2.Sources in the Internet
The Internet, or Net, can be described as a huge, international
network of unimaginable numbers of computers linked to each other.
A more useful description, however, might be "a selection
of international services that can be accessed by computers through
telematic connections" (Hintikka & Porttikivi 129, translation
mine). The best and the worst thing in the Internet is probably
its vastness. On the one hand, you may have massive amounts of
information available on your desktop, but on the other hand,
the information may be difficult to find and its reliability often
less guaranteed than that of the more conventional sources.
The major problem with e-mail is that both you and your correspondent need an Internet account so as to exchange mail. Although e-mail is usually rather reliable, it is also easy to send messages using a false identity. Furthermore, all classified material needs to be encrypted in order to prevent information leaks, as it is possible to break into private e-mail messages.
One of the advantages of mailing lists is that unwanted people can be banned. Therefore the discussion usually obeys the rules of the list. Many people find the lists relatively comfortable in comparison with the more public discussion channels of the Internet. The main problem with the mailing lists is that a lively discussion can clog your mailbox in a day.
Nowadays there are more than 10.000 newsgroups available. Some of them are local, like the newsgroups of many universities, cities, and countries, but huge amounts of News are replicated around the world. The News can be handy when you need information about some subject within a couple of days. You can reach hobbyists and professionals around the world through the newsgroups that are specialised in their field. Usually, enthusiastic people will distribute their special knowledge gladly and generously and the information is often both thorough and reliable.
Since most newsgroups are open to all, many of them are filled with unimportant messages whose writers only want to irritate, be funny, or just want to say 'me too'. Often the discussions wander from their original subject to another, that would be more suitable somewhere else. Therefore, following the discussions can take a lot of time and offer very little that is useful or even entertaining. However, most specialist newsgroups are rather peaceful, concentrated on their field, and discourage so-called flame wars, as well as other "noise" that can disturb the regulars. Flame wars usually start when two or more people disagree strongly on a subject. The heated writers then start writing pointed and often abusive articles one after the other.
As the new browsers have made using the WWW as well as many other Internet services very easy, the popularity of the Internet has increased very quickly. The Web is probably also the main reason for the Internet hype in the media. Many people find it entertaining to surf from one homepage to another, but a professional will probably want to find specific information as quickly as possible. It is essential to make use of the several search engines WWW provides. Some of them require registration fees. The trouble with searching may be the quantity of entries found, unless the user can specify the search criteria very carefully. Other Net users as well as magazines and papers can give useful pointers and URLs (Uniform resource locator, a Web address that your browser needs to open a homepage; for example http://www.lai.com/lai/companion.html is the URL of the Translator's Home Companion).
Gopher was the forerunner of the WWW. It is still up and running and can also be accessed through the WWW. Gopher is a world-wide meta-database of databases that include, for example, libraries', universities', and public administrations' resources. These can be accessed by choosing from menus and sub-menus provided by the Gopher interface. The search engine for Gopher services is called Veronica. (Hintikka 101-109, Hintikka & Porttikivi 31-33).
Ftp is relatively easy to use, and it transfers the files reliably from one machine to another. Still, to know what is available and where is not as easy because of the number of ftp sites and the files stored there. You can, however, use some WWW search engines or a special ftp search engine called Archie that will find any file that resides in any ftp site of the Internet. The difficulty with Archie is that it operates by the name of the file only, not by the file type or its contents. Again, other users and magazines can give useful pointers. (Hintikka 97-98).
MUSE means Multi User Simulation Environment, and is mostly used for games. MUD (Multi-User-Dungeons, Multi-User-Dimensions) and MOO (Mud-Object-Oriented) are probably the most popular applications of MUSE. MUD and MOO create virtual spaces where people can "meet" and "travel in space", which makes, for example, role-playing games and other virtual adventures possible. These applications could also be used to simulate real situations for research and study purposes. (Hintikka 144-149).
Both IRC and MUD are said to be addictive and therefore they are forbidden in some institutes and workplaces. When used properly, they can offer both information and entertainment that can be valuable, especially if a translator works alone.