What Creativity Requires
/Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. –Eric Fromm
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
Cruelty wears justice as a disguise
/The “No one to blame but themselves” rule “implies that once someone breaks a rule, you can do whatever you want to them and you cannot be blamed. We need that one mortal sin which will let us revoke a person's status as a human worthy of dignity, respect, empathy or anything else.
I think the reason so many racists could pass an ‘Are you a racist?’ polygraph test is that they don't think minorities are inhuman due to their color, but rather their supposed criminality. The single hint of a single minor crime meant absolutely anything done in response is justified. They all think their daily cruelty is in response to some extreme provocation.
If cruelty wears justice as a disguise, then anyone who believes in justice is at risk.”
David Wong writing for Cracked
20 Data Science articles from February 2023
/Five statistical paradoxes that data scientists should be aware of in order to do accurate analysis
Software to sow doubts as you meta-analyze
Six of the most important types of machine learning algorithm
“Big Data is real, but most people may not need to worry about it”
The ChatGPT prompts any data scientist must use
No, chatbots aren’t sentient. Here’s how their underlying technology works
5 Common Data Analytics Types Explained in Laymen’s Terms
Using the metaverse to virtually assemble and test AI war machines for the US military
Researchers discover a more flexible approach to machine learning—liquid neural nets
The evolving role of the data engineer
Top Predictive Analytics Trends in 2023
How NGA Is integrating commercial analytic services into agency workflows
Python string matching without complex RegEx Syntax
Six python libraries especially useful to data engineers and natural language processing
Creativity & Trust
/Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. – Reta Mae Brown
7 Free Media Webinars this Week on ChatGPT, Reporting from Ukraine, Sports Marketing & More
/Tuesday, Feb 28 - Breaking Down Breaking News
What: This session is designed to provide insights on covering breaking news from the perspectives of the reporter, an editor and a news director. Learn how to create content when news suddenly happens and the clock is ticking.
Who: John Walton; news director WVLA/WGMB; Gary Estwick breaking news editor The Tennessean.
When: 12 noon, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: College Media Association
Wed, March 1 - ChatGPT & DALL-E: What Generative AI means for journalism
What: Tools such as ChatGPT and DALL-E are a wake-up call for newsrooms about the rewards and risks of artificial intelligence capabilities. Please join us as we explain the technology behind these tools, how newsrooms might take advantage of them and what to look out for as the industry begins to grapple with the emerging potential around Generative AI.
Who: Moderator - AP’s Local News AI Program Manager Aimee Rinehart; Nicholas Diakopoulos, professor at Northwestern University; Yifan Hu, tech designer at Schibsted; Claire Leibowicz, head of AI and Media Integrity at Partnership on AI; Miranda Marcus, head of BBC News Labs; Hank Sims, editor at Lost Coast Communications Inc.; Edward Tian, GPTZero author, journalist and Princeton University student
When: Noon, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Associated Press
Wed, March 1 – When the Story is You
What: Singular first-person journalism.
Who: Sabrina Imbler, a staff writer at Defector and previously a reporting fellow on the science and health desk of The New York Times; Helen Santoro, a freelance reporter on the brain and health, she has written for publication such as Scientific American, Slate, Smithsonian, and WIRED.
When: 6:30 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute
Wed, March 1 – Student Press Briefing: Impacts of School Surveillance
What: College and high school student journalists are invited to this briefing on potential stories on school surveillance, student privacy, and free expression on- and off-campus. We’ll discuss the issues raised by software widely adopted by K-12 schools across the country that monitors students’ activity online, and online surveillance tools being used by colleges and universities. These tools increase the risk of discrimination, chill free expression, and threaten privacy.
Who: CDT experts
When: 7:30 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: The Center for Democracy & Technology
Thu, March 2 – The State of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship: A Data-Driven Review of Top Activations
What: The impact that different sports, leagues, events and athletes have on fan engagement across social and why that matters. Which brands are getting the most bang for their marketing bucks. How video is being used to create sponsorship value. Actionable tactics marketers can apply right away to their sponsorship efforts and activations.
Who: Scott Tilton EVP, Brand Sponsorship Analytics; RJ Kraus Head of Social for KORE
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Ad Week
Thu, March 2 - Living Under Threat: Ukraine, Russian journalists share struggles of wartime reporting
What: A discussion of the ongoing challenges to covering the war in Ukraine.
