Literature and Rigid Thinking

Want someone to get past their rigid thinking and increase their openness? Put a novel in their hands. Canadian researchers say it will help them become more sophisticated thinkers and increase their creativity.  

University of Toronto students were asked to read either one of eight short stories or one of eight essays. Afterward, they each filled out a survey to measure the desire for certainty and stability. The short story readers had much lower scores on that test than those who read the essays. The fiction readers showed they needed less order and had more comfort with ambiguity. This was particularly true for participants who already read regularly.  

Writing in the Creativity Research Journal, the researchers say, “Exposure to literature may offer a (way for people) to become more likely to open their minds.” 

Fiction readers can more easily follow thinking styles that differ from their own—they can feel along with characters they may not even like—gaining a better understanding of the viewpoint. 

Read more about the study here. 

Stephen Goforth

Can ChatGPT Pass AP Lit?

A tech journalist goes back to high school to find out what OpenAI’s Chatbot can do.

Literature as antidote

Poetry was always more than poetry in Russia. Former Soviet prisoners are said to have attested that Russian classics saved their lives in the labor camps when they retold the novels of Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Dostoyevsky to other inmates. Russian literature could not prevent the Gulags, but it did help prisoners survive them.

Slaves give birth to a dictatorship and a dictatorship gives birth to slaves. There is only one way out of this vicious circle, and that is through culture. Literature is an antidote to the poison of the Russian imperialist way of thinking. The road to the Bucha massacre leads not through Russian literature, but through its suppression.

Mikhail Shishkin writing in The Atlantic

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Jan 29

***WRITING & READING

The Enemies of Writing: A writer who’s afraid to tell people what they don’t want to hear has chosen the wrong trade  https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/packer-hitchens/605365/

 JRR Tolkien's son Christopher dies aged 95 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/16/jrr-tolkiens-son-christopher-dies-aged-95

 Exploring various scholars' rationales for self-plagiarism https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/01/10/essay-rationales-self-plagiarism

***GRAMMAR 

Who do they think they are? The battle over the singular use of “they” has been waged for centuries https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2020/01/18/who-do-they-think-they-are   

English's pronoun problem is centuries old https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/english-s-pronoun-problem-is-centuries-old-120012301829_1.html

***JOURNALISM

7 things to consider before adopting AI in your news organisation: A training module for newsrooms https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2019/12/12/7-things-to-consider/

Journalism still has power: But not the way you’d hope  https://www.cjr.org/cjr_outbox/hegseth-trump-gallagher.php

The latest newspaper chain to face Alden Global Capital cost-cutting  https://www.axios.com/media-local-newspapers-private-equity-0add6bce-f44a-4938-82bb-6d4bb01068c8.html

Jim Lehrer's 16 Rules for Practicing Journalism with Integrity www.openculture.com/2020/01/jim-lehrers-16-rules-for-being-a-journalist-with-integrity.html

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

Flipboard expands into local news https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/28/flipboard-expands-into-local-news/

Facebook awards $700,000 in local news grants  https://www.axios.com/facebook-local-news-grants-advertising-f9f7048b-2bd2-4eb6-9bfc-6fe72fb5c359.html

The New York Times used to be afraid of BuzzFeed. Now it’s hired its biggest star. https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/28/21112608/ben-smith-new-york-times-buzzfeed-media-revenue-jonah-peretti

***FAKES & FRAUDS

Big Tech platforms struggle to police deepfakes ahead of the 2020 elections    https://www.axios.com/deepfakes-big-tech-policy-facebook-reddit-tiktok-ca7a99b8-e571-4b0b-933a-27e4b2c0b0f7.html   

2020 rules of the road for the Age of Misinformation https://www.axios.com/2020-rules-of-the-road-for-the-age-of-misinformation-87bc3f7e-b064-4b47-bc71-7639b9a82b8a.html

How Swedes Were Fooled By One Of The Biggest Scientific Bluffs Of Our Time https://medium.com/@Soccermatics/how-swedes-were-fooled-by-one-of-the-biggest-scientific-bluffs-of-our-time-de47c82601ad

