Introduction and General Resources
The Information Superhighway can be thought of as a global network of smaller interconnected computer networks and associated information software technologies. Effective use of the Information Superhighway requires utilization of various computer software technologies. The six main technologies are electronic mail (e-mail), telnet, ftp, newsgroups, Gopher and World Wide Web (Web). They have been developed during the 1980's and 1990's in the order listed above. The software associated with the Web has been available for approximately the last 3 years, and this software attempts to integrate the five technologies into one easy-to-use package.
The objective of this paper is to describe these six technologies and outline their key uses. Examples of sites for ag-related information are provided, along with the detailed contact information. Sources for more information on some technologies are provided, as is information on commercial computer hosts that provide access to the Information Superhighway and its technologies(1).
General resources that explain the Information Superhighway are available in print and, of course, on the Information Superhighway. An excellent book that describes the Internet and its technologies is available.(2) A set of 27 lessons for beginners concerning use of the Information Superhighway are available by either e-mail(3)
or Web.(4) A Web site that leads a tour
of the Information Superhighway highlights is also available.(5)
Electronic Mail
Electronic mail is the most popular software technology on the Information Superhighway. Individuals with common interests get together and exchange electronic mail. Software programs, like Listserv, Listproc, Almanac, MajorDomo and many others, have been developed to automate the distribution. These automated e-mail software programs have allowed for the development of broad-based e-mail groups. A number of these groups are related to dairy and beef production. Tips for effective use of listserv software are available by e-mail.(6)
Dairy-L was the first of these groups on the Internet. Subscribing to Dairy-L is simple, and detailed instructions are available by electronic mail.(7) Examples of Dairy-L messages are in Tables 1. These messages demonstrate a series of related messages starting with a question. and following with associated responses. Together, these messages can be thought of as a "message thread". Examination of these message threads demonstrates several common features of message threads. First, questions are frequently direct and they provide as much support information as possible. Replies are provided rapidly, and are often received before replies could typically be obtained by other communication technologies like telephone, facsimile, or letter. Replies often contain research results, including interpretations that do not appear in written form. Some topics, like milk urea nitrogen testing, are asked at frequent intervals.
Table 1. Example e-mail messages distributed on Dairy-L.
Question Concerning Milk Urea Nitrogen Test Strips
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 21:04:00 EST
From: Willem DeHoogh <0006637899@MCIMAIL.COM>
Subject: MUN TESTING
I am sold on the theory of MUN testing based on previous postings as well as
several good articles written on it, but am doubtful on the results I've seen in the field. I have been using the MUN test strips made by the Pestell company out of Canada. I have always gotten the same result across a variety of herds. The strip reads about 30mg/dl which is in the normal range according to the chart on the bottle. I know this is high using values I've seen elsewhere. Can those who do a lot of this comment on whether they are strictly using DHIA results or the cow side strips?
Willem DeHoogh, DVM
Reply Within 24 hours
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 1995 17:18:55 -0500
From: Daniel Lefebvre <DANIEL@MAIL.PATLQ.MCGILL.CA>
Subject: MUN TESTING -Reply
The units shown on the Azotest bottle are grams of UREA per litre of milk whereas DHIA values are reported as milligrams of urea NITROGEN per decilitre. The conversion from one value to the other therefore not only involves the grams vs. mg and litres vs. dL but also from urea to urea N. Urea is (NH2)2CO, and therefore contains 46.7% N. The conversion is: g urea per litre x .467 x 100 = mg urea N per dL. I have seen considerable variation across herds and within a herd with both methods. The strips have to be read right away as I found they do tend to fade after a few minutes. I am notsure how much a bulk tank sample can tell though. I think a lot of the potential problems could be masked by the variation between cows in a bulk sample but could be picked up by sampling groups of cows and determining the proportion of those that have elevated MUN. I think we still have a lot to learn about interpretation of MUN but I think it has a real potential as a diagnostic tool. Hope this helps.
