@BostonAbrams@newsie.social
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

BostonAbrams

@BostonAbrams@newsie.social

Newsie, Director of Digital Strategy for https://newsie.social/@TheConversationUS, tea drinker, algorithm whisperer.

In 1998, USA Today described me the person writing "the world's shortest newscast" on the Lycos homepage. This was before social media was a thing.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

TheConversationUS, to news
@TheConversationUS@newsie.social avatar

Many media outlets are paying a lot more attention to arrests than to the actual demands of protesters.

US media largely ignored campus protests until encampments (and police clearing of encampments) got going, fitting in with a general pattern, according to a researcher who studies how journalists cover protest movements:
https://theconversation.com/media-coverage-of-campus-protests-tends-to-focus-on-the-spectacle-rather-than-the-substance-229172
@academicchatter

BostonAbrams,
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

@TheConversationUS h/t to my DW, who made a comment about this and led me to suggest the topic to @mattywills

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

My favorite of the many, many, many interesting articles that @TheConversationUS has had on the : Educators discuss how to explain what's going on to blind students https://theconversation.com/an-eclipse-for-everyone-how-visually-impaired-students-can-get-a-feel-for-eclipses-225955

(The rest of our global coverage is here: https://theconversation.com/us/topics/solar-eclipse-10107)

BostonAbrams, to ChatGPT
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

A fascinating head-to-head comparison of editing a short story vs. human editors.

You'll be unsurprised to hear that one reflected the art and craft of writing, and one regurgitated out standard advice and timeworn cliches (via @theconversationau) https://theconversation.com/can-chatgpt-edit-fiction-4-professional-editors-asked-ai-to-do-their-job-and-it-ruined-their-short-story-216631

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

One thing I really appreciate about @TheConversationUS (and hope you do too) is that our expert authors often educate me about issues long before they surface as crises in most popular media.

Case in point: back in 2015, we published this article about algorithmic bias. https://theconversation.com/big-data-algorithms-can-discriminate-and-its-not-clear-what-to-do-about-it-45849

If you think this is valuable journalism, I hope you'll support us.

Right now, we have a match from podcaster and author Guy Kawaski: if we raise $12,500, he'll give $25,000.
https://donate.theconversation.com/us?utm_campaign=US+Donations+End+of+Year+2023&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

BostonAbrams, to music
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

A fascinating story of the rediscovery of music painted on a Venice fresco, not performed since 1773 https://theconversation.com/music-painted-on-the-wall-of-a-venetian-orphanage-will-be-heard-again-nearly-250-years-later-211995

TheConversationUS, (edited ) to news
@TheConversationUS@newsie.social avatar

and time for our weekly

Here's the first question:
41 states and the District of Columbia sued internet giant Meta on Oct. 24, alleging that the company designs its products with features that do what?

Check your answer and see how well you've been following the news this week here:
https://theconversation.com/the-conversation-u-s-weekly-news-quiz-189437

Special bonus this week! Be one of the first 5 people to post a score of 7 or 8 with the tag and we'll send you a sticker

BostonAbrams,
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

@TheConversationUS @pilhofer 😉

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

Wish they'd had this course when I was in college

Happy to those who celebrate!

https://theconversation.com/design-of-coffee-course-teaches-engineering-through-brewing-the-perfect-cup-of-coffee-213715

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

This is great book voyeurism. A new series looking at people’s personal libraries (starting off with Jennifer Egan’s) https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/interactive/2023/jennifer-egan-home-library/?sourceApp=fusionWidgetExtraLarge

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

Fascinating article on how we experience saltiness (via @KnowableMag)
https://knowablemagazine.org/article/food-environment/2023/salt-taste-surprisingly-mysterious

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

Great quote from @pluralistic https://doctorow.medium.com/an-audacious-plan-to-halt-the-internets-enshittification-and-throw-it-into-reverse-3cc01e7e4604

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

Good insight into the idea that nonprofit is a tool, not a solution (and glad I work for a nonprofit that recognizes this and has a relatively diverse funding base):

"I think there’s a failure in understanding... A nonprofit has to make money—otherwise known as revenue—so that it can pay its people. That’s the same for a for-profit. Therefore, both types of organizations are always having to find revenue. Whether you’re for-profit or nonprofit, you’re always selling." https://www.amediaoperator.com/newsletter/nonprofit-is-not-a-business-model/

BostonAbrams, to mastodon
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

Are there any instances that have deployed the beta with full-text ?

Eager to try it out

BostonAbrams,
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

@ernie Did the same. And for my use case (finding people sharing links to our stories so I can boost them, it’s great)

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

Louisiana lawmakers approve $101 million for basketball arena renovations at LSU, but only a few million for a new library https://news.yahoo.com/republicans-101m-sports-arena-myriad-090002413.html

MissPixiePancake, to fun
@MissPixiePancake@mstdn.social avatar

Every day should be National Cat Day.

BostonAbrams,
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

@MissPixiePancake Here’s an evolutionarily biologist confirming that view: https://theconversation.com/cats-first-finagled-their-way-into-human-hearts-and-homes-thousands-of-years-ago-heres-how-208909 (via @TheConversationUS)

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

Curator from a tech company on whether to be worried about AI in the near term: “If anyone had spent any time with a machine learning team, they would not be worried” (after seeing how much they struggle)

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

So @TheConversationUS literally defines the word "republish", according to Merriam-Webster.

If you're at and want to learn more about great content for republication under @creativecommons, find me or @katrinapnw!

BostonAbrams,
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

@ben @TheConversationUS @creativecommons Thank you!

ben, to random
@ben@werd.social avatar

Suddenly realized I don’t have business cards anymore. Do people use business cards? Should I have them? Can I just print ones that say “werd.io” in big letters? What do you do?

BostonAbrams,
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

@awoodsnet @ben Yeah, but scanning is awkward and slow (at least among journalists or among my older demographic). I’ve gone back to paper business cards.

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

I have divided up my work and personal passwords into two separate password managers. Now I can never remember which password opens which manager

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

Vocals in pop music have gotten much softer relative to the volume of the instruments over recent decades, according to a new study that has been proven by https://www.npr.org/2023/05/05/1174381307/beck-music-adele-beyonce-volume-pop-indie-alternative-study

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

A pantsuit! Brave choice for Spain (is it just me or are there a lot of red costumes this year?)

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

WBUR, one of the best public media stations in the country, is hiring a product manager: https://bu.silkroad.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobinfo&jobid=312173&JobOwner=1018643&company_id=15509

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

Hey, it’s my half-anniversary on Mastodon

BostonAbrams, to random
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

Excited to discover @mastometrics, an analytics tool that lets you see which toots have gotten the most engagement

BostonAbrams,
@BostonAbrams@newsie.social avatar

@jeff Ok, how do I find my dashboard?

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