=n unin Aaa = <= — = = November 16, 1994 Cruising the queer internet. Here is some information that you can't get at Douglas... OP Note: This piece was run to pro- has become increasingly accessible to possess enough interest in a particular vide an example of what kind of infor- mation other univeristy/post secondary school students have access to. Most institutions provide Internet, accounts for their students. Douglas does not. We at the Other Press have provided our- selves with access and would be happy to show other students how you to might grab your own Internet accounts. Come visit and inquire. MONTREAL (CUP) — Hidden among the many conventional as well as obscure lanes of today’s ‘Informa- tion Highway”lies an electronic road- way paved with pink concrete and painted with rainbow-coloured lane markers. Like any other section of our society, part of the Internet is gay. The Internet, the common name for the vast system of inter-connected computer networks spanning the globe, everyday people. Anyone with a computer and a modem, a piece of hardware that lets your compu- ter send and re- ceive informa- tion over com- mon telephone lines, can dial in and “surf the “net” to explore thousands of electronic nooks and crannies, and to download in- formation on everything from classical music to nasal hair. The electronic rooms on the ‘net are created and maintained by everyday people without specific professional ties to the Internet. These people merely Anyone with a computer and a modem...can dial in and “surf the ‘net” to explore thousands of electronic nooks and crannies, topic or issue to spend the time learn- ing how to set up and maintain their own personal electronic library. The open and often free nature of the Internet makes it perfectly suited to act as an electronic back- bone for grass- roots movements that traditionally have had diffi- culty staying afloat through the expensive techniques of the conven- tional media. In “Crashing the System,” an arti- cle in the June/July 1993 issue of Out magazine, Michelangelo Signorile fore- casted a future in which members of the The Douglas College United Nations Association Proudly Presents 8 NITE —— It's our B Is it yours? We're celebrating 20 years in New Westminster and want to celebrate with you! If it's:your birthday between Nov 16 and Nov 30, we'll buy you a spaghetti dinner. Just bring proof of your birthdate along with this ad between these dates, and your spaghetti dinner is on us! irthday! 50 - 8th Street, New Westminster, B.C. 524-9788 queer community around the country and around the world assemble in elec- tronic, ‘virtual’ meeting places, using modern information technology. “Your video display terminal is a battleground. Your weapon is a modem. Your ammunition, electronic mail. On computer bulletin-board services, you rally the troops. You drop in on several ‘electronic cafes,’ where dozens of queers exchange news, information, and instructions,” Signorile wrote. “Press another button and you re- - ceive your customized electronic news- paper. All the news about gay issues and your other favourite topics from gay and mainstream newspapers around the country and the world is downloaded onto your screen. You punch in a code and get your own personalized AIDS update, complete with current informa- tron on drug research and drug trials.” Signorile’s description of the future was not that far off the mark. A queer lane of the information highway exists. The Queer Resources Directory Interested in a list of mainstream movies with same-sex content? How about a weekly list of TV shows with gay, lesbian, other sexual minority, and gay/straight AIDS themes? Or how about an ‘Out List’ of lit- erally hundreds of out famous and semi- “Your video display terminal is a battleground. Your weapon is a modem. famous queers? Perhaps you are look- ing for Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation newsletters? What about a list of openly queer elected and appointed officials in the U.S.? This is a small sample of the in- formation files you can find in the “Queer Resources Directory,” an elec- tronic library containing news clip- pings, political contact information, newsletters, essays, images and mega- bytes of other information of interest to the queer community. Originally established in 1991 as an electronic archive for Queer Nation, the directory now receives more than 100,000 requests for access per month from ‘net surfers around the world. In March 1994, the resource li- brary’s all-volunteer staff formed a mis- sion statement, which mandates the di- rectory’s existence as “an electronic re- search library specifically dedicated to sexual minorities — groups which have traditionally been labelled as ‘queer’ and are systematically discriminated against.” The Electronic Newsstand In a corner of the Internet contain- ing electronic versions of mainstream magazines like Maclean’s, you can also find electronic archives of national queer publications like Out magazine and 10 Percent magazine. These libraries usually contain the full text of major articles from the most current issues, as well as archives of past issues. You can access the elec- tronic newsstand using gopher at gopher.Internet.com. HIV/AIDS Information The National Institute of Health (NIH) in the U.S. runs an information server containing a vast amount of data on HIV and AIDS. Topics include test- ing and diagnosis, treatment options, centres for disease control statistics (updated daily), and information about AIDS-related organizations. You can connect to the NIH infoserver using gopher at odie.niaid.nih.gov.