The Scout Report -- Volume 27, Number 24

While there are many online resources for learning Python, few are geared specifically towards digital humanities projects. That gap motivated medieval historian Dr. William Mattingly to create the free tutorials on the YouTube channel linked above. The series of 26 videos, ranging in length from about 6 to 26 minutes each, introduces key concepts, terminology, and basic functions to manage and analyze data for humanities projects using Python. Users with no coding or programming experience are encouraged to start with the first lecture series on the homepage, An Introduction to Python for the Digital Humanities. After completing the course, learners should have the tools and confidence to experiment with Python on their own projects. Scrolling through the landing page, learners will find additional tutorial series on more advanced topics, such as text analysis using Python, Latin Natural Language Processing (NLP), and how to use tools like PyVis and JSON files in digital humanities projects. Learners can keep up with the project on Dr. Mattingly's Twitter account (@wjb_mattingly). [HCL]

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Ecite is a European network of science centers and museums that unites science and technology organizations through professional events, projects, and publications. The site targets professionals in the sciences who engage with the public, especially those working in Europe. In the menu bar at the top of the page, readers can click "Activities & Services," then "News & Magazine," to access Spokes, a monthly digital magazine with the latest European science news and in-depth features. The most recent issue focuses on the theme of "Making Change," and includes a feature detailing how museums use behavioral science to engage the public. For links to content from ongoing and completed Ecsite projects, visitors can click "Activities & Services," then "Tools & Resources." One example of the tools available is the FIT4FOOD2030 Knowledge Hub, a repository of information and resources for working with the public on the topic of food systems. Ecsite also has an Instagram account (@ecsite_network) which posts a positive news story each week under #SpokesGoodNews, as well as updates from the organization. Ecsite is sponsored by several public and private organizations that can be viewed by scrolling to the bottom of the page linked above and clicking "Partnerships." [HCL]

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In the golden age of podcasts, how can listeners find the latest and greatest to grace their ears? Find That Pod is here to help with an email newsletter highlighting five new podcasts each week. For example, Issue 33 spotlighted picks in self-help, comedy, Canadian history, and apocalyptic fiction. For each featured podcast, Find That Pod gives a brief summary of why it was picked, a favorite episode to get started, and links to find the podcast on various listening platforms. On the landing page, podcast fans can enter their email address to subscribe to the newsletter, click "Sample Issue" to view the typical format, or click "Archive" to read previous issues. Too many podcasts and only one or two ears to listen to them? Busy readers should click "Best Podcast Lists" for the best listens of the year, organized by genre (science, history, technology, and true crime). Enthusiasts looking for a deeper dive should click "Podcaster Interviews" to hear more from the creators of some of the featured pods, such as an interview with Mark Linsenmayer of The Partially Examined Life (featured in the 10-14-2016 Scout Report). Superfans can also follow along on Twitter (@FindThatPod). [HCL]

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After the Art is a quarterly online literary magazine of personal essays that ponder combinations of text and art, inspired by the notion that reading after viewing art can enlarge and enhance the experience of both forms. Each issue features four essays. One example is MaureenTeresa McCarthy's "A Book, a Painting, a Fountain," discussing the author's viewing of the paintings of Spanish surrealist Remedios Varo and contrasting the complexity of the paintings with A.S. Byatt's novel Possession. There is also Stephen O'Connor's reflection "Sparrow Dance Spontaneity," on seeing sparrows in the backyard after viewing Hokusai Manga, an 1814 collection of drawings by Hokusai of traditional Japanese dances, among other subjects. To access each issue, readers can navigate to the bottom of the page linked above and use the dropdown menu under Issues and Categories. The founder and editor of After the Art is essayist Randon Billings Noble. [DS]

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The Open Faculty Patchbook is a digital quilt sewn from pedagogical knowledge for college teaching and learning, created "for faculty, by faculty." A patch of the quilt is a book chapter - hence the name "patch book." Each patch was created by an individual faculty member about one pedagogical skill, such as co-teaching, assessment, instructional design, or self care. A patch represents that instructor's perspective on the pedagogical skill, describes how they use it with their learners, and gives a real-life example from their teaching experience. The Open Faculty Patchbook is a project of Fleming College and welcomes contributions from faculty at other institutions. The project received an Open Pedagogy award from OE Global in 2019. A related project, the Open Learner Patchbook, mirrors the patch book approach from the learner perspective. To find the Open Learner Patchbook, navigate to the menu in the upper right hand corner of the landing page and click "Open Learner Patchbook." [HCL]

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Tune up your guitar, grab your tambourine, or warm up your vocal chords to join Make Music, a worldwide music celebration taking place on June 21. Make Music is a free, public festival that invites anyone to join in making music, regardless of age, skill, or genre. Begun in France in 1982, the festival takes place in "streets, parks, plazas, and porches," in 120 countries around the world every year on the summer solstice. For information on how to join in, readers can navigate the site by scrolling down or jump to specific sections by clicking on tabs on the menu bar at the bottom of the page. Under the Locations tab, users can search to see if there is already a Make Music chapter where they live and find links to register. If there is not, readers can use the downloadable toolkit under the Participate tab, which includes tips for starting a local chapter, sample press releases, and messaging suggestions. The Media tab houses videos and photos from previous years, as well as news items about the 2021 festival. In the US, Make Music is sponsored by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation, which provides training, scholarships, and resources to support music education. [MJZ]

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Hip hop music in Africa is a vital cultural form that has been used to "represent marginalized voices, social movements, and identities," across the continent. The Hip Hop African is a student-driven project dedicated to exploring the music genre's impact through a blog and monthly podcast. The site was started by the Howard University Department of African Studies, and its content continues to be written primarily by students in the Hip Hop in Africa course taught at Howard University and George Washington University. The podcast is hosted by Msia Kibona Clark, a scholar of African Studies and author of the book Hip-hop in Africa: Prophets of the City and Dustyfoot Philosophers. On the site's main page, readers can scroll through the latest blog posts or use the right-hand search bar to find content based on artist, country, or topic. Visit the Hip Hop African tab to enjoy the latest podcast episodes and find links to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Google Play. The podcast typically features music, interviews, and discussions with scholars, activists, and hip hop artists. Readers interested in learning more about hip hop in Africa can find a bibliography (under the Hip Hop References tab), academic journals (Hip Hop Studies Journals), films (Hip Hop Films), and other blogs, podcasts, and sites focused on this topic (Hip Hop Links). [MJZ]

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Musicologists, ethnologists, and scholars of media and cultural studies, especially those exploring Eastern Europe, will want to dive into the New Sound International Journal of Music. Since 1993 this peer-reviewed, open access academic journal has sought to "promote and present contemporary music created both in Serbia and abroad." On the landing page, readers will find the contents of the most current issue of the journal, with links to view or download PDFs of the full issue or individual articles. Each issue typically features conversations with music scholars, composers, and artists; research studies and essays; overviews of new musical works; and reviews, among other content. Users can also navigate to past issues (going back to 2019) by clicking on the Archive tab. The New Sound International Journal of Music is published twice annually by the Department of Musicology, Faculty of Music at the University of Arts in Belgrade. [MJZ]

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In these days of remote work, it is not uncommon to miss the simple joy of cranking the radio on the commute to and from the office. Listeners looking to recreate that experience can enjoy Online Radio Box, a free internet service that gathers radio stations from all over the world. On the page linked above, readers can use the query bar to find favorite radio stations by name. Directly below the bar is a directory of stations organized by country, region, and city. Alternatively, visitors can click the "Search" button to find further browsing options. The Genres tab allows users to find new stations by filtering for favorite artists, content (e.g., news, weather, talk, sports), or genres (e.g., adult contemporary, 90s, pop, top 40). The Music tab lists top 10 songs, organized by genre and country. Once users have found something new or familiar, the listings provide a description of each station, links to its website and social media pages, and the typical content or genre featured. Listeners can also save favorite radio stations and come back to listen any time (note that it is necessary to log in using Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo!, or Apple first). Users can enjoy Online Radio Box on their browser of choice or download the app from Google Play, the Apple App Store, and others. Online Radio Box is produced by Final Level. [MJZ]

