Open Letter to Our Readers
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/about/letter-010202.html
Dear Readers: Here at the Internet Scout Project, we have been working on securing a new source (or sources) of funding for the Scout Reports. We are soliciting your ideas in an Open Letter to Readers that has been sent to the subscriber mailing lists and is available on our Website. Please read the letter at the address above and send us your ideas.
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Scout Report for Science & Engineering
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sci-eng/2001/se-010214.html
Volume 4, Number 12 of the Scout Report for Science & Engineering is available. The In the News section annotates eight resources on the landmark publication of the complete human genome sequence and its scientific interpretation.
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Two on the Human Genome
Genome Gateway -- Nature [.pdf]
http://www.nature.com/genomics/human/
Human Genome Special Issue -- Science [.pdf]
http://www.sciencemag.org/genome2001/
This week scientists published a rough draft of the three billion letters of the human genetic code. Two complete sequences were actually released, one by a consortium of publicly funded laboratories and the other by a private venture, Celera Genomics. To mark this event, Nature and Science have published the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium and the US National Human Genome Research Institute and Celera Genomics sequences respectively. These are accompanied by research papers, commentary, and additional resources. For more on the human genome and the first scientific analyses see this week's Scout Report for Science & Engineering. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Civics Online [RealPlayer]
http://civics-online.org/
Designed by Lansing, Michigan area K-12 teachers and faculty at Michigan State University, this handsome and well-organized site is a fine resource for K-12 teachers and students. At the site, users can search for and retrieve a variety of digitized primary sources related to American government and democracy, such as treaties, court decisions, inaugural addresses, maps, paintings, and photos. There are numerous search options and each resource includes notes on the applicable "Core Democratic Values" and Michigan Curriculum Strands. The Teachers section also features hypermedia case studies, a collection of useful annotated links, and information on the Michigan Curriculum Framework. The Students section includes a glossary, timeline, annotated links, and a "a civic adventure tracing civic themes and using primary sources to consider the case of Elian Gonzalez." Finally, the Parents area offers an introduction to civic education, a guide to using the site and exploring civics with children, and related links. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Investment in Tobacco Control: State Highlights 2001 [.pdf]
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/statehi/statehi_2000.htm
It has been rumored that this new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was originally slated for a very public release, but that the publicity was squelched owing to pressure from officials at the Department of Health and Human Services. Whether or not this is true, the report, which offers the first comprehensive look at how states have (or have not) used funds from the national tobacco settlement for tobacco prevention purposes, is available online in its entirety for all to read. At the site, users can download the full text of the 150-page report, look up individual state information via an interactive map, and view a number of summary maps and tables. [MD]
[Back to Contents]History Cooperative [.pdf]
http://www.historycooperative.org/
A project of the American Historical Association (AHA), the Organization of American Historians (OAH), the University of Illinois Press, and the National Academy Press, this site currently offers free, full-text access to recent issues of the American Historical Review and the Journal of American History. In the near future, access will be restricted to members of the AHA and OAH, and to institutions that subscribe to the print versions. The site also hosts two special features that will remain free to all. The first is a multimedia essay, "Los Angeles and the Problem of Urban Historical Knowledge," which employs animated maps, photos, and other visual materials. The second is a searchable online version of the fourteen-volume Booker T. Washington Papers originally published by the University of Illinois Press. The volumes are presented in an adapted version of the National Academy Press's Open Book framework and may be easily browsed, printed, and searched down to the page level. The History Cooperative plans to add four additional journals this year, and five to seven in each subsequent year. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) [.pdf, Excel, PowerPoint]
http://www.ciesin.org/indicators/ESI/pilot_esi.html
