Wednesday, 19 January 2011

Is the Internet lying to us?


November 25, 2010 By Ileiren Poon

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Alberta scholars talk about the relativity of truth on the World Wide Web.

Truth and lies on the are all a matter of context according to some of the University of Alberta’s foremost scholars in humanities computing and information science.

Geoffrey Rockwell, a professor of philosophy and humanities computing and the director of the Canadian Institute for Research in Computing and the Arts, was the keynote speaker and mediator of a panel discussion hosted by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Panelists Ofer Arazy from the Department of Accounting and Management Information Systems in the Alberta School of Business; Susan Brown, a professor in the Department of English & Film Studies and lead researcher on the Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory project; Peter Baskerville, from the departments of history and classics, humanities computing, and co-leader of West and North, Canadian Century Research Infrastructure; and Lisa Given, a professor in the School of Library and Information Studies and the Department of Humanities Computing, each brought a different focus to the discussion of ‘truth’ in this digital age.

“It seems that what is true and false is often negotiated in a community or a microcommunity. Has the Internet changed how we negotiate truths?” Rockwell asked. “I’m interested in a slightly different phenomenon where you have communities forming that basically reinforce each other’s truths and are not listening—and this is probably something that’s always happened—to other voices, and are not actually asking the questions that we ask of information.”

Ofer said that two things are happening simultaneously and exist on a large scale. “Some people argue that over the Internet you see a variety and diversity of ideas, and that’s what drives innovation, that’s what drives the wisdom of the crowd—the quality of Wikipedia for example,” he said. “But, on the other hand, if you look at some of the smaller communities where people of the same opinions come together to reinforce one another, they’re not open to other opinions.

Given, who has been asked to assess the quality of evidence, including documents submitted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, in Canada’s courts, said that people need to be trained to sort the garbage from the useful information. “People will often get into circular arguments where they can start to use self citation, or selective citation, in particular ways in order to sell their particular argument, often without a lot of critical thought. Along comes an outsider to look at these trappings of credibility as it were, and sometimes it’ll be a mix of information overload, sometimes just a lack of knowledge about how to now assess credibility,” she said. “There are certain ways that information can be manipulated and used to play on that normal notion of, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s a lot out there and how will I weed my way through it?’”

When Rockwell asked whether the Internet can be made to tell more compelling, more comprehensive and useable truths, the panellists all agreed that context was key.

“Context is all, in many ways,” said Brown. “The same text can, out of context, be a piece of hate speech, and, within context, be a historicized document that works against hate speech. I think we do need to move, as a scholarly community, away from the notion that truth as it operates in something like Wikipedia is not sufficient. I think in the humanities, in particular, we’ve moved beyond the idea of singular truth or objective truth, to an understanding of truth as situated and negotiated by communities.”

“The big thing is, the Internet can provide more useable, richer and more nuanced context,” agreed Baskerville. “The key word is context and the real danger on the Internet is lack thereof. So, anything that builds that and maintains that is good. Number two, we have to keep it open. There’s this tension with commercialization and I think that has to be really looked at closely because it’s a creeping, eroding and sinister kind of thing from the point of view of open scholarship.”

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-internet-lying.html

The truth about lying


Do fleeting changes of facial expression show whether someone is telling lies? Psychologist Paul Ekman believes he has the answer, he tells Jon Henley

Jon Henley. The Guardian,  

Forty years ago, the research psychologist Dr Paul Ekman was addressing a group of young psychiatrists in training when he was asked a question whose answer has kept him busy pretty much ever since. Suppose, the group wanted to know, you are working in a psychiatric hospital like this one, and a patient who has previously attempted suicide comes to you. "I'm feeling much better now," the patient says. "Can I have a pass out for the weekend?" . . . . .

It set Ekman thinking. As part of his research, he had already recorded a series of 12-minute interviews with patients at the hospital. In a subsequent conversation, one of the patients told him that she had lied to him. So Ekman sat and looked at the film. Nothing. He slowed it down, and looked again. Slowed it further. And suddenly, there, across just two frames, he saw it: a vivid, intense expression of extreme anguish. It lasted less than a 15th of a second. But once he had spotted the first expression, he soon found three more examples in that same interview. "And that," says Ekman, "was the discovery of microexpressions: very fast, intense expressions of concealed emotion."

