March 2017 DTNS UPDATE (Patreon)

Welcome back to the DTNS Monthly Update available to all backers at the $1 a month level or more. Each month I briefly update you with what's going on at DTNS and highlight a few awesome patrons in the audience. 

TOM'S NOTE

March. It usually means SXSW, basketball and wind. No SXSW for me this year, but we will have a month full of fantastic shows. Now one thing we will be missing is Darren Kitchen, who's been busy launching the Bash Bunny at Hak5 and will be off traveling for awhile, bu we're working on having him on the show, possibly from far flung corners of the world. In the meantime Roger's busy booking Fridays with some excellent co-hosts.

If you're not already supporting us at the $5 a month level, I've included a sample of one of the weekly columns you get at that level at the end of this post. Let me know what you think!

UPCOMING GUESTS/EVENTS

March 7 - Psst. Keep your eye on http://anchor.fm/  for a new way to listen to Daily Tech Headlines.

March 14 - Annalee Newitz from Ars Technica on the show! 

March 18 4 PM - Los Angeles MEETUP! at Book Soup

If you're in LA on March 18 at 4 PM, come on by Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood. I'll be talking about my novel Pilot X, and signing copies as well as just hanging out and chatting. I know, regular LA meetup attendees, it ain't the farmer's market, but sometimes change is good.

http://www.booksoup.com/event 

SURVEY

We're already making good use of the responses to the survey.  Thanks to everybody who filled it out! We'll discuss it more soon on the quarterly hangout. If you haven't taken it yet, the link is below, and if you have, you can see the responses.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1SiycSeCGZUWCgY9YN7ucdrkjjJKPXn_5xRWeyc8Xm-o/edit#responses 

PATRON SHOUTOUTS

The January 23rd Club

There are a number of folks who have been with us since we launched the Patreon on January 23rd, 2014. Each month we'll recognize a couple of them. This month HUGE thanks to:

Tim Magnuson

Johannes

Matthew Richmond

Y'all and everyone who sticks with us are amazing.

TWO YEARS WITH US!

Among the folks who've supported us for two years this month are Daryl Golinsky, Lee Corbin and Mark Lively. Thanks to all the March anniversaries!

RANDOM THANKS 

And big thanks to Todd Nagle, Colleen Emery, Ryan Manus, and everyone who continues to support the show!

******Bonus COLUMN******

This column ran in the weekly DTNS Update post available to folks at the $5 a month level.

CLOSER LOOK - TESTING YOUR COMMENT PATIENCE

NRKbeta is the tech section of Norway’s public broadcaster’s website. Two weeks ago they published an explainer about a proposed digital surveillance law in the country. 

https://nrkbeta.no/2017/02/15/nrkbeta-forklarer-forslaget-til-nye-lover-for-overvakning-i-norge/ 

As you can imagine, comments on such proposals can be very divisive and heated. Some folks think any kind of surveillance is oppressive. Others think it’s dangerous to oppose surveillance. 

But the comments on both sides in the NRKbeta story were respectful even when in disagreement. NRKbeta thinks its because of a new system where, on some stories, they require commenters to answer three multiple choice questions about the story they wish to comment on. If they don’t get the questions right, they don’t get to post their comment.

http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/03/this-site-is-taking-the-edge-off-rant-mode-by-making-readers-pass-a-quiz-before-commenting/ 

The procedure does two things.

1. Tries to insure that the people discussing the story understand the basic facts of the story. This cuts down on many arguments based on misunderstandings or ignorance. 

2. It takes the edge off. It’s a speed bump, if you will. If I read a story, get incensed at the government and want to blast a screed, three multiple choice items that make me re-think the story, seriously take the wind out of my sails. 

Of course the readership of NRKbeta is tech savvy and quickly were sharing a script with each other that could circumvent the quiz. But maybe that’s OK. It still stops casual commenters who may have only read the headline. But over time, groups, maybe coordinated, or maybe not, could learn how to overcome the barrier if they were intent on starting online fights. That’s not something unheard of in the world.

That’s an issue that Jigsaw’s Perspective project is tackling. Perspective is trying to use machine learning to create an algorithm that can grade the “toxicity” of a comment. 

https://jigsaw.google.com/projects/#perspective 

Just seeing the grade as you type can make people more civil. However, someone determined to get around the system, can. Researchers at the University of Washington’s Network Security Lab published a paper February 27 showing that typos, like changing “idiot” to “idiiot” lowered the toxicity score significantly.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1702.08138.pdf 

Now, it’s tempting to dismiss both these projects in light of that, right? Where there’s a will to speak there will be a way. BUt Jigsaw welcomed the University of Washington report. Jigsaw’s product manager for Perspective CJ Adams, told Ars Technica they welcome the research, adding, “The API allows users and researchers to submit corrections like these directly, which will then be used to improve the model and ensure it can to understand more forms of toxic language, and evolve as new forms emerge over time.”

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/googles-anti-trolling-ai-can-be-defeated-by-typos-researchers-find/ 

What I like about both these projects is they’re approaching it like you might if you have two friends fighting. You get between them, try to give them some space and give them a chance to calm down. If one of them just refuses to chill, you change tactics, but you don’t come right for the hammer.

I don’t want censorship and I really don’t want companies to decide what is OK for me to say or not say online. So Jigsaw’s tool could be used for good or ill. If it shows me whether I’m being “toxic” that’s helpful. Because I want to have a productive discussion. If it’s used to ban me that becomes more problematic.

And NRKbeta’s, while easier to circumvent, is even better. As long as the quizzes are factual, it just gives me a chance to calm down, and even helps me make sure I didn’t read something wrong. That’s a service to me. 

Finally, I see both these efforts and the others like Civil (https://www.getcivil.com/ ), are examples of why I don’t think discussing things online is a lost cause. We are learning how to speak to each other when *everybody* can speak. This is what that learning looks like