General Interest
Though they may be most closely associated with the dramatic appearance of large creatures (such as alligators or raccoons), sanitary sewers are one of the most important pieces of infrastructure across the built-up areas of the world. For the past decade, Jon Schladweiler has collected copious amounts of material related to the history of sewage conveyance systems. Along with his various traveling exhibits and lectures, he has seen fit to create this rather intriguing website which contains articles, timelines, and visual materials that relate the history of the development of sewage systems over the past few millennia. The articles section is a good place to start, as it has dozens of historical articles that address the design of sewers, their various components (such as pipes and manholes), their construction, and even divides the articles up by locale and historical era. The photograph section is also well-developed, and contains a good section with photographs of public baths and latrines from antiquity. Finally, the site has a Miscellaneous area that pays homage to prose and poetry that have seen fit to describe sewers and their related pieces of infrastructure. Here visitors may read pieces by Robert Frost, Ben Johnson, and the Song of the Sewer from The Honeymooners. [KMG]
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/telnaes/
Nearly as old as news itself is the political cartoon. It's the page readers flip to for a more succinct, and even more accurate, depiction of the dramas and news of the day. Of all of the cartoonists out there, one of the most talented and influential is Ann Telnaes. Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize (the second woman in history to do so for Political Cartooning), Telnaes recently donated 81 original drawings to the Library of Congress. At this site, visitors can view the collection as well as see the cartoons that earned the Pulitzer. [JPM]
http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/maps/index.html
Digitized map collections abound online these days, and the Historical Maps Online collection from the University of Illinois Library is one of the better ones available for researchers and the inquisitive public. Part of a collaborative effort between the University of Illinois Library and the University of Illinois Press, the online material includes hundreds of digitized maps, which may be examined in minute detail with an effective zoom feature. Visitors may browse the maps by preset topics (such as Wisconsin, Indians of North America, Kansas), or browse through the special section containing topographic maps of Illinois. While the general intent of the project was to electronically present images of maps that chart the past 400 years of historical development in Illinois, there are also a few real unusual gems here. One such map is the little-known caricature map of Chicago from 1931 titled "A Map of Chicago's gangland from authentic sources: designed to inculcate the most important principles of piety and virtue in young persons, and graphically portray the evils and sin of large cities." [KMG]
http://www.pbs.org/americanfamily/
The term "family" is one that continues to be highly debated, both in terms of its societal importance and in terms of its shifting definition across generations. Exploring one family's experience in the United States is the remarkable PBS program American Family, which profiles a multigenerational family living in Los Angeles. This well-designed site allows visitors to learn about the series and its cast, along with providing information about each episode. Perhaps the most compelling part of the site focuses on the family itself. Here visitors may read the journal of one family member, browse an interactive feature about the history of their community (which happens to be East L.A.), and a selection of essays on What it Means to be Latino? Individuals will also want to look at the Your Families area which includes sections that allow users to create family scrapbooks and information on the so-called generation gap. The site concludes with a helpful resource area that includes links to other topical online materials and several teacher guides for those educators hoping to use the program in the classroom. [KMG]
Universities and colleges continue to seek new ways to bring their vast stores of knowledge and information to the general public, and some of these efforts manifest themselves in the form of sophisticated websites. One of the more ambitious projects of late is the UTOPIA website developed by the University of Texas at Austin. As their mission statement notes in regards to UTOPA, it is "an ambitious new initiative to open the University's doors of knowledge, research, and information to the public." While some of the material on the site is specific to regional interests in and around Texas, much of the material (organized around topics such as arts, business, technology) will be of broad interest. Educators will appreciate the online collection of pedagogical tools and resources for grades K-12 and there is another section dedicated to staff picks, where staff members select some of their favorite online sites, such as an interactive Gone with the Wind Exhibit. Overall, the site is quite compelling, and may serve as a model for other institutions of higher education who may be seeking to create a similar online clearinghouse. [KMG]
With all the discussion about stem cell research and cloning, the time is right to take a look at the work being done at the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University. Situated within the university's School of Medicine, the Center is "dedicated to interdisciplinary research and education in biomedical ethics, and provides clinical and research ethics consultation." Information provided by the site includes briefings on the center's various seminars, the annual report, and an in-house bioethics newsletter. Scholars and other interested parties may also appreciate the research area of the site, which contains material on current priority research areas along with information about the various scientists and students working in each area. Finally, the site also contains information about job opportunities with the Center and a links page. [KMG]
