ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 96 / C&RL News ■ February 2003 I N T E R N E T R E S O U R C E S Southeast Asian Studies Online resources by Lisa Klopfer S outheast Asia is recognized as a political and geographical region, but explorations on the Internet delineate other possible boundaries and categories. Many Web sites cluster by function (commerce, education, politics) rather than re­ gion. The business, commerce and news Web sites, for example, tend to encompass a virtual network of larger cities and production areas in East and Southeast Asia that does not cor­ respond to a single region. The culture and na­ ture sites are also not as much regional as ar­ chipelagic, hopping from one park or ethnic enclave to the next. While commercial inter­ ests lean towards the m agnet o f East Asia, many of the academic centers are in Australia, the United States, and former colonial pow­ ers. This article cites resources for the following countries: Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia (Kampuchea), East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Ma­ laysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. I have omitted sites that are only about the Vietnam War. I have selected resources that I consider to be most significant for academic stud­ ies, with a slight emphasis on Web sites that are more likely to be missed or overlooked in a simple search. In selecting Web sites from the ever-grow­ ing pool, I considered navigability and design as well as currency and the quality o f content. The Internet resources discussed here are only a small portion of what is available. In te r n e t s e a rc h e n g in e s Global search engines and Web directories like Google (http://www.google.com) do a good job for most Southeast Asian sites in English, Indone­ sian, or Malay. For languages that use other fonts, it is useful to go to specific search pages such as those listed on Search Engine Colossus at http:// www.searchenginecolossus.com/. E le c tr o n ic lis t s • Com m ittee o n R esearch Materials o n Southeast Asia List (CORMOSEA). Hosted by Ohio University, this list is only accessible by e- mail. For more information, e-mail Kent Mulliner (owner of the list) mulliner@ohio.edu. To sub­ scribe, send a message to listserv@ohio.edu and in the body of the message type “subscribe cormosea your full name.” • H-Southeast Asia List. Also hosted by Michigan State University, this list is part of H- Net Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine. It fo­ cuses on the history of Southeast Asia, posting discussion logs, book reviews, job announcements, and events. Archived messages may be read on the Web without logging in. A ccess: http:// www2. h-net .msu. edu/~seasia/. • Southeast Asia List. This list, hosted by Michigan State University, distributes news on Southeast Asia events, announcements of conferences, publications, and calls for pa­ pers, and other items o f interest dealing with Southeast Asia. To subscribe, send a message to listserv@msu.edu containing the text “sub­ scribe SEASIA-L your full name.” Or subscribe via the Web. A ccess: http://list.msu.edu/cgi bin/waPSUBED 1 =seasia-l&A= 1. About the author Lisa Klopfer is a librarian and assistant professor at Eastern Michigan University, e-mail: lklopfer@emich.edu http://www.google.com http://www.searchenginecolossus.com/ mailto:mulliner@ohio.edu mailto:listserv@ohio.edu mailto:listserv@msu.edu http://list.msu.edu/cgi- mailto:lklopfer@emich.edu C&RL News ■ February 2003 / 97 Gateways • AsiaSource. This huge portal is sponsored by the Asia Society. It links to news, business re­ sources, resources for teachers, a database of Asian foods, and recipes. If you only want to visit one site for Southeast Asia, this is the one. Searching the site is not as helpful as browsing deeper into the collections by clicking on links. A ccess: http://www.asiasource.org/. Asia Source • Asiaville. The site offers selected links to business and cultural information for most Asian countries, including all of Southeast Asia, except East Timor. Click on “sitemap” for a list of coun­ tries. Access: http://www.asiaville.com. • East and Southeast Asia: Net Re­ sources. Maintained by Robert Y. Eng of the University of Redlands, this site provides pages of Internet resources with an emphasis on politi­ cal issues and history. While slightly less compre­ hensive than some of the Southeast Asia WWW Virtual Library pages, these have the advantage of being more frequently updated. Access: http:// newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/ AsianStudiesDept/. Hast & Southeast Asia: An Annotated