New Bookmarks
Year 2000 Quarter 4:  October 1-December 31 Additions to Bob Jensen's Bookmarks
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

You can change the viewing size of fonts by clicking on the View menu item in your browser.
For the October 1-December 31, 2000 Additions and Summaries scroll down this document 
For the other editions go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
For the full set of Bob Jensen's Bookmarks go to http://WWW.Trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob.htm
    (The full set is never up to date with the latest additions to my New Bookmarks.)
Click here to go to Bob Jensen's home page http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/

Choose a Date for Additions to the Bookmarks File

October 25, 2000              October 18, 2000              October 4, 2000  

November 21, 2000          November 7, 2000            November 1, 2000    

December 20, 2000          December 11, 2000          December 1, 2000  

Scroll down this page to view this week's new bookmarks. 

For earlier editions of New Bookmarks, go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm 

I maintain threads on various topics at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm 

Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter --- Search Site.
 This search engine may get you some hits from other professors at Trinity University included with Bob Jensen's documents, but this may be to your benefit.

Whenever a commercial product or service is mentioned anywhere in Bob Jensen's website, there is no advertising fee or other remuneration to Bob Jensen.  This website is intended to be a public service.  I am grateful to Trinity University for serving up my ramblings.

December 20, 2000

Quotes of the Week (all from the incoming U.S. Secretary of State).

"A Leadership Primer," General Colin Powell, Chairman (Ret.), Joint Chiefs of Staff --- http://www.blaisdell.com/powell/ 

 My prayers are with Secretary of State Powell.  He's going to be carrying many of the world's troubles on his shoulders for the next few years.

Happy Holidays!
A holiday message of love from my wife, Erika. She describes how a Munich street beggar became Cinderella at the Ball --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/erika/xmas00.htm 

Wow Sites of the Week

How to Do It Examples Rather Than Just Who is Doing It:  Two mathematics tutorials rooted in research at Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of California 

Dan Gode sent me these links concerning highly regarded math tutoring technologies.  The Carnegie link is interesting due to its roots in cognitive processes.  The ALEKS link is interesting because of its unique use of artificial intelligence and interactivity.

Carnegie Learning Corporation --- http://www.carnegielearning.com// 
Carnegie Learning's products are the result of 15 years of research in the field of cognitive science led by Dr. John R. Anderson, a preeminent psychologist and computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, one of the premier institutions of higher learning in the world. The site of the Department of Defense's Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University is highly regarded for its contributions to cognitive psychology, computer science and software engineering, and for its work in the fields of artificial intelligence.

Carnegie Learning was founded in 1998 in order to further develop and support the Cognitive Tutoring(tm) technology for mathematics initiated at Carnegie Mellon University.

Research support for the technology used in Carnegie Learning's Cognitive Tutors was provided by such institutions and agencies as Carnegie Mellon University, the National Science Foundation, DARPA, the Office of Naval Research, the US Department of Education, the Carnegie Foundation, the Howard Heinz Endowments, the Buhl Foundation, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the Grable Foundation and the Pittsburgh Foundation.

ALEKS --- http://www.aleks.com/ 
ALEKS is a revolutionary Internet technology, developed at the University of California by a team of gifted software engineers and cognitive scientists, with the support of a multi-million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation. ALEKS is fundamentally different from previous educational software. At the heart of ALEKS is an artificial intelligence engine -- an adaptive form of computerized intelligence -- which contains a detailed structural model of the multiplicity of the feasible knowledge states in a particular subject. Taking advantage of state of the art software technology, ALEKS is capable of searching an enormous knowledge structure efficiently, and ascertaining the exact knowledge state of the individual student. Like "Deep Blue," the IBM computer system that defeated international Chess Grand master Garry Kasparov, ALEKS interacts with its environment and adapts its output to complex and changing circumstances. ALEKS is based upon path breaking theoretical work in Cognitive Psychology and Applied Mathematics in a field of study called "Knowledge Space Theory." Work in Knowledge Space Theory was begun in the early 1980's by an internationally renowned Professor of Cognitive Sciences who is the Chairman and founder of ALEKS Corporation.

Not So Wow Site of the Week

I would not exactly call the above interactive tutorials "quick fixes."  I sometimes wonder how much educators like E. Wayne Ross really dig into the successes of things interactive tutorials like those of the Carnegie Learning Corporation and ALEKS that are built upon years of learning research.   Or how much do such writers study the Sloan Funded asynchronous learning experiments such as the SCALE Program at the University of Illinois?   I think there is not "a disturbing lack of critical thinking" so much as a lack of  searching for the serious research that has and is still taking place.  Why do so many attacks on technology in education sound like biased union job protection propaganda?

From The Chronicle of Higher Education on December 7, 2000 --- http://chronicle.com/free/2000/12/2000120701j.htm 

A glance at the December issue of Z Magazine: The perils of distance education A "laissez faire approach" among educators has produced "a disturbing lack of critical thinking" about the impact of technology and online instruction on education, writes E. Wayne Ross, a professor of education at the State University of New York at Binghamton.

"A growing number of technology skeptics argue that the digital revolution has produced a variety of deleterious effects, such as disconnecting people from nature, their communities, and one another," he says. Though many colleges are scrambling to make courses available online, Mr. Ross notes that critics are questioning whether distance learning will ever replace the classroom and social experiences that are integral to college life. "The conflict between distance education advocates and critics is at least in part based on contradictory conceptions of education," Mr. Ross says. "Can computer-mediated interaction substitute for the human interaction/experience that is at the heart of learning?" he asks.

Mr. Ross argues that distance learning is a key element of the growing commercialization of higher education. Worried that commercial online universities will lure away students, the leaders of traditional universities "sell their institutions' reputations in exchange for the resources to mount online programs," he says.

But profits aren't necessarily on the horizon. Mr. Ross notes that Terri Hedgaard-Bishop, the vice president for distance learning at the University of Phoenix, recently acknowledged that technology education often costs more than traditional methods. "We must be aware of the potential downside of e-learning and demand wise use of technology for the collective good," writes Mr. Ross. He challenges educators to move beyond the use of technology for "quick-fix pedagogical or budgetary ends."

The article is not online, but information about the magazine may be found at http://zena.secureforum.com/Znet/zmag/zmag.cfm 

Time Magazine Profiles the Top 100 Innovators --- http://www.time.com/time/time100/

   Leaders & Revolutionaries
   Artists & Entertainers
   Builders & Titans
   Scientists & Thinkers
   Heroes & Icons
   Person of the Century

Guess who is the chosen person of the 20th Century?

If you are an author who loves to quote a cliché now and then, try ClicheSite.com http://www.clichesite.com/index.asp 

Babson, Intel To Unveil MBA Deal
From Technology News, December 17, 2000 --- http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001217/tc/babson_mba_1.html 

Students used to go to business school. More and more, business schools are going to them.

Babson College, a business-oriented institution in suburban Boston, planned to announce an agreement Monday with Intel Corp., the world's largest computer chip maker, to customize a master of business administration degree for Intel workers.

After the program gets up and running in May, Babson professors will fly to Intel locations around the country for a series of intensive seminars with classes compromised mostly of Intel employees. (Dan Gode noted the typo (Freudian slip?)  when he informed me about this article.)

Between seminars, students will work, often online, on learning projects, many of which will be directly related to the work they do. In 27 months, graduates can earn an MBA, a degree that normally requires two years of full-time study.

