10 Webinars This Week: Journalism, AI, Fake News, & More

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Mon, July 8- Media Literacy Practices with Resilience

What: How various visual expression techniques can be used in media literacy education.

Who: Maria Leonida, film director and media tutor. She is also Co-founder and Director of Karpos, an NGO focusing on media literacy and running European projects.

When: 12 noon, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Media Education Lab

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Tue, July 9 - Journalist safety covering the election: protests, policing and crowds

What: This training equips journalists with knowledge to safely cover election-related protests, civil unrest, and crowded events. The training will focus on physical safety and include information on situational awareness, assessing risk, dealing with aggression, police tactics, personal protective equipment, and protest management weaponry.

Who: Lucy Westcott, director of CPJ’s Emergencies Department; Colin Pereira, CPJ’s journalist safety specialist.

When: 12 noon, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The Committee to Protect Journalists, Pen America, International Women's Media Foundation

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Tue, July 9 - AI and Verification, Fact-checking, Copyright and Media Law

What: In this webinar, we will look at the types of content you need to be on the lookout for in your newsroom, including deepfake and AI-manipulated images, audio and video and methods and tools you can use to verify and fact-check multimedia. The session will also explore copyright and media law implications of using AI content.

Who: Sam Gregory is the Executive Director of WITNESS, a global organisation that helps people to use video and technology to defend and protect human rights; Grant McAvaney is the Head of Litigation at News Corp Australia; Antonia Rosen is currently legal counsel at News Corp Australia (NCA), one of Australia’s largest media organisations.

When: 8 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Walkley Foundation

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Tue, July 9 - Video Production on a Shoestring Budget

What: Learn how to improve your audio and video quality by optimizing your recording workflow and making smart equipment purchases that won’t break your budget, whatever it may be. See exactly which pieces of equipment are critical for professional quality results and what settings you should focus on to get the most out of your equipment.

Who: William Everhart, Lead Developer, Artisan Learning

When: 12 noon, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Training Magazine Network

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Tue, July 9 - How Latin America Connects to Your Story: Investigating the Region’s Global Reach of Illicit Money, Illegal Mining, Drug Trafficking, and Environmental Destruction

What: This session will delve into stories about deforestation, drugs, and mining, providing tips and tools to pursue groundbreaking investigations. From transnational criminal networks to financial maneuvers used to conceal illicit gains, the webinar will highlight recent investigations that have tracked illegally mined gold from the Amazon to India, cocaine from Colombia to European ports, and unmasked the hidden owners of offshore companies based in Panama and other Latin American countries.

Who: Bianca Padró Ocasio, an independent journalist working in both the US and Peru; Joseph Poliszuk, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Armando.info, a trailblazing news website dedicated to investigative journalism; Lilia Saúl is an investigative reporter with OCCRP, based in Mexico; Luiz Fernando Toledo is a Brazilian investigative and data journalist.

When: 11 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Global Investigative Journalism Network

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Wed, July 10 - How GenAI Can Help News Media Companies Go Farther and Faster

What: How generative AI can help newsrooms deliver important, impactful work. Use cases will cover automated hyper-local, personalised newsletters, newsroom assistants, and chatbots.

Who: Nadia Kohler, Head of the AI Lab at Tamedia, Angélica (Momi) Peralta Ramos, Data Team Leader at La Nación,Sonali Verma, INMA's Generative AI Initiative lead.

When: 10 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: International News Media Association

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Wed, July 10 - Why do we fall for misinformation?

What: Learn about several research-based strategies that can supplement and expand on your existing information literacy approaches with patrons. Researchers from the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public (CIP) will unpack how online information environments influence what we see and believe online. Come explore opportunities to increase capacity for public library staff and community members to address and navigate problematic information.

Who: Jevin West, Co-Founder, Center for an Informed Public and Associate Professor, University of Washington Information School; Chris Coward, Co-Founder, Center for an Informed Public and Senior Principal Research Scientist, University of Washington Information School; Kate Lapinski, Director of Adult Services, Chicago Public Library.

