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Heriot Watt University

Heriot-Watt University Library


Heriot-Watt University Library

Issue 93 - June 2002

Edited by:

Roddy MacLeod (R.A.MacLeod@hw.ac.uk),

Catherine Ure and Catherine Ferguson.

Table of Contents:

Comment

Comment:

In the news

Feedback

Internet Resources Newsletter by email

A-Z New & Notable Web Sites

Information and reviews of new and recent Web sites

Nice Web Site

This month:
five 'news' sites

Press Releases

New JDoc Editor and Editorial Board Appointed

Beyond the DNER

Network News

DNER BUBL EEVL SOSIG
EDINA CHEST MIMAS PSIgate
BIOME ELDIS Netskills BIZ/ed
AHDS JISCmail UK Data Archive Chemical Database Service
Academic Info RDN    

Book Reviews

Review of: The Library Internet Trainer's Toolkit by Michael T. Stephens (revised and adapted by Phil Bradley)

Recent Internet Books in the Library


Newsletter home page button Heriot-Watt University Library Home Page

COMMENT

Comment:

In the news

News is very much 'in fashion' on the Web. There are various kinds of news services available on the Web, and I can only touch on the subject here.

For information professionals, Gary Price's weblog, known as The Virtual Acquisition Shelf & News Desk http://resourceshelf.freepint.com is an excellent source of up to the minute news. This recently (early May) moved to the address indicated. Gary writes daily news items for this site (does the man never rest?) on everything from search engines to public libraries.

LISNews http://www.lisnews.com/ is a collaborative weblog devoted to current events and news in the world of Library and Information Science. Anyone can submit a story and potentially add to the weblog. Internet Scout also produce a Weblog for news items that complement the Internet Scout Reports.

For those who are particularly interested in Weblogs, Free Pint 112 has a feature article by Laurel A. Clyde which mentions several other LIS Weblogs. There is also blogdex, and MetaFilter http://www.metafilter.com/ which is a communal weblog.

One of the most popular sources of news on just about every topic you can think of is Moreover http://w.moreover.com/ And then there is the Google News Service http://news.google.com/ and RocketNews http://www.rocketnews.com/ . RocketNews is a Current News Search Engine and news distribution service. A slightly different service is Newsblaster http://www.cs.columbia.edu/nlp/newsblaster/ which aggregates news stories. Also of note is NewsEdge http://www.newsedge.com/ which sells syndicated content. Several news services are included in Fagan Finder News http://www.faganfinder.com/news/ .

RSS news feeds are gaining in popularity. According to UKOLN Metadata Resources, "RDF Site Summary (RSS) is a lightweight multipurpose extensible metadata description and syndication format". Details of some UK RSS Channels are available at the RSS channel editor and directory. More can be found at the RSS Info site http://www.blogspace.com/rss/writers . Steven M. Cohen's Library Stuff http://www.librarystuff.net/ also lists a number of RSS feeds (scroll down the page and they are on the left hand side) relevant to the ibrary and information world.

Syndic8.com is a place to find syndicated news feeds on a wide variety of topics.

Getting back to the information world in particular, an excellent source of news for the information community is Managing Information http://www.managinginformation.com/ which carries news items from a number of sources.

Robeel Haq, the Web Editor of ManagingInformation.com has suggested that we include one or two of the most appropriate news stories from the Managing Information Newsletter in each issue of the Internet Resources Newsletter. Here are this months choices:

Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers Announce Awards
The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, together with the Charlesworth has announced six awards which recognise significant achievement in the field of learned and professional publishing.
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=507

Content Management Trends to be Explored in Symposium
Some of America's top experts will gather in Chicago to examine the latest trends in content management and to explore real-world strategies and cutting-edge techniques that are helping large and small organisations.
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=524

UK Online Centres Regional Awards The UK online centres Regional Awards will recognise the work of UK online
centres, support staff and learners, who have shown best practice, innovation and dedication to facilitating, teaching and learning ICT skills.
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=515

Supporting Distance and Part-Time Learners Theme for Latest Issue of
ASSIGNation ASSIGN (The Aslib Social Science Information Group and Network) has just published the latest issue of its journal ASSIGNation on Supporting Distance and Part-time learners.
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=539

John Wiley & Sons to Publish New Series of Biomedical Databases
John Wiley & Sons, a global leader in scientific, technical and medical publishing, has launched of a new series of biomedical databases called BioMedicalPDA, accessible on PDAs as well as desktop PCs.
http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=532

If you wish to subscribe to ManagingInformation.com, please email:
robeel.haq@aslib.com
with SUBSCRIBE MI NEWSLETTER
or UNSUBSCRIBE MI NEWSLETTER in the subject line.

