The Scout Report - August 25, 1995

August 25, 1995

A Service to the Internet Community Provided by the Info Scout and the InterNIC


The Scout Report is a weekly publication offering a selection of new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and educators, the InterNIC's primary audience. However everyone is welcome to subscribe to one of the mailing lists (plain text or HTML) or visit the Web version of the Scout Report on the InterNIC server:
rs.internic.net/scout_report-index.html

Additional information and detailed access and subscription instructions are included at the end of each Scout Report.

Highlights In This Week's Report:

World Wide Web:

  • The Censorship, Freedom of Speech, and Child Safety Web page deals with these hot issues by providing links to sites with useful information and good suggestions for ways parents and teachers can promote responsible use of the Internet. For example, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provides an online brochure titled "Child Safety on the Information Highway." Other links lead to resources on children's issues, the cyberporn debate, child-friendly resources, resource guides for librarians and educators, and Safe Surf - Voluntary Site Identification Codes.
    http://www.voicenet.com/~cranmer/censorship.html
  • The Guide to Computer Vendors Web page offers many if not most of the URL's for computer hardware and software vendors, as well as a comprehensive vendor phone book and links to many of the computer magazines on the Web. There is no search capability but browsing is fairly easy using the alphabetical index.
    http://guide.sbanetweb.com/
  • LIBERATION, a French daily newspaper (circulation 230,000), has launched a World-Wide Web version of "Multimedia," its weekly illustrated supplement. (in French)
    http://www.liberation.fr/multi/index.html
  • The NDOPA WebText, a companion Web page to the award-winning live philosophy talk show, No Dogs or Philosophers Allowed, is now up and running. NO DOGS... plans 26 programs for 1996. Check out the topics as well as the history of this unique project. Television that makes you think.
    http://www.nodogs.org/
  • A Web page at Johns Hopkins University an up-to-date, comprehensive, and informative list of links to resources in philosophy and related disciplines. Pages are limited to ca. 35K each. Continually updated, with occasional surprises.
    http://www.jhu.edu/~phil/index.html
  • The Pennsylvania Dutch Convention And Visitors Bureau, in cooperation with the attractions of the Amish Country of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, now offer a complete virtual information center on the Pennsylvania Dutch Country of Lancaster County. Includes information on the Amish, quilts, covered bridges, and all the interesting things to see and do in the area.
    http://www.800padutch.com/
  • A database of some 12,850 listserv, majordomo and listproc mailing lists at 298 sites is maintained by the Indiana University Support Center for the UCS Knowledge Base. Enter a word or partial word, and you'll get back a list of all the lists containing that word in the title or official description. Instructions for subscribing or retrieving more information about each list are included. Very handy.
    http://www.indiana.edu/~ucssc/mlarchive/
    [Note: When last checked by the Internet Scout team, this site URL was no longer available.]
  • The UC Toxic Substances Research & Teaching Program WWW is designed to open communication and interest between the public and the researchers within the University of California. Several areas of research are covered, including: coastal toxicology, ecotoxicology, health effects, and environmental engineering. The program includes all nine UC Campuses and three national laboratories. Browse for conference announcements, articles of interest, and profiles of researchers. Address questions or comments to:
    taeastman@ucdavis.edu
    http://www.tsrtp.ucdavis.edu/tsrtp/homepage.html
  • The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) is a regional agency established in 1953 by an interstate compact among 15 western states. WICHE's activities and publications are designed to facilitate resource sharing and cost-effective services among member and affiliate states and their public and independent colleges and universities. Their Web page provides information about their activities and publications related to U.S. - Mexico educational exchange, research and policy analysis, Higher Ed and the economy, educational telecommunications, and student opportunities.
    http://www.wiche.edu
  • WWLib a comprehensive catalogue of WWW pages based at sites in the United Kingdom. The catalogue is organized using the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC - version 20),which is widely used in libraries. This makes very powerful and easy to search, since sites are indexed by what they are about, not just what words they contain. It is entirely free, either to search or to submit an entry.
    http://www.scit.wlv.ac.uk/wwlib/

