Social media is Evolving

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As we hit the 20-year anniversary of Facebook, we’re finding that social media usage is changing in a fundamental way. The platforms are evolving:

 from displaying personal information publicly (“Here’s where I went on vacation”; “This is the food I ate at a fancy restaurant.”)

to a place to watch and listen to curated content (often resembling TV and streaming in short form)

Curated & Closed

Instead of status updates, there are algorithmically curated videos. Many of the users who were creating and posting are now just consuming—at least, in the public sphere. This is particularly pronounced among first-gen social media users, that is, millennials between the ages of 27 and 42. This is why Instagram has seem the most growth in the last five years in DMs and stories limited to friends. The type of content they used to share in public posting is moving into private messaging and closed groups.

The advantage of closed groups is:

  • Greater privacy

  • Less sensationalism

  • Improved mental health of users

The downside of closed groups includes:

  • The lack of moderation

  • The spread of misinformation

  • The spread of new ideas suffers

  •  The support of news outlets weakens   

Social media is becoming less social. There is less emphasis on connections and greater focus on individual consumption of media produced by content creators. This focus toward engagement amplifies extreme content, which (among other things) hinders the sharing of actual news content and accurate information.

 Read more:

The end of the social network – The Economist

People are posting a lot less on public social media – Fortune

First-Gen Social Media Users Have Nowhere to Go – Wired

Why the Internet isn’t Fun Anymore – The New Yorker

Don’t Wait for Inspiration

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Chuck Close said, “Inspiration is for amateurs. Us professionals, we just go to work in the morning.”  One thing I really love about that quote is it relieves you a lot of pressure. It’s not about waiting for hours for this moment where inspiration strikes. It’s just about showing up and getting started. All that matters is that you enable the chance for something amazing to happen.

Christoph Niemann

18 Articles about AI & Academic Research

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Could AI Disrupt Peer Review?  Publishers’ policies lag technological advances - Spectrum

The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Writing Scientific Review Articles - Springer

‘Obviously ChatGPT’ — how reviewers accused me of scientific fraud - Nature

AI could accelerate scientific fraud as well as progress - Economist  

Researchers plan to release guidelines for the use of AI in publishing - Chemical & Engineering News

ChatGPT use shows that the grant-application system is broken - Nature   

Detecting fraud in scientific publications: the perils and promise of AI - Science Pod 

The Science family of journals is adopting the use of Proofig, an artificial intelligence (AI)–powered image-analysis tool- Science Magazine  

Can ChatGPT and Other AI Bots Serve as Peer Reviewers? - ACS Publishing  

AI Use in Manuscript Preparation for Academic Journals - Cornell University 

As scientists face a flood of papers, AI developers aim to help New tools show promise, but technical and legal barriers may hinder widespread use - Science Magazine  

Is AI leading to a reproducibility crisis in science? – Nature  

Affiliation Bias in Peer Review of Abstracts by a Large Language Mode - JAMA

AI copilots and robo-labs turbocharge research - Axios 

Editing companies are stealing unpublished research to train their AI - Times Higher Ed 

How journals are fighting back against a wave of questionable images - Nature  

Can ChatGPT evaluate research quality? - Cornell University   

The JSTOR Daily Sleuth - Jstor

20 Recent Articles about AI & Journalism

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Two journalists talk to the bots — who talk back — about the pros and pitfalls of AI  - Nieman Labs

What will be the impact of generative AI on journalism? – Reuters  

TikTok dominates media outlets as news source for Gen Z - Axios

Vice Media to Stop Publishing on Vice.com, Plans to Cut Hundreds of Jobs – Wall Street Journal

How OpenAI’s new text-to-video tool, Sora, could harm journalism and society - Poynter

Semafor reporters are going to curate the news with AI – The Verge

AI and Journalism Need Each Other – WSJ

How less, not more, data, could help journalism – Semafor

News Publishers See Google’s AI Search Tool as a Traffic-Destroying Nightmare - WSJ

AI may be news reporting’s future. So far, it’s been an embarrassment. - Washington Post 

Can news outlets build a ‘trustworthy’ AI chatbot? - The Verge  

How to report on AI in elections - International Journalists' Network -  International Center For Journalists

How Reuters, Newsquest and BBC experiment with generative AI – Journalism.co  

Google News Is Boosting Garbage AI-Generated Articles – 404 Media

Experts Warn Congress of Dangers AI Poses to Journalism - TIME

The New York Times is building a team to explore AI in the newsroom - The Verge

New York Times Sues Microsoft and OpenAI, Alleging Copyright Infringement – WSJ

I created an AI tool to help investigative journalists find stories in audit reports - Reuters

The AI Revolution in Journalism: A New Era of Enhanced Reporting - Hackernoon

How The Generative AI Boom Proves We Need Journalism - AdExchanger

AI is a big opportunity for the news media. Let’s not blow it. - Columbia Journalism Review

Little Lies

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Little Lies

 

Small, self-serving lies are likely to progress to bigger falsehoods, and over time, the brain appears to adapt to the dishonesty, according to a new study. 

The finding, the researchers said, provides evidence for the “slippery slope” sometimes described by wayward politicians, corrupt financiers, unfaithful spouses and others in explaining their misconduct. 

“They usually tell a story where they started small and got larger and larger, and then they suddenly found themselves committing quite severe acts,” said Tali Sharot, an associate professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London. She was a senior author of the study.

Erica Goode writing in the New York Times

15 Articles about AI & the Government

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Memories

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In 1974, Elizabeth Loftus at the University of Washington conducted a study in which people watched films of car crashes. She then asked the participants to estimate how fast the cares were going, but she divided the people into groups and asked the question differently for each.

The word changes included: smashed, collided, bumped, hit, and contacted.

Just by changing the wording, the memories of the subjects were altered. Loftus raised the ante by asking the same people if they remembered the broken glass in the film. There was no broken glass, but sure enough the people who were given the word “smashed” in their question were twice as likely to remember seeing it.

Since then, hundreds of experiments into the misinformation effect have been conducted, and people have been convinced of all sorts of things. Screwdrivers become wrenches, white men become black men and experiences involving other people get traded back and forth.

Memory is imperfect, but also constantly changing. Not only do you filter your past through your present, but your memory is easily infected by social contagion. You incorporate the memories of others into your own head all the time. Studies suggest your memory is permeable, malleable, and evolving. It isn’t fixed and permanent, but more like a dream that pulls information about what you are thinking about during the day and adds new details to the narrative.

David McRaney, You are Not so Smart

15 Articles about How Students are Using AI

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8 Journalism & Media Webinars in the next 10 Days

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8 Webinars about Reporting, College Journalism, AI Tools, Election Coverage & More 

Tue, Feb 20 - Powerful & Persistent Reporting

What: Whether covering crime and courts or leading months-long investigations, journalists must constantly overcome roadblocks to their reporting, and that includes student journalists publishing critical, in-depth stories from campus and beyond. The panelists share their experiences and advice for student journalists battling access issues and wanting to take their reporting to the next level.  

Who: Katelyn Polantz, CNN's senior reporter on crime and justice; Majlie de Puy Kamp, CNN investigative reporter; and Betul Tuncer, editor-in-chief of The Pitt News at the University of Pittsburgh.

When: 5 pm, Central

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Student Press Law Center

More Info

 

Tue, Feb 20 - Using the CDC’s Environmental Justice and Social Vulnerability data in your reporting

What: Coordinators from the CDC’s Environmental Justice Index and Social Vulnerability Index will show you how to access and use data found in these portals.

Who: Paul Gordon of the AHCJ; Ben McKenzie, a geospatial epidemiologist at the CDC; Elizabeth Pembleton, leads the Social Vulnerability Index.

When: 12 noon, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Assoc. of Health Care Journalists

More Info

 

Wed, Feb 21 - Inside the Fight for Public Records 

What: How to use public records to tell important stories. The one-hour session will feature (1) examples of real-world reporting you can replicate at your school (2) a tutorial on how to successfully write and submit your first records request, and (3) an introduction to open-government resources available to you. This webinar is designed for high school and college student journalists and their allies, with a specific focus on the California Public Records Act.

Who: Delilah Brumer, the 2023 California High School Journalist of the Year. As print editor-in-chief of The Pearl Post at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Southern California, she published stories based on successful public records requests. Hear from current and former newspaper staff members along with adviser Eleni Economides Gastis. Also the First Amendment Coalition staff will provide a tutorial on how to get started with your own records requests and give an overview of free resources available to you.

When: 12 pm, Pacific

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The First Amendment Coalition

More Info

 

Thu, Feb 22 – Disability Reporting

Who: WBFO disability reporter Emyle Watkins, Able News editor Emily Ladau and Newsday transportation reporter Alfonso Castillo.

When: 7 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The Press Club of Long Island

More Info

 

Tue, Feb 20 - Challenges and Future of College Press Freedom

What: From campus hostility to financial and structural hurdles, it’s a challenging time for college journalism. But efforts are underway to transform and even restart programs, and powerful reporting continues to show the essential role of student-led media.

Who: Nicole Markus, The Daily Northwestern; Wesley Wright, The ReNews Project; Jessica Sparks, Brechner Project for Freedom of Information; and Jackie Alexander, College Media Association.

When: 12 noon, Central

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Student Press Law Center

More Info

 

Tue, Feb 27 - Ask the Experts: Focus on AI Prompt Engineering

What: In this session, experts will walk nonprofits through how to develop AI prompts to get just the right results to create impactful content and communications such as emails, meeting and event descriptions, data reporting, and content narratives. Our experts can guide you to optimize communication efforts, ensuring that content and messages are clear, purposeful, and actionable.   

Who: Joshua Peskay and Kim Snyder of RoundTable Technology 

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: TechSoup

More Info

 

Wed, Feb 28 - Introduction to AI Tools

What: We’ll approach AI with “cautious curiosity” and learn how to harness the tools to save you time and work. We’ll work with MidJourney and Adobe Firefly to create photo illustrations; basic editing tools; writing prompts and updates to tools such as Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude and others. We’ll also explore some pitfalls of AI tools and the legal/ethical issues surrounding them.

