Alex Howard

The White House is tumbling further into new media

digiphile.wordpress.com — Earlier today, the White House officially joined Tumblr. A short initial post and a picture set the expectations for what members of the social blogging platform should expect: We'll post things like the best quotes from President Obama, or video of young scientists visiting the White House for the science fair, or photos of adorable moments with Bo.

GIF Creator, Steve Wilhite, Receives Lifetime Achievement Webby Award

bits.blogs.nytimes.com — Among the thousands of file formats that exist in modern computing, the GIF, or Graphics Interchange Format, has attained celebrity status in a sea of lesser-known BMPs, RIPs, FIGs and MIFFs. It was honored as a "word of the year" in 2012, and Tuesday night, its inventor, Steve Wilhite, will be accepting a lifetime achievement award at The Webby Awards.

Australia Joins the Open Government Partnership

agimo.gov.au — Today the Australian Government Attorney General and Special Minister of State, the Hon Mark Dreyfus QC, announced that Australia is joining the Open Government Partnership. This historic announcement brings Australia into a consortia of over 60 countries that are committed to: " more transparent, effective and accountable governments - with institutions that empower citizens and are responsive to their aspirations" - OGP About Page.

New York City moves to apply predictive data analytics to preventing fires

e-pluribusunum.com — "The total embedding of analytics in New York City has just really passed the tipping point," related Michael Flowers, in an email last week. Flowers, the Big Apple's first "chief analytics officer, discussed how predictive data analytics were saving lives and taxpayer dollars with me last year.

Open government experts raise concerns about “mosaic effect” in open data policy

e-pluribusunum.com — "...one of the things we're doing to fuel ... more private sector innovation and discovery," said President Barack Obama is to make the vast amounts of America's data open and easy to access for the first time in history." That aspirational goal is one that countries around the world have taken on as their own over the past four years.

Tornadoes in America: The Oklahoma Disaster in Context

theatlantic.com — Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee A massive and powerful tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma this afternoon, causing widespread destruction, including at least 51 deaths. It's the deadliest tornado since 2011, and one of the worst in the last 20 years. Moore has a deep and tragic tornado legacy.

Vast Tornado Strikes Towns Near Oklahoma City

nytimes.com — A huge tornado, perhaps a mile wide, tore through towns near Oklahoma City on Monday, flattening homes and businesses, starting fires and sending residents scrambling to find friends and neighbors possibly buried in rubble. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and a spokeswoman for the National Weather Service said it was too early to say how strong the tornado was.

Family comes out of storm cellar after May 20th Tornado in Moore Oklahoma

youtube.com — Family comes out of storm cellar after May 20th Tornado in Moore Oklahoma