As long as you can
/Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. -John Wesley (born June 28, 1703)
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
13 articles about AI Fakes
/Battling AI's error problem: Experts craft BS detector - Axios
Top 10 Generative AI Models Mimic Russian Disinformation Claims A Third of the Time – News Guard
Facebook Is Already Mistakenly Tagging Real Photos as "Made With AI" – Futurism
Battling AI's error problem: Experts craft BS detector – Axios
Can AI police itself? Experts say chatbots can detect each other’s gaffes. – Washington Post
Fake science in fraudulent papers is on the rise - The Week
Flood of Fake Science Forces Multiple Journal Closures – Wall Street Journal
Leading chatbots are spreading Russian propaganda – Axios
Google’s and Microsoft’s AI Chatbots Refuse to Say Who Won the 2020 US Election - WIRED
AI Is Helping Scammers Outsmart You—and Your Bank – Wall Street Journal
Propagandists are using AI too—and companies need to be open about it – MIT Tech Review
Researchers made an algorithm that can tell when AI is hallucinating – BGR
Come as you are
/We can't tell people to come as they are, but insist they change before they arrive. People grow where they're loved. -Bob Goff
21 Freelancing Articles & 30 Freelancing Sites
/Freelancing Articles
18 newsletters every freelance journalist needs to subscribe to Muckrack
4 strategies for getting paid what you deserve as a freelance writer - Insider
6 Must-Have Tools for Freelance Copywriters - Make Use Of
6 Freelance Writing Tips to Try in 2022 - Motley Fool
Are You Ready to Go Freelance? - Harvard Business Review
Chelsea’s Guide To Freelancing - Chelsea Cirruzzo, a reporter with U.S. News & World Report
Finding Freelance writing on LinkedIn - Twitter
Here's what a bunch of publications pay freelancers - Freelancing with Tim
How to ask for more money — and actually get it - Freelancing with Tim
How to get on an editor's 'regulars' roster - Freelancing with Tim
How to successfully pitch - Harvard’s Nieman Lab
A Journalist’s guide to freelancing - Julie Patel blog
Journalists are switching to freelance. 7 things they wish they knew first – Poynter
A Quick guide to finding your freelance niche - Freelancers Union
SEO Freelancing: 10 Things You Need To Know To Be Successful - Search Engine Journal
Successful Pitches shows freelancers the way - CJR
Ten Tips for Freelance Writing - StoryBench
What do freelance writers make? - Story Bench
What Freelancers Need to Know About Income, Deductions, and Taxes - Bloomberg
What J-Schools should teach about freelancing - International Center for Journalists
Where to pitch, based on data from the website, Who Pays Writers? - Columbia Journalism Review
Freelancing Sites
DesignCrowd (job board for designers)
DesignHill (freelance designers)
Freelance Opportunities (email newsletter)
Freelancer (includes graphic, SEO and copywriting jobs)
Open Notebook (pitch database & other helps for science writing)
PitchStories (Google doc rolling pitching sheet)
Upwork (formally Elance/Odeskl)
More Job Tips
4 Steps for Dealing with Inappropriate Behavior
/The DESC technique was developed by Sharon Anthony Bower, author of Asserting Yourself as a method for solving interpersonal conflict. Here’s how it works:
Describe
Do:
Describe the other person's behavior objectively
Use concrete terms
Describe a specific time, place, action
Describe the behavior not the “motive”
Don't
Let your emotional reaction drive the conversation
Use abstract, vague terms
Generalize for all time
Guess motives or goals
Express
Do:
Express your feelings
Expressed them calmly
State feelings in a positive manner as relating to a goal to be achieved
Direct yourself to the specific offending behavior, not to the whole person
Don’t:
Deny your feelings
Unleash emotional outbursts
State feelings negatively, making them put-down our attack
Attack the entire character the person
Specify
Do:
Ask explicitly for change in your downer’s behavior
Request a small change
Request only one or two changes at one time
Specify the concrete actions you want to see stopped, and those you want to see performed
Take account of whether your downer can meet your request without suffering large losses
Specify:
(if appropriate--what behavior you are willing to change to make the agreement)
Don’t:
Merely imply that you’d like a change
Ask for two large a change
Ask for too many changes
Ask for changes in nebulous traits or qualities
Ignore your downers needs or ask only for your satisfaction
Consider that only your downer has to change
Consequences
Do:
Make the consequences explicit
Give a positive reward for change in the desired direction
