The Scout Report -- Volume 22, Number 39

Elizabeth Murray was born in Scotland in 1726 and moved, by herself, to Boston at the age of 22. In Boston, Murray became a successful shop owner, helped other women who wished to start businesses, and lived a remarkably independent life for an eighteenth century colonial woman. The Elizabeth Murray Project is a resource site for K-12 and college educators that features archival material and lesson plans related to Elizabeth Murray's life and work. Created by instructors at California State University, Long Beach and the Long Beach Unified School District with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, this website includes a remarkable collection of portraits, pamphlets, trade cards, letters, newspaper articles, and legal notifications. In Teacher Resources, instructors can browse for complete lesson plans and lesson ideas by grade level (Elementary School, Middle School, High School, and University). Lesson Plan topics include Consumerism and the American Revolution; Women and Education; and Gender and Opportunity in colonial America. The Elizabeth Murray Project also features a collection of Interactive Primary Sources and a helpful Glossary help students as they navigate this site. [MMB]

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This past year, NASA created open.NASA, an open data portal to make its extensive data sets, code repositories, and application program interfaces (APIs) available to the general public. The portal is organized so that interested visitors may easily explore the material that is most relevant to them. For instance, from the landing page, readers select the label they most identify with (Citizen Scientist, Developer, Citizen Activist, Govvie, or Curious) to see related articles and materials. While developers, scientists, and designers may want to check out the over 30,000 data sets available on this website, curious readers may be especially drawn to the Data Stories, which highlight how individuals and organizations around the world are making use of open data. [MMB]

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The University of Oxford's Bodleian Library is home to a rare manuscript entitled (through a rough English translation) Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes. This manuscript, which was authored sometime in the eleventh century, features diagrams, maps, and text that highlight the work of Muslim astronomers, scholars, and historians, "most of which are unparalleled in any Greek, Latin or Arabic material known to be preserved today." On this website, visitors can examine a digitized copy of the first and second chapters of this five chapter manuscript. Within this sample, visitors will find diagrams of major rivers, a variety of both earthly and celestial maps, and a diagram of "winds, elements, and zodiacal signs." By moving their mouse over any portion of the digitized manuscript, readers can see the original Arabic in detail alongside an English translation. This website also includes footnotes and a glossary to aid modern day readers in examining this extraordinary document. Instructors will want to check out the project's extensive Teachers' Pack, which includes a variety of classroom activities. [MMB]

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Created by the Maryland Language Science Center, Langscape is a resource designed to help students and members of the general public explore the geographic prevalence of a number of different languages around the world. The interactive map allows visitors to explore what languages are most predominantly spoken in different regions around the world. Visitors can zoom in on a country to examine different language regions. By clicking on a region, one can chose to view all major languages spoken in that country, or, alternatively, can explore where else in the world a particular language is spoken. Another highlight of Langscape is the Language Game, where visitors can listen to an audio recording of speech and see if they can correctly identify the language they are hearing. Langscape includes an extensive K-12 Guide for instructors looking to incorporate these online tools into their classrooms. [MMB]

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Old Weather, a project from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is one of a growing number of crowdsourcing efforts that enlists the help of citizen scientists or citizen historians from around the world. For this specific project, volunteers are asked to help transcribe a fascinating collection of nineteenth and early twentieth century ship's logs that highlight weather, water, and ice conditions. As the About section notes, these documents are especially important because they not only help historians better understand the nature of nineteenth century voyages, but they also help contemporary climate scientists identify past weather patterns. On this website, built using the open-source tool Scribe, readers may opt to explore Arctic logs from U.S. Navy and Coast Guard voyages, or Whaling logs. Visitors can then read these entries and provide transcriptions and annotations for the project. Old Weather also features a blog that highlights a number of fascinating historical events centering on the role of weather in shipping. [MMB]

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British Art Studies is an online, open access art history journal published by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and the Yale Center for British Art. First released in August 2015, British Art Studies features Articles, Editorials, Conversation Pieces (a feature where the journal invites multiple scholars to respond to a single question or idea), and Look First (a feature that takes advantage of the digital nature of British Art Studies by inviting readers to closely examine a film or piece of art). The publication demonstrates the advantages of the digital form for art journals, at it allows readers to view sketches, paintings, sculptures, and other art in close detail while they read accompanying analyses. For example, an article about John Singer Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose allows readers to view not only close-ups of the painting, but also a number of related images, including an X-radiograph of an unrelated portrait that reveals new insights about Sargent's artistic technique. [MMB]