A collaboration among the World Economic Forum's Global Leaders for Tomorrow Environment Task Force, The Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, and the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) "is a measure of overall progress towards environmental sustainability, developed for 122 countries." The ESI is based on 22 core "indicators," each of which combines two to six variables for a total of 67 underlying variables. The idea is to create cross-national comparisons of environmental progress as part of an effort to foster a more analytically driven approach to environmental decision-making. The top-ranked nations were Finland, Norway, and Canada, with the US coming in at number eleven and the UK placing sixteenth. Visitors can view the rankings and download the full text of the 225-page report and a Powerpoint Presentation at the site. A spreadsheet of the ESI is promised for the near future. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Two Research Papers on the Middle East Peace Process
"Developments in the Middle East peace process 1991-2000" [.pdf]
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2001/rp01-008.pdf
"The Middle East Crisis: Camp David, the 'Al-Aqsa Intifada' and the Prospects for the Peace Process" [.pdf]
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2001/rp01-009.pdf
Written by Tim Youngs and recently published by the UK House of Commons Library, these two research papers offer a succinct and very useful account of the Arab-Israeli conflict and peace process from 1991 through January 2001. The first paper gives historical background and covers events from the 1991 Madrid Conference up to the July 2000 Camp David negotiations. It also discusses relations with Syria and Lebanon and includes eight appendices (maps and UN resolutions). The second paper continues the narrative from the summer of 2000 through January of 2001. It explores the outstanding issues at the Camp David summit, the outbreak of violence, and negotiations in the waning weeks of President Clinton's presidency. It also includes five appendices (maps and UN resolutions). [MD]
[Back to Contents]Malcolm X Conference [RealPlayer]
http://www.murchisoncenter.org/malcolm/
On November 1-4, 1990, over 3,000 people from 24 countries met in New York City for a conference entitled, Malcolm X: Radical Tradition and a Legacy of Struggle. The conference marked the last time that "major figures such as Alex Haley, John Henry Clarke, Betty Shabazz, and C. Eric Lincoln gathered together." The University of Toledo Africana Studies Program, under the direction of Dr. Abdul Alkalimat, has begun to place online the full audio proceedings of the conference, accompanied by study guides and links to further information. At present, only the first two sessions are available, but additional sessions will be added one per week over the next six months. [MD]
[Back to Contents]New Additions to ERIC Digests Database
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index/2001-2-6.html
ERIC Digests Index Page
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index/
The latest update to the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Digest database (last described in the November 3, 2000 Scout Report) features 28 full-text short reports aimed at education professionals and the broader education community. Each report includes an overview of an education topic of current interest and offers references for further information. Sample titles include "Laptop Computers in the K-12 Classroom," "Teaching Archaeology," "Critical Literacy for Adult Literacy in Language Learners," and "The Role of Teachers in Urban School Reform." Users can search the entire ERIC Digests database from the index page. ERIC, part of the National Library of Education (NLE), is a nationwide education information system sponsored by the US Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI). [MD]
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The President's Agenda for Tax Relief
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/reports/taxplan.html
President Bush has released a summary of his agenda for tax relief. He claims to offer a "bold and fair tax relief plan that will reduce the inequities of the current tax code and help ensure that America remains prosperous." Highlights of Bush's proposal include doubling the child care credit to $1,000 per child, reinstating the ten percent deduction for two-earner couples, thus reducing the "marriage penalty," and eliminating inheritance taxes. The rather celebratory summary provides a short explanation of each element of the new tax plan, along with several charts on topics including consumer debt, tax rates for Americans on the edge of poverty, and the tax reduction for the poorest families. Finally, the report offers an easy-to-understand, side-by-side comparison of the current tax code and the Bush plan. [EM]
[Back to Contents]National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center [Flash]
http://www.safeyouth.org/
Sponsored by the White House Council on Youth Violence, the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center is a collaboration between the Council, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other federal agencies. The Resource Center Website is offered as a portal to federal information on youth violence prevention and suicide. The heart of the site is a sizable collection of annotated links, organized alphabetically by topic. The site also explores a number of "Hot Topics," such as Youth Suicide, After School Programs, and Intimate Partner and Family Violence, with background and overviews, publications, and annotated links. Additional content includes a teens-only section, links to related organizations, and an internal search engine. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Two on Eros Asteroid Landing:
Touchdown on Eros
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/near/010212snapshots/157417198.html
