My Net/Web Access Plan 

John December (john@december.com)

Date: 2002-08-29

This plan outlines my requirements for Internet and Web access and 
how I meet those requirements.

I. Why do I need the Net/Web?

   A. Internet/Web access is crucial to my ability to earn money and 
      communicate.

      1. I earn my living by writing and teaching about the Internet, 
         and I use the Web extensively for preparing articles 
         and online publications.

      2. My professional, personal, and family communication is 
         conducted almost entirely by electronic mail.  

      3. I access recreational reading, news, on-demand audio 
         programs, and other information and entertainment resources 
         through the Web.  

   B. Having a Web site is my business.

      1. In order for my company to earn revenue, my Web site must  
         operate 24 hours a day/7 days a week.  

      2. If my Web site were down, my customers and students would 
         lose access to my online materials.  

II. What Internet accounts do I have?

   A. I have a dialup Internet access account on the Internet 
      Service provider earthlink.net.  

      1. This account includes some Web space at 
         http://home.earthlink.net/~johndecember/ 
         which I use as an alternate site for course materials.  

      2. This account will last as long as I keep paying the bills.

   B. I have an Internet-accessible Unix shell account on my Web 
      server provided by my Web hosting provider.  

      1. This account does not include dialup access, but I can get 
         to the files on this account from any Internet-connected 
         computer with telnet or ftp software.

      2. This server is where I receive and send all my email.

      3. This account will last as long as I keep paying the bills.

   C. I have accounts for Web-based services that I can access 
      from any Internet-connected computer with a Web browser that
      is relatively up-to-date (Netscape 5.0 or higher; Internet
      Explorer 5.0 or higher):

      1. I have an account on earthlink.net for Web-based mail and 
         file storage.

      2. I have an account on blink.com for Web-based 
         bookmarks.

III. How can I send and receive email?

   A. I can send and receive email from my laptop PC using my 
      earthlink.net dialup Internet access account.  
      I use the "Spaminator" filter provided by Earthlink 
      to filter my incoming mail to eliminate many mass
      mailings and junk email.  Further, I use Pegasus Mail 
      (http://www.pmail.com) software to filter my incoming 
      electronic mail by sender and by subject line.  

   B. I can send and receive email from any Internet-connected 
      computer with a Web browser using my earthlink.net Web-based
      mail account.

   C. I can send and receive email from any Internet-connected 
      computer with a telnet program by using telnet to login to 
      my Web host's Unix shell account; I can then use the Unix 
      mail program to send and receive email.

   D. I accept all my mail at my permanent email address 
      john@december.com.

IV.  Where can I access the Internet?

   A. I dialup from home using my laptop PC via modem 
      over my telephone line to my earthlink.net 
      dialup Internet access account.  

      1. I can use a modem on my home laptop PC to access this 
         account.  Using this, I have access to all my files 
         stored on my PC's hard drive.  When using my
         Web browser on my PC, I use Pop-Up Stopper(tm) software
         (http://www.panicware.com) to eliminate unwanted popup
         advertising and windows.  I use Cookies Manager software
         (http://home.nordnet.fr/~pmdevigne/CookiesManager.html)
         to keep the cookies I want and regularly elminate cookies
         I don't want.

      2. My Earthlink account includes access to local dialup numbers 
         in many US cities as well as abroad, so I could use a
         computer and modem to access this account with  
         a local phone call in many places.

   B. I have many alternative places for Internet access where 
      I can use Web-based services.

      1. There are a couple of Net cafes within walking distance of my
         apartment where I could access the Internet if my phone 
         were out, my computer were inoperable, or if my Internet 
         access provider were unavailable.

         a) Blue Dawg Bagel Co., 1441 N. Farwell Ave., Milwaukee WI
         b) Club Havana, 789 N. Jefferson St., Milwaukee WI

      2. I have a Milwaukee Public Library card, so I could access 
         the Internet at MPL branch libraries where Internet access 
         is available.

         a) Central Library, 814 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee WI
         b) East Library, 1910 E. North Ave., Milwaukee WI
         b) Bay View Library, 2566 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., Milwaukee WI

      3. Before traveling, I check resources listed on 
         http://www.december.com/net/cafes.html to 
         find locations of places where I could access the Internet.

         a) After-words Bookstore, 23 E. Illinois St., Chicago IL 
         b) CapitolHill.Net, 219 Broadway Ave. E, Seattle WA
         c) Digital U, 101-1595 W. Broadway, Vancouver BC, Canada
         d) CyberCafe, 250 W. 49th St., New York NY 

      4. While visiting family and friends, I ask to use their 
         Internet-connected computers.

      5. I use Web browsers in classrooms to display my Web pages 
         while teaching.