September 13, 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
Research and Education
- Education Week Web Edition
- Institute For Academic Technology--University of North Carolina
- Lawrence and His Laboratory
- Russia's Demographic "Crisis"
- Chemistry and Industry Magazine
- Who elects the President?--NickNacks Collaborative Education on the Internet
- Library of Congress Classification System--Unofficial Guide
- The CeramicsWeb--San Diego State University
- PTHER--Physical Therapy Discussion List
General Interest
- Britannia Internet Magazine
- FAQ Finder
- Two Finance Meta-Sites
- RxList--The Internet drug index
- The Gist--TV and the Internet
- CLASSOF64--Teenage Life in the 60s Discussion List
Network Tools
- Netscape Frames Tutorial
- Searching The Internet: Some Basic Considerations and Automated Search Indexes
Education Week Web Editionhttp://www.edweek.org/
"America's Education Newspaper of Record" now publishes a Web edition. The full text of the print version is available online, as well as the monthly Teacher Magazine. The site is in final testing, so not all areas are fully functional; however, the depth of material already available makes it worthwhile to check out now. Content is divided into general categories: This Week's News offers headlines in education; In Context provides background on issues, organizations and resources relating to education; Teacher Magazine is the online version of the popular print publication; and Election Watch investigates the future of public education under the two major-party Presidential candidates, as well as important issues in the election. Searching of 15 years of archived content will be available soon, and will be free for a limited time (fee information is not yet available). The site is polished graphically, making effective and unobtrusive use of frames and images.
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Institute For Academic Technology--University of North Carolina
http://www.iat.unc.edu/
Cybrarian's Desk
http://www.iat.unc.edu/cybrary/cybrary.html
The Institute for Academic Technology (IAT) at the University of North Carolina, "is dedicated to the proposition that information technology can be a valuable tool for improving the quality of student learning, increasing access to education, and containing the costs of instruction." With that in mind, its web site provides a clearinghouse of information devoted to the subject. The highlight of the site is its publications section, which includes the full text of academic and technical papers on such subjects as converting classroom courses to distributed courses, using multimedia to enhance instruction, and classroom design in the age of information technology, among others. In addition, this section holds complete archives of IAT Infobits, a monthly information and instruction technology newsletter, The Monitor, a new biweekly publication that explores hot topics in instructional technology, and information resource guides on 15 different topics ranging from copyright to grants. The site also contains information about IAT's work in consulting, consortia, technology, and workshops. The Cybrarian's Desk contains a site map, as well as external links to related topics.
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Lawrence and His Laboratory
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Research-Review/Magazine/1981/
Lawrence Berkeley Lab Image Library
http://imglib.lbl.gov/ImgLib/
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory is celebrating its 65th anniversary this year, and this frames-based web site is a tribute to its founder. Ernest Orlando Lawrence, who invented the cyclotron, opened the way to "a Golden Age of particle physics and revolutionary discoveries about the nature of the universe." The story was originally told by the lab's public information department in 1981. In addition to presenting the accomplishments of Lawrence and the laboratory from 1931 to 1958, the site displays a large collection of photos from the Berkeley Lab Online Photo Archive. These are organized by topic, including accelerators, buildings, history, particle detection, people, publications, and research. Images are searchable and browsable, and all are described. Users also have a choice of resolutions for display of the images. All in all, this site provides a personal look into one of the foremost physics labs in the world, at a time when its discoveries were literally shaking the world.
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Russia's Demographic "Crisis"
http://www.rand.org/publications/CF/CF124/index.html
The Rand Organization has recently made available via the Web the full text of Russia's Demographic "Crisis." "This volume is an outgrowth of a June 5-6, 1995 conference at which a group of Russian demographers presented the results of their pioneering research on Russia's demographic 'crisis' to American colleagues from the Rand Organization, the University of California-Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, and the International Programs Center of the US Bureau of the Census." The six papers that make up the volume deal with two broad categories: "(1) fertility and family planning; and (2) issues in the area of health and mortality--health status, health care, and population aging." The scope of a Russian demographic crisis is hotly debated, as well as "the interrelations between economic reforms and demographic trends in Russia." Russia's Demographic "Crisis" should shed some light on this topic.
