* tmc * in patientia vestra habetis animam vestram * tmc *

Dear Reader,

The ASIAN STUDIES WWW MONITOR
(including all its subsidiary (and/or sister) pages on "coombs.anu.edu.au" server) has permanently ceased its publishing operations on Friday 21st January 2011.

All of the online resources reported here have been thoroughly checked at the time of their listing. However, it is possible that, with the with the passage of time, many of the originally reported materials might have been removed from the Internet, or changed their online address, or varied the scope and quality of their contents.

Fortunately, in several cases it is possible to access many of the older versions of the resources listed in the MONITOR. This can be easily done via the free services of the "The Internet Archive" http://web.archive.org/, a remarkable brainchild of Brewster Kahle, San Francisco, CA.

- with warm regards -

Editor, Dr T. Matthew Ciolek.

Canberra, 21 January 2011.


30 September 2010

Asian Reading Room (Area Studies, Asian Division, Library of Congress)

http://www.loc.gov/rr/asian/
5star
30 Sep 2010

Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA.

Self-description:
"From an 1869 presentation of 933 volumes to the United States by the Emperor of China, the collections of the Asian Division have grown to represent one of the most comprehensive collections of Asian language materials in the world. Housed in the John Adams Building, the collections of the Division include most subject fields, covering an area ranging from the South Asian subcontinent and Southeast Asia to China, Japan, and Korea. Complementing these collections are important materials on Asia in other areas of the Library. These include legal materials, films, manuscripts, maps, music, and photographs maintained in other Divisions. In addition, extensive Western language materials on Asia are housed in the general collection and are available by request in either the Asian Reading Room or the Main Reading Room. [...]
The Asian Reading Room is the primary public access point for researchers seeking to use the Asian collections of the Library of Congress in the many languages of Asia. The reading room covers the area from the South Asian subcontinent and Southeast Asia to China, Japan, Korea, and Mongolia. With over 2.8 million books, periodicals and newspapers, a large number of manuscripts, and electronic media, the collections are the most comprehensive sources of Asian language materials outside of Asia. Area Specialists and Reference Librarians provide in-depth reference assistance on questions concerning Asia. Western language materials about Asia are part of the general collection but can be requested in either the Asian Reading Room or the Main Reading Room."

Site contents:
* General Information (About the Reading Room, Asian Division Teams and their Collections (# China/Mongolia Team, # Christianity in China, # Japan Team, # Korea Team, # South Asia Team, # Southeast Asia Team), Search Our Catalogs, LC Calendar of Events, Asian Division Friends Society, Webcasts of Past Asian Events);
* Using the Reading Room (Library of Congress Security, Research Orientation to LC, About the Visitor's Center, Copies (Photoduplication), Interlibrary Loan, Policy Access to Rare Materials);
* Digital Projects (Korean Bibliography, Soviet-Korean Bibliography, Philippine Bibliography, Naxi [Naxi people,Yunnan, SW China] Manuscript Collection);
* Databases (LC Subscription Databases, Chinese e-resources, Japanese e-resources, Korean e-resources, Korean Serial Database);
* Publications (Annotated catalog on Robert Morrison, Asian Collections 2007 Illustrated Guide, A World of Books, Indonesian Bibliography, Romanization Tables);
* Ask a Librarian;
* Find [= Search] in (Asian Reading Room Pages, Researchers Web Pages, All Library of Congress Pages).

URL http://www.loc.gov/rr/asian/

Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.loc.gov/rr/asian/

Link reported by: T. Matthew Ciolek (tmciolek--at--coombs.anu.edu.au)

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Study / Online Guide / Corporate Info.
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Library
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: No statistics is available

Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

28 September 2010

Digital Library of India (DLI) [with over 230,000 online books]

http://www.dli.ernet.in/
5star
28 Sep 2010

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.

Self-description:
"Digital Library of India [est. circa 2003 - ed.] - Hosted by: Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in co-operation with CMU, IIIT, NSF, ERNET and MCIT for the Govt. of India and 21 participating centers. [...] The primary long-term objective is to capture all books in digital format. It is believed that such a task is impossible and could take hundreds of years, and never be completed. Thus, as a first step we are planning to demonstrate the feasibility by undertaking to digitize 1 million books (less than 1% of all books in all languages ever published) by 2005. [...] One of the goals of the Digital Library of India is to provide support for full text indexing and searching based on OCR (optical character recognition) technologies where available. [...] This 24x7 resource would also provide an excellent test bed for language processing research in areas such as machine translation, optical character recognition, summarization, speech and hand writing recognition, intelligent indexing, and information retrieval in Indian languages. It is our expectation that the Digital Library of India will be mirrored at several locations worldwide so as to protect the integrity and availability of the data. The DLI will also partner with other country specific Digital Libraries initiatives as part of the Universal Library Project (www.ulib.org) [...]."

