ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 956 / C&RL News ■ D ecem ber 1999 I n t e r n e t R e v i e w s Sara A m ato, e d ito r E x p lo rin g A n cie n t W orld C ultures: An In tr o d u c tio n to A n c ie n t W o rld C u ltu res on the W orld-W ide Web. Access: http://eawc.evansville.edu/index.htm. Exploring Ancient World Cultures (EAWC) is a college-level “on-line course supplement for students and teachers o f the ancient and medieval worlds” covering the Near East, In­ dia, Egypt, China, Greece, Rome, Islam, and Europe. The author/general editor of the site is Anthony Beavers, a professor o f philoso­ phy and religion at the University o f Evans­ ville. E xploring A ncient W o rld C u ltu An Intr odu c inn to Ancient W orld C u lttu r es on the W o rld W id The site contains a separate chapter for each cultural area. Each chapter includes an intro­ ductory essay, links to the major literary and religious works, a chronology, and some in­ clude quizzes. The title of the site is some­ what misleading in that it implies exploration of the entire culture, while in fact the informa­ tion presented heavily reflects the author’s background in philosophy and religious stud­ ies. The introductory essays are too short to explore other facets of the culture; for example, the introductory essay for “Ancient China” fo­ cuses on The Tao Te Ching and its philoso­ phy of leading a modest, balanced life. How­ ever, highly selective links to resources out­ side the site are also included, which broaden the scope of the site considerably. For each chapter, these outside links are organized into “Essays,” “Images,” “Internet Sites,” and “Texts.” The essays, which include other aspects of culture such as “The Coins of Ancient China,” are scholarly and mostly from online journals or conference presentations. The images and texts are selected from museums, online archives, or mounted on the EAWC site. The Internet sites are high quality and pro­ vide a path to subjects such as art, politics, education, and economy. In addition to the lists in the chapters, all of the links can also be accessed through a separate “Index of Internet Resources” section. EAWC has many hotlinked w ords in the text (indicated by small caps) which, w hen selected, will automatically run a search in Argos, a Web search engine limited to an­ cient and medieval studies sites. Argos can also be searched directly from the “Index of Internet Resources” pages. EAWC is a fine source for undergraduates o r graduate students studying the ancient his­ tory o f these areas. Although the introduc­ tory essays will only b e relevant to those fo­ cussing on religion o r philosophy, the links to other texts, essays, and Internet sites make EAWC a good starting point o f explora­ re s tion for any aspect o f these cultures.— e Web D eAnne Luck, A ustin Peay State Univer­ sity, LuckDL@apsu.edu O pinion Pages Access: http://w w w .opinion-pages.org/. Mounted in 1996, Opinion Pages is dedi­ cated to providing access to the most current editorials, opinions, commentaries, and col­ umnists from English newspapers and maga­ zines on the Web— something other search engines cannot accomplish due to indexing schedules that are frequently behind daily Web changes. The site’s producer, Montgomery Kersell, a Canadian reporter/photographer, news-writer and editor, details how the site is managed and indexed twice daily. While it remains the work of one sole proprietor, it has been online for four years and its creator reports a com­ mitment to keeping it maintained. The site is divided into two primary sec­ tions: “Opinions, Ideas and Commentary” al­ lows users to search for editorials, opinions, and commentary published in online English newspapers around the world; “Columns, Col­ umnists and Commentary” provides access to categorized columnists’ pages from online English newspapers and magazines worldwide. This section is further divided into six broad subject areas with the option to search the Sara A m a to is e le ctro n ic services and W e b d e ve lo p m e n t librarian a t Bowdoin College, e-mail:samato@bowdoin.edu http://eawc.evansville.edu/index.htm mailto:LuckDL@apsu.edu http://www.opinion-pages.org/ mailto:samato@bowdoin.edu C&RL News ■ D e ce m b e r 1999 / 957 o p /e d pages o f the new spapers listed by geographic region. Users can also link to resources by major geographic sectors— “USA,” “Canada, and “In­ ternational”—with a fourth set under the head­ ing “Alternative.” This is the most attractive fea­ ture and offering of this site—direct access to major newspapers in the world (that have Web sites) arranged alphabetically by country, and in the United States and Canada arranged by state and province. Whether entering a keyword search or go­ ing to peruse a specific paper, users are linked to the homepage of the original resource. Pages indexed by the site change monthly, weekly, and daily and, depending on the new spaper’s policies, users can access the archives. Some papers provide only the editorials, letters, and columnists of the current day, while others keep a rolling file of a week, month, or even longer. The content is good, and the navigational tool is powerful, yet somewhat clumsy. The design is cum bersom e, w ith b o th erso m e changing advertisements as headers. There are very few help features, and those offered are specific to the search engine and buried deep in the interface, found after entering a search under an “options” button. This site should be quite useful to students writing their first papers or preparing speeches on current events—typical assignments for freshman college students everywhere. One can easily locate the pro/con arguments of any given issue, and find endless examples of opinion pieces in the form of editorials, let­ ters, and columns. It also makes for a good reference source to the homepages of news­ papers online worldwide.—Lucinda R. Zoe, Baruch College, CUNY, Lrzbb@cunyim.cuny.edu M edia Lite ra cy O nline Project (MLOP) Access: h t t p : / / i n t e r a c t .u o r e g o n . e d u / MediaLit/HomePage. The Media Literacy Online Project (MLOP) is an ongoing research and development ac­ tivity from the University of Oregon’s College of Education. The project is coordinated by faculty member Gary Ferrington. Bill Walsh, an MLOP contributor, defines media literacy as “an attempt to make each of us more com­ fortable, more critical, and more conversant in various methods of communication.” MLOP’s goal is to “make available to educators, pro­ ducers, students, and parents, information and resources related to the influence o f media in the lives of children, youth, and adults.” The “Gateway to Media Literacy” menu di­ vides the site into sections A-D and highlights their resources. Section A includes the Teach­ ers’ Desk, Media Literacy Organizations, Pro­ fessional Collaborations, and Events. Section B is a database of Readings in Media Literacy. Section C covers Media Industry and topical Media Literacy Issues (e.g., media violence, advertising and children, media ethics, etc.) Section D features the Parents Comer. This menu simplifies access to the materials by pro­ viding a thorough site overview while focus­ ing browsing on the sections. An AltaVista search engine option is available, but it is not readily apparent what is being searched and how. MLOP offers original content through con­ tributing writers, but the primary focus is its comprehensive collection of resource links. The resources are useful for both teaching and learn in g ab o u t the media. For example, Teach­ ers Desk caters to media educators with infor­ mation on lesson plans, guides, instructional materials, standards, assessment and research, media production, educational Web sites, and professional development. Media Literacy Is­ sues, on the other hand, has broader appeal, covering topics like advertising in schools, censorship and regulation, teen health and media, and gender in media. As a clearing­ house, the MLOP claims no responsibility for the content or currency of external resources. Suggestions for additions to the lists are en­ couraged. Although media education is well estab­ lished in European countries and Canada, it has b een slower to gain acceptance in the United States. The MLOP was created several years ago in an effort to move media literacy into the mainstream of U.S. education. With its broad coverage and vast number of resource links, MLOP is a valuable source for students and faculty in education and communication/ mass media, as well as anyone with an inter­ est in media literacy.—Signe Swanson, University o f Nebraska-Lincoln, signes@unllib.unl.edu. ■ mailto:Lrzbb@cunyim.cuny.edu http://interact.uoregon.edu/ mailto:signes@unllib.unl.edu 958 / C&RL News ■ D ecem ber 1999