Author Archives: mdilwort

Author Archives: mdilwort

Happy Birthday, World Wide Web!

Happy Birthday, World Wide Web!

, Website
On August 1, 1990, Tim Berners-Lee, a computer scientist at CERN created the term “world wide web” to describe an interconnected universe of information.  The first graphics-based web browser, Mosaic, was developed only a few years later by computer scientist Marc Andreesen, then working for the University of Illinois.  While other text-based browsers already existed, like Gopher and Lynx, it was Mosaic that pointed the way toward what most people think of as the Internet today.  Considering the ubiquity of online information, commerce and entertainment, it is worth examining tools and tricks that make the Internet safer, easier and more useful.  For instance, special operators are an easy way to make any search engine work better.  A tilde (the ~ … Continued
Service-Learning:  10 years of campus-community connections

Service-Learning:  10 years of campus-community connections

, Ann Tobin, Jesse Whitton, outreach
The Center for Service-Learning (CSL) provides opportunities “to enrich the campus and community through educationally meaningful service that helps students become socially responsible citizens.” For the past ten years, Coordinator of Service-Learning Ann Tobin has helped students turn these opportunities into positive outcomes. From tutoring and mentoring programs in local schools and on-campus, to service-learning projects in a variety of IU East courses, Ann has helped IU East students grow personally and professionally. She has facilitated partnerships with numerous community organizations and schools and served as the advisor for the Circle K International student service organization, which is the collegiate branch of the Kiwanis. Some images of Ann’s service engagement over the past decade can be found here and featured … Continued
Firsthand Information

Firsthand Information

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
In research, it is always a good idea to examine the primary sources, and not trust another author to act as an intermediary.  Firsthand, contemporaneous accounts of anything that happens – a historic event, a scientific experiment, the minutia of day-to-day life – are irreplaceable for historians decades or even centuries later.  Their existence allows later researchers to strip away the layers of exaggeration, dimming memory, hagiography, or demonization that can build up on stories told and retold over time.  Primary sources are those created by the participants in the events that are described.  These can be diaries and journals, letters and legal contracts, even blogs and emails. The library offers numerous databases focused on primary source material from a … Continued
A “Hot” Topic: Your body’s (and planet’s) rising temperature

A “Hot” Topic: Your body’s (and planet’s) rising temperature

, , outreach
We are still in the beginning of the summer season, and we have already experienced record numbers of high heat in many parts of the United States. Globally, scientists warn that 2023 could be one of the hottest years on record due to the impact of global warming and an incoming El Niño (Paddison, 2023).  An El Niño is a natural weather phenomenon that occurs in the Pacific Ocean every few years that brings warmer than average sea waters temperatures to the surface and which can globally influence the weather.  Hot summers can be extremely dangerous if you’re not prepared, especially as it is the time of year when many people enjoy the outdoors. Heat-related illnesses can not only impact … Continued
Join the Banned!

Join the Banned!

, books
In 2022, a historic number of book challenges were made across the country, targeting school, community and university libraries.  In Florida alone, where over 500 books have been banned or challenged since 2021, authors ranging from inaugural poet Amanda Gorman to contemporary novelist Kurt Vonnegut have been the subject of targeted removal from classrooms and libraries.  Yet according to the Washington Post, most book challenges are made by only a handful of individuals, often bonding together via social media.  That means a very small number of people have attempted to create an outsized impact on the reading material allowed to a significant portion of the country.  Libraries maintain collections for the benefit of heir communities, and communities are comprised of … Continued