Let’s talk about data
The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. And what is that pudding? Well, if you’re Matt Daniels, it’s a way of making a living / a cool website where ideas debated in culture, come to life through visual essay thanks to a bunch of journalist-engineers (pudding.cool).
The reason this website is so cool/badass/successful is that you can’t argue with the numbers. Yes, you can interpret a lot of different things from them, and context /survey methods can give you a lot of clues, but at the end of the day, numbers are numbers and its something that makes my data-loving, child of an engineer brain, happy.
A big chunk of people in my graduate program are fascinated by numbers, data, and what the heck we’re doing with that — so queue the classes on SQL, Python, Managing Data sets, game theory and more!
Today’s newsletter is all about the cool things you can do with those numbers and skills, and where data makes it’s way into the headlines, and how
Data is all around you
What are companies doing with your information, and exactly how much information do they have about you? From more Facebook Activity tools to avoiding google suite, to even the fear of a futuristic Bezos-dominated world.
‘Off Facebook Activity’ tool
Facebook released a new tool that will show you exactly what information and when it gathers that information. Which, I feel like many headlines about this miss the bigger picture that most of us probably already knew, but didn’t want to admit facebook is always gathering our information.
(quick intermission for a tenant of studio 20)
Your data is the price you pay for conveinence.
Ahem, now we got that out of the way — let’s start to recognize where and how this impacts us. Facebook is gathering information from our phones, even when we’re using other apps. So it knows that I redeemed a 5 dollars off coupon from Gregory’s coffee this week, debated taking a lyft out when it was cold as shit, and looked up directions to a restaurant, then went to the gym, and ran to Beyonce as tracked by my Garmin watch that syncs to my phone. Just in those moments, the app knows my location, my fitness levels, it wouldn’t shock me about banking information and knows that I listen to an alarmingly large amount of pop idols while working out. (and probably downvotes my coolness rating when it sees my Spotify).
and how far away from black mirror are we yet? Learn more about this, and how to remove this data here.
Woman stalked by drone
While some states have laws on what you can and cannot do with your drones, Maine is not one of them, Mary Dunham learned. In an article on Boston.com, a woman claimed to be followed for TWO DAYS by a drone, to the gas station and even family members’ houses, but even after reporting it to the police, they could do nothing.
Which begs the question, sure, you’re in public, and you can take photos in a public place, but should you ~*really*~ be allowed to stalk someone with a drone?
Netflix’s dystopic Circle
My favorite terrible-for-you past time includes watching some of the absolute worst tv shows ever invented. So when I discovered a social-media centered reality tv show called The Circle, with a character that gave me loose jersey shore vibes, naturally, I was in.
The show, in which, characters do not meet face to face, but rather through a social media platform called the Circle (which has its own set of questionable claims). Not only proves that we’re all a bunch of “phony idiots online” according to Vice, but also, that we’re ok with social media being such a large part of how we build relationships.
The bigger question is, that in this state of questionable reality, who is a catfish? And judging by the contestant’s reaction, does it matter? We all waited for it to have a more black-mirror-esque finish (My fiancé kept waiting for the episode to turn into ‘NoseDive’ part two from Black Mirror). Regardless of your thoughts on social media and its varying levels of intensity, the show will be my guilty pleasure, followed up by black mirror episodes on its dark side.
Back to School 🍎📚
This week, school started back up for me at NYU. I’m less than 12 months away from this being a master erin for tech newsletter! (sorry, not sorry). But on that note, let’s all take a second to recognize that learning is a never-ending process for success in your field, and here’s a few tidbits to help you understand why.
Learning is a Learned Activity
In a new study published in Harvard Business Review, it is recently discovered that learning itself is a learned activity. If you’re someone who finds picking up a new skill difficult, according to this article, you’re not hopeless or dumb, and just because you learn things quickly, doesn’t mean you’re the smartest cookie either — it just means that you’re better at a skill than others.
The article goes into ways to better this skill as well, in sum:
Organize Your Goals: Do you know what you want to learn? How to learn it? Who is a reputable person in that skill or industry?
Think about Thinking: could you explain the topic to a friend? Do you know the context that the information lives in? Could you repeat the action independently?
Reflect on your Learning: Taking time away from what you’re learning, may actually make you better at comprehending those skills. (insert comment about the importance of work-life balance here)
How do you best learn what you learn? Are there ways that you pick up new skills best? Respond to this email with your favorite study tips.
Encouraging Innovation
So you learned a lot of new skills, great! Now, how do you take those new skills or techniques and put them into a practice of innovation? Curt Hopkins writes about this for Hewlett Packard, and how practicing innovation in a coporate structure is a lot easier said than done. Recognizing that there are risks to innovation is a first problem, and then secondly, encouraging people to innovate is a whole other problem.
Sparking innovation requires a culture that encourages responsible risk. A culture must come from the top. Then you need the tools to evaluate risk in your company. But once you've successfully walked through those issues, what next? How do you organize the spinning up of new products, processes, and approaches that result from your embrace of innovation? You can't just call an all-hands and scream, "Innovate you bastards! Innovate like the wind!" You'll need the appropriate architecture to turn your willingness into innovational artifacts.
Are you trying to grow something in your office or try something new? Slow down and make sure to reward people appropriately. Calculated risks are something that should be rewarded. And guess what, from one millennial that works with boomers at times, sometimes that means the way it has always been done isn’t the best way - don’t be afraid to try something new, but incorporate it with the tactics of yesteryear 😉.
Disrupting Status Quos
Change comes from the “radicals” so next time you see protestors, remember they’re probably doing you a solid and honk a horn and get in line with them! Correspondent contributor, OluTimehin Adegbeye writes about how the protestors in South Africa have changed the policy for the better.
The one thing that I think is important to note by reading, and having previous background knowledge, is that protests are often led by marginalized individuals, yet better the masses. There’s a socioeconomic play here — as a privileged member of society, should we rely on the marginalized to better us, or maybe we should start listening in the first place.
Powerful institutions and protected people do not immediately benefit from protests. As a result, they often accuse protesters of being divisive and wanting to destroy rather than enrich society. Since they are largely insulated from the impacts of discrimination, it can be quite difficult for them to recognise how the advantages they enjoy are sometimes at the expense of other people’s wellbeing or survival.
It’s a hard line to balance, and Adegbeye writes with this perspective in mind, and I challenge everyone who reads this newsletter to come from a place of understanding rather than agitation when looking at the next social movement.
There is no perfect social movement, and there can never be a universally acceptable way to agitate for change. Still, movements offer marginalised people a unifying and often effective way to move our societies closer to ideals of justice and inclusion.
Quick Links
New Jersey wilded out on Twitter in December and we’re all still thinking about it
New emojis are coming to the table! (my favorites include a magic wand, headstone, smiling face with a tear, and bubble tea.) but I still want an emoji search feature on mobile…
But first off, we all started this week with google docs going on hiatus, *cue virtual dumpster fire*
Impeachment.FYI is continuing to be my favorite resource for people finding news about the impeachment - you should probably Venmo him a few bones for aggregating the facts.
Amy Brown penned a beautiful piece in her newsletter about the dark side of brand twitter.
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but until next time — see you on the internet my dudes! 👋