for W3c validation
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.
Cartoon of the week
Anne says: Dear CEOs – this is one of the images from Gapingvoid’s e-book (linked below). After last week’s 2 articles about leadership behaviour while working remotely, this particular cartoon really emphasised the mindset required by everyone as we navigate through the current crisis.
Leadership in the time of coronavirus
Anne says: This is yet another gem from the Gapingvoid team. It’s a free e-book with 12 pages of cartoons and accompanying commentary. Each page will resonate for people in different ways for different contexts.
I’ve even added one of them as a background for my Zoom meetings. I hope you find at least one of these provides you with some inspiration.
Read: https://www.gapingvoid.com/blog/2020/03/25/leadership-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/
Lockdown was supposed to be an introvert’s paradise. It’s not.
Anne says: Zoom parties were fun – initially… Then it started to feel like overload, now it’s overwhelm… and now I’m declining drinks sessions. What’s going on? We’re supposed to hate being isolation and craving any contact with others – right?
This article initially started discussing how quarantine, confinement or lockdown was an introvert’s dream – being officially empowered to decline social gatherings. Except when they’re online – now you have NO excuse. But it moves beyond just introverts feeling bombarded to social overwhelm being experienced by many people. Suddenly video hookups are required for work, for school lessons, for check-ins with family, and everything else.
Enter anxiety – the article explores the different ways people experience anxiety. Layer that with families or flatmates all confined into the same space – all day, all night – and we’re starting to see how both introverts and extroverts are becoming more anxious.
There’s some interesting tips to make some of the video calls more meaningful – from creating some structure, playing games, discussing topics – rather than just the chaotic unstructured everyone trying to talk at once. For me, I was kind of attracted to playing games online with someone on a video call – I wonder how a game of Backgammon would work? Stay tuned – I’ll update you!
And remember, if you’re using Zoom – pay attention to the security features to avoid any ZoomBombing moments.
Read: Play Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight: “I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life” while reading – https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615437/virtual-happy-hour-introverts-lockdown-coronavirus/
That discomfort you’re feeling is grief
Jakkii says: Last week I shared a piece looking at the surreality of life in a pandemic. The week before, I talked about the challenge of focus in these weird times. This week, I want to talk to you about grief.
I had this piece earmarked for sharing this week for quite a while before I could bring myself to sit down and write something to go with it. The many of us who’ve known grief when it comes to the loss of a friend or family member know how big it can be. How everlasting, in fact, though its shape and size change over time (or, to use another metaphor I’ve read before, we make ourselves bigger and grow around the grief in order to move forward).
But what is both tangible and intangible in a loss of a loved one is that loss of a person – the world has a person-shaped hole in it where they once lived, and while it’s hard, it’s something real, something that is a part of life, even though we might not want to accept that when it’s our loved one lost. However, when it comes to the utterly upside-down world we find ourselves living in right now, it’s hard to immediately identify it for ourselves as loss, especially if we’re still working (even if from home). It’s harder still to identify our feelings and reactions as grief, especially if our association with grief is that all-encompassing, wrenching sadness of the loss of a loved one.
Yet, grief it actually is, at least for many of us – maybe most of us, maybe even all of us. Maybe you’ve been having intense coronavirus dreams, which have apparently become common. I won’t presume to know what you’re feeling, but if you’re anything like me, or like others I have spoken to about it, then you are probably feeling some form of grief.
If we can name it, perhaps we can manage it.
This is something we try to teach kids – to name their emotions so they can understand them and learn to manage them. It’s still true for us as adults. This piece is a great interview with David Kessler on grief, in which he discusses the different types of grief we’re experiencing, and, importantly, some strategies to try to manage it.
I don’t know about you, but while it’s not a normal Easter – this is your reminder to STAY AT HOME – I’m really in need of the four day break. There’s been a constant stress and tension around me since this began and, frankly, it’s time for a break from thinking. I’m going to work on some of the strategies from the article, stock up on compassion, and do my best to switch my mind into neutral, take some deep breaths, go for a (safe and socially distanced) walk by the river for some exercise, and otherwise stay at home, cook, read a book, watch something on Netflix, and just decompress.
I need it, and maybe you do too.
If you’re not OK, you can reach out and speak to someone. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or text 0477 13 11 14.
Read: https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief
Around the house
Jakkii says: We’ve all got to entertain ourselves somehow while we’re staying at home! From mindless entertainment to more practical projects, here’s a few articles you might find useful – especially over the long weekend!
