Scout Reports for Social Sciences & Humanities and Business & Economics
Scout Report for Social Sciences & Humanities
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/socsci/2001/ss-010417.html
Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/bus-econ/2001/be-010419.html
The sixteenth issues of the fourth volumes of the Scout Reports for Social Sciences & Humanities and Business & Economics are available. The In the News section of the Social Sciences & Humanities Report annotates seven resources on the recent riots and the future of race relations in Cincinnati. The Business & Economics Report's In the News section offers eight resources on Wednesday's surprise rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
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Becoming Human: Paleoanthropology, Evolution, and Human Origins [Flash]
http://www.becominghuman.org/
A project involving Arizona State University's Institute for Human Origins (founded and directed by Donald C. Johanson, best-known for his discovery of "Lucy"), documentary filmmaker Lenora C. Johanson, and Terra Incognita, this site is designed to teach a general audience about human evolution and the search for early hominid life in the field. The key feature of the site is an extensive (and very professional) flash-driven, online documentary which includes a number of pop-up sub-exhibits that provide additional information and resources on various topics. Other sections of the site include News & Views, which offers recent paleo news stories and expert views, and Resources, which includes a glossary, related sites, and media references. A Learning Center with activities and lesson plans is scheduled to be added this summer. This site, probably the best online documentary seen by this reviewer, should appeal to anyone with an interest in human origins and is highly recommended. [MD]
[Back to Contents]An Evaluation: Wisconsin Works (W-2) Program -- Department of Workforce Development, State of Wisconsin [.pdf]
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lab/Reports/01-7full.pdf
Report only:
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lab/Reports/01-7report.pdf
Appendices only:
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lab/Reports/01-7att.pdf
Press release:
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lab/Reports/01-7tear.htm
Last week, the Legislative Audit Bureau of Wisconsin issued a 221-page report evaluating the success of the state's high profile welfare reform program, Wisconsin Works (a.k.a. W-2). The report finds that, despite the fact that the state spent more money on the program in its first three years than in previous years on the old AFDC system, only a small minority have found jobs that pay more than poverty wages. The evaluation offers comprehensive data on the program's expenditures and effectiveness, in terms of welfare caseloads, employment, and income of participants. The report is posted in .pdf format and may be downloaded in total or in selected portions. [DC]
[Back to Contents]Preliminary Bibliography: Crimes of Honour
http://www.iwhc.org/honorcrimes.html
Compiled by CIMEL (Centre Of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law) and INTERIGHTS (International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights) and hosted by the International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC), this impressive, annotated bibliography offers detailed summaries of books, journal articles, and court cases involving crimes of "honor." The annotations are listed by region, and the case summaries are listed by country (UK, Pakistan, and Bangladesh). Suggested additions to the bibliography are welcome. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Enemy Property [.pdf]
http://www.enemyproperty.gov.uk
One of several such initiatives in recent years, this site from the UK government hosts a database of some 30,000 records of bank accounts and other property held in the UK by residents of countries classed as "belligerent enemies" (e.g., Germany) and "technical enemies" (Nazi-occupied countries) that were confiscated by the British government during the war. Individuals who were victims of persecution in these countries or their heirs are now entitled to claim their property or compensation. The database may be searched initially by country and then by name and/or address. Returns include name and address, types of property seized, and the value of the property. The site also includes the full text of several reports that "give the complete background of wartime and postwar policy and procedures for settlement." While obviously aimed at victims of Nazi (and satellite state) persecution, this site may also prove useful to historians of the era. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies (JAIS) [.pdf]
http://www.uib.no/jais/jais.htm
A joint project of the Section of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of Bergen and the Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Charles University, Prague, JAIS is a print and electronic scholarly journal that is concerned with the study of Arabic language and literature and Islamic civilization. Like most such journals, JAIS includes research articles, review articles, and occasional communications and shorter reviews. The full text of the first three volumes (1996-96, 1998-99, 2000) is freely available online in both .pdf and HTML formats. Sample articles include "Teaching Morality: Javanese Islamic Education in a Globalizing Era," "Openness and Closedness: Four Categories of Closurization in Modern Arabic Fiction," and "Two Early Arabic Sources on the Magnetic Compass." [MD]
