Scout Report for Social Sciences and Business & Economics
Scout Report for Social Sciences
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/socsci/2000/ss-000919.html
Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/bus-econ/2000/be-000921.html
The first issues of the fourth volumes of the Scout Reports for Social Sciences and Business & Economics are available. The In the News section of the Social Sciences Report annotates nine resources on the FBI and Justice department's investigation and prosecution of Wen Ho Lee. The Business & Economics Report's In the News section offers seven resources on the Los Angeles mass transit strike. [MD]
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FirstGov
http://www.firstgov.gov
This widely-anticipated portal to US government Websites launched today, offering users access to all 20,000 government sites (with over 27 million Webpages) from a single central point. The site is designed with novice or beginning users very much in mind. Instead of being organized by government agencies or departments, sites are categorized principally by "interesting topics," such as Business and Economy, Healthy People, and Arts and Culture, among others. Clicking on a topic brings up a page with several featured links and numerous related links to various federal Websites. Users who are searching for specific information will probably have more success using the keyword search engine. Those looking for a specific department or agency's site can also browse hierarchical listings of the three branches of government accessed from the US Government section on the left-hand side of their window. While a central portal for all US government sites is certainly welcome, one can't help but wonder if the site aims too low by emphasizing the "interesting topics" over a more straightforward organization of sites. Power users will probably be disappointed in the layout and the search engine, which falls short of the leading commercial government or even general search engines. Many will still use the site, however, if only for the quick and easy access to the various official sites listed for the three branches of government. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Two from American Memory
The Diaries of George Washington
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwintro.html
George Washington Papers
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwhome.html
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: US Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1873 - Update
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/
The US Library of Congress (LOC) has recently announced very significant updates to two of their most important American Memory project collections, the George Washington Papers and the collection of US Congressional Documents and Debates. Produced by the editors of the Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia, the documentary edition of The Diaries of George Washington includes all 51 diaries and diary fragments written by Washington between 1748 and December 13, 1799, the day before his death. Originally published in six volumes between 1976 and 1979, the documentary edition offers "diary introductions and annotations that identify all persons mentioned in the texts, explain their relationship to Washington and his activities, and are often accompanied by portrait reproductions." The diaries may be keyword-searched from the main George Washington Papers page or browsed from the Diary page. Also included in this release is the remainder of Series 4, General Correspondence, which completes the online collection of the George Washington Papers. The second update has been made to the Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation site, which now offers hundreds of legislative volumes, comprising over 500,000 digital items. The core of the collection is journals, debates, and legislation of the first 42 federal congresses, from 1789 to 1873. Additional offerings include "documents on the Continental Congress and constitutional debates (1774-89), Journals of the Continental Congress, Farrand's Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 and The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution (Elliot's Debates), as well as selected documents from the U.S. Serial Set." The texts may be keyword-searched or browsed by volume. Content at both sites is available as either directly viewable images, TIFF images, or text. Both collections are invaluable resources for scholars, students, and librarians. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Electronic Literature Directory
http://directory.eliterature.org/
Electronic Literature Organization
http://www.eliterature.org/index2.html
The heart of the Electronic Literature Organization's Website, this Website presents a "comprehensive directory of work" in the field of electronic literature. Electronic literature is here defined as any literature with an electronic element available on the Internet and thus includes both experimental Internet novels and animated poems as well as audio versions of traditional works that have been made available on the Web, such as the postings of authors reading their own works available at sites like the Atlantic Monthly's Poetry Pages. The directory's virtues include size -- there are over 400 links for poetry alone; thoroughness of annotations; and ease of access -- the directory allows users to search and browse by author, traditional genre, type of electronic media (hypertext, recording, animated text, online generated text, and other multimedia), and keyword. In addition, the creators have struck a balance between the democratic impulse of the Internet and the desire for aesthetic quality, allowing individuals to register to have their works appear in the directory but requiring submission of their work to an editorial review by the Directory's board before posting. With individuals like the postmodern novelist Robert Coover and Larry Wangberg, CEO of ZDTV, behind it, this Website promises to give electronic literature a new level of visibility and credibility. A good thing, even if Coover's prediction that "the vast majority of the human race will simply do without literature" if they cannot find it on the Web does strike us as a premature epitaph on that four-centuries-old technology: the printed word. [DC]
