 per page for corporate clients and individual
subscribers pay $0.75 per page. The subscriber need not
purchase any software or hardware. These charges apply to
fax transmissions anywhere in the United States or
Canada. Contact: Sanford Bendremer sandy@awa.com,
President, AnyWare Associates.

Personal Finance Resources

A group at the University of Michigan is putting together
a guide to topics such as credit and credit cards,
banking, loans, taxes, insurance and investments. The
resources will be from sources such as USENET, Listserv,
FTP sites, and so on. The guide will be available in the
"Clearinghouse of Subject-Oriented Internet Resource
Guides"  at the University of Michigan Gopher in January
of 1994. Contact: personal.finance@umich.edu.

Civic Networking

The Center for Civic Networking has released a paper
entitled A National Strategy for Civic Networking: A
Vision of Change. The paper responds to President
Clinton's call for the United States Advisory Council on
the National Information Infrastructure to advise the
Secretary of Commerce on strategies for fostering and
enhancing electronic commerce and civic networking. The
paper is available by  FTP: world.std.com, in the
directory
/ftp/amo/civicnet .

Advertising Listserv

This forum is for Internet advertising issues. To
participate in this list send e-mail to LISTPROC@CNI.ORG
and put SUBSCRIBE CNI-ADVERTISE [your name] in the body
of the message. Contact: Joan K. Lippincott joan@cni.org

Internet Business Resource Guide

The guide will include resources such as Department of
Commerce Bulletin Board, Econdata, Federal Register,
Commerce Business Daily, Internet Business Journal, and
currently available Internet business guides. The
completed guide will be made available within
approximately six months by Gopher. Gopher: select All
the Gophers in the World/University of
Michigan/Library/General Reference Resources in the
Clearinghouse for Subject Oriented Internet Resource
Guides. Kim Tsang  kimtsang@sils.umich.edu Terese Austin
--  tmurphy@sils.umich.edu

Clearinghouse BBS on Internet

The Clearinghouse BBS, established in 1990, provides a
range of information services to utility representatives
and energy professionals in the commercial and industrial
sectors. Telnet: eicbbs.wseo.wa.gov For more information:
Curtis Framel curfra@wseo.wa.gov

Book Briefs

A collection of brief technology book reviews is
available online.
Command: get cheek jte-v5n1 E-mail:
LISTSERV@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU

Taxpayer's Distribution List

TAP-INFO is an Internet Distribution List provided by the
Taxpayer Assets Project (TAP).  TAP (tap@essential.org),
founded by Ralph Nader, monitors the management of
government property, including information systems and
data, government funded R&D, spectrum allocation and
other government assets. TAP-INFO is archived at
ftp.cpsr.org; gopher.cpsr.org and wais.cpsr.org. Send
subscription requests to TAP-INFO:
listserver@essential.org  subscribe tap-info your name.

Electronic Currency

NetCash: A Design for Practical Electronic Currency on
the Internet, proceedings of the First ACM Conference on
Computer Communications Security (November 1993),
Medvinsky, Gennady and B. Clifford Neuman. This document
is available via FTP: prospero.isi.edu
/pub/papers/security/netcash-cccs93.ps.Z.

Vienna Stock Exchange

To access the Vienna Stock exchange Telnet to fiivs01.tu-
graz.ac.at, login BOERSE. It provides you with actual
prices and volumes from the previous two months. It also
covers all stocks and warrants traded in Vienna.

General Accounting Office Online

National Capital Area Public Access Network is providing
free electronic access to the GAO DayBook on CapAccess.
The DayBook lists the reports and testimony issued each
day by the US General Accounting Office. To reach
CapAccess, Telnet to cap.gwu.edu. Login: guest:
Password: visitor. To view current issues of the GAO
DayBook, type go federal, then look in the Legislative
Branch Information area for GAO DayBook. For more
information contact Jeff Feinstein federal@cap.gwu.edu or
Stephen Palincsar stephenp@cap.gwu.edu.

Protection and the Internet

Written by Steve Cisler, this essay will be in the next
issue of the Apple Library Users Group Newsletter. It is
available by FTP from ftp.apple.com in the /alug/rights
directory.

China Import/Export News

A weekly newsletter from China-Link Club. To subscribe:
China-Link-Request@world.std.com
To contribute/advertise: cnlink@world.std.com. To join
the China-Link Club: cnlink@world.std.com
mail your name, postal mailing address, phone, fax, and
the special contacts.

