Post-Soviet Study Resources on the Internet (v1.0)
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O Post-Soviet Study Resources on the Internet (v1.0) O
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O Compiled, edited and with commentary by Ian Kallen O
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION 1.0
CONTEMPORARY NEWS AND DISCUSSION SOURCES 2.0
INTERNET CONFERENCES: USENET 2.1
MAILING LISTS 2.2
LISTS RUN FROM LISTSERVERS & LISTPROCESSORS 2.3
OTHER MAILING LISTS 2.4
INTERNET RELAY CHAT (IRC) 2.5
IRC SERVERS 2.6
IRC CHANNELS 2.7
ARCHIVE, BIBLIOGRAPHY AND DATABASE SEARCHES 3.0
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SOVIET ARCHIVES 3.1
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY-
CENTER FOR SLAVIC AND RELATED STUDIES 3.2
ANONYMOUS FTP 3.3
FTP SITES 3.4
TELNET 3.5
TELNET SITES 3.6
GOPHER 3.7
SOME SELECTED GOPHER DESTINATIONS 3.8
WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW) 3.9
WWW PUBLIC CLIENTS 3.10
ADJUNCT SYSTEMS 4.0
RELCOM 4.1
SOVSET 4.2
PEACENET AND GLASNET 4.3
IGC CONFERENCES 4.4
CONCISE 4.5
SOVAM TELEPORT 4.6
MANAGING WHAT YOU GET 5.0
PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES 6.0
CONCLUSION 7.0
DISCLAIMER 7.1
THE AUTHOR / EDITOR 7.2
SOURCES 7.3
ADDITIONAL SOURCES/SUGGESTED READING 7.4
GLASNET RUBLE PRICE LIST Appendix A
MODEM SET UPS IN US & xUSSR Appendix B
LONG DISTANCE EURASIAN GLASNET ACCESS Appendix C
COMMERCIAL CONTACT SERVICES Appendix D
IREX REPORT Appendix E
MAINSTREAM COMMERCIAL NETWORKS Appendix F
INTRODUCTION 1.0
============
The mass media buzz about concerning the emergence of an
"information superhighway" seems to have a narrow, myopic focus
on the commercial potentials of this technological feat. However
nice it may be to call up movies on demand and play interactive
video games against virtual opponents, these abilities are a
frivolous distraction of serious resources. The power of this
network lies in the potential to breakdown the barrier of
publication production that separates interested readers from
authors. Not to suggest that people will stop buying books or
other media, but people will know which publications they want to
buy for contemporary purposes and access archived publications
for historic purposes. If the internet represents the primordial
beginning of this superhighway, then a case study consisting of a
search for bodies of information concerning specific topics may
be of interst. This paper is a summary of the internet sources I
have uncovered in my search for alternatives to the mainstream
media sources concerning Eastern Europe (EE) and the Former
Soviet Union (FSU). I have divided my findings into two
catagories: contemporary news and discussion sources and archived
documents, directories and bibliographies. I have interspersed
my own observations and commentary as I deemed appropriate. Just
as the internet as an amorphous and ever-changing body resources,
I imagine that the content of this paper will require constant
updating. I have not the ability to verify the current status of
every resource.
To the best of my knowledge, as of March 1994, they are all
presently in existance.
The emphasis here is on the free resources open to the
internet public. There may be more resources available on the
mainstream commercial on-line services such as America OnLine,
CompuServe, and Prodigy as well as Sovam Teleport, FidoNet,
Dialog, Lexis/Nexis and Clarinet. Since this is unfunded
research and this is a non-commercial product (you can send me
money if you want to but I'm not selling this work; though I will
send you a Thank You card if you do make a cash contribution),
substantive discussion of these resources is not explored.
Perhaps in the next edition...The fee services included are
PeaceNet/GlasNet and Sovset. Also, see the appendices.
Included are lists, archives and conferences thought to
exist that concern political issues, security issues, economics,
human rights, linguistics, some global environmental issues, and
broad interest affairs in the region. I have also included in
the appendices a broad report from IREX that covers sources of
general internet information, some technical background including
connectivity in the FSU (beware: some of that discussion may
repeat the material provided by GlasNet), the Relcom/Demos
systems, SUEARN, and the Sovam Teleport system. Resources that
deal with religious topics have been included only for the
purpose of encouraging discussion of the interplay between
cosmological views and group identification. I have'nt yet found
groups that deal with Islamic issues. However, as I become aware
of these resources, they will be included in subsequent editions.
The religious interests deemed applicable include the widely
practiced religions of Europe; please don't berate me for
excluding zen-buddhist resources here. If the feedback warrants,
i.e. the peoples of Central Asia, say, the Tadjiks, are unfairly
excluded because of this, I will attempt remediation.
Specialized groups focusing on computing, chemical engineering,
et cetera as they pertain to the region are excluded for brevity.
Consulting the bibliography and sources cited will point the
interested reader to other resources such as these that were
deemed by me to be too far out on the periphery of the topic.
This compendium does NOT contain any information on how to
obtain access to Internet/Usenet/EARN/CREN/etc.. For questions of
such a general nature please check other sources available on the
network like , where you can find many Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ) Lists, or, for example, read some files
available via anonymous ftp from (18.72.1.58),
stored in the directory /pub/usenet.
_________________________________________________________________
CONTEMPORARY NEWS AND DISCUSSION SOURCES 2.0
========================================
Little can be said by the author about Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
as it is not run on any of the systems that the author works on.
Other than "live discussion," contemporary sources and current
events are accessible via two methods: conferences and mailing
lists. Conferences are ongoing delayed (not live interactive)
dialogues that consists of a huge hierarchicly structured set of
files called Usenet. Not all internet computers carry all Usenet
files and some "read" the updates more promptly and rapidly than
others. To access these conferences, one must acquire
familiarity with a "news reading program." The system I've used
at San Francisco State University's VAX1 has "rn" and "tin."
There are other applications that run at different internet site
computers such as "nn" and "trn." Discussion of how to use a
news reading program is outside the scope of this paper, however
there are a number of "internet guide books" on the book stands
these days.
I acquired whatever proficiency I have with those programs
by typing "man tin" and "man rn" at the system prompt. By the
way, I find "tin" much more approachable than "rn." LISTSERV
mailing lists usually have two e-mail addresses. One is the
equivalent of a "magazine circulation department," those who are
only responsible for seeing that the reading material gets to the
subscribers. The second is the list-owners' address. This
usually the "editor of the magazine" if it's a moderated list or
"editor of the letters page" if it's a discussion group type
list.
INTERNET CONFERENCES: USENET 2.1
If you do not have Usenet access: Messages can also submitted to
the newsgroups by e-mail. You need to send it to the following
address:
[email protected]
soc.culture.austria
soc.culture.baltics
soc.culture.bosna-herzgvna
soc.culture.bulgaria
soc.culture.cis
soc.culture.croatia
soc.culture.czecho-slovak
soc.culture.esperanto
soc.culture.europe
soc.culture.german
soc.culture.jewish
soc.culture.magyar
soc.culture.misc
soc.culture.polish
soc.culture.romanian
soc.culture.soviet
soc.culture.ukrainian
soc.culture.yugoslavia
soc.couples.intercultural
soc.history
soc.politics.arms-d
soc.roots
alt.current-events.bosnia
alt.current-events.russia
alt.music.world
alt.news.macedonia
alt.politics.europe.misc
alt.politics.ec
alt.peace-corps
alt.religion.all-worlds
alt.uu.lang.russian.misc
bit.listserv.catholic --> CATHOLIC
bit.listserv.christia --> CHRISTIAN
bit.listserv.cinema-l --> CINEMA-L
bit.listserv.c18-l --> C18-L
bit.listserv.earntech --> EARNTECH
bit.listserv.euearn-l --> EUEARN-L
bit.listserv.film-l --> FILM-L
bit.listserv.folklore --> FOLKLORE
bit.listserv.history --> HISTORY
bit.listserv.mideur-l --> MIDEUR-L
bit.listserv.sganet --> SGANET
bit.listserv.slovak-l --> SLOVAK-L
bit.listserv.su-earn --> SUEARN-L
bit.listserv.tesl-l --> TESL-L
bit.listserv.travel-l --> TRAVEL-L
bit.listserv.xcult-l --> XCULT-L
eunet.politics
misc.news.east_europe.rferl
nordunet.dcom.baltics
sci.environment
talk.environment
talk.politics.misc
talk.religion.christian
talk.religion.misc
talk.politics.soviet
talk.politics.cis
rec.aviation.military
rec.heraldry
k12.lang.russian
clari.news.europe
clari.news.gov.international
clari.news.hot.east_europe
clari.news.hot.ussr
To get more info on clarinet send mail to .
(Pasek)
MAILING LISTS 2.2
Mailing lists are a way to receive regular dispatches in
your e-mail "in-box". The disadvantage arises when one goes on
vacation and does'nt "check the mail" for a while; the mail can
accumulate into an enormous pile. Apart from this problem, this
is a good system for listening in and putting in one's thoughts
on a topic.
I have provided some detail on lists that I have experience
with. To the best of my knowledge, these are all operating
lists. However, evaluating them all would be a daunting task; a
task disallowed by time constraints. User feedback, or reviews,
may be included in future editions.
LISTS RUN FROM LISTSERVERS & LISTPROCESSORS 2.3
Listserver addresses from which the discussion lists are
distributed, can be obtained substituting by word
, for example runs from
. Some of the mailing lists are
available in the form of Usenet news. The following list contains
only discussion lists open to the public.
Each discussion list run from a listserver has two e-mail
addresses, each one for a different purpose. You send commands to
the ListServ address and messages to the group address.
Whenever it was possible mail addresses were given for each
ListServer in the Internet domain. If the user requires a
BitNet, CREN, EARN or other specific addressing format, ask your
system support personnel how to address mail items. If there is
only another system's node given, it means I have'nt found the
internet "conversion." However, there are gateways. See Krol or
Hahn or, again, ask your friendly system support personnel.
There are also some addresses given in brackets - these have
quasi-Internet form and may work, although no guarantee here :-(
If your machine is capable of sending and receiving Internet
mail, then to subscribe, using mail send the following command to
[email protected]:
SUB List-L your_full_name
where "your_full_name" is your REAL name, and NOT your network
userID. For example: SUB List-L John Doe
If you are connected to CREN/EARN/etc. _and_ capable of using
interactive messages, you can use syntax:
TELL LISTSERV at HOST SUB List-L your_full_name
or send mail to
LISTSERV AT HOST
with the following command
SUB List-L your_full_name
Other useful commands (although they may vary slightly on
different machines - use HELP first to find out):
INDEX List-L sends a list of the available
archive files
INFO GENINTRO retrieves "General Introduction Guide"
REVIEW List-L returns the network address and the
names of all subscribers (if public)
SET List-L NOMAIL temporarily cuts off the mail delivery
SET List-L MAIL reinstates mail delivery
SIGNOFF List-L unsubscribes you from the list
LIST sends description of all lists
LISTPROC is a new software, performing similar functions to the
LISTSERV, but more sophisticated.
When you subscribe to a mailing list, you will get a
confirmation message and instructions on how to access archives
and indices, how to post messages, how to cancel your
subscription and other information. Though most of the mailing
lists operate similarly, it may behoove the user to save all of
these initial messages just in case one were to later seek a back
issue or cancel the subscription.
AATG
American Association of Teachers of German
[email protected]
ACDGIS-L
Geographical Information Systems & related technologies with
the focus on Central Europe
[email protected]
[email protected]
The Financial Economics Network is a recent development.
Divided into 40+/- channels, or sublists, that cover a wide
range of topics in economics and finance. Subscribe first
to the "master list" and receive a directory of channels
with instructions for subscribing to them.
Wayne Marr, Clemson University, [email protected]
John Trimble, Washington State, [email protected]
To Subscribe: Send a message "Sub AFA-FIN your name"
without quotes,with your actual name, not e-mail address, to
listserv@[email protected]
AIBIBL
IBM's Academic Initiative "Library Systems" in Poland
[email protected]
AMCA-L
Alumni and friends of Croatian universities.
[email protected]
[email protected]
ARMS-L invites discussion of war, peace, arms races, and
arms control. Not a very active list but may be a good
place to generate some lively discussion.
To Subscribe: Send a message "Sub Arms-l your name"
without quotes,with your actual name, not e-mail address, to
[email protected]
AMNESTY
Amnesty International newsletter
[email protected]
[email protected]
The Baltics List is concerned with current affairs in
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The latter is not as well
covered but this is still an excellent source. The Estonian
Foreign Ministry frequently sends complete speeches as well
as their press releases. If you subscribe to Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, you'll want to delete the "Baltics
Related Items Extracted from RFE/RL" because you will have
read them already. Available also
BALT-L at UKACRL
[email protected]
To Subscribe: Send a message "Subscribe Balt-L your name"
without quotes,with your actual name, not e-mail address, to
[email protected]
BERWRO-L
Discussion of Berkeley/Wroclaw Activities
[email protected]
CAR-CS
Weekly newsletter "Carolina" - news from Czechoslovakia.
Czech version
[email protected]
CAR-ENG
Weekly newsletter "Carolina" - news from Czechoslovakia.
English version
[email protected]
CASID-L
Canadian Association for the Study of Intl. Development.
[email protected]
CATHOLIC
Discussion of the Catholic approach to Christianity.
[email protected]
Usenet: bit.listserv.catholic
[email protected]
Discussion of former Soviet republics in Central Asia.
[email protected]
[email protected]
The Central European Regional Research Organization's
emphasis is on economic issues pertaining to Eastern Europe.
A good place to make enquiries for statistical sources and
economic data. A joint initiative of University of
Economics and Business Administration in Vienna, Slovak
Academy of Sciences and University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Available also as
[email protected]
To Subscribe: Send a message "Subscribe Cerro-L your name"
without quotes,with your actual name, not e-mail address, to
[email protected]
CESNET-L
Discussion on Czech Educational and Scientific Network
(CESNET)
[email protected]
CHOMOR-L
Polish humor list
[email protected]
CIBER-L
US Dept. of Education Center for International Business
Education (Univ. of Maryland)
[email protected]
CIT$W
The Cracow Institute of Technology discussion forum.
[email protected]
CROMED-L
Covers current events in Croatia, particularly in medicine.
Also used as a tool to gather medical and humanitarian help.
[email protected]
CSISNEWS
Newsletter for members of Czechoslovak Society of Computer
Science
[email protected]
CSTEX
Discussions on Czech version of TeX; connected with CSTUG
[email protected]
CTU-NEWS
Newsletter of the Czech Technical University in Prague
[email protected]
C18-L
Interdisciplinary discussion on XVIII-th century
[email protected]
Usenet: bit.listserv.c18-l
DEVEL-L
Discussion forum on technology transfer in an international
development. Sponsored by Volunteers in Technical
Assistance (VITA).
[email protected]
[email protected]
Disarmament discussion monthly digest processed through
DISARM-L; also features special contributions.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Discussions and monthly digests on disarmament.
[email protected]
DNN-L
DevelopNet news distribution (see DEVEL-L)
[email protected]
DONOSY-L
Daily news bulletin from Poland
(subscribe Donosy-L)
Editors: [email protected]
[email protected]
EARNEST
The EARN monthly newsletter
([email protected])
EARNTECH
Discussion of European Academic Research Network
(EARN) issues
[email protected]
EAWOP-L
The European Association of Work and Organization
[email protected]
EC
Discussions of the European Community.
[email protected]
ECA-L
The European Center-Atlanta is an initative of the Institute
for EastWest Studies, non-profit organization formed to
assist Eastern European and xSU nations in transition to
market economies
[email protected]
ECONOMY
The economy and economic problems of Less Developed
Countries
([email protected])
EEC-L
Discussion on the programs in Training and Technology
sponsored by European Community.
[email protected]
E-EUROPE
The East European Business Network.
Discussions on doing business in Eastern Europe and
transition of EE-countries to market economies.
[email protected]
EGOPHER
Discussion of gophers devoted to Economics.
[email protected]
[email protected]
EMHIST-L
Early modern history forum
([email protected])
EOCHR
Discussion of Eastern Orthodox Christian
[email protected]
EUEARN-L
Forum on computers and communications in the same
geographical area as Mideur-L
[email protected]
Usenet: bit.listserv.euearn-l
EURO-LEX
All EUROpean Legal Information Exchange
EURO-LEX at DEARN
[email protected]
[email protected]
Regents' Global Center European Council from
Georgia State University - Atlanta
To Subscribe: Send a message "Subscribe Europe-L your name"
without quotes,with your actual name, not e-mail address, to
[email protected]
EXPAT-L
Discussion of immigration issues
[email protected]
FICINO
Discussion on Renaissance and Reformation
[email protected]
FOLKLORE
Discussions of folklore
[email protected]
GAZETA-DIST
Review of daily news; distributed on Polish Fidonet
[email protected]
[email protected]
GAZETKA
Polish news from Big Apple (New York, that is)
[email protected]
GEOGRAPH
Geography discussion list
[email protected]
GER-RUS
Germans from Russia discussion
[email protected]
GERLINGL
Older Germanic languages (to 1500)
[email protected]
GERMAN-L
German Teaching materials
[email protected]
GOVDOC-L
All about the government documents
[email protected]
[email protected]
GRMNHIST
German history forum
[email protected]
[email protected]
GUST-L
Polish TeX users group discussion list
[email protected]
GW
Supplement to "Gazeta Wyborcza" in Krakow
[email protected]
HABSBURG
Discussion of Austrian history since 1500.
[email protected]
H-ETHNIC
Ethnic history discussion list
[email protected]
H-JUDAIC
Jewish history discussion list
[email protected]
H-LAW
Legal and constitutional history list
[email protected]
H-NET
Discussion on HUNGARNET, Hungarian Academic & Research Ntwrk
[email protected]
HBONE-L
Hungarian IP backbone
[email protected]
HISTORY
Discussions about history as a science, computers and
historians; bringing history closer to other sciences.
[email protected]
Usenet: bit.listserv.history
HLIST
The Holocaust Information list is devoted to Holocaust
research, and to the refutation of those who deny the event.
[email protected]
HOLOCAUS
Holocaust discussion list
[email protected]
HOSPEX
Database for those interested in being a host to foreign
visitors or finding a host when they are traveling abroad. A
request for subscription will result in sending you the
host's form to be filled and resent to HOSPEX@PLEARN. Only
then you can subscribe and be given access to HOSPEX data.
[email protected]
HOSPEX$P
Discussion and drafting of HOSPEX policies
[email protected]
HOSPEX-L
Discussion forum on hospitality exchange related to HOSPEX
database
[email protected]
HUNGARY
Discussion related to Hungary and Hungarian culture, history
([email protected])
INA
Discussions of Czech privatization
[email protected]
INTDEV-L
International development and global education
[email protected]
INT-LAW
Foreign and international law libraries discussions
[email protected]
INTER-L
Association of International Educators list
[email protected]
INTERCUL
Study of intercultural communication
[email protected]
ISAFPAS
International Studies Association FPAS
[email protected]
IVRITEX
Hebrew TeX list
[email protected]
JUDAICA
Judaic studies newsletter
[email protected]
LABOR
Discussion of Labor Economics.
[email protected]
[email protected]
LODZ$L
Discussion forum for the academic community in Lodz, Poland
LODZ$L at PLEARN
[email protected]
LORE
Folklore discussion list
[email protected]
MEDIEV-L
Discussion for scholars and students of the Middle Ages
(283 A.D. to 1500 A.D.)
[email protected]
MENDELE
Discussion on Yiddish literature and language.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Discussion of Middle European history, culture, politics and
current affairs; in the countries located anywhere between
the Adriatic and the Baltic Seas, and between the
German/Austrian borders and the xUSSR. Available also
Usenet: bit.listserv.mideur-l
To Subscribe: Send a message "Subscribe Mideur-l your name"
without quotes,with your actual name, not e-mail address, to
[email protected]
MODELUN
Model UN bulletin
[email protected]
MULTI-L
Language and education in multilingual setting
[email protected]
[email protected]
NABOKV-L
Vladimir Nabokov forum
NABOKV-L at UCSBVM
NASK
Discussion of NASK (Polish Academic and Scientific Networks)
NASK at PLEARN
[email protected]
[email protected]
The NATO organization publishes colloquium and conference
results and statistics, speeches by NATO member government
leaders and the NATO leadership, and press releases.
To Subscribe: Send a message "Subscribe NATODATA your name"
without quotes,with your actual name, not e-mail address, to
[email protected]
NET
Forum for Internet beginners in Czech
[email protected]
NET-L
Forum for beginning Polish users of Internet and Bitnet
[email protected]
NEW-LIST
Announcements of the new mailing lists
[email protected]
NISS
Newsletter for Internationalizing Social Sciences
[email protected]
NORDBALT
Networking between Nordic and Baltic countries
[email protected]
ORTHODOX
Discussion of the Orthodox Christianity and its impact and
resurgence within Russian & her neighbors.
[email protected]
PAS-L
Academic network in Prague
[email protected]
PCORPS-L
International volunteers discussion
[email protected]
PER
Discussion forum for a project on ethnic relations at
the Warsaw University
[email protected]
PERBIB at PLEARN Database PERBIB
[email protected]
PERDB at PLEARN Database PERDB
[email protected]
PLOTKI
General public gossip distribution list
[email protected]
POLAND-L
Discussion forum on Polish culture and current events.
[email protected]
POLARCH
Discussion of Polish archives located at
[email protected]
POLIP
Discussion about Internet at Warsaw University
[email protected]
PONIECKI-L
Poniecki Fonudation general interest broadcast list
[email protected]
[email protected]
PRASOWKA-DIST
Weekly dispatch of articles from Polish press
[email protected]
[email protected]
PRYZMATL
News from Technical Univ. of Wroclaw
[email protected]
RELIGIA
Religious discussions list
[email protected]
RENAIS-L
Discussion by students and scholars of the history
of Renaissance
[email protected]
RFE/RL DAILY REPORT
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty daily news report
[email protected]
Usenet: misc.news.east_europe.rferl
ROOTS-L
Genealogy discussion list; there is a family surnames
index available via listserver or anonymous ftp from
vm1.nodak.edu (134.129.111.1)
[email protected]
Usenet: soc.roots
RUSAG-L
Russian agriculture
[email protected]
[email protected]
Discussion fo Russian history from Ivan III (XV c.) to the
end of Romanov dynasty (1917). Maybe also available
[email protected]
RUSSIAN
Discussion of Russian language and literature issues.
[email protected]
RUSTEX-L
Discussion of the Russian version of TeX, other Russian text
processing systems, thesauri, spell checkers, keyboards etc.
[email protected].
SAMORZ-L
Discussion of student governments in Polish universities
[email protected]
SCOLT
Foreign language education
[email protected]
SEELANGS
Discussion on Slavic & E. European Languages & literatures
[email protected]
SGANET
Student government global mail network.
[email protected]
Usenet: bit.listserv.sganet
SGANET-E
Student government European mail network
[email protected]
SIBERIA
DIscussion on Siberia
SIBERIA at JPNIMRTU
SLOVAK-L
Discussion of Slovak culture, etc.
[email protected]
Usenet: bit.listserv.slovak-l
[email protected]
Discussion fo the Soviet history from the February Revolution
in 1917 to the fall of the Communist rule in 1991
[email protected]
STUDENT
[email protected]
SUEARN-L
Connecting the USSR to Internet digest
[email protected]
bit.listserv.su-earn
TESL-L
Forum for teachers of English to speakers of other languages
[email protected]
Usenet: bit.listserv.tesl-l
There are also discussion subgroups (available also from
LISTSERV at CUNYVM):
TESLCA-L Computer assisted language learning
TESLEC-L Penpals
TESLIC-L Intercultural communication
TESLIE-L Intensive English program
TESLIT-L Adult education and literacy
TESLJB-L Jobs and employment issues
TEX
Polish TeXnical topics list
[email protected]
TEX-D-L
German TeX users communication list
[email protected]
TEX-EURO
Distribution list for European TeX users
[email protected]
TOLKIEN
Discussions of works by J.R.R. Tolkien in Czech and Slovak
[email protected]
TRADE
Discussion of international trade issues.
[email protected]
[email protected].
TRANSLAT
Theory and practice of translation
[email protected]
TRANSY-L
Transylvania University alumni
[email protected]
UJ-NET
Jagiellonian University Network
[email protected]
UN
Discussion of United Nations
[email protected]
UNCJIN-L
United Justice criminal justice information network
[email protected]
URALDEV
Community and Rural Economic Development Interests
[email protected]
[email protected]
VAL-L
Discussion on changes in the Communist countries, ranging
from Cuba and Vietnam to xUSSR
[email protected]
WMUN-L
World model United Nations 1993
wmun@@earn.cvut.cz
WROCLAW
Not a true discussion group, distributes weekly newsletter
from Wroclaw called "Socjety Journal", in Polish
[email protected]
WWII-L
World War II discussion forum.
[email protected]
XCULT-L
International intercultural newsletter created by students at
Penn State University.
[email protected]
Usenet: bit.listserv.xcult-l
9NOV89-L
Discussion of the recent events in the former GDR.
[email protected]
The list of mailing lists available on the Internet is available
by anonymous ftp from ftp.nisc.sri.com (192.33.33.22) in the file
/netinfo/interest-groups.
The following lists, when last checked, have ceased to exist:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
See section 6.0, PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES.
(Pasek and personal findings)
OTHER MAILING LISTS 2.4
The lists listed here are using other forms of distribution than
the ListServ, and are usually run by some individuals to whom
you should direct the inquiries about joining the list.
AGORA
A forum for Hungarian speakers. Send inquires and
contributions to the address of the list-owner (start the
subject field with the word AGORA).
[email protected]
To get help: in the subject field write only $SEGITS
AUS-VIEWS
Subset of Cro-Views aimed at Australian Croatians
[email protected]
BALTIC OBSERVER
An English language newspaper from the Baltic States.
Reported to arrive zipped and uuencoded. One must join the
files, as they arrive in pieces, under one filename, then the
file must be unencoded with `uudecode ' on a Unix
machine and then the resulting file must be decompressed! Yow!
