Reviewed:
17th January 1996
By:
Alison McNab
John December's "Internet Web Text" is a meta-resource or "one-stop" site for both new and experienced Internet users. The author (a research student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the USA) created the hypertext guide as a required "text" for a course on Computer-Mediated Communication that he was teaching, and intends it to be a "launching pad for learning about, exploring, and searching the Internet".
Internet Web Text is divided into seven sections covering: orientation, Internet guides, reference materials, browsing and exploring tools, subject and word-oriented searching, and information about connecting with people. Rather than simply giving lists of resources, December provides a coherent commentary on the resources and documents he includes, and offers advice on which resources might be most appropriate in different situations.
Internet Web Text Web site.
The pages provide an excellent introduction to the Internet, and could be used by new users as a self-paced guide - perhaps exploring one section a week. In addition to listing key resources, December usually provides a link to further items of interest. For example, the "Guides to Exploring the Internet" section includes a link to a collection of training resources, including the eLib-funded Netskills.
Experienced searchers may find the Subject-Oriented Searching and Word-Oriented Searching sections particularly helpful as they offer evaluative comments on these two methods of Internet resource discovery. Subject-Oriented Searching provides links to subject-based services including the WWW Virtual Library, Galaxy, Yahoo, the Whole Internet Catalog and the Michigan Clearinghouse for Subject Resource Guides. I have found the author's brief commentary on the Word-Oriented Searching section particularly lucid, and valuable for bemused searchers. It discusses methods of searching ftp space, gopher space, Web space, WAIS space and directories, with links to appropriate tools.
The section on Web space reflects the dominance of the World Wide Web, and differentiates between some of the options available including collections of search engines and robots which automatically traverse the WWW, storing references to URLs. For more detailed information on this topic, there are links to excerpts of December's book "The World Wide Web unleashed".
Many of the resources accessible will be familiar to experienced Net surfers, and are likely to be collected elsewhere (eg on BUBL), but I find December's categorisation of resources logical and helpful to both the novice and the more experienced searcher. My only complaint (which is unreasonable considering the Internet Web Text's origins!) would be that it is too US-oriented. For example, I have not been able to find links to the NISS Information Gateway or discussion of the subject gateways funded under eLib's Access to Network Resources programme.
The site is updated regularly and well-designed: icons are kept to a minimum and the pages load quickly. Altenative versions are offered: no icons, icons-only and compact. Mounted in New York, it is mirrored in Australia. In collaboration with Francois Charoy, a French language version has been produced, with the aim of replacing US-oriented resources with French or European ones where they exist.
Internet Web Text also offers links to other WWW sites December has developed on Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), CMC studies, and Internet tools.
Material on this page is copyright Ariadne/original authors. This article last updated/links checked on 11-Jul-1997