http://www.nsf.gov/news/overviews/biology/interactive.jsp
A cell happens to be the smallest unit of life, but there's a tremendous amount of activity going on within this very fascinating place. The talented people at the National Science Foundation (NSF) are well aware of this fact, and they have created this illuminating and interactive visual feature to help people learn about the cell's different components. On the homepage, visitors are presented with a clickable illustration of the cell's primary components, including the nucleus, the cell membrane, and mitochondria. Clicking on any of these various items brings up a detailed illustration, complete with a brief description of its function. Finally, visitors can also view the complete illustration by clicking on the "Full Illustration" link. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/Friday, December 18, 2009
ToxLearn: A Multi-Module Toxicology Tutorial
Friday, December 11, 2009
Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils
http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/rembrandt_drawings/interactive.html
This interactive website from the Getty Museum feels almost like a game that teaches players to distinguish the work of the master, Rembrandt, from that of his pupils. Pairs of drawings are presented for viewers to compare, for example, Rembrandt's Daniel in the Lions' Den, 1649, is matched with a drawing of the same subject by Constantijn Daniel van Renesse. Viewers can zoom in or out, for closer examination of the works, and expand and collapse item information. There is even a cheater's button, titled "show point of interest", that will reveal the major differences between the drawings. Clicking this button for the Daniel pair brings up the differing details - the master depicts the lions as ferocious beasts with open jaws and shaggy manes, while the pupil's animals are smaller and less menacing and are drawn with "regular, even" lines. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/Brecht's Works in English: A Bibliography
Monday, November 16, 2009
In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960-1976
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2009/inandout/
This small show from MoMA showcases the work of 10 artists: Bas Jan Ader, Allen Ruppersberg, Jan Dibbets, Gilbert & George, Stanley Brouwn, Hanne Darboven, Lawrence Weiner, Charlotte Posenenske, Ger van Elk, and Sol LeWitt. The exhibit is, in the words of a recent review "odd, offbeat and often thrillingly intelligent." The show captures the essence of the art scene in Amsterdam from 1960-1976, when many avant-garde artists from Holland, the rest of Europe, and the United States congregated there. Several of the works in the exhibition are performance-based, such as Ger van Elk's Paul Klee—Um den Fisch, 1926 (Around the Fish), a set of 8 slides projected on a table, showing the artist eating a fish similar to the one in Klee's more well-known painting (only one frame is shown in the web exhibition). Other works also comment on the fleetingness of time, such as Jan Dibbets' The Shortest Day at my House in Amsterdam, 80 color prints taken at eight-minute intervals between dawn and dusk on the winter solstice in 1970; or Hanne Darboven's 100 Books 00–99, 100 open books, each representing a year in a century, arranged face up on a table. [>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]Langston Hughes Papers
http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/hughes.html
A portion of the Langston Hughes Papers are available here on Yale University’s Digital Library site. Hughes' complete papers (1862-1980) are comprised of "letters, manuscripts, personal items, photographs, clippings, artworks, and objects" and are available at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. For the digitized collection, visitors should click on the "See All Images" option on the left hand side of the page to view the nine pages of thumbnail images. Each thumbnail image can be expanded so that visitors can view each image in detail. Each document can also be saved, by clicking "Save" above the thumbnail. The saved images are then moved to a folder that can hold saved images to be ordered, or just viewed again. The folder is called "My Group", and can be found below the pink menu near the top of the page. Visitors shouldn't miss the beautiful poem entitled "For A'lelia" that Hughes wrote for A'Lelia Walker after she died in 1931, and which was subsequently read at her funeral. It can be found in the second row of images, in the first spot, when "See All Images" is selected on the homepage. [>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]In Transition: Selected Poems by the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven
http://www.lib.umd.edu/digital/transition/index.jsp
Noted editor and literary critic Margaret Anderson once referred to the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven as "perhaps the only figure of our generation who deserves the epithet extraordinary." The future Baroness was born Else Hildegard Ploetz in 1874 and she came to the United States in 1910. After her husband committed suicide, Else become a part of the Greenwich Village artist milieu, where she began her productive, albeit brief, writing career. The twelve texts offered here by the University of Maryland are related through their themes (which include an interest in emerging scientific technologies) and their publication within "little" magazines. Visitors can get a sense of the background behind the project by reading the “Introduction”, and then moving on to look through some of the works. What is perhaps most compelling about the site is that visitors can make their way through various drafts of each work, along with commentary and other germane details. [>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]Vincent Van Gogh: The Letters
http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/
