chapter 16 for more about this.

The more advanced your software is, the more time it will take to learn how to use it. The rewards are lower telephone costs, faster transfers, and less time spent doing technical online work. Recommended.

Different needs, different solutions ------------------------------------ Frank Burns of the American online service MetaNet is spokesperson for the strategy SCAN - FOCUS - ACT. On your first visits to a new online service, you SCAN. The goal is to get an overview of what is being offered and find out how to use it most efficiently. Notes are made of interesting bulletins, databases, conferences, messages, news services, public domain and shareware programs, games, and more. Capture all of it to disk. Don't study it until disconnected from the service. Evaluate the material to prepare for your next moves: FOCUS and ACT. As you learn about offerings, users and applications, your use of the service changes. What was interesting on your first visits, lose out to new discoveries. Some applications may stay as 'regular online functions', like when you decide to read a given news report on Monday mornings. Here are some other hints:

* Find out what you do NOT have to know and have enough self- confidence immediately to discard irrelevant material. Walk quickly through the information. Select what you need now, store other interesting items on your hard disk, clip references, and drop the remainder of your capture file.

* Learn when and how to use people, computers, libraries and other resources. Prepare well before going online. Note that the online resource may not necessarily be the quickest way to the goal. If you want the name of Michael Jackson's latest album, you may get a faster answer by calling a local music shop. . . .

* Make an outline of how to search the service before going online. If required, start by going online to collect help menus and lists of search commands (unless you already have the printed user information manual). Study the instructions carefully, plan your visit, and then call back. Often, it may be useful to do trial searches in online data, which you have previously captured to your hard disk. Do this to check if your use of search words is sensible. Who knows, you may even have what you are searching for right there. Besides, it is imperative that you use the correct search terms to find what you're looking for. Write your search strategy on a piece of paper. If you know how to write macros for your communications program, consider writing some for your planned search commands. - Few people can type 240 characters per second. Using macros may save you time, frustration and money.

* It may be wise to do your search in two steps. On your first visit: Get a LIST of selected headlines or references, and then log off the service. Study your finds, and plan the next step. Then call back to get full-text of the most promising stories. This strategy is often better than just 'hanging online' while thinking. When you feel the pressure of the taximeter, it is easy to make costly mistakes.

* Novices should always go the easiest way. Don't be shy. Ask SOS Assistance services for help, if available. Invest in special communication programs with built in automatic online searching features. They are designed to make your work easier.

* Limit your search and avoid general and broad search terms. It is often wise to start with a search word that is so 'narrow' that it is unlikely to find articles outside your area of interest. Your goal is not to find many stories. You want the right ones.

When everything fails --------------------- Data communications is simple - when you master it. Occasionally, however, you WILL lose data. You may even experience the worst of all: losing unread private email on your hard disk. A while ago, this happened to a friend. She logged on to her mailbox service using the communications program Procomm. After capturing all her mail, she tried to send a message. For some reason, the computer just froze. It was impossible to close the capture file. She had to switch the power OFF/ON to continue. All retrieved mail was obviously lost. The other day, I had a similar experience. After having written a long and difficult letter, something went wrong. The outfile was inexplicably closed. The resulting file size was 0 bytes. Both problems were solved by the MS-DOS program CHKDSK run with the /F option. If you ever get this problem, and have an MS-DOS computer, try it. It may save your day.

Copyright notices and legal stuff --------------------------------- Most commercial online services protect their offerings with copyright notices. This is especially so for database information and news. Some vendors make you accept in writing not to store captured data on a local media (like diskettes or hard disks). Others (like Prodigy in the U.S.) force clients to use communication software that makes it impossible to store incoming data to disk. The reason is simple. Information providers want to protect their income. In most countries, you can quote from what others have written. You can cut pieces out of a whole and use in your own writing. What you cannot do, however, is copy news raw to resell to others. If an online service discovers you doing that, expect a law suit. Read copyright notices to learn about the limitations on your usage of data that you receive.

Unwritten laws about personal conduct ------------------------------------- Some services let their users be anonymous. This is the case on many chat services. If you want to pose as Donald Duck or Jack the Ripper, just do that. Many free BBS systems let you register for full access to the service during your first visit. It is possible to use any name. Don't do that. Use your true name, unless asked to do otherwise. It's impolite and unrespectful of the other members to participate in online discussions using a false identity. Being helpful is an important aspect of the online world. The people you meet 'there' use of their time to help you and others. Often free. The atmosphere is one of gratitude, and a positive attitude toward all members. If you use rude words in public, expect your mailbox to fill with angry messages from others. Those who respond carefully to personal attacks, will never regret it. Don't say things online that you would not have said in person. REMEMBER: Words written in a moment of anger or frustration can be stored on at least one hard disk. Your 'sins' may stay there for a long time - to resurface when you least want it to. Here are some guidelines (often called 'online netiquette'):

* If mail to a person doesn't make it through, avoid posting the message to a conference. Keep private messages private.

