Social science sites of the week

http://lselibraryresearch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/social-science-sites-of-week.html

Coming soon US Elections.
we are following these in our blog
Starting points

News services
Opinion polls
Money in the elections

Research from the LSE shows voters value honesty in the us elections.

See the results here.

USA is not the only country at the polls see our links to coverage of the parliamentary elections in Ukraine.
Ukraine election results.

Superstorm Sandy and the web
This week the Internet was used for crisis communications following the Super storm sandy.
Crisis Response maps from Google.
Marks disaster areas. Also highlights local emergency twitter feeds. Separate maps for the whole of the USA and NYC. are available. They include geographical markers for different types of emergencies.
Location tracking, including the current and forecasted paths were provided on the NOAA-National Hurricane Center national weather service.  Search the website for past forecasts

FEMA has links to US government crisis reponse social media. There is also a separate geoportal with satellite maps.
Storyful is a news platform developed by and for journalsist which focuses on how immediate social media can be used to develop news stories. It has coverage of images of Sandy with links to playlists charting its progress.
Finally agencies such as the Red Cross used mappings for individuals to locate safe shelters.and developed Apps for those involved to contact relatives.

Proportion of academics with PhDs is ‘low’
Interesting news story from THES. Based on research by a Lanchester Univeristy academic team heading by Malcolm TightThe source used  is : Higher Education Statistics Agency’s Staff in Higher Education Institutions 2010/11. Percentages calculated by Times Higher Education.
It finds great variation between different departments.

Stop And Search Your Police & Crime Commissioner
On 15 November, the first elections for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) will take place – this represents a radical break with previous traditions of policing.
The Home office has just launched a choose my PCC website for citizens to look at the statements of candidates in their area.
StopWatch ( a coalition supported by the Runnymede trust which is

campaigning for fairer stop and search tactics) has round ups of news and views.  It has introduced a campaign to ensure that citizens have their say in the elections.
There is a concern about a low voter turn out see the latest polls from Ipso Mori
Search on twitter for user feedback to candidate statements.
Policy Exchange have created a site for citizens to find out information about the forthcoming elections Called police elections. Enter your post code to find details of the local police force and candidates. The site also has twitter and blog news announcements.

For further information. The Electoral Commission has timetables and details of who can stand.
The official Police and Crime Commissioner website has details of the role of the commissioner, how to apply and a reference library of documents.
the Home Office website has more detailed background documents about the transition. Also useful on this is the Association of Police and Crime commissioners will act as an umbrella body its website provides details on its role and the transition process. The Local Government Association is proposing to be a national representative body for the police and crime commissioners once they are elected. This section of its website has documents.
The Electoral Reform Society also has comment on the system.
The Police Foundation has a section tracking  likely voting preferences and news about the candidates.

Women’s World in Qajar Iran Digital archive
A great site from Harvard University which covers the period Qajar era (1796-1925) prpviding free access to primary source materials covering the social, economic and cultural life of women during this period using materials from Harvard, other participating institutions and private archvies. They include writings: letters, prose, poetry, travel writings, essays, periodicals, and diaries;
Legal documents:(wedding contracts, dowry documents, settlements, endowments, powers of attorney, wills, sales, and other financial contracts) Artworks (calligraphy, painting, embroidery, weaving, other handicrafts, music, and film);  Photographs   Oral histories
The site is present in bilingual English and Arabic. It is possible to browse and search for materials. Copyright and technical details are displayed.

Historical photographs of the Land of Israel
University of Haifa library . a mixed collection of photographs donated to the library include aerial and regional shots from the early twentieth century. See aerial photography 1917-19

Debtocracy
Interesting crowds sourced site from Greece. English language version also accessible. Along with three other journalists, Chatzistefanou orchestrated a documentary entirely produced by the audience. He crowdfunded 8.000 EUR in 15 days. The resulting Debtocracy seeks to uncover the causes of the debt crisis and considers solutions sidelined by the government and the dominant media. The documentary has been distributed online under a Creative Commons license since 6 April 2011, subtitled in six languages. also available on this free documentary film website Top documentary films.

TRID —Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)
is the largest online bibliographic database of transportation research. It combines over 94,000 records from the national academies research board.with holdings of the OECD’s Joint Transport Research Centre’s International Transport Research Documentation. It includes some full text items, articles, reports. Search can be limited to recent topics free items only.
Topics are wide ranging they include all forms of transport (railways, Topics are wide ranging they include all forms of transport (railways, public transport etc )  and a range of topics from economics, safety, policy, climate change impacts to design.

“To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis,”
“To the Brink” is a new exhibit at the National Archives that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It displays previously unseen correspondence between the US and the Soviet Union, and secret White House recordings of President John F Kennedy and his advisers. The exhibition will run at the National Archives building until February there is also a website and app for researchers.

Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs has created a website to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 too.
It has source material, analysis, history lesson plans for students including video materials
Foreign policy magazine has created a site where
Michael Dobbs, author of the best-selling One Minute to Midnight, is blogging and tweeting about the crisis.There is also analysis and articles.
Time magazine photo story
LSE Podcast regional persepctives 50 years on – hear academic discussion.
George Washington University site national Security Archive  to commemorate the 40th anniversary has free access to documents.  audioclips, declassified materials.
Finally the
John F Kennedy presidential library section also has an interactive display world on the brink. with day by day coverage and images of real documents.