GopherGopher (formally named Internet Gopher) is an information retrieval system. Gopher was the first application that made it really easy to get information from the Net. It is widely used by universities and other institutions that have the need to index files and databases. A Gopher server can store text and binary information, sound, images, and directory information, and is often the easiest way to download FTP documents. The Webspace that Gophers occupy is nicknamed Gopherspace.
Gopher was introduced by the University of Minnesota in 1991 as a campus-wide system to answer computer-related questions. However, it proved to be such a powerful and useful tool that other universities quickly created similar Gophers.
Although at one time Gopher was available only for those with Net access, a program called GopherMail now exists that allows people with e-mail-only access to use Gopher. Upon request, GopherMail will send you menus and link information, and you can check off the subjects on which you'd like information. To use GopherMail, send an e-mail message with no subject and no content to gophermail@ucdavis.edu.
The variety of information that is available through Gopher is wildly extensive and very easy to browse. Some of the items you can link to include song lyrics, electronic books, weather information, train schedules, e-mail addresses, copies of government documents, library catalogs, university newspapers, archives of newsgroups, phone books, and online journals. You can download software through Gopher as well, and Gopher also lets you e-mail its text to yourself or to others.
Gopher is a client/server application and is available for almost all major PC and mainframe operating systems. The Gopher client is the program that lets you access a Gopher area, while the Gopher server provides information to its clients. Gopher's software allows you to access network services such as FTP and Telnet, and also acts as a gateway server for information systems such as the Web, WAIS, and WHOIS. The Gopher interface is organized as a series of nested menus, even though some of the information offered by a particular Gopher may have to be retrieved from a Gopher in another location. The nice thing is that this retrieval won't concern you at all--you probably won't even be aware that it's going on, unless the other server is busy or otherwise unavailable. Most Gophers allow you to keep track of where you've been with a series of bookmarks. It is also possible to do a search of over 500 Gophers through Veronica, which is accessible through most Gopher servers. Veronica, developed at the University of Nevada, is an acronym for "Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives," which obviously contains a little wordplay on "Gopher." Veronica searches only through Gopher titles, not content, so it's important to choose search keywords with that in mind. If your Gopher doesn't offer Veronica (it's usually under something like "Internet Tools"), go to another Gopher such as gopher.micro.umn.edu and choose "Other Gopher and Information Servers". You will find Veronica there.
At the end of each Gopher menu item, there is a symbol that indicates what kind of information exists that item holds. A "/" indicates a directory, which will lead you to a menu of other options, while a "." tells you that the item is a text, graphics, or program file. If a file has a "<)", that means it is a digitized sound-- this symbol is supposed to look like a speaker. "<CSO>" and "<?>" represent two types of search items. "<Bin>" means that the item's file is in binary code, and "<tel>" means that the item will automatically launch a Telnet or tn3270 session.
Aside from the fact that the University of Minnesota has a gopher as its school mascot, the term "go-fer" refers to a person who fetches and delivers things. Much like its animal counterpart, the computer version of Gopher is skilled at burrowing, although in cyberspace, the burrowing is done through layers of files, not dirt.
The Web is bigger and more flexible than Gopher. Anything that is accessible on Gopher is accessible through the Web, since the Web is a superset of Gopher. Whereas Gopher menus represent everything in a simple list format, the Web has hypertext information, so you can surf from link to link rather than plowing through menus. Although Gophers might seem a bit archaic in comparison to the Web, they contain a wealth of valuable information. Their hierarchical organization contrasts significantly with the Web's uncentered structure, and Gopher's different structure can sometimes be better suited than the Web for obtaining certain information. Following links through a Gopher is rather like browsing through the stacks in a library. Gopher can also take you through a geographic view of the Net, since most Gopher servers offer a listing ( by continent, country, and city, found under the heading "Other Gopher and Information Servers".
There is a new version of Gopher called Gopher+. Gopher+ is completely compatible with older versions of Gopher, so people using the regular Gopher can access information on Gopher+ and vice-versa. Gopher+ offers alternate views of Gopherspace items: you can choose the language, format, and size that is best for what you're viewing. Gopher+ lets you use MIME content types for alternate views as well. Gopher+ is more efficient at moving video, images, and sound through binary transfer, and also offers open-ended definitions of item attributes, making it easier to get information about how the Gopher is running software, etc. Gopher+ can be downloaded free via anonymous ftp at boombox.micro.umn.edu in the /pub/gopher hierarchy.