Do something
/Don’t be something, do something. -William Bridges
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
New ways of being alive
/(At the age of 35) cancer has kicked down the walls of my life. I cannot be certain I will walk my son to his elementary school someday or subject his love interests to cheerful scrutiny. I struggle to buy books for academic projects I fear I can’t finish for a perfect job I may be unable to keep. I have surrendered my favorite manifestoes about having it all, managing work-life balance and maximizing my potential. I cannot help but remind my best friend that if my husband remarries everyone will need to simmer down on talking about how special I was in front of her. (And then I go on and on about how this is an impossible task given my many delightful qualities. Let’s list them. …) Cancer requires that I stumble around in the debris of dreams I thought I was entitled to and plans I didn’t realize I had made.
But cancer has also ushered in new ways of being alive. Even when I am this distant from Canadian family and friends, everything feels as if it is painted in bright colors. In my vulnerability, I am seeing my world without the Instagrammed filter of breezy certainties and perfectible moments. I can’t help noticing the brittleness of the walls that keep most people fed, sheltered and whole. I find myself returning to the same thoughts again and again: Life is so beautiful. Life is so hard.
Kate Bowler writing in the New York Times
An Apology
/A German wholesaler decided to offer a brief apology and rebate to customers who had posted more than 600 complaints about the firm on eBay. Defective products and late deliveries pledged the firm. Half were sent an apology and half were offered a small cash rebate. The result? Nearly half of those who received the apology removed their poor rating of the company. Only one-out-of-five of the customers given the money did so.
Stephen Goforth
History
/Men make their own history but not in circumstances of their own choosing. -Karl Marx
What History can Teach us
/The main thing history can teach us is that human actions have consequences and that certain choices, once made, cannot be undone. They foreclose the possibility of making other choices and thus they determine future events. -Gerda Lerner
5 Free Media Webinars this Week about AI, ethics, reporting on religion & social media
/Tue, May 23 - When Ethics and Technology Collide: Chat GPT What Every Media Educator Needs to Know
What: While it’s only been in existence for a short time, Chat GPT is challenging educators and reportedly threatening some jobs. The artificial intelligence chatbot capable of writing letters, essays and responding to test questions raises numerous ethical questions both for the workplace and the classroom. We’ve gathered four scholars on ethics and media technology to help you make sense of it.
Who: Terra Tailleur, University of King’s College; Thomas Bivins, The University of Oregon; Adrienne Wallace, Grand Valley State University; Sabine Baumann, Berlin School of Economics and Law; Moderator: Joshua Fisher, Ball State University
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free to members
Sponsor: Assoc for Education in Journalism & Mass Comm
Wed, May 24 - Get AI Literate: Know What it Can Do and What it Can’t
What: Learn from government and industry experts about AI basics and real-world use cases to make sure that you can ace any AI quiz.
Who: Manuel Xavier Lugo, CAPT, SC, USN Head of Engagement and Innovation, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (OSD CDAO); Wayne Burke, Deputy Division Manager, Artificial Intelligence, Analytics and Innovative Development Organization, NASA
When: 2pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: GovLoop
Wed, May 24 - Meet Religion Reporters Peter Smith of the AP and Michelle Boorstein of The Washington Post
What: Learn what they expect from religious communications officials – including some of their pet peeves and how you can pitch secular media more effectively. Additionally, the webinar will also include background on The Associated Press new, expanded religion reporting team.
Who: Veteran religion reporters Peter Smith of The Associated Press and Michelle Boorstein of The Washington Post
When: 1 pm, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Catholic Media Association
Wed, May 24 - How media businesses in Asia are using AI
What:
Who: Rishad Patel, co-founder, creative director and head of product, Splice Media
When: 7 am, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Reuters Institute, University of Oxford
Wed, May 24 – Social Media Affordances & Constraints
What: Are students getting the most out of social media? Do they know when to use one platform over another? Can they tell when offline engagement might be a more viable option? To answer these questions, students might consider the role of social media affordances. How they perceive social media affordances, such as visibility, persistence, editability and association, can both enable or constrain what they do on a given platform.
Who: Sean Gabaree, doctoral student at Georgetown University.
When: 4 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Media Education Lab
Possibility and Despair
/Possibility … is to human existence what vowels are to speech. To live in pure possibility is like an infants utterance of vowel sounds, which fail to express something that is definite and clear. Vowels alone do not make for articulate speech, although without them nothing can be said at all. Similarly, “if a human existence is brought to the point where it lacks possibility, then it is in despair and is in deeper every moment it lacks possibility.” One cannot breathe without oxygen, but it is also impossible to breathe pure oxygen. Possibility is a kind of spiritual oxygen that a person cannot live without, but one cannot live on pure possibility either.
C. Stephen Evans, Kierkegaard: An Introduction
What forgiveness Does
/Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. -Paul Boese
Think of AI as a tool
/The most pragmatic position is to think of A.I. as a tool, not a creature.
Mythologizing the technology only makes it more likely that we’ll fail to operate it well—and this kind of thinking limits our imaginations, tying them to yesterday’s dreams.
If the new tech isn’t true artificial intelligence, then what is it? In my view, the most accurate way to understand what we are building today is as an innovative form of social collaboration.
A program like OpenAI’s GPT-4, which can write sentences to order, is something like a version of Wikipedia that includes much more data, mashed together using statistics. Programs that create images to order are something like a version of online image search, but with a system for combining the pictures.
Jaron Lanier writing in The New Yorker
My Life with One Arm
/Two months to the day after my accident, I went to see a therapist for the first time in my life. I didn’t know where to begin. We discussed loss and resilience and the will to live and adapt. But when I started talking about the outpouring of love and support that I had received since my accident, I began weeping uncontrollably. I realized that for the first time in my life, I was truly letting love into my heart. Losing an arm has connected me to others in a way I have never felt. Yes, I have suffered a tremendous loss, but in a way, I feel as if I have gained much more.
Miles O’Brian, Writing in New York Magazine
The Vacuum Cleaner Method
/I know a man who is a tremendous asset to his organization, not because of any extraordinary ability, but because he invariably demonstrates a triumphant thought pattern. Perhaps his associates view a proposition pessimistically, so he employs what he calls the “vacuum cleaner method.” That is, by a series of questions he “sucks the dust” out of his associates’ minds; he draws out their negative attitudes. Then quietly he suggests positive ideas concerning the proposition until a new set of attitudes gives them a new concept of the facts.
They often comment upon how different facts appear when this man “goes to work on them.” It’s the confidence attitude that makes the difference. This doesn’t rule out objectively appraising of facts. The inferiority complex victim sees all facts through discolored attitudes. The secret of correction is simply to gain a normal view, and that is always slanted on the positive side.
Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking
The Power of Lonely
/The nice thing about medicine is it comes with instructions. Not so with solitude, which may be tremendously good for one’s health when taken in the right doses, but is about as user-friendly as an unmarked white pill. Too much solitude is unequivocally harmful and broadly debilitating, decades of research show. But one person’s “too much” might be someone else’s “just enough,” and eyeballing the difference with any precision is next to impossible.
People should be mindfully setting aside chunks of every day when they are not engaged in so-called social snacking activities like texting, g-chatting, and talking on the phone. For teenagers, it may help to understand that feeling a little lonely at times may simply be the price of forging a clearer identity.
“People make this error, thinking that being alone means being lonely, and not being alone means being with other people,” John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago, said. “You need to be able to recharge on your own sometimes. Part of being able to connect is being available to other people, and no one can do that without a break.”
Leon Neyfakh, writing in the Boston Globe
When to Ignore The Customers
/In 2009, Walmart lost a tremendous amount of money after having launched “an uncluttering project” and asking their customers whether they’d like “Walmart aisles to be less cluttered?”. An obvious “yes” costed the corporation a billion dollars: sure, customers were happy to see clean isles, but the sales quickly went down.
There are good examples when listening to what the customer wants leads to wrong conclusions: take a New Coke or a 1992 Shevy Caprice for example. Sometimes, running focus groups, testing in the usability lab, facilitating interviews may yield misleading results. Sometimes, ignoring what your customers say is the best course of action.
Kristian Mikhel writing in the UX Collective
Fake scientific papers are alarmingly common
/When neuropsychologist Bernhard Sabel put his new fake-paper detector to work, he was “shocked” by what it found. After screening some 5000 papers, he estimates up to 34% of neuroscience papers published in 2020 were likely made up or plagiarized; in medicine, the figure was 24%.
Jeffrey Barinard writing in Science Magazine
What the Surgeon General Misses about Loneliness
/US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wrote a New York Times opinion piece two weeks ago about loneliness. He called it a “public health” problem and suggested the cause is isolation.
The Washington Post published a follow-up article based on the significant response it got to the advisory, noting:
Some (readers) pushed back on the notion that isolation was bad for them, describing themselves as introverts who prefer solitude or distrust others in their community.
So, on the one hand, you have people being told they are lonely, and they must be fixed, who do not see a problem themselves and aren't asking to be fixed. On the other hand, as noted by a sociologist in a Psychology Today article, the surgeon general's advisory reduces loneliness to "something people often bring on themselves." The fix for this lack of social interaction is, therefore, more social interaction. But there are "many outgoing people with active social lives (who) are lonely."
