The Scout Report for Social Sciences - February 8, 2000

February 8, 2000

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.

In This Issue

Research

Learning Resources

Current Awareness

New Data

In The News


Research

The EFA 2000 Assessment: Country Reports
http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/wef/countryreports/home.html
Sponsored by the World Education Forum and UNESCO, the Education for All (EFA) 2000 Assessment is an extraordinarily in-depth evaluation of basic education in some 180 countries. The substantial report posted for each country contains data and analysis concerning fundamental issues of education, including statistics on enrollment, literacy, educational levels of teachers, and academic and vocational education; as well as an overall evaluation of early childhood, primary, and secondary instruction; and much more. Eventually, the reports will be listed by region and a search engine will be available; currently though, users must browse by country. More countries's reports are to be added as they are completed. [DC]
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ACLU Annual Report: The Year in Civil Liberties, 1999
http://www.aclu.org/library/ycl99/
The ACLU has posted on the Web its annual report assessing the state of civil liberties in the course of the year just ended. The report is written in an accessible and concise style -- unlike many organizational and government assessments -- and covers over a dozen issues, including juvenile justice, immigration, the death penalty, health and medicine, cyber liberties, free speech, elections, and prison conditions. In his preface, director Ira Glasser, while not glossing over the report's negatives, writes of his belief that the ACLU's vision of freedom, "which seemed so unattainable at the beginning of the 20th century, moves toward the 21st with a head of steam and a record of victories unimaginable in 1920 when the ACLU was founded." Readers, of course, may decide for themselves. [DC]
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Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping
http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/dengxp/
The People's Daily of China has placed online the Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping in English. The writings fill three volumes and cover over 50 years of Deng Xiaoping's public life. The architect of China's economic transformation expressed himself on a wide array of topics, typically in the occasional forms common to those in political life: speeches, reports, directives, correspondence, policy initiatives, dialogues, and the like. One can see in these writings Deng's preoccupation with the issues of socialist economics as well as with issues of political and common education, interpretations of Leninist and Maoist philosophy, and the proper approach of communist China to the West, particularly the United States. Unfortunately, the texts are not searchable, but the specificity of titles in the tables of contents makes for efficient browsing. [DC]
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Gateway to African-American History
http://www.usia.gov/usa/blackhis/
This gateway created by the State Department's International Information Programs features well-annotated links to Internet sites devoted to African-American literature and historical studies or involved with African-American issues. The site links to bibliographies, archival and research sites, presidential speeches, and full-text versions of government reports and articles on such topics as The Amistad Revolt, the Civil Rights Movement, and President Clinton's National Conversation on Race. A link is also provided to The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History whose theme for this millennial Black History Month is "Heritage and Horizons: The African-American Legacy and the Challenges of the 21st Century." [DC]
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State Department: Perspectives on Race Relations in the United States
http://www.usia.gov/usa/race/
This second site from the State Department's International Information Programs offers a directory of sites dealing with race relations in America. Subject areas include Law and Race, Affirmative Action, Race and Ethnic Diversity, and Hate Crimes. Also posted here are an online bibliography; a listing of relevant links; and the Final Report of President Clinton's Initiative on Race, including background information and transcripts from dialogue sessions and presidential speeches on the Initiative. [DC]
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Encyclopedia of Law and Economics
http://encyclo.findlaw.com/index.html
Conceived by the University of Ghent, Belgium, the Encyclopedia of Law and Economics Website is a broad-based collection of resources pertaining to economic and legal issues throughout the world. Showcasing a comprehensive index of searchable bibliographic resources, this site also includes abstracts of recent law and economics reviews. The hefty Law and Economics Web Resources section features working papers, bibliographies, and mailing lists. In addition, the site links to law and economics academic programs, associations, and an array of relevant Websites. [EM]
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Learning Resources

Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest [.pdf]
http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/index.html
The Klondike Gold Rush
http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/curklon/main.html
The University of Washington is responsible for this excellent Website devoted to the history of the Pacific Northwest. The site makes available a generous selection of the Center's voluminous materials in regional history. Of recent note is the section offering Curriculum Materials for the study of the Klondike Gold Rush. The Webpage provides substantial historical background on the Gold Rush, lesson planning materials such as discussion themes and classroom activities, a bibliography of historical texts, and most impressively, on-site access to primary documents. In fact, the site posts 149 discreet items, including letters from miners and their families, selections from diaries and memoirs, photographs, advertisements, newspaper articles, and guides to the Klondike and Yukon gold fields. The Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest provides similar packets on other topics, such as "The Cold War and Red Scare in Washington State" and the Asian-American experience. While the materials are designed for use in secondary education, the in-depth historical narration and the presence of an unusual amount of primary materials may make this site of use to researchers as well. [DC]
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Bulfinch's Mythology
http://www.bulfinch.org/
This wonderful site provides the complete text of Bulfinch's Mythology, originally titled The Age of Fable and still the standard guide to Western mythology. The value of this site lies not merely in its posting of Bulfinch's original text, but in its regularly updated collection of hyperlinks to literary and historical source documents on the Web. In addition, the site allows users to search the three main sections of the text for keywords, scan a list of poets and poetry cited in each section, and consult notes written by the site's author, Bob Fisher. These notes provide the benefit of additional information and scholarly insight gathered since Bulfinch's first publication in 1855. Links are also supplied to additional materials on Bulfinch and his famous work. This is an excellent Website for any teacher at the secondary or post-secondary level hoping to have students engage with the underlying myths of Western Civilization. [DC]
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ODLIS: Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science
http://www.wcsu.ctstateu.edu/library/odlis.html
This online dictionary, newly updated, provides a glossary of over 1,800 terms related to library and information sciences, with an emphasis on online library science. Once a handout for author Joan Reitz's undergraduate students in library sciences at Western Connecticut State University, the dictionary has expanded over the years to its present substantial HTML incarnation. The entries are well written and professional and should be of use to students, librarians, and even those patrons who are tired of being intimidated by not knowing what exactly "Boolean" or "MARC" mean. [DC]
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Social Science Hub
http://www.sshub.com
Maintained by Sharyn Clarkson, a BA in sociology and anthropology, this Website provides a directory for those looking for materials in the social sciences. The site features categorized listings of social science Websites, online journals and e-zines, search engines, government Websites, databases and archives, interactive forums, and a what's new section. There is an emphasis, but by no means an exclusive one, on Australian materials. Some entries are annotated, and the site is frequently updated. [DC]
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BBC Special Report: Battle for Chechnya [RealPlayer]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_461000/461041.stm
For anyone who wants to become informed about the ongoing conflict in the small, but strategically crucial, republic of Chechnya, this new BBC Webpage is the place to visit. BBC correspondents provide report and analysis detailing the military situation, including a discussion of how the rebels continue to frustrate a technologically and numerically superior foe. Other stories explore the historical and regional context of the conflict as well as the effects of it upon the politics and economics of Russia. Also on-site are in-depth personal stories from the point of view of Russian soldiers and Chechen civilians, a BBC television report (about a minute and a half) on the conflict, a map of the region, and a few related links. [DC]
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BBC Timelines: England and Scotland
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/history/timelines.shtml
The BBC History 2000 project offers these multi-level timelines of the histories of England and Scotland from the Neolithic age to the present. As timelines go, these are unusually detailed and provide paragraph-length descriptions -- often accompanied by photos, artwork, or 3-D online models -- about such events and personages as the building of Hadrian's wall; Jane Grey, the nine-day queen; and Robert the Bruce, the famous Scottish warrior-king who secured his country's independence from England in 1328. Users can view the timelines separately or together, allowing for comparative consideration of the evolution of these two often warring, but still tightly knit, nations. [DC]
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Scottish Writers
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~crumey/scot.html
Created by Scot novelist and critic Andrew Crumey, this site provides over 1,000 encyclopedic entries for the work and biographies of "novelists, poets and dramatists who were born or lived in Scotland." In addition, the site features a history of Scottish Literature written by Crumey, which is highly informative (though we wish it might have quoted from the literature more). A listing of useful online resources and an archive of Crumey's own book reviews for his Scotland on Sunday column are also posted here. [DC]
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My Hideous Progeny: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~hamberg/
This Website, part of a Master's thesis project in English literature that focused on Information Sciences, offers an electronic version of the original 1831 edition of Shelley's Frankenstein. The text is fully annotated, including discussion of literary allusions, character analysis, thematic content, and historical references. Also included is a brief biography of Mary Shelley with additional references, a literary analysis of the book's subtitle, "A Modern Prometheus," and annotated links to sites with related materials on Shelley and the circle of romantic poets with whom she was involved and who, apparently, inspired her "hideous progeny." [DC]
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Current Awareness
(For links to additional current awareness on tables of contents, abstracts, preprints, new books, data, conferences, etc., visit the The Scout Report for Social Sciences Current Awareness Metapage: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/socsci/metapage/).

