The Scout Report for Social Sciences
October 6, 1998
A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The target audience of the new Scout Report for Social Sciences is faculty, students, staff, and librarians in the social sciences. Each biweekly issue offers a selective collection of Internet resources covering topics in the field that have been chosen by librarians and content specialists in the given area of study.
The Scout Report for Social Sciences is also provided via email once every two weeks. Subscription information is included at the bottom of each issue.
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Research
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MOST Clearing House on Linguistic Rights--UNESCO
http://www.unesco.org/most/ln1.htm
The MOST (Management of Social Transformations) Clearing House (discussed in the November 18, 1997 Scout Report for Social Sciences ) has added a section on linguistic rights. The Clearing House on Linguistic Rights supplies legislators, decision-makers, researchers, and other representatives of both governmental and non-governmental organizations with information related to the development of policies that will lead to peaceful and democratic solutions to problems that arise within societies characterized by cultural and ethnic pluralism. This site provides several full-text international legal documents concerning the rights of linguistic minorities, excerpts of 86 national constitutions which contain provisions on language, and a modest bibliography on linguistic rights in international human rights law. [AO]
[Back to Contents]National Institute for Urban School Improvement Resource Database
http://www2.edc.org/urban/library.asp
The National Institute for Urban School Improvement (discussed in the October 2, 1998 Scout Report) developed a database of resources to facilitate access to information relevant to the research and practice of urban education and inclusive schooling. The content of the database is indexed into 13 themes covering a range of topics, such as Race and Ethnicity in Urban Schools, Systemic School Reform, and Research Methods and Issues. Within each thematic area, a controlled list of subject descriptors are provided. Users can select one or more of the descriptors to browse related content quickly; users may also conduct a free-text query. Item records in the database contain detailed bibliographic information and abstracts for a variety of materials including books, journal articles, position papers, project reports, program descriptions, and videos. In addition, each item record provides a feedback form for users to submit and post comments about the annotated resource. [AO]
[Back to Contents]Project DIANA
Bora Laskin Law Library at the University of Toronto
http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/Diana/
Yale Law School Library
http://diana.law.yale.edu/
Robert S. Marx Law Library at the University of Cincinnati College of Law
http://www.law.uc.edu/Diana/
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/
DIANA, a joint project provided by an international consortium of libraries and human rights organizations, is dedicated to the construction of a comprehensive database of documents essential to human rights research. Currently, segments of the database are hosted by four libraries. Each library provides a unique set of documents for the collaborative database. The Bora Laskin Law Library at the University of Toronto archives women's human rights resources. The Yale Law School Library contains legal briefs, organizational charters, treaty texts, and bibliographies related to human rights. The Robert S. Marx Law Library at the University of Cincinnati College of Law focuses on United Nations and Organization for African Unity materials. The University of Minnesota Human Rights Library (discussed in the January 5, 1996 Scout Report) is an exhaustive collection of human rights documents and links. Unfortunately, users cannot query all four hosts at the same time; however, each host attempts to eliminate document duplication within the database as a whole in order to minimize overlap. Consequently, users must select a relevant host before searching or conduct parallel searches. [AO]
[Back to Contents]IRSS Public Opinion Poll Question Database
http://www.irss.unc.edu/data_archive/pollsearch.html
This database, constructed by the Institute for Research in Social Science (IRSS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, allows researchers to conduct keyword searches on questions derived from a collection of public opinion polls, dating from the 1960s to the present. Query results display the full text of the poll questions, information about the studies, and, in many searches, frequency distributions. Users also have the option to view the full catalog record and download data from selected studies from the data archive. The IRSS Public Opinion Poll Question Database is an excellent resource for researchers who are developing "questions for their own studies, as well as for users interested in frequencies or in locating particular variables for statistical analysis."
