#when the ethics of data collection are WAY MORE IMPORTANT and also not exclusive to AI (ad + location tracking can suck my whole dick) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wolf-heart1197 · 3 years

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MASS EFFECT DS9 CROSSOVER PLEASE SHARE SOME THOUGHTS

You have. Opened a can of worms, friend.

WELL.

Ok so as far as set up i was picturing like. Wormhole/space magic shenanigans bringing the Normandy to DS9, set somewhere during that little window after Shep and Co. return from the Suicide Mission at the end of 2, but before Shep turns themself in to the Alliance.

The Normandy, badly damaged, limping up to this mysterious space station theyve never seen or heard of before, don't even recognize the outline or architecture, but hey at least they seem to be friendly? And they're offering to help fix our ship and get us back where we need to be so I guess they aren't all bad?

So then Shep and crew are stranded on DS9 for at LEAST a couple weeks while they try to get the Normandy fixed up, and allllll the shenanigans the respective crews get into, especially once they start interacting with each other

-There's the obvious of course, Shepard and Sisko would get along fantastically, I think. Both the leaders of crews of mixed bags, sometimes trying to get them to work together is like herding cats. Strong cats with guns and opinions, but at the end of the day they really are kind of a family, aren't they?

-Both are able to understand what was supposed to be one (relatively) simple mission turning into way more lives at stake than they signed up for (Shep with. Well. The entire events of the trilogy, but then Sisko too. Bring Bajor into the Federation. Thats it, that was the mission, but suddenly we're at war with a frankly stronger superpower from another quadrant and suddenly one station is supposed to be the head of it all? The pressure. The lives at stake if they fail. Yeah.)

As for the rest of the crew:

-The next obvious, I think, would Grunt and Worf. Very different methods and cultures, obviously. I'm not saying they'd necessarily GET ALONG even, but there'd be a mutual respect there, I think. Both coming from warrior races, fighting is in their blood, its what they know. And theyre both outsiders to their own culture, being raised primarily if not exclusively by Someone Else, having to fight for their right to have a place amongst their own people. There's a shared strength in that.

-Mordin and Garak, and their shared past as spies. Garak's penchant for lying with every other word out of his mouth vs Mordin's tendency to only say about half of the words in his sentences, each trying to weasel the truth out of the other. Each at the very least recognizing that theyve done horrible things in their past, but not necessarily having regrets for them. Well, no regrets they're willing to admit to.

-BUT THEN ALSO Mordin and Jadzia, really just. Best Science Bros. Mordin can be extremely focused, which I think might turn Jadzia off of him at first, up until she catches him singing under his breath while he works. And once their discussions start trending more towards the importance of art and culture alongside scientific advancement is when they really start to shine together. Also I think Mordin would be absolutely FASCINATED by the Trill, the symbiotic relationship and the symbiont carrying memories across hosts, how the symbionts and hosts merge, etc. Nothing like that really exists in the ME universe

-Julian and Dr. Chakwas could talk some about medicine, certainly, barring nothing else about the differences in their respective medical technology. But I think ultimately she would get tired of his attitude, and he would decide she didn't really have anything new to teach him.

-Julian, I think, would be much more interested in spending time with EDI and Legion. I mean, consider how he was in the one TNG episode, when he got to meet Data? He would be over the moon especially for a chance to study legion. The Geth Collective is genuinely an interesting idea, and I think he would be fascinated by the varrying levels of simulated intelligence, but without individuality. EDI would be an interesting study, because this would be before she got the mech body, so she would still for all intents and purposes "be" the Normandy. A ship as a living entity? With emotional attachment to the crew inside? Absolutely fascinating. And if it were a bit alter on that this happens? She has wants! And fears! Absolutely fascinating!

-Dr. Chakwas, on the other hand, would probably end up spending her time with Keiko O'Brien. Swapping stories about their times being forced to be on the relative sidelines, having to watch all the horrible things their loved ones are constantly dealing with and only being able to do so much. Keiko's exasperation with Miles and Chakwas' with Joker. (And Shepard). Plus really i just like to imagine them having tea together ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-Kira Thane and Mordin I can picture spending hours upon hours deep in discussion, about ethics and morality and religion, and how the hell you're supposed to reconcile it all when you have so much darkness in your past.

-Kira and Thane, especially, have a lot to talk about. Kira fighting in the resistance her whole life vs Thane being raised as a living weapon, both deeply spiritual and refusing to believe that their respective peaces are denied to them, that they can still find their own redemption and make up for their pasts.

-Joker would spend a lot of time trying to avoid Julian, who I think would be very insistent on wanting to study his Vrolik's syndrome, and possibly trying to cure it. Joker really Does Not Like Him.

-Tali would inevitably spend a lot of time together with Miles, because assumedly they'd be working on fixing the Normandy together (when Miles isnt busy trying to fix one of DS9's 50 million other problems). I don't know that they'd honestly have much in common aside from engineering-related stuff, but they're both geniuses in their respective versions of their fields and comparing the 2 universe's technologies alone could take more discussion time than they would have.

-I don't think Jack would. Actually try to get along with anyone. I see her spending the vast majority if her time camping out in a holosuite trying to program it to let her kill simulations of everyone she's pissed at.

-Miranda and Julian. The two genetically engineered kids. Yeah there'd be a lot to talk about there. Parent drama? Feeling like you have something to prove?? Trying to find the "you" underneath the genetic tampering??? Yeah they'd get along.

-Ok hear me out on this but. I really think Garrus and Garak would end up having a lot in common. I mean, think about it: Cardassian military/goverment/cultural structure compared to the Turians? Love of state above all else, everything is for the State (but then family above even that). And on a more personal level? Getting into a profession, a LIFE, to impress your father and then it still isn't good enough, nothing will ever be good enough, so you keep trying and going to more and more extremes to be good enough and still nothing matters. And you haven't given up on your people, no, never, but they sure have seemed to give up on you, in a way, haven't they? Exiled (Garak), ignored at every turn (Garrus), but hey, here's this one human at least that'll listen to you, and maybe even help you where others won't, so maybe things aren't all bad? Garak lies through his teeth at every turn, Garrus knows this, but he knows where to pick up the specs of truth, too.

-Jacob, bless his soul, gets roped into "babysitting" Jake and Nog. Jake distracts him by taking advantage of his chill exterior, just long enough for Nog to set off chaos halfway across the station. Cue montage of Jacob chasing the boys up and down the Promenade.

...that's all I got I am. Definitely willing to discuss more/get add-ons to this/hear other people's ideas!!!

Man this got long ajxhahavxhs

#mass effect #star trek #star trek ds9 #ive been thinking about this since like. november #mass effect is my favorite vg series and i love ds9 w my entire soul so #plus mass effect seems to have taken a lot of inspiration from star trek in interesting ways which. isnt surprising #long post #wolfie gets an ask

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perfectirishgifts · 3 years

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Algorithmic And AI Assessment Tools — A New Frontier In Disability Discrimination

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/algorithmic-and-ai-assessment-tools-a-new-frontier-in-disability-discrimination/

Algorithmic And AI Assessment Tools — A New Frontier In Disability Discrimination

Algorithms rely on large data sets that are used to model the normative, standardized behavior of … [] majority populations

The use of software algorithms to assist in organizational decision-making and their potential negative impact on minority populations will be an increasingly important area for humankind to resolve as we embrace our AI future.

These critical issues were brought into even sharper focus earlier this month with the publication of a new report by the Center For Democracy & Technology entitled “Algorithm Hiring Tools: Innovative Recruitment or Expedited Disability Discrimination?”

Looking beyond just the employment sphere, a dedicated panel discussion at last week’s Sight Tech Global conference explored other important areas for people with disabilities impacted by algorithmic decision-making, such as the administration of welfare benefits, education and the criminal justice system.

The key messages emerging from both the panel discussion and the report convey a unanimously stark warning.

Disability rights risk being eroded as they become entangled within wider society’s drive to achieve greater efficiency through the automation of processes that once required careful human deliberation.

This is dangerous for disabled people due to an inescapable tension between the way algorithmic tools work and the lived experience of many people with disabilities.

By their very nature, algorithms rely on large data sets that are used to model the normative, standardized behavior of majority populations.

The lived experience of disabled people naturally sits on the margins of “Big data.” It also remains intrinsically difficult to reflect disabled people’s experiences through population-level modeling due to the individualized nature of medical conditions and prevailing socio-economic factors.

Jutta Treviranus is Director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre and contributed to a panel discussion at Sight Tech Global entitled “AI, Fairness and Bias: What technologists and advocates need to do to ensure that AI helps instead of harms people with disabilities.”

“Artificial intelligence amplifies, automates and accelerates whatever has happened before, said Treviranus at the virtual conference.

“It’s using data from the past to optimize what was optimal in the past. The terrible flaw with artificial intelligence is that it does not deal with diversity or the complexity of the unexpected very well,” she continued.

“Disability is a perfect challenge to artificial intelligence because, if you’re living with a disability, your entire life is much more complex, much more entangled and your experiences are always diverse.”

Algorithm-driven hiring tools in recruitment

The use of algorithm-based assessment tools in recruitment is a particularly thorny pain point for the disability community. Estimates suggest the employment rate for people with disabilities in the U.S. stands at around 37%, compared to 79% for the general population.

Algorithm-hiring tools may involve several different exercises and components. These may include candidates recording videos for the assessment of facial and vocal cues, resume checking software to identify red flags such as long gaps between periods of employment and gamified tests to evaluate reaction speed and learning styles.

Algorithm-driven software is also marketed as being able to identify less tangible, but, potentially, desirable characteristics in candidates such as optimism, enthusiasm, personal stability, sociability and assertiveness.

Of course, straight-out platform inaccessibility is the immediate concern that springs to mind when considering interactions with disabled candidates.

It is entirely valid to wonder how a candidate with a vision impairment might access a gamified test involving graphics and images, how a candidate with motor disabilities might move a mouse to answer multiple-choice questions, or how an individual on the autism spectrum might react to an exercise in reading facial expressions from static photos.

Indeed, the Americans with Disabilities Act specifically prohibits the screening out of candidates with disabilities through inaccessible hiring processes or ones that do not measure attributes directly related to the job in question.

Employers may themselves think they are helping disabled candidates by removing traditional human bias and outsourcing the assessment to an apparently “neutral” AI.

This, however, is to set aside the fact that the tools have most likely been designed by able-bodied, white males in the first place.

Furthermore, approval criteria are often modeled off the pre-determined positive traits of an organization’s currently successful employees.

If the workforce lacks diversity, this is simply reflected back into the algorithm-based testing tool.

By developing an over-reliance on these tools without understanding the pitfalls, employers run the very real risk of sleepwalking into the promotion of discriminatory practices at an industrial scale.

Addressing this point specifically, the report’s authors note, “In the end, the individualized analysis to which candidates are legally entitled under the ADA may be fundamentally in tension with the mass-scale approach to hiring embodied in many algorithm-based tools.”

