Newsletter No. 66
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Free Pint
"Helping 29,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
ISSN 1460-7239 6th July 2000 No.66
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Andy Nolan
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Panorama of Engineering Portals"
By Roddy Macleod
BOOKSHELF
"Internet Ethics"
Reviewed by Simon Collery
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Surfing the Sludge - Tips on Good Web Page Design"
By Richard Eskins
FREE PINT BAR
by Simon Collery
EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/060700.htm
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FIND CHEMICAL INFORMATION FASTER AT CHEMWEB.COM
Hundreds of full-text journals. Dozens of databases. Daily news.
Jobs. Conferences. Discussions. All fully searchable.
Find this and more at ChemWeb.com.
It's worth being a member.
Register for FREE at http://chemweb.com/utils/email.cfm?id=181
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>>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<<
Free Pint is a community of business professionals who use the Web
for their work. Members receive this free newsletter every two weeks
packed with tips and articles by information professionals who share
how they find quality and reliable information on the Internet. Sign
up at <http://www.freepint.co.uk/> for free access to the substantial
archive of articles, book reviews, industry news and events, and have
your research questions answered at the "Free Pint Bar". This
newsletter is best read when printed out and viewed in a courier font.
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EDITORIAL
It is often easy to forget where the true credit lies when formal
recognition is forthcoming. I have learnt this over the years as
Chairman of our local operatic society (or "musical theatre company"
to our non-UK friends who never know what I'm talking about). Putting
on a show like our recent production of "Oklahoma!" draws on the
skills of so many more people than those you see actually performing
on the stage.
In relation to winning the recent Special Libraries Association's
award, I have been quoted in this month's Information World Review as
saying "I don't see it as me winning the award. It's Free Pint winning
the award and Free Pint is contributed to by many, many people". Did
you know for instance that over 1,000 different people have posted a
message at the Free Pint Bar since its launch only a year ago!
What about the fact that virtually all of the 500 new members we
welcome each month come through word of mouth recommendation. It is
therefore thanks to you, our current members, for spreading the word.
Free Pint team member Simon recently received some informal praise for
his daily Web site reviews at the Bar: a member commented that "his
research is great and immaculate". Likewise, our Editor Rex has
managed to line up enough articles for this newsletter to keep us
going for months. All our contributors should also be praised for the
outstanding quality of their research. Our developer Chris is cracking
on with developing the new search facility, greatly improved Bar and a
brand new navigation system. I'm sure you'll agree that the recently
launched membership/login system on the Web site works extremely well.
Last, but by no means least, is our administrator Jane who has
performed sterling work over the last two years in analysing the
membership base to provide detailed breakdowns of our users. With the
development of the new membership system most of Jane's work is now
done automatically and so we're sorry to see her leave the team. I'm
sure you'll join me in thanking her for all her hard work and
commitment, and in wishing her well with her new projects.
I would therefore urge everyone to remember those not directly in the
limelight when handing out praise and recognition - both formally and
informally.
We've got some great material for you this issue. Popular contributor
Roddy Macleod gives us a tour around the wide range of engineering
portals. Simon reviews a very interesting book on the many facets
of ethics and the Internet. Finally, Richard Eskins runs us through
some ways that we can make our Web sites more accessible and faster.
We've also packed in as many tips as possible - and I apologise to the
reader who informed us that he grinds his teeth every time he sees the
word "Tipple".
If you enjoy this issue then please feel free to pass it on to your
colleagues and friends. Also, do join us at the Free Pint Bar for
updates to articles, comments and discussion.
Kind regards,
William
William Hann BSc MIInfSc
Founder and Managing Editor, Free Pint
e: william@freepint.co.uk
t: +44 (0)1784 455435
f: +44 (0)1784 455436
Free Pint is a trademark of Free Pint Limited
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If you've considered advertising here then there's never
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MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Andy Nolan
* Worldwatch.org <http://www.worldwatch.org> - for the most
comprehensive and authoritative information on the state of
our planet
* Efax.com <http://www.efax.com> - send and receive faxes straight to
your desktop through your email client.
* BradfordBulls <http://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk> - the acclaimed best
site for rugby league fans, complete with new e-commerce online
shopping facility
* Smarteric.com <http://www.smarteric.com> - for advice on better ways
of working. Work smarter - not harder.
* BT Getstarted <http://www.bt.com/getstarted> - a great site for SOHO
and new businesses, with loads of tips and resources
Andy Nolan is Director of e-volvenet Ltd <http://www.e-volve.org.uk>,
a consultancy created to aid the development of true sustainability and
understand the impacts and opportunities of the internet on global
resource consumption.
To submit your top five favourite tipples see the guidelines at
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/author.htm> or email <simon@freepint.co.uk>
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ADVANCED SEARCHING ON THE WEB - 26 July 2000 at the British Library In
just one afternoon, this hands-on workshop will show you the most
appropriate place to start - a directory, a search engine, or both
combined? Discover how to quickly narrow or broaden your searches. For
instance, do you keep getting an unwanted site dominating your
results? Are you looking for terms within a URL only? Contact Tony
Catarinicchia 020 7412 7915 or visit our website at
http://www.bl.uk/services/stb/courses.html for further details.
