Humanities and Arts: Sharing Center Stage on the Internet
draft-ietf-harts-guide-02
The information below is for an old version of the document that is already published as an RFC.
| Document | Type |
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 2150.
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Authors | Walter Stickle, Janet L. Max | ||
| Last updated | 2013-03-02 (Latest revision 1997-05-14) | ||
| RFC stream | Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) | ||
| Intended RFC status | Informational | ||
| Formats | |||
| Additional resources | ftp%3A//nfs/ftp/harts/harts.mail | ||
| Stream | WG state | (None) | |
| Document shepherd | (None) | ||
| IESG | IESG state | Became RFC 2150 (Informational) | |
| Consensus boilerplate | Unknown | ||
| Telechat date | (None) | ||
| Responsible AD | (None) | ||
| Send notices to | (None) |
draft-ietf-harts-guide-02
INTERNET-DRAFT J. Max
HARTS Working Group Rainfarm
Category: Informational S. Stoner
ArtsEdge
May 1997
Expires November 1997
Humanities and Arts: Sharing Center Stage on the Internet
[draft-ietf-harts-guide-02.txt]
Status of this Memo
Distribution of this document is unlimited. Please send all input,
information, and comments to harts@isi.edu.
This document is an Internet-Draft. Internet-Drafts are working
documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas,
and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six
months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents
at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
To learn to current status of any Internet-Draft, please check the
"1id- abstracts.txt" listing contained in the Internet-Drafts Shadow
Directories on ftp.is.co.za (Africa), nic.nordu.net (Europe),
munnari.oz.au (Pacific Rim), ds.internic.net (US East Coast), or
ftp.isi.edu (US West Coast).
This memo provides information for the Internet, Humanities, and
Arts communities. This memo does not specify an Internet standard of
any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Abstract
This document is designed primarily for individuals who have
limited knowledge of, or experience with, the Internet.
The purpose of this document is to provide members of the arts and
humanities communities with an introduction to the Internet as a
valuable tool, resource, and medium for the creation, presentation,
and preservation of arts and humanities-based content.
The intended audience is practicing artists, scholars, related
professionals, and others who's knowledge, expertise and support is
important to ensuring the arts and humanities are well-placed in the
global information infrastructure.
For purposes of simplicity this document will use the word "Artist"
to mean both Artist and Humanist: "all practitioners who work in the
fields of the visual, performance, and literary arts, as well as
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INTERNET-DRAFT Sharing Center Stage on the Internet
museum curators, librarians, and others who are involved in the
research, restoration, and presentation of that which comprises our
cultural heritage." (See Section 1.1 for further definitions of Arts
and Humanitites.)
Table of Contents
i. Conventions for this Draft.................................. 3
1. Introduction................................................ 4
1.1 Definition of Arts and Humanities........................... 4
1.2 What is the Internet........................................ 4
1.3 What is the World Wide Web.................................. 5
2. What does the Internet mean to the "Artist?"................ 7
2.1 Access to the Global Community:
Museums, libraries, newspapers, periodicals, stores......... 8
2.2 Discovering the work of others.............................. 8
2.3 Freely Available software, and other information............ 9
2.4 Sharing your work with others............................... 10
2.5 Communicating about the arts................................ 10
2.6 Collaborating............................................... 9
3. Forums...................................................... 11
3.1 Message Based Communications................................ 11
3.1.1 Electronic mail (email)..................................... 11
3.1.2 Mailing list server (listserv).............................. 12
3.1.3 Newsgroups.................................................. 12
3.1.4 Electronic Bulletin Board System (BBS) ..................... 13
3.2 Real-Time Communications.................................... 13
3.2.1 Internet Relay Chat (IRC)................................... 13
3.2.2 Multi-User Dungeon (MUD).................................... 14
3.2.3 Audio/Video Conferencing.................................... 14
3.2.4 Whiteboard Systems.......................................... 14
3.3 Archives.................................................... 14
3.3.1 Searching................................................... 15
3.3.2 Compound Searches........................................... 16
4. Accessing the Internet...................................... 17
4.1 Getting Started............................................. 18
4.2 Internet Service Providers.................................. 20
4.3 Computer Software and Hardware Tools........................ 21
4.4 Multimedia.................................................. 22
5. Creating Content............................................ 23
5.1 Getting Help................................................ 23
5.2 Basic Design Issues: Understanding Formats.................. 24
5.3 Text and Hypertext.......................................... 24
5.4 Graphic and Moving Images................................... 24
5.5 Music and Sound............................................. 24
5.6 Content Design Issues....................................... 26
5.7 Publicizing your Work....................................... 26
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6. Issues and Challenges....................................... 26
6.1 Security Issues............................................. 27
6.2 Viruses..................................................... 27
6.3 Rights...................................................... 27
6.4 Conducting Business over the Internet....................... 28
6.5 Netiquette.................................................. 28
7. Glossary.................................................... 28
8. Resources................................................... 28
8.1 RFCs........................................................ 29
8.1.1 Using RFC-INFO@ISI.EDU to retrieve RFCs..................... 29
9. References.................................................. 29
10. Security Considerations..................................... 30
11. Acknowledgments............................................. 32
12. Authors' Address............................................ 32
Appendix A. Examples/Projects on the Internet of Interest to the
Arts and Humanities Communities
Appendix B. Some other URL's of interest
Appendix C. Examples for using the RFC server RFC-INFO@ISI.EDU
i. Conventions and Notes in the March 1997 Draft.
We have agreed that testimonial sections are essential, so we need
everyone to begin collecting quotes and experiences for each section.
Also every section should have many pointers to more information.
Any and all input, suggestions, and submissions graciously accepted.
This draft includes the following notation to aid completion:
- At the sign of two asterisks (**) are important notes and
questions.
- At the sign of two plus signs (++) information is needed. Where
known a contributor is mentioned by name, otherwise, please
volunteer!
- At the sign of two question marks(??) we need to decide what
goes there.
1. Introduction
This document has been structured to provide information about,
and examples of, the wide range of functions and capabilities
inherent to online services. It will also show the potential of
networking technologies for enhancing Arts and Humanities content and
interests.
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The basic functions of the Internet are described, along with
their application for building online communities of interest
(including the Arts and Humanities).
This is followed by discussion and examples of how Arts and
Humanities content can be represented, stored, and retrieved on the
Internet.
Also provided are examples of hardware and software being used,
and in development, to support the creation and presentation of new
artistic and literary works.
In addition to illustrating the great potential of the Internet,
this document aspires to provide an introduction to the issues and
challenges that affect the development and presentation of arts and
humanities content online.
Finally, some tools and resources have been provided to assist
both novice and experienced users in benefiting from, and
contributing to the global online arts and humanities community.
1.1 Definitions of Arts and Humanities
For purposes of this document the term "Arts" includes, but is not
limited to, dance, design arts, folk arts, literary arts, media and
film arts, music, theater, and visual arts.
The term "Humanities" includes, but is not limited to, the study
of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics;
literature; history; jurisprudence philosophy; archaeology;
comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of
the arts; those aspects of social sciences which have humanistic
content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application
of the humanities to the human environment.
1.2 What is the Internet?
As new users, the first question that probably comes to mind is:
"What is the Internet?" The answer is: "People, computers and
information electronically linked around the world by a common
Protocol for communicating with each other."
The beginnings come from the US Department of Defense's desire to
transport government and military information during the time of a
"nuclear event". Thus the Advanced Research Projects Agency was
formed, which created ARPANET. From this, over the next 26 years or
so, grew the network known as "The Internet", now dubbed the
"Information Superhighway". There are several million computers
connected and over 40 million users.
The common language or "Communication Protocol" which these
computers on the Internet speak, is the Internet Protocol, or IP.
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This is the underlying layer which allows transmission of diverse
data, information, text, pictures, sound, etc. to be passed between
otherwise incompatible machines.
The Internet should not be confused with America OnLine (AOL),
CompuServe, Prodigy, and other type service providers, which may use
their own, often proprietary, protocols and are sites unto themselves
but may have connections to the Internet. The Internet should also
not be confused with the World Wide Web which is the topic of the
next section.
1.3 What is the World Wide Web?
The World Wide Web, often called, "The Web" is a vast multimedia
document distributed among a large number of the computers on the
internet. This document is in a format called HyperText which allows
information in the web to be linked by words or pictures viewed on
the computer.
The Web is broken up into a large set of pages (Web Pages) of
information connected by HyperText "Links" which let you click on a
highlighted word or picture to call up a page of related information.