Select something that is desirable and reinforcing to your downer
Select a reward that is big enough to maintain the behavior change
Select a punishment of a magnitude that “fits the crime” of refusing to change behavior
Select punishment that you are actually willing to carry out
Don’t:
Be ashamed to talk about rewards and penalties
Give only punishments for lack of change
Select something that only you might find rewarding
Offer a reward you can't or won't deliver
Make exaggerated threats
Use unrealistic threats or self-defeating punishment
19 Articles about AI & Data Privacy
/What the Arrival of A.I. Phones and Computers Means for Our Data – New York Times
AI and Privacy Issues: Challenges, Solutions, and Best Practices – eWeek
How to opt out of having your data ‘train’ ChatGPT and other AI chatbots – Washington Post
Doctors are using AI to talk to patients and record appointments. Don’t worry, your data is allegedly safe – Fast Company
Is It Safe to Share Personal Information With a Chatbot? – Wall Street Journal
As threats of AI loom, parents can take steps to remove online photos of kids – Washington Post
How Strangers Got My Email Address From ChatGPT’s Model – New York Times
Artificial intelligence can find your location in photos, worrying privacy experts – NPR
Ahead of the Olympics, France embraces AI video surveillance - The Washington Post
Researchers used ChatGPT to extract people’s contact information, showing that the chatbot’s privacy restrictions can be bypassed. – New York Times
Why generative AI is a double-edged sword for the cybersecurity sector – VentureBeat
Cybersecurity faces a challenge from artificial intelligence’s rise – Washington Post
Gen AI fueled 2023 cyberattacks – CSO Online
Reconciling privacy and accuracy in AI for medical imaging – Nature
Apple Faces a Tough Task in Keeping AI Data Secure and Private – Cnet
Newly passed Colorado AI Act will impose obligations on developers and deployers of high-risk AI systems – White & Case
Apple’s New AI Security Move Explained – Forbes
Facial recognition startup Clearview AI settles privacy suit – Boston Herald
Multimedia Tools for your Phone
/Want to use your phone to gather and edit audio, images, and videos like a pro but have a limited budget? You’ll find a useful list of equipment and apps at the links below:
Resisting change
/We resist transition not because we can't accept the change, but because we can’t accept letting go of that piece of ourselves that we have to give up when and because the situation has changed. We also resist transition because it takes longer (often much longer) than change, and so it leaves us in limbo—or in the neutral zone, as I prefer to call it—while a replacement reality and a new self is gradually being formed.
William Bridges, The Way of Transition
14 Recent Articles about Using AI
/Anthropic’s AI now lets you create bots to work for you – The Verge
How my 4 favorite AI tools help me get more done at work - ZDnet
The Great AI Challenge: We Test Which Bot Is Best – Wall Street Journal
How to avoid AI in your Google searches - PopSci
LinkedIn Shares New insight into Professional Use of Generative AI – Social Media Today
Generative AI Defined: How it Works, Benefits and Dangers – Tech Republic
Meta’s A.I. Assistant Is Fun to Use, but It Can’t Be Trusted – New York Times
7 Everyday Work Problems AI Helps Me Solve - Wall Street Journal
ChatGPT no longer requires an account — but there’s a catch – Tech Crunch
A guide to applying AI to real-world problems - Semafor
How data scientists can leverage ChatGPT – Analytics Insight
How to use LinkedIn AI tools to find a job – Popular Science
How to use voice in Character.AI – Digital Trends
These Free LinkedIn Courses Will Teach You How to Use AI - Life Hacker
A fair-sized cemetery
/Everyone should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to bury the faults of his friends. - Henry Ward Beecher (born June 24, 1813)
AI Definitions: Big Data
/Big Data - Data that’s too big to fit on a single server. Typically, it is unstructured and fast-moving. In contrast, small datafits on a single server, is already in structured form (rows and columns), and changes relatively infrequently. If you are working in Excel, you are doing small data. Two NASA researchers (Michael Cox and David Ellsworth) first wrote in a 1997 paper that when there’s too much information to fit into memory or local hard disks, “We call this the problem of big data.” Many companies wind up with big data, not because they need it, they just haven’t bothered to delete it. Thus, big data is sometimes defined as “when the cost of keeping data around is less than the cost of figuring out what to throw away.”
