Bits and Bytes

Compiled by Claudia Lynch, Benchmarks Online Editor

Every once in awhile we have things that we would like to pass on to you that don't really warrant a separate article. That is the case for the following items.

• UNT Parents Weekend falls on October 23-24 of this year. The Computing Center will participate in the departmental open houses event, scheduled to last from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday 10/24.

• The IMac has landed! The Computing Center has acquired an IMac for the purposes of display/demo and supporting UNT Internet Services. If you haven't yet had a chance to see or try an IMac, come by ISB 119 during Helpdesk hours [8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday, and Saturday from 9 a.m.-Noon.]

• Statistics for your Web site? If you want to know more about your Web site -- how often it is looked at, the information most frequently accessed, etc. -- you should probably request that statistics be compiled for your site. Central Web Support's page "Web Stats for your Site" has all the information you need to set that process in motion.

• UNT Links. Last month, in "The Network Connection," we published some Web pages that were either created or revised here at UNT within the last six months. Here are some more pages you may not be aware of:
  • The Campus Police have updated their Web site, it is now at: http://www.unt.edu/police/
  • Internal Audit's Web page can be found at: http://www.unt.edu/audit
  • Web versions of new departmental recruitment inserts are now online for the following departments:
    • Philosophy
    • Journalism
    • Student Employment
    • University Honors Program
    • Commuter Services
    • Applied Behavior Analysis
    • Cooperative education
  • The State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC) has a Web page with all sorts of information about this workplace charity campaign.
  • The Club at College Inn is now open for the fall Semester. The Club is a training laboratory in the Division of Hotel and Restaurant Management, and depends on the support of the University community to provide a successful learning experience for the students. You can see this semester's menu and make reservations from their Web page at: http://www.scs.unt.edu/smhm/cci.html

  Like we said last month, if you have a UNT Web site that you would like others to be aware of, just let us know. We will be glad to publicize it.

• Beyond UNT Links. Below are some links outside of the UNT campus that may be of interest to you:
  • A good reference site: http://webopedia.internet.com/
  • Spooky time. Universal Studios Online and Netscape Netcenter have teamed up to present Halloween98.com , a themed site celebrating all things spooky. There are lots more Halloween sites out on the Net (just doing a search on the word "Halloween" will result in more links than you could probably ever look at), including this one: http://www.holidays.net/halloween/ If that's not enough, try "Spooky Surfing" with the Mining Co..
  • Notify people when your Web site is updated. According to the people at NetMind, "in less than five minutes, you can paste a few lines of HTML into your Web page and provide free notification of relevant updates to your site visitors." For more information, see: http://www.netmind.com/html/webmasters.html
  • Get political. According to a Wired News Report, "Excite will join forces with a leading research group to conduct four online public opinion polls (http://vr.harrispollonline.com/register/register.asp?id=7) for key races in the upcoming US elections, in an alliance that could test the Web's credibility as a serious political polling medium.

    Together with Harris Black International, sponsors of the Harris Poll, Excite (XCIT) will forecast gubernatorial and US Senate races in 16 states prior to the 3 November election. 'The thought of being able to project election results using interactive media like the Internet
    offers the prospect of more frequent and larger voter samples, resulting in less costly and more accurate ongoing election projections,' said Harris Black chairman and CEO Gordon Black in a statement.

    Excite will invite registered voters in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington to participate in pre-election polling.

    Participants will cast opinions on a variety of issues and candidates. Harris will analyze the
    survey results, apply demographic weighting to correct any sampling bias, and project the results as if the election were held at the time of the poll." n