YOURDON: 'Y2K RESOURCES: USEFUL LINKS AND SITES
These are the key Y2K sites that I've
bookmarked in my own Web browser.
Obviously, it's not an exhaustive list of every document or report or
Y2K web site, but it's the collection of sites that I usually visit at least
once a week. If you've got a similar list bookmarked for regular visits,
I would appreciate hearing your recommendations. In general, I'm less
interested in listing the technical computer sites -- if you're a
programmer, you might want to visit IBM's or Microsoft's Y2K site on
a weekly basis, but I'm more concerned here with the personal aspects
and ramifications of Y2K. Send me an email if there are items you
think I should add to this list. Thanks!
Y2KToday, a new web site created on September 14,
1998 by the former CEO of United Press International, James
Adams. Adams describes the site as "the world's largest Y2K
Web site" in order to "sound a public wake-up call." Y2Ktoday
features a daily feed of some 500 stories from a special reporting
team, plus wire reports.
A funny cartoon about Y2K
The Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology
Problem, chaired by Senator Robert Bennett (R-Utah). Senator
Bennett's hearings on the Y2K situation in transportation, utilities,
telecommunications, and other aspects of society have been
among the most thorough and wide-ranging of the various
government activities in 1998. Until recently, the proceedings
were not published by the Committee, and we were forced to
rely on various other media sources to find out what was going
on. This site is worth checking periodically, because the
Comittee plans to continue holding hearings through the
remainder of 1998, and presumably throughout 1999, to track
progress and identify problems in various infrastructure areas and
industry sectors.
The Joseph Project, which focuses the impact of Y2K on
charities. You can also find an article by the President of this
group on the Westergaard web site.
The Mitre Y2K web site, which provides a detailed,
comprehensive discussion of several aspects of Y2K. Consider
it as an alternative to the ITAA web site cited below.
U.S. State Y2K sites and Y2K coordinators: sooner or later, it
occurs to us that we should find out what's going on within our
own state (unless, of course, you don't live in the U.S., in which
case you should be concerned about the province, state, or local
region of your own country). Anyway, the two sites listed here
provide contact information for the various agencies and
coordinators for Y2K activities within the states; an alternative
site provides a graphic image of the U.S., which you can
click-through to reach information about various states. For
information about cities and counties, see Public Technology,
Inc's site.
The the President's Y2K Council site provides details of the
Y2K strategy outlined in President Clinton's Jul 14, 1998
speech. As you'll see elsewhere on my web site, I was very
disappointed with President Clinton's speech -- but whether it
was a good speech or a bad speech, it's important for American
citizens to know that the President did utter some words on the
topic. Read the speech, and then, if you're curious, read my
commentary.
For small businesses who are just getting started on y2k, check
out the support2000 site. An alternative is the Small Business
Administration's site, which many feel is a less user-friendly site.
If you're looking for a Y2K technical job, check out the America
job bank site.
The GOP (Republican Party) Y2K site on what the government
is doing about Y2K. This is not to suggest that the Republicans
are necessarily any more competent, honest, or forthright than
the Democrats about the Y2K situation, but since Y2K has
already become a political football, it's probably worth seeing
who's saying what about whom within the major political parties.
Heath's Links to Y2K Congressional testimony -- this is an
amazing resource for anyone who wants to know what kind of
testimony is being presented to various House and Senate
committees about Y2K. Many thanks to Roleigh Martin for
passing it on to me!
Peter de Jager's web page of daily Y2K press clippings: Peter
de Jager created the first serious web site for Y2K discussions
and announcements a few years ago, and it continues to be one
of the most heavily visited Y2K sites. There are interesting book
lists, announcements, and discussion groups, but the majority of
the site is devoted to vendor announcements and
advertisements. I visit one section of the site almost daily, and
it's the one I've bookmarked here: a list of newspaper and
magazine articles about Y2K, updated daily. It's not too hard to
spot the articles in your own local publications, but de Jager's
site covers U.S., Canadian, British, and Australian media, among
others.
Yahoo web page of daily Y2K press clippings: this is an
alternative source of press clippings on Y2K. I find it more
impersonal than de Jager's, and I don't visit it quite as often --
but it's nice to know it's there.
Gary North's website: love him or hate him, but don't ignore
him. Gary has strong opinions on Y2K, which you may agree or
disagree with; but his site has become one of the pre-eminent
sources of material on Y2K, covering a much broader area than
the Yahoo and de Jager sites mentioned above. As of early
August 1998, North had accumulated some 2,200 articles,
grouped into such categories as "power grid," "government",
"banking", etc. Most of the material consists of newspaper or
magazine articles, but he has also tracked down a variety of
other documents, reports, memos, e-mail messages, etc.; with
very rare exceptions, he provides a direct link to the document
on the Internet, as well as his summary and interpretation of the
significance of the document. If you're lazy or curious about his
opinion, you can simply read his summary and opinion; if you
want to see the original material, he's got a hyperlink to click on.
