October 2024

‘AI-Mazing Tech-Venture’: National Archives Pushes Google Gemini AI on Employees

‘AI-Mazing Tech-Venture’: National Archives Pushes Google Gemini AI on Employees

In June, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) gave employees a presentation and tech demo called “AI-mazing Tech-venture” in which Google’s Gemini AI was presented as a tool archives employees could use to “enhance productivity.” During a demo, the AI was queried with questions about the John F. Kennedy assassination, according to a copy of the presentation obtained by 404 Media using a public records request.

One worker who attended the presentation told 404 Media “I suspect they’re going to introduce it to the workplace. I’m just a person who works there and hates AI bullshit.”

October 16, 2024 by AI Museums

Guided by Vices

Guided by Vices

The biggest social platforms are fond of reminding us about how they facilitate connections and help us communicate around the world. They are a little bit like a digital third place. And, just as you would not hang out somewhere that was actively trying to sabotage your ability to chat with your friends in real life, it is hard to know why you would do so online, either. Happily, where Google and Meta and X exhaust me with their choices, there are a wealth of new ideas that bring back joy.

October 15, 2024 by Internet Technology

Texas county sidelines librarians, reclassifies book on abuse of Native Americans as “fiction”

Texas county sidelines librarians

A Texas county has mandated public libraries move a well-regarded children’s book documenting the mistreatment of Native Americans in New England — Colonization and the Wampanoag Story — from the “non-fiction” section to “fiction.” The decision was made after the government of Montgomery County, under pressure from right-wing activists, removed librarians from the process of reviewing children’s books and replaced them with a “Citizens Review Committee.” Colonization and the Wampanoag Story was “challenged” by an unknown person on September 10, 2024. The Committee responded by ordering that the book be moved to the fiction section of public libraries in Montgomery County by October 17, 2024, according to public records obtained by the Texas Freedom To Read Project shared with Popular Information.

October 14, 2024 by Books

TIME’s 1990 “Twentysomething” article on Generation X

By David M. Gross and Sophfronia Scott[2018 companion podcast interview with Sophfronia Scott online here.]

They have trouble making decisions. They would rather hike in the Himalayas than climb a corporate ladder. They have few heroes, no anthems, no style to call their own. They crave entertainment, but their attention span is as short as one zap of a TV dial. They hate yuppies, hippies and druggies. They postpone marriage because they dread divorce. They sneer at Range Rovers, Rolexes and red suspenders. What they hold dear are family life, local activism, national parks, penny loafers and mountain bikes. They possess only a hazy sense of their own identity but a monumental preoccupation with all the problems the preceding generation will leave for them to fix.

October 8, 2024 by Internet

Michigan library closes for second time over bed bug discovery

Michigan library closes for second time over bed bug discovery

On Friday, the city contacted a professional pest management company which inspected the property and determined that K-9 units would have identified bed bugs found in chairs during a prior inspection on Sept. 25. That led the pest management company to suspect the bed bugs were reintroduced to the facility after it was treated the first time.

October 8, 2024 by Public Libraries

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