The Scout Report -- Volume 23, Number 20

From the University of Richmond's Digital Scholarship Lab comes Hidden Patterns of the Civil War, a collection of "interrelated projects on the sectional crisis, slavery, and emancipation during the Civil War era, with a particular emphasis on the histories of the city of Richmond and the state of Virginia." These projects are organized into two categories, Text and Maps. In Text, visitors will find a variety of information and tools for examining text related to the Civil War in Virginia. For example, TextMapping analyzes and compares the vocabulary of two newspapers, in the Shenandoah Valley. Another notable Text project highlights the 1861 Virginia Secession Convention, and visitors may examine primary documents from the convention proceedings where delegates debated whether or not to secede from the Union. Meanwhile, over in the Maps section, visitors will find five interactive maps. This collection includes the powerful Visualizing Emancipation map, where visitors may view dozens of "Emancipation Events" that occurred across the United States during the Civil War. Collectively, the projects in Hidden Patterns of the Civil War offer a number of useful resources for history researchers and instructors alike. [MMB]

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What are the best ways to assess student learning in mathematics? The University of California at Berkeley and the Shell Center for Mathematics Education at the University of Nottingham have teamed up to create a wealth of free resources to help mathematics instructors engage in both formative and summative assessments. On this website, math instructors can access a number of assessments designed for middle school and high school mathematics classrooms. These resources include almost 94 tests, 100 lesson plans (or Classroom Challenges), and a number of summative assessment activities (or Tasks), accompanied by rubrics. All of these materials are sorted by grade level (6-12) and are available for download in PDF format. These materials are designed to meet Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM). In addition to these ready to use classroom resources, the Mathematics Assessment Project also includes a handful of modules for teacher professional development. [MMB]

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The Cell Image Library is an open access repository of images, videos, and animations of cells. Led by Caroline Kane and the American Society for Cell Biology, the project serves as a resource for healthcare researchers and providers. Visitors can browse the library across four main categories: Cell Process (which includes images of cell division, protein synthesis, and the development of multicellular organisms); Cell Component (featuring photographs and diagrams of specific parts of plants and animal cells); Cell Type (an extensive, alphebetized collection of over 100 specific cell types); and Organism (over 200 photographs of the cells of specific organisms, from Acacia dealbata to Zea mays. As of this write-up, the Cell Image Library also includes two Data Sets. Visitors can learn more about the many contributors to this project via the Contributors link. [MMB]

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Youth art educators of all stripes (including K-12 classroom teachers, youth workers, librarians, educators in out of school contexts, and caretakers) will find a number of useful resources at ArtsEdge, a project of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. These resources include lesson plans, how to guides, articles, and a number of multimedia resources. Classroom instructors may want to start with the Educators section, which features a number of lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school learners. Many of these lessons are designed to have an interdisciplinary focus, and therefore may be incorporated into multiple classrooms. For example, one high school lesson explores arts during the nineteenth century's Gilded Age. A K-2 lesson, meanwhile, utilizes theatre, music, and books to teach young learners about animal habitats. Even more interdisciplinary classroom resources can be found in the Collection and Media sections of the website, including themed series and lesson plans. For example, the Story Behind the Song series facilitates student exploration of the history behind songs such as "We Shall Overcome" and "Yankee Doodle." Note: some of the videos on this website require Adobe Flash Player. [MMB]

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The National Archives of Japan feature a number of digitized collections that will be of interest to scholars and students of Japanese history, culture, and politics. Archival materials are organized across six categories, including Constitution, Classic Maps, and Various Holdings. In Classic Maps, visitors can explore a number of maps created during the Tokugawa shogunate which covered the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries. This extensive collection includes a variety of maps, including national land maps (Genroku Kuniezu), local country maps (Tempo Kuniezu), and maps of castle towns (Shoho Shiroezu). Another highlight of this collection is a series of gorgeous illustrated charts of plants and animals published by the Ministry of Education in the late nineteenth century. This collection can be found in the Various Holdings section. This link takes visitors to the English language version of the website; those with a reading knowledge of Japanese may browse the website in its original Japanese by selecting a language button at the top of the page. [MMB]

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In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, chapbooks, or short pamphlets, offered an affordable way for readers to access popular stories of romance, travel, comedy, politics, fairy tales, and other topics. The Scottish Chapbooks Project, a collaborative initiative of the University of Guelph Library's Archival and Special Collections and the Department of History, lets readers browse 56 chapbooks alongside a variety of educational resources. Visitors new to chapbooks may want to start by checking out the Research and Resources section, which features two short essays that, respectively, explore the historiography of chapbooks and the role that women play in creating and consuming these chapbooks. Visitors may also wish to explore these chapbooks individually (through Items) or as one of four Exhibits, where select chapbooks are grouped by theme. For example, one exhibit centers on chapbooks involving ghosts and superstition, while another features a collection of lesson plans and activities for high school teachers. [MMB]