[email protected]
BOSNET
Moderated mailing list on news and discussions about Bosnia
and Herzegovina
[email protected] (Nermin Zukic)
[email protected] (Hozo Iztok)
CATHOLIC-ACTION
Discussion of the Catholic evangelism, church revitalization
and preservation of Catholic teachings. Moderated.
[email protected] (Richard Freeman)
CATHOLIC DOCTRINE
Discussion of orthodox catholic doctrine under jurisdiction
of pope John Paul II. Archive server
[email protected]
COUNTEREV-L
Discussion on monarchies and restoration thereof
[email protected] (Jovan Weismiller)
CROATIAN-NEWS/HRVATSKI-VJESNIK
News from Croatia, Slovenia and other countries of xYU
English edition: [email protected]
Croatian edition: [email protected]
To subscribe send a message containing your name, e-mail
address, state/country where your account is; also put
state/country info in the 'Subject:' line.
CRO-NEWS/SCYU-DIGEST
Discussion of news from Croatia, Slovenia and other countries
emerging from former Yugoslavia. Not moderated
[email protected] (Nino Margetic) (?)
CRO-VIEWS
Opinion service on Croatia nad other xYugoslavian republics.
[email protected] (Joe Stojsic)
CZECH THE NEWS
Newsletter of the Czech embassy
[email protected]
DYRDYMALKI
Bi-Weekly digest derived from the Polish press
[email protected] (Zbigniew J. Pasek)
EESTI RINGVAADE
Biweekly review of Estonian news (in English) dispatched by
Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
[email protected] (David Mardiste)
E-LIST
News and discussion on Estonia
[email protected] (Jaak Vilo)
EUROPEAN REVIEW
European football newsletter
[email protected] (Pavel Nikiforovitch)
FOLK-DANCING
Discussion on folk dancing
[email protected] (Terry J. Wood)
FREE UNIX FOR ROMANIA
[email protected] (Marius Hancu)
FRIENDS OF BULGARIA
Monthly newsletter distributed by Open Society
OSOSO at BGCICT
([email protected])
GLASINFO
Ad hoc electronic bulletin on Russia
[email protected] (John Bacon)
GNET
Archive/journal related to the effort of bringing the net
to the lesser-developed nations
[email protected]
GROCH Z KAPUSTA
Weekly news and commentaries on situation in Poland as seen
from Krakow, Poland
[email protected] (Mirek Bielewicz)
HIX
There exists a mail server containing information about the
Hungarian electronic resources, i.e. discussion lists,
newsletters, etc. Information is in Hungarian.
Hollosi Information Exchange (HIX):
[email protected]
In the subject field write only: HIX
The text of the letter is: HELP all
HR-L
Human rights
[email protected]
IB
Forum for people involved in the International Baccalaureate
Diploma Program
[email protected] (Steve Hreha)
INFO-RUSS
Informal communication in Russian-speaking (or having related
interests) community.
[email protected] (Aleksander Kaplan)
INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND COMMERCE
Discussion of intl. trade, commerce, and the global economy
[email protected]
JABLKO-L
Discussion of Czech users of Macintosh computers
[email protected]
JEWISH
Discussion of Jewish topics, emphasizing the law
[email protected] (Avi Feldblum)
JUGO
News and discussions about the current events in xYu
[email protected] (DImitrije Stamenovic)
KUHARSKE BUKVE
Cooking recipes in Slovene, weekly, moderated digest.
[email protected]
[email protected]
KUNDERA-LIST
Discussion of works by Milan Kundera
[email protected]
LITURGY
Christian liturgy
[email protected]
MAGYAR
List on pre-1600 Hungary and the history recreation
[email protected]
(subscribe magyar first_name_last_name)
MAILING-LISTS
Info on mailing lists from xYugoslavia
[email protected]
MAK-NEWS
Discussion group on Macedonia
[email protected]
MET
Magyar Elektronikusz Tozsde - info in Hungarian stock and
commodity exchange
[email protected]
METLICE
Monthly magazine in Czech
[email protected]
MIGRA-LIST
Mailing list on international migration
MIGRA-LIST-REQUEST at UTAHCA
[email protected]
MOLIVA at UTAHCA (Maurizio Oliva)
[email protected]
MILITARY
Discussions of the military technology
[email protected]
[email protected]
NOVICE-MZT
News of Ministry for Science and Technology of Republic of
Slovenia
[email protected]
[email protected]
OGLASNA DESKA
Digest of postings from SLON (Yugoslavian DecNet).
In Slovene, Croatian and Serbian.
[email protected]
[email protected]
PIGULKI
Digest on the network news from Poland, in English, irregular.
ZIELINSK at NYUACF (Marek Zielinski)
[email protected]
[email protected] (Dave Philips)
PISMA BRALCEV
Daily digest on travel, books and other non-political issues.
In Slovene.
[email protected]
[email protected]
RENEWS
Monthly digest on networking and computing in Russia.
[email protected]
ROKPRESS
Moderated mailing lists on Slovenia
[email protected] (Tomaz Kosir)
ROMANIANS
Mailing list for discussion, news, and information in
Romanian language.
[email protected] (Alexander Mihai Popovici)
RSTUDENT
Daily news and columns from the independent student radio
station "Radio Student" in Ljubljana. In Slovene.
[email protected] (Tomaz Kosir)
SCCRO-DIGEST
Mail distribution of soc.culture.croatia
[email protected]
SCYU-DIGEST
Digest of postings from
[email protected] (N. Margetic)
SLAVLIBS
[email protected]
SII
News and discussion about the events in xYu involving Serbs
[email protected]
SOVAM
Sovam US newsfeed
[email protected]
SOVOKINFORM
CIS news, events, general information; usually in
transliterated Russian
[email protected]
To subscribe send messgae SUB SOVOKINFORM
SOVSET
carat.arizona.edu
SPOJRZENIA
A biweekly e-journal, devoted to Polish culture, history,
politics, etc. In Polish.
[email protected] (Jerzy Krzystek)
ST. PETERSBURG BUSINESS NEWS
Daily digest of business information extracted from Russian
newspapers, stock reports, etc. Both Russian and English
versions available. Commercial.
[email protected] (Elena Artemova)
[email protected] (Vladimir S. Zaborovsky)
SZEMLE
News digest about Hungary. To subscribe, send a message with
the Subject: KELL
[email protected]
THEATRE
General discussions of theatre
[email protected] (Elizabeth L. Newman)
Usenet: rec.arts.theatre
TINLIB-L
Discussion of the TINLIB library system
[email protected]
TRAVEL-ADVISORIES
USA Dept. of State travel advisories for countries around
the world
[email protected]
To subscribe send message: SUB TRAVEL-ADVISORIES
UKRAINIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER
Newsletter of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies
[email protected]
ULTRIX
Discussions of Ultrix operating system in Czech
[email protected]
URP PRESS
Press service of the Ukrainian Republican Party
[email protected] (Mykola Sereda)
VIZANTIJA
News and discussions about events in xYu involving and
affecting Serbs; also public actions related to these events
[email protected] (Dimitrije Stamenovic)
VREME
Newsletter published by the Vreme News Agency in Belgrade,
in English
[email protected] (Dimitrije Stamenovic)
THE WINDSOR VITER
Newsletter of the Ukrainian Canadian Business and Professional
Association of Windsor
[email protected] (Myron Hlynka)
WORKERS WORLD
News dispatch with a marxist flavor
[email protected]
YIDDISH
Discussion of Yiddish language and culture; in English and
transliterated Yiddish
[email protected] (Dave Sherman)
(Pasek)
INTERNET RELAY CHAT (IRC) 2.5
Live interactive discussions are conducted on this system.
However, its use is prohibited on the system I'm on and I have'nt
the funds to pay for exploration of this on a commercial access
provider. Reader feedback on the utility of IRC would be
appreciated.
IRC SERVERS 2.6
galaxy.uci.agh.edu.pl
ktts.kharkov.ua
monolit.kiev.ua
uvt.tuzvo.sk
vulcan.mimuw.edu.pl
IRC CHANNELS 2.7
#Polska
#Krakow
#Warszawa
#Poland
#POLSEX
(Pasek)
ARCHIVE, BIBLIOGRAPHY AND DATABASE SEARCHES 3.0
=====================================================
One needs to be conversant with internet applications such as
Gopher, Telnet and Anonymous FTP in order to access these types
of data. Though some introduction is included in the sections
bearing those titles, a detailed discussion of how to utilize
these programs is outside the scope of this paper. However, they
are widely discussed in the current literature found on the
"internet" bookstore shelves. If the feedback warrants it, I
shall update the sections of this paper to discuss use of these
applications in further detail. Otherwise, best advice is to
check out the SOURCES section and the sources mentioned in the
IREX report, Appendix E.
Library of Congress Soviet Archives 3.1
Telnet marvel.loc.gov (login: gopher)
FTP seq1.loc.gov
/pub soviet.archive
American University
CENTER FOR SLAVIC AND RELATED STUDIES 3.2
The American University
3301 New Mexico Avenue
Suite 304-A
Washington D.C. 20016
(202) 362-6934
Thanks to the efforts of office mates, "Demokratizatsiya," CSRS
is now in the process of cataloging "Foreign Affairs" journals
from 1989-1992, "Foreign Broadcast Information Daily Reports"
(FBIS) from 1984-1991, CIA Directorates, as well as "The
Economist," "Time," and "Fortune" magazines containing articles
relevant to Eastern Europe and the former USSR. The CSRS
computer is hooked up to the AU mainframe for access to ALADIN
and CMS. Call (202) 362-6934 for office hours for the week.
THE SOVIET ARCHIVES
The willingness of the new Russian Archival
Committee under Pikhoya to cooperate in preparing this exhibit
with the Library of Congress dramatizes the break that a newly
democratic Russia is attempting to make with the entire Soviet
past. They are helping to turn material long used for one-sided
political combat into material for shared historical
investigation in the post-Cold War era.
This exhibit is also remarkable for what it contains: the
first significant number of documents ever shown anywhere from
what may be the most important new source of primary materials
for understanding the history of the twentieth century. These
documents provide an unprecedented inside look at the workings of
one of the largest, most powerful and long-lived political
machines of the modern era. As in any modern archive, there is
more bureaucratic verbiage and fewer instant revelations than one
might hope for. But the documents that the Library of Congress
has here chosen from the 500 made available from the Russian
archives cover the entire range of Soviet history from the
October Revolution of 1917 to the failed coup of August 1991.
They include material from archives that had been key working
files of the Communist rulers until August 1991: the archives of
the Central Committee, the Presidential archive, and the KGB.
This exhibit illustrates both the domestic and the foreign
policy of Soviet rule.
*The first section covers internal politics and aspects of
Soviet reality that were hidden or falsified in official
propaganda. These include the unannounced decisions and votes of
the higher organs of the Communist Party, as well as the
repressive activities of the Soviet security organs and various
organs charged with controlling literary freedom and organized
religion.
*The second section, dedicated to Soviet-American relations,
shows how those relations were conducted between governments,
between the publics of the two countries, and between the
Communist parties of the USSR and the USA. This section
documents cooperative as well as confrontational periods in that
relationship.
The material in the exhibit offers only a small suggestion
of what the vast archives of the paper-intensive Soviet era may
eventually reveal. The material suggests that totalitarian
practices of terror and forced labor began earlier and more
deliberately than have often been assumed. The ruthlessness,
originality, and complexity documented in these records suggests
bureaucratic dictatorship cut off from the people--and provides
many hints of why Communist rule both lasted so long and fell
apart so fast.
All Soviet documents available with Gopher may be retrieved
via FTP.
Also available online are 25 GIF images of the original
documents that have been translated in the handbook. Viewing
these images will require appropriate hardware and viewing soft-
ware for your respective computer. These documents are not
currently available via Gopher. If you wish to download them,
use your favorite FTP program to do so. Remember that GIF files
must be transferred as binary files.
From Gopher menu "Other Gophers" "North America" "USA"
"Washington D.C." "American University"
All files are FTPable from darwin.cc.nd.edu in
/pub/soviet.archive
Anonymous FTP 3.3
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program allows a user to
transfer files to and from a remote network site. "Anonymous
FTP" indicates that a user may log into the remote system as user
"anonymous" with an arbitrary password (as a courtesy use your
e-mail address as a password).
FTP is the ability to move one file from a host computer to
the computer that provides one access to the Internet.
Furthermore,if one's local personal computer is on a computer
network with the computer that is providing access to the
Internet, one can transfer the file once more to the local
computer by means of FTP.
To transfer a file using FTP, one must know that address of
the computer where the file is stored and the name of the file.
The file may be either a written text file or it might be a
binary file (if it is a text file, it is a written document, such
as an article, essay, directions to acquire more information,
etc.; if it is a binary file, it might be a spreadsheet, a
computer program, etc.;). For example, if Steve Herro's
autobiography was a written file (herro.txt) stored on the St.
Norbert College academic mainframe computer (sncac.snc.edu),
stored in the public section of sncac.snc.edu, the directions to
acquire the text would be the following (once one has logged onto
the mainframe that has provided access to the Internet):
1.
2. login with and then or
3. (literally, this means change to the public
directory of the sncac.snc.edu computer)
4.
5.
6.
The user still has to move the file from the computer that has
provided him or her access to the Internet to his or her own
personal computer. The procedures for this final transfer vary.
FTP SITES 3.4
AUSTRALIA
laserspark.anu.edu.au
CANADA
ftp.cc.umanitoba.edu /rec-travel extensive collection of
travelogues and other travel infos
CROATIA
atlas.irb.hr
thphys.irb.hr
ftp.ifs.hr
cromath.math..hr
carnet.hr
CZECH REPUBLIC
a1well.feld.cvut.cz (147.32.192.31)
adelard.dcs.muni.cz (147.251.48.1)
dec51.lf2.cuni.cz (193.84.64.5)
decsys.vsb.cz (158.196.1.10)
earn.cvut.cz (147.32.1.3)
ftp.fee.vutbr.cz (147.229.9.10)
ftp.muni.cz (147.251.12.8)
ftp.vse.cz (146.102.16.9)
ftp.vslib.cz (147.230.16.1)
ftp.zcu.cz (147.228.54.11)
novell.felk.cvut.cz (192.108.160.5)
rhino.cis.vutbr.cz (147.229.3.10)
sipek.vscht.cz (147.33.2.40)
vax.felk.cvut.cz (192.108.160.2)
vcdec.cvut.cz (147.32.1.21)
EUROPE
ftp.wu-wien.ac.at ()
/pub/cerro Archive of CERRO-L
ftp.funet.fi (128.214.6.100)
nic.funet.fi
/pub/culture/russian Extensive archive covering almost
all aspects of Russian culture
rusinfo.rus.uni-stuttgart.de
/pub/soft/tex/fonts/ams Cyrillic TeX fonts
HUNGARY
ftp.elte.hu
ftp.sztaki.hu
inform.inf.bme.hu
novell.aszi.sztaki.hu
POLAND
alfa.camk.edu.pl (148.81.25.1)
/pub/pigulki
/pub/GUST/MeX Package for Polish TeX for DOS
cc.ncu.edu.pl
copernicus.astro.torun.edu.pl
frodo.nask.org.pl
ftp.cc.torun.edu.pl
ftp.fuw.edu.pl
/pub/Donosy Donosy archive
ftp.ia.pw.edu.pl
ftp.mimuw.edu.pl (148.81.12.1)
/pub/hospex files related to HOSPEX list
/pub/polTeX Polish TeX files
galaxy.uci.edu.pl
jetta.if.uj.edu.pl
ldhpux.immt-pwr.wroc.edu.pl
merkury.atm.com.pl
sigma.im.uj.edu.pl
sirius.astrouw.edu.pl
/Acta Astronomica archive
titan.coi.pw.edu.pl
zfja-gate.fuw.edu.pl
zsku.p.lod.edu.pl
SLOVAKIA
ccfly.tuke.sk
frdsa.utc.sk
ftp.eunet.sk (192.108.130.33)
nic.uakom.sk
savba.savba.sk
uvt.uniag.sk
uvt.utc.sk
zodiac.upjs.sk
UKRAINE
monolit.kiev.ua
USA
bric-a-brac.apple.com
/software/mac/sys.soft.intl/ Intl. versions of Mac system
dhvx20.csudh.edu GNET archive
ftp.cica.indiana.edu Fonts
ftp.cs.umd.edu /pub/cyrillic
ftp.hyperion.com /pub/x-cyrillic.tar.Z
ftp.stolaf.edu (130.71.128.9)
/pub/travel-advisories/advisories
travel advisories issued by US State Dept.
ftp.uu.net /uumap UUCP maps
jam.cog.brown.edu (128.148.208.200)
/pub/ruscat Cyrillic text viewer for vt220
kekule.osc.edu /pub/russian Cyrillic fonts
lynx.ps.uci.edu (128.200.29.14)
/pub/polish/polmac Polish fonts for the Mac
mcsun.eu.net Cyrillic fonts and keyboards
moose.cs.indiana.edu
/pub/phonedir xUSSR Long Distance Phone Directory
moxie.oswego.edu (129.3.20.3)
/pub/COUP docs on Soviet coup in August '91
msdos.archive.umich.edu (141.211.164.153)
/msdos/foreign_lang/russian
/msdos/dos_fonts/cyryllic
/mac/system.extensions/font
and lots of other goodies...
poniecki.berkeley.edu (128.32.162.54)
/pub/polish archive for almost all Polish e-press
rtfm.mit.edu (18.72.1.58)
/pub/usenet-by-group/soc.culture...
seq1.loc.gov (140.147.3.12)
/pub/soviet.archive Files at the Library of Congress
spider.math.ilstu.edu (138.87.132.21)
user: ftp password: your.e-mail.address
pub/pl/kawaly collection of Polish jokes (in Polish)
sunsite.unc.edu
/pub/academic/history Soviet archives from Lib. of Congr.
and other history materials
wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (192.88.110.20)
/PD1/MSDOS.EDUCATION/RUSEN125.ZIP Russian-English on-line
dictionary
wiretap.spies.com
/Gov
constitutions of various nations, treaties, speeches,
conferences; form colonial England to Maastrict - a plethora
comments to [email protected]
xUSSR
(comments on accessibility pulled up on WWW-truth TBD)
surplus.demos.su 192.91.186.130 not accessible
moscvax.demos.su ??? not accessible
newcom.kiae.su 144.206.136.5 not accessible
fagot.turbo.nsk.su 192.188.187.30
ncc.free.msk.su 193.124.3.1 still accessible
ftp.pczz.msk.su 193.124.24.129 still accessible
rd.izhmark.udmurtia.su 193.124.1.130 not accessible
hq.izhmark.udmurtia.su 193.124.1.131 not accessible
info.elvis.msk.su 192.153.171.60 still accessible
ftp.kiae.su ??? not accessible
sovcom.kiae.su 144.206.136.1 not accessible
(Pasek, Herro and personal findings)
TELNET 3.5
Telnet is the name of the computer software that enables a
person to connect from one computer on the Internet to another
computer's database on the Internet. The database that the user
is interested in may be an index to journal articles, a library
online catalog, etc. Below are listed some telnet addresses for
computers that have helpful information to those in world trade.
When using telnet, note that the user is connecting to a
larger computer by means of a personal computer. If the user is
using an IBM compatible computer, the person should use VT100
emulation. (After connecting, the user is asked for the terminal
type or the emulation; if VT100 is given, press return; if it is
a choice, choose it; it the terminal type must be typed in, type
VT100.)
Also note that most telnet connections may be broken by
. A system that a person has logged onto will usually give
the user the proper procedures for logging out, but if not,
and at the telnet>, .
(Herro)
TELNET SITES 3.6
ABSEES Online
American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies
(ABSEES) Online contains bibliographic citations for journal
articles, government and research reports, dissertations, books,
and chapters of books published in the United States and Canada.
In excess of 10,000 entries are filed.
telnet alexia.lis.uiuc.edu
(login: absees, password: slavibib)
comment to [email protected]
Economic working papers--telnet netec.mcc.ac.uk (login: netec,
password: netec)
This computer houses an index to, and the full text of, many
academically oriented papers on economics. To transfer the full
text of the papers, one must be adept at decompressing files.
Economic BBS--telnet infopath.ucsd.edu (login: infopath)
This is the Gopher server for the University of California
at San Diego (more about Gopher later!). There is a reference
section on the main menu that includes the CIA World Fact Book
(which offers almanac type information on every country in the
world), a geographic name server (which provides geographic
information on localities in the United States), and the United
States State Department Advisories (which offers travel
information on foreign places to tourists and business people).
The Economic BBS is actually under the heading world.
Select world, then select by subject area, then select economics,
then select economic bulletin board. The bulletin board offers a
number of helpful databases, such as a directory of economists,
economic data available in spreadsheet format, lists of
government information sources, trade news, etc.
Vienna Stock Exchange--telnet fiivs.01.tu-graz.ac.at (login:
BOERSE)
The user must read German to use this database. The
database discloses stock rates for hundreds of Austrian stocks.
CARL Uncover--telnet pac.carl.org
Uncover allows the user to search a database of over 14,000
journals, from 1988 to the present. The user may search the
database by author of article, title of journal, or keyword from
title of article. Furthermore, articles may be faxed to the user
from CARL after the citation has been discovered.
Catalog of United States Government Publications--telnet
starmaster.uhcc.hawaii.edu
This uses the same interface as CARL Uncover. After
connecting to this database, you can search a catalog of
thousands of government documents by author, title, or keyword.
Fedworld Gateway--telnet fedworld.doc.gov
Note that this address is often busy. Try it during late
evening or early morning hours. It is packed with federal
government information.
Economic Bulletin Board--telnet ebb.stat-usa.gov (login: guest)
This service includes texts of speeches related to
economics, bulletins distributed by government offices related to
economics, trade promotion material, etc. Note that much of the
information is only available to registered users.
EconData--Telnet info.umd.edu (login: gopher)
Select "Education resources" and then select "Economic
data". One may also use Gopher to same address for same
information. This database includes the National Income and
Product Accounts, balance of payments, flow of funds, CPI, PPI,
the Penn World Trade Tables (permission needed), International
Financial Statistics (if your organization is a member of the
Inter- University Consortium for Political and Social Research),
blue pages from the Survey of Current Business, and state
and local data including employment, earnings, GSP and state
personal income. The data is in a computer file which must
be decompressed.
Luxembourg Income Study (LIS)
This project brings together 66 household surveys from 21
countries into a common database to make studies of
international economic comparisons easier. For instance, it
includes Current Population Surveys from the U.S., French
Surveys of Income, and a Hungarian Income Study. The
average survey has approximately 9,000 households with more
than 20,000 members. To maintain confidentiality and restrictions
on use, the data remains on the host computer in Luxembourg and
researchers run jobs remotely on that system through electronic
mail. Users must first register to use the database. For
information, contact the following: Tim Smeeding
([email protected]), Caroline de Tombeur
([email protected]).
Jewishnet/Hebrew University - Jerusalem
telnet vms.huji.ac.il (login: jewishnet)
anezka.vc.cvut.cz (147.32.240.22)
Library of the CVUT
(Login: library)
varda.ics.muni.cz (147.251.12.8)
Library of the Masaryk University
(LOgin: tinlib password: anonym)
echo.lu (158.64.1.36)
European Commision Host Organization - free databases
info.rutgers.edu (128.6.26.25)
CIA World Factbook
ktts.kharkov.ua
monolit.kiev.ua
olimp.irb.hr
Library of the Rudjer Boskovic Institute
(Login: ISIS)
opac.nsb.hr
National and University Library (Croatia)
(Login: OPAC)
ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu (129.237.1.30)
History databases (Login: history)
CIS info (Login: ex-ussr)
tulibb.kkt.bme.hu (152.66.114.1)
Technical University of Budapest library catalog
(Login: aleph at CCL> prompt type ?/eng for English version)
192.187.128.6
Bulgarian news (Login: vestnik)
193.2.64.42
University of Ljubljana library catalog
(Login: INFO select K to access catalogs)
(Pasek, Herro and personal findings)
GOPHER 3.7
Gopher is a widely used internet utility that allows one to
search nested and linked menues for internet archives and, at
specific sites, full text documents. I have found searching
Gopher to be akin to tackling a maze; lots of dead ends but very
satisfying successes. "Gopherspace" is not a two dimensional
maze that one could map out on a single sheet of paper but more
closely resembles a multi-dimensional super-solid with
interconnected mazes. The menu choices that end in "/" lead to
more menues, the "(?)" leads to a keyword search. Some Gopher
keyword "search-paths" seem to only examine filenames whereas
others search indexed file sets for keyword matches. When one
arrives at a "(?)" Gopher prompt, some groping will reveal which
type of search it conducts. The numbered entry can select an
item or the cursor up and down keys. "u" moves up a menu to the
previous screen. After viewing a end-product file, one is
presented with a choice to "s" save the file to your system file
area or have it mailed to your mailbox space.
SOME SELECTED GOPHER DESTINATIONS 3.8
United Nations Gopher Server--gopher nywork1.undp.org
Contains United Nations press releases, directories,
resolutions, documents from the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, etc.
Wiretap--gopher wiretap.spies.com
This Gopher server contains the full text of the NAFTA
Agreement, Government Accounting Office Transition Reports, and
other government documents from the United States and around the
world. This server contains so much information that it is
advised that the user log on and browse it at his or her will.
Library of Congress Gopher Server--gopher marvel.loc.gov
This Gopher server includes much helpful government
information. Follow these menus to find appropriate international
documents, Federal government information/state, local, foreign,
and international government/international government
information. I recommend experimenting with this Gopher server
to see all kinds of information available.
Radio Free Europe Daily Report--gopher gopher.lib.umich.edu
Select "News services", select "Radio free Europe daily
report". This is only available to non University of Michigan
users during nonpeak hours. Try it late at night or on the
weekends for reports from radio free Europe.
Area codes--Gopher gopher.uoregon.edu; login:
Select "Desktop Reference", select "Geographic and
Travel Information", select "World Telephone Codes". This
database allows users to search for country and area codes in
several ways.
