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From the bestselling author of College Unbound comes a hopeful, inspiring blueprint to help alleviate parents' anxiety and prepare their college-educated child to successfully land a good job after graduation. Saddled with thousands of dollars of debt, today's college students are graduating into an uncertain job market that is leaving them financially dependent on their parents for years to come--a reality that has left moms and dads wondering: What did I pay all that money for? There Is Life After College offers students, parents, and even recent graduates the practical advice and insight they need to jumpstart their careers. Education expert Jeffrey Selingo answers key questions--Why is the transition to post-college life so difficult for many recent graduates? How can graduates market themselves to employers that are reluctant to provide on-the-job training? What can institutions and individuals do to end the current educational and economic stalemate?--and offers a practical step-by-step plan every young professional can follow. From the end of high school through college graduation, he lays out exactly what students need to do to acquire the skills companies want. Full of tips, advice, and insight, this wise, practical guide will help every student, no matter their major or degree, find real employment--and give their parents some peace of mind.
There are many career options for people who like social media. This book explores what it's like to be a content creator, social media manager, customer service representative, and digital forensics investigator. Job descriptions, required training, tips for getting started, and future directions for each career are included.
There are many career options for people who like gaming. This book explores what it's like to be a video game artist, animator, video game writer, and programmer. Job descriptions, required training, tips for getting started, and future directions for each career are included.
Advances in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) have created a new class of computer systems that exhibit astonishing proficiency on a wide variety of tasks with superhuman performance, producing novel text, images, music, and software by analyzing enormous collections of digitized information. Soon, these systems will provide expert medical care; offer legal advice; draft documents; write computer programs; tutor our children; and generate music and art. These advances will accelerate progress in science, art, and human knowledge, but they will also bring new dangers. Have we finally discovered the holy grail of AI - machines that match or exceed human intelligence? Which industries and professions will thrive, and which will wither? What risks and dangers will it pose? How can we ensure that these systems respect our ethical principles? Will the benefits be broadly distributed or accrue to a lucky few? How will GAI alter our political systems and international conflicts? Are we merely a stepping stone to a new form of non-biological life, or are we just getting better at building useful gadgets? Generative Artificial Intelligence: What Everyone Needs to Know® equips readers with the knowledge to answer these pressing questions.
An indispensable look at the next frontier of technological advancement and its impact on our world Generative AI is rewriting the rulebook with its seemingly endless capabilities, from crafting intricate industrial designs, writing computer code, and producing mesmerizing synthetic voices to composing enchanting music and innovating genetic breakthroughs. In Generative AI in Practice, renowned futurist Bernard Marr offers readers a deep dive into the captivating universe of GenAI. This comprehensive guide introduces you to the basics of this groundbreaking technology and outlines the profound impact that GenAI will have on business and society. Professionals, technophiles, and anyone with an interest in the future will need to understand how GenAI is set to redefine jobs, revolutionize business, and question the foundations everything we do. In this book, Marr sheds light on the most innovative real-world GenAI applications through practical examples, describing how they are moulding industries like retail, healthcare, education, finance, and beyond. You'll enjoy a captivating discussion of innovations in media and entertainment, seismic shifts in advertising, and the future trajectory of GenAI. You will: Navigate the complex landscapes of risks and challenges posed by Generative AI Delve into the revolutionary transformation of the job market in the age of GenAI Understand AI's transformative impact on education, healthcare, and retail Explore the boundless potentials in media, design, banking, coding, and even the legal arena Ideal for professionals, technophiles, and anyone eager to understand the next big thing in technology, Generative AI In Practice will equip readers with insights on how to implement GenAI, how GenAI is different to traditional AI, and a comprehensive list of generative AI tools available today.
This book establishes a strong foundation by explaining core concepts like operating systems, networking, and databases. Understanding these systems forms the bedrock for comprehending security threats and vulnerabilities. The book gives aspiring information security professionals the knowledge and skills to confidently land their dream job in this dynamic field.This beginner-friendly cybersecurity guide helps you safely navigate the digital world. The reader will also learn about operating systems like Windows, Linux, and UNIX, as well as secure server management. We will also understand networking with TCP/IP and packet analysis, master SQL queries, and fortify databases against threats like SQL injection. Discover proactive security with threat modeling, penetration testing, and secure coding. Protect web apps from OWASP/SANS vulnerabilities and secure networks with pentesting and firewalls. Finally, explore cloud security best practices using AWS to identify misconfigurations and strengthen your cloud setup.The book will prepare you for cybersecurity job interviews, helping you start a successful career in information security. The book provides essential techniques and knowledge to confidently tackle interview challenges and secure a rewarding role in the cybersecurity field.
