telophase | (no subject)

I've avoided upgrading to FF3 because it's incompatible with some functions on our school website.

p.s. I received the flapper picture. Love it!

I may downgrade if it annoys me enough.

(Yaaaay! XD)

I am just about there myself. I am hating having to re-log into EVERY website EVERY time I go there.

If you could find me some references on electronic portfolios in general education or core curriculum programs, I'd really appreciate it. I'm particularly looking for information about portfolios in courses that integrate written and oral communication with critical thinking. Information literacy would be a bonus.

I'll see what I can find!

Thanks. As you could guess, we're in the middle of gen ed reform here with an unreasonable timetable to work with.

I had a hard time finding anything that specifically addressed core curricula or general education - most of it appears to be focused on specific departments or programs within a university. So I ended up with a long list of articles that didn't mention specific departments. :) They may or may not be useful to you, but I did go through all our education subject databases.

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Electronic Portfolios: Blending Technology, Accountability & Assessment. By: Ahn, June. T H E Journal, Apr2004, Vol. 31 Issue 9, p12-18, 3p; (AN 14088640)

Electronic Portfolios in Evolution.Preview By: Olsen, Roger. Computers in the Schools, 2004, Vol. 21 Issue 1/2, p85-94, 10p, 2 graphs; DOI: 10.1300/J025v21n01_07; (AN 14840081)

ELECTRONIC PORTFOLIOS AND METACOGNITION: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF E-PORTFOLIOS FROM THE INSTRUCTORS' PERSPECTIVE.Preview By: Zellers, Michael; Mudrey, Reneé R.. International Journal of

Instructional Media, 2007, Vol. 34 Issue 4, p419-430, 12p; (AN 28085416)

TACKLING CHALLENGES & IDENTIFYING ATTRIBUTES.Preview By: Jafari, Ali. Educause Review, Jul/Aug2004, Vol. 39 Issue 4, p38-48, 8p, 2 diagrams, 1 color; (AN 13853523)

Electronic Portfolios May Answer Calls for More Accountability.Preview By: Basken, Paul. Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/18/2008, Vol. 54 Issue 32, pA30-A31, 2p, 1 color; (AN 31871359)

The electronic portfolio: Shaping an emerging genre.Preview By: Goodson, F. Todd. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Mar2007, Vol. 50 Issue 6, p432-434, 3p; (AN 24253518)

Universities as Responsive Learning Organizations Through Competency-Based Assessment with Electronic Portfolios.Preview By: Cambridge, Darren. JGE: The Journal of General Education, Apr2008, Vol. 57 Issue 1, p51-64, 14p, 1 diagram; (AN 33720091)

----The Fall 2007 issue of New Directions for Student Services appears to be entirely on e-portfolios.----

Development and implementation of an e-portfolio as a university-wide program.Preview By: Lumsden, Jill A.. New

Directions for Student Services, Fall2007 Issue 119, p43-63, 21p, 4 bw; DOI: 10.1002/ss.248; (AN 26619678)

Adaptation of the career portfolio at the University of California, San Diego: A case study.Preview By: Ceperley,

Andrew; Schmidt, Craig. New Directions for Student Services, Fall2007 Issue 119, p65-72, 8p, 1 bw; DOI: 10.1002/ss.249; (AN 26619677)

Adaptation of a career portfolio at Georgia Tech: A case study.Preview By: Mobley, Ralph. New Directions for Student Services, Fall2007 Issue 119, p73-81, 9p; DOI: 10.1002/ss.250; (AN 26619676)

Program evaluation of e-portfolios.Preview By: Reardon, Robert C.; Hartley, Sarah Lucas. New Directions for Student Services, Fall2007 Issue 119, p83-97, 15p, 1 graph; DOI: 10.1002/ss.251; (AN 26619675)

Concluding observations and implications of e-portfolios for student affairs leadership and programming.Preview By: Dalton, Jon C.. New Directions for Student Services, Fall2007 Issue 119, p99-106, 8p; DOI: 10.1002/ss.252; (AN

26619674)

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The Portfolio Forum: Power in Reflection.Preview By: Hadley, Nancy J.. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 2006-2007, Vol. 35 Issue 4, p449-455, 7p; (AN 25449786)

Lessons Learned from the Implementation of Electronic Portfolios at Three Universities.Preview By: Wilhelm, Lance; Puckett, Kathleen; Beisser, Sally; Wishart, William; Merideth, Eunice; Sivakumaran, Thilla. TechTrends: Linking

Research & Practice to Improve Learning, Jul/Aug2006, Vol. 50 Issue 4, p62-71, 10p, 8 bw; DOI: 10.1007/s11528-006-0062-9; (AN 22930335)

Universities as Responsive Learning Organizations Through Competency-Based Assessment with Electronic Portfolios.Preview By: Cambridge, Darren. JGE: The Journal of General Education, Apr2008, Vol. 57 Issue 1, p51-64, 14p, 1 diagram; (AN 33720091)

(edited for HTML FAIL)

Thank you very much! So very helpful!

