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. 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.
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Visit the Scout Report web page at: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/
Send comments and contributions to: scout@cs.wisc.edu
Sherlock & the Internet Scout Project [MAC OS 8.5,
StuffIt Expander]
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/sherlock/InternetScout.sit
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/sherlock/InternetScout.sit.hqx
http://www.apple.com/sherlock/plugins.html
As
described in the Scout Report for October 16, 1998, the Internet
Scout Project has built a plug-in to support the new search technology called
Sherlock, introduced with MAC OS 8.5. The plug-in has been fine-tuned and now
enables users to search the Signpost database of previous Scout Reports and send
the annotations directly to their desktops without opening a browser. [PMS][MD]
[Back to Contents]
Scout Report for Science &
Engineering
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/sci-engr/
Volume
2, Number 4 of the Scout Report for Science & Engineering is available. The
In the News section annotates nine resources on the disruption of coastal food
webs. [MD]
[Back to
Contents]
Ecoregions of the United States--USFS
http://www.fs.fed.us/land/ecosysmgmt/ecoreg1_home.html
Ecological
Subregions of the United States--USFS
http://www.fs.fed.us/land/pubs/ecoregions/
The
electronic (interactive) version of a 1994 publication by the US Forest Service
(USFS), these companion sites are based on the National Hierarchical Framework
of Ecological Units, designed to provide "a standardized method for
classifying, mapping, and describing ecological units" in the US. The first
site, "Ecoregions of the United States," contains three simple color
maps of the United States (including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico) showing
generalized ecological boundaries. At the coarsest spatial scale, the Ecosystem
Domains map delineates Dry, Humid Temperate, and Humid Tropical Domains. At the
intermediate scale, an Ecosystem Divisions map delineates more than a dozen
ecosystem types, ranging from tundra to rainforest. At the finest scale, over 50
Ecosystem Provinces are delineated. By clicking on a color type for any map
(i.e., an ecosystem type), users may access further information on the abiotic
and biotic characteristics within that ecosystem. A companion site! , Ecological
Subregions of the United States, contains the biophysical descriptions for the
color-coded maps. This is a solid resource for anyone seeking broad ecosystem
classifications for the United States. [LXP]
[Back to Contents]
Emory Women Writers Resource Project
[Frames]
http://chaucer.library.emory.edu/wwrp/index.html
A
collection of women's writing from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries,
the Emory Women Writers Resource Project offers students the opportunity to edit
their own primary texts. The site contains unedited texts, accompanying
bibliographic resources and teacher aids, and examples of texts that students
have already edited. A collaborative effort of the Lewis H. Beck Center, the
Virtual Library Project, Professor Sheila Cavanagh, and graduate students at
Emory, this site will be of interest not only to potential editors but also to
readers. Though the collection is selective rather than comprehensive, it
represents a good cross section of early modern women's writing, with concerns
ranging from table manners (Hannah Wolley advises in The Gentlewoman's
Companion, "Fill not your mouth so full, that your checks shall swell
like a pair of Scotch-bag-pipes. . .") to human rights (as in Eliza Lee
Follen's abolitionist argument in "Women's Work," "Women have a
right t! o be heard, for they are all sufferers."). [TK]
[Back to Contents]
Database of Award-winning Children's
Literature
http://www2.wcoil.com/~ellerbee/childlit.html
Lisa
M. Bartle, reference/user education librarian at the Lima Regional Campus of
Ohio State University, compiled and indexed this database of award-winning
children's literature. Parents, teachers, and older children can access high
quality book titles via keyword or phrase searching, or by using a form to
indicate reading level, genre, language, historical period, gender of the
protagonist, and ethnicity of the protagonist, among other elements. Books
listed have been recognized with awards ranging from the Caldecott Award to ALA
Notable Books for Children to the Coretta Scott King Award, to name a few.