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This past month, the Pew Research Center released a thirty-page report outlining major trends in how Americans use public libraries and what they would like these libraries to offer. The report, entitled Libraries 2016, is based on information collected from a telephone survey of 1,601 Americans ages 16 and older. The survey found that 53 percent of those surveyed had used a public library in some form over the past year. In addition, the survey indicated that a majority (77 percent) of those surveyed were satisfied with the services they received at public libraries. While most individuals surveyed agreed that they would like their local libraries to provide education about how to use digital technology, they were divided about what they wanted libraries to do with books. When asked if books should be moved to provide more community space, 24 percent supported the idea while 31 percent did not. Interested readers can download a full PDF of this report. [MMB]

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The Smithsonian Learning Lab makes it possible for educators to search, annotate, share, and create learning resources based on the museum's rich digital material, consisting of more than a million images, recordings, and texts. Search results are displayed visually to make quick selection easy. There is also a series of minute-long videos that outline how to search, adapt, create, customize, and share creations. Almost 1,200 collections created by participants and Smithsonian education and outreach staff are browsable in the Learning Lab Collections category, on topics ranging from "Innovations in Coffee Cup Lids" to "What Makes a First Lady?" to "Origami Cranes." Anyone can search; sign up for an account to use more advanced features of Learning Lab, such as saving and publishing collections, using the question function to associate questions with an artifact, and assigning topic, age and grade level, or type of student activity tags to a collection. [DS]

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Many readers turn to Wired for its daily briefings on current and future technology trends. The publication's Threat Level blog is no exception, uncovering and sharing advice and timely reports on the latest privacy and information security issues. From clever Hack Briefs to the latest security news, Threat Level is a great resource for both everyday consumers and IT professionals. This blog includes information that will be of interest to anyone concerned about their personal technology security: recent articles include a report about new encryption options for Facebook Messenger and an editorial that warns about the risks of using Text Messaging for two-step security authentication. In addition, Threat Level features articles and editorials about tech security news and debates from around the world, including stories about the National Security Administration, news about hacking incidents, and debates about privacy and technology. [MMB]

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Managed by the Medical Research Council (MRC) Clinical Science Centre, the BioMedical Picture of the Day (BPoD) aims to "engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biomedicine." Each day, this website features a single remarkable image produced during the course of biomedical research. These images, submitted by scientists around the globe, are each accompanied by a brief explanation of the image and its significance. Recent pictures include an image of the gut bacteria found in zebrafish and an image of the isolated genome in a snake embryo that is responsible for the creature's long skeleton. Visitors can use the site's Archive to browse past images by month. BPoD is a great site for anyone looking to learn a bit more about medical research; biology instructors may also find it a strong resource for warm-up activities. [MMB]

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Anyone who enjoys thoughtful considerations about sports or applying philosophical concepts to quotidian hobbies should check out Philosophy of Sport. Authored largely by philosophy scholars, this communal blog is dedicated to exploring a number of philosophical issues related to organized sports. Topics include ethical and moral questions (e.g. Should I let my kid play football?); a consideration of the connection between our contemporary understanding of "sport" and the Vedic word Kidra; and an examination of the role of sports commentary in Indian cricket. This website also features links to Professional Organizations, Journals, and Centers and Institutes dedicated to the philosophy of sport for those interested in further exploring the topic. [MMB]

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Medieval art and history enthusiasts will want to check out Medieval Hungary, a blog by art historian Zsombor Jekely that highlights art, manuscripts, resources, and news related to medieval Hungary. One of the blog's highlights is a series of images and resources relating to the crown of Saint Stephen, a Hungarian king blessed by the pope in the year 1000. Medieval Hungary also features an extensive list of links to digitized manuscripts from the Bibliotheca Corviniana, a library established by fifteenth century Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus. Readers may check out these two features through the Holy Crown and Bibliotheca Corviniana Online tabs, and can check out Jekely's most recent updates on the site's homepage. At the time of this writing, recent updates include news about the discovery of a mass grave dating back to the thirteenth century and news about a 2016 exhibit about Medieval Budapest and Krakow at the Budapest History Museum. [MMB]