"Spacecraft Makes Historic First-Ever Asteroid Landing" [RealPlayer, QuickTime, Windows Media Player]
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/nearlanding_preview_010212.html
NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission completed an important task this week: landing on an asteroid. Just in time for Valentine's Day, Eros is the name of the asteroid successfully targeted by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft. The craft has orbited Eros for one year, gathering the most detailed profile yet of a small celestial body and collecting ten times more data than originally planned. At the first site above, Spaceflight Now provides a picture of the craft's last view before landing, taken a mere 420 feet from Eros' surface. Other snapshots from this historic event include a 150-foot-wide boulder on the asteroid and a view of the Eros horizon. Space.com also has images from this week's landing plus an exciting, high-resolution video of the October 2000 flyby (users choose RealPlayer, QuickTime, or Windows Media Player). See the In the News section of the September 27, 2000 Scout Report for Science and Engineering for more Eros-related resources. [HCS]
[Back to Contents]HistoryLink: The Online Encyclopedia of Seattle and King County
http://www.historylink.org/welcome.htm
HistoryLink is an Internet experiment in doing local history for Seattle, Washington that could be replicated in other urban areas. First imagined by Walt Crowley and Paul Dorpat as a print history of Seattle and King County, HistoryLink became a Web venture as its founders sought a method "which would combine multiple histories including the story of women, labor, ethnic minorities, the environment and other subjects often marginalized in comprehensive printed histories." The current site is lavishly illustrated and includes a Galleries section, featuring Magic Lantern, a collection of photo essays; Now & Then, Seattle sites depicted in historical photographs and re-photographed by Paul Dorpat; Maps & Documents; and Ten Minute History, 48 historic images. The People's History Section features 78 first-person accounts of Seattle history ranging from transcriptions of letters and archives to excerpts from oral histories. There is also a form to submit your own story. From its downtown offices, HistoryLink operated WTO-CAM, recording images of the demonstrations on November 30, 1999, and these and other WTO materials are available at the site. The site includes a search function, and in fact, several of the galleries are the result of pre-executed searches across the site. [DS]
[Back to Contents]Osh.Net
http://osh.net/
Created and maintained on a for-profit basis by WorkCare, this metasite offers over 1,300 links to occupational safety and health information and resources. The heart of the site is the Health & Safety Index, which lists sites by topic in fourteen categories. Some, but not all, of these links are briefly annotated, and banner ads are interspersed. Other content includes feature articles, a FAQ, an internal search engine, a bulletin board, employment postings, and a free newsletter. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Washington Post Email Newsletters
http://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters
The Post has launched a free email news service. Users can subscribe to six different HTML newsletters, covering news, politics, sports, and entertainment. Each is sent daily and features the top headlines with links to the full story, additional reports, and related online content. Samples of the newsletters and subscription information (registration is required) are available at the above URL. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders [RealPlayer, .mp3]
http://www.tinfoil.com/
Here is a fun site and a fine example of how the Internet has contributed to the preservation of our cultural heritage. Created and maintained by Glenn Sage, this site showcases some of the over 2,000 wax cylinder recordings that Sage has preserved by recording them digitally. A new two-minute recording is offered in RealPlayer and .wav or .mp3 format each month, and the archive contains selections since December 1996. The selections include information on the company that originally released the cylinder, category, title, performer, date, and in some cases, some additional background information. The site also includes an introduction to wax cylinders, resources for collectors, and some brief articles. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe [RealPlayer, QuickTime]
http://hubble.stsci.edu/discoveries/hstexhibit/
This site is a companion to the travelling Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and Smithsonian exhibition. Offerings include numerous brief, illustrated fact sheets on the telescope and the universe, movies, related links, and information on the travelling exhibit. This modest but well-crafted site offers a nice educational diversion for anyone interested in astronomy. [MD]
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Google Acquires Deja's Usenet Archive
http://groups.google.com/
