Internet Scout/SOSIG now provide mutual mirrors

[Susan Calcari]

[Please excuse any cross-posting of this announcement.]

Mutual Mirroring Speeds Access

Two major, subject-based Internet services have come to an agreement
whereby each will mirror the other's site, providing a solution to the
increasing costs of international bandwidth.  Internet Scout, based in the
USA, and SOSIG, based in the UK, now each host a "mirror" of the other's
site. The arrangement results in quicker access and reduced costs for
users on both sides of the Atlantic. The "mirror" is a complete copy of the
original site, hosted on a server closer to home, so that users can cut
down on the number of transatlantic connections they make.

Further collaboration between the two services is planned in the future.

The Internet Scout Project is based in the Computer Sciences Department at
the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the USA. The Scout Project is
sponsored by the National Science Foundation to provide timely information
to the education community about valuable Internet resources, and to
develop new tools for effective resource discovery on the Internet. Daily
and weekly updates on highly selective resources are provided for K-12 and
higher education faculty, staff, and students, as well as interested
members of the general public. In addition to the general Scout Report,
three subject-specific reports focus on Social Science, Business and
Economics, and Science and Engineering, and a catalogue of over 4,500
resources on these topics are searchable at the web site.

SOSIG (pronounced "sausage") is the Social Science Information Gateway,
based in the Institute for Learning and Research Technology (ILRT) at the
University of Bristol, UK. SOSIG is funded by the Economic and Social
Research Council (ESRC) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)
to provide access to resources and training for social scientists that want
to use the Internet. Established in 1994, SOSIG was the first subject-based
information gateway in the UK. SOSIG has acquired a considerable reputation
among social scientists and offers a catalogue of over 5,000 high quality
resources that have been selected and described by subject specialists.

The US mirror of SOSIG can be found at:

http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/mirrors/sosig

The UK mirror of the Internet Scout Project Web site can be found at:

http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/mirrors/scout/



North American users should use the Internet Scout site at

http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/

UK users should use the local SOSIG service at:

http://www.sosig.ac.uk/


For further information please contact:

Susan Calcari
Internet Scout Project
Computer Science Department
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1210 W. Dayton Street
Madison, WI 53705
USA

Tel: +1 608.265.8042
Fax: +1 608.265.9296


Debra Hiom
SOSIG
Institute for Learning and Research Technology
University of Bristol
8 Woodland Road
Bristol BS8 1TN
UK

Tel: +44 (0)117 928 8443
Fax: +44 (0)117 928 8478