Internet 101: NetNews
NetNews
- public, Internet-based bulletin boards
- active to the reader: you have to go out and look at them, nothing comes to you automatically
- majority of information character-based, but distribution of binary files possible
- thousands of topics...
- many discussion groups filled with novice participants as the Internet explosion continues
- by-and-large no hierarchy to discussion (other than "threaded" readers)
- strengths: mature, wide variety of information, many discussions are near "real-time"
- weaknesses: too much information, no "private" conferences below the "domain" level"
- good for collaboration (weaknesses aside), poor for publication
Examples:
- sci.med
- sci.bio
- alt.support.cancer
- alt.support.mult-sclerosis
For more information contact Noam Arzt, arzt@isc.upenn.edu
[7/10/95]