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Web sightings

The MIT Campus Police Department now has a Web site that includes on-line registration for bicycles and lost-and-found items; sections on the patrol division, investigations unit, crime prevention and sensitive crimes unit, and other services; crime and safety information for students and campus visitors; and the department's latest annual report. SafeRide schedules, a campus map and directions to MIT can also be accessed from the home page.

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Administrative templates--electronic versions of official paper forms that are widely used by offices across MIT-have moved from TechInfo to the Web, from which they can be easily downloaded by members of the MIT community. Forms including journal and cash vouchers, requests for personnel, signature authorization, travel advances, research proposal summaries, etc., are still provided by the relevant offices (Personnel, Comptroller's Accounting Office, etc.), but Campus-Wide Information Systems (CWIS) will maintain the aggregate list.

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MIT community members who want to share information and advice about electronic publishing can visit the Web site or attend meetings of the CWIS Publishers User Group. The home page has archived notes from past meetings and information on joining relevant e-mail lists. Visitors to the site can also click on a page offering how-to documents on various Web-related publishing topics such as graphics, sound, forms, etc., and a page with other Internet information and help resources, both inside and outside MIT.
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The Experimental Study Group has created the 7.01 Hypertextbook, an on-line resource for students in Molecular Biology. The site, which covers fundamentals of 7.01 as an alternative to regular course materials, includes 11 illustrated chapters, a searchable index, self-quizzes that are electronically graded and sent to the student and tutor, and practice problems with response boxes for the student to show calculations and answers. The hypertextbook has been used as a casual reference and as part of regular courses in several US and English universities; it has been translated into Italian and will be translated into Korean soon. The site, which is continually revised and updated, was created by 1996 graduate Shane Crotty under supervison of Professor Vernon Ingram, ESG director, with technical support from visiting scientist Seth Finklestein and help from several other ESG students.

Also in progress is a math hypertextbook developed by mathematics graduate student Thomas Colthurst and Joy Nicholson, a junior in electrical engineering and computer science.
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Lighthouse Weather on The Tech's server features National Weather Service forecasts for 550 US cities as well as radar and satellite images for many national and global regions. Or viewers can get forecasts in the city or state of their choice by typing in the name. There's also a summary list of weather conditions in dozens of cities around the world. Viewers with NetScape 2.0 or higher can also open Weather Watcher remote windows that continually display the selected region's latest weather information; the windows stay open on-screen as long as NetScape is running.
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Volunteer opportunities and information about ongoing projects such as CityDays, LINKS and The Giving Tree can be found on the home page of the Public Service Center. Organizations seeking volunteers are organized by area (education, elderly, environment, etc.). There are also links to other MIT student organizations that offer opportunities for community service.


A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on September 18, 1996.

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