The Scout Report

May 2, 1997

A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
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.

Third Anniversary of the Scout Report
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/

The Scout Report is Three Years Old

Hard to believe that we've been doing this every week for the last three years. We began reporting on the best of the Net for you in May of 1994, back when Gopher was still the rage and we were all thrilled to not have to FTP every file before we could read it. (OK, raise your hands, how many of you can still type "anonymous" without thinking about it?) Now we've moved on from having some Net-head (yours truly) decide what's a valuable resource to having professional librarians and content specialists make the selections.

And we've only just begun. The National Science Foundation has chosen to extend our funding for three years, and we have plans to announce more services in the weeks ahead. So watch this space during the month of May for announcements of new Internet Scout projects that will make it easier to find useful and credible information on the Net.

This issue of the report, Volume 4, Number 1, marks the introduction of a new section of the Scout Report, called "Where Are They Now." Editor Jack Solock thought it would be interesting to go back to the first Scout Report and see if any of the resources in that issue are still viable, and how they had changed or grown over the years. We hope you enjoy our contribution to Net history with this look at how many online resources have thrived by changing with the Net.

Finally, thanks to the 100,000 or more Internauts who read the Scout Report each week, both our new readers and those who have been with us for the entire three years. (How many of you are out there?). I'd love to hear from you personally at my address below. Feel free to write with any memories of the last three years, or comments and suggestions about any of our publications, including ideas you have for new services.

Best regards,

Susan and the rest of the Scout Team.

Susan Calcari
Project Director
Internet Scout Project
scal@cs.wisc.edu
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Global Change Master Directory
http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/
NASA's GCMD holds descriptions of and access information for over 3,900 Earth science data sets. Areas covered include "atmosphere, oceans, biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, land surface, solid earth, solar-terrestrial, and human dimensions of climate change." Users can browse through the latest additions or search the database using either fielded or free-text queries. Individual descriptions are organized using the Directory Interchange Format (DIF), a standardized set of fields containing attribute metadata for each data set. Part of the mission of the GCMD is to provide a place for data set holders to publicize their data. Online registration uses the DIF Authoring Tool, which allows registrants to insert metadata into DIF fields. GCMD's primary responsibility is "software development and database population for the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites International Directory Network and [holding] all data set descriptions for NASA's Earth Observation System Data Information System." [AG]
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Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/
The University of Minnesota offers a growing source of information on women writers of color in the US, aimed at high school and college students. Pages have been created for seventeen writers; contents include biographical and bibliographic information, annotated lists of Internet resources relating to each writer, and, when available, images and audio files. Writers, including Sandra Cisneros, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Alice Walker, can be browsed by name, birthplace, racial or ethnic background, and significant historical dates. However, no search option is available at this time. Visitors to the site can interact with each other in the Discussion Room, a forum for posting and responding to questions about the individual writers. Teachers, students, and independent scholars are encouraged to contribute research and writing about authors not already covered. [AG]
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Earthquake Engineering Abstracts--EERC
http://www.eerc.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/texhtml?form=eea
Earthquake Engineering Research Center
http://www.eerc.berkeley.edu/
The University of California Berkeley's well known Earthquake Engineering Research Center has recently added a searchable-only version of Earthquake Engineering Abstracts, a database that currently contains over 55,000 citations. Users can search by author, title, subject and year. The search engine supports Boolean operators, as well as stem and phrase searching. For authors, phonetic searching is also available. EEA joins EqIIS (Earthquake Image Information System), the giant searchable image base of the Karl V. Steinbrugge Collection of "slides and photographs of historical earthquake damage," as major resources of the EERC. [JS]
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NIRA 1996 World Directory of Think Tanks
http://www.nira.go.jp/ice/tt-info/nwdtt96/
The National Institute for Research Advancement (Japan) provides this no-frills page that makes available basic information on over 250 think tanks (policy organizations) in over 65 countries. Information available can include executive personnel, history, areas of research, geographic focus, availability of research findings, chief researchers, and funding sources, among other data. Contact information is also available, including links to websites when available. For those interested in policy institutes and their work, this is an excellent place to start. [JS]
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Contemporary Philosophy of Mind: An Annotated Bibliography
http://ling.ucsc.edu/~chalmers/biblio.html
David Chalmers, Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has provided a massive bibliography of "recent work in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of cognitive science, and philosophy of artificial intelligence...(mostly of papers and books from the last 35 years)." Its 2,395 items are categorized into four major topics: Consciousness and Qualia; Mental Content; Psychophysical Relations and Psychological Explanation; and Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. In addition, 220 entries fall under Miscellaneous Topics. Two powerful features make this bibliography stand out. One is the meticulous subgrouping of topics (there are 55 main subtopics). The other is that many of the items are annotated. The lack of a search engine is a small price to pay for an extensive, organized portal on the subject. [JS]
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Dennis Kunkel's Microscopy--University of Hawaii
http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/~kunkel/
Faster loading home page
http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/~kunkel/pad.html
Ever wanted to look a fruit fly in the eye or get a detailed view of a mosquito's piercing blades? Dr. Dennis Kunkel of the Pacific Biomedical Research Center at the University of Hawaii provides a collection of digitally colorized photomicrographic images of insects, plants, cells, and bacteria taken with a scanning electron microscope, a transmission electron micrograph, or a light micrograph. The site includes three main sections with images and a brief description of microscopy. Zoom In allows users to click on selected insect images to see high-magnification details of their various body parts. Clicking on the thumbnail photos in the Most Wanted Bugs section takes the user to twenty-four different "rap sheets" containing descriptions, diet and habitat information, and an enlarged image of each notorious bug. The Image Gallery contains thirty images divided by micrograph type (light or electron) and arranged into categories (e.g., insects, pesticides, plants). [AG]
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Two Federal Communications Commission Mailing Lists for Educators
FCCsend is a one-way (non-interactive) mailing list that provides the latest FCC updates and suggestions for preparing your school or library to get the most out of communications technology. FCCshare is an interactive mailing list for communicating with teachers, parents and others using education technology. [JS]

