GETTING INFORMATION TO AND FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS [FAQ] Updated March 12, 1993
A. HOW TO SIGN UP FOR ELECTRONIC RELEASES
FROM THE WHITE HOUSE:
The White House Communications office is distributing press releases over an
experimental system developed during the campaign.
You can sign up to receive press releases on this experimental system by using
the automated computer server. You will be carried forward onto the system
that replaces it. However, it would be appreciated if you used this service
sparingly at this time. The present system was not designed to handle high
levels of message traffic. In due course, a more powerful system will be
available.
You can also find copies of the press releases in certain on-line bulletin board
groups devoted to discussions of either national politics in general or President
Clinton in particular.
1. On USENET/NETNEWS, electronic publications are found
on a variety of groups:
Direct Distribution
att.politics.clinton
alt.politics.org.misc
alt.politics. reform
alt.politics.usa.misc
alt.news-media
altactivism
talk.politics.misc
Indirect Distribution
misc.activism.progressive
cmu.soc. politics
assocs.clinton-gore-92
2. On CompuServe: GO WHITEHOUSE
3. On America Online: keyword WHITEHOUSE or THE
WHITEHOUSE or CLINTON
EPA Library Network, Information Access Branch EPA 220-B-93-006
Office of Information Resources Management May 1993
Printed on Recycled Paper
-------
2
4. On The WELL: type whitehouse
5. On MCI: type VIEW WHITE HOUSE
Clinton-Into Server
If you don’t have access to the these accounts or if you would prefer to receive
the releases via e-mail, then the next section details how to sign up for this
service. The server is not set up to answer e-mail letters, comments or requests
for specific information. To reach this server, send e-mail:
to: Clinton-lnfo@Campaig n92.Org
subject: Help
The server works by reading the subject line of the incoming message and
taking whatever action that line calls for. If you want to sign up to automatically
receive press releases, then your subject line would begin with the word
RECEIVE. You can then specify what kind of information you are interested in
receiving. The categories of information are:
ECONOMIC POLICY - releases related to the economy such as
budget news, technology policy review, etc. -
FOREIGN POLICY - releases related to foreign policy such
as statements on Bosnian airdrop, Haitian refugee status, etc.
SOCIAL POLICY - releases related to social issues like
National Service (Student Loan) program, abortion, welfare
reform, etc.
SPEECHES - All speeches made by the President and
important speeches made by other Administration officials.
NEWS - Transcripts of press conferences released
by the White House Communications office, as well as the
President’s remarks in photo ops and other Q&A sessions.
ALL - All of the above
So, if you wanted to sign up to get releases related to the economy, your e-mail
message would look like this:
To: Clinton-Info@Campaign92.Org
Subject: RECEIVE ECONOMY
-------
3
When you send a signup message to the clinton-Info server it sends you
back a status message letting you know what distribution streams you are
signed up for. If you ever want to check on what groups you are signed up for
send the following message:
To: Clinton-lnfo@Campaign92.Org
Subject: STATUS
You can stop receiving e-mail releases by sending a REMOVE message to the
clinton-Info server. The word REMOVE would be followed by whatever
distribution stream you wanted to drop. If you wanted to slop receiving message
about the ECONOMY then your mail would look like this:
To: Cli nton-info@Campaign92.Org
Subject: REMOVE ECONOMY
You could substitute SOCIAL, FOREIGN, SPEECHES, NEWS or ALL for
ECONOMY in the above message and you would be dropped from that
distribution list. If you send the subject line REMOVE ALL, then you will be taken
off the e-mail distribution system all together and will not receive further
releases of any kind.
You can also ask for help from the automated server. Send an e-mail query as
follows:
To: Clinton-I nfo@Campaign92.Org
Subject: HELP
The server will respond by sending you a detailed form that will guide you
through the process of signing up for the various distribution streams.
EPA Library Network, Information Access Branch
Office of Information Resources Management May1993
-------
4
B. ARE THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS RELEASES
BEING ARCHIVED?
Yes. Vanous sites are archiving the press releases. What follows is an
incomplete list of some of the sites containing the documents that have been
released to date. This FAQ will be updated to reflect new sites as they become
known.
SITE DIRECTORY
1. SUNSITE.UNC.EDU /HOME3/WAIS/WHITE-HOUSE-PAPERS
The Office For Information Technology at University of North Carolina maintains
the full collection of White House electronic release available for search with
WAIS.
