Inter-media Column INTERNET RESOURCES: THE AECT GOPHER by Michael J. Albright MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship, v.3 no.1, Spring 1995:21-27. My initial plans were to explore the World-Web Web (WWW) in this issue, as a follow-up to my two previous columns on Gopher and Internet mailing lists. However, since I now have the opportunity to develop Web sites at three different locations during the next few months, it seems prudent to postpone that topic until next time, when I can speak from the perspective of a service provider as well as a consumer. This column will examine not a genre but a single resource, the Gopher site that I administer for the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). The AECT Gopher became operational in July 1994 and is now accessed by more than 100 users per day, a figure we feel only scratches the proverbial surface of its potential. It is a great source of information for instructional technology professionals, both members and non-members of the Association. ACCESSING THE AECT GOPHER Since at the time AECT did not have an Internet presence, systems operators at the University of South Dakota graciously agreed to host the Gopher on the sunbird.usd.edu node. I have been asked many times why an organization devoted to communications and technology established a Gopher rather than an eminently more powerful WWW site, and the reasons were purely technical. I was employed at USD at the time, and my office had not yet been connected to the campus network. My only Internet access was via a 9600-baud modem, which is frustratingly slow for serious Web applications. Moreover, the campus provided minimal support for Web development. In February 1995, AECT activated its own aect.org Internet domain with a WWW server installed, and conversion of the Gopher to a full-fledged Web home page is one of the projects to which I referred above. We are hopeful that by sometime during the summer, AECT will have an impressive Web presence. To reach the AECT Gopher, point your gopher to sunbird.usd.edu, port 72. If you omit the "72", you will be connected with the *Page 21* root menu of USD's own gopher (port 70), which has no link to the AECT Gopher. If you use Web browsers such as Mosaic or Netscape, use the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) gopher://sunbird.usd.edu:72/1. If you do not have immediate access to Gopher or WWW client software but can Telnet, you can reach the AECT Gopher through any of a number of public access gopher sites. Follow the paths listed in the examples below through successive subdirectories until you reach a directory entitled something like "All Gopher Servers in the World," which will connect you with the central directory of about 2,500 gopher servers maintained by the University of Minnesota. (The terminology in gopher menus is determined by local administrators and thus varies considerably from one gopher site to another.) From that directory, follow the path North America, then USA, then General, to reach the AECT Gopher. The last time I checked, the AECT Gopher was number 26 in the USA/General directory. Examples of public access gopher servers, and the paths to follow (as of February 1995 -- the paths also change), include: telnet gopher.msu.edu (login: gopher) 2. Help Using Gopher (More About Gopher)/ 12. Other Gopher Servers telnet wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu (login: wsuinfo) 8. Gopher Tunnels 1. Other Gopher and Information Servers telnet gopher.virginia.edu (login: gwis) 12. Worldwide Internet Services 2. Other Gopher and Information Servers *Page 22* Content of the AECT Gopher The main directory for every Gopher database is called a "root menu." The AECT Gopher's root menu looks like this: Root gopher server: sunbird --> 1. About the AECT Gopher 2. New On the AECT Gopher 3. About AECT/ 4. Announcements/Calls for Papers/ 5. AECT Vision 2000/ 6. Conferences/Meetings/ 7. AECT Awards Program/ 8. Publications/ 9. Committees/Divisions/Affiliates/Chapters/ 10. Assembly/ 11. Placement Center (Job Announcements)/ 12. Other Resources Related to Instructional Technology/ Menu items followed by a slash (/) indicate directories; items without any end punctuation are text files. When accessing the Gopher via Mosaic or Netscape, you see folder icons for directories and text icons for text files, rather than numbers. I will not attempt here to describe the entire contents of the Gopher but would like to point out some of the more popular and potentially valuable features. The first three menu items provide basic information about the Gopher and about AECT itself. In the About AECT directory, you will find a national office staff directory, full text of the AECT constitution and bylaws, the AECT code of ethics, and a membership application form. As of yet, online membership applications and renewals are not available, but now that the national office Internet node is active we expect that membership services will soon include online applications and renewals, book purchasing, and conference registration. The AECT Task Force on Electronic Services is exploring a wide range of Internet-related services. *Page 23* ANNOUNCEMENTS/CALL FOR PAPERS The Announcements subdirectory has just been divided into five sections: AECT News, Funding Sources, Professional Conferences, Related Professional Organizations, and Satellite Videoconferences. We are just beginning to build these files; however, useful information may be found here. All readers of this article are strongly encouraged to send me information suitable for these directories or any other part of the Gopher. The Calls for Papers subdirectory is divided into separate sections for Conferences and Publications. While these subdirectories may be more valuable to faculty members in the "publish or perish" mode, they are useful to anyone interested in presenting at a professional conference or writing for a book or journal. One