Source criticism (or information evaluation) is the process of evaluating an information source, i.e.: a document, a person, a speech, a fingerprint, a photo, an observation, or anything used in order to obtain knowledge. In relation to a given purpose, a given information source may be more or less valid, reliable or relevant. Broadly, "source criticism" is the interdisciplinary study of how information sources are evaluated for given tasks. == Meaning == Problems in translation: The Danish word kildekritik, like the Norwegian word kildekritikk and the Swedish word källkritik, derived from the German Quellenkritik and is closely associated with the German historian Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886). Historian Wolfgang Hardtwig wrote: His [Ranke's] first work Geschichte der romanischen und germanischen Völker von 1494–1514 (History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations from 1494 to 1514) (1824) was a great success. It already showed some of the basic characteristics of his conception of Europe, and was of historiographical importance particularly because Ranke made an exemplary critical analysis of his sources in a separate volume, Zur Kritik neuerer Geschichtsschreiber (On the Critical Methods of Recent Historians). In this work he raised the method of textual criticism used in the late eighteenth century, particularly in classical philology to the standard method of scientific historical writing. (Hardtwig, 2001, p. 12739) Historical theorist Chris Lorenz wrote: The larger part of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries would be dominated by the research-oriented conception of historical method of the so-called Historical School in Germany, led by historians as Leopold Ranke and Berthold Niebuhr. Their conception of history, long been regarded as the beginning of modern, 'scientific' history, harked back to the 'narrow' conception of historical method, limiting the methodical character of history to source criticism. (Lorenz, 2001) In the early 21st century, source criticism is a growing field in, among other fields, library and information science. In this context source criticism is studied from a broader perspective than just, for example, history, classical philology, or biblical studies (but there, too, it has more recently received new attention). == Principles == The following principles are from two Scandinavian textbooks on source criticism, written by the historians Olden-Jørgensen (1998) and Thurén (1997): Human sources may be relics (e.g. a fingerprint) or narratives (e.g. a statement or a letter). Relics are more credible sources than narratives. A given source may be forged or corrupted; strong indications of the originality of the source increases its reliability. The closer a source is to the event which it purports to describe, the more one can trust it to give an accurate description of what really happened A primary source is more reliable than a secondary source, which in turn is more reliable than a tertiary source and so on. If a number of independent sources contain the same message, the credibility of the message is strongly increased. The tendency of a source is its motivation for providing some kind of bias. Tendencies should be minimized or supplemented with opposite motivations. If it can be demonstrated that the witness (or source) has no direct interest in creating bias, the credibility of the message is increased. Two other principles are: Knowledge of source criticism cannot substitute for subject knowledge: "Because each source teaches you more and more about your subject, you will be able to judge with ever-increasing precision the usefulness and value of any prospective source. In other words, the more you know about the subject, the more precisely you can identify what you must still find out". (Bazerman, 1995, p. 304). The reliability of a given source is relative to the questions put to it. "The empirical case study showed that most people find it difficult to assess questions of cognitive authority and media credibility in a general sense, for example, by comparing the overall credibility of newspapers and the Internet. Thus these assessments tend to be situationally sensitive. Newspapers, television and the Internet were frequently used as sources of orienting information, but their credibility varied depending on the actual topic at hand" (Savolainen, 2007). The following questions are often good ones to ask about any source according to the American Library Association (1994) and Engeldinger (1988): How was the source located? What type of source is it? Who is the author and what are the qualifications of the author in regard to the topic that is discussed? When was the information published? In which country was it published? What is the reputation of the publisher? Does the source show a particular cultural or political bias? For literary sources complementing criteria are: Does the source contain a bibliography? Has the material been reviewed by a group of peers, or has it been edited? How does the article/book compare with similar articles/books? == Levels of generality == Some principles of source criticism are universal, other principles are specific for certain kinds of information sources. There is today no consensus about the similarities and differences between source criticism in the natural science and humanities. Logical positivism claimed that all fields of knowledge were based on the same principles. Much of the criticism of logical positivism claimed that positivism is the basis of the sciences, whereas hermeneutics is the basis of the humanities. This was, for example, the position of Jürgen Habermas. A newer position, in