Random Quotes

"Simply put, blogs are the greatest breakthrough in popular journalism since Tom Paine (the original, not TomPaine.com, which is also great)." Arianna Huffington, The Sunday Times, May 15th

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Internet Resources Newsletter by email and RSS

Over 30,000 people now subscribe to the free email version of this Newsletter. Very many thanks go to Willco who distribute the email version. To subscribe, at no cost, go to http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html

The Internet Resources Newsletter has an RSS feed. This means that you can read its 'headlines' (essentially the Table of Contents) through a feedreader or service such as Bloglines' My Blogs, and then link through to the sections of interest.

The RSS feed is available at: http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.rss This is a .rss file and therefore it may not display in some browsers. The easiest way to do this is via Bloglines' My Blogs, or via a feedreader, such as those listed in the RSS Primer.

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Text version

A text only version of the Internet Resources Newsletter is available at: http://www.hw.ac.uk/cgi-bin/parser.pl/0304/www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html

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Here is this month's selection of news items of interest

[Contents] - [ IRN Home Page ] - [HWU Library Home Page] 

A-Z NEW & NOTABLE WEB SITES

1st-dictionary.com

http://www.1st-dictionary.com/

Free online dictionary.

1st-for-jobs

http://www.1st-for-jobs.info/

Advice, information and tips on Jobs and Job Networking.

4th International Conference on Design and Manufacture for Sustainable Development

http://www.liv.ac.uk/sustain/

12 – 13 July Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

9th European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries (ECDL 2005) x

http://www.ecdl2005.org/

September 18-23, 2005 Vienna, Austria.

Academici

http://www.academici.com/

“Academici offers you the chance of extending networks and tapping into the know-how of your peers in and across disciplines, it offers a wide variety of academic services and acts as a key resource base for academic and academic-related work. The virtual academy is aimed specifically at the academic world.”

African Newsletter

http://www.scidev.net/africanewsletter/scidev-africa-oct04.pdf

The newsletter of the science and development network for sub-Saharan Africa.

All Island Project Website

http://www.allislandproject.org/

In August 2004, the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) and the Northern Ireland Authority for Energy Regulation (NIAER) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU provides a set of agreed principles which will underpin the development of a single wholesale electricity market on the island.

Analysing corporate websites for competitive intelligence"

http://www.freepint.com/issues/120505.htm#feature

An article in the FreePint Newsletter by Arthur Weiss.

Athenus

http://www.athenus.com/

“Athenus.com is the search engine of choice for scientists and engineers seeking resources in science and engineering on the web. The Athenus search engine indexes hundreds of thousands of subject-specific web sites, publications, news and other resources, providing users with the most current, most focused collection of topic-specific material on the Internet.”

Athenus.com has its origins in 'Engwho: The Engineering Search Engine'.

backstage.bbc.co.uk

http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/

Build what you want using BBC content.

“backstage.bbc.co.uk is the BBC's new developer network, providing content feeds for anyone to build with. Alternatively, share your ideas on new ways to use BBC content. This is your BBC. We want to help you play.”

Best Laid Schemes

http://www.bestlaidschemes.com/

Best Laid Schemes lets you watch full films from the Scottish Screen Archive online, on demand. Plus more.

Book Standard News

http://www.thebookstandard.com/

All about the book marketplace.

Business Magnet.co.uk

http://www.businessmagnet.co.uk/

Business to Business Directory for electronics, engineering, plastics, rubber, chemical, oil, gas, recruitment and other industries.

Canadian Statistics

http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/

Statistics Canada is pleased to announce a redesign of one of its key web-based modules, Canadian Statistics.

Centre for Applied Special Technology: CAST

http://www.cast.org/

CAST is a nonprofit organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals, especially those with disabilities, through the research and development of innovative, technology-based educational resources and strategies.

CIA World Factbook

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

The 2005 edition is available.

Cites & Insights

http://cites.boisestate.edu/civ5i7.pdf

The May issue is available.

Community Planning Website

http://www.communityplanning.net/

Growing numbers of residents are getting involved with professionals in shaping their local environment. This website is an essential starting point for everyone concerned. It provides easily accessible how-to-do-it best practice information of international scope and relevance.

Creating an Institutional Repository: LEADIRS Workbook

http://dspace.org/implement/leadirs.pdf

The Learning About Digital Institutional Repositories Seminars programme (LEADIRS) aims to describe and illustrate how to build an online institutional repository.

Current Cites

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/2005/cc05.16.4.html

April 2005 issue.

Diesel eBooks

http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/

Search and download over 35,000 titles, including 750 free downloads.

