New researches

Friday, January 20, 2023

Anne of Green Gables Manuscript, Seto Graves in Russia, Mapping Dark Tourism, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, January 20, 2023

Anne of Green Gables Manuscript, Seto Graves in Russia, Mapping Dark Tourism, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, January 20, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Confederation Centre of the Arts: New digital exhibition explores Anne of Green Gables manuscript. “The Anne of Green Gables Manuscript: L.M. Montgomery and the Creation of Anne officially launched online today. The digital exhibition will allow people to explore Montgomery’s original text, see what was written on the back of pages, and find out how famous moments were developed or revised. The interactive website includes never-before-seen material, such as Montgomery’s publishing contract for the novel.”

ERR (Estonia): New database helps Setos find graves of relatives on Russian side of border. “Taking care of relatives’ graves is an extremely important part of Seto culture. However, in recent years, many Setos living in Estonia have been unable to get to their ancestors’ burial sites on the Russian side of the border to ensure their upkeep. Now, a new database has been established to help keep track of the Seto and Estonian graves in neighboring Petserimaa.”

University of Rochester: The ethics of dark tourism. “[Julia Granato] offers a history of the collection and treatment of human remains in the West, and a discussion of the recent phenomenon of ‘dark tourism’—the visiting of sites that commemorate or offer reminders of tragedy or death…As part of her research, Granato has created a virtual component—an interactive map of dark tourism sites in the western world.”

KPTV: New dashboard allows Portlanders to see city’s response to reported homeless camps. “City of Portland’s Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program has launched a new website that will allow Portlanders to see how crews are responding to reported homeless campsites. The dashboard launched on Wednesday and gives the public the ability to see in detail how reports are being handled.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

WordPress: Say Hello to the New Jetpack Mobile App. “We know inspiration doesn’t wait for you to be sitting at your desk. It can strike anywhere. With the new Jetpack mobile app, you have the freedom to snap a photo to post while out on a walk, begin drafting your Bloganuary entry on your morning commute, or make tweaks to your content while on your lunch break. Inspiration, we’re ready for you!”

Engadget: Twitter’s new developer terms ban third-party clients. “In case there was any doubt about Twitter’s intentions in cutting off the developers of third-party apps, the company has quietly updated its developer agreement to make clear that app makers are no longer permitted to create their own clients.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

PressGazette: Why Tiktok is one of the ‘main priorities’ at BBC News for 2023. “In January 2022, two BBC News social and digital bosses told Press Gazette the broadcaster had stayed off Tiktok because they did not have the resources to create bespoke content properly – and it would not be true to the BBC brand to do ‘light news’. However, by March after Russia invaded Ukraine, the broadcaster realised there was an opportunity to combat disinformation about the war.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Conversation: How British theatre censorship laws have inadvertently created a rich archive of Black history. “Between 1737 and 1968 British theatre censorship laws required theatre managers to submit new plays intended for the professional stage to the Lord Chamberlain’s Office for examination and licensing…. In essence, this meant that the government collected, monitored and frequently censored new dramas. In this way, the licensing of plays has inadvertently produced an extensive historical archive of surveillance and censorship. This includes records of early Black theatre-making, at a time when the British state did not routinely collect and preserve the work of Black playwrights.”

BuzzFeed News: Thousands Of Fake Twitter Accounts Were Made To Support Andrew Tate. “Escaping content featuring misogynist influencer Andrew Tate can be hard on social media — and according to new research, that’s because thousands of accounts posting favorable content about him are actually bots. The Center for Countering Digital Hate announced on Wednesday that it had found 4,621 fake Twitter accounts created to promote Tate. The bot accounts tweeted 15,202 times in support of the former kickboxer, who is in pretrial detention in Romania.”

