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Internet Resources Newsletter Issue 30 (Section D)
For discussion on all aspect of Construction Integration, allowing Computer Integrated Construction (CIC) researchers & practitioners (R&Ps) in the UK & internationally to share relevant experiences, exchange opinions, views, provide access to bibliography, announce calls for papers & meetings.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/construction-integration/
Primarily for those developing in JAVA (and related languages) as part of the JISC JTAP 1996-1998 round of projects. Promote sharing of code, ideas etc. The list welcomes others developing in JAVA who are developing educational applications throughout the UK HE establishment.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/jtap-java/
A forum for the discussion of microbial genomes (bacterial, archaeal and small eucaryotic genomes), including announcements on progress on genome sequencing projects and technical details of sequencing and sequence analysis.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/microbial-genomes/
The list is for the application of economics, social science and management to policy problems where risk is a central feature of the decision-making process.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/risk/
News of free events run by TALiSMAN for the Scottish HE community. TALiSMAN is a SHEFC funded initiative to support teaching and learning using the Scottish MANs. Full details can be found at http://www.talisman.hw.ac.uk.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/talisman-events/
Forum for the HE community to share ideas and solve problems relating to teaching and learning using MANs. Emphasis is placed on users of the Scottish MANs: ClydeNet, EaStMAN, FaTMAN & AbMAN. Full details of the SHEFC funded TALiSMAN initiative can be found at http://www.talisman.hw.ac.uk.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/talisman-forum/
The superlist for TALiSMAN-events and TALiSMAN--forum.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/talisman-all/
List for discussion of good practice in the teaching of science in Universities. It complements lists in disciplines such as physics, biology and chemistry and in more integrated disciplines where science is important such as the engineering disciplines, medical science and environmental science.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/teaching-university-science/
A list for disseminating information on W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) activities and for discussions on UK HE involvement with the W3C.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/uk-web-focus-w3c/
List for the UK HE community to discuss all aspects of managing an institutional web site, maintaining the information, producing web pages, dealing with organisational and management issues and sharing of relevant experiences of maintaining a large information system.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/website-info-mgt/
For information on how to subscribe to Mailbase lists, please see Issue 1 of Internet Resources Newsletter. More detailed information about Mailbase lists is always available from the Mailbase WWW Server ( URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/ ).
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AP Chemistry
A recently established listserv dedicated specifically to Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry. The intent is that this should be a forum where both teachers and students of AP Chemistry can exchange views and ideas. The listserv is based at Trinity College School, an independent co-educational day and boarding school located in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. To subscribe to this new list, please do the following... Send an email to: apchem@tcs.on.ca with the word "subscribe" in the subject line
firetox
FIRETOX is an Email discussion list for researchers interested in the
toxicology of smoke and other combustion products from fires. This forum
may be of interest to chemists, toxicologists, engineers, epidemiologists,
safety and firefighting professionals.
The list is moderated by C. Austin at McGill University, Canada
(czca@musica.mcgill.ca).
To subscribe, send the following Email message to
LISTSERV@VM1.MCGILL.CA
Subscribe firetox Your-Name
Macs in Science and Engineering Mailing List
Discussion about software, reviews, programming, finding software to suit a particular purpose, applications, MacOS, instrumentation help, etc. To subscribe send email to: macjordomo@mse59.eng.ohio-state.edu In the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE MacSciEng yourfirstname yourlastname
Sendweb project
Sendweb project: web access through e-mail. This is a new tool to allow users
to fetch web documents through e-mail.
The release version of GetWeb is now online as: getweb@usa.healthnet.org
Rudimentary command documentation is available. Alternatively, you can
send a message with the body: HELP
Differences from the existing agora/w3mail, webmail, wwwmail etc. software
may include:
built-in support for popular Web search engines
more quota/access-control functionality for administrator
better error-handling
MIME support
More information at:
http://www.healthnet.org/dist/getweb/
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In the course of finding sites of interest for this Newsletter, we sometimes come across Web sites which we feel deserve slightly more than a passing mention. Each month we will try to pick out one or more such sites, and give them a short review. The sites will normally be UK based, may be small or large, and be of interest or potential interest to academics. After lengthy discussions we have decided, with incredible creativity, to call these: Nice Web Sites. Details of previous Nice Web Sites are available in the Nice Web Site Archive.