Economic Bulletin Board--gopher una.hh.lib.umich.edu and login
. Select "ebb"
The U. of M. gopher downloads information from the
Economic Bulletin Board, including Current Business Statistics,
Economic Indicators, Employment Statistics, Industry Statistics,
Summaries of Current Economic Conditions, etc. More
specifically, Durable Goods Shipments and Orders, Housing Starts,
Monthly Wholesale Sales, Business Cycle Indicators, Revised
Composite Indexes and Indicators, and Summary Text Files for
Economic Indicators. The major file areas are arranged
alphabetically by topic.
Economic Development Information Network--gopher psuvm.psu.edu
23. On initial login, ignore the userid and password prompts.
>From "command" , select edin from main menu.
Menu options include: Pennsylvania State Data Center in
which you can find data for any state in several areas including
Business, Capital Resources, Government, Income, Labor Force,
etc.; Demographic and Economic Database Files which allows one to
select geographic preferences and then topic areas; Procurement
Leads - in international trade and agriculture; and the Economic
Development Directory in which one can design search criteria to
select programs or agencies of use.
Times around the World--gopher esusda.gov, choose Internet
Services and Information, choose Local Times Around the World
This alphabetical listing by country gives the Current
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and the Universal Coordinated Time for
cities around the world. Cities include Ann Arbor, MI; Oslo,
Norway; Zagreb, Croatia; Lancaster, UK; Bangkok, Thailand; etc.
CERRO Gopher
From the Gopher menu, make the following menu choices:
"Other Gophers" - "Europe" - Austria" -
"University of Economics" - "Netzwerk Ressourcen..." - "CERRO:
..." voila, there you are.
This is definitely the best way of getting to the
CERRO-archive. Why? The Gopher-based Archive contains links to
material on other Gopher-servers that is not accessible through
FTP.
If you can't get into Gopher at MSU but can Telnet, you can
telnet to "gopher.wu-wien.ac.at" and login as "gopher". This gets
you into the main Gopher-menu. Least attractive option: find an
FTPMAIL-gateway and use FTP through e-mail. In this case you
simply write the FTP-commands into an e-mail and send them to the
gateway. The program there does the FTPing for you and mails you
back the result. There is a file "index.txt" in the CERRO-archive
that shows the content. Get this one first and select the files
you want to download. FTPMAIL is usually a pain. Just like the
old days of computing when you turned in your pile of punch cards
and picked up the output on the next day just to find out that
you have mistyped something. To get "index.txt" from the
CERRO-archive you should send the following commands to FTPMAIL:
connect ftp.wu-wien.ac.at
cd /pub/cerro
get index.txt
quit
There are CERRO archives maintained at Rice University, however
their equivalency is yet to be determined.
gopher.worldbank.org
GOPHERS: The big list...
AUSTRIA
gopher.ai.univie.ac.at
gopher.kardio.akh-wien.ac.at
AUSTRALIA
laserspark.anu.edu.au
CROATIA
smile.srce.hr (root gopher of CARNet)
zagreb.mz.hr
maja.zems.etf.hr
gopher.ifs.hr
CZECH REPUBLIC
csmat.karlin.mff.cuni.cz (193.84.58.222)
decsys.vsb.cz (158.196.1.10)
gopher.cesnet.cz (192.108.152.13) Czech root gopher
gopher.cuni.cz (192.108.152.13) Charles University
gopher.fee.vutbr.cz (147.229.9.10)
gopher.feld.cvut.cz (147.32.192.5)
gopher.fsv.cvut.cz (147.32.129.4)
gopher.jcu.cz (160.217.1.10)
gopher.ms.mff.cuni.cz (193.84.56.1)
gopher.upol.cz (158.194.7.2)
gopher.vscht.cz (147.33.1.4)
gopher.vslib.cz (147.230.16.1)
gopher.zcu.cz (147.228.54.11)
pub.vse.cz (146.102.16.9) Prague U of Econ.
rhino.cis.vutbr.cz (147.229.3.10)
vcdec.cvut.cz (147.32.1.21)
EUROPE
concise.funet.fi
CONCISE database accesible via gopher
gopher.who.ch
World Health Organization
GERMANY
134.96.82.13 U Saarbruecken
Archiv gegen Auslaender Innenfeindlichkeit
gopher.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de TU Munich
gopher.inf.tu-dresden.de TU Dresden
gopher.rrz.uni-koeln.de U Koeln
gopher.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de U Karlsruhe
gopher.tu-magdeburg.de TU Magdeburg
gopher.uni-konstanz.de U Konstanz
gopher.uni-passau.de U Passau
gopher.uni-regensburg.de U Regensburg
serversun.mdv.gwdg.de U Goettingen
HUNGARY
mars.sztaki.hu
bmeik.eik.bme.hu
POLAND
galaxy.uci.agh.edu.pl
gopher.ae.poz.edu.pl
gopher.atr.byd.edu.pl
gopher.fuw.edu.pl
gopher.ia.pw.edu.pl
gopher.torun.edu.pl (158.75.2.5)
gopher.umcs.lublin.pl
ldhpux.immt-pwr.wroc.edu.pl
mvax.ci-pwr.wroc.edu.pl
plearn.edu.pl
ruby.poz.edu.plucs
ucstoux1.cto.us.edu.pl Silesian Univ. C.C.
vm.cc.torun.edu.pl
volt.iem.pw.edu.pl
SLOVAKIA
ccsun.tuke.sk
decef.elf.stuba.sk
fpdas.utc.sk
frdsa.utc.sk
frdsa.utc.sk
kosice.upjs.sk
nic.uakom.sk
savba.savba.sk Slovak Academy of Sciences
sk2eu.uniba.sk
sun.savba.sk
uvt.uniag.sk
vsld.tuzvo.sk
UKRAINE
ktts.kharkov.ua
USA
andrea.stanford.edu
/Egyeb Magyar Nyelvu Archivumok/Fekete Zoli (AGORA)
gopher.undp.org United Nations Development Program
gopher.uwo.ca
world-factbook92
Louisiana Tech Gopher
/Electronic Media/ISSN Serials/Donosy
poniecki.berkeley.edu (128.32.162.54)
access to collection of Polish goodies also available via
anonymous ftp from the same site
sunsite.unc.edu
russian studies or history - Soviet archives from Library
of Congress
Other GOPHERS exist all over the net and the majority of them
contain duplicate pointer selections. To list all of the GOPHERS
would forsake brevity. However, there are unique collections
distibuted around the net which the author will persist in
exploring and, hopefully, eventually catalogue.
(Pasek, Herro and personal findings)
WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW) 3.9
The World Wide Web is a searching system that works with
Hypertext links; operative words in a sentence contained in a
file links to other files in a webbed chain topics and
definitions. Every file becomes, in effect, a menu.
The newly prevalent user interfaces such as Mosaic use this
system glide through the branches of the internet. My
experience has revealed a good number of bugs; links that are not
open, dead ends and otherwise thwarted searches. However, this
sustem does hold a great deal of promise, so don't dispair.
WWW PUBLIC CLIENTS 3.10
To access telnet to the host address and login as .
fserv.kfki.hu
sun.uakom.cz
vms.huji.ac.il
(Pasek and personal findings)
ADJUNCT SYSTEMS 4.0
===============
Network and communication systems are in place that operate
independently of the internet but provide e-mail, USENET and/or
direct log-on links to the internet. I still have a great deal
of exploring ahead of me in regards to these resources. However,
what follows are my findings so far.
RELCOM 4.1
Relcom (Russian ELectronic COMmunications) services include
e-mail, USENET news and access to USENET archives. The messages
are mostly in Russian and encoded in KOI-8. Cyrillic fonts and
keyboard maps are available from [email protected] or using
anonymous ftp from .
Getting info: send to as the message body
a line containing "HELP"
send to as the message body
a line containing "LIST"
Subscribing: send to as the message body
a line containing "SUBSCRIBE group_name".
Help:
(I break away here to some helpful commentary from Jan Labanowski
pulled up on WWW, with some minor modifications of my own, which
includes the Relcom Help file - The Editor, Ian)
This is a file, which I (Jan Labanowski, [email protected]) derived
from the original help file for RELCOM news and added my comments
and explanations. Of course, the original help file is good,
compact, etc. But I hope, that some of you may find my
experiences with RELCOM news useful. The original help file which
I received from RELCOM is called relcom.help. Comments are
pointed to with end-notes (a) and (b).
Jan Labanowski
Ohio Supercomputer Center
[email protected] [email protected]
1. What is RELCOM News.
In the USA (my perspective) and in the WEST in general, there
is USENET, called News. There are thousands of news groups,
with topics varying from math to sex stories. They differ from
electronic mail in this, that the news articles are shared by
all people at the given machine, while e-mail (even if
messages are identical) is stored separately for each mailbox.
Also, before you can read the news articles your administrator
has to install the service on your machine. Even, if the news
are installed on your machine, you do not have to read them,
and after some time, the old articles (even if you did not
read them) will be deleted automatically to make disk space
for new ones. Network news are mostly in English, or if in a
foreigh language, the English (should say Latin) letters are
used to transliterate foreign languages. I understand that
RELCOM works in a similar way in countries of former USSR.
However, the major difference is that articles are mostly in
Russian and the codes for Russian characters require 8 bits
per character, while Latin codes require only 7 bits. Since
many western network news servers, mailers, gateways, etc. are
not prepared to handle full 8-bit character codes they mess up
the Russian letters. Formally, RELCOM news service uses so
called RELCOM-KOI8 character set. The lower 0-127 character
codes are standard ASCII codes (i.e., contain all Latin
letters, punctuation, digits, etc.) while codes above 127
contain Russian letters. However, there are ways to obtain
intact 8-bit codes, by encoding them, and decoding them later
at the final destination.
2. How to obtain RELCOM news?
You need to send special message to the address:
[email protected]
as described below. You send commands to the
[email protected]
it will react by sending you things back. Below are the
annotated entries from the original RELCOM HELP file. Do not
be surprised with long delays in obtaining files from RELCOM
server.
This automatic mail server relays news articles from Relcom and
USENET via usual E-mail. If you want to use server you should
send e-mail letter containing the list of commands to the address
[email protected].
Subject is ignored. Command name can be in upper or lower case,
all other arguments are case sensitive.
Here comes brief description of available commands:
HELP Send this file. All subsequent commands are
ignored.
LIST Give the list of all news groups with brief
description.
LIST Give the list of news groups from the given
hierarchy. For example, "list comp.sources".
SUBSCRIBE group Subscribe to group in notify mode.
Server will periodically send you a list of
commands to retrieve new articles in the
following format:
GROUP news.answers
-ART 100 size author subject
In order to get the articles you interested
in simply uncomment corresponding commands
and send it back to server. Don't remove
GROUP commands!
** see (a) **
FEED group Subscribe to group in feed mode. All new
articles from a group will be immediately
sent to you.
WARNING:
Never use feed mode if you're not
completely sure that you need *all*
articles and your e-mail connection is
stable and permanent. This mode can
easily cause e-mail traffic jams making
impossible to send or receive any
electronic mail at your machine. This
can result in disconnecting your machine
from net by some administrator, so be
careful.
** see (b) **
RFEED size group Subscribe to group in restricted feed
mode. All articles smaller than given size
(in kilobytes) will be sent to you as in feed
mode. Lists of bigger articles will be sent
to you as in notify mode.
UNSUBSCRIBE group Unsubscribe from group.
UNSUBSCRIBE all Unsubscribe from all groups.
FORGET If you were subscribed to some groups, and
later unsubscribed, server continues to send
you lists of newly created or deleted news
groups, hoping that you might get interested
in them. To finally unconnect from server
give command FORGET.
CHECK Show the list of groups subscribed to.
GROUP group Go to the group. This group becames
"current" (for commands ARTICLE, INDEX,
LINDEX).
ARTICLE number Send specified article.
ARTICLE Send an article with specified message-id.
INDEX [number [number]] Show list of articles in current group.
The format of the list is the same as in
subscribe mode. Arguments specify the range
of article numbers.
INDEX - all articles
INDEX 700 - all articles from number 700
INDEX 700 750 - articles in range 700...750
LINDEX [number [number]] Show detailed list of articles in the
following format:
Issue:
Subject:
From:
Date:
Message-ID:
Size:
PACK Enable packing mode. All articles sent to
you will be packed, compressed and encoded.
This will reduce the volume and the total
number of transmitted files. This mode is
highly recommended. You should unpack
received batches by one of the special utilities
UNBATCH, UUNPACK or use mailer BML, which
decodes batches on the fly. You can get the
UNBATCH program (with sources) for MSDOS by
command
SEND uunpack-dos
or for Unix 386
SEND unbatch-386
or for Xenix 286
SEND unbatch-286
If you need only sources of unpack programs
you can get them by
SEND uunpack-src
and
SEND unbatch-src
PACK OFF Disable packing mode.
SEND Show list of files available on request.
You can get these files by command SEND
with parameters.
SEND file Get a file. The following files are
available:
unbatch-dos 29k program UNBATCH for MSDOS
unbatch-386 42k program UNBATCH for Unix 386
unbatch-286 38k program UNBATCH for Xenix 286
unbatch-src 20k sources of program UNBATCH
uunpack-dos 23k program UUNPACK for MSDOS
uunpack-286 29k program UUNPACK for Xenix 286
uunpack-src 8k sources of program UUNPACK
GSTAT [hierarchy] Get information about subscriptions on
groups. For each group is listed: name,
number of articles (approximately), and
number of subscribers in SUBSCRIBE, FEED and
RFEED modes.
USTAT [address] Get information about user subscriptions.
User address is a regular expression in SH
style. For example, command "ustat alex@*"
will print information about users with name
alex. For each user is listed: name, total
number of groups, and number of subscriptions
in SUBSCRIBE, FEED and RFEED modes.
TIME Print current date and time.
QUIT Shows server that all commands are over.
WARNING: don't use user name "uucp" or "news" to receive news -
server ignores these names.
In order to submit an article you should send the article with
the header field "Newsgroups:" containing the comma-separated
list of newsgroups (all newsgroups should be valid) to the
address [email protected].
The default distribution of the message is the whole world, so
you should think twice before sending your article. Remember it
will be read by thousands or millions of readers around the
world, so your message should not be offensive, should not
violate copyright laws. Never write things already written by
somebody. It's better to restrict distribution area to be as
small as possible. You can do it using the header field
"Distribution:". Valid distributions are:
world, eunet, su, russia, moscow
Example:
% mailx [email protected]
Subject: testing
~: headline Newsgroups relcom.test
(continue)
~: headline Distribution su
(continue)
Twas brilling....
EOT
%
Please send all questions to [email protected].
Bug reports and propositions please send to Serge Vakulenko,
[email protected].
(a) Example: At some point, I have sent the following message to
[email protected]
PACK
SUBSCRIBE relcom.commercial.chemical
SUBSCRIBE relcom.commercial.estate
SUBSCRIBE relcom.commercial.infoserv
SUBSCRIBE relcom.commercial.medicine
SUBSCRIBE relcom.commercial.money
SUBSCRIBE relcom.commercial.transport
SUBSCRIBE relcom.renews
SUBSCRIBE relcom.jusinf
QUIT
PACK means, send me the news in a packed form (however, the
subjects are always sent to you as normal text, without packing).
SUBSCRIBE means: send me subjects of new articles appearing in
the above newsgroups.
As a result, I receive from time to time a message like:
< To: [email protected]
Subject: List of new Usenet articles
From: [email protected]
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 93 20:15:24 GMT
Sender: [email protected]
X-Class: Slow
Status: R
To order articles remove `-' from the first column of
corresponding lines and send the list back to
[email protected].
GROUP relcom.jusinf
-ART 16 3.2K [email protected] nOWYE CENY NA
\KSPRESS-INFORMACI@... >
If I decide to get the message back, I am sending the following
message to [email protected] (not
[email protected] !)
GROUP relcom.jusinf
ART 16 3.2K [email protected] nOWYE CENY NA
i.e., I only remove the '-' in front of ART and the full text of
the article is returned to me in a PACKed from.
(b) The FEED is different from SUBSCRIBE command above. For
example, sending
PACK
FEED relcom.spbnews
QUIT
to [email protected] will result in sending you the PACKed
news in this group (in this case: relcom.spbnews) without asking.
You will get them, even if you do not want them. They will came
as PACKed. You will need the program to unpack them. You cannot
read packed news directly.
3. What to do with a compressed file which you get from RELCOM?
When you get the PACKed news from RELCOM server, you need to
unpack/unbatch them. The format used for packing the news is
not a simple uuencode. The news articles are additionally
compressed. The programs which unpacks the news is called
unbatch. The original program is simple to use. Assuming
that you saved the message from RELCOM as a file: relnews.mail,
you just do:
unbatch relnews.mail
and your original relnews.mail file is replaced with a
uncompressed file with news articles in KOI8 character set on
UNIX machine or Alternativnyj/Lexicon character code on the PC.
There is a cosmetic problem with the unbatch program. It
overwrites the original file. With very minor modifications, I
produced the unbatch1. This program takes 1 or 2 arguments
on the command line. If one argument is used, it acts as the
original, i.e., overwrites the original file with an unbatched
file. If two arguments are used, the second argument is a name
of the output file. For example:
unbatch1 relnews.mail relnews.unb
will leave the relnews.mail file intact, and save
unbatched/uncompressed file as relnews.unb.
4. How to read the news. If you have Cyrillic display fonts, you
can just display your file. For fonts for X-windows and
MS-Windows are available. You need to install them. Consult
the documentation how to do it. The other possibility is to
transliterate the file, i.e., change codes for Russian letters
to some Latin letters or sequences of Latin letters.
The TRANSLIT program will allow you to do it, but there are
many others if you do not like it.
5. How to print the news?
I use LaTeX with WNCYR fonts. But there are many other ways
and packages (e.g., the "Diplomat Software" 714-474-6968
offers fonts for MS-DOS and popular wordprocessors for a
modest price). You can also get the Dmitri Vulis public domain
package, ADDPAGE for the PC which has fonts for Epson
printers.
Jan Labanowski
[email protected]
*** ***
Relcom hierarchy:
relcom.ads
relcom.ads.comp
relcom.archives
relcom.archives.d
relcom.bbs
relcom.commerce
relcom.commerce.audio-video
relcom.commerce.chemical
relcom.commerce.construction
relcom.commerce.consume
relcom.commerce.energy
relcom.commerce.estate
relcom.commerce.food
relcom.commerce.household
relcom.commerce.infoserv
relcom.commerce.jobs
relcom.commerce.machinery
relcom.commerce.medicine
relcom.commerce.metals
relcom.commerce.money
relcom.commerce.orgtech
relcom.commerce.other
relcom.commerce.stocks
relcom.commerce.talk
relcom.commerce.tobacco
relcom.commerce.transport
relcom.exnet
relcom.exnet.quote
relcom.fido.ru.hacker
relcom.fido.ru.networks
relcom.fido.ru.unix
relcom.fido.su.books
relcom.fido.su.c-c++
relcom.fido.su.general
relcom.fido.su.hardw
relcom.fido.su.music
relcom.fido.su.pol
relcom.fido.su.tolkien
relcom.fido.su.virus
relcom.humor
relcom.infomarket.quote
relcom.infomarket.talk
relcom.jusinf
relcom.kids
relcom.lan
relcom.maps
relcom.mn.economics
relcom.mn.faxdigest
relcom.mn.laws
relcom.mn.newspaper
relcom.msdos
relcom.music
relcom.netnews
relcom.netnews.big
relcom.penpals
relcom.politics
relcom.postf.business
relcom.postf.exchange
relcom.postf.military
relcom.postf.news
relcom.postmasters
relcom.postmasters.d
relcom.sources
relcom.talk
relcom.teleputing
relcom.terms
relcom.test
relcom.wtc
relcom.x
suug
suug.org
ukr.archives
ukr.binf
ukr.commerce
ukr.commerce.chemical
ukr.commerce.energy
ukr.commerce.food
ukr.commerce.household
ukr.commerce.machinery
ukr.commerce.metals
ukr.commerce.misc
ukr.commerce.money
ukr.commerce.orgtech
ukr.commerce.price-lists
ukr.commerce.talky
ukr.comp.newprods
ukr.dilo.arts
ukr.dilo.law
ukr.dilo.marketnews
ukr.dilo.money
ukr.finance
ukr.gc.chronical
ukr.gc.normativ
ukr.law
ukr.maps
ukr.netnews
ukr.nodes
ukr.press.dovira.svit
ukr.rules
ukr.soft-house
NOTE: Relcom server works as a mail server. Due to the traffic
volume and network limitations to obtain a response may take
a day or two. Be patient. If it does not work, try to communicate
with Relcom using European Internet nodes as relays (nodes in
Sweden or Finland are a good choice).
(Pasek)
SOVSET 4.2
Soviet and East European Studies Data Library
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
1800 K Street, NW Suite 400
Washington D.C. 20006
Tel: 202-775-3257
Fax: 202-775-3199
email: [email protected]
ftp sovset.org
Fees per hour: internet $15
CompuServe $25 (non-profit use)
corporate $40
Login and password requires advance arrangement.
Offers conferences, speech texts, news services, regular reports
and a phone and address directory for Moscow.
Sarah C. Helmstadter, Executive Director
PEACENET AND GLASNET 4.3
GLASNET INFORMATION
Version 3.1 10 March 1994
"GlasNet (R)" - A Computer Network for Pro Bono Groups
in the Former Soviet Union, GlasNet is the first non-profit,
non-governmental telecommunications network to be established in
the Former Soviet Union. It is a network for people there who
have access to electronic communication equipment; typically a
personal computer of some kind and a modem (See Appendix B below
for more information on modems). Anyone with access to the
Internet of any of the networks listed below can exchange Email
with GlasNet users.
GlasNet was featured in a March 9, 1994 page 1 story in the New
York Times on Russian networking by Michael Specter; a text file
version can be supplied by Email; send requests to
[email protected]
GlasNet's goal is to offer easy and inexpensive information
exchange between diverse groups within the Former Soviet Union,
including scientists, educators, cultural groups, journalists,
environmentalists, business people, computer enthusiasts, and so
forth. It also enables Former Soviet Union groups and
individuals to correspond electronically with their counterparts
in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. GlasNet is non-profit
(revenues are kept equal to expenses), and serves the
communication needs of pro bono groups in the Former Soviet Union
who could not otherwise afford modern communication services.
Charges to GlasNet users in the Former Soviet Union are entirely
in rubles, and will be kept as low as possible while maintaining
good system services. GlasNet has been operating in Moscow since
March of 1991.
Thanks to the International Science Foundation for the Former
Soviet Union, GlasNet Moscow now has a direct connection to the
Internet. GlasNet service between Moscow and other parts of the
Internet is reliable and rapid; typical Email messages exchanged
between the US and Moscow arrive at their destination a second or
two after they were sent.
GlasNet is a member of the Association for Progressive
Communications (APC), a global network-of-networks with host
computers in Argentina (Wamani), Australia (Pegasus), Brasil
(AlterNex), Canada (Web), Ecuador (Ecuanex), England (GreenNet),
Germany (ComLink), Mexico (LaNeta), Nicaragua (Nicarao),
Slovenija (Histria), South Africa (SangoNet), Sweden (NordNet),
Ukraine (GLUK), Uruguay (Chasque), and the USA (IGC -
PeaceNet,EcoNet)
GlasNet has recently upgraded to Sun Microsystems equipment in
Moscow; this should increase perfomance by a factor of 2 to 4.
The Moscow in-dial modems support speeds from 300 to 14,400 bps,
and a wide range of protocols including V.32 bis, V.42, and MNP.
The current GlasNet Moscow hardware configuration supports up to
4,000 user accounts; of these up to 24 can be on line
simultaneously, depending on how many access ports (local Moscow
dial-in, ISKRA, and X.25) are available.
GlasNet also has a host computer system operating in Kiev,
operating since December of 1992. For more detail on this system
send Email to [email protected].
Collaboration among scientists, business people, and other
specialists in the USA has been facilitated in recent years
through the use of computer-based electronic mail and
conferencing capabilities, allowing people in different parts of
the country to work on joint projects, access data banks and
information in computers all across the country, and
electronically publish new work. These powerful capabilties are
now becoming available to the general public, the non-profit
community in particular, through such services as PeaceNet and
EcoNet.
It is the goal of GlasNet to provide similar
performance-enhancing services to the fast-emerging independent
sectors in the Former Soviet Union, offering users easy access to
friends, colleagues, and potential associates in the Former
Soviet Union and abroad.
Users from many other places in the Former Soviet Union regularly
access their GlasNet accounts using long distance calls, GlasNet
accounts have been accessed in this way from as far away as
Irkutsk and Vladivostok. Access is also available from many
Former Soviet Union cities via local calls to Public Data
Networks making X.25 connections to GlasNet. See Appendix C for
more details.
Services available to GlasNet users include:
Electronic Mail
GlasNet subscribers are able to exchange messages with others on
GlasNet, other users within APC, or with users belonging to many
other networks through APC "gateways."
Networks accessible through these gateways include: America
Online, Applelink, ARPANET, AT&T LandMail, AT&T MAIL, Bitnet,
BIX, BOLNET, CARINET, CGNET, CIGnet, COMLINK, COMPUSERVE,
CONNECT, CSNet, DASNET, DELPHI, DIALCOM, EasyLink, ECUANEX, EIES,
ENVOY 100, FIDONET, GALAXY, GeoNet, GTE, HandsNet, HURACAN, IMC,
INET, Internet, JANET, MCI MAIL, MicroLink, NASA, NWI, OMNET,
PANDORA, PINET, Portal, PsychNet, ScienceNet, SOURCE, TCN,
Telecom Gold, Telemail, THE META NETWORK, TWICS, Tymnet/Ontyme,
UNDP;UNDRO;UNINET, UNISON, UUCP Mail Net, WELL, WORKNET, OMNET,
Usenet
Electronic mail (Email) overcomes the cost and problems of
telephone use. An electronic mail message is composed at the
user's convenience, then quickly sent by the GlasNet computer to
its destination in the addressee's host computer mailbox, which
may be in Moscow or halfway around the world. When the person to
whom it is sent logs in to his or her local network host
computer, the message is waiting. Transmission is immediate, and
there is no need for both parties to be present simultaneously.
