Tag Archives: research

DMCA chilling effects: How copyright law hurts security research. – Slate Magazine

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An informative exposition on the DMCA and security research. I thought the article interesting and a reminder of the power of political and lobbying bodies in the US. In Canada, we are weathering our own struggle against the muzzling of our scientific researchers and librarians by the PMO.

“The outdated copyright law doesn’t just hurt consumers—it cripples researchers.” via DMCA chilling effects: How copyright law hurts security research. – Slate Magazine.

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Software That Can Piece Together Lost Languages | Co.Design: business + innovation + design

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Another example of how big data is being leveraged in research and education.

Software That Can Piece Together Lost Languages | FastCompany Co.Design: business + innovation + design.

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Big Data: A Rose by Any Other Name? – Information Space
ENCODE: Big Data, the Human Genome, and Non-Profit Global Enterprise – Information Space

Mashable | Free Database of the Entire Web May Spawn the Next Google

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Common Crawl, and subsequent spin off projects, is an organization I believe librarians should be following closely. It would be great for library and information service professionals to be involved with some of these projects. I could also see the government and educational institutions providing funding for research proposals analyzing some of the data.

“A nonprofit called Common Crawl is now using its own web crawler and making a giant copy of the web that it makes accessible to anyone. The organization offers up more than 5 billion web pages, available for free so that researchers and entrepreneurs can try things otherwise possible only for those with access to resources on the scale of Google’s.”

via Mashable | Free Database of the Entire Web May Spawn the Next Google.

Data-Visualization Firm’s New Software Autonomously Finds Abstract Connections | Wired Design | Wired.com

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“Ayasdi, a company that has developed data visualization software it says uses big data to answer the questions you never thought to ask…Their new product is called the Iris Insight Discovery platform. It’s a type of machine learning that uses hundreds of algorithms and topological data analysis to mine huge datasets before presenting the results in a visually accessible way. Using algebraic topology, the system automatically hunts down data points close in nature and maps these out to reveal a network of patterns for a researcher to decipher…”

via Data-Visualization Firm’s New Software Autonomously Finds Abstract Connections | Wired Design | Wired.com.

Elsevier In Advanced Talks To Buy Mendeley For Around $100M To Beef Up In Social, Open Education Data | TechCrunch

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This acquisition by Elsevier seems smart, forward thinking to me. It would be interesting to hear the opinions of researchers on this deal, with Mendeley being such a popular tool. Better Elsevier than ThomsonReuters in my opinion…just a better fit.

Elsevier In Advanced Talks To Buy Mendeley For Around $100M To Beef Up In Social, Open Education Data | TechCrunch.

Gizmodo | Scientists Confirm That Blocking Pirate Sites Does Absolutely Nothing

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“A team of scientists have finally bothered to do a study, crunch the numbers, and come to the same conclusion as everyone else – blocking pirate sites does nothing to stop piracy.”

via Scientists Confirm That Blocking Pirate Sites Does Absolutely Nothing | Gizmodo.

LifeHacker | Self-Compassion is More Important to Success than Self-Esteem

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“Being proud of your work and showing some self-esteem and confidence will get you a long way in life, but at the office, sometimes it’s the ability to forgive yourself and learn from your mistakes that’s more valuable than pure ego. Self-compassion can help you learn and grow, which is key to succeeding in any career.”

via Self-Compassion is More Important to Success than Self-Esteem at LifeHacker

Original post at Harvard Business Review

Pew Research | Senior Citizens and Digital Technology

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Pew Internet & American Life Project Senior Citizens and Digital Technology  Presentation

Scientists Seek New Credibility Outside of Established Journals – The Digital Shift

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“That’s the theory behind academia.edu, a social media-inspired platform that allows research scientists and other academic professionals to critique and collaborate on research. Since its founding in the fall of 2008, the site has attracted almost 2 million members (including a growing community of librarians), 1.7 million papers, and 3.9 million unique visitors per month.”

via Scientists Seek New Credibility Outside of Established Journals – The Digital Shift.

Gabriella Coleman | Geek Researcher Spends Three Years Living With Hackers

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Geek Researcher Spends Three Years Living With Hackers | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com

I’m sure Gabriella Coleman’s upcoming book Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking will be a fascinating read!  I completed an Information Security weekend workshop during my MLIS program and we discussed hacking and how easy it is for hackers to compromise systems. We also discussed pros and cons of hacktivism. I would have to take a full-credit course in Information Security but it was not offered at the time. I could see Coleman’s research integrating well within the curriculum.

The Anthropology of Hackers syllabus-as-essay via The Atlantic

Hacker (Forthcoming, The John Hopkins Encyclopedia of Digital Textuality)

Gabriella Coleman video Hacktivism: Political Hacking’s Global Reach, From Scientology to Wikileaks to the Arab Spring on DemocracyNow.org