2.28.2005

Political friendster

Not a reliable research resource, kiddies!

But interesting, nonetheless.

Popper v Kuhn smackdown

Struggle for the Soul of Science

It's refreshing to see the rest of the world taking an interest in our arcane discussions.

Ratcho in a catscan

The Why of Buy

Perhaps a more interesting question would be why our research preferences rank marketing so highly?

Can't invent reliable voting technologies, but we'll soon manipulate choices at the microlevel.

LOC prints and photographs online

Prints and Photographs Reading Room

Think lecture graphics (and wait for a sale).

White House tapes

JFK, Johnson, Nixon, FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower

Wow.

SunTzu for you

Art of War

The classic, now FREE and online.

Google, fast forward

FindForward

Google with a facelift, but some really interesting tweaks. Worth a look.

Englebart's dream, redux

A Manifesto for Collaborative Tools

A good, though somewhat technical discussion of the key substantive issues around the development of collaborative software.

World News Network

Another aggregator

Supports around two dozen languages, print and broadcast media.

Truly impressive source.

News accumulator

SurfWax

4,000 sources, personalized news alerts.

Never doubt

Innovation: Caves, Clusters, and Weak Ties

Margaret Mead was right, of course. Here's a bantam-weight discussion of the importance of individuals in social (technological) change.

An interesting twist on Mancur Olson, no?

Science's next big score

Wired 12:11

Yes, we're all just carnies at heart, right?

The point is that network analysis is about to get BIG. The variety of applications and tools is exploding, MANY easily within the interest areas of political scientists.

Visualizing information CFP

KDViz 2005

London July 6-8. I'm not suggesting that many political scientists would likely be contributors, but it's probably worth keeping an eye out for conference publications.

Teaching qualitative methods

TQM 2005

"Two day working conference," emphasis on "issues of quality and assessment."

2.27.2005

Technology for nonprofits

TechSoup

Find out about re-tasking technology, databases, software, mobilization strategies.

Probably worth keeping an eye on.

Peer to peer politics

AdvoKit

"Combines best practices of traditional campaigning with social networks and friend-to-friend outreach to produce a low-cost campaign system that strengthens (and depends on) civil society."

Parsing

States of the Union

Another visualization tool from style.org.

2.26.2005

Perl of wisdom

Qualitative Data Analysis with Perl and XML

Low-cost, distributed computer-aided qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) project.

Social Software CFP

Social Software in the Academy Workshop

Collaboration, communication, conferation.

Qualitative research isn't easy

It's supposed to be systematic

Profgrrrrl, writing on the challenges of qualitative research. Interesting read.

Blog People

Library Journal

The Editor of Library Journal is not too fond of the unwashed. Apparently, we don't read many books.

Don't Think

Think Computer Corporation

Somewhere between 25,000-100,000 social security numbers (and W2s and home addresses) have been "accessible to the public for several years."

Nice.

More on concept maps

Concept Mapping Resources

'nuf said.

Mind Maps

Mind Mapping Overview

The essay's intended for tablet PC users, but mind map software is available on most platforms. The idea is simple - create formal theoretical models using some variation of flowchart symbols.

One of our own uses Stella to help budding academics to identify core theoretical ideas. Interesting stuff, certainly.

2.25.2005

Custom Firefox searches

Firefox Trick

When you type words into the Firefox address window and press "Enter," the default action is to perform a Google "I Feel Pretty" er, "Lucky" search.

But you can make this dog do new tricks - such as have it search Wikipedia for the same terms.

Not uncool at all.

ID theft law

ChoicePoint's error sparks talk of ID theft law

The Industry Standard is reporting on California Senator Feinstein's proposed privacy-protection regulation, an idea backed by ChoicePoint's CEO, Derek Smith.

Senator Specter has also announced hearings into identity theft.

Antispam and an AIDS vaccine

Scientists use antispam in AIDS vaccine work

The Industry Standard is reporting of a cooperative effort between Microsoft and Boston-based AIDS researchers to use software - originally designed to tell spam from wanted emails - to identify or predict changes in the rapidly mutating HIV virus.

