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At Seton Hall, we use the statistical computer package SPSS in our
introductory statistics classes to simulate a `real-world' data
analysis process. However, it is not easy to obtain data that is
sufficiently interesting and complex to design good exercises for
students. Using Gopher and a few minutes of queries across the
Internet I found the ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political
and Social Research) data collection, which has lots of data from
social studies surveys available and can send you the appropriate
information in electronic form. Just use Gopher and search for
the keyword ICPSR. You will eventually find all the information you
need.
This data has - as a survey among our students indicated -
improved the interest of students in our statistics class, and some
students have spent considerable amounts of time on their own to play
with SPSS and that data, thereby improving their understanding of a
statistical computer package and the intricacies of a `real-word' data
analysis process.
The AMS offers its own Gopher server which is available at
e-math.ams.org. When you attach to that server you will immediately
have access to a lot of information relating directly to mathematics.
You can search and order AMS publications, flip through the catalog of
mathematically oriented libraries, become a book reviewer for the AMS,
receive the latest employment information, and much more.
At Seton Hall, we are currently in the process of restructuring our
calculus sequence to incorporate the computer programs Derive
and Maple. However, we needed to develop some exercises which
would make use of these symbolic algebra packages, yet improve the
students' understanding of mathematical theory and usage. Using
Gopher, WAIS, and Usenet, we were able to locate a lot of
free information on symbolic algebra packages on the Internet, from
simple descriptions about the capabilities of different programs to
completely worked-out computer exercises. We have modified some of
this information and incorporated it in our own `lab notes for
calculus' thereby eliminating the need to `invent every wheel twice'.
In fact, we found that most information about symbolic algebra
packages relates to Maple and Mathematica while there is a
lack of material on Derive. We will shortly make our computer
exercises using Derive available to the Internet, thereby
hopefully saving other universities time when developing a similar
approach.
You can use the Internet to find electronic mail addresses of people
through a service called Netfind. That service is available
either through Telnet or by using Gopher. Again,
Gopher is the more convenient method.
To find an address via Telnet, you first have to connect to a
Netfind server. They are available, for example, at:
- telnet bruno.cs.colorado.edu - username: netfind
- telnet netfind.oc.com - username: netfind
To use Gopher you could connect to the Gopher server at
Minnesota (gopher.tc.umn.edu) and then pick the following menu items:
Phone Books - inet-wide e-mail address search -
Gopher to Netfind Gateway - Search Netfind for E-mail
addresses.
In both methods you should provide as much
information as you have about the person you are interested in. For
example, the keywords wachsmuth dartmouth will find my
electronic mail address.
The main usage of Internet Relay Chat is probably for pleasure
although IRC was used during the late Persian Gulf War, where
updates from around the world came across the wire, and most people on
IRC gathered on a single channel to hear these reports.
I, for example, play an occasional round of chess with people anywhere
in the world, and sometimes `talk' in German to people in Germany.
However, one could easily imagine more serious usage of this service.
For example, teachers of a particular subject could exchange, in
real-time, experiences, tricks, and suggestions about particular
areas, a group of researcher could discuss new results, or students
could possibly ask a `math oracle' for help with some of their
questions. I am sure that, once people use that service, new and
exiting ideas will develop.
When Prof. Wiles announced that he proved the missing link for
Fermat's Last Theorem, there was a huge outburst of questions and
information across the Internet. In fact, the news of the proof itself
spread within hours to many universities around the world through the
Internet, and people were discussing the implications of that proof
way before the news finally reached printed form. I found the news
first on Usenet, in the newsgroup sci.math to which I
subscribe and that I regularly read. It was, admittedly, not always
the most serious information that I read, but many comments were quite
interesting.
When I finally had a chance to hear more about that proof `in person'
during a recent conference in Montreal, I probably knew a lot more
about this particular subject than many of my colleagues - by simply
turning on my computer for a couple of minutes every other day.
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