#its just that the brand i think is Australian or European

[yelloow-melloh]

ATTENTION SIX COSPLAYERS

I have found a website with patterns to make most of the queens outfits!! So if you want to cosplay them this could be a good jumping off point ^-^

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

recently discovered the beautiful vehicle that is the Chevrolet Opala, do you have any good facts on that car?

Yet again I'm introduced to new cars through this inbox!

Perhaps the most interesting thing to discuss about the Opala is why I didn't know of it: while based on the Rekord, a car built and sold in Europe by Opel (like Chevrolet part of General Motors), the Opala was only made in and for Brazil. It's common for brands with a global presence to have market-exclusive cars: Ford's American, European and Australian lineups have almost no cars in common, and Fiat has a long and illustrious tradition of powering other countries -including Brazil- with whatever it's tired of producing at home. And then, looking it up, I saw the SS version, and thought "Hwow were they ever going for the Chevelle SS's styling there!"

You know, the Chevelle SS. A car of the same vintage, whose sales were just as confined to a single American country I have never even seen, that looked like that for about one year. Which I absolutely knew of.

And that made me think about why that is for a bit - and about how stark of a difference that reason makes (because I could not confidently tell you a dozen Brazil-only cars, but could confidently list a hundred reserved to US and Canada).

Look at Italian music.

No, really - back in the days many of the biggest hits were translated English songs, there were people that sang with fake English accents, hell, it was damn near custom to get a stage name made up of an English name and Italian surname (Fred Buscaglione, Jimmy Fontana, Bobby Solo, Patty Bravo, on for days). Who was out there brazilianifying their name?

Sure, Italy may have been an outlier, but trust me, the cultural foothold America has in much of the Earth is virtually unmatched. And with that cultural hegemony comes a rose-tinted spotlight shone to its history (especially the one we were there to learn about live), such that to the rest of the world even US-exclusive models like 60s muscle cars are not just known, but iconic - even simply through other things like movies, shows, or music. On the other hand, Brazilian cars (how many again?) are at most a curiosity that is sometimes tangentially mentioned to fill space - mostly because that's our treatment of Brazilian culture.

Rather than an awkward attempt to detail the sociopoliticoeconomical reasons for that, though, what I want to end on is a more positive note: there's always outliers. Whatever population you look at, whatever culture you're thinking of, there will always be someone obsessed with it. And that's one thing I love about cars - each model, somewhere, somehow, has someone loving it. Each topic is a topic of interest to someone. And you can always be that outlier if you want - being interested in one thing never excludes being interested in another.

And in fact, in amongst all those fake-English stage names, an Italian duo chose a brazilianified last name - Michael and Johnson 'Righeira', seen here proving that 21st century "80s style" stuff can never be more exaggerated a caricature than some of the real thing.

Yes, that's Spanish. Don't worry about it.

Links in blue are posts of mine explaining the words in question - if you liked this post, you might like those!

[inoppositionflorien]

I know I've been promising to articulate my opinions on anarchism pretty much since I joined Tumblr, but seeing as that's not happening today, I'm instead going to complain about complaining.

In particular the "ha the US is unique in its evilitude and it ought to stop being a thing, remember that time it did xyz" brand of complaint. Notably, this particular brand of weird political stance is almost exclusively seen in Canadian, Western European, and Australian leftists.

It is not particularly commonly held among US leftists. (This is not to say there are none who hold that opinion, there definitely are some, if just by osmosis of opinion, merely that they are far less commonly seen than ones originating from other countries, often ones with very similar colonial legacies.)

As that parenthetical says, every country that tried to be a world power and many that never made it have remarkably similar skeletons in their closet. Further, the individuals in question often make no effort to understand the US political system. This ties back to the myth of the All-powerful executive branch, the President being in charge of everything. They usually buy this wholesale, which, as said in some previous post I made is certainly an appealing idea, but a broadly wrong one. They also make no effort to follow the news beyond the headline, or occasionally the first article.

This often leads to "The US is axiomatically bad and thus any force that opposes it (even nominally) is axiomatically good." It doesn't always go there, but more often than I think anyone should be comfortable with, it does. That way lies support of authoritarians and occasionally actual fascists simply because they oppose the US out of a xenophobic nationalism, or, if they're a LatAm populist, used the specter of past US intervention (which was broadly a disaster, and pointlessly installed many authoritarians who did nothing helpful, for the record) to claim that any problems they're having came from the apparently all-powerful and illusive CIA, and not from poor management choices that necessarily come from incoherent populist policy platforms which are either ill-defined to the point that anything can be claimed as part of the policy, or a mess of contradictory ideas that don't actually work because the smart ones almost invariably rely on the perpetual existence of a macroeconomic money sink in a naturally unstable global economy or a misunderstanding of the problems raw extraction countries face in the international market, and then when they are technically workable, they trip over the really bad unworkable ideas (see what happened to Venezuela's healthcare system when they attempted to run two parallel ones at once to preserve jobs while also trying to fix inefficiencies in the old system. Essentially, it became more inefficient and more expensive to run, which dumped an enormous amount of money into an economy with few actual money sinks because taxes had been cut and the money sink that high oil prices provide to a petrostate disappeared when oil prices crashed. It would have been more effective to either fix the first system or completely restructure it if that seemed too hard)

The point is, I don't actually think it's a coincidence how in many of these cases, it's the authoritarians and populists with no coherent policy platform being praised or at least grudgingly accepted. Notably, those are both strongman positions, and strongmanism is broadly popular, pretty much wherever you go politically speaking. (Interestingly, you can find it even in many branches of anarchism!) It's also often a messianic belief system, a "someone, one person who leads, they will do it right, defeat a great evil, and then everything will be good forever" sort of thing.

The reason the US in particular is targeted, I think, is less because of its particular legacy, (After all, remember, nearly every country that didn't get colonized on heavily and several that did all have similar legacies if you're willing to look, though not necessarily to as great a recent extent simply because they haven't been major powers for a while, or haven't made it there yet) but simply because it's visible. It is THE power in the world. It is not a hegemon, nor has it ever been, but it is very capable in its own right and has been economically dominant for nearly 150 years. Incidentally, this, (and some racism) is why the US right is obsessed with China, a country that's apparently the second largest power. It's visible. In practice, there's actually plenty of evidence China has been struggling with the problems authoritarianism brings, and has been overreporting its economic strength for years, and it will probably be overtaken by India soon economically, but this is irrelevant to their position. China is visible, so China is the target. Much the same, the US is visible, certainly culturally (it has a culture so dominant that many people don't even realize they're in it. This is not a unique issue to the US, most non-minority groups in a given country don't realize they're in a distinct culture. Part of this is the "white as default" thing, but this is also much more broadly true than that particular phrase implies) so the US is the target for people who aren't in it.

It is in fact, closely related to the all-powerful executive I brought up earlier. It is very, very easy and fun to ascribe all or many problems to one position or one country or one people. It is also very easy when you're doing that to start to believe in strongmanism, because whether they know it or not, strongmen (who are almost invariably isolationist nationalists) will win international acclaim for pretending to be an underdog against the biggest power they think they can get away with taking issue with, and for many places, that's the US.

And strongmanism and more general authoritarianism, as I'm sure everyone knows by now, don't actually work very well at achieving their intended ends (not to mention the ends they intend are often bad to start with)

There could be the criticism of this made that the US school systems do not teach of everything bad the US has done, and this is why the US left broadly disagrees in the way brought up in the start... Except oops that's true of pretty much every country's education system. They very rarely go into much detail about all the various terrors their country wreaked until college level, and occasionally not even then. Further, the US left is broadly just as aware about all the past atrocity as international ones. Often more so, in fact, because people tend to know more about their own country than others. There is, in truth, no one target that must be hit to fix everything, whether it be a country as in this particular complaint, or something else, and the pervasive belief in that is a major issue across nearly all political groups that goes largely unaddressed.

This actually leads into another whole long post that I'll probably make some day about how systems of government, economic systems, and baseline happiness interact to create a whole situation where the events of the Great Disappointment of 1844 but for anticapitalism is going to happen in slow motion if capitalism ever stops being the dominant economic system, but I'll save that for another post. And maybe someday I'll actually talk about my feelings on Anarchism.

[kedilerkabilesi]

Ways to Select the Best Product Concept to Offer Market

There are numerous steps needed to bring an item to market, yet ultimately, everything begins with the item suggestion itself. If you have the incorrect product concept, after that all the other steps, despite how well you execute them, will not matter.

I always claim execution is where the real value is, yet it still needs to begin with the product concept. You should pick the greatest item concept to offer the marketplace.

1: Economical to Develop and also Prototype

The top attribute of a winning product is it needs to be inexpensive to create as well as model. Product development is so much more complex than a lot of laypeople can picture.

It's essential that you, specifically for your first product, try to make the product as basic as feasible. That way your advancement expense will be decreased and also your time to market will certainly be much less.

You must obtain your product to market as quickly as feasible so you can start collecting market responses. You can utilize that feedback to potentially customize the product to satisfy what the actual market demand is.

I constantly urge the concept of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Allow's say your item's core functionality is Bluetooth sound, however, you are likewise thinking about potential secondary features such as activity discovery or GPS monitoring.

In such a case it is usually best to focus on only the core, see also how to promote my invention. important functions for your first item version. As soon as you have genuine market data and sales after that you can take into consideration adding any type of possible second features.

However, you still should study and evaluate every one of the potential features so you can pick the most effective functions to consist of in the future as soon as you have the marketplace information to back them up.

For instance, if a particular function enhances your production expense by 10% but also allows you to increase your list prices by the same quantity, then that may be a smart option.

Or maybe, the additional function will instead offer to raise sales of your product, hence compensating for the 10% boost in cost.

2: Budget-friendly to Scale to Mass Production

You desire an item that's not only budget-friendly to create but is likewise inexpensive to scale from the prototype stage to mass production. These 2 requirements can be completely different for many items.

It's possible to have an item that is easy to establish, but complicated to range to manufacturing. One significant difficulty of scaling an item to mass manufacturing is the cost of shot molds required for any custom-made plastic parts.

Each personalized item of plastic will certainly require its shot mold. For truly high quantity production, these molds are extremely expensive. A minimal expense for mold and mildew will be about $1,500 for an easy, low-volume mold. A lot more complicated molds for high-volume manufacturing can cost 10s of countless bucks each.

Although establishing a product that requires a bunch of customized shaped plastic items may be economical making use of 3D printing, it will become considerably extra pricey to scale when injection molding comes to be called for.

3: Prospective for a High-Profit Margin

I understand creating and marketing a brand-new item can be significantly amazing and also enjoyable. Eventually, the goal is to make cash?

This implies you need to focus on an item with a high-profit margin. You ideally desire the suggested retail price for your product to be around 4x what it sets you back to make.

You can push that to 3x the manufacturing price, especially if you're offering straight to customers and also not experiencing distributors or retail chains. Yet I would not go any type of reduced. For one point, it comes to be remarkably challenging to expand a business with low-profit margins.

That being claimed, you can not anticipate making a high revenue when initially beginning. You'll be fortunate if you can simply break-even on your initial tiny production run. Often you will certainly need to sell your first several hundred systems muddle-headed.

As your manufacturing quantities boost so will your earnings margin. As soon as you get to quantities of 10k-100k items for many customer items that are when you should anticipate making a substantial profit.

Earnings need to never be your prompt objective, and that will come later as you scale to greater volumes. At the onset, focus your efforts on reducing your growth expenses, not on making the most of profit.

You do require to have exact estimates on what your production price and earnings margins will be once you get to those higher volumes.

You may break even on quantities under 1k, make a small revenue on volumes in between 1k and also 10k, then make a revenue margin of 33% for 10k items, as well as finally reach 50% at quantities of 100k devices. You just need to understand upfront that as soon as you get to high adequate manufacturing degrees, significant revenue is feasible.

If you determine in your evaluation that 25% of earnings are all that can be made, even at high manufacturing volumes, then you likely may wish to think about various products or consider if you can boost your sales price.

Keep in mind that capitalists enjoy high-profit margins (obviously, right!) so having a higher possible earnings margin will make it easier to find them.

4: Existing Competition

You want to pick a product suggestion that has some competition. Wait a min, isn't competition a negative point? Should not I concentrate on establishing a product that is completely unlike anything else in the marketplace?

The answer to both of those inquiries is no!

Bringing a distinct item to the marketplace can be challenging. Not only do you have to convince people that this problem even exists which they need to be fixed, but you likewise have to persuade them that your product is the most effective remedy to the problem.

Additionally, with completely new items, you don't also understand for sure that there is a market for the item. Nevertheless, having a competing product that currently markets well gives some proof that there is a market for your product. You can consider a completing item as in advance proof that a market already exists for your product.

That being stated, you do not want excessive competition, which is what I'll go over next.

