He’s dead, Jim.

Google recently shut down the query interface to Freebase. All that is left of this innovative service is the ability to download a few final data dumps.

Freebase was launched nine years ago by Metaweb as an online source of structured data collected from Wikipedia and many other sources, including individual, user-submitted uploads and edits. Metaweb was acquired by Google in July  2010 and Freebase subsequently grew to have more than 2.4 billion facts about 44 million subjects. In December 2014, Google announced that it was closing Freebase and four months later it became read-only. Sometime this week the query interface was shut down.

I’ve enjoyed using Freebase in various projects in the past two years and found that it complemented DBpedia in many ways. Although its native semantics differed from that of RDF and OWL, it was close enough to allow all of Freebase to be exported as RDF.  Its schema was larger than DBpedia’s and the data tended to be a bit cleaner.

Google generously  decided to donate the data to the Wikidata project, which began migrating Freebase’s data to Wikidata in 2015.  The Freebase data also lives on as part of Google’s Knowledge Graph.  Google recently allowed very limited querying of its knowledge graph and my limited experimenting with it suggests that has Freebase data at its core.

The Daily Record’s “20 in their Twenties” list for 2016 highlights the achievements of three UMBC alumni, all emerging leaders in their fields. Christine Osazuwa ‘11, interdisciplinary studies; Katie Dix ‘10, American studies and political science; and Matthew Stubenberg ‘09, political science, were identified as up-and-coming young professionals who are already making major contributions to Maryland.

Osazuwa, Dix, and Stubenberg were selected by past recipients of the “20 in their Twenties” award, based on their professional accomplishments, civic engagement and the impact of their achievements. Osazuwa works as social media and web coordinator for the division of professional studies at UMBC. Dix is the volunteer manager of the Watershed Protection Program at Blue Water Baltimore. Stubenberg is the IT director for the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service.

“In your twenties, there are no longer syllabi around to tell you that you’re making the right choice or what your expected outcome will be. No matter how confident you are, once in a while you question your choices” and you wonder “am I really making a difference?” says Osazuwa. She shares, “That’s why this award from The Daily Record means so much to me.”

Osazuwa says the award also helps her think of the people who support her. “It reminds me that there are people out there who believe in me, my future, and my decisions. Validation like this goes a long way in any young person’s life, and I’m eager to see what opportunities await me in the future,” she explains.

Read the full list of the “20 in their Twenties” award winners for 2016 in The Daily Record.

Image: Christine Osazuwa. Photo by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC.

Courtesy of champagnepapi on Instagram

The highlight of my week was finally signing up for my Apple Music free trial. After all, it’s what let me listen to Drake’s “Views” as soon as it was released.   

Drake’s followers knew that he had an interview with Zane Lowe, scheduled on OVO Sound Radio for April 28 at 9:45 p.m. EST. Many anticipated that he would drop “Views” on-air, but Drake, the only celebrity who still manages to surprise his fans,  released the album straight to Apple Music. Just minutes after it was available, fans were Tweeting, Facebooking and Snapchatting their reactions from all over the world.

One has every right to be wary of albums with 20 tracks. There are multiple artists who have released that much new content at once, and failed to keep listeners interested. Drake has a knack for storytelling, though. The way he’s able to talk about his experiences in every song, all the while keeping each song different from the last, yet still relevant to the flow of the album, is unlike anything a modern mainstream artist can produce.

After waiting for what feels like years for this album, I couldn’t be more pleased, and that’s definitely not just because the Toronto girl in me feels attached to Drake. The first song, “Keep the Family Close,” is reminiscent of Drake’s sophomore album “Take Care.” The track that follows however, “9,” is fresh, with smooth beats and effortless mixing. “Views” demonstrates just how self-aware Drake is. He knows his talents, and the sound he creates expresses those talents eloquently.

When you step into the world that “Views” creates, you will get lost in Drake’s stories. Songs like “Feel No Ways” will take you back through messy break-ups, while “With You,” which features PARTYNEXTDOOR, will help you push past the tough times and into a world where the only goal is to have fun.

“Controlla,” one of the songs that was leaked a few weeks before the album dropped, is fairly different from the demo many fans heard. While the lack of another voice in the beginning of the song surprised listeners initially, the rest of the track is still catchy yet simultaneously tranquil. It takes you to an uncomplicated time when all that’s required of you is to let go and dance, which is perfect because “One Dance,” potentially the song of the summer, is the track that follows.

Nothing makes music fans happier than when Drake and Rihanna collaborate on a song. As much as everyone loves dancing and singing along to “Work,” “Too Good” is undoubtedly the best collaboration by the two of them. The track is heartache personified. While it hurts to listen to the pain that someone feels when their love is taken for granted, Drake and Rihanna are able to highlight the importance of self-worth through this beautiful melody.

“Views” encompasses Drake’s life experiences, but his honest storytelling is what makes every listener feel a deeply-rooted connection to him and his music. This album is hypnotic, and time will only make fans appreciate it more. It hasn’t even been a week and I already can’t wait to hear what Drake drops next.

The post “Views” will make you feel a way appeared first on The Retriever.

Courtesy of Sarah Auer

The Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day is an annual event designed to showcase the hard work of UMBC undergraduate researchers. Students have the freedom to select a topic and showcase their discoveries to UMBC staff and students. However, the content and imagery of one topic in particular resulted in controversy.

