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Technology
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2020Zoom mishaps
During quarantine we used software called Zoom. It allowed us to communicate from our homes and get some work done. It also allowed video connection. There were many goofs--people caught naked, bad hair, uncensored conversations when the mics were unknowingly on, etc. One meme shows the Jetsons which was a 1960s futuristic animated show that was very popular. -
2021-04-21Mini Oral History with La Verne Ford Wimberly 04/21/21
Mini oral history with La Verne Ford Wimberly from Tulsa, Oklahoma -
2021-04-22Life During COVID-19
What has life been like for me during COVID-19? Well this photo pretty much sums it all. For this past year, I have spent the majority of my time on my computer which mainly consisted of it being completing work for my classes and watching TV shows during my spare time. The gyms were closed. I couldn’t eat at the restaurant my family and I go to every Thursday anymore. And seeing other family and friends became very limited as well, so I was alone by myself most of the time. The beginning of this pandemic was very difficult for me as my lifestyle changed drastically. I am a little bit of a procrastinator and when you have a nice comfy bed next to you 24/7, it makes it really hard to do things. But I understood that life goes on, so it is up to me to keep on moving forward. And that is exactly what I did. During this pandemic, I felt I was really able to focus and improve myself. I have become a more productive person and it has really helped me in finishing my classwork and doing other daily tasks. It has relieved some of that unnecessary stress that was on me that I had put on myself before this pandemic. At home, I didn’t have any weights to work out, so I decided to work on my flexibility/mobility. With the gyms beginning to open back up and going there just recently, I noticed the benefits of it in both my weight lifting and martial arts. In addition, I was able to gain new hobbies and one of them is cooking. Life during this pandemic has greatly helped me improve myself on many aspects. Life is unpredictable at times, so sometimes you just have to make the best out of it. -
2021-04-21James Rayroux's JOTPY Portfolio
--Reflections on the Pandemic Archive-- Looking back over my experience with the “Journal of the Plague Year” COVID-19 archive, my prevailing emotion is gratitude. This opportunity granted me experience that few historians earn, and the remote, asynchronous work schedule allowed me to collaborate with my colleagues in ways that maximized our respective contributions. The breadth and depth of our individual experiences and perspectives tremendously improved our collective process and products. I spent enough time in the Arizona State Archives last year to recognize such collections as historical treasure chests, but I have now participated in processing an archive’s content and navigating the ethical dilemmas those submissions sometimes create. Archivists and curators are the history profession’s truly unsung heroes, and their work facilitates society’s perception of itself. My background in police work and public safety drew me to the archive’s existing Law Enforcement collection. In taking on that subset, I succeeded in reshaping the collection’s parameters to now include stories about police and law enforcement. I wanted to diversify the collection to encompass perspective of both the police and the public with whom they interact and serve. While some overlap exists between the Law Enforcement and Social Justice collections, each remains distinct. Through my contacts and writing, I promoted a Call for Submissions to an international audience of law enforcement professionals to reduce their relative silence within the archive. Within the archive’s content, I recognized that one’s location might shape their pandemic experience, and I created and designed an Arizona-based exhibit to explore that. Further research and discussion with my mentors and colleagues ensured the exhibit illustrated these differences without excluding visitors whose diverse experiences could further enrich the archived and exhibited content. I am proud of my “Arizona’s COVID-19 Pandemics” exhibit, particularly because of its compressed, one-month incubation period. Beyond displaying images, data, and stories representative of the diverse pandemic experiences within the state, the ACP exhibit offers visitors numerous levels of interaction and engagement to became active participants and create their own exhibit experience. Visitors can complete opinion surveys, add a story to the archive, explore additional content related to the displayed pieces, view ever-changing results from pre-defined archival content searches, conduct their own archival search, view collective visitor survey results, and apply to join the staff. The exhibit’s searches will include the archive’s future submissions, which reshapes both the exhibit and the experience visitors may have with it. A more detailed explanation of my ACP exhibit may be reviewed here: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/43037 Because of Dr. Kathleen Kole de Peralta and Dr. Mark Tebeau, I stand prepared to join research, curation, and exhibition teams and immediately contribute to their work products. Despite my gratitude for this experience and the opportunities it presented, I look forward to the day COVID-19 is no longer part of humanity’s daily vernacular. James Rayroux 22 April 2021 -
2021-04-14
Zoomies
I am lying on my belly while giving my two cents, and I just rolled my eyes at that one guy who likes Mike Pence. No one can hear me burp or see me eating; this is way better than an in-person meeting. My responses are thoughtful and I am on a roll; they asked me to share and I am baring my soul. I stare at black squares and blank expressions when all of a sudden, someone interrupts with, “Hey, you hit the mute button.” -
2021-04-20JOTPY Exhibit: "Arizona's COVID-19 Pandemics" by James Rayroux
