The Scout Report - March 17, 2000

March 17, 2000

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:

Subject Specific Reports

Research and Education

General Interest

Network Tools

In The News


Subject Specific Reports

Scout Report for Science & Engineering_
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sci-eng/2000/se-000315.html
Volume 3, Number 13 of the Scout Report for Science & Engineering is available. The In the News section annotates seven resources on climate and weather, inspired by NOAA's announcement that this has been the warmest winter on record. [TK]
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Research and Education

Oxford English Dictionary Online
http://www.oed.com/
On Tuesday, the Oxford University Press placed the world's most famous dictionary, the OED, on the Web. Individual and institutional subscribers will now have online access to what is indisputably the most authoritative and historical dictionary of the English language. In addition, the editors have announced plans to use the online version for the first comprehensive revision of the twenty-volume work (in regular-size print, plus three supplemental volumes) since the completion of the first edition's publication in 1928. Quarterly updates of the dictionary will involve adding new words and updating all 250,000 of the entries in the original version. The online edition allows users to conduct word or phrase searches, including proximity searches, of the full text or selected portions, such as etymologies, quotations, definitions, etc. -- searches that are functionally difficult or impossible in the print edition. The Web version will also have such additional features as links to scholarship about the dictionary, a "Word of the Day," opportunities for readers to provide lexicographical input to the ongoing revision, and more. But this marvel doesn't come cheap. Individual subscriptions are $550 per year; institutions will be charged $795 per annum. A free tour of the dictionary is available for prospective buyers who wish to kick the tires. We suspect this will be a must-have for academic institutions and larger public libraries, but individuals without a large cache of discretionary funds will just have to keep squinting at that little print. [DC]
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Three NASA Review Panel Reports
"Mars Climate Orbiter Mishap Report" [.pdf, 118 p.]
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/reports/2000/MCO_MIB_Report.pdf
"NASA Faster, Better, Cheaper Final Task Report" [.pdf, 16p.]
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/reports/2000/fbctask.pdf
"Space Shuttle Independent Assessment Team (SIAT) Report" [.pdf, 8543K] http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/siat.pdf
These three Review Panel Reports represent the work of review teams contracted by NASA to analyze its programs and practices. The first of the three reports, released this week, discusses findings relating to the failure of the Mars Climate Orbiter on September 23, 1999. The report also summarizes lessons learned from the mishap, gives an overview of NASA project management, identifies common themes related to recent failures, and makes recommendations for improving the likelihood of future success for NASA missions. The second report, also released this week, provides an assessment of NASA's Faster, Better, Cheaper (FBC) approach, which is designed to "shorten development times, reduce cost, and increase the scientific return by flying more missions in less time." According to the report, some of the major challenges facing FBC include reducing mission failure rates, improving training for project managers, establishing long-term stable funding, staying on top of cutting-edge technology, and driving down the cost of launches, among others. Third, the 135-page "Space Shuttle Independent Assessment Team (SIAT) Report" reviews the Space Shuttle's "sub-systems and maintenance practices." The report identifies systemic problems and organizes them into nine main issues, discusses technical issues, and offers recommendations. An additional report, from the Mars Independent Assessment Team chaired by Thomas Young, will be available by the end of March. [KR]
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"America's Demography in the New Century: Aging Baby Boomers and New Immigrants as Major Players" [.pdf, 1090K]
http://www.milken-inst.org/pdf/frey.pdf
Released on March 8, 2000, this 62-page report from the Milken Institute considers the changing landscape of the demographics of the United States. More specifically, the report focuses on the growing number of seniors and new immigrants and their impact on "the economic and political landscape." The report is divided into three chapters. The first, "Reaching the 'Tail of the Python,'" examines the effects of the aging Baby Boomer population, 76 million of whom will become seniors. "Immigration and 'Multiple Melting Pots'" views the changing demographics in terms of the concentration of immigrants in certain metropolitan areas, as well as California and the West as a case study. Finally, the last chapter looks at both of these demographics in terms of politics, economics, and marketing. The report includes color maps, charts, and graphs, along with a sidebar of statistics and facts. [EM]
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Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC)
http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/
