wk3lectures

Week 3

Enhancing Your Internet Experience

Surfing the net involves a lot of wait time, waiting for pages to load, files to download, etc. It can make surfing the net boring as we wait. But there's something you can do to make your time on the net more productive and more fun. Use multiple windows in your browser. To do this:

Click on the File drop down menu
Place your mouse on the word "New". An arrow is next to this word and another menu will appear. Choose "Window" or "Navigator Window" depending on the browser you're using

Another browser window will open and will display the exact contents of the page you were in. If you'll notice on your taskbar (along the bottom of your screen), you'll see a button for each window that is open. You can click on these buttons to switch between windows. If you have one window that is downloading a file, you can go to the other browser window and go anywhere on the net you like--go to a particular page, search for something, etc. You can have as many browser windows open at the same time as you like. This technique works well if you are in the classroom and are searching for an article to post. Just open another browser window, search for an article, when you find it, copy it and paste it in the other window where the class is located.

Now there's no more need to sit and wait on the net. Just use multiple windows and do several things at once! :-)

Some MOO history ...

The first developer of a MOO server was Stephen White. Pavel Curtis of Xerox built upon White's basic design and code and supplemented it with added features,
which culminated in the first LambdaMOO core. MOOs offer an alternative to MUDs -- which are fixed virtual environments controlled by an oligarchy of
programmers. The LambdaMOO source code is publicly available from Xerox parc (other MOO source codes have also been developed).

MOOs offer every participant the opportunity to construct spaces and objects and to write code that in some way augments or increases the functionality with these
virtual spaces. In this sense, MOOs are constructed social spaces in a dynamic process of continual evolution.

For users, MOOs can be described as constellations of spaces, or "rooms", within which multiple individuals can congregate and interact. Movement is possible
room to room, by typing in cardinal directions, or via "teleporting", which allows immediate transport to rooms not adjacent to one's present location.

How to Log-on to a MOO:

at the % prompt (the unix shell prompt), type a MOO address, for example:

telnet moo.du.org 8888 [for Diversity University]

To "speak" in a MOO:

Type " > and what you say will be heard. Example: "hi. This appears on everyone's screen as Kaloo says, 'hi.' >

Here are some other MOO commands that might will you as you explore:

Type : > and this will show an action: an example would be for me to Type :bows gracefully to David > and others see Kaloo bows gracefully to David >

To page a character, enter:

page example: page David Help--I'm stuck in the Coat Closet!

Kaloo pages David with "Help--I'm stuck in the Coat Closet!

Looking at Characters, Rooms, and Objects:

To see the self-description of a character in the room with you,

Type: look
Example: look Kaloo

A description of Kaloo will appear on your screen.

You can also "look" at yourself, by typing look me >.

To review the description of a room you're in, enter: look >

If in the room you're in you see an object you want to examine, enter this:
@examine
Example: @examine here (to see what's in the room you're in)

MUD

                 Short for Multi-User Dungeon (or Multi-User Dimension) a cyberspace where users can take on an identity in the
                 form of an avatar and interact with one another. Originally, MUDs tended to be adventure games played within
                 enormous old castles with hidden rooms, trap-doors, exotic beasts, and magical items. Nowadays, the term is used
                 more generically to refer to any cyberspace. MUDs are also known as 3-D worlds and chat worlds.

"MUDs" are Multi-User Dungeons (or Multiple User Devices), and they were originally created so that Dungeons and Dragons players could role play in real-time
with other players around the world.

MUDs are no longer limited to dragon-slaying, though. A large number of MUDs have been set up for teaching purposes -- imagine my teaching Roadmap *real
time*, where you would see what I type as I type it. There are even social MUDs where you can just sit and talk with people around the world.

Mailing List

A list of e-mail addresses identified by a single name, such as mail-list@sandybay.com. When an e-mail message is
sent to the mailing list name, it is automatically forwarded to all the addresses in the list.

Most e-mail clients support mailing lists, which enables you to broadcast e-mail messages to groups that you define.
In addition, there are mailing list servers that manage centralized mailing lists for groups of users.

LISTSERVs

What is a LISTSERV mailing list? Quite simply, it is an e-mail-based mailing list for a whole bunch of people who share similar interests. This list is maintained by a LISTSERV program. Anyone can subscribe to a LISTSERV mailing list by sending a SUBSCRIBE command (remember that one?) to the LISTSERV administrative address.

Any e-mail letter sent to the list's address is copied and mass-mailed to the e-mail box of every person subscribed to the list. Everyone else on the list can then reply to that letter, and then ... well, you get the picture. LISTSERV lists give you a way to have open discussions with dozens or even hundreds of people on a myriad of topics. Best of all, it is all done through e-mail!

I want to say something about the difference between list addresses and LISTSERV administrative addresses. Let's pretend that I create a list at the InterNIC for the open discussion of power-line-chomping squirrels. I will even call the list "SQUIRREL."

The address for our pretend squirrel discussion list would be SQUIRREL@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET Any e-mail letter sent to the SQUIRREL@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET address would be copied and mass-mailed to every single person subscribed to the squirrel list. That's simple enough.

But how are people going to subscribe to my squirrel list? We need a second address just to handle all of the commands for my list (and for other lists as well)! That second address is the LISTSERV administrative address which, in this case, is LISTSERV@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET

Are you starting to see the picture?

