The Scout Report - April 23, 1999

Scout Report for Social Sciences and Business & Economics
Scout Report for Social Sciences
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/socsci/1999/ss-990420.html
Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/bus-econ/1999/be-990422.html
The fifteenth issues of the second volumes of the Scout Reports for Social Sciences and Business & Economics are available. The In the News section of the Social Sciences Report annotates nine resources on the recent political violence in East Timor. The Business & Economics Report's In the News section offers eight resources on the current debate over the United States year 2000 Census. [MD]
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Three Education Statistics Resources from NCES
Education Statistics Quarterly
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/quarterlyapr/index.html
.pdf Version [79p.]
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/1999626.pdf
Learning About Education Through Statistics [.pdf, 30p.]
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/1999028.pdf
Directory of NAEP Publications [.pdf, 71p.]
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/1999489.pdf
These three new resources from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) will be welcomed by researchers, policy analysts, or any user involved in the study of US education statistics. Education Statistics Quarterly, a new quarterly compendium of NCES's work, will feature several short publications, executive summaries of longer works, short descriptions of other NCES publications and data products, professional notices, and a feature piece with commentary. The focus of the inaugural issue is teacher quality. The second item is a brochure that provides general information about NCES surveys and how to access data from NCES. Even users familiar with NCES might benefit from this concise overview of its data services. The last publication offers a comprehensive listing of government-funded National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) publications, dating back to NAEP's inception. Founded in 1970, the NAEP evaluates student performance in areas such as reading, mathematics, science, writing, US history, civics, geography, and the arts. Each publication listing includes basic information for accessing it through the appropriate agency. [MD]
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World Economic Outlook (WEO) -- IMF [.pdf]
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/1999/01/index.htm
WEO Database [.csv]
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/1999/01/data/index.htm
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently released the May 1999 issue of the World Economic Outlook (last discussed in the January 15, 1999 Scout Report), a biannual assessment of the world economic situation. Overall, the IMF predicts a few years of slow growth, but no dramatic global recession. The full text of the 255-page report is available in .pdf format in six parts at the IMF site. Users can also access the WEO Database, which contains data in nine categories in comma delimited, .csv text file format. Explanatory notes on each data set and tips on viewing and saving data tables are provided. [MD]
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Two from the UN
United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ecosoc/
United Nations Chronicle Online Edition
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/index.html
The UN Economic and Social Council, which serves as "the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to Member States and to the United Nations system" generally holds one five-week substantive session each year. The 1999 meeting, as in previous years, included a number of high-level special meetings with a variety of Government and NGO officials. At this site, users can learn about the ECOSOC and its mission, review the 1999 program, and read the full text of numerous session documents, resolutions, directives, and statements. In addition, users can access a variety of documents from sessions dating back to 1982 in the ECOSOC Archives. The UN has also recently created an online version of the UN Chronicle, a subscription-based quarterly journal. The site does not offer full access to the journal, but it does offer a number of selected articles from the current edition and back issues through 1997. [MD]
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Swiss Diplomatic Documents [.pdf] -- Swiss Federal Archives
http://www.admin.ch/bar/en/dds/dds1.htm
Swiss Diplomatic Documents, a site maintained by the Swiss Federal Archives, provides public access to documents on Swiss foreign policy and international relations. This site contains two valuable information resources: the DoDiS database and a comprehensive bibliography. The DoDiS (Diplomatische Dokumente der Schweiz, or Documents Diplomatiques Suisses) database currently includes entries on over 2,000 foreign policy documents, 6,000 persons, 7,000 organizations, and 1,650 geographical terms. The database also contains international agreements, federal laws, and decisions of the Federal Council and of the Federal Assembly. DoDiS is searchable and provides detailed bibliographic data for each entry. Recently about one-fourth of the documents have also been made available in a full-text format (.pdf). The other significant resource at this site is a bibliography on Swiss international relations and foreign policy from 1945 to the present. The extensive bibliography is organized by subject and includes references in German, French, and English. [AO]
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"Been Here So Long": Selections from the WPA American Slave Narratives
http://newdeal.feri.org/asn/
