Research and Education
Founded in 1986, The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College was started in order to "serve the wider policymaking community in the United States and the rest of the world by enabling scholars and leaders in business, labor, and government to work together on problems of common interest." To accomplish this mission, the Institute works to disseminate its various findings via publications, conferences, workshops, seminars, congressional testimony, and other activities. Visitors can become familiar with their work by looking at their new publications on the homepage. In recent years, works featured here have included analysis papers on fiscal stimulus measures and economic reports on the financial situation of America's elderly population. Moving on, visitors can learn more about their specific research programs on the left hand side of the page. Here, under the "Research Programs" tab, they will find specific policy briefs and papers that deal with gender equality and the economy, the distribution of income and wealth, and economic policies in the 21st century. Finally, visitors can sign up to receive their RSS feed and their email updates. [KMG]
http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/education/
The National Park Service has developed this exemplary set of educational resources which draws on their greatest assets, namely national parks from Maine to Utah. The materials are specifically designed for teaching geology, but it's easy to see how these items could be incorporated into general science classes. The main area on their homepage features over a dozen teacher guides and park programs that feature detailed geology lessons that draw on the landscapes of Yosemite National Park and the dynamic volcanoes of Hawaii. On the right side of the page, visitors can scan through the "Highlights" area to learn more about online park images, park maps, and even peruse a calendar of upcoming educator workshops. The site is rounded out by the "Geology Books and Media" area, which features information about technical reports, textbooks, and geology-themed children's books. [KMG]
http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/maps/index.php?c=1
Fire insurance maps are an important source of historical information about cities throughout the United States, and this delightful collection from the University of Hawaii offers a great selection of these valuable documents. Currently, the collection contains 78 total maps of various urbanized areas within the Hawaiian Islands. Most of the maps are focused on Honolulu and they reveal the early stages of intense urbanization across the city. The maps date from 1891 to 1906 and they feature a tremendous amount of detail including information about local road infrastructure, building footprints, and so on. This resource will be of great use to urban historians, geographers, and others with an urban bent. [KMG]
Based at the University of California, Berkeley, the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI) is a "global consortium of people who share the vision of creating a distributed virtual library of cultural information with a time and place interface." While visitors can elect to read about the technical aspects of working on such ambitious efforts, many will want to look at the "Cultural Atlas Portal" to get a start on things. Visitors will find that the Portal contains an interactive map of the world which can be used to look for materials from Australia to North America. These cultural atlases include projects like "The Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project" and "Mapping St. Petersburg". After looking over a few of these projects, visitors may wish to click on the "Community" area. Here they can learn how to contribute their own projects to ECAI or how to work with partner institutions to create a new piece of work, visitors can also find out about ongoing projects around the globe. [KMG]
http://www.learner.org/resources/series128.html
How does one write a great essay? Is it possible to come up with an original voice? These two questions and many more are discussed in this 26-part series on English composition. Offered as part of the Annenberg Media website, this video series "introduces basic principles and strategies for communicating in writing to a variety of audiences and improving general composition skills." Over the course of this series, interested parties will hear from a wide range of writing professionals. Each episode is 30 minutes long and the program titles include "Finding Something To Say", "Reading as a Writer", and "Peer Feedback". The material is quite varied, as users will find segments with Michael Moore and Rush Limbaugh arguing about the definition of "welfare" and writers from the television program "MAD TV" talking about the experience of collaborative writing. [KMG]
Learning Chinese is not easy, but this magnificent site may spark a new interest among those who have been thinking of taking up the language. Created by Professor Yong Zhao at Michigan State University, Zon is a multiplayer online learning environment designed to introduce users to the Chinese language and culture through gameplay. His work was sponsored by the Office of the Chinese Language Council International and Michigan State University. As a part of the total experience, users will have the opportunity to learn from non-player characters, responsive game agents, and other players. First-time visitors can learn more about Zon by clicking on the "About" section, and after that they can register (a quick and free process) to get started. [KMG]
With funding from the Carnegie Corporation, The Joyce Foundation, and The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Campaign Finance Institute is a non-profit institute affiliated with The George Washington University that "conducts objective research and education, empanels task forces and makes recommendations for policy change in the field of campaign finance." Along the top of the homepage, visitors will find thematic sections that include "President", "Congress", and "Interest Groups". Each of these sections includes full reports, press releases, data tables and charts. Additionally, visitors can look for specific materials by using their embedded search engine. Also, visitors can sign up here to receive email updates on the Institute's research and programs. Overall, it's a very useful site for anyone with an interest in campaign finance from a personal or an academic perspective. [KMG]
http://www.firstworldwar.bham.ac.uk/biogs.htm
Years ago, scholar John Bourne encountered historian Peter Lawrence in a class at Birmingham University. In this class, they discussed the various British officers in World War One who weren't as well known as some of the other commanders. Professor Lawrence asked "Who were all these generals anyway?" Later, Bourne and a number of his colleagues decided to look into the lives and legacies of the masses of other general officers who commanded British troops during World War One. The results of their work can be found on this site, as visitors can read over 70 short biographies of these unsung leaders. The biographies are arranged alphabetically, all the way from Brigadier-General Sandys Ainslie to Brigadier-General Hugh Kennedy Woods. The site has a number of other resources listed on the left-hand side of the page, including book reviews and information about tracing a soldier. [KMG]
