| Added some important issues this week. |
| Innovation |
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| Is your business ready for the Metaverse?ICYMI MT @ValaAfshar By 2031, most schools will provide students with augmented reality glasses to improve learning outcomes. By 2032, flagship smartphones start shipping with embedded holographic projections. The METAVERSE is already here. Is your company ready?www.zdnet.com • Share |
| Important Issues |
| Supreme Court to review state legislatures’ power in federal electionsThis article concerns the “independent state legislature theory” which argues state legislatures have the authority over federal elections without checks from state constitutions or state courts.Imagine this doomsday scenario, per @Thom_Hartmann: In the next presidential election, although the Democrat won the popular vote in Georgia, their legislature decided it can overrule the popular vote and just awarded the state’s 16 electoral votes to the republican. An hour later we hear from five other states with Republican-controlled legislatures where the democrat won the majority of the vote, just like he had in 2020: North Carolina (15 electoral votes), Wisconsin (10), Michigan (16), Pennsylvania (20) and Arizona (11). The election is stolen, and the new Republican president declares martial law as there is chaos in the streets.Congress could enact voting rights legislation to prevent this, but you must vote in a majority of democrats in the midterms.www.washingtonpost.com • Share |
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| Some Rheumatic Disease Patients are Having Difficulty Accessing MethotrexateImportant repercussion to Roe: RT @realcc 3 major arthritis nonprofits are collecting patient stories to organize a response to the (uncommon but concerning) phenomenon of patients in states like TX being denied Methotrexate post Roe v Wade overturn.arthritis.theenthusiasticlife.com • Share |
| Some Texas schools may call slavery ‘involuntary relocation’Public schools in Texas would describe slavery to second graders as “involuntary relocation” under new social studies standards proposed to the state’s education board. A group of nine educators submitted the idea to the State Board of Education as part of Texas’ efforts to develop new social studies curriculum, according to the Texas Tribune .apnews.com • Share |
| Supreme Court Puts Brakes on EPA in Far-Reaching DecisionHigh court says the EPA overstepped its authority in restricting greenhouse gas emissions in the Clean Air Act, a ruling with ramifications for other regulators.www.wsj.com • Share |
| Supreme Court says police can’t be sued for not reading out Miranda rightsAnd ICYMI, the Supreme Court made a decision to protect police from being sued for not providing a suspect with a Miranda warning.www.npr.org • Share |
| Technology |
| Snap debuts Snapchat+ paid subscription for power usersSnap will begin a subscription service called Snapchat Plus that unlocks exclusive features, priced at $3.99 a month. But it doesn’t let you run ad-free. #Snapwww.theverge.com • Share |
| Big Tech remains silent on questions about data privacy in a post-Roe USWe asked Meta, Twitter, Google, TikTok, and Reddit how they will moderate abortion content and handle subpoenas and warrants for data on people who seek or assist with abortions.www.technologyreview.com • Share |
| Instagram Blames “Bug” After Posts About Abortion Are HiddenInstagram said a “bug” was causing content to be placed behind “sensitivity screens” after posts mentioning abortion were hidden.www.hollywoodreporter.com • Share |
| Instagram and Facebook remove posts offering abortion pillsIn a test, the @AP found that Facebook removed a post offering to mail abortion pills within one minute. It did not remove similar posts offering to mail a gun or marijuana.apnews.com • Share |
| Protecting people’s privacy on health topicsRT @AttorneyNora In June, @freepress & 50 civil rights allies urged @Google to stop collecting location data. Google just announced it will delete location history for users visiting places sensitive to their health. Big win! Next: stop collecting all our data, @Google!blog.google • Share |
| Microsoft is removing emotion recognition features from its facial recognition techMT @michellemanafy “Our thoughts and emotions are the most intimate parts of our personality and are protected by human rights such as the right to privacy.” @SandraWachter5 via @nbcnews | right move @Microsoftwww.nbcnews.com • Share |
