Emerging Research in Online Governance, WordPress, Dark Patterns, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 13, 2023

Emerging Research in Online Governance, WordPress, Dark Patterns, More: Friday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 13, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Yale Law School: To Build a Better Online Community, Initiative Looks Beyond Moderation. “…ways to create a healthier online community are detailed in ‘Beyond Moderation: Emerging Research in Online Governance,’ a new collection of essays from Justice Collaboratory’s Social Media Governance Initiative (SMGI).” The essays are freely-available.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

WordPress: New to WordPress.com: Earn More By Adding a Paywall . “While there are many ways to monetize your website, there’s one strategy that stands out for its potential and simplicity: the paywall. We’re excited to tell you that this feature is now available on all WordPress.com sites.”

USEFUL STUFF

The Conversation: Dark patterns: how online companies strive to keep your money and data when you try to leave. “Have you signed up to an online service for a free trial, decided it isn’t for you, but still ended up paying for it months – or even years – later? Or tried cancelling a subscription, and found yourself giving up during the painstaking process? If so, there’s a good chance you have encountered a ‘dark pattern’.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Baptist News: Black Gospel Music Preservation Program: Securing the legacy of Black Gospel music. “Already the largest resource of its type in the world, the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program at Baylor University will continue to build its collection of rare recordings while seeking new ways to share the archive with the public, said Stephen Newby, the program’s new leader.”

Robb Report: Fine Dining Has Officially Entered Its TikTok Era. “Over the summer, a new restaurant opened in Los Angeles. On its own, that isn’t newsworthy—L.A. has one of the biggest dining scenes in the country, and restaurant openings there are a dime a dozen. But this particular restaurant, an upscale Vietnamese spot in West Hollywood, had a rather interesting pedigree: Its head chef and co-owner, Tue Nguyen, had gotten the opportunity to open her own space in part because she was big on TikTok.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

ABC News: ‘Addictive’ social media feeds that keep children online targeted by New York lawmakers. “New York would restrict the way online platforms like Instagram and YouTube can collect and share children’s personal information and let parents keep their kids from being bombarded by ‘addictive’ feeds from accounts they don’t follow, under legislation proposed Wednesday.”

Amnesty International: Global: ‘Predator Files’ spyware scandal reveals brazen targeting of civil society, politicians and officials  . “Shocking spyware attacks have been attempted against civil society, journalists, politicians and academics in the European Union (EU), USA and Asia, according to a major new investigation by Amnesty International. Among the targets of Predator spyware are United Nations (UN) officials, a Senator and Congressman in the USA and even the Presidents of the European Parliament and Taiwan.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Harvard Medical School: An AI Tool That Can Help Forecast Viral Outbreaks. “The COVID-19 pandemic seemed like a never-ending parade of SARS-CoV-2 variants, each equipped with new ways to evade the immune system, leaving the world bracing for what would come next. But what if there were a way to make predictions about new viral variants before they actually emerge? A new artificial intelligence tool named EVEscape, developed by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of Oxford, can do just that.”

Slate: X Is a Fog-of-War Machine. “As Musk and Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino have rolled back the platform’s rules of engagement and rid their ranks of the content-moderation teams and tools that actually keep X trustworthy, they’ve also put in place a system that fundamentally incentivizes the spread of misinformation during times of mass panic and confusion, in part because X is now a platform that pays for viral content. The end result is that Twitter, more so than any other platform right now, is fertile ground for a new kind of war profiteering.”

NBC News: A group of 67 X accounts spread coordinated disinformation about Israel-Hamas war, says research group. “Researchers have uncovered a propaganda network of 67 accounts on the X social platform that are coordinating a campaign of posting false, inflammatory content related to the Israel-Hamas war.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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October 14, 2023 at 12:16AM
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Banned Books Florida, Twitter, Mastodon, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, October 13, 2023

Banned Books Florida, Twitter, Mastodon, More: Friday ResearchBuzz, October 13, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

WGBH: Boston philanthropists launch new effort to ship Floridians ‘banned books’. “Any Florida resident who wants a book can go on the website, choose one title to order and pay $3.99 to have it shipped. Florida residents, libraries and educational institutions can order a book — or someone out of state can send a book to someone they know, with the receiver having to approve the shipment. A Florida delivery address is required for the sale to process.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

NiemanReports: Six Months Ago NPR Left Twitter. The Effects Have Been Negligible . “A memo circulated to NPR staff says traffic has dropped by only a single percentage point as a result of leaving Twitter, now officially renamed X, though traffic from the platform was small already and accounted for just under two percent of traffic before the posting stopped. (NPR declined an interview request but shared the memo and other information).”

