New Bookmarks

1999 Quarter 3:  July 1-September 30, 1999 Additions to Bob Jensen's Bookmarks
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

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For the July 1-September 30, 1999 Additions and Summaries scroll down this document 
For the other editions go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
For the full set of Bob Jensen's Bookmarks go to http://WWW.Trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob.htm
    (The full set is never up to date with the latest additions to my New Bookmarks.)

Click here to go to Bob Jensen's home page http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/

Choose a Date of 1999 Additions to the Bookmarks File

September 28, 1999   September 21, 1999    September 14, 1999       September 4, 1999

August 31, 1999         August 24, 1999          August 11, 1999             August 2, 1999

July 30, 1999              July 23, 1999              July 16, 1999                  July 9, 1999                July 1, 1999

For the other editions go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm


September 28, 1999


In addition to the Chicago and Washington DC conferences that I announced previously, I will be chairing a conference on SFAS 133 in New York City December 13-14.  The conference is called "Issues and Strategies for Financial Services Companies"  at the web site http://www.ibcusa.com/2489/ 
December 13-14, 1999 · Millennium Broadway Conference Center · New York, NY

Key Industry Speakers From:

BankBoston
Brown, Brothers Harriman & Co.
Chase Bank
Duff & Phelps
Kawaller & Co.
Lazard Asset Management
Lehman Brothers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Principia Partners
RiskMetrics Group
Salomon Smith Barney
Smith Barney Capital Management
Trinity University
Tucker Anthony Cleary Gull


This is a very good technology resource center at http://www.edtechresource.com/ 

We have all been confronted with the onslaught of technology advances and software innovations over the past few years. We at Educational Technology Resource hope to help you make sense of the wonderful world of technology. Educational Technology Resource is committed to providing links to the most valuable Internet resources on the web for, educators, parents, seniors and students. You'll find reviews of educational software , links to stores which sell some of the finest educational products available, and Educational Forum where you can communicate with other visitors. We hope our site will help make your particular mission on the Internet easier, less time consuming, and more productive.

BonusPoint is a good technology in education news center and forum center http://www.bonuspoint.com/ 

A newsletter dedicated to new technologies for schools. The BonusPoint newsletter will be distributed by email beginning in Fall 1999. To subscribe to the email newsletter, send your name, school name, US address, and email address to newsletter@bonuspoint.com .

Lucent Technologies web site for helping educators (includes tips on obtaining grants) http://www.wavelan.com/education/ 

The real "treasure" that educators seek comes from the effective use of technology to help students learn and perform better in the classroom. They seek to engage children in their learning experience and get them active, excited and involved every day.


Micron University  http://www.micronu.com/ (a joint project between Micron Electronics, Microsoft Corporation, and Ziff-Davis)

Save thousands of dollars on computer training with Micron U. Micron U gives individuals and companies access to hundreds of online classes, tutorials and seminars, all designed to provide you with the tools you need to win in today's new economy. You can take as many classes or tutorials as you want, plus you can set your own training schedule so it doesn't interfere with your day-to-day operations.


Tutor.com has a directory of personal tutors.  Tutors and instructors can register.  There is a process for proof of background attestation.  http://www.tutor.com/ 


The annual InformationWeek 500 listing of the biggest and best users of information technology. http://www.informationweek.com 


Did you know that the first department of correspondence teaching was established at the University of Chicago in the early 1900s.  Did you know that 66% of the adult distance education is female and that 80% of those females have children?  You can get a wealth of history information in "The Origins of Distance Education and Its Use in the U.S.," T.H.E. Journal, September 1999, pp. 54-67.  The online version of this article is not yet available, but you will eventually be able to find it available free online at http://www.thejournal.com/.


In the September 21 Edition of New Bookmarks I noted the startup of UNext for delivery of graduate business from such top graduate schools as Columbia University, the University of Chicago, Stanford, and the London School of Economics and Political Science.  The UNext web site is at http://www.unext.com/ .  After September 21, I found a news item about this in Syllabus, September 1999, pg. 10.  The online version is not yet posted, but eventually it will be at http://www.syllabus.com/syllmag.html .


There is an article entitled "Textbooks in Cyberspace:  Online Bookstores Go Back to School" in Syllabus, September 1999, pp. 16-18. The online version is not yet posted, but eventually it will be at http://www.syllabus.com/syllmag.html .  It describes how college bookstores are going online to compete with the major online stores such as Amazon and Barnes & Nobel.  Some key web sites of interest include:


Question Mark's "Perception" software for computerized testing and assessment (authoring) http://www.questionmark.com/ 

Question Mark is a powerful tool for computerizing quizzes, tests, assessments and surveys. It is easy to use by both the question designer and the candidate or participant. Question Mark saves time and money while allowing you to present questions with videos, graphics and a wide variety of styles.

Question Mark software allows you to create question files while the participant uses a run-time system or a Web browser to answer your questions. The participant receives the feedback that you have specified. Answers are then saved to a file for scoring and analysis.

Why two sets of hyper-links?

Question Mark operates worldwide and provides two web servers to provide easy access, one located in North America and one located in Europe. These servers contain unique and specific information for the territories they serve.

Can I learn about this with an on-line seminar? Question Mark provide a free, one-hour TeleSeminar, that uses the Internet and audio-conferencing, on computerizing assessments with its products. A live instructor will lead your seminar over the telephone while you view slides with your web browser. As long as you have a standard browser and a telephone you can join in our public sessions free of charge.


You will find the following links in my bookmarks at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob.htm 

Once you know the ISBN number, you can compare prices and shipping charges in one easy (free) visit to http://isbn.nu/ 

Books In Print: (Trinity University users only)-- index of books currently in print available in the U.S., including paperback editions as well as cloth; also provides access to Books Out of Print (books confirmed as out of print or indefinitely out of stock) and Publishers directory

Online Bookstores

Amazon.com:  The first major Internet bookstore, Amazon provides access to over a million book titles, including recently out of print titles, too; other features include online ordering, a growing list of musical recordings, book reviews from published sources and readers' comments, and an online agent that will e-mail you whenever Amazon receives a new book matching your subject or author interests.

Barnes&Noble.com:   Amazon.com's major competition, part of a huge publishing conglomerate (note: Trinity users may wish to check with our bookstore about discounts, since Barnes and Noble runs our bookstore)

http://www.efollet.com/ 
http://www.buy.com/ 

Online Textbooks and Bookstores

Best Big Online Bookstores:   a list and review of the features and prices of the largest bookstores selling via the Internet

Books and Book Collecting:   a nice site with many links to bookstores, publishers, out-of-print specialists; includes quick-search forms for many of the major bookstores on its own page

Entrepreneurial Edge http://edge.lowe.org/ 

Text Books

http://www.varsitybooks.com/ 
http://bigwords.com/home/ 
http://www.textbooks.com/ 

Online Publishers

http://www.wadsworth.com/ 
http://www.prenhall.com/ 

Indexing Services

http://www.back2college.com/text.htm 
http://home1.gte.net/mcorphan/books.html 

Metasearch Services

http://www.pricescan.com/ 
http://www.addall.com/ 
And my favorite http://isbn.nu/ 
For business searches and product searches in general see http://www.1jump.com/  


Britannica Internet Guide http://www.britannica.com/ 


The New Millennium and the Next Bottom Line  http://www.wri.org/wri/busiweek/ 


From the Scout Report (See http://www.1jump.com/ )

Billed as the "Ultimate Business Portal," 1Jump is an enormous business search engine featuring over one million companies, 180,000 brands, and 10,000 stock tickers. The companies in the 1Jump database have been compiled by humans, as opposed to computers, and are searchable through natural language keywords. Users may chose to use the Web version, or they may download the more extensive "1Jump Companion for Windows," which also includes a larger list of search terms, a tracking device to keep track of stock quotes, news, and filings, and a chat system to provide information and networking opportunities.


From the Scout Report

Business History -- Leiden University http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/history/res/bushis/ 

Leiden University's Business History Website consists of online resources for business history in the countries of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan and Korea, as well as general business history. The resources are indexed by country and include Websites, electronic libraries, electronic mailing lists, databases, and articles. Sites are briefly annotated and are ranked and sorted with a somewhat confusing system of icons, which denote ratings given by the Webmaster as well as content of the site.


Checklist for purchasing a used vehicle (automobiles and trucks)  http://www.quicken.com/small_business/cch/tools/?article=vhchkl_m 


Choose an integrated e-commerce solution to provide your web site and your clients with secure purchasing solutions. Choose from uShopLite or uShopPro as an integrated shopping cart, or choose our SecureCGI Advanced account to integrate your own system. you can download from http://www.the6thwave.com/ushop.html 

You can see how it works: : http://www.the6thwave.com/secure.shtml 

kibraim [kibrahm@HOTMAIL.COM


Now, you can get the PRO-level WebFerret suite FREE just for trying ZDRewards! Members also enjoy great benefits like computer classes, private tech data, a software CD, and more http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?8486:2700840 


"Technology: A Major Catalyst for Increasing Learning," Jody C. Isernhagen, , T.H.E. Journal, August 1999.
http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A2126.cfm  (discusses impact on learning).  


Helpers for Business  
Entrepreneurial Edge http://edge.lowe.org/ 


Business Ethics Resources http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/resources/business/ 


Fooling with Words with Bill Moyers --- http://www.pbs.org/wnet/foolingwithwords/ 


Create your own online photo album to share with friends and family --- http://www.gatherround.com/ 


The Magazine of the American Library Association http://www.ala.org/alonline/index.html 


CNN's Visions of China http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/ 


Study Spanish  http://www.studyspanish.com/ 


Irish History on the Web http://wwwvms.utexas.edu/~jdana/irehist.html#top 


Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film --- http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/trfhtml/ 


A message from a former student

Just wanted to let you know that our company, Atension Inc., was recently acquired by Rare Medium Inc., a national internet development firm.

We decided that acquisition was the best financing/growth option for the services we offer. We will be the technical production center for the South Region and will have 30 to 50 employees in San Antonio by the end of 1999.

You can view the San Antonio Business Journal article at the following address:  http://www.amcity.com/sanantonio/stories/1999/09/13/story1.html 

Brian Clarke [mailto:brian@atension.com


National Gallery of Art Tour: American Impressionists of the Late 1800s and Early 1900s http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg70/gg70-main1.html 


Tip from Accounting Web at http://www.accountingweb.com/ 

To save the hard drive step, open Explorer (right mouse click) and highlight the drive you want to copy, then right click again and click on "Copy Disk." Simply click on Start and follow instructions. Midway through the process, you'll be prompted to insert the destination disk and then you'll be done. Voila! No hard drive copying!


I will be chairing two conferences entitled  "Implementing FAS 133:  Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities."  See   http://www.worldrg.com/FA981/ .   The places, dates, and hotels are as follows:

Chicago (September 29-October 1 in the Hyatt Regency) 
Washington DC (October 27-29 in the Key Bridge Marriott)

The program is now available at the above web site.  What is important about this conference is that top specialists from public accounting and industry will be conducting workshops and making presentations.  Speakers listed at the above web site (along with summaries of what they will be speaking about) are from the following organizations:

Sun Microsystems
Union Carbide
Travelers Insurance
MasterCard International
Allstate Insurance
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Arthur Andersen LLP
Deloitte & Touche LLP
TPG Software, Inc.
Ernst & Young
First Union Corporation
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Trinity University


From Phil Livingston

At FEI'S Committee on Finance and Information Technology meeting in Santa Fe this month, Marc Demarest, CEO of DecisionPoint systems, addressed the myths and realities of knowledge management and key questions in designing systems to use KM approaches in technology applications. You can find his presentation in our download library at http://www.fei.org/download/dl_index.htm. Also Ron Neumon, manager of e-Business Architecture and Strategy at IBM, walked the group through ways in which IBM's HR strategy is being enhanced through web-related technologies (coming soon to the download library). And Patterson Shafer, Consultant at Prescients, discussed a model for performance measurement and prioritization of IT investments  http://www.fei.org/download/dl_index.htm


A message from Rocket eBook

The Open eBook Publication Standard was announced this past Tuesday morning. As one of the founding members of the Open eBook Authoring Group, NuvoMedia completely stands behind the Open eBook specifications. What the standard means to Rocket eBook users is more RocketEditions will be available! The standard makes it easier for publishers to provide content for Rocket eBook.

As a Rocket eBook owner, you will continue to read every RocketEdition you purchased prior to this specification. In the future, you will be able to read OEB-based RocketEditions as well as the current HTML-based RocketEditions. We will continue to support HTML-based RocketEditions so you can still create your own RocketEditions by downloading web pages or converting documents from applications that will save your documents in HTML such as Microsoft Word(R).

Rocket eBook upgrades to support OEB-based RocketEditions will be available as a simple download off of the Rocket eBook website. It’s as simple as downloading a book!

If you have any more questions regarding the Rocket eBook and the Open eBook standard, please refer to our FAQ at: http://www.rocket-ebook.com/Products/Faq/index.html 

A second message from Rocket eBook

ROCKET EBOOK: TOOL FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED Carol Wulster writes:

"I have not been able to read a book in five years due to MS and the affect it had on my vision, but I was able to read a computer screen. I first saw news about the Rocket in November 98, but felt it was too soon to buy. In May, an review in Slate magazine appeared. After reading it, I ordered a Rocket eBook. I had every intention of returning the eBook if it didn't work for me. Within five minutes of opening the package I as hooked. The combination of the large size font, the physical size of the page, and the backlight allow me to read without my vision doubling. A Miracle! I have become so passionate about my Rocket, that I want every title in the world in Rocket Format...."

-----Carol, thank you for your interest in the Rocket eBook! As you may know, the Rocket eBook comes with two default fonts, 10-point and 14-point. However, you can use the Rocket Librarian program to set the font style or size to any font you have on your PC (up to 28-point!). It is our sincere wish for the Rocket eBook to bring the gift of reading and writing to all those who are limited by conventional books!

A word of caution from Bob Jensen.  Even though I own a Rocket eBook, there are some advantages of Softbook and some huge advantages (as well as disadvantages) of the forthcoming Everybook.  Shop carefully if you are going to purchase an electronic book.  What I am really happy with is the ease with which you can create your own custom library and download any configuration of books whenever you want into your library from http://www.rocket-library.com/.  Each book takes roughly 20 seconds to download on a T1 line.  I also like the upgrade that allows me to hold 100 books in my Rocket eBook having a battery life of roughly 30 hours before recharging.  To make comparisons between Rocket eBook, Softbook, and Everybook Dedicated Reader, go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99.htm#Rocket 


September 24th Special edition of the Internet Essentials '99 Newsletter for the financial professional. E-Commerce Update
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html 

Here are this week's topics:

Over 30 links to recent articles will catch you up-to-date on all the latest E-Commerce trends including:

1. ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning 
2. Virtual Private Networks.. Why your business will have one soon 
3. Corporate Portals.. Industry related or build one yourself 
4. Functional Portals.. marketing, purchasing, and more. 
5. Quality of Service Agreements 
6. Supply-chain management software 
7. E-business communities 
8. Verticalnet.com 
9. What SAP, IBM, HP, Oracle, Microsoft, and Sun-Netscape are doing.


You may be interested in today's article in the NEW YORK TIMES. One shot case study of web class problems. http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/cyber/education/22education.html 

Peter B. Kenyon Professor of Accounting School of Business & Economics Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521 USA 707.826.4762 (tel) 707.826.6666 (fax) http://www.humboldt.edu/~pbk1/ 

A response from Duncan Williamson regarding the much-debated NY Times reported article entitled "Students’ Frustrations with a Web-based Distance Education Course: A Taboo Topic in the Discourse" at http://www.slis.indiana.edu/CSI/wp99_01.html 

23 September, 1999

Dear All,

Sorry if you think this response is too long; but I have been through some of what I discuss below and felt the article we were pointed at left several stones left unturned. If anyone wants a copy of this reply in Word format, just let me know at duncan@arminco.com

Introduction

I hesitate to say that everyone should read the article

Students' Frustrations with a Web-based Distance Education Course: A Taboo Topic in the Discourse

That we were introduced to via a cross reference to a summary article in the New York Times (NYT); but it merits a serious discussion here I think.

Whilst I think the article itself is a rich source of ideas for discussion, the NYT article adds a few more insights. One source of surprise to me is that the authors of the article have been invited to address a conference on "new media and learning". I can see some reasons for inviting them to the conference; but I would worry about the mauling they might receive!

The article itself really is interesting but I think that in some respects, the articles leaves out more than it puts in. One of the points I kept in mind as I read the article was Richard J Campbell's comment on this list of earlier today:

I also read the article, and reading between the lines: The lead professor was intimidated by technology, and after making a commitment, bailed out and gave the whole class to a grad student with little advance warning, who also was in over her head. Sounds like a typical grad school scenario. Technology was not to blame here.

I thought that couldn't be a fair comment. After all, we were talking about a post graduate course, whether online or off. I began by trying to sort out how they had set up and run the course. Had it just been thought up on the spur of the moment? Had it gone through a series of curriculum review boards?

What's in and what's not in the article

We are told that the course is not new: having been run at least three times (I think this can be inferred from the case), including this offering. We are told that the course had purposes and a philosophy; evaluation was considered in the article, as were review and feedback. A wordsearch of the article revealed:

Key word Number of times included Aims 0 Objectives 0 Purpose 2 Philosophy 1 Briefing 0 Induction 0 Selection 0 Assessment 4 Review 6 Course design 0 Feedback 18 Evaluation 6

My hypothesis was that these are some of the words I would have expected to have found in an article that was trying to provide a balanced view of the reasoning behind why a course such as this had suffered such problems.

Aims and objectives

I was looking for evidence that the course had aims and objectives: the article uses the word purpose, so the answer seems to be yes, they did have aims and objectives. Two references to purpose in the article, however, didn't ease me into thinking that they ever referred back to them as they attempted to understand fully what had gone wrong.

One of the reasons for checking on aims and objectives was that I felt the Instructor, who had been left in the lurch when the Professor fell ill, should at least have been able to fall back on a clear idea of what the course was trying to achieve and what the students should have been able to do by the end of it. We were not told whether the Instructor availed herself of such an opportunity.

Student selection

I looked at selection because I felt we ought to have been given some idea of how the students had been selected to take the course: self selection or positive selection by the University. Selection didn't appear in the article, so I would ask the authors to enlighten their readership on how their students were selected. After all, educationalists tend to know that a student who is on the wrong course will have problems of one sort or another for some or all of that course. Maybe selection was part of the problem.

Induction

Following on from selection, I expected to find some idea of how the students had been introduced to the course. Anecdotal evidence tells us that some of the students' friends had done the course before. However, the words induction and briefing did not appear in the article.

Student assessment

I would also have liked to have read something about how the students were assessed and how assessment was made to fit the aims and objectives of the course. Assessment, review, evaluation and feedback figured most highly out of all of the words I searched for. However, the majority of the instances in which the words appeared did so when the students themselves were talking; and usually in a negative mood.

The authors have missed some of the point

Having checked the article for signs of clarity of purpose, recruitment and selection of students and effective management of the educational process, I have to say that I think the authors themselves have pretty well missed the point of their own work. In the discussion section of the article, they say

In summary, this study observed that in this distance education course, students' frustration originated from three sources: · technological problems · minimal and not timely feedback from the instructor · ambiguous instructions on the WWW site as well as via e-mail, and asserted that these frustrations were so overwhelming that some students gave up on the formal content of the course. The instructor's personal reflection note revealed that two other students who began taking this course from distant sites dropped it because they could not overcome technical problems. In addition, during interviews two students affirmed that they will not take distance education courses in the future because they could not deal with these frustrations anymore. Therefore, students' frustrations were serious problems in this distance education course.

I imagine because the authors both work in the area of systems and computer science they have concentrated on the technological aspects of their work: indeed, the article seems to be dominated by computer and technology based references, ideas and problems. This has blinkered them to a whole series of non technically related problems, as I have demonstrated above.

I am not dismissing the importance of the technological problems. The feedback from the instructor and the ambiguous instructions problem are critical; but only part of the story.

The work applies universally

Finally, in their conclusions, the authors say:

This case illustrates the frustrations that students can experience while taking a distance education course, and how these frustrations can significantly inhibit their educational opportunity.

We would do well to appreciate that many of the problems discussed in this article can be replicated in face to face teaching and learning too.

Duncan Williamson [duncan@ARMINCO.COM]



And that's the way it was on September 21, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

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Bob Jensen's Index Page Bob Jensen's Bookmarks New Bookmark Archives

 

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September 21, 1999


From Barry Rice

For those of you who have not seen an e-book, here is an opportunity to try a simulated one on your PC. Go to http://www.rocketbook.com/  and select "Click here to find out how the new eRocket lets you read free RocketEditions right on your PC". It's near the center top of the page.

Downloading the program takes about 20 seconds with a cable modem. The download includes a users manual and ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. How appropriate!

As the Web site says, "With the Rocket-Library.com web site, you can now download more content for your Rocket eBook for free and share your own documents with other Rocket eBook readers. Become a Rocket-Library.com member and submit a RocketEdition today." There are over 1200 free titles. The site also says "Did you know that the Rocket eBook has a speaker? No? Well, try this sound demo. If a RocketEdition is created with embedded sound files, the sound can be heard on the Rocket eBook".

In effect, the PC simulation is a marketing tool to get you interested enough to buy a Rocket eBook for about $300. Barnesandnoble.com sells it for $329 and has within the past few weeks made available 1,639 current best sellers, etc. for purchase and download. I found no accounting books in the list. As I understand it, you have to be a registered owner of the actual ebook to buy the titles from Barnes & Noble. Their most popular title is "The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition: Three-Month Subscription".

The same device is available under the name "Franklin Rocket eBook" at amazon.com for $300 but you have to search for it in their electronics products. As far as I can tell, Amazon does not yet sell the titles for downloading. Can that be far behind? MicroWarehouse (warehouse.com) has it for $300.


Update on the amazing Everybook

You can read more Rocket eBook and its leading competitors at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99.htm#Rocket .  I just received my upgraded model that will hold about 100 books.  Note that over half the books are free for Rocket eBook.  However, Softbook is better if you want daily downloads of the NY Times and The Wall Street Journal.  We are all awaiting the (probably expensive) colored two-screen model from Everybook at http://www.everybook.net/ 

The Everybook Store will be a hard wired collection of fileservers containing electronic publications, complete with graphics and typographically formatted text, from the dust jacket to the back cover art. Publishers will provide, on a consignment basis, the electronic files created by their composers and shipped to printing companies. The EB Dedicated Reader (EB) can display the read-only versions of those same files without the loss of page layouts, in the same vertical format as that of a printed page. The publications will be accessed by computer modems, via the Internet connecting the EBS with EB Dedicated Readers around the world. The EBS will also access bank accounts of EB owners via electronic funds transfer, to debit accounts at the moment of publication purchase. By automating the browsing, purchase, delivery, and payment for publications, Everybook, Inc. will dramatically reduce costs for publishers, consumers, and the natural environment.

The Everybook Store is a digital archive, where publications are stored on hard disks and backed up to digital linear tracking tape. A large database of titles and publication jackets, organized by title, author and subject, is linked to the redundant array of disk storage units. The database has a user-friendly graphical interface, which can appear as a virtual library, bookstore, or powerful search engine. EB owners access the EBS file server holding the publication database via high speed phone lines and a toll-free, universal phone number. When the EB owner accesses the Everybook Store, the server verifies the EB by its unique security chip and the owner's prearranged debit account. Once verified, the user is allowed to browse a public domain library, an English Bookstore, a Non-English Bookstore, and a Subscription Store. Selections are downloaded as compressed PDF files, onto a secure PCMCIA storage card. The card should hold hundreds of books, magazines, and newspapers, and may only be accessed by the EB which was used to purchase the publications.


One of the major frustrations that I have been having with Office 2000 is selecting very large block of texts by dragging a mouse --- the mouse glides seem to be frustratingly discrete and sometimes stop altogether.

Then it dawned on the dummy that I have a new Microsoft mouse with that little wheel in the middle that I never use. Now I use it, because it makes selection of large blocks of text much easier.

Reply from Barry Rice

I've had the Microsoft Intellimouse Pro with the wheel for over a year and _strongly_ recommend it. (MicroWarehouse sells it for $65 at warehouse.com.) This one is such a comfortable fit for the hand (if you are a "rightie"). A wheel mouse really changes the way you work with all windows applications. e.g., I almost never use the vertical scroll bar any more. But, now I get irritated when my classroom PC has no wheel mouse. Hey, I have to have something to gripe about.

Reply from Jon Andrus

If you want real mouse action while selecting large blocks of text, click the wheel. The cursor will present a fixed icon and the text will scroll in relation to both the direction and distance you move the mouse from the fixed point. The feature is great if you want to get to cell IV:65536 in excel or move rapidly to the end of the Word document. It allows rapid (often too rapid) scrolling in any direction.

Reply from Amy Dunbar

Oh my gosh, I never noticed I had a wheel before. It works like a charm for copying. What's that Jack Nicholson line in A Few Good Men -- Don't I feel like the ________________!
Thanks for the tip, Bob.

Reply from John Stancil

I have used the Genius NetMouse for some time. It has a sort of toggle rather than a wheel that I find at least as easy to use as the Microsoft Wheel. Plus, it is a whole lot cheaper than the Microsoft Mouse. I have found it for around $10 on eBay.

Reply from Paul Dierks ( This is really good advice, thanks Paul)

Use the shift key to select - and adjust - large blocks of data.

Place the cursor at the start or end of the block you are interested in highlighting. Hold the shift key down and move to the end of the block and click the cursor. All of the material between the two mouse clicks will be highlighted. If you continue to hold the shift key down you can "adjust" the block that was highlighted with the first two mouse clicks if you select another location and click again.


Ascension of Women

Ascension of Women into Partner Ranks is Slow But Steady 
CPA Personnel Report's exclusive Annual Survey of Women in Public Accounting - 1999 reveals that the percentage of women partners in the top 25 CPA firms are up 1-2% over last year. Among Big 5 firms, women make up 9-12% of the partnership ranks, despite the fact that they make up clearly 50% of the professional workforce in today's CPA firms. Who has the best performance? Among the Top 25, Michigan's Plante and Moran states that 15% of their partnership is female. For a copy of the survey, contact CPA Personnel Report: http://www.straffordpub.com/products/cpr/index.html 

The AccountingWEB Newswire - Issue 9 September 16, 1999 http://www.accountingweb.com 


The September 19 PBS show called Computer Chronicles featured a new email educational volunteer service called Telementoring at the International Telementor Center at Colorado State University.  See http://www.telementor.org/ 

The idea is "telementoring." By spending about 30-45 minutes per week communicating via e-mail, adult mentors can share their experience and expertise, helping students achieve academic excellence in math and science, improve communication skills, and explore career and educational futures. Telementoring is a process that combines the proven practice of mentoring with the speed and ease of electronic communication, enabling busy professionals to make significant contributions to the academic lives of students.

To capitalize on this valuable resource for human development, CSMATE has become the non-profit home for the International Telementor Center (ITC). The ITC will facilitate electronic mentoring relationships between professional adults and students worldwide, and is projected to serve at least 10,000 students annually by the year 2003.

The ITC will be built upon the success of technology leader Hewlett-Packard's Telementor Program. Begun in January of 1995, the HP program has served over 3,000 students and has earned numerous awards. This experience not only provides a sturdy foundation for the ITC, but eliminates the need for a long learning curve and a labor-intensive start-up.

To achieve this goal we need partners. The ITC needs a core group of Charter Members who see this opportunity to become part of an innovative and effective educational effort that complements their existing educational and public relations programs and who are willing to commit financial support and other resources.

CSMATE and Hewlett-Packard extend this invitation to corporations and organizations interested in helping students achieve academic success. This website provides an overview of the ITC, outlines the requirements and benefits of becoming a Charter Member, and tells you how your organization can become involved. We look forward to the possibility of a rewarding partnership.


The September 19 Computer Chronicles show also featured some interesting new products for email systems.  Some merely add animations and graphics that I consider a waste of bandwidth and mail server space.  But one item that caught my attention is the new software from Intel that was demonstrated with a video window to an email message.  

Jeff Abbate, of Intel, brought along Intel’s ‘Create and Share’ digital video camera and software package. He shows us how you can use it to easily record video and audio clips and how you can even edit these clips into a short film sequence. You can then send these clips as .AVI file attachments or as part of an 'email postcard'.

The Intel package comes complete with a camera and software for under $150.  See http://www.intel.com/pccamera/pccam.htm.


Prestige universities are preparing to deliver graduate courses on the Internet.

I previously announced a new paper on trends in course authoring and network delivery of courses and course modules at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm.  I just revised it for recent news that uNext.com has recently announced partnerships with the University of Chicago, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the London School of Economics and Political Science to deliver graduate courses over the Internet.

UNext.com is dedicated to making high quality education available anywhere and anytime. We serve those who understand that thriving in today's competitive knowledge-based economy demands a continual advancement in their knowledge and skills. In short, we provide companies, and the individuals who work for them, the most effective means possible to increase their human capital.

Our goal is to create powerful learning communities that marry the world's most respected academic scholars and institutions with the global reach and interactive capabilities of the Internet.

Our first learning community is Cardean, designed to address the business education needs of professional working adults.
http://www.unext.c
om/
om/om/ 

We have seen over 1,000 instances where private corporations have commenced providing courses and even degree programs on the Internet. It may well be that the move by Columbia University will set the trend for reactions by education institutions. Columbia formed Morningside Ventures, Inc. to deliver its courses and programs on the Internet. 

For the Graduate School of Business, Columbia will use UNext eCourses at http://www.unext.com/.  See http://www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/pr/19513.htm.

Columbia University has established a company, Morningside Ventures, Inc. (MV), to create an online learning center to produce and distribute high-quality educational resources.

The company, which will develop an overall new media strategy for Columbia, will compete in the commercial marketplace for learning and will build strategic alliances with businesses that have significant reach on the Internet such as search engines, portals, Internet and broadband access points and news information sites.

Ann Kirschner, former vice president of interactive programming and development for the National Football League, has been named MV’s president and CEO, and Vikram Nagrani, a former principal at Morgan Stanley, has been named the company's chief operating officer.

This new venture will consider the feasibility of a wide range of innovative education models that would augment traditional, campus-based Columbia education programs and will consider the entire spectrum of academic disciplines from arts and sciences to law and medicine.

In one dimension of this effort, Columbia, through its Graduate School of Business, has already reached an agreement with UNEXT.com, a start-up company, to provide education material primarily for post-graduate education, probably courses in finance, accounting and marketing. This is a non-exclusive agreement to license intellectual property, the rights to which Columbia will retain.

“Columbia will continue to offer its traditional, campus-based degree programs. Indeed, applications to our undergraduate and graduate schools are at record levels,” President George Rupp said. “However, interactive, online, multimedia programs will be among the most important educational developments in the 21st century. We believe it vital that Columbia, both because of its academic strengths and its research in new media technologies, should be a leader in this movement. The content of education, whether on campus or online, is best provided by outstanding colleges and universities.”

Provost and Dean of Faculties Jonathan Cole added, “The mode of production and consumption of knowledge is undergoing changes no less dramatic than the changes from a pre-industrial to industrial society. Knowledge — access to it and the creation of it — will be the engine that will fuel change in the 21st century. Columbia must lead in the development of quality in this domain. We will continue to preserve all that is great in our current research and teaching structure, and develop, through digital media, new ways of enhancing still further that quality. That is what we are trying to do in establishing Morningside Ventures.”


This section was added on November 4, 1999

Message to Trinity University on November 2, 1999:
Some faculty at Trinity University are seeking to model Trinity University on the nation's most elite colleges and universities. My question is whether we should model the "old" or the "new" elite institutions? There is a danger that we will set our mission on outmoded missions and goals. I think there will continue to be a need for full-time resident students --- it's part of the maturation process as well as the education process. But the pedagogy may change and our own curriculum may be salted with top courses from the elite institutions. Perhaps the UCC in the future should study the electronic curriculum of the next millennium.

Perhaps we should also examine how not to be left behind in providing something to the elite electronic curriculum.

It's a dynamic time we live in when a convicted felon and subsequent electronic curriculum leader (Junk Bond King Mike Milken) is named by The Los Angeles Times as one of the top ten people in the 20th Century.

Ivy Online

Elite universities and professional schools are scrambling to "leverage their brands" and make extra money through online education.

See http://www.thestandard.com/articles/display/0,1449,7122,00.html  (thanks for the tip Scott Bonacker)

Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm 

Some excerpts from http://www.thestandard.com/articles/display/0,1449,7122,00.html

Columbia is not alone in its Internet ambitions. The nation's elite universities, long secure in their centuries-old reputations, face a rapidly changing world in which any school, from the University of South Alabama to UC Berkeley, can put its courses online and court a global market for continuing education. Fearing that they will be left behind, Ivy League administrators are becoming dealmakers, and buzz phrases like "leveraging brands" and "tapping intellectual capital" echo from the Stanford Quad to Harvard Square.

In recent months, Stanford, the London School of Economics and other top-tier schools have followed Columbia's lead, signing with UNext to trade their name and curricula for equity in the startup. Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, meanwhile, have struck deals with Pensare, a Silicon Valley company that creates online courses. Harvard will receive stock warrants in Pensare, as will Duke University, which is licensing a complete MBA curriculum to the company.

...

Education As Commodity

Thanks in part to the Net's ability to distribute courses to students anywhere at any time, learning is becoming another commodity, part of the $740 billion "education industry" that has attracted keen interest on Wall Street. Scores of community colleges and universities have embraced distance learning in recent years, putting courses online for people who are too busy or live too far away from institutions to attend classes. Meanwhile, online-only schools, such as the for-profit Jones International University, have emerged to capitalize on the growing demand for adult education.

The ultimate "brand" in education is a Harvard, a Stanford, a Columbia degree; the ultimate market for those schools is overseas, where there's a relative surfeit of universities and the names Harvard and Stanford are as recognized in corporate circles as Coca-Cola and Pepsi. But the Ivys have been late to move online, reluctant to put their jealously guarded reputations in the hands of the private partners that are needed to provide the technology and financing to create Internet courses.

Helen Chen is the type of potential student the top-tier schools covet but could lose to more wired competitors. The 32-year-old Harvard graduate wants to obtain an MBA but expects she'll have to do so online because the demands of her job at consulting firm Mitchell Madison Group prevent her from attending a traditional program. But Chen is still looking to enroll at a top-ranked school. "I have a pretty good undergraduate education and I don't want to get just any MBA attached to my name," she says.

The needs of people like Chen are forcing elite universities to embrace the Internet, acknowledges Harvard Business School Dean Kim Clark. "Education used to be done in the early stage of someone's life and maybe once or twice after that," he says. "We are moving into an era where organizations are much more fluid, the pace of change is much faster and much more international. There's much more need for just-in-time, just-right education. The Internet is becoming central to education because it allows you to meet these kinds of needs."

There are other motivators, however, behind university administrators' enthusiasm for the Net. For decades, they have watched professors transform the knowledge they acquired in the university's employ into royalties from books that publishers then sell back to the universities. Now that this gold mine of intellectual property can be packaged and sold online, universities are determined to share in the profits. "The idea that all of this content – we used to call it teaching and learning – can be turned into content with an economic value is extraordinary," says Geoffrey Cox, a Stanford University vice provost. "Frankly, if anyone is going to get the economic value of that, it will be the university."

End of November 4, 1999 insert.


Those of you following my bemoaning of the lack of leadership among top business schools in educational technologies, may find the following article of interest.  

Richard Schmalensee, the new dean of the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has shouldered the task of training the next generation of executives for the ''New Economy.'' Already he has started to shift the curriculum to focus more on the Internet and entrepreneurship. While running the school is his main job, he is perhaps best known for his work earlier this year as an expert witness testifying on behalf of Microsoft Corp. at the government's antitrust trial.

Article 7 of 21, Article ID: 9906160191
Published on 06/14/99, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS  http://www.mercurycenter.com/ 

You can read the following at http://mitsloan.mit.edu/cftest/buildDome.cfm?page=http://mitsloan.mit.edu/news/releases/1999/launch.html 

MIT Sloan Dean Richard Schmalensee announced plans to offer MBA students a new Electronic Commerce and Marketing management track expected to be ready for student enrollment by the fall semester 1999. It is part of a new multidisciplinary research and education Program on Electronic Commerce and Marketing being developed at Sloan.

Dean Schmalensee said, “Sloan has been a leader in research and education focused on the interactions between technology and management. The School is in an ideal position to bring together the expertise at MIT with students and industry partners to advance both the understanding and practice of electronic commerce.”

The event launched the School’s new community-built web site, which includes a Digital Time Capsule sealed into its cornerstone. Sloan faculty, staff, alumni and business partners proposed and collected digitized artifacts for the capsule that capture the essence and spirit of the Internet and business in early 1999.


You can read the following on Page 6 of Educom Review, September/October 1999:

Schmalensee believes that Sloan, as one of the first business schools to make these adjustments to technology, is a leader in the growing movement toward the Internet.  He predicts that those schools and businesses that refuse to embrace the growing Web culture will crumble.


McGraw-Hill's failed venture to become McGraw-Hill World University moves down in one direction whereas the proposed Harcourt University is moving in the opposite direction in seeking accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.  You can read the following at http://www.nrischools.com/ 

Due to changes in the marketplace, The McGraw-Hill Companies has recently reached the decision to phase out the NRI Schools operation. Effective April 1, 1999, NRI is no longer accepting additional enrollments. Based on this decision, NRI will no longer be sending out catalogs or promotional materials regarding our courses.

You can read the following at http://www.harcourt.com/hlcollege/hup/ 

The Harcourt University Project presents a progressive venue for teaching. We offer you the opportunity to become a forerunner in education by using technology to teach in an exciting new way. Professors will guide students through course work, both individually and in teams, using the Internet to communicate. The Harcourt University Project professors will create unique learning communities, involving themselves with students and course content.

Harcourt will be actively recruiting a distinguished faculty as the foundation of our academic quality. They will be committed to student interaction with e-mail, course forums, and other online communications so that the time-challenged students of today can conveniently reach them.

The Faculty will have access to a broad range of services that help to provide an efficient and enjoyable teaching experience. There are plans for a virtual Faculty Lounge to house amenities such as the campus newspaper, faculty newsletter, chat rooms and bulletin boards, among other useful features — all of which create the camaraderie of a campus atmosphere while allowing for a unique and ever changing forum.


A course demonstration at NYU's Virtual College  http://www.scps.nyu.edu/virtual/demonyt001 


Software for interaction and collaboration http://www.webline.com/ 


A September 19 on PBS, the Digital Duo did a feature on helpers for applying for college.  The September 19 show is not yet summarized online, but eventually you will find it at http://www.digitalduo.com/ .

The most helpful of all web sites for college applicants is probably the US News.edu web site at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/home.htm.  This web site is best known for its rankings of colleges and graduate schools.  However, there are some important other helpers at this web site.  

The main navigation page is at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/home.htm 

Take a College Personality Quiz at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/cpq/coquiz.htm 

How can you find a college where you'll thrive? Start by taking a careful look at yourself–your interests, abilities, and attitudes. Do you learn best in classes with lots of discussion, like those found at small liberal arts colleges? Would you be happier as part of a larger college community with bigger classes? Find out all this and more by taking the college personality quiz, adapted from College Match: A Blueprint for Choosing the Best School for You! by Steven R. Antonoff, Ph.D., and Marie A. Friedemann, Ph.D. (Octameron Associates, 1999).

Predict College Costs at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/dollars/dscosts.htm 

It's no secret that the price of tuition for four-year colleges goes up every year. Use this work sheet to estimate the total cost of attendance for four years of school, which includes all institutional expenses, such as room and board, as well as personal expenses like entertainment, long-distance phone calls, or laundry. Enter three schools below, along with the number of years until you head off to college, and we'll provide you with a chart that shows you how much your first year of college will cost, plus the total cost for all four years. If you are considering a public school in your home state, don't forget to click the "In-state tuition" button.

Find a Scholarship at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/dollars/scholar/search.htmOne of the features is for any user to read in his or her SAT score, religion, ethnic background, etc. and the search service will look for special scholarships such as a scholarship for a particular religion.

Quick search of scholarships based on these categories: Ethnic scholarships · Athletic scholarships · Art scholarships · Corporate scholarships · Organizational scholarships · Military scholarships ·

Find a scholarship at a particular college.

Compare Your Financial Aid Awards at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/dollars/howtopay/dsawards.htm 

Because different schools offer different amounts of financial aid to each student, the school with the most expensive tuition price may not cost you the most to attend. Use this work sheet to compare financial aid packages from four schools. Enter school names, costs of attendance, expected family contribution, and aid amounts below. Click the gray buttons in the left-hand column to calculate the totals for each section. When you have finished filling out the work sheet, click "YOUR FAMILY'S TOTAL COST" to find out how much it will cost to attend each school.

The Find Your College web page at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/cosearch.htm 

Use this search to access our directory of over 1,400 four-year colleges. Enter a college name below to get up-to-date admissions, academic, and financial aid information on that school. Or use our interactive work sheet to find schools according to the following criteria: location, distance from home, cost, size, selectivity, major, student/faculty ratio, academic programs, single sex/coed, religious affiliation, setting, diversity, ranking, extracurriculars, and sports. You may search by any or all of the criteria listed above. You may also access a school's information through our alphabetical index.

Best Value Schools and other helpers regarding financial aid http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/dollars/dshome.htm 

Find a bargain: Check out our best values list for a guide to schools top ranked in terms of quality and cost.

Flavors of federal aid. Pell grants, Stafford and Perkins loans, work study, and more.

Decipher your financial aid award letter.

Will my prepaid tuition plan transfer out of state? Get the skinny on state college savings program plans.

Find a job listing. Write a killer résumé. Wow them in the interview.

Best Value Rankings http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/dollars/dsbvalue.htm .

Find Your Community College at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/communit/commsrch.htm 

U.S. News and the American Association of Community Colleges have teamed up to help you find a community college that fits your needs. Search for schools by name, or use the interactive work sheet below to find schools based on location, distance from your home, programs, or student services. Your search results will link you to our directory of community colleges, which provides basic information on admissions, academics, and cost for over 1,200 schools.

Helpers from experts on financial aid http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/misc/answerzn.htm 

To register right away, go directly to our forum registration page. You may also register by entering the forum of your choice and starting a new message or responding to an existing message. At that point, you will be prompted to log in. Click on the "Or you can register here" link at the bottom of the page.

Outstanding High Schools http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/990118/18intr.htm 

Career Center http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/careers/cchome.htm 


CollegeEdge has changed its name to Embark.com at   http://www.embark.com/ This free web site serves as a consultant to students who are actually applying for college.  There are links to guidance professionals and career professionals.  The Digital Duo gave high marks to this web site.  Users can also track the progress of their admissions applications.

Trinity University uses several services and ties directly into https://www.applyweb.com/aw?trinity.


Yahoo search for domestic and foreign schools at http://dir.yahoo.com/Education/Higher_Education/ 


Collegestudent.com announced the acquisition of eStudentLoan.com for an undisclosed amount of stock  http://www.collegestudent.com/ 


An excellent article that compares XML and CORBA was written by Mark Elenko and Mike Reinertsen, "XML & CORBA," Application Development Trends, September 1999, pp. 45-50.  For some reason the article is not available online along with the other articles that are online at http://www.adtmag.com/ (Maybe it will be made available by the time you read this edition of New Bookmarks):

It is still important to sometimes distinguish CORBA from XML.  CORBA is an enabling technology for creating sophisticated, distributed object systems on heterogeneous platforms.  XML is a technology for conveying structured data in a portable way.  CORBA allows users to connect disparate systems and form object architectures.  XML will allow users to transmit structured information within, between and out of those systems, and to represent information in a universal way in and across architectures.  Both technologies are platform-, vendor- and language-independent.  The conceptual fit is perfect.  To see where and how this fit is best realized, we will examine how to actually combine CORBA and XML from a series of widening perspectives.


I found this both funny and indicative of how web shopping can get you better deals.  Note that when she finally got her new Mercedes using Priceline it was at a cheaper price from the same dealer who would not give her a better price on the floor of the dealership itself.  This is taken (without the picture) from Newsweek, September 20, 1999, pg. 44:

Tracy O'Such
When Tracy O'Such got a fat bonus last year, she was thrilled.  The 38- year-old exec decided it was time to buy a new car, her first, and set her heart on a Mercedes.   After using the Web to research models and prices, O'Such set off for dealerships near her Fairfield, Conn., home.  She found a C280 that she loved, but ran into what she calls the "Hi, sweetie, want to buy a car?" attitude from the salesman.   She asked about the sticker price and wanted to negotiate; he told her about the available colors.  When she decided to buy, the salesman named a price $5,000 higher than hers and refused to budge.  She trie
d to wheedle him down, but he kept insisting that his price was a giveaway.  "It was over $40,000," she marvels.   "He wasn't doing me any favors."  Finally, O'Such gave up and went on Priceline.com.  She listed the model and color, and named $38,000 as the price she was willing to pay.  Within 12 hours, she had a taker: Continental Motors in Fairfield--same dealership, different salesman.  She called her salesman back and said,
"Guess what?  I've found the car for my price."  He protested, claiming that was impossible.  "It's in your showroom," she said.   Silence.

O'Such says Priceline made all the difference.   "Just having the information made me able to negotiate with confidence," she said.  "Especially as a woman, that's important."


Microsoft takes on Priceline   http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/21640.html 

Microsoft, Dell, and others take on eBay http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2336028,00.html 


Wired News technology news http://www.wired.com/news/ 


Lotus LearningSpace Anytime falls short of the competition http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2331135,00.html 

For a review of the competition see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 


Can Microsoft evolve DNA 2000 for the Web?  http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,1017285,00.html  

The Redmond, Wash., company this week announced plans to provide new tools, servers and services to simplify building e-commerce applications for the Web and Windows 2000, which is expected to ship later this year.

Products falling under Microsoft's updated Distributed Internet Application architecture umbrella -- Visual Studio 7.0, the new AppCenter Server and the BizTalk XML Server -- will follow the Windows 2000 release and should ship by the middle of next year, officials said.


If you find an Excel workbook on the web and you are using Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, be a little careful how you download Excel files. If you click the option to "Open the File," the Excel workbook will open in Internet Explorer but it will not have Excel functionality and will mask cells behind comments attached to those cells. It is probably best in most instances to instead choose the option to download the file to your hard drive and then open in Excel.

Since most Excel files that you find on the web will not have been saved with XML round tripping code, you cannot initially read the spreadsheet in your web browser and then save it as an Excel xls file. You must instead initially download the Excel file and save it to disk.

I have upgraded the tutorial explanation of Example 2 found in the FASB's SFAS 133 on Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities. Explanations for downloading are given at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/13300tut.htm 

Excel workbook explanations for SFAS 133 Examples 01 thru 10 are given at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/ 

Example 2 has been upgraded in 133ex02a.xls to include a spreadsheet called "Explanation." Comments on the cells explain how each number is computed in the difficult Example 2 that uses but does not explain the yield curve derivations. My next goal is to do the same thing for the even more difficult Example 5.

Yahoo's broadcast services (web media) http://www.broadcast.com/ 


I received a tip from a list serve called Dummies Daily (dummiesdaily.com) about a bulletin board site. This is an alternative to a personal Web site. You can set up a bulletin board site and put notes on it in less than 5 minutes.

"...eBoard, a site where you can set up your own Web-accessible "corkboard" and post pictures and notes, WITHOUT HAVING TO CREATE A WEB SITE! An eBoard is easy to make, easy to update (no need to worry about links), and not at all easy to over-design."  http://www.eboard.com
Enjoy!
Tanya Pinedo, Research Associate, Trinity University


The Dingbat Page http://dingbats.i-us.com/ 


Graphical Web Search 

A new Visualization of Information Tool (VisIT) by educational psychology professor James Levin and educational psychology graduate student Dan Kauwell at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, offers a unique way to display and organize Web-search results. The tool also lets the user add, delete, rearrange, and annotate the results, and then save the organized chart of Web links for future use.

Among its features, VisIT can arrange search results into user-created groups (see Figure 1) or so that the most relevant sites are near the center of the screen arrows are drawn between any linked sites. The number of arrows pointing to a site indicates how often it's referenced. The search tool also groups together sites from the same server or under the same home page, showing them as small organizational charts. "We think this will give people a closer mapping to how they organize the knowledge in their head," says Kauwell, a graduate student in educational psychology.

VisIT is part of a multiyear interdisciplinary research project at UIUC's Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Funded by Yamaha Motor Corporation of Japan Ltd. (www.yamaha.co.jp), the Computer Companion Project (http://empath.vp.uiuc.edu/TravelCompanion/period-1.html) researches ways for computers to read and interpret eye movement, facial expression, voice inflection, forms of language, and other forms of human-computer interaction.

http://visit1.vp.uiuc.edu/ieee_article.html 


CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS FOR NETWORK LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: CONSTRUCTING PERSONAL AND SHARED KNOWLEDGE SPACES by Michael J. Jacobson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Vanderbilt University http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/projects/tta/Papers/JL_EdTele/ 


From InformationWeek Online, September 16, 1999

Visa said yesterday that it will consolidate all online initiatives into a business unit called eVisa. The division will focus on E-commerce payment processing, including the development of banking Internet strategies and online transaction standards, and marketing of digital wallet technology. And eVisa plans to launch an Internet connection to the Visa processing network, called Payment Gateway, that will instantly process credit-card transactions from online purchases.


(Blue) Martini lunches are back in style, especially at Andersen Consulting (eCommerce) http://www.informationweek.com/747/web.htm 


George Orwell had it right, but he missed on guessing the year --- Big Brother will be everywhere in Year 2004 or slightly earlier http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2330504,00.html  


One Across for crossword enthusiasts (based on Proverb, a powerful cruciverbalist system developed at Duke University) http://www.oneacross.com/ 


Visions of China http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/ 


eCommerce update for small business from InformationWeek Online on September 20, 1999 

Wells Fargo Enters Web Hosting Market

Wells Fargo & Co., one of the leading banks on the Internet, today will launch One Stop eStore, a service that provides Web hosting and online payment processing to small businesses. The San Francisco bank company will charge a business $45 a month for the Web site, plus a fee for each payment transaction processed. Customers who want only payment processing can buy that service as a standalone product. Wells Fargo's partner in the venture is First Data Corp., an Atlanta payment and transaction processing company. The One Stop eStore system will run on First Data servers.

More than 1 million small companies do business with Wells Fargo, and the bank hopes that providing technology services will lock them in as loyal customers. "We think it's a good retention strategy," says Debra Rossi, Wells Fargo executive VP of merchant card services.

On another E-commerce front, Wells Fargo will consolidate bills from its commercial customers and present them to consumers who also are Wells Fargo customers, using billing technology it has licensed from Just In Time Solutions Inc. A bank unit is piloting Just In Time's BillCast 2.0 software, which lets customers pay their bills online as well as view and manipulate billing data.

Wells Fargo plans to offer similar billing services to customers who bank with Chase Manhattan Corp. and First Union Corp., making Wells Fargo a central hub for exchanging bills between consumers and merchants.


The man who made the nuclear bombs for Stalin (history) http://www.pbs.org/opb/citizenk/ 


Calendars Through the Ages (history) http://www.webexhibits.com/calendars/ 


If you are going to be a tourist in South Florida, you must see this from the University of Miami 

Florida Postcard Collection http://www.library.miami.edu/archives/cards/intro.html 


Notebook computers selling for less than $1,000 are on the horizon according to Intel http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2334988,00.html 


iShip.com (making package mailing as easy as price, ship, track). http://www.iship.com 


Finding my Jensen family genealogy is tough, because my family in the U.S. used Jensen and Jenson whenever they pleased --- probably to confuse the I.R.S.  Years earlier, back in Norway, Norwegians tended to change their last name with each brood of children.   For example suppose there were two brothers named Knute and John Helgeson.  If Knute had a son named Jens, the boy's name became Jens Knuteson, and John's son Nels became Nels Johnson.  The name Helgeson thereby was not carried forward in that family.  Then if Jens Knuteson had a son named Sven, he became known as Sven Jenson.  

My first ancestor to arrive from Norway was John Knuteson.  For some reason, however, he just decided one day that his name was Thompson.  So my grandmother was Regina Knuteson in Norway but became Regina Thompson when she joined up with her uncle John on a farm north of Swea City, Iowa.  Then she became Regina Jensen when she married Julius Jensen from Seneca (only he could only say Yuliuus Yensen).  I dare you to try to find the genealogy of any Norwegian.  

For those of you who are not Norwegian, it may be a bit easier to trace your genealogy.  Three web sites are recommended in an article entitled "Click Here for your Roots" in the Readers Digest, October 1999, pp. 79-83:

http://www.rootsweb.com/         (   700,000 visitors per year)

http://www.ancestry.com/           (1,000,000 visitors per year)

http://www.familysearch.org/      (   600,000 visitors per year)


daily coverage of the art, technology, and business of television. http://www.tvindustry.com/ 


Time warps and television http://www.liketelevision.com/ 


From IWnews Online on September 15, 1999 (this points to a whole new trend in online marketing).  I wonder if it will also catch on when high school seniors go "shopping" for colleges to attend.

So you're buying pants for a loved one far away and aren't sure whether he would prefer twills or chinos, cuffed or uncuffed, wrinkle-free or wrinkle-prone. Or you're ordering tights and want to ask a service representative which size (XS? S? M?) corresponds to a little girls' size 5. Clothing retailer Lands' End unveiled online solutions Wednesday for both these shopping scenarios: "Shop with a Friend" and "Lands' End Live."

The technology behind both is the same, developed by WebLine Communications Corp. Lands' End Live allows the customer to contact a rep while online, either by requesting a phone call or by opening a chat session. Shop With a Friend lets the customer open a joint shopping trip with someone on another computer by providing the pal with a special password. Both can pick out merchandise and add it to the shopping cart, though only the originator is allowed to check out. They can communicate through a chat window or by phone. Both control the browser simultaneously, making the feature best suited to those with extremely strong friendships.


The September 17th edition of the Internet Essentials '99 Newsletter for the financial professional. http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html 

Here are this week's topics:

1. DollarDiscounter.com Tries New Approach To Web Shopping 
2. Merger, Acquisition and Capital Funding for Growing Businesses 
3. Security Updates for Intrusions and Incident Responses 
4. Visual Cities Provides Free Web Space with a Nice Twist 
5. President Clinton Loosens Encryption Restrictions 
6. Message Click: Free Voice mail, faxes and email 
7. Lack Security Staff? Outsource It 
8. Speaking of Finding Hard to Find IT Talent 
9. mySAP.com: Multi-faceted Business and Personal Portal


I will be chairing two conferences entitled  "Implementing FAS 133:  Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities."  See   http://www.worldrg.com/FA981/ .   The places, dates, and hotels are as follows:

Chicago (September 29-October 1 in the Hyatt Regency) 
Washington DC (October 27-29 in the Key Bridge Marriott)

The program is now available at the above web site.  What is important about this conference is that top specialists from public accounting and industry will be conducting workshops and making presentations.  Speakers listed at the above web site (along with summaries of what they will be speaking about) are from the following organizations:

Sun Microsystems
Union Carbide
Travelers Insurance
MasterCard International
Allstate Insurance
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Arthur Andersen LLP
Deloitte & Touche LLP
TPG Software, Inc.
Ernst & Young
First Union Corporation
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Trinity University



And that's the way it was on September 21, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

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Bob Jensen's Index Page Bob Jensen's Bookmarks New Bookmark Archives

 

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September 14, 1999


The bottom of this September 14 edition of New Bookmarks contains an important message from Jean Heck about the formation of a new association and journal for business educators.  The association is called the Academy of Business Education.  Scroll down to find Jean's message.


I will be chairing two conferences entitled  "Implementing FAS 133:  Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities."  See   http://www.worldrg.com/FA981/ .   The places, dates, and hotels are as follows:

Chicago (September 29-October 1 in the Hyatt Regency) 
Washington DC (October 27-29 in the Key Bridge Marriott)

The program is now available at the above web site.  What is important about this conference is that top specialists from public accounting and industry will be conducting workshops and making presentations.  Speakers listed at the above web site (along with summaries of what they will be speaking about) are from the following organizations:

Sun Microsystems
Union Carbide
Travelers Insurance
MasterCard International
Allstate Insurance
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Arthur Andersen LLP
Deloitte & Touche LLP
TPG Software, Inc.
Ernst & Young
First Union Corporation
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Trinity University


In the above conferences, I am presenting my Mexcobre Case that finds flaws in FAS 133 on Accounting for Derivative Financial Instruments and Hedge Accounting.  For these presentations I prepared a special presentation file.  If you have both Internet Explorer 5.0 and Microsoft Office 2000, you may want to take a look at that file at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/133spshow.htm In particular, the SFAS 133 flaws are noted in my answer to Question 13.

The answers are condensed in that file.  For the complete answers, you must download my Excel workbook on the Mexcobre Case.  For instructions on how to download the complete answers, contact me at rjensen@trinity.edu .


McGraw-Hill's failed venture to become McGraw-Hill World University moves down in one direction whereas the proposed Harcourt University is moving in the opposite direction in seeking accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.  You can read the following at http://www.nrischools.com/ 

Due to changes in the marketplace, The McGraw-Hill Companies has recently reached the decision to phase out the NRI Schools operation. Effective April 1, 1999, NRI is no longer accepting additional enrollments. Based on this decision, NRI will no longer be sending out catalogs or promotional materials regarding our courses.

You can read the following at http://www.harcourt.com/hlcollege/hup/ 

The Harcourt University Project presents a progressive venue for teaching. We offer you the opportunity to become a forerunner in education by using technology to teach in an exciting new way. Professors will guide students through course work, both individually and in teams, using the Internet to communicate. The Harcourt University Project professors will create unique learning communities, involving themselves with students and course content.

Harcourt will be actively recruiting a distinguished faculty as the foundation of our academic quality. They will be committed to student interaction with e-mail, course forums, and other online communications so that the time-challenged students of today can conveniently reach them.

The Faculty will have access to a broad range of services that help to provide an efficient and enjoyable teaching experience. There are plans for a virtual Faculty Lounge to house amenities such as the campus newspaper, faculty newsletter, chat rooms and bulletin boards, among other useful features — all of which create the camaraderie of a campus atmosphere while allowing for a unique and ever changing forum.


Update on invisible (ubiquitous, wireless) computing http://www.internetwk.com/lead/lead091099.htm 

Research papers on invisible (ubiquitous) computing and the demise of the PC http://www.research.att.com/~amo/doc/networks.html 

Recall my earlier links on eBras, etc. at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99.htm#smut 


Thank Chris Nolan for this link.
Database on web sites and web usage http://www.oclc.org/oclc/research/projects/webstats/ 


Just for fun (Dick Bartels will love this one) read about obscure patents like air conditioners for shoes at http://www.patents.ibm.com/gallery/ 


Serious inventions by women at http://www.inventorsmuseum.com/women.htm 

Why are there so few women in science?  http://helix.nature.com/debates/ 

Women: The Shadow Story of the Millennium:  The second in the New York Times Magazine's Millennium series http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/millennium/m2/index.html 


Bob,

Potential bookmarks:

I haven't checked much of the site, but http://www.learn2.com/  has gotten fairly high praise, and it is fun/useful to go through some of the tutorials. Maybe you can place some of your tutorials on the site!

History/Overview of the Internet:

http://mothra.tamu.edu/netstuff/whatis.htm 

http://www.yikesnet.com/net.html 

http://info.isoc.org/guest/zakon/Internet/History/HIT.html 

http://www.internetvalley.com/intval1.html  (quite interesting!)

Hope all is going well - I enjoyed reading about your childhood ( http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/max01.htm ). I too find the Internet most useful as a community/communication type device and am probably as obsessed with it as you! That's why NetMeeting is probably my favorite piece of software - even though I don't get the chance to use it very often.

Jim Borden
Villanova University


The Computer History Museum Center http://www.computerhistory.org/ 


Evolution of communication (history) --- http://library.advanced.org/26451/ 


The best place to start for accounting and accounting education news http://www.accountingeducation.com/ 

For accounting news and virtual communities you may also visit  http://www.accountingweb.com/ 


Thank you Andrew Lymer

ERIC/AE FULL TEXT INTERNET LIBRARY http://ericae.net/ftlib.htm  http://www.accountingeducation.com/news/news482.html  
 The ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation (ERIC/AE) has recently announced the opening of its Full Text Internet Library, providing access to over 250 "of the best full-text books, reports, journal articles, newsletter articles and papers on the Internet that address educational measurement, evaluation and learning theory."


I hope business education and research organizations will follow the lead of social scientists in developing knowledge databases.  See http://www.nesstar.org/papers/iassist_0599.html 


Even though I have Photoshop, I still love Paint Shop Pro for most of my graphics needs.  It is cheap and very versatile.  You can be a Version 6 beta tester.  See http://www.jasc.com/psp6beta.html .

By the way, you will not find many graphics images in my web pages.  I get complaints that files are too long to download without graphics.  Keep this in mind in your own web page designs.  Huge graphics and clever animations may look good when you author them, but users will curse you or ignore you if they are too slow to download.

I tend to use more graphics at my LAN (Drive J) drive on the Trinity University campus.  Downloading is not so slow on campus.


New Attain Objects for Macromedia Dreamweaver http://www.macromedia.com/software/attainobjects/trial/ 


Thanks to Severin Grabski for this tip: 
ISWORLD has a number of resources devoted to e-commerce. Included are cases, syllabi, site design, security, Internet technology, e-markets, applications, social issues and more.
http://www.isworld.org/isworld/ecourse/index.html


If you know any accounting educators with helpful materials on the web, please ask them to link their materials  in the American Accounting Association's Accounting Coursepage Exchange (ACE) web site at
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/ace/index.htm
Please send these professors email messages today and urge them to share as much as they can with the academy by easily registering their course pages with ACE.

Hey, we have a new doctoral course in ACE.  The featured professor this week is Jack Kramer.

Instructor: John L. Kramer
Institution: University of Florida
Course Name: Doctoral Seminar in Tax Policy & Tax Research (in Adobe Acrobat PDF format)

Professor Kramer provides many references for tax policy and research.  Thank you for sharing Jack.


American Accounting Association Annual Meeting Abstracts http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/research.htm 

We can now order the audio presentations of virtually all presentations (including plenary sessions) at the American Accounting Association annual meetings (excluding the preliminary CPE workshops). I ordered the $199 CD that contains all presentations in MP3 audio compression that will play on most PCs.  You can also order individual tapes. The web site is at http://www.tsok.net . The company is Sound of Knowledge, Inc., 4901 Morena Blvd. Suite 207, San Diego, CA 92117. Telephones are 858-483-4300 (voice) and 858-483-4900 (fax).  Abstracts of these presentations are available at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/highlights.htm .  Abstracts of CPE workshops can be found at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpelist.htm 

The American Accounting Association badly needs new members, especially accounting practitioners who would like closer ties with accounting educators worldwide.  There are a lot of benefits to practitioners as well as educators.  See http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/join.htm .  


European Accounting Association  http://www.bham.ac.uk/EAA/ 

23rd EAA Annual Congress March 29-31 in Munich http://www.bham.ac.uk/EAA/eaa2000/ 

eEurope Takes Off http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html and http://www.ac.com/showcase/ecommerce/ecom_efuture.html 


My financial ratio links were first issued on May 7 at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99b.htm#ratios 

You can also find them in my main bookmarks at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#010303FinancialRatios 


Forwarded message from Phil Livingston

LETTER TO SEN. PHIL GRAMM
This week we delivered a letter to Senator Phil Graham. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, he is considering holding hearings on the accounting standard setting process. The letter reiterated our support for independent, private-sector standard setting with minimal government involvement. Here is a link to our letter: http://www.fei.org/download/fasbletter9-8-99.doc  (in MS Word 97 format). Also on the site you will find a suggested letter for you to send to your Senators in Washington. Please consider taking this grass-roots initiative and magnify the influence of FEI by sending in your own letter on your company's letterhead. It's easy- download the Word file and print it out. Here's the link: http://www.fei.org/download/SampleFASBletter.doc  (MS Word 97 document) Please copy me with your letter at plivingston@fei.org . If you need the address of the Senators from your state, just call or e-mail FEI's DC office (202/659-3700; cmooshian@feidc.org ) Thanks!

I had great personal phone calls from SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt and FASB Chairman Ed Jenkins, complementing the strength and clarity of the letter. Chairman Levitt called it one of the most constructive and public-spirited letters he had ever seen.

Phil Livingston
President of the Financial Executives Institute
plivingston@fei.org
 


US fund managers overwhelmingly support the movement toward adoption of IAS international standards http://www.iasc.org.uk/news/cen8_149.htm 


The 250 best finance web sites according to Forbes http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html


Bob,
Thanks for providing a link to our site, http://www.tveyes.com.  However, your description is not quite accurate. Here is a more accurate description:  TVEyes is a free service that monitors the most-watched TV channels and notifies you via email when your selected keywords are mentioned.  Thanks.


What three cities are considered extraordinary by National Geographichttp://www.nationalgeographic.com/3cities/ 


Economics Tutorials http://www.tutor2u.com/ 


Update on Expert Choice and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) http://www.expertchoice.com/ 


How will eCommerce be taxed?  http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2328452,00.html 

eCommerce Research Center http://www.cio.com/forums/ec/ 

eCommerce is becoming really important to accounting firms http://www.accountingeducation.com/news/news489.html 

Dan O'Leary has an excellent e-commerce case page http://www.usc.edu/schools/business/atisp/ec/cases/case2.htm


Accounting jokes http://www-personal.buseco.monash.edu.au/~themin/laughs/accounting.html 
Thank you Themin Suwardy  at  themin.suwardy@BUSECO.MONASH.EDU.AU 

Jokes about economists and economics http://netec.wustl.edu/JokEc.html 


The 100 Top Innovators in Networking  http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2329636,00.html 


Computer purchasing advice  http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?7692:2700840 

Also see http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?7692:2700840 


Who is keeping track of your buying activities?  http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,2324989,00.html 


News from Lycos

CABLE FREE (Wireless) COMMUNICATIONS http://client.lycos.com/r.asp?CB&JWJN1g0DRnDxY936914774  

SPEED UP YOUR WEB SITES  http://client.lycos.com/r.asp?CB&3ahNyGT1UzX/o936914775

Lycos acquires Quote.com at http://www.quote.com/index.html (noted for streaming quotes and investor news)


You can read and/or write product reviews at http://www.epinions.com/ 
However, warn your students about the dangers of anecdotal evidence.  Internet World News states the following"

The new site, known as Epinions.com, also provides consumers with links to professional product reviews and buying guides. But co-founder Mike Speiser said the main attraction will be the opportunity for "mainstream America, the AOL community" to get in on the action. The site has already attracted "a couple of thousand" reviews of consumer goods during its beta trial and the company has attracted $8 million from Benchmark Capital and August Capital, he said.

Epinions.com will include advertising and where-to-buy links for some products under review, Speiser said. Curse words will be blocked and libelous statements, when caught, will be yanked, but otherwise the editorial content of the site will be unedited, he said. Given the likelihood of negative product reviews, "we realize that some people may choose not to advertise on our site," Speiser said. More important to the founders, he insisted, is that Epinions comes to be recognized as "a brand that people trust" and as respected for its independence as Consumer Reports.

Speiser said the site can handle a Yahoo-size volume of traffic. The company's earnings and use projections remain hypothetical.


Non-fiction chapters like "Lost in Time," "Sex and Paperwork," and "Short Term Memory"  http://www.fasterbook.com/ 


Just a reminder that the first place to look for accounting and accounting educator information is http://raw.rutgers.edu/ 
We all owe a round of applause to Professor Miklos A. Vasarhelyi.


Yes. Check out the "list of CPA firms" on my Careers page: http://www.mhhe.com/business/accounting/spiceland/courseresources/careers.html  
username: accounting 
password: spiceland

David Spiceland, CPA, Ph.D. Professor of Accounting The University of Memphis Fogelman College of Business and Economics Memphis, TN 38152

Also see http://www.cpafirms.com/ 


Internet Resources for Job Searching (Careers) http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/reference/GUIDES/Job_Search/default.html 

Career guidance for professionals http://www.guru.com/ 


Close friends of mine (Dick and Sybil Wolff) who are always on the go to beautiful places in the world recommended this web site at http://www.starvision.net/rmv/index.htm 


Web services for bill paying are becoming very popular --- you save postage and time:

On August 30 on pg. 66, Newsweek Magazine has nothing but good things to say about paying $7.95 or $9.95 monthly to have Paymybills.com take over the chore of paying your bills.  See http://www.paymybills.com/index.html.

Yahoo! Bill Pay https://bills.secure.yahoo.com/ 


Teenage health http://library.advanced.org/25078/ 


NY Times Online reports about online grocery shopping http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/09/biztech/articles/10food.html 

I find price comparisons somewhat misleading, because comparing your local supermarket to an online market is analogous to comparing prices of apples versus oranges.  The two shopping alternatives are not exactly comparable.  In the online market you are getting significant added services such as those listed below:

On the other hand, there are many drawbacks to online grocery shopping.  Examples include the following:

If you want to learn more about online shopping alternatives, I suggest that you begin at http://shopping.yahoo.com/ 

You may also want to check the shopping sites out at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm 


Virtual Herb Garden http://library.advanced.org/25078/  (Pass me the hamburger and fries)

Seafood recipes http://www.seafoodrecipe.com/ 


If you are from the U.S., you may want to add yourself to your high school alumni database at http://www.highschoolalumni.com/ 


Buying and selling homes with the help of The Wall Street Journal http://homes.wsj.com/ 


Internships and employment  in Federated's big department stores (marketing, retailing) http://www.retailology.com/home.asp 


Global RealAudio streams http://www.globalstreams.com/global/home.html 


shopgoodwill.com auction http://www.shopgoodwill.com/ 


Once Upon a Forest (web designs on the wild side --- the audio is, well, interesting)  http://www.once-upon-a-forest.com/ 


Netaid for social activists http://www.netaid.org/ 


Ethnographica to experience a gallery of around 1,200 extraordinarily beautiful images of "the tribal arts of Africa and the great tradition of hand-knotted carpets and textiles of the Orient."   http://www.ethnographica.com/ 


From the Scout Report

The Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page http://www.samueljohnson.com/index.html 

Offering "the most comprehensive collection of Samuel Johnson quotes on the web," this site has over 900 sound-bite sized -- well, eighteenth-century sound-bite sized -- quotations from this recognized master of English prose. The quotations are categorized by topic and can be searched using a sophisticated search engine that allows users to specify words, phrases, exact matches, word forms, or synonyms as well as proximity parameters such as page, paragraph, or sentence. The site also provides a brief biography, a starter bibliography of primary and secondary sources, a timeline of Johnson's life, and links to other sites devoted to Dr. Johnson. The frequently updated site is maintained by amateur scholar Frank Lynch, who works in "the marketing research department of a Fortune 500


September 4th edition of the Internet Essentials '99 Newsletter for the financial professional. http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html 

1. Free Office Software from Sun 
2. A Flaw (in Windows 95/98) Worse Than Melissa 
3. Want Security? Forget Most Web Mail Programs 
4. How the Security on Hotmail was Compromised 
5. Still Playing Games on your PC? New Game Players on the Way 
6. Gift Certificates on the Web 
7. You Gotta Know When to Hold'em..... Online Gambling Cracked 
8. Another Word Macro Virus Alert 
9. Forbes Magazine's 250 Best Finance Sites on the Web 
10. What's Mark Andreessen Reading Online?


AccountingStudents Newsletter: September 7, 1999 http://www.accountingstudents.com 

1. Beta Alpha Psi Opens Doors to Finance and IS Students 
2. How to Start a Career in Financial Management 
3. Why Can't I Get a Job? 
4. Online Accounting Glossary  (Don't forget Bob Jensen's accounting and finance glossary listings at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbus.htm )
5. Survey Results: Do You Plan to Pursue a Master's Degree? 
6. Internship Tools 
7. Time Off: How to Use Vacation and Personal Days 
8. Financial Analyst Lends a Hand to Habitat for Humanity 
9. Tip of the Week: Writing Tips for Non-Writers

AccountingStudents Newsletter: September 13, 1999 http://www.accountingstudents.com 

1. Do Colleges "Hyper-Focus" on the CPA? 
2. How to Select and Work with a Staffing Firm 
3. FAQ about the Financial Services Industry 
4. Survey Results: What Matters Most in a Job? 
5. Career Options: Not-for-Profit Accounting 
6. Survey Uncovers Juicy Facts about Life in the Workplace 
7. Tip of the Week: Resumes to Highlight Skills vs. Experience


Dear Professor Jensen ,

Thomson Learning, formerly International Thomson Publishing, has changed its name to reflect an organizational realignment geared to meet the needs of the higher education community. Thomson recognizes that learning no longer merely takes place in "school," but that learning is truly an on-going, lifelong endeavor.

To assist you with meeting the needs of your "lifelong learners," we are proud to launch new sales representative web sites--accessible 24 hours a day. Our records show that you have requested review or desk materials within the past two years. This is why I thought you might enjoy learning about this exciting new service that will facilitate any further requests for materials or information. To access my personal resource center, go to:

http://www.tl-sales.com/mfoye

This on-line resource center has been established as part of our commitment to providing service to you, and we encourage you to bookmark the site in your web browser. With this new site you can:

Contact our companies, customer service, or me! Tell me about your course and your textbook/technology needs on-line! Check out new and other titles and get prices from our price list! Request review copies and desk materials! Submit your manuscript proposals! Connect to our custom website and build a book on-line! Connect to our virtual book tours and discipline resource centers! Learn how Thomson Learning can host your course on-line with interactive capabilities! Learn about our exclusive agreement with InfoTrac College Edition, which allows you to bundle access to on-line journals with texts at no extra cost! Have Thomson Learning's resources right at your fingertips!

As your local Thomson Learning representative, I will be providing you with service for a number of publishing imprints within the Thomson Learning family, including Brooks/Cole, South-Western, Wadsworth, Delmar, Duxbury, Heinle & Heinle, West, and West Legal Studies. Additionally, I am here to assist you with our suite of technology, products, and services--from textbooks, to InfoTrac College Edition, to hosting your course on-line with us via Web CT. I am committed to providing outstanding, timely service and look forward to assisting you with selecting the very best tools and textbooks for your students!

