Monthly archives: January, 2020

The Earth Archive

“An unprecedented scientific effort to LiDAR scan the entire surface of the Earth before it’s too late. The climate crisis threatens to destroy our entire cultural & ecological patrimony. We’ve already lost 50% of the world’s rainforests.  We’re losing 18 million acres of forest each year. Rising sea levels will make whole cities,  countries, and …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Knowledge Management

Fear and loathing on Facebook?

First Monday – Fear and loathing on Facebook? Tracking the rise of populism and platformization in viral political Facebook posts, Anders Olof Larsso – “Adopting a longitudinal ‘demand’ perspective to the study of online political campaigning, the present study details developments in supporter engagement on party Facebook Pages during three Swedish elections — 2010, 2014 …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Privacy, Social Media

2020 The State of Auto Insurance

The Zebra – Car insurance rates across the U.S. are higher than ever. “The Zebra reveals the latest data, trends impacting rates, and which drivers pay the most, based on an analysis of 73 million rates…Since 2011, rates have skyrocketed 29.6% nationally, though the impacts differ across the U.S. Seven states have seen small rate …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Records, Financial System, Privacy, Transportation

New web service can notify companies when employees get phished

ZDNet – “Starting today, companies across the world have a new free web service at their disposal that will automatically send out email notifications if one of their employees gets phished. The service is named “I Got Phished” and is managed by Abuse.ch, a non-profit organization known for its malware and cyber-crime tracking operations. Just …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Mail, E-Records, Privacy

Google says its new chatbot Meena is the best in the world

MIT Technology Review – Google has released a neural-network-powered chatbot called Meena that it claims is better than any other chatbot out there. Data slurp: Meena was trained on a whopping 341 gigabytes of public social-media chatter—8.5 times as much data as OpenAI’s GPT-2. Google says Meena can talk about pretty much anything, and can …

Subjects: AI, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines

Apple delivers new redesigned Maps for all users in US

Apple news release – New Apple Maps Designed with Better Road Coverage and Pedestrian Data, More Precise Addresses, and Detailed Land Cover: “Apple today announced that all users in the United States can now experience a redesigned Maps with faster and more accurate navigation and comprehensive views of roads, buildings, parks, airports, malls and more, …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines, Transportation

You’ve got snail mail

Washington Post: “Targeted online ads are now literally following you home Marketers are using the same technology and data as online advertising companies to decide who gets what flier, postcard or envelope…As people become numb to targeted digital ads that follow them across social media and into their email inboxes, some high-tech marketers are turning …

Subjects: E-Commerce, E-Mail, Privacy, Social Media

Artificial intelligence, geopolitics, and information integrity

Brookings – The Global Race for Technological Security – Discover the Security Implications: “The report [142 pages PDF] explores the intersection of AI and information integrity in the specific context of geopolitics. Before addressing that topic further, it is important to underscore that the geopolitical implications of AI go far beyond information. AI will reshape …

Subjects: AI, Defense, Economy, Financial System, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Social Media

Move Fast and Break Things Law, Technology, and the Problem of Speed

Chesterman, Simon, ‘Move Fast and Break Things’: Law, Technology, and the Problem of Speed (January 8, 2020). NUS Law Working Paper 2020/001. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3516032 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3516032 “Since computers entered into the mainstream in the 1960s, the efficiency with which data could be processed has raised regulatory questions. This is well understood with respect …

Subjects: AI, E-Records, Economy, Financial System, Knowledge Management, Privacy, Securities Law

Correcting the Record: Law Journals and Scholarly Integrity in the Digital Age

Sinder, Janet, Correcting the Record: Law Journals and Scholarly Integrity in the Digital Age (January 17, 2020). Brooklyn Law School, Legal Studies Paper No. 623, 2020. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3521475 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3521475 “In the age of electronic publications, post-publication correction of errors in law journal articles may seem like a simple, technical matter. Unfortunately, a …

Subjects: Education, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

New Solar Telescope Shows Sun’s Surface in Unprecendented High Resolution

BoinbBoing: “The National Science Foundation has just released the very first images of the Sun taken with the new Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii. They are the highest resolution images ever taken of the Sun’s surface, showing three times more detail than was possible using previous imaging techniques. Those cells you see in the image…they’re …

Subjects: E-Government

Publishing is an art at the Government Publishing Office

CQRollCall: “On the corner of H Street and North Capitol Street sits a brick building housing the Government Publishing Office. The GPO might be known for publishing and printing important documents like the president’s budget, but the hand binders who work at the GPO are busy behind the scenes adding artful marble trim to some …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Libraries