Based at Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee, this Website is the US Department of Energy's "primary global-change data and information analysis center" and is a central source for many Carbon Dioxide-related resources. Among those resources are several we have reviewed, for example, the Catalog of Databases and Reports (reviewed in the June 24, 1998 Scout Report for Science & Engineering) and Carbon Dioxide Emission Estimates (reviewed in the March 4, 1998 Scout Report for Science & Engineering). The CDIAC site offers a wealth of information, including "records of the concentrations of carbon dioxide and other radiatively active gases in the atmosphere; the role of the terrestrial biosphere and the oceans in the biogeochemical cycles of greenhouse gases; emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere; long-term climate trends; the effects of elevated carbon dioxide on vegetation; and the vulnerability of coastal areas to rising sea level." To get a feel for the research summaries and data available at the CDIAC site, see the Products section (describes the research projects associated with CDIAC as well as links to those data sets); the New section (offers a hyperlinked list of new data products); the Top 10 section (offers a hyperlinked list of Frequently Requested Global Change Products); or any of the specific project sections: FACE (Free Air CO2 Enrichment), NARSTO (a non-binding, tri-national, public/private alliance), OCEANS (Survey of CO2 in the Oceans), or AmeriFlux (long-term CO2 flux measurements of the Americas). This is an outstanding resource for those seeking global data (or research summaries) on the status of carbon dioxide in several components of the earth's ecosystems. [LXP]
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The Transportation Research Board's Millennium Papers [.pdf]
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/trb/homepage.nsf/web/millennium_papers
Affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, the Transportation Research Board's (TRB) "mission is to promote innovation and progress in transportation by stimulating and conducting research, facilitating the dissemination of information, and encouraging the implementation of research results." Drawing on contributions from thousands of engineers and transportation researchers, these specially selected Millennium Papers are intended give an up-to-date representation of the kind of research currently conducted at the TRB (which is also responsible for the TRIS Database discussed in the January 21, 2000 Scout Report). The numerous papers supplied here (full-text, .pdf) may be selected by title, author, or committee. Examples of a few titles include "Asphalt Technology," "Engineering Geology," and "Transportation in the New Millennium." This site holds an interesting and varied collection of papers for engineers and transportation researchers. [KR]
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Archaeology Data Service (ADS) Digital Library [.pdf]
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/
The Archaeology Data Service yesterday announced the opening of its digital library, "a virtual library of on-line publications concerned with the historic environment." The library is currently divided into Books, Bibliographies, Journals, and Other resources. The book section includes the Council for British Archaeology's Research Report series and ADS's own Guides to Good Practice, among other texts, and the journal section links to a large number of scholarly journals. The other sections are still a bit thin, but no doubt will fill out soon. Resources are conveniently labelled "archived," for those available on-site or for download as .pdf files, and "linked," to alert users they are accessing off-site resources. This brand new library is sure to grow and will be a great source for archaeological researchers. Note: To access the library, users must first accept the terms of use on ADS's front page, then click on the Library link in the sidebar. [TK]
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Intelligent Satellite Data Information System (ISIS)
http://isis.dlr.de/
The Intelligent Satellite Data Information System is "the central user interface" to the data archived at the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) and offers descriptions of (and facilitates access to) numerous online resources. For general information about remote sensing and the ISIS site, see the News section (including announcements of upcoming electronic resources), the Thesaurus (containing synonyms for about 7,000 important scientific terms), and the Infoboard section (including tutorials in English and German, a list of data products, and an array of links to related resources). The ISIS homepage also offers a new WWW-Gateway to the Data, in which users may search or browse Earth Science data "from various participating archive centers around the globe." For the latest satellite images, see the Special section, which features spectacular color images of The weather in Europe, Temperatures and vegetation, and Ozone-concentration, electron-density and chlorophyll-content. [LXP]
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Pending Patient Protection Legislation: A Comparative Analysis of Key Provisions of the House and Senate Versions of H.R. 2990 -- Kaiser Foundation [.pdf]
http://www.kff.org/content/2000/20000310a/
This new 37-page report from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation focuses on the different versions of H.R. 2990, patient protection legislation, passed in the House and Senate last year. A Conference Committee is presently working on reconciling the bills, and here readers can get an overview of their similarities and differences. In addition to this broad look at the legislation, the report features "a detailed side-by-side comparison of the bills including their scope, patient protections, benefit claims and appeals procedures, and ERISA preemption and plan liability provisions." [TK]
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General Interest