[Back to Contents]"CIA Activities in Chile" -- CIA
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/chile/index.html
CIA Acknowledges Ties to Pinochet's Repression -- NSA
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20000919/index.html
After withholding information for 27 years, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has acknowledged its deep involvement in General Augusto Pinochet's regime in a declassified report released and placed online on September 19. Among other things, the report reveals that the head of Chile's secret police was a paid CIA asset, that the CIA was well aware of the efforts to track and kill political opponents, and that the agency supported the kidnapping and murder of the Chilean commander-in-chief, Gen. Rene Schneider in October 1970 after he refused to support the overthrow of President Allende. The full text of the report is available in HTML format at the CIA site. The National Security Archive (last mentioned in the July 21, 2000 Scout Report), which has long stood in the vanguard of efforts to declassify documents related to US involvement in Chile, has posted digital images of the report and two supporting documents. The first of these is the text of the Hinchey amendment to the 2000 Intelligence Authorization Act, which forced this disclosure. The second is a heavily excised CIA report from 1976 on the assassination of former Chilean Ambassador Orlando Letelier and his 25-year old American associate Ronni Karpen Moffitt in Washington DC. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Global Macroeconomics and Financial Policy Site
http://www.stern.nyu.edu/globalmacro/
Nouriel Roubini, associate professor of economics and international business at the Stern School of Business, New York University, has updated his award-winning Global Macroeconomics and Financial Policy Site (first reviewed in the November 6, 1997 Scout Report for Business and Economics). A necessity for any economist, the newly redesigned site is much easier to navigate. The information is divided into three main sections: Interesting Readings, Hot Topics, and Current News. The content of each section is listed chronologically and includes the title and date. The menu along the left side of the screen offers information-rich resources on a variety of topics including the Asian crisis, exchange rates, academic research on currency collapse models and the Asian crisis, and international financial system. Each subtopic links to a vast compilation of resources. Here users will unearth a gold mine of information on global macroeconomics. [EM]
[Back to Contents]UNESCO Archives Portal
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_archives/
Launched on September 5, this new metasite from UNESCO is offered as an international portal for both archivists and archive users. At present, the site includes 725 links to sites of archival institutions around the world and resources related to records and archives management. These may be browsed by one of eight main categories or keyword-searched. Each site listing includes a date stamp, number of hits, and an option for users to rate the site. A form for adding links, a what's new listing, and an email newsletter are also available. [MD]
[Back to Contents]"Assessing E-Government: The Internet, Democracy, and Service Delivery by State and Federal Governments"
http://www.insidepolitics.org/egovtreport00.html
Inside Politics
http://www.insidepolitics.org/
Written by Darrell M. West of Brown University and posted on his Inside Politics site, this report is based on a study of 1,813 state and federal government Websites. Each site was examined for 27 different features and ranked on a 100-point scale. The top-ranked state was Texas, with 51 percent, and the lowest was Rhode Island with 29 percent. Federal sites fared much better though displaying a much wider disparity, with several agencies sharing the top score of 92 percent, and the National Security Council perhaps not suprisingly coming in last with 25 percent. The full text of the study, which discusses the study's methodology and explores what features state and federal Websites are and are not offering, is provided in HTML format at the site. Inside Politics offers a number of additional national and state (Rhode Island) political resources. [MD]
[Back to Contents]East Asia's Recovery Gathering Force: An Update [.pdf]
http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/eap/eap.nsf/General/C165476BD391ED6C8525695800341CAA?OpenDocument
The latest World Bank regional brief describes East Asia's recovery from the 1997 economic crisis as "remarkable," but cautions that the region is still susceptible to another downturn. Presented by Masahiro Kawai, the bank's chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific, the 116-page report notes several signs of improvement, including high rates of economic growth, rising employment and labor earnings, increasing foreign investment, lower interest rates, and recovering currencies. The East Asian countries, Kawai concludes in the press release, "can at last return to the medium term development agenda," assisted, of course, by the World Bank. Users can download the full text of the report by section or in its entirety at the World Bank site. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Environmental Maps (E-Maps) -- HUD [Javascript]
http://www.hud.gov/emaps/
This new site from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) combines information from HUD's community development and housing programs with the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) environmental data to produce scalable maps for HUD-funded activities "in every neighborhood across the country" and select EPA information on those same locales. At time of review, the site was significantly slowed by heavy traffic, and HUD actually suggests that users visit the EPA's Enviromapper (reviewed in the September 17, 1999 Scout Report) instead. However, patient users can access the maps, which are located at the HUD map library site. At present, users can produce ten types of E-Maps by selecting map type (e.g., Brownfields Tax Incentive Zones) and then entering a zip code or city and state. Some of the maps produced at time of review did contain broken graphics files and required multiple refreshes, but we were nonetheless able to zoom in and out and navigate around the map using the supplied tools. While still a bit buggy in the early going, this site is worth a look, and interested users will want to bookmark it for future use. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Language Policy Website
