NEW RESOURCES

UNESCO: UNESCO launches the World Atlas of Languages to celebrate and protect linguistic diversity. “The World Atlas of Languages presents basic data on the existing 8,324 languages spoken or signed in the world, in use and not in use, as well as more detailed data documenting how 1,863 languages are used in various domains at the national level, enabling the construction of linguistic country profiles for over 80 countries. The platform featuring this rich dataset will open to the general public in February 2022.”

The Blade: Ohio database focuses on use-of-force cases. “The public can now access Ohio’s online database listing incidents of use-of-force by law enforcement in the state, the Office of Criminal Justice Services announced. Data can be broken down into a variety of categories including law enforcement agency, county, whether the person was armed/believed to be armed with a weapon, injury data and more.”

New-to-me, from San Francisco Chronicle: The world’s largest galaxy of ‘Star Wars’ relics is in a Petaluma museum. Here’s what’s inside.. “Since the closure, [Steve] Sansweet and a small team have busied themselves cleaning and reorganizing the collection of more than 300,000 items — only about 1% of which are on display at any given time. There is also now an online museum with photos and videos to help hungry fans connect with the collection, a pandemic-induced necessity.”

The Pitch Kansas City: Missouri Bicentennial projects allow one to peruse Missouri’s history like never before. “At the base of it all is the SHSMO [State Historical Society of Missouri] Digital Collection, which has been expanded and made easier to access than ever before, granting citizens access to thousands of maps, manuscripts, correspondences, media, and archives from throughout the state’s 200-year history.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Elite Daily: Snapchat’s Harry Potter Filter Lets You Rep Your Hogwarts House By Saying Its Name. “Potterheads, get ready to raise your wands, because Snapchat has a new voice lens that’ll make you feel like you’ve been transported to Hogwarts. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone, and the new game show Hogwarts Tournament of Houses, Snapchat has made it possible to place yourself in your augmented reality (AR) Hogwarts house.”

CNBC: Twitter CTO Parag Agrawal will replace Jack Dorsey as CEO. “Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is stepping down as chief of the social media company, effective immediately. Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief technology officer, will take over the helm, the company said Monday. Shares of Twitter were down about half a percent before noon on Monday.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Marketplace: One of the world’s largest economic databases turns 30. “It’s been 30 years since the start of the Federal Reserve Economic Data, or FRED, an online database within the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The site contains more than 800,000 data series from over 100 different sources, making it something of a one-stop shop for people trying to understand the economy.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Business Standard: Pak’s main citizenry database compromised: Top security agency to Par panel. “Pakistan’s main citizenry database has been compromised, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) informed a Parliament panel on Thursday, adding that the breach so far has been used to only issue illegal mobile SIM cards.”

Irish Times: Google Ireland agrees €345m tax settlement with Revenue. “Tech giant Google Ireland agreed a €218 million tax settlement with Revenue this year, according to documents just filed. This formed part of its total corporate tax bill of €622 million, which is detailed in its 2020 financial accounts. Google Ireland also paid €127.2 million in interest to Revenue, the company documents show, bringing the full settlement to €345.2 million.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Analytics India: Behind Bot-in-a-Box by Google: It’s No-Code Conversational AI Tool. “Google utilized its existing AI tool – Google Cloud Contact Center AI’s Dialogflow to create Bot-in-a-Box within Business Messages. It supports ‘Custom Intents’ that allows the chatbot to understand multiple ways in which similar questions are asked and respond accurately using ML capabilities. This new tool in Google’s Business Messages allows organizations to deploy it on their own business channels and even on Google Search and Google Maps. The new no-code solution uses the existing customer FAQ document and Dialogflow’s technology to create chatbots that can understand and respond to customer questions.”

I might not have the name of this media outlet right. If I goofed it, apologies. Ap Bac Newspaper: Conference seeks to unleash potential of old photo archives at Vietnamese institute. “The Institute of Social Sciences Information (ISSI) under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) on November 25 held an international scientific conference to seek ways to unlock potential of the photo archives of the French School of the Far East (EFEO) at ISSI. ISSI Deputy Director Assoc. Prof., Dr. Le Hai Dang said the big collection of EFEO photos archived at ISSI has become a valuable heritage for researchers in studying national culture and provided evidence for the restoration of cultural and historic relics damaged by wars or natural disasters.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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