| Google Expands Carbon Emissions Calculator for Gmail, DocsGoogle is expanding an emissions calculator for business customers and ahead of a summit on sustainability.gizmodo.com • Share |
| FCC Commissioner Tells Google and Apple to Pull TikTok From Their App StoresCommissioner Brendan Carr railed against the popular Chinese-owned social platform, alleging it was handing over U.S. citizen’s data to Beijing.gizmodo.com • Share |
| 6 Accessibility Basics Cause 97% of ErrorsHT @LauraB7 An accessible ecommerce site doesn’t require an expert. Learn the six most common accessibility errors and how to fix them in-house. The non-profit organization WebAIM periodically analyzes home-page accessibility problems of the top 1 million most-visited websites. In 2022, WebAIM found that 96.8% of all home pages tested had at least one error, per the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. It also found that 96.5% of errors fell into one of six types:Low contrast text,Missing alternative text for images,Empty links,Missing form input labels,Empty buttons,Missing document language.www.practicalecommerce.com • Share |
| Cosmopolitan, PolitiFact Bring #AbortionFactCheckProject to TwitterTweets from politicians, pundits, public figures will be checked for accuracy. #AbortionFactCheckProjectwww.adweek.com • Share |
| Publishing & Media |
| Cyberattack Prevents Macmillan From Shipping Its Books to RetailersMacmillan, one of the largest book publishers in the U.S., said it has been hit by a cyberattack, and book retailers nationwide said they were unable to place new orders from the publisher.www.wsj.com • Share |
| How TikTok Became a Best Seller MachineHT @juliebarer Now one of the commanding forces in adult fiction, BookTok has helped authors sell 20 million printed books in 2021, according to BookScan. #BookTokwww.nytimes.com • Share |
| Authors are protesting Amazon’s e-book policy that allows users to read and returnAuthors say readers are exploiting Amazon’s seven-day return policy by using Amazon like a library and returning books after reading them. #ebookswww.npr.org • Share |
| The Business of Being a Writer with Jane FriedmanMT @annabdavid How do you determine if a book was successful? How do you know if your book idea is good? Do authors have to be on social media and have newsletter lists? For answers to these questions from the iconic @JaneFriedman #authorsoftwitterwww.legacylaunchpadpub.com • Share |
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| This brief post lists 13 instructional practices that reduce the love and motivation for reading in students and then 13 ways to inspire and motivate them. www.valentinaesl.com • Share |
| Germany’s Bookwire Now Offers Artificial Narration for AudiobooksText-to-speech automated audiobook narration arrives at Bookwire, amid the company’s insistence on its respect for human narration.publishingperspectives.com • Share |
| New Penguin Classics Marvel Collection Debuts#TeamPRH #ComicsAreClassicglobal.penguinrandomhouse.com • Share |
| Comics/Graphic Novel Sales Jumped 62% in 2021Sales of comics and graphic novels rose 62% in 2021 over 2020, according to a new joint estimate by ICv2 and Comichron. Total comics and graphic novel sales to consumers in 2021 in the U.S. and Canada were approximately $2.07 billion.www.publishersweekly.com • Share |
| The Conservative Women Radicalizing Amish LiteratureA growing network of Christian writers is pushing past tradition to broach topics like depression and marital conflict.www.theatlantic.com • Share |
| Wisconsin school district dropped book on Japanese-American incarceration during WWII from curriculum, arguing that the story was ‘unbalanced’RT @minjinlee11 Book banning continues. Julie Otsuka’s novel “When the Emperor Was Divine” has been banned for 10th grade English classes in a school district in Wisconsin. Undisputed historical fact: The American government imprisoned Japanese Americans during WWII.www.insider.com • Share |
| Virginia Politicians Sue Oni Press and Maia Kobabe Over GENDER QUEERRT @veronikellymars Attorney Tim Anderson has filed a lawsuit against Oni Press, publisher of GENDER QUEER, as well as author Maia Kobabe.bookriot.com • Share |
