Urban Planning, 1794-1918
http://www.library.cornell.edu/Reps/DOCS/homepage.htm
Compiled by John W. Reps, Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning at Cornell University, this selection of 185 primary documents dealing with urban planning will be extremely useful to persons concerned with the subject or urban history in general. The selections on the site are searchable by author, date, subject, or key words. Documents on the site include Frederick Law Olmstead's commentary on the City Beautiful movement and continue all the way to his son's discussion of housing developments in 1919. Professor Reps has also included a supplementary bibliography for additional consideration and a general introduction to the material presented in this anthology. [KMG]
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The Scottish Parliament
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/
Since the election of the first representatives to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the group has been responsible for creating and enacting a wide variety of legislative acts. Much of their current work and agenda is documented on their Web site, which also includes a helpful section on the different powers of the Parliament and their procedures. One of the most engaging parts of the site lists the current activities of the different committees within the Parliament, including allowing users to watch streaming video of different committee meetings. Additionally, the site contains extensive material on the business of the Parliament, such as current bills and reports and biographies of all the serving Ministers. [KMG]
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Empowering the Way Out of Poverty: Why It Matters, How It Works [.pdf]
http://www.ezec.gov/About/EmpoweringtheWayOutofPoverty.pdf
In this 12-page report, J. Norman Reid, the Associate Deputy Administrator for the Rural Development branch of the USDA, outlines a basic outline for assisting poor rural communities in the United States through empowerment. As Mr. Reid suggests in his paper when reviewing previous policies in this program area, "these programs did little or nothing to address the causes of poverty or provide incentives or means for individuals to escape it." Mr. Reid continues by listing several key elements for operating an effective empowerment program, including community-wide participation and building community capacity. Overall, the report will be compelling to those in the field of community development and rural policy-making in the United States. [KMG]
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Robotics Education Project
http://robotics.nasa.gov/
NASA's Robotics Education Project is intended to raise children's interest in robotics and promote it as a possible career choice. The Web site highlights many applications of robots, such as space exploration, medicine, and mechanical automation. Multimedia games, educational activities, and lesson plans can all be found from this page. Occasionally, NASA will have Web casts of robotics events, and these can be viewed live or after the fact from the archive. News articles about specific robot uses in industry and research are also included. Some of the material links to external sources, but this is a good starting point for teaching or learning about robotics. This site is also reviewed in the September 27, 2002 NSDL MET Report. [CL]
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Arizona State Museum
http://www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/
Located at the University of Arizona, the Arizona State Museum features a variety of programs and exhibits, many of which offer an introspective look into the culture of the American Indian groups in the region. One of the main highlights of the site are the several online exhibits that feature objects and photographs from recent shows. The most recent of these is the "Connections Across Generations: The Avery Collection of American Indian Paintings," which highlights selections from the exhibit that is set to open on October 4th, 2002. Also documented on the site are the numerous ongoing archaeological projects that are often joint projects between researchers at the Museum and within the University of Arizona. Finally, the site also has a variety of educational resource materials for teachers planning to visit the museum, and information about joining the Museum and volunteering in one of their many programs. [KMG]
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Babcock Institute for International Dairy Research and Development
http://babcock.cals.wisc.edu/
In keeping with the tradition of "The Wisconsin Idea," the Babcock Institute for International Dairy Research and Development Web site features material that will be of great interest to the general public, researchers, and those directly involved in the dairy industry. Pertinent sections on the site include areas devoted to recent publications dealing with topical dairy research, the Institute's current research agenda, outreach projects, and educational tools. The educational tools section of the site offer information to those seeking to learn more about dairy science, or for those who seeking to translate dairy terms into several different languages. Additionally, all of the materials on the site are available in Spanish, and a calendar highlights upcoming events sponsored by the Institute. [KMG]
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Asian Population 2000 [.pdf]
http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/c2kbr01-16.pdf
Researched and written by Jessica S. Barnes and Claudette E. Bennett of the US Census Bureau, this 12-page report provides a brief introduction to the regional and national distribution of the Asian and Asian-American population in the United States. The report begins with a detailed explanation of the problems presented by the 2000 Census data, largely due to the fact that the questions regarding race were significantly modified from those used in the 1990 Census. Some of the key findings of the report include the fact that the majority of Asians in the United States live in the West, and that half live in just three states. This report should interest those in the fields of demography and human geography. [KMG]
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The Mead Project: Foundational Documents in Sociological Social Psychology
http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/%7Elward/
Compiled and created by Lloyd Gordon Ward and Robert Throop at the Brock University Department of Sociology in Canada, the Mead Project contains an array of primary documents by George Herbert Mead and his contemporaries. The stated goal of the project is to revitalize research on Mead's work and to facilitate access to his publications by bringing together many key documents in one readily accessible location. Along with a collection of seminal papers and articles written by Mead from 1881 to 1938, the site also contains a variety of supplementary scholarship produced by William James and John Dewey. Almost all of the documents are publicly available, but several will require users to register with the Project, which is free. [KMG]
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