The library is pleased to provide access to several new online resources beginning this January. Two of these add sections to a resource to which the library previously had partial access, The American Mosaic. This resource provides users with a sense of America's multicultural diversity. Previously the library subscribed to the Latino American Experience portion of the American Mosaic, but the DACC community now also has access to the other two sections as well: the African-American Experience and the American Indian Experience. Each section can be searched separately or all three can be searched through the single Mosaic interface. This database offers users the opportunity to investigate artistic, political, historical, sociological, and pop cultural aspects to each culture as well as to the cultural overlap. The more than 600 Greenwood and Praeger e-books provide high-quality research information for users.
In addition to the American Mosaic, the Library is pleased to offer DACC users access to the Springer Medical Research e-Book Collection. This collection of more than 3,000 e-books from Springer includes more than 100 titles published in 2010 alone. The titles will be added to the library's online catalog when we get the necessary information, but in the meantime, users can go to Springer's site, click on "Medicine" on the right hand side of the screen and then "Books" on the right hand side of the screen and then put their search term in the box to look for material in the collection. This will enable them to search the full-text for all possible references. Take care to limit your search to "Within these results" to prevent searching all Springer titles, because there are a lot of things we do not subscribe to.
The library will soon be getting access to part of JSTOR's journal collection, but that has not been completely set up yet. The selected collection features titles in literature, music, art and architecture, religion, folklore, film and the performing arts. We'll let you know when the journals becomes available.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Friday, December 11, 2009
Cool Tools Holiday Edition
Just in time for Christmas and the end of the semester, when you'll have a little time to play around with new technology over break, it seems like the perfect moment for a round of Cool Tools -- nifty technology you can use to make your work and home life fun.
You may remember Wordle from the presentation at in-service. It's the online "toy" that lets you take any text and turn it into a word cloud that illustrates which words are used most frequently. Here's an example I made of Twas the Night Before Christmas done as a Wordle. (Just a note: if you browse the gallery you will necessarily observe the tendency of people to use any tool of this sort to broadcast obscenities in big letters...) If you'd like ideas of how you might incorporate Wordle into your work, take a look at this list in The Clever Sheep, or this one at Ask Dr. Kirk (which offers suggestions that reflect a workplace rather than the classroom).
Draw Anywhere is an online graphics program that you can log into from anywhere to access your flowcharts and diagrams. Rather than storing, saving and transfering files, you can share them with others over the internet and access them publicly. You can also link charts or diagrams to your web page and then change them as needed with minimal effort or enable others to make changes to them. While you can get a free account that enables full functionality but limits user access, output and security, real flexibility comes from the $30/year account.
GoogleNewsTimeline is a new Google App that lets you manipulate various elements of Google's news features to create a timeline of recent events. You can, for example, put in the name of an important individual, such as the president, and have it highlight news stories for him over time. A great way to follow how rapidly changing stories develop, or to see how particular countries appear in the news.
For something truly on the fun side, play around with Voki, an avatar generator that lets you create animated avatars that speak. You can get the code to publish an avatar to your web page to introduce yourself to your students in a fun way as an anime character or have them use them to record foreign language or vocabulary practice.
And what may be one of the most broadly useful applications, Glogster, lets users create online posters that can incorporate multimedia elements. The "glogs" can then be incorporated into blogs or wikis. The Glogster site offers several examples of the kinds of things that are possible with the tool. Students can create an online poster session, or you can create posters to attractively illustrate key concepts or ideas.
During spring in-service, the library will offer faculty and staff an opportunity to learn how to create and use wikis. This session will take place during the Faculty prep time so keep an eye out for further details. Wikis are one of the simplest and yet most powerful and effective tools available. They are perfect for creating collectively developed work of any sort, from class group projects to quick answer manuals for dealing with those questions people in your department must respond to frequently and you want to make sure everyone knows what the current information is. They are an ideal software for teams to use to develop ideas as well, as changes are recorded. Here is a good video from CommonCraft on TeacherTube that explains the concept of wikis in a fun way.