I hope you find this site useful and I welcome any suggestions you might have for future enhancements.

Sincerely,
Melanie Foye melanie.foye@thomsonlearning.com


And here it is a long last:  The new Academy of Business Education and its new journal.

The following message went out to the Board of Directors of this new association.  I do not see any reason why it cannot be shared with the world.

---------------------------------

Dear Fellow Founding Officers, Directors and Editors of the Academy,

Welcome to the official launching of the Academy of Business Education. After many weeks of work, a four page brochure announcing the new association, the first annual meeting in Bermuda in September, 2000, and the new Journal of Business Education went into the mail today to 21,855 business professors across America. All should receive the mailing some time over the next 2-14 days. I know you all share my excitement for the future of our new association. At the moment my excitement is somewhat masked by my fear of a call from one of you telling me I misspelled your name in the brochure.

Two small, but important items for your attention. First, most faculty will likely go immediately to our web site at http://www.abe.villanova.edu/  seeking to learn more about ABE. Please take a few minutes, as soon as you can, to peruse the site and get back with any comments regarding site unfriendliness, inappropriate information, lack of information, etc. -- i.e., anything that will help the site better sell ABE.

Second, when the mailing shows up at your school, please be an ambassador for the ABE by encouraging your colleagues to join.

Within a couple of months we should have a general idea of what the ABE membership will be, both in terms of size and discipline distribution, as well as interest in the first annual meeting. At that point I will initiate, and distribute, some discussion items that we can use to begin better defining and focusing the association. Please don't hesitate to pass along to me any ideas, suggestions, or criticisms you have. We need lots of input to make it all happen well -- not just happen.

I look forward to working with all of you over the next year.

Kindest regards,

Jean
Villanova University
Jean Heck [jheck@email.villanova.edu



And that's the way it was on September 14, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

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Bob Jensen's Index Page Bob Jensen's Bookmarks New Bookmark Archives

 

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September 4, 1999


Previously, I discussed electronic books and my Rocket e-Book at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99.htm#rocket .

There is now a memory upgrade ($99 until September 30, 1999) that will raise the number of books that you can store at one time from approximately ten books to 100 books --- an additional 32,000 pages of text and graphics. That translates to 100 more books on your Rocket eBook! This powerful upgrade brings you the freedom of conveniently taking even more books, web sites and documents wherever you go. There are now about 1,200 books available for downloading for a fee and another 1,000 (many classics) that can be downloaded free.  Along with the additional memory, you will also have a more extensive dictionary that has over 75,000 definitions with hundreds of new words and meanings.  

I upgraded my Rocket eBook at http://www.rocket-ebook.com/Auto/32meg.html 

You can download eBooks books for a fee from Barnes & Noble at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/subjects/ebooks/ebooks.asp?&sourceid=00096832100249871520&bfdate=09-03-1999+16:29:01 

You can download free eBooks from http://www.rocket-library.com/ 


History and Future of Course Authoring Technologies and Web Authoring http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 


SweetSpot guides to important resources 

Online libraries  http://www.libraryspot.com/

Online and offline books:  http://www.bookspot.com/ 

Online Schools:  http://www.libraryspot.com/schoolsfeature.htm 


Thank you Roger for the reminder of the AICPA's  new web site at http://www.xfrml.org/ 

XFRML (XML-based Financial Reporting Markup Language), will be the digital language of business.  XFRML is a frame work that will allow the financial community a standards-based method to prepare, publish in a variety of formats, exchange and analyze financial reports and the information they contain.  XFRML, which will be free licensed, will also permit the automatic exchange and reliable extraction of financial information among various software applications.  


2000 College Rankings http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/corank.htm 


ASP Industry Consortium --- interactive networked databases  http://www.aspindustry.org/ .


What video does well versus poorly in education http://www.syllabus.com/aug99_magfea.html 


The Trinity University Library Strategic Plan http://www.trinity.edu/departments/library/Strategic_Plan.html   


Apple Details Internet Functionality Of New Mac OS  http://www.internetwk.com/story/INW19990831S0008 

The company today said that it plans in October to deliver a new version of its desktop operating system with enhanced Internet functionality, and has already started shipping new, more powerful business desktop systems.


The latest scoop on eMeetings  http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2319419,00.html 


Information Technology helpers at various universities.  Examples are given below:

Many universities maintain searchable archives of programs. One good example is the UIArchive, hosted by theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The site will give you access to thousands of useful utilities for Windows, Mac OS and other platforms.

Travel to oak.oakland.edu, where you can access dozens of excellent software indexes. A project of Oakland University's Office of Computer and Information Services, the OAK Software Repository houses a mirror of the popular Walnut Creek CD-ROM Simtel.Net Windows and DOS archives.

For links to these and others, go to http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,2320978,00.html 


You can bring an old novel to life by taking a real-life trip into its setting.  See http://www.novelexpeditions.com/ 


Patients can gain access to their medical records over the Web.  For a high-quality RealVideo explanation of how to access your records, go to The Dodge Report at http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/webcast/ 


Social Security Death Index Interactive Search (genealogy research) http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/ 


Research papers on invisible (ubiquitous) computing and the demise of the PC http://www.research.att.com/~amo/doc/networks.html 


eBusiness links brought to my attention by Levy Mitchell

E-Commerce Internet-based Services for Rent Storefronts: 
http://store.yahoo.com
 
http://www.btsw.com
http://www.econgo.com
http://www.affinia.com  

Electronic Software Distribution: 
http://www.cybersource.com
  
http://www.buydirect.com
  

E-Marketing Automation: 
http://www.rubricsoft.com
  
http://www.marketfirst.com
  

Affiliate Marketing: 
http://www.linkshare.com
  
http://www.befree.com
  

Newsletter Distribution: 
http://www.egroups.com
  
http://www.onelist.com
  

Customer Interaction: live communication: 
http://www.liveperson.com
  
http://www.hearme.com
  

Customer Interaction: automated e-mail response 
http://www.brightware.com
  
http://www.egain.com
  

E-mail Marketing: 
http://www.markethome.com
  
http://www.lifeminders.com
  

Online Auctions: 
http://www.ebay.com
  
http://www.amazon.com
  
http://www.moai.com
  
http://www.opensite.com
  

Create Your Own Search Engine: 
http://www.jayde.com
  
http://www.searchbuilders.com
  

Running a Bulletin Board: 
http://www.befree.com
  

Location Mapping: 
http://www.mapquest.com
  
http://www.mapblast.com
   Online Calendar Applications: 
http://www.ecal.com
  
http://www.when.com
  

Actively monitor the online community: 
http://www.ewatch.com
  
http://www.cycheck.com
  
http://www.cyveillance.com
 

For more examples, please check out either of these two Web pages: 
http://ecnow.com/examples.htm
   
http://ecnow.com/Internet_Marketing.htm
 


ISWORLD has a number of resources devoted to e-commerce. Included are cases, syllabi, site design, security, Internet technology, e-markets, applications, social issues and more.
http://www.isworld.org/isworld/ecourse/index.html


From Infobits:

Shortly after the service was announced, critics raised privacy concerns. Responding to the criticism, Amazon.com will now allow customers to opt out of participating in purchase circles if they send an email request to the company. However, customers who never read the privacy policy or visit the purchase circle pages may not know that information about their buying habits is being collected and made public.

For more about Amazon.com's purchase circles, go to http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/community/community.html 


From Infobits:

Education-line, a part of the Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib), was established so that researchers, practitioners, and policy makers from the worlds of education and training can present their work at early stages for immediate review by colleagues world-wide. The archive, which consists mainly of conference pre-prints and "grey" texts, features over 1,000 full-text documents, nine fully searchable programs from recent conferences, and a conference listing service. Authors are encouraged to submit reports, working papers, conference documents, and speeches for inclusion in the archive. Education-line is available at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/c 

The Guide to Network Resource Tools (GNRT) was revised and updated this year. The GNRT is produced by TERENA (Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association) for the user community of its member academic and research networks, but is made freely available to anyone via the Web. The GNRT provides overviews of some of the most popular general and specific Web and search tools, including intelligent agents, collaboration software, and Web publishing aids. GNRT is located at http://www.terena.nl/libr/gnrt/ 


Bob Jensen's latest short story --- My Glimpse of Heaven http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/max01.htm 


TV Eyes is a free email service that will signal you when a TV show on a topic of interest to you will soon be broadcast.  You provide the topics.  http://www.tveyes.com/ 


As part of our national campaign, President Clinton unveiled new TV and radio ads to help parents talk with their children about violence.  http://www.talkingwithkids.org/ 


Adobe is leading the way in developing methods for web delivery of printable content. They have announced a new technology called Webuy, which allows Acrobat Reader to download encrypted content and buy a key to unlock that content. See http://cgi1.adobe.com/acrobat/webbuy/webbuybeta.html 

Richard J. Campbell RJ Interactive http://www.rj-int.com  mailto:campbell@rj-int.com 


WebTrust accountancy enthusiasts may want to take a look a the VeriSign article (security) at http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,1016187,00.html 


How to do it helpers.  http://www.ehow.com/home/home.asp 


"Psst! Hey, buddy! Wanna buy a new car?" http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,2321707,00.html 


Michelle Bushey must like beer (or maybe its just the chemistry of beer that interests her).  What's interesting is that she sent this message to her husband via email.  Do you suppose Dennis was out drinking beer at the time? http://www.slate.com/Shopping/99-08-30/Shopping.asp 


Discovering China http://library.advanced.org/26469/ 


Top 50 Freebes on the web http://www.zdnet.com/swlib/hotfiles/free50.html 


Smart Stops on the Web recommended in the Journal of Accountancy, September 1999, pg. 16.

Tax information http://www.taxresources.com/  

Tax Links  http://users.visi.net/~gillco/tax_tech.htm   

Northern Light has a unique approach to make web searches more efficient that takes you to query topics http://www.northernlight.com/  (many tax topics here)

International, federal, and state tax forms and tax guides  http://www.ei.com/elinks/taxes (I could not get this link to work.)

SEC research  and global securities information http://www.gsionline.com/ 

Helpers for professionals http://www.professionalcity.com/ 

An Ernst & Young site on U.S. pending legislation and other political matters affecting small business (White House Conference on Small Business) http://www.whcsb.org/  (This site opens with an audio drum roll.)

Aids in finding speakers and consultants http://www.onbusiness.net/ (media clips of over 200 experts)

Information about charitable gift giving and taxation  http://www.pgdc.net/ 

Guides on protocol and manners http://www.protocolconsultants.com/ 


The Commonwealth of Learning
The Development of Virtual Education: A global perspective
A study of current trends in the virtual delivery of education, conducted with funding provided by the Department for International Development, London, UK  http://www.col.org/virtualed/index.htm 

By clicking on the various hyperlinks below you will be able to open the chapters in Acrobat (.PDF) format.  On-line "bookmarks" are available in the PDF files to take you directly to Chapter sub-heads. 


A while back, Tom Omer pointed out to me that Acrobat 4.0 (writer not reader) allowed one to edit pdf docs. My tax projects use forms that students download from the IRS site so I thought that would be neat. Today I finally played with my new acrobat. I learned that one can add text comments (not just use the electronic pencil and draw). I have attached my annotated version of the notorious Form 4797 that is used for business property dispositions. I am so darn happy to be able to add notes that I just had to do a show and tell. Some of us never grow up. I love technology!!!!
Amy Dunbar  adunbar@sba.uconn.edu     860/486-5138


Below is a description of the September/October issue of The Technology Source, a free refereed Web periodical  http://horizon.unc.edu/TS. Please forward this announcement to colleagues who are interested in using information technology tools more effectively in educational organizations.

Everyone has a vision of the future of education; Judith Boettcher, executive director of the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking, is no exception. But in addition to looking forward to the day when programmable robots will provide learning resources and "embedded" teachers will manage virtual classrooms, Boettcher also looks back to these age-old questions: What is learning? What is teaching? What is the value of an academic experience? In order to build a worthwhile future, she tells interviewer James Morrison, we must "reevaluate everything" that hitherto has structured educational institutions.

Is something essential to higher education sacrificed when college and university courses take place online rather than on-campus? Two scholars debate that topic in the Commentary section. Point: James Perley questions the efficacy of online institutions that offer courses designed by one person, taught by another, and graded by yet another. "This system introduces elements of rigidity and homogeneity that interfere with the more interesting elements of learning," he argues. Perley defends the traditional university and elaborates on the "vital elements" students could lose "if they take their education only as far as their computers." Counterpoint: /TS/commentary/ - counterpoint Mary Harrsch responds with a critique of the higher-education status quo, suggesting that on-line education alternatives may assure academic freedom, encourage creativity, and respond to student needs even better than the traditional university.

In the first of two case studies, three professors describe Teaming in Cyberspace (TIC), a course they recently team-taught at George Mason University. Because of the nature of the subject, Stephen Ruth and his colleagues convened students in a classroom only four times; they replaced in-class activities with TV and audiocassette lectures, reflective writing assignments, self-paced learning exercises, linkages with online teaming practitioners, and an online conference about knowledge management. The result? Almost all students gave the course an excellent evaluation, and the professors now confidently recommend that others try teaching in the "middle ground": somewhere between high-tech and high-touch.

Not all important technological advances happen at the cutting-edge; some result from novel combinations of existing hardware and software, as Matthew Nickerson explains in this issue's second case study. At the Gerald R. Sherratt Library at Southern Utah University, technology specialists have integrated four existing technologies in order to provide patrons with unprecedented online access to the library's special collections. The system makes finding a 1910 photograph of southern Utah's first college graduates as easy as locating a popular book. Discover how by reading further, and try the technology for yourself by following Nickerson's easy instructions.

When conducting faculty and staff development programs, instructional technologists often talk about "integrating technology into teaching" or "teaching with technology." Mark Donovan believes that these phrases should be avoided because they keep the term technology on center stage. "In order to be truly effective and transformative," Donovan tells us, "these technologies must be bundled with dynamic instructional methods and approaches." At the University of Washington, Donovan and his colleagues focus on the innovative teaching strategies that make new technology effective in the classroom. Does this rhetorical shift make a difference? You bet. Find out how in "Rethinking Faculty Support."

The New American Schools (NAS) Website, this month's Spotlight Site, offers valuable ideas for schools and educators interested in promoting educational change on the organizational level. The site describes seven innovative designs for school organization, including a Modern Red Schoolhouse model where students learn in divisions, rather than grades, and pass specific skill and knowledge tests to move to the next division. Besides detailing each model, the site provides links to publications by NAS and to information on the organization's mission and goals. Readers seeking a glimpse of the possibilities for 21st-century elementary, middle, and high schools will enjoy this site for both its informative content and its accessible design.

For more details see http://horizon.unc.edu/TS 


Accounting Software Vendors Listed on Page 36 of the Journal of Accountancy, September 1999
Products Vendor Contacts
ACCPAC for Windows


ACCPAC International
Craig Downing
925-461-6716
http://www.accpac.com/ 
Acuity Applications
MAS 90 for Windows
BusinessWorks for Windows
State of the Art
Taylor Mac Donald
770-804-5845
http://www.sota.com
Crystal Reports


Seagate Software
Phil Walston
800-877-2340
http://www.crystalreports.com
Forest & Trees


Platinum Technologies
John Ulrey
603-430-6587
http://www.platinum.com
FRx


FRx Software
Robert Rohan
303-741-8000
http://www.frxsoft.com
Great Plains Dynamics
Great Plains Dynamics C/S+

Great Plains Software
Pamela Kram
281-265-1662
http://www.greatplains.com
Navision Financials


Navision Software--US
Geni Whitehouse
770-798-8386
http://www.navision-us.com
Peachtree Complete Accounting
for Windows

Peachtree Software
Cynthia Williams
770-564-5700
http://www.peachtree.com
Platinum for Windows
Platinum ERA

Epicor Software
Tami Eshelman
800-999-1809
http://www.epicor.com
QuickBooks Pro 99


Intuit
Richard Walker
619-453-4446
http://www.quickbooks.com
RealWorld Expertise.LAN
RealWorld Expertise.SQL

RealWorld Software
Christine Gilroy
800-678-6336
http://www.realworld.com
SAP R/3

Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245glosap.htm 
SAP Software
Ken Bernstein
973-331-6000
http://www.sap.com
SBT ProSeries
SBT Executive Series

SBT Corp.
Brian Austin
415-444-9900
http://www.sbtcorp.com 
Solomon IV for Windows
Solomon IV for BackOffice

Solomon Software
Cindy Bechtel
419-424-0422, ext. 485
http://www.solomon.com
Traverse


Open Systems Accounting Software
Amy Reynolds
612-403-5726
http://www.osas.com

Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/survey1.htm 



And that's the way it was on September 4, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

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Bob Jensen's Index Page Bob Jensen's Bookmarks New Bookmark Archives

 

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August 31, 1999


I was invited to submit an article entitled "History and Future of Course Authoring Technologies."  For a very short time, I have placed a draft version of this article at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm.  Before I send it off to the publisher, perhaps some of my friends on the web can help me improve the sections on the past, present, and future of course authoring for web delivery.  


The August 29 PBS television show called Computer Chronicles featured the 1999 Codie Award winners.  The Codie awards to software developers are the equivalent to the black tie ceremony for the Oscars in Hollywood.  There are too many awards to list in detail here, but you can obtain such a listing at http://www.cmptv.com/computerchronicles/shows/98-99/1649codies/1649-summary.html 

Congratulations need to be extended to Peachtree Accounting.  The 1999 Codie Award for the Best New Business Software was Peachtree Office Accounting

In the Education category, the award winners were as follows:

Best New Home Education For Children
Awesome Animated MonsterMaker Math

Best New Home Education For Pre-teens
Star Wars DroidWorks

Best New Home Education For Teenager And Adults
RedShift 3


Another interesting PBS television weekly show is Small Business 2000.   The web site is at http://www.sb2000.com/.  One of the more interesting options at this web site is on the Mentors tab.  This is designed to help small businesses in many ways, including overcoming the massive paperwork for meeting SEC rules on stock offerings of a small business.  The August 29 show featured the U7 form for stock offering (Click on the Money form for a free download.)

There are also videotapes available regarding Access to Money by small businesses.  Click on the Orders tab.


L&H Voice Xpress Professional has some key advantages over leading voice recognition software according to Jeff Angus in "Balanced Skills Make Voice Xpress a Winner," in Information Week, August 23, 1999, pp. 56-59.  The online version is at http://www.informationweek.com/749/voice.htm.  One of the advantages is that voice training only takes about a third as much time as the training required for Dragon Systems.  Another advantage is integration with Office 2000 products, especially Internet Explorer 5.0.  You can dictate Office 2000 instructions by voice.  Jeff Angus states the following

With about eight hours of use, Voice Xpress worked well enough for me to prefer it to typing. With 12 hours of use (work and training) it's a hands-down winner.

Voice Xpress still requires more help from me than I'd like recognizing Windows and application commands. Even going to the Voice Xpress toolbar and clicking the button that tells the utility to expect a command doesn't guarantee it will recognize my command every time.

In terms of desktop applications, Voice Xpress works best with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, both text-intensive processes. I struggled a little bit to have it work with my spreadsheet, and while it occasionally pulled the correct set of format and numbers ($1,287, for example) out of a string of spoken input, this complex task requires more training. Users who work extensively with spreadsheets may find the payback time quick enough.

The web site for Voice Xpress is at http://wemark.com/oivl.html.  The base price is $149.  Beware that you should not even think about this product without 96 Mb of RAM with Windows 98 and 128 Mb of Ram with Windows NT.  I think I will wait for this product to be a bit more user friendly.  When there's a Voice Xpress for Dummies I will be the first in line.


For high-end researchers there is a wonderful forthcoming product called OpenViz for visualizing data on a PC.  However, the starting price of $7,500 is a bit of a hurdle.  You can read about this on Page 36 of Information Week, August 23, 1999 (I can't find an online version of this news item).  According to Beth Davis, industry experts think this product will push data visualization into the mainstream of data analysis.  The product is called OpenViz from Advanced Visual Systems, Inc. at http://www.avs.com/openviz/index.asp.  OpenViz sounds like the type of thing that would be right up David Ziebart's alley for financial analysis.  (I will always be grateful for the time when David gave me a tour of the VR Cave at the University of Illinois.)


If you have a lot of graphics files, there is a wonderful product with an unbelievably low price of $80 called ThumbsPlus at http://www.cerious.com/.  The product received a very high rating from NewMedia Labs as reported in NewMedia, September 1999, pg. BS10.  This is an especially powerful piece of software for editing, organizing, and viewing various types of media.  It will also build web pages. You can organize and search for files based only on the file header.  Insurance companies use ThumbsPlus to catalog accident claims.  In addition to automatically generating thumbnail images for graphics, ThumbsPlus lets you batch process editing of graphics (e.g., adjusting for resolution, color balance, applying filters, etc.).  NASA is a big time user of ThumbsPlus.


If you are interested in the future of networked databases, I highly recommend the article entitled ""The i Gets Bigger at Oracle," by Michael Bucken in Application Development Trends, August 1999, pp. 20-33.  This article serves two purposes.  The first purpose is to inform us about the major transitions of database networking into Internet networking of databases.  The second purpose is to provide strategy professors and consultants with an excellent case study on how high-tech companies must "constantly re-invent themselves."  The online version of this article is at http://www.adtmag.com/Pub/aug99/fe0803a.htm 

For metadata and XML watchers, there is an excellent article in that same issue entitled ""Meta is the Word" by Rich Seeley and Jack Vaughn, Application and Development Trends, August 1999. pp. 43-48.  The online version is at http://www.adtmag.com/Pub/aug99/fe0801.htm.  Another great XML article is entitled "Biz Talk could Spur XML and E-Business," by Don Kiely in Information Week, August 23, 1999, pp. 94-76 The online version is at http://www.informationweek.com/749/talk.htm.  Don Kiely states the following:

Microsoft is strongly behind XML, as demonstrated by the addition of native data support to develop technologies such as ActiveX Data Objects. As a result, XML documents are a native format in the Internet Explorer 5.0 Web browser. Microsoft also serves on the World Wide Web Consortium's XML standard committee.

To further capitalize on the growing interest in XML, Microsoft in May introduced BizTalk, a design framework for XML. By developing an XML schema under the BizTalk guidelines, data can be shared easily between applications using a loosely coupled, message-based system across a network or running on the same machine. Because BizTalk provides a repository for schemas, all applications can have access to the data definitions contained in the schema.

The current version, 0.81, consists of four documents: Biz Talk Framework XML Tags Specification, Biz Talk Framework Document Design Guide, XML Schema Developer's Guide, and a guide to a schema canonical format.

Along the Biz Talk line, Bill Gates had the following to say in a recent speech having a transcription at http://www.microsoft.com/MSFT/speech/analystmtg99/gatesfam99.htm:

In this paperless revolution, you will have a document that's quite rich. I mean, the document we've got here it's got links to other documents, it's got annotations, it's got things that are highlighted embedded in the document, depending on the mode of viewing you choose, you actually have discussion, people who say I don't agree with this, I think this is an interesting thing. And if there's anything in there that it recognizes, a reference to a book or music, for example, all of the verbs, like I want to buy that, or I want to get more information on that, are immediately available as you right click. So it's not just text. It's actually real world objects that are being referred to there, by having the XML schemas in the document. So we have a thing called Windows Schema that's part of our Biz Talk initiative that defines how that rich information is available in all the text that you work with in all your documents.

Also see "Oracle's Long and Winding Repository Road," at http://www.adtmag.com/Pub/aug99/fe0802.htm.  


Neil Balthaser writes "Kill HTML Before It Kills Us," in NewMedia, September 1999. pg. 22.  The online version is at http://newmedia.com/NewMedia/99/09/architects/Kill_HTML.html.  In his own words, Neil Balthaser asserts the following:

Recently I was on a keynote panel addressing the future of the Web. The crowning moment came when the moderator displayed an HTML page before a crowd of hundreds, on 15-foot über-screens, and praised its "creative" use of fields! To emphasize her point, she changed the title from "The Art Center College of Design" to "The Fart Center College of Design."

This is how we're supposed to captivate the world and grab the attention of the masses? I don't think so.

Right now, raging all around us, is an enormous battle for mindshare. The movie studios are creating bigger blockbusters; stores are re-creating themselves as "community centers"; and gyms are adding translucent shower room walls so fitness buffs can watch anonymous figures lather up as they're working out. Yet among these distractions, do any stunning HTML pages spring to mind? How can we expect to survive this battle with HTML as our only weapon?

The simple answer is, we can't. Yet we continue to try.

I can hear your HTML programmers now: "But being creative using the simplest of tools shows the greatest creativity of all!" While this may be true, it's beside the point. If simple is best, how many master ASCII artists have you hired? Etching on film may be the simplest method of creating special effects, but that doesn't mean the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park were etched on film. People are demanding better, hotter, and sexier forms of entertainment, and we're not going to give it to them with HTML. As an industry, we have to find and support other solutions.

Currently, Flash is our best weapon. Drop HTML, pick up Flash, and really learn it -- then push it. It offers the most robust authoring environment around, and it's backed by a single company that is focused on creating great tools. If Java had this kind of dedication behind it, I'd recommend it as well. But for all of Java's strengths, it lacks a great, nontechnical authoring environment -- and that's what unleashes creativity and gives a new medium a life of its own.

Mr. Balthaser makes some good points, especially with respect to graphics, animation, and multimedia.  However, it seems unlikely that Flash will ever replace HTML.  At Macromedia's http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/productinfo/features/  you read the following:

Easily design and reliably deliver high-impact, low-bandwidth Web sites to all browsers. Flash is the only solution that lets you produce sites with vector and bitmap graphics, motion, MP3 audio, form input, and interactivity. Leading high-traffic consumer and portal sites use Flash to deliver engaging experiences that attract and excite Web users everywhere.

Be that as it may, text has many advantages over other forms of media.  For example, text is the most efficient form of communication for search engines (at least until we really get serious about metadata, RDF, and XML).  Flash cannot hold a candle to text formatting in FrontPage and Microsoft Office products such as PowerPoint and Word.  Excel 2000 documents can now be saved in dynamic HTML (see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/dhtml/excel01.htm ).  Microsoft Access 2000 documents can be saved in dynamic HTML.  Macromedia has never suggested that its Flash software can replace its own Macromedia Dreamweaver.  My point here is that HTML is not even close to dying.  The frustration at the moment is that for web authoring, we need an entire tool box filled with FrontPage, Dreamweaver, PowerPoint, and a host of other products including (possibly) Flash.  

Now that PowerPoint reads so well in Internet Explorer and has audio capabilities via RealPresenter (http://www.real.com/products/tools/presenter/index.html ), perhaps some of you can help me with the question of whether Flash really can or should replace FrontPage and PowerPoint.  I think not. I do think HTML will shrink in importance as networked databases grow in popularity, but it would seem that Flash will remain a small niche in a very large market.


I think Mr. Balthaser fails to appreciate the foothold that PowerPoint has on web delivery.  Taking the power and usefulness of Designer's Edge another step further, Allen Communication has created PowerPoint Synergy, which will allow the storyboards you create in Designer's Edge to be exported seamlessly into Microsoft PowerPoint. This synergy exports storyboard objects to PowerPoint that include text, graphics, audio and video. Once in PowerPoint, you can insert additional transitions and special effects, expanding the functions already supported by Designer's Edge.  See http://www.allencomm.com/download/ppsyndown.html.  

You can read about Designer's Edge at http://www.allencomm.com/software/designer/  and http://www.amethyst.co.uk/amethyst/design.htm.


David Albrecht has made his Real Money accounting simulation education game (that uses the well-known Monopoly Game) available on the web  at http://www.profalbrecht.com/classes/acct321/realmoney/ 


The FEI is making both the RealAudio and hard copy transcriptions of a recent teleconference available on SEC's Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 99 (on Materiality).  Lynn Turner, SEC Chief Accountant, was kind enough to offer up this opportunity to let FEI members be in front of this emerging issue.  There are some archived files available on other topics as well.  See http://www.fei.org/teleconf/teleindx.htm 


How do heavy hitters spell network collaboration software?  Try  MediaDepot from eMedia-IT Solutions at http://www.emediait.com/.  MediaDepot even provides free web server space.

Your content is valuable. Don't risk losing a file or having the wrong person viewing material that is for your eyes only. Until today, most creative professionals had few options when sharing their materials with clients and colleagues. They could post a client's mock-up on an URL for them (and their competition) to view, or they had to email or FTP all of the materials to a secure server. Now, web developers, graphic designers, photographers, anyone can put their content in a safe place where only authorized members can access. There is no need for FTP software or the agonizing wait for all of those files to download into your mailbox.

MediaDepot is Y2K compliant and backed up on a daily basis, to make sure that your content is always in its place. Learn more about MediaDepot's network and security measures.

MediaDepot received raves by the NewMedia Labs as reported in NewMedia, September 1999, pg. BS13.

Speaking of collaboration, sometimes collaboration really pays off .http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2315755,00.html 


You are invited to attend the 1999 Colloquium on Change in Accounting Education sponsored by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Join us November 4th through 7th in the breathtaking high desert, red rock country of Sedona, Arizona, just a two-hour drive north of Phoenix.  http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/meetings/imacolloquium.htm 


Aaron asked me once again for the web site that compares book prices and shipping costs.  It's a great web site that Amazon wishes would go away.  To compare prices and shipping costs on books, find the ISBN number and then go to http://isbn.nu/. Amazon is not very competitive. BN is quite competitive, although for a small annual fee you can get your best deals from online book clubs.

Outside the realm of book purchasing, online shopping helpers are emerging that will help find the lowest prices on virtually all products.  See the Business Week article at http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug1999/sw90817.htm 
(Marketing)


This is a big-time conference for heavy hitters on October 27-29 - Gilder/Forbes New Economy Conference at the Millennium Broadway.

The New Economy is a unique forum focused on the transformation of corporate value.

Designed for senior executives, corporate strategists, financial professionals and forward-looking investors, it offers a front-row seat on the future of business and the people at the highest levels who are making it happen today.

How can you build lasting value in an economy built on constant change? How do you compete when market boundaries are collapsing? How do you make your own new rules? How do you manage when everyone's a decision-maker? Can old economy companies learn new economy tricks? How do you spot tomorrow's blue chips today?

Lots of people talk the new talk. The New Economy walks it. Come to New York in October and meet the people building the future.

There is a description and sign-up form at http://www.neweconomywatch.com/conf/ .  Sign up before September 17, and the registration fee is only $2,195.  At that discounted price, don't look for many attendees from academe.


From my good friend Yvonne 

Please take a few minutes of your valuable time to check the latest information on the Quest for Global Competitiveness Forum 2000, an interdisciplinary and multi cultural conference to be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Share the information with friends and colleagues! http://upracd.upr.clu.edu:9090/~fucol/quest2000.html 

Prof. Yvonne L. Huertas, CPA, CMA University of Puerto Rico School of Business Administration PO Box 23326 San Juan, PR 00931-3326

(W) 787-764-0000 Ext. 4002 (F) 787-763-6911


The featured course material sharing comes this week from Columbia University.  The site is maintained by Paul Johnson and Michael Mauboussin at http://www.capatcolumbia.com/ 

 This Website is designed to deliver material from the Securities Analysis and Investment Courses at The Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York City.

 In addition to course materials, there is a section on Value Based Research for researchers.


I love to keep on hammering about Ask Jeeves artificial intelligence.  Recall that I gave you a summary of Ask Jeeves at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99b.htm#jeeves 

Eileen Colkin reports (Information Week, August 16, 1999, pg. 14) that Ask Jeeves has pirated five executives from top technology firms over the past three months.  This is a good sign that good things are happening at http://www.askjeeves.com/.  I still think that a R1 university with lots of money (like maybe an enormous research school up in Austin) should commence to build an Ask Jeeves  natural language knowledge database for business, accounting, and finance.  We need you Dean Bob May.  


Webmonkey's eCommerce Tutorials  http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/e-business/tutorials/tutorial3.html 

In just five easy lessons, this tutorial will show you how to generate a realistic e-business plan; create a site design that caters to your online customers; deal with things like credit cards, tax, shipping, and security; and decide whether you should build, buy, or rent an e-commerce solution to manage your site's transactions. You'll also learn how to attract new customers by refining your marketing programs.


The following news item is from the EDUCAUSE listserv August 26, 1999. Thought it might be of some interest to AECM.

ONLINE U. More institutions of higher education are trying to reach students who do not fit the standard residential degree program by offering individual courses or even entire degree programs on the Internet. Both traditional schools and cyber startups are involved in the transference of residential higher education to the Internet. Management guru Peter F. Drucker predicts traditional residential higher education will be obsolete within 30 years. "The Virtual University and Education Opportunity," a report released in April of 1999, questions the effectiveness of online learning because only 16 percent of households that make less than $15,000 own computers, compared with 75 percent of households that earn more than $75,000. A large racial divide exists between those who are online and those who are not, even after variables such as income, class, and education were accounted for, say Donna Hoffman and Tom Novak, e-commerce specialists at Vanderbilt University. (Scientific American 07/99)

Uday S. Murthy, Ph.D., 
ACA Associate Professor of Accounting & Ljungdahl Fellow Lowry Mays 
College of Business 
Texas A&M University College Station TX 77843-4353 
Voice: 409-845-5017 Fax: 409-845-0028 URL: http://acct.tamu.edu/murthy 


XOOM.com is an interesting web site to keep track of over time.  It will soon become part of NBCi Media.  For virtually anybody, XOOM offers free "unlimited" server space and email services.  There are also greeting cards, etc.  But more importantly, XOOM has just purchased an email encryption company called Private One, Inc.  Community groups such as AARP or most any other virtual community can now commence to market products via a secure eCommerce web site.  It is even possible to market education and training courses via XOOM.   See http://xoom.com/home/ .   


A RealVideo interview with Gerald Pitts, Chair of the Department of Computer Science, Trinity University.  Go to http://www.cs.trinity.edu/tour/pitts/index.html .

He answers interview questions to the following questions:

To see the video with the audio, go to http://www.cs.trinity.edu/tour/pitts/index.html .


News from or about Microsoft Corporation

Note from Bob Jensen:  Every Windows user should take this precaution
Now available for download, the following update addresses the Excel "ODBC Driver" Vulnerability:
  http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/mdac_typ.htm 

A fast-spreading Y2K hoax http://www.microsoft.com/y2k/hoax/y2khoax.htm  

Improved Clip Gallery in Office 2000 http://www.microsoft.com/insider/office2000/articles/impgal.htm 


A free beta version of software that is becoming quite popular for protecting the privacy of your web site is described at http://www.zeroknowledge.com/ .


Buy a ticket to wealth or poverty by buying into forthcoming IPOs ---  http://www.lycos.com/computers/downloads/ 

And if you make it big, Lycos can tell you how to spend it on auctions --- http://auctions.lycos.com/


Anybody interested in IT training should read the article at http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2315757,00.html 


I stumbled onto a pretty good set of technology bookmarks maintained in England by Richard McMahon at  http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~rgm/bookmarks/  


Rebuilding ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2318287,00.html 

For email messages from ERP educators see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245glosap.htm 


The U.S. Army is spending millions on this stuff at http://www.sun.com/jini/ 

JiniTM connection technology is based on a simple concept. Devices should work together. They should simply connect. No drivers to find, no operating system issues, no weird cables and connectors. Yet Jini technology also introduces some exciting new concepts and capabilities.

Instant On: When you plug a Jini technology-enabled device into the network, it works. Right away. No fuss. Its services and resources are immediately available. Impromptu community: Jini software lets all devices work together, so you can create your own personal network or community--any time, anywhere. Connect your home appliances so you can control them centrally. Connect your office equipment so people can share resources. Connect to services from the road. Interact with other Jini communities quickly and easily. Resilient: Jini technology communities adapt very quickly to changes. As users come and go, the community lives on. And the Jini community is always available, while the Service Age allows the systems to be more tolerant and redundant. Special delivery: Jini technology services are available on demand, whenever they are needed.


Who says nobody makes money on the web?

Sales at Dell.com are now up to $30 million per day according to Michael Dell, and 27,000 enterprise customers now use customized Premier Pages to order products and get a worldwide view of their IT assets.  http://www.internetwk.com/story/INW19990825S0006 

Also see http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,1016095,00.html 


Cognition and the Brain http://www2.bc.edu/~richarad/lcb/ 


What's hot in web publishing?  http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/99/34/index0a.html?tw=frontdoor 

Lycos links to free stuff for web publishing and other activities http://www.lycos.com/computers/downloads/ 


Great Economists and Their Times http://www.frbsf.org/econedu/curriculum/great/ 


Institute of Decision Sciences http://dsi.gsu.edu/ 


EncycloZine http://EncycloZine.com/ 


On August 30 on pg. 66, Newsweek Magazine has nothing but good things to say about paying $7.95 or $9.95 monthly to have Paymybills.com take over the chore of paying your bills.  See http://www.paymybills.com/index.html.


If you are trying to hire a techie, this is a good place to begin http://www.jobengine.com/ 


Lycos recommends that you go to this web site whenever you are making a health insurance decision http://www.healthaxis.lycos.com/cgi-bin/laslink/home_ly 


If your health insurance fails, you may be interested in obituaries ---  http://www.obituarycoding.com/ 


California law requirint companies selling to CA residents through a Web site to include their refund policy and physical location and contact information in the Web site.

