Bridging the Digital Divide: Advancing Access to Broadband for All; American Bar Association (ABA), June 3, 2024

Emily Bergeron, American Bar Association (ABA); Bridging the Digital Divide: Advancing Access to Broadband for All

"The “digital divide” is the disparity in access to and utilization of information and communication technologies between different groups based on socioeconomic status, geographic location, age, education, or other demographic characteristics. This divide often manifests as unequal access to the internet and digital devices, leading to disparities in opportunities, information, health care, education, and participation in government and the digital- and knowledge-based economy. The COVID-19 pandemic brought considerable focus to the digital divide. Individuals with broadband access could work, attend school, shop, and consult with their doctors from the comfort of their homes, while those lacking access had few options...

Eight out of 10 white adults have a broadband connection at home, whereas smaller percentages of Black and Hispanic adults—precisely 71 percent and 65 percent—indicate the same. Notably, Black adults are more likely than white adults to believe that a lack of high-speed internet at home puts people at a significant disadvantage when connecting with medical professionals, with 63 percent of Black adults expressing this view compared to 49 percent of white adults. The perspective of Hispanic adults, at 53 percent, does not significantly differ from that of individuals from other racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Despite federal efforts to expand broadband access in Tribal lands, a significant disparity persists. Approximately 18 percent of people in these areas still lack broadband services, while this figure is only 4 percent for non-Tribal areas. The gap widens further in rural regions, where about 30 percent of individuals on Tribal lands lack broadband access compared to 14 percent in non-Tribal areas...

The digital divide is not just a matter of technology. It undermines social justice and equality. By working collectively to bridge this divide, we can help create a more inclusive, connected, and equitable society where everyone can harness the benefits of the digital age. It is incumbent on governments, policymakers, and private organizations to take proactive measures and commit to digital inclusion, ensuring that no one is left behind in this fast-evolving digital landscape."

French research centre behind controversial Covid paper found to have used questionable ethics processes; The Guardian, August 8, 2023

 Melissa Davey , The Guardian; French research centre behind controversial Covid paper found to have used questionable ethics processes

"A major French research centre that produced one of the most widely cited and controversial research papers of the Covid-19 pandemic has been found by an international research team to have used questionable and concerning ethics approval processes across hundreds of studies."

As pandemic raged, global south lacked vaccines. Never again, researchers vow.; The Washington Post, July 16, 2023

Amy Maxmen , The Washington Post; As pandemic raged, global south lacked vaccines. Never again, researchers vow.

"Once it became clear that wealthy nations would help themselves to coronavirus vaccines long before poorer nations had access, researchers across Africa, Asia and South America banded together with the World Health Organization. Never again, they vowed, would they allow themselves to be at the mercy of the Western world while a deadly pathogen tore through their regions...

Called the mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub, a mouthful meant to reflect their intention to share mRNA technology, the initiative is distinct from the typical, competitive mode of drug development in which companies keep discoveries secret."

When schools went virtual, online bullying declined; The Washington Post, February 10, 2022

Christopher Shea, The Washington Post; When schools went virtual, online bullying declined

"(According to one 2019 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some 20 percent of American high school students reported being bullied in person in the previous year; 16 percent reported being bullied online.) Bacher-Hicks and four colleagues at B.U. — associate professors Joshua Goodman, Jennifer G. Green and Melissa Holt — tackled the question using an unusual approach: They first established, by examining past data, that Google searches for such terms as “bullying” and “cyberbullying” closely track real-world trends, as measured in surveys. They then looked at what happened to search trends during the pandemic. The results, which appeared in a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper in December, weren’t what many people expected. This interview has been edited for length and clarity...

Q: If I understand it right, in your interpretation online bullying is largely an outgrowth of in-school bullying.

A: Absolutely. I think that bullying that occurs online may in many cases just be an extension of bullying that started in person. We know from prior research that many of the same individuals — that is, both the victims and the aggressors — are involved in in-person and in cyberbullying. So there are clear links between the two. And I think an important contribution of our paper is to show that when you disrupt one form of bullying, there is a clear reduction in both forms.

Q: Your paper suggests there might be lessons for this and for the post-pandemic world. What might those be? Because kids eventually will be all back in these chaotic physical environments again.

A: The lessons might come out of this question: Why do we think that even when schools reopened in fall 2020 during the pandemic, bullying was lower in those schools than we would have predicted? One reason is that schools put additional structures in place to prevent the spread of covid-19. And many of those structures likely helped to reduce bullying when students were back in person. We know from prior studies that a lot of bullying occurs during unstructured time — that is, time spent passing other students in the hallway, time at lunch, etc. During the pandemic, there has been a lot less flexibility in offering that type of unstructured time. And there is a lot more supervision during the school day. I don’t think that we should necessarily maintain all of these new structures moving forward, but I think it does suggest there’s something that we can learn about how providing additional structured time might reduce bullying."

