The Scout Report

August 7, 1998

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

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.

An Acrobat .pdf version of this report is available for printing and distributing locally. For information on Adobe Acrobat Reader, visit the Adobe site.

June-July 1998 Scout Report Bimonthly Compilation, Scout Report for Science and Engineering
June-July 1998 Scout Report Bimonthly Compilation
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/bimonth/
Scout Report for Science & Engineering
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/sci-engr/
The Scout Report Bimonthly Compilation for June-July 1998 is available. Individual compilations, arranged by subject, have been split into separate files for ease of use. Each complete compilation is also available. Volume 1, Number 23 of the Scout Report for Science & Engineering is available. It annotates over twenty new and newly discovered Internet resources in the physical & life sciences and engineering. The In the News section annotates nine resources on the evolutionary link between beetle and flowering plant diversity. [JS]
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Middle English Compendium
http://www.hti.umich.edu/mec/
The Humanities Text Initiative (HTI) of the University of Michigan has created a virtually seamless connection between three important Middle English resources: the Electronic Middle English Dictionary (MED), the HyperBibliography of Middle English, and the Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, along with "an associated network of electronic resources." The MED is encoded in SGML and currently contains almost 16,000 entries, covering letters M through U (one third of the print original). Many MED entries provide context to words through quotations, which are themselves linked to an entry in the Hyperbibliography. 1,073 entries covering 1,526 texts in the Hyperbibliography can be searched or browsed by author, stencil (short title), location of manuscript, or document name. The Corpus of Middle English Prose currently contains 42 SGML full texts that may be accessed using multiple search strategies. To take full advantage of all the features of this resource, users should refer to the help documentation. The Compendium will be freely available until December 31, 1998, after which time it will be limited to institutional site license holders. [AG]
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Code of Federal RegulationsBrowse Enhancement--GPO
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfr-table-search.html
Beginning with 1998 revision dates, the US Government Printing Office's GPO Access site makes the US Code of Federal Regulations (discussed in the October 18, 1996 Scout Report) available via browse as well as search mode. A seemingly simple enhancement, browseability adds tremendous utility to government publications that are, by their nature, large and/or complex. One can now browse such publications as the Federal Register (discussed in the May 22, 1998 Scout Report) and the CFR. GPO Access is beginning to understand the importance of this enhancement, and librarians, researchers, and the general public will benefit greatly. Hopefully, GPO will extend browseability to more of its large government databases soon. [JS]
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Disc-O-Logue--French Language Popular Recording Catalog
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/discologue/
Can't remember who sang "La Machine a Laver"? Disc-O-Logue, the catalogue of French-language popular music recordings, has the answer for you. Disc-O-Logue, a music publication created by Louise Lamothe listing French language songs from Canada, France, and other parts of the French-speaking world, was available in Canada for LPs and 45-rpm discs from 1962 to 1979. The National Library of Canada acquired the Disc-O-Logue archive in 1986 and has converted part of the it, information on 90,000 songs, into a database which can be searched by song title, performer, composer, format, and label. In addition, the site features a gallery of album cover artwork, examples of best seller lists from 1963 to 1966, and a description of Madame Lamothe's process of creating Disc-O-Logue. [DS]
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Digital Formats for Content Reproductions--LOC
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/formats.html
This small document, though designed mainly to aid entrants in the Library of Congress/Ameritech Digital Library Competition, is also an updated inside look at the procedures used to create the digital images in LOC's National Digital Library Program, particularly its famous American Memory digital collection. The report details the standards used by the Library in digitization of images, text, maps, sound files, and movies. While these are not necessarily universal standards, few institutions or individuals have more experience than LOC in these endeavors. Digital Formats will be of great value to anyone interested in digitizing library collections. [JS]
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Biological Bases of Behaviour [JavaScript, Java]
http://salmon.psy.plym.ac.uk/year1/bbb.htm
This collection of materials, which supported several undergraduate-level psychology courses at the University of Plymouth (UK), won the 1998 Teaching and Learning Award of the Universities and Colleges Information Services Association (UCISA). The site is arranged by course level (years one through three) and by the topics covered in each course. The Year one lecture materials are the most developed, listing each topic, its aim, the content covered, and the learning objectives. Year one coverage includes Neurotransmission, Depression, Schizophrenia, Hormones & Stress, and Animal Behaviour. Most sections (all levels) contain a lecture overview, extensive graphics from transparencies used in class, audio clips, and animated images. Some online interactive learning activities may require JavaScript or Java. [AG]
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Physics 2000 [Java]
http://www.Colorado.EDU/physics/2000/
Provided by the Chemistry and Physics Departments at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Physics 2000 is a non-threatening introduction to physics. In Einstein's Legacy, cartoon characters guide visitors through visual and conceptual lessons on X-rays, Cat Scans, and Microwave Ovens. A third lesson, Lasers, is still under construction. The Atomic Lab explores two physics phenomena: the two slit experiment and Bose-Einstein condensation. Applets are used throughout the site to allow visitors to interact with animations to demonstrate physics principles. Users can, for example, stretch and shift two waves to learn about wave interference or adjust the frequency of laser beams to cool and trap atoms. [KH]
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Healthcare Quality and Productivity Mailing List
http://www.egroups.com/list/hcqprod/info.html
The Healthcare Quality and Productivity List is a moderated mailing list for healthcare professionals. Topics include, but are not limited to, performance improvement, work redesign, CQI, staffing, SPC, process improvement, training, financial results of projects, benchmarking, and ISO. This list is for management engineers, clinic and hospital administrators, quality improvement staff, and other interested healthcare professionals. [JS]

