Diamond Naga Siu

In April, I went to New York to visit Untapped Solutions, a case management and tech platform that supports the formerly incarcerated. I'm proud to have spoken to Andre P., the founder and CEO, and a few others to show how impact investing operates in America's criminal legal system. Have a read and let me know what you think! Reporting and photography by yours truly. #impactinvesting #criminallegalsystem #decarceration https://on.ft.com/4bY1m6R

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We talk about the evolution of #AI @CadeMetz, technology correspondent at @the-new-york-times on the latest episode of "Night Owls."  https://lnkd.in/eJc-VWW4  Cade wrote a great book on the subject, called "Genius Makers." https://lnkd.in/eUZPtrbe It is well worth reading and very readable.

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Amazon's Ring, years into a shift from a self-styled crime-fighting shop to a hub for peace of mind (and pet videos), is getting a new mission statement: "Keeping people close to what’s important" has come a long way from the original pitch, "Reduce crime in neighborhoods." More bits: -Ring boss Liz Hamren tells me the unit recently became profitable, thanks to a subscription push (and a few rounds of price hikes). It's a bet that users would pay to save videos and do more with their doorbells and cameras -It's tough to overstate how single-minded Ring was in its early years. Veterans say projects without a clear home security mandate didn't tend to last long. Employee docs outlined Ring product set like one might describe a fortress. -Ring's Always Home Cam, three years after it was supposed to hit the market, is still in development. Teams are working to enable the drone to navigate unusual home setups -- curved walls, low ceilings, and the like. read the rest here: https://lnkd.in/gAsY_Bcx

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Congestion pricing was supposed to start today in New York City. It didn't after Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this month announced an indefinite pause. My latest article in The Wall Street Journal traces the rise and pause of congestion pricing — a tale that involves 17 years and around $700 million. The abrupt reversal, which some attribute to Hochul’s reluctance to impose a new fee in an election year, leaves metro New York grappling with a historic missed opportunity and fiscal mess. There is no relief in sight for the city’s traffic congestion, which is the worst in the world, according to data published last week. The epic collapse in New York shows how a fear of dramatic change can give the status quo stubborn power over those trying to solve some of America’s most intractable challenges. That leaves policymakers nibbling at the edges of deeply rooted problems, even after investing huge sums of money and political capital. Blown up in a New York minute were plans for around $15 billion of planned improvements to the city’s ailing mass-transit system, the largest transportation network in North America. The reversal cast aside around $700 million in meticulous prep work, including a $555-million contract to install tolling cameras—which are already up and ready to go—and $33 million for a customer-service center with 100 employees who have already been brought on, officials said. Planners invested thousands of hours, including going to London and Stockholm to research their congestion-pricing programs, according to people familiar with the travel. What was supposed to be a transformative moment when New York led the way and boldly tackled traffic congestion, air pollution and transit funding, has instead turned into a surprising loss for a broad coalition that includes major employers, real-estate developers and subway riders. Surprised by the reversal were Hochul’s own lieutenants, including Janno Lieber, a fierce champion of congestion pricing and the chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The MTA—which carries around 5.5 million passengers each day in the New York metro area—now faces a $16.5 billion-financial hole from the loss of money from congestion pricing and federal matching funds. Just days after Hochul’s announcement, a beleaguered Lieber joined a conference call with advocates in which he said he was equally shocked and remained committed to the program, three people familiar with the exchange said. “This is devastating,” he said, according to a person on the call. Here's the latest from me and Joseph De Avila —>

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#podcast Fadi Micaelian, CEO of SPARKDIT, is an AI strategist who brings insights into using generative AI to support political consultants and voters. These voters are weighing choices and making tradeoffs as they decide who to financially support and vote for. Using additional data points to predict voting behavior is increasingly essential as voters become more partisan and face pressure from friends and family to make decisions about candidates and issues.  We talk about training AI to think like humans, using tradeoff criteria to improve predictive models to identify likely voters & how voters make decisions. #SPARKDIT #AI #VoterSegmentation #PoliticalMessages #Voters SPARKDIT.com https://lnkd.in/g3Xa5X-j

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Political life is defined by moderation and compromise. The recent push to describe politics in apocalyptic terms is dangerous. I discuss this in my latest column. https://lnkd.in/eU2jGfiX

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Public perceptions of crime don't always match reality, a problem fueled by dodgy campaign rhetoric and (drum roll, please) ... old and incomplete crime data. Unlike readily available data on inflation and unemployment trends, national crime data lag by many months. The consequences? Here's what our Crime Trends Working Group says in its new report outlining a roadmap for progress: “Even small discrepancies can have big consequences in the policy and political environment. The potential fallout can be huge — in terms of crime tactics and strategies, whether the police chief stays on the job or gets fired, even whether the mayor or prosecutor is re-elected or driven from office. At stake are billions in government spending on public safety and criminal justice, the viability of businesses and urban centers, and the extent to which Americans are safe, and feel safe, in their homes and communities.” Tom Jackman of The Washington Post wrote a thoughtful summary of the problem and our group's recommendations this week. https://lnkd.in/gj4yXqje And please see the post below before turning on the TV tonight:

