It’s the People you Barely Know

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Distance acquaintances are more likely to help you get that new job than people you know well. That’s the finding of a new study of more than 20 million LinkedIn users. Researchers found weak ties, people with whom you have few mutual connections, are the most helpful. The “strength of weak ties” theory was first proposed in 1973 by a Johns Hopkins University sociologist.

Sinan Aral, a management professor at MIT and co-author of the paper says, “Moderately weak ties are the best. Not the weakest, but slightly stronger than the weakest.” The sweet spot is about 10 mutual connections between people. The usefulness of the connection to the other person falls when there are more than 10.  

Bottom line: When we broaden our horizons then the networks of acquaintances can go to work for us. The power of weak ties may have implications for other parts of life as well.

Read more details of the study in the journal Science.

Lincoln the Failure

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Think of Abraham Lincoln, who was elected president of the United States in 1860. he grew up on an isolated farm and had only one year of formal education. In those early years he was exposed to barely half a dozen books. In 1832 he lost his job and was defeated in the race for the Illinois legislature. In 1833 he failed in business. In 1834 he was elected to the state legislature, but in 1835 his sweetheart died and in 1836 he had a nervous breakdown. In 1838 he was defeated for nomination for Congress. In 1846 he was elected to Congress but in 1848 lost the renomination. In 1849 he was rejected for a federal land appointment, and in 1854 he was defeated for the Senate. In 1856 he was defeated for the nomination of vice president, and in 1858 he was again defeated for the Senate.

Many people, both at home and abroad, consider Lincoln to be the greatest president of all time. Yet it should be remembered how many failures and defeats marked his life and how humble and unpromising his early beginnings were.

Ted Engstrom, The Pursuit of Excellence

6 Journalism Webinars: Sports, Hispanic Voices, Copyright, Bilingual Reporting, TV News Writing, & Pro for a Day

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Mon, Oct 10 – Covering Sports in Boston

What: Dan Shaughnessy has been writing for the Globe since 1981 named Mass Sportswriter of the Year 14 times and named a Top Ten columnist by AP Sports Editors 12 times.

Who: Boston Globe sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy

When: 7 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The New England Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists

More info

 

Wed, Oct 12 – Growing Influence of Hispanic Voices in the Media

What: Join industry leaders and learn insight on how their heritage impacts their career, culture and journalism. Discover documents, exhibits, films, blog posts and more from the National Archives and Presidential Libraries that highlight Hispanic culture.

Who:

Dax Tejera, Executive Producer, ABC News ‘This Week’

Daniella Diaz, CNN Capitol Hill reporter

Laura Barrón-López, White House Correspondent for POLITICO

Sabrina Rodríguez, national political reporter for The Washington Post

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor:  Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism

More info

 

Wed, Oct 12 – IP at the Supreme Court Series

What:  The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts v. Goldsmith lawsuit before the US Supreme Court

Who:

Rebecca Tushnet, Harvard Law School

Amy Adler, New York University School of Law

Andrew Gass, Counsel for Petitioner

Peter A. Jaszi, American University, Washington College of Law

Andrew Kim, Goodwin Procter LLP

Lateef Mtima, Howard University School of Law

Pamela Samuelson, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law

When: 4 pm Central, 2 pm Pacific  

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor:    

More info

 

Wed, Oct 12 – Bilingual Reporting

What: Whether it’s gathering information when you’re out on the field or doing on-air reporting in English as well as in Spanish, harnessing your level of bilingual and bicultural skills and using them on the job can be a real asset. We’ll discuss the different ways you can use your skills — and you don’t have to be perfectly bilingual — and provide some helpful tips.

Who: Sandra Lilley is the managing editor of NBC Latino

When: 5 pm Central, 3 pm Pacific

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: National Association of Hispanic Journalists

More info

 

Thu, Oct 13 – Writing for TV News

What:  Sharpen your TV news writing skills and learn tricks of the trade.

Who:  Bob Dotson, winner of 120 awards. “The American Story with Bob Dotson,” was a regular feature on “The TODAY Show” for 40 years. He is now a New York Times best-selling author and writes a daily blog that The SPJ cited as the “best in new media.” 

