The internet is a worldwide network of computers connecting millions of users. Commercial use of the internet is increasing at a rapid pace as business professionals and educators are discovering the benefits of this resource as a communication tool and as a means of moving large amounts of information around the world quickly and inexpensively. There are many different services that can be accessed on the internet for businesses and educators to communicate quickly with others, these include: Electronic Mail (e-mail), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Gopher, and listservers.

    According to the homepage of Management Technology Associates (1996), Electronic mail, or E-mail, is a major component of the Internet. It is a type of communication that allows one to many and one to one communication. E-mail software supports group addresses, distribution lists and departmental networks. Anyone receiving messages can add their messages or they can read only. Some e-mail systems can allow users to do editing off-line which has some advantages. These advantages include: (1)reducing time on line, (2)freeing up the telephone for others to use and (3) allowing users to take advantages of word processing software.

    Tony Bates(1995) states that the advantages of e-mail to benefit communicators and educators are as follows:

    - Developing academic discourse

    - Collaborative and project work

    - Knowledge building

    - Maximizing the knowledge and experience of all participants

    - Increasing equity of participation

    - Cross-cultural participation

    - Development of reflective writing skills

    - Learner control

    - Emotional involvement

    - Freedom from constraints of time and location

    - Ready access to help and support

    - Active and interactive participation

    - Feedback to and direct student contact with the central academic team

    - Overcoming social isolation

    File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the Internet's main mechanism for providing access to information and documents to the advent of WWW and Mosaic. FTP has an important role because everyone does not have access to the WWW.

    FTP is a mechanism for transferring large files while WWW is a mechanism for finding out what information is available by browsing shorter formatted pages. FTP preserves the original file. However the WWW structures the information for Web presentation. FTP has some limitations for the non-technical user. Some can be overcome by integrating FTP into a Mosaic-WWW style where users may come across "Anonymous FTP". This does not mean that the user obtaining a file remains anonymous but "the user must use the password anonymous when asked for a password".

    Gopher is a range of information search and retrieval that precedes the widespread use of the WWW. It is a more sophisticated Mosaic-style user interface. The Gopher goes around the network sniffing out and reporting on interesting information. It organizes access to Internet resources using a menu system. After you select the desired option from a Gopher menu, Gopher takes the necessary steps to display a lower-level menu or make a connection with another site. It provides smooth passage into other Gopher servers, allowing you to browse and search documents, and links you to resources and databases, such as online library catalogs. You may not know it, but while you are 'sniffing' around Gopherspace, you are actually doing things like transferring files, changing directories, telnetting to computers and seeking information from servers all over the world. Gopher enables you to retrieve information without having to know the technical details of where resources are located and how to operate the programs that retrieve them. Most universities have a campus-wide Gopher, and some even have different Gopher servers for the various departments to organize access to information on the Internet for their faculty and students.

    Another service that is available on the internet for businesses and educators are listservs. According to Carvin (1996) the internet has thousands of special interest discussion groups known as listservs. Listservs are moderated by a list owner but the lists can be provided in a post-by-post basis or sent to a subscriber in a digest which is a group of individual discussions. Any member of the list may take part in a conversation or start a new topic. Listservs distribute electronic journals (e-journals or e-texts), and/or moderate on-line magazines that are from a specific area of research. To subscribe, the user must post e-mail to the list address and type in the first line of the actual posting with the following information.

    For example, if a student@auburn.edu wanted to join the Business Education Discussion list (BUSED-L), he would e-mail listserv@ureginal.bitnet, subscribe BUSED-L Aaron Student. The listserv does the rest automatically.

    As computers and the internet are being used in more school systems, the use of these internet services can bring many advantages to facilitate classroom based instructions. Electronic communications provides advantages for all users: teachers will have immediate access to current information for instructional purposes; students will gain a valuable tool that will help them in their course work and in their professional careers. Communication lies at the heart of the Internet and also at the heart of any successful business or educational venture-online or in the physical world.

Bates, Tony, (1995) Technology, Open Learning and Distance Education. Routledge Studies in Distance Education, Hamphsire, England.

Carvin, A. (1996). EdWeb: Exploring Technology and School Reform.

http://k12.cnidr.org:90/lists.html.

Management Technology Associates (1996).

http://www.mtanet.co.uk/mta_inet/intbasic.htm