While working as a curatorial intern on ASU's 'A Journal of the Plague Year' COVID-19 archive, I created this exhibit on the pandemic experience within the state. In addition to obvious, overarching realities such as socioeconomic status and immediate access to healthcare systems, I initially believed one of the greatest deciding factors that determined one's experience in Arizona was an individual's residence in either predominantly urban or rural environments. The proposed exhibit had been originally titled "A Tale of Two Arizonas" to pay respect to Charles Dickens and the differing realities experienced here. To test my proposed hypothesis, I went about finding data, stories, and submissions that substantiated or disputed my premise. Within a short time, I had identified four distinct environmental drivers of personal pandemic experiences; to me, that indicated the existence of many more I hadn't yet found or had overlooked along the way. My evidence suggested a minimum of four pandemic locales: Urban, Rural, Border, and Tribal within the State of Arizona and its fifteen counties. The recorded health data and personal experiences demonstrated the naivete of my initial hypothesis, and I retitled the exhibit: "Arizona's COVID-19 Pandemics." The Exhibit Background section illustrates the vast dichotomies within Arizona in terms of population density and access to healthcare facilities. Given the virus's respiratory nature, these factors seemed especially relevant to driving diverse local experiences. I chose to include a flyer from the Coconino County Health and Human Services' "Face It! Masks Save Lives" campaign. The flyer included a specific line to "Stay Home When Sick" that seemed to illustrate a different public health paradigm than the broader "stay home" orders from Maricopa and Pima county. This section also features an image of Sedona's red rocks and a portion of The Wave to remind visitors of the wide-open rural areas accessible to all, as well as those with cultural significance to the Native American tribes and limited access to the general public. The next section asks a short, five-question survey in which visitors may participate. The Silver Linings piece features a short audio clip of a father and husband discussing some unexpected benefits of the pandemic. Visitors may explore additional Silver Linings stories and submit their own experience. The Tséhootsooí Medical Center piece seeks to illustrate the different pandemic experience on the state's tribal lands. I hoped to inspire some relevant emotional turmoil for the visitors through the piece's visual presentation. I wanted to create a series of waves with quotes from the medical center's healthcare workers. I hoped visitors' attention would be drawn to the large, bolded key words, and that they would first experience the segments out of sequence because of that. After potentially feeling a sense of chaos, they might settle themselves into a deliberate reading of the texts and find their own order within the experiences provided here. This piece allows further exploration of Native submissions and topics, a review of an additional related news article, and a submission prompt that invites visitors to offer guidance to hospital managers. The next piece illustrates the differences between mask mandates in communities across Arizona. In addition to hearing an audio clip of interviews with mayors and a public health official, visitors can explore additional submissions related to mask mandates and submit their thoughts on statewide mandates. The Arizona Department of Health Services provides zip-code specific infection data on its website, and the wide array of known case infections therein further illustrates potential dichotomies across the state. In working to include and represent this data in a consumable way, I encountered inconsistencies with tribal data. The nation's Indian tribes are overseen by Indian Health Services, a federal public health agency, and it does not collect or report data in the same manner as the State of Arizona or its counties. At first glance, the data would seem to suggest that tribal areas had less severe pandemic experiences than the rural and urban areas, which was not objectively true. I wanted to offer the unedited data to visitors, allow them to drawn their own conclusions, and invite them to offer their thoughts on what potential misunderstandings might emanate from these reporting differences. Visitors may also choose to review the foundational data from this piece, as well. I used the following two sections to offer submission prompts about the visitor's overall pandemic experience as a function of their location, as well as what they might have done if placed in charge of their city, county, or state during this pandemic. A diverse Search section allows visitors to explore additional topics of interest to them. 23 hyperlinks offer pre-defined search parameters. An Advanced Search link allows self-defined research, and a Join The Staff link connects visitors with opportunities to work within the JOTPY archive. A final section asks visitors to provide feedback on the exhibit, its content, and the pandemic in general. Both surveys within the exhibit will display overall results to visitors who participate in them. Through this process, I found incredible amounts and diversity of data outside the archive that spoke to these generally localized experiences, but not that much yet within the archive explained what Arizonans had experienced outside the state's urban environments. I created a call for submissions and delivered it to fifty rural entities that might help support the effort to collect and preserve more rural Arizona stories. Between all the local libraries, historical societies, museums, small-town mayors, and county health officials to whom I asked for help, I am optimistic the archive will better represent all Arizonans in the coming months and years. Despite the exhibit having been created, I ensured its internal search features would include future submissions and allow the exhibit to remain relevant long after its release. -
2021-04-20Images and Audio from "Arizona's COVID-19 Pandemics" Exhibit
