Category Archives: Human Behavior

Human Behavior

Sundance 2020 Review: Edson Oda’s Nine Days Offers a Rare and Special Time to Reflect – The Moveable Fest

Were making a moment, Kyo (Benedict Wong) tells Emma (Zazie Beetz), as hes building a wooden frame to hang a screen on in Nine Days, a physical effort to facilitate a psychological response not unlike the one Edson Oda undertakes in his provocative and ultimately deeply edifying feature debut. Emma has found her way into one of the back rooms in the house of Will (Winston Duke), an administrator of sorts a cog in the wheel, he says when one of hIs guests essentially asks if hes a god who operates a way station for a collection of souls looking to be attached to a corporeal body in the physical world. The supernatural conceit is largely limited to verbal description in Odas drama, which imagines the privilege of life as as a job that requires an interview, and over the course of nine days, Will narrows down potential prospects to one hell send to terra firma, a place hes been himself and was enormously disappointed by.

The wooden frame is being prepared for the first to be dismissed in Nine Days, made to simulate a scene from someone elses life that they were most taken by on the many screens Will has set up in the house to keep tabs on all those hes sent onto the next level, and while this marks the end of the road for someone who wont get the chance to really live, it is the starting block for Odas architectural marvel in terms of opening up the mind as the writer/director has made something strong enough to let the films considerable artifice to fall away to begin to ponder questions about the meaning of life and how much human behavior can ever be accounted for and predicted by someone living outside of anothers experience. Although Dukes Will is the sturdy center of Nine Days, the wonderfully curious Beetz proves to be an ideal avatar for an audience in a film that continually raises so many big ideas playing Emma, the most difficult of the candidates for Will to get a sense of before making his choice. Shes joined in the house by Maria (Arianna Ortiz), Mike (David Rhysdahl), Alex (Tony Hale) and Cain (Bill Skarsgard), all unsure of how to respond to Will, who never articulates what hes looking for, though a sense of toughness seems to be a necessity, especially as its gradually revealed that he may have been assigned his own job by not having enough of it.

Besides the philosophical questions raised by the premise, Nine Days also begs for a few about Wills literal place in the grander scheme of things, but Oda constructs an alternate universe cohesive and awesome enough to keep those at bay until well after the film has ended, if at all, and never shrinks from the boldness from the ideas hes putting forth. The airy cinematography of Wyatt Garfield and Antonio Pintos heavenly score open the film up to the heights that few ever even attempt to reach, and while Oda explores the increasingly weighty decisions Will makes as he becomes aware of choices hes made that havent worked out as he expected, the film manages the exact right lightness of touch to take hold. Nine Days may tell a story of those awaiting their time to live, but as an experience, it is alive with possibility and wonderment.

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Sundance 2020 Review: Edson Oda's Nine Days Offers a Rare and Special Time to Reflect - The Moveable Fest

Human Behavior

Letter to the Editor: Crashes Are No Accident – Bay Net

Dear Editor, January 1, 2020 marked the beginning of a new year, and while it often signals a fresh start for many, it also brought about the same heart-wrenching headlines we have all become too familiar with.

Within the first week of the year, seven pedestrians were hit in three separate incidents in Essex, Columbia and Aspen Hill. Four of the victims were children, three of which were killed and the other critically injured. Days later, a Waldorf man was killed in a crash in Prince Georges County and a woman died after a two-vehicle crash in Frederick County. These are just a few of the multiple tragedies that have already happened on Maryland roads this year. Over the last decade, Maryland has averaged more than 500 fatalities, including more than 100 pedestrians, and thousands of injuries, each year as the result of motor vehicle crashes. But those figures are more than just numbers theyre mothers, fathers, children, siblings, friends, and coworkers.

We often hear the word accident when referring to a motor vehicle crash. Using that word suggests that the incident was unavoidable and no one is to blame, but in reality, 94 percent of roadway fatalities and injuries can be attributed to human behavior. The most common contributing factors to a fatality or injury in a motor vehicle crash are driving while impaired, speeding, driving distracted or failure to wear a seat belt all behaviors that can be changed.

Last year, the Maryland legislature enacted a bill that set a goal of zero motor vehicle fatalities in the state by 2030. That goal can only be attained by all of us realizing that we each have a responsibility to make the safest choices we can.