Site contents:
* Vision;
* Mission;
* Goals;
* Benefits,
* Content Selection (1. Coordination of Selection, 2. Non-copyrighted materials, 3. Best books approach);
* Current Status;
* People (Academia, Government, CMU [Carnegie Mellon University, USA], US Advisors, China, The Team, Past Project Assistants);
* Partners;
* Funding;
* Copyright Policy;
* FAQ;
* RFP;
* Members;
* Search (# Title, # Author, # Year, # Subject [35 subjects ranging from Art and Architecture through History and Marketing to Sociology, Statistics and Zoology], # Language [Any Language, Arabic, Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, English, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Norwegian, Oriya, Pali, Persian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Sanskrit, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Tibetan, Urdu, Multi, Others, Unknown], # Scanning Centre [select from the list of the 25 Indian centers involved in the project]);
* Free online access to both the metadata for and contents of all scanned books);
* Books from Partner Sites;
* Presentations and Report;
* Statistics Report;
* Status Report [No of Books scanned by 28 Sep 2010 = 231,679; No of Pages scanned by 28 Sep 2010 = 81,388,365 - ed.];
* Feedback;
* Recent collection;
* Recent updates;
* Partner site with PDF collection.

URL http://www.dli.ernet.in/

Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.dli.ernet.in/

Link reported by: T. Matthew Ciolek (tmciolek--at--coombs.anu.edu.au)

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Corporate info. / Study
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Government / Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: No statistics is available

Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

23 September 2010

Perpustakaan Nasional Republik Indonesia / National Library of Indonesia

http://www.pnri.go.id/en/default.aspx
4star
23 Sep 2010

Perpustakaan Nasional Republik Indonesia (PNRI), Jakarta, Indonesia.

[The PNRI does not seem to carry a note of self-description. However, a Wikipedia entry [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Library_of_Indonesia] contains the following words: "The origins of the national library date back to the 1778 foundation of the Royal Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences, the first of its kind in Asia. [...] The library serves the entire Indonesian people and is primarily a humanities library. [...] Under the national library, Indonesia began its own International Standard Book Number and Cataloging in Publication programs. The library maintains bibliographies of the state ideology Pancasila and Javanese manuscripts. It also develops an an independent computer housekeeping system and implements the MARC standards. Both the United States Library of Congress and the National Library of Australia maintain regional offices in Jakarta." - ed.]

Site contents:
* Directories (Government Institutions, Health Institutions, Important Days, Important Phone Numbers, Internet Service Providers, Online Mass Media, National Libraries world-wide, Online Library [links to web sites of Indonesian libraries], Press Agencies, Publishers);
* Dictionaries (Computer terms, Digital library terms, Library terms);
* Digital Collection (# Books [incl. Seminar dan Bedah Buku 1 Abad Kebangkitan Nasional, Sosialisasi INLIS Makassar, Seminar Naskah Nusantara Sabdopalon Nayagenggong, Naskah Kuno Nusantara Sebagai Warisan Budaya Luhur), # Gray Literature, # Guides & indexes, # Johannes Rach, # Manuscripts [in Sep 2010 this section was not available online], # Newspapers and Magazines [incl. Sikap Terbuka dan Ciri Khas, Muziek Vereeniging V.O.P. Takengeun Di Laoet Tawar Atjeh, Pada Suatu Hari dengan Daud Beurueh, Tjoet Nja' Dhien dan Filem Sebagai Media Dakwah, Sebuah Potret Ketidakpuasan], # Photographs, # Public Policy Regulations, # Rare Magazines, # National Library Standards);
* Online magazine (Majalah : Visi Pustaka (issues Vol. 9 (3) December 2007 - Vol. 10 (1) April 2008);
* E-Resource (ProQuest E-Journals [access via password], Gale E-Books [access via password], Westlaw E-Books [access via password], Ulrichs Global Serials Directory [free access], EBSCO databases [access via password], MyiLibrary [access via password], Sage Reference Online [access via password]);
* Search (Library web site, Library Catalog);
* Location;
* Membership Services;
* ISBN Services;
* Discussion Forum;
* Johannes Rach's paintings (1720-1783);
* National Library of Indonesia's Picture Collections;
* Manuscript Collections National Library of Indonesia [in Sep 2010 this section was not available online];
* Video Collection National Library of Indonesia.

[A bi-lingual (ID, EN) website - ed.]

URL http://www.pnri.go.id/en/default.aspx

Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.pnri.go.id/en/default.aspx

Link reported by: T. Matthew Ciolek (tmciolek--at--coombs.anu.edu.au)

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Corporate info. / Online Guide
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Library
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
V.Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: over 3,000 [in fact, 19,500 links]

Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

22 September 2010

Donald B. Wagner (dbwagner) on Scribd [= Miscellaneous documents on traditional Chinese iron-production techniques and science]

http://www.scribd.com/dbwagner
4star
21 Sep 2010

www.scribd.com, USA.

Supplied note:
"[... There is also] the various random stuff that people put on scribd, facebook, youtube, etc. [...] On my own scribd page I have put scans of a number of things that I need to refer to in teaching and/or web publications: [see the URl below - ed.]. [Please also note that] "takamiyama100" has the full index to Du shi fangyu jiyao, the most important reference work on Chinese historical geography: http://www.scribd.com/takamiyama100 - dbw."

[Dr Donald B. Wagner has published extensively in the history of science and technology in China. He is/was, among other duties, an Associate Editor of 'Ancient East Asia' website (http://www.ancienteastasia.org/) from 2001; Senior Research Fellow, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2001-2003; Associate Senior Research Fellow, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, from 2003; and an Honorary Associate, Needham Research Institute, Cambridge, from 2003. His web site (with a complete list of publications) is at http://www.staff.hum.ku.dk/dbwagner - ed.]