Reuters: X removes hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts since attack, CEO says. “The X social media platform has removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts and taken action to remove or label tens of thousands of pieces of content since the militant group’s attack on Israel, its chief executive Linda officer Yaccarino said on Thursday.”

USEFUL STUFF

Cassidy James: How and Why to Get Verified on Mastodon . “…my call to anyone and everyone on Mastodon—but especially journalists and well-known personalities—is: get verified! It greatly helps people like me and mods of larger servers know you’re you, and makes it more likely that people will find you in search, follow you, and see you on trending page in their Mastodon app or server.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

The Independent: An app shows how ancient Greek sites looked thousands of years ago. It’s a glimpse of future tech. “Tourists at the Acropolis this holiday season can witness the resolution of one of the world’s most heated debates on cultural heritage. All they need is a smartphone. Visitors can now pinch and zoom their way around the ancient Greek site, with a digital overlay showing how it once looked.”

Defense News: Army at work on a digital ‘blue book’ app, top enlisted soldier says. “According to [Sergeant Major of the Army Michael] Weimer, the blue book app will be a one-stop shop for Army enlisted leaders who want to know “what right looks like.” It will include Army and unit history information, philosophical references like values and creeds, up-to-date information on standards and discipline, clearly defined leader responsibilities, and a digital library containing the service’s most commonly referenced regulations and other publications.”

The Verge: Discogs’ vibrant vinyl community is shattering. “The site has become a central part of the music internet, surviving through physical music media’s replacement by MP3s and then streaming — and rebounding as interest in vinyl, CDs, and tapes did throughout the 2010s. But sellers who use the platform say the site’s old tech has started to wear on them, and new fees and restrictions have made it harder to do business. Changes within the company are threatening to turn a bastion for vinyl fans, record stores, and anyone who cares about music into just another dysfunctional website — and dismantle a singular record of music history, even if just by pushing the sellers and users who have created that record away.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

ProPublica: A Racist Harvard Scientist Commissioned Photos of Enslaved People. One Possible Descendant Wants to Reclaim Their Story.. “The images are among the oldest known photographs of enslaved people in America. Tamara Lanier’s fight to gain control of them shows there is no clear system in place to repatriate remains of captive Africans or objects associated with them.”

Evening Standard: Publishing industry faces billions in costs as students illegally download texts. “Tens of thousands of university students are using illegal sites to download sections of text from books, costing the publishing industry billions of pounds, according to new research. As students returned to university in the UK, there were 300,000 searches made to piracy sites that allow you to download text from books in September alone, academic publisher Perlego has said.”

Task & Purpose: Former soldier searched Google, Reddit for spying tips, prosecutors say. “The federal indictment paints [Joseph Daniel] Schmidt as an admirer of Chinese culture and society but also an unsophisticated spy who turned to Google to research his legal jeopardy and options for a life after trading state secrets. Schmidt allegedly created a 22-page document titled, ‘Important Information to Share with Chinese Government’ with details on US intelligence sources including source types, assessments, sites for meetings, and communication planning, according to FBI declaration documents.” Unsophisticated indeed.

RESEARCH & OPINION

New York Times: Autonomous Vehicles Are Driving Blind. “To earn the right to drive a car, most of us at some point have to pass a vision test, a written test and a driving test. The A.I. undergoes no such government scrutiny before commanding the wheel. In California, companies can get a permit to operate driverless cars by declaring that their vehicles have been tested and the ‘manufacturer has reasonably determined that is safe to operate the vehicle.'”