“Employers must think seriously about not only the legal risks they may face from deploying such a tool, but the ethical, moral, and reputational risks that their use of poorly-conceived hiring tools will compound exclusion in the workforce and in broader society.”

During the Sight Tech Global panel discussion, Lydia X. Z. Brown, a Policy Counsel for the Center For Democracy & Technology’s Privacy and Data Project, was asked whether algorithm-driven assessment tools really do represent a truly modern form of disability discrimination.

“Algorithm discrimination highlights existing ableism, exacerbates and sharpens existing ableism and only shows different ways for ableism that already existed to manifest,” responded Brown.

She later continued, “When we talk about ableism in that way, it helps us understand that algorithmic discrimination doesn’t create something new, it builds on the ableism and other forms of oppression that already existed throughout society.”

Yet, it is the scale and pace at which automation can further seed and embed discrimination that must be of greatest concern.

Building a more inclusive AI future

The CDT report does make some recommendations around the creation of more accessible hiring practices.

The key leap for organizations is to first develop an understanding of the inherent limitations of these tools for assessing individuals with varied and complex disabilities.

Once this reality-check takes hold at a leadership level, organizations can begin to proactively initiate policies to offset the issues.

This may start with a deep-dive into what these tests are actually measuring. Are positive but vague qualities such as “optimism” and “high self-esteem,” as elicited by a snapshot test, truly essential for the position advertised?

Through understanding and appropriately discharging their legal responsibilities, employers should seek to educate and inform all candidates on the specific details of what algorithmic tests involve.

It is only by communicating these details that candidates will be able to make an informed choice around accessibility.

For candidates who proceed with the test, organizations should be energetic in their data collection on accessibility issues.

For candidates, who fear an algorithm may unfairly screen them out, a suite of alternative testing models should readily be made available without any implied stigma.

Finally, it should be incumbent on software vendors to keep accessibility at the forefront of the initial design process.

This can be further bolstered by more stringent regulation in this area but the most useful measure vendors might adopt right now is to co-design alongside disabled people and take account of their feedback.

The simple truth is that AI isn’t just the future. It’s here already and its presence is reaching out exponentially into every facet of human existence.

The destination may be set but there is still time to modify the journey and, through best-practice, take the more direct shortcuts to inclusion, rather than the long road of having to learn from mistakes that risk leaving people behind.

From AI in Perfectirishgifts

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becominghuman · 3 years

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3 More Things I Learned from Young People about Faith . . . Because I Asked (Part 2)

It all started in a coffee shop. (Doesn’t everything?)

I asked 100 young adults (YAs) a bunch of questions about religion. Not one person denied me. That’s 100/100! Just imagine: I asked 100 different people I had never met before, each between the ages of 18 and 30 (I confirmed after I met them) if they’d be willing to chat with me about their experience of religion. All of them said “Yes”. Every single one.

YAs are not willing to make religion a private matter, hidden in the privacy of their “belief systems”. One young woman said it best when I thanked her for her willingness to talk - “What do you expect? If we don’t talk about religion out in the open, it’ll continue to hurt us behind closed doors.”

Below are three threads I found in the data I collected. I call them preferences or priorities. (The first three are in Part 1 and you can find it here.)

First, YAs prefer inclusion over exclusion.

Inclusion is a virtue in itself. It’s not the afterthought of another virtue or the end result of a set of beliefs. It’s a primary, shaping virtue, if you will. (I can’t overemphasize how much this came up in conversation!)

Inclusion is an ethic to live by, not the spoils of a PC culture, or an unwillingness to “take a stand” on certain moral issues. It is more fundamental than “taking a stand”. Theologically speaking, inclusivity is essential to YAs' understanding of the nature of God, the foundation of their faith, and their personal credo. Inclusion (or tolerance) is not how they engage other ethical issues, but it is the fundamental ethical issue. They assume that all morality must begin with a general posture of tolerance.

Even further, inclusion is a standard in itself. It is the barometer by which they measure the merit of any belief system. Established religion, on the other hand, begins with exclusion. Inclusion is a type of doctrine for YAs, and it trumps other doctrines. YAs are willing to question long-held beliefs if they’re not commensurate with inclusion. This is why a YA can take one look at a church, learn that it doesn’t accept this type of person or welcome that type of person, and dismiss the entirety of the belief system of that faith community.

Second, YAs prioritize people over polemics.

The true testing ground for an opinion or belief is not its logical coherence or its historical precedence, but is rather through the experience of others. For religious beliefs, YAs think the question Does it hurt someone else? is more important than Is it right?. And the only way to know if it hurts is to ask.

This is part of the reason evangelism has fallen so far out of popularity for religious YAs (and is so much less tolerable by nonreligious YAs). YAs believe the "other" is not ignorant, broken, or sinister. They may not subscribe to a particular take on absolute truth or follow the person of Jesus, per se, but they are not enemies, and they don’t need to be proven wrong.

While talking with many YAs, Rene Gerard kept coming to mind. I was specifically thinking of Gerard’s idea that the primary forming principle of a group is the scapegoating of an "other" (group). I don’t see that happening with this generation. If anything YAs invite people that are traditionally considered wrong to tell us (traditionally considered right) where our blind spots are. Let me say that slightly differently: YAs will listen to others tell them where they are blind before they will tell someone else how to see.

Third, YAs prioritize reconciliation over resentment.

To be fair, reconciliation is not a word that even came up when I was interviewing YAs. But there were two other words mentioned many times that are essential components of reconciliation. The first was reparation, and the second was compatibility.

Repairing the world in the ways we injured it is one of the most important ways YAs believe faith-based communities and institutions ought to engage the world. There is an explicit desire to make things right, and YAs expect religious communities to lead the way. Also, churches ought to be oriented toward justice in an age of resource imbalance and record wealth disparity. They want to balance the scale, you might say, and religious communities will either participate or be left behind.

There is a prevailing assumption among YAs that multiple beliefs (system), often considered adversarial, are actually compatible. There is a disposition toward openness and exploration in finding common ground, as opposed to places of disagreement.

The hard work of reconciliation is largely foreign to YAs but a belief in a couple key components is evident. Reparations and finding common ground are far more appealing than the alternative that they witness: resentment and antagonism.

Once again, here are the three preferences YAs have about religion. I only learned these . . . because I asked.

Inclusion over exclusion

People over polemics

Reconciliation over resentment.

Next week I will share the third installment of this article, entitled “Things I Learned from Young People about Faith . . . Because I Asked (Part 3)"

#young adult #spiritualawakening #spiritualnotreligious #churchplanting #church #ministry #ministryinnovation #newministry #outsidethebox #learning #Christian #christianity

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scifigeneration · 5 years

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Science needs myths to thrive

by Andrew George

Atlantios + saylow/Pixabay, Author provided

I can still remember the horror of discovering that everything I had worked on was wrong. I was a PhD candidate just starting my second year, and my supervisor and I had developed a test for rheumatoid arthritis which seemed a revelation. We wrote a paper for a prestigious journal but just before we sent it off, we decided to do one more experiment to check we were correct.

We weren’t. Everything that I had done in the last year was ruined and I had to start an entirely new research topic. It was a tough but valuable lesson for a young scientist – you should always go further to test your ideas.

That was 35 years ago, and I wonder if someone starting out as a researcher today would be encouraged as I was to go the extra mile. Does the incessant drive to publish and measure outcomes mean that researchers are under pressure to cut corners, and have less time and freedom to pursue their ideas?

The Wellcome Trust – one of the world’s largest funders of health research – recently launched a review of research culture, to find out if research has become so hyper-competitive that it “cares exclusively about what is achieved and not about how it is achieved”.

What helped me develop as a researcher was reading stories about those who came before me. For scientific research to be successful in the long term, I think researchers need a strong set of values, including an unwavering commitment to the truth, and a drive to test any idea to destruction.

Though they may seem opposed to the ideals of the rigorous scientific method, the best way of instilling these values is, as ever, through the stories and myths that we tell ourselves.

The power of stories

In ancient times, people would sit around their fires at night and tell stories. Stories about their creation, stories of great deeds and feats, and stories that rehearsed how people interacted with each other and the world they lived in. One of the oldest of these still to be read is the ancient Greek Illiad of Homer.

The story explores what it means to be a warrior and leader, how people should accept fate, achieve fame and the consequences of pride and anger. Young people listening to those stories learned what was expected of them, reinforcing the collective values and beliefs of society.

In the modern world, myths and stories still have an important role to play – even in scientific research. Scientists have stories about important people and great events in science, such as the discovery of penicillin, uncovering the structure of DNA, the development of vaccines and the battles that Galileo and early proponents of a sun-centred model of the solar system fought with the reactionary forces of the Church. Together, these stories help young scientists understand the collective benefits of research that go beyond personal advancement and success.

A positive research culture should prize curiosity and a view to the greater good. Vlad Tchompalov/Unsplash, CC BY

These scientific myths are based on reality, though sometimes strict historical accuracy has been sacrificed to better make a particular point. In a similar manner, the stories of Homer would have been based on real events – such as the Trojan wars – but they evolved in the storytelling. It’s unlikely the Trojan Horse really was a large-scale model of a horse that soldiers hid in.

The future of science

It’s important to recognise that how we do research has changed. This was brought home to me recently when I reread The Pursuit of Nature, the story of some of the great Cambridge physiologists of the mid-20th century. I was lucky to be taught by one of the authors, Alan Hodgkin, who won the Nobel prize for working out how nerve cells transmitted electrical impulses. He started his work on nerves in the second year of his undergraduate studies, and built his own equipment out of biscuit tins.

Nowadays to succeed you must win big grants and build up a research team. Often more than 20 authors will contribute to a research paper. Hodgkin only ever had a few people working in his team and was more likely to publish with one or two close colleagues.

This “industrialisation” of science is right and necessary. It has accelerated the impact of research in society and allowed scientists to discover and develop new technologies. There is probably nothing left that can be discovered using equipment made from biscuit tins. But amid all this change, we haven’t adapted the way in which we instil the ethics and values of science and research into young researchers.

A stamp printed in Niger circa 1977 celebrates Alan Hodgkin’s Nobel Prize in Physiology. Neftali/Shutterstock

When I was an undergraduate and PhD candidate, my supervisor worked on the lab bench. We had coffee and tea together every day. I learned from her, and colleagues, what it meant to be a scientist. Today, the interaction between supervisors and junior researchers tends to be more transactional, about the experiments and data. There is less time for the apprenticeship of research.

Of course, there is training in how to do research. Graduate schools and doctoral training centres have raised standards in the education of PhD candidates. But I doubt that many people develop their values and moral compass from PowerPoint presentations.

In my own life, the popular myths of great scientists fed a culture that cherished curiosity as a good all on its own. We need to develop these stories, curating them by selecting those that are appropriate and developing new ones that make useful points. As scientists, with a commitment to the truth, we should also ensure that they are accurate representations of reality that also reflect the collective endeavour, rather than the supposed genius of a few white men.

