NEW RESOURCES

Internet Archive: Boston Phoenix Rises Again With New Online Access. “For more than 40 years, The Boston Phoenix was the city’s largest alternative weekly in covering local politics, arts, and culture….With the advent of online advertising, it struggled like many independent newspapers to compete. In 2013, the Phoenix folded. After the publication shut down, owner Stephen Mindich wanted the public to be able to access back issues of the Phoenix.”

Seven Days Vermont: Shelburne Museum Focuses on Vision With the Online Exhibition ‘Eyesight & Insight’ . “The exhibition is entirely online, preceding a gallery installation that will open in May. For now, viewers can scroll through a thoughtfully curated selection of artworks in which sight — physical or metaphorical — is the through line. What enriches this theme is the interlacing of visual clarity and developments in science, literacy, entertainment and personal agency. ‘Eyesight & Insight’ is divided into four chapters, each with a different focus. The exhibition as a whole is about way more than spectacles.”

Global Investigative Journalism Network: GIJN’s Top 10 Data Journalism Projects of 2021. “Our weekly Top 10 in Data Journalism columns highlight the best data-driven stories, using NodeXL analysis of the most popular data stories on Twitter — and a healthy dose of human curation. To mark the end of the year, we have selected our top 10 projects of 2021, featuring the Pandora Papers, reports on climate change, a sonification of COVID-19, and more.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNET: Minecraft crosses 1 trillion views on YouTube, most popular game ever on platform. “Minecraft is already one of the best selling games ever made, up there with Tetris, Mario and Grand Theft Auto. Now it’s crossed a new milestone, counting more than 1 trillion views across YouTube.”

The Verge: Google Chrome’s last-minute holiday shopping tools track prices and abandoned carts. “With time ticking away before shipping deadlines put a stop to your online holiday shopping, Google is highlighting a few new Chrome features that might help you out.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: How to Input Data Into Excel Spreadsheets Using Your Phone’s Camera. “Your phone camera can do much more than just take and edit selfies. You can use it to scan QR codes, search for photos on Pinterest, or identify anything using advanced image recognition technology. But did you also know that you can use your phone camera to input data into your Excel spreadsheets? This simple but powerful technique can save you time and improve your productivity with sheets.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

New York University: Prof. Hilke Schellmann and NYU Researchers Secure $200,000 Grant to Bring Novel AI-Tool to Support Under-Resourced Newsrooms Across the U.S. . “The project will integrate the NYU-developed Gumshoe prototype – a Natural Language Processing Tool that identifies relevant and irrelevant sections in large text corpora – to help journalists effectively comb through thousands of Freedom of Information Request (FOIA) releases and other document sets. NYU will collaborate with MuckRock, an open source journalism platform used by tens of thousands of journalists across 4,000 newsrooms to help request, analyze, and publish public documents.”

Mashable: The best way to quit your job is to hire a celebrity on Cameo to do it for you . “The best way to hire someone famous to quit your job for you is to use Cameo, which lets people pay for custom videos — like a happy birthday message, a get well soon note, or anything else — from select celebrities. Cameo told Mashable its seen a 30 percent growth year-over-year on job quitting requests, from users like Chris Diamantopolous, All Felt No Filter Puppets, Chris Sapphire, and Colton Dunn.”

Kotaku: Kickstarter Announces Blockchain Future, Doubles Down After Users Say ‘No Thank You’. “Reaction has been swift and negative. The platform has long been on thin ice with many backers and creators, especially since its anti-union efforts from 2019-20; this has been seen by many as the final straw, and resulted in a week of protest and complaints, to the point where Kickstarter felt compelled today to issue a response. If you were thinking it would come in the form of an apology or a consideration of people’s feedback, well, lol.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Search Engine Journal: All In One SEO Vulnerability Affects +3 Million Sites. “Security researchers at Jetpack discovered two serious vulnerabilities in the All In One SEO Plugin. The vulnerabilities could allow a hacker to access usernames and passwords and also perform remote code execution exploits.”

BBC: How Russia tries to censor Western social media. “Google and Meta face the threat of multi-million-dollar fines for failing to delete content that the Russian government considers illegal – but a close look at court papers reveals these are often simply posts about protests in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

EurekAlert: Decade-old photographs shared on social media give away a new species of pygmy grasshopper. “While scrolling through iNaturalist – a social network where professional and citizen scientists share their photographs, in order to map biodiversity observations from across the globe – a group of students from Croatia discovered a couple of curious pictures, taken in 2008 in the Peruvian rainforest and posted in 2018. What they were looking at was a pygmy grasshopper sporting a unique pattern of lively colors. The motley insect was nothing they have so far encountered in the scientific literature.” Good morning, Internet…

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