NEW RESOURCES

EDM: New Artist Database Launched In Support Of Non-Binary Creatives. “The database currently contains over 200 entries and spans several disciplines with non-binary DJs, producers, dancers, and lighting technicians all represented.”

The Calvert Journal: Get a glimpse of the joys and sorrows of life in 20th century Bulgaria. “The Bulgarian Visual Archive is an extraordinary collection of vintage photos spanning the 20th century. Viewers can flick through the archive on the project’s website, or discover it at a slower pace, via the Instagram account.”

Virginia Gazette: Library wants help finding the faces in the photos of Williamsburg’s first licensed African American photographer. “[Albert] Durant, the first-licensed African American photographer in Williamsburg, photographed life in the area from the late 1930s to the 1960s. Durant documented life from an African American perspective, photographing many sporting, social, school and city events during that time. Now, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library is hoping to fill in some of the blanks in Durant’s photographs. The library is working with the Library of Virginia to provide a digital collection of Durant’s photographs for the public to transcribe.” Currently about 100 photos are available with more on the way.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Google’s new Tokyo Olympics Doodle is an homage to 16-bit video games. “The 2020 Olympic Games are currently still on in Tokyo, Japan — against all odds — and in celebration of Japanese culture and sports in general, Google is debuting a new interactive Doodle on Thursday with art from Japanese animation house Studio 4°C. The new Doodle, called Doodle Champion Island Games, is actually a series of Olympic event-themed 16-bit mini-games that you can play, contributing to the scores of four teams Google will track on a global leaderboard.”

TechCrunch: Amazon aims to inject new life into Alexa with release of developer tools and features. “Amazon is giving its Alexa voice platform a shot in the arm after seeing further declines in skill growth over the past year, indicating lagging interest from third-party voice app developers. At the company’s Alexa Live developer event today, the company announced a slew of new features and tools for the developer community — its largest release of new tools to date, in fact. Among the new releases are those to encourage Alexa device owners to discover and engage with Alexa skills, new tools for making money from skills and other updates that will push customers to again make Alexa more a part of their daily routines.”

Beebom: Instagram’s New Collab Feature Lets Users Co-Author Feed Posts and Reels. “Instagram has started testing a new feature where creators will have the option to co-author posts and Reels with other users on the platform. Called Collab, Instagram is currently testing the feature in India and the U.K.”

USEFUL STUFF

CNET: How to make your own AR face filter. “We’ve already spent years contorting our faces, surrounding them with butterflies or pinning stuff to our heads to find out which Disney villain best represents us. However, it wasn’t until I got my hands on the new iPad Pro and played around with the Face Paint feature in Procreate that I realized how easy it is to make your own face filter. So I made a video about it, which you can watch above.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Stockholm Center for Freedom: Hate speech against refugees increases on Turkish social media as a new wave of Afghan migrants arrives. “Hate speech against refugees on Turkish social media has increased recently, with a new wave of refugee arrivals in Turkey starting as the Taliban increases the territory it controls in Afghanistan amid a US troop withdrawal.”

BBC: China floods: People unite on social media to help flood victims. “When news emerged that some trains were being stranded after rail lines had become submerged, people put together lists of each train number and the resources its passengers needed. Some put together text-only versions of critical contact lists, after discovering that people in some areas could not download images because heavy rains had affected internet speeds. People also helped to organise streams of information so that it was up-to-date and clear.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute: Huntsman Cancer Institute Study Shows Cancer Misinformation Common On Social Media Sites. “A new study published online today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reports that one third of the most popular cancer treatment articles on social media contain misinformation. Further, the vast majority of that misinformation has the potential to harm cancer patients by supporting approaches that could negatively impact the quality of their treatment and chances for survival. The study also showed that articles containing misinformation garner more attention and engagement than articles with evidence-based information.”

KOAA: Virtual Reality being used to curb military suicide rate. “The most recent VA and DOD numbers show 503 service and 193 family members died by suicide in 2019. 17.6 veterans died by suicide daily in 2018. So far, a thousand airmen have taken part in this VR training and 98 percent of them said they would recommend it to others according to Moth and Flame.”

Phys .org: Southeastern US herbaria digitize three million specimens, now freely available online. “A network of over 100 herbaria spread out across the southeastern United States recently completed the herculean task of fully digitizing more than three million specimens collected by botanists and naturalists over a span of 200 years…. In a new study published in the journal Applications in Plant Sciences, researchers involved in the project analyzed the rate at which specimens could be reliably photographed, digitized, and databased to assess how much similar efforts might cost in the future.” Good morning, Internet…

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