I Speak of Dreams

Happy Blogiversary to Me (warbles)

Myfirst post was December 2, 2003. The first month of blogging I spent a lot of time dumping things from my hard-drive files onto the blog. 

First post: what you find as you procrastinate.  I still like Adventure in How to Sing the Blues.  Best post that week:  Saying Irlen Lenses Can Cure Dyslexia Is Quackery.  Runners-up: Encountering First Nations with Respect.  Admission to Private School: Calm Down, Parents. Nanoreadership of blogs: do the math

As of April 2, 2017 (when I realized I hadn't done a blogiversary for years):

35,555,08 Lifetime Pageviews

729.93 Pageviews/Day

6,244 Total Posts

8,828 Total Comments

#Blogher14: Developing Your Visual Voice

Even simple lines can tell a story

Edited to add: Jenna M Wood of Momma Told Me liveblogged this for BlogHer. Please see The Visual Web:Developing Your Voice. I was unable to attend the companion session, The Visual Web: Get Started in Video: Easy Tools and Strategies, but it too has a liveblog (this time, anonymous)

Description from the BlogHer14 Guide

The Visual Web: Developing Your Visual Voice

 

The biggest force changing how we use and embrace the web is the power of visuals. Don’t wait until you feel like a professional photographer to mix pictures into your storytelling: This session is led by visual artists who will talk about small changes that can make a big difference in the look and feel of your work. Explore your options to find (or refine) your unique visual voice.

 

Moderator:Jill Krause, Baby Rabies @babyrabies (photography)

Speakers: JC Little, The Animated Woman  @AnimatedWoman (animation/Illustration), Melanie Perkins, canva  @melaniecanva (graphic design) Vanessa Bell, de Su Mama, @DeSuMama  (photography)

 

(my apologies to @AnimatedWoman: once again I used the wrong twitter handle, @littleanimation rather than @Animated Woman) 

 

 

#standingwithDNLee In search of data: Has SciAm ever removed blog posts before?

Update, approximately 11:00 am, PDT, Sunday October 13, 2013. Mariette DiChristina has published an explanation for Scientific American's removal of Danielle N. Lee's blog post.. Smells of Rhincodon typus innards to me.

Scientific American removed a blog post at The Urban Scientist.  Editor in Chief Mariette di Christina tweeted a justification

Re blog inquiry: @sciam is a publication for discovering science. The post was not appropriate for this area & was therefore removed.

I would like to know if any other SciAm blogger has ever had a blog post unilaterally removed, without prior warning.

Karen Stolsznow, who is an occasional guest blogger at SciAmMind, had a post about sexual harrassment removed.

Kate Clancy has pointed out that she has published many posts that aren't about discovering science, and those posts weren't deleted.

Dana Hunter did not mention any posts being deleted.

Janet Stemwedel pointed out that  “Discovering science” means discovering all sorts of complexities.....If Scientific American doesn’t want its bloggers delving into those complexities, then they don’t want me."

So I am in search of data. Do you know of any other blog posts at SciAm that have been unilaterally deleted by SciAm editorial staff? 

Backstory: Standing with DNLee against sexism at biology-online.org, and Scientific American's cowardly conduct

#standingwithDNLee don't ignore #biologyonline or its employee, Ofek the Blog Editor

Update: October 13, 2013 Email of apology from Alan Weisleder, co-owner of Biology-online.org, to Dr. Danielle Lee.  Ofek has been terminated.

Update, approximately 11:00 am, PDT, Sunday October 13, 2013. Mariette DiChristina has published an explanation for Scientific American's removal of Danielle N. Lee's blog post.. Smells of Rhincodon typus innards to me.

So Danielle N. Lee, PhD, a biologist and science writer, had an email exchange with someone using the email handle  ofek at the website Biology-Online.org, which ended with said Ofek writing, 

are you an urban scientist or an urban whore?

So Dr. Lee, understandably irate, blogged about this exchange at her blog at Scientific American, The Urban Scientist.  And the blog managers at SciAm later deleted the blog post.

As you might imagine, there is a deserved ongoing  furor, mostly directed at SciAm.

But let's not lose sight of the original insult.

Questions: 

• Who is behind Biology-Online.org?  (Yes, there's an about page, but it isn't very transparent).
• What is Biology-Online.org's business model?  In other words, what is the financial relationship between Biology-Online.org and SciAm?
• Biology-Online's whois information is here.
• Who is this Ofek person, and is he or she being paid by biology-online.org?
• This Ofek person behaved badly, as a representative of Biology-Online.org.  What is that organization going to do about it?

