(if you don't want to read the introductory letter you can click here to skip to the good stuff.)

To display the text of this document larger or smaller:
For I.E.   On the View menu, point to Text Size, and then click the size you want.
For Netscape On the View menu, click on the decrease or increase font.

Introduction

Dear Friends,
        If you already have other versions of this, please discard them.  They are no longer accurate. Notice revision date on this document.  In this version new changes on the web have been incorporated (new links in HTML format), antiquated stuff removed, and a number of updates to the software have been included.  A short review of new search engine and library called "Bahá'í Library" is also new here, though no attempt is made to compare its functions to the other search engines at this time.   (See future updates of this review.)  I lost my disk and have to find or get another copy. Bahá'í Library is beautifully presented and seems to offer a number of wonderful study tools and functions beyond text searching capabilities.

If you have never used search engines to study the Bahá'í Writings you are in for a whole new wonderful world!  A search engine is a program that enables computer users to search for particular words or phrases within the Bahá'í writings or documents (books, compilations and letters).  You can copy the section you find in order to create your own compilations for Feasts or Holy Days -- deepenings or personal study.   Often they are useful simply to find that passage you have been looking for and can barely remember -- to see what it REALLY says.

The instructions below are primarily for WINDOWS-based computers, though some of the information is generic. There is a section on "ARCHIVE" is included here.  Apparently ARCHIVE is the ONLY program for Macintosh computer users currently available, and it also works on the PC.  Another source for Macintosh users is also listed here, along with a listserv group for supporting Macintosh users.

(Also, newly included is information about sources for text on CD that will make "OCEAN" viable if you do not have the texts to go with the program -- although it now comes with text!)

I have re-written the review with both the advanced user and the novice user in mind.  The novice can skip certain sections that the advanced user will be interested in.

One effective way to work with this document is to download it to your computer and call it up with an icon from your desktop.  Here's how to do that:  Right now you can click on FILE in the top left hand corner of your screen.  Click SAVE AS on the menu.  When the SAVE AS box pops up you will select  the desktop icon (looks like a pencil/pad) for your SAVE IN location.  Most of the links are internal to the document itself, but when you are online the saved version called up from your desktop will go out to the web and call in those other resources externally linked.   (One caution: If you do download of this document to your computer you will NOT be looking at an updated version unless you go to the web occasionally, compare with the revision date there, and download again if necessary -- storing in the same location, overwriting the first on you downloaded.)  My preference is always to work with the document ON-LINE.  Storing it on your computer is useful in order to have the Immerse and Ocean "operations manual" always with you, but you lose the capacity of the external links.

You can copy and/or print out these directions, but if you stay on-line (or download the HTML version as mentioned in the last paragraph) and use the links (blue and underlined within this HTML document you are now reading) your study should be easier. Click on this LINK here now  to see how it works.  After you have viewed a link it will retain a purplish color (no longer blue).  SUGGESTION: If you do intend to read this online I recommend that you open any external links in a NEW window, to avoid slowing you down when you go back to the text here in the main document.  (This is not as critical if you work with this HTML stored in your own computer.) For internal links, just double click with the left mouse button.  (You can tell an internal link -- those that go to other sentences and paragraphs in this same document you are now reading -- by placing the mouse over the link and looking at the URL address in the window on the bar at the bottom of your screen.  If the address has a # sign in it, it is internal.)  For external links, just right click when your cursor is over the link, and then select the "open in new window" option.  (I can hard-wire these differences later, but don't have time now.)

I welcome and invite comments, suggestions, and updated information from both users and creators of these wonderful tools.  I am sure that I have left some things out or made some errors.  Please tolerate some redundancy if you read straight through the document.  This was intentional and necessary because the document is hypertext and some sections will be skipped by some people, requiring certain concepts to be repeated in more than one section so that each alternative paragraph can stand alone.

Please forgive the delay in getting this major revision out.  My concern for novices, the conversion to HTML, the new method of downloading Immerse, and the need to monitor the evolution of Ocean have slowed things down (not to mention getting married this summer).  Describing the Ocean search engine is like trying to describe the environment outside the window of a moving train. It is exciting, but it keeps changing.  At some point you have to take out your camera and snap the photograph.

I will try to keep you posted as significant changes occur and also get a decent review of Bahá'í Library up here eventually.  My apologies to the authors of Bahá'í Library for not having a more complete comparison within this review.

I also apologize to the on-line reader for the appearance of the many URL addresses in the document, but since this is to also serve a paper resource document I chose to provide the complete information rather than merely hot-linking text for cosmetic purposes.

One last thing, I am sorry the document is not tighter at the present time.  It is a modification of a modification about search engines that are still being modified as you are reading this.  If I had more time it could have been a little shorter.  (Perhaps in the next revision.)  I must apologize for a glitch in the format of this document that occurred on Dec. 8th.  Netscape corrupted the entire document.  (Indents are now slightly inconsistent.)  Will try to clean it up gradually.  Speaking of making this shorter, if you don't want to read the rest of my little introductory letter here, you can click here to skip to the Table of Contents.

A word of encouragement if you are a novice:  (If you are not a novice skip this.)  If during any portion of these instructions you do not understand what we are talking about, then that section is not for you.  Just skip it.  Don't try to understand it.  Don't try to do it.  It is not meant for you.  The document is written to accommodate several different levels of prior experience though not yet organized well enough to separate these levels into different sections.  The model of organization for this paper is more like a circular smorgasbord than an hierarchical outline that segregates sections by level of difficulty.  To borrow another metaphor:  Learning to use search engines and computers is like learning English.  Just because English can be very difficult and complicated does not mean that three-year-olds cannot use it proficiently at the level that is appropriate for them.  You begin where you are.  Children listen to lots of stuff they don't yet understand, but by listening they infer or intuit the concepts and their understanding grows.  Without exposure to levels of difficulty beyond them they could not develop beyond where they are.  This review is probably more than you ever wanted to know about Bahá'í search engines, and if so my apologies.  Hopefully, some or all of this will be useful to you either now or in the future.

My thanks to Jonah Winters and Casper Voogt for making the host sites available.

Enjoy... and "happy searching."

Warmest Bahá'í regards,
Gregory (Greg) Kagira-Watson
watsongr @ ma.ultranet.com  (Sorry, no email link in order to prevent spam email harvesting)

+++++++++++++++

Table of Contents
(click on unlined links below to go to those sections)
If you intend to read this online I recommend that you open any links that do not go to linked locations within this same document in a new window.  Click here for directions.

The major "On-line" (WWW) Search Engines and Reference Materials

• Other on-line resources: (See new downloadable formats for PalmOS and Pocket PC)
• FTP sites on the web

"Off-line" Search Engines and Reference Materials (to use without the web)

• "Bahá'í Library" -- (Newly announced at the Milwaukee Conference 2001.)
  (Note:  In most cases, when comparisons are made in this document, Bahá'í Library was not considered because I have not fully reviewed it.  Thus, for example, when I say "MARS is the best at reliably inserting the source of the quote", you have to consider that Bahá'í Library may be just as reliable.  If I have left out a virtue of Bahá'í Library, this does not mean it does not have the feature.  My apologies to the author.)

• OCEAN -- (FREE search engine -- NOW WITH TEXTS! )
  • Guide to the Contents of Ocean
  • Downloading OCEAN
  • Sources for texts you can import into OCEAN
  • Getting your text into OCEAN: (The makers of Ocean now provide it!)

• Star of the West-- (via SIFTER)  Has all 8000 pages with photos!

• MARS (Multiple Author REFER)

• Immerse -- A FREE downloadable engine with texts
  I recommend getting Ocean FIRST simply because it is easier to download and it will give you some experience and confidence in the process.
   
  • Download Immerse (two ways from two sites.)
  • Get Getright for downloading Immerse (& other software) from the Web
  • Netzip Classic for downloading and un-zipping
  • Un-zipping Immerse  (You may want to skip above steps & jump to this)
  • Installing Immerse

• Some Comparisons between Ocean, MARS and Immerse

• ARCHIVE  (program for Macintosh)

• Free "ZoneAlarm" firewall and free "EditPad" text editor (for "cleaning" texts)

 

	Cost	Instruction Manual	Expandable /updatable	Size	Operating System	Footnotes	Windows "FIND" cntrl-F	Search Criteria
MARS	$100	Yes	No	18 Megs	PC	cntrl-F AB1	No/ works as footnote	Words / Indexed
Immerse	Free or $35	No/Yes	No	34 Megs	PC	YES! Flyover- "popups" cross-ref	YES!	Words / Indexed /  Boolean
Ocean	Free	No/Yes	Yes/ Automatic online	300-400K 60-160 Megs	PC	Yes / embedded	Yes, works in edit mode only	"Google" Words/ "Enhanced logic... (beyond Boolean) "Fuzzy"
Bahá'í Library	$129	Yes	Yes/ online	600 Megs	PC	Unknown	Unknown	Boolean and key words
Archive / Inforapid	$35	Limited	Yes/ Manual	100K 60-160 Megs	PC / MAC	Embedded	Yes, works in PC edit mode only	Literal key words
FreeText fSearch	Free	No	Yes/ Manual	100K 60-160 Megs	PC / MAC	Embedded	Yes, works in PC edit mode only	Literal key words
True Seeker	N/A	Brief Instructions	N/A	N/A	N/A	No?	Yes	Boolean

Now you may want to go back to the top or read my introductory letter, if you have not already.  If you have not figured it out already, all text in blue and underlined within this HTML document that you are now reading is a LINK that allows you to jump to different sections in the document -- to add clarification and additional information on the same or related information.   This links are a navigation aid through the document.  After you jump to the new location you use the BACK arrow (or menu item saying the word "BACK") on your browser (Netscape, Internet Explorer or AOL, etc.) to get back to the location in the text where you clicked on the link.

This review does not cover the various software in the chronological order that they became available for use in the Bahá'í world.  If you want to get a sense of how the concepts of searching evolved along with the development of products over time you would study first MARS, then IMMERSE, and then OCEAN along with its contemporary Bahá'í Library....   Each successive generation has built on the experience of its predecessors.

"Immerse yourselves in the ocean of My words, that ye may unravel its secrets, and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie hid in its depths."  -- Bahá'u'lláh

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Before you begin any computer search of text, here are some generic guidelines:
At the time you install ANY of these search engine programs, I STRONGLY recommend disabling ANY anti virus software during install, particularly Norton and McAfee.  Otherwise YOU CAN CAUSE SERIOUS PROBLEMS and you might have to reinstall Windows... have to reformat your hard disk first, etc.  Not fun.

Less is More
Keep in mind that during any search with ANY of these search engines, the more words you use for your criteria the less likely you are to find your quote, UNLESS you are CERTAIN that you remember the phrase EXACTLY as it is quoted in the text.  The converse of this is that if you are not specific enough you will wind up with a lot of excessive text that you were not looking for, and it will be difficult to cull your desired quote from all that you received.  The trick is to find a balanced approach in order to refine your search.  For some types of searches (with a particular search engine) you might use one strategy and with another objective (using even a different search engine) you might employ another strategy.  Experience is the only way you will learn this.

For example, if I am looking for a quote that I know really well -- something I know will be easy to find -- I often use MARS (when I know that MARS has the book) because I like the way MARS inserts the source of the citation into my document, along with the quote.  If I am looking for "everything" about a subject that I am researching I always use both Immerse and Ocean.  Sometimes my need for two different translations of the Qur'an necessitates this.  For example, if I am in Immerse, I must go over to Ocean or Archive to find Yusuf Ali's translation.  Ocean comes with the Rodwell translation, but I imported Yusuf Ali's translation since Adib Taherzahdeh and a number of other Bahá'í scholars seem to like it better.  Mr. Ali's translation is, generally speaking, the translation preferred by most Arab speakers (never referred to as a translation of course, for it would be impossible that the Qur'an be properly translated, but rather as an "interpretation")  BTW: You can find it on the web at http://www.uah.edu/msa/quranYusufali.html

Here are some common mistakes with searches:  Consider, for example, if one of the words in a phrase your are looking for has quotation marks around it in the actual text and you do not remember that it requires these marks -- you will not get ANY finds if you list words beyond the boundaries of the quotes.  Example:  If you were searching for the "red" apple and you typed in all three words without the quote marks.  On the other hand, if you search for that word "red" by itself without the quotes your passage (your word) would be included in the sections of texts that come back to you in the "find" (found text).  However, there would also be so many other texts in your find that you might not be able to locate it within such a vast list.  So single words will work in some cases but at other times you must use "second word" criteria. Without Boolean logic it becomes a little tricky, but new methods (such as the "subtracting" feature and "fuzzy logic" in Ocean) make it possible while remaining friendlier than memorizing Boolean rules.  Still, I sometimes wish that the Boolean rules were available in Ocean and MARS, though Ocean will soon have something better called "fuzzy logic."  Only Immerse, fResearch and InfoRapid (option in Archive) provide you this flexibility of Boolean logic.   Note that "and" and "or" must be in lower case to work.

