Getting the Most out of Your Memories

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The principle for having something be memorable is to attend to what’s distinctive about it. The more you can attend to what is distinctive and be mindful of it, the more vivid the memory.

We’re constantly taking pictures and then throwing them on social media. But this is the ultimate form of electronic amnesia. You’re cheating your experiencing self because you don’t connect with what’s happening, and you’re cheating your remembering self because you’ve deprived yourself of a great memory. 

So instead of taking pictures of every moment of your vacation, pay attention to what makes a particular moment distinctive. Ask yourself: What is going to be most memorable in each picture I take? How can I compose the picture to focus on the vivid details that will bring me back to this time and place?  That’s when pictures become valuable — when they force you to pay attention to the things that are important to you in that moment.

Neuroscientist Charan Ranganath quoted in Big Think

16 Articles about How to Use AI

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11 Webinars this Week about AI, Journalism, Elections, Poetry & Social Media

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Tue, March 19 - How journalists can navigate news avoidance

What: Concrete strategies to try to reach news avoiders with your journalism.

Who: Benjamin Toff who led the Reuters Trust In News Project and Trusting News Director Joy Mayer. 

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Trusting News

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Tue, March 19 - Using Generative AI to Transform Your eLearning into Personalized Learning

What: Join us in this fun, interactive session, where we'll dive into integrating ChatGPT with Articulate Storyline, putting the power of AI right in the hands of your learner. You could use the same techniques with any other leading authoring software. We will also talk about critical do’s and don’ts while planning to use ChatGPT integration in eLearning modules.  

Who: Garima Gupta, Founder & CEO, Artha Learning Inc.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Training Magazine Network

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Tue, March 19 - How AI Is Transforming Media Activation

What: Discover how to stay ahead in the dynamic world of AI-powered media activation. You’ll find out: How to implement AI-driven audience segmentation to boost engagement and conversion Ways to use predictive analytics and AI to activate hyper-targeted audiences and maintain strong addressability post third-party cookie Strategies to optimize the deployment of hyper-targeted audiences without the need for proxies

Who: Ericka Podesta McCoy, CMO of Resonate

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: AdWeek

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Tue, March 19 - Investigative Journalism and Digital Threats in 2024 Elections

What: In this panel, leading journalists and experts — who will all be covering elections in 2024 — share perspectives on the impact of digital threats in elections in different continents. They will also share tips and tools about how to better expose the individuals and organizations behind disinformation campaigns.

Who: Priyanjana Bengani is the Tow Computational Journalism Fellow at Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism; Malek Khadhraoui is a journalist, trainer, and publication director of Inkyfada, a Tunisian magazine dedicated to investigative and longform journalism.

When: 9 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Global Investigative Journalism Network

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Wed, March 20 - AI + Fact-Checking in an Election Year

What: Participants will complete exercises on how to use them and discover ways to use them to keep their communities informed about the election.

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

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free for members, $25 for nonmembers

Sponsor: Online News Association

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Wed, March 20 - Processing the News Through Poetry with the Pulitzer Center  

What: Learn about how thousands of students worldwide have used poetry as a tool for close reading, empathetic connection, and raising their voices through the Fighting Words Poetry Contest. Participants will explore the resources used to craft original poems in response to global news stories and examples of contest-winning student work.  

When: 4 pm, Central

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Pulitzer Center  

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Wed, March 20 - Using Design to Stand Out on Social Media

What: Learn design tactics that will help you stand out from the noise and show your audience why they should care. No matter the size of your team or budget, discover how to maximize your impact without breaking the bank (or your sanity).

Who: Eva Taylor, Director Social Impact, Hootsuite; Ezra Morris, Director of Digital Engagement, CARE; Anell Abreu, Digital Content Manager, CARE; Lauren Freund, Social Media Manager, Canva.

When: 11 am, Central

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Hootsuite

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Wed, March 20 - Stopping Climate Action Mis-Information — How Is the Media Complicit and What Can Journalists Do?

What: In this interactive panel discussion, advocates will talk about what can and should be done to ensure fair, accurate and useful reporting around climate action.

