New Bookmarks
1999 Quarter 2:  April 1-June 30, 1999 Additions to Bob Jensen's Bookmarks
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

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For the April 1-September 30, 1999 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 of 1999 Additions to the Bookmarks File

June 25, 1999               June 18, 1999           June 11, 1999         June 04, 1999

May 28, 1999              May 11, 1999            May 7, 1999

April 30, 1999             April 23, 1999           April 18, 1999         April 9, 1999             April 02, 1999

For the other editions go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm

June 25, 1999

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has a reasonably good free online Education section at
http://www.cboe.com/education/

Interestingly, the Options ToolBox subsection of the above CBOE education system requires the Authorware Reader. I seldom encounter Authorware on the web. For the free Authorware Reader and other Macromedia downloads, click on the Download button at http://www.macromedia.com/ .  I had previously downloaded the Authorware Reader (installs as a plug-in to your browser).  This week I found that the CBOE Educational Options Toobox runs rather efficiently on the Internet.  I especially like the tutorials on Index Options and Long-term Equity Anticipation Securities (LEAPS).  However, I wish that there were sections on derivatives accounting to round out the strategy tutorials.  The Authorware displays are a bit like indexed file card flipping.  You can add your own bookmarks.  In terms of LEAPS popularity, you can read the following at http://www.cboe.com/education/faq.htm :

Since their introduction by the CBOE in 1990, open interest in equity LEAPS at the CBOE has increased to a record 4.6 million contracts by the end of February 1999 (representing over 460 million shares of stock).

At first blush, I would not have advised the CBOE to author the Toolbox materials in Macromedia Authorware.  That seemed to be  analogous to using a Caterpillar Earthmover to level out a sand trap after one of my infamous wedge shots.  Most effects (mainly the hiding and showing of layers) could have been achieved with Macromedia Dreamweaver with less cost and authoring complexity.  Users would not have to download a plug-in reader into their browsers.  Also the files could be found with web search engines (this is not possible for Authorware files on the web).  I suspect that the CBOE may have authored these files for other purposes such as training courses where Authorware's complete course management system would be helpful.

Later on, when I got into the section on LEAPS Strategies for Stock Investors, I discovered why Authorware made more sense.  The coordination of the graphics with alternative LEAPS strategies would be messy to author in Dreamweaver.  This is a piece of cake, however, in Authorware or ToolBook.  There are just some things that high-end authoring software can do better with less effort provided you endure the initial learning curve.  For more on high-end authoring see the ending half of http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245soft1.htm .

Here's the bottom line.  For those of us teaching SFAS 133 on how to account for complex derivative financial instruments contracts, it appears that there are possible student projects using this CBOE education web site.  Student teams could be assigned to study alternative contracts and alternative investment strategies (including hedges of hypothetical lending or investing transactions).  Students could be required to explain how the strategies work and how the contracts would be accounted for under SFAS 133 under various hedging scenarios.  I returned a few former student project web sites to the server to demonstrate this idea, although at the time my students did not have these CBOE tutorials.  See http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/busn2311/students.htm .  Perhaps I will assign similar projects using the CBOE tutorials the next time I teach the ACCT 5341 course.

Wake Forest University is pushing campus-wide Macromedia Dreamweaver authoring. You can read about it in an article entitled "Students Weave Web Authoring Dreams at Wake Forest," T.H.E. Journal, June 1999, pg. 8.  This news update also appears at http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/current/news.asp . I use Dreamweaver for certain things, but I still find MS Frontpage to be easier to use for workhorse HTML when I don't need DHTML dynamics.  MS Frontpage 2000 is discussed at http://www.microsoft.com/catalog/display.asp?site=768&subid=22&pg=1 . I have not yet installed Frontpage 2000, but when I do it will allow me to do DHTML authoring without having to shift into Dreamweaver.  Most campuses should take a good look at FrontPage 2000 before following Wake Forest's lead.

I just received a snail mail copy of a CD-ROM called CODIS.  This is a searchable CD containing abstracts and sample copies of management case studies from the largest single source of case materials in the world.  The address and other information is as follows:

ECCH at Babson Ltd (for communications from North and South America only)
Babson College, Babson Park, MA 02457
Voice (781) 239-5884  Fax (781) 239-5885
I cannot find a web site for this brach of the ECCH

From other parts of the world you may obtain ECCH products from http://www.ecch.cranfield.ac.uk/

Does anybody know if there is a better headquarters web site for ECCH?  If a lot of the CODIS material was put up at a web site, it would be easier to keep it up to date with latest materials.

I have created a new document called "XML and RDF Watch" at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/xmlrdf.htm
Please send me interesting updates that you hear about to help me keep this "Watch" up to date.  My email address is rjensen@trinity.edu .

The above "watch" would become so much better if others joined me in an effort to modify and update the above document at their own web sites.   For example, some accountants might take it in the direction of accounting applications, some librarians might take it in the direction of library applications, some computer scientists might take it in directions the rest of us cannot read, some scientists might take us in the direction of science applications, etc.  I would love to provide links to selected extensions in the names of the persons who would like to carry on this effort that I began at  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/xmlrdf.htm (only in the startup phase at the moment).  We need all the help we can get "watching" important happenings in XML and RDF.

The above ideas are not entirely original, although I do not know of any such collaborative efforts in academic "watch" writing.  There  is an "Interesting Stories Forum" at http://www.computer-stall.com/storiesforum/ .  (I have not had time to check out the quality of the stories). 

Search Service for the Best Book Purchase Deal
Probably the best known online bookstores are Amazon at http://www.amazon.com and Barnes and Noble at http://www.bn.com .  The Powells book seller claims to be the largest new and used bookstore in the world at http://www.powells.com/ .  But there are other online bookstores. 

A free comparison guide that will find you the best deal among various bookstores is provided by Glenn Fleishman.    You can search even faster by typing the ISBN number following the "nu/" in the URL address. However, I do not recommend that you do this since it will take you directly to only one book seller (Amazon).  Instead I recommend that you do the following:

• Find the ISBN number by whatever means.  If you don't know the ISBN number, you can go to one book seller such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble to locate the book and the ISBN number.
• Go next to http://isbn.nu/ .  (I do not recommend adding the ISBN number directly to the end of the URL.)
• Enter the ISBN number in the box provided at http://isbn.nu/ .  For example enter 0130811521 in the box.
• Click on the "Compare" button to get a listing of alternative deals for the book.  For the above book, Books-A-Million has a significantly lower price that most other vendors.  However, when you read the footnote you notice that in order to get this lowest price you must have a Millionaire's Club Membership costing $5.00 per year.  However, the savings on this one book justifies the membership price.  Without this membership, Barnes & Noble has the best price on this particular book having ISBN 0130811521.  Amazon certainly does not have the best deal on this book.
• Carefully read the footnotes and note the shipping charge comparisons that are also provided.

Alternately, you can also select a particular book seller in the drop box below the ISBN entry field.  This does not give you a table of comparison prices like you get with the "Compare" button.

Out-of-Print books can be searched for by title from http://www.outofprint.com/ .  After sending an inquiry about whether this search service used XML markups, Joe Williams reported that XML was not used in the OutOfPrint comparison guides.

Before starting this section, let me relate a short news item.  According to a San Antonio TV report a few years ago, an employee in a local Best Buy department store discovered a reporter walking down the isles recording Best Buy prices and product model numbers.  The reporter was promptly escorted out of the store due to an alleged Best Buy policy of not allowing store prices to be recorded for comparison shopping guides.  The bottom line is that most vendors do not like to make it easy to compare prices.

The first XML book price comparison service was the Junglee Shopping Guide according to The XML Handbook by Charles F. Goldfarb and Paul Prescod (ISBN 0130811521, Prentice-Hall Computer Books, 1998, Chapter 9).   However,  doing so was not easy since XML markups are not provided by book sellers.  Junglee used "extractors" to automatically extract prices from unstructured (non-XML) text.  (For definitions of terms like "extractor" and "wrapper," see my Technology Glossary.)  