Honorable mentions are also included. [JR]
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TreeBASE [Frames]
http://www.herbaria.harvard.edu/treebase/
TreeBASE,
a collaborative effort by the National Science Foundation, Harvard University
Herbaria, and the University of California at Davis, is "a relational
database of phylogenetic information." With the goal of managing and
exploring information on phylogenetic relationships (published phylogenetic
trees and data matrices), TreeBASE was designed "to allow retrieval and
recombination of trees and data from different studies, and [may] be explored
interactively using trees included in the database." TreeBASE accepts all
types of phylogenetic data (e.g., trees (hierarchies) of populations, trees of
species, trees of genes) representing all biotic taxa. To get oriented, head to
the Intro section and be sure to read all parts of the instructions. The
searchable database currently includes "430 authors, 289 studies, 787
trees, and 7627 taxa." [LXP]
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the/untimely/past
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~nomadic/untimelypast.html
This
online bibliography project is the work of Jeffrey Hearn, a Ph.D. student at
University of Maryland who has a strong interest in the "intersection of
historiography with postmodernism, poststructuralism, and related varieties of
theory/practice." As Hearn explains, the bibliography is, by necessity, a
work in progress, but it already contains an impressive number of entries,
organized in a general list as well as by selected topics. These include Michel
Foucault, subaltern studies, rhetoric and historiography as text,
poststructuralism, and postmodernism. Especially helpful is the new and
forthcoming section, which is also organized by topic. Although a different font
selection would perhaps be easier on readers' eyes, on the whole, the site will
be of considerable use to graduate students and faculty with an interest in the
"linguistic turn" and the integration of postmodern philosophy in
their work. [MD]
[Back to
Contents]
Watson and the Shark
http://www.nga.gov/feature/watson/
Watson
and the Shark is part of a series of in-depth studies of works of art presented
as Web features by the National Gallery of Art. This narrative John Singleton
Copley painting provides the National Gallery an opportunity to do some fairly
traditional art historical teaching. Watson and the Shark depicts an incident
that took place in 1749: Brook Watson, a young sailor out for a swim, was
attacked by a shark and saved by his shipmates. The shark bit off part of
Watson's leg, but he recovered and went on to live a well-documented, one-legged
life as a merchant and politician in London, and eventually served a term as
mayor from 1796-97. It is likely that Watson commissioned the painting from
Copley. The Web feature includes items such as images of Watson from other
museums and additional examples of Copley's paintings, so that users can explore
the stories associated with the painting: the shark attack, Watson's life, and
Copley's life and art. [DS]
[Back to Contents]
Cancer Statistics for 1998
http://www.cancer.org/media/fact.html
Provided
by the American Cancer Society, this site offers general information on cancer
and specific facts and figures for selected cancers. The former includes the
basics of cancer: cause and prevention, new cases, treatment and survival, and
expenditures. The latter includes incidence, signs and symptoms, risk factors,
early detection, treatment, and survival rates. The site also contains
additional sections on Cancer in Minorities, Prostate Cancer, Tobacco Use,
Nutrition and Diet, and Environmental Cancer Risks. Graphical data is available
on selected topics. [MD]
[Back to
Contents]
Renaissance and Baroque Architecture: Architectural
History 102
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/dic/colls/arh102/index.html
This
site hosts a collection of over 500 images that were prepared by the Digital
Image Center at the University of Virginia Library for use in Professor C. W.
Westfall's course on Renaissance and Baroque Architecture. The images are
grouped topically, as they were covered in the class. Section titles include
Florence in the 15th Century, The Sixteenth Century--Bramante and Roman
Architecture, French Explorations of the New Classicism, The Holy Roman Emperor
Rediscovers the Empire, and England Accepts Classicism, among others. Each
section contains a number of thumbnails each of which leads to a full-sized JPEG
image. It should be noted that the images are not individually labelled, but
instead each section offers a description list at the bottom of the page. In
some sections, but not in all, these are also hyperlinked. Teachers, scholars,
students, and the general public are free to use these images for educational
purposes. [MD]
[Back to
Contents]
Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final
Report
http://www.truth.org.za/final/index.htm
Truth
and Reconciliation Commission Official Homepage
http://www.truth.org.za/
Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, chairman of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(TRC), presented the long-awaited 3,500 page report to President Mandela, on
October 29. The TRC was established in 1995 to investigate human rights
violations committed by all sides during the apartheid era. After two-and-a-half
years and the testimony of over 21,000 victims, the TRC has produced a report
which accuses leading figures from all political parties of human rights
violations. The controversial nature of the report led to two legal challenges
prior to its publication. The first, by former President F W de Klerk, was
successful, and sections relating to him have been removed. The other challenge,
by the ruling African National Congress (ANC), failed, and the report contains
multiple accusations of ANC wrongdoing in its long fight against apartheid. The
harshest criticism, however, is reserved for the senior figures of the apartheid
system. The TRC site provides the full text of ! the final report in five
volumes, totalling over ten megabytes. The TRC homepage offers information on
the Commission, its legal background, the work of its various committees, an
Amnesty Database, recommended reading, and suggested links. [MD]
[Back to Contents]
John Glenn Returns to Space
NASA Shuttle
Web: sts-95 [Net Show, MPEG, RealPlayer]
http://shuttle.nasa.gov/index.html/
John
Glenn, the first American in space, became the world's oldest astronaut when he
returned to the stars yesterday, 36 years after his first flight on the nation's
123rd manned mission. At the NASA Shuttle Website for the mission, users can
read about the crew, payloads, mission objectives, some of the experiments on
aging and space involving Senator Glenn, and updates on the mission's current
status. Realtime data offered at the site include telemetry, tracking displays,
sightings, and orbital elements. The site also hosts several multimedia
offerings such as preflight and launch videos (MPEG), animations (MPEG), Net
Show broadcasts of NASA TV, photos, and RealPlayer audio broadcasts. [MD]
[Back to Contents]
Report of the Independent Commission on the Voting System
[.pdf]
http://www.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm40/4090/contents.htm
Another
long-awaited report was released yesterday, this one by the Independent
Commission on Electoral Reform, chaired by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Jenkins.
