Is it fake? … is a question that comes up fairly frequently when you’re reading online content. We see news stories, social media posts, or images that flash by and make us wonder “Can that possibly be real?”This week’s Challenge is to explore a cou…
I’m going back to Cape Breton one day… … largely because I’m not sure I’ve been to a friendlier place. I had lots of conversations with people I met there–just chatting about life in Nova Scotia and what it’s like to live there. But this week’s …
The U.S. National Archives is celebrating the work of archivists and the importance of archives with a series of blog posts about the Presidential libraries. The records created by Presidents while in office will become part of the National Archives, and eventually will be used by researchers. Here’s how it happens! This post comes from John Laster, Director of the Presidential Materials Division at the National Archives.
Cape Breton… … is a beautiful place on the northeastern end of Nova Scotia. I was visiting there last week, driving around enjoying the local music and the fall colors.But as usual, there were things there that puzzled me–can you help me understa…
Non-watery fountains? This week’s Challenge was fairly simple, but could be as open-ended as you want. It came about when I saw some non-water-based fountains, and was struck by how crazy they could be. In particular, I found one fountain that deeply…
Something other than water? This past week I saw a small fountain of molten chocolate at a hotel reception. You know, the kind you hold your skewered piece of fruit beneath, and then, as you try to eat it, the chocolate drips everywhere. If you’re n…
Mysterious signs… … are everplace in our lives; this just happens to be one that I got curious about. And as it goes with human cognition, once I saw this sign while running, now I’m seeing it just about everywhere I go. More generally, once you’…
As a National Digital Stewardship Resident for DC Public Libraries (DCPL), Jaime Mear’s project is to help the public with personal archiving, especially when it comes to digital materials. One strategy is to open a DIY lab where patrons can transfer their home movies off of obsolete media and/or digitize photographs and papers.
FIA sponsored, along with UMD’s Division of Information Technology and the Campus Visualization Partnership (CVP), a lecture on October 7, 2015 by Dr. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin on the computational framework that she and a team of researchers is developing at the Allosphere Research Facility which will enable the transformation of big and complex data.
While running… … in a nearby open space preserve on the San Francisco peninsula the other day, I came across a somewhat mysterious sign. I figured this must mark something pretty impressive, because it’s just out in the middle of a field near a ni…
When I say… “Thinking outside the box,” I could be referring to any of many boxes that we get ourselves stuck in. As you know, there are lots of bias effects that can influence our problem-solving (or research) skills. We’ve talked about some of th…
Some problems are hard. But often, if you know where and how to search, the answers can be found without an excess of work. This week’s Challenge is an example of exactly this idea. If you spend more than 5 minutes on this Challenge, you should stop…
That was fun! This past week I was in the western Caribbean, on the island of Bonaire (part of the Netherland Antilles), and I’m seeing a bunch of extremely interesting animals. Our Challenge this week was pretty simple and fun: Can you figure out wh…
As you know… … I’m actually on vacation this week. More on that later, but I’m trying to NOT spend much time online. For what it’s worth, I’m completely failing at this. However, I thought I’d post a purely fun Search Challenge this week. It’s …
It’s interesting to answer.. .. an SRS question about hills when I’m back in Bonaire, spending most of my free time underwater. As you probably remember from the parrotfish Challenge of 2 years ago, this is a fascinating place. But we were talking ab…