Month: August 2018

Search Podcasts

Podcasts can be searched on the iPhone via iTunes, on Android devices in the Google Play Store with the keyword Podcast. In addition to the internal search in the apps, special websites make it possible to listen to and record podcasts. In German https://www.phonostar.de/, in English http://www.podcasts.com/, https://www.mixcloud.com/, https://audioboom.com/, https://www.acast.com .

Special search engines make it possible to search in the content itself by converting the spoken language into text: https://www.listennotes.com/, https://fluiddata.com, https://www.spaactor.com/ (German)
or the metadata can be read out (all German search engines):
https://fyyd.de/, https://panoptikum.io/, https://wissenschaftspodcasts.de/, https://www.podcast.de

 

RSS-Feeds: Dead, alive or resurrected?

RSS is dead, says a comment on heise online ((Fabian A. Scherschel: RSS ist tot und das ist eine Schande heise online 03.08.2013) Last Firefox has removed the RSS reader and where in former times the access to RSS was easily possible with the help of the symbol, the access is mostly only hidden in submenus as services possible.
But due to the fake news in the social media, the use of RSS is increasing again. Marcus Schuler: Totgesagte leben länger, tagesschau.de 15.06.2018 and Wiederauferstanden von den Toten, detector.fm 26.06.2018

RSS makes it possible to subscribe to trustworthy media and blogs that only publish irregularly and to get a quick overview by skimming the headlines. Websites that do not offer an RSS feed can be converted into an RSS feed using feed43. An overview of the tools is available on tn3 “RSS-Reader: Die besten Plattformen und Apps für echte Feed-Junkies“ 
However, many users do not understand how to set up a digital workstation with different tools or to aggregate different sources, e.g. with Netvibes 

P.S. On August 13, the Süddeutsche Zeitung published a love letter to RSS: “My devotion is to technology, and the recipients are my readers.”
Simon Hurtz: Darum sollten Sie RSS nutzen, Sueddeutsche Zeitung 13.8.2018

The RSS-Feed of this blog: http://www.retrievaldreams.de/en/blog/feed/

Data as Menetekel 5: Measuring stations for NO 2 measurement

The measuring stations for NO2 measurement in Germany as defined in the DIRECTIVE 2008/50/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 21 May 2008 on air quality and clean air for Europe and the Neununddreißigste Verordnung zur Durchführung des Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetzes (Verordnung über Luftqualitätsstandards und Emissionshöchstmengen – 39. BImSchV) Anlage 3 C. Kleinräumige Ortsbestimmung der Probenahmestellen, there are mostly locations that do not meet the requirements. See Holger Douglas: Große Leseraktion: Wie manipulieren Messstationen die Feinstaubmessung in Ihrer Stadt?, Tichys Einblick 23.03.2018.This means that some of the measured values are not valid and cannot be compared with each other.
While the problems were ignored or denied by the federal government and cities (e.g.Wiesbaden), the conference of transport ministers on April 19, 2018 under item 4.2 of the agenda: Air pollution control b) Valid NO2 measurements as a basis for legally compliant air pollution control plans demanded that the validity of measuring point locations be checked in accordance with European requirements. Among other things, it is demanded:
“The Conference of Transport Ministers considers it necessary for the installation of the measuring equipment to be carried out according to a uniform standard throughout Germany and Europe, because comparisons of the measuring results and the necessary legal requirements must be met.
equal treatment of those affected on the ground would otherwise be impossible. The Conference of Transport Ministers suggests that the review should in particular address issues such as
a) the prescribed spatial representativeness of the measurements for a larger area in a city, not only for a small room in the immediate vicinity of the measuring station,
(b) the temporal relevance with regard to the period during which the population is exposed to a relevant exposure,
c) the correct placement of the measuring inlet of the station,
(d) the prescribed avoidance of backwater measurements from crossings,
(e) the prescribed avoidance of measurements below obstacles such as trees.”

 

Data as Menetekel 4: The secret of the 400,000

In the political discussion, data form the basis of a rational discussion. Data as a warning disguise and manipulate this discussion. The example of a shortage of skilled workers in Germany. There should be a shortage of skilled workers
2005 400.000
2007 400.000
2008 400.000
2010 400.000
2017 400.000
2018 500.000
There will also be a shortage of skilled workers in Switzerland by 2030. It is – who could be surprised – 400,000.
400,000 are obviously a number with which one can form public opinion without having to enter directly into options for action. Some critical contributions already show that there are some concrete things to discuss.

„Fachkräftemangel ist ein Kassenschlager“
Jakob Osman: So führen uns Politiker und Lobbyisten in die Irre. Das Märchen vom Fachkräftemangel, Manager Magazin 09.03.2017

 

Analysis of the political Facebook discussion in Austria

“The digital report is a project designed to promote knowledge about digital topics. It was launched by Ingrid Brodnig as Austria’s Digital Champion, an independent function for promoting awareness of digitisation. The digital report provides data analysis, technical articles and teaching materials for teachers.” https://www.digitalreport.at/”
This Austrian project analyzed the structure of the political discussion in Austria on Facebook using Facebook’s programming interface (API) and a Python script developed in-house, which is made available as open source at Github github.com/Digitalreport. See also the interesting methodological approaches “Luca Hammer: Data Analysis in the Age of Social Networks. How easy and yet difficult it is to create data analyses” https://www.digitalreport.at/datenanalyse-im-zeitalter-sozialer-netzwerke/
Apart from the Austrian peculiarities, it must be said:
“On the political Facebook pages, a minority dominates the discourse. One fifth of users write almost three quarters of all postings (73 percent)”.
In a separate article, the postings during the 2017 National Council election campaign will be analysed once again. A minority of extremely active users as well as automated entries are found. “Our research shows that there are other simple ways to manipulate political discourse. Numerous websites sell deceptively real fake fans with names and photos. People offer their real accounts in forums. For money, liken or comment on the desired page.”
An exemplary analysis that is clearly presented and graphically well prepared.