A NOTE TO USERS

Throughout this Research Guide, Internet addresses (called Uniform Resource Locators or URLs officially) of World Wide Web (called "Web"), Gopher, Telnet and FTP sites are set off in bold (e.g., http://www.doe.gov ). Since virtually any FTP or Telnet address (and even most traditional bulletin boards) can now be accessed graphically via the Web, they are so designated with the requisite hypertext address (e.g., ftp://ftp or telnet://telnet ). Note that Telnet requires a special software application.

The Internet is still in the early stages of its growth and evolution. One of its most prominent features is its dynamism as millions of people around the world add to it and alter it everyday. During the months it took to research and write this Guide, Internet addresses changed, new sites appeared and old ones vanished, and most homepages underwent modification and enhancement. Some documents that seemingly came and went, or are particularly difficult to access, will eventually be made available directly from our homepage. However, because the Web is so dynamic and this guide can only be considered a snapshot of online resources at time of publication, familiarity with a good search engine is esssential to track down specific documents and lost websites. To compile this guide, we used mostly -- but not exclusively -- the following: HotBot (http://www.hotbot.com/), AltaVista (http://altavista.digital.com/ ), and GovBot (http://ciir.cs.umass.edu/ciirdemo/Govbot/ ). GovBot limits searches to U.S. government sites, though it is not as extensive or as often updated as the other two.

Online "posting" of this Guide will give us the opportunity to update, revise and expand. Therefore, we welcome reader's contributions and comments, pointing out errors, and bringing to our attention new resources.

William M. Arkin and Robert S. Norris

April 1997