In any case, Junglee Shopping Guide is now part of Amazon.  You can shop for a variety of products in this added service from Amazon, but I could not find how to shop for the best deal on books. I wonder why Amazon dropped price comparison guides for books after acquiring the Junglee Shopping Guide!

If book sellers put current prices and handling/shipping charges into XML markups for each ISBN number, it would be possible to easily compare prices for hundreds of book sellers.  If such metadata were available in vendor XML markups, the wonderful book comparison shopping guide provided by Glenn Fleishman at http://isbn.nu/ could more easily extract comparitive prices for hundreds of book sellers instead of the 17 book sellers that he now scans as a public service without having the benefit of XML tags. 

The following message (from Glenn Fleishman) not only highlights a special problem that XML enthusiasts will have in providing shopping comparison guides, it possibly touches upon a business ethics issue as well.  We seem to be approaching a classic dilemma of where the only way to make it easier to comparison shop will be for the government to require firms to make it easier to obtain the necessary data.

Hi Dr. Jensen,
No XML here, unfortunately. It’s not necessarily in the interests of an online bookstore to provide XML tags on their data, as an easier comparison of their prices does not necessarily help stores sell their books.

I am very excited about XML, but I believe it will wind up being used primarily in business-to-business partnership applications and in applications that replace proprietary EDI systems.

It will also be an amazing tool for transferring information from hetergenous data sources that will far, far surpass the awful tab-delimited text file format.

Glenn Fleishman [glenn@glenns.org]

As pointed out in the previous section, Fleishman's excellent ISBN book shopping comparison guide is at http://isbn.nu/ . Although I like this guide as a book consumer, I worry that such guides tend to reduce standardized products to commodity-priced items.  This, in turn, may stifle innovations that add to vendor overheads and may reduce longer-term capital spending for improved services.   I suspect that somewhat higher book prices helped Amazon invest heavily into innovative web research and development.  If Amazon is forced to meet the lowest prices on the web, Amazon will most likely do less and less in the way of leading the world in web site innovations.

Note that it is possible to generate XML markups (e.g., for consumer guides) even though the vendor web sites do not have XML tags.  See the definition of wrapper and extractor at http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245glosf.htm#Wrapper .

In the faculty club, a recent discussion turned to how a web site can sell a standardized product (like a popular textbook) and still achieve a premium price when web comparison guides might otherwise lead consumers to the lowest pricing vendor. One way that I pointed out is to provide an added service that the lower-priced competition does not provide.  For example, I mentioned that the vendor of textbooks might provide online testing and grading.  For example, Cybertext administers weekly quizzes to my AIS students who are made to purchase access to the textbook at http://www.cybertext.com .  Another company called Cyberclass provides similar services and web space for customized quizzes and chat rooms at http://www.hgcorp.com/cyberclass/ .  With some types of service, the vendors may be able to give the book away and charge for the accompanying service.

CPA audits run the risk of becomming priced as commodities unless auditors can demonstrate premium services.  The CPA Auction web site reflects the trend for commodity pricing of CPA services in general.  My comments on the CPA Auction are relegated to the bottom of this June 25 update (I'm hoping that you will grow weary of reading this before you reach the bad stuff at the end.)

This is a great web site.
Web tools, including tools for Browsers;  HTML, XML, & CSS;  Graphics & Design; Multimedia;  DHTML & JavaScript;  Java; Servers & E-Commerce;  Scripting;  Demo.
.http://www.webtools.com/

A good web site to follow for XML software updates is the Web Tools site at http://www.webtools.com/toolbox/html .

From MIT - The Journal of Markup Languages ($50 per year)
http://mitpress.mit.edu/journal-home.tcl?issn=10996621

Although vendors may not willingly provide any XML markups that make it easier to conduct competitive comparisons on most anything (prices, quality, ingredients, consumer complaints, reliability tests, etc.), there are areas where industry or government regulations already require public disclosures.  Those disclosures are subject to XML markups for ease of comparison.  Great examples are the required accounting disclosures required by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the EDGAR database.  These disclosures fit into an EDGAR Document Type Definition (DTD) published at the SEC web site.  Each submission document to the SEC from registrants required to file financial data with the SEC is supposed to conform to the SEC DTD.   The EDGAR Filer Manual can be downloaded from http://www.sec.gov/asec/ofis/filerman.htm .  The Appendices are quite interesting.  They are as follows:

APPENDICES to EDGAR Filer Manual:

A  Form Types Accepted for Electronic Filing This appendix lists the form types that EDGAR accepts and the EDGAR Submission Header type names given to each SEC form. It also provides a page reference to Appendix B, where we provide the tags appropriate for each submission header type.

B  EDGAR Tags by Submission Header Type In this appendix we provide the EDGAR tags appropriate for each submission header. Please note that we have added new tags within the General Tags section which apply to all form types.

C  Acceptable Values for Paper Forms for Electronic Filing The EDGAR system recognizes a limited set of values for certain tags. This appendix lists the values you must provide in a specified format.

D  Messages Reported by EDGAR This appendix includes information to assist you in understanding the acceptance and suspension messages that EDGAR generates.

E   Tagging for Financial Data Schedules This appendix provides information on EDGAR requirements for Financial Data Schedules processed by our Divisions of Corporation Finance and Investment Management. Financial Data Schedules require specific EDGAR tags; this appendix includes the correct format for input of tags and data by Article type.

F  Paper Forms for Electronic Filing Form ID Uniform Application for Access Codes to File on EDGAR Form SE Form for Submission of Paper Format Exhibits by Electronic Filers Form ET Transmittal Form for Electronic Format Documents Under the EDGAR System Form TH Notification of Reliance on Temporary Hardship Exemption

G  Glossary of Commonly Used Terms, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

H  Form 13-F Special Electronic Filing Instructions

I  EDGARLink[R] Script Language

J  Instructions for Attaching HTML Documents to Electronic Filings This new appendix provides information to assist you in creating SEC-acceptable HTML documents. This appendix provides the allowed HTML tags and disallowed HTML attributes for specific HTML tags. This appendix also includes all new HTML/PDF error messages.

K  Instructions for Attaching Unofficial PDF Documents to Electronic Filings This new appendix provides information to help you create and attach SEC-acceptable PDF documents.

In addition to the SEC DTD, extensive rules and regulations of the SEC dictate what financial data are to filed with the SEC (e.g., a complete 10-K annual set of audited financial statements).  The required submission data and the DTD facilitate using XML for filing and retrieving EDGAR data.  In 1998, an entire chapter is devoted to XML submissions to the SEC in The XML Handbook by Charles F. Goldfarb and Paul Prescod (ISBN 0130811521, Prentice-Hall Computer Books, 1998, Chapter 11).  These ideas are elaborated upon in a 1999 paper entitled "The Electronic Dissemination of Accounting Information - Resource Discovery, Processing, and Analysis" by Roger Debreceny, Glen Gray, and Tony Barry.  I recommend that all of you contact one of these authors for a copy. In particular you may request a copy from Glen at glen.gray@csun.edu  or Roger at rogerd@netbox.com .

I have been playing a little more with Version 4 of Adobe Acrobat.   The most common way to generate an Acrobat PDF file is to create a document in a word processor (say a DOC file) or a spreadsheet (say a XLS file).  With Adobe Exchange installed, you can simply save a second copy of the document as a PDF file.   In the past, I pretended there was a glass barrier in which the original images were behind the glass (and could not be modified with Adobe Exchange) versus Acrobat Exchage things that you could do in front of the glass (such as add annotations, hyperlinks, bookmarks, audio, video, etc.).  Prior to Version 4, any changes in content of the file behind the glass could not be made using Adobe Exchange.  Version 4, however, allows certain types of changes such as "touching up" words, insertion of pages, and renumbering of pages.  However, most serious modifying and editing of text or data are still best accomplished by returning to the word processor or spreadsheet program.  For example, if I added text in a sentence I could not get the longer sentence to easily wrap around and adjust the lines for the added text.  Have any of you found a way to make such text wrappings automatic in PDF text editing?