A new text message scam is disguising itself as a FedEx notification https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/23/business/fedex-text-scam-trnd/ 

How To Spot 2020 Election Disinformation https://www.npr.org/2020/01/23/798809217/how-to-spot-2020-election-disinformation

Clearview AI Says Its Facial Recognition Software Identified A Terrorism Suspect: The Cops Say That's Not True https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/clearview-ai-nypd-facial-recognition

Half of Americans don’t know 6m Jews were killed in Holocaust, survey says    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/22/holocaust-survey-americans-pew-research-center

American Distrust Of The Voting Process Is Widespread, Poll Finds https://www.npr.org/2020/01/21/798088827/american-distrust-of-the-voting-process-is-widespread-npr-poll-finds

Is this video “missing context,” “transformed,” or “edited”? This effort wants to standardize how we categorize visual misinformation https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/01/is-this-video-missing-context-transformed-or-edited-this-effort-wants-to-standardize-how-we-categorize-visual-misinformation/

Misinformation about coronavirus tests Facebook, Google and China  https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-misinformation-facebook-twitter-google-china-246a0325-b4ea-4465-92ae-5f364a7e965c.html

The New York Times tested blockchain to help you identify faked photos on your timeline https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/01/heres-how-the-new-york-times-tested-blockchain-to-help-you-identify-faked-photos-on-your-timeline/

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

Twitter’s Jack Dorsey on edit button: ‘We’ll probably never do it’ https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/15/21066815/twitter-edit-button-jack-dorsey-says-no

Twitter apologises for letting ads target neo-Nazis and bigots https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51112238

Targeting TikTok’s privacy alone misses a larger issue: Chinese state control https://qz.com/1788836/targeting-tiktoks-privacy-alone-misses-a-much-larger-point/

***LANGUAGE 

 How we use language, with a look under the hood https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/columnists/mcintyre/bs-ed-mcintyre-20200111-tmf465vuubdebmtpu3p6ngsz2q-story.html

Things You Didn't Know Had Names  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63034/48-things-you-didnt-know-had-names 

Using a child’s identified pronouns might feel complicated, but it’s crucial. Here’s why (opinion) https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/01/16/using-childs-identified-pronouns-might-feel-complicated-its-crucial-heres-why/ 

The alphabets at risk of extinction https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200121-the-alphabets-at-risk-of-extinction

Author Interview: Dennis Baron On 'What's Your Pronoun?' https://www.npr.org/2020/01/26/799629318/author-interview-dennis-baron-on-what-s-your-pronoun

'Baby Shark,' Now In 19 Languages And Counting — Including A Navajo Tongue https://www.npr.org/2020/01/28/800557518/baby-shark-now-in-19-languages-and-counting-including-a-navajo-tongue

Discover the Disappearing Turkish Language That is Whistled, Not Spoken www.openculture.com/2020/01/discover-the-turkish-language-that-is-whistled-not-spoken.html

***LITERATURE

The Obscure Editions of Jane Austen Novels That Made Her Internationally Known  https://lithub.com/the-obscure-editions-of-jane-austen-novels-that-made-her-internationally-known/

UCLA receives $25 million from Uniqlo founder for Japanese literature and culture studies http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/25-million-uniqlo-founder-japanese-literature-and-culture

Edgar Allan Poe's Baltimore home was named a literary landmark https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/edgar-allan-poe-baltimore-literary-landmark-trnd/index.html

Virginia Woolf Books To Read If You Want To Explore 20th Century Literature https://www.republicworld.com/lifestyle/books/virginia-woolf-books-to-read-to-explore-20th-century-literature.html

Is Jane Austen the Antidote to Social Media Overload? https://daily.jstor.org/is-jane-austen-the-antidote-to-social-media-overload/

Jeanine Cummins' migrant book 'American Dirt' is problematic; author’s note makes it worse https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2020/01/21/american-dirt-jeanine-cummins-book-review-mexican-migrant/4497859002/

***POETRY

What happens when machines learn to write poetry: should artificial intelligence alter our appreciation of art? http://bit.ly/30CkvI3

Have You Abandoned Your New Year's Resolutions? Tell Us In A Poem https://www.npr.org/2020/01/16/795953834/have-you-abandoned-your-new-years-resolutions-tell-us-in-a-poem

'Ghost poetry': fight over Samuel Beckett's Nobel win revealed in archives https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/17/ghost-poetry-fight-over-samuel-beckett-nobel-win-revealed-in-archives

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA  

Augmented reality contacts are real, and could be here sooner than you think https://mashable.com/article/augmented-reality-contact-lenses-mojo-vision/

The Culling Has Begun’: Inside the iHeartMedia Layoffs  https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/iheartmedia-mass-layoffs-937513

Could iHeart layoffs be the beginning of local radio’s endgame? https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2020/01/could-iheart-layoffs-be-the-beginning-of-local-radios-endgame.htm

2020 won't be the year digital election ads surpass TV  https://www.axios.com/2020-digital-election-ads-tv-75cd82b1-b9a1-4637-b885-8aa654e63291.html

***PRIVACY & SECURITY

Clearview app lets strangers find your name, info with snap of a photo, report says  https://www.cnet.com/news/clearview-app-lets-strangers-find-your-name-info-with-snap-of-a-photo-report-says

Facial Recognition could replace the fingerprint https://story.californiasunday.com/facial-recognition

The Secret History of Facial Recognition https://www.wired.com/story/secret-history-facial-recognition/

Most Americans support right to have some personal info removed from online searches  https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/27/most-americans-support-right-to-have-some-personal-info-removed-from-online-searches/

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Nov 29

***WRITING & READING 

The Weirdest Book Titles On Amazon https://www.sadanduseless.com/weird-amazon-books-list/

How do you cope with knowing that the project you poured years of your life into is not quite setting the world on fire? https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/25/writing-is-tough-my-book-went-so-unnoticed-i-won-an-award-for-it

The Last Decade Has Been Tumultuous For The Publishing Industry https://www.npr.org/2019/11/26/782867252/the-last-decade-has-been-tumultuous-for-the-publishing-industry

Prisons Around the U.S. Are Banning and Restricting Access to Books www.openculture.com/2019/11/prisons-around-the-u-s-are-banning-and-restricting-access-to-books.html

Messy handwriting reveals mystery translator: Queen Elizabeth I https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/29/handwriting-identifies-elizabeth-i-tacitus-translation

***JOURNALISM

New York Times dropping most social media trackers https://www.axios.com/new-york-times-social-media-trackers-47f547d5-a241-424a-a398-12344c78ac32.html  

Reporting That Hits People Where They Live — by Reporters Who Live There Too https://cronkitenewslab.com/broadcast/2019/11/14/new-generation-storytellers-changing-rules-abc

How one woman captured 30 years’ worth of broadcast news https://lwlies.com/articles/recorder-the-marion-stokes-project-director-interview/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email

5 Photojournalists Sue Homeland Security for First Amendment Violations https://pdnpulse.pdnonline.com/2019/11/5-photojournalists-sue-homeland-security-for-first-amendment-violations.html

Americans favor mobile devices over desktops and laptops for getting news https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/19/americans-favor-mobile-devices-over-desktops-and-laptops-for-getting-news/ 

An Exhaustive Ranking of Movie Journalists  https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/11/25/20974644/movie-journalists-ranked  

***JOURNALISM & AI

The relationship of journalism to AI http://bit.ly/35z5F6s    

Relevance of AI in Accelerating Journalism and Newsroom Workflow https://www.analyticsinsight.net/relevance-ai-accelerating-journalism-newsroom-workflow/

Actually, it’s about Ethics, AI, and Journalism: Reporting on and with Computation and Data https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/ai-ethics-journalism-and-computation-ibm-new-york-times.php

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

9 charts about America’s newsrooms https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/26/9-charts-about-americas-newsrooms/

Putting a price tag on local news https://knightfoundation.org/reports/putting-a-price-tag-on-local-news/

AP to add 14 statehouse reporters in collaboration with Report for America https://www.ap.org/press-releases/2019/ap-to-add-14-statehouse-reporters-in-collaboration-with-report-for-america

Portland Has Been Overcharging People for Public Records, Court Finds https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2019/11/19/27502241/portland-has-been-overcharging-people-for-public-records-court-finds

***STUDENT MEDIA

Student reporters at BYU-Idaho allegedly pressured not to publish negative stories https://www.eastidahonews.com/2019/11/student-reporters-at-byu-idaho-allegedly-pressured-not-to-publish-negative-stories/

High school journalists who fought censorship win award https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2019/11/25/burlington-high-schoolers-censorship-granted-journalism-award/4295236002  

Lawsuit pits father against daughter after article alleging sex abuse appears in UNC student newspaper  https://www.greensboro.com/news/local_news/no-turning-back-in-lawsuit-pitting-father-against-daughter-after/article_f093b659-134f-5fd8-a7ad-6b98c9f9be2f.html

***FAKE NEWS

The neuroscience of how fake news grabs our attention, produces false memories, and appeals to our emotions https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/11/galaxy-brain-the-neuroscience-of-how-fake-news-grabs-our-attention-produces-false-memories-and-appeals-to-our-emotions/

Fake News Is Costing the World $78 Billion a Year https://cheddar.com/media/exclusive-fake-news-is-costing-the-world-billion-a-year

The Incredibly True Story of Fake Headlines https://daily.jstor.org/the-incredibly-true-story-of-fake-headlines/

Before Trump: the real history of fake news https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/22/factitious-taradiddle-dictionary-real-history-fake-news

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

Here’s What Cancel Culture Looked Like in 1283 (video) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/opinion/cancel-culture-victims.html 

Facebook still isn’t clear about why it won’t take down false political ads https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/11/18/20970942/facebook-political-ads-policy-carolyn-everson-code-media   

‘This app is free and therapy is not’: Gen Z will keep using TikTok even if they don’t trust it https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/11/15/this-app-is-free-therapy-is-not-gen-z-will-keep-using-tiktok-even-if-they-dont-trust-it/

TikTok Denies Censoring A Teen Who Criticized China's Concentration Camps — They Said They Banned Her After A Joke About Osama Bin Laden Thirst https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/teen-tik-tok-china-osama-bin-laden

Twitter Said It Will Not Delete The Accounts Of Dead People https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/twitter-wont-delete-the-accounts-of-dead-people-for-now

***LANGUAGE

The Loudness Of Vowels Helps The Brain Break Down Speech Into Syl-La-Bles https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/11/20/780988618/the-loudness-of-vowels-helps-the-brain-break-down-speech-into-syl-la-bles

‘Climate Emergency’ Is the Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2019-11-20/climate-emergency-is-the-oxford-dictionaries-word-of-the-year 

What happens when college students discuss lab work in Spanish, philosophy in Chinese or opera in Italian?   https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/education/what-happens-when-college-students-discuss-lab-work-in-spanish-philosophy-in-chinese-or-opera-in-italian/2019/11/18/0eef3f7a-0985-11ea-bd9d-c628fd48b3a0_story.html

***LITERATURE 

The 50 best nonfiction books of past 25 years  https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/11/50-best-nonfiction-books.html

Author hits back after library removes LGBT picture book from shelves  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/20/author-west-virginia-library-removes-lgbt-book-shelves-daniel-haack-prince-and-knight   

George Eliot translation of Spinoza sheds new light on her fiction  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/22/george-eliot-translation-of-spinoza-sheds-new-light-on-her-fiction

***POETRY

‘My cell is smaller than my size’ – how writing poetry saved a political prisoner (video) https://aeon.co/videos/my-cell-is-smaller-than-my-size-how-writing-poetry-saved-a-political-prisoner

Finding poetry in the letters of Vincent van Gogh https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/finding-poetry-in-the-letters-of-vincent-van-gogh-1.4090884   

Typewriter poet pounds out poems in 20 minutes https://www.ktre.com/2019/11/22/webxtra-typewriter-poet-pounds-out-poems-minutes/      

