HELP FILE FOR USING THE GETWEB WEB-TO-EMAIL SERVICE
How to use GetWeb
How to retrieve pages in HTML, PDF and other Web formats
How can I search the Web?
How can I fill out HTML forms?
How can I break a long command between multiple lines?
How can I view special characters (like accents) correctly?
How can I decode binary files?
How can I pass in my username and password?
How can I request raw HTML source rather than formatted text?
How can I control how my documents are delivered?
How quotas limit server load
List of human rights links
About the GetWeb MailBot server software
HOW TO USE GETWEB
=======================
To request a document from the World Wide Web, send a message to
getweb@hrea.org with the body containing one or more requests like:
GET url
Where url is the URL of the document you request. If the message
contains more than one request, separate each request with a blank
line.
Here is a message which would fetch the HREA home page:
GET http://www.hrea.org
After receiving the above message, the GetWeb server would format the
HREA home page as human-readable plain-text and send it to you.
Each hypertext link is represented by a number in brackets. Suppose
you get a message like this from the GetWeb server:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Listservs hosted by HREA include:
* HR-EDUCATION: Global Human Rights Education listserv [1]
* HURIDOCS-TECH: Mailing list on human rights and new technologies [2]
* ERC-L: bi-monthly newsletter with updates on the Electronic Resource Centre for Human Rights Education [3]
** References from this document **
[1] http://www.hrea.org/lists/hr-education/index.html
[2] http://www.hrea.org/lists/huridocs-tech/index.html
[3] http://www.hrea.org/lists/erc-l/index.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------
To get more information about HURIDOCS-TECH, you would look up link 2 at
the bottom of the message to find out the URL is
http://www.hrea.org/huridocs-tech/index.html. You would then send
a message to getweb@hrea.org:
GET http://www.hrea.org/lists/huridocs-tech/index.html
If your mailer program insists puts extra, unwanted text at the
beginning or end of your message, then you can enclose your commands
in a begin/end block. You can also comment out lines with '#', so
that in the following message only the 'GET http://www.hrea.org
line will be processed:
Hello getweb@hrea.org!
This preamble will not be processed by the MailBot...
begin
GET http://www.hrea.org
# ...neither will this comment
end
...and neither will this signature:
----------
L. Ibrarian
Human Rights Library
United Nations University
e-mail: l.ibrarian@hrl.unu.edu.jp
HOW TO RETRIEVE PAGES IN HTML, PDF AND OTHER WEB FORMATS
========================================================
GetWeb also allows you to retrieve documents in HTML, PDF and other
commonly used formats on the World Wide Web, instead of plain
text. This is particularly interesting when you would like to retain
the original format/design of a document (such as educational and
training materials).
To request a document in HTML or other formats instead of plain text,
send a message to getweb@hrea.org with the URL but without the "GET"
command, like this:
http://www.hrea.org
You will then receive the page or document you requested as a file attach.
HOW CAN I SEARCH THE WEB?
==========================
GetWeb will soon provide an e-mail gateway for selected WWW search
engines and search engines of major human rights sites
HOW CAN I FILL OUT HTML FORMS?
=============================
Pages containing HTML forms have at the beginning of
each form. To fill out the form, forward the message containing the
form back to the server, filling out any inputs surrounded by double
brackets: [[ ]] For example, if you send a command to HREA's search engine
page[1], part of the document will look like this:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
search hrea.org
================
search for: [[__________________________________________________]]
[[ ]] submit: check preceding box, forward entire document to GetWeb
To search for 'training' and 'law enforcement officials', returning
the top 20 matching files, you would fill out the form as follows:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
search hrea.org
search for: [[_____training;law enforcement officials__________]]
-------------------------------------------------------
When filling out a form input, you must 'escape' the following
characters by preceding them with a backslash (\):
* Brackets: write [[ as \[[, and ]] as \]]
* Underscores: write _ as \_
* Backslashes themselves: write a literal \ as \\
Remember to 'X' the box where it says to 'check preceding box', or
the form will not be processed.
Yahoo offers a short list[2] of the best search engines; Excite
offers a more comprehensive list[3] of search engines.
*** References from this document ***
[1] http://www.hrea.org/search.html
[2] http://www.yahoo.com/text/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Int\
ernet_Services/Search_and_Navigation/
[3] http://www.excite.com/Reviews/Computing/World_Wide_Web/Searc\
hing_The_Web/Search_Engines/
HOW CAN I BREAK A LONG COMMAND BETWEEN MULTIPLE LINES?