Tech Policy Press: How Third-Party Social Media Middleware Can Protect Contextual Privacy. “Social media data and metadata is best managed through an architecture that is highly protective of contextual privacy, says Richard Reisman.” Good morning, Internet…

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October 13, 2023 at 05:31PM
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US Defense Budget, Idaho Wines, Twitter, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 12, 2023

US Defense Budget, Idaho Wines, Twitter, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 12, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Forecast International: Forecast International’s U.S. Defense Budget Spotlight. “Forecast International has launched a free U.S. Defense Budget Spotlight dashboard to provide a glimpse into the FY24 congressional budget cycle and reveal how defense committee proposals will impact Pentagon spending…. The president’s FY24 request was released in March, over a month behind schedule, and lawmakers spent the summer putting their initial spin on the administration’s spending plans. The dashboard can be used to compare the congressional proposals with the administration’s request.”

Idaho Business Review: Which wines pair best with travel? New website helps answer the question. “Planning to take a wine-centric trip? Or would you like to embark on a few wine tastings while getting away? Either way, the Idaho Wine Commission’s newly unveiled website should be able to help wine lovers get the most cabernet for their cash. The commission’s new website includes an interactive map showcasing each of Idaho’s six wine regions.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

WIRED: Elon Musk Is Shitposting His Way Through the Israel-Hamas War. “Instead of tackling the dangerous disinformation problem on his platform, Musk instead spent yesterday night into this morning continuing to spread disinformation about the conflict, conversing with a known QAnon promoter, boosting anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, and laughing at a video detailing how transphobic content on X can get you new followers.”

Gizmodo: So Far, AI Is a Money Pit That Isn’t Paying Off. “Silicon Valley has bet big on generative AI but it’s not totally clear whether that bet will pay off. A new report from the Wall Street Journal claims that, despite the endless hype around large language models and the automated platforms they power, tech companies are struggling to turn a profit when it comes to AI.”

Washington Post: Graphic war videos go viral, testing social media’s rules. “In deciding what posts to take down during a war, social media companies have to weigh their interest in shielding users from violent, hateful and misleading content against the goals of allowing free expression, including newsworthy material and potential evidence of war crimes, said Evelyn Douek, an assistant professor at Stanford Law School. And they often have to make those calls under time pressure, without full information.” The link is to a gift article so you should be able to read it without a paywall.

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Rest of World: Why thousands of young Chinese people use a pink dinosaur as their alias. “[Emily] Yuan is just one of tens of thousands of Chinese social media users who have adopted momo the pink dinosaur as their online alias, as a way to speak more freely, evade harassment, and protect their privacy. Today, you can find momos in all corners of the Chinese internet — from Douban forums on youth unemployment to Xiaohongshu posts recommending New York restaurants to Weibo threads discussing new TV shows. Douban’s momo group has over 11,000 members, while Xiaohongshu has over 10,000 users named momo, according to Chinese social media analytics site NewRank.”

Variety: Google Will Drop Claim That YouTube TV Is ‘$600 Less Than Cable’ After Charter Complaint to Advertising Board. “Google said it will no longer claim that YouTube TV is ‘$600 less than cable’ in its advertising, after an industry ad-review board found the assertion was potentially misleading.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

ZDNet: Google Cloud, AWS, and Cloudflare report largest DDoS attacks ever. “Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks may be one of the least sophisticated types of cyberattacks but they can do real damage. Now Google and other top cloud companies are reporting new records for the largest DDoS attacks ever.”

