NEW RESOURCES

Now available: a database of tree species. “There are more than 60,000 species of tree in the world, the first comprehensive assessment has revealed. Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) has spent more than two years researching the question of how many tree species there are, consulting more than 500 published sources which draw on the work of thousands of botanists over centuries.”

The Daily Sabah: TRT opens 200,000-hour visual archive to public. “The visual history of Turkey, from political gatherings to musical performances, to soap operas and street interviews, are now open to online access for all, with an initiative taken by the Turkish Radio and Television.” The site required translating, but I was able to review video without issue, and am currently listening to Aşık Veysel Şatıroğlu.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Los Angeles Times: Wrongful-convictions database moves to UC Irvine. “In 2011, after Francisco Carrillo Jr. had spent 20 years in prison for a fatal drive-by shooting in Los Angeles County that he didn’t commit, his conviction was overturned. News reports pointed in large part to the reliability of the witnesses — all of whom eventually recanted their identification of Carrillo, who was 16 at the time of the killing and had consistently maintained his innocence, or were deemed to have been unable to properly see the shooter.”

The Signal: New Home and Features for Sustainability of Digital Formats Site. “The Library of Congress’ Sustainability of Digital Formats Web site (informally just known as ‘Formats’) details and analyzes the technical aspects of digital formats with a focus towards strategic planning regarding formats for digital content, especially collection policies. Launched in 2004, Formats provides in-depth descriptions of over 400 formats sorted into content categories: still image, sound, textual, moving image, Web archive, datasets, geospatial and generic formats with more to come…. Not ones to rest on our laurels, we are excited to announce recent updates and improvements for Formats.”

USEFUL STUFF

Wolfram Blog: How to Use Your Smartphone for Vibration Analysis, Part 2: The Wolfram Cloud. “Vibration measurement is an important tool for fault detection in rotating machinery. In a previous post, ‘How to Use Your Smartphone for Vibration Analysis, Part 1: The Wolfram Language,’ I described how you can perform a vibration analysis with a smartphone and Mathematica. Here, I will show how this technique can be improved upon using the Wolfram Cloud. One advantage with this is that I don’t need to bring my laptop.”

MakeUseOf: How to Use Google Keep to Plan Almost Any Event. “Whether you are planning a family reunion, baby shower, or a birthday party, you need to keep everything organized. With the terrific features offered by Google Keep, you can collaborate, annotate, and create lists, all quickly and easily.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Miami Herald: Louisiana’s archives in ‘state of emergency,’ historians say . “Louisiana’s archival and historical records are in a state of emergency. Their destruction “would represent nothing less than a devastating and irreparable loss” of the state’s historical and cultural heritage, according to historians who recently gathered for the Louisiana Historical Association’s annual conference.”

Techdirt: Another Major Scandal At The Copyright Office: $25 Million ‘Fake Budget’ Line Item. “In the recent markup for a bill in the House Judiciary Committee that would make change the Copyright Register position to be a Presidential appointment, rather than by the Librarian of Congress, Rep. Zoe Lofgren revealed that Pallante had apparently put in place a fake $25 million budget line item, asking the Librarian of Congress to testify under oath what it was for, despite it being made up.”

From ABC News (Australia): Mike Hall’s death won’t be last time tragedy unfolds via Google Maps, expert says. “When cyclist Mike Hall died last week on the final stretch of a 5,500-kilometre endurance cycling race, hundreds of people watched it happen via a dot on a map.” My new vocabulary phrase is “dot watchers.”

That was quick. From TechCrunch: One in five Facebook videos is Live as it seizes the verb. “While most people still aren’t sure what to broadcast, and some have misused the format for unsavory or criminal purposes, Facebook says one-fifth of the videos shared on its network are now Live videos. It’s also seen the Live broadcasting daily watch time grow 4X in the past year, according to Facebook’s head of video, Fidji Simo.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

SingularityHub: OpenAI Just Beat Google DeepMind at Atari With an Algorithm From the 80s. “AI research has a long history of repurposing old ideas that have gone out of style. Now researchers at Elon Musk’s open source AI project have revisited ‘neuroevolution,’ a field that has been around since the 1980s, and achieved state-of-the-art results.”

The Guardian: Revealed: the more time that children chat on social media, the less happy they feel. “Perhaps Facebook should carry a health warning. A study has revealed that the children who spend more time on online social networks feel less happy in almost all aspects of their lives.” Good morning, Internet…

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