The Scout Report - February 23, 2001

February 23, 2001

A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison

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.


In This Issue:

New From Internet Scout

Subject Specific Reports

Research and Education

General Interest

Network Tools

In The News


New From Internet Scout

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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Subject Specific Reports

Scout Reports for Social Sciences & Humanities and Business & Economics
Scout Report for Social Sciences & Humanities
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/socsci/2001/ss-010220.html
Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/bus-econ/2001/be-010222.html
The twelfth issues of the fourth volumes of the Scout Reports for Social Sciences & Humanities and Business & Economics are available. The In the News section of the Social Sciences & Humanities Report annotates seven resources on the controversy over who will make the final call on whether to adjust the 2000 Census results to include the estimated undercount of just above one percent. The Business & Economics Report's In the News section offers seven resources on a newly published book and lawsuit which claim that IBM aided the Nazi government.
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Research and Education

Health Poll Search
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_poll
Kaiser Network [RealPlayer]
http://www.kaisernetwork.org
Presented by the Roper Center at the University of Connecticut and the Kaiser Family Foundation, this new feature at the Kaiser site is a searchable archive of public opinion questions on health issues. The database contains about 40,000 selected questions dating back to 1935, which are drawn from the Roper Center's comprehensive database of more than 350,000 questions. Users can browse the archive by topic and subtopic or search by keyword with several modifiers. The number of results varied substantially in text runs. For instance, selecting euthanasia from the topics menu returned 344 questions, while a keyword search for the same word produced only six hits. Returns include a list of questions that users may select to view, while the full records contain response categories with marginal frequencies and full source citations. The main Kaiser Network offers a number of additional resources, such as daily health news reports, Webcasts of congressional hearings and conferences, and an online library of health policy issue ads. [MD]
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J. Paul Getty Trust Site Redesign [RealPlayer]
http://www.getty.edu/
The Getty unveiled its impressively redesigned site this week, featuring "nearly 54,000 pages related to works of art and professional reports in conservation and art history." The heart of the new site is the Explore Art section, which includes 3,300 works of art, 1,500 artist biographies, 1,500 glossary definitions, over 200 video clips, online exhibitions, provenance information, and more. The collections may be browsed by an alphabetical artist index, collection type, or subject. The About Us section offers access to professional resources such as the Getty Research Library Online Catalog, research databases, conservation lab and field reports, and grant information and applications. The Visitor Guide section offers an interactive event calendar, information on planning a visit, and an online reservation system. A beefed-up internal search engine rounds out this speedy, attractive, and most impressive redesign. [MD]
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Verbatim Records - 55th Session of the General Assembly [.pdf]
http://www.un.org/ga/55/pvlista55.htm
The United Nations has recently placed online the verbatim records of the Millennium Assembly. These are listed in chronological order and offered in .pdf format. In addition, the site features a list (some full text) of the resolutions adopted, full-text General Assembly documents, a press release search engine, and photos from the session. Also included are links to UN documentation, a selection of landmark documents, and the UN Research Guide. An excellent and comprehensive resource. [MD]
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New Features from the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS)
ERS/USDA Search
http://search.ers.usda.gov/
ERS/USDA Briefing Rooms
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/
ERS/USDA Data [.pdf, .zip, .wk]
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/
Economic Research Service (ERS)
http://www.ers.usda.gov/
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (see the July 2, 1998 Scout Report for Business & Economics) has recently launched several new services that collectively offer expanded access to information on economic and policy issues related to agriculture, food, natural resources, and rural development. The new search page allows visitors to search by keyword or advanced options or browse a collection of selected key topics. Results may be sorted by date or title and can also be filtered by resource type (briefing rooms, publications, data, topics). The briefing rooms are in-depth overviews of over 70 selected topics which include background, features, recommended readings, recent research developments, suggested data, newsletters, and links, among other content. The new data page contains a complete catalog of ERS data products (listed by title or date), listings by date and topic, popular data products, and an internal search engine. [MD]
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Internet Economy Indicators [.pdf]