Stanford University: What DALL-E Reveals About Human Creativity. “To explore just how creative these models really are and what they can teach us about the nature of our own innovative propensities, we asked four authorities on artificial intelligence, the brain, and creativity (and we also asked GPT-3, a language-generating model that’s a close cousin to DALL-E) to explain what they think of DALL-E’s capabilities and artistic potential.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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January 21, 2023 at 01:11AM
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Autism Studies Directory, Pennsylvania State Jobs, North Carolina Environmental Quality Grants, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, January 20, 2023

Autism Studies Directory, Pennsylvania State Jobs, North Carolina Environmental Quality Grants, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, January 20, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

PR Newswire: Autism Science Foundation Launches Novel ‘Participate in Research’ Website Directory (PRESS RELEASE). “ASF’s new ‘Participate in Research’ directory on its website makes it easier for families to find and enroll in studies. Families who use this new directory can search by age, topic of interest, or geographical location. Autism researchers can list their research studies in this new directory. This is the only available searchable directory open to all individuals and their family members, and is free of charge.”

WHTM: Pennsylvania launches new website for state jobs. “While announcing and signing an executive order removing the requirement of having a four-year college degree for thousands of state jobs in Pennsylvania, [Governor] Josh Shapiro announced the launch of a new Pennsylvania employment website.”

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality: DEQ makes grant opportunities easier to navigate. “The new Grants page is a one-stop shop for everyone, including local governments, businesses, community and nonprofit organizations and others, looking for grant and loan funding information for a variety of environmental projects. The page includes recurring and one-time funding sources across DEQ divisions, with links to additional information including eligibility, how to apply, and program contacts.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

9to5 Linux: Mozilla Firefox 109 Is Available for Download with New Unified Extensions Button. “Mozilla promoted today the Firefox 109 release to the stable channel as the browser’s first release in 2023, bringing a handful of new features and lots of improvements.”

The Verge: TikTok is expanding its state-controlled media label to more countries. “The company first announced the labels in response to the war in Ukraine, saying it was ‘expediting’ the rollout of the program with the pilot in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Several government-controlled Russian outlets like RT, RIA Novosti, and TASS have been labeled under the policy so far. Now, TikTok will expand the labels to 40 markets beginning immediately, with more to come in the future.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

University of Arizona: With Shared Churches Project, UArizona Scholars Explore Religious Coexistence. “With her research partners, [Beth] Plummer is creating a database of shared churches in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1800, a project supported by a $248,474 collaborative research grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. A melding of historical and technical expertise, this public history project will ultimately result in a website that includes interactive maps and visual storytelling.”

Get Bengal: In the era of ‘everything digitized’, will Kolkata typists eventually vanish?. “The narrow lanes of Kiron Shankar Roy Road and Old Post Office Street are otherwise a mesh of old shacks serving a hot cuppa or bread omelets to hundreds of litigants, clerks, and lawyers who tread the footpaths every other day. These footpaths are also home to an odd dozen typists whose Remington machines still at times raise the staccato stuck sound. But the sounds are fading fast and so are the typists of the Calcutta High Court arena.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

AFP: Robert F. Kennedy Jr sues media outlets over misinformation initiative. “Robert F. Kennedy Jr, son of the slain US presidential candidate, and other anti-vaccine activists have filed a lawsuit against several news organizations that have banded together to fight misinformation. The nearly 100-page complaint…accuses the media outlets and social media companies of colluding to censor other online publishers with alternative Covid narratives.”

The Register: As if Elon didn’t have enough problems – Twitter sued over leaky servers. “In a class-action lawsuit [PDF] filed January 13 in a US district court in San Francisco, Stephen Gerber claims Twitter exposed his and ‘tens of millions’ of other users’ personal information – specifically email addresses and phone numbers linked to accounts – between June 2021 and January 2022 because of an API flaw. Twitter said it fixed the defect last summer.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Augusta University: New study shows link between social media posts and civil disobedience, violence. “Lance Hunter, PhD, associate professor in Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and the Master of Arts in Intelligence and Security Studies program at Augusta University, recently contributed to two studies that show evidence linking social media to political violence, including domestic terrorism and civil conflict. The studies included more than 150 countries and covered the time frame 2000 to 2019.”