For example:  Since the name of Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) is spelled at least three or four different ways throughout the world of literature it might be useful to look up all references at once, or to find all the references or passages, no matter the spelling.  Thus, in Immerse you could (would have to) say "Muhammad or Mohammed or Mohammad" to get all the references to ANY of the three variations -- all at once.  (Of course you would never actually do this without looking for some other words along with the Prophet's name since you would simply get too many results.)  It is interesting to note that if you put in only the first spelling in MARS you would not get the two instances of "Mohammed" that Immerse finds in "Foundations of World Unity" (page 23) and "Tablets of Abdu'l-Bahá" (page 92).   (By the way, you must use lower case for the "or" in most Boolean search engines.)

Without Boolean or "fuzzy" logic you are limited to searching for each different spelling separately.  Boolean allows you to look for all the variations in one search but constrains you to the use of conjunctions -- and this sometimes makes the effort either too difficult or almost impossible, depending on what you are trying to do.

FUZZY logic is better than traditional Boolean for our search purposes and allows the search engine to find all three of the variations on the spelling of Muhammad (PBUH) without having to have the exact spelling -- and without having to type in the "or" conjunction (delimiter).  You just type in one of three variations of the Prophet's name and the search engine finds the passages with ANY of the three variations.  Right now, between MARS, Immerse and Ocean, Ocean is the only one that will do this (though not as yet -- in vers.169).  In the earlier versions of Ocean a "similar words" mode was introduced and it actually worked well.  Chad (the author/programmer of Ocean) is bringing back a newly improved form of it (including possibly a Fuzzy "OR") that should be more helpful than Boolean logic.  (Fuzzy logic should appear soon after Version 165.)   (Click for more tech info.)

• What is fuzzy logic?  Fuzzy logic is a superset of conventional (Boolean) logic that has been extended to handle the concept of partial truth -- truth values between "completely true" and "completely false".  It allows for the handling of unceratinty and vagueness and has been applied to a wide variety of problems.

(Incidentally, Ocean found 6055 instances of Muhammad in 868 documents, 55 instances of Mohammed while searching through the same 868 documents and 15 instances of Mohammad.  It is interesting that Ocean provides 53 more references to Mohammed than does Immerse, but this is because so many more texts are available in Ocean.)

When searching, you may wish to avoid using plurals or multiple word combinations in some instances and include them in others.  For example, with some engines, a search for "Christian Faith" will return all pages which contain the word "Christian" and all the pages which contain the word "faith" -- not just those for Christian Faith, unless you put it in quotes.  (Other search engines do not like quotes.)  Using only the word "Christian" will return just the ones related to Christian.  Obviously, leaving out the word "Faith" eliminates a large number of results not directly related to Christian.  Using either one by itself may give you lots of stuff you don't want and vice versa.  Likewise, a search for "race unity" would yield more precise results using only the word "race," rather than both "race" and "unity."  This gets a little tricky and expertise comes only with practice.  Boolean logic (use of "and" & "or", etc.) adds some power to the mere use of keywords.  You have to experiment a little to get the feel for each search engine and learn the differences.  You may have to make two searches to get the "whole" of the references, or even use more than one search engine -- though neither of these is usually necessary.  Unless the database has been stripped of special characters (as MARS has), one specific example where two searches would be necessary would be with words that may or may not contain the diacritical marks -- i.e., The Báb (with the diacritical mark) and the Bab (without the mark) will yield different results.  (In my Ocean text-base I find 124 references of the former and 13,689 references of the latter in the same 627 documents.)

I find that I still must use three different search engines for any comprehensive search, before I am comfortable that I have found everything. (It will be nice when the days comes we will not have to do this.)  I use MARS, Immerse and Ocean together because each has a different approach and different texts.  MARS and Immerse miss references more often than Ocean, while Ocean usually will give me too many responses unless I know how to refine my search.  MARS has a very limited number of texts so it is never comprehensive, while Immerse requires a little more munching to make it find what I am are looking for.  Ocean has access to all the texts.  Now we must wait and see how Ocean evolves as an engine that can provide narrow searches without boolean delimiters.  As mentioned, "fuzzy logic" will again be re-introduced as superset of conventional (Boolean) logic that has been extended to handle the concept of partial truth -- truth values between "completely true" and "completely false". .

The Beta version of OCEAN was an exception to the "exact wording" requirement of the other search engines.  You could find your quote using the "similar words" function in Ocean without having your quote or even the words in the quote exact.  I am not sure how the "similar words" function will work in the final version of Ocean however.  The original Beta version had 3 search modes and now there is only one "search type" with delimiters.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The following search engines (with texts) are available "On-line"
(These are great if you are at school or in the library and don't have access to your computer at home.)

True Seeker at http://metalab.unc.edu/Bahai/TrueSeeker/ (has online search capability -- (used to be http://sunsite.unc.edu/Bahai/TrueSeeker/ (don't use)  Your URL address display will show http://www.ibiblio.org/Bahai/TrueSeeker/ when you use the above URL at metalab, but it sometimes will not load using "ibiblio" so I have given you the actual host site address at metalab since it seems to be more reliable to load.  True seeker will allow you to search the Bahá'í Writings using a "KeyWord In Context" (KWIC) search.  The term "URL" means Universal Resource Locator and refers to the http: address in your browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer or AOL, etc.)

Also there is online search capability at these online locations:
Casper Voogt's ( http://www.bahaindex.com/ )
(also see page http://www.bahaindex.com/soft.html )
"Bahá'í by Subject" ( http://bahai.attach.net/ ) developed by Jerry Collier Jericho@Tyler.net
The Bahá'í Concordance (http://www.concordance.com/bahai.htm )
Bahá'í Research (http://bahaistudies.net/fresearch.html -- allows Boolean-type searches and importing ASCII texts by users to the database.)

There were a couple of other sites for search engines, but the links no longer seem to be active.
Actually, here is one called FreeText that you can download for off-line use: http://www.markfoster.net/fresearch.html a free Bahá'í text search system for Windows, with a MAC version also at  http://www.commonlink.com/~drc/ft/freetext.html

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Also check these out for other Bahá'í computer resources online:

Bahá'í Writings in Electronic Formats -- includes the Writings in downloadable formats including HTML, iSilo [PalmOS] Microsoft Reader [Pocket PC, Windows]   (NEW)

These should also be downloadable: http://bahai-library.com/books
AND for more general info there see: http://bahai-library.com/resources/bcca.html.

Bahá'í Academics Resource: http://www.bahai-library.com
Resources on the Internet http://www.faqs.org/faqs/bahai-faith/resources/
OR http://www.faqs.org/ftp/faqs/bahai-faith/resources

Also http://www.detroitbahai.org/text/resource.htm
And http://www.bcca.org/services/srb/organizations.html
List of publishers of Bahá'í books worldwide: http://www.Bahai-Books.org/

Also, these links on the Qur'an should be useful:
http://www.uah.edu/msa/quranYusufali.html
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/qmtintro.html
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Off-line" Search Engines (using a CD-ROM or program on your own computer):

There are four main off-line search engines being reviewed here:
"Bahá'í Library," "Immerse," "MARS," and "Ocean."

"Archive" and "Freetext" will also be reviewed for Macintosh users.  (Also "Bahá'í fResearch")

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Bahá'í Library 2000"  (new) 

Since I have not personally reviewed "Bahá'í Library" (I will abbreviate as "BL") I am listing it first.  It appears to be an exciting addition to our tools for research of the Bahá'í Writings.  The product was announced at the Milwaukee Conference.  I will simply include the information provided by the publisher.

Here is a quote from their advertisement:  "The great feature of the software is that you can ADD your own text files to the program without any need to purchase any upgrades. We will provide upgrades for new texts on line. You can simply download and add the new messages from the Universal House of Justice."  [Ocean has this feature too.]  More detailed features of the program can be reviewed at: http://www.bahailibrary.com/features.asp

The CD-ROM includes the following texts and supplements:

• Bahá'u'lláh
• the Báb
• Abdu'l-Bahá
• Shoghi Effendi
• Messages of the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986
• Additional Messages to date, including Ridván messages, 1987-2001, incl. Five Year Plan messages
• Developing Distinctive Bahá'í Community: Guidelines for Spiritual Assemblies (N.S.A. of U.S.)
• Stewardship and Development: A Treasurer's reference manual (N.S.A. of U.S.)
• Bahá'í Dictionary, over 500 pictures, 1300 definitions, incl. Persian & Arabic audio pronunciations
• Bahá'í Chronology
• 57 compilations from Universal House of Justice

The "Media Center" on the CD provides images that accompany the definitions in the Dictionary.  I like the idea of being able to view images of historical figures and locations.   Some people have reported some difficulty installing it.  It does occupy about 500-600 megabytes of hard disk space so if you have only 1.2 gig capacity you may want to wait until your next hardware upgrade -- that is, unless BL will offer you the option of leaving the images on the CD-ROM and interacting with them from there (operating with the CD in the CD-ROM drive) and downloading only the texts.  (I don't know if this is an available option.)  The large size is due mostly to the graphic images and the audio files associated with it.  (See size comparisons to MARS, Ocean and Immerse below.)  The cost of the Bahá'í Library is $129, and it comes in a beautiful box, along with documentation.  I do not know whether the price includes shipping.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

MARS -- Multiple Author REFER System.

MARS -- Multiple Author REFER System. CD-ROM of Central Figures and Institutions of the Bahá'í Faith. It costs about $100 and comes with documentation (instructions).
(For PC-Windows 3.1/95/98 -- click here to see a report on some potential problems with Windows 2000 and Windows ME )
To place an order call Crimson Publications 949-240-2092 or order online at http://www.crimsonpublications.com/ OR  email sales@crimsonpublications.com  OR  support@crimsonpublications.com

Description of Features:
Contains original texts from the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi -- Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith.  Also, "Lights of Guidance" -- a compilation centered on themes -- is on the NEW MARS CD.  Other new add-ons can be purchased separately if you have an earlier version (just go to the web site).  They include: Tablets of Abdu'l-Bahá, "Developing Distinctive Bahá'í Communities" and the unparalleled history of the Faith (The Dawnbreakers -- including the English translation of the French footnotes).  My comments about MARS will not not be so much about how to use it (as they are with Ocean) since MARS comes with its own documentation.  For example, I will not detail the procedure for making compilations (using F4 function) as I do for Ocean ( see F5 function).

The search routine is very fast, and it is especially easy to use a "second word" for your search criteria.   "Immerse" also has a "second word" search that is actually easier to use and more powerful, although you might not know it is there unless you read my explanation below.   MARS does not allow Boolean logic search criteria as does Immerse.  ("Ocean" does not have a second word search feature, per se, although in the early version it had three categories for searching and two of them approximated this feature. The latest version is designed to be just more functional than a "second word" search, the author claims.  See "second word" explanation for OCEAN.)

MARS operation:
Lookup time is negligible. One nice thing about an indexed system like this is that you can never search for a word that is not in MARS, since MARS forces you to choose the right word or "corrects" your spelling of the input criteria as you try to enter it. The downside of this feature is that you cannot cut and paste words or phrases into the search criteria box. You must ALWAYS type it or select from a list that pops up. The pros and cons of this feature become obvious the first time you use it. (IMMERSE and OCEAN are not limited by this "paste in the criteria" limitation of MARS.  Ocean also "saves" previous searches that you can call up from a pop-up list.)

The note manager in MARS is a nice addition, though I rarely use it, preferring a word-processor instead. MARS cannot look up dates numerically, whereas the other search engines listed here can. MARS is the "fastest" of the search engines, because of the way the files are indexed. (IMMERSE and OCEAN are also very fast.)  Unlike OCEAN and "Bahá'í Library," both MARS and IMMERSE are limited to the texts that comes with them.)  You cannot import more documents to MARS unless the publisher supplies them. (It is uncertain whether future texts will become available since Lee Nelson's passing.  Also see NOTE below.  You may Contact Crimson for more information.)