 

Standing with DNLee against sexism at biology-online.org, and Scientific American's cowardly conduct

Update, approximately 11:00 am, PDT, Sunday October 13, 2013. Mariette DiChristina has published an explanation for Scientific American's removal of Danielle N. Lee's blog post.. Smells of Rhincodon typus innards to me.

Update, approximately 9:30 am, PDT, Monday October 14, 2013--reorganized the lists

Update, approximately 3:30 pm, PDT, Monday October 14, 2013; Danielle Lee's post has been restored: Responding to No Name Life Science Blog Editor Who Called Me Out of My Name

Danielle N. Lee, PhD  is a biologist and science writer who blogged independently at Urban Science.  Some time ago, she moved her blog to Scientific American, as one of a group of  bloggers at http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/,  Her blog is The Urban Scientist.  She also tweets as @DNLee5.

On October 11, 2013, she published a blog post about being invited to contribute to a content aggregator called http://www.biology-online.org/ [edited to add: other than the website, Biology-online does not seem to have a Facebook page or a twitter account]  When she discovered that she would not be compensated for content, she politely declined.

The person issuing the invitation, somebody named Ofek who is evidently an administrator, then called her a whore.   

That was bad enough, but then the administrators at Scientific American pulled down DNLee's post describing the interaction.  

[edited to add] Here is the response from SciAm's editorial director: Tweet from Mariette DiChristina: "Re blog inquiry: @sciam is a publication for discovering science. The post was not appropriate for this area & was therefore removed."

Fortunately, the post had already been published as a guest post by Dr. Isis: Tell Someone “No”, Get Called a “Whore” – #StandingwithDNLee #batsignal and then by Ophelia Benson,Tell Someone "No", Get Called a Whore 

[edited to add: The person who insulted Dr. Lee introduced him/herself as "Ofek, the Blog Editor at Biology-Online.org".  Biology-Online.org has been entirely silent since this issue blew up.]

[edited to add, 4:35 PDT 10/122013] This clarification from Mariette diChristina was published at Buzzfeed earlier today. To my mind, it is a notsplanation, especially as many, many more-personal-than-"discovering science" posts from others remain published.

“I’d like to elaborate on the original brief statement on Twitter that this blog fell outside Scientific American’s mission to communicate science. While we interpret that mission with a lot of latitude, Dr. Lee’s post went beyond and verged into the personal, and that’s why it was taken down. Dr. Lee’s post is out extensively in the blogosphere, which is appropriate. Dr. Lee is a valued member of the Scientific American blog network. In a related matter, Biology Online has an ad network relationship, and not an editorial one. Obviously, Scientific American does not want to be associated with activities that are detrimental to the productive communication of science. We are pursuing next steps.”

There are a number of issues swirling around here:

1. Sexism anywhere (a woman says no to a man's proposition, a man says, well then you are a whore)
2. Sexism in science 
3. Sexism and racism anywhere (misogynoir)
4. Sexism and racism in science 
5. The whole deal about a person's work -- writing a blog post -- not being compensated by an organization that is deriving revenue from said content
6. An organization (Scientific American) removing a contributor's work for specious reasons (that is, previous posts by many SciAm bloggers on topics other than "discovering science" remain online).
7. The silence of biology-online.org to its employee's sexism
8. [edited to add] Corporate responses to a public-relations catastrophe (Both Biology-online.org and Scientific American are exhibiting epic fails.)

[edited to add: Pre-SciAm apology posts] Relevant posts (which I will add to as I find them)