Policy.com: In the Tanks
http://www.policy.com/community/inthetanks.html
Policy.com, a policy news and information center, has just published online volume one, issue one of a monthly newsletter that will update readers on recent research and publications in political and social policy from American think tanks. This first issue provides a history of the origins and evolution of this fundamentally American invention. [DC]
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New Working Papers

Baller, Robert D. et al. "Structural Covariates of U.S. County Homicide Rates: Incorporating Spatial Effects"
Abstract [.pdf, 9K]:
http://www.albany.edu/csda/abs20001.pdf
Full text [.pdf, 99K]:
http://www.albany.edu/csda/2000wp1b.pdf
Maps:
http://www.albany.edu/csda/2000wp1/2000wp1maps.html

Kyvelidis, Ioannis. "State Isomorphism in the Post-Socialist Transition"
Abstract:
http://olymp.wu-wien.ac.at/eiop/texte/2000-002a.htm
Full text [.pdf, 67K]:
http://olymp.wu-wien.ac.at/eiop/pdf/2000-002.pdf

Messner, Steven F. et al. "The Spatial Patterning of County Homicide Rates: An Application of Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis"
Abstract [.pdf, 9K]:
http://www.albany.edu/csda/abs20001.pdf
Full text [.pdf, 75K]:
http://www.albany.edu/csda/1999wp1b.pdf
Maps:
http://www.albany.edu/csda/diffusion.html

Scharpf, Fritz W. "The Viability of Advanced Welfare States in the International Economy: Vulnerabilities and Options"
http://www.mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de/publikation/working_papers/wp99-9/index.html

Sorge, Arndt. "Organizing Societal Space within Globalization: Bringing Society Back In"
http://www.mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de/publikation/working_papers/wp99-10/index.html

Streek, Wolfgang. "Competitive Solidarity: Rethinking the "European Social Model"
http://www.mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de/publikation/working_papers/wp99-8/index.html

Werle, Raymond and Volker Leib. "The Internet Society and its Struggle for Recognition and Influence"
http://www.mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de/publikation/working_papers/wp99-12/index.html
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New Think Tank Policy Papers and Briefs

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Horney, James and Robert Greenstein. "What Do The New Baseline Budget Projections Mean?" [.pdf, 76K]
http://www.cbpp.org/1-31-00bud.pdf
Law, Iris J. and James Sly. "Large Cost Of The Archer 'Marriage Penalty Relief' Provisions Reflects Poor Targeting"
http://www.cbpp.org/2-2-00tax.htm

Citizens for Tax Justice:
"The Effects of the Bush Tax Cut Plan on Social Security, 2001-10"
http://www.ctj.org/html/bush02an.htm
.pdf version [26K]:
http://www.ctj.org/pdf/bush02an.pdf
"Income Taxes on Working Families with Modest Incomes Under Current Law & the George W. Bush Tax Plan"
http://www.ctj.org/html/bushmarg.htm
.pdf version [60K]:
http://www.ctj.org/pdf/bushmarg.pdf

