http://www.randcompare.org/

For visitors who know there are multiple problems with the U.S. health care system, but are puzzled by proposed reforms, this website is a great resource. The RAND Corporation, a non-profit institution that tackles tough policy problems across a broad spectrum, has a website devoted to learning about this very important and complex issue. Visitors may first want to go to the link "U.S. Health Care Today", located on the left side of the page. Once there, visitors can click on nine different topics that are crucial to the understanding of the health care system, such as "Consumer Financial Risk", "Waste", "Reliability", and "Operational Feasibility". To learn about the various policy changes that could be made, and the consequences of those changes, the visitor should click on "Policy Options" on the left side of the page. The possibilities options include changing insurance coverage, benefit design, and legal environment. Under the "Analysis of Options" link, located on the left side of the page, there is a unique chart called the Policy Options Dashboard that allows the visitor to explore the effects the various policy changes would have on the aforementioned topics listed in the "U.S. Health Care Today" link. The visitor can also click on the effects the changes would have, such as "No Effect", "Uncertain", "Positive", "Negative", or "No Evidence". [KMG]

http://www.agingtech.org

This website is a boon for anyone who researches, works, or cares for the elderly, particularly considering its aging-related services focus. The Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) describes itself in its "About CAST" section as "an international coalition of more than 400 technology companies, aging-services organizations, businesses, research universities, and government representatives working together under the auspices of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging."
To get a good idea of the latest ways technology is being used to improve the lives of seniors, visitors should click on the "Newsroom" tab at the top pf the page to choose among dozens of articles that provide examples, such as "High-Tech Devices Keep Elderly Safe from Afar", "Gadgets for Growing Old at Home", and "Broadband's Role in the Aging Experience". To read about some of the pilot projects that CAST is involved in, visitors should click on the "Pilots" tab at the top of the page. From there, the visitor will see a list of pilot project case studies that can be clicked on and viewed as PDFs. Each study is written up clearly and includes such information as Lessons Learned, Challenges, Implementation, and Outcome. Studies that weren't successful were even included, and researchers and others will find much to learn from here. [KMG]

http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/liberia/index.php?page=Virginia%20Emigrants%20To%20Liberia

With the assistance of the American Colonization Society from 1820-1865, 3,700 hundred free blacks emigrated from Virginia, to Liberia to establish the first African Republic. This well-researched gem of a website from the University of Virginia provides an interesting look into the lives of the emigrants as well as a glimpse into the identities of the emancipators who freed their slaves in order to allow them to emigrate to Liberia. A large number of resources on the emigration to Liberia are also provided. Visitors can click on "Resources" at the top of the page, to find a tab entitled "Timeline", which provides a detailed history of Liberia, with links to primary sources such as letters, articles, photographs, and even the Constitution of Liberia. Once visitors have gotten their bearings there, they can click on "Search Emigrants" to search by name, county or city of origin, ship name, emancipator, and destination. Visitors can also click "Search Emancipators" by last name, county or year of emancipation. Also under "Resources", the "Links" tab has more than two-dozen links to resources about Liberia and African Americans from a variety of authoritative websites. To read some of the intriguing stories behind the names of the emigrants and emancipators that visitors may have found in their searches, click on "Stories" at the top of the web page. The stories of ten families, individuals, emigrants, and emancipators are detailed in this link. [KMG]

http://www.statpac.com/surveys/

What are the important factors to consider when designing a survey? Would it be best conducted via telephone? Or would it be better to have a face-to-face meeting? These are but a few of the topics covered on this site created as a public service by the StatPac group. Visitors can elect to download the entire report on survey design here, or they can just click through the topics that interest them. Each topic includes a brief discussion of its relative importance, and the areas covered include questionnaire length, time considerations, question wording, and sampling methods. It's a thoughtful and helpful resource overall, and it's one that might be put to good use in an introductory statistics course in college. [KMG]

http://www.oecd.org/department/0,3355,en_2649_34361_1_1_1_1_1,00.html

Climate change is something that is on the minds of many major non-governmental organizations and international think tanks. It has certainly not escaped the attention of the Organisation For Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), which has had a climate change group as part of their environment directorate for a number of years. Their work is meant "to assist countries to implement effective and efficient policies to address climate change by conducting policy-relevant research and analysis." Near the top of their homepage, visitors will find two particularly helpful sections: "Publications & Documents" and "Information By Country". The "Publications & Documents" are divided into sections that include news releases, policy briefs, case studies, and best practices. The "Don't Miss" area found on the right hand side of the homepage brings together some of their key works, including "Climate Change Mitigation: What Do We Do?" and "Ranking Port Cities with High Exposure and Vulnerability to Climate Extremes." [KMG]

http://wrair-www.army.mil/

Some readers might be aware of the well-known Walter Reed Hospital, but they may have never heard of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Located in Silver Spring, Maryland, the Institute is the largest and most diverse biomedical research laboratory in the Department of Defense. First-time visitors will want to look over their "News" area, which provides a bit of background on their programs and research initiatives. Moving on, the "Divisions" area contains links to the Institute's different research divisions, which include military casualty research, preventive medicine, and retrovirology. In each of these sections, visitors can learn about their recent success stories, the history of each division, and about their formal training programs, and upcoming clinical trials. The site also includes information for those who might be interested in joining an upcoming clinical trial. [KMG]

http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ballads/ballads.htm

There are few things as fine as a ballad, and the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford happens to have over 30,000 in its collection. Broadside ballads were popular songs, and they were generally sold for a penny (or less) in villages around Britain between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. Many of these ballads have been digitized and placed on this website for use by music historians, social historians, and members of the general public. Visitors can click on "The Project" to learn a bit more about this initiative, and they can move on to listen to a few sound files, and also learn about the graphic images used on such pieces of music. By that point, users will be very excited to browse through the digital collection on their own. If they click on the "Browse/Search" area, they can perform a detailed search on the ballad titles or first lines. To get started, visitors might want to type in words like "lucky" or "horse". [KMG]

http://digitalresearchtools.pbwiki.com/

As more and more scholars grow interested in the world of digital research, this tremendously useful wiki will be one that they will tell their colleagues about. Created by Lisa Spiro, the director of the Digital Media Center at Rice University, this collaborative wiki collects information about tools and resources that can help scholars conduct research more efficiently or creatively. Visitors can browse through topical headings that include "Authoring", "Blogging", and "Data Mining", among others. Within each heading, visitors can read short descriptions about each resource. Under the "Types of Tools" section visitors can search for specific tools that can help them collect data, edit images, make a dynamic map, and so on. Additionally, visitors can sign up to join the wiki here and also learn more about Spiro and her other projects. [KMG]