* It is considered extremely bad taste to post private mail from someone else on public conferences, unless they give you explicit permission to redistribute it.

* Many users end their messages with some lines about how to get in touch with them (their email address, phone number, address, etc.). Limit your personal "signature" to maximum four lines.

* Do not send test messages to a public conference, unless they are set up to serve this purpose.

* If someone requests that readers reply by private email, do that. Do not send to the conference, where the request appeared.

* When replying to a message in a public conference, many users 'quote' the original message prefixed by '>' or another special character, as in

You wrote: >I strongly believe it was wrong to attack >Fidel Castro in this way!

When you quote another person, edit out whatever isn't directly applicable to your reply. By including the entire message, you'll only annoy those reading it.

* Note that if you USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, people will think you're shouting.

Finally, smile with me about the following story: According to Time magazine (7/19/93, p. 58), three women who corresponded with Mr. X over the network discovered his duplicity and went public on the network. The incident sparked a lively debate over electronic etiquette (and ruined Mr. Casanova's chances for further romance).

Fax services weigh less than your computer's printer ---------------------------------------------------- Many online services let you send electronic mail as fax messages. This is an interesting feature when in that far away place without a printer. Send the draft contract or other texts to your hotel's fax machine or to your client's office to get a printout on paper.

Privacy ------- The level of online privacy differs by network, service, and application. Whatever these services may claim, always expect that someone, somewhere, is able to watch, even record. All mailbox services have at least one person authorized to access your personal mail box in case of an emergency. Most of the time they not have a right to read it without your permission, but they can. In some countries, mailbox services may let outsiders (like the police) routinely read your private email to check for 'illegal' contents. In this respect, email is not safer than ordinary mail. The good news is that most 'inspectors' and 'sysops' are good, honest people. On the other hand, it is useful to know your situation. It is not safe to send sensitive information (like credit card details) by private electronic mail. True, the probability that an outsider should get hold of and take advantage of such information is small, but it definitely is not 100 percent safe.

Encrypt your email to protect sensitive information.

Always assume that someone is recording all that is being said in online conferences, chats, and other interactive social gatherings. In chats, anyone using a personal computer as a terminal can log the conversation, or use screen dump just to capture 'interesting parts'. Many PC users can scroll back the screen. They can wait and decide whether to save the conversation in a file until after the conversation has taken place. With these capabilities widely available, users of chats and talk should always assume that their conversations are being recorded. Do not say indiscreet things in small, informal discussions. It may be recorded and reposted under embarrassing circumstances. The program PGP has become the defacto international Internet standard for public key encryption. For more on privacy, check out [email protected]. The files RFC 1113 through 1115 are about 'Privacy enhancements for Internet electronic mail' (see appendix 1 for how to get them). Usenet has alt.privacy (Privacy issues in cyberspace), and comp.society.privacy (Effects of technology on privacy).

File transfers through the Internet ----------------------------------- The Internet is a term used of a network interconnecting hundreds of thousands of computer centers around the world. These centers use different types of hardware and software, and different methods of file transfer. What method to use for file transfers depends on the source host and the type of mailbox computer that you are using. The transfer usually takes place in two steps:

1. Transferring files from a remote data center to your local mailbox host.

2. Transfer from your local mailbox host to your personal computer.

Transfer to your local mailbox host ----------------------------------- We will explain the most commonly used method for those who only have access to file transfer by email. This method can be used by everybody. Transferring plain text files is easy. Files with imbedded word processor control codes will often have to be treated as binary files. More about this later. To transfer a text to another user, just send it as an ordinary electronic message. Getting text files from a library on a remote computer is a special case. Often, they can be had by sending a retrieval command (like GET) by email to the remote center. After a while, the file will be sent to your mailbox by email. You can read it like you read other mail. Example: The file BINSTART can be retrieved from the KIDART directory on a computer center in North Dakota, U.S.A. It explains how to retrieve binary art files from the KIDLINK project's file libraries. To get the file, send a message to the center's mail forwarding 'agent' at [email protected]. Use the following command syntax in your text:

GET

To get the BINSTART file, write the following command in the TEXT of your message:

GET KIDART BINSTART

Note that the command has to be put in the body of the mail and not in the subject field. The file will arrive in your mailbox after a while. Also, note that lists of available files are usually available by using an "INDEX " command. To get a list of files in the KIDART directory, add the command "INDEX KIDART" in your message above. Non-LISTSERV libraries may use other retrieval commands. Often, you can get information of what commands to use by sending the word HELP to a mailing service (in the Subject area or in the body of the text).

