Rhode Island Affordable Housing, Google Special Syntax, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 20, 2023

Rhode Island Affordable Housing, Google Special Syntax, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 20, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

RIHousing: Rhode Island’s new affordable housing online database now available. “The online searchable database, which went live in June, includes information on low-income rental units across the state, including contact information for developments, application information as available, and information relative to key populations a development may serve, such as residents who are elderly or disabled, or families impacted by domestic violence.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Land: Google confirms related search operator is going away. “Google is removing support for the related search operator, a special search command where Google can tell you what other websites are related to another site.” As Danny Sullivan notes, it hasn’t worked well for ages.

Stanford Daily: Stanford president resigns over manipulated research, will retract at least three papers . “Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne will resign effective Aug. 31 according to communications released by the University Wednesday morning. He will also retract or issue lengthy corrections to five widely cited papers for which he was principal author after a Stanford-sponsored investigation found ‘manipulation of research data.'”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

James Madison University: Furious Flower Poetry Center hosts more than 20 scholars and poets to create an open-access curriculum. “The Furious Flower Poetry Center, in partnership with the Furious Flower Advisory Board, hosted more than 20 scholars and poets at James Madison University in June to create an open-access curriculum for incorporating Black poetry into classrooms of all ages and levels. These pedagogical materials will be distributed to educators nationwide for free to encourage further engagement with Black poetry.”

Stuff New Zealand: Google Maps sends Sky Waka seekers to ‘wrong side of mountain’. “A Google Maps glitch reportedly sent ‘hundreds’ of vehicles seeking Ruapehu’s Sky Waka gondola ride to the remote Tukino ski field on the eastern side of the mountain.While no mishaps were reported, the Tukino operators say their website makes it clear the skifield should only be accessed by high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicles with chains aboard.”

Rest of World: The AI startup outperforming Google Translate in Ethiopian languages. “Asmelash Teka Hadgu is the co-founder and chief technology officer of Lesan, a Berlin-based startup developing machine translation products for Ethiopian languages. Founded in 2019, Lesan has launched translation tools for Amharic and Tigrinya, which it says outperform Google Translate in terms of quality. The startup’s use of offline print resources to create a new benchmark data set for languages from the Horn of Africa has been key to its success.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Ars Technica: Typo leaks millions of US military emails to Mali web operator. “Millions of US military emails have been misdirected to Mali through a ‘typo leak’ that has exposed highly sensitive information, including diplomatic documents, tax returns, passwords, and the travel details of top officers. Despite repeated warnings over a decade, a steady flow of email traffic continues to the .ML domain, the country identifier for Mali, as a result of people mistyping .MIL, the suffix to all US military email addresses.”

Bleeping Computer: Ukraine takes down massive bot farm, seizes 150,000 SIM cards. “The Cyber ​​Police Department of the National Police of Ukraine dismantled another massive bot farm linked to more than 100 individuals after searches at almost two dozen locations. The bots were used to push Russian propaganda justifying Russia’s war in Ukraine, to disseminate illegal content and personal information, and in various other fraudulent activities.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

MIT: The world needs a global AI observatory — here’s why. “The world already has a model in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Established in 1988 by the United Nations with member countries from around the world, the IPCC provides governments with scientific information they can use to develop climate policies. A comparable body for AI would provide a reliable basis of data, models, and interpretation to guide policy and broader decision-making about AI.”

UNSW Sydney: AI reveals hidden traits about our planet’s flora to help save species. “In a world-first, scientists from UNSW and Botanic Gardens of Sydney have trained AI to unlock data from millions of plant specimens kept in herbaria around the world, to study and combat the impacts of climate change on flora.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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July 21, 2023 at 12:40AM
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Nuclear “Football”, LGBTQ Ireland, Immich, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, July 20, 2023

Nuclear “Football”, LGBTQ Ireland, Immich, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, July 20, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

National Security Archive: The Presidential Nuclear “Football” From Eisenhower to George W. Bush. “A set of highly secret emergency action plans kept inside the closely guarded ‘Football’ that traveled with the President at all times and that would give the federal government sweeping emergency powers were of ‘doubtful legality,’ ‘badly out of date,’ and ‘even illegal,’ according to top government officials whose views are memorialized in declassified records posted today by the National Security Archive.”