Over the course of the next four decades, at the University of California's department of psychiatry in San Francisco, Ekman has successfully demonstrated a proposition first suggested by Charles Darwin: that the ways in which we express anger, disgust, contempt, fear, surprise, happiness and sadness are both innate and universal.

The facial muscles triggered by those seven basic emotions are, he has shown, essentially the same, regardless of language and culture, from the US to Japan, Brazil to Papua New Guinea. What is more, expressions of emotion are involuntary; they are almost impossible to suppress or conceal. We can try, of course.

But particularly when we are lying, "microexpressions" of powerfully-felt emotions will invariably flit across our faces before we get a chance to stop them.

Fortunately for liars, as many as 99% of people will fail to spot these fleeting signals of inner torment (of the 15,000 whom Ekman has tested, only 50 people have been able to without training. He calls them "naturals").

But given a bit of training, Ekman says, almost anyone can develop the skill. He should know: since the mid-80s and the first publication of his best-known book, Telling Lies, he has been called in by the FBI, CIA, the US Transportation Security Administration, immigration authorities, anti-terrorist investigators and police forces around the world not just to help crack cases, but to teach them how to use the technique themselves.

He has held workshops for defence and prosecution lawyers, health professionals, poker players, even jealous spouses, and created an online course - so with the aid of a $20 CD-Rom or a $12 internet lesson, you too could soon be able to tell exactly when someone is telling porkies.

Sound like a good scenario for a TV drama? Of course it does. Lie to Me, a new series from Rupert Murdoch's US Fox network which premieres this week on Sky1, stars British actor Tim Roth as (I quote) "Dr Cal Lightman, the world's leading deception expert, a scientist who studies facial expressions and involuntary body language to discover not only if you are lying but why". More accurate than any polygraph test, Sky's publicity blurb says Lightman is "a human lie detector".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/may/12/psychology-lying-microexpressions-paul-ekman


Dr Paul Ekman's website is at www.paulekman.com
and you can follow him on Facebook and Twitter


Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Do film soundtracks contain nonlinear analogues to influence emotion?

  1. Daniel T. Blumstein1,*,
  2. Richard Davitian1 and
  3. Peter D. Kaye2
+ Author Affiliations
  1. 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 621 Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA
  2. 2School of Music, Coombehurst House, Kingston University, Kingston Hill, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT2 7LB, UK

Abstract

A variety of vertebrates produce nonlinear vocalizations when they are under duress. By their very nature, vocalizations containing nonlinearities may sound harsh and are somewhat unpredictable; observations that are consistent with them being particularly evocative to those hearing them. We tested the hypothesis that humans capitalize on this seemingly widespread vertebrate response by creating nonlinear analogues in film soundtracks to evoke particular emotions. We used lists of highly regarded films to generate a set of highly ranked action/adventure, dramatic, horror and war films. We then scored the presence of a variety of nonlinear analogues in these film soundtracks. Dramatic films suppressed noise of all types, contained more abrupt frequency transitions and musical sidebands, and fewer noisy screams than expected. Horror films suppressed abrupt frequency transitions and musical sidebands, but had more non-musical sidebands, and noisy screams than expected. Adventure films had more male screams than expected. Together, our results suggest that film-makers manipulate sounds to create nonlinear analogues in order to manipulate our emotional responses.

http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/6/6/751.abstract?etoc

Charities and Agencies working towards change in people's attitudes towards Mental Health and Disabilities

  

MIND
Rethink

Time to Change

Shift

Leonard Cheshire Disability

Scope

 

Centre for Mental Health 

www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/across_mh/stigma.aspx

 

Joseph Rowntree Foundation www.jrf.org.uk  


Mental illness and the Media
From www.mentalhealthsupport.co.uk/mentalhealthandstigma.html

