Research and Education
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Exploratorium_Science.pdf
Americans get quite a bit of information from the Internet, and if recent surveys are any indication, they also seem to spend quite a bit of time browsing around the web as part of their day. This 42-page report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project released in November 2006 confirms that Americans also tend to use the Internet as a way to research various scientific subjects and related news items. The report was jointly conducted with the assistance of the San Francisco-based Exploratorium, and revealed that fully 40 million Americans use the Internet as their “primary source of news and information about science.” The report contains a number of other interesting findings, including the observation that 87% of online users have used the Internet to look up the meaning of a scientific concept, answer a specific science question, or check the accuracy of a scientific fact. The report will certainly be very useful to science educators and those concerned with information science and related topics. [KMG]
http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/
Painters and poets throughout the millennia have explored the aesthetic beauty of trees in great detail, and in the past few centuries, humans have become intimately aware of how trees form the foundation of many natural systems. Recently, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched their major worldwide tree planting campaign, “Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign”. One major component of their outreach efforts is this very fine website, which includes sections such as “Facts and Figures”, “Trees and Humanity”, and of course, “How to Plant a Tree”. On the site, visitors also have the option to pledge their support for the project in a variety of ways. The “Facts and Figures” section is also helpful, as it contains answers to a number of basic questions such as “Where are forests found?” and some more specific information on the importance of this project. [KMG]
http://www.davidrumsey.com/atlases.html
The world of antique maps and atlases is a wide one, and includes such fine volumes as the exquisite atlas of New Spain created by Alexander von Humboldt in 1811 and Mitchell’s School Atlas of 1847. These atlases and hundreds more can be viewed at this site, provided courtesy of the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. Online since 2000, the antique atlas section is divided geographically into smaller sections that cover North America, Africa, and Europe. After clicking on over to one of these sections, visitors will be presented with a complete list of the available atlases. As the site utilizes the powerful Insight Browser, visitors can scroll around on each document at their leisure, zooming in and out along the way. [KMG]
http://dme.mozarteum.at/mambo/index.php
Since 1954, the International Mozarteum Foundation has been steadily editing the complete works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and their critical editions have become essential items for musicians and musicologists. This month, they placed the fruits of their collective labors online on this site, and it is truly a glorious achievement. Currently, there are 25,734 pages of music and 8,441 pages of commentary, and this number will increase in the future as more material is added. The Foundation’s future plans include placing its collection of autograph scores and original sources online as PDF files. Overall, the site is rather easy to use, and visitors should note that the site does receive a great deal of traffic at times, so it is best to also be patient if there’s a short delay in returning materials. [KMG]
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0701/feature4/
Living all the way from the rocky coast of Nova Scotia to the forests of Brazil, hummingbirds can be found in a vast range of climates. Recently, the National Geographic Magazine created this multimedia portrait of these hardy creatures and placed it online for the general public. On the homepage, visitors can read a brief overview essay on the lives of hummingbirds, and then continue on to over of the site’s six primary sections. These sections include a photo gallery, an “On Assignment” area which includes field notes from staff photographer Luis A. Mazariegos, and a “Learn More” area, which includes links to relevant websites. The real highlight of the site is the narrated tour by Ernie Franzgrote into the lives of different hummingbirds, including the violet-capped, the purple-crowned, and the marvelous spatuetail. [KMG]
http://www.hoover.org/publications/clm/
Based at the Hoover Institution, the China Leadership Monitor is a publication that “seeks to inform the American foreign policy community about current trends in China’s leadership politics and in its foreign and domestic policies.” Published quarterly, the journal began publication in 2002, and since then its reputation has continued to grow. With a wide range of perspectives included within its pages, visitors will enjoy browsing through the past issues, which they can do chronologically, or topically. Visitors can also read biographical profiles about the contributors and also browse through a list of reference tables which detail the changes within party leadership in the country. Finally, visitors should also be glad to learn that the publication covers a host of topics, including law enforcement, demographics, elections, and trade policy. [KMG]
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cmpweb/index.html
Working with financial support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the University of Washington and a host of local institutions in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula created this web-based museum. Designed to include primary documents and other visual materials from the area’s rich cultural traditions, the site contains a number of online exhibits and educational resources. Through interpretive essays, photographs and maps these online exhibits detail the culture of the Makah Indians, logging, and even a few tragic events, such as the Great Forks Fire of 1951. After looking over one or more of these fine exhibits, visitors may wish to perform a detailed keyword search via their search page, or they can also browse by contributor. And for those who may also be seeking similar funding for a likeminded project, they have placed a great deal of information about their project online, including some of their grant proposal documents. [KMG]
A number of universities and their ever-attentive public affairs offices have been working on creating websites that will place some of their best and brightest online in a variety of forms, including podcasts, videocasts, blogs, and so on. The University Channel does this one better, by creating a webspace where a number of universities can place their respective materials in an aggregate form. Currently, their contributors include Bennington College, the Council on Foreign Relations, Duke University, Princeton University, and the University of Virginia, along with several dozen others. From their homepage, visitors can consider the most recently posted materials, which in recent months have included talks on North Korea, juvenile justice policy in the 21st century, and biology and human dignity. Visitors can search the available materials here, and also sign up for a number of RSS feeds. [KMG]
