NEW RESOURCES

Eastern Mennonite University: Seven shapes or four notes? If you have an opinion, then you’ll want to know ‘The Musical Million’ 1879-97 is now online. “Giving special thanks to Eastern Mennonite University special collections librarian Simone Horst for her digitalization help, the Library of Virginia’s Virginia Chronicle website has launched a fully searchable run of the music journal, The Musical Million: A Journal of Music, Poetry, and Chaste Home Literature…. The Musical Million spread the Gospel of congregational shape-note singing far and wide and laid the groundwork for the proliferation of singing schools across the South.”

Voxy: Illuminating and commemorating WWI for the modern era. “For the first time in nearly a century, a collection of significant World War I lantern slides belonging to the University of Canterbury (UC) is freely available for the public to view. Designed by the UC Arts Digital Lab, the new Illumination and Commemoration website showcases the digitised lantern slides depicting the construction of New Zealand’s five WWI battle memorials overseas. Featuring an online database and digital exhibitions, the open-access website highlights the work of the architect of the memorials, Samuel Hurst Seager (1855-1933), who was appointed by the New Zealand government in 1921.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Free Music Archive: Free Music Archive’s new home: KitSplit!. “After months of uncertainty about our future, the Free Music Archive is joining KitSplit, a camera gear rental platform by and for creators. With KitSplit’s support, we will stay up and running for the indefinite future – something we are very relieved to report. Though KitSplit is a for-profit business, the FMA will remain true to its mission of sharing free, curated audio to all.”

Search Engine Journal: Google Introduces WordPress Plugin With Integrated Analytics, Search Console, More. “Google has introduced a new WordPress plugin which brings insights from Google tools to users’ dashboards. Site Kit by Google allows users to access information in Search Console, Analytics, AdSense, and PageSpeed Insights from the WordPress admin panel.”

CNET: Verizon takes $4.6 billion write-down on Oath . “Verizon said Tuesday the integration of Yahoo and AOL has achieved lower-than-expected benefits. As a result, Verizon expects to record a goodwill impairment charge of about $4.6 billion in the fourth quarter, the company said in a statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.” As the article notes, Yahoo’s original purchase price was $4.83 billion.

USEFUL STUFF

Make Tech Easier: Useful Chrome Command-Line Switches and What to Do with Them. “Like with all pieces of software, the default settings in Chrome won’t please everybody. Most people will only need to change settings normally accessible through the menu. Others know about a hidden page, accessible by typing chrome://flags/ in the address bar.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Conversation: What we can learn from reading Sylvia Plath’s copy of ‘The Great Gatsby’. “In recent years, marginalia left by ordinary readers has become a subject of large-scale data collection efforts. At the University of Virginia, English professor Andrew Stauffer leads a team that has made a book’s annotations, inscriptions and insertions discoverable as part of UVA’s online library catalog. Any user will be able to find such markings through a simple online search. At the University of California, Los Angeles, librarians are developing ways to discover marginalia digitally – and quickly – across large digital collections.”

Washington Post: Two years after #Pizzagate showed the dangers of hateful conspiracies, they’re still rampant on YouTube. “A year after YouTube’s chief executive promised to curb ‘problematic’ videos, it continues to harbor and even recommend hateful, conspiratorial videos, allowing racists, anti-Semites and proponents of other extremist views to use the platform as an online library for spreading their ideas.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Register: Equifax how-it-was-mega-hacked damning dossier lands, in all of its infuriating glory . “A US Congressional report outlining the breakdowns that led to the 2017 theft of 148 million personal records from Equifax has revealed a stunning catalog of failure. The 96-page report (PDF) from the Committee of Oversight and Government Reform found that the 2017 network breach could have easily been prevented had the company taken basic security precautions.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

TechCrunch: Google’s search data shows YouTube’s influence over this season’s hottest toys. “If there was any doubt about YouTube’s power to influence children, look no further than this year’s list of the hottest holiday toys, based on Google shopping search data. According to the search giant, at least four of the top 10 most searched toys were among those heavily featured in YouTube unboxing videos — subsequently turning them into the most in-demand and best-selling toys of the holiday season. Plus, another top toy is the JoJo Siwa Singing doll — a product from the YouTube star of the same name.”

The Atlantic: Don’t Shut Down the Internet’s Biggest Jihadist Archive. “If you discover that your neighbor—a decent guy and a known history buff—maintains a small collection of Nazi memorabilia, you might not think less of him, especially if his record of tolerance and anti-fascism is beyond reproach. Now imagine that he maintains not a small collection but the largest in the world, in private or public hands. He lets anyone examine it, including actual Nazis, without asking for a name or a reason. How big does the collection have to get before you start murmuring with the neighbors, and stop inviting him to cookouts and seders?”

BetaNews: Amplification bots used to raise the popularity and legitimacy of Twitter posts. “Earlier this year we looked at Duo Security’s research into Twitter bots which focused on fake followers. The company has now published some further research looking at amplification bots. So what is an amplification bot? They exist to boost content through likes and retweets. Duo has produced an algorithm to identify these bots and was able to find more than 7,000 over a 24 hour period.” Good morning, Internet…

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