Via LLRX – Online Research Browsers 2019 – Marcus Zillman’s guide highlights multifaceted browser alternatives to mainstream search tools that researchers may regularly use by default. There are many reliable yet underutilized applications that facilitate access to and discovery of subject matter specific documents and sources. Free applications included here also offer collaboration tools, resources… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: May 2019
OPM-GSA merger plan detailed in legislative proposal – vests power over personnel service in presidential appointee
FCW.com: “The White House is proposing legislation for a dramatic overhaul of human resources inside the government and wants $50 million to execute the plan. The administration is looking to move the Office of Personnel Management’s functions and resources to a service inside the General Service Administration, alongside real estate management and acquisition. A new… Continue Reading
Rand Report – News in a Digital Age
News in a Digital Age – Comparing the Presentation of News Information over Time and Across Media Platform – “The media ecosystem in the United States has experienced rapid techno-logical changes over the past 30 years that have affected the way news is produced, consumed, and disseminated. This internally funded report seeks to assess empirically… Continue Reading
Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses about the environment
From now, house style guide recommends terms such as ‘climate crisis’ and ‘global heating’ – “We want to ensure that we are being scientifically precise, while also communicating clearly with readers on this very important issue,” said the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. “The phrase ‘climate change’, for example, sounds rather passive and gentle when what scientists… Continue Reading
Face It, You’re Being Watched
“San Francisco is the first American city to ban facial recognition software used by police and other agencies. Bloomberg QuickTake [YouTube] explains why the technology’s advance is so alarming to regulators, the public, and even the people developing it.” See also: Government Is Using Most Vulnerable People to Test Facial Recognition Software; GAO Report –… Continue Reading
What happened to the MSPB?
U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board Congressional Budget Justification FY 2020: “Over the last year, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB or Board) has worked to improve the effectiveness and long-term impact of its missions function in response to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) memorandum M-17-22, “Comprehensive Plan for Reforming the Federal Government… Continue Reading
Google uses Gmail to track a history of things you buy and it’s hard to delete
CNBC – “Google tracks a lot of what you buy, even if you purchased it elsewhere, like in a store or from Amazon. Last week, CEO Sundar Pichai wrote a New York Times op-ed that said “privacy cannot be a luxury good.” But behind the scenes, Google is still collecting a lot of personal information… Continue Reading
This economics journal only publishes results that are no big deal
Vox – Most new publications, upon their launch, seek to promote their content as novel, surprising, exciting. A new journal that began publishing this week does … the opposite of that. “Start with the name: Series of Unsurprising Results in Economics (SURE). The journal publishes papers with findings that are, well, really boring — so… Continue Reading
Where is the Truth?
Who What Why: At a time when the American public seems to be more ignorant than ever, the tools of deception have become more sophisticated “We live in an age of scams that trick the senses. Photos can be altered, films and videos can be manipulated to an exquisite degree of realism. Malware can add… Continue Reading
The 2019 Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index is now online
“Microsoft has unseated Google at the top of the 2019 RDR Corporate Accountability Index. Telefónica outpaced Vodafone among telecommunications companies. Yet despite progress, most companies still leave users in the dark about key policies and practices affecting privacy and freedom of expression, according to the 2019 Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index, released today. The… Continue Reading
Legal Research Data Base Evaluation Drawing the Silken Thread 2d. ed.
Stock, Jonathan, Legal Research Data Base Evaluation Drawing the Silken Thread 2d. ed. (May 6, 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3383588 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3383588 “This study constitutes an update of its predecessor released last year. The silken thread, being drawn a second time, this new document should be reviewed in relation to its 2018 first edition. Releasing… Continue Reading
The Limits of Executive Privilege
POGO – “In light of the House Judiciary Committee’s important hearing today on executive privilege and Congressional oversight, we have excerpted portions of When Congress Comes Calling, The Constitution Project at the Project On Government Oversight’s study on legislative inquiry. The author of When Congress Comes Calling, Morton Rosenberg, served for over 35 years at… Continue Reading
