Flat Earth
categories: information technology, media literacy
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more on conspiracy theories in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=conspiracy
Archive of ‘Library and information science’ category
why turn off webcams
Why Smart Bosses Let Employees Turn Off Their Cameras During Zoom and MS Teams Meetings
The pressure to perform for the camera is draining–and distracts from pursuing meaningful outcomes.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/onlinelearningcollective/permalink/738496626781038/
Almost never did everyone feel that everyone else in the meeting was looking at them — or at the very least could be looking at them — at all times.
And then there’s the pressure to respond quickly: A 2014 study showed that delays in replying to a question or prompt as short as 1.2 seconds made other people in a teleconference perceive the responder as less focused.
Great bosses lead and manage by meaningful expectations and meaningful deliverables.
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more on webcam policies in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=webcam+policy
Herd Immunity to Internet Propaganda
Internet propaganda is becoming an industrialized commodity, warns Phil Howard, the director of the Oxford Internet…
Posted by SPIEGEL International on Friday, January 15, 2021
Posted by SPIEGEL International on Friday, January 15, 2021
Can We Develop Herd Immunity to Internet Propaganda?
Internet propaganda is becoming an industrialized commodity, warns Phil Howard, the director of the Oxford Internet Institute and author of many books on disinformation. In an interview, he calls for greater transparency and regulation of the industry.
Platforms like Parler, TheDonald, Breitbart and Anon are like petri dishes for testing out ideas, to see what sticks. If extremist influencers see that something gets traction, they ramp it up. In the language of disease, you would say these platforms act as a vector, like a germ that carries a disease into other, more public forums.
at some point a major influencer takes a new meme from one of these extremist forums and puts it out before a wider audience. It works like a vector-borne disease like malaria, where the mosquitoes do the transmission. So, maybe a Hollywood actor or an influencer who knows nothing about politics will take this idea and post it on the bigger, better known platform. From there, these memes escalate as they move from Parler to maybe Reddit and from there to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. We call this “cascades of misinformation.“
Sometimes the cascades of misinformation bounce from country to country between the U.S., Canada and the UK for example. So, it echoes back and forth.
Within Europe, two reservoirs for disinformation stick out: Poland and Hungary.
Our 2020 report shows that cyber troop activity continues to increase around the world. This year, we found evidence of 81 countries using social media to spread computational propaganda and disinformation about politics. This has increased from last years’ report, where we identified 70 countries with cyber troop activity.
identified 63 new instances of private firms working with governments or political parties to spread disinformation about elections or other important political issues. We identified 21 such cases in 2017-2018, yet only 15 in the period between 2009 and 2016.
Why would well-funded Russian agencies buy disinformation services from a newcomer like Nigeria?
(1) Russian actors have found a lab in Nigeria that can provide services at competitive prices. (2) But countries like China and Russia seem to be developing an interest in political influence in many African countries, so it is possible that there is a service industry for disinformation in Nigeria for that part of the world.
(1) Russian actors have found a lab in Nigeria that can provide services at competitive prices. (2) But countries like China and Russia seem to be developing an interest in political influence in many African countries, so it is possible that there is a service industry for disinformation in Nigeria for that part of the world.
Each social media company should provide some kind of accounting statement about how it deals with misuse, with reporting hate speech, with fact checking and jury systems and so on. This system of transparency and accountability works for the stock markets, why shouldn’t it work in the social media realm?
We clearly need a digital civics curriculum. The 12 to 16 year olds are developing their media attitudes now, they will be voting soon. There is very good media education in Canada or the Netherlands for example, and that is an excellent long-term strategy.
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more on fake news in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=fake+news
An XR aficionado on OER
categories: OER
http://blog.stcloudstate.edu/oer/2021/01/14/rob-theriault-xr-presentation-on-oer/
“The alternatives don’t have to be free, but they should be relevant, specific and if they’re cheap or free, great!
FER or free education resources is not “a thing”, at least not in any official way. But tongue-in-cheek aside, there is great value in sharing teacher notes and curating links to articles and other resources for students – either as required or supplemental reading.”
Rob Theriault
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more on Rob Theriault and XR in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=Rob+Theriault
Mind concept maps
https://www.facebook.com/groups/onlinelearningcollective/permalink/738016123495755/
I’m planning on having students build a concept map throughout the semester. This is my first time doing this without them being able to just do it on paper and hand in random pieces of paper taped together to make it able to grow as much as they need throughout the semester in any direction. A google search for “free concept map generator” reveals that there seem to be about a gazillion options out there. Does anyone have any experience with any that they would recommend using or not? (Trying to avoid the time sink of sifting through the options and/or unnecessarily burdening my students with this decision.) Thanks in advance!
responses/suggestions:
Creately Concept Map Maker: https://creately.com/lp/concept-map-maker/
Padlet: https://padlet.com/
Cmaps: https://cmap.ihmc.us/
Lucid chart: https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/
google draw , Google Jamboard
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more on mind maps in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=mind+map
SenseGlove
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more on haptic in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=haptic
QAnon believer
He’s a former QAnon believer. He doesn’t want to tell his story, but thinks it might help.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/10/24/qanon-believer-conspiracy-theory/
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more on QAnon in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=qanon
Quantum computer makers
categories: information technology, technology literacy
Quantum computer makers like their odds for big progress
Error correction could make these revolutionary machines more practical sooner than expected.
https://apple.news/AVdsyLybaRMOjkkvtzWn_jw
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more on quantum computer in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=quantum
Oculus Quest and Education
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/oculus-quest-education-dave-dolan/
The Go had to be paired with a phone to enable it to work. How can that possibly be an option in a school with many dozens of headsets? Content had to either go through the Oculus Go Store, which is being shut down at this very moment, or side-loaded through an odd “Developer Mode” access, which is extremely difficult when dealing with large numbers of headsets. Even something as mundane as printing the serial number of that VR device on the headstrap, which can easily be mixed up with other headsets, is a troubling and odd choice to make. Those serial numbers are very important when bulk loading content onto a number of devices at a time, which is the only way they can be managed by school IT departments, and once again shows a lack of understanding of the needs from within schools.
Of course, there is also the elephant in the room… Facebook.
This mandatory attachment to a for-profit, social media behemoth, currently facing antitrust litigation [ Facebook Halts Sale of Rift & Quest in Germany Amid Regulatory Concerns ] should be reason enough to seriously question its inclusion into an academic institution.
Personal identifiability of user tracking data during observation of 360-degree VR video ]
Facebook is not content to use the contact information you willingly put into your Facebook profile for advertising. It is also using contact information you handed over for security purposes and contact information you didn’t hand over at all, but that was collected from other people’s contact books, a hidden layer of details Facebook has about you that some have come to call “shadow contact information.”
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more on quest in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=oculus+quest
China Trolls
Leaked Documents Show How China’s Army of Paid Internet Trolls Helped Censor the Coronavirus from r/worldnews
At a time when digital media is deepening social divides in Western democracies, China is manipulating online discourse to enforce the Communist Party’s consensus. To stage-manage what appeared on the Chinese internet early this year, the authorities issued strict commands on the content and tone of news coverage, directed paid trolls to inundate social media with party-line blather and deployed security forces to muzzle unsanctioned voices.
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more on trolls in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=trolls