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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici

Research shows smartphone sensors leave trackable fingerprints

News release, ECE Illinois: “Research by Associate Professor Romit Roy Choudhury and graduate students Sanorita Dey and Nirupam Roy have demonstrated that the accelerometers used in mobile devices posses unique, trackable fingerprints. This suggests that even when a smartphone application doesn’t ask for geospatial information (“…would like to use your current location”), there are other… Continue Reading

CIO – Google to launch automated tool for those wanting to disappear from search results

Follow up to EU Court of Justice – Google Must Remove Links Upon Request this news via  CIO: “People will be able to use an online tool to ask Google not to display search results about them, according to a German data protection commissioner. Google will create the tool following a decision by the Court of Justice… Continue Reading

Commentary on the impact of the leaked New York Times Innovation Report

Joshua Benton, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab, May 15, 2014: “There are few things that can galvanize the news world’s attention like a change in leadership atop The New York Times. Jill Abramson’s ouster yesterday afternoon probably reduced American newsroom productivity enough to skew this quarter’s GDP numbers. We don’t typically write about intra-newsroom politics at Nieman Lab,… Continue Reading

EFF – Which Tech Companies Help Protect You From Government Data Demands?

EFF Survey Shows Improved Privacy and Transparency Policies of the Internet’s Biggest Companies “Technology companies are privy to our most sensitive information: our conversations, photos, location data, and more. But which companies fight the hardest to protect your privacy from government data requests? Today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) releases its fourth annual “Who Has… Continue Reading

Trends in the Parent-Report of Health Care Provider-Diagnosis and Medication Treatment for ADHD

“Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Health Resources and Services Administration have published a new study:  Trends in the Parent-Report of Health Care Provider-Diagnosed and Medicated ADHD: United States, 2003—2011. You can read the abstract here and listen to a podcast by the journal discussing the study and its findings here.  See below… Continue Reading

Data Visualization Checklist

Ann K. Emery and Stephanie Evergreen: “We compiled a set of best practices based on extensive research, tested against the practical day-to-day realities of evaluation practice and the pragmatic needs of our stakeholders. This guidance may not apply to other fields. In fact, we pilot-tested the checklist with a dozen data visualists and found that those… Continue Reading

Climate Change, Migration, and Nontraditional Security Threats in China

Complex Crisis Scenarios and Policy Options for China and the World, By Michael Werz and Lauren Reed | May 16, 2014 “Climate change, migration, and sociopolitical conflicts associated with China’s epic economic transformation over the past 35 years are coming to a head in this second decade of the 21st century. These interlaced dynamics are causing internal upheaval and… Continue Reading

Introduction: Rethinking Reference and Instruction with Tablets

Introduction: Rethinking Reference and Instruction with Tablets – Miller, Rebecca K.; Meier, Carolyn; Moorefield-Lang, Heather, URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/19057 Date: 2012-11 “When Apple’s Steve Jobs introduced the first generation iPad in March 2010, library and information professionals immediately began imagining ways that the iPad, and the tablet devices that would quickly follow, could be used to support and enhance library services. While nearly all… Continue Reading

Markey, Hatch Release Discussion Draft of Legislation Addressing Student Privacy

Focuses on need to protect students, provide tools to parents when information shared with third parties “Washington (May 14, 2014) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, today released a discussion draft… Continue Reading

BLS – Americans’ aging autos

By Ryan Pfirrmann-Powell: “From 2008 to 2012, the average age of U.S. households’ vehicles increased as owners held on to their cars, trucks, and vans longer. The trend in aging autos coincides with declines in average household income in 2008; however, subsequent recovery in households’ incomes and a return to previous levels of expenditures on… Continue Reading