In the Woods of Greenwich, a Studio for Writing Poetry https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/style/in-the-woods-of-greenwich-a-studio-for-writing-poetry.html   

Don’t Let Your Children Become Insufferable Poets https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/opinion/future-humanities-science-education.html   

Gay Poet's Book Canceled Over Sexy Instagram Pictures https://www.out.com/books/2019/11/15/gay-poets-book-cancelled-over-sexy-instagram-pictures

Who’s More Qualified to Write About Death Than a Funeral Director Poet? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/books/review/the-depositions-thomas-lynch.html

***PRIVACY & SECURITY 

Key takeaways on Americans’ views about privacy, surveillance and data-sharing https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/15/key-takeaways-on-americans-views-about-privacy-surveillance-and-data-sharing/

Suspect can’t be compelled to reveal “64-character” password, court rules https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/11/police-cant-force-child-porn-suspect-to-reveal-his-password-court-rules/

***PRODUCING MEDIA

How to Make Your Podcast Sound Like NPR  https://lifehacker.com/how-to-make-your-podcast-sound-like-npr-1840048544

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Oct 9

***WRITING & READING 

Hundreds of thousands of people read novels on Instagram

https://www.fastcompany.com/90392917/the-next-big-reading-platform-may-be-instagram

The 100 best books of the 21st century 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/21/best-books-of-the-21st-century

How Scientists Were Able To Design A Font Proven To Actually Make You Read Faster 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIm8arSogvY

Who doesn’t read books in America? 

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/26/who-doesnt-read-books-in-america/

Translation Plagiarism in Philosophy 

www.dailynous.com/2019/10/01/translation-plagiarism-philosophy/

***GRAMMAR

‘Grammarians’ a captivating novel about word-obsessed twins 

www.postandcourier.com/features/book_reviews/review-grammarians-a-captivating-novel-about-word-obsessed-twins/article_dc3607b0-d4ac-11e9-aa8c-1322ee3c6d11.html

***JOURNALISM

7 key takeaways on information disorder from #Online News Association 19 

https://firstdraftnews.org/7-key-takeaways-on-information-disorder-from-ona19/

We’ve tracked newspaper layoffs, buyouts, and closures by state over the last few years

https://savejournalism.org/2019/09/26/the-grim-reaper-of-journalism-big-tech

Americans Are Wary of the Role Social Media Sites Play in Delivering the News 

https://www.journalism.org/2019/10/02/americans-are-wary-of-the-role-social-media-sites-play-in-delivering-the-news

U.S. Border Agent Harasses Journalist at U.S. Customs—Again
https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-border-agent-harasses-journalist-at-us-customsagain?via=rss

Charlottesville man sues newspaper for reporting on family’s slave-owning past 

https://nypost.com/2019/09/26/charlottesville-man-sues-newspaper-for-reporting-on-familys-slave-owning-past/

Press groups urge SCOTUS to provide live audio of oral arguments in six upcoming cases 

https://www.rcfp.org/scotus-live-audio-letter/

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM 

This company opens up the black box of what print newspaper subscribers are actually reading 

https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/09/this-company-opens-up-the-black-box-of-what-print-newspaper-subscribers-are-actually-reading/

The Books and Movies That Made Us Better Journalists 
https://www.propublica.org/article/ask-propublica-illinois-recommended-journalism-books-movies

Starbucks Offers Customers Free Digital Access To Newspapers, Special Subscription Offers 

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/341612/starbucks-offers-customers-free-digital-access-to.html

Supermarkets are ditching their newspaper and magazine racks (and publishers aren’t happy) 

https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/10/supermarkets-are-ditching-their-newspaper-and-magazine-racks-and-publishers-arent-happy/

More U.S. journalists are being named as collaboration managers; here’s a peek at their job descriptions 

https://medium.com/centerforcooperativemedia/more-u-s-journalists-are-being-named-as-collaboration-managers-heres-a-peek-at-their-job-5fc6a4f04658

