The Scout Report - March 28, 1997

March 28, 1997

A Publication of Internet Scout
Computer Science Department, University of Wisconsin

A Project of 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). Subscription instructions are included at the end of each report.

Making of America--University of Michigan and Cornell University Digital Library [Frames]
http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/
This site, a collaboration between the University of Michigan and Cornell University, is a major new effort to "preserve and make accessible through digital technology a significant body of primary sources related to development of the US infrastructure." MOA will develop a digital library of materials published between about 1850 and 1900, documenting that period. The final product is scheduled to contain over 5,000 works. At present, nearly 700 items are available, covering topics from agriculture to etiquette to yellow fever. The collection can be browsed or searched by author, title, or subject. An advanced search interface allows full-text proximity searching. The works are available as individual images of the pages, which can be downloaded or printed (one at a time at present). As the site develops, it will become not only a major resource for researchers of the period, but also an important repository for the electronic preservation of these works. [JS]
[Back to Contents]

Combined Health Information Database
http://chid.nih.gov/
A joint project of the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this unified database of bibliographic records has been available to the public since 1985, and now sports a clean new interface. There are sixteen separately maintained databases that can be searched individually or at once, ranging from AIDS Education and Alzheimers Disease to Cancer Prevention and Weight Control. The simple search interface offers a single box into which keywords are entered. The detailed search interface allows the user to specify date of publication, media type, and language, and provides multiple query boxes that may be linked together by Boolean operators. Searches return lists of matches, from which individual bibliographic records (including abstracts) may be viewed. Reprint ordering procedures are also listed. Users may also browse information on the scope and coverage of each of the sixteen databases. [ML]
[Back to Contents]

Social Sciences in Forestry Bibliography--University of Minnesota
gopher://minerva.forestry.umn.edu:70/11/SSiF
gopher to: minerva.forestry.umn.edu
select: Social Sciences in Forestry Bibliography
[Note: Originally reviewed as a gopher site; gopher may no longer be current/available.]
http://www-stp.lib.umn.edu/for/bib/SSiF.html
Other U of M Forestry Bibliographies
gopher://minerva.forestry.umn.edu
[Note: Originally reviewed as a gopher site; gopher may no longer be current/available.]
http://www-stp.lib.umn.edu/for/bib/
This quarterly bibliography, produced by the Forestry Library at the University of Minnesota, contains briefly annotated citations in 43 subjects in four major areas (forestry at large, forest management, forest goods and services, and forest industries). At present 48 issues (1985-1996), containing over 30,000 citations, are available for subject browsing or keyword searching. The only drawback to this bibliography is that citations must be downloaded/printed one at a time. See the "About SSiF" section for interlibrary loan availability of cited publications. SSiF is one of seven briefly annotated forestry-related bibliographies (time span varies) available from the Forestry Library gopher server. [JS]
[Back to Contents]

Dragonfly--Elementary school interactive science
http://www.muohio.edu/dragonfly/
Dragonfly Email List
http://www.muohio.edu/dragonfly/list.htmlx
Dragonfly, a collaboration between the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Miami University (Ohio) and the National Science Teachers Association, is the online companion to a print magazine of the same name that is published bimonthly during the school year. Each issue explores a scientific topic such as trees, skeletons, or ice and snow. Activities that complement the theme of each issue promote hands-on scientific research by children. In addition, Dragonfly also supports an email list that "connects children with real scientists and other young investigators around the world." Dragonfly promises to be a step forward in interactive learning for elementary school science. [JS]
[Back to Contents]

Glacier--Antarctic exploration for teachers and students
http://www.glacier.rice.edu/
This site, provided by Rice University and the Education Development Center is made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation. While the site is still under construction, completed sections are worth a visit now; they include an introduction to the continent of Antarctica, weather conditions, antarctic oceanography, and photographs of life at several research stations. A browsable glossary of over 300 terms related to Antarctica is available. This site is also the new home for Teachers Experiencing Antarctica, an NSF program in which high school teachers and students participate in research projects in the Antarctic. [AG]
[Back to Contents]

The College Quarterly
http://www.collegequarterly.org/
This Canadian academic journal, produced by Management Resources Planning, is "devoted to the improvement of college education and the professional development of college educators." Issues going back to 1993 are available by date, author, and subject. Articles are concentrated in the areas of institutional governance, learning resources and educational technology, pedagogy and curriculum development, and college and society. Although the journal has a decidedly Canadian flavor and is focused primarily on community college, it addresses issues of interest to all college educators. [JS]
[Back to Contents]