Daniel M. Lefebvre
Reply With Research Results
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 14:36:37 -0400
From: Luis Alberto Rodriguez <rodrig57@STUDENTR.MSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: MUN TESTING
In 1993 and 1994 we conducted a research to measure the effect of dietary protein degradability and fat on MUN. In the same study we compared the Azotest strips with a MUN lab methodology. We found that the strips predicted 85 % of the samples equal to or above 25 mg/dL of MUN and the lab analysis verified only 23% of them. I think interpretation of the strips is difficult. Timing and intensity of rinsing can result in reduction of color intensity. The correlation of the two methods was r2 = .38, not as high as we expected. Results from this research study will be in the Journal of Dairy Science in the near future. I hope this give you some guidance
Luis Alberto Rodriguez
Reply With Research Results
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 13:30:25 -0400
From: "Jordana J. Calaman" <jcalaman@MOOSE.UVM.EDU>
Subject: Re: MUN TESTING
When I was at Cornell, I did work that specifically tested the Azotest strips. The major finding was that they worked best as a rough qualitative tool rather than being able to give accurate quantitative results. Remember, when analyzing MUN results it is important to take into account things like time of sampling and feeding frequency. I think that the variation of MUN within a herd depends a lot on the feeding system that is being implemented. For example, I would expect a lot more variation in a herd that is being grain fed twice a day than in a group that is fed a TMR. This work is being submitted to the Journal of Animal Science, where this is discussed in greater detail, especially in relation to pregnancy rate. Hope this was of some interest.
Jordana Calaman
______________________________
Searching for Lists
There are over 20,000 individual e-mail groups. The main animal-related groups are listed in this paper. People are sometimes curious about other kinds of e-mail networks or groups for their own personal interests. Two World-Wide-Web sites have been set up to allow people to search for e-mail lists, networks or groups on different topics. One is entitled Liszt, and it has archived e-mail groups done by all major e-mail automation software programs. The uniform resource locator (URL) is:
The other site is called tile.net, and is a demonstration of their commercial software. This archive is only for listserv mail automation software, and the URL is:
Telnet
Telnet is a software utility and a communication protocol for connecting to a remote computer via the Internet. An analogy to telnet is the use of telecommunication software and a modem to communicate with a bulletin board. With telnet, you connect using Internet communication lines instead of normal telephone lines. An account with a login id and password is usually required on the remote computer, but some systems allow for public or guest logins. Users can utilize the telnet utility if their workstation is connected directly to the Internet. Users not directly connected can use telnet from a local host computer, often running the Unix operating system. These latter individuals use a telecommunication software package and normal telephone lines and link to an Internet host.
Example telnet sites with ag information:
Penn State's Penpages
telnet to penpages.psu.edu (IP = 128.118.36.4) and login as two letter state mail code (ie. MD)
FTP/Archie
The standard file transfer protocol for the Internet is termed FTP, and there is a software utility for FTP. Archie software can search the Internet for files with names that match certain criteria. FTP software utilities run much faster on a workstation connected to the Internet than downloading a file from a bulletin-board system. Additionally, FTP can transfer binary files, while E-Mail usually handles only text files. Examples of binary files are executable software programs, images, and word processor files. Some FTP sites with dairy or beef software and a good selection of Window's share-ware software are below.
Maryland Dairy Decision Support Software Site
ftp to inform.umd.edu (IP = 128.8.10.29) and use anonymous as login ID and your e-mail address as the password. Files are in the inforM/CompRes/Software/Educational/Dairy directory.
URL = http://www.inform.umd.edu:8080/CompRes/H+S/Software/Educational/Dairy/
Shareware.com
URL =http://www.shareware.com/
Tucows Software Library Site
Newsgroups
Newsgroups contain messages and discussions are conducted, similar to e-mail. The difference between e-mail and newsgroups is that your e-mail messages come to your electronic mail box and newsgroup messages stay on a server, similar to a bulletin board system (BBS). Instead of one central server, like a BBS, newsgroups are distributed on mail servers all across the Internet. Special software utilities are available to read newsgroup messages. These include rn, tin, News Express and many others.
The number of newsgroups has increased steadily, and there are over 10,000 separate newsgroups. Newsgroups are arranged in a hierarchial order, with periods used to denote subsets in the hierarchy. The number of groups with information on animal agriculture is extremely limited. Newsgroups that contain messages related to animal agriculture are below.
