Philosophy
http://www.umassd.edu/1Academic/CArtsandSciences/
Philosophy/PhilontheInternet.html
The University of Massachusetts created a page that features links to
dozens of philosophy sites on the Web--among them The University of Chicago
Philosophy Project and Waterloo's extensive list of websites--as well as
to electronic philosophy texts (approximately fourty, from Aristotle to Thoreau). (Vol. 1 No. 1, April '96)
"The Study Place"
http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/academic/index.html
Deleuze & Guattari, not Plato, might be the first pick of many web-users who are also readers of philosophy, but this site takes the reasonable strategy of beginning its expanding archive with works by authors such as Aristotle and Rousseau. Part of what makes this site promising and already exceptional is that it appears to be driven by a "philosophy" about how philosophy can be presented at a website. The site is a project of the Institute for Learning Technologies at Columbia University.(Vol. 1 No. 4, July/August'96)
Physics
"Beam Line"
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/pubs/beamline/beamline.html
This site might be a valuable supplement to every particle physicist's reading list. "Beam Line" is a quarterly periodical of particle physics published by the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. It is distributed free of charge. The last six issues of Beam Line can be downloaded from the website in PDF format. The download times are short (ca. 1-3 minutes), but the resource would be more user-friendly if one could take a look at the table of contents for each issue before starting the download. (Vol. 1 No. 10, February '97)
"Relativity Group"
http://jean-luc.ncsa.uiuc.edu/
This well-organized site presents work based on a collaboration between the NCSA/University of Illinois Relativity Group, led by Ed Seidel, and the Washington University Numerical Relativity Group, led by Wai-Mo Suen. The group uses supercomputers to study phenomena predicted by Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. The site features 11 basic areas, among them 'Group Projects,' 'Papers' (e.g. on black holes and gravitational waves), 'Movies' and 'Exhibits', including Spacetime Wrinkles, an extensive exhibit on Einstein. (Vol. 1 No. 2, May '96)
Psychology
"Psycoloquy"
http://www.princeton.edu/~harnad/psyc.html
"Psycoloquy"--sponsored by the American Psychological Association (APA)--is an electronic journal covering topics ranging from all areas of psychology to cognitive science, neuroscience, AI, robotics/vision and more. The international, interdisciplinary journal publishes brief reports and peer commentary, as well as book reviews. Due to the wide range of topics, the content may seem to be eclectic at times; but since all target articles, commentaries and responses are accompanied by a short abstract and limited in length, this e-journal offers a good survey of the field and an effective gateway to interdisciplinary studies. (Vol. 1 No. 7, November '96)
Reference
"National Archives and Records Administration"
http://www.nara.gov/
This site offers a truly dazzling collection of material that can be downloaded. For the casual visitor, it offers well-organized exhibitions around specific themes, such as "Poster Art from World War II." It also contains searchable databases, and, of course, reproductions of famous United States documents. The site is proof again that experienced archivists often know best how to make this feature of the Web sing. (Vol. 1 No. 5, Sept. '96)
"On-Line Reference Works"
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/Web/references.html/
This is your basic meat and potatoes kind of site, a hearty serving of links to your basic reference works on the Web: dictionaries, maps, directories, etc. Maintained by Carnegie Mellon University, this site has no graphics, just the links; modest and soft-spoken, it does its job well and deserves our tanks....we mean thanks. (Vol. 1 No. 3, June '96)
"A Web of Online Grammer"
http://www.bucknell.edu/~rbeard/grammars.html
Taking advantage of the Web's capacity to effectively link vast amounts of information, Robert Beard of Bucknell University has been assembling a directory of all types of grammars (reference, learning and historical), featuring links to online grammars of as many languages as can be found on the Web (including, e.g., Bengali, Kurdish, Samoan and Swahili). Grammars are selected for their accuracy or effectiveness for learning the language they describe. The site is a terrific resource, particularly for those who are doing comparative research and need quick access to resources on several languages (online dictionaries are also accessible from this site). (Vol. 1 No. 11, March '97)
Religion
"Cross Currents"
http://www.aril.org
The Association for Religion and Intellectual Life (ARIL) and its journal, Cross Currents, promote the belief that religious faith can and shall contribute to the common good. The mission of Cross Currents--calming the troubled waters of "that common sea, which is at once the source of life and the immensity in which we might drown"--may sound too "flowery" for some people, but the site is a very good gateway to information about world religions. ARIL has assembled and reviewed a collection of the religious sites on the Internet and provides access to information about world religions, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and biblical resources. The online magazine features articles, book and movie reviews, as well as poetry and music. (Vol. 1 No. 6, October '96)
Science and Mathematics
"Explorations"
http://www.tc.cornell.edu/er96/science96/Explorations/
Explorations is an online science book created by Cornell Theory Center. Designed as an interactive journey into the world of computational research, it incorporates animations, images, and VRML files based on visualizations from IBM Data Explorer. The content is divided into the main categories "Above and Beyond," "Down to Earth," "Living Things" and "Practicle Particles." So far, there may be only two or three "entries" under each category--e.g. "Sounding Life at Sea" or "Catalyzing Chemistry"--but it is a site worth visiting: "Explorations" makes use of the Web's visual possibilities to explore the area of scientific visualizations.
(Vol. 1 No. 7, November '96)
"Explorer"
http://unite.ukans.edu/
This site contains resources for K12 mathematics and science education. Lesson plans, lab activities and software are available. This is the kind of site whose simplicity of design will be appreciated by many potential users. It is currently under development jointly by the Great Lakes Collaborative and the
University of Kansas UNITE group, with funding from U.S. Department of Education. (Vol. 1 No. 4, July/August '96)
"Notre Dame Science Quarterly"
http://www.nd.edu:80/~scienceq/
The range of topics make this an eclectic publication--"Prostate Cancer," "Why your CD-Player may sound so good," etc.--so the lack of hypertextual links within the articles to other relevant material is particularly unfortunate. Unless one's main interest is Notre Dame, it might be hard to know if what you're looking for is at this site... at least so far. (Vol. 1 No. 1, April '96)
"Observatorium"
http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/
NASA's "Observatorium" is a public access site for Earth and space data, featuring "Tools & Data," games, and more. The "Exhibits" section focuses on planet earth, astronomy, and the technology behind space-based observations, covering topics such as "Spy Satellites" or "Remote Sensing in History." A particularly useful resource is the K-12 education section, which allows the user to search the material by five topics, including aeronautics, land, and water or by grade level.
(Vol. 1 No. 9, January '97)
"Virtual Prof"
http://www.virtualprof.com/
Yet another extremely useful help-line on the Web: Real physics and chemistry professors offer real help in a virtual way--the special needs of (pre-)engineering and science majors and of pre-med students taking the required physics and chemistry courses are also addressed. By sending a free registration, users can access the office hours of the "Virtual Prof" and download sets of questions/problems and answers. Paid subscribers are offered one-on-one sessions in physics and chemistry with a professor at a pre-arranged time.
(Vol. 1 No. 10, February '97)
"The Virtual Science and Mathematics Fair '95"
http://www.educ.wsu.edu/fair_95/
This site was developed by the College of Education at Washington State
University and invites students, from elementary school through universities,
to post their research and projects. Abstracts of the projects are linked to
detailed descriptions and graphs. Visitors, peers and teachers are encouraged to
leave comments and questions for authors on the bulletin board. Information on
Fair '96 has been posted. (Vol. 1 No. 1, April '96)
"The Why Files"
http://whyfiles.news.wisc.edu/
Funded by the National Science Foundation and maintained by the National Institute for Science Education, this site is an electronic exploration of the science behind the news. Twice a month, the site strives to explain in detail the role that science plays in events featured in the news. Designed for young students, it concentrates on sciences that explain "nature" not "society"--for the study of which the NSF had its budget cut. The site apparently includes a feature lacking from too many other sites: a regularly recurring input of new material. (Vol. 1 No. 5, Sept. '96)
Special Education
"The Alexander Graham Bell Asociation for the Deaf"
http://www.agbell.org
The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf is a nonprofit organization that in many ways seeks to be constructively involved with the lives of people who are deaf. Among the reasons it lists for its existence are: to "Encourage people who are deaf or hard of hearing to communicate by developing maximal use of residual hearing, speechreading, and speech and language skills" and "Provide inservice training for teachers of children who are deaf or hard of hearing." One of the hotlinks from the homepage of this very useful site is "Financial Aid." (Vol. 1 No. 7, November '96)
Wildlife Conservation
"The Crater Mountain Project"
http://math240.lehman.cuny.edu:80/crater/
see article Vol. 1 No. 2, May '96
Women's Studies
"Emma Goldman Papers"
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/
Since 1980, the Emma Goldman Papers Project--directed by Goldman biographer Dr. Candace Falk--has collected, organized, and edited tens of thousands of documents by and about Emma Goldman, a major figure in the history of American radicalism and feminism. Selections from this vast body of materials--which also provides insights into social and cultural movements in the late 19th and 20th century as well as documentation of government and press reactions to radicalism--are now available online. The website features excerpts from Emma Goldman's writings, sample documents from the book edition of "The Emma Goldman Papers," as well as historical photographs, personal letters, government documents and other memorabilia from the "Emma Goldman Papers Traveling Exhibition." (Vol. 1 No. 11, March '97)
Writing and Composition
"KAIROS: A Journal for Teachers of Writing in a Webbed Environment"
http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/
"Kairos"--sponsored by the Alliance for Computers and Writing and published 3 times a year--focuses specifically on the challenges of writing in hypertextual environments. The peer-reviewed online journal is designed as a resource for teachers, researchers and tutors of writing at the college and university level. The current issue features a series of reviews, suggestions, and commentary on the present and future(s) of MOO-based writing pedagogies, as well as features such as "Hypertext And/As Collaboration in the Computer-Facilitated Writing Classroom." "Kairos" is an excellent resource for anybody interested in hypertextual writing.(Vol. 1 No. 5, Sept. '96)
"Paradigm Online Writing Assistant"
http://www.idbsu.edu/english/cguilfor/paradigm/
Recently, many university writing centers have gone online, but most of them restrict their services to their own students. Thanks to "Paradigm"--an interactive, menu-driven online writer's guide and handbook--you can get easy access to useful help for free; "Paradigm" is designed for all writers, from inexperienced to advanced. It has been created and developed by Chuck Guilford, an associate professor of English at Boise State University, who has thirty years of experience teaching a variety of university level writing courses. The guide offers help for writing informal, thesis, exploratory and argumentative essays, as well as useful information on organizing, revising and editing your writing.
(Vol. 1 No. 10, February '97)