New researches

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Church of Ireland Gazette, New Mexico Uranium Mines, U.S. Media Index, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, May 19, 2021

Church of Ireland Gazette, New Mexico Uranium Mines, U.S. Media Index, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, May 19, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Church of Ireland Historical Society: Church of Ireland Gazette Digital Archive Complete (1856-2010). “The Church of Ireland Gazette Digital Archive is complete. All editions of the newspaper, from its foundation in 1856 up to and including 2010, are freely available electronically, allowing the worldwide audience to view and search it using any name, place, or other search term.”

Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department of New Mexico: Mining and Minerals Division launches Uranium Mines Dashboard. This link goes to a PDF file. “The Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) Mining and Minerals Division (MMD) announces the launch of the New Mexico Uranium Mines Dashboard, intended to provide the public with quick access to data on legacy uranium mines throughout the state. The dashboard compiles data from a variety of sources into one location, making it easier for the public to find information about legacy uranium mining in New Mexico. Built by MMD staff, the database includes mines that had verifiable uranium production, and that have been abandoned, may no longer be maintained, and are inactive.”

NiemanLab: The U.S. Media Index database shows news consumers who owns what. “If you ever wanted to track down who owns a news outlet, it’s now much easier to do it. The U.S. Media Index database by the Future of Media Project has done the grueling work of compiling that information for us. The databases includes three indices: The U.S. Mainstream Media Index details the 176 parent companies of daily news outlets; the index of emerging nonprofit media and donors lists 231 nonprofit news outlets and who funds them; and an index of the seven owners of daily newspapers is categorized by state.”

Nerdist: This Tool Lets You See World’s 1,000 Most-Polluting Rivers. “One of the biggest environmental disasters that needs to be addressed ASAP is the immense plastic pollution in the oceans. According to the nonprofit organization The Ocean Cleanup Project, the best way to do this is to tackle the incoming plastics at their source: rivers along coasts. With a new tool, the nonprofit allows people to see the 1,000 most-polluting rivers in the world; ones it aims to purify with its autonomous, plastic-collecting drone ships.”

Independent (Ireland): Claddagh reveals ‘treasure trove’ of music and poetry on website. “Claddagh and Universal are in the process of digitally remastering a ‘treasure trove’ of Claddagh material which has been stored in Bank of Ireland vaults for several decades. More than 600 products, including Irish music and poetry, will be available for sale internationally with plans for the Claddagh website to become a ‘go-to’ site for traditional Irish music and sound. ”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

MakeUseOf: Rumor: Twitter Will Release Its New Verification Tool in May. “According to a serial Twitter researcher, Twitter might relaunch its tool to request verification in the week beginning May 16. The new tool will allow users to request a blue tick on the platform.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Scotsman: New national museum proposed to honour Scots convicted of witchcraft. “The proposed attraction, which is hoped to secure public funding to help get it off the ground, would recall how 3,837 people were accused of witchcraft in Scotland between the 16th and 18th centuries – 85 per cent of them women. It is thought around 2,500 executions were carried out in Scotland under the Witchcraft Act during several waves of ‘satanic panic’ between 1563 and 1736.”

BuzzFeed News: Tumblr Says It’s The Queerest Social Media Platform, But Can It Hold On To That?. “Tumblr has declared itself “the queerest place on the internet” based on data it collected comparing its users to those of other platforms, like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Twitter, and Pinterest. According to Tumblr, the people who use its site are 193% more likely to be LGBTQ compared to those on other platforms. It estimates that 1 in 4 of its users identifies as LGBTQ.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: Amazon sales of facial recognition software to police on pause indefinitely. “Amazon isn’t ready to begin sales of its facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies when a year-long moratorium expires in June. The company didn’t announce a new deadline, and the suspension of sales of the Rekognition software will stay in place until further notice, as reported earlier by Reuters.”

