DPLS News October 1994 Moving on with Mosaic! The DPLS would like to announce a new Internet tool for accessing information about social science data available at the Library. Mosaic is a graphical interface used for reading documents that are a part of the World Wide Web (WWW). The WWW is a standard for making text, image, sound and video documents available on the Internet. Mosaic, and many other WWW browsers, are freeware: they are available at no cost. Access to Mosaic can also be obtained through many of the campus computer labs, such as the Infolab at Memorial Library. What makes Mosaic different from Gopher is that it is a hypertext tool. Hypertext isa method of presenting information by which selected words in the text can be "expanded" to provide further information, or links to other documents. Visit DPLS' Home Page at http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu. Via our Home Page you can link to many interesting sites that provide useful information to social scientists. In addition, the DPLS still maintains up-to-date information on the WiscINFO Gopher server. Included in our directories is an introduction to the data library, a keyword-searchable version of the ICPSR Guide to Resources, our current Catalog of Holdings, and plain text copies of past newsletters. To findus go to Library Catalogs and Services/ Selected UW-Madison Libraries/ Data and Program Library Service. DPLS Welcomes New Director The Data Library extends a warm welcome to our new Faculty Director, Blake LeBaron. Professor LeBaron received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago and is an Associate Professor of Economics. He is a Faculty ResearchFellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member of the externalfaculty of the Santa Fe Institute, where he has served as director of theEconomics Program. LeBaron's research has concentrated on the issue of nonlinear behavior of financial and macroeconomic time series. His current interests are in understanding the quantitative dynamics of interacting systemsof adaptive agents and how these systems replicate observed real world phenomena. GSS Student Paper Contest Tom Smith and James Davis, principal investigators of the General Social Surveys (GSS), have announced the first annual GSS Student Paper Competition. To be eligible papers must: 1) be based on the 1972-1993 GSS national or ISSP cross-national data, 2) contain original and unpublished work, 3) be written by a student or students at an accredited college or university. Judging will be done by the P.I.'s and the winner will receive a cash prize of $250. For more information phone: 312-753-7877. The entry deadline is February 15, 1995. More on the General Social Survey In other GSS-related news, the 1994 data should be available sometime later this fall. The sample size of the 1994 survey is twice that of past surveys. Itcontains several new sections and special modules. One of the modules, on family social mobility, was designed by Robert Hauser and Robert Mare of the University of Wisconsin. The GSS is currently encouraging submission of ideas about content for the topical and mini-modules on the 1996 survey. Send e-mail to: nnrtws@uchimvs1.bitnet. Comments Wanted: NLS Comments and suggestions are being solicited on the content of soon-to-be-fielded 1996 and 1997 National Longitudinal Survey questionnaires. Suggestions for new questions, and comments on the content, structure, and design of the Youth and Women's cohorts surveys will be considered, as well as ideas about data documentation and user guides. People interested in making suggestions should e-mail NLS at usersv@pewter.chrr.ohiostate.edu. Racial Categories Seek Change The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting, was published in 1977. These classifications are widely used in collecting and presenting population characteristics, labor force and education data, and vital and health statistics. They are also used for enforcing federal anti-discrimination requirements. The current race and ethnic standards are: - American Indian or Alaskan Native - Asian or Pacific Islander - Hispanic - Black, not of Hispanic origin - White, not of Hispanic origin These categories have been under increasing criticism by individuals reporting data about themselves, and by organizations that use the information. Critics point out that the categories do not reflect the diversity of the nation's population. Another criticism is that the standards do not include mixed racial categories. Users of federal statistics are asked to provide feedback to the OMB regarding the categories. Electronic copies of the OMB Notice of Proposed Review and Possible Revision of OMB's Statistical Policy Directive 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting are available on the Internet via FTP at ftp.census.gov:pub/docs/ombdir15.txt (login as anonymous) or via Gopher at gopher.census.gov. ICPSR Summer Course Nancy Smider, Department of Psychology, attended the 1994 Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Summer Program in Quantitative Methods. She took the week-long Introduction to Lisrel Workshop taught by Dr. Ken Bollen, and enjoyed the workshop so much that she plans to attend other courses next year! As a member of ICPSR, the DPLS will receive a $250 stipend to award a UW-Madison attendee for the 1995 summer program. More information on the 1995 session will be available early next year. Researcher's Notes: Looking at Campaign Expenditures By: Barbara Burrell Wisconsin Survey Research Laboratory (This is the first in a series of occasional articles by library patrons describing their use of data obtained from the DPLS.) The Data and Program Library Service has provided me with Federal Election Commission's Campaign Expenditures in the United States data. I have used these data for my research on the