The Scout Report

July 31, 1998

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

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.

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 twenty-second issues of the Scout Reports for Social Sciences and Business & Economics are available. Each report annotates over twenty new and newly discovered Internet resources. The In the News section of the Social Sciences Report annotates seven resources on the famine in Sudan. The Business & Economics Report's In the News section annotates ten resources on Monetary Policy, Wall Street, and Alan Greenspan's Humphrey-Hawkins Report to Congress. [MD]
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Health Reform.online--EDI [.pdf, RealPlayer, Prizm]
http://www.worldbank.org/healthreform/
The World Bank's Economic Development Institute has recently developed Health Reform.online to provide distance education opportunities for those interested in "health sector reform, health economics or sustainable financing." The site will house educational modules based on EDI's Health Sector Reform and Sustainable Financing training program. The first module, "Introduction to the concepts and analytical tools of health sector reform and financing," includes lessons, case studies, interactive exercises, suggested readings, an extensive glossary, and a course outline. Future EDI training opportunities will be announced at the site. A Library section allows browsing and searching of abstracts or the full-text of over 500,000 pages of World Bank health documents on health projects in developing countries. Note, to view the full-text documents, users will need to download the Prizm plug-in, available at the site. EDI plans to add links to regional partner institute Websites and courses, in the future. [GW]
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Beyond Interface [Java]
http://www.archimuse.com/mw98/beyondinterface/index.html
Beyond Interface is an exhibition of digital art, created in conjunction with the Museums and the Web 1998 conference held in April. The conference and the Website are coordinated by Archives & Museums Informatics. Beyond Interface is curated by Steve Dietz, who explains, "This online exhibition presents a simple proposition. There is art that is created to 'be' on the Net. After that, it gets more complex very quickly. Beyond Interface explores some of the complicating issues but does not attempt a comprehensive investigation." Users can follow links to the works of 24 net artists, writings on the philosophies of net art, and the complete conference proceedings of Museums and the Web 1998, which include the Best of the Web Award for 1998. [DS]
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Library Literature--Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE
http://sunsite.Berkeley.EDU/Literature/Library/
The Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE (discussed in the February 9, 1996 Scout Report) has added the first in what will be a series of library literature, Michael Buckland's Redesigning Library Services: A Manifesto. Buckland argues against what he sees as library literature's over-emphasis on technology for technology's sake, "on means, rather than on ends, and tactics rather than strategy." Though electronic library management has certainly changed and grown since Redesigning Library Services was first published (1992), the book's primary emphasis on the goals and purposes of library services still serves as a relevant touchstone. Buckland's book is meant to countervail against the fact that "there is so much more written, for example, on how to build collections than on the roles that collections play." The text can be read online, downloaded (.pdf), or searched for keywords (Note that searches return only links to chapters, not passages of text). [TK]
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The Men's Bibliography [Frames]
http://www.anu.edu.au/~a112465/mensbiblio/mensbibliomenu.html
Compiled by Michael Flood, the Men's Bibliography lists close to 8,000 books and articles on men and masculinity, many from UK or Australian publishers. The bibliography is organized into 35 major subject areas such as: Gay men and masculinity, Men and feminism, Men's liberation, Mid-life and ageing, HIV/AIDS, and so on, which is helpful, since although the bibliography is available electronically, users will have to turn to other catalogs to determine for themselves which individual items are available on the Web and which are only available in print. Flood encourages duplication of the subject sections of the bibliography for use as course handouts or reading lists and also provides a form for submission of additional items for inclusion in the bibliography. [DS]
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State and Metropolitan Area Data Book [.pdf, 268p.]
http://www.census.gov/statab/www/smadb.html
The Census Bureau has recently released the fifth edition of the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, which compares the nation's states and metropolitan areas in everything from banking and births to wages and welfare. Users can view a number of state and metro rankings tables in HTML or download the entire publication in .pdf format. The Data Book also serves as a guide to sources of data from the Census Bureau, other federal agencies, and private organizations. [MD]
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On-Line Glossary of Technical Terms in Plant Pathology
http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/Glossary/Glossary.htm
Cornell University's Department of Plant Pathology provides this online glossary of technical terms in plant pathology. From abaxial to zygote, this lengthy resource offers definitions accompanied by diagrams, photographs, reference texts, and pronunciation options. [LXP]
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EdSitings
http://www.firststep.com.au/education/edsightings.html
EdSitings is a listserv maintained by First Step Communications, an Internet design and training company based in Perth, Western Australia. The objective of EdSitings is to regularly email lists of the best educational sites on the Web to subscribers. An archive of listings, organized by general subject, can be browsed at the site. Visitors can subscribe either at the site or via email. [JR]