GCN: New digital exhibition celebrates LGBTQ+ families in Ireland. “On Friday, July 14, the National Museum of Ireland, in collaboration with RIFNET (Reconstituting the Irish Family Network) unveiled a new digital exhibition entitled ReCollecting the Irish Family. The exhibition consists of items donated from five LGBTQ+ families throughout Ireland. Interviews with the families accompany the pieces, challenging the listener to examine their notions of what ‘the Irish family’ truly means.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: Immich Is a Great Google Photos Alternative You Can Host on Raspberry Pi. “Google Photos is the dominant photo storage and backup solution, effortlessly spiriting your images from your phone into the cloud. But if you don’t want to share your personal photos with Google, there are alternatives. While there are many self-hosted solutions you can host on Raspberry Pi, Immich stands head and shoulders above most competitors. It offers machine learning, multiple users, automatic image classification, facial recognition, native Android and iOS apps, and a host of other features.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

CNN: With the rise of AI, social media platforms could face perfect storm of misinformation in 2024. “A new crop of AI tools offer the ability to generate compelling text and realistic images — and, increasingly, video and audio. Experts, and even some executives overseeing AI companies, say these tools risk spreading false information to mislead voters, including ahead of the 2024 US election.”

Deadline: SAG-AFTRA Can Bar Non-Member Social Media Influencers From Guild Admission If They Promote For Studios During Strike. “If you’re a social media influencer and want to take work promoting a film or TV series for a studio, but you’re not a SAG-AFTRA member — you might want to think twice. SAG-AFTRA has issued rules during the strike for social media influencers, and even if you’re not a member of the guild, but one day want to join, you’ll be barred from doing so if you take on promotional work for the studios and streamers during the strike.”

CNBC: Google restricting internet access to some employees to reduce cyberattack risk. “The company originally selected more than 2,500 employees to participate, but after receiving feedback, the company revised the pilot to allow employees to opt out, as well as opening it up to volunteers. The company will disable internet access on the select desktops, with the exception of internal web-based tools and Google-owned websites like Google Drive and Gmail.”

Variety: Congressman Joaquin Castro and Hispanic Caucus Members Call on Public to Nominate Latino Films for National Film Registry. “Congressman Joaquin Castro and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have launched a nationwide call for Latino films to nominate for the National Film Registry.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CBS News: Elizabeth Warren calls for SEC to investigate Tesla, Elon Musk’s ‘conflicts of interest’. “Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren asked the SEC to investigate Tesla and its board of directors to determine whether they violated securities laws after CEO Elon Musk took over Twitter last year.”

Search Engine Journal: Brave Browser Under Fire For Alleged Sale Of Copyrighted Data. “Brave, a privacy-focused web browser, has come under fire for supposedly selling copyrighted data to train artificial intelligence models. This has sparked debates around the ethical use of data and the need for transparency.”

USA Today: ‘Dr. Roxy’, the plastic surgeon who livestreamed procedures on TikTok, banned from practicing medicine in Ohio. “The State Medical Board of Ohio on Wednesday voted to permanently revoke the medical license of [Dr. Katharine Roxanne] Grawe, who also goes by ‘Dr. Roxy.’ The board said Grawe, whose license has been suspended since Nov. 18, neglected her patients as she livestreamed parts of their procedures, spoke into a camera, and answered viewer questions – all while the surgeries were taking place.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Washington: Learning from superheroes and AI: UW researchers study how a chatbot can teach kids supportive self-talk. “Researchers at the University of Washington created a new web app aimed to help children develop skills like self-awareness and emotional management. In Self-Talk with Superhero Zip, a chatbot guided pairs of siblings through lessons. The UW team found that, after speaking with the app for a week, most children could explain the concept of supportive self-talk (the things people say to themselves either audibly or mentally) and apply it in their daily lives.”