accordance with, among others, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Thomas Kuhn, understands both science and humanities as determined by researchers' preunderstanding and paradigms. Hermeneutics is thus a universal theory. The difference is, however, that the sources of the humanities are themselves products of human interests and preunderstanding, whereas the sources of the natural sciences are not. Humanities are thus "doubly hermeneutic". Natural scientists, however, are also using human products (such as scientific papers) which are products of preunderstanding (and can lead to, for example, academic fraud). == Contributing fields == === Epistemology === Epistemological theories are the basic theories about how knowledge is obtained and are thus the most general theories about how to evaluate information sources. Empiricism evaluates sources by considering the observations (or sensations) on which they are based. Sources without basis in experience are not seen as valid. Rationalism provides low priority to sources based on observations. In order to be meaningful, observations must be explained by clear ideas or concepts. It is the logical structure and the well definedness that is in focus in evaluating information sources from the rationalist point of view. Historicism evaluates information sources on the basis of their reflection of their sociocultural context and their theoretical development. Pragmatism evaluate sources on the basis of how their values and usefulness to accomplish certain outcomes. Pragmatism is skeptical about claimed neutral information sources. The evaluation of knowledge or information sources cannot be more certain than is the construction of knowledge. If one accepts the principle of fallibilism then one also has to accept that source criticism can never 100% verify knowledge claims. As discussed in the next section, source criticism is intimately linked to scientific methods. The presence of fallacies of argument in sources is another kind of philosophical criterion for evaluating sources. Fallacies are presented by Walton (1998). Among the fallacies are the ad hominem fallacy (the use of personal attack to try to undermine or refute a person's argument) and the straw man fallacy (when one arguer misrepresents another's position to make it appear less plausible than it really is, in order more easily to criticize or refute it.) === Research methodology === Research methods are methods used to produce scholarly knowledge. The methods that are relevant for producing knowledge are also relevant for evaluating knowledge. An example of a book that turns methodology upside-down and uses it to evaluate produced knowledge is Katzer; Cook & Crouch (1998). === Science studies === Studies of quality evaluation processes such as peer review, book reviews and of the normative criteria used in evaluation of scientific and scholarly research. Another field is the study of scientific misconduct. Harris (1979) provides a case study of how a famous experiment in psychology, Little Albert, has been distorted throughout the history of psychology, starting with the author (Watson) himself, general textbook authors, behavior therapists, and a prominent learning theorist. Harris proposes possible causes for these distortions and analyzes the Albert study as an ex
Adobe ImageReady
Adobe ImageReady was a bitmap graphics editor that was shipped with Adobe Photoshop for six years. It was available for Windows, Classic Mac OS and Mac OS X from 1998 to 2007. ImageReady was designed for web development and closely interacted with Photoshop. == Function == ImageReady was designed for web development rather than effects-intensive photo manipulation. To that end, ImageReady has specialized features such as animated GIF creation, image compression optimization, image slicing, adding rollover effects, and HTML generation. Photoshop versions with which ImageReady was released have an "Edit in ImageReady" button that enables editing of image directly in ImageReady. ImageReady, in turn, has an "Edit in Photoshop" button. ImageReady has strong resemblances to Photoshop; it can even use the same set of Photoshop filters. One set of tools that does not resemble the Photoshop tools, however, is the Image Map set of tools, indicated by a shape or arrow with a hand that varied depending upon the version. This toolbox has several features not found in Photoshop, including: Toggle Image Map Visibility and Toggle Slice Visibility tools: toggle between showing and hiding image maps and slices, respectively Export Animation Frames as Files option: saves all or specified frames for an alternate use, e.g., to e-mail slides for review Preview Document tool: provides a preview of rollover effects in ImageReady rather than previewing them in a browser Preview in Default Browser tool: previews the image in a browser, including any rollover or animation effects Edit in Photoshop button: opens the current image in Photoshop == History == Adobe ImageReady 1.0 was released in July 1998 as a standalone application. Version 2.0 was packaged with Photoshop 5.5, and the program was included with Photoshop through version 9.0 (CS2). Starting with Photoshop 7.0, Adobe changed the version numbers of ImageReady to match. With the release of the Creative Suite 3, ImageReady was discontinued. According to Adobe, ImageReady's most popular features were merged into Photoshop. (Even before discontinuation, some of ImageReady's web optimization functionality could be found in Photoshop's Save For Web & Devices tool.) Around the same time, Adobe purchased rival software developer Macromedia, whose application Fireworks had been a competitor to ImageReady.
