Scout Report for Social Sciences and Business & Economics
Scout Report for Social Sciences
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/socsci/2000/ss-000111.html
Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/bus-econ/2000/be-000113.html
The eighth issues of the third 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 UN Security Council and AIDS in Africa. The Business & Economics Report's In the News section offers ten resources exploring the recently announced merger plans of America Online (AOL) and Time Warner. [MD]
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Searchlight -- CDL
http://searchlight.cdlib.org/cgi-bin/searchlight
While only users in the University of California network will get the full benefit of this new searching tool from the California Digital Library (CDL), public users will still find it quite a helpful resource. In addition to a number of public databases, Searchlight also indexes the CDL Website and many of its resources, "including digitized collections of photographs, manuscripts, and other archival materials from institutions around the state held in the Online Archive of California". Two versions are available, one for Sciences and Engineering, and another for Social Sciences and Humanities. Keyword searches within each can be further narrowed by several topics. The search results page organizes returns in six categories: Books, Journal Indexes, Electronic Journals, Electronic Text and Documents, Reference Resources, and Web Directories. Each return includes the number of hits at that page and a link to both the results and that site's search page. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Global Economic Prospects and the Developing Countries 2000 -- World Bank [.pdf]
http://worldbank.org/prospects/gep2000/
This annual publication from the World Bank predicts growth patterns in developing countries. It reports that "recovery from the financial crisis is 'fragile and uneven,' with some regions recovering much faster than others." According to this year's report, growth in Asia will be strong through 2000, as the countries slowly pull themselves out of recession. The average per capita income of Third World countries outside of Asia, however, will decline. The full report is available online, but each chapter must be downloaded separately in .pdf format. The official press release, summary, and the forward by Joseph Stiglitz are available in several languages including Chinese, German, Russian, and English. The main site also provides a slide show of the main points and issues of the report, as well as regional economic prospects and related links. [EM]
[Back to Contents]LD Online: Learning Disabilities Information and Resources
http://www.ldonline.org/
Billing itself as "an interactive guide to learning disabilities for parents, teachers, and children," this site presents a wealth of information on the various types of learning disabilities and their treatments. The site manages to serve its diverse audience well. Newcomers to LD issues will find the "ABC's of LD/ADD" clear and informative, while those with more experience and interest in research will appreciate the annotated, subject-indexed directory of LD resources on the Web as well as the weekly research updates, detailing new research from experts in the field. In addition, the KidZone features interactive components designed to help empower students with LD to communicate their needs to parents and teachers. There are also discussion lists, a site search, an "LD Store," and extensive listings of state and national agencies and organizations where individuals can help and get further information. [DC]
[Back to Contents]50 Years of Ocean Discovery: National Science Foundation 1950-2000 -- National Academy Press
http://books.nap.edu/catalog/9702.html
Users can read the full text of this new collection of essays from the Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council and the National Academy Press (NAP) online for free at the NAP site (reviewed in the February 26, 1999 Scout Report). The 276-page book (published in 2000) features a collection of essays on the development of ocean sciences at the National Science Foundation organized in four sections: "Landmark Achievements of Ocean Sciences," "Creating Institutions to Make Scientific Discoveries Possible," "Large and Small Science Programs: A Delicate Balance," and "Ocean Sciences Today and Tomorrow." A number of tools are provided to make navigation and viewing easy, including a book or chapter search engine and a zoom function. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Human Rights and You: A Guide for the States of the Former Soviet Union and Central Europe [.pdf, 1.2MB]
http://www.usia.gov/products/pubs/humrts/
Written by Dr. Frederick Quinn and published by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the US State Department, this volume compiles basic human rights documents from the United Nations, OSCE, and the Council of Europe. Although intended for law officials, human rights workers, and the media in the Newly Independent States and Central Europe, the volume is a good resource for scholars or students working in international human rights standards. In addition to the full text of the documents, the book features an introduction, a Resource Guide, and a bibliography. Currently, users can read the full text of the book in .pdf format. An HTML version is under construction. [MD]
[Back to Contents]"A Century of Change: Trends in UK Statistics Since 1900" [.pdf, 248K]
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp99/rp99-111.pdf
Recently placed online by the UK House of Commons Library (reviewed in the June 5, 1998 Scout Report), this paper offers short summaries of selected UK social and economic trends since 1900. Preceded by a brief introduction, the paper contains graphs, tables, and key facts covering a number of sectors, including population, health, education, defense, crime, transport, energy, economy, and leisure, among others. A short look at the statistics from the Domesday Book of 1087 completes the paper. A list of sources, organized by section, is provided. [MD]
[Back to Contents]UNESCO Thesaurus [.pdf]
http://www.ulcc.ac.uk/unesco/index.htm
UNESCO Library
http://www.unesco.org/general/eng/infoserv/doc/library.html
The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ) Library has recently released a trilingual (preferred terms in English/French/Spanish) Thesaurus of some 7,000 terms that "closely reflects the evolving content of UNESCO documents and publications." Users may browse the online Thesaurus alphabetically or hierarchically. The Thesaurus includes French and Spanish equivalents of English preferred terms as well as separate indexes of French and Spanish terms (with equivalents). Instructions on using the Thesaurus and information on its development are available on-site. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Primary Source -- IMLS
http://www.imls.gov/whatsnew/prscarch/prsc0100.htm
Subscription Form
http://www.imls.gov/utility/subscrbe.htm
This new monthly electronic newsletter from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) will offer information about new grants, highlights of best practices and successful grant proposals, notices of new publications, and other news related to the agency. Judging from the inaugural issue (January 2000), the newsletter will primarily consist of a number of short pieces, one or two paragraphs apiece, accompanied by links to more information at the IMLS Website. Users can subscribe at the above URL or read the newsletter online at the IMLS site. [MD]
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Garden & Forest: A Journal of Horticulture, Landscape Art, and Forestry -- LOC
http://lcweb.loc.gov/preserv/prd/gardfor/gfhome.html
Role of Digitization in Preservation: New LC Policy Document
http://lcweb.loc.gov/preserv/prd/presdig/presintro.html
Announced this week, this major new site represents the first digitizing project from the Preservation Reformatting Division of the Library of Congress (LOC). The site offers the full ten-volume set (1888-1897) of the periodical Garden and Forest: A Journal of Horticulture, Landscape Art, and Forestry, totalling over 8,000 pages, including over 1,000 illustrations and 2,000 pages of advertisements. The first American journal dedicated to horticulture, botany, landscape design, and forest preservation, Garden and Forest featured a variety of articles, including literary, scientific, and practical pieces aimed at a range of readers. Users can search the digitized text by keyword or advanced search, or browse by volume and issue. The site also offers access to the University of Michigan Making of America (MOA) Journal Collection (reviewed in the November 18, 1997 Scout Report for Social Sciences), policy documents related to the role of digitization in preservation, and background on the project and efforts to ensure interoperability with other MOA projects. In addition to appealing to garden and horticulture enthusiasts, as well as anyone interested in old illustrations and advertisements, this site also offers a tantalizing example of things to come from the Preservation Reformatting Division and useful background information for archivists and librarians engaged in similar projects. [MD]
[Back to Contents]free! The Freedom Forum Online [RealPlayer]
http://www.freedomforum.org/
The Freedom Forum, "a nonpartisan, international foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people," offers this fine resource for current news related to free speech, free expression, and journalism. The stories are grouped by subject (First Amendment, Free Press, Technology, Professional Journalism, etc.), with the top stories in each section featured on the main page. free! also includes related links, links to audio Webcasts, and a user forum. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Language of the Land -- LOC
http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/land/
Using maps and photographs from the collections of the Library of Congress (LOC), this exhibition documents the connections between America's geography and its literature. The exhibit was inspired by LOC's collection of literary maps, and it begins with several of these accompanied by quotations, such as Gertrude Stein's observation, "In the United States there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is. That is what makes America what it is." The remainder of the exhibition consists of four regional sections, Northeast, South, Midwest (featuring an opening quote from Jack Kerouac and a drawing that looks like Laura from Little House on the Prairie), and West. To make requesting reproductions easy, negative numbers and call numbers are included for all items, as well as ordering information for the exhibition's companion book, Language of the Land: The Library of Congress Book of Literary Maps, by Martha Hopkins and Michael Buscher. [DS]
[Back to Contents]Clandestine E-Texts
http://www.vc.unipmn.it/~mori/e-texts/
Edited and maintained by Gianluca Mori of the University of Turin-Vercelli, this site currently hosts the full texts (in French) of seventeen French clandestine manuscripts from the early enlightenment. As Mori notes, the treatises share an anti-Christian attitude, but beyond that their philosophical inspiration varies, "leading sometimes either to a deist (Examen de la religion) or to an atheist position (Meslier's Memoire, Freret's Lettre de Thrasybule a Leucippe)." The treatises are offered in HTML format, some with related links. Links are also provided to several texts on other servers and to related resources. Users may register for email notification of updates to the site, which is also available in French and Italian. [MD]
[Back to Contents]National Millennium Food Drive: Y GO 2 WASTE
http://www.secondharvest.org/aboutash/y2k.html
America's Second Harvest homepage
http://www.secondharvest.org/
In preparation for potential Y2K disruptions in services, as many as 40 percent of American households purchased extra food and basic necessities. As it appears that 2000 has arrived with little need, if any, for the stockpiled items, a national food drive has been launched by America's Second Harvest and Kellogg Company to redistribute these items to Americans in need. The Y GO 2 WASTE site provides information on how to get involved with the National Millennium Food Drive either through donations of goods or by volunteering for the effort by providing contact information for food banks across the United States. The National Millennium Food Drive runs through February 15, 2000. According to their Website, America's Second Harvest, the "nation's largest domestic hunger relief organization," distributed one billion pounds of food last year to needy Americans. America's Second Harvest homepage includes information on the organization, statistics on who's hungry in America, and public policy information on hunger. [AG]
[Back to Contents]The World At War 2000 -- CDI
http://www.cdi.org/issues/World_at_War/wwar00.html
