The Scout Report - August 13, 1999

Scout Report for Social Sciences and Business & Economics
Scout Report for Social Sciences
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/socsci/1999/ss-990810.html
Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/bus-econ/1999/be-990812.html
The twenty-third 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 legacy of Nixon and Watergate, 25 years after the fact. The Business & Economics Report's In the News section offers eight resources on recent controversies over day trading. [TK]
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The State of the American Newspaper
http://ajr.newslink.org/special/
This site, part of the American Journalism Review (AJR) NewsLink, explores the condition of the American Newspaper in an era of increased media competition and conglomeration, decreased editorial independence, and a changing profile for the typical news story. The twelve-part report features stories on the print journalism industry from veteran, prize-winning reporters. For example, Pulitzer Prize winner James V. Risser writes on the loss of the independent American newspaper, CNN correspondent Peter Arnette examines the shrinking coverage of international news at city dailies, veteran Washington correspondents John Herbers and James McCarthy report on the lack of interest in hard news in the Nation's capitol, and in "Fear.com," Chip Brown, a former reporter for the Washington Post, investigates the efforts of American newspapers to deal with Internet competition. Other stories examine the publishing side of the issues and the fierce competition among those few papers still surviving in cities with more than one major daily. The State of the American Newspaper is extremely well designed and gives users the option of reading stories either in a linear format or via a hypertext table of contents. Other features include photo galleries, "databank" windows that give pertinent statistical snapshots, and an online (admittedly "unscientific") "quick poll." The State of the American Newspaper is an initiative of the Project for Excellence in Journalism and is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. [DC]
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Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929 [RealPlayer, .wav, .mpg]
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/coolhtml/coolhome.html
A special presentation from the Library of Congress, Prosperity and Thrift consists of a vast collection of resources about the Calvin Coolidge presidency and the economy of the 1920s, including written materials, photographs, audio files of Calvin Coolidge's speeches, and several volumes of Coolidge's personal papers. The site charts myriad aspects of this time period, offering background, analysis, and historical resources on such topics as Merchandising and Advertising, African Americans and Consumerism, and Poverty in the 20s. Accompanying the collection is the Guide to People, Organizations and Topics in Prosperity and Thrift, an alphabetized resource index. [EM]
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Right to Know Hazardous Substance Fact Sheets [.pdf]
http://www.state.nj.us/health/eoh/rtkweb/rtkhsfs.htm
Offered by the State of New Jersey, the Right to Know Hazardous Substance Fact Sheets Website is an outstanding source for in-depth information on over 2,000 hazardous substances. Continually updated, each fact sheet (.pdf file) is listed by common name. Users can learn how to identify harmful chemicals from Acenaphthene to Zirconium, determine exposure, assess health hazards, and acquire emergency information. This site is easy to use and offers a good mix of vital information. [KR]
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Theology Website
http://www.theologywebsite.com/
Created by the historical theology department of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Trinity International University, the Theology Website is a comprehensive collection of theology information and resources including articles from the Quodlibet Online Journal of Theology, recommended sites about religion and theology, and interactive polls and quizzes. Interested users are invited to contribute to the Sermon Outline Database, which will be a compilation of sermon notes, outlines, and transcripts, as well as Bible study and Sunday school lessons. Also included is a vast, indexed database of theology and world religion links. [EM]
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The Development of Virtual Education [.pdf]
http://www.col.org/virtualed/index.htm
Funded by the Commonwealth of Education and the British Department for International Development, this 170-page report examines the use of virtual education, or distance learning, by regions around the world, including India, East and Southeast Asia, Africa, and Europe. Author Glen Farrell ultimately determines that completely virtual education is "still more rhetorical than real." Although this study is available in its entirety online, each chapter study must be downloaded separately. [EM]
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Agripedia
http://frost.ca.uky.edu/agripedia/index.htm
Developed by the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture, Agripedia provides "centralized, general agricultural information to college and secondary school students as well as the general public." One of ten sections, Class Material contains curricula, outlines, facts, and subject-relevant links to courses in biotechnology, forestry, and agriculture, to name a few. Other sections include a search directory, links, a glossary, and a subject index with multimedia capabilities. Agrimania offers a photo reservoir of pictures pertaining to livestock judging, breeds of livestock, meat identification, and more. This should be an excellent resource for students of agriculture and an interesting site for others. [KR]
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America's Jazz Heritage [RealPlayer]
http://www.si.edu/ajazzh/
A ten-year initiative, America's Jazz Heritage is a partnership of the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and the Smithsonian Institution that is focussed on the preservation and presentation of the history of jazz. Established in 1992, the project presents materials through exhibitions, performances, radio, publications, recordings, and educational programs held at the Smithsonian and at other locations throughout the US. This wonderful site includes everything from audio clips and interviews to schedules of exhibitions and performances as well as extensive bibliographies and links to related sites. America's Jazz Heritage also oversees the Smithsonian's Jazz Oral History Program, a research project whose aim is to interview older jazz musicians, producers, dancers, and others in the field; over 100 six-hour interviews have already been conducted. Several portions of these interviews are available online. [REB]
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Women with Disabilities
http://www.4women.gov/wwd/index.htm
This new site from the National Women's Health Information Center offers a plethora of resources of interest to women with disabilities and those who work and live with them. Divided into topical areas such as abuse, parenting, and sexuality, the site has a range of information about different types of disabilities and how they may particularly affect women. Also provided is information on federal laws and regulations that protect those with disabilities as well as extensive lists of services and support resources. A section on statistics may prove especially useful to researchers and educators. This site has literally hundreds of helpful links and publications and will be useful to both the general public and professionals. [REB]
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24 Hour Museum [Java, FLASH 3]
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/Home.htm
The UK Campaign for Museums presents this gateway to non-profit museums, galleries, historic houses, and heritage attractions. The front page of the site features a newsletter with short articles and images highlighting current exhibitions. For example, the Royal Museum in Edinburgh is opening a show on the influence of Norwegian folk costumes on contemporary design. Those planning visits can find museums by clicking on a region within the site's interactive map or by performing keyword searches. Directory information, such as hours, addresses, and phone and fax numbers, is provided for all the museums listed, as well a link to the museum's Website if one exists. Other features include the Trails section which suggests tours of museums grouped by theme or geography; Y24, a kids's section; a developing Resources section with materials for teachers and students; and Scrapbook, downloadable software for keeping track of the information you find at the 24 Hour Museum. [DS]
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The Evolution of Languages [RealPlayer]
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exploring/
Another great site from Exploratorium (described in the February 21, 1997 Scout Report) The Evolution of Language provides users with tools to trace and explore the evolution of the spoken and written word. Enhanced by audio interviews with linguist Merritt Ruhlen, author of The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother Tongue, this simple but well crafted site provides a nice jumping off point for those interested in the subject. Several exercises and tables help users explore how linguists trace word use and creation as well as how they group languages into common families. Also included is basic information about the history of linguistics and the roots of language classification. [REB]
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Australia's Lost Kingdom
http://www.austmus.gov.au/lostkingdoms/index.htm
Australia's Lost Kingdom is based on an exhibition by the same name at the Australian Museum. The site focusses on the evolution of Australia's animal and plant population over the past 100 million years. By examining five fossil sites (Riversleigh, Bluff Downs, Murgon, Lightning Ridge, and Naracoorte), users explore the diverse nature of past flora and fauna and are shown how these species evolved into todays koalas and wombats. Although not extensive, this site is well planned and executed and is completed by several links to other Australian fossil sites and a bibliography of related materials. [REB]
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CARE Virtual Field Trip to Mali
http://www.care.org/virtual_trip/mali/
This site allows users to accompany CARE journalist Wendy Driscoll and photographer Fred Housel on a journey along the Niger River in Mali, visiting cities Djenne, Syn, Mopti, Dire, and ending at Tombouctou. "Travellers" can read an illustrated journal entry for each of the five days of the trip, view a map of the route, and browse a photo album featuring images of families and children and the Grand Mosque in Djenne. The site also offers background information about Mali, an explanation of CARE's activities there, a list of books and Websites about Mali and West Africa, and a downloadable screensaver featuring images from the trip. For those interested in more cyber-travelling, a link is provided to an additional CARE field trip to Bolivia. [DS]
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Mac06
http://www.dsitri.de/projects/mac06/index.html
Mac06 (pronounced "Mac oh six") is a POSIX-compatible environment (library and a system kernel) for the MacOS. Its features include a UNIX-like file system using HFS with full Finder integration; POSIX libc.a and #include headers; a curses library; a POSIX shell; many basic UNIX commands, such as cd, cat, find, fgrep, etc.; a software development environment; and sockets for TCP/IP. Mac06 is a useful environment for learning UNIX as it runs as an application on top of the MacOS, allowing the user to switch between UNIX and the MacOS without rebooting. Currently at version 0.99, Mac06 will become a shareware application costing 20 dollars at its 1.0 release. [PMS]
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e-news [Frames]
http://free.dorm.org/dnews/default.asp
e-news is a free service for reading and posting to over 39,000 USENET newsgroups with any Web browser. The site allows one to read and post to specific newsgroups or search among all available newsgroups by keyword (for newsgroup names, not content). The site is a bit slow and heavy on advertising, but it allows users to read almost all USENET newsgroups, even in browsers that do not natively support the reading of newsgroups. [PMS]
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The Evolution of Science Curriculum
The New York Times: Kansas Votes to Delete Evolution From State's Science Curriculum
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/081299kan-evolution-edu.html
The Wichita Eagle: Evolution gets boot, 6-4, from State BOE
http://www.wichitaeagle.com/news/local/learning/docs/evolution0812_txt.htm
The Creation Research Society
http://www.creationresearch.org/
National Center for Science Education, Inc
http://www.natcenscied.org/
Scopes Trial Home Page
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/scopes.htm
A vote by the Kansas Board of Education on Wednesday will change the way science is taught in the sunflower state. The decision, to virtually do away with any mention of evolution from the school curriculum, is a huge victory for those espousing creationism. The fact that theories of evolution will not be included in state assessment tests may also discourage teachers from including material on evolution in their science classes. The New York Times article offers basic information about the decision and the opportunity to join a "religion in the schools" forum hosted by The Times.The Wichita Eagle article gives more local coverage of the story with some colorful quotes from board members. Two sites which provide background information from both perspectives of this debate are The Creation Research Society and the National Center for Science Education, Inc. For a historical look at the issue, a great site based out of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law school has done a wonderful job covering the famous "monkey trial" of 1925, in which John Scopes, a Dayton, Tennessee high school biology teacher was charged with illegally teaching the theory of evolution. Additional resources on the issues of evolution and creationism can be found in Signpost, the Scout Report's database. Included are a teaching site from the National Academy of Sciences; The Talk.Origins Evolution Archive, a site which explores the "evolution/ creationism controversy"; and the Science and Creationism Homepage, also from the National Academy of Sciences. [DC][REB]
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