Mozilla Blog: Sharing our Common Voices – Mozilla releases the largest to-date public domain transcribed voice dataset

Mozilla Blog: Sharing our Common Voices – Mozilla releases the largest to-date public domain transcribed voice dataset. “From the onset, our vision for Common Voice has been to build the world’s most diverse voice dataset, optimized for building voice technologies. We also made a promise of openness: we would make the high quality, transcribed voice data that was collected publicly available to startups, researchers, and anyone interested in voice-enabled technologies. Today, we’re excited to share our first multi-language dataset with 18 languages represented, including English, French, German and Mandarin Chinese (Traditional), but also for example Welsh and Kabyle. Altogether, the new dataset includes approximately 1,400 hours of voice clips from more than 42,000 people.”

Public Radio of Armenia: Audio archive of Public Radio of Armenia goes online

Public Radio of Armenia: Audio archive of Public Radio of Armenia goes online. “The Public Radio archive is Armenia’s largest audio repository. It hosts about 100,000 recordings, including songs, speeches, programs, concerts, etc. The history of Armenian radio starts from September 1, 1926. It was the day of the first experimental broadcast and the day the words ‘Yerevan is speaking’ were heard for the first time.”

Internet Archive: After 50 Years, Riley Shepard’s “Encyclopedia of Folk Music” is Finally Available

Internet Archive: After 50 Years, Riley Shepard’s “Encyclopedia of Folk Music” is Finally Available. “On my 54th birthday, 10 years after my father’s death, I took my copy of The Encyclopedia to Internet Archives and gave it to Jeff and Brewster. It’s hard to put into words the closure this gave me, knowing that at least after all the twists, turns and broken promises, Dad’s early copy will be online for people to use at no cost. I was told by Jeff Kaplan that he’d already found an obscure song in The Encyclopedia and performed it with his duo. I wish I could have been there to hear it!”

Ars Technica: YouTube will disable comments on most videos of kids because of pedophiles

Ars Technica: YouTube will disable comments on most videos of kids because of pedophiles. “YouTube will now take stronger action to prevent predatory comments posted on videos of children. According to a blog post, YouTube will suspend comments on videos that feature minors that ‘could be at risk of attracting predatory behavior.’ This measure is designed to prevent predatory commenters from gathering in the comments section of such videos.”

TIME: The New Game of Thrones Emojis Are Perfect for Throwing Shade at Your Enemies

TIME: The New Game of Thrones Emojis Are Perfect for Throwing Shade at Your Enemies. “Leading up the April premiere of Game of Thrones season 8, Twitter has launched a new batch of custom Game of Thrones emojis for all of the characters that could still sit on the Iron Throne. The social media site released its new Game of Thrones emojis simultaneously with HBO’s most recent Game of Thrones character posters on Thursday.”

Remezcla: This New Instagram Account Is a Tribute to Old School Latinx New York

Remezcla: This New Instagram Account Is a Tribute to Old School Latinx New York. “One photograph shows two Dominican women at a Brooklyn grocery store – where several Power Rangers balloons float over their heads – buying a cake for a relative’s graduation. Another highlights a Salvadoran couple – the woman tending to their baby, while the man holds a plate of food and a can – on graffiti-accented train. Or there’s the one where a well-accessorized Cuban woman – whose hair is styled to perfection in a high bun topped with pearls – holds a possibly sleepy baby on a couch. Apart, these images capture different aspects and milestones of these people’s lives. Together, though, they form a portrait of Latino New York. All of these snapshots are featured on Nuevayorkinos, a new Instagram account that aims document the diverse experiences of Latinxs who grew up in New York City.”