Who: Mike Reilley, Senior Lecturer, University of Illinois-Chicago

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: $25 or free to members

Sponsor: Online News Association

More Info

 

Thu, Feb 29 - Voices at Risk: Journalist Safety and Press Freedom during the Super-Election Year

What: Hear the first-hand accounts of journalists and civil society organisations from Africa to the Americas. The webinar will provide a platform for cross-regional exchanges on the threats journalists face during election cycles, along with strategies for ameliorating them. We hope to increase awareness of journalist safety during elections and emphasise how media workers are at the forefront of the struggle for democracy.

When: 8:30 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Media Defence and the International Women's Media Foundation.

More Info

Two Lies

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We lie, of course, not only to others but also to ourselves. Of the myriad lies people often tell themselves, two of the most common, potent and destructive are “We really love our children” and “Our parents really loved us.” If may be that our parents did love us and we do love our children, but when it is not the case, people often go to extraordinary lengths to avoid the realization.

I frequently refer to psychotherapy as the “truth game” or the “honest game” because its business is among other things to help patients confront such lies. One of the roots of mental illness is invariably an interlocking system of lies we have been told and lies we have told ourselves. These roots can be uncovered and excised only in an atmosphere of utter honesty.

M Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

"Flow Activities"

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Every flow activity, whether it involved competition, chance, or any other dimension of experience, had this in common: It provided a sense of discovery, a creative feeling of transporting the person into a new reality. It pushed the person to higher levels of performance, and led to previously undreamed-of states of consciousness. In short, it transformed the self by making it more complex. In this growth of the self lies the key to flow activities.

It is this dynamic feature that explains why flow activities lead to growth and discovery. One cannot enjoy doing the same thing at the same level for long. We grow either bored or frustrated; and then the desire to enjoy ourselves again pushes us to stretch our skills or to discover new opportunities for using them.

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, Flow

Catching Fire

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Many people are tired simply because they are not interested in anything. Nothing ever moves them deeply. To some people it makes no difference what’s going on or how things go. Their personal concerns are superior even to all the crises of human history.

Nothing makes any real difference to them except their own little worries, their desires, and their hates. They wear themselves out stewing around about a lot of inconsequential things that amount to nothing. So they become tired. They even become sick. The surest way not to become tired is to lose yourself in something in which you have a profound conviction.

A famous statesman who made seven speeches in one day was still boundless in energy.

"Why are you not tired after making seven speeches?" I asked.

"Because," he said, "I believe absolutely in everything I said in those speeches. I am enthusiastic about my convictions."

That's the secret. He was on fire for something. He was pouring himself out, and you never lose energy and vitality in so doing. You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. Your mind gets bored and therefore tired doing nothing. You don't have to be tired. Get interested in something. Get absolutely enthralled in something. Throw yourself into it with abandon. Get out of yourself. Be somebody.

Do something. Don't sit around moaning about things, reading the papers, and saying, "Why don't they do something?" The man who is out doing something isn't tired. If you're not getting into good causes, no wonder you're tired. You're disintegrating. You're deteriorating. You're dying on the vine. The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have. You won't have time to think about yourself and get bogged down in your emotional difficulties.

Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking

Trying New Things Is So Hard to Do

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When I think of my favorite restaurants, the ones I have visited many times, it is striking how few of the menu items I have tried. And when I think of all the lunch places near my workplace, I realize that I keep going to the same places again and again.

Habits are powerful. We persist with many of them because we tend to give undue emphasis to the present. Trying something new can be painful: I might not like what I get and must forgo something I already enjoy. That cost is immediate, while any benefits — even if they are large — will be enjoyed in a future that feels abstract and distant. Yes, I want to know what else my favorite restaurant does well, but today I just want my favorite dish. 

Overconfidence also holds us back. I am unduly certain in my guesses of what the alternatives will be like, even though I haven’t tried them.  

Many so-called choices are not really choices at all. Walking down the supermarket aisle. I act without thinking. 

Experimentation is an act of humility, an acknowledgment that there is simply no way of knowing without trying something different.

Understanding that truth is a first step, but it is important to act on it.  

Sendhil Mullainathan writing in the New York Times

What Pain Does to Us

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Pain humbles the proud. It softens the stubborn. It melts the hard. Silently and relentlessly, it wins battles deep within the lonely soul. The heart alone knows its own sorrow, and not another person can fully share in it. Pain operates alone; it needs no assistance. It communicates its own message whether to statesman or servant, preacher or prodigal, mother or child. By staying, it refuses to be ignored. By hurting, it reduces its victim to profound depths of anguish. And it is at that anguishing point that the sufferer either submits and learns, developing maturity and character; or resists and becomes embittered, swamped by self-pity, smothered by self-will. I have tried and cannot find, either in Scripture or history, a strong-willed individual whom God used greatly until He allowed them to be hurt deeply.

Charles Swindoll, Killing Giants, Pulling Thorns

15 Recent Articles about AI & the Bigger Questions

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