@JMMaok@mastodon.online
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

JMMaok

@JMMaok@mastodon.online

Advancing open knowledge and civic technology

PhD in Public Policy, M.S. in Technical Communication. Research focused on science and technology policy, especially scientific workforce and university research centers.

Current interests: open science, including science as a human right and multilingual science. Also an active civic tech volunteer with current / recent projects in open government and open data.

Posts will include policy, politics, and propaganda awareness content.

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

mimsical, to random
@mimsical@mastodon.social avatar

the world is on fire and Jeep just introduced a 19-foot long vehicle with a built-in mini fridge that gets 16 miles to the gallon

https://www.wsj.com/articles/2023-grand-wagoneer-l-series-iii-reivew-how-big-is-too-big-5dcc419d

JMMaok,
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

@mimsical

Maybe they’re entering the housing market?

JMMaok, to random
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

We've all heard time and again "this won't make any difference to the Republican base." And, it's true, they've been remarkably consistent in their support for Trump.

Yet, statements like that are always only true until, eventually, they aren't.

This recent NPR story, headline "GOP support for Trump softens as the former president's legal troubles mount" reports a shift in poll results. https://www.npr.org/2023/07/28/1190748917/trump-republican-support-independents-indictment-january-6-poll

Consider that context before throwing another "nothing matters" on the pile.

Private
JMMaok,
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

@danai @academicchatter

This seems like it could be well served by a hashtag that people could follow.

kissane, to Futurology
@kissane@mas.to avatar

This week, I went over to Bluesky and asked people who'd left Mastodon why they left, and lots of people told me. I grabbed the replies and crunched them and wrote up a summary. I think it's really interesting and often kind of wrenching.

https://erinkissane.com/mastodon-is-easy-and-fun-except-when-it-isnt

JMMaok,
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

@strypey @kissane

You can turn off viewing link previews. For lots of visual content they are a plus, though (data charts, maps, nature, history).

I am talking about an option to suppress link previews when including a link in your own post, so that even if someone usually views link previews, they don't get a preview from that specific link.

Take a look. A lot of important news stories use aggressive images that are not informative. If you have image previews off, you probably don't see.

impactology, to random
@impactology@mastodon.social avatar

Academics & researchers on mastodon

How do you go up & down the abstraction ladder in your teaching practice for illustrating theories?

How do your bring out more precision, specificity behind an abstract theory, concept, idea

How do you concretize abstract concepts & think of them in terms of activities

Was wondering how an idea can be translated/converted at the level of action, activity, verb for didactic purposes

Credit for diagram on the right and bottom : Boris Anthony @borisanthony

image/png
image/png

JMMaok,
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

@impactology

Part of why some students struggle with this is, I think, the simplistic diagrams they see in the news. "See, Biden is president so now gas prices are up" level of analysis. They think that they should be able to explain, for example, teacher salaries by population, but of course that is rarely possible.

codingconduct, to random
@codingconduct@hci.social avatar

🙋🏼‍♂️hive mind: Are there time budget trackers out there?

I.e., I want to spend x hours reading, y hours on project a, z hours on supervision this week. Every day, I task switch according to energy, but track whether I overshoot my hour budget for a given task type or project, in which case I stop and switch again.

Suggestions?

JMMaok,
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

@codingconduct An additional use case for which this would be great would be tracking remote volunteer activity time. Mostly, you don’t need or want the hassle of a full-fledged time clock. You want to be able to track start and end times for random “answered an email, 7 minutes” “made some slides, 19 minutes” “phone call, 8 minutes”.

Private
JMMaok,
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

@josh @academicchatter

Spoiler: In four years you will add a lot more books to the shelf. It will not help. You will buy additional bookshelves. You will discover the New Books Network podcast and @fivebooks and soon you won't even be keeping up with those.

petersuber, (edited ) to random
@petersuber@fediscience.org avatar

Search committees: Please don't require letters of recommendation to be signed printouts on letterhead stationery scanned into PDFs. Many of us work remotely without letterhead, printers, or scanners. Most of us lack clerical assistance. Virtually all of us find this format arbitrary and onerous.

As one who has served on about 20 search committees, I can add that this format is completely unnecessary.