To subscribe, send an empty message to:
hcqprod-subscribe@makelist.com
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Fog of War--Washington Post Online [Javascript, Word, Quicktime]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/fogofwar/splash.htm
Less Graphical Entrance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/fogofwar/fogofwar.htm
In conjunction with the eighth anniversary of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the Washington Post Online has created this site, a compendium of information about and analysis of the 42-day air war waged by the US against Iraq in 1991. The site contains author William M. Arkin and General Charles Homer's analyses of the air war's effectiveness, information on the US war goals articulated at the time, an interactive air strike map and calendar (including Arkin's 1995 report "Collateral Damage" and Iraqi Civilian Deaths During Operation Desert Storm [available in Microsoft Word format only]), and images and Quicktime videos of war damage. Although the site is overzealous in its use of unnecessary javascript to propel navigation, the story it tells is both controversial and compelling. Note that content can be most easily accessed via the Resources section. [JS]
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Lawyers.com--Martindale-Hubbell
http://www.lawyers.com/
Martindale-Hubbell, publisher of the well known Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory (discussed in the May 1, 1998 Scout Report), has recently opened this site, designed to help individuals and small business people meet their legal needs. The centerpiece of the site is the Locate a Lawyer section, a selected subset (about 420,000) of the MHLD. Users can search by geographic area (international listings can be found in the advanced search) and select from among 36 practice specialties ranging from agricultural law to zoning. Retrieval contains attorney and law firm profiles. In addition to the locator, lawyers.com includes 24 tutorials aimed at the general reader. Visitors can obtain information on Hiring a Lawyer, get questions answered in the Ask a Lawyer section, read articles on law in the news, and look up terms in a glossary (unfortunately only searchable at this time) of 10,000 terms based on the 1996 edition of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law. Lawyers.com is an effective site for non-specialist users. [JS]
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Forbes Small Business Center
http://www.forbes.com/growing/
Forbes magazine presents this online version of its new Entrepreneurs section. It includes relevant articles from the magazine, access to searchable and browseable databases of the 200 Best Small Companies in America, a small business forum, and archives of articles from the magazine's Up & Comers and Starting Your Own Business sections. Though much of this content has long been available on the main Forbes site, the Small Business Center, by making this information accessible from one centralized location, as well as providing the new magazine section, should be useful for those interested or involved in small business. [JS]
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A Collector's Vision of Puerto Rico--SI
http://www.si.edu/organiza/museums/nmah/ve/vidal/index.htm
The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History provides this site, a glimpse of Puerto Rican history and culture as seen through 175 artifacts from the 3,200-artifact collection of Teodoro Vidal, an aide to Puerto Rico's first governor Luis Munoz Marin. Vidal's collecting activities span more than 40 years, and his artifacts date from the 18th through the 20th centuries. The collection can be browsed or searched (the easiest access to the entire collection is through the index browse), and it is contextualized through explanatory sections on Puerto Rican history, religion, every day life, carnivals, music, tourism, and "the Great Puerto Rican family." [JS]
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15 Most Endangered Wild Lands--TWS
http://www.wilderness.org/standbylands/15most/