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Interesting Literature aims to "uncover the little-known interesting facts about the world of books, and to shine a light on some of the more curious aspects of literature." The blog is edited (and largely authored) by Oliver Tearle, a lecturer in nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. The site is updated almost daily and features accessible and incisive analyses of poems; lists (such as "10 Very Short American Poems Everyone Should Read"), biographical sketches of literary figures, and more. Tearle is skilled at identifying engaging tidbits and providing literary analysis in a manner that is illuminating and jargon-free, requiring no expertise in literature or history. As a result, his website will be of interest to poetry fans as well as those looking to dip their toe into the literary world. Those who enjoy this website should note that Tearle has also authored three books, most recently The Secret Library: A Book Lover's Journey Through the Curiosities of History" [MMB]

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Oregon State University was established in 1868. In the 1890s, OSU became one of the first universities to offer courses in photography. As a result, OSU's Valley Library is home to an especially rich photographic archive documenting the institution's history. On this website, visitors are invited to browse an extensive digitized collection of these photographs, ranging from the late nineteenth century through the present day. Photographs have been organized into twelve chapters, including sections on Architectural Harmony and Development; OSU's Early Years, 1858-1889; and Prominent Faculty and Alumni. Each chapter contains a number of images of interest, including, for example, the 1947 photograph Books Ordered for Veterans Ready for Distribution in the Memorial Union Ballroom or the 1890 photograph Students Haying on the College Farm c.a. 1890. As explained, agricultural students were required to work on the campus farm. [MMB]

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Each month, The New Yorker invites an author to select a short story from the magazine's extensive archive to read aloud for the Fiction Podcast. Fiction editor Deborah Treisman then conducts brief and illuminating interviews with each guest author to accompany these readings, allowing each guest a chance to explain their choice and discuss themes, characters, and literary devices employed in their selected story. Treisman's interview style allows listeners to get a glimpse into how each story personally resonated with each guest author and, at times, impacted their own work. In one recent episode, author and MacArthur Genius recipient Karen Russell reads and discusses Mavis Gallant's 1978 story "From the Fifteenth District." Other episodes feature Joseph O'Neill reading Muriel Spark; Ben Lerner reading John Berger; and Edwidge Danticat reading Jamaica Kincaid. [MMB]

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Michelle Ziegler, the author of Contagions, is a biologist who specializes in biosecurity and public health. On this blog, Ziegler writes about a number of illnesses - including Influenza, Cholera, Malaria, and the Plague - from both a historical and biological perspective. The Plague section is especially extensive, offering detailed examinations of the characteristics of various plague pandemics in history; an exploration of the etymology of Yersinia; an investigation of modern day plague infections; and a consideration of the retrospective diagnosis. Meanwhile, the section on Super-Spreaders explores the individuals and conditions that turn diseases into epidemics. In Emerging Microbes, Ziegler explores a variety of infectious diseases old and new, recurrent and temporal, that have had an influence on historical moments as well as our contemporary reality. Contagions is a strong resource for anyone interested in the history of medicine or anyone looking to incorporate scientific insight into historical explorations. [MMB]

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Visual learners looking for a free study or note taking tool may want to check out XMind. This "mind-mapping" program, designed for Mac or Windows computers, allows users to create and save a variety of organizational maps, diagrams, charts, and spreadsheets. Users can create their own maps or select from a variety of templates, including timelines, fishbone charts, and flowcharts. Users can then save their maps to other note-taking tools like Evernote, or share them on social media via Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. (Users may also purchase a version of XMind that allows them to export mindmaps to a variety of formats, including PDF or Microsoft Office). As of now, XMind is available only on computers; a mobile version is in the works. [MMB]

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Block & Flow is a free productivity iOS application and Google Chrome extension that uses the pomodoro technique (short work intervals followed by brief, regular breaks) and provides users with self-generated data about how they spend their time. Users create a number of categories to describe work activities (e.g. writing, email, studying, etc), then assign each of these tasks a color. Next, users select from their self-designed categories as they start to work. A timer, in the shape of block, appears on the screen for 25 minutes. Once this time is over, users are prompted to take a 5 minute break. Block and Flow is unique from other pomodoro devices in that users can then view the amount of time - or total blocks - they spend each week on each of their self-created categories. This allows users to regularly assess and adjust their work habits and productivity. [MMB]

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