You can also search a WWW archive of newsgroups. All the messages on those newsgroups are archived, and the software finds any message in any group that matches your search criteria. You can store your search criteria and run the same criteria on a frequent basis to follow some new trend or ongoing development. The software is available at a number of WWW search sites, and the URL's are:
http://www.excite.com/Reference/usenet.html?a-un-t (Deja-News)
Gopher/WAIS/Veronica/Jughead - "Finding a Pasture"
Gopher and Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS) started as independent Internet information search and retrieval systems. Many features of the two systems are now integrated and the same information is usually available using the same software. Gopher and WAIS both use two separate software packages; server and client software. The informational database is organized and made available on the Internet using server software. You use the corresponding client software utility to browse or search the informational database using a series of nested menus. The client software will switch servers during a menu choice, frequently without the user's knowledge. The number of Gopher/WAIS servers has increased so rapidly, that it is very difficult to find information by just browsing through the nested menus. The Veronica and Jughead software utilities have been developed to search Gopher servers for information matching certain search criteria. Veronica software searches all of the Internet for items of interest. Jughead software searches only one particular Gopher server. Users can utilize the Gopher and WAIS utilities if their workstation is connected directly to the Internet. Users not directly connected can use Gopher and WAIS from an Internet host computer. Veronica search software is located at a few sites around the world on the Internet. Jughead search software is usually only available on the same local computer as the Gopher server software. The Gopher and WAIS server software does not require excessive computing capabilities. Individual users can make their own specialized databases available to other Internet users, if their workstation is connected directly to the Internet.
Selected example of Gopher Server
PenPages
gopher://psupena.psu.edu:70/1%24m%201019913
Web/Netscape/Mosaic/Lynx - "Grazing Those Pastures"
An extension of the Gopher client-server concept is the World Wide Web (W3 , Web or WWW) client-server software. The two types of servers are compatible, but WWW servers can also handle multimedia applications that include text, photographs, sound and moving images. Gopher servers are frequently limited to displaying text only. Further, WWW servers make extensive use of hyper-media links to information, images and sound on the same or different servers. The Netscape(8), Microsoft Internet Explorer(9),Mosaic and Lynx software utilities are the most popular client software used to work with WWW servers. Netscape, Internet Explorer and Mosaic software can handle text, images and sound, so it requires a graphical interface on the user's workstation. Versions of Mosaic are available for Windows, Mac's and X-Windows Unix workstations. Lynx software can handle text only, but is designed to still take advantage of the hyper-text linkages. Netscape is available for Windows only. Lynx software is available for DOS, Mac and Unix systems. Mosaic users must have a direct connection to the Internet, but Lynx can frequently be used on a local Internet host.
Selected Web Sites with Ag Information.
Virtual Library
WWW Virtual Library for Agriculture (N.C. State Univ.)
(URL = http://ipm_www.ncsu.edu/cernag/cern.html)
AgNIC (Agriculture Network Information Center)
(URL = http://www.agnic.org/)
Sites with Extensive Lists of Web Links for Agriculture
Livestock Section of CERN Virtual Library (Oklahoma State)
(URL =http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/library/)
NetVet Cows Home Page (Washington Univ. of St. Louis)
(URL =http://netvet.wustl.edu/cows.htm)
Graze-L Home Page (Taranaki Polytechnic, New Zealand)
(URL =http://pluto.taranaki.ac.nz/tlbdt/grazel/grazel.html)
Galaxy's Agriculture Page
(URL = http://www.einet.net/galaxy/Engineering-and-Technology/Agriculture.html)
AgriGator (University of Florida)
(URL = http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/WWW/AGATOR/HTM/AGSTATE.HTM)
Agronomic Links Across the Globe
(URL =http://info.aes.purdue.edu/agronomy/othragry.htm)
StratSoy.
(URL = http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/stratsoy.html)
Forage Information System
(URL = http://www.forages.css.orst.edu)
Gateway to Agricultural Resources on the Internet
(URL =http://www.interaccess.com/consulting/gateway.html)
The Internet Sleuth - Agriculture
(URL = http://www.intbc.com/sleuth/agri.html)
The Small Farm Resource
(URL = http://www.halcyon.com/kenworth/sfr/sfr_top.htm)
CyberFarm
(URL = http://w3.ag.uiuc.edu/INFOAG/cyberfarm/)
Ag Census
(URL = http://govinfo.kerr.orst.edu/ag-stateis.html)
Chicago Board of Trade MarketPlex
(URL = http://www.cbot.com/mplex.htm)
WebGarden
(URL = http://hortwww-2.ag.ohio-state.edu/hvp/Webgarden/Webgarden.html)
Agriculture.net (Iowa group that provides links to other sites in ag)
(URL = http://www.agriculture.net/)
agAccess (Good source for sustainable ag info)
(URL = http://www.mother.com/agaccess/)
World Agricultural Information Centre (FAO)
(URL = http://www.fao.org/waicent/waicent.htm)
AgriWeb (National directory of Canadian ag info sources)
(URL = http://aceis.agr.ca/agriweb/agriweb.htm)
On-Line Bookmark File of Dairy/Animal/Ag Sites
John Kennelly's Bookmarks
(URL = http://www.afns.ualberta.ca/kennelly/links.htm)
Mark Varner's Bookmarks
(URL = http://www.wam.umd.edu/~markv/bookmark.htm)
Internet Access Information
List of rural Internet and E-mail providers by the Morino Institute
(URL = http://www.morino.org/)
Rural Access to the Internet
(URL =http://www.interaccess.com/consulting/provider.html)
Internet Search Tools
Alta-Vista
(URL = http://www.altavista.digital.com/)
Excite NetSearch
(URL = http://www.excite.com/)
Yahoo Search (Stanford Univ. now commercial)
(URL = http://www.yahoo.com)
WebCrawler (Univ of Washington, now commercial)
(URL = http://webcrawler.com/)
InfoSeek Net Search
(URL =http://www2.infoseek.com/)
HotBot
(URL =http://www.hotbot.com/)
Lycos
(URL =http://www.lycos.com/)
Veronica Gopher Search
(URL =gopher://gopher.unr.edu:70/11/veronica)
tile.net Listserv Search
(URL =http://tile.net/lists/)
Liszt: Searchable Directory of e-Mail Discussion Groups
(URL =http://www.liszt.com/)
FTP search '95 v 3.0 (Norway)
(URL =http://ftpsearch.unit.no/ftpsearch)
Internet Fun/Cool/Nifty Places
Weather (forcasts and sattelite images)
(URL = http://www.intellicast.com/weather/)
CIA World Factbook (yes, that CIA)
(URL = http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/nsolo/wfb-all.htm)
Useful Internet Tools
Switchboard (Find phone numbers, addresses)
(URL = http://www.switchboard.com/)
Bigfoot (Find phone numbers, addresses, e-mail addresses)
(URL = http://www.bigfoot.com/)
Research-It! (Dictionary, Thesaurus, Translator)
(URL = http://www.iTools.com/research-it/research-it.html)
Bartlett Quotations (Searchable quotation database)
(URL = http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/bartlett/)
Roget's Thesaurus
(URL = http://www2.thesaurus.com/thesaurus/)
Periodic Table of the Elements
(URL = http://www.cs.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/nph-pertab/tab/periodic-table)
Useful Internet Tools
Create your own Web documents (Help with HTML)
(URL = http://www.cs.cuc.edu/homepages/helphtml.html)
HTML Tutorial (By WebMonkey)
(URL = http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/teachingtool/index.html)
HTML Reference (A Cheat Sheet by WebMonkey)
(URL = http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/reference/index.html)
References
1. To get a copy of an up-dated list of Internet hosts, go to the following URL:
http://www.interaccess.com/consulting/provider.html
2. Krol, Ed. and Bruce C. Klopfenstein. 1996. The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog. Wadsworth Pub Co. Inc. ISBN: 0534506747.
3. Lessons concerning the use of the Internet are available by e-mail. Send an e-mail message to listserv@ua1vm.ua.edu, and put the following line in the body of the message:
get map package f=mail
4. Lessons concerning the use of the Internet are available by Web. The URL is http://ua1vm.ua.edu/~crispen/crispen.html for review.
5. The Internet Tourbus is a regular e-mail message that describes a different Web highlight each week. The past messages and information for subscribing are located at http://www.worldvillage.com/tourbus.htm for review.
6. A list of tips for working with listserv software, including search tips, are available. To get a copy, send an e-mail message to listserv@umdd.umd.edu and put the following line in the body of the message:
GET L-SERVE TXT
7. To get the instructions for subscribing to Dairy-L, send an electronic mail message to listserv@umdd.umd.edu and put the following line in the body of the message:
GET DAIRY-L TXT
8. To download a copy of Netscape Version 1.1, you can use Web software with the following URL:
http://home.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/index.html
9. To get a copy of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, go to the following URL: