- Email: [email protected]
21st Century
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discussions of electronic information projects, the heavy use of acronyms becomes cumbersome in a few passages. Taken as a whole, Government Information Collections in the Networked Environment is a good source to learn the state of electronic government information currently available. It also provides useful background information on how some projects have developed and suggests possibilities for future development. URLs are provided for readers who want to look at the projects. In some cases, reports generated from the studies or projects discussed in the book have been posted on the Internet. These URLs are given as well, which would be useful to anyone who wants more information on these projects. Lisa M. Russell McKeldin Library, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA PII: S 1 3 5 2 - 0 2 3 7 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 9 1 - X
U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century No location or site publisher found.. Accessed September 1999 In a very interesting attempt to encourage public dialog, not simply input, the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century has designed a site that provides information and forums for discussion of the future of U.S. national security. The site is divided into debate forums, reports related to the Commission's activities and findings, and general background information. Users can subscribe to receive newsletters and alerts of web site updates, but registration is not required to participate in the forums or for full access to the site. According to the ``Background'' statement, the Commission is primarily concerned with planning for the long-term security and safety of the United States government. Identification of threats and methodologies of attack on the U.S. and preparation for defense against them are main areas of discussion. The Commission has laid out three phases for its operations. The first phase looks to the year 2025 to attempt to identify the condition of the nation and its relationship to the international community. Phase Two ``will develop an overview of the U.S. strategic interests for the next 25 years'' (http:// www.nssg.gov/About_Us/Philosophy/philosophy.htm) and outline a philosophy and strategy to protect those interests. Phase Three examines the state of current national security legislation in terms of adequacy of supporting the goals identified in Phase Two. Where weaknesses are perceived, remedies will be suggested. Phase One began with the inception of the Commission in mid-1998 and ended in August 1999; Phase Two runs from August 1999 to April 2000; then Phase Three begins and a final report will be issued in February 2001. Links to a report of the findings of Phase One is found on the ``Reports'' page, although this reviewer found that only the ``Supporting Research and Analysis'' section of the report
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was available at the time the site was reviewed. The ``Major Themes and Implications'' section was to ``be posted shortly.'' Presumably reports related to the subsequent phases will be posted to the same page as they are drafted. The reports are/will be in .pdf format, which is appropriate for tomes of some length (the available section runs 150 pages). The charter of the Commission and a staff listing are included on the site predictably under the ``About Us'' link. The charter describes the formulation of the Commission and its relationship to the Department of Defense. Also arranged under the ``About Us'' heading is the ``Philosophy'' link, which leads to a well-written document outlining the purposes and assumptions of the Commission. The most interesting areas of this site are the Debate Forums. There are three topicoriented forums (New World Coming, America's Future, and Future Tech) and an Open Forum. Anyone may post to any of the forums and may use the ``anonymous'' option when drafting a submission. In addition to site users' comments, staff of the Commission post to the forums and are identified as such. This dialog between public and Commission personnel brings the forum discussion above a radio call-in show level and allows information to flow both directions. It is not clear exactly how the Commission uses suggestions from the public gleaned from the forums, but the Commission seems to be honestly interested in fostering an exchange of ideas and not simply hosting a pointless bulletin board. Warning is given that inappropriate or rude submissions will not be posted. The operation of the forums is straightforward, especially for those who have contributed to bulletin board-type discussions before. The most recent dozen or so subject lines of comments are immediately seen after clicking on the particular forum's link along with the author's name (or ``anonymous''). An introduction to the forum's content and specific topics for comment are given for new users and a link to the Babel Fish translator is provided for translation services. Browsing through a forum's archived comments may help a new user catch the stream of conversation and avoid repetition of ideas or some other type of faux