- Email: [email protected]
Networking on the internet
TIBS 1 8 - OCTOBER1993
Cell Biol. 3, 252-255 9 Klausner, R. D., Donaldson, J. G, and LippincottSchwartz, J. (1992) J. Cell Biol. 116, 1071-1080 10 Chege, N. W. and Heifer, S. R. (1990) J. Cell Biol. 111, 893-899 11 Reaves, B. and Banting, G. (1992) J. Cell Biol. 116, 85-94 12 Helms, J. B. and Rothman, J. E. (1992) Nature 360, 352-354 13 Pelham, H. R, B. (1989) Annu. Rev. Cell Biol. 5, 1-23 14 Lewis, M. J. and Pelham, H. R. B. (1992) Cell 68, 353-364 15 Jackson, M. R., Nilsson, T. and Peterson, P. A. (1993) J. Cell Biol. 121, 317-333
16 Nilsson, T. et al. (1993) J. Cell Biol. 120, 5-13 17 Masibay, A. S. et aL (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 9908-9916 18 Humphrey, J. S., Peters, P. J., Yusn, L. C. and Bonifacino, J. S. (1993) J. Cell Biol. 120, 1123-1135 19 Wong, S, W. and Hong, W../. Biol. Chem. (in press) 20 Trowbridge, I. S, (1991) Curr. Opin. Ceil Biol. 3, 634-641 21 Collawn, J, F. et al. (1990) Cell 63, 1061-1072 22 Vaux, D. (1992) Trends Ceil Biol. 2, 189-192 23 Pearse, B. M, F. and Robinson, M, S. (1990) Annu. Rev. Cell Biol. 6, 151-171 24 Guarnieri, F, G. et al. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 1941-1946
25 Breitfeld, P. P. et al. (1985) int. Rev. CytoL 97, 47-93 26 Casanova, J. E., Breitfeld, P. P., Ross, S. A. and Mostov, K. E. (1990) Science 248, 742-745 27 Meresse, S. and Hoflack, B. (1993) J, Ceil Biol. 120, 67-76 28 Casanova, J. E., Apodaca, G. and Mostov, K. E. (1991) Cell 66, 65-75 29 Matter, K., Hunziker, W. and Mellman, I. (1992) Cell 71, 741-753 30 Dargemont, C. et al. (1993) EMBO J. 12, 1713-1723 31 Johnson, K. F. and Kornfeld, S. (1992) J. Cell Biol. 119, 249-257 32 Vega, M. A. et al. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 16269-16272
COMPUTER CORNER The Internet (or network of networks) has become an excellent medium for the timely exchange of current ideas and information. There are announcements of academic and professional job vacancies, conference listings, calls for papers, and important notices about recent events in many fields of biology. Scientific interest groups, both formal and informal, maintain electronic discussion groups, directories, digests and newsletters. These resources are distributed over the Internet principally via Usenet newsgroups and via mailing lists managed by hand or automatically by software 'daemons'. Increasingly, mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups are joined via 'gateways'. Also on the increase is the number of scientists using these facilities. Like speaking up in public at academic conferences, 'posting' an article to one of these forums for the first time can be very diffic,lt. It may help vnu to kaow something of tile mechanics and customs of these discussion groups. Usenet - the convention Usenet is a system of 'newsgroups' organized into topical categories, much like special interest groups. Usenet articles arc distributed via e-mail from one computer to another by 'daemon' programs that save one copy of every article they receive. Instead of the usual e-mail programs, you would employ a Usenet 'reader' program to browse through any new articles received by your local Usenet daemon, in only those newsgroups of interest to you. You can save copies of any articles you wish to keep, while the original remains
398
Networking on the Internet for others to read. You can also use keyword searches to pull old articles out of free public Internet archives. Articles on a given topic can be sorted or 'threaded' automatically and read in sequence or skipped over as a group. Authors can restrict the distribution of their articles to nested 'domains' (such as the author's university, region, country, or continent - but this feature may leak). Authors can also cancel articles even after they have been distributed, or make their articles 'expire' after a given date. When posting to more than one newsgroup, use the cross-posting feature so only one copy of your article goes out, and is seen only once by many people. Post (and ct'oss-post) sparingly to groups that have associated mailing lists, to give a break to people who must read the groups via e-mail. Use the expiration and restricteddistribution features whenever appropriate. A safe way to practice all this is to try posting articles to the m!sc.test newsgroup, which is reserved for this purpose. Mailing list mechanics To subscribe to an electronic mailing list, you would send e-mail to an administrator, which can be a person or a daemon. Once subscribed, you can submit articles to a separate daemon that forwards the article to all the other sub-
