NEW RESOURCES

Tech EU: OpenVC launches to help entrepreneurs cold email VCs – the right way. “There are more (aspiring) entrepreneurs looking to raise funding from investors than there are VCs, which makes for interesting dynamics. One thing that has worked well for founders in the past has always been so-called ‘warm introductions’, as busy investors getting referrals from trusted sources tends to cut through the noise. Things change, though, and a new open-source initiative called OpenVC wants to get out ahead of the curve by offering an online platform where VCs can display their investment criteria – things like preferred geography, technology stack, sector, stage, check size, etc.”

Maine: Maine State Archives announces launch of online catalog portal. “The Maine State Archives has launched its first-ever catalog of its holdings, via the online ArchivesSpace portal at https://archives.maine.gov/ , Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced today. For the first time in the Maine State Archives’ 56-year history, researchers can now search through the bureaus listing of collections online to see if the Archives is the right resource for their purposes, before contacting an archivist to access the actual documents.”

EVENTS

University of Dayton: “Fake News” and the First Amendment. “Please join three of the America’s leading First Amendment scholars, Helen Norton, Jonathan Varat and Eugene Volokh on Wednesday, March 31, 2021 from 3:30 – 5 p.m. (EDT), for an online panel discussion of a potential state statute banning fake news.” The event is free but requires registration.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TED Blog: TED launches TED Audio Collective for podcasts. “While broadly known for its global conferences and signature TED Talk videos, TED is also one of the top podcast publishers in the world. TED podcasts are downloaded 1.65 million times per day in virtually every country on earth. Our shows have been consistently ranked by Apple Podcasts as ‘most downloaded’ of the year, and TED Talks Daily was the second most popular show globally on Spotify in 2020. Now the TED Audio Collective expands upon that foundation, creating a home for shows co-developed by TED and our speakers as well as shows developed and produced independently by inspiring thinkers and creators.”

USEFUL STUFF

Wired: Smartphone Camera Tricks That Will Make Your Life Easier. “YOUR PHONE’S CAMERA is more than just a lens for capturing memories. You probably know that already—it can deposit checks, import business cards, and look for constellations in the night sky. But with some clever thinking or the right tools, it can do so much more.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Ukrinform: Information policy ministry to create online museum of Russian propaganda in Ukraine. “The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy plans to create an online museum of Russian propaganda in Ukraine, Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko has said.
He stated this on the Ukraine 24 television channel, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.”

Christian Science Monitor: Smartphones have redefined protests. But will it last?. “The ubiquity of smartphones and social media has accelerated the the sharing of images by citizens – from Myanmar to Minneapolis, drawing the attention to conflicts and protests in an unprecedented way. But can they keep global attention for long?”

Autocar: Work begins to digitise 126 years of Autocar magazine. “It’s believed that the only interruptions were during the General Strike in 1926, the Fuel Crisis in 1973 and print-related issues in 1975. That means around 6500 issues and 700,000 pages will be digitised as part of the project – enough paper to cover the 130 miles from Autocar’s London offices to Archive Digital’s Coventry facility.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: India to propose cryptocurrency ban, penalising miners, traders: source. “India will propose a law banning cryptocurrencies, fining anyone trading in the country or even holding such digital assets, a senior government official told Reuters in a potential blow to millions of investors piling into the red-hot asset class.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Europeana Pro: Pioneering AI for digital cultural heritage – an interview with Dr Emmanuelle Bermes. “On Europeana Pro this month, we are exploring Artificial Intelligence (AI) related activities in the cultural heritage sector, and shining a light on women leading research, projects and work in this area. Today, Dr Emmanuelle Bermes of the National Library of France discusses the enormous potential of AI for large collections – and the challenge of realising it!”

The Next Web: Study: It might be unethical to force AI to tell us the truth. “….it’s easy to see how building robots that can’t lie could make them patsies for humans who figure out how to exploit their honesty. If your client is negotiating like a human and your machine is bottom-lining everything, you could lose a deal over robo-human cultural differences, for example. None of that answers the question as to whether we should let machines lie to humans or each other. But it could be pragmatic.”

OTHER STUFF I THINK IS COOL

Laughing Squid: A Visualization of the Space That Bytes on the Internet Would Occupy in Comparison to Real World Objects. “For example, using this ratio, a 100 MB would be smaller than a typical soda can, while 1 PB (Petabyte) would be taller than the Statue of Liberty. All information on the internet in 2001 would be represented by 1 EB Exabyte and one ZB (Zettabyte) in 2020. 1 YB (Yottabyte) of information would cover the better part of North America.” Good morning, Internet…

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