-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=--=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=NET-LETTER GUIDE-=-=-=--=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=--=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-= A newshound's guide to newsy periodicals available through the Internet. Updated September 1994 Copyright 1994 John M. Higgins (higgins@dorsai.dorsai.org) All rights reserved. Additional copyright information at bottom. +Additions (usually stuff that's been around a while, but only recently discovered because I'm an idiot): +Blind News Digest; +Yesha News Service (Israel); +A@G News From Russia; +India News Network Updated or corrected: -Tele Satellit; -Trade News Deleted: Artnews (missing in action) -=-=-=-=-=-=-THE BEST NET-LETTERS-=-=-=-=-=-=- Late Show News (TV); Fitz's ShopTalk (TV); Edupage (Infotech); Computer Underground Digest; AIDS Daily Summary; RFE/RL Daily Report (E. Europe) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- My favorite things on the Internet are informative, high-quality newsletters. The quality of info contributed to what Mitch Kapor describes as the Net's "gift economy" is amazing. Good NEWSY letters get lost in the flood of zines and very technical pubs. So this list focuses on news-oriented net-letters with fairly broad appeal. The list is tremendously biased toward e-mail delivery and ONLY includes free newsletters. Very technical and fanzine pubs are not included because they are well covered by other guides. GIMME FEEDBACK!! Send me your favorite net-letters, particularly if you're the editor. Include any subscription and archive information. ----------------------------------Media---------------------------------- FITZ'S SHOPTALK: Daily dispatches on the TV business, both networks and local stations by media headhunter Don FitzPatrick. Primarily summaries of wire-service and major newspapers, but also includes some full-text reprints. Fairly short. To: shoptalk-request@gremlin.clark.net Subject: Ignored Body: SUBSCRIBE YOUR@ADDRESS LATE SHOW NEWS: A guy in Chicago who obviously stays up way too late puts out a weekly newsletter on the late-night talk show wars. It's biased toward Letterman but contains surprisingly good industry dirt on Leno, Conan, etc. (even for those of us writing about television for a living). Short. E-MAIL - To: listserv@mcs.net Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Late-Show-News USENET - alt.fan.letterman and rec.arts.tv FTP - ftp.mcs.net:/mcsnet.users/barnhart/letterman WWW - http://www.cen.uiuc.edu/jl8287/late.news.html BONG: The official newsletter of the Burned-Out Newspapercreatures Guild which appears to consist of a single witty and bitterly cynical Dayton Daily News reporter. Sample commentary on journalism: "So how come Nicole Simpson's dog and the renter of her ex-husband O.J. Simpson's guest house were both named Cato?" Short. E-mail: To: listserv@netcom.com Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe BONG-L CABLE REGULATION DIGEST: Weekly summary of news on cable regulation published by Multichannel News. Moderate length. E-MAIL - Distributed to the TELECOMREG mailing list. To: listserver@relay.adp.wisc.edu Subject: None Body: Subscribe TELECOMREG YOUR NAME FTP - ftp.vortex.com:pub/tv-film-video/cable-reg GOPHER - gopher.vortex.com CYBER-SLEAZE: Overhyped and a bit tedious, Cyber-Sleaze is composed of low-grade gossip and put out by former MTV VJ Adam Curry. Short, thankfully. E-MAIL - To: sleaze@metaverse.com Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Cyber-Sleaze Your Name ---------------------------------Infotech--------------------------------- EDUPAGE: Tasty tip sheet on information technology and media issued three times weekly. Quickie summaries primarily of newspaper articles, primarily from the majors. Moderate length. E-MAIL - To: listproc@educom.edu Subject: Ignored Body: Sub Edupage Your Name CYBERWIRE DISPATCH: Brock got a listserver!!! Very high quality coverage of the Internet and cyberspace. Editor Brock Meeks a real reporter for Communications Daily in civilian life became famous by getting sued for libel by a "make.money.fast"-type. Short. E-MAIL - To: majordomo@cyberwerks.com Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe CWD-L Your@Address USENET - comp.society.privacy GOPHER - cyberwerks.com NSF NETWORK NEWS: Bi-monthly news on the real nuts and bolts of the net. Mucho techie, but one issue had a good overview to telecom legislation in Congress. E-MAIL - To: newsletter-request@is.internic.net; Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe NSF Network News GOPHER - is.internic.net: About InterNIC Information Services/NSF Network.. WWW - http://www.internic.net/newsletter BITS AND BYTES: Good computer miscellanea. But why do so many publications grab stuff from Edupage? On the long side. E-MAIL - To: listserv@acad1.dana.edu Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Bits-n-Bytes