10 fun ways to start on the Web

Nursing, Feb 1998 by Benner, Jane

CURIOUS ABOUT THE WEB AND WHAT IT COULD POSSIBLY do for you? It's not too late for a New Year's resolution-why not investigate it in '98? Take a look at this sampling of things you can do on the Web to see what might interest you:

1. You can plan a trip with help from Arthur Frommer's Outspoken Encyclopedia of Travel (http://www.frommers.com) or Fodor's Travel Online (http://www.fodors.com). Before you go, check out the weather through The Weather Channel (http://www.weather.com), and be your own travel agent at sites such as Internet Travel Network (http://www.itn.com) or Preview Travel (http://www. previewtravel.com).

2. You can shop at The Internet Mall (http://www. internet-mall.com), QVC (http://www.qvc.com), Excite Shopping Channel (http://www.excite.com/channel/ shopping), or CompareNet (http://www2.compare.net). Order books through sites such as Amazon (http://www. amazon.com), Barnes and Noble (http://www. barnesandnoble), or alt.bookstore (http://www. altbookstore.com) or audiobooks through Audiobooks (http://www.audiobooks.com). Buy compact discs and cassettes at sites such as Pentagon CD's & Tapes (http://www. pentagon.net) or Music Boulevard (http://www. musicblvd.com). You can even go to an auction at eBay Auction Classifieds (http://cayman.ebay.com/aw/index.html) or Auctionpage Auctions (http://www.auctionpage.com).

3. You can do financial planning and investigate mutual funds or the stock market through the American Association of Individual Investors (http://www.aaii. org); Mutual Funds Interactive (http://www.brill.com); Invest-o-rama! (http://www.investorama.com); The Motley Fool (http://www.fool.com); E*TRADE Securities, Inc. (http://www. etrade.com); or BigCharts (http://www.bigcharts.com).

4. You can enjoy your hobbies-doing genealogy research at USGenWeb Archives (http://www. rootsweb.com/-usgenweb), Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site (http://www.familytreemaker.com), or Family History Information (http://www.lds.org/ Family_History/How-Do-I-Begin.html) or discovering new recipes at Epicurious (http://food.epicurious.com) or foodwine.com (http://www.foodwine.com). Theatergoers will enjoy Playbill's site (http:/wwwl.playbill. com).

5. You can focus on home improvements-remodeling, redecorating, and landscaping-at Better Homes and Gardens' site (http://www. bhglive.com/househome/ index.html) or HomeArts (http://homearts.com).

6. You can search international phone books to find old friends through 555-1212.com (http://www. 555-1212.com) or WhoWhere? (http://www.whowhere. com).

7. You can explore museums, such as The Smithsonian Institution (http://www.si.edu/newstart), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (http://www.metmuseum. org), the British Museum (http://www.british-museum. ac.uk), or the WebMuseum (http://www.sunsite.unc. edu/louvre); search libraries, such as the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov); investigate universities at Christina DeMello's site at MIT (http://www.mit. edu:8001/people/cdemello/univ.html) or at American Universities (http://www.clas.ufl.edu/CLAS/americanuniversities.html); and discover scholarships at FreSch! (http://users.plinet.com/nV-reisa).

8. You can check out the news at CNN Interactive (http://www.cnn.com) and find on-line newspapers such as USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com), The London Times (http://www.the-times.co.uk), or The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com) and on-line magazines such as National Geographic (http://www. nationalgeographic.com) or Reader's Digest (http://www. readers digest.com).

9. You can discover movie reviews at the Internet Movie Database (http://us.imdb.com) or at Siskel & Ebert's site (http://www.siskel-ebert.com) or check book reviews at sites such as Troutworks Mystery Guide (http://www.troutworks.com) and BookBrowser (http://www.bookbrowser.com).

10. You can visit Nursing98 on our site (http://www. springnet.com)!

This is only a small sampling of what you'll discover on the World Wide Web. Take the first step by asking a librarian at your local or nursing library what to do. Or visit a local Internet cafe and spend $5 or so for an hour's worth of exploration and a cup of coffee. All you have to do is type in the addresses listed above (starting with http://)...and enjoy! I