Version 4 of Adobe Acrobat (particularly the Adobe Exchange module) certainly makes it easier to publish web documents in PDF form rather than HTML or some other DTD.  Version 4 is a significant upgrade.  The main advantage is that the original document produced on a word processor or spreadsheet program does not have to be edited and touched up in the same manner that an HTML conversion often requires fixing up.  For exampl, MS Word tables and Excel tables do not have to be fixed up in a PDF file, but these tables almost always have to be fixed up following a conversion to a HTM file.  Images do not have to be stored in separate files like they do for HTML documents.  Another advantage arises in that the hard copy printout of the PDF file is nearly perfect in terms of looking just like the original DOC or XLS printout. 

But there is one huge disadvantage of a PDF document on the web that is often overlooked. That disadvantage is that a PDF document cannot be scanned by web search engines such as Altavista, HotBot, and Lycos.  If authors want to have their work picked up by search engines, one possibilty is to publish a summary of the PDF document in a separate HTML document.  Include lots of key words and text in the HTML document that will motivate users to click on the hyperlink to the PDF file.

Adding (limited) text editing capabilities will not be viewed happily by all authors.  For example, PDF files are often the files of choice by corporations issuing annual reports.  A main reason is that they print so nicely from PDF files.   Another reason in the past, however, was that users could not modify the text in a PDF file.  With Version 4 of Acrobat Exchange, however, readers can change text, insert pages, import other PDF files, repaginate, etc.  PDF authoring no longer comforts authors that posted documents remain "Pretty Decidedly Fixed" after they are downloaded by users.  Even though editing in Adobe Exchange is still far more limited than HTML editors, it is now possible to edit PDF documents.

Heavy duty acrobat authors may want to purchase an add-on product called Compose from Software Partners, Inc at http://www.ambia.com/compose/ .

Thank you Andrew Priest and Andy Lymer
Accounting Journals Index
http://www.accountingeducation.com/journals/index.cfm

Thank you Dennis Schmidt
Tax and Accounting Sites Directory
http://www.taxsites.com/

Howard Schilit wrote a (1993) book called "Financial Shenanigans: How To Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports".  He has since opened a web site at  http://www.cfra-online.com/ .  You can compare prices on his book at by entering the ISBN number 0070561311 at http://isbn.nu/ .

From Infobits:  Survey of Distance Education Programs
According to a recent study published by Primary Research Group, Inc., an estimated 93 percent of distance learning (DL) programs in North American colleges and universities use email as their DL medium. The study, "The Survey of Distance Learning Programs in Higher Education," is based on a random sample of sixty-one college and university distance learning programs throughout the United States and Canada. The report provides a comparison of data reported in 1997 and 1998. Findings show that 36.68 percent of DL instructors in 1998 were adjunct faculty, compared with 1997 in which 27.34 percent of the instructors were adjunct faculty. Instructor/tutor salaries account for the highest percentage of the DL programs' total costs and expenditures -- 31.72 percent. In 1997, instructor/tutor salaries accounted for 37.21 percent of the total costs and expenditures. Other findings of the study include: · 86.96 percent of the programs operate at a profit, while 13.04 percent operate at a profit of greater than 50 percent. · Thirteen percent of the programs in public colleges and twenty-seven percent of the programs in private colleges have created new courses for DL, rather than reusing and retooling traditional courses for the DL programs.

The table of contents for "The Survey of Distance Learning Programs in Higher Education, 1999 Edition" is available online at http://www.primaryresearch.com/distanc2.htm   .   The full report costs $87.50, or $139.75 for both 1998 and 1999 Editions. Contact Gary Boas at 212-764-1579 to place an order.
The Primary Research Group home page is at http://www.primaryresearch.com/ .

From the Scout Report
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/

This new current awareness resource from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School offers "the latest business insights, information and research" on a bi-weekly basis including "interviews with industry leaders and Wharton faculty, articles based on the most recent business research, book reviews, conference and seminar reports," among other sources. The Knowledge@Wharton site is divided into subject sections ranging from finance and investment to business ethics; each topical page includes searchable layers of information in summary, short article, or academic paper formats. Note: registration is required for access.

From InformationWeek Online (the shrinking of "accounting" in accounting firms)
Qwest Communications International Inc. And KPMG LLP are forming Qwest Cyber.Solutions LLC, a joint venture to provide Internet-based end-to-end application-service-provider, application-hosting, and application-management services, including enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, and back-office offerings.

The partners will start out with $400 million in current contracts, providing a base to compete in the global market for applications management, which analysts estimate will grow to $25 billion by 2001. The venture is a facilities-based applications service provider with assets of more than $120 million and 450 certified applications specialists.

On Page 11 of the June 28, 1999 issue of Newsweek, a search engine focused on 4 million federal government web pages is described.  See http://standard.northernlight.com/cgi-bin/govsearch_login.pl .

PC Week information technology news webcasts
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/webcast/

The live keynote is at http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/webcast/pcexpo99.html .

Web versus TV Wars --- Marc Andreessen's keynote address at the PC Expo
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/webcast/pcexpo99.html

Just for you John McCusker

100 Events That Shaped a Century
http://www.thestreet.com/basics/countdown/748433.html

The Basics of Business History
http://www.thestreet.com/basics/countdown/748433.html

Also see the Museum of American Financial History
http://www.financialhistory.org/

For you John Howland
sourceXchange - marketplace for open source development.
http://www.sourcexchange.com/

From John Howland - Robert Metcalf's regular updates on the future of networking and computing
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/990621opmetcalfe.xml   (Note the XML extension at the end of the URL.)

The main InfoWorld web site is at http://www.infoworld.com/ .  There is a subject index link on the main page.  I requested both the free hardcopy and electronic editions.

I love my Quick View Plus as a way of opening Word and Excel files that people send me without running the risk of starting a Windows macro virus (even when you copy or print from the file).  You can download a free trial version and give it a test run.
http://www.jasc.com/qvp.html

Lycos has 8,000 databases that are only a few clicks away
http://dir.lycos.com/Reference/Searchable_Databases/

Guides to using a financial calculator without having to be confused by the manual
http://moon.pepperdine.edu/~mkinsman/Using.html

Guides from the SEC about calculating the cost of a mutual fund
http://www.sec.gov/mfcc/mfcc-int.htm

I ordered an automatic TV sound controller at http://www.igadget.com/igadget/auttvsounreg.html

If you know any accounting educators with helpful materials on the web, please ask them to link their materials  in the American Accounting Association's Accounting Coursepage Exchange (ACE) web site at
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/ace/index.htm
Please send these professors email messages today and urge them to share as much as they can with the academy by easily registering their course pages with ACE. 

This week's featured ACE professor is my friend J. Efrim Boritz
Institution: University of Waterloo
Course Title: Information System Control and Audit
Textbook: Computer Control and Audit Guide
Author(s): J. E. Boritz
Efrim provides us with book readings and project assignments.  Note that this is an online course.  Thank you for sharing Efrim.

Digital Camera Guide.
http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?3219

Guides to helping the environment
http://es.epa.gov/

VAGUEPolitix Satire from PBS
http://www.pbs.org/weblab/vaguepolitix/

News from or about Microsoft Corporation

Penn State University's World Campus 101
http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu:8900/public/wc101/

Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics
http://www.cob.ohio-state.edu/~fin/dice/index.htm

If you know a product name and want to find what company makes that product or vice versa, you might triy http://www.realnames.com .   Web site URLs are also provided.  I typed in "Authorware" and was taken directly to the Authorware product section at the Macromedia web site. 

Note that the above search site is quite handy for finding home pages of colleges and universities.

How to design pages that are better for sight impaired users
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990613.html

For career women
http://client.lycos.com/r.asp?CB&EMB/6RkZ6.ldc929567692

There are other sections, including a section on costs. That section is very situational and cannot be generalized very far.

