🤴 More Than Robots #65 May 2023
“Brief words are hard to find” Basil Bunting
This is a month of rebellion, revolution and rejoicing. Here is a bit of each for us to take away
📖 Research
Online safety tools — a false hope?
We found 33 different user-empowerment tools on Facebook alone. There is a real danger of users being overwhelmed and bewildered
Teens, Tech & Wellbeing During COVID Year 2
A third of teens with an eating disorder and almost a quarter of the young people who worry about life at home, had seen content talking about suicide.
The outcomes of gaining digital skills for young people’s lives and wellbeing
Greater digital skills were indirectly linked to greater exposure to online risks, although any link to harm was unclear. While technical skills were linked with mixed or even negative outcomes, information skills were linked with positive outcome
Disrupted Childhood
If we continue to allow persuasive design features to determine the decisions children make online, we are in danger of stunting the creativity and development of a generation - see also How digital design can harm competition and consumers - discussion paper
Digital Inclusion and Exclusion in the Arts and Cultural Sector
Embedding inclusive digital practices within the sector can achieve positive social outcomes that extend beyond arts and culture.
Creatively malicious prompt engineering
Prompt engineering is an emerging field that is not fully understood. As this field develops, more creative uses for large language models will emerge, including malicious ones. See also Effects of Disinformation Using Deepfake: The Protective Effect of Media Literacy Education
🧰 Resources
Perplexity
An AI ‘knowledge discovery experience’ that includes citations
Frontiers for young minds
A research journal for children - scientists write in a language that is accessible for young readers. Children then provide feedback on how to improve the articles before publication.
Mobile phone museum
Over 2600 models of phones that shows the evolution of tech
💡Inspiration and opinion
The Cognitive Burden of Generative AI
As we might suspend disbelief in a theatre or cinema, when it comes to creative use of AI, it is our appreciation that is more important, more telling. Preserving a capacity for that appreciation may be a key digital skill in the future.
The Art of Community: Cultivating Online Connections
Trust and solidarity develop not through transaction, but through collaboration.
The Brilliant Inventor Who Made Two of History’s Biggest Mistakes
How do we best bring new things into the world when we recognize, by definition, that their long-term consequences are unknowable?