When: 7 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor:  The Press Club of Long Island

More info

 

Sat, Oct 22 – Pro for a Day

What:  To help college students interested in journalism or other forms of media get a crash course of skills to thrive in today's media landscape.  

When: 10 am, Pacific

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor:  San Diego Association of Black Journalists

More info

The Goal of the Argument

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Looking to ‘own’ someone in argument has the wrong orientation, that of domination not only during the exchange but afterwards. Instead, we should approach our particular and individual exchanges with the hope that we can set the stage for a more respectful and honest culture of reasoning together. For sure, this is but a hope, but it’s better to serve as an example of that aspiration than as an example of how argument can go wrong.

Scott Aikinis writing in Psyche

5 AI-based image-creation tools

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Turn written text into realistic images with OpenAI’s DALL-E. The U.S.-based AI research company has opened the system to the public. The image below was created with it (“Chartreuse background with a fuchsia of contour octopus tentacles”).

Besides OpenAI’s DALL-E, there are other AI-based image-creation tools:

NovelAI MidJourney

ArtBreeder NightCafe

More Tech Tools

Random Acts

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Research (published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology) found that people who perform a random act of kindness tend to underestimate how much the recipient will appreciate it. And they believe that miscalculation could hold many of us back from doing nice things for others more often.  “We have this negativity bias when it comes to social connection. We just don’t think the positive impact of our behaviors is as positive as it is,” said Marisa Franco, a psychologist.  “With a study like this, I hope it will inspire more people to actually commit random acts of kindness,” she said.

Catherine Pearson writing in the New York Times

Video Stabilization & Teleprompters

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Video: Stabilization

GorillaPod tripod* 
Joby GripTight PRO. Flexible legs wrap around objects for unlimited angles. From .7 - 11 pounds. Rubber foot grips provide stability on any surface. 

Moment*
Cases, lens, batteries, lights, gimbals, etc. to enhance photos and videos taken with a phone. 

Shoulderpod S2*
A handle grip for your smartphone to steady your shots. Works with tripods and comes with a wrist strap. Additional accessories available. $50.

SMOVE
This smartphone video stabilizer that doubles as a charger. Portable, fits in your pocket. $200. 

Steadicam Smoothee*
The Smoothee gives you a steady, gliding shot by a balanced weight system that holds your phone on a frictionless ball joint. Simple to use, though the size could interfere with other attachments on you iPhone. $90.

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Video: Teleprompters

CuePrompter
Turns your browser into a television telepromoter.

Parrot*
A teleprompter app for a phone allows the user to read scripts while looking directly into the camera to avoid looking to one side or having to memorize a script. Change the background and the font color. Free.

Video Teleprompter Lite
Video recording teleprompter app using either the front-facing or rear-facing camera. Works on iPhones and iPads as well as Android phones. Free. 

More Tech Tools

8 Video Tools

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Amnesty International YouTube DataViewer*
Takes a URL for a video and provides background info.

Awesome Screenshot
This Chrome extension is a screen recorder with no extra features that will save up to :30. Free.

DSCO
Pronounced ‘disco’, this app is for GIF creation. Animations up to 2.5 seconds long. Free. Video example.

Ecamm
App that records Skype and Facetime. It lets you convert your calls into MP3 files for podcasting or easily move the video to YouTube and Vimeo. Split the audio tracks after a call for easy editing. $39.95.

InVID
A free Firefox plugin to debunk fake video news and verify videos and images.

Transcriptive
Digital Anarchy’s plugin to create automated transcriptions of video in Premiere Pro. Free Trial. $299.

TubeMogul
Upload your video and TubeMogul will send it to many social media sites at one time-though you'll have to set up accounts with all the sites on your own. Tracks viewership. A part of Adobe's Marketing Cloud.

YouTube Creator Hub
Resources to help create better video content and bigger audiences. An online community for serious YouTube creators.

More Tech Tools

A little better than today

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Maybe it’s waking up early, starting an exercise program or learning a new skill; if there’s something you want, start taking steps now to get there, no matter how small. Instead of looking at the goal itself as some looming, insurmountable burden, look at what you did today and figure out how you can improve upon it tomorrow. Tomorrows add up quicker than you might think. -Alex McDaniel (born Oct 5)

18 Video Recording Tools

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BeastCam
Video and photography capture app for iPhone users. Adjust focus, exposure, zoom, and white balance within the app. It recognizes external microphones.. More info here. $4.99.

Camtasia
Screen-recording application that’s adequate for its intended purpose: eLearning videos. Easy to use for quick videos but limited. Can be used for podcasting. Mac & PC. $249.  

Carousel Camera
Record a single video that fits both vertical and horizontal orientations for use on multiple social media platforms. Export in various aspect ratios. Free but some features require a 99 cent purchase.

DoubleTake
Built by the same folks who created Filmic Pro, this app lets you shoot video using two iPhones at the same time. An option lets you easily create a single video using multiple lenses with a split-screen effect. Pick the frame rate, resolution, focus, and exposure. $3.99

Filmic Pro*
Powerful app for videography and photography. Lots of bells and whistles such as in-app stabilization. Quickly switch between color profiles, resolutions, etc. Possibly too much for the average person but great for someone serious about shooting video on a phone. Video explanation here. $14.99.

Hippo Video 
This Chrome extension is a screen recorder with some advanced features such as changing the resolution, aspect ratio, etc. Free.

HouseParty (formally Meerkat)
Group video chat app where users get a notice that friends are online. Snap Stories are integrated. 

IBM Cloud Video* (formerly Ustream) 
Desktop broadcasting of live video to the world from a computer or iPhone (or watch thousands of shows).  30 day free trial, then monthly plans from $99 to $999 for pros, top subscription $2k and up.

Loom
This Chrome extension is a screen recorder with some advanced options. No limit on the number of videos you can make. Free. 

Narrative
Wearable camera that takes a photo or video every minute and creates a video at the end of the day (without using the repetitive shots). No work for the wearer. $199.

Nimbus
This Chrome extension is a screen recorder which also allows users to shoot a video with a webcam or take screenshots. Free. 

Quicktime
Use to record video from your webcam and Skype interviews. 

Rock Content (formally Scribble Live)
Live-streaming. Create, curate and publish content to provide real time coverage and storytelling. Fee.

Skyflow
A professional time-lapse video camera app for iOS that lets you pick the playback speed. Choose video resolution and format, motion blur, light trail effects, HDR, etc. Here is a tutorial. Free. 

Skype 
An advantage to using Skype for video conferencing is the ability to record video interviews. Afterward, you open Skype on a desktop and download your video as an .MP4 file. If you just want the audio you can extract it by importing the file into software like Adobe Premiere Pro or the free editing program Audacity.

TechSmith (formally Jing)
A free, easy-to-use screen capture application. Snap a screenshot or record a video, save and share. capture a presentation, lecture, or event. 

TiltShift Video 
Create the tilt-shift effect for photos and video. No in-app camera to shoot video and no sharing options. $3.99.

Webex
Cisco’s video conferencing software. Easy-to-use, nothing to download. Several pricing plans-but not cheap.

More Tech Tools

9 Tools for Video Conferencing & File Transfer

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Video: Conferencing

Adobe Connect
Video conferencing.

GoToMeeting
Video conferencing. 14-day free trial. $14-$39 a month subscription. 

Microsoft Teams
An all-in-one tool with video conferencing, chat and other productivity features, intended to do more than Zoom. The best choice if you are already using Microsoft 365 and focused on internal, productivity meetings, There’s a free option.

Mmhmm
Makes video presentations for video conference meetings. Easily superimpose a resizable version of yourself over photos, videos and slides and share a live feed. Fun tools like laser pointers and filters. There is an educational discount. $12 a month.

Zoom
Thanks to the pandemic it has become the go-to video conferencing option. The focus on being a video tool (rather than all the features Teams offers) means it’s likely the best choice if that’s what you want to do. Reliable and better than Teams with a large number of participants (and external meetings in general) where the goal is face-to-face rather than productivity There is a free plan.

Video: File Transfer

pCloud Transfer
Like WeTransfer, quickly transfer files up to 5GB. No account required. Free.

Send Anywhere*
A free file transfer app (iOS and Android) for images, video, audio and text. Share up to 10GB per transfer, Your recipient uses an URL to access and download the files from the cloud.

WeTransfer*
A file transfer service, though Dropbox has more options for the price. WeTransfer is free for individual users, but $12 for companies needing more.

