The Scout Report -- Volume 26, Number 43 (fwd)
Sam Vaknin author of "Malignant Self-love"
November 6, 2020
Volume 26, Number 43
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A Publication of Internet Scout
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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General Interest
1. Everything is Alive2. A Science Blog
3. She Said More
4. Viet Stories: Vietnamese American Oral History Project
5. The Atlas of New Librarianship Online
Theme: STEM/STEAM at School
6. The Coding Train7. We Rep STEM
8. Siemens STEM Day
9. Cade at Home
10. Teacher Advisor
Tech Tools
11. Pagekite12. ugrep
Revisited
13. Statistics in Schools: History Activities
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General Interest
Quirky and "laugh-out-loud funny," <i>Everything is Alive</i> is
just what
the doctor ordered. Podcast host Ian Chillag is no stranger to the
radio or
comedy scene (he previously worked for <i>NPR</i>,
among other outlets).
Along with Chillag, the many comedians and
entertainers who guest-star
deliver the "unscripted" life story of inanimate
objects. For example,
listeners are introduced to a lamppost named Maeve who
yearns to be seen
and a subway seat named Sean craving connection. The
result is a mash up
between poignant, human-interest theater and high-level
improv comedy. The
show has received a 2019 Webby Award and praise from
<i>Indiewire</i>,
<i>Time</i>, and other
distinguished outlets. This year, it won the 2020
Miller Audio Prize for
humor. Jennifer Mills produces the podcast, which is
a member of the
Radiotopia network. Listeners can stream episodes on most
popular platforms,
including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. [EMB]
This publication connects readers with "life in the science communication
community, research about science communication, and tools and advice for
science communicators." Recent posts highlight #BlackinSciComm week (with
features on leaders in various science fields); demonstrate how to create
useful public health multimedia in light of COVID-19 (see the May 26, 2020
post); and recap the trials and triumphs of virtual conferences (see the
April 13, 2020 post). Visitors can use the panel on the right-hand side to
filter posts by month (June 2017 to present) or topic. This panel also
contains information on how to pitch a story. <i>A Science
Blog</i> is an
extension of Science Talk, "a non-profit organization
that seeks to empower
and inspire the science communication community to
expand their
communication potential and affect the world." Readers may want
to browse
other parts of the website, particularly the Conferences tab,
which
previews the 2021 Science Talk conference, a series of workshops and
presentations around the theme of "resilience" (readers should note that
this event requires a registration fee). Science Talk also has a Twitter
presence where readers can follow along @ScienceTalkOrg. [EMB]
Dr. Cath Sleeman, the head of data visualisation at Nesta (a UK-based
"innovation foundation"), combed through more than 500,000 articles from
<i>The Guardian</i> published between 2000 and 2018 to create
<i>She Said
More</i>. The project aims to analyze gender
disparities in "reporting on
the creative industries." Before diving into
the findings, readers should
note a couple of things. First, the article
acknowledges that research was
limited to "mentions of male and female
third-person singular pronouns,"
and "it was not possible to collect
mentions of people who identify as
non-binary because non-gendered pronouns
are also used as plural pronouns."
Second, the article contains a brief
discussion of the Me Too movement and
sexual violence. The research revealed
a significant increase "in
references to women within the creative sections
of <i>The Guardian</i>,"
in 2014 and beyond. The greatest
representation was found in the Fashion
section, while the lowest was found
in the Games and Technology section.
Another major finding was that "words
that imply creative achievements and
leadership roles were less likely than
other words to refer to women."
Rather, "she" references were usually
followed by non-verbal and verbal
reactions (for example, "smiles" and
"laughs"). In addition to the findings
noted, at the macro-level, this
project hopes to serve as a template for
how "big data and machine
learning," paint a more complete picture of
gender inequality. And the key
ingredient for such analysis? Open data.
<i>She Said More</i> is
a collaboration between Nesta and the Creative
Industries Policy and
Evidence Centre. [EMB]
4. Viet Stories: Vietnamese American Oral History Project
http://ucispace.lib.uci.edu/handle/10575/1614
Southern California is home to "the largest concentration of Vietnamese
[Americans]." This project housed within the University of California,
Irvine hopes to capture and preserve their diverse stories and experiences
for generations to come. The Viet Stories: Vietnamese American Oral History
Project (VAOHP) collection includes audio and video files, transcripts (in
Vietnamese and/or English), and photographs. Many of these oral histories
were captured by UC Irvine students (under the direction and supervision of
faculty). Launched in 2011, the collection now features more than 200
items, but remains "a work in progress," so readers are encouraged to check
back often for new content. Visitors can use various tools on the left-hand
side of the site to view current collection items. For example, users can
search by keyword or browse by category (including "narrators" and
"subjects"). Each oral history record includes a summary paragraph, so
listeners can preview the content before diving in. [EMB]
5. The Atlas of New Librarianship Online
What is the goal of a library? What is the work of a librarian? Perhaps, "a
new librarianship" has emerged, an expanded role "based not on books and
artifacts but on knowledge and learning." To facilitate this, librarians
must embrace an expanded role, too: "to improve society through
facilitating knowledge creation in their communities." R. David Lankes, an
award-winning scholar and director of the University of South Carolina's
School of Information Science, makes these claims in <i>The Atlas of
New
Librarianship</i>, a book he published in 2011. The next year, the
book won
the 2012 ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Award for the Best Book in Library
Literature.