As drivers, park the phone, slow down, never driver impaired, look out for bicyclists and pedestrians and buckle up in every seat, every time. Look out for our first responders and fellow drivers who may be pulled over on the side of the roadway.

As pedestrians, be visible to drivers, look both ways before crossing, and cross the street at crosswalks and intersections.

As bicyclists, obey traffic signs and signals, wear a helmet and use lights at night when visibility is poor.

Lets change the conversation: motor vehicle crashes are no accident. They can be prevented, and we all have a responsibility to each other to make sure we make it home safely throughout 2020.

-Sincerely, Chrissy Nizer MDOT MVA Administrator

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Letter to the Editor: Crashes Are No Accident - Bay Net

Human Behavior

Being angry? That’s being human – The Riverdale Press

To the editor:

(re: Anger is just not the way to go, Dec. 19)

Anger is one of the basic human emotions, as elemental as happiness, sadness, anxiety or disgust.

These emotions are tied to basic survival, and were honed over the course of human history. Anger is related to the fight, flight or freeze response of the sympathetic nervous system. It prepares humans to fight. But fighting doesnt necessarily mean throwing punches. It might motivate communities to combat injustice by changing laws or enforcing new behavioral norms.

Of course, anger too easily or frequently mobilized can undermine relationships, and it can be deleterious to bodies in the long term. Prolonged release of the stress hormone that accompanies anger can destroy neurons in areas of the brain associated with judgment and short-term memory, and weaken the immune system.

Everyone knows the feeling. Its that rage that rises when a driver is cut off on the highway, and just wants to floor it and flip the bird. Anger doesnt dissipate just because it is unleashed. In fact, that can reinforce and deepen it.

Like all emotions, anger should be monitored via self-awareness, lest it cause self-harm or erupt into hostile, aggressive or even violent behavior toward others. Support groups for anger management are available in many cities.

In group or individual settings, cognitive restructuring may be helpful as it coaches patients on re-framing unhealthy, inflammatory thoughts.

Howard Cohn

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Being angry? That's being human - The Riverdale Press

Human Behavior

Calling BS on the security skills shortage – VentureBeat

Much has been made of the security skills shortage over the last few years. In headlines, at conferences, and in survey after survey, warnings are popping up, all with the same dire predictions: There are more and more ways for hackers to breach digital gates and not enough gatekeepers out there to stop them.

Theres no disputing we have more open security positions than we have available applicants to fill them. And, at first glance, the statistics are staggering: 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs will be available yet unfilled by 2021, despite ransomware attacks growing 350% year-over-year. Thats certainly cause for concern especially as attackers become more sophisticated, creating new techniques and approaches to overcome barriers intended to block them. But placing blame squarely on a security skills shortage overlooks the real issue at hand.

What we have in this industry isnt a skills shortage. Its a creativity problem in hiring. To close the existing talent gap and attract more candidates to the field, we need to do more to uncover potential applicants from varied backgrounds and skill sets, instead of searching for nonexistent unicorn candidates people with slews of certifications (like CISSP, CompTIAPenTest+, CySA+, CASP+, CEH, CISSP and CISM), long tenures in the industry (10+ or, in some cases, 20+ years of experience longer than most relevant technology has been around), and specialized skills in not one, but several, tech stacks and disciplines (from cloud security to app sec and compliance).

But how? By dropping the secret-handshake-society mindset that enables a lack of diversity in the workforce, deters new entrants to the field, and, ultimately, undermines our ability to stay secure in the long run.

Hiring a security team that thinks the same, is educated the same, and looks and talks the same leads to blind spots. Yet cybersecurity is wrapped up in an air of mystique, from the words we use (malware, ransomware, cryptojacking, encryption) to the image we present (shadowy figures in hoodies). And that reputation, as an exclusive, elite club has allowed hiring across the board to become homogeneous. According to a recent global study, 89% of the cybersecurity industry is male, with less than a third from underrepresented groups. And, only 7% of cybersecurity pros are under the age of 29.

Part of the problem is a lack of awareness about cybersecurity as a viable career path for candidates inside and outside of tech, largely due to our longstanding cloak and dagger approach to what we do. If you asked most folks outside of the industry what the work of a cybersecurity professional entails, Id imagine very few would be able to tell you. That needs to change. Expanding our recruiting pool and increasing the size of our talent pipeline starts with dropping our dark arts attitude and making security more accessible and easily understood whether its through increased visibility at job fairs and career days at a range of institutions, building a pipeline of mentorship programs, or hosting inter-departmental workshops and information sessions.

