People of color – Valerian's Realm

Coursera partners with Howard University, expands social justice content, and collaborates with Facebook to offer scholarships to Black learners

By Betty Vandenbosch, Chief Content Officer at Coursera At Coursera, we believe that learning is the source of human progress — that it has the power to transform our world. In 2020, we strengthened our commitment to address systemic racism through learning. We focused on creating social justice and anti-racism content and elevating Black voices […]
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Boston Globe Will Consider People’s Requests To Have Articles About Them Anonymized

The Boston Globe is starting a new program by which people who feel an article at the newspaper is harmful to their reputation can ask that it be updated or anonymized. From a report: It’s reminiscent of the E.U.’s “right to be forgotten,” though potentially less controversial, since it concerns only one editorial outlet and not a content-agnostic search engine. The…

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) Specializtion from DeepLearning.AI: Q&A with Sharon Zhou

Sharon Zhou is the instructor for the new Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) Specialization by DeepLearning.AI. This intermediate-level, three-course Specialization helps learners develop deep learning techniques to build powerful GANs models. Sharon is a CS PhD candidate at Stanford University, advised by Andrew Ng. Sharon’s work in AI spans from the theoretical to the applied — […]
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Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) Specialization from DeepLearning.AI: Q&A with Sharon Zhou

New York Bans Use of Facial Recognition In Schools Statewide

The New York legislature today passed a moratorium banning the use of facial recognition and other forms of biometric identification in schools until 2022. VentureBeat reports: The bill, which has yet to be signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, appears to be the first in the nation to explicitly regulate the use of the technologies in schools and comes in response to…

California City Bans Predictive Policing In US First

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: As officials mull steps to tackle police brutality and racism, California’s Santa Cruz has become the first U.S. city to ban predictive policing, which digital rights experts said could spark similar moves across the country. “Understanding how predictive policing and facial recognition can be disportionately biased against people of color, we officially banned…

Racist Magic: The Gathering Cards Banned, Removed From Database By Publisher

On Wednesday, Magic: The Gathering publisher Wizards of the Coast took unprecedented measures to remove racist cards from its game. Seven cards in all, dating back to 1994, are now banned from play. Their images will also being removed from the game’s official online database. Polygon reports: “The events of the past weeks and the ongoing conversation about how we can…

A memo Coursera CEO and executives sent to employees earlier today reaffirming Coursera’s actions to address racial injustice through learning

Team, We are all hurt and outraged by the tragic deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, and by the bigotry that Christian Cooper experienced in New York City. These racist acts bring to the forefront the fears and injustices that Black Americans have faced every day for generations. As I shared with […]
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Senator Introduces Bill Banning Facial Recognition Tech In Public Housing

Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Friday introduced a bill banning the use of facial recognition technology in public housing, mirroring legislation proposed in the House in July. The Hill reports: The No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act would block the tech from being installed in housing units that receive funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). “Using facial…