A week or so ago, I posted to several lists a document called
"Where to Start" for New Internet Users. This document is a
selected, annotated list of recommended books and other
materials. Since that posting I have received several comments
and suggestions, and I am now posting a newly revised version
(below). As always, further comments and suggestions are
welcome.
Jim Milles (listowner, NETTRAIN@UBVM)
Head of Computer Services
Saint Louis University Law Library
millesjg@sluvca.slu.edu
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"WHERE TO START" FOR NEW INTERNET USERS
Jim Milles
Ver. 2.0
12/16/93
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.
2. Some recommended books for new users of the Internet:
LaQuey, Tracy. _The Internet Companion: A Beginner's Guide
to Global Networking_. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1992.
(Read this first; the best guide for the true beginner,
useful even for the pre-beginner who has not yet signed on to
the Internet.)
Hahn, Harley & Rick Stout. _The Internet Complete
Reference_. Berkeley: Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1993. (Widely
considered the the best of the new crop of Internet books,
and at 800+ pages, by far the most comprehensive.)
Krol, Ed. _The Whole Internet: User's Guide & Catalog_.
Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, 1992. (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;
has now been superseded somewhat by more up-to-date works
such as _The Internet Complete Reference_.)
Other useful books for new users:
Aboba, Bernard. _The Online User's Encyclopedia: Bulletin
Boards and Beyond_. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1994. (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. (Dern is the 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. (Highly recommended by Mac
users, many of whom preferred this to the Fraase book listed
below. Includes a disk with a variety of Internet access
software.)
Fisher, Sharon. _Riding the Internet Highway_. Carmel,
Indiana: New Riders Pub., 1993.
Fraase, Michael. _The Mac Internet Tour Guide: Cruising the
Internet the Easy Way_. Chapel Hill NC: Ventana Press, 1993.
(The first Internet guide written for Macintosh users;
includes a 800K disc containing useful software.)
Gardner, James. _A DOS User's Guide to the Internet_.
Waterloo, ON, Canada: MKS [Mortice Kern Systems], 1993.
Gilster, Paul. _The Internet Navigator_. New York: John
Wiley, 1993.
Kehoe, Brendan. _Zen and the Art of the Internet: A
Beginner's Guide_. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-
Hall, 1993. (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. (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. (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. (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. (Includes useful information on how
to obtain Internet access, as well as other technical
reference material.)
Quarterman, John S. _The Matrix: Computer Networks and
Conferencing Systems Worldwide_. Bedford, MA: Digital Press,
1990. (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.)
Smith, Richard and Mark Gibbs. _Navigating the Internet_.
Carmel, Indiana: SAMS Publishing, 1993. (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.)
Tennant, Roy, John Ober, & Anne G. Lipow. _Crossing the
Internet Threshold: An Instructional Handbook_. 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.)
3. 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 online12.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.)
Gaffin, Adam and Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Big
Dummy's Guide to the Internet." December 1993. Available
by anonymous ftp from ftp.eff.org, directory /pub/EFF/papers,
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, 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 guide1.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 2.0.2, December 16, 1992. Available by anonymous ftp
from nysernet.org, directory /pub/guides, file
surfing.2.0.2.txt.
"SURAnet Guide to Selected Internet Resources." January
1993. Available by anonymous ftp from ftp.sura.net,
directory /pub/nic, file infoguide.1-93.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.
4. 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.
Estrada, Susan. _Connecting to the Internet: An O'Reilly
Buyer's Guide_. Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, 1993.
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.
5. 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. 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
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
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