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While I focus on Technology, Innovation, and Publishing, because I have a platform, I also flag items that I think are important and try to include a bunch of resources & opportunities. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter.
It’s a big one this week!
Important Items
A Christian artist can refuse to make wedding websites for gay couples, the Supreme Court ruled in an LGBTQ+ rights setback and another win for religious plaintiffs
Colorado web designer told Supreme Court a man sought her services for his same-sex wedding. He says he didn’t – and he’s straight
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/30/politics/colorado-web-designer-court-filings/index.html
Divided Supreme Court outlaws affirmative action in college admissions, says race can’t be used
RT @RepJasonCrow This decision is deeply upsetting but outright grotesque for exempting military academies. The court is saying diversity shouldn’t matter, EXCEPT when deciding who can fight and die for our country—reinforcing the notion that these communities can sacrifice for America but not be full participants in every other way. Justice Jackson is right: “deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.”
Lawyers for Civil Rights, spurred by affirmative action ruling, challenge legacy admissions at Harvard
Study on Harvard finds 43 percent of white students are legacy, athletes, related to donors or staff
A year after fall of Roe, 25 million women live in states with abortion bans or tighter restrictions
RT @DrIbram “More than 25 million women ages 15 to 44, or about 2 in 5 nationally, now live in states where there are more restrictions on abortion access than there were before Dobbs.” Millions more are in states where restrictions are facing court challenges.
https://apnews.com/article/abortion-dobbs-anniversary-state-laws-51c2a83899f133556e715342abfcface
Why post-Roe abortion restrictions worry domestic violence experts
For years, advocates for reproductive health, social support and legal services have cautioned that the revocation of abortion rights could worsen domestic violence. Early evidence and anecdotes suggest that is already happening.
Guns for Domestic Abusers, Agency Power Next Up at Supreme Court
The Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan, a resounding setback for tens of millions of borrowers
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/06/30/us/student-loans-supreme-court-biden
Most accidental shooting deaths among children involve guns left loaded and unlocked, study finds
RT @GIFFORDS_org 4.6 million children in the US live with at least one loaded, unlocked gun. That’s terrifying. Too many children have unintentionally shot themselves or loved ones b/c of an unsecured gun. Gun owners should securely store their guns or face consequences.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/health/children-accidental-shootings/index.html
Kansas, Other States Threaten To Undo Legal Gender Changes; What To Do
RT @ErinInTheMorn This is unprecedented. AG Kobach of Kansas announced that drivers licenses and birth certificate changes must be REVERSED for trans people. Other states have passed similar laws. I detail what you can do if affected. Subscribe to support my work.
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/kansas-other-states-threaten-to-undo
New York governor signs ‘safe haven’ law for transgender youth
New York is now among a dozen states that have laws protecting access to transition-related medical care for minors.
Looking Back on Three Years of Performative Diversity Efforts
MT @mitrakalita We’ve barely begun to change systems of inequity nor overhauled missions that historically exclude people of color. Now the response to the little progress made since a historic summer 3 years ago is to … undo it?
https://time.com/charter/6290473/undoing-workplace-diversity-gains/
Poor air filtration in schools is driving absences and tanking productivity, but the fix is simple
‘Bold’ study that gave people COVID reveals ‘supershedder’ phenomenon
A small subset of infected people spew huge amounts of virus into the air — despite having only mild symptoms.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01961-7
Covid pandemic linked to surge in child and teen diabetes
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-66054946
Rapid Progression of Dementia Following COVID-19
https://covid19.nih.gov/news-and-stories/rapid-progression-dementia-following-covid-19
Increased risk of acute myocardial infarction after COVID-19 recovery
“The risk of acute myocardial infarction was 93% higher in COVID-19 recovered patients compared to the general population”
https://www.internationaljournalofcardiology.com/article/S0167-5273(22)01914-3/fulltext#%20
Wastewater sampling in Canada suggests COVID case rate 19 times higher than reported
CDC: Research Says Long Covid “Contributing” to Labor Shortage
About 18% of those with Long COVID have not returned to work for over a year. The CDC says it’s “hurting the U.S. economy.”
https://tech.co/news/cdc-research-long-covid-labor-shortage
WHO: Up to 36 million people in Europe may have long COVID
“Unless we develop comprehensive diagnostics and treatment for long COVID, we will never truly recover from the pandemic. We are encouraging more research…”
NYC Has Left People With Long COVID Behind
https://hellgatenyc.com/nyc-has-left-people-with-long-covid-behind
Semen Analysis Finds COVID-19 Alters Levels of Fertility-Related Proteins
Boston hospital brings back mask requirement in unit affected by COVID cluster
“It’s something that could have been completely prevented,” said Harvard Medical School instructor Dr. Lara Jirmanus. “It’s a shame and a pity.”