Merck Manual of Medical Information - Home Edition
http://www.MerckHomeEdition.com/
Merck & Co., Inc. has just placed online the home edition of their celebrated medical reference text. Based on The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, the home edition is a new publication from Merck geared for the layperson but still containing the same "vital information about diseases, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment." Users can perform a simple or advanced search, but clicking on results often leads to a long page where readers may need to use their browsers's "find" functions to locate what they are looking for. The book's table of contents is organized and detailed enough to be quite useful with eighteen sections devoted to various disorders (Mental Health Disorders, Skin Disorders, Immune Disorders, Cancer, etc.); sections on men's, women's, and children's health issues; information on Drugs, Accidents and Injuries, and Fundamentals (genetics, anatomy, etc.), and more. Readers who suffer from a particular disorder may want to check out the appendix devoted to Resources for Help and Information. [TK]
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"Findings, Recommendations, Resolutions, Amendments and Modifications" for consideration at the Dallas ACEC Meeting [MS Word]
http://www.ecommercecommission.org/document/findings.doc
Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce (ACEC) [.pdf] http://www.ecommercecommission.org/
As part of the 1998 Internet Tax Freedom Act, the US Congress established the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce to "study federal, state, local and international taxation and tariffs on transactions using the Internet and Internet access." The nineteen commission members range from US state governors to the presidents of some of the most powerful technology companies in the world. On March 7, the Commission released this 63-page MS Word document containing "all resolutions, proposals, recommendations, and amendments" to be reviewed at their final meeting March 20-21 in Dallas. The proposals cover a vast range of issues related to taxes and the Internet, and users can register for the March meeting at the ACEC Website. Also on the ACES site is the electronic library for the commission, which includes a fully searchable database of ACEC documents, many available in full text in .pdf format. Information on the commission and its members, press information, and the calendar of events round out the site. [EM]
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The Great Canadian Guide -- Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) [JavaScript]
http://daryl.chin.gc.ca/Museums/English/index_top.html
This extensive database of Canadian museums is the latest offering from the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) (see the May 29, 1989 Scout Report). The guide combines the information in CHIN's Guide to Canadian Museums and Galleries with that of the Official Directory of the Canadian Museums Association, offering information on "over 2400 cultural institutions and attractions." Users may locate museums by a straightforward keyword search, by clicking on a map of Canada (though these results seem much more abbreviated), or by searching for events by date. The latter option allows users to select the geographic area and type of event, so that one can search for lectures in Quebec this week, for example. Each event and institution is well-described, with information ranging from collection descriptions and hours to food services on-site. Note: The site must be viewed with Netscape 4.0 or higher, or Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher. [TK]
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"The Electronic Frontier: The Challenge of Unlawful Conduct Involving the Use of the Internet: A Report of the President's Working Group on Unlawful Conduct on the Internet"
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/unlawful.htm
Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS)
http://www.cybercrime.gov/
In August of 1999, President Clinton issued Executive Order 13133, which called for the creation of a Working Group to analyze unlawful conduct on the Internet. This month, the Working Group has released its report, which is now available at the Website of the US Department of Justice (DOJ). The report discusses the legal framework in which online crimes exist, the challenges facing law enforcement agencies in the online environment, and the role of public education and empowerment in combating online crime. Separate appendices focus on particular types of crime on the Internet, including fraud, child pornography, intellectual property theft, and the sale of controlled substances. The report is also available on the second site listed above, the CCIPS homepage. Launched by the DOJ on March 13, 2000, this site details their efforts to stop online crime. Here users will find materials such as speeches, reports, press releases, and testimony, covering topics including "prosecuting computer hacking, intellectual property piracy and counterfeiting, legal issues related to electronic commerce, freedom of speech, searching and seizing computers, encryption, privacy, and international aspects of cybercrime." [SW]
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Renaissance 2001 Project
http://r2001.com/
Renaissance 2001 is a grassroots "project to create the world's biggest ever art festival on the Internet for the year 2001". Ultimately the organizers hope to move this virtual festival into galleries and museums all over the world. Artistic contributions to Renaissance 2001 vary in quality (and there are a few typos at the site), but there is a lot to look at. The artwork is organized into "LightHomes," user-selected groupings organized by country, style, technique, and more, but it is best to begin at the R2001 gallery to view these, since the LightHome search function was not operational when we visited. From the Gallery, select Artists to retrieve groups of works and statements from contributors, or Thumbnails to retrieve one example from each. There is also a digital art section, sketchbooks, music, chat, and instructions for joining the collaborative project and exhibiting. [DS]
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SOULEYES Magazine
http://www.souleyes.com/
This new online magazine, an independent project of Chicago Tribune staff photographer Terrence James, is devoted to photo essays, images, and works-in-progress depicting communities of color. Each issue is loosely organized around a theme, the first being families. This premier issue ranges across a broad spectrum of material including images of Japanese internment camps, a wedding in Soweto, daily life in India, and black rodeos, among other areas. Biographies of photographers and sometimes their explanatory texts are posted at the end of each section. A more detailed table of contents, perhaps with thumbnails, might be a nice addition to the site, but there is a virtue to paging through the essays from first image to last. Visitors will easily lose track of time clicking from page to page through these evocative photographs. [TK]
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LivingInternet.com
http://www.livinginternet.com/
Site developer Bill Stewart has created this concise, encyclopedic guide to the Internet and several of its component parts, including the World Wide Web, Usenet News Groups, Electronic Mail, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), and Multi-User Dimensions (MUD). For each of these areas, the site offers information on how it was invented, how it works, how to use it, advanced usage, why it is important, and relevant security issues. For example, Attachments, Filters, Finding Addresses and Reminder Services are just a few of the topics explained in the Advanced Email section. A lengthy Reference section provides citations and links to additional online resources about the Internet. Users should note that this site uses frames, which may display external links when launched, within the LivingInternet.com frame. [AG]
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Ask MissInformation : Internet Resource for Women
http://www.missinformation.com/
This fun site is created by expert MissInformation, aka Jayne Lytel, long-time Internet journalist and author of a weekly Internet advice column for women. As in Lytel's column, the site is geared towards women and offers advice in the areas of arts and entertainment, health, business and finance, home parenting, education, relationships, online ways and customs, and shopping. MissInformation allows users to submit a question and offers an approximate one week or less response time. Users can also search and browse the advice archive, which contains responses to previous questions such as "How can I find out if my doctor is on probation?" and "Where can I take online college courses?" A weekly newsletter delivers selected questions and answers to your mailbox. [JEB]
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Network Tools

