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Important Items

Women’s Rights and Backsliding Democracies

HT @craignewmark Can a country that has never truly addressed women’s equality ever be a thriving democracy?

https://msmagazine.com/backsliding-democracies/

AHA Releases Statement Opposing Exclusion of LGBTQ+ History in Florida

HT @FLFreedomRead #FreedomToLearn #HonestHistory

https://www.historians.org/news-and-advocacy/aha-advocacy/aha-statement-opposing-exclusion-of-lgbtq-history-in-florida-(may-2023)

IRS Acknowledges Black Americans Face More Audit Scrutiny

Black taxpayers have been far more likely to be audited than others, the IRS said on Monday. To address discrimination in how the tax code is enforced, the agency said it is considering changes to its case selection process.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/15/us/politics/irs-black-americans-tax-audit.html

Heat Will Likely Soar to Record Levels in Next 5 Years, New Analysis Says

Global temperatures are likely to soar to record highs over the next five years, driven by human-caused warming and a climate pattern known as El Niño, forecasters at the World Meteorological Organization said. Each fraction of a degree brings new risks.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/17/climate/record-heat-forecast.html

15 million excess deaths worldwide were caused by COVID over two years – WHO

HT @MeetJess

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/15-million-excess-deaths-worldwide-085500820.html

Long COVID Seems to Make Distinct Changes to The Immune System

Long COVID has more than 200 potential symptoms and can affect almost every organ in the body. With more than 65 million people now estimated to live with this often-disabling condition worldwide, and numbers growing daily, there is a desperate need to understand the underlying biology driving it.

https://www.sciencealert.com/long-covid-seems-to-make-distinct-changes-to-the-immune-system

COVID-19’s total cost to the economy in US will reach $14 trillion by end of 2023

https://theconversation.com/covid-19s-total-cost-to-the-economy-in-us-will-reach-14-trillion-by-end-of-2023-new-research-205379

Innovation

Scientists have updated the human genome to make it more equitable and inclusive

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/10/health/human-pangenome-scn-wellness/index.html

FAA updates air mobility blueprint for flying taxis

What will the industry look like in 10 years? “I expect that we have air taxis at scale, especially in all of our major cities,” Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen said at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3965366-faa-updates-air-mobility-blueprint-for-flying-taxis

Technology

User Inyerface Game

HT @neilperkin A game in which you try to get through a very bad user interface as fast as possible.

https://userinyerface.com

Current copyright battle over generative AI in music is a good test for media

HT @BoSacks Universal Music Group’s CEO Lucian Grainge noted during his company’s earnings call that platforms distributing AI-generated music will have an “additional responsibility” to identify infringing content or content trained on artists’ voices. But, and this is key, Grainge also noted that UMG would be open to licensing its catalog to businesses that are “legitimate” and “supportive,” according to Bloomberg. #AI

https://www.inma.org/blogs/smart-data-initiative/post.cfm/current-copyright-battle-over-generative-ai-in-music-is-a-good-test-for-media

Pearson taking legal action over use of its content to train language models, as it announces own AI plans

Textbook giant Pearson is taking legal action over the use of its intellectual property to train AI models, chief executive Andy Bird revealed as the firm laid out its plans for its own artificial intelligence-powered products. This comes a week after its share price tumbled by 15% as American rival Chegg said its own business had been hurt by the rise of ChatGPT. Those plans would include AI-powered summaries of Pearson educational videos, to be rolled out this month for Pearson+ members, as well as AI-generated multiple choice questions for areas where a student might need more help. Bird said Pearson had an advantage as its AI products would use Pearson content for training, which he said would make it more reliable. #AI

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/pearson-takes-legal-action-over-use-of-its-content-to-train-ai-b1079807.html

Amazon Plans to Add ChatGPT-Style Search to Its Online Store

Amazon plans to bring ChatGPT-style product search to its web store, rivaling efforts by Microsoft and Google to weave generative AI into their search engines. #AI

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-15/amazon-plans-to-add-chatgpt-style-search-to-its-online-store

OpenAI introduces ChatGPT app for iOS

HT @neilperkin

‘Instant answers’ – precise answers, a bit like search

‘Tailored advice’ – guidance on specific and more complex questions (like travel plans)

‘Creative inspiration’ – based on giving you ideas you may not have thought of, or help with presentations for example

‘Professional input’ – to help with work-related solutions, productivity, feedback, note summarization