Business schools in recent years have aggressively built bridges to the private sector, many of them raking in money with executive education programs. Companies such as Intel, which will cover the full tuition of $52,500 for its employees in the Babson program, get an important tool for retaining employees. Intel wants well-trained workers, but it doesn't want them to leave to pursue an MBA.

There are other advantages for Intel: students will work on Intel-specific case studies and projects, so the work won't just be academic.

``It has tremendous value-add for Intel, because while our employees are getting their MBA, they're able to take that knowledge and apply it immediately to the work that they're doing,'' said Alan Fisher, Intel's extended education program manager.

Harvard B-School's E-Mania

Denny Beresford and Neil Hannon both suggested the link to "Harvard B-School's E-Mania," by Phil Buchanan, New York Times, December 12, 2000 ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/12/opinion/12BUCH.html 

To many industry observers and economists, this shakeout is predictable and probably healthy. At Harvard Business School, however, there might be some anxiety. Why? Because the school, one of the nation's leading graduate business programs, has been wildly enthusiastic about e- commerce, as have other business schools.

I should know. I just received an M.B.A. from Harvard, which has overhauled its curriculum to emphasize entrepreneurship — especially e- commerce entrepreneurship.

Entirely new elective courses have emerged, employing Harvard's famous case-study method of teaching: "Building E-Businesses," "Operating an E-Business," "Starting Technology Ventures." The school even replaced its required first-year capstone course, "General Management," with "The Entrepreneurial Manager," because, after all, who would want to work at a company someone else started?

I was among the last students, in 1999, to take "General Management." I also took the required "Technology and Operations Management," which once focused primarily on auto manufacturing and other old-economy businesses and which this year required students to build a Web site.

Harvard is proud of its curriculum changes, viewed by the administration as a sign that the school is now on the cutting edge of the new economy and that it is responding to the demands of its customers, as a marketing professor might say.

The customers are the school's students and potential students, of course. And they demanded such change because, in the early and mid- 1990s, Harvard Business School was seen by many as way behind the curve on technology.

The curriculum changes were Harvard's way of listening to these customers — students they might otherwise lose to Stanford University's business school, with its Silicon Valley location, or to the dot-coms that persuade young stars they don't need M.B.A.'s at all.

Wonderful Accounting Helpers from Todd Boyle

I think it is important to forward Todd Boyle's message (see below) to accounting educators.  He provides us with the most comprehensive list of WebLedgers that I have ever seen.  My definition of a WebLedger is any accounting system where the ledgers and related accounting files are stored and processed on remote online computers rather than on local computers.  Somebody else has to pay very high priced technicians to keep the system up and running, including very expensive backup systems. When your own company or institution pays those bills, it is not a Webledger.  The remote computers are controlled and operated by vendors who generally sell online bookkeeping services, extended accounting services, and common business services (ordering, billing, collecting, etc.).  A key part of the definition is that the persons (for personal accounting) and businesses may enter transaction data and obtain reports from most any computer in the world that is connected to the Internet. 
 
In most instances the vendors of such services are expanding their services to include many other types of business services that extend the opportunities well beyond accounting services. 
 
There are huge advantages and sobering disadvantages of outsourcing to online accounting and business services.  Todd also provides some great links to his documents on these advantages and disadvantages.  He points out how heavy hitters like Bill Gates (Microsoft), Larry Ellison (Oracle and NetLedger), and Intuit are positioning their armies to take over the WebLedger world.
 
One vendor to consider for educational purposes is NetLedger since the basic general ledger online system is free and does not require colleges to purchase a site license.  Five of my students just completed a tutorial on how to use NetLedger.  Their tutorial can be downloaded free from the following websites:
 
Thank you Todd for sharing this very useful information.
 

Bob (Robert E.) Jensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212
Voice: (210) 999-7347  Fax:  (210) 999-8134 
Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
 
 
 -----Original Message-----
From: Todd Boyle [mailto:tboyle@ROSEHILL.NET]
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2000 6:48 PM
To: CPAS-L@LISTSERV.LOYOLA.EDU
Subject: Re: Real World Experience

Jensen, Robert said Monday, December 11, 2000 3:51 AM

> When answering Roger, you might include the similar distributed computing
> general ledger packages of eLedger and QuickBooks as well as NetLedger.

I have been maintaining an info. and discussion site about webledgers for several years at the url below, you're all
welcome to read it. The links page has most of the existing webledgers on it; recited below.

We're entering a most interesting period right now as Microsoft and Intuit enter the market.  Expect a furious battle between these titanic companies, as colossal as the word processor wars,  the database wars, or the browser wars.    Webledgers are very strategic.  Personally I think they're all nuts competing to be the world's monolithic webledger.  The internet will be the "operating system" environment for unconstrained participation by thousands of independent webledgers and BSPs.  Here are some thoughts regarding the differences between component BSPs and monolithic, lock-in BSPs: (bus. svc. providers)
http://www.aspnews.com/analysis/0,2350,2982,00.html


* Todd F. Boyle CPA    http://www.GLDialtone.com/
* tboyle@rosehill.net    Kirkland WA    (425) 827-3107
* XML accounting, webledgers, BSPs, ASPs, whatever it takes
* 12/11/2000- Functional Architect, www.netaccount.com

WebLedgers

 

Bob:

You may want to include http://www.onlinelearningmag.com/  in your list of bookmarks if you have not done so already.

Dan Gode [dgode@stern.nyu.edu] 

This is a link to a free journal called Online Learning.  One of the current articles that caught my attention is "Five myths about virtual teamworK," By Colleen Frye --- http://www.onlinelearningmag.com/new/nov00/feature1.htm 

  1. Myth 1: Virtual teams are the same as in-person teams.
  2. Myth 2: Speed is more important than anything.
  3. Myth 3: Face time isn’t worth the money
  4. Myth 4: Technology begets teamwork.
  5. Myth 5: Relationships don’t matter.

I think Ms. Fry overstates her case.  I especially disagree with Myths 4 and 5.  Technology does beget teamwork.  I find myself teaming up and working interactively with people that I would have never met without technology and would not work with without technology.  As far as relationships go, I have closer working relationships with many of my "virtual friends" than with literally all of my onsite colleagues.

Blackboard:  Some things really are bigger (and better)  in Texas

"Cultivating Enlightened Enthusiasm," by Mark Decker, Morrie Schulman, and Joe Sanchez, Syllabus, December 2000, pp. 16-22.

When the University of Texas at Austin selected the enterprise version of Blackboard to help implement its University portal --- UT Direct --- and to create course sites for all 11,000 courses taught at the university, only twenty-five faculty members were invited to pilot-test the courseware.  As other faculty and staff became aware that course sites were available, however, they asked to be included in the process.  this open access to Blackboard course shells, each populated with registered students, created both opportunities and problems.

The University of Texas actually implemented and supports two systems --- Blackboard and WebCT, although Blackboard will be more prevalent. 

"Customized Portal Provides Tailor-Made Information and Services." by Ginger Dillard http://www.utexas.edu/computer/news/features/0010/customization.html 

Students, faculty and staff at UT amount to a combined population of over 60,000 making it seem "virtually" impossible to please them all with one Web site. Yet, in a world of mass production, technology has made it possible to embrace personalization. Customization is key; and UT Direct makes the grade.

UT Direct is an interactive Web site that provides students, faculty and staff with access to University services anytime, anywhere. As part of the e-University initiative, the earliest services incorporated into UT Direct are primarily geared towards students. However, services for faculty and staff are already available and more are in the works.