Economic Resources Online

Bill Goffe (bgoffe@whale.st.usm.edu) has revised his
extensive resource guide to networked resources for
economists. This document can be found via FTP:
rtfm.mit.edu /pub/usenet/sci.econ.research.

Bunyip Internet Directory Project

Bunyip Information Systems (creators of the archie
directory system), will be running a pilot project to
assess the viability of collecting data cataloging
information directly from the Internet. Ultimately, this
information will be made available to the Internet
community via the distribution mechanisms now in place
for the familiar archie anonymous FTP database. If you
have any questions about  this project e-mail templates-
info@bunyip.com.

Local Times Around the World

The Austin Hospital Gopher announces its "Local Times
Around the World"  directory. The directory is a list of
pointers to machines which will return the correct local
time when asked. You can find the list at:
gopher.austin.unimelb.edu.au
General Info/Local Times

Drinking from a Fire Hose

An outstanding line-up of key-note speakers of
international repute will be a feature of this year's
Victorian Association for Library Automation (VALA)
conference in Melbourne Australia, on Managing Networked
Information. Conference Proceedings and those papers
received in digital form have been mounted on a Gopher
server. To access, Gopher: gopher.latrobe.edu.au. Contact
Vincent Galante V.Galante@latrobe.edu.au.

Community-wide Education and Information

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is seeking
proposals to develop interactive community-wide education
and information services that link individuals, schools,
libraries, local governments and community organizations.
Public television and radio stations are invited to
submit proposals in collaboration with educational and
cultural institutions, local government and other
communications and community service organizations. An
electronic copy of the request for proposals may be
obtained by sending e-mail to cweis@cap.gwu.edu. For more
information, contact Michael J. Strait
(cweis@cap.gwu.edu) at the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting.

Financial Executive Journal

The Financial Executive Journal is a publication for CEOs
and CFOs of cweis@cap.gwu.edu.companies which issue stock
through the Nasdaq Stock Market. It is published four
times annually. The electronic edition is a joint project
of the Nasdaq Stock Market and the Legal Information
Institute at the Cornell Law School. To access Volume 3
Number 3 Telnet: www.law.cornell.edu. Login as www.

Corporate Report Online

The Corporate Report (Colorado) is providing free
electronic access to all newspaper stories. Presently, a
business-to-business database is in Gopher. To access,
Gopher: aspen.com. Contact Klaus Dimmler klaus@cscns.com.

Telecomreg Mailing List

Telecomreg focuses on telecommunications and convergence
regulation issues. Topics covered in this forum include
implementation of the 1992 Cable Act, convergence in the
global sense of technologies and on the corporate level
of cable/telco mergers, the National Information
Infrastructure Agenda, and the future of wired and
wireless networks.  To subscribe:
listserver@relay.adp.wisc.edu  subscribe telecomreg (your
name)

Chinese Magazine

Feng Hua Yuan (maple) (China) (garden) is a comprehensive
Chinese Newsmagazine published by FCSSC (Federation of
Chinese Students and Scholars in Canada). The e-mail
version is published on the 5th and the 20th of a month.
For subscription information, please contact: LI Yao,
editor li@sce.carleton.ca

Telecom Deregulation

The full text of Stentor Telecom Policy's proposal is
available aa765@freenet.carleton.ca; indicate InfoHwy as
subject and specify English or French.

Daily Stock Market

Stock Market Reports are freely accessible through the
Internet at Telnet: bolero.rahul.net. Login: guest. Look
for directory /Currnet System Information/Market Report.


Internet Publishing News


Electronic Publishing Forum
DIMUND is a gopher server and mailing list for document
understanding resources: announcements, bibliographies,
code, reports, and so on. The server also offers archives
of Document-List Digest. To access DIMUND Gopher or
Telnet to dimund.umd.edu. You can also FTP files, or
retrieve them by e-mail from
document-server@dimund.umd.edu. Subscribe to the mailing
list by sending a sub documents your name message to the
document-server.

Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg's public-domain literature files are
now available on CD ROM, from Walnut Creek CD ROM. Cost:
$39.95 + $5 S&H (+CA sales tax) e-mail to
orders@cdrom.com. Write to dircompg@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu for
information on Project Gutenberg.

Text-File Archive
Internet users may now Gopher or FTP to the Internet
text-file archive. The archive holds many book reviews,
works of fiction, Latin texts, religious texts, CPSR
files, as well as a register of many political digests,
newsletters, and magazines. FTP or Gopher
etext.archive.umich.edu

Specifications and Standards
Document Centre brings specifications and standards to
the Internet. This new service permits Document Centre
customers worldwide to find and order documents 24 hours
a day, easily and conveniently. For more information,
contact Document Centre at info@doccenter.com (TEL:
415-591-7600). Document Centre's catalog is available on
the Internet via World Wide Web clients such as WWW,
Lynx, Cello and NCSA Mosaic using the Universal Resource
Locator (URL) http://doccenter.com/doccenter/home.html

Prentice Hall
The Prentice Hall catalog service for books on networking
and communications is now available at Gopher:
gopher.prenhall.com. Login: anonymous.

Greyden Press
Greyden Press has set up a Gopher server offering indexes
of documents and books available, information on their
electronic publishing and printing services, and
directions for ordering documents and other services
electronically. Gopher to gopher.zip.com

Press Catalog Online
The University of Chicago Press offers Internet access to
a collection of press catalogs from other institutions.
Gopher to press-gopher.uchicago.edu and select item 5.

Business News From Colorado
The CNS, Inc. has set up a gopher directory which
provides users with news and business information for
Colorado. An on-line book store and visitor information
for the Aspen area is also available. To access Gopher to
cscns.com.

Internet Animation
Timothy R.Legge timothy.r.legge@nd.edu announces the
first of several animations to be freely distributed over
Internet. They can be found at: anastasia.art.nd.edu;
login as: guest; password: nd.

SCHOLAR
The next release of SCHOLAR: Natural Language Processing
Online will be distributed shortly. For instructions on
receiving it, subscribe by sending e-mail to
listserv@cunyvm.cuny.edu as follows: sub scholar
firstname lastname.

Netnews newsgroups and censorship
The question of censorship has come up in various
conversations over the Net over the years. Some
newsgroups are considered to be offensive to many and
have been banned by many institutions and Universities.
Many have spoken out against this censorship. For a
glimpse at these discussions, various files have been
archived and they are available over the Net. These files
include a library bill of rights and a selection of
statements on the freedom to read. Gopher to
gopher.eff.org. These documents are also available by FTP
and by e-mail. FTP to ftp.eff.org (192.77.172.4). To
retrieve the files by e-mail, send message to
archive-server@eff.org.

Advertising on the Internet
Global Network Navigator (GNN) is now available on the
Internet. The Global Network Navigator is the first
interactive guide to the information resources of the
Internet. GNN is an application of the World Wide Web,
and includes a news weekly, an online magazine, the Whole
Internet Catalog, as well as the GNN Marketplace. The
Marketplace opens a window for businesses to advertise on
the Internet. For information about a free GNN
subscription, send e-mail to info@gnn.com.

Mother Jones Online
Mother Jones informs readers and inspires action toward
positive social change. It is a magazine of investigation
and ideas for independent thinkers. Mother Jones can now
be read online via gopher. Gopher mojones.com

TitleBank Internet Catalog
Inforonics, Inc. announce the TitleBank Internet Catalog
Gopher server. This server provides detailed information
from the book catalogs of a number of publishers. The
information includes full descriptions and tables of
contents in many cases.  Gopher: gopher.infor.com Send
comments to: staff@infor.com.


Internet Access News -- Developments in Internet
Connectivity

Internet Statistics
  Newly available on nic.merit.edu in the
/nsfnet/statistics/ directory is the report
nets.by.state, which gives a breakdown of US nets
configured for the NSFNET/ANSNet backbone. The reports
history.netcount and nets.by.country have been revised to
include a breakdown by IP class.  NSFNET traffic
distribution highlights show that more than 43 billion
packets have been transmitted through September 1993.

Rural Datafication Initiative
  CICNet Inc.,has announced the launch of the CICNet
Rural Datafication Project. Joining CICNet in this
project are the eight state networks of Illinois, Iowa,
Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and
Wisconsin, and the North Central Regional Educational
Laboratory (NCREL), which is chartered to promote
educational excellence in rural schools. The project
focuses on three key areas: selecting and providing
standard hardware and software for dial-up and dedicated,
low-speed IP connections; high-quality documentation,
training, and associated materials that will provide new
customers "out-of-the-box"  Internet connectivity; and
expanding network connections and services to rural
communities. For a complete copy of the Rural
Datafication Project outline contact Rhana Jacot
(rjacot@cic.net), CICNet Information Services Coordinator
(Tel: 313-998-6521). To join the rural datafication
information mailing list send mail to ruraldata-
request@cic.net.

