·http://digital.cityofchicago.org/

Cities around the world are making information accessible to people around the globe and Chicago is part of this exciting trend. The Digital Hub site from the Chicago Mayor's Office provides information about a variety of new digital initiatives, including data sets from different city departments and information about hackathons. On the homepage, visitors can look over sections that include City Accounts, Videos, Images, and Civic Data Apps. In City Accounts, visitors can learn about the social media profiles of different departments, such as the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Public Library. Moving along, the Civic Data Apps include hundreds of high quality free apps, such as an abandoned building finder and a guide to farmers' markets around Cook County. Also, visitors will enjoy the blog as it provides timely updates about new releases and datasets. [KMG]

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·http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR636.html

What's the future of driving in developing countries? This question has tremendous implications and it's one that has intrigued a set of researchers associated with the Rand Corporation. This 132-page meditation was crafted by a five person team and it looks at the economic and non-economic factors that might encourage or inhibit personal automobile ownership and driving patterns in countries such as China and India. The primary research questions driving this work include What are the factors besides economic development that affect automobility? and What will happen to automobility in developing countries if they develop along similar paths as developed countries? Visitors can look over their key findings and also dive deeper into each chapter of the work. It's a compelling piece of research and one that will engage the minds of policy wonks interested in development, transit, and public policy. [KMG]

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·http://www.bl.uk/world-war-one

The British Library has gone above and beyond with this multimedia collection of materials related to World War One. Offered as a form of scholarly rumination and educational resource, the site examines key themes in the history of the Great War, along with 50 newly commissioned historical articles, teachers' notes, and much more. First-time visitors might look over the Explore area to find manuscripts, illustrations, letters, maps, and other items contributed by several dozen European institutions. The Teaching Resources includes 40 different items that cover topics such as aerial warfare, propaganda, and bombing raids. The Articles section is a masterstroke and it covers the lives of soldiers, civilians, and colonial troops. [KMG]

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·http://cdps.chicagofedblogs.org/

The Chicago Federal Reserve has distilled some of its more academic works into this series of informative musings. The Community Development & Policy Studies (CDPS) blog brings together commentaries from staff members as well as guest commentators. CDPS is actually a division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago that helps support the System's economic growth objectives by promoting community development. On the blog, visitors can look over meditations on recent conferences dealing with city revitalization in the Rustbelt, along with musings on home ownership, urban infrastructure projects, and much more. Visitors can search through all of the posts or also navigate to a story of interest via the word cloud. [KMG]

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·http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators.aspx

Bringing together art from all over the world is part of the mission of the Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge initiative. The most remarkable thing is this particular corner, which allows educators to teach students about French ballet, West african drumming, and the rich tapestry of Arab music. The materials here are divided into areas including Lessons, How To's, and Standards. The How To's area provides helpful primers on how to teach music appreciation, integrating arts into everyday classroom activities, and how to create authentic cultural experiences for students. Moving along, the Standards area brings together a variety of resources on the National Standards for Arts Education, broken down by arts genre and grade band. The site is rounded out by the Lessons area, which features dozens of lessons that range from "Adjective Monster" to "Alexander Calder: Master of Balance." [KMG]

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·http://nsdl.org/search/record/collection/ncs-NSDL-COLLECTION-000-003-112-044

The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) has crafted this special and timely collection from their existing archive of fabulous math and science resources for those educators working with bilingual students. The majority of the non-English language resources are in Spanish, but there are also many resources in Portuguese, French, German, and Italian. Visitors can scroll through the Resource Categories to look over different resources by grade level. It's easy to get excited about the site as it contains hundreds of high quality materials, including podcasts, fact sheets, worksheets, teachers guides, and interactive science lab activities. [KMG]

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·http://openarchives.umb.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15774coll5

This remarkable collection brings together video oral histories of Japanese Americans students during World War II. Created by a team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, these interviews document the impact that students' wartime experiences had on their college years as well as the rest of their lives. All told, there are eighteen oral histories here and visitors can learn about the lives of Gordon Sato, Frank Inami, and Rose Yamaguchi, among others. Visitors may especially be interested in learning about the students' time in the relocation centers and internment camps scattered around the United States. All told, it's a moving and thoughtful collection that will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in American history. [KMG]