Who: Russian and Ukrainian journalists, including: Elizaveta Kirpanova of the Russian independent newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”; Olga Rudenko, the editor in chief of The Kyiv Independent; Anastasia Tishchenko, a human rights reporter and news presenter with Radio Svoboda; Jessica Jerreat, who leads Voice of America’s press freedom coverage, will moderate the discussion.
When: 11 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: National Press Club Journalism Institute
Thu, March 2 - Community Engagement Journalism: Exploring What it Means in the Newsroom and in the Field
What: Hear from community engagement reporters themselves on how they approach this trailblazing work. Community engagement journalists help newsrooms better understand and locate information voids–spaces that are also vulnerable to disinformation–and fill them. They break down barriers, both imagined and real, between communities and those who report on them, which builds the trust necessary to freeze out disinformation.
Who: Annie Z. Yu is Politico’s director of engagement; Derrick Cain, Director of Community Engagement at Resolve Philly; María Méndez, a reporter focused on connecting with Texans to help them navigate politics and public policy; Lauren Aguirre of Votebeat will moderate.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Pen America
Get inside your box!
/Do you know one of the "box people"? When they meet someone new, the “box people” immediately ask a question to identify which box the person belongs inside. "What do you do?" “Where are you from?” the “box people” want to stick a label on each person. Once they know the "box" (based on class, politics, religious affiliation, race, etc.), they can avoid the work of getting to know someone and treating them as an individual.
Meeting someone living outside the set of predetermined boxes is a challenge to the arrangement of tidy little containers. This affront will be met with increasing demands to "Get inside a box!” There’s a difference between asking honest questions to understand someone because you see them as an end in themselves, and asking questions as a result of treating people as means to an end.
Each of us has the same decision to make: Whether or not to treat others as unique individuals.
Stephen Goforth
The value of arguing with your parents
/Arguing with your parents as a teenager trains you to reject peer pressure. University of Virginia researchers observed more than 150 13-year-olds as they disputed issues like grades and chores with their mothers. Checking back in with the teens several years later, they discovered that those who had argued the longest and most convincingly—without yelling or whining—were also 40 percent less likely to have accepted offers of drugs and alcohol than the teens who were required to simply obey their mothers. Study author Joseph P. Allen says constructive debates with parents are “a critical training ground” for independent decision-making.
The Green Lumber Fallacy
/A fellow made in fortune in green lumber without knowing what appears to be essential details about the product he traded—he wasn’t aware that green lumber stood for freshly cut wood, not lumber that was painted green.
Meanwhile, by contrast, the person who related the story went bankrupt while knowing every intimate detail about the green lumber, which includes the physical, economic, and other aspects of the commodity.
The fallacy is that what one may need to know in the real world does not necessarily match what one can perceive through intellect: it doesn’t mean that details are not relevant, only that those we tend to believe are important constitute a distraction away from more central attributes to the price mechanism.
The Deepfake Dangers Ahead
/Because of advances in computing power, smarter machine learning algorithms and larger data sets, we will soon share digital space with a sinister array of AI-generated news articles and podcasts, deepfake images and videos—all produced at a once unthinkable scale and speed. As of 2018, according to one study, fewer than 10,000 deepfakes had been detected online. Today the number of deepfakes online is almost certainly in the millions. Deepfakes pose not only criminal risks but also threats to national security.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal
Courage
/Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway. –John Wayne
Be courteous to all
/Be courteous to all, intimate with few and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. -George Washington (born Feb. 22, 1732)
Emotionally intelligent leaders are willing to step out of their comfort zones
/Growth and development require that we continue to push the boundaries of what we feel comfortable doing. Emotionally strong leaders recognize this and continue to push themselves and encourage those around them to go beyond what they already know and are familiar with.
Emotionally intelligent leaders recognize that change is constant and that their success, the success of their people, and the success of the organization requires constant advancements and adjustments.
Harvey Deutschendorf writing in Fast Company
6 Free Media Webinars this week about journalism, storytelling, mass shootings, humanitarian aid, & travel writing
/Tue, Feb 21 - Democracy under threat: The news industry’s future
What: The current state of the information ecosystem and its impacts on democratic governance.
Who: Former CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter
When: 6:30 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: $5
Sponsor: WBUR, Boston’s NPR affiliate
Tue, Feb 21 - Conveying Impact Through Data-Driven Storytelling
What: This webinar will explore the basics of when and what types of evaluation to use to convey your organization’s story, as well as the links between evaluation and story.