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>>> A DIFFERENT SITE REVIEWED EVERY DAY <<<
Make a note to visit the Free Pint Bar on a regular basis and
read "Today's Tipple" - a review of a different Web site every day.
Sign up to receive a Digest of the latest postings three times a
week by sending a blank email to <digest@freepint.co.uk>.
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Panorama of Engineering Portals"
By Roddy Macleod
What immediately struck me when I started to collect engineering
portals for this survey was the fact that they vary so much in style,
content and purpose. Perhaps this should come as no surprise, as
engineering is a large and complex subject. I found portals which
ranged from freely available, publicly funded services, to others
offering pay-per-view technical information and subscription-based
full-text article delivery. Yet more, perhaps the most rapidly
growing type, are commercial services based around the sale of
components, parts or other services. As several of these portals are
very successful and attract large numbers of visitors, the conclusion
to be drawn is there is a demand for a variety of different types of
information and resources.
Examples of portals
Into the first category, of publicly funded, free portals comes EEVL
<http://www.eevl.ac.uk/>, the Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library,
of which I am the manager, so I had better be careful how I describe
it (and yes, I am quite happy to raise an occasional laugh when I
describe myself verbally as "the EEVL Manager"). EEVL is funded by the
Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/>
through the Resource Discovery Network (RDN) <http://www.rdn.ac.uk/>,
and as well as a searchable and browseable Catalogue of over 5,500
quality engineering resources which are selected, described and
classified by subject consultants in a number of UK universities and
professional associations, EEVL provides targeted engineering search
engines, bibliographic and events databases including the popular
Recent Advances in Manufacturing bibliographic database, a directory
of science and technology librarians, an Engineering on the Internet
bibliography, Hot Links to useful sites, and some other features.
Over the next year, there are plans to develop more portal services in
conjunction with the RDN. These will deep-mine various bibliographic
databases and offer community-based facilities, and help to provide
subject-based access to what is known in UK higher education circles
as the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER). It is not
possible to buy anything directly through EEVL, but EEVL points
towards a number of commercial services which describe themselves, or
could be described, as portals.
One of the longest established subscription-based engineering
information services is the Ei Engineering Village(tm)
<http://www.ei.org/>. It does not call itself a portal, but with all
of the various services available, such as the Compendex(r) database,
full text access to Elsevier journals and a range of magazines,
business newsletters, reference manuals, handbooks and market research
reports, current awareness monitors and a directory of Web sites, plus
access to expert opinion, the Ei Engineering Village fulfils just
about all of the accepted criteria. Its directory of Web sites
extends to many thousands of resources, covering all engineering
topics and also some non-engineering subjects, and the services are
integrated and include both formal and informal research resources.
The list of subscribing companies, government organisations, and
academic institutions which is available from the Ei Engineering
Village home page shows that the service has been far more successful
in America than it has elsewhere, and indicates that the number of
academic subscribers is relatively high. I would tell you more about
the service, but unfortunately when I click on the Further Information
link at the Ei Engineering Village site in order to get up-to-date
details (my institution has not had access to the service for a while)
I currently receive a request for a username and password, which I do
not have. Shurley a mishtake?
Dialog's engineering portal, the DialogSelect Open Access Engineering,
<http://openaccess.dialog.com/tech/index.html> offers both a pay-per-
view service and a subscription-based service. It covers the areas of
aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical and civil
engineering, computer science, and software disciplines, and offers
cross-searching of bibliographic and reference databases, and full-
text document delivery. There is a simple search interface which is
based around groups of searches under such headings as 'Tech
Research', 'Tech News', 'Company Information', 'Reference Information,
and 'Directories'. Using the 'Tech Research' group, for example, and
searching under 'any topic', the search is undertaken in well-known
Dialog databases such as Ei Compendex(r), INSPEC, METADEX(r),
Materials Business File(tm), Engineered Materials Abstracts, RAPRA,
Ceramic Abstracts, Aluminium Industry Abstracts, NTIS, JICST, PASCAL,
and Global Mobility (SAE). Industry news databases searchable under
'Tech News' include CMP Computer Fulltext, Computer Database(tm),
Computer News Fulltext and Dialog Telecommunications Newsletters.
Standards and Specifications (through IHS International), books
(through Books in Print(r), British Books in Print, and Library of
Congress Catalogs), cited references (through the ISI databases),
theses (through Dissertation Abstracts Online), a database of over
13,000 software products, consumer reports and associations are all
searchable. The Dialog portal offers numerous services, however I
could not find any directories of Web sites, which, according to some
definitions, is a prerequisite for a portal.
