Fishing the Internet

E-mail is many things

E-mail (electronic mail) conveys messages to individuals or to whole groups of individuals simultaneously. For example, you can send e-mail to a certain well-known person at president@whitehouse.gov. E-mail also is the information distribution method used by newsgroups, which are online discussion groups, and listserv mailing lists, to which you can subscribe.

One of the wonderful things about e-mail is that you can communicate with people all over the world without paying long-distance telephone charges and without waiting for conventional mail (now known to e-mailers as "snail mail"). In addition, you can save your e-mail for reading later or re-reading and share e-mail with others by forwarding.

Newsgroups are carried on the Usenet system which connects hundreds of thousands of computers all over the world so users can discuss topics of common interest. Most - but not all - Usenet computers (news servers) are linked to the Internet, and they serve up many thousands of newsgroups.

Newsgroup discussion are not conducted in "real time," as in a chat room; they are conducted on message boards. That is, using e-mail, a group member posts a comment or query for other members to read, then those who wish to respond post a message in reply. Newsgroup discussions are "threaded": postings are organized so that a group member can follow the thread of a single discussion from its start to the most current message.

To find a list of newsgroups which interest you, use a search engine (such as AltaVista) which can search Usenet. When we fed the words "assistive technology" into the AltaVista Usenet search engine, we received a list of 5,148 groups! In addition, some Web sites post lists of newsgroups. Try the sites at www.listz.com or www.Tile.net/news which offer newsgroup search engines and some helpful information about newsgroups in general.

You will notice that newsgroup names all have a prefix. This prefix indicates the general category of a newsgroup. The most common prefixes are: alt. (alternative), comp. (computer), news. (obviously, news), sci. (science), biz. (business), talk. (yep, talk), soc. (social issues), rec. (recreation) and misc. (you guessed it, miscellaneous). A newsgroup prefix may also indicate the place of origin of a newsgroup: for example, "au." means Australia and "fi." indicates Japan.

When you select a newsgroup by clicking on its link from a list produced by a search engine, a list of that newsgroup's postings will appear on your screen. (Most Web browsers include a "news reader" for this purpose.) Click on any posting to begin reading and use your e-mail function to respond to a posting or start a new discussion thread. Remember that your posting will be distributed to thousands of computers all over the world. Whether you simply read a newsgroup's offerings or participate more fully by becoming a "poster", you should be aware that every newsgroup has certain ground rules which are posted in documents called FAQs (frequently asked questions). It is wise to download and read a newsgroup's FAQs before participating.

Mailing lists also depend on e-mail. Listservs are the most common type of mailing list; they are managed by a computer (the host) which automatically enters and deletes subscriptions to the list and broadcasts the list's content to all subscribers. Unlike newsgroups, in which anyone can read and respond to messages, mailing lists require you to subscribe in order to participate.

Many mailing lists convey discussions in which your e-mail to the list is e-mailed to every other member of the list, any of whom may e-mail a response, which in turn is e-mailed to every subscriber. (When you join a mailing list, you will find your e-mailbox rapidly becomes quite full.) Alternately, a mailing list may be the means by which an organization e-mails news bulletins, fact sheets, newsletters and other information to subscribers. (Infinitec Inc.'s listserv mailing list is this type.)

To subscribe to a mailing list, you must send an e-mail request to the list's computer. The list's address takes the form: listserv@hostaddress. For example, ABLETECH-L is a list for parents, teachers and others concerned with disability and assistive technology; its address is: listserv@listserv.okstate.edu. A subscription request addressed to a listserv should carry a message in this form: subscribe nameoflist your name. For example, to subscribe to ABLETECH-L, you'd send a message saying saying: sub ABLETECH-L yourname. Specific directions are available for each mailing list. Form is important when dealing with lists, because your requests and other e-mail are interpreted by a host computer which is programmed to "understand" instructions in only one way.

To find indexes of mailing lists on the Web try www.Tile.net/lists or www.listz.com. Commercial online services with Internet gateways, such as AOL, provide help in locating both mailing lists and newsgroups. On the Web, list indexes are linked to forms which help you subscribe to the lists you choose. As with newsgroups, there are appropriate ways to interact with a mailing list. FAQs usually are available.

Whether you communicate one-on-one, or through newsgroups and listserve mailing lists, e-mail is an important-perhaps the most important-research option when dealing with topics such as disability. The information you want about real, practical experience with assistive technology can best be had from people who have used the technology. Additionally, an online discussion group can turn into a valuable support community for people with disabilities, their families and the professionals who serve them. Access to e-mail means you are never alone with your problem or concern.