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Chemistry and Industry Magazine
http://ci.mond.org/
Society of Chemical Industry Home Page
http://sci.mond.org/
Chemistry and Industry Magazine, a bimonthly product of the Society of Chemical Industry, provides selected full-text articles from the print magazine in the areas of news, commentary, features, latest results from chemical literature, and highlights from the latest European patents. In addition, there is a searchable and browsable archive of past issues, a daily news section, and searchable jobs and meetings databases. The Society of Chemical Industry is "an international association of about 6000 members aimed at furthering applied chemistry." One of the highlights of its web site is its publication section, where, under "electronic publications," readers can find updated daily news, jobs and meetings listings on chemistry, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and the environment. The SCI home page also carries information about the organization, as well as details about its over 35 subject and geographical groups and their meeting schedules.
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Who elects the President?--NickNacks Collaborative Education on the Internet
http://www1.minn.net:80/~schubert/VoteSum.html
NickNacks: Collaborative Education on the Internet
http://home.talkcity.com/academydr/nicknacks/
Who Elects the President? is a new collaborative education project for grades 5-12 from the NickNacks Telecollaborative Learning project. It will run from October 2 to November 22, 1996 and is intended to be a "multidisciplinary project, incorporating activities in civics, language arts, mathematics, science, art and technology." Balloting is to be simulated for the upcoming US presidential election. The project is designed for individual classrooms or entire schools to participate in. Balloting, result compilation, and data analysis materials, as well as materials for several optional activities, will be provided by October 1, 1996. While American students are being solicited to participate in the balloting exercise, international students are encouraged to participate (after the actual November 5, 1996 election) in analyzing the results and contributing their opinions to the forthcoming NickNacks forum Students OnPolitics Online.
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Library of Congress Classification System--Unofficial Guide
http://geography.miningco.com/education/geography/library/congress/bllc.htm
This very simple Web site has one very useful function: it contains the outline of the Library of Congress Classification System. While the outline is not searchable, users may browse through the twenty-one categories, which are then arranged by sub-category and number range. For the library user who would like to be convinced that the LOC system is a logical organizational structure, this is a good start. This site will be most useful to library patrons who need to get an overall sense of the LOC system, and to library staff members who are assisting them.
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The CeramicsWeb--San Diego State University
http://art.sdsu.edu/ceramicsweb/main.html
The highlight of the CeramicsWeb, provided by Richard Burkett, a professor of art - ceramics at San Diego State University, is its section on ceramics databases, which includes searchable databases of tested and untested glaze recipes, "a searchable database of glaze and clay ingredient analyses," and a pointer to an interactive glaze calculation page, among others. CeramicsWeb also contains pointers to articles on ceramics, electron microscope photographs of clay, ceramics software, and links to other ceramics and arts related sites.
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PTHER--Physical Therapy Discussion List
PTHER is a forum for the exchange of ideas pertaining to treatment protocols, clinic management, and the general advancement of the field of physical therapy. Practicing physical therapists, students of physical therapy, and those interested in physical therapy and related fields are encouraged to subscribe and participate. The list is not moderated.
To subscribe send email to:
MAJORDOMO@MAJORDOMO.SRV.UALBERTA.CA
In the body of the message type:
SUBSCRIBE PTHER your@email.address
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http://www.britannia.com/
Table of Contents
http://www.britannia.com/content/tofc.html
Britannia Internet Magazine is a monthly e-zine that considers itself a "gateway to the British Isles." At this site, interested Internauts can find a combination of articles and web resources on travel, sports, news, science, history, people, government, the arts, and other topics, as they relate to the British Isles. It is easy and fun to read, and spares the graphics for those with slow connections. Future issues promise to incorporate streaming video and audio, movie clips, and animations. BIM is a marvelous site for Anglophiles who want to keep up on all things British. About the only thing missing at present is an organized complete archive of past issues.
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FAQ Finder
http://ps.superb.net/FAQ/
If you think FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) collections are only good for finding information about computers and technology, a visit to the FAQ Finder will show you otherwise. This collection of pointers to FAQ sites currently lists 28 categories, arranged in alphabetical order in a framed box on the side of the browser window. Within each category users will find dozens of FAQ collections, browsable from within the framed interface of the FAQ Finder. One expects to find Internet and computer FAQs in a collection like this, but here users will also find FAQ collections on animals, art and music, personal finance, health, and other topics. Of course, since this is a collection of pointers to other sites and not a comprehensively maintained FAQ archive, users will find the occasional dead link or outdated information. But having so many FAQ resources available from within one site may allow you to find quickly the information you're looking for.