"The beauty of UT Direct is that users can customize it. Almost everything can be changed to meet individual needs," Dana Cook, the UT Direct project manager, said. "With over 40 services available, it's important that users be able to rearrange their home page to fit their lives."

The partnership will develop Java-based embedded computing systems for vehicles, with the ultimate goal to connect drivers to the wireless Internet via an always-on connection.--- http://www.eweek.com/a/pcwt0012143/2664976/ 
(I hope they also connect to 911 and drivers' auto insurance companies.)

As the company's big Lotusphere user conference approaches, Al Zollar tells eWEEK about plans to meld knowledge management and IM with wireless --- http://www.eweek.com/a/pcwt0012144/2664874/ 

I have a new document entitled "Threads on Return on Investment (ROI) in the e-Commerce and e-Business Era" --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/roi.htm

A recent addition to the above document is "Enterprises Tailor ROI To E-Business:   Strategies for tracking success of e-biz investment vary by company, industry,"  By Chuck Moozakis and David Lewis, InformationWeek Online, December 18, 2000 --- http://www.internetweek.com/lead/lead121800.htm 

For many companies, return on investment is a clear way to determine whether they're earning a profit on their technology investment. But when it comes to calculating online ROI, there are almost as many paths to take as there are companies doing business on the Internet. And in the coming year, the picture may get cloudier as more companies than ever struggle to get their arms around this critical business measurement.

E-businesses that use ROI can be divided into three main categories: those that develop their own measurement practices; those that use off-the-shelf ROI products; and those that hire consultants to develop a custom ROI measurement. Several companies, ranging from Big Five consulting firms to Gartner Group and Hurwitz Group, as well as vendors, including Comdisco and Nortel Networks, offer ROI measurement products or services.

Early adopters of ROI--regardless of their approach--are getting measurable results from their ROI initiatives today and charting a path that others can follow.

Ryder System Inc., a trucking and transportation company, is actually using Web-oriented ROI to help establish business priorities. The company last month rolled out a product developed with consulting help from IBM E-Business Services. The tool, dubbed Return on Web Investment (ROWI), was fashioned "to quickly assess and prioritize e-business initiatives that may come up," explains John Wormwood, group director of e-commerce.

"We knew that traditional cycles for planning--where a request for funding might take several months to get into place--wouldn't work, so we put together ROWI. This is a framework that lets us evaluate Web opportunities," Wormwood says.

Microsoft's CEO acknowledged shortcomings in current audio and video streaming technology but promised better things to come. --- http://www.eweek.com/a/pcwt0012134/2664067/ 

As colleges build knowledge portals and manage education content, they will face technical problems similar to those of the media.

From InformationWeek Online on December 14, 2000

** Managing Content No Simple Matter For Online Media

With the Web becoming an increasingly important avenue for distributing news and other content, it would seem safe to assume that finding the right tools to manage that process would be a snap. Wrong. Online media executives gathered at the International Quality and Productivity Center's Web content-management conference in Alexandria, Va., all seem to agree: Vignette Corp., Interwoven Inc., and other providers of content-management technology just aren't giving media customers what they need.

That need centers on being able to easily move content from other media to the Web without involving a lot of coding or clunky procedures with a mouse. They want a system that's fully automated and doesn't require significant back-end updates when sites are redesigned, and increasingly they're finding that the only way to get what they want is to develop a system in-house or have a customized system built. It also doesn't help that systems such as Vignette's start at more than $400,000, not including subsequent maintenance costs of $2,000 a day.

Until two years ago, Philly.com, the online version of the Philadelphia Inquirer, was saddled with a primitive content- management system that required editors and site producers to do lots of coding and to depend on cumbersome drag-and-drop technology to handle archiving. "At first we thought it was wonderful, but eventually we realized it was ruining our lives and taking away our will to live," says John McQuiggan, director of site operations. As a result, the Philly.com staff--in cooperation with the online operation of parent KnightRidder Inc.--developed Cofax, a proprietary, database-driven content-management system that's being used by other participants in the KnightRidder.com network. Knight Ridder is also considering licensing the software to other media concerns.

Les Blatt, managing editor of Newstream.com, says he's relieved to hear so many other online media professionals encountering the same content-management issues. Blatt says Newstream.com hired a consulting firm, Harrison & Troxel, to build a customized system rather than make a big investment in a Vignette or Interwoven product. "It's good to know we made the right decision."

From Infobits on December 18, 2000

SHOULD YOU PUBLISH IN E-JOURNALS?

Aldrin E. Sweeney, assistant professor of science education at the University of Central Florida, surveyed faculty and administrators and found they are still on the fence about e-journals. Some of the questions Sweeney's survey asked included: Is the peer-review process as thorough in electronic journals as with paper? Does electronic publishing undermine the integrity of academic rigor? Should electronically-published articles be counted in the tenure and promotion process?

The respondents' comments and the survey findings are summarized in "Should You Publish in Electronic Journals?" (THE JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING, vol. 6, issue 2, December 2000). The article is online at http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/06-02/sweeney.html 

The Journal of Electronic Publishing [ISSN 1080-2711] is published free of charge on the Web by the University of Michigan Press, 839 Greene Street, P.O. Box 1104, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106-1104 USA. For more information contact JEP: email: jep@umich.press.edu ; Web: http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/ 

Hi Ross,

My broad brush advice is to use Adobe Acrobat PDF files only for documents that users will use in hard copy (e.g., tax forms that users will fill out in ink or resumes to be circulated in hard copy). HTML is better for online work. In terms of educational documents, it is much easier to edit documents in HTML and to add internal and external links. It is also easier to add quotations and pictures from documents on the Web. With PDF files, it is generally necessary to return to your original word processing file (e.g. a DOC file) and create a whole new PDF file every time you want to make a change in the document. That's a real bummer! Even though you can do some limited editing of Acrobat files, my experience is that Acrobat edits are more trouble than they are worth.

If you want the world to find your documents using search engines (Yahoo, Google, Excite, etc.), those documents will not be found in PDF formats. Adobe now offers a PDF search engine, but my experience is that it does a lousy job of searching the Web.

If you want to read my threads on PDF files (how to convert PDF files into HTML, how to convert HTML files in to PDF, and how to search for PDF files), go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acrobat.htm 

Bob Jensen

THE YEAR'S MOST-TRAVELED SITES, OVERALL AND BY CATEGORY, AS REPORTED BY WEB-MEASUREMENT EXPERTS AT JUPITER MEDIA METRIX, Yahoo Internet Life (YIL), January 2001, Page 101

The YIL research staff asked the Web's six major portals, AltaVista, Excite, Go.com, Google, Lycos, HotBot, and Yahoo!, to report their top search terms for the year.  From there, it wasn't very hard, since the winners cited here ranked first in all cases but one.

