New researches

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Minimum Wage Scenarios, New Jersey Law Enforcement, Missouri Courts, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, April 7, 2021

Minimum Wage Scenarios, New Jersey Law Enforcement, Missouri Courts, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, April 7, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Congressional Budget Office: CBO Updates Its Interactive Tool for Analyzing the Effects of Federal Minimum-Wage Increases . “Today, CBO updated its interactive tool—initially released in November 2019—that allows users to create custom policy options to examine how different approaches to changing the minimum wage would affect earnings, employment, family income, and poverty. The estimates shown in the tool were generated using the same methods underlying CBO’s most recent reports on minimum-wage increases: The Budgetary Effects of the Raise the Wage Act of 2021, published in February 2021, and The Effects on Employment and Family Income of Increasing the Federal Minimum Wage, published in July 2019.”

News12: New Jersey launches searchable site of police use-of-force reports. “The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General has launched an online database that allows the public to search reports of police use of force from across the state’s more than 500 police departments. Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said Tuesday in a statement that the new site, which his office says is a beta, or test, version, is part of an ongoing effort to increase police accountability and openness.”

News Tribune: Missouri Supreme Court launches bicentennial website celebrating courts. “The new website, which features interactive timelines, offers users a chance to explore the early days of Missouri’s courts, discover how the courts expanded to address the state’s increased case volume, learn about additional changes in the 20th century and explore how Missouri’s courts reorganized to better serve citizens. Its final timeline on the judiciary’s much more recent history examines how embracing new technologies are helping the courts improve their service.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Neowin: TikTok will automatically generate subtitles for videos in accessibility push. “In an attempt to make the app more accessible, TikTok announced today that it is introducing auto captions, which would automatically generate subtitles so users can read or listen to the content that they’re viewing.”

9to5 Google: New Gmail with Google Chat tabs rolling out for free accounts, here’s how to turn on. “Last year, Google announced that the future of Gmail will see Chat messaging and group Rooms join the existing Meet video calling integration. This is already available to enterprise Workspace users, and Google is now letting personal Gmail accounts get this ‘integrated workspace.'” Isn’t this something GMail had several years ago, or was that a different integrated chat?

USEFUL STUFF

The Scotsman: Google Easter eggs 2021: best secret tricks from Barrel roll to Askew and Zerg Rush – and how to do them. “While Google is considered a helpful and informative search engine, it’s actually packed full of fun hidden tricks that many users aren’t aware of. From pop culture references to games and animations, these are the best hidden Easter eggs scattered around Google, and how to find them.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: Pinterest Is Said to Be in Talks to Acquire the Photo App VSCO . “Pinterest has held talks to buy VSCO, a photography app that spawned a teenage social media craze, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.”

Politico: Facebook’s ‘supreme court’ struggles to set global free speech rules. “Roughly two months since a group of outside experts started ruling on what people could post on Facebook, cracks in the so-called Oversight Board are already starting to show. So far, the independent body of human rights experts, free speech supporters and legal scholars that rules on what content Facebook must take down or put back up has reversed the social media giant’s decisions in four out of its first five cases.”

Washington Post: Corporations are working with social media influencers to cancel-proof their racial justice initiatives. “Advocating for racial allyship is not something corporate America has traditionally embraced. But the multiracial protests against police brutality last year prompted many companies to examine their role in combating systemic racism and pushing White Americans to reflect on their understanding of race and privilege — all while trying to increase market share. With every new well-meaning — or opportunistic, depending on the details — effort comes the potential for public and painful missteps.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Atlantic Council: Social media helps and hurts Iranian elections. Here’s how.. “The internet has always been one of the most challenging issues for the Iranian government, especially during elections. Over the past three years alone, Iran has tried to meet this challenge on numerous occasions by shutting down the internet during nationwide protests or blocking popular apps and websites. According to the 2020 Internet freedom index, Iran ranks at the bottom at fifteenth or, to put it in another way, “not free”. In this piece, I will try to examine the pros and cons of social media during every Iranian election since 2009 and speculate about the potential of a new app ahead of the June vote.”

Sky News Australia: Federal government considering ID verification for social media accounts. “The federal government is considering a ban on anonymous social media accounts as part of major changes to tackle the scourge of domestic violence.”