A completely different type of site is operated by TechSavvy.com
<http://www.techsavvy.com/>. It was previously known as
DataGalaxy.com, and as such, clearly identified itself on its home
page as a 'portal site'. Now, however, there is no mention of the
word portal at the redesigned TechSavvy.com, and so, should it be
included in this survey? I will let you decide. TechSavvy.com, which
is a service from IHS <http://www.ihs.com/>, and IHS Global
Engineering Documents <http://global.ihs.com/>, offers technical,
engineering, design, maintenance and procurement information.
Incidentally, the IHS Group of companies also includes ESDU
International <http://www.esdu.com/>, and Technical Indexes (ti)
<http://www.techindex.co.uk/>. Much of TechSavvy.com is based around
several searchable IHS databases, which provide information and
documentation about Standards, companies, parts, historical data, and
Web sites; and the opportunity, where appropriate, to purchase the
full text documents or parts. Some of the databases are extremely
powerful, though registration is required to receive search results.
The Parts Information section claims to have information on more than
11 million items in the Federal Supply Catalog, plus more than 25
million procurement histories, and the Company Directory includes
company profiles (information and contact details for engineering
companies), links to company websites, and what are termed 'business
cards' from Harris InfoSource <http://www.harrisinfo.com/>. Standards
available include ANSI, ASTM, UL, IEEE, ASME, SAE, EIA, BSI, AFNOR,
DIN, ISO, and IEC, and abstracts can be viewed without charge. An
impressive feature of theTechSavvy site is that these databases can be
searched from one simple search box with a minimum of options. Less
impressive is the directory of Web sites, which includes many sites of
little interest to engineering.
So far, in this panorama, I have identified one freely available,
publicly funded portal centred around a catalogue of Internet
resources, one commercially available portal based around
bibliographic databases with a facility for retrieving full-text
articles, and one commercial portal offering parts and technical
information. The fourth engineering portal I will look at is, yet
again, quite different. E4Engineering <http://www.e4engineering.com/>
clearly identifies itself as a portal in its 'About' page, so there is
no problem there. In fact, it claims to be the first European portal
site aimed at the engineering community. Published by Centaur
Communications Ltd, E4Engineering is a freely available site based
around content taken from six trade journals, The Engineer, Design
Engineering, Process Engineering, Metalworking Production, Control &
Instrumentation, and What's New in Industry. The E4Engineering portal
is, at the time of writing, still undergoing development, and so some
of the sections are not complete, notably the What's New In Industry
product directory, however there is a considerable amount of available
content. This includes a three year archive from the trade journals,
items giving the latest industry news, an events diary featuring a
small number of exhibitions, and 'thematic channels' for the
following: Machinery & Equipment, Automotive, Aerospace, Chemical &
Process, Civil, Computers & IT, Mechanical, Electrical & Electronics,
Medical, Control & Instrumentation, Health & Safety, Environmental,
Management, and Business & Finance. The thematic channels contain
news and features relevant to each area of interest which have been
taken from the trade journals. There is no directory of Web sites
within E4Engineering, but new services including a contacts database,
and a recruitment facility are being planned. E4Engineering is part of
a wider initiative, called the E4 Network, which also includes E4Data,
a subscription-based service.
The fifth engineering portal I will feature is also different from the
others so far identified. i-engineering.com
<http://www.i-engineering.com/servlets/ieng/index.html> describes
itself as the Internet's leading global engineering portal, so there
is once more no problem with including it in this panorama.
i-engineering.com is a commercial portal which covers all engineering
disciplines and has an ambitious plan to provide the engineering
community with one-stop technical information, information about
engineering-related products, services and business-to-business
commerce, and does so in an international and a multilingual
environment. The keywords used at the i-engineering.com site are
'Content', 'Community' and 'Commerce', and with this focus,
i-engineering.com probably fits the definition of portal more than
some of the sites I am featuring. Registration is required for some
parts of this site, which includes a number of interesting and useful
features, several of which are still under development.
i-engineering.com's 'inet-zine' is an excellent idea for a magazine
which can be personalised to retrieve news items of interest, by
email, from a number of journals, and there is a product and equipment
marketplace for new and used equipment, a buyer's guide, selected
industry news items taken from a number of sources, some technical
forums and chat facilities, an events diary featuring trade shows,
exhibitions, conferences and seminars (via ExpoBase
<http://www.expobase.com/>), and a resources section providing links
to software and formulae, calculations, materials, mathematics and
other practical tools. Not all sections of i-engineering.com are
complete at the time of writing, but this site is well worth watching.
In a final, rather undefined, category comes The Information Portal
<http://www.smete.org/>. This service covers the broader remit of
science, mathematics, engineering and technology education, and is
also known as the SMETE Info Portal. It describes its purpose as
being "to gather and share information from all concerning existing
SMETE digital libraries, tools and services, lessons learned, metadata
standards used, user studies and publications." So far, the site is
very much under development, and it is therefore difficult to gauge
its potential.
Most other engineering portals are variations on one of the above
themes. Engineering Direct <http://www.engineering-direct.com/> bills
itself as the "world's first fully interactive engineering portal
website" and as "The one-stop shop for all your engineering
requirements." Running through the menu bar on this site, I see that
it includes a message board, a live conferencing facility, a contracts
& tenders section, and sections entitled Safe & Legal, Recruitment,
and Plant & Equipment. Interactive sites such as Engineering Direct
must rely on a very high visitor rate in order to seed their various
forums, however visitors are unlikely to be attracted to the site
unless there is already substantial content to be found, including
other visitors who are leaving messages. It is somewhat of a catch-22
situation. At the time that I visited Engineering Direct, most of its
areas were sparsely populated with messages and postings. I invited a
colleague to join me, virtually, in the conferencing facility, and the
resulting interchange of messages was quick and efficient. Given
time, extensive promotion, and more content, a site such as
Engineering Direct could become a valuable resource and useful portal.
Engineers Online <http://www.engineers-online.co.uk/> is another UK
engineering portal which features a chatroom and forums, but this site
also includes an extensive searchable directory of engineering
companies, and a job section with details of an impressively large
number of vacant posts. Engineers Online offers an email newsletter to
registrants, and industry news item links. I hesitate to say any more
about Engineers Online at the present time, because according to its
webmaster the site is currently being completely redesigned.
Connecting Industry <http://www.connectingindustry.com/> was described
to me by its webmaster as an industrial portal. This UK site is based
around the following Wilmington Publishing's trade journals:
Automation Magazine, Electronic Product Review, Electrical Equipment
magazine, Irish Process & Manufacture, Industrial Scientific
Instruments, OEM Design, Production Equipment Digest, Process
Equipment News, and Factory Equipment News, and features news and
comment taken from those titles. It has a suppliers database, a
product news database, and lists forthcoming events, but does not
include a directory of other engineering sites.
Engineering UK On-line <http://www.engineering-uk.co.uk/> has been
around for some time, and although it does not describe itself as a
portal, it features a number of services that suggest it can be
included in this panorama. These include industry news items, an
events listing, a company directory, and links to engineering Web
sites.
Ananzi TecNet <http://www.tecnet.co.za/> is a commercial engineering
portal focusing on Southern Africa, and run by ProMech & Topline
Publishing and TAS, a engineering software company. It is split into
different subject areas, and includes directories of companies,
content from some trade journals, and some reference material.
Describing itself as the premier community for the engineering
profession is Engineering.org <http://www.engineering.org/>. At the
very time of writing, this site is being completely redesigned, and
rather than discuss features which may not be available in the near
future, I will leave this site and instead describe The Engineering
Zone <http://www.engineeringzones.com/>. The Engineering Zone
provides both content, in the form of short introductory articles on a
number of engineering topics, and also hundreds of links to sites in
engineering, design, and manufacturing. It can justify being
classified as a portal, even though it makes no claims to be one.
MotionNET.com <http://www.engref.com/> is a free technical web portal
with a searchable and browseable database of company Web sites
categorized under headings designed to be meaningful to engineers. It
is aimed at engineers who design and develop new products, and was
obviously built out of frustration with standard search engines.
MotionNET.com provides free listings and free access throughout, and
is a refreshing site.
Several of the portals in this panorama make grand claims for
themselves. EngineerSupply.com <http://www.engineersupply.com/> is no
different in that is describes itself as "Earths' largest virtual
community and Internet information portal for the Engineer". There
is, of course, no way to verify this. EngineerSupply.com has some
services which are freely available, such as links to consultants' Web
sites and a 'bookstore' which provides links to amazon.com, and others
which require registration. I registered for this site in December
1999, and now, for unknown reasons, it will not accept my username and
password, so I have just re-registered, with exactly the same username
and password. Ah well, such things are sent to try us. Services
available to registrants include various sets of links to engineering
resources, and several services, such as job vacancies and CV
submission, which are currently under development. EngineerSupply.com
also features an email newsletter service, which recently started to
deliver copy to my email address.
All of the above portals focus on engineering as a whole. There are
also numerous sites which could be described as portals, which
concentrate on individual engineering disciplines. The following list
is not exhaustive, but some of the ones which have caught my eye
include:
Hydrofrac.com <http://www.hydrofrac.com/>, a portal concentrating on
hydraulic fracturing in situ stress measurement, iCrank.com
<http://www.icrank.com/>, an impressive portal for mechanical
engineering, which has a visual design similar to i-engineering.com,
ChemIndustry.com <http://chemindustry.com/>, which is a focused search
engine plus a classified ads facility, MyPlant.com
<http://www.myplant.com/> for manufacturing industries,
PetroChemLink.com <http://www.petrochemlink.com/>, which requires
registration to take full advantage of its services, i-FM
<http://www.i-fm.net/main.html>, a UK-based facilities management
resource which also requires registration, MechEngineer.com
<http://mechengineer.com/> for mechanical engineering, and Software-
Engineer.org <http://www.software-engineer.org/>.
Ones that didn't make it into either list, but which come close to
being classified as portals include: Engineering Resources Online
<http://www.er-online.co.uk/> (offers a searchable and browseable
directory of Web sites, but little more), IndustryCommunity.com
<http://www.industrycommunity.com/> (restricted to message boards),
4engineers.com <http://4engineers.4anything.com/> (consists mainly of
links to engineering Web sites), Internet Connections for Engineering
(ICE) (a directory of Web sites), Engineering Electronic Library
Sweden (EELS) <http://eels.lub.lu.se/> (a searchable directory of Web
sites), Engwho <http://engwho.hypermart.net/> (a searchable directory
of Web sites, but few other effective services apart from a chat
facility), Engineers4engineers, also known as Eng4eng,
<http://www.engineers4engineers.co.uk> (a good collection of links to
engineering Web sites, but few other services), CASTI Engineering
Portal <http://www.casti.ca/portal/index.htm> (mainly a directory of
Web sites), and eFunda <http://www.efunda.com/>. eFunda stands for
Engineering Fundamentals, and in look and feel is not unlike
i-engineering.com and iCrank.com (mentioned above), however, although
eFunda is an extremely useful site with numerous features such as
bibliographies, a message board, data on thousands of materials, news
and discussions of various design processes, it neither describes
itself as a portal nor has links to other resources, and is therefore
more of a reference site, albeit a very good one, than a portal.
Having searched various popular search engines for the term
'engineering portal' and found numerous sites (Northern Light
<http://northernlight.com/> 227 items in 66 sources, AltaVista
<http://www.altavista.com/> 88 pages, and Google
<http://www.google.com/> about 104), I realise that there may be
several worthy services not included in this panorama. However, I
hope that I have mentioned most of the important engineering portals.
If I have missed any, or if new ones appear, I would be only too happy
to hear from the ever-alert readers of Free Pint.
Notes
[1] "The Rise of Corporate Portals" Knowledge Management, July 1999
<http://www.kmmag.com/km199907/featurea5.htm>
[2] Jennifer Rowley, "Portal power" Managing Information,
January/February 2000, p.62.
[3] Brian McKenna, Information World Review, May 2000 p.6
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Roddy MacLeod is Senior Faculty Librarian at Heriot-Watt University.
He edits the Internet Resources Newsletter
<http://www.hw.ac.uk/libWWW/irn/irn.html>, and is the Manager of EEVL,
the guide to quality engineering information on the Internet. He has
written articles about the Internet for a number of publications. In
his spare time, he worries about the fact that he seems to have no
spare time.
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Related Free Pint links:
* "Engineering resources: examples and sources" article in
Free Pint No.7 <http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/050298.htm>
* "Something for nothing? Engineering e-journals" article in
Free Pint No.37 <http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/290499.htm>
* Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/060700.htm#tips>
* Discuss this article with the authors now at the Free Pint Bar
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar>
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*** SLA European Chapter Annual Summer Soiree 18th July ***
Sponsored by Derwent Information
SLA members and guests are invited to meet informally in the pleasant
surroundings of the IEE overlooking the Thames. Drinks and
refreshments will be available and William Hann, the European Special
Librarian of the Year (ESLY) for 2000/2001, will present his
impressions and thoughts on the SLA Conference in Philadelphia.
More: http://www.sla.org/chapter/ceur/events/Summer-Soiree-2000.htm
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>>> FREE PINT FACT <<<
In the last issue we reported on a record-breaking day when 1,400
different people came to the Free Pint Web site. However, the
publication last week of the "Free Pint Index" prompted well over
3,000 people to visit us in one day on the 27th June.
This doubling of response was also in evidence last month. Instead of
500 new members signing up, which has been the average for the last
two and a half years, over 1000 people joined in June.
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf
"Internet Ethics"
Reviewed by Simon Collery
Internet Ethics critically examines some hot debates on the Internet.
Debates about security, privacy, law, copyright, crimes specific to
the Internet, information integrity, democracy and politics, rights
and responsibilities. Many using the Internet seem to be concerned
enough about ethical matters to voice their concerns in online
discussions and publications, as well as in more established media.
This book adds a framework on which such debates can be more
rigorously pursued.
The book considers a number of theories that have been brought to bear
on these debates about ethical concerns in the past. Some are
rejected, some are modified. While few definite answers are given,
questions are put forward and suggestions are made about how they
might best be answered.
Some readers will approach the book with more knowledge of the
Internet than of ethics. Others will know more about ethics. So the
first chapter sets out the history of the online world and explains
its technicalities in clear English. And as the language and concepts
of ethics could be unfamiliar to some, each contributor is careful to
explain the terms they use.
Early on, the question of what is really new or unique about the
Internet is asked. Can the Internet's purported good qualities be
shown to be universally good. Are they even universally considered to
be good. Free trade, to take an example, is sometimes assumed to be
something the Internet facilitates. But is it really a good thing,
and more specifically, does the Internet really facilitate it?
Arguments about privacy could prove futile if those taking part would
all characterise privacy in incompatible ways. The same can be said
for security, freedom of expression, responsibility, etc. Several
characterisations of each concept are examined and suggestions are
made about how proponents of conflicting views can avoid simply
talking at cross purposes.
We sometimes hear of the Internet being hailed as inherently
democratic. We also hear claims that it can facilitate and enhance
democracy. On inspection it is found that it could just as easily be
used in circumstances completely inimical to democracy and that it is
not itself democratic. The political ramifications of the Internet
are complex and should not be confused with personal or national
political aspirations.
This book challenges both the half baked theories of Internet trollers
and dilettantes, and the more considered views of professional
thinkers. It hones the conceptual tools required for the formation of
theories and the evaluation of arguments. Each chapter is followed by
comments from authors of other chapters, often adding a differing
cultural perspective, and the book is greatly enhanced by the
carefully written concluding chapter, which summarises the whole book
and looks at the future of the subject of Internet ethics.
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Simon Collery has been involved in editorial and research work for
the electronic media for a number of years, working for AND Data
Solutions, Oxford, and the Oxford English Dictionary Project. One of
his primary interests is the use of the Internet as a serious
research tool and a source of free, reliable information and software.
He enjoys pursuing this interest, and others, working full-time on
content development as a member of the Free Pint team.
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Related Free Pint links:
* Find out more about this book online at the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/ethics.htm>
* Read about other Internet strategy books on the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/strategy.htm>
* Read customer comments and buy this book at Amazon.co.uk
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0333776267/freepint0c>
or Amazon.com
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312232799/freepint00>
* Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf>
To propose a business-Web-related book for review, send
details to <bookshelf@freepint.co.uk>.
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FEATURE ARTICLE
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/060700.htm#feature
"Surfing the Sludge - Tips on Good Web Page Design"
By Richard Eskins
You know the scenario; you've been there a dozen times or more. All
you want is a phone or fax number, a name, an address perhaps. You
start to pull down the company's home page, the text appears but the
large jpeg of a Cactus (why a cactus?) is taking forever to download.
But then a fight breaks out on your PC! The corporate anthem
downloads. What software is going to play it? Who owns that media
type? Is it QuickTime, RealAudio or MSMedia player? Once the fight is
over and you've committed to using QuickTime for life (inadvertently
selecting Upgrade and shelling out 29.99 US Dollars!) and the anthem
has finished which incidentally you didn't hear because in the work
environment you are much too busy to ever plug in your speakers; the
shockwave animation of their latest gizmo starts up. The problem now
is that although you installed the latest browser yesterday, but the
version of shockwave and Flash that came with it has just been
superseded.
Phew! So we've finally got down the home page (we clicked on Stop in
the end). The 30 graphics needed for the 10 rollover buttons in the
menu did take an age, but they are all there. So to the contact
details. Mmmmm.. where are they? On the home page? No. On a Contact
page? No. About Us? No, I'm afraid the menu includes things like
Mission Statement, News, Buy from us, but nothing obvious.
Sigh, that's enough I think; you hate them already and you'd never buy
a single Widget from them. OK, so that example is over the top (a bit)
but we've all been there. So what's gone wrong?
Well like a lot of designers I sit in a privileged seat. In my case I
work in an academic environment. Whatever PC I sit down at, as soon as
I login I have access to the Internet. In fact I work in a Department
that has been going online since 1976. There are variables (such as
who's pulled what plug out today), but generally web access is very
fast. Files from Microsoft that tell me they are about to take hours
to download come down in minutes if not seconds. However, at home I
join the rest of the world at 56K and boy does it hurt!
This isn't particularly an accessibility article (all you need - Web
Accessibility Initiative (WAI): <http://www.w3.org/WAI/>), nor is it
particularly about bandwidth (affordable ADSL please BT). It's more
about sharing that feeling of rather than surfing the web, you're
actually wading through treacle.
So what's to do? Well if you run a site or someone runs one for you,
try some of the tools that I describe later. I'm convinced a big part
of the problem is that sites are often created in a wiz bang style by
agencies. Which are then demonstrated to MD's (with little web savvy)
all from a local PC (or fast connection). The first No.10 Downing
Street site was an excellent example. The Prime Minister stood there
smiling for the press, wiggling the mouse, whilst the web community
were chuckling at this overblown and inaccessible site.
Other favourites are the large UK computer company that had one image
map as its entry point. The graphic failed, no access! Surfing without
graphics can be hilarious, just try the otherwise excellent
<http://www.thetrainline.com/>.
So what can be done? Well the less graphics I have to wait for, the
longer I can spend at your site (see
<http://www.designmore.com/solution.htm>). Flash etc have their place
(be knocked out at <http://www.ford.com/experiential/boot.html>) but
remember the user doesn't always have your speedy machine, huge
resolution and the latest version of the required plugin. And don't
forget they may use the web a little, a word processor daily and
perhaps some specific software they use to do their job, but may
otherwise be computer illiterate (downloads, upgrades browser settings
etc.).
As a user, do we have a voice? Well we can vote with our mouse and
click elsewhere. The Stop button is available in both Netscape and IE
flavours. The user can also drop the site/web master/company a line.
Constructive criticism (boy am I opening myself up to that after this!
r.eskins@mmu.ac.uk) is generally taken on the chin by most web
administrators and can help them develop a better site. If the obvious
information isn't in an obvious place, you can help those who follow
your path by pointing this out. A recent example for me was a site
that had a Whois look up for Domain names. I surf with both flavours
and quickly realised that the search page only worked with IE. I was
phoning them with an enquiry, so mentioned this. They were thankful,
as they had been mystified as to why some users could and some
couldn't use the search page!
I get regular suggestions from our students, who can be cutting
critics. I also received a kind email recently praising our pages,
because the required information was easy to find!
So before I go, my credentials. Well nearly six years worth of 'under
construction', 'file found', 'error reading file' and a lot of
waiting.
The main pages that I manage are at <http://www.mmu.ac.uk/h-ss/dic/>.
The current design which is two or three years old has been very
successful for us, but is over graphical for the growing number of our
students coming in via 56K from home. It also has too many sub-menus
and lots of dead links (so don't mail me). This has lead to a new
version, which is under construction/trial at
<http://www.mmu.ac.uk/h-ss/dic/new/new2/>.
Note: many of the pages only contain lists of the intended
contents and the Search Tools page is in the middle of a big re-
vamp. The URL of the current version is below.
This version uses style sheets <http://www.w3.org/Style/> for
formatting (except tables for layout, layers are still too widely
unsupported). There is an SSI (Server Side Include -
<http://www.bignosebird.com/ssi.shtml>) for notices etc. This is much
more accessible than a previous scrolling text box. There is Betsie
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/betsie/> for an 'on the fly' text only
version. There is a small amount of descriptive text for better search
engine indexing (one can hope). There is a larger menu to get the user
straight to what they want without too many sub-pages. There is a
single graphic (to be created) which when produced will hopefully
stick to the browser safe colours <http://www.visibone.com/colorlab/>
and will be quick to download. When all the Alt tags are inserted the
page will be tested via Bobby for accessibility
<http://www.cast.org/bobby/>. The format for text only browsers has
been tried at <http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html> and as you
can see via Betsie the layout works well. The download speed is
checked via <http://www.netmechanic.com/>. And finally the CSS and
HTML can be tested at <http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/> and
<http://validator.w3.org/>.
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Richard Eskins is the Information Officer in the Department of
Information and Communications at Manchester Metropolitan University,
UK. Richard provides support to staff and students, looking after an
8,000 plus book collection and two computer labs (anyone want to
sponsor a PC lab?). He is also involved in teaching Fundamental and
Advanced Web Page Design and looks after
<http://www.mmu.ac.uk/h-ss/dic/>. His pride and joy (besides his
family, friends and 'real' things that matter much more) is the Search
Tools page at <http://www.mmu.ac.uk/h-ss/dic/main/search.htm>.
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Related Free Pint links:
* Respond to this article and chat to the author now at the Bar
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar>
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<http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/060700.htm#feature>
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FREE PINT BAR
by Simon Collery
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
Here is your summary of what's been happening at the Free Pint Bar
over the last couple of weeks. To read a discussion thread you can
access this summary online with activated hyperlinks
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/060700.htm#bar>, visit the Bar
itself <http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar> or add the message number to
the end of <http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=>.
Business has been at the forefront of the minds of several people
visiting the Bar recently. Tracking down new dotcoms (3722),
healthcare IPOs (3751), marketing in the nonprofit sector (3753), UK
mergers and acquisitions (3813) and company information sites (3872).
And some of the people who answered a question about Internet advice
for SMEs deserve a lot more than one free pint (3830). Do look at
these postings if SMEs make your heart beat faster.
Business was also on the minds of those asking about knowledge
management (3734, 3861), document delivery services (3766), change
management and research and development expenditure (3901) and virtual
desktops and personal portals (3876). The question of whether selling
online is an unqualified good has been asked, not for the first time
(3731), and there have been interesting points raised about
competitive intelligence (3794).
People have been looking for all sorts of things, exhibition trade
magazines (3726), information on women in management (3737), a book on
the Internet for older people (3824), publishing industry conferences
(3833), Internet copyright information (3846), personal finance
websites (3910) and free Ordnance Survey maps (3900). These questions
all received some answer, but the following are still being sought:
ecommerce statistics (3807), information on farmers' markets (3811)
and a UK newsletter list (3822). If you know the answer, don't hide
your light under a bushel.
When it comes to questions about search engine submission (3776) and
bookmark tools (3871), the Free Pint Bar is never at a loss. There
was also some advice given on working in the recruitment industry
(3796), producing an email newsletter (3805) and getting into the
research and librarianship business (3840). If anyone has anything to
add to the last query their contribution would be most welcome.
We have had some delicious Tipples over the past two weeks. A search
facility for finding free online courses (3741), a science dictionary
(3767), a newspaper and magazine search engine (3787), international
postal information (3836), the Human Genome Project (3890) and a
database of health information for travellers (3904). A follow up
message was posted on other human genome sites and this information
was very much appreciated. Particularly interesting was the archive
of Sir Thomas Lipton (3821) and the Gutenberg Bible online (3863).
They illustrate beautifully what can be done with all this technology
currently developing around us.
On the search tool front, I reviewed a natural language search engine
(3851), an odd experience indeed. A reader drew attention to the fact
that Deja.com has made it's old usenet archives unavailable to make
way for it's ecommerce activities (3797). But a spokesperson said
this is just temporary and the archives will be available again in due
course. Another reader has examined Google's success in finding
directory sites and shared the results of his research with Free
Pinters (3816). And somebody wants to know how to reassure parents
that the Web can be safe for children (3771). I have belatedly tried
to address that query by reviewing a site on surfing safety for
children (3930).
Finally, a Maltese organisation which promotes the needs and rights of
disabled people would like to exchange thoughts with similar bodies
(3895) and we have been notified of an online International Internet
Art Festival starting in mid August (3897).
Free Pints exist too, so do join us at the Bar.
Simon Collery, Content Developer, Free Pint
Remember, to read this summary with activated hyperlinks visit ...
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/060700.htm#bar>
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Bar: Do you have a research question or Web-related comment? It's
easy to post a message at <http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar>
Look out for "Today's Tipple" - a different Web site reviewed
every working day at the Bar to add to your collection.
Digest: To have the latest Free Pint Bar postings sent to you every
other day, send a blank email to <digest@freepint.co.uk>
Archive: Dormant postings older than 45 days are moved to
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/archive/config.pl>
Email: To write to the Free Pint team, please send your email to
<feedback@freepint.co.uk>
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http://www.freepint.co.uk/news
Today's news headlines in 200 categories - free to all members
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
http://www.freepint.co.uk/events
You should get good value for money in Toronto next week with four
events, the COMDEX/Canada 2000, the Windows World and NetWorld plus
Interop and the LINUX Business Expo all running concurrently. At
exactly the same time in Cambridge, England, the UK Online User Group
is holding its biennial conference, entitled Information for
Empowerment.
In Vienna, the International Institute for Information Design will be
holding the Vision Plus International Symposium. Also, the American
Association of Law Libraries has its Annual Meeting and Conference and
the Internet Society will hold its Global Summit in Yokahama, Japan.
Full details of these and many other forthcoming conferences and
exhibitions in the online-information and Internet industry can be
found on the Free Pint Events page <http://www.freepint.co.uk/events>.
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FREE PINT GOLD
Electronic commerce is a much used term at the moment, and this time
last year it was bandied about with impunity in an article listing the
numerous places where you can research it and keep in touch with its
progress. Also on the agenda was plastics and rubber information
available on the Internet, journals, Web sites, directories, the lot.
Two years ago we ran an article on being a small business on the
Internet, how we can use the Internet for finding clients, marketing
and maintaining a presence in cyberspace. We also ran an article on
finding reliable statistical information. Availability of such
information in the UK is compared with that available in several other
countries.
Free Pint one year ago ...
* Free Pint No.42, 8th July 1999 "Electronic commerce" and
"Plastics and Rubber Information on the Internet"
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/080799.htm>.
Free Pint two years ago ...
* Free Pint No.17, 9th July 1998 "Small is Beautiful: Being a
Small Business on the Internet" and "Statistical Information
on the Web" <http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/090798.htm>.
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FREE PINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
* Handheld Computers * Surveillance *
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[Provisional]
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We really hope you've enjoyed today's issue and will join us on the
Web site to find out more about your area of interest. Come and post
your research questions and answers at the Bar and catch up on all
those Tipples ... as long as it doesn't make you grind your teeth.
See you in two weeks!
William Hann, Managing Editor
william@freepint.co.uk
(c) Free Pint Limited 1997-2000
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
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CONTACT INFORMATION
William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Founder and Managing Editor
e: william@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1784 455435 f: +44 (0)1784 455436
Rex Cooke FIInfSc FRSA, Editor
e: rex@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1342 316027 f: +44 (0)1342 316027
Simon Collery BA, Business Development
e: simon@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1865 434143 f: +44 (0)1784 455436
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Free Pint (ISSN 1460-7239) is a free newsletter written by information
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About this Newsletter
- Publication Date: 5th July 2000
- Plain text
- Link: https://www.jinfo.com/go/newsletter/66
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