PRIMER: Overview Netiquette E-mail/Chat Mailing Lists Newsgroups FTP File Transfer Telnet Gopher Websites/Web Search Cite Sources Make A Bookmark Page Create A Home Page

Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Inc. The Genealogist's Internet Primer, by Sharon L. Brevoort Gopher Gopher was the first graphical user interface developed for the Internet. Where FTP and Telnet require the use of specific commands, gopher presents a menu of files or selections from which to choose, giving you access to online databases. Searching gopher Internet sites, however, is not an easy process compared to searching the web. A gopher program connects you to a host computer through a menu. Many materials that were at one time only available through gopher have been replaced by more user-friendly website applications. Use the gopher from your service provider or connect to one of these (very slow) public-access gophers through Telnet: gopher site gopher.msu.edu uxl.cso.uiuc.edu consultant.micro.umn.edu panda.uiswa.edu log in log in as "gopher" log in as "gopher" log in as "gopher" log in as "panda" Example command: gopher gopher.micro.umn.edu logs you in to the U.S. geographical names database. Gopher directories were set up as a way to distribute information as text, graphics, or sound files over the Internet. As gopher information is moved to the web, gopher sites are disappearing or may contain outdated information that is no longer maintained. When you connect to a gopher site, you will see a very utilitarian menu of files and folders. Icons indicate directories, text files, graphics files, and sound files. Click on any menu item to display it on your screen. Faster than web. Navigate by clicking menu items. Rice University's gopher directory is considered to be the best, listing a multitude of sites in 37 categories including census, history, reference, religion, travel, and many others. The easiest way search for gopher files is to access the Galaxy search engine on the Web. Mark the gopher radio button (and turn of the world-wide web). AOL: select "Internet", "Internet Extras", "Gopher". From here you have lots of options; "search" will take you to the Galaxy search engine. Lists of Gopher Lists Gen. Resources on the Internet Christine Gaunt's Gopher Sites NGS NetGuide (section I.5.) Rice University's Gopher directory Gopher Jewels All Gopher Sites in the World http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cgaunt/ gen_gop.html http://www.genealogy.org/~ngs/netguide/ welcome.html gopher://riceinfo.rice.edu/11/Subject gopher://cwis.usc.edu/11/Other_Gophers_and_ Information_Resources/Gophers_by_Subject (click on Gopher Jewels) gopher://gopher.tc.umn.edu/11/Other%20Gopher %20and%20Information%20Servers Search Gopher Sites Galaxy Search Engine Search with Archie, Veronica, Jughead, Gopher Jewels, and other search tools http://galaxy.einet.net/cgi-bin/wais-text-multi gopher://gopher.oise.on.ca:70/11/tools Specific Gopher Sites U.S. Historical Documents gopher://wiretap.spies.com/11/Gov/US-History

The Genealogist's Internet Primer: Overview | Netiquette | E-mail/Chat | Mailing Lists | Newsgroups | FTP | Telnet Gopher | Websites | Cite Sources | Bookmark Page | Create Home Page Copyright © 1998-2007, Sharon L. Brevoort. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Permission to print a single copy for personal use is granted. http://www.hvcn.org/info/gswc/primer/newsgroup.htm Revised 15 October 2007. Send comments or changes to Sharon at wwwgswc@aol.com. Images © Corel Corporation.