Worldwide, more than 3 billion people use the Internet each day; smart watches and digital fitness trackers have become more common; and according to a 2015 re:fuel College Explorer study, students own an average of nearly seven devices. So it’s no wonder IT leaders are feeling the heat to keep up with this ever-growing demand on their residential networks.
What’s Wrong with Open-Data Sites–and How We Can Fix Them – Scientific American Blog Network
Imagine shopping in a supermarket where every item is stored in boxes that look exactly the same. Some are filled with cereal, others with apples, and others with shampoo. Shopping would be an absolute nightmare! The design of most open data sites—the (usually government) sites that distribute census, economic and other data to be used and redistributed freely—is not exactly equivalent to this nightmarish supermarke. But it’s pretty close.
During the last decade, such sites—data.gov, data.gov.uk, data.gob.cl, data.gouv.fr, and many others—have been created throughout the world. Most of them, however, still deliver data as sets of links to tables, or links to other sites that are also hard to comprehend. In the best cases, data is delivered through APIs, or application program interfaces, which are simple data query languages that require a user to have a basic knowledge of programming. So understanding what is inside each dataset requires downloading, opening, and exploring the set in ways that are extremely
What we learned about online nonprobability polls | Pew Research Center
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/05/02/q-a-online-nonprobability-polls/
What do you hope the survey world will take away from this study?
Our results suggest that more elaborate adjustments help to improve accuracy and that not weighting your data – a common practice among online sample vendors – is not a great idea. To advance this survey approach, our study suggests that you need adjustments across a large range of variables, rather than the narrow set often used when weighting traditional, probability samples.
Thomas.gov set to retire this summer
http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/it/2016/04/28/thomas-gov-retire/83645430/
The Library of Congress announced plans to finally retire the Thomas.gov web portal this summer after almost 21 years of public service. Library staff have finished migrating the site’s data over to the newer Congress.gov and plan to turn off the old site on July 5.
Early analysis of Seattle’s $15 wage law: Effect on prices minimal one year after implementation | UW Today
Most Seattle employers surveyed in a University of Washington-led study said in 2015 that they expected to raise prices on goods and services to compensate for the city’s move to a $15 per hour minimum wage.
But a year after the law’s April 2015 implementation, the study indicates such increases don’t seem to be happening.
4 Tips for Successfully Engaging the Public Across Multiple Social Media Platforms
Roanoke, Va.’s communication and media coordinator shares his strategies to make the most out of social media efforts.
Illustrating Global Wealth Inequality – Sociological Images
https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2016/04/21/illustrating-global-wealth-inequality/
Wealth inequality in the U.S. is extreme, but global wealth inequality, illustrates a video by The Rules, is even more stunning.
What the world thinks about climate change in 7 charts | Pew Research Center
On April 22, leaders and representatives from more than 150 countries will gather at the United Nations to sign the global climate change agreement reached in Paris in December. Pew Research Center’s spring 2015 survey found that people around the world are concerned about climate change and want their governments to take action.
What Miles Davis Taught Herbie Hancock: In Music, as in Life, There Are No Mistakes, Just Chances to Improvise | Open Culture
In this very short video based around an interview with pianist Herbie Hancock, the master improvisor Miles Davis honored Hancock’s mistake as a hidden intention by playing along with it. It’s both a surprising look into the arcane world of jazz improvisation and a revealing anecdote of Davis, usually known as a difficult collaborator.
“It taught me a very big lesson not only about music,” says Hancock, “but about life.”
Universities, inequality, and the overtime rule | Economic Policy Institute
http://www.epi.org/blog/universities-overtime-rule/
This is a consequential move, which will improve the lives of many working people in a number of ways. Millions of employees who work long hours will get paid overtime for the first time. Millions of other workers who have been working long hours, at a cost to their health and their families, will have their hours reduced to 40 hours a week. Millions more will get a raise above the threshold, because their employer can continue to avoid paying overtime. And hundreds of thousands of people will get jobs because employers will reduce the hours of some employees to avoid paying overtime and hire additional people to do the work at straight time wages.
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