The Scout Report - August 23, 1996

August 23, 1996

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.
The Scout Report Web page

Send comments and contributions to: scout@cs.wisc.edu
In This Issue:

Research and Education

General Interest

Network Tools

Research & EducationThinkQuest looking for sites to host free Internet workshops
http://www.thinkquest.org/
ThinkQuest is an Internet Web contest for students ages 12-18 that will award $1 million this year. ThinkQuest challenges teams of students to work with their coaches (teachers, non-profit group members, or other community education program leaders) to build educational tools and materials for the Internet that can be shared with fellow students. In order to spread the word about ThinkQuest, the Global SchoolNet Foundation and Advanced Network Services will be conducting over 100 free workshops around the country. The Global SchoolNet Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides training and support in using the Internet for educational purposes, is looking for partner sites to host these workshops. ThinkQuest will provide the following to the hosting sites: a media packet to help promote the workshops and the ThinkQuest contest; nationally recognized trainers (who will conduct 3-4 hour presentations that can be customized to fit local needs); and a free CD-ROM entitled "Harnessing the Power of the Web" (which will be given to each participant). Hosting sites should provide the following: 50 or more potential ThinkQuest participants (students, teachers, parents or interested community members); a facility that will accommodate the presentation; a pre-registration list of attendees; and assistance in promoting the ThinkQuest contest. Interested parties should contact Josephina Cicero at 619-721-2972 or email josie@gsn.org.
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First Monday
http://www.firstmonday.dk/
First Monday is a peer-reviewed monthly electronic journal about the Internet. It covers the Internet from the point of view of political and regulatory events, economic, political and social factors, software research and development, usage in specific communities, standards, and content. The current issue (August 1996) contains articles on the disappearance of the White House Speech Archive, differential pricing and efficiency, and trust in electronic markets, among others. The site also contains an author and title index. The web version of First Monday is presently free after registration.
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Copyright and Fair Use
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/
Stanford University Libraries, FindLaw, and the Council on Library Resources have made available a pointers page on copyright and fair use. The site is divided into four main categories: Primary Materials; Current Legislation, Cases and Issues; Resources on the Internet; and Overview of Copyright Law. Each section is divided into subsections that contain the pointers, many of which are annotated. Of particular interest are several articles on the impact of copyright and fair use on multimedia, online resources, and computer programs (found under "Fair Use and Multimedia"), and a compilation of library copyright guidelines.
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Ted Radcliffe's Gopher State IPM Site
http://ipmworld.umn.edu/
This site, co-sponsored by the Consortium for International Crop Protection (CICP), and the National IPM Network (NIPMN), and housed at the University of Minnesota, is devoted to the ongoing production of an online IPM (Integrated Pest Management) textbook. At present, over 30 chapters are available in nine subject areas, ranging from "Biological Control: Theory and Application," to "Pesticides: Chemistries/Pesticide Resistance," to "IPM: Policy and Implementation." Over 60 chapters are in preparation, so this site will be one to keep an eye on as it grows. As its owners say, Gopher State should be a "a venue for easily maintaining and updating 'state of the art' information from the world's leading experts on all aspects of IPM."
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NIPA Data Visualization System--University of Virginia
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/socsci/nipa/
University of Virginia Social Sciences Data Center
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/socsci/interactives.html
BLS Selective Access Data
http://www.bls.gov/sahome.html
Two of the more impressive sources of interactive US social and economic data are the University of Virginia Social Sciences Data Center and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Selective Access Data site. Showing the tremendous potential of the web as a source of data retrieval, both these sites allow the user, through forms-based interfaces, to extract data in specific formats. A recent enhancement to the University of Virginia site is the availability of selected National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) from 1959 to 1995. These accounts "show the value and composition of the nation's output and the distribution of incomes generated in its production." Users can select data sets and time periods, and the site returns a graph and table of the data. The table can then be downloaded to the local machine. BLS Selective Access allows users to specify exactly what data they would like from a large selection of its databases, including local area unemployment statistics, consumer price indexes, and producer price indexes, among others. By interacting with the system four or five times, a user can retrieve a customized table of historical data. For example, it is a relatively simple procedure to retrieve a monthly or semi-annual, seasonally or non-seasonally adjusted compilation of the all urban consumer CPI, at 1982-84=100 or 1967=100 base, for the entire length of the series using this system. This data can then be formatted in various ways for output to statistical analysis programs or spreadsheets.
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"An Evaluation of Chaco Anasazi Roadways"
http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/projects/lobo/SAA96/
Chetro Ketl Great Kiva
http://sipapu.ucsb.edu/html/kiva.html
The New York Times recently carried an article on the causes of the great migration of the Anasazi civilization in the late 13th Century. Interested Internauts can find out more information about this ancient North American civilization from two web sites provided by graduate students in the anthropology department at the University of California Santa Barbara. "An Evaluation of Chaco Anasazi Roadways" is an HTML version of a paper presented at the recent Society for American Archaeology Meetings in New Orleans. It attempts to "make use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to demonstrate that Chaco Anasazi roads do not follow routes consistent with economic theories of their function, but rather seem to conform with models focusing on religious and integrative road functions." Chetro Ketl Great Kiva is a richly graphical tour through one of the great religious structures excavated at Chaco Canyon, which was one of the major centers of Anasazi civilization. The site is highlighted (for those with an Apple Quicktime VR helper application), by a 3D tour through the Kiva.
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CMARGIN Notes--Mailing list for K-12 teachers
http://www.cmargin.com/notes.html
Every weekday, CMARGIN Notes provides K-12 teachers with a wrap-up of the previous day's most educationally significant news stories. Each issue of this free email newsletter contains summaries of about a dozen articles in ten content-specific categories. Using a Web browser with an integrated mail feature (like Netscape Navigator 2.0 or 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0), subscribers can jump directly to the full-text versions of articles that interest them. An online archive allows subscribers and nonsubscribers alike to view back issues. (Note: CMARGIN Notes is part of a comprehensive site for K-12 teachers called CMARGIN.) To subscribe, fill out the web form at:
http://www.cmargin.com/subscribe.html
[Note: When last checked by the Internet Scout team, these site URLs were no longer available.] [Back to Contents]