Big news indeed. The Usenet archive portion of the financially-troubled Deja.com (see the May 14, 1999 Scout Report) has been bought by search-engine powerhouse Google. The purchase includes Deja.com's Usenet search technology, including the Usenet archive back to 1995, and the Deja.com trademarks, among other items. At present, the Beta service only contains messages back to August 2000, but Google has stated that they hope to have the remainder online within the next few months. At the site, users can search for messages by keyword or conduct an advanced search, which allows them to specify newsgroup, author, and subject, among other things. Search returns are in the typical Google format, but they offer links to the entire thread (helpfully presented in one window) and to all returns for each related newsgroup. Unfortunately, the Beta service does not support Web-based posting but has promised it in the near future, along with a date sorting feature. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Metor Search
http://www.metor.com/
Here is another metasearch engine worth a spin. In addition to the typical choices of search engines and directories, Metor Search also offers specialized searching by nineteen additional categories, including cars, downloads, news, games, recipes, and travel, among others. Some of these only index a few engines, but in each, users have the option to select specific engines and set a timeout span. Search returns, which include a short description culled from the page, appeared to be fairly relevant in test runs. [MD]
[Back to Contents]Netscape 6.01
http://home.netscape.com/download/index.html
The latest version of Netscape's next-generation browser fixes a number of bugs, offers improved stability, and corrects some security holes. Users can visit the above URL to download the "smart installer," which then guides them through the full installation. [MD]
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Whither Napster?
US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
http://www.ce9.uscourts.gov/
Napster's Day in Court -- CNET [RealPlayer, Windows Media Player]
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-201-4774158-0.html
"Napster order: Patrol yourself" -- ZDNet
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2685494,00.html
Music on the Internet -- New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/reference/index-music.html
Music on the Web -- Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/reports/musicweb/
Napster: Stealing or Sharing? -- CNN [Flash, QuickTime, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player]
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/napster/
Legal Update -- Napster [RealPlayer, Windows Media Player]
http://www.napster.com/legalupdate/
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) News
http://www.riaa.com/news.cfm
On Monday a three-member panel from the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that a lower court decision requiring Napster to immediately halt music swapping was "overbroad." This week's decision was anything but a victory for Napster, however, as the panel instructed US District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel to craft a narrower injunction that would still require Napster to block the trade of copyrighted music, something which the company had claimed is next to impossible. Even worse, the Appeals Court panel has indicated that Napster may be liable for monetary damages. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has claimed victory, while Napster has promised to appeal the retooled injunction and ask the full Ninth Circuit to review the case. In the short term, Napster service is not likely to change, but the future is very uncertain. If the injunction is ultimately upheld, the record companies will provide Napster with a lengthy list of copyrighted works that it must then devise a way to block (it has already identified 12,000 copyrighted songs traded on the service). If Napster does manage to block access to copyrighted works, its music library will likely shrink exponentially, notwithstanding plans to introduce a subscription service with Bertelsmann (BMG) this summer. If Napster cannot construct a technology to stop the trading of copyrighted works, it will likely be forced to shut down altogether.
Users can begin with the full text of the recent decision, which can be found in the Opinions section of the court's Website under A & M Records v. Napster. CNET's special on the case also offers the full text of the ruling, along with the latest news, a timeline, analysis, and some video clips. ZNet's analysis of the decision links to a number of related articles and a readers' forum. The New York Times special on Music on the Internet (free registration required) contains a number of articles on the Napster case as well as a digital music primer. The Los Angeles Times also offers breaking news, commentary, and background information. CNN's Napster report includes legal analysis, a timeline, key players, news, chat transcripts, related links, video selections, and other resources. Finally, reaction to the ruling by the main parties themselves can be found at the Napster legal update site and the RIAA news page. [MD]
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Hannah Arendt Papers
Last week's report stated that the entire collection of The Hannah Arendt Papers at the Library of Congress would be available online in the summer of 2001. The complete collection will only be available on-site at four institutions. Owing to copyright concerns, the final public Internet version of the papers will only feature four document series: the Adolf Eichmann File, Subject File, Speeches and Writings File, and Addition I, plus the General section of the Correspondence File. The Scout Report regrets the error.
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