How long will Canada burn? Smoke will continue to choke NYC and the east coast throughout summer as 281 fires burn ‘out of control’
Malaria cases in Florida, Texas are first US spread in 20 years, CDC warns
RT @luckytran The US has just reported its first cases of local malaria transmission for the first time in 20 years. Malaria was considered eliminated in the US in 1951. Climate change poses a huge threat to public health.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/health/malaria-us-cdc-alert/index.html
How Plastics Are Poisoning Us
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/07/03/book-reviews-plastic-waste
It’s Getting Hard to Stage a School Play Without Political Drama
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/04/theater/school-plays-politics.html
Innovation
AI-made drug starts human trials
https://www.semafor.com/article/06/27/2023/ai-made-drug-starts-human-trials
‘Dynamic Music’ Promises to Soundtrack Life on Demand — and in Real Time
https://www.billboard.com/pro/dynamic-music-ai-soundtrack-life-games/
Technology
AI and the automation of work
Via @benedictevans ChatGPT and generative AI will change how we work, but how different is this to all the other waves of automation of the last 200 years? What does it mean for employment? Disruption? Coal consumption?
https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2023/7/2/working-with-ai
Women Are Most At-Risk Of Losing Their Jobs To AI
https://www.essence.com/news/money-career/ai-women-jobs-replaced-bias/
How actors are losing their voices to AI
MT @michellemanafy In an 18-year-old contract, an actor signed his voice rights away in perpetuity, industry standard before generative AI existed. Thousands of other voiceover and performance artists face the same dilemma as companies race to commercialize generative AI
https://www.ft.com/content/07d75801-04fd-495c-9a68-310926221554
Google Says It’ll Scrape Everything You Post Online for AI
AI-generated tweets might be more convincing than real people, research finds
https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/28/23775311/gpt-3-ai-language-models-twitter-disinformation-study
Using Large Language Models With Care
https://blog.allenai.org/using-large-language-models-with-care-eeb17b0aed27?gi=2d9febd67c62
‘Secret Invasion’ Opening Credits Generated By AI, Prompting Backlash From Audiences
ICYMI
“AI is a Tool.” The Problem With Secret Invasion is More Complicated Than You Think
https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/secret-invasion-ai-opening-titles-sequence
OpenAI’s ChatGPT app can now search the web — but only via Bing
https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/27/openais-chatgpt-app-can-now-search-the-web-but-only-via-bing/
Uncensored Chatbots Provoke a Fracas Over Free Speech
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/02/technology/ai-chatbots-misinformation-free-speech.html
AI is killing the old web, and the new web struggles to be born
MidJourney Adds “Panning” Feature
https://www.futuretools.io/news/midjourney-adds-panning-feature
A.I. and TV Ads Were Made for Each Other
RT @michellemanafy “There must be tens of thousands of commercials online, an immense corpus for software to digest. That availability has helped make our young A.I. programs remarkably good at reproducing them. Besides, commercials are already recursive, by design…”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/27/magazine/ai-ads-commercials.html
Europe to Open AI ‘crash test’ centers to ensure safety
Meta launches VR subscription service that costs $7.99 a month
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/26/meta-quest-plus-vr-subscription-service-announced.html
Elon Musk Limits Number Of Posts Twitter Users Can Read Per Day
Twitter has started blocking unregistered users
https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/30/23779764/twitter-blocks-unregistered-users-account-tweets
Read the leaked ‘early access’ guide Meta sent select influencers to test Threads, its new Twitter rival app
https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-threads-app-twitter-creators-early-access-guide-2023-7
Those 10,000 5-star reviews are fake. Now they’ll also be illegal.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/30/fake-reviews-online-ftc/
Amazon’s New Robots Are Rolling Out an Automation Revolution
https://www.wired.com/story/amazons-new-robots-automation-revolution/
Google Violated Its Standards in Ad Deals, Research Finds
https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-violated-its-standards-in-ad-deals-research-finds-3e24e041
Google Is Placing Ads for Top Brands on Spammy, Chatbot-Generated Blogs
