"China’s emergence as a technology leader has become a major factor in geopolitics, transforming global political and economic relationships. In its bid to achieve digital great power status, China’s government has reformed laws and policies, drastically increased investment, and become more ass
...
ertive internationally. Chinese companies have expanded at home and abroad, but relationships between government and the private sector have sometimes been fractious. The Emergence of China’s Smart State assesses the extent to which the Chinese government has been able to achieve its ambitious digital goals, and more broadly, how this reflects rapidly changing domestic and international political and economic dynamics surrounding China’s rise as a major technology player. This is the first book of its kind, interrogating the complex, dynamic interactions between political, market, and technological factors that structure China’s digital development." (Publisher description)
more
"Digital wellbeing is all about finding the balance between the digital world and the real world – and making sure we use smartphones and other digital devices in a healthy way, while living fulfilling lives beyond the screen. This guide helps tweens and teens do exactly that, inspiring them to se
...
t their devices aside (sometimes anyway!) and start living in the here and now. Written by digital wellbeing expert Tanya Goodin, it’s packed with positive prompts, thought-provoking science, and hands-on activities to encourage healthy habits around screen use – including nostalgic crafts, retro tech scavenger hunts, and phone-free nature excursions, plus practical tips on how to deal with digital challenges like comparison culture, cyberbullying, trolling, and much more. This book is not about teenagers giving up their devices forever; it’s about being more mindful of how they use them, so they can live their best lives – on and off the screen." (Publisher description)
more
"Governments have updated penal codes and national security laws, enacted fake news and cybersecurity laws as well as laws that govern internet service providers and technology companies. These laws have widely been used to block and remove online content that call out blind spots in government poli
...
cies and to intimidate and prosecute these content creators through hefty fines and jail time. Efforts to hold political office holders and government officials accountable for their policies are increasingly penalised. These government actions have significantly impacted civil society actors in numerous ways. First, individuals and organisations utilising the online sphere to hold government officials and policies accountable have come under intense scrutiny, resulting in the criminalisation of critics and the blocking and removal of online content deemed sensitive by state authorities. Second, the effectiveness of civil society in holding governments accountable is compromised, as state authorities routinely direct internet service providers and technology companies to block or remove online content considered sensitive or illegal. Consequently, individuals and organisations increasingly find their digital content at risk of being blocked or removed, succumbing to government directives to internet service providers and technology companies. This diminishes civil society’s calls for accountability. Third, on several instances, governments have imposed internet shutdowns - particularly during elections and politically sensitive periods - to disrupt the information flow. Ultimately, this has limited civil society’s ability to send and receive communications effectively to mobilise people to hold governments publicly accountable during politically important instances. Fourth, troll ng has surfaced as a mainstream strategy to harass and intimidate individuals and organisations who seek to hold governments accountable. Typically orchestrated by organised groups or cybertroopers, these digital attacks increasingly involve online hate speech directed at women who call out blindspots in government policies. Fifth, the ways of working of INGOs and CSOs have changed, leading many organisations to restrict the scope and assertiveness of their communications to shield themselves from government retribution and trolling. Some entities have opted to remove the visibility of their organisations, incorporating measures such as disallowing the use of their logos or the publishing of videos, photos and text by local partners in order to distance themselves from particular activities and contents of knowledge products. Given these developments, the principal recommendation is that key stakeholders, including international organisations, governments, ISPs and technology companies, and civil society actors, should recognise that criticism of government policies and officials is a legitimate activity and a vital form of expression for civil society. Hence, any measures, whether legal or non-legal, that interfere with or criminalise this legitimate activity should be rescinded or disallowed. Instead, measures should be put in place to ensure that civil society is empowered to call out the blind spots in government policies." (Executive summary)
more
"Since the outburst and spread of what was known as the ‘Arab Uprisings’ in 2010, the political and media landscapes in the Middle East region have dramatically changed. The initial hope for democratic change and governance quality improvements has faded, as several regimes in the Middle East ha
...