This new site from the New Deal Network (reviewed in the October 25, 1996 Scout Report) features a selection of seventeen interviews of former slaves conducted by members of the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). As with the recollections featured at the University of Virginia's American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology (discussed in the February 28, 1997 Scout Report), these narratives are from the 2,000 interviews with ex-slaves collected during 1936-1938 by journalists and other writers employed by the Federal Writers Project. In addition to the narratives, organized alphabetically by name, the site features an introductory essay, three lesson plans, and a modest annotated guide to related online resources. [MD]
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The Tax History Project [.pdf]
http://www.taxhistory.org/
Established in 1995 by Tax Analysts, the Tax History Project helps scholars, policymakers, students, and citizens easily access primary historical documents relating to American tax history. This rich resource archives US Treasury, White House, and Congressional documents from the early national, Depression, and World War II eras. Cartoon and poster image galleries supplement the text archives. Other features include statistical data on American taxation, Presidential Tax Returns, books reviews, and links to tax policy discussion groups. [MW]
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Asian Studies WWW VL Search Engine
http://www.ciolek.com/SearchEngines.html#asia
Asia Pacific Research Online
http://www.ciolek.com/
Yet another resource from online Asian Studies-guru T. Matthew Ciolek of the Australian National University, this dedicated search engine accesses "major Asian Studies' research resources recorded by the HotBot database." The engine covers the Websites of ten established Asian Studies organizations (asianart.com; coombs.anu.edu.au; iias.leidenuniv.nl; menic.utexas.edu; sun.sino.uni-heidelberg.de; www.aasianst.org; www.asian.gu.edu.au; www.asiasociety.org; www.ciolek.com; and www.ias.berkeley.edu), and search returns include brief annotations. The page also provides links to sixteen Asian Pacific country-specific search engines. Asia Pacific Research Online, Ciolek's main page, offers links to his array of online information resources and special projects. [MD]
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Digitising History: A Guide to Creating Digital Resources from Historical Documents -- AHDS
http://hds.essex.ac.uk/g2gp/digitising_history/index.html
The latest in the UK's Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS) publication series, Guides to Good Practice in the Creation and Use of Digital Resources (see the November 3, 1998 Scout Report for Social Sciences), this guide is offered as a reference source for "individuals and organisations involved with, or planning, the computerisation of historical source documents." It recommends standards and offers guidance on designing and managing data creation projects, digitizing source documents and placing them in a database, preserving digital resources, and documenting a data creation project. In addition to the full text of the Guide, the site offers a Glossary and Bibliography. [MD]
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Interpreting the Declaration of Independence by Translation
http://chnm.gmu.edu/declaration/
This new site from the Center for History & New Media (CHNM) at George Mason University is an expanded online version of a March 1999 Journal of American History roundtable. The site features translations of the Declaration of Independence into eight languages: Japanese, Polish, Italian, Spanish, German, Hebrew, French, and Russian (some include multiple versions, retranslations, and commentary), with links to essays about how the Declaration has been translated and interpreted in the related countries. These roundtable essays are also grouped together, with a Foreward and Appendices, in a separate section. CHNM intends for the project to evolve and welcomes contributions. [MD]
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Children of Conflict [RealPlayer]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/childrenofconflict/
Presented by BBC Worldservice with the assistance of the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) and the Human Rights Fund of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, this site features the harrowing tales of children caught in war zones across the world, told in their own words. Divided into sections which explore the different experiences of the children of conflict (child soldiers, wounded children, lost children, child-headed households, child workers), the site offers brief explanatory notes, numerous quotes, RealAudio selections in a variety of languages, transcripts, and letters from children. Links are provided throughout the site to sources for more information. [MD]
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The Jackson Davis Collection of African-American Educational Photographs
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/jdavis/
Using a grant received from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in September 1998, the Special Collections Department at the University of Virginia began to digitize approximately 4,500 photographs taken by Jackson Davis between 1915 and 1930, under the auspice of the General Education Board of New York City. Davis's main interests were Southern education, race relations, and education in the Belgian Congo and Liberia. The collection primarily documents African-American education at "colored schools" in the Southern United States and also includes views of Africa. About two-thirds of the photographs are currently available online. Simple searches using keywords related to education such as "cooking class" or "play" work best and will return images of children at work in classrooms and at play on school playgrounds. It is also possible to enter years, states, and countries using drop-down menus. City and county names can be entered as free-text. [DS]