CORELINK Mailing List Advisory
>From the moderator of the CORELINK list, described in the August 9 edition of the Scout Report, comes this technical note: "For technical reasons all former subscribers to the listserve CORELINK need to resubscribe. CORELINK is a moderated listserve that deliver documents and opinions concerning national educational policy and strategies with particular reference to the technological transformation of the American classroom and adult learning as part of what is coming to be called 'virtual schools' or 'virtual universities.'"
Send email to:
listproc@mercury.cair.du.edu
In the body of the message type:
subscribe CORELINK firstname lastname
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General Interest

Democratic Party Platform '96
http://www.democrats.org/hq/platform/
PoliticsNow Coverage
http://www.politicsnow.com/campaign/conventions/dem/platform/1996/
[Note: The Internet Scout team has been informed that the PoliticsNow site is no longer available.]
Although there is no suspense about who will be nominated at the convention of the Democratic Party, to be held next week in Chicago (August 26-29), the platform that will be adopted is still evolving. To see what the current draft contains, point your web browser to the Democratic Party's site. PoliticsNow, as mentioned in last week's Scout Report, provides not only the text of both parties' platforms but also analysis of the major themes and proposals of each. For more information about the Democratic convention itself, the DNC Convention Site offers up the usual multimedia-heavy guide page, complete with a JAVA Script-based countdown clock that appears at the bottom of the browser window.
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The Oxford Book of English Verse
http://www.bartleby.com/141/101/index.html
The Bartleby Library at Columbia University has added the 1919 edition of The Oxford Book of English Verse to its online offerings. The entire text of the 1084-page original, edited by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, is available and searchable. The collection may be browsed using alphabetic indices of authors, titles, or first lines. A chronological index of authors, from a 13th-century Anonymous to R. D. Blackmore (1825-1900) is also available. This site won't give you the cutting edge in English verse, but it is an interesting look at what was considered classic literature in the early twentieth century (as one would expect, plenty of Shakespeare and few pieces by women) as well as a valuable resource for seeking out bits of timeless verse.
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Institute for the Study of Civic Values
http://www.libertynet.org/edcivic/iscvhome.html
An outgrowth of a non-profit community revitalization and development effort in Philadelphia, this newly updated web site provides information about the Institute's civic values-based programs. The four projects currently underway are: Neighborhoods Online, an effort to help citizen groups make effective use of telecommunications; Building Community in the American Tradition, a discussion guide and email list for neighborhood leaders and activists; Social Contract Project, which helps neighborhood organizations negotiate with government and businesses to define shared goals; and Community Opportunity Program, with an emphasis on adult literacy and community service internships. While much of the information on this site is specific to Philadelphia, there are discussions of issues that other communities are likely to face, and many links to other relevant resources.
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WWWebster Dictionary
http://www.m-w.com/mw/netdict.htm
Pronunciation guide
http://www.m-w.com/mw/pronguid.htm
Britannica Online has made Merriam-Webster's WWWebster Dictionary available for searching on the web. Each retrieved word is accompanied by pronunciation, usage, grammatical function, a brief etymology, and of course, definition. A thesaurus can be queried for similar words, hypertext cross references are available, misspellings return suggested spellings, and there are hypertext links to illustrations. The search system supports internal wildcards (single and multiple letter) and right hand truncation searching. There is also an extensive pronunciation guide. In addition to the dictionary, the site also contains selected transcripts of the syndicated radio show "Word for the Wise."
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Plutonium Shipments--Warning from the Nuclear Control Institute
http://www.nci.org/nci/airtrans.htm
International Atomic Energy Agency