FCCsend
To subscribe send email to:
subscribe@info.fcc.gov
In the body of the message type:
sub FCCsend yourfirstname yourlastname

FCCshare
To subscribe send email to:
subscribe@info.fcc.gov
In the body of the message type:
sub FCCshare yourfirstname yourlastname
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American Treasures--Library of Congress
http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trupscale/
No-frames version:
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/
To celebrate the treasures in its over 110 million item collection, the Library of Congress simultaneously opened an ongoing exhibition and this website on May 1. The site is divided into three parts: memory (history), reason (philosophy), and imagination (fine arts). At present there are 61 treasures, including the items found in President Lincoln's pocket after his assassination, Alexander Graham Bell's notebook entry for March 10, 1876 ("Mr. Watson--Come Here--I want to see you"), and an example of imaginative book design from the Janus Press. The top treasure is a rough draft of the Declaration of Independence. Each treasure is briefly introduced, and the user can then click on a thumbnail image to retrieve a much larger image and more detailed explanation. The online exhibition will provide a "cumulative record of many items that have been on display." [JS]
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International Government Meta-pages--Northwestern University
http://www.library.nwu.edu/govpub/resource/internat/
Mike McCaffrey-Noviss of the Northwestern University Library Government Publications department provides no-nonsense, utilitarian pointer pages to over 60 country government pages and nearly 100 International Government Organizations (IGOs). Sites included are the official government or organization sites; pages are updated biweekly, and aim for breadth of coverage. Depth of coverage of both government and IGO sites varies by country. International regional and topical pages are forthcoming. McCaffry-Noviss is also moderator of the INTL-DOC mailing list (discussed in the August 2, 1996 Scout Report). [JS]
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Euromoney World Link
http://www.euromoney.com/
This site, provided by Euromoney Publications PLC, aims to "produce a sophisticated business and financial site," with an international flavor. It is highlighted by full text of Euromoney and World Link magazines (with searchable and browsable archives back to late 1995). It also contains a section of financial news provided by sponsors such as Bank of America, DG Bank (Germany), TD Securities (Canada), and BMA Capital Management (Pakistan), among others. Data, in the form of bondware tables, and information on global growth companies and country competitiveness are also available, though the latter two are somewhat dated. Although the main purpose of the site is advertising for the many Euromoney publications, there is much content here for those interested in international finance. [JS]
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National Hospice Organization Database
http://www.nho.org/database.htm
National Hospice Organization
http://www.nho.org/
The National Hospice Organization, "the oldest and largest nonprofit public benefit organization devoted exclusively to hospice care," provides a simple hospice database for the US. Enter the two letter postal abbreviation of the state you are interested in (or click on an interactive map), and hospice information is retrieved by county. Each entry contains hospice name, location, phone number, and contact information. National Hospice Organization members are indicated. State hospice organization contact information is also available. The NHO site provides background on the organization itself, a section on the basics of hospice, and twenty commonly asked questions about hospice. [JS]
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Kasparov vs. Deep Blue: The Rematch [Java]
http://www.research.ibm.com/deepblue/home/html/b.html/
Less graphical entrance:
http://www.research.ibm.com/deepblue/home/html/b.html/home/html/b.html
Site index:
http://www.research.ibm.com/deepblue/home/html/b.html/guide/html/j.1.a.html
Last year world chess champion Gary Kasparov defeated Deep Blue, the IBM Chess playing computer, three games to one, with two draws (discussed in the February 16, 1996 Scout Report). This year's rematch, held under the auspices of the Association for Computing Machinery, begins May 3, and interested Internauts can follow it at this IBM site. The highlight of the site, of course, will be the live Java-based coverage of each game, which will allow users to follow the game in progress, go to any move, watch the chess clock, and follow commentary. Complete game coverage will also be available for those without Java. Information on the players and the technology, including biographies of and interviews with Kasparov and the Deep Blue team, are provided. For neophytes, there is a chess primer and glossary. Games are scheduled for May 3,4,6,7,10, and 11. [JS]
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Good_Life--Conversations on Human Life and Experience
Good_Life is an unmoderated international discussion list with topics that range from everyday life to events that shape human life around the world. Topics of discussion might include what humans do to cope on this journey through life, what the human race can do to improve world conditions, or discussions might be as simple as what did or did not happen in the course of one's day. [JS]