Boost your coding output and accuracy with artificial intelligence tools Coding with AI For Dummies introduces you to the many ways that artificial intelligence can make your life as a coder easier. Even if you're brand new to using AI, this book will show you around the new tools that can produce, examine, and fix code for you. With AI, you can automate processes like code documentation, debugging, updating, and optimization. The time saved thanks to AI lets you focus on the core development tasks that make you even more valuable. Learn the secrets behind coding assistant platforms and get step-by-step instructions on how to implement them to make coding a smoother process. Thanks to AI and this Dummies guide, you'll be coding faster and better in no time. Discover all the core coding tasks boosted by artificial intelligence Meet the top AI coding assistance platforms currently on the market Learn how to generate documentation with AI and use AI to keep your code up to date Use predictive tools to help speed up the coding process and eliminate bugs This is a great Dummies guide for new and experienced programmers alike. Get started with AI coding and expand your programming toolkit with Coding with AI For Dummies.
Learn how to simplify your life with AI in this essential guide -- now fully updated and revised, with even more ideas to spark creativity and boost efficiency The ChatGPT Revolution is the ultimate quick-start guide to unlocking the power of generative AI. We're on the edge of an AI revolution ... but what does that mean for you? It's time to get curious about how the latest tech can help you handle your everyday load, at work and at home! Whether you're overwhelmed by repetitive, time-consuming tasks or you're simply looking for a fresh injection of creativity, ChatGPT has got your back. With this essential handbook, you'll learn how quickly and easily apps like ChatGPT can turn your to-do list into a ta-da list. From emails and reports to planning your next meal or vacation, generative AI can help you simplify your daily tasks and responsibilities. The ChatGPT Revolution shows you exactly how to use this innovative tech to save on time and stress. Sharing practical tips and fun ideas, acclaimed productivity expert Donna McGeorge unpacks everything you need to know. Learn how generative AI is already being used in everyday life -- and how tools like ChatGPT are transforming the future of work and life admin Understand the different tasks that AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and DALL-E can do -- and when and how to use these tools most effectively Get step-by-step advice for writing smart, specific prompts and follow-up queries to produce better results Discover tips for using ChatGPT on the go, with the mobile app and voice and photo capability Take control, revitalise your workflows, and overcome procrastination and creative blocks -- with entertaining examples and activities for work, home, creative writing, and more Whether you're a busy professional or you simply want an answer to the dreaded question 'What's for dinner?,' The ChatGPT Revolution reveals how generative AI can make your life easier. AI technologies are here to stay. This is your invitation to join the revolution. Pick up this book and learn how to harness the power of AI, so you can free up more time and energy for the things that truly matter.
Web designers work with technology, but do not always have college degrees. This book explores the field of web design, the training involved in becoming a web designer, what the job is like, and what the future holds for the field.
Cybersecurity specialists work with technology, but do not always have college degrees. This book explores the field of cybersecurity, the training involved in becoming a cybersecurity specialist, what the job is like, and what the future holds for the field.
Computer support specialists work with technology, but do not always have college degrees. This book explores the field of computer support, the training involved in becoming a computer support specialist, what the job is like, and what the future holds for the field.
Artificial intelligence is quickly changing the way people work, interact, and live. This book explores how AI has already affected the workplace, how it will impact work in the future, and the concerns people have about these changes. A description of what AI is and how it works is included along with experts' predictions of how the technology will continue to evolve.