URL: http://www.rail.co.uk/ukrail/planner/planner.htm
and
URL: http://www.ukonline.co.uk/UKOnline/Travel/contents.html
Timetables On-Line from UK Railways on the Net is a service provided by Railtrack and BR Business Systems. It consists of on-line timetables covering the whole of the United Kingdom, and seems to work pretty well, although I have not had a chance to compare it with printed timetables. The site responds very quickly, and the interface is fairly foolproof. It is certainly getting a lot of publicity and many thousands of hits. I tried testing it by asking for the time of the next train from Haymarket (in Edinburgh) to Paris, and it quickly responded with details of the next train which was due to leave in 4 minutes.
A site which has gathered together links to several searchable travel databases is All-in-one UK Timetable from UK Online. From this one site you can search UK Railways on the Net, British Airways' online timetable, Virgin Atlantic's online timetables, the AirUK online booking system, the National Express Coaches timetable, and there are also links to British Midland, Guernsey-based Aurigny Air Services, Jersey European, and Manx Airlines, travel news services, European railway timetables, UK airports, international airlines, and also UK car rental company sites. It even has links to Scottish ski reports.
All-in-all, two very useful and nice web sites.
Roddy MacLeod
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Ventana, 1997
ISBN 1-56604-604-1
US $29.99
Tara Calishain is very confident about the capability of the Internet to aid research. She states in the introduction to the Official Netscape guide to Internet research that "Libraries will never go out of style...However they should be your second choice the next time you're trying to get governmental information, finish that thesis, or look into current events in Guatemala.", and she backs up this statement with a 450 page book which examines some of the sources currently available on the net which may be suitable for a researcher. She is positive about the information to be found, pointing out the many different types available and emphasising that it can be very up to date, not constrained by space, available in a variety of formats, and be from a variety of perspectives, but I feel that she initially neglects to add enough of a warning about quality and accuracy of that information. Such matters are not addressed until chapter 15.
This book is aimed at students, information professionals, and the hobbyist, and is written in a very chatty style, although this does not detract too much from its message. It covers everything from configuring Netscape Navigator, helper applications, utilities, organising research topics, mailing lists, and using the Netscape Mail application, to newsgroups, and of course the Web.
This guide is pretty up to date, gives lots of useful tips on finding information on the Internet, and contains abstracts of several hundred quality Internet resources. It is very much biased to the US, however, and the best way to use it is to read all of it or at least several chapters, rather than dipping into it and searching for material on a particular subject. Business and professional resources are given their own chapter, but there are no entries for science, mathematics, biology, or education in the index. This in itself is alright as there are many other directories, both in print and online, which provide subject listings.
The chapter "Resources for student research" lists online dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri, library catalogues, and historical and literature resources, but not many other subject resources. Other things missing are references to Uncover (surprising so, in the light of its popularity in the US), and also NlightN, Mailbase, the Los Alamos Physics E-Print Archive, and...er...the Internet Resources Newsletter.
Summary. A well researched book (it would need to be with a title like that!), not too expensive, particularly useful for beginners, but not so valuable for serious academic researchers in the UK.
For an interesting comparison, see Niche Resource Directory of resources suitable for research.
RM
Publisher: Alan Paton, Technology Appraisals Ltd., 82 Hampton Rd,
Twickenham, Middlesex, TW2 5QS
Frequency: 10 issues/year
Subscriptions: £295 (Europe), £315 (Rest of World)
ISSN: 1351 0096
Email: techapp@cix.compulink.co.uk
Web: http://www.techapps.co.uk/
Technology Appraisals (Techapps), the publisher of the Information Interchange Report, is an independent company, however this publication is also supported by the European Commission under the Open Information Interchange (OII) initiative within IMPACT 2, which aims to promote improved awareness and use of information coding standards in the exchange of electronic information. With a subtitle 'The guide to creating, managing and delivering networked information' it certainly looks relevant to many people who are currently involved with the Internet, intranets, and extranets.