MIT News: Can you trust your quantum simulator?. “At the scale of individual atoms, physics gets weird. Researchers are working to reveal, harness, and control these strange quantum effects using quantum analog simulators — laboratory experiments that involve super-cooling tens to hundreds of atoms and probing them with finely tuned lasers and magnets. Scientists hope that any new understanding gained from quantum simulators will provide blueprints for designing new exotic materials, smarter and more efficient electronics, and practical quantum computers. But in order to reap the insights from quantum simulators, scientists first have to trust them.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Independent (Ireland): Restoration of iconic Clerys clock unveiled to Dubliners’ delight. “Dubliners looked on as the emerald green clock face with gold roman numerals was unveiled by Dublin’s Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy and clockmaker Philip Stokes. To mark the restoration, a new archive of documents, artefacts, objects and images opens to the public tomorrow and will tell the story of the store, with rescued artefacts dating back to 1847.” Good morning, Internet…

January 20, 2023 at 06:31PM
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Thursday, January 19, 2023

Intellectual Property Identifiers, Michigan County-Level Substance Abuse, Australia Archives, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, January 19, 2023

Intellectual Property Identifiers, Michigan County-Level Substance Abuse, Australia Archives, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, January 19, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

United States Patent and Trademark Office: USPTO introduces new tool to help creators identify their intellectual property. “The IP Identifier is comprised of two modules: The Basic IP Identifier; and the Advanced IP Identifier. The Basic IP Identifier module consists of six simple questions that allow users to quickly assess the type of IP they should protect. The Advanced IP Identifier module allows users to learn about their specific type of IP and obtain links to additional resources, including how to file an application for protection. A third module, Managing your IP assets, is currently under development.”

WNEM: State launches county-level substance use tool. “It’s called the Michigan Substance Use Vulnerability Index (MI-SUVI). According to the MDHHS, before this tool, only overdose mortality data was relied on to identify areas with higher substance use. That method didn’t consider a community’s access to resources, the impact of nonfatal overdoses or social determinants of health. MI-SUVI uses data on access to services, social vulnerability and substance use burden. With the additional data, county-level vulnerability scores can be made.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

ABC News (Australia): National galleries and museums hopeful for May budget cash lifeline after Anthony Albanese labels them ‘starved of funds’. “The nation’s largest cultural institutions are hopeful the prime minister’s suggestion they have been ‘starved of funds’ in recent years will be followed with hefty cheques in the next federal budget, due in May.”

The Verge: Google Docs adds a feature we thought it already had: non-printing characters. “Google is adding a feature to Google Docs that lets you see non-printing characters such as spaces, tabs, and various types of breaks, the company announced in a blog post on Monday.”

Bleeping Computer: Google Chrome to let you disable or enable extensions per site. “Currently, Chrome only allows you to disable extensions for all websites via the browser’s settings but cannot control extensions based on a specific site. However, as discovered by Reddit user Leopeva64-2 that’s about to change, as Google is working on a new feature to let you control whether extensions are enabled or disabled on a particular site.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

University of Virginia: Play This New Addictive Game Created by UVA Alumni – It’s a Mind Grind. “A product of the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, Collin Waldoch, 29, has already started and sold a profitable trivia company, been featured in The New York Times and is five months into a new project that’s making headlines.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Midlothian View: Planners use Google Maps to tell Edgehead cottage owner to remove new windows. “Gavin Hogg applied for retrospective planning permission after replacing four front windows of the house in Edgehead, Midlothian. But despite using the same timber materials to replace the windows, planners refused permission after looking at historic Google Map images which showed the design was different.”