How can I take a data-driven approach to company culture? What should I measure and which metrics should I focus on? How can people analytics and behavioural science impact culture? Based on insights from the largest ever behavioural research study which examined the organizational impact of 220+ behaviours from 60 organizations, across 61 countries, Culture Analytics provides an evidence-based approach to organizational culture. It outlines the leading and lagging culture indicators, explains how to identify actionable insights from your people and culture data as well as how to apply predictive analytics to company culture. There is also guidance on the 30 employee behaviours which have the most impact on company culture and how to apply behavioural science interventions to drive these in your organization. The second part of the book covers key areas where culture analytics can be applied to drive business performance. These areas include talent acquisition and retention, employee engagement, EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion), wellbeing, psychological safety as well as resilience, strategy, innovation, change management and risk. Full of practical advice, this book also includes real world examples from Barclays, Pfizer, American Airlines, EDF Energy, Saudi Telecom Company, Cisco and Ethiad Airways. Making the complex world of people analytics and behavioural science accessible and applicable to all senior HR professionals and business leaders, Culture Analytics shows how to take a robust, evidence-based approach to company culture to drive workforce and organizational performance and deliver tangible business value.
An indispensable guide to help companies navigate the new era of ethical challenges and risks in a volatile global landscape. Today's headlines teem with employee unrest over racial injustice, communities infuriated by corporate environmental impacts, staff anxiety over surveillance, public outrage over corruption in business, and discoveries of child labor in supply chains. We've traveled far and fast from the old world of business ethics, where black-and-white concerns about bribery and fraud could be addressed via rules and processes. Simply maximizing shareholder value while not breaking the law is no longer a tenable approach, but we've never been so confused about what it means to do the right thing--and why it's so important. In this eye-opening, essential book, NYU Stern ethics professor Alison Taylor argues that amid stakeholder demands and transparency pressures, we can no longer treat ethics as merely a legal and reputational defense mechanism. Leaders at Davos and the Business Roundtable have called for a new corporate responsibility paradigm, but organizations struggle to implement these ideas in an atmosphere of heightened expectations and intense suspicion. Offering vivid stories and examples from years working in anti-corruption and advising companies on ethics, Taylor brings this complex, risky environment alive to provide a blueprint for how leaders can rethink and reshape their practices. How can CEOs cut through the noise to set robust environmental and social priorities? When should they speak out on contentious social and political issues--and how? What does it really take to build a healthy organizational culture? How are we to approach corporate values when society itself is so divided? Higher Ground shows leaders how business can navigate this messy paradigm shift, build trust, and achieve long-term strategic advantage in a turbulent world.
Keep valuable data safe from even the most sophisticated social engineering and phishing attacks Fighting Phishing: Everything You Can Do To Fight Social Engineering and Phishing serves as the ideal defense against phishing for any reader, from large organizations to individuals. Unlike most anti-phishing books, which focus only on one or two strategies, this book discusses all the policies, education, and technical strategies that are essential to a complete phishing defense. This book gives clear instructions for deploying a great defense-in-depth strategy to defeat hackers and malware. Written by the lead data-driven defense evangelist at the world's number one anti-phishing company, KnowBe4, Inc., this guide shows you how to create an enduring, integrated cybersecurity culture. Learn what social engineering and phishing are, why they are so dangerous to your cybersecurity, and how to defend against them Educate yourself and other users on how to identify and avoid phishing scams, to stop attacks before they begin Discover the latest tools and strategies for locking down data when phishing has taken place, and stop breaches from spreading Develop technology and security policies that protect your organization against the most common types of social engineering and phishing Anyone looking to defend themselves or their organization from phishing will appreciate the uncommonly comprehensive approach in Fighting Phishing.
The global battle among the three dominant digital powers--the United States, China, and the European Union--is intensifying. All three regimes are racing to regulate tech companies, with each advancing a competing vision for the digital economy while attempting to expand its sphere of influence in the digital world. In Digital Empires, her provocative follow-up to The Brussels Effect, Anu Bradford explores a rivalry that will shape the world in the decades to come. Across the globe, people dependent on digital technologies have become increasingly alarmed that their rapid adoption and transformation have ushered in an exceedingly concentrated economy where a few powerful companies control vast economic wealth and political power, undermine data privacy, and widen the gap between economic winners and losers. In response, world leaders are variously embracing the idea of reining in the most dominant tech companies. Bradford examines three competing regulatory approaches--the American market-driven model, the Chinese state-driven model, and the European rights-driven regulatory model--and discusses how governments and tech companies navigate the inevitable conflicts that arise when these regulatory approaches collide in the international domain. Which digital empire will prevail in the contest for global influence remains an open question, yet their contrasting strategies are increasingly clear. Digital societies are at an inflection point. In the midst of these unfolding regulatory battles, governments, tech companies, and digital citizens are making important choices that will shape the future ethos of the digital society. Digital Empires lays bare the choices we face as societies and individuals, explains the forces that shape those choices, and illuminates the immense stakes involved for everyone who uses digital technologies.