The June 2023 Misinformation Monitor report by NewsGuard Technologies documents a dismal breakdown of the “programmatic” ad market, which is supposed to match ads with audiences automatically while respecting the brand-safety preferences of advertisers.” Instead, “major global brands are supporting the proliferation of unreliable artificial intelligence-generated news and information websites” with their ads dollars, the report says. “This programmatic approach thus funds low-quality and misinformation sites, while failing to protect ‘brand safety,’ with most of the ads placed by Google.”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/google-is-placing-ads-for-top-brands-on-spammy-chatbot-generated-blogs
Google says it will start blocking Canadian news stories in response to new law
Microsoft brings new AI-powered shopping tools to Bing and Edge
TikTok is opening its own online U.S. store
https://www.semafor.com/article/06/28/2023/tiktok-is-opening-its-own-online-us-store
TikTok’s new monetization feature invites creators w >50K followers to make video ads for a chance to earn money
TikTok’s Fickle Algorithm Is Leading to Burnout for Content Creators
After Montana Banned TikTok, Users Sued. TikTok Is Footing Their Bill.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/27/business/media/tiktok-ban-montana-lawsuit-funding.html
TikTok announces it will establish a youth council in hopes of building a better platform for teens
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tiktok-youth-council-news-rcna91264
LinkedIn’s new AI bot will write your hard-earned milestone posts for you
Publishing & Media
AI-Generated Books of Nonsense Are All Over Amazon’s Bestseller Lists
“The AI bots have broken Amazon,” wrote Caitlyn Lynch, an indie author, in a Tweet on Monday. “Take a look at the Best Sellers in Teen & Young Adult Contemporary Romance eBooks top 100 chart. I can see 19 actual legit books. The rest are AI nonsense clearly there to click farm.”
The importance of editors in the age of (highly unreliable) AI
HThttps://whatsnewinpublishing.com/the-importance-of-editors-in-the-age-of-highly-unreliable-ai/
Copyright, Contracts, and AI-Generated Material
https://writerbeware.blog/2023/06/16/copyright-contracts-and-ai-generated-material/
Authors Sue OpenAI Claiming Mass Copyright Infringement of Hundreds of Thousands of Novels
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/authors-sue-openai-novels-1235526462/
How AI art killed an indie book cover contest
ICYMI, Science fiction and fantasy authors are struggling with AI-generated media — and formulating strategies to deal with it.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/9/23752354/ai-spfbo-cover-art-contest-midjourney-clarkesworld
TikTok Sells a Lot of Books. Now, Its Owner Wants to Publish Them, Too.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/books/tiktok-book-publishing-bytedance.html
How Review-Bombing Can Tank a Book Before It’s Published
HT @JulieBlattberg “I don’t think Goodreads has an economic incentive to be any better….”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/books/goodreads-review-bombing.html
USA TODAY Best-selling Booklist is back
Top Children’s Book Agents Accepting Submissions 2023
MT @wordisdiversity If you’re looking for a literary agent for your children’s book but don’t know where to start, reference this list of agencies working with kidlit authors by @VitaleBrooke
https://brookevitale.com/blog/how-to-find-a-childrens-book-agent
New Self-Publishing Facts and Figures Released
Per the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), Female self-published authors earn more than male by 40.9% (almost the exact % usually found in trad publishing, where men outearn women by 41.4%). Also heartening to note LGBTQIA+ self-pub authors out-earn heterosexual by 19%
https://selfpublishingadvice.org/self-publishing-facts-and-figures/
eBook Piracy: How to Respond If Someone Steals Your eBook Online
Reading for pleasure early in childhood linked to better cognitive performance and mental wellbeing in adolescence
‘Building Something Together’: Translators Discuss Their Art
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/28/books/review/literary-translator-roundtable-discussion.html
How Hard Could It Be to Translate a Picture Book?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/28/books/review/translating-childrens-picture-books.html
Behind the Scenes of the NYT Book Review’s issue on literature in translation
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/02/insider/literary-translation.html
Translator Calls Out British Museum’s “Erasure” of Her Work
Study Finds AI News Sites Proliferating, Underwritten By Blue-Chip Advertisers
Big News Publishers Look to Team Up to Address Impact of AI
New York Times, Wall Street Journal parent News Corp and Dotdash Meredith owner IAC are among companies discussing forming a coalition
https://www.wsj.com/articles/big-news-publishers-look-to-team-up-to-address-impact-of-ai-80c3b88e
Media organizations grapple with developing AI policies
MT @michellemanafy DCN checked in with six media organizations—Harvard Business Review, The Weather Channel, Consumer Reports, The Washington Post, Skift, and Boston Globe—to explore how they are developing AI policies and internal guidelines for AI usage and what these look like.