Zhura
Zhura ( ZUR-ə) is a free, web-based screenwriting software application for writing and formatting screenplays to the film industry standard, as well as other formats. Zhura allows users to collaborate on scripts in public or private groups and uses Creative Commons Licensing for all work in the public workspace. On March 29, 2010, Zhura announced its merger with Scripped. Scripped's CEO, Sunil Rajaraman, remains the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as of 2022. The Zhura CEO was Eric MacDonald, a former Cascade Communications engineer. Scripped later closed on April 1, 2015 after a catastrophic, irrecoverable data loss. == Script editor == Screenplay Template – The script editor provides a built-in screenplay template which formats the document to a standard for scripts as recommended by the AMPAS. The screenplay document is composed of seven elements: scene, action, character, dialogue, parenthetical, transition, and shot (see image). Each element has a specific style to which the script editor conforms as you type.Script Formats – Other major script formats for stage play, sitcom, audio drama and comic book are also supported as well as the ability to switch between them.Auto-Complete – Characters, scene headings and custom transitions are “remembered” as they are written and “recalled” with tab-completion when a writer starts a new character, scene heading or transition, respectively.Multiple Editors – With a collaborative editing model comparable to Google Docs, two or more users can edit the same script simultaneously, regardless of having a different operating system or web browser. Import/Export – A screenplay written in another program can be imported into the script editor and automatically conformed to the screenplay template. The closer the original script has adhered to the standard format, the better it will appear when imported. Supported import/export formats include Text (.txt) Word (.doc) Rich Text (.rtf) and OpenDocument (.odt). Scripts can also be exported as a PDF file with additional options.Tracking Changes – Similar to the “tracking” feature in Microsoft Word, a user can review all changes made to a script in the revision history as well as highlight the contributions of each writer. Offline Mode – The Google Gears-based offline functionality is in the process of being updated and is not available for new subscribers, according to the company founders. == Community == Scripped supports typical social networking features such as discussion boards, comments, user profiles, public and private writing groups, internal web mail and instant messaging within the script editor. There is also the option to share scripts with others outside of Scripped by making scripts externally viewable. Scripped is made up entirely of user-generated scripts that other users can share, critique and edit, offering creative support to a community of writers. == Licensing of user-created work == There are three types of work-spaces on Scripped (personal, group and public) with unique copyright and licensing management for the work created in each area. Any work a user originates may be moved from the personal area to a public or group area at any time. Once another user edits a script, however, it cannot be moved into the originator’s personal area. Personal Workspace – Any script created or video uploaded in the user’s personal workspace remains copyrighted to that user. Until the user moves that script or video from their personal area into a group or public area, no other user shares a copyright or license to that work. Private Group Workspace – The copyright to any script created or video uploaded in a private group workspace is allocated by the individual members of the group, however they see fit. Public Workspace – Any script created or video uploaded in the public workspace is assigned a Creative Commons license by the originator of that work. The originator of a script may select one of four Creative Commons licenses before introducing that script to the public. The selection of the license is determined by what the author wants to allow others to do with the work. Below is a list of Creative Commons licenses available for all scripts and videos in the public workspace. Share Alike (BY-SA) This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit the original user and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to open source software licenses. All new works based on the original user's will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. No Derivatives (BY-ND) This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to the original user. Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (BY-NC-ND) This license is the most restrictive of the four licenses, allowing redistribution. This license is often called the "free advertising" license because it allows others to download the original user work and share them with others as long as they mention the original user and link back to them, but they can't change them in any way or use them commercially. Non-Commercial, Share Alike (BY-NC-SA) This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the original user's work non-commercially, as long as they credit the original user and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute the original user's work just like the BY-NC-ND license, but they can also translate, make remixes, and produce new stories based on the original user's work. All new work based on the original user's work will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature. == Events == In April 2008, Zhura partnered with Improv Asylum, a comedy troupe in Boston, Massachusetts to produce a live sketch comedy show called "You Wrote It, Live" entirely written by the public on Zhura. Another show was produced in June.
