Daily Archives: March 8, 2022

The surreal live show Kidz Klub opens for a one-night production in St. Louis this weekend, marking the latest creation from the artist collective known as Everything Is Terrible! For the groups co-founder Dimitri Simakis, this latest project represents a culmination of what began around 2008, in his words, as an unhealthy obsession with lost media.

We've just been collecting thousands and thousands of tapes, he said on Mondays St. Louis on the Air. Its just endless.

In the beginning, Simakis says he and his co-creators at the artist collective Everything Is Terrible! focused their efforts on splicing together clips from different VHS tapes for instance, combining a few seconds of an anti-drug after-school-special with a voiceover from a low-production Bible story to create something new and darkly funny.

But simply uploading short clips to the groups website wasnt enough. Thats where the idea for a live show began to develop. The show, which comes to Off Broadway on Friday, has since evolved to its current state featuring a collection of lavishly costumed performers who emerge during the show with their own story to tell.

We wanted something physical, something that would last beyond whatever website we're putting it up to watch, Simakis explained, describing the design for the St. Louis show. Its like you get to see a little bit of a live show, then a little bit of a movie.

He added, We really want to just assault all your senses.

Even without the live action component of the show, the film wages its own war on the eyes and ears of the audience. The groups eighth feature-length film, Kidz Klub" doesnt follow a rigid plot, but instead moves through a narrative that borrows and twists the messages attached to the original films. As filmmakers, Simakis noted, the challenge becomes: "How can we create a narrative out of thousands and thousands of other stories?"

Even trickier is the challenge of remixing video content that was originally devised as what Simakis flatly identifies as propaganda in this case, films designed to dramatize religious or civic lessons, or featuring adults lecturing young viewers to mind their manners, believe in God and obey their teachers.

Listen: Everything Is Terrible! turns to kids TV

That's a huge part of Everything Is Terrible! Simakis pointed out. That all media is tricking you, all media is lying to you in some way.

In development since 2019, Simakis pointed out that Kidz Klub draws on more than just VHS tapes, but DVDs from the early aughts as well. Hes not worried about the group running out of content anytime soon, even as VHS collections grow steadily rarer.

However, while Kidz Klub is advertised as a psychedelic retelling of the American myth, Simakis emphasizes that viewers shouldnt assume the shows target audience is restricted to stoners or fans of psychedelics.

There's a real preciseness to the film, he explained. You can enjoy it. You can just let it kind of wash over you if you want it to.

Related Event

What: Everything Is Terrible! presents Kidz Klub!When: 8 p.m. March 11Where: Off Broadway. 3509 Lemp Ave, St. Louis, MO 63118

St. Louis on the Air brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Emily Woodbury, Kayla Drake, Danny Wicentowski and Alex Heuer. Jane Mather-Glass is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.

Go here to see the original:

'Everything Is Terrible!' at Off Broadway in St. Louis - St. Louis Public Radio

Medical diagnostics company DAM Health has launched its brand-new Home Test Kit.

It uses unique AI technology which allows customers to receive their certificate within 30 minutes of uploading their results through the DAM Health web app. The AI reads the test and then the certificates result is confirmed.

The antigen test is delivered across the UK with same day delivery if booked before 2pm. The Home Test Kit can be used for travel, business, or home use.

Based in Liverpools The Spine, the company continues its journey having started with its first clinic and laboratory in the city in November 2020 to a more recognised name in the diagnostics sector in March 2022.

Professor Frank Joseph, DAM Healths medical director, said: We have launched this brand-new test kit to meet the demands of the pandemic as we enter its new phase in 2022. The cornerstones of our services have always been about offering the best customer service and quality of care across our network of clinics with our trained clinicians, and as that side of DAM Health continues, we decided now is the right time to offer a home testing service too - so customers have the extra peace of mind knowing its us. Its a very exciting moment as we are using AI to process the Home Test Kit test results. On top of this, we have exciting plans to further diversify and expand into the medical diagnostics sector this year which is brilliant and a huge moment for DAM Health - theres more news on that coming soon.

