After the auction and the usual lottery for review software, the main part of the program dealt with the use of the Internet. Kevin Savetz, who uses Internet almost every day, described its interface, many of its features, and some of his experiences in using it. He was assisted in some areas by Mitch Patenaude, who is also a heavy Internet user. Addresses and instructions must be typed in.
Internet is a network of networks.
One neat feature is that there are permanently open lines between many Internet nodes, and some of those permanent lines cross oceans. We had a phone line connected at the meeting, and Kevin was in connected to Finland using a local phone call. Anyone with access to Internet, through any source network, can exchange E-mail with anyone else with access to Internet. Sources include commercial on-line services, academic networks, government agencies, libraries, and a variety of other public and private organizations. In addition to E-mail, some sources can be accessed for additional services, like catalogs of available documents and, in some cases, the actual text of documents.