Site contents:
* Corpus des pierres sculptees Han (Estampages) I Planches 101--200, Figures 141--279 Uploaded by: dbwagner -- Corpus des pierres sculptees Han (Estampages) I--II Pekin: Centre d'Etudes Sinologiques, Universite de Paris, 1... Reads:111 Uploaded:04/29/2010
* Corpus des pierres sculptees Han (Estampages) II Planches 1--100, Figures 1--138 Uploaded by: dbwagner -- Corpus des pierres sculptees Han (Estampages) I--II Pekin: Centre d'Etudes Sinologiques, Universite de Paris, 1... Reads:79 Uploaded:04/05/2010
* Corpus des pierres sculptees Han (Estampages) II Table Uploaded by: dbwagner -- Corpus des pierres sculptees Han (Estampages) I--II Pekin: Centre d'Etudes Sinologiques, Universite de Paris, 1... Reads:131 Uploaded:04/04/2010
* Corpus des pierres sculptees Han (Estampages) I Avant-propos, Table Uploaded by: dbwagner -- Corpus des pierres sculptees Han (Estampages) I--II Pekin: Centre d'Etudes Sinologiques, Universite de Paris, 1... Reads:106 Uploaded:04/04/2010
* Corpus des pierres sculptees Han (Estampages) I Planches 1--100, Figures 1--140 Uploaded by: dbwagner -- Corpus des pierres sculptees Han (Estampages) I--II Pekin: Centre d'Etudes Sinologiques, Universite de Paris, 1... Reads:83 Uploaded:04/04/2010
* Jigu suanjing, by Nam Pyong-Gil (1820--1869) Uploaded by: dbwagner -- Nam Pyong-Gil's edition of the Tang mathematical classic Jigu suanjing, by Wang Xiaotong (7th cent. AD)?B Reads:81 Uploaded:03/06/2010
* Light Reading on Asia - some suggestions Uploaded by: dbwagner -- A bibliography of interesting books, compiled by Norman G. Owen, University of Hong Kong, 1997. Reads:1,044 Uploaded:12/17/2009
* Pinel, Read, and Wright: Composition and microstructure of ancient iron castings Uploaded by: dbwagner -- American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, Technical Publication no. 882, 1938. By Maurice L. Pinel, Thomas... Reads:284 Uploaded:12/01/2009
* Otto Johannsen: Eine Anleitung zum Eisenguss vom Jahre 1454 (Ein beitrag zur Geschichte des Eisens) Uploaded by: dbwagner -- Otto Johannsen's article in Stahl und Eisen, 10 August 1910, pp. 1373-1376. The article concerns a German manuscript da... Reads:662 Uploaded:07/29/2009
* Report on samples of steel from the Needham Research Institute, Cambridge, by Alan Williams, 2005 Uploaded by: dbwagner -- Metallographic examination of samples of steel made by the traditional Chinese Su-gang co-fusion steelmaking method. Colle... Reads:202 Uploaded:04/14/2009
* Experiments to reconstruct the ancient Chinese co-fusion steelmaking method, by P. Whitaker, 1956 Uploaded by: dbwagner -- Low Carbon Strips Heated in a Carbon-Monoxide Atmosphere and Forge Welded at Temperatures of 950¡C. to 1000¡C. Strips W... Reads:164 Uploaded:04/14/2009
* Metallographic examinations of Chinese cast iron artefacts by the BCIRA [The British Cast Iron Research Association - ed.], 1957 Uploaded by: dbwagner -- Report on the microstructures of specimens of iron taken from Chinese castings in the Royal Ontario Museum for analysis at... Reads:189 Uploaded:04/14/2009
* All China Makes Iron and Steel, Peking 1959 Uploaded by: dbwagner -- China's Great Leap Forward in iron and steel, 1958-59, with many good photographs of both large ironworks and the controve... Reads:300 Uploaded:12/12/2008
* The coal and mineral resources of Shansi province, China Uploaded by: dbwagner -- Nystroem, Erik T. The coal and mineral resources of Shansi province, China, analytically examined. Stockholm 1912. Reads:608 Uploaded:06/30/2008

URL http://www.scribd.com/dbwagner

Internet Archive (web.archive.org) [the site was not archived at the time of this abstract]

Link reported by: Donald B. Wagner (dwag--at--alum.mit.edu)

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Documents / Study
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
V. Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

21 September 2010

[The Art of] Chinese Storytelling

http://www.shuoshu.org/
5star
21 Sep 2010

www.shuoshu.org, Aaneby, Norway.

Self-description:
"Initiators: # Vibeke Bordahl - Text; # Jette Ross (1936-2001) - Photos; # Jens-Christian Sorensen - Design; [....] The creation of this website was funded substantially by the S.C.Van Foundation (Daloon Foundation), Denmark."

