The Scout Report -- Volume 27, Number 36

While traditional civics and political history education focuses on foundational documents like Constitutions, there is often a lack of attention to how such documents were produced. History teachers, legal scholars, and even legal practitioners will want to check out the Quill Project, a research platform from Pembroke College, University of Oxford and the Center for Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University. The project seeks to "enhance understanding of some of the world's foundational legal texts," by revealing the "negotiation of law in formal settings." Using tailor-made software, the platform allows users to digitally manipulate historical documents to reconstruct the processes of negotiation, debate, and discussion which resulted in texts such as the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Readers may wish to begin by consulting the "User Guide," and once familiar with the software, can use the "Advanced Tools" to search and compare texts or create visualizations of statistics, timelines, activities, and documents related to specific legal texts. The Quill Project is directed by Nicholas Cole, political historian at the University of Oxford. [MJZ]

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The ocean's "twilight zone," a region deep beneath the waves where weird and fascinating creatures thrive, is an important but little understood part of the vast marine ecosystem. Readers can "dive into" this world with the Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ) project from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (previously featured in the 06-07-2019 Scout Report). The link above opens a quiz page where users can click "Dive Deeper," then "Take The Quiz," to answer a series of questions that reveal which bizarre deep-sea creature they are. From the quiz page, readers can click the hamburger button in the upper right corner, then "About" and "Visit Our Website" to be taken to the full project page. On that page, readers looking to learn more about the scientific and public policy impact of the project, or the technologies involved in diving more than 3,000 feet below the ocean surface, can check out the Work & Impact drop-down menu or click "Logbook" for notes from the field and news about the ongoing project. Teachers might find useful resources to integrate into the classroom, such as the "Images" and "Videos" that can be accessed from the Multimedia drop-down menu. The "Creature Features" page linked under the Explore the OTZ drop-down menu provides detailed information about some of the twilight zone creatures, such as the strawberry squid, lanternfish, atolla jellyfish, and black swallower. Click one of the featured creature tiles for photos, a description, quick facts, and related research items. OTZ is funded in part by the Audacious Project. [MJZ]

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Even as many museums around the world reopen with adaptations for the COVID-19 pandemic, not everyone is able or willing to visit in person. That makes this overview of New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, provided by Google Arts & Culture (previously featured in the 07-19-2019 Scout Report), extra handy for armchair travelers. Visitors can view more than 200 artworks inside the museum by selecting from a handful of online exhibits, such as But a Storm Is Blowing From Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, or Storylines: Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim, featuring works from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The exhibit Architecture of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum provides a deep dive into architect Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic design of the building. In addition to the exhibits, readers can find artworks organized by material and artist under In This Collection. For visitors who wonder how the museum manages to hang art on its round walls, scroll to the section titled 4 Museum Views and click the small human figure icon to walk the spiral. The page linked above also provides basic information about the museum, including opening hours, website, and location. [DS]

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Instructors and professors of geography and related disciplines will want to take advantage of the resources made available by Open Geography Education, a website "dedicated to providing free, open curriculum and resources to anybody who is interested in our geographic world." Part of the movement towards Open Education Resources (OER), the site makes peer-reviewed, Creative Commons-licensed geography educational materials available for open access. Visitors can click on "eTextbooks" for links to OER geography and geology textbooks, geography lab manuals, and geospatial technology instructional materials. The books are designed to be readable on smartphones and tablets and for use in face-to-face, hybrid, or entirely online courses. There is also an "Online Resources" page with helpful links to professional organizations, government agencies, private sector institutions, and research centers and projects touching on physical, environmental, and human geography, geographic information systems, remote sensing, and spatial data analysis. Open Geography Education was created by R. Adam Dastrup, Geosciences Coordinator at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC), with support from SLCC, GeoTech, Lumen, Esri, and the Utah State Board of Education. [MJZ]

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From writer, community organizer, and educator Hoda Katebi, Because We've Read is an international book club and digital library focused on raising awareness and understanding of issues in global politics, race, gender, colonialism, religion, and more. Activists, humanitarians, and philologists, as well as those seeking to broaden their worldview, will enjoy this collection, which uplifts and celebrates stories from marginalized peoples. Every two months, Because We've Read announces a new featured book and accompanying multimedia resources as a mini-syllabus on an important topic. Each featured book is available for free digital access (in addition to a digital library of books from previous units and recommended readings). Throughout each unit, participants are encouraged to post their thoughts, questions, and reflections to discussion boards and social media and to participate in a YouTube Live session hosted by Katebi and a guest. As an example, a year-long series during 2021 focuses on Black experiences in trans-national contexts. Readers can join in the ongoing discussion by clicking "Currently Reading" in the hamburger menu, or click "Local Discussion Groups" to find local book club chapters that organize discussions, events, and more. Visitors can keep up to date on Twitter and Instagram (@becauseweveread on both platforms). [RMP]

