Despite the recent fascination with the Internet, there is a reason that much of the world is hanging on to its telephones and fax machines. In fact, there are several.
For journalists, one of the net's worst failings is its lack of verifiability.
"In USENET newsgroups, there's a barrage inaccurate stuff posted all the time," said Dan Gillmor, a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News. "People put up opinions, and people forge opinions from someone else."
Much of the "official" information flowing through Internet must be double-checked as well. The federal government takes no responsibility for mistakes are transmitted through FedWorld, for example.
Researchers see similar weaknesses in the system. Gopher, a popular application that organizes access to Internet resources, helps information seekers to pursue specific topics throughout the vast network.
"To me, the problem with Gopher is, you don't know what it's indexing on," said Nora Paul, library director for the Poynter Institute. "You in a word, but what has it searched? There's so much reliance on someone being reliable somewhere."
Another serious obstacle for journalists is the fluid nature of the network itself.
"I have been at budget meetings and promised to obtain information I knew was available on the net, only to get back to the office and find that for some reason or other the information was unavailable at the time," said Michael Meiners, database specialist for the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Internet vagaries, from disappearing databases to access overloads, are all part of the experience. But according to Beth Marchak, a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, that's no excuse for staying unplugged. "You don't wait until 4 in the afternoon to put out a PROFNET request," she said. "You do it first thing in the morning."
Programs such as jughead, veronica, gopher and mosaic have been developed to make the organization and retrieval of information on the Internet simpler. Even so, users agree that Internet adventurers must know what they're looking for. As Marchak pointed out, "there is no one-stop shopping."
The network is no substitute for reporting. "It doesn't replace anything else; it's a supplement," Gillmor said. "You still have to get out of the office."
However, for all its quirks and limitations, the Internet is a resource to watch. And it rewards those who learn to use it well.
"The Internet offers many possibilities, several successes and thousands of disappointments," Meiners said. "I think it has a long way to go before it is a reliable resource for directed research, but I still seem to end up using it at least once a day."