IT'S HIGH TIME TO GET CAUGHT IN THE WEB

Galina Grishina

The Internet, which was initially intended for the needs of the US defence complex, was very soon actively put to use by the universities and research centers. In that period of its development, the Internet was accessible for a limited circle of persons, mostly from the scientific community. But in no time it turned from "a toy for intellectuals" into a world- wide network and started a global revolution in informatics, more powerful than the information boom of the early 1980s, when the first personal computer became available. We are in fact witnesses to an act of creation of a new world-of the virtual reality, enabling us to instantly shift across the borders and the oceans without a visa or a fare. There is everything in plenty in this world of ours: the universities, scientific research and educational centers, libraries, museums, exhibitions ... and even our own viruses! We are making commercial deals and establishing personal relations. .. It would be difficult even to imagine all the positive and negative consequences of the virtual world's impact upon our physical reality. Ever more people, governmental structures and commercial and non-profit organizations on the national and on the international scale are now getting involved in it. The
Internet gives access to an amazing amount of information in the most diverse forms-from a sheer text to the files with pictures, songs and video clips. Having switched on, you may learn the latest news, the weather forecast, the prices in the supermarkets, etc., etc.... But how can you find your bearings in this unfathomable ocean of information, how can you search for the data you need in the setting of an avalanche-like Internet's growth?
The chief instrument, making the process of the search easier and identified with the Internet's image today, is the World Wide Web system, established at the European Nuclear Research Center in Geneva. The WWW system contains indexes with the references to a similar information, which may be found in any place. These references in the form of words, phrases or pictures permeate the information space like a spider's web-and hence the name. Distinct from the rest of the network means, the WWW system operates with all kinds of information, such as the texts, the illustrations and the audio or video clips, which accounts for its ever-growing popularity. The WWW's rapid growth and development are accompanied with such an extent of commercialization that it is called the Wild West of the 1990s. The below-cited figures illustrate the dynamics of the WWW's expansion and commercialization: in July 1993, 1.5 per cent out of 130 WWW centers were commercial ones, in July 1994-13.5 out of 2,738, in July 1995-31.3 out of 23,500 and in February 1996-50.2 per cent out of 90,000, respectively. Commercial companies are very active in putting the Internet to use for getting an access to the operational information, for the marketing and advertizing of commodities and services. So far, the expansion of the virtual business market is braked only by a rather low level of the information protection. Nevertheless, virtual corporations are already being set up and the virtual working day in its international form is becoming a reality.
The Internet information is mostly provided in English. However, the national interests and the internationalization of business serve to gradually amend this situation. Today there already exist certain network programs, uniting the means for a global search of information with a system for its automatic translation into national languages. And the first among these languages is Russian.
Below are furnished examples of some WWW units, with a brief description of the information, contained in them. I have selected these examples during my short travel across the web of the networks, which I have started at the GlasNet unit in Moscow.
The United States of America is an unquestionable leader in the number of the operating information units. Now, what is stored away in these units?
The LEGISLATE service supplies information on the draft laws and resolutions of the US Congress since 1993. The US Congress Library unit keeps the full texts of the federal legislations. The text of the US Constitution is also kept in this unit, together with a curious document, "How the Laws Are Made", which explains the US legislative process. The government also disposes of its own unit with the statistical data on the US economy. In another governmental unit you may find the press statements, the briefings, speeches, executive orders, etc. To make the US citizens feel closer to the head of the state, the White House has even set up a special WWW unit, providing information on the President's daily routine.
The "USAID to Russia" unit contains the reports of the US government chief accounting office on the financial assistance to Russia. The US Agency for International Development has established a special unit to convince the tax-payers of the need to launch programs of assistance to foreign states. Many American organizations have their own units in the Internet. So, not going out of their studies, they may get an exhaustive information on the work of the Soros funds and institutions, on the D.D. and C.T. MacArthurs Foundation, on the Carnegie Foundation, on the Eurasia Foundation, and so on and so forth...
A few WWW units contain the complete information on the system of the United Nations Organization, the texts of its official documents, descriptions of the programs, conferences and events. The huge volume of this information is commonly known, and still, I've failed to find there anything in Russian.
At the European Community Web units, you may get informed (in practically all the EC official languages) on the EC programs and learn which of them are of the greatest interest, and may also obtain the application blanks. One of the new Internet units has been set up by the European Commission for throwing light on the European Union's goals and policies. It will contain the news, the EC legislative documents and all kind of the data bases.
So far, Russia is represented in the Internet rather poorly: it disposes of only about 250 WWW units. This spring, an official server of the Russian government has made its appearance, but there is not much information contained in it. At least, there are no texts of the Russian legislation.
The lack of official information is made good by the unit of the National News Service, where you may find lots of data on the state structures, on the parties, the socio-political movements, associations and unions, and on the mass media. You may delve into the detailed biographies of the Deputies and of the high-rank governmental officials and to feast your eyes upon their portraits. This unit contains information on the parliamentary election-95, while the results of the recent presidential election was demonstrated by the National News Service in the on-line regime (with the information renewed on the diagrams and the maps every 10 minutes).
The universities, educational institutes and periodic editions are operatively setting up their own units and pages. Placing their publications in the Internet are today the newspapers "Izvestia", "Nezavisimaya gazeta","Segodnya" and "Uchitelskaya gazeta".
The GlasNet unit in Moscow, containing the non-commercial information, is very popular with private persons and with non-governmental organizations. This March, another general-use WWW server was opened, with the IREX's support, at the Public Historical Library. It is aimed at providing an opportunity to join the World Wide Web for as many educational and public organizations as possible.

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