All cultures need their myths, and each lab needs its lore.

About The Author:

Andrew George is Emeritus Professor at Brunel University London

This article is republished from our content partners over at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

#science #science communication #mythology

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tulippush0 · 2 years

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Facebook is doubtless considered one of the strongest platforms for spreading model awareness because it has the most important variety of lively customers worldwide. By using this platform entrepreneurs can simply interact with the target audience for their enterprise. The emblem of your model works as an identity in your company. Additionally, by preserving your emblem clear and visual, your users can easily distinguish between your company’s post and the submit of other entrepreneurs. Therefore, whenever you submit something on social media don’t neglect to incorporate your brand emblem and name. Believe it or not, your customers also expect you to have a model name and a emblem. Simple participation steps like tagging pals, liking the publish, resharing it, signing up a e-newsletter, or even creating a contemporary piece of content material can engage lots of audiences. You will must have come throughout review movies and product unboxing movies by influencers. People get excited to take part in the exclusive giveaways. And through social media channels, this task turns into straightforward for all on-line marketers. Take time to analysis and find your target audience for social media brand constructing. As marketers, you cannot assume anything without analysis and statistics. It can be greatest when you discovered the proper social media platforms to look at and observe. What's "owned, Earned And Paid Media"? Sponsored radar – Radar picks up exceptional posts from the entire Tumblr group based on their originality and creativity. It is placed on the proper side subsequent to the Dashboard, and it sometimes earns a hundred and twenty million every day impressions. Sponsored radar allows advertisers to position their posts there to have a possibility to earn new followers, reblogs, and likes. Social networking websites similar to LinkedIn, additionally present a chance for small businesses to search out candidates to fill employees positions. Looking for seo of the vital thing phrases used in content material marketing? Grow an engaged audience that desires to hear from you; don’t inflate your follower rely with faux or purchased followers. You want to construct an genuine group of people who find themselves interested in your merchandise and who will promote your content material or merchandise to others. You can measure this by followers you’ve added or lost in a sure time frame, or your engagement rate . Engage with influencers or like-minded manufacturers for influencer advertising or co-marketing campaigns. Since Pinterest allows customers to market within whatever niché they like, influencers flock to the platform like hotcakes at IHOP. If you’re going to run advertisements on the platform, then be ready to reply to some severe warmth. But should you live by way of the heat, you could harness some severe potential. The platform consists primarily of males beneath the age of thirty , so if that isn’t your target market, you might need to advertise elsewhere.

#seo

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aatgeog2260 · 3 years

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Climate Anxiety and Social Injustice

I came across this article called “Climate Anxiety Is An Overwhelmingly White Phenomenon” posted on March 21 of this year. It is written by Sarah Jaquette Ray, a university professor in the United States who teaches environmental studies, and the author of The Ecological Other: Environmental Exclusion in American Culture and A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety (Ray 2021).

The majority of us seem to understand that climate change is happening right now, but this article presents another layer about the social injustices climate change evokes. I know that, in general, the Global North population benefits from the activities that produce greenhouse gases and that the Global South population suffers most from the consequences. The people suffering the most are disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and people of colour, so I was curious when I saw “an overwhelmingly white phenomenon” in the title.

Key Message

This article asks many important questions including the following two: “If people of color are more concerned about climate change than white people, why is the interest in climate anxiety so white? Is climate anxiety a form of white fragility or even racial anxiety?” (Ray 2021). The article attempts to answer these questions or at least begin thinking about the answers.

Overall, the key message is that people with privilege who experience climate anxiety need to channel those feelings into a collective liberation rather than racialized violence (Ray 2021). We all need to acknowledge our connections with other people in this world and use them for social justice and environmental stewardship.

Sources

The end of the article includes the following author’s note:

Author’s Note: I want to thank Jade Sasser, Britt Wray, Janet Fiskio, and Jennifer Atkinson for rich discussions about this topic, which inform this piece.

This is one type of source the author used for this article - rich discussion with other experts on the topic. After doing some research, I found that these women are a mix of professors, authors, researchers, broadcasters, and podcast creators. They are experts and professionals in the field exploring relationships between climate change and activism, social and ethical entanglements with planetary health, environmental and Indigenous studies, and environmental humanities.

In addition to speaking with these experts, I assume the author has outside sources or background knowledge from previous news events as she mentions the murder of George Floyd, the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and protests.

Evaluation and Verification

I believe that the sources (the people and their words) were evaluated using a dialectical analysis which is “searching for the most powerful conflicts in the data” (Hooykaas 2021 Week 9). It doesn’t explicitly say anywhere that this analysis was done, but this information goes beyond a summary to explore the ideas being discussed, their significance and their limitations. Therefore I think the purpose of this discussion was meant to go beyond and think about the most challenging ideas.

I think a verification technique that could have been used was to see how experts react to it, whether it makes sense, and if it reflects the world. Most likely, the author would have asked the experts she had already spoken to, especially if she was including ideas they had shared, so it would be best to have them review the information discussed before publishing. This can also be referred to as using “expert consultants” (Hooykaas 2021 Week 9).

Responsibility of the Consumer

The textbook’s reading this week mentions participatory action research (PAR) which seeks to “engage people in a learning process that provides knowledge about the social injustices negatively influencing their life circumstances” (Hay 2016 p. 350). Ultimately, the goal is co-learning and collective action (Hay 2016 p. 352). This is directly related to the consumer’s responsibility. When reading this article, one must ask themselves, “Who am I?” and “How am I connected to all of this?” (Ray 2021). The consumer must acknowledge the social injustice that so many people face every day and honour their resilience. The oppressed and marginalized have gained resilience out of necessity. It is something a lot of us have not had to experience. When these things become more clear, effective action can be taken.

Another important term is transformative reflexivity, meaning “both the researcher and researched group reflect on their (mis)understandings and negotiate the meanings of information generated together” (Hay 2016 p. 355). This is similar to critical reflexivity - “a process of constant, self-conscious scrutiny of the self as a researcher and of the research process” (Hooykaas 2021 Week 2). The difference is that transformative reflexivity is a collaboration of reflecting in which the meanings of the information can be transformed if needed. This is important to receive clarifications and to avoid inaccurate representations of people and stories. All of this connects to one of the core principles in research: justice. Researchers must always show fairness, equity, inclusion, and a balance of power (Hooykaas 2016 Week 3).

Conclusion

This is an interesting topic that I hadn’t thought about before. I highly recommend reading this article. I am very privileged and I have climate anxiety - global warming is a stressful world crisis - however, the points brought up in this article suggest it’s a “code for white people wishing to hold onto their way of life”. I think this is so important for all of us to reflect on and ask ourselves:

Are we worried about ourselves and the fact that we can’t live comfortably anymore?

Are we worried about the rest of the people on this planet?

Are we worried about the planet itself at all?

References

Hay, I. (2016). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography. Fourth ed., Oxford.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 2: Philosophy, Power, Politics and Research Design.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 3: Cross-Cultural Research: Ethics, Methods, and Relationships.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 9: Writing Qualitative Geographies, Constructing Geographical Knowledge Data Analysis, Writing, and Re-Evaluating Research Aims Presenting Findings.

Ray, S. J. (2021, March 21). Climate Anxiety Is An Overwhelmingly White Phenomenon. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-unbearable-whiteness-of-climate-anxiety/.

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brittanyyoungblog · 3 years

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How People in Open and Polyamorous Relationships are Navigating the Pandemic

I’ve written a lot about how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting people’s sex lives and relationships; however, most of the research that has been conducted on this topic so far has focused on people in monogamous relationships. So what about people who are in consensually non-monogamous relationships, such as those who are open or polyamorous? How is this pandemic affecting their relationships?

In our Kinsey Institute study on Sex and Relationships in the Time of COVID-19, we included questions that would allow us to determine people’s relationship structure so that we could examine how the pandemic is uniquely affecting persons in different types of relationships.

In our initial wave of data collection (conducted in March-April 2020), we surveyed just over 2,000 adults about their intimate lives. Of those who said they were currently in a relationship of some type (about three-quarters of our overall sample), most (81%) said they were in a sexually exclusive relationship. Of the remainder, 15% said they were currently in some type of consensually non-monogamous relationship, in which there is agreement among all parties that having additional sexual and/or romantic connections is permissible.

About 4% of our participants said they were currently in an exclusive relationship, but have had sexual or romantic relationships without their partner’s knowledge.

Among those who were consensually non-monogamous, most identified as either polyamorous (40%) or as being in an open relationship (31%), with fewer identifying as swingers (13%), engaging in cuckolding (3%), or being in some other type of sexually non-exclusive relationship (13%), many of whom identified as “monogamish,” “ethically non-monogamous,” or “relationship anarchists.”

We asked these individuals a series of questions about how they are navigating their relationships during the pandemic, and this is what they said:

· 65% reported texting or calling the partners they don’t live with.

· 48% reported that they were only physically interacting with the partners they lived with.

· 45% said they were social distancing from partners they don’t live with.

· 45% said they were keeping up with partners they don’t live with on social media.

· 38% said they were only having sex with partners they live with.

· 38% said they were video chatting with partners they don’t live with.

· 37% said they were sexting partners they don’t live with.

· 24% said they were playing online games or engaging in other, non-sexual virtual activities with partners they don’t live with.

· 19% said they were visiting partners they don’t live with.

· 19% said they were having cybersex with partners they don’t live with.

· 14% said they were having groceries or gifts delivered to partners they don’t live with.

In addition to the above, 13% of these folks reported other ways that they were navigating their relationships, including staying in touch with partners over email or writing letters, making supply runs for other partners, temporarily closing their relationship or shifting back to monogamy, stopping or limiting attendance at swingers’ parties, moving other partners in with them, and ending all relationships to be single for a while and self-isolate.

We also asked people to describe in their own words how the pandemic has affected their intimate relationships, for better or for worse. Here are some of the things they said:

“All of my partners and I have been in contact via phone and video chat and supporting each other. Yes it's a bummer not to see them and exchange sexual energy and human touch, but we are all here for each other. A handful of new possible partners have temporarily been put on hold that I've met online. My interest in online dating has significantly dropped.”

“Allowed additional bonding time with my nesting partner. I miss my other partner and the lack of physical contact is difficult. We've discovered that we enjoy playing games together online, though!”

“Because of the shelter in place, I decided to leave my apartment and stay with my primary partner at his family's house. I didn't want to be alone, and also I'm having issues with my roommate. This has been the longest that my partner and I have ever continuously cohabitated, and it's going well. I think it's a sign that we could live together permanently (once he is financially stable). At the same time, I have had to hide our polyamory from his family as he isn't out. It's been difficult, because that means I haven't been able to attend the virtual events that our community has been throwing. I've also had to be careful of where and how I talk to my other partners.”