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Franklin and His Friends: Portraying the Man of Science in Eighteenth-Century America
http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/franklin/index.htm
This online version of the new exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery explores the eighteenth-century fascination with science and the idealization of the "man of science," particularly through portraiture. Although "science" as we know it today did not yet exist in this period, Franklin and his peers seriously investigated the natural and physical sciences and carefully nurtured friendships with like-minded men to share information and solidify their positions within the "international republic of science." This collection of annotated portraits is organized in three sections (The Republic of Science, Portraiture and the Tools of Science, and Science and Liberty), which examine how these paintings were used to create a common scientific identity among American and European men of science, how images of expensive and rare instruments contributed to their cultural authority, and what efforts American men of science made to reconnect themselves with European science and learning after the disruption of the Revolution. An entertaining and informative diversion for art, science, and American history buffs alike. [MD]
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Women of Color Health Data Book -- NWHIC
http://www.4women.gov/owh/pub/woc/index.htm
Provided by the National Women's Health Information Center (NWHIC), this new data book is intended to help policymakers and women's health advocates understand the health status of women of color and assist them in addressing their needs. The first of the three sections, Factors Affecting the Health of Women of Color, provides an overview of health factors as they relate to ethnic and racial heritage (Native Americans, Hispanics, Black Americans, and Asian Americans), as well as special health issues facing adolescent females and elderly women of color. The second portion of the report, Health Assessment of Women of Color, contains a collection of data on a wide variety of topics illustrated with tables and graphs. These include life expectancy; major causes of death; body weight; tobacco, alcohol, and drug use; preventive health care services; access to health care; morbidity and mortality of various specific diseases; and many others. The final section addresses the issues related to improving the health of women of color, such as research and treatment needs, facilities, and the need for more minority physicians and health care providers. [MD]
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The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/shackleton/index.html
This new online exhibit from the American Museum of Natural History documents Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 voyage to the Antarctic, one of the greatest expedition tales ever told. In January 1915, one day's sail from their destination, the expedition's ship Endurance became trapped in pack ice and was slowly crushed. After camping on the ice for five months, Shackleton and five sailors made a daring 800-mile open boat journey, crossed the mountains of South Georgia island, and eventually reached a remote whaling station, where he organized a rescue mission and saved all of the men left behind. With short text segments, diary excerpts, maps, and wonderful photos from expedition photographer Frank Hurley, the exhibit traces this remarkable story. Information on the physical exhibit and related special programs are also provided. [MD]
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Internet Library of Law and Court Decisions
http://www.phillipsnizer.com/internetlib.htm
Maintained by Martin H. Samson, a partner at Phillips Nizer Benjamin Krim & Ballon LLP, this site offers summaries of Internet-related court decisions. Brief synopses, organized by topic (Copyright, Domain Name, First Amendment, Spamming, etc.), are available for each decision, with links to a more extensive summary with analysis, quotes, and the full text, where available. The site also offers a keyword search engine, but be sure to select Internet Library in the pull-down menu. Users can subscribe for email notification of new additions. [MD]
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Flora Danica
http://www.pictures.dnlb.dk/Homepage/welcome.html
Provided by the Danish National Library of Science and Medicine (DNLB), this site will consist of digitized images of 3,240 copper-engraved plates from the Flora Danica, a collection of folio-sized pictures of all wild plants in Denmark that was compiled between 1761 and 1874. The project is currently at the half-way mark, with 1680 plates available. The database is searchable by keyword or browseable by plate number or date, and returns display the plates as thumbnailed images with limited information. The thumbnail pages also offer links to images of related plants. While the site has limited use for botanists or students and some images have difficulty loading, fans of botanical art, especially from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, will enjoy the attractive plates. [MD]
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Universe Today
http://www.universetoday.com/
Published by Fraser Cain, this modest current awareness service gathers space exploration news stories from around the Internet. The stories, usually four per day, are briefly summarized, and for each, Cain offers links to full-text articles from one or more sources. Users can read Universe Today at the site, which also contains an archive, internal search engine, and related links, or they can subscribe to receive the newsletter by email. Although not as comprehensive as some astronomy news sites, Universe Today does cover some of the top stories and will appeal to the busy general user with an interest in space exploration. [MD]
