Using Cyberspace Getting Active On-line: A Guide to Internet Resources _________________________________________________________________ "Throw out the excuses and embrace technology, especially something as useful and far reaching as the Internet, otherwise we are the ones holding ourselves back from truly attaining power in this arena. Communicate. Publish. Organize. Make change...With just a little knowledge and persistence in cyberspace, we can have the world at our fingertips -- or even in the palms of our hands." - Aliza Sherman, President CG Internet Marketing, Ms., July/August 1995 This document is intended to introduce grassroots activists to Internet tools. If you are visiting it on the World Wide Web, you will probably find it simplistic. However, you can print or download this document and distribute it to other activists who could benefit from it.. This document is divided into the following sections: * E-Mail and Inter Relay Chat * Gopher and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) * Conferences and Usenet * World Wide Web * How to get Connected * Progressive Links (World Wide Web Pages, Gopher Servers and Usenet NewsGroups) If you are like most people, you have been hearing a lot about the much touted Information Super-Highway, the Info Bahn, the Great Cyber Way, being Wired. Most of what you hear has to do with the Internet, or "the Net," an international network of computers. The Net can give you unbelievable access and power, making information available with the click of your computer's mouse or slap of its return key. The Internet currently boasts more than 30 million users around the world, composed of 66% commercial servers and 33% nonprofit and educational servers. It is estimated that there will be over a billion users on the Net by the turn of the century. Not only are the number of users growing, but so are the number and variety of resources. It is possible to take part in discussion groups with people from around the world, access information directly from the government, nonprofit organizations, businesses and individuals. Some believe that the Internet is adding to a process of dividing the world community between the haves and have-nots. Others believe the Internet will evolve into something as common as television. Regardless of its future, the Net is now a fantastic resource for grassroots activists. This fact sheet is designed to provide activists with tips on how to get on-line and what to do once you have arrived. Specifically, this fact sheet will explore the resources available in the areas of peace and the environment. Big business, politicians, political activists and more and more individuals are using these technologies. Federal, state and local government officials and staff are accessing the Net to retrieve information and gauge public opinion. The religious right, military and industrial communities are using the Internet to get their information out quickly and effectively. They are already influencing citizens and decision makers in government electronically. Progressive organizations and activists need to be more visible on the Internet, helping to bring politics back to the people, allowing an electronic, interactive government: a true democracy. As an activist, your voice is important and should be heard on the Internet like it is on the radio waves, on the phone lines, in the newspapers and in mailboxes. You may already be hot-wired to the Net, maybe you use e-mail at home or at work, or maybe you have overheard people talking about "Surfing the Web." Regardless of your experience, now is the best time to begin or expand your use of the Internet. We have reached a point where connecting and using the Net is relatively affordable and easy. If you have a computer and a modem, you are more than half way there. _________________________________________________________________ What You Can Do _________________________________________________________________ With very little effort, you can use Internet tools to: * send targeted messages to specific people; * receive copies of public government documents on your computer; * mobilize thousands of people on a single issue; People talk about how personal contact with others has become more and more difficult. While computers may be a part of this problem, they may also be a part of the solution. Using computers to access the world through the Internet can put you in contact with millions of other people. It can unlock more information and expose you to more ideas than ever before possible. The Internet makes sense for today's fast-paced world where information is more powerful if it is instantaneous and actions are stronger if they are targeted and quickly disseminated. Using the Internet, grassroots activists can electrify their information and actions. If you have never experienced the Internet, find someone who is connected, go to your local library or progressive coffee house, or better yet get connected yourself and see what you are missing. The amount of information and the world-wide community of people found on the Internet is amazing. Once you see it, you will know why people talk about its vast potential. _________________________________________________________________ The Tools _________________________________________________________________ E-Mail (Electronic Mail) and Inter Relay Chat (IRC): Host computers, or servers, on the global Internet are all linked to one another, mainly by telephone wires. Each server has a unique address on the Internet. You can think of this address as being like the zip-code of a city. As an individual with an Internet account, you also receive a unique address, your user name, which is like your street address. Combine your unique address with the server's address and you have a mailing address to send and receive e-mail. Individuals can dial from their phone line via a modem into an Internet server in their community. Once connected, the user can send messages to anyone in the world who has a connection. Even if you use the Internet to send an e-mail message to Timbuktu, you won't be charged long distance telephone rates. E-Mail is also reliable and is quickly delivered (usually within seconds or minutes). E-Mail is not limited to the Internet. Companies, small computer networks and schools can receive Internet e-mail through something called a gateway. You can also subscribe to electronic mailing lists on the Internet and have documents about certain topics automatically sent to your e-mail address. Inter Relay Chat is like a text-based telephone system that your Internet server may provide. You can type messages on your keyboard that can be read moments later by other users. You can also read messages that other users send, allowing for a real-time cyber conversation! Unlike e-mail, where the recipient must open his or her mailbox, read the mail you sent them and then respond with other e-mail messages, IRC lets two ore more people hold an interactive conversation over the Net. If two users have digital video cameras hooked up to their terminals, you can use software to have a live video conference over the Internet as well. Gopher and FTP: These common and handy tools let you access servers on the Internet and use the resources of very large computers from your personal computer at home or work. Gopher is one of the most popular tools for getting information and provides a text or graphic-based interface that leads the user through the server. There are many public Gopher servers that are open to anyone and allow you to read files or copy them to your own computer, called downloading. For example, you can visit the House and Senate Gophers in Washington, DC and retrieve information about Congresspeople, what bills they are co-sponsoring, their votes on certain bills, what committees they sit on and other information. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) lets you log into a server as an anonymous user to download files directly to your computer. You can also use FTP to put files (upload) on the server computer. These files might be text, pictures, sounds, movies, or free or low cost computer programs. There are more restrictions for use at FTP servers and the tool itself can be more difficult to use than Gopher. However, FTP is a powerful tool for getting information quickly. _________________________________________________________________ Conferences and Newsgroups: _________________________________________________________________ Think of conferences like your neighborhood bulletin board, where you can post information about actions, meetings, services and items for sale, or anything else. Information posted to computerized bulletin boards, however, can be seen by millions of people around the world who are interested in a specific topic. And there is no paper waste for photocopying fliers! There are specific conferences for nearly every topic imaginable. Private conferences are usually only accessible to people who have an account with the host service provider (see Getting Connected). These conferences may allow for you to chat live with other users, or simply read what others have posted. Conferences are known as UseNet Newsgroups on the Internet, where users can visit and read messages, add messages, or write responses to existing messages. More and more government officials are monitoring UseNet Newsgroups to gauge public opinion. Messages on conferences or UseNet Newsgroups can be text documents, pictures, sounds, movies, or computer programs that you can read or download to your own computer. There is a real etiquette or Netiquette to putting messages on newsgroups and private conferences. Most are not monitored and anyone can post items. Before you post an item for the first time, read the contents of other postings and see how people react. Get to know the contents before you post anything. _________________________________________________________________ World Wide Web _________________________________________________________________ World Wide Web: The "Web" is the most popular part of the Internet today. It's easy to get around on the Web and it can bring the content of the Internet to you in vivid color and vibrant sound. WWW or World Wide Web is the graphical interface to the Internet. Using a "Web Browser," you can "Surf the Web," or visit "pages" set up by individuals and organizations for public access. One exciting aspect of the Web is that you can surf from one site to another using highlighted "links." These are called Hyper-Text links and are what help make the Web such a dynamic place. Some World Wide Web pages are so packed with links you can spend hours finding information on a single topic from sources in your own neighborhood to sources around the world simply by clicking your mouse on links. With a Web Browser you can view pictures, formatted text, see video and experience a multimedia Internet. Web browsers work best if you have special modem connections called SLIP (Single Line Internet Protocol) or PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol). There is a Web Browser called Lynx that your Internet Service Provider may offer that lets you access the text at World Wide Web sites without a SLIP or PPP connection (see Getting Connected). With Lynx, you can read WWW documents, but not see any other pictures or multi-media aspects of the Web. Organizations, individuals, companies and schools use the Web to bring you electronic brochures about their services and products, making it the most commercial part of the Internet. The Web is also the easiest way to get around on the Internet. _________________________________________________________________ Getting Connected _________________________________________________________________ Getting connected can be confusing. There are a number of options, but if you decide what you want to do and how much you want to spend you will have an easier time. Go to your local library or bookstore for more information. The cost will vary, but once you have a computer and a modem you can have Internet access for $20 a month or less. * You will need a computer and a modem. A faster modem (14.4 BPS or higher), a color monitor (SVGA or better) and a speedy processor (33 MHz or faster) are essential for surfing the World Wide Web fully. Without these minimum requirements you might be frustrated by the time it takes to view Web pages. * You will need a service provider. Service providers give you access to the Internet and private conferences. America Online, Compuserve and the Microsoft Network are big commercial providers, but smaller providers can be found in nearly every community. Smaller providers are usually less expensive, but may not offer as many private conferences or user-friendly features as the big ones. The big commercial providers may limit what you can access on the Internet or make it more difficult and time consuming to explore the Internet. Make sure the provider you choose gives you all the tools you want. Ask if they provide Web access: PPP or SLIP accounts or a Lynx server. Also ask if you will have access to all the UseNet Newsgroups that interest you. (Check out The List for service providers in your area.) * You will need software: America Online and some other services give you special software for connecting. For other service providers, you will need terminal emulation software, like ProCom Plus for the PC or Microphone for the Macintosh. SLIP and PPP connections require a TCP/IP interface. Windows '95 and newer versions of the Macintosh operating system come with this. Before you sign on with a provider, ask people you know who are on the Net if they like their service and how much they spend on fees in an average month. A basic connection is a shell account which will give you a text-based interface to the Internet. Shell accounts can be fast, but you will need to learn some computer commands to use them. If you want to have full, user-friendly, multimedia access to the World Wide Web, you will need a SLIP or PPP connection. The Institute for Global Communications (IGC) is a main hub for information distribution between people and organizations involved in progressive issues. They offer full Internet access through different shell networks, including PeaceNet and Econet. They also offer SLIP and PPP accounts. For more information call (415) 442-0220. (IGC is not the only progressive server out there, but it is a large one. You can contact 20/20 Vision if you would like to discuss other options.) _______________________________________________________________ 20/20 Vision 1828 Jefferson Place, NW Washington, DC 20036 (202) 833-2020 vision@igc.apc.org Last Updated: February 14, 199