Zamzar
Video and audio file converter.

More Tech Tools

Doomed by Success

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Few firms are good at recognising their own flaws (which helps to explain why only one company from the original Dow Jones Industrial Average of 1896 is still on that list: General Electric).

Henry Ford was so allergic to evidence that America was falling out of love with the Model T that he dismissed sales statistics as fakes and fired an executive who warned him of disaster.

Sears started to build its giant headquarters—the 110-storey Sears tower—at exactly the moment, in 1970, when its fortunes began to go south.

IBM allowed Microsoft to take over the PC operating-software business because it thought that the money was in hardware.  

Nokia allowed a substandard boss, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, to run the company for four years before finally getting rid of him.

In “The Innovator’s Dilemma”, Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School argues that companies are often doomed not by their failures but by their triumphs. They may realise that the world is changing. But they are so good at doing what they have always done—making mainframe computers in IBM’s case—that they make a hash of embracing the new.

Schumpeter writing in The Economist

 

17 Data Science articles from Sept 2022

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A layered security strategy is a must for satellites because “assets will be targeted without directly going after the satellite”

NRO signs agreements with six commercial providers of space-based RF data  

AI Isn’t Ready to Make Unsupervised Decisions

How to Handle Imbalanced Data in ML Classification using Python

As satellite imagery moves from “primarily selling imagery to selling monitoring, data products, and insights” 3D modeling and mapping takes center stage

U.S. GEOINT Is Clear Driver in Ukrainian Defense

China has committed $15.3B in public funds in quantum computing investments— eight times what the US has pledged

How to derive more exact integral formulas that give the complex calculations greater accuracy toward identify data symmetries

5 Data Science Skills That Pay & 5 That Don’t 

NGA Maps Out Digital Priorities for GEOINT  

The Geospatial Imagery Analytics Global Market Report 2022 predicts yearly growth from $7.4B to $9.5B with the main types of geospatial imagery analytics are video-based analytics and imagery analytics

Three ways to establish causal relationships and how Data Scientists can adopt a causal mentality

Demystifying artificial intelligence & machine-learning (in a few words)

Five Interesting Facts about the National-Geospatial Intelligence Agency

Here’s a data visualization library in Python which provides interactive and sophisticated features for analyzing data with interactive plots

New York Times: It’s time to start taking the potential and risks of artificial intelligence  

The quality of your predictive model results depends on a robust understanding the difference between training and testing data in machine learning

Grammatical correctness ≠ Voice

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The function of most punctuation—commas, colons and semicolons, dashes, and so on—is to help organize the relationships among the parts of a sentence. Its role is semantic: to add precision and complexity to meaning. It increases the information potential of strings of words.

What most punctuation does not do is add color, texture, or flavor to the writing. Those are all things that belong to the aesthetics, and literary aesthetics are weirdly intangible. You can’t taste writing. It has no color and makes no sound. Its shape has no significance. But people say that someone’s prose is “colorful” or “pungent” or “shapeless” or “lyrical.” When written language is decoded, it seems to trigger sensations that are unique to writing but that usually have to be described by analogy to some other activity. 

One of the most mysterious of writing’s immaterial properties is what people call “voice.” Editors sometimes refer to it, in a phrase that underscores the paradox at the heart of the idea, as “the voice on the page.” Prose can show many virtues, including originality, without having a voice. It may avoid cliché, radiate conviction, be grammatically so clean that your grandmother could eat off it. But none of this has anything to do with this elusive entity the “voice.” There are probably all kinds of literary sins that prevent a piece of writing from having a voice, but there seems to be no guaranteed technique for creating one. Grammatical correctness doesn’t insure it. 

Louis Menard writing in The New Yorker

9 Upcoming Journalism Webinars

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Thu, Sept 29 – An Introduction to Solutions Journalism

What: Solutions journalism is an approach to reporting that focuses on social problems and what is being done to address them. This workshop will explain how individual journalists can practice solutions journalism and how newsrooms can adopt solutions journalism into their culture.

Who: Michael Davis, who manages a 12-state southern region for Solutions Journalism Network and oversees the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative; Mikhael Simmonds, the director of regions at Solutions Journalism Network; J.D. Allen, managing editor at WSHU Public Radio, and host of the climate podcast 'Higher Ground.'