After you have searched and found your text or quote you simply drag your cursor across the text you wish to capture ("cut").  (Hold the left mouse button down, thus highlighting the section you want to select.)  Let go of the left mouse button and the text will remain highlighted.  Now simultaneously press the ctrl key and the letter C (cntrl-C) and you will have captured the text into your transfer buffer.  You can now paste the text you highlighted into your word processor (using cntrl-V).  Place the cursor where you want to deposit ("paste") the new text, press cntrl-V and "bingo" there it is.  If you are lucky, at the end of the section you paste into your newly created document the name of the Bahá'í book or reference will appear, along with the page number.

MARS is the BEST of the available search engines for reliably inserting the source of the quote you are capturing into another document.  MARS automatically pastes in that information as you "cut and paste" the quote, while you may have to type the citation source at times with the other search engines. Granted, while other engines will tell you where the quote is from; they simply may not carry that information over with your "cut and paste" of the quote. Immerse will supply the source automatically most times (though never the page number), and at the time of this review Ocean is even less reliable because it depends on the text you are using as a source.  [Seems to have been corrected in Ocean versions above 160 since it reformats the text as before supplying it with Ocean Bookshelves (formerly called "libraries").]   Immerse has an "Options" menu that allows you some variation in the display format of this inserted information.

[Technical note:  To correct this weakness in Ocean, you can manually modify all the texts so that they comply with the program's requirement for picking up the name of the text and page number.  I believe it has to be in the header.  Chad Jones, the programmer of Ocean, may eventually include a routine that takes care of all this... and maybe he has already at the time of this review.  -- Seems to have been corrected in Version 160+. --  Most likely it is not worth your time to do the work manually for every document, though it might make sense for any you use quite frequently.  I simply make a mental note of the book title and page number and type it in at the end of my quote, if it does not appear automatically.]

Footnotes:
        MARS, Immerse and Ocean all have footnote features. MARS is not too obvious, although if you pass your cursor along the tool bar you will find it.  (Look for the AB1 icon.)  OR, you can always call up "HELP" to learn more about it.  MARS also has a popup window using a "cntrl-F" which is sort of OK, but a little confusing since "cntrl-F" is normally associated with the FIND feature of WINDOWS.  It only works when there actually is a footnote on the page you are viewing, so it does nothing when you press it at other times -- a great disappointment if you thought you were going to use the normal FIND feature of Windows (disabled by MARS).  Also, Ocean has disabled the Cntrl-F feature presently (we'll have to beg Chad to put that in.)
       Immerse has the best footnote features (with great cross referencing), in comparing these three programs.  Immerse uses this standard Windows convention (cntrl-F) as an artful and integrated function. You can read more about the Immerse footnote and Ocean footnote features below.  (I have no idea about "Bahá'í Library.")  If you are viewing this document in HTML, just click on these links here if you want to see them now.)

The MARS program, with all associated texts (including the most recent releases), requires about 17.5 megabytes on your computer to host it... and a little more than that during the install routine.  There may be support and availability issues on this product in the future due to Lee Nelson's recent and untimely death.  We will always be grateful for his pioneering efforts -- efforts that set a new standard in search technology  -- a standard which, for years, has been the measure of subsequent efforts by others.

Problem NOTE for MARS: I have received the following information from Gywn Magaditch regarding problems with Windows 2000 and Windows ME:  "The Lee Nelson Memorial Corporation, doing business as Crimson Publications, has disbanded because of installation problems with the more-than-buggy Windows 2000 and ME.  Our volunteer tech support simply didn't have the time to diagnose each and every computer's directories and conflicting programs.  If you cannot help them out, I suggest they either upgrade to XP (my husband's laptop with XP had no problems installing MARS and the three add-on modules) or reformat and go back to Windows 98.  Also, running virus-checking software often caused installation problems, which were solved by either disabling or uninstalling McAfee and/or Norton, and enabling or reinstalling after installation of the MARS software was completed."

I, too, strongly recommend disabling ANY anti virus software during install, particularly Norton and McAfee.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

OCEAN-- a free Bahá'í Research & Study Tool found at http://www.bahai-education.org/ocean/
One recommendation:  "Don't leave home without it!"
Note: Everything in Green within this review has been superseded by Version 162.

Main features mentioned at the OCEAN web site (and a couple more):

• In My Computer or Windows Explorer, on the View menu, click Folder Options.
• Click the File Types tab.
• In the list of file types, click the one you want to change (in this case "txt" or "text document" files).
• Click Edit.
• In Actions, click Open.
• Click Edit
• In Application used to perform action, enter the program you want to use to open files that have this extension, and then click OK.
  • OR... after you click Edit you can click BROWSE and select the program you want.  The entire path and filename should appear in the window once you have selected it successfully.  Be careful not to select the "Change Icon" option or you will create a deception for yourself. When you go to use a text editor later you may pull up a different editor that you suspect because you will not have changed the program for opening text files.  Changing the Icon ONLY does not select a different program (editor).  The icon will change automatically once you have selected the desired editor and this change is accomplished through Edit.
  • You will have to know the location and path to the location of the prgram you want.  EditPad would be in whatever directory or folder that you saved it in when you downloaded it.  I recommend you put it in its own folder if it is in your "my downloads" folder.  WordPad is usually C:/Program files/Accessories/WordPad.exe.   MS-Word [named WINWORD.EXE] can usually be found in C:/Program files/Microsoft Office/Office although this would be a LAST resort and is NOT recommended.  (You can also use a path to a shorcut to the file.)  I recommend using the Browse feature even if you know the location of the editor program you want to associate with text files.  That way you won't make any errors typing in the path.
  • If you don't know where your editor is, click START and FIND FILES to search for it, or just right click on your program icon and look at the path displayed when you click properties.


To reiterate, you can use any program that you want for modifying text files -- IF it can OPEN and EDIT a "txt" file.  There is a modified version of NOTEPAD called EditPad that automatically removes unwanted characters such as extra carriage returns, etc., but you can manually use MS-Word or any word processor for that if necessary.  If you use MS-WORD, just be sure to re-save the document as ASCII text.  The cleanest format is "Text Only with Line Breaks."   But I have not told you how to remove these nasty annoyances (so the texts will look more like those in Immerse) after you choose your editor.

        The best file format is plain text with a LF (line feed) or CRLF (carriage return / line feed) at the paragraph only -- this is Ocean's preference and the format into which Ocean is putting all the main texts.  Ocean is still leaving line breaks  (CRLF) in at the end of each line in a block-quote so that the quote can be indented with spaces.
        Regardless, Ocean usually ignores both CR and LF when parsing sentences, since many texts have blank space at each page break.

        There is another freeware utility which Mark Foster says will allow you to format text (with or without line breaks). You may find it useful when copying and pasting text from the search engine into an email message or a document.  You can get it from:
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/liberty/1130/fresearch.html

Now that you have read all this section you realize you probably don't need it if EDITPAD comes up automatically for you inside Ocean.  You will therefore think this section is inane.  Chances are you will have to do the association as illustrated above.

Removing Unwanted Characters in your Texts -- the hard way
(Probably unnecessary to read for most of you -- skip it unless you LOVE microsoft)
If you have  CRLFs at the end of every line you will probably not like them -- that is unless you can tolerate the way text is displayed.  Even if you can get it to display correctly on the screen, they will still be a problem for you when you cut and paste them into the document you are creating with all the quotes you are extracting from the original texts (assuming you intend to do that).

If you are lucky enough to find a copy of the version of EDITPAD Classic or CoolPad (a NotePad that can "clean up email" with an option in the MACRO menu) you already have the best solution.

You could clean up your document in MS-WORD if you HAD to., however it is exceedingly difficult.  I have done it many times, in the olden days.  I don't recommend it.   If you are determined, however, you can do a global search and replace of the paragraph mark.  You can turn on your show hidden characters switch if you want to see the CRLFs (paragraph marker).  It looks like this <  Just select it from your special characters menu and replace it with nothing or a space.  I usually replace the doubles first << with a * so that after I have replaced all of the < marks I can put back in the end of paragraph mark (i.e,. << two CRLFs).  That will clean up the text by removing the CRLFs at the end of every line.

Adjusting the Text Display
       The new version of Ocean has two screen viewing modes: (1) In the split screen mode you see the search criteria along side the found text and mode two (2) you see a screen that will show you the found text only.
         To reinterate: there are two displays on the Ocean split screen.  In the default condition, one section of the screen displays the search criteria and the bookshelves that are being used during the search.  The other section shows the text or document that is found during a search.  The text found section of the screen (the right side of the split screen) can be expanded to occupy the entire screen by pressing the X on the upper left hand side of your screen -- the X right on the search menu bar.  This will make the Search screen disappear, so you are only looking at the found text.  Once you are on the text screen a magnifying glass icon will be approximately where the X was when you were in the other display screen.

[You alternately click on the X and the Magnifying Glass on the left side of your screen -- the righmost section of the SEARCH tool bar -- to switch between these two views, though you will have to maximize your screen to get the full effect.   Ocean chose the Magnifying Glass (MG) icon to signify going back to the SEARCH screen from the TEXT VIEW screen -- the MG icon symbolic of searching.]

Press the Magnifying Glass and you are back to the default (startup) screen -- the SEARCH screen.

Screen Views in Earlier Version:
The earlier version allowed you to open three windows to any size you want, with standard windows mouse control.  Chad is trying to get away from mouse use and has cut the number of screens to two: Search and View.   I have not yet become accustomed to this loss of flexibility... which admittedly comes with some increased simplicity.  The three windows (adjustible to any size), simultaneously on the screen at the same time, were: Bookshelves, Search Tools and Found Text.   Bookshelves and Search Tools toggled back and forth with each other -- occupying the same space alternately -- while Found Text stayed open all the time, occupying twice the screen area.  However, you could grab the margin edge of any one of these three windows and make them any size you wanted -- displaying all three on the screen at once in the same sized windows if you wanted.

Screen Views in Newer Versions:
      In the new version you can click the big X to make the foundtext take the whole screen, or instead you can adjust the margin between the two screens when they are both open in the search tools mode.  I personally like to know which books are in the bookshelf I am searching, so I really missed the third window of the earliest revisions of the Ocean program.  In the new version, however, (after v.162) you can again see what texts are being accessed -- that is, since Ocean re-implemented the internal file-management features.
        A secondary, sometimes useful, benefit of making changes in the settings to make the screen look right (both older and newer versions) is that it serves as a quick and dirty way to deal (however insufficiently) with files that you might import that are inherently troublesome because of their format.

In most cases, Ocean footnotes are imbedded right in the text, so you don't have to do an extra cut and paste. They are already there, although you may have to munch the document around a bit in your word-processor to get the cosmetics right.  Ocean seems to be able to recognize various footnote formats that are within standard text and convert them to an +F1, +F2, etc... at the point where they appear in the text, and also listing what they actually are at the bottom of each page.  In other words, the number +F1 is embedded in the text and it is repeated where the page break occurs with the reference notes that usually appears at the bottom of the page.

Three Search Modes in Early Versions of Ocean.
Originally there were three search modes in OCEAN which have now been reduced to one mode that can use different delimiters or search formats.  The "Exact Words" mode seems to have been replaced by simply putting your phrase or word in quotes.  For example, if you type in the word "heaven" in MARS or Immerse you get only sentences with the word "heaven" in your search results.  Ocean (early editions) finds "heavenly," and "heaven-cradled" in the "Find Phrase" and "Similar Words" modes, but only "heaven" in the "Exact Words"  search mode.  In the new edition (without the 3 modes) if you put "heaven" within quotation marks Ocean will find only the sentences with the word "heaven" -- and without the quotes you get everything (i.e., heavenly, heaven-cradled, etc) -- just as I described for the early editions or versions of Ocean.   In either edition you have to play with them to get the feel for the delimiters.  See OCEAN'S  Simple Search Format below  <<< click here

You may want to skip all green sections:  These designations for the category of search criteria in the first version of Ocean were not entirely clear, which may be why Chad has now gone to a single search mode (with delimiters). Sometimes you would have to try all three to get what you are looking for. If you have the earlier version the triangle icon or symbol next to the magnifying glass icon is a pull-down menu for the "Search Type." (The magnifying glass icon would begin the search, and the "Cancel Search X" icon at the bottom would interrupt it.)  Now, in the current version, you can either press the ESCape key to interrupt the search or hit the Start Button again (the magnifying glass which becomes the stop button when an X appears becomes overlayed on top of it -- the overlay is the international symbol for "NO" or "DON'T" -- which is actually a red circle with a red line through it).  This will CANCEL the search midstream.  You will still have some results, so don't fool yourself into believing you got all the possible "hits" or "finds."