My review copy (Nov/Dec 1996) extended to 28 pages and contained three articles plus a market news section and a product news section. Under markets, it contained news about an Internet printing standard which has been proposed by Novell and which is aimed at enabling users to send and control print jobs to remote printers attached to the Internet; news of a submission by Microsoft and PictureTel of a standard for a cross-platform application-sharing protocol dealing with data conferencing, which basically would allow two or more people to edit documents remotely and make remote presentations; plus news of a call for papers for the Fourth International Workshop on Interactive Distributed Multimedia Systems and Telecommunications Services, and a note about ActiveX core technologies. Product news items concerned multimedia Webs, network management systems, a new online service from the BBC, videoconferencing software, CD-ROM publishing tools, 3D virtual reality CD-ROM titles, Java applets and multimedia, computing architecture, web tools, digital music, and an interesting development from Alta Vista to provide a search engine for the desktop PC.
As can be seen from the above, the Information Interchange Report is not aimed at the casual reader. The articles on XML (the new standard for adding your own tags to HTML), electronic commerce, and immersive, projection, and desktop virtual reality will however be of great interest to many network managers, webmasters, multimedia developers, and those interested in the technical possibilities of networks.
RM
Publisher: Publications Resource Group (PRG), P.O. Box 765, North Adams,
MA 01247, USA
Frequency: 24 times/year
Subscription: $545 (North America), $595 (elsewhere)
Web: http://www.prgguide.com/
and
Publisher: PRG (see above)
Frequency: 12 times/year
Subscription: $940 (US)
ISSN: 1363-0181
Web: http://www.prgguide.com/
I stumbled upon a rich seam of Internet-related publications when I visited the PRG Guide Web site the other day. Apart from publishing directories such as Worldwide Fiberoptic Suppliers, the Telephone Industry Directory, the BIB Interactive Sourcebook (interactive content and delivery systems), the Cable Industry Directory, the Satellite Industry Directory, the Internet & Online Industry Sourcebook, and many more, PRG are responsible for producing at least 14 newsletters concerned with aspects of the Internet. The titles are as follows: DOT.COM, EFT Report, Electronic Commerce News, Electronic Mail & Messaging Systems, Electronic Marketplace Report, Information Superhighways, Interactive Publishing Alert, Internet Business Europe, Internet Marketing & Technology Report, Internet Week, INTRAnet News, Online Tactics, Report on Electronic Commerce, and The Internet Content Report. Added to these are several other titles of potential interest, such as Intergrated Services Digital Networking Newsletter, Local Area Networks, and Communications Newsletter. Clearly there is enough here to keep me busy reviewing for months!
That being the case, I selected two of the titles and contacted Theodore Anagnos, the PRG Sales & Marketing Associate, who was kind enough to send me copies within three days in a package marked "PRG...the one-stop resource for all your information needs in the communications industry" - clearly no idle boast. Both titles are expensive, with Internet Business Europe especially so at nearly £70 an issue. The June 1996 issue I have to hand is 20 pages long, so this makes it the most costly title I have reviewed. It contains a lot of short news items, many of which deal with network and telecomm developments and market information. While these are current and informative, and no doubt of great interest to high-powered businesspeople in the industry, it is hard to justify the price tag. The Internet Content Report is aimed at busy executives who need the latest information on new products, web developments, standards, and strategies in the online world. Its items are slightly longer and more in-depth than its sister publication and deal with such subjects as net commerce, online news information services, browser developments, Internet publishing stories, and company news. It is similar to some other titles which have been reviewed in the Internet Resources Newsletter over the last few months but is more business orientated than most of them, and apart from webmasters and computer manufacturers it would appeal to software developers, access providers, and even investors.