During March and April 2021, I created an online exhibit from content within Arizona State University's "A Journal of the Plague Year" COVID-19 archive. Entitled "Arizona's COVID-19 Pandemics," the digital exhibit contained images previously submitted to the archive, along with several copyright-free images I found on pexels.com. I have attached all these images. Listed by their order of appearance within the exhibit, their sources are as follows: 1- "Face It" Campaign flyer: Coconino County Health & Human Services ( https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/42998 ) 2- Red Rocks, Sedona: Courtesy of Gregory Whitcoe via Pexels.com 3- Online Learning: Courtesy of August de Richelieu via Pexels.com 4- Tséhootsooí Medical Center staff: Courtesy of FDIHB Marketing Department and Navajo Times newspaper ( https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/41189 ) 5- Arizona's Mask Mandate Map: created by Sarandon Raboin ( https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/26267 ) 6- Arizona COVID-19 Infection Zip Code Map: Courtesy of Arizona Department of Health Services ( https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/42035 ) 7- Woman Shopping: Courtesy of Anna Shvets via Pexels.com 8- Woman on Rural Arizona Road: Courtesy of Taryn Elliot via Pexels.com 9- Masked Woman in Crowd: Courtesy of Redrecords via Pexels.com 10- The Wave: Courtesy of Flickr via Pexels.com (this image is found only in the PDF submission of the exhibit, not in the public-facing exhibit itself due to document formatting technicalities - the PDF version can be found at https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/42998 ) -
2021-04-01#JOTPYFuture from Jake Breadman Tangerine
Hybridized in-person/virtual graduate programs so I can go to any university in the world while living in Canada to save money. #JOTPYFuture -
2021-03-09#JOTPYSilver from purplegenevre
#jotpysilver Jobs that may not have been an option for me a couple years ago (fixed-term positions out-of-state) are now totally options for me because they’ve recognized the need to offer remote employment options. -
2020-04-30Offline and left out: Not all Arizona students can connect for remote learning
This article focuses specifically on Arizona's efforts to provide students with internet/technology access in order to achieve online learning. It goes into detail about how several Phoenix schools dealt with the pandemic and online learning in the spring semester of 2020 as well as discusses how some students dealt with internet access issues in creative ways, either due to lack of internet or hotspot issues. Some examples are utilizing hotspots or through just going to public areas despite quarantine conditions to complete schoolwork. -
2021-04-09
Clinical Trials for HIV Vaccine has been Overwhelming Success due to the help of COVID-19 Vaccine
Clinical trials for HIV vaccines have been overwhelmingly successful with a 97% success rate at stimulating the production of rare immune cells which could lead to vaccines in the future. The COVID-19 vaccine has led to the increased development of m-RNA dosed vaccine which is also found in many other vaccines. By producing the COVID-19 vaccine has led to much more funding and research into the mRNA vaccine field which will bring about new changes in medicine in the future. -
2021-03-01#JOTPYLesson from Robin Keagle
In retrospect, I have learned that the initial stay-at-home order was an unexpected gift to my husband, daughter, and me. Although the reason for it was unfortunate, it turned out to be a blessing in many ways. Instead of rushing to and from school and work, we had time to eat together more, watch movies, and develop a comfortable but temporary new routine. To be sure, not every day was bright and shiny yet we definitely appreciated this unique time together. Our youngest will be off to college in a couple of years which made it even more special to have those moments with her. Family is everything. PS. I also learned that Zoom has a great HD filter that allows me to wear much less make-up, and how to coordinate a work blouse with pajama pants which is a silver lining indeed. #JOTPYLesson Julie Watters Amber Peters Kim Kimberly Rankin Michele Gable Stefanie Thayer Sinanovic -
2021-03-04#JOTPYFuture from Clinton Roberts
After the COVID-19 pandemic, my hope for the future is that people appreciate their time with one another. The pandemic has made me realize that virtual experiences and phone calls are not the same. We must remain vigilant and safe, but fully appreciative of our family and friends when those opportunities arise. #JOTPYFuture Lawson Miller Kelly Hoile McDaniel Morgan Keena Shawn McDaniel II Chris Twing -
2020-08-06Pagan Communities in the Time of Pandemic
One group that is often overlooked when discussing faith and religion is paganism. Partly, this is because, as the article references, paganism is not uniformly defined like other religious groups and faiths. As a result, it is much more difficult to understand and see how various pagans are reacting to the pandemic. Nonetheless, this article briefly surveys various sects of paganism in many different countries. One common element for many who consider themselves pagan has been celebrating and practicing privately, while also meeting virtually. -
2021-04-06Finally got my second shot
I got my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine late on the evening of Tuesday, April 6. While the process at the vaccination site at State Farm Stadium went smoothly enough, it took a lot longer. The drive from South Tempe is about 35 minutes, but there was an accident on Interstate 10, so we had to take a detour that lengthened the trip. I had an appointment for 9:21 PM, but there was a much longer line this time. By the time I got my shot and we left, it was about 10:35 PM. I felt pretty tired the next day. Nonetheless, I feel very relived to be fully vaccinated, and I am looking forward to things I will be able to do on April 20, when the vaccine will have had a full two weeks to take effect. -
2021-04-15
Second Semester Done, One Year In, But What Will I Miss?