Site contents:
* About the website;
* Chinese Storytelling (# A Short Introduction, # Oral and Written Literature: 1. Literature in the oral and written media, 2. The variability and evanescence of oral literature, 3. Chinese written literature in literary and vernacular style, 4. The status of oral literature in traditional China, 5. Oral-related texts, 6. The question of 'true orality' in orally performed arts. # Professional Storytelling: 1. The performed narrative arts of China--quyi, 2. General features of the performed arts, 3. Various forms of storytelling and Yangzhou storytelling, 4. The performance situation of pingshu and pinghua, 5. The spoken language of storytelling, 6. Contents of storytelling, 7. Yangzhou storytelling and storysinging. # History and Milieu: 1. The eternal storyteller, 2. The origins of professional storytelling in China, 3. Telling and singing figurines from the Han dynasty, 4. "Transformation" performances from the Tang dynasty, 5. Professional storytelling during the Song dynasty, 6. Storytelling, storybooks and folkbooks from Yuan to Ming, 7. Four hundred years of Yangzhou storytelling, 8. Life of Liu Jingting (1587-ca. 1670), "Father of Chinese Storytelling", 9. Liu Jingting in performance, 10. The milieu of storytelling in old Yangzhou, 11. The traditional storytellers' house--shuchang, 12. The storytelling event of the recent past, 13. Great Enlightenment Storytellers' House, 14. The storytelling event today, 15. Other arenas of storytelling. # Masters and Disciples: 1. "The father of storytelling", 2. Early masters, 3. Schools of storytelling, 4. Deng School of Water Margin, 5. Song School of Water Margin, 6. Li School of Three Kingdoms, 7. Ren School of Three Kingdoms, 8. Dai School of Journey to the West, 9. The repertoires, 10. Water Margin in Yangzhou Storytelling, 11. The Wang school of Water Margin, 12. Three Kingdoms in Yangzhou storytelling, 13. Journey to the West in Yangzhou storytelling, 14. Transmission of the art and training of disciples, 15. Oral transmission and teaching from the heart, 16. Written librettos for storytelling. # Elements of Performance: 1. Storytellers' Terms and Sayings, 2. The storytellers' house -- 'the place', 3. The performance -- 'a day of storytelling', 4. A storytelling engagement, 5. Stage properties, 6. The storytellers' dress, 7. Gestures and face expressions, 8. Verbal art, 9. "Talk" and "mouth", 10. "Square Mouth" and "Round Mouth", 11. Telling the tale, 12. Humour and digression. # Sagas of Storytelling: 1. Three sagas of Yangzhou storytelling, 2. Water Margin -- Shuihu, 3. Three Kingdoms -- San guo, 4. Journey to the West -- Xiyou ji);
* Research Projects (# Traditional Oral Culture in the Modern Media World of Asia - The case of Chinese Storytelling, # Chinese Storytelling: The Interplay of Oral and Written Traditions in Popular Culture, # Large-scale Registration of Chinese Storytelling, # Translation of The Oral Tradition of Yangzhou Storytelling into Chinese: Yangzhou pinghua tantao);
* Research Database (# Four Masters of Chinese Storytelling - On-line catalogue of the VCD collections from the project: Large-scale Registration of Chinese Storytelling 2001-2003, # The Chinese Storytelling Research Database [under construction]);
* Publications (Books, Articles, Radio and TV-programs and Exhibitions);
* Bibliography (Bibliography, Glossary);
* Conferences (Future conferences, Recent conferences: 2004-2009);
* Yangzhou Club ["[A] cross-disciplinary platform and meeting ground for researchers who are interested in the old cultural town of Yangzhou, situated at the junction of the Grand Canal and the Yangzi river."];
* Links (Storytelling and Storytellers worldwide, Chinese Storytelling and related topics).

[A tri-lingual (EN, DK, CN) website - ed.]

URL http://www.shuoshu.org/

Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.shuoshu.org/

Link reported by: Donald B. Wagner (dwag--at--alum.mit.edu)

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Study / Online Guide / Corporate Info.
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 100

Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

20 September 2010

UDL Online Theses and Dissertations [from Malaysia]

http://www.udltheses.com/
4star

Universe Digital Library (UDL), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Self-description:
[There are no published details of this commercial web site with over 10,000 full-text theses and dissertations, all accessible via a subscription and password - ed.]

Site contents:
* Search (by Title, by Author, by Publisher, by Date, by Keywords, Advanced search);
* Browse by
(# Content Type - Dissertation (8172 dissertations), Theses (Ph.D.), (986), Journal Articles (2007);
# Subject - Agriculture (73), Art & Social Sciences (862), Built Environment (9), Business & Accountancy (786), Computer Science & I.T (484), Cultural Care (8), Dentistry (169), Economics & Administration (903), Education (1610), Engineering (395), Islamic Studies (677), Languages & Linguistics (730), Law (93), Malay Studies (87), Medicine (736), Postgraduate Studies (97), Principalship Studies (124), Science (1310);
# Year - 2010 (100), 2009 (351), 2008 (446), 2007 (1102), 2006 (1069), [...], 1956 (1), 1953 (2), 1951 (1);
# Publisher - University of Malaya (9166), Addleton Academic Publisher (852), Informing Science Institute (1066), University of the Punjab (81);
# Language - Bahasa Malaysia (3090), English (8067));
* Top 10 Ranking (01 - The Tamils of Sri Lankan origin in the history of West Malaysia : 1885- 1965, 02 - A study of the Indian Christian community in Peninsular Malaysia, 03 - Selected equity aspects of public finance in Malaysia, 04 - A biography of William Shellabear : soldier, missionary, and scholar of Malaysia, 05 - A study of the Saiva Siddhanta principles in Periyapuranam, 06 - Pembangunan sosioekonomi dan kesannya ke atas umur kahwin pertama dan kesuburan di Semenanjung Malaysia, berdasarkan data MFLS-II, 07 - Women political elites in Bangladesh : their characteristics and process of political socialisation, 08 - A fuzzy regression model for the prediction of oral cancer susceptibility, 09 - Model keberkesanan pengurusan fasiliti perumahan bertingkat bukan kos rendah di Malaysia, 10 - Import Substitution and Structural Change In The West Malaysian Manufacturing Sector 1959 - 1970);
* Refwork;
* Subscription;
* Contact Us;
* Sign In.