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/
Created and maintained by James Crawford, former Washington editor of Education Week and the author of several books on language policy and bilingual education, this site offers a number of resources for users interested in the politics of language and education. These include primers and resources on the English Only movement, bilingual education, the Official English question, and endangered languages, among others. The site also offers information on various anti-bilingual education ballot propositions and the full text of some of Crawford's recent papers, speeches, and articles. [MD]
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The State of World Population 2000: Lives Together, Worlds Apart - Men and Women in a Time of Change -- UNFPA [.pdf]
http://www.unfpa.org/swp/swpmain.htm
Released on September 20, this year's annual report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) presents a very troubling account of systematic discrimination against women and girls around the world. This gender inequality, the report argues, brings with it economic and societal costs that harm both men and women. Key issues covered in the report include reproductive health care, gender-based violence and domestic abuse, women's rights to privacy, freedom from sexual violence, and voluntary choice in marriage and childbearing. At the site, vistors will find HTML and .pdf files of the report, graphs and charts of key facts and figures, a press kit with summaries and charts, and related links. [MD]
[Back to Contents]State and County QuickFacts -- US Census
http://www.census.gov/qfd/
This new handy reference resource from the US Census Bureau allows users to access frequently requested Census Bureau information at the national, state, and county level. The site is navigated via a pull-down menu or interactive map, both of which produce tables of facts about the people, businesses, and geography for that state compared to the country as a whole. Another pull-down menu (or map) leads to similar information on the county level (compared to the state as a whole). In addition, each page offers a link to more detailed information from the Census Bureau, such as income and poverty estimates, economic censuses, county business profiles, and government finances, among other offerings. Quick facts for the country as a whole can also be accessed from the main page. All in all, a useful resource for quick and basic census information. [MD]
[Back to Contents]American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language -- Bartleby.com
http://www.bartleby.com/141/61/
Bartleby's latest offering is the Fourth Edition of the American Heritage Dictionary. The online dictionary contains over 90,000 entries, 70,000 audio word pronunciations (.wav format), 900 full-page color illustrations, language notes, and word-root appendixes. The dictionary is keyword-searchable by entry word, full text, definition, etymology, entries with notes, or the articles that accompany the definitions. Readers may also browse entry, category, and illustration indexes. As with most Bartleby offerings, the dictionary is well-organized and easy to use. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Ancient Astrology and Divination on the Web
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/astdiv/
This site presents over 100 links to "reliable information about ancient (primarily Greek and Roman) astrology and divination" compiled by graduate student Tim Spaulding for fellow non-believers in these arts and sciences. Materials listed include books, journal articles, and Websites with yet more links to additional sites. Some highlights under astrology are an exhibition of star atlases from the Linda Hall Library, Kansas City; a zodiac mosaic on the floor of Beth Alpha, a temple in Israel; and papyrus documents that mention astrological terms, from a pre-executed search of University of Michigan's collection. Resources open in a new window, allowing users to return to Spaulding's list easily. [DS]
[Back to Contents]Medicare & You 2001 [.pdf]
http://www.medicare.gov/publications/mandy.pdf
Press Release
http://www.hcfa.gov/news/pr2000/pr000914.htm
On September 14, the US Health Care Financing Administration placed online and began mailing 34 million copies of the Medicare & You 2001 handbook to beneficiaries across the nation. The handbook "provides the most up-to-date, comprehensive Medicare information available," including overviews of Medicare benefits, Medicare health plans, a FAQ, and a glossary. The 73-page handbook is available in .pdf format only. A useful reference for a topic in the news. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Absolutearts.com -- Arts News Service Online
http://www.absolutearts.com/
Provided by the visual and performing arts portal World Wide Arts Resources (reviewed in the December 8, 1995 Scout Report), this site offers daily-updated international arts news. Available online at the site or by free email subscription, the vast majority of the stories appear to be announcements or press releases for new exhibitions. These are offered with links to the exhibiting institutions and to related resources at the World Wide Arts Resources site. Users with their own art-related pages can also sign up to have Absolutearts dynamically provide their site with the latest news items for free. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Two from PBS Kids
Clifford the Big Red Dog [RealPlayer, QuickTime]
http://www.pbs.org/clifford/
Caillou [Shockwave, RealPlayer]
http://www.pbs.org/caillou/