Feedback

Last month's Internet Resources Newsletter included details of the Freeze Clip Art site, http://www.freeze.com/ which I described as "A clip art site which offers free images, after registration."

I had some feedback from Christina Somovilla, who tried to register with Freeze Clip Art. Christina emailed me saying "The sign-up process is a bit misleading as it states that you can have limited access, free of charge but once you have completed the registration form it tells you that this service is no longer available. During the registration process they ask you to sign up to receive promotional material from other companies..."

Thanks for that information, Christina.

Internet Resources Newsletter by email

Over 7,000 people now subscribe to the email version of this Newsletter. Many thanks to Free Pint who distribute the email version. To subscribe, at no cost, go to http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html

Table of Contents

A-Z NEW & NOTABLE WEB SITES

"A World of Resources Awaits You in China"

http://www.freepint.com/issues/180402.htm#tips

A 'Tips' article from a recent issue of Free Pint, by Laurel J. Delaney


Active Learning in Higher Education

www.sagepub.co.uk/journals/details/j0350.html

The Journal of the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILT)

This journal is available electronically via ingenta to members of institutions with a print subscription.


Association for Environment Conscious Building: AECB

http://www.aecb.net/

"The AECB is the leading independent environmental building trade organisation in the UK."


BBC Search

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

The BBC now have a Search the Web facility available from this page.

"Our search service isn't here to make any money, so our results are the ones that best match your search words - not the ones advertisers want you to see." It is UK-focused and family friendly.

It uses an optimised version of Google.


bitterlemons.org

http://www.bitterlemons.org/

This was Information World Review's 'Web site of the month' for May. Bitterlemons.org is a website that presents Israeli and Palestinian viewpoints on prominent issues of concern.


bottomquark

http://www.bottomquark.com/

Science and technology news and discussion.


CEMBUREAU

http://www.cembureau.be/

The European Cement Association web site.


CE-NET Concurrent Enterprising Network of Excellence

http://www.ce-net.org/

CE-NET aims to establish and further develop a well co-ordinated and effective support infrastructure throughout Europe in order to share and exchange the latest developments in the domain of Concurrent Enterprising.


ChangeDetection(tm)

http://www.changedetection.com/monitor.html

"Now anyone can automatically monitor any web page for changes. It's free!"


City Information Group: CiG

http://www.cityinfogroup.co.uk/

The City Information Group (CiG), a former interest group of the Institute of Information Scientists, is a networking group of 900 business information professionals working in London. We organise regular events covering topical issues.


Company and Telephone Directories

http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/directs.htm

Very useful links from Karen Blakeman.


Concurrent Engineering and Research Applications: CETEAM

http://www.ceteam.com/

This site will be the primary web site for the CE Institute. We cover a number of Concurrent Engineering related activities, such as the Concurrent Engineering Research and Applications (CERA) Institute, Concurrent Engineering conferences and journal activities.


Construction Industry Information Group: CIIG

http://www.ciig.org.uk/

The organisation for professionals in construction and building information in the UK.


Contractors Bulletin

http://www.contractorsbulletin.net/

A meeting site for the construction sector.


Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation

http://www.cmp.bee.qut.edu.au/crc/

This is based at the Queensland University of Technology.


Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources: COUNTER

http://www.projectCounter.org/

"It is widely accepted that the use of online information resources will continue to increase, and that the usage of these resources should be measured. Much valuable work has already been done by a number of agencies to define user requirements for usage statistics from vendors (most notably the pioneering work by ICOLC and ARL's E-metrics project), but as yet no single, internationally accepted, extendible Code of Practice has been established that will enable vendors to provide these requested statistics in a way which all parties can trust to be consistent, credible and compatible. It is the purpose of COUNTER, building on existing initiatives, to develop such a Code of Practice, gain the support of information purchasers and providers for it, and propose an organizational framework for implementation and compliance. The resulting protocols will take into account the requirements of information purchasers and providers, including acceptable levels of confidentiality. COUNTER will thus contribute in a major way to the understanding of online information use at a number of different levels in the community."


Develop Your Own Applications Using Google

http://www.google.com/apis/

"With the Google Web APIs service, software developers can query more than 2 billion web documents directly from their own computer programs. Google uses the SOAP and WSDL standards so a developer can program in his or her favorite environment - such as Java, Perl, or Visual Studio .NET."


Ebook Library

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/

1,800 publicly-available ebooks from the University of Virginia Library's Etext Center, including classic British and American fiction, major authors, children's literature, American history, Shakespeare, African-American documents, the Bible, and much more.


