Free Pint No.84 - Detectives, USA History and Usability Free Pint "Helping 36,000 people use the Web for their work" http://www.freepint.co.uk/ ISSN 1460-7239 29th March 2001 No.84 > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = IN THIS ISSUE EDITORIAL MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES from Tracey Howard-Baker FREE PINT BAR In Association with Factiva a Dow Jones & Reuters Company Reviewed by Simon Collery TIPS AND TECHNIQUES "In the Footsteps of Miss Marple - Female Detective Fiction Online" By John Lewell BOOKSHELF "Designing Web Usability: the practice of simplicity" Reviewed by Ian Tilsed FEATURE ARTICLE "Quest for Liberty: History of the United States of America" By Susan Alcock EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES CONTACT INFORMATION ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > = = = = = = = = = = = = = ADVERTISEMENT = = = = = = = = = = = = = = NEED MARKET INTELLIGENCE? DON'T STRUGGLE WITH LONG SEARCHES ANYMORE. MarketResearch.com gives you instant access to expert insights on global markets, industries, companies, products and trends. With 35,000 publications covering 20 broad industries, MarketResearch.com provides information professionals with the most credible and accurate market intelligence products and services available. For more information, click on the link below or call +1-212-807-2629 (USA). http://www.marketresearch.com/redirect.asp?progid=1010 > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [mr841] > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<< Free Pint is a community of business professionals who use the Web for their research. Members receive this free newsletter every two weeks packed with tips on finding quality and reliable business information on the Internet. Signing up at provides free access to the substantial archive of articles, book reviews, industry news and events, with answers to your research questions and networking at the "Free Pint Bar" and "Student Bar". This newsletter is best read when printed out and viewed in a Courier font. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EDITORIAL The big news today is the birth of our son Daniel Joseph last week who weighed in at 8 pounds 15. Regulars at the Bar were the first to receive the announcement, and have since been discussing a suitable Free Pint related nickname. This tradition dates back three years when I announced the birth or our daughter Imogen in issue 16, who was christened "Half Pint" by Free Pinters. Since Daniel is that much smaller he's been tagged the "Free Pint Tot" (as in a dram of liquor), which is considerably better than one suggestion of "Short"! We have some classic content for you in today's edition. The first article reviews sites by authors of female detective fiction whilst the feature article gives us a whirlwind tour around resources of interest when studying the history of the US. All this along with the regular mix of tips, reviews and roundups should mean there's something for everyone again today. Thank you to the many Free Pinters who responded to my Editorial in the last issue with kind messages about how useful you find our community. You can read the comments in the "Free Pint Feedback" section at the bottom of the homepage at . Finally, please do check out the advertisers and sponsors of today's issue since it is their support which enables this newsletter to be free. Don't forget also to keep spreading the word about Free Pint to your colleagues, friends, students or journalists. Cheers William William Hann BSc MIInfSc Founder and Managing Editor, Free Pint e: t: +44 (0)1784 455435 f: +44 (0)1784 455436 > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > = = = = = = = = = = = = = ADVERTISEMENT = = = = = = = = = = = = = = British Library - Consumer Health Care on the Internet, 27 April 2001. While the internet offers a growing volume of consumer-oriented health care information, it is not well organised and is of very variable quality. This half-day hands-on course will help you discover how search engines work; how to cut through the maze of internet sources; how to choose where to search for which information, saving you valuable time and money. For more info contact Tony Antoniou 020 7412 7978 or http://www.bl.uk/services/stb/courses.html > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [bl842] > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> RESEARCH ANY UK COMPANY. BASIC DETAILS FREE <<< Our company research gateway has information on all registered UK companies. It's free to search and retrieve basic details. Detailed financial reports and accounts are easily obtained on a pay-per-view basis, without setup or monthly fees. Why not try a search today at > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES from Tracey Howard-Baker * Harmony Central - First stop of the day for any musician with its database of all things music related and the most extensive midi, lyric and tab search engines on the Internet. * Media UK - This site has links, addresses and some contact names to every newspaper, magazine, radio, television, media and entertainment related company in the UK. * Streetmap.co.uk - A must have for any regular traveller with a flexible search facility and printable diagrams for anywhere in the UK. * Mi2n - The most comprehensive and up to date Music Industry News site there is. * comdirect - Finally, grab a cuppa and visit comdirect to check up on the state of the stockmarket & latest share prices, or sign up for a free watchlist & learn about the trading market with their fantasy shares game. Tracey Howard-Baker is an entertainer/music consultant and director for the non-profit music group the Electric Blues Club . Tell us about your top five favourite Web sites. See the guidelines at or email > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > = = = = = = = = = = = = = ADVERTISEMENT = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ROI Facts For Your Marketing and Strategic Planning Did you know that the intellectual assets of a corporation are usually worth three or four times its tangible book value? You will find that and other useful facts about ROI in "Measuring and Assessing the Return-on-Investment for your Information Initiative". This and other presentations are at http://www.factiva.com/infopro under White Papers and Presentations. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [fa843] > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> DO YOU SEND A REGULAR ANNOUNCEMENT OR NEWSLETTER BY EMAIL? <<< Do you find it tricky to handle the subscriptions and distribution? Check out Free Pint's cost effective list hosting service, run by experienced Internet publishers at . "We're exceptionally happy with Free Pint! They have taken the worry out of E-Publishing" AB > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT BAR In Association with Factiva a Dow Jones & Reuters Company Reviewed by Simon Collery Free Pint Bar - [Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in the address or enter the number in the "Jump To" box on the Bar homepage] As experienced users of the Internet, most Free Pinters will be aware that there are scams and hoaxes around every corner, if cyberspace has corners. Sometimes it's possible to dig up information quite quickly to decide whether something is genuine or not. Other times it's best to post a message asking other frequent Internet users for their opinion (8153). And despite all the news sources, bulletins and updates available it can still be difficult to pin down a particular story, if there is one (8306). In the last two weeks, Free Pinters have supplied sites for finding chemical compounds (8131), dictionaries (8232), Nordic news (8287), industrial gases (8156), knowledge audit templates (8205), history (8256), British politicians (8237) and live UK wind speeds (8309). Tipplewise, I have taken a look at resources for computing (8132), Knowledge Management (8321), literature and language (8269) and country information (8420). As usual, I have also been keeping an eye on information industry news sources in the Weekly Pub Crawls (8110, 8349) and taking a second look at any Unresolved Requests in both of the Bars (8291, 8436). When companies are owned by larger companies (8284) this can somwhat frustrate a search for information. In fact, searching for individual companies can be hard for many reasons (8288), so it's always worth asking for help if you are stuck. You never know what you'll learn (8317). But most frustrating of all is when a site doesn't have enough contact information (8421) or just doesn't respond to communications. Jobwise, we have heard from people wishing to work in Canada (8160), Switzerland (8409), Brazil (8207) and Holland (8236). Information has been sought on good recruitment agencies (8386), independent researchers in Mexico and the Czech Republic (8188) and research into the phenomenon of holding more than one job at a time (8410). The Internet is usually a good place for lists but we are still looking for a list of European corporate finance companies (8279) and one of SAP software users in India (8296). And apparently UK unions that are not members of the TUC can be worked out from available data (8400), even though there isn't a specific list. Delving into the miscellany, we find a request for a US equivalent of Tenders Electronic Daily (8432), a free host for an online radio station (8407), the origin of "Mufti Day" (8404) and a source of Telecoms Operations Maps (8213). Advice is sought on marketing and sales (8347), getting finance for a Web site (8231), writing content for the Web (8228) and chat room moderation (8417). Researchers have been grappling with the methodologies and financial indicators used by investors in evaluating IT projects (8254), aerospace metal specifications (8136), cybergovernment in France and Germany (8439), meta data projects, especially alternatives to the Dublin Core Initiative (8149) and the clothing industry (8230). One researcher simply asks "does employee training work" (8201). Well, does it? Searchwise, I reviewed yet another visual search tool (8218), a good one this time, and a tool which aims to create a directory on the fly for your search terms, rather than using a static directory (8382). One of the developers of this on the fly directory has suggested in a private email that I judged his project unfairly. I have yet to receive the clarification I subsequently asked for but I welcome any reactions to my reviews, especially if this extends understanding of the subject of the review. Still on the subject of surfing, one of our subscribers has moved ISP to find that the new one doesn't have a cache, which speeds downloading (8329). Does anyone know of a public UK cache he can use? And the question of email directories comes up again (8157). There are lots of email directories around, which makes it difficult to find addresses, but some people would prefer not to have their details publicly accessible anyway. Quantitative resources are required for research into international fuel fraud (8363), historical weather data (8365), the ratio of computers to pupils in schools (8147), historical retail price index data (8336) and marketing data collection techniques (8233). The questions of installing Sage Accounting in Windows 2000 (8229), converting .asx files to .wav (8368) and writing service level agreements (8297) have yet to be answered. Other techie questions were raised about computer aided design programs (8138), sending pictures by email (8427), chat room software (8320), competitive intelligence