Drush
Drush (DRUpal SHell) is a computer software shell-based application used to control, manipulate, and administer Drupal websites. == Details == Drush was originally developed by Arto Bendiken for Drupal 4.7. In May 2007, it was partly rewritten and redesigned for Drupal 5 by Franz Heinzmann. Drush is maintained by Moshe Weitzman with the support of Owen Barton, greg.1.anderson, jonhattan, Mark Sonnabaum, Jonathan Hedstrom and Christopher Gervais.
ObjectVision
ObjectVision was a forms-based programming language and environment for Windows 3.x developed by Borland. The latest version, 2.1, was released in 1992. An ObjectVision application is composed by forms designed in a graphic way that contains objects and events to provide interactivity. Forms are connected together with logic in the form of decision trees. ObjectVision applications also can interact with databases using multiple engines, like Paradox and dBase. A finished project is saved as an OVD file, that is executed by an interpreted runtime that can be freely distributed. ObjectVision was not used broadly except in some niche segments, but the visual programming ideas were the basis for Borland Delphi.
Grokking (machine learning)
In machine learning, grokking, or delayed generalization, is a phenomenon observed in some settings where a model abruptly transitions from overfitting (performing well only on training data) to generalizing (performing well on both training and test data), after many training iterations with little or no improvement on the held-out data. This contrasts with what is typically observed in machine learning, where generalization occurs gradually alongside improved performance on training data. == Origin == Grokking was introduced by OpenAI researcher Alethea Power and colleagues in the January 2022 paper "Grokking: Generalization Beyond Overfitting on Small Algorithmic Datasets". It is derived from the word grok coined by Robert Heinlein in his novel Stranger in a Strange Land. In ML research, "grokking" is not used as a synonym for "generalization"; rather, it names a sometimes-observed delayed‑generalization training phenomenon in which training and held‑out performance do not improve in tandem, and in which held‑out performance rises abruptly later. Authors also analyze the "grokking time", the epoch or step at which this transition occurs in those scenarios. == Interpretations == Grokking can be understood as a phase transition during the training process. In particular, recent work has shown that grokking may be due to a complexity phase transition in the model during training. While grokking has been thought of as largely a phenomenon of relatively shallow models, grokking has been observed in deep neural networks and non-neural models and is the subject of active research. One potential explanation is that the weight decay (a component of the loss function that penalizes higher values of the neural network parameters, also called regularization) slightly favors the general solution that involves lower weight values, but that is also harder to find. According to Neel Nanda, the process of learning the general solution may be gradual, even though the transition to the general solution occurs more suddenly later. Recent theories have hypothesized that grokking occurs when neural networks transition from a "lazy training" regime where the weights do not deviate far from initialization, to a "rich" regime where weights abruptly begin to move in task-relevant directions. Follow-up empirical and theoretical work has accumulated evidence in support of this perspective, and it offers a unifying view of earlier work as the transition from lazy to rich training dynamics is known to arise from properties of adaptive optimizers, weight decay, initial parameter weight norm, and more. This perspective is complementary to a unifying "pattern learning speeds" framework that links grokking and double descent; within this view, delayed generalization can arise across training time ("epoch‑wise") or across model size ("model‑wise"), and the authors report "model‑wise grokking".