OVERALL (Most Visited Websites in Year 2000)

  1. Yahoo.com*... http://www.yahoo.com 

  2. MSN... http://www.msn.com

  3. AOL... http://www.aol.com

NEWS/INFORMATION  (Most Visited Websites in Year 2000)

  1. About.com... http://www.about.com 

  2. MSNBC... http://www.msnbc.com 

  3. The Weather Channel... http://www.weather.com 

ENTERTAINMENT  (Most Visited Websites in Year 2000)

  1. RealNetworks... http://www.realnetworks.com 

  2. Disney Online*... http://www.disney.com 

  3. Freelotto.com... http://www.freelotto.com 

FILM  (Most Visited Websites in Year 2000)

  1. Shockwave.com... http://www.shockwave.com 

  2. E! Online... http://www.eonline.com 

  3. The Internet Movie Database... http://www.gafvelin.com/ 

MUSIC  (Most Visited Websites in Year 2000)

  1. Launch... http://www.launch.com/

  2. RollingStone.com... http://www.rollingstone.com 

  3. The Ultimate Band List... http://ubl.artistdirect.com/

SPORTS  (Most Visited Websites in Year 2000)

  1. ESPN.com*... http://www.espn.com 

  2. SportsLine.com*... http://www.sportsline.com 

  3. CNN/Sports Illustrated*... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/

GAMES  (Most Visited Websites in Year 2000)

  1. Freelotto.com... http://www.freelotto.com

  2. Uproar... http://www.uproar.com/home/home.asp

  3. Webstakes.com... http://www.webstakes.com

PERSONAL FINANCE  (Most Visited Websites in Year 2000)

  1. MoneyCentral... http://www.moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp

  2. NextCard... http://www.nextcard.com

  3. American Express... http://www.americanexpress.com

TRAVEL  (Most Visited Websites in Year 2000)

  1. Expedia.com*... http://www.expedia.com

  2. Travelocity.com... http://www.travelocity.com

  3. Priceline.com... http://www.priceline.com

TECHNOLOGY/NEWS  (Most Visited Websites in Year 2000)

  1. ZDNet*... http://www.zdnet.com

  2. Wired Digital... http://www.hotwired.lycos.com/home/

  3. Upside Media... http://www.upside.com/

AUTO  (Most Visited Websites in Year 2000)

  1. Kelley Blue Book... http://www.kelleybluebooks.com/

  2. Car Point... http://www.carpoint.msn.com/

  3. Cars.com... http://www.cars.com

"E-Books: Just Another Imprint?" by Kendra Mayfield --- http://www.wirednews.com/news/technology/0,1282,40584,00.html 

It's probably too early to tell whether e-books will thrive or fade, but judging by the enthusiasm of a panel of e-publishing insiders at Monday's BookTech West, it looks like e-books will make a lasting impression on publishers, authors and consumers.

"E-books are not just another imprint," said Bob Bolic, vice president and director of new business development from McGraw-Hill. "They represent a new literacy."

But just how e-books will evolve, and when, is still a topic of debate among industry leaders.

"E-books will win, but not any time soon," said Markus Malik, chief operating officer for Xlibris.com. "They will win when the reading experience is as close on the electronic device as it is on the book."

E-books headlined the opening of this year's conference, where exhibitors showcased their latest e-book reading devices, and digital rights management and e-commerce tools at an e-BookTech Pavilion.

Microsoft (MSFT ) received the inaugural Alan Kay Award for eBook Innovation for its ClearType and Microsoft Reader Technologies, recognizing its efforts toward the advancement and popularization of e-books in the past year.

But although advancements like ClearType have improved readability, some panelists argued that the quality of reading on a screen is not yet tantamount to paper.

"Resolution has to be a lot better than it is today," Malik said. "Have we really reached e-nirvana in e-publishing? I personally don't think so."

"It has to look like a paper book at a minimum," said Len Kawell, e-book product development director for Adobe Systems (ADBE). "We have to present that to the consumer and make them feel like what they're getting now is at least as good as before."

With built-in dictionaries, search, bookmarking, highlighting, annotating capabilities and multimedia enhancements, e-books can improve upon, rather than merely emulate, print books.

"The real excitement of e-books will begin when e-books are fully embedded in the Web," Bolic said.

But before e-books can succeed, publishers must provide consumers with desirable content.

Bob Jensen's threads on e-books are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ebooks.htm 

Mexico: From Empire to Revolution (History) --- http://www.getty.edu/gri/digital/mexico/ 

Henry Baltazar says it feels more like DSL hell --- http://www.eweek.com/a/pcwt0012146/2661753/ 

FASB Backs Down on Goodwill-Accounting Rules By Jonathan Weil 12/7/00 Page A2 
http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=SB976150798598553611.djm  

Also see 

http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=BT-CO-20001206-004249.dj  

http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=BT-CO-20001205-005434.dj 

http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=BT-CO-20001206-006146.dj 

How to download an entire website.  

There is a free copy (of software to download websites) at http://webstripper.net  and it is free as long as you  accept the advertising. A copy without advertising is available for a price.   I would suggest using the latest beta because for me it solved some problems  I was having with an earlier version, although I still can't get it to work through my proxy server. I have to use my laptop on a direct dialup account.
Scott Bonacker [scottbonacker@MOCCPA.COM] 

Other  free alternatives for downloading websites are shown below:

Although many websites claim that it is illegal to download anything without permission, most lawsuits involve how downloaded files are used rather than whether they are simply downloaded for strictly private use.  

"U.S Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Undermines Public Access and Sharing," --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm#Copyright 

Powerful commercial interests and tort lawyers combined forces in engineering the DMCA legislation in the U.S that throws education and information use into a turmoil of risk and uncertainty. An article with frightening examples is provided by Georgia Harper, "Copyright Endurance and Change," Educause Review, November/December 2000, pp. 20-26. She states the following on Page 21"

Some of these changes --- licenses, access controls, certain provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) --- have the potential to drastically undermine the public right to access information, to comment on events, and even to share information with others.

Section 107 on "fair use" continues to, with increased ambiguity, provide safe harbors for use of small amounts of material, material not yet available for purchase when needed for students, and material that should be open to criticism and review without fear of reprisals in copyright infringement lawsuits. Nevertheless, the DMCA has provisions that erode Section 107. Georgia Harber states the following on Page 24:

Even though fair use is a key "stress point," there has been no change to Section 107. The stresses on fair use result from other things: technological "fixes" that control dissemination of copyrighted works; legal frameworks, established to control dissemination, that marginalize fair use; and license terms that ignore fair use as well as other public rights protected in the Copyright Act. Ultimately, I am concerned that the basic goal of copyright --- to improve our society by fostering creativity, encouraging the dissemination of information, and supporting the development of knowledge --- is endangered by the erosion of fair use in the digital environment.

Remember, fair use embodies a balance between the competing interests of owners and users, between control and access, between control and the First Amendment, and it bridges the gap between a willing seller and a willing buyer of rights to use. A diminishing role for fair use may well mean less public access and less ability to speak, to criticize, and to comment.

Scott also sent the following message.

The article at this link may be of interest to you. It describes one way to view high P/E ratios which is the "PEG" method mentioned by Mr. Rothberg if I understand it correctly --- http://www.redherring.com/mag/issue85/mag-angler-85.html 

This seems like a good piece to follow the above section.  
The Business Ethics Training and Development Homepage http://www.uncc.edu/ragiacal/ethframes.html 

Personal firewalls: They're not so safe
The rush to get personal firewall applications to market has resulted in products that are easily compromised and often chock-full of security holes. http://www.eweek.com/a/pcwt0012111/2663028/ 

Human Rights Watch World Report 2001 --- http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/ 

Hi Bob,

Have you heard of Wordsmith and its "A Word A Day" service? It's great.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian/issues00/dec00/wordaday.html 

Best, Cassandra

From T.H.E. Journal, November 2000, p. 48 --- http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A3152.cfm 

eCollege.com, an application service provider that develops online campuses and e-learning courseware for institutions, announced the launch of its eTeaching Institute. Created for educators interested in developing the skills to bring technology into the classroom or in teaching online, instructors can access information about eTeaching workshops held at eCollege.com and seminars held on the institution’s campus. Faculty can register at the institute site to take online courses on topics ranging from how to teach online to the use of multimedia to create content. Certification remains a possibility through the eTeaching Institute for using technology in the classroom, or for teaching online.

