No University of Virginia Honor Code in Algeria
July 5, 2018
Anyone who has a child or young member of their family probably knows about the looming threat of the Internet on cheating. Whether it is the scourge of plagiarism on papers to using phones in class to lookup answers, there seems to be a runaway train in our schools and no way to stop it. Unless, of course, you live in Algeria. We learned more about their fascinating solution to this educational problem from a recent Science Alert story, “A Whole Country Just Turned Off Its Internet to Stop Students from Cheating on Exams.”
For six days, Algeria shut off the Internet so students could take their finals:
“It is of course a big step to take – but the country has a big problem with cheats. In 2016, some 300,000 students had to retake exams after papers were leaked early on the web and circulated around social media.
“Last year attempts were made to restrict access to social media platforms, but ultimately those measures weren’t effective enough – so this year the authorities are going all in. Both cell networks and broadband are getting switched off during the allotted periods.”
While it’s pretty extreme, we like Algeria’s moxy. This is a much more effective way to curb cheating, than say banning wristwatches. Could this method work in a country like America? We’re willing to bet that grownups can’t live without their cat memes long enough to find out.
Patrick Roland, July 5, 2018
WhatsApp: Brazilians Like to Party via Text Messaging
June 21, 2018
WhatsApp, the social messaging wunderkind app, has been making major headway in the market, nearing usage rates of early Facebook and Twitter. Nowhere is WhatsApp making a greater impact than in Brazil, where the political landscape itself is being transformed via the app, as we discovered in a recent Washington Post story, “WhatsApp is Upending the of Unions in Brazil, Next it May Transform Politics.”
According to the story:
“Nearly two-thirds of Brazil’s 200 million people use WhatsApp to share memes, set up meetings and, increasingly, vent about politics. Now, the messaging app is helping Brazilians undermine established power structures, injecting a level of unpredictability and radicalization into a country beset by economic and political crises.”
It’s not just Brazil that is being impacted by WhatsApp and its ability to connect people. The South American nation is only one of a handfuls of examples, many of the life-and-death variety. For example, The Guardian claims that several political activists embedded in repressive regimes have been using WhatsApp to skirt punishment and organize groups aimed at upending the government. This is promising news and a great example of the disruption that many Silicon Valley startups envisioned when they created their social media platforms. Encrypted messaging apps may not be quite as popular with some government authorities either.
Patrick Roland, June 21, 2018
Social Media: Some Influence, Some Impacts
June 17, 2018
Many experts have been calling for the death of mainstream media for years—with newspapers and televised news in a strange downturn in impact—a new mainstream media is arising. We learned more about how social media isn’t the death of the old guard, but actually a new wrinkle in that world from a Los Angeles Times story, “Stop Calling Them ‘Social’: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Et al Are The New Mainstream Media.”
According to the story:
“In the new mainstream media, there is no context, and you are always on the record — to your own followers, the potential millions of those who retweet you and any other media outlet, whose members are constantly scanning social platforms for sources, announcements, trends, feel-good moments, spats and offensive statements.”
This logic has been supported recently, by reports that most adults in the US get their news from a social media source. According to these numbers 62% of adults get their news from social media. This is a staggering number that spells out just how much power the platform has.
We noted USA Today’s analysis of falling IQs. The culprit according to the newspaper is schools and nutrition. (See “IQ Scores Have Been Falling for Decades, and a New Study Blames Schools and Nutrition.”) Television, broken families, digital distractions—not a problem.
The article itself illustrates the trend.
Patrick Roland, June 17, 2018
Self Regulation: How Does That Work for Teen Aged Science Club Members?
June 15, 2018
I like the Platonic ideal of self regulation. Better yet let’s try for crowd sourced regulation. Tie dye T shirts are cool too.
Sometimes, it seems, humans are the answer. Unpaid, helpful humans. Motherboard profiles the little-sung YouTube “super users” in, “‘Are You Batman?’: How YouTube’s Volunteer Army Gets Channels Undeleted.” Writer Adrianne Jeffries opens with an anecdote in which an individual known as @Contributors_YT may have helped an unfortunate YouTube broadcaster get his channel back. She then explains:
“Increasingly, YouTube creators are getting help from anonymous YouTube super-users, including @Contributors_YT, who have access to a backchannel that allows them to escalate complaints to YouTube employees and sometimes get mistaken channel deletions or ‘false strikes’ against videos reversed. These super-users volunteer for YouTube through a company initiative that used to be called ‘YouTube Heroes’ but is now known as two separate programs, Trusted Flaggers and YouTube Contributors. They patrol the official YouTube Help Forum and social media, where many of them use TweetDeck to sift for keywords that signal distressed YouTubers. Most of the time, the volunteers simply add expertise, offering advice on everything from how to get more subscribers to technical support. They know YouTube’s Community Guidelines inside and out, and can usually figure out why action was taken and help fill in the gaps around YouTube’s notoriously poor communication with creators. Sometimes they pass along messages from YouTube staffers related to specific cases. But lately, as YouTube ramps up enforcement due to negative press coverage about the prominence of violent videos and conspiracy theories on the platform, they’ve been intervening more and more when videos or channels are incorrectly penalized. For YouTubers who get wrongly caught up in the company’s enormous, faceless content moderation machine, these volunteer crusaders are their last hope.”
