Internet Tools Summary

by John December (decemj@rpi.edu)

13 May 95; Release 1.88

There is a version of this information available in segmented form -- you can retrieve just the sections, sub-sections, or sub-sub-sections you want

Copyright © 1995 John December (decemj@rpi.edu). You can use this document for any personal or educational purpose. For-profit distribution requires my permission. Provided "as is" without expressed or implied warranty.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this document is to list tools available on the Internet that are used for network information retrieval (NIR) and Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). This is not meant to be a strict categorization or an exhaustive list, rather a reference catalog. I certainly would welcome comments and suggestions.
AUDIENCE
those getting started in understanding what you can do on the Internet in NIR and CMC; for those experienced, it collects and summarizes sources of information.
ASSUMPTION
You have access to and know how to use finger, ftp, gopher, http, telnet, email, or Usenet newsgroups.
REFERENCES
The references listed at the end of this document are very useful guides to these tools.
ACTION
The Action notation that I had previously described in this document is in the file internet-tools.tax.
NOTES
  1. Respect your access privileges to these tools.
  2. This information changes; Additions/comments welcome.
  3. For demo purposes, I have used Unix commands; certainly Unix is not the only operating system required for these tools and forums. Apologies to those who don't have Unix.
  4. On the classification (NIR v. CMC): some tools could be used for either, such as telnet and email. I've placed them in what I feel are "principle use" categories, e.g., telnet is used mostly for NIR, and email is commonly used for CMC (although both have applications in the other category).
  5. Many of these tools have applicability off the Internet. Usenet, for example, is not confined to the Internet, and Internet email (and thus LISTSERV files) can be exchanged with communication systems off the Internet (BITNET, fidonet, commercial services.) So this list is not Internet (only) tools, but tools that can be used on the Internet.
  6. A $ sign indicates a non-public domain tool or interface.

Information about updates to or different formats of this document:

ABOUT THIS INFORMATION

Notes

Formats

NIR = NETWORK INFORMATION RETRIEVAL

Utilities

Tools

Systems

Interfaces

CMC = COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION

Interpersonal

Group

Mass

Interfaces

STANDARDS


Protocols and standards are the basis for operating tools and forums on the Internet. In this section, I summarize some sources of information about Internet and other protocols. Protocols associated with individual tools are listed with the tools above.

Collections

Internet

Other

REFERENCES