The Art Newspaper: Berlin’s Natural History Museum receives an eye-watering €660m of public funds for rebuild. “The budget committee of the German parliament’s lower house has approved €330m—a sum to be matched by the city of Berlin—to finance a ten-year renovation and extension of Berlin’s Natural History Museum and create an online database of its collections.”
Germany
The digitized future: How libraries are pioneering a cultural transformation (DW)
DW: The digitized future: How libraries are pioneering a cultural transformation. “Some 120 million visitors take advantage of the educational and cultural offerings of German libraries each year. That’s one reason why, in September, the German Council for Cultural Education published a study on the digitization of library services. One of the results: Digitization has a very positive effect on both the image, and range of services, of libraries.”
Haartez: Holocaust Historian Slams Germany for Shedding Millions of Death Records
Haaretz: Holocaust Historian Slams Germany for Shedding Millions of Death Records. “According to the Hamburg Morgen Post newspaper, the state cultural ministry is defending the decision by the archive’s director, Udo Schäfer, to destroy an estimated 1 million death certificates dating from 1876 to 1953.”
DW: Why hurling tomatoes became a symbol for the German women’s movement
DW: Why hurling tomatoes became a symbol for the German women’s movement. “A new digital archive is shining a light on the history of German feminism. The archive was launched 50 years after an angry female student hurled tomatoes at student leaders, demanding to be heard.”
New York Times: As Germans Seek News, YouTube Delivers Far-Right Tirades
New York Times: As Germans Seek News, YouTube Delivers Far-Right Tirades. “Ray Serrato, a Berlin-based digital researcher, noticed the tide of misinformation when his wife’s uncle showed him a YouTube video that claimed the rioters had been Muslim refugees. The video, posted by an obscure fringe group, was rambling, and it appeared to be cheaply produced. Yet it had nearly half a million views — far more than any news video on the riots. How was that possible?”
Reuters: German antitrust watchdog plans action on Facebook this year
Reuters: German antitrust watchdog plans action on Facebook this year. “Germany’s antitrust watchdog expects to take first steps this year in its probe against Facebook (FB.O) after finding that the social media giant abused its market dominance to gather data on people without their knowledge or consent.”
Facebook: We’ve removed hundreds of posts under German hate speech law (CNET)
CNET: Facebook: We’ve removed hundreds of posts under German hate speech law. “Germany kicked off 2018 with a strict law against online hate speech. The law allows for fines against tech companies, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, of up to $58 million (£44 million, AU$79 million) if they don’t remove offending posts within 24 hours of receiving a complaint. The law is also known as NetzDG.”