5: No Dominating Competitors

Although some competitors is a good thing, too much is a bad point. If you assume you're going to compete with the likes of Amazon or Apple, you're just going to get consumed for breakfast. That's not something you intend to ever before attempt to go after.

As an example, I would not suggest that you attempt to come up with a product that directly takes on an Amazon Echo. Of all, you will never be able to compete with Amazon's rate because they have substantial economies of range.

You can never contend with them from a branding or advertising perspective. Dominant firms like Amazon.com, Apple, as well as Microsoft have online reputations for essentially ruining their competitors.

As an additional instance, I would certainly never advise that anybody develop a new mobile phone.

To start with, a smartphone is unbelievably complicated and also pricey to establish (Apple spent millions establishing the first iPhone).

There are so many competitors already that it would certainly be impossible for a brand-new startup company to ever stand out in such a jam-packed market.

6: Convenient Market

You wish to pick a product that has an easily-reachable market.

Possibly you might be believing, "Everybody on the planet can utilize my item. It does not matter their age, area, gender, line of work, or income, they all will desire it!".

Perhaps you are believing "so 1% of individuals purchase my product that will suggest 100 million units as well as $10 billion in earnings". By the way, such a statement is a significant red flag for capitalists, causing them to flee as rapidly as possible. Please don't ever claim something like this.

I understand it seems wonderful, as well as you're likely seeing dollar signs in the billions! Yet the fact is a market that includes everybody will certainly be difficult to reach.

It will constantly be much easier to sell your product to 10% of the people in a group of 100,000, than 1% of a team of 1,000,000 people.

You are much better off focusing on a niche product, or at least somewhat of a particular niche item, that has a market that you can get to. This is the factor for the expression "the treasures remain in the specific niches".

Many of you understand that I developed and also brought to market my hardware product. What you do not understand is before that, one of my very first business ideas included marketing tourist-related things in Australia.

I had eventually developed the idea that precedes there is no up or down, so there is no defined top or bottom to the Earth. The reality that Europe, as well as The United States And Canada, get on the top of globes was plain since Europeans developed the majority of the early maps as well as globes.

There is no reason why a globe can't be inverted with locations like Australia, Antarctica, as well as South America on top of the world. My idea was to offer upside-down worlds and maps (as well as tees as well as such with upside-down maps) in nations situated south of the equator.

I'm not Australian nor have I ever before checked out Australia. I was pursuing this completely from the other side of the world in the U.S.

I had some initial good luck with it. I had called a lot of individuals in Australia, vacationer stores loved my suggestion, and also they wanted to bring my items in their shops. However ultimately, that company suggestion wound up stopping working. You can also check how to get my invention off the ground

The main factor it failed was I was trying to get to a market that was actually on the other side of the world from me. It was a market that I did not comprehend.

7: Recurring Income

Lots of may state the Holy Grail of earning money is it to develop repeating revenue streams. Recurring profits simply implies that your clients pay you a fee automatically every month. Most of the on-line software program solutions you use are spent on a regular monthly persisting basis.

If someone acquires your hardware item, can you include a monthly charge to utilize an internet solution or an app that connects to your product?

Discovering a way for your organization or product to have reoccurring profits will certainly be a substantial boost for your business, especially if you ever wish to look for outside specialist investments.

A lot of investment companies such as this element since it makes earnings much more predictable and enables a firm to expand much faster. Bolt.io is an angel investment group that concentrates on equipment products. They particularly favor equipment products with a recurring income model.

Repeating revenue is such a coveted method of making money because it's foreseeable. People can cancel their subscription or subscription, yet as a whole, you will certainly have a team of customers that just keep paying, allowing you to know just how much you're going to be bringing in each month.

8: Upfront Marketing Research

You always need to perform significantly ahead of time marketing research before you fully seek a new item idea. This research study is going to help you identify if you're focusing on the most effective product idea.

Let's claim you conduct some early marketing research using surveys, as well as your study feedbacks return as, "I hate this item," or, "I would certainly never buy it," or, "I would certainly pay $5 for it, but you're asking me for $100?".

Those results are informing you that this item is not something worth going after.

It's hardly ever that easy. It might be simple to quickly confirm a suggestion misbehaves, yet not so easy to confirm that it is a good suggestion.

This is particularly true with physical products where you are restricted in just how much ahead of time research you can do because you don't have a product yet to offer or reveal.

Your early market study surveys might reveal that individuals like the item concept, they claim they need it, and they also say they will certainly acquire it when it ends up being readily available.

Nevertheless, if the item does become available these same people might never, in fact, acquire it.

This is because it's one point to state you like an item and would buy it, but it's rather another point to place your hard-earned money down to purchase it. A person who states "I love the product, I would purchase one," could stroll by it a hundred times in a store as well as never acquire one.

Simply recognize the constraints of any market information that doesn't consist of cash changing hands. What people tell you they will certainly do is a lot various than what they actually will do, specifically when it concerns spending money.

You must still make it a concern to collect as much of this very early feedback as possible.

Market research is just one of the essential benefits of having an on the internet target market. If you do not have a target market already, then begin developing one right away.

After gathering feedback from your audience, you can move on to the best marketing research, which is to begin pre-selling your product. This is what happens with crowdfunding campaigns.

For crowdfunding, lots of people focus on the money they will certainly get, yet the most useful part is the marketplace comments and also evidence you will certainly get since individuals are choosing your product with their money.

9: You Currently Know the marketplace

Concentrate on an item for a market that you already understand. This is preferably a market that you have previous experience in. This can be prior experience marketing to this market, or just on your own belonging to this market.

If you're a carpenter, for instance, focus on items that woodworkers use or that are used in home building and construction.

You do not need to constantly restrict yourself to your prior experience, yet the markets that you have operated in, ideally over several years, are going to be the ones that you recognize the most effective.

You're already able to comprehend what the marketplace desires, versus trying to pursue an unknown market, as I did with Australia.

10: Fixes a Known Issue

Your item needs to resolve an issue that individuals already understand they have. It's testing enough to inform individuals on why they require to acquire your remedy to a problem they have.

It's also tougher to inform them concerning a problem that they don't recognize they already have. It will make it significantly more difficult to sell your product if you have to do both.

Having to make the client aware that a problem also exists, suggests it's something they've never thought of, so it's not going to be a top priority for them.

That's tough to market. Rather, concentrate on items that address issues people already understand they have.

11: Distinguished Item

Your product requires to be dramatically varied from what's currently around, and you do not ever before wish to remain in a scenario where you need to contend on price. Contending on cost relates to low-profit margins, which as discussed already is never a good thing.

Rather, you require to contend on the item itself and also the value that it adds, and out the cost. Doing so will offer you a lot higher profit margins and also permit your company to expand much faster.

To do this your item needs to be distinguished somehow from any other options currently on the market. What makes your item much better than any kind of remedy presently on the market?

12: The Price Is

Make sure to pick an item that's in a good cost range. To start with, you don't want a product that has as well reduced a cost. That's because it will require a lot of volumes to make any kind of significant income.

This was among the major errors I made with the physical item I offered the marketplace. It only sold for between $5 and $10 meaning I had to offer a massive number to produce considerable earnings as well as revenue.

On the other extreme, if your item is too pricey, state $1,000, then that will certainly present a substantial obstacle to people buying, particularly if you're an unknown business.

It's much easier to get $5 or $10 out of an individual, and even $100 than it is $1,000. Particularly if they do not understand you or have experience with your items. That's mosting likely to be a substantial barrier to purchase.

Concentrate on products that aren't too low in cost, however also not too expensive. I 'd claim between $29 as well as a few hundred dollars would be the best cost variety. Follow inventhelp on Instagram for more advice https://www.instagram.com/inventhelp/?hl=en

Verdict

The genuine value may be in the implementation, yet it all starts with the concept. You require to make certain you are putting your time, cash, and also initiative right into an item that has the very best opportunities for success.

If your item concept isn't the very best idea to seek wouldn't you rather recognize it currently as opposed to later on? You need to constantly be able to pivot as fast as possible. The even more you know, and also the earlier you know it, always the far better!

[theradioghost]

some recs for my podcast mutuals who are burnt out on horror & sad plot stuff

aka I’ve been seeing a few flavors of people exhausted by several of the most popular podcasts around here being pretty dark right now & I have attempted to put together a tasting menu of some stuff I think might help alleviate that burnout (& which also deserves some more love)

1. I'm okay with stuff that’s still on the dark or macabre side, I'd just like something that isn’t 100% characters I care about suffering horribly all the time, maybe some laughs in there

The Beef and Dairy Network: Like a seriously disturbing body horror podcast, except British satirical comedy! About cows! You kind of have to listen to it to get what’s going on tbqh it’s nearly impossible to explain but if you like horror and are just tired of being depressed about it maybe try this one. NOT for the easily nauseated.

Wooden Overcoats: black comedy sitcom about two rival funeral homes on a small island, one run by The Most Perfect Man On Earth (tm) and the other run by two misanthropic twins with a knack for disaster (and their hypercompetent assistant (and a mouse who wants to be an author)). this one is about watching the protagonist suffer horribly all the time but like, this time it’s usually a lot funnier and honestly he deserves it

Death by Dying: (so far very short) dark comedy about the resident obituary writer of idyllic Crestfall, Idaho, who sets out to tell the stories of how the town’s residents died and ends up uncovering a lot of other things, like conspiracies, and man-eating cats, and a poet’s vanishing childhood home, and what his friend the Angel of Death isn’t telling him about what’s in the dark woods. has very strong ASOUE or Pushing Daisies vibes, that sort of dark whimsy and really distinct narrative voice

Arden: “true crime” comedy-ish mystery podcast feat. two of the best bickering hosts anywhere and a whole third host called homoerotic tension, trying to solve a decade-old Hollywood mystery. secretly a shakespeare adaptation. one of the hosts is michelle agresti. an airline run by killer robots is involved, somehow. it’s a perfect storm

2. I’m good with some plot and higher stakes, but I need something more kind and hopeful right now:

Middle:Below: 10-minute episodes about a man who travels between the worlds of the living and the dead to solve the problems of restless ghosts, and the three friends he does it with -- a ghost, a cat, and a writer. their tagline is “remember: bad things will happen.” this is basically a lie, this show is extremely sweet

Alba Salix: high fantasy medical workplace comedy about hospital staff in a fairytale-ish kingdom, namely one grouchy witch, one distracted fairy, and one extremely disgruntled teenager sentenced to community service. also comes with the miniseries The Axe And Crown, which is about a gay troll bartender, his clueless landlord, and his bombastic niece, and also is one of the most heartfelt touching pieces of audio fiction I’ve ever heard?

Dark Ages: also a high fantasy workplace comedy, but in this one the dysfunctional cast work at a magical natural history museum, which thanks to recent events is now hosting the mythical Dark Lord on top of all the usual problems caused by their complete incompetency.

Solutions to Problems: a sci-fi relationship advice show feat. human host Janet and alien host Loaf. also feat. banter, illegal time travel, what to do when the AI that controls the air you breathe is your on-again-off-again girlfriend, and how to avoid your many spouses when they insist you need to come back to the homeworld and spend some time with your spawn.

Victoriocity: steampunk buddy-comedy mystery show, in which misanthropic detective Archibald Fleet (aka Tom Crowley but he’s grouchy this time) and intrepid newbie journalist Clara Entwhistle (aka an absolute ray of sunshine) uncover some Secret Plots within the government of a very different victorian london. if you like the “opposing personalities come to care deeply about one another as friends” trope this one is for you

Inn Between: not an actual play, but a show about the developing relationships of a party of RPG-esque adventurers as they rest at the inn between campaigns. you don’t see the adventures, just the crew growing closer and learning about one another in their moments of peace.

The Strange Case of Starship Iris: sci-fi adventure about a stranded biologist and a ragtag crew of smugglers who set out to resist an authoritarian government, solve a mystery, and prevent a second human-alien war. as far as I can tell their plan for accomplishing this is to be as funny, gay, and adorable as possible, and to dismantle oppressive systems via the power of found family tropes. also via the power of linguistics.

3. just give me the fluffiest, funniest, sweetest, most relaxed, lowest-stakes thing you have:

Everything is Alive: meditative, deeply touching show where Guy From Public Radio holds interviews with inanimate objects. the interviews are super genuine and beautiful and I think they’re improvised, or at least they sound very natural? for people who want to be profoundly moved by a can of generic brand cola (you may not know but you are one of those people)

Standard Docking Procedure: a self-described “hopepunk” scifi sitcom about a group of employees on a space station, dealing with the little daily misadventures of difficult tourists, traffic control disasters, nonexistent love lives, and each other. Has an explicitly stated purpose of staying happy, lighthearted, and comforting.