Yahoo News: Facial recognition, fake identities and digital surveillance tools: Inside the post office’s covert internet operations program. “The post office’s law enforcement arm has faced intense congressional scrutiny in recent weeks over its Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP), which tracks social media posts of Americans and shares that information with other law enforcement agencies. Yet the program is much broader in scope than previously known and includes analysts who assume fake identities online, use sophisticated intelligence tools and employ facial recognition software, according to interviews and documents reviewed by Yahoo News.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Getty Blog: A Rare Opportunity to Study Van Gogh’s Irises. “For more than 30 years, a wild patch of vibrant blue flowers and undulating greenery has been a landmark of the Getty Museum’s collection, drawing crowds from all over the world who flock to gaze on the distinctive, curling lines and thick impasto of Irises by Vincent Van Gogh…. If the Getty Museum is open, you can expect to see Van Gogh’s Irises. But the unprecedented closure allowed Irises to be moved into the Getty’s laboratory and conservation studio for an in-depth examination.”

MIT Technology Review: Language models like GPT-3 could herald a new type of search engine. “…a team of Google researchers has published a proposal for a radical redesign that throws out the ranking approach and replaces it with a single large AI language model—a future version of BERT or GPT-3. The idea is that instead of searching for information in a vast list of web pages, users would ask questions and have a language model trained on those pages answer them directly. The approach could change not only how search engines work, but how we interact with them.” Gee, like natural language searching? Like MIT sued Ask Jeeves over? Good morning, Internet…

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May 19, 2021 at 06:14PM
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Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Reforesting Projects, Dark Patterns Game, Texas Volunteering, More: Tuesday Evening ResearchBuzz, May 18, 2021

Reforesting Projects, Dark Patterns Game, Texas Volunteering, More: Tuesday Evening ResearchBuzz, May 18, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Mongabay: How to pick a tree-planting project? Mongabay launches transparency tool to help supporters decide. “Mongabay has put together a directory to show whether tree-planting and reforestation projects publicly disclose the criteria that experts say are keys to success. We thought this would be a useful starting point for people wanting to fund reforestation, so they could identify projects that align with their interests. Our Reforestation Directory is built on a three-month research effort to record publicly available information on more than 350 tree-planting projects in 80 countries. Rather than make an assessment (and perceived endorsement) of the quality of the projects, Mongabay’s review is based on how much information is publicly disclosed by an organization.”

The Guardian: Can you solve it? Are you smart enough to opt out of cookies?. “Today’s puzzles are taken from Terms & Conditions Apply, a free game in which you are bombarded with pop-ups and must get to the end without signing up to cookies, T&Cs, newsletters, or any other data-extraction device. The game is a send-up of the tricks used by websites to get you to things you don’t want to do, setting the player tasks including word challenges, logic puzzles, dexterity tests and optical illusions.”If you want a hair-pullingly frustrating game to show you the danger of dark patterns, look no further.

KWTX: New website makes it easier for Central Texans to find volunteer opportunities. “A recent study found that around 66 percent of volunteers decreased their time volunteering or stopped completely during the pandemic. As life is getting back to normal, there’s a new website that’s making it easier for Texans to find ways to get involved in the community again. OneStar Foundation just launched VolunterTX [sic]. It’s a website that gathers places where people can volunteer from across the state, and puts them all in one place.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Google Blog: I/O 2021 . “This year, Google I/O went digital — available for everyone, for free — and was dedicated to showcasing a more helpful Google for all. The event brought together people from around the world for a first look at updates across our products, including new milestones in AI, helpful features in Android, Photos and Maps, and ways we’re building with security and privacy in mind. Here are more details about everything we announced this year.”

Android Police: $3 ‘Twitter Blue’ subscription may include Scroll news and better bookmarks, but not editable tweets. “The social network has some major ideas for its new service. Twitter has been working towards diversifying its platform away from ads all year, introducing Super Follows and testing a paid “Undo Send” feature. Once the acquisition is complete, Scroll will factor into these new premium plans, giving users the ability to read articles and newsletters on Twitter as a subscriber.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Khmer Times: Cambodia to have cultural heritage listed in Asean digital archives. “Details of Cambodian cultural heritage are to be included on the ASEAN Cultural Heritage Digital Archive (ACHDA) website, in order to share knowledge of Cambodian culture and arts among Asean countries.”