Who: Amy Krigsman, Ark Nonprofit Consulting
When: 11 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Ark Nonprofit Consulting
Thu, Feb 23 - Reporters Roundtable: Covering Mass Shootings in Asian America
What: Reporters share the challenges of covering the horrific shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay -- and how they handled them.
Who: Natasha Chen, CNN national correspondent; Josie Huang LAist Asian American communities reporter; Summer Lin, L.A. Times breaking news reporter; Jeong Park, L.A. Times Asian American communities reporter; Moderator: Cindy Chang, L.A. Times deputy Metro editor
When: 7 pm, Pacific
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Asian American Journalists Assn., LA Chapter
Thu, Feb 23 - How TikTok Is Reshaping Ecommerce: The New Era of the Creator Economy
What: Hear directly from TikTok and CreatorIQ about how brands can tap into creator-led marketing and commerce. You’ll find out: What creator commerce is and what role TikTok plays; Predictions for where creator commerce will head in 2023; Implications for social media managers, affiliate marketers and other influencer marketing stakeholders.
Who: Samantha Kimmel Creator/Creative Partnerships, TikTok; Esteban Ribero Global Research Leader, TikTok; Tim Sovay Chief Business Development Officer CreatorIQ
When: 12 pm, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: CreatorIQ
Thursday, Feb 23 - How news coverage influences humanitarian aid
What: How news coverage influences governments’ humanitarian aid allocations and other findings from interviews with 30 directors and senior policymakers in 16 of the world’s largest donor countries.
Who: Martin Scott is an Associate Professor in Media and International Development at the University of East Anglia; Kate Wright is an Associate Professor in Media and Communication based in the Politics and International Relations Department at the University of Edinburgh.
When: 9 am, Pacific
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: University of Washington Center for Journalism, Media and Democracy
Friday, Feb 24 – Breaking into Travel Writing & Photography
What: Want to travel the world and tell stories? Find out what travel editors look for in pitches and how to get your work published. Meet 4 travel editors
Who: Katherine LaGrave, deputy editor, Afar Media; Silas Valentino, travel editor, SFGate; Amanda Finnegan, editor, By the Way, the Washington Post's travel destination; Nikki Vargas, senior editor, Fodor's Travel
When: Noon, Pacific
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Institute for Education in International Media
Official authority is not the same as leadership
/Confusion between leadership and official authority has a deadly effect on large organizations. -John W. Gardner
If I could go back
/I wish I could go back and tell myself, 'Arianna, your performance will actually improve if you can commit to not only working hard but also unplugging, recharging, and renewing yourself.’ -Arianna Huffington
Hiding Endings from Ourselves
/We avoid endings whenever possible, and we steer clear whenever we can of the neutral-zone emptiness. Endings feel like failure to us, and at a deeper level. So we use the busyness and structure and status of work and family life to hide ending it from view. Believing in doing so that if we just keep adding and adding to what we have, we’ll end up with something new and will avoid the need to make any endings.
But it is not just endings that we fear. The aloneness and emptiness that are often felt in the neutral zone are just about as fearful for many modern people as endings are. Whenever we can’t see that anything is happening—and you usually can’t in the neutral zone—we doubt that anything can “really” be going on.
We fail to see that real new beginnings, the kind that revitalize and inaugurate a new order of things, come out of that chaotic neutral zone.
William Bridges, The Way of Transition
Encourage others and cheer for them
/Having an appreciation for how amazing the people around you are leads to good places – productive, fulfilling, peaceful places. So be happy for those who are making progress. Cheer for their victories. Be thankful for their blessings, openly.
Renee Jones (read more here)
May your walls know joy
/May your walls know joy; May every room hold laughter and every window open to great possibility. -Maryanne Radmacher-Hershey
6 Free Webinars this week about social media, journalism, ethics, editing & more
/Tues, Feb 14 – Social Media 102
What: Learn a few advanced social media tips and tricks, elevate your social media presence through micro strategies and activate your advocates.
Who: Kiersten Hill Director of Nonprofit Solutions for FireSpring
When: 2 pm, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: FireSpring
Wed, Feb 15 – TikTok for Brick and Mortar Stores: Everything You Need to Know About TikTok Advertising
What: Learn how to make the most of advertising on TikTok, see great campaign examples, and get all your TikTok updates in this jam-packed webinar.
Who: Dan Dillon, CMO at Reveal Mobile; Rachel Cartledge, TikTok account manager at Reveal Mobile
When: 1 pm, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Reveal Media
Thu, Feb 16 - Navigating Ethical Pitfalls
What: A discussion of ethical dilemmas that journalists face and on how reporters can use the SPJ Code of Ethics and their own good judgment to uphold high journalistic standards and avoid unnecessary harm. How newsrooms reach a consensus on the most ethical way to report the news. Among the ethics topics: plagiarism, attribution, fabrication, social media use, conflicts of interest, protecting sources, etc.
Who: Fred Brown, who wrote “Media Ethics A Guide For Professional Conduct” and guided the modern SPJ Code of Ethics; Community journalist Denise Civiletti, the editor, publisher and co-founder of RiverheadLOCAL; Press Club of Long Island President Brendan O’Reilly will moderate.
When: 7 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Press Club of Long Island
Thu, Feb 16 - How Culture, Community, and the Digital Revolution is Reshaping Media, Marketing, and Storytelling
What: A talk about how social media has shaped modern narratives about the Black experience and provided new outlets and insights for storytellers in media, journalism, and marketing. All are invited to join the event in Evanston and it will be livestreamed for those joining from afar.
Who: Danielle Cadet, Executive Editor and Vice President of Content at Essence Magazine; Marcus Collins, author of the forthcoming book “For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be”
When: 5:30, Central
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University
Fri, Feb 17 - Can we live together? The crisis of journalism in America
Who: Emma Green is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she covers cultural conflicts in academia. She was previously a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she covered religion and politics.
When: Noon, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine at Duke; The Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative at Duke Divinity School
Fri, Feb 17 - Exploring Craft: A master class in copyediting
What: A rousing behind-the-editor’s desk viewpoint on sharpening your writing and elevating your use of language. Dreyer will share his tips and tools for writing before taking questions during a free webinar.
Who: Benjamin Dreyer, Random House executive managing editor and copy chief and author of the New York Times bestseller Dreyer's English.
When: 11:30 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: The National Press Club Journalism Institute in coordination with the NPC Freelance Team.
Don't Forget about the Blue Goat
/The most popular episode of the 1970s sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show was titled Chuckles Bites the Dust. The main character (Mary Richards, played by Mary Tyler Moore) was a news producer for a TV station where one of the shows featured Chuckles the Clown.
Chuckles served as grand marshal of a city parade when a rogue elephant attacked and killed him. Throughout the episode, Mary’s colleagues made jokes at the poor man’s expense. But she took his death seriously and chastised them for the inappropriate behavior. That is, until Chuckle's funeral. That’s when the roles reversed. Her coworkers became solemn and sober, but Mary couldn’t suppress her urge to giggle during the eulogy at the clown’s comedic demise and references to his silly routine for children.
It was ranked #1 on TV Guide's 1997 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
Ever tried not to laugh at a wedding, church, or another solemn event? The more you fight it, the stronger the urge becomes to burst out howling. Ever had a crazy thought pop into your head about disrupting a meeting? Have you ever wondered what would happen if you stood up in a restaurant and started yelling? Or start a food fight? Have you had a crazy thought pop into your head about what it would be like if you jumped out of a one-story window to the surprise of your coworkers?
Suppress that contrarian thought, and it can become an outright urge. Suddenly, you are wondering if you can prevent yourself from doing something completely outrageous and inappropriate. The more you try to avoid the idea, the stronger the desire becomes to do it. Anyone who’s tried to quit smoking or stop drinking alcohol probably knows the feeling.
A paper in the Journal Science tries to explain the phenomenon. Harvard psychologist Daniel Wegner says if you keep ruminating on the idea of something bad happening, it can make it more likely to occur.
Our brains are busy suppressing impulses all the time. We use a great deal of energy to keep inclinations in check. When we focus intensely on avoiding errors and taboos, the impulse can be strengthened because the brain is locked on the idea.
Just try not to think of a blue goat.
In sports, players may be told not to swing their bat or golf club a certain way. Soon, the athlete can barely avoid doing it and feels obsessed and distracted, especially under pressure.
Are you not thinking of a blue goat?
It’s hard to shake until something new shoves the thought out of the way. There’s the solution: Instead of trying to keep down the stray thought, use your energy to focus on something else that can take its place.
Basketball players are more successful when they visualize the ball going through the hoop and the process of getting it there. Rather than focusing on "not missing," they see success through visualizing accomplishment. Even thoughts of depression can sometimes be squeezed out by changing our focus from our own situation to helping someone else.
Just don’t forget about the blue goat.
Stephen Goforth