Love and Luck: tied for absolute most heartwarming audio drama in existence. the story of the relationship between two Australian men, told through voicemail messages, as they fall in love, start a cafe, build a supportive and loving local queer community of close-knit friends and chosen family who help one another through thick and thin, and also find out that they can do magic apparently (IMPORTANT NOTE: there are some darker events and themes tackled in the plot starting around the latter half of the first season, but the focus of the story itself is always on how people support and help one another through trauma and difficulty, and the explicitly stated core premise of the show is that every character will have a happy ending and be okay.)

Quid Pro Euro: Look Around You-esque satire of old 80s and 90s instructional tapes where Felix Trench tells you what the European Union will look like in the far-off year of 2000. I don’t know anything about the European Union but I cackle like a witch when I listen to this

The Cryptonaturalist: I know you’ve seen his tweets. well it’s that but a podcast. just a man with an extremely nice voice talking about fantastical creatures like salamanders that swim through parking lot asphalt or foxes that roam the shelves of libraries at night. in between he reads poetry and generally talks about nature in the most beautiful way you could imagine. this show feels like a peaceful walk in the woods.

The Hidden Almanac: a podcast made 90% out of gentle fantasy worldbuilding, as a somewhat grumpy man in a plague doctor mask tells you about the history of his world and distributes gardening advice. has an immense archive of four-minute long episodes. it’s best to listen in order, because there is continuity, and be aware that about the first year or so has dropped off most feeds. written and performed by much-loved fantasy writer and artist Ursula Vernon and her husband Kevin.

Startripper!!: the other forerunner for most heartwarming audio drama in existence. seriously, you cannot imagine how much joy Startripper!! will bring into your life. it’s just the travelogue of one little alien with a heart full of enthusiasm and love setting out to see the universe and making friends along the way with just about everyone he meets, including his extremely loveable spaceship AI. I really mean it. listen to this show if you listen to nothing else.

Cabin Pressure: BBC radio workplace comedy about the dysfunctional crew of the world’s smallest airline. not only utterly hilarious but will tug on your heartstrings more than you could possibly imagine (this does not look at first like a found family story but it so very much is). warning for bendytoots cucumberpatch but like, in the one and only valid role he’s ever played. you definitely cannot find this show by searching its name on the Internet Archive.

[legendaryenemyvoid]

65 Questions i’m not used to

1. Do you ever doubt the existence of others than you? Yes all the time

2. On a scale of 1-5, how afraid of the dark are you? 1

3. The person you would never want to meet? The devil himself

4. What is your favorite word? Imbecile

5. If you were a type of tree, what would you be? Dark Elm

6. When you looked in the mirror this morning what was the first thing you thought? Why can’t people get along?

7. What shirt are you wearing? Dark blue and white plaid shirt.

8. What do you label yourself as? Stubborn and impatient

9. Bright room or dark room? Dark room

10. What were you doing at midnight last night? Reading Witcher fanfiction on Wattpad

11. Favorite age you’ve been so far? Eighteen

12. Who told you they loved you last? Both of my parents

13. Your worst enemy? Katriell Trippe

14. What is your current desktop picture? Drogon from Games of Thrones

15. Do you like someone? No

16. The last song you listened to? Heroes Rise by Tommee Profitt & Sam Tinnesz

17. You can press a button that will make anyone person explode. Who would you blow up? Katie Trippe

18. Who would you really like to just punch in the face? Loki from Norse Mythology 

19. If anyone could be your slave for a day, who would it be and what would they have to do? James Norrington from Pirates of the Caribbean and he would take care of my cat.

20. What is your best physical attribute? (showing said attribute is optional) my auburn hair

21. If you were the opposite sex for one day, what would you look like and what would you do? I would still have my auburn hair but i would play video games all day. 

22. Do you have a secret talent? If yes, what is it? Yes, and its my singing. 

23. What is one unique thing you’re afraid of? Poisonous spiders

24. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your disposal. I would have a BLT with American cheese.

25. You just found $100! How are you going to spend it? I would spend it on pop figures and leggings. 

26. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, but you have to leave immediately. Where are you going to go? Dublin, Ireland

27. An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. “Be brand-specific” it says. Man! What are you gonna say about that? Even if you don’t drink booze there’s something you can figure out… so what’s it gonna be? Australian Cabernet Sauvignon.

28. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place? Treat everyone equally

29. What is your favorite expletive? Shit

30. Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the one thing you’re going to save from that blazing inferno? My bow and arrows

31. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be? Hyperventilating at my junior prom in high school. 

32. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit… you can move to anywhere else in the world! Copenhagen, Denmark

33. The Celestial Gates Of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn’t think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person/etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back? Queen Anne Boleyn of England

34. What was your last dream about? Falling into the everlasting ocean

35. Are you a good listener? 

36. Have you ever been admitted to the hospital? yes

37. Have you ever built a snowman? yes

38. What is the color of your socks? Black and Emerald green

39. What type of music do you like? Classic rock and electropop

40. Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets? sunsets

41. What is your favorite milkshake flavor? Cookies n cream

42. What football team do you support? (I will answer in terms of American football as well as soccer) Minnesota Vikings

43. Do you have any scars? Yes from my cats

44. What do you want to be when you graduate? European History professor

45. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My eye color

46. Are you reliable? yes

47. If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be? Would you move to London or Boston?

48. Do you hold grudges? yes

49. If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature, what new animal would you create? A lion and tiger because they are my two favorite big cats in the world. 

50. What is the most unusual conversation you’ve ever had?  If i have slept with anyone. Which is a no. 

51. Are you a good liar? yes

52. How long could you go without talking? About 1 hour or 2. 

53. What has been you worst haircut/style? I would say my worst hair cut would have been when i was about 5 i had to get my hair cut super short from having lice. 

54. Have you ever baked your own cake? yes

55. Can you do any accents other than your own? No but i want to learn how to speak a different language. 

56. What do you like on your toast? Butter and strawberry jam. 

57. What is the last thing you drew a picture of?  A sword

58. What would be you dream car? A 1967 Chevrolet impala ( yes deans car from supernatural). 

59. Do you sing in the shower? Or do anything unusual in the shower? Explain. Yes, and i sing to The band the score. 

60. Do you believe in aliens? yes

61. Do you often read your horoscope? Yes because im a Capricorn and proud

62. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet? H

63. Which is cooler: dinosaurs or dragons? I think dragons are way cooler than dinosaurs. 

64. What do you think about babies? I think their super adorable and cute. 

65. Freebie! Ask anything interesting you can think of. What is your favorite type of elemental dragon (including fire, earth, metal, ice, water, or magic)? 

[the-prophet-lemonade]

do you have any advice on getting a story to be seen? i made an ao3 account not too long ago so no one has seen my fic at the moment but i was wondering if you had any tips on that, or would i just have to wait?

hello! i can’t claim to know what makes a fic popular as it’s 99% luck, but i can speak for the remaining 1% that has worked ~reasonably~ well for me in the past. 

i think there are three key elements to getting a fic “seen”: marketing, branding, and presentation, and they’re all very important. this post got very long, so please find everything under the cut! i hope it helps :-) 

i. marketing

fic marketing may seem a bit narcissistic if you haven’t done it before, but trust me on this: it’s the best way to attract readers and you deserve to promoted your story as something you worked hard upon!

drumming up hype for a fic is great. you can do this by posting on social media, providing sneak peaks on your twitter, involving yourself in the fandom community and discussing your wips with other fans, and just generally being excited about what you’re creating. engaging with other people’s writing is also a great method to help boost your own stats … get involved with reading other work and leaving comments for other people, because they will be more likely to return the favour! when someone comments on my fics, i often go and check out their profile and see what they’ve written, as it’s highly likely we enjoy the same things! 

making promos is one of my favourite ways to engage with people about fics. once i post a fic/new chapter to ao3, i also crosspost promo posts with links and graphics to my twitter and tumblr. you will need a good hook to get people interested, but also an eye-catching image that summarises the story pictorially can be a great asset (you don’t even need photoshop, just a nice moodboard will do!). when using images however, it’s always important to think how the image size will appear in tumblr’s dimensions and on your own blog … make sure it’s not stretched or the resolution too low, and create something with a good visual flow i.e. the title appears first, then the necessary information, then any teasers or extracts. you need to make your fic post stand out on someone else’s timeline, which may already be filled with a bunch of other fic posts, jostling for attention. make it neat, clean, informative, and professional.

make sure to use the tagging systems efficiently for your chosen social media platforms: only the first five tags count on a tumblr post, so choose them wisely (i.e. use the key fandom tags first and save your personal blog tags for after), and only two hashtags count on twitter before it’s marked as spam, so go for the ship tag!

creating your own fic tag on twitter can also be fun, and i’ve seen a lot more people doing it lately too. you can encourage people to tweet along with a specialised hashtag and then you can find their reaction and engage with them later, which once again expands your fandom circle and will increase engagement on tweets associated with your fic.  

another trick i’ve learned is utilising time zones and understanding the demographics of the audience you’re trying to reach. i am very careful to post my fics at certain times of day in order to reach key people e.g. i will try to hit either europeans or americans during the evening, as this is when most people are home from work and wanting to read fic. as a european myself, especially involved in fandoms with high levels of european fans, i usually post during the early evening for CET time zones i.e. 7 or 8 pm and i tend to find this works for me. 

with tumblr, i often delay my promo posts so that i post when it’s likely to get maximum interaction (you can see when your blog is most active using your tumblr analytics) … use your queue if need be! 

i also take care in reblogging/retweeting my promo posts at certain times of day too. i will usually bump the post just before i go to bed, so as to grab americans in their early evening, and then i will bump it again in the morning when i wake up, to catch australians and west coast americans still awake. i then usually keep bumping my promos once a day for two or three days on my social media to cast a wide enough net to catch as many people who might be interested, as not everyone checks their timeline every day and social media swallows up posts so quickly, especially tumblr which is not built for original content creators to do well (lol). i will usually bump a promo post 5 - 7 times before retiring it and this is a model that’s worked well for me in the past, especially for droplets, which would get 500+ notes per chapter!  if you’re anxious about this, know that most people will only see your post once or twice because tumblr moves fast and swallows posts up very quickly, and sometimes people need reminders to read if they decide to save things for later when they have more time

ii. branding

the benefits of branding mainly come from experience, so it’s a tricky thing to utilise if you haven’t published fic before … but there are still tricks worth trying! 

certain fic writers will attract readers to new fics just because their name is attached to it, and people know the sort of story they’re getting, they know how it’ll be written, the sort of tropes that will appear, that sort of thing. obviously, building up this sort of brand requires publishing a lot of work, and so it must be said that practice makes perfect: the more you write and publish, the more your fics will be seen and your audience will grow. people will regularly see your username in the tags on ao3 and be more inclined to click on you as someone who reliably produces good content. it’s important to remember that everyone starts from the same place and works hard to improve their craft; success doesn’t just come overnight (unless you’re in the right place at the right time) and any creator will tell you that compliments to their talent aren’t what matters, but instead, it’s compliments to their dedication and hard graft. 

another key thing about branding is how you present yourself online. the most important thing in my opinion is cohesion across your social media platforms e.g. having the same username on ao3 as you do on tumblr/twitter/wherever you promote your fic. having an easily navigatable blog with working hyperlinks and archiving of your fic work is also great. basically, building a clean interface for people to engage with your work is vital! having the same icon and username across all your social media makes it so much easier for readers to navigate between your fics and your promo posts … basically, the easier you can spell something out, the better

branding is mostly to do with how you advertise yourself, rather than the particular fic, although much of it overlaps. get your name out there by engaging with other writers and making friends and appreciating their work! this is often the best way to get inspired, plus you get to meet some amazing people. i recommend trying out for zines and big bangs and writing challenges, as these are good ways to show your work to already-established audiences. also, make yourself available by interacting with commentors or by opening up your inbox on tumblr to anons. try linking your social media and your inbox as hyperlinks in the authors note of your fic

iii. presentation

this is really fundamental and is often the main reason people will close out of your fic and not read to the end. people want to read fics that are easy to digest and have had care put into them. this includes a lot of things:

correct tagging i.e. are the tags coherent and not just rambling? are there appropriate trigger warnings in place? have you unnecessarily tagged every side pairing under the sun, rather than just the main relationship?

grammar and spelling. goes without saying … people are more likely to read things that look professional and have had care poured into their preparation. make sure you know how to use speech punctuation. revise how to use commas. avoid epithets (especially racially-aggravated ones). get yourself a beta if you’re worried, because betas are godsends!

paragraphing. so many people will close out of a fic if it isn’t correctly spaced. double spaced paragraphs look best on ao3 and i often won’t read a fic if the paragraphs are too long because it hurts my eyes to read. make sure you’re starting new speakers in new paragraphs. new ideas deserve new paragraphs. basically, every time the “camera” changes, you should be starting a new paragraph. not just a new line. 

summaries. i see so many fics on ao3 with summaries that are either apologising for being bad at summaries or apologising for a fic being bad/being a first fic, and like … stop this! own what you have written, no-one else will have written it the way you have and you should be proud of it. if you’re saying in your summary that it’s a bad fic, i’m not going to click on it as a reader. instead, utilise your summary to get people hooked … good hooks can be written a load of different ways, but the best ones i see often involved a snippet from the fic as a taster, and then a couple lines of blurb. get people excited! 

titles: i’m personally more likely to click on a fic where the title is either (a) correctly capitalised or (b) is clearly chosen for its aesthetic or meaning (i love long lower case titles with parentheses lol). choosing a memorable title is really helpful, especially one that can be shortened or abbreviated for social media (e.g. for hashtags)!

all this being said, traffic on ao3 is a crytpid at best and obeys little in the way of rhyme or reason. you can put blood, sweat and tears into marketing your fic, but sometimes, just being in the right place at the right time (writing for the right niche) is what does it, so being a fic writer requires a lot of patience. first and foremost, write for yourself. write what you want to read and enjoy doing it, because if you get sucked into obsessively checking stats, it’s only going to disappoint when you don’t achieve what you want to achieve. 

just keep persevering and keep writing and appreciating each and every person who takes time in interact with your fic and its promos … because ultimately, all it takes it that one reader to fall head over heels in love with your fic for everything to change. for now, just be proud of your work and keep writing!

