 |
 |
Gopher is indeed a mysterious and worderful thing - it makes the entire internet appear as one cohesive whole, which you can jump from place to place "netsurfing" without worrying about the technical details of getting there. More powerful than Gopher is the World Wide Web (WWW), generally accessed by a program called Mosaic. This not only accesses the other Internet services (news, ftp, gopher) but also allows you to view text, pictures, movies etc. It is also very easy to add your own stuff, and most sites are keen for you to do so. WWW traffic is apparently growing at an astronomical rate. If you do get a chance to play with WWW, be warned - it is very addictive...... I found myself reading pages from a Russian museum, and I only came in to read my mail :-) To use gopher and WWW, you need what is generally known as a "Well Connected Internet Node", a loose translation being "there is a permenant piece of cable between you and another well connected internet node". To my knowledge, most Universities provide this, some commercial service providers, and some companies. (My company does not provide it because of security implications). These technologies are really exciting, for they hide the complexity of the Internet whilst providing a powerful suitable for all users. The Internet is becoming less of a place for technical people to "hang out" and more of a place for the rest of us. (of course, the vast majority of people do not have a well connected internet node. Hence we must always support the lowest common denominator, Electronic Mail) PS - is anyone able to set up WWW pages for PARKINSN? I'd do it here, but I'm leaving in a month. Simon [log in to unmask] >How does one "gopher the archives?" What archives where? I assume gopher >means dig into as gophers tend to do that. Is it a lengthy business? What am >I missing? >Barbara Yacos >[log in to unmask] --