PBS Kids has recently launched new companion sites for two of their programs that offer a number of activities for young users. The first features everyone's favorite enormous, bright-red pooch, Clifford. At Clifford's site, visitors can play a matching game, read a story, print a cut-out dog house, and print out pages to color. The site also offers some Clifford video clips. The second site is aimed at young fans of the Caillou program, which mixes animation, puppetry, and live action sequences. The Caillou Website invites visitors to play a bedtime counting game, print out a picture storybook, dress Caillou, sing along, and play a magic keyboard. Both of these sites are compact, easy to navigate, and well suited for their target audience. [MD]
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BBEdit 6.0
http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit.html
Demo Download Page
http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/bbedit-demo.html
On September 11, Bare Bones Software announced the release of the latest version of their flexible and very popular HTML text editor for the Mac, BBEdit 6.0. The latest version includes one-button browser previews, multiple clipboards, keychain support for the FTP tool, HTML markup using contextual menus, and support for HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0. Users can download the demo at the Bare Bones site. The demo is full-featured and limited to 24 launches. Registered owners of previous versions can upgrade for $39, while the full version is $119. [MD]
[Back to Contents]ICQ 2000b (beta) [Windows 95/98/NT]
http://www.icq.com/download/
The latest beta release of the universally popular instant messaging program ICQ ("I seek you") contains a number of new features, the most notable of which is probably ICQphone, which makes it possible for users to initiate and participate in PC-to-PC and PC-to-Phone conversations. In addition, users can also now utilize SMS (Short Messaging Service) technology; send wireless-pager messages; and send attachments, forward and reply with ICQ messages, and chat directly from the Outlook 2000. Users can download ICQ 2000b at the ICQ site, but please note one minor annoyance: the program automatically changes your default browser homepage to ICQ's Website. [MD]
[Back to Contents]10 Ways the Web Will Change the World
http://www.cnet.com/techtrends/0-1544318-7-2047709.html?tag=st.cn.1.tlpg.1544318 -7-2047709
CNet has recently posted part four of its five-part series on how the Web will change the world. Each installment examines two issues under a general topic. The latest, Politics & Society, is focused on "political inaction" and "civil anti-organization." Previous topics include Work & Play, Money & People, and Advertising & Law. The final installment, Culture & Education, is due on October 18. While not always convincing, the brief columns make interesting reading. [MD]
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Yugoslavia Goes to the Polls
Yugoslav Elections
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/europe/2000/yugoslav_elections/default.stm
Yugoslavia Today -- Central Europe Online
http://www.centraleurope.com/yugoslaviatoday/
People elect in September -- Ministry of Information
http://www.serbia-info.com/news/2000-08/22/20305.html
Tanjug News Agency
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Free B92
http://www.freeb92.net/
Socialist Party of Serbia
http://www.sps.org.yu/eng/index-n.htm
Democratic Party (Yugoslavia)
http://www.ds.org.yu/english/index.html
"Better the Candidate They Know, Wary Serbs Feel" -- New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/22/world/22YUGO.html
"West's Interest Surges in Yugoslavia's Election" -- Washington Post
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56866-2000Sep21.html
"Yugoslav vote proves a challenge for the EU" -- CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/09/20/milosevic.kelly/index.html
"The Alternatives in Yugoslavia" -- Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56997-2000Sep21.html
"Test for Yugoslavia" -- Montreal Gazette
http://www.montrealgazette.com/editorial/pages/000922/4559228.html
The aftermath of Sunday's presidential election in Yugoslavia remains shrouded in uncertainty. Although the most recent polls show President Slobodan Milosevic far behind the main opposition candidate, Vojislav Kostunica, analysts are already speculating on the various methods his Socialist Party might use to rig the ballot. Failing that, few believe Milosevic will concede power willingly. This belief was reinforced by the announcement Thursday night by Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic that Milosevic can legally stay in office until June even if he loses the election. Another factor increasing the political tension is the decision by Milo Djukanovic, the President of Montenengro, Serbia's federal partner in Yugoslavia, to boycott the elections. No official polling stations will be established in Montenegro, and local television is not permitted to cover the election. In the end, this may help Milosevic, as the only votes cast in Montenegro will likely be by his supporters. Montenegrin government officials have said they would formally secede if Milosevic remains president. Should Milosevic declare victory regardless of the balloting as most observers expect, the political fallout for Yugoslavia remains to be seen.
Users will want to begin with the BBC's special report, which features breaking news, archived articles, profiles, analysis, and background materials. Central Europe Online's Yugoslavia Today page also offers breaking news and analysis of the election. Additional election information is available from the Ministry of Information and the government-leaning Tanjug News Agency. Current news in text and audio formats from the opposition's perspective is available at Radio Free B92's Website. More information and party platforms from the leading candidates may be found at their respective Websites. For analysis from an American perspective, users can turn to the New York Times (free registration required), Washington Post, and CNN. Finally, interesting editorial pieces on the election may be found at the Washington Post and Montreal Gazette.[MD]
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