[bubotv-blog]

The Importance of Diversity inside the Fashion Industry

In the United States, injustice is common in our system, where hegemony rules over a society and out lash against opposing groups.  And many times, it goes unaddressed or unchanged for way longer than it should. This is why it’s important to maintain cultural equity in the art world and to challenge inequities to make change happen.  In order to have a healthy society, there needs to be equal access to inspire creativity for young prominent artists (cultural equity).

There are many reasons as to why cultural equity is so important, an example of this comes from a Swedish retailer called Hennes and Mauritz (H&M).  On 7 January 2018, the retailer was criticized for putting a dark-skinned child model in a green sweatshirt saying “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.”  Soon after, social media users accused H&M of being racist for comparing a comparing the dark-skinned boy to a monkey (Bjerre).

The controversy was immediately picked up by the media worldwide the next day, despite the sweatshirt being only published in the United States and the United Kingdom website.  Being so exposed, H&M was forced to give a public apology.  Soon after, removing the ad and replacing it with a generic photo of the sweatshirt, now no longer available for purchase in several countries, including the United States. However, consumers moved away from the retailer due to the controversy, refusing to buy anything from the company (Bjerre).

By the 18th, H&M as a response to the controversy, explained that they would hire more people of diversity so as to prevent a similar incident from happening again.  A display as to what extent as to what consumers will go to when a company displays negative aspects in their products.  And this shows the increasing importance of diverse leadership in the workplace (Bjerre).

A similar incident was brought upon the Italian luxury brand Gucci after the company released a turtleneck sweater that resembled blackface.  The black turtleneck featured a pull-up collar with a cutout mouth and bright red lips. According to the brand’s Creative Director Alessandro Michele, it was meant to be an homage to the flamboyant Australian performance artist and designer Leigh Bowery (Wharton).

However, it only spurred on the intensive backlash with not just consumers, but celebrities as well. Director Spike Lee used his social media to urge followers to boycott the brand.  Musician 50 Cent posted himself setting fire to a Gucci T-shirt on Instagram.  And in the same month, singer Katy Perry removed shoes from her collection as shoppers said it was similar to blackface.  Then Gucci collaborator Dapper Dan tweets, “There cannot be inclusivity without accountability. I will hold everyone accountable,” inviting the company’s chief executive to meet with him in Harlem (Wharton).

“A mea culpa and quick withdrawal of the offensive products is the right short-term strategy,” said professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business and a luxury branding strategist Thomai Serdari, who later states that the long-term strategy should be hiring a more diverse workforce.  However, it requires the company and others to have a sit down with their executives to convince and reconsider a more inclusive hiring strategy but in an honest and authentic way (Wharton).

Both Thomai Serdari and marketing professor of Lehigh University Ludovica Cesareo explain the headlines go deeper than just the momentary outrage (the two professors visited the Knowledge@Wharton radio show on Sirius XM to discuss the issues facing the fashion houses).  It is an example for up and coming companies to understand the global market and consumer values.  Especially now, where the generation is more diverse and do not tolerate cultural bias that were so evident in past marketing campaigns.  As Cesareo explains, “Advertising speaks to the current times, especially from a cultural perspective.  Through the advertisements that brands put out, but also the products that they design and decide to sell in the market, brands are taking stands on certain social issues.”  And Serdari agreed, stating that these companies and others need to understand how much influence they have and what they should put out on the market.  Or, at least, try not to offend a part of American culture (Wharton).

Americans would initially speculate that the problem is not cause by cultural insensitivity, but due to a lack of awareness of American culture, as Gucci and H&M are European companies.  “But that’s no excuse,” says Cesareo. “A lot of these brands are unaware of some of aspects of American culture and heritage, which by no means is a way of justifying them. It is simply that they just don’t do their research…  Gucci should have been much more sensitive to this issue and should have done its research before putting out a product like that.” And Serdari expresses her concerns, stating that the research from these companies would only be superficial because “they only stop at a certain point, whenever it is convenient or based on whatever resources they have. But to have people who are diverse or who have a better grasp of the culture within the market that they want to enter is what is going to make them more successful in the future.”  (Wharton).

Mrs. Serdari explain how creative directors have absolute power over the designs made in these corporate fashion houses and that there is no check or balance when issues pop up. There should have been more diversity in the workplace and the current employees should have been able to express their opinions without fear of retribution.  She also states that “there needs to be diversity at the high-up level of executives, and not just young designers … but people with voice and power.” And Cesareo agrees that Gucci “should have been much more sensitive to this issue and should have done its research before putting out a product like that.”  (Wharton).

Although, despite the backlash, they say that research shows that these brands will most likely not experience any kind of long-term loss because they have loyal customers that are willing to forgive them if they take particular steps in the right direction (Wharton).

Later, that December, Prada apologized for releasing a bag charm that resembled monkeys with red lips and announced that they are forming a diversity council to “elevate voices of color within the company and fashion industry at large.”  Appointing two celebrated black artists, Theaster Gates and Ava DuVernay, to chair the council (Wharton).

However, to others, the backlash is seen as a sign that people nowadays have become overly sensitive. And although Cesareo says she understands their perspective; the size of the offended group doesn’t matter to the company as social media allows negative messages to spreads fast and its important for a brand not to alienate even a small percentage of customers (Wharton).

Both professors state that the controversies surrounding these companies are teachable moments and express a need to reset hiring policies and practices.  “I think this is a really important learning point, not just for the brands involved but also for the industry overall, because there are negative spillovers to perceptions of the fashion industry more generally than just the single brand that made a mistake,” Cesareo said. “Going back to what we said, hiring practices and changes in these hiring practices are so important.”  (Wharton).

Talking about diversity can be uncomfortable but it’s an important discussion because it allows people to come to an understanding of each other’s cultures and resolve both social and personal dilemmas from home and at work.  Social media can open new doors for people, but can also close them to distasteful products that disrespects other’s culture.  And that companies should take note on management and hiring policies and practices because not all designs are considered kosher amongst certain groups (Takacs).

 Photos

· “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle,” Google Images, Google, 2019, web.  https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1368&bih=770&ei=bk9HXb_OJYzktQXQpqnYBw&q=coolest+monkey+in+the+jungle&oq=co&gs_l=img.3.0.35i39l2j0l8.26974.27377..28517...0.0..0.56.202.4......0....1..gws-wiz-img.....0.n6VEC6XF3L4

· “Gucci Blackface,” Google Images, Google, 2019, web.  https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1368&bih=770&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=i09HXZGrJovaswWYmrGQBQ&q=gucci+blackface&oq=gucci+&gs_l=img.3.0.0i67l4j0l3j0i67j0j0i67.63973.66527..68186...0.0..0.66.357.6......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......35i39.dUstSdtwjvI#imgdii=TaBc16nQPVCE9M:&imgrc=bwRD7YgMuO0dCM:

· “Katy Perry Blackface Shoes Ebay,” Google Images, Google, 2019, web.  https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1368&bih=770&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=0E9HXYKOKISctgWyj6C4Bw&q=katy+perry+blackface+shoes+ebay&oq=ka+blackface&gs_l=img.3.0.0i7i30j0i8i7i30.108914.109048..110548...0.0..0.65.116.2......0....1..gws-wiz-img.GkoXCYwaLsY

· “Prada Blackface Monkey,” Google Images, Google, 2019, web.  https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1368&bih=770&ei=PmBHXaz9G-O1tgXlopcI&q=prada+blackface+monkey&oq=prada+monkey&gs_l=img.3.5.0l5j0i8i30j0i24l4.1144.7686..12956...0.0..0.57.752.15......0....1..gws-wiz-img.....0..35i39.DEUrFpJl0s8#imgrc=8F8WPIUrV6E16M:

Sources

· “Statement on Cultural Equity,” Cultural Equity, Americans for the Arts, 2016, web.

· Morten Christian Bjerre, “"Coolest Monkey in the Jungle" - A study on correlations between crisis communication and intentional consumer behavior,” Copenhagen Business School, © ResearchGate, July 18, web.

· “Gucci’s Misstep: Why a More Diverse Fashion Industry Is the Answer,” Marketing, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, 18 February 2019, web.

· Takacs, Stacy. “What Is the Function of Popular Culture?” Interrogating Popular Culture: Key Questions. New York: Routledge, 2015. pp. 41 – 65.

[dae-zea]

Fashioning the Future

Video 1: Introduction to Fashioning the Future by Ashlee Murphy

The fashion journalist, once the gatekeepers to the fashion capitals of the world and their runways, are now fleeting to rule the World Wide Web.This expansion comes from not just the breadth of opportunities and advancements known to social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and yes, even Tumblr, but also to keep up with the relentless battle against the fashion blogger and the decline of print media. Starting the conversation for this structural shift to modern journalism is important to divulging the true impact of technology and social media - is it a friend or foe to the future of journalism?

THE FASHION BLOGGER

Call it amateur, but the rise of the fashion blogger is real. Once marginalised by their lack of degree or profession, the blogger was a rare sight on any forum of journalism. Many believed it was pure PR, disguised by the pretence of journalism. However, if new media has started anything, it’s the democratisation of the journalism sphere. 

Fashion bloggers are now seen as the voices of potential - the people that can freely, analytically and without the constraints of appeasing media standards and organisations, comment with fresh perspectives in an industry that relies on the ideal of the ‘new’. However, is this ‘freedom’ damaging to the integrity of journalism? 

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance developed the Journalist’s Code of Ethics in 1944 which has since served as a core for Australian press self-regulation. Bloggers, by their separation to traditional media professionals, and the absence of ‘quality-control’ associated with media representation, are not applicable to this code. This, along with a lack of experience and education in the areas, presses the argument on blogging as being an unprofessional practice and an unreliable source for fashion news - especially in a society where the detriments of fake news are so very real.

Author Geoffrey Millerson (1964, p. 14) argues that professional practice can be defined by 23 characteristics. Six of these are transferable across industries:

1. A skill based on theoretical knowledge.

2. Intellectual training and education.

3. The testing of competence .

4. Closure of the profession by restrictive organisation.

5. A code of conduct.

6. An altruistic service in the affairs of others.

Evaluating fashion bloggers against this criteria proved that a blogger cannot currently be defined as a profession as the nature of blogging only appeals to the sixth characteristic. Equally so, the capabilities and lack of boundaries characteristic to blog posting continues to lower the bar on what constitutes ‘journalism,' and therefore implementing the ‘professionalism’ of the job. However, their voice, as one that is accessible anywhere in the world on any device and any online platform, is on none of us can really avoid as a forum of fashion news.

The role of the fashion blogger in new media is one that is disruptive - one that will break down the barriers of ‘professional practice’ and continue to democratise the journalistic sphere until we all could just be bloggers or civil journalists across multiple news platforms. Either way, the current journalists playing field sees the bloggers with reigns over the internet, and in today’s digital world, perhaps it’s them that are the highest stakeholders.

Figure 1: Growth of readership for Australian fashion magazines in the span of 12 months. Data retrieved from Roy Morgan. 

THE TANGIBLE FASHION MAGAZINE

As seen from the data visualisation above, readership values for Australian fashion magazines in the past twelve months are staying pretty stagnant, or if not, slipping (see Frankie). This shows us the growing concern for the future of print media, and more specifically, the fashion magazine.

Industry professionals still remain adamant that print is irreplaceable. Former fashion editor for Queensland media corporations Quest Newspapers, Courier Mail and (now inactive) BMagazine, Laura Churchill, says that although she may be a ‘dinosaur’ in her thinking, she still ‘loves to be able to pick up a newspaper or a magazine and be able to read something tangible - something you can keep’. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL MINI INTERVIEW WITH LAURA CHURCHILL

Dinosaur? Maybe. Just maybe.