You may remember Wordle from the presentation at in-service. It's the online "toy" that lets you take any text and turn it into a word cloud that illustrates which words are used most frequently. Here's an example I made of Twas the Night Before Christmas done as a Wordle. (Just a note: if you browse the gallery you will necessarily observe the tendency of people to use any tool of this sort to broadcast obscenities in big letters...) If you'd like ideas of how you might incorporate Wordle into your work, take a look at this list in The Clever Sheep, or this one at Ask Dr. Kirk (which offers suggestions that reflect a workplace rather than the classroom).
Draw Anywhere is an online graphics program that you can log into from anywhere to access your flowcharts and diagrams. Rather than storing, saving and transfering files, you can share them with others over the internet and access them publicly. You can also link charts or diagrams to your web page and then change them as needed with minimal effort or enable others to make changes to them. While you can get a free account that enables full functionality but limits user access, output and security, real flexibility comes from the $30/year account.
GoogleNewsTimeline is a new Google App that lets you manipulate various elements of Google's news features to create a timeline of recent events. You can, for example, put in the name of an important individual, such as the president, and have it highlight news stories for him over time. A great way to follow how rapidly changing stories develop, or to see how particular countries appear in the news.
For something truly on the fun side, play around with Voki, an avatar generator that lets you create animated avatars that speak. You can get the code to publish an avatar to your web page to introduce yourself to your students in a fun way as an anime character or have them use them to record foreign language or vocabulary practice.
And what may be one of the most broadly useful applications, Glogster, lets users create online posters that can incorporate multimedia elements. The "glogs" can then be incorporated into blogs or wikis. The Glogster site offers several examples of the kinds of things that are possible with the tool. Students can create an online poster session, or you can create posters to attractively illustrate key concepts or ideas.
During spring in-service, the library will offer faculty and staff an opportunity to learn how to create and use wikis. This session will take place during the Faculty prep time so keep an eye out for further details. Wikis are one of the simplest and yet most powerful and effective tools available. They are perfect for creating collectively developed work of any sort, from class group projects to quick answer manuals for dealing with those questions people in your department must respond to frequently and you want to make sure everyone knows what the current information is. They are an ideal software for teams to use to develop ideas as well, as changes are recorded. Here is a good video from CommonCraft on TeacherTube that explains the concept of wikis in a fun way.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Vaccines -- Digging for Data
Many parents are concerned about the safety of vaccines these days, especially the influenza and the MMR vaccines. So it seemed like a good time to offer some solid sources of information on this timely topic.
Before examining the vaccines themselves, it's worth taking a look at the illnesses these vaccines target. Vaccine safety has become an issue because this country has not experienced any outbreak of life-threatening childhood disease since the eradication of polio. The last few polio survivors are now so elderly and the disease is so unknown that almost all physicians in this country are unfamiliar with its treatment. NPR told the story of one 73-year-old physician and polio survivor who has specialized in the disease and feels unable to retire because there is simply no one to replace him. Few people can remember the terror produced by the annual return of polio when parents would fear for their children's lives. Each year new children would add to numbers in wards those encased in iron lungs or left paraplegic by the disease. Even fewer can remember the Great Influenza Outbreak of 1918, which devastated whole families in many areas of the country. We even tend to forget that measles is not "just some childhood disease" but remains a leading cause of death in young children in areas of the world where significant populations are not immunized. We live, whether we acknowledge it or not, in a very healthy time and place. For an even greater sense of this, check out the 10 Worst Epidemics on HowStuffWorks.
Our overall health has allowed us to focus on the potential risks of vaccines rather than the diseases for which they were developed. This is the focus of Amy Wallace's article in Wired, for which she has received a lot of villification as well as support. As she discusses in the article, much of the difficulty for science in the discussion is the difficulty scientists have talking in absolutes. It operates in a world of probabilities and numbers, worlds in which people are often uncomfortable -- but which continue to support the value of vaccination. For example recent studies underscore the importance of pregnant women receiving the flu vaccine. While the World Health Organization, which tracks measles deaths around the world, which many in the U.S. might be surprised to know numbered around three quarters of a million in 2000 dropped by 74% by 2007 strictly as a result of vaccination programs. The percentages of people choosing to take vaccines in the U.S. remain low, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control. Here is the 2008 data. The reasons people give for not vaccinating vary, as do the people who make the choice, as highlighted in this NY Times article.
