I. LEADING THINK TANKS and CONSORTIA on:
Think Tanks on International Affairs by CFR
1. Climate change and environment
Brookings, Center for American Progress (CAP), Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), Chatham House,Earth Institute, Ecologic, German Marshall Fund (GMF), Nicholas Institute, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), World Resources Institute (WRI), and Worldwatch.
2. Economy and economic Policy
National Bureau for Economic Research (NBER), International Institute for Economics/Peterson, Brookings, American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Center for Budget & Policy Priorities (CBPP), Cato, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), Center for American Progress (CAP), Adam Smith Institute.
3. Development
World Bank (WB), Center for Global Development (CGD), Brookings, Center for International Development (CID), Earth Institute, German Development Institute (DIE), Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), and the Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Hudson Insitute (HI), Digital Europe, Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP, Sweden)
4. Foreign policy and Security
Atlantic Council, Brookings, Carnegie Endowment (CEIP), Center for New American Security (CNAS), Chatham House (United Kingdom), Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Crisis Group (ICG), German Marshall Fund (GMF), Hoover Institution, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS, United Kingdom), New America Foundation, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP, Germany), Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI, Sweden), United States Institute for Peace (USIP), Wilson Center, the World Policy Institute, Russian Council of Foreign Relations, ISN-Resources (International Relations and Security Network, ETH), Hoover Institution at Stanford, Defense Science Board (DSB, US Department of Defense), Jihadology (primary source material), National Bureau for Economic Research (NBER), Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), Chatham House, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (Γερμανία), American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI), Adam Smith Institute, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), RAND Corporation, Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP, Sweden), The Diplomat, The Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA, Irland), The Arctic Institute,Canadian Global Affairs Institute, Atlantic Future,
5. Public health
American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Bloomberg School of Public Health (Johns Hopkins), Brookings, Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research (CCHSR), Cato, Center for American Progress (CAP), Center for Studying Health System Change,Department of Health Policy & Management (Harvard School of Public Health), Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy, National Bureau for Economic Research (NBER), New America Foundation, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), RAND, Urban Institute, Institut for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), Center for Health and Economy (primarily focused on USA)
6. Public policy (education, culture, law & justice, urban issues, etc)
American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Brookings, Cato, Center for American Progress (CAP), Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institution, International Institute for Economics/Peterson, National Bureau for Economic Research (NBER), New America Foundation,RAND, Urban Institute, ISN-Resources (International Relations and Security Network, ETH), Hudson Insitute (HI), The John Templeton Foundation (Templeton), Culture in EU's External Relations, Worldwide Governance Indicators (World Bank), Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR), Harvard International Review (HIR), BRINK (The Edge of Risk), The Royal Society,
7. Economic Crime - Corruption - Money Laundering - Fraud - Asset Recovery
fatf-gafi , Hellenic FIU, Transparency International (TI), Anti-Corruption Research Network (ACRN), UN Border Management Database , Anti Money Laundering (lawyer) , KYC360 , Wilmington Risk and Compliance (ICT), IMF (AML & Corruption) ,The Henry Jackson Society (USA), UNDOC, UN Security Council Counter Terrorism Committe, US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Global Financial Integrity, World Bank Governance Indicators, The Bayesian Corruption Index, World Council of Credit Unions, International Federation of Accountants, European Banking Authority AMLTF (EBA), The Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime, The Extractive Industries Transparencey Initiative,RUSI Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies,Cybercrime Consultation and Discussion, International Money-Laundering Information Netweork (IMoLIN), Terrogence (terror expertise), Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος: www.bankofgreece.gr, Επιτροπή Κεφαλαιαγοράς: http://www.hcmc.gr/, Αρχή Προστασίας Δεδομένων Προσωπικού Χαρακτήρα: http://www.dpa.gr/, Αρχή καταπολέμησης της νομιμοποίησης εσόδων από εγκληματικές δραστηριότητες και της χρηματοδότησης της τρομοκρατίας και ελέγχου των δηλώσεων περιουσιακής κατάστασης: http://www.hellenic-fiu.gr/, Επιτροπή Ανταγωνισμού: https://www.epant.gr, Financial Action Task Force: http://www.fatf-gafi.org/, Transparency International: https://www.transparency.org/, European Union: https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en, Εθνική Αρχή Διαφάνειας: http://www.aead.gr/, Moneyval – Council of Europe: https://www.coe.int/en/web/moneyval, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC): https://www.treasury.gov/about/organizational-structure/offices/pages/office-of-foreign-assets-control.aspx, Sanctions List Search: https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/, International Money Fund (IMF): https://www.imf.org/external/index.htm, World Bank: https://www.worldbank.org/, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC): https://www.unodc.org/, Europol - FIU.NET: https://www.europol.europa.eu/about-europol/financial-intelligence-units-fiu-net, Egmont Group: https://egmontgroup.org/en, Interpol – The International Criminal Police Organization: https://www.interpol.int/en
