We are neighbors, at least for a few more days we are. Scott Bellamy will soon be on his way to West Virginia Wesleyan College. But, as neighbors often do, we would spend the last minutes before dark out in the yard, watching our children, and talking. One day we started talking about the Web and teaching and that became a topic we returned to for many weeks. Ed Kardas had just published a book, Psychology Resources on the World Wide Web, and it soon became apparent that we thought we could collaborate on a similar effort in economics. This guide, then, is the ultimate fruit of those conversations many months ago.
The Web has grown incredibly in the three short years since Kardas and Milford published their first book, Using the Internet for Social Science Research and Practice. For one thing, students now come to college knowing how to use the Web, and many have already created their own Web pages. Another change since those days is the increase in number and quality of Web sites available now. One thing has not changed, however, students are still not very proficient at searching the Web, and that is a task that becomes ever more difficult as the Web grows. We recently surveyed our students and found that less than 20% have had any kind of instruction in searching the Web, but that more than 70% use the Web for school assignments and entertainment. We advocate teaching college students how to search the Web, of course. But, even students who know how to search find that the time it takes to find useful sites is too long.
This guide, then, is a compromise of sorts. It allows students to find and use quality Web sites in economics quickly and easily. We do not propose that the sites in this guide are the only ones students should look at, but we do suggest that if they look at the ones we have collected for them, they will learn some economics. Further, they will get an intuitive feel for the kinds of sites they should look for on their own later.
To Students
This guide was written for economics students at any level and in any course. Each URL listed has a title, descriptors, annotation, and its URL. Simply load the CD-ROM, open it with a browser (i.e., Netscape, Internet Explorer, or other similar product) and click on the chapters and links desired. We have taken care to provide stable URLs, so most should be around for a long time. We have also provided an updates Web page at:
It lists errata, changes, and new URLs. Check there when a URL listed in the guide does not work. Also, e-mail us at:
when URLs do not work and are not listed on the update page. We will fix or replace those sites that no longer work and put the changes on the updates page.
This guide is a way for students to get on the Web in a hurry, find useful sites, and become comfortable with using the Web for class work. We assume that most students already know how to turn on a computer, get on the Web, and use e-mail. This guide is not for students who lack such basic skills. Think of this guide as another tool in the quest for knowledge and skills in economics. We hope this guide will become one of your favorite tools.
Acknowledgements
Collaborative projects as pleasant as this one are rare in our experience. Moving from evenings on the lawn to creating HTML is not a simple or easy project. Fortunately for us, we have had a great deal of help from a great many individuals and they have made our job so much easier. Our colleagues, as always, have been a steady source of inspiration and encouragement. We thank all of them, and we especially thank David Ashby, Louis Blanchard, Joe Bates, Tommy Milford, Beth Walker, Trish Smith, Gina Deahl. Christina Woodruff, Danny Stewart, and John Otey. Like much else at the university level, this project would have been much more difficult without the steadfast support of our deans, David Rankin and Jerry Pyle. We appreciate how they made our way easier. As always, our administration continues to support our efforts wholeheartedly. President Steve Gamble, Ronnie Birdsong, his Executive Assistant, and Dan Ball,Vice President for Academic Affairs, helped immensely by finding us suitable quarters during campus renovations. Kudos also go to Jim Graham, director of computer services. He fixed all of our computer-related problems with a smile. We would be remiss, though, if we did not salute our students. They get nowhere near the credit they deserve. Without them, we certainly would not be writing these words now. One student, Sierra McGarity, deserves extra credit,. She is the one who wrote the majority of the HTML in the guide. It seemed like the more we work we gave her and the closer the deadline came, the harder she worked. We thank her.
We also thank Lucille Sutton, our editor, Joanna Honikman, her assistant, and the rest of the people at Irwin McGraw Hill. Lucille believed in us from the start and supported us in every way imaginable. Our association with her and Irwin McGraw Hill has been as pleasant a professional association as can be imagined. We hung up from our first conference call amazed at our good treatment at their hands, and that treatment has only gotten better since.
Last, of course, we must thank our families. Once again, work has taken us from them for a time. We look forward to spending more time with all of them. To Teresa and Julie, our wives, to Matthew, Daniel, Christian, Clay, and Cara, our children, we say thanks for putting up with our need to write. We will now be around for family dinners, tending to you, and for evenings on the lawn. Unfortunately, those evening will now be a thousand miles apart. Thanks to the Internet, our separation will not be complete, but life will be different for all of us. We will think of each other on those long summer evenings. We will miss our double extended family visits from the children's grandparents. We will cherish the memories of our years together. We are thankful for the time we shared and look forward to seeing each other again soon. We thank God for all of you and we know we are truly blessed.
Scott Bellamy
Ed Kardas
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