The Scout Report

January 30, 1998

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.

An Acrobat .pdf version of this report is available for printing and distributing locally. For information on Adobe Acrobat Reader, visit the Adobe site.

Where Are They Now

Scout Reports for Social Sciences and Business & Economics
Scout Report for Social Sciences
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/socsci/
Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/bus-econ/
The ninth issues of the Scout Reports for Social Sciences and Business & Economics, each of which annotate over twenty new and newly discovered Internet resources, are available. The In the News section of the Social Science Report annotates nine resources related to the recent Papal visit to Cuba. The Business & Economics Report's In the News section annotates five resources related to the new Roth IRA. [JS]
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What Caused Asia's Economic and Currency Crisis and Its Global Contagion? [.pdf, .ps]
http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~nroubini/asia/AsiaHomepage.html
Nouriel Roubini, Associate Professor of Economics and International Business, Stern School of Business, New York University, has put together an impressive collection of articles relating to the Asian economic and currency crisis. The articles include news reports, International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working papers and also research articles by Professor Roubini himself. The site is divided into several sections including basic readings, global effects, country analyses, the role of the IMF, systemic risk and short-term capital flows, case studies of exchange rate collapse, and the debate over flexible and fixed exchange rates. [THN]
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Supercourse: Epidemiology, the Internet and Global Health--GHN
http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/
The Global Health Network, an Internet "global training programme in public health," directed by Ronald E. LaPorte of the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburg, and Shunichi Akazawa of the World Health Organization, among others, has recently released this new online Epidemiology course. The course consists of seventeen annotated slide based lectures at this time, including Disease Monitoring, An Introduction to Health Economics, Malaria, and Nutrition and Global Health, among others. Lectures contain between fifteen and 50 slides, and are accompanied by varying numbers of hypertext connections to relevant sites and documents. The first lecture has been peer reviewed and is available in eight languages. The remaining lectures (English only) are accompanied by calls for comments. Each lecture is also available in PowerPoint format, so that the content, if not the hyperlinks, can be used without an Internet connection. [JS]
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"PaperPersists: Why Physical Library Collections Still Matter"--Online
http://www.onlineinc.com/onlinemag/OL1998/crawford1.html
This article, provided by Walt Crawford of the Research Libraries Group in Online's January 1998 issue, makes a powerful argument that paper will continue to be an indispensible information medium in the forseeable future for both libraries and people in general. Among its conclusions: future information will be available in paper, electronic, linear and hypertext formats, and libraries will continue to be important as repositories of, as well as gateways to knowledge and information. Crawford, a well known philosopher of librarianship, has expanded on similar ideas in Future Libraries: Dreams, Madness & Reality, a book he wrote with Michael Gorman in 1995. [JS]
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Meridian: A Middle School Computer Technologies Journal
http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/
This new ejournal, edited and reviewed by graduate students at North Carolina State University, has a simple focus: to help demonstrate to middle school teachers the best ways of applying computer technologies to classroom teaching and learning. The inaugural issue contains articles about play designed learning, using technology to learn about technology, and gender and digital media. The second issue is slated for June 1998, and submissions are welcomed. [JS]
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WordNet [Frames]
http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/~wn/
WordNet is a powerful lexical reference system that combines aspects of dictionaries and thesauri with current psycholinguistic theories of human lexical memory. It is produced by the Cognitive Science Laboratory at Princeton University, under the direction of Professor George Miller. In WordNet, words are defined and grouped into various related sets of synonyms. Not only is the system valuable to the casual user as a powerful thesaurus and dictionary, but also to the researcher as one of the few freely available, lexical databases. WordNet is available via an on-line interface and also as easy-to-compile C source code for Unix. [CL]
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Solar System Simulator--JPL NASA [QuickTime, MPEG]
http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/