Now freely available under a Creative Commons License, readers
can download
the book as a PDF or ePub file. Its in-depth insights
encapsulate "input
from hundreds of librarians and professors from 14
accredited library
programs, 25 formal presentations to more than 50
conferences, and 14
publications." And, since its initial publication, the
Atlas added new
indexes (highlighted in the Expanding the Atlas section).
[EMB]
Theme: STEM/STEAM at School
November 8, 2020 is National STEM/STEAM Day, and what better way to
celebrate than to go "full STEAM" ahead aboard <i>The Coding
Train</i>.
This YouTube channel, hosted by Daniel Shiffman, introduces
viewers to
coding programs and fundamentals. The videos (which vary greatly
in length)
are informative, easy-to-follow, and fun, providing a perfect way
to get
students excited about the world of STEM. Plus, the multimedia format
makes
for a seamless implementation into remote learning. Teachers may want
to
use one of the beginner level playlists as the foundation for a week-long
coding unit. Check out "Learning Processing: A Beginner's Guide to
Programming Images, Animation, and Interaction," seven videos on the "core
principles of computer programming," as a possibility. Shiffman also
occasionally welcomes "guest conductors" aboard the train to share their
expertise (with an emphasis on amplifying underrepresented voices in the
tech field). The channel has gained more than one million followers since
its launch in 2006, which further illustrates its magnetic impact on the
STEM community. [EMB]
"Science is for everyone." This is the guiding principle of We Rep STEM, a
platform "celebrat[ing] STEM minorities, [including] people of colour,
professionals with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ community, Indigenous
researchers, women of all races, [and] scientists in niche areas of
expertise." The site is a useful resource for teachers, as it offers
information on inclusivity in STEM fields, highlights upcoming events and
programs, profiles diverse STEM superstars, and discusses relevant health
topics such as youth wellbeing. Scrolling down the home page, readers will
find stories grouped in various categories, such as Most Read, Latest, and
At Work. The Glossary tab at the top of the page may also be worth
scrolling through, as it defines several words and acronyms frequently
referenced on the site (for example, "code-switching" and "SciComm").
Readers can also find the platform on Instagram (@werepstem), Twitter
(@WeRepSTEM), and YouTube (We Rep STEM). [EMB]
K-12 educators may enjoy Siemens STEM Day, a program providing resources to
energize the future of the STEM field. Readers should not be fooled by the
name; the wealth of activities can also be formatted into a curriculum that
stretches beyond one day. Educators will want to begin with the Train the
Trainer Toolkit. The five-minute video and three-page handout introduce
users to the program and provide tips on how to best implement it in
classrooms. Next, explore the various offerings under the Educators tab,
where resources are divided into three pages: Career Profiles (short videos
profiling various Siemens employees and their work), Activities (sortable
by category, career path, and grade), and Educator Support (downloadable
"five-minute refreshers" on various science topics). This program is
supported by the Siemens Foundation, which seeks to "clos[e] the
opportunity gap for young people in the U.S. when it comes to STEM
careers," as well as Discovery Education. [EMB]
The Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention (located in Gainesville,
Florida), was recognized as Gainesville's 2019 Best Museum, and readers who
browse through the museum's Cade at Home component will quickly see why.
