The Scout Report -- Volume 23, Number 50

Six Degrees of Francis Bacon is a digital humanities project that allows users to examine the social networks of early modern England. Six Degrees was created by a team of scholars across the United States and is hosted by Carnegie Mellon University Libraries. While this project may especially appeal to historians as well as philosophy and English literature scholars conducting research, it is simply enjoyable to explore out of curiosity. Under the browse tab, visitors will find a Social Network Analysis visualization, which they can choose to view data a couple of different ways. Visitors can search this visualization by person (e.g. Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh, Robert Cecil) or by group (e.g. Participants in the Field of Cloth Guild, Metaphysical Poets, Puritans). From here, visitors can find out how individuals and groups were connected to others. Visitors may want to start by reading a helpful tutorial available under the help tab to learn how to best make use of this unique project's features. [MMB]

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For chemistry educators and learners, the team behind the Periodic Table of Videos (featured in the 02-12-2016 Scout Report) has created this series of TED-Ed lessons dedicated to each element in the periodic table. This lesson series features the original videos from the Periodic Videos project at The University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom and is accompanied by a multiple-choice quiz (Think), additional resources that may be of interest (Dig Deeper), and discussion questions (Discuss), and extra tidbits (And Finally...). Best of all, visitors will find these short lessons for every single element from Hydrogen to Lawrencium. These lessons may be especially ideal for classroom warm-ups, as these videos are each approximately 4-7 minutes in length. [MMB]

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From PBS Learning Media comes Math at the Core: Middle School, a collection of hundreds of free resources for math students in fifth through eighth grades. Most of these resources are short videos that explain a variety of mathematical concepts. Some videos are also accompanied by support materials, including lesson plans and worksheets. The collection also includes infographics, interactive features, links to outside resources, and more. Math educators and tutors can browse the collection by grade level or by Common Core domains. Common Core domains include operations and algebraic thinking, the number system, geometry, statistics & probability, and more. [MMB]

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Britain, Representation, and Nineteenth-Century History (BRANCH) "provides users with a free, expansive, searchable, reliable, peer-reviewed, copy-edited, easy-to-use overview of the period 1775-1925." This website, which was launched in 2005 and is edited by English scholar Dino Franco Felluga, includes dozens of essays authored by over 100 contributing scholars about a range of topics related to nineteenth-century literature and history. Visitors can browse essays by timeline (available via a link at the top-right corner of the website), by contributors, or by topic clusters. New visitors to this site may find it easiest to browse this diverse collection of essays via topic clusters, which includes dozens of topics ranging from celebrity culture, empire and the world, gender and sex, failed or alternative science and technology, and much more. These essays, which can be downloaded in PDF format, provide helpful overviews about a range of topics relating to nineteenth-century culture, making this website a blend of an encyclopedia and academic journal. [MMB]

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For librarians and digital humanities enthusiasts (and, of course, those who fall in both categories), dh + lib is the Association of College and Research Libraries' official blog dedicated to the intersection of these two fields. The blog was launched in 2012 by a group of librarians with the aim of creating, "a communal space where librarians, archivists, LIS graduate students, and information specialists of all stripes can contribute to a conversation about digital humanities and libraries." Five years later, this blog continues to provide a space to share resources, ideas, and opportunities. On the site's homepage, visitors will find digital humanities news from around the country, including publications, job postings, and conference announcements. Visitors can browse these posts by subjects in the dh+lib review section. In addition, the resources section offers a very useful collection of links to outside resources including library research guides, readings, and digital tools. [MMB]

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Launched in Sweden in 2003, the Human Protein Atlas is an open-access database that was created to, "map all the human proteins in cells, tissues, and organs using integration of various omics technologies, including antibody-based imaging, mass spectrometry-based proteomics, transcriptomics and systems biology." This resource is intended to be used by researchers and educators in academia as well as in industry. Today, the Human Protein Atlas consists of three parts: the tissue atlas, the cell atlas, and the pathology atlas. Users can explore each atlas by conducting a free-text search while utilizing a number of controlled vocabulary fields. Additionally, users can browse by clicking on the tissue, cell, or pathology atlases. [MMB]