Sierra Nevada Daily: Punk family album. “As an awkward 14-year-old hovering around the edges of Reno’s punk and hardcore music scene in 2006, I have some memories of chaotic nights spent in the basements of some of the city’s DIY venues. They were cramped, dirty and sometimes lit by a single bare light bulb. I was just tall enough to catch the dozens of elbows and fists swinging in the darkness with my face—as my ringing ears were assaulted by the crackling PA speaker an arm’s length away. Houses with names like Fort Ryland, House of Dread or The Spacement would pair a local and touring band for a night’s show. The crowd would pay a few bucks at the door to beat each other up—and then it would happen again the next night. As far as cheap fun goes, it couldn’t be beat.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Los Angeles Times: Citizen app posts image of wrong man as arson suspect in Palisades fire. “An image of a young man was sent on the Citizen personal safety app to users in the Los Angeles basin after a brush fire broke out late Friday night and quickly grew…. But there was one problem: The man was not the person identified by an LAPD observer in a helicopter as the one seen igniting multiple fires that eventually swelled to consume more than 1,300 acres between Pacific Palisades and Topanga Canyon.”

Computerworld: Here’s what you can do about ransomware. “Last week, people in my neck of the woods, North Carolina, went into a panic. You couldn’t get gasoline for love or money. The root cause? Colonial Pipeline, a major oil and gas pipeline company, had been hit by a major ransomware attack. With four main fuel pipelines shut down, people throughout the southeast U.S. lined up at gas stations for every drop of gas they could get. You may not believe that ransomware is a serious threat. But I and most everyone else in the southeast? We believe.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

EurekAlert: Breakthrough Army technology is a game changer for deepfake detection. “Army researchers developed a Deepfake detection method that will allow for the creation of state-of-the-art Soldier technology to support mission-essential tasks such as adversarial threat detection and recognition. This work specifically focuses on a lightweight, low training complexity and high-performance face biometrics technique that meets the size, weight and power requirements of devices Soldiers will need in combat.” Good evening, Internet…

May 19, 2021 at 06:18AM
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Video Appeals to the President of Russia, Teach ME Outside, Cape Town University Fire, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 18, 2021

Video Appeals to the President of Russia, Teach ME Outside, Cape Town University Fire, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 18, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation: IPLC Launches the Video Appeals to the President of Russia Web Archive. “The Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation is pleased to announce the launch of the Video Appeals to the President of Russia web archive, preserving online videos created as direct appeals to Vladimir Putin by various groups and individuals in the Russian Federation and a number of other countries. The videos contain requests for the president’s direct involvement in resolving local and national social, economic, legal and environmental problems, assessment of Putin’s leadership, advice to him, and birthday wishes.”

Maine Department of Education: Maine Organizations Launch New ‘Teach ME Outside’ Website for Educators. “A collaborative effort between three Maine organizations called ‘Teach ME Outside’ has recently launched a new website to provide support for Maine educators and community members interested in environmental and outdoor learning for all Maine youth. The site contains educational resources, upcoming training opportunities, and data from across the state. Also featured on the website is the brand new Maine Environmental Education and Outdoor Learning Resource Directory, a dynamic and searchable map and tool that parents, educators, and community members can use to discover and connect with environmental and outdoor learning partners in their area.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

University of Cape Town: Minister Nzimande pledges help to UCT library, students after fire. “Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Dr Blade Nzimande has pledged help from his department’s flagship funding agencies, the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), to digitise and restore the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) library assets. This follows the 18 April fire that destroyed Jagger Reading Room and damaged other buildings. Dr Nzimande also promised to assist students whose research had been disrupted by the fire.”

National Archives News: 1950 Census on Track for 2022 Release, Despite Pandemic. “With less than a year to go before the release of the 1950 census, National Archives staff are working to ensure researchers around the world can access the records as planned on April 1, 2022.”

USEFUL STUFF

Make Tech Easier: How to Disable Web Page Auto-Refresh (All Major Browsers) . “There was a time when web pages were static once they loaded – no post-processing changing web pages before your eyes, no funny business. Today, features like auto-refresh are designed to help us, but sometimes they can get in the way, causing videos or text to reload when we’re in the middle of using them. To make your life a little easier, we show you how to disable auto-refresh on all the major browsers.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New Statesman: How composer Kevin MacLeod became the king of royalty-free music . “If you’ve spent much time at all on YouTube or similar platforms over the last 15 years, you will have heard MacLeod’s work. The flute-filled, easily meme-able ‘Monkeys Spinning Monkeys’ appears in numerous TikToks. ‘Sneaky Snitch’, ‘Thatched Villagers’, ‘Carefree’: even if you’ve never heard MacLeod’s name, so much of his computer-generated, nostalgic-leaning work will sound weirdly familiar.”