Educating the Net Generation

http://www.educause.edu/books/educatingthenetgen/5989

An ebook from Educause.

EEVL Xtra

http://www.eevlxtra.ac.uk/

EEVL Xtra is a brand new, free service which can help you find articles, books, the best websites, the latest industry news, job announcements, technical reports, technical data, full text eprints, the latest research, teaching and learning resources and more, in engineering, mathematics and computing.

EricWard.com

http://www.ericward.com/

I’ve seen at first hand just how effective Eric Ward’s promotional strategies are, so I can recommend this site.

Find UK Gadgets

http://www.find-uk-gadgets.com/

“With everything from remote control cars, remote control planes, office gadgets, corporate gifts, spy cameras, roulette wheels and many more, you can treat yourself or just impress your work mates with the latest gadgets available.”

Focus on UKOLN

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/focus/issue15/

The March issue of the focus newsletter is available.

Freedom of Information Disclosure Log

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/cnPages/foi/log05.htm

This log lists information which has been released in response to requests for information under the FOI (Scotland) Act 2002 since January 2005.

getlearning.net

http://www.getlearning.net/

getlearning.net is one of the leading centres for on-line learning. It is based at Clydebank College to the west of Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city.

Grokker

http://www.grokker.com/

A very impressive search engine which displays results graphically.

“Grokker brings together multiple information sources in a single application and presents up to 2,000 results per query, giving you the ability to explore any subject far beyond the obvious.”

Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association: HVCA

http://www.hvca.org.uk/

The HVCA represents the interests of firms active in the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration (hvacr) products and equipment.

ICAD

http://www.icad.org/

ICAD is a forum for presenting research on the use of sound to display data, monitor systems, and provide enhanced user interfaces for computers and virtual reality systems.

illumin

http://illumin.usc.edu/

illumin's mission is to illustrate the many ways engineering benefits and impacts our daily existence. Showcasing student writing and creative design skills, articles address everyday topics and explore their technical concepts using clear language and multimedia content.

Incoming Links Development Guide and Directory

http://www.incominglinks.com/

Advice on generating links to your website.

Information City

http://www.informationcity.com/

The Online Community for Library and Information Professionals. Contains many resources to help Library and Information professionals develop their network of professional and personal contacts, improve their skills, keep updated with latest LIS news, and get valuable help and advice.

Nice idea.

Intelligentedu.com

http://www.intelligentedu.com/

Previously mentioned in issue 71, this site has changed its name. Intelligentedu.com is a Computer & IT Education and Training Gateway.

Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, Spring 2005

http://www.istl.org/05-spring/index.html

The Spring 2005 issue of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship is now available.

Just Staffing

http://www.juststaffing.com/

The Just staffing agency provides employers with customized technical staffing services and helps job seekers find opportunities.

Knowledge Management Information

http://www.knowledege-management.info/

All about KM.

Law and Policy Institutions

http://lpig.org/index.html

Law and Policy Institutions provides a well-organized point of access for legal and legislative information. In addition to domestic legal topics, this site provides information on significant international treaties, journals, and legal databases ranging from antiquity to the present and representing all nationalities.

Librarians: We're Not What You Think

http://www.tk421.net/essays/nwyt.html

This essay was written by John Hubbard, who is a librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Library Quarterly

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/LQ/home.html

The Library Quarterly is now online.

MalekTips Computer Help

http://malektips.com/

MalekTips was recently selected as one of PC Magazine's "Top 100 Sites You Didn't Know You Couldn't Live Without" for Spring, 2005.

Middleware Assisted Take-Up Service: MATU

http://www.matu.ac.uk/

A new service designed to support Early Adopters in achieving their Shibboleth objectives.

National Association of Shopfitters

http://www.shopfitters.org/

The National Association of Shopfitters is the only trade association that exclusively promotes the shopfitting industry and has been doing so since 1919.

National Instruments Academic Programs and Resources

http://www.ni.com/academic/

National Instruments provides products and resources to enhance engineering and science education. Explore hardware, software, and curriculum resources, including Lab Share, Courseware, Journals, and Experiments.

National Standards Authority of Ireland: NSAI

http://www.nsai.ie

The NSAI is Ireland's Standards body. NSAI facilitates the development of voluntary standard documents which manufacturers or service providers may use as an aid to meeting safety or customer requirements.

Office of Public Sector Information

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/

The new website of the Office of Public Sector Information - incorporating Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

OfficialFind

http://www.officialfind.com/

Official Find is a Search Engine that makes it easy to find the Official Web Sites of top brands and companies.

Ofreg

http://ofreg.nics.gov.uk/

The Public face of the Northern Ireland Authority for Energy Regulation (NIAER).