In his Personal Technology column for the Wall Street Journal, Walter Mossberg has never written a more glowing account of any product than he wrote for the new Packard Bell Z1 on June 17, 1999.  Among other things, the Z1 does two things that I have preached about for years to no avail about improving a PC.  Firstly, PCs should have an Ethernet port as standard network connecting equipment.  Second, PCs should have one of more  PCMCIA slots for better communication with laptop computers, digital camera disks, etc.  You can read the following at http://www.ptech.wsj.com/ptech.html .

The most innovative aspect of the Z1 is its expandability. There are no internal slots for adding new circuitry, which most users shun anyway. Instead, there are four of the new, simpler USB connectors -- twice the industry norm. It also includes a PC card socket, typically found only on laptops, that makes it easy to pop in the memory cards found on digital cameras.

There's also a built-in Ethernet networking port, for hooking up cable modems. Memory can be expanded by just opening a little door on the back. And there are the standard serial and printer ports, as well as a port for connecting a second monitor.

And you can use the keyboard from across the room since there are no cords to connect for a keyboard or a mouse.  Owners of a Z1 will have far less need for hardware technicians.  An additional hard drive beyond the standard 8.4 Gb hard drive can be popped into a slot in a matter of seconds.  The flat-screen monitor can be removed without tools and swapped for alternative sizes.  And there are many other new features that make the Z1 a "head turner."  Gateway also introduced a flat-screen model, but the Packard Bell Z1 is a far more heavy duty and innovative computer, including a radically different size and shape.  Where is the innovation in the Top Guns like Dell and Compaq?  I suspect they've been slower on the holster draw than Packard Bell --- or to mix a metaphor, they've been hit in the head by David's sling shot.  The Packard Bell home page is at http://www.packardbell.com/ .

From PC Week
Java 2 Micro Edition: It could lead to the creation of technology that makes the world smarter.
http://www.pcweek.com/b/pcwt9906166/1015109/

PLUS—ZDNet’s Software Library has the Java downloads you need, for free! Check out the selection at http://www.zdnet.com/swlib/develop/java.html

Take bytes out of your cookies with this tip from ZD Tips
Using Windows Explorer, navigate to your SendTo menu. Add the MS-DOS Editor to your SendTo menu. SentTo is an option on the drop-down menu that opens when you right click on any file, folder, etc.

This will locate the file, "cookies.txt" in the Netscape Directory Folder. You could also navigate to the file but this is faster. Right click on "cookies.txt" and select Send To MS-DOS Editor. The file will open. You will see a line telling you not to edit this file. As long as you know how to use Edit you can safely delete any cookie lines you want to be rid of. Save the file and exit back to Windows.

From Neil Hannon
Welcome to the latest edition of the Internet Essentials ‘99 Newsletter for the financial professional.

I put this last because last is where it belongs.  Thanks but no thanks Barry.  Like you, I am less than impressed.

We've always known that you can buy some professionals (lawyers, expert witnesses,  jockeys, senators, athletes, the Olympics Board, evangelists, accounting professors, etc.), but how low can you get when you can buy your CPA auditor online at an auction. See http://www.cpaauction.com .

And that's the way it was on June 25, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

Bob Jensen's Index Page

Bob Jensen's Bookmarks

New Bookmark Archives

June 18, 1999

Bob Jensen's New Bookmarks on June 18, 1999
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

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Do you suppose this will set a new research trend on the web?  It is possible for you to win a Nobel Prize in Science.  You can download and analyze radio telescope analysis software and data. Scientists are giving everyone an opportunity to be the first to discover intelligent life far from Mother Earth.  See  http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

I have updated Working Paper 260 with the following text about XML software (the wave of the tidal future for e-commerce and the web in general).  Note that my bottom-line actions are to start to play with a free download of Microsoft Corporation's XML Notepad, and to anxiously await for my shipment of Soft Quad's Version 1.0 of XMetaL.

For a time, not much was out there in the way of authoring software for XML and the standards have not yet been fully established to be embedded in web browser software.   However, some business firms are already experimenting with XML.  One piece of software that already has an XML backbone is the Dynabase from INSO (800-733-5799) at http://www.inso.com/ .  Dynabase can be built on top of such relational database systems as Oracle, Sybase, Informix, SQL Server, and DB2.  (It should be pointed out, however, that XML will eventually be an object-oriented database system).  Dynabase uses a proprietary programming language that is very close to Visual Basic and will, therefore, integrate well with Microsoft's Office 2000 products.  It is a bit early for poor professors to start experimenting with Dynabase since it carries a price tag of $50,000.  But Dynabase is already on the move in the corporate world.

A leading company for heavy duty SGML and XML development is ArborText at http://www.arbortext.com/ .  ArborText produces a new software product called EPIC described as follows:

Because Epic connects directly to Microsoft Word, you can easily import existing product information contained in Word files and convert them to valid XML. Epic can also use Word’s filters to import product information contained in other formats including Microsoft Excel tables, WordPerfect files, and more.  After the import is finished, Epic helps you fix up anything that does not convert to valid XML.   In addition to a traditional editing view, Epic also displays the document in an editable, hierarchical view through its Document Map.  In addition, Epic contains several tools that simplify the structured XML authoring process. One example is the Insert Element panel on the right. This allows authors to find the appropriate element by first selecting a category; in this example, the author has selected the "List" category and can then choose from all the types of lists that Epic supports.

In addition, ArborText has the The ADEPT Series described at http://www.arbortext.com/Products/ADEPT_Series/adept_series.html

ADEPT Series -- Supports XML and SGML authoring and page publishing on Windows-based PCs and UNIX-based workstations. ADEPT·Editor -- Allows authors to write text, place graphics and create books, manuals, catalogs, encyclopedias, and similar types of information. Also, ADEPT’s Willow technology enables tight integration between ADEPT and document management systems. ADEPT·Publisher -- Includes all the capabilities of ADEPT·Editor plus page composition. ADEPT·Publisher automatically lays out pages by balancing the need for page fullness with the need to keep related elements together to provide a powerful tool for increasing author productivity. Document·Architect – Provides an application development tool to build DTDs (Document Type Definitions), design stylesheets, and and customize the behavior of ADEPT.

Pricing at ArborText appears to be negotiated, and it does not appear possible to find ballpark pricing at the company's web site.  It appears that ArborText software is not priced for poor professors.

Microsoft has a free download of XML Notepad in beta form that will perform some simple XML basics.  It is described at http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/NOTEPAD/intro.asp .  Frequently asked questions about XML Notepad are answered at http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/NOTEPAD/faq.asp .  I downloaded a free copy from http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/NOTEPAD/download.asp
Microsoft Corporation's dedication to great new things in XML is described at http://www.gca.org/memonly/xmlfiles/issue4/edit.htm
Both Internet Explorer and Netscape have XML viewing capabilities.  See http://www.softseek.com/Internet/Web_Browsers_and_Utilities/Browsers/Review_20326_index.html .  On the heavy duty side of XML, see SQL Server 7.0 and XML Power Microsoft’s Product Catalog http://www.microsoft.com/backstage/

Possibly the best buy in  XML authoring software packages is called XMetaL from the company (Soft Quad) that originated the HTML and web server software called HOT METAL PRO. The price is only $495 for the world and $347 for poor professors (very reasonable for XML authoring). You can read the following in documents at http://www.sq.com/products/XMetaL/index.html

XMetaL is a highly customizable XML authoring tool that delivers unprecedented ease of use to authors while shielding them from the complexities of XML, lowering costs of both customization and deployment.

You can read the initial press release about XMetaL at http://www.sq.com/press/releases/pr990525.html .

Bob Jensen just ordered the XMetaL package --- now you know what I will be doing the rest of the summer.

Hi Bob,

Thanks for all your help. Many other exciting things happening also which I will be happy to share with you.