scribers. This is an efficient method of distributing small numbers of articles among small groups, but once either the volume or the readership becomes large, most people prefer to create a Usenet newsgroup gated to the mailing list. it is very important that you keep a list of all your subscriptions to electronic mailing lists, plus the address of the list administrator and any instructions you receive on how to cancel or change your subscription. If you forget to cancel or temporarily stop your subscriptions when you go away on vacation or your address changes, any mail that cannot be delivered to you will 'bounce'. This wastes lnternet resources and may cause other problems. Avoid sending the same article to more than one mailing list and be concise or, if your article is long, warn your readers at the start. Also, when replying privately to e-mail sent to you via a mailing list, inspect the return address to ensure that your private reply goes back to the original sender, not to all the mher list subscribers.
The netiquetteof Intemet To preserve the peace on the new
electronic frontier, it has become necessary to encourage certain customs of civil behavior. Typically, in the professional discussion groups, submitted articles are discussions on various scientific topics, techniques or organisms. Announcements of grant proposal deadlines as well as upcoming conferences and calls for papers are popular, as are reports or comments on new books, papers, methods or software.
TIBS 18 - OCTOBER1993 These last items are particularly welcome when all sources are fully cited. Commercial advertisements, political lobbying messages and anything not pertaining directly to the topic or scope of the newsgroup or mailing list are generally not acceptable and may even be prohibited. On the other hand, informative discussions about commercial products, especially books and software, are allowed and even encouraged.
Writing articles Before posting an article for the first time, it is a good idea to read the discussions for a few weeks, and explore some of the resources you learn about. Look for an 'FAQ' document that covers frequently asked questions, before you make the mistake of asking one yourself, or write privately to another participant. That said, always include your full name and e-mail address at the end of your message, with your usual signature. You might want to use a signature file (standard on most computer systems) to make this automatic. This is necessary because strange things often happen to headers in e-mail or Usenet articles sent from one network to another.
Replying You may find that you wish to reply to someone's article or question. The choice of whether to post a (public) reply or send (private) e-mail is a personal decision. If you send a reply by e-mail, and would prefer that it be kept private, you should say so in your note; otherwise the other person may post your comments in the discussion group. If the original poster promises to post a summary at the outset, then all replies should be sent by e-mail, unless they constitute an important redirection of the original question.
that their names be withheld, the contributors of each answer should be named and thanked, individually or as a group.
Frequentlyasked questions If you suspect your question is a common one, look for an 'FAQ' article that answers it, before asking. If you want to know the answer to someone else's posted question, send them email privately, asking them to share ;he answer with you. If you have the answer to such a question, send it privately, or kindly suggest (in private) how the answer can be found.
How to make friends and influence people Remember to say 'thank you'. Be generous when interpreting the statements of others. Avoid jargon; write as though addressing an educated lay audience Try to be impeccably civil, no matter how provoked you may feel. If something you read angers you, save it for a few hours while you do something else (don't reply on an empty stomach). Go back to it when you are calm and relaxed (and you have thought of a good rebuttal[). Scholarly criticism is always welcome; personal criticism is not. Above all else, remember that these discussion groups are public forums. These groups are read by many people, including children, who are not scientists, but who are interested in science and want to know what it is like to he a scientist.
Copyrights, citations and quotations Although it has not been tested in court, the consensus is that unless a document available on the Internet is explicitly placed in the public domain, it is copyrighted. If you have any doubts about the intended use of any Internet document, you should contact the author first. Also contact the author to ask about how to cite an Internet
document, if the document does not specify this. You may also want to acknowledge the use of Internet archives or other services that are valuable to you. As a rule of thumb, you may freely cite or quote anything posted to a newsgroup or mailing list in that forum only. For citations or quotes elsewhere, it is hoped, even expected, that you will first request express permission from the author. It is generally satisfactory to use the 'personal communication' formula, but for this reason you should request a specific personal statement from the author that is directly relevant to and given in the context of the issue that you wish to address.
Lookingahead It is not difficult to see that the professionally oriented newsgroups and mailing lists follow similar conventions ot etiquette to those used by most people at public events such as academic conferences. In fact, most of the science-related newsgroups and mailing lists are very much like mid-sized meetings of any professional society, except that they never end. Over the past few years, the number of participants has doubled every six to twelve months, and the quality of the discussions has steadily improved. The participants come and go as they please, but the discussions and exchange of ideas and information continue as though they had a life of their own. There is no reason why this should not always be so, as long as new participants contribute in turn to maintaining the excellence of this unique and exciting scientific endeavor.
UNA R. SMITH Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven,CT 06511-7444, USA. e-mail: [email protected]
Summaries Whenever a question or request for information results in many replies, it is expected that the person who posted the original article will compile and post a summary of the responses: the best answers should come first and all should he separated clearly, and nicely formatted. Redundant, irrelevant or verbose comments, and errors of fact or spelling, should be edited out, and the e~ited portions indicated. Exercise discretion and tact, to ensure a fair and accurate summary - unless they asked
Computer Corner Computer Comer aims to provide a forum of information and guidance on various aspects of computing for biochemists and molecular biologists at all levels of proficiency and experience. Contributions to this section are welcome. Please contact the Editor at our Cambridge office to discuss proposals. Tel: [44] 223 315961; Fax: [44] 223 464430; e-mail: [email protected]
399
Cell Biol. 3, 252-255 9 Klausner, R. D., Donaldson, J. G, and LippincottSchwartz, J. (1992) J. Cell Biol. 116, 1071-1080 10 Chege, N. W. and Heifer, S. R. (1990) J. Cell Biol. 111, 893-899 11 Reaves, B. and Banting, G. (1992) J. Cell Biol. 116, 85-94 12 Helms, J. B. and Rothman, J. E. (1992) Nature 360, 352-354 13 Pelham, H. R, B. (1989) Annu. Rev. Cell Biol. 5, 1-23 14 Lewis, M. J. and Pelham, H. R. B. (1992) Cell 68, 353-364 15 Jackson, M. R., Nilsson, T. and Peterson, P. A. (1993) J. Cell Biol. 121, 317-333
16 Nilsson, T. et al. (1993) J. Cell Biol. 120, 5-13 17 Masibay, A. S. et aL (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 9908-9916 18 Humphrey, J. S., Peters, P. J., Yusn, L. C. and Bonifacino, J. S. (1993) J. Cell Biol. 120, 1123-1135 19 Wong, S, W. and Hong, W../. Biol. Chem. (in press) 20 Trowbridge, I. S, (1991) Curr. Opin. Ceil Biol. 3, 634-641 21 Collawn, J, F. et al. (1990) Cell 63, 1061-1072 22 Vaux, D. (1992) Trends Ceil Biol. 2, 189-192 23 Pearse, B. M, F. and Robinson, M, S. (1990) Annu. Rev. Cell Biol. 6, 151-171 24 Guarnieri, F, G. et al. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 1941-1946
25 Breitfeld, P. P. et al. (1985) int. Rev. CytoL 97, 47-93 26 Casanova, J. E., Breitfeld, P. P., Ross, S. A. and Mostov, K. E. (1990) Science 248, 742-745 27 Meresse, S. and Hoflack, B. (1993) J, Ceil Biol. 120, 67-76 28 Casanova, J. E., Apodaca, G. and Mostov, K. E. (1991) Cell 66, 65-75 29 Matter, K., Hunziker, W. and Mellman, I. (1992) Cell 71, 741-753 30 Dargemont, C. et al. (1993) EMBO J. 12, 1713-1723 31 Johnson, K. F. and Kornfeld, S. (1992) J. Cell Biol. 119, 249-257 32 Vega, M. A. et al. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 16269-16272
COMPUTER CORNER The Internet (or network of networks) has become an excellent medium for the timely exchange of current ideas and information. There are announcements of academic and professional job vacancies, conference listings, calls for papers, and important notices about recent events in many fields of biology. Scientific interest groups, both formal and informal, maintain electronic discussion groups, directories, digests and newsletters. These resources are distributed over the Internet principally via Usenet newsgroups and via mailing lists managed by hand or automatically by software 'daemons'. Increasingly, mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups are joined via 'gateways'. Also on the increase is the number of scientists using these facilities. Like speaking up in public at academic conferences, 'posting' an article to one of these forums for the first time can be very diffic,lt. It may help vnu to kaow something of tile mechanics and customs of these discussion groups. Usenet - the convention Usenet is a system of 'newsgroups' organized into topical categories, much like special interest groups. Usenet articles arc distributed via e-mail from one computer to another by 'daemon' programs that save one copy of every article they receive. Instead of the usual e-mail programs, you would employ a Usenet 'reader' program to browse through any new articles received by your local Usenet daemon, in only those newsgroups of interest to you. You can save copies of any articles you wish to keep, while the original remains
398
Networking on the Internet for others to read. You can also use keyword searches to pull old articles out of free public Internet archives. Articles on a given topic can be sorted or 'threaded' automatically and read in sequence or skipped over as a group. Authors can restrict the distribution of their articles to nested 'domains' (such as the author's university, region, country, or continent - but this feature may leak). Authors can also cancel articles even after they have been distributed, or make their articles 'expire' after a given date. When posting to more than one newsgroup, use the cross-posting feature so only one copy of your article goes out, and is seen only once by many people. Post (and ct'oss-post) sparingly to groups that have associated mailing lists, to give a break to people who must read the groups via e-mail. Use the expiration and restricteddistribution features whenever appropriate. A safe way to practice all this is to try posting articles to the m!sc.test newsgroup, which is reserved for this purpose. Mailing list mechanics To subscribe to an electronic mailing list, you would send e-mail to an administrator, which can be a person or a daemon. Once subscribed, you can submit articles to a separate daemon that forwards the article to all the other sub-
scribers. This is an efficient method of distributing small numbers of articles among small groups, but once either the volume or the readership becomes large, most people prefer to create a Usenet newsgroup gated to the mailing list. it is very important that you keep a list of all your subscriptions to electronic mailing lists, plus the address of the list administrator and any instructions you receive on how to cancel or change your subscription. If you forget to cancel or temporarily stop your subscriptions when you go away on vacation or your address changes, any mail that cannot be delivered to you will 'bounce'. This wastes lnternet resources and may cause other problems. Avoid sending the same article to more than one mailing list and be concise or, if your article is long, warn your readers at the start. Also, when replying privately to e-mail sent to you via a mailing list, inspect the return address to ensure that your private reply goes back to the original sender, not to all the mher list subscribers.
The netiquetteof Intemet To preserve the peace on the new
electronic frontier, it has become necessary to encourage certain customs of civil behavior. Typically, in the professional discussion groups, submitted articles are discussions on various scientific topics, techniques or organisms. Announcements of grant proposal deadlines as well as upcoming conferences and calls for papers are popular, as are reports or comments on new books, papers, methods or software.
TIBS 18 - OCTOBER1993 These last items are particularly welcome when all sources are fully cited. Commercial advertisements, political lobbying messages and anything not pertaining directly to the topic or scope of the newsgroup or mailing list are generally not acceptable and may even be prohibited. On the other hand, informative discussions about commercial products, especially books and software, are allowed and even encouraged.
