NEW RESOURCES

Illinois Aces: You say Cairo, I say Cairo: New online resource provides audio pronunciation of Illinois places and landmarks. “A University of Illinois agricultural communications researcher and her students have created an online resource that offers proper audio pronunciation examples of places and landmarks across the state of Illinois. The tool was designed not only for broadcasters or news anchors, but for anyone publicly speaking about places in Illinois. And, of course, those curious about Illinois will also enjoy using the tool.”

Columbia University: New Online Portal to Teach Free Speech Is Launched. “Columbia Global Freedom of Expression has launched a new teaching portal Freedom of Expression Without Frontiers, in partnership with 10 universities and civil society organizations from around the world, to promote the adoption of a global approach to the teaching of free speech.”

Muckrock: Help give a first read through the Mueller Report. “The first public release of the Mueller Report is now live, and we want your help going through it to find the most interesting pages, references to other documents to request, and help us breakdown how much of it was redacted under various exemptions.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Ars Technica: You can now download the source code for all Infocom text adventure classics. “The source code of every Infocom text adventure game has been uploaded to code-sharing repository GitHub, allowing savvy programmers to examine and build upon some of the most beloved works of digital storytelling to date.”

Mashable: CIA director promises agency will soon launch an Instagram account . “Espionage it for the ‘gram! During an address at Auburn University in Alabama, CIA Director Gina Haspel unveiled some de-classified information about the CIA’s next big move: it’s launching an Instagram page.”

The Verge: Google Chrome is getting a reader mode on desktop. “The desktop version of Google Chrome’s browser is getting a reader mode, which can be used to strip out a page’s unnecessary background clutter to make an article easier to read. ZDNet notes that the feature launched today in Chrome’s experimental Canary release, and it should make its way to more stable versions of the browser in the future.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Buzzfeed News: These Women Are Only On Facebook For The Groups. “My Facebook group isn’t private, but it isn’t easy to find either. Its title doesn’t include my name. At various points in my journalistic history, when I’ve written something that’s attracted the attention of trolls, my group has remained immune. A few times a day, I post articles as a point of discussion, and then the group, which now numbers over 42,000, discusses those articles — and the topics therein — in the comments. (In truth, it’s a page masquerading as a group — a secondary group, moderated by myself and others, includes posts from members). It sounds dorky, and it generally is.”

Voice of America: Sudan’s Social Media Deemed Major Player in Bashir’s Ouster . “Ousted President Omar al-Bashir and his government restricted popular social media platforms during protests against his government, but millions of Sudanese found ways to circumvent the restrictions and rally others to protest peacefully.”

The Sentinel (India): Poll memes, dubsmashes take social media by storm. “With am aim to strike a chord with young voters, political parties, candidates and the public relations firms have gone into a frenzy, sharing memes and dubsmashes, including in regional languages, across social media platforms. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘achche din’ and ‘Mei Bhi Chawkidar’ campaign and his reverse archery skills to Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Aaloo Daalo Sona niklega’ — everything new and old is being refreshed, recycled and reused as memes and dubsmashes on social media in the election season.”

Digital Scholarship Blog: Collecting Emerging Formats. “The Emerging Formats project, started in 2017 by the British Library and the other five UK Legal Deposit Libraries, has been investigating the rise of new complex digital publications that could pose new challenges for libraries and other cultural institutions in terms of collection and preservation. In particular, this project has chosen to prioritise three formats: eBook mobile apps, web-based interactive narratives, and structured data.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: Patient names, treatments leak among millions of rehab records. “It’s some of the most sensitive medical information a person could have. Records for potentially tens of thousands of patients seeking treatment at several addiction rehabilitation centers were exposed in an unsecured online database, an independent researcher revealed Friday.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

ZDNet: Twitter bot activity spiked after the release of the Mueller Report. “The activity of Russian-linked Twitter bots and trolls spiked after the release of the Mueller Report, George Kamide, Director at digital risk protection provider SafeGuard Cyber told ZDNet today. Kamide said his company observed a 286 percent increase in Russian bot and troll activity on Twitter following the public release of the long-awaited Mueller Report.” Good morning, Internet…

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