In Decentralizing Finance: How DeFi, Digital Assets and Distributed Ledger Technology Are Transforming Finance, blockchain and digital assets expert Kenneth Bok offers an insightful exploration of the current state of decentralized finance (DeFi). As distributed ledger technology (DLT) increasingly optimizes and democratizes financial ecosystems worldwide, this book serves as a comprehensive guide to the most salient aspects of the ongoing transformation. The text delves into both crypto-native DeFi and DLT applications in regulated financial markets, providing: Comprehensive analysis of crypto-native DeFi across key areas such as its competitive landscape, infrastructure, financial instruments, activities, and applications Coverage of key risks, mitigation strategies, and regulatory frameworks, analyzed through the perspective of international financial standard-setting bodies Insight into how DLT is reshaping traditional financial systems through innovations like central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), tokenized assets, tokenized deposits, and institutional-grade DeFi platforms In a world where financial technology is rewriting the fundamental code of digital currency, the future of money is undeniably DLT-centric. How will this seismic shift interact with existing financial infrastructures? Can decentralization and traditional banking coexist and potentially synergize? This book endeavors to answer these pressing questions for financial professionals navigating these transformative times. Authored by a former Goldman Sachs trader, past Head of Growth at Zilliqa, and an early Ethereum investor with extensive experience in both traditional finance and the crypto ecosystem, Decentralizing Finance provides you with an insider's perspective on the revolution that is DeFi.
In The Crypto Launderers: Crime and Cryptocurrencies from the Dark Web to DeFi and Beyond, renowned anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing expert David Carlisle delivers a fascinating breakdown of the impact of crime on the world of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Tracking the history and evolution of crypto crime from the rise of the Dark Web to the present day, Carlisle recounts how an increasingly complex money laundering ecosystem has taken root in the crypto space. He describes in vivid detail how North Korean cyber thieves, Russian hackers, narcotics traffickers, and other illicit actors have moved billions of dollars' worth of cryptocurrencies through the blockchain, exploiting new technological innovations to profit from their crimes. In response, regulators, private industry, and law enforcement have begun fighting back against bad actors abusing cryptocurrencies - scoring critical victories along the way, but also igniting important and sometimes fierce debates about the future of innovation, finance, and the law. The author explains: A wide variety of technologies exploited by criminals, including mixers, privacy coins, Bitcoin ATMs, decentralized finance applications, and NFTs The rise of ransomware and the industrialization of the cybercriminal ecosystem How the transparency of the blockchain leaves criminals vulnerable to detection, while fueling controversial debates about financial privacy Emerging innovations, such as the rise of the metaverse, that could shape the future of crypto crime An engrossing and comprehensive analysis of the intersection of crime, technology, and finance, The Crypto Launderers will prove impossible to put down for readers with an interest in law, finance, tech, and the blockchain - as well as for anyone with even a passing interest in cryptocurrencies.
Combining the instincts of a journalist and the insight of the leader of a national business organization at the forefront of climate policy, Bob Keefe provides the first in-depth look at how the most important climate action in history is reshaping our economy, the way we live, and the future of our planet. He shows how the future long predicted by pundits, policymakers and prognosticators has arrived, and how smart businesses and communities are seizing the opportunities that come with it. Keefe introduces readers to the next generation of clean energy entrepreneurs and innovators, and takes us to places like Kings Mountain, N.C. and Blue Oval City, Tenn., modern-day clean economy frontier towns where battery and electric vehicle factories are sprouting from fallow fields and reinvigorating communities previously bypassed by earlier economic shifts.
Expanded and extended, this new edition of ChatGPT For Dummies covers the latest tools, models, and options available on the popular generative AI platform. You'll learn best practices for using ChatGPT as a text and media generation tool, research assistant, and content reviewer. If you're new to the world of AI, you'll get all the basic know-how needed to add ChatGPT to your professional toolbox. And if you've been doing the genAI thing for a while already, this book will sharpen your skills as you apply AI to real-world projects in an ethical manner. You'll get insight on the best practice for using ChatGPT to make your life and work easier and how to write prompts that result in high-quality output. Understand what generative AI is and how ChatGPT produces human-like responses Get tips on writing effective prompts and using ChatGPT to generate sound and images Apply ChatGPT to your daily work or personal life Discover the best way to fact-check AI-generated content to avoid errors and hallucinations Anyone using ChatGPT to enhance their work--whether for professional or personal use--will get better results with ChatGPT For Dummies.
The little-engine-that-could story of how a band of scrappy entrepreneurs are reviving the enterprise of manufacturing clothing in the United States. For decades, clothing manufacture was a pillar of U.S. industry. But beginning in the 1980s, Americans went from wearing 70 percent domestic-made apparel to almost none. Even the very symbol of American freedom and style-blue jeans-got outsourced. With offshoring, the nation lost not only millions of jobs but also crucial expertise and artistry. Dismayed by shoddy imported "fast fashion"-and unable to stop dreaming of re-creating a favorite shirt from his youth-Bayard Winthrop set out to build a new company, American Giant, that would swim against this trend. New York Times reporter Steven Kurutz, in turn, began to follow Winthrop's journey. He discovered other trailblazers as well, from the "Sock Queen of Alabama" to a pair of father-son shoemakers and a men's style blogger who almost single-handedly drove a campaign to make "Made in the USA" cool. Eye-opening and inspiring, American Flannel is the story of how a band of visionaries and makers are building a new supply chain on the skeleton of the old and wedding old-fashioned craftsmanship to cutting-edge technology and design to revive an essential American dream.
A philosophical task force explores how AI is revolutionizing our lives - and what moral problems it might bring, showing us what to be wary of, and what to be hopeful for.There is no more important issue at present than artificial intelligence. AI has begun to penetrate almost every sphere of human activity. It will disrupt our lives entirely. David Edmonds brings together a team of leading philosophers to explore some of the urgent moral concerns we should have about this revolution. The chapters are rich with examples from contemporary society and imaginative projections of the future. The contributors investigate problems we're all aware of, and introduce some that will be new to many readers. They discuss self and identity, health and insurance, politics and manipulation, the environment, work, law, policing, and defence. Each of them explains the issue in a lively and illuminating way, and takes a view about how we should think and act in response. Anyone who is wondering what ethical challenges the future holds for us can start here.
Facial recognition technology is increasingly used for identity verification and identification, from aiding law enforcement investigations to identifying potential security threats at large venues. However, advances in this technology have outpaced laws and regulations, raising significant concerns related to equity, privacy, and civil liberties. This report explores the current capabilities, future possibilities, and necessary governance for facial recognition technology. Facial Recognition Technology discusses legal, societal, and ethical implications of the technology, and recommends ways that federal agencies and others developing and deploying the technology can mitigate potential harms and enact more comprehensive safeguards.
A concise history of the digital revolution and the lore, rhetoric, and debates that surround it. The Digital Revolution aims to tell a story, one of the most powerful ideologies of recent decades: that digitalization constitutes a revolution, a break with the past, a radical change for the human beings who are living through it. The book aims to investigate the origins of this idea, how it evolved, which other past revolutions consciously or unconsciously inspired it, which great stories it has conveyed over time, which of its key elements have changed and which ones have persisted and have been repeated in different historical periods. All these discussions, large or small, have settled and condensed into a series of media, advertising, corporate, political, and technical sources. Readers will be introduced to new, previously unpublished historical sources. The main aim of the book is to deconstruct what looks like a "natural" and incontestable idea and to help rethink digital societies today.
