Category «Economy»

Will America ever get its local news back?

Washington Post – Ghost papers and news deserts – “First they started showing up thinner than before. Then they were printed on smaller paper, with local columns replaced by more out-of-town news. Then in some places, especially rural and down-on-their-luck parts, newspapers stopped showing up altogether. Since the Internet arrived in earnest 25 years ago, …

Subjects: Economy, Internet, Knowledge Management

KKR investment firm to buy OverDrive, biggest library ebook company

TeleRead – David Rothman – “Toxic for libraries? The KKR investment firm is buying none other than OverDrive—the biggest library ebook company, providing ebooks and audiobooks to 43,000+ libraries and schools in 75 countries. The seller is Rakuten, also owner of the Kobo ereader, audiobook and ebook business. “The two sides did not provide a …

Subjects: Digital Rights, E-Records, Economy, Libraries, Marketing

Why Americans Should Worry About the New EU Copyright Rules

Berkman Klein Center – Julia Reda – “Last spring, 200,000 Europeans took to the streets to protest against a new EU copyright law that risks to restrict online culture and block vast numbers of legal online communications such as memes, reaction gifs, video game reviews or remixes. It is the latest clash between a generation …

Subjects: Copyright, Economy, Education, EU Data Protection, Government Documents, Intellectual Property, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

The privacy worries with smart cities

Axios – Momentum for smart cities projects, which has been fed by big promises from industry and big hopes in government, is slowing down in the face of a wave of public skepticism. Driving the news: Alphabet-owned Sidewalk Labs, which has proposed a futuristic smart-city development for Toronto’s waterfront, has pledged not to sell personal …

Subjects: E-Commerce, E-Records, Economy, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

The 2010s were supposed to bring the ebook revolution

Vox – It never quite came. “Publishing spent the 2010s fighting tooth and nail against ebooks. There were unintended consequences…at the other end of the decade, ebook sales seem to have stabilized at around 20 percent of total book sales, with print sales making up the remaining 80 percent. “Five or 10 years ago,” says …

Subjects: Economy, Knowledge Management, Libraries, Social Media

FRB launches new Twitter account highlighting research published in Board’s working papers and notes series

“The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday, December 18, 2019 – launched a new Twitter account aimed at increasing access to the research done by the more than 400 economists and other research staff at the Board. The new account—@FedResearch—will highlight research published in the Board’s working papers and notes series, other staff articles, and conferences. …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research, Social Media

Noncompete Agreements Have Become More Common

Economic Policy Institute: Noncompete agreements – Ubiquitous, harmful to wages and to competition, and part of a growing trend of employers requiring workers to sign away their rights. Report • By Alexander J.S. Colvin and Heidi Shierholz • December 10, 2019 “In recent decades, the U.S. labor market has been marked by rising inequality and largely stagnant wages among all …

Subjects: Economy, Legal Research

99 Good News Stories You Probably Didn’t Hear About in 2019

Future Crunch – If we want to change the story of the human race in the 21st century, we have to change the stories we tell ourselves. “…There were other stories out there, stories of conservation, better health, rising living standards, tolerance, peace, cleaner energy and environmental stewardship. Most of them didn’t make it onto …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law

In memoriam: The brands we lost in the 2010s

Vox – In memoriam: The brands we lost in the 2010s – RIP Blockbuster, Borders, and so many more. “The 2010s were a decade of extreme retail innovation. Instagrammy direct-to-consumer companies like Warby Parker and Everlane sprang up seemingly overnight; hulking businesses like Amazon permeated what felt like every aspect of our shopping lives. There’s …

Subjects: Copyright, Courts, Economy, Intellectual Property, Legal Research, Libraries

The Decade Tech Lost Its Way

The New York Times – The Decade Tech Lost Its Way – An oral history of the 2010s – “When the decade began, tech meant promise — cars that could drive themselves, social networks that could take down dictators. It connected us in ways we could barely imagine. But somewhere along the way, the flaws of technology …

Subjects: Blogs, Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, E-Mail, E-Records, Economy, Free Speech, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media, Transportation

Assessing employer intent when AI hiring tools are biased

This report from The Brookings Institution’s Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology (AIET) Initiative is part of “AI and Bias,” a series that explores ways to mitigate possible biases and create a pathway toward greater fairness in AI and emerging technologies. “When it comes to gender stereotypes in occupational roles, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to either …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Economy, Education, Knowledge Management, Legal Research