Market-ECRes--Marketing research on electronic commerce mailing list
Market-ECRes is an email discussion list for marketing research on electronic commerce for marketing faculty, doctoral students, and practitioners. The topics might range from inquiring about a research source, to testing out a new research idea, to conferences and teaching issues. [JS]To subscribe send email to:
majordomo@volition.com
In the body of the message type:
subscribe market-ecres
[Back to Contents]

LBJ Conversations on Vietnam--May 27, 1964 [RealAudio]
http://www.hpol.org/lbj/vietnam/
Further Information on LBJ Transcripts and Recordings
http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/dictabelt.hom/whsmain.htm
Northwestern University's Jerry Goldman, provider of the Oyez Oyez Oyez Supreme Court Oral Arguments audio archive (discussed in the January 26, 1996 Scout Report) has made another net contribution, providing RealAudio versions of telephone conversations of President Lyndon Johnson, recorded on May 27, 1964. Recently released by the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, three of the four recordings concern LBJ's misgivings about American involvement in the conflict in Vietnam. The conversations are between Johnson and Adlai Stevenson, McGeorge Bundy, Richard Russell, and George Reedy, and illustrate just how torn the president and some of his advisors were over escalating the war, just a few months before the Tonkin Gulf Resolution that marked the beginning of that escalation. More information on recordings and transcripts of President Johnson's conversations and meetings can be found at the LBJ Presidential Library site. [JS]
[Back to Contents]

Radio National--Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/
The highlights of this Australian Broadcasting Corporation site are transcripts of radio shows in the areas of health, law, religion, sports, and current affairs. Also included are transcripts of Ockham's Razor, a show covering many different topics in which one "thoughtful [person] has [his or her] say without pesky interviewers interrupting." Time coverage varies, with some shows' transcripts dating back to 1995. The site also contains other program and pertinent information about this network, on the air since 1932. [TB]
[Back to Contents]

American Conservative Networks' Search Engine
http://www.ConservativeNet.com/
Calling itself "the only exclusively conservative search engine on the web," this site provides a simple interface for searching forty conservative web sites and nearly thirty online publications and meta-sites. Sites indexed range from the website of the Michael Reagan radio talk show to Conservative Generation X to the National Rifle Association. Search results are compact and useful, listing not only the title and URL of found pages but also a count of search-term instances within each document; pages are ranked in order of the number of times the search term appears. Boolean operators and truncation are not supported. Users are invited to comment on the websites indexed, and reviews are collected on the site. There are also pages with links to government information and media outlets, as well as almanac information on the United States. [ML]
[Back to Contents]

Bold Type
http://www.bookwire.com/boldtype/
BookWire
http://www.bookwire.com/
New from Bantam Doubleday Dell, and served up by BookWire (from Bowker), this literary magazine's first issue is now online. Actually, it's less a literary magazine than a vehicle for background information on featured new authors, who deliver essays about the writing of their new books. Excerpts from said new books are also available. The site has a clean, minimalist look, which most visitors will likely find refreshing; navigation is intuitive, and the color scheme muted. Users can leave comments about the books and essays, and can subscribe to an email newsletter that delivers notification of updates to the site. The theme of this first issue is "New Voices"; themes for the coming months' issues include vice, life and death, travel, and memoir. BookWire, "the first place to look for book information on the world wide web," offers many other literary and publishing sites, including the Hungry Mind Review and the Boston Book Review, as well as links to publishers, authors, and booksellers. [ML]
[Back to Contents]

Time-Life's Virtual Garden Electronic Encyclopedia
http://pathfinder.com/VG/
Text-only entrance:
http://pathfinder.com/VG/ataglance/index.html
So, what are you going to plant now that spring is here? If you need some ideas, one option is to consult the Electronic Encyclopedia, a searchable database that contains "almost 3,000 species selected for general use in North American horticultural practice." You can search by name or specific criteria such as lighting, type, color, etc. Additionally, it is possible to narrow your search to the USDA zone you live in (by using your zip code) and then to generate a "To-do" list for the current month tailored to your location. Graphics of many plants are provided. Time to roll up your sleeves! [ATW]
[Back to Contents]

Mailing Lists for Men and Women
WOMEN30S Mailing List
Husbands Mailing List
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/husbands.html
The "Women-in-Their-30s" List, WOMEN30S, is a place for women to discuss the trauma of growing up! Are you an older "Gen-Xer" who is almost 30? Appropriate topics include: turning 30; turning 40; kids; careers; relationships; school; and current events, among others.
To subscribe send email to:
LISTSERV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
In the subject of the message type:
SUBSCRIBE WOMEN30SHusbands is a discussion group where you can search for answers from other men who have had or share the same experiences. This list is to discuss issues that relate to or stem from being a husband, i.e. your significant other, in-laws, living together, children, sex, money, everyday things, etc., and other issues such as career or education and how they relate to being a husband. [JS]
To subscribe send email to:
LISTSERV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
In the body of the message type:
SUBSCRIBE HUSBANDS
[Back to Contents]