URL http://www.udltheses.com/

Internet Archive (web.archive.org) [the site was not archived at the time of this abstract]

Link reported by: Info (info--at--udltheses.com)

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Study
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Business
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
V. Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 300

Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

16 September 2010

Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC), Bhutan

http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/index.en.html
5star
The Asian Studies WWW Monitor: Sep 2010, Vol. 17, No. 11 (316)
--------------------------------------------------------------
16 Sep 2010

Dzongkha Development Commission, Thimphu, Bhutan

Self-description:
"The Dzongkha Development Commission is the leading institute in the country for the advancement of Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan. It is an independent organisation established by the Fourth King of Bhutan, His Majesty the King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, in 1986.
To preserve and promote the use of Dzongkha, the office carries out planning for the implementation of Dzongkha through the education system and public service of the country as well as codification and elaboration of the language. Codification essentially takes the form of writing grammars, dictionaries, and orthographical rules, etc. in order to standardize the language. Elaboration or functional development includes terminological modernisation and the coining of new words as required.
The office is also continually dedicated to developing standards based support and increased functionality for Dzongkha on all popular computing platforms. The most widely used computing system for Dzongkha is the Unicode based system developed and delivered by this office, which works well on all recent versions of the MS Windows, Linux, & Apple OSX operating systems; on the Internet and in applications such as OpenOffice, Microsoft Office and Adobe's InDesign. In future we hope to develop support for Dzongkha on mobile computing and communications devices."

Site contents:
* Introduction (Background, Missions & Objectives, Plans & Policies, Strategies, DDC Staff);
* Commission;
* Reference Material (Dzongkha Dictionaries, Dzongkha Grammar, Other Reference Material);
* Research (Research & Archive Section, Lexicography Section, Promotion & Dissemination Section);
* Literary (Literary Section, Translation & Editorial Section, Design & Publication Section);
* IT (# Instructions for Installation of Dzongkha Unicode [MS Windows 7 and Windows Vista, MS Windows XP, Apple Macintosh OSX, Linux], # Instructions for Configuring Applications [Open Office, Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Word 2007, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer]; # Download Dzongkha Unicode Files [Dzongkha Fonts, Dzongkha Locale (for Windows 7 & Vista), Dzongkha Keyboard for Windows (all versions), Dzongkha Keyboard Layout Diagram - pdf format, Update Uniscribe (for Windows XP only), Dzongkha Templates for OpenOffice, Dzongkha Templates for Word]);
* Publications (Recent Publications [incl. Dawai Ozer. 2009. A Dzongkha Spelling Guide for Beginners, ISBN 978-99936663127], List of Publications 1998-2010);
* News (News, Announcements);
* Online Dzongkha Dictionary [http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/online/dictionary.php];
* Online Dzongkha-English Dictionary [http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/online/dictionaries/dz-en-dict/index.html#English];
* Links [incl. The National Library & Archives of Bhutan];
* Contact.

[A bi-lingual (BT,EN) site - ed.]

URL http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/index.en.html

Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt

Link reported by: Christopher Fynn (chris.fynn--at--gmail.com)

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Corporate info. / Study / News / Online Guide
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Government
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 100

Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

14 September 2010

Securing the Future for Elephants in India - The Report of the Elephant Task Force

http://www.moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/ETF_REPORT_FINAL.pdf
5star
14 Sep 2010

Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, New Delhi, India.

Supplied note:
"Dear colleagues, As you may know, India despite a human population density now approaching 400 per sq.kilometer or 1000 per square mile, supports several rare macrofauna including the only surviving Asian lions, and most of the fast-dwindling tiger, elephant and rhinoceros populations of Asia. A major study of study of the status of the Indian elephant has just been released and should be available at the link below. - Sumit Guha, Rutgers University."

Self-description:
"Securing the Future for Elephants in India - The Report of the Elephant Task Force, Ministry of Environment and Forests, August 31, 2010 [by] Dr Mahesh Rangarajan, Mr Ajay Desai, Dr R Sukumar, Dr PS Easa, Mr Vivek Menon, Dr S Vincent, Ms Suparna Ganguly, Dr BK Talukdar, Mr Brijendra Singh, Dr Divya Mudappa, Dr Sushant Chowdhary, Mr AN Prasad."