Users can sign up now for online courses, which are offered every month for the duration of one week. Visit the site for information on the future development of eTeaching Institute’s eFaculty eXchange, a career development community and job pool designed to expand eLearning opportunities for online instructors and institutions. eCollege.com, Denver, CO, (303) 873-3788, www.ecollege.com .

Significant New G4+1 Lease Accounting Proposed Rules --- C:\TEMP\feiexpress49.htm 

At the FASB/AAA conference, we spent a full day reviewing and debating the draft lease accounting proposal from the G4+1. The G4+1 body includes accounting standard setters from the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the IASC. This proposal, while not from the FASB (not yet at least), reflects the standard setters frustration with FAS 13 and their desire to standardize lease accounting around the world.

The proposal would eliminate the distinction between operating and capital leases and force lessees to put ALL non-cancelable leases (with an initial duration of more than one year) on the balance sheet and account for the P&L impact as depreciation and interest expense. Lessor accounting would change significantly, too. Residual values in the assets leased would be carried on the lessor's books and adjusted if needed.

Copies of the special report summarizing the proposal and related issues can be ordered on the FASB's web site ( http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/fasb/ ). The product code is SRLC2.

Computers are the number one leased asset, airplanes are second, followed by trucks autos, manufacturing and industrial equipment, and then office equipment.

Once-high flying, e-business-focused service providers are the latest victims of the ripple effect coming from the sudden dot-com shakeout. Where will it end? --- http://www.eweek.com/a/pcwt0012131/2661387/ 

Banned Artists Move Online Local artists in Singapore who have had their artworks banned are putting their work on the Web. But how the site will be able to show the works without flouting the ban itself remains to be seen --- http://www.wirednews.com/news/culture/0,1284,40628,00.html 

"Sophisticated Technology Offers Higher Education Options,"By Jacquelyn Barker Tulloch. T.H.E. Journal, November 2000, pp. 58-60 --- http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A3165.cfm 

What’s in a name? Although “dot-com” and “Web site” are shoo-ins for the next edition of Webster’s Dictionary, the term “distance learning” may be headed for extinction. Ironically, the use of traditional terminology associated with distance learning is diminishing at a time when the use of technology is gaining ground. According to the Department of Education, distance education programs increased by 72 percent between 1995 and 1998. In 1998, institutions offered a total of 54,000 online education courses, with 1.6 million students enrolled. In 1995, there were only 53,000 students and 26,000 courses offered. Many sources predict the involvement of over 2,000,000 learners by 2002.

Meanwhile, the lines are blurring between distance education and traditional classroom learning. The tendency to define online and offline instruction as two separate (and sometimes warring) entities is an outmoded paradigm. Today’s educators are asking themselves not whether to use technology, but how to use technology. How can I use technology to enrich the classroom-learning environment? How can I become a more skilled coach or manager of a learning environment? How can I combine activities based in technology to best support student learning? How can I help my students take responsibility for their own learning? How can I measure outcomes in this brave new academic world?

News About the Short-Cut Method in FAS 133

Hi Bob,

I wanted to alert you to the fact that I've added a new article to my site, " The Impact of FAS 133 Accounting Rules on the Market for Swaps, " which just came out in the latest issue of AFP Express. It deals with the consequences of not qualifying for the shortcut treatment when interest rate swaps are used in fair value hedges. (It's not pretty.)

You should be able to find the paper by clicking on to my web address (below) and going to "Articles." It's the last one listed in the section, "Interest Rate Articles." While I'm writing, I've also updated my calendar, which includes a variety of conferences and tutorials covering derivatives generally and FAS 133 issues in particular. If you have any questions about anything you find,

I'd be happy to hear from you.

Ira
Kawaller & Company, LLC
(718) 694-6270
kawaller@idt.net
www.kawaller.com 

1099 - "the magazine for independent professionals." (Tax, Personal Finance, Careers, Small Business) 
 http://www.1099.com/ 

I wonder what happens if a person submits someone else's photograph?

Bob....

Bizarre site of the week: www.amihotornot.com 

People post their pictures. Then those who visit the site rate the pictures from 1 to 10. It's crazy.

Happy Holidays!

Roger D.

My  links on plagiarism in my Bookmarks are as follows --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm 

Check out an article on Wired that covers the problem and an interesting set of counter-plagiarism tools and sites.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,33021,00.html 

"Busting the New Breed of Plagiarist," by Michael Bugeja at http://awpwriter.org/bugeja1.htm 

The Berkeley plagiarism-detection program ---  Go to  http://www.plagiarism.org/  Also see
 http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9911/21/plagerism.detective/index.html 

Proven Results. Our proprietary plagiarism detection algorithms* have successfully been used in multiple classes at U.C. Berkeley and abroad.

Powerful Methods. Our computational processes for 'finger-printing' papers and determining degrees of originality will detect plagiarism.

Speed. We can 'finger-print' and evaluate thousands of papers each day.

Extensive Database. Our extensive and growing database of term papers will deter your students from plagiarizing other work.

Easy To Use. We make every effort to customize the service's web page so that our plagiarism deterring technology is a non-technical seamless addition to your classes.

Increases Quality. Instructors report that the quality of their students' work increases when they know that manuscripts will be checked for originality.

Increases Student Morale. Students themselves report that unchecked cheating and plagiarism by others undermines their own efforts and educational enthusiasm.

The purpose of this service is to insure that term papers, essays, and manuscripts, which are submitted as a requirement for a university or college course, are never plagiarized. This means that papers will never again be recirculated/recycled every year, that papers will not be copied from one class and used for a different class, that papers from one university will not find their way to another university course, and that papers acquired from the Internet will NEVER be used to fulfill a course requirement.

An instructor registers his/her class with Plagiarism.org. Each instructor then requests that her/his students upload their term papers or manuscripts to the Plagiarism.org web site.

Each student in the instructor's course accesses the Plagiarism.org web site.

From the web site students can upload their work into our database designed specifically for their particular class. Students can also access information regarding plagiarism and information concerning intellectual property.

Our proprietary technology converts each manuscript into an abstract representation; essentially, we 'finger-print' each paper.

Each term paper submitted for a class requirement is statistically checked against a database of other manuscripts collected from different universities, classes, and from all-over the Internet. Only cases of gross plagiarism are flagged. This means that papers using some identical quotes or papers written on similar topics will NEVER be flagged as unoriginal.

A report is then emailed (or mailed) to the instructor detailing the degrees of originality for each paper checked with Plagiarism.org.

The fees, which I find reasonable for this remarkable service, are described below:

Our offer is simple. To insure that only interested parties use our service there is a one-time, $20.00 (US) fee to create an account with us. This account can be used to upload 30 different manuscripts. We will email you a link to a confidential webpage containing an exact numerical analysis of each manuscript's originality. If any manuscripts were plagiarized you will know. After an account has been created, there will be a small charge of $0.50 for every manuscript, after 30, subsequently analyzed.

The links below were provided in T.H.E. Journal, September 1999, pg. 50.