New York Times: Official Data Hinted at China’s Hidden Covid Toll. Then It Vanished.. “Official data from China offered a rare, but brief, glimpse of the true toll of Covid, indicating that nearly as many people may have died from the virus in a single province earlier this year as Beijing has said died in the mainland during the entire pandemic. The data was deleted from a provincial government website just days after it was published on Thursday. But epidemiologists who reviewed a cached version of the information said it was the latest indication that the country’s official tally is a vast undercount.” Good morning, Internet…

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July 20, 2023 at 05:31PM
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LEGO Instruction Manuals, Google Workspace, Barbie Easter Eggs, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 19, 2023

LEGO Instruction Manuals, Google Workspace, Barbie Easter Eggs, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 19, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Open Culture: Download Instructions for More Than 6,800 LEGO Kits at the Internet Archive. “We’ve all come across a LEGO set from childhood and felt the temptation to try building it one more time… If you’re missing a few bricks, you can always turn to the robust secondary market in LEGO components. If you’re missing the manual, there’s now one place you should look first: the LEGO building instructions collection at the Internet Archive. There you’ll find digitized materials for more than 6,800 different sets, including such popular releases as the LEGO Chevrolet Camaro Z28, the LEGO International Space Station, and the LEGO cover photo of Meet the Beatles.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

9to5 Google: Entry Google Workspace tiers now include code-free ‘AppSheet’ app creator. “AppSheet lets businesses easily build internal tools, and Google is now giving access to entry Google Workspace tiers. Aimed at both desktop and mobile, Google’s example AppSheet applications span ‘project management, operations, field work, human resources, sales, and marketing.'”

Collider: Stop What You’re Doing and Google the ‘Barbie’ Cast Right Now. “It’s Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, and Ryan Gosling’s world, we’re all just living in it. Google further proved this theory with its latest rollout of themes featuring the main cast and director of Barbie turning the search engine pink and sparkly to celebrate this weekend’s arrival of the Mattel-based film.”

Techdirt: Elon Starts Bribing His Biggest Fans As He Admits The Company Is Still Burning Cash (Despite His Earlier Claims To The Contrary). “Elon’s own decisions destroyed the company’s revenue and saddled it with way more expenses in the form of debt interest/repayment. The company is bleeding users and revenue, and despite promising a large group of users payouts if they joined his failed ‘Twitter Blue’ program, the company is only paying that money to a small handpicked group which seems to consist almost entirely of accounts that suck up to Musk on the platform.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Scroll (India): Before Indian classical music loses its diversity, an online project is rushing to archive it. “A sweeping, hugely ambitious online project is documenting traditional knowledge systems, pedagogy, compositions and commentaries.”

Fast Company: How Palantir stock developed a weird, passionate, meme-crazy fan base. “Palantir, a data management and software company cofounded by Peter Thiel that deals primarily with government and military contracts, is not what you’d expect to have a fervent, meme-making fandom. And yet, it does. Members of the community refer to Palantir as ‘pili’ and CEO Alex Karp as ‘Daddy Karp.'”

SECURITY & LEGAL

US Department of Commerce: Data Privacy Framework Program Launches New Website Enabling U.S. Companies to Participate in Cross-Border Data Transfers. “The U.S. Department of Commerce launched the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program website today, enabling eligible U.S. companies to self-certify their participation in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF), facilitating cross-border transfers of personal data in compliance with EU law.”

