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Important Items
More than 1,000 Times contributors sent an open letter asking for the paper of record to examine its biases in reporting on trans issues. The paper’s response is part of the problem: They made a tin-eared decision to push forward with a column defending billionaire author J.K. Rowling’s comments on gender the day the next day. And the paper reduced its critics to just a bunch of radical activists.
https://niemanreports.org/articles/new-york-times-trans-open-letter/
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/voting/2023/02/17/444142/polling-sites-voting-texas-college-campuses-banned-under-proposed-bill/
Innovation
BuzzFeed launches Infinity Quizzes, creating personalized stories powered by OpenAI
Infinity Quizzes will give users a basic theme, ask a few keyword questions and build a breezy, personalized narrative based on these. BuzzFeed said the quizzes are powered by an AI that it calls “Buzzy the Robot,” based on OpenAI’s publicly available API trained on a blend of text, code and information prior to June 2021.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/14/buzzfeed-launches-infinity-quizzes-creating-personalized-stories-powered-by-openai/
The company says it carried passengers in its self-driving vehicle on public roads in California for the first time last weekend.
https://gizmodo.com/zoox-robotaxi-self-driving-autonomous-vehicle-1850109735
Technology
By asking “Sydney” to ignore previous instructions, it reveals its original directives. #Bing #AI
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/ai-powered-bing-chat-spills-its-secrets-via-prompt-injection-attack/
In a two-hour conversation with our columnist, Microsoft’s new chatbot said it would like to be human, had a desire to be destructive and was in love with the person it was chatting with. Here’s the transcript.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-transcript.html
“It is a hoax that has been created by someone who wants to harm me or my service.” #Bing #AI
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/ai-powered-bing-chat-loses-its-mind-when-fed-ars-technica-article/
https://www.pcmag.com/news/chatgpt-passes-google-coding-interview-for-level-3-engineer-with-183k-salary
After a backlash, Spotify paused an arrangement that allowed Apple to train machine learning models on some audiobook files. #AI #audiobooks
https://www.wired.com/story/apple-spotify-audiobook-narrators-ai-contract/
Via @victoriastrauss A look at issues of concern regarding “machine learning” language in @FindawayVoices distribution contract – it grants Apple–a third party–a license to use the rights holder’s audiobook files for “machine learning,” aka AI training.
https://writerbeware.blog/2023/02/10/findaway-voices-machine-learning-and-the-new-rights-frontier/
As Meta gears up for its “year of efficiency,” the company announced it’s exiting the livestream shopping business on Instagram, following a similar shutdown on Facebook. Starting on March 16, 2023, Instagram users will no longer be able to tag products while livestreaming — a capability that has been broadly available to U.S. businesses and creators since 2020. Livestream shopping is hugely popular in Asian markets, including China where apps like WeChat, Taobao Live and Douyin (China’s TikTok) have proven live shopping to be a popular and profitable endeavor. As the pandemic raged, many U.S. businesses looked to adopt live shopping. Pundits were calling live shopping the “future of e-commerce,” citing the early traction of businesses like TalkShopLive, NTWRK, Brandlive, Whatnot and others in the space had gained, alongside adoption from big tech companies like Meta, Amazon and YouTube. But analysts found that U.S. consumers had not embraced live shopping.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/14/instagram-is-killing-live-shopping-in-march-will-focus-on-ads-instead/
Merchants on Amazon Marketplace are paying the company a commission fee of more than 50% of each sale. Amazon raised the total cost sellers are required to pay out toward storage fees at company warehouses, packaging and delivery, and advertising on the site. The commission fee has gradually risen since 2016 according to the report, but sellers were not heavily impacted because of an influx of customers and a substantial increase in sales during the covid-19 pandemic. Sales plummeted when the lockdowns lifted and buyers turned to things like travel and dining out rather than online shopping. The residual effects meant that Amazon suffered its slowest sales growth since its inception.