To reel in more candidates, we need to be verbose about the day-to-day responsibilities of the job, articulate a path for career growth, and dispel the lone wolf stereotype that permeates this line of work. The more we step out of the shadows and make cybersecurity more approachable, the easier it is for people to understand what a career in cybersecurity actually entails which, in turn, enables them to see themselves working in our industry.

Of course, a large part of the puzzle is expanding our hiring funnel by recruiting outside of our narrow channel of established candidates. Security wins when its multi-disciplinary and when we hire people from varied backgrounds. Yet we, as an industry, over-index on pedigree and certifications all the time, even though some of the greatest minds in our field dont have certifications, or for that matter, college degrees. Ive seen it happen firsthand a hiring committee more willing to hire candidates with a degree from an elite university and a splashy tech internship under their belt than a career changer from a separate, yet related, field. Ive even experienced it in my own career, with a startup manager once telling me to my face that I didnt look like security despite a resume and a computer engineering degree that said otherwise.

Cybersecurity isnt sorcery. Security-specific skills can be taught. We need to do away with narrow criteria for who will be a good fit for many security roles and shift the way we evaluate resumes so that we look critically at what a candidate is capable or doing instead of looking solely at what theyve already done. Too often, we look externally for certain skill sets to be filled before a candidate gets to us, either via degrees, certifications, or completed coursework. But the pool of talent that already has those skills is too small. To create the talent supply to fill demand, we need to reach talent that has the aptitude and ability to learn and apply the necessary skills for the job. That means organizations need to get creative and develop their own learning and development initiatives for skill-building, whether its a large-scale training initiative aimed at career changers, or something as simple as hosting workshops, meetups, lunch-and-learns, or informational office hours.

De-emphasizing degrees and certifications in job postings levels the playing field and creates more opportunities for diamond-in-the-rough candidates to stand out to hiring managers. Case in point: One of the best and brightest security professionals I ever mentored started her career as a front desk receptionist. She didnt have the credentials that other cybersecurity professionals had starting out, but she was used to understanding the nuances of human behavior and picking up on anomalies, a critical skill for cybersecurity experts. With guidance and mentoring, she has gone on to become a senior technical program manager in information security.

Rethinking the way we evaluate resumes also means a shift in how we write job posts and how we evaluate candidates once they walk in the door. That means incorporating a first-principles problem-solving approach to recruiting. Oftentimes we ask, What do we think this job opening should be, and has a candidate done that job elsewhere before? Instead, we should ask, What is this person going to do? What is their job going to be? And how should we test for that job?

Inclusive language has been shown, across the board, to increase the quality and depth of talent, with Deloitte indicating companies that harness inclusive talent and recruiting strategies have 30% higher revenue per employee than those that dont. Cybersecurity shouldnt be any different. When it comes to job postings, the language we use should be aimed at drawing people in, instead of blocking people out. That starts with incorporating inclusive and easily-understood language (eg: Develop easy-to-use tools and light-weight processes that will help our engineers seamlessly write secure code.), instead of implicit messages that dissuade candidates from applying (eg: leading with years of experience requirements, or a laundry list of security-specific buzzwords that are indecipherable to most of the outside world).

But adding inclusive language to job posts only goes so far. Once candidates arrive on-site, replacing traditional, academic skills tests with interactive exercises and values and motivations assessments can go a long way in enabling hiring managers to explore and evaluate a candidates ability to find real-world solutions, both on their own and alongside the teams theyd be working with. That way, we assess candidates for true security mindset and problem-solving skills, beyond their ability to manage security tools.

Cybersecurity doesnt have a skills shortage. We have a culture problem that manifests in the ways we source and recruit talent. By removing barriers to entry, prioritizing potential over pedigree, and re-engineering the way we recruit and interview candidates, we can welcome more cybersecurity professionals into the herd instead of continuing the ongoing unicorn hunt that will get us nowhere.

Fredrick Flee Lee is CISO of Gusto.

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Calling BS on the security skills shortage - VentureBeat

Human Behavior

Why is there so much confusion with the signs of the Zodiac? Yours may not be the one you think – Sportsfinding

Everyone knows that according to the date on which a person was born, a Zodiac sign is assigned. Each of them influences a person's personality and way of acting, but not everyone believes that this is possible. Even so, each person knows what their zodiac symbol is, and yet the thing can change after a fact that we have long passed.

In ancient times, realizing that around the sun the same constellations crossed the sky and believe that their position affected human behavior, experts determined that according to the date on which a person was born would have one sign or another. As a consequence, 12 signs of the Zodiac were determined, the same number of signs that there are at present, but that are not the same as at that time.

Among the original signs of the Zodiac was Ophiuchus. The problem that this sign is currently unknown is due to the desire of a famous historical figure. Julio Csar wanted to have his own sign and from there Libra was born. However, to include it the number of signs amounted to 13 and from that time that number was bad luck. To solve it, they removed Ophiuchus to return to his initial number of 12.

To this fact it must be added that, when determining the dates that mark a sign of the Zodiac, the equinoxes must be taken into account and how the appearance of constellations varies over time. So as a consequence, the signs of the Zodiac are not what we really think. Each sign belongs to the following dates:

Aries: From April 19 to May 14

Taurus: From May 14 to June 21

Gemini: From June 21 to July 21

Cancer: From July 21 to August 11

Leo: From August 11 to September 16

Virgo: From September 16 to October 31

Pound: From October 31 to November 23

Scorpio: From November 23 to November 29

Ophiuchus: From November 29 to December 18

Sagittarius: From December 18 to January 19

Capricorn: From January 19 to February 16

Aquarium: From February 16 to March 12

Pisces: From March 12 to April 19

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Why is there so much confusion with the signs of the Zodiac? Yours may not be the one you think - Sportsfinding

Human Behavior

Are you an economist or psychologist? Valve wants to work with you newsdio – NewsDio

If you've always wanted to work for a game developer but you don't have the talent or technical skills to become a designer, I have good news: Valve is looking to fill a range of new positions, and not all of them require a Design Portfolio.

As reported by The Loadout, Valve is announcing a series of vacancies, which include a handful of positions that cannot be expected, including an internal economist, a psychologist and a statistician.

Detailed ads and personal specifications offer a rare view of Valve and its current priorities, not only in game design, but also in other aspects of its business, from human resources to data analysis.

"To create exceptional products that people will use and appreciate, we need to know about human behavior and the underlying motivations and influences on how and why people do what they do," says a job announcement that seeks to recruit a psychologist. "We believe that all game designers are, in a sense, experimental psychologists. That is why we are looking for an experimental psychologist with superior research skills to apply knowledge and methodologies from psychology to game design and all aspects of Valve operations ".

"We want to take advantage of your experience with experimental design, research methods, statistics and human behavior to help create even more compelling gaming experiences for future Valve titles. We also hope you investigate and evaluate each and every one of the issues which are relevant to improve the experiences of our customers, partners and employees, "he adds.

"One thing we have in Valve is the data. Lots and lots of data," added another looking for an economist. "We are looking for an experienced economist to help us take advantage of all that information to improve our clients' experiences and make better decisions."

You think you have what it takes? Go to the Valve mini racing site and submit your request. Good luck!

In other news from Valve, when the developer officially unveiled Half-Life: Alyx at the end of last year, perhaps there was a little skepticism that the game would meet its expected release date for March 2020, perfectly understandable given Waiting for twelve years between series installments However, Valve has confirmed that he is "sure" that Alyx will launch on time.

That reassuring information comes from courtesy of a new AMA (short for Ask Me Anything, if not familiar) in Reddit, in which Robin Walker de Valve, Jamaal Bradley, David Feise, Greg Coomer, Corey Peters, Erik Wolpaw, Tristan Reidford, Chris Remo, Jake Rodkin and Kaci Aitchison Boyle answered community questions about the game.

"With the exception of some adjustments in the absolute final scene," Valve explained, "the game is made. Many of us in Valve, as well as the test players, have played the entire game several times."

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Are you an economist or psychologist? Valve wants to work with you newsdio - NewsDio

Human Behavior

The surveillance-industrial complex is targeting our kids – MinnPost

MinnPost photo by Tony Nelson

Minnetonka Public Schools Superintendent Dennis Peterson signed a three-year contract, at $23,500 annually, with a company that pledged to alert the district to threats shared publicly.

A few months ago, MinnPost reported on a concerning contract between Social Sentinel (a surveillance company) and Minnetonka Public Schools that largely went under the radar. A growing number of surveillance and data-sharing efforts have emerged in the Twin Cities in recent years using a mix of tactics to spy on youth. Tapping into public fears related to school shootings, bullying, and unfounded fears regarding the threat of terrorism, surveillance efforts have become rationalized as an acceptable prevention practice at the expense of young peoples civil rights and free expression. The idea that patterns of behavior can be tracked and used to identify the warning signs of potential violence continues to have a firm footing within our school system.

Tracking of behavior classification, intervention, and academic performance are now becoming the basis for surveillance of youth with unaddressed needs. Measures like these further distance us from addressing the root causes that fuel crime and incarceration. It is an investment in the permanence of rigid inequities and continued reliance on punitive measures. In lieu of an investment in qualitative approaches to community and relationship, there is now an incentive to militarize the relationship between young people and those whove promised to protect them. What this does is serve the interest of corporate analytics companies and law enforcement bodies by well-meaning school administrators who are in search of low-cost ways to promote safety at the expense of students greater well-being. The missing piece is the aim to address the needs of children/youth and their families. In these quiet, seemingly innocuous ways, the unobjectionable language of surveillance has crept into our schools.

Here are some examples of how surveillance has materialized in our schools in addition to Minnetonka Public Schools agreement with social media surveillance firm Social Sentinel:

We believe these aforementioned programs are indicative of surveillance systems due to a number of characteristics, including:

The stated purpose behind many of these efforts is to streamline the availability of services for communities experiencing disparities or inequities. The optimistic take on this would have us believe that the algorithms on which these programs are built are objective and evidence-based. Experience tells us otherwise.

Instead, algorithmic decisions are the product of inputs which themselves are premised on biased information, and often lead to silly interpretations. Consider this fact from the Brennan Center for Justice: Algorithmic tone and sentiment analysis, which senior DHS officials have suggested is being used to analyze social media, is even less accurate. One tool flagged posts in English by black and Hispanic users like Bored af den my phone finna die!!!! (which can be loosely translated as Im bored as f*** and then my phone is going to die) as Danish with 99.9 percent confidence.

Writer and philosopher Emma Goldman once said, A society gets all the criminals it deserves. What she meant, of course, is that criminality is defined by the powers-that-be, and in some societies, that they mirror the values, biases, and priorities of those in power. Put simply, what we invest in says a lot about what and who we value, as well as the ways in which conversations around public safety are framed to tee up policies/practices around security. The fact that our schools continue to invest heavily in surveillance efforts says more about our distrust of children/youth and our commitment to cultivating the cradle-to-prison algorithm. Because it is easier to fix broken people than to do the work of transforming a broken system, those in power are exploiting the struggles of some students mostly poor youth of color to justify disproportionate scrutiny.

Ramla Bile

Dominique Diaddigo-Cash

In fact, the Brennan Center reports that social media monitoring has been used to target racial and religious minorities, and to police speech that is seen as dissent. From the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to the current Black Lives Matter movement (labeled Black identity extremists), activists have been targeted by law enforcement bodies through surveillance tactics at the expense of the civil, political, and human rights. In the early adoption of programs such as the one in Minnetonka, little consideration has been given to the impact of such programs on the civil rights of children, youth, and their families, particularly since:

Kids do better when they are connected to caring adults, and when we can create a community of belonging that embraces the whole child. We cant replace the need for human-to-human connection with analytics systems. And while private corporations rush in with prescribed solutions to the behavior problem with no lens for equity or racial analysis on how surveillance works, were exposing our children to law enforcement. In addition to grossly violating the privacy of children/youth, we need to acknowledge that surveillance is a form of systemic racism. Institutional surveillance is a leading contributor to mass incarceration. Normalizing such practices minimizes the harmful impact of surveillance.

Ramla Bile is a Twin Cities-based writer and activist who challenges the surveillance apparatus and the ways systems criminalize BIPOC communities. Dominique Diaddigo-Cash is a writer and community organizer whose life and work explores the impacts of state violence on marginalized peoples and identities.

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The surveillance-industrial complex is targeting our kids - MinnPost

Human Behavior

Common ground is harder to find, but worth seeking – Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Life experiences shape how we see ourselves and how we as a people relate to one another.

