Day archives: June 21st, 2023

Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid of It?

The New York Times: Book bans, chatbots, pedagogical warfare: What it means to read has become a minefield. “Everyone loves reading. In principle, anyway. Nobody is against it, right? Surely, in the midst of our many quarrels, we can agree that people should learn to read, should learn to enjoy it and should do a …

Subjects: AI, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Legislation, Libraries, Privacy

Chamber of Secrets

Washington Monthly: “…The Supreme Court’s habit of deciding hugely important cases without briefings, arguments, or even a word of explanation threatens democracy. Some progressive legal scholars have coined the term demosprudence to underline that the opinion announcements are the only time that the Court’s members directly address the public. Clearly, however, the justices do not …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Financial System, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

The Presidential Records Act, Clinton’s Socks, and Trump’s Boxes

Lawfare: “…In 1950, Congress passed the Federal Records Act, which requires federal agencies—but not the president—to preserve their records. Five years later, Congress passed the Presidential Libraries Act, which encouraged (but did not require) former presidents to donate their records to private, federally maintained libraries.  Then came Richard Nixon. Four months after Nixon resigned in …

Subjects: Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Suicide Hotlines Promise Anonymity. Dozens of Their Websites Send Sensitive Data to Facebook

Via LLRX – Suicide Hotlines Promise Anonymity. Dozens of Their Websites Send Sensitive Data to Facebook – Reporter Colin Lecher and Data Journalist Jon Kreeger discuss how websites for mental health crisis resources across the country—which promise anonymity for visitors, many of whom are at a desperate moment in their lives—have been quietly sending sensitive visitor …

Subjects: E-Commerce, E-Records, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Marketing, Medicine, Privacy, Social Media

How AI could take over elections and undermine democracy

Via LLRX – How AI could take over elections and undermine democracy – Archon Fung, Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government, Harvard Kennedy School, and Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard University, pose the question: “Could organizations use artificial intelligence language models such as ChatGPT to induce voters to behave in specific ways? Sen. Josh …

Subjects: AI, Congress, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Social Media

What Makes News Sharable on Social Media?

What Makes News Sharable on Social Media?Chen, X., Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. (2023). Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media, 3. https://doi.org/10.51685/jqd.2023.007   – “With the rise of social media, everyone has the potential to be both a consumer and producer of online content. Although one might assume that people share news because they believe it …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Social Media

The Modernized ClinicalTrials.gov Website is Here

“Today, ClinicalTrials.gov Beta, the modernized version of ClinicalTrials.gov, becomes the primary ClinicalTrials.gov. The modernized website has an updated design that is visually appealing and easy to read. This new design includes simple web components, such as left-side menus and expandable accordions, that improve navigation and make information readily findable. In addition, the modernized website is …

Subjects: E-Government, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Medicine, Search Engines

The data on 40 years of California wildfires is alarmingly clear

Quartz: “Wildfires in northern and central California increased fivefold between 1971 and 2021, according to a new study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The scientists behind the study found that those fires were mostly caused by anthropogenic climate change, the kind accelerated by human actions like burning fossil fuels …

Subjects: Climate Change, Energy, Environmental Law

Purdue Plant Doctor

 Purdue Plant Doctor – Enter the name of the plant, plant problem, pest, or disease, or click your way to identify and manage your pest or disease. “The Purdue Plant Doctor was a collaboration between Dr. Janna Beckerman (Department of Botany and Plant Pathology) and Dr. Cliff Sadof (Department of Entomology), who contributed equally to …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law

PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2023

“Business leaders everywhere are prioritising transformation, but what if your most skilled people are more reinvention ready than your company culture is? And what if your employees say they are even more likely to quit now than they were last year—back when everyone thought the “great resignation” was at its peak. This is the complicated—and …

Subjects: AI, Economy, Education, Financial System, Knowledge Management