FTP - ftp.dana.edu: /periodic GOPHER - gopher.dana.edu: Electronic Journals THE NETWORK OBSERVER: Monthly commentary and bits about the net. Lengthy. E-MAIL - To: rre-request@weber.ucsd.edu Subject: Subscribe Your Name NETWORKS & COMMUNITY: The emphasis here is on "community" in Internet-land. Short and less techie than you might expect. Too much excerpting from other net sources, particularly Edupage. E-MAIL - To: cvington@netcom.com Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Your Name Gopher - gopher.well.sf.ca.us COM NET NEWS: Newly-launched letter on community networking -- as in public access on the highway -- by a technology market research guy. Not very newsy, but thoughtful. Fairly short. E-MAIL - To: rbryant@hydra.unm.edu. Subject Subscribe Com Net Body: Ask nicely PRIVACY FORUM: Tidbits about threats to privacy from government snoops to credit agencies. Good commentary. Moderate length. E-MAIL - To: privacy-request@vortex.com Subject: Ignored Body: subscribe FTP - ftp.vortex.com GOPHER - gopher.vortex.com COMPUTER PRIVACY DIGEST: More about privacy, but concentrating on computers. Weekly. E-MAIL - To: comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu USENET - comp.society.privacy FTP - ftp.cs.uwm.edu GOPHER - gopher.cs.uwm.edu. COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST: The latest news on cyberspace issues. CUD's best when screaming about the latest hacker or BBS raid, good when picking apart government policy issues. And give 'em credit, they haven't reprinted the entire agenda for some upcoming computer conference YAWN!!! in a few months. Moderate length. E-MAIL - To: listserv@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu Subject: Ignored Body: SUB CUDIGEST YOUR NAME USENET -- comp.society.cu-digest FTP - ftp.eff.org: pub/Publications/CuD EFFECTOR: The Electronic Frontier Foundation's membership newsletter, great for telecom policy updates. Short E-MAIL - To: send request to brown@eff.org Usenet: {preferred!} comp.org.eff GOPHER - gopher.eff.org FTP - ftp.eff.org RISKS FORUM: Tidbits about the risks computers present in society. One edition touched on industrial espionage, data escape from prison, and a strange tale of e-mail stalking. Moderate length. E-MAIL - To: risks-request@csl.sri.com Usenet {preferred!} comp.risks FTP - crvax.sri.com CURRENT CITES: A monthly letter for library technology, composed of pointers to magazine articles. On the dry side, partly because of its format. E-MAIL - To: listserv@library.berkeley.edu Subject: Ignored Body: Sub Cites Your Name FTP: ftp.lib.berkeley.edu:/pub/Current.Cites. HOTT: Hot Off The Tree re-emerged with a lot of self-congratulations that promised articles on latest advances in computer, communications, and electronics technologies. Its first, HUGE issue obviously proved too ambitious and the publication stalled for months. E-MAIL - To: listserv@ucsd.edu Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe HOTT-LIST Your@Address ----------------------------------Policy---------------------------------- LEGAL BYTES: A strong review of computer law issues by Austin law firm George, Donaldson & Ford. The big snag is it only comes out quarterly, so don't expect the latest news. Long. E-MAIL - To: gdf@well.sf.ca.us RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY: Good but lengthy weekly letter from the Environmental Research Foundation. Smurfs report that RACHEL stands for Random Access Chemical Hazards Electronic Library, a database. E-MAIL - To: erf@igc.apc.org Subject: None Body: include name, phone # plus e-mail AND postal addresses. Fund- raising pitch to follow, no doubt. FTP - ftp.std.com: /periodicals/rachel GOPHER - gopher.std.com DAILY REPORT CARD: A great summary of news in K-12 education. Very newsy. Recently cut back to thrice-weekly and comes out of the National Education Goals Panel. E-MAIL - To: listserv@gwuvm.gwu.edu Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Rptcrd Your Name EDUCATION POLICY DIGEST: Put out by educational publisher Scholastic Inc., EDPOL addressing edu-politics, aimed primarily at teachers. Not bad. E-MAIL - To: listproc@scholastic.com Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Edpol-D Your Name CHOICE-NET REPORT: This sort-of-weekly comes of the California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League-North, culled from clips and announcements. Short and pretty good stuff. So far, they've kept it very newsy Who needs preachy?. E-MAIL - To: dtv@well.com Subject: Subscribe Body: Subscribe Choice-Net GOPHER - gopher.well.sf.ca.us USENET - alt.activism, talk.abortion, soc.women. INFORMATION POLICY ONLINE: Counterprogramming the privacy advocates, IPO come from the Information Industry Association and covers legislation regarding government restriction on information. Too little real news, too many items about the direct mail industry's lobbying. But a welcome counterpoint to the net's generally one-sided