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History teachers in middle and high schools will want to check out these rich lessons plans exploring "how music helped to preserve dignity in the lives of Jews under Nazi rule." Scout Report readers will be familiar with the organization behind these lessons, Facing History and Ourselves (last featured in the 12-11-2020 issue), which is dedicated to shaping compassionate and courageous leaders for the next generation through explorations of historical injustices. Through 3 lessons (covering 4 class periods of 50 minutes each), this unit helps students delve into the cultural diversity of pre-World War II European Jews and understand how music provided comfort and sustained resistance during the war. In Lesson 1 ("The Power of Music"), students are encouraged to reflect on their personal musical experiences of inspiration and comfort. In Lesson 2 ("Jewish Life before World War II"), students learn about the richness of the Jewish experience in Europe and how it was threatened by antisemitism. In Lesson 3 ("Music as Survival Tool"), students consider music as "physical and spiritual resistance." Visitors will find a helpful outline for each lesson, including essential questions, learning objectives, background information, teaching strategies, and extension activities. Each lesson plan links to integrated readings, videos, and photos from Facing History and Ourselves. Visitors can scroll to the bottom of the page linked above for further lesson suggestions and related educator resources. [MJZ]

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Paperwork is an open source document repository and search engine software that allows users to import documents as either digital files or scanned hard copies. If necessary, Paperwork will perform optical character recognition (OCR) on scanned or imported data. All documents are then indexed so that they can be quickly searched. The software stores documents in a single directory that can be backed up and synchronized across devices with a tool like Dropbox, Nextcloud, or Syncthing. Additionally, users can tag imported documents with labels to denote groups of related documents. Paperwork contains a label suggestion feature that will learn from the labels applied to past documents to suggest labels for newly imported documents. The site linked above offers installers for Windows and Linux systems. Paperwork was created by OpenPaper. [CRH]

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One common method for tracking users online is to include tracking parameters in a URL, which allow server operators to easily follow a user across and within sites. Tracking parameters are commonly added in by bulk email senders, social media sites, search engines, and shopping sites, but they are not necessary for a site to work correctly and can be safely stripped away. The ClearURLs browser extension employs a list of more than 250 rules to detect and remove a wide variety of common and not-so-common tracking parameters. In addition to enhancing user privacy, this extension produces markedly shorter URLs that are easier to send in email, instant messages, and text messages. For example, an Amazon link that is five lines long with tracking parameters fits on a single line without them. ClearURLs is available as an extension for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge. [CRH]

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World music enthusiasts will delight in this podcast installment on Maori music, featured in the 11-27-2020 Scout Report. Since then, the podcast has released additional episodes on Maori fishing and horticulture, among other subjects.

The History of Aotearoa New Zealand Podcast shares stories of the islands, with a focus on "pre-European Tangata Whenua, the people of the land, also known as Maori." Episodes cover a range of topics, from horticulture to linguistics, and at the link above readers will find an episode on Maori music. This installment is part one of two with guest James Holt, a Maori music expert who wrote his dissertation on the unique aspects of the melodies. Holt discusses the music's history, ancestry, and characteristics, providing a comprehensive overview of Maori music. Both installments on Maori music (Episodes 43 and 44) are found on the Home page, as are dozens of other episodes. Readers will find Transcripts for select shows via the Menu. To further explore Maori music, check out the Sources page, which has a section on Taonga Puoro (Maori Musical Instruments). The podcast is listener-powered, supported by individuals who donate to the show's Patreon channel. [EMB] [HCL]

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