MetroHero
MetroHero is a semi-defunct real-time transit tracking and performance analysis application for the Washington Metro rapid transit system. Originally available on iOS, Android, and the web, it allows users to view live maps of all trains on a specific line, summary statistics relating to real-time system performance, and user feedback on current Metro conditions. The app launched in 2015, followed by ARIES for Transit, a related project from the same developers, and continued functioning until its original developers shut it down in 2023. Afterwards, forks of the application went live to allow for its continued public use, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), Metro's operator, announced that it would launch a similar app. The app has been described by local news media as popular and well-liked among Washington, D.C.-area residents. == History and main development == MetroHero was initially developed by James and Jennifer Pizzurro, who both attended George Washington University and studied computer science. They said that they were inspired to create the app after experiencing train delays and searching for an app to track a train after boarding; such an app did not exist for the Washington Metro. The development of the app was not endorsed by WMATA, but it did use publicly available data from the agency. MetroHero launched as an Android application in September 2015, followed by the release of an iOS-compatible web app in December of that year. A standalone iOS app launched in April 2018, but the web app remained supported. By April 2018, MetroHero had approximately 13,000 monthly active users. James Pizzurro has stated that the app's intended audience was regular Metro commuters who wanted to communicate with each other about active problems, as opposed to tourists and riders who only wanted train time data. Throughout the application's development, the Pizzurros had been advocates for Metro's transparency with riders and the community by providing more high-quality data and taking on the feedback of developers. In particular, they criticized Metro's reluctance to uniquely identify individual train trips and its decision to obscure data under certain circumstances, which have posed problems for MetroHero's data collection. In addition to their work on MetroHero, the app's developers led or participated in other initiatives related to transit in the Greater Washington area. In 2019, MetroHero partnered with a local transit group to analyze Metrobus data and publish a "Metrobus Report Card", along with proposed goals and recommendations based on the report's findings. Based on this experience, MetroHero's developers began a sister project, the Adherence + Reliability + Integrity Evaluation System for Transit (ARIES for Transit), which displays data and issues grades for Washington- and Baltimore-area transit systems. Separately, James Pizzurro used MetroHero data to inform Rail Transit OPS, an independent Metro oversight group, and assist in its documentation of Metro system incidents. == Application == The MetroHero application uses several interfaces, including an overall dashboard and a live map, to display data to its users. On the dashboard, system-wide train summary data, such as the number of operating trains and headway adherence, is visible. The map offers a visual representation of all trains' positions throughout the system, filtered by line. Individual stations and trains can be selected to see ratings and comments provided by other users, including both positive and negative notes like cleanliness and crowdedness. Additionally, a list of train wait times is given, along with aggregate data like average wait time. Any train delays or service incidents are visible in the app. MetroHero uses several data sources for the various components of its application. Train positions and other operational data are provided by WMATA as part of its initiative to release open data for third-party developers. However, MetroHero's developers noted that the Metro-provided information is sometimes inaccurate and incomplete, thereby limiting the accuracy of MetroHero. The app also collects crowdsourced data from its users, who can report conditions in train cars and stations and add to reports sent by other people. Additionally, MetroHero parses data from Twitter feeds to learn about system incidents, including delays and fires. In addition to the web app, Android app, and iOS app, MetroHero's initial developers maintained automated social media accounts that alerted customers about Metro service; these accounts were discontinued upon the original app's eventual shutdown. MetroHero also hosts archived performance data for later review, a feature that is sometimes used after major incidents. == Shutdown and future == In February 2023, James Pizzurro announced that MetroHero would be shut down on July 1, 2023, citing "positive changes ... in the app landscape and in WMATA's data management and communication" and the costs and time associated with maintaining the app. Shortly before the application's end date, the Pizzurros shared MetroHero's source code on GitHub, which prompted others to fork the code and begin maintaining new instances of MetroHero to succeed the original app. The original website went offline on July 1, as planned. Historically, WMATA has not offered its own real-time map or similar service, citing other apps from third parties which accomplished the same task. However, on June 30, 2023, Randy Clarke, WMATA's general manager, announced that Metro would begin offering a similar service as MetroHero did. The app, initially named MetroMeter, was planned to begin operating in early July and would provide real-time information on trains, headways, and service schedules. Metro also noted its intentions to extend this service to Metrobus and MetroAccess. On July 20, Metro announced that the app had been renamed to MetroPulse and launched it in beta. MetroHero's other project, ARIES for Transit, was not affected by the shutdown. == Reception == MetroHero was generally well-received and has been recognized for its usage among Washington-area commuters. DCist called it one of the "most praised" Metro tracking apps, and WMATA publicly acknowledged its popularity when announcing its decision to establish MetroPulse. Chris Barnes, a member of the Metro Riders' Advisory Council, said that the app is considered important among riders because it fulfills a need for riders to have reliable and transparent transit information, albeit somewhat hindered by flaws in WMATA's data.