Pete Mazany
University of Auckland

Note:  I highly recommend that persons attending the AAA annual meetings in San Diego hear Pete Mazany's exciting presentations.  Pete is so innovative that it is scary. Pete Mazany will be presenting on August 14 CETA CEP Session 1 and the August 15 CEP Session 37 described at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpelist.htm   .  Other leading-edge innovators will also make multimedia presentations in those sessions. Most of the speakers and topics differ in Session 1 versus Session 37 such that duplication is minimized for persons choosing to attend both workshops. I plan to minimize my presentations in these workshops in order to give more time to the four other speakers in Session 1 and three other speakers in Session 37.

Publisher EdiStone has an interesting web site that makes a different chapter of a full book available for free each month. The book in question is entitled the Basics of Electronic Data Interchange from EdiStone.  Readers who can pace themselves one chapter per month can go to http://pages.prodigy.com/edibooks/contents.html .  Readers in a hurry to learn more about EDI will have to buy the book.

Each month, a different chapter is made available to users of the World Wide Web. The List of Topics, List of Figures, background information in the Preface, the Appendices and the Glossary of Terms are always available.   For the Glossary, go to http://pages.prodigy.com/edibooks/edigloss.html .  You can find this and other technology glossaries liked at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245gloss.htm .

If you are looking for some outstanding EDI links and helpers go to the following course web site of Jagdish S. Gangolly:
http://www.albany.edu/faculty/gangolly/acc680/spring99/ (scroll down to Week 5).  Then look at the great helpers for other topics and other weeks (including Week 6 on XML).

Jagdish's Week 6 links led me to an easy-to-read summary document entitled XML for Managers at http://www.arbortext.com/Think_Tank/XML__Resources/XML_for_Managers/xml_for_managers.html

Topical Interest Group:  Assessment in Higher Education
http://marsquadra.tamu.edu/TIG/Forum.html

Congratulations to Tony Catanach and Anita Hollander.  They were the two accounting professors selected among 28 interdisciplinary new Pew Scholars.  This is a great honor and responsibility.   Some of Anita's innovative work will be distributed in the forthcoming Toolkit Project video to be distributed by the American Accounting Association.  You can read about some of Tony's accomplishments in the BAM project described at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm .

You can read more about the Pew Scholars Program at http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/pew_mstr.html . The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has a web site at http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/welcome.html .  This is a web site that provides information about over 10,000 books, 125 journals, reference collections, and an online database called DIALOG from Lexis*Nexis.

Beverly Harrelson, Communications Coordinator/Webmaster of the American Accounting Association informs be that the Pew Scholar announcement is posted at the following web site:http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/newsarc/pewscholar.htm .  You can read some more about the projects of Anita and Tony at this web site.

The outcomes of the Pew Scholar projects will be available in about one year. We especially are looking forward to the projects of Anita and Tony. Among other things, Pew Scholars must be outstanding educators and assume a leadership role in education within their disciplines. Each year certain disciplines are designated for Pew Foundation awards. This was the year for accounting, management, music, religion, sociology, mathematics, chemistry, and certain other disciplines.

I am impressed with the Digital Duo technology show each week on PBS television.  See http://www.digitalduo.com/ .

Digital Duo is the independent, irreverent video review of all things digital. Every week on Public Television, hosts
Stephen Manes of Forbes Magazine and PC World and Susan Gregory Thomas of U.S. News & World Report
and New Woman cut through the hype and show you how the latest innovations of the electronic age really
work—and how they don't. They bring you the world of digital technology, warts and all—the good, the bad, and
the ugly. They tell you which products to save and which ones to delete, but they're not afraid to disagree. On
every show, contributing editor Walter S. Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal adds his own incisive
commentary about industry trends and issues.

The Digital Duo is the next best thing to Computer Chronicles described at http://www.cmptv.com/computerchronicles/ .

From Phil Livingston, President of the Financial Executives Institute (since this is linked from the Download Archives that anybody can access, I assume that this Excel Workbook is available to the general public)

Acquisition Model - Bruce Valentine, CFO of McStain Homebuilders, and a member of the Rocky Mountain Chapter, contributed a great Excel workbook for pro forma acquisition modeling. It takes the historical and projected results of the seller and buyer and combines them with consideration of the accounting and tax treatments. Thanks so much to Bruce for this great contribution to all FEI members. I’ve known and worked with Bruce and he is a bona fide rocket scientist. 

I believe FEI’s future will contain much more model- and presentation- sharing. Please think about the tools you use or tools you need and send me e-mail if you want to contribute something or are looking for a particular tool. Web-enabled tools for information sharing and analysis should be a priority.

Go to http://www.fei.org/download/dl_index.htm (Then click on MS Excel Acquisition Model. Bruce Valentine)

Teaching Tipster
The Accounting Educator< The Newsletter of the Teaching and Curriculum Section,American Accounting Association
Vol. VIII No. 2 - Spring 1999, http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/tccomm/Spring99/item05.htm

Students For Students --- How to Arrive and Survive in College, get FREE tips from upper-class students about how to thrive in college (the FREE parts seem to be thin in this effort to sell a book)
http://www.students-4-students.com

News from or about Microsoft Corporation

What’s New in Office 2000? Visit TechNet’s Office 2000 Technology Center
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/office/default.htm

Order the Guided Tour for Networking and receive Windows NT Server 4.0 trial software, CD-ROM-based training and case study interviews to help you decide if it’s the right multipurpose operating system for your environment.  ($19.95)
http://www.microsoft.com/go/windowsntserver/default.asp

News from or about Macromedia

Dreamweaver Support Center
http://www.macromedia.com/support/dreamweaver/

ANNOUNCING Director 7.02:
http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/proom/pr/1999/index_dir702_announce.fhtml

ANNOUNCING Flash 4:
http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/proom/pr/1999/index_flash4_announce.fhtml
Also see the Gallery at http://www.macromedia.com/gallery/

If you know any accounting educators with helpful materials on the web, please ask them to link their materials  in the American Accounting Association's Accounting Coursepage Exchange (ACE) web site at
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/ace/index.htm
Please send these professors email messages today and urge them to share as much as they can with the academy by easily registering their course pages with ACE. 

This week's featured ACE professor is Clinton (Skip) White
Institution: University of Delaware
Course Name: Auditing in an IT Environment Textbook: Handbook of IT Auditing
Author(s): Warren, Edelsson, & Parker
http://www.accounting.udel.edu/accounting/white/acct817/syllabus99s.html
Skip shares some very helpful course notes, presentation slides, and a glossary.  You may be especially interested in his risk-based auditing in an IT environment.  Thank you for sharing Skip.

Top 10 most requested services from the U.S. Social Security Administration (note that you can apply for
http://www.ssa.gov/top10.html

You can get a statement of your past earnings and estimated future benefits from
https://s00dace.ssa.gov/pro/batch-pebes/bp-7004home.shtml

The SSA Handbook link is (note that there is a wonderful index)
http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/hbktoc.htm

Innovative Accounting Educators of the Week: 

Joseph H. Callaghan, Thomas W. Lauer, and Eileen Peacock
Oakland University's School of Business Administration

An AIS Curriculum Using a Model-Oriented, Tool-Enhanced (MOTE) Framework
See http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/facdev/teaching/submissions/callaghan.htm

The innovation consists of a curriculum, instructional strategy, teaching approach, and a set of related teaching materials.  Evidence of this implemented innovation is composed of the following:

• An Executive Summary
• Several articles describing the innovation and its foundation elements
• Attestations from academics, students, practitioners, and employers
• Course syllabi for the three courses in the curriculum:
       ACC 418/618, Computerized Accounting Information Systems
       ACC 419/619, Accounting Information Systems: Design
       ACC 480/680, Special Topics in Accounting Information Systems
• Examples of course materials used in the curriculum
• Data Modeling Case example Business Process Case example Sy's Fish Case example PLACE Case

At its core, the MOTE approach aims to teach conceptual understanding and skills in data and process modeling in an accounting context. Learning these skills on a conceptual level is reinforced through the use of programmer development software. These are software tools that support systems development from the model level during systems analysis, through systems design, and to the completion of the development life cycle and the construction of the system. The first two courses of our AIS curriculum roughly follow these three phases, while the third course reiterates these phases in a complex accounting context. For further information, see the Executive Summary for the innovation at http://www.sba.oakland.edu/faculty/Callaghan/aisaward/AAA%20MOTE%20award.html