OstroSoft Internet Tools 4 [Windows 95/98/NT]
http://www.ostrosoft.com/ostronet.html
You're trying to browse through your favorite site, but the pages are loading at a snail's pace. Has the site caught the fancy of the world at large and been overwhelmed with users? Is your ISP trying to pinch pennies and sign up more customers than their network can support? Or is the problem somewhere else? With Traceroute, one of the utilities in OstroSoft's Internet Tools 4 package, you'll finally be able to answer those questions. Traceroute shows you all of the links between a given site and your computer, and allows you to identify the delay by displaying how long it takes to get to each link in the chain. Also included are Netstat, which shows you information about active connections on your computer; Network Info, which can tell you who the owner on record is for a network and how to contact him or her; and a number of other valuable and interesting network- and Internet-related utilities. A few similar programs, like a version of traceroute, are available on newer MS Windows machines as part of the operating system software. However, they are limited and difficult to use compared with those included in OstroSoft's Internet Tools. The Internet Tools package requires Windows 95, 98, or NT; a Pentium processor; 32 MB of RAM; and 20 MB of disk space. It is available as a shareware product and costs $29.95 to register. There is also a freeware package available from the site called Localhost that offers a limited subset of OtraSoft's Internet Tools. [EA]
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DAVE 2.5.1
http://www.thursby.com/products/dave.htm
DAVE is a cross-platform networking utility for the MacOS. DAVE allows Macintosh users to participate in Microsoft networks. It offers full support for peer-to-peer networking and for Macintosh clients on a Windows NT network, including file sharing, Postscript printer sharing, and messaging services. Macintosh users normally mount Windows's shared volumes through the chooser, but can also browse the volumes using the DAVE application. The DAVE application now sports finder-style windows with support for Windows's long file names and drag-and-drop with the finder. Users can automatically translate between Windows file extensions and Macintosh type and creator codes. Also new in version 2.5 are desktop printing to shared Windows printers (requires Apple's LaserWriter 8 driver v8.6.5 or later), a setup assistant, and support for the Location Manager. DAVE requires a MacOS computer with a Motorola 68020 processor or better, 8 MB of RAM, and Macintosh System 7.6 or later. MacOS 8.x and 9.0 are fully supported including the multiple users feature of MacOS 9. A fully functional time-limited demo version is available online. A single license costs $149; a five pack is $599. Corporate and educational discounts are available for purchases of five or more licenses. [PC]
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In The News