privacy debates. I'm a reporter; I WANT your driving records! Moderate length. E-MAIL - To: iiaipo-request@his.com Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Your Name NAVNEWS: The Navy News Service is an internal newsletter published by the U.S. Navy. News-lite, properly sanitized for the troops. One issue discussed consideration of a 2.6% pay increase, a program track for seamen to rise to the rank of admiral, and how one ship finally introduced pay phones at sea. Moderate length. E-MAIL - To: navnews@opnav-emh.navy.mil Subject: Ignored Body: SUBSCRIBE YOUR@ADDRESS GOPHER - marvel.loc.gov; Gov. Info/Fed Info.../Info by Agency/Military... -----------------------------Business/finance----------------------------- WEEKLY FUTURES MARKET: Good weekly letter on currency and commodities futures. News, rather than touts, from a financial consultant in Taipei. E-MAIL - To: pcyhuang@tpts1.seed.net.tw GOPHER - wuecon.wustl.edu:/holt/weekfut TRADE NEWS: Digest of newspaper and magazine stories on international trade by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Strong, brief overview. Also publishes companion letter on NAFTA. E-MAIL - To: kmander@igc.apc.org Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Trade-News Your@Address -----------------------------Science/medicine----------------------------- +BLIND NEWS DIGEST: A pretty good discussion of blindness with an emphasis on talking computers and other technical aids. E-MAIL - To: listserv@vm1.nodak.edu Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Blindnws HUMAN CONTACT wtm@bunker.afd.olivetti.com PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE: Digest of physics news items. E-MAIL - To: listserv@aip.org Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Physnews WHAT'S NEW: News, mostly tracking government research funding, compiled by The American Physical Society. Sample headline: "DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE BEGINS SHOOTING HOSTAGES!" Short and good stuff. E-MAIL - To: whatsnew@apsedoff.bitnet PATENT NEWS SERVICE: More newswire than newsletter, this is an excellent service on patents, both regular news bulletins and lists of new patents. E-MAIL - To: patents@world.std.com Subject: Ignored Body: Help AIDS DAILY SUMMARY: A great clipping service from the Center For Disease Control, the kind of stuff Internet cheerleaders can brag about because it's about the real world, not just insular cyberspace. High volume. E-MAIL - To: ben@maggadu.queernet.org Subject: Subscribe Daily Body: Subscribe Daily Summary Your@Address USENET sci.med.aids AIDS INFORMATION NEWSLETTER: A lengthy, technical bi-weekly put out by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs AIDS Information Center in San Fransisco. Known on usenet as the VAMC Newsletter. Good quality, but needs a listserver. GOPHER - gopher.niaid.nih.gov: /VA AIDS Information Newsletter USENET - sci.med.aids HICNet MEDICAL NEWS DIGEST: Something painless from a dentist. Broad bi-weekly newsletter on medicine by Health Info-Com Network, put together by D.D.S. David Dodell. One week featured sleep apnea and snoring plus hemlock ! The downside is conference announcements. OK, on things like techniques for identifying corpses, but they're still conference announcements. E-MAIL - To: mednews@stat.com FTP - vm1.nodak.edu RSI NETWORK NEWSLETTER: For and by victims of repetitive stress injury e.g. carpal tunnel syndrome. E-MAIL - To: majordomo@world.std.com Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe RSI FTP - world.std.com:/pub/rsi GOPHER - world.std.com:/pub/rsi CFS-NEWS: Chronic fatigue syndrome sufferers. Moderate length. E-MAIL - To: listserv@list.nih.gov Subject: Ignored Body: Sub CFS-News Your Name LYMENET: Launched to rise above Usenet flame wars, LymeNet Newsletter explores research and treatment of Lyme disease, a mysterious and fairly disabling disease prevelant in the Northeast. Moderate length. E-MAIL - To: listserv@Lehigh.edu Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Lymenet-L Your Name USENET sci.med FTP - ftp.Lehigh.edu: /pub/listserv/lymenet-l/Newsletters. NASA DAILY: NASA and other space news. E-MAIL - To: pds-listserver@space.mit.edu Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Your Name GOPHER - world.std.com:News WWW - http://delcano.mit.edu/ -------------------------------Foreign News------------------------------- +YESHA NEWS SERVICE - Twice-weekly digest of news from the Israeli press focusing on West Bank settlement communities. Put out by The Yesha Council, a lobbying coalition of municipal councils in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Obviously not the place to find a balanced perspective on the Palestinians. But given the obvious biases, it's pretty good E-MAIL - To: listserv@israel.nysernet.org Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Yesha Your Name Human contact: elbaum@jerusalem1.datasrv.co.il +A@G NEWS FROM RUSSIA -- Business-oriented