Alberta NetBeat : January 2003
ISSN 1481-7640

This is a sample of Alberta NetBeat, a free newsletter designed to provide news, information and opportunities for Alberta libraries and schools to take special advantage of the Internet. January sample issues of Alberta NetBeat are the only ones we post online as the newsletter is sent monthly via electronic mail to subscribers. To subscribe to Alberta NetBeat, please complete the subscription form.

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Alberta NetBeat
An Internet Newsletter for Alberta Schools and Libraries
Vol. 5, Issue 1 January 2003 ISSN 1481-7640
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Welcome to a new year! This is always a celebratory month for us as it's our birthday - Alberta NetBeat is now entering its fifth year of publication. Our goal has always been to bring you excellent tips, news, contests, and information on how you can use the Internet better in your school or library, and from the feedback I hear from subscribers, we manage to achieve that goal in each issue! We also understand that many of you receive the newsletter from one subscriber who fans them out to a group, and it would really help us prove to our advertisers that we have a large readership base if those of you in this position would personally subscribe (the link is at the end of the newsletter). Thank you all for your ongoing support! This year, watch for monthly Macintosh links from our in-house Mac guru Neil Martin, and by summer we hope to have all our back issues available online in searchable .pdf format so you can make better use of the information we provide.

Cynthia Beuselinck, Editor
cynthia@inet-toolbox.com
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In this issue:
1. Quick Tech Tips: Updating your Virus Scanning Software
2. Flash and Search Engine Indexing
3. Staying Security Savvy
4. Alberta Student Writing Contests
5. Canadian Health Network: a trusted source
6. Macintosh Matters: X for Teachers program
7. Canada's Family Literacy Day, January 27
8. Weeding Book Collections in the age of the Internet
9. Your Beat - tell us what you think!

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1. Quick Tech Tips: Updating your Virus Scanning Software While many people have purchased and installed virus scanners, it is amazing how many are not keeping them up-to-date! There are new viruses discovered on the Internet daily and the only way your software can detect them is by having the latest information on what to look for. Reputable virus scanning software vendors will provide updates to their products regularly, and in some cases you may need to manually go retrieve those updates. To make sure you have the latest "virus definitions" or "patterns" for your virus scanner, visit the manufacturers Web site and look for a section on "updates" or "downloads" and follow the instructions relating to your specific software. If your system can't be set to do the updates automatically, you should get the updates yourself each week. Some of the major vendors are listed below:
Norton AntiVirus Updates
   http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/download.html

McAffee VirusScan Updates
    http://download.mcafee.com/updates/updates.asp

TrendMicro PC-Cillan Updates
    http://www.trendmicro.com/download/

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2. Flash and Search Engine Indexing
Macromedia Flash is a favorite of many web designers, but Flash content is difficult (and in some cases impossible) for search engines to index. Until search engines have fully graduated into being capable of indexing Flash content, there are some techniques you can apply that will help make your Flash Web pages searchable. Here are a couple of articles that address the Flash indexing issue.

Getting Flash pages indexed
    http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2002/july/19.html (scroll to the bottom for the print friendly/ad-free version)

FAST - the first engine to index Flash content
   http://www.fastsearch.com/press/press_display.asp?pr_rel=152 [link no longer active, July 2002]

3. Staying Security Savvy
The security threats to computer workstations are evolving constantly. Not only are they increasing in number, the extent of damage they can cause is escalating as well. How is your security savvy? This special report provides a great overview of the blended threats we now face and provides some best practices in the area of security. Although written for schools, the suggestions here are valuable to any networked environment.
    http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A4253.cfm

4. Alberta Student Writing Contests - enter now!
The Alberta Association of School Resource Officers (AASRO) annual student writing contest is currently running. Open to high school students in Alberta, the theme this year is "Our Changing World - are you ready?" First prize is a $1500 scholarship to a post-secondary institute, second is $1000, and third is $500. Another writing contest that is now on is from the ATA English Language Arts Council (ELAC). Open to students from five categories of grade levels, this one is accepting poetry and prose. Winning entries will be published in Alberta Voices and on the English Language Arts Council Web Site. The Canadian Young Historians National Award has also added some new prizes to their writing competition since our announcement in the September issue.