The list address is where you send a message if you want it to be distributed to everyone else subscribed to that list. The LISTSERV administrative address is where you send all of your commands.

What would happen if you sent a command (like SUBSCRIBE or GET) to the discussion list's address instead of to the LISTSERV administrative address? Simple:
your command would be treated as a letter and would be sent to everyone on the list (how embarrassing!).

Also, never send chatty text to the LISTSERV administrative address. For example, sending an e-mail letter to the LISTSERV administrative address that says, "Hi, I am really interested in your list -- please subscribe me" would only generate a really weird-looking error message. LISTSERV is a computer program, not a person, and only understands specific commands.

Remember this (and you will see this on a pop quiz some time):

Send your LETTERS to the list address!
Send your COMMANDS to the LISTSERV administrative address!

Now, life would be a whole bunch easier if the only LISTSERV in the world was at the InterNIC. But, it isn't. There are thousands of different LISTSERVs around the world, and there are literally tens of thousands of different LISTSERV lists.

How are you ever going to find out what different discussion lists are out there, and what these lists' addresses are? Well, there are a few ways to do this:

   1.Word of mouth -- someone tells you about a hot new list you need to check out.
   2.Internet Yellow Pages -- there are some GREAT books you can buy in most bookstores that tell you where lots of the neat stuff is on the Internet.
   3.The LIST GLOBAL or LISTS GLOBAL /STRING command -- we'll talk about this tomorrow.
   4.Announcements on other lists.

How are you ever going to figure out which LISTSERV administrative address goes with which discussion list? EASY! This trick only works with LISTSERV
discussion lists, but if you take the full address of a discussion list (like SQUIRREL@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET) and replace the discussion list's name with the word
"LISTSERV," you'll end up with the correct LISTSERV administrative address for that particular list. In this case, the correct LISTSERV administrative address for the squirrel list would be LISTSERV@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET

A few more examples:

List address Administrative address

     CHAUCER@UICVM.UIC.EDU                 LISTSERV@UICVM.UIC.EDU
     ROADMAP96@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET   LISTSERV@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET
     PPD-L@ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA       LISTSERV@ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA
     VEGLIFE@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU              LISTSERV@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU

Why is this important to know? Well, let's say that I tell you that there is a LISTSERV list called VEGLIFE@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU to which you should subscribe. All I have given you is the list's address. Remember, you can only send LETTERS to the list address. You need to know the LISTSERV administrative address in order to subscribe!

With this trick, you automatically know that the LISTSERV administrative address for VEGLIFE@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU is LISTSERV@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU and you can subscribe to the list without any problem!

You may notice that some list addresses look something like this:

CRUISE-L@UNLVM

NAVIGATE@UBVM

Those are BITNET addresses. BITNET is an old, non-Internet network that used to connect many major colleges and universities. To turn BITNET addresses into something that you can use, you will have to add .BITNET to the end of the addresses:

CRUISE-L@UNLVM.BITNET

NAVIGATE@UBVM.BITNET

and the LISTSERV administrative addresses would be:

LISTSERV@UNLVM.BITNET

LISTSERV@UBVM.BITNET

One nice thing about this is that you can almost always tell that a list is a LISTSERV list by looking at the list's address. If the address is LIST@NODE or LIST@NODE.BITNET, you can all but bet that the list is a LISTSERV list.

Some of you may be at sites that do not allow mail to BITNET addresses. You can bypass this restriction by taking the address

LIST@NODE.BITNET

dropping the .BITNET, so the address becomes

LIST@NODE

changing the @ to a %, so the address becomes

LIST%NODE

and then adding @CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU to the end, so that the final address becomes

LIST%NODE@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

This is called the "percent hack," and it works because CUNY.EDU is one of many gateways between the Internet and BITNET.

Now let's talk about some new LISTSERV commands. You already know the SUBSCRIBE command

SUBSCRIBE listname yourfirstname yourlastname

and the GET command

GET filename filetype F=MAIL

I want to show you a couple of other commands that will make your life a whole lot easier (remember, all commands must be sent to a LISTSERV administrative address).

If you ever need to unsubscribe from a list, the SIGNOFF command will take care of everything. There are three different SIGNOFF commands that you can use:

SIGNOFF listname to unsubscribe from a particular list(you need to replace the word "listname" with the name of the list you are dropping)

SIGNOFF * to unsubscribe from every list at a particular LISTSERV address

SIGNOFF * (NETWIDE to unsubscribe from every LISTSERV list on the planet)

Have you ever accidentally thrown away an e-mail letter? Well, if that letter was from a LISTSERV list and if that list keeps an archive, you can retrieve that letter from the LISTSERV! Here is how to do it:

   1.Send an INDEX listname F=MAIL command to the LISTSERV administrative address (for example, to get the index for the SQUIRREL list, your command would say INDEX SQUIRREL F=MAIL).
   2.Look through the index to find the file or notebook that you want to retrieve (the index will even tell you the filename and filetypes for each of the files!).
   3.Use the GET filename filetype F=MAIL command to get the file or notebook that you want.

Remember: you send LETTERS to the list address; you send COMMANDS to the LISTSERV administrative address. Etch this into your brain. :)