Social science sites of the week

Innovative use of social media in the Pakistan elections.
The Election commission worked with a site called Jaag Pakistan website which aimed to encourage reporting of electoral fraud and violence. This  used crowd sourced technology. View the online map for reported instances.
See our other recommended new sources for the elections and reports from election monitors 


This week the EU referendum question was announced.
See more in our recommended resources. they include links to campaign groups.
Masonic periodicals
This project was undertaken by the Library and Museum of Freemasonryin partnership with King’s College London Digital Humanities and Olive Software. It provides free access to a 14 full text journals which are of importance to the study of the history of the free masons in England. They cover the period from the 18th century to early 20th. Illustrations are included and the site can be browsed or searched by keyword. The site also contains some supporting essays on the importance and history of freemasonry. The website links to the library catalogue  which has further extensive collections on this topic.

Place names of Northern Ireland 
A database that aims to provide information to researchers interested in the history of place names and their origins in Northern Ireland historical. It was produced by the Northern Ireland Place-Name Project, Queen's University Belfast in association with Land and Property Services, Department of Finance and Personnel (Northern Ireland). Contents cover parishes, baroncies and historic administrative districts. The site includes a historical gazetteer, an interactive map of the boundaries and regions , bibliography and list of references to guide further reading

Sweatshops
Following the recent tragedy in Bangladesh- would you pay more for ethical production?
Depressingly A huff/post yougov poll of American shoppers found little awareness about the incident or sources of their clothing
This paper from 2005 found that despite their stated support for free trade coffee consumers often purchased other cheaper brands
Find further economics working papers on repec
Organisations which are campaigning against the use of third world sweatshops
Clean Clothes Campaign-  international alliance of labor unions and non-governmental organizations. Its includes surveys of particular regions  Bangladesh campaigns
 International Labor Rights Fund 
International Labour Organization a specialized agency of the United Nations has statistics on decent work, the informal economy and regional labor
Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights-  founded to combat sweatshop labor and US government policy in El Salvador and Central America. Includes testimonies and news stories from Bangladesh
United Students Against Sweatshops, a student organization in the United States and Canada garment worker campaigns being organised in the USA. 
War on Want has many papers and reports exposing sweatshops on its website see these resources relating to Bangladesh

The trade monitoring database
This new official WTO resource provides detailed information on trade measures implemented by WTO members and observers since October 2008. Trade policy data is taken from the regular trade monitoring reports prepared by the WTO Secretariat. The last update was October 2012
They also have a preferential trade agreements database


Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2013
Useful reference report from Congressional research services Made available on Federation of American Scientists (FAS) website. 23 pages
Provides a list of deployments and missions chronologically. Details on later military missions is more detailed in terms of aims and type of mission.

High speed rail is it worth it.?
This week The National Audit Office issued a report which questioned the strategic case for HS2, in terms of increasing rail capacity and generating regional growth
Find more on the proposed programmes from the

Guardian news stories
The High Speed Two rail network ltd
This includes annual accounts and routes
Dept of Transport policy
Chilterns Conservation Board materials and response.
Stop HS2 campaign
Hs2 action alliance


Portuguese web archive
Aims to conserve pages that have disappeared since 1996 -2011
Collections include  elections and events such as expo 98
Another more developed digital iniative from Portugal is
RCAAP portal aims to collect, aggregate and index open access scientific contents from Portuguese institutional repositories - project Repositório Cientfico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal. RCAAP.
It includes references to theses, articles, reports, and other scientific literature. Topics covered are wide ranging, not just natural sciences also covers Includes psychology, technology. Materials offered in English Spanish, Portuguese. Includes some from other Lausophone regions.

ITU  announced that mobile phones will soon outnumber people.
Get the full facts from their website
It also includes data on other types of technology usage. Other sources of mobile phone data
Nielsen consumer research focuses on the markets but also regularly provides insight into quantity and usage of mobile phones by consumers. Many reports can be downloaded free of charge after registration.
Sources for data on impact of mobiles on life include Pew Internet and American life project
For the UK the Oxford Internet Institute has findings on mobile use of the internet
Finally what are your top 100 websites?
Recently the British Library announced it would be involved in digital legal deposit but which 100 web sites do its specialised curator staff think should be conserved for the future. See their choices!

Social policy reports 13-17th May 2013

Family Permits for EU citizens in Britain Migration watch report

Citizens Advice Scotland publishes research finding that benefits claimants struggle with internet use

the Local Government All-Party Parliamentary Group and the All-Party Parliamentary Disability Group Promoting Independence, Preventing Crisis
Making social care reform work for disabled adults

Nowhere to move- is renting on the shared accommodation rate in London affordable? Homeless Link

Education reports 13-17th may 2013

NFER poll results on teachers spending pupil premium- Fewer than one in five school leaders consult their local authority when deciding how to spend the pupil premium, the government grant for poorer pupils which is now worth nearly £2 billion a year nationally, a new Sutton Trust poll reveals


Massive open online courses: Higher Education's digital moment? Universities UK report The report explores MOOCs’ surge in popularity and discusses whether this signals the beginning of a significant transformation in higher education, similar to those seen in other sectors, such as the newspaper industry.

2013 Student Academic Experience Survey produced jointly by HEPI and Which?
what do students think about contact hours, course content and learning

Economics reports 13-16th May 2013

CBI economic forecast

Council of Mortgage lenders latest report
Securing our economy:
The case for infrastructure - a report for the Civil Engineering Contractors Association

Christian Aid’s report Who Pays the Price? Hunger: The Hidden Cost of Tax Injustice,

The London Finance Commission report,  Raising The Capital,
calls for a council tax revaluation and the introduction of more bands to reflect high property values in the capital.

US Energy Information Association - briefing on UK

Britain is Open for Business Migration watch report  finding Britain's immigration system to be business friendly

Leaving the EU is the key to free trade for British exports
Membership of the European Union costs the British economy at least £31 billion a year, according to a research paper by the independent think tank Civitas.

Hedge Funds 2013 report by  TheCityUK

Health reports 13-17 may 2013

Work Longer, Live Healthier: The relationship between economic activity, health and government policy- IEA report retirment dmaages the health


Online medical records and the doctor-patient relationship
Medical Protection Society (MPS)

The NHS Mandate and its implications for mental health Centre for Mental Health

Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing report
MIND

Growing up in the UK - Ensuring a healthy future for our children- BMA report covers child health, welfare and social policy

Development studies reports 13-17 may 2013

Independent Commission for Aid Impact - Independent Commission for Aid Impact publishes reports on DFID’s Use of Contractors and Programme Partnership Arrangements


Rising debt and falling aid force poor countries to cut spending on health and farmers Oxfam report.

Does the EU make you sick? find more in our EU referendum sources

This week the draft EU referendum question was announced. see more on the Conservative Party website
Interstingly the The Pew Global Attitudes Project released its latest public opinion poll- the

New Sick Man of Europe: the European Union

which showed increasing  negative attitudes towards the EU from members of European countries. Where is support declining the most? Find out from the website.

Get some reaction to the referendum from these  plus information on the legislation
The Guardian has a FAQ Independent Huffington Post Telegraph

Political parties
UKIP reaction
Libdem EU policy

Campaigns

People's campaign for a referendum
Labour for a referendum - new campaign supported by a number of MPs