The Scout Report -- Volume 24, Number 35

The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC) recently released their 2018 Climate Opinion Maps, where readers can view "how Americans' climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy support vary at the state, congressional district, metro area, and county levels." Created by a team of researchers from Yale University, University of California-Santa Barbara, and Utah State University, these interactive maps show visualizations of each survey question's results at a wide range of geographical levels. These data visualizations are based on the YPCCC's most recent national survey in which more than 22,000 respondents were asked about their "beliefs, attitudes, and policy preferences" regarding climate change, as well as a statistical model "that incorporates actual survey responses, but combines these responses with demographic data from the U.S. Census." Visitors can also find concise explanations of the researchers' methodology, see the exact survey questions and responses used, and read an FAQ explaining the maps' meanings. [JDC]

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From the National Center for Learning Disabilities comes Get Ready to Read!, a wonderful collection of free resources "designed to support educators, parents, and young children in the development of early literacy skills in the years before kindergarten." Launched in 1999, Get Ready to Read! offers parents and educators numerous resources intended for all young children, such as online early literacy games intended for children to play with adults' help and literacy checklists to help adults "create a literacy-friendly home or classroom." Visitors will also find a "Transitioning to Kindergarten Toolkit," which contains a variety of skill-building activities, screening tools, and helpful information on child development and early learning for math as well as for reading. In addition to English, resources in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Arabic are also available. Get Ready to Read! is a valuable literacy resource for parents, educators, and caregivers of young children. [JDC]

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Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical (or SciPer) offers a valuable resource for scholars interested in the cultural history of science. Here, readers will find a "searchable electronic index to the science content of sixteen nineteenth-century general periodicals," including references to science in fiction, poetry, travel writing, illustrations, and non-science articles. During the nineteenth century, periodicals had a large influence on cultural perceptions surrounding science, technology, and medicine, but "with an estimated 125,000 periodical and newspaper titles issued in England alone in the course of the century," navigating the sheer volume of material presents a challenge. SciPer provides an access point for a representative range of publications in a format that can be searched or browsed by a wide range of fields. This rich resource will likely be especially valuable to historians of science and literary scholars. First released in 2005 and now in its third published version, SciPer is a collaboration between the Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies at the University of Sheffield and the Division of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds. [JDC]

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Educators and community leaders looking for ways to approach issues of diversity and stereotypes may be interested in the Muslima Discussion Toolkit. This resource was created as a companion to the online exhibition Muslima: Muslim Women's Art & Voices, which was presented by the International Museum of Women (now part of the Global Fund for Women) in 2013. The Muslima Discussion Toolkit offers a downloadable discussion guide composed of a three-part lesson plan focused on identifying, analyzing, and challenging stereotypes. Each section includes exercises and discussion questions, and the lesson plan integrates selected visual aids from the Muslima virtual exhibition "to help facilitate conversation, better understanding, and actions between diverse communities," - discussion leaders would also need a computer with internet access. The Muslima Discussion Toolkit is suitable for use in classrooms and with adult audiences, and the Muslima exhibition offers a wide range of artwork and thought pieces beyond those used in the discussion, so the entire exhibition is well worth exploring further. [JDC]

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From Hofstra University comes the Melville Electronic Library (MEL): "a born-digital critical archive that features scholarly editions of all versions of all works by American poet and novelist Herman Melville." Here, literature scholars and fans of Moby-Dick will find a growing collection of Melville resources organized into three main parts: archive, editions, and projects, with each section building upon the preceding one. The archive offers visitors direct access to the project's entire collection of texts and images, which are then used in conjunction with MELCat, the project's cataloging software, to create the scholarly editions of Melville's works featured in the editions section. The projects section invites visitors to draw upon the archive and editions to create new scholarship. As of this writing, visitors to MEL can find material such as images from Melville's personal collection of art prints, letters and correspondence, and "fluid-text" versions of Moby-Dick, Battle-Pieces, and Billy Budd. Begun in 2009 and slated for completion in 2030, this project is directed by John Bryant, Professor Emeritus of English at Hofstra University. The Melville Electronic Library is continually adding to its content, so those interested should revisit this resource at a later date. [JDC]

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With the Boxwood Project, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) offers visitors a unique opportunity to get up-close views of more than one hundred intricately carved Gothic boxwood miniatures from the early sixteenth century. Created in conjunction with the 2016-2017 exhibition Small Wonders: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures, this digital resource presents "a database containing every known example of miniature boxwood carved in the first half of the 1500s," with multiple high-resolution photographs showcasing the exquisite details of each piece. Readers will also find plentiful background information about these fascinating carvings, as well as original research published in 2016 by the AGO and the Rijksmuseum. Additionally, the Boxwood Project offers three lesson plans designed to encourage critical thinking, with two lessons for students in grades 4-6 and one for grades 11-12. The Boxwood Project is the result of a collaboration between the AGO, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Rijksmuseum. [JDC]

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Dialogues: An Interdisciplinary Journal for English Language Teaching and Research offers ESL educators and professionals a valuable "forum [...] to share their research, innovative ideas, and best classroom practices to better serve English learners and the profession as a whole." Launched in 2017 and currently in its second volume, this peer-reviewed, open-access journal publishes articles and other content from a range of ESL-related fields, such as linguistics, second-language writing, and cultural studies. Examples of recent articles include "'Only When Absolutely Appropriate': Attitudes Towards Codeswitching in a Public Middle School" by Mary McLachlan of North Carolina State University and "Digital Storytelling in the Multilingual Academic Classroom: Expanding the Possibilities" by Joel Bloch of The Ohio State University. Dialogues is published by North Carolina State University and edited by Dr. Jillian Haeseler, Assistant Professor and Director of English as a Second Language at NCSU. [JDC]

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Educators and young people interested in biomedical sciences may want to check out Centre of the Cell's Learn & Play resources. Part of the Queen Mary University of London, Centre of the Cell is a science education center offering a wide variety of fun and educational ways for children and families to explore the wonders of medical and health sciences. Visitors to their online Learn & Play resources will find interactive web-based games and downloadable educational apps for Android and iOs devices where they can (for example) learn about the different parts of a cell, explore what biomedical engineers do, and "build a virtual tumour and find the best way to destroy it." Teachers will find lesson plans introducing and exploring concepts such as double-blind trials in medical research, vaccinations and herd immunity, and risk factors of disease. This resource also features several digital exhibits where readers can explore the medical history of London's East End, learn about ethical questions such as cloning, and investigate various healthcare career paths by following the journeys of three patients. [JDC]

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In Unequal Scenes, American photographer Johnny Miller uses a drone to capture remarkable aerial images highlighting the dramatic and often startling disparities between rich and poor neighborhoods existing side by side. Miller began this project in 2016 in South Africa, inspired by his time there as an anthropology student. As of this writing, Unequal Scenes has expanded to include images from Mumbai, Nairobi, Mexico City, Tanzania, and the United States. In addition to Miller's photographs, which are organized by location and feature scenes such as one in Mumbai where luxurious high-rise apartment buildings are immediately adjacent to a sprawling, chaotic slum, Unequal Scenes also includes Miller's written explanations giving context to what the images show. Unequal Scenes has received numerous awards, such as first place in the Nature and Environment category at the 2017 Istanbul Photo Awards, and it has also been featured in photography exhibitions in Johannesburg, London, Sydney, and Santa Fe, among other cities. [JDC]

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In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey poured over 50 inches of rain on southeast Texas and became the most destructive storm in the city of Houston's history. Damaged & Defiant offers readers a view into Hurricane Harvey's development and Houston's struggles through two story maps, each accompanied by numerous images and photographs. The first story map focuses on the storm itself, using interactive maps and satellite video clips to show the hurricane's path and its effects. The second story map centers on how the people of Houston experienced Hurricane Harvey, offering readers "day-by-day [...] snapshots [that] capture both the progression and the vast sweep of how Houstonians faced the disaster." Visitors to Damaged & Defiant's story maps will also find information on flood bond projects and links to in-depth articles on various aspects of Hurricane Harvey (though, it should be noted that some articles may require a subscription). Created in December 2017, Damaged & Defiant was created collaboratively between The Dawn Project (led by Carroll Parrott Blue), the Houston Chronicle, and several other organizations. [JDC]

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Seeing Science: Photography, Science and Visual Culture offers readers an exploration of "the central role photographic images play in [...] furthering science and how photographic images made in and about the sciences impact public opinion, policy and funding, science education, as well as visual and popular culture." Here, readers will find a wealth of content, including a timeline detailing the development of photography, a collection of short essays on topics such as "Science Photography and the Art Museum," and a gallery of photographs grouped into science themes (e.g. artificial biospheres and celebrity scientists.) Created as a year-long project in 2016-2017, Seeing Science was produced and curated by Marvin Heiferman, Visiting Senior Research Scholar at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC), with art direction by Kelley Bell, Associate Professor of Graphic Design at UMBC. [JDC]

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Readers interested in data visualizations and the environmental impacts of urban transportation may appreciate Edinburgh's Transport Story, a story map that explores how people travel on their daily commutes in the Edinburgh region, which has the second lowest rate of car commutes in the UK after London. This project presents viewers with five interactive maps (created using census data) showing where people in the Edinburgh region use different transportation methods for their daily commutes, including walking, bicycling, taking public transportation, and driving. Accompanied by data figures and photographs, these maps show that while "sustainable" travel methods (used here to collectively refer to public transport, cycling, and walking) make up the majority of commuters in the Edinburgh metropolitan area, the rate of car commutes dramatically increases to dominate in areas further away from Edinburgh. Edinburgh's Transport Story was created by Patrick Miner, a graduate student in human geography at the University of Edinburgh where he researches public transportation and city planning. [JDC]

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A catastrophic asteroid impact is the widely accepted scientific explanation for the dinosaurs' extinction, but this isn't the only idea under consideration. In "The Nastiest Feud in Science," published in the September 2018 issue of The Atlantic, Bianca Bosker tells the story of Gerta Keller, Professor of Paleontology and Geology at Princeton University. For decades, Keller has argued that "the mass extinction was caused not by a wrong-place-wrong-time asteroid collision but by a series of colossal volcanic eruptions in a part of western India known as the Deccan Traps," an assertion that put Keller at the center of a long-running and frequently vicious scientific controversy. Bosker's long-form article unpacks this raucous controversy, highlighting the infighting among scientific disciplines, in particular between followers of Luis Alvarez, the physicist who first proposed the asteroid theory, and adherents to the Deccan volcano theory, such as Keller. A fascinating read, "The Nastiest Feud in Science" is accompanied by multiple images, along with a short video. [JDC]

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Making Gay History is a podcast featuring rare interviews with figures from the LGBTQ civil rights movement. These interviews come from the archives of creator and host Eric Marcus, who won the Stonewall Book Award for his 1992 oral history book Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights, 1945 to 1990 (revised and updated in 2002 as Making Gay History). Here, visitors will find personal stories from the well-known, such as Ellen DeGeneres, and the relatively obscure, such as Wendell Sayers, who was "the first black lawyer to work for Colorado's Attorney General, and risked everything to join a gay discussion group." Each episode is accompanied by explanatory notes written by Marcus, links to other resources, a full transcript, and (often) photographs. Launched in 2016 and currently in its third season, Making Gay History can be downloaded on iTunes, Stitcher, and other platforms. [JDC]

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Fans of art from the Dutch Golden Age will want to check out The Leiden Collection, an online catalog of one of "the largest and most important collections of seventeenth-century Dutch art in private hands." Readers will find a well-organized and easy-to-navigate database of more than 175 paintings and drawings by artists such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Gabriel Metsu, and Peter Paul Rubens. Each artwork is accompanied by a detailed explanatory entry with bibliographic references, the piece's exhibition history and provenance, and a technical summary of its conservation history. This beautifully designed resource also features scholarly essays, a glossary of art terms, a substantial collection of videos, and a helpful user guide for its online catalog. The Leiden Collection was edited by Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., who recently retired from his position as Curator of Northern Baroque Paintings at the National Gallery of Art. [JDC]

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Although the physical Song of the Vine exhibition hung in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at the Carl A. Kroch Library at Cornell University about ten years ago, the online version is still available for visitors today. Materials on display are selected from the Eastern Wine and Grape Archive, which documents the history of wine in the Finger Lakes region and the development of the wine industry in the U.S. For example, the section entitled "Wine Comes To America" contains items such as images from Agoston Haraszthy's Grape Culture, Wines, and Wine-making. With Notes Upon Agriculture and Horticulture, published in New York in 1862. Haraszthy, a wine enthusiast, is credited with introducing around 300 different grape varieties to the United States. Also in this exhibition section is a reproduction from "Thomas Jefferson on Wine," and a patent for the Einset Seedless Grape, April 26, 1988. Other sections of Song of the Vine cover practical aspects of winemaking, the temperance movement and prohibition, and grape varieties. [DS]

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Mnemosyne is an accelerated learning flashcard program that uses the SuperMemo spaced repetition system. Users can create cards containing not just text but also images, sound, movies, and more. It's even possible to embed interactive elements using Javascript. Cards can be categorized into one or more tags, and the tags themselves can be organized into a hierarchy. As a user works through their sets of cards, Mnemosyne collects and summarizes learning statistics illustrating the user's progress. Within an individual study session, users may opt to focus on a subset of cards or enter cramming mode to review a selection of cards as many times as desired. Numerous pre-made Mnemosyne decks can be downloaded from the website. Users may also import cards from Anki, SuperMemo, or CueCard. Mnemosyne's sync protocol can be used to share data across multiple machines. Mnemosyne is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Source code can be located on GitHub. [CRH]

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Gobby is a collaborative, multi-user text editor that allows multiple users to simultaneously edit a document over the internet. Sessions can be password protected to control which users are allowed access to a set of documents. Gobby also includes an Access Control List system that can be used to provide fine-grained control over which users can edit what documents. For security, all data transferred over the internet is encrypted using ciphers that provide perfect forward secrecy. Syntax highlighting for most popular languages is provided by the GtkSourceView library, which supports programming languages (C/C++, Java, Fortran, etc), scripting languages (Python, Perl, PHP, etc), and markup languages (XML, HTML, Markdown, etc). Gobby also features an in-session group chat and per-user undo that doesn't remove changes made by other users. Windows executables are available via the Gobby website. Most Linux distributions include Gobby in their package managers. MacOS users can install Gobby via MacPorts, homebrew, or nixpkgs. Gobby is free software, distributed under the ISC license, with source code available on GitHub. [CRH]

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Originally featured in the 2-12-2016 Scout Report, students, as well as teachers, may find this resource helpful in preparing for the new school year.

The Harvard College Writing Center has compiled this detailed collection on the basic elements of the scholarly essay. Advanced high school students and lower-division undergraduates might benefit the most from the resources assembled here, which cover a comprehensive outline of how to research, write, and edit an essay. Visitors may want to start with "How to Read an Assignment," and progress through the titled strategies before culminating with "Tips on Grammar, Punctuation, and Style." Each of the 18 sections contains helpful suggestions and strategies for essay writing, from writing a comparative analysis to creating an outline.

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