The company continues to work with the Pandemic Institute in Liverpool andCredersi who havecreated a virtual realityCOVID-19labtrainingsyllabus and has over 60 clinics in operation across the United Kingdom.

Link:

DAM Health launches new Home Test Kit - Med-Tech Innovation

The pandemic forced universities to rush out remote delivery of their courses online. Now we have had time to take stock of the impacts. Our newly published Australia-wide research investigated the challenges and opportunities of remote delivery for culturally and linguistically diverse migrant and refugee (CALDMR) students and university staff.

We identified many changes to teaching and learning that we should strive to keep. Students and teachers told us they got to know each other on a more personal, human level. Being essentially inside each others homes led to higher levels of care and engagement.

But the disruptions of COVID also highlighted existing educational disadvantage caused by the digital divide. Online delivery made it worse for equity cohorts, especially refugee students. As one student recalled:

[] at one point my laptop stopped working, and then I couldnt do Zoom meetings. That was a bit of an issue, and then co-ordinating that with the university.

A lecturer told us:

[] theres that extra language barrier. I cant see their confusion like I could see it in person.

Read more: Trauma, racism and unrealistic expectations mean African refugees are less likely to get into Australian unis

While looking to return to in-person learning, universities must still plan for possible disruptions in 2022. However, after two years of pivoting to emergency remote delivery, the time is right to proactively prepare for equitable online engagement.

We need to embed equity in our framing of teaching and learning to ensure we arent leaving groups of students behind.

Read more: Fair access to university depends on much more than making students 'job-ready'

Our research explored the impacts of government and institutional policies and of the move online.

We reviewed national, state and institutional policy statements in the year to March 2021. A range of financial supports from governments and universities provided a financial lifeline for many students.

However, our findings highlight the need to provide other resources to support culturally and linguistically diverse students in their studies.

Limited attention was paid to planning for equity in the sudden shift online. There was nothing that explicitly targeted the issues that migrant and refugee students faced, including limited access to technology and wi-fi.

COVID also exposed the stresses and workloads for staff who had to respond to CALDMR students needs during remote learning. They include lecturers and tutors, student-facing support staff (equity officers, student advisers, learning advisers, counsellors) and educational designers, who support teaching and learning design and delivery. One lecturer told us:

I just didnt have any time or space to be able to make big changes to my approach. I felt really pressured [] stressed [] definitely a question of survival.

Despite the negative aspects, our research captured hopeful changes, which benefited culturally and linguistically diverse students in particular.

Emergency remote delivery led to a greater focus on the importance of more caring and engaged teaching and learning practices. Educators gained an increased awareness of students complex lives and needs.

However, this came at a cost for these educators:

I felt to give students a good experience I really had to over-service them - drop-in sessions [on Zoom] [] play the [pre-recorded] lecture and sit on Zoom and answer everyones questions over the chat box []

Read more: Our uni teachers were already among the world's most stressed. COVID and student feedback have just made things worse

Paying attention to students needs in ways that are reasonable for educators requires careful planning. Based on the experiences of the past two years, we make three recommendations for sustaining the gains in equitable student learning.

Recommendation 1

Course delivery must be more flexible.

Culturally and linguistically diverse students need time and space to manage the linguistic load of their studies. But many migrant and refugee students also have work and caring responsibilities. That leaves them with less time to engage with course materials.

One support staff member told us:

There were quite conflicting activities that they had [] Some of my younger students really struggled. Im talking 18-to-20-year-olds with family responsibilities, not their own families, but looking after their parents because they were home, or they got thrown into domestic duties.

Hence the need to plan online or hybrid instruction that allows students to review learning materials at their own pace and enables meaningful interactions to build community.

Read more: COVID has changed students' needs and expectations. How do universities respond?

