Part 1

P A R T O N E
A TOOL WITH POTENTIAL -
NAVIGATING, EXPLORING AND BROWSING THE INTERNET

I. A TOOL WITH POTENTIAL - NAVIGATING,
EXPLORING AND BROWING THE INTERNET

For many years electronic networks have been extensively used in the developed world. Through Internet, the developing countries are slowly but surely connecting to the World Wide Electronic Network. It is much cheaper than other forms of telecommunications, it gives access to a vast number of information sources and it has the potential to narrow the existing North-South information gap. Unfortunately, it depends on technology which is much less accessible and much more expensive in the South than in the industrial world.

Hopes and Fears of the electronic future - Facts and Questions

Internet access requires a telephone line. Forty nine countries have fewer than one telephone line per 100 people, 35 of these are in Africa. India for example, has 8 million telephone lines for 900 million people. At a global level, at least 80% of the world population still lacks the most basic telecommunications.

Over 110 countries have direct Internet access, if other e-mail networks are taken into account, it is estimated that 168 countries have links with the Net. All Northern countries have direct access to it, as well as most of the countries of Eastern Europe, Latin America and South East Asia. Parts of Central and South Asia are connected only to e-mail, and also some African countries (mainly through FIDOnet), but most African States are not connected at all. A FIDO message can take from two to three days to travel from Siberia to the Sudan; but it is the only electronic system which enables individuals and small organisations from those areas to send or receive electronic messages.

Information on science and technology is available on Internet, and this fact raises a major question: has "Information Poverty" been added to the many other gaps which separate developing countries from the rich North?. Computer literacy and "Information literacy" are necessary assets which a country must possess in order to reap the benefits from Internet, but also to allow these countries to participate in the current debate on what shape the Network is to have - including censorship, cryptography and freedom of information - and to protect themselves from its possible negative impact.

Developing countries have a lot of catching up to do as electronic information services revolutionise world-wide communications. Telecommunications are now recognised as an essential tool for development: studies from the OECD chart a direct relation between growth in telephone line density and economic growth1 The Financial Times, UK, 30 September,1994.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has launched the WorldTel Project to try to overcome the North-South gap. It is estimated that investments fall short of needs by US$ 30bn/year2 The Financial Times, UK, 3 February 1995. The Executive Director of the Internet Society's International Secretariat, Anthony Rutkowski, based in Virginia US, whose responsibilities include increasing Internet access for the South, identified as a major obstacle to achieve this aim as "the availability of capital to purchase capital-intensive goods and services".

Will corporate forces in the developed North dominate the electronic age? Does it offer new opportunities for creating Southern-based organisations and for developing South-South networks? Should societies and governments from the South fear a new deluge of cultural, political and economic influence from the North or should they welcome it as a chance to use this new technology as a lever for change? All this will be shaped by how controls and regulations are applied; on how the capacity-building processes are designed, financed and implemented, and on how user responsibility is exercised to preserve or allow freedom of access to the most precious Internet assets. Noam Chomsky, when asked if technology was inherently democratic, succinctly declared:

"There is no technology which is inherently democratic or no technology which is inherently oppressive for that matter, technology is usually a fairly neutral thing. Technology doesn't care really whether it is used for oppression or liberation, it's how people use it".
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1.1. Greetings from the Internet

Today we will travel to Madras, New Zealand, Antarctica, Olympia, Ireland and Zanzibar.

Jet fuel is not needed, nor stressful rushing, nor smog, nor photocopies. But sorry, no free frequent flyer mileage either. Our journey will be electronic: from the computer of our desk and will utilise a modem, communication software and telephone line - that's all.

As digital streams of text, sound and image flow onto the screen of our computer a window opens to the world, with the potential of saving time and resources, while making information available to everyone, without exception (a new basis for Darwinian competition starts to take shape).

Anyone who has used a bank card to get instant cash, to make travel arrangements through a travel agent, or to call long distance on the phone has experienced "seamless" information systems. And anyone who has navigated across the Network, used e-mail to communicate electronically, or transferred files from one personal computer to another over a network, has experienced technology's potential to help us efficiently access and share information.

The Internet is a set of shared resources, of co-operatively run networks connecting millions of people around the world, a physical collection of electronic paths and circuits, it can even be considered as the basis for new thoughts on interconnectivity and intercommunication. Pascal once said that "God's circumference is everywhere but his centre is nowhere". That is the model for the World Wide Web in the Internet: always in continuous change. We can think of it as an ocean of plasma where information restructures itself; there is chaos, and as we advance therein, we develop growing skills browsing in the grand scheme of things.

With access to "The Web", our regular system of research, information and communication is radically altered, enlarged by a magnitude of 'n' which might have a quasi infinite dimension. With its capacity to "hyper-link" text, pictures, and even sounds, the Web is a good medium for most kinds of environmental information.

Internet is big. Immense indeed. It provides us with abundant search options and this means large amounts of information to rationalise. The explosive growth of the network creates as many problems in information management as it opens new opportunities; the rapid growth of electronic publishing connects us to all sorts of information of differing quality. As a result there is perhaps too much information available, and this in more forms than ever before. The ability to perform efficiently on-line searches is becoming essential for modern chemists, scientists and concerned citizens at large.

Yet, "immensity" is only an asset when you have the proper paths and filters to explore the vast amounts of data, otherwise it can be a mind-numbing experience. No one can possibly search all the sources that are available on Internet institutions. The job resides in cutting and sifting through the glut of information, databases, links to, among others, organisations and institutions, to determine the best and most reliable ones. The Guide to Resources, for instance, is a result of many hours of surfing the Network to gather such information.

Tools that were used to do the scanning efficiently include wanderers, spiders, worms and robots. The World Wide Web Worm released in 1994 searches through lists of known URLs. You can search through the Worm's list of World Wide Web HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) pages sorted by title and find resources based on a keyword search of the URLs (Universal Resource Locators) or the titles in the Web pages. Other tools proposing search engines are WWW Search Engines, CUSI (Configurable unified interface for several Web search engines) and External Info. Following the development of the Worm, Web spiders were developed with new capabilities and better methods for searching the Web. Advanced spiders on the Web now include Lycos , Harvest WWW Broker, the Crawler, Inktomi, etc.

The WWW is intensely intra-referenced: most Web pages have links to similar or related sites (a particular body of content is called a Web site, made up of Web pages). The main site page is called a home page. Web authors usually try to anticipate the needs of their visitors: "If you decided to come here, you might also want to go there and there and maybe also there". By following links from one site to the next, you can find both expected and unexpected subtopics. Or you can get lost, which is also fun. Fortunately your browser (Web software) gives clues to help you find your way back to what you thought you wanted to do in the first place.
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1.1.1. For the first-time user

The architecture of the WWW consists of three parts: the server which provides the information source, the browser which finds the information and formats it in a specific way, and the network which provides the means of communication between the two.

