We live in the midst of astonishingly complex systems. From ecologies to earthquakes, from transportation networks to computational clouds, our days are defined by the networks in which we are intertwined. Yet, as sudden weather disasters and unexpected economic upheavals prove, we’re still pretty bad at predicting complex systems. This is the very problem that the Measurement Science for Complex...

It seems like there is a never-ending flow of sites about digital media, and it times it can present an overwhelming challenge to decide which ones might be most useful. MediaShift is certainly one of the best, and it is led by Mark Glaser, noted journalist, critic, and media expert. With support from PBS, this site and weblog looks at how new media such as podcasts and citizen journalism are...

Some might ask: What is a millennial? The short answer is "the American teens and twenty-somethings who are making the passage into adulthood at the start of a new millennium." The Pew Research Center first started looking at this group in 2006, and this 149-page report released in February 2010 was edited by Paul Taylor and Scott Keeter. The report notes that the millennials are more ethnically...

People have enjoyed miniaturized versions of their favorite full-size counterparts for centuries. One need only think of such items as miniature train sets and dollhouses to be reminded of this curious fascination with such items. Video game machines are certainly no exception, and during the 1970s and 1980s, some of the biggest competitors in the market produced handheld versions of their...

Many a sailing vessel has found its way to the bottom of the Great Lakes, and there are hundreds of submerged shipwrecks scattered across the state of Minnesota in Lake Superior and other bodies of water. This website, designed by the Minnesota Historical Society, allows users to learn about these shipwrecks through historic photographs, preservation documents, and maps. Visitors can get started...

The Library of Congress has been working on crafting a series of mobile apps for the past few years and this site represents the fruit of their labors. On this site, interested parties can look over five different apps, including BARD Mobile, Virtual Tour, and Aesop for Children. This last app provides iPhone or iPad users with the daily edition of the Congressional Record, complete with a search...

Momentum, a free Chrome browser extension, wins excellent reviews on several counts. First, it is simply nice to look at. Once downloaded, a personalized dashboard will open every time you use Chrome to check your email or read the news, featuring a beautiful landscape image from Iceland, Spain, or some other locale. Reviewers also like the inspirational quotes ("What is your main focus today?" or...

Movable Type has been around for some time, and users who may have not heard of it before will appreciate its various features and applications. The Movable Type publishing system allows individuals or organizations to effectively manage and update weblogs, journals, and other content on websites. With this demonstration version, visitors are not entitled to support for the application, but it...

As visitors traverse the many weblogs that have proliferated across the Web during the past few years, they may find themselves thinking: "Hey, I can do better than that." Well, this latest edition of Movable Type may help them do just that, and rise to the occasion with aplomb. This latest version allows users to create weblogs rather simply through the use of their templates and also allows for...

The French have given us much over the past several hundred years, and this latest application is also a gift from yet another person of French ancestry. My Personal Home Page 0.2.1 allows visitors to create a personal information manager, which creates toolboxes where various pieces of important data may be stored. Some of the data that may be stored using this application include addresses,...