RM
Publisher: Net Profit Publications Ltd., P O Box 11155, London SE22 0WY
Frequency: Monthly
Subscription: £195 (currently £125)
Email: info@net-profit.co.uk
Web: http://www.net-profit.co.uk/
Academics must find business aspects of the Internet an extremely fertile ground for research. Why should it be the case, for example, that some companies are profiting from an Internet presence whilst others find it nothing but a drain on their resources? Why is it easy to sell books on the Internet, but almost impossible to sell shoes? Just how much revenue is being created on the Web?
What researchers find interesting is also of vital importance to business people, and I feel that both groups will benefit from the publication of this new monthly guide to Internet commerce, especially the managers at whom it is primarily aimed.
It is because individual company experiences of the net are so varied that case studies can be both fascinating and provide insight into the real commercial possibilities, or otherwise, of the Internet. Internet World reviewed in Issue 26 of Internet Resources Newsletter includes several case studies in each issue and they are often quite revealing. Net Profit features even more case studies, and although they do not go into quite as much detail they deserve to be compulsive reading for any company manager wanting to develop a business through the Internet.
Some estate agents have found the Internet an increasingly important means for marketing properties and their services. Property Link and the Internet Property Exchange have both experienced successes and several other agents have recently developed Web sites. But no prospective house-buyer wants to spend connect hours simply finding all of the relevant agent sites. Joint marketing, in this case, is the answer and is why a group of companies have joined forces to develop Net Estate. For other commodities completely different strategies may be needed. Net Profit will not necessarily indicate which is the right path for a company to take, but it certainly provides interesting reading and points to a variety of alternatives. As well as about 10 case studies, Net Profit includes five or six articles within its 20-30 pages. Predictably the latter cover such topics as intranets, extranets, electronic marketing, and legal questions. Finally, in a Web-watch section, a variety of UK company sites are briefly described.
I think that Net Profit is a very good publication which will prove useful to UK businesses. Its layout is attractive and clear, but never over-the-top. I would have preferred to see the addresses of sites mentioned in articles highlighted at the bottom of relevant pages, and I found myself disagreeing with the selection of six useful sites featured in the 'sites' section, and for a £195 subscription perhaps we deserve more and longer 'in depth' sections, but on the other hand it is good to see such a publication focussing on the UK situation.
RM
Publisher: InfoScavenger Communications, Inc., 1153 Bergen Parkway,
Suite 473, Evergreen, CO 80439
Frequency: Monthly
Subscription: $99 (print version), $149 (print + Web versions), -
non-profit organisations get 14 issues for the price of 12
Email: bizinfo@infoscavenger.com
Web: http://www.infoscavenger.com/
Cathy DuPre of InfoScavenger Communications was kind enough to send me three issues of the Internet InfoScavenger. This is much better than receiving a single issue, because with a single issue to review it is not obvious whether it is typical of the publication or not. She pointed out that her publication is aimed at marketers and business owners, but although I do not really fit into either category I still found Internet InfoScavenger of interest, and I would imagine that its appeal would be wider than she stated. Certainly anyone with a Web site who wants to increase traffic, and there are hundreds of thousands of such people, would benefit from following the advice given in various issues. Internet InfoScavenger discusses, for example, how to ensure that search engines list your resource high up in their results pages, how to form a strategy for linking to other sites, and how to use news sources to find potential links, and in each case many relevant online resources are cited for further information. This is important because online advice will often be updated to take account of the latest developments, and also because each issue of the Internet InfoScavenger extends to only eight pages, meaning that its articles are fairly brief.
As well a promotional advice for Web site owners, this periodical contains articles for those trying to use the net for competitive intelligence and other business purposes. It might also be of interest to researchers in economics.
Internet InfoScavenger is attractively and clearly set out, although I slightly prefer the layout of Net Profit (see review elsewhere in this issue). Unlike Net Profit, however, the Internet InfoScavenger lists all the sites mentioned in each issue on its back page in a 'Site Sleuth' section under helpful headings. About 50 sites are listed in each issue, although nearly all are American.
