The social network’s Map With AI set of specialized map editing services and tools will roll out new versions of its RapiD editor and JOSM plugin to work with the new datasets, enabling mappers to quickly add ArcGIS datasets, curated by Esri, to OpenStreetMap—a crowdsourced, highly detailed and editable map of the world.

Esri assembled open data from the ArcGIS user community, processed it for use with OpenStreetMap and published it to ArcGIS Online, enabling Map With AI users to select any of those datasets and zoom into areas they wish to edit. They can then review data and add and save relevant feature to OpenStreetMap as publicly available map data.

Jason Sundram, lead of World.AI for Maps for Facebook, explained in a blog post, “Contributing to OpenStreetMap can be a daunting prospect. Even seasoned geographic information systems analysts take time to learn OSM’s tagging and editing conventions, tooling and jargon. Updating a map based on third-party datasets is even more challenging. To do that, a contributor might need to play four different roles: An engineer (to write software or extend JOSM or iD); a lawyer (to ensure compliance with an OSM-compatible license); an algorithm expert (to create a method for conflating new data with existing features); and an OSM expert (to tag new map features so they’re compatible with surrounding ones).”

Sundram said the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, supported by the World Bank, was one of the first organizations to go through this process.

The RGoZ provided a data layer containing 500,000 buildings in Zanzibar produced by civil servants and students from the State University of Zanzibar through the Zanzibar Mapping Initiative and Open Cities Zanzibar projects.

Zanzibar Commission for Lands executive secretary Iddi Hassan said in the blog post, “The government of Zanzibar is excited to be one of the first to contribute OSM-ready data sets. It will be great to have this high-quality, open data available to all on OpenStreetMap, and we hope to see the development of new geospatial applications that will give Zanzibar the opportunity to better plan for a resilient future.”

Facebook engineering director Subbu Subramanian said in a statement, “These authoritative datasets align with Map With AI’s goal to help mappers expand the coverage, accuracy and detail of OpenStreetMap. This benefits not only the OSM mapping community, but also the owners of the data, as that data can now be widely available for use by many applications.”

Esri ArcGIS content chief technology officer Deane Kensok added, “We have been supporting developers at Facebook to enhance the RapiD editor and JOSM plug-in so that users can access a curated set of high-quality, open data as ArcGIS feature layers, right from the editing environment. The ArcGIS datasets are especially useful because they typically have been hand-edited by GIS professionals and include more fields, such as names and addresses, than the existing AI-generated features.”

The 80 program participants will spend the first three months learning how to grow their communities and meet their goals from experts, coaches and a customized curriculum, while the second three months will see them iterating and executing on their plans with funding and continued support from their networks and a dedicated team.

A total of up to $3 million will be awarded to the selected community leaders, with each receiving up to $30,000.

The social network shared details on the 14 participants from North America, as well as some from across the globe. They include:

