The Scout Report -- Volume 25, Number 16

Writers, historians, linguists, and the generally curious may all enjoy the Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources (DMNES). This ongoing project "aims to document all given names recorded in European sources written between 500 and 1600." As its name suggests, visitors to DMNES will find a wealth of information on hundreds of first names that the project's scholars have traced back to Medieval European usage. Many of these names are still commonly used today, such as Anthony and Elizabeth, but many others, such as Brunissende and Dadbert, may be less familiar. Each name's entry contains (when known) its standardized form, gender association, linguistic etymology, and important medieval namesakes. Also included are citations of medieval literature that used the name, including the geographic area, language, year, spelling variants, and any diminutives or nicknames, along with other information. Visitors may browse the dictionary alphabetically, and the project also provides a useful guide to help understand the entries' structure. First published in 2015 and followed by multiple updated editions, DMNES is led by Sara L. Uckelman, an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at Durham University in the UK. [JDC]

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High school AP Physics teachers and students may want to check out Flipping Physics, a project focused on teaching instructors how to flip their physics classrooms. A flipped classroom is a learning structure in which students watch recorded lectures at home and then work through problems interactively in the classroom with their instructor's guidance. Launched in 2013, Flipping Physics is the brainchild of Jonathan Thomas-Palmer (a.k.a. Mr. P.), an educator with over 13 years of experience teaching AP and college prep physics and who has a degree in mechanical engineering. Visitors to Flipping Physics will find an extensive library of lecture videos that are organized broadly into algebra-based and calculus-based physics with each subsequently grouped into topics and accompanied by PDF lecture notes. Those new to using a flipped classroom methodology may want to start by watching the video "Showing the Differences Between a Traditional and Flipped Classroom," found on the main page. This seven-minute video shows two of Mr. P.'s classes (filmed one year apart and teaching similar content) side by side simultaneously, with one using a traditional lecture and the other being a flipped classroom, where there is noticeably more engagement and interaction. Flipping Physics also has a plethora of resources on making videos for flipped classrooms and on teaching students how to learn in a flipped environment. [JDC]

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Readers with an interest in the U.S. legal system may want to take a look at the Caselaw Access Project (CAP), a massive digitization project that makes 360 years of American court cases publicly available online. This large database was created "by digitizing roughly 40 million pages of court decisions contained in roughly 40,000 bound volumes owned by the Harvard Law School Library," adding up to approximately 6.7 million unique cases with the earliest from 1658 and the most recent from 2018. Visitors can access this database through the CAP's open-access API, which the project states is "the best option for anybody interested in programmatically accessing our metadata, full-text search, or individual cases." CAP also offers a bulk download option for readers who need a large collection of cases. It should be noted that, while all CAP's data is freely available to the public, accessing the full text of a case requires registering for an account and at the time of this write-up visitors are limited to 500 cases per day. Launched in October 2018, CAP is the result of a collaboration between the Harvard Law School's Library Innovation Lab and Ravel Law, a legal research company owned by Lexis-Nexis. [JDC]

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The online portal DigitalNZ describes itself as "the search site for all things New Zealand" and with over 30 million items from more than 200 organizations in its collections, that claim is very likely justified. First launched in 2008 with an updated website released in 2017, DigitalNZ "aim[s] to be the simplest public website through which people can access reliable New Zealand material, some of which is trickier to find in other search engines." Visitors can search this project's vast collection by keyword directly from its main page, or they can go to the explore page to browse DigitalNZ by content category, usage rights (e.g. share, modify, commercial, or all rights reserved), date, place, and other factors. Readers can also group items together and build a story around them on DigitalNZ by adding their own captions and notes to the items, and the site highlights several stories on the main page as examples. To aid visitors in navigating and using its large collection, DigitalNZ also offers several help guides with search strategies, tips on creating stories, and more. [JDC]

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Educators and learners in a variety of industries, particularly those at the community college level, may be interested in SkillsCommons, a repository of Open Education Resources (OER) aimed primarily at workforce development. This digital library initially launched in 2014 and contains a wide variety of learning materials produced by the over 700 community colleges that have been grantees of the U.S. Department of Labor's Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program. Here, visitors can find OER syllabi, online and hybrid courses and modules, assessment tools, assignments, and other teaching materials, all of which are free to reuse, adapt, and redistribute. This vast array can be browsed by material type, industry, occupation, institution, and more, with most of the contents intended for learners at the associate degree or certificate level. First-time visitors may want to check out the showcases section for an introduction to SkillsCommons' contents, and an extensive support section with explanations, tutorials, and FAQs for using the repository is also available. The SkillsCommons website is currently designed and managed by MERLOT (featured in the 3-01-2019 Scout Report) and California State University on behalf of the TAACCCT program. [JDC]

