Friday Faves - What We're Reading This Week - Ripple Effect Group

Friday Faves is our weekly blog series highlighting a few select pieces from the REG team’s reading lists. You can catch up on past Friday Faves on the archive.

Remote Working Meetup Group

This morning we held the second of our remote working meetups over a coffee (or an adult beverage, for those joining us from the northern hemisphere) on Zoom, with guest speaker Lee Booy on the topic of IT Security when working from home. We had a great discussion and a great turnout – and we’ll be doing it all again next week!

We’d love to see you at the next one – join the meetup group and RSVP!

Join: https://www.meetup.com/Remote-Working-Meetup-Group/

Cartoon of the week

Anne says: It’s really an animation, but it’s in cartoon style! This is one of the best explainers I’ve seen on the coronavirus and how it “operates” and how it attacks our bodies. If you want to understand the physiological impact, this is a brilliant explainer, in David Attenborough storytelling style. Plain terminology, great use of metaphors and simple, yet powerful messages.

WhatsApp is at the centre of coronavirus response

Source

Anne says: I’ve raised the issue of misinformation and reliable sources in previous weeks (14 February & 21 February) so this article was refreshing to see how key sources of information are strategically addressing the problem. The World Health Organisation (WHO) have joined WhatsApp. Not just for a chat, but as an attempt to provide people with reliable updates (and mythbusters) in a platform where they recognise a lot of conversations are currently occurring. It’s a double whammy, the WHO distribute their information, but it also equips users with updates that they can share, knowing that it’s not misinformation. Or even as a reference point for others who are sharing information that is clearly unreliable.

WhatsApp have increased their server capacity to handle the current load of messaging and video calls. Something important to note, part of the infrastructure of WhatsApp is the end-to-end encryption, meaning they can’t access user messages. Whereas Facebook can and has strategies to remove misinformation (as best they can). This makes WhatsApp a “safe” place for people to chat, but an “unsafe” place due to no moderation capabilities. WhatsApp have stated their priority to promote accurate information and support for fact-checking organisations. But these strategies will only work when the users are aware of where to access the information.

The end-to-end encryption of WhatsApp is an important feature of their offering – we need to ensure that is not eroded by the sharing of misinformation that could result in the removal of this feature to allow for moderation of content. Do your bit, avoid forwarding content that isn’t from a reliable resource, ask people what their sources are and sign up for services like the WHO.

In case you don’t read the article – here’s the directions for signing up to the WHO:

text “hi” to +41 79 893 1892 over WhatsApp, you’ll receive back a text from the WHO that includes a variety of menu items for the latest information

Stay safe – stay home.

Read: https://www.wired.com/story/whatsapp-coronavirus-who-information-app

Focus

Source

Jakkii says: One thing I’m finding with so much going on in this pandemic is that my focus feels all over the place. Outside of focusing on specific work tasks, almost more than ever there seems to be a ton of information – and misinformation, as Anne mentioned above – being thrown at us. The skill of filtering is one we all need, and one I’m finding I need to hone further than I ever have before in order to be across the information I need while leaving aside what I don’t. Separating the signal from the noise is difficult right now for everyone, even those well experienced with it, so if you’re finding this a struggle, you’re not alone. The truth is that it takes work and good digital hygiene – curating a list of trusted sources and turning to them for reliable information (like the WHO on WhatsApp in Anne’s article), unfollowing people (even friends and family) who share misinformation or who add no value to your timeline (I know that might sound harsh, but think of it as self-care 😀 ) and – a big one – stepping away from the computer and the phone from time to time. When there’s an overload of information, it’s more important than ever to take time out, to reset, to think about other things or even nothing at all. Read a book, go for a walk (if you’re allowed to do that where you are), daydream, play a game. Let your mind do other things and have a real break. It helps.

All that said, I don’t have a single thing to share with you this week, but rather a few things that have caught my attention or I’ve found interesting – and yes, some of them are virus related 😉

Stay safe – and wash your hands!

Friday Funnies