"WHERE TO START" FOR NEW INTERNET USERS Jim Milles Ver. 4.3 15 May 1994 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. E-mail systems vary widely. For help with most e-mail questions (signature files, quoting, and so on), contact your local computer support personnel or your Internet service provider, or consult the books listed below for a discussion of your mail system. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Some recommended books for new users of the Internet: Aboba, Bernard. _The Online User's Encyclopedia: Bulletin Boards and Beyond_. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1994. 806 pp. ISBN 0-201-62214-9, US$32.95. (A remarkably useful and comprehensive work, covering everything from the basics of computer communications, to using local bulletin boards, to the intricacies of the Internet.) Dern, Daniel P. _The Internet Guide for New Users_. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994. 570 pp. ISBN 0-07-016510-6, US$40.00 (hardcover); ISBN 0-07-016511-4, US$27.95 (paper). (Dern is the former editor of _Internet World_ magazine and author of numerous articles on the Internet in many other publications.) Engst, Adam. _Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh_. Indianapolis: Hayden Press, 1993. 641 pp. ISBN 1-56830-064-6, US$19.95. (Highly recommended by Mac users, many of whom preferred this to the Fraase book listed below. Comes with a disk containing a variety of Internet access software, including a "legal copy of MacTCP 2.0.2.") Gilster, Paul. _The Internet Navigator_. New York: John Wiley, 1993. 470 pp. ISBN 0-471-59782-1, US$24.95. (An elegantly written and cleanly designed guidebook, the best of the new books for the individual dial-up user. Contains a wealth of useful background information on the workings of the Internet and the organizations behind it. Recommended for the individual dial-up user who is serious about the Internet.) Hahn, Harley & Rick Stout. _The Internet Complete Reference_. Berkeley: Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1993. 818 pp. ISBN 0-07-881980- 6, US$29.95. (Considered by many the best of the new crop of Internet books, and at 800+ pages, among the most comprehensive. The humor, however, seems somewhat more lame than some others.) Krol, Ed. _The Whole Internet: User's Guide & Catalog_. 2nd ed. Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, 1994. 543 pp. ISBN 1-56592-063-5, US$24.95. (In the fast-moving world of the Internet, for most of 1993 this was the successor to _Zen_ as the essential guide to the Internet, and is still regarded by many as the best of the Internet books. However, the availability of other books like Gilster's makes Krol's Unix bias more evident. Recommended especially for users of Unix systems.) LaQuey, Tracy. _The Internet Companion Plus: A Beginner's Start- Up Kit for Global Networking_. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1993. 196 pp. ISBN 0-201-62719-1, US$19.95. (A good guide for the true beginner, useful even for the pre-beginner who has not yet signed on to the Internet.) Smith, Richard and Mark Gibbs. _Navigating the Internet_. Carmel, Indiana: SAMS Publishing, 1993. 500 pp. ISBN 0-672- 30362-0, US$24.95. (A highly readable guide, with an easy-to-use listing of Internet resources arranged by subject. Smith is well known for his popular online "Navigating the Internet" courses.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Other useful books for new users: Badgett, Tom and Corey Sandler. _Welcome to... Internet: From Mystery to Mastery_. New York: MIS Press, 1993. 324 pp. ISBN 1-55828-308-0, US$19.95. (A self-instruction handbook.) Braun, Eric. _The Complete Internet Directory_. New York: Fawcett, 1993. 704 pp. ISBN 0-449-90898-4, US$25.00. (As the title suggests, this is a directory of newsgroups, discussion lists, ftp sites, and so on, with just a few pages on how to use these resources. A directory like this, Hahn and Stout's _Internet Yellow Pages_, or Rittner's _Whole Earth Online Almanac_, may be useful as a companion to one of the other "how-to" guidebooks). Eddings, Joshua. _How the Internet Works_. Emeryville, CA: Ziff-Davis Press, 1994. 