Boston Globe: A database of 10 years of Boston Police disciplinary action. “Amid heightened scrutiny of law enforcement across the nation, the Boston Globe sought to assess the extent of misconduct and discipline within the Boston Police Department. The City of Boston does not provide a comprehensive, transparent system that allows residents to keep tabs on its police. So, the Globe decided to amass public records, cross reference the data, and create its own.”
Boston
Boston Globe: Boston delays next phase of in-person school as coronavirus positivity rate rises to 4.1 percent
Boston Globe: Boston delays next phase of in-person school as coronavirus positivity rate rises to 4.1 percent. “With Boston’s coronavirus positivity rate rising to 4.1 percent, city officials announced [October 7] that they will delay the start of in-person learning for the next phase of students who were slated to return on Oct. 15, but will continue in-person classes for those who already have come back.”
Activities to Activism: New Diversity & Inclusion Website for BU and Boston (BU Today)
BU Today: Activities to Activism: New Diversity & Inclusion Website for BU and Boston. “Other news-you-can-use features on the site include a Curated, Crowdsourced, Cultural Guide to Boston, which proves, among other things, that you can’t accuse [Boston University’s Diversity & Inclusion office] of rejecting advice. About 45,000 BU students and employees were consulted in assembling this catalog of 250-and-growing items from ethnic restaurants, houses of worship, and cultural outlets to activist groups confronting racism and LGBTQIA prejudice. Oh, and landmarks like the Arnold Arboretum.”
Techdirt: Boston The Latest City To Ban Facial Recognition Use By Government Agencies
Techdirt: Boston The Latest City To Ban Facial Recognition Use By Government Agencies. “San Francisco led the way. Then the entire state of California followed suit. And on the other side of the country, a few smaller cities in Massachusetts did the same thing: banned facial recognition. It just makes sense. The tech that’s out there is as dangerous as it is unproven. Mostly known for its false positive rates, facial recognition software has shown it’s capable of amplifying existing biases into actionable ‘intel’ with the power to severely disrupt people’s lives.”
The Next Web: Boston bans government use of facial recognition
The Next Web: Boston bans government use of facial recognition. “Boston City Council has voted to ban the use of facial recognition by the municipality, joining a growing list of administrations to outlaw the tech. The decision comes amid a growing backlash against the software, which research shows consistently misidentifies people of color. An MIT study found that facial recognition algorithms designed by Microsoft, IBM, and Face++ made up to 35% more errors when detecting the gender of darker-skinned women. For light-skinned men, that error rate dropped was just 1%.”
Boston City Life: The Coolest Ways to Experience Boston Museums Virtually Right Now
Boston City Life: The Coolest Ways to Experience Boston Museums Virtually Right Now. “Beyond virtual museum tours available for free via Google Arts & Culture, Boston’s best museums are rolling out plenty of innovative new ideas and activities this spring. From a digital music playlist that animates an urban art exhibit, to an interactive game that lets history buffs play sailor, check out these exciting ways to engage online with Boston’s museums right now.”
Thrillist: The Best Boston Art Experiences You Can Enjoy From Home
Thrillist: The Best Boston Art Experiences You Can Enjoy From Home. “What is this, Week 47? And If you’re anything like us, your daily screen time has gone up approximately 786% since the staying-in started. And yet, not all streaming is made alike. For every half-baked sitcom reunion, there’s a local virtual art experience that reminds you why Boston is the cultural epicenter of New England. From online museum tours to virtual film screenings to archival dance performances, here’s a rundown of some local content to feed your soul.”
Engadget: Google’s Waze-like app for public transit hits five more cities
Engadget: Google’s Waze-like app for public transit hits five more cities. “Last year, Google incubator Area 120 announced a public transit app that works in a similar way to Waze. Users of Pigeon report transit information to help others know if they’re likely to face delays or other issues. Until now, it’s only been available in New York City, but as of today, it’s going live in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.”
Boston Globe: A digital family tree grows in Boston
Boston Globe: A digital family tree grows in Boston. “A massive genealogical project to digitize records from parishes in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston will expand its scope to the early 20th century, chronicling the lives of 10 million additional immigrants who maintained close ties to their ethnic communities amid the thrusts of assimilation.”
Religion News Service: Boston’s Catholic archdiocese expands effort to digitize archives
Religion News Service: Boston’s Catholic archdiocese expands effort to digitize archives. “When Thomas Lester began his job as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston’s archivist in 2014, he quickly noticed that many of the archdiocese’s bound archives containing centuries of records of sacraments performed by its clergy were beginning to fall apart.”
Boston Globe: This Twitter account tells you the general mood of MBTA riders by the hour
Boston Globe: This Twitter account tells you the general mood of MBTA riders by the hour. “Riders have long been able to turn to the MBTA’s Twitter account and online alerts to get updates and find out what’s happening around the transit system. But now, there’s more available than just announcements about a train’s arrival time. People can also find out how fellow commuters are feeling about the transit agency’s daily performance.”
Boston Globe: You can see your home from here. A new 3D map covers the entire city
Wow. From the Boston Globe: You can see your home from here. A new 3D map covers the entire city. “For years, the Boston Planning & Development Agency has kept a wooden scale model of downtown in a room on the ninth floor of City Hall. It’s a way for officials to see what proposed buildings would look like in context. Now the BPDA is bringing that concept into the 21st century, and making it public. The agency on Tuesday unveiled a new digital 3-D model of Boston on its website, the latest step in the BPDA’s push to be more transparent, and to spark conversations about planning for the city’s future. It’s a model of the entire city, with 129,000 buildings from East Boston to Mattapan.”
WBUR: You Can Now See The Posters From Boston’s Women’s March Online
WBUR: You Can Now See The Posters From Boston’s Women’s March Online . This is the 2017 march, not the 2018 march. “Ever wonder what happened to the signs from the Women’s March in Boston last year? With the help of Northeastern University, a team of scholars, students and volunteers created an online archive of more than 6,000 posters and pieces of artwork from the Jan. 21, 2017 protest.”
Metro US: Boston creates website for climate change data removed from EPA’s site
Metro US: Boston creates website for climate change data removed from EPA’s site. “The city of Boston continues to be a champion for climate change action with a new website sharing information from the Environmental Protection Agency. Not long after President Donald Trump took office, the EPA began to remove data on climate change, including links to global warming research and data on emissions. Now that information has a new digital home thanks to an effort by Boston and 12 other cities.”
For Show: Boston Flashpoint unveils massive archive of ’80s-era Boston music scene posters (Vanyaland)
Vanyaland: For Show: Boston Flashpoint unveils massive archive of ’80s-era Boston music scene posters. “Boston Flashpoint, Kino Digital Video’s online archive of the city’s music scene during its 1980s heyday, has this week unveiled ‘The Art of the ’80s Boston Band and Event Poster’, a showcased collection of roughly 150 posters, flyers, and prints that range from collages to illustrations to paintings to modified photography.”