http://www.internetindicators.com/
Internet Economy Indicators published in January the third of its biannual reports on the state of the Internet economy (for information on the June 2000 report, see the September 7, 2000 Scout Report for Business & Economics). The latest report finds that "the addition of 612,375 jobs in the Internet Economy in the first six months of 2000 was nearly as much as all of 1999 (when 650,000 jobs were added)." These data apparently belie more dire recent predictions concerning the state of the Internet economy. The report offers data and analysis of employment, revenues, types of jobs, comparison of Internet employment growth to the rest of the economy, comparison of Internet employment growth to revenue growth, and more. Funded by Cisco systems, the report was conducted by the University of Texas. Questions about the influence of corporate sponsors aside, the information here serves as a counterbalance to concerns about dot.com crashes (the report points out that dot.coms make up less than ten percent of the Internet's economy). The full report is offered in .pdf format with an executive summary, key findings, an overview, and selected data also posted on-site in HTML. The site also features an extensive report entitled Dot Coms and Productivity in the Internet Economy as well as an archive of previous biannual reports. [DC]
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Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309068428/html/
This forthcoming title from the National Academy Press (NAP) is not yet available in print, but users can read the full text online for free at the NAP site in Open Book format. Written by the National Research Council's Panel on Juvenile Crime, this book offers "an authoritative review of the best available data and analysis" on America's youth crime problem. The study discusses patterns and trends in crimes by children and adolescents, desistance, contributing factors to delinquency, and a range of proposed solutions. [MD]
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Fire and Ice: Puritan and Reformed Writings [.pdf, Word, .zip]
http://www.puritansermons.com/
Created by Bill Carson, a Michigan pharmacist, as a spare time hobby, this site aims to make the works of Puritans, Scottish Divines, and other Reformed authors more widely available to the general public. Carson focuses on shorter extracts of "practical, devotional, and experiential works because they are so needed today." True to his purpose, the site is well organized, allowing readers to access works via a table of contents (with new additions noted as such), a site map, a fast index, and a search engine (this last, run via a Java applet, may cause some browsers difficulties). The site is shaped by Carson's contemporary outreach efforts and, no doubt, his taste, and so visitors may be surprised to find, for example, Edwards' "How To Know If You Are A Real Christian" but not "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Nonetheless, the site is a good place to browse or to send students looking for further writings by the Puritans and Reformed authors, though note that very few American Puritans are represented here. The works are complemented by poetry, biographical and historical information, a Puritan quote of the week, and a brief quiz. The whole site can be downloaded as a .zip file, and Carson has even thought to add downloadable packs of sermons for Palm Pilot users in need of inspiration on the go. [TK]
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Guidelines for Studies of the Social and Economic Impact of HIV/AIDS -- UNAIDS [.pdf]
http://www.unaids.org/publications/documents/economics/costeffec/JC326-Guideliens.pdf
This 64-page document from UNAIDS is part of the Best Practice Collection of guideline manuals. The purpose of this set of guidelines is to "place socioeconomic impact studies in the planning process in a systematic way" especially in a number of sectors including agriculture and education. The guide is divided into three main chapters. The first chapter is a wonderful introduction to the socioeconomic impact of the HIV/AIDS virus. Part two offers a clear set of guidelines for assessing the socioeconomic impact of this virus, including types of data to be gathered and how to analyze data in economic and social impact studies. The third part contains information on the conceptual framework of the guidelines including the study of the impact of AIDS/HIV in specific sectors. The conclusion explains the limitations of these impact studies, especially the lack of simple technical solutions. Guidelines for studies of the social and economic impact of HIV/AIDS gives a clear framework for conducting impact studies on this disease. [EM]
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Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems (PAGE): Agroecosystems [.pdf]
http://www.ifpri.cgiar.org/pubs/books/page.htm
Released on February 14, this new report from the World Resources Institute (WRI) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) "is the first comprehensive audit of the world agriculture's ability to provide sufficient food, goods and services that are vital for sustaining human life." The 95-page study warns that world food production is at risk from farming methods that have degraded soils, drained aquifers, polluted waters, and caused the loss of animal and plant species. Users can download the report in its entirety or by chapter in .pdf format at the IFPRI site. [MD]
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General Interest

