The Online World Part 19

ANEWS News of the US and World BBNS BBS News Service BIONEWS Environmental News EL_SALVADOR a.n.a.lysis and News About El Salvador NICANET a.n.a.lysis and News About Nicaragua PACIFIC_NEWS Pacific News PANAMA a.n.a.lysis and News About Panama

BITNET has mailing lists like:

CHINA-NN [email protected] China News Digest (Global News) CURRENTS [email protected] South Asian News and Culture INDIA-L [email protected] The India News Network PAKISTAN [email protected] Pakistan News Service SEDSNEWS [email protected] News about s.p.a.ce from SEDS TSSNEWS [email protected] Tunisian Scientific Society News

RFERL-L (on [email protected]) distributes the RFE/RL Research Inst.i.tute Daily Report. It is a digest of the latest developments in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The report is published Monday through Friday by the RFE/RL Research Inst.i.tute, a division of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Inc. in Germany.

Some mailing lists bring a steady flow of news from various sources. [email protected] - The Southeast Asia Discussion List - is one example. The list is "designed to facilitate communication between researchers, scholars, students, teachers, and others interested in Southeast Asian studies with an emphasis on current events."

SEASIA-L defines Southeast Asia loosely as Burma/Myanmar across to Hong Kong and down through Australia and New Zealand. Regularly, it brings full-text news stories from Inter Press Service, regional news agencies, and newspapers/radio. Some examples: On Jul. 30, 1992, a full-text story from IPS: "PHILIPPINES: RAMOS URGES REPEAL OF ANTI-COMMUNIST LAW." On Aug. 13, 1992, full- text story from The New Straits Times (Singapore): "Schoolgirs involved in flesh trade, says Farid." On Aug. 31, "ANTI-VIETNAMESE FORCE TURNS UP IN CAMBODIA" (Reuter).

SEASIA-L also brings "underground" reports like "The Burma Focus," a bimonthly newsletter published by the All Burma Students'

Democratic Front.

ECUADOR brings news from Ecuador. Daily news bulletins from "Diario Hoy" are posted to the list. Send [email protected] your subscription request.

Many CompuServe forums have news sections. If you're into Hot News and Rumors about Amiga Computers, read messages in section 3 of the Amiga Tech Forum.

Consumer Electronics Forum has the section "New Products/News."

The Journalist Forum has "Fast Breaking News!" The Motor Sports Forum has "Racing News/Notes." The Online Today Forum has "In the News."

NewsNet's list of newsletters that you can read or search online is long, and back issues are also available. For example:

Africa News, Agence France-Presse International News, Applied Genetics News, Asian Economic News, Asian Political News, Business Travel News, Catholic News Service, CD Computing News, Computer Reseller News, Electronic Materials Technology News, Electronic Trade & Transport News, Electronic World News, High Tech Ceramics News, Inter Press Service International News, International Businessman News Report, News From France, Northern Ireland News Service, Online Product News, Sourcemex -- economic news on Mexico, and XINHUA English language news service (China).

The Inter Press Service's newsletter International News focuses on Third World countries, and news from Europe/North America of interest to these countries (also available through Impress on Nexis).

Usenet brings news from Bangladesh, India and Nepal in misc.news.southasia. The ClariNet hierarchy gateways newsgroups from commercial news services and "other official" sources, like:

biz.commodity Commodity news and price reports.

feature Feature columns and products canada.briefs Regular updates of Canadian News in Brief.

biz.economy Economic news and indicators biz.top Top business news books Books & publis.h.i.+ng.

briefs Regular news summaries.

bulletin Major breaking stories of the week.

consumer Consumer news, car reviews etc.

demonstration Demonstrations around the world.

disaster Major problems, accidents & natural disasters.

economy General economic news.

entertain Entertainment industry news & features.

europe News related to Europe.

fighting Clashes around the world.

hot.east_europe News from Eastern Europe.

hot.iraq The Gulf Crisis hot.panama Panama and General Noriega.

news.top Top US news stories.

news.top.world Top international news stories.

news.trends Surveys and trends.

news.urgent Major breaking stories of the day.

A feed of ClariNet news is available for a fee and execution of a license. (Write [email protected] for information.) UUCP has which brings regular news bulletins from Poland (Contact: [email protected]).

Behind the news --------------- In an effort to garner new subscribers and retain current readers, magazine publishers turn to online services to create an ancillary electronic version of their print product.

Their readers are being transformed from pa.s.sive recipients of information into active partic.i.p.ants in publis.h.i.+ng.

You can "talk" to BYTE's writers on BIX, and with PC Magazine's writers through ZiffNet on CompuServe. Their forums function as expert sources. Here, you will often learn about products and trends sometimes before the magazines. .h.i.t the newsstand.

