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The Writing World Turns A New Leaf As Authors Enter The Age Of Authentication

The internet has brought about a Golden Age for authors, making it easier to share their work and connect with others in the writing community. It has also led to the rise of new risks, such as large-scale piracy, theft and plagiarism. For writers, the key to a harmonious future may very well reside in a new generation of secure platforms allowing them to publish through authenticated accounts.

Photo of a typewriter

Typing it loud!

Photofunia
Worldcrunch

In today's digital age, writers have a multitude of options to showcase their work to a global audience. Websites, blogs and social media provide a platform for writers to publish their work, network with other writers, and build their online presence.

But this online ecosystem can also sometimes feel like a lawless jungle, where a writer’s works can be freely copied, plagiarized and reused in all impunity — and without the author being able to do anything about it. To ensure the integrity of their work and protect their interests, it is becoming increasingly essential for writers to turn to authenticated accounts.

An authenticated account provides the guarantee that an author’s identity has been verified, and that the works attributed to them is, indeed, theirs. This is especially crucial for writers who wish to build a reputation and establish a brand for themselves — reinforcing their credibility, and ensuring their work is taken seriously by an audience that can trust them.

Protecting against plagiarism and piracy

Moreover, an authenticated account protects the work of writers from plagiarism and other forms of intellectual property theft. The rise of digital publishing, for all its benefits, has also brought its lot of piracy pitfalls. In the age of open self-publishing platforms, it's easier for an ill-intentioned user to take someone else's work and claim it as their own. Authenticated accounts make it easier to track down the original author and, if necessary, take legal action. This allows authors to make sure their efforts, and ensuing works, are protected.

High-profile authors, like celebrated French philosopher Jean-Marc Ferry, have already made the switch to such solutions.

Authenticated accounts also provide authors with a secure place to store their writings or multimedia creations, adding a layer of security through the use of a password and identification process, with some platforms leveraging the power of cutting-edge tech like blockchain. The importance of authentication is becoming obvious to many, and some high-profile authors have already made the switch to solutions that allow for such verification methods. Among them is celebrated French philosopher Jean-Marc Ferry, who recently published the first chapter of his latest oeuvre, La Légende de Nil, through his professional account on Panodyssey, a European social media platform dedicated to writing and specifically designed to guarantee the authenticity of the authors’ works.

Building a bonafide community

Having an authenticated account also helps writers to build a network and connect with other writers. Online writing platforms typically feature the possibility to federate a community of writers, able to network and collaborate with each other. Authenticated accounts provide writers with a way to connect with others and build a community of like-minded individuals, which in turn can help writers improve their skills, gain exposure to different styles of writing, and find new opportunities to showcase their work.

Authenticated accounts go a long way in making authors’ lives easier.

Writer’s platforms often provide features such as analytics, which help writers track the performance of their work and get insights into their audience, and eventually enhance the overall quality of their work.

Faced with the double-edged sword of accelerating innovation, authors have a lot to think about, beyond merely reaching their audience — whether it’s navigating the muddy waters of online intellectual property, or sparring with AI-powered writing tools like ChatGPT. Having an authenticated account goes a long way in making their lives easier and allowing them to safely showcase their work to the world.

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food / travel

When Racism Poisons Italy's Culinary Scene

This is the case of chef Mareme Cisse, a black woman, who was called a slur after a couple found out that she was the one who would be preparing their meal.

Mareme Cisse in the kitchen of Ginger People&Food

Caterina Suffici

-Essay-

TURIN — Guess who's not coming to dinner. It seems like a scene from the American Deep South during the decades of segregation. But this happened in Italy, in this summer of 2023.

Two Italians, in their sixties, got up from the restaurant table and left (without saying goodbye, as the owner points out), when they declared that they didn't want to eat in a restaurant where the chef was what they called: an 'n-word.'

Racists, poor things. And ignorant, in the sense of not knowing basic facts. They don't realize that we are all made of mixtures, come from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. And that food, of course, are blends of different ingredients and recipes.

The restaurant is called Ginger People&Food, and these visitors from out of town probably didn't understand that either.


They don't know that ginger is an ancient spice, and that all cuisine is the result of crossings and blends, a combination that forms with culture. They didn't know that behind the stoves of the well-known establishment, managed by the social cooperative Al Karhub, chef Mareme Cisse, originally from Senegal, arrived in Sicily in 2012 to join her husband and decided to stay. They also don't know she has become a well-known figure, having won multiple culinary competitions, and renowned for her couscous dishes.

An open letter

We learn of this stunning incident from the Facebook page of the restaurant's owner, Carmelo Roccaro, who wrote a "Letter to a Stranger." It begins like this:

"You entered in a hurry, with your partner, salt-and-pepper hair, cut very short. You were greeted with a smile by our Karima, the dining room attendant, a young second-generation woman, a hard worker, who seated you where you wanted to sit."

Then the owner explains the sequence of events: "Karima looked at me with wide open eyes, saying: 'After looking at the menu, the lady asked me if the restaurant owner was by any chance (an n-word). Then she stood up, saying that she didn't want to dine here anymore...' I went outside and followed you as you got back into your car and drove away, avoiding looking at me, while forcing your partner into an improbable U-turn. I don't know who you are, your story, your problems, and I don't dare judge you. All I know is that I felt great sadness in my heart. Last night, I realized how deep and ingrained this feeling is, emerging from within people's dark side."

Senegalese tradition blends with Sicilian specialties.

Roccaro couldn't have chosen better words: Sadness in the heart. How dark must a person's perspective be to not want to eat food cooked by someone with a different skin color?

Does difference scare us? We are accustomed to being served by people of color, accepting them when they wash dishes, clean floors and streets, collect garbage and pick tomatoes – when they are essentially invisible. Only in that context (let's call it the "service mode") has our imagination metabolized them, and they cause no discomfort.

But racism is a creeping beast, often unconscious and unaware.

Photo of Mareme Cisse cooking

Mareme Cisse preparing food

mareme_18

Mareme Cisse herself

But this story, like all stories, has a bright side that counters the darkness and sadness of racism. It's in the photos of Mareme Cisse, beautiful, with magnetic eyes, smiling in front of her spices and vegetables. Her awards speak for themselves: in 2017 for the most original recipe at the Couscous Fest in San Vito Lo Capo. The following year, the Bezzo Prize, for environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable restaurant practices. In 2019, the World Couscous Championship in San Vito Lo Capo, a global competition where she represented Senegal with the Falilou Couscous, named after her son. In 2020, she also won Cuochi d'Italia on TV8, outperforming chefs from all around the world.

There is light in her dishes, where Senegalese tradition blends with Sicilian specialties, a mix of cultures and flavors. There is light when she talks about holding cooking classes and being involved with the Al Kharub cooperative to help find employment for women, young people, refugees, and individuals in vulnerable conditions.

Let's say it in Mareme Cisse's own words, which overcome any sadness in the heart: "The spirit that drives my work is the awareness of the need to build a multicultural, colorful, and open society for the future."

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