Two good places to begin exploring the web are NCSA's Starting Points for Internet Exploration and NCSA's Demo Document . Both contain links to web servers throughout the world. In addition, take a good look at UT's Home Page. It has links to many local sources of information. If you've never explored the internet before, you might want to browse through the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet or the WWW Primer . Both explainURLs , HTTP, and internet resources. Finally, browse through the reference shelf. It's like having the PCL reference room in your computer.
Hundreds of universities and research centers around the world now have home pages on the web. Many more have gopher servers. Very often, universities showcase special collections or ongoing research. The General Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin has been active in placing maps on the web. Southwest Texas State University maintains a page of the Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center with lots of data on the Edwards and links to the USGS.
Most federal agencies now have web servers. The USGS and NASA are especially well represented. The Federal Information Exchange maintains a nice (if not complete) directory of federal web servers.
The State of Texas is finally entering the information age (and doing so with a bang) with its own home page . Essentially, it is a directory that points to web and gopher servers from a range of state agencies. You will find links to the Department of Transportation, TNRCC, TNRIS , and GLO here, as well as the State of Texas GIS Planning Council.
The City of Austin has a gopher server where you can find text-only versions of most city pamphlets. In addition, details of city council meetings and planning commission meetings are posted.
For more local news, take a look at Austin City Limits , a semi- commercial page with links to the Austin Chronicle, Armadillo home page, and Travis County.
The information on the web is not limited to reports from government agencies. Check out the Vatica n Exhibit, telescopic images of Jupiter , or the THEatre from the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin (I can't figure out what it is, but it looks really neat). Project Gutenberg is another stop you shouldn't miss.
Finally, CERN maintains a virtual library with special entries for geography .