Resilience targeting is an attack on individual and community resilience during disasters through misinformation, confusion, and efforts to overwhelm, in order to prevent communities from recovering and keep them vulnerable.

I had a front row seat to watch 18F get started a dozen years ago by some of the smartest and most dedicated public servants I’ve ever met. Their work saved countless lives, and yes, hundreds of millions, probably billions, of dollars. But just as significantly: it made government more responsive.

NOAA Cuts Leave Wind Chimes As Sole Predictor Of Approaching Hurricanes

This is a really nice, simple distillation of the vital role NOAA and the NWS play and how private companies cannot replace what they do.

Instead of directly correcting false claims, “bypassing” offers an alternative strategy: focus on positive, truthful statements about the same topic. New research suggests it can be very effective and I cover it in more detail here! substack.com/home/post/p-... #MisinfoResearch

Mutual aid is not just a disaster response, it’s a way of caring for one another, building stronger communities, and preparing for whatever life may throw at us next. It’s a labor of love—and a way of life. I put together a reading list (and words of advice) for LitHub: lithub.com/we-only-have...

Much of this rings true for federal US government too.

Our global study on the state of trust in scientists is now out in Nature Human Behaviour! 🥳 With a team of 241 researchers, we surveyed 71,922 people in 68 countries, providing the largest dataset on trust in scientists post-pandemic 👇🧵https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-02090-5

NEW: 2024 has just been confirmed as the warmest year on record, and the first to breach the 1.5C threshold. We used a ridgeline (Joy Division inspired) chart to visualise daily temperature anomalies since 1940. 2024 clearly stands out with 100% of its days above 1.3C and 75% above 1.5C.

with Christmas over, decor is starting to come down, and hopefully *carefully* 🎄🎄🎄 👉 accidents related to Christmas trees, lights and ornaments send thousands of Americans to emergency departments each year

When I have the rare quiet moment to ponder on this year i often think about issues of trust. This paper eloquently explains the balance of trust between journalists and online creators:

Happy Winter Solstice! These photos were taken with a pinhole camera I made from a beer can and left out from Summer to Winter Solstice - a 6 month exposure. Bottom line = Winter Solstice. Top line = Summer Solstice. The lines are the Sun moving across the sky w/some reflections. No line = clouds

"The good old days when America was “great” aren’t the 1950s. They’re whatever decade you were 11, your parents knew the correct answer to any question, and you’d never heard of war crimes tribunals, microplastics or improvised explosive devices." Fun read! Gift link: wapo.st/3ZL8WgH

Translating dance into smartphone vibrations, a different type of (tactile) spectatorship: “The scientific question at hand was: How can we enhance the experience of dance, reaching beyond just audio and visual input into tactile or other forms of sensory input?” indianewengland.com/dance-the-au...

Great discussion of how to more productively frame discussion about our online info environment, which aligns completely with what I’ve found helpful when reflecting on how to improve digital communications.

18/ Formaldehyde is everywhere, and it will take more than our individual efforts to protect ourselves. Yet if there’s only one thing you take away from this thread, open up a window. Seriously. It may just be our cheapest and best course of action.

Yes!! Great piece that highlights how both education and participatory democracy are critical.

I was preparing to pitch an op-ed on the nationwide protests calling for President Yoon's resignation, aiming to provide global context amid the limited international coverage. Given the urgency, I’m sharing it now. I didn’t expect events to escalate this quickly. #SouthKorea #Democracy

I just discovered the full triptych today and it’s well worth the listen! @viennateng.bsky.social has been a staple in my playlists since I was just out of my teens and her voice always reaches deep inside and shakes new feelings loose. ❤️‍🔥

This story knocked the wind out of me and i hope esquire paid this man. www.esquire.com/news-politic...

There’s work being done to address this that the article touches on as well- like free courses on how to be a “trusted voice” online.

Hi, so I've spent the past almost-decade studying research uses of public social media data, like e.g. ML researchers using content from Twitter, Reddit, and Mastodon. Anyway, buckle up this is about to be a VERY long thread with lots of thoughts and links to papers. 🧵

Today, the White House Office of Management & Budget is hosting a third listening session on a draft framework & guidance for public participation: www.performance.gov/blog/2024-pu... Comments are due Friday. I’m writing mine today. If you know how our government can do better, please contribute. 🇺🇸

Having this clarity will go a long way towards helping many product teams in government who have faced delays in executing usability tests, often due to uncertainty from their PRA agency contacts. It’s well worth celebrating!

Have I had my mind changed on social media? Yes - NOT by arguing with randoms, but by following experts and first hand folks who share what they do, what they think and what's going on. The change isn't binary - I used to think one thing, and suddenly now another - it's slow and additive: Learning.

Useful piece. Also remember BlueSky doesn't have a verification system yet so be vigilant www.logicallyfacts.com/en/article/b...

Excellent post by @projectsbyif.bsky.social on designing digital public services to embrace feedback. I'd only add that those who have time and motivation to respond can be very unrepresentative. In public services, the dog that doesn't bark is often suffering the most. medium.com/writing-by-i...

I forgot from whom in my feed I got this from, but anyway, this network analyzer is crazy efficient. It gives you ideas for accounts to follow based on your own followees. I just added 50 accounts or so. bsky-follow-finder.theo.io

Enjoyed this game! It was quick to pick up, thought provoking and even had a realistic segment on the role Trust and Safety plays on social platforms post-disasters and emergencies 👏

Our "election rumor research" team's latest analysis describes online conspiracy theorizing alleging that Musk's Starlink satellites were used to alter election results in Trump's favor. uwcip.substack.com/p/conspiracy...

This is very cool, a "mistakes" page on an organisation's website, where they issue reports on mistakes made and lessons learnt. First time I've seen this www.givewell.org/about/our-mi...

As someone trying to find their social media voice again after giving up for some time on the bird platform this is surprisingly inspiring! 💙

I made a thing! I was playing around with the AT protocol and as a little experiment I made a website that visualises activity around Bluesky: nightsky.hctr.dev It listens to all new posts and shows them as little stars across a night sky 🌃 Every star is someone, somewhere, posting something

Funny thing about social media is that “influence” flows in two directions: from influencers to audiences, and from audiences to influencers. Also: go Ben, go!

This platform is already bubbling with people who care about reimagining the social internet into something better. Here's a starter pack. Reply with more folks we should add!

Starter packs are genius, but I was surprised there wasn't a list of them for people to find. So I built it: blueskydirectory.com/starter-pack... The website monitors the packs being shared and adds the ones it finds to the database. Missed your stater pack? Message me and I'll get it added.

What I didn’t quite anticipate this week was the sudden, driving need to look inward and consider what being a public servant means to me. Some reaffirming of values I’ve long held but also asking more questions and finding the “why” for staying.