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Quicktime 4 Beta Release
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/index.html
Darwin Streaming Server
http://www.publicsource.apple.com/projects/streaming/
This week, Apple released a preview version of Quicktime 4 (QT4), its multipurpose audio and video suite. New features in QT4 include support for MP3, Flash, AVI, and WAV files; new graphic and audio controls; and a "Favorites Drawer," which allows users to bookmark QT files stored on remote servers and access them instantly. Users can download QT4 for Mac or Windows 95/NT for free at the site. In addition, Apple has also announced that its QuickTime Streaming Server software can be downloaded by developers as open-source code. This new addition to the Apple Open Source Project (see the March 26, 1999 Scout Report) allows users "to send streaming QuickTime data to clients across the Internet using the industry standard RTP and RTSP protocols." Developers may download the Darwin Streaming Server for free after registering with Apple. [MD]
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Windows Media Player 6.2 Beta
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/download/betaplayers.asp
With the Windows Media Player 6.2 Beta, Microsoft enters the high quality, compressed digital music fray. Not only does Microsoft's new media player support numerous media formats, but it also has several novel features. It supports the new MS Audio 4.0 format, which claims to provide MP3-quality sound at half the size of MP3 files, and it offers "intelligent streaming," which increases the probability of a smooth streamed media experience. Somewhat less wonderful for the end-user may be its support for the Windows Media Rights Manager, which provides piracy protection and license control. Though similar to RealPlayer, the Windows Media Player 6.2 Beta's interesting and unique features make it worth checking out. The player runs on Win95/98/NT and is free to download and use. [CL]
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Database Central
http://baobabcomputing.com/databasecentral/index.shtml
Provided by Baobab Computing, this regularly-updated site currently features links to over 4,000 database resources. The resources available vary widely, from software, shareware, and middleware to tips, tutorials, and white papers to books, magazines, and discussion forums. Users may browse by category or use the keyword(s) search engine. Additional resources include a discussion forum, daily IT news, and an email newsletter. [MD]
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NATO Summit
NATO at 50 -- New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/nato-50-index.html
NATO at 50 -- CNN
http://cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/nato/
NATO at 50 - The Washington Summits -- USIA [RealPlayer]
http://www.nato50.gov/
NATO: The 50th Anniversary Homepage [.pdf]
http://www.nato.int/nato@50/nato50.htm
NATO At Fifty -- Brookings Institution
http://www.brookings.org/fp/projects/nato.htm
The heart of the nation's capital has become one big high-security area, as dignitaries from the nineteen NATO countries and other allied nations arrive for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's 50th anniversary Summit in Washington, April 23-25. Originally planned as a festive celebration of NATO's half-century in existence, the summit has been recast in a more somber mood as alliance members discuss the war against Serbia. Although NATO has, up to this point, managed to display a unified face regarding Kosovo and Serbia, that unity may face its toughest challenge yet this weekend, as British Prime Minister Tony Blair and some members of Congress press their case for the deployment of ground troops. At the New York Times site (free registration required), users will find a selection of articles, documents, and forums; a chronology; and related links which collectively offer an excellent overview of NATO's history and its future challenges. CNN has also produced a special site on the summit and NATO's anniversary, with analysis, an interactive map and timeline, and a gallery of photos of secretaries-general. The United States Information Agency (USIA) site is a comprehensive resource on the summit, with a program, texts and transcripts, photo gallery, live video, background information, visitor and press information, publications, and related links. The NATO 50th Anniversary Homepage offers the full text of a special commemorative publication which tells the story of NATO with essays, photos, and messages from Alliance leaders and other organizations. The site also contains a photographic database, with over 900 images. The last site, a Brookings Institution National Issues Forum, features a number of items of interest, including addresses by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Secretary General of NATO Dr. Javier Solana, a panel discussion transcript, and several Brookings publications. The recent NATO expansion and its involvement in Kosovo and Serbia have been discussed in several Scout Reports, including the April 2, 1999, March 26, 1999, and March 12, 1999 issues. [MD]
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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.

Susan Calcari Rachael E. Bower Michael de Nie Travis Koplow Aimee D. Glassel Todd Hanson Sheilah Harrington Christopher Lukas Dave Mayer Sujani Nannapaneni Andrew Osmond Laura X. Payne Jeannine Ramsey Mike Roszkowski Debra Shapiro Geraldine Wanserski Megan Waters Amy Tracy Wells Paul M Schwartz

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