Vietnam+: National Museum of History to go digital to attract more visitors. “Twenty national treasures at the Vietnam National Museum of History in Hanoi will be introduced to the public via a virtual gallery in June at the latest with support of digital technology. This is the museum’s very first effort to develop itself into a digital museum in the coming time.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

ARTNews: U.S. Government Seeks Forfeiture of Roman Statue That Was Allegedly En Route to Kim Kardashian. “A newly filed lawsuit reveals that, in 2016, the U.S. government seized an ancient Roman statue that was allegedly being delivered to Kim Kardashian. In the suit, filed on April 30 in the United States District Court of Central California’s Western Division, the U.S. government called for the forfeiture of the ‘illegally imported’ statue, which resembles the lower half of a person draped in fabric. The lawsuit, filed in rem (or against the statue itself), was first reported on Twitter by Robert Snell, a writer for the Detroit News.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

EurekAlert: ‘We’re playing Moneyball with building assets’. “Researchers have developed a tool to help governments and other organizations with limited budgets spend money on building repairs more wisely. The new tool uses artificial intelligence (AI) and text mining techniques to analyze written inspection reports and determine which work is most urgently needed.”

WWNO: Facebook Calls Links To Depression Inconclusive. These Researchers Disagree. “Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ biggest fear as a parent isn’t gun violence, or drunk driving, or anything related to the pandemic. It’s social media. And specifically, the new sense of ‘brokenness’ she hears about in children in her district, and nationwide. Teen depression and suicide rates have been rising for over a decade, and she sees social apps as a major reason.” Good afternoon, Internet…

May 18, 2021 at 11:45PM
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Mapping Minnesota Data, Women in Animation. Japanese-American History, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, May 18, 2021

Mapping Minnesota Data, Women in Animation. Japanese-American History, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, May 18, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

University of Minnesota Duluth: Online Atlas launches to cover Minnesota. “The Atlas provides users access to nearly 400 layers of data in 10 categories: agriculture, biota, boundaries, climate, environment, geology & topography, imagery & land cover, infrastructure, society & economy and water.”

Variety: Women in Animation Launches Global Toon Talent Database. “Women in Animation has launched WIA Talent Database, currently featuring more than 5,000 women, trans and non-binary candidates in the animation industry looking for work in the booming global toon biz. It’s another big step for the WIA in its 50/50 by 2025 goal.”

NewsDirect: The Digital Museum of the History of Japanese in New York (PRESS RELEASE). “The Japan History Council of New York announced today plans to launch the Digital Museum of the History of the Japanese in New York on Tuesday May 18—making it the first East Coast digital archive to represent local historical figures of Japanese descent. The Digital Museum launch comes at a significant point of time, as May marks Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, bringing to the forefront the identity and experiences of Asian Americans throughout history.”

National Low Income Housing Coalition: NLIHC Launches ERA Dashboard and Updated ERA Program Table. “NLIHC launched new Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) tools to monitor trends in how ERA programs are operating and to help renters find assistance. These tools include an ERA Dashboard on how many and which programs are implementing best practices and an updated ERA program table to help renters locate programs in their areas. These tools include programs funded by the $25 billion Treasury ERA program appropriated by the December 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act (ERA1).”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Indian Express: Google launches News Showcase in India with 30 publishers. “Google has launched its news showcase product, which “helps participating publishers share their expertise and editorial voice” while letting readers ‘dive deeper into more complex stories’, in India. Launched last October, news showcase is part of Google’s billion-dollar global investment towards supporting quality journalism.”

Reuters: Google to lay out new features to keep users clicking after lockdown. “Alphabet Inc’s Google on Tuesday is expected to unveil updates across many services, including search and Android, as the company showcases its role in a world that has become more digitally connected during the pandemic.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: Extremists Find a Financial Lifeline on Twitch. “QAnon adherents and other far-right influencers are making thousands of dollars broadcasting election and vaccine conspiracy theories on the streaming site.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: Apple reportedly makes Chinese customers’ data less secure. “Apple CEO Tim Cook frequently pitches his company as a bastion of security and privacy. He says privacy should be a human right, and he points to the company’s frequent inclusion of encryption and other protective technologies as proof of that. But The New York Times, in a story published Monday, detailed how Apple has increasingly deferred to demands by the Chinese government, ultimately weakening the privacy and speech of users there.”

