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Daily Archives: January 5, 2014

DOD declassified media library will be available online within 5 years

GCN – John Breeden II: “The Department of Defense manages a huge library of photographs and other media that has been declassified. But accessing that information, some of which dates back to World War II, isn’t easy to do. That will change within the next five years as T3Media uses its enterprise-scale video management platform to bring the entire library online. “By leveraging T3Media’s enterprise-scale video management platform and T3 Library Manager product, we’re able to open up the DOD archive for a wider range of uses and focus on our mission — to serve as the official DOD visual information records center,” said Michael Edrington, director of the Defense Imagery Management Operations Center. DIMOC integrates and synchronizes DOD imagery and centrally manages its visual information media in support of the department and the National Archives and Records Administration.  The DOD library comprises over a million photos, videos, audio logs and documents. The variety of media ranges from wartime footage and photographs of personnel and military equipment to World War II audio communications and instructional military videos. According to the original statement of objective, the government’s physical media holdings include:

  • 30,000 unique images within the collection of the Chief of Naval Operations, which is primarily housed on compact disk.
  • 600,000 unique images within the collection of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, which contains multiple still formats, including 35mm negatives and positives, B&W and color negatives, and 3-by-5-inch and 8-by-10-inch prints.
  • 1,775 unique productions (average running time 20 minutes).
  • Approximately 1.2 million digital images from more recent operations.”

U.S.-Mexico Water Sharing: Background and Recent Developments

CRS – U.S.-Mexico Water Sharing: Background and Recent Developments. Nicole T. Carter, Specialist in Natural Resources Policy; Clare Ribando Seelke, Specialist in Latin American Affairs; Daniel T. Shedd, Legislative Attorney. November 19, 2013. “This report is a primer on U.S. and Mexican water-sharing topics. It focuses on surface water quantity sharing and recent developments, including drought conditions. Due to Mexico’s recent below-target deliveries of Rio Grande… Continue Reading

NYT – 50 Years of Poverty

Graphic – 50 Years of Poverty, by ALICIA PARLAPIANO: “While government programs have kept millions of people, especially the elderly, from falling into poverty, rates remain high for many groups of Americans, including children, blacks and Hispanics.” Related Article » “To many Americans, the war on poverty declared 50 years ago by President Lyndon B. Johnson has… Continue Reading

Privacy and Cloud Computing in Public Schools

Privacy and Cloud Computing in Public Schools, Fordham Center on Law and Information Policy, December 12, 2013. “Today, data driven decision-making is at the center of educational policy debates in the United States. School districts are increasingly turning to rapidly evolving technologies and cloud computing to satisfy their educational objectives and take advantage of new opportunities for cost savings, flexibility, and always-available service among others.… Continue Reading

GoodRx – Search engine compares pricing for prescription drugs

“Drug prices are different at every pharmacy. How GoodRx helps: Compare prices for all FDA-approved prescription drugs at virtually every pharmacy in America. Find pharmacy coupons, manufacturer discounts, generics, comparable drug choices and savings tips all in one place. Save up to 80% at local pharmacies you already know. GoodRx will send you refill reminders and alerts when prices… Continue Reading

Introduction to Linked Open Data

Herman, Ivan. “Introduction to Linked Open Data (LOD)” International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications 2013. Available at: http://dcevents.dublincore.org/IntConf/dc-2013/paper/view/195/112.  These slides are also available on the Web: http://www.w3.org/2013/Talks/0902-Lisbon-IH/ “Use the Web of Data as a Content Management System. Use the community at large as content editors.” Continue Reading

Study – Social Media for Selection?

Social Media for Selection? Validity and Adverse Impact Potential of a Facebook-Based Assessment. Chad H. Van Iddekinge, Florida State University; Stephen E. Lanivich, Old Dominion University; Philip L. Roth, Clemson University; Elliott Junco, Accenture. Journal of Management published online 16 December 2013, DOI: 10.1177/0149206313515524. “Recent reports suggest that an increasing number of organizations are using information from social media platforms such as Facebook.com to screen job applicants. Unfortunately,… Continue Reading

Does high public debt consistently stifle economic growth?

Does high public debt consistently stifle economic growth? A critique of Reinhart and Rogoff.  Thomas Herndon, Michael Ash and Robert Pollin. Camb. J. Econ. (2013)doi: 10.1093/cje/bet075 First published online:December 24, 2013 “We replicate Reinhart and Rogoff (2010A and 2010B) and find that selective exclusion of available data, coding errors and inappropriate weighting of summary statistics lead to serious miscalculations that inaccurately represent the relationship between… Continue Reading