General Interest
The Human Rights Watch is involved with a number of ongoing projects exploring media freedom in different parts of the world. This particular site offers up a broad look at the human rights situation in China as the country is preparing to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. After viewing a brief introduction to the site, visitors should click on the "Issues" section, which provides a multimedia presentation that explores some of the rather contentious issues surrounding media freedom in China in the past and present. Moving along, the "Timeline" area provides additional perspective on the suppression of certain news stories in China dating back to 1996. Finally, the site includes an "Agenda for Reform" area which details some of the major issues that China faces in the coming year, including dealing with labor rights abuses, forced evictions, and the repression of ethnic minorities. [KMG]
Located within the United States Commerce Department, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) consists of not-for-profit centers whose "sole purpose is to provide small and medium sized manufacturers with the services they need to succeed." On their site, they provide access to a number of resources that support supply chain integration and also provide access to information about technology that will increase productivity. First-time visitors may wish to begin by looking over the "Success Stories" area, which tells about those manufacturers that have created useful partnerships through the program. Visitors who might be studying these types of manufacturers may wish to look at the "Economic Indicators" area of the site and the "Tools" section, which contain a number of e-business tools designed for these types of manufacturers. Additionally, visitors can also use an interactive map to find their local MEP Center. [KMG]
http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/collections/special/online-collections/portraits/
The Harvard Law School Library has quite an impressive collection of legal art and visual materials, and as of late, they have been working to digitize these works and place them online for the web-browsing public. The collection includes images of jurists, political figures, legal thinkers, and lawyers that date from the Middle Ages all the way up to the late twentieth century. As the website notes, the collection is quite strong in its coverage of eighteenth and nineteenth century British and American lawyers, including such luminaries as Jeremy Bentham and John Marshall. Visitors can search the collection at their leisure, and they can also look at the online exhibition titled "The Legal Portrait Project Online", if they wish to do so. [KMG]
http://mindonline.uchicago.edu/
The University of Chicago has served as the intellectual home for a diverse group of scholars, including Leo Strauss, Saul Bellow, George Beadle, and Enrico Fermi. Recently, the University's Alumni Association created this website to provide both alumni and the general public with access to conversations and lectures with persons doing work at the institution. First-time visitors can search the archives by title or author, and they can also browse the archive by category, date, or theme. The categories area follows some of the academic areas at the University fairly closely, as it includes Egyptology, Film Studies, Economics, and others. There are some real gems here include a conversation with Nobel Prize recipient James Watson and a discussion with noted theologian and philosopher Martin E. Marty on his new book, "The Mystery of the Child". [KMG]
http://www.green-energy-news.com/index.html
Bruce Mulliken has been covering news and commentary on the world of clean, efficient, and renewable energy since 1996. His Green Energy News site is geared towards a broad audience that includes the general public, industry professionals, and government officials. First-time visitors will want to look at the "News Stories" on the front page which in recent editions have included pieces on the growing hydrogen economy, the potential of parking lots as a form of solar power, and the possibility of a zero emission electric vehicle with two wheels. Those looking for previous news features can browse the "Archives and Resources" area, which dates back to April 1996. Those looking for "green" events should browse over to the "Events Calendar" section, which provides links to upcoming events such as renewable energy conferences and clean vehicle expos. [KMG]
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/EcoNatRes/subcollections/PassPigeonAbout.shtml
The passenger pigeon no longer graces the North American skies, and for many this represents the disturbing ability that humans have to destroy a particular species. Fortunately, there is another "passenger pigeon" in existence, namely the official scholarly publication of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology. The Society is an organization of professional and non-professional ornithologists, and they are dedicated to the study of Wisconsin birds. The journal was first published in 1939, and it continues to feature original information about birds in the Badger State, along with season reports and such. Recently, the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections group saw fit to digitize all of the issues from January 1939 to Spring 2005. Visitors to the site can browse through the archive and also take a look at some of the other collections that deal with ecology and natural resources. [KMG]
Founded in 1976, The Museum of Television & Radio recently changed its name to The Paley Center for Media. The inspiration came from the life and legacy of noted television pioneer and CBS chairman, William S. Paley. The Center for Media has locations in both New York and Los Angeles, and it is primarily interested in examining "the intersections between media society." To this end, they have worked on providing a number of forums for media professionals to discuss the evolving media landscape and they also have a collection that contains over 140,000 television and radio programs in their archives. On their site, visitors can learn about visiting either location in person and they can also watch past events in the "Inside Media Videos" area. These videos are quite a treat, and they include talks with Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher as well as other titles like "The Unseen Dylan" and "Blogging and Elections". [KMG]
http://www.asia.si.edu/EncompassingtheGlobe/default.htm
This exhibition from the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery traces the importance of Portugal in the 16th and 17th Centuries, a time period often called the Age of Discovery. Explorers from Portugal traversed the globe, bringing back news of exotic people, animals, foods, and spices to Europe. The web exhibition highlights Portuguese voyages to Africa, Brazil, China, and Japan, and around the Indian Ocean. By simply following a few links, it is possible to view the exhibition in Google Earth, free software that will plot the routes of the Portuguese explorers, along with a chronology, as well as display the informative captions prepared for the exhibition. Images are also included, such as a salt container, heliotrope spoon, and an ivory casket or box, all from Sri Lanka, the source of cinnamon to the thriving spice trade that Vasco da Gama found when he sailed his four ships into the Indian Ocean in late 1497. [DS]