Open Media Network

http://www.omn.org/

A Free Consumer Service for Viewing Public Service Content on the Internet

PapersINVITED

http://www.papersinvited.com/

“PapersINVITED was conceived and developed to assist researchers at all levels - scientists, professors, post-docs and students who are seeking publishing opportunities for their research papers. PapersINVITED presents an exhaustive list of Calls for Papers issued by professional bodies, journal editors and other conference organizers in all disciplines.”

PC World's Info Centers

http://www.pcworld.com/resource/allinfocenters.asp

"Doing product research? Wondering about spyware, Windows, and other major technology topics? Provisioning your small business or home office? Our Info Centers are your one-stop shop for everything you need: reviews, charts, how-to's, articles, downloads, and pricing info on the products and topics that most interest you."

People in Procurement

http://www.peopleinprocurement.net/

People in Procurement is Europe 's first job site dedicated to purchasing and procurement professionals. We aim to connect the most progressive corporate companies with high- calibre, career-minded individuals, quickly and easily.

RAE 2008

http://www.rae.ac.uk/panels/members/

Panel members for the 2008 RAE.

ResourceShelf's DocuTicker

http://www.docuticker.com/

Docuticker is a daily update of new reports from government agencies, ngo's, think tanks, and other groups. DocuTicker is compiled by the librarians who bring you ResourceShelf.com.

Ritz Recruitment

http://www.ritzrec.com/

Ritz Recruitment specialises in permanent and temporary placements for all types of office work.

RSS Mix

http://www.rssmix.com/

Mix any number of RSS feeds into one unique new feed.

Scottish Storytelling Centre and Network

http://www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk/

“The Scottish Storytelling Forum is Scotland's national charity for storytelling. It was founded in 1992 to encourage and support the telling and sharing of stories across all ages and all sectors of society in particular those who, for reasons of poverty or disability, were excluded from artistic experiences.”

Search Engine Detective

http://www.pandia.com/searchworld/detective.html

The Pandia Search Engine Detective is Pandia's resource section for search engine intelligence. Here we list the best search engine oriented sites and blogs on the Internet.

Searching Books Between the Covers

http://www.infotoday.com/online/may05/OnTheNet.shtml

An interesting article by Greg R. Notess.

Semantic Web Technologies

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/jisctsw_05_02pdf.pdf

From JISC Technologies and Standards Watch.

Social Capital Gateway

http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/

“Social capital is generally referred to as the set of trust, institutions, social norms, social networks, and organizations that shape the interactions of actors within a society and are an asset for the individual and collective production of well-being. At the macro level, social capital can affect the economic performance and the processes of economic growth and development. These webpages contain useful resources for researchers, teachers, students, and practitioners interested in social interactions and social capital, in their role in the well-being of communities, and in their relationship with human, social and economic development.”

Steelonthenet.com

http://www.steelonthenet.com/

Steelonthenet.com is an iron and steel information portal, with worldwide steel industry news, reports, information and statistics plus a range of free research tools including a steel industry search engine and supplier database online.

Subject Finder

http://bb.1asphost.com/subjectfinder/default.asp

“Subject Finder is developed by Teum Teklehaimanot to help students, teachers and lecturers find educational websites easily without being overwhelmed with a huge number of search results. It is designed to search only educational websites which contain tutorials, learning and teaching materials such as Accounting, Arts and Design, Biology, Business, Chemistry, Computing, Construction, Counselling, Economics, Electronics, Engineering, Geography, Health, History, Law, Languages, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, Reference, Science, Social Science, Sociology, Travel, etc.”

The Futurist

http://www.wfs.org/futurist.htm

A bi-monthly magazine published since 1967 by the World Future Society and is a principal benefit of membership, read by 30,000 members worldwide.

The Great Transatlantic Cable

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/cable/

“The Great Transatlantic Cable offers insights into topics in American history including communications history, U.S.-British relations, entrepreneurs and enterprise, marine science, the growth of the global economy, and more. Use the film or this Web site to learn more, either in a classroom or on your own.”

The Learning Cafe

http://www.realcaledonian.ac.uk/learningcafe.html

Glasgow Caledonian University’s facility.

The Scotsman Digital Archive

http://archive.scotsman.com/

Every issue of The Scotsman from 1817 to 1950.

University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/TechReports/

Technical Reports. Most newer technical reports, in particular all those published since January 2002, are available online in PDF.

War Detectives

http://www.wardetectives.info/

War Detectives, through National Lottery funding is giving young people the opportunity to learn first hand from other generations, about their experiences of living and working during WWII.

