Reporter Volume 26, No.9 November 3, 1994

In our previous column we looked at some of the different interfaces
you can use to connect to the Internet. Not surprisingly, various
Internet sites are specifically geared to particular interfaces.
Postmodern Culture (PMC) is an example of an Internet site built
specifically to maximize the benefits of the World-Wide Web. Through
hypertextual links, one can move through various PMC projects and
resources with ease.
	Not only does PMC employ current technology to its fullest,
foremost is its electronic journal permutation, through which many
distinguished contributions to scholarship are made on the Net. It is
a peer-reviewed journal that does not publish on paper at all, yet is
held in high esteem by the academic community. As an indication of its
success, PMC was recently purchased by Oxford University Press, though
it continues to publish electronically and be distributed for free.
	When you use the Web to get to PMC you are presented with a
link to the current E-journal first, followed by back issues. These
contain articles on culture, literature, and postmodernism, and are
noted for being wide-ranging and engaging. But PMC as a Web site
offers much more. As you continue down the contents you will see that
you are able to browse "special collections" including PMC "prize
pieces," popular culture columns, reviews, fiction, and poetry. The
"PMC-MOO: A Text-Based Virtual Reality Environment" is the next
option, offering a simulated postmodern "meeting place" where visitors
(that's you!) may "speak" to others in the Moo.
	Most interesting, perhaps, is the final selection of this
menu, the Institute for Advanced Technology WWW Server, which offers
access to a number of interesting electronic projects by noted
scholars. These include Jerome McGann's "Rossetti Archive," John
Dobbins' "Pompeii Forum Project" and Hoyt Duggan's "Piers Plowman,"
among many others.
	A visit to the PMC can be an enlightening experience -- the
perfect place to give the Web your first "road test!"
	To visit PMC log on to your campus E-mail account and type
lynx
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/pmc/contents.all.html at your
system prompt. Those with CMS accounts will type www instead of lynx.
For information on campus E-mail and/or logging on to the World-Wide
Web, contact the Computing Center Help Desk at 645-3542 or send an
E-mail inquiry to <consult>.
 -- Gemma DeVinney and Loss Peque