Monthly archives: August, 2020

How the pandemic might play out in 2021 and beyond

Nature – This coronavirus is here for the long haul – here’s what scientists predict for the next months and years. “…It is clear now that summer does not uniformly stop the virus, but warm weather might make it easier to contain in temperate regions. In areas that will get colder in the second half …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Education, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Health Care, Medicine

A Record 75% of Americans Can Vote by Mail in 2020

The New York Times: “About three-quarters of all American voters will be eligible to receive a ballot in the mail for the 2020 election — the most in U.S. history, according to a New York Times analysis. If recent election trends hold and turnout increases, as experts predict, roughly 80 million mail ballots will flood …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Government, E-Records, Health Care, Legal Research

People are using Facebook and Instagram as search engines

NiemanLab – During a pandemic, that’s dangerous – Data voids on social networks are spreading misinformation and causing real world harm. Here are some ideas on how to fix the problem. “We are especially vulnerable when we want to know something — such as how to treat Covid-19 — but no credible information exists. At …

Subjects: Economy, Education, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines, Social Media

How to Choose the Best Cloth Face Mask for You

The New York Times Wirecutter: “Any mask is better than no mask to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, and now that everyone and their grandparents are selling cloth face masks, you have options. Tens of thousands of them. (Around 15,000 listings on Etsy alone.) We consulted a range of authorities, from fashion designers …

Subjects: Health Care

PDF: Still Unfit for Human Consumption 20 Years Later

Nielsen Norman Group: “Jakob Nielsen first wrote about how PDF files should never be read online in 1996 — only three years after PDFs were invented. Over 20 years later, our research continues to prove that PDFs are just as problematic for users. Despite the evidence, they’re still used far too often to present content …

Subjects: E-Records, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

Google Search Mobile Market Share Likely to Drop Around 20% through Search Preference Menus

DuckDuckGo Blog: “As explained in the first post of this series, we believe search preference menus — ones that change all search defaults and include the most common Google alternatives — can deliver meaningful search engine choice to consumers and significantly increase competition in the search market.  In short, it’s a great tool when designed …

Subjects: Internet, Privacy, Search Engines

How to use ventilation and air filtration to prevent the spread of coronavirus indoors

The Conversation: “The vast majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs indoors, most of it from the inhalation of airborne particles that contain the coronavirus. The best way to prevent the virus from spreading in a home or business would be to simply keep infected people away. But this is hard to do when an estimated 40% …

Subjects: Environmental Law, Health Care, Knowledge Management

How to Be a Better Reader, With Librarian Margaret H. Willison

lifehacker: “This week we’re learning how to be better readers with help from librarian and podcaster Margaret H. Willison. Listen to hear Margaret break down how we should rethink our definitions of what a being a “good” or “well-read” reader means, and the tactics we can use to improve our own reading game—from taking advantage …

Subjects: Education, Knowledge Management, Libraries

Journalists’ guide to COVID data

RTDNA: “Watch a press conference, turn on a newscast, or overhear just about any phone conversation these days and you’ll hear mayors discussing R values, reporters announcing new fatalities and separated families comparing COVID case rolling averages in their counties. As coronavirus resurges across the country, medical data is no longer just the purview of …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Medicine