EUnet Traveller
  A new service from EUnet, the Europe-wide supplier of
electronic network services, enables executives on the
move to take full advantage of the Internet, from
wherever they are. The service, called EUnet Traveller,
will provide customers with direct links to their
Internet-linked host computer via dial-up access points
in major European countries. EUnet Traveller may be used
from any computer, portable or desktop, fitted with a
modem and appropriate software. Local dial-up access
points ensure that EUnet Traveller customers will only
incur domestic rather than international telephone
connection charges or hotel surcharges. For those
concerned with security EUnet Traveller security
standards will involve individual customer identification
and passwords. An authentication procedure at the
destination host system ensures user privacy. Initially,
EUnet Traveller will be available in twelve European
countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany,
Hungary, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway,
Switzerland and the United Kingdom) with coverage
expected to grow throughout the EUnet network during
1994. For further information, contact Glenn Kowack
(info@EU.net), EUnet Limited (Tel: +31-20-592-5109).

Prodigy Gateways to the Internet
  Prodigy Services Company has recently introduced new
features and enhancements. With this announcement Prodigy
now claims to be the first interactive service to begin
integrating multimedia features directly into its
content. It now offers its members an enhanced mail
program called Mail Manager which will allow fax and e-
mail access to other members and anyone connected to the
Internet.

Social and Design Concerns
  Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)
has put forward specific guidelines for the National
Information Infrastructure (NII) in a paper entitled,
Serving the Community: A Public-Interest Vision of the
National Information Infrastructure. CPSR's NII paper is
available electronically by sending e-mail to
listserv@cpsr.org. Send the message GET CPSR NII_POLICY
or you can also FTP/WAIS/Gopher
cpsr.org/nii/cpsr_nii_policy.txt.
For more information: cpsr@cpsr.org.


How to Use the Internet

This is a new regular feature intended to help Internet
Business Journal readers learn more about the Internet
and how to use all of the Net's many information
retrieval tools.

Guide to Networking
  The University of Pennsylvania has just published a 44-
page overview of PennNet and the Internet, introducing
key services, software, and terminology in a non-
technical package. For more information contact Dan
Updegrove danu@dccs.upenn.edu.
FTP: ftp.upenn.edu
Directory: /pub/DCCS/
File: PassPort_v1.1.ps

Networking On The Network
  Phil Agre's concern is that a great deal of effort is
being put into technical means for finding information
resources on the net, but hardly anybody has been helping
newcomers figure out where the Net fits in the larger
picture of their own careers. This is not an e-mail
manual or a guide to Listserv. It is, rather, a
collection of Agre's personal observations and friendly
advice for neophytes to fundamentals of professional (not
technological) networking.
E-mail: rre-request@weber.ucsd.edu
Subject line: archive send network
The body of the message should be empty.

Catalogue of Network Training Materials
  At present, only a selection of entries are available
but the Catalogue of Network Training Materials will be
continuously expanded. For more information contact
Margaret.Isaacs@uk.ac.ncl.
FTP:  tuda.ncl.ac.uk
Directory:  /pub/network-training/temp/
File:  trainmat-catalogue

Gopher Explained
  A comprehensive, 44 page description of Gopher: why
it's needed, how it's used, its genesis and early
evolution, underlying protocol (including Gopher+), role
as CWIS, quality of service, security, Veronica, where it
fits in with other network tools such as World Wide Web.
See also: gopherspace.txt
E-mail: mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk
Commands: send unite gopher.txt
send unite gopherspace.txt

The Online World
  Version 1.2 of The Online World shareware book is now
available. It is a non-fiction book dealing with the
practical side of using on-line information resources as
seen from an international perspective. The examples
range from databases to entertainment and the bizarre, to
special services for professionals and organizations. For
current information about where to get a copy of the
book:
E-mail: LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu
Command: get tow where

Using BITNET: An Introduction
  This is an up-to-date file about using BITNET for e-
mail and Listserv.  It covers subjects like basic e-mail,
using Listserv e-mail discussion groups, getting
documents and other files from listserv, netserv as a
source of documents and related information.
E-mail: listserv@bitnic.educom.edu
Command: get bitnet intro

Internet Resources Guide
  Information Sources: The Internet and Computer-Mediated
Communication lists sources of information about the
Internet and CMC: FTP sites, files, directories, Gophers,
WWW, Telnet, finger, and e-mail resources, guides, files,
indexes, directories, organizations, newsgroups,
bibliographies, and information servers.
FTP: ftp.rpi.edu
Directory: /pub/communications/internet-cmc

Internet Book Reviews
  Crossing the Internet Threshold: An Instructional
Handbook
E-mail: Listserv@uhupvm1.uh.edu
Command: get Wilson prv4n3

Internet Primer for Information Professionals: A Basic
Guide to Internet Networking Technology
E-mail: Listserv@uhupvm1.uh.edu
Command: get stone prv4n3

Searching the Internet
  This document provides twenty-two Internet reference
success stories, demonstrating the usefulness of network
resources for librarians.
E-mail: mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk
Command: send unite internet-stories.txt

The Merger -- Bell Atlantic and TCI

by Edward J. Tully tully@cscns.com

The pending merger between Bell Atlantic and TCI will
have a most profound effect not only on American Society,
but on our Global Society also.  Just recently, a keynote
speaker at a telecommunications conference said that in
a few years we will be telecommunicating in a whole new
way. Make no mistake - this merger, if approved, will
bring about unprecedented change to our world of
communications.

TCI is a Denver-based communications-entertainment
company with 10.5 million subscribers. Its leader, John
Malone, is well-known for his mergers and investments in
small, struggling cable networks like Discovery. TCI now
holds minority interests in 26 programming companies and
14 cable systems, including Turner Broadcasting and the
Family Channel. Under fear of anti-trust concerns, TCI
spun-off Liberty Media, a programming entity, in 1991.
TCI is now re-purchasing Liberty Media as a part of this
merger.

Bell Atlantic is a Philadelphia-based regional Bell
Company with approximately 18.5 million phone lines. It
was created out of the AT&T divestiture from Diamond
State, Bell of Pennsylvania and the Chesapeake and
Potomac Telephone Companies in the early 1980's. Its CEO
is Ray Smith, who has lead Bell Atlantic to be one of the
more aggressive Bell Companies in the distribution of
information. Its service area includes Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, and
Washington, DC.

If the merger is consummated, the new company will have
a presence in 59 of the top 100 markets, with more than
22 million telephone and cable customers. It will be
number six in the Fortune 500, immediately following the
likes of GE, GM, Ford Motor, IBM, and Exxon. It will have
$16 billion in sales, $60 billion in assets, and a cash
flow of $7.5 billion.

Bell Atlantic has not been secretive about its interest
in the delivery of programming services - something
banned by the Federal Communications Commission and the
Federal Trade Commission.  In 1992, it formed a Network
Services Division to develop opportunities in the cable
and multimedia industries. It also has been experimenting
with providing programming services in Alexandria, VA. As
a matter of information, there has been a ban on
distribution and programming by the same entity imposed
by the FCC and the FTC. This ban has been invoked several
times in the last 40 years. It forced Loew's to divest
itself of MGM in the 1950s and the TV networks to divest
themselves of production companies in the 1970's,
maintaining that separation of programming and
distribution channels. However, in August of this year,
a federal judge ruled this ban to be unconstitutional,
restricting the ruling to Virginia, but allowing Bell
Atlantic to distribute its own video programming.

Vice President Al Gore says the merger shows intense
private sector interest in the information
infrastructure.

Ray Smith and John Malone say that by combining they will
create a company that can meet the single most important
challenge of any communications company: tapping the
'pent up' demand for control, choice and convenience in
the entertainment marketplace.

Michael Eisner, Disney CEO, says no one wants interactive
multimedia and that it will make us into "a nation of
housebound zombies" .

FCC's James Quello says it is the "momentous deal of the
decade" .

Massachusetts House Democrat and head of the
telecommunications subcommittee Ed Markey says it will
stifle competition in the "superhighway industry"  and
wants to conduct hearings on the issue.

USA TODAY's attitude is ' don't let past fears of rip-
offs and monopolies by the phone companies and the cable
companies worry us. We'll fix it as we go along by
federal regulation. Let's just hurry up and create jobs'.

A survey by Dataquest, a computer industry tracking firm,
reports that two-thirds of its respondents are willing to
use interactive services, such as movies-on-demand and
home shopping and are willing to pay a connection fee of
$100 for such a service.