Before I discovered this simple exit (CANCEL SEARCH) procedure I did try using the X that widens the screen and takes you to the first document. But if you do that and then attempt to exit the document by resuming the search (by clicking on the magnifying glass again) you will get an error message -- that is, if you attempt this before the search completes.  The error reads:  "Cannot focus a disabled or invisible window."   However, if you wait long enough before you press the magnifying glass again, you will find that Ocean has gone ahead and completed the search.  No error message.  The error message is not a problem, per se. If you press OK, Ocean continues and completes the search.  There does not seem to be a way to stop it.  I found myself using the "Cancel Search" X quite frequently in the first edition and missed it at first in the new version until I discovered that you can simply hit the ESCape key and it exits the search.  In other words, Ocean now uses the standard Windows convention.  Only problem: There is no documentation to this effect. You would have had to discover this intuitively.  However, since version 162 the magnifying glass overlays a Cancel button over itself during a search so you can hit this and cancel.  It is the international symbol for NO or DON'T -- a red cirlce with a red line through it..

The X next to the hour glass at the top in the current (new) version widens the screen into a full screen display, beautifully formatted.  The wider display actually takes care of some of the wrap problems in the earlier version, but you may will still have to remove unwanted carriage returns from your extracted quote (using the enhanced NOTEPAD or EditPad) if the original text that was imported had them.

OCEAN'S  Simple Search Formats

Searching the "Bookshelves":
In order to simplify searching, the Ocean library is broken into "bookshelves" and Ocean typically searches one bookshelf at a time. (When we use the word "libraries" or "folders" anywhere in this document it is synonymous with "bookshelves."  The term "libraries" is a vestige from earlier versions of Ocean, which Chad may or may not be using in later versions.  He attempted to eliminate it for a while, but I believe it is being reintroduced, because we see it used in menus, etc.)  Before searching, you first decide which "Bookshelf" folder (library) you want to search.

In the new version the first things you see in the top left side of the screen are two bars.  The top bar will contain the name of the bookshelf you wish to search within.  It displays the "current bookshelf" (which is the last one selected).  It is directly above the search box (where you type in your search criteria), right after the word Search (as shown in the screen shot below).  However, in the later versions (after v.162) the word "Search" has been replaced with a BOOK icon.  On the right end of the bar you will see a down arrow (actually only the head of the arrow, which looks like a triangle) and an X.  Forget the X for now.  It opens the "found text" screen after you find some text as the result of your search.  The little triangle is the one you want to push to select the text categories for searching. You could also press F2 to popup the Bookshelves menu.  The four main folders that come with Ocean right now are "Authoritative Bahá'í Texts," "Bahá'í Studies," "Christianity," and "Islam"... but you can make your own "bookshelf" categories, such as "Writings of Bahá'u'lláh," "All Authoritative Texts," "Compilations," "Central Figures," "Writings of Philosophers," Pilgrim's notes," "Provisional translations," "Previously untranslated tablets," "Everything except Philosophers," "Everything, including Philosophers," etc. etc.  You would merely select the one you want.

Now you are ready to type the word (or words) you are looking for into the second bar, which is a data entry field.  Simply click the bar (where the triangle and X are).  The default value is "Search Entire Library" which searches all bookshelves.  Here, below, we have an example of searching for the words "moral education" in a bookshelf called "Authoritative Bahá'í" -- which is all the writings of Bahá'u'lláh, Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, and The Universal House of Justice available in digital format.  (What you are seeing right here now is just a photograph of the Ocean search menu and has no active links you can click on.)

After launching a search (by clicking the little magnifying glass search button or by pressing ENTER), you will see all the "hits" or "finds" listed in the window below the search. A portion of the sentence your words are in will be displayed.  Notice that each book or document is specified in the list by a closed book icon. Clicking that item opens up a list of all the matching sentences found within that book. Each sentence is quoted in part and denoted as a sentence by an open book icon.

Browsing through the texts (before and after searches):
Ocean also enables you browse through the texts just as if you are reading a book.  Both MARS and Immerse also allow this, and even Archive has some function in this respect.  Although Immerse has a beautiful display of the text (including a header that's the same color as the book, when the text is a book) -- with page breaks and numbers shown right on the screen --  there is no way to "turn off" the book lists or categories (folders) so you can just show the text.  Ocean is different.  It opens with the screen split -- as you can see in the screen shot above on the left.  When you select your bookshelf category (i.e.,  the folders called "Authoritative Bahá'í Texts," "Bahá'í Studies," "Christianity," or "Islam") a list will be shown on the left just beneath the bookshelf bar and the data entry bar.  You can click on any of these folders and they will open up like a directory tree, showing you the books contained within them.  You can then click on the individual books and they will be displayed on right (in much the same way that Immerse displays them).  This you can do even before you initiate a search.

[I wish this list was actually a directory that you could select from when you were ready to do a new search.  Let's say, for instance, you were in Authoritative Texts and you wanted to Limit your Search to a Specific Book or Author-- you could click on Bahá'u'lláh and then click the magnifying glass to start your search from there.  I don't know if Chad can work this into the program but if we ask him to consider it he will.  Click on the specific book or author link to see how this is is done in the present version.]

After you have done a search the folders will no longer be showing and what you will see (as shown in the screen shot above) is the list of books where the sentence (containing the words you typed in) was found.  Again, notice that each book or document is specified in the list by a closed book icon. Clicking that item opens up a list of all the matching sentences found within that book. Each sentence is quoted in part and denoted as a sentence by an open book icon.  When you click on the sentence that you want, the corresponding section of the page of the text is shown to the right -- that is, on the right side of the split screen.  As mentioned earlier the new version allows you can click the big X (right above the magnifying glass) to make the "Found Text" take the whole screen (or instead you can adjust the margin between the two screens when the search panel is showing -- just put the mouse over the vertical line and drag it in either direction).

In either the full-screen mode (Closed Search Panel) or the split screen mode (Opened Search Panel) you can browse through the Found Texts.   In the split screen display mode, as you select from the list of found references, you are free to scroll up and down through the text, beginning in the section where the found sentence is highlighted in red.  You can scroll from the beginning of the text to the end, although you are starting somewhere in the middle -- unlike the pre-search browse mode described in the first paragraph here on browsing which starts you at the beginning of the text.

Second Word Search:
The "second word" search feature is NOT designated as such. There is no menu to select from that says "second word" as in MARS.  In a sense the functionality of that feature in Ocean is operative all the time, automatically.  If you put in two words, sentences with both words will be found.  Chad states: "I have intentionally scrapped this method ["second word" search].   Because of the associative nature of human memory, words which we are able to recall typically fall within the same phrase or, at worst, within the same sentence (as the logical container of a complete idea).  Therefore, when Ocean searches, it tries to locate sentences containing all words which you typed (in any order). Since some sentences contain hundreds of words and others contain only three, it is impossible to calculate how many words apart they might be while still being meaningfully associated...  Some older search engines employ 'word proximity' to narrow the list of hits (wherein each word must be within a certain number of words from the others).  Ocean is much smarter. Ocean accepts a hit only if all the words appear within the same sentence. In other words, Ocean uses sentence-based granularity in searching."

By contrast, keep in mind that MARS will let you search for a second word that is in a different sentence (LEFT or RIGHT), with a maximum range of 30 words away -- which means that in some cases the "second word" could be in a different sentence.  I think these differences are a design call, based on a philosophical difference in logic.  If Chad attempted to mimic MARS he would lose some of the other features in his design logic.   Both MARS and Ocean will tell you how many "hits" or "finds" you have as a result of your search.  Immerse does not.

Type the search sun wisdom and Ocean will locate nearly a hundred sentences where both those words occur. Type the search phrase wisdom sun knowledge and you will find that there are less than half the number of sentences with all three words. [So, the word knowledge has effectively served as the second word criteria for the search.]  There is no difference between the search sun wisdom knowledge and the search knowledge wisdom sun.

However, if you were looking for a section of text where the second word you wanted to use to find your text was in a subsequent sentence your phrase (text) would NOT be found.  You must choose second and third words that are within the same sentence.   (Also, see common mistakes in the general introduction above.) MORE SEARCH HINTS:

Ocean does not require complex Boolean knowledge.  (An automatic superset of Boolean logic is being introduced in Ocean called "fuzzy logic" that will be transparent to the user.)  Simply type the words you remember and hit the search button (or press the ENTER key) and Ocean will do the rest. Subtracting Hits: Sometimes it is useful to specify that searches should not contain a certain word. For example, say you want to search for references to Local Houses of Justice. Now these are often called just "House of Justice" but if you search for that, you'll be buried with references to the Universal House of Justice. So all you have to do is type "House of Justice -Universal". This subtracts all sentences which contain the word "Universal".   If you want to search for "Martha" but not "Martha Root" simply type "Martha -Root".  Simple!

Limiting Search to a Specific Book or Author:
Furthermore, at times you want to search in just a single book or from a single author. This can be done by specifying the book or author in parenthesis. For example, to locate all references to "Ocean of Knowledge" in only the Kitáb-i-Íqán, simply type "ocean of knowledge (iqan)". You need only type a portion of the name of the book or folder in the parenthesis.   For books by Abdu'l-Bahá, after the text or keywords you are looking for you would place His name (as author) in parenthesis; i.e., you would put "(Abdu'l-Bahá)" or simply "(ab)" after the text or keywords you are looking for.   If you want to search only through Bahá'u'lláh's writings put "(llah)" after your text (yes, in parenthesis), which gets all books within the folder (below) called Bahá'u'lláh.  If you put "(baha)" into the criteria you will not only get Abdu'l-Bahá's writings along with Bahá'u'lláh's but any other text that has the word "Bahá'í" in it, since Baha is contained within Bahá'í.  Hence, you would expect to get "Developing Distinctive Bahá'í Communities" which is a publication of the NSA.  But, you might not expect to get "Lights of Guidance," unless you knew that the subtitle is called: "A Bahá'í Reference File."  Even opening the Folder with an F6 (see Keyboard Navigation below) will not tell you this. Even if after opening the folder you click on the file so you can see the whole name. You still have to see the file itself, which you can do simply by clicking on it when listed on the left side of your screen.  The text will appear on the right in the "found text" area, and you can read the subtitle.

To search through an entire folder, simply type part of that folder name:
This works well since most books contain the name of the author either as part of the document name or the document's folder. Examples: "(effendi) forces of light", "(taherzadeh) Dhabih", "Fear of God (bab)" And finally, you can combine multiple authors or books by simply separating them with commas like so: "unity oneness (bab, abd)", "fear (iqan, valleys)", or "Training Institutes (compilations, house)."  For some reason, there are some anomalies still at present and if you discover one you should email to Chad Jones, the author.  For example, if you put in (bible, john) while in the Christianity "bookshelf" you will indeed get only strict Bible references, but many more than those from the books of John, such as the book of Amos, etc.  Using "John" alone -- in parenthesis (john) -- will give you only those by John, but will include any outside the Bible, such as those references in "St.John of the Cross, Ascent of Mt. Carmel."

Searching for an exact phrase:
Sometimes you want to locate an exact phrase such as "forces of light". Simply include part of your search phrase in quotes. "Martha Root" finds only hits with "Martha Root" and not "Martha James and Sam Root..."    Incidentally, if you search for the word "heaven" using no quotes you will get a greater number of finds than you will if you put the word in quotes.  Quotation marks are the delimiter.

Keyboard Navigation:
The Ocean literature states that Ocean was "especially designed with portability in mind -- specifically laptops with no or poor mouse replacements. For this reason, it states that you can easily do everything in Ocean without reaching for the mouse."  Refer to the Ocean web site for examples:

Use the TAB key to move between the three areas: "Search Box", "Hits List" and "Text Display"
Use the CTRL-S key to toggle the search panel
Use CTRL and the ARROW KEYS to jump to the next or previous search hit
F2 pops up the bookshelves menu
F5 extracts and sends selected text to a designated compilation folder after it is highlighted.
(First you must "Create Compilation" by choosing this option from the RESOURCES menu)
F6 pops up Windows Explorer (for advanced users) This ONLY works if you are in the SHOW BOOKSHELF display on the left side of the screen.  You would have had to select the SHOW BOOKSHELF option in the pull-down menu just prior to using F6.  This is useful to find out the actual names of the folders, so you can best decide how to limit your search criteria (here for more info on search criteria>)  You can also click on the right mouse button to select F6 froma menu while in the SHOW BOOKSHELF display.