======================================================
If the URL is too long to fit into a single line, you can break it up
if you surround it with brackets or end the line with a '\':
GET http://www.yahoo.com/text/Regional/Countries/Czech_Republic/
is the same as
GET http://www.yahoo.com/text/Regional/Co\
untries/Czech_Republic/
HOW CAN I VIEW SPECIAL CHARACTERS (LIKE ACCENTS) CORRECTLY?
=========================================================
By default, GetWeb translates binary (non-ascii) characters into
rough ascii equivalents using Latin-1 mapping; for example, an e with
an accent becomes:
e`
If you want to view these characters better, you can use the ENCODING
keyword.
To get your file as quoted-printable (an encoding supported by any
MIME-compliant e-mail client), send a message like:
GET ENCODING QP http://www.hrea.org
To get the file as a Base 64 MIME file-attach (another encoding
supported by any MIME-compliant e-mail client, and also by utilities
such as munpack), send a message like:
GET ENCODING BASE64 http://www.hrea.org
Finally, to get the file in a uuencoded format:
GET ENCODING UUENCODE http://www.hrea.org
The current versions of Eudora, Pegasus and Outlook support
MIME.
HOW CAN I DECODE BINARY FILES?
=============================
Binary messages are sent as Base64 MIME file-attaches. Like UUEncode,
MIME is a method of encoding binary files into a mailable text format.
The current versions of Eudora, Pegasus and Outlook support
MIME.
If you can't change your mailer, you can always use a very basic
standalone MIME-reading program like mpack[1].
As an alternative, the NOMIME modifier allows you to retrive binary
files uuencoded rather than in MIME format. So, to get the zipped
copy of the mpack mailer in uuencode format:
SEND NOMIME ftp://ftp.andrew.cmu.edu/pub/mpack/mpack15d.zip
More detailed information about MIME and about various decoders and
mailers is available in the MIME FAQ.[2]
Depending on the local administrator, GetWeb may limit files by
file-size or by content-type.
*** References from this document ***
[1] ftp://ftp.andrew.cmu.edu/pub/mpack/
[2] file:/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/mail/mime-faq
HOW CAN I PASS IN MY USERNAME AND PASSWORD?
============================================
The USER and PASSWORD modifiers are used together, like this:
GET USER myname PASSWORD mypass
For example:
GET USER terry PASSWORD foo http://www.wherever.org
Passwords, like everything else in GetWeb, are not necessarily
private, because:
* GetWeb logs all transactions locally
* GetWeb's HTTP transactions with the server are unencrypted and
may be intercepted by people on the Internet
Plus, if your email goes through the Internet backbone, your email
may be read by anyone at intermediate Internet hosts as it hops from
host to host on the way to the Internet. (Look at the 'Received'
headers and see all the machines email travels through.) So, don't
send any sensitive information over this insecure channel.
HOW CAN I REQUEST RAW HTML SOURCE RATHER THAN FORMATTED TEXT?
=============================================================
The SOURCE modifier specifies that HTML documents should be sent as
HTML source rather than as modified plain-text.
To receive the HREA home page as source, send this command:
GET SOURCE http://www.hrea.org
HOW CAN I CONTROL HOW MY DOCUMENTS ARE DELIVERED?
==================================================
The TO user@host modifier specifies that documents should be sent to
user@host rather than to the original send address.
To send the HREA home page as source to me@myotheraddress.com,
send this command:
GET TO me@myotheraddress.com http://www.hrea.org
HOW QUOTAS LIMIT SERVER LOAD
=============================
To prevent overload of the GetWeb server HREA maintains usage
quotas. Regular users on this server are limited to a certain maximum
number of bytes, and a certain maximum number of messages.
Quotas are currently 350 messages for most users during the course of
a week. This may be altered at any time due to changes in system
load.
Quotas are regenerated after seven full days; for example, if you run
out of quota on a Wednesday, you will be able to use the system again
the next Wednesday. If you run out on a Friday, you will have to wait
until the following Friday.
In order to guarantee a fast turn-around-time we have limited access
with GetWeb to human rights related sites. If you would like to have a
site included, please submit your request to getweb-admin@hrea.org.
LIST OF HUMAN RIGHTS LINKS
===========================
For those new to the World Wide Web, here are some possible starting
points.
Yahoo[1] has a comprehensive directory by category of popular web
sites. Of special interest is the list of Web beginner's guides.[2]
The World Wide Web FAQ[3] contains an overview of how the World Wide
Web works.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Below are some human rights sites which may be of interest (this list
is taken from Chapter 5 of the Human Rights Education
Resourcebook[4]).
