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Monthly Archives: January 2017

Free for All: NYPL Enhances Public Domain Collections For Sharing and Reuse

New York Public Library – “Today we are proud to announce that out-of-copyright materials in NYPL Digital Collections are now available as high-resolution downloads. No permission required, no hoops to jump through: just go forth and reuse!  The release of more than 180,000 digitized items represents both a simplification and an enhancement of digital access to a… Continue Reading

Impending extinction crisis of the world’s primates: Why primates matter

Impending extinction crisis of the world’s primates: Why primates matter. Science Advances 18 Jan 2017: Vol. 3, no. 1, e1600946 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600946. “Nonhuman primates, our closest biological relatives, play important roles in the livelihoods, cultures, and religions of many societies and offer unique insights into human evolution, biology, behavior, and the threat of emerging diseases.… Continue Reading

UK Report – Better Information for Better Government

Better Information for Better Government. 18 January 2017. Cabinet Office Digital Records and Information Management Team, working in collaboration with The National Archives and Government Digital Service. “Managing information is critical for good government. Internally, information is the foundation of effective analysis and policy making. It provides the evidence to support decision making and it… Continue Reading

Paper – Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election

Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election. Hunt Allcott, New York University and NBER, Matthew Gentzkow, Stanford University and NBER. January 2017. “We present new evidence on the role of false stories circulated on social media prior to the 2016 US presidential election. Drawing on audience data, archives of fact-checking websites, and results… Continue Reading

Pew – Trump, Clinton Voters Divided in Their Main Source for Election News

“In the coming days, Americans will follow a single event across a variety of media channels: the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States. If the public’s media habits during the campaign are any indicator, it is likely that Trump and Hillary Clinton voters will be learning about the inauguration… Continue Reading

Obama Administration Digital Transition – Continuing to Follow Officials on Social Media

“Over the past eight years, the President, the First Lady, and the Obama White House have used social media and technology to engage with people around the country and the world on the most important issues of our time. From the very beginning, our mission has been to reach people on the channels and platforms… Continue Reading

Welcome to the new CIA Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room

“The CIA’s declassified database is now online. Thanks to a MuckRock lawsuit and Mike Best’s diligence, you can now read over 13 million pages of Agency records – Back in December, we wrote about how the CIA would be placing its previously-inaccessible CREST database online. The move was a response to our lawsuit, handled pro… Continue Reading

EPA released its annual Toxics Release Inventory

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today its annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) National Analysis, which shows releases of toxic chemicals into the air fell 56% from 2005-2015 at industrial facilities submitting data to the TRI program.  In Florida, the analysis shows a 56 percent decrease of reported chemical releases from 2005 to 2015…The report shows… Continue Reading

The Online Atlas of Urban Expansion

“The Atlas of Urban Expansion, an open-source online resource with maps, satellite images, and data on spatial changes in cities around the world, has been revised and updated. The new database is a partnership of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, UN-Habitat, and New York University, The Atlas of Urban Expansion now features a global… Continue Reading

Paper – Protected Class Gatekeeping

Clarke, Jessica A., Protected Class Gatekeeping (January 12, 2017). New York University Law Review, Vol. 92, No. 1, 2017. Available for download at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2898532 “Courts routinely begin their analyses of discrimination claims with the question of whether the plaintiff has proven he or she is a “member of the protected class.” Although this refrain… Continue Reading

Police Body-Worn Camera Legislation Tracker

Via Urban Institute: “Laws governing how and when police body-worn cameras can be used and whether the footage is released vary considerably across the country. Use our legislation tracker, which we will update periodically, to find out more about passed and pending legislation in your state. For the latest commentary, click here.” Continue Reading

Euopeana – And the quest for better metadata quality goes on

Snipped from the posting – read in its entirety for more knowledge sharing and links: “Supporting user needs with quality metadata – the need for high quality metadata in Europeana is motivated by its impact on search performance, on the overall Europeana user experience and on the re-use of the data. Rather than making it… Continue Reading