218 pp. ISBN 1-56276-192-7, US$24.95. (Excellent integration of graphics to explain some of the technology behind the Internet. However, examples of resources are extremely short and selective; definitely not a resource guide.) Falk, Bennett. _The Internet Roadmap_. San Francisco: SYBEX, 1994. 263 pp. ISBN 0-7821-1365-6, US$12.99. Fisher, Sharon. _Riding the Internet Highway_. Carmel, Indiana: New Riders Pub., 1993. 266 pp. ISBN 1-56205-192-X, US$16.95. Fraase, Michael. _The Mac Internet Tour Guide: Cruising the Internet the Easy Way_. Chapel Hill, NC: Ventana Press, 1993. 288 pp. ISBN 1-56604-062-0, US$27.95. (The first Internet guide written for Macintosh users; includes a 800K disc containing useful software.) Fraase, Michael. _The PC Internet Tour Guide: Cruising the Internet the Easy Way_. Chapel Hill: Ventana Press, 1994. ISBN 1-56604-084-1, US$24.95. Fraase, Michael. _The Windows Internet Tour Guide: Cruising the Internet the Easy Way_. Chapel Hill, NC: Ventana Press, 1994. 344 pp. ISBN 1-56604-081-7, US$24.95. (Good graphics and sample screens, but coverage is selective; some important tools like World-Wide Web are omitted.) Gardner, James. _A DOS User's Guide to the Internet_. Waterloo, ON, Canada: MKS [Mortice Kern Systems], 1993. Hahn, Harley, and Rick Stout. _The Internet Yellow Pages_. Berkeley, CA: Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1994. 447 pp. ISBN 0-07-882023-5, US$27.95. (An entertaining, easy-to-use directory of Internet resources, and an excellent companion to Hahn and Stout's _Complete Internet Reference_.) Heslop, Brent and David Angell. _The Instant Internet Guide_. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1994. 209 pp. ISBN 0-201-62707-8, US$14.95. Hoffman, Paul E. _Internet Instant Reference_. San Francisco: SYBEX, 1994. 317 pp. ISBN 0-7821-1512-8, US$12.99. (A pocket guide to Internet terms and concepts, for both beginning and advanced Internet users.) _The Internet Unleashed_. Indianapolis: SAMS Publishing, 1994. 1,387 pp. ISBN 0-672-30466-X, US$44.95. (Contains chapters written by over 40 prominent Internet experts. This is the most comprehensive, and most expensive, Internet reference currently available, but not recommended for the beginning user). Jaffe, Lee David. _Introducing the Internet: A Trainer's Workshop_. (Internet Workshop Series, Number 1.) Berkeley, CA: Library Solutions Press, 1994. 92 pp. ISBN 1-882208-05-6, US$30.00 (US$45.00 with diskette). (The first in a series of supplements to _Crossing the Internet Threshold_, by Tennant, Ober, and Lipow. Based on an actual trainer's handouts and script, it may also be used as a self-instruction workbook.) Kehoe, Brendan. _Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide_. 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1994. 193 pp. ISBN 0-13-121492-6, US$23.95. (One of the first and most popular guides to the Internet. The first edition was distributed for free on the Internet, and is still available at many anonymous ftp sites, e.g. nic.merit.edu, directory /introducing.the.internet, filename zen.txt.) Kochmer, Jonathan and NorthWestNet. _The Internet Passport: NorthWestNet's Guide to Our World Online_. 4th ed. Bellevue, WA: NorthWestNet, 1993. 515 pp. ISBN 0-9635281-0-6, US$29.95. (A comprehensive guide to Internet resources, comparable to Krol's _The Whole Internet_ but even broader in scope. It covers a number of areas that other guides ignore.) Lambert, Steve & Walt Howe. _Internet Basics_. New York: Random House, 1993. 495 pp. ISBN 0-679-75023-1, US$27.00. (Although this is a good, general guide to the Internet for any user, it is especially useful for those who access the Internet through the commercial Delphi information service. Howe is the sysop of the Delphi Internet SIG.) Levine, John R. and Carol Baroudi. _The Internet for Dummies_. San Mateo, California: IDG Books, 1993. 355 pp. ISBN 1-56884- 024-1, US$19.95. (A very useful, well organized, and readable book, one of the publisher's popular "... for Dummies" series.) Marine, April; Kirkpatric, Susan; Neou, Vivian; and Ward, Carol. _Internet: Getting Started_. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PTR Prentice Hall, 1992. 360 pp. ISBN 0-13-327933-2, US$28.00. (Includes useful information on how to obtain Internet access, as well as other technical reference material.) Pike, Mary Ann and Tod G. Pike. _The Internet Quick Start_. Indianapolis: Que Corp., 1994. 