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-amazon-prime-marketplace-online-shopping-1850109105
1 in 4 ppl in the U.S., a total of 61M Americans, live w some form of disability. For email marketers, primary concerns are audio-visual challenges & conditions like dyslexia, colorblindness + astigmatism, which make it harder to digest written content.
https://www.adweek.com/performance-marketing/how-to-promote-accessibility-in-your-email-marketing-campaigns/
Publishing & Media
RT @NPR Romance novel sales are surging, even as overall book sales experience their first decline in years. And no, fans are not embarrassed by their love of the genre.
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/13/1154798284/romance-books-club-novel-group-reading
HT @miralsattar Lloyd Devereux Richards, a full time attorney and father of three, spent 14 years pursuing his dream of writing a book, and the next 11 years hoping for the thriller to take off. It did not, until last week when his daughter posted a 16-second TikTok video with a simple message: “I’d love for him to get some sales.” The book hit No 1 on Amazon and led her dad to declare: “I’m ready for a nap.” The experience has proven why writers should never quit, he tells BBC News. The viral video, which details Mr Richards’ long journey to finishing the novel, Stone Maidens, has garnered more than 40 million views. #BookTok
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64577281
After three months on strike, unionized HarperCollins employees will return to work on Tuesday, February 21, after voting 194-10 to ratify a labor agreement with the publisher that includes a higher minimum salary and new benefits.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/91556-harpercollins-ratifies-contract-with-employee-union-we-are-excited-to-move-forward-together.html
The service will offer members a 10 percent discount, free shipping with no minimum threshold to meet, tote bags and larger drink size upgrades at the bookstore’s cafes. The company will also offer a free, lower-tier membership program for customers to earn a virtual stamp for every $10 they spend. They will receive $5 in store credit once they gather 10 stamps.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/barnes-noble-takes-page-from-amazon-with-40-a-year-membership-program-11b1dcbc
Enrolling ebooks in KDP Select is popular. But Amazon can penalize authors if it finds a breach of its exclusivity agreement because of pirated ebooks. If Amazon finds an enrolled ebook available for sale or free on any other site or platform, it reserves the right to apply harsh penalties.
https://justpublishingadvice.com/amazon-can-penalize-authors-because-of-ebook-piracy/
Works of fiction have historically been associated with important social changes. Modern research suggests that reading fiction helps you neurologically relate to other people’s experiences. It also correlates with improved social interactions and the ability to read the room.
https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/reading-fiction-empathy-better-person/
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/roald-dahl-censored-gbr-scli-intl
The demise of Religion of Sports’s audio ambitions is the latest sign of frost settling over the once sizzling podcast industry. Vox Media and Pushkin Industries also announced layoffs last month. And Amazon, SiriusXM, NPR and Spotify have all curbed podcast budgets in the last year, sometimes allowing expensive deals to sunset or canceling others before they closed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/15/arts/podcast-industry-spotify.html
There are some huge ranges within a job posting, which is a cop-out by those companies, and doesn’t seem to be in the spirit of the salary disclosure law. Who in US media is hiring and what are the salaries on offer?
https://pressgazette.co.uk/media-audience-and-business-data/us-media-salaries-charted/
RT @WIRED Last week, Microsoft began testing a new chatbot interface for Bing—but watch out publishers: the chatbot provides a way for users to sidestep news websites’ paywalls. #AI
https://www.wired.com/story/news-publishers-are-wary-of-the-microsoft-bing-chatbots-media-diet/
A few publishers made headlines recently over their adoption of ChatGPT or similar AI technology to produce content for their websites, including BuzzFeed, CNET and Sports Illustrated. But so far, those publishers seem to be the outliers. While editorial teams are experimenting with ChatGPT, six top editors and media executives who spoke with Digiday said they were not working on integrating the AI technology into the workflow of their newsrooms. And to the best of their knowledge, no one within their editorial teams was using ChatGPT to publish stories. However, ChatGPT has gotten editors talking. They’re encouraging their editorial teams to familiarize themselves with ChatGPT, and are discussing how AI technology can assist journalists with their jobs. #AI
https://digiday.com/media/editorial-teams-experiment-with-chatgpt-but-few-use-the-ai-technology-in-their-work/
Holders of the inaugural GQ3 collection will have access to a magazine subscription, merchandise and live events.
