Recently in Arts/Humanities Website Category
I know it's another foreign language example, but ... I do like this Far from Moscow blog which combines audio, picture and photos to get you the latest info on the Russian pop music scene.
This is a totally Web 2.0 design, but from a usability perspective, it has some features which help you navigate the site if you're new to Russian pop music. First, I appreciate that a Front Page link is included - there really are a lot of people out there who aren't familiar with clicking the logo to return to the front page.
Second, I do like the categories links on the side (it also works with tags). Who knew there was Russian reggae? A third feature of note is that there are static tutorial Pages with information about the Web site, links to labels and other information. Again, if you're a new to the world of Russian pop music...you may know where to get a basic primer. Finally, the entries themselves are written with the general audience in mind. Many include a short intro to the artist as well as links to audio clips.
This is a good example of how a blog can introduce you to the basics of a topic, then keep you updated in little ckunks (did anyone say "Just in Time Learning").
The biggest surprise of all....it's sponsored by the UCLA Slavic Department (specifically David MacFayden). It's really great to see an Web site from an academic that really understands how to deploy the new tech!
P.S. There's some good music on here. I have no idea if it's on iTunes.
I ran into three Flickr "Contest" Areas where users post photos/digital art on certain themes (e.g. color, abstract and black & white) and a user group votes on it. You can even invite people with a striking image to submit to the contest. I had heard that Flickr was becoming a place to show off your digital art, but I hadn't realized the extent of it.
- Abstract - http://www.flickr.com/groups/abstractart/
- Color - http://www.flickr.com/groups/colourart/
- Black and White - http://www.flickr.com/groups/bnwart/
Not only are the images lovely,but I also found the artist commentary very helpful. Might be a great opportunity for our budding digital artists at Penn State.
The World Atlas of Language Structures Online (http://wals.info/feature) from the Max Planck Digital Library is a great new resource that maps languages with phonological, morphological or syntactic features.
I wrote it up in my linguistics blog If you've ever wondered which continents have tonal languages, go visit http://wals.info/feature/13.
I love that all the data sources are cited and that you can export map data as XML or KML (for other GIS programs) - I could recreate a version for myself if I wanted. My only recommendation is to shrink the size of the icons to 10.
I'm trying to track down images of key historical figures from U.S.
history and I just found this site from the Library of Congress which
lists peoples across the different collections.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/235_poa.html
But I have to be honest here and admit that one of the best tools I've found recently is Wikipedia (which does track sources of most uploaded photos). Ironically many of them ARE from the Library of Congress, but sometimes using Wikipedia is actually slightly more efficient than trying to navigate the LOC.
We've seen courses, especially social sciences, in which students are sometimes asked to write scenarios. Maybe it's a vignette on a diversity issue or maybe you might be asked to write a script the miniseries on Balboa's discovery of the Pacific.
In any case there's a new tool - http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/comix.php where students can create comic strips. In this tool, students can select a cute character (animals and humans), then write out dialogue or thought balloons. It could be useful for elementary video storyboarding. Interesting premise.
There are a lot of great applications for language learning with new technologies coming out these days, and this instructor is determined to explore them all.
From Second Life to YouTube, you will fun something fun to do on this "English as a Second Language" Blog.
Sometimes the Penn State faculty are ahead of us. Here's an interesting blog from Natalie Jolly on media perception of birth issues.
http://www.nataliejolly.com/Blog/
Between TomKitten, Brangelina, and Brittney, she has no shortage of stories to comment on.
This is a 12-part podcast about Byzantine history from Lars Brownworth as structured through the lives of 12 Byzantine rulers.
I've only listened to part one, but I liked the discussion of the historiography of Byzantine studies and how it developed in the West. One important insight was that "Constantinopolitan Empire" was too much of a mouthful, so the older city name "Byzantine" was used instead. Such is the stuff historiography is made of sometimes.
This is also a great example of a niche topic being able to get a larger audience through the Internet.
