Research and Education
A number of online archives exist already to remember major military conflicts (particularly for World War II), so it is fitting that the Vietnam War also have a significant web presence. Designed by a dedicated team at Texas Tech University, the Virtual Vietnam Archive "enables scholars, students and all interested in this remarkable period in our world history to conduct research directly from universities, schools, libraries, and homes." Currently, the project contains over 1.5 million pages of materials online, ranging from photographs, slides, audio and video recordings, and a number of oral histories. The search engine for the archive is quite powerful and simple to use, and allows users to specify dates, media format desired, language, and document title. While the site doesn't offer any thematically organized collections per se, there is a real wealth of material here. One particular highlight is the number of oral history audio files online here. These are drawn from a number of persons involved with the Vietnam War in a number of capacities. Additionally, visitors will want to check out the wealth of material related to the proceedings and history of the Vietnam Project, including newsletters and project updates. [KMG]
http://www.brookings.edu/urban/pubs/20040301_gateways.pdf
Many urban areas in the United States continue to add population to their respective locales by serving as gateway communities for the millions of immigrants who come to live in the country every year. This recent report published by the Brookings Institution, and authored by Audrey Singer, demonstrates a rather intriguing pattern by which certain cities (such as Chicago and San Francisco) have effectively served as immigrant conduits for over a century; whereas other American conurbations, such as Cleveland, were only able to garner large streams of immigrants in the early 20th century. The 36-page report discusses the nature of both former gateway cities as well as drawing on Census 2000 data to look at the emergence of new immigrant gateway cities such as Atlanta, Dallas, and Washington, DC. The report also reveals several other notable findings, such as the fact that by 2000 more immigrants in metropolitan areas lived in suburbs than cities, and their growth rates there exceeded those in the cities. [KMG]
In collaboration with the College Board, Rice University has developed this very helpful online digital library for high school Advanced Placement (AP) students and teachers of biology, physics, and chemistry. Through the website, students and teachers alike can access these materials (after filling out a free registration form), and use them at their own leisure and adopt them for individualized learning plans. These online resources are selected through a review panel that includes a higher education faculty member with in-depth knowledge of the AP curriculum, five AP teachers, two project context experts, and an undergraduate student who is studying the subject at the university level. The material itself made available here contains a topic outline for each subject, with extensive hyperlinks to the collected resources. Finally, visitors can also read about the members of the Advanced Placement Digital Library Review Panel and their backgrounds. [KMG]
http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/rbm/dreiser/
Designed and maintained by the Annenberg Rare Book and Manuscript Library Collection at the University of Pennsylvania, the DreiserWebSource website brings together a host of written ephemera, original essays, and electronic texts related to the life and writings of Theodore Dreiser, the prominent American author. While the site doesn't have a formal search engine, the material is divided into four primary sections: Correspondence & Texts, Scholarly Essays, Reference Sources, and Still and Moving images. The Correspondence & Texts section is a delight unto itself, as it contains a host of digitized correspondence between Dreiser and colleagues over several decades and a special section dedicated to his ground-breaking novel, Sister Carrie. Along with several editions of the complete novel there are several essays about the novel's composition and historical context, along with a virtual exhibition curated by Nancy M. Shawcross from the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Penn. The site also includes a rare 3-minute silent film of Dreiser from 1938 at Mt. Kisco, New York, taken by Robert Elias. [KMG]
http://cogprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/
Utilizing technology generated by the University of Southampton, Cogprints is an electronic archive for self-archive papers in a number of scientific areas of study. Some of these areas include psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, numerous areas of computer science, philosophy, biology, anthropology, and several others. Currently, the archive contains over 1200 papers ranging from 1950 to 2004. The search options for the database are quite extensive, as visitors may initiate a simple search, or perform an advanced search, which features 13 search fields. While papers are contained in a number of academic fields, the archive is particularly strong in the areas of artificial intelligence and philosophy of the mind. Visitors looking to post their own work to the site will need to register for a free account, and if they encounter any problems, may feel free to consult the help section provided here. [KMG]
http://www.fas.org/dh/index.html
The Digital Human is an Open Source Software Consortium that uses information technology tools to simulate and represent the body's processes, such as the functions of DNA molecules and proteins to cells, tissues, organs, and gross anatomy. In an effort to develop a community where researchers can share their work, the website provides links to various research centers and their work on simulations, visualizations and engineering models. Another aspect of the consortium is "to allow biomedical researchers and computer scientists to work effectively together to develop a language that will allow this to happen." Proceedings from conferences addressing these issues are available from this website. [VF] This site is also reviewed in the March 12, 2004 NSDL MET Report.
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/elec2004.html
Every presidential election in the United States gives rise to greater legions of so-called "spin doctors," and a number of pundits offering their opinions on the chances of each candidate who has thrown their hat in the ring. Fortunately, the University of Michigan Documents Center has developed this helpful and informative website that culls together hundreds of useful websites about the upcoming presidential election of 2004. From the homepage visitors can look through a number of helpful sections devoted to listing sites dedicated to such topics as Policy Issues, Candidates, and Campaign. Within each of these broad thematic areas are contained more specific areas dedicated to links on important subtopics such as campaign finances, media coverage, terrorism, economics, and many others. Scholars will want to take a look at the Academic Research section, which contains links to online periodical databases and some links to sites with recent working papers on the subject.
Launched in 1988, the ippr is a well-known British think tank committed to producing high quality research in a number of important sectors, including media, asylum and migration, and transport issues. As the website notes, "Our aim is to continue a be a force for change by delivering far-reaching and realistic policy solutions that we hope will produce a fairer, more inclusive and more environmentally sustainable world." The homepage allows visitors to view a calendar of upcoming events hosted by the group, read its most recent press releases, and find out about new and forthcoming publications. Most visitors will find the Research section most compelling, as here they may find general information about the group's ongoing research agenda, which ranges from work on the digital society to substantial work on social policy. [KMG]