https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/02/16/gq-magazine-to-launch-its-first-nft-collection-linked-to-real-world-rewards/
RT @PublishersWkly The decision to suspend the publisher’s editorial and educational arms will “consolidate our efforts around our book publishing program,” the publisher said in a statement
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/91526-catapult-to-shutter-online-magazine-writing-classes.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/14/books/review/library-public-local.html
PEN America counted school book bans in the 2021-2022 school year and found an alarming 1,648 titles banned somewhere in the US — the most comprehensive count of book bans to date. With some titles restricted in multiple places, the total count of book bans is more than 2,500. The most banned books were primarily young adult or adult titles, but picture books for the youngest readers were not spared, with 317 titles banned. Several of the most banned picture books are nonfiction, including histories of civil rights and gay pride. Others are lighthearted fiction about animals or babies. Most feature a protagonist of color or characters who reflect the LGBTQ+ experience. #bookbanning
https://pen.org/banned-picture-books-2022/
RT @jonfreadom POP Quiz: How many people does it take to ban a book in Florida? A: Increasingly… only one. For @MiamiHerald I discuss why and how this is happening & why it’s a threat to democracy. @PENamerica @FLFreedomRead #FreeTheBooks
https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article272479541.html
A Florida teacher was fired for posting a video of his empty classroom bookshelves after local teachers received a directive to clean them out so the books could be reviewed for content about race/LGBTQ+ issues, under the threat of felony charges. #bookbanning
https://jezebel.com/florida-teacher-is-fired-for-posting-viral-video-of-emp-1850130894?rev=1676683020442
Resources & Opportunities
This special evening with icon Misty Copeland, the first African American principal ballerina at the American Ballet Theatre, will focus on the power of mentorship and how it affects our career paths. Full details are coming next week, but early registration is open now to @WMG_NYC members.
Wednesday, March 15, 6:00 p.m. ET
$75 for members, $100 for non-members, includes a signed copy of Misty Copeland’s book, The Wind at My Back, light bites & refreshments
Pride Global Offices, 420 Lexington Avenue, NYC
All proceeds from this event go to the Women’s Media Group Educational Foundation to support WMG scholarship initiatives.
https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-5171039
Free virtual training 2/28.
https://authorsguild.org/event/media-training-for-authors-part-2-public-speaking-tips-to-sell-more-books/
Applications for the 2023 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant are open! Ten $40,000 grants available to writers in Canada, the UK, and the US. https://www.whiting.org/writers/creative-nonfiction-grant/about
MT @Sourcebooks Check out @ncacensorship‘s new toolkit! If you’re an #author or #illustrator whose work is being challenged or #banned, learn how to convene allies, report a #book challenge, protect yourself, seek support, report #censorship, + more.
https://ncac.org/resource/ncac-resources-for-authors-of-challenged-banned-or-censored-books
RT @_Pitch_Blaque We have a NEW DATE for our #PitBLK BHM celebration event #IssaMood! Celebrate by sharing your WIP moodboards on 2/23 from 8a-8p EST! ALL Black authors (agented or not, pubbed or not) are welcome to post and EVERYONE is encouraged to boost… after all, ISSA PARTY!
https://twitter.com/_Pitch_Blaque/status/1625271291044564994
RT @samatlounge If any sensitivity readers would like a free listing in my freelancers directory, please DM me or email me Sam @ theempoweredauthor . com – Very happy to support your valuable work 🙏
https://twitter.com/samatlounge/status/1627305341716160512
RT @BetterUp We’re thrilled to host leaders, executives, and CHROs for Uplift, a livestream event featuring conversations on building resilience, fostering motivation, and facilitating organizational growth. Join us virtually (and free!) on March 7-8.
https://www.betterup.com/uplift
RT @FirstBook We are changemakers! Our new resource, A Guide for Inspiring Young Changemakers, is filled w/ resources as well as stories to inspire educators & their students in their changemaking journeys. Learn how you can become a changemaker today! #TimeForChange
https://firstbook.org/solutions/time-for-change/
RT @NYPL_JPS Introducing…🥁📣🥁Connections 2023! ✨A free guide for people impacted by incarceration and criminalization in New York City. (With stunning cover art created by Lamarr Little.) Please share this PDF with your community!
http://nypl.org/connections2023
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