Network Sites: One way through the Festival queues

Andrew North skirts the Fringe in Edinburgh, and does his homework

Fringe Site: The Edinburgh Fringe is 50 years old this year and it opened yesterday. Billed as the largest arts festival in the world, it has a suitably large Web site (http://www.web13.co.uk/fringe/) to help you work your way around the hundreds of different shows. It has a full, searchable programme guide, covering every event in the three-week festival. You can book tickets on-line or order a paper copy of the programme. There is also a useful collection of links to other related sites, including exhibitions and accommodation guides.

The Edinburgh Festival's site (http://www.ed.ac.uk/eif/home.html) is a much less exuberant affair, but it has a full guide. You click on a date and on the type of performance you wish to see and it tells you everything that is showing that day, followed by booking information. Be quick. There were a lot of "Sold Out" signs flashing when I visited.

Aerobatics Site: Another obscure sport has arrived on the Web, this time flying in at high speed. You guessed it (not): it is the British Aerobatics Association (http://www.aerobatics.org.uk), with a site intended to promote the death-wish "sport" of performing multiple mid-air somersaults and other kamikaze tricks in a jet. There is information on aerobatic events, results and information on how to get involved, starting from glider level and moving up to a Sukhoi 31 jet.

Geography Site: The Geography of Cyberspace, that is (http:// www.cf.ac.uk/uwcc/cplan/martin/geography_of_cyberspace /geography_of_cyberspace .html). This is a voluminous collection of links to Web sites specialising in the ever-changing geography of the Internet.

Put together by a Cardiff academic, it ranges from "Mapping the Internet", which looks at its spread and penetration, through to "WWW Demographics" and "Internet Traffic". Many of the recommended links will be well known to Net-veterans, such as the National Centre for Supercomputing Applications, but it is an ideal place to go for anyone who needs facts and figures about cyberspace.

Homeworkers' Site: Working at home, waiting for the phone to ring, raging at non-paying customers? I know the feeling - being part of the great new age of homeworking can be a lonely and thankless existence. But now there is a chance for us pioneers to share our gripes, and perhaps pick up a few tips too, via the Homeworker Conferencing System (http://www. homeworker.co.uk/). In the Home section, there are topics such as "Keeping a Life" and "Distractions" (the fridge is my main distraction, but I call it an attraction) and in Business, you will find discussions on areas such as "Getting Paid" and promoting your products. Backed by Lloyds Bank, the site is nicely designed, with a cork noticeboard backdrop. Trouble is, because it is so new there is virtually no one there. Most of the discussion forums have yet to receive a single contribution. I'll have to go back to talking to the fridge.