General
--------------
Stephen A. Hansen, Getting Online for Human Rights. Frequently Asked Questions and Answers About Using the Internet in Human Rights Work[5]
Concise Guide to Human Rights on the Internet (Derechos, September 1998)[6]
Directories of Human Rights Organisations on the WWW
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
AAAS Directory of Human Rights Resources[7]
Internet Directory (by Human Rights Internet)[8]
Education and training
-----------------------------------
Electronic Resource Centre for Human Rights Education (maintained by HREA)[9]
Human Rights Education Directory (Human Rights Internet)[10]
People's Decade of Human Rights Education[11]
Human Rights Education Newsletter (published by the Education in Human Rights Network and the Centre for Global Education, York, United Kingdom)[12]
Revista Educación y DDHH (published by SERPAJ, Montevideo, Uruguay)[13] [in Spanish]
Boletín de la Red Peruana de Educación en Derechos Humanos y la Paz (published by the Peruvian Network of Human Rights Educators)[14] [in Spanish}
General reference/on-line libraries
--------------------------------------------------
Project DIANA Online Human Rights Archive[15]
Human Rights Online[16] [in Russian]
International Law and Human Rights through the Doddel server[17]
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library[18]
Country reports
---------------------------
Amnesty International[19]
Asian Human Rights Commission[20]
Derechos[21]
Human Rights Watch[22]
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights[23]
International Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)[24]
United States State Department Country Reports[25]
Regional human rights protection mechanisms
------------------------------------------------------------------------
African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights[26]
European Court of Human Rights[27]
European Commission of Human Rights[28]
Organisation of American States[29]
Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe[30]
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights[31]
United Nations System[32]
Collections of treaties, conventions and declarations
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Council of Europe European Treaties[33]
Organization of American States[34]
Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe Document Archive[35]
UNHCHR International Human Rights Instruments[36]
United Nations Treaty Collection[37]
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library International Human Rights Instruments[38]
*** References from this document ***
[1] http://www.yahoo.com/
[2] http://www.yahoo.com/text/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/In\
formation_and_Documentation/Beginner_s_Guides/
[3] http://www.w3.org
[4] http://www.hrea.org/pubs/HREresourcebook
[5] http://shr.aaas.org/online/cover.htm
[6] http://www.derechos.org/human-rights/manual.htm
[7] http://shr.aaas.org/dhr.htm
[8] http://www.hri.ca/coldfusion/cfidir/
[9] http://erc.hrea.org
[10] http://www.hri.ca
[11] http://www.pdhre.org
[12] http://erc.hrea.org/Library/HREnewsletter/
[13] http://www.serpaj.org.uy/revista.htm
[14] http://www.iidh.ed.cr/perucre/redmenu.html
[15] http://diana.law.yale.edu/
[16] http://www.hro.org
[17] http://doddel.cs.unimaas.nl/~ingelse/misc.htm
[18] http://www.umn.edu/humanrts/
[19] http://www.amnesty.org
[20] http://www.ahrchk.net
[21] http://www.derechos.org
[22] http://www.hrw.org
[23] http://www.ihf-hr.org
[24] http://www.omct.org
[25] http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/drl_reports.html
[26] http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/comision.html
[27] http://www.dhcour.coe.fr/
[28] http://www.dhcommhr.coe.fr/
[29] http://www.oas.org
[30] http://www.osce.org
[31] http://www.unhchr.ch
[32] http://www.un.org
[33] http://www.coe.fr/eng/legaltxt/treaties.htm
[34] http://www.oas.org/EN/PROG/ichr/basic.htm
[35] http://www.osce.org/indexe-da.htm
[36] http://www.unhchr.ch/html/intlinst.htm
[37] http://www.un.org/Depts/Treaty/
[38] http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/ainstls1.htm
ABOUT THE GETWEB MAILBOT SERVER SOFTWARE
==========================================
GetWeb was developed by SatelLife.[1] SatelLife is an international
not-for-profit organization employing satellite, telephone and radio
networking technology to serve the health communication and
information needs of countries in the developing world.
GetWeb was further developed by Alexander Fraser and HREA to serve the
human rights community.
The GetWeb service @ HREA is supported by grants of the Dutch Foreign
Ministry[2] and the Internet Program of the Open Society Institute.[3]
For questions, comments, etcetera please send a message to
getweb-admin@hrea.org.[4]
*** References from this document ***
[1] http://www.satellife.org
[2] http://www.minbuza.nl
[3] http://www.soros.org/internet/
[4] mailto:getweb-admin@hrea.org