Monthly Archives: April 2015

Did you Know?

The Pulitzer Prize Winners for 2015

Ladies and gentlemen, here are the 2015 Pulitzer Prizes:

Journalism

 Public Service: The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC

Breaking News Reporting: The Seattle Times Staff

Investigative Reporting: Eric Lipton of The New York Times;  The Wall Street Journal Staff

Explanatory Reporting: Zachary R. Mider of Bloomberg News

Local Reporting: Rob Kuznia, Rebecca Kimitch and Frank Suraci of the Daily Breeze, Torrance, CA

National Reporting: Carol D. Leonnig of The Washington Post

International Reporting: The New York Times Staff

Feature Writing: Diana Marcum of the Los Angeles Times

Commentary: Lisa Falkenberg of the Houston Chronicle

Criticism: Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times

Editorial Writing: Kathleen Kingsbury of The Boston Globe

Editorial Cartooning: Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News

Breaking News Photography: St. Louis Post-Dispatch Photography Staff

Feature Photography: Daniel Berehulak, freelance photographer, The New York Times

 Letters, Drama, and Music

Fiction: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Scribner)

Drama: Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis

History: Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People by Elizabeth A. Fenn (Hill and Wang)

Biography or Autobiography: The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe by David I. Kertzer (Random House)

Poetry: Digest by Gregory Pardlo (Four Way Books)

General Nonfiction: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry Holt)

Music: Anthracite Fields by Julia Wolfe (Red Poppy Music/G. Schirmer, Inc.)

Source: http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/2015

Did you Know?

The Library of Congress releases 50 audio recordings (and counting!) online for the first time

The New York Times reports that the Library of Congress has begun posting recordings from its Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature in honor of National Poetry Month.

50 of the collection’s nearly 2,000 audio recordings are now available online, and another will be added each month as the program continues. This initial sample includes a 1971 lecture by Kurt Vonnegut; Robert Frost’s interview with Randall Jarrell; readings byElizabeth Bishop, Galway Kinnell, Rita Dove, William Meredith, Gwendolyn Brooks, Paul Muldoon, and many others; Ray Bradbury’s excellent lecture, “Beyond 1984: What To Do When The Doom Doesn’t Arrive”; audio from the Academy of American Poets 35th anniversary program in 1969, and more. Start listening here. 

The Library of Congress releases 50 audio recordings (and counting!) online for the first time » MobyLives.

Did you Know?

The story behind the longest-running hoax in Wikipedia history

Jar’Edo Wens is an Australian aboriginal deity, the god of “physical might” and “earthly knowledge.” He’s been name-dropped in books. Carved into rocks.

And, as of March,conclusively debunked.

There is no such figure, it turns out, in aboriginal mythology; instead, Jar’Edo Wens was a blatant prank, a bald invention, dropped into Wikipedia nine years ago by some unknown and anonymous Australian. By the time editors found Jar’Edo Wens, he had leaked off Wikipedia and onto the wider Internet.

He had also broken every other Wikipedia hoaxing record. At nine years, nine months and three long days, Jar’Edo Wens is the longest-lived hoax found on the free encyclopedia yet. 

The story behind Jar’Edo Wens, the longest-running hoax in Wikipedia history – The Washington Post.

Did you Know?

Where does Wikipedia’s information come from?

Where does Wikipedia's information come from?

Wikipedia helps us make sense of the world. In 277 languages from Ukrainian to Urdu, its 36 million articles deepen our understanding of the people, places and ideas that matter to us. While it can feel like a static resource, Wikipedia’s articles are born and nurtured through a thoroughly human process. Behind the scenes, thousands of Wikipedians craft policy that guides decisions about whether an article reflects a neutral point of view, a source should be considered reliable, or a subject is notable enough to warrant an article.

[…]

Geographic differences underlie many differences in editor perspectives. Each editor lives in a particular place in the world, reads specific languages, and represents some national culture. These geographic differences translate to differences between language Wikipedias…

[…]

Our research studies where information in Wikipedia comes from, a characteristic we call geoprovenance. We focus on the four million Wikipedia articles about places that, along with information such as TripAdvisor reviews and geotagged flickr images, constitutes the rising class of information renowned geographer Michael Goodchild calls volunteered geographic information (VGI)

Where does Wikipedia’s information come from?.

Did you Know?

The 2015 IMPAC Shortlist Delivers 10 Eclectic Titles

The IMPAC Award shortlist was announced today. The IMPAC sets itself apart with its unique approach. Its massive longlist is compiled by libraries all over the world before being whittled down by judges. This makes for a more egalitarian selection. It’s also got a long lead time. Several books up for the current prize (to be named in June) were initially published as far back as 2013, putting the IMPAC more than a year behind other big literary awards. There’s a distinct upside in this. By now, nearly all the shortlisted books are available in paperback in the U.S.

The IMPAC also tends to be interesting for the breadth of books it considers, and the 2015 shortlist is no exception, with seven countries represented, though only three of the books are translated works. Four of the ten shortlisters are by women.

The Millions : The 2015 IMPAC Shortlist Delivers 10 Eclectic Titles.