Josh Nelson’s Post

https://lnkd.in/gqnHJi6z When millions of people can only dream of working there, these “stupid” youth google employees have lost it for the sake of people whose names they don’t even know, for land they never set foot upon, for freedoms that aren’t theirs to claim. Or the top university students, risking their future for standing up against their campuses. or US air force member who lit him self on fire to deliver the message. or many others who risk many things for this cause. This event has truly opened the eyes of the world. Revealing the true colors of people, around us or afar. It distinguishes between those who still have humanity and dignity and those who may have lost, or sold it. No history, no book, no wise man, can teach us about hypocrisy any better than this, or even come close. Seeing people shamelessly lie about something that is right before their own eyes. something that’s as clear as day and night. How will they answer their kids when they ask about the logic of dropping aids in one hand and bombs in another hand? or explain about stopping aid when it’s in the most needed time. in the middle of famine. when kids eat grass, drink from puddles, losing weight till no more left. Or explain how can a country that is killing tens of thousands of children and woman and starve the entire population be called as defending itself. But at the end, that’s how power and wealth operate. they enslave people, blind them, just like they enslaved and blinded those before us.

The racially motivated violence occurring across the country is utterly unacceptable. Like many of us, I’ll be looking to turn anger and sorrow into action. Writing to MPs, participating in anti-racist protests (if safe to do so), donating to causes that support minoritised communities, adopting zero tolerance for racist language or framing with peers and family members. Ally is a verb not a noun. I try to think at times like this what I can do directly in the small bit of the world I have agency or authority in. I think a lot of that work is about becoming aware where racism exists in systems you work in, and what you need to do to address it. It’s so tempting to ‘other’ racism, to be offended it’s happening elsewhere or angry at other people, when I think we need to acknowledge racism is pervasive. We need to look close to home to see what antiracist work is within our power. As researchers, we can make ourselves aware of the racist underpinnings of scientific work. I really recommend Superior by Angela Saini. I was shocked when I read it about how much eugenics informed modern psychology, and more shocked we’d never been taught about it. I was part of this work by the Race Equality Public Action Group, and this challenged me and taught me a huge amount about the work needed to be anti-racist in health research.https://https://lnkd.in/eDzh3wjD The way the work was done - the sensitivity, transparency, and commitment to speaking truth - was due to the direct involvement of people of Black African and Caribbean heritage. The biggest takeaway I think, rather than the report itself, is the model of how researchers should work as allies alongside communities. Some researchers may feel that deliberately working as an ally is counter to the need to be objective or neutral. I would argue that no research is ever neutral, and if it claims to be then it simply means it’s accepting the status quo. I’d point out as well that research so far, far from being neutral, has consistently neglected and even exploited minoritised groups. One last note: I use anti-racist deliberately, as I hope it moves us past the question of whether something/somewhere/someone is racist (which white allies can devote huge energy to debating) and instead focuses on what is being done to actively make progress toward equity.

🔗 Good morning! I haven't done a link roundup in a while, so here's what I've been reading in Trust & Safety news lately: Trust & Safety as Preventative Healthcare from Del Harvey: https://lnkd.in/e68Zkerq Why? Agreat analogy of how we can think about the structure of T&S The many reasons why NCMEC's Board is Failing its Mission, From a NCMEC Insider by Mike Masnick: https://lnkd.in/ekQgbjVr Why? An explosive look at the inside politics on NCMEC's Board, and how they pick and choose which kids need protecting. Facebook creators have a new way to avoid 'jail' from Tech Crunch: https://lnkd.in/eFG78hk4 Why? I love to see user education and prosocial norm-setting instead of purely punitive approaches to safety. What's with all these 'wrong number' texts? (Max Read) https://lnkd.in/eciGAStX Why? This won't be anything new for T&S pros familiar with financial grooming, but this is an entertaining read that you can forward to your family. The Vermont miracle: How one local platform is rewriting the rules of social media (New_ Public) https://lnkd.in/eU3Tksa8? Why? A social media platform that is "useful, encourages civic engagement, and actually strengthens communities." Part of this is clearly the design of the forum itself (every post is time-delayed to prevent rage-posting and provide time for human moderation), but I also wonder if part of the reason why discourse on FPF is so civil is due to Vermont's unique political and social landscape which still has an old-school respectful vibe to it. Did the chicken or egg come first? (FPF was also recently featured in the Washington Post: https://lnkd.in/e3KiV34p). Election 2024: Foreign TikTok Networks are pushing political lies to Americans (WSJ) https://lnkd.in/emcrdySR Why? A look at 91 accounts linked to foreign actors pushing AI-driven anti-Trump content. I tried having an AI friend, here's what I learned (Garnett A.): https://lnkd.in/eTBh__DF Why? A personal account of using AI bots for friendship, and an examination of whether they're dystopian or helpful. Is sleep training harmful? Looking at misinformation online (the pudding): https://lnkd.in/e7wrEWyc Why? One of the sketchiest things to do on the internet is to look up parenting advice (ask me how I know). This is a really in-depth look at the online discourse around sleep training, vs. what medical research has to say.