***STUDENT MEDIA

After 110 years in print, University of Maryland student newspaper will become online only  

https://dbknews.com/2019/09/30/diamondback-ending-print-edition-online-only-digital-media/

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

People Are Typing on Their Smartphones Almost as Fast as on Keyboards Now 

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wjwpb5/people-are-typing-on-their-smartphones-almost-as-fast-as-on-keyboards-now

TikTok’s Ban on Political Ads

https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/03/tiktok-explains-its-ban-on-political-advertising/

China Masters Political Propaganda for the Instagram Age 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/05/technology/china-propaganda-patriotism.html

***LANGUAGE

USC student wants ASL to fulfill foreign language requirement  

https://dailytrojan.com/2019/09/24/american-sign-language-should-fulfill-foreign-language-requirement/

Language Evolves and that’s okay (O.K.?) 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/in-english-things-havent-always-been-okay-or-even-ok/2019/09/27/cc32a396-de20-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html

The polarisation of politics has led to a new lexicon of insults 

https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2019/10/03/the-polarisation-of-politics-has-led-to-a-new-lexicon-of-insults

African languages are fastest growing in the United States 

https://qz.com/africa/1723269/african-languages-are-fastest-growing-in-the-united-states/

What Language Am I Speaking? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgWPWEs63DA

***LITERATURE

She was shot dead by the Nazis in 1942. Her secret diary is to be published after 70 years in a bank vault 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/12/europe/polish-anne-frank-published-intl-scli/index.html

Understanding the importance of language among Latinx consumers 

https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/video/2019/nielsen-tv-understanding-the-importance-of-language-among-latinx-consumers/

MacTrump’ turns Donald Trump’s first two years as president into a Shakespearean satire 

https://www.oregonlive.com/books/2019/10/mactrump-turns-donald-trumps-first-two-years-as-president-into-a-shakespearean-satire.html

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA   

New York Magazine to Merge With Vox Media 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/new-york-magazine-merge-vox-media-1243163

One-in-five Americans now listen to audiobooks 

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/25/one-in-five-americans-now-listen-to-audiobooks/

***PRODUCING MEDIA

Wedding Photographer Compares Photos Taken With A DSLR To The iPhone 11 Pro 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=315&v=-2OqqrtKS-E

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Sept 25

***JOURNALISM

FBI arrests Army soldier who allegedly discussed plans to bomb major American news network

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbi-arrests-army-soldier-allegedly-discussed-plans-bomb/story

Remembering Cokie Roberts, Who Forged A Path For Female Journalists 

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/18/761831584/remembering-cokie-roberts-who-forged-a-path-for-female-journalists

Growing hostility’ between student media and administrators – Investigative Reporting Workshop
https://investigativereportingworkshop.org/news/growing-hostility-between-student-media-and-administrators/

Nonprofit news outlets aren’t relying as heavily on foundations — but journalism philanthropy continues to grow

https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/09/nonprofit-news-outlets-arent-relying-as-heavily-on-foundations-but-journalism-philanthropy-continues-to-grow/

Someone Is Doxing Hong Kong Protesters And Journalists — And China Wants Them To Keep Going 

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosalindadams/hong-kong-doxing-protesters-china-encourage

***FAKE NEWS

Google has released a giant database of deepfakes to help fight deepfakes
https://www.technologyreview.com/f/614426/google-has-released-a-giant-database-of-deepfakes-to-help-fight-deepfakes/

Anti-vax movement targets Maine law on vaccine exemptions

https://www.axios.com/anti-vaccine-movement-targets-maine-ffdffe55-adaf-4aa4-b700-6e61f3b6117e.html

***GRAMMAR

Pope Francis criticises overuse of adjectives  

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/24/pope-francis-criticises-overuse-of-adjectives

A grammar nerd gently dismantles those arguments for rejecting the new ‘they’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/a-grammar-nerd-gently-dismantles-your-arguments-for-rejecting-the-new-they/2019/09/20/95f87260-da56-11e9-a688-303693fb4b0b_story.html

Does Influencer Grammar Matter?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/style/influencer-grammar-watchdog-accounts-southeast-asia.html

