Philadelphia Inquirer: ‘Ya Fav Trashman’ gives an inside look at Philly trash pickup on Instagram and the city is listening. “As the controversy over delays in Philadelphia’s trash collection began to mount in June, sanitation worker Terrill Haigler heard residents’ anguished and, (this is Philly) sometimes angry, cries about the garbage piling up on city streets. ‘People were yearning for an understanding and an answer to why their trash is the way it is,’ he said. So he created an Instagram account — @YaFavTrashman — to give people ‘an inside look at the daily habits of a trashman,’ a profession he believes is ‘“probably the most underrated job in America.'”
community outreach
GCN: The power and danger of social media for law enforcement
GCN: The power and danger of social media for law enforcement. “Social media can help spread information rapidly to community members, which can be useful during public safety emergencies and natural disasters. It can also reduce the time it takes for first responders to get the important information they need, such as location coordinates to help a person in danger. If crucial information needs to be communicated quickly, a text message is often the channel of choice. According to the Pew Research Center, 98% of text messages are read within two minutes — a time savings that can literally mean the difference between life and death in an emergency.”
Phys .org: Teen museum educators increase engagement, learning, in tween visitors
Phys .org: Teen museum educators increase engagement, learning, in tween visitors. “Do you want to get the most out of a museum and encourage your child’s interest in STEM? Try interacting with a teenaged museum docent. Research led by investigators from North Carolina State University and the University of Exeter in the U.K. has found that youth docents have an overall positive effect on visitors’ experiences, learning and information retention at informal learning sites. The positive effects accrued across age groups regardless of museum type, but were most apparent in children ages 9 to 11.”
The Jewish News: New Website Easily Connects Voters to Their Elected Officials
The Jewish News: New Website Easily Connects Voters to Their Elected Officials. “Contact My Politician allows users to simply type in their street address, which immediately brings up all their elected officials. The users can then send a written or video message to one or many of those officials, with any comments, questions or concerns they may have about pressing political topics. The politician is notified through the platform of any messages from their constituents, and they’re able to respond through the platform in both written and video form, as well. There’s also a portion of the website geared toward nonprofits, which allows the nonprofit to write a form letter in support of a specific position or initiative.”
Jerusalem Post: US members of Congress use social media more than ever before – study
Jerusalem Post: US members of Congress use social media more than ever before – study. “US members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, are more involved on social media platforms than ever before, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis published on Thursday. The analysis is based on a database of every tweet and Facebook post from members of Congress since 2015. It concludes that the congressional social media landscape has undergone vast changes in recent years.”
Times Higher Education: Creating and supporting digital archives to improve access and research
Times Higher Education: Creating and supporting digital archives to improve access and research. “Now more than ever, there is a demand for universities to make available content in digital form from archives and collections that include books, primary sources and multimedia material. However, the cost of this type of digital transformation is considerable. To make the job easier, Jisc, the UK education and research technology solutions not-for-profit, is bringing together libraries, publishers and academic institutions to make digital collections more accessible.”
Public Technology: Government turns to Instagram to seek policy guidance from teenagers
Public Technology (UK): Government turns to Instagram to seek policy guidance from teenagers. “The government has unveiled a new Instagram page through which it wishes to garner policy guidance from teenagers and young adults. The ‘Involved’ account will use the photo-sharing site’s polling and stories functions to ask questions related to ‘decisions made at the heart of government’. The government wishes to hear the responses of young people aged between 13 and 25.”
ArtNet News: In a Post-COVID World, What Museums Do Outside Their Walls Will Become as Important as What They Put on Them
ArtNet News: In a Post-COVID World, What Museums Do Outside Their Walls Will Become as Important as What They Put on Them. “That this sector attracts 2.5 times the population of the US each year is remarkable in itself. But the economic impact of museums extends far beyond what happens inside their buildings. Collectively, according to a 2017 report from the American Alliance of Museums, these organizations contribute more than $50 billion to the GDP, generate $12 billion in tax revenue, and produce over 725,000 jobs—double that of the professional sports industry. In the wake of COVID-19, the size and impact of this economic footprint means that the health and vibrancy of our cities and communities is closely tied to the fate of museums.”
Rappler: While on lockdown, Ayala Museum goes online – and on Animal Crossing
Rappler: While on lockdown, Ayala Museum goes online – and on Animal Crossing. “It was a strange thing to do in the middle of a pandemic – fix one’s things, put on a Filipiniana outfit, and wait anxiously at the airport a full 30 minutes before a scheduled flight. It either makes sense or becomes stranger, perhaps, after I tell you that I’m doing this with a Nintendo Switch as ‘Bea,’ my Animal Crossing New Horizon character (who, unlike this author, sports a cool shade of pink on her tresses). Inside my island’s airport, I was waiting for my Dodo Code, a 5-character code that’d bring me to Flotus, an island that was playing host to the Ayala Museum’s days-long ‘Island Exhibition,’ part of several events to celebrate International Museum Day.”
Christie’s: What are museums — and their directors — doing now?
Christie’s: What are museums — and their directors — doing now?. “As the world celebrates International Museums Day, we talk to four directors across the globe about loans and exhibitions, the future of blockbusters, donations, digital innovations, inclusivity, connectivity and ‘the duty to safeguard great art’”
Sun Prairie Star: Candidates get creative in collecting nomination signatures amid social distancing
Sun Prairie Star: Candidates get creative in collecting nomination signatures amid social distancing. “In normal circumstances, candidates would spend the time between April 15 to June 1 going door to door or showing up at festivals, farmer’s markets or the local library to collect enough signatures. The signature requirements range from a minimum of 200 for the Assembly to a minimum of 400 for the state Senate to a minimum of 1,000 for congressional candidates. The highest threshold is a minimum of 2,000 signatures for statewide office. But social distancing requirements and Gov. Tony Evers’ stay-at-home order ruled out things like going door to door.”
Artnet: 7 Practical Tips for Engaging Art Lovers Through Social Media That We Learned From an Internet Cowboy and the Meme King of London
Artnet: 7 Practical Tips for Engaging Art Lovers Through Social Media That We Learned From an Internet Cowboy and the Meme King of London. “One lesson that the lockdown era has laid bare is that, when it comes to museums, not all social media presences are created equal. While many of them offer outstanding IRL experiences, cracking the code of what will gain traction online is a different skill altogether.”
Philadelphia Tribune: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Black churches aid free testing
Philadelphia Tribune: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Black churches aid free testing. “It was early last Friday morning when Andrea Lawful-Sanders, an on-air personality at WURD Radio, witnessed dozens of cars waiting to get into the parking lot of the Mt. Airy Church of God in Christ. People were waiting at the 6401 Ogontz Ave. church for COVID-19 tests administered by the Black Doctors COVID19 Consortium, which had organized yet another one of its free-of-charge community testing events. Lawful-Sanders was there to drop off face masks.”
Penn State College of Engineering: Twitter data may offer policy makers a glimpse into demand for renewable energy
Penn State College of Engineering: Twitter data may offer policy makers a glimpse into demand for renewable energy. “Tweets could one day help policy makers and energy companies better communicate in near real-time to help customers make better sustainable energy choices, according to a team of researchers. In a study of Twitter data from users in Alaska, researchers found that they could plot how people’s opinions changed about renewable energy over time, as well as what forms of renewable energy were more acceptable, said Somayeh Asadi, assistant professor of architectural engineering, Penn State.”
Neowin: Minecraft creators partner up with UNDP to spread awareness about COVID-19
Neowin: Minecraft creators partner up with UNDP to spread awareness about COVID-19. “Microsoft has announced that video game developer Mojang will be partnering with the United Nations Development Programme and its partner Heart17 to promote health and safety information concerning the novel coronavirus. The campaign aims to spread information concerning COVID-19 using the game’s social media pages. According to this newly announced initiative, over the next few weeks, all Minecraft social media channels will be dedicated to promoting advice pertaining to COVID-19 in line with the official recommendations provided by the World Health Organisation.”
