🚀 go-pugleaf

 *****  W  O  R  K  S  H  O  P   A  N  N  O  U  C  E  M  E  N  T  *****   

                               *

       Joining and Thriving in the Growing Networked Community: An   
            Instructional Workshop for Accessing and Using 
                  Internet Information Resources

                               *

                  THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
                                                             

Everyday about 1 million people connect to a world-wide network of 
computer networks known as the Internet.  It is estimated Internet links 
over 900,000 computers and it is presently available in 80 countries.  
Why do so many people seek access to the Internet?  Or, put another way, 
why would you be interested in joining the networked community?  The most 
important reason, if not the only one, would be to access the tremendously 
rich resource of information and information tools that Internet can bring 
to your finger tips.  Following is a brief sampling (note, all of these 
types of resources will be covered in the workshop):

*  Over three hundred online library catalogs in the U.S.A., Canada, Latin 
America, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East.

*  Thousands of "discussion groups" covering a wide array of subjects from 
specialized topics such as neuroscience, cognitive engineering, and 
database theory to other lighter topics such as cooking, bicycling, and 
gardening.  

*  Numerous databases containing scientific, government, legal, poetry, 
music, and up-to-date weather data.

*  Electronic directories listing references to personnel of many large 
academic, government, and private institutions.

*  A growing set of electronic books including Shakespeare's plays, the 
Koran, the Bible, general reference sources such as Oxford Concise 
Dictionary, Roget's Thesaurus, and Oxford Thesaurus.  Also, about 30 
electronic journals and 60 newsletters are available via the Internet.

*  Last, but not least, Internet has such features as Talk to interactively 
converse with anybody who is online, FTP (file transfer protocol) to 
transfer large or small files across the network, Telnet to connect to 
another computer remotely to access its resources, ARCHIE, GOPHER, and WAIS 
that make it very convenient to search for Internet based information, and 
Email facilities to send and receive electronic mail via the Internet.


Who Should Attend and What Will be Covered

This workshop is aimed at students, educators, and library and information 
professionals who will find Internet to be directly relevant to their tasks.  
It will cover all the major information resources and information tools 
(see topics above) in a step-by-step manner.  Only minimal  familiarity 
with computers will be assumed.  Documentation will be provided, at the 
beginning of the workshop, that include: (1) a glossary of basic 
terminology, (2) in-depth explanations covering all the major resources 
and tools, (3) an extensive Internet bibliography listing all the 
significant sources of Internet information (both electronic and text) 
and (4) real log session examples of steps to follow in accessing and 
using the basic resources.  

After setting the background of Internet evolution and its major 
components the basic resources will be demonstrated couched in actual 
information tasks using two microcomputers (a DOS based machine and a 
Macintosh alternatively) connected to mainframes. During demonstration 
the scope and uniqueness of the information sources accessed and the 
primary commands of various information tools used will be covered.   
Furthermore, the basic commands associated with communication and file 
management operations in the IBM VM and Unix operating systems will be 
demonstrated. Following is a set of examples of information problems 
that we will take up and attempt to solve:

*  A recent article in Forbes, featuring network and retrieval issues, 
claimed that using  Internet "A scholar in Chicago can find out if a 
book exists that touches on "chaos" written in Latin dated 1741 is 
located in Harvard's library" (summarizing).   Can it be done? The 
answer is yes.  But, you need to know where to start.  

*  Someone suggested the book "Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity" by
Richard Rorty is a book that your library should definitely acquire.  
You would like a second opinion.  So, are there are any book review 
databases out there in the Internet land? You bet.  We will see how we 
can find it and many other useful databases in the same location.

*  You have been given the responsibility of evaluating some of the 
unusual but helpful commands found in California's Melvyl online catalog.  
We will go online and review Melvyl.  

*  Someone you know will attempt the GRE exam soon and he is interested 
in finding out about a particular academic program in a certain university.  
How can you gather some information from students who have taken the GRE 
or are studying in that particular program? We will go online and join 
an academic program "discussion group."

*  You are travelling to a U.S. city; so we will look up the current 
weather there.  Or, someone said there is an attractive National Science 
Foundation grant being offered; so we will go online to search a database 
and verify it.

*  You have a friend in Los Alamos National Lab that you want to contact.  
We will look up her daily schedule and phone number.

*  What does the word "truculent" mean? Or what are its synonyms? We will 
use the Oxford Dictionary and the Oxford Thesaurus online to find out.  
Or, someone asked you to find out how many times the word "courage" 
appears in the Bible and the Koran.  We will search these sources 
online and find out.

*  You found a nice summary of all the frequently asked questions and 
answers about the Internet in electronic format and you want to download 
it to your computer.  We will cover the FTP operation and show how you 
can do this job.

*  You know a group of people that you want to send the same invitation 
to via electronic mail.  But, you don't want to write the same message 
20 times.  We will demonstrate how this can be done conveniently using 
email facilities on the Internet.

Note, the above examples are in no way exhaustive.  They are just mentioned 
to give you a flavor of what will be covered.  During the actual 
demonstration many more functions and tasks will be covered.  

Finally, unfortunately it is a fact that Internet is still not available 
to everyone for general use.  Information will be provided for those who 
do not have access to the Internet and would like to acquire an individual 
dial-up account or an institutional connection.  Basic information dealing 
with factors to consider in buying a modem and communication software, and 
setting these up to connect to Internet will also be shared.  

This workshop is being planned to be held at the end of May or early June 
this year at the UT-Austin Thompson Center. The session will be 5 hours in 
length.  The cost of the workshop will be $65, which includes the 
documentation.  The workshop will be managed by the Office of Continuing 
Education at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 
UT-Austin.

We have three POSSIBLE dates: May 21, June 4 or June 11th.  Interested 
individuals please forward a mail (electronic or airmail) notifying the 
instructor as to what date will be MOST SUITABLE to you.  Please, include 
your airmail address in your response.  You are welcome to contact the 
instructor for additional information or suggestions of topics to cover in 
the workshop.  Any background information you can provide about yourself in 
the communication will be most helpful.


Background of the Instructor 

Javed Mostafa  B.S.  Computer Science, M.A. Instructional Technology,
               Ph.D. Library and Information Science (in progress).

Javed was a previous director of the Information Processing Laboratory at 
the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, UT-Austin, which 
is responsible for serving the computing needs of 300+ students, faculty 
and administrative staff.  Javed has a strong interest in up and coming 
information technologies and user interface issues.  For his master's 
degree, he performed a research that involved redesigning the user 
interface of then Ohio State's online library catalog with considerations 
to novice, intermediate, and expert users' needs (Thesis titled, 
"Interaction and Instruction: A Balanced Approach for User Interface 
Design.")  Recently, in an invited session, Javed presented an 
instructional software at The University of Illinois Data Clinic'92 
and research results on an image retrieval software, of which he was 
the major designer, at the Library and Information Technology 
Association's conference in Denver.  

As still a member of the Information Processing Laboratory, Javed 
regularly performs demonstrations and hands-on sessions for faculty 
and students that cover Internet information sources and information tools.

Address

Javed Mostafa
1401 St. Edward's Drive, #208
Austin, TX 78704

internet: unix@bongo.cc.utexas.edu or phone: (512) 326-8930, leave message.