Los Angeles Blade: Angered by LGBTQ+ lecture, state GOP lawmakers threaten funds. “A contingent of Alabama Republican Senate lawmakers led by State Sen. Chris Elliott, are filing a bill that will divert $5 million in critical funds from the Alabama Department of Archives and History over its refusal to not hold a noontime lecture focused on LGBTQ+ history this past month in recognition of LGBTQ+ Pride Month.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

North Carolina State University: New Online Tool Maps ‘Beans Gone Wild’. “Recently, NC State Extension released an online tracking tool called Beans Gone Wild to capture and share in-season crop problems and recommendations. The new visual mapping tool, funded by the NC Soybeans Producers Association and the NC Agricultural Foundation, uses crowd-sourced field data from public and private partners to document soybean problems (and recommended actions) across the state.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

New York Times: How Manga Was Translated for America. “The history of manga translation in the U.S. has been one of fits and starts, as publishers grappled with questions about how to present it to fans outside of Japan. When should they cater to American audiences? And when should they be more concerned about being faithful to the Japanese originals?” Good afternoon, Internet…

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July 20, 2023 at 12:17AM
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Turn RSS Feeds Into Word Clouds With Stephen’s Cloud Seeder

Turn RSS Feeds Into Word Clouds With Stephen’s Cloud Seeder
By ResearchBuzz

At the end of May I made NewsDrizzle, which lets you browse various news categories as word clouds generated from RSS feeds. In addition to the word cloud, NewsDrizzle also generates a few random Web searches based on the content of the word clouds. It is absolutely not for searching — it’s more for getting a sense of something and generating Web queries for it when you know very little about it. (I note on the page that ‘It’s not so much “browsing the news” as “pogo-sticking the news”’ and I stand by that.)

Someone on LinkedIn named Stephen Albright asked me if he could customize the content used by NewsDrizzle. That seemed like a fair ask so I made Stephen’s Cloud Seeder.

Enter up to 15 RSS feeds, one per line, and SCS will make a word cloud out of the  top terms along random searches, just like NewsDrizzle, only you get to specify the sources.

While I was testing Stephen’s Cloud Seeder I discovered by accident that it works really well with keyword-based RSS feeds. I generated a bunch of thermal-energy oriented feeds using Kebberfegg and CountryFeed and tossed ’em in to see what would happen. The results ended up being a really good jumping-off point for exploring news about thermal energy.

 

 

July 19, 2023 at 09:28PM
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Research Africa Publications, Open Restitution Africa, Nursing Home Inspections, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, July 19, 2023

Research Africa Publications, Open Restitution Africa, Nursing Home Inspections, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, July 19, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Vanguard (Nigeria): Ex-student launches African journal aggregator platform in memory of Prof Oso. “A former student, and protégé of the late Prof. Lai Oso, Olasunkanmi Arowolo, is set to launch an African journal aggregator portal, aimed to improve the international visibility of African journals through robust databases and indexing. Arowolo, a Nigerian scholar, and founder of Research Africa Publications, a pan-African journal database committed to making African research accessible globally, added that the absence of access to African works during his studies abroad was a motivation to set up the website.”

New-to-me, from The Guardian: Meet the ‘headstrong historian’ bringing Africa’s past to life – for Africans. “[Chao] Tayiana is also co-founder of Open Restitution Africa, an initiative that maps data on the return of African treasures that were seized or stolen by former colonial powers, and documents the demands for these artefacts.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

ProPublica: How to Use the Updated “Nursing Home Inspect” Database. “As of today, the underlying database covers nearly 400,000 deficiencies from over 90,000 reports at over 15,000 homes. It is updated monthly to include new data and deficiencies. In addition to allowing you to search reports, the database also provides other information about nursing homes, including fines, whether the home is for-profit or nonprofit, staffing and capacity information, and COVID-19 vaccination information.”

Engadget: TikTok rolls out passkey login for iOS devices. “The list of third-party apps that support passkey login on the iPhone has grown by one, thanks to TikTok. Users of the popular video-sharing service will now have the option to sign in with their passkey associated with their Apple ID, which means they can easily get into their account using Face or Touch ID.”

