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January 1996, Week 1

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From:
C Harris <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Sat, 30 Dec 1995 12:16:24 -0000
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I apologise in advance if this is on the long side/in the wrong
newsgroup.
 
Do you have the same problems I do, when you try to use the Internet
for researching scripts, etc? Is it possible for us to compile a
resource that can help us all with the problems we all run up against?
 
One of the most frustrating thing about the Internet at the moment is
that, while it is crammed with useful stuff, and complex mechanisms,
it is not yet aimed at the serious writer (or other professional come
to that) who just wants to travel down the highway without worrying
about what's going on inside the engine.
 
All the books and articles I've read, including some quite good
introductory books, start from the available features (eg: the web,
usegroups, Archie, ftp)  and tell you what you can do with them.. What
they don't do is start from the other end - which tends to be the
professional user's end - ie: the needs of the user.  :-( ) <scream of
frustration>
 
For example, a recent article mentioned gophers. It said that you can
use gophers through Netscape, but that you get  "better" results from
dedicated gopher software. But what does "better" mean? Does it mean
faster, or more accurate, or more detailed, or that it will access a
wider range of material, or I'll get a longer list, or what? None of
the books I've read answer this question.
 
As a professional screenwriter, I tend to need the following - quite
distinct - types of research, with quite different requirements:
 
a) Specific facts. eg: what were the key dates of the Spanish Civil
War, the battles, the names etc. This kind of information is not
file-specific, in that it's probably held in a number of different
places, and it doesn't matter which one I get it from. After all, 1936
is 1936, wherever it's stored.
 
b) Opinions, eg: historical accounts of the Spanish Civil War. These
are more file-specific, in that one historian's account is not the
same as someone else's. However, I probably don't want to specify a
particular historian.
 
c) Contemporary accounts, eg: letters from people involved, soldiers,
eye-witnesses, etc. Here I care about the specific words, but am still
not asking for a particular author. Are there search engines that are
better at distinguishing such files.
 
d) Specific files, eg: I might want the lyrics of the Red Flag, or a
particular Spanish folk song.
 
e) Background information. eg: social, geographical, cultural facts
about Spain in the first half of the century. Maybe even pictures.
 
I hope these criteria clarify the kind of searches I've been trying to
carry out with enormous effort and often little effect. (I'm not
asking for this actual information - the Spanish Civil War is only
given as an example).
 
I've already spent hours that could be spent writing and earning money
in fruitless trawls (and spent a fair amount of money in phone charges
in the process). Of course, I'll do it if I have to - but there must
be people out there who have already used all these things and can
give me (and people like me) some answers.
 
If we can pool our experiences then we should be able to make the
whole system a lot more friendly to use.
 
Sorry again about the length of this posting.
 
<echoing cry for help slowly dies away across the phone lines>
 
Charlie Harris.......... [log in to unmask]
Charlie Harris
 
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