@academicchatter

JMMaok,
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

@petersuber

It also communicates that recommendation letters from people who don't have an institutional affiliation are unwelcome. That may be true and heck even valid in some extremely academic cases, but an adjunct who taught an undergrad 2 years ago is a perfectly valid recommendation for an internship, for example.

DrTCombs, to advice
@DrTCombs@transportation.social avatar

needed!
I got a new from a building being decommissioned. It's super cushy and has a huge up/down adjustment range.

But it has a fatal flaw: The seat is too long for my 5'1" body. If I sit up straight with my back against the seat's back, my legs stick out like a little kid.* After a day of desk work, it REALLY hurts my knees.

I'd love recommendations for grown-up office chairs built for small bodies! Thank you!

JMMaok,
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

@DrTCombs She posted about it here : https://lnkd.in/esyMvXMi

Article on chairs for shorter people: https://lnkd.in/eFxjHE76

JMMaok, to random
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

Have blocked the Meta instances as an individual for now.

JMMaok, to random
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

Anyone have an example of a @Codeberg repo that is particularly well organized? Toot your own horn (hah!) or lift up someone you know who’s doing great.

Looking for things like a useful readme, tagged issues, etc.

JMMaok,
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

@adrinux @Codeberg

Thanks!

And have you considered using the wiki? I'm even earlier days, but that was suggested to me.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I hate advertisements so much.
This is the main reason I don't have cable. I couldn't wrap my brain around the concept of paying for content full of ads.

I paid for youTube premium but I'm about to give up on that too since you may skip the inserted ads there are still all of the sponsors. And I can't be mad at creators for wanting to make some money but I really need to escape these ads.

Because ads work -- most people assume they don't but they do. They change you.

JMMaok,
@JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

@uguisubari @CStamp @whknott @futurebird

Excellent. Yes, ads aren't worth paying for unless they get you to do something you wouldn't do anyway. If ads didn't get people to do stuff they wouldn't do anyway, they wouldn't sustain themselves as a huge, profitable industry.

mishellbaker, to random
@mishellbaker@wandering.shop avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    JMMaok,
    @JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

    @mishellbaker @nic ? (because you are probably no more than 2 degrees of separation from a lot of LA nonprofits )

    ben, to random
    @ben@werd.social avatar

    There should be a non-profit accelerator for end-user open source projects that have the potential to make the world more equal, inclusive, and democratic.

    JMMaok,
    @JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

    @ben

    It doesn’t necessarily offer all of these, but you might want to look into DemocracyLab.org as a partner, model, or building block for such an effort.

    One of the challenges in this space is how to get the money from people who don’t have conflicting incentives.

    trochee, to random
    @trochee@dair-community.social avatar

    I'm seeing an unfortunate parallel between the HOA behaviors on Mastodon and cyclist advocacy by (mostly white, male) tech nerds

    • I am one of you
    • what we've fought for and built is a huge improvement over the death machines we're replacing

    But now that it works for you

    • stop trying to pull the ladder up behind you
    • scolding people for driving to their underpaid warehouse job is way less useful than helping them unionize, fixing public transit, or dealing with the housing crisis
    JMMaok,
    @JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

    @acousticmirror @trochee

    Good point. As societies, we expect rural areas to be settled for reasons like agriculture or resource industries. There are improvements to be made in transportation options and choices there, but urban folks do not have the background to know the answers.

    JMMaok, to fediverse
    @JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

    Are there any well-structured opportunities for volunteers to contribute to the Fediverse? Specifically I am looking for an opportunity that would fit a young person with strong coding skills who needs to document volunteer time. Needs to be more structured that just ‘Sure, here’s the GitHub.’ Any leads?

    stefan, (edited ) to fediverse
    @stefan@stefanbohacek.online avatar

    Looking for volunteers interested in helping translate https://jointhefediverse.net to more languages.

    Currently available:

    • Arabic
    • French
    • Russian
    • Slovak

    In progress:

    • Bosnian
    • German
    • Polish
    • Spanish

    Learn more about the process here: https://github.com/jointhefediverse-net/jointhefediverse.net#translation

    Boosts appreciated!

    JMMaok,
    @JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

    @stefan

    Of possible interest to @TranslateScience

    tiffanycli, to random
    @tiffanycli@mastodon.social avatar

    Tip to students: If you run into a paywall trying to read an article, ask a librarian for help! Many public and school libraries have newspaper and magazine access, and some university libraries even have free subscriptions or app access for students.

