That post about US gov’t design standards? That was post #1000 on the ResearchBuzz Firehose.

NEW RESOURCES

The Open Library of Humanities has launched. Here’s how it’s described on its About page: “The Open Library of Humanities (OLH) is a charitable organisation dedicated to publishing open access scholarship with no author-facing article processing charges (APCs). We are funded by an international consortium of libraries who have joined us in our mission to make scholarly publishing fairer, more accessible, and rigorously preserved for the digital future….Our mission is to support and extend open access to scholarship in the humanities – for free, for everyone, for ever.”

The US Government now has a set of Web design standards. “The design of every component follows data-informed best practices, found both inside (DigitalGov) and outside (Nielsen Norman group articles) of government. Many components were derived from other agency and style guide patterns; more complex patterns were further tested with end users. We believe agencies should still usability test everything they build, but following the standards will help everyone avoid common pitfalls.”

In development: a database that aggregates information on air quality and pediatric asthma. “A team of University of Utah researchers has received a $5.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering to develop an informatics platform that will make it possible to crowdsource scientific data and, eventually, pinpoint the cause of a child’s wheezing…. [Julio] Facelli, along with co-principal investigator Kathy Sward, Ph.D., R.N., associate professor of biomedical informatics research at the College of Nursing, is leading teams to create an Internet-based ‘infrastructure’ that will enable kids with asthma, parents, doctors and researchers to feed real-time information into a comprehensive database.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Google has (slowly) started allowing offline “voice” commands on Android tablets. “This feature is only available for Android smartphones and tablets using the official Google (search) app, and commands are relatively limited. This feature will appear when a user has the Google app open without internet connectivity, showing a number of commands available offline. Lucky you, one intrepid Android user happened to be speaking to his device while it wasn’t connected to the web.”

The Ubuntu 15.10 (“Wily Werewolf”) final beta has been released.

Google has updated its “First Click Free” policy. “In 2009, we updated the FCF policy to allow a limit of five articles per day, in order to protect publishers who felt some users were abusing the spirit of this policy. Recently we have heard from publishers about the need to revisit these policies to reflect the mobile, multiple device world. Today we are announcing a change to the FCF limit to allow a limit of three articles a day. This change will be valid on both Google Search and Google News.”

USEFUL STUFF

From How-To Geek: How to Get the Most out of Reddit with RES. Wow, I had no idea about this browser extension. It makes me want to try Reddit again beyond the search monitoring I’m doing.

If you started out in computers a long time ago and spent many an afternoon with a copy of Computer Shopper playing “What I’d buy if I had $2000,” you’ll appreciate this HackADay roundup of vintage computers you can emulate from your browser. Even more links/suggestions in the comments.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Facebook has entered an extended partnership with Nielsen. “The company announced an expanded partnership with Nielsen, under which Facebook video ads will be rolled up into the research firm’s total rating point (TRP) metric. That’s supposed to let ad buyers plan a campaign that spans both TV and Facebook, ‘and they can buy a share of those TRPs directly with Facebook,’ the company explained in a blog posting Sunday evening.”

Google and Aclima are teaming up to map air pollution in California (PRESS RELEASE). “Aclima, a San Francisco company specializing in the development, design and deployment of environmental sensor networks, announced today that Aclima and Google Maps commit to measuring and mapping air quality within three major California metropolitan communities including the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Central Valley regions. The initiative utilizes Aclima’s newly-tested mobile sensor technology platform on Google Street View cars, first announced in July.”

I had no idea. Apparently Electronic Records Day is October 10. “Electronic Records Day is an opportunity to raise awareness among government agencies, related professional organizations, the general public and other stakeholders about the crucial role electronic records play in our world. Now in its fourth year, E-Records Day was created by the Council of State Archivists (CoSA) as part of its State Electronic Records Initiative (SERI). This year CoSA is promoting an entire week of electronic records awareness leading up to 10/10, with a special focus on electronic communications. Please join CoSA and others in observing E-records day in 2015!”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

The Facebook privacy hoax which has been floating around for years has surfaced again. Good morning, Internet…

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