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"MyNet - Anywhere!"
Making better use of data and information retrieved from the Internet (world wide web)
"MyNet - Anywhere!" is a simple but practical tool
to collect data (in whatever form and file format)
from the Internet and store it in a structured manner on the machine of the individual user for viewing and further processing.
Press Release from: TBSC - The Blue Software Company
http://www.tbsc.int.tc ; (Home Page)
http://www.tbsc.eu.tc ; (German version)
http://www.tbsc-consulting.int.tc (ICT Help Project)
E-mail: bluesoftware@altavista.it
Oktober 2002
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"MyNet - Anywhere!"
Making better use of data and information retrieved
from the Internet (world wide web)
Download it now:
http://bluesoftware.tripod.com/mynet.zip
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The following information is not only of interest for
journalists involved in IT but also for teaching staff
and students in educational institutions of all kind.
Those involved in new media, educational science and
many other faculties will also benefit from it.
"MyNet - Anywhere!" is a simple but practical tool
to collect data (in whatever form and file format)
from the Internet and store it in a structured manner
on the machine of the individual user for viewing and
further processing. Each "project" can then be
distributed with the included viewer application.
The application was actually developed out of our
frustration with the usual bookmark files.
"MyNet - Anywhere!" allows to collect and to view data
in context and to retrieve information without bothering
too much about issues related to the operating system
environment. A basic understanding of a file management
tool like Windows Explorer is sufficient to handle it.
Recent studies like PISA (Program for international
student assessment) by the OECD not only highlight the
deficit in reading and writing capababilies by the younger
generation. There is also a grim picture what PCs and the
Internet are actually used for by them. Only a minority of
students are using the PC for educational purposes - for
most of them the PC and the Internet are only complementing
TV and other activities in their leisure time.
Our application is of great help for those who are willing
to use their PCs and the Internet for serious work.
Many people put the application into their "Start-up" group
in MS-Windows to have it ready as soon as they connect to
the Internet. Some of the immediate improvements they are
experiencing:
- NO more lost URLs when surfing, esp. when using a search
engine
- the time savings are enormous for most projects in many
disciplines
- in a teacher / student environment it is a whole new
approch to transfer "knowledge" to others with the FREE
viewer application included. Example (see also the file
chemistry_project.html in the info pack)
It is not the usual setup of an application - it is the setup
of a "framework" for the individual PC user to work more
efficient.
It is also about retrieving only the interesting facts (data
of all kind) from the Internet for further processing to get
the picture in the form of useful information.
The application is esp. of interest for the teaching staff at
universities, tertiary institutions and schools to create
projects for their students (all faculties/departments can
make good use of "MyNet - Anywhere!").
Please download the information pack from our web site:
http://bluesoftware.tripod.com/mynet_infopack.zip
The file: chemistry_project.html in it is a good starting point
for a sample project:
Based on this link list a lecturer in chemistry has a new way
to provide his students with information by creating a project
with "MyNet - Anywhere!" step-by-step when he is retrieving
the relevant data, software etc. he wants to present to his
students. He can then distribute the project in the form of
"MyNet - on a Floppy!" to his students, put it on the web as
a zipped file for world-wide access / download - non Internet
related content can of course be added.
If there is a faculty with let's say 500 students the time
savings - esp. for the students - are enormous (at least 2000
hours for one small project - based on carefully going through
8 - 10 links per hour - not to mention the download times for
software).
Compare this to giving the students just a list with 30 to 40
links and each of the 500 students would go through them
individually to gather the information.
It is an easy to manage tool - no computer jargon involved -
and younger students can handle it too (apart from the
more sophisticated tasks like further processing of data via
exporting, ODBC etc.).
You will find more information about the re-use of data in the
following files on our web site:
http://bluesoftware.tripod.com/exporting.html
http://bluesoftware.tripod.com/odbc.html
http://bluesoftware.tripod.com/query.html
http://bluesoftware.tripod.com/sql.html
If someone has to keep an eye on the data and information
contained in ten or twenty different web sites he will
appreciate the time savings - an easy to use report writer
is also integrated.
The TOPSCAN utility - esp. useful for data export - can be
downloaded from our web site at:
http://bluesoftware.tripod.com/ts.zip
We have also put all the .html files mentioned before and the
TOPSCAN utility in one .zip file for downloading at your
convenience:
http://joes_rumblings.tripod.com/tbsc_further_processing.zip
For an in-depth evaluation please request also the ODBC drivers
from us (for your personal testing and evaluation purposes only
- they are not freely distributable; thank you).
Because of the complexity of the matter (and with so many
file formats) - the setup process could not be done with one of
the usual installers (everyone has indivdual preferences). But
after the framework is set up the user really benefits from our
approach to take care of an overdue problem. More information
is in the "readme" files of the evaluation copy and in the info
pack.
The evaluation copy is only 2.2 MB in size and available for
download at:
http://bluesoftware.tripod.com/mynet.zip
We provide updates of our applications on our web site based on
user feedback. Because we don't change underlying database
structures - nor do we touch registry or system files - it is
a painless procedure: just copy the executable files (mynet.exe
and mnfloppy.exe) over the old ones.
I hope that you will find the information provided here and on
our web site useful and would also appreciate your feedback.
Thank you for your interest and time.
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