‘Personalized learning’ – to help with learning new things like languages or history for example

https://venturebeat.com/ai/openai-introduces-chatgpt-app-for-ios-bringing-most-popular-generative-ai-to-iphones/

The Fanfic Sex Trope That Caught a Plundering AI Red-Handed

Sudowrite, a tool that uses OpenAI’s GPT-3, was found to have understood a sexual act known only to a specific online community of Omegaverse writers. #AI

https://www.wired.com/story/fanfiction-omegaverse-sex-trope-artificial-intelligence-knotting/

What Reuters is telling its journalists about using artificial intelligence

Reuters Says Its Journalism Will Harness AI. They say AI technology is “a breakthrough that offers the potential to enhance journalism.” #AI

https://talkingbiznews.com/media-news/what-reuters-is-telling-its-journalists-about-using-artificial-intelligence/

ChatGPT is not ‘artificial intelligence.’ It’s theft.

In calling these programs “artificial intelligence” we grant them a claim to authorship that is simply untrue. Each of those tokens used by programs like ChatGPT—the “language” in their “large language model”—represents a tiny, tiny piece of material that someone else created. And those authors are not credited for it, paid for it or asked permission for its use. In a sense, these machine-learning bots are actually the most advanced form of a chop shop: They steal material from creators (that is, they use it without permission), cut that material into parts so small that no one can trace them and then repurpose them to form new products. #AI

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/05/15/chatgpt-artificial-intelligence-theft-245283

‘Universal translator’ dubs and lip-syncs speakers — but Google warns against misuse

Google is testing a powerful new translation service that redubs video in a new language while also synchronizing the speaker’s lips with words they never spoke. It could be very useful for a lot of reasons, but the company was upfront about the possibility of abuse and the steps taken to prevent it.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/10/universal-translator-dubs-and-lip-syncs-speakers-but-google-warns-against-misuse/

Google makes its text-to-music AI public

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/10/google-makes-its-text-to-music-ai-public/

Google shared AI knowledge with the world until ChatGPT caught up

For years Google published scientific research that helped jump-start its competitors. But now it’s lurched into defensive mode. #AI

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/05/04/google-ai-stop-sharing-research/

Google to pay $8 million to settle claims of deceptive ads -Texas AG

Google says it has agreed to pay $8 million to settle claims it used deceptive advertisements to promote the Pixel 4 smartphone.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/google-pay-8-million-settle-claims-deceptive-ads-texas-ag-2023-05-12/

How Facebook is bypassing Apple’s data tracking restrictions with Meta Lattice

https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/a-more-nimble-system-how-facebook-is-bypassing-apples-data-tracking-restrictions-with-meta-lattice/

Built with feedback from disabled communities, Apple unveils ‘Assistive Access’ iOS update

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/apple-reveals-upcoming-accessibility-features-for-iphone-ipad-and-mac/

New Instagram Editing Features for Reels

MT @MattNavarra Instagram is Adding Editing Features For Reels 🎞️

🎬Split: Easily split a single clip into two clips

⏱️ Speed: Speed up or slow down your clips

🔃 Replace: Swap one clip out for another without changing the timing or order of other clips

https://about.fb.com/news/2023/05/introducing-new-features-to-make-the-most-of-your-instagram-experience/

TikTok launches Effect Creator Rewards, a new fund that pays creators for popular AR effects

The $6M fund will offer payments to creators based on users’ engagement with their effects. At launch, for every effect that’s used in 500K unique videos within 90 days of being published, a creator will collect $700. For every 100K videos published thereafter within the same 90 days, creators will collect an additional $140.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/tiktok-effect-creator-rewards-fund-pays-creators-popular-effects/

Publishing & Media

How the BookTok trend has influenced nearly every aspect of publishing

HT @publishingtrend How the BookTok trend has influenced nearly every aspect of publishing, from signing a book deal to pushing authors to act like marketers: ‘It changed my entire life, it changed my career’ #BookTok

https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-changes-book-publishing-marketing-author-careers-2023-5

“More adults use it than Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok or Reddit”: How LinkedIn is increasingly driving content discovery for publishers

“Year on year, the number of people using LinkedIn grows; and year on year, more publishers are coming round to the potential of the platform, not only for recruitment, but for content distribution.”

https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/more-adults-use-it-than-twitter-snapchat-tiktok-or-reddit-how-linkedin-is-increasingly-driving-content-discovery-for-publishers/

