Wednesday, September 15, 2021

How Twitter’s communities could bring context back

 Lucky 13 Steve Jobs Must be smiling …



The Verge: “…The Verge - How Twitter’s communities could bring context backStarting Wednesday, Twitter users can be invited to an initial batch of Communities that include #AstroTwitter, #DogTwitter, #SkincareTwitter, and #SoleFood (a group for sneaker enthusiasts). Once people join a Community, they can tweet directly to other members rather than to just their followers. Only members of a Community can like or reply to tweets sent by other members. Similar to how groups on Facebook and Reddit’s subreddits work, each Twitter Community will have its own moderators who are able to set rules and invite or remove people. Twitter invited a handful of users to create the first Communities and will let anyone apply to create their own on its website….

In his thread about the test, Twitter product chief Kayvon Beykpour said he hopes Communities will make people feel more comfortable tweeting. “Tweets you post in Communities are ‘narrow-casted’ to only the people in that Community,” he said. “They’re still public tweets, but they aren’t amplified to all of your followers and they don’t show up on your profile. We think this can help lower the pressure of talking on Twitter.”…


To be a political journalist, you have always needed to be able to resist bullying aimed at making you second-guess your work.



As much as social media has helped us to stay connected, especially for those stuck in lockdown, it has also become a home for vile and questionable commentary.

The High Court this week weighed into that issue, in a way, when it ruled that media companies are liable for any comments from the general public on posts they put on Facebook.

Facebook defamation ruling by High Court exposes all page owners to lawsuits, not just the media


. If you send a cold email, it better be about a hot opportunity.

40 One-Sentence Email Tips



You know what's been really not great? This entire year. So, if you're feeling out of sorts, you're definitely not alone. 

The fact is that almost half of all Australians will experience some form of mental illness in their lives - which is a pretty jarring thought. But for something so common, a lot of people hide their sh*t. And they hide it well. 

That's why R U OK? day is relevant more than ever. It's a day we take to check in on our friends, family and those around us - because the truth is, not everyone who seems fine is fine.



LAPD officers told to collect social media data on every civilian they stop


The Guardian: “The Los Angeles police department (LAPD) has directed its officers to collect the social media information of every civilian they interview, including individuals who are not arrested or accused of a crime, according to records shared with the Guardian. Copies of the “field interview cards” that police complete when they question civilians reveal that LAPD officers are instructed to record a civilian’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media accounts, alongside basic biographical information. An internal memo further shows that the police chief, Michel Moore, told employees that it was critical to collect the data for use in “investigations, arrests, and prosecutions”, and warned that supervisors would review cards to ensure they were complete. The documents, which were obtained by the not-for-profit organization the Brennan Center for Justice, have raised concerns about civil liberties and the potential for mass surveillance of civilians without justification.

There are real dangers about police having all of this social media identifying information at their fingertips,” said Rachel Levinson-Waldman, a deputy director at the Brennan Center, noting that the information was probably stored in a database that could be used for a wide range of purposes…”




Gmail app takes calls now, too, because Google wants it to do everything


The Verge: “Google is announcing even more Workspace features today, part of an increased cadence of changes to the company’s office and communications software suite over the past year or so. Today’s announcement is a bit of a milestone, however. Although there is still the smattering of small and coming-soon updates, the bigger change is that Gmail is getting a redesign that reveals its true nature in Google’s eyes: the central hub for every Google communication app. To begin, Google is adding the ability to “ring” another Google user with Google Meet — but inside the Gmail mobile app, not inside the Meet app. When the feature rolls out and turns on, your Gmail app will be able to be called just like any other VOIP app (in addition to being able to join Google Meet meetings). Google says the standalone Meet app will get the same ability to place calls, not just create group meetings, at some point in the future. That Gmail was the first place Google thought to put its calling feature reveals how important Gmail has become to the larger changes happening within Google Workspace. Google has not been shy about leveraging Gmail’s popularity to drive adoption of its other services…”


Report via The Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center – The United States has historically faced periods of extreme heat, but climate change over the next 30 years could make these events more frequent, widespread, and severe


They say they’re “prioritizing ‘vaccine safety’ over ‘benefits’,” but really they’re just “prioritizing safety from vaccines over safety from COVID” — Richard Chappell (Miami) on status quo bias in ethical reasoning about the pandemic

  • “The form of deliberation employed when we infer our own courses of action from what is collectively optimal or required” — Anne Schwenkenbecher (Murdoch) on “we-reasoning” and public health crises
  • “The thing to remember here is to do the opposite of what we’re trained to do: Speak at a super high level about some pretty important and intense stuff, with little/no justification for your claims” — and other non-academic job seeking advice for philosophers, from Aaron Kagan (Facebook Reality Labs)
  • “The teacher who allows his student’s desire to settle on him as an object, or the teacher who actively makes himself the object of her desire, has failed in his role as a teacher” — Amia Srinivasan (Oxford) on sex between professors and students
  • A site of resources for teaching courses in ethics in moral philosophy — including videos, syllabi, lessons, assignments, and more, from Matt Deaton
  • So far, “there’s more than twice as many jobs advertised this year than at the same point last year, indicating a significant job-market rebound. However, compared to pre-COVID levels, the market is still on the lower end of things” — Marcus Arvan (Tampa) takes a quick look at the philosophy job market this season
  • Slippery slope arguments may be sound, for example, when they “specify as precisely as possible what causal mechanisms create strong incentives and disincentives for specific behaviors to occur” — such as in regard to Apple’s new phone-scanning technology, argues Evan Selinger (RIT)
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