And here are a few more I found in ERIC. :D

--------------
And here are a few more I found in ERIC. :D

--------------

ERIC #: EJ775957
Title: Program Evaluation of E-Portfolios
Authors: Reardon, Robert C.; Hartley, Sarah Lucas
Publication Date: 2007-00-00
Journal Name: New Directions for Student Services
Journal Citation: v2007 n119 p83-97 Fall 2007

ERIC #: ED499718
Title: How Should Colleges Assess and Improve Student Learning? Employers' Views on the Accountability Challenge
Authors:
Publication Date: 2008-01-09
Journal Name: Association of American Colleges and Universities
ERIC Full-Text: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED499718

ERIC #: EJ796726
Title: Variations in Portfolio Assessment in Higher Education: Discussion of Quality Issues Based on a Norwegian Survey across Institutions and Disciplines
Authors: Dysthe, Olga; Engelsen, Knut Steinar; Lima, Ivar
Publication Date: 2007-00-00
Journal Name: Assessing Writing
Journal Citation: v12 n2 p129-148 2007

ERIC #: EJ801092
Title: Eportfolios: From Description to Analysis
Authors: Brandes, Gabriella Minnes; Boskic, Natasha
Publication Date: 2008-06-00
Journal Name: International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning
Journal Citation: v9 n2 p1-17 Jun 2008
ERIC Full-Text: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=EJ801092

ERIC #: EJ737411
Title: Open Source Eportfolio: Development and Implementation of an Institution-Wide Electronic Portfolio Platform for Students
Authors: Meeus, Wil; Questier, Frederik; Derks, Thea
Publication Date: 2006-06-00
Journal Name: Educational Media International
Journal Citation: v43 n2 p133-145 Jun 2006

ERIC #: EJ763785
Title: Factors Influencing the Successful Introduction of Portfolios
Authors: Van Tartwijk, Jan; Driessen, Erik; Van Der Vleuten, Cees; Stokking, Karel
Publication Date: 2007-04-00
Journal Name: Quality in Higher Education
Journal Citation: v13 n1 p69-79 Apr 2007

ERIC #: EJ787548
Title: To Portfolio or Not to Portfolio: Helpful or Hyped?
Authors: Lombardi, Judy
Publication Date: 2008-00-00
Journal Name: College Teaching
Journal Citation: v56 n1 p7-10 Win 2008

ERIC #: EJ746596
Title: Developing an E-Portfolio Program: Providing a Comprehensive Tool for Student Development, Reflection, and Integration
Authors: Reardon, Robert C.; Lumsden, Jill A.; Meyer, Katie E.
Publication Date: 2005-00-00
Journal Name: NASPA Journal
Journal Citation: v42 n3 p368-380 2005

ERIC #: EJ792922
Title: Learning Outcomes, Portfolios, and Rubrics, Oh My! Authentic Assessment of an Information Literacy Program
Authors: Diller, Karen R.; Phelps, Sue F.
Publication Date: 2008-01-00
Journal Name: Portal: Libraries and the Academy
Journal Citation: v8 n1 p75-89 Jan 2008

ERIC #: EJ680260
Title: Digital Portfolios: Fact or Fashion?
Authors: Woodward, Helen; Nanlohy, Phil
Publication Date: 2004-04-00
Journal Name: Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education
Journal Citation: v29 n2 p227-238 Apr 2004

ERIC #: EJ781717
Title: Using Qualitative Methods to Assess Student Learning in Higher Education
Authors: Contreras-McGavin, Melissa; Kezar, Adrianna J.
Publication Date: 2007-00-00
Journal Name: New Directions for Institutional Research
Journal Citation: v2007 n136 p69-79 Win 2007

ERIC #: EJ790111
Title: The Electronic Portfolio Journey: A Year Later
Authors: Chambers, Sharon M.; Wickersham, Leah E.
Publication Date: 2007-00-00
Journal Name: Education
Journal Citation: v127 n3 p351-360 Spr 2007

What sorts of questions? Anything you'd wander over the the reference desk for?

