Social Science sites of the week
This week 11th November marks Armistice Day. To commemorate the occasion The Imperial war Museum are launching the Faces of the First World War collection on Flickr. This will have 100 previously unpublished photos of First World War soldiers. Looking at the loss of life marks poignantly the horror of war and its longlasting anguish. These will form part of a larger bond of sacrifice collection. The Imperial War Museum will be loading photos everyday until the 100th anniversary of the 1914-1918 conflict in August 2014. Users are encouraged to tag the records with details of the soldiers service records and life stories.
the National Archives has released online a searchable database of First World War Nursing Service records
Access to the full images requires payment.
Other WW1 records held at the Archives include:
Medal Index cards. and Army War Diaries which provide daily accounts of troop movements, casualties and life of battalions (payment required for full access). The site also has a research guide which lists key files (available at the archives) An educational section with access to some free documents and schools learning materials. There are also some podcasts which highlight personal experiences.
If you are looking for more accounts of World war One- another good starting point is the Imperial War Museum website which has a special exhibition on the Battle of the Somme. Use the Collections online database to search for images, online materials and reference to archives held at the museum.
The First World War Poetry Digital archive has podcasts and texts of readings this is supplemented by a Great War archive of thousands of multimedia materials contributed by the public these were collected as a result of an appeal in 2008. They include photographs, audio, film giving a range of personal perspectives.
The Long Tail – Is another great starting point for help on finding and researching British military involvement in 1914-1918 war.
For a different perspective try
the free website by the Peace Pledge Union which has a history and study guide to conscientious objection.
Digital Curation Centre publishes guide to citing datasets
Download the 12 page guide which will help researchers. Topics covered include elements of data citation, challenges involved in citing and linking to datasets associated with research.
#Occupy Archive
A special project of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University which is documenting and saving the digital evidence and stories from the Occupy protests worldwide that began in September 2011 in Lower Manhattan. This includes archives of websites, personal accounts, photographs and texts. It is possible to browse by place. It includes materials from occupied movements across the World. With the emphasis upon North America. See examples from Occupy London a good supplement to the Internet archive site Occupy Wall Street section
Countries at the Crossroads 2011
Access the full text of this report from Freedom House. It analyses democratic governance in 35 nations it regards as being at a crossroads in the road to full democracy. These include a number of nations affected by the Arab spring including Algeria, Syria and Egypt. Topics covered include civil liberties, corruption, civil liberties and the rule of law.
Other similar useful sites include Amnesty international reports SADA from the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace – This site formerly called the Arab reform bulletin has blogs, articles and news discussing Arab reform. These include bilingual contributions in English/ Arabic.
The Peace Institute – Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies
is a non-profit research institution developing interdisciplinary research activities in various fields of the social and human sciences (sociology, anthropology, political science, philosophy, economies, law etc.) Growing numbers of research reports are available online which is based in Slovenia.Main topics include gender, human rights, media, and cultural policy. The Mediawatch section provides free access to a number of eBooks in English.
Topics covered in Media ownership, perceptions and coverage in Slovenia and other post socialist regions.
SOCIONICAL
is an Information and Communication Technologies Project funded under European Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), aiming to develop Complexity Science based modelling, prediction and simulation methods to develop systems, including some practical applications such as APPs that can be used in disasters in communication. See some case studies on the website Launched this week for the occasion of the Lord Mayor of London show was an app developed by the London School of Economics and University of Passau in Germany. Read some more on the LSE press release about its aims. Try it out on the ITunes website. It includes maps relating g to travel, crowd congestion and lists of events, plus tourist information on the route.
Global Open Access Portal launched by UNESCO
A valuable site which has received funding from the governments of Governments of Colombia, Denmark, Norway, and the United States Department of State. Find out about the state of open access in 148 nations worldwide. Includes snapshots of key repositories and projects as well as a news section. Browse by country and key organizations or open aces son subject themes. The latter includes a listing of key social science initiatives
Open access stories
Site created by Knowledge Exchange to highlight the benefits to individuals and/or institutions of providing free open access via the web to research outputs such as journal articles and papers. Partners include: Denmark’s Electronic Research Library (DEFF)German Research Foundation (DFG),Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in the United Kingdom, SURF foundation in the Netherlands. However examples are available from other European and some none EU nations.The case studies include benefits in terms of economic impact, collaboration, encouraging new researchers.
EROMM Search
European Register for Microfilm and Digital Masters,
Provides information about printed and material that have been reformatted to microform or digital forms. It has just launched a searchable catalogue which across searches the register of microfilm description with other free digital versions on the web (many in open access via the Internet archive) the versions include books maps journals, manuscripts and images. Members of the EROMM consortium comprise 14 libraries across Europe including the British Library. Many of the microfilm records are based on their own holdings. It is possible to search the catalogue by keyword or author to trace the existence of microfilms of specific works (note in some cases requests (payment required) can be made) in others direct links are made to free online versions. Records relate to individual titles of books and articles.
The Egypt Electionnaire
is a project by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and MICT (Media in Cooperation and Transition) it aims to encourage discussions about democracy by the Egyptian electorate in advance of the 2011 parliamentary elections. Users to the site which is hosted in English and or Arabic answer 29 questions to match their views with the policy/ programmes of the main parties. Other voter information sites include Egypt votes
Canadian Feature Film Index database Now available online
This research tool provides information on over 4,300 Canadian feature films produced from 1913 to 2009. Selected entries include images of movie posters holdings of Library and Archives Canada. Future updates are planned.
Other useful Canadian film libraries are HotDocs Documentary Library. This site is supported by the Department of Canadian Heritage. It provides free access to a large growing collection of documentary films from Canadian film makers. These include materials from NFB. Materials can be searched or browsed by topic. There are also playlists for films by young film makers and a section designed for school and college use. A wide range of topics relating to social, political, economic and world events are covered. They include an emphasis on the history, culture and society of Canada, the anthropology of Canadian ethnic groups and Canadian perspectives on world events. National Film Board of Canada online films A free website where you can watch films produced by the National Film Board of Canada. It is possible to view over 500 documentaries online.