The end of the semester is near, with one week left in my college semester and only a few weeks left at the high school where I work. As my first year as a Ph.D. season comes to a close, I have to say I am actually going to miss some parts of spending the year going to class via Zoom. It’s been nice to not have to worry about superficial things like my outfit and practical things like making sure my water bottle is full and that I have had lunch before class. Zoom is exhausting. Being aware that my classmates can see me, and I can see everyone else all at once. Sure, I can hide self-view, but in a way that makes me more nervous because I won’t be able to see if my face looks silly. I spend a lot of time holding my face in a specific way to avoid “resting bitch face” that I often end my 2.5-hour classes with headaches and jaw tension. I guess I won’t miss that. Monitoring chat and live conversations is a nightmare. So much so that I don’t pay much heed to the chat at all. I won’t miss that. Not having to find parking on campus though... that has been super nice. Not having to account for traffic, being able to schedule appointments more easily. It’s also allowed my professors to be in other states for meetings when necessary or step out for other Zoom meetings when they have to for a few minutes and then return. I guess it is what we have been saying for the better part of nine months now, that we have always had the ability to be flexible, just no willpower, and the pandemic has shown us that we really can be flexible. Selfishly it makes it easier to work and go to school as well. I haven’t missed a single class all year. It made being a TA easier too, since I didn’t have to go to campus for those classes either, which would have further complicated a work schedule. I am ready to go back to school, after three online master’s degree, the perpetual student in me was so excited to go back to campus for classes and be a part of a college campus again and I didn’t get that because of the pandemic, but I think in some ways it made the transition easier for me. It made it easier for me to feel like I could do it all at once. -
2021-04-15
Differing Vaccine Outcomes by Country
For the past few months, vaccines for Covid have been rolling out to Americans despite some setbacks. As of right now, a huge chunk of America has or is in the process of getting vaccinated, hopefully putting an end to this once and for all. Unfortunately, other countries without the same industrial capacity to produce the vaccine have been struggling. My sister, who lives in the Netherlands, won't be able to get a vaccine until May, and even that is tenuous at best. It is even worse for many countries in the global South, which will have to wait until well after richer capitalist countries finish vaccinating their people. The dirty secret here is that each company who developed the vaccine is not sharing for free how they made this life-saving material, forcing almost the entire world to be beholden to companies like Moderna. There will not be an equitable distribution of the vaccine, that is clear already. When countries like the US and the Netherlands do finish vaccinations by at least the end of this year, the world will still be forced to reckon with Covid still spreading in places like Sub-Saharan Africa and potentially back to the global North. If the world wants to truly deal with Covid and any future disease of a similar nature, it needs to figure out how to get vaccines quickly without a profit motive, something that is nearly impossible within a capitalist structure. -
2021-04-15
Missing Out and Silver Linings
On Tuesday, my nine-year-old daughter had to return to school in-person for one day to take a state standardized test. She has been online all year attending school remotely through Zoom. Last week in my journal entry, I discussed how our school district gave parents three options for school this year: in-person, flex, and digital academy (online all year). The flex option allowed for parents to decide if their child(ren) would return to in-person schooling at a later date, and children could only return at the beginning of each quarter. We have had our kids home all year. We had to choose about the fourth quarter really early back at the beginning of March. Covid cases were starting to creep up so we decided to keep both our kids home. A major reason for our difficult decision was that my son who is in kindergarten would lose his current teacher and would have to have a new teacher for just the last quarter. We decided he should stay with his current teacher, whom he likes, and who also knows him very well at this point. My daughter, who is in fourth grade would keep her teacher no matter what, so it made our decision easy. It was easy until yesterday, the day after the test when my daughter woke up and realized that she would not get to go to school in-person that day and would have to log onto Zoom as usual. She got a taste of what life was like in-person for fourth grade, and she felt she was missing out on the experience. So, my daughter unfortunately was feeling sad yesterday morning. And this is another thing that has made this year so hard for parents. We must make decisions about our kids and their lives that no generation of parents has really had to make before. And sometimes it is hard and sometimes we second-guess those decisions. But honestly, my husband and I are doing our best. We chose their health over their emotions and socialization. We chose their health because we fear the unknown long-term effects of covid. I do not want to regret my kid getting covid and having lifelong health problems because I decided to send them back to school so they could be with their friends. Now, I say all of this in recognition that we have a tremendous amount of privilege in that my husband and I even have the choice of whether we can send our kids back to in-person school or not. So many families cannot do this or do not have a choice—I am aware of this and grateful for