Magister Ludi would be proud.

2.24.2005

Global Language Monitor

WordMan

This has to be one of the ugliest webpages I've seen in awhile, but the content is not uninteresting. Some of the "Top Words of 2004" are unexpected, leaving me somewhat skeptical of their "algorithmic-based, quantiative analysis tools," but probably worth checking out.

2.23.2005

Record interviews on your iPod

Belkin Adapter # F8E478

Use an external microphone to record interviews directly to an iPod.

This is a good thing.

Google Print criticized

French Ire

"Digitizing books written in English may marginalize French thought."

The National Library is mobilizing resources to turn back this latest Anglo-Saxon invasion.

What temperature do terabytes burn at?

Google Print

A bit of detail on Google's proposal to digitize all human knowledge.

Adam Carr's Election Archive

Psephos

Adam Carr likes counting things. Here, he offers election statistics from 170 countries, as well as other useful links on democratic governance.

2.22.2005

Cheap audio recorder

Natural Widgets

If you're willing to perform all your interviews over the phone, with your computer. Not free, but very cheap as these things go.

NOTE: It is illegal in several states (including Maryland) to record someone without their permission. You MUST ask first.

Concurrent, collaborative text editor

MoonEdit

This looks interesting. Combined with either voice or IM interaction, could be a huge help for zero-hour on group-authored projects.

Word macros for qualitative research

Fieldnote Searcher

Macros, as a rule, can be dangerous. But they can also be glorious. Here's one person's approach to CAQDAS software, using Word97.

Produced by Gery Ryan - apparently, 7OF9 is a heavy Microsoft user.

Knowledge Management

CACI

Abu Ghraib aside, these folks have really pushed the envelope on legal support. This is the approach the Justice Department used to take down big tobacco - managing millions of records, spanning decades, including faded photocopies, the affidavits of thousands of parties, and hundreds of lawyers spread across the country.

Most social scientists aren't likely to have that kind of capital anytime soon, but we might still learn from some of these techniques.

Check out "document conversion" and the ADIIS package. Very interesting stuff - high speed OCR, backed up with fuzzy search tools and a code-and-retrieve management system. Again, the style of argumentation may be different (rhetoric v logic), but the rules of evidence are similar.

What can we learn here?

Visible Path

Centrality: the relationship capital journal

A blog emphasizing a social network perspective. Much of it appears to focus on business applications (gotta get paid), but there are more academic applications and sources, as well.

Mentata

Congress database

A proof-of-concept database of the 107-108th sessions.

2.21.2005

Another tool

Discover the network

A social network database of "over 1,500 profiles of individuals, groups and institutions, which provide thumbnail sketches of histories, agendas and funding sources; library of thousands of articles, which analyze the relationships disclosed in the database and the issues they raise. These analyses are drawn from thousands of articles; visual maps which display the intricate links between organizations of the left."

General Inquirer

Internet General Inquirer

Web-based, Java version of the classic text analyzer.

Event Structure Analysis

ESA

A Java-based program to support analysis of sequential events; can be used online, or downloaded.

Anti-Terrorism Information

MATRIX

Proof of concept, indeed.

The only ones who should worry are the bad people, right? Wonder how MATRIX tells wheat from chaff?

No Place to Hide

The Center for Investigative Reporting

A website dedicated to the ChoicePoint / Homeland Security relationship.

Freedom and Identity

ABC News

A news report last month, that focused on the role of ChoicePoint data in homeland security efforts.

Outsource your older male sibling.

How Much

Information?

A serious study to estimate how much is produced each year. Includes print, film, audio, broadcast, and internet sources.

Newsplorer

RSS reader

A FREE news reader that integrates with your desktop. Supports all RSS formats.

Simon Wiesenthal Center

Multimedia Learning Center Online

"A comprehensive resource on the Holocaust and World War II, with over 3,000 text files, and tens of thousands of photos."

Alaska, gone digital

Digital Archive

"A wealth of photographs, oral histories, moving images, documents, and other materials"

Encyclopedia of World History

Sixth Edition. 2001

A searchable chronology of over 20,000 topics, from prehistoric times through 2000. While it doesn't appear to be especially detailed, it might be useful quick references.

