http://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/animals/

This Australian War Memorial website looks at war from the unique perspective of the animals that were involved, whether by design or as an unfortunate (or fortunate) circumstance. Animals have had important missions during war, served as mascots or morale boosters, while some have caused immense problems for soldiers in the field. Simply clicking on the "Video" or "Audio" tabs, near the top of the page, will take visitors to over two dozen silent and sound videos, and one dozen downloadable audio podcasts. Included here are videos from 1916-1918, of Light Horse, the Australian Cavalry unit, as well as the Camel Corps. There are also audio files, which are presented in the form of "A is for Animals", "G is for Gallipoli Donkey", and "N is for Navy Cats". These files explain the role of various animals during wartime, with a youthful flair and a witty sensibility. Teachers interested in using this website as a teaching tool are encouraged to look at the Teacher Resource Kit PDF, accessible at the top right hand side of the homepage. The lessons offer ideas for grade school through secondary school, as well as for families and communities. [KMG]

http://www.storysouth.com/

For six years, storySouth's mission has been "to showcase the best fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry that writers from the new south have to offer." Its aim is to inform the world that, like the new South, the writing of the "21st century south is a mix of traditional and new, regional and international." The website design is simple and clean, something on which they pride themselves. Visitors can just sit back with a cup of coffee and enjoy a good read by perusing the new offerings in the "Poetry", "Fiction", and "Nonfiction" sections found on the homepage. The "News" section of the site, which is on the right hand side of the page, includes book reviews and mp3 recordings of fiction and poetry readings. Visitors interested in submitting work can click on "guidelines" on the right side of the page to get information on submission periods, author's rights, the site's rights, and technical details. The Million Writer's Award, established by the founder of the site, is given each year to the best short story published online. Details about the award can be found in the lower right hand corner of the homepage. [KMG]

http://www.world-tourism-news.eu/

This site from the European Union "aims...to bring news, interesting articles, and case studies in Travel Marketing, Hotel Marketing, Travel Industry, Internet Marketing and Airline Industry," and provides information "to travel agents and hotels marketers, hoteliers, destination marketers and students of tourism." With those goals in mind, the site is wisely categorized at the top of the page, by the type of industry related to tourism. "Travel Marketing", "Internet Marketing" "Hotel Marketing" and "Airline Industry" are several of the categories for which news articles are provided. Examples of the content from the "Internet Marketing" category include "Expedia Sells Consumer Data to Advertisers" and "Technology Can Drive Tourism Innovation". At the bottom left hand side of any page visitors can take a look at all the tourism-related conferences throughout the world by watching the scrolling country flags that have, sometime, cryptic titles next to them indicating the name of the conference and their dates. A Google translator at the bottom of the page is also available for those who prefer to read the site in a different language. [KMG]

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/gedney/

From the mid 1950s through the early 1980s, William Gedney photographed throughout the United States, in India, and in Europe and this collection of images and writings, at Duke University, spans more than 30 years and includes over 50,000 items. Created with the assistance of Duke students, the online collection contains almost 5,000 scanned photographic images, as well as over 1,000 scanned images of his writings and notebooks. Visitors who want to start at the beginning of Gedney's life should definitely check out the "Timeline", under the "Collection Info" heading located in the lower left side of any page. Rolling over any of the images in the timeline will give a date and location of the photo. A link to a separate chronology of his "Exhibitions and Publications" can be found at the end of the timeline, or in the "Page Content" menu to the right of the timeline. Visitors wishing to browse the collection can also find the "Browse" link under the "Collection Info" heading. The categories of photos and writings include "Composers, 1962-1968", "The Farm, 1950s" and "Kentucky, 1964 and 1971". The photos from Kentucky are not to be missed, with the arresting and mesmerizing images they present of rural families. [KMG]

http://www.c-span.org/Series/Communicators.aspx

C-SPAN has given viewers programs like the celebrated "BookTV" and "Booknotes" and now they have come out with "The Communicators". This program features a half-hour interview with "the people who shape our digital future." Interviews include the acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Fred Humphries of Microsoft Corporation's Federal Affairs division, and legislators concerned with such matters. At the top of the site's homepage, visitors will find the latest interview in the series, complete with additional relevant web resources. Further down the homepage, visitors will find a link to their podcasts, along with a complete listing of "Recent Programs". Here, visitors can also sign up to receive their RSS feed. The site is rounded out by a detailed set of "Web Resources" related to the federal government, which can be found on the right-hand side of the page. [KMG]

To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at http://amser.org.

http://pod.gscept.com/intro2gd2009.xml

There aren't many free online resources for learning about the world of video game design, so it was nice to come across this insightful podcast series on that very subject. Designed by a team based in Finland, the site contains over twenty podcasts and vodcasts that visitors can view directly from the site, or they can download them for use at another time. The two creators of this site are Janne Paavilainen and Annakaisa Kultima, and visitors would do well to start with their brief introduction, which can be found near the bottom of the page. Some of the topics covered include trends in game design, analyzing rules and narrative structure, design methods, and expert evaluation. [KMG]

To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at http://amser.org.

http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/alleyoop75th.htm

Created in 1932 by cartoonist V.T. Hamlin, the comic strip Alley Oop chronicled the adventures of a prehistoric man as he made his way through daily life in the kingdom of Moo. Oop's various trials and tribulations also offered trenchant commentaries on suburban life in the United States, and Hamlin drew the strip himself for forty years. This online exhibition, created by the University of Missouri Libraries Special Collections, draws interested parties into the world of Alley Oop through a series of thoughtful essays and examples of Hamlin's work. The sections of the exhibit include "V.T. Hamlin", "Alley Oop and Popular Culture", and "After Alley Oop". Visitors should definitely check out the "Alley Oop and Popular Culture" area as it contains shots of the Alley Oop figurine, information on the short-lived Alley Oop musical, and the Alley Oop commemorative stamp. [KMG]

http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/artfulabe/

As part of the ongoing celebration of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday (our 16th President was born February 12th, 1809), the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) invites you to play Artful Abe, an online game that connects outdoor sculptures with works at the Museum. Players begin by selecting a sculpture from a map, and then follow clues to find works at the Museum. For example, selecting the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. sends you on a scavenger hunt to find a portrait of Marian Anderson, who sang on the steps of Memorial before an audience of seventy-five thousand people, after she was barred by the Daughters of the American Revolution from performing in Washington's Constitution Hall. A limitation of the game is that visitors can only choose works that have been pre-selected by curators at SAAM - no selecting your own favorite Lincoln in your own state. As a partial remedy for this, the Museum has created the Artful Abe Flickr Pool ( http://www.flickr.com/groups/artfulabe/ ), where game players can upload additional Lincoln artworks that they have discovered, closer to their homes. [DS]