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Daily Archives: April 1, 2018

Hand-crafted fact-checking matters in an algorithmic world

Inside Higher Education: “It’s International Fact-Checking Day, a project of the Poynter Institute. What a quaint concept! It’s intrinsic to good journalism, but it can’t be done by algorithm or en masse – it’s lovingly hand-crafted work in pursuit of nailing down something that’s often ambiguous and needs to be considered in context and without confirmation bias. In an era when the deadline is eternally now (newspapers are no longer put to bed, they have to be up and at ‘em 24/7) and lies travel to the top of Google search results before the truth can get its pants on, there’s little time to check the facts and few staff to do. The efforts librarians and media literacy folks have launched to help citizens sort it all out are needed, but outsourcing the work to individuals isn’t a solution any more than privacy self-defense is the fix for surveillance capitalism. Yes, we need to know how to weigh information we encounter every day, but we also need to acknowledge that it’s coming at us fast and at volume. We need some quality fact-checkers working in critical places, which means we need to support trustworthy human gatekeepers…”

New on LLRX – Our “Small” Project with a Big Impact: Littler’s Knowledge Desk, A Case Study

Via LLRX – Cynthia L. Brown, Director Research Services at Littler Mendelson P.C. discusses the firm’s one-stop-shop for all KM and library research inquiries and needs – the Knowledge Desk. The Knowledge Desk is available to all Littler attorneys and staff for any legal research, traditional library resources, KM requests or questions concerning the legal… Continue Reading

Decrease in Black Jail Incarceration Rate and Stabilization of White Rate

“A new report by the Vera Institute of Justice finds that while African Americans are still overrepresented in local jails nationally, the black jail incarceration rate has begun to decline while the white rate has only stabilized. In “Divided Justice: Trends in Black and White Jail Incarceration, 1990-2013,” authors Ram Subramanian, Kristine Riley, and Chris… Continue Reading

Why The Number Of Independent Bookstores Increased During The ‘Retail Apocalypse’

All Things Considered – NPR – Podcast and Transcript: “Between 2009 and 2015, the number of independent bookstores grew by 35 percent. This happened during the so-called “retail apocalypse,” which has pitted Amazon against every retail outlet in America. We’ve been hearing for years that the independent bookstore business is in rough shape. It turns… Continue Reading

More insights into Facebook debacle surface

Vanity Fair – “Each time a fresh scandal plays out at Facebook, the company positions itself as playing catch-up. Apparently alarmed and dismayed at the ready spread of fake news on its platform, Facebook de-emphasized posts from media companies. Faced with a decline in user trust, Facebook admitted it might be inherently damaging to democracy.… Continue Reading

Bing Launches More Intelligent Search Features

Bing Blog: “In December, we announced new intelligent search features which tap into advances in AI to provide people with more comprehensive answers, faster.  Today, we’re excited to announce improvements to our current features, and new scenarios that get you to your answer faster. Since December we’ve received a lot of great feedback on our… Continue Reading

Academic research is publicly funded why isn’t it publicly available?

Erica Stone: Academic research is publicly funded — why isn’t it publicly available? [TED] “In the US, your taxes fund academic research at public universities. Why then do you need to pay expensive, for-profit journals for the results of that research? Erica Stone advocates for a new, open-access relationship between the public and scholars, making… Continue Reading