Great Speeches

The History Channel

Original historical recordings of Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, John F Kennedy, Mohandas Gandhi, Barbara Jordan, Salvador Allende, and many more.

Search Digital Language Archives

Metadata Search Engine

This is a bit technical, but interesting:

"In this article we describe the design and implementation of a full-featured metadata search engine within the Open Language Archives Community. ... Features include a variety of string matching algorithms; a thesaurus of alternate language names; language code searching; keyword-in-context display in search results; search for similarly spelled words; search for similar items; support for standard string search operators and domain-specific inline syntax; and automatically derived search links for other web search engines."

Guide to Major Internet Institutions

ACM Ubiquity

"The bodies responsible for the Internet's protocols and parameters can be said to steer the Internet in a significant sense. This document, by Alex Simonelis of Dawson College in Montreal, is a summary of those bodies and their most important characteristics."

2.20.2005

Social Network Analysis at ICPSR

An Introduction

"Social network analysis focuses on relationships between and among social entities. Unlike standard social and behavioral science research, the measurements taken on these entities are functions of more than one entity, so that the data arising from network studies are not the standard "cases x variables" datasets. This workshop will present an introduction to various concepts, methods, and applications of social network analysis. The workshop focus is on methods, rather than on theories. These methods apply to the analysis of relational data measured on groups of social actors."

Top 50 law blogs

EDDix

This is a dynamic (i.e., changing) list of the fifty "best" blogs on law.

Nuf' said.

Hear ye, hear ye

OYEZ

Stuck in traffic? Want to keep up on the Supreme Court? Download MP3 files from OYEZ. All audio recorded in the Court since 1995 - currently more than 2000 hours.

Supreme Court in online

Here comes the judge, here comes the judge

All you ever needed to know about the high court.

Blogging law profs

Law Blogs

A portal site of sorts, connecting to about a dozen thematic blogs, each edited by a law professor.

Good quality, regularly updated.

Cornell Law e-journal

liibulletin

The 2004-05 journal focuses on cases currently before the US Supreme Court.

FREE subscription.

2.19.2005

Semantic exploration

mSpace

The developers bill it as Google meets iTunes.

Apparently (haven't played with it yet), it allows you to define categories for data, then browse other items of that type.

Might be a useful approach to theory building, no?

ChoicePoint theft

"Tricked" into disclosing info on 140,000 people

The only thing more sobering than the crime is the fact that ChoicePoint was clearly not going to let the victims know, but for a new California law that requires such disclosures.

I wonder if anyone living in any of the 49 states that don't require disclosure have had their ChoicePoint files lifted.

Microsoft on 'rootkits'

Be afraid, be very afraid

Why is this important? It essentially means that someone could install a program on your computer that would be able to copy any and all information you've stored there (i.e., "spyware") that would be undetectable by any currently available technology.

Think Orwell, with no forwarding address.

Data Mining

Data Mining in Politics

"Blaspheme" you say? Well, it may not be theory testing, but it's a bit more than looking for short skirts on Wall Street.

Inductive reasoning, anyone?

100 Words and Pictures

10x10

Okay, so it's not exactly an analytical tool. But it is really cool. Essentially, 10x10 scans online news on an hourly basis, identifies and ranks 100 themes, then displays them as a grid of one hundred photos. These link in turn to the sources' headlines, which link to the original reports.

Trust me, it's really cool.

Concordancing and text analysis

Concordance

Sort of like naming your dog "Dog," but it's free for thirty days. Useful for one-off projects, no?

Open-source qualitative data analysis

Weft

Haven't used it myself, but considering the price of most commercial CAQDAS software, I may soon.

Did I not mention it's FREE?

Handwritten Manuscripts

OCR Handwriting

Okay, most likely if it's important enough to study, someone's already taken the effort to type it. But if your research depends on 17th century handwritten journals, UM Amherst has got your back.

What's the best dpi for scanning?

