The Scout Report - June 11, 1999

Scout Report for Science & Engineering
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/sci-engr/1999/se-990609.html
Volume 2, Number 18 of the Scout Report for Science & Engineering is available. The In the News section annotates nine resources on recent funding cuts for renewable energy and energy efficiency programs in the US House and Senate appropriation committees. [MD]
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Condition of Education 1999 -- NCES [.pdf, 375p.]
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=1999022
The US Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has recently placed online the 1999 edition of the well regarded Condition of Education (last reviewed in the August 16, 1996 Scout Report). This compendium of 60 indicators selected by education studies professionals and based on data from various NCES studies describes the "current status and recent progress of education in the United States." The indicators are arranged in five categories: Learner Outcomes; Quality of Education Environments (Elementary/Secondary); Quality of Education Environments (Postsecondary); Social Support for Education; and Educational Participation and Progress. Users may download the publication in its entirety or by section in .pdf format. Two sets of supplemental tables, totalling over 100 pages, are also available. [MD]
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State of the World's Forests 1999 (SOFO) [.pdf, 154p.]
http://www.fao.org/fo/sofo/sofo99/default.htm
The latest edition of this biannual publication from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (last reviewed in the May 9, 1997 Scout Report offers one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date reviews of new developments in forestry and the condition of forests worldwide. SOFO 1999 reports on a number of significant events and developments of 1997-98, including "the latest figures on global forest cover; current efforts to assess forest resources; the forest fires of 1997 and 1998; recent trends in forest management; the significance to forestry of the Kyoto Protocol of the Framework Convention on Climate Change; current and projected forest products production, consumption and trade; recent trends in forest policy, legislation and institutions; and the international dialogue and initiatives on forests, among other topics." Aimed at policy-makers, academics, and the informed public, the report is offered in .pdf format, broken down into numerous sections. While this presentation strategy speeds initial download, it can slow navigation within the document. [MD]
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Tiananmen Square, 1989: The Declassified History -- NSA
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/index.html
This latest Electronic Briefing Book from the National Security Archive (NSA) (last reviewed in the June 1, 1998 Scout Report for Social Sciences) highlights 35 previously classified government documents from a soon-to-be-published microfiche collection of over 15,000 pages entitled China and the United States: From Hostility to Engagement, 1960-1998. The documents featured at this site all pertain to the military assault on pro-democracy demonstrators in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing in June 1989. As the NSA notes, this Briefing Book represents "the first publication in any media of these documents, which include remarkable SITREPs from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing as well as many of the Secretary of State's 'Morning Summaries' from June 1989." The site also covers student demonstrations in 1985 and 1986, the events leading up to the crackdown, and the aftermath. The documents are organized in five concisely annotated sections. This Briefing Book and the larger collection from which it was extracted will almost certainly prove invaluable to historians and analysts of recent Chinese-American relations. [MD]
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World Conference on Science
http://helix.nature.com/wcs/index.html
The first global conference on science and society in nearly 20 years, the World Conference on Science (WCS) will take place in Budapest from June 26 to July 1, 1999. Organized jointly by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Council for Science (ICSU), the World Conference on Science will address a broad range of topics within a global context, from the role of fundamental research, to the sharing of scientific information and knowledge, to science and technology, among other topics. This straightforward Website has been set up by Nature "as a source of news about preparatory events leading up to the conference and issues related to its agenda, as a forum for comment from individuals in both industrialized and developing nations about such issues, and as an access point for information about related meetings (including statements to be presented at Budapest)." The Website currently contains several interesting articles and reports, with links to useful resources. [LXP]
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Witchcraft in Salem Village
http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/
Salem Village, now Danvers, Massachusetts, witnessed an infamous outbreak of witchcraft accusations and trials after some local girls fell ill in March, 1692. In the aftermath, 18 people were hanged as witches. This site, created by the Danvers Archival Center and hosted by the Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia (discussed in the March 6, 1998 Scout Report), offers a number of primary documents and other materials related to the Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692 that will interest historians, students, and general users alike. First and foremost of these are sizable collections of verbatim transcripts from the 1692 trials and narratives from witchcraft cases between 1648 and 1706. Both collections may be browsed or searched (separately or jointly) using several modifiers. Additional features at the site include the digitized full text of a 1693 treatise on witchcraft, a brief introduction to the Salem trials, a map of Salem village, some answers to FAQs about witchcraft, and general information on the Danvers Archival Center. [MD]
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Fire and Mud: Eruptions and Lahars of Mount Pinatubo, Philippines
http://pubs.usgs.gov/pinatubo/
Recently announced by the US Geological Survey (USGS), the online version of this 1996 book contains a large number of articles on the 1991 eruptions and lahars of Mount Pinatubo. Students and teachers of volcanology will enjoy these scholarly pieces, organized in eight sections. The articles explore a wide variety of topics, including the human dimension of the eruptions, a photographic record of the volcano, seismic analysis and volcanic earthquakes, sulfur dioxide emissions, metereology and the eruptions, petrology, and the 1991-92 lahars. In addition to the full text, most articles contain an abstract, numerous figures and tables (where appropriate), and bibliography. [MD]