SAMAA: Court seeks report on Pakistan social media rules. “The Islamabad High Court has ordered the government committee on social media rules to submit its report on May 10. A bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the case on Friday.” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!

April 7, 2021 at 05:25PM
via ResearchBuzz https://ift.tt/3mqHII0

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Oklahoma Manufacturers, Global Africa, European Paintings, More: Tuesday Evening ResearchBuzz, April 6, 2021

Oklahoma Manufacturers, Global Africa, European Paintings, More: Tuesday Evening ResearchBuzz, April 6, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

OKC Fox: Supply chain database created to help Oklahoma manufacturers. “Governor Kevin Stitt is looking to help Oklahoma manufacturers find resources during critical times. The first part of ‘Supply Chain Oklahoma’ is an online database called ‘Connex Oklahoma.’ The database will allow manufactures to connect with alternate suppliers, explore production capabilities and view their supply chains visually.”

EurekAlert: Announcing the launch of Global Africa, a new African academic journal. “With Global Africa, the UGB’s LASPAD (Laboratoire d’analyse des sociétés et pouvoirs / Afrique – Diasporas) aims to report on political, social, economic, environmental, and technological issues, both in Africa and around the world…. Alongside the journal, training courses will be offered to improve the African research production and dissemination ecosystem. These will include online classes on preparing and publishing articles for both researchers and publishing professionals, as well as pop-up seminars for young researchers, helping to grow the community of authors interested in the journal’s key topics.”

Getty: Use Augmented Reality to Explore a Virtual Museum Gallery from Home. “The Getty Museum is partnering with Google Arts & Culture to launch a new exhibition in Pocket Gallery, an immersive exhibition feature within the Google Arts & Culture app that uses augmented reality to open up a life-size virtual space that you can literally step inside using your smartphone…. Getty’s exhibition is called Better Together: Join the Crowd in Celebrated European Paintings, and is inspired by the social gatherings so many of us are missing during the pandemic. The exhibition features four virtual rooms to explore, and each room displays about seven to ten paintings around a theme: City Life, Music and Merriment, A Breath of Fresh Air, and Around the Table.”

USEFUL STUFF

Make Tech Easier: 6 Useful Tools to Help You Identify Fonts in Images. “You come across an endless amount of images with text on them. Those images could be advertising or something else. Either way, it’s nothing out of the ordinary to see a font that you want on a picture. The only problem is that you have no idea what that font is called. To help you out, there are various free tools you can use to identify that font. With the following apps, you’ll always be able to identify a font.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

CNET: Facebook pulls down fake accounts tied to Iranian militant group. “Facebook said Tuesday it pulled down more than 300 accounts, pages and groups that appeared to have been created by a troll farm in Albania linked to Mojahedin-e Khalq, an exiled militant group that opposes the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

BBC: Paris hits back at filthy streets hashtag campaign. “Paris officials have blamed a ‘political smear campaign’ after angry comments and pictures of filthy streets spread on social media criticising a ‘trashed Paris’. The hashtag ‘saccage Paris’ went viral over Easter, with many of the messages accusing the city’s Socialist leadership of ruining the capital.”

Mashable: How to use Google Maps to help the homeless. “Ashley Sundquist uses Google Maps as more than a way to get around. She’s turning it into an invaluable resource for people experiencing homelessness in her community. Sundquist has a rapport with a few homeless community members in Santa Monica, where she lives. Connecting with this community is a habit she’s long cultivated wherever she lives, whether in Los Angeles or the many East Coast cities she once called home. In January 2020, she was chatting with one of them, a man named Joe who often hung out in front of a local library. After Sundquist asked him how she could help out, he explained that, while he knew there were resources for homeless people in the community, he had trouble finding them. He needed a map.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

iNews UK: ‘Global Dark Web drug network’ disrupted after raids target organised criminal gang across England. “The arrest and search operation, which also targeted addresses in Surrey, was the latest arising from the success of law enforcement agencies around the world in breaking into EncroChat, the encrypted phone network which had become a favoured way for organised crime gangs to communicate and establish international connections.”

