List of the Month

Each month we highlight one Internet, USENET Special Interest Group (SIG), or similar mailing list or Website.

Online Resources for Modern Scholars

In honor of a new semester, we are featuring not one, not two, not three, but four (!) cool Websites to help you become a better, more efficient scholar.

1. Whatis.com -- According to their "about us" information, "whatis.com® is a knowledge exploration tool about information technology, especially about the Internet and computers. It contains over 2,000 individual encyclopedic definition/topics and a number of quick-reference pages. The topics contain about 12,000 hyperlinked cross-references between definition-topics and to other sites for further information. We try hard to keep it up-to-date." If you have trouble remembering what DSL, WYSIWYG, ISP, DVD, and MP3 means, then Whatis.com is the site for you. You can become a member of the Whatis.com site, which will give you access to the word of the day, words of the week, industry updates, chats, career services, and more. It was TipWorld's "Cool Site of the Day" for 09/07/2000.

2. Visual Thesaurus -- This could be one of the most inspired word related sites to date. It was TipWorld's "Cool Site of the Day" for 09/14/2000, and their description says it all:
   
   Maybe synonyms aren't sexy like they used to be, but if Captain Kirk were stranded on a deserted planetoid and needed a good reference tool, he'd design a thesaurus just like this one. Enter a word and the visual thesaurus gives you a variety of synonyms. Words don't just appear on the screen--they dance, either rotating around the original word or vibrating next to it. Attached by virtual strings, the new words generate a veritable tree of meaning. For extra fun, click on one of the synonyms, and it sprouts new branches of its own. You can go on forever, layering words upon words upon words upon, hmmm...what's a synonym for "word"?

3. Encyclopedia Britannica -- Continuing a publishing tradition that began in 1768, Britannica has placed its entire contents on the Web. It now boasts 45 million words and the Website offers much more than the traditional encyclopedic entries. There is a "Today's News" feature, in-depth looks at current events such as the Olympics, and much much more. This site should definitely be bookmarked for quick access.

4. iBiblio: the Public's Library -- According to their FAQ, "iBiblio is a diverse and expansive collection of information on the Internet, created and maintained by the public, for the public. It is the ultimate collection of freely available information, the future of Internet librarianship, and a collaboration between the former MetaLab.unc.edu (formerly known as SunSITE.unc.edu) and the Red Hat Center for Development." iBiblio is home to one of the largest "collections of collections" on the Internet. The free information resources available on iBiblio include software, music, literature, art, history, science, politics, and cultural studies.