Big Data looks to collect and manage large amounts of varied data to serve large-scale web applications and vast sensor networks. Meanwhile, data science looks to create models that capture the underlying patterns of complex systems and codify those models into working applications. Although big data and data science both offer the potential to produce value from data, the fundamental difference between them can be summarized in one statement: collecting does not mean discovering. Big data collects. Data science discovers.
More AI definitions here.
14 Recent Articles about How AI is Impacting Jobs
/AI took their jobs. Now they get paid to make it sound human – BBC
AI could shake up job market by 2030, McKinsey reveals list of sectors that will be impacted – India Today
AI models can vastly increase job candidate pools. It might also improve diversity. - Semafor
Admitting You Use AI Is Now Key To Getting Hired – All Work
AI Could Displace More Than 50% Of Banking Jobs, According To New Citigroup Report – Forbes
Microsoft Lays Off 1,500 Workers, Blames "AI Wave" – Futurism
How AI Has Already Begun to Change These Workers’ Jobs – Wall Street Journal
Wall Street Says AI Can Replace Thousands of Analysts – Inc
AI is coming for the professional class. Expect outrage — and fear. – Washington Post
66% of leaders wouldn't hire someone without AI skills, report finds – ZDnet
At Target, Store Workers Become A.I. Conduits – New York Times
The Impact of AI and LLMs on the Future of Jobs – Unite AI
Will AI Be a Job Killer? Call Us Skeptical. - Wall Street Journal
AI will Disproportionally impact Jobs Held by Women – Forbes
Living in the Past
/Every day I am discovering that people are depressed and defeated because of their past failures and mistakes. They allow their past failures to dominate their present thinking. Because of some past failure, they have convinced themselves that they are no good and they are incapable of doing anything worthwhile. Not only do they doubt their abilities to accomplish anything, but they also down their worth as human beings. Anyone who lives in the past, brooding over past mistakes, will have a difficult time living in the present. If you want to be unhappy, then constantly rethink your past failures. If you want to live victoriously, leave your past failures and disappointments in the past where they belong.
Larry Kennedy, Down with Anxiety!
10 Webinars in the next week about journalism, the election, AI, & more
/Fri, June 21 - Election 2024: Crafting sharp responsible headlines for your political stories
What: Participants will learn how to: Rethink the basics: What is the point of a headline? Balance SEO needs for story promotion without using misleading language. Be inspired with ideas for word choices that balance engagement and responsibility. Practice writing and rewriting headlines.
Who: Aubrey Nagle, Resolve Philly’s director of practice change
When: 11:30 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: The National Press Club’s Journalism Institute
Tue, June 25 - The New Age of AI
What: The use cases of AI, the path to widespread adoption and the continuing questions about trust and safety.
Who: Bret Taylor, Sierra co-founder and OpenAI chair
When: 12 noon, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Washington Post
Tue, June 25 - Legal rights & resources: Covering the 2024 election
What: This session will discuss journalists’ newsgathering rights when covering elections; issues to consider when reporting at conventions, polling places, or demonstrations; and the range of free resources available.
Who: Lucy Westcott, CPJ, Emergencies Director; Jennifer Nelson, Senior Staff Attorney, RCFP
When: 12 noon, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Committee to Protect Journalists, International Women’s Media Foundation, PEN America
Tue, June 25 - Legal training for journalists covering the Democratic National Convention
What: Legal training for journalists covering the 2024 Democratic National Convention events taking place in Chicago, newsgathering rights, safely reporting on protests, ways to avoid arrest and what to do if arrested, local bail procedures, potential security restrictions, and more. Journalists will come away with practical tips and resources.
Who: Mickey Osterreicher General Counsel for the National Press Photographers Association; Jen Nelson Senior Staff Attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the National Press Photographers Association
Wed, June 26 - The Power of AI in Storytelling: A Discussion with Media Copilot
What: Why publishers should embrace AI tools for content creation. The future of AI-assisted storytelling. Learn how Nota’s WP-Plugin leverages AI to turn your stories into attention-grabbing visuals.
