WEEK SEVEN – Lecture
Mailing Lists: Subscribers post and reply to messages.
Messages are sent to the List Server to be distributed.
Easy to use, and
offers a way to communicate with other Internet users with similar interests.
For example, I
belong to a number of mailing lists that focus on the interests of virtual
business owners. Although the messages can become cumbersome, they offer tips
and constructive suggestions regarding working on the Internet from a home
office.
Usenet: Is an international discussion board
that accepts continuous messages. These discussions spring up, flourish, and
die. They are interesting, but difficult to read because they are not always
monitored, and the messages often stray from the main point. The advantage is
that you go to them, rather than having the discussion delivered to your email
box.
FAQ: (Frequently Asked Questions) FAQs list
and answer the types of questions that someone unfamiliar with the Internet
might ask.
Egroups: Are monitored subject-oriented
discussions, where the user must get permission from the group monitor before
posting. You must register and be accepted by the Group Sponsor.
Email
Etiquette:
Keep your
comments brief and to the point.
If you post the
same message to more than one site, state the other sites.
Inform the
reader what you already know about your question.
If you fee that
the responses will be numerous or boring to the other readers, request that
responses be sent to your email box directly.
Always read the
directions for joining a discussion group – and the instructions for
unsubscribing.
Newsgroups: There is very little “news” in
newsgroups. Newsgroups are similar to electronic bulletin boards where
strangers post messages, and other strangers reply by email.
Chat Rooms: Chatting is a very popular activity on
the Internet. It is done using “User Names” or “Nicknames”. Real names are
rarely uses. Consider yourself WARNED! You do not know who you are speaking
with. Lurk for a while and get a feel for the conversations before you jump in.
INTERACTIVE
CHATTING SOFTWARE:
HUMAN
CLICK: http://www.humanclick.com/
Download from ZDNet FREE - http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,10615,56286,00.html
SKILLSTREAM
CHAT SOFTWARE: http://www.onlinecsr.com/
WEBSUPPORTLIVE:
http://www.websupportlive.com/
ICQ (Plus
FREE download): http://web.icq.com/
AOL INSTANT
MESSENGER: http://www.aol.com/aim/homenew.adp (FREE download)
Do a search
for “interactive chat” to find CHAT ROOMS – EX: http://www.topica.com/
MUSIC: Winamp comes with Netscape 6.1:
http://www.shoutcast.com/waradio.phtml - free music from the
Internet
http://forums.winamp.com/ - Winamp
Community Boards
USENET: http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/deja_announcement.html
LISTSERV: http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/edu/listman.htm
FREE WEB
PAGES: http://geocities.yahoo.com/home http://angelfire.lycos.com/ http://www.freeservers.com/
http://www.homestead.com/~site/MainSplashes/OurServices.ffhtml http://www.webspawner.com/
http://www.thefreesite.com/Free_Web_Space/ http://www.expage.com/
Claims to be
a list of FREE Web sites (but note that it is dated 1996): http://members.tripod.com/~jpsp1/sites.html
For the rest of
tonight’s lecture, we are going to let an Internet site do the teaching. The
following happens to be the most-inclusive site I have found on the Internet,
and it covers everything that we have been learning.
The Internet
Detective - http://sosig.ac.uk/desire/internet-detective.html
This online tutorial contains
overviews, exercises, worked examples, and quizzes that provide an introduction
to the issues of information quality and critical evaluation skills when using
the Internet. There's also an excellent module on analyzing URLs.
Free
registration is required to set a cookie that will allow users to return to the
site as necessary and work through the tutorial at their own pace (straight
through takes 1 to 3 hours).
Developed
by staff at The Institute for Learning and Research Technology (ILRT) at the
University of Bristol. (The review has been copied from http://lii.org/search - The Librarians
Index to the Internet.)