The battle between online media, such as blogs, and print media is undoubtedly a paradigm shift as the world continues to digitalise. This shift, and opening of new platforms, would give off the idea of more job opportunities, however in most publications, print journalism teams also contribute to their digital platforms, which perhaps is a core lesson for the future of fashion journalism (not to foreshadow or anything, wink).

The shift was given life by the rapid rise of technology and the Internet. These complimenting areas have distributed the idea of the world as an interconnected web of politics, economics and culture due to the technologies speeding up the delivery of information (Arnould et al., 2005, p. 214-215). Journalism and fashion, as two industries that rely on time, politics, economics and culture at their cores, are pretty cozy in this domain. Repeatedly, we’re seeing this shift leave print media in the dust.

A key example of this is the UK edition of the internationally renowned InStyle Magazine, which in 2016 stopped its print publication to instead focus on online-only distribution. 

“What we have achieved with InStyle over the last few years has been hugely rewarding and the team has, rightly, won numerous awards and nominations for their work across print and digital,” said editor Charlotte Moore.

“But the fashion world is changing dramatically - the way our audience interacts with it is changing and we have to change to meet that challenge. With a focus on delivering the InStyle experience across all digital platforms, we can really give our audience 24-hour access to all the fashion and beauty looks, trends and brands they clearly have such a huge appetite for.”

However, this bold decision from InStyle UK was met with criticism as leading fashion and journalism professionals believe that the future for print remains strong.

“I think that magazines, Vogue and Condé Nast, all they do is talk about online content and online projects. And I think they slightly forget their own DNA,” says Godfrey Deeny, former fashion editor-at-large of Le Figaro. 

“The DNA of magazines is the same as the DNA of luxury products: to make beautiful objects and reflect a certain amount of intelligence.”

If there were any greater example of adapting to both print and online, let it be Deeny’s ventures between them both. Deeny, other than being the former fashion editor at Le Figaro, has an extensive journalistic history as the editor-in-chief of Vogue Hommes International, and buerau chief of Women’s Wear Daily in Paris, under John Fairchild (Business of Fashion, 2018). He is currently positioned as the editor-in-chief of German magazine Achtung while still contributing fashion critiques for Le Figaro. Although boasting the impressive resume of print-focused titles, Deeny was also highly involved in the launch of online fashion website, the Fashion Wire Daily, as the European editor-at-large, AND just last year succeeded as the inaugural international editor-in-chief of Fashion Network.com. 

By embracing positions across both mediums, Deeny has been able to secure a sensational career in fashion journalism that spans over 25 years. 

IMAGE 1: Print and Online examples of fashion journalism. Image credit to Megan Dennis.

Perhaps then, a collaboration (rather than a battle!) between the print and digital sides, is at the core of a thriving future for fashion journalism. By marrying the online idea of immediacy and the reputable traditions of print, all aspiring journalists would be ‘multi-lingual’ in their approaches to media platforms. The notion of being a cross-disciplinary journalist is also referred to as multi-skilling, or up-skilling - a trend that sees the journalism industry depart from specialisation in platforms (such as broadcast journalists, print journalists etc.) to adapt to all areas of journalism for maximised flexibility (Nygren, 2014, p. 76). In a survey conducted in 2012 of 1,500 journalists, 73% could see future journalists being multi-skilled (Nygren, 2014, p. 81). Six years later, we are the future journalists. As myself, and other’s in my position begin our journalism careers with an eye for fashion journalism, the area of multi-skilling needs to be at the fore-front of our minds.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ashlee Murphy is a third year fashion and journalism student at the Queensland University of Technology. While her ultimate goal is to overthrow the great Anna Wintour in her position as Vogue Editor-in-Chief (see Ashlee’s own interesting interpretation of this above), Ashlee knows that Rome wasn’t built in a day and is happy to embrace the freelancer life until her reign of the fashion journalism industry comes. If she’s not busy reading up on critical areas of fashion studies and brushing up on her online shopping skills, she’s raising a beautiful labrador x golden retriever puppy. 

REFERENCES

Abnett, K. (2016). “How Newspaper Supplements Took On Fashion Magazines.” Business of Fashion, February 17, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/how-newspaper-supplements-are-beating-fashion-magazines-at-their-own-game

Arnould, E., Price, L., & Zinkhan, G. (2004). Consumers (2nd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Arthur, C. (2012). “A blogger or a journalist? Debate over the power and influence of tech writers”. The Guardian, February 27, 2012. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/feb/26/blogger-journalist-silicon-valley-dan-lyons

Business of Fashion (2018). Godfrey Deeny. Retrieved from https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/godfrey-deeny

Hermida, A. (2010). TWITTERING THE NEWS. Journalism Practice 4 (3), 297–308. DOI: 10.1080/17512781003640703

Jackson, J. (2016). InStyle UK magazine to shut print edition. The Guardian, October 19, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/19/instyle-uk-magazine-digital-only-time-inc

Maisey, S. (2017). “In conversation with fashion critic Godfrey Deeny - who has spent 25 years critiquing the industry.” Lifestyle, November 11, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/in-conversation-with-fashion-critic-godfrey-deeny-who-has-spent-25-years-critiquing-the-industry-1.674746

MEAA. (2018). MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics. Retrieved from https://www.meaa.org/meaa-media/code-of-ethics/

Millerson, G. (1964). The Qualifying Associations: A Study of Professionalization. London: Routledge and Paul.

Nygren, G. (2014).Multiskilling in the Newsroom: De-skilling or Re-skilling of Journalistic Work? The Journal of Media Innovations 1 (2): 75-96. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5617/jmi.v1i2.876

Roy Morgan. (2018). Australian Magazine Readership, 12 months to June 2018. Retrieved from http://www.roymorgan.com/industries/media/readership/magazine-readership

Wang, C. & Stivers, V. (2018). Inside The Fake News Campaign To Smear Russia's Biggest Fashion Influencers. The Refinery, May 7, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/05/198267/fake-news-russian-it-girls-miroslava-duma

[bougainvilea]

I’m becoming more and more aware that people online don’t really know what it means to be Jewish, so I’m making a helpful list!

Under the cut, I deal with the following things:

the difference between Judaism and Christianity 

the streams in Judaism and why they’re not denominations

Judaism as a culture

why Judaism is not an ethnicity (and why you can’t be half Jewish)

the word ‘goy’

historical antisemitism

Jewish rebellion

feel free to reblog, especially if you are not Jewish

To start off with, some definitions:

observant = the extent to which one considers themselves religiously Jewish as opposed to culturally/socially/historically/etc Jewish

to keep Shabbat = according to religious law, from Friday night to Saturday night you have to keep the sabbath holy, by following a bunch of rules like no starting a spark (which means no electricity or cars or anything), no picking up a pen, and a bunch of other things you can read about here. 

It does not mean christianity without the new testament. We have our own traditions, laws, and an extra book known as the Mishnah. Our traditions center around different things, our sabbath day is different, our days start in the evenings.

On this note, I’ve seen a post going around saying that Judaism is inherently different to xtianity, and it is 100% accurate. By which I mean, our laws are debatable. Even if you are 10000% observant, you could differ in tradition to someone else who is equally observant. You might be in different streams (see next dot point), or different cultural groups. This is beacause the words are interpreted differently by different Rabbis, and consensus is not wanted or needed. 

Judaism has streams. These are not similar to christian denominations. These streams are within similar communities and interact quite frequently. The difference between this and denominations is that Judaism is a culture (as I’ll get to later), which means that those who are “secular” (like me!) are not ‘just Jews not doing all the things they should be doing’ or ‘ignoring some of the laws’ - they have their own Judaism that is expressed through different practises and traditions, but they remain a community. Of course there are still people who consider themselves orthodox but only go to shul/synagogue on the High Holidays. But there are also communities of people who have interpreted Judaism’s multifaceted nature into their own unique brand of Judaism.

some examples are:

Ultra Orthodox - Usually what you see when you picture a Jewish person. Streimel (this hat so expensive), suit, study torah all day, pray very often, keeps Shabbat, etc. They are NOT NECESSARILY EUROPEAN. 

Reform - usually centered around the idea of ‘tikkun olam’ - which means repairing the earth - this stream is known in the Australian Jewish community for singing prayers to unusual tunes - my personal favourite is Adon Olam to ‘I Want It That Way’ by the Backstreet Boys (0:52 is when it gets Jewish lmaoooo). They differ from ultra-orthodox and orthodox because they “emphasize the evolving nature of the faith, the superiority of its ethical aspects to the ceremonial ones, and a belief in a continuous revelation not centered on the theophany at Mount Sinai.”

Secular Humanist - that’s me! I am atheist, but I am a part of the Jewish people and identify with the history and people within it. I feel a connection to the Jewish people’s struggles, revolutions, and liberations throughout time. I believe that Jewish people can create change and that we can use Jewish values and traditions to better the world without a focus on god. 

Judaism is a culture. This is the big one, and I feel that most people have heard this if nothing else. But let me specify; Judaism is also a religion. Judaism is associated with centurys worth of traditions and values and texts. And by texts I don’t just mean the Torah and the Mishnah - I mean every single Jewish philosopher or scholar or professor that has ever lived. Did you know that the famous 14th Century Spanish philosopher, Maimonedes, is known in the Jewish community as the Rambam (aka the Rabbi Moses ben Maimon = Rabbi Moses, son of Maimon) and wrote many a commentary on the holy books? Throughout the centuries, Judaism has gained an incredible collection of information and written arguments that have contributed to Jewish lives today. Synagogues, like churches, are great places of worship whilst also housing communities. Jewish people have stuck together throughout the years mostly out of necessity and safety and now have thriving communities of knowledge and culture! 

Judaism is NOT an ethnicity. This post started as a response to a post I saw calling someone “half Jewish, half Irish”. I tagged that you “can’t be half Jewish” and two people asked my why. This is why;

Before I continue this point, I received an anonymous message from another Jewish person saying the following; 

“we ARE an ethnicity (where do you think the curly jewish hair and aquiline nose on many jews - not all, but many - comes from?) but the reason we are considered 100% jewish if we are jewish at all is because we are a tribe and therefore if you are jewish you are considered 100% wholly part of the tribe to keep from any gatekeeping. but it is absolutely an ethnicity with an inherent religion, similar to native americans.”

this is a fair point, so maybe we are an ethnicity, but you can’t be “half Jewish” for the following reasons:

Part 1: Nuremberg Laws in Nazi Germany

Jews were outlawed from a lot of things in Nazi Germany, obviously. This started in 1933, but by 1935 the Nuremberg Laws passed. These (a) defined what it meant to be Jewish and (b) further separated them from society. 

The image below defined a fully German person (a  Deutschblütiger), a half Jew (a Mischling - “In German, the word has the general denotation of hybrid, mongrel, or half-breed.”), and a Jew (Jude). Essentially, if you were anywhere from 1/8 -1/4 Jewish, you could have Reich citizenship but still were at risk, whereas Jews (more than 1/4 Jewish) were obviously much more at risk. 

this is still today used to distinguish a Jewish person, but not in an antisemitic context. It is in fact used by Israel, so that all those who were targeted by Nazis are welcome to seek refuge and live in the intended state for the Jewish people, Israel. Anyone with 1/8 or more Jewish descent can very easily get Israeli citizenship. 

Part 2: Jewish Religious Law

according to Jewish Religious law, anyone with a Jewish mother is inherently Jewish. (also, anyone who converts - which is a 7 year process, by the way)

The reason these are relevant is because my point is that you can be ANY nationality, any ethnicity, and still be 100% Jewish. 

There are Jews of all nationalities - German Jews, Polish Jews, Ethiopian Jews, Latinx Jews, Israeli Jews, American Jews, Indian Jews, and many more! There are Jews of all ethnicities too - Asian Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, Roman Jews, Black Jews, and many many more.

You cannot be “half Jewish, half Irish” because Irish people can and are Jews. Judaism isn’t a racial or ethnic or cultural group - it is a community that transcends all these things. 

