Research and Education
http://everglades.fiu.edu/reclaim/index.htm
The Everglades are a complex ecosystem, and over the past 125 years humans have tinkered with the operations of this area in ways that have had far-reaching effects. This remarkable digital archive brings together sixteen different collections held by the special collections of the University of Miami, Florida International University, and the Historical Museum of Southern Florida. Taken as a whole, these collections explore the role of the federal government in the creation of the Everglades National Park, the growth and development of the modern conservation movement, and the treatment of Native Americans. A good place to start on the site is the interpretive essay, and then move on over to the timeline area, which covers the pre-Columbian period to the present day. After that, visitors can move on to looking through each of the individual collections, which contain original documents, photographs, historical maps, and other pieces of ephemera. Finally, there's a "Research Assistance" area for visitors who have more questions about how to locate items throughout these collections. [KMG]
Many people are familiar with the World Bank's work in the areas of international finance and economic development, but they may not be aware of their work in the area of biodiversity. The World Bank happens to be the world's largest financier of biodiversity, and their work includes supporting the sustainable use of biodiversity outside protected areas, eradication of alien species, and land conservation. First-time visitors may wish to start their journey through the site by clicking on the "What's New" area. Here they will find reports on biodiversity, the role of indigenous peoples in biodiversity conservation, and a review of the World Bank's conservation projects during the past twenty years. Another way to look through the materials on the site is by using the drop-down menus that read "Topic", "Country", and "Region/Income". Visitors can also read overview statements that cover the Bank's work on biodiversity and poverty, biosafety, and mountain ecosystems. [KMG]
http://www.brookings.edu/projects/business.aspx
The focus on the Brooking Institution's Initiative on Business and Public Policy is to provide "analytical research and constructive recommendations on public policy issues affecting the business sector in the United States and around the world." The Initiative is primarily concerned with working in the areas of financial reform and competitiveness. Scholars, policy analysts, and others can click through the site to look at their latest policy briefs, op-ed pieces, and conference proceedings. In terms of thematic offerings, visitors shouldn't miss the "Fixing Finance" series of papers, which include documents such as, "The Origins of the Financial Crisis" and "Regulating Insurance After the Crisis". Also, visitors should look through the "Top Topics" area and sign up to receive their periodic Economic Studies Bulletin via email. [KMG]
http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=16
Advocacy, action, and analysis are the tenets of Freedom House, a democracy organization founded in 1941 in the United States. Their website is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, Korean, Russian and Spanish, and is loaded with analysis.
One of the focuses of Freedom House is to monitor the freedom of the press available in countries around the world. Each year they publish a survey of 194 countries' degree of free press. The report includes country scores, draft reports, an overview essay, and methodology employed in gathering the data for the survey. To view any of the editions from 2002-2008 simply click on the drop down menu "Select a Year" next to Edition, near the top of the homepage. Once visitors have selected a year, an interactive, downloadable map will appear, allowing the visitor to choose a region on the map, and then choose any of the countries in the region. A press-oriented biography of the country is given, along with how the country scored in various measures of general freedom. Links to such information as "Methodology", "Survey Team", "Tables & Charts", and "Essays" are accessible at the top of the page once a visitor chooses a country to explore.
[KMG]
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub142/pub142.pdf
In the winter of 2008, the Council on Library and Information Services (CLIR) convened a group of 25 leading librarians, publishers, faculty members, and information technology specialists to look into the following question: "How should we be rethinking the research library in a swiftly changing information landscape?" As part of this discussion, the participants discussed "the challenges and opportunities that libraries are likely to face in the next five to ten years." The 81-page report is divided into two sections. The first provides a basic overview of the ways in which research libraries might transform themselves in the near future and the second section contains eight short topical essays from some of the participants. These essays include "Co-teaching: The Library and Me", "The Future of the Library in the Research University", and "The Role of the Library in 21st Century Scholarly Publishing". [KMG]
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/EcoNatRes/subcollections/KlinevAbout.html
Dr. Virginia M. Kline was a plant ecologist who worked at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum for many years. She was an enthusiastic educator, and she also helped to develop the field of restoration ecology. For eleven years, she also team-taught the course "Vegetation of Wisconsin" with Professor Grant Cottam. As part of this work she created a series of slides designed to reflect the natural history of Wisconsin, past and present. Visitors to this digital collection can view these slides and also listen to a series of audiotapes from the course. All told, there are 1200 items in this collection, and visitors can view sets of images in galleries or perform more detailed searches across all of the items. Some of the photographs are quite beautiful and taken as a whole this collection offers a good overview of the plant life in southern Wisconsin. [KMG]
Computer science can be a tricky subject, so it's fortunate that Harvard College has created this lovely resource designed for neophytes and everyone else. Taught by David Malan, this course is designed to teach interested persons "how to think more methodically and how to solve problems more effectively." On this site, visitors can view all of the course lectures, take a look at some problem sets, and look over lecture notes and slides. All told, there are 12 weeks of course materials here which cover algorithms, parameters, dynamic programming, and buffer overruns. Also, visitors can review the entire syllabus and take several different quizzes. Overall, it's a great resource and it's one that can be used in a variety of settings. [KMG]
Finding new and important works from academic journals can be challenging, and winnowing out the free offerings can be even more taxing. The JURN site brings together humanities and social sciences articles that are made available from the Directory of Open Access Journals and the Intute: Arts & Humanities website. Additionally, the site brings together pieces from 13 fine-arts magazines and full-text proceedings from conference proceedings. First-time visitors may wish to get started by clicking on the "blog", found under the search bar. Here they can read the "About" section and then move on to the rather helpful free guide to performing academic searches via websites such as Google Scholar and the University Digital Library. Overall, the site is fairly easy to use as visitors can use the search engine on the homepage to look over terms like "gender studies" or "Old Masters". [KMG]
