This page is meant to provide a list of resources available using research tools available on the Internet. The Internet is actually a collection of information organized around specific technologies. These technology "spaces" each possess there own method of access, and provide their own tools to search its own type of information access: Email space (such as LISTSERVs and mailing lists), USENET space, Gopher space, IRC Space, and Web space. While most people are aware of the Web space search engines, the other spaces are less well known - I'll focus on the non-web resources here.
These research tools will allow you to perform directed research on topics related to specific questions you may have. If anyone needs assistance in their searches, please let me be of assistance.
Have a good tool or know of a good research site somewhere on the Internet? Know an unusual web search engine? Email me a suggestion and share it!
If you use a computer, you probably know that email is a point-to-point message between one person and another. There are also mailing lists called LISTSERVs that automatically forward copies of notes sent to the LISTSERV to subscribers. To subscribe to these lists, you often send an email to the LISTSERV "robot" with some standard text in the body, and the sender's originating email address is added to the list.
What is not widely know is that each LISTSERV maintains a database of archived messages, sometimes stretching back years of postings. This is an incredible repository of information! Normally, to search this database you need to know an arcane query language and send emails.
I found a shareware tool, InfoMagnet, that allows you to subscribe to LISTSERVs and search them easily using a easy to use front end. The results of your search will be returned to you via email after processing by the LISTSERV, normally in a few minutes or so. Unfortunately, in Feb of 1996 InfoMagnet was discontinued by the company that published it, and no further updates to the database of LISTSERVs will be made. However, the database has the autism LISTSERV in it already, and is extremely useful for searches to that list. I plan to replace the functionality with a JavaScript processor as soon as I get up to speed on JavaScript.
This tools is also useful for searches against other LISTSERVs, such as the Oracle LISTSERV if you are a computer geek like me.
Three LISTSERVs are available as far as I know:
St. John's University Autism and Developmental Disablities List (bit.listserv.autism) - this is the mother of all autisms lists, generating sometimes hundreds of emails a day. Subscribe only if you plan to check your email frequently! An alternative is to browse the list using a newsreader, or use directed searches via AltaVista or DejaNews (see below.) You may also choose to receive the messages in "gazzette" format, which compiles all emails for one day into one and sends them to you at 12am est. You may also choose to be added to the list without receiving any emails: this is useful if you only wish to search the archive database, as ityou are required to be a member of the list to search.
To subscribe, send an email to listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu, and in the body of the message, type the following string: "subscribe autism-l" and nothing else.
Pennslyvania Autism LISTSERV - relatively new (less than a year) and small (about 10-15 messages daily), but specific to PA. Good source of info on the PA polical arena and educational system. To subscribe, send mail to "majordomo@nova.voicenet.com with the following text in the body of the note: "subscribe parent-to-parent" and nothing else.
When you are searching, every character in every posting on over 17,000 usegroups are searched, so you often get many postings you are not interested in. Also, by default, if you put in multiple words to search on, each word you type in is treated as an "Or" search arguement - you will be returned postings that meet at least one of your arguements. Only a partial match is necessary: the word "meet" will match the word "meeting". You can use modifers on your search criteria to zero in your search, and you can choose to specify which usegroups to search (highly recommended to specify bit.listserv.autism.)
Three modifers are useful:
Examples:
If you can get over the frustration, this is really the tool to use if you want to research against over a year worth of posts!
Gopher is an space that was developed a few years before the web caught on, and has many similarities. Basically, a gopher site is a list of files served from menus, usually classified as text or binary. A gopher client on your PC will display a text file to the screen, while a binary file is simply stored to disk. These text files are static documents without hypertext; navigation through the documents are handled by backing in and out of menus.
Why are gopher servers still in use today with the popularity of the web? There are a couple of reasons. They are very efficient, and very little processing power is used downloading graphic backgrounds, sound bytes, and pictures. Gopher information requires a much less powerful client, and can be used easily by the character based and telnet (terminal) client. Gopher menus tends to contain serious content, and is very popular in university based research centers.
Because of this, Gopher info is often overlooked by the web based user. There are some web-based front ends to gopher servers popping up, and I've included a few below. Netscape can display gopher menus without any other software; if you have another browser, you may need another piece of software to run the links below prefixed with gopher: rather than http:
Welcome to AskERIC - web front end to a educational research gopher.
IRC space contains the popularized chat rooms that gets so much press these days. Basically, these are real time discussions being posted to a group of subscribing users connected to a particular place on a IRC network server. Unlike AOL or Protegy, Internet chat rooms and the servers they are run on are normally free of charge. There are a number of Internet IRC networks setup, each of which can have thousands of users from around the world connected to thousands of chat rooms (called channels). IRC is talked about like a CB radio: you are known by a handle, connected to a channel, etc. You normally type a sentence and hit a transmit button (or enter key). This transmit the sentence to the channel, which is bounced to all channel members. Of course, while you are typing, others are typing as well, so it resembles a conversation.
As far as I know, IRC is not searchable, as it is real time. However, there is a standing channel available called #autism on the Undernet network of IRC servers that is visited by parents of autistic spectrum kids. To attach, check out the #autism home page, which documents how to attach. Also, they have a link her that allows you to telnet into the channel directly (although it is harder to use the some of the PC clients like mIRC and others.)
You just have to wade through all the sex channels first!
Want to contact me? Press here:
JJackson@pervasivedevelopmentaldisorders.com
Return to the PDD Support
Home Page