Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Why LGBTQ2S+ endometriosis support groups are key to better care

    endoQueer is an online support network that provides a safe space for queer, trans, and non-binary people with endometriosis to build community, get support, and find resources. The site offers rigorously-researched resources, advocacy tips, and mutual aid. LGBTQ2S+ people can also find specific examples of how to advocate for inclusive care. endoQueer was consulted by Canada’s only endometriosis charity to help them create a blog highlighting the experiences of queer, trans, and non-binary people. The site also serves as a resource for health care providers looking to provide supportive and inclusive care.

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  • The Unlikely Story of a Sex Trafficking Survivor and the Instagram Account That Saved Her Life

    One woman's use of an Instagram account in her personal journey from sex-trafficking victim to sociology researcher enabled new sources of research, teaching, and victim aid. Megan Lundstrom's community of fellow sex workers formed through Instagram became the source for qualitative research into the experiences of sex workers, without being filtered by authorities. That led to the first peer-reviewed journal article of its kind, a new university program in sex trafficking, and the creation of a nonprofit, The Avery Center, aiding victims and collecting data on the industry.

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  • Farm-to-table took off during the pandemic. Is it here to stay?

    As the COVID-19 pandemic hit and grocery store shelves became bare, many consumers sought to purchase meat directly from farmers. The Shop Kansas Farms group on Facebook has more than 148,000 members with about 800 producers who are selling their goods. While there needs to be more education for farmers on how to sell their livestock and for consumers on the intricacies of buying from processors, people in other states are creating their own groups to better connect consumers to vendors.

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  • To Save Lives, This Nonprofit Links Blood Donors To Recipients Using Telegram Bot, Facebook Messenger

    J Blood Match uses intelligence-enabled bots to match people in need of blood with registered donors. Registered users answer a series of prompts to determine their needs, the program identifies matches among a pool of registered donors, and once a match is accepted contact information is shared.

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  • In Egypt, online group Qawem saving hundreds of women from sextortion

    The Egyptian Facebook group Qawem (Arabic for resist) helps victims of sextortion by turning threats around to target the attacker. Sextortion, in which threatened disclosure of a person's nude or other embarrassing photos are used as a tool of extortion, is illegal in Egypt. But women – the typical victims – are often reluctant to report incidents to the police, out of shame or fear. When victims report sextortion attempts to Qawem, volunteers counsel the victims while other volunteers track down the extortionists and threaten to expose them to their family or friends. About 200 cases per week get resolved.

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  • India's healthcare workers are busting misinformation on WhatsApp

    Accredited social health activists (ASHA) across India fight COVID-19 related misinformation on WhatsApp. ASHAs provide basic health care to people in their villages, which puts them on the frontline of treating COVID-19 patients and educating people to dispel the many myths about the virus and its treatments. ASHAs' local interactions often identify prevailing myths, which they quickly dispel in their face-to-face exchanges and by posting in the many local WhatsApp groups that have been created. The local groups have been an effective mode of educating people and helped ASHAs gain villagers’ trust.

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  • How teens are using online platforms to call out racism in high school

    All over the country, students are using the internet to call out racism. Young people are publishing open letters, creating Change.org petitions and Google Docs “with lists of racist people in their classes, and using online platforms to organize protests.” In Boston, teens from the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center wrote an open letter asking school officials to address the wave of anti-asian hate crimes. After the letter, officials issued a resolution. Although, in some instances these actions do result in change, sometimes it can result in censorship towards students of color.

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  • How Native Americans launched successful coronavirus vaccination drives: ‘A story of resilience'

    Comprehensive COVID-19 vaccination strategies helped some Native American Nations achieve high vaccination rates. Tribal sovereignty gave Nations the flexibility to create their own methods of distributing the vaccine and allowed officials to distribute doses to hard-to-reach areas – even by dog sled in Alaska. They could prioritize who to vaccinate and diversify how vaccines were offered – from private appointments to mass-vaccination events – to ensure broad accessibility. Medical professionals, tribal leaders, and Native youth used social media to share information and encourage people to get vaccinated.

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  • How Social Media Fact-Checking Limits, But Can't Eliminate, Online Disinformation

    Social media companies are using artificial intelligence to help identify misinformation. Once identified, human fact checkers will verify the posts. Facebook uses 60 partnered fact-checking organizations as well as SimSearchNet++ image-recognition system that can identify image manipulation and slight changes to misinformation. Hundreds of millions of posts are flagged every year and those that are identified as “false” or “altered” are labeled with warnings and distribution is reduced.

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  • People Are Using an Ancient Method of Writing Arabic to Combat AI Censors

    To get around algorithms that have flagged and removed Palestinian content, users on platforms like Facebook and Instagram are using an old version of Arabic, dating back at least a thousand years, that doesn’t have diacritical points (dots above or below letters). Converting Arabic into a dotless form in social media posts makes it much more challenging for AI machines to identify because they use a binary code to identify each letter.

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