The Mendelroom and General Moo Information
Mendelroom Office Hours
Mendelroom is a virtual space designed for teachers and students who
wish to share their experiences, thoughts and questions while
using MendelWeb. It
currently consists of two shared "rooms", realized using computer
programs called MOOs. Connecting to Mendelroom opens a telnet
connection, and if your machine is big enough to run a graphical Web
browser (e.g. NCSA Mosaic, or Netscape),
you can probably use MendelWeb and
Mendelroom at the same time.
To get into a Mendelroom,
you can login at Diversity
University (a computer located in
Washington D.C.), and, after connecting as a guest,
type @go #12766; or login to the
BioMoo in Tel
Aviv and, after connecting as a guest, type @go Mendelroom.
The Mendelrooms on these computers are
"shared", so if you are in the Mendelroom at BioMoo you will be able
to interact with those in the Mendelroom at DU, and they will be able
to interact with you.
Please don't connect to Mendelroom just to find out what a Moo is
like. For that, try a basic educational Moo like
College Town, or the famous,
and often frenetic
Lambda Moo. If you want information about, or lists of,
different Moos (and other multi-user programs), the best single-page
introduction I've found is still Steve Thorne's
MUDs, MOOs & MUSHs. You might also take a look at the
Moo Document
Library maintained by Jerome P. McDonough (also at Berkely).
For more information about Mendelroom please keep reading here.
A MOO is a computer program that creates a virtual space in which
many users can be connected simultaneously, and interact with each
other by speaking
and acting (e.g. waving, smiling, pointing, etc.) Specifically, a
MOO is object-oriented, which simply means that inside a Moo
everything,
including you, is
represented as an "object"; thus, users can interact
not only with other
users but with objects in the space as well.
These objects can be looked at
(by typing 'look object-name'), some can be read, others you can
write on, and some can be manipulated in other ways.
For example, in the Mendelroom at BioMOO, there is an
object called a "greenboard", which is something like a traditional
blackboard or whiteboard. When you are in the Mendelroom and type 'look
greenboard' you will see a
description of it; if you type
'@examine greenboard'
you will also see a variety of verbs that can be used to
manipulate the greenboard. In the Mendelroom at
Diversity University, the same thing is
true of the "peaboard". If you are interested in knowing some of the
commands commonly used in a MOO, see the
Moo Quick
Reference.
About the Mendelroom at Diversity University
Diversity University provides both a campus and classroom environment.
When you
connect to DU, login as a
guest (by typing "connect guest"), and then type
'map'
you'll get an idea of the enormous range of subjects, and the great
number of educational resources available at DU. Mendelroom
(#12766) is located in the Science Building at DU (#657),
in Biology Hall (#2487), visible from the Biologists'
Dorm (#6788) and the Biology Nexus (#5888). To get to the Mendelroom, just
type "@go #12766".
DU has a Web gateway, so when you
use a Web
browser, while connected by telnet to DU, you can read
texts and view images that are a part of the virtual rooms you enter.
Here is a set of instructions for using the Web-Moo system at Diversity
University:
- Login at DU. (A separate
window should open.) Read the instructions, and connect as a Guest.
You will be assigned a guest name by the MOO. To get to the
Mendelroom type @go #12766.
- Once you are in the Mendelroom, type @webpass. This will
return a number that is your password for using the DU Web Gateway.
If you're not sure what your character name is, type look me
and you'll see your character name on the first line that appears.
- Now, using your Web browser (rather than the telnet window),
connect to the
DU Web Gateway
Page (http://128.18.101.106:8888), and you'll see fields for both
your character's name and a password. Enter both and
click on the button that says "Open a Web Window to
Diversity University." You'll see that the browser will display the
Web version of the Mendelroom.
Note:If you are using Netscape 3.0 on a Windows 95 or Unix machine, or
MS Internet Explorer on a Windows 95 machine, you will notice that you
also have the option
of opening a connection to DU that integrates both the hypermedia
pages and the telnet client in a single Web browser!
- To get back to MendelWeb from the Mendelroom (without using the
"Back" button or a bookmark), click on the Mendelroom Announcements,
which includes a hyperlink back to MendelWeb.
- To leave DU at any time, just type @quit in the
telnet window.
About the Mendelroom at BioMoo
The BioMoo
Homepage describes the BioMoo as "a virtual meeting place for
biologists." Located at the Weizmann Institute of Science, it is
designed primarily for biology researchers, though there
are a number of users interested in science education and the history
of biology
BioMoo has a
Web Interface too, so when you use a Web
browser, while logged in at the BioMoo, you can read
texts and view images that are a part of the virtual rooms.
If you wish to see what the Mendelroom at the BioMoo looks like,
without logging in to the Moo itself, you can enter as a
"ghost", using the User ID "anonymous" (no password is necessary).
You won't be able to see
who is in the Mendelroom, but
you will be able to see many of the objects, including a MendelWeb
Screen that is actually a hyperlink that will take you back to
MendelWeb!
The Web-Moo interface at BioMOO is similar to that at DU (both were
designed by MOO Wizards Gustavo Glusman and Eric Mercer, among others).
To use the Web part of BioMOO, do the following:
- Login at BioMoo. (A separate
window should open.) Read the instructions, and log in as a Guest.
Then type @go Mendelroom.
- Once you are in the Mendelroom, type @webpass. This will
return a number that is your password for using the BioMOO Web Gateway.
If you're not sure what your character name is, type look me
and you'll see your character name on the first line that appears.
- Using your Web browser, connect to the
BioMoo Web Gateway
Page (http://bioinfo.weizmann.ac.il:8888), and you'll see fields for both
your character's name and a password. Enter both and click on the
button that says "Open a Web Window to BioMOO." You'll then
see that the browser displays the Web version of the Mendelroom.
Note:If you are using Netscape 3.0 on a Windows 95 or Unix machine,
or
MS Internet Explorer on a Windows 95 machine, you will notice that you
also have the option
of opening a connection to BioMOO that integrates both the hypermedia
pages and the telnet client in a single Web browser!
- To leave the Biomoo at anytime, just type @quit in the
telnet window.
- To get back to MendelWeb from the Mendelroom (without using the
"Back" button or a bookmark), use the MendelWeb Hyperlink.
Gustavo
Glusman (at Weizmann) and
Eric Mercer (at Caltech), have done a remarkable job at
creating and developing the
Web-Moo systems at BioMOO and DU, and
I hope fully integrated Hypermedia-Moo systems will become commonplace on the
Web in years to come.
Blumberg's hours in the Mendelroom
I am in the Mendelroom every
Wednesday from 12:00-2:00 p.m. (EDT), and usually drop in each day for
messages and to take care of mail. If you want to discuss Mendel,
MendelWeb, or science studies generally, feel free to drop by. If you
leave a message on one of the boards, I'll respond as soon as I can.
If my scheduled hours change, as they occasionally do, the new ones will
appear in this space.
MendelWeb was conceived and created by Roger B. Blumberg.
rblum@netspace.org