The Moscow Times: Russian Tech Giant Yandex Seeks New ‘Middlemen’ Buyers for Kremlin Handover – Reports. “The Kremlin is looking for buyers of Russia’s internet giant Yandex who would later sell the company to a Kremlin-linked oligarch sanctioned by the West, independent media reported, citing several anonymous sources familiar with the matter. The Bell business outlet and the news website Meduza said the search follows a breakdown of Yandex’s Dutch-registered holding company’s previous talks to sell its revenue-generating businesses and fully exit Russia.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Haaretz: Israeli Antiquities Remain Stranded at Trump’s Florida Estate as Authorities Fail to Retrieve. “Antiquities belonging to Israel have been kept for the past several months at former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, and senior Israeli figures have unsuccessfully tried to have them returned to Israel.”

Marketplace: Reddit, Twitter and the [price] war on third-party developers. “Matt Binder, a senior tech reporter at Mashable, has written about the clash over social media APIs. He joined Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal to talk about how it’s playing out and what kind of downstream effects we might see. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.”

El País: AI fuels rise of content farms and fake news outlets. “A study by the NewsGuard misinformation monitor found that an increasing number of content farms now use generative AI. These websites publish articles created by chatbots with little or no human editorial oversight. The numbers are astronomical. One of the websites analyzed in the study — World Today News — published around 8,600 articles during the week of June 9. That’s an average of 1,200 articles per day. The other two websites analyzed by NewsGuard each published 6,108 and 5,867 posts that same week.” This is why I’m writing articles about avoiding infosewage.

SECURITY & LEGAL

Insider: A traveler’s Delta flight was canceled, so he called the airline’s number listed on Google. It led to a scammer — then he says he discovered more airlines with the same problem.. “‘My @delta flight got canceled from JFK. The customer service line was huge, so I google a Delta JFK phone number. The number was 1888-571-4869 Thinking I reached Delta, I started telling them about getting me on a new flight,’ he tweeted Sunday. But that phone call led him to a scam, he said. And, after more digging, [Shmuli] Evers said he discovered at least six other airlines with what he suspected were scam numbers listed on Google.”

USA Today: Are your smart devices safe? New government logo will ID devices less prone to cyberattack.. “The Biden administration and the Federal Communications Commission will launch a new certification and labeling program on Tuesday to help buyers identify which Internet- and Bluetooth-connected devices meet federal cybersecurity requirements and are less vulnerable to cyberattacks. Products that meet the standards will be stamped with a certification mark or logo to be called the ‘U.S. Cyber Trust Mark.'”

Global Voices: A forensic investigation finds a site that doxxes Hong Kong activists and journalists is likely backed by Beijing. “A tech forensic run by Toronto-based research group Citizen Lab finds that HKleaks, a notorious doxxing site launched in 2019 targeting Hong Kong activists and journalists, is most likely backed by the mainland Chinese government or its proxies.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

MSNBC: What’s going to happen to Black Twitter?. “Black Twitter serves as a potent example of Black digital expertise, one that de-centers whiteness as a default internet identity. Black folk have rarely been considered civil, rational or productive by mainstream American society, yet we dominate this influential platform.” Good morning, Internet…

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July 19, 2023 at 05:28PM
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Finland WWII Newspapers, Google Algorithm, Album Archive, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 18, 2023

Finland WWII Newspapers, Google Algorithm, Album Archive, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, July 18, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

National Library of Finland: Gaining a perspective on war through digitised warfront newspapers. “Warfront papers were newspapers for soldiers on the front. The National Library has, in cooperation with the library of the National Defence University, digitised a total of 144 warfront papers from 1939–1945 and made them available.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Roundtable: Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update & Volatility Explodes This Weekend. “I often post about Google ranking volatility and search ranking algorithm updates but I rarely post about them on a weekend. But I just had to this Sunday morning; the tools are literally all reporting massive and explosive volatility this weekend and the SEO chatter is also very high.”