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·http://www.who.int/gho/publications/world_health_statistics/en/

The World Health Organization (WHO) provides a vast array of materials on global public health statistics for policy makers, journalists, and other such folks. On the site, visitors can look over reports dating back to 2005 and they are welcome to download specific sections or the entire report if so desired. Reports are usually available in at least three languages (French, Spanish, and English) and they include coverage of the health-related Millennium Development Goals, global health indicators, and a number of appendices. Additionally, users can also look over specific country statistics and an elaborate map gallery. [KMG]

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·http://middarchive.middlebury.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/rrphotos

Train wrecks, adorable railroad stations in Bellows Falls, and a mix of locomotives make up this fun digital collection from Middlebury College. This selection of photographs comes from the Rutland Railroad Collection and visitors can look through a variety of subject headings to get acclimated to the various images here. Many of the photographs deal with railroad accidents during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Additionally, the coverage of small branch railroad stations is quite good and visitors may wish to give these close consideration. All in all, railroad buffs and others will find much to enjoy here, along with those who love the Green Mountain State. [KMG]

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·http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/life_of_art/

When some look at art, they might just see a beautiful vase or a well-done etching of a street scene from 19th century Salamanca. But look closely: every work of art reveals something about the world in which it was made, from ancient Egypt to 21st century Detroit. This rather engaging interactive exhibit from the Getty Museum invites visitors to look at four items from this collection for just such a close look. The items here include a silver fountain, a wall light, a side chair, and a lidded bowl. Each item will give visitors the opportunity to learn about a unique period in human history by looking at the various tools and technologies used to create it. Additionally, curious parties can view a collection of links that will encourage further exploration. [KMG]

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·http://www.msichicago.org/programs/digital-life

What is this thing, this digital life? It's complicated and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has some thoughts on the matter. It's all part of the museum's ongoing research initiative and visitors will find that they can peruse three thematic areas: Mobile Device Ownership, Usage by Audience and Platform, and Attitudes About Digital Media. The study behind the initiative is based on surveys collected from August 2011 and it seeks to answer questions like "How many people own smartphones?" Visitors can download each section of the report separately and even offer their own input on the highlighted topics via webform. [KMG]

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·http://images2.toledolibrary.org/

The Toledo Lucas County Public Library has crafted this remarkable collection documenting the history and culture of Toledo, along with sections of northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan. Many of the Toledo photographs depict the downtown area, although a large number of famous industries from the region (such as Jeep and Libbey Glass) are also represented. Visitors can also browse around by subject heading or search by keyword, such as "factory," "street scene," and "fire trucks." For students of the urban condition and older American cities, this collection is a marvelous treat. [KMG]

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·http://www.grahamfoundation.org/

Founded in 1956, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts "makes project-based grants to individuals and organizations and produces public programs to foster the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society." Based in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood, its website provides information about upcoming exhibits, along with news from grantees and news from the world of architecture. Visitors to the site can use the Search feature to look around grant programs, public initiatives, and past projects. [KMG]

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·http://digital.lib.utk.edu/index.php?gid=4

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville has crafted dozens of high quality digital collections over the past fifteen years and this site dedicated to those collections dealing with the Volunteer State's history and culture is a real gem. Here, visitors can weave their way through collections of editorial cartoons by Charlie Daniel, noted Knoxville editor cartoonist, along with photographs of W.O. Garner, who documented the people, homes, recreational activities, and scenery of Maryville, Tennessee in the 1890s. Visitors can search the entire contents of all these collections by subject, keyword, and author. [KMG]

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·http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/thousand-years-of-the-persian-book/

When some think of Persian literature, their minds might immediately turn to the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. There's much more than that, of course, and this online exhibition from the Library of Congress explores over a millennium of Persian printed works. Designed to complement an in situ exhibit, the sections here include The Persian Language, Writing Systems and Scripts, Religion, and Science and Technology. Each section contains a narrative essay, along with examples of illuminated manuscripts and other relevant pieces of historical ephemera. First-time visitors shouldn't miss The Epic of Shahnameh area. Here, they can learn about this epic poem that recounts the history of pre-Islamic Persia or Iransahr (Greater Iran). All told, it contains 990 chapters with 50,000 rhyming couplets. [KMG]

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·http://www.un.org/en/development/

The United Nations' work in development includes crafting meaningful guidelines for development work and support in over 180 nations. From this webpage, visitors can view development news updates, read a succinct list of primary development efforts, and also look over a handy toolbox, which includes the UN Data site and a research guide. Moving on, visitors can also learn which UN bodies and offices are working on development and also read a complete list of the Millennium Development Goals. Additionally, users should not miss the complete database for all of the development projects which is also on the homepage. [KMG]

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·http://socialgoodipsum.com

If you're looking for some socially redeeming dummy text for your website or other design project, check out Social Good Ipsum. The site will generate just such text with a focus on socially impactful information about important organizations doing great work around the world. This version is compatible with all operating systems. [KMG]

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·http://www.justgo.com/#/

Interested in developing your social media presence? JustGo is a nice way to get a handle on which one of your social media networks is performing most effectively via a series of charts and key metrics. This trial version is completely free and users can use four different profiles at any given time. Also, this particular version is compatible with all different operating systems. [KMG]

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Behind Toledo's Water Crisis, a Long-Troubled Lake Erie
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/05/us/lifting-ban-toledo-says-its-water-is-safe-to-drink-again.html?_r=0

Toledo's water ban and the sensitivity of our drinking waters
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/08/04/toledos-water-ban-and-the-sensitivity-of-our-drinking-systems/

Toledo Water Clears, but Outlook is Cloudy
http://online.wsj.com/articles/toledo-mayor-orders-more-drinking-water-tests-1407141074

Clean Water Act (CWA)
http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/lcwa.html

An Urgent Call To Action: Report of the State EPA Nutrient Innovations Task Group
http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/standards/criteria/nutrients/upload/2009_08_27_criteria_nutrient_nitgreport.pdf

Healing Our Waters Coalition
http://healthylakes.org/

Last week, a water crisis broke out in Toledo as residents were told that there were dangerous algae blooms throughout the water supply. After the trouble subsided on Monday, the city's mayor, D. Michael Collins, told residents that it was safe to drink, bathe, and so on with this most important liquid. Now public officials and others are trying to figure out how to combat what is an ongoing problem: the long term quality of the water in the Great Lakes. In the 1960s, a clarion call for transforming the positively polluted water in Lake Erie led to major changes instituted by creating controls at the state and federal levels for large industries around the region. Today, the problem has come back again due to increased urbanization and industrial agriculture, which has spawned a new host of phosphorous runoff. The biggest difficulty today is that the government has few legal options to impose limits, and voluntary limits have barely put a dent in the problem. At the federal level, the Clean Water Act is intended to limit pollution from fixed points, but the trouble is that the phosphorous spreads over thousands of square miles. Additionally, attempts to restore additional parts of the Clean Water Act's authority has been attacked in Congress, primarily from conservatives who view it is an attempt to wrest away private rights. [KMG]

The first link will take visitors to a piece on these recent events from this Tuesday's New York Times. The second link will take interested parties to a thoughtful piece from the Washington Post's Mark Berman about the long-term ramifications of this water pollution incident and what might be done in the future. The third link will take users to a fine piece from the Wall Street Journal, along with additional reporting on water quality around the Great Lakes. Moving along, the fourth link will take visitors to the official homepage of the Clean Water Act, which includes information about enforcement, violations, and much more. The fifth link will take users to a key report from the Environmental Protection Agency from 2009 that called for dramatic changes to improve water quality. The final link will take the generally curious to the homepage of the Healing Our Waters Coalition, which works to protect the Great Lakes.