Autism spectrum disorders and any potential relationship they may have to vaccines have been a chief point of concern for many parents. The CDC addresses these concerns explicitly on their site. Autism Speaks, one of the foremost autism research organizations also addresses these issues, explicitly pointing out that it fully supports immunization programs as "one of our nation's most effective programs for preventing serious infectious diseases", an issue of no less concern to parents of autistic children. At the same time, it takes parents concerns about possible links between autism and vaccines seriously and continues to support research exploring possible links between specific genetic and environmental links (such as vaccines).
Another concern expressed by parents references the number of vaccines administered to infants and young children. Again, the CDC addresses this concern. The American Academy of Pediatricians provides even more detailed information regarding the vaccine schedule and the importance of immunizing children. PKIDs, Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases provides information garnered from the CDC about what would happen if too many people start opting out of immunization programs. This organization consists of parents who deal with the reality of the effects of infectious disease on a daily basis. But perhaps the best overall information for parents or anyone concerned with vaccine safety can be found on the site of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Vaccine Education Center. This site explains how vaccines are evaluated for safety, explains why children would benefit from vaccinations from something like hepatitis B that seems like an adults' disease and answers every other question raised in this blog as well. Now, in the name of openness, I should point out that the demon of the anti-vaccine movement, Paul Offit works at CHOP and signed off on the site's answers.
This leads to the final point. The anti-vaccine movement is largely led by a group of highly vocal advocates. The most famous is GenerationRescue and its "research arm" FourteenStudies. But these sites do not meet the standards of quality met by the others referenced earlier, despite their efforts to appear to do so. For a good analysis of FourteenStudies failure to do so, read Mark Crislip's analysis of the study evaluations on FourteenStudies on the blog Science-Based Medicine. Similarly Medical Veritas, a peer-reviewed medical journal frequently cited by vaccine opponents as a source of "good" studies, must be regarded as a fringe journal, so much so that its contents are not included in PubMed, the standard tool for medical research. (An interesting discussion of the reliability of the journal can be read on this Wikipedia editorial page.) For a look at DACC's standards of web site evaluation, see this list.
Before examining the vaccines themselves, it's worth taking a look at the illnesses these vaccines target. Vaccine safety has become an issue because this country has not experienced any outbreak of life-threatening childhood disease since the eradication of polio. The last few polio survivors are now so elderly and the disease is so unknown that almost all physicians in this country are unfamiliar with its treatment. NPR told the story of one 73-year-old physician and polio survivor who has specialized in the disease and feels unable to retire because there is simply no one to replace him. Few people can remember the terror produced by the annual return of polio when parents would fear for their children's lives. Each year new children would add to numbers in wards those encased in iron lungs or left paraplegic by the disease. Even fewer can remember the Great Influenza Outbreak of 1918, which devastated whole families in many areas of the country. We even tend to forget that measles is not "just some childhood disease" but remains a leading cause of death in young children in areas of the world where significant populations are not immunized. We live, whether we acknowledge it or not, in a very healthy time and place. For an even greater sense of this, check out the 10 Worst Epidemics on HowStuffWorks.
Our overall health has allowed us to focus on the potential risks of vaccines rather than the diseases for which they were developed. This is the focus of Amy Wallace's article in Wired, for which she has received a lot of villification as well as support. As she discusses in the article, much of the difficulty for science in the discussion is the difficulty scientists have talking in absolutes. It operates in a world of probabilities and numbers, worlds in which people are often uncomfortable -- but which continue to support the value of vaccination. For example recent studies underscore the importance of pregnant women receiving the flu vaccine. While the World Health Organization, which tracks measles deaths around the world, which many in the U.S. might be surprised to know numbered around three quarters of a million in 2000 dropped by 74% by 2007 strictly as a result of vaccination programs. The percentages of people choosing to take vaccines in the U.S. remain low, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control. Here is the 2008 data. The reasons people give for not vaccinating vary, as do the people who make the choice, as highlighted in this NY Times article.