1. October 11, 2013: DNLee, Urban Scientist (at SciAm) Give Trouble to Others, but Not to Me (original post now pulled)
2. October 11, 2013: Biology-online.org Forum When Is It Okay to Call a Scientist a Whore? 
3. October 11, 2013: Isis the Scientist:  Tell Someone “No”, Get Called a “Whore” – #StandingwithDNLee #batsignal
4. October 11, 2013: Ophelia Benson, Butterflies and Wheels: Tell Someone "No", Get Called a Whore 
5. [edited to add] October 11, 2013: David Wescott, It's Not A Lecture: Free crisis PR advice for Biology-online.org  
6. [edited to add] October 11, 2013: DNLee, JAYFK, .@DNLee responds to be called a 'whore' for saying "no thanks".
7. [edited to add] October 11, 2013:  Shareef Jackson, #Sciencelooks Good Hey Science? Respect Matters: #Standingwit DNLee
8. [edited to add] October 11, 2013:  Lisa Buckley, Shaman of the Atheistic Sciences, Respect in Science: When saying "No" gets you called a "Whore". #StandingwithDNLee
9. October 12, 2013: Isis the Scientist:  An Open Letter to Scientific American and Why You’ve Lost a Reader: #BoycottSciAm
10. October 12, 2013: Dana Hunter, Rosetta Stone (at SciAm):  I'm Standing with DNLee, Why Isn't Scientific American?
11. October 12, 2013: Kate Clancy, Context and Variation (at SciAm): This is not a post about discovering science
12. October 12, 2013: Ophelia Benson, Butterflies and Wheels: Another hostile work environment.
13. October 12, 2013: Sean Carrol, Preposterous Universe: Don't Start One, Don't Be One
14. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Anne Jefferson, Highly Allochthonous: I will not be silent any longer about the way women and people of color in science and leadership are treated
15. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Gradient Lair: DNLee called urban whore by biology-online, SciAm
16. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Rachel Zarrel, Buzzfeed: Blogger’s Post About Being Called A “Whore” Is Deleted By Scientific American 
17. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Janet Stemwedel, Doing Good Science, (at SciAm) Standing with DNLee and "Discovering Science". 
18. [edited to add] October 12, 2013 Dana Hunter, Rosetta Stone, "Now is the time we raise our voices" (at SciAm)
19. [edited to add] October 12, 2013 Stephanie Zvan, Almost Diamonds, Help me out here, Scientific American
20. [edited to add] October 12, 2013 Kelly, Life as an Extreme Sport, SciAm Doesn't Think that Sexism in Science is "An Issue" -- Will They Think Boycotts Are?
21. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Dr. Rubidium, JAYFK, What @scianm's actions tell me as a female scientist of color
22. [edited to add] October 12, 2013,  Dr24hours, Infactorium, Really, Scientific American?
23. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Malicia Rogue, Storify, Scientific American censors blog post for not being 'scientific' enough
24. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Ophelia Benson, Butterflies and Wheels, Scientific American has its reasons
25. [edited to add] October 12, 2013,Dina Spector, Business Insider,  Scientific American Is Getting Slammed For Deleting A Blogger's Post About Being Called A 'Whore'
26. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Maryn McKenna, SuperBug Wired Science, On Science, Communication, Respect, and Coming Back from Mistakes, 
27. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Metafilter, Are you an urban scientist or an urban whore?
28. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Greg Laden, Greg Laden's blog,  Internet Meltdown, #standingwithDNLee
29. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Ophelia Benson, Butterflies and Wheels, How Not to Ask for a Favor
30. [edited to add] October 12, 2013 Joshua Drew, The Drew Lab at Columbia University: This One Matters
31. [edited to add] October 12, 2013 Geeky Girl Engineer #standingwithDNLee
32. [edited to add] October 12, 2013 Liz Ditz, I Speak of Dreams,#standingwithDNLee don't ignore #biologyonline or its employee, Ofek the Blog Editor
33. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, George Chidi, Raw Story, Scientific American dustup over blogger being called ‘urban whore’ after rejecting request for unpaid work
34. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Paul Willett, We Love the Stars Too Fondly, Scientific American and the Epic Fail
35. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Chris Clarke, Coyote Crossing, SciAm and Danielle N. Lee
36. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Ferniglab A Disgrace? Yes. Surprised? No.
37. [edited to add] October 12, 2013, Alldigiocracy Nobody Ever Called Einstein a Whore
38. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Tressiemc, Academic Whores
39. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Courtney McNamara, Healthy Policies, #Standing with DNLee
40. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Greg Laden, Greg Ladin's Blog, Will SciAm's Response to DNLee's Post Deletion Mean Anything If It Happens Monday?
41. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, MegaloBomb, Shark Alley, The Challenges of Being A Woman Scientist, Especially With Sharks
42. [edited to add] October 13, 2013,  Mama Joules, Mama Joules, #IStandWithDNLee
43. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Sarah Rae Fruchnicht, Opposing Views, Scientific American Blogger Called An "Urban Whore" for Refusing to Work for Free
44. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Ken White, Popehat, Biology-Online.org, "Urban Whores" and The Many Axes of Douchebaggery 
45. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Ophelia Benson, Butterflies and Wheels, Don't Ever Do Anything In Case Your Motives Are Impure
46. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Ophelia Benson, Butterflies and Wheels, Urban Bloggers
47. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Rogue, Medium, How Scientific American Screws It Up Bigtime
48. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, InBabyAttachMode, Late to the party but I am #standingwithDNLee
49. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Cheryl, Nuclear Diner, Danielle Lee's Blog and the Scientific American Magazine
50. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Ivan Oransky, Retraction Watch,  Scientific American faces firestorm after removing blog post about scientist being called a whore
51. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Brian M. Lucy, Brian M. Lucy, Scientific American faces firestorm after removing blog post about scientist being called a whore.
52. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, The Daily Dot, Austin Powell, Biologist silenced after revealing publisher's sexist response
53. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Slashdot Scientific American in Blog Removal Controversy
54. [edited to add] October 13, 2013 Mónica Ivelisse Feliú-Mójer  Ciencia Puerto Rico Why Women Leave Science, You Ask? This Is Why
55. [edited to add] October 13, 2013 Scott Jaschick, Inside Higher Ed, When Does A Scientist Get Called A Whore?
56. [edited to add] October 13, 2013 Chronicle of Higher Education, Storify 
57. [edited to add] October 13, 2013 Blackladies Reddit First Psychology Today, Now This?
58. [edited to add] October 13, 2013 Email of apology from Alan Weisleder, co-owner of Biology-online.org, to Dr. Danielle Lee.