(:source
Nersion 3
:database-name “/home3/wais/White-House-Papers”
:ip-address “152.2.22.81”
:ip-name “sunsite.unc.edu”
.lcp-port 210
:cost 0.00
:cost-unit :free
:maintainer “pjones@sunsite.unc.edu”
:descnption “Server created with WAIS release 8 b5 on
Feb 27 15:16:16 1993 by pjones@sunsite.unc.edu
These are the White House Press Briefings and other postings dealing with
William Jefferson Clinton and Albert Gore as well as members of the President’s
Cabinet and the first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Chelsea, Socks and others in
Washington DC. Dee Dee Meyers and George Stephanopoulos. Other good
words: United States of America, Bill Al Tipper Democrats USA US These files
are also available via anonymous ftp from sunsite.unc.edu The files of type
filename used in the index were: /home3/ftp/pub/academic/political-
science/whitehouse-papers/1 993 “)
Folks without WAIS clients or gophers that act as WAIS clients may telnet
to, sunsite.unc.edu and login as swais to access this information via WAIS.
2. FTP.CCO.CALTECH.EDU /PUB/BJMCCALL
No special instructions.
3. FTP MARISTB.MARIST.EDU
The CLINTON@MARIST log files which contain all the official
administration releases distributed through the MIT servers are available via
-------
5
anonymous FTP. These logs contain in addition to the official releases, the
posts that comprise the ongoing discussion conducted by the list subscribers.
To obtain the logs: FTP MARISTB.MARIST.EDU -
the logs are in the CLINTON directory and are named CLINTON
L0G9208 thru CLINTON LOGyymm where yymm stands for the current
year and month.
Problems should be directed to my attention:
URLS@MARISTC.BITNET or URLS@VM.MARIST.EDU.
Posted by Lee Sakkas - owner, CLINTON@MARIST
4. CPSR.ORG /CPSR/CLINTON
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility is providing all Clinton
documents on technology and privacy at the CPSR Internet Library, available
via FTP/WAIS/Gopher at cpsr.org /cpsr/clinton (and in other folders as relevant).
For email access, send a message with the word “help” at the 1 St line of text to
listserv@cpsr.org.
5. FedWorid BBS 703-321-8020 8-N-i
The White House Forum (GO WHITEHOUSE) on CompuServe is devoted to
discussion of the Clinton administration’s policies and activities. The forum’s
library consists of news releases and twice
daily media briefings from the White House Office of Media
Affairs. CompuServe members can exchange information and
opinions with each other in the 17 sections in the forum’s
message area. The message board spans a
broad range of topics, including international and United
Nations activities, defense) health care, the economy and
the deficit, housing and urban development, the
environment, and education and national service.
6. On America Online [ AOL] the posts are sent to the White House
Forum, located in the News & Finance department of the service and accessible
via keywords “white house” and cIinton.” The White House Forum on America
Online contains the press releases from the White House, divided into the
categories “Press Briefings,” “Meetings & Speeches,” “Foreign Policy,” “The
Economy,” “Technology,” uHealth Care,” and “Appointments.”
EPA Ubrary Network, Information Access Branch
Office of Information Resources Management May 1993
-------
6
The area features a message board so you can discuss the releases with other
AOL members, and a searchable database for easy retrieval of releases in the
topic that interests you.
7. MC! Mall users can access daily information on the administration’s
programs provided by the White House through MCI Mail bulletin boards.
The available boards are:
WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC
WHITE HOUSE FOREIGN
WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL
WHITE HOUSE SPEECHES
WHITE HOUSE NEWS
A listing of these boards can also be obtained by simply typing VIEW WHITE
HOUSE at the COMMAND prompt.
C. SENDING E-MAIL TO THE WHITE HOUSE
The White House e-mail system is under construction. This is a new project and
suffers from all of the problems common to a startup operation. The
Communications Office is currently working on defining what this system will dq,
as well as trying to come up with equipment and staffing to make sure that it
works. E-mail messages are currently being printed out and responses are
being sent out via US Mail.
Nobody wants this new venture to work more than the staff that has devoted so
many hours to getting it up and running. But much time and effort will be
required before the system is truly interactive. In the mean time, they will need a
little patience from the electronic community. If you send a message to the
White House, please include a US Post office address for replies.
You can send e-mail to the following accounts:
Compuserve 75300,3115
GO: WHITE HOUSE - finds White House forum
AmerIca OnLine clinton pz
KEYWORD: WI-IITEHOUSE - finds White House area
MCI TO: WHITE HOUSE
VIEW WHITE HOUSE - views bulletin boards
Internet cli nton-hq@Campaig n92. Org
75300.311 5@compuserve.com
clintonpz@aol.com
Please send corrections, deletion and additions to this faq to:
Updates@Clinton92.Org
------- |