*** *** ******** ******** **** *** ********* ********* ***** *** *** *** ********* ****** *** ********* ******* *** *** ***** *** *** *** **** ********* *** *** *** ******** *** *** *** *** ******* *** *** ******** *** *** **** **** ********* **** *** ********* *** *** ********* *** *** ***** *** *** *** *** *** * *** *** *** ********* *** ********* *** *** *** *** ********* *** ********* *** *** *** *** *** ***** *** *** *** *** *** ********* *** **** *** *** *** *** *** ******* *** *** *** *** *** *** *** NetMonth / An Independent Guide to BITNET *** *** October, 1990 / Issue 37 *** *** Edited by Christopher Condon / BITLIB@YALEVM *** *** CONTENTS: *** *** Bitnotes / 1 *** Guest Editorial: Lee Varian / 3 *** Headlines / 5 *** Feature: The Human Genome Project / 7 *** New Mailing Lists / 9 *** Letters / 12 *** *** BITNET SERVERS is a list of network servers and services. *** If you know of servers not listed in BITNET SERVERS, or if *** some listed are no longer available, please contact the *** Editor. We need your updates so we can stay accurate! *** *** BITNET USERHELP is a document written to assist the new *** network user understand the different network services and *** how to use them. You can get a copy by sending the command *** SENDME BITNET USERHELP to LISTSERV@BITNIC. *** *** To subsscribe to NetMonth and BITNET SERVERS, send the *** command "SUBSCRIBE NETMONTH your_name" to LISTSERV@MARIST. *** You can unsubscribe by sending the command UNSUB NETMONTH. *** *** Your editorials, articles, and letters are encouraged *** (indeed, sought afer). Send your ideas and letters to the *** Netmonth Editor. ********************** Subscribers: 7692 ********************** 1 Page 1 *** *** Bitnotes *** *** by Christopher Condon *** *** Yale University *** *** CONDON@YALEVM *** "What it is." Back when I had the time to chat with people on Relay for a few hours each night (WAY back) I noticed something interesting. Many of the people I talked to were under the impression that Relay *was* BITNET. That is, they were not aware that BITNET existed for some other purpose. It wasn't that these people were close-minded about the uses of the network, it was just just Relay so dominated the scene at the time that everything else seemed to fade into the woodwork. Before Relay, the servers that dominated BITNET were file servers, and the biggest gun among these was CSNEWS@MAINE (later UMNEWS). Among the other major servers of the time (BITSERVE, VMBBOARD, NETSERV) CSNEWS was unique it was run primarily by students. In a burst of vision, the CSNEWS management made it a point to reach out and communicate with people outside of University of Maine. CSNEWS provided not only a file library, but also a primitive bulletin board, a user database, and a "checkin/checkout" facility to let people know one was available for chatting (this was pre-Relay, remember). This "by the students, for the students" approach made CSNEWS the most widely used server on BITNET for several years. Getting a file stored there was to almost guarantee that active BITNET users would find it. CSNEWS was the center of BITNET activity. As far as many people were concerned, CSNEWS *was* BITNET. Yet, CSNEWS/UMNEWS is gone. After several stops and starts, it has finally kicked the proverbial bucket. But why? LISTSERV has been the center of BITNET for the past few years, eclipsing even Relay in popularity. The combination of semi- interactive communication, the ability to particpate and log ongoing discussion on specific topics have put mailing lists and forums at the center of BITNET communication. This is a formula that was discovered long before in the Internet. 1 Page 2 In BITNET, mailing lists drive the network, and (for the most part) LISTSERV drives the mailing lists. As such I have talked with many people who are under the impression that BITNET and LISTSERV mailing lists are one and the same. They are completely unaware that anything that exists outside of that. For these people, I have to make a complete reversal of logic. Where I used to explain how LISTSERV worked by comparing it to file servers, now I have to do it the other way around! I like LISTSERV, for the most part. It has made BITNET a much easier place to communicate, and a much more useful one at that. Still, I hate to see any one service so completely dominate the others that they dissapear. ***** Well, this is the new format. What do you think? I've complicated/simplified it into the following sections, which will appear each month: 1. Bitnotes 2. Guest Editorial 3. Headlines 4. Feature on interesting new/old service 5. New Mailing Lists 6. Letters The secion where you can contribute the most is in the Guest Editorial department. You can think, right? Of course you can! You have an opinion, right? Of course you do! Send your idea to CONDON@YALEVM, and I'll let you know if it's suitable. Thanks for your help! As always, I am entirely dependent upon you for updates on new servers and services. Send them in! This month I have taken the liberty of printing as the editorial Lee Varian's fascinating letter on the origins and meaning of the BIT in BITNET. I think you'll like it. Virtually, Chris Condon@YaleVM 1 