Research and Education
http://advancingknowledge.com/
The attention paid to the burgeoning "knowledge economy" continues to grow, particularly within the halls of higher education, the federal government, and in the private sector. This past January, the National Science Foundation (in collaboration with other institutions) convened a conference designed "to broaden and deepen common understanding of how difficult-to-measure knowledge resources drive an increasing virtualized economy and to assess prospects for advancing and regenerating knowledge infrastructure, institutions, and policies." While the conference itself is finished, users interested in these themes will appreciate this site, which offers some material about these various issues, along with material on the program itself and the work presented there. After examining these background materials, visitors will want to peruse the draft papers presented at the conference, which deal with networks of knowledge, measuring knowledge, and knowledge clusters. [KMG]
http://bcsia.ksg.harvard.edu/BCSIA_content/documents/Yemen%20Report%20BCSIA.pdf
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University has a number of thematic areas of research, ranging from work on international security to work on the intersection between science, technology, and public policy. This particular paper comes from the Center's program on intrastate conflict, and is authored by Deborah L. West. The 38-page paper comes out of discussions held at a conference on governance and policy in Yemen and the Horn of Africa in November 2004. Within its pages, the paper offers some expert recommendations for combatting terrorism in these two regions and also includes an overview of the current state of affairs and potential terrorist activity in the area. [KMG]
http://www.iserp.columbia.edu/
The work at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP) comes out of its predecessor institution, the Bureau for Applied Social Research, which was established at Columbia University in 1944. Today, ISERP continues in this tradition, serving as the research arm of the social sciences at Columbia, and offering a host of online resources to the general public. From the homepage, visitors can look through some of the group's latest offerings, which include brief articles, working papers, and details about upcoming books. For the most up-to-date material, users will want to peruse the Institute's quarterly newsletter, which contains information on the events it sponsors, along with full-text articles based on its research. Academics will want to also read about the Institute's funding and post-doctoral research opportunities. [KMG]
"The Society for Planetary SETI Research (SPSR) is an organization of scientists and scholars from a variety of disciplines formed around their common interest in anomalies on planets and their satellites whose origins may be the result of intelligent activity." Users can discover the challenges faced by the group and its main research interests. The website supplies peer-reviewed journal publications and recent articles written by members of the Society. Individuals can find professional information about the members as well as links to several of their websites. This site is also reviewed in the April 29, 2005 NSDL Physical Sciences Report. [RME]
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/special/transparency
The Scout Report has profiled various offerings from the Development Gateway in the past several years, but one of the group's latest creations is both thought-provoking and helpful for policy-makers and persons generally interested in the subject of governance. This particular site casts an eye on the question of transparency in governmental transactions through interviews with leaders from a broad range of sectors, along with allowing space for individual feedback. The "Points of View" section is a good place to start, as it includes commentary from government officials from Bolivia, Guatemala, and Tanzania about the question of public sector transparency. Other sections on the site address such thorny questions as "What tools help sustain public sector transparency?" and "What practices promote public-private partnerships?" Those visual learners coming to visit the site may appreciate the gallery of charts that offer indicators of levels of governance and transparency for more than 209 countries. [KMG]
http://www.futuresproject.org/publications/Correcting_Course.pdf
The world of higher education in the United States continues to change dramatically, and despite the amount of press the subject receives, many (including quite a few persons in higher education) continue to remain oblivious to the broader scope of these transformations. This latest 15-page report from the Futures Project (released in February 2005) provides some valuable insight into these diverse transformations. Written by Lara Couturier and Jamie Scurry, the report points to several symptoms of the coming crisis that will affect public higher education. They include inadequate financial support for low-income students, rising costs and unaffordable tuition, and elusive outcomes. This last may be one of the most compelling aspects, as it reflects the continuing trend that "the higher education community has not found a satisfactory way to measure, report on, and improve performance." [KMG]
http://americanhistory.si.edu/explorer/index.cfm
There are many ways to explore the various facets of history, and some of the world's leading museums have come up with a host of online multimedia tools to bring people into this subject that is sometimes erroneously perceived to be dry and uninteresting. The inventive people at the National Museum of American History have recently developed the History Explorer which allows those surfing the Web to browse through an interactive timeline of American history. The interface is composed of items from the Museum's various online collections, exhibitions and programs, such as Plymouth Rock and a world map from 1511. Visitors can zoom in and out through the timeline and its objects and also elect to toggle on or off various themes, such as "Arts and Culture", "Peopling America", and "Politics and Reform". Overall, this is a very well-thought-out tool for learning about American history and one that will engage a wide range of persons. [KMG]
http://www.flyfishinghistory.com/
This website about the history of fly fishing is sure to delight many an aficionado. The site was developed by Dr. Andrew Herd, the Associate Editor of Waterlog Magazine and a member of the Flyfisher’s Club in London. Derived from material in Dr. Herd’s book, History of Fly Fishing, the website contains informative sections on The Origins of Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing in Medieval Times, The Gaudy Salmon Fly, and Fly Fishing in the Years 1800-1850, to name a few. The Special Features segment of the website offers sections on Hooks, Salt Water Fly Fishing, Refinishing Old Silk Lines, The Macedonian Fly, Coq de Leon, and more. The site also includes a bibliography, contact information for several antiquarian book dealers, and a 2001 paper (co-authored by Dr. Herd) titled Astræus, The First Fly Fishing River. This site is also reviewed in the April 29, 2005 NSDL Life Sciences Report. [NL]