Associated Press: Hundreds of Salem Witch Trials documents get new home. “Hundreds of court documents from the 1692 Salem Witch Trials are being transferred from the Salem museum where they have been stored for more than four decades to the newly expanded Judicial Archives facility in Boston.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Digiday: Publishers lament the removal of Twitter Moments as referral traffic dips. “Twitter referral traffic to a dozen major publishers’ websites declined, on average, by 12% in December 2022 compared to November 2022, according to an analysis by Similarweb, a data analytics company that monitors web traffic. Some publishers — such as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, The New York Times, USA Today, the BBC and Yahoo — each saw referral traffic from Twitter fall between 10% and 18% month over month.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

CNET: Museum Asks Public to Reinvent a Classic Painting, With Incredible Results. “Girl With a Pearl Earring? More like Guy With an Apple AirPod. The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague put out a call for re-creations of Johannes Vermeer’s iconic 17th century painting — with bizarre and delightful results.” Good afternoon, Internet…

January 20, 2023 at 01:30AM
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Honouring the Ancient Dead, Plant Extracts, AI Ethics and Governance Standards, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, January 19, 2023

Honouring the Ancient Dead, Plant Extracts, AI Ethics and Governance Standards, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, January 19, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Museums Association: Honouring the Ancient Dead completes database of ancient human remains. “Honouring the Ancient Dead (HAD) has completed the first major edition of its Your Local Museum database, which brings together records of ancient human remains held in more than 300 museums. Each entry records how many ancestral remains the museum has in its collection, whether any are on display and what policies the museum may have for their care.” This resource focuses on Great Britain.

EurekAlert: A plethora of plant molecules provides a ple”flora” of data. “Researchers at the University of Geneva have established a searchable library of spectra and molecules found in a collection of 1,600 plant extracts. This collection was accessed through a collaboration with Pierre Fabre Laboratories. The resulting open resource, published in the journal GigaScience, shares both the obtained data and the employed methods. This will be useful for research ranging from drug discovery to the large-scale exploration of plants’ chemical diversity.”

Business Wire: IEEE Introduces New Program for Free Access to AI Ethics and Governance Standards. “IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, and the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) announce the availability of a program that provides free access to global socio-technical standards in AI Ethics and Governance that provide guidance and considerations towards trustworthy AI. Under the IEEE GET Program, selected standards are made available, free of charge, to encourage adoption and use of standards that contribute to advancing technology for humanity in key areas.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Reuters: Over 500 advertisers have paused spending on Twitter- The Information. “More than 500 of Twitter’s advertisers have paused spending on the micro blogging site since Elon Musk’s takeover last year, The Information reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with its ad business. The social media company’s daily revenue on Jan. 17 was 40% lower than the same day a year ago, the report added.”

TechCrunch: Medium embraces Twitter alternative Mastodon with launch of its own community. “Online publishing platform Medium, originally created by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, announced today that it’s embracing the open source Mastodon platform by creating its own instance to support its authors and their publications.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

The Verge: Extremely Hardcore. “Twitter’s staff spent years trying to protect the social media site against impulsive billionaires who wanted to use the reach of its platform for their own ends, and then one made himself the CEO.”

The Hindu: NCBS archives receive $440,000 grant to collect, preserve history of science in contemporary India . “The Archives plans to collect, preserve and digitize artefacts, including manuscripts, photographs, oral testimonies and histories of individuals and groups who have played a vital role in the development and dissemination of knowledge and practices in ecology and conservation.” NCBS is the National Centre for Biological Sciences.

SECURITY & LEGAL

University of Minnesota: Ransomware attacks on America’s health care systems more than doubled from 2016 to 2021, exposing the personal health information of millions. “The annual number of ransomware attacks on health care provider organizations more than doubled from 2016 to 2021, exposing the personal health information of nearly 42 million individuals.”

Wall Street Journal: Google Didn’t Show Bias in Filtering Campaign-Ad Pitches, FEC Says. “The Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint from Republicans that Google’s Gmail app aided Democratic candidates by sending GOP fundraising emails to spam at a far higher rate than Democratic solicitations.”

Bloomberg: Google Keyword-Search Warrants Questioned by Colorado Lawyers. “After five people were killed in a 2020 arson in Colorado, law enforcement officials failed to turn up any leads through their initial investigative techniques. So they served a warrant to Google for anyone who had searched for the address of the fire, according to a court motion.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Southern California: USC study reveals the key reason why fake news spreads on social media. “USC researchers may have found the biggest influencer in the spread of fake news: social platforms’ structure of rewarding users for habitually sharing information. The team’s findings, published Monday by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, upend popular misconceptions that misinformation spreads because users lack the critical thinking skills necessary for discerning truth from falsehood or because their strong political beliefs skew their judgment.”

