The Scout Report - November 13, 1998

The Scout Report

November 13, 1998

A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Scout Report is a weekly publication offering a selection of new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and educators. 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.

In This Issue:

Subject Specific Reports

Research and Education

General Interest

Network Tools

Where Are They Now

Subject Specific Reports

Scout Report for Science & Engineering
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/sci-engr/
Volume 2, Number 5 of the Scout Report for Science & Engineering is available. The In the News section annotates nine resources on the Fourth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which wraps up tomorrow in Buenos Aires, Argentina. [MD]
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Research and Education

SCIENCE-WEEK Focus Reports
http://scienceweek.com/
SCIENCE-WEEK (described in the June 27, 1997 Scout Report) is an online weekly digest of the news of science, now published by Spectrum Press Inc. Formerly a completely free service, SCIENCE-WEEK now charges a nominal fee for its current awareness services. However, several Focus Reports are currently available on-site for free (visitors may also wish to browse the table of contents for past SCIENCE-WEEK issues). Focus Reports explain and summarize (in clear language!) cutting-edge science and provide syntheses of current research, including the date and source of recent publication. Publication sources generally include Science,Nature,Scientific American, and Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., among other reputable journals. Current Focus Reports cover topics as varied as Astrophysics, Evolution, and the Biology of Cancer. For those with a strong interest in scientific advances or for those seeking examples of clear but uncompromised scientific explanations, this is an excellent resource. [LXP]
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Enlarging the EU: Reports on progress towards accession by each of the candidate countries [.zip. MS Word]
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/report_11_98/intro/
On November 10, the European Union began accession negotiations with the six countries to be considered in the first wave of enlarged membership: Poland, Hungary, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Cyprus. This is the first step in a long process that will bring eleven, perhaps twelve, new nations into the EU and shift the center of gravity in the European Community eastwards. In the latest collection of its regular reports on candidate countries in central and eastern Europe, the European Commission analyzes the implementation of reforms in the various countries since July 1997 and their general progress towards accession. In addition to reports about each of the twelve candidates, the site also offers a Composite Paper containing "a synthesis of the analysis in each of the regular reports as well as a series of recommendations. This document also sets out the state of play on the negotiations and the reinforcement of the pre-accession strategy." The reports are available online in HTML or may be downloaded as .zip or self-extracting .exe MS Word files. The Reports are also available in French and German. [MD]
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Archives of American Art (AAA)
http://www.si.edu/organiza/offices/archart/start.htm
A branch of the Smithsonian Institution, the Archives of American Art houses the world's largest collection of primary source documentation on American visual arts. The Archive collection includes approximately 13 million items in 5,000 collections, including personal papers, gallery records and exhibition catalogs, art periodicals, and other documents. In addition, the AAA holds over 3,000 interviews conducted for its oral history program and about 1,000 photos of artists' collections. While the collections range from the mid-eighteenth century to the present, the AAA is strongest in the 1900-1950 period. Would-be researchers at the AAA will want to pay a visit to this site first. It offers access to the online catalog and information on using the collections. Additional resources include a listing of AAA publications, finding aids, and guides available online and for purchase. [MD]
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Whole Cloth: Discovering Science and Technology Through American Textile History -- SI NMAH [frames, Quicktime, JavaScript]
http://www.si.edu/lemelson/centerpieces/whole_cloth/
The Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) has released three units of an eight-unit interdisciplinary curriculum that examines "the history of textiles, the technology and science of production, and their consumption" for American history or social studies courses in middle and high school. Included among the goals for this curriculum is a "hope that teachers and students will learn more about technology and invention, about American history, and about how women and people of color interacted with technology throughout history." Each unit contains hands-on activities and handouts for students, lesson plans and notes for teachers, glossaries, and bibliographies. The development of this curriculum was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, and the Center for Children and Technology. [AG]
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The Mint
http://www.themint.org/
A collaborative effort between the National Council on Economic Education and the Northwestern Mutual Life Foundation, this site offers lessons, quizzes, and activities to teach secondary students basic economics and money management. Short lessons are grouped in four categories: Saving & Investing, Spending, Making a Budget, and Learning & Earning. Topics addressed include compounding and investing, credit cards, expenses and budgets, and education and income potential. Additional resources at the site include a Parents and Teachers section with lesson plans and activities, a Dictionary of financial terms, and a section exploring the individual student's role in the economy. [MD]
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Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1830-1930
http://womhist.binghamton.edu/
This site was created to introduce secondary and higher education students to some of the primary documents available for the study of women's involvement in social movements in the US between 1830 and 1930. The material at the site has its origins in editorial projects of undergraduate and graduate students at the State University of New York at Binghamton, collected and revised by Professors Kathryn Kish Sklar and Thomas Dublin. These are presented as a collection of learning modules addressing specific topics, such as African-American Women and the Chicago World's Fair, 1893; Women's Peace Mission to European Capitals, 1915; and Pacifism vs. Patriotism in Women's Organizations in the 1920s, among others. Each module contains an introductory essay and, in most cases, between fifteen and twenty primary documents. The modules have potential in classrooms as either discrete learning units or perhaps as examples to students on how to incorporate primary documents in their essays. Additional resources include a modest collection of annotated links and an internal search engine. [MD]
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Pennsylvania Flora Project Database
http://www.upenn.edu/paflora/dbsintro.html
Pennsylvania Flora Project
http://www.upenn.edu/paflora/
Maintained by the Botany Department of the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Flora Project is a longstanding effort to compile information on native and naturalized plants in that state. More recently, the Project has focused on the maintenance of the Database, which contains records derived from nearly 400,000 specimens. A subset of the database, essentially a list of all Pennsylvania plants, has been placed online, and users may search "taxonomically by entering a family name, genus, binomial, or common name" and further modify their search by several attributes. These include origin, federal status, state status, growth habit, and wetland status. [MD]
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Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Services Mailing List

To subscribe, send email to:
   mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk
In the body of the message type:
   join lis-perf-measures yourfirstname yourlastname

lis-perf-measures is a new list sponsored by the department of Information and Library Management at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, England. Library and information managers as well as research and teaching staff are encouraged to discuss and exchange information on performance measurement, methodologies, the human dimension, the digital library, measuring electronic services, and more. [AG]
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General Interest

Frank Lloyd Wright -- PBS [RealPlayer]
http://www.pbs.org/flw/
This outstanding new site by PBS was created as a companion piece to the new film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick profiling the life and work of (arguably) the greatest American architect. The first section and heart of the site, Life & Work, offers excellent overviews of Wright's most famous works (e.g., Oak Park, Taliesin, Falling Waters, and Guggenheim). Users can view Wright's drawings and exterior and interior photos (all with commentaries), watch RealPlayer clips, read contemporary criticisms, and learn about contemporaneous movements in architecture and events in Wright's life. This section also offers RealPlayer clips of a television interview of Wright by Mike Wallace. The Legacy section of the site contains selected reviews, text and video reflections from experts consulted for the film, and an excerpt from historian William Cronin's essay, "Inconstant Unity: The Passion of Frank Lloyd Wright." Users with a strong interest in Wright and a bit of wanderlust will appreciate the Locator section, which allows them to create their own list of Wright buildings, including "building names, locations, photographs; and customized maps and driving instructions." Additional sections include a profile of filmmakers Burns and Novick and a collection of teaching and research resources. [MD]
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The United States Government Manual 1998/1999 [.pdf]
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/browse-gm.html
The latest version of this manual (first described in the Scout Report for September 12, 1997) has been posted by the National Archives and Records Administration and the US Government Printing Office. Like its predecessors, the manual offers comprehensive information on the branches of the federal government, departments, offices, and related bodies. The Manual's 800 pages can be retrieved in either ACSII text or .pdf format. Each department or office entry is listed separately, and entries include an overview and contact information. Subject and Name/Agency Indexes are also included at the end of the Manual. [MD]
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Commonwealth War Graves Commission -- Debt of Honour Register
http://www.cwgc.org/
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission minds memorials in over 150 countries and holds information on the 1.7 million members of the British Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars as well as the 60,000 civilian casualties of WWII. The Commission has recently placed this huge database online as the Debt of Honour Register. Users may search the Register for "personal and service details and places of commemoration" for relatives and "identify the exact location, by cemetery plot or memorial panel, where any given name is commemorated." Search variables include surname, initials, war or year of death, force, and nationality. Wild card searching is also available. Please note that, due to high demand, the database may be unavailable at times. [MD]
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HealthWorld Online
http://www.healthy.net/
Dave Robertson and James Strohecker have trade-marked the phrase "Self-Managed Care" as the theme for their comprehensive Website devoted to educating consumers and professionals on alternative and complementary health and medicine. While HealthWorld Online contains a mixture of conventional western medicine and alternative therapies, visitors are more likely to find, for example, a recipe for an herbal tonic than an endorsement of radiation treatment. The site includes thousands of free resources and is divided into over twenty extensive sections on topics that range from Wellness to Legal/Legislative. Visitors to the Alternative Therapy section can learn about practices such as Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Guided Imagery, and Flower Remedies. Resources at the site include articles by experts, lists of email discussion and support groups, a calendar of conferences and meetings throughout the world, listings of educational opportunities, professional journals, directories of practitioners and associations, and much more. Most resources are free; however, a fee is charged for the use of "premium" resources, and items can be purchased in the Marketplace section, which includes a Bookstore, Health Food Store, and Health Travel Center. [GW]
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Sonnet Central [RealPlayer]
http://members.aol.com/ericblomqu/sonnet.htm
Created by a dedicated sonnet aficionado, Sonnet Central is not intended for the scholar, per se, but for the reader, the Internaut with a weakness for poetry. The site contains a collection of English-language sonnets, grouped by period and region or by author, and modernized for contemporary readers. Pictures, contemporaneous critical works, a bibliography, and audio files of readings of selected poems complement the sonnets, some of which are maintained off-site (many at the University of Toronto). From Shakespeare to Wilfred Owen, selections from many well-known sonneteers are here alongside those of their less famous contemporaries. [TK]
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LANIC Newsroom
http://lanic.utexas.edu:80/info/newsroom/mitch.html
The Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC) at the University of Texas, a very useful gateway for Latin American resources (mentioned in the Scout Report for January 23, 1998), has recently added this current awareness feature. The LANIC Newsroom will feature a collection of links to a major current event in Latin America. The inaugural issue covers the aftermath and relief efforts following Hurricane Mitch. [MD]
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Art Crimes: The Writing On the Wall
http://www.graffiti.org/
Art Crimes was the first graffiti site on the Web, and with over 2,000 images of graffiti from over 80 international cities, it is probably the largest. Art Crimes' stated goal is to "provide cultural information and resources and to help preserve and document the constantly disappearing paintings." The site provides a comprehensive education on graffiti art for all visitors and also offers assistance to artists and writers who wish to contribute to Art Crimes' efforts to preserve graffiti by making it digital. Take advantage of the bibliography of books and articles, and links to Websites on graffiti and art in general. The What's New section provides a list of ongoing Web features at Art Crimes. For example, among the October listings, "HUH? has a whole new look" is a show of graffiti on Polish train cars. Artists should look under "How to Contribute to Art Crimes" for resources to help them get their art online, including tips on scanning and HTML tutorials. [DS]
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Leonids 1998
Leonids
http://medicine.wustl.edu/~kronkg/leonids.html
The Leonids-RGO
http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/leaflets/solar_system/leonids.html
Leonid '98 Meteor Outburst Page
http://www-space.arc.nasa.gov/~leonid/
Live! Leonids 98 [RealPlayer]
http://www.leonids.net/live/
The Leonid meteor storm was first witnessed in North America in 1833, and in 1865 a connection was made between the meteor storm and the Comet Tempel-Tuttle, which completes an orbit around the Sun every 33 years. This year's Leonid storm is expected to be particularly dramatic, with the peak occurring late night November 16/early morning November 17. Although East Asia and the Western Pacific are deemed the prime viewing areas for the storm, scientists are still predicting a rate of 20-40 meteors per hour across North America. These sites offer background information and viewing tips on the Leonids. The first site, created by Gary Kronk, gives a basic introduction to the Leonids, a history of ancient and modern observations, and optimum viewing instructions. The next site is a fact sheet on meteors in general and the Leonids in particular produced by the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO). The third site is the homepage for NASA's Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign, which is utilizing techniques not usually involved in meteor studies to observe and study this year's storm. The site offers a history of the Leonid meteors and the Project, Leonid news, and a photo gallery, among other resources. The final site is a live Webcast site based in Japan. The site will broadcast live in RealPlayer format on the evening of the 17th and then offer highlights over the next few days. [MD]
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Network Tools

