The Arab American News: The Palestine Chronology: A new online database. “The Palestine Chronology will allow researchers, readers, journalists, students, scholars, and activists to easily access day-by-day summaries in a free and accessible digitized format. The Chronology was previously published quarterly in the Journal of Palestine Studies. It is now updated monthly on the platform.”
Monthly Archives: June 2021
WRAL: Google launches new website, connecting families to nearby food pantries
WRAL: Google launches new website, connecting families to nearby food pantries. “Nearly one in seven Americans do not know where their next meal will come from. This is roughly 45 million people in 2020, including 15 million children. That’s a nearly 30 percent increase from 2019. This is why Google launched a new ‘Find Food Support’ site to help fight hunger across the country by linking people to their nearest food bank.”
Homeland Security Today: One Year After Facebook Takes Steps to Remove Boogaloo Content, Movement Resurfaces on Platform
Homeland Security Today: One Year After Facebook Takes Steps to Remove Boogaloo Content, Movement Resurfaces on Platform. “In June 2020, Facebook announced that it had taken down hundreds of groups and pages on its platform associated with the violent anti-government boogaloo movement, one of several major purges of extremist material by Facebook that year to address extremists’ use of its platform…. However, in recent months, several new boogaloo pages have emerged on Facebook, hiding among libertarian groups and pages that also share memes advocating for violence.”
Neowin: Snap signs music licensing deal with Universal Music Group
Neowin: Snap signs music licensing deal with Universal Music Group. “Snap has announced that it has signed a deal with Universal Music Group (UMG) so that its artists can have their music included in Snap’s library and be used in Sounds, Lenses and more. Sounds is a fairly new feature on Snapchat that allows you to add music to your Snaps.”
Fired by bot at Amazon: ‘It’s you against the machine’ (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: Fired by bot at Amazon: ‘It’s you against the machine’. “Bloomberg interviewed 15 Flex drivers, including four who say they were wrongly terminated, as well as former Amazon managers who say the largely automated system is insufficiently attuned to the real-world challenges drivers face every day. Amazon knew delegating work to machines would lead to mistakes and damaging headlines, these former managers said, but decided it was cheaper to trust the algorithms than pay people to investigate mistaken firings so long as the drivers could be replaced easily.”
CBC: Anishinabek Nation’s new interactive online resource teaches students about treaties, rights
CBC: Anishinabek Nation’s new interactive online resource teaches students about treaties, rights. “The Anishnabek Nation in northern Ontario has launched a new online program to help students learn more about First Nations history, treaties and aboriginal rights. The interactive program, which includes videos from elders, is a resource for educators to reach both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.”
Daily Beast: YouTube Permanently Bans Right Wing Watch, a Media Watchdog Devoted to Exposing Right-Wing Conspiracies
Daily Beast: YouTube Permanently Bans Right Wing Watch, a Media Watchdog Devoted to Exposing Right-Wing Conspiracies. “According to Right Wing Watch, their appeal of the suspension was also denied by YouTube, which again claimed that the watchdog group—which monitors disinformation, conspiracies, and violent rhetoric from far-right media outlets and personalities—was in violation of its guidelines and terms of service. Meanwhile, many of the far-right extremists merely exposed by RWW remain on the platform.”
Make Tech Easier: How to Screen Record on iPhone
Make Tech Easier: How to Screen Record on iPhone. “In the past, recording your iPhone’s screen was a nearly impossible task. For a very long time, there wasn’t a built-in option to support screen recording on iOS, while Apple refused to allow such third-party apps to appear in the iOS App Store. However, that all changed a couple of years back in iOS 11, so you probably already have access to this feature. Let’s see how you can screen record on your iPhone.”
Reuters: Google takes down maps targeting hundreds of Thais accused of opposing king
Reuters: Google takes down maps targeting hundreds of Thais accused of opposing king. ” Google took down two Google Maps documents on Monday that had listed the names and addresses of hundreds of Thai activists who were accused by royalists of opposing the monarchy, the technology company said.”
EurekAlert: NIST method uses radio signals to image hidden and speeding objects
EurekAlert: NIST method uses radio signals to image hidden and speeding objects. “Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Wavsens LLC have developed a method for using radio signals to create real-time images and videos of hidden and moving objects, which could help firefighters find escape routes or victims inside buildings filled with fire and smoke. The technique could also help track hypersonic objects such as missiles and space debris.”
My Modern Met: Walter Foster Publishing’s Free Tutorials and Downloadables Help Refine Your Art and Craft Skills
My Modern Met: Walter Foster Publishing’s Free Tutorials and Downloadables Help Refine Your Art and Craft Skills. “Not only does the website include all of your favorite Walter Foster Publishing books—from Painting with Bob Ross to Color Mixing Recipes for Watercolor to Empowered Embroidery—but there are also new features that allow anyone to learn online. The brand new Art Studio is a place to find your favorite Walter Foster artists and authors and follow their video tutorials. New content is added regularly, so check back often to either learn or hone a new skill. Current tutorials include lessons on how to hand letter a glass frame, create paper mache paste, and fold an origami fox. Artist Sonia Leong also gives a crash course in the visual language of manga so that artists can refine their skills. In addition, the art studio includes free, downloadable projects and activities.”
Yale News: TYR gives readers a digital space to read and contemplate
Yale News: TYR gives readers a digital space to read and contemplate. “For more than two centuries, The Yale Review has published works by some of the most notable writers and poets of their times, from Virginia Woolf and Thomas Mann to Louise Glück and Cathy Park Hong. But until recently the journal has not done what many others in the literary world have: dive fully into the digital realm. Last month, America’s oldest ‘little magazine’ took the plunge, launching a new website that captures the literary quality of the quarterly print edition, while adding new layers that offer a richer reader experience.”
The Citizen (Tanzania): The UN’s refugee data shame, and what needs to be done
The Citizen (Tanzania): The UN’s refugee data shame, and what needs to be done. “Back in 2017, I wrote of the risks of the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, collecting biometric registration data from Rohingya refugees, noting that the data could be used to drive unwilling repatriation; that collecting such data may make refugees believe their access to aid depends upon providing such data; and that – once collected or shared – such biometric data is virtually impossible to get rid of. Nearly four years later, a report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) says these worst-case scenarios have come true: A detailed database of the Rohingya refugee population has been handed over to Myanmar’s government, which drove them across the border into Bangladesh almost four years ago.”
University of St. Thomas: Introducing the Monsignor Murphy Digital Archive
University of St. Thomas: Introducing the Monsignor Murphy Digital Archive. “The impact of Monsignor Terrence J. Murphy, the namesake of the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy, who served as the University of St. Thomas president from 1966-91, will continue to be felt for generations thanks to a generous gift from his family. Murphy, who passed away in 2004, would have turned 100 on Dec. 21, 2020. In celebration of this milestone, the Murphy Institute launched the Monsignor Murphy Digital Archive this spring. The collection features Murphy’s original manuscripts; more than 150 sermons, dedications and addresses were digitized.”
Mobilising for Justice in Belarus: FIDH Launches Website Tracking Systematic Human Rights Violations (International Federation for Human Rights)
International Federation for Human Rights: Mobilising for Justice in Belarus: FIDH Launches Website Tracking Systematic Human Rights Violations. “Since May 2020, the administration of Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the de facto president of Belarus, has intensified repression, aiming to crush the country’s democratic movement. A new website launched today by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) tracks, compiles, and presents detailed information on the human rights situation in the country, including on political prisoners, violations against vulnerable groups, and efforts to advance accountability for the regime’s crimes.”