Gopher

  • Jerusalem One Network is one of the most popular Jewish resource on Internet and contains over 10,000 files that cover all aspects of Jewish life. A simple menu guides you to everything from news, politics, medicine, travel, tourism, and world-wide Jewish community information. The Jerusalem1 staff updates the information on a continuous basis.
    gopher to: gopher.jer1.co.il
  • The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) gopher is designed for people interested in archeology, historic architecture, historic landscapes, materials conservation or history. It contains information about NCPTT programs; announcements of jobs, conferences, grants, and workshops; and a lot of links to other preservation-related Internet resources.
    http://www.ncptt.nps.gov/index2.stm
    [Note: Originally reviewed as a gopher site; gopher site has been replaced by web site.]
  • The Space Science Group is part of the Division of Mathematics and Sciences at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La. The mission of The Space Science Group is to provide activities that encourage participation in math and science, build knowledge of basic concepts, teach basic science skill, and positively influence attitudes. The mission of The Space Science Group is to develop and implement programs which use aspects of the space program to motivate students to study mathematics and science. Many Space Science Group programs are described at the URL below. For information about any of them call toll free 1-800-259-9555. You may also contact us by fax at 1-318-357-4307 or email at ssg@nsula.edu.
    http://www.spacesciencegroup.nsula.edu/

Electronic Mailing Lists

  • The EDEQUITY (Educational Equity Discussion List) is an international theory and practice discussion list on issues of educational equity in a multicultural context in schools, colleges and other education sites. The list encourages discussion between teachers and other educators, equity practitioners, advocates, parents, policymakers, counselors and others interested in equity. EDEQUITY serves as a forum to discuss how to attain equity for males and females; and how gender equity can be a helpful construct for improving education for all. The participation of both women and men is welcomed. Topics for discussion include classroom interactions, curriculum development, school environment, education reform, violence prevention, math and science education, vocational and nontraditional education, school-to-work issues, community-based learning, and counseling. Ask questions and exchange information about teaching strategies, useful texts and films, innovative programs, current research, and funding sources.
    send email to: Majordomo@mail.edc.org
    in the body of the message type: subscribe edequity
    http://www.edc.org/WomensEquity/edequity/index.html
  • The U.S. General Accounting Office, Congress' Watchdog agency, now has a mailing list service for a daily electronic posting of the General Accounting Office (GAO) Daybook. The GAO Daybook is the daily listing of released GAO reports and testimony.
    send email to: majordomo@www.gao.gov
    in the body of the message type: subscribe daybook
    To receive additional info about GAO services:
    send e-mail to: info@www.gao.gov
    in the body of the message type: info

NetBytes

  • For almost two years, as part of a research and development project, the non-profit Internet Multicasting Service has put the entire text of U.S. Patent and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents on-line via the EDGAR On-line database. Recently Internet Muliticasting announced the EDGAR research project would end on October 1, and a discussion ensued concerning the future availability of this information over the Internet free of charge. Current information on the status of the discussion, including background information on EDGAR and the Paperwork Reduction Act (which becomes law on October 1) is provided on an Internet Multicasting Web page. Comments from SEC Chairman Levitt and Congressman Markey are available, as are statistics on EDGAR's usage via the Internet and cost comparisons for the same information retrieved from commercial information providers.
    http://www.town.hall.org/govt/tuttle/
    Taxpayers Assets Project (TAP) has established a mailing list for discussion of the topic.
    send mail to: listproc@tap.org
    in the body of the message type:
    subscribe edgar-action yourfirstname yourlastname
    • "Who's succeeding on the Internet and how?" is an 88 page hardcopy report based on survey data and is one of the first comprehensive study of online businesses. Topics addressed include the differences between successful and unsuccessful enterprises, what successful marketers do differently, the 9 most common pitfalls to avoid, how much is actually sold online, how companies market online, factors that affect the timing of a company's entry into online marketing and where online marketing is going in the next 12 months. The report includes the 52 tables and charts most vital to online profitability. The price is discounted if ordered through Webster.
      http://www.smartbiz.com/sbs/miscprod/rpt1.htm
      Or for more information send mail to:
      more@hpcwire.tgc.com
      and in the subject line type: 7078

    Weekend Scouting

    • The COMMUNITY-MUSIC list was formed to promote the discussion of issues relating to community bands and orchestras. The majority of these ensembles are volunteer groups where musicians perform out of the sheer enjoyment of making music, although there are some exceptions. Among the topics which may be discussed are locating (or creating) an ensemble in your area, selecting music, retaining key musicians (and dealing with substandard ones), finding a good conductor, raising funds, announcing upcoming concerts, and more. The Web page contains the FAQ for the group and other community music-related links and information.
      http://www.io.com/~rboerger/community.html
      send email to: MAJORDOMO@MPD.TANDEM.COM
      in the body of the message type: subscribe community-music
      on the second line of text type: end
      • Major League Baseball's MLB @BAT, the only official source for MLB information on the world wide web. MLB @BAT provides you with access to daily updated scores, statistics, rosters, league leaders, and MLB Club related information. In addition, check out News & Notes for late-breaking Official Major League Baseball press releases, view photos of the current NL/AL Players of the Week in MLB Photo Gallery, or purchase official MLB merchandise in the MLB Clubhouse Shop.
        http://www.majorleaguebaseball.com/
      • The new NFL-LIST is for discussion of the NFL in general, and for any and all things relevant to the NFL. Many team-specific mailing lists exist, but the NFL-LIST can be for everyone who also enjoys the broader view. Topics open for discussion include all players, coaches and teams; statistics, and statistical innovation; player rating systems (in the works); systems to predict team performances such as power ratings; college players, insofar as their NFL potential, place in the draft, etc.; history, best of All-Time; salary and economic info, collective bargaining, front-offices; football board games, computer games and fantasy football; and team systems and strategies. The list is moderated and "civil adult discussion" will be expected ( i.e. no insulting flame wars allowed.)
        send email to: rscott@mail.coin.missouri.edu
        in the subject line type: SUBSCRIBE NFL-List .
        in the body of the message type:
        subscribe NFL-List yournamehere youremailaddresshere