In this day and age it is still surprising how the Media and Television do not accurately portray. A person who is suffering with Mental Ill Health often not showing the recovery of people with mental ill health at all. may be because it is not a juicy big story in the Soaps. When in reality most people who have had or are living with a mental ill health condition are living normal lives in the community and often in this day and age a lot of Mental illness can be controlled with medication Giving the person relief from conditions such as Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia, Bi Polar that give a person better quality of life. A good Idea for people who are recovering with mental ill health is to join a day centre that specializes in mental health. These places are often open door policy which means you don’t need a referral to use the service also carers can use the service. The day centres are often places that you can meet and make friends with other people who are going through similar things. Often in a relaxed friendly atmosphere where you feel you are part of something positive. Where people understand you and don’t judge you. It’s a shame really the Media and television would not focus on this side of mental ill health recovery and have a positive effect on reducing stigma not creating it mental illness does not define a person or their ability of what they can contribute and achieve in life and the hobbies and interests they have each person is unique. 

Useful information on the Site
News & events, Mental health Health & wellbeing, Carers,Young people, Children
Social issues:
Alcohol Advice : Domestic Violence : Diabetes : Dual Diagnoses : Credit Crunch : Debt Advice
 

SEE their comment that

stigma diagram 2





Mental Health - Unusual Beliefs

Tamasin Knight's first book Beyond Belief explores ways of helping people who have unusual beliefs. These are beliefs that may be called delusions, obsessions, or another kind of psychopathology.
  • Psychiatric treatment attempts to remove these beliefs by medication and other methods. The new approach described in Beyond Belief is different. It is about accepting the individual's own reality and assisting them to cope and live with their beliefs.
  • Beyond Belief explains the new approach in a very readable format.
  • Many psychological techniques to cope with unusual beliefs are described. These include strategies to reduce fear, strategies to increase coping and problem solving techniques.
  • Ideal for mental health professionals, service users/survivors and carers.
Free download at www.peter-lehmann-publishing.com/books/beyond-belief.pdf

Visit www.topazpostline.freeuk.com/events.html for Mental Health Events & Books update Autumn 2010, See also Links on mental health, getting help and self-help.



Hearing Voices Network
www.hearing-voices.org



MAD PRIDE
Info/ media: 07766 124472 or 07542 459321 http://madpride.org.uk


Mad pride presents...
A day of action to oppose welfare benefits cuts for the "mentally ill"
Nationwide one-day medication strike!

In the first of a series of co-ordinated medication strikes, all UK mental
health service users will default on their psychiatric medication for one day,
in protest against the coming savage welfare benefits cuts. Further, all UK
service users will not engage with any mental health services whatsoever on
that day, in a bid to demonstrate our collective power.

THIS WILL PUT LIVES AT RISK. If we work together and help each other
individually and in groups, we can survive. At our demonstration and subsequently, 
we shall distribute information advising people how to respond to hostile DWP 
communications threatening their welfare benefits entitlements and "inviting" 
them to "tests," signposting them to sources of help.

Mad Pride is now an international, loosely-connected network of cells devoted
to promoting the civil liberties, social status and creative talents of
people labelled "mentally ill." It was originally formed by a small group of
people in London, whose heyday was from 1999 to 2003. This small group has
reconvened specifically to organise direct action against benefits cuts, to
take place on Tuesday October 26th. 
 
Pictures from Demotix - you can upload your own photos and text at www.demotix.com 
www.demotix.com/news/488916/mental-health-patients-and-workers-get-mad-over-government-cuts
www.demotix.com/news/487045/mad-pride-protest-speakers-corner-over-spending-cuts
www.demotix.com/news/487061/mad-pride-burn-cameronosborne-effigy
www.demotix.com/news/487086/mad-pride-protest-against-benefit-cuts-mentally-ill
 