How to build a future-proof editorial operation

HT @BoSacks

https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/how-to-build-a-future-proof-editorial-operation-insights-from-ifj-2023/

Journalism’s Essential Value

HT @MollyBeck Independent journalism is the exact tonic the world needs most at a moment in which polarization and misinformation are shaking the foundations of liberal democracies and undermining society’s ability to meet the existential challenges of the era, from inequality to political dysfunction to the accelerating toll of climate change. Common facts, a shared reality, and a willingness to understand our fellow citizens across tribal lines are the most important ingredients in enabling a diverse, pluralistic society to come together to self-govern. For that, as much as anything, we need principled, independent journalists.

https://www.cjr.org/special_report/ag-sulzberger-new-york-times-journalisms-essential-value-objectivity-independence.php

Vice Files for Bankruptcy, Prepares for $225 Million Sale

The digital media darling, once valued at $5.7 billion, filed for Chapter 11 protection Monday as it plans a sale to a group of existing investors.

https://gizmodo.com/vice-media-bankruptcy-225-million-sale-fortress-soros-1850436901

Nation’s largest publisher files federal suit to block Florida county’s book ban

PEN America and publisher Penguin Random House — joined by parents and authors — filed suit in federal court Wednesday morning, alleging the book bans in Escambia County public schools are unconstitutional. #teamPRH

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2023/05/17/countrys-largest-publisher-files-lawsuit-against-florida-county-book-ban/70224360007/

Report: Nearly 1,500 books banned in U.S. during first half of school year

Nearly 1,500 instances of book-banning were charted across the U.S. in the first half of the 2022-23 school year, a new report finds, with bans most prevalent in Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina.

https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/banned-book-report-pen-america-rcna80726

Groups Target Professional Library Conferences and Librarians Attending Them

In March, an organization in P­ennsylvania issued an “alert” on ­social media. The Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA) was to have its conference in April. The Citizens Advisory of Pennsylvania encouraged people to call their districts and “demand that any librarian slated to go to this ­conference is denied.” And it’s not just Pennsylvania. In Texas, groups have had an eye on the Texas Library Association conference since last year. There were protests against keynote speaker Ibram X. Kendi, and conservative groups watched social media for posts about the ­conference.

https://www.slj.com/story/Groups-Target-Professional-Library-Conferences-and-Librarians-Attending-Them

Two moms are at the center of the fight against book banning in America: ‘It’s exhausting’

HT @frankstrong “We vacationed in Florida and liked the people and the weather,” she said after the meeting. When she and her husband, a software architect, decided to move here from Pennsylvania in 2014, “it was still the Florida of ‘Florida Man’ and alligators in hurricanes. Just weird stuff,” she said. “But now it’s a fascist hellscape. With all the laws they’re passing, my family essentially isn’t safe here anymore. It’s a nonstop attack on human rights. We are considering moving.”

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-05-15/florida-book-banning

In a PEN America Lecture, Ta-Nehisi Coates Exercises Freedom to Write

To Coates, “books are dangerous,” and should not be underestimated, because the overt removal of books accompanies violence against “a suite of rights.” He points out that “debates around free speech, around who can say what, tend to happen on certain axes,” namely gender, sexuality, and race, so “the natural question is to ask, ‘How free are the people in those categories?’” He reflected on access to abortion rights, the danger of sexual assault, “the rights of trans people to publicly exist,” and the problem of mass incarceration, all of which point to what he called “a deep unfreedom” in the U.S.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/trade-shows-events/article/92272-in-a-pen-america-lecture-ta-nehisi-coates-exercises-freedom-to-write.html

Bill in TX Senate would require vendors to rate books sold to every school library

MT @technolibrary If you haven’t heard, HB900 passed onto the Senate floor for a vote. This bill requires vendors to rate books as well as every book sold in the past to every school library in the state of Texas.

https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/pdf/HB00900S.pdf#navpanes=0

Candidate Pledge to Support the Freedom to Read and Oppose Book Bans

https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/pledge/

Resources & Opportunities

Building Your Own Benefits as a Self-Employed Person

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__CjPeF06TC28HcE_Xdjx-g#/registration

IBPA Launches the Innovative Voices Program

MT @ibpa IBPA is proud to launch the Innovative Voices Program, a program designed to provide support to 5 publishers from marginalized communities each year!

https://www.ibpa-online.org/news/637767/IBPA-Launches-the-Innovative-Voices-Program—Apply-Today.htm

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