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NO NAME NEWSLETTER-- January 1995
Suzy Pelouch
The United States government is on the Internet in a BIG way. The White House home page is filled with more facts, figures, and Trivial Pursuit-type information than the average user could ever want. It is impossible for me to cover everything offered from this site in a single article. However I will try to describe some of the highlights of this massive and widely varied Internet stop.
When I first reached the White House home page, I listened to the welcoming speeches from the President and Vice-President while I figured out where to start. These speeches were your basic "Welcome to the Interactive Citizen's Handbook" messages, including a reminder to "sign the guest book." That seemed logical so I looked there next.
The Guest Book was exactly as billed - a place to sign your name and email address to say "I was here." There is also the option of leaving an opinion of the service. However, to leave a technical comment, you must first click on Comments to reach the Speak Out section before linking to the Comments About The Service form.
If you've always wanted to tour the White House or the Old Executive Mansion, the Tours section is made for you. This section contains pictures of famous rooms and the text gives a little history about each location. The pictures are beautiful, and there are no crowds to fight -- it's almost better than being there in person!
Next I clicked on the First Family section. Here I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the Clintons. You can view pictures from the inaugural festivities or learn about "everyday" life in the White House. The First Cat, Socks, even made the home page with his own audio icon!
Before diving into the heart of the home page (the Executive Branch), I took a quick look at the remaining sections. The Comments section was just a place to leave email for President Clinton or Vice President Gore. It is also where to leave technical queries. Selecting the Publications icon gives the option of searching press releases by topic or release date. This is where to ask questions about what documents have been released and where to go to find them. In addition every major national document ranging from the Declaration of Independence to NAFTA documentation is available. You can even subscribe to daily publications via an email server.
The What's New list was a short list of items recently added to the web. This included the National Information Infrastructure Progress Report, a list of newly opened Federal Agency Internet services and a collection of Vice President Al Gore's favorite political cartoons.
Finally I looked at the Executive Branch. From here, information about the workings of the government could be found. By clicking on the White House seal, you can reach the offices of the President, Vice-President, and the First and Second Ladies. These have brief biographical information, along with a summary of what they have been doing since the inauguration. Here also was information about anyone connected with the President, such as his advisors and the offices concerned with his correspondence.
Text below the home page icons includes a link to information about a new governmental information locator service. Dubbed GILS (Government Information Locator Service), this service will offer descriptions of information services and facilitate their use. It will be a collection of decentralized agencies and associated information servers. Unfortunately, this is one of many services still under construction. Included is a section on using the Internet and how to instruct others to do the same. Available from the same menu is a demonstration of how GILS will operate.
Choosing the President's Cabinet displays icons for each department. The information in each of these categories is very long and detailed. The majority include a summary of the main goals of the department, a list of who's who and usually a collection of links to information about current projects. The Department of Defense, for example, has a listing for ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency). From here you can locate information on any project currently sponsored by this group. A few of the other agencies (most notably the Department of Education have links to funding guides fo r people looking for research grants. All of these lists also contain records of other ftp, gopher, or www servers to see for more information.
The Independent Agencies and Commissions section had the most to offer in the way of actual information that could be found without an extensive search. The scope of subjects prevents an exhaustive description, but I will mention a few that I found interesting.
The National Science Foundation seemed to be a good starting point for interesting information. Here I found another listing for ARPA. From this site, there were links to CSTO (Computing Systems Technology Office) and ESTO (Electronic Systems Technology Office). I took a peek into these home pages and saw that they are basically multi-leveled lists of current projects, personnel lists and links to other related areas.
I found the NASA home page to be one of the most impressive that I explored. I easily could have spent days jumping from one area to another and never finished this article! Not only can you read the current news, but this home page included links to any other NASA centers and affiliated organizations. The list of related ftp, gopher and WAIS servers is a good starting point for anyone looking for detailed information.
I for one was curious as to what the US-Israel Science and Technology Commission was about, since I had never heard of it. This page consisted of choices of databases to search through. The US database begins with a list of federally funded research areas in the US. The National Science Foundation was included, as was the Advanced Technology Program (ATP). The ATP database includes information concerning all of the projects they fund. From this page it is possible to send email directly to the US-Israel Science and Technology Commission.
Out of curiosity I decided to look at the home page for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). As can be expected, there was no list of current investigations. However there was a selection called the World Factbook 1994, which reminded me of an electronic almanac. This contained geographic and demographic information about every nation on Earth. Under the other choice, the Factbook of Intelligence, there is a list of CIA personnel and much information about the organization itself (history, the building, how it interacts with the government, etc.).
The lengths that the government has gone to with the new White House home page shows what can be done -- with enough money to do it. This web site can be used to find much more than information about the government and its agencies. This is a proper starting place for searches that will span the country, the globe and many different subjects.
To access the White House site, use the URL http://www.whitehouse.gov. The material downloaded from this site is substantial and accessing it from a powerful machine offering graphical display capacity will enhance your enjoyment.
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