Vice: How Mexico’s Most Powerful Cartel Used EBay to Arm Themselves With Military Gear. “It started with his mom’s credit card, claimed Ismael Almada in March 2020, as he voluntarily spilled his guts to U.S. law enforcement officers during an interview in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. He’d originally used his mom’s card to order weapons accessories and tactical gear off eBay for his security business that focused on anti-spyware and surveillance technology, before eventually moving to PayPal to make the trail of U.S. goods to Mexico a bit more clandestine. He needed to. Most of the illegal imports went to the infamous Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known as the CJNG for its Spanish acronym.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

NASA: Data Turned Into Sounds of Stars, Galaxies, Black Holes. “This latest installment from our data sonification series features three diverse cosmic scenes. In each, astronomical data collected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes are converted into sounds. Data sonification maps the data from these space-based telescopes into a form that users can hear instead of only see, embodying the data in a new form without changing the original content.” Good evening, Internet…

April 7, 2021 at 05:55AM
via ResearchBuzz https://ift.tt/3dEhIoK

United States / Singapore Diplomacy, Banned Books, Google Docs, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, April 6, 2021

United States / Singapore Diplomacy, Banned Books, Google Docs, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, April 6, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

US Embassy in Singapore: Chargé d’Affaires Mansour Launches USSG55 Campaign Celebrating 55 Years of Diplomatic Relations between the U.S. and Singapore. “On Monday, April 5, 2021, Chargé d’Affaires Rafik Mansour launched U.S. Embassy Singapore’s USSG55 campaign celebrating 55 years of diplomatic relations between the United States and Singapore. Starting this month, a combination of digital and traditional media elements branded with #USSG55 will showcase the United States and Singapore’s shared history, built on a strong foundation for a secure, prosperous, and innovative shared future. To kick off the campaign, a dedicated website will serve as a portal for the year’s events, programs, press releases, photographs, and more.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Publishers Weekly: ALA Releases 2020 Most Challenged Books List. “For a third year in a row, Alex Gino’s George has topped the American Library Association’s list of most challenged book in American libraries. The ALA’s Most Challenged Books list, released annually in conjunction with National Library Week, which runs April 4-10 this year, tracks attempts to ban or restrict access to books across the United States and raises awareness of censorship efforts in our libraries and schools.”

Laptop: Google Docs adds TV and film sources to its citations tool. “Google Docs added a citation tool last year that has been a huge help to many, making citing source material far easier. Recently the good folks at Google updated the citation tool to include film, TV series, and TV episodes resources.”

USEFUL STUFF

Tom’s Guide: How to do a charity stream on Twitch. “This past March, I decided to do a charity stream on Twitch, raising funds to support Asian Americans, in a moment when the community needed support. I managed to raise some money, and it wasn’t that complicated — once I figured out how. So, I thought I would explain what I did, and the ways others are raising money online, because anybody can do it.”

Wired: How to Test Early Betas of Software You Use Every Day. “SOFTWARE MAKERS HAVE become more and more open to the idea of public betas: trial runs of new apps and operating systems that anyone who wants to can get involved with. They get their code tested for free, and we get to try out new features ahead of time. Getting started with these betas is easier than you might think, and they’re available on just about every platform out there, as we’ll explain below. It won’t cost you anything, and you can quit a beta whenever you like.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Rwanda New Times: Gacaca archives proposed for UNESCO’s heritage list. “GACACA COURTS archives could be registered to UNESCO’s Documentary Heritage Listing on the recommendation of a national committee that is set to assess and discern different historical, cultural and documentary heritages that can be listed on the World’s heritage list.”

Robert Feder: Robservations: Media Burn wins grant to launch Guerrilla Television Network. “Chicago’s Media Burn Independent Video Archive has received a $459,150 grant from the Council on Library Resources to collaborate with the University of Chicago on digitizing hundreds of previously unseen videotapes from the 1970s. In addition to Media Burn’s content, the new Guerrilla Television Network will include work from Appalshop, Community TV Network, Experimental TV Center, Kartemquin Films and New Orleans Video Access Center.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Diplomat: How Will China’s Sovereign Digital Currency Affect Fintech?. “China’s sovereign digital currency is still in the testing phase, but has caused speculation about what effect it will have on fintech. Some experts have asserted that the digital currency will crowd out payment methods WeChat Pay and Alipay. Others have stated that China’s sovereign digital currency will boost the fintech industry overall since it is electronic. So, how can we reasonably predict will the effect of the digital currency will be on China’s fintech industry?”