Yup. If it can be found online, I'll have a better chance, since I don't want to leave the desk unattended very long to go look stuff up, but I do have access to a large number of databases (http://lib.tcu.edu/www/online/TitleList.asp)* and can find a lot of stats, abstracts, etc. Finding resources for you to potentially find the answer may work.

(And I know with a lot of my friends who do specialized research on their own, I may not be able to find anything more or better than y'all already have, but I'll give it a try. :D)

* Basically anything that doesn't have a red note by it. The fac/staff/grad ones charge us for every search, so I don't want to use those for non-TCU people, and the ones that say Brite or Music are located elsewhere in the library. I'm willing to email a limited number of PDF articles from full-text databases that support that, but not a huge amount (as defined on a case-to-case basis) as that would violate the terms of our contracts.

For mine, if the database has permanent links to its articles, I ought to be able to get it from our databases. I just don't have time to sit and sort through the searches myself. Too much reading to do of what I've found so far (mainly in books).

The results of the search I did for you were pretty much replicated in every database - Teacher Reference Center, Academic OneFile, and Academic Search Complete...oops, I skipped ERIC. Back in a bit!

So I've been looking for a source for finding out whether the Norsemen (circa, say, 1000 A.D., give or take a couple hundred years either way) believed the world was flat or round. :-)

Their mythology described it as flat (but our mythology describes lots of things now we don't believe literally), the maps look flat ... but they were also incredibly accomplished sailors, and sailors tend to understand about the curvature of the earth (but then again, maybe there are other ways to make sense of same).

And in Iceland, the folks at various museums answered our questions about this with equal conviction both ways. :-)

Haven't found anything definitive. I'd think a book specializing in Norse navigation might have information on it - all the books we've got on navigation mention that the Vikings used dead reckoning and stuck to the shorelines, etc. etc. ad infinitum without going into detail.

I found a reference to one article on Norse navigation that sounds interesting, whether or not it actually answers the question:

Title:
THE NORSE 'VIKA SJOVAR' AND THE NAUTICAL MILE.
Authors:
Flottum, Sivert.
Source:
Mariner's Mirror 2001 87(4): 390-405 16p.
Abstract:
Traces the origins and history of the terms 'dag' and 'dag gesiglan' used by Norsemen since the 9th century in determining distance traveled at sea. The oldest written source, dictated by Ottar of Halogaland to a scribe of Alfred the Great in 890, distinguished between the two terms in describing local and long-distance travel. Other sources include the 'Vinland Sagas,' diaries, the writings of Adam of Bremen, early maps, and other records, along with comparisons of Norwegian, Danish, and other national measurements. A connection exists between the Norwegian 'vika' and the Dutch sea mile that was used until the 19th century. Other considerations include terms to describe rowing as opposed to sailing, calculations of longitude, and various mathematical definitions. [A. Hoffman]

That does look interesting--thank you!

The fact that they managed the Vinland journeys at all continues to amaze me ...

I also kicked the question over to our Arts & Humanities librarian, to see if she had any suggestions. If she does, I'll let you know. :D We don't currently have a Social Sciences librarian, as we're interviewing for the position next week. XD (Oooh, good question to spring on the candidates if I have enough guts to! XD)

The more I read about this, the more I can't believe that the sailors would have thought the world was flat, just because it seems that hardly anyone by that time, if they'd done any serious thinking about it, thought it was flat. Harrumph.

I also kicked the question over to our Arts & Humanities librarian, to see if she had any suggestions.

Thanks!

I have trouble believing they would have thought the world flat, too--though if they did, I'm very curious about the view of that world that made navigation still make sense!

I've been poking through the Wikipedia entry on the Flat Earth, which lists Snorri Sturluson as one of a group of medieval writers who argued for a spherical earth, although it SO USEFULLY failed to say in which work he did so. The citation for the list is this German website (http://www.uni-stuttgart.de/lettres/krueger/forschungsvorhaben_arenosus.html), and I can't work out if it's from somewhere else or if it cites a particular work of Snorri's.

And now I'm wondering if proper citation format should be "Snorri" or "Sturluson," although I'm using Snorri because it's a fun name to say. XD

Heh--Icelanders use first names even in formal speech today, but I'm not sure what's done for academic sources--I bet they'd have to use last names there, given that there aren't really all that many names ...

Cool to know (if the German source is accurate) that Snorri was arguing for a spherical earth.

Given how much of Europe seemed to know the world was round (skimming through the article), and given how much trade the Norse engaged in, it becomes harder still to think they thought the world was flat.

Well, if it is not too much trouble . . .

Populations of the European Countries and their colonies in the 1750-1800 period?