To subscribe to EdSitings send email to:
majordomo@listservice.net
In the Body of the Message Type:
subscribe edsitings
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Two sites from PBS
Arts Neighborhood
http://www.pbs.org/neighborhoods/arts/
PBS TeacherSource
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/
[Note: Site title has changed since the original Scout Report review. Site formerly referred to in the Scout Report as "Teacher Connex."]
PBS Online has expanded their "neighborhood" to include the Arts. Arts Neighborhood gathers together in one place information about PBS's arts and humanities programming, including Antiques Roadshow, Mystery!, and P.O.V. In addition to scheduling information, the site includes additional resources which are only available online, such as interviews with writers and artists featured in Great Performances programs and behind the scenes conversations with Live from Lincoln Center performers. The Print Resources section provides an annotated bibliography that lists more than 35 books on art history, dance, digital art, and more. PBS has also gathered together Kids Resources, links to art-related activities for kids from throughout the PBS site, including Sesame Street Coloring Books and Theodore Tugboat Interactive Stories. The Arts Classroom link takes users to the Arts section of PBS TeacherSource, a collection of Online Teacher's Guides prepared by the Teacher Resource Service at PBS. The teacher's guides are arranged by area: Arts, Science and Math, Social Studies, and Preschool. Areas may contain links to relevant PBS programs, educational resources for students, or curriculum ideas for teachers. PBS TeacherSource also includes information about off-air taping rights of PBS programs for educators. [AG]
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The Hydra
http://info.ox.ac.uk/jtap/hydra/
The Hydra was produced by patients at the Craiglockhart War Hospital during the First World War. Two of Craiglockhart's most famous patients, the soldier-poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon both contributed to the magazine, Owen assuming the editorship in August 1917 until his departure a little over a month later. This site features beautifully digitized facsimiles of the eighteen issues of The Hydra from Owen's personal collection that have been deposited at the English Faculty Library, University of Oxford. Users can browse the issues by page or use a search service which covers the eight issues produced during Owen's stay. To gain the full potential of the search service, users will need to download a PC only plug-in, but Mac users can still search the images, albeit without full functionality. [MD]
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Consumer Information--NCLC
http://www.consumerlaw.org/
Founded at the Boston College School of Law, the National Consumer Law Center is a nonprofit corporation committed to addressing the legal problems commonly faced by low-income and financially distressed families. Accurate and authoritative information regarding issues of debt collection abuses, home improvement frauds, usury, and utility terminations, among others, are provided at the Consumer Information section of the site. NCLC's site is a resource for lawyers, low-income community organizations, public policy makers, consumer and business reporters, and interested citizens alike. Links to related websites are also provided for additional consumer guidance. [MW]
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SonicNet
http://www.streamland.com/
A music video haven, SonicNet presents ten new full-length videos each week. Users can also peruse the archive of over 300 videos (searchable by alphabetical listing or category: rock, urban, and dance), or check out the latest happenings in the music scene through Music News. And for the fans of commercial advertising, Levis, a sponsor of SonicNet, provides footage from their commercials/videos. To return to the front page of the site, simply press on the symbol located in the top left corner of the window. [KH]
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Gardening Tools--NGA
http://www.garden.org/edit/tools.html
The US National Gardening Association offers this handy tools page, consisting of searchable interfaces to two databases taken from its Dictionary of Horticulture, a horticultural dictionary with brief definitions for over 15,000 gardening terms, and a plant name finder that allows users to search for the scientific or common name of any of over 10,000 plants. The interfaces are spare and return any items that match search strings. There is no help available, and the lack of a browseable interface is unfortunate. However, the amount of material in these two databases still makes them more than worthwhile for the experienced gardener. [JS]
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CI365--Daily Cricket News from CricInfo
http://www-usa.cricket.org/link_to_database/MANAGEMENT/CRICINFO365/
CI365 is a new daily newsletter produced by CricInfo, a worldwide nonprofit fan-run Cricket news and information service (discussed in the Scout Report for March 22, 1996). CI365 will contain the latest cricket news, game scores, and background on current happenings in the world of cricket. [MD]