Researcher Sarah Riley Auer, a senior ancient studies major, presented her poster, “Illustrating the Unseen: Analogy and Metaphor in an Ancient Gynecological Text” at this year’s symposium. All was well, until her work was moved to a less prominent position because it displayed female anatomy. Auer and her poster were relegated to a far back corner of the University Center Ballroom, making her work harder to see and henceforth ignored by many of the URCAD attendees.

Auer’s research discusses the manuscripts left by ancient medical writer Soranus of Ephesus, specifically his work on female anatomy and gynecological studies, and how it relates to today’s society and understanding of the female anatomy and women’s medicine. However, URCAD officials had a complaint not with the the research itself, but with the image that senior INES major Zoe Wang provided, which, according to Auer, depicted Soranus of Ephesus’ view of the female anatomy.

Although both Auer’s and Wang’s advisors cleared their work — as did the committee which accepts URCAD proposals — it wasn’t until the night before the presentation that URCAD officials informed the two students that their work would be moved to the back of the room in the “Rated-R” section.

Auer was extremely confused by that decision. According to her, “considering that no one responsible for the decision [to move the poster] felt it necessary to approach either myself or my advisors about their motives, I cannot begin to fathom why they chose to mark our poster as ‘inappropriate,'” she said. “The fact that anyone felt it appropriate to sexualize our poster and deem it ‘inappropriate’  is extremely concerning.”

When Auer’s friend Vicki Goutzoulis, a senior media and communications studies major and ancient studies minor, discovered the treatment of the work, she took to myUMBC. In a post entitled “Rated ‘R’ for Research,” she expressed her concern for the decision. “Nothing about the work could have been construed as sexual, until a university representative informed Auer that her work had been moved to the back of the UC Ballroom, ‘near the stage,'” stated Goutzoulis.

This post garnered much attention and overwhelming support for the student researchers, and concern about wider issues in the UMBC community. According to Auer, “the treatment of our work is an indicator of a multiplicity of deeper issues — not the least of which are academic freedom, female health and the reduction of female anatomy as profane or lewd.”

Said Auer, “the harmful and sexist treatment of my work was acted by a small number of individuals who have yet to confront me about their decision. The committee who vetted my project, my advisors, my faculty and my peers have been nothing but supportive. I think that the majority of individuals at UMBC find the censoring of my and Zoe’s work to be a grave offense to both our academic freedom and to our subject of female anatomy as a respectable, academic topic.”

Wang believes the image stirred up controversy because of a societal taboo against sexuality. “A lot of people talking about this issue are focusing on women rights,” said Wang. “I do feel that if instead of putting a vagina and a uterus on the poster, I had put a huge penis it would result in the same outcome.” Wang also stated that she felt the attention this issue received detracted from the research, especially since many people did not even see the poster or the URCAD exhibit itself.

The magnitude of this situation made its way to President Freeman Hrabowski, who issued a formal apology via mass email, which read, “on behalf of the University, I apologize to the student researchers and their mentors.” Our president’s apology is proof of the ability of a few dedicated students to bring attention to a cause.

Despite the dissatisfaction from both Auer and Wang, the latter did say that she “understood the risk” behind making a poster related to female anatomy. “I did think that this poster might cause some people to overreact when I was making it,” said Wang. “When I was designing it, I was expecting this outcome.”

Wang stressed the importance of challenging society’s views on sexuality. “The reason I chose to make this poster even though I knew the risk of it,” she said, “was that I always felt that we should see sexual organs the same as how we see any other organs. If we always hold uncomfortable attitudes towards sexual organs, we will not improve our education research on these areas.”

The post Trouble at URCAD prompts apology from President Hrabowski appeared first on The Retriever.

On Monday, Bentley Corbett-Wilson and Mona Patel were announced as the winners of the Student Government Association presidency and vice-presidency for the 2016–2017 school year. Sanjum Singh was elected vice president for student organizations and Surovi Bain was elected treasurer. Wilson and Patel beat out rivals Tristan Oetker and Pandora Wilson by a 0.5 percent margin.

Wilson told The Retriever, “Im incredibly thankful for all the support that we’ve gotten from everyone and I really do believe that Mona and I are going to do so many great things for SGA. I can’t wait to see what the next year has in store for us.”

Patel echoed the sentiment, saying, “I just want to thank everyone who supported us. We really want to make a change on this campus and this is the way to go … I’m speechless really … congratulations to everyone who won and I can’t wait to start making changes.”

However, following the announcement an email was sent out by Election Board Chair Robert Caverly. Caverly wrote:

“Just as an FYI, the results released this afternoon were tentative and have not been verified by the Election Board as authentic yet since the official results from the poll have not been released … At no point during the election was the [election] board able to see the results. In past years, the election board chair has had full access to these results in order to minor their authenticity.”

In response to the email, Craig Berger, coordinator of student life for campus and civic engagement and advisor to the SGA, said, “I shared the results with Robert in the same way I’ve shared them with past Election Board chairs. I’ve also invited Robert to meet so he can verify the accuracy of the announced results.”

The election also served as a platform for voting on Proposition One, a piece of SGA legislation that has been a point of contention this semester. The proposition would allow for the use of an instant-runoff voting system in future elections for SGA Executive Office. The proposition passed with 760 votes in favor, or 66.7 percent of the total.

The post Corbett-Wilson/Patel campaign win SGA executive amid challenges to validity of results appeared first on The Retriever.