When: 7 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Press Club of Long Island

More info

 

Fri, Sept 30 - Election Coverage: Sifting Through Misinformation to get to the Real Story 

What: The midterm elections are on the horizon, and college journalists must grapple with reaching their audiences while sifting through misinformation along the campaign trail. This session aims to provide tips on how to navigate the political free-for-all while getting down to the issues.

Who: Trusting News Assistant Director, Lynn Walsh. Walsh is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has worked in investigative journalism at the national level. She is the former Ethics Chair for the Society of Professional Journalists and a past national president for the organization.  

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: College Media Association

More info

 

Mon, Oct 3 – Media Law Office Hours

What: Allows journalists with legal questions to help find answers.  

Who: Attorney Matthew Leish

When: 5 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Deadline Club of New York

More Info

 

Tue, Oct 4 - Teaching News Literacy in the Era of Hyperpolarized Media

What: Learn how to use news literacy methodology to recognize and rate bias and reliability in the news and “news-like” content. During this hands-on session, attendees will practice diplomatically dealing with sensitive political topics while maintaining objectivity. Particularly for educators.

Who: Vanessa Otero, Founder and CEO, Ad Fontes Media; Moderated by Kristi Hemingway, VP of Content and Creative Strategy

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Sponsored by Ad Fontes Media

More info

 

Thu, Oct 6 - Navigating freelance contracts   

What: In this webinar, former journalist and media lawyer Charles Glasser will answer your questions about why contracts are important, language to include and avoid, and how to negotiate the contract you want.

Who: Charles Glasser spent twelve 12 years as the global media counsel for Bloomberg News, where he trained more than 2,200 reporters on legal issues and journalism fundamentals. He is now a private legal consultant and teaches law and ethics for investigative journalism at New York University's Arthur Carter Journalism Center.

When: 12 noon, Central

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Association of Health Care Journalists

More info

 

Wed, Oct 12 - Careers at The Associated Press

What: Explore various career paths within the field of journalism and at one of the largest independent news organizations around the globe

Who: Lauren Easton, vice president, corporate communications, The Associated Press; Will Federman, senior director, AP News; Ryan Pearson, manager, Los Angeles entertainment video, The Associated Press

When: 12 noon, Pacific

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: USC Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism

More info

 

Wed, Oct 19 - Information at War: Journalism, Disinformation, and Modern Warfare 

What: Interview with Prof Philip Seib (University of Southern California) about his new book “Information at War.”

Who: Philip Seib, a leading authority about the relationship between news media and foreign policy, and about the effects of news coverage on armed conflict, including terrorism; Dmitry Chernobrov Dept of Journalism Studies, University of Sheffield.

When: 8 am, Central

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Journalism Research Seminars

More info

 

Thu, Oct 20 - Informed or Influenced? Media and News Literacy Skills for Election Season and Beyond

What: Join News Literacy Project experts and news literacy educators to learn how you can strengthen your students’ media and news literacy skills and equip them for active, responsible civic life. Learn about best practices for teaching about bias and primary purpose of various sources and types of information, and discover how you can help students identify news and information that is presented in a fair and accurate way. 

Who: News Literacy Project’s Senior Manager of Educator Professional Learning Alexa Volland; Teacher-librarian Jill Hofmockel from West High School in Iowa City, Iowa; Molly June Roquet, the education librarian at Saint Mary’s College of California; News Literacy Project’s Senior Director of Education Partnership Strategy, Shaelynn Farnsworth.

When: 5pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The News Literacy Project 

More info

 

Fri, Oct 21 - Covering Food Insecurity: Access, hunger, and empathetic reporting about a basic need

What: A discussion about what journalists can cover at the intersection of food access, community impact, and systemic racism.

Who: Panelists include: 

Alejandro Figueroa, food reporter for WYSO  

Bridget Huber, reporter with the Food and Environment Reporting Network

Lauren Lindstrom, independent journalist focused on health and housing and O’Brien Fellow in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University

Karen Robinson-Jacobs, investigative reporter on the Public Service Journalism team at Lee Enterprises

When: 11:30 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The National Press Club’s Journalism Institute

More info