Internet : Editor's Choice
by Becky Bond

Bandwidth Conservation Society
www.infohiway.com/faster/i ndex.html
Cyberspace might be infinite, but the hardware on-ramps that connect clients to servers on the Information Superhighway have definite limits. The Bandwidth Conservation Society is a group of Internet developers committed to sharing tips, techniques and tutorials aimed at producing sleek, efficient online presentations with the fastest possible Internet delivery speeds.

While the average Internet user might think a 28.8 modem and a phone line should be a large enough artery for her information circulation needs, there's a lot of digital cholesterol out there to clog the pipe and slow the flow. Developers can suck the fat out of a Web site by making GIFs smaller in byte size, using distributed processing technologies and compressing images with methods such as Consecutive Run Length Insertion. (Whew!) The end result for Web surfers means less time to pick your nose while waiting for a page to download (you've been meaning to cut back anyway). The reward for Webmasters is a streamlined site boasting browser-friendly load times.

Brad.Net Apple Internet Server 6150
www.ape.com/
Brad Schrick is a poster boy for everything that's good and true about Apple devotees and Internet nuts. I even forgive him for using frames on his Web page. Appealing to geeky do-gooders and earth-tone-clad technology enthusiasts (you know who you are), it's not surprising that he named his site after his server. One look at Brad's bearded mug and you are lost forever in the arms of his unadulterated love of Internet-serving software and hardware.

Brad.Net debuted in 1994, running MacHTTP on a Mac Plus for five full months before experiencing its first crash -- yes, Brad boasts, while using the Mac OS. Now Brad maintains a list of Macintosh Internet servers that tops out at over 1,700 entries. Read about Brad's Macintosh-only Web design services for commercial entities and public service organizations, or see what he likes and dislikes about businesses in the Apple market in the Heroes and Zeroes section. The page's short FAQ reads in its entirety: "FAQ: Why is Brad's head on all of these pages?! ... A: Brad needs a scanner, a digital camera, a high-end Mac, and high-end software ... until he gets them, this is all you get ... !"

Center for Information Technology Accommodation
www.gsa.gov/coca/cocamain.htm
In light of the rapid proliferation of Internet publishing and communication tools, Web literacy becomes a question not merely of access to information and technology but of political, cultural and economic enfranchisement. The Center for Information Technology Accommodation, a division of the U.S. government's General Services Administration, positions itself as a "clearinghouse of information on making Information Systems accessible to all users," including the blind, hearing impaired persons, and the physically challenged.

To some users, computers are simply another piece of consumer electronics, no different than television, Sega Genesis or a booming stereo system. To users with special needs, the computer becomes a prosthetic device that can act as eyes, ears or vocal chords, providing enhanced access -- and in some cases, the only access -- to previously inaccessible experiences. To aid that end, CITA Webmasters show you how to create disabled-friendly Web sites. Did you know that Netscape's "BLINK" tag renders Braille and speech display systems inoperable? Do you include text transcriptions of audio clips used at your site? The electronic ramps and guides suggested in the accessible HTML tutorial offer step-by-step instructions for retrofitting your Web page with universally accessible features and content to accommodate most any visitor's special needs.

Cyborganic
www.cyborganic.com/welcome.htm l
Cyborganic has firmly planted the roots of a new type of community on the Web, accomplishing its dual mission of establishing a "virtual home" and a "realtime hangout." In the company's own words, "Cyborganic Gardens is the first step in our grand plan to build a funky, friendly place that exists on both sides of the screen -- just like we do." The botanical theme is adhered to religiously with personal home pages in the forest, commercial sites in the orchard and Web publishing tools in the garden shed. Particularly well-tended and exotic sites swelter in the hothouse, where you'll find the likes of Justin's Links to the Underground, the collage art of Winston Smith and commentary by Howard Rheingold.

Less virtual Cyborganic plots include the Space Bar, which is part chat room and part online salon, and the service's famed flesh and blood Thursday night dinner gatherings. Future plans also predict a Cyborganic cafˇ, a permanent physical space to complement the company's preexisting online condition. Get online with Cyborganic while you can. With their ambition and "techno-how," its hard to tell if Cyborganic emulates life, or if life will end up emulating Cyborganic.

DigiCash
www.digicash.com/
If you thought it was a big mistake when the United States abandoned the gold standard, you'd better bury the family silver in the backyard. If, by now, you are convinced that paper money will not wreck the republic, read on to prepare for the future of currency as it exists today. The Web is a field of dreams desperately staked on the principle, "if you build it, they will come." If the hordes do come and they come ready to shop, DigiCash will be ready with electronic currencies promising the safe conduct of monetary transactions via the Internet.

