GopherCON '95 preliminary agenda

[Jill Foster <[e-mail]>]

Here is the announcement of GopherCON - which is interesting in itself as
it gives a thumbnail sketch of the recent developments in Gopher: Gopher
VR, the link up with Hyper-G (which itself is an interesting system), the
ability to "serve" web pages, etc etc.

I am *not* trying to push gopher or Hyper-G. I'm just trying to point out
that there is still a great deal of interesting development going into
these systems.

-- Jill

 >Date: Thu, 27 Apr 1995 16:57:10 -0500
>From: GopherCON 95 <[e-mail]>
>To: [e-mail]
>Subject: GopherCON '95 preliminary agenda
>
>
>______________________________________________________
>
>                     GopherCON '95
>                   Preliminary Agenda
>______________________________________________________
>
>This workshop/conference will be an excellent opportunity to learn about
>next-generation information system technologies such as GopherVR and the
>IICM's Hyper-G system in an informal workshop setting.
>
>Highlights of GopherCON '95 will include new technology such as 3D user
>interfaces, applying spatial document clustering to searching document
>collections, and hypermedia technologies including the IICM's Hyper-G
>system (which supports Gopher, HTTP, and Hyper-G clients and hypermedia
>authoring tools for hypertext and video).
>
>GopherCON '95 will be a workshop-format meeting with limited attendance to
>promote discussion. Because attendance is limited, we suggest that you
>register as soon as possible. If you are interested presenting at a session
>at GopherCON '95 please contact us as soon as possible.
>
>Note that this is a preliminary agenda (it is not yet complete and is
>subject to change; the final agenda will be out within a week).
>
>
>-----------------
>GopherVR and VRML
>-----------------
>Next-generation user interfaces for Internet navigation will incorporate
>3D scenes as both a graphical document type and as a way to visualize
>relationships in a collection of documents (GopherVR). The new GopherVR
>clients make it possible to view and navigate current Gopher servers'
>document and link collections as 3D scenes, and Gopher+ servers can
>easily give GopherVR clients hints about how to display the scene
>representing a Gopher directory. GopherVR opens up a new visual
>vocabulary for representing the relationships between items in Gopher,
>while preserving Gopher traditional strength in serving low-end clients
>with low bandwidth links.
>
>This session is an overview of the design rationale and engineering
>tradeoffs in the current GopherVR clients, how GopherVR hierarchies and
>VRML documents address complimentary problems, and future directions for
>GopherVR and VRML development.
>
>
>------------------------------
>The Hyper-G Information system
>------------------------------
>Klaus Schmaranz <[e-mail]>)
>
>Currently, the most popular Internet information systems use
>distributed menus and searching (Gopher) or hypertext documents (WWW) to
>represent information spaces. The IICM at the Technical University in Graz,
>Austria has developed Hyper-G, a second generation information system which
>combines a structured hierarchy with hypermedia documents.Hyperlinks are
>supported in all document types including text, images, movies, 3D scenes
>and PostScript.
>
>One of the most interesting features of Hyper-G is that links between
>documents and directories are two-way links, so it is possible to traverse
>the link in either direction. This makes it easy to view the collection of
>all documents that point to a given directory or document (a good way of
>finding related documents). Two-way links also make it possible to
>automatically update hypertext references when a document moves; this is
>a problem that is not handled well by either Gopher or WWW currently.
>
>This session covers the Hyper-G system architecture, how Hyper-G clients
>work, and an overview of authoring hypermedia in Hyper-G to be served to
>Gopher, WWW, and Hyper-G clients, and will be presented by a member of the
>Hyper-G development group from Graz.
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------
>Update on the IICM, NCSA, and Gopher collaboration
>--------------------------------------------------
>The Hyper-G, NCSA Mosaic, and Gopher developers recently announced a joint
>development effort to produce VRweb 3D VRML clients for use with Gopher,
>Hyper-G and Mosaic clients. This session is an update on the progress of
>this effort.
>
>
>--------------------------------
>Document Clustering for GopherVR
>--------------------------------
>One of the reasons for developing GopherVR is to make it possible to
>represent relationships between documents in a collection by spatially
>grouping the documents in a 3D scene. The is a particularly interesting
>technique when applied to searching and browsing a document collection.
>This session covers how we are clustering documents on GopherVR-aware
>servers, and how other search engines can use GopherVR clients to display
>clusters of documents.
>
>
>----------------------------------
>Screen Scraping for Fun and Profit
>----------------------------------
>Screen scraping (harvesting information from 3270 terminal sessions) is one
>way to to provide an easy-to-use Gopher interface to information that is
>only available via a terminal-based interface. This session covers how a
>Unix gopher gateway was written to efficiently harvest information student
>grade information from 3270 terminal sessions, reformat the information,
>and present it via Gopher. If you have legacy systems that are not going to
>migrate to client/server technology anytime soon, you may want to apply
>these techniques to free your data without creating a shadow database system.
>
>
>--------------------------------------
>Gopher and OpenDoc component documents
>--------------------------------------
>The philosophy of the Gopher developers at the University of Minnesota has
>always been to develop small, modular applications, and OpenDoc's component
