--> Abstract: The Internet - An Information Pipeline For Petroleum, by J. Sharry; #90960 (1995).

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Abstract: The Internet - An Information Pipeline For Petroleum

John Sharry

Telnet, Gopher, FTP, WWW, Mosaic, Archie, Usenet, Home Page, E-mail. These terms represent some of the services available to users of the Internet. Use Usenet to ask the world for comments on software or participate in a discussion on proposed regulations. With Gopher, search the card catalog at the Library of Congress, the University of Texas, or Oxford University. Find locations of USGS map files with Archie and download them directly to your PC, Macintosh, or workstation with FTP (file transfer protocol). Use the graphical interface of Mosaic to access the World Wide Web to view company information, new product announcements, data and more. E-mail a note or data to an expert half way around the world or just down the block and have it arrive in minutes.

Use of the Internet currently falls into three broad categories: data and program transmission; discussions between individuals or groups; and general information about companies, services, and products. Many government agencies and universities are making information such as USGS culture and topographic data available for free on the Internet. Numerous mapping, visualization, and coordinate transformation programs are available for downloading to your computer. Discussions and requests for information take place daily on the news groups. Comment on a new play or journal article. Ask for the name of someone to contact with a proposal or for help using a program and get half dozen responses by the next morning. In the discussion areas you can be a passive observer or an active particip nt. Having a problem with a program? You can send E-mail and data files to many vendors to get help. You can actually send them the data that is causing the problem and they can load it and work with it directly, not a faxed copy. Many companies, universities, professional societies and government agencies have set up Home Pages describing products and services. You can even retrieve abstracts from some sources. The Internet is a friendly place. There are numerous FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions Lists) that are posted monthly to help the new user. The Internet is an inexpensive new communications tool available to both large corporations and individuals alike. In this presentation I will demonstrate these and other ways the Internet can be used by the petroleum professional.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90960©1995 AAPG Southwest Section Meeting, Dallas, Texas