Many hosts on the Internet have available collections of software, graphics images, digitised sounds, technical reports and other information. The whole Internet community can access them via FTP but how do we find it? Currently there are several efforts underway to develop easy methods of discovering, locating and retrieving information freely available on the Internet. This is a rapidly developing area. Some projects and tools available already include:

Archie

Archie is a collection of tools which provide a means of locating files in anonymous ftp sites on the internet. It regularly polls such archives and maintains a database of what is available. Archie then provides the tools to search the database, allowing users to find an entry point in the Internet

Prospero

Prospero is a tool that helps Internet users to organise the large amount of information available on the internet. It supports a user centred view of files scattered across the Internet.

The World Wide Web Project (WWW)

This project was founded on the idea that academic information should be freely available to anyone. WWW provides access to the web of information available on the Internet. The users don't need to know what type of document or format of document they are looking for but can use a set of keywords to search this web.

Wide Area Information Server (WAIS)

WAIS was designed to retrieve full text documentation from various sources, either locally or via servers on the Internet. It uses a single interface so the user doesn't need to worry about diverse operating systems of document formats. It looks very much like going to the reference desk at a library and, asking questions in English, the user can make a query.

The Internet Gopher.

The internet gopher combines features of electronic bulletin boards and databases into an information distribution system that allows the user to browse a hierarchy of information or search for the information using indexes. Basically information is stored at "gopher sites" which are basically Internet hosts. This the indexes are numerous and small, distributed throughout the world. Any site on the Internet can become a gopher site and place information about itself and produced by itself in the Gopher system.