Department of Justice: Indictment: Kansas Man Indicted For Tampering With A Public Water System . “The indictment alleges that on or about March 27, 2019, in the District of Kansas, [Wyatt] Travnichek knowingly accessed the Ellsworth County Rural Water District’s protected computer system without authorization. During this unauthorized access, it is alleged Travnichek performed activities that shut down the processes at the facility which affect the facilities cleaning and disinfecting procedures with the intention of harming the Ellsworth Rural Water District No. 1, also known as Post Rock Rural Water District.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Europeana Pro: Introducing our image classification pilot. “With lowered barriers to access and the development of new practices for Artificial Intelligence (AI), it’s no surprise that AI-related activities in the cultural heritage sector are increasing – a topic in focus on this month on Europeana Pro. In this post, we share work taking place at the Europeana Foundation to create an image classification pilot which uses computer vision algorithms to improve metadata in our records.” Good afternoon, Internet…

April 7, 2021 at 01:38AM
via ResearchBuzz https://ift.tt/31TLUqc

Isle of Man History, Clearview AI, National Humanities Center, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, April 6, 2021

Isle of Man History, Clearview AI, National Humanities Center, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, April 6, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Isle of Man Today: Website is a one-stop shop for information about archaeology and old buildings . “Historic Environment Records are information services that provide access to resources relating to the archaeology and old buildings of a defined geographic area. They contain details on archaeological sites and finds, historic buildings and historic landscapes and are frequently updated. Information on the island’s historic places, archaeological sites, landscapes and historic buildings can be found on the site.”

BuzzFeed News: Surveillance Nation. “A controversial facial recognition tool designed for policing has been quietly deployed across the country with little to no public oversight. According to reporting and data reviewed by BuzzFeed News, more than 7,000 individuals from nearly 2,000 public agencies nationwide have used Clearview AI to search through millions of Americans’ faces, looking for people, including Black Lives Matter protesters, Capitol insurrectionists, petty criminals, and their own friends and family members. BuzzFeed News has developed a searchable table of 1,803 publicly funded agencies whose employees are listed in the data as having used or tested the controversial policing tool before February 2020.”

EVENTS

National Humanities Center: A virtual conference exploring the critical intersection between the humanities and artificial intelligence.. “Join us for a series of virtual events—presentations, conversations, webinars, film screenings, and an art exhibition—highlighting perspectives from leading humanists, scientists, engineers, artists, writers, and software company executives collectively advancing inquiry into key emerging questions…. Thanks to generous support from our sponsors, this conference is offered free of charge. However, registration is required to access conference sessions, view films, and explore the online art exhibit.” The conference takes place April 7-22.

NASA: Watch Next Space Station Crew Launch Live on NASA TV, NASA App. “Three space travelers, including NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, are poised to launch Friday, April 9, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app will provide comprehensive prelaunch and launch-to-docking coverage.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Yale University Library: Three new online student exhibitions reflect research in library’s collections. “Each year, Yale Library selects up to three students to transform their senior research papers or projects into the unique narrative form of a library exhibit with guidance and assistance from library staff. The exhibits are normally displayed in the Exhibition Corridor of Sterling Memorial Library, but with pandemic access restrictions, the 2020-2021 exhibits are now more widely viewable online. This year’s exhibits highlight the diversity of research underway in the library’s collections, with the three students coming from the English, Environmental Science, and Architecture departments at Yale.”

The Verge: Yelp is making it easier for users to search for Asian-owned businesses. “Yelp is rolling out a new tool that will allow businesses the option to identify themselves as Asian-owned, chief diversity officer Miriam Warren announced today. The new optional attribute will make it easier for Yelp users to find and support Asian-owned businesses easily.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The New Republic: How a Bunch of Revolutionary War Reenactors Got Caught Up in Facebook’s Purge of Militia Groups. “[Rory] Nolan belongs to historical reenactment groups that sometimes dramatize Revolutionary War-era militias (you can begin to see the problem), and he manages the Facebook and Instagram pages for several of them. He tried to establish new accounts under new email addresses, but they didn’t last long before getting swept up in the same moderation process. Again, they were banned with no possibility of appeal. And like that, Nolan’s social media presence—and much of his social life—quietly winked out of existence.”

