The Scout Report -- Volume 24, Number 46

Since 2010, Retraction Watch has been tracking and reporting on scientific retractions, part of science's "self-correcting" process. After several years of labor, Retraction Watch recently released its vast database of retractions to the public. Launched in October 2018, the Retraction Watch Database offers a searchable and openly available collection of more than 18,000 retractions, corrections, and expressions of concern dating back to the 1970s from scientific journals around the world. Those interested can search this database by author, title, journal, reasons for retraction, and a host of other fields. New users should begin by visiting the user guide linked at the top of the page, where they will find a detailed overview and instructions. The creation of the Retraction Watch Database was funded by grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. Retraction Watch and its database were founded by science journalists Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky, who is also a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University's Carter Journalism Institute. [JDC]

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NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, which launched in 2009, was officially retired in October 2018 after running out of fuel. Over its career, the telescope discovered 2,650 exoplanets and provided huge amounts of data that scientists are still exploring. Here, NASA provides a wealth of information intended primarily for researchers, though space enthusiasts may also find it of interest. The homepage features Kepler news for scientists, such as data release notes and white papers. The missions section contains overviews of the Kepler telescope's missions, as well as information about the telescope itself and the science and publications the telescope has made possible. In the K2 observing section, readers will find detailed information and notes about the second phase of the Kepler telescope's career, K2. Those interested in the data gathered by the telescope should check out the data analysis section, where they will find a meticulous overview of the missions' assorted data products; a thorough explanation of their data processing pipeline; and links to the official data archives, associated software tools, and papers helpful for working with the Kepler and K2 data. [JDC]

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From ReadWriteThink and the International Literacy Association comes Hoax or No Hoax?, a lesson plan that aims to teach strategies for evaluating online material since "research has shown that online reading requires not only traditional comprehension strategies, but also new digital and media-literacy strategies." This standards-aligned lesson plan was written for high school students and takes place over four 60-minute sessions, during which students will learn and practice these comprehension and analysis strategies by evaluating and comparing hoax websites to real ones. After learning how to identify and evaluate hoax content, students work in small groups to demonstrate their learning by outlining a plan for their own hoax website. This lesson plan includes downloadable evaluation guides, preparation materials, and links to numerous web resources used throughout the lesson. Hoax or No Hoax? was created by Deborah Kozdras and James Welsh, both of the University of South Florida. [JDC]

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Those who study political systems around the world may be interested in The Global State of Democracy, a biennial report published by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). This report "analyses global and regional democracy trends and challenges based on International IDEA's newly developed Global State of Democracy indices, which capture global and regional democratic trends between 1975 and 2015." Here, readers can explore the first edition of this report on the theme "Exploring Democracy's Resilience," which was published in 2017. This well-designed digital presentation offers an interactive overview of the report's eight chapters and statistical information, as well as links to additional materials such as resource guides, definitions, and methodologies. Those interested may also download as PDFs the full 346-page report or the 68-page overview, which is available in Spanish, French, Arabic, and Bahsaha Indonesian, as well as in English. Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, International IDEA is a global intergovernmental organization that works to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide. [JDC]

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Since becoming more widespread overall, the internet has also seen increased usage for education, both in the classroom and for homework assignments. However, accessing the internet outside of school is an issue for many students. This analysis from Pew Research Center, published in October 2018 and based on 2015 US Census Bureau data, found that about 15 percent of "U.S. households with school-age children do not have a high-speed internet connection at home," and that this issue is more common among lower-income households, especially Black and Latino ones. As part of this study, Pew also conducted a nationally representative survey that found that "17% of teens say they are often or sometimes unable to complete homework assignments because they do not have reliable access to a computer or internet connection," a situation which is particularly common for Black teens. Here, visitors can read the report of this analysis, written by Pew researchers Monica Anderson and Andrew Perrin, and those interested can also download the full top-line results and explanation of their methodologies as a PDF. [JDC]

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The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) offers a number of data products from its myriad studies on education. With the Distance Learning Dataset Training (DLDT) system, NCES provides "an online, interactive tool that allows you to learn about the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data products across the education spectrum and evaluate them for your particular purposes." These free, self-paced modules are designed to aid researchers and professionals, as well as students and general audiences, in accessing NCES reports and datasets and in "conduct[ing] analyses using selected statistical software packages and/or by using data tools provided on the NCES website." DLDT suggests that new users begin with a set of seven introductory common modules, while users who are familiar with NCES can choose from numerous dataset-specific modules which are organized by data type, such as longitudinal surveys and administrative data. Each module on this resource gives a brief description of its content, as well as its run-time and slide count. [JDC]