Water Framework Directive Information Centre

http://www.euwfd.com/

“The Water Framework Directive Information Centre has been established at the Foundation for Water Research and is a central source of information about the Directive.

It helps a wide range of interested parties understand what the Directive involves and raises awareness of how it will lead to an even cleaner and healthier water environment.

The objective is to complement the activities of the key organisations, such as government and the environmental regulators, who are closely involved in the implementation of the Directive.”

WebJunction

http://webjunction.lishost.org/

WebJunction is an online community where library staff meet to share ideas, solve problems, take online courses - and have fun.

Widernet

http://www.widernet.org/

Improving Digital Communication for People in Developing Countries.

WIDWISAWN

http://widwisawn.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/issues/vol3/issue3_2_1.html

The latest issue of WIDWISAWN is available for free via the SAPIENS Electronic Publishing Service

Wisdom ebooks

http://www.wisdomebooks.com/

Lists, tools, directories, etc

Yahoo! Search Creative Commons Search

http://search.yahoo.com/cc

This Yahoo! Search service finds content across the Web that has a Creative Commons license.

[Contents] - [ IRN Home Page ] - [HWU Library Home Page] 

NICE WEB SITE

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 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.

EEVL Xtra
http://www.eevlxtra.ac.uk/

EEVL Xtra is a new, free service which can help you find articles, books, the best websites, the latest industry news, job announcements, technical reports, technical data, full text eprints, the latest research, teaching and learning resources and more, in engineering, mathematics and computing.

EEVL Xtra searches parts of the Web that Google doesn’t, and EEVL Xtra helps you find subject-based information, which Google doesn’t do very well. Some of the things you’ll find through EEVL Xtra come from the ‘Hidden Web’, and are not indexed by the big search engines.

In many cases, the full text of items found via EEVL Xtra should be freely available. In some cases, the full items are details of books or websites or articles. In some cases, the full text of items may be available to you if your institution subscribes to the publication

Sounds complicated, but its quite easy to use.

RM

[Contents] - [ IRN Home Page ] - [HWU Library Home Page] 

BLOGORAMA

News about weblogs, RSS, etc:

A weblog (Blog for short) is an online diary of sorts that usually features daily or regular postings providing commentary, plus links to other sites.

For more information on blogs, the article: Search Engines: Weblog search engines http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue36/search-engines/ is a good place to start.

Webopedia gives a definition of RSS http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RSS.html

A Weblog Webliography
http://kairosnews.org/blogbib

Aggregating the Aggregators: RSS Reader Round-Up
http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=7875&Query=rss
An article in EContent

Blogs Will Change Your Business
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_18/b3931001_mz001.htm
Very interesting article from BusinessWeek

Leading Monitoring Service eWatch(TM) Announces the Inclusion of Blogs Within Its Web Pubs Service
http://prnewswire.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=155

Expat-Blog.com
http://www.expat-blog.com/
Expat-Blog.com is an open community dedicated to expatriates and their adventures all around the world

U.S. Government RSS Library
http://www.firstgov.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Libraries/RSS_Library.shtml
A directory of feeds

Feedster feed of the day
http://www.feedster.com/fotd.php

Google adds ads to RSS feeds
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2135392/google-adds-ads-rss-feeds

Tactical Blog
http://www.tacticalblog.com/login.php
Blogging site for gamers and technology enthusiasts

Gresham’s Law and the Blogosphere
http://www.slis.indiana.edu/news/story.php?story_id=965
By Blaise Cronin

Selected interesting blog's and RSS feeds

eGov monitor
http://www.egovmonitor.com/newsfeeds
The UK-based eGov monitor, which covers eGovernment and public sector
IT, was previously a subscription-only service. It now offers a free,
open service and is now running daily news, announcements and features,
together with a weekly email digest. RSS newsfeeds are also available.

Docuticker
http://www.docuticker.com/
Docuticker is a daily update of new reports from government agencies, ngo's, think tanks, and other groups. DocuTicker is compiled by the librarians who bring you ResourceShelf.com.

BlogJunction
http://webjunction.lishost.org/
WebJunction’s niche in the blogosphere

UK Association of Online Publishers
http://www.ukaop.org.uk/cgi-bin/go.pl/news/rss.xml

nerac.connects Blog
http://blog.nerac.com/
The Weblog that connects scientists and engineers to Internet resources, information trends and industry news. Nerac delivers mission-critical information to busy professionals who need to make informed decisions concerning science, technology, intellectual property and business development.