An institution that offers a web site is responsible for a server and its contents. It determines the content, might impose access conditions (such as passwords) and decides on updates and changes to the web site.

To get to the server of interest, the user needs to be connected to the network. Then he can access information by using a browser, such as Mosaic, Microsoft Explorer or Netscape Navigator (used here to exemplify the basic access software). Depending on the browser you are using, you should see normal formatted text and some highlighted text (perhaps in a different colour or underlined). This special text is hypertext which provides links to other pages.

If your browser can handle graphics, you should also be able to see icons, pictures, and other images embedded in the text. These images can provide links to other pages as well. The formatting or presentation of the text and graphics is determined by the browser, while the content and links are under the control of the server. The entire network of pages can be potentially interlinked, one pointing to another. As a result, you can display information with the meaningful message "Here is some information on a page in front of me, and highlighted on this page is a connection to related information I might wish to explore next."

Where should I start?

Netscape software makes your exploration of the Internet quite prodigious. Built-in features enable you to have easy access to information, create bookmarks listing your favourite pages, view a history of the pages you have already seen, and customise the application's look and operation to suit your preferences.

Now you are probably comfortable with the idea that information on the Internet is presented through on-screen pages. Even the navigational concepts are pretty straightforward:

You start with a home page.

You click on highlighted words (coloured or underlined) in a page to bring another page of related information to your screen.

You click on arrow buttons to go back (or forward) to a page you have previously seen.

Plus, you can go directly to pages that interest you by choosing menu items:

History items in the Go menu list the pages you have viewed before.

Bookmark items in the Bookmarks menu list the pages you have designated as worthy of easy access.

Directory items in the Directory menu list pages that help you use Netscape and Internet features.

But finding pages is secondary to what you really care about: the page's content. You'll want to flip from one screen page to another, sometimes to continue with the same article and at other times to begin a new article. But you can't hold screen pages in your hands like you can a magazine. Screen pages are rarely uniform in length and, since you can view only one page at a time, don't provide feedback on where the information starts or ends. So readers of electronic pages need tools to keep track of where they are in an article (otherwise there is a risk of wasting time viewing redundant information). The Netscape text fields, toolbar buttons, and menu items provide you with the ability to manage pages and pages of information, without which you probably would feel overwhelmed and unfocused. Each time you open a Netscape window - you can open several Netscape windows concurrently - you begin a new session of Internet interaction.

When viewing a page with several frames (pages), certain menu items change to reflect that actions will affect only the selected page and not the other pages contained in the home page. The Mail Document, Save as, and Print menu items change to Mail Frame, Save Frame as, and Print Frame, respectively. When you select a frame by clicking within it, other functions such as keyboard shortcuts affect only the contents of the frame. Some pages and frames have been designed to automatically update themselves. Pages that have server-push and client-pull capabilities contain instructions that allow multiple interactions with the server computers. You can always terminate these automatic actions by going to another page or otherwise exiting the page.

To open a new Netscape window, choose the File|New Web Browser menu item. The new window brings another copy of your home page to screen in a fully functional and independent Netscape window - you can have simultaneous network connections.
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1.1.2. Setting Sail

We can start the navigation in different ways and adapt the search path to best suit our needs, but first it is advisable to consider the research method to be adopted:

> either stick to the subject and use word-oriented or subject-oriented search engines (i.e.: InfoSeek, Lycos, Excite, Open Text, Webcrawler, The World Wide Web Worm, Yahoo...). The search keywords will lead us there,

> or browse, i.e. you don't know what you are looking for exactly until you find it - the art of browsing within the Internet chaos leads us to reconfigure our research as one advances. Curiosity, perception, patience, attention to detail, perseverance and skill are needed. The objective is to peruse anything that might be even tangentially related. Although more time consuming, it can bring rewarding and interesting results.

You will find the list of search engines by clicking the Net Search or Net Directory Button. Lycos and Inktomi are two of my favourite ones (depending on the type of search to be carried out) but you will soon notice that most of the engines are quite efficient; with experience you will understand what, how and from where they bring back the information.
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1.1.3. Types of Information

Subject-oriented information

The search engines can point you in the right direction. Subject specific information continues to gather in various parts of the Internet. The World Wide Web Virtual Library Subject Catalogue or the Galaxy guide to world wide information and services are examples of collective knowledge.

Yahoo provides a large collection of links into a wide range of subjects and the University of Michigan's library has a growing number of subject-oriented Internet guides. They are sometimes called yellow pages and they fulfil the same purpose.

Word oriented information

Every time a new source of information is incorporated in the Net, a path for reaching this information is created. Word-oriented search is like turning the pages of a dictionary or a directory. By using the search engines described above you can find information by using a specific word or name. The word could be a topic or term (i.e. chlorophyll) or a proper name (person, machine or geographic division). Some of the engines ask for a key word which will match the items of a database. Options such as Boolean search, loose match, etc., are automatically proposed by the search engine, if available, with a brief explanation for each choice.

So, here is what your screen looks like when you first connect to the World Wide Web. Try to spot and become familiar with the options that have been discussed above.

(You can also refer to the Annex I Glossary, to further your understanding of the specific language and terminology of Cyberspace.)

Where to find what you seek, how to access it, what to expect, how to get there... .

Every page has a unique URL, short for Universal (or Uniform) Resource Locator. URLs are the key to understanding how a single page is kept distinct in a world of electronic pages.

A URL provides text used for identifying and addressing an item in a computer network. In short, a URL provides location information and Netscape displays it in the location field. Most often you don't need to know a page's URL because the location information is included as part of a highlighted link; Netscape already knows the URL when you click on highlighted text, press an arrow button, or select a menu item.

But at times you will only have the URL's text as access information (perhaps from a friend, a newspaper article or as in this case from the UNEP Chemicals Guide to Chemical Web) instead of an automatic link. Netscape allows you to type a URL directly into the location's text field (or the URL dialogue box) produced by the File|Open Location menu item. By using the URL, Netscape reaches the specified page just as if you had clicked on an automatic link. Notice that the label on the location field says Location after you reach a particular page, or Go to as soon as you edit the field.

Here are some sample URLs:

www.rpi.edu/dept/chem/cheminfo/chemres.html

http://home.netscape.com/index.html

For Windows, the location text field offers a pull-down menu to the right of the text. The menu contains up to 10 URLs, locations of which you have most recently typed into the field and viewed. Specified in the URL's text are the protocol, server, and pathname components.