Creating Compilations:
On the main tool bar there exists a Compliations button.  Click on it to bring the menu down.  Your menu options are:

• Add selection to current Compilation "whatever you called it"  F5  (similar to F4 in MARS)
• Append selection to Compilation (pops up a list of all working compilations to choose from)
• Create Compilation File
• Edit (opens the file you are currently compiling.  Also shows path to where it's located)

Whenever you want to set up a new compilation file you must first select "Create Compilation File" from the Compliations menu.

You add to this open file... your current working compilation... by pressing F5   Works the same as using the menu and selecting "Add".
(F5 works only to augment the files after they have been created.  It does not call up the screen that would allow you to create the first one.  It the future perhaps it will.)

If you want to add your selection to a different compilation than the one you are presently working on you select Append and a list of other compilations will pop up you can choose from (assuming you have previously created at least one other one).  After you have appended to a new file, then that file becomes your Add file, where text will be sent with the F5.   If you have created more than one compilation file (folder), all of them will appear on the list called up each time you select the Edit option

Using the Compilations menu, you can switch between or view and edit your compilation files.
If possible, Ocean will add a reference to each extracted quote.

[This new compilation you have created could theoretically be placed in a folder that is searchable by Ocean, though I cannot think of any reason you would want to do this.]

NOTE: There is a bit of a quirk with any text editor that could be assigned to popup automatically with Ocean.  If you are in the "Edit compilation" mode of Ocean then the EditPad (or whatever is your editor) will be running.  (It will be called up onto your screen.)   If you press F5 while the file is open (on your screen) your text will not show on the screen.  HOWEVER, the text has actually been written to your file and you will discover it there if you close your text editor and re-open it.  There is no reason to keep the file open if you are not editing so it is best to close after each edit so you will not become confused about what is actually in your compilation file.  (Suggestion:  Under Preferences in EditPad I would set the switch to automatically save the file upon exit.)

Choosing to edit a compilation should not be confused with the "Open Document" function of "found text" (after a search), since they use the same editor.  (Whichever editor Windows assigns to text files)  Chosing to edit a compilation while a document is open will not startup another session of EditPad, but will rather load the second document, much like MS-Word loads another document.  Shift F6 (while in EditPad) switches back and forth between present and previously viewed files in EditPad... but just between the present and the last one.

Older Ocean Search Modes:  (This review was written earlier but is still useful to understand the philosophy behind the elimination of "second word" search criteria.  I have not, therefore, colored it green, as mentioned in the disclaimer at the beginning of the Ocean review.)

Let me give you some illustrations of some searches done under these "Search Types" in the earlier version, even though it is an outdated manual mode of operation.  Maybe it will still help you see what is going on.  The search mode is now entirely automatic.  Here is what I wrote earlier.  The information still seems useful, as a help to understand how to enter search criteria and the kinds of results you can expect, so I will still share it with you:  (Simply keep in mind that the three modes no longer exist, partly because of the feedback we gave Chad about it.  Simpler screens and "fuzzy logic" have replaced the three modes.)

In effect (except for "FIND PHRASE," in the older versions, which is an exact search) every search is a "second word" search or multiple word search in Ocean since every word you type in is found... although the find strategy is different depending on the "Search Type" you select: "Find Phrase," "Similar Words" or "Exact Words."  [These different types of searches are no longer in the latest version and apparently are no longer necessary.  Other conventions -- such as quotation marks for exact phrase and fuzzy logic for inexact phrases -- are used.]

Bench Mark Tests -- for comparison
Originally, in the early BETA version of Ocean I typed in "Epistle Paul" in all three search modes, searching the "Authoritative Bahá'í Writings" (a library I had set up using 409 texts). "FIND PHRASE" returned one hit... which was "Epistle of Paul" mentioned by Abdu'l-Bahá on page 94 of SAQ. "Exact Words" returned six hits from 409 books, and "Similar Words" returned seven hits from the same 409 books, this one also including "Epistles of Saint Paul," whereas the "s" on Epistles and/or the "Saint" had eliminated this hit during the "Exact Words" search mode. "Exact words" as a designation is misleading, and actually "Find Phrase" is more exact because it is more limiting - thought it is still not "exact" as MARS would be. I like it better than MARS though, because you get more results.

Sometimes MORE is LESS however, because you have to cull through more stuff.   (See section called Less is More above.)  The six or seven hits found after search through 409 books took three seconds on my computer (650 MHZ Pentium III), so you need not get the impression that it is significantly slower than MARS. (However, MARS took less than two seconds and probably included more books -- though it doesn't tell you how many. Ocean is the only one that tells you what books were searched and how many.) The difference in speeds between MARS and search engines like Ocean that do not use indexes will become more significant if you have a slower computer.

Incidentally (in the early version), it took 27 seconds to search 794 Bahá'í texts for "Epistle Paul" on my computer, with 37 returns in the "Similar Words" mode (the widest net you could cast).  I forgot to ask Chad, but the early version of Ocean seemed to remember previous searches, because the second time I ran the same search it took only seven seconds.  (Times in the new version seem identical on the few tests I have had the chance to run.)   Incidentally, Ocean does keep a "list" of your previous 19 searches criteria so you do not have to type the criteria in again. So, some kind temporary index may also be being created.   Note: In the new version I ran the "Epistle Paul" on the 518 texts and it took 7 seconds to return 30 hits, compared to the 27 second on 794 books with the earlier version.

Again, in the"second word" mode, MARS found only six hits and Immerse found seven (compared to the 27 in Ocean), so you can begin to see the power of OCEAN.   Some of those hits in Ocean included "Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era" by Esslemont, "Heart of the Gospel" by George Townshend, Phillip Hitti's commentary on Islam, Beckwith's book on the Bahá'í Faith, "Thief in the Night" by Sears, White's history of the "Warfare of Science and Theology," and Balyuzi's book on Islam (Muhammad and the Course of Islam). (Keep in mind that the number of hits depends on the number of texts you have actually imported into OCEAN. If only the books contained in MARS were imported into OCEAN it would get exactly the same number of hits, returns, or "finds.")

[Book title and page number citations during "cut and paste" routines have already been discussed at a technical note above.]

Sources of Bahá'í Texts for Ocean, you can download from the World Wide Web
(also see "Primay sources of Texts" below)

A tremendous number of texts are available to download from Chad's OCEAN web site.  Other texts can be found on the web sites listed above, under "on-line" resources.  Although you no longer have to build the basic Ocean database yourself, you may continually add texts any texts you want to the data base that might not already be there.  For example there are texts at .  Chad has 500+ books that are from a general religious library of all faiths there, along with some Bahá'í pilgrim notes, in addition to the major Bahá'í texts.  As I mentioned earlier, a philosophy library of about 170 books from the major philosophers is also included on the Ocean web site. In all, my fresh install on 11/28/01 brought 518 texts across into the database and another 200 the next day.  (The entire download and install, using a 56K modern took one hour.)  Getting the texts is no longer going to be your biggest problem.  How you organize them might be, although they will come to you already in categories (folders) called libraries.   If, for the present time, you do not intend to be concerned with importing more text than comes standard with Ocean you should skip the next several sections here and go directly to the section on how to set up your libraries or "Bookshelves".

SECONDARY sources of data (Bahá'í texts) for your OCEAN search engine.
The OCEAN web site is now your best source to begin building your database for this search engine, and it is virtually all automatic.  You download the texts with the program.  Chad initially did not distribute the Bahá'í writings from its web site, partly because OCEAN has been a BETA program -- still in the testing phase, and for other reasons.

Copyright issues may apply for some of the texts that are available and being sent around from various sources. See "limits of the copyright" on Bahá'í texts, posted at http://library.bahai.org/hp/copyright.html
Texts are located at http://library.bahai.org. General rule of thumb is that any texts that the Universal House of Justice has released to the web in digital format (bwc web site) you can use.

There is another dimension to the copyright issue, however, with respect to different areas of responsibility.  There are different levels of responsibility for those who provide texts and those who receive them.  I am not an attorney, nor an expert in the law, but my understanding is that the "fair use" clause of the copyright laws allow you to copy anything that you already "own" in original print.  In this case you would be both the provider and the recipient.  In contrast, it would not be lawful for you to provide copies of the text that you own if you are giving them to someone else who does not also own an original -- especially if you were to receive compensation for same.  I am not sure whether it is lawful for you to take copies of something you already own (an original) when the person providing them has not been given discriminatory authority to determine whether it is lawful for you to receive them.  It may be that it doesn't matter where (or through what process) you obtain a copy as long as you own an original.

Initially I used to tell folks that they could find a few CDs with databases of the Writings, but this is no longer necessary since texts are now on-line at the Ocean web site.  However, you may still find a few files that are not posted to the site on certain CDs, or they are available informally through members of the Bahá'í community.  Use some wisdom and know your source.  Some "provisional translations" of certain Tablets are not done by Bahá'ís, so if you intend to use provisional translations you should find out their authority and authenticity, or cite them with disclaimers or statements of source.  The safest course is simply to stay with one supplier and know their criteria for making texts available.  It may be important to know who the translator is.  I have found nothing that suggests that there are prohibitions, per se, regarding their use, though we can observe a restricted use by the Universal House of Justice.  There are other issues of scholarship.  Consider the related discussion in the Introduction to the The Kitab-i-Aqdas, beginning in the last paragraph on page nine, which starts as follows:  "A word should be said about the style of language in which the Kitáb-i-Aqdas has been rendered into English...."  and continues through page 11.  Some provisional texts are academically generated internally, and others are external to the Faith which may not exercise all the same careful considerations.  The word "provisional" itself does not imply inauthentic.  For example, in the document commissioned by the Universal House of Justice, "Century of Light," certain provisional translations are used, and they are referred to in the bibliography.  In the provisional translation of the Tablet that begins with the words, "In My Name, the Humourist," the research department of the Universal House of Justice states that the Tablet does NOT contain a humorous anecdote.  Scholarship often necessitates exploration of the unexplored.  For example, Momen uses provisional translations.

One CD with texts that are "wholly authenticated" [the compiler's words] is called ARCHIVE, and it includes an elementary search engine (EditPad and InfoRapid) with it as well. You could just buy the disk for the texts ($25) and import them into OCEAN -- and forget the search engine.  (Available from Stephen Dighton swp@schoolmarmwood.org) I give a more complete description of ARCHIVE below. (Click here to see what's below.) You can also go to http://www.schoolmarmwood.org/ and click on ARCHIVE in the directory on the left for more information.

Yahov Phillips also has a disk you can buy (described below).  A general discussion of SOURCES for texts is also included below.   (Sorry for the scattered nature of this information.  It is partly my laziness in taking advantage of the nature of HTML.)

Primary sources for Downloading ASCII text
        For downloading texts, take a look at: http://www.bahaindex.com/writings.html (Thanks to Casper Voogt) This location has links to all downloadable texts from the World Center's ftp site, and also to html versions ("htm" and "html" files are unusable in that format because with Ocean [previously] and Archive you must convert them to "txt" files or find the same files in "txt" format.). Or you can go directly to the World Centre anonymous ftp site at: http://library.bahai.org (These should all be straight text files and you can download them from there.)
        Alternatively, one of the best sites for finding the Writings that you can download off the web in the format you will need is http://www.bahai-library.com/It has nearly everything that comes out from the World Center, and very soon after it is available. (Also, see instructions on FTP below - at the end.)

Less suitable methods for downloading text --- but they still work in a pinch.
If you were really in a pinch you could copy them off the web from Metalab (formerly Sunsite). These are now combined at: http://metalab.unc.edu/Bahai/TrueSeeker/ (Thanks to Mark Towfigh.) You would use a cut and paste method there.  That would be much more time consuming than any other method.  Downloading takes time, granted, but manual "cut and paste" is so labor intensive as to be almost prohibitive except for that occasional file.

Another new site for downloading is http://www.jkl.com/eBahai/. (The second one here contains all html files)

It would be easier to cut and paste the Texts from Immerse or MARS than from Metalab.  Data (texts) are already on your computer (assuming you already have them).  Downloading is still practical, however, even if you do not have a cable modem or a DSL phone line.  I would prefer to download the texts from bwc.org and let the computer do all the work than to cut and paste from MARS, especially if I have a good high-speed Internet connection. And again, if you have a slow modem and face long download times let Getright do the work and reduce the risk of having to start over.  Exception: Ocean downloads in relatively small pieces (each text is a file) and therefore starting over at any given time is negligible.

(By the way, it is a good idea to disable call-waiting on your phone while on the internet, particularly during downloads, or you will get bumped off if someone calls you.. *70, as a prefix to the dial-up number is standard.)

