***Apologies for cross-posting***
Internet users in the USA and Europe will be able to discover the
best of the Internet much faster (and cheaper) as a result of a
new initiative launched this week. Internet Scout, based in the
USA, and SOSIG, based in the UK, will each host a "mirror" of the
other's site. The arrangement will result in quicker access and
reduced costs for users on both sides of the Atlantic. The
"mirror" is a complete copy of the original site, hosted on a
server closer to home, so that users can cut down on the number of
transatlantic connections they make.
The Internet Scout Project is based in the Computer Sciences
Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the USA. The
Scout Project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation to
provide timely information to the education community about
valuable Internet resources, and to develop new tools for
effective resource discovery on the Internet. Daily and weekly
updates on highly selective resources are provided for K-12 and
higher education faculty, staff, and students, as well as
interested members of the general public. In addition to the
general Scout Report, three subject-specific reports focus on
Social Science, Business and Economics, and Science and
Engineering, and a catalogue of over 4,500 resources on these
topics are searchable at the web site.
SOSIG (pronounced "sausage") is the Social Science Information
Gateway, based in the Institute for Learning and Research
Technology (ILRT) at the University of Bristol, UK. SOSIG is
funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to provide access to
networked resources and training for social scientists that want
to use the Internet. Established in 1994, SOSIG was the first
subject-based information gateway in the UK. SOSIG has acquired a
considerable reputation among social scientists and offers a
catalogue of over 5,000 high quality resources that have been
selected and described by subject specialists.
Further collaboration between the two services is planned in the
future. The UK mirror of the Scout Report can be found at:
http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/mirrors/scout/report/socsci/index.html
The US mirror of SOSIG can be found at:
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/mirrors/sosig/
UK users should use the local SOSIG service at:
http://www.sosig.ac.uk/
For further information please contact:
Debra Hiom
SOSIG
Institute for Learning and Research Technology
University of Bristol
8-10 Berkeley Square
Bristol BS8 IHH
UK
Tel: +44 (0)117 928 7117
Fax: +44 (0)117 928 7112
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