The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Jocelyn Brady discusses the importance of brain play. She creates engaging, educational “tiny tip” videos which teach ways for people to live healthier and happier lives while simultaneously teaching cognitive subjects.

Research Question: Jocelyn wants researchers to figure out how we get kids to understand better fundamental concepts about their own brains–especially neuroplasticity, which can be viewed as a general umbrella term that refers to the brain’s ability to modify, change, and adapt both structure and function throughout life and in response to experience.

Resources:

• Let’s Play with Your Brain
• Tiny Tips YouTube Channel
• WHAT ONLINE-OFFLINE (O-O) CONVERGENCE MEANS FOR THE FUTURE OF CONFLICT By Sean A. Guillory & John T. Carrola
• [VR Human Documentary] Mother meets her deceased daughter through VR technology
• Reading on a smartphone affects sigh generation, brain activity, and comprehension
• Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown, Christopher Vaugha
• 7 Rules of Power: Surprising–but True–Advice on How to Get Things Done and Advance Your Career by Jeffrey Pfeffer

Link to full show notes and resources

https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-108

Guest Bio: 

Jocelyn Brady is a writer, edutainer and professional brain coach & behavior designer who thrives at the intersection of comedy, storytelling and unraveling the mysteries of the human brain. When she’s not being the Bill Nye of the brain (as the creator and host of Tiny Tips, the Internet’s favorite way to Brain), Jocelyn applies her certified NeuroLeadership and Tiny Habits coaching chops to help creative visionaries play to their brains’ greatest potential.

In her past life—as an award-winning copywriter, Creative Director and agency CEO—Jocelyn led narrative strategy and international storytelling training for some of the world’s biggest brands. She also produced and co-hosted Party Time, a standup comedy and storytelling show featuring talent who went on to write or perform for Conan, Colbert and Comedy Central. All while managing to keep her two cats and houseplants alive.

Jocelyn’s first book, tentatively titled Your Brain is a Magical Asshat, is slated for publication next year… Probably.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org.

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Check out this episode!

The post #108 Jocelyn Brady on Brain Play appeared first on Information Professionals Association.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Vanessa Otero discusses news ecosystem health and how she created The Media Bias Chart®. Our wide ranging conversation covers her methodology for grading media content, the Overton window, information nutritional labels, societal implications of unhealthy news consumption patterns.

Research Topic: Vanessa suggests that researchers examine ways to get people out of conspiracy theory rabbit holes or extreme polarization rabbit holes. She also asserts that media trust is over studied and that researchers should focus less on that problem.

Resources:

• AdFontes Media
• Overton Window or window of discourse
• Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts by Annie Duke

Link to full show notes and resources

https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-107

Guest Bio: 

Vanessa Otero is the creator of the Media Bias Chart, and the Founder and CEO of Ad Fontes Media. A licensed patent attorney in the Denver, Colorado area, Vanessa holds a B.A. in English from UCLA and a J.D. from the University of Denver. Vanessa’s formal education and professional career has centered on analytical reading, writing and reasoning, creating an ideal background for her to create a content analysis

Alarmed by the unhealthy state of the media ecosystem, Vanessa used her expertise in content analysis to create the original Media Bias Chart in 2016. Then in 2018, she founded Ad Fontes Media to fulfill the need revealed by the popularity of the chart–namely, to meet the demand for a map to help people navigate the complex media landscape, and for comprehensive content analysis of media sources themselves. Today, Ad Fontes Media uses a systematic approach to content analysis in which a team of politically-balanced professional analysts examine and categorize news content creating data that is useful to news consumers, educators, marketers, and even publishers themselves. Ad Fontes also offers training in its content analysis methodology through products and services for educational institutions and for individuals.

Vanessa is on the Board of Directors of Community Radio for Northern Colorado and is on the Advisory Council of Media Literacy Now. Vanessa and Ad Fontes Media have also been published or featured in articles and blogs on news literacy, news bias and free speech, social media, and conspiracy theories. These sources have included the Poynter Institute, Cornell Policy Review MarketWatch, The Economist, Morning Brew, and more. She is a much sought-after speaker at national news literacy workshops and webinars. 

Vanessa is committed to making the world a better place with her passion and belief in decreasing the polarization in our news and our society, as well as educating students, teachers, and the public on the true value of media literacy and the importance of a healthy news ecosystem.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org.

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Check out this episode!

The post #107 Vanessa Otero on News Ecosystem Health appeared first on Information Professionals Association.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Nick Starck and David Bierbrauer discuss their recent article: Understanding—and Mitigating—Vulnerabilities in the Military Use of AI. After recapping four categories of adversarial methods, they discuss implications and the need to keep humans in the loop.

Resources:

• Understanding—and Mitigating—Vulnerabilities in the Military Use of AI by Nick Starck, David Bierbrauer and Paul Maxwell
• Google Maps Live Traffic Showed the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
• Google Turns Off Maps Features in Ukraine That Inadvertently Showed Russia’s Invasion
• IPA Members Only Event registration
• Join IPA
• Phoenix Challenge 2022

Link to full show notes and resources

https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-86

Guest Bios:

Captain Nick Starck is a US Army cyber officer currently assigned as a research scientist at the Army Cyber Institute. His research focuses on information warfare and data privacy.

Captain David (Dave) Bierbrauer is a signal officer in the US Army. He earned a master of science in engineering degree for applied mathematics and statistics from the Johns Hopkins University in 2021. Captain Bierbrauer is currently a data engineer and data scientist at the Army Cyber Institute.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org.

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Check out this episode!

The post #86 Nick Starck and David Bierbrauer on Vulnerabilities in the Military Use of AI appeared first on Information Professionals Association.