[edited to add: SciAm apology post and those commenting on them] Relevant posts (which I will add to as I find them)

1. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Mariette DiChristina has published an explanation for Scientific American's removal of Danielle N. Lee's blog post.
2. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Callie Beuzman, Jezebel SciAm Apologizes for Deleting Blogger's Post on Being Called a "Whore".
3. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Ophelia Benson, Butterflies and Wheels, Scientific American Responds
4. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Greg Laden, Greg Laden's Blog, Scientific American Blogs Responds
5. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, David Kroll, Terra Sigillata, A View on Scientific American Blogs and Censorship of Dr. Danielle Lee
6. [edited to add] October 13, 2013, Rob Beschizza BoingBoing "Urban Whore" Train Wrecks Scientific American's Holiday Weekend
7. [edited to add] October 14, 2014, Honee_V, Biology-Online.Org, Apology to DNLee
8. [edited to add] October 14, 2013, Isis, Isis the Scientist Derailing and my final thoughts on Scientific American's Public Statement
9. [edited to add] October 14, 2013, Kate Clancy, Context and Variation, Why #StandingWithDLee's Orientation towards SciAm Was So Important
10. [edited to add] October 14, 2013, Daniel Lende, Neuroathropology, Lily White
11. [edited to add] October 14, 2013, Arturo R. Garcia, Racialicious, Scientific American Does Not Stand With DN Lee
12. [edited to add] October 14, 2013, Cedar Reiner, Cedar's Digest, On the benefits of "Overreaction" -- #IstandwithDNLee
13. [edited to add] October 14, 2013, SciCurious, The SciCurious Brain, Standing with DNLee5, Let's Get Voices Heard
14. [edited to add] October 14, 2013, Amanda Hess, XX Factor Slate, Scientific American's Troubling Response to Its Blogger Being Called "Urban Whore"
15. [edited to add] October 14, 2013, Ken Fisher, Ars Technica, For Shame:  Trolls Defeat Scientific American, Popular Science
16. [edited to add] October 14, 2013, Kristopher Hite, Tom Paine's Ghost,  Do Not F^ck With Science Writers
    

Bigger-Picture Posts Prompted by #StandingwithDNLee

1. [edited to add] October 14, 2013, Janet Stemwedel, Doing Good Science, The Ethics of Admitting You Messed Up
   
2. [edited to add] October 14, 2013, Melanie Tannebaum, PsySociety "But I Didn't Mean It!" Why it is So Hard To Prioritize Impacts Over Intentions 

Twitter hashtags:

• #standingwithDNLee
• #boycottSciAm
• #replaceyouscienceblogtitlewithwhore
• #IstandwithDNLeee

Gradient Lair taught me a useful word new to me: misogynoir

Huzzah! Square8 Has Returned to Blogging

One of my all-time favorite bloggers is and was Bev at Square8*.  Bev took a hiatus from blogging for a career-change, but she's back!