Android Police: Google is killing Album Archive this week, so save your Hangouts images before it’s too late. “A few weeks ago, Google sent a scary-sounding email to some of its account holders. The company warned that its ‘Album Archive’ would be discontinued soon, and that you would have to back up any data from it that you want to retain. … The July 19 shutdown date is now moving closer, so if you want to see what data you’ve got in your Album Archive and if you’d like to export it, now is the time.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Bloomberg: Google’s AI Chatbot Is Trained by Humans Who Say They’re Overworked, Underpaid and Frustrated. “Google’s Bard artificial intelligence chatbot will answer a question about how many pandas live in zoos quickly, and with a surfeit of confidence. Ensuring that the response is well-sourced and based on evidence, however, falls to thousands of outside contractors from companies including Appen Ltd. and Accenture Plc, who can make as little as $14 an hour and labor with minimal training under frenzied deadlines, according to several contractors, who declined to be named for fear of losing their jobs.”

Daily Beast: GOP Lawmaker Banned From Wikipedia After Self-Editing Spree. “Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) is a notable alumnus of Manhattan College—at least according to the Bronx liberal arts school’s Wikipedia page. The congressman, a former state lawmaker who upset Democratic campaign chief Sean Patrick Maloney last year, may boast a resume that merits the honor. But it wasn’t the Wikipedia hive mind that put Lawler on the notable alumni list; it was apparently Lawler himself.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Next Web: Cowboy releases digital ebike key to keep VanMoof riders on the road. “Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll probably know that ebike darling VanMoof is facing bankruptcy. Obviously, this isn’t good news for VanMoof riders, who could be locked out of their own bikes which largely rely on a unique software app created by the Dutch company. But fear not VanMoofers, Belgian ebike rival Cowboy has released an app to keep you on the road.”

New York Times: Can A.I. Invent?. “A group of legal experts are pressing patent agencies, courts and policymakers to address the question as generative A.I. seems on the brink of invading another uniquely human endeavor.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Ars Technica: Why AI detectors think the US Constitution was written by AI. “If you feed America’s most important legal document—the US Constitution—into a tool designed to detect text written by AI models like ChatGPT, it will tell you that the document was almost certainly written by AI. But unless James Madison was a time traveler, that can’t be the case. Why do AI writing detection tools give false positives? We spoke to several experts—and the creator of AI writing detector GPTZero—to find out.”

Washington Post: Twitter’s Dying. Time to Drop the News Paywalls.. “We now have Bluesky, Mastodon, Spill and Spoutible, but the it thing at the moment is Meta Platforms Inc.’s Threads, which surpassed 100 million users in its first five days thanks to its Instagram ties. Many of us are either getting swept up in the excitement of whatever new app is launching or rolling our eyes after hearing about whatever new ‘Twitter killer’ is on the block. News leaders cannot afford to merely join either camp. They should use this moment to strategize how to compete with a shaky social media landscape that continues to offer “news” and other content for free.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

British Library Knowledge Matters Blog: Building a Minecraft Gateway to the World of Books | User Stories . “Professor Sally Bushell drew on the British Library collections to create Litcraft, a project that builds worlds in Minecraft to inspire reluctant readers. Her most recent Litcraft game is called Steampunk Sherlock Holmes. Sally is a Professor of Romantic and Victorian Literature in the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing at Lancaster University.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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July 19, 2023 at 12:18AM
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Art Deco Mumbai, Twitter Africa, Cooling Centers, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, July 18, 2023

Art Deco Mumbai, Twitter Africa, Cooling Centers, More: Tuesday ResearchBuzz, July 18, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Mid-Day: Art Deco Mumbai creates exhaustive database of city architects responsible for its magnificent architecture. “Iconic buildings like Regal Cinema in Colaba or the Sona Mahal at Marine Drive may have made for terrific backgrounds for your Instagram Reels, but how much do you know about the people who made these buildings possible? Art Deco Mumbai, a not for profit organisation that documents the history of Mumbai’s Art Deco buildings, has compiled an exhaustive list of architects and designers of yore to specifically fill this gap in the city’s history.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNN: Laid-off Twitter Africa team ‘ghosted’ without severance pay or benefits, former employees say. “Former employees of Twitter Africa who were laid off as part of a global cost-cutting measure after Elon Musk’s acquisition have not received any severance pay more than seven months since leaving the company, several sources told CNN.”