"Analysis of McCain Tax Plan"
http://www.ctj.org/html/mcca00pr.htm
.pdf version [26K]:
http://www.ctj.org/pdf/mcca00pr.pdf

RAND:
"Transforming U.S. Forces: Lessons from the Wider Revolution"
http://www.rand.org/publications/IP/IP193/

The Urban Institute:
Barnow, Burt S. and Christopher King. Improving the Odds: Increasing the Effectiveness of Publicly Funded Training [Chapter One Online]
http://www.urban.org/pubs/improving/index.htm
Popkin, Susan J. and Mary Cunningham. "Searching for Housing with Section 8 in Chicago Region"
http://www.urban.org/housing/searching.html
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New Offerings from Academic Publishers

Association of American University Presses: New Releases
http://aaup.uchicago.edu/new_releases/

Michigan State University Press Online -- New Releases
http://www.msu.edu/unit/msupress/newrel/newrlst.html

Cambridge University Press
http://www.cup.org/books/hot.html

Perseus Books: By Category
http://www.perseusbooks.com/booknews.html

Thela Thesis -- Just Published
http://www.thelathesis.nl/new.html

Oxbow Books -- Publishers of titles on archaeology, classical studies, and medieval studies.
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/
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Conferences

ALLC/ACH 2000
(The Joint International Conferences of the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing and the Association for Computers and the Humanities)
July 21-25, 2000
University of Glasgow, Scotland
http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/allcach2k/

Transporting Gender
October 6-7, 2000
National Railway Museum, York, UK
http://www.iisg.nl/~w3vl/vl-conf2.html#transporting

The Canadian Network for Economic History
Year 2000 Conference -- Globalization: the lessons from history
October 20-22, 2000
Stratford, Ontario
http://www.arts.ubc.ca/econ/cneh/intro.htm
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New Tables of Contents/ Abstracts

Essays in Criticism (table of contents)
Volume 50, Issue 1: January 2000
http://www3.oup.co.uk/escrit/hdb/Volume_50/Issue_01/

Communication Theory (table of contents, abstracts)
Volume 10, Issue 1: February 2000
http://www3.oup.co.uk/comthe/hdb/Volume_10/Issue_01/

International Journal of Lexicography (table of contents, abstracts)
Volume 12, Issue 4: December 1999
http://www3.oup.co.uk/lexico/hdb/Volume_12/Issue_04/

The Musical Quarterly (table of contents)
Volume 83, Issue 2: Summer 1999
http://www3.oup.co.uk/musqtl/hdb/Volume_83/Issue_02/

The Opera Quarterly (table of contents)
Volume 16, Issue 1: Winter 2000
http://www3.oup.co.uk/operaq/hdb/Volume_16/Issue_01/
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Job Guides/ Funding

H-Net Job Guide
http://www.matrix.msu.edu/jobs/

The Chronicle of Higher Education Job Openings
Humanities
http://jobs.chronicle.com/free/jobs/faculty/humanities/links.htm
Social Science
http://jobs.chronicle.com/free/jobs/faculty/sscience/links.htm

Academic Employment Network (By State)
http://www.academploy.com/jobs.cfm

American College Personnel Association: ACPA Ongoing Placement Listings
http://www.acpa.nche.edu/placemnt/placemnt.htm
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New Data

