[Note: This is a complete version of the article which appeared in the printed newsletter distributed in February 1995.]
This could be the most exciting time of our lives. We are witnessing an event which will likely make Gutenberg's contributions pale in comparison. If you haven't thought about the implications of the Internet before this, then please think about them now. Think about the wonder of having access to all the knowledge in the world (well, almost all). Think about the consequences of everyone being a keystroke away from "talking" to someone on the other side of this planet! Think about an eight year old in San Diego exchanging feelings and ideas with an eight year old in Japan. Think about breaking down barriers to communication between those kids and a Nobel prize winner. Or a President.
Think about what these kids need to be prepared for what they WILL encounter in this world. Soon.
Think about who will help them understand what they encounter in this wondrous new world.
Parents? I don't think I need to answer that one...
I am not computer trained. I've never had a computer class in my life. Like everyone else, I started out being afraid to show my computer how stupid I was by making a mistake. I eventually realized that my computer EXPECTS me to make stupid mistakes. It's disappointed if I don't. I guess computers have egos, too...
About a decade ago I (reluctantly) entered the world of electronic communications, using simple e-mail to interact with my colleagues at Hybritech. I soon learned that this was the most efficient and effective communications medium yet invented. I suddenly found that I could communicate almost instantaneously with anyone who had access to the electronic mail system. I could send a message to literally hundreds of people at the same time. Try doing that with a telephone! I could send a carefully composed message (and further edited to ensure its readability) to anyone without fear of interrupting him/her with a ringing telephone. I could carefully compose and edit a response to someone else's message (read at my leisure, rather than being interrupted by that infernal ringing telephone!), then return my comments and copy anyone else on the system. And, believe it or not, when you get used to communicating with someone via e-mail, you can begin to read body language and expressions just like you do in a face-to-face conversation. And comprehension is better because you can concentrate on what is stated and not misunderstand because of distractions.
About four or five years ago I tentatively dipped my toe into the Internet when Hybritech's parent, Eli Lilly & Co., linked us to the outside world via e-mail. Everything I said above suddenly applied to the whole world, rather than just within my company. A bit later, Lilly opened the link further to allow us access to such Internet navigation tools as the "gopher." After some hesitant poking around in the world of gophers, the sudden realization of the vast amount of information available to me became quite intoxicating. When the economy went south and travel funds got scarce, I was still able to travel the world by gopher!
Gopher travel did have some limitations, though. I could only retrieve text files - no graphics. If I hadn't known graphics were available, I would have been quite satisfied. A new tool, however, was getting a lot of publicity over the 'Net. Internet "browsers" were beginning to appear, software shells - like Windows - which allowed one to easily move from place to place around the world, complete with graphics - pictures, movies, sound - with a simple point-and-click.
A few months ago, after a long and anxious wait, I finally took the plunge and signed up with a local Internet provider and obtained full access to the "Web" through Mosaic, a World Wide Web browser developed at the University of Illinois Supercomputer Center.
OK, I've already used a few terms - and I'll use more - which are probably unfamiliar to many readers. I'll ask you to indulge me, however, and not worry when you see a term you don't understand, but to look beyond the word and concentrate on the general concepts. I'll provide a reference which will define and explain these and other terms better than I can. The purpose of this document is not to serve as a tutorial on the Internet, but to simply provide a sense of excitement and a very basic understanding of what the Internet means. I won't even introduce many of the important terms you'll find when you get there (""ftp"; "WAIS"; "Archie"; "ISDN"; etc.). I want to show you that the Internet is available to you and that it will be the most valuable tool you have in leading your students into a world they WILL encounter. So forget about the terms and concentrate on the excitement. That's the message I want to convey.
As long as I've interrupted myself, I'd better issue a disclaimer: I am writing about my experiences, and in doing so I shall thus focus on tools with which I am familiar. I'll therefor talk about my provider, DATEL (CTSNet) and not discuss the host of other options such as CERFnet; I'll extol the virtues of Enhanced Mosaic, the WWW browser I use, and not spend much time on others like Netscape. I am not endorsing any products to the exclusion of others, but simply relating my own experiences.