After the serious Worm.ExploreZip infection left organizations scrambling for lost information, experts are predicting more damaging viruses yet to come
http://www.pcweek.com/a/pcwt9906154/1015087/

eFUSE provides tips on how to build a better web site
http://www.efuse.com/

PHOTOTALK Message. Board
http://206.86.100.18:8080/bphototalk

Outdoor Explorer
http://www.outdoorexplorer.com/

Expedia Travel (a travel site with occasional great deals)
http://expedia.msn.com/daily/home/default.hts

MediaGossip.com (behind the news)
http://www.mediagossip.com/

This is a really flashy hyperactive way to market a product (in this case VW cars) on the web (Marketing and Advertising)
Turbonium
http://www.turbonium.com/

UReviewIt book review and discussion group (if your last paper was rejected, you can publish something here)
http://www.angelfire.com/id/urev

One of my favorite writers in days of old --- Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/ANDERSON/cover.html

Tiananmen Square, 1989: The Declassified History (for serious researchers)
http://www.seas.gwu.edu/nsarchive/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/index.html

The Hunger Site
http://www.thehungersite.com/

Wireless Tips

The June 21 issue of Newsweek on Page 16 features Motorola's new i1000plus wireless telephone that comes with Nextel wireless services for email, stock quotes, and other selected web services. 
Just for kicks follow what I did by typing in "What is the i1000plus?" at www.ask.com .

You should also learn about the PDQ Smartphone at http://www.qualcomm.com/pdQ/

The pdQ smartphone combines state of the art CDMA technology with the most popular, fastest-selling handheld computer platform - the Palm Computing® platform

Simplify your life and lighten your briefcase with the pdQ smartphone from QUALCOMM. It's the perfect wireless way to stay connected. For starters, the pdQ smartphone is a CDMA wireless phone. Plus, it puts important Personal Information Management applications like an address book and a date book right at your fingertips, anytime you need them. With the pdQ smartphone, downloading applications or enhanced features from the web or a CD Rom is a breeze.

And there is also Phone.com at http://www.phone.com/

We are a leading provider of software that enables the delivery of Internet-based services to mass-market wireless telephones. Using their software, wireless subscribers have access to Internet-based and corporate intranet-based services, including email, news, stocks, weather, travel and sports. In addition, subscribers have access to telephony services, which may include over-the-air activation, call management, billing history information, pricing plan subscription and voice message management.

A keyboard is at last available for the Palm VII wireless PDA:
http://www.palmzone.com/experiences/09.shtml

You can read more about the Palm VII at http://www.palmzone.com/experiences/9909.shtml

Other wireless products
http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_10/b3619004.htm

About.com at http://www.miningco.com/

Because no matter how advanced technology gets, it'll never replace smart people who care. Sure, the Net's a great resource. But it's just not that easy to find what you want, no matter how many years you've been online. Search engines and directories help, but they're not always good enough -- even if you do manage to wade through all those search results to find the information that's really relevant to you, how do you know you can trust what you've found?

That's why About.com Guides are here. Their mission is to create the ideal environment to immerse yourself in your interests. They do all the digging so you don't have to -- and they put what they find in context, providing the human judgment and personal integrity that you just can't get from a search engine or directory. So you can find what you want, and trust what you find.

It's the kind of expert guidance and leadership that only human beings can provide. That's why we've gathered hundreds of these talented people together in one place and given them the tools they need so they can focus on sharing what they've found with you. We bring humanity to the Internet.

Great destinations - Great starting points The Guides make sure that each one of our GuideSites works as both a useful starting point AND a great destination for its topic. Guides are responsible for updating their sites with new links and features at least once a week, but many update their sites daily -- so come back often and see what's new. Read a feature article or a site review, discover fresh links, post a comment, join a chat, sign up for a newsletter, send email to your Guide. It's a great new way to stay abreast of what matters most to you.

Who are About.com Guides? About.com Guides live and work in over 20 countries. Guides are specially selected to lead based on a demonstrated expertise about a particular topic, and each must have the desire and ability to help others who share their interests. All Guides have successfully completed About.com's rigorous certification program, and each must continually meet strict standards of excellence in user service and community leadership. Only about 25% of those that apply to be Guides get accepted into our training program and graduate to running a GuideSite.

From the Scout Report:  The Theory Into Practice Database
http://www.gwu.edu/~tip/index.html

The Theory Into Practice (TIP) database contains summarized descriptions of 50 educational theories related to human learning and instruction. It was compiled by Dr. Greg Kearsley, and independent consultant specializing in online education who has a PhD in educational psychology. For each instructional theory, Kearsley provides a brief overview, explains its scope and application, outlines its principles, offers a theoretical example, and lists references. In addition, some of the overviews include Quicktime video clips of Dr. Kearsley or others lecturing on specific theories. The TIP database is accessible via three indices: an alphabetic index, a learning domain index, and a learning concepts index.

A Journalist’s Guide to the Internet
http://reporter.umd.edu/

A Journalist’s Guide to the Internet is a comprehensive guide to electronic mailing lists, newsgroups, and Websites relevant to deadline news reporting. The guide contains briefly annotated links connecting journalists to information resources in numerous categories. Included are pointers to public documents, federal and state government information, legal and political resources, online newspapers, expert sources, and much more. The guide is the creation of Christopher Callahan, associate dean of the University of Maryland’s College of Journalism and senior editor of the _American Journalism Review.

Selected Articles from On the Horizon, July 2, 1999, http://horizon.unc.edu/horizon/online/login.asp

"Transforming the Role of Students and Teachers in the Information Age" by James L. Morrison
Morrison praises Spady’s vision of educational reform and provides an example of it in practice. In his graduate-level course, "The Social Context of Educational Leadership," Morrison focuses on the challenges that students are likely to face in their careers in the Information Age and on the skills they need to face these challenges successfully. He insists that, in a world where the professional knowledge base is changing rapidly, these prospective administrators must be able to use information technology tools competently. He therefore requires all class members to design a Web site, to research both individual and team papers through Internet search engines, to create presentations with PowerPoint software, and to post their work to their Web pages and thus make it accessible to other professional educators. How do students respond? Find out in "From the Editor."

"Corporate Universities: Just-in-Time Learning" by Michael D. Kull
Kull examines the goals and operations of corporate universities, one permutation of the general trend toward an expanded and diversified education market. "Instead of relying on the country’s education system to furnish packaged solutions in the form of new graduates," he writes, many "organizations want education to be delivered to the right people at the right time in the right way: just-in-time." For some corporations, the "right" solution is an independent, company-run university. For others, it is an educational alliance with an existing university; consequently, educators should pay more attention to the business market and to how traditional brick-and-mortar institutions can better serve it. After all, Kull reminds readers, "partnering represents the next step in the evolution of a knowledge economy."

Update on ERP from Information Week Online:

IBM Global Services and KPMG Consulting this week will partner with Peregrine Systems Inc. to provide infrastructure resource planning (IRP) services to their customers. Peregrine's suite of IRP applications manages the life cycles of nearly all business assets, including IT.

Industry observers say IRP is poised to be the next enterprise resource planning-with Peregrine as the next SAP. The IRP market, estimated to hit $2 billion this year, is at the same stage the ERP market was at three years ago and will experience a compounded annual growth rate of 40% over the next three years, says Neil Cooper, an analyst at securities firm the Seidler Cos. About two dozen other integrators, including Deloitte Consulting and EDS, are working with Peregrine, says Steve Gardner, president and CEO.

Peregrine has a staff of about 200 professionals to help clients implement the software. KPMG has about 35 practitioners dedicated to Peregrine's technology, with plans to grow to 150 within a year, says James Mowrer, senior manager at KPMG. IBM will allocate resources as needed to Peregrine's technology, says Linda Hanson, offerings manager for product support services. Some IBM employees have already received training from Peregrine, and IBM has completed consulting engagements on Peregrine projects in the United States and Germany.