See the article for several more examples of these YouTube do-gooders helping those who have been wronged by the zealous algorithm. It is worth remembering that, by now, some of these broadcasters have put years of work into their YouTube presences, and many rely on them for income. Should social media sites embrace the old school notion of editorial control and responsibility?
Nah. Nothing is more satisfying than watching self regulation in action. From Amazon reviews to comments offered to viewers of a live stream of the Hawaii volcano eruption, good judgment is on display.
Cynthia Murrell, June 15, 2018
Social Media: Must Have Information
June 13, 2018
At the intel and LE conference in Prague, one of the items of received wisdom was, “Social media is very, very useful.” What struck me last week was that this view seemed to be held by authorities throughout the world. Just a few years ago, social media was a great unknown. Today it is known and highly desired.
Text-based social media tools, such as Twitter and Facebook remain the kings of social media in English-speaking countries like the United States and Great Britain. However, this is not the case around the world, where visual social media tools are overtaking them. We learned more from a recent ZD Net story, “What’s Driving Middle East’s Rush to Social Media?”
According to the story, Facebook is very popular in Saudi Arabia and UAE, but Snapchat, Instagram and the like are absolutely exploding.
“However, in some Middle East countries, Facebook use has dropped substantially, by up to -20 percent, since 2013. Reasons for this decline aren’t clear but may include privacy concerns and preferences to use newer and more visually orientated social networks.”
Eastern Europe and the Middle East are two geographic areas where visual social media has gained traction. The marketing world is already hip to this trend. Many wise ad agencies and brand-centric marketers are touting the power of visual social media to construct a company’s narrative and brand. This is not just a blip on a radar, but a global phenomenon that is poised to leave text-based social media in the dust.
Local and regional data sources complement the information generated by their US based counterparts.
Patrick Roland, June 13, 2018
Facebook Versus YouTube: Understanding 13 to 17 Year olds
June 1, 2018
I read “Teens Have Abandoned Facebook”. The source is the Daily Mail, and I believe everything I read in the British tabloid. What caught my attention was the big usage gap, if the data are accurate. A couple of highlights:
- In 2014, more than 70 percent of those 13 to 17 used Facebook. Today that usage figure is 51 percent. (Like most surveys, the nuts and bolts of the method are not provided.)
- Also, teens in the sample voted with their eyeballs. More than 80 percent use Alphabet Google’s YouTube.
- Finally, I learned that more than 90 percent of the 13 to 17 crowd own or have access to a smartphone, not a plain vanilla cheapo device. A smartphone.
The source of the data is the Pew outfit. Since I am not too interested in teenagers and their “usage patterns,” check out the write up.
Stephen E Arnold, June 1, 2018
Cambridge Analytica: Those Greek Tragedians Understood Bad Decisions
May 2, 2018
Here in Harrod’s Creek, the echoes of the khoros are sometimes audible. For example, we heard that Cambridge Analytica, the zippy data outfit has folded its tents. The firm’s offices in the US and elsewhere are shuttered or in the process of turning out the lights and unplugging from the interwebs.
We noted this statement in Gizmodo:
The news was announced during a conference call led by Julian Wheatland, the current chairman of the SCL Group who was reportedly tapped to take over as Cambridge Analytica’s next CEO. Both companies will now close their doors. During the call, Wheatland said that the board determined that rebranding the company’s current offerings in the current environment is “futile.”
In the online information the Beyond Search team has been reviewing, there was no reference to this statement, allegedly crafted by Sophocles:
I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating.
CNBC reported:
The firm is shuttering in part due to mounting legal fees associated with its investigation into whether there had been any wrongdoing with regard to Facebook data, according to the Wall Street Journal who first reported the shuttering.
That “real” news report did not include this statement, allegedly penned by Euripides:
Cleverness is not wisdom.
Will other clever individuals bump into Greek truisms?
The odds in Harrod’s Creek that trouble will be coming to some social media outfits are the same as those on Justified, the favorite in the Kentucky Derby.
Race tracks do need workers to clean their Augean stables. The work is less sporty than crunching data of mysterious origins, but it pays because horses are often more reliable than some humans. Plus there is a party for workers after the race on Saturday.