Now that that's out of the way, let's get back to business. How do you get hooked up? What do you need?
The most expensive investment is the hardware. If you want to go all the way and get fully connected to the Web (and if you get anything out of this message, that's what you'll want!), you'll want at least a '386 system or equivalent (sorry, I'm a PC person; Mac folks will have to extrapolate), and a modem capable of at least 14,400 bps communication. The better your system and faster the modem, the more efficiently you can work. You can get a good '486 system now for around $1000. A 14,400 modem costs less than $100, and you can get a 28,800 bps modem for around $200 (I've seen them on sale for about $100). Better yet, you can get a pretty good '486 Notebook computer for less than $2000, complete with a modem and color display. The beauty of this is that you can bring the Internet with you anywhere you go.
Several levels of Internet access are available. The lowest level is simple e-mail. This allows you to communicate almost instantaneously with virtually anyone else IN THE WORLD who has e-mail access. It also allows you access to a large number (and growing rapidly) of discussion groups. You can place your name and e-mail address on a central distribution list. Then anyone who wishes can send a message to the central list server (called, interestingly, a "listserver"), and that message will be sent to everyone on the list. This process provides for some very fascinating discussions. There are numerous means of finding the lists available, including books, Internet files available through several routes, and a few listservers themselves, where people who find interesting sites can send comments about those sites to everyone else on the list. Examples include "gopherjewels-talk" and "NEW-LIST" (which distributes notes on newly formed discussion forums). Subscribing to a list is simple, but not the subject of this discussion.
One new forum which I think will be extremely interesting to the readers of this paper is "VIRTED", a discussion group devoted to the use and implications of virtual reality as an educational tool. The membership is varied and motivated, and I think the discussions will be both informative and lively. Active topics include everything from how text based virtual worlds such as MOOs and MUDs can be used in education to total immersion virtual reality as a medium for optimizing a learning environment.
VETMED-L is a discussion list devoted to veterinary medicine. The forum is populated by scores of animal owners and a large number of veterinarians from around the world. The veterinarians compare notes and post difficult cases, inviting suggestions and experiences of other veterinarians or animal owners. Tomorrow's veterinarians - and animal owners - will benefit enormously from participating in this and similar discussion groups. There are similar discussion groups for doctors, lawyers, - you name it.
An interesting aspect of these discussion groups is the filtration process, a natural selection-like phenomenon which results in an optimum contribution process. A user list will include a large number of "lurkers" who simply sit back and enjoy the discussions of others. When a topic comes up with which they are familiar, they will usually contribute. A successful list (evolution works!) will include a number of participants who enjoy actively contributing, exchanging ideas and experiences with each other. This provides an excellent learning environment. The lurkers don't get in the way: Unlike a large (enormous - discussion groups can include thousands of participants) auditorium full of people, they're invisible unless they comment.
I once posted a question about Africanized bees to Pestcon. Within 24 hours I had received two very useful replies. One came from a chap who had spent six years in Latin America working with the bees and training Peace Corps volunteers and local beekeepers on how to handle them. He sent me a not-yet-published book chapter which he had written in response to the negative media hype which had been creating major fear of the bees in this area. The second reply came from Africa, and responded to my specific questions as they would apply to the papa African (as opposed to "Africanized") bee.
As you watch exchanges on the discussion lists, you quickly realize that this is not an isolated experience. All it takes is one person on the list with an answer to your question and you'll have it. And a good question usually stimulates a new discussion thread.
Another type of discussion list is found in the thousands of Usenet newsgroups available. These newsgroup sites consist of a running list of e-mail conversations; the messages aren't distributed to list members, however, but reside in central posting files accessible through the 'Net via a "newsreader." Unfortunately, you cannot access the newsgroups via a simple e-mail link.
