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“The U.S. Government Publishing Office will officially retire its Federal Digital System (FDsys) website on December 14. The retirement will complete the transition to govinfo (www.govinfo.gov), the user-friendly, modernized site that offers a dynamic way for the public to discover and access information on the three branches of the Federal Government. “With the official transition …
WSJ [paywall] – “The Atlanta-based North Highland consultancy’s Sparks Grove unit has created an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven voice-scanning tool that can identify dubious statements seconds after their utterance, in an effort to more accurately fact-check news. Sparks Grove’s prototype “Voyc” software transcribes live audio and runs each statement against a database of facts compiled from …
Consider the ramifications of this article, via The Atlantic – The idea that the putative transparency group served as a connection between Moscow and the president’s associates is starting to become clearer – if it is an accurate appraisal of an expanding exposure of corruption and malfeasance perpetrated by public and private citizens and groups …
Principles and Boundaries of Fact-checking: Journalists’ Perceptions by Paul Mena. Published online: 16 Nov 2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1547655 [paywall] “This study examines journalists’ perceptions of fact-checking, a growing journalistic activity focused on assessing the veracity of public claims. Professional journalists working on fact-checking or interested in doing fact-checking and based in the United States were surveyed regarding …
FCW.com: “The Secret Service started testing a facial recognition system in and around the White House last week, according to a privacy assessment released by the Department of Homeland Security on Nov. 28. The pilot uses a facial recognition system, unnamed in the privacy document, to pore over faces collected by the Crown closed circuit …
EFF: “The New York Times published a blockbuster story about Facebook that exposed how the company used so-called “smear merchants” to attack organizations critical of the platform. The story was shocking on a number of levels, revealing that Facebook’s hired guns stooped to dog-whistling, anti-Semitic attacks aimed at George Soros 1 and writing stories blasting …
The Guardian: “Online resource picked the word over ‘disinformation’ where other dictionaries had opted for ‘toxic’ and ‘single-use.’ “Misinformation”, as opposed to disinformation, is Dictionary.com’s word of the year. It followed “toxic”, picked for the same honor by Oxford Dictionaries, and “single-use”, picked by Collins. Jane Solomon, a linguist-in-residence at Dictionary.com, said the choice of …
Make Use Of: “Google Maps is rapidly evolving into a bigger and (potentially) better platform than it has been previously. And the latest feature Google is adding to the Maps mix is hashtags. Yes, Google Maps will soon be awash with hashtags, for better or worse. You can now add hashtags to your reviews of …
Make Use Of: “Google Sheets is a popular Microsoft Excel alternative. As with other Google tools, the Sheets is a core part of Google Drive. In this article, we have taken the liberty to dive deep and unearth a handful of super useful Google Sheets tricks that you may have never heard before. These Google …
The editors of The Times Book Review choose the best fiction and nonfiction titles this year.
“Fiscal year 2018 broke records for the number of decisions by immigration judges granting or denying asylum. Denials grew faster than grants, pushing denial rates up as well. In 65 percent of these decisions asylum was denied. This is the sixth year in a row that denial rates have risen. Six years ago the denial …
CRS report via FAS – Electing the Speaker of the House of Representatives: Frequently Asked Questions, updated November 26, 2018. “This report briefly poses and answers several “frequently asked questions” in relation to the floor proceedings used to elect a Speaker of the House. Current practice for electing a Speaker, either at the start of …
