Joe Biden has picked 58 nominees to fill key roles in his administration so far

Washington Post – We are tracking 791 government positions among about 1,250 that require Senate confirmation. Presidents are required to fill roughly 4,000 politically appointed positions in the executive branch and independent agencies, including more than 1,250 that require Senate confirmation. The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service are tracking nominees for roughly …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

The Era of Audio Creators Has Arrived

The New York Times – The Era of Audio Creators Has Arrived: “Audio creators are a new kind of influencer, born of the meteoric rise of the audio-only chat app Clubhouse. Together, they are pulling in millions of weekly listeners and building online followings. Now, with Clubhouse booming and other social apps, like Twitter, taking …

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

How to use storytelling strategies to get your emails answered

Fast Company: Our brains love stories. When you use storytelling to share information and ideas, they often stand out and are more memorable to the listener. Stories also engage visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners because they often include graphics, the spoken word, and experiences or feelings. You may think storytelling would come in handy if …

Subjects: E-Mail, Knowledge Management

NFTs, explained

The Verge: “There’s nothing like an explosion of blockchain news to leave you thinking, “Um… what’s going on here?” That’s the feeling I’ve experienced while reading about Grimes getting millions of dollars for NFTs or about Nyan Cat being sold as one. You might be wondering: what is an NFT, anyhow? After literal hours of …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System

This is Our House!” A Preliminary Assessment of the Capitol Hill Siege Participant

George Washington University Program on Extremism / Top Level Findings – “We released a new report coauthored jointly by our staff, titled “This is Our House!” A Preliminary Assessment of the Capitol Hill Siege Participants.” The report offers new details about the individuals alleged to have stormed the nation’s Capitol, as well as a number …

Subjects: Congress, Defense, Internet, Social Media

How to Make Your Hashtags More Reader-Friendly

Lifehacker: “Communicating in the language of hashtags is an annoyingly universal aspect of social media. But if you’re using hashtags on your Instagram posts, tweets, or Facebook status updates, you should make sure they’re readable for people with visual and cognitive disabilities.Hashtags weren’t designed to be easily read. They’re basically a tool for cataloguing content …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Social Media

Levin, Senator Jack Reed Introduce Legislation to Modernize Library Infrastructure

Rep. Andy Levin: “[On March 3, 2021], Congressman Andy Levin (D-MI) teamed up with Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) to introduce the House companion of S.127, the Build America’s Libraries Act, which provides long-term improvements to library facilities and updates library infrastructure, prioritizing libraries in predominantly low-income and underserved communities. The Build America’s Libraries Act authorizes …

Subjects: Congress, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legislation, Libraries

Are all your productivity tools making you feel…unproductive?

Fortune – “Here’s how to manage the deluge…Before COVID-19, the average knowledge worker in the U.S. used 10 apps at least 25 times per workday, according to a study by Asana, which helps teams track and organize their work. Now, with a record number of Americans working from home, the number of apps has ballooned …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Mail, Internet, Knowledge Management

CDC website has a trove of vaccine data, revealing progress and inequity

Mashable – “The stats on the CDC’s vaccine data website are cause for both hope, and — for Black and brown communities — sadness-tinged outrage.  The CDC added a vaccine stats section to its COVID data hub at the beginning of January. It includes counts of vaccine doses distributed to states, those administered to people …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents, Health Care, Knowledge Management, Medicine

Study: Digital capabilities to manage information are still lacking

Tech Republic – Most knowledge workers would welcome more digital tools to improve information handling and collaboration with their peers. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic sent them home in droves over a year ago, most knowledge workers report they still do not have the digital capabilities they need. According to a new study released Thursday by iManage …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries