The Scout Report - October 18, 1996

October 18, 1996

A Publication of Internet Scout
Computer Science Department, University of Wisconsin

A Project of the InterNIC

The Scout Report is a weekly publication offering a selection of new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and educators, the InterNIC's primary audience. 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.
The Scout Report Web page

Send comments and contributions to: scout@cs.wisc.edu

In This Issue:

Research & Education Jack London Collection
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/
The Sunsite Berkeley Digital Library (discussed in the February 9, 1996 Scout Report) has recently added the Jack London Collection to its holdings. The site is highlighted by the full texts of four novels (Call of the Wild, The Iron Heel, The Sea Wolf, and White Fang), one non-fiction work (The People of the Abyss), and 15 short stories, all searchable. Also available are over 80 images of London's family and friends, selections from his correspondence, and six essays about the author and his works, including a discussion of his complex political philosophy and an annotated bibliography of London biographies.
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Elsevier Science ContentsDirect and Tables of Contents
Contents Direct:
http://www.elsevier.com/inca/homepage/about/contentsdirect/
Elsevier Science Tables of Contents (ESTOC):
http://www.elsevier.com/estoc/
Elsevier Science, publishers of over 1000 scholarly journals, has recently made tables of contents of selected Elsevier journals available via its new ContentsDirect service. Interested users can now receive, via email, tables of contents "approximately two to four weeks prior to a journal's appearance in libraries." Scope of coverage has not yet been specified; each new available ContentsDirect title will be announced as it is added. Elsevier already makes available browsable and searchable tables of contents for all of its journals beginning January 1995 at its ESTOC web site. Elsevier journals are available in the sciences and mathematics, as well as economics, business, and the social sciences. Together, these two services make a powerful current awareness tool for both librarians and subject specialists.
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Early Childhood Special Education Guided Tour [QuickTime]
http://www.edc.org/FSC/NCIP/Tour/Intro.html
The National Center to Improve Practice in Special Education through Technology, Media and Materials has made a guided tour through two Early Childhood (age 3 to 7) classes available via the Web. The classes, in Brockton, Massachussetts, and Wade County, North Carolina, exemplify: "engineering the classroom environment to optimize access to learning; modifying instructional strategies, materials, and tools to meet individual needs; integrating the curriculum through theme-based learning; and embedding assessment in all classroom activities." The site provides a "bus tour" through free choice, circle time, small group activities, and story time, complete with text, photos, and Quicktime videos, to show users how these classes achieve their goals, while at the same time vividly demonstrating the challenges of providing Early Childhood Special Education.
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Virtual Reality Polyhedra [VRML]
http://www.li.net/~george/virtual-polyhedra/vp.html
You may as well admit that although you appreciate the beauty of the small snub icosicosidodecahedron, you aren't as clear as you might be on the theory behind it. This site can help; here you can view over 850 polyhedra (three dimensional objects bounded by polygons) in VRML format (there are several VRML plug-ins available for the major browsers, and instructions are provided on the site). Models can be manipulated by the viewer in a variety of ways, depending on the software used. And because this site intends to educate visitors about the theory of polyhedra, there are exercises to accompany the models. For those interested in a more hands-on approach, there are instructions for making paper models of selected polyhedra.
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Culture, Society and Advanced Information Technology [.pdf or .ps, 39p.]
http://cra.org/Reports/Aspects/
Provided by the Computing Research Association (CRA), this report summarizes the conclusions of a workshop held jointly by CRA and the American Anthropological Society in June of 1995. "This workshop brought 33 social and computer scientists from government, industry and the academic community together to examine the dimensions of social impacts of the National Information Infrastructure (NII)." The report discusses "how social groups use, adapt and reinterpret technologies such as computing and digital telecommunications, often in ways not anticipated by those who design the systems or by those who create policies for their deployment and use." It also poses seven illustrative research questions on the topic. For more information on Adobe Acrobat Reader (for .pdf files) see the ScoutToolkit: http://www.cs.wisc.edu/scout/toolkit/3d3.html
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National Agricultural Safety Database Safety Resource Directory
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nasd/srd/contact.html
The University of Florida has made this directory, a subset of its National Agricultural Safety Database CD-ROM, available on the web. The Directory "contains contact information on over 1500 ag safety professionals and organizations throughout the US," and can be browsed by organization (alphabetically or by state), or by individual (by name, agency, or state). Although the creators of the database have gone to great lengths to provide a comprehensive resource in many browsable formats, lack of a search interface keeps this site from being even more useful.
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Law Journal Xtra!
http://www.ljx.com/ -- Home Page
http://www.ljx.com/indexhigh.html -- Graphics and tables
http://www.ljx.com/indexlow.html -- Minimal graphics and no tables
Produced by the New York Law Publishing Company, the Law Journal Extra! delivers news, provides information on law practices, legal resources, and the marketplace, and offers an employment center. Included in the news section are the New York Law Journal, the National Law Journal, and Law Technology Product News. The site attempts to appeal to all those involved in the legal practice from lawyers to students and librarians to secretaries and administrators.
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OpticNet
OpticNet is a mailing list created to serve as a discussion tool among students (graduate and undergraduate), professors and researchers concerned with optical networks and the supporting technologies. Discussion on the various layers of optical networks and the network elements is encouraged, including but not limited to: the existing technologies (ex: SONET), new projects and consortiums like MONET, all-optical networks of the future, various testbeds, Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM), Optical Time Division Multiplexing (OTDM), wavelength conversion/adaptation, wavelength routing, etc.
To subscribe send email to:
LISTSERV@SJUVM.stjohns.edu
In the body of the message type:
SUB OpticNet yourfirstname yourlastname
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General Interest

