About the Author

Richard Wiggins manages the Central Systems Services group in the Computer Laboratory at Michigan State University. He coordinates the deployment of MSU's campus-wide information system (CWIS) using Gopher and World-Wide Web. He has been active in the Gopher and WWW communities since early 1992, and organized the first Gopher Workshop in August 1992. He began working with computer networks in 1979 as a consultant helping users of the Merit network. Previously he has contributed to a book on the VM/C MS operating system and to Computer Language magazine and the Internet Letter. He moderates the Usenet News group comp.infosystems.announce.

About this Book

Tap the wealth of information on the Internet with a book that explains how to connect to and navigate the Internet, and also tells you how to become an Internet information provider!

This comprehensive new guide explains in simple language how to connect to the Internet, how Internet client/server applications such as NCSA Mosaic offer you a simple graphical interface for browsing the net, and how to use index tools such as Veronica a nd WAIS to ease your navigation.

Besides offering complete information on finding and retrieving information via the Internet, this volume also tells you how to become an Internet information provider:

• How to choose an Internet access provider, from mass-market services to regional networks to specialized network service firms
• How to use Internet browsing tools such as Gopher and World-Wide Web; how client programs like NCSA Mosaic are transforming the Internet from a text-only world into a rich multimedia universe
• Vital information about the rules of the road, network etiquette, and security and privacy issues
• The exciting new uses of the Internet for electronic publishing, for digital libraries, for campus-wide information systems, and as the prototype for the information superhighway
• How to become an Internet information provider: Choosing the right server software, and step-by-step instructions on installing Gopher, FreeWAIS, and World-Wide Web servers.

Here is the Preface

You can view these chapters online via the World-Wide Web, using a browser such as NetScape, Mosaic, Cello, or Lynx. If you use a graphical browser (such as NetScape) you will see captured screen images in some examples. Whenever such images represent other online Internet resources, you can click on the image and go to the external online document. Similarly, references to online Internet resources that appear in the text are also shown as links; click on them to jump to the examples referenced. Be careful -- not all resources are available at all times.

Footnotes appear in the text as hot links as well. A click on the highlighted footnote will take you to the footnote in question. Use the "Back" option to jump back to the main text of the chapter.

Chapter 18: Electronic Publishing, Virtual Libraries, and the Internet via the Web

Chapter 23: Building a Campus-Wide Information Service via the Web

Here is a photo of an instruction