The Scout Report -- Volume 26, Number 32

Produced by the African American Intellectual History Society, Black Perspectives is a blog amplifying scholarship and writing that "advanc[es] the lives of people of African descent and humanity." This award-winning blog began in 2014, and"rebranded" in 2017. Today, it continues to feature daily content on various topics, from religion to de-colonized history. The blog recently launched a series, "Black Ecologies," that highlights "work from various scholars in Black Studies about the enduring proximity between Black communities and environmental catastrophe, as well as Black peoples' efforts to resist ecocide intellectually, politically, and in practice." The site also includes book reviews (see the Featured Books section), author discussions (see the Author Interviews section), and Roundtables and Resources pages with other educational materials. Tyler D. Parry, a professor of African American Studies at California State University, Fullerton serves as Senior Editor for the blog, which features writing from more than 50 contributors across the country. [EMB]

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Middle school science teachers looking for curricular materials that align with current Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) may want to check out SCALE Science Education, an initiative from Stanford University's Graduate School of Education. SCALE has numerous resources for teachers, from project-based curriculums designed for students in grades 6-8, tips on how to best administer assessments of NGSS learning, professional development opportunities for teachers hoping to improve their craft, and a research portfolio on "performance-based learning." SCALE offers several instructional units for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade levels. Units include a comprehensive teacher's guide, handouts and worksheets for students, and supplementary materials like slides and videos. All the teaching materials are available for free download. The Assessment section offers ways to evaluate students' knowledge without resorting to multiple choice tests. Here, visitors will find information on several initiatives, including the Stanford NGSS Assessment Project, Twig, and SPA-LC. The design of SCALE's teaching resources is guided by their goal to achieve "equitable access and outcomes for all students." SCALE is led by its founder and executive director, Raymond L. Pecheone, and receives support from a variety of academic, nonprofit, and research organizations. [AL]

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Does today feel remarkable? Maybe, or maybe not, but at some point in time, history was made on this day. History Pod, "the daily history podcast," proves this by "present[ing] detailed yet concise accounts of a key event from each day in history." Produced by history teacher Scott Allsop, the podcast is committed to accuracy (with detailed research) and accessibility (with clips less than five minutes in length and accompanied by closed-captions). From war and conflict to feminism and the arts, the series provides content beyond what is available in most history textbooks. History instructors may find it makes for a great classroom supplement and history buffs will want to binge the more than 200 episodes. These installments are available at the link above (as YouTube clips), as well as on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher (as audio clips). Readers will want to frequently visit the site for daily content, or visit the website's Subscribe tab to never miss an episode. [EMB]

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The Hathi Trust Women Composers Collection consists of digitized sheet music for approximately 3,000 musical works by more than 700 women composers. Most date from the 19th- and early 20th-centuries, with a few pieces from the 18th century. Some of the published scores include annotations by the composer, while there are also several hundred in manuscript form. The originals are from the University of Michigan Music Library, which purchased most of the collection in 1980 from a British antiquarian. Visitors can sort the materials by author name, date, or title using the drop-down "Sort by" feature above the listings. Most of the musical compositions featured in the collection are songs and solo piano pieces, although choral, orchestral, dramatic, and chamber music are also present in the collection. About 80 percent of the collection is available full-text through HathiTrust, which means that the music can be downloaded and printed. In addition to being of interest to musicians and music scholars, the covers of many of the pieces are illustrated and some include ornate text, providing examples of 19th- and 20th-century graphic design. [DS]

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Math, science, and technology teachers may want to bookmark this website as they begin to plan their fall curriculum. Bootstrap curates free lessons on various STEM subjects: algebra, data science, physics, and programming. Since its launch, Bootstrap's curriculum has reached more than 25,000 students. On the Courses page, readers will find a summary of the five available courses (including the recommended age level). After clicking on a course, readers will find links to individual lesson plans within that course (including content standards, materials, and supplemental resources). This design allows educators to use the entire curricula or mix and match lesson plans as a classroom supplement. For even more insights on the project, readers may want to explore the Blog or Workshops pages. These workshops take place across the country, though recent workshops have been cancelled due to COVID-19. A project of Brown University, Bootstrap is directed by a group of researchers and professors and receives support from the National Science Foundation, CSforALL Consortium, and CS4RI. [EMB]

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Designed for filmmakers and other industry professionals, "The Accessible Filmmaking Guide" uses research-based approaches to ensure that both aesthetics and accessibility are at the forefront of filmmaking processes. As the guide notes, despite over half of current film revenue coming from "translated ... and accessible versions," of films, less than one percent of filmmaking budgets are devoted towards these other versions. This six-part pamphlet discusses various methods to achieve "audiovisual translation and accessibility," in all stages of the filmmaking process, delivering a clear message: "Everybody benefits from accessible filmmaking." Additionally, Part 4 provides a useful "workflow" template that outlines 17 suggested steps toward accessibility, following the usual pre- and post-production process. Dr. Pablo Romero-Fresco, a professor of Translation and Filmmaking, wrote and published the guide in 2018 with assistance from Dr. Louise Fryer, an educator and accessibility advisor. The project received funding from the British Film Institute, as well as support from Archer's Mark, Bertha Foundation, and Doc Society. [EMB]