role of money in the campaigns of male and female candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives. The data have allowed me to answer the question of whether women candidates are discriminated against in the raising of money for campaigns for national office. The answer is in my recently published book A Woman's Place Is in the House: Campaigning for Congress in the Feminist Era (University of Michigan Press, 1994). Currently the DPLS is supplying me with data from CBS News/New York Times Public Opinion Polls on First Lady Hillary Clinton. These data provide me with a base to examine how people have been responding to the political involvement of Hillary Clinton in comparison to reported press accounts. Through the data available at the DPLS, I have been able to obtain national survey results sincethe 1992 campaign season. Selected Recent Acquisitions United Nations Statistical Yearbook, 1981-1991: Thirty-eighth Issue [CD-ROM version]. (CB-527-001) Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Groups Annual Files: 1979-1991 Extracts. (AH-005-076) National Long-Term Care Survey, 1989. (QG-019-002) The 1990 Virginia Slims American Women's Opinion Poll. (SA-002-005) Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals, 1991/Diet and Health Knowledge Survey, 1991. (QG-031-001) International Financial Statistics, 1948-1994 [CD-ROM version]. (CB-526-001) Updated monthly. Panel Study of Income Dynamics: Marriage History File, 1985-1989. Panel Study of Income Dynamics: Childbirth and Adoption History File, 1985-1989. (CA-016-052/053) Health and Diet Surveys. (Forthcoming) Employee Benefits Survey, 1991: Health Care Benefits Data. (CA-047-001) United States Supreme Court Judicial Database, 1953-1992 Terms. (GA-017-001) National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, Base Year, First Follow-up and Second Follow-up [CD-ROM version]. (QD-020-006). Int'l SIC Code Concordance A new publication developed by Statistics Canada, the U.S. Bureau of the Census and Eurostat improves cross-national economic analyses. Standard industry classification (SIC) codes for individual countries may now be compared with each other and with a common international system of codes designed by the United Nations. "For the first time," a Census Bureau announcement states, "analysts will be able to compare measures such as wages, unemployment and productivity by industry among nations, and monitor the effects on industries of tariff changes or other events in each country.". The Internet Corner The Internet Corner is a regular feature of the DPLS News where library staff post useful resources on the Internet. Highlighted are items of interest in the Social Sciences, particularly networked data that is publicly available. Library of Congress Information System Analysts of U.S. politics can access a complete database of legislative bills from the 93rd to the 103rd (current) Congressional sessions through LOCIS. The search interface is similar to the command search mode of the campus library catalog, MADCAT, with item listings and full and brief displays. The database can be searched by bill number, keywords, or a specific senator or representative. For example, a search to "retrieve sen feingold" provides a search set of 258 bills in the current session. By typing "display" for this set, one gets a brief summary of each bill in the set. By choosing an item number of a particular bill for display, "display item 4", then "all"), one can retrieve details on the bill, including a concise digest of the bill (full text is also available), a complete list of cosponsors, steps taken on the bill with dates, committees referred, etc. One can also use this menu to search the holdings of the Library of Congress. To access the LOCIS database: via telnet: telnet to locis.loc.gov. via WiscInfo: At the main menu, choose Other Information Sources.../Miscellaneous Off-Campus.../Federal Govt. Resources/ Library of Congress Gopher (LC MARVEL)/Library of Congress Online Systems/Connect to LOCIS (public users...). At the LOCIS main menu choose number 2, "Federal Legislation". American Politics Gopher at NWU For a broader range of political information, try out Northwestern University's subject-oriented gopher pointing to online resources in American Politics, maintained by the Political Science Department. Five hundred new links were recently added to the gopher site at toby.scott.nwu.edu. A wealth of information is included on electronic journals, political listservers, branches of government, political parties, campaigns, and speeches. Don't miss these items of particular note: an extensive subdirectory system on The States; a diverse array of both progressive and right-wing online texts and conferences under Interest Groups and Social Movements (including freebies from IGC subscription networks such as PeaceNet, LaborNet and EcoNet); and Data Resources on U.S. Politics, which connects to important online data sources such as the IRSS Public Opinion Data Archives at UNC. NES Anonymous FTP Site Although no actual datafiles are here, this site is set up by the National Election Studies for public information, including listings of NES-related reports and other documentation. NES data are available at the DPLS. The address is ftp.nes.isr.umich.edu. Nat'l Archives Records Admin. Gopher Browsing the wealth of information available through NARA has never been easier, now that their gopher is up and running at gopher.nara.gov. An (almost duplicate) World Wide Web site is also available, and may in future have multimedia and hypertext links (http:/www.nara.gov). Some features offered include information about NARA, the title-list of machine-readable holdings, a pointer to The Federal Register contents, genealogy information, and the NARA Library News, with updated tables of contents ofjournals in American History.