The first component, the protocol, identifies the means for interpreting computer information. Many Internet pages use HTTP (short for HyperText Transfer Protocol). Other common protocols you might come across include file (also known as ftp, which is short for File Transfer Protocol), news (the protocol used by Usenet news groups), and gopher (an alternative transfer protocol).

The second component, the server, identifies the computer system that stores the information you seek (such as home.irptc.unep.ch/). Each server on the Internet has a unique address name whose text refers to the organisation maintaining that particular server.

The last component, the pathname, indicates the location of an item on the server. For example, a pathname usually specifies the name of the file comprising the page (such as unep.ch pic/) possibly preceded by one or more directory names (folder names) that contain the file (such as /home/welcome.html). Some pathnames use special characters. If you are typing a URL into the location field, to access it you must enter exactly the same characters as that of the URL.

Next step is how to search for data.

Suppose we need to find validated data on the potential risks to humans and the environment posed, lets say, by a genetically manipulated soybean adapted for a given pesticide "xwy"

We would like to obtain official information released by International Organisations on chemical control. We enter "United Nations".

This particular engine allows us to refine our search (Search tips) by choosing from the pool of information available: All Web pages, Newsgroups, FAQs, etc. Several type of resources descriptors of are also available, a click away:

Not visible in the above graphic is that, as we scroll down the page, other search engines become available to choose from at our convenience.

After a click on the Search button the following appears:

Select a site, in this case United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Several options then appear, e.g. UNEP Meta-data directory, choose topic of interest and double click. One can access directly some of these options, by typing into the net search menu dialogue box "United Nations Environment Programme, Geneva".

We can then pursue our objective: find out about organophosphate pesticides, i.e. knowledge on its effect on human beings and the environment, validated peer review data (if any), material safety datasets, international laws regulating the chemical, it's all there. From there we can also connect up with the World Health Organisation or/and the Food and Agriculture Organisation to complement our findings on the genetically altered seed.

Finding, starting and stopping links - managing the information once we find it.

A link is a connection from one page to another. You find links by looking for one or more words highlighted with colour, underlining, or both in the content area of a page. Images and icons with coloured borders also serve as links. When the mouse cursor points at a link, the URL location of the link appears in the status field at the bottom of the screen. A link within a page that contains frames can be a connection that calls up one or more new pages within frames, or an entirely new top-level page replacing all frames.

You can bring a linked page to your screen by clicking once on the highlighted text, image, or icon. Clicking on a link transfers page content from a server location to your location. After you click on a link, the Netscape status indicator indicates the progressive transfer of the page to your computer. You can stop a transfer in progress by pressing the Stop button or choosing the Go|Stop Loading menu item.

On the screen of a color monitor, the link texts appearing in a specific page are of a blue color, should you use any of these links to access and view other pages, the links' color will then change to purple. If you have a black and white monitor, links, whether they have been accessed or not, are highlighted by underlining and not differentiated.

You can stop a transfer in progress whenever the transfer takes longer than you like. This might happen if the content of the page is voluminous or if the server is sluggish. Sometimes the page specified by a link just isn't available. You'll usually get a message on screen indicating if a connection was not made or a page not found. Check the status field and progress bar for feedback on the progress of a transfer.

When a page appears on your screen, depending on its content, you can either see the entire page or only a portion (just use the scroll bars to see the rest of the information). Often the portion you see is the beginning of the page, but sometimes a link brings you data from the page's middle or end. A link can display a new page or display a different portion of the same page (automatically scrolling for you) - for example, the beginning of a page might include a table of contents that links each chapter title to its respective content further down the page.

Other links do not call up pages. A mailto link whose URL begins with mailto produces a Message Composition window for sending e-mail - the recipient's address is automatically filled in.

Using history and bookmark lists

When you pull down a menu that contains history or bookmark items, you see a list of page titles. To call up a page to your screen, choose the title of the page you want to access.

History items allow for fast retrieval of pages that you have recently viewed, but this is possible only during your current search session.

A single lineage of history items is displayed - for example, a series of pages containing maps might show you increasing detail as you click on links. If you view consecutively linked pages which are titled North America, Afghanistan, Crimea, and Timor, you'll see that all four items appear in the history list with Timor topmost in the list.

Bookmarks offer a more permanent means for page retrieval. Once you add a bookmark to your list, the title stays until you remove it or change list. The permanence and accessibility of bookmarks make them invaluable for personalising your Internet access.

Because bookmarks offer such ease of retrieval, the Netscape application offers many options for creating bookmark lists. Basic options let you add access to a page as a new menu item. More advanced options let you create hierarchical menus, partial menu displays, multiple and shared bookmark files, and also list descriptions and searches.

The Bookmarks window, displayed by choosing the Window|Bookmarks menu item, gives you tools to manage bookmark lists. These tools might differ slightly depending on the platform you are using.

You'll find bookmarks and folders (a folder represents a hierarchical menu header) arranged like files and folders on your hard disk. You can double-click bookmarks to access pages, drag-and-drop icons to arrange your bookmarks, and use bookmark menu items to create new bookmark items and manipulate bookmark lists. For example, to create a hierarchical menu, choose Item|Insert Folder from the Bookmarks window, give the folder (header) a name in the dialogue box, close the dialogue, then drag a bookmark into the resulting folder.

Don't let these advanced features dissuade you from using the basic functionality of bookmarks. At its simplest, through the Bookmarks|Add item of the Bookmarks menu you can add your current page to the bookmark list, which gives you direct access to your favourite pages.

Linking via buttons and menu items

In addition to links within the content area, you can also access links using Netscape buttons and menu items. Many of the links controlled by buttons and menu items call up pages you have viewed at least once before. Button links are particularly useful for going back and forth among recently viewed pages. Menu item links directly access a wide range of pages such as a history list of pages you have viewed or a bookmark list of pages you (or others) have personally selected as noteworthy.

The toolbar offers the following button links:

- Back displays the previous page in the history list. The history list is a reference to pages you have viewed.

- Forward displays the next page in the history list (available only after using the Back command or a history menu item).

- Home displays your designated home page.

- Open displays a dialog box where you can enter a new URL.

Once you have brought a page to your screen, you can view (and store, if you wish) its URL. Every page is distinguished by its URL. Linking to a page via highlighted content, toolbar buttons, or menu items is a shortcut that enables you to display the page without having to explicitly request the page's URL. When no built-in link is available, you can display a page by entering the URL in the location field, then pressing the Enter (Return) key (the label of the location field changes to Go to when you edit the field). Alternatively, you can choose the File|Open Location menu item, enter the URL in the dialog box, then press the Open button.