>architecture is a good match for this philosophy. This session will include
>an overview of OpenDoc and how we plan to integrate Gopher with OpenDoc
>documents.
>
>
>---------------------------------------
>Customizing Unix servers for 3D clients
>---------------------------------------
>This sessions covers how to customize an existing Unix server for GopherVR
>clients. You'll find out how easy it is to take an existing Unix Gopher
>server and have it return a +3D: attribute to specify a 3D scene.
>
>
>--------------------------------------
>GopherSurfer, AppleSearch and GopherVR
>--------------------------------------
>An update on the popular Macintosh Gopher server software, how to integrate
>this software with the AppleSearch full-text search engine and how to make
>your GopherSurfer 3D-savvy.
>
>
>----------------------------------
>Gopher gateway to Z39.50 and Isite
>----------------------------------
>Z39.50 servers are commonly used for library online catalogs, and there has
>been a Gopher gateway to Z39.50 catalogs for the last year. This session
>covers new developments in integrating Gopher with Z39.50 and Isite.
>
>
>--------------------------
>Integrating Gopher and WWW
>--------------------------
>HTML pages are a popular document format, while Gopher hierarchies are fast
>to navigate and let you associate abstracts, alternate views, and other
>meta information with any type of document. This session looks at how to
>publish HTML documents from Gopher servers and point Gopher links at
>HTML documents on WWW servers to serve the widest possible community and
>take advantage of the strengths for both Gopher and WWW.
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------
>Using Gopher for Structured Searching of a Very Large Database
>--------------------------------------------------------------
>This session covers how to use FreeWais-SF and Gopher+ electronic forms
>to publish and make searchable (by field) a very large database. Gopher+
>forms make it possible to search on fields without exposing the user to
>FreeWAIS-SF syntax. The database published was the Books in Print
>database.
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------
>Champagne Tastes on a Beer Budget
>Linux as a Low Cost Option for a Gopher/HTTP Server
>---------------------------------------------------
>Steven Kirby <[e-mail]>
>
>This session will discuss the University of Georgia Libraries' experience
>running a Gopher and HTTP server under the Linux operating system. Our
>server (gopher://scarlett.libs.uga.edu) has been in production for over a
>year and has served over a quarter of a million transaction without a hitch,
>despite the fact that the machine our Gopher server runs on is a lowly
>386DX-40 mhz system with 8 megabytes of memory and a 420 Mbyte IDE hard
>disk. This session will address a number of issues relating to running a
>Gopher server under Linux, including hardware options, obtaining and
>installing Linux, and selecting Gopher server software that is appropriate
>to a particular site's needs.  This session will be of interest to persons
>and organizations who prefer the stability and functionality of a
>Unix-based Gopher server, but whose budgets might not be able to
>accommodate a workstation or server to run a commercial variant of Unix.
>
>
>----------------------
>Quality of Information
>----------------------
>Nancy Morgan <[e-mail]>
>
>One of the pluses of the Information Superhighway is easy access to an
>abundance of information. This is also one of the minuses, resulting in
>frustration and information overload as users sort through screen after
>screen of useless information.  Gopher administrators can help remedy
>this by being selective in the information that they choose to post on
>their sites. Over the past year, the AskERIC Virtual Library has developed
>a submission protocol for lesson plans that includes a review process and
>selection criteria. This session is based on what we've developed,
>stressing the importance of collecting and maintaining high quality
>information in gopher space.
>
>
>------------------------
>The new/improved Jughead
>------------------------
>Rhett 'Jonzy' Jones <[e-mail]>
>
>This presentation on "jughead" (a gopher menu search engine and hierarchy
>tool) covers the basics of setting up a Jughead server and a new/improved
>version of Jughead which is anticipated to be functional prior to the
>conference dates. It is anticipated this new version of jughead will
>propagate queries to other jughead servers.
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------
>How to keep Gopher alive?
>Integrate Gopher system into library environment
>--------------------------------------------------
>Peter Wei He <[e-mail]>
>
>An overview of our experience at the University at Albany Libraries.
>Our Gopher started in April 1993 and won the recognition of one of the best
>academic Gophers in a PACS-L survey in November 1993. This presentation
>will go over the building up of the University Libraries Gopher, its
>growth and expansions, and evolvements into the subject reference services
>in the libraries. The tactics to involve as many librarians as possible
>into the gopher maintenance will be discussed, along with how to coordinate
>with library system people and the campus computing centers. This is a
>successful story of librarians building up a gopher, and keeping it
>competitive in current intriguing Internet world.
>
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>List and mutiple items search in Gopher using Wais Indexing
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>Paolo Caturegli  <[e-mail]>
>
>Widespread use of distributed information has created an ever increasing
>number of sites which offer any possible kind of data. In this situation
>the use of a Gopher server together with Wais indexing engine give users
>one of the most powerful tool for network information retrival. Our
>experience in apply the combination of Gopher and WAIS caused us to look