387 pp. ISBN 1-56529-658-3, US$21.99. (Contains separate chapters on "Using the Internet via" CompuServe, AOL, DELPHI, and Unix systems.) Quarterman, John S. _The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide_. Bedford, MA: Digital Press, 1990. 719 pp. ISBN 1-55558-033-5, US$49.95. (A comprehensive guide to the history and present--as of 1990--state of the Internet and its component and related networks. Recommended for those who want to learn the background and history of the Internet.) Rittner, Don. _Whole Earth Online Almanac_. New York: Brady Publishing, 1993. 545 pp. ISBN 1-56686-090-3, US$32.95. (Another directory of online resources, this one attempts to cover not only Internet, but also Fidonet and commercial services like America Online and CompuServe, and even local BBSes.) Robinson, David F.W. _All About Internet FTP: Learning and Teaching to Transfer Files on the Internet_. (Internet Workshop Series, Number 2.) Berkeley, CA: Library Solutions Press, 1994. 90 pp. ISBN 1-882208-06-4, US$30.00 (US$45.00 with diskette). (The second supplement to _Crossing the Internet Threshold_; suitable for use either by trainers or as a self-teaching workbook.) Sachs, David and Henry Stairs. _Hands-On Internet: A Beginning Guide for PC Users_. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PTR Prentice Hall, 1994. 275 pp. ISBN 0-13-056392-7, US$27.95. (A detailed workbook for the individual user; like most of the others, assumes the reader will be working on a Unix system.) Tennant, Roy, John Ober, & Anne G. Lipow. _Crossing the Internet Threshold: An Instructional Handbook_. 134 pp. ISBN 1-882208- 01-3, US45.00. Berkeley, CA: Library Solutions Press, 1993. (Includes helpful fact sheets on various Internet tools from ftp and telnet to archie, gopher, WAIS, and World-Wide Web.) Tolhurst, William A., Mary Ann Pike, Keith A. Blanco, and John R. Harris. _Using the Internet: Special Edition_. Indianapolis, IN: Que Corp., 1994. 1188 pp. ISBN 1-56529-353-6, $39.95. (At well over 1000 pages, this is the current leader in the sweepstakes for biggest Internet book. However, its coverage is surprisingly spotty; it includes a 110-page chapter on legal considerations, but ignores major tools like World-Wide Web.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. For those who know enough about using the Internet to be able to use "ftp," the following sources are very useful (note that they are regularly updated, so the version numbers and file names may change): de Presno, Odd. "The Online World." Available by anonymous ftp from oak.oakland.edu, directory /pub/msdos/info, type binary, filename online14.zip. Uncompress with PKZip 2.04g. (An excellent source for coverage of European resources, also excellent for users of commercial services like CompuServe, Genie, and MCImail.) December, John. "Information Sources: the Internet and Computer- Mediated Communication." 15 December 1993, release 3.15. Available by anonymous ftp from ftp.rpi.edu, directory /pub/communications, filename internet-cmc.txt. (Gives locations and access instructions for hundreds of Internet training documents, directories, and other materials. Essential for locating the many valuable Internet resources discussed in the other guidebooks.) Gaffin, Adam and Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet." January 1994. Available by anonymous ftp from ftp.eff.org, directory /pub/Net_info/Big_Dummy, filename bigdummy.txt. Martin, Jerry. "There's Gold in them thar Networks! or Searching for Treasure in all the Wrong Places." RFC 1402, January 1993. Available by anonymous ftp from nic.merit.edu, directory /introducing.the.internet, filename network.gold. Milles, James. "An Introduction to Using the Internet at Saint Louis University School of Law." Available by anonymous ftp from sluaxa.slu.edu, directory /pub/millesjg, filename interlaw.wp (binary, WordPerfect 5.1/5.2 format), interlaw.txt (ASCII), or interlaw.ps (PostScript). (Although the focus is on legal resources, this guide should be useful for any VAX/VMS user. It is also the only source I know of that discusses the differing commands