US Code of Federal Regulations
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/index.html
The Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration, and U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), have recently begun to make the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations available for searching. The CFR is divided into 50 titles which represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation, and each title is divided into chapters which usually bear the name of the issuing agency. At present, titles available include: "Title 20 (Parts 400-499) Employees' Benefits; Title 21 (all parts) Food and Drugs; and Title 40 (Parts 87 to 135) Protection of the Environment. Titles will be added incrementally throughout calendar years 1996 and 1997 until a complete set is available." CFR can be searched by title or retrieved by citation section.
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Digitization Activities of the National Library of Canada
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/digiproj/edigiact.htm
This site, provided by the National Library of Canada (discussed in the July 5, 1996 Scout Report) contains a virtual treasure chest of Canadiana. Highlights include Canada Speaks, biographical information and selected speeches by Canadian Prime Ministers since 1867; Canadian Confederation, information on the interplay between the American Civil War and Canadian Confederation; the Glenn Gould Archive, a comprehensive site devoted to the famous concert pianist; and an essay on the Canadian North. However, the most impressive part of the site is the Canadian Music Periodical Index, a searchable database of over 25,000 bibliographic citations from 475 Canadian music sources.
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National Library for the Environment [Frames]
http://www.cnie.org/nle/crs_main.html
As the first step toward building a National Library for the Environment, the Committee for the National Institute for the Environment (CNIE) has made available at its web site over 100 full text Congressional Research Service (CRS) publications. These publications are searchable and browsable by topic, from agriculture and grazing to water quality. "CRS products undergo careful review for accuracy, thoroughness, and objectivity. They contain nontechnical information that can be very useful to people interested in environmental policy." These reports are a major addition to Internet environmental resources.
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The Electric Apple Journal
http://www.lowellgeneral.org/
Lowell General Hospital of Lowell, Massachusetts, has created this site with the idea "that an informed patient is in the best position to make wise healthcare decisions in partnership with his or her physician." Interested users can take a heart test by answering a forms-based query and receiving their heart disease risk factor in email, ask questions of a doctor (in eight different specialty areas), or find information, including bibliographies and Internet links in 9 different health care areas. For those with strong stomachs, a video feed is provided of a surgeon's endoscope or laparoscope. A medical image archive (in 6 subject areas) is also available, as well as health education software.
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TermFinance--Glossary of Derivative Instruments
http://Finance.Wat.ch/TermFinance/
From "additional margin," to "volatility," TermFinance, provided by AXONE Services & Developpement S.A. and the InfoCentre Financier of the Geneva Stock Exchange, provides a concise, no-nonsense searchable and browsable glossary of cross-referenced derivative instrument terms. Note that this is not an introduction to derivative terms. The glossary is available in English, French, Italian, and German.
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The Wine Spectator
http://www.winespectator.com/
It's a web site with a fresh bouquet and a hint of oak. If you're interested in finding the right wine for a new dish, or if you'd just like to learn a little more about viticulture, this site should be on your bookmark list. Visitors to the site have access to a database of 15,000 wine reviews, as well as an archive of articles from the print version of The Wine Spectator from 1994 forward. Forums on wine are also offered, as well as databases of wine retailers and restaurants. For a fee, users can search the entire 50,000 review database (subscription information is available online).
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Single By Choice Mailing List
SBC (single by choice) provides camaraderie, information, and discussion for those who have actively chosen to be Single in a marriage/partner obsessed world. It also welcomes those who are in the process of becoming Single, or those who have been forced to remain Single for whatever reason. Please note that SBC is not a dating service of any kind, nor is it the place to argue that being Single is an unacceptable lifestyle.
To subscribe send email to:
LISTSERV@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
In the body of the message type:
SUBSCRIBE S-B-C YourFirstName YourLastName
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Net Tools

ActiveX.com
http://download.cnet.com/PC/Activex/
Now that ActiveX is making a bid to be the standard of interactivity for the web, c|net presents a new site that claims to offer the most comprehensive library of ActiveX controls on the Internet. In addition to an extensive categorized library of controls, visitors to the site will find news and commentary about this emerging "standard." This week, for example, users can read about the introduction of Microsoft's Macintosh ActiveX SDK, as well as version 3.01 of Internet Explorer. Developers of ActiveX controls may request that they be added to the control library, allowing them to reach a wider audience. Note that this site is not affiliated with Microsoft, Inc.
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TUCOWS Software Repository
http://www.tucows.com/mirror.html
Tucows is a searchable software repository grouped by operating system i.e. Windows 3.x, Windows95 and Macintosh software. (Sorry, no UNIX apps here!) Categories range from the inevitable HTML Editors and Java Applications to Diagnostic Tools and Video Conferencing, to Stock Quote and Networking Tools. Each listing provides basic information such as version, file size, licensing (although a great deal is freeware) and a description. Additionally, all items are rated using (what else?) cows--one cow is the lowest and five golden cows the highest. Although you may not always agree with a rating or be able to find a specific application, TUCOWS is a good place to start any search. Links to mirror sites are provided to help reduce download times.
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Copyright Susan Calcari, 1996. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the Scout Report provided the copyright notice and this paragraph is preserved on all copies. The InterNIC provides information about the Internet to the US research and education community under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation: NCR-9218742. The Government has certain rights in this material.

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, the National Science Foundation, AT&T, or Network Solutions, Inc.

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