ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 444 / C&RL News ■ June 2002 I n t e r n e t R e v i e w s Joni R, R obertsand Carol A. Drost, editors M atrix: A S c h o la rly R e so u rce f o r th e S tu d y o f W o m e n 's R e lig io u s C o m ­ m u n itie s fro m 4 0 0 -1 6 0 0 CE. Access: http://m atrix.bc.edu/. The goal of Matrix is to collect and pro­ vide access to all existing information regard­ ing professional Christian w om en in Europe b etw een 400-1600 CE. Primary and second­ ary sources comprise the majority of this mul- t i l i n g u a l collection, w hich fo­ c u s e s o n u n p u b ­ lished archival materials. It is a collaborative project, with an international and multidisci­ plinary assembly of editors, contributors, and board members. The heart of Matrix is the Monasticon, a d atabase of religious com m unity profiles. M onasticon docum ents not only traditionally defined com m unal institutions and high p ro ­ file figures, but em braced trends in historiog­ raphy and incorporated voluntary and infor­ mal structures as well. To fully capture the range of w o m en ’s re­ ligious comm unities, Matrix’s founders ex­ p a n d ed the definitions beyond exam ples set by male religious communities, which failed to capture the entire history or experience for m edieval w om en. Communities in the Monasticon vaiy from nunneries, beguinages, and congregations to hospices and spiritual groups. Profiles vary in depth of coverage, providing alternative names, m edieval and m odern locations, dates founded and ended, notable heads, and founding m embers. Con­ tributors and record modification dates are included. By expanding beyond traditional d efinitions o f religious com m unities, the M onasticon is the first systematic attem pt to docum ent the variety of w o m en ’s com m uni­ ties in the prem odern period. Three areas of Matrix elaborate on the Monasticon, supplying hundreds of years of research and docum ents. “Bibliographia,” a growing database of primary and secondary source citation, incorporates entries from sev­ eral standard bibliographies as well as recent contributions from scholars. “Com m entaria,” also un d er developm ent, provides citations (som e with links to full text) to secondaiy materials. A num ber of these papers are not available anyw here or have not been p u b ­ lished. Matrix also includes a glossary of terms, an image database, and a biographical data­ base of im portant figures in Christianity, m e­ dieval Europe, and religious w om en. Navigating this site is not difficult. Each page within Matrix has a sidebar m enu, list­ ing all sections of the site, highlighting the chosen page, and displaying the brow sing or searching choices, w hich varies from section to section. Matrix has im proved since last re­ view ed {Choice, Supl999) with the addition of search tips screens, easier navigation, and the ability to truncate terms w hen using the search option. Although Matrix’s intended audience is upper-level undergraduates, graduate stu­ dents, and scholars, it is an excellent resource for anyone with an interest in medieval, reli­ gious, or w om en’s studies research. Much of this material is not available in other formats, making this site invaluable. Highly recom ­ m en d e d .— K im berly Bartosz, University o f Wisconsin Parkside, bartosz@uwp.edu G lo b a l E x c h a n g e . Access.- h ttp ://w w w . globalexchange. org/. Global Exchange is a hum an rights orga­ nization founded in 1988. It describes itself as being “dedicated to prom oting environ­ mental, political, and social justice around the w orld.” Global Exchange’s program involves prom oting global aw areness through travel programs, education, and sale of products m ade throughout the world, and the Web site prom otes itself. The site opens with a graphic page con­ taining links to its o th er pages. From the hom epage, one can explore their “Reality Joni R. Roberts is associate university librarian fo r public services and co lle ctio n d e ve lo p m e n t a t W illa m e tte University, e-mail: jroberts@ willamette.edu, and Carol A. Drost is associate university librarian fortechnical services at W illam ette University, e-mail: cdrost@willamette.edu http://matrix.bc.edu/ mailto:bartosz@uwp.edu mailto:jroberts@willamette.edu mailto:cdrost@willamette.edu C&RL News ■ June 2002 / 445 Tours,” read w orld hum an