BBC: How a chatbot encouraged a man who wanted to kill the Queen. “The case of Jaswant Singh Chail has shone a light on the latest generation of artificial intelligence-powered chatbots. On Thursday, 21-year-old Chail was given a nine-year sentence for breaking into Windsor Castle with a crossbow and declaring he wanted to kill the Queen. Chail’s trial heard that, prior to his arrest on Christmas Day 2021, he had exchanged more than 5,000 messages with an online companion he’d named Sarai, and had created through the Replika app.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

US Federal Trade Commission: FTC proposes junk fee rule to put a stop to bogus and hidden charges. “In November 2022, the FTC published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking asking for your input about unfair or deceptive practices relating to fees. We received 12,000 comments from consumers, businesses, law enforcers, and others. Based on what you told us – as well as experience gained from decades of litigation challenging junk fees – the FTC is considering a proposed Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees and we’re asking for your comments again.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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October 13, 2023 at 12:47AM
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Delaware Mental Health, Google, TikTok, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, October 12, 2023

Delaware Mental Health, Google, TikTok, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, October 12, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Delaware.gov: DHSS Announces Launch of New Help Is Here Delaware Website. “Designed after months of listening sessions and focus groups, the new HelpIsHereDE.com is the state’s comprehensive resource for those seeking help for substance use disorder or mental illness, along with their family members, community organizations, and health care providers.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Land: Google-Extended does not stop Google Search Generative Experience from using your site’s content. “Google-Extended, the new standalone product token, to tell Google through your robots.txt to not use your site content for Bard and Vertex AI and other AI projects does not work for the AI-answers and snapshots provided in the Search Generative Experience.”

Engadget: TikTok now lets you post directly from third-party apps. “TikTok announced a new API today that will let you post (and do other things) directly to the platform from approved third-party apps.”

UPI: Germany’s Anti-Discrimination Agency quits X over ‘massive’ surge in hate speech, disinformation. “Germany’s Anti-Discrimination Agency announced Wednesday that it was quitting Elon Musk’s X due to ‘intolerable’ levels of hate content on the platform targeting the LGBTQ community, minorities, women and Jewish people.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Fortune: Google insiders are slamming Bard for not being worth it on private chat groups: ‘What are LLMs truly useful for?’. “For months, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Discord Inc. have run an invitation-only chat for heavy users of Bard, Google’s artificial intelligence-powered chatbot. Google product managers, designers and engineers are using the forum to openly debate the AI tool’s effectiveness and utility, with some questioning whether the enormous resources going into development are worth it.”

Wall Street Journal: Here’s How FTX Executives Secretly Spent $8 Billion in Customer Money. “The crypto exchange FTX went bust last year after executives spent billions in customer funds they had promised to safeguard. The tab was $7.7 billion, a Wall Street Journal analysis of company disclosures and legal filings shows. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and senior staff spent customer funds on technology investments, luxury real estate and political contributions, among other things.”

Library of Congress: Library Awards New Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative Grants to Organizations Developing Resources for History, Civics and Democracy Students. “The Library of Congress has awarded Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative grants to six organizations that are working to develop digital educational projects that teach history, civics, and democracy to secondary students using creative arts materials from the Library’s collections.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Ars Technica: Thousands of Android devices come with unkillable backdoor preinstalled. “When you buy a TV streaming box, there are certain things you wouldn’t expect it to do. It shouldn’t secretly be laced with malware or start communicating with servers in China when it’s powered up. It definitely should not be acting as a node in an organized crime scheme making millions of dollars through fraud. However, that’s been the reality for thousands of unknowing people who own cheap Android TV devices.”

Techdirt: Elon Has To Pay The Legal Fees Of Former Execs He Fired. “Elon Musk really seems to hate paying legal bills (or, really, any bills), but now he’s got a few more to cover. Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Kathaleen McCormick, Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery (who is quite familiar with Elon Musk and Twitter) has ruled that exTwitter has to cover the legal fees of former CEO Parag Agrawal and former legal boss Vijaya Gadde.”

IANS: Hackers launch a cyberattack on Israeli websites. “As Hamas-Israel violence escalates, groups of hacktivists have targeted Israeli websites with floods of malicious traffic. Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post posted on X that its website was down ‘due to a series of cyberattacks initiated against us’ since Saturday morning when Hamas launched a surprise land, sea and air attack against Israel.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Maine: UMaine leading development of new state-of-the-art tool for tracking PFAS nationwide. “University of Maine computer scientist Torsten Hahmann is spearheading the development of an interactive digital tool that will allow users to explore and analyze data on sites and sources of PFAS contamination throughout the U.S. This software will help investigators and the general public track existing PFAS hotspots, which in turn can help them identify where to test for new ones and better understand how they travel through the natural and manmade environment.”