How the intellectual property monopoly has impeded an effective response to Covid-19; The Conversation, February 14, 2022

 Salam Alshareef; The Conversation ; How the intellectual property monopoly has impeded an effective response toCovid-19

"As of October 2021, only 0.7% of all manufactured vaccine doses had gone to low-income countries. Manufacturers had delivered 47 times as many doses to high-income countries as they had to low-income countries.

Since its inception, COVAX, the UN-backed initiative dedicated to promoting access to Covid vaccines, has struggled to obtain doses. It recently passed the 1 billion doses delivered – half way to its goal of delivering 2 billion doses by the end of 2021. Indeed, AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson have delivered between 0% and 39% of their already inadequate commitments to COVAX in 2021.

The Global Commission for Post-Pandemic Policy, meanwhile, estimates that while Asia and Europe will be able to fully vaccinate 80% of their populations by March 2022 and North America by May 2022, Africa will not reach 80% at current rates until April 2025."

Covid News: Pope Warns Against ‘Infodemic’; The New York Times, January 28, 2022

The New York Times ; Covid News: Pope Warns Against ‘Infodemic’ 

The Catholic leader is urging journalists, scientists and others to build bridges with those who believe misinformation. The world has topped 10 billion vaccine doses but distribution has been unequal.

"Pope Francis says access to truthful information on vaccines is a ‘human right.’"

When it comes to vaccines, is it time to abandon the carrot for the stick?; Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), January 11, 2022

Susan Davis and Kerri Miller, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR); When it comes to vaccines, is it time to abandon the carrot for the stick?

"Incentives like gift cards aren’t working to get people vaccinated. Rates have stalled or dropped, and public health officials all over the country are nervous.

As omicron spreads, infection rates soar and hospitals are once again overwhelmed, do we need to rethink how we motivate people to get vaccinated? Would denying access to the public sphere increase the number of people getting their shots?

Guest host Kerri Miller speaks with two public health researchers on motivating the masses to get vaccinated for the common good."

Opinion: Where was Justice Neil Gorsuch’s mask?; The Washington Post, January 7, 2022

 Ruth Marcus, The Washington Post; Opinion: Where was Justice Neil Gorsuch’s mask?

"The sad part here is that Gorsuch is more emblem than outlier. The pandemic has brought out the best in some of us, but the worst — the most selfish and irresponsible — in too many others. This “you’re not the boss of me” immaturity has made a difficult period even harder.

Actions that should be understood as minor inconveniences desirable for the greater good have somehow been transformed into intolerable incursions on liberty. Being required to wear a mask has assumed symbolic resonance far in excess of any reasonable objection.

No one is the boss of Justice Gorsuch. Like his colleagues, he had a choice about whether to wear a mask. Unlike them, he chose poorly."

The self-belief that made Novak Djokovic a champion has put him in limbo in Australia; The Washington Post, January 6, 2022

Liz Clarke, The Washington Post; The self-belief that made Novak Djokovic a champion has put him in limbo in Australia

"Two qualities in particular set the 6-2, 170-pound Djokovic apart:

A fanatical adherence to a strict gluten-free diet and a program of stretching and exercise that has transformed his otherwise unremarkable physique (much like Tom Brady) into a purpose-built, pliable winning machine.

And profound self-belief and self-determination that have pulled him from the brink of defeat in countless high-stakes matches. Djokovic’s inner belief is arguably his greatest asset, but it doesn’t necessarily mesh with decision-making for the greater good — such as complying with vaccine mandates amid a global pandemic."

Has the pandemic fundamentally changed our ethics?; The Conversation, December 28, 2021

Hugh Breakey, The Conversation; Has the pandemic fundamentally changed our ethics?

"Ethics became more visible

In daily life, ethical decision-making often isn’t front of mind. We can often just coast along.

But the pandemic changed all that. It highlighted our human inter-connectedness and the effects of our actions on others. It made us re-litigate the basic rules of life: whether we could work or study, where we could go, who we could visit."

A Plea from Cleveland Clinic; December 21, 2021

12/21/21 email from Cleveland Clinic:

A Plea from Cleveland Clinic

"This past month has been sobering for many of us in healthcare. Nearly two years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, we’re seeing some of the highest volumes of patients with the disease in hospitals throughout the Midwest.