Recommendation 2

Design online learning with CALDMR students in mind.

Successful and equitable online education is not simply a matter of uploading materials used in face-to-face instruction. Careful planning is needed to maximise interaction and support within the digital space.

This means taking care not to assume students have equal access to linguistic and cultural resources, including digital literacy. One lecturer said:

A lot of [CALDMR] students [] often, in the class, you could tell that they werent getting something. You can see. I miss that with the online. [] A lot of them are probably falling through the cracks because they dont feel they could ask.

Explicit planning and modelling of literacy requirements linguistic, academic and digital will help ensure online learning is accessible and engaging for all students.

Recommendation 3

Support educators to embed inclusive practices in their teaching and engagement with students.

Universities need to invest in staff professional development, including casual staff. Around 90% of the educators in our study indicated they want to learn more about supporting CALDMR students.

Universities should also invest in dedicated liaison staff to help these students navigate university systems and assessment requirements. A developer involved in moving teaching online told us:

Itll be good to have some greater understanding of their needs and ways to address them in teaching and learning, assessment design and emotional well-being.

Read more: 5 tips on how unis can do more to design online learning that works for all students

The disruptions of the pandemic added to existing educational inequalities. Left unaddressed, students from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as refugees, are more likely to miss out on learning.

However, the shift to online delivery has also highlighted opportunities for sector-wide commitment to teaching and learning practices that are more responsive to issues of equity.

Go here to read the rest:

Lessons from the pandemic on fairer and more caring uni teaching and learning - The Conversation

Coodie Simmons (Center) films Kanye West. Coodie tracked Wests rise to fame leading up to Wests debut album release, The College Dropout.

There are few figures more entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist than Kanye Westthe brash, uncompromising, oft-criticized, and always enigmatic rapper whose music has shaped a generation of hip-hop fans. But no matter what you or I think of the rapper at any given moment, one thing about him will always remain true: Kanye West doesnt care about what we think. He only cares about what Kanye West thinks. Twenty years ago, when he was a no-name Chicago producer making beats for rappers (all of whom would beg to be featured on a Kanye album today), few people beyond his doting mother, Donda, believed in the inevitability of Wests success. Even today, with 21 Grammy Awards and 7 platinum albums under his belt, you wont find anyone who loves Kanye quite like Kanye loves Kanye.

Its hard to imagine that West was ever anything less than a bonafide star. But this year, thanks to Coodie Simmons Canon-GL1, millions of viewers were able to bear witness to the rappers determination and perseverance over four hours worth of footage from his early years. The result is jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy,a three-part docuseries chronicling Wests meteoric to fame and his recent plummet from grace. Coodie, an upstart comedian and host of the iconic Chicago public access show Channel Zero, is a long-time friend of Wests, who recognized the budding rappers potential early on and set about documenting the creation of his debut album, The College Dropout. Coodies tapes are a major component of the documentary, which he co-directed with his long-time collaborator Chike Ozah. Interview sat down with the director duo to discuss Kanyes early years, the filmmaking process, and the role of divine intervention in the creation of jeen-yuhs.

JACKSON WALD: Was there anything in the documentary that was left on the cutting room floor that you wish had made it in?

CHIKE OZAH: There was one moment, an altercation between Kanye and this other artist, when Kanye almost got his head bust open. Coodie filmed itor, he thought he filmed itbut in actuality, he hit the wrong button on the camera, so you can only hear everything thats going on. Its so funny, because we tried to edit it into Act One, then we tried to put it in Act Two, and it just wasnt working. It was a clip that could stand alone, and it would definitely go viral. But it wasnt working with our storyline. So, we just came to the conclusion that god didnt want that clip to come out, for whatever reason. I thought it was a strong clip, because its not all peachy and clean. There will always be roadblocks.

WALD: Can you describe who was involved in the altercation, or where it went down?