- History items from the Go menu display previously viewed pages. The Netscape application automatically appends the title of a page you have viewed as the topmost menu item in the history list. The View History menu item shows you how the history lineage is maintained.

- Bookmark items from the Bookmarks menu display pages of your choice. You can add a bookmark menu item for the page you are viewing by choosing Bookmarks|Add Bookmark. The Window|Bookmarks menu item lets you establish lists of bookmarks for yourself and to share with others.

- Items from the Directory and Help menus display pages with up-to-date information on Netscape software and Internet exploration.

Pop-up menus offer utility features and shortcuts for certain links. On Windows and UNIX, you can click on the right mouse button to produce a pop-up menu (on Macintosh, press and hold down the mouse button). When the mouse button is pressed over a link or image, pop-up menu items allow you to call up pages, view individual images, save files on your hard disk, copy locations to the clipboard, and perform other tasks. With the Windows-95 pop-up menu item Create Shortcut, you can create Internet shortcut icons which you can place on the desktop or in any folder.

Clicking on an Internet shortcut icon automatically opens the Netscape application and loads a particular page.
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2. GENERAL CHEMISTRY-RELATED INFORMATION
ON THE INTERNET. HOW TO GET THERE.

Again, there are so many references that relate to chemistry on the Internet that the size of this section could become overwhelming. Instead of trying to provide a comprehensive list of all such sites, it was considered more useful to give a number of pointers for different sources of information; moreover, you can start your hands-on tutorial by going to some of the locations indicated by the pointers. Learning how to look for data will provide you with a springboard for information searches on the Internet.

Specialist software and search engines are available for finding keywords through Gopher and the WWW, they will also point to additional information sources.

It is important to realise that many of the WWW search engines are complementary, and that it is useful to try several of them when trying to locate information on the web.
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2.1. Pointers to chemistry-related material on the WWW

There are several well-known search engines (see above) available on the WWW that will provide updated lists of keywords. Because of the huge expansion of the WWW, selected sites are included here so that users can choose different search engines and/or web crawlers to locate data. If you find a real treasure trove of chemical information, please e-mail us its URL so that we can screen, review and possibly include it in an update of this manual (Guide to Chemical Information Resources).

Excellent starting points are:

http://www.cs.unc.edu/Courses/wwwc/public/kupstas/~collaboration.html

http://home.netscape.com

General Chemistry.URLs

The World-Wide Web Virtual Library: Chemistry.

http://www.chem.ucla.edu/chempointers.html

Hieftje's Mass Spec Page

http://rustico.chem.indiana.edu/

Index compiled by Professor Gary Wiggins at Indiana University

http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem/cheminfo/chemres.html

Index from: Bill Unsworth <bill@u-net.com>

http://www.u-net.com/ukchem/cybrchem/

Cambridge Science, Chemdraw, glassware, clip-art

http://www.camsci.com

Virginia Tech. (maintains one of the best department of chemistry home pages)

http://www.chem.vt.edu/chem-ed/vt-chem-ed.html

University of Sheffield's list of WWW Chemistry URLs around the world.

http://www2.shef.ac.uk/chemistry/chemistry-www-sites.html

The Newsletter of the Organic Division of the American Chemical Society

Deals with professional chemistry.

http://www.chem.emory.edu/

The Wilson Group

Quite spectacular, however, the subject matter is inorganic and not organic chemistry.

http://www-wilson.ucsd.edu

Cambridge Scientific Computing, Inc.

http://www.camsci.com

From this site we can find good support as current and potential users of CS ChemOffice, this includes CS ChemDraw, CS Chem3D and CS ChemFinder. They also have press releases and information on the other services they provide.

MCTP Links to Science and Mathematics

http://www.inform.umd.edu/UMS+State/UMD-Projects/MCTP/Technology/MCTP_WWW_Bookmarks.html

For the best science satire around, check out the Annals of Improbable Research, successor to the Journal of Irreproducible Results.

gopher://macfadden.MIT.EDU:7000/hh/miniAIR/1994

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2.1.1. FTP sites containing chemistry-related material

kekule.osc.edu

Jan Labanowsky's server, also contains an archive of a computational chemistry mailing list.

qcpe6.chem.indiana.edu

QCPE archive

ftp://cica.indiana.edu

MS Windows public domain and shareware

oak.oakland.edu (in mirror/SimTel directory); and, of course, SimTel itself..

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2.1.2 Mailing lists with a Chemistry focus

Overview of chemical mailing lists.

LISTSERV@Beaver.Bemidji.MSUS.edu

Lists chemistry laboratories (both academic and research), students' experiments (high school, college and university), classroom demonstrations and shows for the public of chemical processes, chemistry stockroom management, lab safety, and small-scale chemical waste handling procedures.
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2.1.3. How to contact chemical societies electronically

Here are some American Chemical Society mailboxes:

ACS Division information division@acs.org

ACS expositions expo@acs.org

ACS membership information meminfo@acs.org

ACS national meeting info natlmtgs@acs.org

Reaction Times (college newspaper) rxnt@acs.org

ACS regional meeting info reglmtgs@acs.org

ACS state and local government affairs slga@acs.org

The UK Royal Society of Chemistry also has an e-mail address and WWW site, respectively:

marketing@rsc.org

http://chemistry.rsc.org/rsc/

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2.2. Chemistry information available on-line commercially

Some databases are almost unavoidably commercial, serious money is needed to build and update them, thus a fee is required before you can access them. Either you or your institution will pay these suppliers of information.

The places to start an on-line search are Knight Ridder's Dialog and American Chemical Society's STN (Scientific and Technical Information Network) - their range of chemistry-related databases is extensive, with nearly 200 databases on STN and approximately 500 on Dialog. There are also several full-text databases of patents, full-text newspapers and journals, and many specialised databases, such as:

- industry-specific, e.g. Aluminium Industry Abstracts, Paperchem

- subject-specific, e.g. Fine Chemicals Database, Chemical Engineering and Biotech Abstracts

- chemical properties, e.g. Beilstein, Heilbron, Merck Index, Agrochemical Handbook

- location-specific, e.g. IMS World R&D focus.

- economic, e.g. Chemical Business Newsbase, Chemical Industry Notes, Freedonia Market Research.

If you plan on using Knight Ridder's lower cost Knowledge Index (KI), be sure that the databases you are interested in are available on KI, since not all Dialog databases are.

