M I C H I G A N - S C H O O L - B A N D - & - O R C H E S T R A - A S S O C I A T I O N
 

Barton Polot
is Assistant Professor of Music Education and Music Technology at the University of Michigan 		 

Gophering on the Internet

BARTON POLOT

The Internet, that meta-network of computers, has been in existence for decades, but its growth in popularity has recently become phenomenal. If you are not yet one of the millions of participants, consider this article your personal invitation to the cyber-party. This is a music educator's guide to the Gopher System on the Internet. 

First, some background. The Internet is a network of networks that links chains of computers among universities, government facilities, commercial services, and individuals. Once the exclusive domain of researchers and the military, the Internet has grown more populous as it has grown more hospitable. Some of today's Internet software is actually friendly. 

Using the Internet requires software. Just as your computer uses a variety of applications -- word processing, spreadsheets, MIDI sequencing -- to accomplish different tasks, you employ different software on your personal computer to access varied Internet functions. One such program is Gopher. 

Gopher was developed at the University of Minnesota (hence the name) in 1991. It established a simple protocol for "tunneling" through the vast information stored in the Internet, making the process of transversing networks seem transparent to the user. The Gopher interface is the on-screen menu: select North America from a list of continents, and a new menu appears listing countries. Select U.S.A., and a state menu appears. Eventually you can tunnel your way to a library in Little Rock, an arts organization in Honolulu, or a university anywhere in the world. 

There are several flavors of Gopher software for DOS, Windows and Macintosh computers. The most popular is TurboGopher, a speedy version that displays its menus in nested folders. But you need not acquire TurboGopher to get started. All you need is a computer (virtually any kind), a modem, and the telecommunication software you already use. 

Michigan MusicTech Home Page   The state of Michigan supports the information highway with your tax dollars through a network called the Merit System. Access is available toll-free from most locations in the state. The Merit System provides access to the Gopher Space with its own Gopher software developed at the University of Michigan, appropriately called (no joke) GOpherBLUE. Simply dial the appropriate phone number with your telecommunications software. When you connect, Merit will ask "Which host?" Respond by typing "UM-GOPHERBLUE" and you should soon see the menu screen displayed above. 

In the next issue of MICHIGAN MUSICTECH, we will explore Gopher locations of special interest to music educators.