the privilege to have choices regarding their schooling. All I am saying is that parenting right now is hard regardless. So, yesterday morning, both my husband and I sat down and talked with my daughter about her feelings and gave her a hug. We acknowledged that what she was feeling was totally okay and validated it. I also reminded her of two positives from all of this. Since my daughter was loaned a laptop from her school, she started Zooming with a friend after school every day. The two have become very close spending time talking to each other every day for hours at a time. I told my daughter that if it were not for this experience that perhaps she would not have developed such a close friendship with this other girl. I also reminded her that all this time at home has made her and her little brother also very close. They have spent so many hours playing together—an opportunity that might not have happened had they not gone through this experience. So, there were a couple of silver-linings during these hard times for our family. And not to forget, my kids’ computer skills are outstanding now! -
2021-03-26COVID Metro Hot Spot - March 2021
While I was looking around the internet for updates on COVID, I came across the information from www.covidactnow.com that Jackson, Michigan was the top Daily New COVID Cases per 100k people in the country. This was on March 26, 2021. As of April 10, 2021, (when I submitted this information) Jackson was still in the number 1 metro spot. This where my family lives & where I work. This was very upsetting to me. Many people still don’t wear masks. And if they do, many wear them under their nose. In some ways, I’m not surprised (but disappointed) that the virus really started to circulate here because of the way the community doesn’t respect public health orders. -
2021-03-12Finally Eligible to be Vaccinated
I am on Twitter. I have used Twitter as a news source since before the pandemic broke in early 2020. This is a screen shot of how I learned my husband (who has pre-existing medical conditions & is 43 years old) & I ( 38 years old) would be eligible to get vaccinated. I will never forget this moment. I felt elated, joyful, & relieved. It was like a cloud that I didn’t even know was looming over me had lifted. -
2021-02-19Turning 5 years old in February 2021
My daughter turned five on February 19, 2021. We had no family or friends over to celebrate. We had individual Zoom calls with each set of grandparents & a Zoom birthday cake celebration with all of the aunts, uncle, cousins, a great aunt & grandparents late in the evening. People sent their gifts ahead of time. She opened them throughout the day. We gave our daughter her birthday gifts, too. This particular photo is showing virtual Bingo. One set of grandparents sent over a Bingo card set & they had a copy of the same one. We played the game virtually. My daughter had a lot of fun. -
2021-04-09A Year of Viertual Sharing
Our Sunday morning coffee/hiking group, professional women 60 or over, took to Zoom to stay connected. We started in April 2020 wearing Easter hats; we upgraded our haberdashery on Easter April 2021. Wishing to escape daily Covid fears, we chose a topic each week. One individual shared and then we moved on to the next. Topics were seasonal, from Mother's Day, Father's Day, Veteran's Day, Christmas, New Year's. We learned more about each other than we ever knew. Women out-of-state who were part of our circle could join us from D.C., Portland, and Wisconsin. As a former teacher and oral historian, I began to take notes on the conversations and realized these stories were too important to lose. I wrote them up weekly, edited them with the ladies, added photos or clip art, and provided a printed notebook to each friend for her birthday or Christmas. Some of us who are fully vaccinated can now meet in person, but we have decided to meet once a month online to continue telling the stories we might not share in person. -
2020Yanomami want miners out of their lands to prevent spread of COVID-19
"The most well-known Yanomami shaman and leader, Davi Kopenawa, with French anthropologist Bruce Albert. Inspired by his words and teaching, Ye'kwana Leadership Forum produced the film "The Shaman’s Message", to bring the #MinersOutCovidOut campaign to the world. The campaign calls for the immediate removal of illegal miners who are active in the Yanomami Territory, destroying the forest and rivers, bringing violence and now COVID-19 with them into the communities." -
2020Cultural Survival: Indigenous People and vaccines
Indigenous Rights Radio, part of Cultural Survival, shares interviews with Indigenous Peoples on the world wide web. This interview covers the topics of Indigenous Peoples and vaccines, human rights, Indigenous rights, land rights, and climate change and the environment. -
2020Cultural Survival: disaggregation of data of, for, and by Indigenous Peoples
"Due to the need to present information disaggregated by Indigenous Peoples, Cultural Survival is producing this map to collect and disseminate information to show the situations Indigenous communities are facing as a result of COVID-19. As the number of cases increase daily, and the lack of access to testing in rural areas, the data presented here will evolve over time. Empty areas do not imply that there are no cases of COVID-19 or human right violations. This is a continuous and not exhaustive effort and we invite Indigenous Peoples and their communities to contribute. [...] Our COVID-19 response features a holistic, multi-layered approach including curating a global monitoring system for COVID-19 for Indigenous communities using Google maps technology to document COVID-19 cases and related human rights violations." -
2021-03-29Cultural Survival: aggregation and dissemination of data of and for Indigenous Peoples
Impacts, understandings, and variants to data of the impacts of COVID-19 on Indigenous People discussed by Cultural Survival. -
2021-03-23#JOTPYLesson from Iyen Vinson
I have learned that some work meetings can definitely be done virtually instead of everyone being together in a room. I have also learned that in person school is much more beneficial than online learning. -
2021-04-01News Article: How AI Played a Role in Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout
This Wall Street Journal PRO article on Pfizer's use of artificial intelligence discusses that company's use of predictive technologies to identify geographic areas with the greatest potential for its COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. -
2021-04-06News Article: Pfizer Injects AI Into Vaccine Trials
This sub-article was the lead item in this week's Wall Street Journal PRO "Artificial Intelligence Weekly" email blast: "By Angus Loten Welcome back. Artificial intelligence is set to take a decisive role in shaping the post-pandemic economy, from helping employers reopen workplaces to getting supply chains back on track. Corporate technology leaders and industry analysts offered these and other insights at last week’s virtual edition of the WSJ Pro AI Executive Forum. Some of their views are outlined in the sections below. One broad takeaway: Though still in its infancy, AI is already having a profound impact on our daily lives. Pfizer’s Speedy Vaccine Rollout Pfizer Inc. last year developed AI-powered dashboards designed to monitor the effect of Covid-19 on clinical trials in real time, ultimately helping the pharmaceutical giant roll out its coronavirus vaccination in less than a year, The Wall Street Journal’s Sara Castellanos reports. A shot in the arm. Pfizer fed large amounts of case-rate data into AI-enabled predictive models to quickly generate site selection for clinical trials, said Lidia Fonseca, the company’s chief digital and technology officer. A smart move. Pfizer two years ago began experimenting with the emerging technologies, focusing on digital tools that promised to offer better outcomes for patients, doctors and employees, with results it was able to draw on during the pandemic, Ms. Fonseca said." -
2020-10-05Teaching over technology: educational priorities during COVID-19
This article focuses more on the teaching side of the shift to online schooling. The reading mostly discusses different challenges that teachers face in regards to accesses with technology or ways that they can work with disadvantaged students during the pandemic. The second half of the reading focuses mostly on the support and recognition that teachers deserve due to the circumstances provided by COVID-19. -
2020-06-04How COVID-19 Is Shaping Tech Use. What That Means When Schools Reopen
This article discusses mostly how teachers are changing their beliefs/enhancing abilities due to the switch onto the online function. The article discusses a number of relevant topics such as teacher's capabilities to utilize educational technology, ability to troubleshoot technology problems, and technological environments for both students and teachers. There is also discussion on their views on the online teaching format, as well as their responses regarding economic and technological disparities for certain groups of students. -
2021-02-09MEDS disinfection system
This article is about a new sprayer disinfection system used in the back of ambulances that had potentially covid positive patients in them. The video features Neptune Township New Jersey's ambulance personnel explaining the system and its benefits. The MEDS system uses electrostatic energy to charge the disinfection spray so that it will cover more surfaces effectively. This is ultimately better and safer for our EMS crews and their patients to combat against the Covid-19 virus. Disinfection is an important process in proper medical care, and this system is effective and quick which allows our EMS personnel to do their job better and safer. -
2021-04-04
A New World: 2020
In 2020, a lot has changed in our personal life as well as ways in which we conduct communication with each other. My biggest experience was having to do college level classes completely online the last few semesters which was a big learning curve. This reflects on how the pandemic impacted every age group and how it forced us all to adapt to new times. This was done by using technology which at this point still seems to be on the cutting edge of evolution. My laptop now more than ever has been an object that reminds me of this new world all of us are living in because it allows me to engage in the outside world on a 14" digital screen. I feel many would agree with this statement whether it was used for school or for work, in 2020 without a laptop you were doomed. -
2021-03-19Post-vaccine handouts
After receiving the first dose of the Moderna vaccine, the volunteers at ASU handed out these booklets with information about the Moderna vaccines. It lets you know that no vaccine is FDA approved and that you should report any symptoms to the CDC using the vaccine safe program with your smartphone. -
2021-03-17#JOTPYSilver from Dr. Terilyn Johnston Huntington
That time when the internet was out at my house and my office was closed, so I held class in the back of my minivan in a parking lot at my university. #JOTPYPhoto -
2020-04-3053% of Americans Say the Internet Has Been Essential During the COVID-19 Outbreak
This Pew Research article discusses how different socioeconomic status and political preference influences how Americans believe schools should provide technology for their students. More importantly, the article goes into detail about how parents with lower incomes are more likely to struggle to provide some sort of adequate situation for their children, especially when the majority of Americans view technology and the internet as an essential tool during the pandemic. Besides student access to technology, economic class is also having an impact on how some individuals can afford their own internet connections and phone plans, thereby limiting their access. -
2020-06-16The Digital Divide Among Students During COVID-19: Who Has Access? Who Doesn't?
