NEW RESOURCES

PBS’ American Masters show is getting a digital archive. “The series extensions coincide with the 30th anniversary of the program, which is produced by New York’s WNET. The digital archive, American Masters: In Their Own Words, will feature long-form interviews via the podcast and short-form interviews via videos on the American Masters archive site. The archive will draw from 1,388 hours (and counting) of digitized footage and will be released on an ongoing basis.”

The Next Web has a writeup on a new social bookmarking site. “Refind is the home for the best links on the web. It lets you save great links that will come in handy in the future, discover what others save, and find everything again when you really need it, for example when you later search for a similar topic on Google. Refind works on desktop (Chrome, Safari, Firefox) and mobile (iOS, Android).” Currently in private beta, but a link at the end of the story will get you access until Saturday.

Google wants to help you learn to make Android apps. “Do you have an idea for an app but you don’t know where to start? There are over 1 billion Android devices worldwide, providing a way for you to deliver your ideas to the right people at the right time. Google, in partnership with Udacity, is making Android development accessible and understandable to everyone, so that regardless of your background, you can learn to build apps that improve the lives of people around you. Enroll in the new Android Basics Nanodegree. This series of courses and services teaches you how to build simple Android apps–even if you have little or no programming experience.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Facebook Live has gotten a couple of upgrades. “The platform will soon let you do two-person remote broadcasts, pre-schedule your streams and create a virtual waiting room for viewers and broadcast with MSQRD’s face masks.”

Facebook is putting another brick in its walled garden. “Facebook has withdrawn the ability for video creators to embed links into their clips. The call to action [CTA] feature had been popular with broadcasters, who used it as a way to steer users to their own sites. The change in policy was made earlier this month without warning.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Using Minecraft for all kinds of things – including learning about infectious diseases! When teamed up with IBM’s Watson, anyway. “Students were now in control of the learning with ‘Medical Minecraft.’ The students would encounter diseases such as malaria and would ask questions to solve these problems. The questions were basic when compared to what a doctor would ask, but Watson understood and was able to provide answers that matched the student’s level of complexity. This would lead to the student asking even more questions. Before they knew it, the students were actually learning about infectious diseases.”

From Opensource.com: The current state of open data in the US government “The S.2852 OPEN Government Data Act aims to require true open data access at the federal level. In this article I will discuss the importance of open data in government, the current state of open data in government, and what we need to do to implement true open data.”

LinkedIn users exercising the nine-year-old boy element of their senses of humor (and I got one too, so I’m not criticizing) have done odd things to the LinkedIn “also viewed” algorithm. “A set of disconnected LinkedIn surfers, connected only by our collective sense of humor, have unwittingly trained the service’s algorithm to package a group based on their names. The algorithm reflects how people perceive the group, rather than who they actually are.”

SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES

Fortune has an article about the Supreme Court of the United States using a link shortener in a decision. I don’t particularly think that’s a good idea, and apparently I’m not the only one: “Those who care about the integrity of public records may be uneasy in relying on the whims of a private company to preserve a piece of a Supreme Court decision—especially one that includes landmark language about race and civil liberties.”

RESEARCH AND OPINION

UNC research: use of social media in young adulthood may blunt development of social and relationship skills. “A new study by researchers at the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill and N.C. State University finds that when it comes to romance, the more adolescents communicate online with their boyfriends and girlfriends, the worse they manage conflict and asserting themselves in romantic relationships at a time when kids are developing complex interpersonal skills.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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