pas. Generally, the site is well organized and easy to navigate. The yellow and blue color scheme is effective and the graphic design is catchy, not overdone, and defines links well. Load time is sometimes slowed by graphics. A navigation bar at the top follows the user through the site and includes links to the ``About Us,'' ``Reports,'' ``Subscribe,'' ``Contact Us'' and ``Search'' areas. Along the left side the links to the forums appear throughout the site as well. The search interface is clean and gives the option of simple and advanced searching. The simple search provides an input box for search terms, a choice of sorting by relevance or age and the option of seeing detailed or terse results. By clicking on the ``More'' link, the advanced options are presented. Boolean searching, specific field searching and other fairly standard methods of defining a search are offered. There are no search tips or other guidance in using the interface, but the assumed sophistication of users of this site makes this a minor omission. The USCNS/21 site functions well. The design never gets in the way of use or navigation. No downtime or other glitches were noticed. No dead links were observed. The material is of sufficient depth to make the site valuable to users interested in current political policy on national security, as well as to provide them with some semblance of community
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with other like-minded people. It will be interesting to follow the development of the Commission and the site in the future. Kirsten Tozer Serials Librarian, Central Washington University Library, 400 E. 8th Avenue, Ellensburg, WA 98926, USA PII: S 1 3 5 2 - 0 2 3 7 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 9 2 - 1
Local economic development: a geographical comparison of rural community restructuring Edited by Cecily Neil and Markku Tykkylainen. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 1998. xv, 365 pp. ISBN 92-808-0998-9. LCCN 98-40088. US$24.95 In the late twentieth century there has been much talk of global villages. Certainly, the structures and attitudes of society are changing at a rapid pace. Yet relatively few people live in villages, the resource communities ultimately most affected by the globalization of economies. Local Economic Development: A Geographical Comparison of Rural Community Restructuring takes a look at villages around the world that have been forced to rethink their spatial, economic and social structures by changes in the larger communities around them. This book consists of 12 case studies of rural communities anchored at either end respectively by an introductory chapter in which terms and concepts are defined and a concluding chapter in which factors contributing to a positive outcome are identified across the range of the studies. The editors are responsible for the introduction and concluding chapters; international scholars contributed the case studies. The book purports to ``explain the process of restructuring in remote resource communities'' (xii). Each community studied faced an economic crisis forcing it to restructure during the 1990s. The compelling interest of the work comes from the fact that the case studies are drawn from diverse types of economies and the crises were precipitated in various ways. The range of communities spreads from Kellogg, ID, a rural community trying to keep itself intact in a vigorous market economy after the closing of the mine that was its principal employer, to villages in Vietnam trying to weather the socio-economic shift from a planned to a market economy. In between are accounts of European communities in former communist countries also coming to grips with developing market economies, Scandinavian communities facing new challenges resulting from the European Union, Australian communities threatened by drought and mine closures and Irish communities developing tourism as a viable replacement economy for agriculture. The crises addressed by the communities were caused by a variety of factors. Primary for former socialist countries is the privatization process. In market economies deregulation can motivate restructuring, as can technological innovations in a
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discussions of electronic information projects, the heavy use of acronyms becomes cumbersome in a few passages. Taken as a whole, Government Information Collections in the Networked Environment is a good source to learn the state of electronic government information currently available. It also provides useful background information on how some projects have developed and suggests possibilities for future development. URLs are provided for readers who want to look at the projects. In some cases, reports generated from the studies or projects discussed in the book have been posted on the Internet. These URLs are given as well, which would be useful to anyone who wants more information on these projects. Lisa M. Russell McKeldin Library, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA PII: S 1 3 5 2 - 0 2 3 7 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 9 1 - X
U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century No location or site publisher found.