Who: Meg McGuire, Founder, Delaware Currents; Aparna Mukherjee, Society of Environmental Journalists; Lauren Yates, Freelance Journalist; Nicole Miller, MnM Consulting; Anjuli Ramos-Busot, State Director, New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club; Marcus Sibley, National Wildlife Federation.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Society of Environmental Journalists

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Thu, March 21 - The Futurist Summit: The New Age of Tech

What: A dynamic summit featuring groundbreaking pioneers, influential policymakers and leading minds about the technological transformations shaping our future

Who: Stefanie Tompkins Director, DARPA; Pat Gelsinger CEO, Intel; Anna Makanju Vice President of Global Affairs, OpenAI; Hemant Taneja CEO & Managing Director, General Catalyst; Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.); Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.); Brian Rolapp Chief Media & Business Officer, National Football League; Sarah Herrlinger Senior Director, Global Accessibility Policy & Initiatives, Apple and more, including 11 Washington Post reporters.

When: 9 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsors: Mozella & The Washington Post

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Thu, March 21 - What mainstream media can learn from niche news sites

What: Fundamentally, it is crucial for all newsrooms to make sharper choices about what they report on — and how. Niche news sites have no choice in this, but mainstream news can learn a lot by using these differentiation strategies in all stages of the content cycle. Through the lens of successful case studies from FIN News (USA) and Chemistry World (UK), we’ll explore how making precise editorial choices can significantly enhance the relevance and impact of your content. Together we’ll address the question every journalistic organisation should ask themselves: why do you matter to your audience and how do you make a difference for them?

Who: Rutger Verhoeven, co-founder and CMO of smartocto; Matt McCue (FIN News, USA) and Philip Robinson (Chemistry World, UK).

When: 11 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: smartocto

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A Dozen Articles about AI & Health Care

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How would you answer this question?

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Whenever I interview someone for a job, I like to ask this question: “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?” This question sounds easy because it’s straightforward. Actually, it’s very hard to answer. It’s intellectually difficult because the knowledge that everyone is taught in school is by definition agreed upon. And it’s psychologically difficult because anyone trying to answer must say something she knows to be unpopular. Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in even shorter supply than genius.

Most commonly, I hear answers like the following:

“Our educational system is broken and urgently needs to be fixed.”

“America is exceptional.”

“There is no God.”

Those are bad answers. The first and the second statements might be true, but many people already agree with them. The third statement simply takes one side in a familiar debate. A good answer takes the following form: “Most people believe in x, but the truth is the opposite of x.”

 Peter Thiel

Zero to One Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

AI Terms: Transformers

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Transformers – A Google research paper in 2017 was the first to discuss the deep learning architecture known as transformers. Today's major AI models (including ChatGPT, GPT-4, and Midjourney) are built using these neural networks. Previously, recurrent neural networks (RNNs) processed data sequentially—one word at a time, in the order in which the words appear. Then, an “attention mechanism” was added so the model could consider the relationships between the words. When transformers came along, they advanced this process by analyzing all the words in a given body of text at the same time rather than in sequence. With transformers, it became possible to create higher-quality language models that could be trained more efficiently and with more customizable features. 

More AI definitions here.

12 Recent Articles about AI’s future

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14 Recent Articles about the Dangers of AI

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Give yourself an unlimited learning ability

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In a cartoon by the Farside cartoonist Gary Larson, a bug-eyed school kid asks his teacher, "Mr. Osborne, can I be excused? My brain is full!" If you're just engaging in mechanical repetition, it's true, you quickly hit the limit of what you can keep in mind. However, if you practice elaboration, there's no limit to how much you can learn. Elaboration is the process of giving new material meaning by expressing it in your own words and connecting it with what you already know. The more you can explain about the way your new learning relates to your prior knowledge, the stronger your grasp of the new learning will be, the more connections you create that will help you remember it later.

There's virtually no limit to how much learning we can remember as long as we can related it to what we already know. In fact, because new learning depends on prior learning, the more we learn, the more possible connections we create for further learning. Our retrieval capacity, though, is severely limited. Most of what we've learned is not accessible to us at any given moment. This limitation on retrieval is helpful to us: if every memory were always readily to hand, you would have a hard time sorting through the sheer volume of material to put your finger on the knowledge you need at the moment.