This report, recently released by the Wilderness Society, describes the "15 most endangered wild lands" and the threats to each. The list includes Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Badger-Two Medicine, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, Cascade Crest, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges, Mojave Desert, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Owyhee Canyonlands, Petroglyph National Monument, Routt National Forest, Utah Wilderness, and Western Maine Woods. [LXP]
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Corbis Picture Experience
http://search.corbis.com/
Corbis (discussed in the July 3, 1998 Scout Report) and the Digital Equipment Corporation's AltaVista search service have teamed up to provide this resource, a searchable database of about 500,000 images from Corbis's collection of over 20 million images. What is unique about this site is the amount of accessible images. At this time, however, there is little if any descriptive information about the images, and no browseable interface structure. Users can send the images as an electronic postcard if they wish, basically a gimmick attached to what is, in essence, a combination demonstration database and very large banner ad for the two sponsoring companies. [JS]
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The JavaScript Source--Mecklermedia
http://javascript.internet.com/
The JavaScript Source contains hundreds of scripts which can be copied and used free of charge. Scripts are divided into categories such as Background Effects, Buttons, Cookies, and Forms. Included with each script is the description, file size, and contributor information. The JavaScript Source also provides several services beyond the collection. If you'd rather receive code in email, they will send it to you. A discussion forum is available. A free biweekly newsletter informs its subscribers of newly added scripts. [TB]
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BrowserTune 98 [Javascript]
http://www.browsertune.com/bt98/
Windows magazine's Fred Langa provides this site, a quick and easy way to test the capabilities of your browser. Nearly three hundred features can be tested via popup javascript windows so you can quickly see what features your browser supports. Tests are available in twelve major topics including foundation elements, graphics, tables and frames, scripting, speed, and security. The site is written in an easy-to-understand style and the tests function as a browser tutorial. Two older non-Javascript tests are also available. This is a marvelous way to find out the capabilities of your browser. [JS]
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EBONYWEB Mailing List
http://www.listbot.com/subscribe/ebonyweb
EBONYWEB is an open, unmoderated forum for Internet and Web professionals (designers, developers, graphic artists, researchers, etc.) who are of African descent. The list is international in scope; however, postings will be in English. Subscription instructions are available at the above URL. [JS]
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Volume 2, Number 15, August 4, 1995
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/.html
AJR Newslink
http://www.newslink.org/
When the American Journalism Review's Newslink site update was announced, it had recently been expanded to include links to an astonishing total of 431 online newspapers and 466 online magazines. Newslink was one of the earliest sites to foster an awareness of the incredible power of the Internet to deliver timely news. At present, it maintains links to 8,000 "newspapers, magazines, broadcasters and news services worldwide." In addition, the site provides articles from AJR and a jobs database for journalists. [JS]
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Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1994-1998. 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 Internet Scout Project provides information about the Internet to the US research and education community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number NCR-9712163. 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 or the National Science Foundation.

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

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The Scout Report - August 7, 1998

The Scout Report

August 7, 1998

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