software (8119) and finding Adobe Catalog (8162). Free Pint Student Bar - [Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in the address ] In the Student Bar people have been researching database and network design (1227), TV programmes with their own Web sites (1231), electronic text storage and XML (1242), the future of wireless devices (1248) and society's reaction to the introduction of various communication technologies (1250). Advice has been sought on Web design courses (1228), Library and Information Science courses (1229) and distance learning MAs in Information Science (1236). Someone is looking for downloadable resources on stock market investment strategies (1253), should you know anything about them, and someone else seeks statistical information on school children in the North East of England (1251). Simon Collery, Content Developer If you have a tricky research question or can help other Free Pinters then do post a message at the Bar or the Student Bar . Visit daily for "Today's Tipple" - a different Web site reviewed every working day at the Bar. Every Thursday there is the "Pub Crawl", a look at full text articles from a range of information and Internet publications. Access the archive of Tipples and Pub Crawls at . To have the latest Free Pint Bar postings sent to you every other day, send a blank email to . For the Student Bar Digest send an email to . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> WANT TO REACH A GLOBAL AUDIENCE OF BUSINESS RESEARCHERS? <<< Advertising in the Free Pint Newsletter is an extremely effective way of marketing information-related products and services. Placement of your message in this newsletter gains extensive coverage, along with free banner exposures on the Web site and in the newsletter archive. Ever wondered why we have so much repeat advertising? http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = TIPS AND TECHNIQUES "In the Footsteps of Miss Marple - Female Detective Fiction Online" By John Lewell In the heyday of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, most lending libraries in the UK boasted a respectable selection of mystery books, with all the great writers represented. This is no longer true. Today, if you want to read the best 100 mystery novels you need to buy at least 90 of them, yet only around 20 will be found in even the largest bookstores. The answer is to go online, or, if you really want to follow in the footsteps and indeed the spirit of Miss Marple, get someone else (a librarian, for example) to go online for you. To make life a little easier for librarians and mystery lovers alike, I created femaledetective.com - a site that reviews nearly 200 of the top mystery writers in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia. To make my own task easier I excluded male detectives, focusing exclusively on writers with female investigators. Creating femaledetective.com - and with it a substantial directory of links to the mystery world online - has given me a few insights into how crime fiction is treated on the Internet. If you want to explore the whole genre, a reasonable starting-place is therefore femaledetective.com's links directory . Its categories include: Awards and Events, Archives, Bibliographies and Directories, Author Sites, Bookstores, Books for Collectors, Magazines, Mailing Lists, Major Mystery Sites, Organizations, Reviews, Writers' Resources, and everything else - such as mystery dinners, pseudonyms, web rings, etc. - tucked into Misc. Authors' Sites -------------- The most popular part of the directory is undoubtedly the directory of authors' links, which takes you to the personal pages of each writer. As you would expect, the most successful authors have sites that have been professionally designed, with plenty of pictures, and a very helpful listing of events such as book signings. Top authors with first-rate sites and their own domains include Linda Barnes , Patricia Cornwell , Leslie Glass and Sue Grafton ). One unexpected development recently has been some informal groupings of novelists for the purpose of promoting themselves on the Web. The best of these in the United States is the curiously named NMO Mysteries (NMO stands for "Nuns, Mothers and Others"), which promotes four excellent novelists who have made friends with each other on book tours. They are Lee Harris (author of the outstanding Christine Bennett series), Jonnie Jacobs (Kate Austen mysteries), Lora Roberts (Liz Sullivan series) and Valerie Wolzien (Susan Henshaw suburban mysteries). They can all be found at . Major Sites ----------- There are some huge sites on both sides of the Atlantic that specialise in crime fiction, most notably Tangled Web , a UK venture that carries reviews, latest releases, and discussion in sprawling but always interesting designs. For female-specific detective fiction, US site Clue Lass has long been at the forefront, with its comprehensive directory of awards, writers' resources, reviews, comment, etc. Other major sites worth mentioning are MysteryNet , a large commercial US site, with games, reviews, and a penchant for Agatha Christie - and the inevitable Mysteries.com which also carries TV listings, extensive searching, site of the week, etc. Finding Out-of-Print Titles --------------------------- Locating a copy of an out-of-print novel on the Internet has become unbelievably simple. The secret is to visit femaledetective.com's special page which carries an aggregated search engine that looks not only on ABE and Alibris/Bibliocity but also on BiblioFind - and returns results in a single list. Go on, try it! You'll be amazed if you haven't already seen the 123pix service in action. It works for other books besides mysteries. Reviews ------- The advantage of sites such as Tangled Web and femaledetective.com is