Inclusive Hiring in Tech: How to Write More Inclusive Job Descriptions — from one of our nieces, Ms. Jill Bender
Addendum on 3/8/22:
- How sponsorship can help women in tech advance — from mckinsey.com
On 03/07/2022,
in Amazon, Apple, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), career development, computer science, corporate / business world, culture, innovation, participation, programming, technology (general), United States, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
On 02/27/2022,
in Apple, Facebook / Meta Platforms, Google, law schools, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, privacy, society, the downsides of how people use tech, United States, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
Meet The Secretive Surveillance Wizards Helping The FBI And ICE Wiretap Facebook And Google Users — from forbes.com by Thomas Brewster
A small Nebraska company is helping law enforcement around the world spy on users of Google, Facebook and other tech giants. A secretly recorded presentation to police reveals how deeply embedded in the U.S. surveillance machine PenLink has become.
Excerpts:
PenLink might be the most pervasive wiretapper you’ve never heard of.
…
With $20 million revenue every year from U.S. government customers such as the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and almost every other law enforcement agency in the federal directory, PenLink enjoys a steady stream of income. That doesn’t include its sales to local and state police, where it also does significant business but for which there are no available revenue figures. Forbes viewed contracts across the U.S., including towns and cities in California, Florida, Illinois, Hawaii, North Carolina and Nevada.
On 02/09/2022,
in Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, design, Google, productivity / tips and tricks,
by Daniel Christian
Tip of the week: Text extraction tools — from advisorator.com by Jared Newman
Excerpt:
With the launch of MacOS Monterey last fall, Apple introduced a neat feature called Live Text, which lets you highlight and copy text directly from images, both in Safari and in system apps such as Photos and Quick Look. (It also works on iOS.)
But what if you want to grab text from images in other apps or web browsers? And what if you don’t use MacOS at all? Luckily there are several other text extraction tools that can help.
On 01/24/2022,
in adjunct faculty, Apple, corporate universities / corporate training, education technology, faculty/staff, internet, IT in HE, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, training / L&D,
by Daniel Christian
Tip of the week: Make websites more readable — from fastcompany.com by Jared Newman
How to easily hide ads, auto-play videos, and other clutter in every major browser.
Excerpt:
Ever get annoyed by the intolerable reading experience on certain websites? By activating your browser’s reader mode, you can make web pages more reader-friendly by hiding ads, menus, pop-ups, and other distractions. Some web browsers even let you switch to reader mode automatically on specific websites. Here’s how:
On 01/14/2022,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Apple, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, emerging technologies, ideas, internet, Microsoft, multimedia, new business models, NVIDIA, play,
by Daniel Christian
DC: I need to understand this better. Are we saying NVIDIA servers — and the like — can/will replace the App Stores out there for gaming-related apps?
https://t.co/8mKvtENIoN— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) January 13, 2022
Addendum on 1/17/22:
- Fortnite Is Back On Apple iOS, for Some Users — from threstreet.com by Tony Owusu
Beta testers for Fortnite on streaming cloud gaming service GeForce Now will have access to the third-person shooter through Apple’s Safari web browser.
On 01/03/2022,
in Apple, Augmented Reality (AR), cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, digital storytelling, education technology, immersion, innovation, K-12 related, XR - extended reality,
by Daniel Christian
WWF Free Rivers puts an entire landscape in your hands. Through this immersive, augmented reality experience, you’ll discover a river that flows through the lives of people and wildlife, and how their homes depend on those flows. Dam the river to see what happens, and then try different options for sustainable development that keeps the river healthy and flowing. Collect stories of people and animals along the way!
Features
- In-depth, educational storytelling experience for environmental science
- Stunning, animated, augmented reality model users can interact with and learn from
- Five distinct habitats based on real places: the Himalayan mountains, tropical jungles, African savannah, South American grasslands, and Southeast Asian deltas.
- Opportunity to get involved and help protect rivers, and the people and wildlife that depend on them
- An augmented reality map of the world’s rivers—and some of the biggest threats and opportunities they face.
On 12/22/2021,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, Apple, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communities of practice, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education, education technology, engagement / engaging students, Google, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, innovation, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, library / librarians, media/film, mobile learning, multimedia, music, online media, passions, play, reading, story, storytelling, student-related, television, tools, United States, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
hoopla digital is a digital streaming service for library users to access eBooks, eAudiobooks, music, movies, and TV shows using portable devices like smartphones and tablets.
From DSC:
I downloaded this app yesterday and borrowed a classical Christmas album on the spot. Our local library gives us 10 items per month:
- Books are available for 21 days
- Videos are available for 72 hours
- Music titles are available for 7 days
NOTE: hoopla is available on desktops, phones, tablets, Alexa devices, Rokus, Apple TVs, Fire TVs, and Android TVs.