A Goy is not a derogatory term, and you shouldn’t be offended by it. Honestly, I don’t think it’s fair for any non Jew to be offended by a word that Jews call them (see the next point), but regardless, goy is a normal word that I use a lot to refer to non jews. See this post for more information. I know some Jews still don’t use it because they know it makes people uncomfortable, but it shouldn’t. (plural is goyim)

We do carry the weight of one fucked up history. There’s a classic joke told at most Jewish Holidays - “They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat!”. It tends to accurately represent Jewish history. I honestly don’t know how much goyim know about Jewish history. I’m sure you have at least heard abut the Holocaust, because it was so systemic and systematic, but there are many other instances. If not, please read some online articles. Antisemitism is sometimes referred to as “the oldest hatred”, so here are some examples: (I apologise, this is mostly Europe centric)

destruction of both the first and second temple in biblical times by the Romans and the Babylonians

the spanish inquisition and the explusion from spain in the 1400s

Pogroms (especially in Europe, check out Fiddler on the Roof for an excellent representation)

an insane history of being shut off in our own communities - the first ghetto was created in Venice in 1516 and was seen as a positive thing because Jews had never had their own land before (that’s fucked up????)

blame for Jesus’ death evolved into the idea of a Blood Libel, which was the rumour that Jews liked to kidnap christian children and drink their blood or used it for ritual purposes (?????????) resulting in many christians lynching Jewish people

blame for the Black Death in Europe (because Jewish tradition cites that they have to be clean for Shabbat, so every Friday they bathed and therefore didn’t catch the plague??) 

on a non-European note, Ethiopian Jews were in such danger as recently as 1980 that Israel carried out a rescue mission which took 10,000 Ethiopian Jews through the desert of North Africa so they could live safely in Israel

We have never been quiet. Jewish revolution and rebellion has always existed. Examples are:

The literal story of Hanukkah

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (led by young people from the youth movement I attend to! this! day!)

on this note: Jewish people have many youth movements made specifically for political purposes, and have historically always been very well educated and passionate. I won’t talk about Zionism here, though I want to. That’s for another post. 

(note: Jewish bolshevism is antisemitic and just untrue)

refusing to convert to Christianity or any other religion the many, many times that we have been captured/the leadership in charge of us has changed (this is a big rebellious act in the spanish exile/the exile to babylon/etc)

the current head of the Jewish Agency (Natan Sharansky) was a rebel in the Soviet Union, fighting for freedom and democracy. 

We were LITERALLY so sick of antisemitism that 18-25 year olds went to Palestine and built a nation based on the idea of a socially just society (and kibbutzim)????? how it went after is another story but you understand what I mean when I say that we did not sit silently in Europe. 

So, there you have it - some Jewish facts and figures. I hope I taught you something new. If anyone has anything they’d like me to add, feel free to send me an ask! 

[tuttlehatcher88-blog]

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[classyfoxdestiny]

How Facebook undermines privacy protections for its 2 billion WhatsApp users

How Facebook undermines privacy protections for its 2 billion WhatsApp users

When Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new “privacy-focused vision” for Facebook in March 2019, he cited the company’s global messaging service, WhatsApp, as a model.

Acknowledging that “we don’t currently have a strong reputation for building privacy protective services,” the Facebook CEO wrote that “I believe the future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services where people can be confident what they say to each other stays secure and their messages and content won’t stick around forever. This is the future I hope we will help bring about. We plan to build this the way we’ve developed WhatsApp.”

Zuckerberg’s vision centred on WhatsApp’s signature feature, which he said the company was planning to apply to Instagram and Facebook Messenger: end-to-end encryption, which converts all messages into an unreadable format that is only unlocked when they reach their intended destinations. WhatsApp messages are so secure, he said, that nobody else — not even the company — can read a word. As Zuckerberg had put it earlier, in testimony to the US Senate in 2018, “We don’t see any of the content in WhatsApp”.

WhatsApp emphasises this point so consistently that a flag with a similar assurance automatically appears on-screen before users send messages: “No one outside of this chat, not even WhatsApp, can read or listen to them.”

Given those sweeping assurances, you might be surprised to learn that WhatsApp has more than 1,000 contract workers filling floors of office buildings in Austin, Dublin and Singapore. Seated at computers in pods organised by work assignments, these hourly workers use special Facebook software to sift through millions of private messages, images and videos. They pass judgment on whatever flashes on their screen — claims of everything from fraud or spam to child porn and potential terrorist plotting — typically in less than a minute. The workers have access to only a subset of WhatsApp messages — those flagged by users and automatically forwarded to the company as possibly abusive.

The review is one element in a broader monitoring operation in which the company also reviews material that is not encrypted, including data about the sender and their account. Policing users while assuring them that their privacy is sacrosanct makes for an awkward mission at WhatsApp.

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A 49-slide internal company marketing presentation from December, obtained by ProPublica, emphasises the “fierce” promotion of WhatsApp’s “privacy narrative”. It compares its “brand character” to “the Immigrant Mother” and displays a photo of Malala Yousafzai, who survived a shooting by the Taliban and became a Nobel Peace Prize winner, in a slide titled “Brand tone parameters”. The presentation does not mention the company’s content moderation efforts.

WhatsApp’s director of communications, Carl Woog, acknowledged that teams of contractors in Austin and elsewhere review WhatsApp messages to identify and remove “the worst” abusers. But Woog told ProPublica that the company does not consider this work to be content moderation, saying: “We actually don’t typically use the term for WhatsApp.”

The company declined to make executives available for interviews for this article, but responded to questions with written comments.

“WhatsApp is a lifeline for millions of people around the world,” the company said. “The decisions we make around how we build our app are focused around the privacy of our users, maintaining a high degree of reliability and preventing abuse.”

WhatsApp’s denial that it moderates content is noticeably different from what Facebook says about WhatsApp’s corporate siblings, Instagram and Facebook. The company has said that some 15,000 moderators examine content on Facebook and Instagram, neither of which is encrypted. It releases quarterly transparency reports that detail how many accounts Facebook and Instagram have “actioned” for various categories of abusive content.

There is no such report for WhatsApp.

Deploying an army of content reviewers is just one of the ways that Facebook has compromised the privacy of WhatsApp users. Together, the company’s actions have left WhatsApp — the largest messaging app in the world, with two billion users — far less private than its users likely understand or expect. A ProPublica investigation, drawing on data, documents and dozens of interviews with current and former employees and contractors, reveals how, since purchasing WhatsApp in 2014, Facebook has quietly undermined its sweeping security assurances in multiple ways.

Many of the assertions by content moderators working for WhatsApp are echoed by a confidential whistleblower complaint filed last year with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The complaint — which ProPublica obtained — details WhatsApp’s extensive use of outside contractors, artificial intelligence systems and account information to examine user messages, images and videos. It alleges that the company’s claims of protecting users’ privacy are false.

“We haven’t seen this complaint,” the company spokesperson said. The SEC has taken no public action on it; an agency spokesperson declined to comment.

Facebook has also downplayed how much data it collects from WhatsApp users, what it does with it and how much it shares with law enforcement authorities.

For example, WhatsApp shares metadata, unencrypted records that can reveal a lot about a user’s activity, with law enforcement agencies such as the Department of Justice. Some rivals, such as Signal, intentionally gather much less metadata to avoid incursions on its users’ privacy, and thus share far less with law enforcement. (“WhatsApp responds to valid legal requests,” the company spokesperson said, “including orders that require us to provide on a real-time going forward basis who a specific person is messaging.”)

WhatsApp user data, ProPublica has learned, helped prosecutors build a high-profile case against a Treasury Department employee who leaked confidential documents to BuzzFeed News that exposed how dirty money flows through US banks.

Like other social media and communications platforms, WhatsApp is caught between users who expect privacy and law enforcement entities that effectively demand the opposite: that WhatsApp turn over information that will help combat crime and online abuse. WhatsApp has responded to this dilemma by asserting that it’s no dilemma at all. “I think we absolutely can have security and safety for people through end-to-end encryption and work with law enforcement to solve crimes,” said Will Cathcart, whose title is head of WhatsApp, in a YouTube interview with an Australian think tank in July.

The tension between privacy and disseminating information to law enforcement is exacerbated by a second pressure: Facebook’s need to make money from WhatsApp. Since paying $22 billion to buy WhatsApp in 2014, Facebook has been trying to figure out how to generate profits from a service that doesn’t charge its users a penny. That conundrum has periodically led to moves that anger users, regulators or both.

The goal of monetising the app was part of the company’s 2016 decision to start sharing WhatsApp user data with Facebook, something the company had told European Union regulators was technologically impossible. The same impulse spurred a controversial plan, abandoned in late 2019, to sell advertising on WhatsApp. And the profit-seeking mandate was behind another botched initiative in January: the introduction of a new privacy policy for user interactions with businesses on WhatsApp, allowing businesses to use customer data in new ways. That announcement triggered a user exodus to competing apps.

WhatsApp’s increasingly aggressive business plan is focused on charging companies for an array of services — letting users make payments via WhatsApp and managing customer service chats — that offer convenience but fewer privacy protections.

The result is a confusing two-tiered privacy system within the same app where protections of end-to-end encryption are further eroded when WhatsApp users employ the service to communicate with businesses.

The company’s December marketing presentation captures WhatsApp’s diverging imperatives. It states that “privacy will remain important”. But it also conveys what seems to be a more urgent mission: the need to “open the aperture of the brand to encompass our future business objectives.”

Content Moderation Associates In many ways, the experience of being a content moderator for WhatsApp in Austin is identical to being a moderator for Facebook or Instagram, according to interviews with 29 current and former moderators. Mostly in their 20s and 30s, many with past experience as store clerks, grocery checkers and baristas, the moderators are hired and employed by Accenture, a huge corporate contractor that works for Facebook and other Fortune 500 behemoths.

The job listings advertise “Content Review” positions and make no mention of Facebook or WhatsApp. Employment documents list the workers’ initial title as “content moderation associate.” Pay starts around $16.50 an hour. Moderators are instructed to tell anyone who asks that they work for Accenture, and are required to sign sweeping non-disclosure agreements.

Citing the NDAs, almost all the current and former moderators interviewed by ProPublica insisted on anonymity. (An Accenture spokesperson declined comment, referring all questions about content moderation to WhatsApp.)

When the WhatsApp team was assembled in Austin in 2019, Facebook moderators already occupied the fourth floor of an office tower on Sixth Street, adjacent to the city’s famous bar-and-music scene. The WhatsApp team was installed on the floor above, with new glass-enclosed work pods and nicer bathrooms that sparked a tinge of envy in a few members of the Facebook team. Most of the WhatsApp team scattered to work from home during the pandemic.

Whether in the office or at home, they spend their days in front of screens, using a Facebook software tool to examine a stream of “tickets”, organised by subject into “reactive” and “proactive” queues.

Collectively, the workers scrutinise millions of pieces of WhatsApp content each week. Each reviewer handles upwards of 600 tickets a day, which gives them less than a minute per ticket. WhatsApp declined to reveal how many contract workers are employed for content review, but a partial staffing list reviewed by ProPublica suggests that, at Accenture alone, it’s more than 1,000. WhatsApp moderators, like their Facebook and Instagram counterparts, are expected to meet performance metrics for speed and accuracy, which are audited by Accenture.

Their jobs differ in other ways. Because WhatsApp’s content is encrypted, artificial intelligence systems can’t automatically scan all chats, images and videos, as they do on Facebook and Instagram. Instead, WhatsApp reviewers gain access to private content when users hit the “report” button on the app, identifying a message as allegedly violating the platform’s terms of service. This forwards five messages — the allegedly offending one along with the four previous ones in the exchange, including any images or videos — to WhatsApp in unscrambled form, according to former WhatsApp engineers and moderators. Automated systems then feed these tickets into “reactive” queues for contract workers to assess. Artificial intelligence initiates a second set of queues — so-called proactive ones — by scanning unencrypted data that WhatsApp collects about its users and comparing it against suspicious account information and messaging patterns (a new account rapidly sending out a high volume of chats is evidence of spam), as well as terms and images that have previously been deemed abusive.

The unencrypted data available for scrutiny is extensive. It includes the names and profile images of a user’s WhatsApp groups as well as their phone number, profile photo, status message, phone battery level, language and time zone, unique mobile phone ID and IP address, wireless signal strength and phone operating system, as a list of their electronic devices, any related Facebook and Instagram accounts, the last time they used the app and any previous history of violations. The WhatsApp reviewers have three choices when presented with a ticket for either type of queue: Do nothing, place the user on “watch” for further scrutiny, or ban the account. (Facebook and Instagram content moderators have more options, including removing individual postings. It’s that distinction — the fact that WhatsApp reviewers can’t delete individual items — that the company cites as its basis for asserting that WhatsApp reviewers are not “content moderators”.)

WhatsApp moderators must make subjective, sensitive and subtle judgements, interviews and documents examined by ProPublica show. They examine a wide range of categories, including “Spam Report”, “Civic Bad Actor” (political hate speech and disinformation), “Terrorism Global Credible Threat”, “CEI” (child exploitative imagery) and “CP” (child pornography). Another set of categories addresses the messaging and conduct of millions of small and large businesses that use WhatsApp to chat with customers and sell their wares. These queues have such titles as “business impersonation prevalence,” “commerce policy probable violators” and “business verification”.

