This is a bookmarking and news aggregation site.

I have several aims with the site: track my own reading habits on the web; compile a growing and searchable database of northern news stories and related issues; and promote different sites and resources offering creative and innovative approaches to web communications and new media focusing on northern Canada and the arctic.

I am an anthropologist, and I have lived and worked with First Nations communities in northern Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the arctic. I am currently completing a PhD in anthropology at the University of Chicago. I am also an avid wilderness canoer, and have traveled widely in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. Arctos Canadensis is a component of a larger site (blog, library, and travelogue), and brings together many of my interests in film, anthropology, canoeing, sustainable development, First Nations, graphic arts, natural history, new media, and web design.

Over time I hope to provide additional search and visualization tools for browsing news stories on the site. The database can be viewed as an expanding reference library for users, and can hopefully lead to additional opportunities for web exploration and discovery, departure points for research and enjoyment, and appreciation for the diversity and creativity of new media experiments and innovative web design. Please forward any suggestions you may have to improve the site and make it relevant to a general audience. I am interested in learning from others and building a shared sense of community and mutual interest around northern topics and themes.

Colophon:

Arctos (ark-tos): is the greek word for “bear.” It frequently appears in taxonomies for genus and species: such as ursus arctos beringianus (the Siberian Brown Bear), arctostaphylos rubra (Red Bearberry, sometimes called kinnikinnik), and chrysomyxa arctostaphyli (Spruce Broom Rust, a source of Witches’ Broom in Spruce trees). As a loan word in Latin, it also sometimes has the meaning “north pole,” “north wind,” “polar region,” and “night.”

Canadensis (can-ah-den-sis): a taxonomic identifier like groenlandica, europaea, or alpina indicating regional distinctiveness or varieties.