Computer-Mediated
Communication Magazine / Volume 1, Number 6 / October 1, 1994 /
Page 10
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by John December (decemj@rpi.edu)
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Through my work in providing Internet-based information about the Internet and Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), I've gained insights into issues facing information providers. My experience in tracking Internet information includes developing a list of information about information. In this list, I attempt to organize and present information sources describing the Internet and computer-mediated communication technologies, applications, culture, discussion forums, and bibliographies. In this section, I describe my experience and discuss lessons I've learned.
In May 1992, I began an independent study project (as part of doctoral work at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) investigating the Internet and how it can be used for communication. As part of this project, I located information sources about the Internet. I listed these resources and posted the result to alt.bbs.internet (the only Usenet newsgroup at that time with the word `internet' in it). I received some comments and feedback, and I added items to the list as a result of suggestions and further searches of the network. I tried to organize the list so that it would be easy to read, listing Internet descriptions, information services, electronic publications, societies and organizations, newsgroups, and a bibliography. After further revision, I placed the list on my university's FTP site, and posted an announcement of its availability and updates to alt.internet.services (a newsgroup formed after alt.bbs.internet people grew tired of having non-Internet BBS-related items posted to their group). Over the next year, I continued to gather information, drawing on items to include from mailing lists and my own use of Archie, FTP, Gopher/Veronica, WAIS, and the Web.
The reason for my approach in developing a list of information about information rather than original sources was that I found many useful documents describing the Net that were available over the Net. Rather than duplicating these efforts, my goal was to develop a list summarizing where I could obtain the further information sources. I could then use my list to help people become familiar with the Internet, or as a tool to define areas to examine in the field of CMC. The process I used to develop this information has evolved over the years, and has contributed to my skills and ideas about information discovery and selection, presentation formats, usability and design issues, information value and quality, and the context in which I should present my list to others. My development process has included gathering information, presenting it in a variety of formats, improving usability and content, and presenting it in a context where it would elicit more reactions and involvement with others in my field of specialization and study.
Throughout my work with Internet information, I've noticed a similar pattern for information space development and use. File transfer protocol, telnet, Gopher, and the Web all created new information spaces, and the ways these spaces became populated with information were similar. The pattern has been:
The above pattern has occured with FTP (Archie as the automated indexer), Gopher (Veronica), and the Web (Spiders).
By observing and making use of this information space life cycle, I have tried to locate the most up-to-date and authoritative source for all the information I present. For example, during the summer and fall of 1992, I made use of Archie to locate directories describing the Internet. So while, in release 1.0 of my list (23 May 92), I had three entries for descriptions of the Internet:
o INTERNET DESCRIPTIONS ANONYMOUS FTP HOST FILE OR DIRECTORY/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zen & Art of Internet ftp.cs.widener.edu pub/zen/ NWNet Internet Guide ftphost.nwnet.net nic/nwnet/user-guide/ Hitchhikers Guide ftp.nisc.sri.com rfc/rfc1118.txt
I later was able to add more (from release 1.50, 01 Aug 92):
o INTERNET DESCRIPTIONS ANONYMOUS FTP HOST FILE OR DIRECTORY/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New User's Questions ftp.nisc.sri.com fyi/fyi4.txt Hitchhikers Guide ftp.nisc.sri.com rfc/rfc1118.txt Gold in Networks! ftp.nisc.sri.com rfc/rfc1290.txt Zen & Art of Internet ftp.cs.widener.edu pub/zen/ Zen ASCII version csn.org pub/net/zen/ Guide Internet/Bitnet hydra.uwo.ca libsoft/guide1.txt NSF Resource Guide nnsc.nsf.net resource-guide/ NWNet Internet Guide ftphost.nwnet.net nic/nwnet/user-guide/ SURANet Internet Guide ftp.sura.net pub/nic/infoguide.*.txt NYSERNet Internet Guide nysernet.org pub/guides/Guide.*.text CERFNet Guide nic.cerf.net cerfnet/cerfnet_guide/ DDN New User Guide nic.ddn.mil netinfo/nug.doc AARNet Guide aarnet.edu.au pub/resource-guide/
Using Archie, coupled with a growing awareness of the duplication of resources in FTP space, I searched for the "definitive" editions and versions of each document. I eventually identified major FTP repositories for Internet information which offered well-maintained collections. As these sites changed and evolved, I added additional pointers to my list. Gradually, I began to see more redundancy at FTP sites--many administrators would copy an entire set of documents to their site. As these documents evolved into later additions, many outdated copies would remain online. By monitoring newsgroups, I gained information about new information as well as updates to existing documents. Where possible, I focused on collecting links to well-maintained FTP sites, such as those at Network Information Centers (NICs).
