Universal Newsreels

Before television, the newsreel preceded films showing at the cinema. There were even cinemas deicated to showing newsreels. Universal City Studios gifted Universal Newsreel to the American people, put the newsreels into the public domain, and gave film materials to the National Archives in 1976. Many of these are now available through the Internet Archive. For primary material baout everything from the depression to the moon landing, these are priceless (and very entertaining), though hardly unbiased in many respects.
http://www.archive.org/details/universal_newsreels

 

Research Starters – Sociology

EBSCOhost’s Research Starters – Sociology is on trial until 30th June 2010.

Access via: http://www.library.qut.edu.au/db/5493f

Research Starters – Sociology provides students with a solid foundation for their research and assignments, as well as overview information on topics relevant to their studies. Comprehensive summaries of discipline-specific topics help students to grasp the broad outlines of a subject, realize its real world applications, critically engage it, and locate sources for advanced research. Articles average 3,000 words, providing concise yet more in-depth content than most textbook or encyclopedia entries.

Research Starters – Sociology contains Abstracts, a Keyword List of words pertinent to the articles, an Overview to explain various topics’ relevance to sociology, Further Insights/Applications to demonstrate how the points discussed in the overview can be applied to everyday or academic issues in sociology, a Viewpoints/Issues/Discourse section to help the reader develop a critical perspective on a topic, a glossary of Terms & Concepts, a Bibliography and a Suggested Reading list.

Subject matter experts holding advanced degrees in Sociology were consulted to ensure that the articles encompassed current trends and popular topics.

The Research Starters – Sociology articles are sorted among twenty-six categories, each of which contains between four and thirty-five article topics: Aging & Elderly Issues, Culture, Day to Day Social Interaction, Deviance & Social Control, Educational Sociology, Family & Relationships, Global Stratification, History of Sociology, Population, Urbanization & the Environment, Race & Ethnicity, Research Methods, Sex, Gender & Sexuality, Social Change, Social Interaction in Groups & Organizations, Social Issues & Public Policy, Social Movements & Collective Behavior, Socialization, Societies, Society & Technology, Sociological Theory, Sociology & Related Fields, Sociology of Health & Medicine, Sociology of Politics & Government, Sociology of Religion, Stratification & Class, and Work & the Economy.

 

Publishing Opportunities Database (short-term trial)

Publishing Opportunities Database via EBSCOhost is on short-term trial until 31 December 2009.

Access via http://www.library.qut.edu.au/db/5494f

Publishing Opportunities Database provides the most extensive listing of opportunities for professors, post-doctorates and other students interested in presenting and publishing their research papers. Information from three distinct sources is combined and presented in a convenient, intuitive format:

* Journal Call for Papers records index – open opportunities for regularly published journals, to which content is constantly being added

* Conference Call for Papers – time-sensitive content, providing from 3,000 to 4,000 records at any given time, for an annual total of approximately 12,000 records

* Special Issue Call for Papers – time sensitive content with from 500 to 800 records available at any given time, for an annual total of approximately 2,000 records

Publishing Opportunities Database records contain vital information about:
* the publication or conference
* the scope and topics on which manuscripts are sought
* applicable deadlines for abstracts, manuscripts and final papers
* manuscript formatting requirements
* submission guidelines
* publication frequency
* contact details

 

AIATIS Library

The AIATSIS Library (http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/library) holds the most comprehensive collection of print materials on Australian Indigenous studies in the world. If a trip to Canberra is not possible, you can contact them and receive assistance via phone or email.

