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Internet Resources Newsletter, Issue 41, February 1998 (Section D)
This list is aimed at researchers working in the field of airborne particulates. These include organic particles such as Fungal Spores and Pollens together with inorganic particles such as PM 2.5 and PM10. Discussion will also include the effect of these particles upon health.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/airborne-particulates/
The aim of the list is to encourage the exchange of information between groups carrying out experimental archaeology in Britain. Discussion of all aspects of experimental archaeology and archaeological reconstructions will be encouraged.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/arch-experiment/
For discussing international collaboration on resource collection, cataloguing, management and discovery; eg academic guides, virtual libraries and subject gateways. Sharing effort, investigating cross-searching and discussing and developing standards for related software and information issues.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/imesh/
ocean-colour is being setup to provide a forum for the discussion of ocean colour airborne/satellite imagery and shipborne measurements. This group will be run in conjunction with the Challenger Society for Marine Science Ocean Colour Affiliated Group.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/ocean-colour/
A UK acoustic ecology group branching from the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, bringing together all the different disciplines concerned with the soundscape.
URL: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/soundscapeuk/
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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.
There are two Nice Web Sites this month:
URL: http://www.eubusiness.com/
EUbusiness is a service operated by Europanet SA, a company incorporated in Luxembourg. It aims to provide business information about the European Union, and present it in easily understandable way. It looks at the latest European news, information about EU law, finance, Commission proposals, the decision-making process in the EU, tender notices, and also offers advice about relevant matters. It is directed at businesspeople, market researchers, consultants, and researchers.
I found EUbusiness an attractive site which was easy to navigate. Not being an expert in European information, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information, but it seems a useful resource. One criticism is that it is not always obvious when you are about to leave the Eubusiness site, as some of the links are to relevant external resources. Overall, however, a Nice Web Site.
URL: http://www.calvin.edu/Lib_Resources/as/
AlphaSearch describes itself as a Web library of subject-related gateway sites designed for serious, academic pursuit of Web information. It defines a gateway as a site that organizes a large number of other sites all focused on an idea, subject or discipline.
The first thing that strikes you about AlphaSearch is how fast it loads, even though it is located in the US. The second thing is how useful it is. The concept is simple - to provide an access point for all the many other subject gateways and important top-level lists of resources on particular subjects, wherever they may be located. If a high-quality, current gateway site can be located, then nearly all the important web sites focusing on that subject are probably contained in that site. So AlphaSearch, which is a service of The Hekman Library, Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary of Grand Rapids, Michigan, helps people to find useful resources in their subject areas by directing them to the best catalogues of those resources. This is a noble concept, and AlphaSearch works quite well. It could do with more resources in its database, and additional keywords should be added to some of the records, but this site shows a lot of promise. When you browse AlphaSearch you are presented with a list of resources under such headings as Databases, Full-text documents, Gateways, Government Documents, Journals, etc, and each one is named, numbered, and briefly described. If you click on the 'More information...' link more details are given, including particulars of when the record was created on, whether it has been modified, and when the URL was checked. These details are important for verifying the usefulness of both the database and the resource in question, although many people will not bother with such fine detail. Altogether, AlphaSearch is a Nice Web Site.
Roddy MacLeod
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I was first introduced to the Internet in the late 1980s, while an undergraduate biotechnology student at London University. Back then I used it mainly for e-mail, telnet and ftp. Around that time too, I began to develop an interest in searching databases, mostly biomedical databases such as medline, and sometime during one of my college vacations I decided to make a career in information science. By the time I was preparing to begin my postgraduate studies at City University, the web was making big news as a new tool for information professionals, and naturally I was curious what all the fuss was about.
When I first used the web in 1994, I was amazed at the way Internet was huge and disorganised, when it came down to highly specialised information resources. I was only interested in the biomedical resources, especially Internet based databases, and after several frustrating and time consuming attempts trying find what I wanted, I realised a permanent list of resources was essential, thus began my personal bookmarks of biomedical LIS resources. Around the autumn of 1995 I had about 80 sites bookmarked, and I decided to create a personal web page on first on my college's web server, then via my home ISP web server, listing the growing biomedical LIS web sites I had found, which my browser bookmark facility could not cope with any more. Initially this web page was for my personal use, but before the end of 1995, I was eager to share my huge resources with others, which by now had surpassed 200 links and finally decided on the name Info Connect.