Page 3 *** *** The BIT In BITNET *** *** by Lee C. Varian *** *** Princeton University *** *** LVARIAN@PUCC *** Since I'm known locally as a bit of a squirrel, I happen to have a few of the early documents on BITNET. Some of these might shed some light on that nagging question, "What does the BIT in BITNET stand for?" The initial letter from Ira Fuchs (then Vice Chancellor for University Systems at CUNY, now Vice President for Computing and Information Technology at Princeton), dated March 4, 1981, did not suggest a name for the proposed "network of university computer centers which utilize the IBM networking software (RSCS and eventually PVM), and which would permit file transfers, electronic mail, and resource sharing between faculty and/or administration at participating institutions." This letter was sent to 34 institutions on the east coast, from Maine to South Carolina, which Ira believed had hardware which was compatible with the proposed network. The Winter 1981 Educom EDUNET NEWS article ("BITNET makes 'splash'", pp. 6-7), ended with a postscript: "The BIT in BITNET is not an eighth of a byte; it stands for Because It's There." The same phrase, "Because It's There NETwork", was used in an informational brochure from CUNY, undated but from mid-1982, I believe. Ira Fuchs wrote an article, titled "BITNET -- Because It's Time", (pp. 16-27 of the IBM journal Perspectives in Computing, vol. 3, no. 1, March, 1983). The last paragraph of this article included the line "Remember, the BIT in BITNET stands for Because It's Time." I suspect that both "Because It's There" and "Because It's Time" were ultimately considered too cute for a network which was becoming a major international force in academic networking. It does point up the fact, however, that Ira Fuchs had made the perspicacious observation in early 1981 that most of the pieces needed for the formation of a low-cost but extremely useful network were already in place. All that was 1 Page 4 required was his insight and leadership, a willingness on the part of a few computer center directors to proceed on faith, and a few 9600-baud links among universities to launch what continues to be the most ubiquitous and discipline-diverse academic network in the world. 1 Page 5 *** *** Headlines *** *** Edited by Christopher Condon *** *** Yale University *** *** Send your updates to BITLIB@YALEVM *** * List-of-Lists now available in BITNET: The popular Interest Groups (List-of-Lists) file now has a home in BITNET. This file provides a list of various discussion lists available to network electronic mail users. This includes not only LISTSERV lists, but lists originating in other networks, as well. If you wish to obtain the entire Interest Groups file send the command GET INTEREST PACKAGE LISTSERV@NDSUVM1. You will receive about a dozen files including the segments of the Interest Groups list and a file listing the current files in the "INTEREST PACKAGE". To submit new descriptions of mailing lists, to update existing information, or to delete old mailing list information from the List-of-Lists send mail to interest-groups-request@nisc.sri.com and NEW-LIST@NDSUVM1. Thanks to Rich Zellich for the many years of effort that he put into maintaining this file. Sadly, circumstances have changed and it was not possible to continue the arrangement that worked so well over those years. (NISC, Marty Hoag) * BITSERVE Bites The Big One: A recent command to the server yielded the following message: "BITSERVE on CUNYVM is no longer in service. Its functions have been replaced by two service machines at node BITNIC: LISTSERV and NETSERV." (Jahangir Momin) 1 Page 6 * Directory servers at Calgary: University of Calgary has two new user directory servers to help you find the userids of people there. They are: DIRECTORY@UCDASVM1 - Calgary Administrative Personnel DIRECTORY@UNCAMULT - Calgary Academic Personnel The servers accept commands by mail. Withing your mail you should use the command FIND surname. For example, if you were looking for Joe Shmoe, you would send the command FIND SHMOE. (Don Barker) * Directory server at Drake: Drake University has installed a user directory server named FINGER@DRAKE. It accpets commands by interactive message. To find the userid of a person ar Drake, send the server a message with the name for which you are searching. There are no commands. (Robert Lutz) * Trickle Update: The Trickle servers provide directory listings and recently requested files from the SIMTEL20 personal computer software archives to users in Europe. TRICKLE@DTUZDV1 has moved to TRICKLE@DS0RUS1I. DTUZDV1 no longer exists. (Richard Rodriguez) 1 Page 7 *** *** The Human Genome Project *** *** by Jane Peterson *** *** National Center for Human Genome Research *** *** JP2@NIHCU *** The National Institute of Health's Human Genome Program is planning to start a newsgroup for the disucussion of genome- related issues. Information on how to subscribe follows. There are four distribution points for the HUMAN-GENOME-PROGRAM newsgroup depending upon your geographical and network locations: If you reside in the Americas, to subscribe to the HUMAN- GENOME-PROGRAM bulletin board, please send a request to the Internet address biosci@genbank.bio.net If you use the European Academic Research Network (EARN) and live in Continental Europe or Ireland, you can subscribe send a subscription request to LISTSERV@IRLEARN withe the command: SUBSCRIBE GNOME+PR your_personal_name If you reside in the United Kingdom, please send your subscription request to biosci@uk.ac.daresbury If you reside in Scandinavia (or in Continental Europe and have nternet access), please send your subscription to biosci@bmc.uu.se If you do not fall into any of the above categories you may contact whichever of the above sites is most convenient. 