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Our Planet is the latest stunning nature documentary series hosted by David Attenborough. This eight-part "ambitious documentary of spectacular scope" is accompanied by a similarly ambitious companion website. Here, visitors can watch video previews and behind-the-scenes clips for each of the documentary's episodes and they can also explore an interactive digital globe that leads viewers on a multimedia journey through the various habitats featured in Our Planet. A recurring theme throughout this documentary and website is the impact that humanity is having on the environment and the wildlife that depend on it. For example, in the jungles section of the explorable globe, visitors can see how the global extent of tropical forest habitats before humans compares to what remains today. The site also includes a section for schools and young people, which features links to additional educational resources such as downloadable guides for discussing Our Planet in the classroom, virtual biome tours, a link to Skype in the Classroom resources for this documentary, and more. Our Planet premiered on Netflix in April 2019 and it was produced in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund and Silverback Films, the filmmakers behind Planet Earth and Blue Planet. [JDC]

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Readers who enjoy birding and national parks may want to check out this resource from the National Audubon Society. This site summarizes the findings of a scientific study in which researchers "explor[ed] the potential impacts of climate change on 513 [North American] bird species across 274 national park management units." This study was led by the Audubon Society and the National Park Service and published in the journal PLOS ONE in March 2018. Here, readers will find approachable explanations of the study's findings and data visualizations showing how many new species are likely to colonize (move into) a given park or region by 2050, as well as how many species are likely to become extirpated (locally extinct) due to climate change. Readers curious about further details on a specific location can also access park-specific explanations via the interactive maps, and each park has a downloadable brief as well. For those interested in reading the scientific paper that forms the basis of this resource, an open-access link to the full peer-reviewed study is also provided. This study builds on the Audubon Society's (2015) Birds and Climate Change Report, which is also available from this resource. [JDC]

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Hosted by atmospheric scientist and science communicator Katharine Hayhoe, Global Weirding is an educational video series published between September 2016 and March 2019. In this series, Hayhoe draws on both her climate science expertise and her background as an evangelical Christian to dispel common erroneous beliefs about climate change and explain the scientific evidence behind it with the aid of animations and graphics in a way that is approachable for diverse audiences. This engaging video series has 36 episodes, generally 7-10 minutes long, that delve into potentially thorny topics such as whether global warming is just part of a natural cycle, why a few degrees of warming really is a problem, what the Bible and other religious beliefs have to say about climate change and what individuals can do to address it, as well as 21 shorter extra videos. Global Weirding was directed by Jonathan Seaborn, produced by KTTZ Texas Tech Public Media, and distributed by PBS Digital Studios. Katharine Hayhoe is the director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, where she is also a professor in the Public Administration program and a lead author of the Second, Third, and Fourth National Climate Assessment Reports. [JDC]

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Depending on its energy sources, the way a region produces and consumes electricity can have a profound impact on the environment. This is particularly true for carbon-intensive electricity sources such as coal and oil, whose carbon dioxide emissions contribute to global climate change. Readers curious to learn about the impact of electricity generation and consumption in their area and how it compares to other places should check out electricityMap. This open-source, interactive map compiles electricity data to show the carbon intensity of electricity consumption in different regions based on how that electricity was produced. Visitors can toggle the map to show the real-time wind and solar energy potentials around the world and to account for electricity imports and exports, and they can select individual regions to see more detailed information about each region's electricity sources and carbon emissions. Because electricityMap depends on publicly available data, not all regions are currently covered but users can contribute data to add an area to the map. Launched in 2016, electricityMap is a project of Tomorrow, a startup company based in Denmark and founded by Olivier Corradi, a machine-learning engineer. Through electricityMap and its other projects, Tomorrow aims to make "the climate impact of everything ... accessible to everyone." [JDC]

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Seafood Watch of the Monterey Bay Aquarium contains an array of resources that are designed to help consumers make good choices when shopping for and consuming fish and seafood. Guides are available for all 50 states and there's also an app that consumers can use to guide their seafood choices. Other sections of the site provide information on ocean issues, such as the impact of overfishing, illegal fishing, and habitat damage of wild-caught fish. Other available resources include information for consumers on how to find and support businesses who partner with Seafood Watch, such as a lookup for restaurants and grocery stores who do not sell items from Seafood Watch's red (avoid) list, and who train their staff members to raise awareness of sustainable seafood. Additionally, visitors to the site can find information for businesses wishing to partner with Seafood Watch, which includes training materials and resources for staff. [DS]

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Originally featured in the 8-19-2016 Scout Report, this resource continues to be a great place to learn about the importance of pollinators. For tips on how to help protect them, check out the young stewards section.

The National Park Service has created an online guide to some of nature's most prominent pollinators, including hummingbirds, monarch butterflies, and bees. As the site notes, "More than 75 percent of the Earth's flowering plants depend on bees, butterflies, birds, bats, and other pollinators. Yet scientists have noted that these hardworking insects and other animals are in trouble." A number of factors threaten pollinators, including climate change, pesticide use, and the introduction of non-native species into their habitats. On this website, visitors can learn more about the important role pollinators play in ecosystems around the world and learn about the traits of specific pollinators. In the know your pollinators section, readers can read short articles about specific species and national parks. This website is a great resource for anyone interested in learning more about different kinds of pollinators or about the widespread impact of global climate change.

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