Johns Hopkins University: As Drone Traffic Increases, Researchers Turn To AI To Help Avoid Collisions. “A team of researchers led by the Institute for Assured Autonomy’s Lanier Watkins and Louis Whitcomb has used artificial intelligence to model a system that could more safely orchestrate drone traffic by replacing some human-in-the-loop processes with autonomous decision-making. Their results appeared in IEEE’s Computer.” Good morning, Internet…

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October 12, 2023 at 05:31PM
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Smithsonian Folkways, Google, Fiction Writing, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 11, 2023

Smithsonian Folkways, Google, Fiction Writing, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 11, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Pitchfork: Smithsonian Folkways Opens Digital Archive to Monthly Donors. “Smithsonian Folkways has launched a new program, dubbed ‘Friends of Folkways,’ whereby fans can choose to donate to the nonprofit label in monthly increments as low as $5. In return, donors will have unlimited access to its full digital catalog—an archive of more than 60,000 recordings that includes Folkways titles, as well as those released on Arhoolie, Paredon, and others. According to a press release, the money raised from the program will be used to support the label and pay out artist royalties.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Journal: Google Search Generative Experience Lite Version Test. “Google is testing a lightweight version of the Search Generative Experience. This version shows a more subtle AI-generated answer box, without all the color and with just a few lines, which you can then expand to see more.”

The Verge: Google begins prompting users to create passwordless passkeys by default. “Google is making it easier for users to ditch passwords on their Google accounts in favor of passkeys — a fast, secure, and passwordless approach to logins that utilizes the pin, face, or fingerprint authentication built into your devices. Starting today, Google account users will be prompted to create a passkey for their account by default, sparing them from manually hunting through account settings for the setup process.”

USEFUL STUFF

Robert Kingett: My plain text workflow as a fiction writer. . “Simply put, plain text renders everywhere because the computer doesn’t have to render fonts or backgrounds or otherwise. This is also what makes it so portable. Any operating system can open plain text stuff. Because of the above factors, I wanted to see if I could completely shift to just working in plain text.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

TechCrunch: As misinfo circulates on X amid the Israel-Hamas war, reporters look to other platforms. “In the wake of increasing misinformation related to the Israel-Hamas war now circulating on X, the app formerly known as Twitter, a number of journalists are building up their networks on rival platforms. The shift, though potentially small in terms of raw user numbers, could have an outsized impact on X, where power users create the majority of posts.”

The Guardian: Unesco planning virtual museum of stolen cultural artefacts. “Unesco, the United Nations’ culture body, has announced plans for what it says will be the first virtual museum of stolen cultural artefacts, aimed at raising public awareness of trafficking and the unique importance of cultural heritage.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bloomberg: Google’s Pichai Decried Bad ‘Optics’ of Search Engine Deal With Apple. “Google’s Sundar Pichai raised concerns years before he became the company’s chief executive officer that its deal with Apple Inc. had bad ‘optics’ because there was no choice of which search engine to use in the company’s web browser.”

Politico: Musk given 24 hours to address graphic images of Hamas attacks. “Elon Musk has until the end of Wednesday to respond to demands from Brussels to remove graphic images and disinformation linked to the violence in Israel from his social network X — or face the full force of Europe’s new social media rules.”

