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Internet Watch
by Sherif Gamal
Surfing Overseas The value of what you find, as in all web sites, really depends on what you're looking for. And like most web sites in the United States, many international web sites offer some free information for downloading, but they largely serve as a storefront for selling memberships, publications, CD-ROMs, online subscriptions, or whatever is their stock-in-trade. European web sites often require the latest browsers and often have documents that need Acrobat Reader. If you haven't updated your browser and plug-ins lately, this would be a good opportunity to do it because this quick cruise of some Europe-based international road organizations will likely yield some interesting nuggets of information. International Organizations Much of this cross-fertilized knowledge is available through the organization's technical publications and bilingual English/French quarterly magazine Routes/Roads. The publications catalog has excellent one-page abstracts of the titles, and all are published at least in English and French. The most comprehensive and cost-effective way to access the collection is through the CD-Route CD-ROM that carries most of the organization's catalog in full-text format and extensive bibliographies. The publications and the CD-ROM can be ordered by e-mail. If your question can't wait for documents to arrive by regular mail, you can access one of the best kept secrets of the international road transportation world on the World Interchange Network (WIN) through PIARC's site or go directly to WIN's web site (http://www.rme-win-rmi.qc.ca/anglais/menu.html). This electronic network was established by PIARC and its members to serve as a free electronic expertise forum for road transportation professionals. There are 59 nodes, or contact points, housed in 39 countries and international organizations around the world providing expert answers to questions on a voluntary basis. The site allows you to submit a question by e-mail to one or more locations simultaneously. The International Road Federation is another large organization, mostly representing industry, with two linked web sites. One site (http://www.irfnet.org/index.html) is based in Washington, D.C., and the other at the Geneva Headquarters. The Geneva web site (http://is.eunet.ch/customers/irf/index.html) is a slick, frame-based production that offers seamless continuity into associated road industry web sites with a mostly European emphasis. Multilateral Organizations Another good site is from the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Road Transport Research Program (http://www.oecd.org/transport/rtr/). This site offers focused international road information. This column initiates an occasional tour to international web sites. The next swing around the world will take a look at web sites from nationally based tranportation organizations abroad. These links and about 100 more international web sites are available on the FHWA Office of International Programs' web site (http://www.international.fhwa.dot.gov). If there are international links you would like reviewed in future editions of "Internet Watch" please e-mail your suggestions to international@fhwa.dot.gov. Sherif Gamal is the communication coordinator for the Federal Highway Administration's Office of International Programs. He is employed by Avalon Integrated Services Corp. of Arlington, Va.
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