The Scout Report -- Volume 25, Number 29

Based at the University of Rochester, the Lazarus Project brings multispectral-imaging technology to institutions all over the world as a fully mobile imaging laboratory. The lab "capture[s] images of a manuscript or cultural heritage object, then use[s] digital processing techniques to recover texts and images lost for centuries due to damage or deliberate erasure." The Lazarus Project provides this technology to institutions free-of-charge through a competitive research proposal process. Past projects have included materials based at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Chartres Media Library, and the New Bedford Whaling Museum, to name a few (some projects have their own embedded hyperlinked pages that readers can access under the Projects section). The project is led by a board of directors that encompasses professors and professionals in related fields, in addition to consultants at external organizations and graduate students at the University of Rochester. Those interested in seeing how detailed the multispectral imaging is with the Lazarus Project should check out the MSI Martellus Map, which provides a side-by-side slide bar comparison of the map as seen in natural daylight with a processed multispectral image. [JLB]

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While many today might primarily associate puppets with children's entertainment, puppetry has a long and rich history in theater traditions from around the world. Readers interested in learning more about this history may want to check out this digital exhibition from the Rosalynde Stearn Puppet Collection, part of the Rare Books and Special Collections of the McGill University Library in Montreal. Stearn, a Canadian puppeteer and historian of puppetry, assembled her extensive puppet collection "to be a comprehensive library on the puppet theatre with representative examples of puppets characteristic of different periods and countries." She subsequently donated her collection to McGill University in 1953, and the university has continued developing the collection in the decades since. This digital exhibition features 101 puppets, illustrations, and book excerpts curated from the more than 2,700 items in the Stearn Collection. Visitors can browse through the exhibition's six categories, which include Punch and Judy glove puppets, Commedia dell'arte string puppets, and shadow and rod puppets from China and Indonesia. [JDC]

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Librarians, historians, and researchers may really enjoy reading Bitstreams, the blog of the Duke University Libraries' Special Collections. Bitstreams posts are typically done by library staff with occasional posts done by Molly Bragg, Head of Digital Collections and Curation Services. Blog posts may include new acquisitions in collections at the library, special projects, or new features available within the library system. A recent post by Bragg includes highlights from new collections debuted in spring 2019, such as the Hayti-Elizabeth Street renewal era, which "document[s] Durham's Hayti-Elizabeth Street neighborhood infrastructure prior to the construction of the Durham Freeway, as well as the justifications for the redevelopment of the area." Another post, by Karen Newbery, details the libraries' new integrated library system named FOLIO (Future of Libraries is Open) and some of the many features that will help the libraries run more smoothly. Interested readers can check back frequently for updates or subscribe via RSS feed and email updates, which is an option available in the top left-hand corner of the blog. [JLB]

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Children, caregivers, and anyone who loves a good story may be interested in Circle Round, a podcast from the Boston-based public radio station WBUR. This wonderful podcast offers listeners a diverse range of folktales from around the world that have been skillfully adapted into audio stories by the show's narrator, Rebecca Sheir, with original music composed by Eric Shimelonis. Recent examples include "Kangaroo and Joey Too," an aboriginal tale from Australia; "Lazy Jack and the Leprechaun," an Irish story; and "The Star Fruit Tree," a Vietnamese folktale. Each episode features recognizable guest actors from stage and screen, and in addition to its engaging stories, Circle Round "explores important issues like kindness, persistence and generosity," with each episode including a conversation-starting activity to inspire further reflection and discussion. While the target age range for Circle Round is children ages four to ten, older listeners can easily enjoy this podcast's rich storytelling and top-notch acting. Episodes are typically under 30 minutes long, and Road Trip Reels in longer increments with multiple stories are also available. The show's full archives, as well as transcripts and (for some episodes) downloadable coloring pages, can be found at the link above, and listeners can also subscribe on their favorite podcast platform. [JDC]

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HathiTrust is a growing digital library with materials contributed by major academic and research institutions, primarily in the United States, but also from libraries around the world. The project is part of Google's mass digitization efforts, which began in the early 2000s. The Food Studies Collection is comprised of over 800 items on topics such as cooking, gastronomy, and food production. The collection contains items of importance in food history, including early cookbooks such as Lydia Maria Child's "The American frugal housewife," and Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell's "A New System of Domestic Cookery: Formed Upon Principles of Economy, And Adapted to the Use of Private Families," both of which can be viewed in several editions, dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. The full text of most items is searchable, so readers can navigate by ingredient and discover unusual recipes, such as the Oyster and Orange Salad in "365 Orange Recipes: an Orange Recipe for Every Day In the Year" by Mrs. J.L. Lane, 1909. [DS]

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On July 20, 1969, humans walked on the moon for the very first time. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of this historic event, NASA has created this website. Upon their arrival, visitors are greeted with an audio clip of the moment that the Apollo 11 mission successfully landed on the lunar surface. From the home page, there are prominent links to collections of both archival and retrospective videos, images, and audio recordings covering multiple Apollo missions, some of which can also be downloaded. Those interested in learning more about the famous Apollo missions and the context surrounding them should check out the menu along the top of the page. There, readers will find stories and photographs about the events that came before the Apollo missions, including NASA's Project Mercury and Project Gemini, as well as abundant information about all 17 of the Apollo missions and what we learned from them. Other points of interest include a map of all the museums on Earth where visitors can see moon rocks, a collection of downloadable posters and other resources, and a link to NASA's ongoing oral history project where readers can share their memories of the moon landing. [JDC]