that they offer reviews by established authors and critics rather than the sometimes off-the-wall opinions of people who post reviews to Amazon and the other online stores. Other good review sites are Cathy Gallagher's extensive section on About.com and the excellent online literary magazine January which carries crime reviews . Many other review sites are listed on . Sites for Mystery Writers ------------------------- Aspiring or published writers can find a wealth of material on the Internet - and it's well known that mystery writers have a need for special information. What's a useful alternative to weedkiller for finishing off Aunt Bessy? How much does a bodyguard earn in Los Angeles? How long does it take to pick a certain kind of lock? Answers to all these questions and more can be found by using the directory at the Mystery Writers' Forum . For information and help on the actual process of creative writing, the readers' and writers' colony Painted Rock is as good a starting-point as any. It goes right to the point, with no messing around, just the way the Web should always be - but isn't always. Summary ------- Since the days when Miss Marple shrewdly used her knowledge of human behaviour to solve otherwise impossible cases, the genre of female detective fiction has expanded in all directions. From the brilliant thrillers of Mary Willis Walker to the side-splitting humour of Janet Evanovich, the genre offers delights for every taste. But if the reader never goes online, most of the genre will remain hidden. And that's not the right sort of mystery at all. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - John Lewell is editor of three Internet sites: Metaplus , femaledetective.com , Modern Thai Food and is the European correspondent of internetnews.com. He is also author of two books on computer graphics, and of the biographical encyclopaedia "Modern Japanese Novelists" (Kodansha, NY, 1993). > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * "Publishing" links, articles and resources in the Free Pint Portal * Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks * Post a message to the author now at the Free Pint Bar * Access the entire archive of Free Pint content > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> FREE PINT FACT <<< We work hard to produce new content every day on the Web site, and the Free Pint Bar is the place where most of it appears. There's a review of a different Web site each working day as "Today's Tipple", a weekly look at the information and Internet trade press in the "Pub Crawl" and also a weekly roundup of unresolved questions at the Bar. All of these are accessible from the links in the Bar section of the Web site homepage at but you can also have them emailed to you as part of the Bar Digest. Send a note to if you'd like to receive this summary of postings from the Bar, sent to you three times a week. William Hann, Managing Editor > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT BOOKSHELF "Designing Web Usability: the practice of simplicity" Reviewed by Ian Tilsed Jakob Nielsen is renowned as a web usability guru, so when this book was published last year it understandably commanded attention. It is the first of two books on the subject of web usability. This first book is about the 'what' of good websites, with the second intending to be about the 'how'. Essentially this book extols the virtue of simplicity and encourages website designers to concentrate on the users' needs rather than fancy design. The essence of this fairly large volume (over 400 pages) is explained and argued across four main sections, namely Page, Content, Site, and Intranet design. Under page design Nielsen engages with cross-platform design, linking, style sheets and frames ("just say no"). Content design includes such topics as writing for the web and the use of multimedia, where the web is described as an 'attention economy' where users will swiftly move on if they do not receive immediate benefits upon arriving at a site. Nielsen then argues for greater consideration to be given to overall site design in the third main section, where the importance of such issues as navigation, search capabilities and URL design are hammered home. The section on intranet design to some extent repeats earlier material, but Nielsen ably differentiates intranet from Internet design and illustrates the issues particular to corporate information infrastructures. Two further chapters, considering the importance of designing for both accessibility (for users with disabilities) and the global audience (internationalisation versus localisation) appear before Nielsen attempts to predict the future. In characteristic style he anticipates the death of the web browser, considers bandwidth and searches for a metaphor for the web in other media. The only web constant, he argues, is change. The conclusion looks at the main reasons users visit sites and argues ultimately for simplicity in web design. Any reader of this book will be left in no doubt that Jakob Nielsen both passionately believes in web usability and knows exactly what he is talking about. Packed with full colour screenshots to illustrate principles, this book sets out the fundamental precepts of good design. Nielsen brings to his book results of surveys and previous work to underpin his points, although he is not averse to occasionally arguing for a point because he feels it should, quite simply, be so. The text is easy to read, a pleasure with which to engage and, for me as a 'webmaster', a catalyst for development. It is a testament to the usefulness of this book that it has lived beside my terminal at work for the last few weeks as I put the theory into practice. It could be said that what Nielsen writes is all common sense. Perhaps. That said, Nielsen's insight into usability and its application brings to life a topic too often neglected in favour of flashy design. Together with his web site this book should be required reading for all those who are serious about wanting people to use their web sites. I, for one, will look forward to the second volume. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ian Tilsed is a Computing Development Officer for the University of Exeter Library and Information Service where, among other duties, he is responsible for the library web site and some popular pages on library and information science resources. He is a member of the management committee of the UK Online User Group (UKOLUG), the Internet News column editor for the UKOLUG Newsletter and a regular reviewer for a number of publications. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * Find out more about this book online at the Free Pint Bookshelf * Read about other Internet strategy books on the Free Pint Bookshelf * Details: ISBN 156205810X published by New Riders Publishing and written by Jakob Nielsen * Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the Bookshelf To propose an information-related book for review, send details to . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> CONFERENCE DETAILS AVAILABLE BY COUNTRY <<< The Free Pint Events page has details of almost 70 forthcoming conferences and exhibitions in the business research industry. This page is continually enhanced and is now searchable by country. http://www.freepint.co.uk/events/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FEATURE ARTICLE "Quest for Liberty: History of the United States of America" By Susan Alcock Having spent a year at university in the USA, I found that I have a natural interest in that country's history, and now that my daughter is studying American history I have accumulated a number of links to some very useful Internet sites which I thought I would share with you. As always, the USA has an immense number of sites on almost everything. What I will try to do is list some of those which I have found interesting, but I absolutely know that for every site I mention there will be a dozen more on the same subject! General ======= One of the very best sites is definitely that of the Library of Congress . This must surely be an example for many other national libraries to emulate. Five million documents, sounds and images are now available to access online through this site. The American Memory section is particularly useful for anyone interested in history. The New York Public Library's Digital Public Library also has some fascinating material on its site. Some sites, like The History Place and Biography of America have good essays and further links to sites on various aspects of American history. The well-researched web directory About has some very useful information on its site, as has the PBS History site . Cornell University's Library has an excellent site called The Making of America , which has a digital collection of primary sources. These are all good starting places to research the subject. In addition, lists of links are a good resource and these are some which I have found invaluable: BUBL's links on North American History ; the History of the World's section on US History ; Studyweb and Red Rock Elementary School's list of links . Museums ======= Museums too are a good place to find useful and interesting information. The Smithsonian Institution has links to all its various museums across the country. The National Museum of American History is just one of these. Achievements such as air and space exploration can be found at the National Air and Space Museum which is linked from the Smithsonian site and more information on the US's space frontier and history can be found at the official NASA site . The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is another useful site to view, especially exhibits such as the one entitled "American Originals" . Photography =========== Photographs play a very important part, both in the chronicling of events, and also because of the very powerful nature of the images. Good examples of these are the rise of the black civil rights movement, which is portrayed vividly both on Kodak's site , at the Seattle Times and there is an excellent tribute by Kodak to Martin Luther King. Dorothea Lange's portraits of migrants during the Great Depression can be viewed on the Library of Congress site . The Library of Congress American Memory site gives access to so many photographs that it is worth your while to go and browse. Anything from the early illustrations of slaves to the Civil War to industrial life have been digitised and are available for viewing. Sound recordings are also available online. News Magazines ============== News magazines, such as LIFE Magazine , TIME and Newsweek all have pertinent articles to current American affairs, but more importantly they will often have retrospective exhibits on specific topics, which can be vitally interesting. A good example is LIFE Magazine's tribute to Larry Burrows, the British-born photographer who became well- known for his powerful Vietnam War portraits. TIME has a photo essay section on their web site, which is also well worth looking at . CNN has an excellent website and it too will look retrospectively at historical events. A good example is the special on Vietnam . The Presidency ============== Information on the American Presidency itself can be found at Grolier's Encyclopedia Online . The White House site provides useful, although somewhat staid, information about the First Family over the years. Obviously presidents have often had a more colourful life than this official site will mention! The ever-useful Internet Public Library site has an excellent resource on presidents , with a lot of