From the Chair

All of us spend a great deal of time in front of our computers, engaged in a variety of tasks: exchanging email messages; preparing lectures, handouts, and tests; writing the paper, article, or book that will, hopefully, lead to academic "stardom"; searching for information on the Internet.

I suspect that most of us have our favorite Internet sites that we visit time after time.  I thought that for this month's column I would share with you five of the sites that I find especially useful; although you may already be using these resources, perhaps you will find something new.

Bruce's Guide to Useful Sites on the Internet:

English Department Pages Worldwide: http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/english/links/engdpts.html
This site lists over 1300 English department pages.  Not only is it informative concerning programs offered at other universities, it provides an easy means of finding an email address for faculty whom you know to be at a particular institution.

RefDesk: http://www.refdesk.com/
My choice for the best reference guide on the Internet, RefDesk can direct you to everything from how to remove beet stains from carpet to Molly Ivins's latest column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The Visual Thesaurus: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/index.jsp
This site provides an interesting visual representation of words having similar meanings.  To use the site, simply type in a word in the upper left corner of the screen, in front of the red "Look It Up."

Vivisimo: http://vivisimo.com/
Like Google, Vivisimo is a search engine; unlike Google, Vivisimo "clusters" the "hits" so that you don't have to go through page after page of material looking for information of value.  Entering "Lorna Doone," for example, not only returns 47 "hits" for the Blackmore novel, but 4 "hits" for Bed and Breakfast Inns having that name, as well as numerous other clusters.

V-Myths: http://vmyths.com/
When you receive unofficial word from a friend of a new virus that anti-virus programs are incapable of destroying, check this site before spreading the news to all those on your distribution list.

If you have sites that you think would be of interest to others in the department, I'd appreciate receiving the URL.  In a future column, I'll supply a compilation of the suggestions.