Sterling Software Products at http://www.sterling.com/products/

Cool - A suite of software products that provides high-powered modeling and generation tools in an integrated work management environment.   (For an AIS course that uses this product see ACC 419/619 ).

Sams - Software that manages, monitors, and automates data storage in both distributed and centralized environments.

Solve - Software for end-to-end desired state management of mission critical networked business applications from a service perspective.

Vision - Software to enable customers to extend the life and usefulness of legacy applications and to facilitate enterprise-wide information access .

VM - Systems management and Web software for IBM's VM operating system .

Internet Essentials ‘99 Newsletter for the financial professional.
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html
Here are this week’s hot topics:

1. ExploreZip.worm: How to ProtectYour Computer

2. Update your Virus Protection

3. E-Trade Ranks #1 for Online Trading

4. GTE develops E-commerce for Small Business

5. OneBox- FREE Universal Messaging (including voice mail)

6. New Technology Makes Work HARDER!

7. Get Paid to Surf the Net

8. Check Your E-mail Remotely

9. Financial XML Standard Proposed

10. Quick Hitters including

11. Free lock file tool, Web Site Garage, Toysmart.com

And that's the way it was on June 18, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-736-7347 Fax: 210-736-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

Bob Jensen's Index Page

Bob Jensen's Bookmarks

New Bookmark Archives

June 11, 1999

Bob Jensen's tips for the day.

Probably the best place to start in motivating faculty to move into newer education technologies in their courses is to motivate them in some way (e.g., funding, performance evaluation, or whatever) to take or audit a distance education course.  It is crucial that the chosen course is a great course.  For example, it would be great if Sharon Lightner allowed selected faculty to audit her online international accounting course that is taught simultaneously across four countries using an instructional team of international faculty, standard setters, and noted practitioners.  You can read about this AICPA Innovation Award course at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255light.htm .  You can hear Sharon live on August 14 at the CETA workshop described at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpelist.htm .

Bob Jensen's current server shell recommendation is Blackboard at http://www.blackboard.net/ .   Blackboard has just announced an important partnering with CREN as reported at http://www.cren.net/cren/blackboard_info.html .  However, for educators whose institutions prefer to not manage their own servers, Cyberclass is still a noteworthy alternative.  See http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245soft1.htm .

You can read about the innovative way Blackboard is used at Cornell University in an article entitled "Introducing and Supporting a Web Course Management Tool," by Diane Kubarek in Syllabus, June 1999, 52-55 (the online version is not yet online, but it will soon be posted to http://www.syllabus.com/ ).  

You can hear about Cyberclass live in the HyperGraphics Corporation presentation scheduled in the Syllabus99 conference in Santa Clara, California.  The program is described at http://www.syllabus.com/syll99main_cvr.htm .

Accounting education innovators highlighted this week:

Accounting Information Systems: A Database Approach by Uday S. Murthy and S. Michael Groomer is the first electronic textbook in business. This state of the art accounting information systems textbook presents systems concepts, technology, and the design and development of enterprise wide systems using entity-relationship modeling and relational databases. The book is published exclusively on the World Wide Web by CyberText Publishing, Inc., a company founded by Groomer and Murthy. This company is a high tech start-up firm that uses the World Wide Web as the sole channel to deliver products to customers and receive payment for them. Given the nature of the subject matter, which is technologically rich, this book is revised prior to the beginning of each semester. In addition, the Murthy & Groomer online AIS book offers an on-line quizzing system and a number of web-based instructor tools for class management. In its second year of existence, this book has been adopted at over thirty colleges and universities worldwide (including universities in Canada, Hong Kong, and Japan). In recognition of their work in behalf of this endeavor, Groomer and Murthy received the 1998 Innovative User of Technology Award from the Indiana CPA Society.

Note:  You can see Murthy and Groomer describe (in action live) how they make their materials interactive on the Internet.  Go to  Workshop 37 described at http://raw.rutgers.edu/raw/aaa/99annual/cpelist.htm
San Diego, August 15, 1:00-4:30 p.m.
"That Fearsome Advanced Step in Making Networked Materials Truly Interactive: Technology Veterans Demonstrate How and Why to Improve Learning "

Note from Bob Jensen:  In my AIS course, I have assigned Murthy and Groomer's online Accounting Information Systems book for two years.  My students take the weekly online quizzes.  The Murthy and Groomer materials and quizzes are about the only thing in the course that my students do not complain about.   See http://www.cybertext.com/ .

Bob-
In response to your material on "Ask Jeeves" . . (See the June 4, 1999 edition of New Bookmarks.)

There’s a good New York Times article with lots of additional links at http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/circuits/articles/18bots.html

Curtis Brown
Philosophy Department
Trinity University

Bob Jensen's response to the above message from Curtis:
I went to MIT AI lab web site and typed in the following questions (accompanied by the the InfoLab's answers)

Bob Jensen's First Question:  What is accounting?
MIT's InfoLab Answer: I'm afraid I can't help you with that!
Shallow Red Answer: The bot-master has not provided me with a definition of "accounting". Thank you for asking.

Bob Jensen's Second Question:   What is philosophy?
MIT's InfoLab Answer: (There were six answers --- InfoLab knows its philosophy --- perhaps to a fault.)
Shallow Red Answer: The bot-master has not provided me with a definition of "philosophy". Thank you for asking.

Should I comment further on this --- I dare not!  It would appear, however, that the knowledge bases are lacking in the most important matters (i.e., accounting).  Perhaps I should have asked about "artificial intelligence."   Actually Shallow Red is fun even if he is "shallow."  I still find Jeeves to be the least shallow of artificial intelligence knowledge bases at http://www.ask.com/ .

In any case, I thank you for sharing these leads on AI knowledge bases with us Curtis!  I did find the NY Times article very informative at http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/circuits/articles/18bots.html .

Dr. Jensen,

In response to your question about AskERIC, no, it does not use any sort of artificial intelligence. Actually, AskERIC questions are forwarded to the User Services Specialist (usually a librarian by training) at the various clearinghouses throughout the ERIC system. Those people then do ERIC searches and other research to answer the questions submitted. I hope that helps you in your research. Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

Maria L. Kozi mkozi@eric-he.edu
Web Site Manager ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education
http://www.eriche.org
800-773-3742, ext. 30

Accounting News and Helpful Information for Educators

For the most comprehensive web site containing news about accounting, investing, and accounting education, I recommend that all accountants and accounting educators make weekly visits to AccountingEducation.com
http://www.accountingeducation.com/   (also note the comprehensive set of links).

The range of relevant websites now available to our community is huge - we don't need just another one, what we now need is a way of helping us process the data that is out there - this is where this site fits in - it's the information filter for academic accountants.

Your concern is to maximize the benefit of the Internet to your teaching and research - our aim is to scan the Internet and other sources to provide you with this service, and provide it free. There is no catch - the site is funded by advertising and sponsorship which you will note throughout the site.

This site was launched at the end of March 1999 and is currently undergoing rapid growth, but is already a valuable resource for its community. Key features of the site include:

A free weekly news feed to keep you right up to date with international developments and those more local to you - wherever you may be. Register now - only your name and email address are required. News - see the latest news items directly as they are added to our website. Reviews - independent opinions on key new publications. Jobs Database - A major global collection of jobs online for our community. Events Database - A comprehensive listing of all conferences, workshops and seminars etc in our field. Journals - This area will become the first (free) online database of contents and standing data on the main accounting journals and publications. A tremendous resource for teaching and research. Links - A searchable list of key relevant links. Library - A collection of useful resources to include papers, datasets, case materials, teaching guides, lecture notes, course information etc.

