roundtable: Use NetNews Filter for Finding Information in "News Groups"

roundtable: Use NetNews Filter for Finding Information in "News Groups"

Use NetNews Filter for Finding Information in "News Groups"

W. Curtiss Priest (BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu)
Sat, 04 Feb 95 15:28:27 EST 

Message-Id: <9502042029.AA00983@a.cni.org>
Date:         Sat, 04 Feb 95 15:28:27 EST
From: "W. Curtiss Priest" <BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu>
Subject:      Use NetNews Filter for Finding Information in "News Groups"
To: Telecommunications Policy Roundtable <ROUNDTABLE@CNI.ORG>


At the last TPR-NE forum I presented this summary -- several people
have asked for it, so here it is  --  

W. Curtiss Priest <BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu>


                            NETNEWS PRIMER
                               1/18/95
                  Courtesy of Dr. W. Curtiss Priest
   Director, Center for Information, Technology & Society (CITS)
                   617-662-4044 (fax: 617-662-6882)
         Presented at the Telecommunications Policy Roundtable
                             Northeast
          February 18th Forum for Journalists and the Internet
       May be reprinted in part or the entirity with attribution
                             (c)  CITS

Why is Netnews of Interest to Journalists?
    A scan of Netnews helps journalists gain a pulse of the
world from over 50,000 messages sent over USENET each day

How Easy is it to Use?
    If you already use email, Netnews takes less than a minute to
request information
    You can do a sample search and get the results back in
minutes
    You can leave a subscription, and receive daily email
summarizing messages of interest
    You can learn about specific newsgroups you may wish to
follow using a news reader by noting the source of the messages

How Useful is the Information?
    The information is anecdotal.  It's free.  For example, today
James Franklin of the Boston Globe used USENET to provide
quotes about the earthquake in Japan, such as:
      "My uncle and his family live in Takarazuka near Kobe.  I
am worried about them"
    Franklin did not use NetNews but used BIX (an online
service) to search the archives of soc.cult.japan,
sci.geo.earthquakes, alt.disasters.earthquake,
alt.current-events.kobe-quake
    Note: Franklin needed to know, in advance, which of the
3000 group to look at, using NetNews removes that burden.
    You can always use email to follow-up with someone who
has posted something(their email address will be there)

What Does an Email to Netnews look like?
 >>> MAIL 90.01.00 <<< Sending Mail: Enter your message below      Line 5 of 18
 * * * Top of File * * *
 Date:         Tue, 17 Jan 95 17:12:03 EST
 From:         "W. Curtiss Priest" <BMSLIB@MITVMA>
 To:           Netnews filter service <netnews@db.stanford.edu>
 ========================================================================
search japan earthquake

What Does the Email Reponse from Netnews look like?
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 95 14:34:56 -0800
From: Net News Filter <netnews@DB.Stanford.EDU>
Message-Id: <9501172234.AA22346@Woodstock.Stanford.EDU>
To: bmslib@mitvma.BITNET
Subject: Netnews: NetNews Filter Response
 Your SEARCH request:
 Profile     japan earthquake
 Type        boolean
 Lines       20
 Article: rec.arts.anime.94468
 Message-ID: <3ffn22$fu9@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
 From: mendosan@aol.com (Mendo san)
 Subject: PRAYERS FOR THE EARTHQUAKE
 Score: 100
 First 20 lines:
  Jan. 17, 1995
  Many American otaku are anguished and prayerful about the disasterous
  earhtquake befalling our brothers and sisters in Japan.  Some of us have
  friends and family over there.  Perhaps it would help if we articulated
  and shared our wishes and prayers - just let them know that there are
  those who care.
Is there some Japan-based board where we can post?
  Mendo san
[the entire response was 800 lines with 9 stories]

Other NetNews Background:
    A search covers approximately the last 24 hours and is current
within a few minutes of postings
    NetNews covers nearly all of the 50,000 messages posted on
USENET each day
    A subscription lasts until you cancel it
    There is an art to forming a search statement, for example, I
missed all articles referring to Kobe and didn't mention Japan.  The
answer is to "hone" a search by adding multiple keywords such as
JAPAN OR KOBE.
    For more information about using netnews:
    put the word 'help' in message body and email to
          netnews@db.stanford.edu

Glossary:
    USENET -- an electronic network of computers to pass
      messages by topic
    NewsGroups -- the set of over 3000 topics on the USENET
    NewsGroup topics -- a convention by which all 3000 topics
       are grouped:
     e.g. rec.humor -- main topic rec (Recreation), sub-topic
          Humor
    News Feed -- a computer on the USENET connected to receive
      messages from one or more News groups
    Posting -- putting a message on USENET is called a posting
    News Reader -- the software program that permits the recipient of
      a news feed to view messages
    Subject -- the line in a received message that describes the
      subject of the message
    Threading -- the ability of the news reader to show the recipient
      multiple messages on a single subject in a single group
    NewsGroup Archive -- a computer that archives the flow of
       USENET messages (permits someone to view messages
       without "subscribing to a feed")
    Email -- the ability to send and receive messages (email is not
     the same format as a USENET message)
    NetNews -- a project at Stanford University that permits a
       person to receive USENET messages as email
    Filter -- a request to NetNews that limits the news group
      messages to a smaller set
    NetNews Search -- a keyword search of news group messages
      temporarily archived on the Stanford computer
    NetNews Subscription -- an interest profile, sent to NetNews
      via email, that determines specific filtered News Group
      messages to be received via email
    NetNews Get -- a request to netnews, via email, to get the
      entire text of a single message (a subscription or search
      returns the first 20 lines -- often adequate)

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