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Pride
Mad Pride is a mass movement of mental health services users and their allies. The first 
known event specifically organized as a Pride event by people who identify as psychiatric 
survivors/consumer/ex-patients was in Toronto, Canada when it was called "Psychiatric 
Survivor Pride Day", held on September 18, 1993. It was first held in response to local 
community prejudices towards people with a psychiatric history living in boarding homes 
in the Parkdale area of the city, and has been held every year since then in this city except 
1996. By the late 1990s similar events were being organized as Mad Pride in London, 
England and around the globe from Australia to South Africa and the United States, drawing
thousands of participants, according to MindFreedom International, a United States 
mental health advocacy organization that promotes and tracks events spawned by 
the movement.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentalism_%28discrimination%29 
Mentalism is a form of discrimination and oppression against people based on intelligence, 
mental type (ex. ADHD or bipolar) or neurology  (ex. neurotypical or schizophrenic) especially 
against those who have,  or who are labeled as having, a mental disorder or a mental illness.  
Like other "isms" such as sexism and racism,it is characterized by complex social inequalities 
in power. It can result in blatant mistreatment or multiple, small insults and indignities. The 
negative attitudes and terms may be internalized.  Terms with a similar meaning that are
sometimes used are "psychophobia" and "sanism". 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soteria Network www.soterianetwork.org.uk

We are a network of people in the UK promoting the development of drug-free and minimum medication therapeutic environments for people experiencing 'psychosis' or extreme states. We are part of an international movement of service users, survivors, activists, carers and professionals fighting for more humane, non-coercive mental health services.

People who hear voices, have visions or experience reality in different ways to those around them — and become overwhelmed by their experiences — are often referred to as experiencing 'psychosis'. We believe that people can and do recover from difficulties which tend to be categorised under the term psychosis. This recovery can be dealt with, without and sometimes despite psychiatric intervention.