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Good news during Disability Pride Month: Forty-five percent of the hundreds of U.S. companies included in a new report are now including disability data in their diversity reports. In 2023, that was just 24 percent, according to Disability:IN, a global nonprofit focused on disability inclusion and equality. Seven in 10 of these companies require that their "digital products" be "accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities" -- up from 64 percent in 2023 -- and nearly a quarter now boast "disability-focused goals" regarding "supplier diversity and inclusion. Read more about the strides in disability inclusion--and the work still left to do--here at Inc. Magazine: #disability #disabilitypride #inclusion #accessibility https://lnkd.in/eu98sC37

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My latest review for WFHishNYC (my guide to the best remote workspaces in NYC) is About Coffee on the Upper West Side. Check it out! https://lnkd.in/eHGmvhkf

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Liars beware, I am now Intermediate at Digital Investigation Techniques according to AFP and Google News Initiative. This course focused on tracking election disinformation and verifying climate claims. It was interesting to see how the course's tools could be used to examine past/current elections.

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I recommend this post by Alexandra Smith on "total journalism reach" -- The 19th's new readership metric. It's full of insights and data wisdom. One takeaway: prioritize consistency across platforms without being overly rigid. For example, #Instagram views get counted because their posts basically republish an abridged version of the story -- an increasingly common publishing strategy -- not just because the machine needs more #data. Above all, this model is attentive to the question of *why* we measure #readership. I've always felt that digital interactions are metaphorical -- as summed up in that now quaint adage: "tweets, not endorsements." What does readership *represent*? Answering that question will help you collect quality, consistent data on #news consumption. And that will bring us closer to the readers we serve. https://lnkd.in/gxn4wmYy

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Exploring the decisive power of just 6% of voters in six key states on LBCI ‘s main #newscast. Dive into a detailed analysis of how these battleground states could sway the upcoming U.S. elections, reflecting on past outcomes and current polling trends. 🗳️🇺🇸 #ElectionAnalysis #USPolitics #BattlegroundStates

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One of the most effective tool to combat #Disinformation and misinformation is the InVID plugin, a free fake news debunker. #InVID is a powerful tool that is designed to help journalists and anyone interested in verifying online information within minutes. It provides reverse image searches across multiple services including Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, TinEye, and Reddit without having to go to each and reversing the image. It extract segments from videos across various social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Dailymotion to be used in either image reverse search or closer analysis. InVID comes with in-built metadata analysis tool which can provide valuable information about a video or an image. For more detailed explanation, visit https://lnkd.in/gE4Nr5u5

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It's #WorldPressFreedomDay, a time to reflect that journalism plays a central role in sustaining democracy. This excerpt from a message by Courtney Radsch, PhD, director of Center for Journalism and Liberty, reminds me that press freedom does not exist in a void: at the end of the day, journalists provide a public service in a market economy, and the policies that govern such market have always mattered for journalists to make a living and do their jobs free from fear of retaliation - be it coming from govts or the private sector. "News organizations and journalists around the world face not only a myriad of obstacles from authoritarian and autocratic regimes that seek to silence them, but also an information environment that is heavily controlled and concentrated in a handful of digital platforms. Competition policy plays a fundamental role in structuring media markets and business models that ensure the future of a strong and independent free press where journalists can make a living and work safely and without fear of reprisal, from government or corporations." #pressfreedom #digitaljournalism #informationintegrity I invite you to read the full message here:

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Here's my latest review for the WFHishNYC guide

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Former employees posting videos of themselves being laid off on TikTok have found community support and possible referrals to new opportunities. But the attention these videos are receiving also come with  legal and reputational risks—not just for the former employees, but also for the companies conducting the layoffs. For former employees, one of the biggest legal concerns is that these kinds of videos could violate the privacy of the individuals laying them off. Some employers also include conditions in contracts or in their employee handbooks restricting employees from making disparaging remarks about the company, which they could face legal consequences for violating. But even if the videos do violate state laws or company agreements, this doesn’t mean that employers can pursue legal claims against former staffers without risking their reputation. Employers should be aware of these types of social media trends, which “take on a life of their own,” said Rick Gordon, chair of the labor and employment practice at Akerman LLP. “Companies should expect that every time they’re terminating someone, that interaction could end up on TikTok or YouTube. They need to be conducting themselves as if it’s going to go viral, because it might.” Parker Purifoy and I spoke to experts and attorneys Linn Freedman, Molly A. Arranz, Rick Gordon, and Aaron Holt on the risks employers and employees should consider with regard to these videos. Read our story for Bloomberg Law here:

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Interesting POV for all stakeholders interested in the information disorder ecosystem.

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