On 12/15/2021,
in Apple, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, Google, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, programming, tools,
by Daniel Christian
The 35 Best Apple and Google Apps of 2021 — from wonderoftech.com by Carolyn Nicander Mohr
Excerpt:
As 2021 draws to a close, Apple and Google have been busy creating their lists of the best apps of the year. These lists may include apps you already have or are familiar with. You may also discover your new favorite must-have app you’ll be eager to share with your friends.
On 11/15/2021,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Amazon, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), change, colleges, computer science, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, emerging technologies, ethics, Facebook / Meta Platforms, future, game-changing environment, Google, hearts -- matters of the heart, higher education, liberal arts, Microsoft, pace of change, platforms, programming, society, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
From my perspective, both of the items below are highly-related to each other:
Let’s Teach Computer Science Majors to Be Good Citizens. The Whole World Depends on It. — from edsurge.com by Anne-Marie Núñez, Matthew J. Mayhew, Musbah Shaheen and Laura S. Dahl
Excerpt:
Change may need to start earlier in the workforce development pipeline. Undergraduate education offers a key opportunity for recruiting students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic, gender, and disability groups into computing. Yet even broadened participation in college computer science courses may not shift the tech workforce and block bias from seeping into tech tools if students aren’t taught that diversity and ethics are essential to their field of study and future careers.
Computer Science Majors Lack Citizenship Preparation
Unfortunately, those lessons seem to be missing from many computer science programs.
…and an excerpt from Why AI can’t really filter out “hate news” — with thanks to Sam DeBrule for this resource (emphasis DSC):
The incomprehensibility and unexplainability of huge algorithms
Michael Egnor: What terrifies me about artificial intelligence — and I don’t think one can overstate this danger — is that artificial intelligence has two properties that make it particularly deadly in human civilization. One is concealment. Even though every single purpose in artificial intelligence is human, it’s concealed. We don’t really understand it. We don’t understand Google’s algorithms.
There may even be a situation where Google doesn’t understand Google’s algorithms. But all of it comes from the people who run Google. So the concealment is very dangerous. We don’t know what these programs are doing to our culture. And it may be that no one knows, but they are doing things.
Note:Roman Yampolskiy has written about the incomprehensibility and unexplainability of AI: “Human beings are finite in our abilities. For example, our short term memory is about 7 units on average. In contrast, an AI can remember billions of items and AI capacity to do so is growing exponentially. While never infinite in a true mathematical sense, machine capabilities can be considered such in comparison with ours. This is true for memory, compute speed, and communication abilities.” So we have built-in bias and incomprehensibility at the same time.
From DSC:
That part about concealment reminds me that our society depends upon the state of the hearts of the tech leaders. We don’t like to admit that, but it’s true. The legal realm is too far behind to stop the Wild West of technological change. The legal realm is trying to catch up, but they’re coming onto the race track with no cars…just as pedestrians walking or running as fast as they can….all the while, the technological cars are whizzing by.
The net effect of all of this is that we are more dependent upon the ethics, morals, and care for their fellow humankind (or not) of the C-Suites out there (especially Facebook/Meta Platforms, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Apple) than we care to admit. Are they producing products and services that aim to help our societies move forward, or are they just trying to make some more bucks? Who — or what — is being served?
The software engineers and software architects are involved here big time as well. “Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.” But that perspective is sometimes in short supply.
On 11/11/2021,
in Apple, collaboration, content development, aggregation, repositories, curriculum, education, education technology, experimentation, Hyflex learning, ideas, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, platforms, remote teaching and learning, society, strategy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, vendors, videoconferencing,
by Daniel Christian
How to Support Students and Families through Technology and Innovation — from thejournal.com by Jeremy Davis
Excerpt:
Here are just a few district-wide innovations that resulted from the pandemic:
- Worked with our local public access television station to broadcast district updates and educational resources. We contracted with Discovery Education to post some of their content to local channel 3 for students without home Internet access, and we built a television studio where our Innovation team worked with district teachers to produce content for local cable from 8–3 every week day.
DC: Which reminds me of this idea/graphic:
- Students were provided with Internet hotspots to ensure every student in the district could access the content and the video conferencing lessons with their teachers.
- The Educational Services department created an amazing curriculum and summer school program where students could log in and complete curricular activities as enhancements to the curriculum and throughout the summer.
- Created videos of “how” we could do both live and online teaching at the same time to help teachers feel more comfortable with the new way of teaching.