Costs are less than long distance telephone calls or those of air
parcel services.
FAX
GlasNet provides its users with the ability to send messages to
FAX machines. FAX messages are sent directly from Moscow to FAX
machines in the Former Soviet Union; FAX messages are sent as
Email from the Former Soviet Union to California, and then as FAX
messages from there to FAX machines in the US. Similarly FAX
messages can be sent as Email from the US to GlasNet, and from
there as FAX messages to FAX machines in the Former Soviet Union.
Most users find that this system provides more reliable delivery
than direct FAX-in-the-US to FAX-in-the-Former Soviet Union
calls.
Because of the bit-mapped nature of FAX encoded messages it is
not possible for users to receive FAX messages via the
character-oriented GlasNet system.
Electronic Conferencing
An electronic conference is a written conversation with other
users; a conference is created to discuss a particular topic or
to facilitate communication between people working on a joint
project. GlasNet users can start their own conferences on topics
of interest, or are able to participate in on-going conferences
on other APC networks. Although anyone on any of the networks
listed above can exchange Email with GlasNet subscribers, people
in the US must be subscribers to the IGC networks PeaceNet or
EcoNet in order to participate in IGC or APC conferences with
GlasNet users. Contact information for IGC is given below. Many
of the Usenet News Groups available through Internet are carried
on GlasNet and can be posted to or read from by GlasNet users.
GlasMail (R)
People without a personal computer and a modem can still
communicate using GlasNet's GlasMail service: in November 1991
GlasNet began offering this new service. It allows reliable
communication between people who have no Email or other
equipment. Messages can be delivered using phone calls, FAXes,
Email, letters, or telegrams. The messages are sent rapidly and
reliably between the USA and the Former Soviet Union by Email;
they are translated into the specified form and dispatched from
Moscow (or San Francisco at the US end). Prices range from $5 to
$18 for normal messages, depending on the speed and cost of
delivery. Delivery can be as short as 1 day from from receipt of
a message in the USA to its delivery in the Former Soviet Union.
Messages from the Former Soviet Union to the USA can be delivered
more rapidly.
For detailed information on GlasMail send a request to
[email protected].
------------------------------------------------------------
The Russian staff of GlasNet opposed the coup of August 1991 and
courageously kept GlasNet operating during it. GlasNet was used
to keep GlasNet users informed about the fight against the coup,
and to pass information about it back to the West. Similar
information exchange was maintained during the siege of the
Parliament Building in October of 1993.
For further information on GlasNet, please use the contacts
below.
In the Former Soviet Union:
GlasNet User Support
Email: [email protected]
GlasNet Technical Information
Alexander Zaytsev, Technical Director.
Email: [email protected]
GlasNet Moscow office address:
107074 Moscow
ul. Sadovaya-Chernogryazskaya, 4
suite 16 3rd floor
(near metro KRASNYE VOROTA)
voice telephone: (095)207-0704
voice telephone and FAX: 207-0889
Data telephone numbers: 262-4857, 262-0209.
Both 4857 and 0209 are equipped with rotaries; incoming calls are
automatically routed to one of 16 data lines.
In the USA:
David Caulkins
Barbara Loebner
GlasNet USA
437 Mundel Way
Los Altos, CA 94022
(415)948-5753 voice
(415)948-1474 fax
Email:
[email protected] (from Internet)
People in the USA who wish to access GlasNet and do not have an
account on one of the APC-connected gateway networks listed above
should get an account on one of the IGC networks: PeaceNet or
EcoNet. For information about these networks, contact:
IGC
18 de Boom
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415)442-0220
(415)546-1794 fax
Email: [email protected]
It is possible to sponsor a GlasNet account for colleagues in the
Former Soviet Union by making dollar payments to IGC in the USA;
accounts sponsored in this way are effectively free to users in
the Former Soviet Union.
There are two ways to pay for GlasNet accounts:
1. From the USA by establishing a Sponsored Account. These cost
$25 per month, plus a one-time $60 setup charge. The $25 per
month covers connect, gateway, and storage charges up to 600,000
characters per month of traffic. Special services (FAX, telex,
X.25 access, etc) are not included in the $25 monthly charge.
Sponsored Accounts are paid for in dollars to the GlasNet USA
office. After an initial payment to set up the account
(typically $85; $25 1st month and $60 one-time setup fee),
accounts are billed monthly in the USA.
Sponsored Accounts are often used by people visiting the Former
Soviet Union. For visits less than 3 weeks, guest accounts are
available for $20.
2. People in the Former Soviet Union can pay directly in rubles.
See Appendices for more.
IGC CONFERENCES 4.4
The user interface I have encountered on PeaceNet is fairly
friendly; the user just selects "c" for "conferences" from the
main menu. However, one must know the name of the conference
desired; searching for topical keywords to locate a conference is
easy at SFSUVAX1 with tin but time consuming at PeaceNet.
However, these conferences frequently provide a thoughtful forum
for discussion and therefore may be worth seeking out.
Conference list update as of March 2, 1994 included are in the
catagories xUSSR, Disarmament, Economics, Europe, Human Rights,
Mailing Lists, Military and Security, News, Nuclear Weapons and
Testing:
aiha.info -- Information of general interest to
professionals and students interested in the
provision of technical assistance,
particularly health care-related aid--to the
peoples of the former Soviet Union.
aiha.med-pol -- Invites participation from health professionals
and others interested in health issues. It
supports the AIHA U.S.-NIS hospital
partnerships by providing a means to exchange
views on health care policy issues.
aiha.med-treat -- This conference invites participation from
doctors and others interested in health
issues. It supports the AIHA U.S.-NIS
hospital partnerships by providing a means to
exchange information on clinical issues of
interest to the partnerships.
act.wb94 -- For groups around the world to post information
about actions and campaigns planned for the
50th Anniversary of the Bretton Woods
Institutions (World Bank [WB] and
International Monetary Fund [IMF]).
ax.fondad -- Forum on Debt and Development (FONDAD),
following up on the problems of external debt
in the so-called 'third world', including
analyses and concrete actions within social
movements.
ai.general -- This is a public conference where Amnesty
International news releases, short reports,
campaign actions and other human rights and
Amnesty International information is posted.
ai.letter -- For activating users to send
letters/telexes/faxes to Government officials
all over the world in order to urge them to
release prisoners of conscience. The
letters are written by Amnesty International.
ai.students -- Amnesty International news and ideas of
interest to students and youth in general.
ai.uan -- Amnesty International's Urgent Action Alerts on
torture and other human rights violations.
(See also the ai.letters conference.)
aihre.general -- Discussion of human rights education. Please
post comments, suggestions, information, and
the like.
bas.magazine -- The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists specializes
in nuclear and arms control issues,
international affairs, and species survival.
Conference includes: expanded contents pages,
yearly index, history of the Doomsday Clock,
& ordering info.
basic.nato -- News and information on NATO's policies,
weapons, strategies, important meetings,
research activities and the response of the
peace movement. Sponsored by the British
American Security Information Council.
baltic.news -- News and views from and about the Baltic
countries.
bitl.baltic -- BitNet ListServ conference on the Baltic
Republics and related topics. Includes
ongoing discussion, news, and networking.
bitl.biodiv -- This list has been created to discuss the
"Needs and Specifications for a Biodiversity
Network," which is the theme of the workshop
that will be held in Campinas, Sao Paulo,
Brazil, in July 27-31, 1992.
bitl.conslink -- A BITNET LISTSERV discussion on Biological
Conservation.
bitl.devel -- Bitnet mailing list about development issues.
bitl.newlists -- Announcements of new bitnet listserve mailing
lists. BitNet lists originate outside of the
APC systems as mailing lists (i.e., their
messages arrive via email). They may be
imported into conferences. Contact 'support'
for more information.
bitl.politics -- Echoes the Bitnet list on politics.
bitl.sanet -- Echo of the Sustainable Agriculture Network's
mail group, SANET-MG. Its purpose is to share
ideas, information, questions, etc. about
networking sustainable agriculture
information.
bitl.seanet -- This is an echo of a BitNet mailing list which
is a discussion of South East Asian regions,
including politics, human rights,
environmental issues, and other issues.
bitl.travel -- Echoes the BitNet mailing list, TRAVEL-L, which
is a forum for the discussion of travel and
tourism.
bitl.pen -- BitNet list of the Progressive Economist
Network piped in to a conference. Includes
ongoing discussion of economic and social
issues by leading progressive economists
bitl.russia -- BitNet mailing list on Russia, ported to a
conference.
ctb.clips -- Up to date information via the major wire
services on the state of the nuclear testing
negotiations in Geneva and other related
topics. The conference, run by the CTB
Clearinghouse will be updated daily at 10 am
cdi.military -- This conference is for the distribution of
materials from the Center for Defense
Information and the discussion of related
topics.
ccic.fpr -- From July 1993 to May 1994, CCIC will be
preparing foreign policy recommendations for
the Government of Canada in 3 principal
areas: i) building a framework for our
common future; ii) economic justice; and iii)
human rights and democratic development.
child.crc -- UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child.
coc.brettonwds -- Invites academics and NGOs around the world to
evaluate the Bretton Woods institutions
(World Bank, IMF, & GATT) and consider
proposals for new global economic
arrangements that would advance sustainable,
equitable and participatory development.
disarm.seas -- General discussion and information for
activists and others interested in issues
around Disarm the Seas.
dev.worldbank -- News and discussion of World Bank activities
and their impact on the environment,
development and economics of the world,
especially third world countries.
disarm.ctb-npt -- For NGOs preparing special NGO report on
possible amendments of the current treaties
CTB (Comprehensive Test Ban) and NPT
(Non-Proliferation Treaty) and a place to
elaborate approaches for strengthening the
int'l regime of non-proliferation.
disarm.testing -- Information and discussion about nuclear
weapons tests, actions of American Peace Test
and related issues, including nonviolence.
disarm.trans -- Information about the transport of nuclear
materials and warheads by road, air, rail,
sea, etc. May include time-urgent
information on convoys on the road.
earthtimes -- This conference contains "Earth Times", an
independent newspaper focusing on sustainable
development and such interrelated economic
and social issues of the international system
as environement, population and trade.
econ.ethinvest -- A conference about socially responsible and
ethical investing.
econ.green -- Green Economics
econ.justice -- Info/stats/studies on such topics as Reverse
Robin Hood or Reagan/Bush era; regressive
taxation; S&L ripoff; etc.
econ.saps -- For NGOs, trade unions and popular movements
working to halt IMF and World Bank structural
adjustment programs (SAPs) and make room for
grassroots alternatives. Para los que
trabajan para detener los programas de ajuste
estructural (PAEs).
econ.saps.uk -- To exchange information on research and
campaign work of UK NGOs working on
Structural Adjustment Programmes related
issues. Although a UK conference, NGOs,
academics, or any other group working on this
issue will have the opportunity to
participate.
end.convention -- Reports and discussion around the European
Nuclear Disarmament Conventions and process.
energy.eur -- Discussion of all aspects of European energy,
particularly energy conservation and
renewable energy sources.
env.europe -- Environmental news and discussion for all
Europe.
exyugo.refugee -- News for and about people who have been forced
to leave the ex-Yugoslavian region, and wish
to contact those left behind - and vice
versa. Also for contact between those within
the region, and between those abroad.
env.newsletter -- This is a read only full-text library of
periodicals, occasional publications and
papers published by organizations active in
local, regional, national and international
environmental issues.
end.convention -- Reports and discussion around the European
Nuclear Disarmament Conventions and process.
env.centasia -- To discuss environmental, political, and
related issues pertaining to Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, Kirghistan, Turkmenistan,
Tadjikistan, and Azerbaijan, former republics
of the Soviet Union. Feel free to post in
Russian.
env.cis -- Up-to-date forum on the growing numbers of U.S.
and ex-Soviet NGO activists pursuing the goal
of global environment sustainabilty with an
emphasis on the protection of ex-Soviet
eco-systems.
env.siberia -- News, information & discussion about
protecting Siberia's environment.
env.ukraine -- Environmental issues in the Ukraine and
discussion on the problems of sustainable
development for the states in transition.
gen.shortwave -- Provides transcripts of news items and more
detailed reports from shortwave radio
broadcasts. Uploaded daily.
greenbusiness -- Issues of socially and environmentally
responsible business.
gen.newsletter -- Articles for newsletters about a variety of
issues. Most are taken from other
conferences on the networks. Pull from here
for your newsletter, or share your newsletter
articles here.
glasnost.news -- News, information and discussion of political
change in Eastern Europe.
gen.racism -- Discussion of racism and other forms of
color-based discrimination.
hr.development -- News and information on the right to
development as established by the Commission
on Human Rights as a basic human right.
hr.eurmideast -- For information on human rights in the
countries in Europe and the Middle East only.
hrnet.asia-pac -- Human rights issues in Asia and the Pacific.
hrnet.children -- Human rights issues concerning children.
hrnet.eur-mide -- Human rights issues in Europe and the Middle
East.
hrnet.intllaw -- Human rights issues in international law.
hrnet.ngo-gen -- Human rights issues of general interest to
NGOs.
hrnet.racism -- Materials concerning racism and xenophobia as
they pertain to human rights.
hrnet.ref-migr -- Human rights issues concerning refugees and
migration.
hrnet.un-doc -- Offical documents of the United Nations
concerning human rights issues.
hrnet.un-gen -- General human rights information regarding the
United Nations.
hr.eurmideast -- For information on human rights in the
countries in Europe and the Middle East only.
ipb.news -- Publications from and news about the
International Peace Bureau. News about
campaigns and actions around the world,
coverage on inter-governmental negotiations
and UN reform, and news and discussion about
other IPB events.
ippnw.campaign -- To aid in the planning and execution of
campaigns to end the nuclear weapons era.
ippnw.ceasefir -- Announcements of nuclear testing, proposed
actions and strategy and other relevant
information towards a Comprehensive Test Ban.
ippnw.docs -- Various documents collected by IPPNW that deal
with nuclear war and related issues.
ippnw.student -- For medical students and friends associated
with International Physicians for Prevention
of Nuclear War, discussing opportunities for
international collaboration on topics of
disarmament, environment, development and
medical community.
intl.economics -- Discussion of a variety of international
economic issues.
ips.cuba -- Receives news articles from IPS concerning
Cuba.
ips.english -- Current, English-language news stories from
Inter Press Service.
isar.journal -- This conference contains "Surviving Together",
a journal on relations with the former Soviet
Union. "Surviving Together" is pubilished by
ISAR, and covers development, the
environment, economics, women, civil society
and other topics.
justice.europe -- News and information from the Statewatch
bulletin, the Campaign Against Racism and
Fascism [CARF] magazine, and the BISS
information exchange on the European state.
lcs.letsoft -- Issues on LETSystem software development.
lets.canada -- News and information for and about LETS (Local
Employment and Trading Systems) in Canada.
lets.oz -- Local Employment Trading System - a money-free
work exchange economy. Australian groups
inform and communicate here.
lets.uk -- News about Local Economic Trading Systems
(LETS) in the UK.
lets.women -- This LETS conference acts as a forum for
support and general information sharing.
list.econdev -- This is an Internet/Bitnet mailing list
populated by a small group of online
consultants who are using the Internet to
discover ways of using information in
regional economic development.
list.ipe -- International Political Economy Net is a member
of the consortium of communications for a
sustainable future, and includes students and
scholars interested in IPE.
labr.cis -- The conference contains postings about trade
unions/workers movements, economics and other
related issues in Russia/CIS.
list.natosci -- Information on the North American Treaty
Organization (NATO) Science and Environment
Programmes.
list.bosnet -- Echoes the Internet mailing list on Bosnia.
list.croatia -- Echoes the Internet mailing list on Croatia.
list.jugo -- Echoes an Internet mailing list.
list.macedonia -- Echoes the Internet mailing list for the
Macedonian News Network.
list.nato -- This list will distribute public data from NATO
such as press releases, speeches, NATO
articles, communiquies, NATO REVIEW,
fellowship programmes, NATO fact sheets, etc.
list.serbia -- Echoes the Internet mailing list for the
Serbian News Network.
list.vreme -- Articles from Vreme, Serbia's leading
opposition news magazine.
list.holocaust -- Mirrors the BitNet list, HOLOCAUS, which covers
the Holocaust and related topics such as
anti-Semitism; Jewish history in the 1930s
and '40s; and closely related themes in the
history of World War II, Germany, and
international diplomacy.
list.hrscience -- A group of scholars interested in the
SCIENTIFIC study of human rights. Discussion
here is intended to encourage the
quantitative study of human rights by putting
human rights researchers in contact with each
other.
list.yrights -- Bitnet/Internet list on the human rights of
youth and children.
list.berita -- Malaysian and Singaporean news, SEA news of
interest to Malaysians and Singaporeans, and
Islam-related news. For news only -- NO
DISCUSSIONS, PLEASE.
list.carr -- Mirrors the Computer Assisted Reporting &
Research mailing list.
list.ipe -- International Political Economy Net is a member
of the consortium of communications for a
sustainable future, and includes students and
scholars interested in IPE.
list.iprussia -- Share ideas, experiences, questions, answers,
plans, and progress relative to implementing
the Internet in Russia.
list.nation -- Discussion of articles and issues as they
appear in the Nation Magazine. Mirrors a
internet mailing list. This conference is
not sponsored by The Nation.
list.nethappen -- Internet list which will distribute other
network information services type
announcements.
list.pcorps -- Echoes the Internet mailing list on the Peace
Corps (PCORPS-L).
list.rego.us -- A meeting place for sharing information an
discussions about "reinventing
government"--the process of making
government work better and cost less.
list.rusag -- Communication among Americans and between
Americans and Russians on the state of
Russian agriculture and the desirability for
cooperation in this field.
list.sfbike -- Internet mailing list to discuss bicycle
transportation issues in the San Francisco
area.
list.russia-telecoms -- Non-technical discussions about
telecommunications in Russia.
motherjones -- This conference contains articles from "Mother
Jones", one of the United State's premier
alternative magazines.
mlateral.news -- Summarizes recent developments in multilateral
governmental bodies with special attention
paid to structural issues. Topics include
the United Nations, International Monetary
Fund, World Bank, GATT, OECD, and others.
multimonitor -- Contains the publication "The Mulitnational
Monitor"
mil.accidents -- Accidents and incidents involving
military/nuclear ships, convoys, equipment.
military.index -- Contents pages from defense and military
publications are posted here.
metta.news -- METTA's newsletter, Gardenia, provides
historical accounts, resources and analysis
of events that advance the knowledge and use
of nonviolence throughout the world.
nation.samples -- Public conference with sample articles from the
Nation, one of the Unites State's oldest
progressive magazines.
nonviolence.to -- Contains bi-monthly publication 'Nonviolence
Today' to increase the understanding and use
of nonviolence.
nw.general -- Tracks nuclear warheads and components as they
travel on public U.S. transportation routes.
npsg.milflight -- Current information about environmental and
health impacts of military training and
testing throughout the world with emphasis on
Canada, U.S. & Europe.
pa.lobby -- Current detailed information on legislation
that Peace Action (formerly SANE/Freeze)
supports, including strategy plans and action
alerts.
pa.local -- Local SANE/Freeze groups share successes,
frustrations, expertise with each other.
pa.media -- Sample press releases, statements and
letters-to-the-editor supplied by Peace
Action (formerly SANE/Freeze).
pax.sanctions -- A forum for news and discussion about the use
and abuse of sanctions.
pns.baltic -- Originating from PeaceNet Sweden/NordNet,
discussion of networking projects in around
the Baltic Sea.
pns.news -- News in and around PNS - Nordnet.
pbi.news -- Newsletters and reports published by Peace
Brigades International, and discussions on
human rights and nonviolent movements in
Latin America and South Asia.
prn.radionews -- News and current affairs from Public Radio News
Service (PRNS).
psr.bulletins -- Medical consequences of nuclear weapons and
nuclear war. Sponsored by the Physicians for
Social Responsibility.
reg.ussr -- News and information about the former Soviet
Union, Russia, CIS.
rainfor.worldbank -- Information about World Bank activities
pertaining to rainforest issues.
reg.eeurope -- News and information from and about East
Europe.
reg.exyugoslav -- News of the former republics of Yugoslavia.
reg.weurope -- News and information about Western Europe.
servas.travel -- General information about Servas International,
a global organization that promotes
person-to-person contact between hosts and
travelers interested in promoting world
peace.
sci.military -- Discussion about science & the military.
sgr.news -- For open discussion on matters of interest to
SGR (Scientists for Global Responsibilty);
incorporating Electronics and Computing for
Peace (ECP), Psychologists for Peace (PfP),
and Scientists Against Nuclear Arms (SANA).
sipri.press -- Carries documents, publications, press
releases, and parts of the Yearbook following
the status of disarmament and armaments in
the world, all published by SIPRI, the
Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute, SIPRI.
transcont.news -- The Transatlantic Peace Newsletter from the
peace work foundation 'Die Schwelle' in West
Germany, offering a European perspective on
issues of disarmament, peace work and the
churches.
toes.general -- Discussion and information about The Other
Economic Summit (TOES), including alternative
economics.
toes.summit -- Used during The Other Economic Summit (TOES) to
share information about issues arising from
the summit. (Will soon be merged with
toes.general.)
trade.canada -- Economic and social repercussions of the
freetrade deal between Canada and the US.
trade.library -- A repository for trade related information:
fact sheets, press releases, statistics,
statements or other pertinent documents.
trade.news -- Summaries of the latest news stories relating
to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT), the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) and other trade issues.
trade.strategy -- An open dialogue on trade-related issues. Much
of the discussion may spring from reactions
to the news reported in the TRADE.NEWS
bulletin. Anyone can contribute. IATP
started the conference but does not control
its content.
trc.archive -- The Trade Resource Consortium archive houses
studies and other scholarly works that
directly respond to the current research
needs of international non-governmental
organizations concerned with trade and
environment related issues.
toxics.militar -- Information about toxics and environmental
problems at military bases. Co-sponsored by
Arms Control Research Center (ARC), Foreign
Bases Project (FBP), National Toxics Campaign
Fund (NTSF).
transcont.news -- The Transatlantic Peace Newsletter from the
peace work foundation 'Die Schwelle' in West
Germany, offering a European perspective on
issues of disarmament, peace work and the
churches.
vana.peace -- Issues of war, peace and militarism from the
point of view of veterans.
women.east-west -- A forum to discuss gender issues in the
radically altered societies of East and
Central Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Sponsored by the Network of East-West Women
(NEWW).
yugo.antiwar -- Discussion about the work for peaceful
solutions of the yugoslavian domestic war and
conflicts. Several languages are used here.
zmagazine -- Conference of miscellaneous articles published
in "Z" Magazine and discussion by readers.
(GlasNet and IGC)
CONCISE 4.5
CONCISE is the COSINE Network's Central Information Service
for Europe. CONCISE provides information about COSINE projects,
networks, conferences, networking products, special interest
groups, project databases, directories, Email services and
other networked services in Europe. Available by e-mail, ftp
and gopher.
To obtain a copy of User guide on CONCISE send e-mail to
(automated distribution):
as a message:
start
help cug-info
You can also contact CONCISE helpdesk at:
(Pasek)
SOVAM TELEPORT 4.6
Poster: Wayne Chinander
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1993 08:11:44 -0500
Reply-To: Russia & her neighbors
(note: this list is defunct)
I just returned from spending nearly two months in Russia, most
of that time in St. Petersburg. I used SOVAM to communicate and
found their service and prices to be quite good. To send, or
receive, a page (or part thereof) message cost $1.50 payable in $
or rubles. I did not have to subscribe to anything. When I wished
to send a message I composed it in their office on their unit and
they sent it. They would hold return messages until I picked them
up. The price of $1.50 per page compared to $11-14 to fax from
tourist hotels or pay $1.60 per minute from the central phone
office seemed a real bargain. The staff spoke English well and
were interesting to talk to and quite friendly. If you want
information about other e-mail services, or e-mail addresses in
the FSU check out my e-mail files on the EX-USSR data base
available at:
(Telnet) ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu.
SOVAM Teleport is located at No. 30 Nevsky Prospekt which is the
same building as the Nevsky Prospekt metro station. It is not
easy to locate, however. As you exit the metro go east on Nevsky
to the second set of wooden doors (the first set of wooden doors
is a music institute), go past the dezhurnaya to the left, around
the elevator and out the back door, cross the courtyard and enter
the building on the opposite side, go to the third floor, turn
left and go to the far end of the corridor and turn left again
and the door will be on your right. The Sovam office actually
overlooks the canal immediately west of the metro. Living
conditions in St.P. vary considerably, depending on earnings.
Despite much difficulty most people still get by. I was amazed by
the patience and sense of fatalism that keeps people from despair
and from protest. Most of the citizens concentrate on the
necessity of keeping their family going and try to maintain a
"normal" lifestyle while virtually ignoring politics. Statistics
that I was given by a professor about standard of living:
In Russia .4% earn $300-1000/mo.
3.6% earn $150-300/mo.
10.0% earn $80-150/mo. (middle class)
85-86% earn below UNESCO poverty line
Current average earnings/mo. $20-25
Highschool teachers earn $10/mo.
On those wages most people do get by if they are careful, food
and housing are still affordable but clothing is nearly
impossible. For example, say you have a teenager who needs a new
pair of sneakers, a new shirt and a new pair of pants for school
(only one of each, mind you). If you buy cheap and poorly made
Russian or Chinese clothes and shoes you can get by for about
$15-18. If you purchase decent quality (usually imported from
East Europe) the total price goes to $50-60. To put that in some
kind of perspective, lets imagine that the average American earns
$2,000/mo.--the same shoes, shirt and pants would cost
$1,500-1,800 for the cheap stuff and $5,000-6,000 for decent
but still not great stuff. Needless to say, clothing is a
wonderful, and much appreciated gift or trade item these days.
Wayne Chinander, University of Kansas
Thank You, Wayne.
