Other uses of the Internet (continued):

  • We've now covered two major parts of the Internet: E-mail and the World Wide Web. Let's talk about some other uses of the Internet:

    • File Transfer Protocol (FTP), a way to download/upload files. Most commonly used by people downloading new versions of software, such as the latest Netscape. Also used by people publishing web sites.

    • E-mail Lists, a way to join a discussion about a particular topic. Discussion happens via e-mail, you either get each message sent to the list, or you can subscribe to a digest, which gives you all the messages at once. Make sure to save the message that tells you how to unsubscribe to the list. Also make sure to unsubscribe from any mailing lists before you go on vacation (they are a great way to clog up your mailbox!).

    • Internet Relay Chat (IRC), a "real-time" chat where people converse by typing messages in a chat room. Traditional Internet Relay Chat is now being replaced by web-based chat, because people find that much easier to use. IRC chat requires IRC software to be used.

    • Usenet Newsgroups, a part of the Internet where people post questions or discussion to a particular newsgroup, sorted by topic, and anyone in the world can reply to their post. People using this part of the Internet used to need a separate piece of software, called a newsreader to access newsgroups, and now most web browsers have this function built in.

Other Uses of the Internet

E-mail Lists

Where to find them

Tips

  • Always save the instructions on how to Unsubscribe from any mailing list you join.

  • Learn how to set up a filter on your e-mail program to filter out e-mail list traffic.

  • Unsubscribe from any mailing lists you have joined when you go on vacation--some mailing lists get 50-100 messages per day. Coming back from a week long vacation can be overwhelming if you don't unsubscribe.

  • If your mailing list offers a digest version try getting the messages in digest format instead--one big message with all the e-mails in it. Note, though, that digests can sometimes clog your mailbox and cause you to have trouble getting to the rest of your e-mail.

Chat

What is chat?

  • Many web sites devoted to a particular topic might also have chat rooms available for people who want to chat. For example, check out the chat rooms for Busy Mom's who want to work from home. This site has scheduled chats on various topics at various times, or you can chat anytime there is someone in the chat room. http://www.bizymoms.com/index.html.

  • Yahoo has a portion of its web site devoted to chat. Anyone with a Yahoo ID already can join one of these chat rooms at http://chat.yahoo.com/.

    • Client based chat

    • IRC, which stands for Internet Relay Chat. To use Internet Relay Chat, you must have an IRC client, or piece of software which does IRC. A popular IRC client for PC's is mIRC. A popular chat client for Macs is IRCLE. The way IRC works is you first connect to an IRC server (see the Liszt link below for more information) whose name you must know, and then you join a channel. There are over 37,000 channels, so you might want to use the Liszt site below to search for the right one.

      For a brief explanation of IRC and other information, visit: http://www.liszt.com/chat/intro.html.

      For a list of Mac IRC clients, visit: http://www.allmacintosh.com/circmac.html

      For a list of PC IRC clients visit: http://tucows.thewestcoast.net/circ95.html.

    • ICQ chat is marketed as a way to find your friends when they are online. To use ICQ you need to download the ICQ client. Like IRC it also has channels that you can join, but unlike IRC it has built into it a way to track your friends once they are online.

      Check out the explanation of ICQ at http://www.icq.com/products/whatisicq.html

    • Yahoo Messenger is also marketed as a way to keep track of your friends when they are online. To use Yahoo messenger, you need to have Yahoo Messenger client, available from http://messenger.yahoo.com/.

    Newsgroups/Web Boards/Forums/Discussions

    Explanation

    these are the cyberspace equivalent of a bulletin board. People post questions and other people answer those questions over the next several days or a week.

    Here's an example of a web-based forum, or bulletin board on the Mac Fixit site (a web site dedicated to Macs and their problems). Look here if you are troubleshooting a new Mac OS: http://www.macfixit.com/cgi-bin/ultimate/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro.

    Usenet Newsgroups are the oldest of this type of discussion. To search Usenet newsgroups, go to http://www.dejanews.com/