Wikipedia is usually recommended with caution by librarians because of its crowd sourced nature. Who knows the motivation or expertise of Wikipedia’s editors? Last month, according to the New York Times, the site became a valuable reference for up to date information about the Ebola outbreak. Reaching a peak of 2.5 million page visits on October 15th.

Here are some other notable information science stories from last month:

It may look like MIT’s research division signage was hacked by space invaders, but that’s just Pentagram‘s redesign of division logos, inspired by the MIT Press logo – they call them monograms. The renowned design firm interpreted the first letters of 23 division titles into 8-bit pixelated type. Just a few examples:

Molecular Machines, Tangible Media, Playful Systems

Trying to find out about NYPL branch locations and events used to mean a lot of time spent sifting through pages of daily children’s events before I found what I was looking for.  Glad to see NYPL is redesigning their location finder page, the library’s second most visited webpage after the homepage. On the beta site you can share your location to find branches near you more quickly and events are laid out clearly once you choose a location.

At Library Manifesto we (well I), believe that all people should have access to knowledge. That includes a good education. In that spirit, The Washington Post highlights  7 countries where one might study for free or for cheap.

Tired of clicking around on the same old graphic interface of your computer? Jump into Matrix-style interactivity with your personal computer with this Command Line Interfacing guide from AVPreserve. You’ll know what to do the next time you see this:

Affordable video cameras and smart phones have given activists in Egypt, Syria, China, New York and beyond the tools to document conflict and political repression. WITNESS, a human rights organization, created a short new video called “What Is Video Metadata?” that makes archival concepts clear and explains why they’re useful to demonstrators and activists. The video includes information about the type of metadata you wouldn’t want to record, like personal information of subjects that could be prosecuted. Metadata to the people!

That’s all for October. Don’t forget to visit LM’s calendar page which has some readings and talks coming up around the city. Make suggestions by tweeting to @mspantojatoyou!