CNN: Alexa, what other devices are listening to me?. “Devices with various types of voice technology are also becoming more common. With a simple hands-free utterance, an Amazon- or Google-run personal assistant can stream your favorite Gap Band playlist or find a solid recipe for macaroons. But it also raises concerns about privacy – not just hacking but also how companies protect your data.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Canada NewsWire: Canada Announces New Energy and Emissions Database (PRESS RELEASE). “Improvements in energy efficiency are critical to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. The Government of Canada is building a clean energy future to strengthen the economy, create jobs and support the natural resource sectors as we recover from COVID-19. Lenore Zann, Member of Parliament for Cumberland–Colchester, on behalf of the Honourable Seamus O’Regan Jr., Minister of Natural Resources, today announced an $80,000 investment to Sustainability Solutions Group to support the development of the Municipal Energy and Emission Database (MEED), an integrated geospatial platform that tracks greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for municipalities across Canada.”

Bonner County Daily Bee: Digital archive documents caribou extirpation from North Idaho. “The ‘Storying Extinction: Responding to the Loss of North Idaho’s Mountain Caribou’ research project will educate people about the history of the caribou and the factors that contributed to their decline and 2019 extirpation, including logging, development and wildfires.”

EurekAlert: Social media and science show how ship’s plastic cargo dispersed from Florida to Norway. “A ship’s container lost overboard in the North Atlantic has resulted in printer cartridges washing up everywhere from the coast of Florida to northern Norway, a new study has shown. It has also resulted in the items weathering to form microplastics that are contaminated with a range of metals such as titanium, iron and copper.” Good morning, Internet…

May 18, 2021 at 05:21PM
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Monday, May 17, 2021

Currach Building, Birgit Nilsson, Black Appalachian Music, More: Monday Evening ResearchBuzz, May 17, 2021

Currach Building, Birgit Nilsson, Black Appalachian Music, More: Monday Evening ResearchBuzz, May 17, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Afloat: Online Exhibition Reveals Unique Currach Building Video & Archive. “The finished 19 and a half feet, three-man currach complete with mast and sail, over two hundred photographs and video footage documenting the build, along with details logged in the NMI team’s notes and correspondence, have left us with a significant and complete record of the vanishing skill of traditional Irish currach building. The unique footage, following Michael Conneely carefully and craftfully through the step-by-step building process, is now available to view on the National Museum of Ireland’s website for the first time in an online exhibition called Making a currach – Michael Conneely.”

Gramophone: Birgit Nilsson Stiftelse launches new website devoted to the singer. “The Birgit Nilsson Stiftelse is today marking what would have been the singer’s 103rd birthday by launching a new website devoted to exploring her life and legacy. Rich in biographical accounts and atmospheric photographs, the website also serves as a resource for the museum devoted to the singer, for the Birgit Nilsson Prize, and for the Birgit Nilsson Stipendium – the scholarship established to support superb young artists of today.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Daily Times: First episode of podcast miniseries exploring Black Appalachian music now available. “The first episode of ‘Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music’ is now available on Great Smoky Mountains Association’s podcast ‘Smoky Mountain Air.’ Hosts William Turner and Ted Olson engage guests Loyal Jones, Sparky Rucker, and James Leva in a lively discussion about the roots of Appalachian music and their own roles in preserving these musical influences. This episode is the first of a six-part podcast miniseries to be released throughout 2021. Topics will include the complex history of Black music in East Tennessee, Black sacred music, Black women musicians, and the diverse landscape of music communities in Southern Appalachia.”

USEFUL STUFF

Digital Inspiration: How to Use Notion with Gmail and Google Sheets using Apps Script. I hear from friends that they’re using Notion but I haven’t tried it yet. You? “Notion, my absolute favorite tool for storing all sorts of things from web pages to code snippets to recipes, just got better. They’ve released a public API and thus it will be a lot easier for developers to read and write to their Notion workspace from external apps.”

