Amazon rolls out Alexa-powered voice shopping experience in India — from techcrunch.com by Manish Singh

Excerpt:

Amazon [on 3/12/20] rolled out an Alexa-enabled voice-powered shopping feature in India as the e-commerce giant looks for new ways to engage with customers in one of its key overseas markets.

Customers will be able to use Alexa to search for items on the e-commerce platform, add them to the cart and proceed to checkout — by tapping the in-app mic icon and saying commands such as “Alexa, show me sarees,” “Alexa, add saree to my cart” and “Alexa, go to checkout.”

 

Best Vlogging Camera in 2020 — from adventurerinyou.com

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Making videos for YouTube has become a profession. Video blogging today is not just a hobby. This is a way of earning, which has saved many from having to go to work. The so-called vlogs (short for “video blog“) have become extremely popular. But the most difficult question for beginners: what camera to use to shoot your first video? I have prepared a list of the best cameras for YouTube, given their cost, quality and popularity.

 

The Canon EOS M50 Popular Budget Vlogger Camera

 

Video blogging can be an interesting way to tell stories, gain recognition, or even make a living. If you want to make a video blog of your dreams or just want to shoot funny videos to entertain your friends, you can always find the right camera. And remember, if you find it difficult to make a decision, a rental service can be a good way to decide. Try working with different cameras before you invest in one. So you will be sure that you will get exactly what you need.

 

Six quick— but very important— points about Coronavirus and poverty in the US –– from commondreams.org by Bill Quigley; with thanks to a colleague at WMU-Cooley Law School for her message on this.
The most vulnerable among us simply do not have the same options as the most privileged.

Excerpts:

In the United States, tens of millions of people are at a much greater risk of getting sick from the coronavirus than others.  The most vulnerable among us do not have the option to comply with suggestions to stay home from work or work remotely. Most low wage workers do not have any paid sick days and cannot do their work from home.  The over two million people in jails and prisons each night do not have these options nor do the half a million homeless people.

One.  Thirty-four million workers do not have a single day of paid sick leave. Even though most of the developed world gives its workers paid sick leave there is no federal law requiring it for workers.

Two.  Low wage workers and people without a paid sick day have to continue to work to survive.

Three.  About 30 million people in the US do not have health insurance, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Four.  Staying home is not an option for the homeless.

Five.  Nearly 2.2 million people are in jails and prisons every day, the highest rate in the world.

Six.  Solutions?  [The article lists several.]

 

 
 

 Coronavirus has led to a rush of online teaching. Here’s some advice for newly remote instructors — from edsurge.com by Jeff Young & Bonni Stachowiak

Excerpt:

The simplest way to go online is to shift to a video conference platform
Stachowiak says that just lecturing to a webcam instead of an in-person class isn’t the best way to teach online, but it is the easiest way to switch. Under the circumstances, it is better than nothing. “I’d rather that you do that for your students, for yourself than to cancel all the classes,” she argues.

Think shorter
If it’s hard to hold students’ attention in person, it’s even harder online, says Stachowiak: “You’ll want to think about shortening that experience. The online environment tends to have shorter, more-compact opportunities and then other things to do that are more engaging than just sitting and listening.”

 

US falls out of top 20 in Rule of Law Index, while global declines continue — from abajournal.com by Debra Cassens Weiss

Excerpt:

For the first time, the United States fell out of the top 20 countries for adherence to the rule of law in an index compiled by the World Justice Project.

The United States dropped to No. 21 in the index, while Spain moved in to the top 20, according to press releases here and here and a summary here. The index is based on national surveys of more than 130,000 households and 4,000 legal practitioners and experts around the world.

 

Coronavirus school cancellations lead to education tech surge – from finance.yahoo.com by Reggie Wade

Excerpt:

Online learning tools like Zoom (ZM), Instructure’s (INST) Canvas, Cisco System’s (CSCO) WebEx and a host of other ed tech companies are coming to the aid of schools across the U.S. as they suspend or shift classes online due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Columbia University, Amherst College, the University of Washington, and Harvard University are among the growing list of universities that have announced that they will provide online classes, as campuses temporarily shut down in response to the contagion. More than 500 K-12 schools have also made the shift.

Jamie Candee, CEO of Edmentum, tells Yahoo Finance that since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the U.S. in January, the company has seen a surge in interest in its online educational tools. On March 9, the company had over 140 districts register for its online platform in under an hour.

 

Top Learning Tools when School is Closed — from cyber-kap.blogspot.com
Here is a list of suggested tools that can be used to keep the learning happening when schools are closed…

From DSC:
Some of these tools might also useful for some homeschooling situations I would think.

What Katrina Taught Us About Online Delivery — from insidehighered.com by Ray Schroeder
In 2005, more than 120 U.S. universities came to the aid of some 20 colleges and universities that had been impacted by Hurricane Katrina through shared online classes.

Cisco, Google Hangouts follow Zoom’s lead in offering free video conferencing features amid coronavirus outbreak — from bizjournals.com

Coronavirus causes work-from-home technology use to skyrocket — from foxbusiness.com
Microsoft usage in China increasing because more people are working remotely, company VP says

 

Georgetown Law announces two new degrees, including nation’s first “Master of Law and Technology” Program for non-lawyers — from law.georgetown.edu
Classes will start fall 2020 for new program designed to equip technologists, Hill staff, civil society advocates and other professionals with a foundation in technology law and policy

From DSC:
The legal realm will likely need to get rid of that phrase — “non-lawyers.”