In earlier times, those life experiences were similar among those who lived in a certain area or even in a particular country. People rarely traveled any significant distances and spent their lives in the same area among the same people with whom they had much in common. Thus was born the concept of community, though humans being humans, there likely were disagreements. Still, similar experiences led to a common theme, a common purpose, an understanding of one another, a bond.

As they were forming a new country, most Americans in the 19th century traced their roots to northern Europe, with the exception of Africans brought here as slaves, and the culture was mostly agrarian. In 1900, despite the advent of the Industrial Revolution, a majority of Americans still lived in rural areas.

But change was coming. U.S. cities grew by 15 million people from 1880 to 1900 with much of the growth fueled by a massive influx of immigrants. According to the website History.com, some 20 million people came to the United States between 1880 and 1920, most from central, eastern and southern Europe. Included in that group were more than 4 million Italians. The Jewish population also grew dramatically with some 2 million coming in that same time frame, many fleeing religious persecution.

These changes meant people who spoke a different language, practiced a different religion and celebrated different holidays were now a part of the American fabric.

Still, some things stayed the same. Most households included a married couple and a number of children. The men farmed or worked for a paycheck to support the family and the women took care of the children and managed the household. Life expectancy in 1900 was much lower than today, with men living to an average of 43 years and women two years longer. Most of their lives was consumed by raising children.

A notable group of Americans, former African slaves and their offspring, did not benefit from the changes that were lifting much of America to a higher standard of living as the 20th century dawned. Discriminatory laws and practices kept them separate from their fellow Americans and thus they created a culture all their own. They shared a common history and a common reality.

The same was true, to a lesser degree, of many of the immigrant groups that tended to live near one another and shared a life filled with similar experiences. Still, most Americans lived lives that resembled one another.

Keeping a family going was an all-consuming task, but what little leisure time was available was often spent with neighbors and relatives who usually lived nearby and had shared experiences. People ate the same food, read the same newspapers, celebrated the same occasions, followed the same baseball teams and attended the same churches.

With the advent of radio, families would gather around to listen to the same programs. Television had a similar effect on family life and people across the country now were seeing the same programs and news reports. Their view of the larger world was shaped by these shared experiences.

All that seems so quaint today. Families are smaller and far less similar. In 1960, 73% of children lived in a family with a mother and father married for the first time. The Pew Research Center reports that percentage has fallen to 46 today.

At the same time, the information age has brought a wide range of vehicles for communication. Neilsen reports that Americans aged 18 and older spend more than four hours a day watching television and three hours interacting with their smartphones. But with a proliferation of cable television, streaming services and social media, there is no common experience. Newspaper circulation has fallen dramatically in recent years and fewer people are attending religious services.

Diversity can be seen as a good thing. In fact, a Pew Research Center report released last May indicated that 57% of Americans believe a diverse population is a very good thing for the country and another 20% say this is somewhat good.

That is encouraging news, but more than ever America has become a nation of many perspectives born of different life experiences. The challenge comes in finding consensus on issues including how the nation should be governed, what is acceptable human behavior and how thorny issues should be resolved.

Our future as a nation depends on finding common ground on what it means to be American while still honoring the lives, beliefs and traditions of all people.

Kathy Silverberg is former publisher of the Herald-Tribunes southern editions. She can be reached at kathy.silverberg@comcast.net or followed on Twitter @kdsilver.

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Common ground is harder to find, but worth seeking - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Human Behavior

Philadelphia looks to evidence-based insights to inform policy – Penn: Office of University Communications

Philadelphia city employees as well as researchers from Penn and other institutions around the city and country gathered on Jan. 24 for a conference aimed at providing evidence-based insights from social science that could be put to work to benefit the city.

The GovLabPHL conference, Bridging Evidence and Policy in Philadelphia, was a daylong event hosted by Penns Fels Institute of Government and sponsored by the City of Philadelphia and the School of Arts and Sciences.

The conference, held at Perry World House sprang out of the Philadelphia Behavioral Science Initiative (PBSI), which was established in 2016 as a partnership between academics and the City of Philadelphia. The focus is on strengthening the citys external research partnerships and its ability to apply behavioral science in local government. In 2017, Mayor Jim Kenney supported the creation of GovLabPHL, led by the Mayors Policy Office, to expand the citys commitment to evaluation and practical use of data. Its led by Anjali Chainani, Kenneys director of policy, and co-founded by Daniel Hopkins, a professor in the Political Science Department in Penns School of Arts and Sciences.