COODIE SIMMONS: Its when Kanye sold the song Never Change to Jay Z. Mind you, Kanye originally sold the track to this dude Payroll, whos in the movie, while he was in Chicago. Then Kanye played it for Jay, and Jay was like, I love this. I want this track. He loved the hook, so he had Kanye rap the rook, but it was really Payrolls hook. Kanye took care of Payroll, but eventually Payroll realized how big [the song] really was, and he wanted more. In the end, they tried to come at Kanye. Back when we were doing Channel Zero, we filmed Payroll talking about the incident. Its a whole arc. But as Chike said, Im happy it didnt make it in, because so much positivity came out of this film. They got Kanye out safe, but it was a huge fight. It was at a memorial for E2a tragedy that happened at a Chicago club where 21 people got trampled and died. They had a memorial in Chicago for the families, and Kanye wanted to go out and perform for them. That was before he even blew up, and thats when Payroll and them tried to get at Kanye. At the memorial.

WALD: Im curious about Dondas role in the documentary. Tell me a bit about how you shaped the film around her. Dondas influence seems to be the biggest factor in what made Kanye Kanye.

CHIKE: It was important for us to share moments to help viewers understand just how far her love extendedpast her own son, who she gave everything to. She had such a big impact, not only on Kanyes life, but also on Coodies life. It was important for us to introduce her to the story when we did, and to show how Coodie got to know her, because Kanye had to feel comfortable enough in his relationship with Coodie even to allow him to meet his mother. So, there were levels to it. We felt like her spirit was with us throughout this processCoodie has some amazing stories that prove how god was working, and how her spirit was working through Coodie directly to Kanye.

COODIE: When I met Donda for the first time, it was what god wanted to happen. In her conversations with Kanye, I never told them Yo, yall should talk about this, and yall should sit over there. I just captured all their moments together. I did her funeral presentation, which was the hardest thing I ever had to do, because she was a good friend of mine. I had to go through all this footage and put something together. Recently I rewatched the tape, which Id titled Donda and Kanye. the first thing she said when I put it in was, Kanye, I got something kind of serious I want to talk to you about. It seemed like the tape was not totally rewound, and was just sitting and waiting at that part. When I saw that, it felt like Donda [saying], I need you to send this to my son.

WALD: Wow.

COODIE: So I got Kanyes email from Common, and in the email subject line I said, Your mother told me to send this to you. This was a week before he went to meet with Trump in the White House. He watched it the day before he went there, and he FaceTimed me and was like, Dude, not in a million years do I remember her saying that. Im like, Me neither. I had this amazing thought: What if she didnt say it then? What if shes only saying it now?

WALD: Nowadays, were our own documentariansconstantly filming ourselves and uploading our work to social media. Do you guys think a documentary like this could still be made or started today?

COODIE: For sure. I shot the last scene in San Francisco on an iPhone.

CHIKE: Technology is the reason, I feel, that we were even able to put this film out on a platform like Netflixtheres more content allowed to come through the pipeline. When we started making this, the gatekeepers and barriers to entry were much bigger.

WALD: When did you two realize that the docs message was about more than Kanye? Its really an overall statement on genius and purpose.

CHIKE: Id say the message evolved. We initially presented this project to Kanye, as an opportunity [for him] to put it out. At that initial stage, it probably didnt look much like this. It was more specific to Kanye. But as weve evolved in our spiritual journeys, weve tapped into different things, and our feelings about whats important in life has changed. Thats when we realized that the work has a bigger purposeto impact positivity in peoples lives. Whats important is helping people unlock their passion, and having faith to do that.

WALD: When you went back this old footage, what was it like to see yourselves and chart your own growth?

COODIE: Man, I miss my hair. [Laughs] It was great. I didnt even realize how much I was filming myself.

WALD: If a pre-College Dropout Kanye could watch the full doc right now, how do you think he would react?

