Notes From The Electronic Cottage

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Arthur C. Clarke once observed that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. While that once may have been true, it probably isn’t any more. We’re so used to amazing scientific and technological innovation these days that we take the next one with a grain of salt. But, some of today’s “exploratory fiction” writers suggest that we may not want to shrug our shoulders about new technology. Instead, perhaps we ought to really think about if and how we are going to live with it. Here’s a Summer Encore to help us think about that idea.

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

We’ve been hearing a lot about anti-vaxers because of Covid but what we haven’t been hearing so much about is exactly why some folks are so opposed to not only Covid vaccinations but vaccinations in general. Turns out that in many cases their concern is based on a 1998 science paper that was retracted 12 years later, in 2010, after it was found to be, quite simply, wrong. And despite the journal it was published in pulling it from its archives because it was proven wrong, lots of people have no idea that paper is no longer considered scientifically correct or defensible. So how could any of us who aren’t scientists know about that? Well, we could make a stop at retractionwatch.org and find out that this paper – and a whole lot of others – have been retracted or withdrawn, often by their authors, when they have been proved incorrect. That’s the way science works. And while we are there, we could also take a look at well over a hundred papers on Covid-19 that have been retracted after being shown to be incorrect.

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Seen any dark patterns lately? If you use the web, the answer is almost certainly yes. That’s why we all need to know what dark patterns are, how they work, and how we can avoid being caught in them

Here are links mentioned on this edition:

Dark Patterns – the website from which some of today’s program quotes from

Link to the academic paper quoted today
About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

The Motto on Maine’s State Flag says “Dirigo which Maine folks usually translate as “I lead.” In the case of a new law regarding the use of facial recognition tech by government, that motto is very true.

And more discussion of bits and bytes and multiples thereof.

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

What is a bit, what is a byte, and why should we care? Good question. Here’s why…

Any, by the way, for users of Audacity audio software, the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy have changed. Worth a read through – here are the links:

www.audacityteam.org/about/desktop-privacy-notice/
www.audacityteam.org/terms-of-service/

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Much of our quite amazing current technology is wonderfully positive – until is isn’t – and that includes personal DNA analysis technology. Sure it’s fun and seems harmless to spit in a tube and then be able to wow family and friends with tales of the old countries our ancestors supposedly came from. And it would be if that were the end of the story but even the Department of Defense isn’t so sure it is. Here’s why.

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Today, a follow-up on Britain’s National Health Service’s plan to collect medical records of every patient of every General Practitioner in the country and assemble them into one giant database for research and other purposes. That plan has been delayed – here’s why.

And a look at some of the additional automation of work that has accelerated during, and will continue after, the Covid 19 pandemic.

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

There is a big difference between “opt-in” and “opt-out” in the digital world. Tens of millions of people in the US and in the UK are finding that out in June of 2021 whether they know it or not. In the US, owners of Amazon Echo or Amazon Ring devices are included in a new Amazon mesh network call Sidewalk, unless they take steps to “opt-out.”

For those folks who do not want to be sharing their wifi and Internet connections with their neighbors, here are instructions of how to “opt-out” by turning Sidewalk off on their devices.

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download