HeadlineSpot
http://www.headlinespot.com/
The latest creation of StartSpot Mediaworks (see the October 6, 2000 _Scout Report) is a portal to thousands of online news resources. These are indexed by media type (headlines, newswires, newspapers, television, etc.), region, subject, and opinion sections. Links to the top news of the day and headlines are also offered on the main page, sorted by media type and subject, with a frequently updated collection of selected headlines in a right-hand column. In addition, users can also browse for news by city, state, and country via pull-down menus. Very comprehensive and certainly worth a look. [MD]
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"Telecommunications: Characteristics and Choices of Internet Users" -- GAO [.pdf]
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d01345.pdf
Released yesterday by the General Accounting Office (GAO), this new report finds that the "digital divide" is shrinking as more Americans gain access to the Internet, but disparities persist. Whites are still more likely than minorities to have Internet access, and wealthier Americans are much more likely to have expensive high-speed connections than those in lower-income brackets. On the positive side, previous usage gaps in gender and geography have notably declined. Users can read the full text of the 64-page report for themselves at the GAO site. [MD]
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Internet Country Guides -- INCORE - Update
http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/cds/countries/index.html
Peace Agreements -- INCORE [.pdf]
http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/cds/agreements/
INCORE
http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/
Initially reviewed in the September 19, 1997 Scout Report INCORE's (Initiative on Conflict Resolution and Ethnicity) handy Country Guide page has more than doubled its offerings. For each of the 42 countries currently featured, INCORE lists annotated resources for news and background information, related email lists and newsgroups, articles and documents, maps, NGOs, and other related resources. INCORE also now hosts a collection of over 200 full-text peace agreements, accessed via an interactive map. Additional resources for conflict study and links to associated sites can be found at the INCORE homepage. [MD]
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Albumen -- albumen photographs: history, science and preservation
http://albumen.stanford.edu/
The Albumen Website, put together by art and photograph conservators Timothy Vitale, Paul Messier, and Walter Henry (also known as the Web master for CoOL, Conservation Online), presents the art, history, and science of albumen photographs. The gallery features digital images of albumen prints from several institutions, including the Monterey Museum of Art, Library of Congress, and George Eastman House. In the library, users can read books, including the full text of James Reilly's The Albumen & Salted Paper Book: The history and practice of photographic printing, 1840-1895, and dozens of articles, both nineteenth-century and contemporary, on technical aspects of albumen photography. In the video section, clips show Doug Munson of Chicago Albumen Works preparing albumen coating from egg whites and applying it to paper for prints. In short, the Albumen site should satisfy the entire range of interests in albumen prints, from simply wanting to look at them all the way to wanting to create them. [DS]
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Web Gallery of Art
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/welcome.html
This Website "contains over 8,000 digital reproductions of European paintings and sculptures created between the years 1150 and 1750" supplemented with commentary on their technique and history. The site has been online since 1996, but this month completed a major update, adding over 700 images, including the works of 47 new artists, and new images and commentaries on already featured artists such as Andrea del Castagno, Domenico Veneziano, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Michelangelo, and Paolo Uccello. The gallery has several navigation options: guided thematic tours, a quick index (with artist's names listed), an artist's index (giving more detailed information), and a search engine. The images are expandable from their thumbnail catalog size and feature width and height-to-frame options and enlarge or reduce from 100 percent choices. We found both images and text to be well formulated and consider this a fine site for reference, classroom, or personal use. The site is maintained by Emil Kren and Daniel Marx. [DC]
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Max Hunter Folk Song Collection [RealPlayer, AIFF]
http://www.smsu.edu/folksong/maxhunter/
Edited by Michael F. Murray, Assistant Professor of Music at Southwest Missouri State University, this site is a terrific resource for students and fans of traditional American music. The site offers numerous selections from the Max Hunter Collection, an archive of almost 1,600 Ozark Mountain folk songs, recorded between 1956 and 1976. Hunter was a travelling salesman from Springfield, Missouri who took his reel-to-reel tape recorder with him into the rural Ozarks, recording the songs and stories of people he met. The collection may be keyword searched or browsed by song title, singer, or catalog number. Featured songs list the singer, location, and date and include a transcription of the verses, in some cases a musical score, and links to an audio recording in RealPlayer, high-quality AIFF, and for some selections, MIDI formats. This site is yet another example of how the Internet offers free worldwide access to unique and priceless collections. [MD]
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World Bank Photo Library
http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/emps/photo.htm
New from the World Bank, this photography library offers over 500 online images of development from around the world. The pictures, works of art in their own right, cover an extensive range of subjects including people, nature, and urban environments. Registration is required. Users may, however, browse the library by entering "guest" in the user name field and "browse" as the password. The library offers both a simple keyword search, as well as an advanced search which allows users to search for images in specific fields including country, topic, photographer, and description. The photographs, marked with a World Bank stamp, are displayed in large thumbnails and include accompanying information. [EM]
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Early Islamic Tiles
http://www.anthonyslayter-ralph.com/
This online exhibit showcases a selection of 102 tiles collected by Lockwood de Forest II on two trips to the Middle East and North Africa in the late nineteenth century. The site is very straightforward, allowing the tiles to speak for themselves. Thumbnailed images are provided in a bottom frame, with a larger image and description in the central window. It appears that the tiles are for sale, but the site can certainly be enjoyed regardless by anyone interested in tile work and art from the Middle East and North Africa. [MD]
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Homeglossary.com
http://www.homeglossary.com/
This handy site claims to be "the world's most comprehensive dictionary of construction and real estate terminology," containing over 10,000 definitions, listed alphabetically. Homeowners, first-time homebuyers, and those contemplating some home improvements may all find the site useful. The site is banner-free at the moment, but it is soliciting advertisements. [MD]
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Network Tools

