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Weekly News Digest
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June 6, 2019 — 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.
CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.
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Kobo Explores the Importance of Reading in Combating Fake News
Kobo published a blog post in April titled “Foiling Fake News: Why the World Needs Reading.” It notes the following:Recently, Google announced it will enable journalists to tag misleading stories as part of an ongoing, $300-million campaign against misinformation. And the search engine behemoth isn’t alone; last month, Facebook cracked down on pages and ads that promoted falsities about vaccines, while Apple pledged its support to media literacy organizations in the United States and Italy. Together, these initiatives represent an industry-wide push to eliminate so-called “alternative facts” from some of the web’s most popular platforms. … Media literacy education programs are more effective, as they teach participants to develop and exercise critical thinking skills. But these lessons alone can’t combat the alienation and skepticism that allow fake news to proliferate. … So how can we learn to practice empathy, think critically, and build community, all in the name of keeping inaccurate information from spreading? One answer lies with another form of the written word: books. For more information, read the blog post.
Register for ALA's Webinar on Diversity in Comics
ALA’s Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table and organization president Loida Garcia-Febo are hosting a free webinar on June 12: Libraries, Comics and Superheroes of Color: Strengthening Our Reading Communities.The press release notes, “Comics have a valuable role in teaching literacy and are a format increasingly available at academic, public and school libraries. Children, teens and people [of] all ages are empowered by the timely issues impacting our world and communities included in comics and it is even more impactful when we can promote reading through comics reflecting our communities of color.” The webinar will focus on how comics both reflect readers and provide access to new viewpoints. Panelists include Saladin Ahmed, a comics writer, and Chloe Ramos-Peterson, library marketing coordinator at Image Comics. For more information, read the press release.
The Web of Science Group Rolls Out Publisher Analytics Reports
The Web of Science Group, part of Clarivate Analytics, introduced a series of analytical reports for academic publishers that show a snapshot of journals’ performance and aid in competitor analysis and strategizing. They analyze journal performance, publishing output, subject area/opportunity, and contributions from funding agencies.“Our new Publisher Analytics reports will enable truly data-driven decision making, by offering the best of our data from the Web of Science, InCites analytics, and where appropriate combining that with data from ScholarOne or customers’ own editorial data,” says Keith Collier, managing director of publisher services at the Web of Science Group. “The reports save publishers the time and effort of arduously creating a manual report, are simple to understand and ready to distribute to journal stakeholders including Editors and Editorial Boards. Their development reflects a renewed investment in the Web of Science Group Publisher Services team.” For more information, read the blog post.
W3C and WHATWG Team Up to Combine HTML and DOM Specifications
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) signed an agreement with the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) to work toward a single version of the HTML and DOM specifications. According to the press release, “Motivated by the belief that having two distinct HTML and DOM specifications claiming to be normative is generally harmful for the community, and the mutual desire to bring the work back together, W3C and WHATWG agree to [a list of] terms,” which includes the following:- W3C and WHATWG work together on HTML and DOM, in the WHATWG repositories, to produce a Living Standard and Recommendation/Review Draft-snapshots
- W3C stops independent publishing of a designated list of specifications related to HTML and DOM and instead will work to take WHATWG Review Drafts to W3C Recommendations
The organizations published a Memorandum of Understanding that offers more details. For more information, read the press release.
Ex Libris Debuts App Center for Enhancing Its Products
Ex Libris, a ProQuest company, introduced the Ex Libris App Center, “an open hub providing customers with a single place to find ways to complement and extend their Ex Libris solutions.” On launch, it is offering apps, extensions, and customizations—by both Ex Libris and community developers—for solutions such as Alma, Primo, and campusM. More solutions will be available in the future. Customers can adapt Ex Libris solutions to fit their individual needs and share their developments with the entire Ex Libris community.“Innovation has always been one of our core values at Ex Libris. With the launch of the App Center today, we embrace the innovation that is happening in our impressive developer community,” says Bar Veinstein, president of Ex Libris. “We continually strive to find new ways to allow our customers to leverage their Ex Libris solutions while always focusing on openness in our mindset and our approach.” For more information, read the press release.
Kudos Contextual Information Gets Integrated Into Researchfish Platform
Kudos announced integration with Researchfish, a research impact assessment platform provider, in which Kudos will make plain-language article summaries and author perspectives directly available to researchers, universities, and funders in the Researchfish platform. This will cut down on duplicate efforts and enhance publication records on Researchfish with extra context and metadata. Funders can use the information to find opportunities and further engage with research.For more information, read the blog post.
Exact Editions Adds String Music Magazine
Exact Editions announced that The Strad, a magazine focused on the field of string music (teachers, players, instrument makers, etc.), is now available via subscription for institutions and individuals around the world. More than 60 issues from the past 5 years have been digitized and are accessible on the web or via iOS or Android devices. All articles can be shared and cited.“We’re pleased to be able to offer a digital archive of The Strad to institutions with robust music faculties around the world,” says Alex McLachlan, Exact Editions’ product director. “The magazine’s meticulous coverage of all parts of the string instrument world will ensure that this new enhanced level of access to the latest issues and archive is extremely valuable.” For more information, read the press release.
WIRED Explains the European Union's New Copyright Law
Matt Reynolds writes for WIRED, “Big changes are coming to online copyright across the European Union. After years of debate and negotiations, politicians have passed sweeping changes following a final vote in the European Parliament. … The European Union Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, to use its full name, requires the likes of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to take more responsibility for copyrighted material being shared illegally on their platforms.”The article continues, “It’s become known by the most controversial segment, Article 13, which critics claim will have a detrimental impact on creators online. YouTube, and YouTubers, have become the most vocal opponents of the proposal.” For more information, read the article.
SAGE Report Explores How to Measure Impact in the Social and Behavioral Sciences
SAGE published a report, “The Latest Thinking About Metrics for Research Impact in the Social Sciences” (registration required), on ways to improve the measurement of impact in the social and behavioral sciences (SBS) field. Its takeaways include the following:- The full scholarly community must believe that new impact metrics are useful, necessary, and beneficial to society.
- All stakeholders must understand that although social science impact is measurable, social science is not STEM, and social science’s impact measurements may echo STEM’s but are unlikely to mirror them.
- Social science needs a global vocabulary, a global taxonomy, global metadata, and finally a global set of benchmarks for talking about impact measurement.
According to the press release, “The report also maps out stakeholder categories, defines key terms and questions, puts forward four models for assessing impact, proposes next steps, and presents a list of 45 resources and data sources that could help in creating a model of SBS impact.” For more information, read the press release.
Washington, D.C., Libraries in the Spotlight
Violet Fox writes for OCLC’s Next blog about 14 libraries to visit during the ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition (or any time, really) in Washington, D.C. If you “are looking for some library-specific ideas a bit off the beaten path—we’ve put together an ‘insiders’ guide’ to some unique, lesser-known libraries in the capital area. … As residents of Washington, DC, we’ve had a bit more time to explore. And we’ve grouped our recommendations into three categories: federal libraries, private libraries, and libraries related to non-English materials.”For more information, read the blog post.
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Brandi Scardilli
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