One section of his site summarizes the new entries that he has
posted within the past few days; he typically adds 5-10 entries
each day. I visit this site daily.
Westergaard Y2K web site: John Westergaard claims to have
introduced Senator Daniel Patrick Moyhnihan to the Y2K
problem in 1996, which may be one of the reasons the Congress
and Senate eventually began paying attention to the problem.
The Westergaard site tends to provide a Washington-centric
perspective on Y2K, with interesting assessments of the
government's actions and inaction, as well as the political
ramifications of Y2K. The site now has half a dozen different
"columnists," many of whom are recognized authorities within the
Y2K computer industry; in the course of a week, you're likely to
find two or three really interesting articles and columns from
these folks. Worth visiting at least once a week.
Roleigh Martin's web site: if the lights go out, it won't matter
whether your home PC is working or not. More and more
attention is beginning to be focused on the electric utilities, but
most of the coverage is spotty -- e.g., an occasional series of
Senate hearings, followed by ominous silence. There are two
individuals who have been tracking the utility industry since the
beginning, and who continue to update their sites with recent
reports and developments associated with various agencies and
regulatory bodies. Roleigh is one of those individuals, and his
efforts to raise awareness and generate action in the state of
Minnesota (where he lives) are a good example of efforts we all
could, and should, be making in our own neighborhood. Roleigh
also has an excellent collection of recommended books on
different aspects of Y2K. Worth visiting at least once a week.
Rick Cowles' web site: another excellent source of material on
the utility industry. Rick has also written a book on the subject,
which I've included in my list of recommended Y2K books.
Worth visiting at least once a week.
The Cassandra project web site: this is the site to visit if you
have begun asking the question "What kind of personal
preparations should I be making for myself and my family?"
Among other things, the site contains a detailed checklist of items
you might want to consider stockpiling -- not only food, but also
medical supplies, etc. The Cassandra project is also very heavily
involved in community-awareness projects; thus, if you've been
thinking of organizing a Y2K awareness seminar for your school,
church, or neighborhood, you're likely to pick up some good
ideas from this site. Definitely worth visiting once a week, if not
more frequently.
ITAA web site: ITAA is one of the most influential of the
professional computer societies in the Y2K area; by contrast, I
believe that the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM)
and IEEE computer society has basically abdicated any useful
role it could have played (I'm less aware of the activities of the
professional computer societies in England, Canada, and
Australia; hopefully they're somewhat more active). It does have
to be emphasized that ITAA (which stands for Information
Technology Association of America) is basically a consortium of
computer vendors; so it might be a bit more commercial and
self-serving than one would want; but the organization has played
a major role in helping to promote awareness and concern about
Y2K problems within the U.S. federal government, as well as
the private-sector organizations that are likely to be heavily
impacted by Y2K failures.
Y2K for women: for those who are finding that Y2K is one of
those "Mars/Venus" situations, this site might help. I've already
received numerous email messages from men who complain that
their wives just don't "get it" when they express concern about
Y2K -- but that may be because the man comes home from
work one evening and announces that (a) Y2K is going to cause
the end of civilization, (b) he has decided to sell the house, (c)
he's going to withdraw all of the money from the family savings
account the next morning, (d) he's going to buy a collection of
submachine guns, and (e) he intends to move the entire family
into a fortified bunker somewhere in the mountains of Montana,
where they will camp out and wrestle grizzly bears. No matter
how intelligent, supportive, and open-minded the wife might be,
this is a somewhat overwhelming message. Karen Anderson, a
professional sociologist and therapist, has created this site to
communicate the basic issues and concerns about Y2K in a
somewhat less confrontational, end-of-the-world fashion; it's
worth taking a look at. (By the way, I do realize that in some
families, it's the wife who raises the alarm, and it's the husband
who refuses to acknowledge the potential danger of Y2K
disruptions; but I don't know of any sites aimed at pig-headed
husbands.)
Edward Yardeni's web site. Contrary to rumor, Dr. Yardeni
and I are not Siamese twins separated at birth, even though our
names are similar. Yardeni is certainly the most prominent
American economist offering a commentary on the Y2K
problem (he is the Chief Economist at Deutsche Morgan
Grenfell), and his site contains a wealth of information, updated
frequently. Well worth a weekly visit.
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