Acceptable Use Policy Links

Fair Disclosure Express (from Edgar Online) http://www.edgar-online.com/fdexpress/ 
(Investment, Finance, Accounting)

Hayes vs. Tilden: The Electoral College Controversy of 1876-1877 (American History) --- http://elections.harpweek.com/controversy.htm 

Oxford School of Learning --- http://www.osl-ltd.co.uk/netmain.htm 

Scanning the ocean floor for a sunken Japanese sub --- http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/ 

Some of you may want to consider a free membership to  the International Society for Professionals in e-Commerce --- http://www.ispec.org/ 

Coca-Cola Television Advertisements (History, Photography) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ccmphtml/colahome.html 

Foreign Currency and Foreign Trade
Glossary of Terms Used in Payments and Settlements Systems --- http://www.bis.org/publ/cpss00b.htm 

From Yahoo December 11, 2000

Darko Bandic --- http://www.dbandic.com/ 

The compelling portfolio of freelance photographer and photojournalist Darko Bandic consists of pop-up slideshows from Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, and Egypt. Tired, hungry refugees in traditional costumes, frightened families, uneasy soldiers in uniform, children proudly bearing arms, and millennial fireworks over the ancient pyramids of Giza -- here is visual storytelling that speaks louder than the clichés we invariably use to describe terrible and wondrous events in human lives.

Helping women to  find careers in investing and finance (as well as becoming savvy investors and economists)
Ka-Ching http://ka-ching.oxygen.com/ 

A win/win alternative --- faster and cheaper --- Who says we have to go back to mainframes?
Med Records Get Cue From Napster About 50,000 deaths occur each year due to medical errors, often linked to doctors not having information at their fingertips. A company is creating Napster-like peer-to-peer technology to hasten access to medical records. --- http://www.wirednews.com/news/technology/0,1282,40433,00.html 

P2P allows users to transfer data directly from one computer to another. Although the technology itself isn't new, it has recently been infused with new life -- mostly due to the media blitz that centered on Napster and other innovative, mostly-music-sharing, P2P systems.

The cost of a P2P system is also significantly less expensive than that of a central server-based system, since P2P simply provides an interface that allows people to share information stored on individual computers or networks. The developer of a P2P system doesn't have to house, configure, or care for a database crammed full of files.

From T.H.E. Journal, November 2000, p. 48 --- http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A3153.cfm 

netLibrary, Inc., distributor of full-length digital versions of publishers’ books, announces their free personal software application, eBook Reader. This reader allows users to read eBooks without being connected to the Internet. The netLibrary enables library patrons to check out eBooks from their library’s eBook collection, download them to their PCs, and read them offline. This capability is paired with netLibrary’s online eBook reading solution, which permits searching, previewing, and checking out eBooks through a Web browser and live Internet connection. Helpful features such as search, highlight, annotation and citations are also provided, and can be saved on users’ hard drives for future use. The software, which is available as a free download from the netLibary Web site, requires 5.5 MB of hard disk space and 20 minutes to download on a 56K modem. The hardware requirements for running the reader are a Pentium 100 or equivalent, 32 MB of RAM, 20 MB of free hard disk space, and Windows 95/98/NT 4.0 or greater.

This website recommended by Yahoo is a little weird.

Librarian Avengers http://www.librarianavengers.com/ 

If you're not careful, this bad-to-the-bone librarian site will kick your pasty, non-librarian tush all over the map. Librarian Avengers serves up a heady mix of librarian rants, comic book heroes, and myth-shattering testimonials from the library front. After viewing this site, you will cower and tremble in front of all librarians before you: "Librarians are all-knowing and all-seeing. They bring order to chaos. They bring wisdom and culture to the masses. They preserve every aspect of human knowledge. Librarians rule. And they will kick the crap out of anyone who says otherwise."

This site recommended by Yahoo is a fabulous and extensive (American History)

America from the Great Depression to World War II http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html 

The Library of Congress continues its Herculean effort to digitize its vast archive of original documents with this exhibit of photographs from the Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information Collection. The daunting task of wading through 100,000 photographs (!) is ameliorated by a suite of very handy search functions, which let you browse by subject or geographic location. You can also grab a quick overview of the collection in the staff favorites section.

The Dismal Science
Economic Sociology Editorial Series http://www.gsm.uci.edu/econsoc/ResourceFrames.htm 

Alternative Cultures http://www.altculture.com/

Disabled Need Tools for Schools
The National Science Foundation releases an extensive set of production guidelines to make learning software usable by those with impaired manual dexterity, low or no vision, or hearing impairments --- http://www.wirednews.com/news/culture/0,1284,40646,00.html 

From Syllabus News on December 12, 2000

A special tuition increase for new University of Illinois students will fund improved student services and programs, enhanced educational technology, and expanded enrollment in high-demand courses and disciplines. The tuition increase of $500 per year for each of two years at the University of Illinois is expected to provide specific benefits to the new students who pay it, and will apply only to new students because they will be the primary bene- ficiaries. At the Chicago campus, for instance, the additional revenue will be used to create Internet access to libraries and librarians, meet the demand for courses in computer engineering and computer sciences by hiring new faculty in those programs, and increase the number of student computer laboratories.

Bob -

I'm just guessing but it looks like maybe the same thing happens to you that happens to me - a stray [ctrl][enter] causes email to be sent sometimes before it is quite done. The fix I found was to turn on spellcheck-before-sending. Since there is pretty much always something to catch the eye of spell check, such as a simple email address, it always gives me a second chance.

Your email is always well written so even incomplete it makes sense, whereas mine has been an embarrassment at times.

Scott

Scott Bonacker, CPA McCullough, Officer & Company, LLC Springfield, Missouri moccpa.com

Deconstructing Babel: XML and application integration XML may not yet be a true "silver bullet," but it can be used to great effect in integration projects if IT managers create a detailed plan that can overpower its weaknesses. 
"Deconstructing Babel: XML and application integration," By Henry Balen, Application Development Trends, December 2000 --- http://www.adtmag.com/ 

XML has become the lingua franca for inter-application communication. Using XML, all messages sent between applications consist of self-describing text. This makes the messages easily understandable by both humans and machines, although it does not supply an efficient packaging of the message. (XML messages can be considerably larger than a binary representation of the same information.)

There are three aspects of inter-application communication:

Transport—how to get information across the wire; Protocol—how to package the information sent across the wire; and Message—the information itself. The transport is usually a lower level network standard such as TCP/IP. Inter-process communications standards, such as CORBA, DCE and DCOM, have their own protocols that sit on top of such transports.

The protocol used depends on the communication mechanism. Standards may use different protocols to communicate: CORBA uses IIOP, while electronic mail uses SMTP. Each of these protocols allows you to package a message, specify a destination and get the message to the designated location. In protocols that support remote method invocation (RMI), the destination can consist of an object reference and method.

With each of these protocols, the user defines the message that is sent across the wire. In the case of CORBA, DCE, DCOM and so on, the message is defined using an Interface Definition Language (IDL). In E-mail and message-oriented middleware (MOM) it can be more fluid. No matter what you use, there is an agreement between the sender and receiver about the meaning of the message. The meaning is not transferred with the message.

So why use XML? In XML, documents contain meta-information about the information being transmitted, and can be extended easily. However, XML is less efficient than transmitting the information using a binary protocol. One advantage, though, is that humans and computers can both read the document.

To overcome the communication problem, the application can be enabled to send and receive information in the form of XML. This can be done independent of protocol, and if the meaning is agreed upon between the applications or organizations, then you just need to get the package to its intended destination. How it gets there is up to you. Of course, in these days of the Internet, the HTTP protocol is a natural choice. There are business domain-specific XML vocabularies under development.