RM
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The Latest BIDS News Bulletin (Christmas 1996) is available at:
URL: http://www.bids.ac.uk/news.html
A week-by-week listing of new information resources on the NISS (National Information Services and Systems) Information Gateway selected by experts in the subject area is available at:
URL: http://www.niss.ac.uk/welcome/whatsnew.html
BUBL has retained a strong library element, but now provides a subject-based service to the academic and research community more generally, this via the BUBL Subject Tree. The latest news from BUBL is available at:
URL: http://www.bubl.bath.ac.uk/BUBL/Newnews.html
The latest Additions to EEVL (Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library) covering the period 11 Jan - 11 Feb 1997 are available at:
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/eevl/1997-02/0000.html
The latest additions to SOSIG (Social Science Information Gateway) are available at:
URL: http://sosig.esrc.bris.ac.uk/Subjects/new.html
CHEST aims to obtain quality commercial software, datasets, training materials and other IT products for the Education and Research Community at low prices and attractive licence terms. The latest news from CHEST is available at:
URL: http://www.chest.ac.uk/news.html
News about various projects can be found at:
URL: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ariadne/news/elib_up.html
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This photograph shows James Miller CBE (in the centre) officially launching EEVL (Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library) at the Web 13 CyberCafe, Edinburgh, in December. Also featured are Michael Breaks (on the left), the EEVL Director, and Roddy MacLeod, EEVL Project Manager: Information).
EEVL is a national gateway to high quality information resources in Engineering. It is based at Heriot-Watt University Library, with technical input provided by the Institute for Computer Based Learning (ICBL).
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The Social Work Research Centre of the University of Stirling in Scotland is hosting this Conference from 7th-10th September 1997. The conference seeks to explore aspects of the relationship between social exclusion and social work services. Social exclusion has been defined as multi-dimensional disadvantage which severs people from the major social processes and opportunities in society such as housing, citizenship, adequate living standards or employment.
Papers are being presented within the themes of:
The official language of the conference is English. The Conference fee will be approximately £200 if registering by 30th June, 1997 or £250 if registering after 1st July, 1997. This covers admission to all conference sessions, a conference pack, all receptions and meals (excluding the Conference Dinner, which is optional) and a copy of the Conference Proceedings to be published after the event.
For more information, please visit the Conference's home page at http://www.stir.ac.uk/humsci/swrc/confer.htm or contact Monica Barry, Conference Organiser, at mab2@stir.ac.uk giving your name and postal address to which further information can be sent.
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IRC Publicity on the Internet by Steve O'keefe John Wiley & Sons, 1997 001.6441 COM Computer networks and Internets by Douglas E Comer Prentice-Hall, 1997 001.6441 LEI Network management: a practical perspective by Allan Leinwand and Karen Fang Conroy Addison-Wesley, 1996 001.6441 MAU Hyper-G now hyperwave: the next generation web solution by Hermann Maurer Addison-Wesley, 1996 025.6 BID The end-user revolution: CD-ROM, Internet and the changing role of the information professional Edited by Richard Biddiscombe LA Publishing, 1996
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Guides for climbing the mountains on the Isle of Skye.
URL: http://www.w-o-w.com/clients/cuillin
URL: http://www.expressmedia.co.uk/pubtour/index.htm
eurotrip is the guide for a eurail, inter-rail or budget trip in europe
URL: http://www.eurotrip.com
URL: http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk
Mellerstain, one of the great Adam houses of Scotland.
URL: http://www.calligrafix.co.uk/mellerstain/
URL: http://home.earthlink.net/~rtd1/orchlink.htm
URL: http://www.sco.org.uk/
Calendar
URL: http://www.taynet.co.uk/users/usr01/index.html
URL: http://www.edzell.demon.co.uk/ssrc/index.htm
Roddy MacLeod
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