LOCATING INTERNET RESOURCES
Hostname: naic.nasa.gov
Directory path: files/general_info/
Filename: locating-internet-resources.txt
Updated: August 30, 1994 (mks)
LOCATING INTERNET RESOURCES
There is a vast amount of information on the Internet. The trick, of
course, is finding it! New tools have recently emerged on the
Internet that make the task of locating Internet resources much
easier. The NAIC plans to offer several of these services to the NASA
networking community, and we are well on our way to that goal. Here
is a brief look at two tools that NAIC offers to the NASA networking
community, and directions on how you can access and use them now.
GOPHER
The Internet Gopher delivers a wide variety of information and places
it in an easy-to-use menu. Gopher servers seamlessly link information
from all around the Internet in a manner that can be transparent to
the user. For example, Gopher links many different databases,
applications, white pages directories, sounds, and pictures.
VERONICA
The success of the Gopher means that there are hundreds of Gophers
available all over the world, all linked. Veronica is a service that
helps you find Gopher information without having to do a
menu-by-menu, site-by-site search of multiple Gophers. The
Veronica service, itself accessible from within "Gopherspace,"
is a searchable index of Gopher menu items. If you give Veronica a
word (or words), it will search its index of Gopher menu titles and
present its findings in a special menu that you can step through as
you would any other Gopher menu.
CONNECTING TO THE NAIC GOPHER
The NAIC runs a Gopher server that is linked to all the other Gophers
known to the "root" Gopher which is maintained and located at the
University of Minnesota. You can access the NAIC Gopher (and hence
all others) by making a Telnet connection to the host naic.nasa.gov
and logging in with username "gopher". Here's how to get started:
Connecting from an Internet host:
telnet naic.nasa.gov
[login:] naic
Connecting from a DECnet/VMS host:
SET HOST EAST
[login:] naic.nasa.gov!
[login:] naic
LOCATING RESOURCES: AN EXAMPLE
Once logged in as "gopher," you will automatically be placed at the top
menu of our Gopher, from which you can choose the "Veronica search all
gopher menus" item. By using Veronica, you can effortlessly see what
other Gophers have on a specific topic of interest to you. The
examples below using Veronica from the NAIC Gopher to perform a simple
search show you the power of these services and the wealth of the
Internet.
Let's see how one would find some information the Internet holds about
"geophysics." (Please note that the examples we provide here may be
slightly different from what the user sees due to the dynamic nature
of the information available through Gopher and Veronica.)
From the NAIC Gopher, choose the "Veronica search all gopher menus"
item. You will then have a choice of Veronica servers to use. If one
refuses your connection, try another. If all refuse, just try
searching later. As there are so few servers at this point, they may
refuse connections if you try to search at a busy time. Because these
services are very new they are not yet widely distributed, but they
are very popular!
After you have indicated which Veronica server you wish to use (we
chose the server at NYSERNet), you will be asked to specify which
words you would like to search for. Enter your choices. We entered
"geophysics." Remember that Veronica will search only the titles of
items in Gopher menus, not the full contents to which those items
point.
Veronica will now search Gopherspace to see how many menu items it can
find that contain the word or words you specified. Our search of the
NYSERNet Veronica gave us a menu containing 48 items (only a partial
listing is illustrated in the figure below) from different Gopher
servers, each of which contained the word "geophysics"! Many of the
items are course listings (Gophers are heavily used in campus
environments) but some are links to more substantial information.
SAMPLE MENUS
This is what appeared on our menu screen after we used Veronica to
search the NYSERNet Goher:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Search gopherspace by veronica at NYSERNet: geophysics
1. geophysics.sty.
2. Geophysics.
3. 012:181 EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS 3 s.h..
4. 012:180 Solid-earth Geophysics .
5. GEOLOGY & GEOPHYSICS.
--> 6. Geology and Geophysics/
7. GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS.
8. SEAS Courses: Mining & Applied Geophysics.
9. Mar 31 12:00 n Forensic Geophysics.
10. 26:460:506. (S) Introductory Geophysics (3).
11. 16:460:555. (F) Geophysics I (3).
12. 16:460:556. (S) Geophysics II (3).
13. 86-XX Geophysics.
14. Geophysics-Meteorology Course Descriptions.
15. Geophysics-Meteorological Physics/
16. Geophysics-Meteorology Course Descriptions.
17. Geophysics-Meteorological Physics/
18. Geology and Geophysics/
Press ? for Help, q to Quit, u to go up a menu Page: 1/3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 1. Example of initial Veronica search for "Geophysics."
Note that the cursor in the example above points to item 6. By
selecting that item, we obtained the following information from
another Gopher service. Thge example below illustrates the wealth of
available information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Geology and Geophysics
--> 1. About this directory.
2. Earth Observation Center-Information System (EOC-IS) <TEL>
3. FTP for recent earthquakes catalogs/
4. GEO - Directory for Geosciences/
5. Geographic Information Systems (GIS)/
6. Geography software (DOS)/
7. Global Land Information System <TEL>
8. IRIS DMC Electronic Bulletin Board <TEL>
9. IRIS DMC Gopher Data Retrieval <TEL>
10. NCEER Strong Motion Data Facility <TEL>
11. NOAA Earth System Data Directory (NOAADIR) <TEL>
12. Northwestern University, Department of Geological Sciences/
13. Pilot Land Data System (PLDS) <TEL>
14. Recent Earthquakes.
15. Thoen, Internet Resources for Earth Sciences (May '92).
16. USGS Seismology and Tectonophysics Information (Master Directory)/
17. worldmap software (DOS)/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 2: Example of subsearch of Geophysics topic using Veronica.
NEED HELP? CALL US!
This is just one example of locating resources of interest. Now that
you see how easy it is, we hope you'll connect to our Gopher and
discover for yourself what the Internet has to offer. If you have any
questions or problems, please contact us at the NAIC.
NASA Network Applications and Information Center (NAIC)
NASA Ames Research Center
M/S 204-14
Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
Telephone: 1-800-858-9947 (within the US)
1-415-604-0600 (outside the US)
FAX: 1-415-604-0978
Email from an Internet host: naic@nasa.gov
Email from a DECnet host: EAST::"naic@nasa.gov"
Directory path: files/general_info/
Filename: locating-internet-resources.txt
Updated: August 30, 1994 (mks)
LOCATING INTERNET RESOURCES
There is a vast amount of information on the Internet. The trick, of
course, is finding it! New tools have recently emerged on the
Internet that make the task of locating Internet resources much
easier. The NAIC plans to offer several of these services to the NASA
networking community, and we are well on our way to that goal. Here
is a brief look at two tools that NAIC offers to the NASA networking
community, and directions on how you can access and use them now.
GOPHER
The Internet Gopher delivers a wide variety of information and places
it in an easy-to-use menu. Gopher servers seamlessly link information
from all around the Internet in a manner that can be transparent to
the user. For example, Gopher links many different databases,
applications, white pages directories, sounds, and pictures.
VERONICA
The success of the Gopher means that there are hundreds of Gophers
available all over the world, all linked. Veronica is a service that
helps you find Gopher information without having to do a
menu-by-menu, site-by-site search of multiple Gophers. The
Veronica service, itself accessible from within "Gopherspace,"
is a searchable index of Gopher menu items. If you give Veronica a
word (or words), it will search its index of Gopher menu titles and
present its findings in a special menu that you can step through as
you would any other Gopher menu.
CONNECTING TO THE NAIC GOPHER
The NAIC runs a Gopher server that is linked to all the other Gophers
known to the "root" Gopher which is maintained and located at the
University of Minnesota. You can access the NAIC Gopher (and hence
all others) by making a Telnet connection to the host naic.nasa.gov
and logging in with username "gopher". Here's how to get started:
Connecting from an Internet host:
telnet naic.nasa.gov
[login:] naic
Connecting from a DECnet/VMS host:
SET HOST EAST
[login:] naic.nasa.gov!
[login:] naic
LOCATING RESOURCES: AN EXAMPLE
Once logged in as "gopher," you will automatically be placed at the top
menu of our Gopher, from which you can choose the "Veronica search all
gopher menus" item. By using Veronica, you can effortlessly see what
other Gophers have on a specific topic of interest to you. The
examples below using Veronica from the NAIC Gopher to perform a simple
search show you the power of these services and the wealth of the
Internet.
Let's see how one would find some information the Internet holds about
"geophysics." (Please note that the examples we provide here may be
slightly different from what the user sees due to the dynamic nature
of the information available through Gopher and Veronica.)
From the NAIC Gopher, choose the "Veronica search all gopher menus"
item. You will then have a choice of Veronica servers to use. If one
refuses your connection, try another. If all refuse, just try
searching later. As there are so few servers at this point, they may
refuse connections if you try to search at a busy time. Because these
services are very new they are not yet widely distributed, but they
are very popular!
After you have indicated which Veronica server you wish to use (we
chose the server at NYSERNet), you will be asked to specify which
words you would like to search for. Enter your choices. We entered
"geophysics." Remember that Veronica will search only the titles of
items in Gopher menus, not the full contents to which those items
point.
Veronica will now search Gopherspace to see how many menu items it can
find that contain the word or words you specified. Our search of the
NYSERNet Veronica gave us a menu containing 48 items (only a partial
listing is illustrated in the figure below) from different Gopher
servers, each of which contained the word "geophysics"! Many of the
items are course listings (Gophers are heavily used in campus
environments) but some are links to more substantial information.
SAMPLE MENUS
This is what appeared on our menu screen after we used Veronica to
search the NYSERNet Goher:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Search gopherspace by veronica at NYSERNet: geophysics
1. geophysics.sty.
2. Geophysics.
3. 012:181 EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS 3 s.h..
4. 012:180 Solid-earth Geophysics .
5. GEOLOGY & GEOPHYSICS.
--> 6. Geology and Geophysics/
7. GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS.
8. SEAS Courses: Mining & Applied Geophysics.
9. Mar 31 12:00 n Forensic Geophysics.
10. 26:460:506. (S) Introductory Geophysics (3).
11. 16:460:555. (F) Geophysics I (3).
12. 16:460:556. (S) Geophysics II (3).
13. 86-XX Geophysics.
14. Geophysics-Meteorology Course Descriptions.
15. Geophysics-Meteorological Physics/
16. Geophysics-Meteorology Course Descriptions.
17. Geophysics-Meteorological Physics/
18. Geology and Geophysics/
Press ? for Help, q to Quit, u to go up a menu Page: 1/3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 1. Example of initial Veronica search for "Geophysics."
Note that the cursor in the example above points to item 6. By
selecting that item, we obtained the following information from
another Gopher service. Thge example below illustrates the wealth of
available information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Geology and Geophysics
--> 1. About this directory.
2. Earth Observation Center-Information System (EOC-IS) <TEL>
3. FTP for recent earthquakes catalogs/
4. GEO - Directory for Geosciences/
5. Geographic Information Systems (GIS)/
6. Geography software (DOS)/
7. Global Land Information System <TEL>
8. IRIS DMC Electronic Bulletin Board <TEL>
9. IRIS DMC Gopher Data Retrieval <TEL>
10. NCEER Strong Motion Data Facility <TEL>
11. NOAA Earth System Data Directory (NOAADIR) <TEL>
12. Northwestern University, Department of Geological Sciences/
13. Pilot Land Data System (PLDS) <TEL>
14. Recent Earthquakes.
15. Thoen, Internet Resources for Earth Sciences (May '92).
16. USGS Seismology and Tectonophysics Information (Master Directory)/
17. worldmap software (DOS)/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 2: Example of subsearch of Geophysics topic using Veronica.
NEED HELP? CALL US!
This is just one example of locating resources of interest. Now that
you see how easy it is, we hope you'll connect to our Gopher and
discover for yourself what the Internet has to offer. If you have any
questions or problems, please contact us at the NAIC.
NASA Network Applications and Information Center (NAIC)
NASA Ames Research Center
M/S 204-14
Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
Telephone: 1-800-858-9947 (within the US)
1-415-604-0600 (outside the US)
FAX: 1-415-604-0978
Email from an Internet host: naic@nasa.gov
Email from a DECnet host: EAST::"naic@nasa.gov"
Comments
Post a Comment