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The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the International Association for Earthquake Engineering have teamed up to create the World Housing Encyclopedia (WHE): a database that provides information about housing construction in parts of the world vulnerable to earthquakes. As of this write-up, this collection includes 130 reports, which visitors can browse via an interactive map on WHE's homepage. These reports provide details about the type of housing construction by region, along with information about the region's terrain. Visitors can also search this database by building type and by, "how long this construction type has been practiced." As the team behind WHE explains, the aim of this website is to, "encourage the use of earthquake-resistant technologies worldwide." [MMB]

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The University of Virginia's Demographic Research Group offers a number of resources that may be of interest to social science researchers, journalists, grant writers, and others. While some of the group's research centers on the state of Virginia, the group also publishes analyses and reports regarding demographic trends in the United States. These resources include the United State Interactive Map, which provides a helpful visualization of the state population as of the 2010 census and projected state populations in 2020 and 2030. Similarly, the Racial Dot Map (featured in the 08-30-2013 Scout Report), provides a visualization of racial demographic information from the 2010 census. The publications section contains a variety of published reports as well Stat Ch@t, the Demographic Research Group's blog. Recently published reports address topics such as poverty rates in Virginia college towns, health demographics in Virginia, and an analysis of how metropolitan areas are changing. [MMB]

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Between 1918 and 1939, many Latin American artists contributed to Paris' vibrant art scene. Visitors can learn more about these artists and view their artwork on this website, which was created by George Mason University art historian Michele Greet in collaboration with GMU graduate scholars and alumni. In the artists section, visitors will find information about approximately 200 artists, organized alphabetically. Many of these short biographical entries also include an image of the artist's work. Meanwhile, in the galleries section, visitors will find information about dozens of galleries that displayed works by Latin American artists, along with information about specific exhibitions. Individual artworks in this collection can also be explored theoretically in the subjects section. Subject tags allow visitors to see artists included in exhibitions that specifically highlighted the work of Latin American artists in Paris, allowing contemporary art lovers to examine pieces that were once displayed alongside one another. Those interested in learning more about the role of Latin American artists in Paris can check out Greet's bibliography for further reading suggestions. [MMB]

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The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) offers this collection of video-recorded speeches and panel discussions related to the topic of inequality. These speeches, originally presented at LSE, come from a range of scholars in economics, sociology, and other fields. Listeners can search this collection by the speaker or by category, including causes of inequality, reproductions of inequality, and consequences of inequality. In one video, Michael Marmot, a professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, discusses global health inequalities. After his talk, Anita Charlesworth, research director at the Health Foundation in the UK, and Kate Pickett, an epidemiologist at the University of York, offer responses. In another talk, Harvard University sociologist Matthew Desmond discusses his research about the impact of eviction and housing policy in low-income communities. [MMB]

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Made for poetry lovers, Jacket2 is an online magazine dedicated to "modern and contemporary poets and poetics." Hosted by the University of Pennsylvania, the magazine is edited by poetry scholars and poets from across the United States. The magazine publishes reviews, interviews, essays, and a podcast (PoemTalk). One recent essay, published in the features section, explores the topic of Canadian avant-garde poetry, accompanied by video clips of discussions at a recent conference on the topic. Another recent essay explores Kokoomoteos, a form of visual poetry that emerged in Finland and provides links to ten poems that are part of this unique genre. Jacket 2 began as a print magazine, published between 1997 and 2010. Visitors can check out the print magazine's archives via a link in the about us section. [MMB]

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The New York Public Library's Community Oral History Project is an ongoing series of interviews at New York City branch libraries. Collectively, these interviews preserve stories from the history of the Big Apple and offer insights into the city today. As of this write-up, this initiative features 19 individual projects, which visitors may explore in full on this website. The history of specific neighborhoods are explored through projects such as A People's History of Harlem, Voices from East Bronx Park, and the Hell's Kitchen Oral History Project. Other projects include Visible Lives: Oral Histories of the Disability Experience; NYC Trans Oral History Project; and the New York City Veterans Oral History Projects. [MMB]