In early 1996, following a few encouraging e-mails, Info Connect changed focus became multi-disciplinary in content, shifting from only biomedical LIS resources, to all types of LIS resources on the Internet, such as resources on libraries, information centres/units, information science, librarianship, LIS products/services, online information retrieval, databases(online, CD-ROM, Internet etc), database hosts, LIS schools and LIS professional organisations, although many users of Info Connect say there is still a strong biomedical bias. My major goal is to have a sort of 24 hour online directory and resource, where I and others, can locate and search any library OPAC, free or subscription based online databases, and LIS related search engines such as those offered by major booksellers or keep up to date with organisations and companies that offer LIS services and products.
In the odd 2 years, updating Info Connect, I have received well over a hundred e-mails worldwide, as far as Japan, Russia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina, as well as from others here in the UK. The contents of the e-mails are very encouraging, showing a major consensus in the view that the Internet is a very important tool for information professionals. At the moment, Info Connect is hosted on my personal home web space of my ISP free of charge. I hope to find some funding eventually to enable me to install a CGI based search engine and use a more appropriate domain name such as Infoconnect.org.
At the moment, the Info Connect directory, currently with 2000 plus links, which can be browsed in an alphabetical index, can also be searched with an experimental Javascript based search engine program, I wrote called Sniffer, which also doubles as a subject index. I try to find enough time every 2 weeks to update both the Info Connect directory and the Sniffer database, a task I enjoy, even though it will soon become necessary one day to have an extra hand to back me up. Nowadays during updates, I now spend less time searching for more LIS resources directly on the web to add to Info Connect, having listed the major LIS Internet sites, from past extensive searching since 1995. A lot of new Internet sites for Info Connect now come from voluntary contributions worldwide. Most of my time used during updates, now involves running a special web program that locates links in Info Connect that are no longer working and to seek out web sites with redirected links.
Info Connect has been mentioned in some UK LIS publications such as the Library Association Record, the ISS Inform, and Aslib's Managing Information, I hope to write some articles for other LIS publications, in particularly those overseas, in an attempt seek new ideas and comments from LIS professionals from other countries apart from the UK. If Info Connect is to live up to the theme as "the Librarians number one directory" it must have positive opinions directly from LIS professionals and hence the most valuable e-mails I receive, ar not new Internet sites, but the priceless feedback, some offering nice comments, some critical, but all agreeing a directory such as Info Connect has been long overdue, since the birth of the web.
I am very grateful to the 7800 plus visitors in 1997 who came to see what Info connect was all about and encourage me to keep updating Info Connect.
Godfrey Oswald
Information scientist
e-mail: kush@dircon.co.uk
Info Connect URL: http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~kush/Page1.htm
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Last month I reviewed Net.Journal Directory, which indexes full text journals on the Web. I commeneted that the subject of ejournals was currently quite complicated. Since then I've noticed an excellent article by Tony Kidd entitled 'Electronic Journals Management: some problems and solutions' in Managing Information, December 1997, pp. 25, 26, 31. Tony Kidd gives some background information about ejournals and also some advice as to how libraries can deal with this format.
Publisher: Taylor Graham Publishing, 500 Chesham House, 150 Regent St,
London W1R 5FA, UK.