To subscribe send email to:
LISTSERV@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
In the body of the message type:
subscribe Good_Life yourfirstname yourlastname
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Updates to Two Subject Directories
BUBL LINK
http://bubl.ac.uk/link/
Librarians Index to the Internet--Previously Berkeley Public Library's Index to the Internet
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex/
BUBL ("a national information service for higher education," discussed in the January 19, 1996 Scout Report) has moved its UDC (Universal Decimal Classification) Internet subject directory to BUBL LINK. The site, one of the better collections of its type on the Internet, is searchable, and has changed to a Dewey Decimal Classification, making it one of the largest DDC Internet subject directories available. It is a well organized site, with briefly annotated educationally oriented pointers. The well known Berkeley Public Library's Index to the Internet has migrated to the Berkeley Digital Library Sunsite (discussed in the February 9, 1996 Scout Report). It contains annotated searchable and browsable pointers in over 40 major subject categories from arts to law to women. Compiled by California librarians, it contains over 2,500 pointers at present. These are two of the best selective subject indexes to the Internet. [JS]
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Browsers.com
http://browsers.com/
C|net has created browsers.com as a central repository for reviews on and downloads of the latest browsers (Netscape and Internet Explorer). Little more than a month ago c|net launched Browser Central (discussed in the March 21, 1997 issue of the Scout Report), a browser review site that linked to software on download.com (discussed in the November 1, 1996 Scout Report). It will be interesting to watch the evolution of both browser sites, as c|net "spins out" this service into its own domain. Note that at present the browsers.com URL still resolves to a download.com address. [JS]
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PhotoTools--An Adobe Photoshop plug-in
http://www.extensis.com/products/PhotoTools/
PhotoTools, a product of Extensis, is an excellent plug-in for Photoshop 3.0.4 and later. Webmasters can dress up their pages with high quality drop shadows, bevels, glows, and embossing effects that can be easily added to images or text. Users can create 3-D effects and more with a touch of a button. All features can be adjusted in order to create a unique look. In addition, there is a WYSIWYG text module for creating and formatting text. A demo version of this commercial software product is available for Macintosh and Windows. [TB]
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Volume 1, Issue 1: The Scout Report for April 29, 1994
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/4-29-94.html
Z39.50
http://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950/agency/
American Universities Meta-site
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/CLAS/american-universities.html
International College and University Home Pages
http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/cdemello/univ.html
The first Scout Report annotation pointed to a Z39.50 Information page maintained by InterNIC Directory Services. It was a no-nonsense page of pointers to resources related to this information retrieval standard. The page still exists, but now points to the official Library of Congress Z39.50 page. While the LOC page contains much information, the InterNIC page is still useful for its pointers. In the same issue there was an annotation of a pointers page to American universities maintained by Mike Conlon at the University of Florida: it contained the astounding total of 145 university home pages. This page now connects to over 1,150 home pages, but has been overtaken in scope by Christina DeMello's massive index of international university home pages, which points to some 3,000 sites, and is mirrored at nine other sites. Conlin's site also points to a list of Canadian universities, and US community colleges. [JS]
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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
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Managing Editor
Editor
Production Editor
Contributor
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The Scout Report - May 2, 1997

The Scout Report

May 2, 1997

New From Internet Scout

Research and Education

General Interest

Network Tools

Where Are They Now

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