C&RL News December 2017 670 Gary Pattillo is reference librarian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, e-mail: pattillo@ email.unc.edu Unicode update Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent representation of text independent of platform, device, application, or language. “Version 10.0 of the Unicode Standard is now available. For the first time, both the core specifica- tion and the data files are available on the same date. Version 10.0 adds 8,518 characters, for a total of 136,690 characters. These additions include four new scripts, for a total of 139 scripts, as well as 56 new emoji characters.” Unicode, “Announcing The Unicode® Standard, Version 10.0,” June 20, 2017, http://blog.unicode.org/2017/06/ announcing-unicode-standard-version-100.html (retrieved November 1, 2017). Misinformation “Experts are evenly split on whether the coming decade will see a reduction in false and misleading narratives online. Those forecasting improvement place their hopes in technological fixes and in societal solutions. Others think the dark side of human nature is aided more than stifled by technology.” An in-depth report, “The Future of Truth and Misinformation Online,” discusses the issues at length. Janna Anderson and Lee Rainie, “The Future of Truth and Misinformation Online,” October 19, 2017, Pew Research Center, www.pewinternet.org/2017/10/19/the-future-of-truth-and-misinformation-online (retrieved November 7, 2017). Literacy rate The worldwide average literacy rate for adults ages 15 years old and above is 86 percent, up from 81 percent in 1999. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics, “Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above),” https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS (retrieved November 6, 2017). Archives Against Amnesia Archives Against Amnesia will present a symposium March 1-3, 2018. “We often picture archives as rare documents and artifacts—precious and too often unseen collections that preserve our history. But increasingly, concerned citizens, as well as professionals, find themselves desperately grasping the present—tweets, websites, sounds, smells, blood, and bodies—before it vanishes or is furtively swept away. Archives expose past actions that buttress our current crises and hand us tools to dismantle barriers to justice. In our symposium and linked events, practicing archivists, engaged scholars, and interdisciplinary artists will share projects from guerrilla archiving of climate data to mining corporate re- cords for evidence of organized violence.” Archives Against Amnesia, https://archivesagainstamnesia.com (retrieved November 9, 2017). Higher education costs Among full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students awarded any grant aid, differences in average cost of attendance and net price of attendance for the 2015–16 academic year varied by institutional sector. For those attending public 4-year institutions, average cost was approximately $19,600 and net price was about $12,400; for those attending nonprofit 4-year institutions, average cost was roughly $39,500 and net price was about $22,200; and for those attending for-profit 4-year institutions, average cost was approxi- mately $27,900 and net price was about $21,900. Scott Ginder, Janice E. Kelly-Reid, and Farrah B. Mann, “Graduation Rates for Selected Cohorts, 2008-13; Outcome Measures for Cohort Year 2008; Student Financial Aid, Academic Year 2015-16; and Admissions in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2016: First Look (Preliminary Data) First Look (Provisional Data),” October 12, 2017, https://nces.ed.gov /pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2017150 (retrieved November 4, 2017). mailto:pattillo%40email.unc.edu?subject=Gary%20Pattillo mailto:pattillo%40email.unc.edu?subject=Gary%20Pattillo http://blog.unicode.org/2017/06/announcing-unicode-standard-version-100.html http://blog.unicode.org/2017/06/announcing-unicode-standard-version-100.html http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/10/19/the-future-of-truth-and-misinformation-online https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS https://archivesagainstamnesia.com https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2017150 https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2017150