News Groups as a Reference Tool

While I have grown up with computers, I did not grow up around modems and internet connections, otherwise I might not have been so surprised to discover the vast resource provided by usenet newsgroups. Usenet newsgroups were created in 1979 by Steve Bellovin, Jim Ellis, Tom Truscott, and Steve Daniel at Duke University and have provided a means for people to exchange timely and specific information worldwide. Over time, newsgroups have been added by universities, companies, and other entities, bringing the number of unique newsgroups close to 10,000 by the year 1994 and over 30,000 by the year 2000.

Newsgroups offer millions of messages on a variety of topics, including the popular, the controversial, and the highly specialized. They are grouped by a unique classification system (I have provided short descriptions and example newsgroups of each category at the end of this article) These groups were traditionally accessible by subscribing to them over a Network News Transfer Protocol Server (NNTP), and in most cases this is still the case. In fact, many Internet Service Providers also provide access to the usenet newsgroups through an NNTP server.

Recently I turned to this resource in an attempt to find the answer to a particularly frustrating reference question. The question concerned one of the films by the late Stanley Kubrick and it was one of those questions where the answer, if it could ever be found, would only be useful in answering some impossible million-dollar trivia question.

I was hopeful that the usenet newsgroups would somehow help me find the detailed and impossible to find information. After all, I found a Frequently Asked Questions or FAQ page for a newsgroup devoted to everything related to Kubrick (check out the Kubrick FAQ).

The FAQ page is commonly used in conjunction with newsgroups to dissuade users from posting repeat questions and discussion threads to the newsgroup. The FAQ is an attempt to reduce redundancy in newsgroups, to promote deeper and more meaningful discussions, and to provide unique and specialized information in one location. Fortunately this FAQ page was presented in the easily accessible format of a web page and I was able to read discussions relating to every conceivable detail of Kubrick's films: explanations by film editors of an accidental shadow in the opening shot of one film, intricate discussions about the naming of characters, and message threads regarding the allusions made in Kubrick films to other Kubrick films. The amount of interesting and apparently credible information was astounding. I was aware that much of it while apparently credible would, for the purposes of library work, need to be confirmed in other sources. But here was a place where Kubrick trivia thrived and if nothing else would provide useful clues for a careful researcher. However,after finding nothing related to my specific question, I was ready to post my bit of impossible trivia to the newsgroup.

Unfortunately, when I decided to post to the newsgroup, I discovered that SJVLS does not have an NNTP server. I desperately searched for an easy way to subscribe to the group and only found dead-ends and bandwidth thieves promoting insecure NNTP servers as a free ride. All of the "free NNTP servers" I found were not an ethical means to getting my answer. I almost surrendered to the possibility that newsgroups were beyond my reach.

Fortunately, I discovered that Google, my reliable and trusted search engine, had an answer. Google has a "Group Search" feature which allows users to not only find specific newsgroups and authors of messages but also allows will users "to search and browse more than 500 million archived messages with the speed and efficiency of a Google search." This means that someone can search the full text of archived newsgroup postings all the way back to 1981. In addition, Google's newsgroup features allow users to post new messages. This allowed me to search beyond the contents of the FAQ page and into even the most obscure messages posted to the Kubrick newsgroup. In this way, I was able to find one message that was related to the question. After e-mailing the author of the message, he promptly sent a return message offering help.

After my first experience using newsgroups as a reference tool, I can say that I was quite satisfied with the outcome. While there is an obvious need to confirm information in other sources, the newsgroups proved to be a quick and easy way to access a forum of experts on a particular topic. For those who are interested in exploring this tool further I am including several links that will take you directly to Google's newsgroup pages.
Google Newsgroup Links

The Google Newsgroup Search Page

Help using Google's newsgroup features

The Do's and Don'ts of Posting on Google Groups

Here are the general categories used to organize the usenet newsgroups. I have also provided a few random examples of highly active newsgroups in each category. In addition you can browse all of the groups in each category by clicking on the category name and visiting Google's newsgroup pages:

"comp" --A category for newsgroups that are of interest to computer professionals and hobbyists alike. Here you will find the "comp.hardware" group and the "comp.emulators group" along with many others

"sci" --A collection of newsgroups focusing on the field of science, including application and research
Examples of highly active newsgroups in this category are the "sci.polymers" group and the "sci.engr.micromachining" group.

"misc" -- This category for those groups that are not easily placed in other categories
An example of highly active group in this category is the "misc.fitness.aerobic" group, but there are many others.

"soc" -- These groups post messages that address social issues and concerns. One example is the group "soc.religion.unitarian-univ".

"talk" --Here you will find groups discussing and debating various issues. Examples of highly active newsgroups in this category are the "talk.politics.libertarian" group and the "talk.philosophy.humanism" group.

"news" --A category for talk focusing on the news network itself, including the somewhat introverted group "news.groups.questions"

"rec" -- These groups discuss sports, arts, hobbies, and other recreational activities, including but not limited to the very active groups "rec.games.chess" (with 5 subgroups) and "rec.pets.ferrets"

"biz" -- Here you will find discussions about business products, services, reviews and anything related to business such as the discussions found in the "biz.entrepreneurs" group.

"alt" --group that accounts for 50% of the activity on the usenet, including discussion of just about anything controversial, strange, and popular.
There are many very active groups in this category, including "alt.anarchy.rules" "alt.agnosticism" "alt.arts.poetry.urban" "alt.atari-jaguar.discussion" and "alt.bankruptcy".

"humanities" -- Groups that discuss fine art, literature, and philosophy can be found in this category. It includes groups like "humanities.language.sanskrit" and "humanities.lit.authors".

A non-Google Newsgroup link

http://www.ibiblio.org/usenet-i/
The Usenet Info Center is described as "a starting place for your information on Usenet."