http://www.iaea.or.at/
The Nuclear Control Institute has created a web site in response to a proposed standard for the shipment of radioactive materials. This site presents two world maps showing both sea and air routes that are planned or already in use for the shipment of plutonium. A series of papers by NCI-affiliated scientists and observers on the subject of radioactive materials shipments sets out the NCI position against such shipments. Also available are press releases and an archive of correspondence between the NCI and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the body charged with defining standards for such shipments. As the new standards have not yet been approved, there is little information about them on the official IAEA site. Regardless of the individual user's position on plutonium shipments, the information on these sites will prove thought-provoking.
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Ballparks by Munsey and Suppes
http://www.ballparks.com/
Paul Munsey and Corey Suppes have lovingly compiled facts and photos on all major league baseball parks in this frames-based site. In addition to each modern park, there are 23 parks from the past, including Huntington Avenue Grounds, Shibe Park, the Polo Grounds, and Forbes Field, among others. Each page contains photos or artist's renderings of the park, along with basic information about the tenant, time of tenancy, capacity, dimensions, and trivia, among others. Each team's stadium page is also hyperlinked to the past stadiums it has played in. In addition, there are 15 future parks, with artist's renderings when available, and information on the development of these parks. Munsey and Suppes have recently added sections on pro football stadiums, including NFL and CFL (Canadian Football League) stadiums. And the Crescendo-enabled rendering of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" that accompanies the home page should get fans in the mood. This site is reminiscent of Philip Lowery's great book Green Cathedrals, and though not nearly as comprehensive, is one of the best places on the web to find this type of information.
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APARENT--Adoptive parent list
APARENT is a meeting place for adoptive parents, prospective adoptive parents, and their families to discus the everyday life experiences and challenges of adoptive parents and their families. To subscribe send email to:
listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu
In the body of the message type:
subscribe aparent firstname lastname
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Net Tools

Project Aristotle--Automated Categorization of Web sites
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/Aristotle.htm
Gerry McKiernan, Coordinator of the Science and Technology Section of the Reference and Instructional Services Department at Iowa State University, has created Project Aristotle, a pointers page for projects on "automated categorization of web resources." At present there are annotated links to over 35 projects available at the site. Projects include AT&T PHOAKS, Lund University's WAIS/World Wide Web Project, MIT's HyPursuit, and OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) Scorpion, among others. Each entry contains principal investigator information, a project summary, connections to demonstration or prototype pages, and references. As Internet resources multiply, users will need classification of these resources more and more. You can follow the future of this field at this site.
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VRML Repository--San Diego Supercomputing Center
http://www.sdsc.edu/vrml/
VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) "is a standard language for describing interactive 3-D objects and worlds delivered across the Internet." One of the best and most comprehensive collections of VRML information is the VRML Repository, provided by the San Diego Supercomputing Center. Annotated links are available in the areas of hardware and software; documentation; and worlds, sounds, and textures. There are also links to other sites of interest, mailing lists and newsgroups, and companies and universities. Two of the more useful links from this page are to user's guides and browsers. The browser guide is organized by both version of VRML (1.0 or 2.0) and platform. To understand how to turn your desktop into a virtual .wrl, this is an indispensable site.
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Copyright Susan Calcari, 1996. 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.

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