Reform Austin News: Gov. Greg Abbott Publicly Slammed Facebook. Privately, He’s Courting the Social Media Giant to Build a Second Data Center in Texas.. “Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott blasted the actions of Facebook as ‘un-American [and] un-Texan,’ accusing it and other social media giants of spearheading a ‘dangerous movement to silence conservative voices.’… At the same time, his office was working quietly with the company with the hope that it will soon build a second data center in the state, according to documents provided to The Texas Tribune by the Tech Transparency Project, a technology research arm of the nonprofit watchdog group Campaign for Accountability.”

University of Dayton: University of Dayton faculty develop courses, digital archive to preserve Paul Laurence Dunbar’s legacy with $150K grant from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. “The two-year, $150,000 Mellon Foundation grant provides funding for building the digital Dunbar Library and Archive, which will make hundreds of Dunbar-related documents artifacts freely available online. It also provides funding for faculty who want to integrate Dunbar into their courses and for students to participate in Dunbar-related research experiences. In addition, the grant provides funding for two organizational partners, Saint Louis University’s Center for Digital Humanities and Ohio History Connection.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Interlochen Public Radio: Misleading social media ads bash a rooftop solar bill. They’re backed by big utility companies.. “Anyone scrolling Facebook in Michigan over the past week may have noticed ads attacking a new energy bill in the statehouse. The proposed legislation would allow more people to put solar panels on their homes or businesses. It gets rid of a cap limiting how many solar installations can connect to the grid. Social media ads say the proposal caters to out-of-state energy developers and threatens a reliable power grid. One of the ads reads, ‘Don’t let out-of-state special interests do to Michigan what they did to Texas.’ Clean energy advocates say the ads are misleading.

The Intercept: Lexisnexis To Provide Giant Database Of Personal Information To ICE. “THE POPULAR LEGAL RESEARCH and data brokerage firm LexisNexis signed a $16.8 million contract to sell information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to documents shared with The Intercept. The deal is already drawing fire from critics and comes less than two years after the company downplayed its ties to ICE, claiming it was ‘not working with them to build data infrastructure to assist their efforts.'”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Video Games Chronicle: Analysis: 2,000 digital-only games will disappear when PlayStation closes its stores. “Although users will still be able to redownload their previous purchases for the foreseeable future, from July 2 it will no longer be possible to buy games on the PS3 or PSP online marketplaces, and come August 27 the same will apply to the Vita too. Of the games set to disappear from the formats, the vast majority are available on other platforms such as older PlayStation consoles or PC. However, around 138 games will essentially become lost forever once the stores close, our analysis suggests.” Good afternoon, Internet…

April 6, 2021 at 10:29PM
via ResearchBuzz https://ift.tt/31UqEAR

Monday, April 5, 2021

Montana Jobs, Google/Oracle, US Air Force, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, April 5, 2021

Montana Jobs, Google/Oracle, US Air Force, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, April 5, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

KPAX: New statewide website highlights earn-while-you-learn opportunities for young adults. “Too often, we see young adults leaving the great state of Montana to work somewhere else in the region or the country, and when that happens, Montana’s workforce suffers. Through a collaborative effort between the Missoula Chamber of Commerce and the Montana Department of Labor, Montana’s workforce is gaining some traction through a new website.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNBC: Supreme Court rules in Google’s favor in copyright dispute with Oracle over Android software. “The Supreme Court on Monday sided with Google against Oracle in a long-running copyright dispute over the software used in Android, the mobile operating system. The court’s decision was 6-2. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was not yet confirmed by the Senate when the case was argued in October, did not participate in the case.”

US Air Force: New ‘Air Force Review Boards Agency’ website launched . “The Department of the Air Force debuted a new website for past and present Airmen and Guardians to correct their military records, April 5. Members, and those submitting on their behalf, can submit applications and supporting documents to four boards: The Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records, Air Force Discharge Review Board, Department of Defense Discharge Appeal Review Board and Department of Defense Physical Disability Board of Review.”