Site contents:
Acknowledgements pp. i

Table of Contents pp. iv

Executive Summary pp. 1

1. Chapter 1 : Introduction pp. 9

2. Chapter 2 : Establishing a better Governance Model pp. 15

3. Chapter 3 : Upgrading Research and Monitoring Systems pp. 27

4. Chapter 4 : Securing Elephant Landscapes pp. 40

(a). Survey of elephant landscapes pp. 41

(b). Elephant corridors pp. 54

(c). Development activities and Elephant landscapes pp. 59

5. Chapter 5 : Mitigating Human?Elephant Conflict pp. 71

6. Chapter 6 : Anti Poaching, Trade and International Ivory Issues pp. 91

7. Chapter 7 : Compassionate care for Captive Elephants pp. 106

8. Chapter 8 : A Global lead for India in elephant conservation 1pp. 20

9. Chapter 9 : Taking Gajah to the People pp. 124

10. Chapter 10 : Summary of Major Recommendations [Recommendations on Governance and Law, Recommendations on Estimation, Monitoring and Research, Recommendations on Securing Elephant Corridors, Recommendations on Control of Poaching and Ivory Trade, Recommendations on the Welfare of Captive Elephants, Human-Elephant Conflict - Recommendations for Mitigating Conflict, Recommendations on Awareness and Outreach, Recommendation on taking the Global Lead in Elephant Conservation - ed.] pp. 129

References pp. 143

Annexures
I. List of Submissions pp. 152

II. List of Hearings pp. 157

III. Elephant Reserves in India pp. 158

IV a. Priority I Elephant Corridors pp. 162

IV b. Priority II Elephant Corridors pp. 163

V. Guidelines for Perspective Plans pp. 166

VI. Flow diagram of elephant monitoring pp. 170

VII. Enumeration of Elephants 2005: Guidelines for calculating Dung Decay Rate for Elephant Reserves by Retrospective Method pp. 171

VIII. Elephant Census 2005: Methodology and Dates pp. 177

URL http://www.moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/ETF_REPORT_FINAL.pdf

[A PDF document some 1 MB strong - ed.]

Internet Archive (web.archive.org( [the site was not archived at the time of this abstract]

Link reported by: Sumit Guha (sguha--at--history.rutgers.edu), forwarded by h-asia--at--h-net.msu.edu

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Study
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Government
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

13 September 2010

History of Gardens in East Asia

http://inside.bard.edu/~louis/gardens/index.html
4star
13 Sep 2010

Francois Louis, Bard Graduate Center, New York, NY, USA

Self-description:
"The Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture is a graduate institute affiliated with Bard College that opened in New York City in 1993. Today the BGC offers two programs of study, one leading to a master of arts degree and the other to a doctor of philosophy degree. Students in these programs can select from a wide array of courses dealing with various aspects of the cultural history of the material world. [...]
[Author's details:] Francois LOUIS, Associate Professor. MA, PhD, University of Zurich. Editor-in-chief, Artibus Asiae; lecturer, University of Zurich; assistant curator, Museum Rietberg Zurich. Books include Die Goldschmiede der Tang und Song- Zeit; An Index of Gold and Silver Artifacts Unearthed in the People’s Republic of China (coauthor); Chinesisches Gold und Silber (editor and contributing author). Articles include “The Hejiacun Rhyton and the Chinese Wine Horn: Intoxicating Rarities and their Antiquarian Legacy,” Artibus Asiae; “Written Ornament—Ornamental Writing: Birdscript of the Early Han Dynasty and the Art of Enchanting,” Ars Orientalis; “The Genesis of an Icon: The Taiji Diagram’s Early History,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies; “Shaping Symbols of Privilege: Precious Metals and the Early Liao Aristocracy,” Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies."

Site contents:
* Online resources (# Gardens of China (General, Old Depictions of Gardens [rubbings, handscrolls, photographs, Jiangnan Gardens, Beijing Gardens, Yuanming Yuan, Plants, Horticulture, and Botany); # Gardens of Japan; # Gardens of Korea; # Additional Resources)).
* Bibliography China [1743 - 2009]
["The following bibliography lists studies in Western languages on the history and appreciation of gardens in China. For a comprehensive, topically ordered bibliography of 20th-century studies (including those in Chinese and Japanese) refer to Stanislaus Fung's "Guide to secondary sources on Chinese gardens," in Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes 18, 3 (Autumn 1998), 269-286.]
* Bibliography Japan ["This page is under construction. For an annotated introductory bibliography go to Professor Olds' website, The Japanese Garden" http://learn.bowdoin.edu/japanesegardens/index.html].

URL http://inside.bard.edu/~louis/gardens/index.html

Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://inside.bard.edu/~louis/gardens/index.html

Link reported by: T. Matthew Ciolek (tmciolek--at--coombs.anu.edu.au)

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Online Guide / Study
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
V.Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

09 September 2010

The Academy of Korean Studies (AKS)

http://www.aks.ac.kr/eng_home/main/main.asp
5star
09 Sep 2010

The Academy of Korean Studies (AKS), Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

Self-description:
"The Academy of Korean Studies was founded by the Korean Government [...in] June 1978 with the purpose of establishing in-depth research on the essence of Korean culture. [...] We will continue to work hard to maintain the Academy as the international academic hub for Korean Studies by conducting comprehensive research on Korean culture, providing education for young leaders in Korean Studies, and enhancing the digitalization of Korean Studies materials. We place our trust in your encouragement and cooperation in order to accomplish these missions together."