Maui Now: Indigenous knowledge and cutting-edge data aim to help revitalize Hawaiian fishponds. “Three local organizations: Purple Maiʻa Foundation, Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo, and Hohonu, Inc., are launching the Loko Iʻa and Coastal Monitoring Project that will help up to 30 Hawaiian Fishpond restoration groups across the state. The project engages local communities in the design process, and will work with them to gather insights on the biggest barriers to fishpond restoration for food production.” Good morning, Internet…

January 19, 2023 at 06:29PM
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Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Night Train to Nashville, Sydney Ferry Rides, Twitter, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, January 18, 2023

Night Train to Nashville, Sydney Ferry Rides, Twitter, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, January 18, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum: Online Exhibit: Night Train To Nashville. “The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum was recently awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create an online version of its award-winning 2004–2005 exhibition, Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945–1970. The online exhibit will revive, update, and preserve the significant story of Nashville’s pioneering R&B scene and its role in building the city into a world-renowned music center.”

Transport for New South Wales (Australia): Famous Sydney ferry views now accessible to the world on Google Street View. “‘Virtual visitors can look inside and outside the ferry, docked at Circular Quay – and also take a trip on two of Sydney’s most celebrated ferry routes, Circular Quay to Manly and Circular Quay to Taronga Zoo. These experiences are available on Google Street View from today.'”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

NBC News: Top Twitter influencers say platform is getting worse under Musk. “Six Twitter users with follower counts from over 100,000 to several millions said they had experienced new kinds of technical glitches since Musk laid off about half of the company’s staff. Other issues they identified after Musk’s controversial moves include a perceived uptick in anti-transgender speech and sporadic loss of followers.”

USEFUL STUFF

Search Engine Land: Google ranking signals: A complete breakdown of all confirmed, rumored and false factors. “In this article, we’ll analyze all of the known, confirmed, rumored, and absolute myth-level Google ranking factors in an easy-to-read, highly condensed way.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

BBC: Nigeria elections 2023: How influencers are secretly paid by political parties. “A BBC investigation has discovered that political parties in Nigeria are secretly paying social media influencers to spread disinformation about their opponents ahead of general elections in February.”

CNBC: JPMorgan shutters website it paid $175 million for, accuses founder of inventing millions of accounts. “JPMorgan Chase on Thursday shut down the website for a college financial aid platform it bought for $175 million after alleging the company’s founder created nearly 4 million fake customer accounts.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Verge: Getty Images is suing the creators of AI art tool Stable Diffusion for scraping its content. “Getty Images is suing Stability AI, creators of popular AI art tool Stable Diffusion, over alleged copyright violation. In a press statement shared with The Verge, the stock photo company said it believes that Stability AI ‘unlawfully copied and processed millions of images protected by copyright’ to train its software and that Getty Images has ‘commenced legal proceedings in the High Court of Justice in London’ against the firm.”

Associated Press: US spies lag rivals in seizing on data hiding in plain sight. “As alarms began to go off globally about a novel coronavirus spreading in China, officials in Washington turned to the intelligence agencies for insights about the threat the virus posed to America. But the most useful early warnings came not from spies or intercepts, according to a recent congressional review of classified reports from December 2019 and January 2020. Officials were instead relying on public reporting, diplomatic cables and analysis from medical experts — some examples of so-called open source intelligence, or OSINT.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Washington State University: Fear can inspire remote workers to protect IT resources. “Fear of what could go wrong is the greatest motivator when it comes to getting remote workers to protect their employer’s information technology security, according to a recent study in Computers & Security. But it tends to work best when employees also have a solid understanding of the severity of potential security threats, including the knowledge of what to do when the worst happens.”

The Conversation: Twitter: how to remove Elon Musk and reinvent the company (the author is a Professor of International Business at the University of Manchester.) “What follows is a proposal that would make Twitter more financially sustainable and move it back towards open speech, within limits. It would remove many of the problems related to anonymous and bot accounts while allowing Musk to recoup at least a substantial amount of his investment.” Good afternoon, Internet..