Contact: Sovam Teleport
3220 Sacramento Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
Check out the IREX discussion of Sovam Teleport in Appendix E.
MANAGING WHAT YOU GET 5.0
News reading programs have a file area that allows the user
to store the names of the news groups of interest. Consult your
documentation. Develop a system of reading the news quickly,
marking off what you have read and therefore making available new
information next time you go to your subjects. On a less
frequent but still regular basis the user should look for the
arrival of new groups that can provide unanticipated knowledge,
insights or, hoppefully, inspiration.
Promptly set up a filing system consisting of different
topics so that you can save documents in a meaningful way that
will allow for their retrieval. A "mail" file and a "sources"
file won't do. A breakdown of specific catagories, appropriately
labeled, is necessary if one wishes to archive items of interest.
Most mail systems have "folder" systems as well, allowing the
user to store mail as discreet mail messages instead of
incorporating them into blanket subject files. Check your
documentation. I have a tendency to leave newspapers and
magazines around, it of course becomes a mumbo jumbo pile of
information that is no longer useful because finding a desired
specific item becomes virtually impossible; if you do this with
electronic information, you get the same thing, but worse...
I recommend reading the mail everyday and discarding the
majority of what comes in. Read it and trash it. If you know
you won't have time to read it and you suspect it may not be of
any interest, trash it. If you read it and it is something you
suspect will be applicable, ask yourself if it is something that
will be easy to retrieve later in an archive. If yes, trash it.
If no, save it to a file meaningfully labeled.
Allowing yourself to get overwhelmed is a difficult
condition to recover from. The best medicine is prevention.
In the future, I imagine one will be able to set up mail
filters and automatic file handlers. If anything REALLY excites
me about the "superhighway" babble, it's the prospect of of
having a customized hypertext newsmagazine sent to me
electronicly on a daily basis!
PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES 6.0
Of course, the biggest problem with the internet resources
is the first one that the new user encounters: What's out there?
How do I get it? The lack of a map for, and the unmappability
of, the net poses frustrations. Once one acquires a degree of
comfort with the search applications of the net, a greater
appreciation for the aesthetic of its dynamic, amorphous nature
becomes possible.
Though it's unfortunate, and it speaks poorly of us as a
species, it seems to be true that when you get a group together
to discuss a topic seriously, maintaining focus, relevance and
respect is a formidable challenge. When you throw open the door
to the whole world, the challenge grows. I have observed in the
Usenet groups and, to a lesser degree, in the reader
participation mailing lists, excessive "flaming" and obscenities
as well as "noise generators."
By "flaming" I mean the little spats that flare up, minor
name calling and general loss of focus on substantive
conversation.
By "noise generators" I refer to the pseudo-mechanical and
prolific generation of diatribes and polemics. The noise
generator problem goes beyond differences of opinions; it entails
a deep seated disrespect for other viewpoints altogether. The
automatonistic discourse leads one to speculate that these are
literally "propoganda machines;" computer programs with routines
that read postings in search of rhetorical keywords that trigger
automatic responses.
This phenomenon put both the Ukraine and Russia listserv
mailing lists, and their associate Usenet groups, out of business
as of December, 1993. Other groups are falling victim to this
phenomenon. Last time I looked at talk.politics.soviet,
insistent and repetitive exhortations from a few emphatic
individuals espousing their viewpoints had, in their vehemence
and redundancy, rendered the material virtually unreadable.
On the one hand, we dare not offend our own civil
libertarian sensibilities and censor these voices. On the other
hand, the phenomenon of zealous contentiousness drowning out
dispassionate conversation is an infringement on the rights of
the community of discussants at large. A major effort to
standardize a set of reasonable boundaries which would confine
the scope of debate, only to a degree that is sufficient, within
parameters which allow for the maintainence of an environment
where all views can be dispassionately discussed is long overdue.
I have not sought out the free speech discussion groups or the
counsel of civil liberty ethicist, but perhaps it's time; maybe
my next work will be titled, "The Academy versus the Rabble."
Maybe not.
Another nuisance that I've encountered a few times are
chain-letters. Someone thinks it's funny to send the "pass this
on to twenty others or you're doomed" message along. When it has
gone around a while, the accumulation of headers and routing
information can grow quite large. Chain letters can get spread
far and wide if they are distributed by a listserv list. The
loss of productive time can be quite irritating but is best
responded to by sending it along to the administrator of the
system of the person who sent to you; let them know that one of
their users is abusing the scarce network resources.
The commercialization of the internet, though probably
necessary to fund upgrading, poses a different sort of challenge.
Suppose a user looks for the latest from Radio Free Europe /
Radio Liberty and finds, "This portion of RFE/RL is brought to
you by COMMERZBANK - German know how in global finance!
Frankfort, Germany." Shall there be no refuge from the barrage
of sponsor's messages? Will that mean that coverage of topics
disagreeable to the sponsor shall not be presented? If the
plethora of infomercials on American cable television is an
indicator, we can expect to require extra time to access the
desired information for combing through copious amounts of
sponsor's messages along the way. Well, let's hope not.
Commercialization also may see efforts to corner the market
on specific bodies of information that otherwise could reasonably
be freely available. If successful, this would see information
entrepreneurs cordon off sets of data, perhaps data that is
already paid for by tax payers, and charge the public again for
what they already own. The academic community must maintain
vigilance against efforts with these aims. There are groups on
the net that focus on the issues brought up by commercialization.
Perhaps I'll see you there...
CONCLUSION 7.0
When all of these pioneer trails and backroads give way to the
"superhighway," I imagine that a practical way to integrate all
of these sources would be in the form of a true electronic
magazine & road map that would utilize these sources, compile,
cite and present the informational products in a hypertext
digest. Perhaps the real excitement that this superhighway can
offer those of us with interests that range beyond entertainment
can look forward to visual and audio data to supplement the
textual data distributions currently available. The U.S.
Information Agency's "Problems of Communism" suffered a quiet
demise a few years ago. It is unfortunate that it was not
replaced by a renewed publication, say, "Problems of Conversion,"
that would deal with both challenges of demilitarizing national
economies and developing market mechanisms to supplant the
command structures that formerly held sway in the communist
states. There is an ongoing need to scrutinize the social,
economic and political institutions in their current state of
flux. The effects that the ebb and flow in these areas has on
human rights and security issues demands our continuing
attention. Such a product available as an electronic hypertext
magazine would be a great advancement for those interested in
Post-Soviet Studies. So much has happened, on so many fronts,
and there is still so much to come! Dalshe! Dalshe! Dalshe!
DISCLAIMER 7.1
I have not discussed internet applications such as WAIS,
Veronica, Archie, or Jughead. Full discussions of utilizing FTP
and Telnet are offered by Krol (see Appendix E sources). There
are, no doubt, others that I may have neglected to delve into.
The dynamic nature of the net makes being acquainted with all
nuances and emerging applications an enormous task; practically a
full time endeavor. If the understanding that I have presented
here concerning the use of the internet systems or the status of
these resources contains any inaccuracies, or could be more
illuminating and concise, please feel free to contact the author
at any time with corrections. I have searched and poked high and
low through the internet corridors looking for these resources.
In an effort to prevent reinvention of the wheel, I have
incorporated materials gathered by others when I have discovered
that I have been reproducing their work. This report stands on
the shoulders of giants; to those who have preceeded me, whose
steps I discovered along my own paths, and have made their
findings public: Thank You! Given that all material was
gathered from public sites and this is not a commercial product,
prior permission was not sought. The author regrets if a
contributor was unwittingly unacknowledged; please contact the
author where this may be a concern. Hats off to the primary,
secondary and tertiary sources are no doubt in order.
Likewise, permission to duplicate this material is hereby granted
provided that it is NOT SOLD. Contact the author for questions
concerning commercial duplication. In any event, I ask that the
subsequent use of these findings properly cite this source.
In addition to the sources cited, this material came from
reading newsgroups, joining lists, groping, furrowing my brows
and winging it; trying things out to see how they worked.
Thus, any errors of ommission or commision and tYpos are solely
my responsibility. Do not bug my predecessors for any short
comings in this report! The information is as accurate as I have
been able to determine.
Now we all know as much as is gathered here... :-)
If you have a correction or update to the information provided by
this compendium, or you know something which should be included,
please drop me a line - it will be greatly appreciated.
THE AUTHOR / EDITOR 7.2
__________________________
__|_ _|__
| |_| Ian Kallen |_| |
| 740-A 14th Street #403 |
| San Francisco, California |
| 94114 |
| [email protected] |
| _ _ |
|__|_| ** PEACE ** |_|_|
|_______________________|
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
alternative contact methods:
[email protected] (1st preference email address)
[email protected] (2nd choice)
CompuServe (3rd choice)
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
SOURCES 7.3
Pasek, Zbigniew J. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
"EASTERN_EUROPEAN LIST OF ELECTRONIC (COMPUTER-
ACCESIBLE) RESOURCES AVAILABLE THROUGH THE
INTERNET."
available through the anonymous ftp at
; directory:
/pub/polish/networks
and also by Gopher at the same site.
[email protected]
with input from
[email protected] (Allan Pollard)
[email protected] (Jerzy Pankiewicz)
[email protected] (Rafal Maszkowski)
[email protected] (Witold Owoc)
[email protected] (Zoli Fekete)
(Vadim Maslov)
Herro, Steve (1994) Head of Reference and Information Services
at St. Norbert College Todd Wehr Library
[email protected]
An Internet Resource List for International Trade and World
Commerce
Herro cites the following sources:
Austin, Terese and Tsang, Kim (1993). Government Sources of
Business and Economic Information on the Internet, [Online].
Available Gopher: gopher.lib.umich.edu. Directory: What's
New and Featured Resources/Clearinghouse for Subject-
Oriented Internet Resource Guides/Guides on the Social
Sciences/Business, Economics; T. Austin, K. Tsang.
Goffe, Bill (1993). Resources for Economists on the Internet,
[Online]. Available Gopher: gopher.lib.umich.edu.
Directory: What's New and Featured
Resources/Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented Internet
Resource Guides/Guides on the Social
Sciences/Economics; B. Goffe.
Gumprecht, Blake (1993). Internet Resources for Government
Information, [Online]. Available Gopher:
gopher.lib.umich.edu. Directory: What's New and
Featured Resources/Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented
Internet Resource Guides/Guides on the Social
Sciences/Government, Politics; B. Gumprecht.
Scott, Peter (1993). Hytelnet 6.6, [Online]. Available Telnet:
access.usask.ca, login: hytelnet.
Yanoff, Scott. (1993, December 16). Special Internet
Connections. [e-mail to Steven Herro], [Online].
Available email: [email protected].
ADDITIONAL SOURCES/SUGGESTED READING 7.4
BULGARIAN FAQ
ftp.umcs.maine.edu /pub/Bulgaria
CZECH RESOURCES ON CESNET
ftp.vslib.cz /pub/cesnet/cesnet-resources.txt
ELECTRIC MYSTIC'S GUIDE
Non-technical survey of all major documents, archives and
services of relevance to religious studies
ftp panda1.uottawa.ca (137.122.6.16)
/pub/religion
GERMAN FAQ
ftp rtfm.mit.edu (18.72.1.58)
/pub/usenet-by-group/soc.culture.german
HUNGARIAN ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
ftp rtfm.mit.edu (18.72.1.58)
/pub/usenet-by-group/soc.culture.magyar
JEWISH FAQ
ftp israel.nysernet.org
/israel/lists/scj-faq
LIST OF LANGUAGE LISTS
ftp colossus.irlearn.ucd.ie /everson
LIST OF MAILING LISTS
rtfm.mit.edu
/pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/mailing-lists
MACEDONIAN FAQ
ftp.uts.edu.au (138.25.16.1) /pub/MAKEDON
MOTHER OF ALL EASTERN EUROPEAN LISTS
(see Pasek)
poniecki.berkeley.edu
/pub/polish/network/EE-MotherList
POLISH NETWORK RESOURCES LIST
[email protected] (Rafal Maszkowski)
INFO ON COMPUTER NETWORKS IN EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE
=======================================================
Up-to-date information about the network in Poland is brought by
"Pigulki". Archived at , and
.
There is a bundle of e-mailing and networking in xSU related
files available from . The list of
those files can be obtained by sending INDEX List-L to the
server and then can be retrieved using GET file_name. Try
archives of all lists run from this server: EC, RUSSIA.
An example of how to retrieve these files: To get the uucp map,
send the command GET RUSSIA UUCPMAP as the _body_ of an e-mail
or interactive message to LISTSERV at INDYCMS (CREN) or
[email protected] (Internet).
There is also a good info on e-mail to xSU, network nodes, BBS's
Glasmail archived on . Some files
contain also info on e-mail nodes in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Ukraine, Kazachstan, Yugoslavia, and Estonia. To get
index of those files send command (automated distribution):
GET E-EUROPE INDEX
Appendix A
GlasNet Ruble Price List
In order to adjust GlasNet prices for inflation, we have adopted
our own pricing standard, ECS (Electronic Communication Scrip).
The scrip carries a value based on US Dollars, but is paid in
rubles as determined by the current dollar-ruble exchange rate.
Use of the ECS unit will allow us to quote GlasNet prices which
will not change with inflation.
GlasNet users are required to maintain a positive credit balance;
they must pay GlasNet enough money to cover all existing charges.
It is desirable for users to keep on deposit with GlasNet enough
money so that their charges for at least a few weeks into the
future are covered.
1 ECS = $0.15
At the most recent exchange rate of the ruble, 1 ECS was
equivalent to 170 rubles
All prices below are quoted in ECS:
Opening a GlasNet account:
Organization - 120 ECS
Individual - 60 ECS
UUCP account - 300 ECS
Group account - 240 + 15 * N ECS, where N is the number of
people in the group.
Transactions.
1. Monthly.
1.1. Average Storage on host computer
over limit (100K)............... 5.00 /
Kilobyte
1.2. Probable writing off for undelivered
faxes/telexes................... 80 % returned
2. Daily.
2.1. Account maintenance.
2.1.1. Active Standard................ 1.00
2.1.2. Active Individual.............. 0.50
2.1.3. Active Associated NGO.......... 0.75
2.1.4. Active Associated Individuals.. 0.45
2.1.5. Active UUCP.................... 10.00
2.1.6. Active Group ( N subaccounts ). 3.00 + 0.60 *
N
2.1.7. Forward Only................... 0.05
2.1.8. Frozen......................... 0.05
2.2. Sessions
2.2.1. Direct call to Moscow (PEAK)... 0.05 / minute
2.2.2. (OFF-PEAK)... 0.02 / minute
2.2.3. X.25 TSI Moscow PAD (PEAK)... 0.12 / minute
2.2.4. (OFF-PEAK)... 0.07 / minute
2.2.5. Organizations.... 0.40 / minute
Individuals...... 0.20 / minute
... more later (Tallinn, Kiev, Odessa;
INFOTEL, etc)
3. Gateways.
3.1. Sending Email ( 1 KC = 1000 characters )
3.1.1. Local GlasNet.................. 0.00
3.1.2. xSU............................ 0.02 / mes +
0.03 / KC
3.1.3. APC............................ 0.10 / mes +
0.10 / KC
3.1.4. Internet/Bitnet................ 0.10 / mes +
0.16 / KC
3.1.5. DASNET gate.................... 0.20 / mes +
1.00 / KC
3.2. Receiving International Email over
monthly limit (200 K)....... 0.15 / K
3.3. Sending Fax ( 1 Page = 2000 characters )
3.3.1. Moscow......................... 0.25 1-st +
0.15 Add-l
3.3.2. xSU............................ 0.55 1-st +
0.30 Add-l
3.3.3. US, Canada, Mexico............. 8.50 1-st +
7.50 Add-l
3.3.4. England........................ 4.50 1-st +
4.00 Add-l
3.3.5. Brazil......................... 8.50 1-st +
7.50 Add-l
3.3.6. Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary,
Yugoslavia, Romania, Chekhia,
Slovakia....................... 3.50 1-st +
3.00 Add-l
3.3.7. Rest of the Europe............. 9.00 1-st +
7.00 Add-l
3.3.8. Others......................... 16.00 1-st +
13.00 Add-l
3.4. Sending Telex ( 1 minute is about 300 chars )
3.4.1. Russia........................... 0.60 / min
3.4.2. FSU.............................. 0.80 / min
3.4.3. US, Canada....................... 2.90 / min
3.4.4. Australia........................ 4.30 / min
... more later
4. One-time Transactions.
4.1. Account Setup
4.1.1. Standard................... 20.00
4.1.2. Individual................. 10.00
4.1.3. Associated NGO............. 20.00
4.1.4. Associated Individual...... 15.00
4.1.5. UUCP....................... 100.00
4.1.6. Group ( N subaccounts ).... 40.00 + 15.00
* N
4.1.7. Add subaccount to existing
Group........ 10.00
4.2. Freeze/Unfreeze Account.............. 5.00
4.3. Forward Setup/Remove................. 5.00
4.4. Rename Account.......................10.00
4.5. Move an Account to another Group.....10.00
4.6. Update User Directory Entry..........10.00
4.7. Payment Registered................... Amount / ECS
Rate
4.8. Write off............................ Required Qty
of ECS
4.9. Paper Invoice Submission............. 3.00
4.10. Fax Invoice Submission.............. 5.00
All charges are subject to change. GlasNet will make every
effort to keep users fully informed about changes in its
charges.
DISCOUNTS
=========
1. Monthly fee includes 1 hour of free off-peak connect time.
Any free time left over at the end of the month is not
applicable to subsequent months.
2. All new subscribers receive an additional free off-peak hour
of connect time during their first 30 days of use.
3. All public conferences are free to use.
Private conferences are charged storage at the same rate
as for mail folders of 1 R per kilobyte per month to the
user requesting or facilitating the conference.
4. All GlasNet users are given 100 kilobytes (50 pages) of
free storage space. You will be notified on the Network if
you are exceeding the free storage limit.
5. If you refer a new user to the Network, you will receive 2
free off-peak hours of free connect time. This credit can be
used over any number of months.
6. Special discounts may be granted to individuals and NGOs
whose goals and objectives are in accordance with GlasNet
Bylaws. Please, contact support to discuss the discounts.
Disclaimer: GlasNet is not responsible for the poor quality
of the phone lines. Please report to the Moscow
Telephone Company (MGTS) (ph. 299-8759).
Those who have poor quality Moscow lines might
consider use of the TSI or Infotel PADs, or the
ISKRA line. See Table 1 of Appendix B.
We'll also accept accounts sponsored by US organizations and
individuals. In this case payments can be made in dollars to IGC
or through the GlasNet USA Director Dave Caulkins.
Appendix B
MODEMS
Modems suitable for use with GlasNet should have the
following characteristics:
1) Error correction (MNP protocol levels 2 - 5, or V.42)
This is very important !
2) Hayes-compatible AT command set
3) Supports data rates of 300 to 14,400 bps; 2,400 bps has been
found to work well for most users.
Modems of this kind are available at electronics and computer
stores in the USA, either retail or mail-order. Prices range
from approximately $30 to $100 for an internal modem (plugs into
a slot in a PC), or $100 to $300 to for an external modem (in a
separate box, and usable with a PC, Macintosh, or any other
computer with a serial port). Copies of communications software
(MTE or Procomm) can be obtained from the US or Moscow offices of
GlasNet. V.32bis modems which will operate at any speed from
1,200 to 14,400 bps are widely avaialable in the USA, and prices
for this kind of modem are dropping rapidly. Almost all GlasNet
in-dial modems are V.32bis.
Communications software packages recommended for use with GlasNet
are:
For IBM PC computers and equivalent clones using the DOS
operating system:
Procomm
For use with non-MNP modems - MTE or MTEZ
For Macintosh computers:
Red Ryder, Microphone, or White Knight
Other communications software packages have a high probablility
of working with GlasNet.
Connecting a Modem to the Former Soviet Union Telephone System
There are two ways to connect a modem with an RJ11 modular
connector to the telephone system in the Former Soviet Union.
I) ADAPTER
Adapters that plug into an Former Soviet Union telephone jack and
accept an RJ11 modular plug of the kind used by US telephone
equipment and modems can be purchased from:
Pharmec
18/2 Ulitsa Dokukina
129226 Moscow
187-3979 tel
187-4522 FAX
or in the US from:
4D Company
444 E 87th St. Suite 4F
New York, NY 10128
(212)427-4151
(212)427-4572 fax
There are two models; Model 122 has a female RJ11 and a female
Former Soviet Union phone connector; it accomodates a modem and a
Russian telephone simultaneously. Model 121 has a female RJ11
and accomodates only a modem.
I) DO IT YOURSELF KIT
Parts and tools needed:
1) Two clip leads, about 45 centimeters long.
Clip leads are insulated wires with alligator clips on both ends
2) A modular plug cable. This is a standard cable of the type
you would use to connect your telephone to a modular wall jack in
the USA.
Items 1) and 2) are available from Radio Shack and most other
consumer electronic stores.
3) A small screwdriver with a blade about 3 millimeters wide.
Procedure:
Temporary Attachment
A) Cut the cable of 2) in half. Strip the center two connectors
in the cut end of one of the halves. In the US these two wires
are called Ring (red wire insulation) and Tip (green wire
insulation). Attach one of the clip leads of 1) to each of these
wires.
B) Use the 3) screwdriver to take the cover off the Former
Soviet Union telephone wall jack. Attach the other ends of the
clip leads from A) to the two wires in the jack. Connect the
modular plug to the modem.
Permanent Attachment
C) Cut the cable of 2) in half. Strip the center two connectors
in the cut end of one of the halves, exposing about 1 centimeter
of the electrical wire beneath the insulation. In the US these
two wires are called Ring (red wire insulation) and Tip (green
wire insulation).
D) Use the 3) screwdriver to take the cover off the Former
Soviet Union telephone wall jack. The two wires in the jack are
secured by screws; loosen these with the screwdriver, wrap one of
the wires from C) on each so that both the new and old wires are
under the screws. Tighten the screws to secure all the wires.
Guide the cable of C) out of the Former Soviet Union wall jack,
and put the cover back on so that it does not pinch the cable.
Connect the modular plug to the modem.
=================================================================
Appendix C
Access to GlasNet Moscow via local or long distance calls, and
by local call access to X.25 Public Data Networks (PDNs) from
other cities.
Table 1 December, 1993
Price *
cents/min
+--------------------------------------------------------+----+
|City | Modem Number | Command | |
+-----------------+----------------+---------------------+----+
|Moscow | | | |
| direct-dial |(095)262-4857 | none |0.60|
| | 262-0209 | none |0.60|
| | 262-2072 | none |0.60|
| | 971-5968 | none |0.60|
| | | | |
| ISKRA |(097)29-073 | | |
| TSI X.25 PAD |(095)262-7020 |nui(GLAS) 7 [or 7] |2.25|
| Infotel PAD |(095)958-0226 |n4100300039proba-.GLAS|2.25|
| Note:The ISKRA line and the TSI and Infotel PAD numbers| |
| can provide good-quality local Moscow connections | |
| for those users with Moscow telephone exchanges | |
| that do not work well for data communications. | |
| Call GlasNet User Support at 207-0704 or 207-0889 | |
| for more information. | |
| | | | |
|St. Petersburg |(812)168-5162 |nui(GLASP)7 [or 7] | 6.3|
| voice 568-3953 | 168-5474 | | |
| | 168-3263 | | |
| | 168-2750 | | |
|Tallinn |(0142)31-3116 |con7 |13.2|
|Kiev |(044)229-6005 |nui(GLAS) 7 [or 7] | 7.8|
| voice 229-3369 | 229-8239 |nui(GLAS) 7 [or 7] | |
|Odessa |(048)21-6294 |nui(GLAS) 7 [or 7] | 7.8|
| voice 21-6281 | | | |
|Kazan |(8432)36-1673 | | |
| Command: n4117300002connect-4102101600 | 4.5|
|Voronezh 55-5467 |(0732)56-1941 | | |
| Command: n4118300002connect-4102101600 | 4.5|
|Izhevsk |(3412)056 | | |
| Command: n4519300001proba-4102101600 | 4.5|
|Nizhny Novgorod |(8312)31-9041 | | |
| Command: n4114300002connect-4102101600 | 4.5|
|Ekaterinburg |(3432)56-2665 | | |
| Command: n4510300003connect-4102101600 | 4.5|
|Novosibirsk |(3832)98-1110 | | |
| Command: n4812300001connect-4102101600 | 9.0|
|Vladivostok |(4232)22-0310 | | |
| Command: n4921300001connect-4102101600 | 9.0|
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
* - prices are quoted in US cents but billed in rubles
If user has a NUI to any other X.25 Network, he can use
any of the following addresses (NUA) to login to GlasNet:
0250441022016000
024420703707
025029904070507
For example, you can use IASNET for this, but you must pay them
for the NUI and the X.25 traffic.
Here is some information about IASNET:
City Code Admin Sovam Support Modem number
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Moscow 095 229-1118 947-5586
932-6765
Baku 8922 66-3995 66-4689 66-0079
Kazan 8432 54-3200 74-3430 76-3688
76-3272
Kiev 044 296-4238 296-4247 296-4292
296-4283
Minsk 0172 26-4560 26-4560 20-7674
Riga 0132 55-1133 55-1133 36-3041
St. Pete 812 311-7129 311-8412 311-0365
Ufa 3472 22-5500 22-4827 52-8647
Vladivostok 4232 25-2731 25-2598 25-4633
25-3455
25-9711
Yerevan 8852 28-5082 28-2951 28-4230
Future X.25 access:
In 1994 we anticipate adding Alma-Ata, Kaliningrad, Murmansk,
Novorossiysk, Novosibirsk, and Petrozavodsk
INFOTEL has entry points in: Moscow, Rostov-na-Donu,
Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Novgorod, Barnaul, Krasnoyarsk,
Voronezh, Izhevsk, Kazan, Tumen, Vladivostok, Nizhnii Novgorod,
St-Petersburg. It has plans to establish X.25 nodes in all
Russian regional centers.
fax: +7(095)200-3208 or 954-0895
telex: 411727
voice: 252-1212, 9549600
Transinform - expects to get new equipment from Alcatel and start
expansion to additional cities.