I found the answer to my own question at the Web site for the Association of Online Professionals: http://www.aop.org . Take a look under 'legislation' then under 'legislation you need to know about'. In talking with a person knowledgeable about constitutional law, however, there is a real question whether California can effectively regulate inter-state or inter-national commerce. This might just be one of those feel-good things that politicians like to do.

Scott Bonacker, CPA McCullough, Officer & Company, LLC Springfield, Missouri moccpa.com


Jasc is pleased to announce a special offer that is sure to move "quickly!"  ( I like this software mainly as a protection against virus infections when reading email attachments in Word and Excel files, but there are some other advantages as well.)  

For a limited time, buy award-winning Quick View Plus 5.1 for ONLY $29 - a savings of $30! - and get Speedlane, the ultimate Internet optimizer for FREE (a $20 value).

To take advantage of this very special bundle, click here: http://www.jasc.com/special/18860   (Bob Jensen has no financial interest when forwarding any product announcements.)


Welcome to the August 27th edition of the Internet Essentials '99 Newsletter for the financial professional. http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html 

Here are this week's topics:

1. NetLedger: Outsourced Accounting System for Small Business

2. Dell to Provide Customer Service Via Direct Internet Connection with PC

3. Buy Your College Text Books Online and Save

4. Financial Engines:  Track your 401(k) Performance

5. Want to Own Your Own Online Store?  For Free?

6. Move Over Priceline.com, You Have New Competition



And that's the way it was on August 31, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

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Bob Jensen's Index Page Bob Jensen's Bookmarks New Bookmark Archives

 

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August 24, 1999


I need a favor.  I started to revise the document entitled "High-End Web Authoring Courseware Shells and Other Authoring Software" at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245soft1.htm.  In the process, I discovered that new products and services are emerging so fast that any revision will be outdated the day I dare call it a "revised document."

I would like you to answer one or more of the questions that I raise near the top of the document at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245soft1.htm.  There are various interesting topics.  Probably the most interesting is the fact that Blackboard and CyberClass now provide external course servers that allow instructors to put up courses and collect royalties.  In the past, these full-line "external-system" web servers limited interactive web courses to colleges who wanted to avoid the headaches of maintaining interactive shell servers that have online testing and grading, online chat rooms, online discussion threading, etc.  For example, I learned last week that the University of Northern Arizona now offers 60 online courses at eCollege.  To my knowledge, the eCollege course servers still are limited to use by students enrolled in participating schools like UNA.  Hundreds of other college courses are available at Blackboard and Cyberclass.  But aside from eCollege, the new controversial wrinkle is that instructors can set up their own courses and collect royalties from students from anywhere in the world.  Both Blackboard and Cyberclass will pay royalties to instructors.  This raises all sorts of questions, some of which I mention in my "need a favor" document at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245soft1.htm.  

I would especially like to know about any products that I failed to identify in each category.  Contributing to this document may help many other faculty and administrators faced with decisions about whether to go internal or external with the serving up of interactive course materials.


I would like to update my electronic book discussion.  On July 30, 1999 I discussed the advantages and disadvantages (to publishers and students) of authoring electronic books that cannot be read on computers and cannot even be photocopied or scanned.  The three products to date are Rocket eBook, SoftBook, and the forthcoming EveryBook.  You can read about these at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99.htm#Rocket.

On April 18, 1999 I discussed how you can download "library rental" books from netLibrary.  On April 5, 1999 on Page 17, Newsweek Magazine discussed a new entrant to the online book market called netLibrary.  Unlike previous electronic books from publishing houses, netLibrary is a rental library for online education and professional book market.  Another difference is that the books themselves can be used on a PC using special downloading software called Knowledge Station that runs in Microsoft Windows. See http://www.netlibrary.com /.

Now for the update.  On the August 22 PBS show Computer Chronicles, Stewart Cheifet stated the following:

Now for my pick of the week. One of the hot new uses of the Internet is for listening to audio. There are sites like Broadcast.com where you can listen to radio stations. And there are sites like MP3 where you can listen to and download CD quality music. But one of the fastest growing uses of audio in general is books on tape. And there is a Web site and an audio player, designed specifically for spoken word audio.

The player is called the Audible. It's a solid state audio player. You can listen to it using headphones, or you can use the included cassette adapter to listen on your car radio. To download an audio book, you log on to Audible.com and select from thousands of available books. The cost for the books is about the half the price you would pay for the cassette version of the same book on tape. I've downloaded the John Grisham novel "Testament".

You can automate the download process by scheduling feeds in the middle of the night. And if the book you want is longer than the memory capacity of the player, the software automatically updates the player and replaces sections you've listened to with new sections. The player itself lets you skip forward or backward to a chapter, or to another book. It also lets you insert bookmarks so you can easily go back to a certain place in the book. The Audible comes with a simple docking station which plugs into your serial port. This also acts as a battery charger.

Cost for the player is about two hundred dollars but you can get it for $99 if you agree to buy a minimum number of books online.

The Audible's web site is at http://www.audible.com/.


I want to thank the professors who participated in my CPE workshops in San Diego on August 14 and 15.  They are all daring professors in one way or another.  When I find time to digitize my tapings of their presentations, I will add audio excerpts to my online "Daring Professors" document.


News from or about the American Accounting Association

Thanks go to Barry Rice and Julie David Smith for their fine Toolkit presentations on August 18 at the AAA Annual Meetings.  Also, my hat is off to Tracey Southerland and Dan Madigan for their efforts in bringing us the forthcoming Toolkit CD-ROM funded jointly by the AAA and the AICPA.  See http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/newsarc/toolkit.htm.

Accounting education programs may also be interested in the AAA's new Academic Partners and Benchmarking project.  See http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/about/brochures/partbench.htm.  Other academic disciplines may want to follow the AAA's lead in this endeavor.

In the face of declining membership, the AAA has launched the Member-Get-A-Member Campaign.  AAA members should read about this, because there may be a significant reward in it for members who find new members.  In the August 18 luncheon in San Diego, Craig Polhemus made it very clear why this is so important to the AAA.

We can now order the audio presentations of virtually all presentations (including plenary sessions) at the American Accounting Association annual meetings (excluding the preliminary CPE workshops). I ordered the $199 CD that contains all presentations in MP3 audio compression that will play on most PCs.  You can also order individual tapes. The web site is at http://www.tsok.net . The company is Sound of Knowledge, Inc., 4901 Morena Blvd. Suite 207, San Diego, CA 92117. Telephones are 858-483-4300 (voice) and 858-483-4900 (fax).  Abstracts of these presentations are available at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/highlights.htm .  Abstracts of CPE workshops can be found at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpelist.htm 

My hat is off to the AAA staff and Dee's staff for arranging an outstanding set of meetings in one of the best convention sites in the United States --- perhaps the best convention site in the U.S.  Also my congratulations to Mike Diamond who served as President of the AAA this year.  His entire team did a good job.  Change is on the way in the AAA (it rhymes).

Unfortunately, Craig Polhemus reports that sales of the audio tapes are so low that annual meeting sessions will probably not be recorded in the future.  What would be nice is for AAA members and students to purchase enough of the tapes from the 1999 recordings to make it worthwhile for Sound of Knoledge to record the Year 2000 meetings in Philadelphia.  


Thank you for the tip Andrew Priest.
Are your web sites legal? (NY Times) http://www.accountingeducation.com/news/news422.html  


On the August 22 PBS show Computer Chronicles, there was some scary information about the Y2K problem.  I have been lulled into complacency by assuming this was mostly hype stirred up by consultants who wanted to exploit the system.  It turns out, however, that most of us may encounter some Y2K "oh no's"  on our own PCs.  For example, did you ever enter dates in any stored Excel workbooks by entering only two digits for the year?  For example, did you ever write something like 8/24/99?  There are some easy and free fixes out there if you take the time and trouble to download some widgets.  

One of the funniest examples given on the show was a picture of  one of the Shell Oil Corporation credit cards issued recently that expire in the Year 1000.

In any case, the show's web site had some very useful links, including links to Microsoft's Y2K fix-it widgets.  The show's recommended links are as follows at http://www.cmptv.com/computerchronicles/shows/98-99/1648y2k/1648-summary.html 

SFGate: Y2K, Approaching the New Millenium
Old Advice Lurks On Y2K Web Sites
Y2K - Are We Ready?
Year 2000 Resource
Is Your PC Year 2000-Proof?
Preparing for the Year 2000
Year 2000 Resources for IT Managers
BeyondComputing
PC Week Online
The Securities and Exchange Commission's Web Site
The CompuMentor Year 2000 Workbook for Nonprofits and Other Y2K Help Tips

This morning (August 24), PC Week Online contains a really helpful link to an article on how to protect against Y2K problems with Excel.  See http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2318285,00.html.


The August 22 PBS Digital Duo  had a good show on health web sites and problems with snake oil sales sites for health cures.  The AMA web site scored low and was viewed as shallow and having a glossary that is difficult to use.  For example, there is no definition for CAT Scan, but if you are smart enough you know that you should instead look up Computer Tomography (I'm not that smart).  The Yahoo web site scores higher for traditional and alternative health care at  http://dir.yahoo.com/Health/.  The "mother of discussion sites" is at http://www.deja.com/, although topics are not restricted to health.  You can, however, enter a topic of interest in the Search box and find what people are saying about your topic.  The heavy duty medical web site for medical (and beauty) professionals is at http://www.medscape.com/.  Medscape requires that you register for a password, but the password is free.  This site has a great medical dictionary.  Only article abstracts are free.  Entire articles have a fee.

One physician site that was recommended by the Digital Duo is Dr. Weil's web site at http://www.pathfinder.com/drweil/.  Among other things, you can provide Dr. Weil with some personal information (e.g., your diet and lifestyle), and he will then give you some recommendations about food supplements such as vitamins.  An even more highly recommended web site is that of the former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop at http://www.drkoop.com/.  The highlight of Dr. Koop's web site is a database of drug interactions.  You can read in the drug combinations that you are taking and look up the risks of those combinations.

The Digital Duo's August 22 show is not yet described online.  Eventually, however, you will be able to read about those topics and previous shows at http://www.digitalduo.com/.  I really like this show, because these two are not beholding to any vendor --- they tell it like it is whether it is good or bad news.

Although this web site was not mentioned by the Digital Duo, you may enjoy reading about real life emergency room drama at http://www.tlc.com/tlcpages/trauma/trauma.html 

I might also note that you can benchmark your own hospital, physician, and health plan by going to another web site not mentioned by the Digital Duo.  See http://www.healthgrades.com/ 


Let me repeat once again about how to discover what people are saying in email, bulletin boards, discussion groups, chats, etc.  The place to start is at http://www.deja.com/ .  Read the FAQs before using this web site.

Also see the webex.com Meeting Center at http://www.webex.com/webex/site/default.htm 


When I returned from Iowa, I felt an urge to write a short story about growing up.  This has nothing to do with accounting other than recommending no accounting between friends.  The story does deal with my glimpse of heaven.  Some of you might enjoy this story.  It is located at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/max01.htm .


The AICPA and CICA have issued an Exposure Draft of the WebTrust-ISP Principles and Criteria for Internet Service Providers in Electronic Commerce ---  http://www.accountingeducation.com/news/news427.html  


American Legal Ethics Library   http://www.law.cornell.edu/ethics/ 


Bob,

During the AAA CPE session, I promised to send you more information about RealPresenter. It is a plug-in for PowerPoint 97 that allows one to annotate a PowerPoint presentation with audio then convert it to RealVideo. I wrote an evaluation of this application for The Journal of the American Taxation Association which I believe is to be published in the Fall 99 issue.

This software is available from the web site at http://www.real.com/products/tools/presenter/index.html .

Anyone who would like to see my initial attempts at using it in a distributed education environment can click on a RealPlayer link under Background Material at: http://www.sbea.mtu.edu/rrtidd/ba439rt/labs/439lab01.htm

Ronald R. Tidd [ rrtidd@MTU.EDU ]


Nobel Prize winning finance professor Bill Sharpe co-founded Financial Engines to serve as a personal finance and retirement planning service.  Financial Engines has some strong and weak sides.  On the strong side, it will project (for $15 per quarter) performance of 401(k) investments and provide buy and sell advice to achieve stated goals.  The advice is individualized to meet each investor's personal holdings and goals.  It also provides probabilities of outcomes.  On the weak side, the customized financial advice is limited to your 401(k) plan and does not provide customized advice on other aspects of your investments and wealth goals.  You can read about this in "Internet Service Offers Some Nobel Advice on Personal Finance" in the Wall Street Journal, August 12, 1999, pg. B1.  The Financial Engines web site is at http://www.financialengines.com/.  


Probing deeper into space in the next millennium  http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ 


From InformationWeek Online August 12, 1999

Wells Fargo Boasts 1 Million Net Banking Customers

Wells Fargo & Co. said yesterday that it has 1 million customers using its Internet banking service. "We actually signed up our millionth Internet customer on Sunday," says Sharon Osberg, executive VP of online financial services. The bank has an additional 200,000 customers who dial directly into its PC banking service. Both electronic avenues allow people to view account information, transfer funds, pay bills, and trade securities.

Wells Fargo, which was one of the first financial institutions to venture on to the Web, plans to continue supporting PC banking, but CEO Dick Kovacevich says momentum is clearly moving toward the Internet. "We think [dial-up] is yesterday's technology," he said in a conference call.

Kovacevich said Wells Fargo does not plan to spin off its Internet banking operations into a separate company as Bank One has done with its Wingspanbank.com. Rather, the San Francisco-based bank will continue integrating its branches and electronic delivery channels under the Wells name.


Update on speech recognition
 http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2312040,00.html  


Dear Bob

This summer I taught an Operational Auditing Course on-line. My web pages are located at http://web.odu.edu/webroot/instr/BPA/dziegenf.nsf.  I realize the web pages are text only and kinda boring but my students enjoyed the class and I received the best student evaluations possible. I am talking to a publisher and university officials and will be adding "bells and whistles" to the pages. I would appreciate your comments on them. Thanks.

Doug Ziegenfuss 
Department of Accounting 
Old Dominion University

Thanks for sharing Doug.


News from or about Microsoft Corporation

Free download of the latest version of Media Player (plays in CD-quality) http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/en/download/Win32IE4x86.asp 


Entry level salary trends for accountants http://www.accountingstudents.com/careers/careercenter/ 


The Computer Museum History Center  http://www.computerhistory.org/ 


Generating DHTML using ToolBook Instructor (readers should have Microsoft Office 2000 installed for these examples)

Thanks to Richard Campbell for this tip on using Asymetrix ToolBook to generate DHTML
This is a quiz on the trombone done by Don Bowyer: http://www.dolphindon.com/trombone/
 

An example from Richard is provided at http://www.rj-int.com/ie4/index.html 

Thank you Dan Gode for noting other examples at http://www.asymetrix.com/showcase/ 


Maps, maps, and more maps:  United Nations Cartographic Section http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm 


A message on how to control paper costs in student labs:

Hi Bob,

I have had some help from Texas A&M. If you ever hear of someone with this problem, software called Page Counter by A.N.D. Technologies can help. The cost is $395. TAMU is successfully using Page Counter to control printing costs in their Accounting Technology Lab.  The URL is: www.ANDtechnologies.com/  Phone:  (323) 782-6923

len weld [ lweld@trojan.troyst.edu ]


From the Scout Report

Internet Company Handbook  http://www.ms.com/insight/misc/netcohandbook.html 

Published by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, _The Internet Company Handbook_ is a 243-page report which serves as "a rudimentary one-stop shop for the basics for today's top Internet companies." The report focusses on the leading 90 Internet companies, as defined by market capitalization and Media Metrix ratings which include average length of visit and average number of page views per month. The main body of this study consists of a collection of profiles of these companies including short descriptions and snapshots of their Websites. The publication has been broken into six chapters, and within each chapter, tables and key information are easily accessible from the table of contents.

invest-o-rama http://www.investorama.com/ 

Featuring a directory with other 11,000 sites in 141 categories, invest-o-rama is a comprehensive portal into investment resources online. Users can enter their ticker names and receive quotes on their stocks from six different companies including Moneynet and Advanced Charting. Invest-o-rama also includes featured articles, investor tools, and links to financial news. Users may also sign up for the free Invest-o-rama newsletter or ask Doug Gerlach, author of _The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Investing_, an investment question.

Accounting Education http://www.accountingeducation.com/ 

Featuring daily accounting news updates, Accounting Education is a British online resource for academic accountants. Interested users may register for the free weekly news wire or read daily updates directly from the Accounting Education Website. Along with some full-text articles, this guide also includes links to financial sites, peer reviews of newly published resources, and job listings for academic accounting positions throughout the UK, Scotland, New Zealand, and Australia.

Inflation Calculator http://www.westegg.com/inflation/  (I get occasional questions on how to do this --- now you know)

This simple inflation calculator uses the Consumer Price Index to adjust any given amount of money, from 1800 to 1998. Creator S. Morgan Friedman uses data from the "Historical Statistics of the United States" for statistics predating 1975 and the annual _Statistics Abstracts of the United States_ for data from 1975 to 1998. Links to other online inflation information are also included.


Books in Spanish for children and parents http://www.littlechiles.com/ 


Dorothy Parker's Life (Literature)  http://www.bway.net/~kfitz/parker.htm 


I will be chairing two conferences entitled  "Implementing FAS 133:  Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities."  See   http://www.worldrg.com/FA981/ .   The places, dates, and hotels are as follows:

Chicago (September 29-October 1 in the Hyatt Regency) 
Washington DC (October 27-29 in the Key Bridge Marriott)

The program is now available at the above web site.  What is important about this conference is that top specialists from public accounting and industry will be conducting workshops and making presentations.  Speakers listed at the above web site (along with summaries of what they will be speaking about) are from the following organizations:

Sun Microsystems
Union Carbide
Travelers Insurance
MasterCard International
Allstate Insurance
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Arthur Andersen LLP
Deloitte & Touche LLP
TPG Software, Inc.
Ernst & Young
First Union Corporation
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Trinity University


Neil Hannon's  August 20th edition of the Internet Essentials '99 Newsletter for the financial professional. http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html 

Here are this week's topics:

1. Will the Internet Become WORSE than TV?

2. PC Magazine's Updated Top 100 Web Sites

3. Surf Anonymously for $5 per month

4. You Can Run But You Can't Hide:  New GPS chips coming

5. All that's free in Computers and Online Access

6. How about 5 free Shares of Stock?

7. Learn about DSL:  Digital Subscriber Lines

8. Reserve a table in a Chicago or San Francisco Restaurant

9. Stay Home and Go Back to School



And that's the way it was on August 24, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

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Bob Jensen's Index Page Bob Jensen's Bookmarks New Bookmark Archives

 

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August 11, 1999


When I returned from Iowa, I felt an urge to write a short story about growing up.  This has nothing to do with accounting other than recommending no accounting between friends.  The story does deal with my glimpse of heaven.  Some of you might enjoy this story.  It is located at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/max01.htm .


The slides and links for my technology update presentations in Workshops 1 and 37 at the August 1999 Annual Meetings of the American Accounting Association are available at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/99aaa/081599.htm 


I previously announced four illustrations that illustrate Excel 2000 interactivity saved as workbooks and charts in HTML. Think of these as student answers to exercises. Observe how simple it is to conduct a sensitivity analysis in Illustration 1 or to use the interactive charts in Illustrations 2 and 3. In Illustration 4, I illustrate how easy it is to hide and show the spreadsheets and charts with a single click of a button rather than having to go to the trouble of downloading files and running them in Excel software. Those illustrations that I created for you are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/dhtml/excel01.htm .

I am just learning how to do the same thing with Microsoft Access 2000 components.  Not being able to save database forms as HTML is disappointing.  However, being able to save database tables in HTML is neat.  Certain levels of interactivity with queries are also feasible.  I thought that perhaps you would like to check out an illustration that is probably already on your computer if you installed Microsoft Office 2000.  Locate the directory where you placed Microsoft Office.  Then follow the path (...\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples\Review Products.htm).  The (Review Products.htm) file is a Microsoft Database table that you can now navigate interactively in your Internet Explorer 5.00 or higher.   (Don't forget to click on the plus-sign buttons.)

There is another illustration of great interest.  It is an Excel pivot table that interactively runs in your web browser.  The path to that sample file is (...\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples\Analyze Sales.htm).

There is also a useful Excel illustrations file on the path (...\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples\Samples.xls).


I will be chairing two conferences entitled  "Implementing FAS 133:  Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities."  See   http://www.worldrg.com/FA981/ .   The places, dates, and hotels are as follows:

Chicago (September 29-October 1 in the Hyatt Regency) 
Washington DC (October 27-29 in the Key Bridge Marriott)

The program is now available at the above web site.  What is important about this conference is that top specialists from public accounting and industry will be conducting workshops and making presentations.  Speakers listed at the above web site (along with summaries of what they will be speaking about) are from the following organizations:

Sun Microsystems
Union Carbide
Travelers Insurance
MasterCard International
Allstate Insurance
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Arthur Andersen LLP
Deloitte & Touche LLP
TPG Software, Inc.
Ernst & Young
First Union Corporation
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Trinity University
World Research Advisory


General Accounting Office (GAO) Reports and Other Publications
http://www.gao.gov 


Your web site is about to be defaced (security) http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,410553,00.html 


From FEI Express

CIO Priorities: Top Technology Issues The Gartner Group recently held its CIO Congress. Gartner's presentation on the key trends and events driving new IT investments during the next five years is really interesting, and available on our web site. Here's the link to the Powerpoint file: http://www.fei.org/download/ForbesV2CFoils.ppt. This list is drawn from that presentation and summarizes the top technology issues facing CIOs in 1999, and what they foresee into 2004.


Thank you for the tip Dan Gode (Hot Potatoes appears to be free software):

Hot Potatoes is an excellent way to quickly create interactive teaching exercises for the Internet, a standalone machine, a network, or a CD-ROM. A copy of Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.+ is needed to view the files. Hot Potatoes comes with good documentation and tutorials, and the easy-to-use, fill-in-the-blanks interface means you don't need to know any HTML or JavaScript coding to create your exercises. If you're comfortable with the coding, however, you're free to edit the source files to create or adjust the templates. You can make multiple-choice, fill-in-the-gap, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, and even crossword-type quizzes. The quizzes can include graphics or HTML links. The test-takers are given immediate feedback on the correctness of an answer and can even be given hints and clues. At a tremendous price (free), Hot Potatoes is a terrific program for those who want to add educational materials or fun quizzes to their Web pages.   http://hotfiles.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/texis/swlib/hotfiles/info.html?fcode=000T69 


Is the telephone a dying technology? 
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,410805,00.html
  


An example of a noted accounting professor who gave up on his university's web server and moved his courses and other materials to a private server --- see http://www.profalbrecht.com/ 

I have moved all my course related web pages to a private server:
http://www.profalbrecht.com 
The web resources at Bowling Green State University can at best be described
as primitive.  In addition, the college web server is down has been down
15-20% of the time the last 1.5 years (and if my figures are high, it seems
as if it has been down 15-20% of the time, so we're dealing with my
perception here).  So I moved.
Place me in the group that sees no problems with moving.
Dave Albrecht
Associate Professor of Accounting
Bowling Green State University
albrecht@profalbrecht
dalbrec@cba.bgsu.edu 

Too bad these sights on parenting weren't around in the era when I could have used them. 
http://www.abcparenting.com/
  
http://www.cybermom.com/
 


If you know any accounting educators with helpful materials on the web, please ask them to link their materials  in the American Accounting Association's Accounting Coursepage Exchange (ACE) web site at
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/ace/index.htm
Please send these professors email messages today and urge them to share as much as they can with the academy by easily registering their course pages with ACE. 

This week's featured ACE professor is Wayne Label

Institution: UNLV
Course Name: International Accounting
Textbook: Comparative International Accounting, 5th Edition
Author(s): Nobes and Parker

The link for this course is at http://www.nscee.edu/unlv/Colleges/Business/Accounting/Faculty/Label/AC450-fall'98.html 
Wayne provides us with many helpful links and other materials for international accounting.  Thank you for sharing Wayne.


Thank you Roger Debreceny

Electronic discussion list to support the efforts of the international Dublin Core effort's Educational metadata working group in exploring issues directly related to deployment of Dublin Core for the description of educational materials.  http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/dc-education/  


From InformationWeek Daily, August 10, 1999

In an unusual tie between a networking hardware vendor and a systems integrator, Cisco Systems Inc. plans to invest $1.05 billion in a portion of the accounting firm KPMG's consulting arm. Cisco will purchase just under 20% of a new business called KPMG Consulting, which would include KPMG's consulting practices in North and South America, as well as parts of Asia. KPMG, which would own the remaining 80% of the operation, hopes to do an initial public offering of stock in the new entity.

Under the planned transaction, KPMG would add 4,000 engineers over the next 18 months to help develop and deliver Internet-based data, voice, and video services to clients served by Cisco's 6,000-person sales force. KPMG said it will build six "Internet innovation centers," work closely with personnel in Cisco sales offices, and provide additional support to Cisco's existing customers. KPMG has about 8,500 billable consultants in the United States and another 3,000 internationally.


From the New York Times on the Web --- distance education from NYU http://www.scps.nyu.edu/ 

At New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) we understand New York's competitive environment better than anyone. Because we see thousands of people each year who use our educational resources to realize their dreams and move ahead in their personal and professional lives.

This fall, we invite you to be one of those people. You can begin a new degree program or complete an old one. Work toward a master's or a professional certificate. Whatever your needs, we offer over 2,000 courses, each taught by leading faculty, and held at times and locations convenient to you. To find the course that's right for you go to www.scps.nyu.edu.

SCPS is New York's learning center designed with the goal of helping you advance in your career, build on your professional skills, and enrich your mind.

We have over 100 Professional Certificates including Arts Administration; Computer Animation; Meeting, Conference, and Event Management; and E-Business Development.

Undergraduate degree programs include Hotel and Tourism Management; Sports Management and Leisure Studies; Health Services, Policy, and Planning; Communications Technologies; and Real Estate.

Master of Science programs include Publishing; Direct Marketing Communications; Management and Systems; Real Estate; Hospitality Industry Studies; and Tourism and Travel Management.

Too busy to even consider taking a class? NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies also offers online courses for people whose busy schedules make finding the time to take a course difficult, or simply prefer the convenience of studying at home or the office. All our online courses are taught by the very same professionals who teach in our classrooms, and the learning experience is equally rewarding.

Online offerings include our Master of Science in Management and Systems and Advanced Professional Certificate in Information Technology; undergraduate courses offered by the Paul McGhee Division Undergraduate Degree Programs for Adults; as well as the core course of our Diploma in Credit Analysis. Five online certificates are offered in English to Spanish Translation, Object-Oriented Programming, Electronic Commerce, Internet Technologies, and UNIX Systems Management. There are also more than 40 different noncredit courses in areas including Career, Education, and Life Planning; Hospitality, Tourism, and Travel Management; International Affairs; Foreign Languages; Law and Taxation; Real Estate; Psychology; and Writing and Speech. A complete list of courses, both online and traditional, can be viewed on the web at www.scps.nyu.edu , or in our free bulletin. To get your copy call 1-800-FIND-NYU Ext. 40.

However you choose to get in touch, do it today. And fulfill your dreams in the city where the sky's never been the limit.


e-Commerce tax news --- http://ecommercetax.com/ 

e-Commerce drugs  http://www.drugstore.com/ 

Barry Rice stated the following:

I think this is going to be big! I have to wonder if we are graduating students who are prepared to deal with e-tailing like this.  See http://www.drugstore.com/cat/321/tmpl/default.asp?catid=10468 

I recently ordered some video tapes from Amazon.com and received a $15 gift certificate for drugstore.com with the tapes.


Free scholarship service http://www.freschinfo.com/ 


Top 100 innovators in manufacturing
 http://www.pcweek.com/a/pcwt9908101/411035/ 


The next big things to look for in PCs http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2309684,00.html 


Catch up on all the LinuxWorld news at
 http://www.zdnet.com/enterprise/linux/ 

Plus: Learn Linux now! 
http://www.zdu.com/catalog/deptcatalog.asp?DepID=19&Sort=&CourseID=5731#5731
 

 


Cybercrime cases are up 43% http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2310082,00.html (security)


Webrings for much more efficient web searches  http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,410550,00.html 
Some of the alternatives have a searchable index.


MEDLINEplus http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ 

The National Library of Medicine's MEDLINEplus information pages are designed to direct you to resources containing information that will help you research your health questions. They are designed for educational use only and are not intended to replace advice from a health professional.


The best museums on the web http://www.archimuse.com/mw99/best/index.html 


Greatest comic books of the Century http://members.tripod.com/~MitchellBrown/greatest_comics/ 


Working Woman (includes a salary survey) http://www.workingwoman.com/ 


Shockwave.com  http://www.shockwave.com/bin/shockwave/main/frame_set.jsp 


Send-a-Quote  http://www.send-a-quote.com/ 


Life of Birds http://www.pbs.org/lifeofbirds/ 


From the Scout Report

Paul P. Reuben, Department of English, California State University Stanislaus http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/home.htm 

The considerable virtue of this site as a learning resource lies mainly in Reuben's online project entitled PAL: Perspectives in American Literature. This review of American literary history offers primary and secondary bibliographies for the major periods and figures of American Literature.


News from or about Microsoft Corporation

LAST CHANCE TO UPGRADE TO MICROSOFT ENCARTA 2000 FOR FREE**

It's called the Encarta 2000 Learning Guarantee: If you acquire an Encarta 99 title between June 15 and August 31, 1999, you'll be able to upgrade to the corresponding Encarta 2000 version of the same product for just the cost of shipping and handling. Offer valid in the U.S. and Canada only. For more details, and to fill out the online coupon, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/insider/mi/pfencart.htm 

Microsoft's Product Insider Tips http://www.microsoft.com/insider/default.htm 

Publish your home page free at http://www.microsoft.com/insider/mi/pfhomefree.htm 

Preview New MSN Web Communities http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/1999/08-03community.htm 

DHTML tips http://msdn.microsoft.com/voices/dude.asp 

A Look Inside Microsoft's New Download Center http://www.microsoft.com/backstage/ 

Financial Management can help small business entrepreneurs succeed with technology. http://mspress.microsoft.com/news/features/ 

A message about a MS Word bug from Glenn Meyer

Just want to share with you, another tail of woe. A document with lots of embedded graphics! It has a chapter heading - I change the number! I go to save and Word crashes dead away.

The nice people at the computer center research this for me and find out that Microsoft has posted that this is known problem for Word, they have no idea why it happens but they are working on it.

Perhaps, this doesn't exist in Office 2000 - who knows! What disasters are waiting for me, if I switch?

This notice is for all the happy people who love Word and says it always works for them.

Interesting, Word 4.0 on my Macs, never did this stuff.

Meyer, Glenn [ gmeyer@TRINITY.EDU ]


From John Schatzel

Well, thanks to the playtesters who volunteered from AECM and four years of hard work, I have finally improved my real-world interactive multimedia auditing simulation to the point where I will now make it available for use in your auditing classes. The playtesters were great in giving constructive criticism on navigational issues, design, bug reports, etc. I am frankly exhausted from the process and need a vacation, which in fact I am going on tomorrow. I just wanted to make this announcement before I left and also tell you that adoption information is available on my new web site at http://realaudit.com  I really think your students will like it a lot and hope you will give it a try.

Thank you AECM. I am very grateful that you exist and for your assistance,

Dr. John A. Schatzel Stonehill College Easton, MA 02035 jschatzel@stonehill.edu use this for replies please


Dear Robert Jensen:

NuvoMedia is excited to announce today the launch of eRocket(TM). eRocket is a software only version of the Rocket eBook(TM) that works on your PC screen and allows you to read free RocketEditions(TM) available from Rocket-Library.com or ones you've created with RocketWriter.

If you've been hoping for a tool that:

* allows previews of free RocketEditions before sending them to the Rocket eBook

* enables your friends who want to read RocketEditions you've created or contributed to Rocket-Library.com but don't have a Rocket eBook to read

* shows your friends what the Rocket eBook can do without having to give them your Rocket eBook

* share your enthusiasm for the eBook industry

Then, eRocket can help.

Try the new software at: http://info.nuvomedia.com/Key=1415.Gs.B.BtfX7l 

Let us know what you think. In addition, if you create skins for eRocket, send it to erocket@rocket-ebook.com and qualify to win a Rocket eBook t-shirt or a Rocket eBook. Details for skins are posted on the Rocket eBook Web page.

Best,
Cynthia Mun


From Barry Rice

Date: Wed, 04 Aug 1999 18:30:34 -0400 From: AACE Information <info@AACE.ORG> Subject: IMEJ Electronic Journal Selects ED-MEDIA 99 Papers Sender: Educational Technology <EDUCTECH@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>

The IMEJ of Computer-Enhanced Learning (electronic journal) Selects Best Papers from ED-MEDIA 99 Conference for Publication

The Editors of The IMEJ of Computer-Enhanced Learning ( http://imej.wfu.edu ), in partnership with AACE (http://www.aace.org), are pleased to announce their selection of 12 best works in educational technology from among the ED-MEDIA 99 ( http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia  ) presentations.

Authors of these papers have been invited to publish their work in a special issue of IMEJ, updating their findings and augmenting their presentations with interactive multimedia elements.

IMEJ is an interactive multimedia electronic journal dedicated to publishing ideas and innovations in educational technology.

Please visit our Web site at http://imej.wfu.edu  to see the kinds of articles that can be presented in this dynamic format.


Welcome to the August 6th edition of the Internet Essentials '99 Newsletterfor the financial professional. http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html 

Here are this week's topics:

1. Office '97, Internet Explorer Security Problem

2. Is your VCR ready for Y2K?

3. How about your Windows 95/98/NT computer and Y2K?

4. CIO magazine's 50 Best Web Sites of 1999

5. Here's a Bright Idea (about light bulbs)

6. Security Holes in Compaq and HP Pavilion computers

7. Put a Search Engine on your Web site for Free

8. Conduct E-commerce?  Prepare for Security Breaches

9. Is it Time to upgrade your computer?

10. High Speed Voice and Data over Regular (twisted pair) Phone Lines


Thank you Matt Stroud for the tip on this link
http://www.jtap.ac.uk/ 

The JISC Technology Applications Programme (JTAP) is a highly focused programme aimed at assisting the HE community to get the best from its investment in IT. To achieve this it reports on best practice in the community, both within UK HE and on experiences beyond. This enables the community to learn from each other and avoid unnecessary duplication of effort in introducing, developing and exploiting systems.

Secondly, JTAP funds projects which demonstrate the application of technology. This may be the application of novel technologies or applying existing techniques in new ways or in new areas. In this way we have been assisting UK HE to be in the vanguard of IT application so as to help maintain UK HE's worldwide competitive edge.

Thirdly, JTAP has funded four clearing houses to actively inform the community in distinct areas:

The use of IT to support staff and students with disabilities; and how by considering the needs of disabled users products and services are made more accessible for all users. The new IMS standard on educational software; this will ensure interoperability between educational objects at all levels and so assist in the exploitation of educational material developed, and by being involved in its development we can ensure that it meets the needs of UK HE. The use of smartcards in HE. Videoconferencing JTAP has identified a number of critical areas where it has been concentrating its effort. These include: IT to support the management of HEIs Security Student Portable Computers (SPCs) Computer supported educational environments IT to support staff and students with disabilities HPC and Cluster Computing Standards Access to digital information Videoconferencing.



And that's the way it was on August 11, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

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Bob Jensen's Index Page Bob Jensen's Bookmarks New Bookmark Archives

 

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August 2, 1999


I will leave for Iowa on August 3 and then on to San Diego.  Please do not send me email messages between August 3 and August 20.

If you are interested in the case solutions to my derivative financial instrument and hedging activities cases, please download them now.   The solutions will be removed next week in anticipation of the arrival of students on campus.  The solutions will be removed next week from the files at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/caseans/000index.htm.

I will be seeing some of you in our Workshops 1 and 37 in San Diego on August 14 and 15.  See http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpelist.htm 


Trinity University faculty, students, and staff need to look at the "How To" documents at http://www.trinity.edu/departments/computing_center/how-to/index.html 

In particular not the email options, including the option to access your email from any online computer in the world.  See http://www.trinity.edu/departments/computing_center/how-to/email/outweb.html  The web address to connect is http://exchange.trinity.edu .  Remember that tucc\ goes in front of your logon name.  For example, my logon name is tucc\rjensen.


THE ACCOUNTANCY PROFESSION AND THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION
http://www.ifac.org/council/anticorruptionpaper.html  

This paper has been developed by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) to promote debate at the national and global levels on the issue of corruption. It highlights the impact of corruption, sets out the role of national accountancy bodies in stimulating debate, and comments on how business professions, corporate managers, legislators, and regulators can join with the accountancy profession in the effort to eradicate corruption.

