NEW RESOURCES

TechCrunch: Google brings its resources for founders and startups to a single site. “Google launched ‘Startup with Google’ today, a new site that brings together all the company’s resources for founders and their startups. As the name implies, the focus here is on Google’s own tools, services and initiatives (think everything from Firebase and Android Studio to Analytics and Google’s various cloud security tools), but the site also highlights accelerators and events sponsored by Google but run by third parties. In addition, the new site also showcases Google’s network of Campus coworking spaces and its Launchpad accelerator programs.”

9 News: Interactive map shows distracted driving grades near schools. “A new tool allows parents to find out how safe the roads surrounding their neighborhood schools are due to distracted drivers. The interactive map is a kind of report card that assigns schools a letter grade and offers browsers an idea of how frequently drivers are using their phones near a school.” Note that while I saw data for all states, when I zoomed down to state level some counties were missing.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

ArchivesAware: October 4th Is Ask An Archivist Day!. “On October 4, archivists around the country will take to Twitter to respond to questions tweeted with the hashtag #AskAnArchivist. Take this opportunity to engage via your personal and/or institutional Twitter accounts and to respond to questions posed directly to you or more generally to all participants.”

Library of Congress: Library and U.S. Military Academies Sign Cooperative Agreement. “The Library of Congress and the five U.S. Service Academies today entered an inter-agency cooperative agreement to support growth of service member representation in the national collections at the Library, including within the Veterans History Project. The agreement also provides enhanced research access to Library collections for the U.S Air Force Academy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, U.S Military Academy and U.S. Naval Academy and enhanced access to service academy collections for Library researchers.”

USEFUL STUFF

Columbia Journalism Review: Dating app Tinder can be a tool for journalists “My Tinder profile included a professional photo and read: ‘I am a journalist, can I ask you a few questions?’ I swiped right on several profiles, matched with a few, and simply started talking. Granted, some folks I chatted with later admitted they thought the ‘journalist’ thing was a pickup line. But I started each conversation explaining my intentions and confirming that they were comfortable going on record. In an hour, I had a few new friends and a general idea about the island’s concerns.”

Social Media Examiner: How to Reach a Non-English-Speaking YouTube Audience. “Is your content on YouTube? Have you considered taking your content global? In this article, you’ll discover how to expand your reach and influence on YouTube by optimizing your videos for viewers who speak different languages.” Thorough and educational – in other words, the usual high standard stuff from Social Media Examiner.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Victoria and Albert Museum: How We Collected WeChat. “The V&A has added WeChat, China’s largest social media platform, to its permanent collection. If you’re visiting the museum, you’ll be able to see a small display of the application in Gallery 76 during the London Design Festival and in the ensuing months. To say ‘we’ve collected an app’ elicits a range of puzzled reactions. How do you collect an app? What is the thing you’re actually collecting? And what for? The fact is, collecting digital is a new frontier for design museums. What you collect, how you do it, and why, are very much still open questions. But as more and more of our designed world either becomes digital or is experienced digitally, there’s an express urgency to find ways of collecting and preserving the important aspects of our digital culture. With that in mind, we thought it useful to share the experience of our two-and-a-half year process behind collecting WeChat, and the challenges were presented along the way.”

LA Times: The thinking behind Snapchat’s sports and weather filters (Paresh Dave is an auto-read for me at this point.) “Snapchat isn’t a resource many turn to for weather and sports scores, but it’s spending increasing amounts of money on licensing deals to give users such information. For Snapchat, the intention isn’t so much about helping people figure out how to dress that day or how their favorite team is doing. Rather, Snapchat’s aim is more interpersonal: It’s loading up on real-time data from third parties so people can provide more context about their lives to friends.”

Axios: Both parties to move on Facebook and other tech giants. “Members of Congress in both parties have begun exploring possible legislative action against Facebook and other tech giants, setting the stage for a potentially massive battle in the midterm election year of 2018. Why it matters: Following revelations about fake news and paid Russian propaganda on Facebook during last year’s election, big tech has become a big target, with politicians across the spectrum declaring on Sunday shows that more scrutiny, transparency and restrictions are needed.”

Der Spiegel: AfD Accuses Google of Sabotaging Campaign. “DER SPIEGEL has learned that Google has refused for more than a week to place certain ads for a controversial anti-Merkel website created by the Alternative for Germany. The right-wing populist party says it will respond by spending its budget for the project on Facebook instead.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

SC Media: Google security veteran warns AI cyber-defences won’t help. “Google security veteran Heather Adkins warned artificial intelligence powered cyber-defences won’t help thwart cybe-rattacks adding that companies are better off paying a bunch of junior engineers to patch vulnerabilities all day. Adkins is a founding member of Google’s security team and warned an audience at TechCrunch Disrupt 2017 in San Francisco that AI cyber-defences will produce too many false positives and that AI-powered security software can barely stop 1970’s era attack methods, according to CNBC.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Wired: To Fix Its Toxic Ad Problem, Facebook Must Break Itself . “Two incidents in recent weeks have highlighted how Facebook’s advertising network—the cornerstone of its half-trillion-dollar valuation—is as susceptible to manipulation and bigotry as its news feed. Facebook addresses each problem as it arises, in isolation. But maybe it’s time for Facebook to acknowledge that it can’t solve these problems alone and to ask for help—before governments offer their own ‘help.'” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!