The article goes into detail, drawing from multiple survey sources on the internet to discuss how geographical location and economic class has affected the way that some students have been able to adapt to online instruction. Sources like the Pew Research Center show information from parents about their children's access to technology and how it has affected their capacity to complete their schoolwork, and compares that information to different school districts' capabilities to provide reliable sources of internet/other technology during school shutdowns. The article concludes by questioning how public education is a right in the US, but due to access with technology, and even basic technological issues for those who already had access to sufficient technology, has questioned how America's students are struggling to gain what they should be ensured. -
2020-06-01High School Students Reflect on JOTPY Archive
In May 2020, my high school students reflected on the JOTPY archive, noting the submissions that most resonated with them and the least. Some also addressed what they saw as silences in the archive. I put their responses in a document for myself to help guide me as I helped build the JOTPY teaching site. However, a year after beginning to work on the project, I find their responses very insightful, particularly their recognition that the racial prejudice facing the Black and AAPI communities needs to be better highlighted. -
2020-05-28Covid-19 highlights lack of connectivity in first nations communities
This article speak about the ‘digital divide’ in Canada; a reality in Canada where rural and First Nations communities don’t have access to the sufficient technology or infrastructure to use online platforms, or just the internet in general. This particular article tackles how the pandemic has exacerbated this divide, and has shown the need to give these communities access to high-speed internet. These communities often are left to ask private enterprises to provide these services, and these corporations which are profit oriented as all telecommunications giants often ignores these calls, as they would not see a financial return. Essentially, profits are being placed over people, which in turn breaks apart the social solidarity of these communities and complicates communication between First Nations communities and the Canadian state, as well as community organization at large. However, this article states that the government will be actively attempting to incentivize these private corporations to build telecommunications infrastructure as a means to abide by the UN’s declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples. While progress is being made, this article nevertheless identifies the material and logistical disparities between First Nations communities throughout the nation; which have been highlighted by the pandemic. -
2020-06-01How COVID-19 exposed challenges for technology in education
The article addresses how challenges in access/use of technology by students and teachers have been highlighted due to the pandemic -
2020-09-24Tech Struggles During COVID-19 Hurting Students’ Ability to Learn, Educators Say
This article comes from the perspective of educators who struggled with teaching students remotely, and includes statistics referring to students who had technology/situational issues that affected their work. -
2020-08-21
How Indonesia's Education System Is Faring
"Since March 2020, students, parents, and teachers in Indonesia have been grappling with school closures affecting 62.5 million students from pre-primary to higher education." With such a socioeconomically diverse population, it's difficult to gauge just how accessible isolated learning would really be during the pandemic. The Ministry of Education and Culture had to move quickly to assure that there was some structure and guidelines set in place for educational institutions to follow. Unfortunately, as internet access isn't quite the common luxury many households have, the ministry sought partnership with television programming stations. This was to, at least, provide educational material to those who have access to televisions but not internet. The article goes on to provide four ways in which they hoped would assist in the growing education deficiency. 1) Develop more solutions to reach students without internet access; 2) Increase connectivity and train teachers to deliver more effective and interactive online learning; 3) Identify and support those falling behind with differentiated instruction; 4) Support disadvantaged students to return to school. -
2021-03-19Wait, Do I Remember How to Drive?
As I was making my list of things to have for going back to work in person for the first time in over a year, I asked myself “wait, do I remember how to drive?” On March 16, 2020, I drove to my classroom under the impression we would be working from school without our students until school reopened for the kids after spring break. By the time I got there, everything had changed. We had a quick full staff meeting telling us to take everything we need home, check our email later, and that everyone was to stay home indefinitely. I have not worked from my school site since. So, I drove home, showered, and put my keys where I always do. They remained there for 368 days. Tonight at dusk, realizing that my commute is coming back in two days, I grabbed my keys and made my husband ride shotgun. I was actually really nervous, because what if you can forget to drive at age 40? I also realized I did not drive a single day of my 39th year, which is sort of a cool statistic. I timed my drive for dusk because I teach zero period, and due to daylight savings it will still be dark when I begin my commute Monday morning. I am extremely happy to report that driving is a skill that sticks with you - especially important in Southern CA, where we drive EVERYWHERE. I’m still a little anxious for Monday morning. Not only will I be back to work in person for the first time, but my commute will be the first time I have been completely alone in over a year. Sure, when I teach remotely, I am upstairs alone in the room, but everyone else is home doing similar things in other rooms. When I run on the treadmill, though I have my headphones in, people mill in and out. I have not been totally alone this entire quarantine. I imagine my 30 minute commute will be either completely anxiety inducing or end up being the most relaxing and best part of my day! *Disclaimer: I am NOT flipping off the camera, that’s my pinky, I’m throwing a Shaka. -
2021-03-18
With Hope