Autism spectrum disorders and any potential relationship they may have to vaccines have been a chief point of concern for many parents. The CDC addresses these concerns explicitly on their site. Autism Speaks, one of the foremost autism research organizations also addresses these issues, explicitly pointing out that it fully supports immunization programs as "one of our nation's most effective programs for preventing serious infectious diseases", an issue of no less concern to parents of autistic children. At the same time, it takes parents concerns about possible links between autism and vaccines seriously and continues to support research exploring possible links between specific genetic and environmental links (such as vaccines).
Another concern expressed by parents references the number of vaccines administered to infants and young children. Again, the CDC addresses this concern. The American Academy of Pediatricians provides even more detailed information regarding the vaccine schedule and the importance of immunizing children. PKIDs, Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases provides information garnered from the CDC about what would happen if too many people start opting out of immunization programs. This organization consists of parents who deal with the reality of the effects of infectious disease on a daily basis. But perhaps the best overall information for parents or anyone concerned with vaccine safety can be found on the site of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Vaccine Education Center. This site explains how vaccines are evaluated for safety, explains why children would benefit from vaccinations from something like hepatitis B that seems like an adults' disease and answers every other question raised in this blog as well. Now, in the name of openness, I should point out that the demon of the anti-vaccine movement, Paul Offit works at CHOP and signed off on the site's answers.
This leads to the final point. The anti-vaccine movement is largely led by a group of highly vocal advocates. The most famous is GenerationRescue and its "research arm" FourteenStudies. But these sites do not meet the standards of quality met by the others referenced earlier, despite their efforts to appear to do so. For a good analysis of FourteenStudies failure to do so, read Mark Crislip's analysis of the study evaluations on FourteenStudies on the blog Science-Based Medicine. Similarly Medical Veritas, a peer-reviewed medical journal frequently cited by vaccine opponents as a source of "good" studies, must be regarded as a fringe journal, so much so that its contents are not included in PubMed, the standard tool for medical research. (An interesting discussion of the reliability of the journal can be read on this Wikipedia editorial page.) For a look at DACC's standards of web site evaluation, see this list.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Fright Night
With Halloween almost upon us, it seems appropriate to look into all things spooky and creepy in the spirit of the holiday. The library currently has a display of books and videos ranging from the popular Twilight series to Ghostbusters and Zodiac to get you in the mood for Saturday night's little doorbell ringers. In addition, the library's Pop Culture Universe database (DACC user i.d. and password required off campus) offers lots of opportunities to investigate everything from vampires and zombies to Halloween).
Celebrating the Holiday
And the internet offers a whole world of opportunities for the intrepid investigator of Halloween-themed interests. For a general background of the History of Halloween, check out this site from the Library of Congress American Folklife Center. Still scrambling for the perfect costume idea? The Costume Page offers a wide selection of useful resource links to motivate you specifically for Halloween. It also includes a link to the National Retail Federation's list of the Top Costumes for 2009. Odd, librarian didn't make the list... and yes there is one. Or if your looking for something different to do with that pumpkin, check out ExtremePumpkins.com, which includes lots of excellent carving information as well as the single most outrageous (and outrageously fun) collection of jack-o-lanterns you're likely to run across. Tom Nardone, the site's creator, even gives out lots of free carving stencils you can try. And although it's a bit late to produce these now, here's a little project to plan for next year's Halloween, courtesy of the Bunless Librarian: The Cure for the Common Jack-O-Lantern, a pumpkin shaped like a human face.
Monsters
Interested in monsters? Then you'll love Monstropedia, a wiki-based encyclopedia of monsters, parascience and the paranormal. with more than 1800 articles, you should have plenty to browse. The site does not hold itself to the citation and documentation standards of wikipedia, but it's a lot of fun and does offer a lot of useful links and stories. A bit more well referenced, and just as potentially useful depending upon your monstrous interest (basilisks, anyone?), is Encyclopedia Mythica. This site does provide references for individual entries and seeks out people with background in the subject area to write particular entries.
