NEW RESOURCES

CBC News: ‘Wikipedia of Inuit knowledge’ captures hunting, weather data in Hudson Bay. “A new database is creating an encyclopedia of knowledge for Inuit observations of the sea ice, wildlife and land in and around Hudson Bay. Inuit who live in the community of Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, have been noticing differences in their environment for years — from sea ice freezing in ways it didn’t in the past, to seals eating fish that they never used to. Now, thanks to a new technology called Siku, set up by the Arctic Eider Society, hunters will have a way to track those changes and share them with other Inuit.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Internet Archive: Early Macintosh Emulation Comes to the Archive. “After offering in-browser emulation of console games, arcade machines, and a range of other home computers, the Internet Archive can now emulate the early models of the Apple Macintosh, the black-and-white, mouse driven computer that radically shifted the future of home computing in 1984.”

Ubergizmo: Twitter Now Supports Two-Factor Authentication Apps. “If you rely on just a password to protect your online presence then you’re taking a big risk. It’s not uncommon for passwords to get leaked or online services to get breached. That’s why there are additional options one can consider to add another layer of security. Two-factor authentication provides one such additional layer of security and now Twitter has gained support for two-factor authentication apps.”

TechCrunch: Google’s parental control software Family Link hits iOS. “In March, Google introduced its own parental control software for parents of kids with Android devices called Family Link – but there was a bit of a catch. In order for the system to work, it required that both parent and child use Android. That has now changed, as the parents’ app for configuring and monitoring the child’s device usage has just arrived on iOS devices.”

PC World: Google preps Allo for a long-awaited desktop client, chat backups. “When Allo 9.0 arrived earlier this month, there wasn’t much to talk about. Aside from bug fixes and performance improvements, the update brought nary a new sticker pack to play with. But as it turns out, Google is doing some serious work behind the scenes.”

USEFUL STUFF

OMG! Ubuntu!: How to use Twitter Lite as a Desktop Twitter Client. “If you use Google Chrome on Linux, and you happen to be a big Twitter user, here’s a neat little tip. Twitter Lite is the social networking service’s alternative mobile app designed to low-data, low-end mobile devices. It’s a progressive web app designed for mobile but, thanks to open-standards, works in any modern web browser, and on any device, Ubuntu desktop included.” You don’t need to be using Ubu to take advantage of this. Looks like if you’re using Chrome, you can follow the steps.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Washington Post: Facebook fights fake news online with full-page print newspaper ads. “Facebook has turned to an unexpected tool to expand its ongoing fight against fake news online: the print newspaper. The social network ran full-page ads in France and Germany that outline the ways that readers can evaluate news stories and identify false reports. Facebook confirmed that the ads appeared in several publications, including Le Monde, L’Express, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Der Spiegel and Bild. The company also ran digital ads as part of a broader effort to educate people on and off of its platform, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said.”

The Verge: Instant Recall: Facebook’s Instant Articles promised to transform journalism — but now big publishers are fleeing. “…two years after it launched, a platform that aspired to build a more stable path forward for journalism appears to be declining in relevance. At the same time that Instant Articles were being designed, Facebook was beginning work on the projects that would ultimately undermine it. Starting in 2015, the company’s algorithms began favoring video over other content types, diminishing the reach of Instant Articles in the feed. The following year, Facebook’s News Feed deprioritized article links in favor of posts from friends and family. The arrival this month of ephemeral stories on top of the News Feed further de-emphasized the links on which many publishers have come to depend. In discussions with Facebook executives, former employees, publishers, and industry observers, a portrait emerges of a product that never lived up to the expectations of the social media giant, or media companies.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Phys.org: Biased bots: Human prejudices sneak into artificial intelligence systems. “In debates over the future of artificial intelligence, many experts think of the new systems as coldly logical and objectively rational. But in a new study, researchers have demonstrated how machines can be reflections of us, their creators, in potentially problematic ways. Common machine learning programs, when trained with ordinary human language available online, can acquire cultural biases embedded in the patterns of wording, the researchers found. These biases range from the morally neutral, like a preference for flowers over insects, to the objectionable views of race and gender.”

University Herald: Oregon State University Study: Social Media Creates Stigma and Stereotypes [Video]. It’s not just a video; there’s also an article. You don’t have to watch a video to get anything out of this. “With the help of a software to analyze comments and sentiments posted on the social media, a group of researchers have found that more than half of the tweets by private Twitter account users contained stigma. This is especially true when pertaining to Alzheimer’s disease and the people who are suffering from this condition.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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