by Jean Weber
WISENET Journal 36 had two articles on the Internet, 'Advance Australia where?' and 'Information about the information superhighway' on pages 14-15.
I use the Internet mainly for email and occasionally to look up information. Most of the forums and newsgroups are of little interest to me, so I've never been bothered by any male domination or sexism that may exist on them.
Recently I have begun using the World Wide Web. Dozens of articles have been written about it and what you can find on it. It's like a huge library with everything you can imagine available to you, and more things are being put on 'the Web' every day. At the moment much of the material isn't easy to find, but that is changing rapidly, as people set up links from their own 'pages' to other people's material.
The Web is accessible to most people on the Internet. The cost of online time is going down rapidly as competition increases, and if you don't want fancy graphics or multimedia you can do a lot with relatively inexpensive, mostly obsolete computing equipment.
You will need suitable software, known as a 'Web browser', such as Lynx, Mosaic, Netscape, or NetExplorer, in addition to a computer and modem (minimum modem speed of 14,400 bps recommended) and an account with an Internet service provider.
WISENET members may be interested to know about the Web sites listed below. Please tell WISENET Journal about other Web sites of interest to members.
WISENET is now on the World Wide Web, thanks to the School of Mathematical Science at the University of Technology, Sydney, which has given us a temporary home, and Jean Weber, who created a 'home page' for WISENET and converted issues 38 and 39 of the WISENET Journal to a form suitable for the Web.
WISENET's Web address is:
http://www.usyd.edu.au/wisenet
ASAPWeb is being developed by the Australian Science Archives Project. The address is: http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/ and it provides access to profiles of scientists; a library of the history of science, technology and medicine; and the newsletter of HAST (History of Australian Science & Technology). The September 1994 issue of HAST Newsletter has an article by WISENET member Nessy Allen called 'Eminent Australian Women Scientists'.
Women in Engineering (Vic) has a home page with background details of the group, advertisements for functions and other news or information. Suggestions for further development of this can be sent to wendy.smith@eng. monash.edu.au (or phone 03 9905 4976). Web address: http://civil-www.eng.monash.edu.au/women/home.html
Australian Institute for Women's Research and Policy (AIWRAP)'s site has four main sections - information about AIWRAP, affiliation details, details and order forms for AIWRAP publications, and a collection of 'links' to a vast array of world wide information. There is a 'good starting points' area to help newcomers find their way around and a list of useful subject headings.
The site will expand in the future to include an Australia-wide database of women researchers. Address: http://www.gu.edu.au/gwis/aiwrap/aiwrap.home.html
CSIRO have a page 'Reference and General Information: Women's Studies/Issues' at http://www.csiro.au/reference/women.htm
Feminist Activist Resources are located at http://www.clark.net/pub/s-gray/feminist.html
Note: Web site addresses change frequently. Those given above may be out of date.