Tag Archives: Data

Arts & Humanities, Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Memories & History, Television

Data’s 10 Best TNG & Star Trek Picard Episodes

Star Trek: The Next Generation’s beloved android Lieutenant Commander Data features prominently in some of Star Trek’s most enduring episodes.

By Dusty Stowe, Published May 15, 2023

From article…

Star Trek: The Next Generation’s beloved android Lieutenant Commander Data (Brent Spiner) features prominently in some of Star Trek’s most enduring episodes. Introduced in TNG’s first episode, “Encounter At Farpoint,” Data was an advanced artificial intelligence who longed to become more human.

Data was incredibly intelligent and physically powerful, but he struggled to comprehend human concepts like humor and was limited in his ability to process and express emotion. Spiner’s understated performance could somehow evoke laughs and tears in equal measures, easily one of the most impressive acting jobs in Star Trek history.

By Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, the show’s successful format had been established, with each episode generally focusing on one member of the ensemble cast. With the exception of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Data tended to get the most spotlight episodes, as the show’s writers and producers honed in on Spiner’s magnetic performance early in the show’s run.

Data episodes ran the gamut, from two-part Borg epics to simpler stories where he tries to learn how to dance. Data is one of Star Trek’s most enduring icons, with his empathy and drive to better himself evoking the best aspects of the science fiction institution.

Source: Data’s 10 Best TNG & Star Trek Picard Episodes

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Libraries, Politics, Science & Health, Times They Are A-Changing, Web & Technology

How University Libraries Can Protect Data and Scientific Freedom | The Wire: Science

22/01/2022: This text has been translated from German. This article was first published by ZBW Mediatalk and has been republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Photo: Alfons Morales/Unsplash

Data tracking has long been a lucrative business model for many corporations.

The fact that it also takes place in science is not so well-known, however.

But here too, dangers are lurking for data protection and the freedom of science and research.

And libraries also have a role to play, as stakeholders in the scientific ecosystem, particularly if they take out any kind of contract with profit-oriented companies such as publishing houses, in which the data from researchers can also function as bargaining chips.

Julia Reda from the Society for Civil Rights (GFF) has long been dedicated to the assertion of fundamental rights in the conflict area surrounding copyright and data protection. In the interview she explains the role libraries and digital infrastructures play in this complex topic and why it is so important for these institutions to build their own infrastructure and focus on green Open Access instead of financially supporting publishing houses to build up a parallel and commercial infrastructure.

Source: How University Libraries Can Protect Data and Scientific Freedom – The Wire Science

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Web & Technology

‘Not Sitting Quietly Anymore’: How Librarians Are Fighting Trump | Broadly

“In a political climate where truth is dismissed, it can be difficult to figure out where politics end and moral, or even professional, imperatives begin.”

Though some people may think the job involves more shushing than rallying, many librarians consider “making America read again” to be a radical political proposition.

Source: ‘Not Sitting Quietly Anymore’: How Librarians Are Fighting Trump | Broadly