Research and Education
Founded during the throes of the Great Depression in 1932, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), was established to serve as the official nonpartisan organization of the nation's cities with populations of 30,000 or more. Each city is represented in the conference by its chief elected official, and the primary roles of the USCM are to "promote the development of effective national urban/suburban policy, strengthen federal-city relationships, and ensure that federal policy meets urban needs." New visitors to the site will want to begin by browsing through the key programs section of the site, which delineates their main areas of programmatic interests -- such as dealing effectively with brownfield sites, urban regeneration schemes, and community policing (among a list of several dozen). While the site contains a number of working documents and project proposals and updates for consideration, the highlight here really is the extensive archive of webcasts from the group's annual conferences dating back to the year 2000. [KMG]
Sponsored by Britain's Virtual Teacher Centre (and underwritten by the National Grid For Learning), HistoryWorld contains over 400 separate historical articles and approximately 4000 events within its unique database. Visitors may begin by looking through the World History section, where it is possible to take any number of "tours through time," which essentially display a complete succession of events around a given theme, such as religion, science, or architecture. Students looking for a brief overview regarding any number of subjects may want to take a look at the article section which contains articles on various historical themes organized by region, contributor (in this case, the contributing agency or museum), and category. Definitely the most engaging feature of the site is the Whizz Quizz, an online game where visitors can pit their historical knowledge against other competitors. The fastest contestant is subsequently featured on their homepage as Whizzard of the Hour, and no doubt, numerous accolades may also follow! [KMG]
http://www.creative-chemistry.org.uk/index.htm
Nigel Saunders at Harrogate Granby High School in North Yorkshire provides a wide range of fun, educational activities for high school chemistry students and teachers at this website. Teachers can find PowerPoint presentations dealing with energy conversions in reactions, thermometric titration, and ionic and covalent bonding. The website features an abundance of crossword puzzles, word searches, jigsaw puzzles, and other games. Using Java, students can view many molecules including alkanes, tetrahedral molecules, and octahedral molecules. With so many fun-filled learning activities to choose from, anyone interested in chemistry will value this website. [RME] This site is also reviewed in the January 23, 2004 NSDL Physical Sciences Report.
Edited by a team of scholars and practitioners, Reading Online is a peer-reviewed journal established by the International Reading Association in May 1997. The journal primarily focuses on literary practice and research in classrooms serving students aged 5 to 18. The journal is also deeply concerned with actively supporting professionals as they integrate technology in the classroom. From the site's main page, visitors can peruse the latest articles from the most recent issue, which in past months have included titles such as Technology for Engaged Learning in a Literacy Methods Course and Literature Discussion in Cyberspace. All of the articles from the past seven years are archive here as well, with many of them also filed into different themes, such as New Literacies, International Perspectives, and The Electronic Classroom. Along with these materials, visitors may also elect to join the diverse online communities and discussion forums offered here as well. [KMG]
Sponsored by the Foresight Institute (a non-profit educational organization), the Nanodot site is designed to disseminate news and ongoing developments in the field of molecular nanotechnology. (For those unfamiliar with the rapidly growing field of nanotechnology, it is now considered one of the most important scientific developments of the 21st century, and at its essence is a process which allows for the manipulation of atoms, thereby allowing for highly sophisticated processes to be carried out.) Needless to say, this is an immensely important development, and at this site, visitors can read about the latest from this fascinating field. Additionally, visitors may elect to post comments, take polls on aspects of nanotechnology, and learn about related events and conferences. Perhaps the most helpful part of this website is the vast amount of material dedicated to explaining in detail about the very field of nanotechnology. Here visitors can read works that introduce the core concepts of molecular technology and read the complete text of a book on the subject titled Unbounding the Future. [KMG]
http://www.dinodata.net/EURODINO/index.htm
Hosted by DinoData, The Eurodino Database Project was developed by paleontologist Octavio Mateus as a service for the European paleontological community. The database is designed to inform professional and amateur paleontologists of the locations of "originals or casts of each dinosaur in each museum in Europe." The database provides several mechanisms to search for dinosaur fossils and museums and allows users to search for fossils alphabetically and through categories such as Eggs, Footprints, Skin, and Coprolites. Additionally, users can search for museums by perusing the comprehensive European museum list or by selecting a specific country. [NL] This site is also reviewed in the January 23, 2004 NSDL Life Sciences Report.
http://www.llrx.com/features/supremectwebguide.htm
Trying to navigate the diverse world of websites dedicated to various aspects of legal research can be a bit daunting, even to more adroit users of different online search engines. Fortunately for those seeking to hone their ability to perform online research about the U.S. Supreme Court, this fine online guide to the subject was established in December 2003. Authored by Gail A. Partin (an associate law librarian at Penn State's Dickinson School of Law), this well organized web-guide "attempts to overcome the shortcomings of general web searching by providing a selection of annotated links to the most reliable, substantive sites for U.S Supreme Court research." The site begins with a brief introduction, then proceeds to offer a set of organized links and summary descriptions about a host of different sites dealing with topics such as Supreme Court practice, court administration, the history of the Supreme Court, and oral arguments. Beginning law students and those more experienced with the field, will appreciate this online guide to the panoply of compelling sites currently available. [KMG]
http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/emblems/
The University of Illinois has amassed the largest collection of emblem books in the United States, and beginning in 1998 it embarked on a rather ambitious project to digitize a number of fine titles for public access via the web. As the website notes, "Emblem books can possibly be looked upon as the multi-medial publications of the 17th and 18th centuries." These books link together three elements: a motto, a woodcut or engraving, and an explanatory poem. The rather intriguing interplay between these respective parts is complemented by the wide array of source material these works draw upon for their inspiration, such as fables, mythology, and the Bible. Currently, users can browse through fourteen different titles such as the Emblemata Politica (created by Peter Isselburg in 1617) and the Mundi lapis Lydius (created by Antoine Bourgogne in the 16th century). Each page of these respective works has been digitally scanned, and along with high resolution viewing, visitors can obtain detailed page descriptions as well. The site is rounded out with a nice section that provides visitors with information about emblems and offers some publications that have been produced during the development of the project. [KMG]