Popular Science: 9 cool ways your family can help scientists collect data. “Anyone with an interest in a project or topic, no matter their age or education level, can be a citizen scientist. It can be as simple as uploading a photo of a bird to an app, or as complex as building your own weather station and submitting detailed daily readings to an online database. It can be rewarding too, as this work has real impact and the number of studies using data from citizen science projects is on the rise.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Threatpost: How to Get into the Bug-Bounty Biz: The Good, Bad and Ugly . “In the past handful of weeks, Apple announced a patch for its MacOS bypass bug and rushed four out-of-band fixes for zero-days under active attack; Chrome’s zero-day was posted on Twitter in mid-April; and of course the Microsoft Exchange zero-day attack is still fresh. Threatpost invited zero-day experts to dig beyond the headlines, including Katie Trimble-Noble, the former DHS official who runs Intel’s bug-bounty program; Greg Ose, who runs GitHub’s bug-bounty program, and James McQuiggan, a security awareness advocate for KnowBe4.”

CNN: The bizarre story of the inventor of ransomware. “Eddy Willems was working for an insurance company in Belgium back in December 1989 when he popped the floppy disc into his computer. The disc was one of 20,000 sent in the mail to attendees of the World Health Organization’s AIDS conference in Stockholm, and Willems’ boss had asked him to check what was on it. Willems was expecting to see medical research when the disc’s contents loaded. Instead he became a victim of the first act of ransomware — more than 30 years before the ransomware attack on the US Colonial Pipeline ignited a gas shortage in parts of the US last week.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Discover Magazine: How To Spot Pseudoscience Online And IRL. “Imagine a universe rife with cosmic catastrophes: Jupiter ejecting a comet into space that would later become the planet Venus. The comet whizzing past Earth and changing its rotation. The resulting chaos on Earth causing natural disasters of biblical proportions — literally — like the parting of the Red Sea. In the mid-1900s, Immanuel Velikovsky, a psychiatrist and author, claimed that he could prove these radical ideas. Velikovsky laid out his case in Worlds in Collision, a 1950 bestseller. But the book wasn’t billed as creative fiction or a fanciful hypothesis based on anecdotal accounts of the past; rather, Velikovsky presented these interplanetary theories, and others, as factual.” A lot of articles with this kind of headline are ten paragraphs of bromide. This is a deep dive with a lot of history. Recommended.

SatNews: Geoscience Australia’s New Tool Reveals 30+ Years Of Australia’s Coastline Changes
. “The evolution of Australia’s coastlines can now be seen in amazing scale and detail, with a new tool developed by maps annual changes to Australia’s coastlines to highlight long-term trends in coastal erosion and growth.”

Phys .org: Older adults use social media to compensate for fewer in-person interactions, study says. “A lack of in-person interactions is a primary driver for older people to use social media, which differs from how younger people use it to establish and maintain relationships, according to a first of its kind study of older users by a researcher at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System.” Good evening, Internet…

May 18, 2021 at 05:56AM
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Dylan Thomas, North Carolina Newspapers, Windows Updates, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 16, 2021

Dylan Thomas, North Carolina Newspapers, Windows Updates, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 16, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

University of Texas at Austin: Dylan Thomas Digital Collection Launched Online. “Collections related to Dylan Thomas are held by multiple institutions internationally, and the Ransom Center holds the world’s largest collection, which includes manuscripts, letters, notebooks, drawings and photographs that trace the origins of his major works and the evolution of a young writer. The collection also features screenplays, radio broadcasts and radio plays. Most were acquired by the Center between 1960 and 2004. More than 6,000 items are now digitized, representing only a portion of the author’s physical archive.”

DigitalNC: Jones County Newspaper from 1949-1971 added to DigitalNC. “Thanks to a nomination from the Neuse Regional Library, we’ve added 1,098 issues of the Jones County Journal, a newspaper published out of Trenton, N.C. This is one of only two newspaper titles we have for Jones County. Issues date from volume one, number one, published in 1949 through April 1971. Because the Journal was digitized from microfilm shot with high contrast, many of the photographs are not very clear but the text is quite sharp.” Jones County is one of the least-populated counties in North Carolina, with a population of less than 11,000. By contrast, Wake County has 1.1 million people.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

BetaNews: KB5000842 update is causing high-pitched sound problems for some Windows 10 users. “It is a few weeks since Microsoft released the KB5000842 update for Windows 10, and it wasn’t long before the optional patch was linked to problems with game performance. These particular issues have been — mostly — resolved, but KB5000842 remains problematic with users of some 5.1 audio setups complaining that it has results in their computers emitting high-pitched noises.”