Witches
After the assorted types of monsters, one thing closely associated with Halloween in the popular mind is the figure of the witch. Witches, of course, have a complex and real history, as the witchcraft trials in Salem demonstrated so vividly. The Famous Trials website provides one of the best points of reference to not only the 1692 events, but also to the long history of persecution that preceded it. Visitors can also consider their options had they been among the accused and even try their hand at Salem Witchcraft Jeopardy. Another intriguing exploration of the Trials is National Geographic's interactive experience in which visitors take on the persona of one of the accused. Modern day witches also have an active presence on the internet, as do followers of other religions. If you are interested in learning more about them, you can go to The Witches' Voice and read more about and by present day pagans and witches, some of whom take the Halloween traditions with good humor and others of whom regard it with distaste.
Hauntings
Many of you are probably familiar with various stories about Illinois' assorted haunted houses, theaters and other locations. Even if you are, you may find some that aren't familiar at the Haunted Illinois web site. You can also check out Haunted Indiana if that terrain is closer to home. And finally, a haunted house that is one of the most architecturally extraordinary creations in the United States, Winchester House in California. Here is an online tour of the various rooms' highlights.
Happy Halloween everybody!
Celebrating the Holiday
And the internet offers a whole world of opportunities for the intrepid investigator of Halloween-themed interests. For a general background of the History of Halloween, check out this site from the Library of Congress American Folklife Center. Still scrambling for the perfect costume idea? The Costume Page offers a wide selection of useful resource links to motivate you specifically for Halloween. It also includes a link to the National Retail Federation's list of the Top Costumes for 2009. Odd, librarian didn't make the list... and yes there is one. Or if your looking for something different to do with that pumpkin, check out ExtremePumpkins.com, which includes lots of excellent carving information as well as the single most outrageous (and outrageously fun) collection of jack-o-lanterns you're likely to run across. Tom Nardone, the site's creator, even gives out lots of free carving stencils you can try. And although it's a bit late to produce these now, here's a little project to plan for next year's Halloween, courtesy of the Bunless Librarian: The Cure for the Common Jack-O-Lantern, a pumpkin shaped like a human face.
Monsters
Interested in monsters? Then you'll love Monstropedia, a wiki-based encyclopedia of monsters, parascience and the paranormal. with more than 1800 articles, you should have plenty to browse. The site does not hold itself to the citation and documentation standards of wikipedia, but it's a lot of fun and does offer a lot of useful links and stories. A bit more well referenced, and just as potentially useful depending upon your monstrous interest (basilisks, anyone?), is Encyclopedia Mythica. This site does provide references for individual entries and seeks out people with background in the subject area to write particular entries.
Witches
After the assorted types of monsters, one thing closely associated with Halloween in the popular mind is the figure of the witch. Witches, of course, have a complex and real history, as the witchcraft trials in Salem demonstrated so vividly. The Famous Trials website provides one of the best points of reference to not only the 1692 events, but also to the long history of persecution that preceded it. Visitors can also consider their options had they been among the accused and even try their hand at Salem Witchcraft Jeopardy. Another intriguing exploration of the Trials is National Geographic's interactive experience in which visitors take on the persona of one of the accused. Modern day witches also have an active presence on the internet, as do followers of other religions. If you are interested in learning more about them, you can go to The Witches' Voice and read more about and by present day pagans and witches, some of whom take the Halloween traditions with good humor and others of whom regard it with distaste.
Hauntings
Many of you are probably familiar with various stories about Illinois' assorted haunted houses, theaters and other locations. Even if you are, you may find some that aren't familiar at the Haunted Illinois web site. You can also check out Haunted Indiana if that terrain is closer to home. And finally, a haunted house that is one of the most architecturally extraordinary creations in the United States, Winchester House in California. Here is an online tour of the various rooms' highlights.
Happy Halloween everybody!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Are You Coming Out Tonite?
October is Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender History Month, and the official web site presents a video featuring 31 important icons from GLBT history, including Suze Orman, Zora Neale Hurston, and John Cage. The site also retains the archives of icons since 2006. These include figures as diverse as Florence Nightingale, Michelangelo and Rachel Carson.