Technology and the New University
"Online Education to be Free" -- Washington Post
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9402-2000Mar14.html
"Billionaire Plans Online University" -- New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/biztech/articles/16university.html
"The Soul of a New University" -- New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/early/03130013levi.html
"A For-Profit Subsidiary Will Market Cornell's Distance Programs" -- The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/free/2000/03/2000031401u.htm
The Partnership in Global Learning (PGL)
http://grove.ufl.edu/~pgl/
Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration
http://www.westga.edu/~distance/jmain11.html
Instructional Technology Connections -- University of Colorado at Denver
http://www.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itcon.html
Distance Education Online Symposium (DEOS)
http://www.cde.psu.edu/ACSDE/DEOS.html
This week, Washington-area billionaire Michael Saylor announced his plans to launch an online university providing "Ivy league-quality" education to anyone for free via the Internet. Saylor has promised to spend at least $100 million to get his university off the ground. According to the Washington Post, however, this money will apparently not be used to pay lecturers. Says Saylor, "People line up and fight to get on the Charlie Rose show . . . I think they'll fight to get in the studio." Saylor breaks no new ground in using technology to bolster distance education. In fact, another group of investors including Michael Milken has promised up to $100 million to establish a for-profit, online university. Already established universities such as Cornell and Temple are partnering with for-profits to develop and market their online education programs. And Stanford, Yale, and Princeton are investigating a partnership to collaborate on a distance education program. Saylor's vision of a free university is, however, thus far unique and captures some of the on-going debates in the imbrication of technology, big business, and education. While some laud increased access to education and learning resources, others wonder how the influence of big business will color educational programs, and still others are sceptical that classrooms with taped teachers, such as Saylor's, will be effective.

The Washington Post was first to break the news of Saylor's plans. Here and at the New York Times (free registration required) users can read some of the details of the proposed university and relevant quotes from Saylor. Also at the Times, Arthur Levine's op-ed piece, published just days before Saylor's announcement, addresses with eerie foreshadowing, some of the opportunities and dangers of technology's influence on education. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on Cornell's recent decision "to create a for-profit subsidiary to create and market its distance-learning programs." On March 9, Lucent Technologies announced its new collaborative effort, the Partnership of Global Learning (PGL). Together with Bell Labs, the University of Florida, and universities in Brazil and Mexico, Lucent aims through PGL "to produce distributed learning on a global scale." For articles covering the many facets of distance education, readers should turn to the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, where the most recent issue focuses on topics such as assessment measures, designing collaborative international courses, and students's perceptions of distance learning, among other topics. The University of Colorado at Denver's Instructional Technology Connections offers a wealth of links to online resources from theories about instructional technologies to virtual learning communities themselves. Educators involved or interested in distance education may want to subscribe to DEOSNEWS or join the accompanying mailing list DEOS-L, both established by the American Center for the Study of Distance Education and available from their Distance Education Online Symposium site. More resources on distance learning can be found in Signpost, the Scout Report's database. These include TeleCampus, California Virtual University, and the InterversityEducation and Technology Mailing List--. [TK]

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