The text you put into Ocean must [previously] be ASCII, txt or DOS text.  The easiest way to get the texts is to try and find a CD with these files already on it... otherwise it can be very time consuming. (Some individuals have created such CD disks, but I know of no plan to make such disks available for distribution other than Archive and the other one listed below.) Be careful not to copy any texts you do not already own book copies of, or are not already published on the web, or you may be in violation of the copyright. You can check with http://library.bahai.org or http://www.bahai-library.com/ to see what has been released to public domain.

Getting your new text into a Bookshelf (for advanced users):
Once the new text is on your hard disk just drag the file into the folder you want the text to be classified under.  If it is a new translation ("interpretation") of the Qur'an, for example, you would drag it into the Islam folder.  (You cannot merely create a shortcut.  If you want the text in two places you will have to have two copies of it on your harddisk.   For example, if you wanted Balyuzi's book on Islam under the category "Bahá'í Authors" and under the category "ISLAM" you would have to create a second copy of the file.)  OR, you could create a specific folder for a third translation of the Qur'an in Windows Explorer under C:/Ocean/Islam/Qur'anYusufAli (for example) and drag it (MOVE it) into that, since it is unlikely you would want it any place else.  It will then automatically show up in Ocean searches.  If YOU create your own FOLDER it will show up as a CUSTOM folder (deletable from within Ocean), or if you simply drag the text into an original folder it will show up there.  You do not have to drag the file in Ocean -- and in fact Ocean will not allow you to drag files (only folders). It can all be down in Explorer.... which of course can be evoked with the F6 command of Ocean (even though no longer an option in the menu.)  You may also wish to see the slightly outdated, though more technical, version of this below because in some cases you will have to open two copies of Explorer simultaneously.

Dec. 9th update:  Everything that follows in GREEN has just been outdated by Version 162.   File-management facilities have been restored to Ocean menu options, so that the user does not have to manage Windows folders.  The green section (above and below) is retained here for users of earlier versions, and for curious curators of antiquity.  They could be helpful to read, but remember that later versions of Ocean are variations on the features and functions described in green below.  It is still somewhat relevant, in theory, though no longer exactly accurate.

NOTE:  All the esoteric use of Windows folders is reserved for power users (advanced users) of the Ocean program.  The F6 function still works but is no longer a menu item.   Click here if you are a typical -- not advanced -- user.

Setting up Search Categories ("Libraries") in OCEAN
As already mentioned. Ocean comes with four "Library" categories already set up.  Opps!   Chad, the author of Ocean, is no longer calling these "libraries" -- at least not all the time.  They are now called Bookshelves.   "Ocean Bookshelves" are those that come with Ocean, and "Custom Bookshelves" are those you can create.  Now Ocean has a single "Library" (Bookshelf) folder under which there is a single "English" folder. Inside this folder are all the root search folders or shortcuts to folders.  (As indicated, both of these root folders and shortcuts he is now calling "Bookshelves".)   He would have preferred to do away with the "English" folder except this is needed for supporting multiple languages. If the user has additional language folders here then a "Language Library" menu-item appears automatically allowing switching between languages -- otherwise this is hidden to retain simplicity.   Essentially the Windows Explorer shortcuts have taken the place of library bookshelves in the earlier versions.  (Again, these are now called "Custom Libraries" as opposed to the "Ocean Libraries" that come with Ocean to start with.)  Stay with me here for a minute and I hope all this will become clear.  I am caught between a rock and a hard place because I am writing a mixture of reviewing two versions. This is necessary, I feel, because some folks are still using the old version or are in the process of making the transition.

[NOTE:  (for WINDOWS experts)
Rather than custom folder-lists (which had the drawback of not being flexible if someone added a new folder or moved their folders) Ocean is now using just a standard windows shortcut as a bookshelf. The advantage in this is that Windows tracks its shortcuts so they can survive moving of the folder location. Besides this, you can have multiple shortcuts to different folders, even sub-folders of another bookshelf.. Therefore, you can have and "Authoritative Bahá'í" bookshelf but also a "Bahá'u'lláh" and a "Compilations" bookshelf if you like.  In the early revisions it was not easy to figure out how to do this because there was no documentation.  It has now become automated and I have described it below.]

Here's how to create and maintain bookshelf categories:
Just move the cursor over the various icons on the menu portion of the top of the screen and little menu labels (flyovers) pop up. In the older version (early edition) of Ocean they were, respectively, "Delete library," "Show books" (within a library), and "New" (create new library). The menu is simplified on the new version.  Refer to the "Getting Started" manual in the new version.

Creating a new library ("CUSTOM bookshelf") -- a sub-category for searching:
In the newer version:  First click on the bookshelf toolbar.  (If you are not sure what I am talking about click here to view a shot of the Ocean Screen and press your back arrow to continue reading here.  In this example, the tool bar has the words "Authoritative Bahá'í" written on it -- as the set of texts you would be searching.)   In actual program the texts you will be searching defaults to the pre-set selection: "entire library."  To the right of that you will see a little triangle with an X to the right of the triangle.  (The X opens up a wider view of the "found text" after you have run a search.)  Click on the little triangle and select "Show Bookshelf."  Alternatively you could press F2.  It also pulls up the Bookshelf list to select from.  Selecting a bookshelf will exit you from the menu and show you a list of search categories used by the "Entire Library" search.  Just study them for a second.  This is a peek at what folders are available to you, so you can create sub-categories ("Custom Bookshelves") out of these.  Once you create your Custom Bookshelves you can see them by clicking on the main folders and the display will expand like an outline.   Here is how to create CUSTOM BOOKSHELF (a sub-category, a narrower category, or a new category) for searching:

Example:
        Click on Options from the main tool bar at the top.  Click on Current Bookshelf.  This will show you a list of bookshelves that come as a default list (pre-set condition).  At the very bottom of this list is an option called Open Library Folder.  I think that this option to open the library folder should ALSO be one level higher in the menu so that you do not have to click on Current Bookshelf first.  (Someone might not look deeper for the Open Library Folder.)  Alternatively, you can Right Mouse Click on the "Bookshelf" toolbar and scroll down to Open Library Folder.   You will notice an F6 beside it and in the future you can simply press F6 to get to the Open Library Folder file management facilities.
        Now you are in the Windows Explorer.  The folders you see there you will NEVER want to delete, even though some of them indicate that they are "Shortcut" (Microsoft Windows designator) folders.  Ocean will not let you delete them from its menu and you should not ever try to delete them from here.   Only delete bookshelves from within the Ocean menu.  (See next section on deleting below.)   We use the Windows Explorer facility ONLY to create new bookshelves (sub-categories) for searching.
   Assume that you would like to search only the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh.  You will need to create a sub-category for searching (a "Custom Bookshelf") that you will call "Bahá'u'lláh".  If you do not create this sub-category of the Entire English Library you will have to search through everything, including Abdu'l-Bahá's and Shoghi Effendi's writings for that quote of Bahá'u'lláh you are looking for.  That might be OK, and in fact that might be exactly what you will want to do on some occasions since you will want to know what passages of Bahá'u'lláh are further explained by Abdu'l-Bahá and The Guardian.  But for now let's assume you want to search only Bahá'u'lláh's writings.  Maybe you know that what you are looking for is in the Seven Valleys and you want to stay in that book for a while.  The search engine is so fast that you do not need break your search down into specific books -- although you can by putting your book designation in parenthesis.  See "Searching Bookshelves" above.
        MARS will let you break you search down into specific books.  Both MARS and Ocean allow you to specifiy only one book at a time, but Ocean may be developing a check list that will allow you to target your search to that book list -- so you could specify two books at once, for example.   Immerse and Ocean will let you scroll through a book from top to bottom.  Immerse will not let you limit your search to one book only, but you can specify the Central Figures as authors.  (This feature in Immerse doesn't work very well, but works great in MARS.)   Immerse presents its total list of books in a straight list, by author, which you can expand or open up.  Ocean is similar, but it is organized first by Windows folders.
        In the pop-up window for Explorer (which comes up when you select Open Library Folder) you will see a folder called "Authoritative Bahá'í".  This will contain Bahá'u'lláh's writings.  Click on this folder.  Ah Ha!   Now you see a folder for Bahá'u'lláh, along with all the other authoritative sources of Bahá'í text.  Place your mouse over the folder labelled Bahá'u'lláh.  Now carefully hold down you left mouse button -- and while holding it down drag the folder, by moving your mouse, out of this window and over anywhere onto the Ocean window.  You will be told that this new CUSTOM "Bookshelf" called "Bahá'u'lláh" has been created.  You must then click OK to clear the notification box.   If you cannot see but the corner of the notification box sticking out from under your Folders window, then just close the Folders window.  You're done.
        NOTE:  Be sure that no other windows are open after Ocean.  It won't hurt anything, but you simply will not have an Ocean window to drag into.  (If you have opened something else, just go back to Ocean and press F6 to get the Folders window back on top of the Ocean window.)  When you first start Ocean it opens as a "window."  It doesn't matter whether you have maximized the window or not.  Dragging across to Ocean will still work.  (If you exit Ocean with the Open Library Folders open it will stay open.  You have to close it separately.)

Here is a trick to create all your sub-categories at once:
 You might also want to create sub-categories for Shoghi Effendi, etc.   Here is the trick:   While you are in the Open Library Folder option (having entered Explorer by pressing F6) instead of dragging only the folder marked Bahá'u'lláh across into Ocean, press "cntrl-A" first.  Actually you will have to click on at least one of them first... or click anywhere inside the Folders' window.  Now press cntrl-A (simultaneous key press of the ctrl key and the lettter A).  This will highlight ALL of your folders.  Now move your mouse over any one of them and do what you did before.  While holding down the left mouse button drag the whole set of folders over onto the Ocean window.  That's it.  It's that simple.  You are done.   You could do the same thing within the other three major categories:  Bahá'í Studies, Christianity and Islam.  If you wish to create a search sub-category that is not provided -- say one you loaded onto your computer yourself -- just be sure the text is in a folder before you try to drag it across.  You can either put the new file (text) into an existing folder and it will show up the next time you search that folder OR you can put it into a new folder and drag it across.  You can always drag across a folder that you have dragged across before.  It never hurts to drag a folder more than once.  The sub-categories will NOT duplicate.

Deleting a bookshelf: (You can skip this and read update first)
Most of you should easily be able to learn how to delete a file -- such as Ocean CUSTOM bookshelf files -- and even a folder since Ocean even opens the folder where they are stored.   You should NEVER be deleting folders, however, unless you know what you are doing as a Windows Expert (if you do you will have to download them again).

Find a (the) website from which Immerse can be downloaded
Decide whether to use the download method suggested at the download site (or use Getright.)
Download the Immerse (zip) file(s).
IF you download multiple files, then RUN the imrs95.zip.bat file to patch them together.
Unzip the zip file
Install Immerse by RUNing the self-executing file that appears when the file is unzipped.  (Either "Im32v092.exe", "imrs95.zip", or "Setup.exe")

IF  I WERE YOU I WOULD SKIP WHAT I AM ABOUT TO TELL YOU HOW TO DO and INSTEAD simply BUY IMMERSE on a CD for $25 (US).  Immerse is FREE but Bernal Schooley has been generous enough to also make it available on CD and save you the hassle of downloading it.  This is the same Version 0.95 that is available from Casper Voogt's site at http://www.bci.org/bahaisoftware/Immerse/Immerse95.zipbut it is worth it to have Immerse on CD.  Go to Bernal Shooley's web site at http://www.lotsofschooleys.com/Immerse/
for instructions on how to order it.

IF you want to go ahead and download it yourself, you can use the directions that follow.  They are highly detailed, but don't let that intimidate you.  It's not as hard as it sounds and is definitely worth the effort, even if you have the other search engines.  I recommend that you set aside an hour for this task.  Start by first reading all the way through the following directions, since there are a couple of different strategies to choose from depending on your level of ability and what you want to do.  After you read through this you may decide to order the CD.

