WWW News || Index || Issues.... previous | next | current || Search back issues |

World Wide Web News

an irregular gathering of web stuff by...
/ Alan Levine / Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction /

• Multimedia Authoring Page
• Earthquakes on the Net
• Random Generators
• Sites of Intrigue

• Mesa Community College (MCC) is now up and running with a great deal of campus information
• Scottsdale Community College (SCC) is testing their server now. They are already using is in the teaching of their basic internet server.
• Paradise Valley Community College PVCC is also in the testing phase and is now under limited acess.
• Chandler-Gilbert Community College CGCC may be switching soon from a mac server to a unix server
• Gateway Community College (GWCC)is looking at setting up a server on a unix box.
• Rio Salado Community College (RSCC) is desiging the type of information and may be testing a server very soon.
• South Mountain Community College (SMCC) is building their server and experimenting with a Mac host.
• Glendale Community College, Phoenix College, and Estrella Mountain Community College are all continuing to add more and more Web-based information.

Multimedia Authoring Page

The main page leads links for the different Authoring Languages (HyperCard, Director, Toolbook, Authorware, Supercard), a page for multimedia information, a list of commercial multimedia producers, and special media development centers.

Around 7 PM last Saturday night, just as our furnace kicked on, the house started to roll. We have a relatively old house, definitely too old to learn new tricks like rolling over and playing dead, so - luckily - the house decided to stop after 10 or 15 seconds. We realized that the furnace hadn't blown up after about three or four seconds, and that in fact we were having an earthquake after another one or two seconds. We scurried under a doorway, but I promptly left on a four foot rescue mission to save Fred, a 20-year-old cactus that I was not going to leave to the tender mercies of the quake. And then it was over. No damage, no breakage, no loss of power, gas, water, or TCP/IP access (although we promptly went and checked everything).

Then, rather than turning on the TV or the radio to see what had happened (heck, we knew what had happened - we wanted details), we went to the Mac and out over the Web. Not being a major earthquake buff, I had to go through the excellent Yahoo subject catalog to find the earthquake pages.

Then I went to the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado, which had a Finger -> Gopher gateway for the latest information on earthquakes.

That was all fine and nice, but since I did this literally minutes after the quake, there wasn't any data about our earthquake. However, in reading the text of the Finger report, I saw a more local machine at the University of Washington. So I ran Peter Lewis's Finger program and fingered quake@geophys.washington.edu. The first time it only had automated information that it claimed couldn't be trusted, but that information remained constant after the warning went away.

Now we knew that the earthquake had been a magnitude of 5.0, and that it was a bit southwest of Seattle. But where exactly? Then I remembered the Xerox PARC Map Viewer

It took a little figuring out, but I managed to get the proper search phrases to locate and mark the exact epicenter of the earthquake. The URL that resulted is terribly long, but should work if you take out the hard return between the two lines before pasting it into a Web browser.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the quake experience for us was using the Internet to find this information and immediately send it to friends and family. After about the fourth message we sent out, suddenly a piece of mail came in from Peter Lewis in Australia, who happened to hear about the earthquake from someone near Seattle reporting a problem with Anarchie. Obviously, had this been a serious earthquake, the Internet connection would have gone down, at which point no communications would have been possible. Even still, the Internet made the world feel like a much smaller place for the time, and somehow, that was comforting.

All in all it is a smooth and elegant solution. The work has been undertaken as a joint effort by the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology and the David Lam Centre for International Communication, both at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. The programming credit goes to Jim, though.

I think this is probably one of the best (and neatest) uses of the net. I'm impressed by the manner in which several different information sources can be creatively combined to give something so much greater than any of the parts.

CBS Eye on the Net

the latest news about CBS shows, what's happening at CBS News and CBS Sports, and the most current information about the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN and THE LATE LATE SHOW with TOM SNYDER. You'll also find plenty of surprises in the months ahead, with games, contests and special events to add a new dimension to watching CBS. Make CBS Eye on the Net a regular stop on your tour of the net.

** Especially cool is the searchable index of Letterman's top ten lists [thanks to Kurt Leinbach, CGCC]

NetLink Server

from Washington and Lee University, contains links to high level sources on the Internet, i.e. primarily the root level, or home-page level of sites. There are some references to selected lower levels, but this scope restriction should be kept in mind when searching. The server will suggest other larger databases if your search is unsuccessful.

BrainChech(TM) Two

a new board game derived from TIC TAC TOE and CHESS.

Global Campus Site 1 or Site 2

provides easy access to high quality new media materials, images, video, audio and text files, for use by students and faculty for enhancement of learning and teaching. Currently, the Global Campus provides instructional media relating to Art History, American Indian History, and Marine and Cellular Biology.

Temple University Gallery of the ARTS

is dedicated to the ARTS in the Philadelphia Area. Featured exhibits will include Temple student work in film, video, music, painting, etc

WeatherNet

the Internet's ultimate weather page. In addition to over 70 links, some of them never seen before, you'll find several interesting weather products, such as the latest 30- and 90-day Outlooks for the United States.

New York City Reference Page

Round-the-World Travel Guide

is an extensive compilation of tips from travellers.

TravelWeb

is the starting point for you to explore an electronic catalog of brochures featuring hotels, motels, inns, resorts -- every facet of the lodging world. Very soon, you also will be able to check the availability of rooms and book your room via TravelWeb!

Statistical and data analysis software

information about and shareware copies of programs MVSP and Oriana. MVSP is a multivariate statistical program for MS-DOS that calculates a variety of cluster analyses as well as PCA, PCO, and correspondence/detrended correspondence analysis. Oriana is a new circular statistics/orientation analysis package for Windows.

daily, weekly, and random things

formerly on the Spider's Pick of the Day page was getting kind of long, so it has its own home now.

TILT Group E - Evaluation

aims to develop and apply evaluation methods for improvements in teaching & learning by using IT. They also train and assist other groups to carry out evaluations. The TILT Evaluation Group, based mainly in Psychology, is making important advances in adapting evaluation methods so that the application of IT to real classes can be well informed.

How to Create Web Services

from your buddies at NetScape

Apple's Internet Brochure

And if you have not been there before, try the Apple Info Web; this is great for getting the latest software updates

The Internet Safari

(from Bloomfield Hills Model High School, Michigan) consists of five different areas to browse including: What is the Internet, Internet Tools, Internet Resources, How we use the Internet, About MHS, and Credits. One of the most unique things about this project is it was entirely created by students at Model High School. Three students (Matt Weinbaum, Stephen Hunia, and Bill Wichers) had the idea of creating a user friendly tool to explain the Internet to new and advanced Internet users. This tour took over 9 months to create and well over 500 working hours. We urge you to download the Safari for yourself to experience the full project.

Kuwait

has a home page.

WWW & HTML Developer's JumpStation

Maintained by SingNet and hosted by OneWorld Information Services

Confession Booth

Forgive me....

Archive of news group comp.infosystems.www.announce

[thanks to Eric Johnson, ITS)

Virtual Reality Modeling Language

perhaps is the next evolution of the Web?

INFO-MAC Mirror List

find mac software at on of this locations

Religion, Television and the Information Superhighway: a Search for a Middle Way

Conference Report The "Religion, Television and the Information Superhighway" conference was held at The Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, on April 22-23, 1994.

Religious Studies

Department at University of Pennsylvania

Finding God in Cyberspace

A Guide to Religious Studies Resources on the Internet

Virtual Language Lab

teaching material for languages, literature and Near Eastern studies

HUMBUL Gateway International Resources for the Humanities, Oxford University

New Tools for Teaching

by James J. O'Donnell (University of Pennsylvania) introduces, describes, and exemplifies new Internet-based resources for teaching that are already available and in the main astonishingly easy to use.

Intellimation Software catalog

Searchable catalog for Macintosh software

Compton's New Media

has information on their multimedia products.