Thank you.

I haven't found the answers, but I've found some resources that may contain the answers. :D The McEvedy/Jones book is the one that everything I can find refers to, and so would probably be the first thing you can try to use. We don't have it, unfortunately, so I can't tell you if it's got your info in it.

----------------------

McEvedy, Colin and Richard Jones, 1978, "Atlas of World Population History,"
Facts on File, New York,

Durand, John D., 1974, "Historical Estimates of World Population: An Evaluation,"
University of Pennsylvania, Population Center,
Analytical and Technical Reports, Number 10, table 2.

----
From http://www.digitalsurvivors.com/archives/worldpopulation.php: (check out the bibliography on this article for

other sources)

The most "complete" set of estimates is provided by Atlas of World Population History (McEvedy and Jones 1978).

The authors have broken the number down by region/country and provided estimates from 200 B.C. to 1975 A.D. They

do the same for the overall world population and also provide estimates dating back to 10,000 B.C.

Another good set of estimates comes from Population Growth and Land Use (Clark 1968). The book doesn't get as

detailed for each region/country of the world, but it does provide world population estimates for the years

between 14 A.D. and 1900 A.D.
----

Judah Matras, Population and Societies (Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice-Hall, 1973).

Mitchell, B.R. (1993). International Historical Statistics, The Americas: 1750 - 1988. New York, Stockton Press, London, MacMillan Publishers Ltd., 817 pp.

Mitchell, B.R. (1998). International Historical Statistics, Africa, Asia & Oceania: 1750 - 1993, Third Edition. New York, Stockton Press, London, MacMillan Reference Ltd., 1113 pp.

Mitchell, B.R. (1998). International historical statistics Europe: 1750 - 1993, Fourth Edition. New York, Stockton Press, London, MacMillan Reference Ltd., 959 pp.

Thank you very much!

I wanna know where you would look to collect statistics on illegal activity and/or its negative effects, if any (I'm specifically curious about online illegal activity like filesharing, but I'd be interested in any and all crime, as all crime is interesting!). I'm not even necessarily looking for those statistics themselves, just where a statistician/researcher would start or even info on the right statistician/researcher to ask about it. This has been driving me mildly crazy since reading the Freakonomics chapter on drug dealing + the RIAA & movie studios & anime/manga company people saying torrents/fansubs/scanslations are KEEEEELLING their industry without going into detail with pie charts.

Alternately/also! I would like information on what elements, if any, of the following scenario are based on historical fact: in the setting of Boston on the brink of the Revolutionary War, a black slave boy is raised in privilege and educated by his white captors in a racist experiment designed to prove that his African brain is scientifically inferior, which turns sour when he grows up brilliant. I have read two recent novels* by three different authors published within two years of each other centered on exactly this concept (though exploring it in different ways), and have heard of at least one other containing strong elements of it, and I would love to know if it is a case of A)writers discovering the same interesting historical story/stories independently of each other, B)collaboration, C)unusually blatant plagiarism, D)total synchronicity, or E)something else.

*Hidden because the above is a MAJOR SPOILER for both books:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation 1 & 2 by M.T. Anderson and Blindspot by Jane Kamensky & Jill Lepore

You may want to look at Henry Louis Gates' The Signifying Monkey. He discusses several educated slaves of that period. I don't specifically remember that particular setting. Alternately, the stories may be based on the life of Phyllis Wheatley.

I'll have to check out Monkey, thank you. I'd heard of Wheatley and other educated slaves, and I've read about phrenology and like experiments meant to support biased science, though nothing as lengthy and elaborate as this experiment would have to be. But the specificity of minor details (male slave! Latin name! racist experiment! reared as an educated white gentleman, not at all as a slave! brilliant scholar! racist backlash! Boston! brink of Revolutionary War!), combined with the books' very different plots and characterizations, are freaking me out--it feels like reading two revisionist takes on Cinderella with no knowledge of the original fairytale.

I have this vague memory of Gates describing someone like that, but it's been a while since I read him, so I can't remember exactly who he was talking about. But that Latin name seems really familiar, as though I've come across the original somewhere, most likely in Gates.

Jupiter Hammon (http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/405/Jupiter_Hammon_poet_pioneer)?

It might be Jupiter Hammon (http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/405/Jupiter_Hammon_poet_pioneer), who was born and lived his entire life in slavery, but was educated and an accomplished poet.

