http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/

Researchers attempting to wade through the murky and volatile waters of globalization can sometimes find the going rough. For the general public, even grasping the mere tenets of what globalization entails can be equally confounding. The Center for Global, International and Regional Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz has stepped in to help with their UC Atlas of Global Inequality. Drawing on a wide range of data sets, their online Atlas “explores the interaction between global integration (globalization) and inequality.” Some of the themes visitors can explore include economic globalization, health, and income inequality. Along with these interactive features, visitors also have access to time series maps of the world that show patterns of inequality and a database that allows tables and graphs to be generated and downloaded for selected data and countries. [KMG]

http://www.aascu.org/

With diminishing monies from their state governments, it makes sense that America’s public colleges and universities would benefit from a large organization such as the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). With over 400 members, the AASCU provides a host of services on their website that will be of interest to those following the world of American higher education. On their homepage, visitors can look over their in-house magazine, Public Purpose, which contains articles with such titles as “The Changing Landscape of the Presidential Search” and “What is the Future of Federal Education Financing?” Parents, students, and higher education professionals will all appreciate the State Budget & Tuition section, which provides details on each state’s average tuition and fees, along with funding per student numbers, and total funding of public higher education systems. The site is rounded out with a selection of podcasts that deal with leadership and policy issues. [KMG]

http://www.cosee.net/
The world’s oceans are tremendously complex ecosystems, and to those persons beginning to learn about these places, the process of getting started can seem a bit daunting. Fortunately, the Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) has assembled a wide range of educational resources that address such as online learning exercises dealing with invasive species and summary fact sheets about each ocean. COSEE maintains different geographically discrete research centers (such as COSEE Great Lakes, COSEE Mid-Atlantic, etc.), so visitors looking for educational resources for these areas should proceed to these respective areas of the site directly. Students and teachers alike will appreciate the job and career exploration area of the site titled “OceanCareers”, as it includes specific information on how to prepare for careers in oceanography and related fields. [KMG]

http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/June06ASRFeature.pdf

Who could you count on in an emergency? Do you have a network of people to talk with about relationships, family issues, and the like? These are some of the thorny questions that some sociologists consider of the utmost importance when peering into the heart of contemporary society. According to this study, released in June 2006, Americans’ circle of close friends has shrunk rather dramatically, leaving many to wonder why this might be the case. Researched and written by sociologists at Duke University and the University of Arizona, this provocative 23-page report compares data from 1985 and 2004 in an attempt to determine the depth and extent of social contact across a cross-section of American society. While visitors will want to read the report in its entirety, one finding is particularly troubling: the number of people who said they had no one with whom to discuss important matters doubled to nearly 25 percent from 1985 to 2004. [KMG]

http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/nature-online/dino-directory//

Do you know your Gallinimus from your Barosaurus? If not, it may be high time to take a close look at The Natural History Museum’s Dino Directory. Updated regularly, the Dino Directory provides basic information on 229 of the most well described dinosaurs. Complemented by 933 images, the dinosaurs can be searched by scientific name, body shape, or by time period. One very nice feature of the site is the “Living Together” area, which allows users to discover which dinosaurs could be found on different continents during each era. For those concerned with locating dinosaurs by the contemporary boundaries of such countries as Argentina, Brazil, and others, that option is also available. For each dinosaur, visitors can look at various speculative renderings, and also learn about their diet and habitat. [KMG]

http://www.mathforum.org/

In the vast pantheon of websites dedicated to providing high-quality educational materials in the field of mathematics, interested parties have a wide range of sites that might be useful. Visitors will be delighted to learn about the existence of The Math Forum at Drexel University, which has been online since 1992. Given the amount of material here, visitors may wish to start by going to the “About” section of the site, and then looking at the site map. Here educators and students can look at the “Who are You?” area, which will direct them to the appropriate resources for their purposes. One resource that should not be passed over is the Math Forum Electronic Newsletter. Published weekly, visitors can sign up to receive the Newsletter, or just browse this well-written publication at their leisure. Additionally, the Math Tools area of the site is a real gem, and can be used by educators to learn about new methods of teaching various mathematical concepts in the classroom. [KMG]

http://chs.harvard.edu/mpc/
Part musicologist, part just plain curious, Milman Parry embarked on a quest to document and record the musical traditions of South Slavic song in the 1930s. Along the way, he came up with a provocative thesis: The epic tradition of storytelling and narrative present in the Iliad and Odyssey were not originally literary in nature, but rather part of the tradition of an archaic Greek oral tradition. After he passed away in 1935, his rather impressive collection found its way to Harvard University. Over the past few years, the staff at the Widener Library at Harvard have worked to place many of his field recordings and notes online, and their work has culminated in this fine website. Visitors to the site will want to listen to a few of these songs, and then perhaps also read some of the essays that explain the importance of his work, and that of his colleague, Albert B. Lord. [KMG]

http://international.loc.gov/intldl/malihtml/malihome.html

In 2004, the Library of Congress and the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library in Timbuktu began a project that would help digitize some of the marvelous Arabic manuscripts located in the Commemorative Library’s home in Mali. This recent online collection is part of the fruits of their collective labor, and is a good resource for those who wish to know a bit more about West African Islamic manuscripts. All told, the collection features 22 manuscripts from the Library, all of which are written in various styles of the Arabic script. Visitors can search the collection by keyword, or browse the materials by title or subject. The site also contains three presentations that provide insight into the landscape of the ancient city of Timbuktu and its importance as an Islamic center of culture and scholarship from the 14th to 17th centuries. [KMG]