In addition to the catalogue of their resources, there are also some VERY useful finding aids. These cover such areas as biographies, social justice, Stolen Generation and substance use. http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/library/subject_guides__bibliographies

The language bibliographies provide references for linguistic and cultural information pertaining to individual language groups. These are very detailed – the bibliography for Jagara/Yuggera is over fifty pages! http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/library/subject_guides__bibliographies/language_bibliographies

 

Newspaper digitisations

The wonderful Newspapers Digitisation Project at the National Library have started scanning again (presumably got more money). During May 51,000 pages were processed, accepted and uploaded to beta! Currently they are working on the South Australian Advertiser (1901-1919) then the remainder of the Argus (to 1945). This will be followed by the Brisbane Courier (1900-1933). By the end of the year they are also hoping to have done the Courier Mail (to 1954), the Queenslander (1866-1939) and the Sydney Morning Herald (1831 – 1954). For the full list go to:
http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/selected_newspapers/Future_Titles.html

 

Search all the National Library… and more

The National Library of Australia has announced its new “Single Business Discovery Service” in Beta mode. Despite the wordy name this is a single easy access point to a variety of Australian catalogues, directories and collections. For this initial version there are a range of data sources including: the Australian National Bibliographic Database, Australian Newspapers, Picture Australia, the ARROW Discovery Service, and Pandora. The new service also provides the discovery interface for the People Australia initiative and some external sources of data such as OAIster, Open Library, the Hathi Trust, the Internet Archive and the Library of Congress tables of contents, publishers’ descriptions and sample book chapters.
This is set to be really useful, so if you have any suggestions or comments please make them – so iwe get the best service possible!

To have a look, a play, and to use it – http://sbdsproto.nla.gov.au/

 

Social Software in UK Higher Education

This study examined the use of social software in the UK further and higher education sectors to collect evidence of the effective use of social software in enhancing student learning and engagement. In this study, data from 26 initiatives, where social software tools have been employed, has been collected, analysed and synthesised. The cases chosen give a spread of tools, subject areas, contexts (parttime, full-time or distance learning), levels of study, and institutions (higher and further education). A case study methodology was followed and both educators and students were interviewed to find out what they had done, how well it had worked, and what they had learned from the experiences.

The term ‘social software’ covers a range of software tools which allow users to interact and share data with other users, primarily via the web. Blogs, wikis, social networking websites, such as Facebook and Flickr, and social bookmarking sites, such as Delicious, are examples of some of the tools that are being used to share and collaborate in educational, social, and business contexts. The key aspect of asocial software tool is that it involves wider participation in the creation of information which is shared.

To find out more, read the report or look at the case studies, go to
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/projects/effective-use-of-social-software-in-education-finalreport.pdf
or
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/projects/socialsoftware08.aspx

 

Roger Coates Labour History Research Grant

Roger Coates Labour History Research Grant - up to $10,000

Applications are invited from people currently engaged in (or about to commence) a research project dealing with Australian labour history.

The Roger Coates Labour History Research Grant will assist with the cost of such projects, with priority to projects with good prospects of publication or other public use, but without access to other funding.

The SEARCH Foundation is auspicing the Roger Coates Labour History Research Grant. It is an independent, non-profit foundation established to promote social justice, environmental sustainability and the development of a more democratic and egalitarian society. Details of its aims and objectives are available on request.

Suitably qualified applicants should contact the SEARCH Foundation for detailed application guidelines.

Applications must be received by
July 31, 2009
Social Education and Research Concerning Humanity (SEARCH) Foundation. Level 3, 110 Kippax St, SURRY HILLS NSW 2010
Ph: (02) 9211 4164; Fax: (02) 9211 1407

 

ERA Tiered Journal Lists

The ARC has released the tiered journals lists for ERA Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) and Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) clusters. You can download an excel version of either unique journals with all associated FoR codes in one record or complete journals broken down on a discipline (FoR code) basis. Further revisions of these lists are planned for the future.

These will be useful when deciding where to submit your articles for publication.
http://www.arc.gov.au/era/journal_list.htm

 

Australian Stories

Find out about Australian history and culture in this collection of stories – everything from “Aboriginal Trackers” to “Zoos in Australia”, via “Lighthouse Design”. The articles are brief, but there are good links to other resources and more in depth treatments.
http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/stories/