CHIKE: Man, I cant let my imagination get in the way of Gods manifestation. You have no idea. Everything in life has to happen for a reason. Coodie gives a great examplehe always equates this to Back To The Future. If you go back and you change one thing, that alters everything. Everything that happens to you, good and bad, puts you in the position youre in right now. So if Kanye in the past watches this, he might not even become Kanye. Who knows?

COODIE: I second that.

WALD: Why did you guys choose to spell the title this way?

CHIKE: We wanted you to intrigue right out of the gate. But we also wanted it to mean something, so we looked through several dictionaries and found a word that was interesting to us. We just didnt want to be too on the nose about it, because life isnt on the nose. Life is full of subtext, and a lot of the meaning is in the subtext.

WALD: My last question for you guys: What, more than anything else, are you hoping that viewers will take away from this documentary?

CHIKE: Just understanding what it takes to achieve your dream, and the type of faith you have to have to overcome the adversities that are going to present themselves on that journey. I think were just lucky to have examples of that, in both Kanye and Donda. You know, people often say, Speak it into existence, and its going to happen. But in this film, we actually show you that. We show you what it means to walk the walk. Its a blueprint. I think thats special, but I also think it was ordained that this blueprint would come into existence. Were merely the vessels to deliver it.

View original post here:

Coodie and Chike on Jeen-Yuhs, Kanye, and Divine Intervention - Interview

Were all used to crazy advertising about telecom products that make industry folks shake their headsmany of the ads about 5G come to mind. Most people dont realize that carriers in the industry routinely challenge the claims made by competitors to force them to modify or drop deceptive ads.

Most of the largest corporations in the country belong to the National Advertising Division (NAD), which is part of the Better Business Bureau and arbitrates disputes about advertising between participants in the plan. Participation is voluntary, but corporations join the effort because the arbitration process through NAD is far cheaper than using the courts to settle disputes. Corporations almost always comply with the recommendations of NAD. The NAD monitors national advertising campaigns in all media and tries to enforce standards of truth and accuracya high standard for advertising.

Charter recently challenged advertising that claimed AT&Ts business broadband services on fiber are better than business broadband services provided by cable companies. It was an interesting challenge because Charter disputed a number of the claims made by AT&T in the ads.

In the first dispute, AT&T claimed it was up to 20 times faster than cable broadband. NAB agreed that the upload speeds on AT&Ts gigabit product are up to 20 times faster than a gigabit product from the cable companies but found that AT&Ts wording of the claim made it sound like all AT&T products are 20 times faster than the equivalent cable company broadband products.

AT&T also claimed that its prices are half the price of cable broadband. The NAB found that the prices for AT&Ts top business products are half the price of the equivalent products from the cable companies but again sided with Charter because it said that the AT&T ad made it sound like all AT&T broadband products are half the price of cable company broadband.

The AT&T ads made the claim that AT&Ts fiber broadband is superior to cable company broadband. NAB found that while there was a big difference in upload speeds between the two products, both technologies download speeds are equivalent. NAB felt that most business customers care more about download speed than upload speed and sided against AT&Ts claim that its broadband is superior.

AT&T ads claimed that the upload speeds of cable companies are insufficient to support video conference, surging, streaming, and gaming and the NAB said there was not enough evidence to support that claim. NAD did support AT&Ts claim that fiber is superior for uploading large files.

In the ruling that will rile fiber fans, the NAD said the record did not substantiate a claim that AT&T fiber provides better internet than cable broadband. But the NAD supported AT&Ts claim that it provides a consistent speed, even at peak times.

AT&T told the NAD that it respectfully disagreed with all of the negative findings, but the company agreed to stop using the disputed claims. I would guess that AT&T will continue to make many of these claims but will be more specific and less generic.

Many of you might not realize that the big ISPs also often challenge advertising claims made by municipal and other smaller ISPs. Such complaints generally come from counsel for the big ISPs and demand that a smaller ISP stop the disputed advertising. The process is threatening since small ISPs dont want to engage in expensive legal disputes. Ive known a few small ISPs that ignored such claims and were never sued, but I dont know that there is any way to know the motivation of a big ISP in a given complaint. One of my clients who ignored such a claim said that fighting with the big ISP in the papers over an issue was the best advertising he could ever have wished for.