“Because we are trying to social distance as much as possible, it has negatively affected my ability to see my partners frequently. I am in one more serious partnership and I have made one select trip to visit them before the shutdown in my city will leave us separated indefinitely. My second partner and I have been dating less long and saw each other less frequently, so I do not know how long it will be before I get to see her again. It is challenging not to know how long I will be apart from my partners, but we are getting creative with ways to spend time together virtually. I feel that overcoming this challenge together will teach me about how much we care for each other and how we navigate challenges.”

“I have three partners. The one that was more casual dating, I have not seen and am distancing from. That relationship seems to be fading and will probably end before the pandemic does, but it was already headed in that direction pre-COVID. The other two partners are committed and longer term. I live with one and our children; the other lives with his husband. We have combined our two households into one closed-loop ‘isolation pod,’ as if we were one household. None of us work outside the home right now and we live in freestanding homes (not apartment buildings) so don’t have to have contact with others outside our pod so our risk is low. Therefore we are able to continue to see each other. There has been a lot more closeness and intimacy with my non-nesting partner than there was before pandemic since we’re the only people we can spend time with outside our homes — we’ve jokingly referred to this as our ‘pandemic U-Haul.’ It has meant a lot more communication and gentleness to survive the suddenly increased levels of contact and intimacy, but has been overall good and sweet. Relationship with nesting partner hasn’t changed much.”

“I'm not 'playing' with anyone right now, or reaching out to them because when I did try to, just to check in they were all like 'are you DTF?' And I’m like, ummm no.....social distancing dumbass.”

“I’m only seeing one of my partners as I don’t want to expose everyone and to keep the quarantine bubble small. This is hard as each relationship has its own dynamic and chemistry and this is difficult to maintain with social distancing. For the partner I’m still seeing while quarantined and social distancing, our sex life has become even more electric and adventurous with the extra time we have quarantined together.”

“Positive: It's given me space to break my patterns and examine my relationships without hurting my partners. This is easier because I became sick with what I strongly suspect is coronavirus last week. I miss sex and companionship. However, I am glad to have a chance to really pause and ask myself if this is how I want my relationships to continue after the crisis has passed. Negative: My primary partner would like to move in with me after my quarantine is done. However, he also wants to spend time living with his other serious partner -- I feel very strongly that this puts her household and mine in danger because we will never be able to truly know if someone has been exposed to coronavirus. I feel that he is being reckless and selfish. My partner's casual attitude towards social distancing is making me seriously considering ending my longest ongoing relationship. The coronavirus puts his previous inconsiderate behaviors into a new light -- it could literally be life-or-death.”

It's important to note that these data were collected early on in the pandemic and that people’s views, attitudes, and behaviors may have shifted since. Also, our data do not come from a representative sample, so it’s not clear which trends are more or less common.

However, these findings do shed some unique light on how this pandemic has affected people in consensually non-monogamous relationships. As you can see, there have been a mix of positive and negative impacts (just like we’ve seen for people in monogamous relationships)—different people are reporting drastically different effects.

For some, relationships with one partner have become stronger—they are closer than ever—while other relationships have either not changed much or are struggling. We also see that people are finding new ways to connect and stay in touch with all of their partners, some are re-evaluating some of their relationships, and some are seeing this as an opportunity overcome challenges together and build stronger bonds.

Are you in a consensually non-monogamous relationship? What has the impact been for you? How has it changed over time? Please weigh in with your comments below.

Want to learn more about Sex and Psychology? Click here for previous articles or follow the blog on Facebook (facebook.com/psychologyofsex), Twitter (@JustinLehmiller), or Reddit (reddit.com/r/psychologyofsex) to receive updates. You can also follow Dr. Lehmiller on YouTube and Instagram.

Image Source: 123RF/Unai Huici

You Might Also Like:

Most People Have Noticed a Change in Their Sexual Fantasies During the Pandemic

Have You Reached Out to or Heard From an Ex During the Pandemic? You're Not Alone

How People’s Porn Viewing Habits Have Changed During Quarantine

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networkexplosion · 4 years

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Don’t panic, no one is going to jail… yet…

It’s here, the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI Act or POPIA) commenced on 1 July 2020. It was originally due to take effect from 1 April 2020 (an amusing date, but I digress), however, thanks to the appearance of an invisible enemy, namely CV-19, the roll-out was delayed. (So maybe it was an appropriate date, a case of ‘Just kidding!’?)

Now that the Act is in place, parties will be given a one-year transition period to comply. That sounds like a lot of time, but the roll-out of a comprehensive POPIA compliance plan can take between six months and two years to complete.

So, what is it, I hear you ask querulously?

https://bit.ly/3fX3b7p

Well, for those of you who have just come out of hibernation, POPIA refers to South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act, whose aim is the control and Processing of Personal Information.

When we talk Personal Information, that broadly means any information relating to an identifiable, living natural person or juristic person; a body recognised by the law as being entitled to rights and duties in the same way as a natural or human person, the common example being a company, CCs etc. and includes, but is not limited to information around contact details: email, telephone, physical address, location; demographic information: age, sex, race, birth date, ethnicity, sexual orientation; the employment, financial, educational, criminal and medical history of the person/entity, including blood type and other biometric information.

Also, of interest, included in the POPI Act is the capture of personal opinions, views or preferences and opinions of and about the person (yeah, that Twitter comment and or rant on FaceBook…), as well as private correspondence etc.

However, POPIA, unlike the GDPR, (that’s General Data Protection Regulation) does not apply extraterritorially, that is, it only pertains to organisations in South Africa. In essence, if you reside in South Africa or you process personal information within the country, then you need to comply with POPIA. (Although, if you are GDPR compliant, chances are you’re already pretty much POPIA-compliant). In addition, the processing of some personal information is excluded. For example, if you are processing purely for personal reason, then POPIA won’t apply to you.

Some instances where POPIA does not apply, include:

purely household or personal activity

some state functions including criminal prosecutions, national security etc.

journalism under a code of ethics

judiciary functions

https://bit.ly/3fX3b7p

While both GDPR and POPIA enforce the law for managing and storing personal information (as well the guidelines for alerting third parties if there are safety violations) there are variances, as the safety regulations differ a little.

GDPR: “The controller and the processor shall implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security and appropriate to risks represented by the processing and the nature of the personal data to be protected.”

POPIA: “A responsible party must secure the integrity and confidentiality of personal information in its possession or under its control by taking appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures.”

Also, penalties differ. Under the GDPR, a fine of up to four percent of annual global turnover or €20-million, whichever is greater, can be leveraged. Try paying that as a South African company!

With the POPIA Act, being non-compliant, the responsible party could run the risk of a penalty of a fine and/or imprisonment of up to 12 months, or under certain conditions, imprisonment of up to 10 years.

While this really has the overtones of George Orwell’s ‘1984’, there is an upside: The Act is also aimed at providing rights to people when it comes to unwanted electronic communications. That’s gotta be good, right? The POPIA legislation essentially deems your personal information to be “precious goods” and therefore aims to grant you, as the owner of your personal information, certain rights of protection and the ability to exercise control over information that is gathered.

You see, included in the Act, are guidelines about direct marketing. This means that you can’t just send any unsolicited messages willy-nilly, or emails to consumers without them opting in.

Marketing is one of the business departments that will be most affected by POPIA, meaning you have to be fully clued up on what POPIA entails and how it’ll affect your day-to-day job.

Think ‘consent’ and you basically have POPIA compliance. People must opt-in to receiving your communication, and you’re only permitted to send them the kind of data they have opted-in to receiving. For example, you cannot send a monthly newsletter to a user who only wants to obtain information linked to their individual investment portfolio. By the same token, users need to be able to opt-out easily from any further communication.

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In addition, when asking people for their personal information you must reveal why you need this information, how it will be used and whether it will be passed on to third parties.

While some limitations on direct marketing are imposed by POPIA, (emails, cold calling and SMSes) there are various other ways in which you can market your products to prospects without concerns related to violating the Act.

For example, social media marketing. As explained by Deloitte, if an individual interacted with you, or is following your company on social media, they already anticipate hearing from you, so any related communication within this format or platform, is not considered unsolicited.

It is important to note that the POPI Act is not only applicable on forms that are filled in manually, but also any cookies on websites used for analytics, advertising and any chat boxes or pop-ups. All compliant websites have a clear user opt-in, acknowledging that they have given consent to the website (the business presented in the website) to collect, process and store their gathered information.

The Act will also affect the way you notify stakeholders; if a security or privacy breach has occurred, and personal information is compromised, you will have to notify third parties as soon as possible.

While the possibilities to implement POPIA are many, it’s important to take the right one for your organisation over this 12-month period.

So, what to do, to prevent that awful sound of a prison cell door thudding shut behind you? (Only kidding, they close like any other door.)

Seems there are benefits to complying with the Act. According to POPIA.biz, consumer studies show that in 90% of cases, people feel safer about doing business with companies that are transparent about how they use your info, increasing customer confidence in the organisation. Wouldn’t you be happier if you knew how it was being stored, and why? Companies who take these measures are likely to have a more reliable database, which in itself, has numerous upsides.

https://bit.ly/3fX3b7p

With POPIA compliance, it’s not a case of ‘one size fits all’, as every organisation needs to implement different measures. For example, an SME’s requirements are very different to that of a medium or large-sized organisation.

Every organisation or company, no matter what size has some person who holds the role of Information Officer by default. (Some call them ‘Know all’, other times they have a clearly defined role and official title.) This is the person responsible for ensuring that your organisation complies with POPIA.

So, that person who always jumps on the bandwagon ensuring you follow policies etc, may be the ideal Information Officer. If that’s you, then you need to ask if you are happy with that responsibility, do you want to continue to be the Information Officer? If you’re not, then the question is: Who should be?

Ultimately, compliance accountability rests with a responsible party, which could be a public or private concern or any other person who, individually, or in combination with others, defines the objective of, and method for processing personal information within the company. As a rule, the elected party or person/s must be resident in South Africa or, the processing should occur within South Africa (subject to certain exclusions).

Also, further actioning is dependent on the foundations already laid to protect personal information, and, while some companies may have many procedures in place, others may be entirely new to this exercise.

Managing information is the crux of the process. You’ll have to categorise any consumer data that you hold and identify and determine whether it can be construed as ‘personal information’. So too, any ‘records’ and ‘sensitive’ information you might have, you’ll have to identify, as different criteria exist for handling personal information and non-personal information.

Broadly, processing info includes anything that can be done with the Personal Information, including collection, usage, storage, dissemination, modification or destruction (whether such processing is automated or not).

The POPI Act involves capturing the minimum required data, certifying accuracy, and removing data that is no longer required. The Act includes the following guidelines: ensure that the info you collect is needed for a specific purpose and apply practical security measures to safeguard it. Also, make sure it’s accurate, relevant and up to date and don’t be overzealous, only hold as much as you need for as long as you need it; no reason to hoard here. If the subject asks, they must be allowed access to the information and to see it upon request.

https://bit.ly/3fX3b7p

In brief, what you need to do:

Appoint an information officer: If the organisation does not already have one, the first step to compliance would be to appoint an information officer, in line with the requirements set out in POPIA.

Clarity of definition: Make sure everyone in the company, from the top down, understands what data privacy legislation entails and what is required of them, to ensure effective compliance.

Conduct self-audits: When staff are informed, conduct self-assessments and audits throughout the organisation, within each business unit. It is important to understand what, how, by whom information is collected. Also, what it is used for, how it is stored and processed and how it is retained and destroyed. Most importantly, whether it was collected with the requisite consent? After this, the company will be better able to identify gaps and produce a clear gap analysis and risk assessment report.

Develop a compliance protocol: An appropriate gap analysis will help pinpoint processes and policies to be put in place, which may include:

updates to employment contracts

updates to supplier agreements

changes to marketing practices (opt-in and opt-out best practice) and more.

Implement: Once implemented, the compliance framework should be monitored and maintained and ensure proper implementation of new policies and procedures through in-depth training, awareness campaigns, annual re-training and compliance audits.

In a nutshell, POPIA is a code of conduct for all businesses. While companies will be affected by the Act, it will impact specifically on those that deal with a large amount of personal information — think banks, insurance companies, medical aids, etc. That’s not to say that if you are a smaller concern that you will be able to dodge the Act, as all companies need to have systems in place to deal with personal information.

When in doubt, find out!

Disclaimer: While listed sources have been referenced, we cannot be held responsible for incorrect information being unwittingly relayed. Please consult the government website www.gov.za for confirmation, or for any queries.

https://bit.ly/3fX3b7p

#customerjourneybydesign

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michaelandy101-blog · 4 years

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How to Choose the Most Link-Worthy Data Source for Your Content

New Post has been published on https://tiptopreview.com/how-to-choose-the-most-link-worthy-data-source-for-your-content-2/

How to Choose the Most Link-Worthy Data Source for Your Content

Fractl has produced thousands of content marketing campaigns across every topic, and for the past seven years, we’ve been keeping track of each and every campaign in order to refine and improve the content we produce on behalf of our clients.

In my last post for Moz, I explained how to set realistic digital PR expectations for your content based on your niche. In this topic, I want to dive a little bit deeper into the data and share insights about how the source of your content can be just as important in determining how your content will perform.

In this analysis, I looked at 1,474 client content campaigns across six different data source categories:

Client data

Social media

Participatory methods

Publicly available data

Survey

Germ swab

It’s important to note that there are countless other data sources that we use for content campaigns every day at Fractl that are not mentioned in this article. In this analysis, each category has at least 20 campaigns, while some categories have several hundred campaigns.

It’s also important to note that averages were collected by excluding upper outliers. For campaigns that went “viral” and performed well above the norm, we excluded them in the calculation so as not to skew the averages higher.

In addition to sharing link and press averages, I will also be walking through how to produce pressworthy, sharable content from each data source and providing examples.

Managing expectations across content types

Across the entire sample of 1,474 campaigns, a project on average received 24 dofollow links and 89 press mentions in total.

A press mention is defined as any time the content campaign was mentioned on a publisher’s website.

There were some individual data source category averages that were on par with the sample average, while other categories deviated greatly from the sample average.

Publicly available data

For almost any niche out there, you can bet there is a publicly available data set available for use. Some examples include data from the CDC, the U.S. Census, colleges and universities, the WHO, and the TSA. The opportunities really are endless when it comes to using publicly available data as a methodology for your content.

While free data sets can be a treasure trove of information for your content, keep in mind that they’re not always the simplest to work with. They do require a lot of analysis to make sense of the massive amount of information in them, and to make the insights digestible for your audience.

Take for example a campaign we produced for a client called Neighborhood Names. The data was free from the US Census, but in order to make any sense of it, our researchers had to use QGIS, Python, text-mining, and phrasemachine (a text analysis API) just to narrow it down to what we were looking for.

And what were we looking for? Looking at neighborhood names across America seems boring at first, until you realize that certain words correspond to wealth.

I was the outreach specialist for this project, and by using the wealth angle, I was able to secure two notable placements on CNBC as well as a press mention on MSN. The project quickly made its way around the internet after that, earning 76 dofollow links and 202 total press mentions by the end of our reporting period.

Survey

Unlike scouring the internet for free data, using a survey as a methodology can be more costly. That being said, there is one major advantage to using a survey to shape your content: you can find out anything you want.

While publicly available data will tell a story, it’s not always the story you want to tell, and that’s where surveys come in.

Of course, when it comes to surveys, anyone can create one without paying attention to research method best practices. That’s one of the problems we need to address. With “fake news” in the forefront of everyone’s minds in 2020, building trust with journalists and editors is of the utmost importance.

As content creators, we have a responsibility to ensure that content is not only attention-grabbing and entertaining, but also accurate and informative.

Survey campaigns, in particular, require you to analyze responses through a rigorous methodological lens. When collecting data for surveys, be sure to pay close attention to ethical upholdance, data validity, and fair visual representations.

Germ swab

From my own personal experience, germ swab content campaigns are the most fun, and often, the most disturbing. Fractl did some research a while back about the emotions that make content go viral, and oftentimes, germ swab campaigns hit all of the right emotions in the viral equation.

Negative emotions like disgust are often evoked when reviewing the results of germ swab campaigns. Our study found that when negative emotions are paired with emotions like anticipation or surprise, they can still achieve viral success (internet viral, not germ viral). What is more surprising than finding out the airplane tray table is dirtier than a toilet seat?

Publishers around the world seemed to think the content was surprising, too. This campaign performed above the norm for a typical content campaign earning 38 dofollows and 195 total press mentions — and this was before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participatory methods

Participatory methods are campaigns that require active participation for the methodology. These are unique ideas — no two are alike. Some examples of campaigns that fall under the participatory methods category are when we had team members do a 30-day squat challenge, asked respondents to draw brand logos from memory, or when we literally drove from D.C. to NYC with a dash cam to record traffic violations.

These campaigns have a certain level of risk associated with them. They require a lot of upfront effort and planning without the promise of any return — and that’s scary for clients and for our team who put in tremendous effort to pull them off.

As you can see from the chart above, however, these ideas collectively performed right on par with other campaign types, and even better than survey methodologies for both the number of dofollow links and press mentions. In order to reap big benefits, it seems you need to be willing to take a big risk.

Social media

Social media as a data source is almost a no-brainer, right up there with survey methodologies and publicly available data sets. Unlike participatory methods campaigns, you don’t have to leave your computer in order to produce a campaign based on social media data.

Through our seven years of content creation, Fractl has produced campaigns based on data scrapes from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, and more. From this experience, we know firsthand what kinds of social campaigns work and which ones fall flat.

The best thing about using social media as a source for content is that it can be applied to all verticals.

The biggest lesson we’ve learned from producing content based on social media data is that the methodology is typically subjective, so you need to keep the project lighthearted in nature in order to earn major coverage.

For example, we produced a campaign for a client in which we looked at Instagram posts with the hashtag #sexy and a geolocation. From this, we were able to glean the “sexiest” countries in the world as well as U.S. states.

While it would be impossible to learn what the actual sexiest places in the world were, (what does that even mean?) we were able to produce a fun campaign that used geo-bait to appeal to lighthearted publishers, like Glamour, E! Online, Women’s Health, and Elite Daily.

Make sure that no matter the topic, whatever you produce contributes to an ongoing conversation. Statistics that don’t point to anything meaningful won’t be relevant for writers actually trying to add to the conversation.

Client data

Client data is often the most underappreciated data source for content marketers. You may be sitting on a wealth of actionable industry insights and not even know it.

You might think of internal data as only being useful for improving your internal processes at work, but it can also be valuable outside of your organization.

Unlike publicly available data, internal data is never-before-seen and 100% unique. Journalists eat this up because it means that you’re providing completely exclusive resources.

Think of this article, for example. This article is filled with data and insights that Fractl has gleaned after producing thousands of content marketing campaigns.

An added bonus of using internal data to craft your content is that, according to our analysis, it performs on par with surveys. Unlike surveys, though, it’s completely free.

Conclusion

No matter what methodology you’re using or vertical you’re creating content for, it’s important to realize that as content creators, we have an ethical and moral responsibility to create with an audience in mind.

With “fake news” on the forefront of everyone’s minds, building and maintaining trust with writers and editors is of the utmost importance.

All of the content you produce and promote must be assessed through a rigorous methodological lens to ensure that content is accurate and informative as well as eye-grabbing and entertaining.

Regardless of your methodology, if you don’t take the proper steps to make sure your data sources are accurate, you are contributing to the fake news epidemic.

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clarencenicholsonata · 4 years

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9 Proven Ways Social Media Can Grow Your Small Business

We live in an era of unprecedented small business activity. The internet age has enabled entrepreneurs in nearly every niche market to set up shop and compete with larger corporations.

Digital tools like website builders, automated services like payroll, increased communication, and the gig economy all enable small business owners to go toe to toe with competitors of all shapes and sizes.

What about marketing, though? How can a small business find a way to compete with companies that pour thousands, millions, and even, at times, hundreds of millions of dollars into advertising?

While traditional marketing options like television and radio ads may be too expensive, there’s one area of modern marketing that is uniquely accessible to a small or medium-sized (SMB) business: social media.

How Social Media Levels the Playing Field

One of the biggest themes of early 21st-century marketing has become the concept of personalization. The incredible amount of personal information that has become available in the modern, big-data-driven world is astounding, and marketers are finding a use for it in every way possible.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a B2B company or you work directly with customers, all companies can benefit from personalizing their marketing efforts.

This has led to an interesting phenomenon, in which even the largest companies strive to reach their customers on a personal level.

Interestingly, this growing obsession of using personalized information to meet a customer where they are is a strategy that gives SMBs a distinct advantage. After all, Grandpa Sam over at the barbershop, Kelly the bakery owner, and Etsy shop proprietor Sophia are all going to have an easier time connecting with their customers on an intimate, personal level when compared to companies like Amazon or Google.

And where does social media fit into all of this? Well, of all of the social marketing channels available, it’s social media more than anything else that lends itself to this personalization strategy.

Social media enables businesses great and small to reach out to potential and existing customers and cultivate a relationship with them. It allows them to answer questions, gather feedback, and encourage brand loyalty via a two-way form of communication that is singularly unique in the history of marketing.

Add onto that the fact that social media marketing is generally free, and it becomes the perfect tool for SMBs especially to utilize as they attempt to break through that marketing glass ceiling and make their small yet potent voices heard amidst the marketing clutter.

Building a Social Media Strategy for Your SMB

If you’re a small business owner and you’re nodding your head in agreement, but you’re not sure exactly where to start with your social media efforts, don’t worry. Below are several of the most important tips and tricks to keep in mind as you begin to craft an effective social media strategy for your small business.