One critical event in GLBT history was the publication of the Kinsey Report, more properly known as Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (and the corresponding report on the Human Female published later). The American Journal of Public Health reproduces key portions of that report online. With his data regarding the numbers of American men who had had at least one homosexual experience, Kinsey literally changed the public perception of the human sexual landscape.
Another source of interesting online information is OutHistory, a continuously developing site that includes an eclectic selection of exhibits that range from Colonial American gay experience to gay elected officials to cross-dressing lesbians around the turn of the nineteenth century. Explore the gays of Bronzeville in Chicago or what it is like to be gay and Native American in mid-twentieth century. Follow the efforts to get New York's transgender law passed.
Fear of the Unknown
While GLBT History month frequently highlights web sites and resources focusing on the history of those groups, less common is for attention to be drawn to the history of homophobia, the cultural attitudes that lead people to oppress homosexuals. Rictor Norton, a noted researcher into gay history and culture offers readers a detailed look at the early period of Western homophobia on his web site. Rictor's web site on Gay History and Literature offers interested readers a lot more to explore, everything from collections of gay love letters to explorations of particular literary traditions to lesbian pirates and 18th century cruising in London.
Sexuality Research
For people interested in sexuality research or study, an important site of information available online is the Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology. On the site users can find entire books, research reports, reviews, surveys and data sets to review. One of the most useful tools on the site is the Critical Dictionary of Sexology and Glossary of Inappropriate Terms (which refers to terms that contain either explicit or hidden value judgments).
One critical event in GLBT history was the publication of the Kinsey Report, more properly known as Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (and the corresponding report on the Human Female published later). The American Journal of Public Health reproduces key portions of that report online. With his data regarding the numbers of American men who had had at least one homosexual experience, Kinsey literally changed the public perception of the human sexual landscape.
Another source of interesting online information is OutHistory, a continuously developing site that includes an eclectic selection of exhibits that range from Colonial American gay experience to gay elected officials to cross-dressing lesbians around the turn of the nineteenth century. Explore the gays of Bronzeville in Chicago or what it is like to be gay and Native American in mid-twentieth century. Follow the efforts to get New York's transgender law passed.
Fear of the Unknown
While GLBT History month frequently highlights web sites and resources focusing on the history of those groups, less common is for attention to be drawn to the history of homophobia, the cultural attitudes that lead people to oppress homosexuals. Rictor Norton, a noted researcher into gay history and culture offers readers a detailed look at the early period of Western homophobia on his web site. Rictor's web site on Gay History and Literature offers interested readers a lot more to explore, everything from collections of gay love letters to explorations of particular literary traditions to lesbian pirates and 18th century cruising in London.
Sexuality Research
For people interested in sexuality research or study, an important site of information available online is the Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology. On the site users can find entire books, research reports, reviews, surveys and data sets to review. One of the most useful tools on the site is the Critical Dictionary of Sexology and Glossary of Inappropriate Terms (which refers to terms that contain either explicit or hidden value judgments).
Thursday, September 10, 2009
9/11 How Will You Serve?
Eight years have passed since those four planes changed the lives of so many Americans on September 11, 2001. Survivors continue to cope, their children grow, rescuers struggle with the physical aftereffects of so many hours spent combing through the wreckage, and the new WTC is finally under construction. But for those not immediately effected by the attacks, enough time has passed that they becoming historical events, albeit mile markers in our lifetimes. So it is perhaps especially fitting that this year legislation has been enacted declaring September 11 A National Day of Service and Remembrance.
Service
The home page for 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance provides information about the purpose of the day, ways individuals can become involved, ways organizations or individuals can get service projects going or seek out additional volunteers, and links to other informational sites. Visitors are encouraged to post their own activities as a way to inspire others and stimulate others' thinking. If you are interested in volunteering, however, don't feel limited to the options offered by the 9/11 web site. VolunteerMatch offers additional opportunities to bring together volunteers and organizations online. Currently Danville's volunteer organizations are not well represented on the site, so if you are active in one you might want to suggest the site to the volunteer coordinator. Government volunteering opportunities have their own online site, Volunteer.gov, where users can identify possibilities by state. To locate opportunities locally, the United Way has assembled this list of Danville organizations and contact information, while Champaign-Urbana has cuvolunteer.org.