Application integration From the point of view of an application, there are various points of integration: data store, APIs or components, and protocol. The point of integration used depends on the nature of the application. If integration means the ability to speak XML, then you will need to acquire or build adapters for the point of integration. These adapters are responsible for getting information in and out of the application, and performing any necessary transformations along the way.

If the integration involves the sharing of information, you may want to integrate at the level of the data store. Assuming you have an existing database containing the information you want to share, your integration adapter is responsible for translating from a query's result set to an XML document. Conversely, when the application receives information in the form of XML, the adapter performs a reverse translation and maps the document elements to the appropriate database entities.

Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, Calif., sells a relational database with a degree of XML support. XML is either mapped as just described, or the database's hybrid capabilities can store XML natively. The SQL syntax has been extended with an XML Query language.

Object or network databases may provide a more natural mapping for XML to the database's representation. A persistent Document Object Model (DOM) mechanism can preserve the structure of the XML document. You should be aware that while an XML document provides a good way in which to represent information, it is not an application domain model.

In addition, some products are being marketed as XML databases. eXcelon Corp. (formerly Object Design Inc.), Burlington, Mass., has re-purposed its object database to handle XML. Conversely, there are some products, such as Tamino from Software AG, Darmstadt, Germany, that were built from the ground up to handle just XML. While each product provides an XML Query language, it has not been standardized. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is currently working on a standard for XML Queries, which I expect most vendors will adopt.

Of course, most existing data is kept in hierarchical or relational databases, and you cannot ignore this if you want to integrate at the database level. If you are in this camp, take a look at tools that help with the translation to and from XML.

Integration at the API level can be achieved through handcrafted adapters. Using an off-the-shelf XML parser, an adapter can be constructed that will translate from the received XML to an object model or function/method invocation. Similarly, you can transform information from the application to an XML document for transmittal. If the application supports one of the component models, you may be able to acquire an adapter that implements a bridge to the world of XML. If you are using one of the industry XML schemas, however, you will most likely have to code a transformation; an XSL Transformations (XSLT) processor is useful. With XSLT, you can use an XML dialect to define the transformation rules.

When the application already utilizes middleware, such as MOM or CORBA, then the adapter provides a gateway. This gateway can receive the XML messages, decide which components need to be notified, and perform the necessary translation. Commercial implementations of these gateways, such as CapeConnect from Cape Clear Software, Dublin, Ireland, are starting to ship. These XML brokers use XML for the content of the message and protocol to specify the destination. The W3C is working on an XML RPC mechanism standard. One submission, first promoted by Microsoft and now gaining wide support, is SOAP.

SOAP is a lightweight XML protocol for the exchange of information. It is probably the leading contender for adoption by the W3C. SOAP can provide synchronous and asynchronous mechanisms to send requests between applications using a variety of protocols. Robust security and transactional capabilities still need to be added to the SOAP protocol.

CORBA middleware users may find it interesting that the Object Management Group (OMG) has put out a call for proposals for a SOAP–CORBA mapping. Along with work on XML value types for CORBA, this can provide a natural basis for XML enabling the CORBA infrastructure.

Bob Jensen's threads on XML, RDF, and XBRL can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/xmlrdf.htm 

With respect to a question sent to me regarding the following student visa question:

Can International students receive F-1 student visas to stay in the United States and study at a virtual University if there is no specific campus at which they need to study?

The following reply was sent by Susie P. Gonzalez.

Hi Rossitsa:

I am writing from Trinity University, where Professor Bob Jensen asked for help in answering your question about online universities and student visas. A friend of mine works as a community relations officer for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in San Antonio, and I sent the inquiry to her. Her response is:

As I understand it, a university must apply (either a form I-20 or I-17) to be considered an accredited university by the INS in order for a foreign student to get a visa to attend. It may be a really bona fide institution, but if it isn't INS approved, no go.

I really don't know if any online places have been approved, but I would doubt it, because there is usually an examiner who handles schools and who must be able to go out and check out the place and see that it is a real, viable institution.

Thus, Rossitsa, I would encourage you to contact the virtual university to see whether they have completed the proper paperwork with INS.

Good luck in your search!

Susie P. Gonzalez 
Assistant Director of Public Relations 
Trinity University 
715 Stadium Drive 
San Antonio, TX 78212 (210) 999-8406

Hi Dan,

Your FLASH demo works for me, although I did not get any audio. I suspect that you did not add audio yet.

I think the jury is still out on ToolBook. Click2Learn called me last week about a $2,500 site license the company is now offering to try to break into the college market. I think it is too little too late. Firms like BlackBoard and WebCT are too entrenched in academe and now offer more services such as global channels.

As far as ToolBook is concerned, it probably depends upon what you want to develop. I think Neuron is a bummer, and ToolBook is no longer trying to save its dying OpenScript. The DHTML templates are great for standardized work such as templates for online test questions. However, the fact that code is sealed in a black box stifles creativity. Also, DHTML is terribly inefficient for the long run. The code is just too complex and lengthy. The code also depends heavily upon making browsers increasingly complex. Click2Learn had a lot of trouble with the last beta version of Internet Explorer.

There is also the question about the viability of Click2Learn. The company has always been a small-time player (even when it was Asymetrix Corporation) struggling with cash flow problems. I doubt that it will ever be noticed in terms of market share in academe. It does have a hardcore following in large-scale corporate training, but is there enough annual cash flow in this hardcore to keep it going? I have my doubts. It is better to sell Turbo Tax where cash flows are dependent upon regularly-scheduled changes in content rather than having to depend upon sporadic advances in code innovation. The bottom line is that I just do not think Click2Learn has a very good business model for the future.  For comparisons of operating  losses, go to http://biz.yahoo.com/e/l/a/asym.html 
Losses continue to mount after the above report.

I don't know what to advise for your new development project. It may be better to offer choices of plug-in modules for BlackBoard, WebCT, etc. Since these are very compatible with FrontPage and Dreamweaver, perhaps you do not need something as complex as ToolBook to go along with Flash.

At a conference in Bermuda, I listened to a wonderful presentation by John Parnell (Head of the Department of Marketing and Management at Texas A&M University). After comparing Blackboard, WebCT, and other options, his program for distance education across Texas and into Mexico, he and his Texas A&M colleagues opted for a software from http://www.ucompass.com/

Especially note the "Uniqueness" section that is linked at http://www.ucompass.com/ 

If you want to contact John, his email address is John Parnell [John_Parnell@tamu-commerce.edu] 

Let me known what alternatives that you are comparing. I generally find that Richard Campbell has tried virtually all alternatives. He still seems to like ToolBook.

May I quote your message below in my next edition of New Bookmarks?

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: Dan Gode [mailto:dgode@stern.nyu.edu] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2000 10:18 PM 
To: rjensen@trinity.edu 
Subject: My first flash animation --- http://www.almaris.com/ 

I just bought a domain name almaris.com and put my first flash animation there. I know Flash enough now to realize how efficient Toolbook is for e-learning in terms of development time. However, for animation and sound, nothing beats Flash.

I think I will integrate Toolbook and Flash for now and then move to DHTML.

Let me know what you think.

Dan Gode 
Assistant Professor of Accounting 
Stern School of Business Room 427, 40 West 4th Street 
New York, NY 100012 
dgode@stern.nyu.edu  http://dgode.stern.nyu.edu  Ph: 212-998-0021 Fax: 212-995-4004

Here is an item on the new wireless ethernet network at NTU (430 transceivers) -- http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/dailynews/story/0,2000010021,20164497-1,00.htm  The NTU site with details on this massive project is at http://wirefree.ntu.edu.sg/ 

One of the transceivers is right outside my office. It will be interesting to see how this network bears up under the load. And how this resource will be used by students and faculty.