[Back to Contents]Best Guide to Canadian Legal Research
http://legalresearch.org/
Catherine P. Best, an attorney and Adjunct Professor with the Faculty of Law at the University of British Columbia, developed the Best Guide to Canadian Legal Research. The guide provides three clearly outlined tutorial modules for researching Canadian law. The first, Research Essentials, covers research strategies, research sources, and legal writing. The second module, Electronic Research, offers step-by-step instructions and training exercises for various electronic research tools. The third tutorial, Statutory Research, presents guides for the research of federal and provincial statutes and regulations. In addition to the tutorial modules, this site hosts a discussion list for legal researchers, maintains a glossary of legal terms, and provides a list of links to other legal research resources. [AO]
[Back to Contents]ViVa: A Bibliography of Women's History in Historical and Women's Studies Journals
http://www.iisg.nl/~womhist/vivahome.html
Compiled at the International Institute of Social History (discussed in the September 26, 1997 Scout Report), ViVa indexes current journal articles about the history of women and gender. This bibliography selects articles from more than ninety European, American and Indian journals written in English, French, German, and Dutch. To facilitate browsing, bibliographic citations are divided by the year of publication and then by the historical era of article content. The most recent additions to the bibliography are posted in a new titles section. For further information about the history of women and gender, a briefly annotated list of related links is provided. [AO]
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Culture & Literature of Africa: Humanities 211
http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/index.htm
Created for a course entitled Culture & Literature of Africa, Professor Cora Agatuccis's interdisciplinary site contains numerous resources related to the historical and cultural study of African oral tradition, literature, and film. In addition to a detailed syllabus, course plan, and list of assignments, this site offers: a literary map of Africa; synopses of African films with annotated references to resources in both print and electronic formats; a section dedicated to African storytelling; pages devoted to the work of authors Chinua Achebe and Tsitsi Dangarembga; and an annotated list of African Studies links divided into subject areas. The richest resource at this site is the African Timelines section, which consists of five narrative chronologies with embedded links documenting the history of African 'orature,' literature, and film.
[Back to Contents]Renaissance: What Inspired This Age of Balance and Order?
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/renaissance/
The newest educational exhibit to the Annenberg/CPB Projects Learner Online site (discussed in the September 12, 1997 Scout Report) explores this period of intellectual, political, technological, and economic rebirth in European civilization. A series of five essays examines and explains the changes which occurred in the Renaissance during the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries. The essays are: Out of the Middle Ages; Exploration and Trade; Printing and Thinking; Symmetry, Shape, Size; and, Focus on Florence. This interactive site also allows inquisitive users to become spice traders in a role-playing game, or to take a hands-on approach to the Fibonacci sequence through a learning module called Numbers in Nature. Links relevant to the Renaissance, along with a short bibliography, provide material for further investigation into the age of balance and order. [AO]
[Back to Contents]The US-Mexican War (1846-1848)--PBS [Java]
English version [frames]:
http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/mainframe.html
Spanish version [frames]:
http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/mainframe-sp.html
Bilingual version [No frames]:
http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/sitemap/sitemap.html
Soon after the US annexation of Texas in 1845, Mexico severed diplomatic relations with the US. An ensuing dispute over the official border of Texas ignited a war, which resulted in the US acquisition of more than 500,000 square miles of territory formerly occupied by Mexico. The US-Mexican War (1846-1848) site chronicles the events of that era through multiple viewpoints to provide an enlightened perspective on the conflict. Included at this rich site are: histories, articles, and essays produced by historians, scholars, and other experts; a detailed timeline, which provides a chronological context for events occurring on both sides of the border; a moderated, interactive discussion area for visitors to post their ideas and responses; and a resources section to guide visitors to other relevant Websites. [AO]
[Back to Contents]Disability Social History Project
http://www.disabilityhistory.org/
Text-only version:
http://www.disabilityhistory.org/textonly/dshptext.html
The Disability Social History Project preserves, examines, and shares the history and culture of disabled persons. This community project provides opportunities for people with disabilities to conceptualize a group identity, advocate civil rights, and provide resources that educate the public about disabilities. The four major sections include: a timeline--spanning from 3500 BC to the present--that chronicles events in disability history; a people section offering brief biographies of famous disabled people, including, among others, Harriet Tubman, Franklin Roosevelt, and Frida Kahlo; a News & Events area that posts recent news items, a schedule of arts and cultural events, and a list of conferences and calls for papers; and an annotated webliography directing visitors to related sites. In addition, the proceedings of Changing Borders, a recent meeting of women with disabilities, is also available at the site. [AO]
[Back to Contents]INA Virtual Museum of Nautical Archaeology
http://nautarch.tamu.edu/ina/vm.htm
The Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA ) at Texas A&M University features its underwater archaeological excavations and surveys at this virtual museum. The main page links to project sites that plunge users into the fascinating depths of nautical archaeology. Extensive background information together with over 1,000 images of shipwrecks, artifacts, site plans, and maps allows visitors to immerse themselves in the virtual exploration of underwater sites all over the globe. [AO]
[Back to Contents]Undergraduate Guide to Critical Theory
http://omni.cc.purdue.edu/~felluga/theory2.html [frames]
http://omni.cc.purdue.edu/~felluga/theory.html [No Frames]
Dino F. Felluga, an English professor at Purdue University, created the Undergraduate Guide to Critical Theory to introduce students to the specialized vocabularies and key concepts underlying various schools of literary theory. This guide defines the specific terminology and analytical approaches taken by theorists of new historicism, cultural materialism, feminism, and psychoanalysis. Within the guide, the critical methods are applied to "Sonnet 37" and "Sonnet 74" of Spenser's Amoretti to present examples of textual interpretation. The framed version of this site allows students an easy way to view and scroll through the guide, the definitions, and the example sonnets simultaneously. [AO]
[Back to Contents]College and University Rankings
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/rankings.htm
College and University Rankings-compiled by Nancy P. O'Brien, Head of the Education and Social Science Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign-provides an annotated list of resources that rank higher education institutions. The list of ranking resources is conveniently divided into five sections: general/undergraduate, graduate, business, law, and international. However, this site is not merely a list of sites; it also includes an informative essay entitled Caution and Controversy, which questions and evaluates the methods and usefulness of ranking services, and provides users with electronic and print resources for the independent assessment of ranking services. [AO]
[Back to Contents]The Battle of Hastings 1066
http://battle1066.com/
This exhaustive historical site encompasses every aspect of the Battle of Hastings, fought on October 14th 1066, which established the Normans as the rulers of England. Eighteen comprehensive sections provide background information and historical analysis of the events, people, and circumstances involved in the pivotal conflict. The content of this rich site includes genealogical trees, a photographic tour, the story of the famous Bayeux Tapestry, a glossary of terms, an index of additional information, and much more. [AO]
[Back to Contents]In Congress Now [frames]
http://majoritywhip.house.gov/current/now.htm
The Office of Tom DeLay, the Majority Whip of the US House of Representatives, provides this up-to-the-minute account of House floor proceedings. When the House is in session, this site reports floor business as it happens in a reverse chronological scroll, while posting an updated image of the action. In addition to the advantages of instantaneous coverage, this site affords users access to legislative information. Reported floor activity pertaining to a particular bill links directly to the text and the status of that bill via THOMAS (discussed in the January 13, 1995 Scout report). [AO]
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Technology Counts '98: Putting School Technology to the Test
http://www.edweek.org/sreports/tc98/
This special report, issued by the Web version of Education Week (discussed in the September 13, 1996 Scout Report) in collaboration with the Milken Exchange on Education Technology, investigates the effectiveness of computer technology in America's schools. The report examines the impact of computer technology on standardized test scores; provides ten case studies of schools that integrate technology to achieve stated educational goals; suggests nine policies that states should heed to implement educational technology wisely; and includes the most recent national and state-by-state data on technological accessibility, capacity, and usage. Also included is a section on the data acquired for the report. The data section provides an executive summary of the findings and breaks the data tables down into three parts for easier viewing: access, capacity, and use. A bonus to this report is the comprehensive index provided. [AO]
[Back to Contents]Living Planet Report 1998--WWF
Index:
http://panda.org/livingplanet/lpr/index.htm
Lite Site: [frames]
http://panda.org/livingplanet/lpr/lp_index.html
Enhanced Site: [RealPlayer, Flash]
http://panda.org/livingplanet/lpr/flash.htm
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has recently published the inaugural Living Planet Report. This report analyzes environmental data in conjunction with global consumption patterns to calculate the cumulative effect that humankind has on the earth's ecosystems. The report consists of two major parts: the Consumption Pressure section and the Living Planet Index. The Consumption Pressure section measures the per capita resource consumption and pollution statistics from 152 countries to determine humanity's impact on earth. The Living Planet Index presents new data on the health of the forest, freshwater and marine ecosystems around the world from 1970-1995. Two versions of the report are available from the WWF: the Enhanced Site, which requires Macromedia Flash and RealPlayer; and the Lite Site, which provides the same information minus the plug-ins. [AO]
[Back to Contents]New Offerings from Academic Publishers
Association of American University Presses: New Releases
http://aaup.uchicago.edu/new_releases/
Baker&Taylor Academia--Upcoming Books to Buy (October 1998)
http://www.baker-taylor.com/Academia/M10/Home.html
Cambridge University Press
http://www.cup.org/books/hot.html
Thela Thesis--Just Published
http://www.thelathesis.nl/new.html
Thela Thesis is an independent publishing house emphasizing academic publications in the Social Sciences.