When: 3 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsors: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Center for an Informed Public

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Thu, July 11 - Digital Trends for Newsrooms in 2024

What: 2024 is almost halfway over—do you feel like you're still getting caught up on what's new and changing in digital news? In this session, we'll cover a variety of topics—from AI and ChatGPT to Twitter/X and SEO—to help you get up to speed on the latest trends in digital journalism.

Who: Tyson Bird is the Digital Product Manager for Texas Highways magazine.  

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: $35

Sponsor: Online Media Campus

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Thu, July 11 - Artificial Intelligence for Journalists with AI expert and digital guru Sree Sreenivasan

Who: Sree Sreenivasan has been teaching generative AI workshops worldwide for the past year. He was a full-time journalism professor at Columbia University for 20+ years and served as the chief digital officer at Columbia. He is the 2024 president of the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA), which he co-founded in 1994.

When: 7 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Society of Professional Journalists

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Thu, July 11 - FUNdamentals of Ethical Marketing: Strategies for Reaching Older Adults

What: Senior staff from the ANA Center for Ethical Marketing will highlight relevant guidelines from the soon to be released ANA Ethical Code of Best Practices. They will also share insights on prevalent frauds targeting older adults and provide tips to identify, prevent, and report scams.   

Who: Senny Boone SVP, ANA Center for Ethical Marketing; Lisa Brown Shosteck Consulting Director, ANA Center for Ethical Marketing ANA; Jessica Prell, AARP Fraud Watch Network

When: 3 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The Association of National Advertisers

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The experiment that got out of control

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Philip Zimbardo is one of the most controversial figures in psychology, said Katie Kilkenny in Pacific Standard. In 1971, the Stanford professor conducted a now notorious psychological experiment that placed 24 student volunteers as prisoners and guards in a simulated prison. The experiment quickly spun out of control, as the student guards became increasingly sadistic toward their prisoners and Zimbardo—who acted as prison superintendent—was accused of subjecting his volunteers to psychological torture. Four decades on, Zimbardo stands by his study—if only because it taught the world that anyone can be seduced by evil under the right circumstances. “[We like to think] our personality is relatively fixed, we are who we are, that we are not influenced by things around us,” says Zimbardo, 82. “This study says no, that might be true sometimes, but other times when you’re put in an unfamiliar situation where you don’t have any guidelines or rules that contain who you are, you could be anything.” He insists we’ve all witnessed this phenomenon: “Somebody you know suddenly begins to change because they’ve been given a certain role or authority.” Zimbardo admits that he, too, was corrupted by his prison role. “I lost my sense of compassion,” he says. “I totally lost that.”

The Week Magazine, August 7, 2015

AI definitions: Jasper AI

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*Jasper AI – This AI story writing tool is both for fiction and nonfiction. Pick a tone of voice for style. Pre-built templates available. A more business-focused AI that is particularly helpful for advertising and marketing with copywriting and SEO help. It remembers past queries, However, no sources are provided and limited to pre-2022 information. Short free trial. $39 month. 

More AI definitions here.

14 Recent Articles about AI Deepfakes

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17 Articles about Running an AI Company

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The Residue of the Relationship

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When individual members leave a family, whether through death, marriage, relocation, or a cutoff, the system will generally be quick to replace the person who is lost. Whoever the replacement is, new child or new spouse, new in-law or new boarder, clergyman or clergy woman, in the same generation or the next, he or she will replace in all the family triangles the person who has left. They will have grafted onto them all the expectations associated with the predecessor, and the un-worked-out problems that may have contributed to the predecessor’s leaving (or becoming symptomatic) are likely to resurface in the new relationships. Replacement is a function of grief, and grief is always proportional to the un-worked-out residue of the relationship that was lost.

Edwin Friedman, Generation to Generation

What to let go of

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What it is time to let go of is not so much the relationship or the job itself, but rather the hopes, fears, dreams, and beliefs that we have attached to them. If you let go only of the job or the relationship, you’ll just find another one and attach the same hopes, fears, dreams and beliefs to it. A loss is best seen as the cue that it is time to let go of the inner thing.

William Bridges, The Way of Transition

Where AI Might Take Journalism

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Imagine having a written news story converted into a video by AI. The AI would not be taking away from the journalism but providing more options to access the information. Perhaps the story can be adjusted based on preferences. For instance, perhaps the reader doesn’t know much about economics and wants the material delivered in simple economic terms. Or the reader might want more detail in a story related to their field. AI would be used to adjust the complexity of the delivery. This may be the kind of journalism we are headed toward.