This concise and sobering page from the Center for Defense Information (CDI) (reviewed in the July 18, 1997 Scout Report) offers an overview of the 38 major (those with over 1,000 casualties, both military and civilian) conflicts in the world at the start of 2000. After an introduction and a list of major events of the past year, users can view a chart of ongoing conflicts which lists the main warring parties, year began, cause(s), and other foreign involvement. A chart of potential hot spots is also included. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Traffic Waves: Physics for Bored Commuters
http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html
Ever find yourself stuck behind lines of traffic on the interstate, but when you get to the end of the slowdown there's nothing there? Now you can find out how traffic phenomena like this occur at Traffic Waves, an interesting site created and maintained by William J. Beaty, an electrical engineer in Seattle. As the site reveals, Beaty is not an expert in "traffic physics" but rather a commuter who has had plenty of time to observe traffic patterns and try different experiments. In addition to several essays on traffic patterns and experiments, the site features illustrations, animations, related links, and a FAQ. A fun site for anyone who spends too much time behind the wheel. [MD]
[Back to Contents]TheAdmissionsOffice.com
http://www.theadmissionsoffice.com/
Billing itself as a one-stop Website for college-bound students, this small but useful metasite brings together a number of resources to assist in the application process. These include links to hundreds of colleges and universities via a number of select metasites, school rankings, entrance tests, applications, financial aid information, and scholarships. Several resources for counselors are also listed. In addition to serving as a metasite, TheAdmissionsOffice also offers "Lisa" (Live Internet Selection Assistance), a college counselor who provides short answers to general questions posted by users. Additional features include current admissions-related news stories. [MD]
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Google Apple/Macintosh Search
http://www.google.com/mac.html
On January 10, Google (last reviewed in the November 11, 1999 Scout Report) announced the launch of an Apple-specific search engine. The new search engine indexes corporate information as well as product news, and as with the main Google, Google Uncle Sam, and Google Linux, rates the relevance of a Webpage to a particular search query in part by examining how many other Webpages link to it. It does not, however, appear to offer GoogleScout, a feature on the main Google page which supplies an additional list of related URLS for each search return. Users can, however, access GoogleScout by selecting the "Try your query on the main Google index" link at the bottom of each search return page. [MD]
[Back to Contents]1st Page 2000
http://www.evrsoft.com/1stpage/
1st Page 2000 is a Windows-based, non-intrusive Web editor along with a collection of commonly used scripts. Unlike some HTML editors, it does not add an excess of junk code to the documents you create with it. It has great documentation and offers features such as spell check, tag highlighting, multiple browser preview, and integrated upload support that speed Web development without getting in your way. Perhaps best of all, it's free. 1st Page 2000 is available for Windows 95, 98, and NT. [JB]
[Back to Contents]URL Pad 1.0
http://www.maczsoftware.com/urlpad.shtml
URL Pad is a free, compact utility for storing Internet links that presents links in a clean button format. URL Pad can handle WWW, FTP, and email links, recognizing the type of URL by its appearance. Those with a large number of bookmarks might find the lack of any import or drag and drop capability somewhat tedious, however, as all URLS and descriptions must be typed in manually. [AF]
Requirements:
Macintosh: System 7.0 or later.
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Global Warming "Undoubtedly Real"
NAS Press Release
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/0309068916?OpenDocument
Reconciling Observations of Global Temperature Change -- NAP
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309068916/html/
Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (BASC)
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/cger/basc.nsf
EPA Global Warming Site
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/index.html
Weathervane: A Digital Forum on Global Climate Policy [.pdf]
http://www.weathervane.rff.org/
Global Warming I -- NPR's Morning Edition [RealPlayer]
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20000113.me.01.ram
Global Warming II
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20000113.me.02.ram
A major new report issued by the National Research Council of the National Academies on January 12 concludes that global warming is "'undoubtedly real,' and that surface temperatures in the past two decades have risen at a rate substantially greater than average for the past 100 years." In particular, the report examines the apparent conflict between surface temperature and upper-air temperature. The former has risen about 0.4 to 0.8 degrees Celsius, or 0.7 to 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit, in the last century, while no appreciable warming has been detected in the "atmospheric layer extending up to about 5 miles from the Earth's surface." The report offers a number of explanations for this discrepancy, including long-term (over 100 years) measurements of the surface temperature compared to short-term (about 20 year) data collection from the upper atmosphere, and uncertainties in temperature measurements. While this new report will certainly bolster global warming prevention advocates, it is highly unlikely to settle the debate once and for all.
Users should begin with the National Academies of Sciences site, which offers a press release, and National Academies Press, which features the full text of the report. Also of interest is the BASC site, which contains links to related reports and other climate sites, and the Environmental Protection Agency's new Global Warming site, where users will find a variety of information and resources on climate change. Weathervane, a current awareness resource for climate change news, offers recent news stories, papers, reports, and analysis. Finally, yesterday's National Public Radio's Morning Edition featured a two-part story on the new report; both parts are offered in RealPlayer format. More resources on global warming and climate change can be found in Signpost, the Scout Report's database. These include The Woods Hole Research Center's The Warming of the Earth, Pace University's Global Warming Central, and Global Climate Maps from the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization. [MD]
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