Directory Of Internet Resources • Library of Congress Country Studies/ Area Handbook Series. The Web site contains online versions of country studies previously pub­ lished by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, a program sponsored by the U.S. Army. The historical overviews are useful, but researchers should note the publication dates, as some of these works are no longer current. A ccess: http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/. • SEAsite— Southeast Asian Languages and Cultures. This site, sponsored by Northern Illinois University (NIU), is an excellent starting place for Southeast Asian studies. The sections about countries are rich, particularly for language studies; the site hosts a number of online lecture notes and images from NIU professors, and there is a trivia quiz game. A ccess: http://www. seasite.niu.edu/. • Southeast Asia WWW Virtual Library. This directory keeps track of Web information sources for the Southeast Asian section of the Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library. This is a starting place for exploration, but pages vary in how well they are maintained. The most useful information is not regional, but country specific. The site links to specific countries’ pages main­ tained by other participants in the WWW Virtual Ubrary Project. Access: http://iias.leidenuniv.nl/ wwwvl/southeast.html. C o lle ctio n s and b ib lio g ra p h ica l resources • Abia South and Southeast Asia Art and Archeology Index. This online database con­ tinues the “Annual Bibliography of Indian Ar­ chaeology.” It indexes scholarly monographs, ar­ ticles in periodicals, Ph.D. theses, and relevant grey literature in multiple languages. The interface is difficult to manage and, at the time of evalua­ tion, the help files were not accessible. Nonethe­ less, a simple “all fields” search generates useful and unusual citations. Access: http://www.abia. net/. • ANU Library Southeast Asian Serials. This database is from Australia National Univer­ sity in collaboration with the library of the Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology (KITLV) in Leiden, the Netherlands. The index covers 130 journals published in Southeast Asia (chiefly Indonesia), Australia, Europe, and the United States. The earliest entries are from 1990. Keywords for searching are in English, even when the record is for material in Indonesian or a Euro­ pean language. Search by title, author, keyword, or year of publication. The results include a full bibliographic record and (in some cases) options to order the source from ANU or KITLV. Access: http://database.anu.edu.au/asia/indo/new/. • Berkeley South/Southeast Asia Li­ b r a r y S e rv ice (SSEAL). While this site is primarily fo­ cused on the collections at Uni­ versity of California-Berkeley, it includes a solid women’s stud­ ies bibliography, as well as links to the major Southeast Asia jour­ nals, libraries, and book dealers. Access: http:// www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAl/SoutheastAsia/. • The Digital Initiative Program , Uni­ versity o f Washington Libraries. This site hosts searchable image databases from a variety of regions, including Southeast Asia, on themes that include exploration, labor, art and architec­ ture, and the natural world. Images include pho­ tographs, documents, slide shows, and illustra- http://www.asiasource.org/ http://www.asiaville.com http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/ http://www http://iias.leidenuniv.nl/ http://www.abia http://database.anu.edu.au/asia/indo/new/ http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAiySoutheastAsia/ 98 / C&RL News ■ Februa ry 2003 tions. A ccess: http://content.lib.washington.edu/ index.html. University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections In d iv id u a l c o u n t r ie s Brunei • BruNet. This is a comprehensive Internet service offering e-mail hosting and advertising as well as listings for news, tourism, and commerce resources. A ccess: http://www.brunet.bn/. • G o v ern m en t o f B ru n e i D aru ssalam official Web site. This site has English and Bahasa Brunei (Malay) content, with links to all the gov­ ernment ministries. It includes maps, an official history of the country, and online official news in both languages. A ccess, http://www.brunei.gov. bn/index.htm. Burma (My n mαr) • B ib lio g rap h y o f S e co n d a ry B u rm a Studies L iteratu re. Created by Michael W. Charney, this is a very large PDF file (the docu­ ment is more than 130 pages), so viewing it over a telephone connection is not recommended. A c­ cess: http://www.seastudies.org/burmastudies/ secondary.htm. • F re e B u rm a. This site does not hide its political message, although it is difficult to deter­ mine who exactly maintains the page. A ccess: http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/. It is funded in part by the Soros Foundation, which hosts its own site, The Burma Project, which contains cur­ rent information on human rights issues in Burma, as well as links to like-minded organizations. A c­ cess: http://www.soros.org/burma/. • Irraw ad d y. This is an English-language online magazine published by exiled Burmese cov­ ering popular culture, politics, and business. There are interviews with leading intellectuals, such as Vaclav Havel and Aung San Suu Kyi. Some ar­ ticles are available without subscription. The site may not load properly in Netscape browsers. A c­ cess: http://www.irrawaddy.org/. • M yanmar.com. In contrast to the previous three sites, Myanmar.com is an officially sanctioned portal to news and government resources. Access: http://www. myanmar. com/. • Selective W orks o n M yanm ar History, Culture, A rch e o lo g y an d L iteratu re After In d ep en d en ce. This subject guide from the University of Washington Libraries has just ar­ rived on the Web and is still being built. It in­ cludes full-text English-language articles in PDF format and a set o f short biographies o f major figures in recent Burmese history. Best viewed with Internet Explorer. A ccess: http://www.lib. washington.edu/asp/myanmar/. Cambodiα • C am bodia in M o d em H istory: Beauty and Darkness. This site is maintained by Bruce Sharp, an American who is married to a Cambo­ dian exile. It contains a small co lle ctio n o f essays, personal histories (in English), and pho­ tographs documenting the Pol Pot years and its aftermath into the present time. Clearly a labor o f love, it is not comprehensive, but is compelling. A ccess: http://www.mekong.net/ cambodia/. • C am b odian G en ocid e P ro g ra m . On a larger scale, Yale University’s Cambodian Geno­ cide Program documents the horror that ended 1.7 million lives. There are links to full-text news­ paper and journal articles and photograph collec­ tions. The core o f the site is made o f up data­ bases: a bibliographic collection containing records of nearly 3,000 primary and secondary documents dealing with atrocities in the Khmer Rouge re­ gime; a biographic index o f more than 19,000 records on Khmer Rouge military and political leaders and some victims of the Khmer Rouge; and a photographic database of more than 5,000 prisoner mug shots taken at the Tuol Sleng Prison. A ccess: http://www.yale.edu/cgp/. East Timor • B ib liograp h y o f E ast Tim or. Bibliogra­ phy o f East Timor by Robert Lawless is a well- maintained online bibliography of scholarly books and articles on East Timor society and history. A ccess: http://coo m bs .anu.edu.au/Biblio/ biblio_etimor.html. • E a st T im o r A ctio n G roup. East Timor Action Group is one of the leading organizations supporting the independence of East Timor. The main advantage of its Web site for academic users is the large set of links to other East Timor and Indonesia sites. A ccess: http://etan.org/resource/ websites.htm. • M o th er J o n e s E a s t T im o r R e fe re n ce S ection . Mother Jo n es East Timor Reference Section is a simply organized set of pages with basic facts about the country and a glossary. It is a nice starting place for beginners. A ccess: http://www.motherjones.com /east_timor/ reference/. http://content.lib.washington.edu/ http://www.brunet.bn/ http://www.brunei.gov http://www.seastudies.org/burmastudies/ http://www.ibiblio.oig/freeburma/ http://www.soros.org/burma/ http://www.irrawaddy.org/ http://www http://www.lib http://www.mekong.net/ http://www.yale.edu/cgp/ http://coombs http://etan.org/resource/ http://www.motherjones.com/east_timor/ C&RL News ■ February 2003 / 99 • United Nations Transitional Admin­ istration in East Timor (UNTAET). This site contains a wealth of United Nations documents (in PDF format), a background chronology begin­ ning in I960, and a good-quality map of the whole island. Access: http://www.un.org/peace/etimor/ etimor.htm. Indonesia • Atlas Mutual Heritage. Atlas Mutual Heri­ tage is a database containing a complete survey of Dutch East India Company settlements and illus­ trative material of these settlements (maps, paint­ ings, drawings, prints). It may be searched in En­ glish or Dutch. The illustrations may be viewed at d ifferent sizes. A ccess: http://www. atlasmutualheritage.nl/. • In sid e Indonesia magazine. Sponsored by the Australian interest group Indonesian Re­ sources