rights news u p ­ dates, find out about Global Exchange’s p o ­ litical campaigns, or learn about the global economy. Technically, the site works well, although there are some dead links to out­ side sources. The most informative links are those titled “Global Economy” and “Update.” The “Update” link reports recent hum an rights news from worldwide sources. The “Global Economy” page lists links to outside sources that discuss ways to dem oc­ ratize world economies to make them friend­ lier to hum an rights. Much of the information is self-promot­ ing. The sections on reality tours, while in­ formative to som eone w ho wants to take one of these tours, is not applicable to those want­ ing to find reference information on the site. From the title, the section “Fair Trade” seems as though it would be about fair trade. Although it does contain some information on fair trade and links to the page on global economy, it is primarily a store site for Glo­ bal Exchange to sell items made in other coun­ tries. If you need information on Global Ex­ change, this is an excellent site; if you need information on hum an rights, you w ould be better served at another site. For reference use, more informative sites on hum an rights are Human Rights Watch, available at h ttp ://w w w .h rw .o rg , and the United Nations Page for Hum an Rights at http ://w w w . u n . org/rights. Even though the site is attractive, it does not provide enough original material to serve as a general resource on hum an rights. A researcher’s time could be better spent on sites that are m ore subject-specific. Nevertheless, for som eone needing infor­ mation on economies that prom ote hum an rights, Global Exchange is helpful.— Delores Carlito, University o f A labam a a t B irm ing­ ham, dcarlito@beowulf.mhsl.uab.edu Web D e v e lo p e r's V irtu a l Lib ra ry. A c­ cess: http://w dvl.com /. The Web D e v e lo p e r’s Virtual Library (WDVL) is a site that offers the latest in Web developm ent product news. It also provides an archive of articles and reviews, discussion outlets, job resources, and tutorials aimed at Web developers at all levels. In fact, this site has so m uch to offer that it may overwhelm the casual Web browser. But if you know exactly what you are look­ ing for, you w o n ’t be disappointed. Around since 1998, the WDVL is updated daily and resides within the Internet.com realm (which confusingly enough sponsors a dozen or so other Web developm ent-related sites). But Internet.com ’s take on their WDVL as “the original encyclopedia of Web technology” is a fair and accurate assessment. A stro n g c la ssifica tio n sy stem exists throughout this site, w hich has developed out of years of experience betw een its au­ th o r s w h o e m p h a s i z e b a la n c in g th e “abstractionist” and “visualist” views of Web page design. The advertisem ents are p laced in the header and the left side bar, thus giving the viewer a clear path of options. The right side bar, with only one ad at the top, contains links to pages within the WDVL site, with a user poll at the bottom. A nice irony is that while this site uses the latest and flashiest Web programs, it is pre­ sented in a straightforward and refined way, much like some of the more effective library sites that offer annotated lists with direct navi­ gation. The Web Developer’s Virtual Library would be useful to som eone w ho is responsible for maintaining state-of-the-art Web pages with high visibility and w ho needs to stay informed of the latest news and software. It may also be useful for an intermediate Web page cus­ todian w ho needs a quick refresher or needs to stay current with the latest terminology. However, it w ould not be a helpful site for som eone looking for the latest book reviews about Web developm ent and design or a b e ­ ginner looking for a quick way to learn HTML in just a few easy steps. Librarians may not benefit from all of the cutting-edge programs that are presented on this site, but they may benefit from some of the tutorials and product reviews that one has little time for in a multitask environment. Given this, I w ould recom mend this site to a librarian in need of information about a spe­ cific topic or tool.— D aniel Lincoln Nolting, B ethany College, d.nolting@mail.bethanywv. edu http://www.hrw.org mailto:dcarlito@beowulf.mhsl.uab.edu http://wdvl.com/ Internet.com