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Students and educators may find The Dartmouth E-Guide to Academic Success to be a helpful resource. This e-guide is a free downloadable book published by Dartmouth College's Academic Skills Center in 2017. In eight chapters and fewer than one hundred pages (double-spaced), it offers readers a thorough, concise narrative reference for how to survive and thrive in college. It begins by introducing readers to the idea of a growth mindset and explaining how to set effective goals for college, then walks readers through strategies for time management. The e-guide also includes a variety of methods for important study skills such as taking useful notes, reading efficiently, and writing college essays. Students (current and former) may also find the e-guide's tips on overcoming procrastination and enhancing productivity to be helpful. Links to cited references (both peer-reviewed and popular) and additional information are included throughout the book, and it makes good use of explanatory graphics as well. This e-guide was written by Carl Thum, Director of the Academic Skills Program, and Jonathan Lu, an undergraduate student at Dartmouth College. [JDC]

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As the digital exhibit Patriot Nations points out, "Native Americans have served in our nation's military since colonial times ... [y]et they remain unrecognized by any landmark in our nation's capital." This deficiency is in the process of changing, and a national Native American Veterans Memorial is due to be unveiled in late 2020. In the meantime, Patriot Nations, created by the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of the American Indian, offers virtual visitors a chronological overview of Native peoples' valuable contributions to US military history. Through photographs and text, this exhibit remembers and acknowledges tribal members' service to the United States throughout the country's history, beginning in 1775 with the Revolutionary War and continuing into the present day. Examples include code talkers in World Wars I and II, the government-run American Indian boarding schools which became targets for military recruitment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the 42,000 American Indians who served in the US military during the Vietnam War. This exhibit also touches on the importance of Native American cultural practices to their veterans. [JDC]

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For decades, the American magazine Life was a major player in the development of photojournalism and produced millions of iconic photographs, leaving behind a staggeringly large archive. In March 2018, Google Arts & Culture released Life Tags, a project that "organizes [about 6.5] million images from the Life magazine archives into an interactive encyclopedia using machine learning." This vast searchable archive employs an array of interesting tags, ranging from mundane objects like "coffeemaker" to intriguing entries like "weedy seadragon," which visitors can use to explore the images. As Google explains in Life Tags' opening intro, its artificial intelligence algorithm automatically tagged and cataloged all the items it recognized in the images, which has led to some amusing miscategorizations, such as piano keyboards that show up under the "computer" tag. Regardless, this resource offers a fun way to explore an influential part of American history. [JDC]

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What are waveforms, and how can we interpret them? Is "amplitude" the same thing as "loudness"? What are harmonics, and how do they influence sound? Software developer Josh Comeau has created this helpful and highly engaging interactive tutorial about audio waveforms for The Pudding. As visitors explore this tutorial, they are presented with a number of graphs (many of them interactive) that illustrate concepts such as displacement, frequency, amplitude, harmonics, and phrase. Several of these graphs are accompanied by sound, allowing visitors to experience how each of these properties impacts what we hear. Visitors also have the option of muting sound on the tutorial and may adjust the volume to their preference. As Comeau writes in his introduction, "[t]his guide is aimed at a general audience-no prior knowledge is required. It may be of particular interest to musicians, producers, and aspiring audio engineers, but it's designed to be accessible to everyone!" [MMB]

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Electing the House of Representatives, 1840-2016, is one of eight maps (as of this write-up) from American Panorama, a historical geography project from the University of Richmond's Digital Scholarship Lab. This fascinating map traces election results for the House of Representatives over time and offers visualizations "showing changing patterns across regions and between urban and rural areas." Users can toggle between two different views. The map view shows the (likely more familiar) actual outlines and winners of the congressional districts, while the cartogram view shows "smaller districts and [the] difference between urban and rural areas by representing each as a bubble." The map's legend allows users to turn parties and flipped districts off and on, while the timeline at the bottom shows how the strength of political parties change over time. The timeline is accompanied by a brief summary of the displayed year's results and also enables users to change the election year being viewed. Users can click on individual districts for more detail about its electoral history. Electing the House of Representatives also includes information about their data sources and methodology, as well as an introductory history of the House of Representatives. [JDC]

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City dwellers past and present have often had romanticized notions of rural life and narratives of the countryside having health benefits over the "dirty city" are not uncommon. The digital exhibit Wellbeing and the Countryside, presented by the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) at the University of Reading, addresses this idea. Using objects and photographs from MERL's archival collections, as well as contemporary photos and other media, this exhibition aims to paint a more complete picture of the health aspects of British rural life both historically and in the present day. Examples include a 1910 postcard depicting a poultry farm used for therapeutic activity by a "hospital [that] provided treatment to children with limb and joint problems resulting from tuberculosis," and a contemporary photo of Farming Community Network volunteers who "provide free health checks to farmers at local livestock markets." Visitors can navigate through the exhibit via the yellow arrows on the sides of the exhibition images or the yellow menu bar at the bottom. Each exhibition piece includes links to further information. Wellbeing and the Countryside was co-developed by MERL volunteers and several community organizations, and it was supported with funding from the Wellcome Trust. [JDC]

