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William Carter “Bill” Jenkins, who once tried to put a stop the racist, unethical Tuskegee syphilis study in the 1960s died on Feb. 17, in Charleston, S.C. at the age of 73 from complications of sarcoidosis, the New York Times reports. A government epidemiologist, Jenkins was working as a statistician at the United States Public Health […]
The post Bill Jenkins, Man Who Tried To Expose Racist Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Dead At 73 appeared first on Essence.
A deep dive into the employees who moderate content for Facebook is eye-opening and scary as hell.
The Verge’s Casey Newton has published “The Trauma Floor: The Secret Lives of America’s Facebook Moderators,” and the article—which should be required reading for all social media users—delves into some disturbing territory. It opens with one moderator’s panic attack after she watches a man being murdered in a video as part of her training, and goes from there to the broader experiences of the people working for Cognizant, a vendor that moderates content for Facebook.
It’s a place where, in stark contrast to the perks lavished on Facebook employees, team leaders micromanage content moderators’ every bathroom and prayer break; where employees, desperate for a dopamine rush amid the misery, have been found having sex inside stairwells and a room reserved for lactating mothers; where people develop severe anxiety while still in training, and continue to struggle with trauma symptoms long after they leave; and where the counseling that Cognizant offers them ends the moment they quit — or are simply let go.
The moderators told me it’s a place where the conspiracy videos and memes that they see each day gradually lead them to embrace fringe views. One auditor walks the floor promoting the idea that the Earth is flat. A former employee told me he has begun to question certain aspects of the Holocaust. Another former employee, who told me he has mapped every escape route out of his house and sleeps with a gun at his side, said: “I no longer believe 9/11 was a terrorist attack.”
The article is a fascinating and harrowing read. To me it feels personal: years ago, I spent more than a year in a similar role. I’ve seen more things that I will never be able to unsee than I care to recount. Our training was insufficient, any counseling or support nonexistent. Yet we weren’t even the front line—a similar contract company, like Cognizant, made the first pass at the worst of the material. While there are crimes and cruelties etched into my brain from what I saw, the contracted workers had to bear the brunt of it. My own days of moderation were a walk in the park in comparison. It’s terrifying for me to see what these huge regimented armies of moderators are being made to face on a daily basis.
What does a shift in the life of a Cognizant employee look like?
Miguel works the posts in his queue. They arrive in no particular order at all.
Here is a racist joke. Here is a man having sex with a farm animal. Here is a graphic video of murder recorded by a drug cartel. Some of the posts Miguel reviews are on Facebook, where he says bullying and hate speech are more common; others are on Instagram, where users can post under pseudonyms, and tend to share more violence, nudity, and sexual activity.
My team never had to deal with conditions like the employees of Cognizant are subject to—crowded facilities, locked-away phones, denied pen and paper because of privacy concerns, personal items like hand lotion kept in clear plastic bags under management’s watchful eye. The bureaucratic nightmare here is worse than anything our dystopias of bureaucracy imagined. (“Miguel is also allotted nine minutes per day of ‘wellness time,’ which he is supposed to use if he feels traumatized and needs to step away from his desk.”)
The degree to which these moderators’ work lives are micromanaged, coupled with the difficult content that they must consume on a daily basis, creates a traumatic environment most people will never think about when they log in to their favorite site.
It’s worth your while to read Newton’s article in its entirety. Then pour one out for our online moderators—or rather, consider buying them a much-needed drink.
(via The Verge, image: Unsplash/Glen Carrie)
- Wow. Wow.
here’s the email I received about Green Book from one of the producers. I censored the name of the editor he cc’d, which I guess was supposed to be a power move? anyone who has received something similar, feel free to reach out. pic.twitter.com/LIiV4CEp3Z
— Jenni Miller (@msjennimiller) February 25, 2019
- We’re still not over Green Book winning Best Picture, sorry/not sorry.
Remember how BLACKKKLANSMAN ends with, “oh yeah nothing has changed and we haven’t learned anything?” And people were like, “that’s really on the nose.”
Anyway, GREEN BOOK won.
— Mattle Angel: Guringo (@EmperorOTN) February 25, 2019
- Gorgeous new character portraits of Captain Marvel’s principals. (via Comicbookmovie)
- Speaking of: this might be the most wonderful picture I’ve ever laid eyes upon. If you’re out there talking about how representation doesn’t matter, never speak to me or my superhero children again.
Y’all seeing this! 😭😭❤#BlackPanther #CaptainMarvel pic.twitter.com/IY6i6Qlfql
— Courts ︽✵︽ (@CourtZ022) February 24, 2019
What did you see out there on the Internets today?
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“What’re ya buyin’?” asked the wretched man clad in a body-length black cloak. His craggy voice emanated from somewhere beneath the purple bandana covering his face. “Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil 1, and Resident Evil 4 on the Nintendo Switch,” you answer.
Get ready to scary yourself silly all over again (and on the go)! Capcom announced on Monday on Twitter that it will bring three of the most popular entries in the Resident Evil series to the Nintendo Switch on May 21.
Resident Evil 0, 1, and 4 are coming to Nintendo Switch eShop on May 21!
Play all three masterpieces anywhere, such as:
– On trains
– During mansion tours
– Across the European countrysidePre-orders start on Feb 28! pic.twitter.com/BCzatyoUhU
— Resident Evil (@RE_Games) February 25, 2019
Because buying Skyrim on every console wasn’t enough, now you can buy Resident Evil 4 on yet another device too! Following the success of Resident Evil 2 Remake, Capcom is releasing three classic Resident Evil titles as digital downloads on the Nintendo eShop on May 21. North American Switch owners will be able to purchase a retail bundle called Resident Evil Origins Collection, which bundles together RE0 and RE1. Unfortunately for European Switch owners, they will have to purchase each title separately and digitally. No pricing details have been announced at this time, so keep any and all masters of unlocking away from your piggy bank until then.
This latest deluge of fan-favorite remakes is quickly cementing the Switch’s status as the go-to console for gamers looking to recapture the halcyon days of their youth while they commute to work, finish a pick-up basketball game, interrupt a rooftop barbecue, or whatever increasingly improbable scenarios were in the original Switch launch trailer. But now I’ll have three new ways to induce blood-curdling terror on a red-eye flight, which is exactly what my ever-present anxiety needed.
Pre-orders for all three Resident Evil games commence on February 28.
Images: Capcom
The post A Trio of RESIDENT EVIL Games Are Coming to Nintendo Switch appeared first on Nerdist.
Experts were left baffled by the discovery of a dead 26-feet-long humpback whale in the Amazon jungle, far from its natural habitat. The whale was found in a forested area on the island […]
The post Watch: Dead Humpback Whale Found in Brazilian Jungle appeared first on Geek.com.