Provided by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory's A Space Library, this site allows users to input a number of variables to create color views of the solar system and any of its bodies. Users can view any body from any other, display planet and satellite orbits, and choose from a variety of fields of view. Sample scenes created with the simulator are also available, several of which are compared with (and almost indistinguishable from) actual images made by the Voyager I and Galileo spacecraft. Additional features include sample Quicktime and MPEG movies, information on the current status of the Cassini and Galileo spacecraft, and a description of the technical details of the simulator. [MD]
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DOD Dictionary of Military Terms
http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict/
The US Department of Defense Defense Technical Information Center provides this handy dictionary, derived from Joint Publication 1-02, "DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms." Users can browse the dictionary alphabetically or search it. Definitions are terse but clear. Cross references are provided but, unfortunately, not hyperlinked at this time. The dictionary also contains both terms and acronyms & abbreviations. The latter two can be browsed or searched separately from a link on the dictionary page. [JS]
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The Richard III and Yorkist History Server
http://www.r3.org/
Ricardians of all levels of knowledge and experience will find something of interest at this site devoted to the study of Richard III in history and literature, sponsored by the American Branch of the Richard III Society. The Quick Start for Students provides a concise guide to the site's online resources as well as recommendations for print sources, while the Quick Start to Historical Controversy points directly to several readings and bibliographies that address Richard III's character. The Society's Online Library contains primary texts and secondary sources, including an annotated hypertext version of The Tragedy of King Richard The Third, by William Shakespeare. The Study/Teach section includes resources for teachers and for regular visitors. [AG]
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State of the Union Addresses--Past and Present [RealPlayer]
http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/1998/1/27/11.text.1
Presidential Speeches and Writings
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/
President Clinton's State of the Union Message, delivered January 27, 1998, is available in both text and RealPlayer formats at the White House site. The White House has also posted a useful collection of background materials relating to the main themes of the President's address. For Internauts who would like to place this year's speech in historical perspective, the presidents index at George Welling's From Revolution to Reconstruction site (discussed in the February 9, 1996 Scout Report) offers the full text of a number of selected State of the Union messages by previous presidents. [MD]
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The Irish in America: Long Journey Home--PBS [RealAudio, .wav, .aiff]
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/irish/
This site was designed to compliment the PBS TV special on Irish immigration to North America. At the site, users can learn about tracing their Irish roots and discover the original pronunciation of Irish surnames in the section on genealogy. The Irish music section provides insight into some of the instruments used in traditional Irish music, describes the music used in the series soundtrack, and offers several related links. The language section contains a brief history of the Irish language, information on the Irish roots of some American English words, and selections from a Gaelic poem. Additional features at the site include a time-coded outline of the four parts of the series, a collection of discussion questions, and a select bibliography. [MD]
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National Air Quality and Emissions Trends Report, 1996--EPA [.pdf, 152p.]
http://www.epa.gov/oar/aqtrnd96/
The 24th annual report on air pollution trends in the United States, issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has been posted on the web. The report is divided into seven chapters and two appendixes (Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format only). The site also features lists of tables, figures, and acronyms used in the report. Topics covered include air quality trends, visibility trends, and air toxics, among others. [MD]
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IMF Staff Country Reports in Full Text [.pdf]
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/CAT/scr.cfm
The International Monetary Fund has begun to make selected staff country reports available (Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format only). At present reports covering ten countries are available. The reports are in-depth studies that discuss such issues as recent economic developments and policies, poverty issues, banking systems, income developments and growth, among others. Topics covered vary by report. As this repository grows, it will become a major source of country social and economic information. Note that the .pdf files are scanned from paper rather than created from an electronic source; thus the reports are not searchable and printing speed may be affected as well. [JS]
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India Votes '98
http://www.indiavotes.com/
