Geekosystem continues the conversation the New York Times started in its article about death and Facebook and the interesting questions that arise when the two intersect. No, this isn’t an article about “internet suicide,” in which someone attempts to remove themselves from all aspects of online social networking and community. This article looks to explore how the one-employee-for-every-350,000-Facebook-users team can manage a very sensitive issue better in the future.

“At the moment, a dead person’s profile will sit unchanged (that is, unless the person’s survivors have their passwords), and it will continue to show up in the profiles and home pages of that profile’s friends. The deceased’s survivors can either have the page removed, or “memorialize” it, which requires them to fill out this form, and include a link to an obituary or news article as proof of the person’s death.

“Ms. Chin said Facebook was considering using software that would scan for repeated postings of phrases like ‘Rest in peace’ or ‘I miss you’ on a person’s page and then dispatch a human to investigate that account.

“We are testing ways to implement software to address this,” she said. “But we can’t get it wrong. We have to do it correctly.”

How do you think Facebook can best deal with this? And what do you think about the future of media technology, especially as more issues like death that were previously experienced by a small circle of people “IRL” are being experienced by an increasing number of people through online communities?

Find by Katie / Post by Stefanie

We just posted an update with the following changes:

• Group Subscriptions - Groups can now subscribe to other groups. When you subscribe, your group will pull in the public content from the group you're subscribe too.  This provides a great way for groups to share content with one another without having to post content in two different groups.  Spotlights, News, Events, Discussions and Media are supported, but the content must be marked "public" to be seen in another group.
• Groups Page - The Groups page now looks a little better with more emphasis on publicly visible groups.
• Dashboard Tweak - To address some confusion we changed the name of "Groups" to "Activity" and gave it a cool lightning bolt arrow icon.  This was done to better reflect what this dashboard will show you... recent activity.  Our plan is for this dashboard to show you new content in your groups, and comments/paws on your public content.
• Events Tweaks
• Events now default to an hour long if you change the time, instead of just 5 minutes.
• You can now add up to 99999 seats for an event instead of 99.
• Bug Fixes
• You can no longer post empty comments... whew
• Group Pages should no longer throw errors
• Fixed a bug that send you to calendar view when browsing group events.
• Miscellaneous typos and fixes

Later this week...

• Media is shaping up nicely and should be available before the end of the week.  We think you're gonna like it.
• We'll add the ability for groups to subscribe to external content like RSS, YouTube, Vimeo, and Flickr feeds

As with all blogs, new campus sustainability blogs are popping up and old ones are falling into disuse all the time. If you know of a blog that should be included or think one of the blogs we have is defunct, please let us know by sending an e-mail to webmaster@aashe.org. Blogs are listed in alphabetical order.

We've added three new status indicators to iTunes Connect which give you a more precise indication of the state of your app when you are submitting your binary for approval.

Prepare for Upload indicates that you have created a new version, but you have not yet clicked the Ready to Submit Binary button, which indicates that you are ready to deliver a binary through Application Loader. This state's status color is yellow.

Pending Developer Release indicates that the version of your app has been approved by App Review and you have turned on the Version Release Control, but have not yet clicked Send Version Live. This state's status color is yellow. You should also see a pending action symbol on the version. Your version will remain in this state, and thus will not be live on the App Store until you click Send Version Live.

Processing for App Store indicates that the version is being processed to go live on the App Store. Once the processing is complete, the version state will change to "Ready for Sale." This state is very temporary (1-2 hours). This state's status color is yellow.

For more information, refer to the App Store Resource Center, App Store Approval Process section.

We've added three new status indicators to iTunes Connect which give you a more precise indication of the state of your app when you are submitting your binary for approval.

Prepare for Upload indicates that you have created a new version, but you have not yet clicked the Ready to Submit Binary button, which indicates that you are ready to deliver a binary through Application Loader. This state's status color is yellow.

Pending Developer Release indicates that the version of your app has been approved by App Review and you have turned on the Version Release Control, but have not yet clicked Send Version Live. This state's status color is yellow. You should also see a pending action symbol on the version. Your version will remain in this state, and thus will not be live on the App Store until you click Send Version Live.

Processing for App Store indicates that the version is being processed to go live on the App Store. Once the processing is complete, the version state will change to "Ready for Sale." This state is very temporary (1-2 hours). This state's status color is yellow.

For more information, refer to the App Store Resource Center, App Store Approval Process section.

The New Student Book Experience welcomes all members of the campus community to read and discuss The Translator by Daoud Hari, this year's campus book. The book discussion gives new students the opportunity to meet other incoming students and make connections with faculty. Discussions will take place during Welcome Week on Monday, August 30th from 11:00AM - 12:00PM and will continue in fall and spring English 100 classes. For more information: http://www.umbc.edu/undergrad_ed/book/current_book.html

Visit the largest indoor antique show in the nation on Sept 2nd through the 5th! You will come across artful finds from all over the world right in our Baltimore area. Admission is $12 located in the Baltimore Convention Center. Take a friend with you and explore all the different pieces of art from all over the globe.

Find/Post by Liz.