Research and Education
http://pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/260.pdf
The Pew Global Attitudes Project tracks a broad range of opinions across the globe, and this report from June 2008 takes a close look at how the United States is perceived abroad. The report notes that favorable views of the United States have increased modestly since 2007 in 10 of 21 countries where comparative data are available, although it seems that many people also feel that the recent economic slump is in no small part due to the United States. The survey also notes that United States foreign policy "will change for the better" after the inauguration of a new American president next year. Visitors can read the 150-page report here in its entirety and they will enjoy looking over chapters like "Which Governments Respect the Rights of Their People?" and "Views on Economic Issues". Finally, visitors can also learn about the survey methods used in the creation of this report. [KMG]
http://collections.stanford.edu/dttp/bin/page?forward=home
Stanford University has a number of worthy digital collections, and this particular archive will be of special interest to students of library and information science. The collection contains issues of the journal "DttP: Documents to the People" from 1972 to 2002. Drawn from the print holdings of the Stanford University Libraries, the journal documents both the organizational history of the Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association and the emergence of the government documents specialization within the field of librarianship. Various items document the transition from a print- to a digital-publishing environment, and still others focus on barriers to citizen access to public information in the United States. Visitors can perform a simple search across these volumes, or also browse the collection by year. [KMG]
http://www.demos.co.uk/files/UK%20confidential%20-%20web.pdf
The Demos think tank in the United Kingdom consistently finds new perspectives and outlooks on important topics, and this latest collection of essays published in May 2008 is no exception. Specifically, these fourteen essays "explore the underlying challenges and realities of privacy in an open society, and argue for a new settlement between the individual and society; the public and the states; the consumer and business." The volume was sponsored in part by the telecommunications company BT, and it includes such trenchant essays as "The culture of control", "A place of greater safety? Information sharing and confidentiality", and "The social value of privacy". It is worth noting that the underlying theme of the collection is that "we get the privacy culture we deserve", and this alone is well worth thinking (and reading) about. [KMG]
Founded in 1994 with 18 members, the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) now has chapters in many major U.S. cities and serves as "a networking and resource forum for journalists of South Asian origin and journalists in South Asia or the South Asian Diaspora." Their homepage contains a good deal of information for current or potential members, such as a list of chapters, a job bank, and official press releases. One particularly helpful section of the site is the "Profiles" area. Here visitors can learn about SAJA members who work as freelancers, magazine writers, television reporters, and so on. The site also includes information about scholarships, and a style guide for journalists who wish to better understand South Asia. The site is rounded out by a list of reporting tips and information about the US media outlets and coverage in South Asia. [KMG]
http://www.ansp.org/museum/jefferson/
Statesman, geologist, surveyor, diplomat, and mastodon-bone collector, Thomas Jefferson did it all. This very intriguing online exhibit, from The Academy of Natural Sciences, introduces the generally curious to Thomas Jefferson's extensive fossil collection. Jefferson was a central player in the beginnings of American paleontology, and his involvement in this field of endeavor occurred when others began to wrestle with the notion that fossils represented concrete proof that there was an Earth that predated that which was described in the Bible. The materials here include the sections "American Mastodon", "Great Claw", and "Other Fossils". The "American Mastodon" is a great place to start, and visitors can make their way through sections that cover Jefferson's captivation with this massive creature and the continued search for a full skeleton of one of these beasts in the 19th century. Also, the section includes an image gallery of mastodon bones. Moving on, "The Great Claw" presents information about the discovery of these fossils and additional information on the rather odd ground sloth. [KMG]
As its name implies, the WorldWideScience site is a global science gateway that is meant to help connect a worldwide audience to various national and international scientific databases. The site was developed and is maintained by the Office of Science and Technical Information (OSTI) with the U.S. Department of Energy. Visitors to the site's homepage can click on an interactive map of the world's countries to locate participants and their websites. After clicking on a country, a list of available resources will appear in a box immediately to the right of the world map. Dozens of countries are currently represented, and visitors will find Colombia's "Scientific Electronic Library Online", India's "Indian Academy of Science", and Cameroon's "African Journals Online". The site is rounded out by an advanced search option and contact information. [KMG]
Started in May 2003, the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) is a 15-year project supported with a grant from the Keck Foundation. The basic goal of the Initiative is "to realize the untapped potential of interdisciplinary research." It is a noble and very exciting project, and visitors with a penchant for cross-boundary interdisciplinary research and related matters will want to look over the site and tell colleagues about it. First-time visitors can learn about their upcoming conferences, peruse past conference presentations, and learn about grants offered by the NAKFI. One area of note is the "Interdisciplinary Study Report", which takes an in-depth look at the steps that "researchers, teachers, students, institutions, funding organizations, and disciplinary societies can take to more effectively conduct, facilitate, and evaluate interdisciplinary research programs and projects." Additionally, some of the past conference presentations here include "The Future of Human Healthspan: Demography, Evolution, Medicine, Medicine and Bioengineering" and "Smart Prosthetics: Exploring Assistive Devices for the Body and Mind". [KMG]
http://journal.oraltradition.org/
Stretching back thousands of years, the oral traditions that have enriched and documented human existence remain a subject of much fascination. The Oral Tradition Journal was founded in 1986 in order to "serve as an international and interdisciplinary forum for discussion of worldwide oral traditions and related forms." The journal is based at the University of Missouri, and visitors to the site can search the entire run of the journal on this site by keyword or author. Clicking over to the "Browse the Journal" area, visitors can look over back issues that include special issues on the Serbo-Croatian oral tradition, performance literature, and the performance artistry of Bob Dylan. The site is a real treat for anyone interested in the subject, and visitors can also learn how to submit their own work for possible inclusion in a forthcoming volume. [KMG]