The world's largest democracy goes to the polls in Mid-February for parliamentary elections. India Today (discussed in the August 29, 1997 Scout Report), a weekly news magazine with a circulation of over 11 million, provides this site for interested Internauts to follow the elections. It provides ongoing daily news, an election calendar, and election information organized by state, constituency, party, and leaders. In addition, there are links to IT articles of interest. Newcomers to the Indian electoral process are advised to consult the Reference section first. [JS]
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Harappa [QuickTime, RealPlayer]
http://www.harappa.com/welcome.html
No Frames:
http://www.harappa.com/welcomenf.html
Harappa was a city in the Indus Valley civilization that flourished around 2,500 B.C. in the western part of South Asia. This site, produced by Omar Khan, contains a number of items related to the study of this ancient city, including a 90-slide tour of the Indus Valley and 3-D computer recreations of the city's gateway and surrounding topography. The site also offers a large number of audio and visual resources concerning pre-1947 South Asia in general. Users can browse 130 historical photos via a city index or active map, view a selection of lithographs, postcards, and engravings, and view a number of newsreels in QuickTime format. Although only nine newsreels and archival films are currently available, the site plans to eventually offer 50 in honor of South Asia's 50 years of independence. Additional offerings include several rare amateur color movies filmed c.1940, RealAudio recordings by several prominent historical figures, and a wonderful collection of reflections in audio, video, and text formats by Princess Abida Sultaan of Bhopal, a contemporary of many of the leaders of the independence movement. [MD]
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The Great Movies--Roger Ebert
http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/old_movies/old_movies.html
Roger Ebert, well known Chicago Sun Times and syndicated television film reviewer, admits "movie history did not begin in 1967, but my career as a movie critic did." A prolific reviewer of new movies (discussed in the May 3, 1996 Scout Report), he has now made available a growing collection of reviews of classic movies. At present there are 37 reviews available, covering various genres and time periods. Included are Ali: Fear Eats the Soul,The Passion of Joan of Arc,M,Written On the Wind,The Wizard of Oz, and Ikiru, among others. All reviewed films are available on home video. This is a biweekly feature, and for those who love classic movies, there is no better place to enjoy a guided tour by a kindred soul. [JS]
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Technical Management of Internet Names and Addresses
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/domainname130.htm
This is a "proposed rule of the [US] Department of Commerce," in discussion draft format. It will appear shortly in its official form in the _Federal Register_. The draft is available in HTML, text, and WordPerfect .zipped format. Comments on the draft can be sent to the email address listed at the site and will be posted on the web. The draft calls for four main principles for a new domain name system: "stability; competition; private, bottom-up coordination; and representation." [JS]
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Visual Page--WYSIWYG Web Page Editor
Macintosh Version
http://www.symantec.com/vpagemac/
Windows 95/NT Version
http://www.symantec.com/vpage/
Visual Page is an easy to use WYSIWYG editor which supports tables, frames, drag-and-drop editing, direct previews of Java applets and QuickTime movies without a browser, and more. It also offers the ability to edit the HTML source code directly through its HTML syntax editor. The code, which is well layed out and color coded, will appear in a separate window, while the visual representation will remain in the original. To view changes made with the HTML editor, click on the visual window. Creating pages with the WYSIWYG editing component is made as easy as the click of a mouse. The toolbar offers quick editing and switching between the edit and preview mode, and provides an immediate output of changes made to the web page. The demo version of this commercial program provides a quick tutorial/feature listing which launches with the program. Pricing information is available at the site. [TB]
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SOFTWARE-QUALITY--Discussions on Delivering High Quality Software Mailing List
http://www.tenberry.com/softqual/index.htm
SOFTWARE-QUALITY is an open, digested, moderated discussion list on the production and delivery of very high quality software. Topics such as coding techniques for reliability, automation of software testing, quality assurance, design methods, testing strategies, and review techniques are likely to be discussed. SOFTWARE-QUALITY focuses on the practical. [JS]

To subscribe send email to:
SOFTWARE-QUALITY-JOIN@TENBERRY.COM
It is not necessary to type anything in the subject line or body of the message.
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The Scout Report was not issued on January 27, 1995. This feature will resume with next week's issue. [JS]
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Copyright Susan Calcari, 1994-1998. 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
David Flaspohler
Aimee D. Glassel
Kathryn Harris
Matthew Livesey
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Thiam Hee Ng
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The Scout Report - January 30, 1998

The Scout Report

January 30, 1998

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