NEW RESOURCES

University of Minnesota Duluth: Online Atlas launches to cover Minnesota. “The Atlas provides users access to nearly 400 layers of data in 10 categories: agriculture, biota, boundaries, climate, environment, geology & topography, imagery & land cover, infrastructure, society & economy and water.”

Variety: Women in Animation Launches Global Toon Talent Database. “Women in Animation has launched WIA Talent Database, currently featuring more than 5,000 women, trans and non-binary candidates in the animation industry looking for work in the booming global toon biz. It’s another big step for the WIA in its 50/50 by 2025 goal.”

NewsDirect: The Digital Museum of the History of Japanese in New York (PRESS RELEASE). “The Japan History Council of New York announced today plans to launch the Digital Museum of the History of the Japanese in New York on Tuesday May 18—making it the first East Coast digital archive to represent local historical figures of Japanese descent. The Digital Museum launch comes at a significant point of time, as May marks Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, bringing to the forefront the identity and experiences of Asian Americans throughout history.”

National Low Income Housing Coalition: NLIHC Launches ERA Dashboard and Updated ERA Program Table. “NLIHC launched new Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) tools to monitor trends in how ERA programs are operating and to help renters find assistance. These tools include an ERA Dashboard on how many and which programs are implementing best practices and an updated ERA program table to help renters locate programs in their areas. These tools include programs funded by the $25 billion Treasury ERA program appropriated by the December 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act (ERA1).”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Indian Express: Google launches News Showcase in India with 30 publishers. “Google has launched its news showcase product, which “helps participating publishers share their expertise and editorial voice” while letting readers ‘dive deeper into more complex stories’, in India. Launched last October, news showcase is part of Google’s billion-dollar global investment towards supporting quality journalism.”

Reuters: Google to lay out new features to keep users clicking after lockdown. “Alphabet Inc’s Google on Tuesday is expected to unveil updates across many services, including search and Android, as the company showcases its role in a world that has become more digitally connected during the pandemic.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York Times: Extremists Find a Financial Lifeline on Twitch. “QAnon adherents and other far-right influencers are making thousands of dollars broadcasting election and vaccine conspiracy theories on the streaming site.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: Apple reportedly makes Chinese customers’ data less secure. “Apple CEO Tim Cook frequently pitches his company as a bastion of security and privacy. He says privacy should be a human right, and he points to the company’s frequent inclusion of encryption and other protective technologies as proof of that. But The New York Times, in a story published Monday, detailed how Apple has increasingly deferred to demands by the Chinese government, ultimately weakening the privacy and speech of users there.”

CNN: Alexa, what other devices are listening to me?. “Devices with various types of voice technology are also becoming more common. With a simple hands-free utterance, an Amazon- or Google-run personal assistant can stream your favorite Gap Band playlist or find a solid recipe for macaroons. But it also raises concerns about privacy – not just hacking but also how companies protect your data.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Canada NewsWire: Canada Announces New Energy and Emissions Database (PRESS RELEASE). “Improvements in energy efficiency are critical to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. The Government of Canada is building a clean energy future to strengthen the economy, create jobs and support the natural resource sectors as we recover from COVID-19. Lenore Zann, Member of Parliament for Cumberland–Colchester, on behalf of the Honourable Seamus O’Regan Jr., Minister of Natural Resources, today announced an $80,000 investment to Sustainability Solutions Group to support the development of the Municipal Energy and Emission Database (MEED), an integrated geospatial platform that tracks greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for municipalities across Canada.”

Bonner County Daily Bee: Digital archive documents caribou extirpation from North Idaho. “The ‘Storying Extinction: Responding to the Loss of North Idaho’s Mountain Caribou’ research project will educate people about the history of the caribou and the factors that contributed to their decline and 2019 extirpation, including logging, development and wildfires.”

EurekAlert: Social media and science show how ship’s plastic cargo dispersed from Florida to Norway. “A ship’s container lost overboard in the North Atlantic has resulted in printer cartridges washing up everywhere from the coast of Florida to northern Norway, a new study has shown. It has also resulted in the items weathering to form microplastics that are contaminated with a range of metals such as titanium, iron and copper.” Good morning, Internet…

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