Inferno 2.0
http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/
Inferno, created at Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs, is a new operating system that could be the "Unix for the next century." Created by the same research lab that invented C++ and Unix, Inferno's primary goal is to operate seamlessly within a heterogeneous network environment. By abstracting resource interfaces to a common format, Inferno provides a general way to access all resources, both local and remote. Beyond that, the operating system is portable across many platforms and networks, and applications written in Limbo, the Inferno programming language, are also portable and lightweight. Impossible to describe in a single paragraph, the Inferno operating system is a fascinating leap ahead in networking and systems technology. Inferno is useful for research, development, learning, and many other possibilities. Freely available, Inferno 2.0 runs on Win95/NT, Solaris, and Linux. [CL]
[Note: This product is no longer available for free.]
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Scour.Net
http://www.scour.net/
Another addition to the recent wave of multimedia search engines (see the Scout Report for October 9, 1998), Scour.Net allows users to search for audio, video, images, and animation and then access these files directly, without visiting the site. Poor spellers and sloppy typists will appreciate Scour.Net's Smartmatch system, which returns results that are closest to the query, even if the spelling is different. Users can choose between a simple keyword search or an advanced search, which allows selection of source and media type. Additional content at the site includes a daily multimedia feature and a Media Resources page with links to tools for viewing, listening to, and creating multimedia files. [MD]
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Where Are They Now

Volume 2, Number 28, November 10, 1995
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/.html
GAO Online [.pdf]
http://www.gao.gov
The US General Accounting Office (GAO) is the investigative arm of Congress. "Charged with examining matters relating to the receipt and disbursement of public funds, GAO performs audits and evaluations of Government programs and activities." Like almost all of the US government's sites that the Scout Report has annotated, the GAO's Website has continued to evolve and expand since its initial review. At the site, users can access a variety of full-text reports and publications; report allegations of fraud, waste, or mismanagement to the GAO FraudNet; order printed copies of GAO reports; and subscribe to two mailing lists, which offer notifications of new GAO reports and testimony and newly released Comptroller General Decisions. [MD]
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