HOT LINKS
RC: Why printers add secret tracking dots.
Julia: Stardust is a GPU-based data visualization library. These examples look pretty powerful.
Gabe: Jane Solomon used Python to analyze gun emoji pairings for all you linguist nerds. ?
Kay: Populace uses data from social media and other sources to display crowd densities - making it easier to find breaking stories. Read more about it here.
Ben: An update to the survey of newsroom boundary servers I ran a couple weeks back: only five found so far. If you know of any others, please add them to the list.
Inndy: I like the idea of cars talking to each other.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Office Hours today will feature our very own Kay Lima talking about the Google Search Console. Join us at 2 p.m. Eastern on Zoom: zoom.us/j/298377456
BE OUR GUEST!
B Cordelia Yu is a content and editorial strategist who is "totes available to join yer product and community teams."
The Personal Democracy Forum was last week and the speaker who excited me most was Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s digital minister, on stories from the future of democracy. She told us how civic hackers and journalists are using open data to educate about public policy and are building tools for inclusive participation to create the country’s laws†. The speaker before her, Colin Megill, talked about how they’re using machine learning to scale the process.
Normally I’m skeptical of folks touting tech as a solution to social complexity, but Taiwan’s civic hackers, journalists, scholars, and policymakers are coming together to create spaces for direct public participation in policymaking. Coming out of authoritarianism 30 years ago, their journos are sussing out what it means to be a free press in the time of the Internet—without our institutional baggage. So as I watch Taiwan, I wonder what it would mean to evolve our work from broadcasting truth to partnering with communities to discover truth and become bridges to speak to power.
† Is Taiwan a country? It’s complicated.
Be a guest contributor! Read more about that here and shoot us an email at nerds@inn.org if you're interested. We'd love to hear from you.
EVENTS/DEADLINES
Tickets are now on sale for WordCamp for Publishers!
Investigative Reporters and Editors' annual conference is in Phoenix next week, and Julia will be there. Say hi!
SHOUT OUT
Last week, we linked to a security article on Source. This week, we get to link to the entire Security Week on Source. It’s got a guide to practical paranoia, an interview with the Director of Newsroom Security at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and a training guide for digital security in newsrooms. Give ‘em a read!
GET A JOB
The Coral Project is hiring a Lead Engineer.
National Geographic is hiring a Director of Cartography.
WBEZ is looking for an Interactive Producer.
The Federal Elections Commission seeks an IT Specialist.
If you're looking for general jobs in nonprofit news, check out the main INN newsletter and sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Two INN newsletters are better than one!
SOME OTHER STUFF
LISTEN: Beethoven’s Sonata No.29 in B-flat Major, "Hammerklavier" ?
READ: Oil's Pipeline to America's Schools: Inside the fossil-fuel industry’s not-so-subtle push into K-12 education from The Center for Public Integrity.
WATCH: A Ghibli double feature.
EAT: Merguez with herby yogurt.
DRINK: Plenty of water.
From 2014, a truck barrier test.
No robots were harmed.