15 Data Science Articles from Jan 2023

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Bosses: Don’t be Jerks

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After decades of being bossed, and 16 years of bossing, I’ve developed a prime directive for bosses which will probably not be taught at Harvard Business School: Don’t be a jerk. Organizations need hierarchies and leadership, so yes, you get to call some shots. You can be tough and demanding. But remember that your authority over other human beings is an artificial construct. You are not better than the people working for you. Fire people if you must, but humiliate no one. Be kind. Granted, many bosses don’t operate this way, and I can understand why women in positions of power want the right to be as obnoxious and tyrannical as their male counterparts. But wouldn’t it be better still if no boss could get away with acting like a jerk?

William Falk writing in The Week Magazine

Imagination inflation can lead to false memories

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Imagination inflation refers to the tendency of people who, when asked to imagine an event vividly, will sometimes begin to believe, when asked about it later, that the event actually occurred. Adults who were asked "Did you ever break a window with your hand?" were more likely on a later life inventory to report that they believe this event occurred during their lifetimes. It seems that asking the question led them to imagine the event, and the act of having imagined it had the effect, later, of making them more likely to think it had occurred (relative to other group answer the question not having previously imagined it occurring).

Accounts that sound familiar can create the feeling of knowing and be mistaken for true. This is one reason that political or advertising claims that are not factual but are repeated can gain traction with the public, particularly if they have emotional resonance. Something you once heard that you hear again later carries a warmth of familiarity that can be mistaken for memory, a shred of something you once knew and cannot quite place but are inclined to believe. In the world propaganda, this is called "the big lie" technique—even a big lie told repeatedly can come to be accepted as truth.

Peter C. Brown and Henry L. Roediger III, Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

Great Leaders vs Managers

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Great leaders aren't always the most likable people. In the long run, great leaders recognize that their job is to get people to do things they might not want to do, in order to achieve goals they want to achieve.  Contrast that with "mere managers," who either want to be liked or try to convince themselves that they don't care. Great leaders know that cordiality is necessary, but also that they might sometimes have to sacrifice short-term likability in favor of long-term respect. 

Bill Murphy Jr. writing in the Understandably newsletter

By Our Love

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In a 2021 sermon, controversial pastor Matt Chandler called leaving the faith “some sexy thing to do.” He denounced the process of critiquing one’s childhood faith, saying, “If you ever experienced the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, actually, that’s really impossible to deconstruct from. But if Christianity is just a moral compass, I totally get it.” 

Ultimately, Chandler and those who follow his teachings are wrong: Christianity isn’t losing followers because leaving is “some sexy thing to do.” It comes down to how people are being treated, specifically marginalized communities.

Brandon Flanery writing in Baptist News

When we use depression as an excuse

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We often use depression as an excuse for not doing something we don’t want to do or afraid to do. When someone suggests that we go ahead and do whatever we are trying to avoid, we usually agree and say, “I think you’re right, but I’m just to upset right now to do it.” For example, your company is downsizing and you lose a good job through no fault of your own. You tell me what happened and how depressed you are. I try not to pay much attention to your depressing. Instead, I say, “I know it’s hard, but don’t sit around; get out your resume.”

But you are depressing for a good reason. You have just been laid off and feel rejected, even though it was not your fault. You are afraid of another rejection, of facing the fact that there may be no good jobs for you at your age and with your experience. As painful as depressing is, it’s less painful at this time than looking for job and getting rejected again and again.

William Glasser, Choice Theory

A Digital Generation Gap

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An international 2018 study that measured eighth-graders’ “capacities to use information and computer technologies productively” proclaimed that just 2 percent of Gen Z had achieved the highest “digital native” tier of computer literacy. “Our students are in deep trouble,” one educator wrote. But the issue is likely not that modern students are learning fewer digital skills, but rather that they’re learning different ones. 

Nicolás Guarín-Zapata, an applied physicist and lecturer at Colombia’s Universidad EAFIT, for all his knowledge of directory structure, doesn’t understand Instagram nearly as well as his students do, despite having had an account for a year. He’s had students try to explain the app in detail, but “I still can’t figure it out,” he complains. “They use a computer one way, and we use a computer another way,” Guarin-Zapata emphasizes.  

Monica Chin writing for The Verge

Deadlines & Productivity

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People like to say if it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would get done. But research shows people’s productivity is not linear. When people sit down to do a task, they’ll put in a lot of effort initially. At some point there’s going to be diminishing returns on extra effort. To optimise productivity, you need to maximise benefits and minimise costs and find that inflection point, which is where you should start to wrap up. 

Elizabeth Tenney, University of Utah’s Eccles School of Business quoted in a BBC article

Deepfakes Flourish

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Deepfake technology — software that allows people to swap faces, voices and other characteristics to create digital forgeries — has been used in recent years to make a synthetic substitute of Elon Musk that shilled a cryptocurrency scam, to digitally “undress”more than 100,000 women on Telegram and to steal millions of dollars from companies by mimicking their executives’ voices on the phone.

In most of the world, the authorities can’t do much about it. Even as the software grows more sophisticated and accessible, few laws exist to manage its spread.

Read more about Deep Fakes in the New York Times

10 Seconds

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Image: EmmY AWARDS VIDEO

All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Will you just take, along with me, 10 seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are?  Those who have cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life.

(Ten seconds of silence)

Whomever you’ve been thinking about, how pleased they must be to know the difference you feel they’ve made.

Fred Rogers (of Mister Rogers Neighborhood), Academy Award Acceptance Speech

Switching Strategies

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Parents need a veritable smorgasbord of strategies to raise their children, everything from tough discipline and strict boundaries to treating kids to ice cream and a day off. Knowing when to use which one is a sign of healthy flexibility. The same goes for leaders at work, who might want to change the way they manage their employees when the company is going through a season of stress.   

Kira M. Newman writing for Greater Good Magazine

Will AI doom or save us?

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Every new development is condemned as likely leading to the ruination of what has come before. It's a desire to protect our comforts and memories—combined with the fear of losing power and control to the unknown. Anything that forces us to shift our identity is met with resistance. From Socrates (believing the written word is not an ineffective means of communicating knowledge) down through the printing press, radio, TV, computers, etc., the temptation is to condemn new technology for the very fact it is new and unfamiliar. The other temptation is the opposite (deeming it better simply because it is new and shiny). 

Considering that Riepl’s Law seems to be holding (old technology is not replaced, but fades in importance) and each iteration of technology can be used for good or evil, it seems the best attitude toward technology is to see it is as presenting a both/and situation and not an either/or dilemma. 

Will AI doom/save us? Probably. 

Stephen Goforth

The strongest predictor of men’s well-being

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American men (along with their peers in the UK) derive happiness not from traditional notions of power and strength, but from the typically quieter task of doing meaningful work and contributing to the communities around them. That’s the finding of research out of the UK. Leah Fessler has more in Quartz

33 Publishing Platforms

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About Me
Quickly create an attractive profile page. A digital card/personal description site that is highly searchable and smartly designed. Sort of a social media business card. Free. Video introduction here.

Adobe Portfolio
Although it requires a Creative Cloud subscription to be used, it’s an add-on that is a powerful option: simple and straightforward set-up, slick interface. However, not as many customization and layout options as some of the other site builders. Ideal if you are already in the CC.

Authory
Automatically backs up a journalist’s articles regardless as to which site they’re published on. Lets readers “subscribe” to journalists, so that they can receive email notifications when one of them publishes something new. Two week free trial. After that the service is $7 a month or $70 a year.

BlueHost
This WordPress website builder has over 300 templates. Drag and drop editing, Paid accounts start at $2.95 a month with a 30 days money back guarantee.

Blogger
Free blog platform with gentle learning curve for beginners Run by Google, so it integrates with Google products well. Lacks many plugins to improve functionality. Limited design options. Google hasn’t done much updating to it over the years.

Cargo
A variety of unconventional, eye-catching templates, A variety of fonts and some animation tools. Build a site without paying until you publish. $8.25 a month.

Clippings Me
Showcase your work as a journalist, blogger or writer.  Add online and print clippings, link to your social media sites, and customize your portfolio. Free. Demo.

Contently
Tools for creating and showcasing storytelling content of writers. Connects publishers (both news organizations and PR folks at businesses with journalists, then takes a 15% transition fee. Designed to help freelancers find work. Takes care of the paperwork aspect (invoicing and payments) for businesses hiring freelancers. Free.

Duda
Customizable website builder with nice analytics, multilanguage support and e-commerce. A little more expensive than the more well-known options but offers more flexibility.

Elementor*
This popular WordPress plugin offers many templates and widgets for free. See how it looks as you go. Though it doesn’t require coding skills, it could be a little confusing for beginners. Does have a drop and drag setup. Paid accounts starting at $49 a year.

Ghost (formerly Roon)
Open source, free blogging platform. Simple to use, custom domains. Focused on making beautiful content rather than options like plug-ins and SEO tools.

HostGator
A website hosting services that offers limited website building choices. No free option. However, the plans start as low as $4.99 a month.

IM Creator
For advanced website creators though you don’t need to know any code to get started. Wide choice of templates but detailed editing options. Includes commerce and domain name support. $8 a month.

Joomla
Lots of possible complexity.  Deep level navigation, sections in sections, categories etc.

Krop
Both a job site and a portfolio builder. Layouts are straightforward and easy-to-use. Free trial. $8.25 a month.

Live Blog
Live Blog is a liveblogging platform for journalists for posting from a phone or tablet.

LiveJournal
Blogging platform owned by Russians (where the servers are located). Lost subscribers after banning political posts and other topics. Ads are shown except for paid accounts.

Medium
Created by Twitter co-founders to support good writing. Clean design and easy-to-use interface. For those who want to write but don’t want to maintain a blog or website.

Postach.io
Publishing platform limited to Evernote (popular note-taking platform). Custom domains, but limited themes. Pulls your thoughts from Evernote into the blog.  Free for basic service, $4.99 a month for advanced options.

Posthaven
Custom domains, tagging. Weak on themes.$5 a month.

Pressfolios*
Especially designed for highlighting the kinds of things a journalist would want to highlight in order to show what they've done. The links to past content are prominent. There’s also an area for listing skills and a detailed biography. Instead of just linking to your stories (which can be taken down) Pressfolios creates a backup version. Lacks social media integration. Free but $12 each month for a pro version. Samples: One: The Atlantic, GQ freelancer, Two: NY Times freelancer, Three: Rolling Stone contributor

Silvrback
Blogging platform. Establish your own brand with a custom domain. Nice archive and bio pages. $29.99 a year special. 14 day free trial.

Sitey
A do-it-yourself publishing platform, sames as WebsiteBuilder.com, SiteBuilder.com and Sitelio.com. Some reviewers, such as this one,  say there are many consumer complaints related to billing.

SquareSpace
Inexpensive and easy way to build a website or blog. WordPress has more flexible design and functionality (no plugins with Square Space), but not everyone will want so many extras. More focused on content than coding. Nice templates and tools for businesses. 14-day free trial. $8--$24 a month includes hosting.

Svbtle
Writing platform. Minimalist interface. Encourages reader response. Must apply for membership.

Tumblr
This social platform allows users to see posts from all of the blogs they follow in a single stream. Sort of Twitter, but with full text and more images. You can populate your stream with content by others simply by clicking the "like" and "reblog" buttons. Easy to use. Limited customization. Best for photography, art. Free.

Web.com
Easy to use interface to build websites using templates and stock photography. However, it doesn’t let you switch templates and there is no free option but the paid versions are inexpensive.

Webflow
Aimed at website designers but does not require coding skills. More flexibility than SquareSpace, Wix, etc. and more intuitive than WordPress. Offers hosting options. A free account is available with more options starting at $12 a month.

Weebly
Simple website creation. Possibly the most easy-to-use with a useful drop and drag function. Limited customization. Free (with footer ad) but more options with paid subscription from $8-$38 monthly.

Wix*
Drag and drop website builder using visually impressive layouts. Active customer support but hard to move away. Student example here. Free but a paid account is needed to unlock some features you would expect to be free. Paid accounts start at $8.50 a month.

WordPress.com*
WP-dot-com is free and easy to use. The dot-org version is not.  WP-dot-com includes hosting and a domain name (yourdomain.wordpress.com) but your own domain name is only $15 more.  Basic customization available (themes, colors, layout and fonts).  Limited monetization and plugin options.

WordPress.org*
The most often used software for publishing on line.  Pick your own domain name, host wherever you like, and add plugins as you like. Steeper learning curve that WP-dot-com.

WPbeginner
A free WordPress resource site for beginners. Tutorials for non-techy users including reviews of plugins.

The best predictor of toxic work culture

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To find evidence-based insights on culture change, we began with the large body of existing research on unhealthy corporate culture. Leadership consistently emerged as the best predictor of toxic culture. The importance of leadership will surprise no one, but it does underscore a fundamental reality: Leaders cannot improve corporate culture unless they are willing to hold themselves and their colleagues accountable for toxic behavior.  Toxic social norms can take on a life of their own in a team or an organization and persist through multiple changes in leadership. Without a commitment from the top team, any organization wide culture change — including a cultural detox — is destined to fail. 

Donald Sull and Charles Sull writing for the MIT Sloan Management Review