LINKS Page www.soterianetwork.org.uk/links/links.html

22 page Booklet online including more Links at www.soterianetwork.org.uk/books/books.html
~~~~~~


Publications from the SAMARITANS

Some of the publications available online - There are also information packs
Young People's Emotional Health


Other Sources of Help page
-

Divorce, Mediation, Child Protection, Domestic Violence, Stalking

Children from broken homes 'nine times more likely to commit crimes'

 

Children from broken homes are nine times more likely to commit crimes than those from stable families, Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said.


Seven out of 10 offenders come from broken homes

Mr Duncan Smith said the breakdown of marriage had led to the fracturing of society, as well as addiction, crime and lost productivity and tax revenues that, in all, cost Britain around £100 billion a year.

He accused Labour of undermining family life during their time in government and said the country had paid a “heavy price”.

In a speech to Relate, a counselling charity, he said: “All the evidence shows that family influences educational outcomes, job prospects, and even life expectancy.

“That means that positive, family-friendly policies can bring wide-ranging benefits to society. But when government abandons policies that support families, society can pay a heavy price."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/8109184/Children-from-broken-homes-nine-times-more-likely-to-commit-crimes.html


Divorce rows to be dealt with outside the courts as mediation to become compulsory 

By Paul Bentley
Last updated at 8:27 AM on 18th October 2010


Thousands of feuds between divorcing couples will be dealt with outside the courts in an overhaul of the family justice system, it emerged last night.

Instead of dragging cases through the courts for weeks, a Whitehall review of the system will recommend a massive reduction in the levels of lawyer interference in divorce cases.

It will become compulsory for couples to try mediation before rushing into legal proceedings over disputes over children and money.

The family court system is currently under ‘tremendous strain’, according to David Norgrove, who is chairing the review.

Last year, the number of disputes heard in courts rose 16 per cent to about 137,000. On average, childcare cases last 56 weeks.

Mr Norgrove said: ‘This is really intolerable for both children and parents — and damaging.’

Under the proposals, which will be published in full early next year, as many cases as possible will be dealt with by mediation.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1321447/Divorce-rows-dealt-outside-courts-mediation-compulsory.html#ixzz14QTTS9bF




Facebook increasingly implicated in divorce

4:34PM GMT 21 Jan 2011, The Telegraph 

For most people, Facebook is a harmless way to keep in touch with friends and family

But flirtations on the social networking site are now becoming a major factor in marriage breakdowns.

Family lawyers have revealed that the problem has become so great that almost every divorce they have dealt with in the past year has involved the website. One expert said she had dealt with 30 cases in the last nine months and Facebook had been implicated in them all. Whilst another online law company said one in five of their divorce petitions in the past year contain references to Facebook.

Emma Patel, the head of family law at Hart Scales & Hodges Solicitors, said the site acted like a "virtual third party" in splits. "Facebook is being blamed for an increasing number of marital breakdowns, and it is quite remarkable that all the petitions that I have seen here since May have cited Facebook one way or another," she said. "Its huge popularity as well as the lure of sites like Second Life, Illicit Encounters and Friends Reunited are tempting couples to cheat on each other. Suspicious spouses have used these to spy and find evidence of flirting and even affairs, which have then led to break-ups."

She said that many of divorces came after partners found "flirty messages" on the Facebook wall of their partner – and also "inappropriate suggestive chats" which spouse's can see. The lawyer said that she urged all clients to "stay off" Facebook during divorce proceedings – as it could throw a spanner in the works of it going smoothly – especially if they post photos of new lovers.

She said: "They feel compelled to share their feelings online, and, in some cases, they not only express their stress, but also make inflammatory accusations against their partner. Divorce is a highly-charged and emotional time, but it is vital not to turn the situation into a public slagging match, played out for everyone to see online. The situation has deteriorated so badly that we advise feuding couples to avoid these sites until their divorces are settled."

Related Articles


Take care to search for and find the help that you need
Information & links are provided in case they are useful




Children 'used as ammunition' in separations


Parents who split up are damaging children's welfare by using them as 'ammunition', according to a senior court judge

Children are being used as ammunition in separations say a senior judge. Photograph: Getty/John Wilkes


Parents who split up are damaging their children's welfare by using them as "ammunition" in the separation process, according to England's most senior family court judge.

Sir Nicholas Wall said separating parents "rarely behave reasonably" and in his experience "the more intelligent the parent, the more intractable the dispute".





Published: 7:00PM BST 30 Oct 2010, Telegraph

Child protection: MPs must act on the scandal of seized children

 

Britain's child protection system is off the rails, and only the politicians who built it can fix it, says Christopher Booker


Britain's social workers took a beating again last week. On the orders of the children's minister, Tim Loughton, full versions of two harrowing case reviews of the Baby P tragedy were published. They found fault not only with Haringey's social workers but with lawyers, the police and health professionals, Under pressure from social workers, reviews of two similar cases in Yorkshire are still being kept under wraps.