Moderators say the guidance they get from WhatsApp and Accenture relies on standards that can be simultaneously arcane and disturbingly graphic. Decisions about abusive sexual imagery, for example, can rest on an assessment of whether a naked child in an image appears adolescent or prepubescent, based on comparison of hip bones and pubic hair to a medical index chart. One reviewer recalled a grainy video in a political-speech queue that depicted a machete-wielding man holding up what appeared to be a severed head: “We had to watch and say, ‘Is this a real dead body or a fake dead body?’”

In late 2020, moderators were informed of a new queue for alleged “sextortion.” It was defined in an explanatory memo as “a form of sexual exploitation where people are blackmailed with a nude image of themselves which have been shared by them or someone else on the Internet.” The memo said workers would review messages reported by users that “include predefined keywords typically used in sextortion/blackmail messages.”

WhatsApp’s review system is hampered by impediments, including buggy language translation. The service has users in 180 countries, with the vast majority located outside the US. Even though Accenture hires workers who speak a variety of languages, for messages in some languages there’s often no native speaker on site to assess abuse complaints. That means using Facebook’s language-translation tool, which reviewers said could be so inaccurate that it sometimes labelled messages in Arabic as being in Spanish. The tool also offered little guidance on local slang, political context or sexual innuendo.

“In the three years I’ve been there,” one moderator said, “it’s always been horrible.”

The process can be rife with errors and misunderstandings. Companies have been flagged for offering weapons for sale when they are selling straight shaving razors. Bras can be sold, but if the marketing language registers as “adult”, the seller can be labelled a forbidden “sexually oriented business”. And a flawed translation tool set off an alarm when it detected kids for sale and slaughter, which, upon closer scrutiny, turned out to involve young goats intended to be cooked and eaten in halal meals.

The system is also undercut by the human failings of the people who instigate reports. Complaints are frequently filed to punish, harass or prank someone, according to moderators. In messages from Brazil and Mexico, one moderator explained, “we had a couple of months where AI was banning groups left and right because people were messing with their friends by changing their group names” and then reporting them. “At the worst of it, we were probably getting tens of thousands of those. They figured out some words the algorithm did not like.”

Other reports fail to meet WhatsApp standards for an account ban. “Most of it is not violating,” one of the moderators said. “It’s content that is already on the internet, and it’s just people trying to mess with users.”

Still, each case can reveal up to five unencrypted messages, which are then examined by moderators. The judgment of WhatsApp’s AI is less than perfect, moderators say. “There were a lot of innocent photos on there that were not allowed to be on there,” said Carlos Sauceda, who left Accenture last year after nine months. “It might have been a photo of a child taking a bath, and there was nothing wrong with it.” As another WhatsApp moderator put it, “A lot of the time, the artificial intelligence is not that intelligent.”

Facebook’s written guidance to WhatsApp moderators acknowledges many problems, noting “we have made mistakes and our policies have been weaponised by bad actors to get good actors banned. When users write inquiries pertaining to abusive matters like these, it is up to WhatsApp to respond and act (if necessary) accordingly in a timely and pleasant manner.”

Of course, if a user appeals a ban that was prompted by a user report, according to one moderator, it entails having a second moderator examine the user’s content.

Industry Leaders In public statements and on the company’s websites, Facebook is noticeably vague about WhatsApp’s monitoring process. The company does not provide a regular accounting of how WhatsApp polices the platform. WhatsApp’s FAQ page and online complaint form note that it will receive “the most recent messages” from a user who has been flagged. They do not, however, disclose how many unencrypted messages are revealed when a report is filed, or that those messages are examined by outside contractors. (WhatsApp told ProPublica it limits that disclosure to keep violators from “gaming” the system.)

By contrast, both Facebook and Instagram post lengthy “Community Standards” documents detailing the criteria its moderators use to police content, along with articles and videos about “the unrecognised heroes who keep Facebook safe” and announcements on new content review sites. Facebook’s transparency reports detail how many pieces of content are “actioned” for each type of violation. WhatsApp is not included in this report.

When dealing with legislators, Facebook officials also offer few details — but are eager to assure them that they don’t let encryption stand in the way of protecting users from images of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

For example, when members of the Senate Judiciary Committee grilled Facebook about the impact of encrypting its platforms, the company, in written follow-up questions in January 2020, cited WhatsApp in boasting that it would remain responsive to law enforcement. “Even within an encrypted system,” one response noted, “we will still be able to respond to lawful requests for metadata, including potentially critical location or account information… We already have an encrypted messaging service, WhatsApp, that — in contrast to some other encrypted services — provides a simple way for people to report abuse or safety concerns.”

Sure enough, WhatsApp reported 400,000 instances of possible child-exploitation imagery to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2020, according to its head, Cathcart. That was ten times as many as in 2019. “We are by far the industry leaders in finding and detecting that behaviour in an end-to-end encrypted service,” he said.

During his YouTube interview with the Australian think tank, Cathcart also described WhatsApp’s reliance on user reporting and its AI systems’ ability to examine account information that isn’t subject to encryption.

Asked how many staffers WhatsApp employed to investigate abuse complaints from an app with more than two billion users, Cathcart didn’t mention content moderators or their access to encrypted content. “There’s a lot of people across Facebook who help with WhatsApp,” he explained. “If you look at people who work full time on WhatsApp, it’s above a thousand. I won’t get into the full breakdown of customer service, user reports, engineering, etc. But it’s a lot of that.”

In written responses for this article, the company spokesperson said: “We build WhatsApp in a manner that limits the data we collect while providing us tools to prevent spam, investigate threats, and ban those engaged in abuse, including based on user reports we receive. This work takes extraordinary effort from security experts and a valued trust and safety team that works tirelessly to help provide the world with private communication.”

The spokesperson noted that WhatsApp has released new privacy features, including “more controls about how people’s messages can disappear” or be viewed only once. He added, “Based on the feedback we’ve received from users, we’re confident people understand when they make reports to WhatsApp we receive the content they send us.”

Additional reporting by Alex Mierjeski and Doris Burke.

This story was originally published by ProPublica.

. Source link

[boreothegoldfinch]

chapter 5 paragraph xii

Before Boris, I had borne my solitude stoically enough, without realizing quite how alone I was. And I suppose if either of us had lived in an even halfway normal household, with curfews and chores and adult supervision, we wouldn’t have become quite so inseparable, so fast, but almost from that day we were together all the time, scrounging our meals and sharing what money we had. In New York, I had grown up around a lot of worldly kids—kids who’d lived abroad and spoke three or four languages, who did summer programs at Heidelberg and spent their holidays in places like Rio or Innsbruck or Cap d’Antibes. But Boris—like an old sea captain—put them all to shame. He had ridden a camel; he had eaten witchetty grubs, played cricket, caught malaria, lived on the street in Ukraine (“but for two weeks only”), set off a stick of dynamite by himself, swum in Australian rivers infested with crocodiles. He had read Chekhov in Russian, and authors I’d never heard of in Ukrainian and Polish. He had endured midwinter darkness in Russia where the temperature dropped to forty below: endless blizzards, snow and black ice, the only cheer the green neon palm tree that burned twenty-four hours a day outside the provincial bar where his father liked to drink. Though he was only a year older than me—fifteen—he’d had actual sex with a girl, in Alaska, someone he’d bummed a cigarette off in the parking lot of a convenience store. She’d asked him if he wanted to sit in her car with her, and that was that. (“But you know what?” he said, blowing smoke out of the corner of his mouth. “I don’t think she liked it very much.” “Did you?” “God, yes. Although, I’m telling you, I know I wasn’t doing it right. I think was too cramped in the car.”) Every day, we rode home on the bus together. At the half-finished Community Center on the edge of Desatoya Estates, where the doors were padlocked and the palm trees stood dead and brown in the planters, there was an abandoned playground where we bought sodas and melted candy bars from the dwindling stock in the vending machines, sat around outside on the swings, smoking and talking. His bad tempers and black moods, which were frequent, alternated with unsound bursts of hilarity; he was wild and gloomy, he could make me laugh sometimes until my sides ached, and we always had so much to say that we often lost track of time and stayed outside talking until well past dark. In Ukraine, he had seen an elected official shot in the stomach walking to his car—just happened to witness it, not the shooter, just the broad-shouldered man in a too-small overcoat falling to his knees in darkness and snow. He told me about his tiny tin-roof school near the Chippewa reservation in Alberta, sang nursery songs in Polish for me (“For homework, in Poland, we are usually learning a poem or song by heart, a prayer maybe, something like that”) and taught me to swear in Russian (“This is the true mat —from the gulags”). He told me too how, in Indonesia, he had been converted to Islam by his friend Bami the cook: giving up pork, fasting during Ramadan, praying to Mecca five times a day. “But I’m not Muslim any more,” he explained, dragging his toe in the dust. We were lying on our backs on the merry-go-round, dizzy from spinning. “I gave it up a while back.” “Why?” “Because I drink.” (This was the understatement of the year; Boris drank beer the way other kids drank Pepsi, starting pretty much the instant we came home from school.) “But who cares?” I said. “Why does anybody have to know?” He made an impatient noise. “Because is wrong to profess faith if I don’t observe properly. Disrespectful to Islam.” “Still. ‘Boris of Arabia.’ It has a ring.” “Fuck you.”

“No, seriously,” I said, laughing, raising up on my elbows. “Did you really believe in all that?” “All what?” “You know. Allah and Muhammad. ‘There is no God but God’—?” “No,” he said, a bit angrily, “my Islam was a political thing.” “What, you mean like the shoe bomber?” He snorted with laughter. “Fuck, no. Besides, Islam doesn’t teach violence.” “Then what?” He came up off the merry-go-round, alert gaze: “What do you mean, what? What are you trying to say?” “Back off! I’m asking a question.” “Which is—?” “If you converted to it and all, then what did you believe?” He fell back and chortled as if I’d let him off the hook. “Believe? Ha! I don’t believe in anything.” “What? You mean now?” “I mean never. Well—the Virgin Mary, a little. But Allah and God…? not so much.” “Then why the hell did you want to be Muslim?” “Because—” he held out his hands, as he did sometimes when he was at a loss—“such wonderful people, they were all so friendly to me!” “That’s a start.” “Well, it was, really. They gave me an Arabic name—Badr al-Dine. Badr is moon, it means something like moon of faithfulness, but they said, ‘Boris, you are badr because you light everywhere, being Muslim now, lighting the world with your religion, you shine wherever you go.’ I loved it, being Badr. Also, the mosque was brilliant. Falling-down palace—stars shining through at night—birds in the roof. An old Javanese man taught us the Koran. And they fed me too, and were kind, and made sure I was clean and had clean clothes. Sometimes I fell asleep on my prayer rug. And at salah, near dawn, when the birds woke up, always the sound of wings beating!” Though his Australo-Ukrainian accent was certainly very odd, he was almost as fluent in English as I was; and considering what a short time he’d lived in America he was reasonably conversant in amerikanskii ways. He was always poring through his torn-up pocket dictionary (his name scrawled in Cyrillic on the front, with the English carefully lettered beneath: BORYS VOLODYMYROVYCH PAVLIKOVSKY) and I was always finding old 7-Eleven napkins and bits of scratch paper with lists of words and terms he’d made: bridle and domesticate celerity trattoria wise guy = кpymoŭ пaцaн propinquity Dereliction of duty. When his dictionary failed him, he consulted me. “What is Sophomore?” he asked me, scanning the bulletin board in the halls at school. “Home Ec? Poly Sci?” (pronounced, by him, as “politzei”). He had never heard of most of the food in the cafeteria lunch: fajitas, falafel, turkey tetrazzini. Though he knew a lot about movies and music, he was decades behind the times; he didn’t have a clue about sports or games or television, and—apart from a few big European brands like Mercedes and BMW—couldn’t tell one car from another. American money confused him, and sometimes too American geography: in what province was California located? Could I tell him which city was the capital of New England?

But he was used to being on his own. Cheerfully he got himself up for school, hitched his own rides, signed his own report cards, shoplifted his own food and school supplies. Once every week or so we walked miles out of our way in the suffocating heat, shaded beneath umbrellas like Indonesian tribesmen, to catch the poky local bus called the CAT, which as far as I could tell no one rode out our way except drunks, people too poor to have a car, and kids. It ran infrequently, and if we missed it we had to stand around for a while waiting for the next bus, but among its stops was a shopping plaza with a chilly, gleaming, understaffed supermarket where Boris stole steaks for us, butter, boxes of tea, cucumbers (a great delicacy for him), packages of bacon —even cough syrup once, when I had a cold—slipping them in the cutaway lining of his ugly gray raincoat (a man’s coat, much too big for him, with drooping shoulders and a grim Eastern Bloc look about it, a suggestion of food rationing and Soviet-era factories, industrial complexes in Lviv or Odessa). As he wandered around I stood lookout at the head of the aisle, so shaky with nerves I sometimes worried I would black out—but soon I was filling my own pockets with apples and chocolate (other favored food items of Boris’s) before walking up brazenly to the counter to buy bread and milk and other items too big to steal.