 

10 ways to make your LinkedIn stand out to recruiters — from fortune.com by Sarah Fielding

Excerpt:

According to the 2018 Jobvite Recruiter Nation Study, 77 percent of recruiters regularly use LinkedIn to find candidates, making it the most popular social media used for this purpose. So, if that job description is out of date or your photo is the one you took way back in your college dorms, you should definitely be serious about updating your profile. To ensure it stands out to recruiters, we spoke to career experts about the changes you can make…

From DSC:
I’m posting this especially for students…though it would likely be good for all of us to consider these tips. 

 

Johns Hopkins dashboard maps global coronavirus cases — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

Excerpt:

The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University has developed an interactive, web-based dashboard that tracks the status of COVID-19 around the world. The resource provides a visualization of the “location and number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, deaths and recoveries for all affected countries,” according to a university blog post.

 

CDC issues COVID-19 guidance to higher ed — from campustechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser

Excerpt:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued interim guidance for higher education administrators on how to respond to coronavirus (COVID-19). It’s intended to prevent “community spread” of the virus in two ways: by telling colleges and universities how to keep students, staff and faculty safe and by providing information to academic experts who may be called upon by local health departments for help. The guidance is also intended to assist administrators in planning “for the continuity of teaching, learning and research” if COVID-19 shows up locally and to reduce the stigma attached to the illness for those who have been affected.

 

COVID-19 resources as listed out on Educause

Excerpt:

COVID-19, or Coronavirus 19, is a respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus. This virus has been detected in the United States (CDC, COVID19 Summary). For further information concerning the source and spread of the disease, please see the WHO and CDC sites listed below.

 

From DSC:
For those of you who teach and/or give presentations, you might be interested in a new video that I put together regarding cognitive load. It addresses at least two main questions:

  1. What is cognitive load?
    and
  2. Why should I care about it?

 

What is cognitive load? And why should I care about it?

What is cognitive load? And why should I care about it?

Transcript here.

 

How do I put it into practice?

  • Simplify the explanations of what you’re presenting as much as possible and break down complex tasks into smaller parts
  • Don’t place a large amount of text on a slide and then talk about it at the same time — doing so requires much more processing than most people can deal with.
  • Consider creating two versions of your PowerPoint files:
    • A text-light version that can be used for presenting that content to students
    • A text-heavy version — which can be posted to your LMS for the learners to go through at their own pace — and without trying to process so much information (voice and text, for example) at one time.
  • Design-wise:
    • Don’t use decorative graphics — everything on a slide should be there for a reason
    • Don’t use too many fonts or colors — this can be distracting
    • Don’t use background music when you are trying to explain something
 

AI laws are coming — from forbes.com by Kathleen Walch

Excerpt:

The pace of adoption for AI and cognitive technologies continues unabated with widespread, worldwide, rapid adoption. Adoption of AI by enterprises and organizations continues to grow, as evidenced by a recent survey showing growth across each of the seven patterns of AI. However, with this growth of adoption comes strain as existing regulation and laws struggle to deal with emerging challenges. As a result, governments around the world are moving quickly to ensure that existing laws, regulations, and legal constructs remain relevant in the face of technology change and can deal with new, emerging challenges posed by AI.

Research firm Cognilytica recently published a report on Worldwide AI Laws and Regulations that explores the latest legal and regulatory actions taken by countries around the world across nine different AI-relevant areas.

 

 

How AI can bridge the gap between business and IT — from technative.io

Excerpts:

Artificial intelligence and intelligent automation are changing how businesses function. How they collect data, capture information, present it, and leverage it to gain more customers, convert more visitors, and expand their operations.

According to Gartner, the global business value derived from AI will reach $3.9 trillion by 2022, through improved customer experience, reduced operating costs, and new revenue generation. Gartner also predicts that automating decision-making by harnessing unstructured data will be a key driving force of this trend- growing AI-derived value from just 2 percent in 2018 to 16 percent in 2022.

Also see:

Cybercrime, meet AI — from technative.io

Excerpt:

The value of AI in this model is that it lets companies take large volumes of information and find clusters of similarity. This is always the focus of cybersecurity to a degree, but organisations are often unequipped to do so in sufficient depth because of time and resourcing constraints. By contrast, AI can whittle down vast quantities of seemingly unrelated data into a few actionable incidents or outputs at speed, giving companies the ability to quickly pick out potential threats in a huge haystack.

The ability to quickly turn large amounts of data into actionable insights is something that cybersecurity teams are going to need in the coming years, because AI could become a formidable enemy. Unlike malware, which is purely automated, AI is beginning to mimic humans to a worryingly accurate degree. It can draw pictures, age photographs of people, write well enough to persuade people of truths – or lies.

 

Why law librarians are so important in a data-driven world — from Oxford University Press (blog.oup.com) by Femi Cadmus

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Looking ahead, the integration of technology in the work of law librarians will only increase. Over 90% of government law library employees say that artificial intelligence or machine learning has already affected their workflow by automating routine tasks. Over a quarter of law firms or corporations now have at least one active artificial intelligence initiative. Of those, more than half involve the library. It is therefore not surprising that the skills law library employees plan to develop in the next two years include artificial intelligence or machine learning, data analytics, and blockchain (in that order).

 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian