The Online World Part 35

Email: [email protected] Nicarao - CRIES (Nicaragua). Email: [email protected] NordNet (Sweden). Email: [email protected] Pegasus (Australia). Email: [email protected] Web (Canada). Email: [email protected]

While all these services are fee based, they bring a wealth of information on environmental preservation, peace (incl. Greenpeace Press Releases), human rights, grant-making foundations, Third World Resources, United Nations Information Service, Pesticide Information Service, and more.

For information about APC, write to [email protected] , or APC International Secretariat, Rua Vincente de Souza, 29, 22251-070 Rio de Janeiro, BRASIL. Fax: +55-21-286-0541.

For information about the PeaceNet World News Service, which delivers news digests directly to your email box, send a request to [email protected]

Bergen By Byte -------------- Norwegian online service with conferences and many files. Modem tel.: +47 05 323781. PDN (Datapak) address: 0 2422 450134. Telnet: oscar.bbb.no (192.124.156.38).

English-language interface available. Annual subscription rates. You can register online. Limited free usage.

BIBSYS ------ Book database operated by the Norwegian universities' libraries.

Send Internet mail to [email protected] with your search word in the subject t.i.tle of the message.

Big Sky Telegraph ----------------- is an online community for educators, business people etc. living in rural areas in North America. Address: 710 South Atlantic, Dillon, Montana 59725, U.S.A.

BITNET ------ "Because It's Time NETwork" started in 1981 as a small network for IBM computers in New York, U.S.A. Today, BITNET encompa.s.ses 3,284 host computers by academic and research inst.i.tutions all over the world. It has around 243,016 users (source: Matrix News 1993) All connected hosts form a worldwide network using the NJE (Network Job Entry) protocols and with a single list of nodes.

There is no single worldwide BITNET administration. Several national or regional bodies administer the network.

The European part of BITNET is called EARN (European Academic Research Network), while the Canadian is called NetNorth. In j.a.pan the name is AsiaNet. BITNET also has connections to South America.

Other parts of the network have names like CAREN, ANSP, SCARNET, CEARN, GULFNET, HARNET, ECUANET, and RUNCOL.

Normally, a BITNET email address looks like this:

[email protected]

The part to the left of the @-character is the users' mailbox code.

The part to the right is the code of the mailbox computer. It is common for Internet users to refer to BITNET addresses like this: [email protected] .

To send email from the Internet to BITNET, it has to be sent through special gateway computers. On many systems, this is taken care of automatically. You type [email protected], and your mailbox system does the rest.

On some systems, the user must give routing information in the BITNET address. For example, North American mail to BITNET can be sent through the gateway center CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU . To make mail to NOTRBCAT go through this gateway, its mail address must be changed as follows:

[email protected]

Explanation: The @ in the initial address is replaced with % . Then add the gateway routing: ".[email protected]".

If you must use a gateway in your address, always select one close to where you live. Ask your local postmaster for the correct addressing in your case.

BITNET has many conferences. We call them discussion lists or mailing lists. The lists are usually administered by a computer program called LISTSERV. The dialog is based on redistribution of ordinary email by mailing lists. Consequently, it is simple for users of other networks to partic.i.p.ate in BITNET conferences.

A list of discussion lists (at present around 1,600 one-line descriptions) is available by email from [email protected]

Write the following command in the TEXT of your message:

LIST GLOBAL

[email protected] and NETMONTH (from [email protected]) distribute regular notices about new discussion lists. Subscribe to NEW-LIST by email to [email protected] Use the following command:

SUB NEW-LIST Your-first-name Your-last-name

This is how we usually subscribe to discussion lists. Send your subscription commands to a LISTSERV close to where you live.

The command "SENDME BITNET OVERVIEW" tells LISTSERV to send more information about the services.

BIX --- is operated as a joint venture between General Videotex Corp. and the North American computer magazine BYTE (McGraw-Hill). To some extent, it mirrors what you can read on paper. BIX offers global Internet email, telnet and ftp, multiple conferences. In 1992, the service had about 50,000 members.

The NUA address is 0310600157878. On Internet, telnet x25.bix.com . At the Username: prompt, enter BIX as a user name. At the second Username: prompt, enter NEW if you don't already have an account on the service.

You can sign up for the service, and play during your first visit to the service. Read BYTE for more information, or write to General Videotex Corporation, 1030 Ma.s.sachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Phone: +1-617-354-4137.

BRS --- Bibliographic Retrieval Services is owned by InfoPro Technologies (see below). BRS/After Dark is a service for PC users. It can be accessed during evenings and weekends at attractive rates.

InfoPro offers connection through their own network in Europe, and through the Internet. BRS contains about 120 databases within research, business, news, and science. The service's strengths are medicine and health.

Members.h.i.+p in BRS costs US$80 per year, plus hourly database usage charges. It is also available through CompuServe (at a different price).

Contact in Europe: BRS Information Technologies, Achilles House, Western Avenue, London W3 OUA, England. Tel. +44 81 993 9962. In North America: InfoPro Technologies. Tel.: +1-703-442-0900.

Telnet: brs.com (US$6/hr).

Canada Remote Systems --------------------- is North America's largest bulletin board system (1992). It has a software library of more than 500,000 programs and files, and over 3,500 public forums and discussion areas.

Canada Remote provides several news and information services, including the United Press International and Reuters news wires, North American stock exchange results, the twice-weekly edition of Newsbytes, and other publications.

Tel.: +1-416-629-7000 (in the U.S.) and +1-313-963-1905 (Canada).

Canada Remote Systems, 1331 Crestlawn Drive, Unit D, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L4W 2P9.

CGNET ----- is a network interconnecting a group of international research organizations. Besides email, CGNET provides news clipping services, airline reservation information, and database search.

(See Dialcom) Contact: CGNET Services International, 1024 Hamilton Court, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. Telephone: +1-415-325-3061.

Fax: 1-415-325-2313 Telex: 4900005788 (CGN UI) .

CIX (England) ------------- British online-service available by telnet, through PDN services and by direct dial. Telnet cix.compulink.co.uk.

Compulink Information eXchange Ltd. claims to be Europe's largest conferencing system. Sign-up fee (1993): GBP 25.00. Monthly minimum: GBP 6.25. Off-peak connect rate GBP 2.40. Peak rate is 3.60 per hour.

The service has full Internet access, and email exchange with CompuServe and Dialcom. CIX has many conferences, ISDN access, Usenet News, telnet and ftp.

Contact: The Compulink Information Exchange Ltd., The Sanctuary Oakhill Grove, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 6DU, England. Tel.: +44-81-390- 8446. Fax: +44-81-390-6561. NUA: 2342 1330 0310. Data: +44-81-390- 1255/+44-81-390-1244. Email: [email protected] .

CIX (USA) --------- The Commercial Internet eXchange is a North American a.s.sociation of commercial Internet providers in which they agree to carry each others' packets of mail, and more.

Clarinet -------- A commercial network publis.h.i.+ng service providing information and news in over 100 newsgroups by subject matter on Usenet. Read Chapter 9 for more information. Single-user (individual) prices available.

Clarinet Communications Corp., 124 King St. North, Waterloo, Ontario N2J 2X8, Canada. Email: [email protected] .

Commercial Mail Relay Service (CMR) ----------------------------------- This service is not available anymore. They used to be available on this address: [email protected]

CompuServe ---------- has about 1.3 million users (August 93) all over the world, over 1,500 databases, 200 forums, 500 newspapers, online shopping from more than 100 shops and entertainment. It's like a large electronic supermarket.

You can access the service though local access numbers in over 100 countries, through Packet Switching Services, and outdial services. The international NUA address is 0313299999997.

A list of available forums can be retrieved from the IBM Communication Forum. Partic.i.p.ation in forums is normally free (no extra charge).

The IQuest database service gives access to more than 800 publications, databases, and indexes within business, public affairs, research, news, etc. Bibliographic and full-text searches.

Some IQuest databases are physically residing on other online services, like NewsNet, Dialog, BRS, and Vu/Text (U.S.A.), Data- Star (Switzerland), DataSolve (England. It has Ta.s.s in the World Reporter database), and Questel (France). Sometimes, it is cheaper to use these services on CompuServe, than by a call to these services directly.

The connect charge for CompuServe's Alternative Pricing Plan is US$12.80/hour at 1200 and 2400 bps. 9600 bps costs US$22.80/hour.

Monthly subscription US$2.50. Using the Executive News Service (clipping service) costs an extra US$15/hour.

An optional flat-rate pricing plan (the Standard Pricing plan) is available for US$8.95 per month. It gives unlimited access to over 30 basic services, including CompuServe mail, The Electronic Mall, news, weather and sports, member support services, reference and travel services.

Hourly rates for Standard Pricing Plan members using extended services go from US$6/hour for 300 bits/s to US$16/hour for 9600 bits/s access. (Feb. 93) In addition, there are network charges. These differ a lot by country. For example, access through European CompuServe nodes has no communication surcharges during non-prime time (19:00-8:00 local time).

CompuServe can be accessed by telnet to hermes.merit.edu, or 35.1.48.150. Host: CompuServe.

CompuServe Information Services Inc., POB 20212, 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd., Columbus, Ohio 43220, U.S.A.

In Europe, call voice: +49-89-66550-111, fax: +49-89-66 550-255 or write to CompuServe, Jahnstra.s.se 2, D-8025 Unterhaching b., Munich, Germany. To contact CompuServe Africa, call (012) 841-2530 in South Africa, or (+27)(12) 841-2530 for everywhere else.

Cosine ------ COSINE (Cooperation for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in Europe) is a European Common Market "Eureka" project. It works to establish a communications network infrastructure for scientific and industrial research inst.i.tutes all over Europe.

IXI is the international packet data network on which the COSINE project is based. It is available Europe-wide providing links of up to 64 Kbit/s, carries non commercial traffic for the research communities, and provides links to several public data networks.

The CONCISE online information service is a focal point for information of interest to European researchers. It has lists of sources of information.

Internet users can access CONCISE through Telnet. Connect either to concise.ixi.ch (130.59.2.16) or concise.funet.fi (128.214.6.181). Login: concise, pa.s.sword: concise.

For help, send email to [email protected] with the following command in the body of the text:

start help cug-email

This will give you the 'CONCISE User Guide - Email Access'.

DASnet ------ forwards mail between systems that do not have any email exchange agreements. See description in Chapter 13. Contact: DA Systems, Inc., 1503 E. Campbell Ave., Campbell, CA 95008, U.S.A.