weekly offering 30-40 headlines from a digest of Russian newspapers. It's a tease for a cluster of different full newsletters including Financial News, Privatization, Politics, and St. Petersburg News. An ok tease, but weak as a stand-alone pub because it has no actual stories. The paid version, however, looks great. E-MAIL - To: ag@world.std.com Subject: Ignored Body: Sub Headline Your Name HUMAN CONTACT - spbeac@sovam.com +INDIA NEWS NETWORK: Well-edited news of issues related to India and the Indian expat community. E-MAIL - To: listserv@utarlvm1.uta.edu Subject: Igrnored Body: Subscribe India-L ASIAINFO HEADLINE DAILY NEWS: Daily offering 30-40 headlines from Asian markets plus 3-5 brief articles. The business-oriented headline service is bait to lure $$$ subscriptions for a full news report. The free version is a good sampler, but only so-so as a stand-alone pub. E-MAIL - To: listserv@asiainfo.com Body: Sub Headline Your Name RFE/RL DAILY REPORT: News on Eastern Europe popped out by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Very cool, but heavy volume. E-MAIL - To: listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe RFERL-L YOUR NAME. CHINA NEWS DIGEST: Very active news service on China and various ex-pat communities in several flavors: Global daily, US, Canada, Europe & Pacific, and a magazine in some Chinese dialect. High volume. E-MAIL - To: cnd-info@cnd.org Subject: Info Body: Info SOMALIA NEWS UPDATE: Irregularly published but good; comes out of Sweden. E-MAIL - To: bernhard.helander@antro.uu.se Subject: Somalia request Body: Ask nicely -------------------------------Satellite TV------------------------------- SKYGUIDE: This monthly's from a Brit who doubtless watches too much TV. The Euro cable and satellite television scene. Concentrates on BSkyB but also romps off onto the continent. E-MAIL - To: bignoise@cix.compulink.co.uk Subject: Subscribe skyguide Body: SUBSCRIBE SKYGUIDE YOUR@ADDRESS Usenet {preferred!} alt.satellite.tv.europe. SATNEWS: Bi-weekly on satellite television broadcasting worldwide. E-MAIL - To: satnews-request@mrrl.lut.ac.uk Subjec: Ignored Body: SUBSCRIBE YOUR-NAME USENET rec.video.satellite. SATELLITE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL: One issue featured usual sat news plus an Iranian cleric's "fatwah" banning home dishes and how Pakistanis evade government censoring of Miss Universe pagent broadcasts. Fairly short. USENET - rec.video.satellite FTP - itre.uncecs.edu:/pub/satellite/sj WWW http://itre.uncecs.edu/misc/sj/sj.html -TELE SATELLIT: English-translation excerpts from the German satellite magazine. Usenet-only, "fur die freunde", although available on several $$$ services. Moderate length. USENET alt.satellite.tv.europe FTP - ftp.funet.fi/pub/dx/text/satellite/telesatellit SATELLITE NEWS DESK: Yet another satellite TV letter. The surprising thing is that they're all pretty high quality. Headline news from British satellite newsletter Transponder. Moderate length. E-MAIL - To: editor@trponder.win-uk.net --------------------------------Randomness-------------------------------- THIS JUST IN: A tasty weekly collection of strange news from a California tech publisher. One issue told of a N.J. man fined for "needlessly" killing an animal -- a rat! Also a Venezuela teen needing a spot to relieve himself somehow went into a lion's pen. "Perez struggled both to live and to get his pants up; a friend helped by hitting the lion with a brick. And that brick came from ...where?" Short. E-MAIL - listserv@netcom.com Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe This-Just-In -=-=-=--=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=--=-=-=- HOW TO GET THE NET-LETTER GUIDE: E-MAIL - To: higgins@dorsai.dorsai.org; SUBSCRIBE NET-LETTER; Usenet alt.zines, alt.etext, misc.writing, rec.mag, alt.internet.services, and the *.answers groups. Far more exhaustive lists of electronic publications include: *The E-Zine-List by John Labovitz: FTP etext.archive.umich.edu: pub/Zines/e-zine-list; Gopher etext.archive.umich.edu: Zines/e-zine-list; WWW http://www.ora.com:8080/johnl/e-zine-list/. *The giant e-pub archive: ftp.etext.org; gopher.etext.org; www.etext.org *Factsheet Five-E; Gopher gopher.well.sf.ca.us. *The Association of Research Libraries' Directory of Electronic Journals and Newsletters; Gopher arl.cni.org: /11/scomm/edir Ways to keep up on the latest pubs include: NET-HAPPENINGS: E-MAIL - majordomo@is.internic.net Body: Subscribe Your@Address USENET - Comp.internet.net-happenings NEW JOURNALS: E-MAIL - NewJour-L@e-math.ams.org Subject: Ignored Body: Subscribe Your Name Copyright 1994 John M. Higgins. This list may be redistributed provided that the article and this notice remain intact. This article may not under any circumstances be resold or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from John M. Higgins. That includes publication by magazine or CD-ROM. But if you're interested, talk to me.