Knowledge Handler

Information Sources & Information Sifting Techniques

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Location: Independence, Ohio, United States

I am a retired librarian, most recently serving at Indiana Wesleyan University's Cleveland Education Center.

Friday, June 30, 2017

Purism Corporation Develops Secure Laptop

Lucas Mearian reports on the development of a secure laptop whose operating system is based on Linux.

A good idea, but I question if enough secure apps will exist to make it useful or cost effective.

-DD

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Thursday, June 29, 2017

Trust, Social Spaces, and Room Design

Thornton May expounds on the value of cooperation to companies and other ventures. He cites research by Dr. Karen Stephenson which indicates that cooperation can be measured, and may be enhanced by specific room layouts and techniques.

More influential than room layouts and social manipulation is the the underlying level of trust between collaborators. To be productive, trust must exist between the individual persons involved in group projects for collaboration to flourish. Too much competition within a group destroys the dynamics that make the assembled players creative and dynamic.

My additional reading on this by topic indicates that solitude is as important to creativity as social spaces, justifying the existence of private spaces. Balance is necessary for optimum productivity.

-DD

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Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Google Custom Search

Google offers the option of creating a searchbox which searches any site on the Web .

-DD

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Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Teaching Innovation

Ted Dintersmith suggests in this video that people need to be taught in such a way as to encourage innovation. He has sponsored a new documentary on innovation in some schools, with the hopes that innovation will be generally taught.

-DD

Ted Dintersmith from One Potato Productions on Vimeo.

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Monday, June 26, 2017

Google's Tools for Mobile Web Design

Aleyda Solis exhorts webmasters to consult Google's Mobile SEO tools when designing their website. She specifically mentions:

  1. Is Your Web Page Mobile-Friendly
  2. Fetch as Google
  3. Mobility Usability Report

-DD

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Saturday, June 24, 2017

Smart Glasses

Tom Elgan provides an in-depth look at the impact smart glasses are having on business and education. He predicts these augmented reality devices, which display additional environmental information to the user, will transform our lives in future years.

-DD

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Friday, June 23, 2017

Art Cities

Matt Alderton shares a list of top art cities in the United States.

-DD

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Thursday, June 22, 2017

Virtual Reality Technology

Goldie Blumenstyk shares the research into the research of Jeremy Bailenson on virtual reality and both its emotional cost and development of empathy.

-DD

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Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Big Data

Sean Silverthorne reports on big data research at Harvard.

-DD

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Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Evaluating Critical Thinking

Becky Supiano interviews Greg Heileman, Vice-Provost at the University of New Mexico, about the value of the CLA+ exam, which measures the growth of critical thinking in a student over time. The institution uses the reports to improve the educational experience to foster critical thought. Heileman also suggests that perhaps the score will be used on student resumes in the future, as so many occupations require critical thinking ability.

-DD

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Monday, June 19, 2017

Google Maps vs. Waze

Derek Walter compares both Google Mapx and Waze in this review .

-DD

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Sunday, June 18, 2017

Failure Happens - And Prepares One for Future Challenges

Melanie Nelson shares the importance of dealing positively with failure . Nelson cites the research of Carol Dweck's research (explored in this TED Talk) which shows that repeated experiences of practicing to master a skill developes a beneficial "growth mindset" that will help one succeed throughout life. In contrast, thouse who only have experience working within their area of strength may not be motivated to take on challenges in life.

-DD

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Saturday, June 17, 2017

Humility and Civility

Michael Patrick Lynch argues that humility, information literacy and basic epistemic fallacies should be taught in the university. Lynch is concerned that holders of divergent beliefs are becoming more arrogant and more un-civil. He sees some common web technology as a driver for this arrogance, as "the analytics that drive the internet don’t just get us more information; they get us more of the information we want" (para. 3). He observes that society needs to agree on a balance betweeen conviction and humility that allows diversity of belief.

-DD

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Friday, June 16, 2017

Life Without Google

Samuel Axon describes his five months eschewing Google services .

-DD

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Thursday, June 15, 2017

Cognitive Biases

Quora has a discussion thread on cognitive biases .

-DD

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Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Security and the Internet of Things

The Pew Research Center report Internet of Things predicts that some people will disconnect from Internet resources because of privacy fears.

-DD

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Tuesday, June 13, 2017

FERPA

The U.S. Department of Education explains the limitations on distributing information about students due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

-DD

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Yelp for Colleges

J. Clara Chan cites Jonathan Rothwell's research into college ratings .

-DD

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Sunday, June 11, 2017

Android "In Apps" Search

Derek Walter shows how to use Google's In Apps function to quickly search the contents of an Android phone.

-DD

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Saturday, June 10, 2017

Overwhelming Volumes of Data

Thor Olavsrud suggests that some companies keep too much data , making it difficult to later search for specific information.

-DD

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Friday, June 09, 2017

Cognative Computing Explained

Bob Violino explains the basics of cognative computing , and how the concept compares with artifical intelligence.

-DD

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Thursday, June 08, 2017

Social Media Attracts Patrons to the Library

Princh, the printer management company, suggests how one can use these social media tools to attract more patrons to the library: Libraries offer a plethora of creative and interesting events, but a lot of times people find out about them a few days after they took place. Several library studies and research such as the one made by Pew Research Center (and most recently by the Carnegie UK Trust) emphasize that libraries must make their audiences aware of library programming and services.



-DD

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Frugal Mobile Plans

rick Broida compares 17 no-contract mobile carriers found in the U.S.

-DD

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Tuesday, June 06, 2017

Ethics of Testing

Laura Ascione discusses the ethics of predictive admissions testing .

-DD

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Monday, June 05, 2017

Early Retirement

Kristine Wong suggests that "Why Early Retirement Isn’t as Awesome as It Sounds ."

-DD

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Sunday, June 04, 2017

Social Rejection and Longetivity

Mitch Prinstein reports on the health effects of social rejection . Prinstein shares that researchers George Slavich and Steve Cole found that social rejection has an epigenetic effect on DNA.

Prinstein then speculates on the reason for this effect on lifespan.

-DD

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Saturday, June 03, 2017

Android Update

J. R. Raphael forecasts what new productivity features in the Fall Android release .

-DD

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Friday, June 02, 2017

Genesis of the Term "Amazon"

Bam Bino discusses the origins of the term "Amazon," or as Herodotus called them: "Oiorpata ," that is, "man killer."

-DD

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Thursday, June 01, 2017

Gmail vs. Inbox

Michael Simon compares the stock Gmail client and the Inbox client . Simon slightly favors Inbox because it adds valuable features like "undo" to Gmail. However, the stock Gmail client can link to other message severs beside Google's, while the Inbox client is limited.

-DD

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