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dues since Sept. 1996, you need not respond.

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FROM THE NEW PRESIDENT OF NERALLD

Greetings, everyone!
   On behalf of all who attended the Fall NERALLD meeting at Williams 
College, I extend a big thank you to Tamra Hjermstad, our host for the day.  
We had a wonderful time on the Williams campus thanks to our very 
gracious colleague at this, her second NERALLD meeting ever! Mike 
Nieckoski, from the School for International Training in VT, treated us to 
another fine presentation, which you'll find summarized within this 
newsletter.  This was his second presentation in a row! 
   Thanks also to Beth Wellington from Babson College, outgoing President 
of NERALLD. I hope to follow faithfully in her footsteps, especially with 
regard to her enthusiasm for the job. The election was quick and painless; 
on encouragement from some members, I share with you my platform:

   1. shore up the organization 
   - review and amend by-laws as needed
   - prepare clear operational guidelines for officers
   - eliminate vagueness in existing documentation
   2. focus for meetings
   - tackle basic issues of lab management & service
   - address some of the faculty/motivation issues
      we've talked about for years

   Our next meeting will be here at Boston Univ., on April 4, 1997.  We will be 
looking at various models of lab management built on the use of data-bases 
and similar tools.  Ruth Trometer of the Mass Institute of Technology (MIT) 
will be coordinating the presentations. I hope you will join us.
   If you have any questions or comments about NERALLD or the language 
lab business, please feel free to contact me.  We are the largest (and perhaps 
the only) group for language lab directors in this region.  Our considerable 
wealth of expertise is at your disposal.


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DUES for 1996-1997 NERALLD Membership

Send check or money order for $25.00, payable to NERALLD, to the attention 
of:
Bruce Parkhurst, Geddes Language Ctr
Boston U., 725 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA  02215

Your Name:  
______________________________________________________
___

Your Department:  
______________________________________________________
___

Your Institution:  
______________________________________________________
___

Address:  
______________________________________________________
___

City, State, Zip:  
______________________________________________________
___

E-mail:  ______________________   Telephone:  
___________________

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10/4/96 Business Meeting Summary

Welcome:  Richard Stamelman, Dir. of Williams' Ctr. for Foreign 
Languages, addressed the group.

Remembrances of Bob Henderson, the recently deceased President of IALL; 
we honored his memory, followed by a moment of silence.

Bruce Parkhurst of the Geddes Language Center at Boston University was 
unanimously elected our new President.  In a rare occurrence in recent 
NERALLD history, our President will also be our host for our next meeting:

April 4, 1996 at Boston University.
Topic:  Lab Management Issues

Discussion ensued on the level of financial support given the NERALLD 
president.  The by-laws call for the president to be an IALL member and to 
attend the biennial conference, self-funded. A suggestion was made that 
membership dues be increased to allow NERALLD to offer financial 
assistance to the president, under the premise that this would ensure more 
regional visibility for our group in IALL activities.

The election cycle was clarified, its purpose being to allow the newly elected 
president to attend an IALL conference and council meeting in the first 
year of the Presidency, and then to put that experi-ence to use at the 
following yearUs planning council.

It was decided that the President would convene an advisory group to 
clarify and expound upon the by-laws as they are currently written.

Clarification of by-laws, in response to questions from the group:  
NERALLD currently pays for one half the travel & lodging expenses 
incurred by the NERALLD president, to attend the IALL summer 
leadership and conference planning meeting (in alternate conference 
years), typically at the site of the upcoming IALL conference.  Funds are 
also used to defray NERALLD mtg expenses.

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Submitted 1/3/97 to the LLTI list by Carmen Greenlee and Jackie Tanner:

   It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Marie Sheppard on 
December 20, in Brunswick, Maine, after a long struggle with cancer. A 
memorial service was held in Brunswick on December 28.  As you know, 
Marie was a vital and important asset to our profession, having served in 
many capacities, notably as the editor of the IALL Journal and as director 
of language learning centers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 
and the University of Colorado.
   
   Marie leaves her son, Gabe, her parents, Professor Douglas and Mary 
Belle Sheppard, and a brother and sister. Letters to her family can be sent to 
them at:

28 Magean Street
Brunswick, Maine 04011

   Her parents have requested that a book of remembrances be compiled by 
IALL friends as a later gift for Gabe.  Please send your photos and 
reminiscences to Carmen Greenlee, Instructional Media Services 
Librarian, Bowdoin Coll., Brunswick, ME 04011.  In addition, Marie 
designated two charities for memorial contributions in lieu of flowers:

Childreach
155 Plan Way
P.O. Box 1015
Warwick, RI 02887-1015

Block Medical Center
1800 Sherman Avenue, Suite 515
Evanston, Illinois 60201
(designated for breast cancer research)

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PRESENTATION SUMMARY
Oct. 4, 1996 NERALLD MEETING at WILLIAMS COLLEGE

Anatomy of a Web Page

Presented by Michael Nieckoski, SIT
Summary by Marta Lehman, Brandeis

      The World Wide Web (WWW) has client/server architecture, which 
means files live in a server (computer) connected to the Internet, and are 
served to clients at their request.  Netscape, Mosaic, MacWeb, Lynx, and 
MS Explorer are the graphical browsers used for trafficking information on 
the Web;  the difference between gopher or telnet type browsers and these 
graphical browsers is that they are capable of carrying audio, video and 
graphics in addition to text files.  The browsers bring together in one place - 
your screen - the many files that live in some directory of a computer, 
somewhere on the Internet.

