There's Gold in them thar Networks! or Searching for Treasure in all the Wrong Places
RFC 1290
Document | Type |
RFC - Informational
(December 1991; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 1402
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Author | Jerry Martin | ||
Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
Stream | Legacy | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
Stream | Legacy state | (None) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
RFC Editor Note | (None) | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 1290 (Informational) | |
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group J. Martin Request for Comments: 1290 Ohio State University FYI: 10 December 1991 There's Gold in them thar Networks! or Searching for Treasure in all the Wrong Places Status of this Memo This RFC provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Abstract This document was presented at the 1991 ACM SIGUCCS User Services Conference. It appears here in its updated form. There is a wealth of information on the network. In fact, so much information, that you could spend your entire life browsing. This paper will present some of the "gold nuggets" of information and file repositories on the network that could be of use to end users. The ultimate goal is to make the route to these sources of information invisible to the user. At present, this is not easy to do. I will explain some of the techniques that can be used to make these nuggets easier to pick up so that we can all be richer. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction................................................ 2 2.0 Lists and Indexes of Network Resources/Bibliographies/ Information Available over the Network...................... 2 3.0 Libraries Available over the Network........................ 6 4.0 Anonymous FTP Sites......................................... 7 5.0 Network Information Centers - NICs.......................... 8 6.0 Network Statistics.......................................... 10 7.0 Campus Wide Information Systems - CWIS...................... 11 8.0 Internet Bulleting Board System/Interactive Databases/Freenet........................................... 19 9.0 WHOIS - E-mail white pages.................................. 22 10.0 Books....................................................... 23 11.0 Free Periodicals/Tabloids/Magazines......................... 23 12.0 Glossary.................................................... 25 Security Considerations.......................................... 26 Author's Address................................................. 27 Martin [Page 1] RFC 1290 Searching for Treasure December 1991 1.0 Introduction This paper is a list of the essential things, in my view, that a person who is responsible for providing network information should have in their hands as reference material. One of the basic problems of information is making it easily available to those who have need of the data. Libraries have been performing a cataloging function for many centuries. Information flow is now being provided at such a fast rate that it is difficult to keep up with it, even partially. Computer networks have only added to the problem by opening up even more information. Attempting to make this wealth of information available to those who would find it useful poses some problems. First, we need to know of its existence. To that end, this paper provides an index into the vast realm of network information. Most of the documents listed here are POINTERS to the final information. Second, even if you know of a document's existence, you may not know if it is important or relevant. Few of us are knowledgeable in more than a limited area. We need to rely on others to make us aware of the importance of databases in a specific discipline. The librarians can be of great assistance here. They are familiar with the research databases that individuals search in Law, Mathematics, and many others. Finally, once the existence and importance are known, the information needs to be indexed so that researchers can find it. This is the most difficult task to accomplish. Information available on the network is hardly ever static. It is always moving, growing, changing, and dying. Computers should be able to assist us in managing this ever-changing environment. Right now, we have to catalog the information as it passes through the network. In my case, I generally save it in a file somewhere, spending far too much time trying to retrieve it again when needed. 2.0 Lists and Indexes of Network Resources/Bibliographies/ Information Available over the Network 2.01 Internet Resource Guide (Document) An excellent guide to major resources available on the network. The Table of Contents includes chapters on Computational Resources, Library Catalogs, Archives, White Pages, Networks, Network Information Centers, and Miscellaneous Martin [Page 2] RFC 1290 Searching for Treasure December 1991Show full document text