Transferring binary files ------------------------- Users with a direct connection to the Internet usually have access to the FTP command (File Transfer Protocol). If they do, they often prefer FTP for transfers of binary files like computer programs, pictures, sound, and compressed text files. The bad news is that the FTP command is not available to all users of Internet mail. These will have to use "FTP by mail," or other tricks to transfer such files. More about this in a moment. The FTP command gives access to a special file transfer service. It works in the following way:

1. Logon to your local email host and enter 'FTP remote- center-code'. Example: 'ftp 134.129.111.1'. This command will connect you to the center in North Dakota mentioned above. Here, you will be prompted for user name and password. Enter 'anonymous' as user name, and use your real name or email address as password. This way of logging on to retrieve files is called "transfers by anonymous ftp." You can use this method on many hosts on the Internet.

2. When connected to the remote center, you can request transfer of the desired file to your mailbox. Before doing that, you may have to navigate to a given file catalog (cd directory), and tell the host that the transfer is to be binary (bin). Finally, initiate the transfer by entering a "GET file name" command.

3. The file will be transferred to your local mailbox computer at high speed. When the transfer is done, you logoff from the remote center to "get back" to your mailbox computer's prompt line. Now, you can transfer the file to your personal computer using communications protocols like Kermit, XMODEM, ZMODEM or whatever else is available.

Binary files transferred as text codes -------------------------------------- If you do not have access to FTP, you must use ordinary email for your binary transfers. Usually, email through the Internet can only contain legal character codes (ASCII characters between number 32 - 126). Most systems cannot transfer graphics or program files directly, since these files normally contain binary codes (which are outside this ASCII character range). The solution is to convert binary files to text codes using a utility program called UUENCODE. The encoded file can be sent by ordinary email, as in this example:

From [email protected] Fri Aug 16 16:32:37 1991 Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1991 09:31:34 CDT To: [email protected] Subject: Part 1/1 SIMTEL20.INF PD:<MSDOS.STARTER>

The file PD:<MSDOS.STARTER>SIMTEL20.INF has been uuencoded before being sent. After combining the 1 parts with the mail headers removed, you must run the file through a decode program. ------------ Part 1 of 1 ------------ begin 600 SIMTEL20.INF M6T9I;&4Z(%-)351%3#(P+DE.1B`@("`@("`@("`@("`@("`@("!,87-T(')E M=FES960Z($IU;F4@,C@L(#$Y.3%=#0H-"B`@(%M.;W1E.B!$=64@=&\@9&ES M:6P-"AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH: M&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH: 6&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&AH:&@(Z ` end -------- End of part 1 of 1 ---------

When you receive a message with uuencoded text, download it to your personal computer's hard disk. Use an editor to cut out the codes and paste them to an empty work file. Using the example above, the first line in your work file should contain:

begin 600 SIMTEL20.INF

and the last line should contain end

Now, use a utility program called UUDECODE to convert the file back to its binary form (or whatever). More information about uuencoding and uudecoding is given in the BINSTART file mentioned above (for MS-DOS computers). It has a detailed explanation, BASIC source code for making the program UUDECODE.COM, and a DEBUG script for those preferring that. Versions of UUDECODE are also available for other types of computers.

Transfer of pictures -------------------- Denis Pchelkin in Protvino (Russia) is 11 years old, has two cats and one dog, and has contributed beautiful computer graphics art to the KIDLINK project (1992). The file ART019 in the KIDART catalog of the North Dakota center contains one of his creations. It is a UUENCODEd picture in GIF graphics format. You can retrieve Denis' creation by sending a GET command to [email protected] . Put the following command in the TEXT of your message:

GET KIDART ART019

The LISTSERVer will return a message filled with strange uu-codes. We assume that you have already retrieved the BINSTART file, and that you have a version of the conversion program. Your next step is uudecoding: Read the message into an editor or a viewing program. Cut and paste the codes to a work file. Keep the original as backup. Use the UUDECODE.COM program to convert ART019 into a GIF formatted file. Now, view the picture with your favorite graphics program. (Or use shareware GIF-viewers like PICEM, VUIMG, and VPIC for MS-DOS computers. These programs are available from CompuServe's IBM forums and other services.) Sending binary files in uuencoded form has weaknesses. One is the lack of automatic error correction when sending/receiving e- mail. Noise on the line can easily distort the picture. File size is another problem. UUENCODEing typically increases file sizes by almost one third. Some mailbox systems restrict the length of individual messages that you can receive, and the file may just be too big. If the uuencoded file gets too big, some services can (or will by default) split it up in parts and then sent separately. Tons of uuencoded public domain and shareware programs are available for retrieval by ordinary email.

FTP by email ------------- While some services accept commands like GET KIDART ART019 by email, this is not so with the many so-called FTP libraries. Many of them can only be accessed by FTP. Services exist that will do FTP transfers by email for those not having access to the FTP command. The most popular is at DEC Corporate Research in the U.S. For more information, write a message to one of the following addresses:

[email protected] [email protected]

In the TEXT of your message, put the word "HELP". FTPMAIL lets you uuencode binary files for transfers. It can split large files up into several messages, thus helping you around local restrictions on the size of each incoming mail message.