Stephen E Arnold, May 2, 2018
Removing Drug Information from Social Media May Be Difficult
April 27, 2018
There is an opioid dealer nearby. In fact, this drug kingpin is not standing on the corner or lurking on college campuses, this supplier is right at your fingertips. Thanks to a recent article, the plague of drug sales through popular and public social media platforms has caught the attention of some powerful people. We learned about these developments in a recent Wired article, “One Woman Got Facebook to Police Opioid Sales on Instagram.”
While it’s a little confusing, the basic story goes that one woman who discovered opioid sales on Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) reached out to Facebook, urging them to take action, through a rival social platform, Twitter. The tactic worked, even getting the FDA involved.
According to the story:
“It shouldn’t take this much effort to get people to realize that you have some responsibility for the stuff on your platform…A 13 year old could do this search and realize there’s bad stuff on your platform — and probably has — you don’t need the commissioner of the FDA to tell you that.”
However, the act of policing drug sales on social media platforms and the dark web is not as easy as one might think. Yes, they shut down offending accounts, but beyond that there is little that can be done. According to the story, it outlawed certain hashtags, like it had done before. “Instagram previously restricted the drug-related hashtags, #Xanax and #Xanaxbar and banned #weedforsale and #weed4sale.”
It’s a small step, but hopefully one that will lead to greater and greater progress. For more information, learn more about CyberOSINT (the Dark Web) here.
Patrick Roland, April 27, 2018
Social Data Donated to Internet Archive
April 25, 2018
The plot thickened around Facebook’s user-data sharing practices when it was revealed they gave access to social-network search platform Profile Engine. Now, the company itself announces, “The Profile Engine Has Now Been Donated to the Internet Archive.” The post relates the company’s perspective on its subsequent dispute with Facebook, then explains why they are making this donation. It asserts:
“We sued Facebook, fought hard in a David and Goliath battle and won a good settlement. One day, maybe we’ll have time to tell the whole story – you’d be utterly shocked what goes on inside Facebook – what you’ve already heard is just the tip of the iceberg. If you have a Facebook account, we strongly recommend that you delete it completely, without delay. Learn more about Facebook.
We also noted this statement:
“We are freely and lawfully transferring this database to the Internet Archive (archive.org) as they have a long track record as a suitable, responsible long term custodian and we have the legal right to do so. “Making this data freely available and preserving it serves many purposes. Here are a few:
* Helping to reunite old friends with powerful search tools (Facebook don’t provide powerful search tools because if you have to search through hundreds of pages of profiles then you view more ads than if the tools take you straight to who you want).
* Helping you to find and meet new people with common interests
* Exposing the interests and group memberships of politicians and public figures (What did they really like ten years ago before they were famous?)
* This snapshot of the early days of social networking will be invaluable to Genealogists, Social Historians and perhaps even Archaeologists in ten, fifty or even 1000 years time.
* Most importantly, this will break Facebook’s monopoly over social data. People chose to make this data free and public, yet Facebook still charge for it. Not any more!”
The balance between privacy and rights to information seems to get trickier every year, and many are vexed that the Profile Engine was allowed to collect user profiles in the first place. Whether the value of this archived information outweighs the perceived violations of trust remains to be seen. For its part, Profile Engine asks us to use this data “responsibly and respectfully.” Eyerys once reported the platform to be partly owned by the Auckland University of Technology when it began as a Facebook search tool. Profile Technology was founded in 2007, and is based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Cynthia Murrell, April 25, 2018
LinkedIn Identifies Worker Weakness
April 23, 2018
I read “LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner Just Revealed Employees Lack This 1 Surprising Job Skill More Than Any Other.” I found the write up amazing. The table below identifies the steps one must take to become an effective communicator. Note that there are two columns in the table. I have commented on each of the “tips” with a reference to LinkedIn’s own service, used by an estimated 200 million professionals. How is LinkedIn doing? Decide for yourself.
| Weiner Tip | Addled Goose View |
| Really listen | LinkedIn does its best to distract via annoying notifications, a “dark” interface, and obscured functions |
| Exude confidence | How many “contacts” do you have? You need more. Without more, your confidence will suffer. |
| Be a non verbal ninja | Nothing is better than zero feedback from LinkedIn regarding issues with its system |
| Be concise | Nothing is more concise than zero way to reach LinkedIn staff |
| Start from a place of respect | Nothing shows respect than zero user support |
Can you locate a list of groups so that you can find those which interest you? Start there. Oh, don’t forget to sign up for the monthly “real” service. A combination of Microsoft and LinkedIn—an ideal couple.
Stephen E Arnold, April 23, 2018
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