Introducing the Mozilla Science Lab | The Mozilla Blog

Posted on June 17, 2013 by infophile

We’re excited to announce the launch of the Mozilla Science Lab, a new initiative that will help researchers around the world use the open web to shape science’s future.

Scientists created the web — but the open web still hasn’t transformed scientific practice to the same extent we’ve seen in other areas like media, education and business. For all of the incredible discoveries of the last century, science is still largely rooted in the “analog” age. Credit systems in science are still largely based around “papers,” for example, and as a result researchers are often discouraged from sharing, learning, reusing, and adopting the type of open and collaborative learning that the web makes possible.

The Science Lab will foster dialog between the open web community and researchers to tackle this challenge. Together they’ll share ideas, tools, and best practices for using next-generation web solutions to solve real problems in science, and explore ways to make research more agile and collaborative.

via Introducing the Mozilla Science Lab | The Mozilla Blog

The Case for Preserving the Pleasure of Deep Reading | MindShift

Posted on June 7, 2013 by infophile

Recent research in cognitive science, psychology and neuroscience has demonstrated that deep reading—slow, immersive, rich in sensory detail and emotional and moral complexity—is a distinctive experience, different in kind from the mere decoding of words.

For the full article see: The Case for Preserving the Pleasure of Deep Reading | MindShift.

CIA Releases Analyst’s Fascinating Tale of Cracking the Kryptos Sculpture | Threat Level | Wired.com

Posted on June 6, 2013 by infophile

CIA Releases Analyst’s Fascinating Tale of Cracking the Kryptos Sculpture | Threat Level | Wired.com.

This story exemplifies qualities we could all try to nurture in ourselves and others: perseverance, dedication, motivation, discretion, problem-solving…and curiosity!

Quotable: “When confronted with a puzzle or problem, we sometimes can lose sight of the fact that we have issued a challenge to ourselves–not to our tools. And before we automatically reach for our computers, we sometimes need to remember that we already possess the most essential and powerful problem-solving tool within our own minds.”

Hyperlinked web version of The Puzzle at CIA Headquarters: Cracking the Courtyard Crypto by David D. Stein | Elonka.com

Bill Gates, Benchmark And More Pour $35M Into ResearchGate, The Social Network For Scientists | TechCrunch

Posted on June 4, 2013 by infophile

ResearchGate announced that it has closed a $35 million round of series C financing from Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Tenaya Capital, with participation from Dragoneer Investment Group and Thrive Capital. This hefty third-round of financing follows its series A and B rounds raised in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Short-term returns may not be part of the equation for ResearchGate’s investors, but Bill Gates, for one, hasn’t been shy about placing big bets on potentially high-impact education, energy and health-related technologies, even if those are long-term — or long shot — investments.

ResearchGate has endeavored to give researchers a platform where they can not only upload the journals they’ve been published in, but share raw data as well — along with experiments that failed or succeeded — in an effort to make that knowledge accessible in a broader context.

For the full article see: Bill Gates, Benchmark And More Pour $35M Into ResearchGate, The Social Network For Scientists | TechCrunch.

A Robot For Autistic Kids, Now In Schools | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

Posted on May 31, 2013 by infophile

The humanoid NAO Robot can interact with kids in a way that grownups sometimes can’t.

via A Robot For Autistic Kids, Now In Schools | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation.

Extraordinary and heartwarming.

Worldwide National Library Catalogs | OEDB.org

Posted on May 31, 2013 by infophile

National libraries are tasked with the centuries-long responsibility of preserving books and documents that keep a country’s history and heritage safe through war, disaster, and the passage of time. They’re also responsible for sharing these vast and valuable documents with citizens of the country, and the world.

National libraries are the absolute best resource for finding publications within any given country. This is thanks to legal deposit, legislation in many countries that requires publishers to provide the national library with a copy of each publication. In some countries, this even includes digital publications.

Through national library catalogs, you can search all of the publications within a country. Many national libraries also offer extensive digital collections, offering online researchers access to documents of historical importance, official publications, even images and video.

via Worldwide National Library Catalogs – OEDB.org.

The post provides a comprehensive list of Worldwide National Library Catalogs, including 3 from Canada.

The Declassification Engine: Your One-Stop Shop for Government Secrets | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com

Posted on May 24, 2013 by infophile

A fascinating article about researchers developing the “Declassification Engine” – a tool to analyze declassified documents in the United States.

In many cases, documents are declassified only because individuals will request them under the Freedom of Information Act, and this often means they’re spread to the four winds. “There are a lot of declassified documents out there. Some of them are in historians’ basements. Some are in specific libraries. Some are in digital archives. And they’re in different formats. No one has systematically collected them into a searchable, usable, user-friendly database,” says Columbia law professor David Pozen.

The Declassification Engine seeks to remedy this, but that’s only the first step. Columbia’s Matthew Connelly first dreamed up the idea when he realized that although more and more government documents are now created in electronic format, a dwindling percentage are declassified in electronic format. The rise of digital records, he told himself, should provide more opportunities for researchers, not less.

See the full article: The Declassification Engine: Your One-Stop Shop for Government Secrets | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com.