***WRITING & READING

Physical books still outsell e-books — and here's why

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/19/physical-books-still-outsell-e-books-and-heres-why.html

1,000-page sentence is hard work all around

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/reading-ducks-newburyport-is-mentally-taxing--and-physically-exhausting/2019/09/10/6d34146c-d405-11e9-9610-fb56c5522e1c_story.html

It's Banned Books Week. Here are the 11 most challenged books last year 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/22/us/banned-books-week-2019-trnd/index.html

***LANGUAGE

Why Your Mom Uses Emojis All Wrong 🙃

https://www.motherjones.com/media/2019/09/gretchen-mcculloch-because-internet/

Study shows facial features track with intonation of words

https://phys.org/news/2019-09-facial-features-track-intonation-words.html

***LITERATURE

When Milton met Shakespeare: poet's notes on Bard appear to have been found  

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/16/when-milton-met-shakespeare-poets-notes-on-bard-appear-to-have-been-found

***POETRY

A vending machine that pops out poems! Positively precious  

http://bit.ly/2lWy58S

One of Elizabeth Warren's strategists is longlisted for the National Book Award in Poetry

https://lithub.com/one-of-elizabeth-warrens-strategists-is-longlisted-for-the-national-book-award-in-poetry/

Teaching poetry at a correctional facility through the lens of parenting a teen son

www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/09/20/teaching-poetry-correctional-facility-through-lens-parenting-son/

Poem: Small Kindnesses

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/magazine/poem-small-kindnesses.html

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA 

Broadcast Radio Under Threat from Perfect Storm of New Tech

https://www.futuresource-consulting.com/press-release/media-entertainment-press/broadcast-radio-under-threat-from-perfect-storm-of-new-tech/

FCC loses in court, judges say agency would fail “intro statistics class”

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/09/fcc-ignored-women-and-minorities-in-plan-to-allow-media-mergers-court-rules/

***SOCIAL MEDIA: TIKTOK

How TikTok Holds Our Attention

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/30/how-tiktok-holds-our-attention

Revealed: how TikTok censors videos that do not please Beijing

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/25/revealed-how-tiktok-censors-videos-that-do-not-please-beijing

The Complete Beginner’s Guide to TikTok  
https://medium.com/@mattprd/how-tiktok-is-changing-the-world-and-youre-missing-it-fa283338649a

***PRIVACY & SECURITY

People Are Looking At Your LinkedIn Profile. They Might Be Chinese Spies

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/19/761962531/people-are-looking-at-your-linkedin-profile-they-might-be-chinese-spies

Brain Privacy

https://www.axios.com/brain-privacy-neuralink-brain-computer-interface-6ba7269e-1553-4395-a6db-3560fead7e24.html

Articles of Interest about Lit, Journalism, Writing & Languages - Sept 3

***GRAMMAR

Trump’s Twitter War on Spelling  New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/31/us/politics/trump-twitter.html

AP Stylebook Changes Hyphen Guidance, Ushering In Total Chaos  The Big Lead

https://thebiglead.com/2019/08/28/ap-stylebook-hyphen-change-guidance

In Love With Language, but Not Necessarily With Each Other  New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/books/review/the-grammarians-cathleen-schine.html

***WRITING & READING 

What Critics of Student Writing Get Wrong  Chronicle of Higher Ed

https://www.chronicle.com/article/What-Critics-of-Student/247054

How I’m using AI to write my next novel  Vox

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/8/30/20840194/ai-art-fiction-writing-language-gpt-2

Cracking the code of dyslexia  CBS News

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cracking-the-code-of-dyslexia/

***JOURNALISM

How Colombia’s Datasketch wants to make data visualization easier for Latin American newsrooms

www.storybench.org/how-colombias-datasketch-wants-to-make-data-visualization-easier-for-latin-american-newsrooms/

At Least 11 Journalists Killed This Year In Mexico  NPR

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/31/756200213/at-least-11-journalists-killed-this-year-in-mexico