If you have a new autism diagnosis, or have a child newly diagnosed, reading through her archive might be really useful.  Some of the posts that have really advanced my understanding are:

• For Parents It's an introduction to neurodiversity and an introduction to why "cure" talk is so painful to autistics
• I Am Joe's Functioning Label High Functioning Autism (HFA)? Low Functioning Autism (LFA)? "I serve many purposes for people who like to discuss Joe. What I do for Joe himself is less clear, depending often on Joe’s Point of View."
• Scripted Language and Authenticity This essay touches on how a person's ability to use expressive language can vary, day by day, and some of the  functions scripted language can fulvill.

I had better stop, or I will end up indexing the whole of Square8.  But I find the categories Humor and Square Talk. 

Bev has four new posts up:

• Puzzling Excuse Number 128: It Doesn't Represent Autistic People, which is crossposted to the group blog (and project) unpuzzled.net, whose purpose is to collect work by autistic people and allies who oppose the use of the puzzle piece as a symbol for autism.
• Cripples, Idiots, Lepers and Freaks, the first part of Bev's distance participation in the 2012 CUNY Graduate Center English Student Association Conference, “Cripples, Idiots, Lepers, and Freaks: Extraordinary Bodies / Extraordinary Minds.” Bev promises more later.
• Attention a meditation on the month of April, and what needs to be done
• BADD: Connecting the Dots  BADD is the acronym for "Blogging Against Disablism Day" -- May 1st --and is in honor of Katie McCarron (2002-2006)

 

Go and read and laugh and be challenged and learn.

---

*formerly AspergersSquare8--she dropped the Aspergers when the news about the DSM5 dropping Asperger's as a diagnostic category came out.

A Confused Young Reporter Needs to Get Up to Speed on Social Media

(click to embiggen all images)

 Late Friday night (June 17, 2011) a young reporter for the Desert Times tried to make a to-do out of nothing, posting a story entitled Something odd afoot on @CalFireNews Twitter account, which began:

We were surprised to get an odd string of messages from Cal Fire last week — including one about cracking open a beer and another chatting about Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.

Oh dear, the young reporter failed to investigate.  If she had (say by clicking on the link at the  @CalFireNews twitter homepage), illustrated to the left, she would have found that @CalFireNews also has a website, and that website prominently displays the message:

CAL FIRE NEWS IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH CAL FIRE AND CONTAINS UNOFFICIAL FIRE AND DISASTER INFORMATION, NEWS, AND EDITORIAL OPINION
*INFORMATION PROVIDED RAW MAY NOT BE TIMELY OR UPDATED REGULARLY*

 

 

 

The young reporter could have used another tool, http://howlongontwitter.com/, and discovered (as I did, it only took a few seconds) that @CalFireNews has been on twitter since October 24, 2007; that @Cal_Fire and @CalFire_PIO (the official California Department of  Forestry twitter accounts) had been on twitter since February 18, 2009; and neither of the official counts are very active.

But she didn't. Instead she went on to write

@CalFireNews has posted nearly a whopping 50,000 tweets on Twitter so far.

Not so fast, says the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“That twitter acct is not run by us,” @CALFIRE_PIO, a spokesman for the fire department, told us via Twitter.

The Twitter profile offers no hint to @CalFireNews' real identity.

We're still waiting to see if the state will do anything to reclaim the Twitter name to protect its reputation — and the thousands of followers duped into reading its posts.

The only person duped is the naive (and, as least as far as investigative reporting goes, not very adept) young reporter.  She also needs to learn the difference between anonymity and pseudonymity.

Full story:

update: that "whopping" 50,000 tweets works out to about 38 tweets a day.  I know @CalFireNews has exceeded that daily average in an hour when there is important breaking news...like earthquakes or major fires.

When you introduce friends...

I got to have lunch today with three people I like and admire a lot: Sullivan, who blogs at LeftBrain/RightBrain, mostly on autism research, who I have known in real life for at least four years; Shannon des Roches Rosa (Squidalicious), and Jennifer Byde Myers (Into the Woods), who I have also known in real life for at least four years. (Shan, Jen & I are co-founders and editors of The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism.)

Here's the deal: Sullivan had never met Shannon & Jennifer  in real life before.  It was kind of like a group blind date.  It was great.