The Verge: Yahoo Answers will be shut down forever on May 4th. “Yahoo Answers, one of the longest-running and most storied web Q&A platforms in the history of the internet, is shutting down on May 4th. That’s the day the Yahoo Answers website will start redirecting to the Yahoo homepage, and all of the platform’s archives will apparently cease to exist. The platform has been operating since 2005.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Vice: Alex Jones Incited the Capitol Riot on Facebook Even Though He Was Banned 2 Years Ago. “Research from digital rights group Avaaz published Thursday morning and shared exclusively with VICE News shows that in the 30 days leading up to the riots, content from Jones’ websites, promoting voter fraud claims telling fans to ‘prepare for war,’ amassed over 1.1 million interactions across Facebook.”

Las Cruces Sun News: New Mexico State Police’s first TikTok video goes viral. “About a month ago, the New Mexico State Police started a TikTok account. Last week, the agency debuted its first video, which is of a female officer getting ready for work. The video of Byanca Castro, a patrol officer based out Las Vegas, N.M., has been viewed more than 400,000 times.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

NBC News: Human smugglers use Facebook to connect with migrants and spread false hope of reaching U.S. . “Human smugglers are openly advertising their services on Facebook, falsely telling Central Americans interested in crossing illegally into the United States that they can promise a ‘100 percent’ safe journey. While the use of social media by smugglers is not new, the practice is growing, fueling false hope as more migrants fall prey to misinformation about how the Biden administration will welcome them, according to Department of Homeland Security officials, immigration experts and lawyers.”

Irish Times: Facebook and Twitter face barrage of criticism before Oireachtas committee . “Social media giants Facebook and Twitter faced a barrage of criticism before an Oireachtas committee on Tuesday over anonymous accounts, trolling and micro-targeting. TDs and Senators accused both companies, particularly Twitter, of undermining democracy and coarsening public debate by allowing anonymous accounts make false and misleading statements with neither fact-checking protections or any sanction.”

Chicago Tribune: FOIA for beginners: A state law guarantees access to public records. But it isn’t always that easy.. “At its core, the Freedom of Information Act is about the government being transparent and accountable to the people it’s meant to serve. Illinois’ FOIA law states ‘all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government.’ Enacted in 1984 and updated with changes that took effect in 2010, the statute lays out a pretty straightforward process for citizens to obtain public records. A request doesn’t need to read like a document crafted by a law firm — it just needs to be put in writing and delivered via email, by mail or in person.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

EurekAlert: Exploring how storytelling tropes cluster in popular films. “An analysis of film tropes–common storytelling elements seen in different movies–explores combinations of tropes that tend to co-occur in films, identifying patterns that could help inform development of new movies. Pablo García-Sánchez and Juan Merelo of the University of Granada, and Antonio Velez-Estevez and Manuel Cobo from the University of Cádiz, Spain present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on March 31, 2021.” Good afternoon, Internet…

April 6, 2021 at 02:13AM
via ResearchBuzz https://ift.tt/2PT6bcR

Black Voices of Vermont, Virtual Art Festival, Online Exhibitions, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, April 5, 2021

Black Voices of Vermont, Virtual Art Festival, Online Exhibitions, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, April 5, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

I spent Easter weekend working on a way to handle my curation/workflow issues, and ended up with an IFTTT/Google Sheets structure that’s got me cautiously delighted this morning. (Are you one of my Patreons? I sent you a note about it!) I’m still bug-crushing, though, so posting may be sporadic this week.

NEW RESOURCES

NBC 5: ‘Black voices of Vermont’ aims to build community and promote learning. “A new project in Vermont aims to amplify voices of Black youth and strengthen a sense of community. ‘We’re getting progressively better over time,’ Yeshua Armbrister, 19, said of Vermont communities’ goal of being ever more inclusive. Armbrister is one of the first participants in Black Voices of Vermont, a new, interactive media project focused on highlighting the experiences and viewpoints of Black teens in the predominantly white state.”

