The Scout Report

July 11, 1997

A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
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.

Addition to the Scout Toolkit
End User's Corner--July 1997
http://scout.wisc.edu/scout/toolkit/enduser/archive/1997/euc-9707
Scout Toolkit
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/toolkit/
A Quick Tour of Government Information Sites has been added to the End User's Corner section of the Toolkit. Included are general pathfinders, US Government sites, pointers to government documents, international government information, state, county & local information, and numerical databases, among other resources. [JS]
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Biosphere 2 Center
http://www.bio2.edu/index.html
Biosphere 2 Center is a non-profit education and research organization affiliated with Columbia University. This site contains two sections of special interest to users: Sensor Data and Cyber Tour. Biosphere 2 provides sensor data accessed from 750 sensors located in the desert and rain forest regions of the biosphere to detect light, temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide. Data is presented through graphs once a query is specified. Cyber Tour allows viewers to visit the various regions of Biosphere 2 including the ocean, savannah, thornscrub, and marsh in addition to other regions. The management, research, and construction of the regions are documented in detailed descriptions and illustrations. [TB]
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Two Electronic Nature Journals
Pacific Discovery
http://www.calacademy.org/pacdis/
Our Planet
http://www.ourplanet.com/imgversn/planethme.html
The California Academy of Sciences has introduced a free online version of its popular Pacific Discovery. This magazine has a fifty-year tradition of award-winning journalism on the natural world. More recently, "the magazine's focus has adjusted to encompass the causes and ramifications of environmental degradation and the rapid decline in Earth's biological diversity." Although most stories in Pacific Discovery are about scientific subjects, all are readily accessible to the educated reader. The site also features an index and archive of past articles. Our Planet is an electronic version of the United Nations Environmental Program's bimonthly print magazine. Each issue is dedicated to one specific theme which ties into international conferences or involves current environmental issues. The site also includes numerous back issues, a readers' forum, and a list of annotated links. [MD]
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Writing Argumentative Essays
http://www.eslplanet.com/teachertools/argueweb/frntpage.htm
Bill Daly of the Victoria University of Technology has posted a unit of curriculum designed to teach students how to write short argumentative essays. Originally created for students taking English in a vocational school, it is also useful to upper level high school and university educators and students. The site uses examples and models to systematically guide users through the steps of writing an argumentative essay. Students in any discipline that requires persuasive writing will benefit from this well constructed lesson. [MD]
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Histos--The New Journal of Ancient Historiography
http://www.dur.ac.uk/Classics/histos/index.html
The Department of Classics at the University of Durham (UK) has created this new refereed electronic journal focusing on ancient historiographical texts and media. Histos contains original articles as well as reviews, discussions, reader responses, and notices of relevant conferences and historiographical projects. Announcements of future articles and reviews are also featured. The balance of textual and historiographical analysis in this journal makes it equally useful to classicists and historians. [MD]
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North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html#final
The federal government has recently unveiled the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), which will provide common industry definitions for Canada, Mexico, and the US. NAICS replaces the older Standard Industrial Classification System (SIC) in the US, where implementation of NAICS will begin this year with the Census Bureau's 1997 Economic Census. This site provides the NAICS implementation time schedule, NAICS and SIC comparability tables, and a number of issue papers and concept reports relating to the new system. Most of these documents are offered in either PDF or ASCII formats. While the site is probably most useful to specialists, it does provide a thorough overview of this new structure for comparing economic and financial statistics of the NAFTA partners. [MD]
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Libsoft: Software for Librarians List
http://www.orst.edu/groups/libsoft/
A list focusing on software of particular interest to librarians has recently been created. This site contains subscription information and list archives. The list is unmoderated and open for anyone to discuss "troubleshooting, bug reports and announcements of new products or releases of existing products" of both OCLC and non-OCLC software, including Cataloger's Desktop. This list does not address subjects relating to the web, linux and particular OPACs. [AG]

