After seeing a viral video featuring Stephen Fry, Cristina examines the practice of turning on same-language subtitling and its surprising effect on reading skills, particularly in children. Adam looks at examples of recent cases where Google and Twitter algorithms are being accused of bias.
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Subtitles and Reading Skills
Research into Same-Language Subtitling
Stephen Fry talks about turning on the subtitles
Science of Learning: Interview with John Gabrieli
Same Language Subtitling of Bollywood Film Songs on TV: Effects on Literacy
Closed-captioned television: A new tool for reading instruction.
Biased Algorithms
Twitter apologises for ‘racist’ image-cropping algorithm – The Guardian
Transparency around image cropping and changes to come – Twitter
Quick test to see if Twitter’s cropping algorithm is still racist. – Twitter
I wonder if you folks would like to look into a putative non-alcohol substitute called “alcarelle”
I just listened to a short “On The Media” podcast featuring Prof. David Nutt of Imperial College, London who seems to have a long pedigree of academic titles.
But red flags were going up all over the place as I listened to the otherwise estimable Brooke Gladstone: (1) He’s got a world-changing invention that seems like the equivalent of the electric light bulb or penicillin…but he can’t get the government to fund him; in fact, he can’t find any investors. (2) he doesn’t seem to have a patent on this world-saving formula. (3) He says has an “antidote that can sober up rats” and then doubles down by saying he can “sober people up.” (4) When Brooke indicated that some scientists say his concoction is “scientifically infeasible,” Nutt’s response was simply: “They wrong, we’ve tested it.” But where are the double-blinded, controlled, peer reviewed published journal articles?
Maybe everything he claimed is legit, but it sure sounds Nutty.
On The Media
Beyond Ethanol
Jul 9, 2021
On developing a synthetic alcohol with all of the benefits but none of the risks.