We met at Mudai, an outstanding Ethiopian restaurant in Silicon Valley.  It helped that the food was really, really good and we were sharing dishes.

And oh did we talk.  Things about autism in childhood.  Things food-related.  We shared photos of our children (well, grandchildren in my case). Things about the broader autism community.

It also helped that the four of us share a lot of values.

So the moral(s) of this little post is: if you get a chance, meet your blog-friends and online acquaintances in real life.  At a good restaurant.  For lunch.  You won't regret it.

Why I Won't Be Shutting Down on November 1

I have two lists going in this post: "Autistics Speaking Day" -- posts written by people with autism; and "Autism Shout Out" -- posts written by people who do not have autism but love and/or support people with autism.  If I've missed a link or otherwise erred: (best)-- leave a comment; email  [email protected], or tweet me --@lizditz.

If you don't know about the communication shut-down issue, scroll down to the bottom of the post and start reading there.

Today is November 1, 2010, Autistics Speaking Day: Posts by People With Autism

1.  Corina Becker: Communication Shutdown for Autism Awareness? No Thanks! 25 Things I Know as an Autistic Person, a guest post chez Steve Silberman
2. Autistic Speaking Out Loud by Corina Becker
3. Communication Shutdown? No by Kevin Healey
4. A Message to Buzz Aldrin by Paula C. Durban-Healy
5. Reflections on Autistics Speaking Day by Ari Ne'eman
6. Autistics Speaking Day Is Today by Katy at Katy Doesn't Live in Smithton
7. Autistics Speaking Day: Autism, Communication and the Internet by Dannilion
8. Autistics Speaking Day Post by Amanda Forest Vivian
9. Supporting Autistics Speaking Day  by AS Support Group Online
10. Squawk? by Bev at  Square 8
11. Autistics Speaking Day Post by Corabelle
12. Autistic Poetry by Darcy Clarisse Reed
13. Thom Part 2 by Heather Sedlock
14. Facebook Post by John Elder Robinson
15. Autistics Speaking Day: The Path to Understanding by Matt at Dude I'm An Aspie
16. WWP Poem #26: Back Door Blues by Nicole Nicholson at Raven's Wing Poetry
17. Autistics speaking day/ jour de parole pour les autistes by Ole Ferme l'Oeil at le pays des humains volants
18. Speaking My Mind and Heart by Rachel Cohen Rottenberg at Journeys with Autism
19. Celebrating Autism by Shanti at Platform 25
20. Autistics Spoke and You Listened by Julian Frost at AutismJungle
21. Open Letter to Buzz Aldrin by Alexander Cheezem at A View from the Boundaries
22. But You Look Normal by 3laine at ONE Autistic in Ireland
23. Reflections on fund-raising for autism & Ari Ne'man's message, by Clay at Comet's Corner
24. Autistics Speaking: It's All About Tolerance by blackbird3398 at A Bird in the Hand
25. Voices for Autistics Speaking Day: Alex Olinkiewicz at ThAutCast
26. Reclaiming Love by the Untoward Lady at Vibrating Square
27. Press Pound for More Options by Sandy at AspieTeacher
28. Autistic People Won't Participate in Shutdown Day by Zach at AspieWeb
29. We Need to Talk by Julia at Flashback Dream Sequence
30. Autistics Speaking Day by AS and Their Partners
31. Speaking Up For, and Busting Myths About, Autism by Codeman38 at Normal Is Overrated
32. Using Silence by Puddleglum at Puddleglum's Marsh

Today is November 1, 2010, Autism Shout Out: Posts by People Who Support People With Autism