The commission was formed in December 1997 to consider and recommend "any
appropriate system or combination of systems" as "an alternative to
the present system for Parliamentary elections" in the UK. The Jenkins
Commission has recommended that a new and more proportional voting system
replace the current first-past-the-post system. The new mixed system suggested
by the Commission has been dubbed "Alternative Vote-Top Up" (AV
Top-Up). Under this system, 80-85% of MPs (Members of Parliament) would
represent specific constituencies, while the other 15-20% (Top-Up) would be
nominated by parties and would bring each party's total representation closer in
line with their actual share of the national vote. Reaction to the report has
been predictably mixed, and it appears quite unlikely that a national referendum
on the Jenkins! Commission proposals will occur before the next Parliament.
Users can download both volumes of the Report in .pdf format from the UK
Stationery Office. [MD]
[Back to
Contents]
Motherhood, Social Service, and Political Reform:
Political Culture and Imagery of American Woman Suffrage
[frames]
http://www.ointeractive.com/nmwh/exhibits/exhibit_frames.html
National
Museum of Women's History (NMWH)
http://www.nmwh.org/
This new site is one of
several projects related to the foundation of a National Museum of Women's
History in Washington, DC. Although the physical museum itself is yet to be
built, NMWH the organization has been sponsoring and collaborating in Women's
history initiatives nationwide. The first exhibit in the NMWH cybermuseum marks
the 150th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention and "examines the
development of a distinct female political culture and imagery that evolved to
promote voting rights for women." Users can browse the gallery of 50 images
or take a more in-depth tour of the woman's suffrage movement. The former offers
fast-loading and nicely-digitized images of a variety of artifacts with brief
descriptions. The latter traces the history of the woman suffrage movement and
its political imagery with topical paragraphs and selected images. Additional
resources include a timeline, quiz, and collection of related resources. [MD]
[Back to Contents]
Three Sites for the 1998 Election News
ABC
News: Political Nation
http://www.abcnews.com/sections/us/polnation/index.html
CBS
Campaign '98
http://www.cbs.com/prd1/now/template.display?p_section=250
MSNBC
Decision '98
http://www.msnbc.com/news/DECISION98_Front.asp
Off-year
elections in America are traditionally lack-luster affairs, receiving less
coverage from the press and notably less interest from the electorate. This
year, the political climate has been altered--just how much is yet to be
seen--by the publication of the Starr Report and plans for impeachment hearings
when the new Congress is seated. These three sites from major US news
organizations will help users stay informed about national issues and key races
in these last few days of the election season and view the results when it's all
over. The first site, from ABC, offers a large number of news reports on
selected races, analyses of key races, polls, and Congress Watch (a briefing on
each state and its senators and representatives). The CBS Campaign '98 site has
similar features, including a collection of election news stories, polls, and a
state-by-state briefing. In addition, the site offers a national election
overview, essays by political pundits, and biographies of po! tential candidates
for the Presidential election in 2000. Finally, MSNBC allows users to research
their incumbent's Washington record and campaign funding sources, explore key
issues, and after the polls close, check on the results. [MD]
[Back to Contents]
Hubble Heritage Project
http://heritage.stsci.edu/
Subject
Index
http://heritage.stsci.edu/public/commonpages/subjectindex.html
The
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) has recently unveiled this
"celestial photo album" to offer users some of the best photos taken
by the Hubble Space Telescope. Currently, visual and textual descriptions are
available for four objects: Galaxy NGC 7742; NGC 7635, The Bubble Nebula;
Sagittarius Star Cloud (SGR-I); and Saturn. Users may choose to explore the site
from the more easily navigated Subject Index, which also offers technical
information about the images and the Hubble Project and a few links. The site
will be updated the first Thursday of each month with a composition created from
recent image data. [MD]
[Back to
Contents]
National Freedom Scorecard--ACLU
http://scorecard.aclu.org/
The American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently launched this site to help citizens,