of the current calls for papers is for an educational computing conference in Brazil, for example. We normally have 8-12 listings in each of these subdirectories. CONFERENCES/MEETINGS The Professional Conferences section in the Announcements directory is for events sponsored by organizations other than AECT. Information regarding AECT conferences may be found in the Conferences/ Meetings directory. Prior to the 1995 AECT national convention in February, the Gopher contained extensive information regarding registration, daily program and special events schedules, exhibitor lists, a listing of all governance meetings, and travel and hotel information. In fact, I have left those files on the Gopher so that browsers can see what they missed. AECT sponsors two other annual conferences. The 1995 Summer Professional Development Conference will be held in Ames, Iowa, in July, and focus on distance education. The 1995 Summer Leadership Conference, which emphasizes leadership development, will be held in Chandler, Arizona in August (at an air conditioned facility, I assure you!!). Detailed information about each of these conferences will be on the Gopher. *Page 24* PUBLICATIONS The Publications directory is also under development. In the near future, we hope to have information about each of AECT's non-periodical publications on the Gopher, along with ordering details and online order services. A newly-established subdirectory provides abstracts of articles published in recent issues of TechTrends, the Association's professional journal. Elsewhere in the Publications directory , you can find the full text of the newsletters of AECT's Division of Educational Media Management (DEMM) and the Systemic Change in Education Division, along with that of the Texas state affiliate, the Texas Association for Educational Technology. PLACEMENT CENTER (JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS) The Placement Center directory is far and away the most popular feature of the Gopher, with an average of more than 50 connections a day. At one point in late January, the Gopher carried over 100 position announcements, most of which were in higher education, and all of which were directly related to instructional technology. We have permission from the Chronicle of Higher Education to download and put on the Gopher relevant position announcements, and announcements from AECT's own placement service are also put on the Gopher. We also find Internet lists to be a rich source of job ads. Job listings are organized by the month of the application deadline, and the Gopher also provides direct links to the Chronicle, the Academic Position Network, and Arizona State University's JOBS CORNER Gopher. OTHER RESOURCES RELATED TO INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY This directory has three sections: Electronic Documents, Other Gophers, and Internet Mailing Lists. The one electronic document currently in that subdirectory is the full text of Corinne Smith's popular "I Saw It On TV," her comprehensive guide to locating copyright holders and distributors of television programs in the U.S. and Canada. *Page 25* The Other Gophers subdirectory provides direct links to about 65 other gophers related to the general field of instructional technology. The Internet Mailing Lists subdirectory contains an extensive inventory of education-related Internet lists, prepared by Don Descy and his graduate students at Mankato State University. You can also find list announcements for about 30 lists of potential interest to media managers. Postings to NEW-LIST are routinely scanned for this purpose. WHERE DOES THIS STUFF COME FROM? Much of the current information for the Gopher comes from the Internet lists and newsletters that constantly fill my electronic mailbox. I am eternally grateful to certain individuals around the country who also scan the Internet and send me appropriate listings, most notably MC Journal editor Lori Widzinski and Andy Abbott of Walden University. Other individuals both within and outside AECT send me occasional information. Every once in a while, I rant and rave on AECT-L, the Association's list, and a brief flurry of materials comes in, but the unfortunate fact is that the Gopher is but a smidgen of what it *could* be because so few people send me information for it. This is an AECT problem and not an MC Journal readership problem, but since you all are instructional technologists you can be part of the solution. If you see something that might be appropriate for the Gopher, please send it to me at mikealbr@iastate.edu. You can help me make the Gopher a resource that will pop your eyes out. WHAT IS NEXT FOR THE AECT GOPHER? First priority is to convert the Gopher to a WWW site on aect.org. We are also strongly encouraging all AECT governance bodies (e.g., divisions, committees) to use the Gopher/WWW creatively in their programming. The AECT strategic plan, Vision 2000 (the full text of which is also located on the Gopher) suggests a number of possibilities, including archives of *Page 26* position papers, reports, and professional development literature. The Gopher may also serve as an archive of sample policy documents, such as copyright policies and promotion and tenure standards, as well as strategic plans and technology plans. We'd like to make the AECT Gopher/WWW the ultimate online source for information regarding instructional technology. Comments and suggestions regarding the Gopher are always welcome. We'd especially like to hear from prospective volunteers!! Michael J. Albright is an Instructional Development Specialist in the Media Resources Center, Iowa State University. His e-mail address is mikealbr@iastate.edu. MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship v.3#1 Spring 1995 ISSN 1069-6792 This article is copyright (C) by Michael J. Albright. All Rights Reserved. All commercial use requires permission of the author and the editors of this journal. *Page 27*