Who: Pete Pachal, Founder of The Media Copilot, “Where AI Meets Media”
When: 1 pm, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Wisconsin Newspaper Association
Wed, June 26 - Webinar on Trusted Journalism in the Age of Generative AI
What: Prof. Dr. Alexandra Borchardt and Nic Newman from the Reuters Institute.
When: How can news organizations leverage AI to enhance their reporting while maintaining trust and credibility? What are the implications of AI-generated content on the public’s perception of news?
Who: 7 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: European Broadcasting Union
Wed, June 26 - Mastering the Op-Ed
What: Hear directly from top editorial staff about what makes an op-ed stand out, the common pitfalls to avoid, and the editorial decision-making process
Who: Kavita Kumar, Star Tribune; Gayle G.G. Golden, senior lecturer and Charnley Professor at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota; David Banks, Star Tribune; Marilyn Moyer is an industry veteran known for exceptional writing, editing, and coaching.
When: 12 noon, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: $20 for nonmembers
Sponsor: Minnesota Health Strategy and Communications Organization
Thu, June 27 - Legal training for journalists covering the Republican National Convention
What: Legal training for journalists covering the 2024 Republican National Convention events taking place in Milwaukee. newsgathering rights, safely reporting on protests, ways to avoid arrest and what to do if arrested, local bail procedures, potential security restrictions, and more. Journalists will come away with practical tips and resources.
Who: Mickey Osterreicher General Counsel for the National Press Photographers Association; Jen Nelson Senior Staff Attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the National Press Photographers Association
Thu, June 27 - Election Fact-Checking Tools and Best Practices
What: Using tools like Google Fact-Check Explorer to track fact-checked images and stories and Google Scholar to background candidate and claims. Breaking down doctored videos with WatchFramebyFrame and Deepware.
Who: Mike Reilley, lecturer in data and digital journalism at the University of Illinois Chicago for the past eight years.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: RTDNA/Google News
Thu, June 27 - Learn How to Use Google Analytics 4
What: How to use GA4 to its fullest potential.
Who: Sophie Ho, Director of Product and Insights, News Revenue Hub; Abbey Gingras, Director of Consulting Services, News Revenue Hub.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: News Revenue Hub
No man
/No man walks with dignity who’s steps are rushed.
21 Recent Articles about Journalism & AI: Uses, Ethics, & Dangers
/Yahoo News debuted a fresh A.I.-powered news app – Wired
Ten big questions on AI and the news – Columbia Journalism Review
It Looked Like a Reliable News Site. It Was an A.I. Chop Shop. – New York Times
NYT issues guidance on its A.I. principles – InPublishing
AI companies freeze out partisan media – Semafor
AI newsroom guidelines look very similar, says a researcher who studied them. He thinks this is bad news - Reuters Institute
WSJ editor Emma Tucker on how publishers can protect themselves from AI challenge – Press Gazettte
For the first time, two Pulitzer winners disclosed using AI in their reporting – Harvard’s Nieman Lab
AI for Data Journalism: demonstrating what we can do with this stuff right now – Simon Willison
The media bosses fighting back against AI — and the ones cutting deals – Washington Post
What does the public in six countries think of generative AI in news? | Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism - Reuters Institute
USA Today is adding AI-generated summaries to the top of its articles - The Verge
Google’s and Microsoft’s AI Chatbots Refuse to Say Who Won the 2020 US Election – Wired
Julia Angwin on trust in journalism and the future of AI and the news – Journalist’s Resources
AI’s coming inverted pyramid moment for journalism – Poynter
Does AI Have a Place in Journalism? 6 Ways It Helps Us Craft Our Original Work – PC Magazine
Why TikTok star Sophia Smith Galer created an AI tool to help journalists make viral videos – Journalism.co
Newsrooms are experimenting with generative AI, warts and all – The Conversation
Media Companies Are Making a Huge Mistake With AI – The Atlantic
‘Devastating’ potential impact of Google AI Overviews on publisher visibility revealed - Press Gazette
The Secret Power
/You may think that your rehearsal of a job interview was flawless, but your opinion isn't what counts. Or you may believe you played that bar of the Brahms violin concerto perfectly, but can you really trust your own judgment? In many important situations, a teacher, coach, or mentor is vital for providing crucial feedback.
