ScienceResearch.com.

ScienceResearch.com -

This Web search engine (currently beta version) produced by Deep Web Technologies Inc. (creator of Scitopia.org, CH, Nov'07, 45-1205; Mednar.com; and Biznar.com, CH, Jun'09, 46-5390) is designed to search across and federate more than 300 science-related public and commercial Web collections in real time. Collections include Directory of Open Access Journals, E-Print Network, OAIster, NTIS, PubMed, Scholarpedia, ScienceDirect, Science.gov, and numerous science journals. The site's mission is "to be the leading science research portal for students, librarians, researchers and scientists."

Users have simple and advanced search options; both allow setting preferences, e.g., number of results displayed per page. The simple search function offers broad categories for selection: Applied, Computation, Life, and Physical. More specific subject categories are available in advanced search, e.g., Agricultural Sciences, Astronomy and Space, Computers and Technology, Defense Technologies, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Energy, Health and Medicine, Materials Science, and Physics. Clicking on the category name reveals the collections within that category; these may be individually selected. Queries may be restricted to title, author, or full text. Harvested results are limited to 200 hits from each clearly identified collection, and may be further limited to the collection's first page of results. Relevancy is the default sort. The site's search engine will also automatically retrieve highly relevant results beyond the collection's first page. Results can be filtered by topic, author, publication title, publisher, and date, and re-sorted by date, title, or author (instead of relevancy, if desired). Citations can be collected for printing, e-mailing, and downloading (RIS format). Users may also receive daily, weekly, or monthly e-mail alerts on their topic of interest by establishing an account on the site. Advertising is present as sponsored links from Amazon. Overall, the content richness and useful features of ScienceResearch.com make this site a compelling search tool. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All collections.
-- M. Mounts, Dartmouth College
Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Website of 2009:October 2010 Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries " the premier source for reviews of academic books, electronic media, and Internet resources of interest to those in higher education" Choice is a publishing unit of the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.

Academic Earth: Video Lectures from the World's Top Scholars

Academic Earth an entrepreneurial effort that is free online, is "an organization founded with the goal of giving everyone on earth access to a world-class education." Six top-rated universities and their scholars provide more than 1,500 videos of courses and individual guest lectures that take place in the classroom. No registration is required and no credit is given. Optional registration allows users to save favorite lectures and post comments. Video and audio portions of each lecture are excellent throughout. Users may select lectures/courses by browsing among the 17 discipline areas--from astronomy to religion--and by instructor, institution, or featured course/lecture. An advanced search feature offers 32 subjects and filters for narrowing a search. Searching and navigation are easy and download-time, to either a PC or an iPod, is fast. Lectures run from approximately 40 to 90 minutes, and courses are composed of approximately 20 to 45 lectures. Many lectures feature related materials, including transcripts, PowerPoint slides, assignments, readings, and more. Students can assign grades to each course, and lecture and grade averages are posted. The FAQ file is a good way to start, and a feedback form is readily available for comments and questions. Similar sites do not compare ... [this] is more inclusive--offering full lectures, courses, and related materials all in one place. It would be of great use to students and other Internet users who want to learn more about a topic.

Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Website of 2009:October 2010 Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries " the premier source for reviews of academic books, electronic media, and Internet resources of interest to those in higher education" Choice is a publishing unit of the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association. Some academic disciplines are missing, e.g., art, sociology, and geology, but new material is regularly added, and most likely this user-friendly site will expand its offerings. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates, general audience, and professionals. -- B. Anderson, Northern Illinois University

AdViews: A Digital Archive of Vintage Television Commercials

AdViews, a free digital archive of television commercials from the 1950s to the 1980s, this site provides access to commercials created or collected by the New York advertising agency Benton & Bowles. The archival collection is housed at Duke University's Harman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History and is a collaborative project with the Digital Collections Program at Duke. Currently more than 12,000 commercials are available through this Web site, including 40 commercials with closed captioning and audio descriptions for users with hearing or vision impairments. On the home page, visitors can begin with a keyword search of the current collection or narrow their search by company, product, or date. The results produce a page of thumbnail photo images of television commercials.

Clicking on an image will result in a page of information about the selected commercial--for example, the company, category and description, subject, and rights for copyright and reproduction (the last of these useful for researchers). One can view the entire commercial only in iTunes (a free download is available on the site). This is an intriguing resource for those interested in early television and advertising. Summing Up: Recommended. All users. -- C. L. Clements, Richland College, July 2010 Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries " the premier source for reviews of academic books, electronic media, and Internet resources of interest to those in higher education"

Look for these books, e-books and dvds in the TCC Library: Advertising to children on TV : content, impact, and regulation, e-book, print, 2005 Killing us softly 4: advertising’s image of women [dvd] 2009 How does advertising impact teen behavior?, 2008 You can’t air that: four cases of controversy and censorship in American television programming, 2007 Sex in consumer culture : the erotic content of media and marketing, 2006 TV commercials: how to make them, or, how big is the boat? 2005 Gadgetmania : the history and evolution of the infomercial, 2003