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Archeology Data Service: Survey of User Needs of Digital Data
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/project/strategies/
The Archaeology Data Service (ADS) (last reviewed in the {September 22, 1998 Scout Report--http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/socsci/1998/ss-980922.html#1), a division of the UK's Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS), has recently published the results from a new survey on "the creation, archiving, use and re-use of digital data in British and Irish archaeology." The full text of the findings are presented in HTML format at the site. The report also contains an executive summary, bibliography, and glossary. [MD]
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Tate Gallery Online
http://www.tate.org.uk/
The Tate Gallery in Great Britain, "home of the national collection of British art from the 16th century to the present day" now offers online browsing of its permanent collections. The Tate's collections include many famous works from the history of British art as well as international modern art. After selecting Collections, users can choose from an alphabetical list of artists. Small squares indicate that an image is available. The Tate currently consists of three galleries, located in London, Liverpool, and St. Ives, and from the homepage visitors can discover "What's On" at each. There is also an evolving section on art projects at the Tate, currently featuring the Bankside Browser, a collaborative project that solicited artwork from artists in the Southwark Borough of London. The project inaugurates the new Tate Gallery of Modern Art that will open in Bankside in 2000, and includes an exhibition archive of small works that can be viewed on the Web. [DS]
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Famous American Trials [RealPlayer}
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/ftrials.htm
Created by Professor Doug Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School, this site tells the stories of twelve famous trials from American history with a mix of images, primary documents, and Linder's own analysis and overviews. Some of the trials featured include the "Scottsboro Boys," the Chicago Seven, the Rosenbergs, the My Lai Courts Martial, and the Scopes "Monkey" trial. Most of the trial studies include biographical sketches, chronologies, maps (where appropriate), a number of complete or excerpted original documents, quotes from trial participants, images, bibliography and links, and Linder's description and commentary. [MD]
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Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web -- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/Online-Exhibitions/online-exhibitions-title.htm
Compiled by S. Diane Shaw, Special Collections Cataloger at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, this site lists over 350 exhibitions on the Web created by all types of libraries from all over the US. The exhibitions cover a wide range of topics, from the history of the sugar trade at LSU to the Psychedelic Sixties at the University of Virginia (reviewed in the June 26th, 1998 Scout Report), with travel photographs from the Ohio Historical Society and a 1940 Tour of the Oregon Coast from the Oregon State Archives along the way. The unifying factor is that all the materials shown in the exhibitions are from library and archival collections; they are primarily paper-based materials such as photographs, documents, book jackets and illustrations, postcards, prints, and posters. Libraries wishing to add exhibitions to the list should email Shaw at dshaw@sil.si.edu [DS]
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Central Africa Project
http://www.crisisweb.org/projects/cafrica/Default.htm
Begun in 1996, the International Crisis Group's (ICG) Central Africa Project analyzes political and ethnic conflict within and between the nations that straddle mid-Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Angola, Uganda, and Rwanda. As part of that effort ICG has released over twelve full text reports in the last year (a few in French only). The two most recent in-depth reports are: "Africa's Seven-Nation War," which examines how the armies of seven African nations have been drawn into the rebellion against DRC President Laurent Dsir Kabila; and "How Kabila Lost His Way," which traces the foundation of the Kabila regime and seeks to discover why it has engendered both internal and external opposition. Well-researched and fully footnoted, yet written with a non-specialist audience in mind, these reports are a good resource for both students and general readers with an interest in the current situation in Central Africa. [MD]
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MEDIA Salles [.pdf]
http://www.mediasalles.it/
Sponsored by the European Union's MEDIA II Programme and the Italian Government, this site was created to foster distribution of European films by providing information about specific films and the European movie industry in general. Though aimed at industry professionals, any user with a strong interest in European cinema can appreciate this site. It is composed of three main sections. The first, the European Cinema On-line Database, currently contains data on over 3000 films and 7000 companies. The Database actually comprises six overlapping directories: Films, Production, Distribution, World Sales, Theaters, and Exhibition Companies. Search options vary by directory, but returns generally include commercial data (contact information for the producers and distributors); cast, director, and festivals/awards information; and in some cases a synopsis (also available in French and German) and still photos. The second major portion of the site is a collection of professional publications, including the 1998 European Cinema Yearbook, the 1998 edition of the national reports, and the White Book of the European Exhibition industry. The first two are offered in .pdf format and all three offer a rich collection of official statistics on the European film industry. The third section of the site, Euro Kids, is essentially a smaller version of the Database, containing films and companies which address younger audiences. [MD]
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Spiral Galaxy NGC 4414 [.jpeg, .pdf, .tiff]
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/1999/25/pr-photos.html
NGC 4414 Collage Page
http://heritage.stsci.edu/public/jun3/n4414.html
