SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE

WEB GEMS

Save a tree, read a virtual newspaper (and a blog)

BY MARK SHAINBLUM | Join us as we unearth the hidden gems and secret places on the websites of McGill University and its affiliated institutions.

Online Newspapers @ the McGill Library

www.mcgill.ca/library-findinfo/newspapers

A thumbnail view of the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet open in PressDisplay.

We've all gotten so used to reading the news online over the last few years that we take it for granted. However, some newspapers still aren't readily available on the public Internet, while others only offer a stripped-down web edition, missing important content like columns, op-ed pages, photos and advertisements. If you need the true look and feel of the print edition, with all the content in context, nothing can beat the PressDisplay service featured on this McGill Library website. Available free to McGill students, faculty and staff*, PressDisplay gives you access to dozens of newspapers from over 50 countries, from Algeria to Zimbabwe and everything in between. The excellent interface allows you to browse and flip through virtual versions of the actual newspaper. The same website provides six additional commercial newspaper databases, including Factiva and Lexis-Nexis to browse, though there is inevitably some overlap between them. A nice added historical bonus: the Historical Newspapers 1690-1876 and The Globe and Mail: Canada's Heritage from 1844 databases.

Computers, Society and Nature Blog

http://rose.geog.mcgill.ca/wordpress

This blog, published by the McGill School of the Environment (MSE) originated in December 2004 as a humble class blog for "ENVR 480: Computers, Science, and Nature," a course covering the intersection of information and communications technology with society and the environment. Since then, the blog has evolved like Topsy into something more freeform and open, and includes regular opinion posts from MSE faculty and staff on matters environmental and computational. The current entry talks about the launch of Apple's new MacBook Air, a supposedly much more eco-friendly laptop computer.

Have a favourite McGill web gem we haven't covered yet? Tell us about it. Email mark.shainblum@mcgill.ca.