Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet

Chapter 12: Education and the Net 12.1 The Net in the Classroom 12.2 Some specific resources for students and teachers 12.3 Usenet and Bitnet in the classroom

Chapter 13: Business on the Net 13.1 Setting up shop 13.2 FYI

Chapter 14: Conclusion -- The end?

Appendix A: Lingo

Appendix B: Electronic Frontier Foundation Information

Foreword By Mitchell Kapor, Co-founder, Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Welcome to the World of the Internet

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is proud to have sponsored the production of the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet. EFF is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to ensuring that everyone has access to the newly emerging communications technologies vital to active participation in the events of our world. As more and more information is available online, new doors open up for those who have access to that information. Unfortunately, unless access is broadly encouraged, individuals can be disenfranchised and doors can close, as well. The Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet was written to help open some doors to the vast amounts of information available on the world's largest network, the Internet. The spark for the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet was ignited in a few informal conversations that included myself and Steve Cisler of Apple Computer, Inc., in June of 1991. With the support of Apple Computer, EFF engaged Adam Gaffin to write the book and actually took on the project in September of 1991. The idea was to write a guide to the Internet for people who had little or no experience with network communications. We intended to post this guide to the Net in ASCII and HyperCard formats and to give it away on disk, as well as have a print edition available. We have more than realized our goal. Individuals from as geographically far away as Germany, Italy, Canada, South Africa, Japan, Scotland, Norway, and Antarctica have all sent electronic mail to say that they downloaded the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet. The guide is now available in a wide array of formats, including ACSCII text, HyperCard, World Wide Web, PostScript and AmigaGuide. And the guide will be published in a printed format by MIT Press in June of 1994. EFF would like to thank author Adam Gaffin for doing a terrific job of explaining the Net in such a nonthreatening way. We'd also like to thank the folks at Apple, especially Steve Cisler of the Apple Library, for their support of our efforts to bring this guide to you. We invite you to join with EFF in our fight to ensure that equal access to the networks and free speech are protected in newly emerging technologies. We are a membership organization, and through donations like yours, we can continue to sponsor important projects to make communications easier. Information about the Electronic Frontier Foundation and some of the work that we do can be found at the end of this book. We hope that the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet helps you learn about whole new worlds, where new friends and experiences are sure to be yours. Enjoy!

Mitch Kapor Chairman of the Board Electronic Frontier Foundation mkapor@eff.org

For comments, questions, or requests regarding EFF or the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet, send a note to ask@eff.org.

Preface By Adam Gaffin, Senior Writer, Network World, Framingham, Mass.

Welcome to the Internet! You're about to start a journey through a unique land without frontiers, a place that is everywhere at once -- even though it exists physically only as a series of electrical impulses. You'll be joining a growing community of millions of people around the world who use this global resource on a daily basis. With this book, you will be able to use the Internet to:

= Stay in touch with friends, relatives and colleagues around the world, at a fraction of the cost of phone calls or even air mail.

= Discuss everything from archaeology to zoology with people in several different languages.