The Gateless Gate
Gopher resources for Asia-Pacific journalists
Can be used via Internet or e-mail (see below).
"Gopher" is a menu-driven information system that helps you "go for" all
sorts of specialized information. When you connect with a gopher site,
you are presented with a list of choices - for example, "Business,"
"News," "Educational Resources" and so on. When you select a choice and
press a button, another set of choices under that category is displayed,
until you eventually get to a particular document. You can either read
the document on the screen or download it for storage on your own
computer.
The following databases are listed by uniform resource locator. To access
them in the more traditional way, you just type "gopher gopher.cic.net"
(to use just one of the examples below), and then follow a series of choices, first
selecting "Electronic Serials," then "Archive," then "General," then "Business."
To find a gopher server in a particular geographical area, select "Other
Gopher and Information Servers." You will be presented with menus of
choices that will narrow your search down to the desired area of the
world.
Another way to search for gopher resources is by using a method called
"Veronica," which is available from a number of gopher servers. Veronica
lets you search by keyword for gopher-based information. For information,
type "gopher gopher.gu.edu.au," select "Search Gopherspace: Jughead &
Veronica," then read the "Frequently Asked Questions" about how to use
these tools.
Gopher menus and files may be retrieved by e-mail, although the procedure
is cumbersome. To use gopher via e-mail, send a message to
[email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]. It
doesn't matter what text the message contains.
It is often preferable to use the e-mail method listed under the heading
"World Wide Web," inserting the gopher address as the URL.
Information relating to policy issues such as the North American Free
Trade Agreement, the National Information Infrastructure, the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
A sampler of a wide variety of publications distributed by e-mail,
from Azerbaijan to the U.S. Information Agency's East Asia/Pacific
Wireless Files. These publications are at least six months old, but
they give a good idea of what's available and perhaps even where to
find current issues. The second address has samples of business
publications, including Japan Economic Newswire and Finansovaya
Izvestia.
A very comprehensive list of Asian resources available by gopher, with
links to other gopher sites around the world.
Gopher version of China News Digest. Comprehensive, well-done digest
of items about China, from Chinese as well as foreign sources.
The first listing is a gopher version of the World Factbook, with data
about all the countries in the world collected by the Central
Intelligence Agency. The second listing is an alternate way to reach
the World Factbook through the U.S. government gopher, with the choice
of searching the database by keyword.
A large collection of Internet resources, maintained by the University
of Michigan and organized by subject. Don't miss the one about Asia.
Gopher version of Coombsquest at the Australian National University,
with links to many other sources and searching capability.
A selection of favorite gopher resources, organized by subject.
News articles relating to activism and development, collected from
various sources by the IGC.
U.S. Library of Congress' gopher server, with many links to American
information sources. The federal government collects a lot of data
that may be of use to Asian journalists.
A collection of news items posted to the soc.culture.australian
newsgroup.
Select "Seattle USA White Pages," then
"Russian Far East Update" from this gopher menu for
subscription information and samples of this monthly newsletter about
business and politics on Russia's East Coast.
A number of resources on Asia-Pacific communications and business,
organized by the Vancouver university's David See-Chai Lam Centre for
International Communication and Management of Technology.
Documents, directories and other information from the United Nations.
The second listing has the most current information.
Scripts from the Voice of America's News and English Broadcasts,
updated daily and archived for a week. A very wide selection of news
from America and all parts of the world.
Webmaster: Alan Boyle ([email protected])