Too often, researchers and policymakers can work on the same problem but in very different silos, and the practical knowledge about what actually works in policymaking doesn't make it back to university-based researchers. Through the Philadelphia Behavioral Science Initiative, we've been building a bridge between academic researchers and policymakers to close those gaps, Hopkins said. We were able to invite in something of a dream team of academic researchers doing actionable, policy-relevant research. I think many attendees left inspired to try new ideas and to deepen these ties between Penn, other local colleges and universities, and the City."

PBSI and GovLabPHL are working towards sustaining culture change within local government where we think about evaluation at the onset of a program of policy. We owe it the residents of our city to demonstrate how their taxpayer dollars are working and how we are using data to make continuous improvements. This annual conference creates a learning opportunity for city employees to bring common municipal challenges and hear from leading researchers about what has proven to work in other contexts, Chainani said.

Mariele McGlazer, the citys GovLabPHL manager and a student in the Fels Executive masters of public administration program, moderated the days event.

This was our fourth annual conference, and we were delighted to have another opportunity to invite academics and city workers to share ideas on how to tackle some of our toughest challenges and bring to the mayors policy priorities into reality, McGlazer said.

During his first term as mayor, Kenney enacted a tax on sweetened beverages that he saw as a way to help lift citizens out of poverty by improving early childhood education and rebuilding and renovating recreation centers, parks, and libraries.

Because of the tax, more than 6,000 3- and 4-year-olds gained access to pre-K, and 17 new schools serving 9,500 students were created, Kenney said.

The city also initiated work at 60 parks, recreation centers, playgrounds, and libraries through the Rebuild program. Philadelphia schools were also returned to local control and more than $1.2 billion in new money was invested by the city schools, Kenney told the attendees.

Still, the city has a lot of work to do fighting poverty, opioid addiction, and gun violence and continuing to improve public schools, and those will be the focus of his current and final term, he said.

Philadelphia is the poorest big city in the nation and had 356 homicides in 2019, up from 353 the year before, according to Philadelphia Police Department data.

Even my mother says to me, you should smile more. But when Im dealing with the things were dealing with, the poverty and addiction and violence, its hard to be happy, Kenney told the crowd at the start of the conference. But then I come into a room like this and I see all these dedicated public servants and others who are interested in government and public service here to help. Im smart but Im certainly not the smartest person in this room and that makes me feel good, that there are a lot smarter people in this room who really want to make our city the best it can be. Im really grateful to you and grateful to your commitment to making this work and hope that together well get there.

Among the speakers was Sendhil Mullainathan, the Roman Family University Professor of Computation and Behavioral Science at the University of Chicagos Booth School of Business. His current research uses machine learning to understand complex problems in human behavior, social policy, and especially medicine; Sara Goldrick-Rab, professor of higher education policy and sociology at Temple University, best known for her research on food and housing insecurity in higher education; and Jamila Michener, an assistant professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University who studies American politics with a focus on the political causes and consequences of poverty and racial inequality.

Philadelphia has long had a high poverty rate, and we certainly cant outspend cities like New York or San Francisco. But we can still compete. The way we can do so is partly by making use of the resources at our great universities here. Places like Penn and Temple, Swarthmore and Villanova, St. Joes and so many other local colleges and universities, Hopkins said. These universities are full of researchers who want to know what works, who want to know which of their ideas can actually translate into practice. We want to improve the city that we call home. Through this sustained partnership, Mayor Kenney is giving us that opportunity and we are deeply grateful.

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Philadelphia looks to evidence-based insights to inform policy - Penn: Office of University Communications

Human Behavior

Brazils First Indigenous Congresswoman Wants Her Government to Save the Amazon – NowThis

Jonia Wapixana is a lawyer, Brazils first Indigenous congresswoman, and president of the National Commission for the Defense of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Wapixana started her term in February 2019. She has vowed to fight for Brazils Indigenous people and their land, which President Jair Bolsonaro has threatened with economic and commercial development plans.

More than 900,000 Indigenous people live in Brazilabout 98% of their land lies within the Amazon, where they continually protect and preserve the land.

