Navigating the Internet: Introduction

Navigating the Internet, Third Edition

Introduction

[The Bellman] had bought a large map representing the sea,
Without the least vestige of land:
And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
A map they could all understand.

"What good are Mercator's North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?"
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
"They are merely conventional signs!"

"Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes!
But we've got our brave Captain to thank"
(So the crew would protest) "that he's bought us the best—
A perfect and absolute blank!"

"The Hunting of the Snark"
—Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)

Imagine yourself as a navigator out in the ocean. You're surrounded by islands, atolls, and cays, and you can see hundreds of lighthouses marking ports, harbors, and towns. Which of these anchorages are worth sailing over to? Which of them are going to be interesting and which are going to be useful? Once you've decided where you'd like to go, what is the best way to get there? Successful seafaring requires maps (so you can tell an atoll from an archipelago), guidebooks (to separate the worthless berths from the priceless ports), charts (to avoid shoals, reefs, and other hazards of the sea), and, of course, the right tools (to keep the sailing smooth and the hatches battened).

Mariners navigating the high seas of the Internet face the same predicament. The Internet is dotted with thousands of digital islands and harbors, each one singing its siren song to tempt unwary seafarers. Trying to maneuver these islets unaided is like getting around with a map that's "A perfect and absolute blank!" That may be fine for the Bellman and his crew of Snark hunters, but modern-day Argonauts seeking the Golden Fleece of useful information—whether it's data files, documents, programs, or discussions with other seadogs—need more than that. They need maps, guidebooks, charts, and tools that will not only tell them how to sail from port A to port B, but also what the heck to do in port B once they're docked.

This book is the Internet navigator's companion. Here you'll find everything you need to know about the history, shape, services, resources, and technologies of the Internet. You'll find out how you can launch yourself into the Internet, where the best landfalls and the richest treasures are hidden, and how to expertly navigate the Internet. Once you're on dry land, you'll discover how to search and dig for treasure. In short, this is the first book that actually explains what the Internet is and how to use it for a purpose—the purpose of finding useful stuff.

This book was inspired by two courses that one of the authors, Rich Smith, conducted across the Internet in 1992. This book was named after those courses. The first course, in August 1992, attracted 864 participants. For the second course, in November 1992, the number of participants reached 15,000 before the list had to be closed. Any more than that and the University of Louisiana computer would have had serious problems handling the vast amount of traffic involved!

The reason cited by many people for joining the course was that they wanted to learn how to use the Internet. They didn't want to know about techie stuff like protocols and bits and bytes—they wanted practical advice on navigation. How do I find what I want? How do I get to where what I want is? When I get there, how do I get the stuff back? Rather than let them blunder around and read reams of manuals, Rich's course answered those fundamental questions.

In this book, we've covered much the same ground as Rich's course and explained some of the tools in more depth. When you combine our detailed information on Internet tools with our wealth of practical, real-world examples, you have the very best map possible with which to start sailing around the Internet. Whether you're a scientist, a librarian, a business person, a doctor, a lawyer, an industry chief, or just a landlubber looking to get your digital sealegs, this book will help steer your Internet voyages.

Who Should Read This Book?

Everyone. At least, everyone who wants to be able to take advantage of the world of information technology. As we move into the 21st century, the Internet is going to become the world's information backbone—the primary means of communication that will soon carry more mail than the postal services of all the countries in the world combined.

By the year 2000, if you're not on the Internet at least for electronic mail, you'll be isolated. This book is about preparing yourself not only for sending and receiving e-mail, but also for getting out onto the Internet and accessing resources.

This book is for anyone with a basic knowledge of PCs or computers who has or can arrange to have access to the Internet. It's designed for people, not computer scientists. If you are any of the following:

Student
Teacher
Business person
Parent
Computer user of any kind
(that should cover just about everyone)

...this book was written for you!

The Path to the Internet

Your path to the Internet starts here. Your mission: to seek out new resources and new services, to boldly sail where others founder, to navigate the Internet.

Happy sailing.

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