NEW RESOURCES

Isabella d’Este Archive (IDEA): Project Launch: IDEA Bibliography. “IDEA Bibliography is an extensive bibliography of published primary sources and secondary literature related to all disciplines represented in IDEA. The bibliography is easy to use and designed for anyone with an interest in Isabella, from those looking for introductory or biographical material to experienced researchers. As a living resource, IDEA Bibliography is updated regularly with new publications on the ‘first lady’ of the Renaissance.”

New to me, from Baylor: Baylor Libraries Wins Texas Digital Library Award for Black Gospel Music Restoration Project. “The only national project documenting the ‘Golden Age’ of black gospel music (1945-1975), the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project (BGMRP) has digitized and provided access to more than 3,000 unique digital items in multiple formats, including recordings, posters and photographs. Its rich collection, developed over 11 years, is used in research about musical styles, lyrical analysis and performance practice, as well as for outreach opportunities, such as concerts, art exhibits and symposia.”

Arkansas State Archives: Archives Launches WWI Digital Exhibit. “Joining with the Department of Arkansas Heritage’s campaign to commemorate 100 years since World War I and to remember Arkansans’ efforts during the conflict, the Arkansas State Archives has launched ‘Arkansas in the Great War,’ a three-part online exhibit chronicling the state during this period.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

BetaNews: Imgur adds video support. “Imgur has long been home to a universe of GIFs but — after many years of animated silence — this is changing thanks to the arrival of video support.”

CNET: Google AR Expeditions just arrived on iOS and Android. “Google’s AR Expeditions initiatives were originally designed to be used in classrooms, and still are, but before now schools had to be part of a pilot program to try out the tech. Now it’s just a free download, part of an updated Expeditions app on iOS and Android, Google announced Wednesday.”

USEFUL STUFF

Popular Science: Muting, snoozing, and other ways to quietly ignore people on social media. “Sure, you love your friends and family—but that doesn’t mean you need to hear absolutely everything they post on social media. Just a few too-chatty contacts can hog all of your attention on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Luckily, all three of these social networks, as well as instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, offer tools for muting certain contacts—or at least dialing down the number of their posts you see. They won’t know you’re ignoring their latest updates, but your social feed will feel much quieter.”

TechCrunch: ZenScreen could help you achieve a ‘balanced digital diet’. “Skyfire co-founder Nitin Bhandari is working on a new approach to cutting our addiction to social media and reducing screen time with a startup called ZenScreen. The startup has raised $700,000 in funding from Opera (now Otello) and assorted angel investors. It launched iOS and Android apps last month, as well as a Chrome browser extension.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Gizmodo: Papua New Guinea to Block Facebook for a Month, Might Launch State-Run Alternative . “Papua New Guinea, a nation of over 8 million, has announced that it will shut down Facebook for a month. The PNG government says that the shutdown will give it time to assess the spread of objectionable content on the site like porn and fake news. The government also said that it’s exploring the creation of its own social media site to replace Facebook.”

Wyofile: Records quest for 800 Wyo. agencies drives open records review. “Lawmakers are eyeing changes to public records law after a national group dedicated to government transparency flooded 800 Wyoming agencies with records requests last spring.”

Stanford Libraries Blog: FOSS4GNA2018: The free & open source software for geospatial conference, St. Louis, MO.. “I’ve just returned from a week in St. Louis, for FOSS4GNA, the Free & Open Source Software for Geospatial conference, where the predominant topics this year were increasing integration of R and RStudio into the geospatial toolkit, big geospatial data management and analysis, and the management and analysis of an increasing array of high-resolution and high-cadence satellite imagery sources. A number of the presentations and workshops were worth passing along to Stanford ‘geo’ users, and are noted, below.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The News Tribune: Harvard teaming with Google to reduce harmful chemical use. “Organizers say the initiative announced Wednesday targets chemicals used in consumer products like furniture and carpets that science has shown have potential negative health effects. The goal is to create a set of tools using the latest research to inform decisions by large institutions, purchasers and manufacturers with the hope of increasing demand for healthier alternatives. Organizers said there are more than 80,000 chemicals in use, some associated with long-term health and environmental problems.”

Business Insider Australia: We tasted the ‘perfect’ cookie Google took 2 months and 59 batches to create — and it was terrible. “Can AI cook? That was the question a small research team at Google set out to answer last year. Using artificial intelligence and a technique called ‘Bayesian Optimisation’, the team spent two months trying to design the perfect chocolate chip cookie. The team gave a computer a series of ingredients, without any other information, and told it to simply bake a cookie.” Good morning, Internet…

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