You might make a good producer if...  RTDNA

https://rtdna.org/article/you_might_make_a_good_producer_if

Why Teens Are Creating Their Own News Outlets  Teen Vogue

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/teens-creating-own-news-outlets-instagram-text-message

The New York Times use of FOIAs  New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/02/reader-center/foia-freedom-of-information-public-records.html

***JOURNALISM STUDENTS

Hey, future journalists: 50 pieces of advice for making your college years count  RTDNA https://rtdna.org/article/hey_future_journalists_50_pieces_of_advice_for_making_your_college_years_count

Ability to adapt has become more important than ever for journalism interns  Community Newspapers https://communitynewspapers.com/featured/ability-to-adapt-has-become-more-important-than-ever-for-journalism-interns /

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

Obituaries keep local newspapers afloat

https://www.axios.com/obituaries-local-newspapers-77ddfa04-b54e-46ee-9fb7-a2aa641559fb.html

***FAKE NEWS

These “Canadian” Websites And Facebook Pages Are Actually Run From Overseas

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/canadian-websites-and-facebook-pages-run-overseas

Frank Abagnale of Catch Me If You Can on how not to get scammed  Vox

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/8/29/20836745/frank-abagnale-scam-me-if-you-can

Inside the deeply weird fake seed scams that are all over Amazon Mashable

https://mashable.com/article/fake-seed-scam-amazon-ebay/

Hijacked Reviews on Amazon Can Trick Shoppers Consumer Reports

https://www.consumerreports.org/customer-reviews-ratings/hijacked-reviews-on-amazon-can-trick-shoppers/

These deepfakes of Bill Hader are absolutely terrifying  CNET

https://www.cnet.com/news/these-deepfakes-of-bill-hader-are-absolutely-terrifying/

***SOCIAL MEDIA

Researchers studying Facebook's impact on democracy threaten to quit  Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-election-research/researchers-studying-facebooks-impact-on-democracy-threaten-to-quit-idUSKCN1VI04F

Here’s how to filter and delete your old tweets — and why that’s an OK thing to do  Poynter

https://www.poynter.org/tech-tools/2019/heres-how-to-filter-and-delete-your-old-tweets-and-why-thats-an-ok-thing-to-do /

What drives our addiction to social media  The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/23/social-media-addiction-gambling

***LANGUAGE 

A new book spells out the magic of language  Economist

https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2019/08/22/a-new-book-spells-out-the-magic-of-language

What’s the best way to teach children a second language? New research produces surprising results The Conversation

https://theconversation.com/whats-the-best-way-to-teach-children-a-second-language-new-research-produces-surprising-results-122059

***LITERATURE 

Artificial Intelligence doing Wonders in the Field of Literature  Analytics Insight

https://www.analyticsinsight.net/artificial-intelligence-doing-wonders-in-the-field-of-literature/

Emojis Are Language Too: A Linguist Says Internet-Speak Isn’t Such a Bad Thing  New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/16/books/review/because-internet-gretchen-mcculloch.html

7 Best Places for Literature Lovers in Paris  Newsweek

https://www.newsweek.com/7-best-places-literature-lovers-paris-1456124

***POETRY

Waffle House has an official poet laureate: For real  Atlanta Magazine

https://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/waffle-house-has-an-official-poet-laureate-for-real /

In the first trailer for Apple TV Plus’ Dickinson, the famous poet gets turnt  The Verge

https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/26/20833766/apple-tv-plus-emily-dickinson-series-trailer-first-look-hailee-steinfeld

This Indianapolis nurse quit her job to become a poet. Now people hire her to write poems  Indy Star

https://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/arts/2019/08/30/indianapolis-woman-leaves-nursing-pursue-poetry-full-time-feel-heal-poetry/1930922001 /

Do You Actually Know The Difference Between Taylor Swift And History's Greatest Poets?  BuzzFeed  

https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephenlaconte/taylor-swift-lyrics-famous-poets-quiz

Butchering poetry: Verse vs. worse  Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/gene-weingarten-who-is-the-better-poet-gene-and-his-editor-face-off/2019/08/30/0d909a14-b9d7-11e9-bad6-609f75bfd97f_story.html