[Back to Contents]Geoffrey Chaucer Home Page [MS Word]
http://www.umm.maine.edu/faculty/necastro/chaucer/
Created and maintained by Gerard NeCastro, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Maine at Machias, this site contains several resources useful to students and instructors studying Chaucer. Among these are a chronology, a respectable collection of related links, an image gallery, and four electronic versions (Word format) of works that the author claims are unavailable elsewhere. These include Parliament of Fowls,Book of The Duchess,The Lamentation of Mary Magdalene, and The Assembly of Ladies. Also featured at the site is a basic Chaucer glossary. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Paradigm: The Journal of the Textbook Colloquium [.pdf]
http://w4.ed.uiuc.edu/faculty/westbury/Paradigm/
Paradigm is the biannual journal of the Textbook Colloquium, an international scholarly organization dedicated to the "interdisciplinary study of textbooks of all kinds." Provided by Professor Ian Westbury of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, this site contains approximately 80 articles from back issues of Paradigm dating from December 1991 to April 2000. These are offered by issue, and most are in HTML format, though a few are in .pdf. As would be expected, the topics of the articles vary widely. After perusing the titles and reading a few of the pieces, it seems to this reviewer that many of these articles have utility for scholars in various fields, not just the history of education. Several, for instance, should interest those in history or literature who are working on issues of national identity and cultural representation. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Exploring Themes in American Art
http://www.nga.gov/education/american/aasplash.htm
Provided by the National Gallery, this site explores ten themes in American art through illustrated essays. Each brief essay includes links to featured images, a list of artists, a glossary, and a bibliography. An interesting, useful, and compact site for anyone interested in American painting. [MD]
[Back to Contents]LUII: Library User Interface Issues
http://www.cochran.sbc.edu/luii/
Library User Interface Issues is a new list aimed at librarians, user experience strategists, and other professionals to discuss usability issues with regard to "online subscription resources in the library environment." Launched by Liz Linton, Electronic Resources Librarian at Sweet Briar College, the goal of LUII is to improve the usability of existing and future services. List information and a link to message logs and subscription instructions can be found at the above URL. [MD]
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Pulitzer and Jefferson Muzzle Awards
2001 Pulitzer Prizes [.pdf]
http://www.pulitzer.org/2001/2001.html
The Pulitzer Prizes
http://www.pulitzer.org/
2001 Jefferson Muzzles
http://www.tjcenter.org/muzzles.html
This week the Pulitzer Prize Board announced the 2001 Pulitzer Prizes for achievements in American journalism, letters, drama, and music. A list of the winners and their citations, the finalists, links to the works (many will not be available until this summer), short biographies, and lists of jurors are available at the site, along with official press releases. The main Pulitzer site offers a searchable archive and interactive timeline of all winners since 1917. The full texts of winning journalism entries for 1995-2000, including photographs and cartoons, are also provided. Also recently announced are the recipients of the Jefferson Muzzles, awarded by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression "as a means to draw national attention to abridgments of free speech and press." This year's recipients include the 106th US Congress (for passing the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)), the Sacramento (California) Convention & Visitors' Bureau (for clothing a nude statue of Poseidon), and the Administration of the Paxson School of Advanced Studies in Jacksonville, Florida (for excising the play Angels in America from a school textbook). Award recipients for previous years (to 1992) are also listed at the site. [MD]
[Back to Contents]USDA Historical Photos
http://www.usda.gov/oc/photo/histfeat.htm
Announced on April 13, this new online exhibit from the US Department of Agriculture features a fine collection of high-quality images of historical photos. Most of these date from 1937 to 1943 and are drawn from the Farm Security Administration (FSA) collection of almost 300,000 pictures, housed at the Library of Congress and the National Archives and Records Administration. Also included are some images dating back to the nineteenth century. The photos are offered in twelve sections (Business, Education, Machinery, Portraiture, etc.), each of which contains varying numbers of images, some as many as forty. The Portraiture and Domestic Scenes sections are especially recommended. The photos are offered as large thumbnails which link to information and a caption and a link to a full-size image. The USDA plans to add additional photos to the site in the future. Anyone interested in agriculture or the history of rural and small town America will find plenty of wonderful images. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Page by Page = Page par Page
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/pagebypage/