A top web site for international accounting news and resources is the ANet web site at http://www.csu.edu.au/anet/

Don't neglect the Prentice-Hall Phlip web site maintained superbly by David Fordham at James Madison University. 
(David does a good job with this.)
http://www.phlip2.marist.edu/phinternet97/accounti.htm

• This list of resources is different from lists at other sites in several ways:
• We highlight an especially valuable resource each week in the Website of the Week section.
• We include the date that each resource was added so that you don't waste time surfing to sites that
  you've already explored.
• Sites that have moved are updated and dead sites are removed weekly so that your time isn't
  wasted chasing dead ends.
• We choose sites for inclusion on this list based on their usefulness to the classroom experience and
  on their worth to busy educators and students.

AccountingNet also carries updated news in a Newsletter at http://www.accountingnet.com/newsletter .

Dryden Press has useful accounting educator  news at links at
http://www.dryden.com/infosys/parker3/student/resources/

And don't forget the Accounting Students Newsletter at http://www.accountingstudents.com/ .   This web site is particularly helpful in providing career helpers to students.

Yahoo! Bookmarks
This is a potentially helpful starter bookmark web site.  You can add your own folder for your own favorite bookmarks.  One advantage in doing so is that your customized Internet bookmarks file can serve two or more computers with one file that you can access from the Internet.
Warning:  This seems to be a slow server.  Hopefully, Yahoo will increase the speed of this bookmark service.
http://bookmarks.yahoo.com/

Energizing Your Teaching

The May 1999 issue of Issues in Accounting Education has an excellent section (pp. 305-368) on energizing your teaching.  David Stout from Villanova University is to be commended for organizing a special session on this topic for the Teaching and Curriculum Section at the 1998 American Accounting Association Annual Meetings.  The May 1999 abstracts are not yet available on at the AAA's web site, but eventually they will be posted to http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/pubs/issues.htm .

Billie Cunningham has some very clever suggestions in "Energizing Your Teaching:   A View from Deep in the Trenches."  Her focus is on active learning, and she is constantly energizing and refreshing her courses. I especially recommend that you look at her ideas in Table 1, pp. 313-315.  She provides some excellent suggestions for group projects.

Dennis Hanno focuses on organizing a learning community in "Energizing Your Teaching:  Developing a Community of Learning,"  In Exhibit 3 on Page 329 he provides some ideas for group projects.  He also proposes formation of a student committee (four students) to aid in feedback and communications (see Exhibit 2 on Page 326).  His particular focus is on diversity in learning communities.

G. Peter Wilson always brings excitement to any meeting and any course.  His presentation was entitled "Teaching and Learning Can Be Energizing."  He stresses setting of learning goals and strategies for achieving success.  If you are going to the 1999 AAA meetings in San Diego, you can attend a live session from Pete on either August 14 or August 15.  He is one of the presenters on August 14 in the CETA workshop described at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpelist.htm .  He is also conducting Workshop 24 on August 15.

The IASC announced that international accounting IASC standards will now be available on CD-ROM at http://www.iasc.org.uk/news/cen8_065.htm .

The CD-ROM is priced at £120 per user (each single user on a stand alone PC or each concurrent user on a network). Discounts for more than FOUR single or concurrent users are available on application to IASC. Customers in the European Union (except UK) need to quote their VAT/TVA/BTW/MOMS/MWST/IVA/FPA number on the order form OR add VAT of £21 per user. Subscriptions commence with the latest CD release available and include two further update CDs. Overseas orders can be sent direct to IASC, Publications Department, 166 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2DY, United Kingdom, Telephone: +44 (171) 427-5927, Fax: +44 (171) 353-0562, E-mail: publications@iasc.org.uk  Internet: http://www.iasc.org.uk .

The IASC international standards are also available along with accounting and auditing standards in various nations are also available on the PriceWaterhouse Coopers Researcher CD-ROM at http://extranet.pw.com/PWRUpdates.htm

PricewaterhouseCooper's Researcher is a comprehensive accounting and auditing library on a single CD-ROM disc. It features a vast database covering the United States and many other parts of the world as well as commentary by PricewaterhouseCooper's professionals. The United States section includes FASB, AICPA and EITF publications. Similar authoritative literature for other countries is included where the owner of the copyright permits us to include the information.

Features include browsing, searching, cross-referencing, personal annotations, printing, and exporting text to word processing programs. PricewaterhouseCooper's Researcher can be customized to meet your company's text and image retrieval needs such as policies and procedures manuals, or other internal reports and correspondence.

I have been using the Researcher CD for a number of years.  It is a great resource, although searches are tricky.  The software has steadily improved.  This is one area where the Ask Jeeves software would really be helpful, although the Ask Jeeves software carries they hefty pricing that I discussed in the June 4, 1999 edition of New Bookmarks.

It is a good idea to track what is happening at Western Governors University at http://www.wgu.edu/wgu/index.html

WGU is education's online "one-stop" shop. WGU is comprised of 31 education providers from around the United States who currently offer nearly 400 courses and two dozen complete degree programs through the WGU Catalog. There's even a doctoral degree available! Plus, WGU is offering 10 of its own unique competency-based degrees and certificates. Look here to see all the academic programs currently available through WGU's Catalog.

WGU's strategy at the higher education level resembles Mike Milken's Knowledge Universe strategy at the elementary and secondary education levels. i.e. a strategy of gobbling up the competition.  Whereas Mike Milken tends to buy up top competitors, WGU forms partnerships.  The latest WGU partnering is with University Access as reported in on Page 16 of the June 1999 edition of Syllabus (the online version is not yet online, but it will soon be posted to http://www.syllabus.com/ ).  Although WGU primarily targets online courses to 21 states west of the Mississippi River, WGU formed a partnership with the North American division of the giant Open University in the United Kingdom to deliver courses east of the Mississippi River.  Some of WGU's other partners also deliver courses and programs all over the U.S.  Pricing is rather interesting.   For example, a masters degree from WGU costs a flat $3,000 tuition and is mostly comprised of courses from top universities.  Many of WGU's courses are certificate-level courses rather than academic credit courses.  However, certificate-level courses are probably the wave of the future in life-long learning (see below).

Enrollments in WGU were initially disappointing, although that is not surprising in a startup situation of something as different at WGU in higher education.  Does anybody have any information about enrollment trends and course quality?  If so please contact me at rjensen@trinity.edu .

I mentioned above that WGU is heavy into certificate programs that are competency based.  This is one of the various "21st Century Teaching and learning Patterns" predicted in the cover article by Judith Boettcher in Syllabus, June 1999, 18-24 (the online version is not yet online, but it will soon be posted to http://www.syllabus.com/ ).  Judith Boettcher is affiliated with CREN.  She predicts the following scenarios (which appear to be heavily in line with the emerging WGU programs mentioned above):

1. A "career university" sector will be in place (with important partnerships of major corporations with prestige universities).
2. Most higher education institutions, perhaps 60 percent, will have teaching and learning management software systems linked to their back office administration systems.
3. New career universities will focus on certifications, modular degrees, and skill sets.
4. The link between courses and content for courses will be broken.
5. Faculty work and roles will make a dramatic shift toward specialization  (with less stress upon one person being responsible for the learning material in an entire course).
6. Students will be savvy consumers of educational services (which is consistent with the Chronicle of Higher Education article at http://chronicle.com/free/99/05/99052701t.htm ).
7. The tools for teaching and learning will become as portable and ubiquitous as paper and books are today.

Judith Boettcher claims that most of her predictions are extractions of current trends.

On Page 46, the June 1999 issue of Syllabus lists a Buyer's Guide for a number of distance education programs.  These include the following:

• AT&T Virtual Academy at http://www.att.com/learningnetwork/virtualacademy/
• Fielding Institute at http://www.fielding.edu/
• Ball State University's Insite Distance Learning at http://www.bsu.edu/teachers/academy/insite/
• Nova SE University of Florida at http://www.nova.edu/
• Rutgers State University Online Campus at http://www.rsuonline.edu/
• University Access at http://www.universityaccess.com/
• University of Phoenix at http://www.uophx.edu/online/

For hundreds of other programs, you can contact the following:

Yahoo's Distance Education Guide
http://dir.yahoo.com/Education/Distance_Learning/Colleges_and_Universities/ </