Symptoms interpreted as caused by a lack of interaction may actually be caused by estrangement. This alienation would not be solved by additional interaction but by more meaningful connections. That is, quality instead of quantity.
Stephen Goforth
Six Free Webinars this Week about Media
/Mon, May 15 - The Adaptation of International Graduates in the Journalism Industry in the U.S.A.: Natural and Legal Challenges
What: Panelists in this webinar will discuss the challenges international students face after graduation in journalism for getting jobs in the media industry in the United States.
Who: Bey-Ling Sha, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, Dean of College of Communications, California State University, Fullerton; Steve Urbanski, Associate Professor of Director, Graduate Studies, Reed College of Media at West Virginia University; Katerina Spasovska, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Western Carolina University; Fisayo Okare, Journalist and Newsletter Writer, Documented, New York; Ershad Komal Khan (Moderator), Ph.D. student, University of Colorado-Boulder
When: 7 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Society of Professional Journalists
Mon, May 15 -Teen Girls’ Mental Health: Strategies for Coping with the Challenges of Social Media
What: Explore the latest research findings from the report, Teens and Mental Health: How Girls Really Feel About Social Media. In this edWebinar, you will gain valuable insights into the impact of social media on the mental health of teenage girls,
Who: Supreet Mann, Director of Research, Common Sense Media; and Daniel Vargas Campos, Program Manager, Common Sense Education.
When: 3pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Common Sense Education
Tue, May 16 - Mobile Marketing Tips for Every Generation
What: Mobile marketing and generational marketing, with an emphasis on: 4 reasons why your website needs to look great on a smartphone. How each generation responds to marketing (and how to optimize your efforts). 5 tips for planning your mobile marketing strategy.
Who: Molly Coke, chief client fulfillment officer, Firespring, which provides software and websites for nonprofits
When: 1 pm, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Firespring
Wed, May 17 - Telling the story of your journalism and media work
What: How to showcase your work and create a compelling personal narrative that showcases your unique skills and experiences.
Who: Emma Carew Grovum, is the founder of Kimbap Media and The Marshall Project's Director of Careers and Culture.
When: 12 noon, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Center for Cooperative Media
Thu, May 18 - Resilience in Combating Misinformation
What: Journalists today face disinformation and misinformation challenges as well as the simultaneous eroding of public trust in institutions. They are combating overt tactics to share incorrect information and deploying strategies to prevent the spread of misinformation. As journalists’ efforts continue, we’ll discuss how to be resilient in the face of these challenges. ONA’s goal is to bring a fresh perspective to a daunting challenge: for news to continue serving as a place to find clear and straightforward information in a tumultuous online environment saturated with misinformation and disinformation.
Who: Meena Thiruvengadam, Digital Strategy Consultant and journalist; Joy Mayer, Director of Trusting News; Norbert Schwarz, Provost Professor, Department of Psychology & Marshall School of Business and Co-Director; Gabriella Stern, Director of Media Relations at the World Health Organization.
When: 2pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Online News Association
Thu, May 18 - How to Report on Health in Any Beat
What: The first of a series of panels from AAJA-LA's health equity program. Panelists will share their own experiences reporting about health and why it’s important. They will also discuss how to pursue health equity stories that will in turn help communities achieve health equity.
Who: Usha McFarling, National Science Correspondent, STAT; Lexis Olivier-Ray, Housing, Justice and Culture Reporter, L.A. TACO; Diya Chacko, Science Editor, UCLA Health; Emily Alpert Reyes, Public Health Reporter, Los Angeles Times; Moderator Gita Amar, Senior Vice President, GCI Health
When: 7 pm, Pacific
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Asian American Journalists Assn. (LA Chapter)
Students’ Views on Chatbots and Cheating
/A new study finds more than a third of the students surveyed regularly use AI tools like ChatGPT. Read more here or watch the video below.
You can’t Rush it
/When something changes in your life—you leave a job, end a relationship, or lose someone you love—recognize that you’re now in a transition. Transitions take time to move through, and they can’t be rushed. Your identity (as an employee, partner, or friend, perhaps) will have to shift and change, as well. Be kind and accepting, and don’t expect too much of yourself as you struggle through this time.
Kira Newman writing in Greater Good
The only real mistake
/The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing. -John Powell
How Emotionally intelligent leaders deal with failure and setbacks
/Emotionally intelligent leaders expect there to be roadblocks and emotionally prepare for them. They look for the lesson learned and don’t take setbacks personally. To emotionally intelligent leaders, disappointments are part of their learning and development journey. They understand that these moments will ultimately help them to reach their goals.
Harvey Deutschendorf writing in Fast Company