Ironically, the company's first trials of digital money were conducted not on the Infobahn, but on the freeways of Japan, as an automatic road toll payment system. A secure software client that withdraws value from an online bank, Ecash can be exchanged via e-mail for Internet goods and services. What does the future hold? Purchasing by pointing and clicking, making the Web a viable venue for software requisition and delivery, as well as a host of other faceless transactions. Whether it delights or scares the bejesus out of you, it's the future, so get online at the Internet cash register.

geekgirl
www.next.com.au/spyfood/geek girl/
Even if the Web is still a boy's world after all, can we girls help it if we mature faster and our content is more interesting? An "e-ticket" Internet ride, geekgirl dazzles readers with its riotous mission and design aesthetic. The Australian print and online publication calls itself "the world's first cyberfeminist zine" and proves it deserves its bitchy credentials issue after issue. Count on its intrepid writers and editors to tackle the tough issues you care so much about, like the recent feature on "Babes, BluBlockers & Broncos" and the Internet service provider guide titled "The Buggers are Everywhere." Chronicling grrrls' adventures in the virtual world shares bandwidth with plenty of how-to resources designed to get readers elbow deep in the mechanics of computer hardware and HTML code. Don't miss the Friendly Grrrls Guide to the Internet, and it goes without out saying, don't mess with geekgirl.

Grafica Obscura, Collected Computer Graphics Hacks
www.sgi.com/grafica/
The Web's best conflation of computing know-how and compositional craft is presented with joy, grace and technical finesse in the form of Grafica Obscura: Collected Computer Graphics Hacks. Imagine a technical manual in the form of an art gallery, complete with instructions, examples and works of art presented by a computer graphics researcher at Silicon Graphics. Image extrapolation, texture mapping, production for the Web, and paperfolding sculpture are explained and demonstrated with a marriage of depth and elegance rarely found in online publishing.

Java-savvy designers will be delighted by The Impressionist, a paint program that creates painted representations of photographs. Soul food seekers can read an inspirational quotation about the properties of shadows, or review the stated mission of the Futurist Programming movement. You won't find advertising, 200K page downloads, or gratuitous eye candy here, just unadulterated visual pleasure and idea-inspiring tools. For this fresh breath of ether, we can thank Grafica Obscura's curator, Paul Haeberli, who finds beauty in advertising slogans, photos, typefaces and light.

HTML Writers Guild List of HTML Resources
www.hwg.org/resources/html/
Looking for HTML tools on the Internet is like hiring middle managers from the ranks of the unemployed. There are a lot to choose from, and they all look the same. If you seek a trustworthy gloss of the Web's seemingly endless supply of HTML software and how-to guides, look no further than the HTML Writers Guild List of HTML Resources.

HTML is a simple programming language for creating Web-readable documents. A working knowledge of its basic elements is so simple to acquire, even an adult can learn the finer points. Whether your needs require introductory materials or advanced specifications, the best shareware available is thoughtfully collected and reviewed by guild members. Resources range from style guides to standards to validators, everything required to write, preview and test HTML code. What is conspicuously absent from the collection are editors and converters, but I suppose we can't ask the guild to build a site that puts its writers out of work.

The Informant
informant.dartmouth.edu/
It hurts me to heap praise upon an Internet service that models itself after a snitch. However, the personal Internet search agent developed by the smart computer scientists at Dartmouth College is a canary I can't help liking. Imagine a world in which you never have to face the disappointment of visiting your favorite site only to discover that there is no new content to bring light and edification into your life. With The Informant, this imaginary world can be your reality. Register your favorite URLs and any necessary passwords, and the service notifies you via e-mail when changes to content are detected. Specify keywords associated with subjects of interest, and The Informant will periodically sweep the Lycos Catalog of the Internet for corresponding resources. E-mail reports are dispatched on the findings at intervals you request. Think of it as short order information delivered directly to your e-mail box for free. You can't beat that with a stick, even with a name like The Informant.

The Institute for Global Communications
www.igc.apc.org/igc/igcinfo.h tml
The Institute for Global Communications was formed in 1987 to coordinate PeaceNet and EcoNet, networks composed of activists and organizations united by their commitment to social issues. IGC was quick to seize upon the online revolution's potential for the creation of low-cost, worldwide communication systems, immediately setting out to harness the new technology to build additional community networks. Today, IGC is an Internet service provider under whose tutelage the above networks -- as well as ConflictNet, LaborNet and WomensNet -- thrive, matching concerned progressives with resources and each other via high-speed communications technology and access to digital publishing forums.