27 Articles about AI & Data Science from June 2024

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The best Large Language Models (LLMs) for coding in 2024

Air Force leaders appear to be having second thoughts on the “Next-Generation Air Dominance

Has the era of Graph Foundation Models already begun?

Neural Algorithmic Reasoning for Transformers: The TransNAR Framework

The US Army is launching a pilot project that will allow its acquisition and contracting staff to use generative AI to streamline tasks like contract writing and data analysis

Researchers say they have developed a new machine learning model that allows individual artificial neurons to receive feedback and adjust in real-time, making AI models more efficient and energy-saving when processing data

A EU tech company says it has successfully implemented its first quantum communication network in existing fiber optic infrastructure

Data centers around the world could consume more than 800 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2026, roughly twice the amount consumed in 2022

A short and simple definition of “big data”

NGA launches new training to help personnel adopt AI responsibly

“Generative AI is very good at replicating parts of software programs but what if you want to create something new smart human coders will still be needed.”

China’s Geespace deploys a satellite constellation in the Middle East

Recurrent quantum embedding neural network and its application in vulnerability detection

Could data science soon face a reproducibility crisis?

Meta on training its large language models at scale

AI Definitions: Synthetic Data

5 Free University Courses to Learn Coding for Data Science

Machine learning solutions can miss the mark when data scientists don’t check their assumptions. Adopting a beginner’s mindset in any domain can help.

New technique can automate data curation for self-supervised pre-training of AI datasets

“The space architecture adopted by the Space Development Agency — small satellites in a proliferated constellation — is being emulated across the Space Force.”

Selection bias leads to confusion about the relative stability of deterministic & stochastic algorithms

“The US is warning allies that China has stepped up its support for Russia, including by providing geospatial intelligence”

AI company launches coding assistant trained on over 80 programming languages

How data scientists can leverage ChatGPT

8 new data science roles created by AI

A Dozen Recent Articles about AI & Coding

How I Use ChatGPT as A Data Scientist (paywall)

13 articles about AI Fakes

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21 Freelancing Articles & 30 Freelancing Sites

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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

More Job Tips

4 Steps for Dealing with Inappropriate Behavior

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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:

  1. Describe the other person's behavior objectively

  2. Use concrete terms

  3. Describe a specific time, place, action

  4. Describe the behavior not the “motive”

          Don't

  1. Let your emotional reaction drive the conversation

  2. Use abstract, vague terms

  3. Generalize for all time

  4. Guess motives or goals

Express

          Do:

  1. Express your feelings

  2. Expressed them calmly

  3. State feelings in a positive manner as relating to a goal to be achieved

  4. Direct yourself to the specific offending behavior, not to the whole person

          Don’t:

  1. Deny your feelings

  2. Unleash emotional outbursts

  3. State feelings negatively, making them put-down our attack

  4. Attack the entire character the person

Specify

          Do:

  1. Ask explicitly for change in your downer’s behavior

  2. Request a small change

  3. Request only one or two changes at one time

  4. Specify the concrete actions you want to see stopped, and those you want to see performed

  5. 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:

  1. Merely imply that you’d like a change

  2. Ask for two large a change

  3. Ask for too many changes

  4. Ask for changes in nebulous traits or qualities

  5. Ignore your downers needs or ask only for your satisfaction

  6. Consider that only your downer has to change

Consequences

          Do:

  1. Make the consequences explicit

  2. Give a positive reward for change in the desired direction

  3. Select something that is desirable and reinforcing to your downer

  4. Select a reward that is big enough to maintain the behavior change

  5. Select a punishment of a magnitude that “fits the crime” of refusing to change behavior

  6. Select punishment that you are actually willing to carry out

          Don’t:

  1. Be ashamed to talk about rewards and penalties

  2. Give only punishments for lack of change

  3. Select something that only you might find rewarding

  4. Offer a reward you can't or won't deliver

  5. Make exaggerated threats

  6. Use unrealistic threats or self-defeating punishment

19 Articles about AI & Data Privacy

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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

Resisting change

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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

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