InfoWorld, an American computer magazine, runs the InfoWorld OnLine service on CompuServe. Enter GO INF to get to the following menu:

InfoWorld On-Line INFOWORLD

WELCOME TO INFOWORLD 1 About InfoWorld Online 2 Read Current Week's News - 1/13/92 3 Read Prior Week's News - 1/06/92 4 Download Current Week's Reviews, Comparisons and Test Drives ($) 5 Download Prior Week's Reviews, Comparisons and Test Drives ($) 6 Searching Help 7 Search Review/Comparisons/ Impressions/Test Drives 8 Comments to InfoWorld

InfoWorld highlights comprehensive computer product comparisons and reports. You can browse this or previous weeks' comparisons and reviews, or search the entire collection. You can search by company name, product, software and hardware category.

Britain's two best-selling PC magazines share the PC Plus/PC Answers Online forum on CompuServe (GO PCPLUS).

PC Magazine, another American magazine, has several forums on CompuServe. They also operate a bulletin board. People from AI Expert Magazine can be encountered in the AI Expert Forum. Dr. Dobb's Journal is in the Dr. Dobb's Journal Forum.

The Entrepreneur's Small Business Forum (CompuServe) is managed by representatives from the magazine. Live Sound!, a magazine devoted to the MIDI sound field, occupies section and library 9 of the MIDI B Vendor Forum.

Time magazine has a forum on America Online. There, readers can discuss with magazine reporters and editors, and even read the text of entire issues of Time electronically before it is available on newsstands.

The Online World shareware book, the one you're reading just now, also has a forum. For information about how to join, send email to [email protected] (or [email protected] on BITNET). In the text of your message, write the command "GET TOW MASTER".

Chapter 10: Looking for a needle in a bottle of hay ===================================================

Experienced users regularly clip news from online services, and store selected parts of it on their personal computers' hard disks.

They use powerful tools to search their data, and know how to use the information in other applications.

Regular clipping of news is highly recommended. It is often quicker and easier to search your own databases than to do it online.

Since your data is a subset of previous searches, your stories are likely to have a high degree of relevancy.

There are many powerful programs for personal computers that let you search your personal data for information. Read Chapter 14 for more on this.

While secondary research can never replace primary information gathering, it often satisfies most information needs related to any task or project. Besides, it points in the direction of primary sources from where more in-depth information may be elicited.

When your personal database fails to deliver -------------------------------------------- Regular "clipping" can indeed help you build a powerful personal database, but it will never satisfy all your information needs.

Occasionally, you must go online for additional facts.

When this happens, you may feel like Don Quixote, as he was looking "for a needle in a bottle of hay." The large number of online offerings is bewildering. To be successful, you must have a sound search strategy.

Your first task is to locate useful SOURCES of information. The next, to decide how best to find that specific piece of information online. You must PLAN your search.

Although one source of information, like an online database, is supposed to cover your area of interest, it may still be unable to give you what you want. Let me explain with an example:

You're tracking a company called IBM (International Business Machines). Your first inclination is to visit forums and clubs concerned with products delivered by this company. There, you plan to search message bases and file libraries.

What is likely to happen, is that the search term IBM gives so many hits that you almost drown. To find anything of interest in these forums, your search terms must be very specific.

General news providers, like a.s.sociated Press, may be a better alternative. Usually, they just publish one or two stories on IBM per week. Don't expect to learn about details that are not of interest to the general public.

AP's stories may be too general for you. Maybe you'll be more content with industry insiders' expert views, as provided by the NewsNet newsletters OUTLOOK ON IBM, or THE REPORT ON IBM.

The level of details in a given story depends in part on the news providers' readers, and the nature of the source. The amount of "noise" (the level of irrelevancy) also varies. In most public forums, expect to wade through many uninteresting messages before finding things of interest.

We suggest the following strategy:

Step 1: Locate sources that provide relevant information,

Step 2: Check if the information from these sources is at a satisfactory level of details, and that the volume is acceptable (not too much, neither too little).

Step 3: Study the service's search commands and procedures, PLAN, and then SEARCH.

Start by asking others!

----------------------- Step 1 is not an easy one. Start by asking other online people for advice. This may be the fastest way to interesting sources.

If looking for information about agriculture and fisheries, visit conferences about related topics. Ask members there what they are using.

If you want information about computers or electronics, ask in such conferences.

| When you don't know where to start your search, ask others! | | Their know-how is usually the quickest way to the sources. |

If this doesn't help, check out GEnie's Home Office/Small Business RoundTable, a hangout of online searchers. Visit CompuServe's Working From Home Forum, which has a section for information professionals (#4), and the section for new librarians in the Journalism Forum.