As far as business ethics is concerned, Andrew Priest suggested that the following sites are worth looking at:

http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/resources/business/ 

http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/resources/professional/ 

Scott Bonacker recommends 

http://www.nysba.org/media/newsreleases/client.html 


I will be chairing two conferences entitled  "Implementing FAS 133:  Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities."  See   http://www.worldrg.com/FA981/ .   The places, dates, and hotels are as follows:

Chicago (September 29-October 1 in the Hyatt Regency) 
Washington DC (October 27-29 in the Key Bridge Marrott).

The program is now available at the above web site.  What is important about this conference is that top specialists from public accounting and industry will be conducting workshops and making presentations.  Speakers listed at the above web site (along with summaries of what they will be speaking about) are from the following organizations:

Sun Microsystems
Union Carbide
Travelers Insurance
Mastercard International
Allstate Insurance
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Arthur Andersen LLP
Deloitte & Touche LLP
TPG Software, Inc.
Ernst & Young
First Union Corporation
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Trinity University
World Research Advisory


I hope all of us will share some of our learning experiences with Microsoft Office 2000 products.

The most important innovation that I found to date is the ability to create an Excel workbook and then choose to also save (publish) it with DHTML codes that will give students interactivity in a web browser.  Essentially web document readers can change spreadsheet values and view cell changes and graph changes without having to run anything but a web browser.  They do not have to download the spreadsheet and then run it in Excel.

Excel charts in a workbook must be saved separately.  Macros, buttons, textboxes, and other attached objects are lost when saved (published) as a HTML file.

I have given you illustrations and a set of instructions.  Believe me on this one --- it is a piece of cake and takes maybe five minutes or less to learn how to do it.

I also discuss how to replace some hide/show macros in Excel with hide/show macros created in Macromedia Dreamwearver.  See Illustration 4.

Go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/dhtml/excel01.htm 

For best results you will probably need to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2000 and Internet Explorer 5.00 or higher (IE 5.00 without MS Office 2000 may not work.)  I am grateful to Gerald Pitts for the helpful advice on the need to install Office 2000 as well as IE 5.00 or higher.


Hi Dan,

I don't think the purpose of the dynamic, interactive spreadsheets and charts in HTML pages is to "demonstrate Excel functionality."  The main purpose is to make things more convenient to students and other online readers. Users do not have to have any software other than an upgraded web browser.  Users do not have to take time to find and then download Excel files and charts. Everything is right in front of us on one web page.

Another advantage is safety from viruses. Downloading Excel files to run in Excel on a client machine is a very dangerous enterprise relative to viewing those files in HTML pages.  I once infected my computer with a file sent to me by a journal editor who was not even aware that he sent me a virus.

For example, suppose our students are sending us answers in Excel workbooks or charts. I get really nervous about opening student-submitted files on my computer. A given student may not even be aware that he or she is sending you an infected file. The problem is that the lab machine or other machine where the student created the file may have an unsuspected virus attaches to transmitted files. There are some protections from virus detection programs, but how many of us update our virus detectors every day? There is better protection from QuickView Plus, but not all faculty want to pay for and install this software.

Without QuickView Plus, I think that I would rather have my students submit Excel files in HTML form rather than as files that I must read in Excel. Nothing is totally safe, but the least-safe thing you can do is open an Excel or Word file even if it is sent to you from someone you trust (since that someone may simply be an innocent carrier of an infection).

Having said this, I think that saving huge and complex Excel workbooks in HTML is rather absurd, especially when they have macros that you really need to run in order to use the workbooks properly. It is those smaller, special purpose workbooks and charts where the real advantage of saving (publishing) those files in HTML. Often our students are sending us small spreadsheets and/or charts to answer exercises and problems. Now they can create HTML answer files and embed the Excel spreadsheets and charts in their master HTML answer files.

I now have four illustrations for you at the following web site. Think of these as student answers to exercises. Observe how simple it is to conduct a sensitivity analysis in Illustration 1 or to use the interactive charts in Illustrations 2 and 3. In Illustration 4, I illustrate how easy it is to hide and show the spreadsheets and charts with a single click of a button rather than having to go to the trouble of downloading files and running them in Excel software. This morning I made some fine tunings at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/dhtml/excel01.htm .

You are, of course, correct about the transitioning of this technology. Authors and users will have to upgrade to MS Office 2000 and/or install upgraded browsers that can handle the DHTML interaction scripts and the XML " round tripping" under the hood.

Perhaps I just like new "toys" Dan.  I consider adding interactivity to web pages, without having to specially configure web servers, more than a great new toy from Microsoft.  I perceive it as an enormous step in making Office 2000 software the authoring software of choice in academe. FrontPage 97 became the HTML authoring software of choice by millions of professors. Now Excel and Access will become authoring software of choice for interactive HTML documents. They will also be the authoring tools many professors will require their students to use in courses. One of the main reasons, of course, is that most universities have site licenses for leading Microsoft packages such as MS Office products, FrontPage, and Access. These same campuses do not provide site licenses for authoring packages from companies like Macromedia, Asymetrix, Adobe, and Lotus. Hence we all live with our Microsoft "friends" whether we like it or not.


FrontPage 2000 update. 

I still have FP 2000 on two of my three computers.  I will define NT Machine as my new Dell Precision (450 Mhz, 256 Mb RAM, 20 Gb Hard Drive) with the latest NT for Workstations operating system.  My 95 Machine is a 1996 Toshiba Tecra laptop (?? Mhz, 80 Mb RAM, and 6 Gb Hard Drive) that still runs under the Windows 95 platform.  I was too worried about multimedia drivers on a laptop to upgrade the operating system.  Both the NT and 95 machines have been upgraded to Microsoft Office 2000 and FrontPage 2000.  My recent experiences are as follows:

My bottom line conclusions about FrontPage 2000 to date are as follows:

My advice is to keep FrontPage 97 somewhere where you can get at it when FP 2000 crashes.  I still have FP 97 installed on another computer (a Dell Optiplex), and my good friend Steve Perez at Trinity University is working out a solution for keeping both FP 2000 and FP 97 on the same computer.  In the meantime, I have to shift into Macromedia Dreamweaver to work on pesky files that will not read in FP 2000.  However, I do not like Dreamweaver for standard authoring that does not require DHTML.  I just never feel comfortable with all of Dreamweaver's flying windows.  Unlike FrontPage, Dreamweaver just does not have the look and feel of a word processor.  For example, the Tab key is dead in Dreamweaver.  Until  the problems mentioned above are fixed in FP 2000, I prefer FP 97 except when I must shift to Dreamweaver for DHTML "behaviors" that are neat for certain tasks, especially the hiding and showing of layers.


Excel 2000 Update

I am now running Excel 2000, and it just proves once again that debuggers at Microsoft Corporation never listen to me.  I feel like the little Office Assistant caricature with buggy eyes that appears on MS Office 2000 screens.  Unlike the Office Assistant, I will not go away even if Microsoft prefers that I melt down like the little buggy-eyed guy on the screen.

Virtually all the problems with financial functions and other in Excel 97 that I identified previously still remain in Excel 2000.  Maybe if some of you complain as well they might get it right some decade in the future.

The problems are too numerous and involved to discuss here.  You can read about them and study them in detail by downloading my funclong.xls file.  It does not do any good for me to save that file in HTML for your convenience, because to see my points you have to be able to read the functions as well as see the results of the function computations.  When saved as an HTML file using Excel 2000, you can see the function results but you cannot read the functions that are under the hood.

If you want to read about the problems with Excel functions that still remain as problems in Excel 2000, please download the FUNCLONG.XLS file from http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/ .

You must then run this file in Excel.


Daily Grammar - http://www.dailygrammar.com/ 


A Learning Technology Newsletter from the IEEE Computer Society
http://grouper.ieee.org/ltsc/ifets/lttf/learn_tech/issues/july99/index.html 


Ten dollars off of a book http://client.lycos.com/r.asp?CB&fV0Ll7RsIqFdw933170626 


Hi Barbara,  (e-Commerce Courses and Labs)

I am afraid that I do not have a pat answer to your enquiry. However, the closest thing that I have to start looking for answers is the excellent web site at http://dossantos.cbpa.louisville.edu/isnet/ecomm/syllabi.htm . This is a list of courses in which the primary content is Electronic Commerce edited by Brian L. Dos Santos, University of Louisville. Other extensive listings can be found at
 http://indy.cs.concordia.ca/e-commerce/courses/index.html 
 http://home.student.utwente.nl/a.p.schipper/links.htm 

You may want to go very technical, you might look at the course outlines: http://www.ameriteach.com/courses/S_1231.HTML 
http://www.nagpurorangepages.com/ecommerce.htm
 

If this were my assignment, I would probably start with a prestigious document on curriculum change that says nothing about e-Commerce per se, but it does provide a framework for making a proposal. Go to http://notes.cc.sunysb.edu/Pres/boyer.nsf  . Note in particular the section entitled "Make Research-Based Learning the Standard." This justifies having research-based e-Commerce labs and curriculum modules. You may also want to see http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,12066,00.html .

My own opinion is that e-Commerce should be brought in as modules in existing business courses rather than as separate courses except in certain instances such as at the Haas School at UC Berkeley where a separate course exists that requires student teams to actually construct a business. You definitely should get in contact with faculty designing four e-Commerce courses at the Haas School. See http://www.urel.berkeley.edu/urel_1/CampusNews/PressReleases/releases/4-13-1999.html 

You may want to look at a web site on how to build and maintain an e-Commerce store. That might be an interesting focus for a lab. For example, go to  http://www.vergenet.com/ .

You may want to get in touch with faculty teaching e-Commerce courses. For example, see Michael Rappa's course at http://www.technika.org/ec /. Other college web sites of possible interest include the following: http://www.kendall-consulting.com/babson/mis7570.html/mkt7570.html 
http://ecommerce.creighton.edu/
  
http://ecmtraining.com/sjsu/program.highlights.htm 
http://www.connexity.co.uk/
  
http://www.ecmtraining.com/sjsu/courses/ctge443g.htm 
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe/daily/19990603/fco03065.html
  
http://changingtimes.com/1098cpou.htm 
http://euro.ecom.cmu.edu/program/courses/
 

There are some interesting sites for e-Commerce research. For example, see http://www.e-commerce-sales.com/ . Other web sites of possible interest include:
http://www.net-modules.com/
  
http://www.iplanet.com/learning/course_cat/ecommrc.html 
http://www.e-commerce-sales.com/
  
http://ecommerce.internet.com/resources/vault/education/0,1220,,00.html 
http://www.vendors-rep.com/
  
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/ 
http://www.utoledo.edu/~tle/www/weblinks.html
 

-----Reply Message-----  [Name Deleted] Sent: Friday, August 1, 1999 9:19 PM To: rjensen@trinity.edu  Subject: e-commerce labs

Dear Professor Jensen

Thank you so much for all of this - it is exactly what I needed. The plan is in time to create a synergy between the e-commerce lab and businesses in the region. In other words create a practicum module which would benefit our students and local business. Nevertheless I take your point on one step at a time. Thank you again for the info and very prompt reply. 
Kind Regards 
Barbara


Selected web sites recommended in the August 1999 issue of the Journal of Accountancy, pg. 13:

Education World's web site for educators http://www.education-world.com/ 

Helps you find the best search engine for you http://searchenginewatch.com/  

Finding things in the law  http://www.findlaw.com/ 

Exes for the business traveler http://www.exes.com/ 

Infoplease.com information almanac (great for biographical and other research)  http://www.infoplease.com/ 


Carlton Collins has a helpful article on "How to Select the Right Accounting Software," Journal of Accountancy, August 1999, 61-69.  The current JA articles are not posted online until later.  Eventually, however, JA articles are available for downloading at http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/index.htm.


The August 1, 1999 broadcast of the Dynamic Duo had some helpful information to pass on to the world.  This is actually the Duo + 1 since Walter Mossberg has a commentary on every show.  Walter Mossberg was highly critical of wireless digital telephones, especially the way they cannot operate in the many "No-Can-Communicate-Here" zones throughout the United States and the world in general.  He also discussed the never-mentioned downers in AT&T and other vendor single-rate digital wireless promotions.  

The Digital Duo was highly critical of Microsoft Office 2000, including such things as filling our computers with crawly bugs and the Outlook.pst file that just grows and grows without end on our hard drives.  I like the way the Duo is willing to tell it like it is from the standpoint of user friendliness and reliability. The web site for the Duo is at http://www.digitalduo.com/  

Details of the Duo's August 1 PBS show are not yet posted at the above web site. Some of you (probably not many accountants) may want to watch for their commentary on "Bad Attitude" web sites that are generally analogous to Dilbert and Doonesbury (although with much more offensive language in some of the Bad Attitude web sites).  Since the August 1 show's details are not yet at the Duo's web site, I can only recall a few of the Bad Attitude examples (I warn you about the possible bad language and content that may offend readers who are not avant-garde about such humor and cynicism):


Free Files

Optimize your PC with 25 free utilities. Each program in this collection has received a 5-star rating from ZDNet's expert editors! http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?5213.

ZDNet's listing of the top 50 most requested free files 
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Check out these links to free files:

AppleSpin Screen Flava http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?5216 

BugScan http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?5217 

Banana Peeler http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?5218 

CS Memory Display http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?5219 


Your own "Virtual" Bulletin Board where you can post messages and photos online in seconds. With an eBoard you can quickly and easily make information accessible to others at your own private place online: 
http://www.eboard.com/
   (Recall that I gave you links to where you can publish web documents and entire courses for free at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99.htm#073099 )


Good techie talk and download information http://newmedia.com/Download/download.html  


If you know any accounting educators with helpful materials on the web, please ask them to link their materials  in the American Accounting Association's Accounting Coursepage Exchange (ACE) web site at
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/ace/index.htm
Please send these professors email messages today and urge them to share as much as they can with the academy by easily registering their course pages with ACE. 

This week's featured ACE professor is Brett Stone

Institution: SUNY New Paltz
Course Name: Various
Textbook: Various
Author(s): Various

Brett shares information from his courses in taxation and auditing.  Thanks for sharing Brett.  The main web address is http://www.newpaltz.edu/~stoneb/.


From the Scout Report (Dan Gode may especially want to note the multimedia project since he has some doubts about learning from multimedia.)

American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/rbpehtml/pehome.html 

The Challenge 2000 Multimedia Project: Project-Based Learning with Multimedia http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/index.html 
The Multimedia Project is a program of Challenge 2000, a broad school reform effort sponsored by the Silicon Valley Network in collaboration with the San Mateo County Office of Education. The site offers a sophisticated array of materials and information related to Project-Based Learning employing multimedia. Among other things, the site includes guidelines and examples for establishing Multimedia/ Project-Based Learning in the classroom; curriculum activities in media literacy, analysis, and production; related workstations, Web tutorials, and a resource library; a searchable database of sample projects; and a discussion forum and electronic mailing list of all participants in the project. One of the site's (and the project's) most impressive features is its emphasis on assessment. Analyses of individual project's instructional effectiveness are provided as well as tools for assessing the success of future efforts. The Multimedia Project is funded by a U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant.


From the Scout Report

B&E DataLinks http://www.econ-datalinks.org/ 
American Statistical Association (ASA) offers B&E DataLinks, a searchable index of statistical data. Each link is annotated, with the date last modified, and is rated by the ASA. Browse by categories including finance, macroeconomics, and labor and general economics, or use the site's keyword search.

Human Resources and the Internet http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/reference/GUIDES/HRI_Manual/default.html 

How to start up a company  http://www.business2.com/articles/1999/07/content/cover-story.html 


More on multimedia from Infobits

INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF COMPUTER-ENHANCED LEARNING (IMEJ) is a new publication edited and produced at Wake Forest University. Articles in IMEJ will explore the effective use of computers in education. In the fall of 1996, Wake Forest's Project 2000 placed a personal laptop computer into the hands of every student and faculty member; dorms, offices, and classrooms were wired with network connections. IMEJ complements this project by providing a peer-reviewed forum for exploring innovations in computer-enhanced learning.

Interactive Multimedia Electronic Journal of Computer-Enhanced Learning [ISSN: 1525-9102] is available free on the Web at http://imej.wfu.edu/  For more information, contact: Jennifer J. Burg, Founding Editor; email: imej@wfu.edu 

For more information on Wake Forest's Project 2000, see the Campus Profile published in CAUSE/EFFECT, vol. 21, no. 4 1998. The article is available on the Web at http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/html/cem9847.html 

Those interested in publishing mathematical and scientific expressions on the Web are invited to visit a new UNC-CH Center for Instructional Technology resources page at http://www.unc.edu/cit/resources/math/ 

For some great papers on hypertext and hypermedia, see
http://chnm.gmu.edu/aq/index.html  


Lycos Clubs http://client.lycos.com/r.asp?CB&GGnWUQdGhvyPE933170629 


For teens http://client.lycos.com/r.asp?CB&rW4EL8W.YWhs.933170633 


From the New York Times

Hello New York Times Subscriber,

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Welcome to the July 30th edition of the Internet Essentials '99 Newsletter for the financial professional.
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html
Here are this week's topics:

1. First Reader's Poll ..Express yourself here

2. RightAnswers.com, computer experts

3. Edgar Online gets FreeEdgar for $11.4 million

4. "Accompany" Web buyers to Higher Discounts

5. New Products from Supply-Chain Vendors

6. Ernst & Young's New e-Defense Solution Helps e-businesses

Defend Against Intruders; Offers Specialized Tax Advice Online.

7. What is an Applications Server Provider (ASP)?

8. Instant Mess:  The conflict Over who Rules Instant Messaging

9. 30 Million Photos @ Seattle Film Works

10. Seven Steps To Successful Videoconferencing

11. Quick Hitters


On the Horizon On-Line is a strategic planning publication published in print form by Jossey-Bass publications and published under contract in online form by UNC-Chapel Hill on its Horizon Web page.

Please forward this announcement to colleagues who can benefit from a print and Web-based periodical that focuses on signals of change on the horizon that can affect educational organizations.

You may be in an organization with an institutional online subscription ( http://horizon.unc.edu/horizon/subscribe.asp  ). If you are not, ask your librarian to request a 60-day trial subscription, which will allow everyone in your organization to have access to OTH On-Line without logging on (your e-mail IP address does this automatically). ----------------------------------------

ON THE HORIZON: The Strategic Planning Resource for Education Professionals

IN THIS ISSUE

The University of Phoenix, Inc. Arthur Padilla Several features set the University of Phoenix in a league of its own: its publicly traded stock and for-profit status, its focus on non-traditional students, its heavy use of "satellite" campuses, and its reliance on part-time faculty. Arthur Padilla considers several questions raised by this institution's recent growth in enrollment. Are the types of educational programs offered by Phoenix viable alternatives to the traditional university system? Will schools like Phoenix replace more conventional ones? What student needs does Phoenix serve? Against the traditional campus, with its endowments, exhaustive libraries, and full-time faculty members, the University of Phoenix competes only within a small sector of the education market, and Padilla concludes that it does well for the specific cohort it serves.

From the Editor Electronic Networking in the Future: An Interview with Judith V. Boettcher James L. Morrison As Executive Director of the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking (CREN), a non-profit organization supporting low-cost access to electronic networks, Judith Boettcher constantly evaluates the effects of new information technology tools on educational practice. In this article, Boettcher talks with editor James Morrison about which information technology tools will become necessary in the future and how they will be used. This discussion will be of particular interest to educators interested in developing online courses and implementing new technology in their classrooms; such readers will find that Boettcher answers not only Morrison's questions but also their own.

Trends and Events: Social The Internet: New Engine of Inequality? Lawrence E. Gladieux and Wilson Scott Swail Well-documented research supports Gladieux and Swail's sobering observations regarding socioeconomic hierarchies and Internet access. As the authors put it, the World Wide Web is "likely to create new barriers and inequities, simply because of the differential availability of the required technology." Currently, minority households are far less likely than their white counterparts to own computers, and low-income families have fewer computers and less online access than upper- and middle-class families. Beyond defining the parameters of this problem, Galdieux and Swail also analyze the larger social barriers that must be overcome in order to resolve it.

Trends and Events: Technological Wireless Networks: Setting Standards for Utility and Affordability Angela Champness New wireless LANs offer educators many advantages, not only in their convenience but also in their cost and feasibility. Unlike wired systems, these LANs can be installed without disrupting existing walls and telephone or cable systems, making them a perfect choice for historic buildings or remote locations. Further, Champness cites a study showing that "a typical wireless installation pays itself back in less than one year," a fact many educators may be pleasantly surprised to learn. Given these advantages, many schools and businesses have integrated wireless LANs, connecting laptop computers to each other and to the internet. This article describes how these systems enable students to exchange ideas easily with each other, with their professors, and with the world outside the classroom walls.

Trends and Events: Economic Knowledge Markets: A Primer Michael D. Kull Knowledge, that intangible advantage necessary for competitive performance, needs to be cultivated, organized, and traded, but its abstract nature makes these processes difficult to define. Kull offers practical analysis of knowledge management, describing concretely how organizations may effectively develop and maintain their employees' knowledge to gain a market edge. This article describes a systematic approach to educating the buyers, sellers, and brokers in the knowledge market, rendering these abstract processes comprehensible.

Trends and Events: Political Politics and College Choice Laurence R. Marcus --- Marcus evaluates The Intercollegiate Studies Institute's Choosing the Right College: The Whole Truth About America's 100 Top Schools, locating it in its conservative niche among the many educational ranking guides of recent years. Unlike other guides which claim unbiased scientific accuracy for their studies, ISI's guide clearly presents itself as a tool for parents and students seeking a particular kind of education, one with "a core curriculum focused on the study of Western civilization [and] strong programs in traditional academic disciplines." Marcus praises ISI for its straightforward disclosure of its political angle, but observes that the guide may contribute to "a more encompassing political battle" on college campuses.

Tools Free and Handy Bernard Glassman Drawing on considerable experience on the Web, Glassman makes a little more sense out of the information explosion, saving hours of time and frustration for readers eager to find the latest and most useful internet tools. In this article, he suggests some sites with efficiently organized search engines and identifies the Web-based email site with the best-designed features and most helpful customer support. And there's more: if you'd like to have an "agent" watch constantly for new postings on a given topic or alert you when a product in high demand becomes available, this article will direct you to a site where you can find one.



And that's the way it was on August 2, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

Hline.jpg (568 bytes)

Bob Jensen's Index Page Bob Jensen's Bookmarks New Bookmark Archives

 

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July 30, 1999


I gave up!  Until Microsoft kills the bugs and deficiencies in FrontPage 2000, I am returning to FrontPage 97.  FrontPage 2000 chokes on big files, takes all day to search for word strings, and has no menu options for (Edit, Delete) or (Edit, Replace).  

FP 2000 will load a large file, but word searching takes forever.  If you try to do some things like use the Help Wizard on a large HTML file, the application freezes up entirely.  FP 2000 has a memory management problem that does not exist in FP 1997.

If you are experiencing similar problems or detect other bugs, it would help if you contacted Microsoft.  Even if it is about a problem that I already complained about, Microsoft is more apt to correct something like not having the (Edit, Replace) and (Edit, Clear) menu choices if a whole lot of users send in complaints.  The place to type your feedback message (after choosing FrontPage) is at http://support.microsoft.com/support/feedback/.


After posting the first edition of the July 30 New Bookmarks, I received the following helpful advice from Dennis Schmidt:

When you start FrontPage 2000, you see "short" menus, which include only basic commands. As you work, FrontPage (as well as other Office 2000 programs) adds the commands you use most often to the set you see.

To locate a menu item that does not appear (e.g., edit/replace), click the little down arrow icon at the bottom of the "short" menu.

To turn off the "short" menu feature and display "full" menus, click on tools/customize/options, then unselect the "Menus show recently used commands first" option.

A nifty way to learn more about the features of FrontPage 2000 is to work through the multimedia demos at: http://microsoft.saltmine.com/frontpage/demo/ 

Dennis R. Schmidt, Ph.D., 
CPA Professor of Accounting 
University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0127 
Voice: (319) 273-2968

This worked for me and solved my "short menu" problems.  Thank you Dennis.  However, my problems with large files in FrontPage 2000 still remain.  For example, nothing has speeded up word searches in large files.


I just purchased a Rocket e-Book (my price was $282).  This allows me to download copyrighted books and journals that are available for purchase in hard copy but are not available on the web.  I found the selection of books to be very limited, but I anticipate that more will quickly become available as the Rocket e-Book takes off.

The Rocket e-Book has a cradle that attaches to your serial port of a PC linked to the Internet.  You can then set up your account and download books and journals online.  Note that you do not have to be connected to your PC in order to use the Rocket e-Book.  You only have to connect when you want to download some more books.  You can also delete books and reload them from an online library of books that you have selected for possible downloading.

The portable e-Book device will hold over 4,000 pages (about 10 books on average).  However, for about $99 it can be upgraded to where it will hold 32,000 pages (about 100 books).  It has a built-in standard dictionary (Random House).  You can point to most any word in a book and bring up the definition.  You may not, however, install other dictionaries for more technical terminology.  The battery is good for about 30 hours before you have to recharge in the cradle.  Both the cradle and the e-Book are portable and do not have to be connected to a PC except for initialization of your account and for downloading books.  The Rocket e-Book weighs 22 ounces, but it is easier to hold in one hand than a book.   You can flip pages easily with your thumb while holding the book in one hand.  Warning:  old duffers who tend to doze should not drop the device even though they are prone to dropping books on the floor when they nod.  It should come with a wrist cord.  It does have a very nice carrying case.  Its dimensions without the case are roughly 7 inches by 4.5 inches.

One nice surprise is that some books can be downloaded free as an enticement to purchase other books.  For example, I am a mystery buff.  I downloaded two mystery books (including one Agatha Christie book) for free.  You can also download free samplers of books.  The screen is monochrome, but the resolution is quite good.  Old duffers like me can increase the font size.  It will show the graphics.  Audio is available, but the speakers are as bad or worse than laptop speakers.

With this gadget I will probably read books that I would not otherwise think of reading.  The library list is pretty strong on the classics.  It is weak on new books from publishing houses.  Specialty books are available, but the selection is very limited.  You should probably investigate what books are available before purchasing the Rocket e-Book.  

Key web sites are as follows:

Franklin Electronic Publisher for Rocket e-Book at http://www.franklin.com/ 
Rocket e-Book Library at http://www.rocket-library.com/ 
Barnes & Noble e-Books at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bookshelf/ebooks/epub1.asp 

There are a slew of new Rocket editions you can download from: 
http://www.powells.com 
http://www.bn.com 
http://www.ecampus.com 

Another E-book device is called the Softbook Electronic Tablet from Softbook Press at http://www.softbook.com/index.html.  Don Steinberg gives it raves at http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,368946,00.html .  He claims that this device has the best screen resolution among the electronic book alternatives..

You can now purchase or rent them from netLibrary. See http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A2356.cfm  

A veritable library of electronic books has been created on the Internet by netLibrary. At www.netlibrary.com you can search, view and borrow eBooks such as reference, scholarly, mass market and professional publications. The list of publishers providing content include: Grove's Dictionaries, Inc., Macmillan Ltd., National Academy Press, St. Martin's Press, The Brookings Institution and McGraw-Hill Companies, as well as many university presses such as Cambridge University Press, Columbia University Press, Duquesne University Press, University of Akron Press, University of California Press, University of North Carolina Press, New York University Press, Ohio University Press and Rutgers University Press.The netLibrary provides the services of a traditional library in that patrons have the option of either borrowing the eBook and viewing it online, or viewing it offline by downloading it to their computer. Patrons will have to wait for eBooks that have been lent to other patrons before them. Some of the nation's major libraries are charter customers of netLibrary. Individuals and corporations may also become customers and check out what these cyber shelves hold. netLibrary, Boulder, CO, (303) 415-2548, www.netlibrary.com  .

The Rocket e-Book was priced at about $300, but it is now much cheaper.  Many books are free, and some journals are available.  You must pay for other books, but the prices are quite reasonable.  Most publishers also allow you to download free samples.  About 500 books are available for the Softbook.  Softbook users may also subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.  This would be much easier to read on a plane or train than the hard copy versions.  The Softbook costs $599 whereas the Rocket e-Book is only $299 before academic or other discounts.

What amazed me are the books that can be downloaded free.  I can understand getting free classics such as Alice in Wonderland, the works of Shakespeare, and a lot of Keats' poetry books.  But the selected free downloads of Agatha Christie books and the Sherlock Holmes books surprised me since the same books are actively sold in book stores at prices that are not free.  You can view many of the free selections at http://www.rocket-library.com/.  Some of the free downloads are amazing and some appear to be garbage.  It is nice that readers supply reviews of unfamiliar books.  You can spontaneously submit your own reviews.

Updated on September 2, 1999:

There is now a memory upgrade ($99 until September 30, 1999) that will raise the number of books that you can store at one time from approximately ten books to 100 books --- an additional 32,000 pages of text and graphics. That translates to 100 more books on your Rocket eBook! This powerful upgrade brings you the freedom of conveniently taking even more books, web sites and documents wherever you go. There are now about 1,200 books available for downloading for a fee and another $1,000 (many classics) that can be downloaded free.  Along with the additional memory, you will also have a more extensive dictionary that has over 75,000 definitions with hundreds of new words and meanings.

http://www.rocket-ebook.com/Auto/32meg.html 


eBooks
Why do publishing firms like Rocket e-Book and Softbook?

Why are publishing firms afraid of electronic books in general, including web-based books?  I think the primary fear is that authors are tempted to by-pass publishing houses by producing and distributing their own books.  You can write your own Rocket e-Book, make it available to the world, and receive 100% of the revenues.  Of course you can also write your own textbooks and publish them directly on the web.  Professors Murthy and Groomer are going to demonstrate their great online textbooks at the American Accounting Association annual meetings in San Diego:

Sunday, August 15 (afternoon) Workshop 37 at 
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpe/99cpe37.htm
 
Their web site is at http://www.cybertext.com/ 

Will online books and/or e-Books replace hard copy on campus?  Once again there is bad news and good news.  Students probably will prefer reading from hard copy.  Some courses need color images, especially science courses.  Online books must be viewed on PCs or printed as desired on a computer printer.  It is not possible to read e-Books on a PC or to print the pages.  An e-Book must be viewed in a device such as Rocket e-Book or Softbook.  It sounds a bit unlikely, but there are some advantages for students if and when their textbooks are available for e-Book and Softbook.  These advantages include:

Immediate improvements would be wrist strap and a cord that prevents users from misplacing the stylus.  Medium-term improvements would be a detachable keyboard (like the keyboard that is at last available for the Palm VII), a color screen, and a wireless modem connection that bypasses a PC when users want to download books.  Long-term improvements would be to add a wireless digital phone and enough memory to store hundreds of books (coupled with a new fee arrangement based upon book usage rather than book downloading).  One day these devices may be a part of wireless computers (e.g., a subset of the computer that cannot be accessed by other parts of the computer for copying pages into the computer's hard drive.)

I do not think that these devices will replace hard copy in this decade, but then I didn't buy a PC until 1990 --- I thought it would never be anything but a gadget for bored adults to play with in leisure time.  I was a main frame die hard!  Now I own an e-Book and have joined the "Boys-and-Their-Toys Club."


After posting the first version of the July 30 New Boommarks on the AECM, Craig Polhemus wrote the following:

Here at the American Accounting Association, we are experimenting with both devices. (And also eagerly awaiting release of the Everybook [www.everybook.net].)

We of course are looking at them from the perspective of a publisher, though one less concerned about unauthorized copying than most commercial publishers. In this regard, the inability to "cut and paste" or print from these electronic books is more of a drawback than an advantage for us.

One aspect you did not dwell on is the (limited) ability in each system to add your own materials. For the Rocket e-book, you can add PDF files on your own -- but, due to the small size of the screen, essentially every table, graph, etc., would need to be re-formatted.

For the Softbook, you can add ASCII files on your own and can allegedly buy software (some of which is not really released yet) to convert HTML files as well. Unlike the Rocket e-book, the Softbook screen is about a full page, so tables and graphs that are already in HTML will probably look pretty good without manual re-formatting to fit another screen size.

I believe screen size is very important for professional journals, which is why I am so eager to see a functioning Everybook -- it is said to show two portrait pages at once. I envision this as being important to someone who wants to look at a chart or graph on one page while reading relevant text on another. (I do not know how easy it may be to transfer one's own material to the Everybook -- I've been told to "expect a response" to my inquiries of a month or so ago.)

So far, I have downloaded PDF versions of Accounting Horizons articles to the Rocket e-book and transferred ASCII versions of various AAA materials to the Softbook. The Softbook company has also promised to convert one or more articles from the online HTML version of Accounting Horizons to Softbook format -- I'll check tonight to see if they have done so. I will have both devices with me at the AAA Annual Meeting in San Diego, if any list members are interested in seeing them.

Ultimately, I think B5-sized notebook computers will have all the capabilities of these early electronic books without the dubious "advantage" of restricting printing and copying text. However, for now the electronic books are about one-tenth the cost, and even after B5 prices stabilize it may be that copy-fearing publishers will keep the separate electronic book market alive as well.

(As a reader rather than a publisher, I like both the Rocket e-book and the Softbook -- with an edge toward the latter because of its larger screen size. On the other hand, the Rocket e-book's ability to present text either portrait or landscape is a really neat feature! I read several books on the Softbook on the way to and from the AAA First Globalization Conference in Taiwan, and although the Softbook is heavier than one book, it's much lighter than ten!)
Craig Polhemus, American Accounting Association [ AAACraig@AOL.COM ]


Especially note Craig's reference to the forthcoming Everybook Dedicated Reader described at http://www.everybook.net/.  Everybook will have two screens that open up like a book.  More importantly, they will be color screens (I don't know what this will do to battery life and weight).

Medical Professionals on the run can read their journals and reference books in full color, with easy-to-view charts, graphs, and formulas, as well as high-resolution photographs and illustrations.

Thanks to its cutting-edge technology, the EB Dedicated Reader™ is poised to take its place as the natural extension of the traditional book.

I added the following on October 12, 1999:
I received the following message from Debra (Brown?) Messick. It may well be that Everybook will be the answer to many copyright concerns of authors. Given the new electronic book standards, it may well be that the library of the future will merely be an enormous database in which we can designate pointers (sometimes free and sometimes for a fee) for our own customized library table of books. At any time, we may then download at will from that table. My Rocket eBook now holds up approximately 100 books that I can download from my customized table of hundreds of pointers to books (most of which were free selections).

Dear Bob:

Thank you for your interest in the Everybook Dedicated ReaderTM (EB).

We will be offering two models of the EB: · A Professional model with a screen dimension of approximately 8-1/2" x 11" and · A Personal model with a screen dimension of approximately 6" x 9".

The EB Professional model is anticipated to be in full production in June of 2000. It will sell for approximately US $1,600. plus tax, shipping and handling. The EB has the potential to pay for itself over time because of the projected discounts the owner will receive on every book title purchased -- 25-40% off list. The more books you buy, the more quickly the EB pays for itself and then starts saving you money.

Some of the features of this model include: · Two screens-each with an approximate dimension of 8-1/2" x 11" · 24-bit color screens · A rendered image of approximately 300+dpi · Two full page touch screens for easy navigation · Full annotation capabilities (highlighting, margin notes, full-page notes) and search features (hypertext) · Digital audio · Digital video · Phone line, Internet access to browse and purchase (no PC needed) · Removable storage card (different size options) which hold up to 500,000 pages · Discounted book prices enabling the owner of an EB to make back their investment over time.

The Professional model is designed to optimally display professional trade journals, manuals and reference libraries as well as college textbooks. In addition, all artwork, complex schematic drawings, charts and tables are displayed in their original format and context.

Our second model, the Personal EB Dedicated Reader is anticipated to be available in late 2000. It will have virtually the same functionality of the Professional model, but will have two smaller screens - each with an approximate dimension of 6" x 9" - that almost meet in the center so that the book can be opened flat and read as one single screen. This allows the user to read reference-sized material in its original format one page at a time.

The most important advantages that Everybook has to offer are:

1. The Everybook Dedicated ReaderTM is the world's first true electronic book. The EB's full-page, two-screen display is 24-bit color and 300+dpi rendered resolution. The other eBooks are really tablets since they offer only one small screen, gray-scale, 72-105 dpi, and very limited storage capacity. You can store up to 200 fully illustrated reference books or 2,000 novels on each of the EB's removable storage cards and no PC is needed for downloading. There are no monthly fees or minimum purchases required.

2. The EB is the only eBook that supports PDF, the publishing industry's standard. The others, which use HTML, cannot display high-resolution photos, illustrations, charts, formulas, etc. With the EB, publishers need not pay to have books converted, since 90% of them already format their publications in PDF.

3. We are not striving to sell the EB to the "gadget" market. Our first model is geared toward professionals such as scientists, medical professionals, pharmacists, lawyers, engineers, architects, salespeople, business-to-business applications, and the military.

4. College students will be able to buy or lease an EB from their college bookstores. The EBs will come fully loaded with their textbooks, course packs, and required reading.

Nothing will ever truly replace the traditional book. Instead, we see the EB as the natural extension of the book, because it replicates all the things we love about books while adding mass storage, portability of your entire collection, frequent updating of information, and 24-hour-a-day access to the Everybook Store where you can browse, purchase, and download publications instantly. Book sales--and the number of titles available--will increase because titles will no longer go out of print or require a large market in order to make them profitable.