and Information Programme, this maga­ zine offers selected essays in English by experts on topics such as globalization and press freedom. Subscription is required for the complete set of articles. The site also hosts Indonesian-language learning activities. Access: http://msideindonesia. org/. • Learning and Research Site on Indo­ n esia, S outheast Asia, and th e Islam ic World. Created by John MacDougall, an Ameri­ can expert on Indonesia, this text-only site con­ tains a wealth of links to online publications and other resources. Slide down the page to “panel two” for the most complete list of regional publi­ cations in Indonesia to be found on the Web. Ac­ cess: http://www.indopubs.com/. • National Library o f Australia Indone­ sia Site. This is a good starting place for Indone­ sian studies. It hosts and links to bibliographies, library resources, and a wide range of Internet sites. Access: http://www.nla.gov.au/asian/indo/. • Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collec­ tion. The Indonesia section of this collection hosts 15 current and 4 historical (colonial era) maps in large JPEG image files. A ccess: http://www.lib .utexas.edu/maps/indonesia.html. • Sejarah Indonesia. This year-by-year timeline of Indonesian history from 1500 to the present was created by Charles A. Gimon, an American entrepreneur. The timeline text is in English with illustrations. There is no bibliogra­ phy or references cited list. A ccess: http:// www.gimonca.com/sejarah/. • Tem polnteraktif. This is a major news analysis Web page, a spin-off from the Tempo weekly magazine. It is available in English, Japa­ nese, and Indonesian. It covers current events in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, complete with let­ ters to the editors and cartoons. A ccess: http:// www.tempointeractive.com/index‚uk.asp. Laos • Lao Study Review. This is an online jour­ nal of the Lao Studies Society, which was estab­ lished in 1991. A ccess: http://www.global. lao.net/laostudy/laostudy.htm. • Lao Vision M agazine. This site, produced by expatriates in the United States, focuses on the concerns of expatriates, including maintaining cultural heritage. Each issue must be downloaded in PDF to be read. Access: http://www.laovision. net/. • Vientiane Tim es (the official paper). (Ac­ cess: http://www.vientianetimes.gov.la/). This site is not to be confused with the commercial site VientianeTimes.com ‚ which bills itself as “the gateway to democracy” and carries news of a more critical bent, and has a much more complete set of links to Lao commercial, cultural, and political Web sites. A ccess: http://www.vientianetimes. com/Others.html. Malaysia • Malaysia Kini. This site offers independent, alternative news in English and Malaysian. Only the last seven days are available without a paid sub­ scription. Access: http://www.malaysiakini.com/. • Orang Asli Archive. Produced by Keene State College, the Orang Asli Archive is a reposi­ tory for unpublished documents, films, tapes, and other recordings relevant to the indigenous people of peninsular Malaysia. The Web site carries a map and population statistics for orang asli, a small number of full-text articles, and information about the collection at Keene State. A ccess: http://www.keene.edu/library/orangasli/. • Sejarah Melayu. This site hosts a history of the Malay Peninsula in English with lovely images but no references. The links section offers connections to Malay libraries and historical and travel sites. Unfortunately, this site comes with pop-up ads. A ccess: http://www.geocities.com/ Tokyo/Flats/3795/malays.htm. Philippines • Tagalog 2002. Tagalog 2002 is much more than a language resource. There are English- language essays on contemporary culture, a (co n tin u ed on p a g e 106) http://www.un.org/peace/etimor/ http://www http://msideindonesia http://www.indopubs.com/ http://www.nla.gov.au/asian/indo/ http://www.lib http://www.gimonca.com/sejarah/ http://www.tempointeractive.com/index%e2%80%9auk.asp http://www.global http://www.laovision http://www.vientianetimes.gov.la/ http://www.vientianetimes http://www.malaysiakini.com/ http://www.keene.edu/library/orangasli/ http://www.geocities.com/ 106 / C&RL News ■ February 2003 perience I had with leading my library’s organiza­ tional redesign project for three years taught me how to manage complex and emotionally charged issues, while staying focused on the end goal. I also gained extensive experience leading groups in dis­ cussions and in making decisions. I have excellent listening skills and can articulate key points clearly. I am truly interested in getting to know other people and