SELECTED WEBSITES
January/February 2007

BUSINESS
Economic Research: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
http://research.stlouisfed.org/index.html
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is one of 12 regional entities that make up the Federal Reserve system. The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the U.S. CHOICE magazine highly recommends this site over the other regions because of its ease of use. On its home page are links to data on recent economic trends plus the Reserve’s ALFRED (archival data), FRED (economic research), FRASER , working papers, recent review articles and CASSIDI (data on the banking market).

The Beige Book
www.federalreserve.gov/FOMC/BeigeBook/2007
The formal title of the Beige Book is the Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District. Published eight times a year, it summarizes current economic conditions from data that has been gathered from all twelve Federal Reserve Banks. This data comes from reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with economists, market experts and business contacts.  As a gauge on the strength of the economy, the Beige Book is what FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) members read before interest rate meetings. It’s a predictor of what direction the rates will move in.

EDUCATION
Project Interactivate
www.shodor.org/interactivate
Aimed at mathematics teachers (upper elem. through high school) this site is a collection of classroom activities, lessons and discussions. Subsets within lessons will link the user to lesson plans in geometry, algebra, probability, statistics, modeling, etc.- all age appropriate. Links within lessons (number and operations, geometry, algebra, etc.) will take the user to subsets (fractions, factors, fractals) that contain objectives, lesson plans, teacher preparation and text book suggestions. All aids to help the teaching professional. The Shodor Education Foundation is behind Project Interactivate. The foundation is a non-profit research and education organization whose mission is “to advance science and math education through the use of computational science, modeling and technology.”

Child Care and Early Education Research Connections
www.childcareresearch.org/discover/index.jsp
This site is a partnership among Columbia University, University of Michigan, and the U.S. Department of Health. It promotes “high quality research in child care and early education” that will influence policy-making for young children and their working parents. The user will find original research, syntheses and datasets from disciplines that study early care and education. Elementary education is not this organization’s focus. Early childhood educational services such as Head Start and public pre-kindergarten are the areas of research.  The material in this database begins in 1995 and is constantly updated (over 200 journals and 245 websites).

HUMANITIES
Internet Broadway Database
www.ibdb.com
Created by the League of American Theatres and Producers, the IBDB contains the history of every Broadway production (in B’way houses in NYC) from its earliest years to the present. It is a work in progress- going back in history as data is entered. As yet, it does not have plot synopses but you will find cast, production credits (producer, author, stage mgr., etc.) opening night cast, category and setting of the play. Every name that appears has a link to every show they have been associated with. For example, I looked up Katharine Cornell’s credits and her first B’way play (Nice People, 1921) and found that Sam Harris produced the play and Tallulah Bankhead was also in the original cast. Links of additional performers and writers went as far back as 1909. Musicals list all the song titles. Current plays and musicals are found on the home page. This site reminds one of Playbill without all the advertising.

investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc.
www.ire.org
IRE was formed in 1975 as an organization to improve investigative reporting by providing a forum for reporters to exchange ideas and maintain high standards. Housed at the Missouri School of Journalism, IRE provides educational services, training, government databases and help in job opportunities, grants and fellowships. There are free links to many government and nonprofit organizations but there are member-only links to broadcasts, “tip sheets” and stories on current controversial issues.

NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS
ECOTOX
www.epa.gov/ecotox/ecotox_home.html
Maintained by the EPA, ECOTOX is a source for locating single chemical toxicity data for aquatic life, terrestrial plants and wildlife. The data is primarily from peer-reviewed journals ranging from the 1970s to the present though there is a delay of up to three years for the more recent material.

NATURAL GEOPHYSICAL DATA CENTER
www.ngdc.noaa.gov
The NGDC is a worldwide collection of digital geospatial data. It is divided into six subject areas: earth observations from space, geomagnetic data and models, national hazards, marine geology and geophysics, bathymetry and global relief and space weather and solar events. As stated on its home page, the NGDC “provides stewardship, products, products, and services for geophysical data from the Sun to the Earth and Earth’s sea floor and solid earth environment, including Earth observations from space.”

SOCIAL SCIENCES
The Malcolm X Project at Columbia University
www.columbia.edu/cu/ccbh/mxp/index.html
Using multimedia primary source materials this is a comprehensive website on the life of Malcolm X. The user will find oral histories by his contemporaries and an annotated index to his 4,000 page file kept by the FBI. Dr. Manning Marable of Columbia started this project which is ongoing, to promote the study of Malcolm X. Dr. Marable’s biography of his subject will be published in 2009. The access to the site is free but for  the Columbia-only Autobiography of Malcolm X Multimedia Study Environment (MSE).

Center for History and New Media
http://chnm.gmu.edu
This is an impressive site from George Mason University. Using computer technology and digital media, it was designed for the professional historian and educator. One of its online projects is World History Matters which teaches students how to find and analyze online primary sources. It has links to 1200  departments of history of universities and colleges worldwide. CHNM has won many awards and grants from the NEH, the American Historical Association, Rockefeller and Kellogg foundations.