Rospak - JV with IASNET, has and install a number of X.25 entry
points in smaller cities of Russia (fax: +7(095)229-3804,
voice: 229-3237)
Appendix D
The Eastern Board of Trade (EBOT):
Computer accessed On-Line lead information for Russia, Eastern
Europe, and the Newly Independent States.
22647 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 122
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Commodities, goods, services, investment offers, real estate
opportunities and other commercial prospects are accessible via
this BBS. Direct dial via modem; not net accessible (as of yet).
Call for fee schedule.
EBOT data (8-N-1): 818-884-0295
voice (L.A. area): 818-347-9230
voice (S.F. area): 415-355-5430
____________________________________________________________
International Trade BBS
BBS Telephone: 803-472-3754
E-Mail: [email protected]
The International Trade BBS is a message and advertisement
databank which deals with worldwide exports, imports, services,
and direct investments. Because this commercial bulletin board
system uses PCBoard software, subscribers have many powerful
interactive search and retrieval abilities. This information may
be viewed on-line or downloaded to any PC (DOS, Mac, other) with
a modem and communications software.
There are two levels of access for individuals:
SUBSCRIBERS have full access to all advertisements and commercial
postings on the International Trade BBS, with 30 minutes/day
access, no connect time charges, and no limitations on downloads.
The cost of subscription is $20 per year.
SUBSCRIBERS have access to two conferences:
** Main - a general discussion forum
** International Trade - commercial postings from
subscribers and non-subscribers
NON-SUBSCRIBERS may post an unlimited number of commercial
advertisements for placement in the International Trade
conference. An advertisement may be placed by dialing the BBS
directly and posting a message to the SYSOP, or by sending it by
e-mail to [email protected].
There is no connect time charge; access is limited to 10
minutes/day.
International Trade BBS
Subscription Application Form
Remit To: James W. Reese, SYSOP BBS Telephone: 803-472-3754
International Trade BBS 8-N-1/Hayes Ultra
9600/PCBoard 15.0
401 Lake Road Voice/Fax: 803-472-4527
Inman, SC 29349-9605 USA E-Mail: [email protected]
All Checks or Money Orders must be made payable to James W.
Reese. Please allow from 10 to 14 days for clearance of all
non-certified funds (longer for international drafts).
International Trade BBS Subscription:
__ 1 Year Subscription, 30 minutes/day, 9600bps max.....$20.00
no connect time charges
Method of payment: (please check only one)
__ Personal Check __ Company Check
__ Money Order __ Certified Bank Draft
Login Specifications (please print):
FirstName: ____________________
LastName (optional): ____________________
Password (12 characters max/ 1 minimum): ____________________
Optional Information
Name:
__________________________________________________________
Address:
__________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Voice: _______________________Fax:_________________________
Appendix E
Boosting the Baud Rate:
E-mail and Connectivity in the Former Soviet Union
(as of November, 1993)
Bill Fick
International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX)
Khlebnyi pereulok, d. 8
121069 Moscow, Russia
[email protected]
Michael Neubert
Library of Congress
European Division
Washington, DC 20540-5531
[email protected]
Prepared for the
25th National Convention of the
American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
Panel on
"Internet Resources for Slavic and East European Studies"
The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Tony
Byrne (IREX), Wes Cole, Olga Galkina (IREX), Eric Johnson
(Library of Congress), and David Kraus (Library of Congress. All
sins of omission (and commission) are those of the authors.
"Electronic mail differs from the other [Internet]
applications... because it is not an "end to end" service: the
sending and receiving machine need not be able to communicate
directly with each other to make it work. If you correctly
address a message, the network will take it from there. You
needn't know much about what's going on." (Krol, p. 95.)
Introduction
While Ed Krol's statement that "you needn't know much about
what's going on" may be true for most American users of the
Internet (i.e., those with "domestic" interests), it is useful
for those interested in communicating with individuals in the
former Soviet Union to have a somewhat deeper understanding. In
particular, it is necessary to have a fairly healthy knowledge of
the technical aspects (if not every detail) if one is interested
in using e-mail while actually in the former Soviet Union.
This paper describes the potential for the use of e-mail and e-
mail resources on the Internet by area studies scholars
interested in the former Soviet Union. It's an attempt to depict
the infrastructural developments, user demographic tendencies,
and information resources of particular interest to scholars in
Slavic studies. Attached as appendices are the IREX guide to e-
mail use in the former Soviet Union and other "more technical"
documents.
Allan Urbanic's paper (also presented at this panel) discusses
resources that are available for area specialists via the
Internet through "real time" access (or as Krol puts it, an "end
to end" service) and require access to the international TCP/IP
network (the Internet). In many ways, however, the possibilities
of e-mail and e-mail accessible resources may be of more interest
for area specialists in this field because at present there is
very limited "real time" access to the Internet within the FSU.
This paper does not attempt to describe the entire universe of
connectivity and electronic communications with the FSU. It
cannot even claim to be completely accurate, since networking
initiatives are growing like weeds and the situation is changing
daily. Network development initiatives sponsored by NATO, NASA,
and DOE (among others) are beyond the scope of this paper and
while they will, of course, have implications for general
infrastructure and physical network growth, they are tangential
to the story we are trying to tell here.
Probably the most common use of e-mail by area studies scholars
is for one-to-one communication with one another. This can
facilitate scholarly cooperation that would have been impossible
without it (such as the writing of this paper by co-authors
located in Moscow and Washington, DC). But there are many other
uses of e-mail, such as the ability to send message not just from
"one-to-one," but "one-to-many," which allows discussion groups
and electronic serials. And there are e-mail tools that enable
e-mail users to make use of many of the same tools that "real
time" access can provide.
Sources of General Information
There are many basic guides to the use of the Internet; some
emphasize e-mail more than others. Ed Krol's _The Whole
Internet: User's Guide & Catalog_ has been considered the best
and most balanced introduction to the Internet including the uses
of e-mail. This field changes so quickly, however, that it is
already becoming somewhat dated. Several new guides have been
recently published. Especially good is _The Internet Guide for
New Users_ (Dorn), which includes significant information not
included in _The Whole Internet_, in part because it has been
more recently published, but also because it simply goes into
more detail. As noted by Allan Urbanic, there are many other new
guides available at the nearest good bookstore (or library),
however the two above are the most comprehensive that the authors
have seen. Note that such guides do not describe system-specific
aspects of e-mail use (other than the basics of some UNIX-based
systems)--for those, it is necessary to seek the appropriate
institutional technical assistance. Dorn's _Internet Guide_
provides by far the most detailed discussion of specific e-mail
systems, covering the different "add-on" interfaces for UNIX-
based e-mail systems such as ELM and PINE as well as several
others.
There are also several (very) new guides available only
electronically. An excellent one is the _Guide to Network
Resource Tools_ (The EARN Association, electronic sources) which
includes detailed explanations of how to manipulate many Internet
tools through e-mail that are most commonly accessed in real time
(the most recent version of this guide is dated September 15,
1993). A more basic guide for beginners is the _Big Dummy's
Guide to the Internet: A Round Trip through Global Networks,
Life in Cyberspace, and Everything_ (Gaffin, electronic sources),
which is twice as long but covers much the same amount of
material (and is also very current, the most recent version dated
September 20, 1993).
It is assumed here that most readers of this paper who live in
the West are affiliated with an academic or other institution
which provides them with access to the Internet and/or e-mail.
However there are many commercial providers of both e-mail alone
as well as access to the Internet. _Connecting to the Internet_
is a new book that covers this subject in great detail.
(Estrada) It is also possible to get information about public
access to the Internet by contacting the InterNIC Information
Center's "Reference Desk" by phone at (800) 444-4345 or (619)
455-4600. Another resource is the "Public Dialup Internet Access
List (PDIAL), which can be retrieved by e-mail commands and gives
extensive information about public access to the Internet.
(Kaminski, electronic sources)
Many specialists in this field have been using Sovset' for e-mail
services. Sovset' is operated by the Center for Stategic &
International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, and can be
reached at (202) 775-3257 (Sovset' also has a "data library"
related to Russian and East European area studies). And of
course there are seemingly endless other choices for e-mail
services, such as America Online and Compuserve, among others.
Some Technical Background
There are two distinct types of electronic mail interfaces, and
the type which a given computer network offers will affect that
network's ability to provide a broader array of Internet services
once real-time connectivity is achieved. Mail systems based on
UUCP, or "UNIX to UNIX copy", work off-line. In other words, the
end user prepares his or her mail in a special editor and then a
special program dials the nearest network host, sends and
receives batches of mail automatically, and then hangs up,
allowing the user to read and process mail offline at leisure.
This kind of setup is very convenient and efficiently minimizes
time on-line, which is important where telephone line quality is
poor or calls expensive. This type of e-mail interface is the
most common one found in active use in Russia and most of the
former Soviet Union today.
Unfortunately, access to real-time Internet services cannot be
adapted to this kind of interface, in particular the ability to
telnet to remote computers. The second type of electronic mail
interfaces are those mail systems that are interactive or
on-line. The user actually works while connected on-line to the
host computer itself to send and receive mail, although it is, of
course, possible to upload previously-prepared texts and download
incoming mail to a local PC. Access to other Internet services
can be readily adapted to this kind of setup. Once the network
host has a real-time Internet link, it is relatively simple to
provide direct Internet access for users working on-line with the
host machine.
Connectivity
In the last two years there has been considerable progress in the
network connectivity of the countries of Eastern Europe, the
Baltic States, and the former Soviet Union. Figure one shows the
level of connectivity in each of those countries. Note that
certain elements of this table are deceiving.
Figure One
Connectivity Table for Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union
----- AL Albania (Republic of)
--u-- AM Armenia
--U-- AZ Azerbaijan
--UF- BY Belarus
----- BA Bosnia-Hercegovina
bIUF- BG Bulgaria (Republic of)
-IuFo HR Croatia
BIUF- CZ Czech Republic
-IUF- EE Estonia (Republic of)
--UF- GE Georgia (Republic of)
BIUFo HU Hungary (Republic of)
--Uf- KZ Kazakhstan
--U-- KG Kyrgyzstan
-IUF- LV Latvia (Republic of)
--UFo LT Lithuania
----- ?? Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of)
--UF- MD Moldova (Republic of)
BIUF- PL Poland (Republic of)
BI-f- RO Romania
BiUF- RU Russian Federation
bIUF- SK Slovakia
-IUFO SI Slovenia
--uf- TJ Tajikistan
--U-- TM Turkmenistan
-iUF- UA Ukraine
--UF- UZ Uzbekistan
---f- YU Yugoslavia (Socialist Federal Republic of)
BITNET
Col. 2 (Entities with international BITNET links.)
b: minimal, one to five domestic BITNET sites, 19 entities
B: widespread, more than five domestic BITNET sites, 32 entities
IP INTERNET
Col. 3 (Entities with international IP Internet links.)
I: = operational, accesible from entire IP Internet, 57 entities
i: = operational, not accesible via the NSFNET backbone, 2
entities
UUCP
Col. 4 (Entities with domestic UUCP sites which are connected to
the Global Multiprotocol Open Internet.)
u: minimal, one to five domestic UUCP sites, 53 entities
U: widespread, more than five domestic UUCP sites, 64 entities
FIDONET
Col. 5 (Entities with domestic FIDONET sites which are
connected to the Global Multiprotocol Open Internet)
f: minimal, one to five domestic FIDONET sites, 25 entities
F: widespread, more than five domestic FIDONET sites, 59 entities
OSI
Col. 6 (Entities with international X.400 links to domestic
sites which are connected to the Global Multiprotocol Open
Internet).
o: minimal, one to five domestic X.400 sites, 8 entities
O: widespread, more than five domestic X.400 sites, 23 entities
NOTE: ISO 3166 country codes are included in the Table for each
entity. Note that these do not always agree with the top level
DNS code(s) used for a particular country. [In particular, for
countries of the former Soviet Union--see discussion in paper.]
Copyright 1993 Lawrence H. Landweber and the Internet Society.
(Unlimited permission to copy or use is hereby granted subject to
inclusion of this copyright notice.)
from: INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIVITY (Version 9-August 1, 1993)
Connectivity "borders," like national ones (or at least like
national borders in the ex-USSR), can be fuzzy. For example, the
table indicates that networks with real Internet connectivity
exist in Russia. Some of these networks (based in Russia) are
accessible by dial-up to local packet switches in other
countries, so effectively one can have Internet access there too.
For example, one can dial into Sprint's X.25 packet switch in
Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, login to GlasNet (based in Moscow) and
telnet to the Library of Congress. Effectively, one thus can
have real Internet access in Kazakhstan, but this is not
reflected in the map.
While each country has an assigned ISO code, not all of them are
actually being used in practice. In extensive travels and
electronic correspondence in the FSU, the authors have never seen
an e-mail address which contained one of the domains "AM"
(Armenia), "AZ" (Azerbaijan), "KK" (Kazakhstan), "KZ"
(Kyrgizstan), "MD" (Moldova), "TJ" (Tajikistan), "TM"
(Turkmenistan), "UZ" (Uzbekistan) or even "RU" (Russia). E-mail
addresses on hosts in all of these countries still fall under the
domain "SU" (Soviet Union).
Network hosts in Ukraine and Belarus' have begun using their
assigned domains (UA and BY, respectively), but routers on most
other Internet computers tend not to recognize them and messages
bounce back to sender "host unknown." Therefore if one wants to
send to an address "[email protected]", one must instead send via a
relay, rewriting the address thus:
"user%[email protected]" or "user%[email protected]" or
"user%[email protected]". The country codes for the Baltic
states ("EE," Estonia; "LV," Latvia; "LT," Lithuania) are
somewhat more established, although occasionally some people
still find their messages to these domains rejected. A simple
solution to this problem is to route messages through SUNet in
Sweden thus: "[email protected]" rewritten as
"user%[email protected]". Mail to the Baltic domains routed
via the USSR relay will probably reach its destination.
Connectivity Country-by-Country
Computer networks in Eurasia began to develop in the Soviet era
and therefore any description of connectivity developments most
logically begins at the center, in what is now Russia. With the
exception of the Baltic states and, increasingly, Ukraine,
computer network infrastructure in the former Soviet States is
still highly centralized, and most international connections
still run through Moscow.
* Institute for Automated Systems
Before actual e-mail service providers appeared on the scene, the
Institute for Automated Systems (IAS, or in Russian "VNIIPAS,"
located in Moscow) created an X.25 packet switch data network.
X.25 networks are spider-webs of interconnected telephone lines,
modems, and computers across the world which serve as a kind of
general-use information highway, connecting a diverse collection
of end users, networks, and databases. If one has access to an
X.25 network (meaning that one is a registered, paying user of a
commercial X.25 provider), then one can access any other network
or resource that is connected via X.25 elsewhere in the world.
For example, since Bill Fick is a registered user on the IAS X.25
network, he can dial into the IAS X.25 PAD in Baku and use it to
login to his account on Sovam teleport in California or his
GlasNet account in Moscow, both of which have X.25 connections
and identification numbers.
Originally, the main mission of the IAS network was to connect
various institutions across the then-Soviet Union to online
databases and the like at several research institutes in or near
Moscow. In principle, IAS continues to provide access to these
resources today, for example, databases in the Russian State
Library (the former Lenin Library), the Library of the Institute
for Information in the Social Sciences (in Russian, "INION"),
etc. (Klotzbucher) However, in reality the authors have never
heard of Western scholars actually using these databases
remotely, and it is unclear if the databases themselves contain
any useful information. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many of
the dedicated channels (usually leased telephone lines) between
IAS and the institutions housing these databases now sit idle.
IAS also operates its own e-mail system accessible through the
X.25 network, but its user base is small. For the most part,
IASnet is simply a set of electronic "roads" which can be used to
access remote networks and online resources. Several other X.25
packet switch networks now exist in the ex-USSR as well, the
largest being that created by Sprint and the Russian Ministry of
Communications. Like IASnet, Sprint also has its own e-mail
system, although the steep hard currency prices put it out of
reach for most indigenous users. (For a list of IASnet and
Sprint X.25 dialup numbers, see appendices one and two.)
* Relcom/Demos
These two networks began in 1990 out of the Kurchatov Institute
of Atomic Energy and together today make up the largest and
fastest growing e-mail provider in the former Soviet Union,
connecting tens of thousands of end-users in cities across
Eurasia. Formerly one single network, a schism of sorts
developed in 1992, although as a practical matter the two
networks provide very similar and largely seamless service.
Relcom or Demos nodes can be found in nearly every city of
consequence in Eurasia, and both networks now have their own
leased-line connection to the Internet in the West. A local
network node is usually rather simple: a 386 or 486 IBM
compatible computer running UNIX with significant disk space,
several in-dial modems, and a high speed modem on a good quality
phone line to Moscow. Each local network node is a quasi-
independent entity which offers UUCP offline e-mail services to
users and connects periodically with Relcom or Demos headquarters
in Moscow for further batch routing of mail to other Relcom or
Demos nodes or to the Internet in the West. In some cities,
competing nodes have driven prices down and service up. Some
nodes have even secured leased line connections with Relcom or
Demos hosts in Moscow, which allows those nodes to provide real
TCP/IP Internet services to end-users by both dial-up and leased
lines, albeit with rather limited bandwidth and data speeds.
These developments are rather recent and Relcom and Demos have
yet to market new online Internet services, but these
developments suggest that these two networks aspire to create a
true TCP/IP backbone in the ex-USSR.
* SUEARN
"SUEARN" stands for "Soviet Union EARN" (EARN is the European
equivalent to Bitnet), and is an attempt to develop a Bitnet-type
academic research network in the FSU from a base in the Institute
for Organic Chemistry. For various political and technical
reasons, the network has not expanded as rapidly as hoped,
although it provides TCP/IP connections among a number of
institutes in Moscow and dialup UUCP mail services similar to
Relcom's.
* GlasNet
GlasNet is a two-year old network designed primarily to provide
low-cost e-mail services to individuals and the emerging non-
profit community in the ex-USSR. It is a member of the global
"Association for Progressive Communications" and is a sister
network of PeaceNet and EcoNet, based at the Institute for Global
Communications in San Francisco.
In comparison to Relcom, GlasNet resembles a small BBS, serving
only about 1000 users. While it is accessible by X.25 packet
switch dialup in a number of cities, it really isn't a "network"
per se as it is comprised of just one host system in Moscow.
However, it serves an important function by providing a low-cost
dial-up alternative for those who cannot access or afford other
network service providers.
In late summer of 1993, GlasNet obtained live access to the
Internet through a satellite channel for use by all Russian
networks donated by the Soros International Science Foundation.
As it uses an online interactive interface, users can now use
telnet and enjoy access to other internet functions as well.
* Sovam Teleport
A Russian-American-British joint venture formerly known as San
Francisco-Moscow Teleport (SFMT), Sovam was the first officially
sanctioned e-mail provider in the then-Soviet Union, and for
several years, the only publicly available network. It was also
fairly pricey, and catered primarily to a Moscow clientele.
Sovam is based on two host computers, one in Moscow and one in
San Francisco, which are linked via satellite and accessible via
X.25 packet switch dialups. Sovam uses an online interface
similar to GlasNet's and provides basic e-mail services and
access to other Internet tools.
*Summary
The above list is far from comprehensive, of course. Myriad
Western networks are now accessible via X.25 dialup, and
countless "fidonets" (which are somewhat primitive "bulletin
boards") provide gateways to the larger networked world exist on
the basis of small BBS systems in cities across Eurasia.
All of the networks listed above work on a fee-for-service basis,
and while relative prices vary, ANY cost can be prohibitive for
cash-strapped educational institutions. Commodities traders,
bankers, and other commercial constituencies can usually afford
the services of existing e-mail providers, and these groups make
up the bulk of the tens of thousands of existing network users in
the former Soviet Union. To verify this, one need only look at
the topics discussed by the many "Relcom newsgroups" (discussed
below). "Relcom.commerce.stocks" and "relcom.postf.business" are
typical.
In the US, the federal government subsidized Bitnet and NSFnet to
defray start-up infrastructure costs, and commercial network
services provide a relatively new and inexpensive alternative.
The Russian government has addressed cost problems by funding an
initiative called RELARN (Russian Electronic Academic Research
Network), an association of scholarly and other non-profit
network users which subsidizes electronic mail access for
academic institutions and civic groups using funds from the
Russian Federation Budget. In principle, this subsidy may be
applied to an e-mail account on any network that charges fees in
rubles, but RELARN has not yet received much of the money
promised to it by the Ministry of the Science and is thus working
in debt to the service providers, chiefly Relcom. Still, RELARN
is making possible substantially wider network use in academia,
and eventually it may provide an organizational basis for a real
non-commercial network backbone in Russia.
RELARN has been a chief organizing agent for the Soros
International Science Foundation network initiatives in Russia.
ISF is sponsoring the construction of a 40 kilometer fiber-optic
backbone devised by RELARN which will connect major institutes
and network service providers in Moscow, and has pledged to
support a satellite channel to the Internet accessible to all
Moscow networks for a period of two years. While this channel
has been a godsend to GlasNet, which was choking on international
data transmission costs, Relcom and Demos have reacted
skeptically, since they view Sprint, which is housing the ISF
link, as a potential competitor and they see little utility in
using a free link which may disappear in two years when they have
links of their own already.
In addition to these activities, the Russian Federation State
Committee on Higher Education has established scores of Centers
of New Information Technology (CNIT) in educational institutions
across Russia. The concrete activities of each center vary
widely from projects in library automation, multimedia and video,
to concentrated networking projects. CNIT in Novosibirsk, for
example, has established a leased line TCP/IP (or Internet)
connection via a local Relcom node and is slowly but surely
wiring the University in a WAN (wide-area network) which aspires
eventually to provide wide access to a full range of Internet
services.
* Unique circumstances of Baltics
The Baltic states enjoy the most advanced network infrastructure
among FSU states. With financial and organization assistance
from Scandinavian governments, research communities in each
country have created the backbone of a real Baltic academic
network which links major academic institutions in each country
with each other, and in turn, the Internet. The small size and
intensity of network assistance to the Baltics have created
inefficiencies and competing constituencies in each country and
has particularly retarded network development in Lithuania. (See
appendix four.)
* Ukraine
Ukrainian networking is somewhat behind Russian among educational
institutions due to lack of equipment, funds, and expertise,
although the overall landscape is similar--there are local Relcom
hosts, some with TCP/IP connections via Moscow, a local GlasNet
host, X.25 access to Sovam teleport and other networks, etc.
Several nodes have plans in the works to get international
connectivity via leased lines to Lv'iv and Warsaw to end
dependence on Relcom/Moscow, and ISF also has a tentative plan to
support development of a TCP/IP backbone in Ukraine.
Special connectivity issues for scholars in humanities and social
sciences.
The growth of network infrastructure by itself, of course, means
little for the scholarly community if nobody uses it. Great
strides have been made toward expanding physical access to
networked computers and mitigating costs for scholars in Eurasia,
but in practice many obstacles remain to truly vibrant and free
electronic interaction, particularly among those in humanities
and social science disciplines.
Researchers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and technical
disciplines have taken to network technology rapidly, since the
general level of computer literacy and access is high. These
disciplines dominated the first wave of network use in the West,
and network development in the former USSR is following a similar
pattern. Computers are only beginning to infiltrate the
humanities.
Other barriers to network use are more subtle. Electronic mail
has existed in some higher educational institutions in Moscow and
St. Petersburg for several years already, but administrators are
often loathe to permit widespread access to such powerful
communication media particularly among junior scholars. The
notion that a young researcher can carry on a dialogue with
foreign colleagues without the knowledge or intercession of his
or her superiors still generates a reflexive negative reaction
among those long accustomed to exclusive control over such
contacts.
Even easy, uninhibited access to e-mail does not ensure immediate
growth of vibrant communication. For nearly one year, IREX has
been administering a "Modems for Democracy" project which
provides computer modems, e-mail accounts, and training for non-
commercial civic organizations. This project has proven much
more labor intensive than anticipated because recipient groups
often find that they don't immediately have others with whom they
want to communicate, and seem reticent to experiment or find
creative uses for the network. They gain access to a powerful
communications medium which they are not adequately prepared to
exploit.
Experience shows that once a modem is in the field, lively
correspondence often requires active intervention to develop.
This means special, individualized attention from a person who
can play the role of intermediary to find correspondents and
facilitate the growth of collegial interaction on the net.
IREX's initial work in scholarly communities has yielded similar
results. Even when the idea of rapid and cheap international
communication is exciting for a scholar in principle, after he or
she learns to use the network and secures a point of access the
real challenges arise: what to read? With whom to communicate?
The Internet is difficult to navigate. There are no
comprehensive, annotated lists of scholars online and their
addresses, to say nothing of indices to online information
resources. Much of the information on the net is of very
marginal quality, of little use for serious scholars. Yet there
are few reliable mechanisms to separate the good from the bad.
Allan Urbanic's paper describes some Internet search tools which
have made it infinitely easier to find materials on the network.
Still, it is mostly hit or miss, and given the sheer number of
information resources online, a random search for information is
bound to be quixotic, not to mention discouraging for a novice
user in the FSU.
Related to these problems is one of language. English has become
the de facto lingua franca of the Internet, and thus the Internet
is a much more friendly and useful work environment for scholars
who can at least read it. There are, of course, myriad network
resources of value to non-English readers, and individual e-mail
correspondence theoretically can be exchanged in any language.
In communication with scholars from Eurasia, however, problems
arise when one wants to send correspondence using the Cyrillic
character set. Most networks on the Internet transfer characters
using a 7-data bit standard, while transmission of Cyrillic
requires an 8th bit. Networks in the FSU use 8-bit transmission,
so Cyrillic messages may be exchanged freely between them.
Overseas Cyrillic correspondence, however, requires either
transliteration or some other type of encoding as an intermediate
step. The procedure is relatively simple, but it requires
careful explanation and creates yet another source of inertia
inhibiting the development of vibrant communication, particularly
among new network users. (For a brief technical explanation of
the problem and various encoding techniques to solve it, see
appendix six.)