January 19, 2023 at 01:20AM
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TikTok, Twitter, Google Translate, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, January 18, 2023

TikTok, Twitter, Google Translate, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, January 18, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNN: More than half of US states have cracked down on TikTok access from government devices. “More than half of all US states have partially or fully banned TikTok from government devices, according to a CNN analysis, reflecting a wave of recent clampdowns by governors and state agencies targeting the short-form video app. The accelerating backlash by states against TikTok, which has at least 100 million users in the United States, extends to states governed by Republicans and Democrats, and spans all regions of the country.”

Financial Times: Looming Twitter interest payment leaves Elon Musk with unpalatable options. “The bill for Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter is coming due, with the billionaire facing unpalatable options on the company’s enormous debt pile, ranging from bankruptcy proceedings to another costly sale of Tesla shares.”

Android Police: Google Translate gets offline translation for 33 more languages. “Google has just expanded the offline translation functionality to a whopping 33 new languages, as announced by the company in a blog post.” From Basque to Zulu, full list in the post.

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Vox: Are we too worried about misinformation?. “I think what has happened is there was a massive overestimation of the capability of mis- and disinformation to change people’s minds — of its actual persuasive power. That doesn’t mean it’s not a problem, but we have to reframe how we look at it — as less of something that is done to us and more of a supply and demand problem.” This quote kind of reflexively makes me mad, but since Alex Stamos said it I feel obligated to take it seriously and think deeply about it. Darn it. Lol.

HoldTheFrontPage: Websites take a back seat as publisher changes tack at nine regional titles. “A regional publisher is making nine titles ‘newsletter-led’ enterprises that will see their websites take a back seat. Reach plc has announced the move at its digital-only ‘Live’ titles covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Sussex and Hampshire.”

SFist: SF Police and Sheriff Unions Engaged in Bizarro Social Media Fight Over Staffing at SFO. SFO is San Francisco International Airport, I believe. “Immature posts from law enforcement unions are nothing new, but we can’t help but be amused by the new Twitter fight between SF Police Officers Association and the SF Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, who are publicly airing beef between them over who should staff SFO.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

NPR: Here’s what’s at stake in Elon Musk’s Tesla tweet trial. “In 2018, before Elon Musk was making headlines for his role in running Twitter, he was making headlines for another Twitter-related controversy: allegedly using the platform to commit fraud…. Now, a civil trial stemming from those tweets is being watched as a window into Musk’s behavior, past and present, which means the trial could produce new controversies of its own.”

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project: LockBit Gang Using Musk’s Internet Services, Laundering BitCoin in Hong Kong, China. “A security strategist who spent months undercover on the darkweb published a report on Monday that offers insight into one of the world’s most notorious ransomware groups, claiming its members are using internet services owned by billionaire Elon Musk and laundering money through Hong Kong and China.”

ERR (Estonia): Hartman submits bill to amend museums law, create new folk culture database. “Wednesday in the Riigikogu’s first reading, Minister of Culture Piret Hartman (SDE) introduced a legislation that simplifies the procedures for removal of items from museum collections, amends the conditions of museum funding, and proposes the creation of a new folk culture database.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of York: Study reveals online fake reviewers suffer from pangs of conscience. “The study, led by the University of York, found individuals to be quite competent in writing compelling fake reviews in unpredictable ways, but it caused a moral dilemma for some. The researchers say the findings of the study could be used by websites to put in place better systems to detect fake reviews, which could appeal to the contributor’s moral obligation to be truthful.”

Canada NewsWire: Canadian Heritage funds projects to strengthen Canadians’ resilience against harmful online disinformation (PRESS RELEASE). “The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage, and the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities, today announced more than $1.2 million in funding for 16 research projects that help to counter and educate about online harms, misinformation, and disinformation. These projects were selected following an annual call for proposals that was launched in July 2022 by the Digital Citizen Contribution Program (DCCP).”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Dalhousie University: Dal researchers’ chance discovery could help extend battery life by replacing tape that causes self‑discharge. ‘”In commercial battery cells there is tape — like Scotch tape — that holds the electrodes together and there is a chemical decomposition of this tape, which creates a molecule that leads to the self-discharge,” says Michael Metzger, an assistant professor and the Herzberg-Dahn chair and in the Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science.’