EVENTS

The Mercury: ‘Can You Find the Gun?’: virtual art festival explores social justice. “The festival showcases 13 projects that include short films and documentaries, animated shorts, an interactive digital archive and a video game. The pieces engage with topics ranging from the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality to domestic violence and the impacts of the pandemic on different communities. The festival culminated in a panel event on March 31, but the works remain viewable on the [Social Justice Art & Film Festival] website.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

FAD Magazine: The Top 5 Online Exhibitions To See In April. “Tabish Khan the @LondonArtCritic picks five exhibitions to see online this month. Each one comes with a concise review to help you decide whether it’s for you. Readers should also check out his outdoor top 5.”

University of Rhode Island: University of Rhode Island joins HathiTrust. “The University of Rhode Island has become the newest member of HathiTrust, a forward-thinking global collaborative of research and academic libraries working to ensure the preservation and accessibility of the cultural record. HathiTrust holds the largest set of digitized books managed by the academic, research, and library community offering unprecedented opportunity for members of the URI community to access a wide array of research and scholarly materials.”

The Verge: Google’s AI reservation service Duplex is now available in 49 states. “More than two years after it initially began trials, Google’s AI-powered reservation service Duplex is now available in 49 US states. This looks like it’ll be the limit of Duplex’s coverage in the US for the time being, as Google tells The Verge it has no timeline to launch the service in the last hold-out state — Louisiana — due to unspecified local laws.”

Bloomberg: Singapore Blogger Crowdfunds $100,000 to Pay PM Defamation Award. “Singapore’s High Court on March 24 ordered [Leong Sze Hian] to pay S$133,000 ($98,800) to [Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong] for posting a link to a Malaysian news site that alleged the city-state’s leader had helped launder 1Malaysia Development Berhad funds. Since then more than 2,000 people donated to a crowdfunding campaign on social media to raise the full amount, Lim Tean, Leong’s attorney, posted to Facebook on Monday.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Maryland Today: UMD Libraries, Others Awarded $750K to Archive Social Justice Activism by College Students of Color. “The University of Maryland Libraries, the Atlanta University Center Robert Woodruff Library and the nationwide consortium Project STAND have received a $750,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand a free digital archive of documents and artifacts chronicling activism among college students of color. The multi-institutional collection includes oral histories, recordings of student radio, film and digital photography, posters, newspapers and other documentation of diverse movements and groups, stretching from the present as far back as student abolitionist activity during African American enslavement.”

New York Times: Gail Slatter, Who Helped Make the Times Newsroom Run, Dies at 68. “Gail Slatter never received a byline or a photo credit in The New York Times. During the 40 years she worked there, her name appeared in the newspaper only once, in 1997, when she helped flesh out a profile of a 15-year-old murder suspect who happened to have been on her daughter’s swim team at a Y.M.C.A. on Manhattan’s West Side. Ms. Slatter was a news assistant at The Times. But her unassuming job title belied the significant impact she had on what appeared in the paper and on the daily lives of her colleagues, particularly on the culture and photo desks. She was a guide, gatekeeper and guardian.”

Teen Vogue: Meet the Navajo Nation Skateboarder Going Viral on TikTok. “Naiomi Glasses, a Diné skateboarder in Navajo nation, happened upon a red sandstone slope to skate on — in her now-viral TikTok — by accident. ‘I live in the middle of nowhere and when I found that first sandstone, I was out looking for sheep. My grandma owns sheep and sometimes they get lost, and I thought the sandstone looked skate-able.’ With the nearest skatepark hours away, Naiomi resorted to turning the desert landscape into her own skatepark.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Business Insider: 533 million Facebook users’ phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online. “A user in a low level hacking forum on Saturday published the phone numbers and personal data of hundreds of millions of Facebook users for free online. The exposed data includes personal information of over 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries, including over 32 million records on users in the US, 11 million on users in the UK, and 6 million on users in India. It includes their phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, bios, and — in some cases — email addresses.”

KGAB: Wyoming Bill Aimed At Internet Viewpoint Discrimination Defeated In Committee. “A bill that would have taken aim against discrimination against viewpoints on politics, race, religion, and other topics by internet service providers and social media platforms was defeated on Monday in the Wyoming House Judiciary Committee by a 6-3 vote.”

Moscow Times: Russians Post More Profanities After Social Media Swearing Ban. “Russian-speaking social media users have posted 10% more profanity-laced content in the two months since a law requiring platforms to delete them came into force than before, the RBC news website reported Sunday. The Medialogia media monitor tallied 20.2 million posts containing swear words on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, as well as three Russian platforms, from Feb. 1-March 31.” Good morning, Internet…

April 5, 2021 at 06:11PM
via ResearchBuzz https://ift.tt/3dt9bEM

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Historical Clothing, Mars Rover Photography, Google Forms, More: Thursday Evening ResearchBuzz, April 1, 2021

Historical Clothing, Mars Rover Photography, Google Forms, More: Thursday Evening ResearchBuzz, April 1, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

ResearchBuzz does not like April Fools Day. If there is any April Fool content that is not labeled as such, please let me know and I’ll remove it and apologize for being taken in.

NEW RESOURCES

BBC: Historical clothing from 14 museums displayed online. “Fourteen museums have joined forces to put on an online exhibition of clothing through the ages. The virtual display, called Highland Threads, features a selection of historical garments. They include a waistcoat and jacket said to have belonged to have belonged to Bonnie Prince Charlie from Inverness Museum and Art Gallery.”

CNET: Photos from NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover let you get lost on another world. “The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover sent back its first image, a tiny thumbnail of its landing spot in Jezero Crater, just moments after its dramatic soft touch-down on Feb. 18. The sedan-size rover has now been cautiously wheeling its way around for several weeks and has already sent back 16,448 total images as of April 1 — and that’s not an April Fools’ gag.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

9to5 Google: Google Forms will soon save progress as drafts, beta for Classroom/Workspace. “Amid distance learning, many educators have turned to using Google Forms for tests, quizzes, and other assignments. Google is soon adding the ability for Forms to automatically save draft progress in case users can’t complete in one sitting.”

The Verge: Periscope shuts down today. “Periscope, the app that popularized live streaming from smartphones, is shutting down today, just over six years after it launched. The service has already been removed from app stores, and most features will no longer be accessible after today.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Irish Times: National Library announces year-long LGBTI+ programme. “A year-long programme exploring Irish LGBTI+ identity and experiences over the last several decades to the present has been announced by the National Library of Ireland (NLI). It includes a physical and online exhibition of the work of activist Christopher Robson as well as a number of LGBTI+ online events.”

Man of Many: The New Lexus IS 350 F Sport was Designed on Twitch. “Combining a car with a gaming system seems rife with potential safety hazards, but that’s exactly what the Lexus Gamers’ IS is. The 2021 Lexus IS 350 F Sport was transformed into a gamer’s dream vehicle, complete with a full gaming system—for the passenger, fortunately. The design came about through input from the Twitch community, with the 15 million daily active users of the platform casting votes on the vehicle’s modifications.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

SCOTUS Blog: Court says Facebook did not violate anti-spam law when it sent unwanted text messages. “Facebook did not violate a federal telemarketing law when it sent unsolicited text messages to people without their consent, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Thursday. In an opinion by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court sided with Facebook’s interpretation of a key clause in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which restricts the use of devices known as ‘automatic telephone dialing systems.'”

Motherboard: People’s Expensive NFTs Keep Vanishing. This Is Why. “Last month, Tom Kuennen, a property manager from Ontario, coughed up $500 worth of cryptocurrency for a JPEG of an Elon Musk-themed ‘Moon Ticket’ from DarpaLabs, an anonymous digital art collective. He purchased it through the marketplace OpenSea, one of the largest vendors of so-called non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, in the hopes of reselling it for a profit. ‘It’s like a casino,’ he said in an interview. ‘If it goes up 100 times you resell it, if it doesn’t, well, you don’t tell anyone.’ He never got the chance to find out.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

ScienceDaily: New statistical method eases data reproducibility crisis. “A reproducibility crisis is ongoing in scientific research, where many studies may be difficult or impossible to replicate and thereby validate, especially when the study involves a very large sample size. Now researchers have developed a statistical tool that can accurately estimate the replicability of a study, thus eliminating the need to duplicate the work and effectively mitigating the reproducibility crisis.” Good evening, Internet…

April 2, 2021 at 06:13AM
via ResearchBuzz https://ift.tt/3wn14T9