    JMMaok,
    @JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

    @tiffanycli

    Yes! And the reach of interlibrary loan is remarkable! These days, interlibrary loan often means someone scans an article or book chapter and emails it to you.

    TonyStark, to random
    @TonyStark@progressivecafe.social avatar

    How about just going ahead and prosecuting him for the securities fraud he was indicted for 8 years ago?

    Hmm. We all know about Ken Paxton but now the Texas GOP thinks he should go? You usually have to dig non-stop for a week to find the low bar they set to clear.

    But whatever internal political feud he’s gotten into works for me as long as he goes.

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton faces call for impeachment by House panel |
    https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/25/ken-paxton-impeachment-investigation/

    JMMaok,
    @JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

    @lukashauser @GreenFire @SteveBologna @TonyStark

    And some really low tactics were used in that voter suppression effort, such as impersonating the Clinton campaign and advising her supporters to vote by text. This was eventually found to be criminal. In a better world, it would have been immediately recognized as criminal. https://apnews.com/article/influencer-mackey-conviction-hillary-7ca8f2bcb487a89f80a24029aeb3ee58

    david_senate, to fediverse

    🚨 Is there an unspoken rule that you MUST cut ties with others once you hit a certain number of followers?

    🤔 I'm just curious because it seems like some people with a higher follower count don't interact enough. And we don't want to become like , do we?

    What can we do to keep authentic and engaging! 💪🤝

    JMMaok,
    @JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

    @david_senate

    Suggestion: we can have a norm of living our lives so that if our balance of posts read, liked, replied, boosted, and original were visible, we’d be comfortable with it. I don’t think there’s one golden ratio for every account, but it bears reflection.

    shoq, to random
    @shoq@mastodon.social avatar

    A post that gets 40 of 50 engagements here, gets zero on Bluesky. And it's not just because of the low numbers there. It's because most people don't care all that much there. That has always worried me. We've always overrated how much our friends and associates care. And we've certainly overestimated how much Americans care. We are the most politically moribund nation on earth.

    JMMaok,
    @JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

    @shoq

    Is Bluesky mostly people who are paid/ incentivized to put metrics on the board? Follows, shares, likes, but maybe not so much replies?

    evan, (edited ) to random
    @evan@cosocial.ca avatar

    "Sponsored posts in the Fediverse should be tagged with the hashtag."

    JMMaok,
    @JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

    @gpollara @evan

    To me, sponsored here would mean third party selling. Not "I, Coca-Cola, am trying to sell you a Coca-Cola" but "I, your parasocial friend, am trying to make you crave a refreshing beverage."

    Not "I, an artist, am trying to sell you my art" or "I think more people should buy my friend's great art" but "Someone gave me a dollar to post about this art."

    Also, at least technically, "my friend paid me a dollar to endorse his hot take." I can dream!

    timbray, to random
    @timbray@cosocial.ca avatar

    Report: I’m being sealioned. As in, real actual sea lions are invading the docks at our family's summer cabin. It’s nice that nature is coming back… sometimes. Sea Lions are noisy, smelly, smart, lazy, and defecate disgustingly and in massive quantities.

    If my Dad were still living he’d say “Huh, no problem really, just get a rifle, you’ll need a fairly big one.”

    JMMaok,
    @JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

    @timbray The one on the end seems particularly untroubled lol.

    dansup, to fediverse
    @dansup@mastodon.social avatar

    I'm working to improve the @pixelfed mobile app onboarding.

    It will probably be seen as more controversial than the Mastodon app.

    I'm okay with that.

    Some people claim we're emulating popular platforms as if it's a bad thing, like we're selling user data or building communities without safety and moderation.

    Ignore them, growth isn't a bad thing, we need to make the easy to join, and moderate!

    Every fedi project emulates an existing service, nothing is new lol

    JMMaok,
    @JMMaok@mastodon.online avatar

    @dansup @liaizon @pixelfed

    Could you possibly randomize among even 3 independent general instances? That would go a long way to counter the monopolist criticism. That criticism also rarely acknowledges that default servers need to be ready for an influx of new users.

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