To access databases such as Chemical Abstracts

There are several commercial suppliers of databases that contain chemical information. These can usually be accessed either via the Internet or telephone Packet Switching Networks. The best known specialised database is the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Chemical Abstracts, which is provided by the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS).

The database Chemical Abstracts is also available in hardcopy at most institutional libraries that have a chemistry department. It is also available commercially from several on-line database suppliers.

CAS also offers a commercial database service called STN International, which contains over 190 scientific and technical databases. These databases cover all aspects of Chemistry, including CAS Registry Numbers. Besides database services such as Knight-Ridder's Dialog (and a low-cost home-user Knowledge Index ) and CAS's STN International, there are several other suppliers of technical databases that contain chemistry-related material, e.g. Orbit. These organisations usually approach institutional librarians and provide comprehensive descriptions of the services they propose. So that the best place to start finding out, which databases are available and what levels of support are provided, is at your local library and this by talking to the librarian in charge of the library's on-line services.

Chemical Abstracts Service.

http://www.cas.org

Provides information on the services available from CAS. STN is accessible via the Internet (as well as via traditional telecommunication networks) but first you need to open an STN account with them to obtain a login id and password. Internet E-mail: help@cas.org

Below are listed estimated costs (substantial discounts which can be obtained for educational purposes have not been taken into account) for typical searches for several chemical databases on Dialog, they assume the recovery of 100 titles for immediate off-line review, followed by the recovery of 10 relevant citations:

*Cost for 10 Citations ($)*

Chemical Abstracts	16.00
Merck Index	3.00
Beilstein	112.00
Heilbron	21.00
Pascal	8.50
ChemTox	100.00
Chemical Business Newsbase	36.00
Analytical Abstracts	26.00
World Patents	20.00
Engineering Index	12.00
TSCA Chemical Substances	3.50

The above assumes that the researcher is reasonably skilled in chemical on-line searching (most database suppliers offer excellent training courses which teach chemists and librarians on how to search efficiently). If you have access to a database on CD-ROM, you should practise your search logic on that first, before going on-line. Because of the cost structure of database suppliers such as Dialog, and the inappropriate selection of keywords by authors, it is often more cost-effective to focus on grabbing around 100 to 200 titles and scanning them off-line (using the 30 minutes "hold search" function), and then going back on-line to transfer the desired abstracts and citation information.
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2.3. Free on-line chemistry information

There is a wealth of information free of charge on the Internet for those of us who are aware of the [finiteness] of resources. Donella Meadows gives us a definition for "Network" which gives a good description of the present state of the Internet:

" A Network is by definition non-hierarchical. It is a web of connections among equals. What holds it together is not force, obligation, material incentives or social contract, but rather shared values and the understanding that some tasks can be accomplished together that could never be accomplished separately".

Besides the free resources listed here, most of the pointers in the "Guide to Chemical Information Resources" are freely accessible.

You can use Veronica (Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Netwide Index to Computerized Archives) to find information. Veronica operates in gopher and provides keyword searching of titles, an excellent starting point is to enter:

gopher://veronica.scs.unr.edu/11/veronica

The following are some examples retrieved from such a search:

DMITRI is a PC-based, electronic elements periodic table. The package includes scanned photographs of 16 elements. Source code is not included. It is available by anonymous ftp from the University of Pretoria at:

ftp.up.ac.za:/pub/academic/chemistry/DMITRI.ZIP

Hardware required: IBM/Intel 286+, 256-colour SVGA in 640x480 resolution, 640K of memory, about 2 MB of hard disk, mouse. Runs under MS-DOS.

For those who write papers for the journals of the American Chemical Society, and use LaTeX, there is now a BibTeX/LaTeX package for reference handling available at CTAN. The package is called `achemso' and is found in the directory /tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/achemso
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3. CHEMICAL PATENT INFORMATION
THAT IS AVAILABLE ON-LINE

Both Dialog and STN offer commercial access to US and international patents on-line, many with full text - however the international ones, especially those devoted to listing the current status of patents can be expensive, so ensure your searching skills are honed if you wish to avoid a large bill.

Gregory Aharonian has struggled for several years to provide a free comprehensive patent's title service. This excellent free service offers the titles of chemical, mechanical, or electrical patents via e-mail to subscribers. Recently, he also offered one years worth of patent abstracts, but requires some financial donations to expand the service. The abstracts are freely retrievable by patent number (sorry no searching yet, that would need further donations). For subscription information, send 'help' to patents@world.std.com.

http://town.hall.org/patent/patent.html - search for U.S. Patent information.

http://sunsite.unc.edu/patents/intropat.htmlWWW patent searching

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3.1. Standards relevant to chemical and process engineering.

ISO On-Line

http://www.che.ufl.edu:80/WWW-CHE/topics/standards.html

An electronic information service set up by the Central Secretariat of ISO (International Organization for Standardization) provides access to ISO's information. This includes a catalogue of ISO standards and drafts, Calendar of Meetings of the ISO Committee, Forum Service and details on how to get your hands on the actual standards themselves. All the material is in English or French.

Instrument Standards from ISA

http://www.isa.org/

The International Society for Measurement and Control Standards are available on-line.

A non-profit engineering society, ISA offers a wide range of programmes and activities of interest to anyone involved in measurement and control in the process and discrete manufacturing industries. It offers the possibility of networking with peers, to read about the latest news on industry and product developments, to access reference and training information, and participate in technical forums

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

http://www.nist.gov/

The NIST Chemical Science & Technology Laboratory develops calibration and measurement standards for a wide range of instruments and processes important to the chemical-manufacturing, energy, health-care, biotechnology, food-processing, and materials-processing industries.

National Product Data Exchange Resource Centre

http://elib.cme.nist.gov/nipde/intro.html

Describes efforts to accelerate digital product data exchange development and implementation. Its participants include companies, corporate consortia, standards organisations, and government agencies.

Standards, Specifications and Regulations

http://www.vuw.ac.nz/non-local/chemistry/ssr.html

An annotated list of sources for standards, specifications and regulations.
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4. LABORATORY AND CHEMICAL SAFETY
INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET

4.1. Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs)

Manufacturers in the USA are required by OSHA to provide MSDSs for the chemicals they produce, but most also include liability disclaimers. For MSDSs obtained from on-line sources, the user must be sure that the MSDS meets his/her needs. As with most information obtained from the Internet, they need to be assessed and screened for quality standards.

gopher://quasar.tach.net

An excellent source of on-line MSDSs is Tachyon Communications.

This site provides about 90,000 MSDSs, many of which are from a CDROM published by the Department of Defense. Tachyon is willing to add manufacturer's MSDSs to their database to develop it further. This could be your first port of call.

gopher://atlas.chem.utah.edu/11/MSDS

The University of Utah is developing an on-line database of unlicensed publicly-available MSDSs. It currently has about 1500 MSDSs. Also available at several sites including http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/

gopher://gaia.ucs.orst.edu/11/osu-i%2bs/osu-d%2bo/ehs/msds

The Physical & Theoretical Chemistry Labs of Oregon State University MSDS database.
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4.2. Detailed safety and toxicity data

gopher://ecosys.drdr.Virginia.edu/11/library/gen/toxics

EPA Chemical Substance Factsheets for over 300 chemicals

http://www.cdc.gov - Centre for Disease Control

http://atsdr1.atsdr.cdc.gov:8080/gsql/toxprof.script

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) maintains a searchable database which contains toxicological profiles of about 200 chemicals.

GOPHER.EPA.GOV

The 1994 TSCA Inventory Update Rule (Instructions for Reporting for the Partial Updating of the Chemical Inventory Data Base) is now available via gopher. The file is located under -

EPA Offices and Regions\Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances\Toxic Substances\ TSCA Inventory Update Rule (IUR) 1994.

gopher://gopher.niehs.nih.gov/11/ntp/94-carcinogens

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) 7th Annual Report on Carcinogens.

http://cygnus-group.com/ULS/Waste/epa.html

gopher://gopher.cygnus-group.com, port 9011

ftp://cygnus-group.com/pub/vendor/cygnus/ULS/Waste

WASTEWI$E -- The EPA Office of Solid Waste has teamed up with The ULS Report to electronically distribute information on the EPA's WasteWi$e program. WasteWi$e encourages businesses to improve their environmental efficacy by focusing on waste prevention, recycling collection, and buying or manufacturing recycled products. This site also includes links to related EPA information on waste prevention, as well as to their latest MSW statistics.

Note that many government departments now have made their databases available to both commercial database suppliers (such as Knight Ridder ) and private citizens. Some are free, and some charge, it is worth contacting government agencies like OSHA, NIOSH, EPA, NIH to find out what is available. Some databases ( like NIH library ) can be accessed via Telnet, as also can Dialog (once you have an account number ). e.g.

Telnet Medlars.NLM.NIH.Gov ( IP 130.14.10.200 )

Telnet Dialog.com
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4.3. Hazard information for a given chemical

From: Mike Ayers <alley@edge.ercnet.com>

They are in the process of combining the numerous environmentally related sources of information that they have run across on the Net into an easy to browse Web page.

Path=0/UNLinf/Guidelines/chemlab

Host=frontier.unl.edu.

Port=70

#Type=0+

Name=Chemical Labelling Guidelines

University of Nebraska provides a document on how the NFPA Diamond is being used in their labs.

4.4. Production data for commercial chemicals

Both Kirk Othmer and Ullmann tabulate production data, identify major manufacturers. More recent information can be found in CMR monographs. C&EN also tabulates production data for the major commercial chemicals and publishes an annual listing of the top 50 chemicals. Lists of chemical manufacturers are found in compilations such as Chemical Sources and trade directories. There are also organisations such as the Chemical Manufacturers Association that maintain production records. Specialised industry journals also provide annual surveys of production and capacity. Government departments (often the Dept. of "Trade & Industry" or "Commerce" ) also compile national production statistics.
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4.5. Where to find the composition of a proprietary chemical

If it has been patented, the composition will be detailed in the patent, and any local patent agent should be able to locate and obtain a copy. Transportation regulations usually require manufacturers to list components of a chemical, consequently the examination of a MSDS often provides an indication of major components, which are at times only that of the solvent.

There are also compilations of chemical tradenames which often indicate the major components of a proprietary chemical. Hawley, Gardner, Industrial Chemical Thesaurus, Encyclopaedia of Industrial Chemical Additives and the Chemical Tradenames Dictionary are good starting points. In some countries only the "active" or 'toxic" ingredients have to be disclosed, a complete analysis would be required to obtain a full list of the ingredients of a chemical.

Another technique is to look for equivalent formulations to ascertain what ingredients are normally used, and the multi-volume Chemical Formulary is one of the best sources for this type of information, when you can't justify a patent search.
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5. HOW TO CONTACT US GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Federal Information Exchange - all federal government sites

http://www.fie.com/us_gov.html

http://fedix.fie.com/www/us_gov.html

OSHA gopher

gopher//quasar.tach.net or gopher.gabby.osha-slc.gov

FedWorld Information Network at the National Technical Information Service (NTIS)

http://www.fedworld.gov

or telnet://fedworld.gov or ftp to fedworld.gov

NTIS was created "to provide a one-stop location for the public to locate, order, and have delivered to them, U.S. Government information."

I.H. Management Program of the U.S. Army Centre for Health Promotion

and Preventive Medicine

http://www.lmi.org:80/Armyih/

They have established a "Home Page" on the Internet with links to many resources of interest to industrial hygienists. In addition, a file server is being used to make relevant Army policy documents, technical articles, and general interest materials publicly available.

ftp://lmi.org,directory

/pub/armyih.gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu0 00/11/gopher.welcome/peg/GOPHERS/gov

Executive Branch - Gophers (Library of Congress)

gopher://marvel.loc.gov/11/federal/fedinfo/byagency/executive

Directories of the 104th Congress, 1995/96 (Umich)

gopher://una.hh.lib.umich.edu/11/socsci/poliscilaw/uslegi/congdir

U.S. Government by Branch

gopher://una.hh.lib.umich.edu/11/socsci/poliscilaw/

National Institute of Standards and Technology

http://www.nist.gov/

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

http://atsdr1.atsdr.cdc.gov:8080/atsdrhome.html

Department of Transportation

http://www.dot.gov/

Environmental Protection Agency

http://www.epa.gov/

Federal Communications Commission

http://www.fcc.gov/

National Toxicology Program (NTP)

gopher://gopher.niehs.nih.gov/11/ntp

Government Printing Office

http://www.access.gpo.gov

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6. HOW TO CONTACT LARGE CHEMICAL COMPANIES

Check their WWW pages (enter their URLs) for specific information.

http://www.texnet.it/argus/argus.html Argus Chemicals

http://www.ciba.com/ Ciba

http://www.dow.com/ Dow Chemicals

http://www.eastman.com/ Eastman Chemicals

http://www.ge.com/gep/homepage.html GE Plastics

http://www.hoechst.com/ Hoechst

http://www.lilly.com/ Eli Lilly

http://www.monsanto.com/ Monsanto

http://www.firstmiss.com/qci/qci_home.html Quality Chemicals

http://www.rohmhaas.com/ Rohm and Haas

htpp://www.shellus.com/Chemical/ Shell (US) Chemicals

http://www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp/ Sumitomo Chemicals

http://resorg.com/about.html Research Organics, Inc.(organic &biochemicals)info@resorg.com

The naming conventions used above give you clues on how to access other companies not listed above - as a first step try www.company-name.com .
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7. INTERNET BY E-MAIL

Internet is the largest electronic network available to the public. The Internet community is divided into groups according to the type of connectivity they have:

A. - Those connected to the Internet backbone

B. - Those connected through Internet providers

C. - Those indirectly connected through gateways.

The first two groups have access, in the majority of cases, to live TCP/IP connections which allow them to benefit from a faster and more attractive user interface, including text and graphic capabilities as well as real-time client/server application environment. However, about 50% of the countries connected to the Internet do not have access to live TCP/IP connections and are forced to use electronic mail gateways to interact with the information highway that Internet represents.