Frequency: Annual
Subscription: £65 (US $125)
ISSN:
1361-4576
Email: M.L.Breaks@hw.ac.uk
The Table of Contents of Volume 3, 1997
Editorial
Michael Breaks
p.1
Articles:
Issues facing the information service provider
Andy Schulkins
p.3
Smart and smarter: Exeter University Library and the implementation of a
campus-wide card
Alasdair Paterson
p.13
Managing digital collections: towards a strategic framework for the
development of appropriate and effective organisational data policies. Part 1
Daniel Greenstein
p.23
Access to and services for U.S. federal information in the networked
environment
Joan F. Cheverie
p.43
NDLTD: preparing the next generation of scholars for the information age
Edward A. Fox, Robert Hall and Neill Kipp
p.59
Z39.50: a critical component of the Canadian resource sharing
infrastructure; implementation activities and results achieved
Carrol D. Lunau
p.77
Measuring researchers' preferences for CASIAS
Kate Brunskill
p.93
Tackling international copyright on behalf of the user community
Sandy
Norman
p.103
ARIADNE: the hybrid magazine in the hybrid library
John MacColl
p.117
Publisher: MCB University Press, 60/62 Toller Lane, Bradford, W
Yorkshire, BD8 9BY
Frequency: 12 issues per year
Subscription: £2379.00, Plus Vat
Email: akaminska@mcb.co.uk
Web:
http://www.mcb.co.uk/cgi-bin/journal1/ijopm
David Twigg, from the Warwick Business School, who produces the excellent Operations Management Index entry point to Operations Management resources on the Internet writes a regular Internet update for this journal.
Publisher: Net Profit Publications Ltd., P O Box 11155, London SE22 0WY
Frequency: Monthly
Subscription: £195
Email:
info@net-profit.co.uk
Web: http://www.net-profit.co.uk/
I reviewed this excellent publication is issue 30. A complete sample issue is now available at the web site, and subscribers will have access to additional pages.
Publishers: Findlay Publications, Hadlow House, 9 High Street, Green
Street Green, Orpington, Kent, BR6 6BG
Frequency: Quarterly
Subscription:
Free to qualifying individuals
Email: webwatch@findlay.co.uk
Findlay Publications are actively promoting their trade journals on the Internet, and Manufacturing Industry Webwatch is a spin off from these activities. Issue 1 appeared in November, and consists of brief details, with screen dumps, of about 80 manufacturing companies with web sites. Quite nice as a little printed catalogue of commercial manufacturing sites.
This UK magazine from VNU, which I reviewed in issue 26 of the Internet Resources Newsletter, seems to have ceased publication.
Publisher: Future Publishing Ltd., 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW
Frequency: Monthly
Subscription: £2.99 cover price
Email:
subs@futurenet.co.uk
Web: http://www.iwks.com/
This is a new monthly magazine which is aimed at those who would like to know more about the business aspects of the Internet - not just managers and small businesspeople, but also those who find themselves looking after corporate Web sites. It comes from the same source as PC Plus and .net but is more readable than both. Because of its glossy cover, I initially mistook it for yet another popular Internet magazine, but Internet.Works is much more authoritative and useful than most of that ilk.
Several reviews are included in each issue. In the February 1998 issue I found reviews of four Web servers: Microsoft Site Server Enterprise 2.0, StarNine WebSTAR 2.1, Netscape Enterprise Server 3.0 and Apache 1.1.3. Whilst most webmasters would want more information before making a choice, the reviews were clearly written and informative. The February issue also contained reviews of HoTMetaL PRO4, which was given a thumbs-up, plus reviews of the latest monitor-top video camera, the HAHTsite 3.0 Web building tool, WebEdit Pro 3.0, Flash2, an animation program, and the Nokia 9000i (is it a phone or a net terminal?). The News section contained items about the effect of legal judgements on warehousing, along with details of new Web sites of interest to business (thankfully with an emphasis on UK sites), plus news of new software releases and industry events.
Internet.Works feature articles cover such topics as branding on the Internet, Web site design, domain names, selling products online, marketing Web sites, and e-commerce. All of these are important for businesses with, or seeking, an Internet presence, and their only weakness arises from the fact that the magazine format forces all the salient points to be compressed into three or four pages.
Internet.Works is a welcome addition to the list of Internet magazines, especially now that the UK edition of Internet World has ceased publication. It is more technical in content than Net.Profit, but not too technical to scare off people who do not know a signal box from a network hub (myself included).