View post:

Truth in Broadband Advertising - CircleID

MILLIONS have watched the new series Pam and Tommy, retelling the mid-1990s story of celebrities Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee and their leaked sex tape.

People involved in the show including the showrunner and actors claim that they are making a feminist statement and suggest that the portrayal of events favours Pamela Anderson.

Lily James, who plays Anderson, said she hopes the show will make people look at their own culpability in perpetuating this unhealthy viral internet behaviour.

However, the show contributes to this unhealthy behaviour by turning Andersons experience of a private sexual video being widely distributed and viewed without her consent into entertainment.

Professor Clare McGlynn, Durham Law School

Many have searched for and found the original video, watching it on mainstream porn sites, encouraging others on internet forums to watch and sharing links to wherever else it can be found.

The reality is that Anderson was not involved with the series, and has not spoken publicly about what she thinks of it. When we peel back the good intentions the series is using as promotion, we are left with a show that exploits and profits from an incredibly traumatic experience in someones life.

Unfortunately, Andersons experiences are familiar. While rarer in the mid-1990s, distributing sexual images and videos without consent known as image-based sexual abuse is now alarmingly commonplace. During the pandemic, reports to the Revenge Porn Helpline have doubled.

Rather than society becoming more aware of the harm of intimate image abuse, the reaction to this new series suggests we are becoming desensitised. We accept as entertainment the retelling of a story that inevitably leads to the resurfacing of the original video.

The distribution and viewing of private sexual videos without consent can be devastating for survivors. The breach of trust and sense of violation is acute.

Some describe it as a social rupture which divides their lives into before and after the abuse. One described it as torture for the soul.

The harms are constant and relentless, with each viewing of the image or video experienced as a new assault and abuse. Actor Jennifer Lawrence, whose private images were hacked and went viral in 2014, said just last year that my trauma will exist forever. Paris Hilton, whose private video was non-consensually shared, revealed she has been left with PTSD and the abuse is something that will hurt me for the rest of my life.

With this in mind, its right to question the ethics of making a series like Pam and Tommy. The series recreates the video, so the producers themselves must have watched the original in making the show. And in the aftermath users on internet forums have encouraged others to watch it and posted links about how to find it.

Many have also made degrading comments about Anderson herself. All of this is an eerie echo of the original incident.

The creators of the series must have been aware this would happen, and they possibly knew it would mean an increased audience. This series facilitates the continuation of image-based sexual abuse by actively dredging up a traumatic experience.

In doing so, it contributes to the constancy of harms that victims experience.As well as challenging shows like Pam and Tommy, more can be done to reduce the prevalence and harms of experiences like Andersons.

While many internet platforms claim to have policies against non-consensual material, it is nevertheless freely and easily accessible. The availability of this material normalises and legitimises image-based sexual abuse. It is also a primary concern of those who face brick walls when trying to get the material removed.

Legislation, like the UKs online safety bill, should hold social media and internet companies accountable for their role in perpetuating these harms. Porn companies should be required to identify users uploading material, moderate content to remove non-consensual material and swiftly respond to take-down requests.

Platforms must also secure the consent of all those in uploaded videos, and it should be a criminal offence to upload material without consent.

While such steps would help to reduce the amount of non-consensual imagery online, we are fighting a losing battle if television and film producers are, in practice, trivialising these abuses.

We can only hope that the actors and creators of Pam and Tommy will reflect on how they have exploited Pamela Anderson for profit, in just the same way that she was exploited when the video was originally stolen.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence.

For more information on studying at Durham University, visit: http://www.durham.ac.uk/study

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated County Durham Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054

More:

Durham University on using trauma in drama in 'Pam and Tommy' - The Northern Echo