*Interesting Reads – 2018-12-11* *Contents* *Articles* - Top Tech Trends In 2019 - Global priorities research - Ministry Of Home Affairs Issues Handbook For Students/Adolescents On Cyber Safety - 10 Principles Of Organizational Culture - What Happened after India Eliminated Cash - YouTube, persuasion and genetically engineered children - Tech giants need to take more responsibility for the advertising that makes them billions - Teaching For Intelligence: Recognizing and encouraging skillful thinking and behaviour - Tim Harford’s guide to statistics in a misleading age - 17 ways you should invest your time in your 20s for long-term success *Events / Announcements* - Smart India Hackathon 2019 - ARPIT: Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching: Online professional development of in-service teachers’ of higher education, using MOOCs Read at http://infoforuse.blogspot.com/2018/12/interesting-reads-2018-12-11.html Archives at http://infoforuse.blogspot.com/2018/05/interesting-reads-archives.html *Feedback* We will be pleased to have your feedback on the “Interesting Reads” posts being sent once in five days. Pl. share the links of any interesting things you come across so that we can include them in these email posts. Also, pl. share the email ids of your colleagues, friends, peers and contacts, if you want them to be included in the google group to get regular posts. Pl. send all your communications to hrmohan.ieee@gmail.com With regards HR Mohan *======================================================== * *Articles* *Top Tech Trends In 2019* Technology is now central to every industry — from building construction to healthcare administration to food production. CB Insights looks at the top tech trends poised to reshape industries in 2019 in its 57 pages report. . Report https://hs-763793.t.hubspotemail.net/e2t/c/*W56tXpd2MP34cW7bTB1z5t2gwB0/*W4j... *Global priorities research* Governments, foundations and individuals spend large amounts of money on efforts to improve the world. However, there is currently little research to guide them on what priorities they should focus on at the highest level. Global priorities research applies techniques from economics, maths, and social science to help organisations choose which global problems they should spend their limited resources on, in order to improve the world as much as possible. Full Post https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/global-priorities-research/ *Ministry Of Home Affairs Issues Handbook For Students/Adolescents On Cyber Safety* Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, in consultation with Cyber Security experts prepared a 38 pages Handbook for Students/Adolescents on Cyber Safety. The Handbook aims at creating awareness among citizens, especially students, about various cyber threats that can impact them and ways to safeguard themselves against cybercrimes. Handbook http://www.legaleraonline.com/Ministry-of-Home-Affairs-issues-Handbook-for-S... *10 Principles Of Organizational Culture* How often have you heard somebody — a new CEO, a journalist, a management consultant, a leadership guru, a fellow employee — talk about the urgent need to change the culture? They want to make it world-class. To dispense with all the nonsense and negativity that annoys employees and stops good intentions from growing into progress. To bring about an entirely different approach, starting immediately. These culture critiques are as common as complaints about the weather — and about as effective. How frequently have you seen high-minded aspirations to “change the culture” actually manage to modify the way that people behave and the way in which they work? And how often have you seen noticeable long-term improvements? Full Post http://www.strategy-business.com/feature/10-Principles-of-Organizational-Cul... *What Happened after India Eliminated Cash* Two years ago, the Indian government abruptly wiped out most of the nation’s currency in hopes of ending black money and curbing corruption. Has the experiment worked? Full Post https://www.strategy-business.com/article/What-Happened-after-India-Eliminat... *YouTube, persuasion and genetically engineered children* On Sunday, Nov. 25, the scientist He Jiankui claimed the birth of the world’s first genetically engineered children: twins, created by IVF, their DNA altered at fertilization. Changes like these, because they’re inheritable – “editing the germline” – are widely prohibited by law and avoided by scientific consensus. If He really did this, it’s a very big step across a very bright line. Also, He announced the feat in a YouTube video. The strangeness of this choice cannot be overstated. Groundbreaking achievements normally appear in prestigious journals, with extensive data, after rigorous peer review. Announcing the accomplishment on YouTube is the social media equivalent of walking out the front door and yelling, “Guess what, everybody? I’m the first to engineer a human being! And the kids are already here – they’re twins!” The timing of the video’s release – on the eve of a major international conference on genome editing, where He was scheduled to speak – clearly had more to do with publicity than science. Full Post https://theconversation.com/youtube-persuasion-and-genetically-engineered-ch... Related Story https://theconversation.com/opening-pandoras-box-gene-editing-and-its-conseq...: Opening Pandora’s Box: Gene editing and its consequences Related Story https://theconversation.com/rogue-science-strikes-again-the-case-of-the-firs...: Rogue science strikes again: The case of the first gene-edited babies Related Story https://theconversation.com/how-a-scientist-says-he-made-a-gene-edited-baby-...: How a scientist says he made a gene-edited baby – and what health worries may ensue *Tech giants need to take more responsibility for the advertising that makes them billions* Digital advertising can be really annoying, but it can also be dangerous. It has recently been accused of perpetuating fake news, funding child abuse and interfering with democracy. Facebook, which makes most of its $US40 billion a year revenue from digital advertising, has been in the firing line, but many other businesses across the digital advertising supply chain are now feeling the pinch. It is not surprising then, that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has taken steps to toughen up regulation, or that new government legislation is being considered. Full Post https://theconversation.com/tech-giants-need-to-take-more-responsibility-for... *Teaching For Intelligence: Recognizing and encouraging skillful thinking and behaviour* The claim is often made (in this issue as well as elsewhere) that schools give a disproportionate emphasis to logical/mathematical and verbal material and intelligence. My sense is that this is only superficially true. The content may have this character, and lip service may be given to these forms of intelligence, but the actual educational process remains focused on low level skills. The real development of thinking skills, even within these areas of intelligence, is usually as neglected as the rest of our mental capacities. If this changes soon, Professor Costa will be one of the reasons. His recent book, Developing Minds; A Resource Book For Teaching Thinking, provides a comprehensive overview of the growing Thinking Skills Movement, and he has also recently been elected president of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. He is currently Professor of Education at California State University, Sacramento. This article aims at clarifying and expanding our sense of what intelligent behavior is and how we can encourage it. Full Article https://www.context.org/iclib/ic18/costa/ *Tim Harford’s guide to statistics in a misleading age* Dubious numbers and false claims fill our daily lives. Here’s how to decipher the barrage of statistical propaganda Full Post https://www.ft.com/content/ba4c734a-0b96-11e8-839d-41ca06376bf2 *17 ways you should invest your time in your 20s for long-term success* Don't waste time, because that's "the stuff life is made of." It was good advice when Benjamin Franklin said it, and it's good advice now, no matter your age. But your 20s are a particularly crucial time in life. Many call these the "formative" years, and the habits you form now can carry you through the rest of your life. So what's the best way to spend this time? Full Post https://www.businessinsider.in/17-ways-you-should-invest-your-time-in-your-2... *Events / Announcements* *Smart India Hackathon 2019* Smart India Hackathon 2019 is a nationwide initiative to provide students a platform to solve some of pressing problems we face in our daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem solving. SIH2019 is an initiative by Ministry of HRD, AICTE, Persistent Systems, i4c and Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini and involves 1 Lakh+ technical students, 3000+ technical institutions, 200+ organizations from across India and touted to be the world’s biggest Software and Hardware hackathon. More details at *https://www.sih.gov.in/sih2019 https://www.sih.gov.in/sih2019* Register at https://www.sih.gov.in/signup *ARPIT: Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching: Online professional development of in-service teachers’ of higher education, using MOOCs* ARPIT, launched by MHRD is 40 hour programme with 20 hours of video content offered in a highly flexible format which can be done at one’s own pace and time. The programme has built-in assessment exercises and activities as part of the academic progression in the course. At the end of the course, there is a provision for terminal assessment which can be either online or written examination. It has been decided by the UGC that successful completion of the courses offered under the ARPIT programme with 40 hour of instruction material with a proctored examination will be treated as equivalent to one Refresher Course for the purposes of Career Advancement. To enrol visit: https://swayam.gov.in/search?CategoryList=Annual%20Refresher%20Programme%20i...) *Archives of Interesting Reads * To access the past posts of Interesting Reads, pl. visit http://infoforuse.blogspot.in/2018/05/interesting-reads-archives.html *Feedback* We will be pleased to have your feedback on the “Interesting Reads” posts being sent once in five days. Pl. share the links of any interesting things you come across so that we can include them in these email posts. Also, pl. share the email ids of your colleagues, friends, peers and contacts, if you want them to be included in the google group to get regular posts. Pl. send all your communications to hrmohan.ieee@gmail.com With regards HR Mohan