Internet is the "home" of millions of files, but it's also the place where some 130 million computer operators interact every day. (The number increases by about 20% per month! The number given is for late 1998.) There is an incredibly large number of discussion groups present on the net. Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer, NewsWatcher, and Nuntius are Internet utilities that will allow you to take part in these discussions. In this project you will utilize NewsWatcher to observe a discussion group and report on findings. You also may want to participate in the discussion; you are encouraged to do so.
1. Read all about NewsWatcher in Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh by Adam C. Engst (pp. 290 - 294).
2. Using a departmental computer, start up Newswatcher under the Apple menu.
3. When you first launch the NewsWatcher application, the program will automatically generate two "windows." The first will be a list read from ISU Computer Services. It is called the New Group list. A second box called "untitled" will also appear. By clicking and dragging, pull interesting items (such as sci.physics) from the Full Group List into this untitled window. This process will allow you to avoid searching through all the discussion groups each time you start up. Save your "untitled" select group list under any name you desire, but do so on a diskette. Reopen your group list and double-click on any news group to see what's out there. (The number to the left of the discussion group title tells you how many unread messages you have.) You are now ready to involve yourself in that particular discussion group. Note that you may either respond to the group or to the individual respondent. For further details, read the NewsWatcher "User Doc."
4. Read some of the content of the discussion group on a daily basis. Sometimes there may be dozens to hundreds of messages posted and responses or "threads" created each day. If the number of submissions is large, you may restrict your reading by selecting messages carefully.
5. In a one-page paper, summarize the various threads of discussion in at least on news group you have chosen to follow.
The evaluation of this project will be on the basis of a review of the submitted paper.