Penn State Great Valley Library Blog

If you are looking for the text and sometimes video of a famous speech you may want to check the American Rhetoric web site at http://www.americanrhetoric.com/.

The website All About Explorers is a different kind of web-tool for teachers. This site appears to provide credible information for elementary school students about explorers through the ages. However, there are intentional fabrications to teach kids about the importance of verifying internet sources. For example, there is a reference to Columbus discovering America which also describes how excited the Indians were to see him since he brought them computers and cell phones. Through the use of All About Explorers, students learn the necessity of finding multiple sources of information to confirm accuracy. The website provides lesson ideas for teachers and can be found at http://allaboutexplorers.com/.

Imagine discovering you are not the person you always thought you were.

In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month, join actor Michael Fosberg as he recounts his personal journey of discovering he is Black after thirty-two years as a member of a White family.

“Incognito” depicts Fosberg’s search for his roots and uncovers the difficult history and complexity of race in America.

Incognito
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
7:00- 8:30 p.m.
Safeguard Scientifics Building
Penn State Great Valley
30 East Swedesford Road
Malvern, PA 19355

Admission is free, but seats are limited. Please RSVP by February 13th. To reserve your seat, click here or e-mail Susan Haldeman at smh277@psu.edu. For more information on the show, visit www.incognitotheplay.com.

This event is presented by AMETEK Foundation, Inc. and the Diversity Action Council of Penn State Great Valley.

The Pew Internet project has released a report on the use of Twitter by adult. According to the report “nearly one in five (19%) online adults ages 18 and 24 have ever used Twitter and its ilk, as have 20% of online adults 25 to 34. Use of these services drops off steadily after age 35 with 10% of 35 to 44 year olds and 5% of 45 to 54 year olds using Twitter.” For more information you can go to the report at http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/276/report_display.asp

Books can now be read on cell phones.
Both Google and Amazon have plans to expand books offered for mobile reading devices such as smart cell phones like the iPhone and the T-Mobile G1 as well as other mobile devices such as Lexcycle’s Stanza and Frictiowize’s eReader.

• Google will offer its 1.5 million scanned public domain books. These are older, many out of print, books with expired copyrights. Google plans to expand to current books with the permission of book publishers.

• Amazon will offer its 230,000 titles from its Kindle e-book collection. This collection, intended for its Kindle e-reader (a device made for electronic book reading) includes today’s best sellers. Unlike mobile gadgets, Kindle’s reading screen is the size of a paperback and needs no backlighting, making it very conducive for reading. Sony offers a similar product called the Reader.

This mobile version of e-books will display text only and be able to be downloaded quickly over wireless networks. Although the mobile gadgets, which require backlighting and have small screens, are hard on the eyes for reading, the convenience may outweigh this.