NEW RESOURCES

University of Southern California: New public database offers fresh insight on officer-involved homicides, nationally and locally. “The new National Officer-Involved Homicide Database (NOIHD), developed by the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) and available to researchers and the public, is providing fresh insight regarding fatal encounters with police…. NOIHD data also includes whether the deceased was armed or not, the department that autopsied the deceased, municipal debt, and officers killed on duty. Sources of the data include police departments, the FBI, U.S. census data and state governments.”

St. Thomas Source: Caribbean Genealogy Library Brings V.I. History Alive with Website for Classrooms. “Documents make up the largest type of primary source used on the website, and included are activities using the Emancipation Proclamation, a manumission by will, letters about the St. John slave revolt in 1733, church records, E. Benjamin Oliver’s Identification card, The Herald Newspaper, census records, and the Judgment of Edith Williams, Anna M. Vessup and Eulalie Stevens in their fight against the electoral boards of St. Thomas for the right to vote, according to the release.”

Rappler: ‘Daang Dokyu’ launches online database for Filipino documentaries. “Daang Dokyu by FilDocs and Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), an online portal for Philippine documentaries dating back from 1913 up to the present, is now available for public access… The database is free for interested individuals who want to watch and listen to discussions, lectures, and masterclasses from filmmakers, artists, academics, and other industry stakeholders.” I explored for a few moments. Lots of content, easy to navigate.

Zawya: Ibtikar enables open access to digital library during UAE Month of Reading (PRESS RELEASE). “Ibtikar, a UAE-based Educational Technology company, in cooperation with United Educational Publishing (UEP), a UAE-based Educational Press, has announced that 1,000+ Arabic stories on their reading platform, Al Diwan powered by Akadimi, is now available for access without log-in during the UAE Month of Reading this month.” I’m sorry this is so late in the month but the announcement is dated March 23. You don’t have to register to use the library, just click on a book and start reading.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Mystic Seaport Museum: Website Connects People With Their Whaling Ancestors. “The foundational fabric of Whaling History features three databases that have been stitched together – the American Offshore Whaling Voyage (AOWV) database, the American Offshore Whaling Log database, and an extensive whaling crew list database…. The site has been expanded recently with the addition of 370 new whaling voyages to the AOWV database, most from the 18th century, and the integration of the Dennis Wood Abstracts of Whaling Voyages. The latter are brief handwritten summaries of whaling voyages compiled over more than forty years (1830–1874) by Dennis Wood, a merchant and whaling agent in New Bedford.”

The Verge: Zoom is making it easy to plug your meeting directly into Twitch. “Zoom announced on Wednesday that it’s making it easier to livestream your meeting or webinar to Twitch by adding native integration with the streaming service to its app. After you connect your Zoom and Twitch accounts, you can start broadcasting your meeting with just a few clicks.”

USEFUL STUFF

Search ReSearch: Answer: What are some good (almost) real-time satellite image sources?. “The Challenge for last week was to find good aerial or satellite images that are more-or-less in realtime. As you can appreciate, the big problem is getting your hands on current images–or at least accurately time-stamped images from the not-too-distant past. Getting near-real-time imagery would be great, but often that’s outside the budget of many non-professional searchers.” Nice deep dive with some search philosophy mixed in.

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Library of Congress: Photography Trailblazer’s Collection Donated to Library of Congress. “The Library of Congress has acquired the collection of a trailblazer in American photography, Robert Cornelius, including his camera lenses, daguerreotypes, cased portraits of his children and patent applications as a gift from his great-great granddaughter, Sarah Bodine. The collection expands the Library’s holdings that complement Cornelius’ famous 1839 self-portrait, which is the world’s oldest surviving portrait photograph.”

Washington Post: Time capsules are more popular than ever, as Americans take history into their own hands. “Adrienne Waterman, chair of the International Time Capsule Society (which maintains a public database for time capsules around the world), says that her organization has seen more capsules registered in the past two years than at any time since a precursor group was founded in 1937. Much of this, she says, is at the ‘hyperlocal level,’ and probably driven by the anxieties caused by the pandemic as well as concern about the preservation of digital information, now largely held by a handful of social media and communication companies.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

WIRED: The TikTok-Oracle Deal Would Set 2 Dangerous Precedents. “The main concern US politicians have raised about TikTok is that because it’s owned by the China’s ByteDance, the Chinese government could conceivably access any American data held by the company. The other big concern has been security risk. This deal would address both. Under the agreement, Oracle would store TikTok data for US users, ensure that data is not transferred to ByteDance, and be responsible for protecting user data from cybersecurity threats.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

EurekAlert: Restricted internet access could be key to academic gains, says study. “The internet is typically not associated with serious self-directed learning where teenagers are involved. But a new study of high school students in Malawi shows that, under the right controls, giving students the chance to explore high quality, engaging online sources can boost them academically. The internet can even be an effective substitute for textbooks when resources are thin.”

NiemanLab: If someone shares your politics, you’re less likely to block them when they post misinformation . “In the study of just under 1,000 volunteers, researchers Johannes Kaiser, Cristian Vaccari, Andrew Chadwick found that users were more likely to block those who shared misinformation when their political ideology differed from their own.” Good morning, Internet…

Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!