I'm afraid that a lot of it may simply be ~~made up~~ er, derived from biased sources. But there's a few places to look:

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm <- the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report

http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS84493 <-- another FBI report

http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS19669 <-- a report from the Department of Justice

http://www.ncjrs.gov/ <-- the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (DoJ pubs)

P.S. have you tried turning off "Remember what I enter in forms & the search bar" and "Search for text when I start typing" under Options to see if that helps. You could also try an extension such as CookieCuller that saves cookies on a permanent basis, or install a del.icio.us extension (even if you don't use del.icio.us, though it's handy!), as that lets you futz around with the FF bookmarks quite a bit. There was an LJ cookie saving/swapping extension named LJLogin that was incredibly useful when I was using RP journals for

campfuckudie, but I suspect it hasn't been updated for FF 3.

Those have been turned off ever since I installed FF on here. :) The LJ-logout issue has something to do with the way FF3 handles cookies, and is a problem that's popped up before with previous updates.

I didn't like FireFox 3, either - I went back to 2. At the moment I'm actually using Chrome at work - it manages memory much better than FireFox 2. However, I have fairly simple browser needs so it might not work for you.

I tend to use FF because it seems simpler to make a website work on it and then fix it up to also work on IE than the other way 'round. :D

I cannot argue with that.

I hear IE 8 will have better memory management (it apparently works something like Chrome, in fact), but no one has said if they have removed The Suck.

Hmmm ... I need some information on Xinjiang. Specifically, in the not-quite-desert regions, what sorts of wild animals might be found - especially predators large enough to be a threat to humans, prey animals that might be hunted practically by a single humanoid hunter (goat-sized, maybe), and scavengers. Also, any info on wild edible plants (that is, edible by people) in the same region.

It's apparently a very dry place but fertile when irrigated, so maybe plants that grow in riparian environments would be the most likely to be edible.

(It's for details in this Saiyuki fic that's been eating my brain for the past month.)

*glee*

I actually wrote a little more - I wrapped the incomplete scene that I recently sent you.

open a new tab
type "about:config" (no quotes) as the URL and hit enter
click past the "you could fuck this up" screen
in the filter box, type (sans quotes) "browser.urlbar"
find browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped and double-click it. it should go from false to true.

you'll now only see a drop-down for addresses you've typed before.

as for chrome - it has no AdBlock and no NoScript, so I don't run it.

Ooooh. I'll try that once I'm back home. Thanks! :D

Yay, it worked! Thank you!

Oooh. Something I'm constantly on the lookout for -- references on traditional Japanese artistic depictions of wolves or yama-inu -- if there is any sort of classic irezumi portrayals I'd be particularly interested, but really just about any sort of image, painting or woodblock prints or sculpture or netsuke or textiles, would be quite welcome; no particular time period preferred as long as it's not modern (I can get Ōkami artbooks easily enough if I want more contemporary art!) Online images would be particularly helpful, but even references citing illutrated books I could look for would be good.

Okay. This is something I could find myself but haven't gotten around to looking up yet. But I don't get to count it for stats purposes.

This is for thing involving the invention of teleportation. There are research groups all over the world working on this -- it's (mostly) collaborative and not competitive, so they're sharing their results and giving each other ideas for new directions and such things.

I need a list and information on world class research institutions in the fields of physics, computers, robotics (specifically artificial intelligence), medicine (specifically neuroscience or anything having to do with memory) and possibly psychology.

At the moment I've tentatively picked out MIT (probably in collaboration with other Boston area places like Harvard) and CalTech for the US, CERN for Europe, and want a place in Japan and India.

I need to know what places I should be using in Japan and India and where else in Asia (or if there's a better place than Japan) to put research group(s). I would also like research groups in South America and Africa. I also need to know if there are other places in North American and Europe that I should be using in addition or instead of the places I picked out.

I'd like the research to be coming from as many parts of the world as possible, especially outside of Europe, but if it turns out there are a lot of places in Europe that really should be taking part in this project, I would also like to know how common it is to have people studying or working there who aren't from Europe.

So if you can find me a list of names of institutions with where they are and what they specialize in, that would be awesome.

I didn't get a chance to get to this on Saturday, but coincidentally, the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe did a short segment on teleportation recently, and Bob Novella put a blog post up on The Rogues' Gallery (http://www.theskepticsguide.org/sgublog/?p=318). No sources cited, other than quotes from various physicists, but I bet if you commented and asked for citations, you might get some info. :D

I'm currently researching onions if you have any info on that! History of, varieties of, medicinal uses, importance in cultures...

If you can dig up anything on the legal system of the Franks, Alemanns, Saxons, and other Germanic tribes around the 4th-9th centuries AD, I'd appreciate it.

Cool, thanks.