Yael Writes

I missed out on Halloween this year, but I did get to go to D.C. to speak on a panel about how to get paid! See the writeup here: https://www.nasw.org/article/paythewriters-join-union-go-court-and-other-strategies-get-paid. I also wrote up nine pieces that were published last month.

Street-Level Surveillance: Iris Recognition (EFF) Learn how cops are capturing biometric data from our eyes in the iris recognition explainer, added to EFF’s Street-Level Surveillance project.

“Inspired Soles” Exhibit at Found:RE Puts Homeless Artists on Display (Phoenix New Times) Art students at homelessness organization Circle the City will be able to sell their work throughout November, which is National Homeless Awareness Month.

Governor: David Garcia Focuses on Education (Cronkite News) Gubernatorial candidate David Garcia, an educator and Army veteran, said that education is the biggest issue facing Arizona.

Civil Looks to Create Next Generation of Blockchain Tech (NBC News) Behind the sticker-covered door of a nondescript building in Brooklyn, a startup is working on what it hopes will be the future of news.

Using Twitter for Story Ideas and Leads (Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism) Twitter is a great tool for freelancers to generate ideas, begin cultivating sources and stay up-to-date on the business beat.

The 20 Best Cybersecurity Conferences in 2019 (Enterprise.nxt) Planning your travel and training budget to ensure you and your staff are up to date on IT security topics? Here are the best options and what to expect from each event.

Successful Pitching for Freelance Business Writers (Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism)
Following specific guidelines while pitching can help improve your odds in landing assignments as a freelancer

Reynolds Weekly: Monday, October 8, 2018 (Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism)
Looking for story ideas? Check out these angles you can use to localize national headlines.

Reynolds Weekly: Monday, October 22, 2018 (Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism)

Greetings from sunny Phoenix, where we’ve finally been blessed with a bout of rain which will hopefully be accompanied by an end to triple-digit temperatures. I’m almost halfway through my first semester of grad school, but I still have eight posts to share with you!

As promised last month, I’m including links to quite a few blockchain pieces, primarily for Breaker, but first there’s a piece for Museum magazine. In May, I interviewed museum professionals from Egypt, Mexico, Colombia, Serbia, and Argentina, all working hard to expand their museum’s social role by engaging underserved communities. They invite homeless people to exhibits, tackle contemporary social issues like femicide, bring traveling exhibits to people who can’t travel to the museum, work with populations with special needs, allow their neighbors to bring paintings into their own homes, and work hard to engage the local community rather than just tourists. I was impressed with everyone I spoke with. The article is paywalled, but I’ve gotten permission to add it to my portfolio. If you’re a museum professional and do not yet have a membership to the American Alliance of Museums, it might be worth considering–not least because you’ll get access to Museum magazine as part of your membership.

Finally, I added some posts I’ve been writing for the Reynold’s Center as part of my graduate assistantship, namely about prisons and election hacking. These posts are geared towards business writers or regional reporters looking for ideas, but I like to think they’re valuable for everyone else, too.

Reminder for science writers and East Coasters: I’ll also be speaking on a panel on getting paid/dealing with delinquent clients at ScienceWriters 2018 in Washington, DC on Saturday, October 13. Read more about it here: https://sciencewriters2018.org/sessions/how-get-paid-dealing-delinquent-clients.

Oh yeah, here’s the article links:

Full Engagement (Museum) Museums globally are expanding their social role—and value—by engaging underserved communities.

A Critical Look at Sovereign Identity Startups (Breaker) A new wave of startups is offering a fundamentally different approach to data collection and use.

A Bug Bounty Hunter Tells All (Breaker) Finding software vulnerabilities  for IT companies is lucrative business. This bug bounty hunter made $30,000 for identifying a single bug.

The Blockchain Big Twelve: Tech’s Top Colleges (Breaker) A survey of blockchain and cryptocurrency classes at universities around the country.

Civil Looks to Create the Next Generation of Journalism With Blockchain Tech (NBC News) Behind the sticker-covered door of a nondescript building in Brooklyn, a startup is working on what it hopes will be the future of news.

5 Prison-Related Business Story Ideas (Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism) Business-related stories involving prisons are receiving more attention. Here are a few starting points to use in your own reporting.

Covering Election Hacking on the Business Beat (Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism) Stories covering election hackings aren’t just for political reporters, but involve monetary and business angles as well.

Reynold’s Weekly: Monday, September 24 (Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism) As the trade relationship between the United States and China heats up, there are numerous business stories to localize.

