CloseUp

There's something about end-of-the-year lists that we just love. We love how they pull together items we would have never grouped together but we still want to see in one place. The "year's most interesting new fiction", the year's "wealthiest female rock stars", the year's "best new places to get a veggie dog".

Well, not to be bested by either the New York Times or VH1, we have decided to bring you some strange and delightful lists of our own. We actually built most of these lists on strictly quantitative measures, e.g. the most frequently downloaded research. But what's extra cool about the results is that they reflect the extraordinarily broad range of issues being tackled by nonprofits and the diversity of the organizations producing that work. And where else would you see research about volunteering trends right next to research about the war on drugs? Only at IssueLab.

The titles that show below are ones that were added to the archive in 2008. The lists (with only one exception) are based on IssueLab user behavior, rather than on any qualitative measure of what's "best". In the last 11 months alone research has been downloaded from IssueLab 95,354 times!

Drumroll please ...

» The most frequently downloaded research titles
» The most frequently viewed research listing pages
» The IssueLab staff's favorite titles
» The oldest research added to the IssueLab collection in the last year
» Research that was tagged most frequently by IssueLab's LabRats
» The most frequently viewed organizational profile

The most frequently downloaded research titles

Imaging, Keyboarding, and Posting Identities: Young People and New Media Technologies
The MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Initiative
Downloads: 508

Uneven Justice: State Rates of Incarceration by Race and Ethnicity
Sentencing Project
Downloads: 329

Youth-led report on Needs of Homeless LGBTTQQI Youth in SF, CA
Youth In Focus
Downloads: 207

Maximizing the Impact of CSR in China
Human Rights in China
Downloads: 188

Opening Up Education: The Collective Advancement of Education through Open Technology, Open Content, and Open Knowledge
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Downloads: 182

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The most frequently viewed research listing pages

Expanding the Vote: State Felony Disenfranchisement Reform, 1997- 2008
Sentencing Project
Page views: 2,825

Challenges to Fair Elections 2: Provisional Ballots
Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action
Page views: 1,693

Imaging, Keyboarding, and Posting Identities: Young People and New Media Technologies
The MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Initiative
Page views: 1,030

The Machinery of Democracy: Voting System Accessibility
Brennan Center for Justice
Page views: 896

Youth Voting Legislation
Project Vote
Page views: 720

Great Expectations: Boomers and the Future of Volunteering
VolunteerMatch
Page views: 613

From Adequate to Outstanding Performance - Some Propositions on Nonprofit Organization Life Cycles
The Forbes Funds
Page views: 602

Food for Thought: Television Food Advertising to Children in the United States
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Page views: 600

What Works in Youth Media: Case Studies from Around the World
International Youth Foundation
Page views: 598

2010 Olympic Costs and Benefits
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Page views: 598

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The IssueLab staff's favorite titles - titles - not research reports. (Yes, sometimes we do judge a book by its cover!)

Luise
Better Ballots
Brennan Center for Justice

Besides the sweet alliteration, I like that the title is a great representation of how easy to understand, concise and applicable this report is. It gives great visual examples of bad and better ballots, and really gets down to the simple rules of design that can make voting easier for everyone.

Stacy
A Tale of Two Cities
Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board

I like the title because it's recognizable and plays on my own nostalgia. I also like the thought of Charles Dickens producing research. Beyond this, it is a well-produced, succinct view on the unemployment and jobs situation in Philadelphia. It not only acknowledges but embraces the ambiguity and seeming contradictions that can exist in an urban environment.

Lisa
Wal-Mart Rolls-out Organic Products: Market Expansion or Market Delusion?
Cornucopia Institute

This title leapt out at me because I truly do not know the answer -- and I want to. What is "market delusion"? And who has it -- consumers, Wal-Mart execs, capitalism itself? Given the economic moment, and Wal-Mart's place in consumer culture, the title puts irony to good use by juxtaposing the giant box store and organic food concepts. And I am a sucker for irony.

Gabi
Celebrating Pork: The Dubious Success of the Medicare Drug Benefit
Center for Economic and Policy Research

In a sea of titles that start with either the word "assessing" or "building", this title immediately grabbed my attention. Celebrating pork -- why should I? Well, beyond the attention-grabbing play on common sense, this paper does one of my most favorite things. It provides alternative explanations for a social outcome that at first appears to be the result of a specific policy intervention. Look again.

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The oldest research added to the IssueLab collection in the last year. (Lesson: good research stays relevant).

China: Organ Procurement and Judicial Execution in China
Human Rights Watch
Publish date: 1984-08-01

Community Integration Report: Supporting Children and Youthwith Disabilities in Integrated Recreation and Leisure Activities
Syracuse University
Publish date: 1992-01-01

Common Sense: Why jobs and training alone won't end welfare for homeless families
The Institute For Children And Poverty
Publish date: 1996-09-01

For Whom The Bell Tolls: The Institutionalization of Homeless Families in America
The Institute For Children And Poverty
Publish date: 1997-03-01

The VA Health Care System: An Unrecognized National Safety Net
Project HOPE/Health Affairs
Publish date: 1997-07-01

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Research that was tagged most frequently by IssueLab's LabRats

(The first research paper listed here tops the list because it was tagged with the most number of unique tags.)

Dialectical Spaces in the Global Public Sphere: Media Memories across Generations
Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy
Tagged 12 times: citizenship, civic_engagement, digital, global, globalization, internet, journalism, media_education, online_behaviors, socialmedia, teen_consumption, youthmedia

Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Tagged 12 times: content_creation, digitallearning, gaming, internet, media_education, mobile, online_behaviors, socialmedia, social_networking, technology, youthmedia

High School Media Too: A School Day in the Lives of Fifteen Teenagers
Ball State University
Tagged 12 times: digital, education, highschool, internet, mobile, music, online_behaviors, radio, socialnetworking, teens, youthmedia

Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century
The MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Initiative
Tagged 11 times: content_creation, digitallearning, games, internet, media_education, online_behaviors, Participatory_Culture, socialmedia, technology, youthmedia

Causes in Common: Reproductive Justice & LGBT Liberation
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
Tagged 11 times: class, coalitions, families, gender, health, international, justice, lgbt, race, reproduction, youth

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Most frequently viewed organizational profile

Consortium on Chicago School Research
Page views: 1,591

The MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Initiative
Page views: 584

Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers
Page views: 489

Prevent Child Abuse America
Page views: 465

Environmental Law and Policy Center
Page views: 462