>at a way to use this distributed server technology for libraries catalog
>searches. We have modified the Wais server to build an index not only on
>the whole document - in our case a library catalog - but selectively
>building a number of different indexes from the subsets of the same
>document. This approach give us a great deal of flexibility and give users
>and librarians independence: users can connect to a specific gopher server
>in our area and consult the different catalogs, while librarians can keep
>using specialized software without the fear of overloading their computer
>resources.
>
>Our users also asked us for a way to choose between different catalogs or
>a way to chose from all the catalogs at a specific library or site. This
>pushed us to make some changes in the Gopher protocol and to define a
>couple of new Gopher types. The first gives users a chance to do a search
>on distributed indexes, assigning a symbolic name which then appear on the
>Gopher client menu. We have call this a "real" gopher type. The second is
>identifyed as a "functional" type. The server pass the  different WAIS
>indexes type to the client, but the user can select one or more of those
>from a list. In this situation the user have to make the choice to select
>the indexes needed. The results of the different usage of the new defined
>types is a unique list of gopher items ordered by Wais score, independently
>from the different sites where the indexes are located.
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------
>The Defense Industrial Supply Center's venture into
>the Gopher World - A Three Year + Adventure
>---------------------------------------------------
>John J. Boris, Sr. <[e-mail]>
>
>A grand tour of the Defense Industrial Supply Center's Gopher and HTTP
>servers  and their Electronic BidBoard and how they integrate with each
>other. We started experimenting on the use of Gophers in 1992 and now use
>it as a means to get to our Unix BBS for Solicitations. The presentation
>will emphasize how the Internet and Public Domain Code were used to achieve
>our goal. The DISC EBB/Gopher/HTTP/FTP are running on a DELL Pentium 90mhz
>server with 4gb of space. The EBB is a BBS running GDXBBS by Jay Snyder
>with modifications by myself and Rich Heim. The data on the EBB is shared
>with the gopher and HTTP server.
>
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>          R E G I S T R A T I O N     I N F O R M A T I O N
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>
>______________________________________________________
>
>                     GopherCON '95
>
>                     sponsored by
>              The University of Minnesota
>
>                   June 9 - 10, 1995
>                        at the
>               Radisson Hotel Metrodome
>                Minneapolis, Minnesota
>
>______________________________________________________
>
>GopherCON '95 will take place Friday and Saturday June 9 and 10
>in Minneapolis, MN at the Radisson Hotel MetroDome (the site of
>the last two Internet Gopher conferences).  Features for this
>year's GopherCON will include:
>
>    - Tutorials for new gopher server administrators.
>
>    - New gopher 3D user interfaces; component software
>
>    - Showcasing interesting gopher applications, including
>      clients, servers, tools, new subject areas etc.
>
>    - Forum for gopher software folk to discuss gopher
>      protocol extensions, tools, and new functionality.
>
>We invite folks from the gopher community who would like to make a
>presentation, run a tutorial, showcase their application, or run a
>guided tour of their service to do so. Conference fees will be
>waived for presenters. For more information on presenting a session
>or to propose a session please send e-mail to:
>                [e-mail]
>
>The registration information follows (we will post more detailed
>session information as it becomes available).
>
>Conference registration will be $100 and will include lunch on
>Friday and Saturday and the all-important conference T-shirt.
>Optional evening activities planned for Friday and Saturday
>nights are not included in the registration fees.  Like last year,
>registration fees will be waived for conference presenters.
>GopherCon '95 information can be found in inside the directory
>"Information about Gopher" on gopher.tc.umn.edu  port 70. If you
>have a URL-savvy client you can use this URL:
><URL:GOPHER://boombox.micro.umn.edu/11/gopher/Gopher_Conference_95>
>
>You may register directly via email to
>          [e-mail].
>Please provide the following information:
>
>Name:
>Institution:
>Position:
>Mailing Address:
>Email Address:
>Phone Number:
>Fax Number:
>Emergency Contact & Phone:
>Hotel in Minneapolis where you will be staying:
>T-shirt Size: (Medium, Large, X-Large, XX-Large)
>Number and Sizes of Additional Shirts at $15 each:
>Special Dietary Needs:
>
>You may register via email, however a check for the full
>registration fee and any additional t-shirts must be received by
>May 20, 1995 to guarantee your space.  Registrations and fees received
>after this date will be charged a late fee of $100 and will be subject
>to space availability.  We are unable to accept credit cards, purchase
>orders, or cash.  Please make checks or money orders payable to the
>University of Minnesota and mail them to the following address:
>
>Gopher Conference Registration
>Distributed Computing Services
>University of Minnesota
>152 Shepherd Laboratories
>100 Union Street, SE
>Minneapolis, MN  55455
>
>If you have any questions, please call 612/625-1300 or send email to
> [e-mail]
>
>Hotel reservations for the Radisson Hotel Metrodome can be made by
>calling the  hotel directly at 1-800-822-MPLS.  Please mention you
>are with the Gopher Conference to receive the conference rate of
>$72/single or $82/double.  Last year the Radisson filled up,  so
>we suggest making your travel plans early, if possible.  Airfare
>discounts are also available.  Contact Carlson Travel Consultants
>at 1-800-825-9190 to receive the Gopher Conference fares.
>