Documentation
The JavaScript is namespaced and written as an Object Literal. It initializes from the so_ticker.init method which should be called from your onload event handler.
If the user mouses over the ticker or sets focus to it (i.e., tabs to it), the complete text for the item will expand and the ticker will pause until the user mouses out or the ticker loses focus to another element. The title attribute of the ticker is set to the text content.
Clicking on (or otherwise activating) the plus sign will expose all of the content at once, stop the ticker and set focus to the first anchor element.
If JavaScript isn't available, the user is given a regular list of items below a heading.