useful links to relevant sites and primary documents. Sites on John F. Kennedy and his life and assassination theories proliferate, but a good place to start referencing him would be JFK Resources Online . The Watergate scandal and the Clinton crisis (Arkansas Online ) are two other aspects of presidential history which are still fresh in people's minds, and will become entrenched historical study in the future. American Studies Education ========================== The British Association of American Studies (BAAS) supports the American Studies programme in the United Kingdom. About ten universities in the UK offer "American Studies" as a degree. In addition, a large number of universities in the USA offer specialised courses in American history. To list these here would be too numerous, but some of them have good Internet resources. Universities Worldwide provides a thorough listing, but a little research will be needed to find resources on American History within these sites. Often the libraries will host a page of links; alternatively a School of American Studies will. One good example is that put together by the library at my own Alma Mater, The University of Kentucky (Lexington) . Native Americans ================ The earliest inhabitants of North America, the Native Americans, are sometimes overlooked in reviews of the history of the country. Some useful information about the tribes and their history as well as their deep concerns can be found on sites such as First Nations Histories and Native Americans. . The Smithsonian has a National Museum of the American Indian which is worth while visiting. Native American Links provide some useful leads as does StudyWeb . Exploration and Colonisation ============================ Many nations have sent explorers and early colonists to the New World. To list all the sites available would take too long, but some good sites include: Columbus and The Age of Discovery and a Library of Congress exhibit called 1492: An Ongoing Voyage . The Pilgrim Fathers left Plymouth to settle in the New World. A good site about the Mayflower and all who sailed on her, with some fascinating details, is Caleb Johnson's Mayflower Web Pages . The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation examines the opening up of the West. Black History ============= Black history is a large part of American history, from the evolution out of slavery through to civil rights and beyond. Some excellent sets of links can be found at The Black History Hotlist , the University of Washington's African American History site and this list, collated by Kevin Holloway . The Library of Congress exhibit entitled African American Odyssey is also worth viewing. Early exhibitions on slavery include an excellent site by PBS called Africans In America . Another good site is one by AfroAmeric@ . The rise of Civil Rights in America is a fascinating area of history and there are many excellent resources on the Internet. The National Civil Rights Museum hosts an informative site. The man most closely associated with the movement was Martin Luther King, and there are two excellent resources on him at Life Magazine and the Seattle Times . I saw an interesting film once on a group of black American pilots, and can thoroughly recommend the history of The Tuskagee Airmen and . While this is a small aside in the greater history of black America, it nonetheless plays its part. The United States at War ======================== America at War provides some good timelines and details of treaties and other military documentation. The excellent About series has a section on US Military History , which provides good links. Out of necessity for conserving space I am leaving out early battles, such as that of the Alamo and various Spanish, French, Dutch, Indian and Mexican wars, but links to these can be found from the sites which I have mentioned. American Revolutionary War and Declaration of Independence ---------------------------------------------------------- The American Revolution and the subsequent Declaration of Independence occupy a lot of space in the history books. A couple of good sites about the revolution are The American Revolution War Page and the PBS site with details of their film Liberty: The American Revolution (a pleasing site). The full text of Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address can be viewed (once again!) on the Library of Congress site and the Declaration of Independence can be viewed at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) . Civil War --------- The listing of sites on the Civil War proliferate on the Internet, but there are some which look both useful and informative. There is one simply called www.civilwar.com which is well-designed and full of information; another put together by the United States Civil War Society in Louisiana ; The American Civil War Homepage , with a excellent listing of links; a site by Jim Epperson called The Causes of the Civil War , with links to lots of documentation; and one which looks at the lives of individuals who took part in the Civil War, called Lives: The Biography Resource . World War I ----------- World War I: Trenches on the Web , while not particularly aimed at describing only American involvement in the war, has some very interesting information. World War II ------------ There are innumerable sites with information on America's role in WWII. Most can be accessed from the list of general links above. Two important aspects of American involvement are worth listing - that of the Pearl Harbor attack and the Atomic bomb and its devastating effect . Korean War ---------- The Korean War is described as The Forgotten Victory in this site , which has some good educational material. Vietnam War ----------- The Vietnam War Internet Project is an ambitious site, which includes almost more information than you believed was possible. It is very comprehensive and provides immense lists of links. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund allows visitors to view the Wall of Remembrance and leave a virtual message. It is actually quite poignant to look at the listing of Americans who gave their life in this conflict. History Central has a section on Vietnam which lists the chronology of events; Vassar College has put together a good site on The Wars for Vietnam 1945-1975 ; while Edwin E. Moise has produced a superb and thorough resource site, the Vietnam War Bibliography . Gulf War -------- Recent history has had the USA involved in the Gulf War , an engagement also known as Desert Storm . Conclusion ========== History involves more than wars and political events. Hopefully the links which I have mentioned above will stir your imagination and will point you to sites with information on all the above and more, including the social and cultural history of the most powerful nation in the world. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Susan Alcock (BA, Dip Lib, MSLS) was born in Zimbabwe and was educated there, in South Africa and the USA. She worked at the University of Zimbabwe first as a Map Librarian and then as a Medical Librarian. In 1986, she emigrated with her young family to England and has been Librarian at South West Water in Exeter, Devon, since 1989. She has set up a very detailed Intranet site within her company and thoroughly enjoys web-searching. Sue submitted an earlier article for Freepint, entitled "Information on Tap - Web resources on the water industry" . She can be contacted by email at . > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * "USA" country links in the Free Pint Portal * "Arts and Humanities" links in the Free Pint Portal * Respond to this article and chat to the author now at the Bar * Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks * Access the entire archive of Free Pint content > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> STUDENTS HAVE THEIR OWN RESEARCH FORUM <<< The Free Pint Student Bar is major resource to help students studying for information or business related degrees. The Student Bar provides access to help with projects or funding, meeting other students around the world or simply checking out opinions of an institution you're considering attending. It's free, so why not check it out: http://www.freepint.co.uk/student/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FORTHCOMING EVENTS If you fancy attending an event in an exotic location I guess you could try the Strategic e-Marketer conference in Sydney, Australia. Unless you come from Australia, of course. European events include the Spring Symposium/ITxpo in Florence, Italy and the European Content Syndication Seminar in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Here in the United Kingdom the MCUG Forum & Exhibition 2001 will be held in Coventry, the UKSG Annual Conference and Exhibition in Edinburgh and the Human Aspects of the Information Society conference in Newcastle. In London there'll be the Digital Distribution and the Music Industry event and Bizmedia's Knowledge Management next week. In the US, this month's Infonortics Search Engines Meeting is in Boston, Massachusetts, the Web Marketing Nuts & Bolts event will be in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Internet Marketing Strategy Days will be in Las Vegas, Nevada. Buying and Selling eContent takes place in Scottsdale, Arizona, the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Seattle, Washington and The Standard's ROAM event in Tucson, Arizona. Full details of these and many other forthcoming conferences and exhibitions in the online-information and Internet industries can be found on the Free Pint Events page . Also, submit details of your event via this page. Simon Collery, Content Developer > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT GOLD This time last year we were taken for a jaunt around some of the virtual museums on the Web and took a look at how the Internet is doing in the Middle East. * Free Pint No.59, 30th March 2000 "Virtual Visits: Links to museums and the like on the WWW" and "Internet Development in the Middle East". Two years ago we had an article on finding UK immigration information. We also had one on the subject of Competitive Intelligence, something that seems to be quite popular now. * Free Pint No.35, 1st April 1999. "UK Immigration Sources on the Web" and "The Internet for Competitive Intelligence". Three years ago we were given a timely reminder of how valuable domain names are. We were then treated to an introduction to job hunting on the Internet. * Free Pint No.11, 2nd April 1998 "The International Marketing Power of Domain Names" and "Job Hunting on the Net". Simon Collery, Content Developer > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES [Provisional] * Foreign Language Search Engines * * Useful Waste Sites * Obtaining Government Grants * * Tracing Missing Persons * B2B * Free Software * Innovation * * Privacy in Medicine * Middle Eastern Sources * Photo Sources * * Broadband Content * Political Websites * Women in Business * * Getting Connected in a Rural Area * Technology Transfer * * Further Voluntary Sector Resources * Investment Funds * * Legal Sources * Dyslexia * Problem Solving * If you have a suggestion for an article topic or would like to write for Free Pint then please contact me or sign up for the monthly Author Update on the Web site at . Rex Cooke, Editor > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = GOODBYE I hope you've enjoyed today's issue, and will consider passing it to someone else who might also find it useful. 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