developing effective relationships with them. ( “.Internet resources, ” cont.f ro m page 99) bibliography of core titles, and a guide for school teachers, as well as language lessons, grammar, glos­ saries, poems, songs, short stories, riddles, and more in Tagalog. Access: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Ta- galog/Tagalog_mainpage.htm. • Mindanao Homepage. This is a commer­ cial site, but the virtual city tours (not interactive) cover more information than most, including maps, local sites o f interest, and local history. Access: http://www.mindanao.com/. Singapore • KnowledgeNet Singapore. This site bills itself as the “Authoritative Singapore History Site.” It bases the authority in part on its associa­ tion with the National Archives o f Singapore. This sophisticated site presents multiple databases o f text and images through three major entry ways: biographies, landscapes, and chronologies. There is also a forum for students, an e-journal with full- text articles (some o f them reprinted from pub­ lished sources), and links to a small number o f unusual Singapore history Web pages (such as the Germans in Singapore). Access: http://www. knowledgenet.com.sg/. • National University of Singapore Digi­ tal Library. This collection includes original documents and bibliographies. PDF files include an 1830’s travel diary and a Chinese-language news­ paper. Best o f all is Tim Yap Fuan’s “A Sense o f History: a select bibliography on the history o f Singapore” (based on the print edition o f 1998), as well as a bibliography of Singapore literary criti­ cism. Access: http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/ecoll/ projects.html. Thailand • Information on 76 Provinces. Hosted by the royal Golden Jubilee Network, this site contains images and descriptions of cultural life in each province. Access: http://kanchanapisek. or.th/kρ8/oncc/. • Leeds Thai Politics Bibliography. This comprehensive (but not current) bibliography of Finally, I am dedicated to the profession, and I love being a librarian. I am a librarian because I personally cherish the values libraries stand for— respect for differences, freedom o f inquiry, free­ dom o f expression, and open access to informa­ tion. As your president, I will enable us to work together to keep ACRL strong and effective while strengthening our ow n positions in our institu­ tions. ■ books and articles (no links to full text) was pro­ duced in 1998 by Michael Nelson o f the Univer­ sity o f Leeds. Access: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ thaipol/thaibibl.htm. • Thai Fiction in Translation. Created by Marcel Barang, a journalist living in Thailand, this site offers a menu o f Thai short stories, novels, or excerpts that have been translated into French or English. Access: http://www.thaifiction.com/. • Yao Religious Culture Bibliography. Created by Barend ter Haar in Leiden, this bibli­ ography covers scholarship o f the Chinese and Thai regions o f the Yao people. Many o f the cita­ tions are in European languages. Access: http:// www.let.leidenuniv.nl/bth/yao.htm. Vietnam • Indochina Arts Partnership. This site is the result o f a partnership between U.S. and Vietnamese cultural institutions. The Web page carries a calendar o f arts events, lists o f artists and exhibitions, one online exhibition, and links to related Web sites. It uses graphics heavily and does not appear to work on some Netscape brows­ ers. Access: http://www.iapone.org/. • The Vietnam Project, Texas Tech University. The Vietnam Center is dedicated to scholarship o f the American experience in Vietnam, but the Web site provides a rich vari­ ety o f materials unrelated to the American as­ pects o f the Vietnamese revolution and war. The Virtual Vietnam Archive contains nearly half a million digital documents, videos, and sound files available for download. Access: http:// www.viemam.ttu.edu/. • Vietnamese Language Homepage. From Arizona State University, this page has links to online language learning resources. Access: http://www.public.asu.edu/~ickpl/. ■ M o r e a b o u t S o u th e a s t A s ia See the full article on the Web at http:// www.ala.org/acrl/resfeb03.html. http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Ta- http://www.mindanao.com/ http://www http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/ecoll/ http://kanchanapisek http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ http://www.thaifiction.com/ http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/bth/yao.htm http://www.iapone.org/ http://www.viemam.ttu.edu/ http://www.public.asu.edu/~ickpl/ http://www.ala.org/acrl/resfeb03.html