The Scout Report -- Volume 14, Number 21

http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/

As more and more journals elect to move to an open-source model, it is delightful to learn about the existence of the Open Humanities Press (OHP). Their mission is "to make leading works of contemporary critical thought freely available worldwide." First-time visitors will want to look over the "About OHP" section before delving into the rest of the site. Afterwards, they should feel free to look through one of their seven journals, which include "Cosmos and History", "Culture Machine", "Film-Philosophy", and "Fibreculture". While all of the journals are worth a look, the "Film-Philosophy" journal is particularly compelling, and visitors can browse through issues back to 1997. Finally, visitors can also learn about submitting their work for consideration and also take in a few essays about the guiding principles and history of the OHP. [KMG]

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/index.html

Housed at the University of California, Berkeley, the Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) is "devoted to the scientific understanding of happy and compassionate individuals, strong social bonds, and altruistic behavior." To achieve this goal, the GGSC enlists a broad range of scholars from various disciplines, publishes a quarterly magazine ("Greater Good"), and maintains an outreach program that includes a website designed for parents who wish to foster emotional intelligence in their children. On their homepage, visitors can look over the "What's New?" area to learn about recent findings, view webcasts with experts from the Center, and also read about their latest publications. Next, visitors may want to go to the "Magazine" area to read articles from the latest issue of "Greater Good" magazine. This publication has been nominated for a number of awards, and topics covered between its pages include the importance of play and the binuclear family. Finally, the "For Parents" area contains a number of fine resources on parenting, including a number of short videos that cover emotional literacy, how to praise, and the value of family dinner. [KMG]

http://www.uli.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=41895&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

It would seem that for the most part Americans are not terribly fond of high-density developments as they are often associated with increased levels of criminal activity, overcrowding, and a decrease in available parking spots. This 38-page report from the Urban Land Institute takes on some of the myths and facts behind high-density developments. The report was co-sponsored by the National Multi Housing Council, the Sierra Club, and the American Institute of Architects. All told, the report takes on eight myths, including "Higher-housing is only for lower-income households" and "No one in suburban areas wants higher-density development". Overall, it's a fine report whose conclusions are bolstered by the use of rigorous case studies and compelling statistics. This link also offers a few related Power Point presentations for general use. [KMG]

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/hauser/

Established in 1997 with a grant from Rita and Gus Hauser, The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organization "pursues dispassionate research and education, promoting critical thinking about the importance, roles and performance of civic organizations." This website complements their contextual work by offering information about their staff, publications, research programs, and educational programs. The "Publications" area is one that will be of most interest to visitors, as they can peruse their working paper series, look over their newsletters, and also learn about recent books written by Hauser Center authors. The working paper series contains over 40 titles, including "Comparative Advantage in Disaster Response" and "What Matters to Whom? Managing Trust Across Multiple Stakeholder Groups". In the "Programs" area, visitors will find resources for public sector and religious leaders via the Program on Religion and Public Life and materials on the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative. Finally, visitors can also sign up to receive the Center's e-newsletter. [KMG]

http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/3/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=1674

Developed by Barbara Kaskosz of the University of Rhode Island and Doug Ensley of Shippensburg University, this resource from The Mathematical Association of America's Digital Classroom Resources collection will prove quite valuable for educators and anyone with an interest in computer graphics or geometry. Through this resource, visitors will learn how to draw and rotate 3D objects via a series of short tutorials. Along the way, users will learn about the mathematics behind manipulating cubes, the geometry involved with the manipulation of cubes, and they will also get a chance to work on their own structures. Overall, it's a fine resource and it offers insights for students in several different disciplines [KMG]

http://cms.iucn.org/

The goal of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is to help "the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges." To accomplish this broad set of goals, they manage field projects across the globe, support scientific research, and also bring a variety of stake-holders together to work on developing meaningful policies and laws. The best way to find out more about their work is to glance over the news stories featured on their homepage. Visitors here will find everything from reports on restoring mangrove swamps in Myanmar to the global population status of different oceanic sharks and rays. After that, it's a short jump to the "What we do" area, which will lead users to a thematic list of all of their projects organized around "Species", "Ecosystems", and "Issues". Next up is the "Resources" area, which presents a formidable array of IUCN position papers, research works, conference documents and so on. Additionally, this area also contains the "Tools for Organizations" section, which offers up a number of "how to guides" that cover conservation management, assessment and monitoring, and conservation policy. [KMG]

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/earlyamericas/

When thinking about the early Americas, it's hard not to consider the stellar materials that make up the Jay I. Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress. Kislak amassed thousands of items related to early Florida, the Caribbean, and Mesoamerica, and subsequently donated over 3,000 of these items to the Library. This online exhibition affords interested parties a taste of these materials organized into three sections: "Pre-Contact America", "Explorations and Encounters", and "Aftermath of the Encounter". Within each section, visitors can read a brief introductory essay and then dive right into the artifacts and documents presented therein. One delightful section that should not be missed is the "Urban Landscapes" section within "Pre-Contact America". Here visitors can wonder over miniature village scenes from West Mexico and views of Tenochtitln and Cusco from 1572. That's far from all, as the site also has three "Interactive" presentations. They cover the famed Waldseemller Maps of 1507 and 1516 and a complete digitized version of Alexander Exquemelin's rousing 1678 work, "The Buccaneers of America". [KMG]

http://lehd.did.census.gov/led/index.html

The Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) program was designed by the U.S. Census Bureau to bring together census information, surveys, and administrative records in an attempt to offer more specific data on local labor market conditions. Visitors to the site will note that the main sections on the homepage include "Local Employment Dynamics", "Data Tools", "Research", and "Library". The "Data Tools" area is a good place to start as interested parties can view local community economic development reports, view an interactive map of data, and also read a variety of case studies. Moving on, the "Research" area leads to working papers on related projects, such as those on low wage work and human capital and productivity. Finally, the "Library" includes statistical profiles of older workers, presentations, and information on their workshops. [KMG]

http://support.nature.org/site/PageServer?pagename=podcast

What do passenger pigeons, coal mining in Kentucky and cattle ranching have in common? Not a great deal, perhaps, but they are all grist for the mill of the Nature Conservancy's most excellent "Nature Stories" podcast series. The series started in February 2006, and currently there are well over 100 podcasts available on the site. Visitors can browse through them at their leisure, sign up for the podcast feed via iTunes, and also listen in right here. There's much to recommend here, but visitors might want to start by listening to the "Son of a Coalminer" podcast about a father and son coalmining team and "Wild Crafting", which profiles a couple who earn their living by foraging mushrooms and other items in Vermont. [KMG]

http://erps.dmu.ac.uk/

When thinking about the history of photography, many will think about the annual exhibition catalogues of the Photographic Society, London. Fortunately, the talented individuals at De Montfort University have scanned and digitized all of the catalogues dating from 1870 to 1915. Currently the database contains over 45,000 records, which include detailed records of all the exhibits, reproductions of all the catalogue pages, all of the pictures of the photographs that were printed in the catalogues, and reviews of the exhibitions. Visitors can perform a detailed search across all of the catalogues, or just browse them by date. For those who might be working on a similar digital collection, the site also provides detailed information on the project, its methodology, and its execution. [KMG]

http://www.uniteforchildren.ca/

Recently, UNICEF Canada launched a new campaign to assist those living with HIV and AIDS, and this website provides copious information about this laudable initiative. First-time visitors may wish to start by clicking on "The Campaign against AIDS" area to learn more about the basic goals of the campaign and also to read some success stories from their work thus far. Moving on, visitors can stop by the "Countries in Focus" section to learn about their fundraising efforts that will help projects in countries like China, Guyana, Haiti, India, and Malawi. The general public as well as public health experts and officials will definitely want to browse on through to the "Publications & Resources" area. Here they will find fact sheets and reports on topics that include preventing mother to child transmission, prevention for youth, and providing pediatric treatment. [KMG]

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". [KMG]

http://exhibitions.nypl.org/eminent

If you're just casually taking a photograph of the Empire State Building can you get in trouble? It's not an unimaginable possibility as New York City officials recently considered regulations that would have required even everyday tourist-photographs to obtain a permit and $1 million in liability insurance to photograph or film in the streets of the city. This fine online exhibit is meant to complement a recent in situ exhibit that appeared at the New York Public Library, and it explores a number of the issues that this recent piece of proposed legislation raises. Visitors can look over photographs by Thomas Holton, Bettina Johae, Reiner Leist, Zoe Leonard, and Ethan Levitas and learn about their techniques, their photographic equipment, and their general philosophy as artists. Visitors should definitely look at Leist's work as it offers up images from his 26th floor apartment on Eight Avenue over the past decade. Additionally, visitors can submit their own related works for inclusion on a Flickr set and YouTube. [KMG]

http://www.cmpa.com/

Founded in 1985, the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) is "a nonpartisan research and educational organization which conducts scientific studies of the news and entertainment media." The primary goal of the CMPA is "to provide an empirical basis for ongoing debates over media fairness and impact through well-documented, timely, and readable studies of media content." On their homepage, visitors can read through their latest press releases, and then move along to their "Studies" area. Here they will find timely studies on recent elections, previous elections dating back to 1988, and even reports on the political humor deployed by late night comedians. Visitors should also check out the "Media Monitor" area, which brings together current and previous issues of this bi-monthly publication which presents the central findings of their research studies. [KMG]

http://www.caricom.org/

The Caribbean Community, or CARICOM, was created in 1973 as a way to bring together the English-speaking nations of the Caribbean in order to work towards a set of common goals. Their website allows visitors to learn about some of these common social and economic goals, and to learn more about the countries that are members of the organization. First-time visitors can click on the "Community" tab to learn more about the original agreement that created the Caribbean Community organization and also learn more about the regional issues that the organization addresses through its work. Moving on, the "Projects" area provides information on their renewable energy program and their work combating HIV and AIDS across the islands. Additionally, the site also includes a "Communications" area where visitors can read official statements issued by CARICOM throughout its existence. [KMG]

http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/color_of_life/

This website from the Getty presents highlights from "The Color of Life", an exhibition of painted sculptures dating from antiquity to the present, that "reveal the many uses of color in figural sculpture over the course of four millennia." Examples shown here span from a terra-cotta head of a Greek God, probably Zeus, from 325 B.C. to Duane Hanson's polychromed bronze sculpture, Old Couple on a Bench, 1994-95. The exhibition slideshow provides 14 more examples, with curator commentary, such as a head of the cruel Roman Emperor Caligula, in both original (A.D. 31 - 47) and reconstructed views. The original was recovered during the Renaissance and scrubbed clean; the reconstructed version created in 2003, is in full color. [DS]

http://www.ie7pro.com/

Curious users who wish to add a few bells and whistles to Internet Explorer will definitely want to take a look at this application. The application allows users to "drag" and "'drop" an in-text link into white space, giving them the ability to open the link in a new tab without any additional mouse work. Visitors will also note that it's much easier to save and fill forms with this application. This version is compatible with computers running Windows 98 and newer and Internet Explorer 6.0. [KMG]

http://www.blender.org/

Are you interested in animation? If so, you might want to take a look at Blender 2.46. This open-source 3D rendering program contains a wide range of essential animation tools, including rendering, modeling, and shading. The program can be quite complicated but the good folks at Blender offer a wide range of tutorials on their site. This version is compatible with computers running Windows 98 and newer. [KMG]

On the Reservation and Off, Schools See a Changing Tide [Free registration may be required]
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/education/25hardin.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=native+american&st=nyt&oref=slogin

Sherman Indian High School at center of federal debate
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_sherman14.4167fcf.html

Indian Country Today: Breaking the Cycle
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417368

Reservation Life: Helga Teiwes Photography, Arizona State Museum
http://www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/exhibits/helga/reservation_life.asp?ver=

Sherman Alexie, 'Sitcom American' [Real Player]
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1397737

Chronicles of Oklahoma: The Life and Work of Sequoyah
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v008/v008p149.html

Throughout American history, the federal government's strategies regarding Native Americans have changed frequently, repeatedly resulting in inept practices and at times deplorable outcomes and often confounding attempts to assist these various groups. Recently, the New York Times reported on the subject of Native American education, which is going through a rather interesting transformation. From Arizona to Montana, it would appear that after decades of attempts to create solid and reputable public school systems on the reservations, more and more Native American families are turning to public schools off the reservation. In many ways, this is an interesting and unexpected change, as resentment still exists over the forced boarding-school programs from the early 20th century which effectively forced Native Americans to renounce their culture and language in the name of a coordinated program of assimilation. However, this movement in Native American families mirrors general trends in American demographics, as more and more persons move from rural areas to solidly suburban and urban places. Additionally, many parents on the reservation feel that their children are not getting adequate attention or access to specialized programs. One student, Jasmine Walks Over Ice, recently transferred to a public high school in Hardin, Montana, stating that she transferred because, "There's more structure and a lot of respect for the teachers". [KMG]

The first link will take users to an article from this Sunday's New York Times about Native Americans who are choosing to attend public schools away from the reservation. The second link leads to a recent article from the Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA) that talks about the local Sherman Indian High School and the debate about whether the government should continue to run off-reservation boarding high schools. Moving on, the third link will take users to an article from this Monday's Indian Country News about the attempts to deal with gangs and drugs on reservations in Wisconsin. The fourth link leads to a small online photograph exhibit of works by Helga Teiwes, who spent a considerable amount of time photographing life on various reservations in the American Southwest. The fifth link leads to a fantastic National Public Radio interview with one of the foremost chroniclers of contemporary Native American life, noted author and poet Sherman Alexie. Finally, the last link leads to an extended piece from the June 1930 edition of the "Chronicles of Oklahoma" on the Cherokee lexicographer and linguist Sequoyah. [KMG]