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker: Use This Phone Number to Find a Cooling Center Near You. “Most cooling centers are operated by state, county, or municipal governments. To find the one nearest you, call 2-1-1, text your ZIP code to TXT211 (898211), or visit the 2-1-1 website and enter your ZIP code.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

New York Times: How To Preserve Priceless Documents At The National Archives. “The National Archives and Records Administration is devoted to preserving the priceless records of the United States, including handwritten parchment from President George Washington’s era to 20th-century typewritten documents and modern electronic files.” This is a gift article, so you should be able to read it without a paywall.

Korea Herald: Dramas depicting dark side of social media gain popularity. “Though a lot of creative content such as dramas, films and variety shows have included brief scenes depicting social media usage, Netflix’s latest suspense series ‘Celebrity’ and cable channel ENA’s ‘Battle for Happiness’ put the spotlight on characters’ social media interactions. The 12-part ‘Celebrity’ features the stories of Korean social media influencers, with a focus on an ordinary young woman Seo A-ri’s instant rise to a stardom and her downfall.”

Bloomberg: Russian Wikipedia’s Top Editor Leaves To Launch A Putin-Friendly Clone. “The new site is called Ruwiki, a common shorthand for Russian Wikipedia. It’s the work of Vladimir Medeyko, the long-serving leader of Russian Wikipedia editors. His colleagues were shocked that he’d quit a project he’d worked on since 2003-and even more taken aback that he said his reason for leaving was to create a Kremlin-compliant rival.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Yahoo! Finance AU: Troubling warning over Google Search tool: ‘Dead giveaway’. “Aussies have been warned to watch out for scammers impersonating well-known websites and brands that appear in Google search results. In fact, even the sponsored links that appear at the top of the search results page could be a scam.”

The Conversation: The rise of #Robodebt: how Twitter activists pushed a government scandal from hashtags to a royal commission. “While the nation digests the commissioner’s findings, it’s worth reviewing how a small but committed group of Twitter users tracked the faulty robodebt scheme and helped generate the pressure for a royal commission. As Twitter declines under Elon Musk’s ownership, the #Robodebt saga is a useful reminder of the platform’s potential for social good.”

Straits Times (Singapore): Tighter control of ads on younger teens’ social media accounts: IMDA. ” A new code of practice will require social media platforms to promptly inform users of actions taken on their reports of online harms. This is in response to feedback from users here that they are often left in the dark after submitting their reports. Advertisements that could have a harmful effect on young users’ mental health should be kept away from them, and platforms must submit online safety reports annually to be published on the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) website.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

MIT News: How an “AI-tocracy” emerges . “Caption:MIT economist Martin Beraja is co-author of a new research paper showing that China’s increased investments in AI-driven facial-recognition technology both help the regime repress dissent and may drive the technology forward, a mutually reinforcing condition the paper’s authors call an ‘AI-Tocracy.'”

Florida State University: FSU Research: Colonization influences worldwide distribution of plant specimens. “A study led by a Florida State University researcher that was published in Nature Human Behavior shows how colonization has contributed to the distribution of plants specimens stored in herbaria collections around the world.”

ZDNet: Is Twitter pay-to-play now? Early results of my Blue checkmark experiment are in. “Remember, you’re seeing the Twitter Blue effect active for just 18 of the 30 days, because I got the checkmark part way through June, on June 12. Now, in July, I have almost as many impressions as I got for entire months before Twitter Blue, but we’re only 11 days into the month. I should note that my tweeting behavior and pattern didn’t differ between the months. I have a pretty reliable daily social media practice, and I just continued it in June and July.” 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. Check out Search Gizmos when you have a minute.

July 18, 2023 at 05:27PM
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