• Brian Anderson, Fathering Together, which incorporated as a nonprofit after being established as Dads With Daughters in February 2018. Its focus is twofold: educating dads and building relationships across differences to create a better world for their children.
• Elizabeth Behrens, Be the Bridge, which was formed by Latasha Morrison in 2015 as a place for diverse people to discuss racial reconciliation and increase their racial literacy through healthy dialogue and understanding.
• Monica Berlitz, Clube da Alice, a community in Brazil that promotes female entrepreneurship and an active dialogue about the female universe.
• Warren Carlyle IV, OctoNation—The Largest Octopus Fan Club, which Carlyle created in September 2015 to foster a deeper appreciation and understanding of one of the ocean’s most fascinating animals.
• Nadia Gamal El Din, Rahet Bally Community, a group for new moms in Egypt to understand and cope with motherhood, offering them peace of mind and much-needed support.
• Paul Gowder, PowWows.com, a place to celebrate, explore, learn and connect with Native American culture regardless of one’s background.
• Marvyn Harrison, Dope Black Dads, which he started after his daughter was born and he wrote to 23 other Black dads in the U.K.
• Courtney Jones, ClearTheList Foundation, which she started last year as Support a Teacher—#ClearTheList Global Community to give educators a place to connect, advocate for their classroom needs, and receive donated school supplies.
• Dasha Kennedy, The Broke Black Girl, which she established in 2017 to empower and provide culturally relevant financial literacy resources to Black women.
• Judith Mayer, Breast Cancer Straight Talk, started by young mother Seline Arnfield in 2017 to give women facing breast cancer a place to tell their stories, share their feelings and find support.
• Abigail McKiernan, Spark in the Dark, which she started in 2015 to connect people in need directly with community members and businesses that were able to help.
• Vivian Nwankpah, Moms of Black Boys United, which was created by Depelsha McGruder in 2017 to influence policy around the treatment of Black boys and men by law enforcement and society. children
• Dillion Phiri, Creative Nestlings, a creative network that focuses on the growth of young South African creatives across the continent and its diaspora by connecting their community to each other, teaching new skills and providing career opportunities.
• Bernard Pollack, Food Tank, started by he and Danielle Nierenberg in 2012 after spending 18 months interviewing thousands of farmers across 26 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It is now a research and advocacy nonprofit organization that publishes original research, hosts daily podcasts and livestreams with experts and convenes sold out events and summits around the world.
• Joey Rosenberg, Women Who Code, started by a group of engineers in San Francisco in 2011 with a vision of changing the tech industry to see women better represented at every level.
• Jessica Valle, Kesem, which was founded in 2010 to provide free community support to children and families impacted by a parent’s cancer.
• Meghan Young, PNW Outdoor Women, founded in 2015 to give women a brave space to share their stories, ask questions and find community both on and off the trails.
• Tiffany Yu, Diversability, which she started in 2009 to give disabled and non-disabled people a space to tackle disability bias through the celebration of the disability lived experience.
• Yves Miel Zuniga, MentalHealthPH, which was created to promote and protect mental health in the Philippines through the use of social media and digital technology.

Dorsey said in a tweet, “This is one tool to close the wealth and income gap, level systemic race and gender inequalities and create economic security for families.”

MGI said on its website, “Economic insecurity isn’t a new challenge or a partisan issue. Wealth and income inequality, which have long plagued our country, continue to grow. Even prior to the pandemic, people who were working two and three jobs still couldn’t afford basic necessities. Covid-19 has only further exposed the economic fragility of most American households, and has disproportionately impacted Black and Brown people. This is our New Deal moment: Everyone deserves an income floor through a guaranteed income.”

The mayors in the coalition are:

• Ras Baraka, Newark, N.J.
• Steve Benjamin, Columbia, S.C.
• Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta
• Aja Brown, Compton, Calif.
• Melvin Carter, St. Paul, Minn.
• Jenny Durkan, Seattle
• Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles
• Robert Garcia, Long Beach, Calif.
• Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Jackson, Miss.
• Alex Morse, Holyoke, Mass.
• William Peduto, Pittsburgh
• Adrian Perkins, Shreveport, La.
• Satya Rhodes-Conway, Madison, Wis.
• Libby Schaaf, Oakland, Calif.
• Michael Tubbs, Stockton, Calif.
• Victoria Woodards, Tacoma, Wash.

The #BeatsDaisyChallenge goes live on TikTok Saturday, July 11. The TikTok community will participate over a four-week period in separate challenges tied to the four new colors for Beats by Dr. Dre’s PowerbeatsPro headphones: Glacier Blue, Spring Yellow, Cloud Pink and Lava Red.

Ashnikko and Beats by Dr. Dre will choose the most creative entries, which will be featured in the final version of the video for new track “Daisy,” under fashion director Charlotte Rutherford.

Beats by Dr. Dre said the new song “centers around self-expression through color … (and) has an unconventionally empowering message with genre-blending production and raucous sound effects.”

The company’s first campaign on the video-creation platform taps two of its premium advertising offerings: Hashtag Challenges, which enable brands to directly engage the TikTok community and tap user-generated content; and TopView, a full-screen 60-second immersive ad unit that appears as soon as a user opens the application.

TikTok vice president, Europe, global business solutions Stuart Flint said in a statement, “This trailblazing campaign with Beats by Dr. Dre gets to the very core of what TikTok is all about—creative expression immersed in music. Our goal is to help brands push the limits of traditional marketing to create campaigns that have impact with our highly engaged community on TikTok, and this campaign is designed to do exactly that.”

AnalogFolk global CEO Guy Wieynk added, “Partnering with such an iconic brand as Beats by Dr. Dre to create the world’s first UGC TikTok music video has been a real joy. The collaboration between everyone involved really demonstrates how big ideas can come to life in an authentic way.”

And Ashnikko said, “’Daisy’ is my golden child, and Beats really made this wild-ass vision come to life. All I can say about the video is: dramatic chefs kiss.”

Stone was convicted on seven counts in February—including witness tampering and lying to investigators—and sentenced to 40 months in federal prison, pending a retrial.

Facebook head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher said in a Newsroom post that the network was based in the U.S. and focused on domestic audiences, using fake accounts to pose as Florida residents and comment on its own content to boost engagement, as well as to manage pages.

Many of those pages were linked to far-right neo-fascist organization Proud Boys, which was banned from Facebook in 2018.

Gleicher said the network was most active between 2015 and 2017, and it consisted of 54 accounts, 50 pages and four Instagram accounts, which spent under $308,000 for ads on Facebook and Instagram, paid for in dollars.

Roughly 260,000 accounts followed one or more of the pages, and about 61,500 people followed at least one of the Instagram accounts.

Gleicher wrote, “We first started looking into this network as part of our investigation into the Proud Boys’ attempts to return to Facebook after we had designated and banned them from the platform. We identified the full scope of this network following the recent public release of search warrants pertaining to the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller in response to a joint petition from The New York Times, CNN, the Associated Press, The Washington Post and Politico. Our investigation linked this network to Roger Stone and his associates.”

Davey Alba of The New York Times shared a text message response from Stone via Twitter.

Facebook shared examples of content posted by pages and accounts in the network.

The social network also removed 41 accounts, 77 pages and 56 Instagram accounts that originated in Canada and Ecuador and focused on Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Gleicher said a combination of authentic and inauthentic accounts was used to pose as locals during civic events such as elections and drive people to off-platform sites, as well as to manage pages posting as independent news outlets.

Content focused on topics including politics, activism, praise or criticism of political candidates, elections, the government of Venezuela, the president of Ecuador and political parties in the region.

Gleicher said Facebook’s investigation found links to political consultants and former government employees in Ecuador and to Canada-based public-relations firm Estraterra, which is now banned from its platform.

Approximately 274,000 accounts followed at least one of the pages in the network, and some 78,000 people followed one or more of the Instagram accounts. About $1.38 million was spent on Facebook ads, paid for primarily in dollars. Examples of content include:

In Brazil, 35 accounts, 14 pages, one group and 38 Instagram accounts were removed, focusing on local news and events including domestic politics and elections; political memes; criticism of political opposition, media organizations and journalists; and the coronavirus pandemic.

Gleicher said Facebook’s investigation found links to individuals associated with the Social Liberal Party and employees of the offices of Anderson Moraes, Alana Passos, Eduardo Bolsonaro, Flavio Bolsonaro and Jair Bolsonaro.

Around 883,000 accounts followed one or more of the pages, while some 350 accounts joined the group and about 917,000 people followed at least one of the Instagram accounts. Only $1,500 or so was spent on Facebook ads, paid for in Brazilian reais. Content examples include:

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Director of sustainability Edward Palmieri said in a Newsroom post that the company committed in August 2018 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75% and support global operations with 100% renewable energy by the end of 2020, and it is on track to achieve those goals.

Palmieri said Facebook cut operational greenhouse gas emissions by 59% in 2019 compared with 2017 levels and reached 86% renewable energy, adding that the company was recognized as the No. 1 corporate buyer of renewable energy in the U.S. by the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance and as No. 2 globally by Bloomberg NEF.

The 300-megawatt Prospero Solar Project in Texas represents the company’s first direct investment in a renewable energy project.

As for local communities, Palmieri wrote that Facebook invested in water-restoration projects that will replenish 206,000 cubic meters (55 million gallons) of water per year, and it financed projects to bolster the renewable energy market, adding capacity to the electricity grids in areas that support its data centers.

As an example, Facebook’s data center in Odense, Denmark, includes infrastructure that captures and delivers heat generated by its servers to the district heating system, with that project being ramped up to provide 100,000 megawatt hours of energy per year, or enough to heat 6,900 homes.

Facebook teamed up with global organizations earlier this year on a Climate Conversation Map to provide information on the ebb and flow of topics globally and inform decision-making on climate action, and it worked with entities including the Stockholm International Water Institute, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and We Ae Still In on sustainable practices and climate action.

Palmieri wrote, “We are working to minimize the impact of our energy, emissions and water usage; protect workers and the environment in our supply chain; and partner with others to develop and share solutions for a more sustainable world. But we recognize there is more to be done and intend to continue to expand our reporting to drive further transparency.”

A reminder began appearing atop News Feed on Facebook and Instagram’s feed, urging people to wear cloth face coverings to prevent the spread of the virus and directing them to prevention tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The two-day festival will “bring a piece of New York to Instagram Live,” the Facebook-owned photo- and video-sharing network said, showcasing 16 small businesses with BIPOC, female or LGBTQ+ owners.

The full lineup is available here, and highlights include:

• Books Are Magic: A question-and-answer session and summer reading list with the independent Brooklyn bookstore and Instagram head of fashion and New York Times bestselling author Eva Chen.
• Field Trip Harlem: Viewers will learn how to make a James Beard Award-winning lunch, Piri Piri sauce and signature bowl.
• Katana Kitten: Lessons in mixology with the Japanese-American bar in Greenwich Village.
• The Miles Coffee Bar: Learn how to make the perfect brew and pastry from the Bronx coffee spot.

During the Instagram Live videos, viewers will be encouraged to support the featured small businesses and other small businesses by purchasing gift cards, ordering meals via Instagram’s food orders feature and promoting them via the Support Small Business sticker in Stories.

Time Out New York will also be raising money for nonprofit Robin Hood.

CEO Ryan Roslansky said in a blog post, “In the U.S., the unemployment rate swung from 50-year lows to 70-year highs in just three months. And the impact has been felt disproportionately by people with low incomes, women and underrepresented minorities. An important step in accelerating economic recovery and making sure it’s inclusive is providing easier access to digital skills for those hardest-hit by job losses.”

The resources are available at opportunity.linkedin.com, and Roslansky said the professional network used its economic graph to digitally map 690 million professionals, 50 million companies, 11 million job listings, 36,000 skills and 90,000 schools, identifying in-demand skills, emerging jobs and global hiring patterns.

LinkedIn zeroed in on 10 jobs that are currently in demand and well positioned to grow, and it made the respective LinkedIn Learning paths aligned with those jobs available free-of-charge through the end of March 2021.

Content will be updated or revised as needed, and the material is available in English, French, German and Spanish.

Microsoft Learn is also offering in-depth technical learning content supporting those roles free-of-charge, and job seekers looking for development roles can access the GitHub Learning Lab to polish their skills.

The 10 learning paths are:

Roslansky said LinkedIn has also seen a “strong acceleration in the need for soft skills,” so these four learning paths are also being made available at no cost:

Roslansky concluded, “Today’s announcement is an important start to helping job seekers whose lives have been impacted by the pandemic, but it’s really just the beginning. This isn’t a challenge any one company can address alone. This undertaking requires tech companies and employers, nonprofit groups and government workforce agencies to connect and collaborate. I’m honored and excited to be part of this initiative and will continue to focus our team on ways we can help—immediately and for the long term. By working together and helping those whose jobs have been impacted by the Covid-19 economic crisis, we can make a difference right now in the workforce, in the economy and in our everyday lives. Because, we’re all #InItTogether.”

Vice president of product Kiran Prasad introduced the updates in a blog post, starting with the Open to Work feature, which enables members to let other members know they are looking for employment.

LinkedIn users can go to their profile and click, “Show recruiters you’re open to work,” under their profile pictures.

After filling in job preferences, such as location and job type, they can click “choose who sees that you’re open” to specify whether the information is visible only to recruiters or publicly.

Once the feature is activated, creating a post with the #opentowork hashtag will enables members to reach even more people on the professional network.

Switching gears from those who need help to those looking to provide it, starting a new post with LinkedIn’s new “Offer to Help” option enables members to specify ways they can help other members in their job hunts, including general help, career coaching, referrals and résumé reviews.

They can then add the #OfferingHelp hashtag and choose who can see their posts, with LinkedIn suggesting that they share these posts beyond their connections.

Finally, LinkedIn added a new reaction, support, enabling members to show their support for articles, posts, news or views.

Prasad wrote, “Coming together as a community is one of the most important things that we can do to get us closer to reaching our goals. We’re continuing to roll out new tools that allow our members to give and get help on LinkedIn, because we’re all better when we’re in it together.”