| Amazon staff demand ban of books calling transgender people mentally ill‘If we bill ourselves as the world’s biggest bookstore, that comes with a lot of responsibility’fortune.com • Share |
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| 10 Books on Abortion to Understand the Roe v. Wade RulingNearly 50 years ago, the Supreme Court legalized abortion. Now that the court has overturned Roe v. Wade, here are 10 books that outline the history and the terms of the debate.www.nytimes.com • Share |
| IPA’s Africa Publishing Innovation Fund Pivots to Accessibility in Fourth YearHT @LauraB7 In its final year, IPA’s Africa Publishing Innovation Fund plans to support training in accessible publishing for African book publishers.publishingperspectives.com • Share |
| New Research Explains the Content Entrepreneurs in Today’s Creator EconomyOnly 1% of content creators say they regret their career choice, according to new #ContentEntrepreneur #CreatorEconomy research from @TheTiltNews. @JoePulizzi says he’s never seen a stat like that. According to the article, “It takes about 6.5 months on average for a creator to earn their first dollar. On average, it takes 17 months after launch to become a self-supporting business. And then it’s another eight months (25 months since launch) to hire some help.”www.thetilt.com • Share |
| How Documentaries and Podcasts Are Working Together to Grow the Nonfiction UniverseThe landscape is inspired and inspiring more aural storytelling. #podcasting #filmvariety.com • Share |
| Read It First: 14 New Adaptations Based on BooksA charming historical comedy, a thriller with an assassin on the run, a regency-era romance for anyone missing Bridgerton, and more.www.nypl.org • Share |
| Writopia Gets Kids to Tell Their StoriesProviding motivation, encouragement, and space to write can change lives. @WritopiaLabwww.villagevoice.com • Share |
| Dotdash Meredith’s Better Homes & Gardens, People temporarily halting some print subscriptionsPublishers across the country are struggling with increased paper prices and low supply. #PaperShortage #magazines #SupplyChainwww.desmoinesregister.com • Share |
| Advertising Week, a Firm That Runs Trade Shows, Is Acquired by an Events-Holding CompanyRT @michellemanafy Stillwell Partners LLC has sold @advertisingweek, which runs trade shows and educational services for marketing, media and technology professionals, to Emerald Holding Inc., an operator of business-to-business events.www.wsj.com • Share |
| News Media Alliance and MPA – The Association of Magazine Media Have Merged, Now Known as News/Media AllianceICYMIwww.newsmediaalliance.org • Share |
| For print newspapers, one Florida retirement community is a better market than Atlanta, St. Louis, or PortlandFor local newspapers, print circulation has collapsed for every audience except retirees. That’s why the daily paper in The Villages, Florida (metro population 129,752) prints as many copies as the one in Atlanta (metro population 6,930,423). Here’s the economics: “Gannett, the country’s largest chain, still makes $2 in print for every $1 it makes in digital. In circulation revenue, Gannett still makes $9.60 in print for every $1 in digital.”www.niemanlab.org • Share |
| Report Details Expansion of News Deserts Across the USAccording to the analysis, the country is losing roughly two newspapers every week, and more than 360 publications across the country have closed between late 2019 and May 2022. “The country is set up to lose one-third of its newspapers by 2025.”www.adweek.com • Share |
| Since 2005, Texas has lost more journalists per capita than all but 2 statesOf Texas’ 254 counties, 27 no longer have a newspaper. Loss of local news coverage has been associated with higher levels of mistrust, misinformation and malfeasance. Only California and New Jersey have lost more newspaper journalists, relative to population.www.texastribune.org • Share |
| How the Pandemic Gutted Ethnic JournalismRT @michellemanafy While the pandemic has dealt a blow to the entire journalism industry — more than 100 local newsrooms have closed since — it’s been especially tough on small, ethnic news outlets that may not have the resources to stay afloat.www.nbcnews.com • Share |
| In France, YouTubers Deliver Political News to Young AudiencesYouTubers in France are finding success by delivering political content to young audiences. But their methods pose challenges for journalism and news literacy, some critics say.www.nytimes.com • Share |