Internet Related Issues:

1. Will the Internet be an integral part of the
infrastructure to be formed by this merger and those to
follow? There are at least two options for continuing
development of the Internet in light of the merger: as a
"venture partner"  with the new emerging infrastructure;
or as a product to be distributed by and on the new
infrastructure.

The first treats the Internet as an important part of the
new infrastructure with concern for its continued
development; the second makes the Internet a competitor
for a programming slot. The first embraces the
development of the Internet as a forum for the public to
get better quality products and services in
entertainment, news, health care, health care reform,
education, and business. The second must be more
concerned with continued in-house development of products
and services in news and entertainment.  Finally, the
first option allows the Internet to be adequately
financed on the front end to permit continued
development; the second forces the Internet to continue
to seek funding methods for continued development. Both
paths are currently being explored.

2. Is there a concern with the monopolistic character of
the merger in relation to the Internet?

History has shown that monopolies stifle competition, the
economy and the growth of wealth throughout society.
Monopolies tend to stifle the growth of the industries
being monopolized. Competition stimulates the industry
and its deliverable goods and services. The merger is
undoubtedly a monopoly in principle, no matter how the
legal appearance is diverted and altered. Is it
acceptable to the Internet community to create a
regulated monopoly as was done with AT&T earlier in the
century? Can and will the "Internet Industry"  continue
to prosper for the benefit of society without the
monopoly? Has the current development of the superhighway
- the Internet - progressed sufficiently without the
presence of a monopoly? There are many sides to these
issues - both pro and con.

3. Is there a concern about the functions of delivery,
distribution and programming by a single mass media
entity?

Past policies of the FTC and the FCC have prevented
distribution and programming by the same entity; for
example, Loew's and MGM; broadcast television. The 1984
divestiture has barred the Bell Companies from offering
cable TV programs in the same regions where they offer
phone service. To comply with this law, Bell Atlantic is
publicly stating that it will sell off the cable TV
facilities in those areas where there is such a conflict.
However, the Virginia ruling may alter the need to do
that, if that ruling is applied to every state. These
rules were put in place to prevent monopolies, which are
considered to be "for the economic growth of an
industry." But in today's world, should this principle be
applied to the mental, moral, intellectual growth of a
nation?

Those involved in the merger say very openly that the
focus is on delivery of entertainment on an "interactive"
basis. Interactive is said in the same breath as shopping
and movie selection. Does that imply little or no concern
for the educational, health care and health reform, and
business-to-business benefits that can be realized, and
the many other social benefits that can be derived from
the "superhighway" above and beyond entertainment? The
benefits of lower cost high speed imaging in the medical
field seem to have been bypassed; the ability to vastly
improve our educational system for both the rich and the
poor is not mentioned. Will it, therefore, be left to the
Internet community to answer these questions, while
continuing to march to our own tune as we have in the
past, and to view this merger as a tool to deliver
Cyberspace as we have created it?

Edward J. Tully (tully@cscns.com) is a member of the
staff of Community News Service and an independent
Internet consultant and trainer.


NOT JUST COWS
NOT JUST COWS - A Guide to Internet/BITNET Resources in
Agriculture and Related Sciences, written by Wilfred Drew
(drewwe@snymorvb.cs.snymor.edu). The purpose of this
guide is to list agricultural and related sciences
information resources available through the Internet.
Agricultural information resources listed include; an
index of over forty libraries with extensive collections
in agriculture; Internet BBS such as Advanced Technology
Information Network and CENET; a collection of mail based
services such as Almanac Servers and over sixty Listserv
discussion groups; other miscellaneous information
resources such as WAIS and FEDIX. The guide has expanded
to include Gopher, a far greater number of libraries,
many more Almanac servers, Newsgroups, and new electronic
bulletin boards. Gopher: snymorvb.cs.snymor.edu

NEXT ISSUE:

Still More Internet Accessible Resources for Business
Direct Marketing by E-Mail:
     One Company's Mistakes
New Internet Facilitated Businesses
Advertising on the Internet: Myths and Realities

For subscription information, contact
Mstrange@Fonorola.Net (TEL: 613-565-0982 
Subscription Manager, 208 Somerset Street East,
Suite A, Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA, K1N 6V2)

Copyright (C) 1993 by Strangelove Internet Enterprises,
Inc. All rights reserved. This document may be archived
for public use in electronic or other media, so long as
it is maintained in its entirety and no fee is charged to
the user; any exception requires written consent from
Strangelove Internet Enterprises.