Roger -- Roger Debreceny, Division of Auditing and Taxation, 
Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, 
Room S3-B1-B61 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798 rogerd@netbox.com  adebreceny@ntu.edu.sg 
 ICQ 22958324 Ph: +65 790 6049 Fx: +65 791 3697 Mobile: +65 9389 7339 PGP Public Key: www.ntu.edu.sg/home/adebreceny  or ldap://certserver.pgp.com/  

The Forgotten Americans - living dirt poor along the Mexican border --- http://www.pbs.org/forgottenamericans/ 

From Syllabus News December 19, 2000

V-SPAN Wins TeleCon Award

The TeleCon Awards' annual recognition of the best products, applications, and services for conferencing and annual collaborative communications honored V-SPAN, a provider of virtual communication solutions, at the 19th Annual TeleCon West Awards. Winner in the category of Best Content Product, theVirtual Reservation Card (VR Card) enables on-demand audio and Web conferencing via a PC and standard Internet browser. The card allows users to conduct interactive, secure, and on-demand Web-based meetings and delivers real-time data collaboration, application, and desktop remote control. A stan- dard browser facilitates one-to-many or many-to-many pre- sentations, and the advanced collaboration functionality does not require pre-installed software or firewall configuration.

For more information, visit www.v-span.com. 

IBM snubs Raven for own KM plan.  The company last week announced it is entering the knowledge management game with a product that will be a direct competitor of Raven --- http://www.eweek.com/a/pcwt0012185/2665639/ 

Bob Jensen's threads on portals and vortals are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/portals.htm 

The land of poets and artists is going high tech.  From Syllabus Week December 19, 2000

Ireland Plans New Internet Links to U.S. Colleges

Irish officials recently announced plans for new broadband Internet links between higher-education institutions in Ireland and the United States. Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern de- scribed the plans during a visit by President Clinton to Ireland's newly designated "digital district" -- a six-square-mile area in Dublin. MediaLab Europe, a joint project of the Irish govern- ment and MIT, is the academic-research anchor for the multimillion-dollar digital district, which aims to provide an environment where scientists and technology entrepreneurs can mix, create, and market. In addition to MIT, a number of other universities are discussing whether to locate their digital-research facilities in the area.

The district's blueprint calls for graduate students to conduct research under the guidance of leading international scientists. Irish officials hope the research will result in ideas that can be developed by start-up companies.

Rediscover Ancient India (History) ---  http://www.mysticindia.com/default.html 

From InformationWeek Online on December 13, 2000

NEW YORK--The future, according to IBM CEO Louis Gerstner: Dot-coms will fall by the wayside. Technology investment will be driven by "real business." Companies will access intelligent, flexible infrastructures delivered by just a couple dozen service providers. And Linux will be the dominant operating system.

Apparently, Gerstner, speaking Tuesday at the eBusiness Conference and Expo, really believes this. He said IBM will invest $1 billion in developing and marketing Linux next year. At the same time, he shed light on what IBM is calling the largest Linux implementation in the world--a supercomputer-class installation by Shell Oil in Amsterdam. Gerstner said another $4 billion has been earmarked for opening 50 host centers during the next three years.

Observers say Gerstner's emphasis on hosting is hardly surprising, given that it's one of the growth-challenged company's fastest growing units. "They have an E-services business that's growing at 70% a year. You just don't notice it that much because they are a $95 billion company," says John Jones, a Salomon Smith Barney analyst. IBM pegs the current hosting market at $6 billion, but Gerstner forecast that full-blown "E-sourcing" will be a $55 billion market by 2003. Gerstner also shed light on what IBM is calling the largest Linux implementation in the world--a supercomputer class installation by Shell Oil in Amsterdam.

Playing to IBM's strength in the large enterprise market, Gerstner said the demise of many high profile dot-coms proves that business-to-consumer E-commerce was a search for fool's gold. "The IPO alchemists have had their 15 minutes," he said. Now, he added, large enterprises are ready to push headlong into true E-business, defined by across-the-board integration of supply chains, customer service, order processing, logistics, employee communications, and numerous other processes.

Is the B2B boom going bust? --- http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2662959,00.html 

Business-to-business e-marketplaces that began the year with such promise are now approaching the end of 2000 nagged by doubts about long-term viability. This week's announcement that Ventro Corp. is closing its two wholly owned exchanges, Chemdex and Promedix, underscored a shakeout process that has been going on for months and will continue into next year, as venture capitalists refine strategies for funding B2B marketplaces and many marketplace owners seek exit or retrenchment plans.

. . . 

Although public marketplaces are facing the brunt of the problems, others, such as so-called ISMs (industry-sponsored marketplaces), are not immune to the forces pushing B2B exchanges toward more viable business plans that include services beyond simple transaction management.

As a result of this shakeout, experts say businesses considering entering an exchange should abandon the "get online at all costs" strategies that have been the rule to date. Instead, they should carefully consider not just whether to go online but also how and with whom and, most important, why.

The New Zealand Digital Library -- University of Waikoto ---  http://www.nzdl.org/cgi-bin/library 

December 17th edition of the Internet Essentials 2000 Newsletter --- http://members.home.com/nhannon/news.html 

1. Is E-Business in B-Schools Passé? 
2. Using W3C XML Schema - Part 2 
3. Internet Phone Calls (FOR FREE) Spreading Rapidly 
4. IBM's Billion Dollar Christmas Present to Linux 
5. Palm to Boost Wireless Offering, may open store 
6. Opinion: 2000 Is Year E-Biz Got Real 
7. XML NEWS! Live Feed for all News about XML New stories every day, check back often.

An interesting map that indicates the difference in geography versus population in the U.S. --- http://www.boortz.com/mandatemap.gif 

Sometimes they just don't listen to Santa --- http://iinkslinger.tripod.com/gif/schmitthse.jpg 

James Lileks, humorist, writer --- http://www.lileks.com/ 

11 statements that I've actually heard in Texas:

11.  Always take the time to smell the roses...and sooner or later you'll inhale a bee.

10.  If a motorist cuts you off, just turn the other cheek...nothing gets the message across like a good mooning.

09.  If genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, I must be sharing elevators with a lot of bright people.

08.  It's always darkest before dawn...so if you're gonna steal the neighbors newspaper, that's the time to do it.

07.  It takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown...and fewer still to ignore someone completely.

06.  Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked up into jet engines.

05.  I believe no problem is so large or so difficult that it can't be blamed on someone else.

04.  If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

03.  Let's get a chihuahua trained to go straight for the throat --- let our neighbor's pit bull choke on that. 

02.  It takes a big man to cry...but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.

01.  When I'm feeling down I like to whistle...it makes my neighbor's dog run to the end of his chain and gag himself.

41 Statements I've Never Heard in Texas

 41: Nobody should go to a family reunion just to find a date. 

 40: I'll take Shakespeare for 1000, Alex.

 39:  Oh I just couldn't, hell, she's only sixteen.

 38: Duct tape won't fix that.

 37: Honey, I think we should sell the pickup and buy a family sedan.

 36: Come to think of it, I'll have a Heineken.

 35: We don't keep firearms in this house.

 34: Has anybody seen the sideburns trimmer?

 33: You can't feed that to a dog.

 32: I thought Graceland was tacky.

 31: No kids in the back of the pickup, it's just not safe.

 30: Wrestling's fake.

 29: Honey, did you mail that do