recommended social science sites of the week
Here are our latest website recomendations.
see the blog at http://lselibraryresearch.blogspot.com/
Digital Education Research Archive
DERA is a digital archive of documents published electronically by government and related bodies in the area of education. It is created as a permanent web archive by staff of the Institute of education Library. University of London. Currently over 1,000 documents/ reports are accessible with more being added. Topics covered are broad ranging include schools, learning, higher education policy and finance.
Churnalism
An interesting initiative by the media standards trust which aims to give the public information to distinguish between original work and churnalism- the latter is defined as simply press releases, PR which have been presented as if they are examples of original journalism. At the moment the site covers articles from the covers the UK national press, the BBC and Sky news online. Users have the ability to view the articles published alongside the original press releases to compare the characters. Fascinating.
UFOs: National ArchivesThe UK National Archives has just released Over 8,500 pages of UFO discussions, sightings and reports from the British government. They cover the period 2000-2005.
During March items can be downloaded free of charge from the website at This also includes a podcast and research guide to appropriate files. Earlier releases covering the period 1950s are also listed but access to most of these requires payment.
Other countries which have releases UFO files include New Zealand
UFO evidence http://www.ufoevidence.org/govtdocs/index.asp is a good place to locate links to former declassified documents from sites worldwide. See the USAalthough bear in mind authors are usually seeking to provide the existence of government cover ups.
P& O heritage
Official company history site of the major shipping giant.
Key timeline of events, an archive database of all P& O ships, information on shipping companies which P& O acquired throughout its history. And a really fascinating online collection of images of shipping posters, photographs, prints and drawings from the archives. Topics covered include cruising and travel and company publicity. The site also offers guides to historical research.
Copyright information is displayed.
Graduate Junction
Online social community Junction was founded in 2008 by two postgraduates at Durham University. Aims to connect masters and PhD research student covering all subject areas in the UK. Requires free registration. Users can create profiles join discussion groups. Links to surveys resources from NUS, Postgraduate toolbox (sister site to the Junction) Postgraduate Toolbox more tips and advice on preparing for research.
Other good sources for postgraduates vitae sections on PhD supervision, researcher training.
Open access books
OAPEN – Open Access Publishing in European Networks is an initiative in Open Access publishing for humanities and social sciences monographs. Several European university presses are contributing.
Contributors include: Amsterdam university press. Coverage is broad incorporating economics, anthropology, finance, social studies. Includes many German and French language titles. Coverage currently 100s of titles but growing quickly!
Elections Ireland.org
The Elections Ireland.Org website is produced in association with renowned Irish political commentator Seán Donnelly. It provides listings, and some analysis, of all general election results in The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland since 1918. It also covers by-elections in Northern Ireland and Ireland from 1918 onwards, European Parliament elections in the region since 1999, and Irish presidential elections from 1938 onwards. Includes the latest results.
See more useful links including social media for 2011
Irish State Administration Database
Principal outcome of a three-year IRCHSS-funded project titled “Mapping the Irish State,” undertaken at the Geary Institute, UCD. The database covers all national public organizations since 1922, including government departments, state agencies and state-owned enterprises free registration required for full acess. Search by organisation, area of coverage to find facts.
World Bank: financial crisis website
Draws together reports and analysis on the global recession. Good for use with theILO Global Job Crisis Observatory which focuses specifically on unemployment/ unemployment on a worldwide scale Federal Reserve Bank portal with articles and information giving a banking perspective.
For a different perspective see the website of the award winning documentaryInside Job which seeks to expose the excesses of the industry. The website has a teacher’s guide and some online interviews with participants.
Global Conflicts Game
A really good example of interactive gaming being used for education purposes. Developed by the Serious Games Interactive for students aged 13-20. It is designed to focus upon issues relating to human security, conflict, democracy. The example is the Arab –Israeli conflict. The site offers examples of course assignments and teachers notes to support learning.
Tamarit – newspapers online.Timarit.is is a collaborative project between the
• National Library of the Faroe Islands,
• National and Public Library of Greenland and
• National and University Library of Iceland. Which is in the processing of digitizing and making freely available 100s of historic full text newspapers from these regions as well as some publications from other parts of the world in Icelandic languages. They offer a rich insight into the economic, social and political history and also would be of interest for those studying the history of indigenous peoples in the region such as the Saami. Dates of coverage differ according to the title. Some go back as far as the 19th century. There is also some coverage of 21st century titles which would be value to those considering the recent Icelandic banking crisis coverage from an Icelandic perspective. The website provides free access to technical and copyright information.
