Lots of people use the Internet these days, but finding your way around is difficult. The first Web address people usually learn is the one advertised at the end of their favorite TV show or movie. Finding your way to things that are useful to your career is a little harder. At the same time, it's becoming vital, as more and more government agencies turn to Web publishing on the Internet. I recently got an email notice that a two volume EPA manual on "Bioventing Principles and Practices" is "not in print in hardcopy form because the EPA does not have enough funds this year for printing. The manual is available for downloading from the world wide web at http://www.epa.gov/ORD/WebPubs/biorem. Web publication is saving the EPA money and getting the information available much more quickly than traditional paper publications can, but it's adding another skill you'll need to learn as part of your career growth.

Here are some tips on how to get started.

Getting started

To use the Internet, you'll need an "Internet Service Provider" (usually called an ISP) and a browser. You pay your ISP a one time setup fee (typically around $10 or $20) and a monthly fee (usually around $20/month), and in return you get a number you can call to connect your computer to the Internet. In addition, in a basic access package, you should expect an email address, access to the Usenet News discussion groups, and sometimes the right to publish a small Web site of your own. Well known national ISPs include America Online and Netcom, but if you live in any large urban area you'll also find many smaller providers. If you travel, or think you may relocate, it's easier to deal with a national ISP that has local dialup access in many cities. Many people feel, though, that the local ISPs provide better and less expensive service.

A browser is a tool that displays Web pages, and in many cases can be used to handle your email and read Usenet News as well. The two major browsers in use today are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Both are available for all versions of Windows and for the Macintosh. Which browser should you use? If you have to ask, the best choice is whichever one your ISP recommends, or the one a more experienced friend uses, or whichever one came installed already if you've just bought a new computer. If this doesn't help, Netscape Navigator is the more popular of the two.

New versions of browsers come out about every six months. Don't feel like you need to keep updating, though; most useful sites make sure that they are usable with older browsers. You find cutting edge features used first on personal sites (where the author cares less about reaching a wide audience) and on entertainment-related sites (which actually can use technologies like downloadable video clips). A browser that supports "frames," "forms" and "tables" has all the features you need for accessing most sites intended for the general public. One last browser tip: find out how your browser creates and organizes bookmarks, then set bookmarks to the sites you find yourself using frequently. This saves you from constantly typing the same address into your browser each time.

Eventually, you'll need to get the Adobe Acrobat reader, either as a separate program or as an add-on for your browser. Some sites use Adobe Acrobat as a way of publishing pages that look just like their printed manuals; they get better control over format than the Web allows, at the cost of making you get another piece of software. This is required to look at the EPA bioremediation manuals I mentioned above, for example. The Acrobat reader is free; most sites that publish information in this format include a link to Adobe (www.adobe.com), where you can download the latest version of this software.

Sites for Environmental Professionals

Here's a sampling of specific sites to get you started. The Groundwater Resources Association of California maintains its home on the Web at www.grac.org. The California water code and regulations can be found at SWRCB home page at www.swrcb.ca.gov/pub. The California Environmental Resources Evaluation System ­ CERES) has a variety of links at ceres.ca.gov; a catalog of sites is at ceres.ca.gov/topic/water.html. The EPA's home page is at www.epa.gov. From here, you can find regulation and guidance documents. A "Groundwater Remediation Technologies Online Resource Guide" is at gwrp.cciw.ca/internet/neff.html. This is a Canadian site but the guide is primarily focused on US resources. These are only a few of the many useful sites available. You can find more by following links at the sites I've just mentioned, or by using one of the Web's "Search Engines."

Search Engines

A book usually has both a table of contents and an index. The Web's table of contents can be found in "search engine" services such as Yahoo (Web address: www.yahoo.com), that categorizes information by topic, and in indexing sites like AltaVista (www.altavista.com). At Yahoo, you can choose the categories "Government," and "Documents," to find categories such as "United States Federal Register" and a link to the "Defense Environmental Restoration Program." Other useful categories at Yahoo are the various engineering categories (under "Science") and "Environment" (under "Society and Culture"). Sites like Yahoo are categorized, which is very useful when you're on a general search; the disadvantage is that an organized reference guide like Yahoo can't keep up with the enormous expansion of the Web. Newer sites will not yet be categorized yet, and some of the existing categories are already too large. For example, if you spent only one minute examining each site, completely searching the "Waste Management" listing would take more than three hours. Another popular table of contents site is Lycos (www.lycos.com). 

When you're searching for more specific information, it's often easier to use an index. AltaVista runs programs that constantly search Web pages and indexes their text. For example, if you're looking for HazMat certification classes, and you live in California, you would want to look for any site that mentions "HazMat" and "Certification" and "Class" and "California." This will return a customized list of sites containing that phrase. Another useful index site is HotBot (www.hotbot.com).

Searching with an index can be tricky - it often returns too many entries, or none. If you get too many entries, keep adding search terms one a time till you narrow down the list to something manageable - 10 or 20 hits. Remember that AltaVista indexes everything - for example, you can try a search on "Pat Jones" if Pat Jones works at a company whose Web page you're trying to find.

Another search trick is to look for people who provide links to sites you use. "ISO 9000" is a well known quality certification standard. The official ISO 9000 site can be found at www.iso.ch/9000e/forum.html. Searching on this same address at AltaVista turns up about 100 different pages that mention, including those of a number of consulting firms that deal with this standard.

A different index site is www.dejanews.com, which lets you search through old postings to "Usenet News." AltaVista provides an index to Usenet News as well, but most people recommend DejaNews as easier to use.

Other useful sites to try include:

- www.webdirectory.com : a "table of contents" site devoted to environmental issues.

- www.search.com : lets you enter one search, then sends it to AltaVista, Yahoo, Lycos, and several other search engines. It provides links to dozens other directories, such as the AT&T 800 number directory and the US Postal Service's online zip code database.

- www.411.com : both of these provide a "White Pages" service, allowing you to look up email addresses and phone numbers of people. Both are good, but neither are complete; check both before you give up looking for someone.

- www.microsoft.com/kb : Microsoft's "Knowledge Base," a database of tips for using all of their products. Most computer companies have a Web site; this is one of the best.

Finally, the best way to learn to use the Web is to use it. Get in the habit of going to search engines instead of just looking at the same sites week after week. You'll soon have a custom collection of bookmarks that reflect your needs and tastes.

Mary Kean is an environmental engineer with 10 years of experience. She works for ENSR in Alameda, CA. For copies of her environmental engineering website list, email her at mekean@slip.net or call her at (510) 748-6739.