The Directory of Canadian Adult Literacy Research in English
http://www.nald.ca/crd/
The Center for Research on Literacy at the University of Alberta has developed this database in partnership with the National Literacy Secretariat of Canada. The database contains cataloged descriptions of research that include extensive annotations, contact information, URLs, and in many cases, complete texts of studies. Users may search by author/ researcher, title, keyword, location, year of publication, subject, and institutional source. Qualified researchers may also use this site to submit research to the database. [DC]
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1999 Annual Report on School Safety [.pdf, 1721K]
http://www.ed.gov/PDFDocs/InterimAR.pdf
In December, the US Departments of Education and Justice jointly issued their annual report on school safety. This document provides data on "the nature and scope of school violence in the United States," highlights 54 communities that are implementing "the collaborative, problem-solving model" featured in last year's Report, presents summary information on successful prevention programs around the country, and "lists resources for more information about school safety and crime issues." Further information on this topic can be gleaned from the Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 1999 [.pdf, 982K] issued by the National Center on Education Statistics last Fall (see the October 1, 1999 Scout Report). [DC]
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Virtual Library on the Information City
http://www.informationcity.org/resources/
This Website, based at New York University's Taub Urban Research Center, is part of a project dedicated to expanding "the body of knowledge on information technology and urban development." The site currently offers over 100 annotated links to sites organized under the headings Architecture and Urban Design, Economic Development, Geography of Communications, History, Modeling and Simulation, Politics and Government, Telecommunications, and the Information Society. The site offers simple and advanced search mechanisms, a listing of newly added sites, and an opportunity to suggest sites to the academic team responsible for the project. A current research section also features an as-yet modest collection of working papers in .pdf format on related topics. The Virtual Library is supported by funding from the National Science Foundation. [DC]
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In The News

Peace Process in Northern Ireland Threatens to Unravel
1. Christian Science Monitor: "Peace hits snag in N. Ireland"
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/02/07/fp6s1-csm.shtml
2. Christian Science Monitor: "Religious nationalism in retreat"
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/06/24/fp15s1-csm.shtml
3. BBC News: Northern Ireland
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/northern_ireland/default.stm
4. The Irish Times: The Path to Peace
http://www.ireland.com/special/peace/
5. The Irish Times: "IRA stance governed by the fear of defections"
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2000/0205/north3.htm
6. Ulster Unionist Party
http://www.uup.org/
7. Sinn Fein
http://sinnfein.ie/
8. CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) Bibliography of the Northern Ireland Conflict
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bibdbs/cainbib.htm
Recent events in Northern Ireland suggest that the peace process established by the ratification of the Good Friday agreement in 1998 could soon collapse. In response to the passing of a deadline for IRA disarmament at the end of last month, David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), has signed an undated resignation that he is ready to tender this week. Meanwhile, the British Parliament is ready to disband the new Northern Ireland government by Friday if proof of IRA disarmament is not forthcoming. To make matters worse, on Sunday a splinter group of the IRA, the "Continuity IRA," exploded a car bomb in County Fermanagh. No one was hurt, but the explosion underscored the fragility of the peace process and the intransigence of the most radical elements. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has repeated the IRA commitment to an eventual decommissioning of weapons, but continues to reject the timetable set by Unionist leaders. Unionists respond that in the two years since the Good Friday Agreement no substantial weapons hand-over has occurred. If the British Parliament does disband the new government, it would mean a return to British "direct rule" and a possibly fatal setback for the current quest for peace in Northern Ireland.

The Christian Science Monitor reports on the decommissioning crisis (1) and offers an analysis of the changing role of religious identifications in the peace process in Northern Ireland (2). The BBC Northern Ireland page (3) boasts the most comprehensive, up-to-date coverage of the issue on the Internet. The site features the latest news about the bombing and its aftermath, the political responses of the principal parties, the full text of the IRA's recent statement concerning disarmament, background analysis, the text and analysis of the Good Friday agreement and other key documents, biographies of key political figures, and much more. The Irish Times(4) serves as an Irish counterpart to the BBC's site with similarly extensive coverage, but with more emphasis on the history that preceded "the troubles." The Irish Times also examines the fear of IRA leaders that agreeing to decommissioning now will result in up to a third of IRA members defecting to the "Real IRA" and continuing to fight (5). The official presence of the UUP (6) on the Web offers a history of the party, biographies of key members, and an archive of statements and documents released by party officials, including David Trimble's recent dire warnings on the devolving peace process. The homepage of Sinn Fein (7) features a history of the political aspect of the Irish Republican movement and an archive of releases and statements about the current crisis. The CAIN Website (8) provides over 3,800 references to materials relevant to Northern Ireland from 1968 to the present (see the September 23, 1997 _Scout Report for the Social Sciences for more information). [DC]
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