What’s your type? Try these tests to pick the perfect font for you.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2023/best-font-you-test-types-styles/
How journalists cover lies is the most important issue in news media
“Typically when someone is lying, journalists report that they’re lying and then they get embarrassed and stop doing it. That stopped happening.”
How to Cover a Conspiracy-Peddling Candidate
MT @jayrosen_nyu Here is On the Media’s guide for interviewing conspiracy theorists and other disinformers running for office. The first one is by far the most important. And I’d go further: ask yourself why you’re doing this— then share that answer with the rest of us.
https://link.chtbl.com/onthemedia
Shouting into the Void: Why Reporting Abuse to Social Media Platforms Is So Hard and How to Fix It
MT @craignewmark Have you ever reported online abuse to social media platforms & felt like you were shouting into the void? So did the 20+ media professionals Pen America spoke to about their experiences. Learn more about how platforms must revamp reporting here:
https://pen.org/report/shouting-into-the-void/
New accessibility help guide available for Washington Post website
Future of accessible book, audiobook production in limbo in Canada as subsidy winds down
In podcasting, you’re ‘missing out on half of your audience if you’re not on YouTube.’ But video’s rise has prompted a backlash
https://www.businessinsider.com/video-is-top-debate-in-podcasting-could-shape-its-future-2023-6
IndiePod Manifesto
MT @arithisandthat The IndiePod Census report is now live! Head over to sign in to the Declaration and get your copy!
https://www.thepodcasthost.com/pillars-to-podcasting-success/
SiriusXM to Shut Down Stitcher Podcast App in August, Consolidate Services
Paper Magazine Resurrected By Controversial Media Publisher
https://studyhall.xyz/scoop-paper-magazine-resurrected-by-controversial-media-publisher/
National Geographic lays off its last remaining staff writers
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/06/28/national-geographic-staff-writers-laid-off/
How book bans threaten democracy
https://www.vox.com/politics/23776025/book-bans-defund-public-libraries
Judy Blume Kicks Off ALA Annual, Talking Censorship and Thanking Librarians
MT @sljournal For years, Judy Blume assumed those banning efforts of the 1980s were beaten back for good. “We thought, ‘That’s it. We’re done with this. This is never gonna happen again.’ And here we are. On steroids.”
Freedom Fighters: Ibram X. Kendi Kicks Off ALA 2023 with a Powerful Message to Librarians
“an institution without books about racism, without books about homophobia, without books without books about the Holocaust, without queer characters, without books by authors of color, is not a library – it is a propaganda shop masquerading as a library.”
Book Bans are Driving Kids Away from Libraries and Reading
https://bookriot.com/book-bans-are-driving-kids-away-from-reading/
Parents will be notified by email when their student checks out a library book
RT @veronikellymars This is how you discourage students from even using their school library: “Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, parents will also be notified by email when their student checks out a library book” It’s explicitly so parents can file challenges.
https://www.peoplenewspapers.com/2023/06/22/hpisd-trustees-ok-challenge-policy-for-library-books/
Idaho GOP is trying to create a “bounty” on banned books
RT @EveryLibrary Idaho GOP is trying to create a “bounty” on banned books and they want to reward book banners with $2,500 per book. In fact, they’re attacking their own members who disagreed.
What makes a social studies textbook “woke” in Ron DeSantis’ Florida
Only 19 of the 101 social studies textbooks initially submitted were approved for statewide use in FL. The rejections were based on reviews, many performed by right-wing activists from Florida Citizens Alliance, a group closely aligned w the DeSantis administration. As of June 12, 87 of the 101 textbooks were approved after unspecified changes were made to dozens of textbooks. In several instances, the reviewers of rejected texts mischaracterized basic factual information as biased, inappropriate, or ideological.
https://popular.info/p/what-makes-a-social-studies-textbook
Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools
MT @PENamerica The 2022-23 school year was marked by an escalation of book bans and censorship in classrooms and school libraries across the USA. 74% of book bans are connected to organized efforts. The most influential of these advocacy groups was Moms for Liberty.