Through the efforts of these networks and the activists who use them, the Web is utilized as a tool for bringing people together and for calling attention to events and opinions largely ignored by other, less accessible media outlets. IGC is a founding member of the Association for Progressive Computing, an international coalition of progressive computer networks that aims to reduce "the gap between the information-poor and the information-rich." It is through APC that IGC works around the world to help indigenous organizations establish local networks by making available technology and the expertise required to use it.

A Note About Web Browsers and Privacy
www.uiuc.edu/~ejk/WWW-priva cy.html
A Note About Web Browsers and Privacy delivers what the Web does best. Expect no graphics, just unadulterated 12 pt., Geneva type. It's an engineer's page that simultaneously tells a story and demonstrates its active principle. An alert is issued describing how Web browsers transparently pass off user names, e-mail addresses and who knows what else when visiting HTTP servers. Think of it in terms of the age old conflict between marketing executives and child safety experts. One founded the oldest profession while the other was, well, the first mom.

The marketeer boasts the slick come-on, "What's your name, little girl," while the mother barks stern warnings: "Don't talk to strangers, especially the ones with candy." Within the electronic marketplace is a dimly lit ghetto of content products that serve to distract a visitor's attention while she is virtually felt up by the mechanical claws of the site's host. When the client/server relationship reaches the danger zone, A Note About Web Browsers and Privacy clears the air. Does your browser tell the server who you are, where you've been, what hardware company you're in bed with? Follow a link to find out what your navigational software has to say to strange computers when you surf the Web.

Progressive Networks
www.realaudio.com/prognet /index.html
The first time I used Progressive Network's RealAudio player I felt a bit like Nipper listening to his masters voice in the old RCA Victor advertisements. The company's popular interactive audio clients and servers enable instantaneous playback of audio files via the Internet. While not a cultural milestone on the order of the phonograph, the "instantaneous" component of the technology is quite revolutionary when users are accustomed to waiting 20 minutes to download a four minute audio file.

Faster is better in the Web world, and Progressive Networks has sprinted to the front of the line in bringing tools of true interactivity to average Web explorers. While the server costs a bundle, RealAudio players, like almost all Web clients, are freely distributed on the Web. It's worth noting that Progressive Networks doesn't just pay lip service to the political ideals that inspired the Seattle-based company's name. The company hosts WebActive, an online guide to progressive politics and activism resources online.

SYNERGY:PANIC
sunsite.unc.edu/otis/s ynergy/panic.html
If you merely read or surf the Web, you miss out on one of its primary joys: uploading. To participate fully in Web culture it is not enough to author your own home page, you must join the fray of the two-way information exchange. PANIC is a virtual graphics forum that bills itself as an "ongoing live image exchange and manipulation gathering." In an online event that began at a Minneapolis nightclub, people download GIFs and JPEGs from a central FTP site, manipulate them "in odd and stimulating ways," and then upload them for general viewing and discussion. An IRC channel is dedicated to the proceedings, enabling PANIC participants to talk and collaborate freely in real time.

Make new friends with which to play Exquisite Corpse, based on the Dada parlor game which assigns the design of the head to one person, the torso to another and the legs to still another. Frankenstein wannabes band together to invent entirely new creatures called "bio-collages" out of a hodgepodge of human and animal body parts. Think of it as an Internet quilting circle or a pictorial version of the telephone. If you want to push the collaborative potential of Internet technology and community, SYNERGY:PANIC is a great place to start.

Top Ten Ways to Tell if You Have a Sucky Home Page
www.winternet.com/~jmg/Top TenF.html
There's a reason why most forms of media have institutionalized editorial filters: In general, we're not interested in everything everyone has to say. On the Web, we are called upon to employ our own critical capacities to sort through massive amounts of raw information. While this sharpens the brain muscles, it also wastes time. More bandwidth or a bigger pipe may in the end simply mean that more sewage goes in and more sewage goes out, to paraphrase an old adage.

Head off potential complaints about the contents and style of your personal Web presence with the tips and tsk-tsks offered at this site. Personal faves are the rants against header pictures over 50K, admonitions to avoid ticker tape status bars, and an expressed annoyance with "under construction" graphics -- "I think we all know that pages are always under construction," the author complains. I might add Top Ten Lists to Top Ten Ways to tell if You Have a Sucky Home Page. Do you ever get the idea that too much of the time, too many people are too easily influenced by David Letterman?