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Finance Area
http://www.tsi.it/finanza/index.html
Central Banks of the World
http://adams.patriot.net/~bernkopf/
Finance Area, provided by Top Services International, is a giant frames-based meta-page of pointers to international finance sites in the areas of companies, markets, the European Union, stock, equity markets, and financial analysis, among others. Sites are not annotated, but the sheer number of sites along with the international flavor is what makes this site unique. Note that users must navigate from pointers page to pointers page inside of the left hand frame and this can be somewhat confusing. The opening page of any section is just a description of the various subsections within that section. Note also that almost all of the graphics at this site (which slow down transmission considerably, depending on the condition of the network between the user and Venice, Italy), can be turned off with minimal loss of content.
Central Banks of the World is a pointers page to central banks and central bank information for over 45 countries, as well as multilateral financial institutions, research and training establishments, and conference information. To show how little is generally known about the history of central banking in the United States, this site includes an email message sent to the webmaster of the First Bank of the United States, promoting a certain software company's web interactivity applications. Of course, since the First Bank of the United States was closed in 1811, its web site is primarily historical. The Central Banks site lists over 30 Internet directories and pointers pages that list the First Bank of the United States as a functioning financial institution. To help remedy this situation, the site includes a pointer to a brief history of banking in the US.
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RxList--The Internet drug index
http://www.rxlist.com/
There are two aspects of this drug information site that make it distinctively useful: first, it uses fuzzy logic as well as wildcard searching, just in case your spelling of long chemical names is imperfect; second, it's free. Don't let the simplicity of the search form fool you; while the searching is easy, it's also powerful. Search results come in the form of a listing of brand name, generic name, and category; more information on many of the drugs in the database, and on all of the 200 most frequently prescribed drugs in America, is available through links in the search results listing. The interactions database is particularly useful, since it can either search for interactions among categories of drugs or between a particular drug (that the user enters) and all of the 200 most frequently prescribed drugs at once (this search uses the Alta Vista search engine to generate results). Users may also display these most frequently prescribed drugs as an alphabetical or ranked list.
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The Gist--TV and the Internet
http://www.gist.com/tv/
At the heart of The Gist TV and the Internet site is a listing of TV shows for the day on over 35 cable and network channels. Listings can be viewed in a grid, and by time, channel or category. Also included are Gist's daily best web picks, daily best TV picks, and special columns about TV. For the couch potato who spends a lot of time also looking at the computer screen, Gist can be a virtual TV Guide. Note that this is a very graphical site, as would be expected for a site about TV.
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CLASSOF64--Teenage Life in the 60s Discussion List
CLASSOF64-This is the place to come to talk about what it was like to be a teenager during the 1960s. Ask questions, share some of your favorite memories. Get the name of that song you loved. What did you call a pair of shoes? Was growing up a teenager on the East Coast the same as on the West Coast? Subscribe and find out. CLASSOF64 could be the most fun you've had since you were a teenager. Join in on the fun as CLASSOF64 recount, recall, and remember what our life was like as teenagers in the '60s.
To subscribe send email to:
hub@xc.org
In the body of the message type:
subscribe classof64
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http://www.newbie.net/sharky/frames/menu.html
The Netscape Frames Tutorial, provided by Charlton D. Rose, is a no-nonsense, illustrated tutorial for the web designer interested in using this Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) feature that was pioneered by Netscape. Sections in the tutorial include "Laying Out Frames," "Targeting Frames," "Targeting Windows," and "The Tags," along with implementation notes regarding effective frame presentation. Each section contains HTML examples. Note that this site assumes knowledge of HTML and basic (non-framed) web site creation.
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Searching The Internet: Some Basic Considerations and Automated Search Indexes
http://scout.wisc.edu/scout/toolkit/enduser/archive/1996/euc-9609
This article, which appears in the September issue of InterNIC Newsletter, is a primer that looks at eight Internet search engines (Alta Vista, Open Text, WebCrawler, Excite, Infoseek Guide, Lycos, HotBot, and Infoseek Ultra), from the point of view of user search features, rather than speed or size of index. It also gives brief explanations of such features as Boolean searching, proximity operators, field searching, phrase searching, and truncation searching. The article is accompanied by a table that gives the basic syntax for how to use these features. It also speaks to some fundamental considerations for creating a search strategy. "Searching the Internet" will be at this URL until October 1, when it will be replaced by another End User's Corner, and moved to the site's archive.
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The Scout Report's Web page:
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/scout/reporthttp://rs.internic.net/scout/report
FTP:
ftp://rs.internic.net/scout/[Back to Contents]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.