1. Adventures in Extreme Parenting: Autism Shout Out
2. Autism Unexpected: Does Silence Promote Communication?
3. Spectrummy Mummy Social Networking
4. ASDMommy I Will Not Be Silent
5. Try Defying Gravity Voices Carry
6. Planet Josh  Picking a fight with a social media guru on twitter 
7. AS Parenting ASD: Autistics Speaking Day
8. Jen at The King and I Communication Shut Down Day for Autism-- Not for Me!
9. Gaynell at Wildflowers for Jade Autistics Speaking Day-- Autism Mom Speaking
10. Emily at A Life Less Ordinary? Autism and bullying
11. Kathleen at Autism Herd Autistic People Communicate
12. Sullivan at LeftBrain/RightBrain Catch Me on Facebook Today
13. Sullivan at LeftBrain/RightBrain Autistics Spoke and You Listened
14. Sunday Stillwell at Adventures in Extreme Parenting Autism ShoutOut Loud and Proud
15. Stacey Milbern at Cripchick Autism, Capitalism, and the Establishment
16. Sarah at Kitaiska Sandwich Autistics Speaking Day
17. Shoppin Queen Hell NO! I'm Not  Shut Down
18. Mike Stanton at Action for Autism Today is Autistics Speaking Day
19. Stimey at Stimeyland My Autism Shoutout
20. Hartley at Hartley's Life with Three Boys: Speak Loudly: Introducing My Contributors
21. Caitlin at Welcome to Normal: Advocating 101: How to Write a Letter

 

There's an Australian-based enterprise to "shut down" Twitter, Facebook, and other forms of social media on November 1. You can find the site at https://communicationshutdown.org/?view=home.

It's a global initiative to raise much-needed funds for autism groups in over 40 countries. By shutting down social networks for one day on November 1, we hope to encourage a greater understanding of people with autism who find social communication a challenge.

I think that the organization's intentions are good, but misguided.

I won't be participating.

I think it perpetuates the stereotype that people with autism "don't communicate" or can't speak for themselves.

Others who will be speaking up on November 1.  I encourage you to go visit each of these blogs and study their reasons for speaking up.

Update: for those of you who use twitter, there are two hashtags in play: #AutisticsSpeakingDay (for people with autism participating in social media on November 1) and #AutismShoutOut (for autism allies on the day)

Even if you don't use Twitter, you can see what is going on by going to

• http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23AutisticsSpeakingDay
• http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23ASDay
• Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Autistics-Speaking-Day/162932960394619?ref=mf&v=wall

There is an allied twitter hashtag, #AutismShoutOut, which you can track at http://twitter.com/search?q=%23autismshoutout

(I will be silently adding to this list as I find new posts)

1. Corina Becker, a woman with autism, http://nostereotypeshere.blogspot.com/2010/10/real-communication-shutdown.html
2. Corina Becker,  on the design above  http://nostereotypeshere.blogspot.com/2010/10/autistics-speaking-day.html
3. Emily Willingham, parent of children with autism http://daisymayfattypants.blogspot.com/2010/10/no-im-not-going-silent-for-autism.html
4. JHolverstott, autism spectrum specialist,  http://jholverstott.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/forget-the-communication-shutdown-heres-how-to-build-awareness/
5. Rachel B. Cohen-Rottenberg, woman with autism, http://www.journeyswithautism.com/2010/10/22/speak-up-on-november-1st/
6. Woman With Asperger's, http://womanwithaspergers.com/2010/10/20/why-communication-shutdown-day-is-a-bad-idea-and-what-you-can-do-instead/
7. Astrid van Woerkom, woman with autism,  http://astridvanwoerkom.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/speak-up-on-shutdown/
8. Kim Wombles, parent of children with autism, http://kwomblescountering.blogspot.com/2010/10/in-which-i-get-pissed-off-not-shutting.html
9. Autism Blogs Directory http://autismblogsdirectory.blogspot.com/2010/10/not-going-silent-on-november-1.html
10. Stuart Duncan, parent of a child with autism, http://www.stuartduncan.name/autism-awareness-2/communication-shutdown-why-ill-be-online-nov-1st/
11. Jason Ross, man with autism, http://drivemomcrazy.com/2010/communication-shutdown-november-1-is-it-really-necessary/
12. Mike Stanton, parent of a young adult with autism  http://actionforautism.co.uk/2010/10/24/
13. Sunday Stillwell, parent of  children with autism, http://www.extremeparenthood.com/2010/10/autism-shoutout.html
14. Elise, parent of young men with autism, http://asd2mom.blogspot.com/2010/10/october-happiness-project-friends-also.html
15. Ellen, mother of a child with CP and speech/language issues, http://lovethatmax.blogspot.com/
16. Matt Yusuf Smith, http://www.blogistan.co.uk/blog/mt.php/2010/10/19/communication-shutdown-for-autism-a-bad-idea
17. The Coffee Klatch, a special-needs blogging and tweeting collective, will be running a 24-hour "Communicate to Educate" tweet chat http://thecoffeeklatchblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/communicate-to-educate-24-hour-autism.html
18. Tammy at Autism Learning Felt http://www.autismlearningfelt.com/2010/10/all-bloggers-unite-for-autism.html
19. Happy13, mother of a child with autism http://happy13-waitwhat.blogspot.com/
20. K Bjornstat, woman with autism http://autistickat.blogspot.com/2010/10/autistics-speaking-day.html
21. The Autistics Speaking Up Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140107279369668
22. Corabelle, woman with autism http://aspiegirlworld.blogspot.com/2010/10/speak-up-on-nov-1st.html
23. 3laine, woman with autism, http://one-autistic-in-ireland.blogspot.com/2010/10/silence-speaks-autistics-speak-louder.html
24. karin, woman with autism, http://bewaretheaspie.blogspot.com/2010/10/1-november-autistics-speaking-day.html
25. Ken G., man with autism, http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=20840
26. Heather Sedlock, parent of children with autism, http://www.examiner.com/special-needs-kids-in-national/autism-conversations
27. Blackbird3398, person with autism, http://blackbird3398.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/speak-up/
28. Mum Accepting Autism, parent of a child with autism, http://bbsmum.blogspot.com/2010/10/shutting-up-not-shutting-down.html

