Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici

Historical Settlement Data Compilation for the United States

Harvard Dataverse: “The Historical Settlement Data Compilation for the United States (HISDAC-US) contains historical gridded settlement layers derived from property records compiled in the Zillow Transaction and Assessment Dataset (ZTRAX). HISDAC-US describes the built environment of most of the conterminous United States back to 1810 at fine temporal (5 years) and spatial (250 m) granularity using different settlement measures. These measures currently include the number of built-up property records (BUPR), built-up property locations (BUPL), and the built-up intensity (BUI), i.e., the sum of gross indoor area of all built-up properties in a grid cell in a given year. We also extracted for each grid cell the first built-up year (FBUY), which is the earliest construction year on record. For larger analytical units, such as counties, we derived the built-up area (BUA), or the number of grid cells overlapping with one or more built-up properties in a given year. HISDAC-US can be used as a new means of understanding the speed, spread, and nature of urbanization in the United States from 1810 to 2015.”

Publishers’ reply brief in Hachette v. Internet Archive: First Impressions

Dave Hansen and Kyle K. Courtney jointly authored this post. They are also the authors of a White Paper on Controlled Digital Lending of Library Books. We are not, as the Publishers claim in their brief on page 13, a “cadre of boosters.” We wrote the paper independently as part of our combined decades of work… Continue Reading

We tested Amazon’s new shopping chatbot. It’s not good.

Washington Post via MSN: “Amazon is experimenting with an artificial intelligence chatbot to help you figure out what to buy. Instead of sorting through thousands of options for vacuum cleaners, you can ask the chatbot to recommend the best models for hardwood floors or for sucking up pet hair. The chatbot called Rufus, which Amazon… Continue Reading

AI in Banking and Finance, March 17, 2024

Via LLRX – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, industry white papers, academic papers and speeches on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available, indicate links to alternate free versions.… Continue Reading

Fact-opinion differentiation

Misinformation Review – paper by Matthew Mettler & Jeffery J. Mondak: “Statements of fact can be proved or disproved with objective evidence, whereas statements of opinion depend on personal values and preferences. Distinguishing between these types of statements contributes to information competence. Conversely, failure at fact-opinion differentiation potentially brings resistance to corrections of misinformation and… Continue Reading

The Lie-brary

Center for Climate Integrity: “Evidence shows that Big Oil & Gas knew as early as the 1960s that their products would lead to climate change, and that it could have disastrous impacts worldwide. This collection of internal company documents has been compiled thanks to the work of journalists, independent researchers, and academics. They Knew Scientists… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 16, 2024

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 16, 2024 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the… Continue Reading

What’s Missing From Railroad Safety Data?

ProPublica – Dead Workers and Severed Limbs. “…But, as ProPublica has previously reported, railroad companies go to extreme lengths to portray themselves as safer than they really are — retaliating against workers who report defects and silencing those who get injured. Officials with the FRA [Federal Railway Administration] have said there is not much they… Continue Reading

State of the science on plastic chemicals

PlastChem – Identifying and addressing chemicals and polymers of concern. “Chemicals are a central aspect of the plastics issue. Although there is a wealth of scientific information on plastic chemicals and polymers to inform policymakers, implementing this evidence is challenging because information is scattered and not easily accessible. The PlastChem report and database address this… Continue Reading