https://pen.org/report/banned-in-the-usa-state-laws-supercharge-book-suppression-in-schools/
More Than 50 Authors Join PEN America, We Need Diverse Books, and the Florida Freedom to Read Project, in Call to Pinellas County, FL School Officials to Drop Review of 87 Book Titles
Book Ban Damage from Serial Filer
MT @Laborat25867370 Check out the damage a “serial filer” can do to a public library! All these book are currently restricted “behind the circulation desk” until their fate is determined. Books are on lockdown + guilty until proven innocent because of 1 person. Estimated cost to taxpayers is $85k to review all 200+ books. And the board is reviewing only 4 books a month so these sequestered books may remain locked away for years
https://twitter.com/Laborat25867370/status/1673774823653232643
LGBT kids like me attend Katy ISD. We need those books. (Opinion)
A Censorship Language Primer
Use this primer to better understand what book ban, censorship, book challenge, and other terminology means.
https://bookriot.com/a-censorship-language-primer/
Resources & Opportunities
The Battle for the Bookshelf: How to Fight Back Against Book Bans
Do you care about book bans? Come learn what you can actually do about it from Kelly Jensen (Book Riot), Dominique Cimina (Penguin Random House), Stephana Ferrell (Florida Freedom to Read Project), Nina Lorez Collins (Brooklyn Public Library), and Caroline Richmond (We Need Diverse Books) on Mon. 7/17 from 12-1pm ET. FREE for Women’s Media Group members, $15 for non-members. Learn effective strategies that libraries, publishers, media, and others can use to push back against these alarming well-organized challenges, defend intellectual freedom, and safeguard access to diverse and challenging literary works.
https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-5325775
WMG Party
@WMG_NYC Members: Come to our IRL cocktail party! Can’t wait to see everyone on 7/12 5:30pm ET at a restaurant in NYC’s Chelsea for our Summer Soirée. It will be outdoors and covered. Sign up today!!
https://womensmediagroup.org/event-5304152
Authors Guild Open Letter to Generative AI Leaders
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/authors-guild-open-letter-to-generative-ai-leaders/
Unbanned Book Club
Across the United States, books are being banned from schools at an unprecedented rate. These bans are unfairly targeting authors and stories from diverse backgrounds, races, sexual orientations & gender identities. We’re not here for that. The Unbanned Book Club is a movement made up of individuals determined to get banned and challenged books back into affected communities. We’re doing it during this summer break. And we’re doing it by mobilizing people like you and our partners. #teamPRH
6 Best Practices for Talking to Friends & Family About Sharing Falsehoods Online
https://newslit.org/tips-tools/how-to-speak-up-without-starting-a-showdown/
Get paid to test with Wirecutter
MT @wendyluwrites In an effort to make product recommendation guides more inclusive and useful, Wirecutter is looking to hire people with various disabilities and body types to help test products in New York for a limited period of time. Could that be you? 👀
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/test-with-wirecutter/
List of Important Book Fairs, Festivals and Conferences
https://aalbc.com/events/list.php
New York City Poetry Festival
5 boroughs. 7/29-7/30
https://www.newyorkcitypoetryfestival.com
Out in Tech | The Rainbow Age of Fashion, Gaming, Media & Entertainment
MT @OutInTech Are we nearing the Rainbow Age of entertainment? Join us Sept 13 to hear about increasing representation of queer, BIPOC, and disabled characters from the movers & shakers bringing our favorite content to screens, feeds, earbuds & wardrobes!
Walter Grants
MT @diversebooks @diversebooks · Jul 3 Apply for a 2023 Walter Grant—deadline extended to 7/10! These $2000 grants are for diverse, unpublished creators based in the US and we have: 📝 5 general grants 📝 2 trans creator grants 📝 2 Native creator grants 📝 1 disabled writer grant
https://diversebooks.org/programs/walter-grant/
Penguin Random House Internship Applications are Live
FYI – I can’t help w this. #teamPRH
MT @MarindaOnline 📢📢📢🐧📚 PRH internship applications are live!
🗓️20 weeks long
💵$20/hour
💻REMOTE
❌Do NOT need to be enrolled in college or have a degree
✔️Must reside in the US
Deadline: July 21 at 11:59pm EST
https://jobsearch.createyourowncareer.com/PRH_US/go/PRH-US-Internships/1020801/
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