Fulcra

→ Population health policies stand a much better chance of succeeding if they’re informed by research evidence Nov 12, 2018 highlights Population health policies stand a much better chance of succeeding if they’re informed by research evidence. But what are the best ways of making sure this happens? Danielle Campbell and Gabriel Moore conducted a rapid review of the literature on the subject and found that very few studies actually concerned testing interventions to see whether they worked. — http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2018/11/12/less-than-5-of-papers-on-the-use-of-research-in-health-policymaking-tested-interventions-to-see-what-worked-but-those-studies-reveal-a-number-of-strategies-for-improvement/

→ BSR and the UN agree on one thing, and it’s an easy one: Facebook ought to provide country-specific data on hate speech and other violations of the company’s community standards in Myanmar Nov 11, 2018 highlights & Social BSR and the UN agree on one thing, and it’s an easy one: Facebook ought to provide country-specific data on hate speech and other violations of the company’s community standards in Myanmar. We may not be able to say with certainty to what degree social networks contribute to ethnic violence — but we ought to be able to monitor flare-ups in hate speech on our largest social networks. Dehumanizing speech is so often the precursor to violence — and Facebook, if it took its role seriously, could help serve as an early-warning system. — https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/10/18080962/facebook-myanmar-report-bsr-united-nations-hate-speech

→ Facebook launched a country-specific version of Myanmar in 2015, and added it to its since-discontinued Free Basics program a year later Nov 10, 2018 highlights Facebook launched a country-specific version of Myanmar in 2015, and added it to its since-discontinued Free Basics program a year later. Soon, the company had 20 million users in the country — despite the fact that, due to peculiarities of the local language and Unicode, its non-Burmese speaking moderators had very little insight into what was happening on the platform. — https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/10/18080962/facebook-myanmar-report-bsr-united-nations-hate-speech

→ I began reading the report in the hopes that it would clarify the connection between hate speech posted on social media and real-world violence Nov 10, 2018 highlights I began reading the report in the hopes that it would clarify the connection between hate speech posted on social media and real-world violence. We are starving for knowledge about how unique platform mechanics such as share buttons and encryption contribute to lynch mobs. — https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/10/18080962/facebook-myanmar-report-bsr-united-nations-hate-speech

→ While a burgeoning number of data science bootcamps, undergrad programs, etc Nov 7, 2018 highlights While a burgeoning number of data science bootcamps, undergrad programs, etc. focus on nuances of developing different kinds of ML models, in daily practice, your data team probably spends its valuable time munging the aforementioned data: how to curate it, prep it, analyze it, monetize it, audit it, etc., plus creating data infrastructure to collect it, store it, make it available, query it, etc. — https://blog.dominodatalab.com/themes-conferences-per-pacoid-episode-3/

→ You could say “Once you learn the jargon, you save precious time accessing and using it to communicate to (and having your ideas accepted by) others in the field, including your instructors. Nov 5, 2018 highlights You could say “Once you learn the jargon, you save precious time accessing and using it to communicate to (and having your ideas accepted by) others in the field, including your instructors.” Riley<br/> says that most memorization (done correctly) saves time. He relates this to the efficiency of working memory, the place information is held in preparation for thinking. Working memory has limited capacity. If you try to get too much in it, other stuff has<br/> to get kicked out. But once jargon has been mastered, it takes up less space in working memory, thus making room for more complex types of thinking.

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→ If you haven’t installed Unpaywall yet, try it Nov 1, 2018 highlights If you haven’t installed Unpaywall yet, try it. Unpaywall is a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that does just one thing: links to a free copy of the research article you’re looking for somewhere on the web. It’s growing by more than 1,000 active users each week, through word of mouth; primarily, we think, because it makes the process of accessing the research literature simple, clean, and elegant. As a Canadian, it’s a little uncharacteristic of me to be so bold about something we’ve built, but seriously, try Unpaywall and see if you don’t agree that it presents an elegant solution to accessing the literature. — http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2018/10/28/unpaywall-a-beautiful-way-to-help-everyone-get-the-research/

→ The whole point of posting is to find other people like you, and the promise of the internet is that you’ll come to know the people who understand you better than anyone else Oct 31, 2018 highlights & People The whole point of posting is to find other people like you, and the promise of the internet is that you’ll come to know the people who understand you better than anyone else. What’s funny about the whole relatability thing is that nobody mentions it’s a racket; nothing does worse online than naked need. The gulf between what you feel and what you can safely post is itself alienating. — https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/27/18000792/alienation-is-the-most-powerful-online-brand

→ If the language of depression and anxiety rules the internet, relatability is its cause; relatable accounts and posts — which I’m defining as ideas that mirror your lived experience — tend to earn the most attention Oct 31, 2018 highlights If the language of depression and anxiety rules the internet, relatability is its cause; relatable accounts and posts — which I’m defining as ideas that mirror your lived experience — tend to earn the most attention. Attention begets followers, which in turn brings more lucrative forms of attention: ask any number of Twitter humorists who managed to parlay their observational skill into TV writing jobs and they’ll tell you the same thing. It’s an axiom of the web that happy people don’t make good posts. — https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/27/18000792/alienation-is-the-most-powerful-online-brand

