Research and Education
http://www.socialpsychology.org/
With over 11,000 links contained within its pages, the Social Psychology Network site is arguably the largest social psychology database on the Internet. Maintained by Professor Scout Plous of Wesleyan University, the site has been generously supported by the National Science Foundation. Visitors will appreciate the very clean layout of the site’s homepage, as they are presented with a search engine, along with a number of electronic forums, and a listing of related topics. To delve into the site’s contents, visitors may wish to select from any one of the areas on the left-hand side of the homepage, which include listings of doctoral programs in social psychology and teaching resources. There are numerous other options for interested parties, and they lead to such offerings as rankings of doctoral programs in the field and distance learning options in the field. Finally, visitors can also view many of the site’s documents in a number of languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, and German. [KMG]
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/casi/index.htm
India remains a country that fascinates both scholars looking at its historical development and those who are intimately concerned with its role in the global economy. In order to provide a congenial place for people with such interests to interact and exchange ideas, the University of Pennsylvania created the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) in 1992. Visitors to the CASI site can learn about some of their thematic areas of research, peruse an event calendar, and read a number of topical publications produced by resident scholars and academics. The occasional papers archive dates back to 1995, and users of the site will also want to look at the publication “India In Transition”. For visitors who may be looking for specific materials, the site also includes a search engine. [KMG]
Legal scholars and those with an interest in the law will definitely want to take a look at the Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) website. Here visitors can search official full text legal documents, including judicial decisions, legislation, and laws. The database is provided courtesy of the Law Library of the United States Congress, and it draws from countries from around the world who wish to provide access to their own legal documents. Some of the countries who participate in the program include Brazil, Costa Rica, Kuwait, Peru, and Romania. Visitors will find that the ways to search the database are extremely helpful. Options include searching by jurisdiction, publication date, subject terms, and language. The site is rounded out by a section that provides answers to frequently asked questions about using the database. [KMG]
http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20051027_mindthegap.pdf
Throughout the history of cities, there have always been stark contrasts between proximate conurbations. One can consider the dramatic differences between the cities of East St. Louis and St. Louis for such a study in socioeconomic contrasts. In fact, these differences have attracted the attention of policymakers, sociologists, geographers, and planners for decades. This recent report from The Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy program details the disparities among various groups of people within the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. Authored by Rebecca Sohmer, the 44-page report looks at how the region does (and does not) work for different populations. In the report, Sohmer details three particular “gaps”, namely race, class, and place disparities throughout the region. Sohmer notes that a dedicated effort committed to reducing these disparities may in fact promote a strong future workforce and build a healthier region. [KMG]
http://www.batcon.org/home/default.asp
Founded in 1982, the mission of Bat Conservation International (BCI) is “to teach people the value of bats, to protect and conserve critical bat habitats, and to advance scientific knowledge through research”. On their website, visitors will be able to learn about their advocacy and outreach efforts, along with learning more about these fascinating and important creatures. The “All About Bats” section is a fine place to start, as it has a number of illustrated essays that include brief overview of the natural history of bats and suggestions on photographing bats as they fly through the air. Equally compelling is the section is the conservation programs area, which details the various programs BCI operates in various bat habitats, including bridges and caves. Finally, visitors can also elect to send one of a number of electronic bat postcards to friends or colleagues. [KMG]
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/
With endorsements from both Scientific American and Science magazines, this website developed by The University of New South Wales is gaining currency among those interested in using the web for educational purposes. The basic mission of the Einstein Light site is to present a brief overview of Einstein’s theory of relativity and its relationship to the work done by Galileo and Newton. This of course means they must address such thorny topics as time dilation and length contraction. They do just that, with the assistance of two animated models, Zoe and Jasper. Throughout the various modules presented here, the two models provide the means by which the casual visitor can begin to understand these concepts. Visitors may also appreciate the fact that there are also a number of related links offered here for further edification. Some of the sections here include “Electricity and magnetism in a moving frame: what would you expect?” and “Is time dilation true?”. Overall, this is a well-designed site that will be of interest to those with a general interest in this subject and for educators as well. [KMG]