Consider Segmenting Your Marketing Efforts

Finally, as your social media footprint grows, remember to keep that emphasis on personalization in mind. Segmenting your online marketing efforts is an excellent way to boost the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

It does so by allowing you to further personalize your strategies for your segments. If you segment your customers by demographics, this might mean you group them, whether B2B or B2C, by the size of the company or by the generation of the customer.

Thus, you will market to each of these demographics differently. For a small organization, B2B marketing might include small swag items because of the affordability and personalization, while for a larger organization, this would be cost-prohibitive.

This segmentation also allows for clearer targeted marketing, which, while similar to segmentation, is an extension of it rather than synonymous.

Choose Your Social Media Channels Wisely

Once you have segmented your marketing, this helps you to choose what social media channels you want your business to utilize. In other words, you now have the means to target your marketing via social channels.

Not all social platforms are alike. Some focus on images, such as Instagram and Pinterest, while others are more community or conversation oriented, such as Facebook or Twitter.

Still others, like LinkedIn, prioritize professional connections. Facebook, for instance, is community-based. If you find one of your segments is focused on parenting and/or family, spending a portion of your ad budget on Facebook will improve your conversion rates.

Today we're taking a look at the top 10 brands that have mastered Instagram for their eCommerce store and the lessons that we learned from them. Click here to read more: https://t.co/b7Hu5ZI4W1 pic.twitter.com/ixQDNENgyT

— Wishpond (@Wishpond) May 26, 2020

Younger consumers are more interested in images and video content, so target your efforts at platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, or even YouTube.

Look to brands such as UnderArmour, which not only has a thriving Instagram community, it upped the ante by purchasing and revamping the app MyFitnessPal, which provides another UA community.

Need help with your next social media campaign?

Book a free call to learn how our team of marketing experts can help you create high converting social media campaigns today.

Set up an Online Code of Conduct

Codes of conduct are critical to online success. They express how you expect your employees to act and behave while they represent your company online. Without these guidelines in place, your social media efforts can become muddled, confusing, and even contradictory.

A code of conduct can be as thorough as you deem necessary. However, when it comes to social media conduct, in particular, it’s worth at least coming up with a document that breaks down things like:

Your brand’s vision, goals, and mission.

Your company’s ethical stances.

The level of factual accuracy expected in your content.

Your brand’s voice, tone, and even things like your color scheme.

Consistency in formatting, punctuation, spelling, and grammar.

What legal considerations should be kept in mind, such as copyrights and plagiarism.

What kinds of content should be approved by management before being posted.

If you take the time to set up these benchmarks before you begin assigning social media marketing work to your staff, you’ll be able to produce much cleaner, more effective marketing collateral. Do you need inspiration?

Here are four great examples of codes of conduct from Fortune 500 companies like Google and Hershey’s.

Build Your Brand

Remember, while social media can be used to directly drive sales at times, it’s often more effective as a tool for larger strategic marketing items — especially branding. Take luxury brand Tiffany’s, for instance.

They are known for their signature color, Tiffany Blue. It is part of every Instagram post, making the color, and thus the brand, instantly recognizable. Does your brand have a signature color? Follow suit then.

View this post on Instagram

Tiffany on your mind? Tap for #TiffanyT1 dreams and discover the rest of the new collection via the link in bio. #TIffanyT

A post shared by Tiffany & Co. (@tiffanyandco) on May 23, 2020 at 9:42am PDT

If you are building your brand, it’s perfectly acceptable to take some time to make it work. Nothing has to be set in stone. There are plenty of sites to follow for inspiration as you create your brand. If you do change your brand at all, however, consistency is key. What you change on one channel must be changed on all the others.

Representing your brand’s tone, voice, beliefs, color schemes, and so on through your social media channels (something that should be easy thanks to your code of conduct) can help establish your brand within your niche.

Create a Community

The way that you engage with your audience on social media can be a driving factor in what kind of success you find. While you can include calls to action and data-driven information at times, it’s also important that you use your social media channels to build an online community.

Your online community can be as inclusive or exclusive as you want it to be. The Harley Owners Group (you guessed it — HOG), is both premium and exclusive.

You can only join it if you are a verified owner of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle or the family member or friend of someone who is. The group has been around for years, and while its platform is online, it’s most successful at linking customers for in-person social outings, such as rides and meets.

LEGO’s online community is bustling with one of the best concepts for fostering community — crowdsourcing the next great design ideas. If you happen to be a diehard LEGO builder, you can upload your own product designs and the community has the opportunity to support your build as the next possible product.

View this post on Instagram

Here are 7 days of build challenges for your kids to try at home this week! ? Share your family's creations with #LetsBuildTogether #LEGO #LearningThroughPlay #learning

A post shared by LEGO (@lego) on May 25, 2020 at 4:00am PDT

By providing valuable information and space for your followers and customers to interact with you and each other, you can cultivate a community that naturally creates customer retention, loyalty, and word-of-mouth.

Work With Micro-Influencers

While your own efforts are essential to social media success, you should also seek out social media influencers that you can work with as well. Influencers are popular online personalities that already have established audiences within your niche.

Businesses can work with influencers of all kinds, including “micro-influencers.” These are influencers with small audiences, typically in the thousands or tens of thousands, who have affordable rates and can still be extremely effective for small business marketing.

They are useful because their own audiences are small and niche, which helps build your own niche audiences. Using micro-influencers, while still a business transaction, is often a case of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

Since they are a smaller brand themselves, this allows for greater interaction between you and them and more cross-brand marketing. If they end up true partners, you will market them on social media in order to point to their messaging about you.

This ability to interact, both with you and with their own audiences, makes micro-influencers appear more authentic. This is a key pro to any marketing campaign in 2020.

In order to effectively interact with micro-influencers, make suggestions. Sperry asked its micro-influencers to take pics of themselves in funky spots wearing the iconic brand’s shoes. There were shots from highrises to local sidewalks, all with the hashtag #odysseysawait.

Create Measurable Goals

It’s easy to invest countless hours and funds into social media, and those efforts can be amply rewarded with success for your business. However, if you don’t set up goals before you begin your social media marketing, it can be difficult to know if and when you’ve actually succeeded.

Consider goals like driving traffic towards sales funnels, getting email sign-ups, pushing promotions, and building brand awareness.

Look for ways to measure your activities (such as installing an analytics tool like Google Analytics or Facebook Pixel) and then set achievable goals, like reaching a certain level of traffic from social media to your website, that give you something to work towards. Goals will be unique to each brand — what do yours look like?

SMB Social Media Marketing

There are plenty of ways for SMBs to find success through social media marketing. First and foremost, when done properly, it can level the playing field among small businesses. In order to do it properly, you must start with a well-formed marketing strategy.

The best strategies begin by segmenting your marketing. Parse out the niches, cohorts, or other types of audiences to whom you wish to market and begin building from there. Once you’ve chosen your audience or audiences, choose your social media channels according to those segments. Various generations prefer differing social platforms. The same goes for industries.

Lastly and most uniquely, create measurable goals for your marketing strategy. While many of these tips can be tweaked to apply across multiple organizations, this is the one that must come from each brand. No two goals between more than one organization should be the same. At the same time, don’t go too crazy, or you won’t be able to measure your strategy’s success!

About the Author

Luke Smith is a writer and researcher turned blogger. Since finishing college he is trying his hand at being a freelance writer. He enjoys writing on a variety of topics but technology and digital marketing topics are his favorite. When he isn't writing you can find him traveling, hiking, or gaming.

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juniperpublishers-gjorm · 5 years

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Effect of Counseling based on Sexual Self-Concept on the Sexual Health of Women in Reproductive Age

BackgroundSexual health is fundamental to the physical and emotional health and the basis of well-being of individuals, couples and families. Sexual health is considered as a measure to determine the level of social and economic development in countries. The World Health Organization states that, having sexual health, pleasurable sexual life and sexual awareness are among human rights, and considers counseling as an important method to enter into discussion on sexuality of people. Individuals' sexual self-concept is an important factor that affects sexual health. It refers to understanding and conception of individuals from their sexuality. Therefore, counseling based on sexual self-concept can be effective in maintaining and improving sexual health. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of counseling based on sexual self-concept on Women's sexual health.MethodThis interventional study was conducted on 59 married women between 15 to 44 years old attending the health centers of Gorgon city, Iran who had met the Inclusion criteria. Data collection tools were the Female Sexual Function Index and sexual self-concept questionnaires. After compilation of the questionnaires by the two (intervention and control) groups, individual counseling based on sexual self-concept was conducted in the intervention group. A month after the intervention, the two groups were asked to complete the questionnaires once more. Then data analysis, with nonparametric, Spearman and MannWhitney tests, was performed through SPSS software version 16.ResultThe results showed that, women in the intervention group had the total score of sexual function (P<0.0001), and the mean score in dimensions of sexual desire (P=0.02), sexual excitement (P=0.01) and orgasm (P<0.0001) showed statistically significant increase compared to before the intervention (counseling). But, in the control group no statistically significant differences in any of the dimensions was observed.ConclusionWomen's sexual function is considered as one of the key components of sexual health. The results of this study showed that, sexual counseling based on sexual self-concept is affective in maintaining and improving sexual health of women, therefore, it can be referred to as one of the effective methods in sexual counseling.Go toIntroductionThe World Health Organization [1] has defined sexual health as a status of physical, mental, emotional, psychological and social health in sexuality, and stated that, having and maintaining sexual health must be considered as human's sexual right. Sexual health is an important component of well-being and health [2]. Lack of sexual health in addition to affecting interpersonal relationship, leads to undesired consequences such as inability to make a healthy and satisfactory sexual relation with sexual partner, which itself leads to undesired physical, mental and social consequences in couples. Thus, sexual health plays a crucial role in the quality of marital life [3-5]. Lack of sexual health in women leads to psychological disorders such as; depression, anxiety, mood swings, sexual fear and sexual dysfunction [6]. One of the key components of people's sexual health is sexual function, which unfortunately, is the most common sexual health problem in people. Studies have shown that, sexual function at any level is able to affects women's sexual satisfaction, and causes degrees of stress in them [7]. On the other hand, women's sexual function is influenced by physical and psychological factors. Among the common factors that can threaten sexual function is the understanding or conception of individuals from their sexuality. For instance, women who think they are not attractive for their husbands are at the risk of developing sexual disorder twice the time than women who think the opposite [8,9]. Understanding and conception of people from their sexuality is called sexual self-concept, and this psychological factor consists of positive and negative dimensions [10] Positive sexual self-concept regulates behaviors and excitements in such way that, women with positive self-concept experience positive sexual behaviors and excitements.On the other hand, women with negative self-concept have less successful interpersonal relationships and fewer sexual experiences and sexual satisfaction, and usually have a negative and conservative attitude towards sexual issues. These women (with negative sexual self-concept) when asked to predict their future sexual plan, they show a great deal of uncertainty and pessimism [11,12]. Accordingly, assessing sexual selfconcept as a tool to determine the status of sexual interaction with others (interpersonal) and intra-personal status can have a crucial role in people's sexual health, so in people, who need sexual intervention, the counselor or therapist can use their sexual self-concept as a tool to examine their sexual health[13] . Furthermore, whereas sexual self-concept, due to the past personal experiences, is different from person to person and because of the need to preserve the principle of confidentiality[14],self-concept as a method of sexual counseling, is effective in maintaining or improving the sexual health in individuals.Go toMaterials and MethodsThis interventional study was conducted on 59 married 15 to 44 years old women attending health centers of Gorgan city, Iran to receive healthcare services. Conventional sampling method was used to select the women who were later randomly divided into two groups (intervention and control groups). The inclusion criteria of the study were; willingness to participate in the study, having at least primary school education and higher, having passed over 6 month since last birth delivery, having no history of adverse event (such as death of loved ones or accidents causing disability) in the last three months, having no chronic mental/ physical disease such as vaginal infection, having no severe marital conflicts, not being pregnant or plan to get pregnant during the study, not taking anti-anxiety and antidepressants medication, not being drug addict(husband and wife), and not being pregnant for more than 5 times. The exclusion criteria were; immigration of samples during the study, couples' decision to separate from each other, occurrence of adverse event (death of loved ones or accident leading to disabilities, etc.), and diagnosis of acute or chronic sexual problems due to physical or mental reasons during the study.Data collection tools included a form and two questionnaires, the demographic form and, the Persian Female Sexual Function Index questionnaire, consisted of 19 questions with 5 options. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed in the study of Mohammadi et al. with Cronbach's Alpha of 0.70 and above in which, the sexual function in six dimensions including sexual desire (first and second question with scores of 1 to 5), sexual excitement (3 to 6 questions), vaginal lubricant (7 to 10 questions), orgasm (11 to 13 questions), sexual satisfaction ( 14 to 16 questions with the scores 1-5) and sexual pain (17 to 19 questions with the scores 1-5) were assessed (14) and the Persian multidimensional questionnaire on self-concept with 18 domains and 78 items. The validity and reliability of the Persian multidimensional questionnaire on self-concept with Cronbach's Alpha of 0.88 and reliability index greater than 0.70 was also confirmed in the study of Ziaei et al. [15]. In this study, from the 23 questions asked, five dimensions of sexual self-concept including sexual fear (Q: 5-9-13- 18-23), sexual anxiety (Q: 1-610-14-19), sexual self-efficacy (Q: 2-7-15-20), sexual satisfaction (Q: 4-8-12-17-22) and sexual self-esteem (Q: 3-11-16-21) a) were used [15].All participants completed the demographic questionnaire form. Women who were in the intervention group underwent individual counseling based on sexual self-concept. Short-term counseling session with eclectic approach was conducted for 45 minutes by a midwifery consultant under the supervision of a clinical psychologist with MSc degree. The consultation process with sexual self-concept approach, based on scores in each area of sexual function was started and continued with non-verbal observation (behavioral and emotional) and verbal review during the interview process. The progress was assessed and sexual function based on scores obtained from the questionnaire was evaluated. Positive and negative points were identified through sexual self-concept questionnaire, which put forward two conditions:a. The existing condition was approved, andb. Problems and concerns were identified so they could be responded to, and if the problems were too many, they were prioritized [16]. If further session was required or the participant asked for further session, a time for the next meeting was set up. One month after the consultation, women in both groups were called again to complete the questionnaire once more. All subjects signed consent from to participate in the study. The participants had right to withdraw from the study if their wished to do so.Ethical considerationsi. Written consent was obtained from the entire participant before taking part in this studyii. All participants had right to withdraw from the study at any time if they wished to do so.iii. The confidentiality principal was preserved by; keeping all the participants' information confidential, using anonymous questionnaire and a code was given to each questionnaire instead of name, and conducting the counseling individually and giving the researchers' telephone number to the participants to ask any question any time.iv. This study had benefits for the sample as it was included the consultation on sexual functioning in order to improve it.v. The results of the project were effective in promoting sexual health of the participants.vi. An informed consent was obtained from the spouses of the participants in intervention group before the taking part in counseling sessions'.vii. The counselors and the participants belonged to same gender. Statistical analysis was carried out on the data collected from 59 participants. Demographic data was analyzed using parametric test and non-parametric test (Wilkekson, Spearman and Mann-Whitney) according to the research objectives through SPSS software version 16.Go toResultsThe results of Chi-square test and t-test showed no statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups in terms of demographic variables such as age, occupation and education of the spouses, mode of birth delivery, contraception way, breastfeeding condition, and parental style. Mann-Whitney test showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of average female sexual function scores before the intervention in various fields. The result of Wilkerson showed a statistically significant increase in the overall score of sexual function in the intervention group (P<0.0001) compared to before the intervention, and also a significant increase was observed in the dimensions of; sexual desire (P<0.02), sexual excitement (P<0.01), orgasm (P<0.000) in the intervention group after the intervention. But, in the control group, no significant increase was seen in any of these dimensions (Table 1). Results of the same test also showed in the intervention group, the mean score of dimensions of sexual self-concept after the consulting showed a significant decrease in the dimension of sexual anxiety (P<0.01), and a significant increase in the dimensions of sexual self-esteem (P<0.04) and sexual satisfaction (P<0.03). But, no significant difference was observed in any of these dimensions in the control group (Table 2).Go toDiscussionThe present study showed that, counseling based on sexual self-concept has a positive effect on maintaining and improving sexual function, which is consistent with the findings of Markus study (1987) which concluded that, dimensions of sexual selfconcept as an important component of individuals’ cognitive system, have active and dynamic nature and are able to change, and can influence the function of individuals and also can be influenced with it [17]. Also in this study, the mean score of dimensions of sexual self-concept after consulting showed a statistically significant decrease in the dimension of sexual anxiety and an increase in the dimensions of sexual self-esteem and sexual satisfaction. The findings of Hensel [18] which showed, the more we reduce sexual anxiety, the more sexual health improves, is also in line with the results of this study. These results are consistent with the findings of Reissing et al. [19] study which indicated that, improving and changing sexual self-concept is immensely effective in improving natural sexual function and preventing sexual dysfunction. Hucker et al. [20] observed that, sexual self-concept potentially increases women's sexual function. Chen et al. [21] showed that, strengthen sexual self-concept in women improves their sexual health. The results of Andersen et al. [22] suggested that, women with improved sexual self-concept have a better and are more successful sexual function [23,24].Go toConclusionThe present study aimed to determine the effect of counseling based on sexual self-concept on sexual health of women in reproductive age who attended health centers in Gorgan a city in Iran. This study showed that, counseling based on sexual self-concept can affect the sexual function of women in reproductive age. It maintains and improves the women's sexual function by changes the dimensions of sexual self-concept. On other words, the results showed the importance of counseling based on sexual self-concept on improving sexual function in people particular women in childbearing age. Since all dimensions of sexual function in this study were not significantly affected by sexual self-concept counseling, it is suggested that, it would be better to conduct such counseling on each of the dimensions of sexual function separately in order to better determine the effects of such counseling on sexual health.Go toAcknowledgementHereby, I would like to thank Gorgan University of Medical Sciences and its expert personnel for their help and support to conduct this study with approval number: GOUMS.REC 1394, 69. Financial Support: Golestan University of Medical ScienceGo toConflicts of InterestThe authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paperGo toLimitationsThe most important limitations in this project were:i. The need to strengthen life skills of the participants (in this study we did not have enough time for it),ii. The questionnaires were completed through selfreporting, andiii. Geographical limitation to generalize the findings.Go toRecommendationsCounseling based on sexual self-concept as a new method of sexual counseling should be taught to midwifery students to maintain and improve sexual health of women. This method of counseling should be used by existing midwives to assess, maintain and improve sexual function of their female clients. To examine the effects of counseling based on sexual self-concept (each of the positive and negative dimensions) on sexual function (one of the dimensions) of different groups of women and men in different ages and periods such as pregnancy and menopause.Halimeh Farahmand Rad

Authored by: Halimeh Farahmand Rad*

#peer review journals #Juniper Publishers #Global journal of reprodutive medicine #juniper pulishers in GJORM #'open access journals

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creative-juicebar · 5 years

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Mastery Journal - Professional Practice Reflection (Media Design M.F.A. Review)

1. Discuss how each course in your degree program contributed to your personal and professional development as a media designer.

1. Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership – Going back to school wasn’t an easy decision. I can honestly say, never in my life did I expect that one day I’d be earning a graduate degree; certainly not at 42 years old, while working full time, and taking care of a family. If you were to tell me before I enrolled that I’d be finishing my degree with a 4.0 GPA, I’d say you were insane, yet here we are. A lot of my perspective changed while taking the Mastery course. Researching about individuals who had attained mastery in their field was intriguing and inspiring. The question gradually changed from “Could I do it?” to “What’s stopping me from doing it?” Most significantly, it solidified why finding my life’s task was so important. Without that, the path towards becoming a media designer might have been a lot tougher.

2. Defining Client Needs – In the Defining Client Needs course, I begrudgingly gained appreciation for the importance of self-teaching and personal research. We explored the benefits of using Mind Maps and how research data can be synthesized to explore and develop new and interesting ideas. Having to sketch a multitude of logo concepts for our first chosen city was ample proof that the best results often come only after an extensive iteration process has been completed.

3. Brand Development – The Brand Development course continued to reinforce the principles of effective logo design and introduced the powerful effect that colors and typography choices can have on a brand. Creating 3 unique Brand Toolboxes for our chosen city was the first step towards understanding how to develop a brand strategy and began the process of learning how to communicate a brand’s visual identity using logos, color palettes, fonts, images, and textures. This was the first time I had ever learned how to do anything with Adobe InDesign. As a media designer there will probably be many more opportunities to use InDesign in the future.

4. Effective Copy Writing – The Effective Copy Writing course served as a reminder that even though I thought I could write well, there is always going to be room for improvement. Creating testimonial ads for a non-profit organization provided valuable opportunities to practice identifying a design problem, conducting necessary research, and developing effective solutions based on that research. Developing target personas proved to be essential, as each of the revised ads was heavily influenced by the personal detailed backstories of the personas. I have always enjoyed writing and I have always been good at problem solving. For me, learning how to combine the two was truly a eureka moment.

5. Design Research – As exciting as it was to combine writing with problem solving in Effective Copy Writing, in Design Research it was equally as exciting to discover that developing a narrative and brand design also went hand-in-hand. The more I found out about the similarities between graphic design and storytelling, the more I became hooked. Establishing voice and tone for a brand is not that different from creating character profiles for a story. In both cases they define personality and are critical for maintaining consistency throughout their development. On the flipside of the coin though, I learned in this course that I would require much more practice and experience with grid layouts, text handling, and visual hierarchy before I would ever feel completely confident designing layouts.