- There is an art to isolation: here’s a guide to staying centered
- 23 actually useful skills you can learn in one week while you’re stuck inside
- 6 indoor gardening projects for *any* size of home
- The best stand-up specials on Netflix (this is a US-based article so not all may be on Aus Netflix)
- Baking? Here are some baking hacks, a bread 101, and the best yeast substitutes for breads
- Beyond Dungeons & Dragons: A guide to the vast, exciting world of tabletop RPGs
- 6 must-see rockumentaries to shelter in place with
- And for exercise: 7 trainer-approved ways to get the most out of your daily walking workout
And finally, here’s Samuel L Jackson with a little reminder for us all:
Friday Funnies
Source unknown
I, for one, would like to thank the Queen for making her royal address and providing the nation with something it sorely needs right now…
The perfect Photoshop bait… pic.twitter.com/dU0CIATWs1
— Peter Chiykowski, the unauthorized Queenscreener (@rockpapercynic) April 5, 2020
omg this TikTok video pic.twitter.com/RgSFAzl6e5
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) March 29, 2020
Aye moe, this is the Tik Tok of the year. Fuck everything else 😂 pic.twitter.com/MfqcrxRz7O
— bp. (@IRunPassFatKids) April 4, 2020
Today I made a Zoom background of myself accidentally walking in on myself in a Zoom meeting. pic.twitter.com/Rl2AsjfZ7V
— Dan Crowd (@itsdancrowd) April 3, 2020
Misinformation Friday Five
- How do you moderate COVID-19 misinformation when it’s coming from official sources?
- Here’s how to fight coronavirus misinformation
- The coronavirus disinformation system: how it works
- How to spot coronavirus fake news – an expert guide
- Broadband engineers threatened due to 5G coronavirus conspiracies (and how the theory tore through the internet)
COVID-19 Friday Five
- This is not the apocalypse you were looking for
- Digital data tracking and privacy: the future implications of COVID-19 (and extraordinary powers need extraordinary protections)
- What studies reveal about social distancing and remote working during coronavirus
- ANU boss Brian Schmidt predicts ‘transformed’ university system after COVID-19
- What everyone’s getting wrong about the toilet paper shortage
Work Friday Five
- Co-working crumbling: Start-ups abandon hot desking
- Surge in demand for serviced offices as many people abandon working from home
- Is tech making you lonely at work?
- It’s not a digital transformation without a digital culture
- Coronavirus will change what ‘customer success’ means for business – value and purpose now essential
Tech Friday Five
- Coronavirus pandemic has unleashed a wave of cyber attacks — here’s how to protect yourself
- Robot vehicles make contactless deliveries amid coronavirus quarantine
- Bezos and Musk’s internet-from-space race is back on
- Will COVID-19 be a tipping point for technology?
- Algorithmic racist timeline
Social Media Friday Five
- The Instagram project documenting the everyday drama of life under lockdown
- Facebook provides location-tracking maps, new user surveys for COVID-19 research
- WhatsApp limits message forwarding to only one person at a time
- Houseparty etiquette: how to navigate the new social media app
- Using influencer marketing for positive change: a conversation with Lyft
Sydney Business Insights – The Future This Week Podcast
This week: big tech in the time of corona, and why robots are not taking your job. Sandra Peter (Sydney Business Insights) and Kai Riemer (Digital Disruption Research Group) meet once a week to put their own spin on news that is impacting the future of business in The Future, This Week.
The stories this week
03:26 – Big tech could emerge stronger than ever
18:48 – If robots steal so many jobs, why aren’t they saving us?
26:26 – We are building a COVID-19 business impacts portal
Other stories we bring up
Will the tech industry survive the coronavirus?
Has the coronavirus killed the techlash?
Our previous conversation on TFTW around #BreakupBigTech and more #BreakupBigTech
Our previous conversation on TFTW around corporate inequality
Big tech swallows most of startups
Google builds site (kind of) that President Trump falsely announced
Our previous conversation on TFTW around robots stealing our jobs and how automation will impact quantity vs quality of work
Listen: https://sbi.sydney.edu.au/big-tech-and-automation-during-covid-19-on-the-future-this-week/
Remote Working Meetup Group
Our international community of remote workers meet on Friday mornings (8am Sydney time) each week. Our next formal meetup is on April 17, however, if Easter doesn’t really feel like Easter to you this year and you’d like to jump on board with a coffee and an Easter Egg on Friday morning (or a wine on Thursday afternoon or evening, depending where you’re located!), then join the meetup group and RSVP for tomorrow’s meetup.
Whether tomorrow or next week, we’d love to have you!
Join: https://www.meetup.com/Remote-Working-Meetup-Group