Site contents:
* Introduction (President's Message, Foundation Purpose, History, Faculty, Campus Life, Campus Map, Directions, Campus Tour);

* Research (Research and Publications [# Main Research Topics: Basic research on Korean Studies, Diagnosis of contemporary society and seeking future goals, Reappraisal of modern and contemporary Korean history, Korean community worldwide,
# Representative Research Publications: Collections of Korean Oral Literature, Collections of Korean Dialects, The Korean Translation and Annotation of Sam-gook-sa-gi, The Korean Translation and Annotation of Sam-guk-yu-sa, The Korean Translation and Annotation of the Economic Section in the Koryosa, The Korean Translation and Annotation of Kyong-Kuk Dae-Jun, The Korean Translation of Writings by Yi-i, An Outline of the History of Korean Thought, Collected Materials of Korean Independent Movement History, Selected Collection of Base Materials for Korean Studies, Compilation of Historical Materials of Korean Education, Ritual Texts of the Late Choson Period, Compilation of Materials on Rite Rules of the Choson Period, Historical Materials of Painting and Calligraphic Works on Cho-Sun Wang-Jo Sil-lok, Articles on Music in the Veritable Records of the Choson Period],
Academic Conferences, Korean Studies Colloquium, World Congress for Korean Studies, Research on Korean Modern History, Publications);

* Graduate School of Korean Studies (Greetings, Foundation Aim and History, Information, Admission, Special Feature, Research Program (non-degree));

* Jangseogak Library (Jangseogak Library, Information for Users);

* Digitalization of Korean Studies (# Korean Studies Information Center, # Korean Studies on Net [incl. five databases: Korean Figures of Many Generations, a List of Successful Candidates in the Joseon dynasty, Joseon Pictures over 500 Years, a Korean National Culture Dictionary, and an Index of Korean Studies], # Digital library of Korean Studies [multimedia digital library, which holds 40,000 volumes of old documents owned by Jangseo-gak and the library itself, 2,300,000 pages of original texts of ancient documents, 1,200,000 pages of our institutions publications, 6,000 pages of the bibliographical notes of ancient documents, and various audio materials], # Encyclopaedia of Korean Culture [Digitalized Korean National Cultural Encyclopedia (CD-ROM): a total of 70,000 items, 45,000 pages of script and 40,000 photos], # Digitalization of Local Culture, #Digitalization of Historical Materials [incl.: The Korean Royal court culture history materials, Hangul novel materials, Basic Korean history dictionary, Ancient documents owned by reputable families, Unofficial history of Joseon and diary materials, Paintings on Korean culture, Korean literature which has been handed down orally in Korean Clans, Korean folk song overview, Korean dialect materials]);

* International Cooperation (International Cooperation, Institution Grant, AKS Fellowship, Korean Studies Grant, Culture Program for Embassy Staff, Culture Program for Students & Scholars, Korean Studies Colloquium, Korean Studies Net, World Congress for Korean Studies, International Conference on Korean Studies);
* Understanding Korea (Director's Greetings, Introduction, Homepage of Understanding Korea);

* News and Notice (2010 AKS Visiting Scholar Grant for Koren Studies, Admission Guide for International Students, Information session at AAS, Philadelphia, 2010 International Hanmun Summer Workshop, 2010 Application Guidelines, Strategic Initiative for Korean Studies);

* AKS Projects (Understanding Korea Community, Digital Encyclopedia of Korean Local Culture, Digitalization of Old Books and Documents in Jangseogak Library, Research Promotion of Korean Studies, Research Projects of Basic Studies;
* Korean Studies Resources ([White Paper] Korean Studies Net (KSNet), [Resources] Gateway to Korean Studies , [e-dictionary] Glossary of Korean Studies, [Culture and Art] Korean Old Documents, [e Book] Anthology of Korean Studies);

* Evens and Seminars (2006 The World Congress of Korean Studies, The World Koreanists Forum 2005);

* Bulletin Board;
* Email;
* Sitemap;
* Directions;
* [The site in] Korean.

URL http://www.aks.ac.kr/eng_home/main/main.asp

Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.aks.ac.kr/eng_home/main/main.asp

Link reported by: T. Matthew Ciolek (tmciolek--at--coombs.anu.edu.au)

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Corporate info. / Study / Online Guide
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Government
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

02 September 2010

OldChinaPhotography.com: Nineteenth-Century Chinese Photography

http://www.oldchinaphotography.com/
4star
02 Sep 2010

oldchinaphotography.com, Purley, Surrey, UK.

Self-description:
"About This Site: Interest in early photography in China is growing rapidly. The purpose of this site is to encourage that growth by giving access to images of and information about Qing-Dynasty photography. This site is for historical photography only; the cut-off date is 1911 - the end of the Qing Dynasty.
The Terry Bennett Collection of original Qing-Dynasty photographs covers the period 1844-1911, and this site will illustrate a selection of images from that collection."

