NEW RESOURCES

Harvard: Scroll through Colonial life. “n a few weeks, the Harvard Library will release a new website for its ongoing, multiyear digitization ‘Colonial North American Project at Harvard University.’ Approximately 450,000 digitized pages of all the known archival and manuscript materials in the Library relating to 17th- and 18th-century North America will be available to the public.”

Discovered thanks to a nice e-mail from Steven J – the Northwest Boreal Science and Management Research Tool. From his e-mail: “The Northwest Boreal Landscape Conservation Cooperative is pleased to announce the launch of the Northwest Boreal Science and Management Research Tool. Explore thousands of curated scholarly articles, state and federal resource reports, land management plans, and more. Each entry includes geographic information about the area of study, allowing users to draw a box on a map to narrow searches to information directly related to a specific region in Alaska, the Yukon, British Columbia, and Northwest Territories. This project is a collaboration among Alaska Resources Library & Information Services (ARLIS), Alaska Climate Science Center, DataBasin, and Northwest Boreal Landscape Conservation Cooperative.”

Planet Princeton: Candidate database aims to boost ‘good government’ and voter turnout in New Jersey. “Voter turnout has been historically low in New Jersey in recent years and hit its lowest level in 2015, when only 20.8 percent of registered voters showed up to the polls. But a grassroots group called the Good Government Coalition of New Jersey (GGCNJ), hopes to change that by making candidate information more accessible to citizens. The coalition unveiled a new election information website at an Oct. 19 press conference at the New Jersey Statehouse. The group is creating candidate profiles by sending questionnaires to local and state officials seeking answers about stances on issues that might not be reported on anywhere else on the internet.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Engadget: New Twitch tools help you become a pro streamer. “Many Twitch streamers dream of turning pro, but getting there is a fuzzy process. How do you know you’ve ‘made it’ and can apply to become an affiliate or partner? And how do you make a big deal out of staple events like channel raids and new viewers without using special tools? Twitch just answered both of those questions. It’s rolling out tools that not only track your progress toward getting paid, but streamline some of the tasks that previously required chat bots or outside streaming software.”

USEFUL STUFF

Lifehacker: The Beginner’s Guide to IFTTT . “In our new series Getting It, we’ll give you all you need to know to get started with and excel at a wide range of technology, both on and offline. Here, we’re arming you with everything you need to know to master the world of IFTTT.” I love IFTTT. If you’re looking for a way to get started with it, this is pretty good!

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Zik: Czech Republic launches project in Lviv to digitalize SBU archives. “SBU Lviv branch director Oleksandr Tkachuk said the digitalized archives will help researchers and public to get acquainted with NKVD and KGB practices. Under the law On Access to Communist Regime Archives, many of the documents will become available in Ukraine. However, Russia still keeps the bulk of KGB archives giving them a classified status, he said.” I believe in this case that SBU stands for the Security Service of Ukraine.

ITV News: New project uncovers hidden histories of people with learning disabilities. “A new project is being launched that captures the stories of friendships and relationships of people with learning disabilities. The project, led by Mencap Cymru, will allow people with learning disabilities to be involved in the interpretation of their own history and design of public exhibitions. For the first time, they will be representing themselves, where historically a family member, friend or medical professional would have undertaken the role.”

Politico: National Archives warned Trump White House to preserve documents. “National Archives officials have periodically warned White House lawyers that the Trump administration needs to follow document preservation laws, according to people familiar with the conversations and emails reviewed by POLITICO. The White House legally must preserve all presidential records, which are given to the National Archives after the president leaves office and are used for historical records. The documents that must be preserved include written memos, emails, speeches, record logs and more.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Century Foundation: Preserving the Right to Obscurity in the Age of Facial Recognition. “Facial recognition could also become a dangerous tool for cataloging participation in First Amendment activities. Religious and political associations could become known to the government on an enormous scale, with little effort or cost, enabling disruption, persecution, and abuse. American history throughout the twentieth century and recent government activities in the past two decades both demonstrate that fear of such abuse is quite warranted.”

MIT Technology Review: Andrew Ng Has a Chatbot That Can Help with Depression. “I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I’ve been seeing a virtual therapist. It’s called Woebot, and it’s a Facebook chatbot developed by Stanford University researchers that offers interactive cognitive behavioral therapy. And Andrew Ng, a prominent figure who previously led efforts to develop and apply the latest AI technologies at Google and Baidu, is now lending his backing to the project by joining the board of directors of the company offering its services.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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