     The Web is cross platform:  gets continually upgraded and expanded 
with various helper applications and plug-ins.  It recognizes different file 
formats:  html (Hypertext Markup Language), .htm (same in DOS 
environment), .txt, .jpg, .gif, .mov, .au, .wav, .aiff, .ra etc.

     To understand how the information is organized on the Web or your 
server, it helps to study the structure of a web address.  Each piece of text, 
graphics, sounds, images etc. has its own specific address on the Web, 
known as a URL (Universal Resource Locator).  The URL includes all you 
need to get to the info:  the protocol used, the server computer, the domain 
the server resides in, the directory path to get to the file, and the filename:
        protocol://www.servername.domain/directory/filename.html

     There are 7 "classic" domains:  .edu, .org(non-profit organizations), 
.gov (US Government), .mil (military), .net (network providers), non-US 
country domains (2 letter abbreviations), and .com (commercial).  We 
learned a shortcut for .com sites:  type just a company name instead of the 
entire URL and let the browser find it!

     Even though learning HTML is becoming less and less necessary with 
the advent of software that will convert your text into HTML, Michael 
suggests that it's useful to have a basic grasp of what it is.  HTML is a text-
based language, in which text documents are "marked up" with "tags" 
which give cues to the browser.  The browser, in turn, reads the cues and 
displays what the programmer intended.   You use tags to size, bold, 
italicize, and center text; choose colors for text, links and backgrounds; 
create links to other files; and leave secret "comment tags" for yourself.  
Tags may be nested - but remember to always close the respective tag when 
finished with tagging a particular piece of your text!

     Most of the new versions of popular word processors now support HTML: 
Microsoft Word-Internet Assistant, WordPerfect, Persuasion from Adobe.   
Aside from these, there is a lot of inexpensive shareware, such as Web 
Weaver at $25, Page Spinner (cheap and powerful) at $35, HoTMetaL Pro, 
Adobe Page Mill, Site Mill, and more.

     You can also learn from what others have done:  while looking at an 
inspiring site, pull down the View menu and choose "document source" - 
and there's your source code!  Images may be taken off the Web.  They 
come in two basic formats, .gif and .jpg.  These are big files so you need to 
consider loading time, particularly if your audience does not have a fast 
enough connection.  To cut down on size, you can have fewer colors, or have 
smaller (thumbnail) images as links to full size images.  For your 
documents backgrounds, use HTML Color Picker or Color Meister, Type 
Twister, Transparency, Graphic Converter, as well as Photoshop, 
Illustrator, Painter, ColorIt.

     Remember:  content is king!  Target your audience, make sure your 
pages are updated, and consider making your site a pathway to other 
pertinent sites so people will visit your page.
     And if content is king, then presentation is queen:  keep your pages easy 
to read, and/or organize your material so that it's easy to find - use a 
search engine, an index, or a map.

     Some recommended resources:

Books
Home Sweet Home Page by Robin Williams
HTML for the World Wide Web by Elizabeth Castro

Magazines
NET 
NetGuide

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News from the International Association for Learning Laboratories 
(IALL):

At the 10/4/96 meeting, Chris Alberg related to the group the happenings at 
this year's IALL planning council.  Highlights from his report include:

IALL T97/FLEAT III will be held at the University of Victoria, British 
Columbia, Canada, from August 12 to 16, 1997.  Cost to IALL members will 
be $125; $200 for non-members.

The membership will be asked to vote on a potential name change for the 
group.   The alternative being offered to the current name (International 
Association for Learning Laboratories) will be "International Association 
for Language Learning Technology".  It was felt that with the emergence of 
so many other professional organizations over the past few years, there 
may be a need to reclaim in our title the territory that is uniquely ours:  
Language Learning.

IALL has decided to establish official affiliate relations with EUROCALL 
and CCUMC (Consortium of College and University Media Centers).  
Affiliate reps will be Peter Liddell and Lynne Crandall, respectively.

An idea was broached for a summer institute in language learning 
technology to be offered in conjunction with the MLA (Modern Language 
Association).  This would provide a mechanism for certifying people in the 
language technology field. 

Officer elections for IALL will be held this Spring, with results to be 
officially announced at the conference in Victoria.

Discussions are underway which would lead to IALL becoming the official 
provider of technical support to both ACTFL (American Council on 
Teaching of Foreign Languages) and the NEC (Northeast Conference).

It was decided that IALL '99 will be held in Pittsburgh, PA, and be co-
hosted by 'Pitt and Carnegie Melon University.

Also of note was a proposal for a mobile, multi-institution conference in the 
Boston area. It will be looked into for IALL '01.

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NERALLD Newsletter:
Christopher Alberg
c/o Dept. of Romance Languages 
Lyons Hall 304
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA  02167-3804
Tel. (617) 783-1597
alberg@bc.edu

NERALLD President:
Bruce Parkhurst
Geddes Language Center
Boston University
725 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston MA  02215
tel:  617/353-2640
brucep@bu.edu