After discovering a resource, I evaluated it for possible inclusion in my list. Before the development of information space searching tools like Veronica and Web Spiders, I had to rely on newsgroups and mailing lists to discover information sources. After the development of space searching tools, I could be more selective about which sources to include because I knew the space searching tool itself was available for users to find sources in the space. I used Veronica to glean Gopherspace, and later spiders to search the Web. (The World Wide Web Worm, the first widely used spider, was not announced until available in March 1994.)
After searching tools were introduced for each space, I knew a user should be able to locate sources based on any given keyword. This fact lead me to redefine the purpose of my list. For example, one section in my list included electronic journals, services and publications:
o JOURNAL/SERVICE Subscribe with email to Body of letter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Comserve comserve@vm.ecs.rpi.edu Send Comserve Helpfile EJC/REC comserve@vm.ecs.rpi.edu Directory EJCREC EJournal listserv@albnyvm1.bitnet subscribe ejrnl YourName Netweaver comserve@vm.ecs.rpi.edu Send Netweave Winter91 RFCs rfc-info@isi.edu help: ways_to_get_rfcs
A user could create such a list by keyword searches of a database of mailing lists--but how would the user know which keywords to use? Moreover, the process itself of locating these addresses and resources, if repeated, would be laborious. Thus, I began to realize that another aspect of my list's value was collecting semantically related specialist information that could not be easily generated by using an information space searching tool.
The information space life cycle also caused me to reevaluate the value of my list in other ways. Early in an information space's life cycle, when just a few servers exist, a handcrafted index into the information in the space isn't really all that necessary, as users could, in a relatively short period of time, become familiar with where resources are located. Later, as the space fills with information, a list becomes more valuable--as a reminder of where the major or definitive information sources are. When the information space fills to the point where space searching tools are developed and used widely, indexing instances of resources and documents in that space becomes less necessary.
However, as the information space matures, space saturation and pollution start to set in. The value of results from space tool searches turn up many duplicate or out-of-date entries, so that a handcrafted index that carefully lists the most authoritative collections or updated editions becomes more important. Finding these accurate collections became my goal as each information space matured. The table below shows the changing contents of my list at representative release dates (there were incremental releases between the ones shown here).
Number of entries in Information Sources List
FTP EMAIL USENET TELNET GOPHER HTTP PAPER
Release 1.00, 23 May 92 20 5 7 0 0 0 0
Release 1.50, 01 Aug 92 75 12 17 0 0 0 14
Release 2.00, 19 Jan 93 120 21 27 0 0 0 21
Release 2.50, 10 May 93 188 41 31 0 0 0 25
Release 3.00, 03 Nov 93 303 85 36 20 41 13 44
Release 3.14, 01 Dec 93 317 107 36 23 47 40 48
Release 3.20, 22 Jan 94 340 148 37 38 60 101 49
Release 3.25, 11 Feb 94 319 156 37 32 180 649 64
Release 3.62, 21 Aug 94 363 209 37 42 191 764 67
Release 3.00 was the first in HTML (and other) formats, and the release in which I first listed resources in Gopher, telnet, and HTTP. Release 3.62 marked the start of a major shift in my efforts toward consolidating references in my list. Note the slowed expansion of FTP, email, and Gopher entries in the later releases.
I see a strong trend now toward specialized, Web-based collections of information that are collaboratively maintained by experts in the field. The Web offers more expressive possibilities than Gopher, a more uniform interface than telnet sessions, and the capability to integrate information from a variety of protocols.
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