Meanwhile, an Ofsted report found that 119 children died or suffered serious injury last year through social workers' failure to intervene.

Still largely hidden from view, however, is that other scandal, in its way just as disturbing, in which the failure of our child protection system is the very opposite: the seizure of thousands of children a year from loving homes, for no good reason.

Full article www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/8098952/Child-protection-MPs-must-act-on-the-scandal-of-seized-children.html





WOMEN'S AID
http://womensaid.org.uk
This video includes information on violence towards men








Do children grow up to be abusers and/or victims?

The 'cycle of violence' otherwise known as the 'intergenerational theory' is often referred to when considering the effects of domestic violence on children; however research findings are inconsistent, and there is no automatic cause and effect relationship.

We believe that this theory is disempowering and ineffective when working with children. A boy who has witnessed domestic violence does not have to grow up to be an abuser and a girl does not have to become a victim of domestic violence later in life.

http://womensaid.org.uk/domestic_violence_topic.asp?section=0001000100220002&sectionTitle=Children




 

Video by TANSAL

More information on Coercive Relationships
at www.tansal.org.uk/violencecoercive.html



Ann Rule has written many true crime books, not only about women who suffer or die at the hands of people they know or who are complete strangers, but about men who do too. Her website is www.annrules.com
'But I Trusted You and other true cases'
'Too Late to Say Goodbye' - 'To all women who are living in fear of recrimination and stalking, in a kind of captivity, at the hands of men they once loved and trusted'
'Smoke, Mirrors and Murder' - Writing about 'pathological jealousy' Ann Rule says 'A woman in this kind of relationship is caught in a cage - as sure as if she were actually hemmed in by iron bars... What they once believed was true love was really their partners' need to control them.'
'Although SH and her children are safe, there are... women and children who are not. They are somewhere along the inexorable progression from the promise of love to disappointment to isolation to emotional abuse to fear to loss of hope... It shouldn't be that way.'



If You Are Violent - Anger, Stress, Trauma


Visit WHORLS 'Factors in Violence' page at 


SURVIVORS' ANNUAL RALLY AGAINST CHILD ABUSE


For updates on the Annual Rally in central London planned for September 2011 click HERE for AMSOSA - People will hopefully soon be working to ensure that we meet at Trafalgar Square, and if you need further information, or can help in any way, please call AMSOSA on 0845 430 93 71
More Videos by Bill Maloney of Pie and Mash Films
on Institutional child abuse, Ian Tomlinson G20, Robert Green, family courts.


If you only have time to view one, click the video below or this link to watch www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tHKT8T_Xmc





Message from Bill: A central hub to watch over 4 hours of free video reports and documentaries produced by Pie and Mash Films is at http://fb.me/A8100FKM




From the Pentathlon GB Child Protection page an excellent pdf download on
institutional child abuse, sexual behaviour and bullying, including how they relate to
young people and people with disabilities
What is child abuse?
www.pentathlongb.org/downloads/childprotection/MPAGB%20What%20is%20Child%20Abuse.pdf

Or use this link for it in webpage format
www.pro-activelondon.org/page.asp?section=0001000100030019001100010001&sectionTitle=What+is+child+abuse


More Videos from the Survivor Rally 2010
 
TruthandHope2010 channel on YouTube


Cross of Change  -   shevacross channel






KIDSCAPE - Reviewing Sarah’s Law in Thames Valley/Hampshire

05/11/2010 

The first three months of trialling Sarah’s law in Thames Valley/Hampshire is over, with only 39 enquires. ‘It is difficult to predict the number of people who are likely to use this process but it was a lower number than expected,’ said Claude Knights, Director of Kidscape, one of the UK’s leading children’s charities. ‘Nevertheless, every application is important. Even if only one child is protected, the system has been successful. Community awareness and people’s confidence in the system just needs to increase.’

It has been questioned as to whether this system needs to be further developed to adopt a more stringent procedure reminiscent of Megan’s law used in America. This allows the public to easily access personal details about paedophiles including their home address.

KID SHIELD
The Sex Offenders' Register - How Does it Work?
www.kidshield.co.uk/sex_offenders_register.htm

 

CEOP www.ceop.police.uk/ 

 

Chris Wittwer's Facebook page
www.facebook.com/pages/CHRIS-children-have-rights-in-society/141671072532024
 


NEW C.H.R.I.S website www.chris-uk.org
Added 12.11.2010
For all the children who have ever suffered or died at the hands of abuse this website is for you. Within C.H.R.I.S you will find the crimes committed against the children of the UK so horrendous for one reason. They are happening daily right under our noses, in your towns and in your streets the length of the UK.
The aim of this website is to bring awareness to the millions of parents of the UK and show the growing dangers and terrifying consequences of child abuse and child sexual abuse. 

 

Note: This is not simply a sensational site. A lot of work has gone into producing a wide range of information for people affected by issues of abuse and seeking help or understanding. Four Links to parts of the site appear below. Not everyone will agree on everything they read anywhere. Visit and see for yourself.

 

Click this Link and scroll down to see a List in darker blue www.chris-uk.org/other-great-websites

More Links at www.chris-uk.org/other-great-websites/useful-websites-for-all-survivors

Institutionalized child abuse - click on the photos for information 

Scotland’s shame - Decades of neglect, abuse and suffering

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yLOQYvW1NM

 

Q&A: The Sex Offenders Register

What is the sex offenders register?

www.chris-uk.org/qa-the-sex-offenders-register



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