Please be aware that there’s a serious GMail/email phishing exploit going around. “A new highly effective phishing technique targeting Gmail and other services has been gaining popularity during the past year among attackers. Over the past few weeks there have been reports of experienced technical users being hit by this. This attack is currently being used to target Gmail customers and is also targeting other services.”

NEW RESOURCES

In development: a collection of LGBTQ posters and protest signs. “ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries — the world’s largest repository of LGBTQ materials — will digitize 4,200 LGBTQ political posters and protest signs from its collection. The materials will be made accessible through the USC Digital Library and the Digital Public Library of America for free public access.”

Now available: a database of leftover lab animal tissue. Yes, it’s gross, but it’s a good thing. “Lab animals’ tissue is often stored away for good after a study is completed. An initiative in the UK is now working with institutions worldwide to make use of it. Instead of running their own animal tests, researchers can look up whether they can work with tissue from a completed study. An estimated 400 mice have been spared so far, but the initiative is still in its early days, says Valerie Speirs, Principle Investigator of Sharing Experimental Animal Recourses, Coordinating Holdings (SEARCH). We spoke with her about her latest article in which she outlines the many benefits of fewer animal tests.”

Now available: a digital archive of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. “… the Digital Archive Project of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) aims to digitize, systematize and describe the core publications of the institute that have been produced over the last 40 years – essentially, since its founding in 1976. All of the digitized materials are part of the open access University of Alberta Library collections and are freely available online. The CIUS Digital Archive Project website has a search system, which operates on basic criteria such as type of document, year of publication, author, subject, scholarly discipline and chronological coverage.”

The University of Michigan has created a digital archive of its student newspaper, The Michigan Daily. And this is how you know I didn’t find this via a library announcement: “Dude. Sweet. The search works great, and you can download and save pages and links as you go along. Well done. The only drawback? Like with any text-based scanning software, sometimes the text search is spotty if the quality of the scanned page is in rough shape, as of course can happen as the pages have aged.”

The Obama Administration has created a VR tour of the White House. “Narrated by the President, “the People’s House” offers an intimate, 360-degree exploration of rooms in the White House residence and the West Wing, as well as a look back at some of the most significant moments that took place there over the past eight years. It’s a first-ever virtual reality experience with the President and First Lady in the White House.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Facebook Pages will be able to use Facebook Live from the desktop. “To be clear, this only applies to Pages, not everyday Facebook users. Still, it should benefit businesses and prominent Facebook users who don’t want to go to the trouble or have the capacity to go live through Facebook’s API on a desktop or laptop.”

App.net is shutting down. “App.net, the social network that promised to beat Twitter at its own game, is shutting down. App.net will cease to exist on March 15th, 2017. However, the code at the heart of the site will be open-sourced, enabling someone else to take on the challenge of battling Twitter. Maybe.”

Google Maps wants to make it easier to get a ride straight from the app. “With this update, Google Maps now feels a bit more like the native apps those services already offer. Instead of showing you a list with only a few ride options, the app now shows a map with the location of nearby cars and a larger list of options for each service (no word on whether the UberChopper will ever make an appearance in this menu, though).”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Funny in a horrible kind of way, from Bloomberg: Some Peso Traders Want Mexico to Buy Twitter and Shut It Down. “There’s a strange idea circulating among Mexican currency traders. Well, more of a joke really. But there’s a certain logic to it. It goes like this: Instead of spending its precious reserves to defend the peso, Mexico should just buy Twitter Inc. — at a cost of about $12 billion — and immediately shut it down.”

NBC News: Twitter Star Jonathan Sun’s New Bot Wants to Make Sure You’re Doing OK. “Jonathan Sun may be better known as Jomny Sun, a Twitter personality with nearly 300,000 followers who tweets from the perspective of an alien trying to learn how to be human. But following the 2016 presidential election, Sun was struck by the anger and sadness he saw online after Donald Trump’s win, pushing him to create something positive.”

RESEARCH AND OPINION

An interesting thesis from the University of Central Florida: The Weight of Words: Collecting and Visualizing Data from Twitter. “This thesis includes a discussion regarding design considerations, application architecture, and data mining, as well as an examination of data visualization, social media, and human behavior. Through the construction of these visualizations I aim to provide a unique opportunity to discover patterns and trends from the popular topics of that current day. By providing viewers of this work with a unique perspective, I hope to encourage reflection and discussion of the current state of our culture’s behavior and values.” Good morning, Internet….

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