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Weekly News Digest
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January 31, 2017 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today.
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Adam Matthew Debuts Middle East Archive
Adam Matthew launched Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981, a collection of formerly classified documents from the British government’s Foreign Office. It covers political matters such as the Arab-Israeli War and the Camp David Accords, the Lebanese Civil War, and the Iranian Revolution. Files include annual reviews of internal affairs and external political relationships and economic analyses of the Middle East. The collection is cross-searchable with Confidential Print: Middle East, 1839-1969.For more information, read the press release.
ALA President Speaks Out Against Executive Orders
The American Library Association’s (ALA) president, Julie Todaro, released a statement condemning the new administration’s recent actions as counter to the core values of ALA, which include access to information, confidentiality and privacy, diversity and inclusion, and intellectual freedom. “The American Library Association strongly opposes any actions that limit free access to information, undermine privacy or discriminate on any basis. This includes the temporary suspension of visas and entrance to the US based on anyone’s nationality or religion as well as the increased scrutiny of any individual’s communication such as mobile phone and/or social media activity,” she writes. “Our nation’s 120,000 public, academic, school and special libraries serve all community members, including people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities and the most vulnerable in our communities, offering services and educational resources that transform communities, open minds, and promote inclusion and diversity.”For more information, read the press release.
Digital Science Makes It Easier to Find Grant Information
Digital Science rolled out the Dimensions module for its global grants database. It features searchable information on millions of research projects that have received a total of more than $1 trillion in funding. University administrators and research offices can use it to help make research development decisions, learn about trends in research activity in a given field in real time, find potential new collaborators, and view visualizations of data.For more information, read the press release.
Facebook Takes Steps to Stop Spreading Fake News
According to Recode, Facebook is combating fake news by updating its Trending section of popular topics being discussed on the site. Trending topics will no longer come from single news reports; instead, they will come from news discussed by multiple media outlets. Additionally, Facebook will no longer personalize the trending topics for each user, but will use the same list for all users from each country.“There’s no hard and fast rule for how many outlets need to cover a topic or event before it qualifies as Trending,” the article notes, “And even if a bunch of publishers cover a topic because of a fake news story, that topic could still show up in Trending.” For more information, read the article.
W3C and IDPF Complete Merger
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) have officially merged in order to better align their technologies. Since 88% of the IDPF membership approved the plan to combine, its board and W3C finalized the transaction. W3C gains IDPF’s expertise in publishing, and IDPF publishers gain better options for incorporating web capabilities into documents, searching, and multimedia.For more information, read the press release.
NISO Plans Free Event on Using XML
NISO (National Information Standards Organization) will host a free symposium on April 24, 2017, at the Library of Congress. XML for Standards Publishers: A NISO Connections Live Event will help standards publishers improve their production processes and end-user services and better understand XML. Presentations will include “XML: Use It Yourself” by Tommie Usdin (NISO board chairwoman), “Workflow Choices: When and Where Do I Introduce XML” by Bruce Rosenblum (CEO of Inera), and “Using XML to Create Accessible Publications” by Chandi Perera (CEO of Typefi).For more information, read the press release.
Wayback Machine Adds Chrome Extension
The Internet Archive introduced a Chrome browser extension for the Wayback Machine, which detects dead webpages—those that display error codes such as 404 or Page not Found—and gives users the option to view archived versions of them. The extension silently queries the Wayback Machine for an archived version, and if one is available, the user will see a notice about the archived page.For more information, read the blog post.
Pew Report Explores Cybersecurity
Pew Research Center’s Internet, Science & Tech division released a report, “Americans and Cybersecurity,” which is based on an ongoing series of studies about online privacy and security. The report shows that the majority of Americans have been directly affected by data theft or fraud, many believe that their data became less secure in recent years, and many don’t believe institutions can keep their personal data safe. A majority also feels that cyberattacks are just a fact of life—but they don’t always follow digital security best practices in their personal lives.For more information, read the report’s summary.
OpenAthens Studies Authentication Methods
OpenAthens released a white paper, “Approaches to Authentication: The Importance of Information Security,” which “discusses the complexities facing information professionals and publishers when ensuring the security of access and authentication processes,” according to the press release. It uses different information industry perspectives to show the key security issues facing various authentication methods.For more information, read the press release.
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Brandi Scardilli
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