NEW RESOURCES

United Dioceses of Dublin & Glendalough: The Red Book of Ossory Digitized and Online. “As efforts in the RCB Library to digitize and make available its resources to a worldwide audience continue, one of its most significant medieval manuscripts, TheRed Book of Ossory (RCB Library D11/2/1), is now available for public consultation on the Church of Ireland website…. The Red Book of Ossory contains 79 vellum leaves, and was composed largely in the 14th century during [Richard] Ledred’s time. Later entries were added, the latest from the reign of Elizabeth I. The Red Book derives its name from the colour of the leather binding, faded on the outside, but still visible inside the cover. Like other medieval episcopal registers, it contains a wide range of documents that defy classification, the choice of which depended on what was important to individual bishops, in this case by Ledred, whom Dr Empey makes clear in his presentation was ‘one of the most extraordinary bishops ever to occupy the see of Ossory’.” RCB Library stands for Representative Church Body Library.

The University of Texas at Dallas: Researchers Launch Moon Mission Audio Site. “NASA recorded thousands of hours of audio from the Apollo lunar missions, yet most of us have only been able to hear the highlights. The agency recorded all communications between the astronauts, mission control specialists and back-room support staff during the historic moon missions in addition to Neil Armstrong’s famous quotes from Apollo 11 in July 1969. Most of the audio remained in storage on outdated analog tapes for decades until researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas launched a project to analyze the audio and make it accessible to the public.” Visit the site, yes, but also read the article. The team innovated a lot to get this done.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

UK Web Archive Blog: A New (Beta) Interface for the UK Web Archive. Improvements include better search, cleaner interface, and a “Special Collections” feature.

The Next Web: Facebook’s Did You Know feature is a one-trick pony. “Facebook today announced it was releasing a feature called Did You Know, which allows users to answer pre-written questions which their friends and followers can then see.”

CNET: Instagram adds Stories Highlights and Archive. “You can save the Instagram Stories into an archive and build a highlights reel from previous Stories, the app announced on its blog Tuesday. Stories, which are collections of personal photos and video, previously expired in 24 hours.”

USEFUL STUFF

Dogtown Media: Microsoft Unleashes an AI-Powered Language Learning App
. “Microsoft’s new AI-powered iOS app is called Learn Chinese. It’s free and, as you probably can guess from the name, teaches you Chinese. Using deep neural networks (you can read more about those here), the app interprets your words by figuring out what you’re saying before evaluating the pronunciation. With increased use of the app, you’ll find yourself progressing with Chinese, and the app will keep score too.” The article doesn’t specify but considering the screenshot included the phrase Ni hao I’m assuming this is Mandarin. If you look for this on the app store please search for Microsoft learn Chinese since there are approximately ten billion apps called Learn Chinese. The reviews are not great.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Engadget: Facebook may spend a ‘few billion dollars’ on sports streaming deals. “Facebook has certainly dabbled in live sports streams before, but it appears ready to jump in with both feet. Sources for Sports Business Journal claim that Facebook is hiring an executive to negotiate sports deals, and that the eventual recruit will have a budget worth a ‘few billion dollars.’ ”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Irish Times: New Bill proposes action against fake social media accounts. “The use of internet ‘bots’ to manipulate online political debates and influence campaigns would become a crime under a Private Members’ Bill to be introduced in the Dáil on Wednesday. New rules requiring transparency on the funding sources of online political advertising are also included in the Online Advertising and Social Media (Transparency) Bill which Fianna Fáil TD James Lawless has drafted.”

BetaNews: Yahoo sues Mozilla for breach of contract — so Mozilla counter sues Yahoo. “Mozilla and Yahoo have started a legal spat about the deal that existed between the two companies regarding the use of the Yahoo search engine in the Firefox browser. On December 1, Yahoo fired the first shot filing a complaint that alleges Mozilla breached a contract that existed between the two companies by terminating the arrangement early. In a counter complaint, Mozilla says that it was not only justified in terminating the contract early, but that Yahoo Holdings and Oath still have a bill that needs to be settled.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

EurekAlert: Conflicting views on social media balanced by an algorithm . “Social media has become an important news source for a majority of adults. A common complaint is that social media help create echo chambers in which people reading information do not expose themselves to different viewpoints but are often confined to their own. … Researchers from Aalto University and University of Rome Tor Vergata have designed an algorithm that is able to balance the information exposure so that social media users can be exposed to information from both sides of the discussion.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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