E-books of Literature

http://www.gallup.unm.edu/~smarandache/eBooksLiterature.htm

E-books of criticism, essays, poetry, dramas, translations in many languages which can be downloaded, printed, read for free.


Educational Developments (ejournal)

http://www.seda.demon.co.uk/eddevs.html

The magazine of the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA).


Educational Technology Review: ETR

http://www.aace.org/pubs/etr/

"Educational Technology Review (ETR), originally a print journal, has been transformed into an online publication to not only increase timeliness of content but also to enhance every issue with the current and future electronic resources and tools available on the AACE website." From the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.


Encyclopedia of Psychology

http://www.psychology.org/

The Encyclopedia of Psychology is intended to facilitate browsing in any area of psychology.


e-Science (GRID)

http://www.escience-grid.org.uk/

The DTI and the Research Councils are committing £118M to a government-industry programme on e-Science. GRID technology is seen as the natural successor to the world wide web and this investment will allow the UK to take a leading role.


European Conference on eLearning

http://www.mcil.co.uk/2i-ecel2002-home.htm

Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK 4-5 November 2002.

"The European Conference on e-Learning (ECEL) is an opportunity for academics, practitioners and consultants from Europe and elsewhere who are involved in the study, management, development and implementation of web enabled and ICT initiatives in the learning and teaching sectors as well as the professions to come together and exchange ideas and examples of best practice."


European Group of Surveyors: EGOS

http://www.european-surveyors.org/

"The European Group of Surveyors (EGOS) was established in 1989 to represent especially non-geodetic surveying professionals in Europe. Originally called the 1992 Group of Surveyors, EGOS has members across Europe. The Group, recognised and partly funded by the European Union, was formed initially with the sole aim of helping to create a free market in Europe for members of the surveying professions."


Exchange magazine

http://www.exchange.ac.uk/

"Exchange magazine exists to stimulate the sharing of ideas, practices and news about learning and teaching in higher education. It aims to encourage positive change by supporting its readers in developing and enhancing learning and teaching in their communities."


Facet Publishing

http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/

The new name for the highly successful leading international publisher of books for the information profession, Library Association Publishing.


Fagan Finder

http://www.faganfinder.com/

Fagan Finder was included in Issue 87 of IRN, but has since moved, and the link is no longer valid. The is the new address. Several new features have been added. e.g. see:
Biographies, Reference, Science and News.


FAIR: Update: May 2002

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/development/programmes/fair.html

FAIR Programme: the JISC has now awarded funding to 14 projects, comprising partnerships between more than 50 institutions and teams and involving universities, libraries, JISC services, art galleries, colleges, museums and commercial companies.


Flipper

http://www.flipper.com/

Searches the 'deep web' as well as some popular search engines.


Forum of European Construction Professionals

http://www.id-strategies.com/fecp/

The Forum of European Construction Professionals brings together nearly 100 organisations of construction professionals in 33 countries across Europe - including all the European Union member states and the states that have applied for EU membership.


Gaining independence with e-prints archives and OAI

http://library.cern.ch/Announcement.htm

2nd Workshop on the Open Archives Initiative (OAI):

Gaining independence with e-prints archives and OAI

CERN, 17-19 October 2002 Geneva, Switzerland.


GeoExplorer

http://www.geoexplorer.co.uk/

Provides access to free geography resources, including revision sheets, photos, virtual fieldwork, outline maps and geography links to many web resources to support students and teachers of geography or those with a general interest in geography.


Google answers

https://answers.google.com/answers/main

An open forum where Researchers answer your questions for a fee.


Government on the Web

http://www.governmentontheweb.org/

This site is dedicated to improving knowledge and understanding of e-government and the impact of web-based technologies on government. This site is run jointly by the LSE Public Policy Group (London School of Economics and Political Science) and the UCL School of Public Policy (University College London).


Headline Viewer

http://www.headlineviewer.com/

"Headline Viewer is a Windows application that lets you see news headlines from a configurable list of Headline Providers (news sources and weblogs). Instead of continuously jumping from site to site to check on headlines (and using a big fat browser window), you can let Headline Viewer do it for you:"


icorporation

http://www.icorporation.com/

"The proven way to get people interested in your site - and stick around it once you've captured them, is to provide market-tailored, trade news information that's always up-to-date, relevant, interesting and well-presented."


ILLWeb

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/lawlibrary/illweb/

"ILLWeb is a gateway to electronic and print resources pertaining to all aspects of interlibrary loan (ILL), document delivery, and resource sharing. Designed to be comprehensive and international in scope, ILLWeb features links to resources that will help practitioners locate materials for their clientele, manage the ILL process, and keep up with developments in the profession."