      About the Scout Report

      The Scout Report is a weekly publication offered by the InterNIC to the Internet community as a fast, convenient way to stay informed about network activities. Its purpose is to combine in one place selected new (and newly-discovered) Internet resources.

      A wide range of topics are included in the Report with an emphasis on resources thought to be of interest to the InterNIC's primary audience, the research and education community. Each resource has been verified for substantial content and accessibility within a day of the release of the Report.

      The Scout Report is provided in multiple formats -- mailing lists for both a plain text and HTML version, and World Wide Web. The World Wide Web version of the Report includes links to all listed resources. The report is released every weekend.

      In addition to the plain text version, the Scout Report is distributed in HTML format allowing sites to post the Scout Report on local WorldWideWeb servers each week. The result is faster access for local users. You are welcome and encouraged to re-post and re-distribute the report. Note that copyright statements appear on all versions of the Scout Report, and we ask that these be included when re-posting or re-distributing.

      If you haven't yet subscribed or told your friends and colleagues, now is the time. Spread the news by word-of-net. Join 20,000 of your colleagues already using the Scout Report as a painless tool for tracking what's new on the 'Net!

      Comments and contributions to the Scout Report are encouraged and can be sent to scout@cs.wisc.edu

      -- Susan Calcari
      InterNIC Info Scout

      Scout Report Access Methods

      • To receive the electronic mail version of the Scout Report each Friday, join the scout-report mailing list. You will receive one message a week -- the Scout Report every weekend.

        send email to: majordomo@dsmail.internic.net in the body of the message, type:

        subscribe scout-report
        to unsubscribe to the list, repeat this procedure substituting the word "unsubscribe" for subscribe.
        • To receive the Scout Report in HTML format for local posting, subscribe to the scout-report-html mailing list, used exclusively to distribute the Scout Report in HTML format once a week.

          send mail to: majordomo@lists.internic.net in the body of the message, type:

          subscribe scout-report-html

          Resource Addressing Conventions

          After each resource in the Scout Report one or more network addresses are listed. Every attempt is made to use the same convention in each listing for the network address of each resource. It is assumed that users recognize the type of address and know how to use it. However, for those users unfamiliar with the Internet we provide here the order in which addresses are listed (by network tool.) A brief explanation of one tool, WWW is included below.

          The four network tools referenced most often in the Scout Report are World Wide Web, gopher, email, and FTP. Occasionally WAIS and Telnet addresses are also listed.

          After each resource at least one address is listed, and sometimes more. This is because some resources are available using multiple network tools. The network tool addresses are always listed in the same order after each resource:

          • World Wide Web (WWW)
          • Gopher
          • FTP
          • Email
          • Telnet
          • WAIS
          A WWW address is called a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and always begins with a string of characters followed by a colon and two forward slashes. For example:

          http://www.internic.net/
          gopher://gibbs.oit.unc.edu:70/11/research.d/grants.d
          ftp://ftp.digex.net/pub/access/hecker/internet/slip-ppp.txt

          To access the resource through the WWW you can use a WWW browser installed on your desktop computer, or a "command-line" WWW client on your local Internet host computer. Web browsers are available for all major computer platforms, including Macintosh, PC, and UNIX. Check with your local support center or your Internet Service Provider for more information about Web browsers installed on the Internet host computer or for your desktop computer.

          Copyright Susan Calcari, 1995.

          Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the Scout Report provided the copyright notice, this permission notice, and the two paragraphs below are preserved on all copies.

          The InterNIC provides information about the Internet and the resources on the Internet to the US research and education community under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation: NCR-9218742. The Government has certain rights in this material.

          Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, AT&T, or Network Solutions, Inc.