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The pandemic inspired architect Valentino Gareri to design a school building with integrated indoor and outdoor spaces that could keep people safe from the coronavirus while connecting with nature. According to Gareri, "the schools of the future will have to be designed under a new point of view: rather then [sic] just considering criteria of sustain-ability, they will have to embrace the ability-to-sustain the new condition," of post-COVID-19 society. The design of the Tree-House School includes overlapping rings with two courtyards and a usable roof, and is intended to be modular and flexible to meet the needs of students from kindergarten to high school in a single cohesive structure. Readers can click through the images (using left and right arrows) to learn more about the design and to see parametric models and mock-ups of the building. At the bottom of the page are clickable tiles to explore more of Gareri's designs, including another pandemic-inspired idea: Sunflower Village, a communal village intended to offer an escape from urban sprawl. His proposal for rebuilding the roof of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris is also worth checking out. [HCL]

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Stay-at-home orders have brought the domestic sphere to the forefront. From the ritual of cleaning to the meditation of sewing, the virtual exhibit Interiors: A Study of Domestic Quarantine, features works from Memphis-based textile artists Paula Kovarik and Sophia Mason, curated by Jenna Gilley. Using quilts, puppets, soft sculpture, video, and other media, the exhibit honors the under-appreciated crafts of the home (typically done by women) and comments on the personal and global aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic experience. Visitors can find more virtual exhibits of pandemic-inspired art linked in the menu on the right side of the page (top of the page for mobile readers). The series "Curation in Context 2020" and "Curation in Context 2021" were curated for the Clough-Hanson Gallery by art students at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. [HCL]

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When travel restrictions began in March 2020, the Los Angeles-based travel photographer known as Erin Outdoors found all her trips on hold indefinitely. Erin challenged herself to create wanderlust-inducing travel photographs using items found within her apartment. In the series Our Great Indoors, miniature figurines borrowed from a model train set are pictured boating through swamps of asparagus and navigating glaciers made of bedsheets and tinfoil. The optical illusions uniquely capture the playful resourcefulness of the historical moment and the creativity that can come from stress or boredom. Hodophiles can check out Erin's other travel and wildlife photography under "Portfolio" in the menu at the top of the page. Erin also posts her work and personal stories on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Twitter (@erinoutdoors on all platforms). [HCL]

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Cocoon engages students to express their thoughts and feelings about the pandemic and consider how it has impacted their lives. In this 12-minute film, students ages 4-17 reflect on their experiences in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portland, Oregon. They consider changes to school, family, and personal lives, as well as their fears, regrets, favorite moments, and hopes for the future. Accompanying lesson plans for elementary (grades 3-5), middle, and high school students include activities for discussion and reflection, plus links to connect the film to current events. Readers should scroll to the Choose a Grade Level section to view the three lesson plans, each available in English and Spanish. Cocoon is part of the Global Oneness Project, which was previously featured in the 11-06-2015 issue of the Scout Report. The project highlights multimedia storytelling from multicultural perspectives with accompanying lesson plans. The Global Oneness Project is an initiative of the Kalliopeia Foundation. [HCL]

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Previous pandemics and epidemics have inspired their fair share of art, from the Antonine Plague in the second-century Roman Empire, to the Black Death in medieval Europe and the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic. This blog post delves into 21 centuries of pandemic art to find out what we can learn about previous pandemic eras and how their art still resonates today. For example, readers may be inspired to lay out incense and flowers like the Japanese during the smallpox epidemic of the 700s, which was done in hopes of appeasing the hososhin, a minor deity believed to cause the disease. The Art History of Pandemics is part of the blog How to Talk About Art History (previously featured in the 03-08-2019 Scout Report), written by Ellen Oredsson, an art historian and GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums) professional who seeks to make art history more accessible to the public. The post linked above is part of Oredsson's "Art History 101" series of blog posts. Readers may want to check out other series, such as "Reader Questions" posts written in response to user-submitted queries. Popular posts in that series include "Why are Portraits so Important to Art History?" (February 9, 2020) and "What Exactly Were the Impressionists Rebelling Against?" (March 6, 2017). Readers can use links in the Categories drop-down menu to find all blog series on the site. [HCL]

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Since it was featured in the 07-13-2018 issue of the Scout Report, this podcast has used the history of the 1918 flu pandemic to explore and contextualize the current era of COVID-19, making it both extremely timely and relevant.

Going Viral began in 2018 to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1918 influenza pandemic, which took the lives of an estimated 50 million individuals around the globe. The podcast is the creation of medical historian Mark Honigsbaum and Hannah Mawdsley, a historian whose doctoral work at Queen Mary University in London focused on the influenza pandemic. Episodes before 2019 discussed different aspects of the 1918 flu and its enduring impact. Beginning with the April 20, 2020 episode "The Covid Files 1: Corona by Numbers," the hosts shifted to addressing and contextualizing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, in a recent episode (June 7, 2021), the hosts visited the National Covid Memorial Wall in London to discuss how pandemics are remembered. What began as a history podcast now serves to document the history we are all living through. [MMB] [HCL]

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