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Have you ever wondered about the history of self-checkout lanes at the grocery store? Or about the origin of the controversial sartorial item we know as cargo shorts? Are you curious to know more about flamingos? If so, Every Little Thing is the podcast for you. Hosted by Flora Lichtman (whose resume includes work for Science Friday, The New York Times, and the Netflix series Bill Nye Saves the World), each half-hour episode of this podcast explores the fascinating stories behind seemingly mundane things. Along the way, listeners will learn plenty of historical and scientific tidbits. Visitors can listen to all episodes in full via this website. In addition, Every Little Thing is available on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play. [MMB]

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Memoir Monday is a weekly newsletter dedicated to the genre of life-writing. The newsletter is "curated" by Narratively, Catapult, Granta, Guernica, Longreads, and Tin House and features the best life-writing published in all six publications. In doing so, the team behind Memoir Monday make it easy for readers to find high-quality, humorous, and poignant stories. Each selection is accompanied by a short description. Visitors can sign up to receive Memoir Monday in their email inbox for free. Alternatively, readers can explore all past newsletters on this website. [MMB]

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Tulane University's Hogan Jazz Archives describes itself as, "the leading research center for the study of New Orleans jazz and related musical genres, including New Orleans ragtime, gospel, blues, rhythm and blues, and Creole songs." Fortunately for music researchers and jazz fans who can't make the trip to New Orleans, the archive has digitized a number of its holdings. For example, in the oral histories section, visitors will find a link to Tulane's Music Rising website, which contains dozens of interview recordings accompanied by transcripts. Additionally, visitors will find a large collection of sheet music in the music scores section. Jazz fans may also want to check out current and past issues of the Jazz Archivist, the archive's official publication. This publication offers the stories behind archival items, providing additional insight into American jazz history. [MMB]

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Over a century of recorded church music, religious services, concerts, documentaries and radio and TV broadcasts from the BBC are contained in the expansive Archive of Recorded Church Music. In 1902, St. Andrew's Church in London became the first choir to issue a gramophone record, marking the beginning of the archive. The physical collection contains recordings from international labels spanning across the world and is comprised of a wide diversity of formats (78rpm, metal and vinyl records, reel-to-reel tapes, etc.). Materials in the collection are digitized to provide access via the digital archive. From the homepage, users can access an interactive video presentation entitled, "A century of recorded English church music," and scroll down to view choral performances available on the archive's YouTube channel. The archive also provides an interactive Advent calendar, with each day containing a special choral performance for the first twenty-four days of December. [JLB]

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Kingfisher is a visual mapping tool designed to quickly and clearly convey complex information in a graphical format. Kingfisher's design was guided by years of applied research on cognition and learning. Individual boxes can be added to specific concepts or tasks, with smaller concepts or sub-tasks grouped within them. Color-coded connections can also be added between related concepts. Users can build maps individually or work collaboratively with a team to build a visual map in real-time. In addition to documenting processes or systems, Kingfisher can also be used as a graphical to-do list (e.g., as a Kanban board). Kingfisher works in any modern browser. [CRH]

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Firewalls are a vital component in any internet-connected computer lab or office. Because commercial firewalls are often massively over-sized for small organizations, many technical users opt to build their own firewalls. For less technical users, pfSense provides an alternative to pricier commercial options. pfSense is a free network firewall based on the FreeBSD operating system. It can be installed on an inexpensive computer (usually one with at least two network cards) to create a full-featured firewall. The included web-based interface is able to configure every part of the system. Users need not have any knowledge of UNIX concepts, won't need to use the command line, and will not need to manually edit firewall rules. The pfSense Hardware Requirements and Guidance page details recommended hardware based on how much traffic the firewall will handle. For networks that have less than 100 Mbps of traffic, a 1 GHz processor with 1 GB of memory and 1 GB of storage should be sufficient. [CRH]

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