* Solutions
All of these problems point to the need for extensive user
training and support, functions which network service providers
would ideally serve, since creating masses of new and active
users is in their economic self-interest. However, in the FSU
nearly all of the network organizations neglect training and
support activities. Academic institutions themselves have been
similarly passive in expanding network use in the humanities,
with the exception of the CNIT groups in a few cities such as
Novosibirsk. The task of network "evangelism" and training in
humanities and social science constituencies has thus been left
to private, outside initiatives.
An independent Russian organization, the international "Vega"
laboratory, has been working since 1985 to address problems of
access and training within Academy of Science institutes and
university faculties in Moscow. Supported by IREX and the
Carnegie Corporation of New York, Vega has established "public
access" e-mail centers in several humanities and social science
institutes. Scholars can send and receive messages free of
charge from these facilities with the help of Vega's user support
and technical staff. In tandem with public access initiatives,
Vega works individually with scholars to help them to gain
direct access within their home institutions, departments, and
offices. Vega's activity began as a joint psychological research
project on the process of communication between Michael Cole of
the University of California at San Diego and Aleksandra
Vladimirovna Belyaeva of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The
psychological research agenda remains, which can sometimes create
problematic issues of privacy for users of the public access
stations. Nonetheless, Vega was the first and is still one of
the most active network training organizations in existence. The
State Historical Public Library received its e-mail account as
part of this program.
Drawing on Vega's experience and its own unique combination of
contacts, alumni, and resources, IREX has created an experimental
program of "Fellowships in Communications Assistance" to promote
computer communications among scholars and civic groups across
the Eurasian land mass. With support from the Carnegie
Corporation and the Eurasia Foundation, IREX is presently placing
four American network training volunteers, one each in
Novosibirsk, Kazan', the Far East, and Kiev. Each fellow will be
responsible for creating one or more public access sites, and
more generally will train local trainers and assist scholars to
use resources on the Internet and establish contact with
colleagues both within the former Soviet Union and from the West.
At the time of writing this paper, two fellows have already been
placed: Bryce Rich in Novosibirsk ([email protected]),
and John Velat in Kazan' ([email protected]).
IREX's Moscow and Washington, D.C. offices will track,
coordinate, and support fellows in the field, responding to
queries and developing common resource guides and annotated e-
mail address lists to meet typical information needs.
IREX and Vega also have jointly developed "IREXnet", a group of
over 220 American alumni of IREX grants, scholars who use e-mail
already and have volunteered to serve as human "routers" or
"postmaster" to help their FSU colleagues to find correspondents
and information resources on the net. Over time, IREX will also
develop disciplinary discussion groups (something like a LISTSERV
or e-mail reflector address) for FSU scholars and their
colleagues in other countries as an attempt to bring FSU scholars
into "virtual communities" on the net. For more information, or
to volunteer as a postmaster, write to Bob Henry or Tony Byrne at
[email protected].
* Indigenous "Online" or E-mail Accessible Resources
To date, there is a dearth of indigenous FSU scholarly data and
information resources online and accessible via the Internet or
e-mail commands. Relcom maintains an extensive array of
commercial newsgroups, which can be fascinating and useful for
economists or others studying contemporary Russian business
phenomena. For broader scholarly interest, however, really only
one catch-all newsgroup called relcom.relarn.general holds much
promise.
In the West it is possible to read Relcom newsgroups by
telnetting to "ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu", selecting the menu item for
"NEWS & FTP", and moving through the menu structure to the
desired newsgroup, and from there, to specific messages. Relcom
newsgroups are also archived in an ftp site maintained by Jan
Labanowski. The address is "kekule.osc.edu" and the messages are
archived in the /pub/russian/relcom/news sub-directory. Messages
in both cases are in Koi-8 (the technical aspects of converting
Koi-8 to a readable format, either in transliterated Cyrillic or
in Cyrillic, are discussed in appendix six). The "kekule" ftp
site has execute files (programs) that will assist in reading
Relcom newsgroups as well as information (text files) about how
to use the execute files. The file "relcom.help" is located in
the directory "/pub/russian/relcom/doc" and explains how to
receive relcom news from specific newsgroups via e-mail. The
archive owner can be contacted at: [email protected].
(Labanowski, electronic sources)
Local online library catalogs, databases, gophers, etc. will
doubtless develop quickly with the infrastructure, particularly
in the Baltics. Tracking these developments and compiling
annotated lists as they appear will help all online Slavic
scholars tremendously.
E-mail Accessible Resources in the West
There are several tools available that allow users with only e-
mail capabilities to access many kinds of resources that are
generally only accessible via the Internet (as we have seen, this
is generally the case in most of the former Soviet Union). Among
these are the ability to emulate a WAIS (Wide Area Information
Server) or Archie session. Trickle and BITFTP allow e-mail to
emulate FTP, while other techniques make it possible to emulate
other "real time" tools. The methods for using these tools via
e-mail are described in detail the _Guide to Network Resource
Tools_. (The EARN Association, electronic sources)
"Gopher" servers provide access to a wide variety of resources
(as described in Allan Urbanic's paper) and are of course
accessible via telnet and not via e-mail. One feature that they
have, however, is that they will generally allow text files that
they contain to be e-mailed to the user (or to any other valid
Internet address). Some of these files can be quite large, and
it should be noted that care should be taken in mailing large
files to addresses in the former Soviet Union, since there may be
either various reasons why an e-mail user there may wish to avoid
receiving such files. Most significantly, there may be charges
to a user in the FSU per kilobyte received.
One example of a gopher is the Library of Congress MARVEL
(Machine Assisted Realization of the Virtual Electronic Library)
which contains (among many other things) the _International
Directory of Librarians and Library Specialist in the Slavic and
East European Field_ (4th ed.) (Kraus, electronic sources) This
file is quite large, yet can be sent by the gopher via e-mail.
Once received, it can be downloaded and printed locally. This
should facilitate issuing updates to the directory and obviously
removes the cost of printing it from the host institution.
E-mail and LISTSERV (and Similar Technologies)
LISTSERV is a program that systematically distributes e-mail
messages to "subscribers." The details of how to operate
LISTSERV are beyond the scope of this paper and are widely
available. Generally LISTSERV is thought of as nothing more than
a distribution system for e-mail messages, which facilitates both
"discussion groups" and the distribution of "electronic
journals." (Electronic journals are the subject of another paper
to be presented by George Klim and will not be treated here.)
LISTSERV does have additional capabilities beyond distributing e-
mail. Most LISTSERVs archive the messages that are sent, and
these archives can be searched and past messages retrieved.
Files other than archived messages can also be stored in the
LISTSERV and retrieved by e-mail commands. Another capability,
although seldom used, is for "automatic file distribution," or
AFD. This allows a LISTSERV participant to select certain files
that they will receive updates of when new versions are posted to
the LISTSERV. All these functions are manipulated by commands
sent in e-mail messages. The _Guide to Network Resource Tools_
provides an in-depth look at the command structure and workings
of LISTSERV. (The EARN Association, electronic sources)
The E-EUROPE list is an example of an LISTSERV that implements
all of these features. It is not a "pure" discussion list,
rather participants can send messages to the LISTSERV address and
the list "owner," James Reese, periodically posts groups of
messages that are then sent to the E-EUROPE subscribers. The
list has all its messages archived, and they can be searched and
retrieved. There are also about a dozen files that are archived
which are periodically updated and can be retrieved. Finally,
the list owner distributes some files on AFD concerning specific
countries (thus one participant can regularly receive files on
Russia while another receives files on Hungary, as they choose).
It is also possible to receive the regular updates to the index
of files maintained on the LISTSERV on AFD. (Reese, electronic
sources)
A new LISTSERV that has been established that also may be of
interest is the "IPRUSSIA" list, which is a "place for people to
share their ideas, experiences, questions, answers, plans, and
progress relative to implementing the Internet in Russia."
(Graham, electronic sources)
A less sophisticated alternative (from a technical standpoint)
are "lists" that can be maintained in association with an
individual e-mail account (sometimes referred to as an "e-mail
reflector"). One example of such a list is "Balt-Info," which
distributes e-mail messages to participants, who are united by an
interest in Baltic studies. This list is interesting for several
reasons. The funding for establishing Balt-Info was provided by
an IREX grant, with much of the funding going towards providing
training for the Baltic participants. Another distinguishing
characteristic of Balt-Info is that so many of the active
participants are, in fact, in the former Soviet Union.
While in theory e-mail should be greatly increasing
communications between the FSU and the West, in fact this is not
seen in LISTSERVs or on many lists. The Slavic Librarians E-mail
Forum LISTSERV, for example, still has only a modest number of
members from the FSU and their participation is minimal. It is
difficult to pinpoint the reason (or reasons), which is probably
a combination of the language barrier and that many issues that
are of concern to the Western participants are not of interest to
the FSU participants. Cost of using e-mail may also be a factor.
However libraries have mentioned some interest in using e-mail to
save money on postage. The State Public Scientific Technical
Library (in Russian, "GPNTB") in Novosibirsk reports it wants to
begin sending exchange list offers to American libraries via e-
mail, for example. (In Mike Neubert's recent travels through the
Urals and Siberia, he found that a number of oblast and
university libraries had e-mail, but upon return his experience
has been that only about one in three are responding to messages-
-thus it is not clear if some of these newly-connected
institutions are even reading their mail.)
* LISTSERV Directories
There are enough different LISTSERV-distributed discussion
groups and electronic journals that it is necessary to have
directories to find those that might be of interest. These
directories are generally of two types. The first contains the
directories that attempt to comprehensively describe all existing
lists. The best such directory of electronic journals is the
_Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters, and Scholarly
Discussion Lists_, which can be retrieved (appropriately) by e-
mail. (Strangelove, electronic sources) The best directory of
academic LISTSERV discussion groups is the _Directory of
Scholarly Electronic Conferences_ (Kovacs, electronic sources),
which is so large that it is divided into seven parts, with each
part covering a number of disciplines (i.e., part 2 covers
geography and library and information science). It also has a
system of more narrow subject access.
In addition, it is possible to access the Kovacs list by gopher,
such as the LC MARVEL, and search it for lists associated with
various subject terms or keywords. For example a search for the
term "russia" returned six lists (the search also looked for
matches in the annotations). It should be noted that the
entries are not always up to date--the entry for the "RUSSIA"
list shows an incorrect address for both the LISTSERV and the
list owner.
There are several published "list of lists," one being the
_Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic
Discussion Lists_ (3rd ed.), which is based on the online Kovacs
and Strangelove lists, another is Internet: Mailing Lists, which
has been independently produced. (Association of Research
Libraries, and Hardie) Hardie's list is well-indexed and
contains extensive annotations, but the quickly changing nature
of the "list" environment would seem to indicate that electronic
versions are more likely to be up to date.
The second type of list is created with a particular group in
mind. Typical of such lists is the article "Internet for Russian
and East European Studies," which includes an annotated guide to
lists that might most directly concern an area studies
specialist. (Markiw) Another recent article, "From Russia, with
Love: Unique Sources of Electronic Information on the
Commonwealth of Independent States" also includes an annotated
list of lists, but with more of a business focus. (Schoenbrun)
Lists of this type are also available electronically, the best
example being the _Mother of All Eastern European Lists:
Eastern-European List of Electronic (Computer-Accessible)
Resources_, which takes a broader view of the possible interests
of an area studies scholar with dozens of lists included.
(Pasek, electronic sources) Of a similar type to _Mother of All_
is a directory of language-oriented lists, _The List of Language
Lists_, available via anonymous FTP. (Everson, electronic
sources)
Finding User Addresses on the Internet
One of the most pressing problems for the new user of e-mail can
be finding addresses of persons with whom he or she wishes to
communicate. There are several types of servers that can be
accessed either via telnet or via e-mail commands to find
addresses. The Guide to Network Resource Tools (The EARN
Association, electronic sources) and The Whole Internet User's
Guide & Catalog (Krol) as well as other Internet "user manuals"
describe how to use these somewhat complex tools (such as Whois,
Netfind, and X.500). It is possible to use many of these tools
via a gopher, such as the LC MARVEL (under the menu choice
"Internet Guides and Informations Services/Intnernet Mail
Directories and Searching Tools"). Note that authorities on e-
mail still suggest that in most cases, though, the "easiest and
best way of acquiring these addresses is via information sent
directly to you, be it a business card, a phone call, a postal
letter, an e-mail message, or a news group posting." (Krol)
In the United States more published directories that are being
published include e-mail addresses. The next edition of the
American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
membership directory will presumably contain far more e-mail
addresses than the previous one, in which less than 10% of the
members had addresses listed. The _International Directory of
Librarians and Library Specialist in the Slavic and East European
Field_ (4th ed.) that is available from the LC MARVEL gopher
(described above) is another example of a directory that now
includes far more e-mail addresses. So far, however, many
standard reference sources with the widest scope have resisted
adding even the "postmaster" address for institutions (i.e., an
address for the e-mail administrator at an institution). One
conspicuous example is _The World of Learning_, which is a main
source used by reference librarians and others to locate phone
numbers and addresses for universities, libraries, archives, and
similar institutions worldwide. The 1993 edition once again
failed to include any e-mail information (note that it also fails
to include fax numbers).
While electronic tools are useful for finding addresses in the
United States and to some extent in Western Europe, they are not
effective in the former Soviet Union. And the advice regarding
phone calls, etc, can be rather slow and/or expensive for that
part of the world. Therefore it makes more sense to explore
other possibilities.
There are several e-mail address directories available in
electronic form for Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Generally these supply the address of the postmaster or a similar
figure at the named institution. It is necessary to send that
person a message inquiring as to the address of a particular
individual. There are a number of such directories available in
electronic format. Two such lists are on the "gopher-like"
server that is maintained by Wayne Chinander at
"ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu". This server will mail documents viewed
to any valid Internet address. It is wise to access the online
help before attempting this, since this server operates
differently than a typical gopher server (Chinander, electronic
sources).
Other e-mail directories are maintained as files on the LISTSERV
"E-Europe" which is maintained by James Reese. (see Reese,
electronic sources) It is necessary to be a subscriber to the
LISTSERV first. The addresses tend, however, not to be of
institutions in the humanities and the social sciences but of
ones in the hard sciences--or business concerns.
Another source is a printed directory. According to a message
distributed on a number of LISTSERVs, the CDC Clearinghouse has
published a directory _CDC E-mail Listing_ that contains over
7,000 e-mail addresses for the former Soviet Union. It is
available only in print form. (CDC Clearinghouse.) Unfortunately
it appears that much of the information in this directory is
dated.
Another technique to employ in difficult cases is to send an
inquiry to a LISTSERV asking if anyone has information about the
needed address. By choosing carefully which LISTSERV to send
such a message to, it can be almost guaranteed that someone will
know the address and reply with the needed information--if not of
the individual, then the address of someone at the institution.
With the address of someone at the institution it is possible to
send a message to "[email protected]" asking about
the e-mail address of the relevant person. In fact, it is much
more likely that too many replies will be received--therefore, as
soon as an answer arrives it is wise to send another message to
the LISTSERV so that one's inbox is not flooded. Also, it is
generally accepted courtesy to respond with a thank you--Mike
Neubert sent a request for advice on an address in Slovakia to an
appropriate LISTSERV that generated fourteen responses before the
next time he checked his e-mail. Networkers are a helpful group,
it seems.
Conclusion
This paper has attempted to describe many different aspects of e-
mail usage by area studies scholars interested in the former
Soviet Union. At present, there are numerous aspects of this
subject that are more "technical" than perhaps some would care to
become involved with, but over time this will change.
Capabilities will improve, while at the same time the level of
expertise required by the end-user should decrease, as better
"tools" (programs) become available.
This constant evolution means that the content of this paper will
reflect reality for only a very short time (if it even does now).
Users with the greatest interest in the changes can subscribe to
lists such as "IPRUSSIA" (discussed above) to stay abreast of
some of these developments, but the most important technique is
to simply continually make use of the many resources available on
the Internet.
Sources (In Print)
_CDC E-mail Listing_. CDC Clearinghouse. (Not available for
inspection.) Apparently published in 1993, and can be ordered
for $27.50 from: Citizens' Democracy Corp, 2021 K Street NW,
Suite 215, Washington, DC, 20006.
_Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic
Discussion Lists_ (3rd ed.). Association of Research Libraries.
Washington, DC: Association of Research Libraries, 1993.
Estrada, Susan. _Connecting to the Internet_. Sebastopol, CA:
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. 1993.
Frey, Donnalyn and Rick Adams. _@#!%: A Directory of Electronic
Mail Addressing and Networks_ (3rd ed). Sebastopol, CA:
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc, 1993.
Hardie, Edward T.L. and Vivian Neou. _Internet: Mailing Lists_.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: PTR Prentice Hall, 1993.
Krol, Ed. _The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog_.
Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc, 1992.
Markiw, Michael. "Internet for Russian and East European
Studies." _College & Research Library News_. September, 1993
(vol. 54, no. 8). pp. 444-448.
Schoenbrun, Cynthia. "From Russia, with Love: Unique Sources of
Electronic Information on the Commonwealth of Independent
States." _Database_. August, 1993 (vol. 16, no. 4). pp. 17-23.
Sources (Electronic)
Note that locations given for documents available via electronic
means are not necessarily the only existing locations.
_BALT-INFO_. A network linking librarians and researchers
interested in the Baltic states both there and in the West.
Contact Dawn Mann at "[email protected]".
Chinander, Wayne. "Ex-USSR Server." Telnet to
"UKANAIX.CC.UKANS.EDU" and login as "ex-ussr", then follow the
menu-driven instructions. (This is a "gopher-like" server that
includes the ability to transmit via e-mail text files maintained
there. Files include some Relcom newsgroups (under the menu
choice "NEWS & FTP), two different e-mail directories (under the
menu choices E-MAIL and E-MAIL2), and the _Mother of All Eastern
European Lists_ (which is described below, under "Pasek" and is
located here under the menu choice "LISTS"). The "NEWS & FTP"
menu choice also includes files stored on an ftp site at "CS "
which are available for browsing covering a variety of topics
associated with e-mail in the FSU.
Comrie, Bernard and Michael Everson. _Computer Bulletin Boards
for Individual Languages, or, The List of Language Lists_.
(version 1.3). October 12, 1993. Available via anonymous FTP
from "IRLEARN.UCD.IE" in the directory "/everson."
Crepin-Leblond, Olivier M.J. _Mail/Country Codes: Based on
International Standard ISO 3166 Names_ (Release: 93.10.1)
Available from "[email protected]". Send the command
"GET FAQ mail/country-codes".
The EARN Association. _Guide to Network Resource Tools_.
Document number 2.0, September 15, 1993. Available from
"[email protected]". Send the command "GET
filename", where filename is either "nettools ps" (for the
postscript version) or "nettools memo" (for the plain text
version).
Gaffin, Adam and Joerg Heitkoetter. _Big Dummy's Guide to the
Internet: A Round Trip through Global Networks, Life in
Cyberspace, and Everything_. Available via anonymous FTP from
"FTP.EFF.ORG" in the directory "/pub/EFF/papers" as file "big-
dummys-guide.txt."
Graham, Mark. _IPRUSSIA List_. To subscribe to this list, send
a message to "[email protected]" and in the body of the message
(not the subject line) enter "SUBSCRIBE IPRUSSIA yourfirstname
yourlastname".
Kaminski, Peter. _The Public Dialup Internet Access List
(PDIAL)_ (version PDIAL013.TXT--as of July 23, 1993). To
retrieve this file, send the message "SEND PDIAL" to "INFO-DELI-
[email protected]". To be put in a list of persons who receive
future editions as they are published, send the message
"SUBSCRIBE PDIAL" to "[email protected]".
Kovacs, Diane K. _Directory of Scholary Electronic Conferences_
(7th revision). Available from "[email protected]." For
information about retrieving this multi-part file, send the
message "GET ACADLIST README" to that address. Also available
for searching via gopher (telnet to "MARVEL.LOC.GOV" and login as
"MARVEL", then select "Internet Resources/Internet Guides on
Information Services" and select "Searchable List of Lists.")
Kraus, David H. _International Directory of Librarians and
Library Specialist in the Slavic and East European Field_ (4th
ed.). Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1993. Available
via e-mail by telnetting to the gopher at "MARVEL.LOC.GOV" (login
as "MARVEL") and following the menu choices (Research &
Reference/Reading Rooms/European/Directories) to "Directory of
Slavic Librarians."
Labanowski, Jan. Various E-Mail related files. Available via
anonymous FTP from "KEKULE.OSC.EDU". The directory
"/pub/russian/relcom" has software for reading Relcom newsgroups
stored in the subdirectory "software", has some newsgroups
archived in the subdirectory "news", and has various textfiles
about reading Relcom newsgroups as well as the article by Presser
(see below) in the subdirectory "doc".
Landweber, Lawrence. _International Connectivity_ (version 9,
August 1, 1993). Available via anonymous FTP from
"FTP.CS.WISC.EDU" in the directory "connectivity_table".
(Earlier versions of the table are also archived there as well as
an explanation of the changes that occured between versions.)
Pasek, Zbigniew. _Mother of All Eastern European Lists:
Eastern-European List of Electronic (Computer-Accessible)
Resources_. (version 4.0). Available via anonymous FTP from
"UKANAIX.CC.UKANS.EDU" in the directory
"pub/history/Europe/general" as file "E-Europe.bib." Note that
this file is also available on the file server maintained by
Wayne Chinander (see above, under "Chinander").
Presser, Larry. _Relcom, An Appropriate Technology Network_.
Available via anonymous FTP from "KEKULE.OCS.EDU" in the
directory "/pub/russian/relcom/doc" as "relcom.history".
Reese, James. Various E-Mail related files. To access these
files, must be a LISTSERV subscriber. Send message "SUBSCRIBE E-
EUROPE yourfirstname yourlastname" to "[email protected]".
Then send to the same address the message "GET E-EUROPE filename"
where "FILE01" is a document describing E-Mail in the (former)
Soviet Union. "FILE02" is a directory of E-Mail nodes in the
former Soviet Union, alphabetized by company/organization and
giving contact person and street/city. (part 1 of 2) "FILE03" is
part 2 of this directory. "FILE04" is a directory of E-Mail
nodes in Bulgaria, Czechoslavoakia, Hungray, Ukraine, Kazakhstan,
and Yugoslavia alphabetized by company/organization and giving
contact person and street/city. "FILE07" is a description of
GlasNet services. For background information about these files
and this LISTSERV send the command "GET E-EUROPE INDEX".
Strangelove, Michael. _Directory of Electronic Journals,
Newsletters, and Scholarly Discussion Lists_. Send the message
"GET EJOURNL1 DIRECTRY GET EJOURNL2 DIRECTRY" to
"[email protected]" to receive the directory (which is in
two parts).
Travica, Bob and Matthew Hogan. _Computer Networking in the
xUSSR: Technology, Uses and Social Effects_. 1992. Available
via anonymous FTP from "CS.UMD.EDU" in the directory
"/pub/cyrillic" under the file name "NetworksInUSSR". Also
available from the Wayne Chinander server (see above).
Yanoff, Scott and John Chew. _Inter-Network Mail Guide_.
Available via anonymous ftp from "csd4.csd.uwm.edu" in the
directory "/pub" as the file "internetwork-mail-guide."
Appendices
1-IASNet X.25 Access Numbers
2-Sprint Nodes Rotary Numbers
4-Preliminary Needs Assessment Report for BALT*INFO Project
5-Using E-mail in the Former Soviet Union and the Baltics
(A Guide for IREX Scholars)
6-Cyrillic Character Encoding Methods
NOTE: Appendix 3, Centers of New Information Technology (CNIT),
has not been included in this electronic version of this paper.
Appendix 1
IASNet X.25 Access Numbers
City Code Admin Sovam Support Modem number
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Moscow 095 229-1118 947-5586
932-6765
Baku 8922 66-3995 66-4689 66-0079
Kazan 8432 54-3200 74-3430 76-3688
76-3272
Kiev 044 296-4238 296-4247 296-4292
296-4283
Minsk 0172 26-4560 26-4560 20-7674
Riga 0132 55-1133 55-1133 36-3041
St. Petersburg 812 311-7129 311-8412 311-0365
Ufa 3472 22-5500 22-4827 52-8647
Vladivostok 4232 25-2731 25-2598 25-4633
25-3455
25-9711
Yerevan 8852 28-5082 28-2951 28-4230
II Quarter '93 anticipates adding Alma-Ata, Kaliningrad,
Murmansk, Novorossiysk, Novosibirsk, Petrozavodsk
Appendix 2
Sprint Nodes Rotary Numbers
July 14, 1993
=======================================================
Location Republic Dial Access (rotary) HELP
DESK
(City) country/ Local Local
area code Number Number
=======================================================
Angarsk Russia (218)^ 9-4821 6-6401
(7-39518)^^ 9-4821 6-6401
Barnaul Russia (7-3852) 26-1601 24-1545
Bratsk Russia (23) ^ 42-0620 42-6869
(7-3953)^^ 42-0620 42-6869
Chita Russia (7-30222) 6-8853 3-3410
Ekaterinburg Russia (7-3432) 51-9945 41-4368
Irkutsk Russia (7-3952) 33-6116 43-3496
!!!33-3464
Khabarovsk Russia (7-4212) 21-4937 21-8799
Komsomolsk
na Amure Russia (42172) * 3-6504 3-0249
Krasnoyarsk Russia (7-3912) 21-0529 21-9758
Moscow Russia (7-095) 928-0985 201-9285
Neftekamsk Russia (7-34713) 5-7301 5-6509
Nakhodka Russia (7-42366) 4-2710 4-4772
Novorossijsk Russia (7-86134) ** 9-1800 6-4380
** 9-1801
Novosibirsk Russia (7-3832) 29-8861 22-7006
Omsk Russia (7-3812) **25-4396 24-1226
**25-6506
Perm Russia (7-3422) 65-9636 48-8341
Rostov Russia (7-8632) 69-6911 34-4722
Samara Russia (7-8462) 33-0021 33-2690
South
Sakhalinsk Russia (7-42400) 2-9091 2-2399
S.Peterburg Russia (7-812) 110-7792 265-0571
Tomsk Russia (7-3822) 21-1556 26-6808
Tumen Russia (7-3452) 25-1910 26-8522
Ust-Ilimsk Russia (235)^ 5-7365 5-3918
(7-39535)^^ 5-7365 5-3918
Vladivostok Russia (7-4232) 22-3310 22-5750
Volgograd Russia (7-8442) 32-9965 32-8366
Ishimbaj Russia/
Bashkiria (7-34794) ** 3-3708 ! 52-9890
** 3-3654
Meleuz Russia/
Bashkiria (7-34764) ** 4-0008 ! 52-9890
2-0424
Neftekamsk Russia/
Bashkiria (7-34713) 5-7301 ! 52-9890
Oktyabrskij Russia/
Bashkiria (7-34767) ** 4-3831 ! 52-9890
Salavat Russia/
Bashkiria (7-34763) 2-4322 ! 52-9890
Sterlitamak Russia/
Bashkiria (7-34711) 5-5161 ! 52-9890
Ufa Russia/
Bashkiria (7-3472) 52-9410 52-9890
Yakutsk Russia/
Yakutia (7-41122) ** 6-2934 5-9345
** 5-9320
** 5-9377
Gomel Belorussia (7-0232) ***55-1342 55-1132
Tallinn Estonia (0142) **43-1519 42-1228
**43-1566
(7-3722)!!**43-1519 42-1228
**43-1566
Alma-Ata Kazakhstan (7-3272) 50-7000 63-8936
Riga Latvia (7-0132) 22-3817 22-5671
Kiev Ukraine (7-044) 245-0379 245-4642
Lugansk Ukraine (7-0642) 53-9010 55-1201
Odessa Ukraine (7-0482) 26-2801 21-6282
Tashkent Uzbekistan (7-3712) 49-0356 44-1952
=======================================================
Note:
^ These area codes will be used for connections from Irkutsk.