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Branded as a "short and sweet overview of every part of the filmmaking process," Coffee Break Film School offers a fun and free way to expand on basic filmmaking skills. With 6 units and more than 10 videos per unit, the curriculum covers a lot of ground. However, as the name Coffee Break implies, each video's brevity allows for digestible browsing. Plus, most videos are flagged by difficulty (from beginner to intermediate), allowing students to learn and practice at their own pace. Lessons cover all aspects of film production, from writing to shooting to editing. Various cinematography personnel contribute to these webinars, ensuring that users are learning from experts in the field. This course is produced by the company Moviola, credited with designing "the very first film editing machine." In addition to this course, Moviola's site has plenty of other useful resources (all available for free, though some require registration). These additional tools include camera guides, software classes, and other courses specific to niche filmmaking topics. [EMB]

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Filmmakers and moviegoers alike will want to tune in to Black Girl Film Club, a podcast co-hosted by Ashley (an art director) and Britney (a writer) that explores "movies and the film industry from their unique, and often underrepresented, point of view." While episodes do air on the long side (averaging around two hours), they are packed full of exciting content. Each episode includes an in-depth discussion about a particular movie (recent picks include Hollywood Shuffle, Marie Antoinette, and Romeo + Juliet), film recommendations, and other topical discussions. For example, Episode 49 analyzes "Black stereotypes in film." New episodes are released every two weeks. Listeners can stream episodes on Apple Podcasts and Soundcloud. Black Girl Film Club is just over two years old and has more than 50 episodes available for listeners to enjoy as of this write-up. Plus, listeners can explore bonus content on the podcast's Twitter (@blkgirlfilmclub) and Instagram (@blackgirlfilmclub) accounts. [EMB]

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Although primarily intended for New York Film Academy (NYFA) students, this website from NYFA contains a ton of valuable material for anyone interested in filmmaking. The short videos are arranged into four main categories: How-To's, Industry Trends, Q&A, and Featured Directors. There is also a query box and a list of topic tags to further refine searches. Resources delve into relevant professionalization subjects and provide information about the work of those who have successful careers in film. For example, an Industry Trends piece from February 2020, "The 6 Black Filmmakers Nominated for Academy Award for Best Director," features capsule biographies and trailers from films directed by the late John Singleton, Lee Daniels, Steve McQueen, Barry Jenkins, Jordan Peele, and Spike Lee. How To's cover topics such as "Best Tips for Making a Short Film in a Short Amount of Time," building a creative brand (see the November 16, 2018 post), and sound in filmmaking (see the July 20, 2018 post). The Q&A section profiles recent graduates and alumni of the NYFA program, showing the career paths that they took post-degree. [DS]

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Filmsourcing, a resource hub designed by and for filmmakers, is driven by a simple premise: "Amazing things should be easier to find." Sharing articles, tutorials, templates, and many more resources of interest, the website is reminiscent of a giant Google Drive for the filmmaking community. The impact of the innovative site has been applauded by major media outlets, including Indiewire and Mic. Users should note that some of the site's content requires a paid subscription. However, there are several free templates and resources available (and readily labeled as free for easy sorting). Resources span the spectrum from serious (e.g. production document templates found under Downloads/Resources) to silly (e.g. the Romantic Comedy Plot Generator found under Just For Fun). Additionally, the Articles section hosts a variety of free and informative content, including script writing tips and guidelines for a safe, healthy set. These resources can be sorted by following the various options on the Menu tab or scrolling to the bottom of the site and using the Quick Links feature. [EMB]

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Datamash is a command-line utility that can validate and perform summary analysis on text format data files such as CSV and tab-delimited. It can compute a number of descriptive statistics (for example, mean, median, and standard deviation) and even includes a number of statistical tests to determine if data were drawn from a normal distribution. It can perform cross-tabulation on the input to summarize it by categories, similar to the pivot table feature in many spreadsheet programs. The Examples sub-section of the Datamash website (found by scrolling to the Documentation and Help section of the Software page) provides several sample files and uses them to demonstrate the capability of the software. The examples given include analysis of grades and bioinformatics on data from the Human Genome Project. The Datamash manual (located on the Docs page) serves as a comprehensive reference on the features of the software. Windows users can locate installers by following the "download section" link (under Downloading Datamesh on the page linked above). Linux and BSD users can locate Datamash in their system's package repositories. MacOS users can install Datamash using Macports, Fink, or Nixpkgs. [CRH]

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Polyphone is a "soundfont editor" that allows for creating and editing digital musical instruments for use with midi keyboards and synthesizers. It can read and write the sf2, sf3, and sfz soundfont file formats and can import sfArk format files. Alternatively, WAV file samples can be imported to build musical tones directly from sound files. A number of sound processing tools are included to perform pitch detection, loop creation, sample equalization, and more. Plus, a built-in virtual keyboard allows users to test their new soundfonts prior to loading them on a midi device. The Documentation section of the Polyphone website includes reference materials, user tutorials, and technical documentation for developers. Polyphone can be downloaded for Windows, macOS, and several flavors of Linux. [CRH]

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Readers will want to return to this resource from the 06-08-2018 Scout Report to browse the recent film selections added since the site was last featured.

The National Film Board (NFB) of Canada recently released Indigenous Cinema, an online collection of films directed by indigenous Canadian filmmakers. Indigenous Cinema currently contains over 200 films, which visitors can browse by year (as of this write-up, the collection features films made between 1968 and 2020), director, or by subject (including education, nature and ecological knowledge, and indigenous language). This collection includes animated shorts, feature-length documentaries, and a wide variety of short films. Some of these short films are part of Vistas, a 2009 series of 13 short films sponsored by NFB and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). Students and educators may also want to navigate to the education tab, which highlights cinematic works by indigenous filmmakers and includes an array of classroom-friendly materials. Visitors have the option to select highlighted works toward the top of the page, but scrolling down will uncover a large number of teacher resources. Available items include playlists, webinars, lesson plans, and interactive productions and apps.

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