Image Quality Calculator

On the off-chance you need to scan hardcopy for OCR, this website will help you find a resolution that's not too big, not too small - just right.

Goldilocks would be proud.

Speech recognition of broadcast media

SpeechBot

Trying to track down that NPR/PBS/VOA or White House program you heard last week in the car?

Speechbot generates transcripts using speech recognition, lets you search it, read it, or connect to the original audio stream.

What's happening on the Web right now

Technorati

Search over seven million blogs, constantly updated, or simply see what's up.

Bilingual Google Search

Babelplex

Ask a question in Chinese, English, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portugese, Russian, or Spanish, and search for websites written in one of the other languages.

"¿Usted have chocolate?"

A/V search engine

Singingfish

"... indexes formats including Windows Media, Real, QuickTime, and mp3s. ... categories spanning music, news, movies, sports, TV and radio, and finance."

Automated Text Classification

A pretty cool method for "interpreting" texts.

Wordscores

Free transcription software

Transana

Doubled my transcription speed.

And it's FREE.

Demzilla and Voter Vault

Will this tell us where the median voter lives?

“Outgoing DNC Chairman McAuliffe has given the House and Senate political committees access to “Demzilla,” the massive computer voter database that has brought the DNC closer to information parity with the Republicans"

“The carefully guarded database contains more than 170 million records, with files that have been scrubbed and updated. They include [sic] hundreds of bytes* of information about voter behavior and consumer preferences."

“The Republican National Committee has a similar computer file, Voter Vault ...”

From a story by Hans Nichols, published in The Hill February 17, 2005

*My to-do list contains "hundreds of bytes" of information.

Automated analysis of online content

webLyzard

"... analyzes Web resources from both structural and textual perspectives. By identifying and tracking topics, the technology helps gain a deeper understanding of electronic content. ... Currently, webLyzard mirrors and analyzes a set of more than 7,000 sites on a monthly basis."

I'm not sure whether to be impressed, or very, very afraid.

R. Robot

Making sense of partisan hacks

This is a rhetoric simulator, an automated blog that uses words and phrases gleaned from partisan sources.

It's quite surprising how close this program comes to the actual language of the sources.

Now, does that suggest that the machine is intelligent, or that the sources are automata?

TouchGraph

Graph links between urls

This Java-based browser started to wreak havok on my system after the first couple of loads, but you can get a sense of what it does by looking at the screenshots.

Whereas most browsers will return links based on content, Touchgraph tells you what sites are linked to a given url, and displays this information as a dynamic network (fun to play with, too).

Might be useful to see the degree to which sites are insulated from each other, or the world at large.

Facster Home

Just the Facts, Ma'am

Ah, geek love. If the Reports/Retorts Drudge aren't doing the job for you, there's always the real world. Useful links to official statistical reference bureaus throughout the US, and many other nations.

Google Maps

Where's Waldo?

Clearly, the coolest thing since ... MapQuest?

I wonder if Google has plans to integrate this with Keyhole?

NameVoyager

The Baby Name Wizard

Not quite as "Middle Earth" as it sounds, this one's making the rounds these days. It's interesting to see what names are popular, sure. But what is really interesting about this is the interface itself.

How long before these sort of graphing techniques become integrated with standard spreadsheets?

Gotta happen sometime.

Net Snippets

Web Research Tool

I'm not overwhelmed by this, but I don't tend to base a lot of my research on web-only sources. Still, Tara at ResearchBuzz seems to love it, so it must be good.

Plus, it's FREE.

Copernic Desktop Search

Full-text searches for your PC

Unbelievably cool, better than Google Desktop by far. Save local copies of every electronic document* you find, and Copernic will index it, allowing (among other things) full-text searches.

It's also FREE.

* Actually, Copernic can index virtually any electronic format: text, audio, images, urls.

Interesting approach to visualization

Visual Thesaurus

Th!nkmap has designed a number of applications based on graphing data as networks. This one's pretty cool.

Many-to-Many

"Social Softare" blogging

Another blog, this one dedicated to "Social Software" (i.e., applications to facilitate network analysis).