Electronic Access to Research on Women: a Short Guide. INSTITUTION State Univ
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 358 823 IR 016 103 AUTHOR Hudson, Judith; Turck, Kathleen A. TITLE Electronic Access to Research on Women: A Short Guide. INSTITUTION State Univ. of New York, Albany. Inst. for Research on Women. PUB DATE 92 NOTE 12p. AVAILABLE FROM Institute for Research on Women, c/o Iris Berger, SS341, University at Albany, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12222 ($2.50 shipping and handling). PUB TYPE Guides Non-Classroom Use (055) EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Access to Information; *Computer Networks; Databases; Data Collection; Electronic Mail; Feminism; Higher Education; Information Networks; Information Retrieval; Library Materials; Online Systems; Primary Sources; Reference Materials; Research Methodology; *Research Tools; Resource Materials; Womens Studies IDENTIFIERS BITNET; *Internet; *Listsery Discssion Groups ABSTRACT Electronic access to research on women is available in a variety of forms, from both primary and secondary sources. Both types of sources are growing dramatically in number and scope. This guide provides information on resources directly available to the researcher through electronic communications media. It includes enough technical information to get the user started. The use of ylectronic mail (e-mail) provides access to research and greatly :facilitates the research process. Two communications networks frequently used by academic institutions and researchers are BITNET and the Internet. Suggestions for using these and e-mail are given. A list is provided of computer discussion groups (facilitated by software known as Listserv) that may be of interest to researchers on women. Other tools that may be useful include news groups,different file distribution methods, Telnet, electronic conferencing, electronic journals, full-text databases, and numerical data sources. Secondary sources are briefly discussed. Researchers must be aware that the technology is developing-so quickly that the guide is becoming out-of-date even as it is being written. (SLD) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Education./ Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This CIOCUThIllrit hasbeen reproduced as eceived from the person originating it or <nano:own O Minor changes have been made to improve reprOduchon QUality Poi M S Of new Or Opno0o3 sta tint m t his dOcu- ment do not necessarilyrepresent official Electronic Access OERI positron or policy to ResearchonWomen: A Short Guide Judith Hudson and Kathleen A. Turek Institute for Researchon Women University at Albany, SUNY PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE TH MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED E Judith HudAnn Kathleen A. Turek TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCI BEST COPY AVAILABLE INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC).' Copyright © 1992 Judith Hudson and KathleenA. Turek. Printed copies of this guide are available from: Institute for Research on Women c/o Iris Berger SS341 University at Albany 1400 Washington Avenue Albany, NY 12222 For each copy, send a check or money order for$2.50 to cover shipping and handling made out to: Research Foundation of SUNY Prepayment is required. Sorry, we cannotaccommodate C.O.D. orders. Permission is granted to make and distributeverbatim copies of this entire guide provided the cover sheet andthis copyright and permission notice are preserved on all copies. 3 Electronic Access to Research on Women: A Short Guide 1 Introduction were when researchers were dependent would use an address that included the on the telephone or the postal service person's name, street and number, city, Because the study of women is an (known as "snail mail" to email users). state,andzipcode. Similarly, interdisciplinary effort, research on Email is both a primary and secondary computer mailing programs need to womenisconductedinmany source. One can use email to do know the person's computer name disciplines in the humanities, social research or to have direct access to (userid or username) and the computer sciences, physical sciences, and in the research and one can use email to address.The entire el .ctronic mail professionaldisciplinessuchas solicit sources. address is represented as: businessandsocialwelfare. Consequently, although the body of Useofelectronicmailrequires, userid@computeraddress researcherswhoareidentified however, that researchers learn the primarily with women's studiesis rudiments of computer technology and where the computeraddress is one set small, there are many who contribute master the jargon of communications of characters such as ALBNYVMS, which and use such research. Identifying and networks.Luckily, this is becoming islikelyaBITNETaddress. finding the work of these contributors much easier than it once was. Several Alternatively,thecomputeraddress is an ongoing challenge, and the introductorymanualshavebeen might be two or more sets of characters Information Age of computer access written, such as Zen and the Art of the separatedbyperiodssuchas and information retrieval has not yet Internet' and Hitchhiker's Guide to the CSC.ALBANY.EDU, an Internet address. made this search process much easier. InterneeFurther, these references It has, however, markedly increased areoftenavailableelectronically.' If you use a machine on both BITNET the variety of resources available to Learning electronic mail skills and and theInternet,you have two researchers.' obtainingtheintroductoryguides electronic addresses, a BITNET address become thefirststepsinoverall and an Internet address. Further, there Electronic access to research on women mastery of the electronic resources. may be different forms for these is available in a variety of forms. addresses. Theseincludebothprimary and The two communications networks secondary sources.Primary sources frequentlyusedbyacademic If you are mailing from a UNIX thatprovidedirectaccessto institutions and researchers are BITNET machine connected to the Internet, but informationincludeelectronic and the Internet. BITNET (the Because not directly to BITNET, your BITNET discussiongroups,datafile It's Time Network) connects mostly addresses, such as TUREKOALBNYVMS distributions,electronicjournals, academic institutions. The Internet is should have ".bitnet* appended to electronic conferencing, numerical data not one network; rather it is a very them, e.g., TUREKOALBNYVMS.BrITIET. archives,andfull-textdatabases. largenetworkofnetworksthat Checkyourlocalcomputing Secondarysourcesthatprovide connectsacademicandresearch documentation for the type of electronic information on how to find research on institutions, government and military addressing appropriate for your site." wo:nenincludetheindexing and installations,and commercial and abstracting services that list periodical privateorganizations. Internet Discussion Groups articlesand,onoccasion,other connections are fast and offer more materials. One characteristic of both services than BITNET (including remote Email is useful for corresponding with types of resources is that they are login into other computers). Many people you already know at other growing dramatically in number as academic and research computers are institutions; but it also provides a well as in scope. on both BITNET and the Internet. mechanism for finding associates and collaboratorsthroughelectronic Some early trends in computer-based Electronic Mail discussion lists, which are used to resourceshavebeenpreviously discuss topics of common interest. identified.' This guide provides an The mechanics for sending electronic Subscribing to a list is comparable to update that concentrates on resources mail differ from machine to machine signing up for a group of pen pals all directly available to the researcher and frommailprogramtomail interested in the same subject.Lists throughelectroniccommunications program, but the basic concepts remain help researchers gather information as media.It includes enough technical the same. Email is very much like its well as disseminate the results of their information to help get you started, post-officecounterpart: a work. but, for detailed technical information, correspondentwrites a letter and you are encouraged to consult the indicates the recipient's address. The On BITNET electronic discussions can be technical references cited as well as letteristhendeliveredtothe facilitated automatically by software local computing documentation at your recipient'smailbox. Withemail, known aslistserv. Thelistsery site. however, letters travel from computer software serves both as an email to computer, rather than via the Postal distribution mechanism and as a file Electronic Communications Service, and the mailboxes involved are server. The characteristics of listsery electronic, residing on computers. This interest lists or discussion groups are Commu: icationsnetworksand electronic communication requires that discussed in this section, and the file computer-mediated communications are the computers be physically connected serving capabilities of thelistsery electronic tools that provide access to (or "networked") in some way, in the software are discussed later. research on women. The use of same fashion that telephones must be electronic mail or email not only connected to work. The way that the Currently,there are almost three provides access to research, but greatly computersareconnectedalso thousand listsery discussions