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Launched in 2016, the podcast The Radio Adventures of Eleanor Amplified describes itself as "an adventure series for the whole family." This audio drama centers around its main character, a "world-famous" radio reporter named Eleanor Amplified, who "foils devious plots and outwits crafty villains, all in pursuit of the big story." Eleanor Amplified was created by NPR's John Sheehan, a former producer for Fresh Air, who said that in creating this podcast he wanted "to make kids' content that adults could also enjoy." This old-school radio drama is both fun and educational, and its episodes are typically 10-15 minutes long. The podcast has also published two Road Trip Editions that consolidate an entire season into a single-chaptered download, perfect for those long drives. Written primarily for kids aged 8-12, but delightful at any age,Eleanor Amplified is produced by the Philadelphia public radio station WHYY and has been featured on Amy Poehler's Smart Girls. [JDC]

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Science provides endless fodder for fascination but its research publications can sometimes be intimidating for general audiences. Cartoon Abstracts offers one possible way to bridge that gap by presenting the research article's summary in a creative and highly visual format. Cartoon Abstracts is an initiative launched in 2015 by Taylor & Francis, the international publisher of more than 2,700 academic journals. Here, readers can browse through 54 cartoon abstracts from a range of disciplines and topics, with titles such as "Surviving a Global Zombie Attack," "The Name's Jamesbondia: New Group of Caribbean Plants," and "Are Comics a Good Medium for Science Communication?" Each title's link leads to its entry in a 57-page digital magazine of all the cartoon abstracts, which readers may also download as a PDF. As the publisher explains, these fun and engaging "[i]llustrations can aid the understanding of difficult concepts, broaden the appeal of niche topics, and help transcend language barriers." This collection is well worth checking out. [JDC]

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"Embracing Britishness: musings on biscuit lettering culture" is a post by Elena Veguillas on Alphabettes.org: "a showcase for work, commentary, and research on lettering, typography, and type design." "Embracing Britishness" runs about 2,000 words and is an enjoyable read with lots of illustrations. In the post, Veguillas elucidates on a number of assertions, including "biscuits are THE British culture; biscuits can create a national debate; and biscuits can cause a national crisis," (as in, the biscuit shortage of 2016). The post concludes with an exposition on biscuit classification, both as to the type of biscuit (dunker, shortcake, digestives, jam-filled, etc), but also in terms of typography. Veguillas arranges these in a taxonomy of letterforms from sans-ish to art deco-ish, and from bold to thin. This blog is recommended for baking enthusiasts and anyone who finds themselves performing a search when trying to determine the types of biscuits being consumed by a British book's characters. [DS]

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Friendica is a decentralized, peer-to-peer social network. Users may select one of the 16 recommended public servers or opt to self-host a server on hardware they control. Much like email, it's possible to "friend" users with accounts on different servers. Within Friendica itself, users will find familiar social network features such as public posts, direct messages, hashtags, photo albums, likes, dislikes, and comments. A number of connectors are also available, which can integrate services on other platforms into the Friendica interface. For example, users may incorporate contacts from Twitter, Diaspora, Pump.io, and StatusNet in their feed. Friendica can also be used as a publishing platform to post content on WordPress and Tumblr. Each item posted on Friendica has its own customizable access list that determines who can see it. Content may be posted with an expiration date, after which it will be automatically deleted. Friendica users may also download a complete set of their account data, even moving from one server to another if they so choose. Friendica can be used from any modern browser. Users interested in self-hosting may download the AGPL-licensed server software from the Friendica website. [CRH]

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LastPass is a password safe that simplifies password management and storage. A 2017 Consumer Reports article on password managers listed LastPass as one of four recommended by a panel of security experts. In addition to passwords, users may also store secure notes, all of which are encrypted using industry standard AES-256 encryption. Encryption is performed on the user's device before any data is sent to LastPass's servers. LastPass includes a web interface, plugins for all the popular browsers, smartphone apps, and even bookmarklets. Two-factor authentication can be configured using a LastPass Authenticator phone app, UbiKeys, or other methods. Somewhat unique among password managers, LastPass allows users to set a password hint, which allows access to their passwords even if their master password is forgotten. In addition to the free service tier, premium and enterprise tiers are available that provide additional features like priority tech support or sharing of passwords among groups of users. When your premium trial ends, you'll still have access to LastPass free features. Users can upgrade to premium at any time for $2 per month. [CRH]

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We originally featured Trove in The Scout Report on 2/5/2016, and its already enormous holdings have only continued to grow since then; it currently includes a total of more than 596 million items. Trove has also made improvements to its digitized newspaper interface and its archived websites search.

Trove, a service created and maintained by the National Library of Australia, aggregates pictures, journal articles, newspaper articles, music, maps, diaries, and many other resources that illuminate the history and culture of Australia over the past 200 years. Readers may choose to begin by selecting from any of the various categories (books, maps, archived websites, etc.). For instance, selecting people and organizations will navigate to a page with a pre-filtered search engine, where they may enter their interests, such as "theater," which returns 51 results including Delacorte Theater, GRIPS Theater, and others. Visitors may also enjoy "A guide to Trove," where they will find user guides, information about content partners, and a discussion about how to use Trove as a platform for building tools and resources. It is worth noting that Trove's holdings are immense; filtering by photo turns up 8,222,014 results, including an early photograph of the Hawthorn Presbyterian Church, taken in 1868, and a 1976 photograph of Sydney Cove.

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