Back in New York, when I was eleven or so, my mother had signed me up for a Kids in the Kitchen class at my day camp, where I’d learned to cook a few simple meals: hamburgers, grilled cheese (which I’d sometimes made for my mother on nights she worked late), and what Boris called “egg and toasts.” Boris, who sat on the countertop kicking the cabinets with his heels and talking to me while I cooked, did the washing-up. In the Ukraine, he told me, he’d sometimes picked pockets for money to eat. “Got chased, once or twice,” he said. “Never caught, though.” “Maybe we should go down to the Strip sometime,” I said. We were standing at the kitchen counter at my house with knives and forks, eating our steaks straight from the frying pan. “If we were going to do it, that’d be the place. I never saw so many drunk people and they’re all from out of town.” He stopped chewing; he looked shocked. “And why should we? When so easy to steal here, from so big stores!” “Just saying.” My money from the doormen—which Boris and I spent a few dollars at a time, in vending machines and at the 7-Eleven near school that Boris called “the magazine”—would hold out a while, but not forever. “Ha! And what will I do if you are arrested, Potter?” he said, dropping a fat piece of steak down to the dog, whom he had taught to dance on his hind legs. “Who will cook the dinner? And who will look after Snaps here?” Xandra’s dog Popper he’d taken to calling ‘Amyl’ and ‘Nitrate’ and ‘Popchik’ and ‘Snaps’—anything but his real name. I’d started bringing him in even though I wasn’t supposed to because I was so tired of him always straining at the end of his chain trying to look in at the glass door and yapping his head off. But inside he was surprisingly quiet; starved for attention, he stuck close to us wherever we went, trotting anxiously at our heels, upstairs and down, curling up to sleep on the rug while Boris and I read and quarrelled and listened to music up in my room. “Seriously, Boris,” I said, pushing the hair from my eyes (I was badly in need of a haircut, but didn’t want to spend the money), “I don’t see much difference in stealing wallets and stealing steaks.” “Big difference, Potter.” He held his hands apart to show me just how big. “Stealing from working person? And stealing from big rich company that robs the people?” “Costco doesn’t rob the people. It’s a discount supermarket.” “Fine then. Steal essentials of life from private citizen. This is your so-smart plan. Hush,” he said to the dog, who’d barked sharply for more steak. “I wouldn’t steal from some poor working person,” I said, tossing Popper a piece of steak myself. “There are plenty of sleazy people walking around Vegas with wads of cash.” “Sleazy?” “Dodgy. Dishonest.” “Ah.” The pointed dark eyebrow went up. “Fair enough. But if you steal money from sleazy person, like gangster, they are likely to hurt you, nie?” “You weren’t scared of getting hurt in Ukraine?” He shrugged. “Beaten up, maybe. Not shot.” “Shot?” “Yes, shot. Don’t look surprised. This cowboy country, who knows? Everyone has guns.” “I’m not saying a cop. I’m saying drunk tourists. The place is crawling with them Saturday night.” “Ha!” He put the pan down on the floor for the dog to finish off. “Likely you will end up in jail, Potter. Loose morals, slave to the economy. Very bad citizen, you.”

[awesome-cookies-and-cream]

sometimes i take for granted how tame my country’s society is

i mean compared to other countries :) i won’t lie my country has a lot of problems. our government is shit. our corruption culture is terrible as fuck. we’re only hardworking at first. our urban planing is straight out of a nightmare. we get typhoons (hurricanes) like every month. theres a lot of earthquakes. economy is shit. poverty is like really serious here. and a loooooong list of other third world country problems (like reaaaaally slow internet)

BUT

hey at least nobody dies because because of some fucking asshole who thinks its all right to shoot people. 

at least we aren’t that racist. (i won’t lie. sometimes stereotypes are inevitable. we’re only human afterall but at least we don’t openly declare our distaste)   you white? i’m envious! you chinese, japanese, korean looking? cute! you american? australian? western looking-ish? european? idk man we don’t mind. honestly we can hardly tell. you black? we’re pretty black too. tan? yep most of us are tan here being in a tropical country and all. 

we accept most religion. you catholic? come here brother! you muslim? succeed mah friend. we know a lot of muslims. they’re fun people! you protestant? jewish? or some other branch of Christianity? no problem! we believe in the same holy dude just different practice. (we also have a national holiday if muslims have a holy day. hey more holidays!)

we believe in gender equality! in fact men believe women are amazing people! (this is from a friend) women getting promoted as boss? so long as she’s competent! women as valedictorian? so long as she deserves it! women as the family’s provider? bruh in a third world country? nobody can pick who provides. cat calling? its never going to be gone but its not that bad. rape rates aren’t that high (last i checked)

also when women are in a period? men try to give them space. cramps? dude do you want pain killers? do you want to go to the clinic? can you get there? (my guy friends ask this every time it makes me feel loved :3) pads? does anybody have pads? do you want me to run to the convenience store? here I’ll buy them for you sit here (i swear some of them they do this i cry every time) one time i asked some of my female friends if they have pads and this one friend of mine drew out a bag and immediately asked “pads? with wings? without? tampoons? for day? night? choose ur pick” and we all stared at him like. also they ask a lot of things like ‘how does it feel?’ ‘what’s the difference of this brand and that brand?’ honestly there’s no taboo here. or well...it’s a bit tamer

also gays aren’t persecuted here. not that much at least. we’re still a catholic country but at least it’s not that bad from what im hearing from you guys.

we are also very family oriented and WE LOVE SINGING SO MUCH! YOU HEAR IT EVERYWHERE!! EVERY SINGLE HOUSE! 

anyway I’m not saying my country is perfect. i have a lot of negatives left unsaid but hey! I should be grateful of the good things right? and it may not be true to the entire country but at least in the place i live this is mostly true. 

[jeremystrele]

Our Guide To The Most Gorgeous Getaway In The Hunter Valley

Our Guide To The Most Gorgeous Getaway In The Hunter Valley

Travel

by Sasha Gattermayr

The view out over the Brokenback Ranges surrounding Krinklewood. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

I say ‘Hunter Valley’ and you say ‘wine’! But there is more to this layered, historical slice of New South Wales countryside than viticulture (even though the first vineyards popped up here in the early 1800s!). 

Located just 120 kilometres north of Sydney, the area’s abundant, lush terrain and surrounding mountain range is its distinctive hallmark; but the Hunter region is actually on the fringe of the coast – at most an hour’s drive inland from Newcastle. It’s filled with florists, boutique shops, local providores and, of course, a smorgasbord of places to wine and dine. 

Let us be your guide to some of the hottest spots to visit.

Krinklewood Winery was established in 1981 and now is a certified organic biodynamic vineyard. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

A cheese platter at their cellar door. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The French provincial aesthetic Krinklewood fits the gorgeous country location. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Wander the gardens at Krinklewood, which is also available as a wedding venue. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

A peacock roaming among the grapes at Krinklewood. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The cellar door is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday; but open until 5pm on Friday and Saturday; and until 4pm on Sunday, Monday and Thursday. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The ivy covered barn. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

A picture-perfect country estate! Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

DRINK

Krinklewood Estate

This winery dates back to 1981, becoming a certified organic biodynamic vineyard by 2007. Sip this unique, hyper-local drop on-site at the estate, or purchase straight from the cellar door. Krinklewood‘s rambling French provincial aesthetic is perfectly fitting against the mountainous Brokenback Range backdrop.

712 Wollombi Road, Broke

Muse Kitchen is the sister restaurant of Muse Dining at Keith Tulloch Winery. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

It’s a petit bistro-style restaurant serving local ingredients prepared with European techniques. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Muse Kitchen menu items include local market fish, pork cutlets from Bangalow and smoked potato croquettes. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Restaurant Kawul is owned by Kassidy and Scott Waters, who are Wanaruah people, and serves contemporary food with an emphasis on local and native ingredients. Their avocado on toast boasts pepperberry hummus and a finger lime garnish! Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Restaurant Kawul is situated on the glorious wrap-around verandah at Calais Estate. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Artisan chocolatier Cocoa Nib is the lifelong dream of trained confectionery chef and Koko Black alum, Aymee Slaviero. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The Cocoa Nib shopfront is located at Keith Tulloch Winery. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Each chocolate from Cocoa Nib is handmade and painted in glorious colours. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

EAT

Restaurant Kawul

Owners of Restaurant Kawul, Kassidy and Scott Waters, are Wanaruah people, and have devised their breakfast, lunch and dinner menu to feature as many local and native ingredients as possible. Think salt-bush polenta chips, mushroom shepherd’s pie with wattleseed and Daintree barramundi with lemon myrtle.

Calais Estate, 151 Palmers Lane, Pokolbin

Muse Kitchen

This petite bistro-style restaurant focuses on simple food done extraordinarily well, using produce from local farmers and suppliers! Menu items at Muse Kitchen include a charcuterie board comprising meats from nearby Branxton, Bangalow pork cutlets and smoked potato croquettes. 

1/27 Belmore Rd, Lorn

Cocoa Nib

Artisan chocolatier Cocoa Nib is the lifelong dream of trained confectionery chef and Koko Black alum, Aymee Slaviero. Each chocolate is handmade from French couverture chocolate and hand-painted with incredible colourful designs.

Keith Tulloch Winery, 989 Hermitage Rd, Pokolbin

Worn Out Wares cafe has been operating for 17 years. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The breakfast spread at Worn Out Wares is a destination throughout the region! Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Owned and run by Louise Christensen and her three daughters, Worn Out Wares houses a cafe, homewares store and florist under the same roof. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The adjacent flower store at Worn Out Wares is called Wow Flowers. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

A spectacular setting for a snack and a coffee. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

A dark and moody detail corner of Worn Out Wares contains so much detail. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The gift and homewares store at Worn Out Wares. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

COFFEE

Worn Out Wares

February marked 17 years in the biz for cafe Worn Out Wares, which is run by local Louise Christensen and her three daughters. Besides a breakfast, lunch and snack menu made from locally sourced produce, the family operate their floral business Wow Flowers in the same space.

This gorgeous small business filled with love encapsulates the humble, uncomplicated vibe of the Hunter Valley!

41-43 George Street, Singleton

Owners Sarah and Joel opened Fetch in 2014. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Fetch contains a great lineup of local designers, makers and artists as well as some favourite national brands. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The store is tucked into Peppers Creek Village beside Pokolbin. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Fetch owner, Sarah. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Such a colourful and expansive lineup of makers! Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

SHOP

Fetch

Nestled between wineries in the Peppers Creek Village beside Pokolbin, Fetch Store stocks art, homewares, furniture and design pieces by local makers and big name Australian brands. This is the kind of place you can’t help but leave with a knick knack or two… or three! 

1946 Broke Road, Pokolbin

Leaves and Fishes started as a restaurant in 2004, and has now expanded to include a homewares shop and boutique accommodation. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Consisting of just four boathouses jutting out over the property’s pond, Leaves and Fishes is an incredibly intimate and secluded overnight spot. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The lilypond at Leaves and Fishes is a sight to behold from the deck of your own private boathouse. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Each boathouse is fitted with all the mod-cons to make your stay super comfortable. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The most beautiful, tranquil outlook imaginable! Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The entrance to Leaves and Fishes restaurant, store and accommodation. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The store at Leaves and Fishes is a treasure trove of rustic pieces. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Gorgeous ceramic homewares for sale. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

A rambling rustic aesthetic is on offer! Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

STAY

Leaves and Fishes

Leaves and Fishes started as a restaurant in 2004, and expanded to include a stunning accommodation lodge in the following years. Housing just four couples at a time, each room is a standalone boathouse that cantilevers out over a lilypad-filled pond! The venue also boasts a beautiful rustic homewares and furniture store, with an adjacent snack nook offering coffee and cake.

Is there anything more serene than sitting on your own private deck and looking out over rippling water to the trees beyond?

737 Lovedale Rd, Lovedale

Watershed Gallery was opened by locals Ron and Lyn Hammond in 2019. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

It features over 30 contemporary artists, whose works are available for display and sale. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The light, bright space at Watershed Gallery. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

Formerly the Possum’s Retreat BnB, the site now holds Watershed Gallery and its adjacent accommodation. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The perfect afternoon activity! Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

The gallery is nestled in the bushy Pokolbin surrounds. Photo – Nikki To for The Design Files.

DO

Watershed Gallery

Run by locals Ron and Lyn Hammond since its opening in 2019, Watershed Gallery displays and sells art by over 30 contemporary artists.

There is also accommodation on-site, if you fancy a stay!

621 McDonalds Road, Pokolbin

Keen to gather your things and head straight to the Hunter Valley? Us too! Find out more about the Hunter Valley and the surrounding areas at winecountry.com. And for more NSW travel inspiration head to VisitNSW.com.