To subscribe send email to:
help@cricinfo365.com
In the SUBJECT line of the message type:
subscribe
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Icon Tools
http://www.riccisoft.com/icontools/
This Contextual Menu plug-in is provided by Alessandro Levi Montalcini, a freelance Macintosh programmer, and Riccisoft, currently a one-person Macintosh software company run by Alberto Ricci. Once installed, simply control-click on an Icon and three Icon Tools options (Icon Tools, Icon Stamps, and Icon Frames) will appear in the pop-up menu. Some features of these options include rotation; positioning; and addition of symbols, tags, labels, and backgrounds. Icon Tools is shareware available for Macintosh. [TB]
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Kaffe OpenVM
http://www.transvirtual.com/
The Kaffe OpenVM Desktop Edition 1.0 Beta, from Transvirtual Technologies, Inc., is one of the few and quite possibly the only completely independent Java system implementations available under the GNU Public License (GPL). The Kaffe system implements the PersonalJava 1.1 API and includes a Java virtual machine featuring a Just-in-time compiler, standard Java libraries including the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), and platform-specific native libraries. While the source code, written in C, is comprehensible, it is not an easy task to fully understand it. Despite the unnecessary complexity of the code, the Kaffe system is useful for tasks ranging from research into Java virtual machines to writing embedded PersonalJava applications. This freely available system runs on numerous platforms and is easy to compile. [CL]
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SecureCRT
http://www.vandyke.com/products/SecureCRT/index.html
Van Dyke Technologies has released version 2.2 of SecureCRT, a Windows 95/98/NT terminal emulation client that supports Secure Shell (SSH) as well as telnet and rlogin protocols. SSH lets you establish secure terminal sessions between machines using cryptographic authentication and automatic session encryption. SSH is replacing telnet at many sites, particularly for remote system management, since it offers a higher level of security. The product supports Blowfish, DES, 3DES, and RC4 ciphers and both password and RSA authentication. SecureCRT is a commercial product available only in Canada and the U.S. (due to U.S. cryptographic export restrictions). A 30-day evaluation version is available at the site. [MR]
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Volume 2, Number 14, July 28, 1995 Volume 2, Number 14, July 28, 1995
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/.html
C|Net
http://www.cnet.com/
C|Net: The Computer Network, was announced in the July 28, 1995 Scout Report. One of the first instances of a Website spinoff from a TV show, C|Net has grown into one of the biggest, if not the biggest, providers of online computer- and Internet-related information. One of the earliest practitioners of a novel (and still very successful) strategy of spinning off specific content into new sites, C|net has spun off the content of its single site into ten new domain names at present. Among these are: Search.com (discussed in the March 22, 1996 Scout Report), a meta-search engine; News.com (discussed in the September 6, 1996 Scout Report), which covers technology news; Shareware.com and Download.com (discussed in the December 22, 1995, and November 1, 1996 Scout Reports respectively), shareware, freeware, and commercial demo repositories; and Snap! Online (discussed in the September 26, 1997 Scout Report), C|Net's Internet portal site. Whether you believe this is a savvy way to organize the massive content of the site, or just a clever marketing tool to sell more banner ads, what is undeniable is that C|net is, and always has been, a prolific content provider that is simply indispensable as a general interest resource for anyone who is interested in computers and the Internet. [JS]
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Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 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 Internet Scout Project provides information about the Internet to the US research and education community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number NCR-9712163. 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 or the National Science Foundation.

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

Susan Calcari
Jack Solock
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The Scout Report - July 31, 1998

The Scout Report

July 31, 1998

New From Internet Scout

Research and Education

General Interest

Network Tools

Where Are They Now

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