January 18, 2021

Boston Public Library: Boston Public Library makes historical images available for use in Wikipedia

Boston Public Library: Boston Public Library makes historical images available for use in Wikipedia. “In celebration of Wikipedia’s 20th anniversary on January 15th, Boston Public Library has uploaded more than 8,000 historical photographs from its archival collections to Wikimedia Commons. These images include some of the library’s most important photographic collections, and contribute to the single largest batch of uploads ever contributed to Wikimedia Commons. By uploading these public domain images, BPL is making them available so that they can be freely used to enhance Wikipedia articles, re-printed in publications, or incorporated in student projects and papers.”

New Resources 0
November 25, 2020

Boston Globe: A database of 10 years of Boston Police disciplinary action

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.”

New Resources 0
October 15, 2020

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.”

COVID-19 0
September 8, 2020

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.”

New Resources 0
July 4, 2020

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.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
June 25, 2020

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%.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
April 28, 2020

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.”

COVID-19 0
April 24, 2020

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.”

COVID-19 0
November 8, 2019

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.”

Tweaks & Updates 0
September 5, 2019

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.”

Tweaks & Updates 0
August 18, 2019

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.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
March 15, 2019

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.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
May 10, 2018

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.”

New Resources 0
January 22, 2018

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.”

New Resources 0
June 19, 2017

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.”

Tweaks & Updates 0

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