The Online World Part 29

This list may suggest lack of connectivity between networks that do indeed have connections. For example, Internet email may easily be sent to ATT Mail, Alternex, BIX, BITNET, FredsNaetet, GeoNet, GreenNet, and many others on this list. Connectivity changes constantly. Check to see if you really need it, as this service is far from free.

DASnet also lets you send email as telex, fax and by ordinary mail. They charge you by the number of characters transferred, and the destination address. (Contact Anna B. Lange, DA Systems, Inc., U.S.A. Tel.: +1-408-559-7434, or write her at [email protected]).

FidoNet - gra.s.sroots playground ------------------------------- FidoNet is an amateur network consisting of tens of thousands of bulletin boards all over the world. The network is "loosely coupled," meaning that most of the partic.i.p.ating boards are not always connected. They call each others at regular intervals to exchange mail, often in the middle of the night when the rates are low.

Most FidoNet boards have conferences, and allow you to send mail to users of other systems. NetMail is a term often used for private FidoNet email. EchoMail is used about its international conferences. The selection of echomail conferences on a given FidoNet board can be as unique as the rest of the system.

RelayNet -------- is another global network of bulletin boards. It offers exchange of email between systems. Messages and conference items entered on one system will automatically be copied to other partic.i.p.ating boards. Your costs for "talking" with others in other parts of the world are very small.

Other gra.s.sroots networks ------------------------- It doesn't take much to set up a bulletin board service, and it is as easy to connect BBS systems to each other in a dial-up network for regular exchanges of email, files and conferences.

All over the world, gra.s.sroots networks keep popping up with names like ILINK, AmNet, Suedd MB-Verbund, Starmail, MagicNet, A- NET, MausNet, Zerberus-Netz, SMBX-NET, BASA-NETZ, you name it.

Many boards offer access to more than one gra.s.sroots network, as well as to the Internet. Thus, the ability to send global email is extended to new users every day.

Other services -------------- The PDN Connect-USA competes with Starlink in North America.

(Connect-USA Communications, Inc., 2625 Pennsylvania NE Suite 225, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 505-881-6988 (voice), 505-881-2756 (FAX), 505-881-6964 (BBS). ) Global Access is a similar service reselling time on the Sprintnet network in North America.

Reducing the cost of using mailing lists ---------------------------------------- The problem of subscribing to mailing lists is that all discussion items come to you in individual messages. Each message comes with its own mailer header, and this information is generally completely useless. (Read "Returned mail" in Chapter 7 for details.) Newer versions of the BITNET LISTSERV software provide commands that solve this problem:

SET DIGEST ---------------------- This command is sent to a LISTSERV to make all daily messages come to you in one, single message. Example: Say you've joined [email protected], which usually has a large number of messages each day. Send the following command to the LISTSERV:

SET KIDCAFE DIGEST

It will typically reduce the number of lines received from this mailing list by around 50 percent.

SET INDEX --------------------- This command is sent to a LISTSERV to get a daily list of messages, like in this example from KIDCAFE:

Index Date Size Poster and subject ----- ---- ---- ------------------ 22839 06/22 26 From: David Chalmers Subject: Conor Dublin Ireland

Based on this list, you can use the LISTSERV's search commands to retrieve individual messages of interest. These commands are similar to those used for searching in chapter 7.

For more about searching mailing lists' message bases, send a message to [email protected] with the following command in the text of your mail:

GET KIDLINK TIPS

Some LISTSERVs offers simplified search commands and macros to make retrieval of individual messages simpler.

Chapter 14: Keep what you find ==============================

Little is gained by being skillful at locating and acc.u.mulating information, and then becoming drowned in an avalanche of data that one cannot manage - or use.

This chapter starts with how to build a personal data base on your own hard disk. We continue by investigating strategies for finding interesting information on your disk, before winding down with some words about what separates good information from bad.

Search and throw away --------------------- To novices, everything is difficult. During the first online trips, they may feel as if moving to the other side of the globe to start over: They need new newspapers, magazines, information sources, and services.

Trial and error are required to find online gold mines. As you get more experience, focus tends to s.h.i.+ft from getting information to digesting.

Getting the data gets 'into your fingers', and doesn't bother much anymore. The number of retrieved lines increases. The only bad news is that your reading speed remains at the same old level.