Incubation, the 2nd trAce Conference on Writing and the Internet

http://www.engc.org.uk/

The Nottingham Trent University, England, 15-17 July 2002


Indiastat

http://www.indiastat.com/

"Indiastat.com provides an oceanic depth of India-specific, socio-economic statistical facts and figures."


I-NETwerks

http://www.inetwerks.com/

I-NETwerks provides tools and application development services that enable non-developers to easily create integrated multimedia presentations and events on the Web.


Institute of Demolition Engineers

http://www.ide.org.uk/

"The Institute is established to promote and foster the science of demolition engineering, the use of more efficient techniques in the industry, to encourage safer methods of working and to provide a qualifying body in the industry."


Institute of Rail Welding

http://www.iorw.org/

"The IoRW is a focal point for good rail welding practice, development and competance and aims to raise awareness of rail welding throughout the industry."


Institutional Web Management Workshop 2002: The Pervasive Web

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2002/

The 6th Institutional Web Management Workshop will take place at the University Of Strathclyde on 18-20th June 2002.


Intellectual Property

http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/

The Government-backed home of UK Intellectual Property on the Internet.

"We hope to bring you all the answers to your questions and all the resources you need to find your way through the IP jungle of Copyright, Designs, Patents and Trade Marks."


International Conference of Industrial Engineering and Enterprise Management (IE&EM'2002) And International Conference on Electronic Commerce Engineering (IceCE'2002)

http://166.111.52.178/conference/indexe.htm

This conference, mentioned in Issue 89, now has a Web site.


Internet Resources for Geographers

http://www.colorado.edu/geography/virtdept/resources/contents.htm

Maintained by Lance Christian and Kenneth Foote of the Department of Geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder.


Inventors' Handbook

http://www.nesta.org.uk/lowfat/inventors.html

"Here is a step-by-step guide to the process of invention and innovation. It includes guidance on pitfalls to avoid and sources of advice to pursue, tips on developing an idea into a real product, an overview of protecting your intellectual property and advice on ways to get an idea into the commercial world - from licence deals to making and selling a product yourself. The handbook was commissioned by NESTA and was written by Peter Bissell and Graham Barker."


iRail

http://irail.co.uk/

"The best place to find the railway sites you want." RailFind was mentioned in issue 81 of this newsletter, it has now merged with iRail.co.uk.


Issues in Science & Technology

http://www.istl.org/02-spring/

The Spring 2002 issue of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship is now available.


Ius mentis

http://www.iusmentis.com/

"The purpose of iusmentis.com is, put briefly, "to explain the law to techies, and tech to lawyers.""


Jahia.org

http://www.jahia.org/jahia/Jahia

An integrated web content management and portal server.


Journal of Biology

http://www.jbiol.com/

Journal of Biology is a new international journal, published by BioMed Central, which provides immediate open access to research articles of exceptional interest.


Keeping Current with the World of Search Engines

http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/02/sd0502-sereading1.html

From SearchDay May 2, 2002 - Number 259. (SearchDay is a free newsletter from Search Engine Watch featuring web search news, reviews, tools, tips, and search engine headlines from across the web.)


KenRadio.com

http://www.kenradio.com/

KenRadio World Tech Round Up.


KRC Technologies engineering software store

http://www.engineering-software.com/index.htm

"Our mission is to offer quality engineering software to engineers so they can be more productive in their jobs."


Learned Publishing: April Issue

http://www.catchword.com/alpsp/09531513/v15n2/contp1-1.htm

Contents include some wide-ranging librarian perspectives on electronic journal developments from Carol Hansen Montgomery (Drexel University Library, PA), Emily McElroy (Loyola University Health Science Library, Chicago), Walt Crawford (Research Libraries Group) and Michael Breaks (Heriot Watt University Library).


Library Link

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/librarylink/

Mentioned in issue 82, this is the new address for this resource for librarians and information specialists, providing a range of free articles and viewpoints (current and archive), a discussion forum and other resources.


Lis-Pub-Libs

http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/LIS-PUB-LIBS.html

Just a reminder about this email list. It's a forum for discussion of topics of general interest (with a particular focus on networked services) to public librarians in the U.K. and elsewhere.


Living Words

http://www.education.bl.uk/

The Web site for schools from the British Library.


Managed Learning Environments

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/mle/

Final JISC MLE Interoperability Pilot Reports are available from this page.


ManagementFirst

http://www.managementfirst.com/

A portal for students of business and management programmes at first and postgraduate level plus middle to top management and business consultants. A great deal of freely available information and articles, interviews with gurus, practical tools, over a dozen subject areas. Free registration offers alerts and other services.


National Federation of Demolition Contractors

http://www.demolition-nfdc.com/

The UK body for demolition.


National Library of Scotland: Maps from our collections

http://www.nls.uk/maps/

The NLS Map Library is among the ten largest in the world.


National Teaching Fellowship Scheme: NTFS

http://ntfs.ilt.ac.uk/

The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) is part of an overall programme to raise the status of learning and teaching in Higher Education.


Needs Analysis of the Further Education Sector

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub02/fe_needs.html

A summary of a JISC Report.


Nerac

http://www.nerac.com/

Customised information services for all industrial sectors.


netzwissenschaft.de: net.science

http://www.netzwissenschaft.de/e.html

"netzwissenschaft.de is mapping the emerging infrastructures of all (Inter)net research endeavours. net.SCIENCE as an anthropology of connectivity is trying to overcome the constraints of specialist method transfers on net matters. The protuberance of technical networks necessitates a professionalization of human net knowledge. Neither the isolation of concepts as in basic research nor the encapsulation of processes as in applied sciences will ever be able to adequately describe the complex autopoiesis of networks. net.SCIENCE is undoubtedly developing into a scienza nuova of its own right."


NewsIsFree

http://www.newsisfree.com/

This site collects headlines from 2678 sources around the web and lets you manage them in new ways.


OilExec

http://www.oilexec.com/

A site for oil and gas industry professionals and employers.


Patently Absurd

http://www.patent.freeserve.co.uk/index.html

A popular site which is all about patents.


Pathlock

http://www.pathlock.com/

A new Internet security product launched for PC users with broadband connections in their homes.


PlagiServe

http://www.plagiserve.com/

"PlagiServe is the most advanced service designed to assist educators in detecting academic dishonesty. It is a powerful tool that verifies the originality of papers by using the latest Internet-based technology."


PortalsCommunity

http://www.portalscommunity.com/

An enterprise portals resource.


Process REgister

http://ProcessRegister.com/

Online supplier directory for process industries includes news, links, forums and event calendar. Browse and search Over 5000 vendors arranged categorically.


Recent Advances in Soft Computing 2002

http://www.rasc2002.info/

The 4th International Conference on Recent Advances in Soft Computing, RASC2002, will be held at Nottingham Trent University, on December 12-13, 2002.


RLG DigiNews

http://www.rlg.ac.uk/preserv/diginews/diginews6-2.html

The April, 2002 issue of RLG DigiNews is now available.


Science and Engineering Indicators 2002

http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind02/start.htm

Quantitative information about U.S. science, engineering and technology.


ScotFEICT

http://www.scotfeict.ac.uk/

A site aimed primarily at Scottish Further Education.


Scottish Poetry Library

http://www.spl.org.uk/

This site has been redesigned.


SCURL AwayDay, Stirling 19 April 2002: Presentations

http://scurl.ac.uk/events/stirling19.04.02.html

SCURL stands for Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries.


Search Engine Listing Checker

http://www.hostpulse.com/app/networktools/searchlisting.asp

This allows you to see which search engines list your site. In theory, anyway.


Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings: SPAB

http://www.spab.org.uk/

"The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings was founded by William Morris in 1877 to counteract the highly destructive 'restoration' of medieval buildings being practised by many Victorian architects. Today it is the largest, oldest and most technically expert national pressure group fighting to save old buildings from decay, demolition and damage."


Spyonit

http://www.spyonit.com/Home

"Spyonit keeps watch over the things you care about on the Internet and lets you know when there's something new to report via email, instant message, pager, web phone, Palm VIITM or a personal "My Spies" web page."


Stands4.com

http://www.stands4.com/

"STANDS4.com created to be the leading Internet source for acronyms and abbreviations."


Sustainable Scotland

http://www.sustainable.scotland.gov.uk/

This site brings together the work under way in Scotland on sustainable development.


Syndic8.com.

http://www.syndic8.com/

This is the place to come to find syndicated news feeds on a wide variety of topics.


TASI: Technical Advisory Service for Images

http://www.tasi.ac.uk/

TASI have a new Web site TASI is the JISC's Technical Advisory Service for Images and provides advice, guidance and training on the management, creation, delivery and use of digital images within the HE and FE sectors.


TeachingPlastics.org

http://www.teachingplastics.org/

"In addition to the classroom activities, the site contains background materials and an extensive topic-based link area that provides information on subjects including the history of plastics, recycling, resource conservation, food safety and sports."


The Rise of the E-Citizen: How People Use Government Agencies' Web Sites

http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=57

A US Report, April 3, 2002, from Pew Internet & American Life.


The Snewp

http://snewp.com/

"The Snewp is a revolutionary search engine serving today's results for today's searches, literally. Snewp indexes almost 6,000 sources every day, continually gathering news headlines from around the globe to provide a distinct twist to the standard search portal."


TheBigBlue

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/bigblue/casestudies.htm

The big blue project is surveying present practice in Information Skills Training for students in Higher and Post- 16 Education.

Case studies of good practice are now available


TrackEngine

http://www.trackengine.com/

TrackEngine can alert you to specific events on any given webpage. For example, track your competitor's press releases and be notified when they launch new products.


UKERNA Quarterly Reports to the JANET Community

http://www.ja.net/documents/reports/spring02.html

The Spring 2002 report is now available.


University of the Arctic

http://www.uarctic.org/

"The University of the Arctic is a network of academic institutions and programs in the circumpolar North. We are currently developing our program structures, which will deliver higher education in the North, for the North, and by the North. This site presents information on our organization and its current and future activities."


Video Communications in the Workplace

http://www.videocommunications.org.uk/

This site is part of a marketing campaign led by the Computing Suppliers Federation (CSF) on behalf of its Members who are active in the Video Communications sector.


Video Games Industry Research

http://www.freepint.com/issues/160502.htm?FreePint_Session=11f6df4cfe94ed9fe5142981542806b3#tips

An article in a recent issue of Free Pint, by John Kirriemuir.


Virtual Communities

http://www.eusidic.org/Lisbon2002Web.html

EUSIDIC Annual Conference, 22 - 25 September 2002, Lisbon, Portugal.


Virtual Research Environment Project

http://www.external.ull.ac.uk/elpt/vre.asp

The University of London Library (ULL), supported by a grant from the Vice-Chancellor's Development Fund to the University Libraries Committee, leads the Virtual Research Environment (VRE) project. Running from December 2001 to November 2002, the aim of the VRE is to:
"develop and test an integrated web-based research environment to support the needs of the e-researcher."
The VRE Project will focus on the qualitative evaluation of the information needs of the e-researcher rather than technical issues surrounding the implementation of groupware.


WebABLE

http://www.webable.com/

WebABLE, Inc., founded in 1996, is a privately held New Hampshire company that is a leading provider of Internet accessibility technology, consulting, and business-to-business web accessibility software.


Weblogs and Blogging - Part 1

http://www.freepint.com/issues/020502.htm#feature

An article in a recent issue of Free Pint, by Laurel A. Clyde


Weblogs and Blogging - Part 2"

http://www.freepint.com/issues/160502.htm?FreePint_Session=11f6df4cfe94ed9fe5142981542806b3#feature

An article in a recent issue of Free Pint, by Laurel A. Clyde.


West Midlands Centre for the Built Environment

http://mcbe.uce.ac.uk/

"The West Midlands Centre for the Built Environment was inaugurated in March 2000 and was originally created and developed through grants from the European Social Fund (ESF). The Centre initially was established to form a network to serve organisations related to the Build Environment in the West Midlands. The Centre became a company limited by guarantee in June 2000 and adopted the following remit, which forms part of the mission statement:"


Whitehall opens e-library

http://www.kablenet.com/kd.nsf/Frontpage/AFA96D70A20C944F80256BC60058E1F7?OpenDocument

"Government librarians are to provide a new information resource in the form of the Electronic Library for Government, it was announced on 28 May 2002. Over 20 library and information services will provide content for the site, that will be hosted by the Knowledge Network team in the Office of the e-Envoy."

Many thanks to Gary Price, who writes the Virtual Acquisition Shelf and News Desk for news about this link.


X4L: Update May 2002

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/development/programmes/x4l.html

X4L Programme: the JISC has now awarded funding to 22 lead projects, comprising partnerships between more than 100 institutions and teams and involving colleges, universities, libraries, JISC services, local authorities and commercial companies.


Xlation.com - Glossaries

http://www.xlation.com/glossaries/

1682 glossaries are currently indexed by topic and by ISO 639-2 language codes.


Yahoo! Advice

http://yahoo.liveadvice.com/

A service which allows you to phone for advice.


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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.

In line with the 'news' theme of this month's issue, instead of a Nice Web Site, here is a reminder of some of the news sites included in the list of new and notable sites.