Today is Thursday, March 18, 2021. Saturday, March 13, was the first anniversary of the Friday the 13th that essentially broke the world, and that was our last day of normal. Or at least that’s how we all remember it now. On Monday, March 15, 2021, the students at my high school returned in “full swing” for the fourth quarter of the school year. I mean by full swing that we have no A and B days, and we are not all virtual. We still have an asynchronous day on Wednesday, but we all know that will soon go away. Many kids are staying virtual, and I don’t know how long that will be an option. So, we have had three days of students back on campus, and I think I would be much more concerned if I myself were not vaccinated, but I am fully vaccinated, and my husband completed his two-week waiting period a couple of days ago, so my house is “safe.” (Though I don’t totally feel that way yet) I don’t work on Wednesday right now, so we celebrated being fully vaccinated by going to an outdoor brunch, which was totally socially distanced, and I appreciated it a lot. I digress, though… school feels like school again. Sure, we limit the number of students who come into the library at lunch, but they are here, the halls bustle, and kids' noise in the hallway trails through our open library doors between periods again. Unfortunately, we are jumping back into things right in time for state testing, so we got this week of “bliss” before things become chaos of finding computers to test, getting students to make sure their computers are updated, and the general panic of finding space and making schedules that comes with any year of state testing. I want things to continue to trend in a direction where I don’t have to rescind all this hope a couple of months from now. -
2020-04-15That fleeting moment of Solidarity
In those first few weeks of lockdown I just remember a feeling of solidarity with my neighbors. We were all separate, all isolated, but all working toward the same goal. Throughout our neighborhood people had written with chalk on the sidewalk, we took walks every day and saw painted rocks, teddy bears sitting in windows, art and signs of hope and comfort. For a homeschool art lesson I had my sons do chalk splatter painting on our driveway and then taught them about Jackson Pollock. I wrote lyrics to Bob Marley songs and drew pictures of rainbows on the sidewalk. We baked bread, cinnamon rolls, all things warm and cozy. Our family was together in a special way, we appreciated the time together. We went on hikes and fished in the backyard pond and although there were zoom appointments and conference calls, life was moving at a slower more relaxing pace. We were hopeful and confident that by doing the right thing we were saving lives. -
2020-12-25
The Holidays with COVID
Holidays in America means at least for me have always been a time to gather with family and friends to celebrate. Big parties and gatherings have been a staple of the holidays for years. But this past year has been much different than the years before it. With the global pandemic happening the norm of these parties and gathering became inexistent. This year for the holidays I celebrated over what has become the new norm and that is Zoom. Eating and attempting to celebrate with your family on a Zoom call is one of the weirdest things I have experienced. Well it was nice getting to see everyone's faces doing it over a video call is not the way I enjoy. Hopefully things will turn soon as I am growing increasingly annoying by Zoom and video calls. -
2021-03-10Ellen Galindo, Oral History 03/10/2021
This is an oral history of Ellen Galindo, a teacher in Orange County, California. The date of this interview was three days shy of the one year anniversary of when her school shut down. She has been teaching online for a year now. She is also expecting her first child. Her oral history is focused on her experience teaching through Distance Learning and her feelings on being pregnant during the pandemic. -
2021-03-09
Oral History with a Rural Church Pastor
Abstract: Josh Colson grew up in Southern Illinois. He attended Welch College, earning a BS in Christian Ministry and an MA in Theology. Additionally, he is currently a student at Vanderbilt Divinity School, pursuing an MTS. Mr. Colson is currently the pastor of Brandon’s Chapel Free Will Baptist Church in Bumpus Mills, TN. The church is part of a small rural community, being in one of the smallest counties in middle Tennessee. In addition, Mr. Colson is the Faith Representative for the community health board. In this interview, Mr. Colson recounts the effects COVID-19 has had on his duty as a member of the clergy, his congregation, and his community. -
2021-03-11
Vaccine After Effects
So excited to get my 1st dose of the Moderna vaccine. As a 65 year old, I was eligible early; however, our county's rollout was a HOT mess! The local app didn't work, but I was finally able to secure an appointment with my medical group . . . for a month out. Yikes. Continued research as the days went by, found that RiteAid was offering them. Yay! Was able to book that appointment for only 2 days out! Yippee. Then . . . the day before that appointment, it was cancelled. We Californians are so smug - never thinking that bad weather in other parts of the county affects us. It did! No vaccines available. Rescheduled for a month out. Luckily, our school district was rolling out an in house POD for employees. I jumped on that and was able to get an appointment for the next day, which was the first day for the district. I was sitting on 3 appointments then - and didn't plan to cancel any until I got my shot! Fortunately, all went well and I did get it. (Lucky too because the district had to shut down the next day as well.) So . . . there I was happy. Dose #2 scheduled. Cancelled the other appointments I had. Did have a tiny bit of discomfort the next day, but nothing major. Imagine my surprise when hives (or so I thought) appeared about 10 days later. Did LOTS of research - thank you google - considered that it might be the rash that some experienced after Moderna, but the symptoms progressed. Long story short - not hives - shingles! Even though I did have a shingles vaccine within the past 5 years, I did indeed have shingles. Now - there is no evidence that it is in anyway related to the vaccine, (even found an article that said shingles/vaccine debunked) but I did my duty and reported in on my weekly vsafe/cdc check-in. I am currently on the other side of this and am sure that it will be gone soon. I will always wonder though if there was any relationship. I'm also a tad bit concerned about the after effects of dose #2. I do encourage everyone to participate in the vsafe.cdc.gov follow up. -
2020-05-16Covid-19 The Challenges of a Mental Health Provider #AZHISTORY
Covid-19 changed the way we deliver Mental Health Services. This is my personal story of how it felt and what it required to provide Trauma Psychothery during the Pandemic.