This is what differentiates HyperText from "normal" text. In
"normal" text, each sentence or idea is connected in a single
sequence or "train of thought", from beginning to end. In HyperText
however, the flow of ideas branches out, so that each idea may be
connected to many different "trains of thought" that jump from link
to link. This allows you to read HyperText documents, in a way more
naturally resembling human thought.
There is no central hierarchy that organizes the Web. Instead, the
information is distributed among many "Web Sites" created and used by
the many people involved. A Web Site is much like a magazine in that
it has a Front Page, called the Home Page, and may have many other
pages of related information that can be connected in whatever way
the author wishes.
For example, you could create a "Cool Music" Web Page and place it on
a Web Server, which can be any computer somewhere on the internet
running software to provide access to the resident Web Pages. Anyone
on the internet could then use a piece of software called a Web
Browser to ask the Web Server to look at your Home Page.
This Home Page could be a striking artwork featuring a list of your
favorite albums and a few labeled buttons. While your music plays
from their speakers they choose to click on any album that catches
their eye, or go to lists of information sorted by Artist, Label, or
Genre. Once they get to the page for any particular album, they
would see the artwork, a song list, and many other links to follow.
Clicking on a song could pull up the song lyrics, or perhaps even
download parts of the song. Or they could follow a link from your
page to the HomePage of the artist's record company, or to magazines
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that have interviewed the band. If the information is out there,
your page could link to it.
Web pages are written in a format called HTML, the HyperText Markup
Language. This is a protocol for putting special symbols into a text
document that specify links to other pages, fonts to use, images to
load, and many other things. It is simple enough that most people
can learn to use it, but rich enough in possibility that there will
always be a thriving community of people making web pages for others.
In order to download information from distant places in the internet,
your computer will be using a protocol called HTTP, the HyperText
Transfer Protocol. HTTP was designed to allow web browser software
to connect to web server software on another machine and request the
transmission of a web page in the form of an HTML document and any
associated images, audio, video, etc.
Since any part of a page can link to any accessible data on the
Internet, each link must include a reference to exactly where on the
internet the information is. This is the job of the Uniform Resource
Locator, URL. The URL is very much like your home address. When you
tell someone your "address", you give your postal code,
country, state, town/city, street, building, and your name.
A URL is a machine readable (and hence somewhat cryptic) text string
which tells both people and machines where to find the information.
It contains the name, directory, machine, host address, and the
protocol for accessing that information. URLs usually take the form
"http://www.something.com", where "www" indicates the locations World
Wide Web server, "something" indicates the name of the organization
who runs it, and "com" indicates that that organization is a Company.
Other extensions which indicate types of organizations, are ".gov"
for US government sites, ".edu" for educational sites, and ".org" for
other organizations such as "not for profit", etc. There are also
specific extensions for each country in the world, such as ".CA" for
sites in Canada, ".nl" for sites in the Netherlands, etc.
http in this example is the protocol used to access it. Since http is
the primary protocol of the web, many browsers now assume it, and you
will likely only need to know the protocol being used if its
different from http. Other protocols include "ftp", the File Transfer
Protocol, and "gopher" which are both text based, rather than graphic
based. (See also Section 3 - Forums)
After the communication protocol and site address are identified, the
document's URL can go on to specify a particular page at the site.
The example above will retrieve www.something.com's default homepage,
usually index.html. The .html extension on that filename indicates
that the file is formatted with the HyperText Markup Language. Other
file extensions might be .txt for standard format Text files, .gif for
Graphic Image Format files, .jpg, another graphics format, .wav for
certain audio files, and many others.
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You can start browsing the Internet, or "surfing" as its often
called, by entering a URL into your web browser, which will download
the appropriate file. If you then select a link, your browser will
read the URL built into the page itself, and use it to find and
access the appropriate information.
At last check there were hundreds of thousands of web sites, home
pages, and hosts on the Web. The contents of those sites are almost
as varied. Some pages are personal pages containing photos of family
members, lists of hobbies, or the sharing of collections such as song
lyrics. Some pages are strictly business, selling everything from
abalone to zymoscopes. (If you're interested in doing business over
the Web, please read Sections 6 and 10 on Security.) Still other
pages provide services such as information searches, and weather
reports.
2. What does the Internet mean to the Artist?
The internet is exerting a profound influence on our society. Human
culture is based on communication, and the widespread availability of
information and the thought-like constructions of HyperText are the
most powerful new ideas in communication since the invention of
writing. A glance back at history will easily show how written
language has shaped our societies. These results are only a
foreshadowing of the things to come.
Even now in its infancy, the effects of the internet can be easily
seen in popular media as well as in the way we do business. But the
most dramatic influences are in the children who are now growing up
with the net. Many parents are aware of the influence television has
over their children. Eventually the net may become a superset of all
TV, but with added power to inform as well as entertain. If we raise
the internet right, it will return the favor by nurturing a
generation that may well grow up wiser than ourselves.
And so we have a great responsibility to make sure that the best
parts of human culture are represented on the internet. Because the
net is still primarily created and run by Scientists and Engineers
who are creatures of mind, it is the heart and soul of the internet
that needs help. Artists are the heart and soul of human culture,
and must bring the fruits of their efforts to the net to give the net
culture (and future generations) their essence of humanity.
And if that doesn't convince you, we will also show that there are
many ways in which artists may exploit the net for their own personal
gain. As the online culture becomes a more balanced representation
of humanity, the net will become an essential tool for collaboration,
communication, and distribution of art. The day is coming where
those who are not on the net will be greatly handicapped in the
expression and distribution of their art.
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A great many visual and performing arts institutions and
organizations have now established sites on the World Wide Web and a
significant number of online discussion groups focus on the arts and
humanities. Consortiums of museums and libraries are now using
networking technologies to support research and projects involving
more effective ways to collect, store, and disseminate objects of
antiquity and other non-textual primary sources, as well as textual
sources.
Thousands of sites are also created by individuals and for
institutions, organizations, and businesses for reasons ranging from
commerce to simple self expression. The net is the new frontier for
the growth of humanity. Can you afford not to be involved?
2.1 Access to the Global Community
Access to art is no longer constrained by vicinity. Hang out your
electronic shingle and just imagine who might drop in. The Internet
connects hundreds of countries, thousands of cities, and countless
groups and individuals around the globe. People all around the world
will be looking for what they want on the net, and if you have what
they want, then through the magic of the net, you are their next door
neighbor.
The Internet explorer will find that more and more sites are becoming
multilingual. The Internet provides a forum in which diverse
cultures can merge, and allows the explorer to visit faraway places
from the privacy and safety of their own computer.
2.2 Discovering the work of others
Once you have the basic tools for using the Internet (See Section
4) you will begin to understand how easy, helpful, informative, and
exciting it can be. With a few quick strokes you have accessed a
great library, museum, or gallery, toured a faraway city, or looked
up an old friend. You might find an out of print book you have
always wanted, then either read it on your computer screen, or print
it out on your printer. If you do not have a printer, simply save it
to your floppy disk and bring that to a shop or friend with a
printer. Its really that easy.
You could spend the afternoon at the Smithsonian, or the Louvre
without ever leaving your chair. For a more athletic adventure, you
could put your computer in front of your treadmill, and jog through
the online Olympics site.
When you are ready, you can explore deeper. Follow other links to
smaller sites, lesser known writers, artists, poets, and thinkers,
and discover the emerging world they are creating. With the proper
tools you can even view moving pictures, and listen to music and
other audio.
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With access to the Internet, the world is at your fingertips. Even
more than art, literature, and humor, online is information. Bring
your questions on health, the environment, government, and religion,
and look though volumes of documentation on your concerns, or discuss
your questions with others electronically. Once you get used to it,
you will even be downloading more information and tools to assist you
further.
Examples of sites to explore, and good starting points can be found
in Appendices A and B.
2.3 Access to Freely Available Software, and Other Information
There is a world of useful software available to you via the
Internet. Known as Shareware, Public Domain, or Freely Copyable, you
can find many software programs you may download and use on your own
machine, often completely free, occasionally for a small and/or
optional fee which helps the author to afford to create more software
for general use. There are also libraries, stores, and news groups
you can peruse in search of just the tool or information you want.
As you explore the Internet, you will begin to find information that
is beyond your reach without the right tools for viewing, listening,
etc. For example, someone may have put up a sound file using a
format which cannot be recognized by the software you have installed.