The letters written by Vincent Van Gogh have appeared many times before, but this is the first time they have appeared as part of a complete digital edition. This fascinating collection was created by the Van Gogh Museum and the Huygens Institute, and the letters were edited by Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nineke Bakker. On the site, visitors can view 902 letters from and to Van Gogh, complete with detailed annotations and illustrations from the master himself. First-time visitors should definitely click on the "Quick Guide" to get an overview of the site’s holdings, and then they should also take a look at the sections "Van Gogh as a letter-writer", "Correspondents", "Biographical & historical context", and "Publication History". The letters include those from many of his contemporaries, including Paul Gauguin, and of course, those lovely pieces of writing from his brother, Theo. Users can also use the search engine here to look around by keyword. Finally, visitors can also look through the "About this Edition" area to learn about the reading texts included here, the translations, and the annotations. [>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]The Virtual Lab Book
http://delliss.people.cofc.edu/virtuallabbook/
It can be a real challenge to learn about the foibles and details of lab work, so it is nice to report that Dr. Stephanie Dellis has created this excellent Virtual Lab Book for students beginning the study of molecular biology. The guide is divided into twelve parts, including "Safety in the Molecular Biology Lab", "Minipreparation of Plasmid DNA", and "PCR and Thermacycling". Along with written instructions and particulars, each section also contains a number of helpful diagrams and visual illustrations. Visitors will also want to look at the specialized lab protocols included here, such as "How to Spread a Plate" and "DNA Isolation". [>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online
http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/
The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online is frequently updated, and is maintained by the United States Department of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The site offers over 1000 tables of data from over 100 sources. An interesting and multi-perspective approach to measuring the level of crime can be found in section number three, which is titled "Crime, Victims", and it resides on the left hand side of the homepage. It offers statistics about the frequency of various crimes by presenting data from victimization surveys, and officially recorded offenses. Visitors interested in printing the text, tables, or both, of each section, can download them via a link in each section that immediately precedes the list of the topics of that section. The "Archive" link in the menu across the top of the page, allows visitors to download complete editions of the Sourcebook, going back to 1994. Each section of the books can be downloaded separately, or the entire book for that year can be downloaded as a zip file.[>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Profiles in Science: The Paul Berg Papers
The Biology Project: The Chemistry of Amino Acids
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence
Created as part of an interdisciplinary international effort to take a critical look at the phenomenon of mass violence, the Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence is supported by a number of organizations, including The Center for International Research and Studies and The Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah. The primary purpose of the Encyclopedia Project is "to create a regularly updated electronic database focusing on massacres and genocides of the 20th century." First-time visitors can use the interactive map of the world on the homepage to begin their exploration of the site. Within each region of the world (and by extension, each individual country), visitors can read chronological indexes, case studies, and take a look at scholarly reviews of works related to each region or country's genocides or massacres. Visitors should not miss the "Latest contributions" area, which includes the latest works from the Project. Recently featured items here have included an evaluation of The Boxer Uprising and the Burundi Killings of 1972. Overall, it's a very ambitious project, and one that scholars and members of the general public will want to check up on from time to time.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Wisc-Online: Online Learning Object Repository
MAPLight.org
http://www.maplight.org/
Every citizen of the United States (and anyone else with an interest in politics) should take a close look at the MAPLight.org website. This rather innovative database brings together three unique data sets including bill texts, legislative voting records, and supporting and opposing interests for each bill. This data allows users to determine the contributions given by interests supporting and opposing each bill and the average donations given to legislators voting "Yes" and "No" on each bill. Currently, MAPLight.org covers the California Legislature and the U.S. Congress and first-time visitors may wish to start by watching the six-minute introductory video which explains all of the bells and whistles on the site. After that, visitors can click on either the "California" or the "U.S. Congress" sections of the site to learn about current voting patterns related to interest groups (such as teachers unions and the health insurance industry), legislators, and pending bills. Moving on, the site also offers up a presidential money race widget that can be customized in a variety of ways. Visitors may also wish to sign up to receive email updates and they are also welcome to send along feedback. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/
Internet Mission Photography Archive
http://digarc.usc.edu/impa/controller/index.htm
The movement of Christian missionaries across the world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is perhaps one of the most studied aspects of religious history in recent times. This very engrossing online digital collection brings together over 10,000 photographs culled from various missionary photographers. The Internet Mission Photography Archive (IMPA) is based at the University of Southern California and includes photographs from the collections of the Moravian Church, the Leipzig Mission, the Norwegian Missionary Society, and three other organizations. In this collection, visitors can view churches, school buildings, mission teachings, religious practices, and a constellation of subjects and themes. Users can browse around at their leisure, create their own dedicated collection, and also search the archive by words, contributing organization, and country. Religious historians, photographers, and others will certainly want to visit this collection several times. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The Nuclear Vault: 40th Anniversary of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/ebb253/index.htm
Signed into law on July 1, 1968, the historic Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) was a major step towards creating a world that had the potential to be a bit safer from the threat of nuclear annihilation. This particular collection of documents related to the NPT was brought together through the diligence of staff members at the National Security Archive's Nuclear Documentation Project and released to the public in July 2008. The site starts off with a narrative essay which describes the backdrop to the signing of the NPT in 1968, along with offering a bit of additional context about the international political climate at the time. The site's real gems are the 34 documents which include State Department cables, internal planning documents, and other items that reveal the nature of the political machinations involved with this process. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/The Winterton College of East African Photographs: 1860-1960
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Muscle Atlas: Musculoskeletal Radiology
http://www.rad.washington.edu/academics/academic-sections/msk/muscle-atlas/
Not enough people know about the world of musculoskeletal radiology, but this site can address some of those glaring gaps in medical and physiological knowledge. Created by Doctor Michael Richardson at the University of Washington, this online muscle atlas covers the lower and upper extremity, and is primarily designed for use by health science professionals. The site also includes some teaching and instructional materials related to radiology. Visitors will note that the site contains a table of contents, and all of the major muscles are listed alphabetically, from the Adductor Brevis to the Vastus Medialis. Additionally, for each muscle, visitors can view a high-quality image of the related muscle groups and the function of each muscle in question. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Changing Times: Los Angeles in Photographs, 1920-1990
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Nineteenth Century in Print: The Making of America in Periodicals
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/moahtml/snchome.html
In the 19th century, Americans flocked to periodicals in a fashion that would have been almost unimaginable a few decades earlier. They had many to choose from, including Atlantic Monthly, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Scientific American, and the American Missionary. This rather fine collection brings select issues from these magazines (and nineteen others) together in one place, courtesy of the American Memory project at the Library of Congress and the Cornell University Library. Visitors to the site can search through the entire archive, or just browse through individual periodicals at their leisure. Some of the articles reflect popular pursuits of the day, but others take on more weighty matters, such as the November 1884 issue of the "New Englander and Yale Review", which offers up pieces like "An Analysis of Consciousness in its Relation to Eschatology" and "Virtue, from a Scientific Standpoint". Finally, visitors should not miss the project's special presentation, found near the bottom of the homepage, which provides historical background and essays on the periodical "Garden and Forest". >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/Saturday, April 18, 2009
The Willa Cather Archive
The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/olympics/detail.php
During August 1936, Adolf Hitler's Nazi government played host to the Summer Olympics and many international observers and commentators wondered whether the United States might elect to boycott the Games entirely. They did not, and the triumphs of runner extraordinaire Jesse Owens were a highlight of those rather dark times in Germany. This engaging online exhibit on the Summer Games of 1936 was created by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to complement a recent in situ exhibit at their headquarters in Washington, D.C. Visitors can make their way through sections that include "Germany", "Sports", "Boycott", "To Berlin", and "The Aftermath". Each section contains brief essays on each subject, nicely complemented by period photographs, digitized documents, and other items of historical importance. Visitors should not miss the "Boycott" section, as it contains first-hand recollections from various athletes on the situation in Berlin, including the perspective of Jesse Owens. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/The Trial of Sacco & Vanzetti
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/SaccoV/SaccoV.htm
In 1927, Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed for the armed robbery of two pay-clerks in South Braintree, Massachusetts in 1920. Their case became a cause celebre across the world, as many felt that their trial was prejudiced by the prevailing anti-immigrant and anti-anarchist sentiment of the time. This collection of documents related to their trial is offered as part of the "Famous Trials" site created by Professor Douglas Linder at the University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Law. Visitors to the site can view a chronology of events, maps, biographies of the trial participants, and statements from the sentencing phase of the trial. Additionally, visitors can also read letters written from Sacco and Vanzetti during their incarceration and also look over a selection of images from their trial. The site is rounded out by a thorough bibliography and a short collection of additional websites. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Smart History
Monday, April 13, 2009
National Portrait Gallery: Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture
http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/recognize/index.html
The lyricism and social consciousness of hip-hop music has been a source of inspiration for many artists working in photography, painting, film, and even contemporary multimedia projects. Recently, the National Portrait Gallery decided to create an exhibit that would explore some of these relationships and exchanges, and this website offers a taste of what visitors will find at the actual exhibition space. First-time visitors to the site can click on over to one of the main themes on the right-hand side of the homepage. Actually, the "Photography" area is a great place to start, and visitors can listen to an interview with photographer David Scheinbaum about his work and artistic vision. After that, visitors can look over a sampling of his images, which include concert photos of Gang Starr, Mos Def, and KRS-ONE. Moving on, the "Painting" area features the work of Kehinde Wiley, who is known for his large and vibrantly-colored paintings of young African American men. Some of the works featured here include portraits of Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, and Ice T. Overall, it's an interesting collection, and one that allows the National Portrait Gallery to break out into new territory. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/Friday, April 3, 2009
UC Berkeley Library's Congressional Research Tutorials
USDA Food and Nutrition Information Center
Stem Cells at the National Academies
Stem cells continue to make news headlines on a daily basis, and for research scientists, journalists, and members of the general public, it's important to have access about developments in the field. One particularly fine resource is available on this site provided by the National Academies. Educators and the generally curious may wish to start exploring the site by clicking on the "Stem Cell Basics" area. Here they can download the booklet "Understanding Stem Cells", or just peruse the interactive online version. Moving on, visitors can then look at the amended document titled "Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research", which was first published in 2005, and then amended in 2007. Interested parties can also submit their own comments on these guidelines directly via an email link on the site. Finally, visitors can also sign up for email updates and look at the "Reports" area, which includes six substantive reports dating back to 2002
Cholera Online: A Modern Pandemic in Texts and Images
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Virtual Body
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
American Geographical Society Digital Photo Archive
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
National Institute on Aging
Japanese Fine Prints, Pre-1915
Freedom House: Freedom of the Press
One of the focuses of Freedom House is to monitor the freedom of the press available in countries around the world. Each year they publish a survey of 194 countries' degree of free press.
The report includes country scores, draft reports, an overview essay, and methodology employed in gathering the data for the survey. To view any of the editions from 2002-2008 simply click on the drop down menu "Select a Year" next to Edition, near the top of the homepage. Once visitors have selected a year, an interactive, downloadable map will appear, allowing the visitor to choose a region on the map, and then choose any of the countries in the region. A press-oriented biography of the country is given, along with how the country scored in various measures of general freedom. Links to such information as "Methodology", "Survey Team", "Tables & Charts", and "Essays" are accessible at the top of the page once a visitor chooses a country to explore. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/
Friday, March 6, 2009
Contagion: Historical Views of Disease and Epidemics
Writings of Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students
Legacy: Spain and the United States in the Age of Independence 1763-1848
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Art and Literature in Siena, 1250-1600
Studies in the History of Ethics
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Images of the Antislavery Movement in Massachusetts
University of Wollongong: Statistical Literacy
Monday, February 2, 2009
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Auschwitz Through the Lens of the SS
Sacred Contexts
Visual Arts Data Service
Physics Education Technology
Radiology Education
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Parliament and the British Slave Trade, 1600-1807
http://slavetrade.parliament.uk/slavetrade/index.html
On March 25, 1807, Britain's Parliament passed an act which abolished the British slave trade. There was a great deal of public discussion and debate about the act, and this very nice online exhibit from the Parliamentary Archives explores some of the issues through primary documents and other records. The site is divided into six sections, which include "History", "Your Voice", "Explore", "Timeline", "Learning", and "Glossary". The "History" section is a great place to start, as it provides background on Britain's slave trade, the wider world of the international slave trade, and the economics behind slavery. Visitors must make a stop at the "Explore" area, where they will find poems by enslaved Africans and abolition supporters, along with various dramatizations of the slavery debate, and interactive explorations of objects related to the slave trade. Additionally, the "Learning" section contains an interactive studio for teachers who wish to create their own educational resources and a number of lesson plans and activities. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits
http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/motto/index.html
The exhibition "Let Your Motto Be Resistance" consists of 100 photographic portraits of prominent African Americans. The portraits were selected from the collections of the National Portrait Gallery as part of the inaugural exhibition of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture. The show will begin a national tour in October 2008. The web site is designed for browsing in chronological order, beginning with Frederick Douglass and ending with Wynton Marsalis. Short biographies, caption information, and larger views are available with each picture. The portraits include an airborne Judith Jameson, 1976, performing in Cry; a smiling Billie Holiday photographed in 1926; and Gordon Parks in 1945 with camera and light meter in hand. There are two portraits of Martin Luther King; he is shown with his wife and daughter in 1956, and in 1968, as three of his four children file past his coffin. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/