NEW RESOURCES

The Courier: Abertay University opens up the institution’s fascinating collections to a public audience for the first time. “Hidden treasures, held for years in the archives of Abertay University, are being opened up to a public audience for the first time. The university has launched a new online archive and exhibition site, allowing people to explore its 133-year history from the comfort of their own homes.”

The Herald: Topple the Racists: Interactive map shows statues linked to slavery in Scotland and UK. “Anti-racism campaigners have created an interactive map detailing the statues in the UK that have links to slavery, which they argue should be taken down. The ‘Topple the Racists’ website features twelve Scottish monuments on its crowdsourced list of statues and monuments to slave traders and colonialists.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Facebook’s chief diversity officer will now report directly to Sheryl Sandberg. “Amid a heavier focus on race, diversity and inclusion in light of the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, Facebook is making its chief diversity officer, Maxine Williams, report directly to COO Sheryl Sandberg, Sandberg wrote in a memo to Facebook employees [June 11]. Before, Williams reported to VP of Human Resources Janelle Gale.”

Tubefilter: YouTube Is Considering Letting Creators Self-Limit The Reach Of Their Videos To Lessen Harassment. “According to YouTube’s VP of creator products, Ariel Bardin, a substantial part of the platform’s efforts to make itself better for LGBTQ+ users involves seeking policymaking guidance from YouTubers in the LGBTQ+ community. To that end, in the latest Creator Insider upload, Bardin sits down for a half-hour interview with transgender creator, author, and activist Jackson Bird, giving him a chance to ‘ask me the tough hard-hitting questions and call bullshit on me when needed.'”

The Spinoff: Facebook to ban foreign political ads in run-up to New Zealand election. “As of next month only New Zealanders who have provided Facebook with a form of government-issued identification will be able to post ads that make references to political figures, parties, social issues or the country’s election.”

USEFUL STUFF

Arizona State University: ‘To Be Welcoming’ curriculum offers tools to counteract bias. “Two years ago, Starbucks asked Arizona State University to develop an online curriculum for all Starbucks employees that is intended to drive reflection and conversation on the topic of bias. Now Starbucks is making those courses available to the public at no cost. The curriculum, a set of 15 modules, is called ‘To Be Welcoming’ and was rolled out in September 2019. The interactive courses were created by ASU faculty experts to share research and information that can help people to think about how they view the world and to consider how other people experience it. ”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Albawaba Business: UAE Inaugurates Academy For Social Media Influencers. “UAE social media influencers have welcomed the launch of New Media Academy stressing that it will help build a new generation of professionals equipped with digital media skills and content creation capabilities.”

NBC News: ‘Facebook doesn’t care’: Activists say accounts removed despite Zuckerberg’s free-speech stance. “Mark Zuckerberg has championed Facebook’s commitment to free speech as a reason not to act on incendiary posts from President Donald Trump about the Black Lives Matter protests. It’s a standard that activists and journalists in the Middle East wish extended to their accounts. Dozens of Tunisian, Syrian and Palestinian activists and journalists, many of whom use the platform to document human rights abuses in the region, say their Facebook accounts have been deactivated over the last few months.”

CNET: Amid George Floyd protests, weaponized misinformation floods social media. “…social media’s inability to contain the explosion of misinformation takes on new urgency as peaceful protesters battle the perception that all of the demonstrations have devolved into looting and violence. Twitter’s role in spreading news in real time without any checks makes it particularly vulnerable to manipulation. Over the past few weeks, along with tweets about protestors being responsible for [Dave Patrick] Underwood’s death, other false theories have made the rounds, including an internet blackout in Washington and the far-left militant group antifa sending protesters to cause unrest in cities across the US.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: EU antitrust regulators set July 20 deadline for Google, Fitbit deal. “EU antitrust regulators will decide by July 20 whether to clear Alphabet Inc-owned Google’s $2.1 billion bid for fitness trackers company Fitbit, a deal that has prompted concerns from consumer groups and privacy advocates. Google sought EU approval on Monday, according to a filing on the European Commission website.”

ZDNet: New fuzzing tool finds 26 USB bugs in Linux, Windows, macOS, and FreeBSD. “Academics say they discovered 26 new vulnerabilities in the USB driver stack employed by operating systems such as Linux, macOs, Windows, and FreeBSD. The research team, made up by Hui Peng from Purdue University and Mathias Payer from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, said all the bugs were discovered with a new tool they created, named USBFuzz.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Ubergizmo: Australians Researchers Achieve The World’s Fastest Internet Speeds At 44.2 Terabits Per Second. “Internet speeds around the world vary from country to country, and provider to provider. However, over in Australia, researchers from Monash, Swinburne, and RMIT universities have managed to achieve the world’s fastest internet speeds where they managed to clock it at a whopping 44.2Tbps (terabits per second).” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!