Deforestation in the Amazon surged 30% between August 2018 and July 2019, and 2019 saw an 80% increase in fires in Brazil more than half of which were in the Amazon. Experts attribute the widespread burning to weakened protections under Bolsonaro and illegal deforestation.

Wapixana spoke with NowThis about her new role, why shes motivated to protect Indigenouslands, and what more people should know about her culture and community. This is an edited and condensed version of the conversation.

NowThis: What does it mean for you and your community that you are the first Indigenous lawyer?Wapixana: Indigenous people need one voice in [the] National Congress. I [became] a lawyer to defend the Indigenous rights, especially in landsto protect the life, to protect the biodiversity, to protect the autonomy for Indigenous peoples.

NowThis: Tell us about the Wapixana people and their culture.Wapixana: Wapixana people are [a population of] seven thousand in all Brazil. The Indigenous have a lot of traditional knowledge, and live very close to rivers and have a small village. And the Indigenous Wapixana live together with others.

NowThis: Can you tell us about your role and what you're serving?Wapixana: I was elected by the Indigenous community because my people, especially Indigenous assembly, decided to improve the policies and improve the law to protect Indigenous rights. So my first challenge is to put this idea in policy to National Congress, improve the law to protect the Indigenous rights, [and help] the Amazon [become] more sustainable for my country.

NowThis: Why is the Amazon rainforest important to indigenous people?Wapixana: The Amazon is my home is my life. Not just for me, for my quality of rights and my quality of lands. Amazon means the everything. Its the reason for Indigenous peoples whohave traditional knowledge and understand the forest to become us and the forest tobecome the life is essential for the planet to protect the Amazon to continue the life in theplanet.

NowThis: What is at stake for the indigenous people in Brazil if the Amazon is destroyed?Wapixana: The Amazon is at risk now. It is a responsibility not just for Indigenous people, but for everybody who wants to survive on the planet. We need to respect the forest, respect the biodiversity, respect the Amazon. We need to take care of this you need to become more responsible, and take care to protect the Amazon like Indigenous peoples. You need to understand, you need to become more sensible and make some compromises to change it. More bad human behavior will have to change. If not, the Amazon will disappear. And it is a consequence not just for those who live in the Amazon, but for our planet.

NowThis: What is the most important thing people around the world need to know what's going on between the Indigenous people and President Jair Bolsonaro's government?Wapixana: President Bolsonaro hates Indigenous peoples. In his first speech, Bolsonaro said, No more Indigenous land for Indigenous people. He doesn't recognize Indigenous rights. It puts the national Constitution at risk. So for this reason, the Indigenous people are more vulnerable in Bolsonaro's government.

So the first thing that people [should] understand is that Brazil and Indigenous people are at risk. [T]he indigenous and the government [can] work to improve the law and policy and give more protection.

NowThis: Why do you think it's important for indigenous people to keep their land?Wapixana: Because the land means life for everybody. We try to teach [the] next generation to take care of the forests, the biodiversity, the water, the kinds of values you need to show for planets. You need to calibrate the behavior; you need to teach but live according to nature. So it is very important not just for Indigenous [people], but for everybody who lives here.

NowThis: How have you stood up against President Bolsanaro to protect your land and your people?Wapixana: I am in [National Congress]. So I try to write good law. And try to monitor President Bolsonaro. We try to ask themthe governmentto do the action, the policy according to our national Constitution. Now, I try to improve the law to protect more Indigenous land. Try to create one front. This front, becomes stronger to try to call different parameters to face and try to show what's the matter. [He] needs to change this behavior and change the conception about Indigenous rights because Indigenous rights are in [protected in] the national Constitution.

President Bolsonaro must respect the national Constitution. That's number one. If he respects the national Constitution theyd try to to invest in some national program to protect Indigenous land, to open this responsibility, not just for Brazil, but for everybody in the world. They have to give the rights for Indigenous [people] and stop the violence against Indigenous people.

Learn more about Waxipana here.

PRODUCERSRex SakamotoJasmine AmjadKimberly J. Avalos

CAMERARex Sakamoto

VIDEO EDITORKimberly J. Avalos

PRODUCTION MANAGERKelsey Marsh

SENIOR PRODUCERRhon G. Flatts

EDITORSarah Frank

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Brazils First Indigenous Congresswoman Wants Her Government to Save the Amazon - NowThis