CISA: CISA, Government, and Industry Partners Publish Fact Sheet for Organizations Using Open Source Software. “The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Security Agency (NSA), and U.S. Department of the Treasury published new guidance today on’Improving Security of Open Source Software (OSS) in Operational Technology (OT) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS),’ developed in collaboration with industry and government partners through the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) as part of our 2023 OSS planning initiative.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Michigan Daily: Don’t let the archive become a death sentence. “In only displaying items given to museums, not taken, not donated by looters, museums can create an even more welcoming atmosphere — one that truly invites all visitors to partake in the feast of knowledge that the institutions and their staffs spend years painstakingly creating.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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October 12, 2023 at 12:35AM
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Dr. Who, Twitter, Google, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, October 11, 2023

Dr. Who, Twitter, Google, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, October 11, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

BBC: 60 Years of Doctor Who drops on BBC iPlayer alongside landmark online archive. “Before the Anniversary Specials hit our screens, viewers will have the opportunity to travel back in time with any of the Doctors through the show’s 60 year history with the classic series… As the perfect companion to the back catalogue, the BBC will simultaneously launch an extensive online archive from the show’s history.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Now X posts can lock replies to only allow comment from verified accounts. “This change arrives about 11 months after Musk launched paid verification for Twitter Blue, apportioning blue checkmark labels to people willing to part with $7.99 per month. It also means it could be harder for those who don’t pay for the service (with the exception of accounts forced into verified status) to refute misinformation, which researchers report has continued to increase.”

TechCrunch: Google introduces new sustainability features, including a tool for people looking to buy an EV . “Google announced today that it’s introducing new sustainability features, including a new tool aimed at people who are considering buying an EV. The company is also launching an expanded Flood Hub and home energy comparisons.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

The Guardian: Chewing gum artist makes plea to save Millennium Bridge works. “An artist who paints tiny pictures on discarded chewing gum has pleaded for his works to be saved after being told most of them will be removed from the Millennium Bridge in London as part of engineering work.”

PBS: Former Twitter Insider Describes Elon Musk’s Mixed Signals on Free Speech. “Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover [is] a two-hour special premiering Oct. 10 on PBS and online. The investigation probes the billionaire’s journey from one of the platform’s most provocative users to its owner, and examines the far-reaching impact Musk’s decisions have had on U.S. politics, speech and culture in the year since his takeover.”

Tubefilter: Rooster Teeth moves shows to its website: “YouTube revenue just isn’t cutting it for us anymore.”. “Those animated hits were previously available on multiple platforms, including YouTube, where Rooster Teeth counts more than nine million subscribers on its primary channel. But Shawcross explained that “YouTube revenue just isn’t cutting it for us anymore,” necessitating a focus on the company’s website. ‘We know that it’s frustrating for some of you, but it’s just the reality of what we need to do,’ Shawcross said. ‘Animation is hard and expensive.'”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Ars Technica: 23andMe says private user data is up for sale after being scraped. “Genetic profiling service 23andMe has commenced an investigation after private user data was scraped off its website. Friday’s confirmation comes five days after an unknown entity took to an online crime forum to advertise the sale of private information for millions of 23andMe users.”

Bloomberg: SEC Probes Twitter Security Lapse Before Elon Musk Took Over. “The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating how Twitter Inc. managed a 2018 security lapse that exposed personal user information… The agency has been scrutinizing whether the former top executives failed to adequately disclose those privacy issues to shareholders or put in place proper controls, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing a confidential investigation.”

Associated Press: Utah sues TikTok, alleging it lures children into addictive and destructive social media habits. “Utah became the latest state Tuesday to file a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging the company is ‘baiting’ children into addictive and unhealthy social media habits. TikTok lures children into hours of social media use, misrepresents the app’s safety and deceptively portrays itself as independent of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, Utah claims in the lawsuit.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Los Angeles Times: Commentary: Elon Musk bought Twitter just to break it. With a new war, we’re paying the price. “For Musk and those who’ve turned the place into a toxic dump of hate-fluencers and bad info, the goal is no longer sharing information. It’s about screaming into the void, no matter how ill-informed the message or baseless the accusation. It’s about eroding confidence in trustworthy sources, individual or institutional, and elevating nefarious users who must stoke fear, doubt and confusion in order to thrive. And as he nears his one-year anniversary, it’s never been clearer that Musk will go to great lengths to deliver.”

Poynter: Opinion | As cheap and dubious content spreads online, print finds a new value. “As the internet becomes flooded with cheap content, discerning truth from falsehood will turn into a Herculean task. A deluge of untrustworthy content threatens to drown out the voices of credibility. It’s under these circumstances we can imagine a revival in the value of print.”

Notre Dame News: New study offers improved strategy for social media communications during wildfires. “In collaboration with the CRC, the research team collected Twitter data on the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, Canada. They analyzed 934 tweets from the headquarters account, which received 33,861 retweets and 34,722 likes. They also looked at 629 tweets from the Alberta account, which received 4,802 retweets and 2,862 likes. Measuring engagement as the total number of likes, retweets, clicks and replies, the team used text analysis to identify the audience (victims or supporters) and then analyzed how audience match between accounts affected user engagement.” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I live at Calishat.

October 11, 2023 at 05:31PM
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United States Meteorology, Fijian-Australians, Mastodon, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 10, 2023

United States Meteorology, Fijian-Australians, Mastodon, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, October 10, 2023
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

National Center for Atmospheric Research: Scientists Gain Powerful Tool To Scrutinize Changing U.S. Weather Patterns. “An extraordinary new dataset of high-resolution weather simulations that span more than four decades over the continental United States is now available to the Earth system science community.”

National Library of Australia: Collecting with Fijian Australians at the National Library. “The National Library has worked closely with Fijian Australians to make sure their contribution to Australian life is appropriately represented in the collection across all the formats that the Library collects. As a result, the National Library now holds one of the most substantial records of Fijian Australian life in the country.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Mastodon actually has 407K+ more monthly users than it thought. “The service, which competes with X (formerly Twitter) and other newcomers like Threads, Bluesky, Pebble and Spill, had been undercounting its users due to a network connectivity error, according to founder and CEO Eugen Rochko, and actually has 407,814 more monthly active users than it had been reporting previously. The adjustment also included a gain of 2.34 million registered users across an additional 727 servers that had not been counted due to the error.”

Retraction Watch: Signs of undeclared ChatGPT use in papers mounting. “Ostensibly authored by researchers in China, ‘Revitalizing our earth: unleashing the power of green energy in soil remediation for a sustainable future’ includes the extraneous phrase ‘Regenerate response’ at the end of a methods section. For those unfamiliar, ‘Regenerate response’ is a button in OpenAI’s ChatGPT that prompts the chatbot to rework an unsatisfactory answer.”

USEFUL STUFF

Musings About Librarianship: List of academic search engines that use Large Language models for generative answers. “This is a non-comprehensive list of academic search engines that use generative AI (almost always Large language models) to generate direct answers on top of list of relevant results, typically using Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) Techniques. We expect a lot more!”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

NBC News: Verified accounts spread fake news release about a Biden $8 billion aid package to Israel. “A doctored White House news release posted online falsely claimed that the Biden administration had authorized $8 billion in emergency aid to Israel on Saturday. The fact that it was faked didn’t stop it from being posted across the internet and rising to the top of Google search results.”

Indian Express: National Film Archive of India seeks donations for digitisation, restoration of films. “National Film Archive of India, which is now a part of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), has sought funds in the form of sponsorships and donations for carrying out film digitisation and restoration projects.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: Visa Applicants’ Social Media Data Doesn’t Help Screen for Terrorism, Documents Show. “A disputed rule that forces millions of applicants for a visa to enter the United States to disclose their social media profiles to the government has done little to help screen for possible terrorists, newly disclosed documents show.”

Hürriyet Daily News: SPK fines man for stock market manipulation via social media advice. “The Capital Markets Board (SPK) has issued a substantial fine of around 3.9 million Turkish Liras ($141,200) on an individual with a significant following on social media for alleged stock market manipulation through advice provided to his followers. The fine comes as a result of Halil İbrahim Babadağı’s recommendations to buy or hold certain stocks on his social media account.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

National Academies: Innovation Aided Completion of 2020 Census, But Coverage and Data Quality Issues Persist. “The U.S. Census Bureau’s ability to adjust its approaches and innovate enabled it to complete the 2020 census despite the difficulties raised by the COVID pandemic and other challenges, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The report reviews the 2020 census and the quality of data collected and makes recommendations for the 2030 census.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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October 11, 2023 at 12:17AM
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