Another major level of Internet navigation is the "gopher." I'll leave it as an exercise for you to find the origin of that term. The gopher was introduced by the University of Minnesota ("Papa Gopher") as a means to fairly simply connect to files of interest, which tend to be scattered all over this planet. A kindly site will collect a group of "pointers" to collections of files relevant to a specific theme, and to other gophers which in turn point to files or other gophers, etc. It can take a while, but eventually you can usually find what you want. More interestingly, you often find lots of other useful information in the process. Once you find a site you want, your system will usually allow you to "bookmark" it, which creates your own file of site addresses. You can then link directly to any of your bookmarked gopher sites or files the next time you wish to return.
Gophers can help you find a broad variety of information. Gophers are usually organized around specific kinds of information, for example, biology or history. You can find local weather information, updated periodically during the day. You can get a host of information on animals and veterinary facts (the Electronic Zoo). You can find shopping malls and bookstores, music libraries. You can link to hundreds of university libraries around the world. There are dictionaries. NASA posts files for educational purposes. You name it...
Now we get to the BIG ONE. Tim Berners-Lee, at the European Particle Physics Laboratory (CERN) in Switzerland, wanted to develop a mechanism for physicists to collaborate and exchange information across long distances. Berners-Lee and his colleagues initiated a system on the Internet which used a previously developed language, "hypertext" - a means of linking many documents together in sort of a mesh, which allowed one to move between the documents from within their text. The resulting product created a spiderweb-like link between sites and files throughout the Internet. Thus was born the World Wide Web.
Responding to the need to provide an easy means of navigating through the WWW and seamless transfer of data, text and image files, an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois, Marc Andreessen, working part time at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), created Mosaic. Mosaic is a Web "browser", allowing one to easily navigate around the Internet using simple point and click techniques. This simple interface, as freeware, proved to be what was needed to stimulate a mass migration to the Internet around the world. I recently saw a claim that through one large Internet service provider, the use of the Web was increasing at a rate of at least 30% per month!
NCSA is funded by the National Science Foundation. Thus Mosaic has never been made into a product, but rather exists at the NCSA as a series of constantly improving beta test programs. They all have bugs and limitations. For example, you can't yet print a file from NCSA Mosaic. Thus several commercial developers have licensed Mosaic and there are now available improved versions of the software. Other, similar browsers are also beginning to appear.
Each of the browser programs has different capabilities and looks, but they all provide a simple, graphical entry to the Web. Netscape, not quite commercially available yet, but downloadable from the Internet as a beta version, is one option which many people are using. A few months ago I obtained Enhanced Mosaic, developed by Spyglass, Inc., where Marc Andreessen is now employed. My primary reason for getting Enhanced Mosaic was a book published by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., entitled "The Mosaic Handbook." The book, published in versions available for Microsoft Windows, Macintosh and Unix users, retails for $29.95 and comes bundled with the Enhanced Mosaic software. I would strongly recommend that you purchase this book, even if you don't have an Internet link yet. The book is well written (by authors, not computer people), provides an excellent overview of the Internet, a good explanation of the terminology you will encounter, and serves as a manual for the software. It also helps you learn how to navigate through the Internet and find information and sites. It tells you, in simple language, how totware you will need to enable you to use some of the picture and movie files on the 'Net. It makes things easy.
What will Mosaic do for you? Here's an example quoted from the NASA/JPL site:
"Find out how to obtain radar images of many areas around the globe. Get the sample data package for software developers. Fill out a license agreement, and receive JPL software for reading and analyzing radar data. Find out about what happened during the Space Shuttle missions carrying the Space Radar Laboratory. Find out where we collected data. Get low-resolution survey images on-line over the World Wide Web."
There are also pictures and video clips from NASA missions, pictures of interest to budding astronomers, a host of educational information available through NASA links.