We have found wide acceptance of the EB because of its familiar dual-page layout, full-color images, and high-resolution display of page layouts in their original format. Publishers find that we understand their requirements and they appreciate the fact that we are the only eBook manufacturer that supports the PDF file format. We are not forcing a computer-based paradigm on them; instead, we studied their needs and built an electronic book system around them.

An estimated 90% of publishers have been electronically formatting their books in Adobe System's PDF file format for the production of traditional books. This makes PDF the de facto publishing industry standard for electronic books. Using PDF gives us access to the 10 to 15 years' worth of printed publications and eliminates the cost of conversion. We offer publishers a no-risk, low-cost distribution of their publications, with secure copyright protection, and sales incomes 60-90 days faster than current standards.

We plan to sell EBs directly from our web site, through professional associations, college bookstores, and through licensing agreements with entities such as corporations and the military.

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to write.

Regards, Debra G. Messick 
Sales Consultant
http://www.everybook.net/ 
717-939-3995 ext. 101


Update on November 29, 1999
I might add that the Digital Duo on November 28 was not very complimentary of the Franklin's pioneering electronic books at http://www.franklin.com/.  These books require that you purchase tiny disks for at least $20 or more and have a very limited selection of books as opposed to Internet download books such as are available from netLibrary, Barnes & Noble, Rocket, etc.


Speaking of wireless technology, Palm VII, digital phones, and e-Books are not the latest really big thing in going wireless.   The next big thing is a wireless transmission protocol called Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) and forthcoming modems that use CDPD.  The Novatel Merlin costs $279 is described at http://www.novatelwireless.com/.

San Diego, California –June 14, 1999– Novatel Wireless, Inc., a leading provider of wireless Internet solutions, today announced their latest product – the Merlin™ Type II Wireless IP Modem. Priced well below the competition, this wireless Type II PCMCIA modem expands the functionality of laptops and Windows® CE devices without bulky external hardware or cumbersome phone lines.

Designed for Windows 95/98/NT/CE and 2000 computers equipped with a Type II PCMCIA slot, Merlin allows mobile workers to send and receive email, connect to the World Wide Web, and access corporate files and databases wirelessly. Merlin weighs approximately 1.6 ounces and has a foldable antenna that locks into five positions for convenient use and storage. Priced at $279, Merlin offers a savings of $100-$300 compared to similar wide-area wireless modems, and will be commercially available in August 1999. Advance orders for Merlin are being accepted by calling Novatel Wireless at 888-888-9231.

"Merlin is a breakthrough product, offering mobile access to mission-critical data at an unbeatable price point," said Robert Corey, chief executive officer for Novatel Wireless, Inc. "We were able to use the expertise garnered from developing our other products, notably the Minstrel® line of modem cradles and the Expedite™ OEM module to create a cost-effective, reliable product in a PC card format."

Each Merlin has its own IP address and connects to the Internet via the Wireless IP network. Wireless IP, also known as Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), is a method of transmitting data in small packets of information over the existing cellular phone network (AMPS). Wireless IP is a fully digital network overlay, providing all the benefits of digital service, including lower error rates and lower costs. If a connection is lost during transmission, Merlin automatically reconnects to the network and resumes transmission or receipt of a message in its entirety. This feature, in addition to advanced verification techniques, makes the Wireless IP network an extremely reliable method of transmitting data.

The chief competitor will be the Sierra AirCard costing $500 at http://www.sierrawireless.com/.

June 21 - Sierra Wireless has introduced the "AirCard 300 for Windows"- with support for Microsoft Windows CE, 95, 98 and NT operating systems. The AirCard 300 for Windows is the industry's first cellular network interface card. It is also the smallest cellular data product on the market - the only true, Type II PC Card package. (more...)


Beyond message boards and chat rooms --- the next generation of online communities:

"Community is a Commodity," by Jim Cashel, NewMedia, August 1999, pp. 34-43.  The online version is at http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/08/techreport/Community.html.  

Nobody knows for sure how many online enclaves are out there, but they're definitely proliferating at a fast clip. Yahoo launched Yahoo Clubs (a "host your own" community) only nine months ago, and people have already formed over 200,000 distinct communities.  Remarq, an online community site, logs over 500,000 daily postings to Usenet. Even the most obscure topics are generating vibrant communities. Case in point: the Reel-Time forum on saltwater fly-fishing.

Jim goes on to tell us why communities are so vital to the future of networking and e-Commerce, to say nothing of education and training.

Polly Sprenger adds a nice piece about how message boards are really not passé.  See her piece about "Messaging Promotes Portals" at http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/08/outsource/Messaging.html.


Trivia Question: Who is Paul Allen and why is he unhappy with San Antonio?
Answer: One of the richest men in the world as a result of being Bill Gate's partner in founding Microsoft. He is not too happy with San Antonio since the Spurs prevented his Trail Blazers from becoming 1999 NBA Champions.

Serious Question: What is Paul Allen's latest big-time investment venture?

Answer: A venture for simple authoring of courses directly online --- course authoring for the web becomes an online cottage industry.  See http://click2learn.asymetrix.com/cda/createcourse/frontpage/


I will now summarize some options for putting your course materials up "for free" on commercial servers rather than having to rely upon the servers on your campus (many universities and other schools are way behind the time in providing server space and software shells for courses).

Both Paul Allen and Mike Milken are "Titans" in the eyes of an insignificant salaried professor.  However, Paul Allen has more billions than Mike Milken, and Paul Allen has spent less time in jail.  However, since being released from prison, Mike Milken set a course to monopolize much of the online education material and distribution via his Knowledge Corporation and its many subsidiaries.  It is nice to see that Paul Allen is putting up some competition.  Actually what Mike Milken and Paul Allen are both doing with their vast wealth is for the good of making training and education available worldwide.  I applaud what they are doing with their vast wealth and the risks that they are taking with their money.  I think both of these wealthy titans have more than profits in mind --- they both want to be global leaders in helping to bring low-cost and convenient learning materials to the entire world.

In summary, the Clash of the Titans seems to be Paul Allen's newcomer "Click2Learn" versus Mike Milken's earlier "Milken's Virtual Education Workspace."  Key features in both alternatives include the following:

Don't forget about the "non-Titan" CyberClass option for authoring courses.  CyberClass offers professors free space on its commercial servers.  You must provide your own course materials authored in the software of your choosing such as Microsoft FrontPage.  However, CyberClass offers more than you can get from the "Titans."  Cyberclass is a complete course management shell in the sense of allowing students to interact with the system, take tests online, enter chat rooms for synchronous course discussions, and track student performance and grades.  However, not just anybody can put up a course in CyberClass.  You must be the instructor of a formal course with enrolled students who can purchase the password to the course.  Publishing firms like South-Western Publishing have course materials mounted in CyberClass.  These publisher-generated materials can be accessed by students at discounted prices for selected textbooks required for a course.  CyberClass does not have author royalties per se, but a small company like HyperGraphics might negotiate royalties for large-scale courses from popular authors.  You can read about what universities are using CyberClass at http://www.hgcorp.com/cyberclass/hg/Newsroom/newsschools.htm.

If all you want is free server space without the bells and whistles (i.e., no point and click authoring software, chat rooms, course grading, or course management utilities), XOOM offers "unlimited" free server space.  Alan Whitten provided me with the following link to other free server alternatives:  http://cas.uah.edu/whittena/mis114/fr_web_sp/webdef.htm

In summary, the options are as follows:

Free course authoring software and server space with royalties from the results of you labors from the "Titans":

http://click2learn.asymetrix.com/cda/createcourse/frontpage/ from titan Paul Allen

http://www.mevw.org/ from titan Mike Milken

Free server space and a CyberClass server shell for course management, interactive testing, chat rooms, etc.:

http://www.hgcorp.com/cyberclass/ from HyperGraphics Corporation.  To see a listing of the colleges and universities that have one or more courses delivered from the CyberClass servers, see http://www.hgcorp.com/cyberclass/hg/Newsroom/newsschools.htm.

No frills free "unlimited" server space:

http://xoom.com/home/

http://cas.uah.edu/whittena/mis114/fr_web_sp/webdef.htm (reviews of other alternatives--- thank Alan Whitten for the tip on this web site)

In the United Kingdom, free server space is on web servers at FortuneCity.com at http://www.fortunecity.com/.  One accounting professor who has a course available at FoturneCity is Duncan Williamson.  The course, as pointed out to you in the July 1 Edition of my New Bookmarks, is Cost and Management Accounting at http://business.fortunecity.com/discount/29/index.htm.

Your own "Virtual" Bulletin Board where you can post messages and photos online in seconds. With an eBoard you can quickly and easily make information accessible to others at your own private place online: 
http://www.eboard.com/
   


I have been approached by Jenzabar.com who is offering me all the space I want to mount web pages, course syllabi, class distributions, etc. forever. My students would go to their website and gain access to all I've posted there. One of the links off the Jenzabar homepage is for shopping aimed at college students. There are no links from the course pages to shopping sites. No information they obtain about students will be used to sell to them directly. A clear advantage is that I'd be using their servers, not our school's. They provide web page shells, calendars, etc. The question of ethics, forcing students to a website where shopping is available, remains.

The website is http://www.jenzabar.com  if you want to check it out.

I am soliciting input here. Is use of this service appropriate?

Elliot Kamlet Binghamton University Binghamton, New York 13902 607-777-6062


If you would rather mount your courses on your university's servers, you should convince your webmaster to install one or more of the web authoring shells for servers discussed at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245soft1.htm.  I still recommend Blackboard if you go that route.


"There are 25,000 CD-ROMs sitting there with nobody making any money from them" according to Marc Canter in "Inventing New Venues," NewMedia, August 1999, pg.17.  The online version is at http://www.newmedia.com/NewMedia/99/08/frontrunners/index.html.

For an earlier (August 1998) analysis of what went wrong, see http://newmedia.com/NewMedia/98/09/feature/trip.html.


Thanks go to Chris Nolan for the lead on the following web site about "Putting Your Course Online" http://www.library.okstate.edu/dept/dls/prestamo/nom/titlepage.htm 


An example of accidental discovery aided by scientific visualization (three cheers for Iowa State University)
http://www.sdsc.edu/discovery/lo/vis.htm 


The Innovator's Dilemma When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M. Christense (Harvard Business School Press, 1997)
 http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html 


US News ranking of the Top 10 graduate accountancy programs (although some are MBA programs with accountancy concentrations):   http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/beyond/gradrank/gbmbasp1.htm   


From FEI Express

SHAREHOLDER LITIGATION
 It's an unpleasant subject, but a reality of our legal system. Two weeks ago there was a significant court decision as to shareholder litigation and how it relates to public companies. It dealt with the exposure to frivolous securities lawsuits. The Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of defendants in a case that will likely heighten the requirements plaintiffs must meet when pleading securities fraud. The Court announced its decision in a case that alleged that certain Silicon Graphics officers and directors misled investors about the Company's financial prospects. The Court interpreted the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and as a result, complaints of securities fraud based on circumstantial evidence will likely not meet the Act's heightened pleading requirements. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is the largest of the 13 federal circuits, and encompasses the nine western states.

ACQUISITION MODEL
Bruce Valentine's acquisition model has been downloaded 2,023 times from FEI download library. You can still access it at http://www.fei.org.download/valentin.xls .


This is a search engine used by banking and finance professionals according to Page 62 of the FEI's Financial Executive, Jul/Aug 1999.  

Welcome to FinanceWise, the first search engine to focus specifically on financial-only content.

Unlike other search technologies, FinanceWise doesn't aim to index the Internet in its entirety, only sites which possess content of interest to the financial world. Every topic, from risk management to syndicated finance and equities is indexed in depth, with the contents of each site evaluated by our editorial staff before sites are allowed into FinanceWise's search index.


Tax News 
http://www.taxnews.com/tnn_public/
 


Small business helpers:

Bob Jensen's small business bookmarks 
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#022119Small Business
  

AltaVista Wants To Host Storefronts for Local Merchants
http://altavista.b2bmarketplace.com/partner/altavista/main.asp

The Wall Street Journal will help your business set up a web site 
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html
 

Business to business product buying and selling
http://www.bizbuyer.com/ 


What's Nu on the net?  (this mostly focuses upon new or newly-discovered commercial web sites)
http://www.whatsnu.com/
 


News from or about Microsoft Corporation

The Future of Computing May Be Invisible  (known at Xerox Parc as Ubiquitous Computing)
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/1999/07-16summer.htm
Forty of the U.S.'s top university and industry researchers explored "invisible computing" at a summer institute hosted by the University of Washington and Microsoft Research.

Tips and tricks for FrontPage 2000 (at the moment the best tip is to go back to FrontPage 97)
http://www.microsoft.com/insider/frontpage2000/articles/htmledit.htm 


For Mike Kearl --- a web site on cemeteries 
http://www.5finger.com/DirtNap/Explorer/index.html
 


Chase Funds --- An education-oriented investment site featuring the basics of investing and easy-to-use tools.
http://www.chasefunds.com 


Online tutoring (various categories including languages) 
http://www.tutornet.com/
 


Home Appraisal and Selling Helpers
http://www.homegain.com 


World of Spain (includes MP3 Audio)
 http://www.worldofspain.com/ 


Web Exhibits (Choose from a wide range of categories, including science and technology)
How come nobody wants to exhibit accountants?    
http://www.webexhibits.com/
 

Cow pictures (this is a big deal in Chicago) 
http://www.cowsonparade.net/
 


Rome's Imperial Forums (this is a great archaeology web site) 
http://www.capitolium.org/
 


Free bartenders guides
http://www.mixed-drink.com/ 


A fiction writing contest sponsored by the Department of English as San Jose State University
http://www.5finger.com/DirtNap/Explorer/home.html 


New Books for Kids 
http://www.bookhive.org/
 

If books bore them, try Warner Brothers Cartoons 
http://www.spumco.com/magazine/eowbcc/
 


Find a job on Wall Street 
http://www.wallstreet-search.com 


"Record Industry Strikes Back at MP3," by Jason Compton, NewMedia, August 1999, pp. 13-14.  The online version is at http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/08/radar/Digital_Radar.html.

Remember Microsoft's slogan, "Embrace and Extend"? The record industry would like to do the same to MP3, and make SDMI (Secure Digital Music Initiative) everything that MP3 is -- with copyright protection. The initial specs for SDMI show that the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is willing to compromise temporarily for the long-term victory. And it may prevail.

Initially, SDMI will coexist with MP3, and popular devices will play both. Then the plan is to start blocking pirated MP3 files once SDMI has reached critical mass in the market.


A message from Paul Dierks

Thank you for your Bookmarks' featuring of my site for the Financial Accounting Course I taught last fall. Yes, the links did not connect to anything since the administration moved the folder to another server. I managed to restore a good number of the links to the old server as a temporary remedy but really should redirect them to the new server - which I'll do in the near future. I'll also have to let you know the address of the new server.

One thing I want to point out to you - and others checking the site - is that it is the "front-end" of the course that is available on the Internet. There is another, much larger site, that I built on the Babcock School's Internet that dealt with the operational aspects of each class session during the semester. A password is required to access the Internet site.

On another matter - in a recent posting you expressed frustration over FrontPage 2000 and you were keeping Frontpage 97 on an alternate computer. I am on the verge of upgrading to Frontpage 2000 and would like to know more about the basis of your frustrations over switching to it.

Hope all is going well with you. Keep up your good work in the computer area and thanks for transmitting all your valuable thoughts to the rest of us.

Paul Dierks [ Paul.Dierks@mba.wfu.edu ]
Wake Forest University

My original reference to Paul's course is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99.htm#PaulDierks.


Surf the Web in your own unique way with this free software. NeoPlanet's program lets you customize Internet Explorer to look any way you want it to look.  
http://hotfiles.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/texis/swlib/hotfiles/info.html?fcode=000M6C&b=
  


Welcome to the July 23rd edition of the Internet Essentials '99 Newsletter for the financial professional.
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html 

Here are this week's topics:

1. Your Comments Displayed on Any Web site

2. The Innovator's Dilemma 

3. E-business Could Mean Out-of-Business

4. Wall Street Journal Startup Web Site

5. Traveling on a Budget

6. JBM Logic Introduces Integra Internet Accounting

7. Top Ten Quick Hitters


OK --- Now for the smut you've been searching for about ubiquitous (invisible, undercover) computing:

Computers in e-Bra straps and other unmentionable places (for computers that is) are being seriously studied in the MIT Media Lab.  See "Get 'Em in Their Underwear," by Harry Bruinius in NewMedia, August 1999, pp. 28-36."  The online version is at http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/08/feature/In_Their_Underwear.html   You won't believe this one.

"Things That Think" -- that's what the MIT Media Lab is calling its current set of Internet "smart" gadgets. But the TTT Consortium doesn't just want these gadgets to think on their own -- they want them to think together in a flexible hive network.

"The big 'aha!' in the last five years was the World Wide Web," says Michael Hawley, a professor at the Media Lab and a participant in the TTT Consortium. "The big surprise in the next five years will be the ground swell of 'capillary networks' -- a new web of threadwork connecting appliances, toys, cars, phones, and more." The Media Lab is calling this education of toasters and toys "think and link," to describe how these gadgets will anticipate and then meet the needs of their users.

Among the projects at the Lab are smart clothes that respond to the wearer, smart screws on plane wings that tell the network when they're coming loose, and Web search "assistants" that, far beyond doing a keyword search, know exactly what information a user needs. "One of my personal favorites is still the Heart Throb brooch we designed with Harry Winston," says Hawley. "It's a $500,000 diamond and ruby brooch, plus a special bra and clutch purse.
The bra contains a sensor and mini radio link. The rubies glow with every heartbeat, and the purse transmits the data to the Internet." The Lab is also investigating many smart toys. "Think of Furby with an invisible network link," says Hawley. To link these household appliances, PDAs, clothes, and other wireless gadgets, the Lab is going deep into the gadgets'...DNA. MIT recently announced a partnership with Motorola to establish a Digital DNA Lab at the Media Lab

 (The rest of this undercover sidebar is at http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/08/feature/Device.html )

You may also like Harry's discussion of Internet Appliances at http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/08/feature/Appliances.html.

The elite of computer science researchers are focusing on "invisible computing" (no e-Bras mentioned in this one, but computers may be in the wallpaper) as described at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/1999/07-16summer.htm.   The two major problems in advancing technologies of both wireless and invisible (ubiquitous) computing are batteries and heat.  Who wants an overheated e-Bra or wall paper that catches on fire?  I mentioned previously that my new Rocket e-Book weighs 22 ounces.  The reason is mostly the hefty size of the battery needed to run the device for 30 hours.  It is not possible to have relatively high powered devices run on tiny batteries.  Lighting the viewing screen of wireless devices such as e-Books requires a serious amount of power from batteries.  Computer science researchers point out that technology in batteries and heat dissipation is behind the pace of new technology in computing.


If you want to see the computers in Bob Jensen's shorts (ala the MIT Media Lab discussion above), you have to sign up for one or two of the Continuing Education Program Workshops that I organized for the American Accounting Association annual meetings in San Diego:

Saturday, August 14 (all day) Workshop 1 at 
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpe/99cpe1.htm
 
(In order to not have any misleading advertising, I seriously doubt whether Sharon Lightner will be demonstrating any computers in an e-bra, and nobody wants to watch Bob Jensen strip to his shorts.  Sharon will, however, be demonstrating live on the Internet her International Accounting course that is now taught synchronously in four countries on all sides of the globe in (with the added participation of accounting standard setters from each nation, accounting experts from each nation, and accountancy professors from each nation.)

Sunday, August 15 (afternoon) Workshop 37 at 
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpe/99cpe37.htm
 

Concerning all the CPE workshops on August 14 and 15, I received the following excerpt in a message from Tracey:

As it is likely that we'll have at least 300-400 more pre-registrants by the time the meeting convenes, and because participants can register for CPE's until the morning they are offered (providing the session is not full . . .
You can register online at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/register.htm 

You may also contact Tracey as follows:
Director of Faculty Development:
Tracey Sutherland - ext. 311
Email: aaatracey@packet.net
Phone: (941) 921-7747
Fax: (941) 923-4093


I started this edition of New Bookmarks with some negative feelings about Microsoft's FrontPage 2000.  In fairness, some of the other software upgrades are great.  As I mentioned previously, I especially like the latest version of Internet Explorer.  In particular, what I really like is the way you can automatically download graphics images and animations automatically when you save a document to your hard drive.  What is neat is that IE automatically creates a folder on your hard drive, downloads all the graphics and other files automatically to that folder, and then creates the links to those files so that you open the downloaded web page on your local computer and not really know that you are not at the live web site.  If you have the latest version of Internet Explorer, you can try this by going to http://www.sdsc.edu/discovery/lo/vis.htm and then clicking on (File, Save as).  Then open this file from you local computer and watch the skull spin about.  

Why is this feature of IE so important?  The main reason is that when you are making presentations on the road and sometimes during classes on campus, you cannot rely on live connections on the Internet.  Reasons include the following:

Audiences hate long pauses while your computer is trying to find and then download a web site into cache.  If you previously downloaded the external web file and all of its accompaniments with one swift (File, Save as) click, you can then dazzle your audience with the speed at which you "appear to" visit web sites all over the world --- when in fact you have simply simulated those visits.  Your downloaded files will always be available as long as you leave them on your computer.  It may even be interesting to compare the changes in some web site over time since you have a historical record of what somebody's web site used to look like.  Warning:  It is not ethical to post somebody's web materials on your own server without permission.  It is not even ethical to keep them for more than a short time on your computer if they are pay sites.  U.S. Copyright Law does allow short-time saving and presentation of pay material under Fair Use provisions that are not available in all nations. I've never been as concerned about saving free documents on the web.

For example, you can see one of my "simulation modules" for my August 14 workshop by clicking on Module 2 document at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateel.htm.  Proceed to the section entitled "Virtual Realities and VR Caves."  Click on the link in that section and note that you are only being transported to my simulation of that visit to the San Diego Super Computer Center web site.  Although we will be connected to the Internet on August 14, I will not have to actually visit most of the web sites that I illustrate in my presentation.  Their web sites were easily simulated and stored on my laptop computer's hard drive.  I suspect that I am now in technical violation of copyright law by putting my simulations temporarily just for you on a web server, but this is only for illustrative purposes so that you can see what I am talking about.  After a few days, my simulations of other peoples' work will only reside in my laptop and will no longer be available on a web server due to copyright issues.  None of my simulations involve pay sites.  Simulation of a pay site is a quagmire in terms of copyright law.  The bottom line is that you must obtain permission.  For example, it is absolutely against the law to download and make presentations of Wall Street Journal editions except if you are making a presentation to students a day or two after the publication

As far as the above Module 2 is concerned, it is really in rough draft form and needs more of my attention before August 14.



And that's the way it was on July 30, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

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Bob Jensen's Index Page Bob Jensen's Bookmarks New Bookmark Archives

 

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July 23, 1999


This is the first document that I authored in FrontPage 2000.  Relative to FrontPage 97, I found some good news and some really BAD news.  One good news feature is the on-the-fly spell checker.  There is also a nice Help Search Wizard.  However, this Wizard locks up my computer on very large documents in FrontPage 2000  --- and I am not talking about freezing up a low-end PC.  This is a new Dell Precision with 256 Mb of RAM, 450 Mhz speed, and a 20 Gb hard drive.

And then there seem to be little irritating bugs.  For example when I paste a http URL string in an existing line of text, the hyperlink automatically sets up, whereas if I paste it on a new line, I have to manually create the hyperlink.  (This does not happen when you type out the http URL string --- it is only a problem when you paste the string on a new line and even here it is only a problem sometimes.)  I guess I can live with this one.  I think the problem is that the spell checker takes precedent over the automatic creation of a hyperlink.  

Then there are bigger bugs --- the Help files state that you can both find and replace text just like you could do in FrontPage 97.  However, my menu choice is only (Edit, Find) rather than (Edit, Replace).  Am I missing something here?  I have a harder time living with this problem.  This was never a problem in FrontPage 97.

FrontPage 2000 claims to have DHTML utilities which I have not yet played with, although I am doubtful that they will be as easy to use as they are in Macromedia Dreamweaver.  One bad news feature is search speed.  When I was searching a large-document  for character strings, the FrontPage 2000 search was so slow that the first couple of times I tried it I thought the program had locked up.  Be patient on this one.  In fairness, this could also be due to my new computer.  Faster computers are not always faster in all tasks.  When I get FrontPage 2000 on my two older computers, I will give you an update. 

On second thought, I plan to leave FrontPage 97 on one of my old computers --- a Dell Optiplex.  It appears that FrontPage 2000 may have a memory management problem for large documents.  FrontPage 97 appears to manage memory better on large files.  Remember how FrontPage 95 could not handle large files --- it would not even load them.  This was corrected brilliantly in FrontPage 97.  I could load huge files that my HotMetal Pro choked upon.  Based on a few limited trials with my new FrontPage 2000, however, it appears that FrontPage 2000 has reverted back to a memory management problem for large files.  FrontPage 2000 string searches are SLOW and little things like using the HELP index or wizard ( when you're opened to a large file) lock up the computer.  The emotional solution for this is Grrrrrr --- give me back my FrontPage 97.  In order to make revisions in my huge Technology Glossary file, I had to revert to my old computer (that still uses FrontPage 97.).  I hope some very large flocks of birds stuffed with foul-smelling chum fly slowly over Redmond this morning.

I also found Word 2000 to be "different."  It will take some getting used to for us old Word veterans.  MS Word is more like FrontPage and FrontPage is more like MS Word.  I suspect that in future versions they will meet in the middle --- when hard copy document transmissions are faded memories.

I am also using the latest version if Internet Explorer.  That's neat!  One feature I really like is that when saving anybody's web document, all the graphics images are also downloaded and linked automatically into my hard drive.  No more having to download each graphic separately.  Give it a try by trying clicking on "File, Save as" when you are at http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/gemba.html..  (I am preparing a module for my workshop presentations in San Diego that will update new happenings in online higher education programs at Duke, Stanford, WGU, Open University, etc.  Since I do not trust live web connections for my hotel presentations, I simulate web site visits.  Having all graphics images download automatically using Internet Explorer really saves time when authoring web surfing simulations.)

It seems to be life as usual with Microsoft software upgrades.  Microsoft's programmers add on some helpful things, change some of the authoring  routines that you finally memorized, fail to stomp out all the bugs, and screw up memory management.  

Will Jim Borden eventually tell me when Microsoft patches up the FrontPage 2000 problems?  I'm counting on you Jim since it was you who informed me the problem was FrontPage 95 and not my incompetence in authoring large FrontPage files.


Get'em while the case solutions are available.  I completed the first draft of two new Eurodollar interest rate futures hedging and accounting cases.  It is best to download them before August 12, because after August 12 the proposed solutions (shown in red) will disappear before my students arrive on campus. 

The MarginWHEW Bank Case begins with a futures hedging illustration shown at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) web site.  I then embellish the facts and propose how to account for 30 hedging contracts acquired to fix the profit rate on a note receivable.  Journal entries under SFAS 133 versus IAS 39 are compared --- along with issues of convergence error in interest rate futures.

The MarginOOPS Bank Case takes up a more complicated situation where the Futures Margin Account has to be fed with cash to cover losses on the hedging contracts.  It uses real CME Eurodollar futures quotations taken from the Wall Street Journal.  It also compares accounting outcomes under SFAS 133 versus IAS 39.

The index to these and my related cases is given at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/caseans/000index.htm.

In summary, the links to five cases on hedging strategies and accounting under new rules for accounting for derivative financial instruments and hedging activities are as follows:

MarginWHEW Bank Case (interest rate profit hedging with 30 Eurodollar futures contracts)
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/caseans/285case.htm

Margin OOPS Bank Case (interest rate profit hedging with 75 Eurodollar futures contracts)
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/caseans/285case.htm
You can access the MarginOOPS Bank Case with buttons at the bottom of the screen.

CapIT Corporation Case (interest rate caps with Eurodollar interest rate put options taken from the Wall Street Journal)
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/caseans/ccase.htm

FloorIT Bank Case (interest rate floors with Eurodollar interest rate call options taken from the Wall Street Journal)
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/caseans/ccase.htm
You can access the FloorIT Bank Case with buttons at the bottom of the screen.

Mexcobre Case (a complex international hedging case involving a copper price swap)
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/caseans/133sp.htm
You must contact me privately to download Mexcobre solutions.  My email address is rjensen@trinity.edu


I will be chairing two conferences entitled  "Implementing FAS 133:  Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities" http://www.worldrg.com/FA981/ .   The places, dates, and hotels are as follows:

Chicago (September 29-October 1 in the Hyatt Regency) 
Washington DC (October 27-29 in the Key Bridge Marrott).

The program is now available at the above web site.  What is important about this conference is that top specialists from public accounting and industry will be conducting workshops and making presentations.  Speakers listed at the above web site (along with summaries of what they will be speaking about) are from the following organizations:

Sun Microsystems
Union Carbide
Travelers Insurance
Mastercard International
Allstate Insurance
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Arthur Andersen LLP
Deloitte & Touche LLP
TPG Software, Inc.
Ernst & Young
First Union Corporation
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Trinity University
World Research Advisory


G4+1 Financial Instruments Joint Working Group Update - June 1999
http://www.accountingeducation.com/news/news304.html

In spite of the fair value misgivings that I express in the Mexcobre Case, it appears that fair value updating is the wave of the future for financial instruments.  (The links to the Mexcobre Case are given above).


Ibbotson's Investment Research via the Internet
This is a great web site for new links, top links, and a raft of other free things you have to see to believe.  It is probably a good place to visit at least once each week.
http://www.ibbotson.com/

American Association of Individual Investors --- helpers for investors
http://www.aaii.org/


Recall that I previously discussed the PriceWaterhouseCoopers online, asynchronous MBA program that is targeted for selected full-time consulting division employees.  The program is administered by the University of Georgia, and my friend Denny Beresford teaches the accounting parts of the program.  I wrote about it at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm#ErnstandYoung 

On July 19, 1999 this program is featured in "MBA On the Go," in Information Week, pg. 90.  The online version is at http://www.informationweek.com/744/training.htm.


ISWORLD'S "New" Teaching Cases in IS Systems (This is a very helpful web site for e-Commerce cases and documents)
http://www.cudenver.edu/~anol/ISTeachingCases.html

The ISWORLD links to teaching cases are not all restricted to U.S. e-Commerce.  For example, one of the cases involves a small, struggling Norwegian bookstore --- a case written by Espen Andersen (Norwegian School of Management).

There are two major cases on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) --- wow!

There is even a case on re-engineering of Pizza (well,  not really "pizza," but how about the re-engineering of distributing Domino's pizzas).

One of the most interesting cases was written by two USC students.  It is entitled "The Evolution of ERNIE" at http://www.usc.edu/schools/business/atisp/ec/Ernie/Ernie.pdf
A summary of a Duke University study of ERNIE in January 1998 is available at 
http://ernie.ey.com/About/ey11_exec.asp  
ERNIE is the online virtual consultant of Ernst and Young
http://ernie.ey.com/
In spite of cutting off in 1997, the USC case may be very useful in many types of accounting, AIS, taxation, and IS courses.  It has a lot of useful media clippings and provides some information regarding how as well as why E&Y took the bold step of investing in ERNIE.  The following quotation is taken on July 22, 1999 from the "About ERNIE" section at http://ernie.ey.com/about/fr_about.htm 

Isn't Ernie simply going to provide "stock" answers from a huge database?

No. Ernie is a direct interface to the professional resources of Ernst & Young. The consultants who are supporting Ernie are actual Ernst & Young consultants who support clients and members on a day-to-day basis. This is really the power of Ernie. Instead of relying on resources one or two steps removed from the actual business world, Ernie knowledge providers are gaining practical everyday experience which can then be used to address questions received through the Ernie channel, ensuring that members benefit from the most current and practical insights available.

If I were starting up a competitor to ERNIE, I would consider the same "day-to-day" updating approach, but I would consider using artificial intelligence software similar to the "Ask Jeeves" software used by Dell Corporation, Toshiba, and other technology firms for answering technical support questions.  See http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99b.htm#jeeves.


Selected links in the area of managerial accounting, managerial finance, and managerial IS:

Important links from the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA)
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/ima/inforesource.htm

Financial Management Association  --- Note the Finance Links button
http://www.fma.org/

IS Financial Managment Associations
http://www.isfma.com/

Rutgers Accounting Website (RAW) claims to be the largest accounting web site in the world (probably true)
http://caarnet.ntu.edu.sg/

Web pointers from Roger Debreceny
http://nbs1.ntu.edu.sg/ab212/week1/Default.htm
There are others listed for each week at
http://nbs1.ntu.edu.sg/ab212/

Don Raun's Introductory Managerial Accounting
http://www.csun.edu/~vcact00g/chap.html

ISWORLD --- a very good web site with links to e-Commerce and other helpful documents
http://www.isworld.org/isworld.html

Association for Information Systems
http://www.aisnet.org /


The Information Economy compiled by Hal Varian --- Economics of the Internet (lots of good links)
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/resources/infoecon/


Online resources for economists and others
http://rfe.wustl.edu/EconFAQ.html


John Farino's Non-profit Accounting Resource Center (not-for profit organization accounting) --- both educators and practitioners may find this site useful
http://www.1800net.com/nprc/


New York State Society of CPA's Emerging Technologies Subcommittee believes accountants must learn about XML
http://www.accountingeducation.com/news/news327.html

Don't forget my RDF and XML Watch at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/xmlrdf.htm


If you know any accounting educators with helpful materials on the web, please ask them to link their materials  in the American Accounting Association's Accounting Coursepage Exchange (ACE) web site at
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/ace/index.htm
Please send these professors email messages today and urge them to share as much as they can with the academy by easily registering their course pages with ACE. 

This week's featured ACE professor is James M. Peters

Institution: Carnegie Mellon University
Course Name: Financial Analysis
Textbook: Course Packet
Author(s): James M. Peters

The web site for this course is at http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/~jpeters/Courses/90724.htm .  This is probably one of the best courses in the ACE database.  The important place to visit is called "Course Files" at http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/~jpeters/Courses/file.htmI can't say enough about this type of sharing --- thank you James!


A great set of links to electronic journals and databases (unfortunately the databases now have restricted access)
http://www.lib.polyu.edu.hk/electdb/index.htm


AltaVista Wants To Host Storefronts for Local Merchants
http://altavista.b2bmarketplace.com/partner/altavista/main.asp (Painfully slow loading web page this morning).


Thank you FEI Express

Tax issues are of great interest to our members. They impact companies of all sizes, public and private. I’m sending this special Express on the heels of the new tax bill out of House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas). The items that are included or excluded have passed a significant fork in the road toward enactment or defeat as a result of this bill. It is a telling and warning proposal. The serious negotiation and lobbying is now focused on a narrower set of issues.

In the summary below, we focus on only the significant business-related provisions. For the complete text of the legislation, click on http://www.house.gov/jct and get the Joint Committee on Taxation’s description of the entire package.


"Whole More Valuable Than the Sum of Its Parts"
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,409287,00.html

The above article deals with copyright issues --- Recent disputes involving data collections at Yahoo-GeoCities and West Publishing raise interesting questions about intellectual-property ownership in the Internet era.  It also covers such issues that I have mentioned before such as whether or not prices of a vendor can be reproduced without express written permission. (Marketing)


Important new happenings in the areas of Webtrust Principles and Criteria in the U.S. and Canada (security)
http://www.accountingeducation.com/news/news310.html


Many business firms are belatedly, reluctantly, and defensively ramping up to the Internet.  I suspect some universities will also be following their lead with the same attitudes (and much smaller budgets).  For a late, reluctant, and defensive strategy discussion see the Walgreen article at
http://www.internetwk.com/lead/lead071599.htm


Thank you Andrew Priest for tipping me off about the "Ask Jeeves" article.  The corrected email address thanks to Elliot Kamlet is http://www.businessweek.com/cgi-bin/ebiz/ebiz_frame.pl?url=/ebiz/9907/el0709.htm

Larry Armstrong writes in Business Week as follows:

But what a bumbling butler this is. In our initial (if virtual) interview, I asked a series of questions of the who, what, when, where, and why variety. Many questions he simply ignored, delivering no answer at all. For some, he had the temerity to suggest that his ignorance was my fault, that I had misspelled something in my request. To his credit, after he took his feeble stab at a response, he submitted my questions to a handful of better-known search engines, though he says he filters those "finds" to get rid of the junk. Separately, I did searches on AltaVista, HotBot, Excite, and Yahoo! to compare Jeeves's skill with their results. And I used Dogpile, a site that, like Ask Jeeves, aggregates results from other searches.

Keep in mind that there are two quite different things concerning "Ask Jeeves."  One is the public database that is mentioned above, and like all databases it is only as good as the volume and the updating frequencies of data entries.  The second thing is the "Ask Jeeves" artificial intelligence software.  At a price tags ranging from $400,000 to over $1 million, Dell Corporation, Toshiba, and many other hardware and software vendors have adopted Ask Jeeves software for answering technical support questions.  In that area, this expensive software seems to be having a highly successful and promising run.  See http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/06/realworld/Ask_Jeeves.html.

Previously, I asserted that use of artificial intelligence software is one of the most important areas where academe lags behind industry.  See http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99b.htm#jeeves.