The spiral galaxy NGC 4414 was first imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope over the course of two months in 1995. However, due to its large size, only half of the galaxy was visible in the datasets collected. This year the Hubble team returned to NGC 4414 and completed the portrait. The results, recently released online, are some beautiful images of a dusty spiral galaxy containing older yellow and red stars in the center and young blue stars in the spiral arms. Users can view the images, in several formats and sizes, at both sites. The second site, provided by the Hubble Heritage Project (reviewed in the October 30, 1998 Scout Report), also offers a general description of the galaxy, some fast facts, and for the more scientific-minded, information on measuring cosmic distance scales and the discovery of a possible luminous blue variable in NGC 4414. [MD]
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Search Engine Showdown
http://www.notess.com/search/
Created and maintained by Greg Notess, author of Government Information on the Internet and a columnist in Online and Database, this site offers reviews, analysis, statistics, and strategies for many of the major search engines. Organized in four primary sections (Features, Analysis, Learning, News & Talk) the site explores topics such as search engine database size and capabilities, searching for Usenet and phone number information, subject guides, multiple search engines, and tips on successful searching. The site appear to be regularly updated and additional resources include a newsletter, which users may subscribe to at the site. [MD]
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Quicktime 4.0 Final
http://apple.com/quicktime/
This week, Apple released the final version of Quicktime 4.0, its extremely popular multipurpose audio and video suite. New features in QT4 include support for MP3, Flash, AVI, and WAV files; a new snazzy interface; and a "Favorites Drawer," which allows users to bookmark QT files stored on remote servers and access them instantly. Users may download QT4 for free from the Quicktime page, which also offers links to streaming channels and a movie trailer theater. Users with the beta version of QT4 can update to the final version by using the QuickTime Updater in their QuickTime Folder. [MD]
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Peace Deal in Kosovo
Kosovo -- BBC News [RealPlayer]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/1998/kosovo/
Timetable for Kosovo Transition
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9906/09/kosovo.plan.01/
G-8 Peace Plan For Kosovo - USIA
http://www.usia.gov/admin/005/wwwh9j09.html
Voice of Russia [RealPlayer]
http://www.wrn.org/audio/1700_usa.ram
NPR coverage of President Clinton's June 10 address about the situation in
Kosovo [RealPlayer]
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/atcupdates/19990610.atcupdates.01.ram
Full Text of President Clinton's address - Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-06/11/141l-061199-idx.html
Jane's Balkan Reconstruction
http://balkans.reconstruction.janes.com/
UNHCR Kosovo Update
http://www.unhcr.ch/news/media/kosovo.htm
HRW Kosovo: Focus on Human Rights
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/kosovo98/
The leading story this week is, of course, the peace deal and subsequent UN Security Council Resolution which mark an end to the NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia. According to the agreement, the Serb army has 11 days for a phased withdrawal from Kosovo, leaving 1,000 troops to guard cultural and religious sites and to assist with mine clearance. A NATO-led peacekeeping force of 50,000 will follow closely, entering the province as early as tomorrow. Recent reports, however, suggest that a small but symbolic Russian force moving from Bosnia may be the first to arrive in Kosovo despite the fact that no formal agreement has been reached on Russian involvement in the peacekeeping operation. The Russian question is one of several difficulties involved in the reconstruction of Kosovo and the stabilization of the entire region. The most important of these involves the huge number of externally and internally displaced Kosovo Albanian refugees. While some worry that not enough will return to their homes, aid agencies are warning of a disorganized rush to return on the heels of the peacekeepers despite the risk of landmines and drastic food shortages. Other difficult questions that remain include the future role of the KLA, financial contributions for the reconstruction of Serbia, and diplomatic relations with Serbian President Milosevic, who has been formally indicted for war crimes.

In addition to their favorite online news sources, users will want to examine the following. First, the BBC offers outstanding coverage on the peace deal as it has throughout the war. At the BBC Kosovo page, users will find a large number of current and archived articles, Kosovo fact files, analysis of the Serbian media, live or recent coverage from BBC World Service, and a large number of related links. Shortly after the deal was announced, CNN placed the timeline for the transition on their site. Users can link to further coverage and related sites from the page. Readers curious as to how these latest events have been interpreted by the world press can visit the US Information Agency (USIA) site, which offers a large number of excerpts from editorials and stories in newspapers all around the world. The Russian perspective on these events is provided by the world service of the Voice of Russia, a daily updated 59 minute broadcast available online through the World Radio Network. On June 10 President Clinton addressed the nation on the conflict in Kosovo. Users can read the full text at the Washington Post site or listen to an audio recording with commentary from National Public Radio (NPR). The last three sites explore the issues involved in the reconstruction of Kosovo. The first, from Jane's Information Group, is a special report providing "the facts and figures on the cost and requirements for rebuilding this war torn region." The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Kosovo update site features breaking news, donor alerts, press releases, an overview of the recent major developments, and the latest Kosovo displacement statistics. Finally, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has placed online the text of a recent letter to the UN Security Council which outlines what they feel are the essential elements of the peace operation with regard to defending and promoting human rights. Additional resources on Kosovo and the Balkans can be found in the Scout Report Signpost, the Scout Report's database. These include a number of previous editions of In the News from the Scout Report and the Scout Report for Social Sciences. [MD]
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