Re: Internet Use by Tech Writers

[Charles Good <good -at- AUR -dot- ALCATEL -dot- COM>]

Usenet newsgroups are a good means for asking a question or bouncing an
idea off one's peers. Newsgroup discussions can be very insightful and
they can surface a lot of concerns and objections that a writer might
avoid when making a proposal or writing a story. In fact, I subscribe
to list servers using my news reader and request NO MAIL so I only
view postings via the news reader. As such, list server sites become
synonymous with my Usenet newsgroups and the mechanics are transparent.

WWW sites are useful for contact tool vendors, government agencies,
universities, news agencies, trade periodicals, etc. You can get a lot
of leads from such institutions. I especially like the WWW sites that
are supported by professional writers and editors. You can also find
links to desk references such as dictionaries, ecyclopedias, etc.

Telnet, ftp, gopher sites and the rest are useful for downloading
shareware (especially for my PC) or for obtaining transcripts and
forms.

Email is, of course, the work horse of Internet. It allows many
things to happen and I, for one, would find it difficult to function
without it. This is especially true since I interact with counterparts
in companies all over the world. Email is the one medium that crosses
all platforms, all operating systems, etc. It makes information product
interchange a reality.