Here's a site which describes a program to link schools in Minnesota to the Internet:
"Web66: A K12 WWW Project
"This project sees the World Wide Web as a catalyst that will bring Internet into K12 school curricula. The University of Minnesota is beginning project Web66 to facilitate the introduction of this technology into K12 schools. The goals of this project are:
- To help K12 educators learn how to set up their own Internet servers.
- To link K12 WWW servers and the educators and students at those schools.
- To help K12 educators find and use K12 appropriate resources on the WWW."
Clicking on the link to the site calls up - Well, go take a look. It's amazing! I will mention one item: Hillside elementary school, where the students designed the pages you see. Theryou can imagine, from around the world. The Whitehouse. Lots of government agencies. Health and Medical information. Many colleges and universities now have Web sites, where you can find everything from faculty and curriculum descriptions to research programs to campus events (you can enter the UCSD bookstore, get information on a book, and place an order). Weather maps. Catalogs. Software, much of which is downloadable freeware or shareware. Employment and career information. It's endless.
Basically, you can do everything in Mosaic that you can do through gopher, and more, and you have graphics to add to the excitement.
The Internet providers you hear most about are America Online, Compuserve and Prodigy. I have never tried any of these services. They allow you to use e-mail, provide access to shopping and stock information, and have various full-text newspapers and other publications and databases. Only now, however, are they beginning to get serious about the Internet. Prodigy is now advertising that it can access the Web, and the others plan to provide it this year. The worst aspect of the "Big Three" is that their cost structure, largely based on connect time, but vastly more complex than that, does not encourage one to make good use of the medium.
The route I selected for access was CTSNet, a division of Datel Systems, Inc., which serves the greater San Diego area. The charge for a basic account, which provides e-mail, Usenet news and access to all text based Internet services (such as gopher), is a $15 sign-up fee and an $18/month maintenance rate. This will allow you about 30 hours connect time per month.
I also obtained a SLIP ("Serial Line Internet Protocol") account to open a high speed telephone link and allow me to use the graphical environment of Mosaic. For this there was a $10 startup fee and a $5/month maintenance fee. Thus for an initial fee of $25 and a monthly charge of $23, I have complete access to the Internet for about 30 hours per month.
When I first connected to CTSNet, their bulletin board (and an introductory e-mail message) explained how to download the files necessary to create the link to the Internet. Most necessary files are freeware, but a couple are shareware, meaning that you can use them, but if you want a clean conscience you'll send a few bucks to the developers. (This also keeps you legal.) One example is the movie viewer, "mpegplay." The downloaded version will allow you to view files up to one megabyte in size. If you send the $25 registration fee to the developer in Australia, he'll return to you the latest version of the software, without the 1 Mb limitation.
The information provided by CTSNet showed me how to download the files, but I felt that the information provided in "The Mosaic Handbook" provided a clearer route to obtaining the files and especially to installing them.
If you can't possibly manage anything else, then at least take out an account which provides access to the basics, like e-mail and gopher. As the 'Net and ancillary technologies are evolving at an incredible pace, not to mention the competition among providers (Microsoft will enter the fray with their Windows-95 Internet interface), Mosaic-like browsers are becoming the tools of choice. New Web sites are increasing at an amazing rate. Many high schools now have their own Home Pages on the Web.
What's even more important is that we are right at the beginning of this revolution. The medium will drive invention in many directions. It is impossible to predict what the Internet will become, but there can be no doubt that it will shape our lives and affect almost everything we do in the very near future. The potential for education is enormous. The need for education is obvious.
Full access to the Web is now available at quite reasonable costs, and will probably become even less expensive as competition increases. Access software, such as Mosaic-like Web browsers, is cheap and easy to use. I do not consider myself an experienced computer user - only average. It is important to me to be able to travel the Web and find what I need easily. There are no barriers left.
Make it happen!
Copyright © 1996-1998, San Diego
Science Alliance , All Rights Reserved
09/12/98 ern