The WWW Virtual Library is a catalog of web site links that is maintained by volunteer experts in each of the fields listed. The site is offered in three forms:
| Course: | MCTE 615 — The Internet |
| Subject: | Assignment #1, Reading Task #1-#2 Combination/Expanded |
| Task: | Page 64, problem #2, (a) and (b) |
| Searching & Researching on the Internet & the World Wide Web | |
| (Ackermann & Hartman, 1997) | |
| Project: | Internet Research |
| Professor: | Dr. George Fornshell |
| Students: | Leanne C. Boyd, L D Albin, Robert Mentillo (Team #9) |
| Usercodes: | boydl, albinl, mentillo |
| Email: | Contact team leader: boydl@scis.acast.nova.edu |
| Due date: | April 27, 1998 |
| About The World Wide Web, CERN, And Broadcasters Around The World | |
| References | |
| List of Figures (Graphics Contents) |
The WWW Virtual Library is a catalog of web site links that
is maintained by volunteer experts in each of the fields listed. The site
is offered in three forms:
Six mirror sites are listed in the USA, UK, Switzerland, and Argentina. These sites are identical to the initial site and simply give more people access to the information without long delays. These links also advise that there are three major depositories: one at Stanford, one in Switzerland, and one in the UK. These are important for users worldwide to be able to access information without overloading one system.
The last link is a Pirelli Internet Awards listing that gives all of last years participants and the winners. VL won the Jury Special Award. This link also is recruiting for proposals for the next awards competition.
The two images offered on the home page are the VL logo — a globe and a book. Interesting and quickly downloaded.
W3C 1997 World Wide Web Consortium, MIT, Institut National de Recherche
en informatique et en Automatique, Keio University. This web site is
a site designed to explain why the web exists, how it exists, who created
it and keeps it going.
The open page consists of several links that will allow the information seeker the ability to explore, in as much depth as they like, the network that is called the World Wide Web.
The first three links: The Network Information Project; Vision of the Network; and History of Web/Conception all discuss the make up of the web, how it was formed and why it was formed. Each link takes you to a site with several more links and information on various aspects of the web. One of the presentations offers a dialogue with slide show.
The Web Conferences link is really a bulletin board type chat room. Much of the information here is opinion.
A link to White Pages has a lot of potential. The basic plan here is to list all the known web users similar to a phone book. Anyone who is just surfing can use things like this to find out what is available. It also gives some ideas to those looking to establish a web site.
The next one should be a link in every web site: Frequently Asked Questions. It is amazing how often the user has a question that is answered here without having to go through three or four different links and wait for a response.
The Web Site Index link opened up into a site with five new links that make it easy to find a web site that you know very little about, or to find out if a particular type of web site exists.
Subject link used a browser with key words. This seems great, and sometimes it works great, but other times it is not very effective if you do not hit the key word, or your key word is not what the authors key word is.
HTTP Sites link is great for the more advanced explorer.
The Whois link was a phone book with browser. Going to this site was an experience! A list of hundreds of universities and other places is given. Opening up any of these sites gives you a gopher to find a person by giving last name, although sometimes it must be in all caps or case sensitive. This is good for people who meet someone and forget to get an address or phone number.
A Tech Info link which was advertised as being new had not opened yet — now that is new!
How to Make a Web Site and News Groups are typical links that are in many of these types of sites.
People Involved was a link with an alphabetical listing by last name of all the people that have been involved with setting up or adding to the web. These types of links are great for name-droppers.
The Time Line gave a year by year outline of the project and had links for each year for anyone interested in what happened in a particular year.
The last listing was For Your Input. It allowed the user to help out with the project and made it a truly interactive.
Overall the site was well done and had a lot of things to grab your attention if you were just surfing and more than enough information for the more interested researchers.
(end mentillo:)
boydl:
The textbook’s invitation to visit the Broadcasting web page of the World Wide Web’s Virtual Library brought expectations of long lists of radio call letters and television programming. The actual hopping-off point, however, lead, instead, to completely unexpected visual and mental delights. The creators of the website were not only comprehensive in their listings of radio and television offerings around the world, they also provided an icon-based system to let the user know which sites were especially well-done and informative.
The list included broadcasters from every area of the globe, as well as many other useful resources:
A
visit to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) was an immediate
confirmation that technology is alive and well "Down Under." This website,
ABC Online, is as state-of-the-art as they come. It offers the daily
news as well as general topics of interest, in a colorful, graphic, and
interactive way — yet it has managed to stay away from a "slick" appearance,
remaining a friendly place to tarry.
One predominant offering of most of the broadcasting websites is "online education" of one form or another. ABC’s virtual school is called "Learn Online." It has an impressive list of learning activities offered via the Internet. "The Lab — ABC's Gateway to Online Science" is a well-developed site for K-12 learning projects. Currently, with National Science Week underway, they have invited Australian students to "Ask NASA Astronaut Andy Thomas a Question." (ABC, 1998). This is part of a large section on space-race-related topics. When some of these links were explored, this writer suddenly arrived on The Lab’s "Mir Page." From there, the temptation to explore the link to NASA’s own website for all-things-Mir, was uncontrollable.
NASA’s topics cover everything from the USA to Russia, out to the orbiting
range of Mir — and
beyond. The Lab at ABC is to be commended for producing this gateway
on their learning website! The fascinating history of Mir is the documentation
of countries that have learned to work in peace rather than using the tools
of our time for destructive or military competition. This broadcasting
company has brought the finest of online exploration to not only Australian
students, but to this Internet hiker from Colorado, as well! Only with
this medium might one journey from the USA to Australia, Russia and the
galactic rim, and still be back in time to write about the trip.
The
second quest into the world of Broadcast providers landed the writer in
the countryside of Greece. The most interesting website was not a proprietary
site, but one that listed everything you might want to know about the Media
in Greece. Unpretentiously, the links were labeled "All the Greek TV and
Radio stations on the NET," as well as "All the Greek Newspapers on the
NET." Again, it was interesting that a website dedicated to Broadcasting
also seemed very concerned with portraying the glory and beauty of Greece.
This site also offered much in the way of online education, which included
"Learn Modern Greek."
The link led to a learning website with free instruction in the Greek language.
The main broadcast page covered topics of history, geography, science,
tourism, culture, music, and the arts. This writer became intrigued with
one link, entitled, "LesvosWeb, Lesvos island, Lesbos, Mytilini, Mytilene,
Greece." (Bitzenis, 1997). A journey to this link was filled with
information concerning the incredibly beautiful island of Mytilene. One
particularly interesting page covered the history of the Petrified Forest
of Lesvos. For this writer, the journey to Greece began to fill gaps in
previous studies of the history of Art and Western Culture. On this trek,
the Media had — twice in a row — sparked learning adventures in most subjects
across the curriculum.
Making
a jump of a few thousand miles, this writer set foot on another island.
Cuba’s broadcasting services played a huge part in the childhood years
of many, who watched and listened to atomic history in the making, in the
Bay of Pigs years. The online site for Radio Habana Cuba,
in Havana, Cuba, offers yet another list of anything and everything that
is above and beyond just broadcasting. On this website, there appears to
be a strong link between radio services and print media. A great deal of
"history in the making" is available. The actual broadcasting services
have much to offer in the way of radio seminars, meetings, discussions,
and speeches. The links to print media extend beyond the parameters of
the island, keeping everyone as well informed as possible.
Radio Habana Cuba offers print versions of radio broadcasts, called "CUBANEWS." For example, one year ago, some 300 women from all walks of life, representing 14 nations, participated in the second International Encounter of Women Creators. They met in Havana, concerned with issues such as women in the search for alternative solutions for sustainable food production, renewable energy, the environment, and the contribution of women to development. (Radio Habana Cuba, 1998). These are exciting topics on anyone’s turf! These web pages could play an integral part of any Social Studies department. Once more, it is the dedicated Broadcasters of Cuba, rather than academics, that made these pages possible.
Jumping
again half way around the world, this virtual tour led to the Czech Republic
and Radio Prague. The English Broadcasting site offers the usual in current
news, sports, cultural magazines, politics, economics, and special reviews.
Without missing a beat, the fourth way-station on our virtual itinerary
also satisfied the passions of the insatiable Internet learner. Again,
it was noted that this broadcasting website is also dedicated to topics
for distance learners, with subject areas across the curriculum. One might
visit The Photo Tour of Prague, The Virtual Cemetery (final resting
places of some Czech greats), the breweries of the Beer Culture,
or The Roma (Gypsy) Minority.
A truly soul-inspiring event then happened for this author. Reading the description, "History in a Nutshell is a virtual exhibit presenting Czech history seen through the art of children from all over the Czech nation," (Radio Prague, 1998) many might pass over the feature in favor of a more volatile issue going on in this land so historically torn by strife. A word of suggestion: VISIT THIS SITE. It is almost a violent wrench to the heart when a land’s history is viewed through the eyes of the innocent. The pilgrimage into these pages created a link — not just between Colorado and Czechoslovakia, but a bond between human spirits. It came as an incredulous surprise that this website is a collaborative effort of Radio Prague, the National Technical Museum in Prague, and . . . Silicon Graphics of California, the United States of America, the sponsor of this event.
It
is perhaps the collaboration aspect of this website that makes it such
an ideal example of Internet learning. The fact that the discovery of this
site was almost accidental by nature also gives due respect to the grand
features of Internet exploration and research. Children were the learners,
children were the teachers, and children were the professional presenters.
We have much to learn from the creation and display of this work. This
author would like to recognize SGI for their global outreach in distance
learning.
The final country chosen for this broadcasting research is home for
the Sri Lanka Broadcasting
Corporation, with a history of strife almost as long as the country’s war-torn
saga. (Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, 1998). It is also home
to the great science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke. Finally, it harbors
a spot with the beckoning name of "World’s End." (Gunawardana, 1995).
The southern tip of "The Pearl of the Indian Ocean" (Vesilind, 1997)
turned out to hold the derivation of one of this writer’s favorite words.
The January, 1997 issue of National Geographic had this to say of
the island of Sri Lanka:
This trek into cities, towns, and even villages that house global Broadcasters led to much more than knowledge of radio and television in a few scattered sites. It was a profound introduction to people one has never met and probably will never meet, face-to-face. But they have become our neighbors and friends . . . through serendipitous meetings on cyber-pathways.
(end boydl:)
albinl:
CERN
is the European Laboratory for Particle Physics at Geneva, Switzerland,
and incidentally, the birthplace of the World Wide Web. (CERN, 1995).
The CERN homepage is an interesting example of an advanced education site
on the Web and a learning opportunity that aptly illustrates the Web’s
basic nature, ever-changing. As a resource for middle school teachers it
is of limited, if any, value.
Upon clicking on the link provided on the "About the World Wide Web" homepage, one is brought to a very short, attractive Web page with a table which succinctly organizes the information being offered about and by CERN. Here is the first two sentences below the heading, and it is the inferences one can draw from this pair of sentences that says so much. "This is the new CERN User's page. The old page is still here." (CERN, 1998)
This page is brand new, as of March 30, 1998. (http://www.cern.ch/CERN/). One can click on the link provided and find the previous home page CERN used, or on another link provided to read why a new page was developed to replace the old one. Following these links and absorbing their information, and then spending some time with the two pages to compare and contrast their offerings is informative about the evolution of the Web in general.
There are two specific differences in the two home pages that become obvious. The first and most obvious is form. The second is content.
The format of the new page is, as stated above, short and attractive
in the way it succinctly organizes
the information being offered. The page is also formed in such a way as
to load quickly when someone points to it with their browser. Their previous
home page was attractive in that it started with a large, stunning photo
of CERN with the mountains in the background, but this loaded slowly. Then
the information was stretched out down a long page which was organized,
but required considerable scrolling to take it all in. Comparing what was
listed required scrolling up and down until a person could pretty well
retain it mentally. The new page allows most, if not all, the information
to fit on one screen so a person can easily compare the listings and links
to decide where to look.
The change in content on the page is that the new page is focused explicitly upon what one would expect The European Laboratory of Particle Physics to be doing. College level and above information on physics, especially post-graduate level information, and most especially CERN’s own programs, seminars and related offerings. Their previous home page included this, but also seemed to contain a fairly wide assortment of topics more general in nature and applicable to a lower level educationally.
Unless one is a college professor of physics, graduate or post-graduate student, the CERN Website offers only a limited number of resources. Fortunately they are easy to access rather quickly. The virtual library and library catalogues have the search capabilities that make it possible to find information on a given topic quickly. Checking the Library link, then Information Sources, then catalogues it is possible to get to some resources relevant to middle school, or K-12 education, but the resources are Web pages and virtual libraries put up by other organizations around the world and would be more easily accessed through other sites.
The Web is moving toward a form that is more functional and pages that are more focused on a given topic. A middle school educator that is using the Web as a resource will do well to avoid extremely advanced science sites such as CERN in place of ones dedicated to their own level of the education ladder. As an increasing number of sites become available, any given site trying to "do it all" becomes not only unnecessary but also undesirable in that it is harder to find the information one seeks. There will always be commercial pages such as home pages of search engines that provide broad spectrum access to resources, but an educator will want to bookmark sites specific to their interests and level of education to be able to efficiently use the World Wide Web rather than getting tangled up in it.
(end albinl:)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). (1998). Australian
Broadcasting Corporation Online. Retrieved Apr. 1998, from the World
Wide Web. [Online]. Available: http://www.abc.net.au/
(1998). Learn Online. [Online]. Available: http://www.abc.net.au/learn/
Bitzenis, Aris. (1997). Greek TV/Various Links. Modified: Dec. 18, 1997. Retrieved Apr. 1998, from the World Wide Web. [Online]. Available: http://www.gla.ac.uk/~9407795b/link.htm
CERN. (1995, 1998). CERN: European Laboratory for Particle Physics.
