NEW RESOURCES

Orange County Register: CSUF public history students create archive that examines Confederate memorials . “The ongoing removal of Confederate monuments has become part of a major trend in American history. If not a reckoning, it may be at least a step toward reconciling with the country’s past. In Benjamin Cawthra’s Introduction to Public History class at Cal State Fullerton, for a second semester, students are adding to the unfolding story through a class project called Mapping Confederate Monuments. The project examines Confederate memorials — some that remain and some removed from public spaces — through an online archive.”

University of Texas at Austin: First Global River Database Documents 40 Years of Change. “The database, created by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, uses publicly available remote sensing data to show how the river centerlines of the world’s 48 most threatened deltas have moved during the past 40 years. The data can be used to predict how rivers will continue to move over time and help governments manage population density and future development.”

Resident Advisor: Black Artist Database launches Black Creative Database. “Black Artist Database (AKA B.A.D) has launched a new platform, the Black Creative Database. B.A.D (FKA Black Bandcamp) began in June 2020 as a community project to support the work of Black artists. Later in the year, the team started work on the Black Creative Database, which has since grown into a directory of portfolios belonging to creatives across five continents, working in digital, design, media, curation and visual roles. Today, the directory launches as a searchable online database.”

University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Drought Center creates tool that could help detect emerging impacts by tracking news. “When drought develops somewhere across the country, news reports often chronicle its effects on that area. These reports can be vital resources in trying to understand the impact of drought in the U.S., said National Drought Mitigation Center assistant director Kelly Health. The Drought Center has developed a mostly automated news search process for drought impacts, and is mapping and qualifying the results. The experiential Media Drought Index (MDI), now available to the public, may help detect emerging impacts, said Smith, who led its development.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNBC: Twitter launches Blue subscription service in U.S., offers ad-free access to 300 news sites. “Twitter on Tuesday launched its Blue subscription services for users in the U.S. and New Zealand. The social media company has been testing the subscription product with Australian and Canadian users since June, but Tuesday marks the first time the feature is available to U.S. users. Twitter Blue costs $2.99 a month for iOS, Android and web users, the company said.”

USEFUL STUFF

Nerdwallet: Airline Point Transfers and Partner Award Bookings Tool. “You might have a bunch of frequent flyer miles for a specific airline, but often those miles are actually more valuable when redeemed for flights on other airlines, known as a partner award booking…. We built a tool that allows you to input the points/miles that you have and where you want to go, and we’ll give you our recommendations based on our nerdy research of which partner airline likely offers the best value for your points.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Irish News: Irish News among media organisations to have articles pulled by Google ‘at request of Sean Quinn family’. “DOZENS of newspaper articles – including Irish News coverage – about ex-billionaire Seán Quinn and his family have been `delisted’ by search engine Google. The removal of articles – including court coverage of how his adult children “used the Quinn Group as ‘their personal bank’ (removing) €1.95 billion” and a lavish wedding with a €100,000 cake – were deleted by the web giant for the family under the EU’s ‘right to be forgotten’ law.”

Brookings Institution: Texas’s new social media law is likely to face an uphill battle in federal court. “In early September, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law House Bill 20, a new social media law targeting what Gov. Abbott called ‘a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas.’ In late September, NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) sued Texas in federal court, arguing that HB 20 ‘violates the First Amendment of the Constitution.'”

RESEARCH & OPINION

NBC News: New NBC poll shows deep partisan differences among social media users. “Our most recent NBC News poll asked respondents about their social media consumption, and the results told a clear story that doesn’t require 280 characters. Twitter isn’t real life — at least when it comes to party identification and political attitudes.”

Nature: Scammers impersonate guest editors to get sham papers published. “Hundreds of articles published in peer-reviewed journals are being retracted after scammers exploited the processes for publishing special issues to get poor-quality papers — sometimes consisting of complete gibberish — into established journals. In some cases, fraudsters posed as scientists and offered to guest-edit issues that they then filled with sham papers.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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