Following the blog about Birdwatch’s mechanism design, here’s some latest news about it: Community Notes, formerly known as Birdwatch, is a feature on X (formerly Twitter) where contributors can add context such as fact-checks under a post, image or video. It is a community-driven content moderation program, intended to provide helpful and informative context, based on a crowd-sourced system. Notes are applied to potentially misleading content by a bridging algorithm not based on majority rule, but instead agreement from users on different sides of the political spectrum....

Here’s an interesting paper about crowdsourcing annotation of tweets. Given a twitter post containing possibly misleading information, the Birdwatch project aims to crowdsource comments on the OG tweet. One problem is to choose among the annotations one most credible annotation to display. Birdwatch: Crowd Wisdom and Bridging Algorithms can Inform Understanding and Reduce the Spread of Misinformation Stefan Wojcik et al. Arxiv link. Background So, about Birdwatch: Birdwatch is Twitter’s community-driven approach to identify misinformation....

The Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50, is a short work by the French composer Gabriel Fauré written in 1887. It was originally a piano piece, but is better known in Fauré’s version for orchestra and optional chorus (Wikipedia). It’s so popular that it has multiple main-stream versions: an OG piano version, a choral version (here), (and of course) adapted ballet, and a most widely played orchestra version. The piece began with a expressive, almost-conversational flute solo....

My paper “Price Stability and Improved Buyer Utility with Presentation Design: A Theoretical Study of The Amazon Buy Box” has been accepted to The Web Conference 2025 as a poster presentation. The paper’s reviews are available here on openreview. Many thanks to all the comments, advice and discussions. See you soon with the camera-ready version and poster will be prepared and released soon ;D

Tokyo feels like a more mature, perfected, and upgraded version of Shanghai. Having visited all the major hubs, I can confidently say that Tokyo stands as the most modern, connected, and meticulously managed metropolis on the planet. What sets Tokyo apart is how well it’s developed and managed from the bottom to the top. While I can’t claim to have seen every layer of this vast system, my experience and observations reveal a city engineered to perfection....

I could go on about how social media has revolutionized business models in the hyperconnected age. When there are seemingly infinite exposures online, even a 0.01% yield rate can turn a million views into thousands of sales. So now, popularity often correlates with quality, but the cause-n-effect interplay is meddled by the algorithm’s invisible hand. For one, algorithms amplify what’s already popular—so now, people drive past Izu-shi’s most splendid costal line in Japan—forget about the mountains, sunrise in private onsens by the sea—to cluster in Izu Saboten Zoo to see Capybara Outdoor bath:...

Nara is a charming city that, in some ways, reminds me of Palo Alto—if you replaced Stanford with its famous Deer Park—while Nara does have a few auxiliary industries, its heart undeniably beats for tourism. Deers are considered sacred messengers of the gods in local Shinto tradition. See more about Nara deer here at Nara’s official site. And the undisputed stars of the show are the deers. The city has developed an impressively thoughtful system to ensure the well-being of its deer....

Kyoto is Japan’s ancient capital, carrying centuries of history and cultural refinement in its temples, gardens, and streets. Once the heart of Japan’s imperial court (circa 794 AD), the city’s legacy lives on in its timeless aesthetic and profound connection to tradition. I had high expectations for Kyoto’s famed architecture, temples and Karesansui. However, with my parents’ energy and enthusiasm for a ten-temple marathon understandably limited, we opted for a more relaxed itinerary: a cozy day trip to the mountains to visit the region’s most iconic site, Kiyomizu-dera Temple....

I am on to a week’s trip to Japan. Here’s for a brief exhale from life. Along the way, I’ll share impressions of the five cities on our planned route—assuming we make it to them all. Kobe belongs to the metropolitan zone of Osaka. My family and I hit Kobe as the first stop. It’s a coastal city just across from Osaka. As I write this, I’m lying in bed at the remm plus hotel in Kobe Sannomiya....

Americans also have classical new year’s concerts, and there are good ones too. Boston Symphony Orchestra (yes, the one Seiji Ozawa tenured for 29 years as music director and built its international reputation) branches an offshoot “The Boston Pops”. The pop orchestra features partial players from the BSO and specializes in light classical and popular music. The Boston Pops performs in BSO’s symphony hall, but the the seating on the floor of the symphony hall is reconfigured from auditorium seating to banquet and cafe seating....