Room 102 - Slide Show Search Engine
http://www1.room102.com/
Room 102 will be the first to admit that their search engine and directory does not hold a candle to Google or Yahoo, but this site is still worth a visit. This is because of their neato technology that allows users to view their search results as a slide show or thumbnails with text. If this technology were adopted by larger and better search engines, users could definitely decrease their search time, as a quick glance can indicate if the site is what they have in mind, rather than reading a supplied description or text culled from the site on the fly. Users can also preview sites without receiving cookies or annoying pop-up windows. Speaking of which, Room 102 itself needs to calm down its own disclaimer pop-up, which reappeared with every single page change in my version of IE (5, for Mac). The site recommends using IE, and it does perform considerably better, but using Netscape will allow users to avoid the pop-up. Check it out. [MD]
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XML4Lib Electronic Discussion
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/XML4Lib/
Sponsored by the Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE, this new discussion list will explore the "Extensible Markup Language (XML) and its use in, by, and for libraries and library users." The list is aimed specifically at librarians and library staff, but all are welcome to join. Subscription information and discussion logs are provided at the site. [MD]
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Mactella 1.0.1
http://www.cxc.com/downloads.html
This Gnutella clone for the Mac is an open-source, decentralized file-sharing network that allows users to exchange a wide assortment of files directly between themselves instead of through a portal (such as Napster). The program can transfer any type of file that users put online. The newest version includes some stability enhancements. Users can download the software and a tutorial from CXC, "a technology company committed to the advancement and support of the Gnutella environment." [MD]
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In The News

New Theory for Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction
"Whiff of Gas Points to Impact Mass Extinction" -- Science
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/291/5508/1469
"Asteroid or comet triggered death of most species 250 million years ago" -- University of Washington
http://www.washington.edu/newsroom/news/2001archive/02-01archive/k022201.html
"Stowaways from Space Provide Link Between Impact, Biggest Extinction in Earth History" -- University of Rochester
http://www.rochester.edu/pr/News/NewsReleases/latest/POREDA.html
"Mass Extinction & Rise of Dinosaurs Tied to Cosmic Collision" -- Space.com
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetearth/impact_extinction_010222.html
"New Evidence Ties Mass Extinction to Massive Collision" -- National Geographic News
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/02/0222_buckyballs.html
"Asteroid 'destroyed life 250m years ago'" -- BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1184000/1184556.stm
"Asteroid killed 90 percent of life on earth millions of years ago" -- CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/02/22/big.extinction.02/index.html
"Biggest die-off linked to deep impact" -- MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.com/news/533468.asp
250 Million years ago, about 90 percent of ocean life and 70 percent of land species were wiped out in a relatively short geologic time span. A new study appearing today in Science magazine suggests that this die-off was triggered by a comet or asteroid collision similar to the one that many believed later killed off the dinosaurs. The lead author of the study, Luann Becker of the University of Washington, analyzed ancient deposits in China and Japan and discovered traces of fullerenes, or "Buckyballs," a carbon that is shaped like a volleyball with a hollow cavity. Becker and her colleagues found a helium isotope believed to be of extraterrestrial origin inside that cavity. The collision of the asteroid or comet, estimated at three to seven miles across, is not believed to be directly responsible for the extinction, but researchers argue that it may have triggered a series of events, including massive lava flows and changes in the climate and sea levels, which in turn led to wholesale species extinction.

Readers can begin to learn more about this discovery and new theory with the Science article itself, available in full text at the Science site. The Universities of Washington and Rochester have also issued press releases on the discovery which highlight the contributions of their faculty members to the research team. Reports from Space.com and National Geographic News include some related links, while additional stories can be found at the BBC News, CNN, and MSNBC. [MD]
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From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2001. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/

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Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1994-2001. 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, are 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.


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