II. GEOGRAPHIC ENGINES
-
- Australia
- Africa and, separately, South Africa
- Canada
- China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan
- Eurozone
- Georgia
- Indonesia
- Latin & Central America and, separately, Brazil
- Russia
- South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal), as well as the
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- Australia
Australia Institute (TAI, Canberra), Australian Institute for International Affairs (AIIA, various locations), Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI, Barton/Canberra), Centre for Independent Studies (CIS, St. Leondard's/Sydney), Centre for Policy Development (CPD, Sydney), Climate Institute (Sydney, Melbourne), Comittee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA, Melbourne et al.), Grattan Institute (Melbourne), HC Coombs Policy Forum/Australian National Institute of Public Policy (ANIPP, at Australian National University, Canberra), Lowy Institute for International Policy (Sydney), Melbourne Institute (Melbourne), Menzies Research Centre (Canberra), and the Strategic and Defense Studies Centre (SDSC, at Australian National University, Canberra), and The Sydney Institute (Sydney)
- Russia - Eurasia
Russia in World Affairs, Russia Matters, Russia Beyond the Headlines, Russia-direct, American Russian Law Institute, Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University, EurasiaNet.org, PONARS Eurasia, stephenshenfield.net - JRL Research & Analytical Supplement, stephenshenfield.net, The Russian Spectrum, U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Ambassador Mike McFaul Blog, Ambassador John Beyrle Blog, U.S. Embassy in Georgia, U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan, Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, Global Zero: A World Without Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Threat Initiative, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Russian Federation, Russian World, Kremlin.ru, Premier.gov.ru, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Russia Profile, Russian Embassy in Washington, Russian UN Mission, NATO-Russia Council, Russian Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate, Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Jamestown Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, Kennan Institute, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Carnegie Moscow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs), Center for the National Interest, Rand, Stratfor, Brookings Institution, Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, Atlantic-Community.org, Arms Control Association, Centre for Eastern Studies, Harriman Institute, Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia, Amnesty International, Open Democracy, Reporters Without Borders, Medicins Sans Frontieres, International Rescue Committee, Freedom House, The Moscow Times, Interfax, REGNUM News Agency, Barents Observer, East View Press, Russian Life, ISN Russia Analytical Digest, Oil & Gas Eurasia, Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, Freedom House, Journal of Contemporary Russian Law Online, Human Life International, RobertAmsterdam.com, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Internations -Expat Community in Russia, School of Russian and Asian Studies (California), Data & Info on Russia by ISN of ETH (Zurich), Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS), Carnegie Moscow Center (Moscow), Centre for Economic and Financial Research at New Economic School(CEFIR, Moscow), European University at St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg), Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy (Moscow), Higher School of Economics (Moscow), INDEM Foundation (Moscow), Institute for Global Research and Social Movements (Moscow), Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO, RAS, Moscow), Yuri Levada Analytical Center (Levada-Center, Moscow) and its Russia Votesproject, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO, Moscow), Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC, Moscow), Davies Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Valdai Club and Royal United Service Institute (RUSI) , Resources on the 1917 revolutions
- Blogs on Russia - Eurasia
Robert Amsterdam, Eastern Approaches (Ed Lucas), Spotlight On Russia, Kevin Rothrock, Siberian Light, Johnson's Russia List, The Moscow Times, Eurasia Daily Monitor, The Russian Front, Window on Eurasia (Paul Goble), Yevgeny Volk (in Russian), The Russia Monitor, Sean's Russia Blog, The Onion Dome, In Moscow's Shadows, FPA Russia Blog, Steve Levine, Inside Russia And Eurasia, Russia Beyond The Headlines, Jamestown Foundation Blog, Russian Military Reform, Russian Sphinx, Russian Defense Policy, Aleksandr Kynev's blog (in Russian), A Good Treaty, Politics And Security In Russia, Putinania, EU-Russia Centre, Da Russophile (Anatoly Karlin), Cicero Foundation, Caucasus File, Russia Watch
III. THEMATIC ENGINES
- Accountability & Governance (also covering anticorruption)
- Conflict Resolution
- International Financial Institutions, globally
- Major Development Donors, globally
- Wikimedia Commons Politics
IV. SMART POLICY SEARCH
Target your search to leading policy research organizations solving a practical problem: search for a policy in findpolicy and get quality results. Other useful search engines of general content could prove to be: look any
V. DATA VISUALISATION RESOURCES
1. Data Visualisation Tools
- Canva: A simple, drag-and-drop, design software that’s completely online and free to use.
- Infogram: Infogr.am is user-friendly interface to help develop creative, interactive infographics.
