Web Sites of Interest

Compiled by Susannah Tredwell

Invisible Web

Wisenut is a new search engine, which displays a hierarchical directory of sub-categories based on a user's search terms. The site features a sneak preview of the Web sites on the inset of the results page. An article at Websearch.About, "Wisenut's Online Search Goes Into Full Production" reviews the new site. According to Wisenut's president and CEO, Himawan Gunadhi, their crawler has the ability to index up to 50 million pages a day as well process millions of documents per hour.

Daypop is a current events search engine that searches over 5000 of the best news sites and weblogs on the net to bring you the latest information relevant to your searches on a daily basis.

Search Day is a free newsletter from Search Engine Watch featuring web search news, reviews, tools, tips, and search engine headlines from across the web.

Canadian Information

The Canadian Encyclopedia is now available for free online. The aim of the Canadian Encyclopedia is to "not only to provide all Canadians with a source of information about their great country but to establish the encyclopedia as the nexus for all Canadian information on the Internet".

The Canadian Trade Index gives detailed info on 32,000 Canadian companies, including their head office and branch addresses, names of the top four executives, annual sales, company size ranges, toll-free and fax numbers, principal products, brand names, export contacts and regions. You can search by company name, product description, trademark or brand.

The Canadian Virtual War Memorial / Memorial virtuel de guerre du Canada is an "excellent site that provides information about the more than 116,000 Canadians and Newfoundlers who fought and died while representing their country during the Nile Expedition (1884-1885), the South African War (1899-1902), the First World War, the Second World War, and the Korean War. Includes commemorative inscriptions in Canada's Books of Remembrance; Canadian medals and decorations; Remembrance Day posters; digital war art; representative songs, prose, and poetry; and information about Canadian war graves and memorial sites around the world. There are also links to related Web resources. In French and English." (Abstract copyright 2001 by Librarians' Index to the Internet, lii.org)

Finding Canadian, U.S. and International Statistics is a directory compiled by the University of Toronto Library listing statistical information on the web. Some sites are available only to U of T IP addresses.

How to Search for News in Canada lists major news sites and gives search tips on finding news in Canada. Recommended sites include Canada.com, CNEWS, and Globeandmail.com. It mentions that links to several major independent newspapers that aren't listed by either Canada.com or CNEWS can be found at the Canadian Newspaper Association. Further Canadian news sources can be found at http://websearch.about.com/cs/canadanews/.

Other Sites of Interest

AskOxford.com
"A lexicographer's delight. Includes a word of the day; quote of the week; proverb of the week; quotations; sound bites; guide to family history; literary jargon buster; guide to better writing; word games; information about world English; collective terms for animals; frequently asked questions about grammar, spelling, symbols and word origins; the history of Scrabble; notes from the archives; a place to ask questions of the experts; and basic facts about and recent additions to the Oxford English Dictionary." (Abstract copyright 2001 by Librarians' Index to the Internet, lii.org)

Census Links is a directory of links to censuses, focused primarily on the United States, with sections for the Canada, UK, Ireland, etc.

Economist.com Country Briefings
"Covering approximately sixty countries from Algeria to Vietnam, this site from the respected UK journal offers news stories, fact sheets, and links to official government sites. Librarians who deal with students seeking information about countries should find this site useful, although some countries are omitted and the articles labeled "premium content" are only for paying subscribers. A helpful complement to Background Notes and the CIA World Factbook." (Abstract copyright 2001 by Librarians' Index to the Internet, lii.org)

The Glossarist: A Searchable Glossary Directory is a list of thousands of glossaries and topical dictionaries available on the WWW. Users can search the directory or browse through over a 100 categories.

Online Calculators, Conversion Tools, Measurements & Weights
"A directory of resources that will calculate a variety of weights and measures. Includes a cost of living calculator that will compare cities within the U.S., a Roman numeral equivalencies calculator, a time zone converter, mortgage and credit card rates calculations, and a dictionary of most units of measurement found around the world. A useful set of links from the libraries of Western Washington University." (Abstract copyright 2001 by Librarians' Index to the Internet, lii.org)

World Economic Outlook , produced by the International Monetary Fund, presents the IMF staff's analysis and projections of economic developments at the global level, in major country groups (classified by region, stage of development, etc.), and in many individual countries. It provides one-year and four-year forecasts.