#BigTech Has a New Favorite Lobbyist: You Millions of ordinary Americans have become unwitting foot soldiers in political influence campaigns by companies like Google and TikTok. ““Let’s rally our users,” Adam Kovacevich, then 34 and a senior member of Google’s Washington office, told colleagues. Kovacevich turned Google’s opposition to the anti-piracy legislation into a coast-to-coast political influence effort with all the bells and whistles of a presidential campaign. The goal: to whip up enough opposition to the legislation among ordinary Americans that Congress would be forced to abandon the effort. […] It was a historic, high-stakes demonstration of how a state-of-the-art effort to shape public opinion could vanquish a campaign rooted in old-fashioned insider lobbying and campaign contributions.” By Brody Mullins and Luke Mullins https://lnkd.in/eB2Ndbbq #security #privacy #regulations #elections #misinformation #disinformation #education #democracy #humanity

85% of residents we surveyed said it is important that their local government is transparent about how it makes decisions. However, what does transparency mean to today's residents? Does it mean just keeping content updated on your website? Are recordings of public meetings enough to validate an effort toward transparency? Can social media posts throughout the day help? Millions of words have been written about transparency in local government over the past few years. Read our take from government staffers turned technologists with this article: CivicPlus #TrustAndTransparency #CitizenEngagement #ResidentExperience https://lnkd.in/gjr3JkUZ

85% of residents we surveyed said it is important that their local government is transparent about how it makes decisions. However, what does transparency mean to today's residents? Does it mean just keeping content updated on your website? Are recordings of public meetings enough to validate an effort toward transparency? Can social media posts throughout the day help? Millions of words have been written about transparency in local government over the past few years. Read our take from government staffers turned technologists with this article: CivicPlus #TrustAndTransparency #CitizenEngagement #ResidentExperience https://lnkd.in/efHQCQTi

85% of residents we surveyed said it is important that their local government is transparent about how it makes decisions. However, what does transparency mean to today's residents? Does it mean just keeping content updated on your website? Are recordings of public meetings enough to validate an effort toward transparency? Can social media posts throughout the day help? Millions of words have been written about transparency in local government over the past few years. Read our take from government staffers turned technologists with this article: CivicPlus #TrustAndTransparency #CitizenEngagement #ResidentExperience https://lnkd.in/encMY3AG

📈 How is your organization responding to the call for diversity, equity and inclusion? Our data shows more nonprofits are embracing DEI strategies than before! Read about the impact, benefits and contrasting views in our latest Race to Lead report, "Blocking the Backlash." Download and share: https://bit.ly/46MHTVi

The Forney Police Department is excited to introduce "Citizen Connect," a web-based platform designed to enhance transparency and community engagement. This innovative tool provides residents access to incident data through an interactive map, highlighting our department's activities. Users can view up-to-date incident information, customize date ranges, and filter specific incidents. For officer safety, all calls are delayed by at least 60 minutes. The platform's features include incident filtering, data grouping for multiple incidents at one location, and a heat map to identify high-incident areas. Residents can customize notifications for specific events and receive daily, weekly, or monthly updates via email. Registration is free, offering full access to custom alert features. "We are happy to provide our residents with a tool that provides more transparency. The Forney Police Department encourages all residents to explore this new tool, stay informed, and actively participate in maintaining the safety and security of our community," said Police Chief Carrie White. Access the Forney PD dashboard here: https://lnkd.in/g_wkMDZC For those outside the city limits of Forney, Kaufman County also has a similar program. Please see the link below for access to their Citizen Connect program. Access the Kaufman County dashboard here: https://lnkd.in/gu9zy-iS

In 2013, as part of a project I was doing for Discovery Channel, I went to a talk called "Generation XXX" at the Southbank Centre's WOW Festival, where a panel of experts and young people spoke on the impact on early exposure to online porn. It was absolutely shocking, learning that kids as young as 9 and 10 were being exposed to extreme violent porn, often on play dates. It was heartbreaking to hear directly from young people about the impact on their mental health, and how let down they felt by adults who didn't understand what kind of world they'd let them loose in. Ten years on, we now have the data to backup the cost of under-protecting children in the online world in Jonathan Haidt's brilliant book "The Anxious Generation". But why didn't we listen to children a decade ago, when they warned us of this? The fact that ten years have passed, and we have made so little progress protecting young people online is both depressing and baffling. And there are so many issues like this - healthy school dinners; or the forever-chemicals and micro-plastics which we allow to contaminate soil and water. In so many instances, we know that we need to change, but we seem to hesitate to take any meaningful or sustained action. ❓ How do we make change happen, in a complex system which is wired to maintain the status quo? ❓ How do we change without a burning platform? Most my coaching involves working with leaders to explore these kinds of questions. While there's no simple formula, as each issue and system is unique, I think the basic pattern comes down to: ⚡️ 1. Get clear on why this change matters - to you, and to other stakeholders. ⚡️ 2. Get started. Take the first step, even if you can't see the step beyond it. ⚡️ 3. At every decision point, refocus on why this matters and make the choice that brings you closer to that. Use your voice to challenge and champion, all the way across the system, up and down the hierarchy. ⚡️ 4. Find allies in other parts of the system, and come together, taking the time to articulate your shared purpose. If necessary, adapt your "why does this matter", as you start to see more of the system and the complexities of the challenge. ⚡️ 5. Get support (e.g. a coach), to help you keep your eye on the big picture, and have the resilience to keep going when change is hard. Let's hope it doesn't take another ten years before we start acting on what we know. And, as Dame Rachel de Souza says in her article below, let's call in a world where children's voices are listened to and respected. They may be small, but small is precious and beautiful and worth protecting. ❤️