- Piktochart: Piktochart is a simple WYSIWYG editor to help develop and design charts and infographics.
- Easel.ly: A digital canvas to help develop unique data visualisations.
- Google Fusion Tables: Bust your data out of its silo! Combine it with other data on the web. Collaborate, visualize and share.
- Visual.ly: Create, share and explore great visual content.
- Tableau Software: A free data visualisation tool that can help you create an interactive viz and embed it in your website or share it. Anyone can do it, it’s that easy—and it’s free.
- Datawrapper: An open source tool helping anyone to create simple, correct and embeddable charts in minutes.
- SwayWhat: A platform for creating, sharing and finding data.
- VIDI: A suite of powerful intuitive Drupal data-visualisation modules for anyone to use on any standard set of data ranging from government databases to demographics and statistics.
- IBM Many Eyes: Collection of data visualisations, and a tool for infographics.
- Gapminder: Is a non-profit venture to help make public data from several multi-national organisations accessible.
- D3.js: D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. D3 helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG and CSS.
- Maps expalining the World at Wasington Post
2. Data visualisation blogs and resources
- Drawing by Numbers: Drawing by Numbers is a resource on data visualization for activists. It features a guide on working with data and information for advocacy, and reviews of visualisation tools.
- Examples of innovative think tank communications: A Pinterest Board from WonkComms that includes data visualisations.
- Information is Beautiful: A blog dedicated to distilling the world’s data, information and knowledge into beautiful, interesting and, above all, useful visualisations, infographics and diagrams.
- Guardian Datablog: Facts are sacred, and so is this blog. It is a fine purveyor of open data sets and is full of great ideas about how to make that information accessible.
- On Think Tanks – On Data Visualisation: These blogs have been crafted specifically to support the On Think Tanks Data Visualisation competition. The wider blog also has helpful resources on digital communication.
- Visualising Data: This website provides readers with inspiring insights into the contemporary techniques, resources, applications and best practices in data visualisation.
- Views of the World: A blog that explores the representation of cartographic data.
- Visualizing Information for Advocacy – An Introduction to Information Design: This manual from the Open Society Foundations helps NGOs and advocates strengthen their campaigns and projects through communicating vital information with greater impact
- The Center for Data and Innovation is the leading think tank studying the intersection of data, technology, and public policy.
3. Open Data Sets
- Zanran: A search engine designed to find data and statistics.
4. Sample data visualisations for inspiration
- Ten Brighter Ideas: An interactive exploration of ideas for energy conservation.
- Shark Attack: An infographic from Grist.
5. Data visualisation competitions
- Data Journalism Awards 2013: A competition for journalists — and a great resource for others looking for data visualisation inspiration!
VI. FREE e-books in the internet
1. Greek e-books
- http://gigapedia.com/
- http://www.free-ebooks.net/
- http://www.scribd.com/
- http://www.europeana.eu/portal/
- http://www.epistemelinks.com/Main/MainText.aspx
- http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
- http://www.iue.it/LIB/ElectronicResources/ebooks.shtml
- http://paulocoelhoblog.com/pirate-coelho/
- http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/
- http://www.wattpad.com/
- http://www.archive.org/details/texts
- http://www.howtogeek.com/news/download-the-entire-national-academies-press-library-for-free/5152/
- http://libgen.org
- http://www.openculture.com/2006/10/audio_book_podc.html
- http://www.audioowl.com/
- http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/
- http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/
VII. SCIENCE AND ORTHODOXY
1. Orthodox sites
- Δόγμα
- The Orthodox Church
- Orthodox Christianity and the World
- Eastern Orthodox Christian Forum
- Indian Orthodox
- The Voice of Orthodoxy
- The Orthodox Tube
- Orthodoxy in Switzerland
- The Orthodox Internet
- Orthodox Botswana
2. Universities and Research Centers
VIΙI. OPEN DATA
The World Bank Open Knowledge Center (OKR)
IX. ACADEMIC JOURNALS QUALITY
The International Guide to Academic Journal Quality (The Guide)
X. FUNDING
Fundnet Services [Fundraising & Grants Directory provided at no cost to our visitors. Since 1996 Fundsnet Services has provided resources information about grants, fundraising, philanthropy, foundations and non-profits organizations to those in need of funding and research for their their philanthropic efforts and missions].
Crowdfunding
These 10 crowdfunding sites cover most campaign types or funding goals you might have. Whether you’re looking to fundraise or not, go check out the sites here that grab your attention and get involved in this collaborative community.
1. Kickstarter
Kickstarter is a site where creative projects raise donation-based funding. These projects can range from new creative products, like an art installation, to a cool watch, to pre-selling a music album. It’s not for businesses, causes, charities, or personal financing needs. Kickstarter is one of the earlier platforms, and has experienced strong growth and many break-out large campaigns in the last few years.