6. Organizational Structures – Organizational Structures was a pivotal course for me. Ten years ago, I received my undergraduate degree in Media Arts & Animation from the Art Institute of Las Vegas. Since then I’ve developed quite a bit of experience working with motion graphics. This was the first course in the Media Design program where it became apparent that the world of graphic design and the world of animation were not mutually exclusive. This course required us to combine visuals, motion, and sound with our established city brand narrative and as a result, profoundly enhanced my professional presentation skills. It opened my eyes to all sorts of possibilities available to me as a media designer.

7. Design Strategies and Motivation - Sometimes in order to grow you need to be pushed outside of your comfort zone. For the last three years or so I’ve been working from home and most weeks have not required me to travel beyond driving to the kids’ schools or down the street to the grocery store. Most of my face-to-face communication has been limited to my wife, the kids, and a few of their friends. It’s not that I was enjoying being anti-social, but the introvert inside of me had gotten quite comfortable with the status quo. When we were told in Design Strategies and Motivation that we’d need to go out and interview five strangers, what could be described as a feeling of panic flooded every one of my senses. Nevertheless, I accepted the task at hand. After struggling to approach people at first, I eventually found a groove. The people that I interviewed ended up providing new insight and perspective about what was needed in the community. This stimulated new ideas that would help to elevate my brand. The experience taught me that there can be unexpected benefits when you push yourself to do things you otherwise wouldn’t do. I have always struggled with networking and striking up random conversations with strangers. However, now I can look back at my month 7 experience as a reminder that unless I push myself to engage, I’ll never know what kinds of opportunities I’m missing out on.

8. Design Integration – The Design Integration course provided the first opportunity to utilize many of the tools, principles, and techniques we had been acquiring thus far in a practical way that seemed applicable to solving a real-world problem. I felt articulating potential solutions played well to my strengths as a problem solver, developing the brand’s voice & tone was something I was relatively proficient at, and creating the dynamic vision board allowed me to tap into my motion graphics experience. Developing media plans and putting together design briefs seemed very complicated at first. However now, if I’m ever asked to develop a media plan or put together a design brief for a client, I’ll be better equipped to take those on.

9. Multi-Platform Delivery – There were actually a couple of important lessons that I learned in the Multi-Platform Delivery course. By the end of week one we needed to define a production timeline which would be used to complete each of the media assets for our city brand. Admittedly, I have never been one for a lot pre-planning, however, with the amount of work to be done in such a relatively short period of time, I learned to appreciate the value of sticking to a fixed production schedule. In this course I also needed to be painfully reminded that just because I may think a concept or design is perfect, doesn’t necessarily mean that others will appreciate it in the same way. In a lot of ways, this was one of the toughest months for me to get through, but the lessons it provided will continue to stick with me as I grow as a media designer.

10. Measuring Design Effectiveness – Measuring Design Effectiveness introduced me to the research advantages of sending out surveys to quickly collect qualitative and quantitative feedback. Having more than 100 strangers review my designs though, felt like I was Cersei from HBO’s Game of Thrones when she was stripped of all her dignity and forced to walk naked through a condemnatory crowd. Of course most of the responses that came back from my survey were positive and even the majority that weren’t, still provided some insight on how the designs could be improved. Overall though, I probably learned much more about what kinds of survey questions to ask next time, which will be especially handy if and when I need to do it again.

11. Presentation of Design Solution – The Presentation of Design Solution course provided an additional much-needed opportunity to work with layout design, text handling, and visual hierarchy. It also challenged me to develop logical and persuasive arguments for mastery across each DLO. Learning about the Wix.com website builder will likely help me in the future if I ever need to put together a quick website. It may prove to be a convenient way to construct a personal portfolio site. Understanding how to create clean and professional presentations will no doubt benefit me as I advance in my career as a media designer.

12. Professional Practice – The Professional Practice course capped off a year of learning with a thought-provoking examination of the ethical and moral challenges media designers must contend with. The course included a review of AIGA’s Design Business and Ethics document which stimulated worthwhile discussions about copyright issues, the social and environmental responsibilities of designers, and many helpful guidelines media designers can use in their personal and professional development (AIGA, 2009). We learned how to create an Experience Map which is one more tool designers can use to help companies identify ways to enhance the experience of their customers. We also researched various professional design organizations that designers can join to gain access to networking, professional development opportunities, industry resources, and in some cases even health insurance. We updated our resumes and practiced writing professional cover letters using the most up-to-date strategies.

Describe how the techniques in each course helped you complete your thesis project (do not include month 12: Professional Practice) and describe your most outstanding personal triumph in each course.

1. Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership – Mastery put me on the right track to succeed. It helped me reignite my ambitions and gave me the confidence to go forward and be creative in all of my future courses, which undoubtedly had a significant impact on my overall thesis project.

2. Defining Client Needs – The most significant technique that came out of this course was learning how to synthesize research. This course also introduced David Airey’s seven elements of iconic design and established that effective design is most often simple, relevant, distinct, memorable, adaptable, focused, and incorporates tradition (Airey, 2014, pg.39). These guidelines became central when creating virtually every project that went into the final thesis presentation. There was also a greater stress on learning how to use proper APA format in this course.

3. Brand Development – The most valuable concept learned in the Brand Development course was the importance of establishing and communicating a brand’s visual identity. Without that concept, most of the projects in my thesis presentation may have appeared far less cohesive.

4. Effective Copy Writing – The greatest takeaway from this course was learning that developing a design strategy is as important, if not more important, than the ability to write well. Understanding that concept had an immense impact on the rationales of my thesis project. Before any copy was written, a design strategy was established first. Also, the multiple approaches that led to the creation of my revised testimonial ads provided a persuasive and compelling demonstration of my ability to solve problems.

5. Design Research - The greatest personal triumph in Design Research happened when the narrative for the Kyoto city-branding project began to take shape. Once that narrative was established, every other design decision fell right into place. Defining the brand’s narrative made it much easier to develop the persuasive arguments necessary on the Connecting, Synthesizing, Transforming page of my thesis project. I could logically rationalize why various imagery was selected and explain how the fonts and color choices tied directly back to the theme and the personality of the brand.

6. Organizational Structures – The most outstanding personal triumph in the Organizational Structures course was the cinemagraph created in week 4. To me it symbolized the culmination of months of research and brand development. I appreciated how the subtle movement of the geisha was completely juxtaposed with the static imagery that surrounded her on the modern-day Kyoto train. It communicated the message of my brand in a way that was both elegant and poignant. Out of all the pieces in my thesis project, the Kyoto cinemagraph may have been the most successful at communicating its intended message.

7. Design Strategies and Motivation – If I hadn’t overcome my social insecurities during the interview assignment, my community rebranding project would have ended up looking much different and it probably would have been far less effective at addressing the needs of the Allen Park community. Conducting a SWOT analysis and creating an empathy map using all the information gathered from my research, helped me to define the real problem that needed to be solved.

8. Design Integration – I can point to the Design Integration course as the underlying reason my Allen Park rebranding project was used to demonstrate Innovative Thinking in my thesis project. I was proud of the final solution I came up with. While I hadn’t yet made a strong case as to how my solution was especially unique, the techniques developed in this course provided the building blocks that would eventually be used to claim innovation. Also, it is important to acknowledge just how much Professor Baldowski may have improved the strength of my writing. Looking back, he was by far the toughest grader of the entire program and because of that, really pushed me to go deeper into my research and get better at developing my ideas into solid rationales.

9. Multi-Platform Delivery - I don’t tend to look back on this course very fondly. I resented that we were unnecessarily covering the same exact logo design and brand development techniques from month 3. I was also greatly offended when the instructor disclosed that her colleagues had openly mocked my designs over her shoulder while she was grading them. I know I give a lot of credit to Design Integration as the course when all the tools, principles, and techniques started to finally come together, but in hindsight, if it wasn’t for that “unnecessary” review of effective logo design and brand development techniques, the Allen Park rebranding designs in my thesis project would have never been as successful as they were. Even though I defiantly pushed back against the instructor’s feedback in week 3, I am so very grateful that she challenged me to design something better. She was gracious enough to remind me that sometimes when we challenge our own ideas, it often results in new heights. That lesson was unquestionably, one of the most important things I’ll be taking with me from this entire program. She may never actually see this post, but if she does,… thank you again Professor Kratz.

10. Measuring Design Effectiveness – The Measuring Design Effectiveness course provided an opportunity to obtain feedback from a target audience as a way of determining how successful our brand designs might be. Watching the responses come in over a three-day period was an exceptionally gratifying and fascinating experience. The majority of responses that came back from the survey provided enough validation that the new Allen Park brand direction could be an effective way of bringing the community together. This reassurance allowed me to move forward with the designs and include them as part of my thesis project. Learning how easy it was to create and publish online surveys added an additional research technique to the growing list of competencies I could talk about in my presentation.

11. Presentation of Design Solution – In the first week of the Presentation of Design Solution course we developed thesis abstracts. These abstracts provided a written foundation that the entire thesis presentation could be built around. The process of sketching out different layout options for the presentation site was useful, but what was even more beneficial was being the only person to attend the live session in which the instructor reviewed everyone else’s layouts. This helped me gain a more in-depth and personalized understanding of why certain layout techniques were more effective than others. After reviewing the first draft of my website, the instructor’s feedback challenged me to establish stronger connections by using more cited references throughout the presentation, especially on my Connecting, Synthesizing, & Transforming page. On my Problem Solving page, I needed to do a more effective job at defining the problem. My Innovative Thinking page required a stronger argument for innovation by showing how my solution was unique compared to the competition. I’m especially proud of the revisions I made to my thesis presentation which addressed all of the above issues and included a complete overhaul of my layout design based on the techniques discussed in the sketch review session we had earlier in the month.

Final Experience Map

The final Experience Map attempted to represent my Full Sail journey in a way that was creative, fun, and reflective of my personality. As a pixelated character, I am shown traversing an old school video game level. The twelve coins spread out across the map represent each course in the program. The mountainous shapes in the background represent all of the emotional highs and lows I experienced throughout the year. Each of the items and bad guys I encounter along the way have very specific and symbolic meanings. The column on the right provides extra fun details about each one. The little backstory that I had a lot of fun inventing takes place in the hero’s homeland; the Nation of Determi. Everything is perfect there until one day, the evil Spiderlord Antithesis and his minions show up from the Nation of Procrasti. Determi-Nation vs. Procrasti-Nation, Get it? Ok, fine. I never promised that the reflection of my personality was ever going to be funny.

References

AIGA. (2009). Design business ethics. Retrieved from https://www.aiga.org/design-business-and-ethics

Airey, D. (2014). “Logo Design Love, Annotated and Expanded Edition, Second Edition” (2nd ed.). Retrieved from http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/branding/9780133812589

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