The simplest path of fewest steps is to skip Getright and go straight to the download website, following the directions there.  If you have a weak or slow connection on the web you may want a program like Getright, however.   (There are a number of "smart downloaders" you can get off the web for free.  If you have Netscape you may already have "Smart Download."  Another is called eBot at http://www.ebot.com/)

Here is the new website from which to download Immerse (some other locations may still work):

http://www.bahaindex.com/software-immerse.html  (With directions for downloading in sections)

Or http://www.bci.org/bahaisoftware/Immerse/Immerse95.zip  if you want to download Immerse as one large 34 megabyte file (I recommend you use Getright if you do this)

As stated a moment ago, you may want to use an uninterruptible downloading tool called Getright (next section) even if you use the smaller file sections, which are only 5 megabytes  (That is still large for a 56K modem.).  It is your choice on this one.  Casper Voogt and Bernal Schooley seem to have broken the program down into eight 4.88 megabyte sections at the above address, but some of you reading this may still have an old address from previous instructions and be trying to download a larger file.  (That old URL address may no longer work, however, since the plan is/was to take it down.  I am intentionally not giving the old URL to you here since I am recommending the NEW URL above.)
    I have not taken the time to go through the new routine described at the above URL, but it appears that the files will be concatenated into one large file after you download the sections.  You may NOT need Getright, therefore.  You may wish to skip the Getright section (described next) and simply follow the directions on the web at http://www.bahaindex.com/software-immerse.html and then continue with my instructions, beginning with UN-ZIP below.   After you download the nine files listed at the new URL you will RUN the program imrs95.zip.bat (the ninth file) by double-clicking on it.  This will patch all of the first eight files together.  Then you will look for the file "imrs95.zip" and unzip it.   (Review the bullet outline above if you ever get confused about where you are in the process.)

GET GETRIGHT:  (Skip this unless you absolutely need it.)
If for some reason you are downloading the large 34 megabyte zip file for Immerse (link) I recommend you first download GETRIGHT, so that you can resume a long download if interrupted. (If you have Netscape you may already have "Smart Download" that will do the same thing.) You may also find it to be a useful tool for other large downloads in the future.  You will find it at http://www.getright.com/get.html  (You may be able to skip this step if you use the new download site for Immerse.  If you want to skip Getright, go directly to UN-ZIP)

[Note: Even if you are downloading Immerse in small pieces (the new method) you may still want to use Getright if you have a weak or slow Internet connection.  The eight pieces are still 5 megabytes each.  Perhaps this information will be useful to some of you for downloading other programs, even if you do not use it for downloading Immerse, so I have included it here in any case.]

After you download Getright, double click on the downloaded file (Getrt430.exe) to install Getright. Be sure to notice where Getright is extracting and saving the file so you will know where to look for it in the next step. (You actually have to confirm it, so just take note)  Now you are ready to run Getright so it can download Immerse.. (From the START menu select RUN and browse to the location that you know the Getrt430.exe file was saved during the download.)  This will install Getright on your computer. It will be added to your program files pull down menu. (You may also be asked if you want an icon on your desktop.)  After the installation is complete, click on START button, select Programs and scroll up and down until you see Getright on the list. Click on "Getright Tray Icon" to start Getright running. It will run until you shut it down or turn off your computer.

Then copy the above http:// address (called a URL - Universal Resource Locator) for Immerse into the Getright address line and Getright will download Immerse. (Actually, if you capture the Immerse URL location with Ctrl-C the Getright program will automatically read the address from the buffer, USUALLY.   So, you may notice when you go to paste the address into Getright that it is already there -- and assuming you are still online, the download process automatically begins.)  If your computer or phone connection fails half-way through the download you will not lose all that time before the failure because that is the function of Getright... i.e., to be able to interrupt and resume downloads.

Somewhat redundantly, here is the typical way you make Getright take the download. Go to the site where you are supposed to download the file... If Getright is already loaded and running in the background then all you should have to do is click on the URL ( http://www.bahaindex.com/software-immerse.html ) and Getright will take over doing the download. If this doesn't happen, and the download begins without Getright as the agent doing the download, then stop the download.  RIGHT click (i.e., use the right mouse button, not the left) on the URL address and copy it to the "clipboard" buffer (by choosing "copy link location"). Then click on the Getright ICON (it looks like an eyeball, but it is really the earth with some arrows going around it) and then click FILE on the Menu bar at the top and select ENTER URL. As soon as you do you should see the URL already entered for you. If it is not, you can paste it manually with a Ctrl-V because you already have it in your "clipboard" buffer.  As it begins, Getright may ask you where to save the Immerse file you are about to download if you do not already have a default -- such as "C:/my downloads" or "C:/downloads" or "C:/my documents"

YOU MUST NOW UN-ZIP IMMERSE

Downloading your Zipper (if you already have an unzipper, skip to UN-ZIP below)
Once you download the immerse file you will need winzip or coolzip or some similar program to "unzip" the immerse file. When IMMERSE downloads, it is both compressed and "zipped" (another form of compression to make the file smaller during transfer so that your download time is less). First Immerse needs to be "extracted" from the *.zip file. The Immerse zip file is NOT self-executing until after it is unzipped.  (It will NOT "run" if you just click on it.)   As I indicated previously, you will need a program such as Winzip or coolzip to unzip the file. Both can be downloaded for free from the web if you don't already have it on your computer.  (You might be surprised to find it.  Try clicking on START, then FINDFILES and type in "winzip.")

WinZip80 (recommended) can be found at:
http://www.bahaindex.com/software/winzip80.exe

It will be called "winzip80.exe" when you download it -- before it is decompressed and installed on your computer.  (This is a self-extracting or self-executing file that will automatically install itself when you follow the  Winzip Install directions below.)

Cutezip shareware can be found at:

http://www.davecentral.com/7506.html

(There is a fee for the Cutezip program after the trial period is up... but you can continue to use it until you can pay. It is the honor system.)   You may want to use GETRIGHT again to download WinZip or CuteZip, but they are not anywhere near the size of the original unbroken Immerse zip file and you would not lose much time if you had to restart the download.  If you have Getright running it may do the download for you anyway and that's OK.

If you have trouble finding a ZIP program, then use http://www.google.com/ or some other search engine on the web (like http://www.yahoo.com/) to find one of these, or another "unzipper." http://www.google.com/search?q=winzip80.exe&btnG=Google+Search

After you find your ZIPPER, you install it.  (WINZIP Install directions)
If you did not have a un-ZIP program, we assume you have now downloaded one (above paragraph).  You will now have to install it. Just notice where it lands on your hard disk (for Windows-based computers, probably "C:\temp\downloads" or "C:\downloads" or "C:\my downloads," depending on how you have set up your computer). If you don't know where it is, use FIND (Files/Folders) from the START menu. (Just type Winzip or Cutezip and the FIND routine will find it.) All you have to do is "click on it" to get it to install, since it is a self-extracting file. It should then install itself and be available to you from the START menu, under PROGRAMS, and you may also have been given the option to place an icon on the desktop during the install. How do you click on it? Place the mouse cursor over the file name and press the left mouse button twice quickly. You can locate the file to "click on" with FIND and click on it right there, or you can use Windows Explorer and look for it manually.... OR you can use the BROWSE feature of the RUN option from the START menu in the lower left-hand side of your computer screen. (If you use this last option you do not double-click you simply use the "OPEN" feature of the BROWSE routine.)

After they are installed, Cutezip will be located under

C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs\GlobalSCAPE\Cutezip

WinZIP will be located at C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs\WinZip and will also be in your START menu. (You can get rid of it there if you want by right clicking on it and selecting delete. This will not remove the program from the computer. It will still be listed under ...\Programs.  You can drag it to the desktop if you like, as a way of removing it from the START menu if you don't want to have it there.)

UN-ZIP "Immerse" once downloaded
The old  file name of the downloaded IMMERSE was "imrs32.zip"  This is what you will have if you are using earlier directions and have found a location on the web to download Immerse as one large zip file. HOWEVER, at the time of this writing, the plan is to do away with all locations except the one I have listed for you at Bahaindex above.  (Thus, I am not repeating the old locations for Immerse.)  Most of you will be use the new download location, so just follow the directions on the web at http://www.bahaindex.com/software-immerse.html and then continue with my instructions below.  After you download the nine files listed there you will RUN the program imrs95.zip.bat (the ninth file) by double-clicking on it.  This will patch all of the first eight text files together.  Then you will look for the file "imrs95.zip" and unzip it.  (If you find "imrs95.zip" you will not have "imrs32.zip."  I believe that they both result in the same version of Immerse being installed on your computer, however, which I believe is Vers. .092 -- dated 1997)

imrs95.zip is the file you will tell Cutezip or WinZIP to unzip. (I will tell you how to do that in a minute.)

After you download Immerse to your computer the file "imrs32.zip" or "imrs95.zip" should be on your computer. You should have noticed where Getright or Netzip was putting it during the download because you probably had to confirm the location. Even if you did not use Getright or Netzip you were asked where to store the file.  If you don't remember where it is stored on your computer, use FIND (Files/Folders) from the START menu. There are two ways to unzip the file: (1) if you have already installed WinZip80 or Cutezip on your computer you just have to double click on "imrse32zip" or "imrs95.zip" (whichever you have) file and the WINDOWS operating system will pull up whichever program you have set (associated with) as your default for opening zip files, OR (2) you can open one of those two programs (Winzip or Cutezip) and use the OPEN command to browse for the file and open it. WinZIP has a WIZARD feature that automates the whole process, so if you are not too computer savvy (hey, you made it this far didn't you?) then just use the WIZARD instead of OPEN. It will find every zipped file on your computer. Just scroll down to the "imrs32.zip" or the "imrs95.zip" file and press next. Follow the instructions. Everything is automatic.

Alternate method for downloading large files -- Combines downloading and unzipping into one step.
Another new alternative I have not tried, but which sounds good for downloading large files is Yahoo/Netscape's new "plugin" called Netzip Classic. It is an enhancement to Netscape (if that is your browser), though I think it can be used separately. Netzip combines downloading and un-zipping into one package. It is designed for anyone who downloads large ZIP files, MP3s, games, or any other file from the Internet. It also includes RealDownload, a download manager with convenient pause, resume, and scheduling features that put you in control of your downloads (like "Getright"). Netzip is designed to make zipping and unzipping files easy. Just right-click to zip or unzip. The program recognizes all of the popular compression formats, such as ZIP, EXE, ARJ, LHARC, and TAR. The Netzip Folders feature lets you treat all your ZIP files just like regular Windows folders. So instead of downloading Winzip and Getright you could theoretically just download Netzip to handle both jobs. The disadvantage (or the "downside") may be that after the trial period you will have to pay for it or lose it. Not sure. Won't matter if this is all you ever intend to do. Click here to own it for FREE   It should install automatically on your computer.  I would skip this myself, however, unless I needed a highly user friendly program to do both jobs (download and unzip), and I was willing to pay for it.

After Immerse is downloaded and UN-zipped, it's time to install it.
After Immerse is unzipped you should have a program called "Im32v092.exe" on your computer (or "SETUP.EXE" from the new download method) in the Immerse directory. This is the "self-executing" file derived from the "imrs32.zip" (zipped file) or "imrs95.zip" alternatively.  If you don't know where it is, use FIND (Files/folders) from the START menu. Double click on it and it will automatically install the Immerse program that you can finally use.  Yeah!   The new directions from the new download site indicate that you will double click on a file called "SETUP.EXE" but there could be several of these on your computer, so if you use the find routine, BE SURE to use the one in the Immerse folder.  (Most likely you will not have to search for it using FIND.)  If you have room on your hard disk it is a good idea to keep the zipped file around even after you install the extracted version of the program, just in case you have to install it all over again, or you want to give it to someone else via cable, CD or on your network (it's too big for a floppy).

If the above location (http://) on the web for IMMERSE changes (as it has so often) or you cannot find it, you may wish to contact Casper Voogt through the Bahá'í Computer & Communication Association (BCCA). He should be able to direct you to the latest link. Send an email to Casper at cvoogt@bahaindex.com.   Keep your browser trained on http://www.bahaindex.com/soft.html for the latest links (new location), should you find those above have changed. Also, if any of these links are not working when you first check them, try them the next day.   Sometimes the link is temporarily down.  The BCCA server likes to go down, so if these links don't work at first... TRY AGAIN the next day.  Sometime it takes a while (sometimes days) for them to fix it. BCCA stands for Bahá'í Computer & Communication Association. It is run by volunteers..

Other lower level links are these: http://www.bcca.org/services/srb/resources.html

http://www.bcca.org/~cvoogt/ or http://www.bahaindex.com/ (they are the same site)

Originally Immerse was found on The Electronic Bahá'í Library by Bernal Schooley:

http://www.lotsofschooleys.com/Bernal/

For more information see: http://www.lotsofschooleys.com/Immerse/

This should still be active and provide some additional information, though you cannot download the program from there.

A link for downloading from ZNET is provided there, BUT I don't think it works, so use the one at the Bahá'í Faith Index (http://www.bahaindex.com/) site above. http://hotfiles.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/texis/swlib/hotfiles/search.html

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

GOOD NEWS FOR Macintosh USERS.

ARCHIVE is an another electronic textbase of most of the Bahá'í writings, with an elementary search engine that is quite powerful called "EditPad Classic."   Archive works on PCs or Macintosh. It has the writings of Bahá'u'lláh's and the Bab (as one category, so that you cannot search these two separately), and the writings of Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of Justice that are released to electronic text. A number of other compilations, secondary sources and other Holy books are also contained there.  If you evoke the InfoRapid feature that comes with it, you can also employ Boolean logic (currently not available in MARS or Ocean).  It costs $25.

The latest "version" (at the time of this review) is called ARCHIVE 2.0 and the 5/25/01 advertisement reads as follows: "The Comprehensive, Universal Textbase of the Bahá'í Writings, is at last available after a year of scanning and proofreading. ARCHIVE 2.0 represents a near doubling of the textbase. Everything that was in ARCHIVE 1.x is in 2.0, plus these additional texts and more:"
 

• The Dawn Breakers (with all 166 illustrations)
• Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era
• Wellsprings of Guidance
• ALL the Ridván and Naw Ruz letters of the Universal House of Justice to the Bahá'ís of the world.
• One unpublished Tablet by 'Abdul-Baha, translated by Shoghi Effendi.
• A tablet by Bahá'u'lláh (translated by Shoghi Effendi) that was last published in 1923.
• Over a dozen previously unpublished compilations.
• Several letters from the Universal House of Justice on a wide variety of subjects.


Probably a later "version" implies the improvement of the text base (see notice from the author below), not the search engine itself, since the engine is freeware and "borrowed" with permission by the author of Archive.

If OCEAN did not exist I would definitely use Archive because you have access to so much text.  However it is like the standard transmission of a car. You must operate it "manually" -- almost. (I am speaking metaphorically. OCEAN is like having an automatic transmission.) If you are "computer literate" Archive's limitations may not bother you too much and this program definitely has some very nice features. (Remember some folks still like manual transmissions.) I have not reviewed version 2.0, so I cannot say whether I could live without it. Probably I cannot, since it now has all the illustrations with the Dawnbreakers. Sounds like a lot of work has gone into it since version 1.0.2, which is what I have. Keep that in mind as you read my review.

The search engine is a re-write of Windows Notepad, and having this program is probably worth the $25 in itself - even though you can obtain "EditPad" free on the web. It is FREEware. There are two other reasons to get this CD, even if you already have Ocean fully loaded with text.

The version of the Qur'án contained with Archive is Yusuf Ali's translation, although you may be able to download it free from The Islamic Computing Centre, 73 St. Thomas's Road, London N4 2QJ U.K. Tel:(071) 359 623 Fax:(071) 226 2024.  See http://www.uah.edu/msa/quranYusufali.html  There may be some copyright issues you have to consider and communication with the Center may be necessary.  If the copyright of the digital text is held by the book publisher there may be no issue at all if you already own a copy of the book in print.

The downside is that the Qur'án in Archive (Yusuf Ali's translation) is not broken down into Suras as is the Rodwell translation in Immerse and Ocean. (Immerse has both the phonetic and Anglicized names of the Suras.)  However, Archive includes the Bhagavad Gita, so if you do not have Immerse and are using this CD to get some additional text for Ocean, you will like this welcome addition over MARS.  I should mention that the Yusuf Ali translation of the Qur'an in both Ocean and Archive does has the Suras numbered, so in that sense they ARE broken down -- though not sectioned under chapter "names" as in Immerse.  Ocean (and I believe Archive) is more useful in one way:  Each paragraph is numbered with the Chapter number and paragraph number and this is the new standard, even for the Bahá'í Writings -- since so many of these texts are now being translated into foreign languages.  (Obviously page numbers would vary; so, reportedly, they are eventually being abandoned in Bahá'í texts.  Seems this is also being done with the Qur'an.)

Remember, MARS has only the Bahá'í writings, and not all of them. (And even though it is much faster to search with, you cannot add more writings to it.) For example, it does not have the Buddhist writings, which are only available with Immerse (and in Ocean, if you wish to import them).  MARS does not have the Qur'an.

Unlike Immerse, "Archive" DOES break down the Old and New Testament down separately for search routines (Immerse lets you see them separately but not search them separately), and it will allow you to limit your search to just one of them, but you have to highlight every book in the New or Old Testament (whichever you want) and that takes up more room than the entire menu bar at the top... so if you had anything else open, like the Qur'án or the Bahá'í writings you would not even know it until you had completed your search. Ocean on the other hand would allow you to search the New Testament or the Old Testament with a single command -- assuming you import each as a separate text with its own name - and you can always control or limit the texts you are searching in a way that you can clearly see what you are doing. I ran comparative searches between Ocean and Archive on the same texts... and the results were exactly the same. I received the same number of hits for the same search criteria when using single words.

Unfortunately, in Archive, the names of the texts (the database) are truncated and you may not be able to figure out what they are without going and looking at them. You could rename them but unless you have Windows 95/98, you would lose the full name again. (This would also be true for OCEAN if you are trying to use names longer than eight characters with Windows 3.1.)  Ideally, if you use them with OCEAN you would want to rename all of these files or you will only be able to guess the major ones from the abbreviated names. You would rename them with Window Explorer before you drag them into the "libraries" (now called Custom Bookshelves) you create with OCEAN. With respect to PCs, Archive is essentially a DOS-based or Windows 3.1 engine. Most file names are not longer than 4 characters. (Supposedly version 2.0 has corrected this limitation and you can receive a free update upon request, according to a conversation I had with the author, Stephen Dighton.)

Archive: "Bottom-line"
If you do not have the ability to download texts quickly from the web, you could justify the purchase of this disk purely for the texts ($25) and import them into OCEAN. No one has a copyright on these texts already released to the web (except the Universal House of Justice), and no one has a copyright on the program, although the combination seems to be copyright-able, so you should buy this CD, not pirate it. Some good work was done here and the cost is minimal. (More information is available from http://www.schoolmarmwood.org/ -- click on ARCHIVE in the directory on the left.

OR email Stephen Dighton, swp@schoolmarmwood.org) I bought my copy at the Green Acre Bahá'í School book store, so that might be easier for some of you. It is also available through the BDS -- Bahá'í Distribution.Service  bds@usbnc.org / 800-999-9019 (also for MARS)

Here is the latest description (May 27, 2001) of Archive that I received from Steve Dighton with certain points he would like to have mentioned:

"First: ARCHIVE is the ONLY program of its kind for Macintosh computer users currently available. The Mac version has an integrated text reader and search engine that combines many of the functions you found admirable in the various Windows programs. Both Windows and Mac versions [of the Archive software] reside on the same disk. The user sees only the portion [of the software] that his computer can use.

Second: ARCHIVE, like OCEAN, is open-ended as well. Users can add their own texts simply by creating a text file and putting it in whatever folder they wish. Instructions are included in the manual on the disk.

Third: To my [Steve's] knowledge, ARCHIVE is the only electronic collection that has ONLY authenticated texts of the Bahá'í Writings, most in authorized translations.

Fourth: ARCHIVE is structured so that the user can read a single book in its entirety, if he or she so chooses, in addition to searching it or any part of the textbase.

In one of his emails to me Steve writes:  "Version 2.0 addresses some of the deficiencies you [Greg Watson] bring up."   Here are his comments on the V.2.0 update:

First: ARCHIVE 2.0 is probably the most comprehensive electronic collection of authenticated Bahá'í texts currently available on CD.  [This statement made prior to text being provided with Ocean.]

Second: All the files in 2.0 have long names so you now know what book you are looking at.

Third: 2.0 now contains the Dhammapada.

Fourth: Your surmise is correct that the primary search device is still EditPad. However, there is an optional search engine that has always been a part of ARCHIVE (InfoRapid Search) which can be installed if the user wishes. It is not as intuitive as other Windows programs and does take a bit of getting used to, but it will provide very fast searches of the files in any folder, such as those in the Bible. Think of it as a "crash box" type of manual transmission rather than the smoother "syncromesh" transmissions we've all come to accept as standard.

The price of ARCHIVE 2.0 is $35.00. It went on sale 5-25-01 and there are no version 1.0.2 disks available except those left is in stock in Bahá'í bookstores and at the BDS. Purchasers of ARCHIVE 1.0.2 who had a red coupon in their package can upgrade to 2.0 for free by following the instructions on the coupon."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Yakov Phillips has put together two CD-ROMs full of Bahá'í texts. Websites, pictures and more for only $20. It uses the same search software as ARCHIVE and has been reviewed in the Bahá'í Journal (UK Bahá'í Monthly magazine) as being the Best $20 ever spent.

His email address is yakovphillips@hotmail.com

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"STAR OF THE WEST"
(via SIFTER search / study engine).

The Star of the West amounts to over 8,000 pages. Although its importance is universally acknowledged, due to its sheer volume re-publication has been uneconomical. Only about half has ever been re-published -- and that at great expense. The $120 set of volumes re-published by George Ronald some twenty years ago made the first 4,000 pages available to many. This Sifter publication contains, in one inexpensive CD, the entire 25 volumes spanning from 1910 through 1935 (all 8000 pages).  Sifter includes photographs.  (I believe that they are "jpeg" and "tif" image files.)  It costs $65, with free shipping (globally) included (for a limited time).

This is available from http://www.bahai-education.org/star/default.asp?a=1  (Same website as Ocean.)

Here is an explanation of what SIFTER is all about from the web site:

Sifter is a tool created to help people explore, browse and research. Within one little CD, thousands of page images are stored and indexed. Like a bookshelf, Sifter lets you select a book and open to a specific chapter or page, flip pages and make bookmarks and placeholders. Unlike a conventional book, Sifter's bookshelf is fully searchable. Type a few words and Sifter launches into a furious analysis 'sifting' through its thousands of pages to find references to your topic. Want to search the entire Star of the West for all references to "century of light"? Now you can. With Sifter, you can do more 'research' with less 'search'.  When you find an article you like, simply bookmark it and, if you like, hit PRINT and your printer produces -- essentially -- a photocopy of the book's original page, including photos and illustrations!

Sifter, therefore is really just a tool to help make books more accessible. The present publication - The Star of the West - provides a perfect example." Sifter is the engine. Star of the West is the data. This data for Star of the West occupies approximately 450 megabytes. See http://www.bahai-education.org/ocean/faq.htm for frequently asked questions on this program. (May not yet be functional.) Also, see  http://www.bahai-education.org/star/intro.htm

FreeText
On "Bahá'í Tech" (Bahá'í techie listserv group) they've been talking about "Freetext" and using it as a Bahá'í writings search tool. It now runs on both the Macintosh and Windows.   It was just recently converted to work on a PC and is called "Bahá'í fResearch".  See  http://www.markfoster.net/fresearch.html  or http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/liberty/1130/fresearch.html

Don Calkins seems to be a primary Bahá'í proponent of FreeText, which he claims (once claimed -- before Ocean's advent) is the fastest text retrieval engine available.  Don can be reached at drc@gfindex.com.  Not too long ago, Mark Zimmerman, the author of Freetext, located the original C-code and some rudimentary DOS and UNIX versions.  They are on his web site now.  (See http://www.commonlink.com/~drc/ft/freetext.html )

If someone wants to work on it, the code and documentation are available at http://www.his.com/~z/c/index.html

"Bahá'í Tech" is a mailing list; instructions on how to join are found on http://www.bahaindex.com/themelists.html

InfoRapid
Another interesting set of links to a generic program (with no Bahá'í texts association) that is like Archive and FreeText can be found on Google under "InfoRapid".  InfoRapid also comes with Archive, although you must activate it as an optional search engine.  I have no information of comparative capabilities (with Ocean, etc), but obviously you can import Bahá'í texts in ASCII text format.  It can utilize Boolean logic, which can be a big plus for some of you.

Several other links to Bahá'í texts (including other languages) are provided on my web site at http://www.homestead.com/watsongregory/files/index.htm
or http://64.124.124.37/watsongregory/files/ if you DNS is not working
(particularly at the bottom of the "United Nations talk")
http://www.homestead.com/watsongregory/files/un_talk.html

There is also a type of web search engine at the bottom of my home page that links to all the sources on the web that Casper Voogt has provided.  You can copy it to your home home page if you like. (Casper provides instructions from his site.)  If you have questions, you can email me at "watsongreg @ email.com"  (Sorry, but no automatic email link to me -- in order to prevent spam email harvesting)

Go back to the top of this document
Go back to the Table of Contents

Back to: Library Miscellany Home  |  Site Map  |  Forum  |  Links  |  Contact/corrections

Google distinguishes apostrophes, e.g. "Bahá'í" and "Baháí" return different results.. See more search tips.

login