Latest New Features at EpistemeLinks

In the past six weeks or so I've added several cool new features to EpistemeLinks. Here are the highlights:

Custom Search Engines
EpistemeLinks now provides four "custom search engines." These are provided in conjunction with the Google Co-Op program, which allows one to define a range of domains or websites to be included in a particular search database. EpistemeLinks provides a custom search engine for each of the following:

1. Encyclopedia entries from the SEP and IEP
2. Philosophy encyclopedia entries from a broader range of resources (SEP and IEP, plus Wikipedia, Encarta, and more)
3. The philosophy E-Texts that are linked in the E-Texts section (some 2,100+ of them!)
4. The philosophy blogs linked in the Blogs section (some 170+ of them!).

These are each available from their relevant sections at the site, but also from a master Custom Search Engines page.

Google Gadgets
EpistemeLinks now provides several "Google Gadgets". These are blocks of content from the EpistemeLinks database that can be displayed on your own website, such as your personal homepage, philosophy department website, and so on. The appearance of the content can be set by the user (height, width, border style), and it is very easy to make use of these on your webpages - just add one line of HTML code! The Gadgets currently available include:

1. The current date's philosopher birthdays and dates of death.
2. A random quotation selected from a set of famous philosopher quotes in the EpistemeLinks database.
3. Search the pages of the EpistemeLinks website.
4. Search the Philosophy E-Texts linked at EpistemeLinks (using the CSE mentioned above)
5. Search the Philosophy Blogs linked at EpistemeLinks (using the CSE mentioned above)
6. Search the entries of the SEP and IEP (using the CSE mentioned above)
7. Search a broader set of philosophy encyclopedia entries (using the CSE mentioned above)

For information on all of these, see the Google Gadgets page.

Two RSS Feeds
EpistemeLinks is pleased to offer its first two RSS feeds. The first RSS feed provides announcements about what's new at the site. The other RSS feed is for Philosophy Events, and includes each new philosophy event that is added to the Events Calendar, in the order that they are added (links added in the past two months are included). In this way, the RSS feed serves as a timely conference announcements resource.

Job Listings Database
EpistemeLinks.com now includes individual job listings in philosophy in its database. Like all areas of EpistemeLinks, browsing this section is free and open to the public. The job listings data provided in this section is submitted from the respective employers (which of course will be mostly, but perhaps not exclusively, philosophy departments with faculty openings). To submit a job listing, employers are to use the Job Listing web form.

Please note that at present this feature is in *beta-testing.* Once a dozen or so job listings are included, they will be searchable by AOS/AOC topic areas, state/province/country location, and other criteria. For now, all are shown on one page, sorted by date added. Further, at this time job listings are *free*, and will remain so until 15 job listings have been included. At that time EpistemeLinks will charge the employers $50 per job listing going forward. The job listings will remain open and free for users to browse.

EpistemeLinks Multimedia Presentation, with Demos

Over at EpistemeLinks I have created a rich multimedia presentation that gives an overview and introduction to the site. This presentation is 15-minutes in length, describes the overall EpistemeLinks project, and includes two demos of the features of the site (the demos can also be viewed separately). This presentation, including the two demos, is intended for anyone who is new to the site. It can also be used in classrooms to introduce students to the EpistemeLinks resource, either in whole or in part (e.g., the entire presentation, parts of it, or just one or both of the demos).

Update on New Features at EpistemeLinks

I thought I would update readers on enhancements I've made at EpistemeLinks over the past 2 months. Here are the highlights:

• Audio and Video - I have combined and expanded the former Audio and Video sections into one Audio and Video section. This section provides a database of nearly 1,000 links to philosophy-related audio and video content, including audiobooks, lectures, radio interviews and discussions, and more, all available on audiotape, CD, VHS, DVD, or various online formats (Windows, QuickTime, RealTime, MP3, MPEG, and so on). These links are searchable by philosopher, topic, title keyword, and more.

• Course Materials - I've expanded the Course Materials section. This section now provides links to course websites as long as they at least provide a syllabus. (In the past, more robust materials such as lecture notes or handouts were needed to be included.) At the same time, I have added about 100 new links in this section in recent weeks.

• Fun and Humor - I've added functionality and categorization to the Fun and Humor section, which contains links to philosophy-related jokes, satire, cartoons, games, and other fun stuff. You can now see the entire list of links (nearly 100), or you can filter the links to see only those categorized by a particular philosopher or topic.

• Selected Books - I've added a new page that provides a list of Selected Books, with links to Amazon.com and Half.com. So far, the books included are several hundred from popular book series as well as a few dozen general reference titles in philosophy. More will be added in the future.

• Philosophers Timeline - I've added a new page that provides a Philosophers Timeline based on the birth dates of the philosophers included at EpistemeLinks.

• Over 500 new or updated links at the site... bringing the total links in the database to around 20,000.

Introducing EpistemeLinks, Inc. - A Not-for-Profit Corporation

Just a brief blog entry to announce the creation of EpistemeLinks, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation that exists to support the maintenance and growth of the EpistemeLinks website project. I started the project in 1997, and since then it has grown a great deal: it currently has a database of over 19,000 well-categorized links to philosophy resources on the Internet, and receives over 7,000 unique visits per day. The site is widely used by professors, students, and those in the broader philosophical community.

The corporation was officially created earlier this year, but this past week I finally made this news public on the site with this brief announcement page.