In our time, people tend to talk more than they listen, and you usually find more information than knowledge. Therefore, say NO to irrelevant information. It is seldom worth keeping.

There is generally no good reason to learn things that you really don't need to know. Practice "selective ignorance."

Regularly evaluate your online sources critically, and discard those costing you more than they are worth. Concentrate on those giving the best returns.

Adjust the frequency with which you visit selected services to match their usefulness. What used to be daily visits, may have to be downgraded to once per week or month. Consider replacing daily news monitoring by clipping services.

Plan 'overview' and 'details' with different frequencies.

'Overview' refers to online trips to get an impression of what generally goes on. An example:

My script system is set for automatic visits to the CompuServe Tos.h.i.+ba forum. Whenever I visit, it 'digs out' unread messages based on key words on the item's subject line.

During 1991, it searched for these strings: '5100', T2000', and '425'. Once, This gave the following message to read:

#: 29550 S6/Hi-Power Notebooks 05-Oct-91 17:27:30 Sb: #T2000SX Recharger Fm: Steve Kitahata 75166,1741 To: All

I tried to order the battery recharger for my T2000SX from Jade Computer last weekend. The sales rep said it would take about a week, so I called today to check up on it. He told me that I could only buy the recharger with the car adapter as a bundled set for $260. They had both advertised in their flyer as separate items, which they should be. Has anyone heard of this?

Does anyone know of any sources that have the battery recharger available? Any help would be appreciated. Thanx.

-- Steve

My script found the search word "T2000" in the subject line's text (Sb: #T2000SX Recharger), and subsequently selected the message.

Once per month, the same system "scans the horizon" to give me an idea of what is going on. This is done by requesting a list of subjects being discussed. Here is part of one such list:

29555: DOS 5 Upgrade 6 replies

29540: TDOS Upgrade questions 3 replies

29585: Tos.h.i.+ba DOS 5.0 s.h.i.+ps!

1 reply

29586: DOS 5.0 Upgrade Solution

29580: Tos.h.i.+baDOS=bad business 8 replies

29581: DOS 5 / Stacker 1 reply

Reading the list, allows me to see if new and interesting topics are up for discussion. If I use Stacker and want contact with other users, I can request message number 29581 and the subsequent reply (1 reply). That should give me some email addresses.

| Several advanced communication programs and offline readers | | have built-in quick scan features. For example, TAPCIS does | | this just fine in CompuServe forums. | | | | When retrieving conference messages from bulletin boards using | | 1stReader at high speed, like 9600 bps or above, then the cost | | of downloading all new items may be insignificant. Therefore, | | you might just as well do it. | | | | Later, when reading the captured mail, 1stReader lets you | | select messages to read from a list of subjects. You can save | | what you want to keep, and delete the rest. |

By regular scanning subject headers you reduce the risk of missing important trends, for example because authors were using other terms on the subject line than expected.

Scanning also lets us discover if the discussion is heading off in other, interesting directions.

After a while, you'll have a set of sources, persons, and tools that will provide you with what you need. This is your personal infrastructure of electronic information. Now, you must maintain and cultivate it.

Store incoming information -------------------------- Chances are that you will retrieve more information than you can read. Sometimes it takes weeks for me to get up to date with my own readings.

If you visit several online services, consider storing the data in files with different names. Use part of the file name to show the source of this information.

If visiting a service regularly, consider using the date as part of the file names. This will make it easier to select, read and search them in a useful sequence.

| Example: Say you're regularly visiting TWICS in Tokyo. What you | | download on November 10, you may store in a file named | | | | TW1110.TMP | | | | My scripts do this automatically. On some services, they also | | split retrieved data into URGENT and MAY BE READ LATER files. | | Private mail from TWICS is stored in NB1110.TMP. By storing | | private mail separately, it is easier to see if somebody wants | | a quick reply. |

All file names in this example have the extension .TMP (temporary).

This signifies that these files are unread.

When I read them, and select parts for permanent storage on my hard disk, I use different names. Often, I use the year, or a month/year code in the file name extension. For example, the file DIALOG.93 contains information from DIALOG collected during 1993.

Postprocessing the data ------------------------ The data capture is completed, and the retrieved data is stored on the hard disk in more or several files. Your next task is to