BKECOLNK.RVW 931117 PeachPit 2414 6th St. Berkeley, CA 94710 510-548-4393 fax: 510-548-5991 800-283-9444 "Ecolinking", Rittner, 1992, U$18.95/C$23.95 donr@aol.com 70057.1325@compuserve.com drittner@uacsc1.albany.edu Working in computer virus research, I can have a lot of sympathy with those involved in the environmental movement. Both fields can be relatively unpopular. Both suffer from the fact that a "critical mass" of concerned individuals cannot often be gathered in one place. Both fields are multi- disciplinary, and require input from experts in a variety of fields. The only reason the virus research community has survived at all, is because of computer communications networks. It is quite reasonable to assume that computer networks would be of help to the environmental activist, wherever located. Rittner's book, indeed, gives numerous examples and case studies of computer links giving victory to the environmental side--sometimes just in the nick of time. It is both introduction and resource for those who are interested in using the new computer communications tools in their ecological work and study. Part one (or, more accurately, chapter two) is an introduction to "The Basics" of getting online, dealing briefly with modems, communications software, and communications functions. Very briefly. As noted in chapter one, those involved with computers will find nothing new here. Newcomers, however, are advised to take the advice of chapter one and find a local friend for help. You are unlikely to get online successfully, with only this as your guide. As far as it goes, however, it is a reasonably good primer, with only a few idiosyncracies such as "8-0-1" for what most online people would call "8N1". I was happy to see a mention of virus checking, although, since most ecological researchers would be primarily interested in information, some discussion of data versus program files might be in order. Still, I suppose it's best to err on the side of caution. I was also pleased to note the brief discussion of online etiquette. Given the strong emotions involved in the environmental movement this could be quite important. It is difficult to see why parts two, three and four are separate parts. Certainly there are differences in price, interface and availability, but functionally, the similarities are greater than the differences between bulletin boards, networks and commercial services in regard to communications and access to information. Quarterman's "The Matrix" (cf. BKMATRIX.RVW) is obviously admired: its structure has also been copied. This is appropriate to a technical reference work, but, for the computer communications neophyte, a structuring of features, with discussions of the differences, by system, might have been more helpful. As it is, the VAX and Mac specific references may occasionally confuse the reader using other systems. To be fair, though, Rittner has obviously worked hard to try and keep technical matters as generic as possible. The US-centric listings of systems and access may be more of a problem for international readers. Part five, "Libraries That Never Close," demonstrates to a certain extent the enormous quantity of information now available either online or on disk. The appendices are rather odd. The first lists communications software, and states that many are cheap or free. Kermit, however, which is available (basically) free for any system, is listed only for the Mac. Appendix B is a list of Internet mailing lists with an environmental bent. Very useful--but the Fidonet, BITNET and Usenet lists are printed within their respective chapters. Appendix C lists gateway services that provide access to the nets, this time *definitely* US-centric, while D is a sample BBS session. The most useful part of the book will likely be the listings of various environmental Fidonet "echoes," BITNET "listservs," Usenet "newsgroups," and Internet distribution lists. While these tend to be somewhat ephemeral, the wealth of research done here will quite possibly save you years, in getting linked into the proper channels. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKECOLNK.RVW 931117 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" (Oct. '94) Springer-Verlag