Headline Viewer
http://www.headlineviewer.com/

icorporation
http://www.icorporation.com/

Nerac
http://www.nerac.com/

NewsIsFree
http://www.newsisfree.com/

Snewp
http://snewp.com/

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PRESS RELEASES

**** New JDoc Editor and Editorial Board Appointed ****

Leading international management information publisher Emerald (formerly MCB University Press) has announced the appointment of a new Editor and Editorial Board members for the Journal of Documentation (JDoc) - for journal homepage please see http://www.emeraldinsight.com/jd.htm"

For the full press release, go to:
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/news/press/jdeditor.htm

**** Beyond the DNER ****

A vision of online provision for the educational community, in which high-quality resources would be accessible from any location, easily navigated and cross-searchable by subject or data type, inspired the original Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER) plans. Although the establishing of a distributed national electronic resource is still a key part of the JISC 5-year strategy, and it is still being developed in line with the DNER Vision Statement at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub99/dner_vision.html, there are, however, new factors that suggest it is time to move beyond "the DNER" as the name for this vision and for the JISC to find more relevant ways to communicate its activities and its underlying objectives.

The DNER team no longer exists as an administrative entity, and the new JISC Executive structure means that team members are distributed throughout all 4 branches of the JISC Executive. This demonstrates the relevance of the DNER to many areas of JISC's work, and also emphasises the newly integrated structure which supports the full range of JISC's activities.

The new JISC web site - due to go live in July - will symbolize this newly integrated structure by representing all JISC's activities as a coherent whole. User profiling will enable user perspectives to be generated, bringing appropriate information to users across the range of JISC's activities.

In line with feedback that "the DNER" is not a very attractive or memorable acronym we will in future be separately promoting its two key strands:

· a COLLECTION of information resources of value to further and higher education guided by the JISC's collection strategy and supporting policy framework, presented in subject portfolios. These portfolios will pervade JISC outreach through Resource Guides, the JISC web site and other communications activities.

· the wide range of DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES, including the development of an underlying Information Environment, that will allow students and staff to easily find, access, and use quality information resources provided by the JISC and others.

For the first time the JISC has articulated formally how some of the key development activities fit into its overall scheme with the publication of its Information Environment Strategy (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/development/IEstrategy.html). Through its various strands, the strategy provides a framework for implementing and enhancing the original DNER vision, as well as plans to add services and mechanisms for discovery, navigation, retrieval and access to digital information. This strategy links up with a range of other ongoing development activities, previously discreet from the DNER, providing a more integrated framework for JISC's development activities as a whole.

So the vision that inspired the DNER lives on, but in another form and with other names: as subject-based portfolios which describe and contain nationally-funded collections and resources, and by the further development of the technical infrastructure which will underpin these resources and which will allow for their full exploitation by the UK further and higher education and research communities.

Dr Philip Pothen
JISC/RDN Communications Manager,
JISC Office,
King's College London,
Strand Bridge House,
3rd Floor,
138-142 The Strand,
London WC2R 1HH

Tel: 020 7848 2935
Mobile: 07887 564 006
Fax: 020 7848 2939
philip.pothen@kcl.ac.uk

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NETWORK NEWS

DNER News
 

The Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER) is a managed environment for accessing quality assured information resources on the Internet which are available from many sources.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/information/news/index.html

See the press release about the DNER, elsewhere in this month's Internet Resources Newsletter


NISS News

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:

http://www.niss.ac.uk/welcome/whatsnew.html


BUBL News

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:

http://bubl.ac.uk/news/

The latest updates to the BUBL LINK / 5:15 Catalogue of Internet Resources are available at:

http://bubl.ac.uk/link/updates/current.html


EEVL News

The latest Additions to EEVL, The Hub for Engineering, Mathematics and Computing, are available at:

http://www.eevl.ac.uk/whatsnew.htm

To fit in with the 'In the news' comment in this issue of Internet Resources Newsletter, here is a 'live' RSS newsfeed from the EEVL service. More information is available here.

 


SOSIG News

The latest additions to SOSIG (Social Science Information Gateway) are available at:

http://sosig.esrc.bris.ac.uk/roads/whats-new.html


EDINA Newsline

The latest issue of Edina (Edinburgh Data & INformation Access) Newsline can be found at:

http://edina.ed.ac.uk/newsline/

CHEST News

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:

http://www.chest.ac.uk/news.html


MIMAS News

MIMAS is a JISC-supported national data centre run by Manchester Computing, at the University of Manchester, to provide the following range of services to the academic community:

Flexible on-line access to strategic research and teaching datasets.
Access to key bibliographic information.
Access to specialist support and training.
Access to software packages and large-scale computing resources.