To subscribe send email to (leave subject line blank):
listserv@mail.orst.edu
In the body of the message type:
SUB libsoft your real name
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Women's Health: A New York Times Special Report
http://www.nytimes.com/specials/women/whome/index.html
This new site, hosted by the New York Times, is a well-constructed resource covering twenty-eight topics of health concern for women, "from nutrition to cancer to cosmetic surgery." Included are reports from the Times archive, materials from The Harvard Guide to Women's Health and The New Our Bodies Ourselves, and a database of additional related resources. The entire site is searchable and will remain available until September 22. Please note that registration is required and that it is free only to US residents. [MD]
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The Librarian's Guide to Cyberspace for Parents and Kids
http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/index.html
At its recent annual national conference, the American Library Association (ALA) introduced The Librarian's Guide to Cyberspace for Parents and Kids, a modest but helpful guide for parents and their children who are relatively new to the Internet. The site is geared mostly towards helping parents find the best web resources for their children. It provides parents with definitions of common Internet terms, safety tips, and guidelines for selecting quality sites. The ALA gives parents a head start in this last category with a list of fifty fun and useful links that everyone in the family can enjoy. [MD]
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Department of Transportation's Domestic Airline Fares Consumer Report [PDF or Microsoft Word]
http://www.bts.gov/ntl/DOCS/l-dafcr.html
For the first time, the Department of Transportation has released a quarterly Air Travel Consumer Fare Report. This report provides information on the average prices paid in the third quarter of 1996 by consumers in the the 1000 largest domestic city-pair markets within the 48 contiguous states. For each city-pair market, the report identifies the dominant airline and its average one-way fare, the carrier with the lowest average fare, and the overall average fare paid by all passengers. [MD]
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Framework for Global Electronic Commerce
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/New/Commerce/
INET '97 Proceedings
http://www.isoc.org/isoc/conferences/inet/
On July 1 the White House released its Framework for Global Electronic Commerce, developed by an intraagency working group under Vice President Al Gore's supervision. This framework outlines the administration's positions on a number of key issues related to electronic commerce. This site offers the text of the framework, an executive summary of its contents, and a Presidential Message to internet users. One of the key players in the creation of this document was Ira Magaziner, senior policy advisor to President Clinton and the keynote speaker at INET '97, the seventh annual meeting of the Internet Society. INET '97 focused on some of the legal, ethical, and regulatory issues surrounding the use of Internet technology and this site allows users to view the text of these proceedings. [MD]
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Best Beaches in the USA
http://www.petrix.com/beaches/
Dr. Stephen Leatherman, professor and director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at the University of Maryland, College Park, has released his annual list of America's best beaches. "Dr. Beach" considered fifty different factors, including current, wave size, smell, views and vistas, and intensity of beach use, to rate the twenty finest public beaches of 650 nation wide. This site features photos of the winners, a complete list of the Beach Rating Scale Criteria, and Dr. Leatherman's selections for the five best Walking, Wild, and Romantic Beaches. [MD]
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Introduction to Java--A Free Online Course
http://www.ibm.com/java/education/intro/home.htm
Introduction to Java is an absolutely free online course provided by IBM. This audio/video-based course has a number of system requirements which include: minimum 486 66MHz processor, Soundcard or Mwave card, minimum 28.8 modem for audio/video version and 14.4 modem for audio only version, minimum monitor resolution of 800 x 600, and finally Windows 95/NT or OS/2 4.0 with Netscape Navigator 2.0 or higher. The Bamba audio/video plug-in is also required but downloads are available. Although Bamba, a streaming tool that combines video/satellite and the Web, and the course are in the experimental stage, users can benefit from this informative, cutting-edge site. [TB]
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HTML 4.0 Specification--Public Working Draft
http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-html40-970708/cover.html
Table of contents:
http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-html40-970708/contents.html
Press release:
http://www.w3.org/Press/HTML4
World Wide Web Consortium
http://www.w3.org/
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recently released to the public a working draft of the latest version of HyperText Markup Language (HTML). HTML 4.0 improvements include interoperability, internationalization, accessibility, table enhancements, compound documents, cascading style sheet support, scripting, and printing. Text direction and language of content attributes are featured in this new version. The specification includes a detailed HTML 4.0 reference manual, two indexes to elements and attributes, an appendix containing changes from HTML 3.2 (discussed in the May 31, 1996 Scout Report), and notes on performance and implementation. Users need to keep in mind that this is a working document and the draft may change before being ratified as a W3C recommendation. [AG]
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Volume 1, Number 11: The Scout Report for July 8, 1994
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/7-8-94.html
Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine
http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/
December Communications, Inc.
http://www.december.com/
The July 8, 1994 Scout Report annotated a new issue of what was at that time a novel phenomenon, a webzine that began publication in May of 1994. John December's CMC, which "reports about people, events, technology, public policy, culture, practices, study, and applications related to human communication and interaction in online environments," is one of the longest-running and best-known publications of its type. All issues of this monthly publication are available. December Communications is highlighted by its Popular Webs section, selected annotated pointers to Internet resources in many subjects. There are few Internauts who know more about the Internet, or who are more deeply versed in its culture, than John December. [JS]
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Copyright Susan Calcari, 1994-1997. 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.

The Scout Report (ISSN 1092-3861) is published weekly by Internet Scout

Susan Calcari
Jack Solock
Jeannine Ramsey
Teri Boomsma
Michael de Nie
Aimee D. Glassel
Matthew Livesey
Amy Tracy Wells
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The Scout Report - July 11, 1997

The Scout Report

July 11, 1997

New From Internet Scout

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