Net News, June/July 1996

NumaWeb, the home page of the UK-based Numa Financial Systems Ltd., is an irreverent, mildly iconoclastic and surprisingly wide-ranging source of derivatives information. Judging from the dozens of hyperlinks it receives from other financial Web sites, its self-deprecating attitude and overall utility are valuable to a number of industry users.

The NumaWeb introductory page is deceptively sparse, and gives little indication of the variety of information inside, though a fuller outline of the site is available within. Of particular interest are two of the site's sub-sections: the Derivatives Index section features, among other things, a dictionary of derivatives acronyms and libraries of both Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets and on-line derivatives calculators; the Derivatives Bookshop offers dozens of books, priced in UK pounds sterling, with special sections on futures and options.

As with many Web pages, much of NumaWeb's value is found in its links to other sites. NumaWeb, however, has raised linking to a high art. Several approaches are used: some links are scattered among pertinent pages - a list of derivatives software firms offers address and phone information, and links to their home pages where available. Their regular newsletter FINANCEnetWATCH is comprised mostly of links to new sites, along with a few industry bulletins. The page actually specified for links breaks them down by industry segment, offering an exhaustive array within each.

Another notable aspect of NubaWeb is its sense of humor. A section entitled Voila!Tillity is an elaborate spoof of investment advisories, with a special affinity for Barings-related humor. But when addressing the personal computer's effect on investment, the authors become less flippant, prophesying an anti-regulatory future at the "convergence of investment and lottery gambling."

On the agricultural front, Agriculture (or "@gricultre") Online is the product of an agribusiness consortium including Cargill and IMC Global. Edited by the Meredith Corporation, publishers of the Successful Farming family of magazines, @g Online goes one step beyond the on-line publication and attempts to foster an agrarian community on the Web.

@g Online's Weather section features updated maps provided by the ubiquitous Freese-Notis Weather Service;,elsewhere a page of links compiles "market-moving" maps from the National Weather Service, Midwestern Climate Center and other industry influences. The site's Marketing section is a mixture of weekly columnists and links to ag quotes, while their Net News (!) section builds brief industry updates around related hyperlinks, and provides stories from Successful Farming and related magazines.

One of @g Online's most endearing traits is the personalized spin it puts on otherwise ordinary Web features. Instead of the usual list of links, their Link Ranker section contains a brief "Editor's Choice" review of an agricultural Web site, a ratings system for visitors to provide their own input, and even a Link Ranker discussion group.

This trend continues throughout the site, from the @g Poll to the Homestead, where registered users can create their own cut-and-paste homepages. But then, as the site's creators proudly note, Successful Farming's "All Around the Farm" column has been written by its readers since the decidedly pre-Web decade of the 1920s. Some Net evangelists suggest that the Web will truly reshape communities outside geographical boundaries; @g Online offers an intriguing glimpse into this possibility.

Finally, the creators of the popular Motley Fool Investment Guide have a thriving home page through America Online. Billed as the Online Financial Forum for the Individual Investor, the site has been actively bringing the Fool's credo of "instructing, amusing, and making good money at the same time" to cyberspace since 1994. Whether visitors view their folksy aphorisms and populist stance as a clever way to get people thinking about their own money, or as a self-righteous affront to the good name of money managers everywhere, this Web site does provide a healthy dose of the amusing.

Sean G. Thomas, Sean Thomas, Sean Garrett Thomas