If you know of other Internet journals or journals with regular significant sections about the Internet which have not been mentioned in The Internet in Print section, please let me know at: R.A.MacLeod@hw.ac.uk
Roddy MacLeod
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The Latest BIDS News Bulletin (Christmas 1997) is available at:
URL: http://www.bids.ac.uk/news/dec97.html
Also of interest is: BIDS JournalsOnline News, which is available at:
URL: http://www.journalsonline.bids.ac.uk/JournalsOnlinepages/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 LINK Subject Tree. The latest news from BUBL is available at:
URL: http://bubl.ac.uk/news/
The latest Additions and Updates to EEVL (Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library), The Gateway to UK Engineering Information on the Internet, are available at:
URL: http://www.eevl.ac.uk:4321/whatsnew/
The latest additions to SOSIG (Social Science Information Gateway) are available at:
URL: http://sosig.esrc.bris.ac.uk/roads/whats-new.html
The latest issue of Edina (Edinburgh Data & INformation Access) Newsline can be found at:
URL: http://edina.ed.ac.uk/newsline/
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
MIDAS (Manchester Information Datasets and Associated Services) is a National Datasets Service based at Manchester Computing and funded by JISC, the ESRC and the University of Manchester. It provides UK academics with online access to strategic datasets such as UK Population Censuses, large government and other surveys (including the GHS, LFS, FES, BHPS), macroeconomic time-series databanks, spatial data including satellite images and digital map data, and scientific databases including the Beilstein Crossfire System.
The latest news from MIDAS can be found at:
URL: http://midas.ac.uk/news.html
RUDI (Resource for Urban Design Information) is a multimedia information resource for research and teaching in the field of urban design in the Western cultural context. The latest news from RUDI can be found at:
URL: http://rudi.herts.ac.uk/new.html
UK's independent gateway to high quality biomedical Internet resources. The latest sites added to OMNI can be found at:
URL: http://roads.nott.ac.uk/whatsnew/whats-new-uk.html
And:
URL:
http://roads.nott.ac.uk/whatsnew/whats-new-world.html
Electronic Development and Environment Information System. A gateway to information sources on development or the environment. What's new on Eldis can be found at:
URL: http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/wnew.htm
Netskills aims to help the UK HE community make effective use of the Internet for teaching, research and administration. The latest news from Netskills can be found at:
URL: http://www.netskills.ac.uk/publicity/updates/
Biz/ed is a dedicated business and economics information gateway for students, teachers and lecturers.
URL: http://www.bized.ac.uk/homeinfo/whatsnew.htm
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001.6441 KEN Internet & World Wide Web: the Rough Guide by Angus J Kennedy, Rough Guides, 1997 001.6442 GLO Search engines for the World Wide Web by Alfred and Emily Glossbrenner Peachpit Press, 1998 001.6442 GRE Database backed Web sites: the thinking person's guide to Web publishing by Philip Greenspun ZD Press, 1997 001.6443 WEI Coloring web graphics.2: the definitive resource for color on the Web by Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin New Riders, 1997 001.645 MAL Writer's Internet handbook by Timothy Maloy Allworth, 1997
A complete list of new books added to Heriot-Watt University Library is now available from the Library News page.
URL: http://www.hw.ac.uk/libWWW/news/news.html
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URL: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/paraglide_scotland/
Based in Aberfeldy
URL: http://splash-rafting.com/splash/welcome.htm
The objective of SCaT is to advance the education of the public in Scottish culture and traditions by the promotion of Scottish music, dance, arts, crafts, literature, heritage and other related activities.
URL: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/8873/home.htm
URL: http://www.lochness.co.uk
Bike Away organises cycle tours in the Netherlands.
URL: http://www.bikeaway.demon.co.uk
URL: http://lords.msn.com/news/headlines/default.htm
URL: http://www.mundial98.com
Momentum Surf Shop is the East of Scotland's only dedicated hard core surf shop.
URL: http://www.commercepark.co.uk/momentum/noframes.htm
Recent Advances in Manufacturing (RAM is a database of bibliographic information for manufacturing and related areas. It covers items in well over 500 niche and mainstream journals and magazines, and also details of books, videos and conference proceedings.
RAM covers all the main areas of manufacturing, including the manufacturing industry, management, product development, systems and processes, planning and control, maintenance, etc. The complete RAM database, which was previously available only through subscription, is now available at no cost exclusively at the above site, through EEVL (Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library).
RAM is of use to those in industry, business, academia and research institutions worldwide who are looking for references to manufacturing literature.
URL: http://www.eevl.ac.uk/ram/index.html
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