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

9 Free Webinars This Week about Design, Journalism, Social Media, Public Records, & More  

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 Mon, March 11 - Human-Centered Design in CX

What: Learn: What human-centered design is and how it can be applied to CX; To use cases of successful human-centered design CX projects; Find out where human-centered design can encounter barriers.    

Who: Jonathan Rubin, User Research Team Lead, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

When: 4 pm, Eastern 

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: GovLoop

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Mon, March 11 - A Sunshine Week talk with Laura Mollo, ‘the FOIA lady’

What: The SPJ Freedom of Information Committee will lead a Sunshine Week talk with Laura Mollo, also known as the ‘FOIA lady’ to talk about how to change your community using FIOA.

Who: Laura Mollo, also known as the ‘FOIA lady’ of Richlands, Virginia. Mollo, a stay-at-home mom, discovered that residents of her small Tazewell County town were put on hold when they called 911. Mollo used FOIA to change how her town handled 911 calls in her community despite the threats and intimidation she received.

When: 7:30, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Society of Professional Journalists New England.

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Tue, March 12 - 30 Minute Skills: Campaign Reporting 102

What: How to follow the money being received and spent by specific campaigns. How to report responsibly on current polling. How to handle opposition research. 

Who: Ted Nesi, WPRI-Providence 

When: 11 am, Central

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The New England First Amendment Coalition

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Tue, March 12 - FOIA 101: A Public Records Primer for Everyone

What: Whether someone has never filed a request before or if they’re trying to pick up some additional tips and tactics, this FOIA 101 training will help file smarter requests that get responded to more quickly while releasing more information. Covering the basics of both federal FOIA and state records laws, participants will leave with a solid approach for turning their questions and story ideas into concrete requests. They will also be introduced to a range of techniques to help them research and file while also solid first steps to overcoming common points of resistance.

When: 1 pm, Central

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Society of Professional Journalists

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Tue, March 12 - How to use Ocean Data for Journalism

What: Regular collection and analysis of data related to the ocean is essential for monitoring the health of the ecosystem and identifying trends and changes over time. By highlighting issues such as overfishing and plastic pollution, journalists can foster public engagement and support the body of knowledge related to ocean governance and management.

Who: Alexandra Talty is a multi-media journalist based in the US; Alexander More is a climate and health scientist at Harvard University; Georgios Hatzimanolis is the head of global communications and branding at Kpler; Jean-Charles Gordon is the ship tracking director at Kpler.

When: 10:30 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Pulitzer Center

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Wed, March 13 - Can You Prepare Today for the Digital Opportunities of Tomorrow?

What: We’ll talk about how brand managers, sales professionals, entrepreneurs and marketers need to be looking at a new digital landscape that will: Create fully immersive experiences that optimize revenue for brands, users and consumers Help consumers make better-informed purchasing decisions Enable companies to create virtual stores to sell digital and physical goods.

Who: Shurick Agapitov Founder, Xsolla.

When: 12 noon, Pacific

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Training Magazine Network

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Thu, March 14 - Using Social Media To Build Your Brand and Connect With Your Audience

What: Some tips, tricks, and examples of how him and others have used social media to grow their digital presence while also using that to develop a reciprocal relationship with an audience.

Who: Ty Rushing, co-founder and president of the Iowa Association of Black Journalists and senior editor of Iowa Starting Line.

When: 2 pm

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Virginia Press Association

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Thu, March 14 - FOIA rights and guidelines for college students

What: If you’re a college journalist who is unfamiliar with Freedom of Information (FOI) laws or need help submitting a records request, SPJ and SPLC will give you a step-by-step guide.

Who: Student Press Law Center senior legal counsel Mike Hiestand.

When: 4 pm, Central

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsors: The Student Press Law Center and the Society of Professional Journalists

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Fri, March 15 - The Appeals Process: Steps to take when your FOIA requests are denied

What: Practical advice on the records appeals process: how to start, how to track, and how to succeed with your open records requests. Whether you are seeking federal, state, or local records, you’ll learn how to get the information you’re after. 

Who: Nate Jones FOIA director, Washington Post; Gunita Singh Staff attorney, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; Mark Walker Investigative reporter, New York Times.

When: 11 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The National Press Club’s Journalism Institute

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17 Articles about The Impact of AI on Business

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