From a linguistic search technique to Wikipedia’s questionable coverage of Hurricane Sandy, the latest online resources selected by Gary Price, industry analyst librarian and editor of LJ’s INFOdocket (@INFOdocket).
1. Research Tools: Google Books Ngram Viewer 2.0
Utilizing the Google Books corpus of scanned books (more than 20 million at last count), the Ngram viewer reveals how a searched word or phrase has been used over hundreds of years. Originally designed for linguists and historians, this useful, fun tool appeals to a wide range of users.
2. Meet the Climate Change Denier who Became the Voice of Hurricane Sandy on Wikipedia
Chronicling how a Wikipedia contributor initially characterized the hurricane—with no mention of climate change—this article reveals some of the site’s potential pitfalls regarding accuracy and bias. Raises interesting discussion points, regardless of one’s view of Wikipedia or climate change. The updated Wikipedia entry reveals a more balanced perspective.
The GHacks blog offers a roundup of 10 tools to assist with reading and creating EPUB format ebooks and documents.
4. Motion Pictures: A Digital Collection of Historical Film Industry Materials from the AMPAS Library
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts (AMPAS)—the people behind the Oscar Academy Awards—have digitized thousands of historic items from its library, making them available through the Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections, with more to come. Especially useful to media classes, but also relevant to history curricula.
5. New: A Massive Compilation of Facebook Facts and Statistics
If you want to wow your students and staff with your knowledge of Facebook, this vast compilation of facts and stats from the Website-Monitoring blog about the social media giant is a must.
About Gary Price