[Back to Contents]Conference Announcements
Politics and the Internet
http://www.dipoli.hut.fi/pi99/
January 6-9, 1999 Espoo, Jyvaskyla, Oulu, and Tampere, Finland. The 2nd International Congress on Electronic Media and Citizenship in the Information Society will discuss the emerging roles of the public sector, the private sector and the third sector. The three main themes of the conference will be: Politics in Transition and the Future of the Public Sector; New Citizenship and Democracy in the Information Society; and, Enhancing Citizen Centricy by Developing New Services and Technologies. [AO]"National Stereotypes in Perspective: Americans in France--Frenchmen in America"
http://www.vub.ac.be/VECO/NewStuff/BChewConf9905/intro.html
May 7-9, 1999 Brussels, Belgium. This interdisciplinary conference, hosted by the Belgian Luxembourg American Studies Association, will explore the last two centuries of Franco-American relations; specifically the origins, nature, and impact of the national stereotypes perpetuated and projected by both nations. [AO]"Digital Libraries for Humanities Scholarship and Teaching"--ACH/ALLC
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/ach-allc.99/
June 9-13, 1999 Charlottesville, Virginia. The joint international conference of the Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH) and the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing (ALLC) will focus on digital collections across the humanities and their relation to research, instruction, and archiving. [AO](For links to additional calls for papers and conference announcements, see the Conference section of the Current Awareness Metapage: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/socsci/metapage/).
[Back to Contents]Job Guides/Funding Opportunities
H-Net Job Guide
http://www.matrix.msu.edu/jobs/Chronicle of Higher Education Job Openings
Humanities
http://thisweek.chronicle.com/.ads/.ads-by-group/.faculty/.humanities/.links.html
Social Science
http://thisweek.chronicle.com/.ads/.ads-by-group/.faculty/.sscience/.links.htmlAmerican Association of University Women Educational Foundation: 1999-2000 Fellowships and Grants
http://www.aauw.org/3000/fdnfelgra.htmlAmerican Political Science Association--Grants and Fellowships
http://www.apsanet.org/grant.html(For links to additional Job Guides, see the Employment/Funding section of the Current Awareness Metapage: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/socsci/metapage/).
[Back to Contents]New Think Tank Policy Papers and Briefs
Iceland, John and David R. Harris. "Why Work Disappears: Neighborhood Racial Composition and Employers' Relocation Intentions"--Joint Center for Poverty Research [.pdf, Word]
http://www.jcpr.org/iceland.htmlKettl, Donald F. "Environmental Policy: The Next Generation"--Brookings Institution
http://www.brookings.org/comm/policybriefs/archive.htmLevin-Waldman, Oren M. "Automatic Adjustment of the Minimum Wage"--Jerome Levy Economics Institute
http://www.levy.org/docs/hili42a.htmlLong, Sharon K. et al. "Child Care Assistance under Welfare Reform: Early Responses by the States"--Urban Institute
http://newfederalism.urban.org/html/occ15.html
.pdf version:
http://newfederalism.urban.org/pdf/occa15.pdfReynolds, Morgan O. "Crime and Punishment in America: 1998"--National Center for Policy Analysis
http://www.public-policy.org/~ncpa/studies/s219.html(For links to additional new Think Tank publications see the Think Tank Policy Papers section on the Current Awareness Metapage: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/socsci/metapage/).