2. Indiegogo
While Kickstarter maintains a tighter focus and curates the creative projects approved on its site, Indiegogo approves donation-based fundraising campaigns for most anything — music, hobbyists, personal finance needs, charities and whatever else you could think of (except investment). They have had international growth because of their flexibility, broad approach and their early start in the industry.
3. Crowdfunder
Crowdfunder.com is the platform for raising investment (not rewards), and has a one of the largest and fastest growing network of investors. After getting rewards-based funding on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, companies are often giving the crowd the opportunity to invest at Crowdfunder to raise more formal Seed & Series A rounds. Crowdfunder offers equity crowdfunding currently only from individuals + angels + VCs, and was a leading participant in the JOBS Act legislation.
4. RocketHub
Rockethub powers donation-based funding for a wide variety of creative projects. What’s unique about RocketHub is their FuelPad and LaunchPad programs that help campaign owners and potential promotion and marketing partners connect and collaborate for the success of a campaign.
5. Crowdrise
Crowdrise is a place for donation-based funding for Causes and Charity. They’ve attracted a community of do-gooders and and fund all kinds of inspiring causes and needs. A unique Points System on Crowdrise helps track and reveal how much charitable impact members and organizations are making.
6. Somolend
Somolend is a site for lending for small businesses in the US, providing debt-based investment funding to qualified businesses with existing operations and revenue. Somolend has partnered with banks to provide loans, as well as helping small business owners bring their friends and family into the effort.
With their Midwest roots, a strong founder who was a leading participant in the JOBS Act legislation, and their focus and lead in the local small business market, Somolend has begun expanding into multiple cities and markets in the US.
7. appbackr
If you want to build the next new mobile app and are seeking donation-based funding to get things off the ground or growing, then check out appbackr and their niche community for mobile app development.
8. AngelList
If you’re a tech startup with a shiny lead investor already signed on, or looking for for Silicon Valley momentum, then there are angels and institutions finding investments through AngelList. For a long while AngelList didn’t say that they did crowdfunding, which makes sense as they have catered to the investment establishment of VCs in tech startups, but now they’re getting into the game. The accredited investors and institutions on AngelList have been funding a growing number of top tech startup deals.
9. Invested.in
You might want to create your own crowdfunding community to support donation-based fundraising for a specific group or niche in the market. Invested.in is a Venice, CA based company that is a top name “white label” software provider, giving you the tools to get started and grow your own.
10. Quirky
If you’re an inventor, maker, or tinkerer of some kind then Quirky is a place to collaborate and crowdfund for donation-based funding with a community of other like-minded folks. Their site digs deeper into helping the process of bringing an invention or product to life, allowing community participation in the process.
Fundraising Software
XI. ACADEMIC SEARCH ENGINES
A collection to discover the very best search engine for finding the academic results you’re looking for.
General
Need to get started with a more broad search? These academic search engines are great resources.
- iSEEK Education:iSeek is an excellent targeted search engine, designed especially for students, teachers, administrators, and caregivers. Find authoritative, intelligent, and time-saving resources in a safe, editor-reviewed environment with iSEEK.
- RefSeek:With more than 1 billion documents, web pages, books, journals, newspapers, and more, RefSeek offers authoritative resources in just about any subject, without all of the mess of sponsored links and commercial results.
- Virtual LRC:The Virtual Learning Resources Center has created a custom Google search, featuring only the best of academic information websites. This search is curated by teachers and library professionals around the world to share great resources for academic projects.
- Academic Index:This scholarly search engine and web directory was created just for college students. The websites in this index are selected by librarians, teachers, and educational consortia. Be sure to check out their research guides for history, health, criminal justice, and more.
- BUBL LINK:If you love the Dewey Decimal system, this Internet resource catalog is a great resource. Search using your own keywords, or browse subject areas with Dewey subject menus.
- Digital Library of the Commons Repository:Check out the DLC to find international literature including free and open access full-text articles, papers, and dissertations.
- OAIster:Search the OAIster database to find millions of digital resources from thousands of contributors, especially open access resources.
- Internet Public Library:Find resources by subject through the Internet Public Library’s database.
- Infomine:The Infomine is an incredible tool for finding scholarly Internet resource collections, especially in the sciences.
- Microsoft Academic Search:Microsoft’s academic search engine offers access to more than 38 million different publications, with features including maps, graphing, trends, and paths that show how authors are connected.
- Google Correlate:Google’s super cool search tool will allow you to find searches that correlate with real-world data.
- Wolfram|Alpha:Using expert-level knowledge, this search engine doesn’t just find links; it answers questions, does analysis, and generates reports.