Health & Fitness Blog
http://getfitsource.blogware.com/blog

thespamweblog
http://spam.weblogsinc.com/

Gallup Poll news
http://www.gallup.com/poll/rss/
Eight feeds

Search-Science
http://spaces.msn.com/members/search-science/
watching the information retrieval world ...

marketingblog
http://www.marketingblog.com/

Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

BBC Backstage
http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/news/index.xml
Build what you want using BBC content

iblog
http://www.iblogph.org/wp/

Public Library Association blog
http://www.plablog.org/

U.S. Copywrite Office
http://www.copyright.gov/help/rss.html
Four feeds

SOSIG Subject News
http://www.sosig.ac.uk/subject-news/
SOSIG Subject News is a blog that highlights the latest Internet resources for the Social Science academic community. Topical in focus, SOSIG Subject News links to the research sites behind the latest news stories, including Government publications, research reports and existing key websites. Users can view entries by subject whether it is Education, Politics or Business and Management, giving 17 blogs in one and all are available via RSS.

CNN RSS
http://www.cnn.com/services/rss/index.html

[Contents] - [ IRN Home Page ] - [HWU Library Home Page] 

PRESS RELEASES

**** A new way of delivering the world's knowledge to those most in need - 50th eGranary Digital Library is installed in Haiti; first in Central America ****

Hailed as a new way of delivering the world's knowledge to those most in need, the 50th eGranary Digital Library was installed this week in Haiti, making it the first in Central America.

For the majority of people in developing countries, an Internet connection -- and thus the 'world's knowledge' -- is a distant mirage.  But for 50 educational institutions in Africa, Bangladesh and now Haiti, the eGranary Digital Library has changed all that by putting millions of documents at their fingertips without Internet connection.

The 50th eGranary Digital Library is being installed in Hospice St. Joseph, a clinic in Port au Prince, and other sites are planned for schools where computers are available.

The eGranary Digital Library provides Internet resources off-line to institutions lacking adequate Internet access.  Through a process of securing permission from authors and publishers, copying Web sites and delivering them to intranet Web servers inside partner institutions in developing counties, the eGranary delivers millions of documents that can be instantly accessed over local area networks (LANs).

The digital library provides lightening fast access to educational materials including video, audio, books, journals and Web sites, even where no Internet access exists. 

The eGranary Digital Library project has received funding from the University of Iowa, the MacArthur Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
        
For more information, please see the eGranary Press Kit at this link:
http://www.widernet.org/presskit
Or go to
http://www.widernet.org/digitalLibrary
and
http://www.widernet.org

Please contact Cliff Missen, director, for more information at 319-335-2200 or Cmissen@widernet.org.

----

For more news items in business information products we recommend VIP: http://www.vivavip.com/

[Contents] - [ IRN Home Page ] - [HWU Library Home Page] 

RECENT INTERNET BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY

The Mantex Information Design web site has reviews of some of the books mentioned in previous issues of the Internet Resources Newsletter.

Recent Arrivals

025.1 FRI
Dimensions and use of the scholarly information environment
by Amy Friedlander
Digital Library Federation, 2002

A complete list of new books added to Heriot-Watt University Library is available from the Library News page.

http://www.hw.ac.uk/library/news.html

[Contents] - [ IRN Home Page ] - [HWU Library Home Page] 

NETWORK NEWS LINKS

Pinakes: A Subject Launchpad
http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/pinakes/pinakes.html
Pinakes has links to over 50 subject gateways. Direct links to the news pages of some important sites are listed below.

Netskills: News
http://www.netskills.ac.uk/news/

JISCmail News
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/news/index.htm

UK Data Archive news
http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/home/archiveNews.asp

[Contents] - [ IRN Home Page ] - [HWU Library Home Page] 

GET A LIFE! - LEISURE TIME

Isle of Berneray
http://www.isleofberneray.com/
Looks like a very beautiful place to live or visit. I am assured that the locals are friendly.

Fotolog
http://www.fotolog.net/
Worldwide online photo sharing community

textamerica
http://www.textamerica.com/
moblog service

Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/
Online photo management and sharing application

Live Webcam Kaleidoscope Screensaver Launched by British Artist
Full Story: http://www.urlwire.com/news/050905.html
Direct to site: http://kaleidocam.co.uk/
British artist Ian Kirk has created a remarkably clever use for the basic webcam. Its called Kaleidocam, and it uses your existing webcam to create an ever-changing live kaleidoscope pattern on your screen. This pattern can also be used as your screensaver.

Laurie Anderson
http://www.laurieanderson.com/

Book This Band

8 Fold
http://www.8-fold.co.uk/

Send me your band websites, and if they're good, I'll try to mention them in future 'Book This Band' sections.

[Contents] - [ IRN Home Page ] - [HWU Library Home Page] 

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