CNET: Parler is back on Apple’s App Store. “Conservative social media service Parler is once again available on Apple’s iOS App Store after being after being taken down following the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol. The updated version of the app includes ‘enhanced threat and incitement reporting tools,’ according to its App Store listing.”

USEFUL STUFF

Distractify: Jealous of All the Cool Reversed Videos on TikTok? Here’s How to Do It Yourself. “There’s no shortage to the different types of social media trends that blow up on the internet — so much so that it’s difficult to keep up with them or really understand how they ever got so popular in the first place. At times, they start off as an inside joke that blew up to proportions that no one could’ve ever really predicted. Other times, they’re deeply intertwined with current events. And sometimes they emerge from a new feature added to said platform, like ‘reverse’ videos on TikTok.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

BBC: TikTok: How Israeli-Palestinian conflict plays out on social media. “Once known primarily for viral dance trends, the video app has also become a key platform for sharing news. The Chinese-owned site has a vast, mostly younger audience, with an estimated 700 million active monthly users worldwide. Footage of rocket fire over Israel, destruction in Gaza and Palestinian protests have all gone viral on the site. It has brought the conflict to people’s phone screens around the world.”

The Conversation: HIV survivors’ stories show the loss, resilience and activism of the early years of AIDS pandemic. “As multidisciplinary HIV researchers, we know how important it is to continue learning from these histories to improve HIV treatment, support and prevention efforts today. So far, we have conducted 116 oral history interviews with long-term survivors of HIV and their caregivers in British Columbia between 2017 and 2020 as part of the community-based HIV In My Day project. These interviews will soon be available in a publicly accessible digital archive.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Washington Post: Chinese businessman with links to Steve Bannon is driving force for a sprawling disinformation network, researchers say. “A sprawling online network tied to Chinese businessman Guo Wengui has become a potent platform for disinformation in the United States, attacking the safety of coronavirus vaccines, promoting false election-fraud claims and spreading baseless QAnon conspiracies, according to research published Monday by the network analysis company Graphika.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

IBM Research Blog: New smartphone app to navigate blind people to stand in lines with distances . “Social distancing has become the norm — but for visually impaired people, adhering to the regulations can be tricky. Especially when it comes to standing in line. Our team wants to help. We have developed an AI-driven assistive smartphone app dubbed LineChaser, presented at … CHI 2021, that navigates a blind or visually impaired person to the end of a line. It also continuously reports the distance and direction to the last person in the line, so that the blind user can follow them easily.”

Radio Free Asia: Beijing Ramps up Fake Social Media Operation Peddling Pro-China Propaganda Overseas. “China has been using social media networks like Twitter to spread positive propaganda about the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the start of the pandemic, according to a report published by an international press group.” Good afternoon, Internet…

May 17, 2021 at 11:53PM
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Clinical Trials, Neobanks, Bereaved Families, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, May 16, 2021

Clinical Trials, Neobanks, Bereaved Families, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, May 16, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Medical Plastics News: FDA-approved medical devices and clinical trials database launched. “The National Institute for Health Research’s Innovation Observatory (NIHRIO), based at Newcastle University, has launched a comprehensive database of searchable clinical trials drawing from 11 of the largest clinical trial registries in the world; as well as medical devices, diagnostics and digital applications information from the FDA database.”

The Financial Brand: Introducing the World’s First Interactive Directory of Digital-Only Neobanks. “Tired of scouring the web as you try to keep up with all the neobanks, challenger banks and digital-only banks out there? Check out The Financial Brand’s new Neobank Tracker — powered by Nymbus. This is the world’s largest interactive, searchable index listing hundreds of digital-only banks and innovative fintechs providing financial services directly to consumers and businesses.”

