News by Internet
KeywordsCybernetics, Government, Internet, News
Abstract Discusses:News by Internet; Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Yahoo; CompuServe News; ABC News; Cybernetics discussion list.
News by Internet
In at least two recent instances,important announcements from the US Government or Judiciary have been made by Internet. In particular, the Starr report on matters affecting President Clinton was made available in this way. For most people other than political journalists there was no great incentive to obtain this item at source, particularly as it was rapidly made available from the Websites of many newspapers and the BBC, and also appeared in print very quickly in newspapers.
However, even for someone with no wish to download and peruse the vast number of pages of the report, it was exasperating that glimpses of headings on computer screens were shown on television, but always too briefly to allow jotting down the Web address. In the days immediately following publication of the report these Websites would be so busy that the chances of making contact would in any case be extremely slim. Even so, it is useful to have the addresses, if only to be able to use appropriate modifications of them to inspect future, less sensational,announcements from the same sources.
In the Internet Tourbus for 11 September 1998, four addresses are given for pages of US Government Websites from which the report would be issued. Two of them refer to the House of Representatives Website at: http://www.house.govOn opening this site a number of links lead to documents bearing on the Starr report, and the report itself can be found by following a further link or by using the longer address of a page of the House Judiciary Committee website: http://www.house.gov/judiciary/icreport.htmThe "ic" in "icreport" stands for independent counsellor.
The House of Representatives Website is well worth visiting for the insight it gives to the workings of the US government. There are Web pages on "this week on the house floor", and"currently on the house floor", and results of votes can be seen. There is also a facility for searching the bills passed according to topic, bill number or title.
The two other addresses given in the Tourbus are the Library of Congress THOMAS Website: http://thomas.loc.gov/icreport/ and the US Government Printing Office Website: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/icreportThere is a link to the Library of Congress site from the House of Representatives one, and it is interesting that the name Thomas appears because an aim of the Library of Congress is to keep the operations of government open to the public "in the spirit of Thomas Jefferson".
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a Website http://www.fco.gov.ukwhere very comprehensive news reports can be found, on topics of special current concern to the FCO. Speeches having a bearing on the topics are reported in full. There is also a section on advice to travellers.
Yahoo
An extremely useful news service,reported enthusiastically in the Tourbus for 24September 1998, can be found at the address: http://headlines.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/A large selection of topics from recent publications is shown, and when one is chosen it brings up a collection of relevant items from different sources, as well as links to related issues. I was really impressed with this service.
CompuServe News
A note circulated to CompuServe members on 14 October 1998 gives a reminder that that organisation gives access to several news sources, and that the facilities have recently been upgraded.
Various services can be accessed using the CompuServe GO facility, for instance by inserting GO NEWS. There is also an Executive News Service accessed by GO ENS giving immediate access to real-time information from over 50 of the world's leading sources Associated Press, Dow Jones, Reuters, UPI, and others. It filters incoming stories according to criteria set by the user. All clips are kept for 14 days.
Although it is not stated in the above-mentioned note, the Executive News Service attracts extra charges. As with other such services reached through CompuServe, the user is warned in advance by the appearance of a dollar sign in the displayed menu. The Internet gives access to so much that is free that it encourages a parsimonious frame of mind and I did not persist in exploring this facility.
The Dow Jones Publication Library can be accessed and searched from GO PUBLIB. It is described as the exclusive archive of The Wall Street Journal, and contains more than 75 million articles from over 5,500 publications, including newspapers, magazines and trade journals.
Yet another facility can be reached by GO NEWSBROWSER. It gives access to a searchable database of over 70 full-text US and international newspapers. Articles are available the day after publication. The search can be by city, state, or region, and can be narrowed by using reporters' names and publication dates.
The structure of CompuServe has become more dependent on Net browsing than it was initially, and some of the GO commands, or alternatives to which they lead, are rejected by early software that is not linked to a Web browser. This can make difficulties for some users since the later software will not run on all machines, and in particular not on the Macintosh PowerBook 150 that I like to use. The GO NEWS facility presents no immediate difficulty, though some of the options within it require Web-linked software. The first of the news sources to which the facility gives access,Associated Press, can be selected in either a Web version or a text version.
The GO PUBLIB and GO NEWSBROWSER services could not be activated without Web-linked software, and even when I tried on another machine with such software I was unsuccessful because they are guarded against unauthorised use by systems referred to as Virtual Key and Remote Passphrase Authentication. These barriers are not meant to exclude bona fide members of CompuServe, and with the downloading of appropriate software they can be surmounted. Details of this will be reported in a later Commentary,along with comments on these news services.
ABC News
The home page shown initially by the Netscape Web browser, with address http://home.netscape.com/,has a heading of "ABCNEWS.com" with links to articles on a selection of current news items, typically about four in number. This is in addition to a great many other facilities offered on the home page, including a search engine, and links to stock quotes, sports news, weather and horoscopes.
Cybernetics discussion list change of address
This list, also referred to as CYBCOM, has been mentioned in earlier Commentaries. The address to be used in joining has been changed. It was formerly listserv@gwuvm.gwu.edu but is now listserv@hermes.circ.gwu.edu To apply to join the list it is only necessary to send an e-mail to this address,containing in its body the single line:
SUBSCRIBE CYBCOM firstname lastname
The list is associated with the American Society for Cybernetics and with George Washington University, and is the one most relevant to central topics in Cybernetics. The address to be used by list members for sending messages to the list is, correspondingly, cybcom@hermes.circ.gwu.edu
Alex M. AndrewInternet editor
