Search

This article presents information on the Internet-based resources that enable librarians and educators to understand the history culture and literature. The resources enable librarians and educators to increase their knowledge base and serve as sources for student papers and projects. The websites discussed in this article include those on geography, history, economy and culture of Vietnam as well as some that focus on the American involvement in the war. The website, www.pbs.org, also known as the American Experience Vietnam Online is a companion web site. It is focused on middle school students and features interviews, time lines, maps, brief biographies of critical figures, transcripts and reproductions of primary sources about the Vietnam War era. The site www.pbs.org/hitchhikingvietnam, chronicles the adventures of Karin Muller, who spent eight months trekking throughout the country. Some information found at the site about life in Vietnam includes people, work, the Vietnam War, rice, minorities, a culinary tour, holidays and children and the elderly.

This article presents names of several significant African, African-Canadian, and African-American artists. Names of these persons were obtained from Web sites of several American art associations and societies. The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, reportedly, identifies nine distinguished African artists from across the continent and directs visitors to additional web sites. These artists include Nigerian Sokari Douglas Camp, Senegalese Iba N'Diaye, and South Africans William Kentridge. African Art Gallery features paintings by both black and white South African artists categorized by landscapes, seascapes, wildlife, contemporary figures, still life, and Bushmen paintings. About 20 featured artists rotate on the site every few months. Some of the names included in the list of African-American artists are: Dorsey James, Neville Clark, Charmaine Lurch, Jacob Lawrence and Faith Ringgold. A site with a mix of African and African-American themes created by mostly African-American artists is African Art World. Most of the artists featured here are major historical and contemporary figures.

This article offers information on several vertical portals for ethnic groups. Vertical portals are known in business as enterprise servers or portals. A vertical portal is a niche Web site with content geared to a specialty group. The demand for specific ethnic vertical portals is increasing because demographically, Latinos, blacks, Native Americans, and Asian Americans are increasing in relationship to the overall population and are recognized as generating revenues. Few vertical portals with a Latino focus are Hispanic Online, LatinoLink, and Picosito. They overcome the language barrier by offering Web content in Spanish or English language. A major Asian-American vertical portal is ABCFlash. ABCFlash calls itself the premier Asian online community. The site contains several topics, including lifestyles, art and entertainment, business, politics, community, jobs, Asian studio nightlife, and ABC people. There are three major Black/African-American vertical portals: MSBET, BlackVoices.com, and BlackFamilies.com. MSBET stands for the Microsoft Black Entertainment Network. The closest thing to a Native American vertical portal is Native Web. The site is in the development stage and includes features such as current news and communities.

This article reports that the racial identification occurs almost on a daily basis by employers. In society racial identification is tied to things such as the awarding of government contracts and admission to colleges and universities. Such affirmative action measures have been necessary in order to counteract past discrimination and give minorities a fair and equitable chance at improving their status in society. Some persons contend that there is good racial profiling and bad racial profiling. The author is not convinced that racial profiling in any context is a positive thing. He does however, realize that it exists for a variety of reasons. An aftermath of the bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon has been the attempt to suspend the rights of noncitizens in the U.S. Since there are a few who might be involved in terrorism, John Ashcroft, attorney general of the U.S., has asked Congress to enact new counterterrorist laws. The new laws allow noncitizens to be held for indefinite periods of time and to be subject to surveillance that is broad in nature.

This article features electronic products that can help educators, librarians and researchers better understand diverse cultures. The software Decision, Decisions 5.10: Immigration from Tom Snyder Publications, allows students to use critical thinking skills to gather and review information, discuss options and take actions. The user plays the role of a U.S. president who is up for reelection. He and his four advisors face a real-life dilemma involving thousands of boat people from a war-torn area rapidly approaching U.S. shores. The Web-based product Discovering Multicultural America from Gale, has a comprehensive multicultural source covering four U.S. major ethnic groups, namely, African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans. Omissions aside, the product is an exceptional value, particularly for historical research. The publisher promises frequent updates so that it can be a resource for the study of current events as well. The interactive educational software The African American: A Proud People With a Great Heritage exposes children to the roots of African-American culture and history. The designers are doctor James L. Jones and Merly Vance, who narrate much of the story.

This article discusses opinions regarding the recognition of English as the official language of the United States and how immigrants who enter the country must be required to learn the language. The English Language Unity Act and English law introduced by Steve King, the Republican state senator in Iowa, is also discussed. Statistics are presented from a survey conducted with members of the Democrat, Republican, and other non-affiliated parties who all favored a law to make English the official language.

The article presents information on a traditional print journal that focuses on the indigenous people of California and a brand new online journal produced in Hawaii that appeals to culturally diverse youth. The name of the print journal is "News from Native California." Malcolm Margolin publishes it. Its Managing Editor is Margaret Dubin and Clapperstick Institute, a nonprofit educational corporation, owns the journal. The name of the online journal is "Urban Mozaik Magazine." The editor of the journal is Carolyn Quan. The journal titled "News from Native California" contains mostly short articles, complemented by apt photographs and illustrations. The journal seeks to be "the inside view of the California Indian World." Both historic and contemporary points of view can be found in the magazine. Each issue of the journal has approximately five articles and gives attention to the education and social events of various tribes, legal struggles and Native artists in pictures and illustrations. This journal of 15 years provides thorough knowledge with depth written from an Indian perspective and it happens to be published at a modest price.