| 33 Problems With Media in One ChartModern media is broken. In this infographic, we highlight 33 problems with the social and mass media ecosystem today.www.visualcapitalist.com • Share |
| Resources & Opportunities |
| Star Wars Fans For Abortion AccessA group of Star Wars fans have decided to fight back against the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe Vs. Wade. “What Choice?” is a campaign to protect choice and bodily autonomy.www.gofundme.com • Share |
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| Romance for RoeDonate to @PPFA or @NARAL and submit your donation receipt and receive a free anthology of romance reads from 36 authorsromanceforroe.com • Share |
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| #ReadAndVote: Eric Holder and the Fight to Save DemocracyMT @OneWorldLit On Thursday, 7/14 at 8:00 p.m. ET on Zoom, join @EricHolder and @Sifill_LDF as they discuss how we can reverse the current tide of voter suppression and become a true democracy where every voice is heard. Tickets are free and available here. #ReadAndVote #teamPRHwww.eventbrite.com • Share |
| Where Can I Run?Some good news, from 6/29: RT @amandalitman In the days immediately after the draft decision to overturn Roe first leaked, 2000+ people signed up to consider running for local office at http://runforwhat.netI.n the days since the decision was final, another 2k+ people have signed up.wherecanirun.org • Share |
| You Can Now Play ‘EmilyBlaster,’ a Video Game Inspired by Emily Dickinson’s PoetryPlayers assemble poems by shooting at words in the ‘80s-style adventurewww.smithsonianmag.com • Share |
| Summer Storytimes Offered at Select Clean Rite Laundromats in the BronxThis summer, several Bronx branches will host Saturday family storytimes at select Clean Rite laundromats.www.nypl.org • Share |
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| Walter Grant Deadline ExtendedMT @diversebooks Good news: we’ve extended the deadline for Walter Grant applications to July 31! We are awarding $2,000 grants to unpublished diverse writers & illustrators based in the US, with specific grants set aside for trans, Muslim, and Native/Indigenous creators.diversebooks.org • Share |
| A thread of paying speculative fiction submissions open in July for writers!Via @Megan_NerdNesttwitter.com • Share |
| New Books — Latinx in PublishingRT @LatinxinPub We love reviewing and including books written by Latine/Caribbean writers. If you have a book out in 2022 or 2023 please fill out this form so we can include you in our monthly books on sale post, and other opportunitieslatinxinpublishing.com • Share |
| iHeart, Charlamagne Announce Black Effect Podcast FestivaliHeartMedia and Charlamagne Tha God have announced the first-ever Black Effect Podcast Festival to celebrate Black voices in the podcast industry. The event, sponsored by Nissan, is Sunday, August 28 at the Avant Gardner, Brooklyn Mirage.radioink.com • Share |
| N.Y.C. to Offer Paxlovid at Mobile Virus Test Sites, First in U.S.New York City is creating the first mobile testing units in the U.S. that will allow people who test positive for the coronavirus to immediately receive for free the antiviral treatment Paxlovid.www.nytimes.com • Share |
| The Design + Marketing Summit | An Online Event, July 18–19The essential HOW-TO event for designers and marketers to learn best practices and boost productivity, efficiency, and quality.creativepro.com • Share |
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| PageBreak Conference 2022RT @PageBreakConf PageBreak registration is now open! Join us for this new conference to explore publishing, present and future. San Francisco Oct 27-28. Register now for Early Bird discount!www.eventbrite.com • Share |
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| TikTok has been the #1 downloaded app in the world for three years, with over half-a-million new users every day. Every day! To tap into that sizable audience, publishers, authors, and retailers are collaborating with avid book fans who have created popular content for the platform’s “BookTok” community. Learn how with this power panel! Free for @WMG_NYC members, $15 for non-members. Register today!www.womensmediagroup.org • Share |