AASRO - deadline March 31, 2003
    http://www.aasro.com/2003_essay_contest_&_details.htm (no longer active 11/03)

ELAC - deadline February 1, 2003
    http://jeffgoin.com/ELAC2002/html/regulations.html (no longer active - 11/03)

Canadian Young Historians National Award
   http://macnash.admin.uottawa.ca/~ccwse/cyhna2003/2003_e.htm (English)
   http://macnash.admin.uottawa.ca/~ccwse/pnjhc2003/2003_f.htm (French)

5. Canadian Health Network If you need to find information about a health and wellness topic, diseases, treatment, or regional resources for health issues, check out the Canadian Health Network site. Designed to be a source of "credible and practical e-health information", the CHN is the collaborative work of Health Canada along with a variety of non-profit organizations, universities, libraries, and hospitals in Canada. The site is bilingual, provides an alphabetical topic listing, geographic listings, and has a search feature. It not only contains links to health related Web sites, but also has a variety of fact sheets and informational pages developed by the CHN. An example of one of these helpful pages is "Using Health Information on the Internet", which provides checklists for critically evaluating health related Web pages.
    http://www.canadian-health-network.ca/

Using Health Information on the Internet
    http://www.canadian-health-network.ca/html/help/netinfoe.html

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6. Macintosh Matters: X for Teachers program
Apple is offering K-12 teachers in Canada and the United States free copies of the latest operating system, Mac OS X v10.2 (Jaguar). To qualify for the "X for Teachers" program, you must be a K-12 teacher at a recognized school (public, private, Catholic, charter schools) and you must agree to have software delivered to your school address. Apply online before the end of March 2003 to take advantage of this offer.
    http://www.apple.com/education/macosxforteachers/

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7. Canada's Family Literacy Day, January 27
This month, don't forget to participate in Family Literacy day! Whether you host or attend a read-a-thon, book drive, reading circle, or simply make time to read together as a family, be sure to emphasize the importance of learning and literacy along the way. Robert Munsch, who has authored 35 children's books, has been named the Honorary Chair of Family Literacy Day for 2003.
    http://www.abc-canada.org/family_literacy_day/fld.asp

8. Weeding Book Collections in the age of the Internet
An important factor in library collection development is the weeding program. Many library staff are reluctant to remove materials from library shelves, but access to the Internet has changed the way the library print collection is used in most institutions. This is forcing librarians to evaluate not only what they put and keep on the shelves, but how they are "marketing" their print and electronic collections to encourage the best use of the resources. These timely points are discussed in the November issue of Library Link online and though they use an Academic library sample, the research is thought provoking for any library in this electronic age.

Weeding - is it still worth the effort? (this link may wrap, so make sure you copy the entire URL)
    http://operatix.emeraldinsight.com/vl=53596918/cl=18/nw=1/rpsv/librarylink/collection/nov02.htm

Weeding Book Collections in the age of the Internet
    http://ernesto.emeraldinsight.com/pdfs/cb213.pdf

9. Your Beat - tell us what YOU think!
We hope you have enjoyed this issue of Alberta NetBeat. If you have suggestions or questions, we want to hear from you. Although we can't promise a personal response to every message, we guarantee that our newsletter team considers every one. Email us! news@inet-toolbox.com

Alberta NetBeat is a free newsletter created to help libraries and schools in Alberta take special advantage of the Internet! Each month Alberta NetBeat will provide you with news, information, and opportunities to help you manage and explore the Net. Topics range from web building strategies, search engines and Internet issues, to contests and projects - anything to help you be a better Internet user and educator.

If you have received this newsletter as a gift, you can subscribe by completing the online subscription form at http://www.inet-toolbox.com/toolbox/netbeat.html on our web site. Alberta NetBeat goes out in the middle of each month and is only available via email. We do not sell or share email addresses from our database.

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