Preparation:

• Create a group address at the instructor’s workstation to mail to all the user’s boxes
• Send an e-mail message to the users
• Create a discussion group for the class
• Sign the members up for a busy discussion group

Hands-on steps

• Open the e-mail package by selecting the icon from....
• Describe the layout of the software package

• User name
• Server settings
• Checking frequency

• Check for any new mail.
• Scan your messages
• Read your electronic Mail by ....
• Reply to the message from the instructor

• Command R to reply
• Edit down the message
• Type in your reply
• Check the to: and cc: fields
• Send your message

Send a message to your neighbor telling him / her what you like most about the weather in Minnesota.

Type in his / her e-mail address
Pick a meaningful subject
Type in your message
Check your spelling / grammar
Send your message

Sign on to the classes discussion list

• Send the one-line e-mail message to LISTPROC@ALLINA.COM lists
• Wait a few moments
• Retrieve your mail
• Get more information about the list by sending the message INFO <LISTNAME> to LISTPROC@ALLINA.COM
• Subscribe the the list by sending the one-line message: SUBSCRIBE <LISTNAME> PAUL KLEEBERG to LISTPROC@ALLINA.COM. Note: If you are not Paul Kleeberg, substitute your one name.

• Create an address book entry for the discussion list onto which you just signed.
• Send a new message using the Address entry

We shall look at one simple example of Gopher. At one time Gopher was a stand-alone application. It was created by students at the University of Minnesota just over two years before the release of the first Web browsers.

gopher://inform.uchc.edu/

Once at that site, select: "UCHC Lyman Maynard Stowe Library" then select "Biomedicine and Health in the News" then "Citations to articles mentioned in the New York Times"  Once there, browse a few directories of citations and look at the format: lots of information but all text.  Now back out to the directory of citations page and select Searchable index of citations.  Type in a search such as "Redux" and use the return key to trigger your search.

A simple interface with relatively quick response (in that there are no bulky graphics to be sent) and a decent search engine.  But we like graphics and the graphical user interface actually makes us more efficient.  Gopher was valuable in its time but now has been almost completely replaced.

FTP

File transfer protocol (FTP) is even an older protocol than Gopher and it allows the transfer of files from one machine to another. FTP is another function that has been imbedded within the Web browsers but the browser implementation only allows one to retrieve files and not send them. Though files can be attached to an e-mail message to be sent to another person, FTP is useful for individuals who wish to publish information, that is put a document or application in a publicly accessible site for others to retrieve.

For this class we will use the FTP function within Netscape to retrieve two files. The first is the Center for Disease Control’s Traveler’s Handbook, nest we will retrieve the program "Acrobat Reader" which allows us to search read and print this file.

First we will use the old fashion method for navigating a machine in the Internet to retrieve information. This is a taste of what it used to be like 6 years ago before the creation of Web browsers.

• Open your Web browser and select: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/.
• When you get your directory index, select the folder "pub," then "Travel," then "reference."
• Note that the icons in the list have changed from pictures of folders to pictures of documents.
• Select "yellowbk.pdf" to download it.
• Note that your computer asks what you wish to be done with this file. It may very well claim it is in an unknown format. Fear not, we will fix that shortly.
• Say "OK" to retrieving the file and save it in the Temp directory of your C: drive. If you have difficulty with this step please ask for help from a proctor.

For the faint of heart, you can retrieve the same document using the familiar Web interface:

• Select http://www.cdc.gov/
• Look for "Health Information" on the page and select it.
• Scroll to the bottom of the page and select "Other ways to Access CDC Travel Health Info Via File Transfer Protocol (FTP)"
• Find the 1996-97 version of The Yellow Book and put your cursor over the hotlink.
• Note the URL: FTP://ftp.cdc.gov… indicating that we will be using the File Transfer Protocol to retrieve the file.
• Now begin to retrieve that file by clicking on it.
• Note that your computer asks what you wish to be done with this file. It may very well claim it is in an unknown format. Fear not, we will fix that shortly.
• Say "OK" to retrieving the file and save it in the Temp directory of your C: drive. If you have difficulty with this step please ask for help from a proctor.

Now we shall retrieve the file that will allow us to read this document.

• Go to the site http://www.adobe.com
• Look for the button "Get Acrobat Reader" and select it.
• Follow the instructions for installing the file on your machine.
• Start Acrobat Reader and use it to open the document C:\Temp\yellowbk.pdf.

This document can now be viewed or printed.

Another excellent use for the acrobat reader becomes apparent on the 14^th of April every year. See http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs/ to see what I mean.

For more information about these tools, please see the web site index distributed in the second session.