INFOSEEK's online business sites
http://infoseek.go.com/Topic?tid=420


e-Commerce Best Practices
http://www.zdnet.com/enterprise/e-business/bphome/


Reasons for and problems with going global with e-Commerce are discussed by Whit Andrews in "Tomorrow the World," Information Week, July 15, 1999, pp. 35-38.  This is a Special Edition that I could not find at the online web site.


PayTrust accounting software can be used to receive and pay bills over the Internet (works with Quicken, Microsoft Money, and Excel)
http://www.paytrust.com/htmlu/index.htm


Time Magazine's tribute to the 20th Century
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/time100/timewarp/timewarp.html


Physics limericks for Fred and Rudy
http://www.aps.org/apsnews/limericks.html 


Thank you Gary Kates (History and Humanities)
For my field, ARTFL (a collection of on-line French classics) has been invaluable. Check it out on the "electronic resources" section of our library's web page.
Gary

http://humanities.uchicago.edu/ARTFL/ARTFL.html   --- this link worked for me (Bob Jensen), but it may not work without a campus license such as the license owned by Trinity University

ARTFL Project for American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language, University of Chicago


Nova provides panoramic views of the Apollo moon landing (wow! --- this has to be the top event of the 20th Century).  Nova also provides audio files of space pioneers.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tothemoon/


ShoutMail is telephone-based email solution allows you to check email, send email, and even send voicemail over the Internet from any telephone.
http://www.shoutmail.com


WebTV is a failure is the opinion of one professional who writes in Information Week, July 15, pg. 12.

WebTV is a way of accessing Internet and email service via a set-top box, a television set, a standard phone line, and a subscription-based online service called WebTV Network.


Apple launches QuickTime TV
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/ 


Support services for battered women
http://www.lacasa.org/


United Nations Foundation
http://www.unfoundation.org/


OneBox email, voice mail, and fax all in one box
http://www.onebox.com/


A museum of radio artistry and other aspects of hearing voices
http://www.hearingvoices.com/


PBS's Savage Sea hunt for lost vessels and treasures
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageseas/


Australia Zoo
http://www.crocodilehunter.com/


And did you notice her shoes?
http://www.centuryinshoes.com/intro.html


Hi Bob,

Thank you for your interest in Northern Light. The URL for our USGOVSEARCH search page is:
www.usgovsearch.com

I hope this is helpful. Please let us know if you have any further questions or comments.
Kindest regards,
Robin Weiss
Customer Support


From the Scout Report

National Survey of Small Business Finances [.pdf] http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/oss/oss3/nssbftoc.htm

The Federal Reserve Board has compiled information on American small businesses, defined as businesses with fewer than 500 employees. The National Survey of Small Business Finances (NSSBF) includes such information as financial characteristics, firm size, use of financial services, and income and balance sheets. Users can access the full publication data, working papers, methodology reports, and codebooks from the 1993 and 1987 surveys. NSSBF has also posted recent changes to surveys, abstracts of research using the 1993 and 1987 data, and an FAQ about the past two surveys.


From the Scout Report

InvestQuest [RealPlayer]
http://www.investquest.com/

InvestQuest is a company that "designs and hosts comprehensive investor presentations and provides financial documents for over 10,000 public companies to users in more than 145 countries." The site hosts a database of 10K reports, 10Q reports, and proxy statements for over 10,000 companies, accessible by company, ticker, or by searching the pop-down menu of industries. InvestQuest also has daily news about the companies it tracks, annual reports, Direct Stock Purchase and Dividend Reinvestment plans for several companies, and streaming audio that allows users to listen in on analyst conference calls.


Full-text archived articles from The Economist
http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/library/business/index2_


Business English Online
http://eleaston.com/biz/bizhome.html


Internet Startup Tips from Veterans
http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/99/28/index3a.html?tw=659


Lycos Learning Fun
http://client.lycos.com/r.asp?CB&9pmoE/oelJQGc932050049
http://client.lycos.com/r.asp?CB&bJGf/7IgHbjlM932050050


News from or about Microsoft Corporation

Report suspected bugs in Microsoft products (they're tired of hearing from me)
http://www.microsoft.com/support/contact_us/

Microsoft introduces an HTML version of news
http://www.microsoft.com/misc/mstw/

After dominating the consumer and education markets, Microsoft apart from DOS is beginning to dominate the enterprise market.  See http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,409114,00.html .

Upgrade to Encarta 2000 for Free
http://www.microsoft.com/insider/buynow/mscombuynow/msencguar.htm

Microsoft Alerts Customers to Potential Security Threat
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/1999/07-08orifice.htm


Sidewalk CitySearch (now merged with Ticketmaster Online) for stock
http://www.citysearch.com/


Dell Computers is now in the online auction business
http://www.dellauction.com/


Hi Bob,

I was looking at your survey results and noticed an error in a Web link on page http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/survey1.htm#00Auditing .

SCAD refers to the Simulated Case for Audit Decisions by William L. Felix, Marcia S. Niles and myself. The SCAD that is linked is an engineering related site. While SCAD has no web site at this time, inquiries can be sent to my email address.

We are in the process of completing SCAD V which updates the simulation to represent a high-tech video chip manufacturer. The software has also been updated to a windows 95/98/NT interface.

The revised version of the simulation should be available this spring.

Thanks,
Jon Andrus, Ph.D., CPA Phone: (714) 278-2564
Associate Professor of Accounting
California State University, Fullerton
Fullerton, CA 92834


Where to go and who to visit in the United States while on sabbatical leave?

Hi Clare,

Do you mind if I quote your message and my response in my next issue of New Bookmarks? Please let me know if I have your permission.

I look forward to meeting you during our workshops in  San Diego. You will probably get some good ideas during our workshop presentations.

Judging from your comments, I suspect that you are most interested in technologies at the program level. At the program level, you may want to visit Notre Dame or the University of Virginia. See http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm#ErnstandYoung   If I were in your shoes, I would most definitely want to make an onsite visit of the GEMBA program at Duke University (this is probably the most successful international distance education program to date in business education). I would also want to study Sharon Lightner's exciting online International Accounting course taught simultaneously in multiple nations. See http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255light.htm . (I persuaded Sharon to make a presentation in Workshop 1 described at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpe/99cpe1.htm  

As far as other places to visit, much depends on how deep you want to sink into the morass of information technology details. At the deep end, you may want to visit some of the ERP and SAP installations discussed at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245glosap.htm . I especially recommend that you visit Bentley College and get to know Jane Fedorowicz. I also recommend a visit to Arizona State University where you will meet Julie David Smith. Even if you are not interested in ERP and SAP, I think you would find visits to Bentley and Arizona State University most enlightening.

For other ideas, I suggest that you look at the Innovation in Accounting Education listings at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/facdev/teaching/awardsub.htm. You may find something that really gets your attention.

At the same time, you might check out the ACE professors at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/ace/index.htm   . You may want to learn more about how particular ACE professors work. One in particular that I recommend is James Peters at Carnegie Mellon University. His course page is shown at http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/~jpeters/Courses/90724.htm.

Both Tony Catanach (Villanova) and Anita Hollander (Tulsa) are new PEW Foundation accounting scholars. You might also want to visit them. See http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/newsarc/pewscholar.htm   . However, our interest in both scholars is probably more in the innovative pedagogy rather than emerging education technologies.

There are of course many other places that you might want to visit. A lot depends upon they type of technology that you are interested in studying versus the type of pedagogy. We can talk more about this in San Diego.

Bob Jensen at rjensen@trinity.edu
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200

-----Original Message----- From: C.Spencer@open.ac.uk [ SMTP:C.Spencer@open.ac.uk ] Sent: Monday, July 19, 1999 3:49 PM To: rjensen@trinity.edu Subject: AAA Conference

Dear Professor Jensen

My name is Clare Spencer and I am a Lecturer in Accounting and Finance at the Open University Business School which is the main provider of Distance Learning MBAs in the UK. I have been granted a 6-8 month sabbatical for Summer 2000 and I hope to spend it at an American University carrying out a combination of teaching on Finance and Accounting related programmes and pursuing my research interests into the use of new technology in teaching.

I will be attending the AAA conference in San Diego in August and will be coming to your Saturday workshop. I will also be presenting a paper on 'The Integrated Use of CD-ROM, the Web and Electronic Conferencing to Deliver aCase Study in Financial Analysis and Valuation' at the conference. The paper reports on my work in developing an interactive, multi-media CD-ROM and supporting technology for the Financial Strategy module of our distance learning MBA.

I would welcome any advice you could give me as to which US academics and Institutions to approach regarding my forthcoming sabbatical.

I look forward to meeting you in August.
Kind regards
Clare Spencer


Hi David, (from Bob Jensen)

Without a doubt, this is a longer response to your question than you requested. I guess I should have explained my hidden agenda.

The links to the "web-integrated" accounting courses at Stanford University are not available for sharing with the public. However, I view it as extremely important that there are "web-integrated" accounting courses at Stanford University. For years, the top business schools like the Graduate Schools of Business Administration at Stanford and Harvard reported no adaptations of emerging education technologies. For example, see the survey responses from Stanford and Harvard at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/survey1.htm .

In general, the accounting faculty at top business schools until lately have shown virtually no leadership in adaptations of education technologies in conference presentations, working papers, web sites, and journal articles. I commented on this in previous editions of my New Bookmarks and speculated as to reasons at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book99b.htm#R1 .

As a result, I find it very important whenever I find adaptations of emerging education technologies in any parts of top business schools. Hence, even though they do not let the world see their course materials, I reported that four accounting faculty members at Stanford have "web-integrated" accounting courses. I also reported that there are four new highly innovative e-Commerce courses at The Haas School of Business Administration at UC Berkeley. Those links are now at http://www.urel.berkeley.edu/urel_1/CampusNews/PressReleases/releases/4-13-1999.html

I do not anticipate that top business schools will share course materials (at least not without a fee) as their courses become more web-integrated. There are many reasons, but the major reason is that these top schools tend to use cases and other materials that they sell. Stanford and Harvard have renowned case writing enterprises that are not likely to start putting out free goods. I do not criticize them for this, because case revenues fund the authoring of many fine teaching materials that virtually all of us use at one time or another.

Having said all this, I might mention that accounting faculty at top business schools have not been inclined to participate in the increasingly-popular Accounting Coursepage Exchange (ACE) sponsored by the American Accounting Association at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/ace/index.htm . This morning I counted the courses that have been entered into the ACE database. There are 176 courses entered into the database, although this includes some double counting when professors entered their shared courses in more than one category.

Next I counted the ACE courses from "top business schools." In doing so, I relied on the US News rankings of U.S. business schools given at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/beyond/grad/gradmba.htm . This has two glaring flaws. The rankings are based upon graduate business programs, although many of those universities also have highly-reputed undergraduate programs. This is a flaw for undergraduate accounting programs in universities that do not have graduate business or graduate accounting programs. I cannot think of many such schools off hand, however, whose undergraduate reputations surpass the top business schools listed in the above web link. The second flaw is that top universities outside the U.S. are not included in the US News rankings. This is not a serious problem, however, since the leading foreign universities have not entered shared courses into the ACE database.

Among the "top 30" business schools in the United States, there are no courses entered into ACE except for a course called Financial Analysis for Managers taught by James Peters at Carnegie Mellon University (Rank 18). There are listings from Dan Gode at NYU (Rank 13), but I did not count these since Dan is mainly linking to his resume, some course outline material, and his commercial CD-ROM product that is not available free as shared coursepages to accounting educators.

Some accounting faculty at Arizona State University (Rank 31) share course pages in the ACE database. Two professors from the University of Illinois (tied for Rank 36) share course materials as well.  Paul Dierks at the Babcock School at Wake Forest University (tied for Rank 36) also shares financial accounting course materials on ACE.   And there was some sharing from Penn State University (Rank 49).

Although there is no coursepage sharing from the "top 30" business schools in the ACE database, I repeat that there are probably some very good reasons accounting professors in those schools do not or are not allowed by their universities to share course materials. I still deem it significant that accounting faculty in some top schools are putting materials on the web even if access requires a password.

The bottom line answer to your question David is that I do not know the password to any of the four web-integrated accounting courses at Stanford University even though the Stanford GSB is my alma mater. But I am glad to see that Stanford does have some web-integrated accounting courses.

Bob at rjensen@trinity.edu
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200

 -----Original Message-----

From: David [SMTP:hurtt@hcob1.hcob.wmich.edu]
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 1999 10:57 AM
To: rjensen@trinity.edu
Subject: stanford bookmarks

Dear Bob:
I attempted to access the Stanford bookmarks but they require
passwords. Any ideas.
David Hurtt


Welcome to the July 16th edition of the Internet Essentials ‘99 Newsletter for the financial professional.
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html
Here are this week’s topics:

1. Free Small Business Web Pages

2. Speaking of Free Internet Access.

3. Microsoft Giving Away Computers...Well Almost

4. Business Bots, Your Electronic Market Maker

5. Northern Light’s One-stop Federal Government Info

6. Gode’s Financial Accounting Tutor

7. Woody’s Office Watch

8. Amazon Moves into Toys and Electronics

9. Search Engine’s Unequaled Access



And that's the way it was on July 23, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

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Bob Jensen's Index Page Bob Jensen's Bookmarks New Bookmark Archives

 

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July 16, 1999


I am putting the finishing touches on two new free Eurodollar interest rate futures hedging cases called the MarginIN Case and the MarginOUT Case.  These will deal with somewhat complicated margin account transacting and accounting for hedges under SFAS 133 and IAS 39.

Last week I unveiled two new free cases on hedging strategies and accounting for hedges to cap borrowing rates or floor lending rates via Eurodollar options.  The cases are called CapIT Corporation Options Case and FloorIT Bank Options Case.  You may see the first two cases and the solutions for a short while (until my students return in August) at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/caseans/ccase.htm


I will be chairing two conferences entitled  "Implementing FAS 133:  Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities" http://www.worldrg.com/FA981/ .   The places, dates, and hotels are as follows:

Chicago (September 29-October 1 in the Hyatt Regency) 
Washington DC (October 27-29 in the Key Bridge Marrott).

Please note that the Chicago dates are incorrect at the above web site.  The World Research webmaster has been informed and will (hopefully) be correcting the Chicago dates.

The program is now available at the above web site.  What is important about this conference is that top specialists from public accounting and industry will be conducting workshops and making presentations.  Speakers listed at the above web site (along with summaries of what they will be speaking about) are from the following organizations:

Sun Microsystems
Union Carbide
Travelers Insurance
Mastercard International
Allstate Insurance
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Arthur Andersen LLP
Deloitte & Touche LLP
TPG Software, Inc.
Ernst & Young
First Union Corporation
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Trinity University
World Research Advisory


May 1999 Accounting Software Preference Survey
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html


This quarter's issue of CAUSE/EFFECT journal excerpts the executive summary of Technology and Its Ramifications for Data Systems, a report of the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative published under the sponsorship of the National Center for Education Statistics. The report addresses the impacts of technology --- especially the delivery of network-based instruction -- on data definitions and analytical conventions and the need to adapt higher education administrative, planning, and policy development processes to this new education delivery environment. This is important reading for chief information officers, institutional researchers and planners, administrative systems directors, admissions officers and registrars, and others who deal with institutional data management. The full report is available on the NCES Web site at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98279.pdf.


"Distributed Learning and Educational Restructuring," by Brian L. Hawkins, Educom Review, July/August 1999, pp. 12-15.  The online version is at http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/html/erm9943.html .  This article discusses such things as Library Access, Faculty Workload (a huge problem), Faculty Incentives, Faculty Support Structures, Intellectual Property, Articulation Agreements, Financial Aid, Pricing, Institutional Loyalty and Philanthropy, Technological Infrastructure, and Organizational Structures and Governance.


"Distributed Learning and Educational Restructuring," by Susan Rosenblatt, Educom Review, July/August 1999, pp. 28-32.  The online version is at http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/html/erm9947.html .This article tackles the tough questions about costs and benefits.


A changed link for Howard Gardner's theories on seven types of intelligence.

Hello Bob,

I have had to move an extensive web site, and it gets some traffic from your link to the old location. Here is the link that I hope you will update at your earliest convenience.
Your page: http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm#Metalevel
Old link: http://klingon.util.utexas.edu/TAG/7_Intelligences.html
New link: http://www.swopnet.com/ed/TAG/7_Intelligences.html
Thank you!
Miles Abernathy, miles@mail.utexas.edu


Interview --- "The Future of Learning: An Interview with Alfred Bork"
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/html/erm9946.html


Northern Light has created usgovsearch: a one-stop federal government information resource that utilizes powerful searching, crawling, and classification technologies.   It searches more than 20,000 federal government web sites
http://standard.northernlight.com/cgi-bin/govsearch_login.pl  


Internet Library of Law and Court Decisions
http://www.phillipsnizer.com/internetlib2.htm

The Publishing (copyrights) Law Center
http://www.publaw.com/index.html


The Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley is moving into e-Commerce in a big way with four new courses in this area.  In one course, IBM will help students design their own online businesses.
http://haas.berkeley.edu/groups/pubs/news/archivesn.html

By the way, the Haas School of Business has a very helpful web site with links to many of its own publications and other helpers for business education at research.
http://haas.berkeley.edu/


Not to be outdone, the Rank 1 Graduate School of Business at Stanford University has an improved web site at
http://www-gsb.stanford.edu/ .   Web-integrated classes are listed at http://wesley.stanford.edu/class_pub/offcampus/ .  Web-integrated courses are available from such well-known accounting professors as

Barth, Mary                                 (A330)
Foster, George                             (A319)
McNichols, Maureen                  (A312)
Wade, Steven                               (A319)


When I broadcast the link to Yahoo's "100 Most Wired Colleges," the Academic Vice President at Trinity University, Chuck White, complained that Trinity University had never been given a chance to even be considered in this competition.   According to Educom Review, July/August 1999, pg. 4, Trinity University is not alone in what is considered a biased and unfair competition sponsored by Yahoo.   Many colleges and universities "are crying foul."  The main problem for small colleges is that a few small colleges (like Drake University, Grove City College, and Albertson College of Idaho) were invited to fill out a survey form whereas many other small colleges were mysteriously excluded from having a chance to compete.  My hunch is that some large colleges and universities were similarly excluded from having a chance to compete.

If you are affiliated with a college or university, you might note that Yahoo belatedly acknowledges this foul play and will correct the situation with future web surveys that all colleges and universities can fill out on the web.  Watch for the forthcoming web address.  I am not certain about the importance of this, but it may be a factor in the choice of colleges by some graduating high school seniors.

The online version of this "foul play" clip can be found at http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/html/erm9941.html


Anybody with email can get a 5% commission as a book seller for barnesnoble.com (other companies may follow this Tupperware-style lead that draws frowns from family and friends caught in a sales pitch)
http://www.befree.com/


Business intelligence vendors offer a lot of hype and questionable substance
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,408461,00.html


Lab tests of electronic books have positive results (e-book and Softbook Reader)
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,409104,00.html


Dear Dr. Jensen,
Regarding your website at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob.htm
Could you please add a link to our website at http://www.inpactam.org in your Accounting Associations category?
We are INPACT Americas, an international network of independent accounting firms affiliated to meet the challenges of a global marketplace.
Thank you.
Susie Tomalewski :


News from or about Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft changes its way of providing technical support
http://www.microsoft.com/support/

To access the latest learning and training resources published by Microsoft Press, check out
http://mspress.microsoft.com/

Windows 98 home users can share one phone line on multiple computers (in my office, the University provided me with a hub for multiple computers and one network cable)
http://www.microsoft.com/insider/windows98/articles/ics.htm

Microsoft Press monthly features
http://mspress.microsoft.com/news/features/
http://mspress.microsoft.com/authors/

Office Update at http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/outlook  


Microsoft software online training for Trinity University (just a reminder that these tutorials are available for staff)
http://www.trinity.edu/cbtweb/curicula/custom.htm


Advances in wireless speed
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2293452,00.html


Speech technology is coming of age
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,1015493,00.html


Various renowned educators and researchers are no longer ignoring online delivery of education.  See the impressive listing of scholars at Unext.com
http://www.unext.com/WhoWeAre/AcademicAlliances.asp


Vocational Education Links
http://votech.about.com/

National Institute of Technology (online courses) (Although this is headquartered in San Antonio, I have never heard anything about this online technology education provider.   I am including it here simply because I found the link.  There is a summary of the history of this school at the web site.)
http://www.cci.edu/csi/062SanAntonio/f-062.htm


Mark's CPA Review (California) at http://www.markscpareview.net/

According to Mark, Conviser-Duffy CPA Review has been purchased  by DeVry, parent company of Becker CPA Review.  He reports that Convisor-Duffy classes (at least in California) are closed and students will be routed into Becker classes.  I guess large accounting firms are not the only companies caught up in this urge-to-merge era.


If you know any accounting educators with helpful materials on the web, please ask them to link their materials  in the American Accounting Association's Accounting Coursepage Exchange (ACE) web site at
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/ace/index.htm
Please send these professors email messages today and urge them to share as much as they can with the academy by easily registering their course pages with ACE. 

This week's featured ACE professor is my very good friend Paul Dierks

Institution: Wake Forest MBA
Course Name: Financial Accounting
Textbook: Financial Accounting, Second Editions
Author(s): Libby, Libby and Short

The course syllabus is at http://www.mba.wfu.edu/mba/faculty/dierks/FinAcct-Course/ .  Most of the links were not working when I tried this morning, but what the heck --- it's the middle of July.  We are all revising our course materials this time of year.  I am certain that Paul will provide some major helpers to his students and to us.  This is a required course in the elite MBA program at Wake Forest.


Accounting education innovation of the week
"Introduction to a Profession" Seminar Series, Lawrence J. Gramling and Richard F. Kochanek, University of Connecticut
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/facdev/teaching/submissions/kochanek.htm

The "Introduction to a Profession" Seminar Series offered by our Accounting Department represents a unique opportunity for students majoring in accounting in their Junior year to discover what it means to be an accounting professional. The seminar series combines academic requirements of professional writing assignments and financial statement analysis while exploring the requirements and characteristics of the accounting profession. The seminar introduces students to accounting professionals and distinguished alumni within an academic setting allowing interaction and exploration of an accounting career. This seminar series has drawn leading professionals from our region to share their perspectives on the accounting profession with our students. The series emphasizes crucial characteristics of the accounting profession (e.g., ethical behavior) and attempts to instill a professional attitude among the students through their behavior and personal bearing (e.g., requiring students to dress in business casual attire for all sessions.) In addition, the seminar series has attracted more students into the study of Accounting.


HCUPnet (download your own interactive health care cost and service statistical reports)
http://www.ahcpr.gov/data/hcup/hcupnet.htm


UCLA Statistics Series
http://www.stat.ucla.edu/papers/preprints/


Student loans from CitiBank (Financial Aid)
http://www.college-loans.com/


Discovery.com now brings you an impressive array of live web cam images rather than old photographs
http://www.discovery.com/cams/cams.html


CALL Lab @ Ohio State University (foreign language instruction and research --- This is a big time web site!)
http://www.tcom.ohiou.edu/OU_Language/OU_Language.html


Crafty Lady is for women like my wife (Erika)
http://www.getcrafty.com/


I wonder if professors can get tenure, promotion, and merit raise credit for publishing in at RoseDog.com --- Why struggle with those nasty referees?
http://www.rosedog.com/

We can always send our rejected works to the Annals of Improbable Research (also known as Hot Air)
http://www.improb.com /

But you might get some credit for fiction in the Esquire Fiction Competition
http://esquire.yahoo.com/

But then if its prestige you're after, try
http://www.glyndebourne.com/


I am positive that I do not want a Hot Tamale gift basket (Norwegian DNAer's don't eat anything that burns like lab acid).
http://www.hotdamntamales.com/


A Parent's Guide to TV Ratings and the V-Chip
http://www.vchipeducation.org/


Listen.com directory on how to find online music
http://www.listen.com/


Special Olympics --- just being in the game is everything
http://www.99games.com/


Exploring Leonardo
http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/


The State Hermitage Museum from St. Petersburg
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/index.html


The Online NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/auth/login?Tag=/&URI=/library/magazine/home


Online auto traffic reports for major US cities
http://traffic.yahoo.com/


Is cyber warfare the Achilles Heel of the U.S. (security)
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,1015424,00.html


From InformationWeek Daily, July 14, 1999
PeopleSoft displayed its commitment yesterday to two markets it has been trumpeting for the past year, disclosing partnerships in the higher-education and business-intelligence markets.

The company says it is on track to deliver a Balanced Scorecard application, a component of its enterprise performance management suite of analytical applications, in the fourth quarter of this year. PeopleSoft said it will work with KPMG, an IT consulting firm, and the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative Inc., an organization created to evangelize the Balanced Scorecard concept. The partnerships will help PeopleSoft add so-called best practices to its product.

In a bid for a piece of the higher-education market, PeopleSoft announced partnerships with Universal Learning Technology and Blackboard Inc., both of which provide tools for building online curricula and Web-based learning applications. PeopleSoft plans to integrate these tools with its own line of Internet-based higher-education software called PeopleSoft e-Campus Community.


From InformationWeek Daily, July 8, 1999
Financial-Services XML Standard Proposed

Software vendor Integral Corp. yesterday released programming details for creating documents using FinXML 1.0, a proposed standard for data interchange in the financial-services industry based on the Extensible Markup Language. XML is a promising new meta-language that is increasingly seen as a way to facilitate e-Commerce by bringing better structure to data on the Web.

Integral has specified, and made publicly available via the Web, a set of data table definitions that prescribe rules for sharing data using FinXML. It plans next to make FinXML compatible with other flavors of XML being developed in the e-Commerce arena, such as Microsoft’s BizTalk initiative and Ariba Inc.’s commerce XML effort. Integral says FinXML is already interoperable with the Financial Industry Exchange protocol and the Open Financial Exchange protocol, which is used for online billing and other retail transactions.

Integral is attempting to form a consortium of technology vendors and users to back FinXML, but it has not yet identified any corporate members. Sun Microsystems and Chase Manhattan Corp. have endorsed the concept of FinXML, but a spokesman for Integral says it is premature to say whether they will actually join the planned group.

For more on XML, see "Join The Standards Debate"
http://www.informationweek.com/736/36iujl.htm

You can also follow what is happening in my XML and RDF Watch web document at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/xmlrdf.htm


From Tanya Predo regarding my forward to TigerTalk about the Barbie Doll dig up in Rhode Island

Hi. I sent this to my husband because I thought it was cleaver and imaginative.
He sent it out and it was shot to death by a resident *** with the following link
:http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blbyol6.htm?pid=2733&cob=home
Tanya


For the past several years I have happily relied mainly upon two external storage disks --- CD-R disks for cheap storage and Iomega Jazz cartridges for re-writable storage.   I saw no need to shift to CD-RW disks since they do not hold as much as Jazz Cartridges and students cannot play them on student lab and home computers.   Virtually everyone can play back my CD-R recordings.

But my new Dell Precision came with a factory-installed CD-RW drive.  I would have preferred a CD-R drive like I have on my old computer, but Dell would not install a CD-R drive in the factory (although I can install my own via the SCSI). 

Due to the late timing in which CD-RW drives hit the market, I never thought they had much of a future since millions of computers around the world can play CD-ROM and CD-R disks but not CD-RWdisks.  However, the following article caught my attention.   It is entitled "Boost for CD-RW," in Information Week, June 23, 1999, pg. 43.  The article discusses how Iomega has introduced a CD-RW drive called ZipCD because of falling sales of Iomega Zip and Jazz drives.   This is a sign that the market for CD-RW drives is on the upswing.  I guess the reason is that CD-RW disks are dirt cheap whereas Zip and Jazz cartridges cost much more.  You can read more about ZipCD at http://www.iomega.com/ .  (At that same web site you can also read about Iomega's new PC Card drive called Clik.)

Still I am happy with my Jazz drive.  The Jazz cartridges seem to be very reliable --- I never had one fail.  The Jazz drives always fail within my CompUSA in-store warranty period, so for the past several years I simply get a "free" replacement of the Jazz drives (I have three) without ever losing a "bit" of stored data.



Thank you Neal

Congratulations to Rachana and Dan Gode. Their Financial Accounting tutor, FAcT 98, is a featured download at ZDnet’s Anchordesk. Available for a 30 day trial, the package is a must have for everyone who wants to brush up on accounting skills. Good luck, Dan.
Link: http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_3603.htm
l
Bryant College http://web.bryant.edu/~nhannon

Note from Bob Jensen --- you can also read about this project at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/facdev/teaching/submissions/gode.htm


Welcome to the July 9th edition of the Internet Essentials ‘99 Newsletter for the financial professional.
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html

Here are this week’s topics:

1. Ultimate Guide to Free Stuff on the Web

2. Electronic Commerce Super-Site

3. Accounting Software Preference Results

4. Search Engine Performance Stinks

5. Web-enabled Applications or "Weblications" Will Soon Rule

6. Term Life Bargains

7. Backups For Your PC

8. e-Commerce Times.com

9. Low Air fares Part III



And that's the way it was on July 16, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

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Bob Jensen's Index Page Bob Jensen's Bookmarks New Bookmark Archives

 

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July 9, 1999


Get'em while they're here!  When my new crop of students arrives in August, I will remove the case solutions from this web server.  Now is the time for accounting and finance educators to download the solutions.  In return, I would appreciate receiving suggestions for improving and correcting these two cases.

I have two new cases on hedging strategies and accounting for hedges to cap borrowing rates or floor lending rates via Eurodollar options.  The cases are called CapIT Corporation Options Case and FloorIT Bank Options Case.  These will be followed soon by two more cases called CapIT Corporation Futures Case and FloorIT Bank Futures Case.  You may see the first two cases and the solutions for a short while at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/caseans/ccase.htm

The broad objectives of the FloorIT Bank Options Case and its companion called the CapIT Corporation Options Case are as follows:


For the older Mexcobre Case, please go to to its new site address at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/caseans/133sp.htm

The solutions to the Mexcobre case and my other SFAS 133 tutorials can be downloaded from http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/13300tut.htm

You may also examine the course materials at
http://WWW.Trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/acct5341.htm
Especially note the weekly assignments and hints.


You and your colleagues may be interested in two conferences entitled "Implementing FAS 133: Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities" that I am chairing for the World Research Group in Chicago (September 29-October 1 in the Hyatt Regency) and in Washington DC (October 27-29 in the Key Bridge Marriott). Details regarding other speakers and the program being formed can be obtained from Pallavi Dalvi, Conference Director for the World Research Group, 1120 Avenue of the Americas, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10036, Voice 212-869-7231 Ext. 56, Fax 212-869-7309. The web site is at http://www.worldrg.com (click on the Events button). Details are not yet available at that web site, but Pallavi is lining up some outstanding experts on SFAS 133 and IAS 39.  Some top names that I suggested have agreed to make presentations.  Although Pallavi asked me to chair these two conferences, I must admit that she is doing the hard work in setting the program.


Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) correspondence courses go online http://www.cme-courses.com/

Via the Internet, the CME Education Department is now offering students from around the world the chance to take one or more of its classes, which until now have only been available at the Exchange.  The first class now available on-line is Introduction to Futures. Additional classes, such as Introduction to Options and Before You Trade, will be added later.


I really want to thank the educators who agreed to make presentations in two CPE sessions that I helped organize for August 14 and 15 in San Diego. The links to the two workshop programs are as follows:

Workshop No. 01 on August 14: http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpe/99cpe1.htm

Workshop No. 37 on August 15: http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/99annual/cpe/99cpe37.htm

If you are participating in Workshop 1 or Workshop 37, please feel free to contact the presenters regarding their parts of the programs (as described at the above web sites):

Sharon Lighter at sharon.lightner@sdsu.edu
Pete Mazany at pmazany@visionplus.co.nz
G. Peter Wison at wilsongp@bc.edu
Mike Groomer at groomer@indiana.edu
Uday Murthy at uday@tamu.edu
Bob Michaelsen at 'michaels@cobaf.unt.edu
Bob Jensen at rjensen@trinity.edu


My good friend Anders has a paper on the following non-traditional management accounting topics:

I am also at the National Defence College in Stockholm both as a scholar and a teacher. We do management accounting research about how to control local military units. This is my main research interest for a couple of years. The Swedish defense is re-directing to a new-world order, high technology and different threats/risks. At the same time the defense (and management accounting) are old institutions with rigid rules and routines that stabilize the behaviors of officers, conscripts and civilians. The bureaucracy stresses explicitly and tacitly a rule-based behavior (stability) while the Politicians and High Commander stress a transformational change (dynamic). How is then local management control developing in this context?

You may send for a copy to Anders Grönlund [anders.gronlund@esa.oru.se]
Örebro University in Sweden


From the Scout Report
IW 1000 http://www.industryweek.com/iwinprint/IW1000/
IndustryWeek’s fourth annual report on the 1,000 largest manufacturing companies in the world consists of a searchable database with variables such as Company Name, IW Ranking, Earnings Per Share, and Total Revenue. The site also includes profiles of several of the largest manufacturing companies, an article detailing financial activities in the manufacturing business world in the past year, and an interview with Kim Clark, Dean of the Harvard Business School
.


From Phil Livingston reporting back regarding an audit committee conference

Chairman Levitt gave a great talk at our Audit Committee Symposium. Another FEI first occurred with our live webcast of his talk (if you missed it, click here to access an audio replay: http://www.videonewswire.com/FEI/062999) For a transcript (in MS Word format) click: http://www.fei.org/teleconf/levitt.doc. Here are some highlights of his talk:

The Blue-Ribbon Panel recommendations provide "an action-worthy road map from which to move forward," but Levitt added that its provisions are "still open to discussion." In responding to worries over potential increased legal liability, "I refuse to believe that greater transparency, greater concern over quality financial reporting and vigorous protection of shareholder expectations will create greater legal exposure." He has charged the SEC’s General Counsel, Harvey Goldschmidt, "to exercise great care in implementing this proposal." On concerns that raising the burdens of audit committee membership would make it more difficult to recruit qualified members, Levitt said, "No one expects or wants the audit committee to be involved in detailed discussions that should be held between management and the auditor. They should ask the tough questions. But in the absence of telling red flags, [they should not] supplant one group’s judgment with another’s." And, he added, "This is a dialog, it’s not an edict. We will translate it into specifics over the coming months.
Phil Livingston, President of the Financial Executives Institute
mailto:plivingston@fei.org


Online Business Information & Resources links provided by the University of Illinois
http://www.cba.uiuc.edu/system/business.html


This has to be the most professional photography site on the Internet.  Some of the images are 25 feet wide when printed in hard copy.   The web site was featured on PBS's Computer Chronicles on July 4, 1999.   Stephen Johnson's standards photographic quality are beyond description  There is a National Park Gallery..
http://www.sjphoto.com/


Also on PBS's Computer Chronicles on July 4, 1999 program:

Epson America
Lisa Dempsey with Epson America, demonstrates Epson's new PhotoPC 750Z Digital Camera (due out in mid February 1999) and Stylus Photo 700 Color Ink Jet Printer. The PhotoPC is the first digital camera that enables users to print 8" x 10" and various other size color photos.

Polaroid Corporation
Polaroid's new ColorShot Digital Photo Printer and Direct Connect Adapters show us how quickly high-quality, sharp, film-based photographs can be produced. The ColorShot comes bundled with MGI PhotoSuite software, which allows you to create borders and text around images to your specifications.

Windows Magazine
Owen Linderholm, Senior Technology Editior of Windows Magazine, shows us some of the hottest new software programs for digital photographers. We see how to change scenery and create a personal greeting card using MGI's PhotoSuite II, how to transform plain photographs into works of art with Instant Photo Artist and how to build a digital photo album using PhotoRecall Deluxe 2.0. Owen Linderholm, Senior Technology Editior of Windows Magazine, shows us some of the hottest new software programs for digital photographers. We see how to change scenery and create a personal greeting card using MGI's PhotoSuite II, how to transform plain photographs into works of art with Instant Photo Artist and how to build a digital photo album using PhotoRecall Deluxe 2.0.

Real World Photoshop 5
Author Bruce Fraser takes us on a tour of Web sites for digital photography enthusiasts. We stop in at PhotoLoft.com to store images on the Internet and digitaldog.net, where you can find resources for digital photographers. Next, Evercolor.com, the only service site that offers a unique pigment process to turn photographs into museum-quality fine art. Finally, we visit the Web site of the famous digital photographer, Stephen Johnson.

Lyn Bishopo, digital photography artist, from Sunnyvale, California. Lyn is developing her "On the Road" series, capturing art as she sees it with a portable digital studio while traveling about the world. Carrying a laptop computer, digital camera and drawing tablet in her backpack, her goal is to create art based on "the moment of inspiration".


