FOR, Oct 31 2011

Featured Online Resource for the week of Oct. 31 is culturalpolitics.net.

A multi-disciplinary metasite with links to sites and articles on theory in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The site is run by TV Reed, Professor of American Studies and English at Washington St. University.

CP.net is divied up into main headings: Popular Culture, Digital Cultures, Social Movements & Culture, Environmental Justice, and Cultural Theory.

Each of these headings is then organized into "Forms" (film, fashion, etc.) "Issues" (Sexuality, Race/Ethnicity, etc.) "Analysis" (Textual, Historical, etc.) and "Resources" (Courses, Journals, etc.).

Each of these contains the links: to large web sites, individual articles, and also text (not linked) bibliographies.

The sections on the digital cultures, cultural theory, and various types of analysis is particularly useful, and the annotations throughout the site are thoughtful.

The Social Justice section includes a feature on the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Featured Online Resource, Oct. 24

This week's Featured Online Resource is the Digital Library of Appalachia (http://www.aca-dla.org)

This project is a collaboration of the Appalachian College Association Central Library. The digital library provides electronic access to the collections of the members of the Appalachian College Association. They include topics such as Daily Life and Customs, Music, and Visual Arts & Handcrafts.

As an example, under Music you can search by title and some of the listings provide the option to listen to the selection of music in mp3 format.

Every week, the Ort Library brings you a new and outstanding resource from the Web or from one of the library's databases. To get an archive of all FOR entries, click here. Also, you can suggest a website that provides well-organized access to useful info.

Featured Online Resource, Oct. 17

This week's Featured Online Resource is Toondoo.com, a great tool for educators and more. Take your announcements, instructions, explanations and more and represent them visually in the form of cartoons.

Toondoo provides you with cartoon panels, a selection of characters, settings, props, etc., and you do the rest. You can put your resulting work out there with facebook or twitter, and can of course save your cartoons as image files and go from there. You are also given an account to store or display your toons--you can either keep them private and distribute them only as you wish, or make them available openly--there is a small community on other cartoonists who may comment on your creations.

Here's one discussing the uses of subject headings in research databases

Every week, the Ort Library brings you a new and outstanding resource from the Web or from one of the library's databases. To get an archive of all FOR entries, click here. Also, you can suggest a website that provides well-organized access to useful info.

Featured Online Resource, October 10

This week's Featured Online Resource is Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers from the Library of Congress (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/)

This project has digitized historic newspapers from 1836 – 1922. You can search for a specific newspaper by name or search for newspapers by state. The project currently has 581 newspapers they have digitized. You can click on the image of the newspaper and move around on the page as if you were reading it in print. You can also zoom in and get a better view of a particular article. The site also allows you to download the newspaper in PDF as well.

Every week, the Ort Library brings you a new and outstanding resource from the Web or from one of the library's databases. To get an archive of all FOR entries, click here. Also, you can suggest a website that provides well-organized access to useful info.

Thriller writer chooses Amazon over St. Martin's

Barry Eisler decided not to sign the half-million dollar contract offer from St. Martin's Press for his novel Detachment, but instead to publish it first as an e-book via Amazon. Here's the story from npr.org--it aired on Morning Edition today.

Tomas Transtromer, Nobel Prize Winner

The 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded this morning to Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer. The Guardian UK wins the prize for best lead paragraph on the topic:

"The Swedish Academy has responded to accusations of insularity over recent years by awarding the 2011 Nobel prize for literature to one of their own: the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer."

Here's an analysis of Transtromer's work by poet Tom Sleigh, on poets.org

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder, died today at age 56, after waging a battle with cancer.

New York Times

Steve Jobs' Commencement Address, Stanford: How to Live Before You Die (video)

Wired.com