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Category Archives: Internet

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 on libraries access to knowledge. [On March 15, 2024] the publishers (Hachette, Harper Collins, John Wiley, and Penguin Random House) filed their reply brief on appeal in their  long-running lawsuit against Internet Archive, which challenges (among other things) the practice of controlled digital lending. For the months after the decision, we had been observing all the hot takes, cheers, jeers, and awkward declarations about the case, the Internet Archive itself, and Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) This post is not part of that fanfare. Here, we want to identify a few critical issues that the publishers focus on in their brief, including some questionable fair use analysis that they repeat from the district court below. Much of the brief is framed in heated rhetoric that may cause alarm, but much like publishers’ announcements about interlibrary loan, e-reserves, or document delivery, we believe controlled digital lending is here to stay, regardless of the lower court’s poor copyright analysis and current publisher’s brief…”

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

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

Browse safely with real-time protection on Chrome

Google Blog: “Cybersecurity attacks are constantly evolving, and sometimes the difference between successfully detecting a threat or not is a matter of minutes. To keep up with the increasing pace of hackers, we’re bringing real-time, privacy-preserving URL protection to Google Safe Browsing for anyone using Chrome on desktop or iOS. Plus we’re introducing new password… Continue Reading

Online Investigative Tools You Can Try Right Now

“The 2024 NICAR data journalism summit — hosted in Baltimore by Investigative Reporters and Editors — surfaced scores of innovative reporting resources and tools, primarily for US data reporters GIJN curated these tips and databases for ones that are transferable to investigative and data reporters around the world, and we will share these globally relevant… Continue Reading

State of Journalism 2024

Executive summary – read the full report Funding and Trust: About one-third of journalists express concerns about lack of funding and trust in journalism, consistent with last year’s findings. Employment Trends: More than one-third report layoffs or buyouts, with 30% turning to LinkedIn for job opportunities. Over half prefer a hybrid work arrangement, yet many… Continue Reading

The Dark World of Citation Cartels

The Chronicle of Higher Education [unpaywalled]: “In the complex landscape of modern academe, the maxim “publish or perish” has been gradually evolving into a different mantra: “Get cited or your career gets blighted.” Citations are the new academic currency, and careers now firmly depend on this form of scholarly recognition. In fact, citation has become… Continue Reading

AI news that’s fit to print

“I just gave this talk at SXSW. It was my first public presentation since starting my new job at The New York Times…this time the topic was AI for journalism. What follows are my slides, script, and references from the talk. Hi, I’m Zach Seward, the editorial director of AI initiatives at The New York… Continue Reading