Deliberate practice is above all an effort of focus and concentration. That is what makes it "deliberate," as distinct from the mindless playing of scales or hitting of tennis balls that most people engage in. Continually seeking exactly those elements of performance that are unsatisfactory and then trying one's hardest to make them better places enormous strains on anyone's mental abilities.
The work is so great that it seems no one can sustain it for very long.
Doing things we know how to do well is enjoyable, and that's exactly the opposite of what deliberate practice demands. Instead of doing what we're good at, we insistently seek out what we're not good at.
Then we identify the painful, difficult activities that will make us better and do those things over and over. After each repetition, we force ourselves to see - or get others to tell us - exactly what still isn't right so we can repeat the most painful and difficult parts of what we've just done. We continue that process until we're mentally exhausted.
If it seems a bit depressing that the most important thing you can do to improve performance is no fun, take consolation in this fact: It must be so. If the activities that lead to greatness were easy and fun, then everyone would do them and no one could distinguish the best from the rest.
The reality that deliberate practice is hard can even be seen as good news. It means that most people won't do it. So your willingness to do it will distinguish you all the more.
Geoff Colvin, Why Talent is Overrated
15 Articles about AI & Academic Scholarship
/The advent of human-assisted peer review by AI – Nature
The Impact of AI on Academic Research and Publishing – Arxiv
A Rapid Investigation of Artificial Intelligence Generated Content Footprints in Scholarly Publications – UTP Journals
Fake science in fraudulent papers is on the rise - The Week
Flood of Fake Science Forces Multiple Journal Closures – Wall Street Journal
Researchers warned against using AI to peer review academic papers – Semafor
Guidelines for academics aim to lessen ethical pitfalls in generative-AI use – Nature
Artificial intelligence content detection in ASCO scientific abstracts from 2021 to 2023 - Journal of Clinical Oncology
Guidance needed for using artificial intelligence to screen journal submissions for misconduct – Sage
Academic Writers on AI: An Oxford University Press Study – Publishing Perspectives
Report: Most researchers use AI tools despite distrusting it – Inside Higher Ed
With hallucinations waning, AI is diving deeper into scientific research – The Next Web
Fake Scientific Studies Are a Problem That’s Getting Harder to Solve – Bloomberg
Wiley shuts 19 scholarly journals amid AI paper mill problems – The Register
21 Articles about AI & Photography
/Photographer Disqualified From AI Image Contest After Winning With Real Photo - PetaPixel
ChatGPT Vision lets you submit images in your prompts: 7 wild ways people are using it - Mashable
AI comes for YouTube’s thumbnail industry -Rest of World
The best AI image generators to create AI art – Fast Company
‘Art’ificial Intelligence: AI Can Create Religious Images in Seconds. But Is It Really Sacred Art? – Denver Catholic
We tried AI headshot generators to see if you should use them – Washington Post
No, the Jesus ‘washed feet’ Super Bowl ad photos weren’t AI – Poynter
How journals are fighting back against a wave of questionable images – Nature
I tried Microsoft Copilot's new AI image-generating feature, and it solves a real problem – Zdnet
I Used AI Photos on My Dating Profile and...No One Even Noticed?? – Cosmo
No Photoshop skills? No prob. Use AI to edit your photos – Komando
Meta will start labeling AI-generated images on Instagram and Facebook – NPR
In novel case, U.S. charges man with making child sex abuse images with AI - – Washington Post
Google's AI Watermarks Will Identify Deepfakes – Dark Reading
Is It Real or Is It AI? For Photographers, It’s Nebulous - Bloomberg
The best AI photo editing software – Creative Bloq
Instagram is now labeling real photos as “made with AI” – DIY Photography
AI image generators tend to exaggerate stereotypes – Science News Explores
AI Tools Are Secretly Training on Real Images of Children – Wired
Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories
/According to new research, it isn't ignorance that makes people most likely to buy into conspiratorial thinking, or social isolation or mental illness. It's a far more prevalent and pesky personality quirk: overconfidence. The more you think you're right all the time, a new study suggests, the more likely you are to buy conspiracy theories, regardless of the evidence. -Adam Rodgers, writing in Business Insider