Monthly archives: February, 2017

Winners of the 2017 World Press Photo Contest

Via The Atlantic, Alan Taylor – “The winning entries of the 60th annual World Press Photo Contest ​have just been announced. The 2017 Photo of the Year was taken by photographer Burhan Ozbilici as the Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated right in front of him. This year, according to organizers, 80,408 photos were submitted …

Subjects: Knowledge Management

Microsoft/GraphEngine is now Open Source

Via The Register – “Microsoft Graph Engine, the in-memory-store-slash-computation engine, has been released under the open source MIT license. The GitHub repository contains the source code of Graph Engine and its graph query language, Language Integrated Query, which is already utilized by the Academic Graph Search API in Microsoft Cognitive Services. Previously known as Trinity …

Subjects: Knowledge Management

FlipFeed Step into someone else’s Twitter feed

“FlipFeed is a Google Chrome Extension that enables Twitter users to replace their own feed with that of another real Twitter user. Powered by deep learning and social network analysis, feeds are selected based on inferred political ideology (“left” or “right”) and served to users of the extension. For example, a right-leaning user who uses …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines, Social Media

How Americans Encounter, Recall and Act Upon Digital News

When following links, online news consumers could recall the name of the news outlet 56% of the time – “Anyone who wants to understand today’s news environment faces a challenge: How to discern the nuances of digital news habits when Americans’ attention spans are fractured, human memory is naturally limited and news comes at them …

Subjects: Blogs, Internet, Knowledge Management, Social Media

Food Safety: A National Strategy Is Needed to Address Fragmentation in Federal Oversight

Food Safety: A National Strategy Is Needed to Address Fragmentation in Federal Oversight, GAO-17-74: Published: Jan 13, 2017. Publicly Released: Feb 13, 2017: “Although the U.S. food supply is generally considered safe, foodborne illness remains a costly, common public health problem. The safety and quality of the food supply is governed by a system administered …

Subjects: Economy, Food and Nutrition, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research

Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve: Current Policy and Conditions

CRS report via FAS – Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve: Current Policy and Conditions, Marc Labonte, Specialist in Macroeconomic Policy. February 7, 2017. “Congress has delegated responsibility for monetary policy to the nation’s central bank, the Federal Reserve (the Fed), but retains oversight responsibilities for ensuring that the Fed is adhering to its statutory …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

Withdrawal from International Agreements: Legal Framework the Paris Agreement and the Iran Nuclear Agreement

CRS report via FAS – Withdrawal from International Agreements: Legal Framework, the Paris Agreement, and the Iran Nuclear Agreement – Stephen P. Mulligan, Legislative Attorney. February 9, 2017. “The legal procedure through which the United States withdraws from treaties and other international agreements has been the subject of long-standing debate between the legislative and executive …

Subjects: Congress, Defense, Government Documents, Legal Research

Missing Members of Congress Action Plan

“Where on earth has your Member of Congress gone? Something strange has been happening in the last month or so: Members of Congress (MoCs) from all over the country are going missing. They’re still turning up for votes on Capitol Hill, and they’re still meeting with lobbyists and friendly audiences back home—but their public event …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

New on LLRX – The value of microblogs for research and information sharing

New on LLRX.com – The value of microblogs for research and information sharing – Are you overwhelmed by social media applications, many of which are not permitted to use in your private or public work place. If so this guide by Pete Weiss offers several alternatives to assist you with lightweight applications that bypass controversy …

Subjects: Blogs, Knowledge Management, Social Media

Microsoft Corporation v. DOJ on sneak-and-peek searches

Via Bloomberg – “Microsoft Corp. persuaded a judge not to let the U.S. government out of a lawsuit alleging the company’s free-speech rights are violated by a law that blocks it from alerting users to the clandestine interception of their e-mails. The judge said Microsoft has at least made a plausible argument that federal law …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, E-Mail, E-Records, Free Speech, Legal Research, Privacy

NSA Contractor Facing Federal Indictment for Willful Retention of National Defense Information

Follow up to previous posting – Former NSA contractor removed 50 terabytes of classified data, via DOJ – “A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging Harold Thomas Martin III, 52, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, with willful retention of national defense information. Martin Harold Indictment “As a private contractor who worked on classified programs …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research