"Here at Cleveland Clinic, we’re caring for more than 800 patients with COVID-19 at our Ohio hospitals. Of these patients, more than 200 are in the intensive care unit. The majority of these patients are unvaccinated.  

Our Ohio emergency departments are filled. We have people waiting to get into our hospitals. Neighboring hospitals in our communities are facing the same issues. 

We’ve had to postpone many non-urgent surgeries in Ohio as we try to leave enough space for patients with COVID-19. Our physicians, nurses and caregivers are working around-the-clock to care for these sick patients. They are exhausted.  

Today, we come to you with a plea. Get vaccinated. Please. Whether you are due for your booster shot, undecided about getting your child vaccinated or have been leery of the vaccine all along. The science is clear. Vaccines save lives. Please, get vaccinated.

For those of you who have lost a loved one to COVID-19 this year, we extend our deepest sympathies. We feel your loss. We share in your grief. We, too, are heartbroken.

The only way we can get through this is together. Please do your part for yourself, your family and your community. Get vaccinated. Wear your mask, wash your hands and stay home if you're feeling ill. 

Cleveland Clinic will always be here for you when you need compassionate, high-quality care. The sun will rise tomorrow morning, and with it will bring renewed hope for a better day. 

We wish you and yours a joyous holiday season & a happy and healthy New Year."

My family sacrificed to fight covid. Many Americans didn’t. Now my mom is dead.; The Washington Post, April 2, 2021

Jackie Munn, The Washington Post; My family sacrificed to fight covid. Many Americans didn’t. Now my mom is dead.

"And while part of me wants to wallow in my anger and grief, I know my mother wouldn’t want that for me. Instead, she would want me to take action. So now I volunteer as a vaccinator, helping to keep willing Americans and their families from suffering her fate — and ours.

When I give members of my community in Arlington, Va., their coronavirus vaccines, almost all of them thank me for my service. I want to cry, upset that it’s too late for my mother. Instead, I try to smile and thank each person getting vaccinated for doing their part. It’s what my mother would have wanted."

Zoom classes felt like teaching into a void — until I told my students why; The Washington Post; March 11, 2021

C. Thi Nguyen, The Washington Post; Zoom classes felt like teaching into a void — until I told my students why

"In the end, I see this as a question of informed choice. Given who I am, it’s very predicable that my teaching will get worse as more cameras go off. Students deserve to know that, and take that into account, in their own choices. I suspect that honesty is the best we can do right now.

This experience has also changed how I behave when I’m on the other side of the exchange — in the audience of an online lecture. In that situation, I would almost always prefer to turn my camera off. But now I go camera-on most of the time, because of my understanding of the impact of my decision on the speaker.

Right now, our knowledge of one another’s lives is slim, gathered as it is through impoverished channels like Zoom. When our connections are so tenuous, a little trust can go a long way."

Pitt Cyber Presents: Battling the Infodemic: Covid-19 Mis- and Disinformation; University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security, February 16, 2021

University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security ; Pitt Cyber Presents: Battling the Infodemic: Covid-19 Mis- and Disinformation

"February 16, 2021 - 

2:00pm to 3:30pm

Add to Calendar

Battling the Infodemic: Covid-19 Mis- and Disinformation 

Please join Pitt Cyber for a timely conversation about how mis- and disinformation could jeopardize control of the pandemic. Disinformation and medical experts will discuss what’s happening, what to expect, and what we can do. 

The discussion will feature: 

Michael Colaresi, Pitt Cyber Research and Academic Director and Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh 

Beth Hoffman, Research Assistant, Center for Research on Behavioral Health, Media, & Technology; PhD student, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh 

Jaime Sidani, Assistant Professor of Medicine; Core Faculty of the Center for Research on Behavioral Health, Media, & Technology; and Pitt Cyber Affiliate Scholar, University of Pittsburgh 

Todd Wolynn, CEO, Kids Plus Pediatrics 

February 16 | 2-3:30 pm 

REGISTER NOW!"

Ethicist: Coronavirus reduces complex moral codes to the essential — protect your neighbor; USA Today, August 17, 2020

Tom Cooper, USA Today; Ethicist: Coronavirus reduces complex moral codes to the essential — protect your neighbor

"It is time not only for increased ethics education and learning from the best practices of the great ones. It is time to wake up our leaders and ourselves.  

Our complex moral codes can be simplified rather quickly these days: “Wash your hands." “Wear your mask.” “Stand six feet apart.” Behold, the Ten Commandments are reduced to three."

George Pyle: Protect Ben Franklin’s gift to America; The Salt Lake Tribune, August 15, 2020

George Pyle, The Salt Lake Tribune; George Pyle: Protect Ben Franklin’s gift to America

"Can there be anything more American than the Post Office?