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Reviews / Journal of Government Information 27 (2000) 495 ± 536
was available at the time the site was reviewed. The ``Major Themes and Implications'' section was to ``be posted shortly.'' Presumably reports related to the subsequent phases will be posted to the same page as they are drafted. The reports are/will be in .pdf format, which is appropriate for tomes of some length (the available section runs 150 pages). The charter of the Commission and a staff listing are included on the site predictably under the ``About Us'' link. The charter describes the formulation of the Commission and its relationship to the Department of Defense. Also arranged under the ``About Us'' heading is the ``Philosophy'' link, which leads to a well-written document outlining the purposes and assumptions of the Commission. The most interesting areas of this site are the Debate Forums. There are three topicoriented forums (New World Coming, America's Future, and Future Tech) and an Open Forum. Anyone may post to any of the forums and may use the ``anonymous'' option when drafting a submission. In addition to site users' comments, staff of the Commission post to the forums and are identified as such. This dialog between public and Commission personnel brings the forum discussion above a radio call-in show level and allows information to flow both directions. It is not clear exactly how the Commission uses suggestions from the public gleaned from the forums, but the Commission seems to be honestly interested in fostering an exchange of ideas and not simply hosting a pointless bulletin board. Warning is given that inappropriate or rude submissions will not be posted. The operation of the forums is straightforward, especially for those who have contributed to bulletin board-type discussions before. The most recent dozen or so subject lines of comments are immediately seen after clicking on the particular forum's link along with the author's name (or ``anonymous''). An introduction to the forum's content and specific topics for comment are given for new users and a link to the Babel Fish translator is provided for translation services. Browsing through a forum's archived comments may help a new user catch the stream of conversation and avoid repetition of ideas or some other type of faux pas. Generally, the site is well organized and easy to navigate. The yellow and blue color scheme is effective and the graphic design is catchy, not overdone, and defines links well. Load time is sometimes slowed by graphics. A navigation bar at the top follows the user through the site and includes links to the ``About Us,'' ``Reports,'' ``Subscribe,'' ``Contact Us'' and ``Search'' areas. Along the left side the links to the forums appear throughout the site as well. The search interface is clean and gives the option of simple and advanced searching. The simple search provides an input box for search terms, a choice of sorting by relevance or age and the option of seeing detailed or terse results. By clicking on the ``More'' link, the advanced options are presented. Boolean searching, specific field searching and other fairly standard methods of defining a search are offered. There are no search tips or other guidance in using the interface, but the assumed sophistication of users of this site makes this a minor omission. The USCNS/21 site functions well. The design never gets in the way of use or navigation. No downtime or other glitches were noticed. No dead links were observed. The material is of sufficient depth to make the site valuable to users interested in current political policy on national security, as well as to provide them with some semblance of community
Reviews / Journal of Government Information 27 (2000) 495 ± 536
515
with other like-minded people. It will be interesting to follow the development of the Commission and the site in the future. Kirsten Tozer Serials Librarian, Central Washington University Library, 400 E. 8th Avenue, Ellensburg, WA 98926, USA PII: S 1 3 5 2 - 0 2 3 7 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 9 2 - 1
Local economic development: a geographical comparison of rural community restructuring Edited by Cecily Neil and Markku Tykkylainen. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 1998. xv, 365 pp. ISBN 92-808-0998-9. LCCN 98-40088. US$24.95 In the late twentieth century there has been much talk of global villages. Certainly, the structures and attitudes of society are changing at a rapid pace. Yet relatively few people live in villages, the resource communities ultimately most affected by the globalization of economies. Local Economic Development: A Geographical Comparison of Rural Community Restructuring takes a look at villages around the world that have been forced to rethink their spatial, economic and social structures by changes in the larger communities around them. This book consists of 12 case studies of rural communities anchored at either end respectively by an introductory chapter in which terms and concepts are defined and a concluding chapter in which factors contributing to a positive outcome are identified across the range of the studies. The editors are responsible for the introduction and concluding chapters; international scholars contributed the case studies. The book purports to ``explain the process of restructuring in remote resource communities'' (xii). Each community studied faced an economic crisis forcing it to restructure during the 1990s. The compelling interest of the work comes from the fact that the case studies are drawn from diverse types of economies and the crises were precipitated in various ways. The range of communities spreads from Kellogg, ID, a rural community trying to keep itself intact in a vigorous market economy after the closing of the mine that was its principal employer, to villages in Vietnam trying to weather the socio-economic shift from a planned to a market economy. In between are accounts of European communities in former communist countries also coming to grips with developing market economies, Scandinavian communities facing new challenges resulting from the European Union, Australian communities threatened by drought and mine closures and Irish communities developing tourism as a viable replacement economy for agriculture. The crises addressed by the communities were caused by a variety of factors. Primary for former socialist countries is the privatization process. In market economies deregulation can motivate restructuring, as can technological innovations in a