From Edudemic: Why (And How) Teachers are Using Twitter.

TechCrunch has a writeup on StepUp, a tool that lets you break down YouTube videos into smaller bits. “The basic idea is to give the average online consumer the ability to chain together and tag/annotate video snippets — cutting a single longer original video down to size as a highlight snippet. Or combining multiple highlights into a sequence of easily digestible chunks that can be used to structure and navigate the video content to aid learning.”

It’s not a fun read, but Tom Krazit’s Why You Can No Longer Expect That the News Will Find You” is important for anyone who tries to consume news on social media, especially Facebook. “The public’s need to be informed is a secondary concern to these companies. Their foremost instinct is to keep their users engaged with their web sites, and they are clearly willing to manipulate the presentation of that content in order to surface the things that they believe will drive engagement.” I remember someone talking to me around 1994 about the delivery of personalized content. “You’ll only get the things you want!” they said. Then and now I find the idea appalling. “How the hell do you know what I want?” It’s one thing to ask and specify, another thing entirely to guess, or algorithm, or however you want to put it.

The FTC has received a complaint over Facebook’s emotion maniupulation study. “The Electronic Privacy Information Center also wants the FTC to force Facebook to make the algorithm public that controls what users see in their News Feeds. Facebook regularly tweaks its News Feed algorithm to ensure that users see the most relevant posts, it analyzes hundreds of data points to ascertain what could be of value. Its unlikely that Facebook would agree to bring out its core algorithm in full view of the public.”

From Hongkiat: 10 Free Crypto Apps to Help Protect Your Online Privacy.

The Arizona Geological Survey has added thousands of maps and files (mostly maps) to its archive. “The maps reflect the changing nature of mining and exploration in Arizona during the 20th century. Most maps from the early to mid century are of two common varieties. There are plan maps showing mining claims along with geology and surface features. A large number are longitudinal sections of mines underground workings often providing sample locations and associate widths and metallic grades. Later 20th century maps are commonly focused on surface exploration efforts covering large areas.” Good morning, Internet…

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