Social science sites of the week
Here is our weekly round up of new and interesting sites for social scientists!
This week the British Library announced the launch of The British Newspaper archive. This service offers online access to hundreds of historic titles published in regional cities of the UK from approximately 1700-1940. It offers a wealth of resources for social, economic and political historians, including access to original illustrations, advertisements and text. To view the full text of titles available go to the advanced search form and consult the drop down list of newspapers. It is designed for individual historians and requires a subscription for full text viewing. Some iconic dates (such as Waterloo) are offered free of charge. However, note that many UK HE institutions do already have free access to an equivalent called the British library 19th Century newspapers. See this JISC collections notice
Those looking for historic news online might also like to try these free websites from other parts of the world.
Chronicling America. Maintained by the Library of Congress. Search hundreds of full text newspapers from 1860-1922 and get information about American newspapers published since 1690!
Papers Past Maintained by the National Library of New Zealand. Access hundreds of national and regional titles from 1839-1945.
Many historic European titles can also be traced via the Europeana catalogue. The Library Delicious account. also has a growing collection of links to newspaper digitisation projects which you might like to explore.
NHS Pension Scheme Calculator Agenda for Change
Official department of health resource. Created for NHS staff. Designed to enable them to calculate impact of proposed pension changes
A separate section on the website provides more in-depth help on NHS pay and conditions. And the NHS employer’s website has a NHS pension scheme fact section. For a different perspective see the UNISON NHS campaign site regarding public sector pensions. BMA
TUC pensions Justice Blog includes coverage of 30th November day of action.
International criminal Court live stream of case against former Ivory Coast leader.See the press release of details Also on going case against Libyan Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi The website also has information on the structure and operation of the court.
Another good starting point for searching for human rights information is the Hurisearch engine which rapidly cross searches over 5,000 human rights websites. Including NGOs, governments and international organisations.
Books for understanding is a free initiative of the Association of American University Presses it provides access to reading lists of US published books covering current affairs topics. it includes lists of key works. A much smaller list of recommended 40 titles on human rights is also offered on this blog from accredited colleges. UK locations can be checked on COPAC
Occupy wall street peoples library
Interesting perspective on the social campaign. See what the campaigners occupying Wall Street are reading. Includes news, book lists, twitter news and photographs. on this theme there is also a flickr library of photos of occupy libraries set up in different sites around the world and a library thing site
The Riots Communities and Victims Panel – Interim report
Following the riots that occurred in towns and cities across England between 6 and 10 August 2011, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Official Opposition established the Riots Communities and Victims Panel. Other useful sites on this topic include London Recovers Site established by The Recovery Co-ordination Group membership. Includes 33 London councils, Greater London Authority, Metropolitan Police Service, London Fire Brigade, London Development Agency. Cabinet Office: The August riots in England – Understanding the involvement of young people which examines motivations and who was involved. The riots of summer 2011: Seminar organized by the Campaign for Social Science
the Guardian newspaper section is also a good starting point for monitoring recent releases.
Department of State released Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XV, Soviet Union, June 1972–August 1974Useful for historians of the cold war. Includes declassified document s exchanges between Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev and Richard Nixon. Topics include SALT talks,.
Other volumes in the series are also available. Time period covered 1940s-early 1970s.
Another good source of information on US declassified materials is the National Security Archive George Washington University. Which has many online electronic briefings books.
DocsTeach
Primary resource materials for use in the classroom. An excellent new site created by NARA to encourage teaching with documents.See this video tutorial. In addition to thousands of documents arranged chronologically and in themes from 1750s – post war period, the site also has ready-made tools and classroom activities for educators. These are designed for K12 teachers in relation to US national History standards. However they have a wider applicability in terms of highlighting key issues for others and offering suggestions of good teaching programmes. For encouraging history students to use primary sources. There are 7 interactive tools for creating learning programmes.
finding a sequence, (Order a set of primary sources to demonstrate a sequence or the simultaneous nature of historical events within a time period) focusing on details (showcase a specific document) making connections (Arrange a set of documents to show the progression of historical events and help students understand relationships among events) Mapping history (plotting events on maps) seeing the big picture (Pair documents concerning a historical event, concept, or figure with descriptions, questions, or other documents to impress upon students that the whole is derived of smaller parts) weighing the evidence (get students to consider wand weigh evidence for and against a theme. Interpreting data – introduce students to use of statistical data by historians.
Another good site for this is the Smithsonian Source for teaching American history In the Uk the National Archives has some on line lesson plans there are also some online games.
Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library
Based at Dickinson State University. Provides free access to a national collection about the life and career of the former American president. It has a timeline of key events. The digital library has diaries, letters, cartoons. Key issues are the presidency, also a bibliography of biographies key readings.
Monitoring poverty and social exclusion 2011
The influential annual report published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the New Policy Institute. Uses 50 indicators to consider levels of poverty in the UK. This year it also considers the impact of coalition policies. Topics covered include: child poverty, poverty in old age, the unemployed and poverty, housing, fuel poverty and household debt. Graphs monitor change in circumstances over the last 10 years.
On this theme also useful is the poverty website. This is maintained by Guy Palmer. It provides free access to major UK indicators and reports
You can also search the UK Office for National Statistics for suitable datasets. Other useful organisations include Institute for Fiscal Studies which has discussions and analysis of poverty and well-being. The Child Poverty Tool Kit developed by the campaign Against Child Poverty and The Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion has online tools to build anti-poverty strategies and analyse poverty at a local area. The main CPAG site also has recent data and reports the Poverty Alliance have news and reports relating to Scotland.
Hidden Journeys explore the world from the air
Interesting site created in association with the Royal Geographical Society. Explore 16 major airline flight paths from the air looking down at the landscape. They include satellite images at 10,000 m. 2,000m and street level photos. Also available are facts and images of the landscape and geographical features.
They include London to Delhi, New York to Los Angeles.
