The Scout Report -- Volume 23, Number 30

NEA Big Read is a program from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and Arts Midwest that encourages communities across the United States to read and discuss a wide range of books. Each year, grants are awarded to 75 community reading programs to support book clubs and other reading initiatives. Discussion guides are also provided for selected Big Read books that "reflect many different voices and perspectives." These guides, which are available in PDF format, may be of interest to librarians, English instructors, and others interested in starting a book club in their community or classroom. Books currently featured as NEA Big Reads span several genres, including poetry (Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric and Kevin Young's Book of Hours), memoir (Kao Kalia Yang's The Latehomecomer and Edwidge Danticat's Brother, I'm Dying), classic novels (F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Willa Cather's My Antonia) and contemporary novels (Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You and Alejandro Zambra's Ways of Going Home). [MMB]

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Pamela Weber Harris is a former mathematics teacher who currently works as a mathematics education consultant and instructor of elementary math methods at Texas State University. Harris has also authored or co-authored several books about teaching math and appeared in a fascinating 2016 episode of Science Friday, "How Much Math Should Everyone Know? (Show Your Work)." In this 70 minute webinar, Harris demonstrates an instructional technique that she calls Problem Strings. In this method, math learners solve a series of problems collaboratively and use information and techniques from previous problems to help them solve new problems. The instructor, meanwhile, can use these problem strings to model new mathematical concepts and problem solving techniques. As Harris demonstrates, this teaching technique can be used for a variety of levels of mathematics, making this webinar of potential interest to both K-12 mathematics teachers and adult educators. [MMB]

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Launched in 1998, the Newton Project is a non-profit organization that seeks to make all of Sir Isaac Newton's published and unpublished papers available to academic researchers and members of the general public. Currently headed by University of Oxford professor Rob Iliffe, the Newton Project team includes transcribers, coders, editors, and a translator who strive to make the work of the prolific physicist, mathematician, and astronomer accessible to readers. According to the About Us page, the project has published no fewer than 4 million words of diplomatically transcribed text, which represents about 90% of Newton's writings and 95% of his religious papers. Readers can browse these papers in The Texts section of this page, where they are organized by type (e.g. Correspondence, Notebook) and Subject (e.g. Mathematical, Religious, Scientific). Those interested in learning more about Newton and his writings will find extensive biographical information, including a list of all the books in his library, in the About Newton section. [MMB]

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As basic computer skills continue to be essential for successfully finding and obtaining employment, the "digital divide" (a term that refers to the divide between communities with access to computers and related skills and communities who lack such access) persists. Minnesota's Saint Paul Public Library offers this extensive guide designed to help librarians, employment counselors, adult educators, and others teach basic digital literacy skills. This particular guide is centered on the Northstar Digital Literacy Assessment, a free online assessment that tests competency in nine skill areas, such as Basic Computer, World Wide Web, Social Media, and Microsoft Word. Readers will find an extensive collection of accompanying learning modules, readings, and short videos related to each skill. These resources, which are collected from a variety of websites and organizations, can be explored by learners or used by teachers to aide in classroom instruction. [MMB]

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In 1838, Georgetown University purchased 238 enslaved women, men, and children from Thomas F. Mulledy, a Jesuit priest. In 2015, Georgetown University president John J. DeGioia appointed a group of faculty, students, alumni, and others to form the Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation. In addition to hosting a number of community events, the group has created a digital archive and authored a 100-page report about the history and enduring legacy of slavery at the university. Visitors to this website may want to start with the Historical Timeline. This interactive timeline outlines the histories of slavery in the Jesuit community and at Georgetown with the aide of select primary documents. Next, the Slavery Archive allows visitors to explore such items as the sale records that document slavery at Georgetown before 1838, notes from a Georgetown student club that debated slavery, and oral history interviews with descendants of individuals enslaved at Georgetown. This collection, along with the Working Group's Report, offers an important and powerful resource for those interested in the history of higher education and American slavery. [MMB]

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Liz Heinecke is The Kitchen Pantry Scientist, a molecular biologist who began experimenting with ways to make science hands-on and fun with her own three children. She has developed a number of engaging, interactive scientific activities and DIY projects that may appeal to elementary school teachers as well as educators at summer camps, afterschool programs, and other informal educational environments. These activities include making tie-dye milk, crafting a "foaming slime volcano," and finding monarch caterpillars. As the title suggests, many of these activities can be done at home with everyday materials and may appeal to parents and caregivers as well. Activities are explained via short videos which have been tagged for helpful browsing (e.g. chemistry experiments, convection, or weather, to name just a few). Visitors may also want to check out The Kitchen Pantry Scientist YouTube page, where select activities are organized into playlists. [MMB]

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Created in 2006 by Debbie Reese, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) "provides critical perspectives and analysis of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society." Reese is a scholar and former teacher who is tribally enrolled at Nambe Owingeh. She designed this site for parents, librarians, educators, and publishers. The AICL site provides a wealth of information and resources, including book recommendations, critical reviews of books and other forms of media that portray Native characters, information about Native communities and tribal governments, lists of Native authors, scholars, and activists to follow, and more. As of this write up, recent entries include reviews of several recently published books and a commemoration of Doris Seale, Abenaki librarian, poet, and activist who passed away in February 2017. Another recent entry is an open letter from Naomi Bishop, MLIS, of the Gila River Indian Community that encourages librarians and others who are thinking about hosting solar eclipse-related activities to learn about and be sensitive to Native beliefs about solar eclipses. [MMB]

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For K-12 teachers and librarians, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) recently released its annual list of the Best Websites for Teaching and Learning. This list offers a useful one-stop shop for educators and others in search of free online resources that "encourage a community of learners to explore and discover." These resources are organized into categories including Curriculum Collaboration, Media Sharing, and Content Resources. Each selection is accompanied by a short description, along with information about how teachers might incorporate these tools and resources into their classrooms. For librarians and teachers looking for ways to incorporate digital literacy into K-12 education in ways the complement existing curriculum and learning objectives, this list will provide a number of helpful tools. [MMB]

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In 1707, Hans Sloane published a book entitled Voyage to the Islands of Madera, Barbadoes, S. Christophers, and Jamaica, in which the European traveler described his time in these islands during the late seventeenth century. Sloane writes of a 1688 music "festival" on the island of Jamaica, which was performed by individuals of African descent. Many of these musicians were survivors of the horrific Middle Passage. This digital humanities project, created by History scholar Laurent Dubois, composer David K. Garner, and English scholar Mary Caton Lingold, allows visitor to explore a remarkable artifact, which as Dubois notes, provides, "the earliest example of musical notation representing Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Atlantic music, and essentially the only one until the late eighteenth century." While it is impossible to know exactly what this music sounded like in 1688, visitors can listen to musical interpretations composed by Garner. Visitors will also find digitized passages from Sloane's book related to music, which have been annotated with both text and sound. [MMB]

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The Sloan Film Program "aims to influence the next generation of filmmakers to tackle science and technology themes and characters, to increase visibility for feature films that depict this subject matter and to produce new films about science and technology and about scientists, engineers and mathematicians." To fulfill this mission, the program awards grants to film schools, partners with film institutes and other organizations to develop science themed screenplays, and awards annual Science and Technology Feature Films Prizes. On this website, courtesy of the Museum of the Moving Image, film fans can learn more about the program and, best of all, explore and watch a collection of over 50 short science-themed films. To access the film collection, visitors can select Watch Films from the Sloan-Awarded Films page. These films are accompanied by a series of Teacher's Guides for K-12 educators interested in incorporating them into the classroom. [MMB]

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Google Chrome recently introduced Land Lines, a delightful new way to explore the gorgeous satellite images from Google Earth. Landlines invites users to discover new satellite images in two ways: Draw and Drag. With the Draw feature, visitors simply create a small doodle on their monitor or personal device. Next, Landlines, with the aid of machine learning, presents visitors with a satellite picture that contains this line or shape in some form: perhaps as a gridded street, the shape of a mountain range, or the curve of a lake. A caption in the bottom left hand side of the browser alerts readers as to what they are looking at and allows visitors to explore each area in more detail via Google Maps. With Drag, users can "create an infinite line of connective rivers, highways, and coastlines." Both modes of exploration offer innovative and highly enjoyable ways to see the world from one's own computer. [MMB]

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During the U.S. Civil War, Americans sought to document and commemorate what was happening around them, using photography, lithographs, and other mediums "to describe, to explain, and perhaps to come to terms with a brutal, defining period of American history." The Huntington Library offers this powerful online exhibit that allows visitors to explore these images and learn more about their significance. Curated by Jennifer A. Watts, this exhibit consists of three parts. In Image Galleries, visitors can explore photographs and other images created during and shortly after the Civil War by topic: Battlefront, (Lincoln's) Assassination, Commemoration, and the James E. Taylor Scrapbooks. In this last section, visitors can view detailed scrapbooks compiled by journalist and Civil War veteran James E. Taylor, which include some of the most famous Civil War photographs alongside newspaper clippings and Taylor's annotations. This exhibit also features Completely Silenced, in which photographs from the Battle of Antietam are accompanied by a musical soundtrack. [MMB]

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The Poetry Break is a podcast from West Virginia Public Broadcasting that features poets from Appalachia and elsewhere. Released monthly, this short podcast is hosted by West Virginia's Poet Laureate Marc Harshman. In each episode, Harshman introduces a new poet and conducts a short interview in which poets typically read one or two poems and discuss them with Harshman. Recent guests on The Poetry Break include Mitchell L. H. Douglas, associate professor of English at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and founding member of Affrilachian Poets; poet, novelist, and children's book writer George Ella Lyon; and Linda Pastan, a past poet laureate of Maryland. Each segment varies in length between five and ten minutes. Another recent episode commemorates the work of the late William Bronk. Visitors can check out and listen to all past episodes here. [MMB]

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1842 marked the births of both the Vienna and New York Philharmonic symphonies. In honor of their 175th anniversaries, the Vienna Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic have teamed up to create this multimedia virtual exhibit where visitors may compare similar documents and artifacts from the two orchestras side by side. For example, visitors can read the April 1942 Constitution of the Philharmonic Society of New York alongside the spring 1842 draft of the Vienna Philharmonic's Founding Charter. Other items in this exhibit include photographs, letters, sheet music, concert programs, and more. These items are accompanied by short videos featuring archivists, historians, musicians, and other experts who explain the significance of specific items. This exhibit is divided into six sections: The Founding Documents; Leonard Bernstein; The National Socialists and World War II; Mahler, Bruckner, and Schoenberg; First Subscriptions and Brahms; and The International Philharmonics. [MMB]

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Sapiens is an online magazine "with a mission to bring anthropology - the study of being human - to the public, to make a difference in how people see themselves and the people around them." Written and edited by a team of writers and anthropologists, this magazine features essays, photography, news stories, feature-length stories, and more that will appeal to a broad audience. As of this write-up, recent stories include an exploration of research about schizophrenia; a consideration of the work of Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957); and an investigation into when humans began controlling fire, centering on the work of archaeologist Sarah Hlubik. Visitors can browse archived articles by category: Archeology, Language, Body, Culture, Evolution, Language, and Technology. Sapiens also features links to articles in other magazines that may be of interest in their Weekend Reads section. [MMB]

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Tools to monitor website traffic are important for website managers to see how their websites are reaching their audience. Many websites rely on Google's free Analytics service to fill this role. However, concerns about Google's wide reach across the internet have caused some website managers to seek an alternative. Piwik aims to be that alternative, with analytics capability similar to what Google Analytics provides in a package that website managers can install and run on their own server. It also provides a number of unique privacy features, such as opt-out and support for do-not-track. Similar to Google Analytics, Piwik is added to a website by placing a snippet of code in the header of all pages. Plugins to add this code are available for most common website platforms (Drupal, Wordpress, phpBB, Magento, etc). Piwik requires a web server that provides PHP and either MySQL or MariaDB. Piwik is also available as a hosted service for a monthly fee. [CRH]

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Teams that use online tools for collaboration often need to stitch together several different tools to handle sharing files, managing documentation, and task tracking. Notion provides a unified platform for all three of these. File sharing works with a user-friendly drag and drop interface that supports over 30 common content types. Notion's documentation editor uses a unique "nested pages" system to keep all documents organized and discoverable. And for task management, Notion provides a drag and drop editor similar to the "task board" provided by trello. Additionally, Notion supports integration with the Slack chat service to notify team members as Notion content is updated. Notion can be accessed online or offline using desktop clients for macOS and Windows. Notion's free tier includes 300 content blocks for individuals and 600 content blocks for teams, both with a 5 MB maximum file size. [CRH]

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