The Scout Report -- Volume 23, Number 40

The Library of Congress has recently launched Library of Congress Labs, which is "a place to encourage innovation with Library of Congress digital collections." The LOC lab is intended as a space to collaborate on online projects, share digital tools and visualizations, and stay abreast of digital initiatives that utilize the LOC's collections. As of this write-up, the lab features Beyond Words, a crowdsourced transcription project centering on World War I-era newspapers. This project invites participants to select images (such as illustrations and photographs) from newspapers published across the country and transcribe these images, providing additional insight into the role and nature of national and local newspapers during this time. Meanwhile, the LC for Robots section offers a collection of downloads, software, application programming interfaces (APIs), and tutorials to facilitate visitor engagement in the LOC's digitized collection. Finally, visitors can learn about new digital projects (including projects at the LOC as well as projects headed by other institutions) on The Signal Blog. Fans of this blog can also sign up to receive an email when a new blog post is added. [MMB]

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January 2018 will mark the centennial of the 1918 influenza pandemic, which tragically killed between 50 and 100 million individuals around the globe. The University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, offers this extensive collection of resources and archival material related to influenza in the United States. To do so, the team behind this project selected fifty U.S. cities and researched the impact of the flu in each one and collected archival material from local archives, libraries, and historical societies. For each featured city, visitors will find a short essay summarizing the impacts of the of disease and how medical professionals responded; a timeline of major events; images; and dozens of archival materials, including newspaper clippings and public health bulletins. In addition, in the About this Project section, visitors can access a 2007 article from the Journal of the American Medical Association that examines the non-pharmaceutical interventions that various cities implemented to mitigate the impact of the epidemic, and the relative success of these measures. [MMB]

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The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) is a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) dedicated to "conduct[ing] innovative research on the dynamic environments and ecosystems of the Great Lakes and coastal regions to provide information for resource use and management decisions that lead to safe and sustainable ecosystems, ecosystem services, and human communities." Visitors can find a variety of resources on this website related to Great Lake ecosystems - including data, infographics, research summaries and more. One highlight of this page is the Great Lakes Ice Cover, which is accessible under the Quick Links tab. Updated four times a day, this page provides information about ice cover, air temperature, water temperature, cloud cover, surface currents, and more for the Great Lakes. Another highlight is the Great Lakes Aquatic Nonindigenous Species Information System (GLANSIS), which features a fact sheet, an interactive map, and downloadable database about invasive species in the Great Lakes region. Visitors may also want to check out additional resources in the Research, Data & Products, Publications, and Education tabs. [MMB]

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From the University of Iowa's Digital Scholarship and Publishing Studio comes Shakeosphere, a social network analysis of publishers, writers, manuscripts, and booksellers in the late-fifteenth through eighteenth century England. Created by a team of English scholars and librarians, along with a computer scientist, this project allows English and history scholars to explore metadata compiled from the English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) - a catalogue of every book printed in England between 1473 and 1800. Visitors can explore this data in three ways. In Social Network Analytics, visitors can explore a network map between two specific dates (e.g. 1473-1500) and search for specific individuals within a graph. Alternatively, visitors may explore publications by decade or conduct a text search of the catalogue. This tool may appeal to historians and English scholars alike, illuminating the influence of individual writers and printers on one another throughout early-modern England. [MMB]

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The American Veterans Center offers this powerful collection of videos featuring the stories of veterans who served during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including veterans of World War II, the Korean War, and the Iraq War. These videos include interviews with veterans along with recorded readings of veterans' stories by actors including Leslie Odom and Jon Voight. In one video, created in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Bulge, Lt. Col. James "Maggie" Megellas recalls his combat experiences. His narrative is accompanied by photographs and video clips. In another video, Fernando Rodriguez-Borges describes his service in the "Borinqueneers," a mostly Puerto Rican regiment, during the Korean War. Another video features Sgt. Ivor Griffin, who registered for the Marines at age 17 and served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Griffin was one of the first African-American individuals to serve in the Marines. While these videos will appeal broadly, they may also be of special interest to social studies instructors. [MMB]

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The Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin has created this free curriculum for early childhood educators centering on the importance of kindness. This curriculum was developed by Lisa Flook, a clinical psychologist at the Center, veteran educator Laura Pinger, and writers, producers, and educators from Sesame Street. It contains 24 lessons and introduces young learners to mindfulness practices, ways to recognize and deal with difficult emotions, how to build connections with others, and more. To receive the Center for Healthy Minds curriculum, users will need to register for a free account. Individual lesson titles in the curriculum include "Emotions change many times a day," "What else can we do when we are upset?" "Forgiving myself," and "Forgiving others." Many of these lessons incorporate short videos or stories, and hyperlinks are provided to view and purchase related materials. [MMB]

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The Imperial College London's Mechatronics in Medicine Laboratory was launched in 1993. Since then, the laboratory has been responsible for innovations in "fields as diverse as neurosurgery, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatible robotics, haptic training systems for surgeons, urological surgery and orthopaedics, high intensity focused ultrasound and blood sampling." On their website, researchers and mechatronic students can learn more about the lab's work and access a number of resources, including news about research developments (in the Research section) and published research papers. Those interested in the latter can conduct a text search for publications by navigating to the Publications tab. Results can be filtered by publication year or type (e.g. book chapter, journal article, conference paper, patent, software). While some publications require certain subscriptions, many of these publications are open-access. [MMB]

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In 1662, the Parliament of England passed the Act of Uniformity - which required adherence to many rites and ceremonies prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. One of the rites required was episcopal ordination for all ministers. In response, other Protestant religious communities established a number of dissenting academies, which were "intended to provide Protestant students dissenting from the Church of England with a higher education similar to that at Oxford and Cambridge, from which they were largely excluded." This digital humanities project, created by the Queen Mary Centre for Religion and Literature in English, allows visitors to learn more about these academies through an extensive database and encyclopedia of 220 academies that existed between 1660 and 1860. The database also includes thousands of individuals who were involved in the academy as tutors or students, including Joseph Priestley, John Dalton, and Thomas Malthus, among others. In addition, the project also offers a Virtual Library System, which allows visitors to explore the library catalogue of some dissenting academies and even check out the borrowing records of some famous individuals. This project provides additional insight to an important part of British history and will appeal to scholars of history and religion alike. [MMB]

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Manhattan's New Museum opened in 1977 with the mission of promoting "New Art, New Ideas." Forty years later, the New Museum has relaunched its Digital Archive, featuring over 10,000 works of art - including video, audio, and visual pieces. Visitors are invited to conduct a text search of this extensive archive or browse materials in a number of ways. Those interested in learning more about the museum's forty-year history may want to start with Chronology, which shows an interactive timeline of the museum's history that incorporates slideshows from famous exhibitions throughout the years. Alternatively, visitors may want to visit the Exhibitions tab, which allows users to browse by Exhibition Type (including solo exhibitions by Carol Rama, Chris Ofili, Faith Ringgold, and many others), Series, Artists, etc. Another highlight of this collection are the Sound and Video sections, which include interviews and performances. [MMB]

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On September 8th, in honor of Hispanic Heritage month, Google Arts and Culture launched Latino Cultures in the US - an extensive collection that features dozens of curated online exhibits and thousands of digitized items. This extensive site is the result of collaboration with many museums and cultural institutions, including The Smithsonian, the National Museum of Mexican Art, the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation, and many more. Visitors can browse these exhibits by topic, including Influential Figures (featuring Dolores Huerta, Roberto Clemente, and Sonia Sotomayor, among others), Discover U.S. Latino Art, The LGBTQ Experience, Defining Moments in Latino History, and much more. A few of the many highlights of this collection include The Masters of Murals, Up Close, which allows visitors to closely explore murals created by artists including Diego Rivera and Mario E. Castillo; a collection of nine Latino neighborhoods that one can explore via Google street view; and the powerful Voices Oral History Project, which allows visitors to explore photographs and interviews of Latinos who served in WWII. [MMB]

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The Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew publishes the Kew Science blog, a blog dedicated to the Kew's scientific research and conservation efforts around the globe. This regularly updated blog will appeal to readers with an interest in natural sciences and wildlife. As of this write up, one recent entry investigates why it is that bees tend to die when they are near lime trees. Another recent entry describes the SPARC Project, an initiative by eight institutions including Kew, to identify rare species that may be affected by climate change. Yet another post takes readers to the Julian Alps of Slovenia, where one Kew MSc student studied rare saxifrages. Each of these blog posts is accompanied by photographs and, in most cases, a reference list for those interested in pursuing further reading. [MMB]

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Folks who enjoy celebrating the month of October with spooky or mysterious tales will enjoy Lore, a podcast dedicated to "dark historical tales." Launched in 2015 by Aaron Mahnke, Lore has approximately 70 podcasts as of this write up, each exploring the history behind a variety of folklore stories. For example, one recent podcast entitled Wide Open, tells the story of the so-called Van Meter Visitor, a mysterious, gigantic bat-like creature that a handful of well-respected Van Meter, Iowa resident reported seeing in 1903. Another recent episode, Desperate Measures, tells the story of the 1928 murder of Nelson Rehmeyer and its connection to a group of central Pennsylvania residents who practiced a form of folk magic. Rehmeyer's main assailant, John Blymire, believed that Rehmeyer had placed a hex on him. In each episode, Mahnke situates each story in the context of universal human behavior, humanizing his historical subjects and offering insight into how we all make sense of a sometimes mysterious world. [MMB]

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The Seattle Poetic Grid is a community poetry project launched by the city's civic poet, Claudia Castro Luna. This project will appeal to poetry lovers around the world as well as those with a personal connection to the Washington city. On the Seattle Poetry Grid, visitors will find dozens of poems that take place in the the rapidly changing coastal city, mapped out in accordance to the places they describe. When visitors select a pin, they can view not only the poem related to each place, but also an accompanying photograph. Visitors can also explore this project via the index of poets; the project features both well-known and emerging writers. Castro Luna's own contribution to this project is the poem "A Corner to Love," which is mapped onto Seattle's City Hall. It includes the line "...We live in the city, and the city lives in us." [MMB]

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How many Americans read science news stories? Do Americans trust major news outlets to report on science? How has social media impacted the way that Americans consume science news? A recent PEW research study, published on September 20th, 2017, examined American engagement with science news stories through a survey of 4,024 adults. The survey revealed that just 17% of those surveyed actively seek out science-related news stories. That said, an additional 32% reported that they either read science news at least once a week or actively sought out science news stories about topics of interest. Americans are most likely to read science news from general news sources, with 54% of participants saying they get science news from such sources. In comparison, 45% say they use science documentary or video programs and 12% report listening to science podcasts and radio programs. To learn more, visitors can download the full 91 page report via the link above. [MMB]

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From its mission, the Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) "documents, studies, and explores the diverse food cultures of the changing American South." This means that on their website, visitors will find lots of media documenting Southern food. The film section features a collection of short films on topics such as fish camps, which are informal, often outdoor, fish restaurants that emerged along with the textile industry in the Carolinas and still exist as inexpensive family-friendly restaurants today. Also included are a biography of New Orleans chef Susan Spicer and Sour, Sweet, Spicy: Making a Home in Oxford Mississippi, a profile of the Zaap Thai restaurant founded by Thai immigrants. There's also the "Gravy" podcast series, with a new episode every week, including "Kimchi and Cornbread," "Korean food in Montgomery Alabama," and "Pie by Another Name," on burekas - hand pies filled with potato, rice, spinach, eggplant, and meat, baked by members of the congregation at Or VeShalom Synagogue in Atlanta. The scholarship section reminds us that the SFA is affiliated with the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, and lists lectures, publications, workshops, and fellowships for food scholars. [DS]

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Sometimes website owners just want a simple way to chat with their users. Something that just works without needing a lot of complicated setup. Pure Chat is a service designed to scratch that particular itch. Sites running on WordPress, Shopify, or Weebly can use the service by installing the Pure Chat plugin. For other sites, it can be integrated into an existing site simply by pasting in a bit of HTML. Step-by-step guides for how to do this for numerous hosting providers can be located in the Pure Chat documentation. Once installed on your site, Pure Chat will create a 'live chat' button. Site users need only to be using any relatively recent web browser. Pure Chat's free tier provides unlimited live chat sessions on up to three websites. The administrative interface includes transcripts of previous chats and also a record of which pages a user has visited prior to starting a chat. Site admins can accept chats either through the Pure Chat web dashdoard or through a mobile app. When no admins are available to accept chats, Pure Chat's 'live chat' button transforms into an email contact form. [CRH]

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As with everything else, touch typing improves with regular practice. TypeRacer is a browser-based multiplayer typing game that can provide such practice - it claims to be the very first. Rather than typing repetitive patterns (gh gh gh, etc) or randomly generated sequences of letters, TypeRacer presents users with short passages from popular songs, films, and books. As users accurately enter text, they advance a small icon of a vehicle along a race track, racing against other users working on the same text. TypeRacer keeps detailed typing statistics so that users may track their progress over time. Users may also contribute additional passages to TypeRacer's collection of exercises. TypeRacer works in any modern browser. [CRH]

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