The Online World resources handbook

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The Online World: What is it? http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/2.html From now on, things started to roll faster: 1969: ARPANET (U.S.A.), the predecessor to the Internet, starts research into computer networking. 1972: Dialog (U.S.A.) opens their Educational Resources Information Center and National Technical Information Service databases for online searching. (Appendix 1 contains information about the major online services referred to in this book.) 1974: Dow Jones News/Retrieval (U.S.A.) launches a financial information service for stock brokers. The design of a Transmission Control Program, TCP as in TCP/IP, is specified (U.S.A.). Usenet is set up (U.S.A.). 1978: The first bulletin board opens in Chicago (U.S.A.) 1979: CompuServe (U.S.A.) launches a service for home users. USENET set up. 1981: Minitel (France) and BITNET (U.S.A.). 1982: The Internet is born as TCP/IP is adapted by ARPANET (U.S.A.). 1983: ARPANET (U.S.A.), the predecessor to the Internet, starts. FidoNet (U.S.A.) 1991: The World Wide Web is born (Switzerland). 1993: The number of countries reachable by electronic mail through the Internet reaches 137. The World Wide Web explodes (annual growth rate at 341,634%)! 1994: Japanese prime minister comes online. 1995: The Vatican web site opens. (For more about developments and milestones from 3500 BCE till present, see http://www.ciolek.com /PAPERS/milestones.html.) Thus, the online world was born in the United States. Little happened in the rest of the world until the late 1980s. American companies and users may still appear to be dominating, but they are no longer alone. There are now millions of public databases available from online systems ("host computers") all over the world. With so many online services, and a large variety of access methods, it is difficult to find our way through the maze of offerings. Telecommunications has therefore often been presented as one of the more difficult things to learn to do on a computer. The good news is that it was never all that terribly difficult and its getting easier all the time. It may help to have a picture in your mind of the various parts of this "online world" before we embark on the applications. The book therefore starts with an analogy. Think of it as a "map" of the online world. The structure and contents of the online world The online world can be visualized as a cake with multiple layers. The information sources are the bottom layer, and you, the user, the marzipan figure on the top. The online world contains the following tiers: 1. Database producers and information providers 2. Online service companies 3. Gateways and networks 4. The service offerings 5. The user interface 6. The data transport services 7. The User. 2 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43
The Online World: What is it? http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/2.html If you are a novice, this may seem complex but none of these levels are difficult. It often helps to visualize what level you are dealing with at any given time. Therefore, let us consider them in more detail. 1. Database producers and information providers. For years, I operated a free bulletin board system in Norway. It run on a small personal computer, and offered shareware and public domain software. Anybody could call this BBS and have programs transferred to their personal computers by modem (see appendix 2 for how to achieve this). When you called it to "download" (retrieve) a free program, you wouldn't find any made by me. I do not write programs. All available programs were written by others. When you connect to Data Star or Individual.com to read news, you may find some stories written by these companies. Most of their news, however, has been written by others. The Associated Press, an American news agency, let online services like Dialog, CompuServe, and Nexis 'resell' their news to their users, and also provide news directly to end users through the Web. Free Bulletin Board systems, Data Star, Dialog, CompuServe, Nexis, and Brainwave for NewsNet are online services. We call those who have provided the news and information on these services for information providers or database producers. The information providers sell the right to distribute news. What you pay to an online service to read news may be imbedded in its standard access rates. Some services will ask you to pay a surcharge when reading news. CompuServe subscribers pay a monthly membership fee for unlimited use of a variety of services like The Associate Press Online News (Hourly News Summaries, Sports, Entertainment, Business, News, This Day In History), UK News Clips, and Deutsche Presse Agentur Kurznachrichtendienst. CompuServe pays Associated Press part of what they earn whenever you read their news. There is no surcharge for reading AP news on this service. Some services, like Brainwave for NewsNet, charge per article found and viewed. Information providers may have subcontractors. Ziff Davis' Computer Database Plus, a database with full text articles from magazines like Datamation and Wall Street Computer Review, depends on them. Datamation pays journalists to write the articles. Ziff Davis pays Datamation for the right to distribute the articles to CompuServe's subscribers. CompuServe pays Ziff Davis part of what you pay when reading the text. Some information providers also distribute information through free bulletin boards. The Newsbytes News Network, Boardwatch Magazine, and the USA Today newsletter services (http://www.usatoday.com) are three examples. Rates for reading the same article may differ considerably depending on what online service you are using. If you are a regular reader, shop around for the best price. The cheapest place is the World Wide Web. There, you can read tons of news for free. 2. Online services The term "online services" refers to the services that are provided by computer systems, large or small, to owners of personal computers with modems. Their services may include access to electronic mail, online shopping malls, discussion forums, hardware and software vendor support, access to libraries of programs and data, games and entertainment, financial data, stock market quotes, research capabilities, or simply access to other service providers as with many Internet hosts. You do not always need a phone and modem to "log on." Some services can be accessed through leased phone lines, amateur radio, the Internet, or other methods. Appendix 1 contains a list of major services mentioned in this book, with addresses, phone numbers, and a short description. American Online (U.S.A.), TWICS (Japan), and Orbit (England) are commercial. They charge you for using their services. 3 of 12 23.11.2009 15:43
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Page 5 and 6: Will going online make me rich? htt
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Page 31 and 32: Hobby, games and fun http://home.eu
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Your personal HealthNet http://home
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Electronic mail, telex, and fax htt
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Free expert assistance http://home.
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Your electronic daily news http://h
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Finding a needle in a bottle of hay
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Finding a needle ... (Part II) http
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Getting an edge over your competito
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Business: Locating country specific
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PART 3: WORKING SMARTER http://home
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Practical tips http://home.eunet.no
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Cheaper and better communication ht
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Keep what you find! http://home.eun
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You pay little for a lot! http://ho
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Automatic communication http://home
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Gazing into the future http://home.
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Selected online services http://hom
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Getting started http://home.eunet.n
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Your first trip online. Typical pit
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Frequently used terms http://home.e
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Books, newsletters, etc. http://hom
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Web/Internet tools and pointers htt
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Services offering access to the Int
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The Online World resources handbook

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