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Five decades ago, humans' first steps on the lunar surface marked a culmination of a fascination with the moon that stretched back centuries into human history. For anyone whose imagination is captured by the moon and space travel today, the Google Arts & Culture project A Giant Leap for Mankind provides an impressive amount of fodder. This project is the result of a collaboration between multiple institutions, including NASA, the Adler Planetarium, the National Archives, and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, among others. Visitors to A Giant Leap for Mankind, which was created in celebration of the moon landing's 50th anniversary, can explore a wide array of highly visual digital exhibits about various aspects of humanity's missions to the moon. The project opens with a short montage of archival video footage of the first Apollo 11 moonwalk, followed by exhibits delving into the scientific and cultural events that led up to the Apollo missions. Further exhibits present what life in space was like for the astronauts, as well as what some of the technological challenges were, while others offer perspectives from popular culture and historical viewpoints, making this project a rich experience for all who visit the site. [JDC]

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It is one thing to know intellectually that the universe is enormous, but it is another thing entirely to genuinely understand just how vast it is and how tiny humans are in comparison. One tool to help provide that perspective is this wonderful visualization created by Josh Worth, a graphic and web designer based in Los Angeles. As its title suggests, this project is "a tediously accurate scale model of the solar system," which imagines the moon as being a single pixel in diameter. Unlike many depictions of the solar system that focus on the planets and skip most of the space between them, this project includes empty space in all its barren glory. As visitors scroll through the model, wondering how much farther until the next planet, their journey is punctuated by brief (and often entertaining) commentary. A counter at the bottom shows the distance from the sun with a wide variety of units available, including kilometers, miles, and blue whales. In the bottom right corner there is also an option to scroll automatically at the speed of light, which is not as fast as many might assume. This project has also been translated into a number of languages, accessible via a menu in the upper right corner. Launched in 2014, If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel received a Webby Award in the Science category. [JDC]

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Educators in a variety of settings may want to check out this collection of resources assembled by the National Informal STEM Education (NISE) Network to help commemorate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. In this well-organized collection, readers will find links to five websites created by NASA and the Lunar Planetary Institute specifically for this anniversary, as well as links to nine of NASA's resources with information about the moon and the Apollo program, all of which were produced with general audiences in mind. For elementary educators, there are links to two of NASA's summaries of the Apollo program that were written for younger audiences, one for students in grades 5-8 and another for grades K-4. Additionally, there are numerous hands-on activities related to the moon and space exploration (from the NISE Network, NASA, and other organizations) that could be adapted for classroom use. Informal STEM educators may be interested in the recorded online workshops, as well as printable handouts and posters geared toward celebrating the moon and astronomy. These resources and more make this collection well worth a visit. [JDC]

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Readers interested in high-quality images of the moon may appreciate the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), which has been in operation since 2009. This project describes itself as a "system of three cameras mounted on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that capture high resolution photos of the lunar surface." Visitors may like to begin with LROC's Images section, where they will find dozens of photographs of lunar features such as the Sea of Tranquility and the crater Giordano Bruno, as well as downloadable videos created using LROC images and data. Other notable resources in this section are the interactive Quickmap, where visitors can view the moon through a variety of map projections and layers, and the Gigapan, a high-resolution composite image of the moon's northern polar region created from a mosaic of more than 10,000 images. STEM instructors should visit the Educators section, which features well-developed Educator Guides with activities for students from kindergarten through college, concise explanations of lunar science and its history, downloadable posters, and more. LROC is led by its principal investigator Mark Robinson, a professor in Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration, and by its deputy principal investigator Brett Denevi, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. [JDC]

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DBeaver is a database client and administration tool that can interface with a large number of database servers. In DBeaver's graphical database explorer, users may examine and edit the structure of a database (e.g., the tables, columns, indexes, stored procedures, etc). Also included is an interactive SQL execution environment that includes syntax highlighting and offers auto-completion as queries are being entered. Query results are displayed in a data viewer that offers a spreadsheet mode, tabular text display, JSON, and XML. DBeaver can connect to MySQL and MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQLite, and numerous other databases. In addition, users are able to route connections through an SSH tunnel to reach development servers behind a firewall. The website's Download page contains installers for Windows, macOS, and Linux. DBeaver is free software, distributed under the Apache license, with source code available on GitHub. [CRH]

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Krita is a graphics editor designed primarily for digital painting and animation. Its unique features include a brush stabilization engine that supports several methods of smoothing brush strokes, a brush engine that allows users to create their own custom drawing tools, and a customizable pop-up palette. A complete list of aspects is presented on the Features section of the website. This section also contains a gallery of images created with Krita and a series of interviews with artists who use the tool. More detailed usage information is presented in the Krita manual, which can be located on the Learn tab of the website. Also featured in this section are tutorials highlighting example workflows, including colorizing line art, digital painting, and creating pixel art. Under the Downloads tab, users can locate installers for Windows, macOS, and Linux as well as links to the Krita source code. [CRH]

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In Space We Trust was originally featured in the 11-17-2017 Scout Report. Since then, this intriguing project remains an engaging and highly visual way to learn about the history of space exploration.

On October 4, 1957, Sputnik 1 was launched into space, marking the beginning of the Space Age. In Space We Trust is an interactive timeline and art project dedicated to the recent history of space exploration. This project invites visitors to "travel" along with a timeline of the Space Age, accompanied by a soundtrack composed by Alexander Ananiev. Along the way, one will encounter descriptions of pivotal events and can click on each event to learn more. These events include Yuri Gagarin's orbit around Earth in 1961, the 1964 Mariner 4 mission to Mars, Apollo 11's 1969 mission to the moon, the 1974 Pioneer 10 mission to Jupiter, and the recent Cassini-Huygens Mission (2004-2017). In Space We Trust received support from Russian space agency Roscosmos and garnered a Webby Award for Best User Experience.

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