especially activists, keep track of how their representatives in the 105th
Congress voted on legislation which involved civil liberties. Users can view
members' voting records in several ways. They can compare individual member's
records with ACLU positions or the records of other representatives from the
same state. Alternatively, votes on selected key bills can be broken down by
party, gender, region, state, or committee. The site also offers a guide to
using the scorecards as well as additional scorecards for selected votes in the
104th Congress. This site naturally reflects the ACLU's own political
priorities, but anyone with a concern or curiosity for the issues and
legislation highlighted will find much of interest. [MD]
[Back to Contents]
Smallbizsearch.com
http://www.smallbizsearch.com/
Entrepreneur
Media, the publishers of Entrepreneur Magazine, present this new search
engine for small business resources. Advanced Smallbizsearch.com searching
supports boolean and proximity operators as well as date, relevancy ranking, and
display specifications. A variety of subject guides are also available, in
addition to feature articles from EntrepreneurMag.com. [MW]
[Back to Contents]
JavaScript Tutorial for Programmers
http://wdvl.internet.com/Authoring/JavaScript/Tutorial/
Part
of the Web Developer's Virtual Library, the JavaScript Tutorial for Programmers
is an introduction to the terminology, syntax, and methodology of JavaScript.
Written by Aaron Weiss, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to
JavaScript, this short tutorial is aimed at those who have had some modicum
of exposure to modern programming languages. Tersely written, the tutorial
serves as an excellent introduction to the fundamentals of JavaScript. For those
with version 4+ of Netscape or Internet Explorer, the site is enhanced with
cascading style sheet (CSS) layouts. [PMS]
[Back to Contents]
HTTrack
http://www.ensicaen.ismra.fr/~roche/httrack.html
HTTrack,
developed by Xavier Roche and Vann Philippot of ISMRA-ENSI of Caen, is an
easy-to-use Website-mirroring utility. This program consists of a nice user
interface combined with a Web robot that, employing parameters specified by the
user, retrieves some or all Webpages, graphics, and files from a remote site and
downloads them to the user's local hard drive. The downloaded information can
then be viewed offline with a normal Web browser. HTTrack provides many features
including scheduling the download for a particular time, excluding or including
specific URLs based on wildcards, multithreading of download connections for
speed, and much more. All versions support both a command-line interface as well
as a graphical interface; however, the Unix graphical interface is very
primitive. HTTrack v1.2 beta3 is available for Win95/98, and HTTrack v1.16b is
available for Solaris 5.6, IBM/AIX, and Linux. The software is free, but the
donation of a PC mouse or monetary equivalent ! is requested. [CL]
[Back to Contents]
Quality Graphics Newsletter--Earth
Index
http://www.earthindex.com/
Quality
Graphics is a new weekly newsletter produced by Earth Index, a free graphics
resource site. Quality Graphics will include tips on Website design and
graphics, guest articles discussing topics such as graphic program tutorials,
reviews of graphic programs, and Web-based graphic help. Related news stories
will also be included. To subscribe, fill in the online from at the Earth Index
site. [MD]
[Back to
Contents]
The Scout Report was not published on
October 27, 1995. This feature will resume with the November 6, 1998 issue. [MD]
[Back to Contents]
The single phrase below is the copyright notice to be used when reproducing any portion of this report, in any format.
From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project
1994-1998.
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
The paragraph below is the copyright notice to be used when reproducing the entire report, in any format.
Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1994-1998. The Internet Scout Project (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/), located in the Computer Sciences Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides information about the Internet to the U.S. research and education community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number NCR-9712163. The Government has certain rights in this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the entire Scout Report provided this paragraph, including the copyright notice, is preserved on all copies.
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.
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