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Northern California's KQED public television and radio station offers a lot of quality educational resources for youth via their programming. The recently launched YouTube show, Above the Noise, is no exception. Hosted by Myles Bess and Shirin Ghaffary, this series is designed to help teenagers develop the skills to assess the validity of science news reports. In these short videos (approximately five minutes each), Bess and Ghaffary examine the kind of recent scientific headlines that affect teens, e.g. Does social media cause depression? Are energy drinks really bad for you? The hosts then examine the research studies behind these headlines through a series of critical questions: Does this study conflate causation with correlation? What was the sample size for this study? What questions are left unanswered by these studies? These short, highly engaging videos offer a useful resource for science or journalism classrooms. [MMB]

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Child Trends is a nonprofit research organization that addresses a range of issues related to child well-being in the United States. Child Trends offers Databank Indicators, a collection of user-friendly data reports. Each Indicator contains a short (approximately 10-15 pages) report with data tables, charts, and links to related resources. These reports are available as PDFs to allow for easy download. Recent Indicator topics include an investigation of how many teenagers are meeting the Department of Health and Human Service's recommendation for physical activity; an exploration of cigarette use among youth; and data about the number of youth living in homes with food insecurity. These informative and succinct reports may be of interest to policy makers, grant writers, youth workers, and educators. [MMB]

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The New York Academy of Medicine's Center of Medicine and Public Health "promotes the scholarly and public understanding of the history of medicine and public health and the history of the book." On its blog, visitors can learn more about items in the the New York Academy's Library and the clues that archival materials provide about the history of health and medicine. For example, one recent post from Dr. Daniel Goldberg of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus explores the library's collection of William J. Morton papers. Morton pioneered X-ray technology in the late nineteenth century. In another recent entry, science historian and philosopher Ann-Sophie Barwich writes about the history of the classification of smells, a topic she recently lectured on at the Academy. This engaging blog, updated several times a month, offers an enjoyable way to learn fascinating snippets of medical history. [MMB]

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Between 1857 and 1867, the rapidly growing metropolis of Nottingham, England had a thriving theatre culture. This digital project, led by Dr. Richard Tyler-Jones at the University of Nottingham, allows visitors to explore how the urban growth of Nottingham facilitated the expansion of the theatre scene. Drawing on newspaper reports of theatrical performances, playbills, census records, and other archival materials, this project can be explored in a variety of ways. In the Map section, visitors can explore the location of venues and performances in Nottingham during this decade by date (types of performances marked on this map include Animal Acts, Jubilees, Operas, and Sermons, among others). Meanwhile, in the Census section, visitors can learn more about how Nottingham was changing by viewing a map of census data relating to both population and religion. Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of this website is the large picture bank featured in the Images section. These pictures include playbills, artistic renditions of notable buildings, and photographs. [MMB]

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The Tea Bag Index is a unique citizen science project that measures global tea bag decomposition. Participants have one simple task: take two plastic tea bags (one Lipton Green tea bag and one Lipton Rooibos tea bag) and bury them just 8 centimeters below the ground in a the same location (15 centimeters apart from one another). After 2-3 months, remove the tea bags, dry them out, weigh them, and submit the data to the Tea Bag Index team. What can the weight of these tea bags tell us? These weights indicate the rate of plant decay in a specific location. Plant decay rates are influenced by the amount of carbon in a particular location, offering information about the impact of greenhouse gasses in the local environment. Those interested in participating in this project should check out the detailed instructions on this website. Those simply curious about the project can check out the locations of current contributors on the Map, found within the Data tab, or read media coverage of the project via Publications. [MMB]

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This new map is for fans of typography and machine learning alike. Created by designers at IDEO, the Font Map helps graphic designers of all stripes easily compare over 750 different fonts available on the web by seeing these fonts arranged on a map. As designer Kevin Ho explains, the team used machine learning to compare and sort these fonts (those interested in learning more about the process will want to check out the full article by Ho, available in the About section). The result is an easy to navigate collection of fonts for future use on websites, flyers, or resumes. These fonts are represented on the map by their letter "A"; by hovering over each letter, one can view the name of the font and the "Lorem Ipsum" sample. [MMB]

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Fans of composer Aaron Copland will want to check out this extensive collection from the Library of Congress. This collection includes nearly 1,000 items, including handwritten letters authored by the composer, numerous photographs from throughout Copland's career, notated music, and more. Visitors who are less familiar with Copland may want to start by checking out the Articles and Essays tab. Here, visitors can learn more about the composer and his work and check out a timeline of his life, illustrated with photographs from this collection. Meanwhile, visitors can head over to the Collection Items tab in order to browse this extensive collection by type of material or by date. The amazing breadth of materials, combined with the helpful descriptions available in the Articles and Essays section, make this collection enjoyable for both dedicated Copland fans as well as those interested in getting acquainted with the famous composer for the first time. [MMB]

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NASA astronaut Don Pettit has been a resident of the International Space Center for three missions totaling 370 days. During those missions, Pettit decided to take a number of photographs, which he recently published in the new book, Spaceborne. In December 2016, Chau Tu interviewed Pettit for the Science Friday podcast. Here readers will find Tu's interview with Pettit, alongside a sampling of spectacular photographs. As Pettit explains, he is interested in capturing photographs that "are radically different than anything else you could see from a satellite platform like Google Earth uses." Instead, Pettit employs a variety of techniques that depict both earth and space in radically new ways. Perhaps the most striking photograph in this collection is a black and white photograph of the Betisboka River delta in Madagascar. Check out this interview in full to learn more about Pettit's photography influences, his techniques, and his reflections on his work. [MMB]

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From Flickr comes The Commons, a project that seeks to catalogue public photography collections from around the world. The Commons invites cultural institutions to share relevant collections in one place; as of this write up, there are over 100 participating museums, libraries, and other institutions. The collection includes a number of historical photographs (both portrait photographs and photographs of documents and illustrations) as well as contemporary photographs. Visitors can browse this collection by participating institution, or conduct a text search for the whole collection Many participating institutions have extensive albums included in their individual Flickr account for easy browsing. With participants ranging from UC Berkeley's Department of Geography to the Finnish Museum of Photography to the Internet Archive Book Images collection, The Commons offers something of interest for everyone. [MMB]

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In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the United States expanded its borders by acquiring new territories, primarily in the Pacific and Caribbean. Using colonial settlements in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, this Digital Public Library of American (DPLA) exhibition looks at both the colonizers and the colonized, exploring "the lives and legacies of citizens and subjects--those who established and defined the American presence abroad; those who fought to keep the American flag off their soil; those who crafted domestic visions of exotic lands; and those who negotiated life in the empire." Content in the collection includes political cartoons, sheet music, photographs, stereographs, illustrations, paintings, and video, such as newsreel footage showing Hawaiians celebrating on the occasion of becoming the 50th state. The exhibition is organized across thematic sections: The Age of Imperialism; Building the Empire; American Subjects or Citizens?; Colonization; America's Empire at Home; and The End of the Empire. Materials in the exhibition were contributed to DPLA by dozens of institutions, including the National Archives and Records Administration, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections, the Smithsonian Institution, South Carolina Digital Library, J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards, and many more. [DS]

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Signal is a communications platform for iOS and Android devices that supports text messaging, voice calls, and video calls. While users are identified by their phone number, Signal messages and calls are sent via the internet using a wifi or data connection, not over the cellular voice network. Because of this, there are no charges beyond data fees for Signal calls, even for long distance or international calls. Signal conversations are encrypted using the namesake Signal Protocol, designed by Open Whisper Systems and subsequently also adopted by WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Google Allo. Unlike the other systems using the Signal Protocol, complete source code for the Signal client applications as well as the Signal servers is available under a free software license. Signal has been recommended by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in their "Surveillance self-defense guide," has been endorsed by Edward Snowden, and was recently approved by the US Senate's Sergeant at Arms for official use by Senate staff members. [CRH]

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It can be a surprisingly difficult task to record and stream video over the internet. Users must often assemble a pipeline of several different tools that each handle a different aspect of the production process. Open Broadcaster Studio wraps the entire process into a single, simple to use application. It can be used to pre-record video content, but it truly shines as a tool for live streaming. Multiple popular streaming services are supported including YouTube and Facebook Live. It can perform real time video and audio mixing, audio filtering (e.g. noise suppression), video filtering (e.g. color correction), custom transitions between scenes, and more. Extensive documentation is available on its website, including step-by-step guides with detailed instructions and screenshots. Users may also seek assistance via the very active Open Broadcaster Software forums or via live community chat. Open Broadcaster Studio is available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers. [CRH]

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