Internet Access and the Baby Bells--Boom or bust?
Internet Access Coalition
http://internetaccess.org/
Pacific Telesis: Surfing the "Second Wave"
http://www.pactel.com/about/pub_policy/esp/WP-internet-part1.html
There's no denying that modems have changed the way that people use their telephone lines. But whether that change in usage patterns has resulted in increased revenue for local telephone companies (as consumers install extra lines to wire their computers) or has overwhelmed a limited resource (modem calls are often longer than typical voice calls) is an open question. The Internet Access Coalition, composed of computer companies as well as online and software industry groups, argues that increased use of phone lines for data transmission is a good thing, and that the local telephone companies may have inflated the problem in order to get approval for higher rates. Representing the opposition is Pacific Telesis, parent of Pacific Bell, whose white paper presents data substantiating their claim that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) should help pay for the development of a digital network that will take Internet traffic off of voice lines. This will be a crucial public policy issue in the future, and Internet users should make themselves aware of the stakes. [ML]
[Note: Resource(s)/URL(s) mentioned above is no longer available.]
[Back to Contents]

Digital Tornado: The Internet and Telecommunications Policy
News Release, .pdf and .wp versions [86p]
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/News_Releases/1997/nrmc7020.html
Text-only version:
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/OPP/working_papers/oppwp29.txt
This report, FCC (Federal Communications Commission) Office of Plans and Policy (OPP) Working Paper No. 29, by OPP's Kevin Werbach, "represents the first comprehensive assessment of the questions the Internet poses for traditional communications policy." The paper addresses three major topics: "category difficulties," (Internet services "do not fit easily into the existing classifications for communications services under federal law or FCC regulations") "pricing and usage," and "availability and bandwidth." The report is available in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), WordPerfect, and text formats. Note that the views expressed in the paper are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent those of the FCC. [JS]
[JS]
[Back to Contents]

DBMS World [Frames]
http://home.wxs.nl/~agameren/dbms/
DBMS World, provided by Arjan van Gameren, attempts to bring together UNIX, WindowsNT, and Windows95 database management systems along with related programming languages and to provide links to vendor and user guides and/or summaries of each product. For example, the SQL section contains guides to syntax, standards, and selected products, as well as links to related newsgroups. It is a significant tool for both the identification and the preliminary analysis of existing products. While not all DBMS are represented, a good many are. Links to related magazines are available. DBMS World also provides an analysis of which products site users follow links to, revealing the most and least visited. Unfortunately, users cannot search the site. [ATW]
[Back to Contents]

Copyright Susan Calcari, 1994-1997. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the Scout Report provided the copyright notice and this paragraph is preserved on all copies. The InterNIC provides information about 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 University of Wisconsin - Madison, the National Science Foundation, AT&T, or Network Solutions, Inc.

The Scout Report (ISSN 1092-3861) is published weekly by Internet Scout

Susan Calcari
Jack Solock
Matthew Livesey
Teri Boomsma
Aimee D. Glassel
Amy Tracy Wells
--
--
--
--
--
--
Managing Editor
Editor
Production Editor
Contributor
Contributor
Contributor

Scout Report and Scout Report HTML Subscription Instructions

To receive the electronic mail version of the Scout Report each week, join the scout-report mailing list at the InterNIC Web Site. This is the only mail you will receive from this list. Unsubscribing from the scout-report list can also be done at this site.
http://rs.internic.net/cgi-bin/lwgate/SCOUT-REPORT/
To receive the Scout Report in HTML format for local viewing and posting, subscribe to the scout-report-html mailing list at the InterNIC Web Site, used exclusively to distribute the Scout Report in HTML format once a week. Unsubscribing from the scout-report list can also be done at this site.
http://rs.internic.net/cgi-bin/lwgate/SCOUT-REPORT-HTML/

The Scout Report's Web page:

http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/

Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) versions of the Scout Report:

http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/pdf/

A Publication of the Internet Scout Project

Comments, Suggestions, Feedback
Use our feedback form or send email to scout@cs.wisc.edu.

The Scout Report - March 28, 1997

March 28, 1997

Research and Education

General Interest

Network Tools

Scout Report and Scout Report HTML Subscription Instructions

The Scout Report's Web page:

Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) versions of the Scout Report: