University of Melbourne: How Data Expertise Is Fostering Endangered Languages. “The PARADISEC digital archive model revitalising endangered languages around the Pacific has now been taken up in North America by the Cherokee Nation.”
Harvard Business Review: Is Data Scientist Still the Sexiest Job of the 21st Century?. That noise you hear is me cringing at the headline. “In our research for the original article, many data scientists noted that they spend much of their time cleaning and wrangling data, and that is still the case despite a few advances in using AI itself for data management improvements. In addition, many organizations don’t have data-driven cultures and don’t take advantage of the insights provided by data scientists. Being hired and paid well doesn’t mean that data scientists will make a difference in their employers. Even so, the job has changed — in both large and small ways.”
Tuskegee University: Tuskegee University and UC Berkeley data science partnership announced. “Tuskegee University and UC Berkeley recently announced the Berkeley-Tuskegee Data Science Initiative, a multi-year partnership to develop curriculum and collaborative research opportunities for students and faculty at both institutions.”
NASA: NASA Selects 5 Proposals to Provide New Insights from Openly Available Data in the Physical Sciences Informatics System. “Researchers will investigate important problems with existing data from NASA’s Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI) system. The online database contains data from completed physical science reduced-gravity flight experiments conducted on the International Space Station, Space Shuttle flights, free flying spacecraft, commercial cargo flights to and from the space station, or from related ground-based studies.”
BBC: National Sample Survey: How India taught the world the art of collecting data. “Indian data is staring at a credibility crisis with official numbers on a range of subjects – from Covid deaths to jobs – being questioned by independent experts. But not too long ago, the country was seen as a world leader in data collection, writes author and historian Nikhil Menon.”
WIRED: Democracy Is Asking Too Much of Its Data. “WE’VE ALLOWED OUR democracy to devolve into a game of musical chairs. The population of the United States has tripled, while states must fight over the same 435 seats and must see their fates determined by an algorithmic system plagued by arbitrary outcomes. It is time to enlarge the House of Representatives, a conclusion shared by a bipartisan committee of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. “
Johns Hopkins University: Black Beyond Data. “This is one of [Jessica Marie] Johnson’s passions as a historian. To tell the stories of Black people—particularly Black women—in the Atlantic African diaspora during the centuries of slavery. She highlights the relationships, warmth, and intimacy they created despite the harshest of circumstances, as well as the ways in which they wielded intelligence, creativity, and interpersonal skills to strive for freedom. But Johnson is equally committed to opening access to the myriad amounts of data that contain information about Black life and Black people, both historical and contemporary.”
Newswise: New Jersey Health Data Project Tackles State’s Pressing Health Needs. “Research scholars and policy experts from throughout the state came together Wednesday for a virtual Research Consortium that marked the project launch. The event showcased how the iPHD aims to inform public health policymaking in New Jersey by using administrative data in research to promote a more complete understanding of the factors that impact population health and efficiency of government programs.”
NewsWise: Statistical Physics Rejects Theory of ‘Two Ukraines’. “When reading news and analyses of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, researchers in Spain perceived many conflicting messages being transmitted. The most notable one is the theory of ‘two Ukraines’ or the existence of ideologically pro-West and pro-Russian regions. This doesn’t match the unity of Ukrainians against the Russian invasion, so they wondered if they could provide any solid proof to support or reject such a theory via data analysis tools?”
University of Melbourne: The Hidden Stories In Australia’s Cultural Data. “The widespread digitisation of art and culture means data science is now being used to reveal fresh cultural stories and connections that would otherwise have been impossible to uncover. Researchers are detecting surprising trends, telling the micro-biographical histories of artists and asking new questions about the connection between the environment, the economy, and Australia’s arts and cultural life.”
Global Investigative Journalism Network: 10 Lessons from Bellingcat’s Logan Williams on Digital Forensic Techniques. “Logan Williams is a data scientist on the Bellingcat investigative technology team. He spoke about digital forensic reporting labs at the 2022 International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy. GIJN attended the panel and caught up with Williams afterward to hear his top tips and advice for using digital forensic techniques in your reporting.”
FedScoop: State Department hiring for 50 data scientists using streamlined process. “The State Department launched an assessment-based job application process for about 50 data scientists Friday to streamline talent acquisition across more of its bureaus.”
WIRED: The Census Is Broken. Can AI Fix It?. “The once-a-decade endeavor informs the distribution of federal tax dollars and apportions members of the House of Representatives for each state, potentially redrawing the political map. According to emails obtained through a records request, Trump administration officials interfered in the population count to produce outcomes beneficial to Republicans, but problems with the census go back much further.”
University of Georgia: Creating databases to help cure diseases worldwide. “Jessica Kissinger never set out to make databases. From the time she was a little girl, she wanted to be a biologist. Today, the University of Georgia professor not only studies deadly pathogens like malaria and Cryptosporidium (a waterborne parasite), but also is a driving force behind worldwide, groundbreaking collaborations on novel databases. During her time at UGA, she has received nearly $40 million in federal and private grants and contracts.”
Illinois State University: Highlighting linked data projects. “While Library of Congress’ Bibliographic Framework Initiative (BIBFRAME) may be the most visible project to integrate library catalogs with linked data, other cultural heritage institutions have begun work on their own linked data projects. These initiatives can focus on creating new or converting existing data to linked data and work with external partners or be largely inward focused, but all have the goal of improving discoverability and access for their patrons.” A little fuzzy on the concept of linked data? This explanation from Ontotext helped me out.