January 18, 2023 at 06:27PM
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Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Public Art Archive, W3C, UK Web Archive, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, January 17, 2023

Public Art Archive, W3C, UK Web Archive, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, January 17, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

PR Newswire: Public Art Archive Launches New Website to Make Public Art Available for All (PRESS RELEASE). “A project of the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), a US Regional Arts Organization, the PAA is a singular platform for connecting with public art in any community. The site, publicartarchive.org, includes a public art documentation database with interactive maps, bringing thousands of public artworks to visitors across the country and beyond.” Give it a minute to load, it’s a little slow.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Computing: W3C rejects Google’s cookie plans for Chrome. “A division of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has rejected Google’s Topics API proposal which the search giant presented last year, claiming that it would help replace intrusive third-party tracking cookies in Chrome.”

UK Web Archive Blog: UK Web Archive Technical Update – Winter 2022. “As in previous years, the 2022 Domain Crawl continued to run right up until the end of the year. Overall, things ran smoothly, with only brief outages for upgrading the virtual server over time as the size of the frontier grew.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Bloomberg: Conspiracy Theories Prompt Top Finnish Health Authority to Quit Twitter. “The rampant spread of conspiracy theories on Twitter has pushed Finland’s top health authority to stop using the platform to disseminate its public-health messages.”

Associated Press: As Elites Arrive in Davos, Conspiracy Theories Thrive Online. “The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting — which will draw some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential figures to the Swiss mountain town of Davos this week — has increasingly become a target for bizarre claims from a growing chorus of commentators who believe the forum involves a group of elites manipulating global events for their own benefit.”

The Scotsman: Experts warn Scotland’s musical heritage under threat over BBC plans to drop piping show. ‘Award-winning musicians, academics and piping sector leaders have called for Pipeline to be saved due to the “critical” role played by its outside broadcasts in maintaining a public record of piping at festivals and contests, and the recording sessions traditionally offered by the BBC to musicians unable to make their own albums.’

SECURITY & LEGAL

Wall Street Journal: TikTok Tries to Win Allies in the U.S. With More Transparency. “Two years into negotiations with U.S. regulators about whether TikTok will be able to remain in the country, the popular video-sharing app is trying a new tack: increased transparency. In recent conversations with Washington lawmakers and civil-society organizations, TikTok has revealed details of a complex, $1.5 billion plan to reorganize the company’s U.S. operations, according to people familiar with the discussions.”

WION: Android phones to become expensive in India? Google refuses to pay fine over anti-competitive practices claims. “Google issued a warning over Android phones stating that smartphones will become more expensive in India because of the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) latest ruling. It is said that the costs might increase for app developers, equipment makers, and eventually consumers.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

WIRED: Algorithms Allegedly Penalized Black Renters. The US Government Is Watching. “SafeRent had argued that algorithms used to screen tenants aren’t subject to the Fair Housing Act, because its scores only advise landlords and don’t make decisions. The DOJ’s brief, filed jointly with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, dismisses that claim, saying the act and associated case law leave no ambiguity.”

Nikkei Asia: China trounces U.S. in AI research output and quality. “Nikkei worked with Dutch scientific publisher Elsevier to review academic and conference papers on AI, using 800 or so AI-associated keywords to narrow down the papers. Looking at quantity, the number of AI papers exploded from about 25,000 in 2012 to roughly 135,000 in 2021. This mirrors the AI boom that began around 2012, when deep learning came to the fore. China has consistently stood atop the heap in terms of the volume of papers, the study shows. For 2021, it produced 43,000 papers — roughly twice as many as the U.S.” Good afternoon, Internet…

January 18, 2023 at 01:19AM
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