Cade is all about creativity, and Cade at Home combines creativity and
STEAM principles through various lessons and activities. Lessons "include
everyday things you can use at home for activities, plus step-by-step
videos and instructions to invent and create at home." Pre-school teachers
will enjoy the Little Sparks section, which features videos with
nature-based craft projects for little learners. Instructors with slightly
older students can explore the Activities section (where they will find 10
tutorials with STEAM experiments and projects) and PBS Feature section
(highlighting some segments from <i>PBS Kids</i>). Finally,
those with
students in upper-elementary and middle school will find some
great
resources in the Tech and Design section. Here, users can access a few
basic coding lessons using TinkerCAD and Scratch programs. [EMB]
Teacher Advisor uses its artificial intelligence technology to connect
educators with curated content from open access platforms such as EngageNY,
CPALMS (Florida), and North Carolina Department of Instruction, among
others. The award-winning platform is designed for K-8 math teachers. Each
grade level has its own page, which is located under the Grades tab at the
top of the site. Visitors can browse by category (standards, lessons,
activities, and strategies) or use the query bar to search for a specific
topic. While a plethora of materials are available, the platform's advanced
technology helps tailor results to each user's needs. For example, a search
for "fractions" reveals more than 40 lesson plans. But, the Watson AI
technology, "trained by math experts to understand elementary math concepts
and certain modes of engagement within the elementary classroom," flags the
top recommendations. Teacher Advisor is supported by IBM philanthropic
resources and the Ford, Carnegie, and Stavros Niarchos foundations. While
it is currently only available to users in the United States, the platform
is looking to expand internationally soon. [EMB]
Tech Tools
Pagekite is a reverse proxy service that can make sites and services
running on a user's local machine accessible from the Internet, even for
machines that are behind a firewall. For example, a web developer could use
Pagekite to make the development copy of a site residing on their personal
machine accessible over the Internet for testing or review. Users configure
names for the services they want to set up (called "kites"), then run a
small helper program on their computer that connects to Pagekite's cloud.
When a request for a given kite arrives from the public Internet, it is
forwarded along to the helper and then to whatever program on the user's
machine should handle it. In Pagekite's QuickStart Guide (found on the
Support page), users can find instructions for setting up a website both
with and without a web server running on their computer. The Pagekite wiki
contains instructions for setting up additional types of services such as
Minecraft, SSH, VNC, and others. Pagekite is written in Python and should
run anywhere that Python does. The Pagekite front page provides
installation instructions for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux systems. The
service is free to all users for one month. Individuals can continue to
receive free service thereafter by providing a review of Pagekite. [CRH]
The classic UNIX `grep` command searches in text files for lines that match
a pattern. It was named for the command in `ed` (the original UNIX text
editor) that it replicated, g/re/p to perform a Global search for a Regular
Expression and Print anything that matched. Ugrep extends classic grep with
a number of helpful features including support for Unicode files, fast
parallel search of multiple files, and an interactive query interface. It
can also search within archives, handle non-text formats like PDF, DOCX,
XLSX and others, and produce output in a variety of formats. The Notable
Improvements Over Grep section of the ugrep README gives a complete list of
its additional features. The Tutorial section in the README walks users
through a number of example uses of the tool. The Download and Install
section provides instructions for installing ugrep on Windows, macOS,
Debian, NetBSD, and Haiku. Ugrep is also available via the package
repositories of most UNIX-like systems. [CRH]
Revisited
13. Statistics in Schools: History Activities
<i>STEM principles are not limited to science classrooms, as
exemplified by
this curriculum featured in the 09-20-2019 Scout Report that
combines
statistics, data analysis, and history lessons.</i>
The U.S. Census Bureau's Statistics in Schools (SIS) program "brings school
subjects to life using real-world Census Bureau statistics." This
collection of classroom history and social studies activities features
well-developed activity plans for K-12 students, each focused on a specific
topic. The home page highlights some 2020 Resources, "activities designed
specifically to spotlight the 2020 Census and the importance of making sure
everyone is counted, especially children." Additionally, activities are
broadly grouped into grade-level appropriate subjects: elementary grades
(e.g. "Jamestown - Factors Affecting Population Change, 1630-1700"), middle
school (e.g. "Where Should I Live? Using U.S. Census Bureau Data to Make
Decisions"), and high school (e.g. "19th Century Immigration - Causes &
Effects"). The webpage for each activity gives a description, states the
time and materials required, and provides a list of learning objectives.
Some activities also take advantage of the Census Bureau's interactive
digital tools, such as QuickFacts. Each lesson includes attractively
designed and downloadable PDFs of teacher and student versions of the
activity. [JDC] [EMB]
For reproduction information about the Scout Report, please see:
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed
in
this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
reflect
the views of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, or the
National Science
Foundation.
====== ======
Index for November 6, 2020
====== ======1. Everything is Alive
2. A Science
Blog
3. She Said More
4. Viet Stories: Vietnamese American Oral History Project
http://ucispace.lib.uci.edu/handle/10575/1614
5. The Atlas of New Librarianship Online
6. The Coding Train
7. We Rep STEM
8. Siemens STEM Day
9. Cade at Home
10. Teacher Advisor
11. Pagekite
12. ugrep
13. Statistics in Schools: History
Activities
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November 6, 2020 Volume 26, Number 43 |
General Interest |
Theme: STEM/STEAM at School |
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The Scout Report (ISSN 1092-3861) is published every Friday of the year except for the Fridays after Christmas and New Years by the Internet Scout Research Group, based in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Computer Sciences.