Arizona State University: Practical tools from award-winning ASU program made accessible online to parents of bereaved children. “The practical tools that are now available on the new website promote four key aspects of bereaved parenting. The foundation is self-care: parents’ ability to be kind to themselves during this time when they are grieving. The second tool teaches simple activities parents can use to help build stronger bonds with their children. The third involves basic communication tools to help children open up and share more. And the fourth focuses on tools to help parents respond in a way that helps children feel understood.”

Habitat: A New Digital Tool to Help Co-ops and Condos Cut Carbon Emissions. “The website features maps that allow the public to see the location of all 40,000 buildings in the five boroughs that must meet new emission limits, as well as the energy-efficiency letter grades of buildings that are required to provide benchmarking information on their annual energy and water consumption. The annual letter grades were inaugurated last year. The website also answers frequently asked questions and shares resources to help with building retrofits, including information about compliance metrics, adjustment programs and financial assistance.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Indian Express: Google I/0 2021 keynote: How to watch livestream and what to expect. “Instead of a large, in-person event, this year’s I/O will be a virtual event, thanks to the ongoing pandemic. The event will see the launch of Android 12 and likely updates to Google’s core services, and there’s a possibility of an unveiling of new Pixel hardware. Google I/O runs from May 18-20. Here’s what’s to expect from the annual developer conference, how you can watch, and the top I/O rumours about what Google has up its sleeve.”

USEFUL STUFF

Washington Post: You have the right to film police. Here’s how to do it effectively — and safely. “Smartphones now allow citizens to film and even live-stream their own police encounters, yet the act of recording can put people at risk in highly charged situations. Many Black Americans are tired of having to document each time a police officer kills a Black person to prove it happened. And while the surge in smartphone evidence has fueled calls for reform, one reason [Darnella] Frazier’s video stands out is because it was so rare in actually leading to the conviction of an officer. So how can and should you use your phone to bear witness? I spoke with lawyers, police, activists, photojournalists and technologists to get their advice on how to best record the police, both legally and technologically.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

CNET: QAnon channels are deleting their own YouTube videos to evade punishment. “Disappearing videos are usually the realm of Snapchat or Instagram Stories, which self-destruct by design after 24 hours. The vanishing QAnon video is something different, a tactic used by peddlers of disinformation that’s designed to help extremist channels evade YouTube’s policies and escape violations that would get them shut down.”

BBC: The app that lets you pay to control another person’s life. “When writer Brandon Wong recently couldn’t decide what takeaway to order one evening, he asked his followers on social media app NewNew to choose for him. Those that wanted to get involved in the 24-year-old’s dinner dilemma paid $5 (£3.50) to vote in a poll, and the majority verdict was that he should go for Korean food, so that was what he bought.”

Pro Video Coalition: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gets Cooke Archive. “Cooke Optics, the award-winning manufacturer of precision lenses for film and television, has transferred the Cooke Archive, an historic collection dating from 1886, and that covers covers development of lens design for photography and film through the 20th century, to a new permanent home at the Margaret Herrick Library, the main repository of research materials of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, located in Beverly Hills, California.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

IGN Middle East: Experimental AI Tool Makes GTA 5 Look Stunningly Photorealistic – Here’s How. “As part of the Intel ISL research group’s Photorealism Enhancement project, the new machine learning tool helps make computer-generated images more realistic by analyzing each frame of the game animation and comparing that to real-life images before applying enhancements based on them. In a video demonstration, Intel ISL shows some regular gameplay of Grand Theft Auto 5 before switching over to its tool’s output, which analyzes the gameplay footage and uses machine learning to make it look more photorealistic.”

ScienceDaily: How smartphones can help detect ecological change. “Mobile apps like Flora Incognita that allow automated identification of wild plants cannot only identify plant species, but also uncover large-scale ecological patterns. This opens up new perspectives for rapid detection of biodiversity changes.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

PC Magazine: Watch NASA’s Historic Ingenuity Helicopter Flight on Mars in 3D. “If you thought watching NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter fly across the Martian sky last month was exciting, you’re in for a real treat. Engineers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration rendered the historic third flight in 3D, lending what the agency called ‘dramatic depth’ to the short trip—as the chopper lifts into the air, zips off screen, and returns moments later for landing.” Good morning, Internet…

May 17, 2021 at 07:29PM
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