The latest news from MIMAS can be found at:

http://www.mimas.ac.uk/news.html


New additions to PSIgate

PSIgate (Physical Science Information Gateway) is the physical sciences hub of the Resource Discovery Network (RDN).

http://www.psigate.ac.uk/ROADS/whats-new.html


BIOME News

BIOME is a collection of gateways which provide access to evaluated, quality Internet resources in the health and life sciences, aimed at students, researchers, academics and practitioners. The latest news from BIOME can be found at:

http://biome.ac.uk/whatsnew/

Users of BIOSIS at Edina can now cross-search BIOME. For details, see the latest Edina Newsline ( http://edina.ed.ac.uk/newsline/newsline7-1.html#n8 )

Netskills: News

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:

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


What's new on Eldis

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:

http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/wnew.htm


What's New on Biz/ed

Biz/ed is a dedicated business and economics information gateway for students, teachers and lecturers.

http://www.bized.ac.uk/homeinfo/whatsnew.htm


AHDS Newsletter

The latest issue of the AHDS (Arts and Humanities Data Service) Newsletter can be found at:

http://ahds.ac.uk/newsletters.htm


JISCmail News

JSICmail provides electronic discussion lists for the UK higher education community.

http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/news.htm


UK Data Archive news

The UK Data Archive at the University of Essex houses the largest collection of accessible computer-readable data in the social sciences and humanities in the United Kingdom. It is a national resource centre, disseminating data throughout the United Kingdom and, by arrangement with other national archives, internationally.

http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/home/archiveNews.asp


Chemical Data Service (CDS)

CDS provides on-line access to a variety of quality databases in the field of Chemistry, plus support, training and advice. This is available (free of charge) to academics at UK Universities.

http://cds.dl.ac.uk/cds/


Academic Info

Your gateway to quality educational resources. Academic Info is an annotated subject directory tailored toward a college and university audience and is used by students, librarians, and researchers.

http://www.academicinfo.net/new.html


RDN News

The Resource Discovery Network (RDN) is a free Internet service dedicated to providing effective access to high quality Internet resources for the learning, teaching and research community.

http://www.rdn.ac.uk/news/


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BOOK REVIEW

Review of:

The Library Internet Trainer's Toolkit
by Michael T. Stephens (revised and adapted by Phil Bradley)
Library Association Publishing
7 Ridgmount Street
London, WC1E 7AE
PRICE: £89.95

This is an invaluable resource for anyone who has to train people in the use of the Internet.

It is neatly split into chapters, going from a simple introduction to the PC through navigating the web, e-mail, shopping, setting up a website, chat and into more complex areas such as Video, audio and digital cameras.

Each section is easy to understand, and set out in a clear, simple fashion. So even if you're not 100% sure yourself how something works, or how best to get across the information, following the text can give you all you need.

The book comes with a CD ROM, which includes all the slides pictured in the book. These are in PowerPoint format so you can take them as they are or just use them as a basis and customise them for your own use. This toolkit would certianly take a lot of work and effort out of arrangining and presenting a training session.

Catherine Ure

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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

001.645 MEY
Cascading style sheets
by Eric A Meyer
O'Rielly, 2000

005.74 COL
Information spaces: the architecture of cyberspace
by Robert M Colomb
Springer, 2002

174.9 SPI
Readings in cyberethics
edited by Richard A Spinello and Herman T Tavani
Jones and Bartlett, 2001

371.33 SAL
E-moderating: the key to teaching and learning online
by Gilly Salmon
Kogan Page, 2000

371.33 STE
Teaching & learning online
Edited by John Stephenson
Kogan Page, 2001

371.33 KAT
Web portals & higher education
by Richard N Katz and Associates
Jossey-Bass, 2002

658.05ROW
E-business: principles and practice
by Jennifer Rowley
Palgrave, 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

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GET A LIFE! - LEISURE TIME

The summer holidays are approaching. Are you planning to travel? Here are some links to travel guides on the Web.

Lonely Planet Online
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

Bradt Travel Guides
http://www.bradt-travelguides.com/

Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Travel Guides
http://www.dkonline.co.uk/travel/default.asp?context=home

The AA: Travel and Leisure
http://www.theaa.com/getaway/index.html

Footprint Handbooks
http://www.footprintbooks.com/

Rough Guides Travel
http://www.roughguides.com/

Fodors.com
http://www.fodors.com/

Frommer's
http://www.frommers.com/

Cadogan Guides
http://www.cadoganguides.com/

and here's a World Cup site:

World Cup Archive
http://www.worldcuparchive.com/

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