It helps that the history of what is now officially known as the United States Postal Service basically begins as the handiwork of the most American of us all, Benjamin Franklin...

Franklin turned a slipshod and corrupt system into an Enlightenment model of efficiency and service. He ended the practice of allowing local postmasters to deliver some newspapers but not others. He greatly increased the speed of postal delivery, published lists of people who had letters waiting for them at the local post office and offered them the service of having mail delivered to their homes, rather than having to call for it, for a penny....

The Post Office connected this country and did much to build it through an efficient and affordable method of communication. It provided invaluable accounts of the real human experiences felt in the Civil War and World War II. And, perhaps most importantly, in “Miracle on 34th Street,” it helped prove in a court of law that Santa Claus is real.

And now, in our nation’s hour of great need, it may be the bloodstream that saves American democracy itself by allowing all of us to vote in national and state elections with minimal exposure to the deadly and stubborn coronavirus."

Software that monitors students during tests perpetuates inequality and violates their privacy; MIT Technology Review, August 7, 2020

• Shea Swaugerarchive page

, The New York Times; 

Software that monitors students during tests perpetuates inequality and violates their privacy

"The coronavirus pandemic has been a boon for the test proctoring industry. About half a dozen companies in the US claim their software can accurately detect and prevent cheating in online tests. Examity, HonorLock, Proctorio,ProctorU, Respondus and others have rapidly grown since colleges and universities switched to remote classes.

While there’s no official tally, it’s reasonable to say that millions of algorithmically proctored tests are happening every month around the world. Proctorio told the New York Times in May that business had increased by 900% during the first few months of the pandemic, to the point where the company proctored 2.5 million tests worldwide in April alone.

I'm a university librarian and I've seen the impacts of these systems up close. My own employer, the University of Colorado Denver, has a contract with Proctorio.

It’s become clear to me that algorithmic proctoring is a modern surveillance technology that reinforces white supremacy, sexism, ableism, and transphobia. The use of these tools is an invasion of students’ privacy and, often, a civil rights violation."

The Death of a Fake Twitter Personality Reveals the Systemic Rot of Academia; Medium, August 11, 2020

Asher Elbein, Medium; The Death of a Fake Twitter Personality Reveals the Systemic Rot of Academia

"The creation of such an identity — as multiple Native scholars and writers have pointed out — isn’t just deeply disrespectful to the small community of Natives in academia, and it doesn’t just play into a gross American tradition of appropriation. It’s also coming at a time when Native people are being killed by Covid-19 at 19 times the rate of all other populations combined in New Mexico alone. Before McLaughlin was unmasked, Duarte says, she had been avoiding social media, which for those with family in the Four Corners region of the Southwest felt like a rolling obituary. She and Washuta both recalled hearing the news that a Native colleague had died and instantly wondering if it was someone they knew. Killing off a fake Native account through Covid-19 registers as doubly cruel.

“The behavior of this individual Dr. McLaughlin eclipses the actual work of Native colleagues,” Duarte says, as well as the struggles of LGTBQ Native people who themselves suffer disproportionate rates of violence. “It sort of feels like being rendered invisible many times over.”"

Libraries’ Buchanan Fellows adapt with new skills during pandemic; Vanderbilt University, August 5, 2020

Vanderbilt University; Libraries’ Buchanan Fellows adapt with new skills during pandemic

"Before the pandemic, the fellows for the Ethics of Information project were scheduled to participate in a library fair on intellectual freedom and privacy issues, according to Andrew Wesolek, director of digital scholarship and communications for the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries.

“Our students were going to staff the information tables and discuss with attendees the various online privacy tools they had learned about in weekly seminars,” said Wesolek, who co-directed the fellowship with Melissa Mallon, director of Peabody Library; Bobby Smiley, director of Divinity Library; and Sarah Burriss, doctoral candidate in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Peabody College. “The fair was cancelled, but students pivoted to create highly informative public service announcements on information privacy that can be viewed online.”

The student-produced PSAs cover everything from preventing unwanted Internet ad pop-ups to the dangers of personal data collection by some of the emerging and unregulated technologies."

COVID-19 Fatigue? Don’t Let Your Ethics Guard Down; Esquire, July 28, 2020

Esquire; COVID-19 Fatigue? Don’t Let Your Ethics Guard Down

"But now is not the time to give in or to cut corners professionally. No, now is the time for a quick run-through of a lawyer’s ethical obligations to clients during these challenging times.

The legal profession’s ethical rules do not contain exceptions for pandemics."