By Kenneth S. Moser, CNA, CNSA

If you have been on the Web for very long at all, you have probably used one of the many search engines -- Yahoo!, Alta Vista, Lycos, HotBot, etc. Since the Web has taken hold, these Web-based engines are becoming the dominant force in online searching, and reviewing the popular press, one might be forgiven for thinking that they are the only, or best, alternatives available. Except that it just ain't so!

In fact, several popular search engines pre-date the Web. These engines include Jughead, Veronica, Archie and the Wide Area Information Server (WAIS). There is no way that we can cover all of these facilities in a single magazine article, so let's focus in on the first two, which are collectively referred to as Gopher.

What is Gopher? Well, most references on the topic start out like this:¹

Gopher was created at the University of Minnesota. I have not been able to locate a definitive date of birth but, if memory serves, I first encountered Gopher sometime in 1991. Since its inception, many other organizations have contributed software to this effort, and Gopher client software is now available for most popular computing platforms.

Gopher is an interactive connection of resources on the Internet that were created to facilitate access to information resources there. Gopher can be used to search for files and file types, transfer files, and navigate the Internet. As of June 1994 (the latest statistics that I could find with a quick search), the Veronica index contained about 10 million items from approximately 5,500 Gopher servers.

Gopher supports two distinctive search engines: Jughead and Veronica. Jughead searches high-level Gopher menus; Veronica searches for keywords within Gopherspace.

So what?

Well, it is true that most Gopher sites are converting their materials to the Web, but Gopher still has its uses. In the first place, the sheer volume of information available on Gopher sites is such that complete conversion may take years. More to the point, Gopher's search options are actually superior to those of most Web engines. How?

In addition to common Boolean search options (AND, OR, NOT, etc.), Gopher supports wildcard searching. For example, when searching for topics on manufacturing, you may enter the key manufactur* for matches on manufacture, manufactured, manufacturing and manufacturer.

Gopher also allows you to specify resources using the -t flag. Valid Gopher types include:

To find GIF images with the word MRP in the title, you would enter the Gopher search key MRP -tg1.

Finally, you also may limit the search to a maximum number of items (-m) and create a file of links for matching items (-l). For example, to repeat our previous request, limiting it to 25 matches associated with the word APICS, and creating a list of links, you would enter MRP AND APICS -tg1 -m25 -1.

Best of all, most Gopher sites can be accessed using a WWW browser. The entries should be gopher followed by :// and the name of the Gopher site.

Many of these features are not available on any existing search engine for the Web so, if you can't find what you're looking for there, try Gopher. For more detailed information, including the Frequently Asked Questions on Veronica, key gopher://cwis.usc.edu:70/11/Indexes. My favorite launching points for Gopher searches today, however, are: gopher://cwis.uci.edu. and gopher://gopher.tc.umn.edu:70/11/Other%20Gopher%20and%20Information%20Servers.

On a different note, we have some interesting new and updated sites for you to check out. If you like to keep up with the news, these sites will help you do so:

http://nt.excite.com/
Excite's NewsTracker: Register here free of charge, record the three news topics you would like to track, and receive updates via e-mail. The service claims to search more than 300 newspapers and magazines.

http://www.economist.com/mailing/
The Economist: This is a mailing list; subscribe free of charge to obtain a weekly digest of stories from its "Business and Politics This Week" feature.

http://www.prnewswire.com/
PR Newswire: Features the 100 most recent stories, available by keyword free of charge. Visitors also may browse by industry type, company name, ticker symbol or state. The "Industry Focus: Technology" page may be of special interest to online aficionados.

Keep an eye on this column for more new sites.

References

1.http://sallib.sals.edu:70/0gopher_root%3a[_about]_what_is_gopher.txt
http://xx.acs.appstate.edu/internettalk/gopher.html
http://www.wisc.edu/pte/gopher/gopher2.html
2. How To Compose Veronica Queries -- June 23, 1994: Steven Foster.
Copyright © Steven Foster 1994.
gopher://veronica.scs.unr.edu:70/00/veronica/how-to-query-veronica

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