1 Page 8 * Posting Messages to the Bulletin Board: Once you have chosen your distribution point, you may post messages by sending to the bulletin board address at that site. Note below the shorter addresses used for BITNET/EARN/JANET sites. Location Posting address -------- --------------- Americas / Internet: human-genome-program@genbank.bio.net Americas / BITNET: gnome-pr@genbank.bio.net Ireland / EARN: gnome-pr@irlearn.ucd.ie U.K. / JANET: gnome-pr@uk.ac.daresbury Sweden / Internet: human-genome-program@bmc.uu.se USENET news software users may post messages on their local computer to bionet.molbio.genome-program (set distribution to "world") and let the software handle distribution details. 1 Page 9 *** *** New Mailing Lists *** *** Moderated by Marty Hoag *** *** North Dakota State University *** *** Send your list descriptions to NEW-LIST@NDSUVM1 *** Each of the lists described here is maintained on a LISTSERV machine unless otherwise noted. To subscribe to one of these lists you would send the following command to the the appropriate server via mail or message. SUBSCRIBE listname Your_full_name For example, if your name is Kristen Shaw and you want to subscribe to a list described as "DIAPERS@YALEVM" you would send the following command to LISTSERV@YALEVM: SUBSCRIBE DIAPERS Kristen Shaw To make contributions to the list you would send mail to DIAPERS@YALEVM. Please note that this is just and example and to my knowledge there are no mailing lists about diapers (although you never know). ***** NOTRBCAT@INDYCMS - Catalogers of Rare Books NOTRBCAT is an open forum for catalogers of rare books and special collections. Although it was founded to provide a means for RBSC catalogers working in NOTIS to exchange information on working in the NOTIS system, NOTRBCAT members soon decided that issues of rare books cataloging in general were paramount. System affiliation, then, is no longer a criterion for membership. It is expected that all systems represented by the membership will be discussed from time to time, although NOTIS continues to be the primary system. 1 Page 10 NewsE-D@INDYCMS - News of the Earth NewsE-L@INDYCMS - News of the Earth Letters NewsE-S@INDYVMS - News of the Earth Supplements NewsE-D is News of the Earth (ISSN 1052-2239) distribution, the free and public dissemination of global news and information monitored by shortwave radio by John B. Harlan. Reader/subscriber discussion is encouraged on the companion NewsE-L (News of the Earth letters). Additional news and information from other sources is made available on NewsE-S (News of the Earth supplements). NewsE-D and NewsE-S are successors to JBH Online (ISSN 0896-8241) and JBH News (ISSN 1048-7999), published electronically from 1987 to 1990 as Online-L and JBHNewsL. EXLIBRIS@ZODIAC.RUTGERS.EDU - Rare Books and Manuscripts ExLibris is an unmoderated news and discussion group for the purpose of discussing matters related to rare book and manuscript librarianship, including special collections and related issues. You may subscribe by sending a message to exlibris-request@zodiac.rutgers.edu with a subject indicating subscription request ("Subscription request" would do just fine) and a text which gives your name and electronic address. Messages may be sent to the discussion group by e-mailing to: exlibris@zodiac.rutgers.edu JUGGLINGV@INDYCMS - Past, Present, and Future Jugglers JUGGLING is an online forum for jugglers of all abilities. This allows for open communication of juggling topics, including conferences, newsmedia, and other related topics. TRAOM-L@AEARN - TRends in Angular Overlap Model Unmoderated list dedicated to AOM practicioners and other interested researchers to interchange ideas, comments, information, computer programs and results, and possibly papers associated with ligand field analyses by the AOM and related approaches. This list may also be used to announce opportunities for doing collaborative research and to promote such joint projects. 