[Back to Contents]New Tables of Contents/Abstracts for recent and forthcoming issues are available for the following journals:
African Studies Quarterly (full text)
http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v2/v2i2.htm
Ariadne (full text)
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue17/
Postmodern Culture (full text)
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/pmc/current.issue/
Sociological Research Online
http://www.socresonline.org.uk/3/3/contents.html
Teacher Magazine (full text)
http://www.edweek.org/tm/tm.htm
Psychoanalytic Studies
http://www.carfax.co.uk/pst-ad.htm
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Changing America: Indicators of Social And Economic Well-Being by Race and Hispanic Origin [.pdf]
Index of charts:
http://w3.access.gpo.gov/eop/ca/index.html
.pdf version:
http://w3.access.gpo.gov/eop/ca/pdfs/ca.pdf
The Council of Economic Advisers for the President's Initiative on Race prepared this document to chart current and historical socioeconomic data related to the differences in well-being among Americans in regard to race and Hispanic origin. Key indicators within seven areas of well-being are presented in the chart book to educate the public: population, education, labor markets, economic status, health, crime, and housing. Users may view charts as separate .pdf files or view the entire chart book in a single .pdf file (688K). [AO]
[Back to Contents]Sociological Data Archive [frames]
http://archiv.soc.cas.cz/
Maintained by the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Sociological Data Archive provides data files derived from social science research projects. Currently, the archive contains information about the surveys, variables, questionnaires, and publications of over 40 projects. All data files in the searchable archive are freely accessible for non-commercial or instructional purposes; however, users must complete an order form in order to obtain some data files. [AO]
[Back to Contents]Overview of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools and Districts: School Year 1996-97 [.pdf]
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98204.pdf
The National Center For Education Statistics has recently released this report which provides national and state overview information about the types, sizes, and locations of the more than 86 thousand public schools in the US during the 1996-97 school year. Data about the nation's 46 million public school students are also presented, including statistics related to ethnic diversity, special education participation, free lunch eligibility, and dropout rates for selected states. [AO]
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Dissension and Protest in Malaysia
The Straits Times: Fall of Anwar Ibrahim
http://straitstimes.asia1.com/anwar/anwarindex.html
Malaysia News & Views: Anwar Affairs
http://www.1388.com/news/ver2/anwar.htm
Arrests in Malaysia--Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/hrw/press98/bck-brif/my-index.htm
MSNBC: "Malaysia's Thin Veneer of Democracy"
http://www.msnbc.com/news/198922.asp
Bernama: The National News Agency of Malaysia
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/index.htm
Anwar Online
http://members.tripod.com/~Anwar_Ibrahim/main.htm
CIA World Factbook: Malaysia
http://www.cia.gov/publications/factbook/my.html
Prime Minister's Office of Malaysia
http://www.smpke.jpm.my/
National Economic Recovery Plan: Agenda for Action
http://mir.com.my/lb/econ_plan/index.htm
This week's In The News covers the political dissension and civil protest in Malaysia. These nine resources provide background information, news, analysis, and commentary. On September 2, an ongoing dispute over conflicting economic recovery policies impelled Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to oust Anwar Ibrahim, the acting Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. The authoritarian Mahathir, who has ruled Malaysia for the past 17 years, accused Anwar of sedition and sexual misconduct to justify the coup. In response to his dismissal, Anwar began a public campaign to expose the economic policies endorsed by Mahathir. Anwar supports open international markets and believes that Mr. Mahathir's restrictive, nationalistic policies foster corruption and limit individual freedoms in Malaysia. The culmination of Anwar's campaign of reform occurred in Kuala Lumpur on September 20 when he was arrested after leading 35,000 supporters in a march on central square, demanding the resignation of Mahathir. Police also arrested eleven of Anwar's supporters, including friends and family. The arrests incited a week-long series of violent political protests against Mahathir that led to a spate of civilian arrests. Last week after ten days of detention, Anwar appeared for his arraignment wearing a neck brace, revealed several bruises, and claimed that he had been beaten severely while in police custody. In court, he pleaded his innocence to five counts of corruption and five counts of sodomy. His case will go to trial on November 2. Monitoring the situation closely, world leaders and human rights organizations have condemned the ruthless actions of Mahathir's regime and question the legality of Malaysia's Internal Security Act. The act permits the police to arrest anyone without a warrant, and to detain indefinitely any person who acts, or is likely to act, in "any manner prejudicial to the security of Malaysia."
Fall of Anwar Ibrahim, a special section of The Straits Times (Singapore), provides breaking news, background information, crisis milestones, and analytical perspectives to the unrest in Malaysia. Malaysia News & Views offers Anwar Affairs, a compilation of breaking headlines about the situation and links to news sources around the globe. Arrests in Malaysia, a publication of Human Rights Watch, examines the human rights violations incurred during the recent arrests in Malaysia. "Malaysia's Thin Veneer of Democracy" is Michael Bociurkiw's political analysis of Malaysia written for MSNBC. Bernama, a Malaysian news agency, releases reports that usually support Mahathir's government. For a point of view contradicting Bernama, users should consult Anwar Online, a site devoted to providing an uncensored version of events. The CIA World Factbook presents background data about the geography, economy, government, infrastructure, and people of Malaysia. The official site for the Prime Minister's Office of Malaysia offers information about the office and the government. The National Economic Action Council of Malaysia has posted the National Economic Recovery Plan: Agenda for Action, detailing the economic crisis and the subsequent recovery plan that prompted the crisis. [AO]
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