Derek Blair
Department of Anthropology
Carleton University
email dblair@ccs.carleton.ca
To say that this homepage is under construction is an understatement. It probably can't be considered as even being under construction yet, since it is so absolutely incomplete. The purpose of constructing the present homepage is twofold. First, it is to provide myself with a lesson in constructing an HTML document. For this project, I found Writing HTML Documents for the World Wide Web to be indispensable. The second purpose of undertaking the construction of this homepage is to provide on-line links to what I consider to be essential links for anthropologists wishing to have their research benefit from the capabilities of the Internet. In this sense, this homepage can be considered as the accompanying document to a paper which I recently produced entitledUsing the Internet as a Tool For Anthropological Research which is not yet on-line.
Index-Arts, Humanities, and Social Science Resources Index-Social Sciences-WWW Virtual Library Anthropology and Archaeology
The African Studies Home Page at the University of Pennsylvania contains information pertaining to numerous aspects of African Studies. Two interesting sublinks here are The K-12 Africa Guide and the Bulletin Board. Included at these sites are complete packages of demographic information by country, audio visual exhibits, on-line book collections, and information about events, lectures, conferences, etc...
The Anthropology and Archaeology Corner at Oxford University provides numerous good links as follows:
Fourth World Documentation Project
Internet Access to the Handbook of Latin American Studies Through LC Marvel
Aboriginal Studies Electronic Data Archive
On-line Books Pertaining to Anthropology
The Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing (CSAC, same as above)
Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ICSA) Oxford University
I thought that I'd seen it all until I checked out The Human Languages Page. Provided here is a list of most of the world's languages, listed by language, country, etc.... For example, if you were planning on fieldwork among the Pintupi, you could easily find out how to get translation dictionaries. As well as this, you can get fonts which can be imported into various wordprocessers. You can also often search for particular English words in order to find the translation into the foreign language. As I was browsing, something caught my eye in the "K" section of the language pages--The Klingon Languages HomePage (and it was just in time, I was about set to beam over and do some weekend fieldwork! Actually, it was a holiday, but don't tell anybody.) Yes, it's true. Not only can you download audiofiles so that you can actually HEAR Klingon being spoken, you can join the club, and see the glyphs which correspond to the English alphabet. More than this, (surprised that there's more?), you can see Shakespeare's "Much ado..." and "Sonet97" as they appear in Klingonese. (Oh yes, I almost forgot, there is more than one Klingon language, therefore I must be generalizing here.)
Some SAS Tutorials
A second interesting link set will certainly be useful to any social scientist who is trying to get a handle on SAS (Statistical Analysis Software). Anyone vaguely familiar with SAS will tell you that there are very few (good) introductory books on SAS. Here are some locations where you can find some useful instructions.
Introduction to SASUsing SAS on VMS(virtually the same as Unix)SAS Frequently asked Questions(ABSOLUTELY SUPERB!!)The Canadian Museum of Civilization
The link to the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec is relatively useless as far as anthropologists are concerned. There is, however, one interesting link which any person with the right musical taste will certainly appreciate. Of course I'm referring to the Rolling Stones Web Site. (Just click the Tongue above) Not only can you get texts from interviews with the stones, but you can also access picture collections which include most album covers, Mick, Keith, etc.... Even wilder than this, you can download audio clips (approx. 45 seconds each) of literally every song from their latest album "Voodoo Lounge." 
. Just press this ball to download the audioclip for "Love is Strong." Of course, you need an audio program like SoundMachine, but the songs did come out better than I expected!
So then how useful IS the Net for anthropological research?? Certainly to the student of anthropology, it presently proves to be, at times, essential. The problem is knowing exactly what the links hold at given times. As far as getting information which will aid in the construction of a research report--some luck is involved. Check it out yourself. Images, locales, tutorials, email addresses, and interesting papers are some of the essential features to which I have been referring. For the professional anthropologist, the Net provides opportunities to stay in touch with contemporary issues, documents etc.... The Human Languages Page appears to be an essential for the fieldworker in a foreign locale. Also, anthropology students who aspire to greater academic heights (graduate work) can benefit from the capabilities of the Net in locating programs, matching interests and making contact with faculty, and requesting information. I have come across several advertisements from programs and professors who have specific projects in mind.
It is in my opinion that one day, the Net will, in and of itself, provide all of the necessary tools required in piecing together research regarding various anthropological topics. That time, however, is not now. At present, the Net can provide an informative supplemental research tool. It can often give the locations of information sites, but don't expect to get that great article from American Anthropologist. In other words, keep your library card. The capabilities of the Net certainly make the process of researching easier and faster, but, as its information reservoir will continue to grow, we will always be waiting to see what it will do tomorrow. 2 z Excel 2.2 WXF0MSWK 4 @AnthroNet.htmlA v F z Excel 3.0 WXF0MSWK 4 y ~ O# z Microsoft Works 2 YP 2 STR Y