 

This month’s roundup is short and sweet, but expect quite a few links to blockchain posts over the coming weeks. Reminder for science writers and East Coasters: I’ll also be speaking on a panel on getting paid/dealing with delinquent clients at ScienceWriters 2018 in Washington, DC on Saturday, October 13. Read more about it here: https://sciencewriters2018.org/sessions/how-get-paid-dealing-delinquent-clients.

British and Canadian Governments Accidentally Exposed Passwords and Security Plans to the Entire Internet (The Intercept) The governments of the United Kingdom and Canada misconfigured pages on Trello and exposed details of security plans as well as passwords for servers.

Reporter’s Briefing: Bug Bounties and Vulnerability Disclosure Programs (Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism) Many companies are crowdsourcing their security in order to fix system vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them. Here’s what business journalists need to know.

 

I was traveling for the majority of July, spending a week with my husband visiting his family in Minnesota and another week in New York meeting with editors and attending a hacking conference, so I only have two posts and one podcast episode to share with you this month.

German Police Raid Homes of Tor-Linked Group’s Board Members (ZDNet) One board member described the police’s justification for the raids as a “tenuous” link between the privacy group, a blog, and its email address.

PG&E Allows Substantial Account Access Without a Password, Researcher Finds (Security Now) A security researcher found that he was able to make major changes to his account, including scheduling service shutoffs, using information that could be easily found online.

PODCAST: Trump Administration Plans to Detain Families Longer than 20 Days This interview with Layal Rabat came out early this month.

Some personal news: I’ve been accepted to Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s 12-month Masters in Mass Communication Program, starting in mid-August. I’ll be focusing my studies on investigative reporting and data journalism. I’ve been self-publishing since I was a tween in my parents’ basement back in 1991, and freelancing full-time since December 2009, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to get feedback on my work and kick things up a notch.

I’ve also accepted a research assistantship at the Donald W. Reynold’s National Center for Business Journalism, where I’ll get to learn how to use a Bloomberg Terminal, level up my investigative business journalism skills, and continue writing for the businessjournalism.org website.

I will continue freelancing (and podcasting) as time permits, and have some pretty interesting articles and a video course coming out in the coming months, which I can’t wait to tell you all about. I’ll also be speaking on a panel on getting paid/dealing with delinquent clients at ScienceWriters 2018 in Washington, DC on Saturday, October 13. More on that soon.

Somehow, 2018 is half over, which means it’s time for another URL dump. Here are five articles and three podcast episodes I worked on that were released in June. These include my first ever post for enterprise.nxt, some primers for business writers, some posts for techies, and podcasts for people watching Cobra Kai (cohosted by the amazing Melanie Gale). Enjoy the sunshine, and we’ll catch you next month.

Medical Device Security: Hacking Prevention Measures (enterprise.nxt) With so many lives at stake, computer scientists and healthcare IT pros are motivated to develop strategies that keep patients safe from medical device hackers. They’re making progress.

What Journalists Need to Know About Password Managers (Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism) Despite its relatively low rate of adoption, there’s still a big market for password management software, and there’s no shortage of companies wanting to throw their hat into the ring.

What You Should Know About GDPR (Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism) Even with the clear warnings and affirmative consent required by GDPR, companies that collect large swaths of data from users are responsible for securing that data, particularly if it is being retained and/or sold to third parties.

Eraser Project Admin Garrett Trant on How the Longtime Secure Deletion Tool Lets Windows Users Wipe Files From Hard Disk Drives (Hosting Advice) When people put computer files in the trash bin or erase them from their hard disk drives, they’re still recoverable to computer forensics specialists. Eraser helps Windows users working with sensitive data wipe files completely so they’re unrecoverable.

Genedata: Advanced Software Solutions Help Biopharmaceutical Companies Automate Complex Processes and Streamline Workflows (Hosting Advice) Genedata helps transform large volumes of data into important scientific discoveries by providing time-saving software, consulting services, cloud hosting, and operational IT support help companies increase the speed with which they work. By automating complex experimental processes, the company also helps researchers identify dead ends early in the R&D process, saving biopharmaceutical organizations millions of dollars.

Podcasts

Facebook Gave Select Companies Access to User Data–Even After It Was Supposed To Have Been Cut Off Interview with Cyrus Farivar, Senior Tech Policy Reporter at Ars Technica

Karate Chop: Daniel LaRusso Needs Therapy (Cobra Kai Episode 2 Recap)

In this recap, we discussed swim parties, inhaler tossing, fish sticks, and picking fights in other people’s dojos.

Karate Chop: Adults Go Home (Cobra Kai Episode 3 Recap)

In this episode recap, we discuss Johnny’s recruitment strategy, Samantha’s high school dance, Spygate, and Miguel’s karate #fail.