Want some ideas for simple acts of kindness and service? Check out HelpOthers.org, which offers lots of suggestions. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation also offers ideas to promote kindness and service to others and even provides tools for teachers and individuals to use to get started in their own communities.
Remembrance
While the new designation for September 11 is intended to draw good from bad, it is also designed as an opportunity to remember and learn. To that end, the National September 11 Museum and Memorial at the World Trade Center is being planned. With the WTC complex still tangled in ongoing construction and funding issues, it remains in a virtual stage, but that leaves a lot available for exploration, including an extensive registry of artists and their works, oral histories recorded through the Library of Congress' StoryCorps project, and pictures and stories of the some of the artifacts that have been donated to the Museum. September 11 Bearing Witness to History, the Smithsonian's collection of artifacts related to the attacks, is an especially moving site, with an extensive set of artifacts and stories, while the September 11 Digital Archive offers one of the most comprehensive collections of information. And finally, the National Park Service is creating a memorial in Shanksville, PA where Flight 93 was brought down through the brave efforts of its passengers to defeat the hijackers. See the plans for the memorial here.
Service
The home page for 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance provides information about the purpose of the day, ways individuals can become involved, ways organizations or individuals can get service projects going or seek out additional volunteers, and links to other informational sites. Visitors are encouraged to post their own activities as a way to inspire others and stimulate others' thinking. If you are interested in volunteering, however, don't feel limited to the options offered by the 9/11 web site. VolunteerMatch offers additional opportunities to bring together volunteers and organizations online. Currently Danville's volunteer organizations are not well represented on the site, so if you are active in one you might want to suggest the site to the volunteer coordinator. Government volunteering opportunities have their own online site, Volunteer.gov, where users can identify possibilities by state. To locate opportunities locally, the United Way has assembled this list of Danville organizations and contact information, while Champaign-Urbana has cuvolunteer.org.
Want some ideas for simple acts of kindness and service? Check out HelpOthers.org, which offers lots of suggestions. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation also offers ideas to promote kindness and service to others and even provides tools for teachers and individuals to use to get started in their own communities.
Remembrance
While the new designation for September 11 is intended to draw good from bad, it is also designed as an opportunity to remember and learn. To that end, the National September 11 Museum and Memorial at the World Trade Center is being planned. With the WTC complex still tangled in ongoing construction and funding issues, it remains in a virtual stage, but that leaves a lot available for exploration, including an extensive registry of artists and their works, oral histories recorded through the Library of Congress' StoryCorps project, and pictures and stories of the some of the artifacts that have been donated to the Museum. September 11 Bearing Witness to History, the Smithsonian's collection of artifacts related to the attacks, is an especially moving site, with an extensive set of artifacts and stories, while the September 11 Digital Archive offers one of the most comprehensive collections of information. And finally, the National Park Service is creating a memorial in Shanksville, PA where Flight 93 was brought down through the brave efforts of its passengers to defeat the hijackers. See the plans for the memorial here.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Health Care Reform?
Everyone is talking about health care reform, but a lot of people have several misconceptions about various aspects of the conversation. How well do you understand this very complicated issue? You can test your knowledge with either CNN's quick quiz or that compiled by the Friends Committee on National Legislation, or both. (They touch on different points.)
Finding Good Facts
If your email has been brimming with scary emails about what the Congressional health plan might mean for you, you should check out FactCheck.org's evaluation of the most notorious of these fearmongering missives in which they found 26 outright lies and only 4 genuine truths among 48 claims. Another excellent source of information on the issue is CQ Researcher, a weekly publication that examines current issues in depth. (You'll need your DACC user ID and password for off-campus access.) They covered health care reform in last week's issue (8-28-09), which offers extensive reporting, background, pros and cons of particular aspects and references to find further information. Somewhat similar to CQ Researcher is Issues and Controversies, a Facts on File database that provides detailed, balanced coverage of current topics. (You'll also need your DACC user ID and password for off-campus access for this.) It too includes recent material covering the health care debate, especially issues related to the proposed public option.