Site contents:
* Terry Bennett Collection of Early Chinese Photography (# The Collection -- An Overview: The collection includes more than 8,600 original photographs of China and China-related subjects, the vast majority of which cover the period 1844-1911. The collection is an important archive which contains the work of most, if not all of the important nineteenth-century photographers, Chinese and Western. The major events which shaped Chinese history are included and a very large number of the photographs have not been previously published. The collection includes 66 albums of photographs plus approximately 4,000 individual photographs, including many multi-plate panoramas.
# Photographers: John Thomson; Afong Lai; William Saunders; Charles Weed; Tung Hing; Jules Itier; Yamamoto Sanshichiro; John Dudgeon; Milton Miller; Kung Tai; Mee Cheung; Milton Miller; S. Dutton; L. Fisler; St. J. H. Edwards; Emil Riisfeldt; R.C. Hurley; Paul Champion; Pierre Rossier; Charles A. Killie; Wilhelm Burger; Paul-Emile Berranger; Yu Xunling; D.K. Griffith; A.T. Piry; Walter Pontin; James Ricalton; Herbert Ponting; John Wilson; Louis Legrand; Charles Dupin; George Rose; D.R. Clark; C.E. Lemunyon; de Saint Priest; Jacques-Philippe Potteau; W.Tai Fong; Shang Wo; Franz Scholz; Ueno Hikoma; H. Salzwedel & Co; Gustave R. Lambert; Suzuki Tadashi; Wing-Chong; Ying Cheong; Tsoi Cheong; Seng Yuen; Apong & Co; Chow Kwa; Shing Cheung; Cheong-Heng; Ly-Chim; Hang Chung; Yee Cheong; W.G.Todd; Sang-Cheong; Dinmore Bros; Ye-Chung; Tin-Sing; F.Schoenke; Pun-Lun; On-Qua; Hing-Qua John & Co; Man-Foc; Yung Fong; Baron Raimund von Stillfried-Ratenicz; W.H.Harlow, Charles-Edouard Hocquard,H.C. Cammidge, John Papillon and many others ...
# Albums: Felix Beato; John Thomson [Illustrations of China and its People -- 4 Volumes]; Afong Lai; Tung Hing; Mee Chung; R.C.Hurley; William Saunders; Thomas Child; William Floyd; Charles Hocquard -- 1884-85 Franco/Sino War; John Dudgeon; Queen's College Hong Kong -- 4 albums of college life etc; Paul Champion; St. J.H. Edwards; Hankow and the Shanghai Steam Navigation Co.; Shanghai Race Club Amateur Circus, 1870s; Jinghan Railway Construction [Beijing-Hankou]; Early 1850s albums of Shanghai; Charles Killie [Boxer Photos taken During Actual Seige] and many others ...
# Events: 1857 Anglo/French bombardment of Canton (Guangzhou); 1860 Opium War; 1869 Hong Kong Visit of Duke of Edinburgh; 1873 Hong Kong Typhoon; 1876 First Railway in China [Shanghai-Woosung]; 1876 Chinese representation at Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia; 1878 International Exposition, Paris -- Chinese Works of Art; 1883-85 Franco-Chinese War; 1894 Hong Kong Plague; 1898-1905 Construction of Jinghan Railway [Beijing-Hankou]; 1900 Boxer Uprising; 1908 Funeral of Emperor; 1908 Funeral of Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi; 1910-11 Changchun and Manchurian Plague; 1911 Chinese Revolution; and many others ...
# Places: Canton (Guangzhou); Tientsin (Tianjin); Macao; Hankow; Foochow (Fuzhou); Peking; Hong Kong; Shanghai; Amoy (Xiamen); Formosa (Tainan); Chefoo (Yentai); Swatow (Shantou); Wuchow (Wuzhou); Wuhu; Nanking (Nanjing); Ningpo (Ningbo); Summer Palace [comprehensive coverage of the ruined Yuanmingyuan area]; Soochow (Suzhou); Ninghua; Harbin (Ha'erbin); Haikou; Jiujiang; Hangchow (Hangzhou); Taku (Dagu); Chengdu; Wenchow (Wenzhou) and many others ...
# Special Items: 1844 daguerreotype of Macau by Jules Itier [earliest photograph of China]; Group of Milton Miller 1860s photos of Chinese Mandarins [...]);
* Items for Sale (Books, Photographs, Other Items);
* Research (Articles & Research on Old Chinese Photography: # China, # The Search for Rossier -- Early Photographer of China & Japan);
* Contact us;
* Links;
* Full searchable listing of the collection (PDF - 1.6MB);
* Sample images from the collection;
* Latest News (6 Aug 2010 - Sample Images From the Collection - Uploading Completed, 4 Jul 2010 - Sample Images From the Collection, 22 Aug 2009 - New Research Findings: Felix Beato, Milton Miller & Charles Parker, 17 Nov 2008 - Major new work on Chinese photo history to be published!).

URL http://www.oldchinaphotography.com/

Internet Archive (web.archive.org) [the site was not archived at the time of this abstract]

Link reported by: Tom Burnett (tom.burnett--at--wsaccess.com)

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Documents / Corporate info. / Study / Online Guide
* Publisher [academic - business - government - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Business
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
V. Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com