→ In 1917 a Russian guy, Viktor Shklovsky, came up with a word for this: defamiliarization Oct 31, 2018 highlights In 1917 a Russian guy, Viktor Shklovsky, came up with a word for this: defamiliarization. His argument, essentially, was that poetic language works as art because it’s more difficult to understand than everyday prose, and that this difficulty in parsing meaning could make the normal unfamiliar and therefore consciously artistic. It forces you into seeing the unfamiliar thing and the language or experience that got you there as art. — https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/27/18000792/alienation-is-the-most-powerful-online-brand

→ Even very important things can be on cruise control and not on your mind Oct 30, 2018 highlights Even very important things can be on cruise control and not on your mind. If your attention is being grabbed, then there’s almost an inverse relationship there. The degree to which your attention is being grabbed is the degree to which you are not free to place your attention where and how you want to. So, if nothing else, it’s just a pure practical idea that, if you can get rid of the demons that are grabbing hold of your brain and shaking it around—whether that’s buy cat food or reconsidering your career—then it will give you a lot more freedom to be thinking about those things in more creative ways or not have to think about them at all. — https://gettingthingsdone.com/mindclear/

→ About the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society Oct 30, 2018 highlights & Science & Systems

Spanning all five schools at MIT, IDSS embraces the collision and synthesis of ideas and methods from analytical disciplines including statistics, data science, information theory and inference, systems and control theory, optimization, economics, human and social behavior, and network science.

The mission of IDSS is to advance education and research in state-of-the-art analytical methods and to apply these methods to address complex societal challenges in a diverse set of areas such as finance, energy systems, urbanization, social networks, and health.

IDSS comprises a number of academic programs, including those offered by the Statistics and Data Science Center (SDSC), two online education programs, and the IDSS research entities Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) and Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC).

- https://www.prweb.com/releases/noted_mit_scientist_muncher_dahleh_joins_the_enterworks_executive_advisory_board_to_help_guide_company_s_vision_for_artificial_intelligence/prweb15872695.htm

→ Today’s interview is with Rie Nørregaard, a Managing Creative Director of SY Partners, a consultancy based in New York and San Francisco Oct 30, 2018 highlights & Design Today’s interview is with Rie Nørregaard, a Managing Creative Director of SY Partners, a consultancy based in New York and San Francisco. For 20 years, they’ve helped business leaders, teams, and individuals pursue growth and greatness. Rie has recently started a podcast: Designing for Humanity, which aims to explore designing a future that’s made for all of us—and the best in us. They also say that design, at its heart, is an act of service and is the work of solving problems for the benefit of others. — http://customerthink.com/design-is-how-we-treat-each-other-interview-with-rie-norregaard/

→ To find out what one of our region’s universities thoughts are on innovation training, I spoke with Angel Cabrera, president of George Mason University Oct 29, 2018 highlights & Innovation & People To find out what one of our region’s universities thoughts are on innovation training, I spoke with Angel Cabrera, president of George Mason University. He shared with me an emerging vision of putting innovation skill development on the learning path for all Mason students and to more actively use simulations to do that. He pointed to PatriotHacks, a weekend technology challenge held last weekend at Mason sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton, Accenture, CACI and Verizon as one example how the vision is coming together. The PatriotHacks innovation simulation involved 250 students, many of whom worked an entire weekend without sleep, to come up with solutions to specific challenges set by the sponsors. — https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2018/10/25/jonathan-aberman-can-you-teach-people-be.html

→ Watch OPSI’s Piret Tonurist discuss ‘Systems Approaches in Policy Practice’ and give real life examples, drawn from current OECD case studies. Oct 29, 2018 highlights Watch OPSI’s Piret Tonurist discuss ‘Systems Approaches in Policy Practice’ and give real life examples, drawn from current OECD case studies.

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→ OPSI is developing a model for public sector innovation and we want your input. Oct 29, 2018 highlights & Innovation OPSI is developing a model for public sector innovation and we want your input. Our first blog made the case that there were different ‘facets’ of innovation, then the second blog looked at how different types of innovation lead to different types of change. Now, the third blog takes a deep dive on innovation facet #1: ’enhancement-oriented’ innovation. This is the kind of innovation where government starts with the question of “how might we do X better?”

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→ we have seen that universal approaches can sometimes deepen inequities—the political adage “a rising tide lifts all boats” only applies when all are equipped with adequate boats to begin with Oct 28, 2018 highlights we have seen that universal approaches can sometimes deepen inequities—the political adage “a rising tide lifts all boats” only applies when all are equipped with adequate boats to begin with. For instance, the post-World War II GI Bill was ostensibly created to benefit the general population. However, as banks generally wouldn’t make loans for mortgages in black neighborhoods, it ultimately exacerbated inequality by exclusively offering mortgage assistance to a specific group of Americans. — https://www.fsg.org/blog/creating-consensus-targeted-universalism