Been watching coverage of all of those raucous town hall meetings? You might be surprised to find that they aren't quite what they appear on news programs on FOX or MSNBC or other media outlets. You can see the entire meetings, not just edited clips, on C-Span, the Congressional news channel. In fact, if you are interested in unbiased coverage of the entire issue, you can't do better than C-Span, which provides full coverage of meetings, hearings, and public statements, and also has an area for viewers to submit material. Feeling brave? Here's the actual text of the legislation H.R. 3200 , which is available through Thomas, the Library of Congress legislation search engine. Actually, it's not too bad. The bill has an index of terms you can use to search through it and a summary of contents.
Two excellent sources of online information on the state of the U.S. health care system are The Commonwealth Fund, which includes on its web site a report that compares the United States health care system to those in other countries. (The conclusion: ours comes off very poorly on several crucial counts.) The other is The Alliance for Health Reform's Covering Health Issues, 5th ed.
And finally, a moment of health care debate humor from The Onion.
H1N1 Flu Update
And little bit of additional information on the flu formerly known as swine. Here is a very useful flyer from the Illinois Department of Public Health that itemizes the symptoms and emergency warning signs to determine if you or a family member needs to go and see a doctor. They also provide a preparedness checklist to help you get ready for the flu hitting home. Here is the IDPH's general web page about the pandemic and seasonal flu, which has links to lots of good information. And on a final note, a new concern about this flu involves whether or not to vaccinate pigs to prevent them catching the flu from people and mutating it into yet another and potentially more dangerous variant. Yes, the swine are now at risk from the people flu...
Finding Good Facts
If your email has been brimming with scary emails about what the Congressional health plan might mean for you, you should check out FactCheck.org's evaluation of the most notorious of these fearmongering missives in which they found 26 outright lies and only 4 genuine truths among 48 claims. Another excellent source of information on the issue is CQ Researcher, a weekly publication that examines current issues in depth. (You'll need your DACC user ID and password for off-campus access.) They covered health care reform in last week's issue (8-28-09), which offers extensive reporting, background, pros and cons of particular aspects and references to find further information. Somewhat similar to CQ Researcher is Issues and Controversies, a Facts on File database that provides detailed, balanced coverage of current topics. (You'll also need your DACC user ID and password for off-campus access for this.) It too includes recent material covering the health care debate, especially issues related to the proposed public option.
Been watching coverage of all of those raucous town hall meetings? You might be surprised to find that they aren't quite what they appear on news programs on FOX or MSNBC or other media outlets. You can see the entire meetings, not just edited clips, on C-Span, the Congressional news channel. In fact, if you are interested in unbiased coverage of the entire issue, you can't do better than C-Span, which provides full coverage of meetings, hearings, and public statements, and also has an area for viewers to submit material. Feeling brave? Here's the actual text of the legislation H.R. 3200 , which is available through Thomas, the Library of Congress legislation search engine. Actually, it's not too bad. The bill has an index of terms you can use to search through it and a summary of contents.
Two excellent sources of online information on the state of the U.S. health care system are The Commonwealth Fund, which includes on its web site a report that compares the United States health care system to those in other countries. (The conclusion: ours comes off very poorly on several crucial counts.) The other is The Alliance for Health Reform's Covering Health Issues, 5th ed.
And finally, a moment of health care debate humor from The Onion.
H1N1 Flu Update
And little bit of additional information on the flu formerly known as swine. Here is a very useful flyer from the Illinois Department of Public Health that itemizes the symptoms and emergency warning signs to determine if you or a family member needs to go and see a doctor. They also provide a preparedness checklist to help you get ready for the flu hitting home. Here is the IDPH's general web page about the pandemic and seasonal flu, which has links to lots of good information. And on a final note, a new concern about this flu involves whether or not to vaccinate pigs to prevent them catching the flu from people and mutating it into yet another and potentially more dangerous variant. Yes, the swine are now at risk from the people flu...
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