INASP Links & Resources
USING THE INTERNET:   
Internet basics 

see also 

PUBLISHING & SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION: Electronic & Web publishing

A Beginner's Guide to HTML
A primer for producing documents in HTML, the hypertext markup language of the World Wide Web. It consists of 22 pages, but can be downloaded as a ZIP or pdf file. In addition to an introduction to using HTML there are also links to other sources which provide further information on particular topics.
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimerAll.html 

Accessing the Internet by Email FAQ (by Gerald E. Boyd)
Frequently asked questions and a how-to guide to techniques for accessing the Internet by Email. You can access almost any Internet resource using Email, through a number of services that will fetch Web documents for you and pass them on to you by Email. 
http://www.landfield.com/faqs/internet-services/access-via-email/ 

Around the Web in 80 Minutes
An introduction, and links collection, to the vast array of information and resources that can be found on the World Wide Web. The links are of particular interest to librarians, and include sites about learning about the Internet, managing the technology, and Web publishing. http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/RoundWeb/publish.htm 

Cybercafes.com
A guide, constantly updated, to Internet cyber cafes all over the world, containing a database of almost 4,200 internet cafes in 148 countries. You can search by city or country name for a list of cafes found in that location. Listings include location (country, city, address), home page URL, and Email address.
http://www.cybercafes.com/ 

FOLDOC
A free online dictionary of computing, compiled by Denis Howe, currently containing about 13,000 terms, and also offering a translation service in five European languages. A usual feature is a listing of "Recently added or changed terms", and, if you wish, it will also give you a button in your browser that will search FOLDOC for any word you have selected in the browser window.
http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/index.html 

Free Pint
This is not a source for free beer, but an increasingly popular UK-based Web site and twice monthly free email newsletter offering a wide array of tips on Internet searching, Web site reviews, feature articles (including articles on publishing), news and views, events, etc. The full archive of current and past issues if freely available on the site's 'Issues' page, while the Free Pint Portal provides access to a wide range of handpicked resources for a number of industries and countries. And at the Free Pint Bar you can post Internet-related questions and comment. While 'Free Pint' has apparently proven to be a powerful name for marketing the site, it is actually an anagram for 'People Interested in Net Tips'!
http://www.freepint.com/help.htm 

Getting Started on the Web
A 8-page primer (by Joseph Bergin, of the Computer Science Department at Pace University in New York) on how to get started on the Web, and how to set up and maintain a home page. It suggests some free or low cost tools to assist in this, and some basic procedures that can be used to get started. 
http://sol.pace.edu/webstart/

The Help Web. A Guide to Getting Started on the Internet
“Think of us as a friendly service station that gives out free road maps” says the introduction, and this is a good beginner's guide for those who are just getting started on the Internet. Scroll through the site guide or search the Help Web by keyword. http://www.imaginarylandscape.com/helpweb/welcome.html  

The Internet for the Book Professions
This is the online version of a chapter from Book Promotion and Marketing: A Handbook of Good Practice, by Hans M. Zell, published by INASP in January 2001, and distributed by African Books Collective. Split into four different segments and containing a large number of links, it sets out the benefits of the Internet for book professionals in developing countries and provides a short introduction and tutorial of Internet basics: searching the WWW, a review of the major search engines, search strategies, etc. Thereafter it deals with marketing on the Internet for books and journals (promoting to online mailing lists, creating a Web site, what information you should provide on your Web site; what makes a good Web site, and promoting a Web site), and there is a section on Internet bookselling. http://www.inasp.info/psi/bmp/internet.html

Note: INASP also provides online access to a companion resources section The Best of the Web. Some Recommended Web Sites and Resources

The Internet Handbook. For World-Wide Web, Gopher, and WAIS
This is the HTML version of the popular handbook by Mike Franks, and is accessible free (print version published by Addison-Wesley Publishing company). http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/ssc/franks/book/

Internet Resources Newsletter
Edited by Roddy MacLeod, this is an informative newsletter that provides monthly listings and reviews of new Web sites, and other Internet resources. http://www.hw.ac.uk/libWWW/irn/irn.html

Internet Scout Project
Guide for 'smart surfing', searching the Internet, Web tools, virtual publications, etc. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/

The Internet Society (ISOC) All about the Internet: History of the Internet
Links to articles about the history and development of the Internet and the World Wide Web, including some interesting articles that provide a chronology of notable events that led to the Internet's creation.
http://www.isoc.org/internet-history/ 

NetLingo
An online dictionary about Internet terminology used on the World Wide Web, and in e-mail, chatrooms, and newsgroups. There are also pages devoted to Smiley's ~:-), chat acronyms and shorthand, international country pages, a Web design colouring book, a colour swatch reference guide, HTML code cheat sheet, and an interactive IQ test. http://www.netlingo.com/ 

Networking.com
Need to know more about networking, and WANs and LANs? This special networking search engine from TechTarget.com should provide most of the answers, whether it is questions on networking basics, network security, network systems design and management, installation and configuration, standards and protocols, or the latest technologies in the networking field. Search the site, or click on various topics headings. http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/ 

Techencylopedia
Confused by computer lingo, technical Internet terms, abbreviations, and acronyms? On this excellent site you can find definitions for more than 20,000 computer and IT terms. It only not only provides definitions, but also images, and hyperlinks to related terms; and it lists "partial" matches, which can be handy if you don't know the precise spelling of a term. http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/ 

Webopedia
Another good online dictionary to look up terms in computer and Internet technology. You can search by keyword or via thematic categories. Particularly useful is the fact that in addition to definitions, Webopedia also display links to related terms, and some of them come with references and links to articles and pointers to Web sites related to your search. http://www.pcwebopedia.com/ 

The Web Robots Pages
If you are mystified how Web robots, 'crawlers' or 'spiders' operate - the programs that traverse the Web automatically searching for new or updated Web sites, and which are used by the search engines to create their gigantic indexes of all the links and references contained on the Web - this is the place to visit. It provides a section on frequently asked questions about Web robots, a database of currently known robots with descriptions and contact details, what you can do to direct robots to visit your own site, as well as links to articles about Web robots. http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/robots.html 

Wired for Information. Putting the Internet to Good Use in Africa
An excellent guide to making effective use of the Internet and where to look for information sources in various disciplines, together with Internet tips and tricks, advice on how to get wired up to the Net, and guidelines for evaluating information sources on the WWW. Compiled by Lizbeth Levey as part of the Project for Information Access and Connectivity (PIAC), it is also available in a print version. http://www.piac.org/wired/indexnoframes.html

What Is?
An extensive, constantly updated online dictionary of computer and Internet terms and definitions; and also with tips for new Internet users. http://whatis.techtarget.com/

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
The W3C is an industry consortium created in October 1994 to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. W3C has more than 500 member organizations around the world, and its products are freely available to all. The Web site includes a very useful "W3C A to Z" with explanations of common protocols, Web languages and architecture, technical specifications for the Web's infrastructure, and a great deal more. http://www.w3.org/ 

This page was last updated on: 07 July 2003 © International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) 1998-2003.