NEW RESOURCES

International Atomic Energy Agency: New IAEA Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Database Facilitates National Data Reporting and Sharing . “The Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Information System (SRIS) will provide an authoritative and integrated view of national and global spent fuel and radioactive waste inventories as well as relevant laws, regulations, policies, plans and activities. The IAEA is encouraging national authorities to take advantage of this important new tool by nominating representatives responsible for submitting data to SRIS, part of which will be available to the public and other countries using the system. So far, 38 countries have done so.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Armenian Mirror-Spectator: Digital Archives of Armenian National Library Restored Online. “According to the acting director of the National Library of Armenia, Hrachya Saribekyan, online access to digitized materials of the library has been restored after almost three weeks. In a June 3 press conference, he reiterated that the digitized files had been preserved in hard drives which were undamaged despite the fire in the server section of the library.” You can learn more about the Armenian archives fire here.

The Guardian: Aboriginal deaths in custody: 434 have died since 1991, new data shows. “Aboriginal deaths in custody: 434 have died since 1991, new data shows The Guardian has updated its groundbreaking searchable database as a definitive record of deaths of Indigenous Australians in prison or police custody.”

The Verge: Facebook’s revamped news section launches in the US with a focus on local sources. “Facebook is launching its revamped news tab in the US today, reports TechCrunch, and the launch will include a dedicated local news section among other topics, including a George Floyd-specific section as of Tuesday.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Farms .com: Highlighting First Nation agriculture. “A First Nation community wants to connect with local farmers, food producers and consumers to build an online database. The Anishinabek Nation is looking to compile enough industry information to create an Agricultural Asset Inventory, a directory and an online food map of existing agriculture and food-related businesses.”

Atlantic Council: Operation Carthage: How a Tunisian company conducted influence operations in African presidential elections. “A Tunisia-based company operated a sophisticated digital campaign involving multiple social media platforms and websites in an attempt to influence the country’s 2019 presidential election, as well as other recent elections in Africa. In an exclusive investigation that began in September 2019, the DFRLab uncovered dozens of online assets with connections to Tunisian digital communications firm UReputation.”

State of Maine: Maine State Archives offers grants for preservation of archival collections. “Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap and the Maine State Archives today launched the New Century Community Grant Program for the preservation of archival collections. This grant program will provide resources for collecting institutions throughout Maine to care for and improve access to their archival collections. Funding for the grant program comes from the Maine State Cultural Affairs Council and the Maine State Archives.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Register: Kinda goes without saying, but shore up your admin passwords or be borged by this brute-forcing botnet . “Servers are being targeted with a malware attack that uses its infected hosts to brute-force other machines. Known to Akamai researchers as Stealthworker, the infection preys on weak passwords then uses a massive arsenal of malware to overtake Windows and Linux servers running popular CMS, publishing, and hosting tools.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

CNBC: Why the buzz around DeepMind is dissipating as it transitions from games to science. “DeepMind’s army of 1,000 plus people, which includes hundreds of highly-paid PhD graduates, continues to pump out academic paper after academic paper, but only a smattering of the work gets picked up by the mainstream media. The research lab has churned out over 1,000 papers and 13 of them have been published by Nature or Science, which are widely seen as the world’s most prestigious academic journals.”

World Aquaculture Society: JWAS Moving to Open Access. “The WAS Board has recently approved a proposal to make [Journal of the World Aquaculture Society] a fully Open Access (OA) journal, effective January 2021. This decision was made after more than a year of analysis, deliberation, and negotiation with Wiley Publishers. The logistical and financial outcome of this decision will be carefully monitored over the next three years.”

XinhuaNet: China launches online birdwatching platform. “Chinese research institutions launched a birdwatching platform … for the study and protection of coastal wetlands and waterfowls. The platform is a cutting-edge system of bird identification and data collection, including a smartphone application, an online database, a mini-program for identifying bird species and a visual system for tracking bird migration routes.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

The Next Web: This tiny game runs directly in your browser’s title bar — and it’s kinda fun. “I was absolutely mind-blown when I first discovered the not-so-hidden Chrome dinosaur game. I’ll never forget that moment, because I spent the next several hours playing it — without even taking a break. I just loved how simple and unassuming it was. But now I’ve found something even simpler and more unassuming. Enter TitleRun, a micro-game that exists entirely in your browser‘s title bar (not to be confused with the URL bar, which is the mistake I first made).” Good morning, Internet…

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