CM Magazine: Notable Web-Sites

Notable Web Sites What with the web-sites we visit in the course of a day, and the various mailing lists, newsgroups, and what-have-yous that arrive in the mailbox, we probably hear about a hundred new web-sites a week.

And half of the Internet, it sometimes seems, is nothing but attempts to link up the other half. So though we've wanted to offer some evaluations of Internet content, it's hard to keep on top of what's coming in. And since web-sites have a habit of disappearing almost as fast as they pop-up; it's impossible to be current, or to come close to being comprehensive.

Still, they're fun . . .

So this is the first of a regular feature on noteworthy, useful, or just interesting sites we've turned up and actually checked.

WARNING:

how cool a site is and how much time it's likely to waste are intrinsically related.

CBC Radio and Stereo on the Internet
http://radioworks.cbc.ca/: Once, the true test of being Canadian was whether you could recite the postal code for the CBC from memory. Now, just remember the URL. Anyway, this site has almost anything you want to know about CBC radio and stereo schedules and programming, including RealAudio clips, the Morningside Children' s Book Panel recommendations, and the guidelines for writing and submitting a radio drama script, something that would make an interesting project for a Language Arts class.
(By the way, did you know the Transcontinental was still on the air?
Theodore Tugboat Homepage
http://www.cochran.com/tt.html: If you don't know, Theodore Tugboat is to harbours what Thomas the Tank Engine is to train-yards, and the TV show is one of Canada's more popular exports. This is a well-done page that includes, among other things, an actual interactive Theodore Tugboat story. Do we really want young children reading stories on the computer? That's probably a moot point by now. Anyway, this is a good way to understand what your kids are watching, or, as the Tugboat people say:
"PARENTS and TEACHERS can review a synopsis of some episodes, find a description of our characters (we have more than 30 of them) or read about how The Big Harbour works."
Open Government
http://info.ic.gc.ca/opengov/: A project of Industry Canada to provide easy access to information about Canada's government over the Internet. There are sections for the House of Commons, the Senate, the major political parties, the provinces, and links to similar pages from around the world. A great resource for student research. Also includes the lyrics to the National anthem (with sound-clip). Handy, if you grew up before they changed the words.
Cameras of the World
http://lesmac.rfx.com/tompage8.htm: You've probably heard of the fish-cam (a man, an aquarium, a video-camera, and an Internet link ). Well, Cameras of the World has a list of other links to video cameras from around the world that provide images that are updated at least daily. Not surprisingly, it has a preponderance of U.S. Sites, but there's plenty more, including one of Niagara falls and one of Tokyo -- a good resource for social studies or geography classes.
(Source: NBNSoft Content Awards.)
The Internet Movie Database
http://www.msstate.edu/Movies/: The Internet Movie Database is one of the best things about the 'net, with data on fifty thousand movies indexed almost anyway you could imagine. Plot summaries, cast lists, credits for people as obscure as the hair-dressers. And you can add information you know about the movie, or put in your vote as to how many stars it should get. There are movies of all kinds listed, but no pictures, so it's relatively safe. If your class is studying films, this is pretty much indispensible.

That's it for the first time; please send us URLs and evaluations of any web-sites you think deserve the exposure.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

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