In these cases, that person will often have included a pointer to the
exact tool necessary to recognize their format, or convert the
format, and you can download, install, and use this tool right away.
Using the basic tools acquired to access the Internet (See Section
4), you can begin to add to your collection software tools, both for
accessing the information already on the Internet, and for creating
your own content (See Section 5).
2.4 Sharing your work with others
There are many people both like, and unlike, yourself with whom you
can meet, communicate, and share ideas. Some like to just talk, you
can listen if you like. Others like to just listen, so you and
others can talk.
There are also many forms that communication can take, from
private electronic mail, to group video conferencing, to moderated
newsgroups, to public bulletin boards. See Section 3 for more
information on Electronic Forums.
Artists often want to share their work with other artists on the
Internet so that they will receive comments and recognition for their
work. It is a great place to explore new ideas with other artists as
well. Perhaps a painter has tried a new paint and has a review of
it, or has developed a new way to mix colors, or a photographer wants
to share how to get a difficult shot. Perhaps you would like to
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locate a rare album, or debate one musicians merit over anothers.
There are many types of content that artists can share. Including:
- text: stories, poetry, historic accounts, transcripts, etc.
- images of their visual work: paintings, photographs,
sculpture
- images of themselves: photographs, self-portraits
- sound files of their audio works or voice presentations of
their works: books on tape, speeches, tutorials, music
- moving pictures: video arts, performance arts, etc.
- a description of their art process and works of art
- resume and/or biographical data
- contact information in the form of electronic mail address,
postal mail address, phone, etc. Electronic mail is most
popular because it allows people to respond spontaneously.
After you've met some of the global critics, and compared your work
with others, you may feel so bold as to share your work with others.
Perhaps emailing a manuscript to a publisher, or putting up scans of
your art will entice a buyer. Perhaps it will entice a critic to say
wonderful things about you to a buyer.
Perhaps putting your work on the Internet will bring fortune and
fame, or perhaps it will encourage others to put their work up.
Increasing the cultural content of the Internet will have profound
results in all areas of the Arts.
2.5 Communicating about the arts
Perhaps you prefer to discuss and compare the works of others with
producers, collectors, gallery owners or other professionals in your
field, or related fields. You might want to find out who's hot and
why. You could also find out where, and when shows, showings,
benefits, conferences, releases, signings, and performances are
taking place, or announce your own showing.
They say that for every artist, there is a critic, and you could meet
one, or be one, on the Internet.
2.6 Collaborating
There are many ways of collaborating over the Internet. There are
art and literature projects which explore the Internet by asking
people to put their feelings, thoughts, and ideas about the Internet
in, and there are projects which simply arrive, or are downloaded
over the Internet, in which people participate.
There are also games which are played over the Internet, by players
all over the planet. These types of games, which are described in
in greater detail in Section 3, can be both entertainment and a
learning experience. Some games offer players the opportunity to
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alter the environment, so that ideas and information contained in
the game evolve over time into a jointly constructed experience.
3. Forums
Websters defines a forum as "A public meeting place for open
discussion." In the world that could be a park or an auditorium. In
the Internet, a forum will be electronic, but it may still feel like
a roomful of people.
Many forums exist on the Internet. There are interactive forums
where you can share information in real-time and carry on discussions
with others. There are message-based forums where you send or
receive a message and others involved in that forum can respond
later, and there are archived forums where information is stored, and
may be retrieved by anyone but modified only by its owner.
While we have attempted to list and describe a few of the more
popular forums, we have not created an exhaustive, complete, or
up-to-the-minute list here. You can find information on forums,
lists and sites in many magazines and books today. (See Section 4.1
- Getting Started)
3.1 Message-based Communications
In Message-based communication, a message is sent by one user, and
received by one or many. For example, you might send a dinner
invitation to an individual, a couple, or a group. In the same way,
you send electronic messages to individuals or groups. Just like
your Postal Service for physical mail, there are electronic mail
servers for electronic mail. Just like you have a physical address
to which your physical mail is sent, there is an electronic mail
address to which your electronic mail is sent.
Message-based Communications includes electronic mail, listservs,
newsgroups, and bulletin boards.
3.1.1 E-mail
Electronic mail (email) is a system whereby a computer user can
exchange messages with other computer users (or groups of users) via
a communications network.
Typical use of email consists of downloading messages as received
from a mailbox or mail server, then reading and replying to them
solely electronically using a mail program which behaves much like a
word processor for the most part. The user can send mail to, or
receive mail from, any other user with Internet access. Electronic
mail is much like paper mail, in that it is sent, delivered, and
contains information. That information can be textual, graphic, or
even sound. (See Section 4 - Accessing the Internet, and Section 5 -
Creating Content, for more information on non-textonly email
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messages.)
You will get an Electronic mail, or Email address usually from
your Internet Service Provider (See Section 4). Your email address
contains your name, and the address of the machine on which you
receive your mail. The name of the machine will be in two parts,
(separated by a dot or period symbol ".") the name of the machine
itself, and the "domain" it is in. (See the documents reference in
Section 8 - Resources, for more information on domain names).
The possible extensions for a domain name will be one of: .edu, for
educational institutions; .gov, for government sites; .com, for
commercial companies; .org, for other organizations; or it might be a
locational domain name which would contain the city, state, region,
and country, as la.ca.us would be Los Angeles, California, United
States.
An email address takes the form "yourname"@"yoursite"."yourdomain"
For example, if your name is Jo Cool and you get your Internet
service from Dirigible Online, your email address might be
jcool@dirigible.com.
3.1.2 Listserv (mailing list server)
A Listserv is an automated program that accepts email messages from
users and performs basic operations on mailing lists for those users.
In the Internet, listservs are usually accessed as either
"list-request@host.domain" or "listserv@host.domain"; for example,
the list server for the hypothetical list "newsreports@acme.org"
would be "newsreports-request@acme.org".
Sending email to "newsreports@acme.org" causes the message to be sent
to all the list subscribers, which is inappropriate for "Subscribe"
and "Unsubscribe" requests. Sending a message to "listserv@acme.org"
sends the message only to the list server. Using "listserv@acme.org"
you would put the listname in the subject field with "Subscribe
me@my.domain" as the body of the message. Not all mailing lists use
list servers to handle list administration duties.
3.1.3 Newsgroups
A Newsgroup is an electronic bulletin board system created originally
by the Unix community and which is accessible via the Internet.
Usenet News forms a discussion forum accessible by millions of users
in almost every country in the world. Usenet News consists of
thousands of topics arranged in a hierarchical form. Major topics
include "comp" for computer topics, "rec" for recreational topics,
"soc" for social topics, "sci" for science topics, and there are many
others we will not list here. Within the major topics are subtopics,
such as "rec.music" for general music content, and
"rec.music.classical" for classical music, or "sci.med.physics" for
discussions relating to the physics of medical science.
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If you have access to newsgroups, it would be wise to check
news.announce.newusers first. This newsgroup provides detailed
information on Newsgroups, such as how to find the right place to post
or even information on newsgroup writing style.
Local Newsgroups are those that are accessible through your
organization or company which contain news that is relevant only to
your organization. For example, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
(GSFC) has many internal Newsgroups that are of interest only to
GSFC's employees and none of the other NASA centers. Therefore,
newsgroups have been formed to provide internal information to NASA
GSFC employees only and no one else. Some examples are:
gsfc.carpool, gsfc.dialup or gsfc.220.civil.servants.
Another example of a local newsgroup is news that is posted
regarding your community or the vicinity in which you live. For
example, if you lived in the Washington D.C. area some of the local
newsgroups would be: dc.biking, dc.jobs or dc.smithsonian.
3.1.4 Electronic Bulletin Board System (BBS)
A Bulletin Board System consists of a computer, and associated
software, typically providing electronic messaging services, archives
of files, and any other services or activities of interest to the
bulletin board systems' operator.
Typical use of a BBS has the user dial into the BBS via their modem
and telephone line and select from a hierarchy of lists, files,
subdirectories, or other data maintained by the operator. Once
connected, the user can often send messages to other BBS users within
the system.
Although BBSs have traditionally been the domain of hobbyists, an
increasing number of BBSs are connected directly to the Internet, and
many BBSs are currently operated by government, educational,
research, and commercial institutions.
3.2. Real-Time Communications
Real-Time Communications describes the process of communicating with
others via the Internet virtually simultaneously. Generally in a
forum where you type something, which another user sees on their
screen, and types something, which you see a moment later. The
moment between when they begin typing, and you begin seeing their
words, is known as "net-lag".
Forums which communicate in real-time are the Internet Relay Chat
(IRC), the Multi-User Dungeon (MUD), Audio/Video Conferencing (AVC),
and White Board Systems (WBS).
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3.2.1 IRC - Internet Relay Chat, WebChat
Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, provides a text-based mechanism for
communication with multiple participants. IRC is an interactive
forum set up in virtual rooms that you can move between, and where
others can virtually "hang out". Chat rooms can be used to discuss
common ideas or topics, or as part of a collaborative process. The
connection method used will be specific to each IRC site.
Web chat is like IRC but it is done via a web browser such as
Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer and it is not a text only
forum.
Once you have chosen the group you want to participate in, you must
choose a nickname, commonly known in the chat world as a "handle" for
yourself (usually a very creative name). With some software you can
have your nickname link to your webpage or email. Some software also
allows you to post a very small picture next to your name.
Many webchat sites require the user to register before being able to
participate in the activity. If any additional software is needed
based on your particular software and PC configuration the site will
point you in the right direction so you can download the necessary
software.
Some sites will provide you with chat etiquette guidelines. Please
be sure to read the directions before you participate in the Chat
session.
Once you begin to chat you may find that there are some abbreviation
used that you are not familiar with. These abbreviations are for
various actions or phrases. Some very common ones are: by the way
(btw), in my humble/honest opinion (imho), or ta ta for now (ttfn).
The following sites point to some of the chat groups accessible via
the Web:
The Chat Hole - http://acm.ewu.edu/homepage/wmundell/chathole.htm
WebChat Broadcasting System - http://pages.wbs.net/
Yahoo! - Computers and Internet: Internet: World Wide Web: Chat -
http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet
/World_Wide_Web/Chat/
3.2.2 MUD - Multi-User Dungeon
An interactive game environment where both real other players and
virtual other players exist and with whom you can communicate to
share ideas or solve puzzles, etc.
The word "Dungeon" refers to the setting of many of the original
games of this sort, in which you, our hero, must escape from a
dungeon-like environment where evil goblins, demons, and other
"bad-guys" are trying to kill you. Generally the goal, in order
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to win the game, is to find and retrieve some treasure, or reach
some hidden place, and find the way out.
++ vrml, avatar, digital editing systems, proprietary (palace, urban
++ desires)
++ Expand on the concept of "shared construction" -- that this
++ enables information and ideas to accrue over time.
3.2.3 Audio/Video Conferencing
CU-SeeMe is a desktop videoconferencing software tool. CU-SeeMe
allows Macintosh and Windows users with an Internet connection and a
desktop camera (some go for as little as $100) to see, hear and speak
with other CU-SeeMe users across the world. This program was
developed at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, USA and is
freely available.
CU-SeeMe allows the user to have a one-to-one communication. It is
also possible to have a one-to-many or many-to-many communication by
installing a reflector on a Unix machine or using a public site (more
on this later).
To download the software, see:
ftp://cu-seeme.cornell.edu/pub/cu-seeme or go to Cornell University's
CU-SeeMe Page at http://cu-seeme.cornell.edu/ for more information.
This site also provides detailed information on what is needed to run
CU-SeeMe.
Another reliable site is the CU-SeeMe Home Page:
http://www.indstate.edu/msattler/sci-tech/comp/CU-SeeMe/
For one-to-many or many-to-many communication, a reflector is needed.
The reflector software must be installed on a Unix machine. The
software can be obtained from Cornell University's CU-SeeMe Page
mentioned above.
For a list of public reflectors see:
http://www.indstate.edu/msattler/sci-tech/comp/CU-SeeMe/reflectors/
nicknames.html
Please note that there are Netiquette rules that ought to be observed
when using a reflector, please see:
http://cu-seeme.cornell.edu/Reflector.html
There is an enhanced commercial version of CU-SeeMe, information on
that can also be found at CU-SeeMe Home Page mentioned above.
++ multicasting
++ Expand on uses
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3.2.4 Whiteboard Systems
A Whiteboard is analogous to the blackboard, and is physically quite
similar. A Whiteboard System allows people on the Internet to share
text, drawings, and other graphic information which is being written
in real-time on an electronically enhanced whiteboard.
Software exists which allows connections between two sites, or
hundreds, over the Internet, the Web, or your telephone.
++ commercial, non-commercial, internet, non-internet.
++ PictureTel, SmartBoard,
++ wwwphone is freely available. Send mail to: jay@eit.com
3.3 Archives
Archive is defined in Webster's New World Dictionary as:
n. 1 a) a place where public records, documents, etc. are kept
b) a place where material having documentary interest, as private
papers, institutional records,memorabilia, or photographs, is kept.
Archives on the Internet are pretty much the exact same thing. The
motive and much of the content is the same, but the media changes
(from paper files, to electronic files), and as such allows for a
much greater diversity of content.
Archives on the Internet also allow many people access to their
files simultaneously, and from all over the world.
Any and all information that people want to make available on the
Internet can be. This means there is a truly vast amount of
information out there, with more being added every day. In fact
there is so much information that it is sometimes difficult and
confusing to find the information you want. This is the topic of our
next section.
3.3.1 Searching
One of the great challenges facing the internet is how to organize
the vast amounts of information in ways that allow most people to
find what they want. In theory, there may be a "perfect"
organization, but in practice, we will never achieve it. This means
that finding the information you want on the net may require some
skill on your part. Fortunately there are many tools and strategies
that may be helpful.
One of the all time great ideas for finding the information you want
is a thing called a search engine. A search engine is a computer
program usually living on a remote computer that spends its time
downloading information from other computers and building an index of
what lives where. This behavior has given them the nickname of Web
Crawlers. What this means to you, is that you can call up the Search
Engine's home page, and enter in a subject, name, title, or random
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string pattern, which is then used to search the engines index
for stuff out on the net that seems related. This can lead to both a
large volume of information, and some rather startling discoveries of
information from unsuspected sources.
Some of the available Searchers and Indices on the Internet include:
Yahoo - Index of WWW sites, with search capabilities
http://www.yahoo.com/
DejaNews - USENET (news groups) search engine
http://www.dejanews.com/
WebCrawler - http://query.webcrawler.com/
Lycos - http://www.lycos.com/
AltaVista - WWW and USENET search engine
http://www.altavista.digital.com/
Magellan - Index of reviewed and rated Internet sites, with
search capabilities
http://www.mckinley.com/
Yahoo, for example, has a high-level category called "Arts", which
has a multitude of subcategories below it, most of which have further
subdivision, each of which can contain lists of lists. For example,
to find information on Modern Dance, one can follow the links to
http://www.yahoo.com/Recreation/Dance/Modern/Groups
or simply type "Modern Dance" into the search field and choose from a
list of selections returned.
On a typical attempt on March 25, 1997, Yahoo returned 4 major
categories of Modern Dance, and offered 82 other links to related
pages around the web.
There are many other Searchers and Indices on the Internet, and a
good way to find them, is to do a search for them in one of the
services above, or others you encounter in your travels.
3.3.2 Compound Searches
After experimenting with the available search engines, it quickly
becomes clear that searching on a broad category can result in too
much information. For example, a recent search at AltaVista for the
subject "Rembrandt" matched over 8500 individual items, including
information on the famous artist (Rembrandt von Rijn (1606-1669)),
URL: http://www.bod.net/CJackson/rembrand/rembrand.htm and His
Self-Portrait,
URL:http://found.cs.nyu.edu/fox/art/rembrandt/self1660.html a
hotel in Thailand (Rembrandt Hotel and Plaza, Bangkok),
URL:http://www.siam.net/rembrandt/index.html and a pizza
restaurant in California
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URL:http://www.lososos.com/Rembrandt'sCafe/.
To be more particular in what you find, all of the available
search engines allow you to do compound searches, in which multiple
keywords are used, possibly in combination with Boolean logic
operators such as AND, OR, and NOT. For example, to focus in on
Rembrandt the artist, at the exclusion of pizza cafes, try the
following advanced search in Magellan:
Rembrandt AND artist AND portrait NOT pizza
Note that the method of entering search items differs slightly
from service to service. When trying a new service, check the
available help topic before searching. And as with any new skill,
practice, practice, practice!
Test of search scope:
Lycos: rembrandt. 1837 relevant documents
Lycos: rembrandt and artist and portrait 6 relevant documents
Yahoo: rembrandt 2 Catagory and 39 site matches
Yahoo: rembrandt and artist 2 Catagory and 11 site matches
AltaVista: rembrandt about "10000" documents
AltaVista: rembrandt +artist +museum about "100" documents
WebCrawler: rembrandt. 347 matching "rembrandt"
WebCrawler: rembrandt and artist and portrait 21 matching documents
Magellan: rembrandt 666 results
Magellan: rembrandt and artist and portrait 39379 results
You'll notice, in the above statistics, that the numbers for Magellan
are quite different from the others. This is because different
search engines may function differently. When you do a this+that
search on Magellan, it looks for all instances of This AND all
instances of That rather than the standard response of Only documents
which contain both This AND That. On almost all the sites I have
explored, there is an explanation of how the search process works on
that site. You should read that explanation if you're having trouble
or need further information.
You will also begin to see patterns in the way people name, or file,
their information, which will help you find more information. Some
may list their links to ART, while others list their links to
PAINTINGS. Also many people put links to related pages in their
pages, so one page you find that doesn't have what you're looking
for, may have a pointer to another page that does have what you're
looking for. Searching is an iterative process, keep going from one
search key to another, and continue down multiple levels to see what
is out there. Its known as Exploring, or Surfing the Net, and it is
a major part of the joy of the Internet.
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4. Accessing the Internet
Accessing the Internet in terms of simply receiving, downloading,
and viewing files, uses most of the same tools (software and
hardware) needed to create files and make them available on the
Internet. This section, and the next, overlap in the areas of basic
hardware and software.
The Internet can be accessed in many comfortable ways: at school,
at home, at work, and even at trendy CyberCoffeeHouses. Accessing
the Internet is not synonymous with publishing and displaying on the
Internet, however. You may need different equipment for creating and
retrieving content.
4.1 Getting Started
Many Internet Service Providers (See Section 4.2) offer free
instruction to get you started in accessing the Internet as well as
creating content. With the competition of Internet providers, you
should be able to find one or two that offer the instruction you
need. Artists in smaller communities may need to rely more heavily
upon online sources of information.
Check with local libraries and schools which may offer classes on
Internet related subjects, including getting connected, or check the
Internet section available in most bookstores today.
Don't be dissuaded if you find limited access. The Internet will
soon be everywhere, but if you don't want to wait, then do what these
enterprising youths did...
When several students from large universities returned home to Taos,
NM, a couple of summers ago, they left behind their Internet
connections. Missing their connectivity, they approached the owner
of a local bakery and suggested he start an Internet room where he
could charge people by the hour to use the Internet. The
entrepreneurial baker applied for a government grant and received a
a few computers with high speed modems.
You may be able to find a place like this, often called a CyberCafe,
rather than having to create one. Try your local magazine stand for
the latest periodicals, or your public library or bookstore for
pointers to other people who will know more.
Once you have some Internet access, you can find out more about
Cybercafes, InternetCafes, and other physical Internet access points,
by searching as described in Section 3, and in the newsgroup
alt.cybercafes.
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4.2 Internet Service Providers
Being an Internet Service Provider (ISP) these days is pretty easy
and can be financially worthwhile, so there are alot of them, and
they are starting and failing every day. In addition to the
information and pointers you will find in this document, many
organizations exist to help you locate, and choose a service
provider. In any case, be sure to get references, not only for the
ISP but also for the organizations who recommend them. Some
organizations exist solely to recommend those who pay them. Most
Internet related magazines these days contain extensive advertising
by ISPs in your area. See Appendix D for a listing of many magazines
which now contain information and pointers about the Internet.
As we discussed in Section 1, every machine on the Internet needs an
address by which it is accessed. Even machines which are only
browsing need an address to which the browsed information is
returned. This is actually called your IP (Internet Protocol)
address. Usually you will get your IP address from your work,
school, or ISP when you get your configuration information for your
Internet connection. If you were trying to get an IP Address on your
own, you would go to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
The following is sent out by the IANA in response to a request for
an IP network number assignment.
You should get your IP address (a 32bit number) from your
network service provider.
Your network service provider works with a regional registry
to manage these addresses. The regional registry for the US
is the Internic, for Europe is RIPE, for the Asia and Pacific
region is the AP-NIC, and parts of the world not otherwise
covered are managed by the Internic.
If for some reason your network service provider does not
provide you with an IP address, you can contact the your
regional registry at one of the following addresses:
Internic <hostmaster@internic.net>
RIPE <ncc@ripe.net>
AP-NIC <admin@apnic.net>
Please do contact your network service provider first, though.
The regional registry will want to know all the gory details
about why that didn't work out before they allocate you an
address directly.
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4.3 Computer Software and Hardware Tools
A basic computer system consists of a box containing a Central
Processor Unit (CPU), MotherBoard, and Floppy Drive. It will also
come with a keyboard, and you will need a Hard Drive, Memory, and a
Video Monitor. How much memory, how large a hard drive, and how
fabulous a monitor, will vary with your needs and experience.
To connect to an ISP you will also need a modem and a phone line.
Your normal telephone line will do, but if you have call-waiting you
will probably want to disable it for the duration of your networking
session so that you do not lose data to a lost connection.
There are many types of computers available including PC's, Macs, and
other Workstations. The most affordable systems are generally PCs
and Macs. You may also need to choose an Operating System (OS) for
the machine you choose.
Personal Computers (PCs) can run a version of DOS, anything from
Microsoft(R), or a version of Unix (BSDI, FreeBSD, Linux, etc.) Apple
Macintosh computers can run the common Mac Windows, or Apples version
of Unix. Workstations generally run a Unix derived OS.
With any system, you should ensure that it contains the software and
hardware necessary to maintain both itself and your data. While
computer data is not particularly fragile, it is still sometimes lost
due to hardware or software problems or simple human error. For this
reason it is considered important to "back up" your system by making
extra copies of important data. While simply copying data onto
floppy disks could work, the small storage size of the disks makes it
alot of work and prone to human error. Many large capacity disk and
tape drives are available with special software specifically for
doing backups. It is highly recommended that you purchase a backup
solution along with your computer.
It is also important to protect your data from being damaged by
computer viruses. When you connect to the net and move data back and
forth, it is possible that there can be a small piece of software
(called a virus) that could hide in some of the data and "infect"
your system, possibly then using your system to infect other machines
that you connect to. These viruses are often created by misguided
people as a sort of computer prank, and can accidentally or
maliciously damage your data. Fortunately it is possible to buy
virus checking software that can regularly scan your system to see if
it has been infected. This software is important whether you are
downloading information from the net, or using other peoples floppy
disks. See Section 6 for more information on viruses.
Determining your ideal hardware and software configuration will
take some time and patience. You need an understanding of what you
want to do, and how, and whether you wish to simply view, or create.
You'll also want to know the limitations and expandability potential
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of the system, so you can determine if it will have a useful
lifespan. If the machine cannot grow for the foreseeable few years,
it will become obsolete before its given you its fullest value.
4.4 Multimedia
Depending upon your needs, you may require special hardware installed
in the machine, or attached externally by cables. These additional
pieces of hardware are known as peripherals.
The peripherals needed for accessing information on the Internet
might include the following:
- a sound card and speakers to hear sounds, music, speech, etc.
- a CD-ROM player to read stored images of artwork
- midi equipment for audio artists
- video equipment for participating in video forums
- a printer to make hardcopy of files, or images
- Other equipment for creating content See Section 5.
Most of these peripherals will require specialized software. If you
plan to purchase all the hardware and software at once, find a vendor
who will connect and test all the hardware, software, and peripherals
for you. Due to the complexity of these systems, they can be
difficult to configure for the inexperienced user.
Also, verify that the vendor will stand behind their equipment, and
this configuration in the event that it doesn't work the way you want
it to. Hook the system up, and test it extensively right away, so
as to determine any problems before your warrantee period expires.
5. Creating Content
As the hardware and software of the net becomes cheaper and better
understood, the technology itself will become less important than the
content which lives on the net. Many of the rewards of the Internet
will go to the people who create such content.
There are different ways to add content to the Internet. One may
start with pre-existing content, such as paintings or stories, and
find a place for it, or one may create content specifically for the
net such as a web page.
Let us for the moment assume that you have already created something
which you would like to make available on the net. There are many
ways in which you could do this. You could deal with agencies who
provide this service professionally, find friends or others willing
to do it for free, or get yourself on the net in some fashion and
create a place for it yourself.
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If you chose to do it yourself, you will need your own computer and
some form of internet access from an Internet Service Provider (ISP)
or Web Space Provider (WSP).
Once you have a place to put your content, you will need to put it in
the right format. Images may have to be digitized, audio may have to
be recorded into computer files, etc. Section 5.2 discusses the
various information formats in more detail. While hardware, such as
image scanners, are readily available, there are also many other
options available. For example, most print, or copy shops today can
do high quality image scans and some WSPs may provide this as one of
their services.
If you are placing your content on the Web, a web page must be
created for it in the form of an HTML document that references the
content in the appropriate file format. While this is easy enough to
do yourself, many WSPs also offer this service, and there are also
independent web page designers who may be able to do a better job.
Creating online content involves moving your art into an electronic
format and then, perhaps, re-formatting it for the Internet. For
some art forms, the initial electronic step is fairly painless:
translating a short story, poem, novel (or any type of creative
writing that doesn't have much desktop publishing formatting, for
example) into HTML is fairly straight forward. Likewise, moving a
computer graphic to the Internet requires a converter program to make
the graphic follow the right format. Performing arts, sculpture, and
other pieces that are hard to capture on a computer disk, require
more work and creative thinking.
Much of the information needed to help you think creatively about
publicizing your work online is available in classes, books, local
Internet cafes, and on the Internet itself. Many Internet magazines
are available for subscriptions or individual issues can help get you
started. Most new bookstores and, to some extent, used bookstores
provide numerous volumes of Internet information. However, even the
most recently published books may contain outdated information. The
latest 'standards' can be obtained directly from the Internet
Engineering Task Force, or IETF, at http://www.ietf.org/. The
document you are reading now is a product of that organization.
If you learn better by doing, rather than reading, you may be
interested in taking a HTML or Internet Introduction course at a
local college. Most larger metropolitan area schools provide classes
for the basics, which can also expose you to other artists. Make
sure you read the course description; some courses may only cover
accessing the Internet while you may want to actually be creating
documents. If no colleges in your area offer classes, contact the
computer science department or the continuing education office and
suggest a topic. If the school can obtain enough support, they may
offer a class the following semester.
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5.1 Getting Help: Consultants, Web Page Designers, Providers, etc.
Once you're connected to the Internet, there are many more ways of
getting help with it. Try the forums, listed in Section 3, such as
Newsgroups, Bulletin Boards, and Chat rooms. If you've checked the
local netiquette guidelines, and behave accordingly, the Internet
community will usually be very helpful toward new arrivals.
When looking for good consultants and web page designers, start with
the sites you like, and find out who did their pages. Discuss your
needs with other artists, or check the phone book, library, books,
magazines and other periodicals for artist collectives and groups who
may be available to assist you. Look for groups whose cause is
artisticly motivated, rather than trusting people who are paid to
point you at a particular consultant or assistant.
Know what you want. If it takes you a while to figure out what you
want, take that time. This shouldn't be something you need to rush
into. The Internet isn't going to go away. Whatever you decide to
do, don't be afraid to ask for references. A good provider of
services will always be happy to provide you with a list of happy
customers.
5.2 Basic design issues: Understanding Formats
As discribed in Section 1.3, there are many file formats available on
the Internet. You'll need to understand a little bit about the
formats you'll want to present, in order to create them for others to
see. Some formats are called Public Domain, and are freely copyable,
and the software tools used to create this content is available for
you to download off the net. Other formats are called Proprietary,
and are only readable and creatable using software you must purchase
from the vendor who created it, or their authorized reseller. Some
formats, and their associated formatting tools, come along with other
software packages. For example, Microsoft Windows comes with a Sound
Recorder, which makes and plays back .wav files. Now people who want
sound cues in the software they write for Windows can use .wav files
and give you more options with the tools you have. So you can now
surf the net for .wav files to add to the usefulness of those tools.
For more information on file formats, connect to:
http://www.matisse.net/files/formats.html
or
http://rodent.lib.rochester.edu/multimed/contents.htm
(note the extension in this case is .htm rather than .html - this is
the case when files are created in an environment that only supports
three character extensions, such as DOS.
++ List, define, and describe, formats and extensions...
++ Sound, Image, Text, Hypertext
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Some artists are actually using html as an artform in itself and are
helping to push the boundaries of this medium.
++ Mention scanners, tablets, speakers, recorders,
++ encoders/decoders, slide reader video equipment, software needed,
++ Save in-depth for the appropriate subsection.
++ Don't forget Examples: How people are creating content ...
5.3 Text and Hypertext
++ what and how
5.4 Graphic and Moving images
++ Creating mpeg, jpeg, gif, jpg, Compression: jpg vs. gif
++ What is a thumbnail?
5.5 Music and Sound
The World Wide Web supports audio data as well as visual data. The
most obvious way to send audio across the net would be to use digital
audio like that used for the Compact Disc or "CD". However, CD
format digital audio requires 44,100 16 bit words per second for a
mono signal, and twice that for a stereo signal. While there are
many places where one can find digital audio in Windows ".wav", or
the MacIntosh ".au" format, these files typically take a very long
time to download even a few seconds of audio. The size of these
formats makes them too inefficient for widespread use on the net
today.
It is however possible to do "useful" audio over the net. The
emerging "de facto" standard seems to be _RealAudio_, based on the
freely distributable server/player application, _RealAudio_ version
2.0, developed by the Seattle based company Progressive Networks.
First released in 1995, RealAudio allows useable digital audio in
realtime over a 28.8 kB line, and has already been put into service
on the home pages of most major record companies as well as in many
niche applications. In addition, RealAudio provides a "Voice mode"
optimized for understandable speech transmission over a 14.4kB line.
Unfortunately the quality of _RealAudio_ leaves much to be
desired. In particular, the sample rate in Music Mode is only 8Khz
(as compared to CD quality 44.1 Khz), meaning that all high
frequencies above 4khz are simply missing. The resulting audio is
still pleasing to listen to, but sounds very dull and dark.
More information about RealAudio can be found at www.RealAudio.com.
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Clearly Digital Audio is the way of the future, but until more
bandwidth is available to the average person, it may not be the way
of the present. Fortunately, at least in the area of music, there is
an interesting alternative.
MIDI (the Musical Instrument Digital Interface), as developed for
electronic musical instruments (keyboards, samplers, drum machines,
etc.) works well for certain kinds of music over the net. It
involves sending no sound sources at all, just the description of the
music -- kind of like the score, without the instruments. If the
receiver has the right instruments on their computer (such as the
sounds defined in the General Midi soundset found on many
soundcards), they can play back the musical score.
The big disadvantage to using MIDI is that other than the limited
selection of sounds in the General Midi set, it is extremely
difficult to make sure the music sounds more than approximately like
the original. And there is no way to handle non-MIDI instruments
such as guitar or voice, so it is useless to hear the new song by
your favorite rock and roll band.
The big advantage to MIDI is how fast it works over slow net
connections. For example, five minutes of music, fits in a mere 30k
file, and usually will not take more than a few seconds even on the
slowest of dialup connections! This makes it ideal for applications
such as networked games, or music to go along with a web page.
There are many ways of embedding MIDI files into HTML documents,
for WWW distribution.
Anyone who wants to add MIDI to a page can choose to use existing
public access MIDI file banks, of which there are many, or to produce
new MIDI themselves.
Crescendo is one package available for embedding MIDI files in
HTML http://www.liveupdate.com Crescendo works for both MacIntosh and
Windows.
Helpful Links: Publicly Available Audio and Music Applications
http://reality.sgi.com/employees/cook/audio.apps/public.html
Music of J.S. Bach for keyboard
ftp://ftp.cs.ruu.nl/pub/MIDI/SONGS/CLASSICAL/BACH/HARPSICHORD/
RISM (repertoire of manuscript sources), plus other access to
online scholarly music resources. http://rism.harvard.edu/RISM/
Crescendo is used in the web pages at http://mcentury.citi.doc.ca
along with a growing number of others. One very interesting use of
Crescendo occurs on the Music Theory Online publication, a serious
scholarly site for publishing and debating musicology and music
theory. Articles there now routinely include short musical examples,
a great sign of the future of scholarly publishing in the age of
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dynamic, interactive content.
http://boethius.music.ucsb.edu/mto/issues/mto.96.2.4/
Formerly, debate on musical form and structure occurred in the
pages of journals, referring usually to music examples in terms of
its visual notation. This notation requires a certain degree of
training to decode, effectively restricting the potential readership
to those with this professional training. With sound examples
embedded directly in the text, at least the aural effect of the music
comes across, even to those unable to read the notation accurately.
This shift is appropriate to the newer trends in music scholarship,
which talk about music in terms of its social and cultural context,
instead of only in formal terms.
5.6 Content Design Issues
Know your intended audience. If you want more people to see your
work, you'll need to make it more accessible.
Many sites are very careful about what content they will allow access
to. If you want all audiences to be able to view your work, make
sure you are careful about your content and language.
Another content design issue is tool friendliness. Some machines
have limitations which will not allow them to see or hear what you'd
like them to. For example, older or less expensive models of
monitors may have monochrome, or one-color displays, or display only
16 colors, or 256 colors. If you create and view images which look
fabulous with a 64,000 color display, you may want to test them using
a 16 color display to see what the effect is. Sometimes you can
modify your image slightly to get a wider audience while only having
a minor impact on the effect.
The following sites give you pointers on what to consider when
designing a web page that is content- rich:
- Sun's Guide to Web Style - http://www.sun.com/styleguide/
- Yale C/AIM Web Style Guide - http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/
- Web Development - http://www.december.com/web/develop.html
- A Guide to Creating a Successful Web Site =
http://www.hooked.net/~larrylin/web.htm
- Bandwidth Conservation Society - http://www.infohiway.com/faster/
This is resource for web developers with an interest in optimizing
performance.
See Section 6 for other issues and challenges relating to content.
5.7 Publicizing your work
++ advertising on the net. point to Sally's doc.
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6. Issues and Challenges
The Internet has many issues and challenges, among which are
security, privacy, property rights, copyrights and freedom of speech.
Security issues involve both the security of your data, as well as
your image. Viruses can be transmitted easily over the net, and
precautions should always be taken. If you choose to keep your own
information available on the net it can be the subject of vandalism
and theft. You may also find yourself being persecuted for the
information you provide as more and more people join the Internet
community and feel the need to impose their morality upon it.
This is no different from any society. We must draw our own lines,
and our own conclusions. This section is terribly brief, and
entirely summary in nature, and is in no way intended to be
comprehensive. It is intended to warn you and advise you. If you
have real concerns about your property rights, copyrights, and/or
personal rights, please do your own research. Internet laws are in
such a state of flux that they are changing as I write this, and they
will be changing as you read it.
At last check, however, freedom of speech was prevailing in the
United States, and so far the government has not upheld any laws
prohibiting the exhibition of anything on the Internet. Support your
local constitutional rights.
6.1 Security Issues
++ See Section 10. but describe here also.
++ Security of content, site, ownership.
6.2 Viruses
A "virus" is a program that modifies other programs by placing a copy
of itself inside them. It cannot run independently. It requires
that its host program be run to activate it.
The damage caused by a virus may consist of the deletion of data or
programs, maybe even reformatting of the hard disk, but more subtle
damage is also possible. Some viruses may modify data or introduce
typing errors into text. Other viruses may have no intentional
effects other than replicating itself.
Viruses can be transmitted over the Internet inside other programs,
but usually they are transmitted by floppy disk. Your best bet is to
purchase a really versatile and up-to-date virus checking program
from your local software retailer, and run it over every floppy you
plan to read, and every program you plan to run, as well as
periodically over the entire machine.
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Computer viruses are enough like organic viruses that many of the
same precautions apply. Early detection is key. Diligence will
mitigate potential damage, but frequent incremental backups are your
best strategy for recovery.
6.3 Rights
++ Intro to protecting your copyright on the Internet.
++ References: Copyright law, cases, etc.
** Remember Laws on Intellectual property are constantly changing!
++ examples of: copyright, trademark, disclaimers, international
++ concerns big issue re: other countries who do not recognize US law
++ goes both ways... respecting others copyrights
++ The implications of the Telecom Reform Bill with regard to
++ Freedom of Speech.
++ Censorship issues, need *your* help.
++ INTERNATIONALIZE: ie: Canada will not allow the import of anything
++ that is "degrading" to women. Etc.
6.4 Conducting Business over the Internet
++ Secure transaction are possible, pointers to pgp, etc.
6.5 Netiquette
++ The Responsible Use of the Network document outline, and pointers.
++ ie: AVOID SHOUTING
FYI 28 "Netiquette Guidelines", (Also RFC 1855), October 1995.
++ It never hurts to keep silent until you know your audience better.
++ Not being offended by others, ie: don't take it personally
++ keeping in mind international cultural differences, etc.
7. Glossary
++ point to userglos, trainmat, and useful stuff that needs to be on
++ the same doc. for ease of use
FYI 29 "Catalogue of Network Training Materials", (Also RFC 2007),
October 1996.
FYI 22 "Frequently Asked Questions for Schools", (Also RFC 1941),
May 1996.
FYI 18 "Internet Users' Glossary", (Also RFC 1983), August 1996.
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** words contained within this document which need to be defined for
** the audience: Boolean,
8. Resources
++ Places to find more information of use and interest.
++ specific arts and humanities studies, projects, programs, getty
Much of the information provided by this document was gathered
from other documents. Wherever important to the discussion, a
pointer to the document was given, however, many more documents are
available on many other topics.
8.1 Request for Comment
One of the most important collections of informational documents
about the Internet are written as Requests for Comment by the
Internet Engineering Task Force. The name Request for Comment is
historical, as these documents are submitted by their authors' for
the approval of the Internet community as Internet Standards, and
valid Informational RFCs called FYIs, of which this document is one.
Basically, if the IETF collective uses a tool or resource, they
document its use in an RFC so that there is no mystery to its
functionality, uses, designations, specifications, or purposes.
More information on RFCs, FYIs, the IETF, and its organizations,
documents, policies and purposes can be found in the RFCs themselves,
by a number of means.
8.1.1 The ISI RFC-INFO service
There are many way to get copies of RFCs over the Internet (see
ConneqXions, Vol.6,No.1, January 1992). Most of these simply access
a directory of files where each RFC is in a file. The searching
capability (if any) is limited to the filename recognition features
of that system.
The ISI RFC-INFO server is a system you can search for an RFC by
author, date, or keyword (all title words are automatically
keywords).
RFC-INFO is an e-mail based service to help in locating and
retrieval of RFCs and FYIs. Users can ask for "lists" of all RFCs
and FYIs having certain attributes ("filters") such as their ID,
keywords, title, author, issuing organization, and date. Once an RFC
is uniquely identified (e.g., by its RFC number) it may also be
retrieved.
To use the service send e-mail to RFC-INFO@ISI.EDU with your requests
in the body of the message. Feel free to put anything in the
SUBJECT, the system ignores it. (All is case independent.)
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See Appendix C. Examples for using the RFC server RFC-INFO@ISI.EDU
9. References
++ should we create [#] footnotes?? i.e.: ISN doc, etc.
++ reference the publications and/or sites of key
++ arts and humanities organizations (e.g. Getty, NINCH)
10. Security Considerations
** jkrey points to site sec. handbook:
** "The "current" Work in Progress for the Site Security Handbook WG
** is the I-D - draft-ietf-ssh-handbook-03.txt. This group is
** working on a companion document for the "user". Stay tuned for
** the I-D. They should have that out before San Jose."
There are a wide variety of ways in which systems can be violated,
some intentional, some accidental. Of the intentional attacks, a
portion may be exploratory, others simply abusive of your resources
(using up your CPU time) but many are actively malicious. No system
is 100% safe, but there are steps you can take to protect against
misconfigured devices spraying packets, casual intruders, and a
variety of focused assaults.
Your best defense is to educate yourself on the subject of
security. There are places on the net devoted to teaching users
about security - most prominently, the CERT Coordination Center
located at the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon
university. You can point your web browser (or direct your ftp
connection) to ftp://info.cert.org/pub/cert_faq to start. This is a
frequently asked questions guide and general overview on CERT. It
includes a bibliography of suggested reading and a variety of sources
to find more information.
Next, you should probably read
ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tech_tips/security_info
which contains a (primarily based on the UNIX operating system)
checklist to help you determine whether you're site has suffered a
security breach. You can use it to guide you through handling a
specific incident if you think your system has been compromised or
you can use it as a list of common vulnerabilities. CERT also
maintains a wide variety of bulletins, software patches, and tools to
help you keep up to date and secure.
Before you are even online, you should consider some basic steps:
10.1 Formulate a security policy.
It should include policies regarding physical access procedures,
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security incident response, online privileges and back-up media. Put
a message at the login to establish your policy clearly.