^^ These area codes will be used for connections from all other
locations all over the world.
* This Rotary number is not accessible all over the world.
** These individual numbers will be changed to Rotary Numbers.
*** Gomel Node temporary is not in operation for political
reasons.
! This HELP DESK local number is in Ufa, its area code is
(7-3472)
!! This are code will be used only for connections from abroad.
!!! This HELP DESK number will be used for Irkutsk Region
(Angarsk, Bratsk, Ust-Ilimsk, Chita)
Appendix 4
Preliminary Needs Assessment Report for BALT*INFO Project
submitted to the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX)
by: Eric A. Johnson
Exchange & Gift Division
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20540
[email protected]
TEXT (as of July 1993):
The rapid spread of Internet in the Baltic is being both helped
and hindered by Western assistance. While there are several
organizations providing the equipment and telecommunications
which make Internet networking in the Baltic possible, these
assistance programs are not coordinated and as a result tend to
create conflicting constituencies within each Baltic nation.
Because of this competition, scarce resources are not being used
in the most effective way possible.
The spread of Internet is most widely advanced in Estonia.
Tallinn and the university town of Tartu are relatively well
connected. Access to the full Internet in Lithuania is extremely
limited. Vilnius has a few random connections (there is no real
TCP/IP infrastructure in place) while Kaunas does not have any at
all. Latvia is somewhere in between. Riga is connected to the
Internet through Tallinn. Internet would be spreading more
quickly if there weren't at least two competing networks in each
country. Lots of smaller non-Internet electronic networks (UUCP,
FIDONET, GLASNET, and various railway networks exist and provide
basic email services).
The Estonian network which appears to be the most promising in
the long-term is run by Mr. Ants Work out of the Academy of
Sciences Institute of Cybernetics (IOC). It uses a leased fiber
optic line to Helsinki (80 KM away from Tallinn) as its window on
the Internet. This Internet network, known as Estnet, is largely
self-financing within Estonia although the Finnish Ministry of
Education is picking up all telecommunications costs (for the
moment) as soon as the electronic traffic leaves Tallinn and
begins crossing the Baltic Sea. The Estonian university system
(Tallinn Technical University, Tartu University, etc.) as well as
the Academy of Sciences each pay about $10,000 a year to be a
member of Estnet and receive unlimited connectivity in return.
The IOC believes that member institutions should get used to
paying for Internet just like their counterparts do in the West.
The IOC and Estnet are also the primary participants in the
BaltBone project. This project is an attempt to connect major
research and academic institutions in the Baltic to a single
electronic Backbone. Access to the Internet would be provided
via windows at either end of the network (in Tallinn to Helsinki
and in Vilnius to Warsaw through a line now under construction).
The creation of BaltBone is being financed in part by a $150,000
grant from UNESCO for the purchase of necessary equipment. CoCom
restrictions have recently been lifted and it is hoped that the
equipment will be in place by the end of the year.
The second Internet network in Estonia is run by Mr. Jaak Lippmaa
and the Academy of Sciences' Institute of Physical Chemistry
(KBFI). Its windows on the Internet are two satellite dishes
(one each in Tallinn and Tartu) that transfer electronic traffic
to Stockholm. The cost of financing this network is about double
what the IOC's costs are because of the added cost of satellite
traffic. All costs, for the moment, are being covered by the
Soros Foundation (Mr. Lippmaa is on the Estonian board) and by
the Swedish Government. As a result, being a part of this
Internet network is essentially free until the end of the year
(this was how I got access to the full Internet while in
Estonia). What will happen by the end of the year when funding
runs out, no one is really sure. But since this network controls
the .ee domain, they will remain important players even after
their money runs out. It is possible that they will begin
charging member institutions for access to Internet in the future
but that would probably mean an end to the expensive satellite
connections.
The problem with the conflicting networks created by
uncoordinated Western funding assistance can be seen clearly in
Estonia. If two institutions connected to different Estonian
networks (KBFI and IOC) wish to send a message to each other
across Tallinn, the message has to be sent to Stockholm and
Helsinki for routing. The message cannot move across the two
networks within Tallinn. Steps have been taken to correct these
problems. The IOC and KBFI networks have been linked together in
Tartu and linkage in Tallinn is due to take place shortly.
The Baltic's Nordic neighbors are in the best position to push
for greater cooperation and linkage. At the moment, all
international telecommunication costs and Internet traffic is
paid for by NORDUNET (NORDUNET is a network of networks liking
together the Internet Networks of the five Nordic nations). As
they are bearing the costs for international Internet traffic to
and from the Baltic, they are interested in seeing the most
rational use of their telecommunications resources. The
increased cooperation in Estonia is due largely to their efforts.
The arrival of UNESCO equipment, however, may well divide the two
Estonian camps once again as they decide where the hardware will
be located.
Latvia's two competing networks are both located at the Latvian
University's Institute of Mathematics (IOM). The first network,
an X.25 network is a gift from the German Government. Access
will be provided to international networks via Berlin once the
network is established. As this is not a TCP/IP network (Germans
favor X.25) it is not a real Internet network.
Latvia's TCP/IP Internet Network (Latnet) is run by different
individuals within the IOM--Mr. Janis Kikuts and Mr. Guntis
Barzdins. They are partners with the Estonian IOC in the
BaltBone project and will get a portion of the UNESCO equipment.
At the moment, the IOM's window on the INTERNET is through the
IOC in Tallinn. Internet is beginning to spread primarily in
Riga through the various universities and academic institutions
in that city. These organizations pay a fee to be a member of
Latnet. The IOM is the domain administrator for the .lt domain.
The Lithuanian situation is the most complicated and confusing.
This is also one of the reasons why Internet has not really begun
to spread there. The BaltBone partners in Lithuania are the
Institute of Mathematics and Informatics (IOMI) in Vilnius and
Mr. Rimvydas Telksnys. The IOMI and Litnet are in a very weak
position, however, because they have almost no equipment to
provide the necessary hardware to create a Lithuanian Internet
infrastructure. They are also in competition with LITERA (the
Lithuanian Academic Research Network) built up from existing UUCP
networks. LITERA is run by Algirdas Pakstas who is currently
working in Norway although he is the .lv domain administrator.
This fact truly complicates matters.
Some institutions in Lithuania (namely Vilnius University who is
not really connected with either LITERA or Litnet) have limited
access to the Internet. The Norwegian Crown provided the
Lithuanian government with access to a telecommunications
satellite which also allows for some X.400 as well as TCP/IP
connectivity. At the moment, this channel to Oslo is Lithuania's
window to the Internet. The window, however, is carefully
controlled and access to it is extremely limited. If access to
the Internet is given to institutions like Vilnius University, it
is usually restricted. For example, they can use TELNET but not
FTP. Vilnius University is in a privileged position because they
have a Norwegian volunteer who works with UNINET (the Norwegian
Internet network) to provide access.
NORDUNET, the united Nordic Internet Networks, besides paying for
most of the international connectivity costs for their Baltic
neighbors, are also helping acquire equipment. This project is
coordinated by Mr. Mats Brunell of Sweden. While Mr. Brunell has
been very successful in acquiring equipment at cut rate costs and
this hardware is ready to be donated to institutions in the
Baltic, very little of it has been shipped to date. The reason
for this hold up is the internal conflict between competing
Baltic networks. As Lithuania is in the worse shape, most of the
equipment is scheduled to go there. However, since Litnet and
LITERA cannot agree to cooperate, NORDUNET is holding back its
assistance these two networks begin working together. If they
gave equipment to one or the other, NORDUNET feels it will be
taking sides which it does not want to do. It can't give
equipment to both sides because it does not want to create to
separate and competing Internet networks as is the case in
Estonia.
While the Nordic nations are chiefly responsible for the
development of Internet in the Baltic and are themselves a model
of international cooperation, even they seem to have problems
coordinating assistance in the Baltic. While the Nordic Council
and other pan-Nordic organizations like NORDUNET are supposed to
coordinate Nordic assistance, they also provide assistance which
complicates matters some what. And while the Nordic Council also
agreed to coordinate Baltic assistance by decreeing that Finland
would primarily help Estonia, Sweden would primarily help Latvia
Norway would primarily help Lithuania, and Denmark would fill in
the gaps, it does not always work that way. For example, Sweden
is helping one of the two Estonian networks while the Finns are
helping the other (coordination is lacking). And there are
Germans helping the Latvians, Americans (Soros) helping the
Estonians, and UNESCO helping everyone which only make matters
more confusing.
Aware of these problems, NORDUNET has taken steps to make sure
that at least its resources are used efficiently and to encourage
the Balts to cooperate better among themselves. They arranged a
Baltic Internet Workshop in Riga in April in 1993 which I
attended. A joint Training Workshop is also being planned.
NORDUNET representatives like Mats Brunell also travel to the
Baltic frequently to keep all the parties talking to each other.
It is ironic that Internet which is supposed to encourage
communication and bring people together has set people against
each other in the Baltic. This is yet another example that the
legacy of the former Soviet Union has still to be overcome.
Appendix 5
Using E-Mail in the Former Soviet Union and the Baltic States
(A Guide for IREX Scholars)
If you bring or have access to a personal computer with a modem
in the former Soviet Union, the best way stay in contact with
colleagues, friends and family is via electronic mail. Because
of its convenience and power, e-mail is rapidly becoming an
important means of personal and professional interaction in the
West.*
For a variety of reasons, e-mail has also proven to be the most
effective means of communication with and within the former
Soviet Union, where the past two years have witnessed a rapid
expansion of services. Proliferation and growth of e-mail
service providers has made such communications more reliable and
accessible, and less costly in real prices.
To be sure, there are still glitches, including technical
problems that sometimes delay international transmission and
erratic user support. Moreover, the antiquated former Soviet
phone network can pose challenges even for sophisticated users
with high-quality modems.
There are now several FSU-wide e-mail providers. Most have
"gateways" to each other and connections of one sort or another
to the Internet, so mail can be sent to and received from all
over the world.
Depending on the location of your placement, you should be able
to select a network that best suits your needs and budget.
Capabilities vary widely, as do costs. As inflation accelerates,
networks are resorting increasingly to charging ruble-dollar
equivalents, and pre-payment for servicesmay become the norm.
We recommend first checking with your host academic institution
to see what kind of network access might be available there. To
use e-mail independently, we recommend GlasNet if you can call
easily to Moscow or Kiev. If not, then Relcom is likely to be
your best option.
Below is a list of major networks, with average prices (in
dollars) for a typical moderate user, defined as daily or
near-daily sending and receiving of international mail. Expect
to pay some sort of additional sign-up fee, often the equivalent
of 1-2 months' fees.
Relcom / Demos
To establish an Email account on Relcom you will need to contact
the Relcom provider in the city where you will be working. The
Moscow Relcom office should be able to give you relevant local
phone numbers and other contact information.
Relcom/Demos approximate average monthly fee: $20-50.
This can vary radically in different cities.
Demos (headquarters)
pod.1 d.6 Ovchinnikovskaya nab.,
Moscow 113035
Phone: (095) 231 21 29
[email protected]
Relcom (headquarters)
Moscow
Phone: (095) 943 47 35
E-mail: [email protected]
GlasNet and GlasNet-Ukraine
Glasnet has several advantages, including low prices, ease of
use, and the availability of some valuable services, including
inexpensive international and domestic faxing. GlasNet's
principal drawback for those residing away from its host
computers in Moscow and Kiev is the difficulty "logging-on" to
the network over long-distance phone lines from certain cities.
There's no predictable pattern here: for example, from Alma Ata,
connections to GlasNet's Moscow host are quite good, but from
Kazan', GlasNet is nearly impossible to use. To help resolve
this problem, local dial-up sites for GlasNet are being tested in
St.Petersburg, Odessa, and other cities.
You can also use Sprint or IASNet x.25 packet switch networks to
login to GlasNet in remote cities, but you will need to get a
separate Sprint or IASNet user id to do so. See appendices one
and two which list of dialup sites for each of these networks.
In April, 1993, a second host of the GlasNet system, "GlasNet-
Ukraine" began service in Kiev. Fees are lower than those at
GlasNet-Moscow, and they are charged in Ukrainian "coupons"
instead of rubles.
GlasNet approximate average monthly fee: $10-25.
GlasNet Moscow
ul. Sadovaya-Chernogryazskaya, 4 suite 16 3rd floor
107074 Moscow
Phone: (095) 207-0704
Fax: 207-0889
E-mail: [email protected]
GlasNet-Ukraine
Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kiev
Phone: (044) 266 9481
Fax: 266 9475
E-mail: [email protected]
For more information:
GlasNet-USA
Mr. David Caulkins
E-mail: [email protected]
Sovam Teleport
Sovam has a two-tiered price structure. Past scholars have been
successful in obtaining accounts in rubles instead of dollars, so
long as they signed the contract in the FSU,
and not the United States.
Sovam approximate average monthly fee (Dollars): $50-100
The same dial-up that one uses to connect to Sovam USA with a
dollar account can be used to connect to compuserve, mcimail,
etc., on a principle similar to the Sprint system, and probably
with Sprint-like prices (up to a dollar per minute of on-line
time).
Sovam Teleport
St. Petersburg
Nevskii prospekt 30
St. Petersburg, 191011
2a Nezhdanova Street
Moscow, 103009
Phone: 299-34-66
Fax: 299-41-21
E-mail: [email protected]
or just [email protected]
SUEARN
For a full list of nodes, contact the main SUEARN site at:
N. D. Zelinskii Institute of Organic Chemistry
Leninskii prospekt 47
Moscow 117913
Phone: (095) 135 41 33
Fax: (095) 135 53 28
E-mail: [email protected]
U. S. Sprint
"SprintNet" is joint venture between U.S. Sprint and various NIS
communications authorities to provide Western-level
telecommunications services in the former Soviet Union,
including e-mail. The most reliable FSU-wide network, Sprint is
also the most expensive. Sprint is useful if you absolutely need
to log into a U.S. e-mail service (such as PeaceNet) while
overseas, but this will cost you about 55 cents a minute. A list
of Sprint dial-up sites is attached.
Sprint Networks
Ul. Tverskaya 7, podezd 7
103375 Moscow
(In the Central Telegraph building)
095-201-6890
095-923-2344 (fax)
The Special Case of the Baltics
With the help of NORDUNET (the Scandinavian Internet), "live"
connections to Internet are now available at several
universities in the Baltics. Recently, American scholars in
Latvia have successfully logged onto their home Bitnet accounts.
To establish an account, contact the computer science or
"informatics" department of the nearest university. You may be
charged anywhere from $0-$20 a month.
"Fidonet" (somewhat primitive "bulletin board") systems have been
prevalent for some time in the Baltics, and generally provide
inexpensive e-mail services. However, their reliability varies
widely, and they are generally characterized by poor and/or slow
international transfers.
Relcom is also available in the Baltics, where it is know as
"Jet." Telephone connections to GlasNet in Moscow are generally
quite poor and becoming increasingly expensive.
For more information on Baltic scholarly networking,
contact:
Mats Brunell
Swedish Institute of Computer Science
Box 1263, S-164 28, Kista, Sweden
[email protected]
46 8 72 21 563
Ants Works
Insitute of Cybernetics
Akadeemia Tee 21, Tallinn EE0026, Estonia
E-mail: ants%[email protected]
372 2 52 56 22
Guntis Barzdins
Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science
University of Latvia
Rainis blvd. 29, Riga LV1459, Latvia
guntis%[email protected]
371 2 21 24 27
Laimuts Telksyns
Institute of Mathematics and Informatics
Gosteuto 12, Vilnius 2600, Lithuania
telksyns%[email protected]
About Modems
You need a modem to log on to an e-mail account from your
personal computer. If you're bringing a computer, install an
internal modem, so that you don't have to worry about
transforming the power supply on an external modem (also one less
thing to carry).
Make sure the modem has "error correction," to compensate for
noisy FSU phone lines. The protocol to look for is called
"MNP-5", and try to get this as a hardware feature built into the
modem as opposed to a software add-on. We don't recommend that
you get any faster than 2400bps because faster modems (e.g.
9600bps) don't always work well on FSU phone lines and few host
systems can accommodate higher speeds.
Once you arrive, there are several ways to connect your modem.
If you clip off the end of a standard US modular phone cable, you
will see 4 separate wires: yellow, red, green, and black. The
yellow and black are irrelevant; you can ignore them. What you
need to do is connect the red and the green wires to the screw
terminals in a Soviet phone outlet. You can do this by simply
attaching the wires, or you can use alligator clips.
Alternately, you can cannibalize a phone jack from an old Soviet
phone and wire the red and green wires of your modular cable into
it. Sometimes you can find an actual adaptor between the
U.S.-style modular phone plug (an "RJ-11" plug) and Soviet jacks,
which should cost about 50 cents. The supply of these items is
somewhat erratic, however.
You may also need to install communications software on your
computer to employ the modem. Procomm and Red Ryder are the most
common packages for DOS and Macintosh users respectively.
How you can help
If you use e-mail during your stay, please summarize your
experiences in your final report. This helps IREX track rapidly
evolving developments in computer communications, enabling us to
make more efficient investments in our programs, as well as give
better advice to future grantees.
* Why Electronic Mail?
Electronic mail overcomes many of the problems and cost of using
telephones and regular surface mail to communicate. Using a
computer terminal or a personal computer with a modem connected
to a phone line, users compose and send messages at their
convenience. Each message is then forwarded by the user's
network to its destination in the addressee's "mailbox," which
may be located in Moscow or halfway around the world. When the
person to whom it is sent logs in to their e-mail network, the
message is waiting; there is no need for both parties to be
present simultaneously at their computers. E-mail costs are less
than those of long distance telephone calls or air parcel
services, and users can also employ many systems to send fax and
telex messages, or access lists and databases worldwide.
Appendix 6
Cyrillic Character Encoding Methods
When corresponding with colleagues in the ex-USSR, questions
often arise about the possibility of sending and receiving
messages written in Cyrillic characters. In short, it _is_
possible and not even terribly complicated, but requires some
background understanding of what is going on.
IBM-compatible computers
IBM-compatible computers use a standard set of letters and
symbols called the "ASCII" character set. All standard Latin
letters, numbers and punctuation marks are assigned a number
between 1-128. This is called the "lower ASCII register." In
fact, however, 255 total ASCII character codes exist, and the
additional "upper register" (129-256) can be assigned to other
characters--including Cyrillic letters--by special software.
To display and manipulate Cyrillic characters on IBM-compatible
computers, one must simply activate a Cyrillic screen/keyboard
driver, a small piece of software which assigns Cyrillic
characters to the upper register and runs constantly in the
background while you work in word processors and other programs.
Normally one can write as usual in Latin characters, press some
combination of keys (both shift keys simultaneously for example)
to change to Cyrillic, write in Cyrillic, change back, etc. The
resultant document can then be read on any other machine also
using a standard Cyrillic driver. Drivers are available for most
different types of monitors and with different keyboard
layouts--phonetic or standard Russian.
For communications purposes, the characters in the lower ASCII
registerare represented by 7 data bits, or different
permutations of 7 "1s" and "0s". The upper ASCII register is
represented by the addition of an 8th bit to the original 7. Most
networks within the newly independent states exchange data among
themselves in 8-bit format, so it is therefore possible to
exchange Cyrillic message texts freely in that part of the world.
However, the larger Internet universe is typically limited to
7-bit transmission, which makes ordinary, unmediated exchange of
Cyrillic characters impossible.
There are several ways around this problem. First, one can
simply write messages in transliteration (Latin characters
representing the original Cyrillic) from the start.
Second, there are various pairs of programs which transliterate
automatically. On the US end the writer would run a program to
transform Cyrillic text into transliterated Latin text, send the
resultant Latin text, and then the recipient could either read
the transliteration as is or run the program in reverse to
transform the text back into Cyrillic. The authors will attempt
to make copies of this software available on the Library of
Congress Gopher or an FTP site.
Third, there is a standard pair of encoding programs called
uuencode/uudecode (available as free software or "sharewhere"
just about anyplace--ask your system administrator) which can be
used to transform any computer file (program, plain text,
WordPerfect file, etc.) into gibberish ASCII text. One can then
send the resultant gibberish ASCII text through the network, and
the recipient can uudecode it to recover the original file.
All of these methods are quite simple; the important thing is to
agree with one's correspondents ahead of time which technique
will be used.
A note about the WordPerfect Cyrillic module: While the
WordPerfect Russian module is great for creating and printing
Cyrillic documents, it does not use a standard encoding pattern
which can be used to send Cyrillic e-mail. One can, of course,
uuencode a file in WordPerfect Cyrillic, send it, and the
recipient can uudecode and read the resultant document--in
WordPerfect.
Macintosh Computers
The type of Cyrillic encoding described above has not, to date,
been developed for Macintosh. One can, of course, create
documents in Cyrillic fonts, but this will not offer the online
Cyrillic e-mail abilities described above and means it is
impossible to send Cyrillic messages to a non-Macintosh.
Macintosh Cyrillic fonts simply reassign the _lower_ ASCII
register to Cyrillic characters. Sending Cyrillic e-mail to
other Macintoshes, however, is easy: simply change your Cyrillic
font to a Latin one, send the resultant gibberish text, and make
sure that your correspondent on the other end knows that he or
she should simply change back to the same Cyrillic Macintosh font
in which you created the document.
Appendix F - A Brief Word About the Mainstrem Commercial Services
These systems do have e-mail gateways with the internet. Fee
schedule questions should be directed towards the customer
service representatives that these systems provide; call the 800
number directory assistance for contact numbers.
CompuServe has forums, news services and databases open to
customers; "+" and "($)" denotes the possibility of additional
connect time fees or surcharges - user beware.
Executive News Service ($) GO ENS
Global Crisis Forum + GO CRISIS
IQuest ($) GO IQUEST
International Trade Forum + GO TRADE
Knowledge Index ($) GO KI
Magazine Database Plus ($) GO MAGDB
NewsGrid + GO NEWSGRID
Travel Forum + GO TRAVSIG
U.S. News and World Report GO USNEWS
Issues Forum + GO ISSUESFORUM
Religion Forum + GO RELIGION
(personal notes)
America OnLine:
1. News and Finance -- Up-to-the-hour articles on current news
events. The World News section has a specific section titled
USSR/CIS.
2. Religion & Ethics Message Center -- Messages are posted
concerning all world faiths. Topics are introduced by the
subscribers.
3. Religious Library Center -- Various texts, including those of
Judaism & Islam, can be downloaded from this center.
4. The Front Porch Room -- Real-time dialogue on religious
issues. Up to 23 people can participate in discussions. This room
is used for conferences and scheduled meetings of any religious
persuasions. People can organize groups and use this as their
meeting place. ( I believe that with large groups, more than 23
people can access)
5. Publications Library -- online magazines including:
Israel News Digest
Zion Quarterly
6. People Connection -- Real-time dialogue. Rooms are self-named
and can be either public or private. Meet people of similiar
background or ideas by creating informative room name. Example:
Russian Interests; Soviet Jews; etc.
The strength of AOL is the real-time dialogue which allows for
converstations. People can meet others and then set meeting times
for gatherings. The news section does not post updates as quickly
as Prodigy, and the message centers do not have as many posts as
Prodigy.
-------
Prodigy
1. Weather -- World weather conditions which include permanent
listings for Lenningrad and Moscow.
2. International Business Bulletin Board -- Includes Eastern
Europe listing. Examples of current posting titles: "Contacts in
Russia", "Russia Trade Regs".
3. Religious Bulletin Board -- Messages concerning all faiths are
posted.
4. Close-up Bulletin Board -- I don't know why they don't call
this the political bulletin board, because that's up it is. Most
of the posts I saw pertained to U.S. domestic politics, but world
politics can be addressed here.
5. Foreign Languages Bulletin Board -- Supposedly the only area
of Prodigy where using foreign languages is allowed. Russian is a
permanent topic, and messages and responses purely in Russian are
present.
6. Internet Forum Bulletin Board --Messages concerning internet
are posted. Some sample topics: "Mailing Lists", "E-mail
addresses", "internetiquette".
Prodigy has a HUGE number of subscribers, and if you post a
message with about any question imaginable about any topic,
within a day there will be some responses.
Thanks, Dave