General Interest
Started in 2002, the online journal Blackbird brings many literary and artistic traditions together in a format that is both appropriate for the digital age, and one that will delight those interested in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. The journal is a joint venture between the department of English at Virginia Commonwealth University and the New Virginia Review. Published twice a year, the journal takes a breezy journey through the arts with interviews with Rodney Jones and Lorraine Adams and short pieces by such up-and-comers as Misty Urban and Kathy Flann. The poetry section is quite well-developed, and highlights here include Jennifer Chang’s “Estuary” and Terri Witek’s “Right Over Left”. Overall, Blackbird is a very pleasant find and a model that might serve as an inspiration for other groups seeking to start their own online humanities journal. [KMG]
http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/index.cfm?flashEnabled=1
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and this acronym is familiar to those in the know as an annual conference that brings together talented persons from each of these fields every year to Monterey, CA. The price of attending the conference is a bit steep, but never fear, as this site will give users access to some of these provocative and enlightening sessions presented at their various gatherings. Through a partnership with BMW and New York Public Radio, the talks can be viewed in their entirety, or visitors can just listen to the audio portion if they so wish. Currently, there are several dozen presentations, including those by Jimmy Wales (the founder of Wikipedia), Nicholas Negroponte, and Al Gore. The wide range of persons selected for the annual TED conference is rather appealing, and overall, there area number of intriguing ideas presented throughout their number. [KMG]
Started two decades ago, the Family Violence Prevention Fund works to provide the general public with information about their programs that are designed to prevent violence within the home and in the community. One of the group’s landmark achievements was helping develop the Violence Against Women Act, which was passed by Congress in 1994. In their well-designed site, visitors can browse through some of their online resources such as fact sheets, or look over their “Hall of Fame”, which gives information about well-known individuals who have spoken out against domestic and family violence. The “Public Policy” program area offers users access to information about currently pending legislation on workplace and domestic violence and other related subjects. The site is rounded out by an area that allows users to donate to the organization if they feel compelled to do so. [KMG]
http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/FacingEast.htm#
How do we understand the individual? And perhaps equally importantly, how does the world of portraiture provide insight into individuals? These are thorny questions that have occupied the minds of some of the world’s philosophers and artists for millennia. Across the continent of Asia, this meditative and artful process has created thousands of interesting portraits. A few of them have been placed on display by the curators at the Freer & Sackler Galleries in this online exhibit, which also has a real-life analog currently on display. In this exhibit, visitors can move around various parts of Asia as they examine various images of people (both well known and unknown), accompanied by brief text passages. Additionally, visitors can view thematic introductions to the objects featured here that include “Likeness & Identity” and “Portraits & Memory”. [KMG]
http://www.mdhs.org/eubieblake/
While jazz pianists such as Earl Hines, Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, and others may be more well-known today, Eubie Blake predates them all. Born in 1887 in Baltimore, James Hubert Blake would become known the world over as one of the most prolific and talented ragtime pianists, and he would go on to pen such classics as Memories of You and the Charleston Rag. Created by the Maryland Historical Society, this lovely tribute to Blake and his life includes sheet music for some of his compositions, a number of music programs, and some audio clips of Blake playing such gems as the Novelty Rag and Baltimore Buzz. As might be expected, the site includes a nice biographical essay, a discography, and a bibliography of additional primary and secondary sources. [KMG]
http://clte.asu.edu/active/main.htm
In some disciplines, particularly those with an applied component, cooperative education has been standard operating procedure in the classroom for over a century. Engineering is one such discipline, and this insightful website provides a number of resources for educators looking for some helpful modules to use in their own classrooms. Appropriately enough, the sections on the site include “Preparing”, “Planning”, “Implementing”, “Assessment”, and “Lessons and Activities”. The “Preparing” section offers a good selection of activities that help instructors create a productive classroom environment, and the “Lessons and Activities” section contains very useful content-specific lessons that address such topics as steady state open-system devices and database management. Additional lessons include those on aerospace principles, freshmen engineering projects, and engineering statistics. [KMG]
http://math.usask.ca/mrc-cgi-bin/emr/first_page.cgi
Arriving at college, many individuals may find themselves in the need of some instructional tools to refresh their memories on various mathematical concepts. Fortunately for those individuals (and their teachers), the Exercises in Math Readiness website contains materials that will ease this process. Created by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Saskatchewan, the site contains exercises of varying difficulty that will take users through such topics as geometry, trigonometry, algebra, and exponential functions. Teachers will also want to look at the section that offers them some specific instructions on how the site might best be used with students. Additionally, the materials here are available in French, Georgian, and Russian. [KMG]
http://quicksilver.caup.washington.edu/entourage/index.php
From charettes to ateliers, architectural education is dedicated to collaborative learning environments. In recent years, some of these activities have migrated to the web, and along the way a number of forward-thinking individuals have seen fit to create online resources that might be of use to students working in this field. Created by the Design Machine Group at the University of Washington’s Department of Architecture, the entourage 3D database includes “building blocks, complete models, and ‘finishing touches’ for users to download and use.” Visitors will appreciate the fact that they can browse these resources by such categories as building component, lighting element, office furniture, or street furniture. Visitors will need to complete a free registration before looking at the various designs and plans available here, but this only takes a few moments. [KMG]