(1995).
CERN Web Office: CERN Welcome. Contact: Robert Cailliau, IT/WO
group leader, at web.office@cern.ch. Modified: Apr. 3, 1998. Retrieved Apr. 1998, from
the World Wide Web. [Online]. Available: http://www.cern.ch/htbin/mkwelcome
(1998).
CERN — Web Office: User’s page. Contact: Robert Cailliau, IT/WO
group leader, at web.office@cern.ch. Modified Mar. 30, 1998. [Online].
Available: http://www.cern.ch/
LesvosWeb & Compulink. (1998). LesvosWeb. Modified: Apr. 16, 1998. Retrieved Apr. 1998, from the World Wide Web. [Online]. Available: http://www.lesvos.compulink.gr/default.htm
Radio Habana Cuba. (1998). Radio Habana Cuba (entry page) – RHC News in English. [Online]. Available: http://www.radiohc.org/english.html
Radio Prague. (1998). Radio Praha - Radio Prague in English.
Retrieved Apr. 1998, from the World Wide Web. Radio Prague, Vinohradska
12, 12099 Prague 2, Czech Republic.
(1996-97). Radio Prague Internet Team. Welcome to Radio Prague's History
Online Virtual Exhibit! – History in a Nutshell. Modified: Dec. 26, 1997. [Online].
Available: http://www.radio.cz/history/
(1996-97). Radio Prague Internet Team. Long Text - Page 3 of 15;
The Luxembourg Dynasty and King Charles IV. Modified: Dec. 26, 1997. [Online].
Available: http://www.radio.cz/history/history04.html
Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. (1998). Sri Lanka Rupavahini(TV) Corporation. Retrieved Apr. 1998, from the World Wide Web. [Online]. Available: http://www.infolanka.com/people/sisira/slbc.html
Vesilind, Priit J. (1997). Sri Lanka: A continuing ethnic war tarnishes the pearl of the Indian Ocean. National Geographic: Jan. 1997 issue. [Online]. Available: http://www.is.lk/is/spot/sp0131/clip9.html
W3C (The World Wide Web Consortium). (1998). Welcome to the World Wide Web. [Online]. Available: http://www.w3.org/WWW/
Figure 1: World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). (1998). Leading
the Web to its Full Potential... [Online]. Available: http://www.w3.org/
Figure 2: W3C and HTML standards. (1998). Welcome to the World
Wide Web. [Online]. Available: http://www.w3.org/WWW/
Figure 3: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (1998). Australian
Broadcasting Corporation Online. [Online]. Available: http://www.abc.net.au/
Figure 4: ABC’s Learn Online Program. (1998). [Online]. Available:
http://www.abc.net.au/learn/
Figure 5: The Greek Flag. (1997). Greek TV/Various Links: from
the personal website of Aris Bitzenis, Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece.
Modified: Dec. 18, 1997. [Online]. Available: http://www.gla.ac.uk/~9407795b/
Figure 6: The incredibly beautiful island of Mytilene, Greece.
(1997). Modified: Dec. 16, 1997. [Online]. Available: http://www.lesvos.compulink.gr/Lesvos/Map/places/mytil/mytilene.htm
Figure 7: Radio Habana Cuba. (1998). Radio Habana Cuba (entry page) – RHC News in English.
[Online]. Available: http://www.radiohc.org/english.html
Figure 8: Radio Prague. (1998). Radio Praha - Radio Prague
in English. [Online]. Available: http://www.radio.cz/english.html
Figure 9: History in a Nutshell – a collaborative Work of Radio Prague
and Silicon Graphics. [Online]. Available:
http://www.radio.cz/history/history04.html
Figure 10: The view at World’s End, in Sri Lanka. From: Horton
Plains – World's End: Height of Beauty. by Sirancee Gunawardana. Modified:
Dec. 21, 1995. [Online]. Available: http://arachnid.cs.cf.ac.uk/Sri_Lanka/Places/worldsend.html
Figure 11: CERN logo. (1998). CERN: European Laboratory
for Particle Physics. CERN — Web Office: User’s page. [Online].
Available: http://www.cern.ch/
Figure 12: View of CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. (1998).
CERN: European Laboratory for Particle Physics. CERN — Web Office: User’s
page. [Online]. Available: http://www.cern.ch/
Hovorak, Martin. (1996-97). Actual artwork: Mesto prazske roste pricinenim
Karla IV (New Town District/Charles Square). [Finalist,
juried show, 7th grade]. [Online].
Available: http://www.radio.cz/history/obr105.html
All graphics are properties and © of the pertinent websites/individuals/companies, and may be found at the corresponding links.