Writing articles Before posting an article for the first time, it is a good idea to read the discussions for a few weeks, and explore some of the resources you learn about. Look for an 'FAQ' document that covers frequently asked questions, before you make the mistake of asking one yourself, or write privately to another participant. That said, always include your full name and e-mail address at the end of your message, with your usual signature. You might want to use a signature file (standard on most computer systems) to make this automatic. This is necessary because strange things often happen to headers in e-mail or Usenet articles sent from one network to another.
Replying You may find that you wish to reply to someone's article or question. The choice of whether to post a (public) reply or send (private) e-mail is a personal decision. If you send a reply by e-mail, and would prefer that it be kept private, you should say so in your note; otherwise the other person may post your comments in the discussion group. If the original poster promises to post a summary at the outset, then all replies should be sent by e-mail, unless they constitute an important redirection of the original question.
that their names be withheld, the contributors of each answer should be named and thanked, individually or as a group.
Frequentlyasked questions If you suspect your question is a common one, look for an 'FAQ' article that answers it, before asking. If you want to know the answer to someone else's posted question, send them email privately, asking them to share ;he answer with you. If you have the answer to such a question, send it privately, or kindly suggest (in private) how the answer can be found.
How to make friends and influence people Remember to say 'thank you'. Be generous when interpreting the statements of others. Avoid jargon; write as though addressing an educated lay audience Try to be impeccably civil, no matter how provoked you may feel. If something you read angers you, save it for a few hours while you do something else (don't reply on an empty stomach). Go back to it when you are calm and relaxed (and you have thought of a good rebuttal[). Scholarly criticism is always welcome; personal criticism is not. Above all else, remember that these discussion groups are public forums. These groups are read by many people, including children, who are not scientists, but who are interested in science and want to know what it is like to he a scientist.
Copyrights, citations and quotations Although it has not been tested in court, the consensus is that unless a document available on the Internet is explicitly placed in the public domain, it is copyrighted. If you have any doubts about the intended use of any Internet document, you should contact the author first. Also contact the author to ask about how to cite an Internet
document, if the document does not specify this. You may also want to acknowledge the use of Internet archives or other services that are valuable to you. As a rule of thumb, you may freely cite or quote anything posted to a newsgroup or mailing list in that forum only. For citations or quotes elsewhere, it is hoped, even expected, that you will first request express permission from the author. It is generally satisfactory to use the 'personal communication' formula, but for this reason you should request a specific personal statement from the author that is directly relevant to and given in the context of the issue that you wish to address.
Lookingahead It is not difficult to see that the professionally oriented newsgroups and mailing lists follow similar conventions ot etiquette to those used by most people at public events such as academic conferences. In fact, most of the science-related newsgroups and mailing lists are very much like mid-sized meetings of any professional society, except that they never end. Over the past few years, the number of participants has doubled every six to twelve months, and the quality of the discussions has steadily improved. The participants come and go as they please, but the discussions and exchange of ideas and information continue as though they had a life of their own. There is no reason why this should not always be so, as long as new participants contribute in turn to maintaining the excellence of this unique and exciting scientific endeavor.
UNA R. SMITH Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven,CT 06511-7444, USA. e-mail: [email protected]
Summaries Whenever a question or request for information results in many replies, it is expected that the person who posted the original article will compile and post a summary of the responses: the best answers should come first and all should he separated clearly, and nicely formatted. Redundant, irrelevant or verbose comments, and errors of fact or spelling, should be edited out, and the e~ited portions indicated. Exercise discretion and tact, to ensure a fair and accurate summary - unless they asked
Computer Corner Computer Comer aims to provide a forum of information and guidance on various aspects of computing for biochemists and molecular biologists at all levels of proficiency and experience. Contributions to this section are welcome. Please contact the Editor at our Cambridge office to discuss proposals. Tel: [44] 223 315961; Fax: [44] 223 464430; e-mail: [email protected]
399