2022 archive

Big Tech and Their Metaverse

Big Tech Needs to Stop Trying to Make Their Metaverse Happen

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/metaverse-big-tech-land-grab-hype

The Metaverse is a fuzzy concept: It entered dictionaries via Neal Stephenson’s 1992 dystopian sci-fi novel Snow Crash, where the Metaverse is the virtual refuge from an anarchy-laden world controlled by the Mafia, and was brought back by a series of blogposts by VC Matthew Ball.

The morality of the Metaverse project is the least of its problems. Unlike Google Glass, the gold standard of tech blunders, it is not an overhyped (and ill-conceived) product: It is pure hype, without a product—except for some hypothetical “building blocks.”

A letter by the CEO of Japanese game developer Square Enix, in which the executive expounded on his interest in NFTs and drew an odd distinction between people who “play for fun” and those who “play to contribute” was also badly received.

QAnon use of least diverse sources

QAnon shifts into the mainstream, remains a far-right ally

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022000524

compared to other fringe groups QAnon members consumed the least diverse variety of information sources, relying disproportionately on mainstream conservative sources.

insights into how this new political movement is dissimilar to the far-right or the far-left but shares offline interests with the far-right.

Unlike the far-right and the far-left that both share and consume less mainstream news, QAnon’s increasing reference to mainstream conservative content should be of concern. Mainstream right-wing communities and individuals must reconcile with the role they have played and will continue to play in shaping the QAnon movement. QAnon poses a significant threat to social and political institutions, and its growth into mainstream politics and news media suggests that it may be here to stay.

Sex differences in adolescents’ occupational aspirations

In each country and region, more boys than girls aspired to a things-oriented or STEM occupation and more girls than boys to a people-oriented occupation. These sex differences were larger in countries with a higher level of women’s empowerment.

Sex differences in adolescents’ occupational aspirations: Variations across time and place

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0261438

ecomedia literacy

What does ecomedia literacy mean for higher education?

A conversation with its creator

February 3, 10:00 – 11:00 AM (CST)

What is ecomedia literacy, and what does it mean for higher education?

This Thursday the Future Trends Forum hosts John Cabot University professor and author Antonio López, who will help us explore the concept.

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The Future Trends Forum is a weekly discussion event created and hosted by Bryan Alexander.  Since 2016 we have addressed the most powerful forces of change in academia. Each week, this video chat brings together practitioners in the field to share their most recent work and experience in education and technology. The intent of the Forum: to advance the discussion around the pressing issues at the crossroads of education and technology.

dodgy academic research

Death threats, ghost researchers and sock puppets: Inside the weird, wild world of dodgy academic research

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-31/on-the-trail-of-dodgy-academic-research/100788052

More than 46 of Shadi Riahi’s publications with Dr Nazari have now been retracted for plagiarism, duplication of data and forged authorship.

“People try and fake everything,” said Ivan Oransky, who has spent years researching scientific misconduct on his blog Retraction Watch.

 investigative journalist Brian Deer, who discovered Dr Wakefield had multiple undisclosed conflicts of interest and that the study of just 12 children had been rigged.

But the damage had already been done.

Vaccination rates in the United Kingdom hit a low of 80 per cent in the early 2000s, leaving children unprotected from serious diseases. The repercussions are still being felt today, with Dr Wakefield being hailed as a hero by vaccine sceptics.

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more on peer reviewed fake papers in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=china+peer+review

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