Reference Links

Free Samples/Services, Online Contests, and Fun Sites

As the weather seems to be one of our favourite topics of discussion there are countless websites devoted to it. The Electronic Telegraph has good coverage, but you'll have to register. It's currently free to read, and hopes to stay that way, supported by advertising. The Press Association has well-laid out weather information from the Met Office, and though you have to register, there are no charges currently announced. If you have already registered, the link is here. But if you like your weather data raw, here is the link to a 512x512 satellite picture of the weather over Britain.

Up to the minute news and information (and weather) is now available in the Belfast Telegraph

One of Britain's most famous and respected institutions is the BBC. From here you can get online television and radio listings - including those for World Service TV and Radio - and much more.

The Press Association is Britain's biggest press agency, and this new Web site gives access to mostly-UK based news, weather, sports and television listings. You'll have to register, but access is free.

The electronic version of the Daily Telegraph doesn't contain all of the newspaper, but there's enough to be useful, particularly if you're a long way from home with an Internet connection. Embedded links let you follow a story back through the archives.

Also useful is The Guardian OnLine Archives, which lets you search all the published editions of the Guardian's Online section by keyword.

If you want to find whether your favourite British publication is online, check the UK Media Internet Directory.

The Social Science Information Gateway similarly points to resources in the UK and around the world about everything from Anthropology to Statistics. Rather technical, but if you're a social scientist it could be invaluable.

Baffled by SCSI, CDMA, FDDI, microkernels, SPECmarks and the like? Try the Free Online Dictionary of Computing

The Natural History Museum has put information about its exhibits, a link to an online index to its extensive library and links to earth and life sciences resources elsewhere on the Web.

The Science Museum has been disappointingly slow getting online - I hope that you will find this new Web site is worth the wait.

The British Library is also online - it has been for some time - but I didn't feature it as it has been rather dull until recently. Now you can look at the Magna Carta or a digitised copy of Beowulf. It's not the treasure trove of 7 million books online you might have been hoping for, though. In fact, it hasn't even made its "OPAC" catalogue available to the Internet at all, except using proprietary software across 150 academic institutions. The page to find out more about the catalogue (or lobby for wider coverage) is here

	Free Samples/Services, Online Contests, and Fun Sites
	As the weather seems to be one of our favourite topics of discussion there are countless websites devoted to it. The Electronic Telegraph has good coverage, but you'll have to register. It's currently free to read, and hopes to stay that way, supported by advertising. The Press Association has well-laid out weather information from the Met Office, and though you have to register, there are no charges currently announced. If you have already registered, the link is here. But if you like your weather data raw, here is the link to a 512x512 satellite picture of the weather over Britain.
	Up to the minute news and information (and weather) is now available in the Belfast Telegraph
	One of Britain's most famous and respected institutions is the BBC. From here you can get online television and radio listings - including those for World Service TV and Radio - and much more.
	The Press Association is Britain's biggest press agency, and this new Web site gives access to mostly-UK based news, weather, sports and television listings. You'll have to register, but access is free.
	The electronic version of the Daily Telegraph doesn't contain all of the newspaper, but there's enough to be useful, particularly if you're a long way from home with an Internet connection. Embedded links let you follow a story back through the archives.
	Also useful is The Guardian OnLine Archives, which lets you search all the published editions of the Guardian's Online section by keyword.
	If you want to find whether your favourite British publication is online, check the UK Media Internet Directory.
	The Social Science Information Gateway similarly points to resources in the UK and around the world about everything from Anthropology to Statistics. Rather technical, but if you're a social scientist it could be invaluable.
	Baffled by SCSI, CDMA, FDDI, microkernels, SPECmarks and the like? Try the Free Online Dictionary of Computing
	The Natural History Museum has put information about its exhibits, a link to an online index to its extensive library and links to earth and life sciences resources elsewhere on the Web.
	The Science Museum has been disappointingly slow getting online - I hope that you will find this new Web site is worth the wait.
	The British Library is also online - it has been for some time - but I didn't feature it as it has been rather dull until recently. Now you can look at the Magna Carta or a digitised copy of Beowulf. It's not the treasure trove of 7 million books online you might have been hoping for, though. In fact, it hasn't even made its "OPAC" catalogue available to the Internet at all, except using proprietary software across 150 academic institutions. The page to find out more about the catalogue (or lobby for wider coverage) is here