However, some background to the avalanche of information superhighway terminology first may be help the computer unsophisticated appreciate the story. The enormous volume of electronically-stored information (the tip of an iceberg compared to the amount of information that will be stored in the future) requires efficient and 'user-friendly' retrieval systems to encourage and facilitate the wide usage that thisvaluable resource deserves,rather than it being restricted to determined experts.
World Wide Web (WWW or Web for short) is a network of documents or portion of documents linked together. The information, in the form of text, sound, graphics and movies, can reside anywhere on the global network. A WWW document page, written in HyperText Markup Language (HJML) format, consists of text and images interspersed with citation (or anchors). Each citation appears highlighted (and underlined) in WWW browsers. A click on a citation text transfers you to another file which is more than likely stored in another computer in your local or regional area network or even in another country. A conventional book only allows you to work through the information in a linear fashion. You are restricted to reading each page or skipping paragraphs or pages if you don't need the information. WWW document pages are organised in a series of vertical and horizontal 'layers' you can work through in several directions, charting your own course depending on the information you require. Text is combined with graphics, sound and colour to make the journey pleasurable and the information un- derstandable. Additional chunks of information are continually being added, drawing on resources available all over the world.
The wealth of information available on the Internet is tremendous. The most user-friendly tool needed to explore it is available free of charge. Various kinds of very useful tools such as search engines, lists and sensitive maps are available on the Web. They can help you find and get the information you need. People with no previous experience can quickly catch on, and soon became an expert navigator of the Information Super Highway.
Now, back to the Electrical Engineering announcement. A World Wide Web Archive for Power Engineering Education has been created in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering by Dr Parviz Doulai. This Home Page is the first of its kind, aiming to foster information sharing and cooperation among Power Engineering educators worldwide. It also serves as an information repository for CAL/Multimedia projects in place at Australasian tertiary engineering schools. This, among other things, makes the Home Page suit the regional interests of academic institutions in the Asia- Pacific. Ths archive has specific pages for Power Engineering teaching and learning resources and research and development reports in engineering education in general. Electrical engineering education in particular has its own page along with a listing of selec ted contributions pre- sented in regional power systems and engineering education conferences. Also provided are links to other electric power systems and engineering education Internet sites ~WW, PTP, Gopher for example) all around theglobeaswell as information about relevant upcoming conferences. The new University WWW Archive also provides pointers to two separate Pages that have been developed to introduce the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Faculty of Inform a tics to the Internet community.
The WWW Archive for Electric Power Engineering Education has been registered through submission to the 'NCSA What's New Page' and major WWW catalogs. It hasalsobeen announced globally by postings to relevant WWW Usenet newsgroups and engineering education list-servers. All three Home Pages currently appear in the Australian Web Server list. This represents the first three University of Wollongong entries on the list. Dr Doulai said this task could not have been implemented without the cooperation of the Information Technology Services staff.
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