JUST A FEW BLOCKS from the dorm room where Mark Zuckerberg launched the first version of what would become Facebook, Gov. Maura Healey and tech journalist Kara Swisher got some digs in at the billionaire boy wonder. “I was just struck by the hubris, the naïveté – though he isn’t really naive,” Healey said of […]
Technology
Posted inPolitics
What does #mapoli mean?
For years, Massachusetts had one of the most active state political universes on Twitter. Times – and the social media landscape – have changed. Legislative usage is down, usage of the centralizing #mapoli hashtag is down, and engagement is generally down, though the rebranded “X” remains the site where most local journalists, organizers, and politicians […]
Posted inMedia
Will artificial intelligence make or break newsrooms?
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is already in the newsroom. Smart transcription software helps reporters go through their notes faster and review meetings they didn’t have a chance to attend in person, large language models like ChatGPT might summarize notes or draft memos and emails, and organizations are increasingly leaning on AI tools to create graphics. Some are […]
Posted inTechnology
State questions need for 1,687 new parking spaces at Encore
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE JUST LIKE COMMUTERS on nearby Interstate 93, the planned expansion of the Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett is being held up by traffic. The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs this week declined to approve the project’s environmental impact report. Instead, the state ordered the casino company to submit an […]
Posted inOpinion, State Government, Technology
A blueprint for a statewide cybersecurity ecosystem
THE THREAT OF a cyberattack sits perched just beyond our doorstep, targeting our privacy, economic prosperity, and national security. Motivated to act quickly, congressional and state leaders are pushing the Commonwealth to cultivate a cybersecurity ecosystem focused on educating Massachusetts’ next generation of frontline cybersecurity experts to protect vulnerable institutions, including our local governments, school […]
Posted inState Government, Technology
New state board charged with making digital spaces accessible
FOR MOST PEOPLE in Massachusetts, the biggest hassle about using digital technology is often a slow internet connection, a buggy device, or being in an inconvenient location to whip out a computer. But those with disabilities can face much bigger challenges when trying to use basic state digital infrastructure, finding it hard to access, hard to […]
Posted inState Government, Technology
Does artificial intelligence belong in therapy?
FOR MANY, the nearest therapist these days isn’t someone sitting across from them in a room but a friendly face on the other side of a Zoom, or even a chat thread on a smartphone. In a quantum leap beyond those types of virtual encounters, increasingly, the entity offering mental health advice may not even […]
Posted inState Government, Technology
The disconnections of digital equity
It seems like easy enough math. Add access to computers, plus stable internet, plus the training to use technology, and digital equity results. So why, in tech-savvy, educated Massachusetts, are there still about half a million households with no desktop or laptop computers and a million Massachusetts residents without a fixed broadband connection? “I always […]
Posted inGambling
Envisioning a Massachusetts ‘iLottery’
IF THE MASSACHUSETTS LOTTERY expands onto the internet with a new “iLottery,” what could it look like? Let’s spin the wheel. Option 1 – Michigan. Started in 2014, the Michigan lottery is “the standard” for online lottery platforms, says interim Massachusetts State Lottery director Mark Bracken. The site hits you with a big payout draw […]
Posted inArts and Culture
The promise and pitfalls of relying on artificial intelligence
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS changing the way we think about authorship, art, and white collar work. It may be changing how we think, full stop. As artificial intelligence, or machine learning, becomes more integrated into people’s everyday lives, it runs the risk of “replacing moral judgments, or by replacing practical judgments, or replacing everyday judgments,” Nir […]