Computer product bargains
http://computershopper.zdnet.com/texis/cs/baseframe.html


Winning products as selected by PC Week Labs
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,409033,00.html


Hot Multimedia Tips
http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/99/26/index1a.html


But free a eZine does not cost a thing (if you are keenly interested in the latest on e-commerce)
http://ecnow.com/


Online customer relations tools (marketing)
http://www.informationweek.com/center/crm.htm


DeliveryNet.com software suite, which is aimed at merchants that want to let Web shoppers buy goods and schedule a home delivery during a time window as small as 30 minutes.
http://www.descartes.com/
/


Dividend reinvestment plans --- some investment advice
http://www.fool.com/school/Drips.htm


FAQs about customs for international travelers
http://www.getcustoms.com/omnibus.html


Serious research on organic foods
http://www.fas.usda.gov/htp/organics/attache.htm


Bluefly claims shopping savings of 25% to 75% on designer brands
http://www.bluefly.com/default.asp?sid=M71898836RSH2L3E0017Q9U3M55CAAB3


Online comic books (hide from students)
http://guides.lycos.com/uexpress/docs/default.asp


Better than comics --- a serious reading list for kids
http://bookadventure.lycos.com/lycosindex.html


News from or about Microsoft Corporation

Despite the negative assertions of the former Microsoft head of internal audit, Bill Gates denies that his company uses creative "cookie jar" accounting to manage earnings.  See http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,1015342,00.html

Free Encarta upgrade
http://www.microsoft.com/insider/offers/encfree.htm

Remaking of Windows NT into Neptune (perhaps the bottom of the sea is a good place for it)
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,1015383,00.html

Tips and tricks for Office 2000
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/focus/catalog/Office2000.htm
http://www.techrepublic.com /
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/viewerscvt.htm (file conversions for older versions of Office)
http://mspress.microsoft.com/office2000/books/

PowerPoint 2000
http://www.microsoft.com/office/powerpoint/Streamline.htm

Email attachment virus alert
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/virus/06-14worm.htm

Recalling that OOPS MESSAGE
POWERUSER TIP FOR OFFICE 2000: RECALLING EMAIL MESSAGES Included in all editions of the new Office 2000, Outlook 2000 allows you to recall an email message that you sent to another user of Outlook. This feature works only if the receiver hasn’t yet opened the message you’re trying to recall. To recall a sent message, open the Sent Items folder, then open the message that you want to recall. Next, select Actions/Recall This Message from the menu bar. From the Recall This Message dialog box, you can choose to simply delete unread copies of the message, or you can replace unread copies of the message with a brand new message. You can also request to be notified whether the message recall was successful. Once you’ve selected the options you want, click OK, and Outlook attempts to recall the message you selected.For other Microsoft product tips, go to the Microsoft Product Insider Web site and click on any Product Start Page.
http://microsoft.com/insider/mi/pfpi.htm


No more forgotten passwords.  Both Home Shopping Network and Charles Schwab & Co are moving into Speech ID systems for identifying customers. See "Home Shopping Network, Schwab to Use Speech ID," Information Week, June 18, 1999, pg. 24.  The online version is at http://www.informationweek.com/741/speech.htm .


If you know any accounting educators with helpful materials on the web, please ask them to link their materials  in the American Accounting Association's Accounting Coursepage Exchange (ACE) web site at
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/ace/index.htm
Please send these professors email messages today and urge them to share as much as they can with the academy by easily registering their course pages with ACE. 

This week's featured ACE professor is Duncan Williamson
Institution: OxBow College (United Kingdom)
Course Title: Cost and Management Accounting at http://business.fortunecity.com/discount/29/index.htm
Textbook: Cost & Management Accounting, Prentice Hall (1996)
Author(s): Duncan Williamson

Duncan provides online handouts for this course. The site also points you to a Tutorial College in Oxford (not to be confused with Oxford University) .  This is a little different than most ACE web courses.  I don't know anything about OxBow College.  It appears, however, that the server for this course is not located at a traditional college.  Instead it is at a commercial Tutorial College web site.  However, Duncan makes his course materials freely available to accounting educators.


The Tutorial College in the U.K.mentioned by Duncan Williamson above is called The Oxford Business Education Network that uses web servers at FortuneCity.com at
http://www.fortunecity.com/   (No mention is made of any affiliation with the famous Oxford University).

Welcome to FortuneCity, the best on-line community there is! We provide Internet users with all the tools necessary to create their own homepage/website on the Internet quickly and easily. Move into your new home in one of over 20 themed districts and claim 20 MB of free web space. You can then communicate with friends and relatives around the world and chat with other citizens who make up the FortuneCity community.

Just like London or New York, or any metropolis around the world, our citizens come from many walks of life and have a thriving and diverse range of interests. When you become a member you can choose where to set up home. If you like music then Tin Pan Alley is the place for you; sports fans can choose from the Wembley and Olympia districts. There are areas for film buffs, food aficionados, comedy, the arts and many more.

This is an illustration of how education is becoming a cottage industry where experts can (almost) freely distribute their materials online without having to be affiliated with established institutions who control the web servers.  In many ways this is the essence of free competition where long-term success is based upon the author's skills and timing. It may well become a popular thing for retired educators to use free server space and keep on contributing to students around the world.


XOOM.com will provide you with free "unlimited" server space, free email, and free media services.
http://xoom.com/home/


Free web service has its costs
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,407647,00.html


Smart Stops on the Web (from the Journal of Accountancy, July 1999, pg. 14)

Guidance on accounting careers at http://www.accountemps.com/jobsAT/index.html (note the new campus link)

Help for CPA Exam candidates:

Accounting Students at http://www.accountingstudents.com/  
Arleme Ravalo's home page at http://home.coqui.net/ravalo/arlene/
(and don't forget Ceil's Career Help page at http://www.uwm.edu/~ceil/career/jobs/index.html

Ensuring fair insurance rates at http://www.quotesmith.com/

Almanac of Politics and Government from PoliSci.com at http://www.polisci.com/

Credit data and legal information on thousands of Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases at http://www.cdt-creditdata.com/

From a student team project in Algonquin College - thousands of references on security issues at http://www.xoom.com/_XOOM/InforSysSec/index.html   (I have not been able to get this link to connect.)

One stop shopping at http://www.goballink.com (Nor have I been able to get this link to connect.)


Thank you Frimette Kass-Shraibman
The New York Society of CPA's has a very nice set of links and references at
http://www.nysscpa.org/


Below is a description of the July/August issue of The Technology Source, a free refereed Web periodical at http://horizon.unc.edu/TS. Please forward this announcement to colleagues who are interested in using information technology tools more effectively in educational organizations.

As always, we seek illuminating articles that will assist educators as they face the challenge of integrating information technology tools in teaching and in managing educational organizations. Please review our call for manuscripts at http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/call.asp

Jim
James L. Morrison morrison@unc.edu
Professor of Educational Leadership CB 3500 Peabody Hall
Editor, On the Horizon UNC-Chapel Hill
http://horizon.unc.edu/horizon Chapel Hill,NC 27599-3500
Editor, The Technology Source Phone: 919 962-2517
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS Fax: 919 962-1693

Ready for a ride into the future? Alan Cummings takes his imagination to 2020 in this issue’s Vision article and predicts that, by that year, the worlds of business and education will have merged. Students older than 10 will study at home with teleconferencing tools provided by corporate sponsors and learning packages designed by education brokers. Parents will update their job skills with online training software and consult employment brokers for professional planning. In the business-oriented culture of the twenty-first century, qualifications will matter greatly; social status, age, and gender will count for little; and actual performance will be everything. Could it really happen? Cummings says yes nd offers readers a fascinating scenario of the future

In the July/August Commentary, Charles Morrissey argues that higher education administrators should take a close look at the corporate world, where virtual workteams of employees are now collaborating and problem-solving online. "The field of professional education," he writes, "would do well to develop an educational equivalent to the virtual workplace." Specifically, Morrissey suggests that colleges and universities establish what he calls a Virtual Knowledge Network: a continuous, online learning spectrum where faculty, students, alumni, and community members can interact—to the benefit of all. Read on to learn how a Virtual Knowledge Network could propel your institution into the twenty-first century.

The Masters of School Administration (MSA) program at East Carolina University (ECU) is the focus of this issue’s first Case Study. In 1997, professors in the MSA program decided to offer two educational leadership courses via distance education. They believe that, in order to ensure that school leaders will be effective in tomorrow’s technology-infused world, graduate courses must prepare these leaders to adapt to changes in the field of technology and to recognize how technology can support the goals of their schools. Distance education provides the ideal format for such preparation; after all, it allows students to master content and gain experience with technology tools at the same time. Lynn Bradshaw and Laurie Weston document the results of the MSA distance education pilot effort and describe what steps ECU professors will take in the near future to improve their distance offerings.

Physical education: for most people, the term conjures up images of gyms filled with lively, sweaty kids. For Peter DiLorenzo, it also conjures up images of contemplative students sitting in front of computer screens. As he explains in this issue’s second Case Study, DiLorenzo uses digitized video to teach his physical education students at Floyd College (Georgia) the fundamentals of basketball, softball, volleyball, and other team sports. His experience indicates that technology can be used to improve instruction in physical education courses as well as in academic classes.

In the Virtual University section, Milton Campos and Linda Harasim describe Virtual-U, a Web-based learning environment that is customized for online education delivery. When software developers at the Canadian TeleLearning Network of Centres of Excellence use the term "customized," they mean it: since 1996, researchers and developers have been working collaboratively with professors and students to tailor Virtual-U to real needs. The result is an environment with such features as a personal workspace in which users can manage their learning tasks and activities, a course editor for designing and editing curriculum, a grade book, instructional tools, and examples of how to teach and learn online. Find out more about the continuing development of Virtual-U and its innovative approaches to online education by reading further.

At most colleges and universities that adopt new technologies for distance education, staff in instructional design, educational technology, and/or information technology services devote a substantial proportion of their time trying to help faculty learn to use the most effective media for communicating with distant learners. Unfortunately, as Patricia Cravener reports in the Faculty and Staff Development section, faculty usually either do not attend training programs or do not implement the new technology after the programs end. Cravener uses her Paradoxical Disjunction Model to explain why, and she delineates concrete and cost-effective ways that faculty can be motivated to seek out, as well as effectively apply, technology training.

The Spotlight Sites for July/August are WebdevShare and WWWDEV. WebdevShare, sponsored by Indiana University, focuses on the Web-enablement of higher education administration. Check out the seven e-mail lists featured on the site, or read proceedings from annual WebdevShare conferences. Then access WWWDEV, a listserv on courseware sponsored by the University of New Brunswick (Nova Scotia, Canada). The homepage features links to materials from annual WWWDEV conferences, to members’ courses, and to an extensive list of Web-based courseware authoring/management tool vendors. Terry Calhoun, who describes the best aspects of these two sites, promises that they are invaluable resources for anyone interested in online teaching and learning tools.


A message from Curtis Brown regarding the Global Earth (this is especially interesting with respect to how quotations get changed on the Internet)

Bob Jensen wrote:

> I guess it is source unknown unless Dr. Harter clears up this matter. Then again our ever-resourceful Curtis Brown is good at clearing up such mysteries.

From Curtis Brown, Department of Philosophy, Trinity University

I can’t say for certain where this came from, but it looks to me as though it originates in the text of a speech delivered on October 9, 1997, by General John J. Sheehan, USMC, at a Lisbon conference on the United States and European Security. The full text can be found at http://www.fas.org/man/nato/offdocs/us_97/97101604_wpo.html. The relevant paragraph from his speech reads as follows:

***********begin quote************

If we could at this time shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 with all existing human ratios remaining the same, there would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere (North and South America), and 8 Africans. Seventy would be non-white, 70 would be non-Christian, 30 Christian. Fifty percent of the entire world wealth would be in the hands of only 6 people. Seventy would be unable to read; 50 would suffer from malnutrition, and 80 would live in sub-standard housing. Only one would have a college education.

***********end quote***************

It’s interesting how these things change, isn’t it? The female/male, heterosexual/homosexual, and near death/near birth figures seem to be later additions, as does the computer ownership statistic and the phrase "and all 6 would be from the United States." Some versions say no one would own a computer.

Curtis

(PS of course it’s possible that General Sheehan got this passage from somewhere else, but his talk is packed with other statistical information also. I found one version that I thought at first predated this talk, at http://www.gen-europe.org/newsletters/jan_97/ which you’d think from the URL is a Jan 97 newsletter, but the bottom of the page it’s on says copyright 1998, so it’s probably not earlier after all!)


From a second or third (the further the better) cousin:

I thought everyone knew that Al Gore wrote the Global World (see above). It depressed him to the extent that he felt he had no alternative to inventing the Internet. This was some time before he became a member of an administration who saved social security through the use of intra-governmental IOU’s, postdated checks, and the eventual legislative realization that the only thing wrong with the three shell game as an instrument of national policy was that three shells were not near enough.

Chris Faye venteror@bresnanlink.net ]

Nearly all my Norwegian cousins were born in, on, or beside Lake Wobegone.   Scientists only recently been discovered that they are the missing links in humanoid evolution.  Chris is the exception.  It's rumored at family reunions that his parents found him swinging on vines the Dark Continent.  Christopher's father was a Norwegian-born, Oxford-educated University of Illinois professor fluent in 14 languages, including Zulu (because he was also a missionary in Africa).  His son Chris in Mankato, Minnesota writes humorist columns for newspapers.  His magical powers (he is a professional magician) and quick mind are legendary in up in "by-yolly-it's-cold" country.  Seriously, I do want to thank Chris for his tips and web links on investing --- in that realm he's a huge success.  Chris likes Tools for Timing at http://www.mirat.com/ .  My timing has always been out of whack except when the dinner bell rings.


From Neil Hannon
Welcome to the July 4th edition of the Internet Essentials ‘99 Newsletter for the financial professional.
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html

Here are this week’s very special topics:

1. Got a Phone? You’ve got e-mail! FREE e-mail Without a Computer.

2. Three Free Web Storage Sites with up to 20 MEGS each.

3. Dealtime.com Searches 480 stores. Name your own price range.

4. Microsoft Accounting for Reserves Challenged.

5. 7 Habits of Highly Effective Summer Travelers

6. Really low air fares from the other airlines.


Many faculty are frustrated with the complications of getting interactive course materials on the local or global networks. My appeal is for Trinity University to invest in a web authoring shell that is easy to use and full-featured with chat rooms, online grading, student feedback processing, etc. In my travels to more campuses than I like to count, the consensus seems to be in favor of Blackboard. Please just take a look at http://www.blackboard.net/about . You can see demos at http://www.blackboard.net/demo . Purportedly Blackboard is easier to use than most any other choice with its point, click, and drag options. We’re told that Blackboard is "easier than HTML" even though HTML is not really all that tough once you try it a few times.

Note that you can download trial versions of Blackboard. However, only webmasters should do this since shells like Blackboard are installed on servers. Choosing a shell is serious business since that choice generally affects all users of the server. For example, Trinity University will one day have to choose a web authoring shell, and TUCC will understandably prefer to choose only one brand to put up and maintain.

Other alternatives are listed at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245soft1.htm

Some of the more popular alternatives are waning. For example, WebCT became widely popular due to its low price, but it is written in clunky code and requires a UNIX server. Lotus Leaning Space is a learning curve nightmare and requires Domino. Many educators have suggested the TopClass from Ireland should be renamed BottomClass. FirstClass is pretty good, but I think it is used mainly by giants like Open University in the U.K. Some homegrown systems like Mallard at the University of Illinois are not as full-featured and as easy to use as Blackboard.

I would love to hear more from web authoring shell users about the good and the bad things you discovered using your server's chosen software.



And that's the way it was on July 9, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

Hline.jpg (568 bytes)

Bob Jensen's Index Page Bob Jensen's Bookmarks New Bookmark Archives

Hline.jpg (568 bytes)

July 1, 1999


Let me begin with this pass-along called the "Global Village."  I am passing it along exactly like it was sent to me by Bob Overn.

>If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following. There would be:

> 57 Asians
> 21 Europeans
> 14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
> 8 Africans

> 52 would be female
> 48 would be male

> 70 would be non-white
> 30 would be white

> 70 would be non-Christian
> 30 would be Christian

> 89 would be heterosexual
> 11 would be homosexual

> 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth and all 6 would be from the United States
> 80 would live in substandard housing
> 70 would be unable to read
> 50 would suffer from malnutrition
> 1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth

> 1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
> 1 would own a computer

Phillip M Harter, MD, FACEP  (Early on it was not clear to Bob Jensen if Dr. Harter was the author.)
Stanford University, School of Medicine

This is worth pondering, although selected outcomes may be subject to some debate.  I suspect the men would still fight over the women, and whites would ride in the back of the village bus. The sad part, aside from the hunger, is that 70 villagers cannot even read, and only one villager went to college. He (most likely it is a he) probably is not even one of the six wealthy villagers.  And with only one computer in the world, life would be truly lonely on the Internet.  At least nobody could email a joke in the Global Village.

If we shrink the earth, I hope none of these frightening people make it to the Global Village:
http://www.adl.org/poisoning_web/poisoning_toc.html


Based on a question of the Global Village's authorship, I sent the following message to Marc Raney with a copy to Dr. Harter.   What became intriguing is the general issue about how something authored by a particular person or organization begins to lose its authorship citations as it becomes passed along in email and/or is reproduced at hundreds of web sites.  Mr. or Ms Anonymous writes 99% of the jokes that people send me via email.  The jokes get passed along, but the courtesy of acknowledging who authored the piece is very quickly dropped in the chain mailings.   Perhaps authors of jokes prefer to remain anonymous.  Then again, maybe there are giant anonymous computers that generate jokes automatically.

The Global Village is not a joke.  As a result of Marc's message, I conducted a string search and found the Global Village reproduced at countless web sites.

Hi Marc,

I am forwarding this message to Dr. Harter. I hope that he will indicate if he is the original source.

Dr. Harter is the only source indicated on the email version sent to me. A long-time friend named Bob Overn (third cousin twice removed) forwarded it to me.

Based upon your message, I did a Yahoo search and found the item reproduced at over 150 web sites. I did not, however, find decent citation to the original author. Many sites seem to imply that it is their own work (reminds me of some students I have known).

A good example how badly things are "cited" on the web is the listing of Arlene Malinowski as the "source" in the following web site. My guess is that she is only the "source" of the web site, not the quotation.
http://www.greatleap.org/www.greatleap.org/arlene/snapshot.html

And then we have another example of a bad citation practice --- the stating "created" by Ron Gilliams at http://www.sirius.com/~gilliams/new/world.html

I guess it is source unknown unless Dr. Harter clears up this matter. Then again our ever-resourceful Curtis Brown is good at clearing up such mysteries.

One web site gave some added information that the item is based upon 1995 statistics. That web site is at http://www.fwhc.org/global.htm . However, I would only be guessing if that is the original source.

Bob Jensen


Dr. Harter replied as follows:

Hi Bob,
This e-mail has been the source of some very interesting mail.  I have received questions from 5th grade teachers, college professors, the World Health Organization, and even George Gallup (of poll fame). Recently, I was quoted on the radio in Alberta, Canada.   If nothing else, it demonstrates the power of the internet.  It currently yields about 7-10 inquiries/week.

(Un)fortunately, all I did was forward what I thought was an interesting posting to a few friends, but forgot to omit my "automatic signature."  I can neither claim authorship, nor knowledge of its source. My fear is that my name will permanently be attached to this, I'll get rich and famous, and have to quit my day job.


Phillip M Harter, MD, FACEP  (Now it is clear to Bob Jensen that Dr. Harter is not the author.)
Stanford University, School of Medicine

What Dr. Harter did via email was innocent enough --- although when the authorship is unknown, it would help to cite "Anonymous" or "Author Unknown."  When somebody else's work is reproduced at your web site, it becomes imperative to make it clear that you are not the author.  The hundreds of reproductions of the Global Village demonstrate how lax (or suspiciously intentional) Internet authors have become about citations. What is disturbing is how many web authors lead us to believe that they wrote the Global Village.  It is best to follow Internet citation guidelines, but we all get lax about formality of citation at times.  But it is never ethical to leave out the basic essentials such as the name of the author(s) and place of original publication.  And if these are unknown, please make it absolutely clear that the published quotations are not your own work.  Although I do not always cite quotations in proper format, I know a good place to look for that format. 
See
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/library/citations.html#Citing Electronic_Resources    

As far as the mystery of authorship of Global Village is concerned, I repeat that our master search detective, Curtis Brown, has a big job on his hands.   Where are you when we need you Curtis?


From Irv Gleim (Irv is predicting more emphasis on SFAS 133 in the CPA Exam)

We have provided an 8-page "Derivatives Made Easy" tutorial and 11 multiple-choice questions in our 48-page May 1999 CPA Update. Please request complimentary copies for distribution to your students by e-mailing jenn@gleim.com.

Please tell your colleagues to e-mail me if they wish to be added to this periodic e-mail service about the CPA exam.  jenn@gleim.com.


Speaking of SFAS 133 and IAS 39, I am putting the finishing touches on two free cases on derivatives instrument hedge accounting that I will share with you in my next edition of New Bookmarks. I want the excitement to build as you sit on the edge of your chairs and bite your nails while anxiously awaiting the unveiling.  There may only be a brass band at this unveiling --- if I can't book both the San Antonio Symphony and the Alamo Dome on short notice.  Sorry!


Have traditional accounting and finance measures of corporate wealth "lost their Utility?"
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,407222,00.html


Enormous lists of glossaries (this is a great web site)
http://info.uibk.ac.at/c/c6/c613/termlogy/lspgloss.html

Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm#08051Glossaries


Our featured accounting innovator of the week is Wayne Ingalls and his WebCT material (tons of audio) for basic accounting.  I received the following message from Wayne.

Sure, the URL is: http://webct.umaine.edu:8900/webct/public/show_courses The course is BUA 201 Principle of Financial Accounting CED Fall 99; the user ID is ingalls and the password is wayne (all lower case letters)


If you know any accounting educators with helpful materials on the web, please ask them to link their materials  in the American Accounting Association's Accounting Coursepage Exchange (ACE) web site at
http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/ace/index.htm
Please send these professors email messages today and urge them to share as much as they can with the academy by easily registering their course pages with ACE. 

This week's featured ACE professor is Joseph R. Razek (His name has a minor typo in the ACE database)
Institution: University of New Orleans
Course Name: Managerial Accounting
Textbook: Introduction to Managerial Accounting
Author(s): Razek, Hosch and Bask
This course features the use of Blackboard.  It is interesting to see how Blackboard performs.   The course requires a login, but Dr. Razek allows the public to enter as guests.   Class notes may be downloaded as MS Word files.  This is a helpful ACE site.   And in case you miss it, his link to the Preston Tucker Fan Club web site takes us to http://www.tuckerclub.org/ .


Just for you Sarah and Bruce --- Russian History on the Web
http://www.russianhistory.org/


The June 27 broadcast of the Dynamic Duo had some helpful information to pass on to the world.  I like the way the Duo is willing to tell it like it is from the standpoint of user friendliness and reliability.  The web site for the Duo is at http://www.digitalduo.com/ .

The lead segment was on the state of speech recognition.  Speech recognition has come a long way in a short time.  It is especially wonderful for persons who cannot use keyboards for one reason or another.  Dragon Systems Naturally Speaking Mobile is an award winning pocket-size recorder --- see http://www.dragonsys.com/products/naturallyspeaking/mobile/index.html

A major advantage of speech recognition is that audio files are transcribed into text on-the-fly.   This will one day be great product for me since I usually videotape conference presentations and student presentations.  My beleaguered secretary spends over half her time transcribing the audio into text.  It would be wonderful if I could bypass her by recording directly into my Dragon Mobile.  The Dynamic Duo, however, reports that this will probably not be possible until speech recognition gets much better.   Although the time it takes to "train the system" on a particular voice such as my own voice has been reduced from two hours to 30 minutes, it is not likely that each speaker at a conference will want to speak into my recorder for 30 minutes prior to his or her presentation.  Even when the Dragon Mobile is properly trained, the Dynamic Duo found an average of one error in 20 words ---  and that is an average number.  When there is ambient noise the error rate explodes.  Recording from a distance such as 15 feet greatly increases error rates.  I think I will wait for a while before going Dragon Mobile.  You can find links to other speech recognition vendors at http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245glosf.htm#Speech1 .  An optimistic article about the longer-term future of speech recognition is given as "The Urge to Converge:  Multimedia Networks Combining Data, Voice, and Video are Changing the Face of Business Communications . . Again,"  by Jeff Burger, NewMedia, July 1999, N.2-N.6.  This is a special supplement in the hard copy version that I cannot locate in the online version at http://www.newmedia.com/ .

The Dynamic Duo reported that Macys.com is one of the better retailing web sites at http://www.macys.com/ .  For example, Macys.com has a very efficient wedding registration system for choosing the right gifts.  One half of the Duo, Susan Gregory Thomas, is getting married.  This explains her interest in programming this segment of the show.

One of the more interesting segments  Walter Mossberg's weekly invited commentary on this show.  This week, Walter discussed retail businesses that will be the most damaged by online shopping.  The key is shopping enjoyment.  Even though bookstores have taken a major hit with millions of customers now buying books online (remember that price comparison web site at  http://isbn.nu/ ), Walter thinks bookstores are here to stay because customers still enjoy browsing among rows of books.  The businesses that will take the biggest hits are those where customers hate to shop and can wait for a day or two to receive an online order.  The number one example here is the retail drug store.  Most customers go to drug stores wanting a few specific items and hate spending 20 minutes trying to find each item in a jumble of products.  The least desirable of all shopping is at the prescription drug counter.  Only people who have seen each I Love Lucy episode a minimum of ten times willing endure waiting for a prescription to be filled.  Most of us have prescriptions phoned in a day ahead of time.  If we have to wait for a day anyway, why not have the prescription sent into an online pharmacy and have it delivered to our door the next day.  Also, most of us do not particularly enjoy asking about or overhearing a pharmacist tell a customer how to apply a  hemorrhoid medication.   Many such personal questions can be answered online using pre-recorded FAQs for each particular type of medication.  And if you want to consult a pharmacist online, this service is available both free and in private.  I will pass along the following URLs of possible interest:

Food, medication and medical consultations (including handicap products) - http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Food/Consulting/

Online health in general ---  http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Health/

Online pharmacies --- http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Health/Pharmaceuticals/

Walter Mossberg recommends this forthcoming web site called WebStore at
http://www.webstore.com/

Mossberg also recommended the PlanetRx online pharmacy.  (Note that prescriptions are probably cheaper here and you can order three free products) --- http://www.planetrx.com/

Food stores --- see http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Food/
Organic foods and wines --- see http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Food/Natural_Organic/


Online consumer protection web sites
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Electronic_Commerce/Consumer_Information/


Here's a classic example of what is wrong with U.S. business policy and strategy.
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,408219,00.html


Electronic Collaboration: A Practical Guide for Educators
http://www.lab.brown.edu/public/ocsc/collaboration.guide/
http://www.lab.brown.edu/public/pubs/collab/elec-collab.pdf


Following the Dynamic Duo on PBS, you can watch my favorite Computer Chronicles --- see http://www.cmptv.com/computerchronicles/
Steward Cheifet always ends his shows with a new product commentary.  This week's product is a FoneCam --- like a web cam without having to connect to a computer at the camera web site.  Imagine being able to view what is going on in a classroom 200 feet away or 20,000 miles away without having the camera connected to a computer.  You can, however, transfer the images into a remote computer.

There are lots of Web cams, or computer video cams, out there these days for people who want to put live video shots into their PCs or onto their Web sites. But most of these require a fair amount of complicated installation, plus some knowledge of how to run a Web site.

But a company called Moonlight Products has just come out with a computer video camera that is unique because it has a phone jack built into the camera. In fact, this camera, called the FoneCam, also has a built-in modem. So you don't even need a computer to use this. And you don't have to know anything about building Web sites or installing complicated video software. You don't even need a Web browser. This is truly a digital camera appliance. Plug the power cord in, plug the phone line in, and it works. Sounds like an i-Mac ad.

Of course, you do need a computer somewhere in the chain so you can see the pictures. To check on what the camera is seeing, I just dial it up on my PC. You can program the camera to call you on a regular basis, you can call up new frames anytime you want, or set it to continuous mode, which sends one new frame per minute. You can log and catalog all the shots, and even animate them. And you can adjust all the camera's parameters such as color, aperture, brightness, and contrast, by remote control. This is a very cool gadget. And best of all, it is easy to set up and easy to use. List price is under four hundred dollars.

I could not find the FoneCam product listed at the Moonlight Products home page at http://www.moonlightproducts.com/ .   However, after using Yahoo, I found the FoneCam.com web site at http://www.fonecam.com/ .  For more information, I suggest that you also enter the word FoneCam into http://www.yahoo.com/ .


Balanced Scorecard Technology Council
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html


Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) correspondence courses go online
http://www.cme-courses.com/

Via the Internet, the CME Education Department is now offering students from around the world the chance to take one or more of its classes, which until now have only been available at the Exchange.  The first class now available on-line is Introduction to Futures. Additional classes, such as Introduction to Options and Before You Trade, will be added later.


The FEI needs some companies to cooperate in some new and important research studies.
From FEI Express

Companies needed for FERF case studies on e-commerce - One of the new FERF research studies, E-Commerce: Challenges and Opportunities for the 21st Century, will examine e-commerce and identify criteria for entering and growing an Internet business presence. The study hopes to give CFOs tools to manage e-commerce financial activities and systems and to contribute to overall business planning. Hope to include 10 case-study companies in project. If interested, please contact Cynthia Vallario, FERF project manager, at: mailto:cvallario@fei.org


News from or about the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (Toll Free at 800-777-7077)

AICPA CPE Catalog
http://www.aicpa.org
(Note that there are now 11 CD-ROM courses in the AICPA Interactive Learning Series.)

AICPA News Flashes
http://www.aicpa.org/news/index.htm

AICPA news about assurance services
http://www.aicpa.org/assurance/index.htm

WebTrust
http://www.aicpa.org/webtrust/viewinst.htm

AICPA Software (including demos)
http://www.aicpa.org/sc/software.htm


Although I purchased and use Macromedia Dreamweaver (sparingly), I wish I would have opted for Adobe's GoLive at
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/golive/main.html .  What held GoLive back for years was that it was only for the Mac operating system.   Version 4 is written for Windows.  Users report that this is the authoring system of choice for professionals (who warn that it is not as easy as the GUI interface leans one to believe initially). 

From Paris to San Francisco to Tokyo, the Web's top designers and developers use Adobe® GoLiveTM software to create and manage world-class Web sites. Its visual design tools let you lay out pages with pixel-level control, while the flexible source-code editor helps you write, edit, and check your HTML. Add in easy-to-use Dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets, QuickTime editing, ready-to-use JavaScript actions, and advanced site- management capabilities, and it's no wonder that GoLive makes the Web workflow easier than ever.

You can read a review in the July 1999 issue of NewMedia, pg. 58.
http://newmedia.com/newmedia/99/07/technotes/Golive_4.html

GoLive's introduction ignited a small revolution in Web publishing by allowing designers to be designers, not code jockeys; and the newest version retains the program's combination of drag-and-drop ease of use and precision fine-tuning. The earlier version's ability to place page elements with pixel-level precision was groundbreaking, and while version 4 doesn't really justify a whole round number up, professional users will still find many reasons to upgrade. GoLive now offers a more complete set of features than any other program, including interactive capability and a fully integrated QuickTime editor.

Later on in the review, the following warning appears along with some remarks about GoLive versus Dreamweaver:

Despite GoLive's best efforts to put a pretty face on complex code, the learning curve has grown steeper with this version. The program is not always as intuitive as its attractive GUI would at first indicate; the heavily iconic approach can be a stretch when dealing with text-based code. Expect to spend some time with your nose buried in the 800-page manual before you can use this program effectively.

GoLive compares favorably to its major competitor, Macromedia Dreamweaver, but the latter does have the edge in dynamic media, with native support for Flash, Shockwave, and RealMedia files. And its drag layer can be used to create shopping-cart applications where items can be dragged into a basket -- something not possible in GoLive. Dreamweaver also provides a tighter fit with such Web designer staples as BBEdit and Cold Fusion.


The database giant, Oracle,  says it will help drive adoption of the language with a new set of XML components that ease access to and use of legacy data.
http://www.pcweek.com/a/pcwt9906235/1015211/

Note that I have added a "Selected News Items" section to my "XML and RDF Watch" web site at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/xmlrdf.htm


News from or about Microsoft Corporation

Office 2000 Business Solutions Multimedia Demos
(Note that the Demos also include a tour of MS Access, MS FrontPage, and MS Publisher.)
http://www.microsoft.com/office/features/default.htm

Office 2000 comparisons with earlier versions
http://www.microsoft.com/office/upgradecomparison/default.htm

Office 2000 tips and tricks
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/

Privacy Wizard Unveiled
http://www.internetwk.com/story/INW19990623S0006

Microsoft Security Configuration Tool Set
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/cdonline/securcon.htm

Encarta Dictionary to Offer A New Lexicon for the 21st Century
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/1999/06-17dict.htm


Linux vs. Windows NT
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,1015266,00.html
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,407644,00.html


Don't hold your breath until DVD encoders (recorders) are priced so professors can afford them.  The reason, however, is not the hardware cost of manufacturing these recorders.
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,407799,00.html


Computer scientist Danny Hillis is building a prototype mechanical clock to track the passing of years, centuries, and millennia
http://www.longnow.org/

The Long Now Foundation was officially established in 1996 to develop the Clock/Library Projects as well as to become the seed of a very long term cultural institution. It has been nearly 10,000 years since the end of the last ice age and the emergence of modern civilization. Progress during that time was often measured on a "faster/cheaper" scale. The Long Now Foundation seeks to promote "slower/better" thinking and to focus our collective creativity on the next 10,000 years.


Smithsonian Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web (Art History)
http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/Online-Exhibitions/

This site features links to online exhibitions that have been created by libraries, archives, and historical societies, as well as to museum online exhibitions with a significant focus on library and archival materials.

These online exhibitions draw their inspiration and content primarily from library and archival materials, including, for example: printed books, book illustrations, manuscripts, photographs, printed ephemera, posters, archival audio and video recordings, artist's books, and the book arts (engraving, marbling, and bookbinding, etc.).

The online exhibitions in this guide are listed alphabetically by title. A keyword search engine for this site is currently in the planning stage.


From the Scout Report --- SPIRO
http://shanana.berkeley.edu/spiro/

The SPIRO (slide and photograph image retrieval online) database is the visual online public access catalog of the University of California at Berkeley’s Architecture Slide Library’s (ASL) collection of more than 200,000 35mm slides. SPIRO’s Web-based search facility allows users to query the vast database by historical period, place, personal name, object name, subject terms, source of image, and/or image identification number. In addition to housing fully cataloged records of the slides, SPIRO also currently contains over 32,000 records with links to thumbnail images of selected ASL slides.


International chess legend Garry Kasparov
http://www.zone.com/kasparov/home.asp


Educational video clips for kids (a nice web site on health and science)
http://www.brainpop.com/indexwin.asp


freetranslation.com (foreign languages)
http://www.freetranslation.com/


ArtWalker geographical tours
http://www.artwalker.com/
Take a tour of my alma mater in the 1940s (before my time and when Silicon Valley was more like the Valley of the Grapes)
http://www.artwalker.com/explore/index.html#usa   (scroll down to Palo Alto)


Night vision viewing and photography
http://www.moonlightproducts.com/


I think rote learning and drill are extremely important to metacognition. However, it is also important to distinguish "smoke stack timing" versus "distributed timing" of the drills. For example, in accounting, we tend to use smoke stack timing in that we take up a topic (usually a chapter) in one week of the course and them move on to other chapters in other weeks. Even our courses are smoke stacked, For example, most Intermediate and Advanced accounting courses do not reinforce AIS, auditing, and tax. The BAM program is somewhat different in that respect. That program makes students prepare corporate tax returns and deal with auditing issues throughout two semesters of Intermediate Accounting.

One thing I really like about the BAM project at the University of Virginia and Villanova University is that drill on topics resurfaces on a regular basis over the course of two semesters of Intermediate Accounting. See http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm#UVA020 . I might add that this is probably one of the reasons the students do better on the CPA examination without having to necessarily increase the time spent in drill --- the secret is distribution over time. See http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm#UVA000 .

Tony Catanach is a new PEW Foundation Scholar and will more formally study the BAM pedagogy. We are really looking forward to his project completion. You can read about Tony's project at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/newsarc/pewscholar.htm (in the bottom half of the page).


Welcome to the latest edition of the Internet Essentials ‘99 Newsletter for the financial professional. http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html
Here are this week’s hot topics:

1. $199 Computer is for Real.
2. Make to Order Manufacturing will Change your Company
3. Six Tech Savvy Help Sites
4. Balanced Scorecard Web Site
5. Understanding Teams
6. InternetStocks.com Web Site
7. Security Policy Template
8. Finding the Lowest Airfares Part 1
9. Question Exchange: Pay for Expert Computer Advice

To read about the above items, you gotta go to the newsletter:
http://www.tiac.net/users/nhannon/news.html


From Richard Campbell

Add Peter Falk (Columbo) was an auditor for the state of CT - in fact he won an "employee of the month" award - when he observed all the expensive yachts in a CT marina and wondered if the owners were properly paying CT sales tax --- they weren’t. Big windfall for the state.



And that's the way it was on July 1, 1999. 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu

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For the July 1-September 30, 1999 Additions and Summaries scroll up this document 
For the other editions go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
For the full set of Bob Jensen's Bookmarks go to http://WWW.Trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob.htm
    (The full set is never up to date with the latest additions to my New Bookmarks.)

Click here to go to Bob Jensen's home page http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/

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