1 Page 11 THEATRE@GREARN - The Theatre List The purpose of this list is to offer to all people who are or want to be involved with theatre as a hobby a way to communicate and share ideas and experiences. DTS-L@IUBVM - Educational Issues This list is devoted to the discussion of educational issues by educational professionals. PHILOS-LV@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK - UK Philosophers This list is mostly for UK and European philosophers, but with a world-wide membership. Information, announcements and queries predominate over idle or even philosophical chat. INCLEN-L@MCMVM1.CIS.MCMASTER.CA - Clinical Epidemiology The purpose of this list is to provide units of the International Clinical Epidemiology Network presently connected by electronic mail, with a vehicle for questions and comments to an "expert" in different aspects of clinical epidemiology. To subscribe to this list send a mail message to CLIFTONJ@MCMASTER or CLIFTONJ@SSCVAX.CIS.MCMASTER.CA requesting a subscription to list INCLEN-L giving your full name and title. REFUGE@UCHCECVM - South America after Nuclear War Nicolas Luco, journalist for chilean newspaper El Mercurio opens a debate on whether a nuclear middle eastern conflict would leave South America's southern cone free from disaster. The results and opinions of the exchange will be used for a major feature story for El Mercurio, one of the top newspapers in South America. STREK-L@HEARN - Star Trek Discussion list STREK-L is a list for the discussion of the many aspects of Star Trek, ranging from discussions about the movies, series, and books; discussions about the characters and/or actors; discussions about Star Trek fan clubs; to anything else dealing with Star Trek. This list is open to anyone with an interest in Star Trek. 1 Page 12 *** *** Letters *** *** Letters!!! *** *** Letters!!!!!! *** *** Send your letters to BITLIB@YALEVM *** ** From: Hank Nussbacher ** Israeli Academic Network Information Center ** Subject: Eastern Europe update I have been informed that the EARN Executive was informed by the Bitnet BoD that the Cocom restrictions on allowing Eastern European countries to connect to EARN have been removed. The current list of applications (some of which have been held up for close to 2 years) are as follows: USSR ---- International Center for Scientific and Technical Information Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna Kalinin State University Program Systems Institute, Pereslavl-Zalessky Hungary ------- Hungarian Academy of Science, Budapest Technical University of Budapest Bulgaria -------- Bulgarian Academy of Science, Sofia Centre for Informatics and Computing Technology, Sofia Czechoslowakia -------------- University of Brno Czech Technical University, Praha Poland ------ University of Warsaw Polish Academy of Science, Warzaw Technical University of Lodz Technical University of Wroclaw 1 Page 13 ** From: Hans Gruenberger ** FAW Ulm ** Subject: But will it play in Peoria? Ever since I read "But will it play in Peoria" last February, I wanted to comment on it. You asked, what can we do to make BITNET and its services more accessible now? The answer is simple and trivia: CARE! This is something we who already use BITNET must always try to do, and this is also something we see in the likes of Richard Schafer and John Wagner. Those people have contributed to BITNET for years, they have enhanced the usability of BITNET enormously and, last not least, they succeeded in creating a very special, very constructive and very friendly atmosphere: If everything else at your installation fails, at least you have the chance to ask somebody in BITNET for help - which in most cases will really help. Yes, we beginners tend to ask a lot of stupid questions - sometimes even twice; but never have I experienced those offensive or rude remarks which now and then show up in non- BITNET discussion lists. This kind of community you all have established is very important - at least for me, because basically I still consider mainframes a rather hostile computing environment. So, stick together, support your (local) users and care: Nobody ever mastered those $&*! machines with documentation only. ** From: John B. Harlan ** Indiana University ** Subject: ISSNs I noted with interest your article in the September 1990 issue of NetMonth (v.4,no.5) regarding the assignment of International Standard Serial Numbers to electronic publications. You (and NetMonth's readers) may be interested to know that one of the first electronic publications to be assigned an ISSN was JBH Online, a digest of world news monitored by shortwave radio. JBH Online was distributed exclusively by e-mail as Online-L and at its height had some 2,000 direct subscribers and an unknown number of indirect subscribers through some 50 local edistribution points. (Online-L was peered at six ListServ sites worldwide in addition to its host ListServ.) JBH Online was assigned ISSN 0896-8241 in late 1987 / early 1988. 1 Page 14 I agree that electronic publishers are very fortunate that LC's NSDP staff have been so willing and flexible in their recognition of newly emerging electronic publishing formats and technologies. They are also very helpful in keeping the MARC and OCLC databases up-to-date; for instance, when News of the Earth (ISSN 1052-2239) recently started up as NewsE-D, the successor list to Online-L, the NSDP graciously updated its cataloging to establish linkage between the two. While I believe JBH Online / Online-L may have been the first such electronic publication distributed via the ListServ list format to receive an ISSN assignment, it clearly won't be the last. _ __- __--- The __----- BITNET __------- Services ___________ Library "Because We're Here." ***************************************************************