Monday, May 24, 2010

US Credit Conditions: Federal Reserve Bank of New York

US Credit Conditions: Federal Reserve Bank of New York
http://data.newyorkfed.org/creditconditions/

Whether economic conditions are good or bad, inquiring minds want to know about mortgage delinquencies, foreclosures, and their impacts on communities across the United States. Drawing on data provided by one of the nation's dominant credit agencies, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has created this dynamic map that tracks credit conditions related to auto loans, bank cards, mortgages, and student loans. On the website's homepage, visitors can zoom in on different counties across the country, and also toggle different data sets on and off on the display map. The site also includes a set of technical notes, a glossary, and a link to subscribe to email alerts. Also, visitors can display information from the current fiscal quarter, or look at year-by-year change. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/
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Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917
 
This website is the online version of the current blockbuster exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917. The exhibition is a curator's delight - an in-depth examination of a specific, productive period in Matisse's long career. The exhibit is an opportunity to bring together works never seen before in the same place and many of the paintings in the exhibit were conserved before the show, dark varnishes removed, and colors brightened. Twenty-one works have been selected for the online exhibit, including Bathers by a River, one of Matisse's largest paintings. There is also a video of the installation of this large painting in the new modern wing at AIC, as well as a curators' overview.



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Monday, May 17, 2010

Virginia Emigrants to Liberia

Virginia Emigrants to Liberia
 
With the assistance of the American Colonization Society from 1820-1865, 3,700 hundred free blacks emigrated from Virginia, to Liberia to establish the first African Republic. This well-researched gem of a website from the University of Virginia provides an interesting look into the lives of the emigrants as well as a glimpse into the identities of the emancipators who freed their slaves in order to allow them to emigrate to Liberia. A large number of resources on the emigration to Liberia are also provided. Visitors can click on "Resources" at the top of the page, to find a tab entitled "Timeline", which provides a detailed history of Liberia, with links to primary sources such as letters, articles, photographs, and even the Constitution of Liberia. Once visitors have gotten their bearings there, they can click on "Search Emigrants" to search by name, county or city of origin, ship name, emancipator, and destination. Visitors can also click "Search Emancipators" by last name, county or year of emancipation. Also under "Resources", the "Links" tab has more than two-dozen links to resources about Liberia and African Americans from a variety of authoritative websites. To read some of the intriguing stories behind the names of the emigrants and emancipators that visitors may have found in their searches, click on "Stories" at the top of the web page. The stories of ten families, individuals, emigrants, and emancipators are detailed in this link. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Friday, May 7, 2010

Inside Islam: Dialogues and Debates

Inside Islam: Dialogues and Debates [iTunes]
 
Under the banner of "Challenging Misconceptions, Illuminating Diversity", the University of Wisconsin-Madison's National Resource Centers and Wisconsin Public Radio's Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders have created this very thoughtful and probing website. The site contains links to the various broadcasts of Inside Islam from Wisconsin Public Radio, a weblog, a set of helpful external links, and a link that allows visitors to sign up for their RSS feed. Visitors can view previous weblogs by category, or they just scroll down the site at their leisure. The radio program is also quite good, and visitors would do well to start by listening to "Young Muslims and New Media" or "Women and Sharia". Finally, there's also a place for visitors to offer their own feedback on their weblog posts and the radio program. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

American Social History

American Social History
 
The Digital Library Federation's website, Aquifer American Social History Online, is a site that brings together 175 collections that catalog American social history. Some of the types of materials included on the site are photographs, maps, oral histories, data sets, sheet music, posters, books and journal articles. On the right side of the homepage you can browse by "Times", "Subjects", and "Places". The items included here date back as far as the 1600s, covering the 50 states plus Puerto Rico and subjects ranging from African-Americans to World War II. Visitors can search using "Advanced Search", at the top of the page, or a simple search using the box at the top of the page next to the word "Go." Regardless of which search mode you use, you will be able to view your search results in "Image View", "Timeline View", or "Map View". "Map View" is the newest way to view your results, by showing a Google map of the United States with your first 100 results' locations pinpointed on the map. Under the "Tools" at the top of the page, you will find information about OpenID, Zotero, Collectus, and Image Viewer. By signing up for an OpenID, you can save your searches and results, as well as be notified of new material put on the site. Visitors can use the Zotero extension as a research tool to annotate and organize, as well as share the results of your research. The Collectus and Image Viewer, from the University of Virginia, allows visitors the opportunity to create and organize saved image collections and to generate slide shows for use in the classroom. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Monday, May 3, 2010

Preventing Genocide

Preventing Genocide [Flash Player]
 
The United States Holocaust Museum website contains a section on genocide which offers eyewitness accounts of victims of various genocides, a timeline that details the concept and law of genocide, and information about the peoples who are at risk of becoming victims of genocide in our own time. The "World is Witness" link, located on the left hand menu, takes visitors to a map of the areas at risk, "Field Updates", and a "Gallery" of photos of "Burundi", "Chad", "Rwanda", "Sudan", "Congo" and "Other Regions". Visitors can read the caption for the photograph by clicking on it. In the "Chad" gallery, there are drawings by children at refugee camps of attacks on their villages. In the "Rwanda" area there are many photos of the memorial site of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The mass graves of those who were killed are also pictured, as well as the graves of those few who received individual burial plots. Lastly, the website offers the ability to "View and Download the Report" of the Genocide Prevention Task Force, which is co-chaired by Madeleine Albright. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/

"The Pageant of America" Photograph Archive

"The Pageant of America" Photograph Archive
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/dgexplore.cfm?topic=culture&col_id=187

In 1926, the United States celebrated its sesquicentennial, and a number of special projects were organized to document the country's people, history, culture, and folkways. One such project was "The Pageant of America: A Pictorial History of the United States", published by Yale University Press from 1925 to 1929. Professor Ralph Henry Gabriel edited the work, and all told, it contained 15 volumes that addressed themes like exploration, arts and leisure, industry, commerce, and politics. This digital collection from the New York Public Library contains over 7000 of the published and unpublished photographs and prints used in these extravagant volumes. It's great just to look through the "Source Title" headings found by clicking on "Collection Contents" near the top of the page. Here visitors can meander through sections like "In defense of liberty", "American idealism", and "The American spirit in architecture". One can imagine that this collection could be used in American studies classroom, or in a setting that addresses the history of photography. >Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/