NEW RESOURCES

WECT (North Carolina): Cape Fear Museum’s photo collection is now available online. “Cape Fear Museum of History and Science’s photographic collection is now available online to anybody for viewing. The museum worked with Rediscovery Software to create a database of the museum’s photo collection of over 15,000 images. After 20 months of work, the photos also feature tags and ways to search them via various filters.”

The Spec: Root & Seed app and podcast helps families hold on to their history. “Three years ago, Anika Chabra lost her mother. But she lost something else, too…. Chabra wanted to create a platform to help people document and celebrate their culture, and turned to a co-worker in the advertising industry, Jennifer Siripong Mandel, to do it with her. The pair’s brainchild: The Root & Seed Conversation Tool web app helps people celebrate their family traditions, culture and roots.”

EurWeb: Shawntia Lee: Founder of App That Simplifies the College Admissions Process for Black Students. “College Thriver Education’s new app is designed to help bridge the gap and increase college readiness retention among students of color. The app simplifies the college admissions process from start to finish by connecting grades 6-12 students to data-driven feedback to help them adequately prepare and meet college admission standards. Students can use the app to find community-based solutions for the resources needed such as housing, funding, testing, tutoring counseling, mentoring, and transportation.” The app is free.

Concordia University News: Concordia archivists move digital publications collection to a new location. “The final steps of the project took all summer, but the historical archives team at Concordia’s Records Management and Archives (RMA) has officially moved its publications collection to the Internet Archive. The new location is much more sortable and searchable than the RMA general website. The collection dates back to 1926 and includes long-running publications such as The Loyola News (1938-1969), The Georgian (1936-1970) and The Thursday Report (1977-2005).”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Variety: Betty White’s 100th Birthday Celebrated by Google With Search Easter Egg. “In honor of the late Betty White’s 100th birthday, Google is showering its search page with rose petals — a nod to Rose, her beloved character from ‘The Golden Girls.'”

Gulf Times: QNL digitises more than 13mn pages in ongoing project. “Qatar National Library (QNL) has so far digitised more than 13mn pages in its digitisation project as the library is highlighting the process of converting information from a physical format into a digital one at the ongoing Doha International Book Fair 2022, a top official of QNL told Gulf Times.”

USEFUL STUFF

CNET: Stop straining to read small print on your iPhone, iPad or Mac screen with these tools. “With the recent spike in remote and hybrid work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re spending a lot of time looking at screens. And while we’re navigating screens’ headache-inducing blue light and tiny print on websites, we should remember that technology must also be accessible for blind and visually impaired users. Fortunately, Apple added a number of accessibility features in iOS 15 that you can explore and customize under Settings > Accessibility.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Texas State Library And Archives Commission Announces $750,000 In Community Advancement Grants For Texas Libraries . “The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) this week announced that it will soon begin accepting grant applications for the Community Advancement Packages (CAP) Grant Program, designed to help libraries serving populations of 60,000 or less respond directly to identified community needs in 2022. The application window opens Jan. 26, with a deadline of April 1.”

BuzzFeed News: How A Group Of Twitter Colleagues Blew Up Wordle. “The success of Wordle, the game most easily characterized by the green-and-yellow square emojis that are saturating Twitter feeds worldwide, traces back to a small group of nerdy New Zealanders who were looking for a pandemic distraction.”

The Dubrovnik Times: Google opens Peljesac Bridge before official ceremony – don’t follow this advice. “The Peljesac Bridge is nearing completion, with the actual bridge expected to be fully completed and issued with permits by the end of the month, however the two access roads are still in the ‘under construction’ ​phase. Google however has a different view and have already connected Dubrovnik to the rest of Croatia on their Google Maps service.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Gizmodo: New Bill Could Stop New York Police From Using Keyword Search and Geofencing Warrants. “The Reverse Location Search Prohibition Act, which was recently re-introduced to the New York state assembly by a group of Democratic lawmakers, would ban police from making certain kinds of data requests to tech companies—specifically geofence and keyword search warrants. Such warrants, which are increasingly used by law enforcement in investigations, have notably riled privacy advocates. Critics argue that police are effectively skirting the Fourth Amendment—since such requests allow investigators to sift through personal data without notifying the affected party with a publicly served warrant.”

Washington Post: Academics want to preserve video games. Copyright laws make it complicated.. “For decades, champions of the video game industry have touted gaming’s cultural impact as the equal of literature, film and music…. In the process, though, the would-be preservationists have found a number of challenges that include, ironically, legal opposition from video game companies and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a trade organization that lobbies on behalf of game publishers.” Good morning, Internet…

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