NEW RESOURCES

Stanford: New database allows Stanford researchers to find disparities in officers’ treatment of minority motorists. “…These findings are based on a nationwide database – which the Stanford researchers created – of state patrol stops. The database contains key details from millions of records collected from 2011 to 2015 and is part of an effort to statistically analyze police practices. Along with the findings they are sharing today, the researchers are releasing their entire dataset, complete with online tutorials, so that policy makers, journalists and citizens can do their own analyses through this new Stanford Open Policing Project.”

The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada) has launched a new photo archive. “As part of the Globe’s Canada 150 celebration, (the Globe hits 173 this year), we’ve pulled an eclectic selection of photos that range from a 1901 picture of the Forester’s Arch being erected on Bay and Richmond streets for a royal visit to a Canadian astronomical discovery in the late 1990s. You can search the archive by date or Globe photographer, and there are special collections that cover different aspects of Canadian life.” It looks like this is subscribers only; there are over 100,000 photos available at the moment with more to come.

Seenit: BBC partners with international broadcasters to support anticensorship website. “The BBC has joined forces with other leading international broadcasters to support… a new website which helps internet users around the world access news and information. International news websites, along with social media and messaging channels used for accessing, sharing and engaging in the free flow of news and information online are routinely blocked by governments in many countries.”

The Calvert Journal: Thngs: the digital archive celebrating 200 years of Russian science. “Thngs, the digital archive of things, has recently digitalised an exhibition of Russian scientific achievements over the last 200 years, drawing from the collection of the Moscow Polytechnic Museum.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Hongkiat: Facebook now lets you Co-edit Your Albums with Friends . “Are you the type of person who likes to keep track of their activities over the course of a trip? If so, Facebook’s latest update to its Albums feature will make it so much easier to keep a log of your tours or trips as it now lets you store photos, posts and more in it.”

Metro US: Boston creates website for climate change data removed from EPA’s site. “The city of Boston continues to be a champion for climate change action with a new website sharing information from the Environmental Protection Agency. Not long after President Donald Trump took office, the EPA began to remove data on climate change, including links to global warming research and data on emissions. Now that information has a new digital home thanks to an effort by Boston and 12 other cities.”

The Next Web: The NSA (yes, that NSA) has a Github account now. “The National Security Agency is amongst the most secretive of the US’ intelligence agencies. It employs genius-level coders and mathematicians in order to break codes, gather information on adversaries, and defend the country against digital threats. Unsurprisingly, the NSA has always to preferred to work in the dark. But ever since the Snowden leaks in 2013, the organization has gradually increased its public presence.”

USEFUL STUFF

Ars Technica: How to install Linux on a Chromebook (and why you should). “Chromebooks are one of the most secure devices you can give a non-technical end user, and at a price point few can argue with, but that security comes with a privacy trade off: you have to trust Google, which is part of the NSA’s Prism programme, with your data in the cloud.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Federal News Radio: Census Bureau’s new data site offering a ‘Google-type’ approach for users. “What if there was a Google search bar for Census data? The Census Bureau’s Chief Data Officer Zach Whitman and his team are making that a reality for data geeks and curious citizens alike. Speaking at the June 12-14 Amazon Web Services Public Sector Summit in Washington, D.C., Whitman said data.census.gov is replacing the bureau’s American FactFinder ‘in both form and function’ for a majority of users looking to do basic things like extract data and visualize maps.”

Salon: Explosive growth in bulls**t studies! The latest academic frontier in the age of You Know Who. “‘There is so much bullshit!’ exclaims mathematical biologist Carl Bergstrom. ‘We’re drowning in it!’ So begins the first session of Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data, a class Bergstrom is teaching with data scientist Jevin West at the University of Washington. It might be comforting if bullshit were confined to the realms of politics, PR and advertising. But that’s bullshit.” Not as political as the headline would have you believe.

SECURITY & LEGAL

Washington Post: A Republican contractor’s database of nearly every voter was left exposed on the Internet for 12 days, researcher says. “A Republican analytics firm’s database of nearly every registered American voter was left vulnerable to theft on a public server for 12 days this month, according to a cybersecurity researcher who found and downloaded the trove of data. The lapse in security was striking for putting at risk the identities, voting histories and views of voters across the political spectrum, with data drawn from a wide range of sources including social media, public government records and proprietary polling by political groups.”

The Next Web: How secure is your favorite messaging app? “WhatsApp, Messenger, Facetime, iMessage, Allo, Telegram, Hangouts, Skype. You have dozens of mainstream messaging apps to choose from, each with tens—if not hundreds—of millions of users and more than enough features to fulfill your communication needs. But not all of these messaging apps are equally reliable in ensuring your privacy and security—a commodity that is becoming increasingly expensive and rare.” Good morning, Internet…

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