Note:

• Terry Mauro at About.com:Special Needs Children has two blog posts (one, two) covering the issue.  She is not claiming to participate in Communications Shutdown or the alternative #AutisticsSpeakingDay (for people with autism participating in social media on November 1) and #AutismShoutOut (for autism allies on the day)

The Facebook Privacy Problem and What To Do About It

I'm not that active on Facebook, but I've been dimly aware of the evolving privacy problems. I haven't decided whether to delete my FB account.  I am going to follow Bobbi L. Newman's how-to, and possibly more.

How-tos and groups on quitting facebook

• April 20 2010 from Consumerist How To Delete Your Facebook Account
• April 22 2010 from Bobbi L. Newman at Librarian By Day How To Opt Out of Facebook's New Instant Personalization
• May 5 2010 from Jason Perlow: Lockdown or Death for your facebook profile
• May from Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols at PCWorld How to keep your privacy safe(r) on Facebook
• May 10 2010 from Read Write Web How To Delete Your Facebook Account
• Facebook Group: June 15 -- Delete Your Facebook Account Day
• Facebook Group: 1,000,000 to leave Facebook by July 4
  
• Facebook Group 20.10 2010

Sources (in no particular order)

• July 16, 2009: Report on Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) complaint against Facebook
• April 26, 2010 from Dan Yoder at Rocket.ly: Top Ten Reasons You Should Quit Facebook
• May 2 2010 from Adrian Perez at PrimeVector  Why I Cancelled My Facebook Account
• May 3 2010 from ReubenR at Deobfusticate:  Facebook's Anti-privacy monopoly
• May 5 2010 from Dan Yoder at Rocket.ly You Should Still Quit Facebook
• May 6 2010 from Heather Kelly and Nick Mediati at MacWorld Facebook Secretly Adding Apps
• May 7 2010  Goodbye, Facebook
• May 11 2010 Facebook Executive Answers Readers' Questions (NYT)
• May 13 2010 from JR Raphael at PCWorld: Facebook and Privacy: What A Mess
• ACLU's Petition: Facebook Privacy Petition
• Creating a Network Like Facebook, Only Private (NYT):
• Diaspora
• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Coverage
• • December 9 2009 Facebook's New Privacy Changes: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
  • April 19 2010 Facebook Reduces User Privacy Controls
  • April 28 2010 Facebook's  Eroding Privacy Policy: A Timeline
  • April 29 2010 Facebook's "Evil Interfaces"
  • May 4 2010 Six Things You Need To Know About Facebook Connections
  • May 13 2010 Facebook Should Follow Its Own Principles
• Partial List of Boing Boing Coverage
• • December 6 2008: Facebook and the Social Dynamics of Privacy
  • January 11 2010 Interview with Facebook employee raises further concerns
  • April 20 2010  Facebook further reduces privacy controls for users
  • April 24 2010 Facebook's eroding privacy policies (timeline)
  • April 29 2010 What data  does Facebook publish about you?
  • May 3 2010 Infographic: Facebook's  "anti-privacy monopoly"
  • May 7 2010 Emails Facebook sends leak user IP address
  • May 11 2010 Go Ahead, Quit Facebook, but they'll they'll retain and data mine your info