Category Archives: Communication

The role of journalism

Posted on Apr 23, 2020 by

From Jeff Jarvis’ “The Open Information Ecosystem“: Media are no longer the deliverers of information. The information has already been delivered. So the question now for journalists is how — and whether — we add value to that stream of … Continue reading →

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Free speech

Posted on Mar 26, 2020 by

Free speech laws benefit everyone who can stomach opposition. Hate speech laws benefit only those in power—who then suppress their opposition. — Benjamin Boyce                      

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Order of English adjectives

Posted on Mar 12, 2020 by

I think I knew this, but didn’t actually know this; adjectives in English are used in this order: quantity-opinion-size-temperature-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose So, you can have a big brown cat, but not a brown big cat. Or, as the example I saw put … Continue reading →

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Why we can’t trust the press to protect us

Posted on Mar 11, 2020 by

In a Danish news article about the US Democratic Party primaries, a journalist again fell into the Trump trap; letting Trump set the agenda and control the narrative. Just because he says something doesn’t mean everyone has to repeat and … Continue reading →

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Standard responses to online discourses

Posted on Mar 6, 2020 by

Helen Pluckrose has a nice thread on Twitter about standard responses to people that you should ignore for the sake of your own mental health. They are gold: A thread on people who should be ignored on Twitter for the … Continue reading →

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ok

Posted on Feb 10, 2020 by

Link, if you lack the reference.              

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Multilingual USA

Posted on Jan 29, 2020 by

In Nebraska, as central a state as any in USA, the third-most spoken language is Nepali. Tagalog (from the Phillippines) in California and Nevada, Somali in Minnesota and the Vietnamese in a number of states surprised me. I didn’t know … Continue reading →

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Facebook PR vs. reality

Posted on Jan 22, 2020 by

The illustration was meant as a joke, but is it?

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Opinions set in profits

Posted on Jan 12, 2020 by

Upton Sinclair, 1934: It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it! William Jennings Bryan, 1893: It is useless to argue with a man whose opinion is based upon a … Continue reading →

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Trolls and Troll culture

Posted on Dec 27, 2019 by

From Mikhaila Peterson: So how did we get here? Well, a couple of things have led to this troll culture we live in. The first was the uniting power of the internet. Most people are fairly agreeable, or society wouldn’t … Continue reading →

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