This approach is more limited than for the first two, but for the time being it is a suitable solution for developing countries without sufficient resources to maintain high bandwidth direct connections to the Internet backbone.

For this and other reasons, the Internet community and the software industry have developed the necessary software and have configured gateways which allow people with simple e-mail connectivity to access most of the Internet services. Users with E-mail have now the possibility to access and transfer public domain information from popular FTP sites or to obtain free updates of their favourite software packages. They may also send a Veronica search to the Gopher space and receive back an e-mail message containing the findings.

Accessing the Internet by E-Mail. Dr. Bob's Guide to Off-line Internet Access is a comprehensive, concise and useful guide on how to access the Internet via E-Mail, written by "Dr. Bob" Ranking, 4th Edition, July 1995 (see Annex II of this document).

Tips on E-mail Netiquett

Test your configuration by sending mail to yourself.

Remember to keep your replies in to the point by using cut and copy. Did you ever get a phone call message like "that's a great idea, J" and you didn't know which idea the person was talking about?. It is the same with e-mail. Only include important comments and questions from the original message. Just as in life, it never hurts and often helps to be polite and courteous when sending e-mail.
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8. HOW TO BEHAVE ON THE INTERNET

The ten commandments for computer ethics

from the Computer Ethics Institute

1. Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.

2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people's computer work.

3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's files.

4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.

5. Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.

6. Thou shalt not use or copy software for which you have not paid.

7. Thou shalt not use other people's computer resources without authorisation.

8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual output.

9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you write.

10. Thou shalt use a computer in ways that show consideration and respect.

It is essential for each user on the network to recognise his/her responsibility which comes from having access to vast number of services, sites, systems and people. The user is fully responsible for his/her actions when accessing network services.

The "Internet" or "The Net", is not a single network; rather, it is made up of thousands of individual networks which have chosen to allow traffic to pass among them. Internet traffic may in fact pass through several networks before it reaches its destination. Therefore, users involved in this Internet working must be aware of the load placed on other participating networks.

As a user of the network, you may be allowed to access other networks (and/or the computer systems attached to those networks). Each network or system has its own set of policies and procedures. Actions which are routinely allowed on one network/system may be controlled, or even forbidden, on other networks. It is the users responsibility to abide by the policies and procedures of these other networks/systems. Remember, that when a user *can* perform a particular action it does not imply that they *should* carry out that action.

The ability to use the network is a privilege, not a right, which may temporarily be revoked at any time for abusive conduct. Such conduct includes, the placing of unlawful information on a system, the use of abusive or otherwise objectionable language in either public or private messages, the sending of messages that are likely to result in the loss of the recipients' work or system, the sending of "Chain letters," or "broadcast" messages to lists or individuals, and any other use which can cause congestion of the networks or otherwise interfere with the work of others.

Permanent revocations can result from disciplinary actions taken by a judiciary panel called upon to investigate network abuses.

Electronic mail and files - user responsibility

The content and maintenance of a user's electronic mailbox is the user's responsibility:

- Check e-mail daily and remain within your limited disk quota.

- Delete unwanted messages immediately since they take up disk storage.

- Keep messages remaining in your electronic mailbox to a minimum.

- Mail messages can be downloaded or extracted to files then to disks for future reference.

- Never assume that your e-mail can be read by no one except yourself; others may be able to read or access your mail. Never send or keep anything that you would object to seeing on the evening news.

The content and maintenance of a user's disk storage area is the users responsibility:

- Keep files to a minimum. Files should be downloaded to your personal computer's hard drive or to disks.

- Routinely and frequently virus scan your system, especially when receiving or downloading files from other systems to prevent the spread of a virus.

- Your files may be accessible by persons with system privileges, so do not maintain anything private in your disk storage area.

TELNET

- Many telnetable services have documentation files available on-line (or via ftp). Download and review instructions locally as opposed to tying up ports trying to figure out the system.

- Be courteous to other users wishing to seek information or the institution might revoke Telnet access; remain only on the system long enough to get your information, then exit off of the system.

- Screen captured data or information should be downloaded to your personal computer's hard disk or to disks.

Anonymous ftp - file transfer protocol

- Users should respond to the PASSWORD prompt with their e-mail address, so if that site chooses, it can track the level of FTP usage. If your e-mail address causes an error, enter GUEST for the next PASSWORD prompt.

- When possible, download information - especially large downloads (over 1 MB) - locally, after normal business hours and for remote ftp hosts, preferably late in the evening.

- Adhere to time restrictions as requested by archive sites. Think in terms of the local time at the site that you are visiting, not of your local time.

- Copy downloaded files to your PC's hard drive or to disks to remain within disk quota.

- When possible, inquiries to Archie should be in mail form.

- It's the user's responsibility, when downloading programs, to check for copyright or licensing agreements. If you find that program beneficial, pay the requested authors registration fee. If there is any doubt, don't copy it; there have been many occasions on which copyrighted software has found its way into ftp archives. Support for any downloaded programs should be requested from the originator of the application. Remove unwanted programs from your systems.

Electronic communications

(E-mail, LISTSERV groups, Mailing lists, and Usenet)

- Keep paragraphs and messages short and to the point.

- Focus on one subject per message and always include a pertinent subject title for the message, that way the user can locate the message quickly.

- Limit line length and avoid control characters.

- Cite all quotes, references and sources, and respect copyright and license agreements.

- It is considered extremely rude to forward personal e-mail to mailing lists or Usenet without the author's permission.

- Acronyms can be used to abbreviate where possible, however messages that are filled

with acronyms can be confusing and annoying to the reader.