The Conversation: What Catholic Church records tell us about America’s earliest black history

The Conversation: What Catholic Church records tell us about America’s earliest black history. “In 1513, a free and literate African named Juan Garrido explored Florida with a Spanish conquistador, Juan Ponce de León. In the following decades, Africans, free and enslaved, were part of all the Spanish expeditions exploring the southern region of the United States. In 1565, Africans helped establish the first permanent European settlement in what is St. Augustine, Florida today. The Slave Societies Digital Archive which I direct as a historian at Vanderbilt University includes Catholic Church records from St. Augustine. These records date back to the 1590s and document some of the earliest black history of the U.S.”

Michigan: AG Nessel serves defendant via social media for judgment of nearly $800,000

Michigan: AG Nessel serves defendant via social media for judgment of nearly $800,000 . “Using a savvy delivery method, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel served a default judgment for nearly $800,000 and an injunction against the owner of Fan Authentics, a purported online sports-themed retailer. Christopher Carr, 23, formerly of Troy, is required to pay the obligations within 28 days of the order’s entry. Carr fled Michigan and stopped responding to the Department through ordinary channels, so Nessel sought and obtained an order from Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Clinton Canady III allowing the Department to serve Carr through Facebook, where the defendant remains active.”

Government Technology: Evergov Wants to Make Local Government Services More Searchable

Government Technology: Evergov Wants to Make Local Government Services More Searchable. “It may be a bit of an understatement to say that government services are scattered online. Of course, it certainly varies by jurisdiction, but more often than not, residents of a given city must visit disparate websites to find digital services. For example, this could entail visiting one site to pay a parking ticket; another to check on the status of a business license; another to handle taxes; and so on. But a new website is working to consolidate digital services and information for every city across the country on one easy-to-search platform.”

KTVN: New Nevada Job Website Goes Online

KTVN: New Nevada Job Website Goes Online . “For workers, it’s a job resource like no other. Set your preferences and it drills down to the jobs you want, and it’s free to use. 1-stop shopping for finding and researching a new local position, and there are plenty of those. [Scott] Morrison says, ‘What struck me is, I explored the website. Right at the very front, 52,000-plus fast-growing jobs in a wide range of different areas.'”

The Daily Beast: Russian Trolls’ Lawsuit Against Facebook Hits a Wall

The Daily Beast: Russian Trolls’ Lawsuit Against Facebook Hits a Wall. “A California judge is tapping the brakes on a lawsuit defending the free speech rights of Russian trolls. U.S. sanctions are preventing the American lawyers behind the suit representing their Russian client in court, the judge says.”

Mashable: TikTok gets fined $5.7 million for collecting children’s data, announces new kid-friendly version

Mashable: TikTok gets fined $5.7 million for collecting children’s data, announces new kid-friendly version. “Success often comes at a price. For the company behind the video clip app TikTok, that price just so happens to be in the form of a record fine. According to a Feb. 27 Federal Trade Commission statement, the app formerly known as Musical.ly illegally collected data from children under the age of 13, and as a result was hit with a $5.7 million civil penalty.”

How I Cut My Smartphone Usage in Half: 8 Changes That Worked (MakeUseOf)

MakeUseOf: How I Cut My Smartphone Usage in Half: 8 Changes That Worked. “A while ago, while I was aggressively trying to use my phone less often, my reliance on several apps and tendency to check every alert pulled me back constantly. Quitting entirely wasn’t an option. I eventually realized it’s all about compromises and establishing limits you’re able to follow. Fortunately, you can adopt habits to cut back in manageable ways. Here are the ones that allowed me to cut my smartphone usage by half.”

Massachusetts Daily Collegian: UMass professor receives $245,000 to bring ancient art of Pompeii to the internet of today

Massachusetts Daily Collegian: UMass professor receives $245,000 to bring ancient art of Pompeii to the internet of today . “Associate Professor Eric Poehler of the University of Massachusetts classics department recently received a grant worth $245,000 from the Getty Foundation for the three-year long Pompeii Artistic Landscape Project. The project is meant to digitize and contextualize the ancient art of the Roman city of Pompeii in an online database and open source tool for all to use.”