Now that spring is here and the semester rush has subsided, we can turn our thoughts to methods of escape. With that in mind we feature resources to aid in this endeavour: map tools, language resources, and translators! We also feature some great new learning resources in the Digital Dish because, well, that�s just the way we are. This issue of BRAIN_blog will be a tad short as we in the Library gear up for this year�s Connections Conference: The e-Learning Conference at Mohawk College! Tune in next issue when we will feature a run down of some of the sessions from this popular annual conference!
1) The Map: Tool of Choice
If you are one of those types who needs to know where s/he is going then the map is definitely the tool of choice. Here are some new online mapping tools and some oldies that have new features:
Ask.com provides some great maps and to get to them you need only go to the search page and type in a location (or go to the maps page.) Recently they�ve added physical maps to their street maps. Type in a location and select the �physical� link in the top left of the map. (Note that physical maps are only available from a great height � you�ll have to zoom out a few times to see them.) Check out the mountains, greenery, oceans and little people that look like ants!
Heading to Europe? Check out these resources for street level maps and directions (go ahead, check them out, be my guest, I’m not jealous, you just go right on ahead. hmph.)
Mappy.com provides maps, gives you costs for travelling by car from one point to another, lets you search for hotels, provides city maps and then allows you to map hotels, tourist offices and tourist attractions over the city map, and more! You can even reserve hotel rooms from the site! It�s almost too easy!
Multimap provides directions between cities, allows you to find and book hotels, and offers a great London tube map. Jolly good!
If you are heading to France or Spain, Pages-Jaunes offers maps of the countries, cities within the countries and street-level photos of select cities.
Google Maps now includes many city maps of European cities! Use the handy �Find Businesses� tool to locate hotels, restaurants, tourist offices and more!
2) Translate online
Get lost in translation with Yahoo!�s Babel Fish. Babel Fish has been around for a while but was just recently taken over by Yahoo! It�s the same great language translation tool wrapped in the Yahoo! brand. Or, as they say in Germany, Es ist das gleiche gro�e Sprachen�bersetzungshilfsmittel! Gosh, I love those long words!
3) Language Dictionaries and more!
Did you know that you can access the full-text of many language dictionaries and travel books from TheBRAIN? Go to TheBRAIN�s ebook collection and click netLibrary. Enter a search for a country or language. Check out titles like Adventure Guide, Tuscany & Umbria, The Companion Guide to Paris, Cayman Islands Alive! and more!
When travelling in a foreign land, it is sometimes useful to understand what people are saying to you so when you nod and smile you are doing so for the right reasons. If you agree, check out the online language resources! Not all languages are represented in the collection but there are some handy tomes such as Countdown to Spanish : Learn to Communicate in 24 Hours, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Learning Italian On Your Own, Schaum’s Outline of German Grammar, and CliffsQuickReview French I! I’ve got dibs on the Outline of German Grammar – hands off! (H�nde weg!)
4) Digital Dish
If you want to learn about the cycles of life, just take a look around outside. This is the time that it�s all starting! But if you happen to be stuck indoors, there is another place you can look, and it�s no farther than your desktop. The Vega Science Trust aims to create a platform for broadcasts on the natural sciences, as well as for the disciplines of engineering and technology. They are taking advantage of new TV and Internet opportunities to enable scientists, teachers and students to communicate on all aspects of their fields of expertise. To date, Vega has created more than 80 broadcasts, all of which are categorized by discipline and available for viewing on their website.
Brace yourself for some real lecture theatre…Princeton University�s IT Division has made available a collection of streaming media files captured from a wide range of invited guests and lecturers. Some examples of timely topics include �The Energy Crisis�, �The Appeal of War�, and �Challenges in the Middle East�, to name a few. If you have an avid interest in what it means to be a global citizen, then this is the site to visit, (and you don�t even have to pay Ivy League tuition!).