for the BITNET and Unix listserver systems.) NCSA Education Group. "An Incomplete Guide to the Internet." July 1993. Available by anonymous ftp from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu, directory /Education/Education_Resources/Incomplete_Guide/ Incomp.Guide.Old, filename Incomp.Guide.July.txt. (Focuses on K-12 users and resources.) Noonan, Dana. "A Guide to Internet/Bitnet." June 1993. Available by anonymous ftp from vm1.nodak.edu, directory /nnews, filename guidev2.nnews. (A rare and valuable guide for the VAX/VMS user.) "NYSERNet New User's Guide to Useful and Unique Resources on the Internet." Version 2.2, April 1992. Available by anonymous ftp from nysernet.org, directory /pub/guides, filename new.user.guide.V2.2.txt Parker, Elliott S. "Getting to Start: Selected Readings in Computer Communication." Ver. 4.01 (13 Dec 1993). Available by sending an e-mail message to LISTSERV@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU containing only the line GET NETSTART INFO F=MAIL. (A lengthy bibliography of books, articles, and other materials about the Internet and related topics.) Polly, Jean Armour. "Surfing the INTERNET: An Introduction." Version 2.0.3, May 15, 1993. Available by anonymous ftp from nysernet.org, directory /pub/guides, file surfing.2.0.3.txt. "SURAnet Guide to Selected Internet Resources." December 1993. Available by anonymous ftp from ftp.sura.net, directory /pub/nic, file infoguide.12-93.txt. Yanoff, Scott. "Special Internet Connections" (updated frequently). A list of interesting and useful selection showing the broad range of Internet resources, including a few Online Public Access Catalogs, chat lines, weather servers, Campus Wide Information Systems, and other reference resources. Available by anonymous ftp from csd4.csd.uwm.edu, directory /pub, filename inet.services.txt. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5. For information on how to get connected to the Internet: Engle, Mary, Marilyn Lutz, William W. Jones, Jr., and Genevieve Engel. _Internet Connections: A Librarian's Guide to Dial-Up Access and Use_. Lita Monographs 3. Chicago: Library and Information Technology Association, 1993. 166 pp. ISBN 0-8389- 7677-8, US$22.00. Estrada, Susan. _Connecting to the Internet: An O'Reilly Buyer's Guide_. Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, 1993. 170 pp. ISBN 1-56592-061-9, US$15.95. Notess, Greg R. _Internet Access Providers: An International Resource Directory_. Westport, CT: Meckler, 1993. ISBN 0-88736- 933-2, US$22.95. If you have e-mail access to the Internet, you can obtain a copy of the Public Dialup Internet Access List (the most comprehensive list of Internet access providers for individuals and small organizations) by sending an e-mail message containing the command "Send PDIAL" to info-deli-server@netcom.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 6. The latest version of this document, "Where to Start" for New Internet Users, is available by anonymous ftp from sluaxa.slu.edu, directory /pub/millesjg, filename newusers.faq, or from ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu, directory /NETTRAIN, filename NEWUSERS.FAQ. It may also be obtained by e-mail by sending a message to LISTSERV@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu containing only the line: GET NEWUSERS FAQ NETTRAIN F=MAIL "Where to Start" for New Internet Users is also available on the World-Wide Web (http://lawlib.slu.edu/newusers.htm). A collection of reviews of Internet books can be obtained by anonymous ftp from ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu, cd /nettrain. The filenames are nettrain.revs_1, nettrain.revs_2, and nettrain.revs_3. They may also be obtained by sending a message to LISTSERV@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu containing only the lines: GET NETTRAIN REVS_1 NETTRAIN F=MAIL GET NETTRAIN REVS_2 NETTRAIN F=MAIL GET NETTRAIN REVS_3 NETTRAIN F=MAIL ----------------------------------------------------------------- Jim Milles (listowner, NETTRAIN@UBVM) Phone: (314) 658-2759 Head of Computer Services Fax: (314) 658-3966 Saint Louis University Law Library 3700 Lindell Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63108 E-mail: millesjg@sluvca.slu.edu