PLEASE COPY THIS DISK -- UPDATE 8/1/93

from:
The B&R Samizdat Express
PO Box 161
West Roxbury, MA 02132
[log in to unmask]

(Reminder -- We're the folks who are making public-
domain Internet information available on disk,
primarily for teachers who have no access or
limited access to the Internet.  We encourage you
to make as many copies of these texts as you need
to share with your colleagues and students.
If you would like to receive a list of our current
offerings, please send us email requesting it.
If you didn't see our initial message, where we
explain what we're doing and why, and who we are,
just let us know and we'll send you a copy of that
as well.)

It's been a busy week:
1) All our offerings are now available for Macintosh as
well as IBM PCs.
2) The United Nations Department of Public
Information has given its support to Global
Education Motivators (GEM) in our joint project
to make on-line U.N. information available in our
PLEASE COPY THIS DISK format.
3) Your suggestions and requests pointed us to the
Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) as a
possible source for a whole series of disks about teaching
techniques and educational issues, as well as lesson plans.
4) One of you let us know the importance of books on disks
for the blind, many of whom have equipment which can
"read" such material aloud to them.
5) We've added six new disks.
6) We've learned that in the summer, with people away,
obtaining permissions from sources can take a while.
7) We've been delighted by the enthusiastic response we
received.
8) We learned that there simply isn't enough time in the
day to personally respond to everyone.  (Please accept
our apologies, and our thanks for your helpful suggestions.)

We'd appreciate your help in finding sources of information
to meet the particular needs of people who have responded
to us.  We are looking for public-domain on-line sources for:
1) Chaucer, 2) current information on Africa, and 3) history
c. 1850 of importation into the U.S. of castorbean plants
(source of the toxin Ricin, which is possibly linked to Lou
Gehrig's disease) and its use in fertilizer.

The information resources available on the Internet and
from the United Nations are immense.  We need to target our
efforts to provide maximum benefit. For now, we're basing
our decisions on the assumption that some of you would
like to use these like textbooks (having students make
their own copies), that others would like to assemble your
own anthologies, and that still others are interested in
government reference tools to encourage students
to become informed and active citizens.  Please let us know
as specifically as you can what information would be most
useful for you and your colleagues to have on disk.

Please send your suggestions as well as your requests to be
added to our distribution list to:  [log in to unmask]