From the National Library of Canada, this entertaining site takes the user page-by-page through the creation of a picture book, Zoom Upstream, written by Tim Wynne-Jones and illustrated by Eric Beddows. Zoom Upstream is the third book chronicling the adventures of Zoom the cat; in this one he visits Egypt. The eight main sections of the site, in either French or English, trace the book's progress from idea through finding the illustrator and pictures, to printing, selling the book, and afterwards. The section on pictures, appropriately, is the most extensive, showing how the illustrator gets every detail exactly right, beginning with analyzing the text for words and concepts that need to be represented in the pictures. To get the characters to look right, Beddows made a cat model and photographed human models in scenes from the book. For backgrounds, the illustrator studied books on Egyptian architecture, and made a research trip to Egypt. Wynne-Jones, the author, does admit that writing the first Zoom book (Zoom at Sea) only took 20 minutes, but that "usually writing a story is a lot harder". [DS]
[Back to Contents]Medicating Kids -- Frontline [RealPlayer]
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medicating/
Last Tuesday, PBS' Frontline broadcast "Medicating Kids," a documentary examining the pervasive diagnosis and drug treatment of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) among primary and middle school students. This excellent companion Website offers a complete video of the broadcast as well as profiles of the four families featured and extended professional readings both on the typical drug therapies and on the controversy among scientists, educators, mental health professional, and activists over the appropriateness of drug therapy and the validity of the disease itself. Readings are taken from such sources as Scientific American,The National Journal,The New Republic, and American Prospect. Also included are links to data on ADHD treatment from UN, DEA, and university studies. In addition, Frontline has posted transcripts of interviews with representatives of the drug industry, mental health care professionals, educators, and opponents of drug therapy for ADHD. All sides in this issue get ample time to make their case in this typically scrupulous investigation from the best national news magazine on television. [DC]
[Back to Contents]Astrobiology at NASA
http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/
Of interest to both the general user and the scientist, this site offers a wealth of information on astrobiology (the study of life in space) and related activities at NASA. Among the site's offerings are the latest astrobiology news, an introduction to and overview of the study of astrobiology, discussions on the technologies used and future missions, workshop links, educational resources, an "Ask an Astrobiologist" feature, and related links, among others. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Startup Journal
http://StartupJournal.com/
New from the Wall Street Journal Center for Entrepreneurs, Startup Journal is a free, online publication focused on starting a business or franchise. Featured on the site's main page are a variety of interesting articles about challenges and successes in business startups. Use the green tabs on the top of the screen to visit Journal sections including a host of columnists, sections on how-tos and ideas, financing and franchising, as well as the day-to-day running of a business. This excellent resource combines sensible business advice with the Wall Street Journal's readable and absorbing writing. [EM]
[Back to Contents]The Empire That Was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/
This new online exhibit from the Library of Congress (LOC) features a selection of photos by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944). In 1909-1912, and again in 1915, Prokudin-Gorskii undertook a photographic survey of eleven regions of the Russian Empire, traveling in a specially equipped railroad car provided by the Ministry of Transportation. Prokudin-Gorskii left Russia in 1918, and in 1948 the Library of Congress purchased from his heirs this unique collection of images of Russia on the eve of revolution. For this exhibit, the LOC has made color prints from the original negatives, which in fact, follows the photographer's original intentions. As the site notes, Prokudin-Gorskii invented a technique to show his images in slide lectures using a light projection system equipped with colored filters. The exhibit is divided into four sections: Architecture, Ethnic Diversity, Transportation, and People at Work. The images are offered as large thumbnails and accompanied by some explanatory text. The photos themselves are fascinating and expertly produced, almost indistinguishable from a new photo except in their subject matter. Well worth a visit. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Fred Astaire.Net
http://www.fredastaire.net/
The Web is awash in fan sites, celebrating everything from movie stars and pop singers to muscle cars and electrical appliances. Once in a while, however, the Scout Project comes across a fan site that is truly informative as well as fun. Fred Astaire.Net is one of these. Created and maintained by P.J. Thum as a labor of love, this fast-loading and easy-to-navigate site includes a nice biography of Fred, a comprehensive list of his performances (including detailed information and commentary on each of his movies), information (some detailed) on co-stars and collaborators, and a mailing list, among other offerings. A lovely tribute to an elegant entertainer. [MD]
[Back to Contents]A to Z Encyclopaedia of Ice Hockey
http://www.azhockey.com/
Developed by the UK-based Ice Hockey Annual, this huge compendium of ice hockey information (over 14,000 entries) is all the more notable for its international scope. No NHL-centricity here. In fact, the only Americans and Canadians in the site's Hall of Fame are in the International Ice Hockey Federation section. A constant work-in-progress, this site is a seemingly bottomless well of hockey trivia and lore. Need to know the Attendance Averages for Finnish Division 1 hockey? The winner of the 1997 Croation hockey championship? What the "A" on players' jerseys means? Its all here and much, much more. [MD]
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Harley Hahn's Master List of Usenet Newsgroups
http://www.harley.com/usenet/
After visiting this site, I am now convinced that there is, in fact, a newsgroup for pretty much every interest under the sun. Created and maintained by Harley Hahn, author of Harley Hahn's Internet & Web Yellow Pages, this site makes it exceedingly easy to discover newsgroups related to your hobbies or concerns. Newsgroups are listed by category and topic (example: Hobbies: Scale models: Model rockets). If you have a newsreader installed, the provided link will take you right to the messages. A keyword search engine is also provided, with options to match whole or partial words and to exclude or include adult groups in your search. [MD]
[Back to Contents]BlackWidow v4.1
http://www.softbytelabs.com/
BlackWidow is a powerful Website scanning tool and an offline browser. It allows users to download an entire site -- including HTML files, images, cgi files, and more -- with the site structure intact. The intuitive, explorer-style interface makes BlackWidow easy to navigate, and users can specify the depth to download, the file types and sizes, wildcards, etc. Features like displaying the external links in the site (broken links and status of links) will be very useful for Webmasters. Users can simultaneously scan and download multiple sites and also monitor the scanning/downloading process using the Threads window. BlackWidow can scan HTTP, SSL, and FTP sites and can be configured to work with proxies and firewalls. BlackWidow is shareware, and a free trial version is available at the site. [MA]
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Drug Companies Drop South Africa Suit
"Joy at SA Aids drugs victory" -- BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1285000/1285971.stm
"Drug Makers Drop South Africa Suit Over AIDS Medicine" -- New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/20/world/20AFRI.html
"Suit Against Cheap AIDS Drugs Ends in S. Africa" -- Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/print/asection/20010420/t000033383.html
"Aids Drug Victory 'only tip of the iceberg'" -- Independent (Cape Town)
http://www.iol.co.za/html/frame_news.php?click_id=13&art_id=ct20010420092516640D625821
"ANC urged to deliver AIDS drugs" -- Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg)
http://www.q.co.za/2001/2001/04/20-whatnowanc.html
AIDS in Africa -- CBC [RealPlayer]
http://cbc.ca/news/indepth/aidsinafrica/
Beyond Awareness Campaign
http://www.aidsinfo.co.za/
Department of Health of South Africa: AIDS and HIV Directorate
http://www.health.gov.za/hiv_aids/index.htm
Treatment Action Campaign
http://www.tac.org.za/
GlaxoSmithKline
http://corp.gsk.com/
Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America
http://world.phrma.org/index.html
The news from South Africa yesterday was both good and bad for AIDS activists. Lawyers for a group of over 39 major pharmaceutical companies withdrew their legal challenge to a 1997 South African law that would allow the government to import or produce generic versions of the drugs. The lawsuit proved to be a tremendous public relations blunder for the drug companies, who were depicted as placing profits above human lives. Under the settlement reached yesterday, which was brokered by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the South African government will consult the pharmaceutical industry when it crafts the regulations for the 1997 law and repeated its commitment not to breach international trade agreements. While hailed as an important victory and breakthrough in the fight against AIDS and other diseases in the world's poorer regions, it appears unlikely that the 4.7 million HIV-infected South Africans will have widespread access to inexpensive AIDS drugs any time soon. The government has made it clear that it has no plans to buy generic drugs and that any national program to provide medication is still far in the future.
The BBC's report on the settlement includes links to archived stories and related online resources. Additional reports may be found in the New York Times (free registration required), Los Angeles Times,Independent, and Mail & Guardian. The CBC's special report on AIDS in Africa offers some useful background information, quick facts, photos, and audio and video reports. More detailed information on AIDS in South Africa can be found at the sites for the Beyond Awareness Campaign, the Department of Health of South Africa, and Treatment Action Campaign. Finally, reaction to the ruling and background information from the pharmaceutical companies' viewpoint may be read at the GlaxoSmithKline and Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America sites. [MD]
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