Describes the redesign of the Web site at the virtual library of the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). Discusses usability problems with the original site, including navigation difficulties; focus groups to determine user needs; usability testing for the new Web site; and the importance of customer input. (LRW)

Studied cognitive processes of 12 elite orienteers (cross-country racers who navigate a course) during a race through indirect observation and interview. The 19-year-old orienteers reported their mental activity onto a small tape recorder. Responses were divided into four stages of mental activity: planning, registration and navigation, control…

Presents a worksheet for evaluating Web pages that awards points for various categories including currency, content, authority, navigation, experience, multimedia, treatment, and access. (LRW)

Presents a brief historical overview of research in individual differences in the context of virtual environments. Highlights the notion of structure in the perception of individual users of an information system and the role of individuals' abilities to recognize and use such structures to perform various information-intensive tasks. (Author/LRW)

Discusses interface agents and online help systems, focusing on Microsoft's animated office assistants. Highlights include intermediaries such as librarians in off-line reference problems; user complaints about online help systems; navigation problems; evaluation of the online office assistants; and categories of user queries to online help…

Describes a management system developed by BT Laboratories (United Kingdom) that is based on ISO 9001 using the World Wide Web, a hypermedia system, and part of the Internet. Subject matter is presented as an alphabetical list of linked entries, numerous navigational techniques are available, and searching options function within an index file.…

Reviews problems with educational software and presents a framework for educational software design, focusing on topic selection, knowledge presentation (simplicity, presentation, program control, structure versus exploration, navigation), knowledge construction (multiple choice, tasks, case studies) and evaluation. (PEN)

This essay examines some aspects of the teaching of mathematics and its applications in three of the principal sixteenth century Spanish universities (Salamanca, Valencia and Alcala) and in other institutions sponsored by the monarchy, such as the "Casa de la Contratacion" (House of Trade) of Seville and the so-called Academy of…

Stephen Downes visits Robin Good's Master NewMedia, a Web site dedicated to Web 2.0 in both thought and deed. The site both utilizes the design principles and technologies central to the concept of Web 2.0--relentless referencing, cross-referencing, and linking to a wide variety of articles from across the Web; a fluid and often chaotic…

Educators are becoming increasingly interested in alternatives to learning management systems (LMS) Blackboard and WebCT. Stephen Downes's column Places to Go turns to one internationally popular open source LMS--Moodle. Downes takes the reader through Moodle's Web site, which is simultaneously a Web site about its LMS and an example of what its…

This revised textbook, published for the Air Force ROTC program, contains a discussion of basic and essential understandings about air navigation. The first part of the book describes maps, air navigation charts, flight planning, and pilotage preflight. Basic differences between ground maps and air charts are described and the methods of…

The technical subject matter of the Quartermaster rating is presented in this training manual written to prepare men of the Navy and Naval Reserve for advancement examinations. The manual includes eleven chapters. Discussed are commonly used methods and procedures of operating magnetic compasses and gyrocompasses, determining a ship's position,…

This dictionary is a companion to "Naval Terminology," developed by the Defense Language Institute and printed in 1971. Cyrillic script is used for the Russian terminology. Two main sections define naval terms from Russian to English and from English to Russian. A list of abbreviations concludes the text. (RL)

In accordance with the normal replacement cycle, a new form of the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT) was developed for implementation in Fiscal Year 1972. The new form is designated Form L. It resembles other recent forms in type of content, organization, and norming strategy. Like other forms, it yields pilot, navagation-technical,…

One of a series of training manuals prepared for enlisted personnel in the Navy and Naval Reserve, this self-study package provides subject matter that relates directly to the occupational qualifications of the Quartermaster rating. Contents include a 16-chapter text followed by a glossary, subject index, and the associated nonresident career…