An example:
"This system is for the use of authorized users only. It may be
monitored in the course of routine operation to detect unauthorized
use. Evidence of unauthorized use or criminal activity may result in
legal prosecution."
10.1.1. Talk to your Internet Service Provider.
Depending upon your provider and router management situation, there
are a number of things your ISP should be able to do for you to make
your site more secure. Foremost, packet filtering on the router that
connects you to the internet. You will want to consider IP filters
to allow specific types of traffic (web, ftp, mail, etc.) to certain
machines (the mailhost, the web server, etc.) and no others. Other
filters can block certain types of IP spoofing where the intruder
masks his or her identity using an IP address from inside your
network to defeat your filters. Discuss your concerns and questions
with your provider - the company may have standards or tools they can
recommend.
10.1.2. Make sure your systems are up to date.
A significant number of incidents happen because older versions of
software have well-known weaknesses that can be exploited from almost
anywhere on the internet. CERT provides a depository for software
patches designed by concerned net.citizens, CERT's engineers and by
the vendors themselves.
10.1.3. Use the tools available.
Consider recording MD5 checksums on read-only media (the MD5-digest
algorithm determines an electronic "fingerprint" for files to
indicate their uniqueness -comparing more recent checksums to older
ones can alert you to changes in important system files), installing
tripwire on your systems (notes size and MD5 checksum changes, among
other sanity checks), and periodically testing the integrity of your
machines with programs an intruder might use, like SATAN and crack.
[Details on MD5 are contained in RFC 1321.]
Most files and fixes go through the basics before leaving you to
figure things out on your own, but security can be a complicated
issue, both technically and morally. When good security is
implemented, no one really notices. Unfortunately, no one notices
when it's not taken care of either. That is until the system
crashes, your data gets corrupted, or you get a phone call from an
irate company whose site was cracked from your machines. It doesn't
matter if you carry only public information. It doesn't matter if
you think you're too small or unimportant to be noticed. No one is
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too small or too big, no site is immune. Take precautions and be
prepared.
11. Acknowledgments
Joseph Aiuto
Sepideh Boroumand
Michael Century
Kelly Cooper
Lile Elam
Dan Harrington
Julie Jensen
Walter Stickle
12. Authors' Address
Janet Max
jlm@rainfarm.com
Scott Stoner
stoner@artsedge.kennedy-center.org
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Appendix A.
++humanities computing projects, research projects,
++text encoding project (michael century) need to maintain perspective
++of the historic art archives and the "current" art in culture
++AHIB? Marty Harris, Susan Sigfried NIDGE?
Examples of Projects on the Internet of Interest to the Arts and
Humanities Communities
The commonplace insight about the web as a new distribution
channel for cultural products is that it effaces the traditional
border between producer and consumer. Publishers exploit two-way
interactivity by re-designing the editorial mix to include reader
response. Here follows some examples of the way creative artists
attempt to design structures flexible enough for significant viewer
input.
RENGA (http://renga.ntticc.or.jp) - An inspired transposition of a
traditional collaborative writing practice into the realm of digital
media supported by the NTT InterCommunication Centre in Tokyo. Renga
means linked-image or linked-poem, and draws on the Japanese
tradition of collaboration which effaces the unique notion of
original author.
PING (http://www.artcom.de/ping/mapper) - by Art+Com, a Berlin
based media centre and thinktank. Art+Com is a leader in producing
high-end net visualization projects. Ping lets the browser add a
link, which then becomes a part of the ongoing visual structure. It
is similar, in this sense, to the Toronto Centre for Landscape
Architecture's OASIS site.
Art+Com's T-Vision project (http://www.artcom.de/projects/terra)
which uses satellites and networked VR computers to permit an
astonishing fly-in to earth from space: acclaimed as one of the most
imaginative realizations of the potential of networked computing.
OASIS(Image)INTERNET-DRAFT Toronto Centre for Landscape
Architecture's OASIS site requires a specialized browser, but from a
standard Netscape connection, you can view stills that give a sense
of the beautiful images produced by the collaborative "design
process". It is introduced by its designers as follows:
Oasis is a shared 3-Dimensional navigational environment for the
world wide web. This virtual landscape allows one to bury their own
information links throughout the terrain or to discover and connect
to new information left by others.
TechnoSphere (http://www.lond-inst.ac.uk/TechnoSphere/) Is
TechnoSphere a Game?
Yes and no. It's an experiment on a global scale, a chance to
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develop complex artificial life on digital networks. TechnoSphere is
interactive like a game, but transgresses the linear boundaries of
branching and hierarchical games narrative to enable freer movement.
TechnoSphere is designed to encourage a non-linear experiential
exploration.
Body Missing (http://yorku.ca/BodyMissing/index.html)
Toronto artist Vera Frenkel created this richly evocative site on
the disappearance of art and memory as an extension of her Transit
Bar installation. It is conceived as a site open to new
'reconstructions' of the artworks confiscated during the Third Reich.
First opened to the public as part of the ISEA95 exhibition in
Montreal, it has since earned widespread critical comment and praise.
Molecular Clinic 1.0
(http://sc_web.cnds.canon.co.jp/molecular_clinic/artlab_bionet)
Molecular Clinic 1.0 ' is an art project realized through a
collaboration between ARTLAB and Seiko Mikami, and is one of the most
elaborate custom designed art projects yet created for the Web.
During their initial visit users should download the MOLECULAR ENGINE
VIEWER, which is a type of molecular laboratory for their computer.
What they will see on the web site after this initial download is a
virtual space containing a three dimensional computer generated
Spider and Monolith object. The user will be able to navigate
through and into this virtual space and can zoom into the spider all
the way to the molecular level.
File Room (http://fileroom.aaup.uic.edu/FILEROOM.html) -
Cumulative database info on Censorship, hosted in Chicago but
conceived by Spanish artist Antoni Muntadas.
Idea Futures (http://if.arc.ab.ca/~jamesm/IF/IF.html) -
Winner of the grand prize at the 1995 Ars Electronica competition
for Web Sites, Idea Futures is a stock market of ideas, based on the
theories of mathematical economist Robin Hanson. The 'truth' of any
claim is assigned a weight calculated by the amount of virtual cash
which members of the exchange are willing to bet. The scheme leads
might lead toward a radical democratization of academic discourse,
but just as easily, toward the trivialization of thought. See the
following for a philosophical critique of the system.
(http://merzbau.citi.doc.ca/~henry/Matrix/Erewhon.html)
Firefly (http://www.agents-inc.com/) also a prize winner at Ars
Electronica in 1995, Firefly is an prototypical example of what
enthusiasts call a "personal music recommendation agent", which makes
suggestions for what you might like to listen to, based on a stored
profile of your own likes and dislikes, and the evolving ratings
submitted to the system by other members. Worth visiting, if only to
understand what all the fashionable hype about 'intelligent agents'
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is all about; skeptics should know that even the promoters of these
services admit the circularity of their systems: they're capable of
reinforcing existing taste, but little else.
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Appendix B: Some other URL's of interest
Art on the Net
http://www.art.net/Welcome.html
Artist Memorials
http://www.cascade.net/kahlo.html
Writers
http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/
http://www.rain.org/~da5e/tom_robbins.html
Photography
http://www.nyip.com/
Personal Journals
http://grateful.dead.net/RobertHunterArchive.html
http://www.cjnetworks.com/~jessa/
Musical Groups
http://www.dead.net (Grateful Dead)
http://www.netspace.org/phish/ (Phish)
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Appendix C:
To get started you may send a message to RFC-INFO@ISI.EDU with
requests such as in the following examples (without the explanation
between []):
Help: Help [to get this information]
List: FYI [list the FYI notes]
List: RFC [list RFCs with window as keyword or
in title]
keywords: window
List: FYI [list FYIs about windows]
Keywords: window
List: * [list both RFCs and FYIs about windows]
Keywords: window
List: RFC [list RFCs about ARPANET, ARPA
NETWORK, etc.]
title: ARPA*NET
List: RFC [list RFCs issued by MITRE, dated
1989-1991]
Organization: MITRE
Dated-after: Jan-01-1989
Dated-before: Dec-31-1991
List: RFC [list RFCs obsoleting a given RFC]
Obsoletes: RFC0010
List: RFC [list RFCs by authors starting with
"Bracken"]
Author: Bracken* [* is a wild card matches everything]
List: RFC [list RFCs by both Postel and Gillman]
Authors: J. Postel [note, the "filters" are ANDed]
Authors: R. Gillman
List: RFC [list RFCs by any Crocker]
Authors: Crocker
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