The Scout Report -- Volume 26, Number 8

Historians, sociologists, and those interested in tracing the history of the Holocaust may benefit from Mapping the Lives, a platform that serves as "a central memorial for the persecuted in Europe [from] 1933-1945." Through interactive street maps that memorialize victims of the Nazi Regime's persecution, the resource goes beyond traditional "memorial book[s]" to reclaim space for the lives that were lost. In doing so, they show a deeper picture of the neighborhoods--down to a street address--impacted by the Holocaust. The creators recommend that users read the Mapping the Lives User Guide (accessible by clicking the box in the top left corner and selecting User Guide) before diving into the database. This guide defines some key terms, explains how best to navigate the site, and links to a page on the data source (the 1939 German Minority Census) that also contains a 2014 TED talk from Roderick Miller introducing Mapping the Lives. On the Home page visitors can navigate the map itself, beginning at a macro-level to examine the country-wide impact of the Holocaust, or zooming in to understand how this tragedy impacted individual cities and neighborhoods. In addition to scrolling the map, readers can search by name, street, and city by entering information into the Search box at the top left, or conduct an Advanced Search (linked at the bottom of the Search box). Mapping the Lives is an extension of Tracing the Past, a non-profit organization seeking to bring the "far-removed past [of the Holocaust] more clearly into the residents of Europe's sense of daily reality." The resource is available in both English and German. [EMB]

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What do infectious diseases and internet memes have in common? They both spread through networks, as Kevin Simler (computer scientist, engineer, and self-proclaimed "restless millennial") reminds us in "Going Critical." This interactive essay, published by Simler in 2019 on his online essay database Melting Asphalt, explores how "networks rule our world." "Going Critical" invites readers to play with "transmission rates" and models to better understand how these networks work, focusing on the "the way things move and spread, somewhat chaotically, across a network." The essay is broken down by topic, such as Degree and Cities and Network Density. Each section features visual and interactive tools and a discussion of the thematic topic. This structure helps users digest the material - whether phrases like "spontaneous activation" and "supercritical networks" are new to your vocabulary, or you're a seasoned pro in the network arena. If you enjoy this piece, you may want to check out the rest of the site, which features other essays such as "A Natural History of Beauty" and "Here Be Sermons." [EMB]

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If you're curious about cheddar, you've gouda check out Cheese Science Toolkit. The website is the passion project of Pat Polowsky, who is both a food scientist and a web front end developer, the perfect skill set for creating this web-based science guidebook about cheese. Polowsky says the audience for the Cheese Science Toolkit is anyone who interacts with cheese after it is made, including cheese sellers, buyers, eaters, and "all-around curd nerds". The main content on the site is a series of posts on all topics cheese. Dear to those of us in Wisconsin is the short science byte post entitled "Squeak" that answers the questions, "Why do cheese curds squeak? And why do they lose their squeak?" Another post provides a handy cheese classification chart, categorizing cheeses into unripened, soft cheese (e.g. ricotta, chevre, or fresh mozzarella) and ripened, harder cheese (e.g. Cheddar, Limberger, or Parmesan). For those looking for even more cheese education, an announcement on the website indicates that Polowsky has partnered with the Vermont Cheese Council to offer an online course, The Science of Farmstead Cheese. The course is fee-based, which gives students access to all course materials for one year, but a free preview is available to help prospective students decide if they'd like to sign up. [DS]

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The "Oka Crisis": A Digital Atlas of the 1990 Events at Kanehsata:ke encapsulates years of protest against colonialism, culminating in "policy change and Indigenous visibility." The resource uses a map, broken into six chapters, with pinned locations, pictures, and information, that offers educators a "user-friendly, interactive resource to supplement their current curriculum and counter the collective 'forgetting' and unfounded stereotypes and narratives that surround the Kanien'keha:ka resistance and uprising." At the bottom of the main page, readers will find information on how to use the map, as well as a variety of additional related resources to explore. After reviewing how to use the map, instructors can check out the suggested lesson plan, which is broken into three parts (downloadable as PDFs), each meant to last approximately 50-minutes. Part One breaks down an instructor-led simulation meant to introduce students to "the context, events, and impacts of the 1990 Kanehsata:ke's resistance." Part Two asks students to work in groups to reflect on what they've learned and explore a specific chapter of the map in their group. Part Three puts the students in the driver's seat, asking them to share out to their classmates what their group learned. The "Oka Crisis": A Digital Atlas of the 1990 Events at Kanehsata:ke is a project of the University of Victoria's Anthropology Department Ethnographic Mapping Lab. Readers who enjoy this resource may want to explore other archived content from the Lab. [EMB]

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"Where does the science meet the fiction?" Find out by tuning in to The Biology of Superheroes Podcast, a fun listen for superhero or fantasy fans of any age. On the show, Shane Campbell-Staton (evolutionary biologist and National Science Foundation fellow) sits down with "fellow geek" and co-host Arien Darby (marketing manager at Warner Brothers Entertainment Group) to discuss the familiar monsters and superhuman archetypes that make up science fiction, explore why these figures have captured popular consciousness, and decipher if there is any scientific reality to their stories. Each episode welcomes other scientific experts to join in the conversation, making superheroes a gateway to learning about a vast range of topics. The first two episodes featuring Marvel Comics' Spiderman, for example, turn into a deep dive on the behavior and biomechanics of web building in spiders and the engineering potential of silk. Despite the name, the hosts don't limit the conversation to superheroes; for example, an episode from May 2019 took on the biology of dragons at the same time audiences across the globe were captivated by the final season of the fantasy television series Game of Thrones. [SMH]

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In A Tribe Called Quest's hit song, "Can I Kick It," they declare their song as "a rhythm recipe that you'll savior." So, how can their music and other hip-hop hits light a spark for rhymes, rhythm, and similar literary tools? The poetry of hip-hop: A playlist for your classroom offers guidance. This hour-long playlist promises "squeaky clean" tracks (including "Can I Kick It?") for teachers to play in their classrooms and seeks to demonstrate that "connections to literacy come in many forms." The resource embeds the Spotify playlist of 15 songs described as "empowering, uplifting, and thoughtful in their messages," for easy listening and includes brief descriptions of each song and artist. Also included is an approximately 20-minute YouTube clip of a conversation between renowned scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson and GZA, a member of the Wu-Tang Clan known for weaving science into his songs. The list was published in 2018 on Britannica Digital Learning, a site on a mission to empower educators and students alike "to ignite curiosity and spread the joy of discovery." [EMB]

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Hip-hop and poetry share numerous commonalities -- among them, use of engaging vocabulary. This data project, created by Matt Daniels for the visual journalism platform The Pudding, explores "the number of unique words used by some of the most famous artists in hip hop." Lyrics and language transform over time, as this data project makes clear. The project sorts data in a variety of ways, showing differences in era, comparing hip-hop lyrics to other genres (namely rock and country), and using a linear graph to chart where rappers fall on the spectrum of lyrical ingenuity. As of this write-up, Aesop Rock claims the number one spot - he's used nearly 8,000 "unique words" in his music. Other well-known frontrunners include Wu-Tang Clan and Outkast. Visitors can navigate this graph by selecting particular artists, or hover over an artist's photo to see their name. At the bottom of the page, users will learn about the "token analysis" method used to gather the project's data. The resource was created in 2014 and updated in 2019. [EMB]

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Educators may enjoy this lesson plan, Teaching Poetry Through Rap, which uses music as a model to teach metaphors and other literary techniques. The lesson opens with a game, "Rapper or Shakespeare?" modeled off of a TED Talk given by Akala (a British educator and rapper). The video of Akala's talk is embedded for reference. Next, the lesson examines popular "literary elements," including similes, hyperboles, and rhyme. These elements are defined and then exemplified through popular rappers and poets. The lesson concludes with an optional assignment to give students, where they write their own literary rap. Definitions and examples are provided as a free downloadable PDF. Educators may also want to check out the How Other People Have Used This Lesson section at the bottom of page, where they can view a couple of additional examples that combine lyrics and literature. This curriculum was created by Paul Carl Gallipeau who used it in a high school classroom through the Nazareth College/Hillside Work-Scholarship Connect Homework Helpers program. It was originally created in 2014 and was updated in 2018. [EMB]

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What did Eminem mean when he rapped "amoxicillin's just not real enough?" How did Queen Latifah incorporate literary references into her hit song "U.N.I.T.Y?" Genius, a website that originated as "a platform for annotating clever rap lyrics," provides answers to these questions and many more. As the mission and work of the resource continues to expand, the founding principle remains: "Every song has a story that needs to be told." On the site, readers will find a wealth of valuable resources that showcase the stories engulfed in songs. For example, users can search for a song or artist in the query bar in the top left corner to find annotated lyrics for the song supplied by contributors. These annotations provide context, anecdotes, and definitions that allow for a deeper analysis of the meaning in the music. Interested users can also make a free account to add their own contributions. It should be noted that editors will review your suggestions before deciding if it's appropriate to publish on the site. Users can also browse and contribute to other forums on the site - sounding boards for topics such as the "Most Poetic Lines and Verses in Hip Hop Music." Genius also contains several other resources. The Featured section contains trending news and topics related to the music industry. Under Charts users can browse the hottest hits of the day. In the Videos section check out educational clips such as "An English Professor Breaks Down Kendrick Lamar's 'Fear'." Genius was founded in 2009 and is enjoyed by millions of users every year, creating a space for a "collective music IQ" to transform the way we appreciate songs. [EMB]

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"The break beat is the earth of hip-hop, what rappers began to run couplets over, they extended those couplets to make verses and choruses, and began to slant rhyme and then jam and extend the line break and jam in odd, thrilling places." This excerpt, read by Kevin Coval, co-editor of The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop, exemplifies the relationship between hip-hop and poetry, as explored in the anthology. In his words, hip-hop provides a platform to "shift dominant narratives...in ways that were undeniably fresh." This video features Coval and fellow poets Jamila Woods and Fatimah Asghar in conversation with Paul Peppis, Director of the University of Oregon's Humanities Center, discussing The BreakBeat Poets, a collection of "poets who are really wrestling with the aesthetics of hip-hop cultural practice on the page." Throughout the video (which is just under 30 minutes in length), the group examines how their roles as educators and poets intertwine, defines how hip-hop promotes "radical inclusivity," and recites some of their work featured in the book. The clip aired in 2015, but Oregon Humanities Center continues to post other interesting dialogues on their YouTube page, covering topics such as data ethics and diversity. [EMB]

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Perkeep is a personal storage and archiving system that aims to "let you permanently keep your stuff, for life." Perkeep provides a set of formats and protocols for storing arbitrary data, from tweets up to gigantic videos. It also offers a set of tools for searching and accessing the data that it contains. In the Perkeep Overview, the authors describe the system as a "data dumptruck that I can throw stuff at whenever." In addition to archiving any data thrown into the dumptruck, Perkeep also supports automatic archiving of content posted on social media. To do this, Perkeep employs a workflow called "Publish Elsewhere, Syndicate to your Own Site" (or PESOS). One configures an "importer" in Perkeep that automatically checks for and archives new content as it is posted. Currently, Perkeep has importers for feeds (RSS, Atom, or RDF), Flickr, Foursquare, Picasa, Pinboard, Twitter, and Instapaper. A detailed technical overview of Perkeep was presented at LinuxFest Northwest 2018, a recording of which can be located on the bottom of the Perkeep homepage. The Perkeep server can be installed on Windows, macOS, and Linux computers and a Perkeep client application is available for Android devices. [CRH]

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Jp is a command-line utility for generating quick visualizations of data. It can produce bar charts, line charts, scatter plots, histograms, and heatmaps from either JSON or CSV data. Users could employ tools like jq (featured in the 04-27-2018 Scout Report), pup (featured in the 04-11-2019 Scout Report), or csvkit (featured in the 01-31-2020 Scout Report) to extract data from online sources or local data sets, then use jp to generate visual summaries of that data. The jp README file describes the various data formats that the tool understands and shows plots generated from each type. In the Examples folder, users can locate the specific data files used to generate the example plots. Jp is free software, distributed under the MIT license, with source code available on GiHub. Executable binaries are available for download for Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. [CRH]

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The musical Hamilton brought hip-hop to the forefront of conversations on using the genre as a teaching tool. This data visualization, last featured in the 10-19-18 issue of the Scout Report, further emphasizes connections between lyrics and learning.

The visual essay "An Interactive Visualization of Every Line in Hamilton" was created by freelance software engineer Shirley Wu for the online magazine The Pudding. In her essay, Wu explores the relationships between the Broadway musical's characters, as well as themes that emerged when she examined patterns of lines repeated across songs, such as contentment and Eliza Schuyler's character development. As the reader scrolls slowly through the animated essay, Wu explains her motivation for creating this data visualization, as well as how the reader can explore the data themselves by filtering the color-coded data "by any combination of characters, conversations, or themes." She crafted this essay using a raw dataset that she created manually based on the musical's libretto, which she then visualized using D3.js and Canvas to create the mesmerizing animations seen here. Wu's essay is sure to appeal to fans of Hamilton or of data visualization in general. It should be noted that this essay is optimized for Chrome with a resolution higher than 1280x800, so mobile users may not have the best experience.

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