Examples:

IMHO= in my humble/honest opinion

FYI = for your information

BTW = by the way

Flame = antagonistic criticism

:-) = happy face for humor

Listservs/mailing lists/ discussion groups

Some mailing lists have low rates of traffic, others can flood your mailbox with several hundreds of mail messages per day. Numerous incoming messages from various listservers or mailing lists by multiple users, requires extensive system processing which can tie up valuable resources and time. Subscriptions to Interest Groups or Discussion Lists should be kept to a minimum and should not exceed what your disk quota can handle, or you for that matter.

- When you join a list, monitor the messages for a few days to get a feel for what questions are generally asked, and what topics are deemed off-limits. This is commonly referred to as lurking. When you feel comfortable with the group, then start posting.

- See if there is a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for a group that you are interested in joining.

- Follow all the guidelines that the list owner has posted; the list owner establishes the local "netiquette" standards for her/his list.

- When going away for more than a week, unsubscribe or suspend mail from any mailing lists or LISTSERV services.

- If you can respond to someone else's question, do so through e-mail. Twenty people answering the same question on a large list can fill your mailbox (and those of everyone else on the list) quickly.

- When quoting another person, edit out whatever isn't directly applicable to your reply. Don't let your mailing or Usenet software automatically quote the entire body of messages you are replying to when it's not necessary. Take the time to edit any quotations down to the minimum necessary to keep your replies short and to the point.

- Use discretion when forwarding a long mail message to group addresses or distribution lists. It's preferable to reference the source of a document and provide instructions on how to obtain a copy. If you must post a long message, warn the readers with a statement at the top of the mail message. Example: WARNING: LONG MESSAGE

- If you cross-post messages to multiple groups, include the name of the groups at the top of the mail message with an apology for any duplication.

- When posting a question to the discussion group, request that responses be directed to you personally. Post a summary of answers to your question to the group.

- When signing up for a group it is important to save your subscription confirmation letter for reference. That way if you go on vacation you will have the subscription address for suspending your mail.

- Any requests regarding administrative tasks such as being added or removed from a list should be made to the appropriate area, not the list itself. Mail for these types of requests should be sent to the following:

LISTSERV GROUPS- LISTSERV@host

MAILING LISTS - listname-REQUEST@host or listname-OWNER@host

To subscribe or unsubscribe for either Mailing Lists or LISTSERV groups, include in the body of the message:

SUBSCRIBE listname your first name your last name (to be added to the subscription) or UNSUBSCRIBE listname (to be removed from the subscription)

World Wide Web. When producing your own site

- Do not insert very large graphic images in your html documents. It is preferable to have postage sized images that the user can click on to "enlarge". Some users with access to the Web are viewing documents using slow speed modems and downloading these images can take a great deal of time.

- When including video or voice files, include next to the description the size of the file (i.e. 10KB or 2MB), so the user has the option of downloading or not the file in view of its size.

- Keep naming standards for URL's simple and not overly excessive with changes in case. Some users do not realize that sites are case sensitive or they receive URL's verbally where case sensitivity is not easily recognizable.

- When in doubt about a URL, try accessing the domain address first, then navigate through the site to locate the specific URL. Most URL's begin with the node address of WWW followed by the site address, i.e:

- A URL which includes only an image map and no text might not be accessible to those users that do not have access to a graphical Web browser. Always include text links in your URL documents.

- WWW connections can be *very* high bandwidth consumers. With graphical web browsers, when graphic images are not necessary to obtain information it is a good idea, both in terms of the speed of the session and to conserve bandwidth, to set the options to "turn off" or "delay" inline images.

- URL authors should always protect their additions to the Web by including a trademark (TM) or Copyright (C) symbol in their HTML documents.

- URL authors should include an e-mail address at the bottom (or in the address area) of all HTML documents. Because of the nature of html links, a user can automatically link up to your html document and if he has any questions concerning it, he will not know who to contact if the e-mail address is not available.

- Including the actual URL in the document source preferably after the <Address> tag, will allow users who print the information to know where to access it in the future, i.e.

URL://www.fau.edu/rinaldi/net/web.html

- URL's authors should always include a date of last revision - so users linking to the site can know when the information has been last updated.

- Infringement of copyright laws, obscene, harassing or threatening materials on Web sites can be in violation of local, state, national or international laws and can be subject to litigation by the appropriate law enforcement agency. Authors of HTML documents are responsible for what they allow users world-wide to access.

Bibliography on Netiquette

1. The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette, Arlene Rinaldi.

2. A Beginner's Guide to the Internet: Zen and the Art of the Internet, Kehoe, Brendan P., First Edition, January 1992.

3. Towards an Ethics and Etiquette for Electronic Mail, Shapiro, Norman, et al., Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation (publication R-3283-NSF/RC), 1985.

4. A Primer on How to Work With the USENET Community, Von Rospach, Chuq.

5. Rules of conduct on Usenet, Horton, Mark; Spafford, Gene.

6. A Guide to Electronic Communication & Network Etiquette, revised and edited by Ivars Balkits, Computing Services, University of California, Davis.

7. Heartland Free-Net Registered User Guidelines, Bradley University, Peoria, Il.

8. Terms and Conditions of Membership and Affiliation, CERN Information Center, October 25, 1990

9. Electronic Mail and Networks: New Tools for Institutional Research and Planning, by Dan Updegrove, John Muffo and Jack Dunn, University of Pennsylvania.

10. Exploring Internet Training Series, Module 1 - Exploring Internet: Using your Computer to Communicate, Deborah Shaffer, ES-USDA, CIT and Pennsylvania State University; Henry DeVries, Extension Electronic Technology Group, Cornell University; Gregory Parham, ES-USDA, CIT.

11. Exploring Internet Training Series, Module 2 - Mail-based Information Delivery: Alamanac and Listservs", Deborah Shaffer, ES-USDA, CIT and Pennsylavia State University; Henry DeVries, Extension Electronic Technology Group, Cornell University; Gregory Parham, ES-USDA, CIT.
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INTERNET GUIDE FINDING INFORMATION ON CHEMICALS TABLE OF CONTENTS | PART I | PART II | ANNEX I | ANNEX II | ANNEX III | COMMENTS | BACK TO UNEP

P A R T O N E A TOOL WITH POTENTIAL - NAVIGATING, EXPLORING AND BROWSING THE INTERNET

INTERNET GUIDE
FINDING INFORMATION ON CHEMICALS
TABLE OF CONTENTS | PART I | PART II | ANNEX I | ANNEX II | ANNEX III | COMMENTS | BACK TO UNEP

P A R T O N E
A TOOL WITH POTENTIAL -
NAVIGATING, EXPLORING AND BROWSING THE INTERNET