Women working in the sciences face obstacles at virtually every step along their career paths. From subtle slights to blatant biases, deep systemic problems block women from advancing or push them out of science and technology entirely. Women in Science Now examines solutions to this persistent gender gap, offering new perspectives on how to make science more equitable and inclusive for all. This book shares stories and insights of women from a range of backgrounds working in various disciplines, illustrating the journeys that brought them to the sciences, the challenges they faced along the way, and the important contributions they have made to their fields. Lisa M. P. Munoz combines these narratives with a wealth of data to illuminate the size and scope of the challenges women scientists face, while highlighting research-based solutions to help overcome these obstacles. She presents groundbreaking studies in social psychology and organizational behavior that are informing novel approaches for combating historic and ongoing inequities. Through a combined focus on personal experiences and social-science research, this timely book provides both a path toward greater gender equity and an inspiring vision of science and scientists.
A deeply reported work of journalism that explores the promises and perils of microfinance, told through the eyes of international lenders and women borrowers in West Africa In the mid-1970s, Muhammad Yunus, an American trained Bangladeshi economist, met a poor female stool maker who needed money to expand her business. In an act widely known as the beginning of microfinance, Yunus lent $27 to forty-two women, hoping small credit would help the women pull themselves out of poverty. Soon, Yunus's Grameen Bank was born, and the idea of giving very small, high-interest loans to poor people took off. In 2006, Yunus and the Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize for "efforts to create economic and social development from below." But there's a problem with this story. There are mounting concerns that these small loans are as likely to bury poor people in debt as they are to pull them from poverty, with borrowers from India to Kenya facing consequences such as jail time and forced land sales. Reportedly hundreds have even committed suicide. What happened? Did microfinance take a wrong turn, or was it flawed from the beginning? Mara Kardas-Nelson's We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky is about unintended consequences, blind optimism, and the decades-long ramifications of seemingly small policy choices. The book is rooted in the stories of women borrowers in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Their narratives, woven through a deep history of modern international development, are set against the rise of Yunus's vision that tiny loans would "put poverty in museums." Kardas-Nelson asks: What is missed with a single, financially focused solution to global inequity that ignores the real drivers of poverty? Who stands to benefit and, more important, who gets left behind?
AI promises to transform our world, supercharging productivity and driving new innovations. Taming the Machine uncovers how you can responsibly harness the power of AI with confidence. AI has the potential to become a personal assistant, a creative partner, an editor and a research tool all at once. But it also represents a threat to your livelihood, data and privacy. Taming the Machine offers the practical insights and knowledge you need to work with AI with an ethical and responsible approach. In this book, celebrated AI expert and ethicist Nell Watson offers practical insights on how you can ethically innovate with AI. It delves into the ethical issues of unbridled AI, highlighting the challenges that it will bring to society and business unless we fortify cybersecurity, safeguard our data, and understand the dangerous potential of artificial intelligence. Step into the future and supercharge your performance safely by Taming the Machine.
From the New York Times bestselling author and MSNBC and podcast host, a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society "An ambitious analysis of how the trivial amusements offered by online life have degraded not only our selves but also our politics." --New York Times "Brilliant book... Reading it has made me change the way I work and think."--Rachel Maddow We all feel it--the distraction, the loss of focus, the addictive focus on the wrong things for too long. We bump into the zombies on their phones in the street, and sometimes they're us. We stare in pity at the four people at the table in the restaurant, all on their phones, and then we feel the buzz in our pocket. Something has changed utterly: for most of human history, the boundary between public and private has been clear, at least in theory. Now, as Chris Hayes writes, "With the help of a few tech firms, we basically tore it down in about a decade." Hayes argues that we are in the midst of an epoch-defining transition whose only parallel is what happened to labor in the nineteenth century: attention has become a commodified resource extracted from us, and from which we are increasingly alienated. The Sirens' Call is the big-picture vision we urgently need to offer clarity and guidance. Because there is a breaking point. Sirens are designed to compel us, and now they are going off in our bedrooms and kitchens at all hours of the day and night, doing the bidding of vast empires, the most valuable companies in history, built on harvesting human attention. As Hayes writes, "Now our deepest neurological structures, human evolutionary inheritances, and social impulses are in a habitat designed to prey upon, to cultivate, distort, or destroy that which most fundamentally makes us human." The Sirens' Call is the book that snaps everything into a single holistic framework so that we can wrest back control of our lives, our politics, and our future.
The first major study of how the pandemic affected gig workers--a sociological exploration that reads like a novel. This is the story of what the most vulnerable wage earners--gig workers, restaurant staff, early-career creatives, and minimum-wage laborers--do when the economy suddenly collapses. In Side Hustle Safety Net, Alexandrea J. Ravenelle builds on interviews with nearly two hundred gig-based and precarious workers, conducted during the height of the pandemic, to uncover the unique challenges they faced in unprecedented times. This book looks at both the officially unemployed and the "forgotten jobless"--a digital-era demographic that turned to side hustles--and reveals how they fared. CARES Act assistance allowed some to change careers, start businesses, perhaps transform their lives. However, gig workers and those involved in "polyemployment" found themselves at the mercy of outdated unemployment systems, vulnerable to scams, and attempting dubious survival strategies. Ultimately, Side Hustle Safety Net argues that the rise of the gig economy, partnered with underemployment and economic instability, has increased worker precarity with disastrous consequences.
The meteoric rise of online video is reshaping the competition for human attention. The Rise of the Algorithms argues that this new technology has changed the way we interact with others, our relationships with public institutions, and our very own behaviors and psyches. In tracing the origins and evolution of online video, John M. Jordan examines the mechanics--and the ethical stakes--of online video platforms, especially YouTube and TikTok but also others, such as Twitch. Tracing the use of algorithms pioneered by Facebook and Google and so successfully exploited by TikTok's corporate parent, ByteDance, Jordan shows how these platforms now engineer human behavior--with consequences for culture, politics, and identity. Jordan argues that we are at an inflection point. Until now we have proved, as a society, ill-prepared or unwilling to address such problems as the power of digital platforms, the personal cost of viral celebrity, the invasion of privacy, and the proliferation of disinformation. The Rise of the Algorithms combines this urgent assessment with a clear-eyed discussion of present challenges and recommendations for reclaiming our online futures. A valuable resource for understanding the transformations that have been and will be brought by YouTube, TikTok, and similar platforms, Jordan's timely book is a vital work for anyone who uses the internet and especially for policy makers, technologists, communication and media specialists, and researchers who have a direct hand in determining the future of our online world.
The always-on, hustle culture creates an unhealthy, counterproductive relationship with work. Many workers believe that to compete with other top talent, they must embrace a culture that rewards long hours and a constant connection to work. Businesses and society endorse busyness, overwork, and extreme commitment as the most valued traits in workers. Sometimes that endorsement is explicit, as when Elon Musk told X/Twitter employees to work "long hours at high intensity" or get fired. More often it's an implicit contract, a buildup of organizational and cultural norms and the adoption of new technologies that make it easy to tether people to work. Either way, this workaholic behavior is unhealthy and counterproductive for workers and for organizations. It's time to fight back. Malissa Clark--a preeminent researcher on the culture of overwork--shows you how in Never Not Working. Clark examines overwork and burnout, not just from the individual's perspective but from an organizational perspective too. She delivers a comprehensive, nuanced definition of workaholism, busting myths along the way--working long hours, it turns out, doesn't automatically make you a workaholic. She also helps you assess whether you're falling prey to the phenomenon and whether you're creating workaholics in your organization. Clark shows you how to escape the trap of putting work at the center of everything and thus losing your well-being--or your company's performance--in the process. Deeply researched and written for everyone from leaders to individual contributors, Never Not Working is the essential guide to identifying workaholism in yourself and others and starting on the road to recovery.
An indispensable analysis of how the world really produces and consumes its food--and a scientist's exploration of how we can successfully feed a growing population without killing the planet We have never had to feed as many people as we do today. And yet, we misunderstand the essentials of where our food really comes from, how our dietary requirements shape us, and why this impacts our planet in drastic ways. As a result, in our economic, political, and everyday choices, we take for granted and fail to prioritize the thing that makes all our lives possible: food. In this ambitious, myth-busting book, Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today: why are some of the world's biggest food producers also the countries with the most undernourished populations? Why do we waste so much food and how can we solve that? Could the whole planet go vegan and be healthy? Should it? He explores the global history of food production to understand why we farm some animals and not others, why most of the world's calories come from just a few foodstuffs, and how this might change in the future. How to Feed the World is the data-based, rigorously researched guide that offers solutions to our broken global food system.