Super8: Eight intriguing articles from April.

As the seasons change and April arrives, it’s time to slow down and take a moment for yourself.  In this month’s Super8, Nina Wan has selected eight articles to help you unwind and find balance in your busy life.

From simple steps to improve your mood, to creating more accessible designs, there’s something here for everyone. Take a deep breath, settle in, and let us guide you through ways to lead with compassion, empower your team, and explore the impact of the pandemic on our relationships with money and work. Join us on this journey to a more peaceful and fulfilling life.

1. Four ways to turn a bad day around.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Shanna B. Tiayon.
• Contributed by: Daniel Banik.

Do you ever have those days where everything seems to go wrong? This article presents some tips to help you turn that frown upside down. Here’s a four-step plan to get you feeling better, including letting go of negative emotions, boosting your feel-good hormones, taking control of your stressors, and prepping for a better tomorrow. It’s important to give yourself some rest and figure out which areas of your life need a little TLC. By following these steps, you can take back control and feel ready to tackle anything that comes your way.

2. Hold your team accountable with compassion, not fear.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Liane Davey.
• Contributed by: Sarah El-Atm.

Looking to lead your team in a compassionate and effective way? Check out this insightful article from Liane Davey. Instead of relying on fear-based tactics, Liane suggests that leaders set clear expectations, offer frequent feedback, and provide appropriate consequences for both good and bad behaviors. Additionally, the article discusses the importance of helping underperforming team members make a graceful exit. If you’re a leader looking to create a positive and productive team culture, this is a must-read!

3. You’re not crazy. Money is.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Max Read.
• Contributed by: Nina Wan.

While everyone is asking ‘What is an NFT’, this article suggests that perhaps the question we should be asking is ‘what is money now?’. The COVID economy has brought a new set of acronyms, symbols and digital assets which are creating confusion among people seeking financial advice. For example, some of the latest crypto currencies, meme stocks or NFTs have been the subject of many queries from novice investors. The article notes that there is a larger shift happening as people re-think money and how it works. Money is now viewed as a way of doing things, whether through buying digital art or gambling on stocks, rather than simply a means of accumulating resources.

4. CSS text balancing with text-wrap:balance.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Ahmad Shadeed.
• Contributed by: Kurt Smith.

As a developer, have you ever struggled to make headlines and paragraphs appear visually balanced? You know, like when a two-line headline has a lagging widow? That one word all by itself, on one line? Well, fear not! CSS text balancing is here to save the day. With the new experimental feature in CSS called “text-wrap: balance,” you can automatically divide the words in your text evenly between two lines. This article shows you how to use it and includes some handy code snippets and use-cases to get you started.

5. The psychological benefits of commuting that remote work doesn’t provide.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Matthew Piszczek & Kristie McAlpine, The Conversation.
• Contributed by: Sergio Moreira.

Do you ever miss your daily commute? As strange as it may seem, you’re not alone. Commutes can provide a space for psychological detachment and recovery from work, and without them, it’s easy to experience burnout and stress. This article discusses how the daily commute can serve as a source of liminal space, allowing individuals to mentally shift gears between work and home. The authors review research on commuting, role transitions, and work recovery to develop a model that shows how the liminal space created in the commute creates opportunities for detachment and recovery.

6. Five strategies to empower employees to make decisions.

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: David Lancefield.
• Contributed by: Bridget Noonan.

If you’re looking to create a more innovative and motivated workplace, empowering your employees to make decisions is key. However, this can be easier said than done, especially if you’re used to a more traditional, hierarchical management style. David Lancefield refers to this as the ‘decision deficit’ – the gap between the desire for more empowerment and employees’ confidence in their ability to make decisions. But don’t worry, there are five strategies you can use to reduce this deficit and encourage more autonomy in the workplace. From preparing yourself to delegate decisions to clarifying decision-making roles, these tips will help you create a more empowering and productive work environment.

7. Accessibility for designers: where do I start?

• Read the full article here.
• Created by: Stéphanie Walter.
• Contributed by: Tim Copland.

In this post, Stéphanie Walter shares a list of helpful resources like books, tools, and articles to guide you in creating designs that are easy for everyone to use, especially people living with disabilities. It’s a fantastic resource for those looking to learn more about accessibility and anyone who wants practical tips or tools to make their designs more accessible. So, if you’re just starting out on your accessibility journey, give it a read!

8. Why AI doesn’t speak every language.

• Watch the full video here.
• Created by: Vox.
• Contributed by: Harley Crispin.

Does artificial intelligence favor certain languages over others? Well, it turns out yes, actually. There’s a bias towards languages that already have a strong online presence. This means that some languages may be left behind in the AI race. But don’t worry, there are researchers working on ways to balance things out by creating new datasets and training open-source alternatives. If you’re interested in learning more about this important issue, check out this video. It’s a fascinating deep dive into the world of AI and language bias.