ve strengthened their repressive tactics toward voices deemed critical of governments’ practices, including journalists, bloggers, and activists. The crumbling Arab media scene has also reached an abysmal low, with little to no independence, and public perception of basic freedoms in the region has significantly dropped, as has trust in media and government institutions. This book examines current challenges to media freedom, political participation, and democratisation in the region while reassessing the dynamic relationship between media use and political engagement, amidst a complex political environment accompanied by a rapidly changing digital media landscape." (Publisher description)
more
"Das neue umfassende Standardwerk für den Bereich der Digitalen Ethik. Das Handbuch verschafft einen Überblick über die Herausforderungen und Besonderheiten der Ethik im digitalen Raum und versammelt namhafte Expert:innen zu folgenden Themenfeldern: Theoretische Zugänge (Deontologische Ansätze,
...
Narrative Ethik, Trans- und posthumane Ansätze u.a.m.); Werte der Digitalen Ethik (Gerechtigkeit, Autonomie, Privatheit u.a.m.); Diskurse (Benachteiligung, Überwachung, Datenschutz u.a.m.); Praxisfelder (Kommunikation, Gaming, Lernen und Bildung u.a.m.)." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
more
"The goal of this policy brief is to demonstrate how stakeholders can apply the lens of Media and Information Literacy for all to Artificial Intelligence/Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI/GAI) to address its risks and opportunities in the information and digital ecologies. A special focus is on
...
the empowerment of youth and highlighting issues of gender and cultural diversity. It also aims to provide recommendations based on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) principles and competences that can lead to concrete policy actions. This policy brief is also useful for civil society organizations and a variety of stakeholders, including media, digital platforms, and governments." (Introduction)
more
"Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube wield substantial influence over digital information flows using sophisticated algorithmic recommender systems (RS). As these systems curate personalized content, concerns have emerged about their propensity to amplify polar
...
izing or inappropriate content, spread misinformation, and infringe on users’ privacy. To address these concerns, the European Union (EU) has recently introduced a new regulatory framework through the Digital Services Act (DSA). These proposed policies are designed to bolster user agency by offering contestability mechanisms against personalized RS. As their effectiveness ultimately requires individual users to take specific actions, this empirical study investigates users’ intention to contest personalized RS. The results of a pre-registered survey across six countries – Brazil, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and the USA –involving 6,217 respondents yield key insights: (1) Approximately 20% of users would opt out of using personalized RS, (2) the intention for algorithmic contestation is associated with individual characteristics such as users’ attitudes towards and awareness of personalized RS as well as their privacy concerns, (3) German respondents are particularly inclined to contest personalized RS. We conclude that amending Art. 38 of the DSA may contribute to leveraging its effectiveness in fostering accessible user contestation and algorithmic transparency." (Abstract)
more
"This dis- and misinformation fact-checking toolkit was developed by Africa Check for young journalism students and members of NGOs and CSOs with a focus on youth-led organisations. It aims to equip members of the youth with the knowledge and practical tips to stop the spread of false information. T
...
his toolkit [...] provides an easily understandable overview of fact-checking with a focus on health information." (About this toolkit)
more
"The terms ‘indices’ and ‘indicators’ may immediately cause eyelids to droop. How, then, might they serve to impassion publics and, ultimately, promote social change? This paper examines the extent to which indices and indicators can be considered communication tools for social movements and
...
social change. The analysis is based on a 2018 evaluation of one index based in the United States – the Ranking Digital Rights Index, which assesses privacy and freedom of expression in the ICT space – and incorporates interviews with civil society stakeholders. Bringing theory from the fields of journalism and social movements together with the data from the evaluation, the findings suggest indices can serve as useful communication resources for social movements under certain circumstances. In particular, the analysis suggests three communication resources – legitimate information, newsworthy information, and flexible information – that human rights indices are most likely to provide." (Abstract)
more
"The Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics is a lively and authoritative guide to ethical issues related to digital technologies, with a special emphasis on AI. Philosophers with a wide range of expertise cover thirty-seven topics: from the right to have access to internet, to trolling and online shamin
...
g, speech on social media, fake news, sex robots and dating online, persuasive technology, value alignment, algorithmic bias, predictive policing, price discrimination online, medical AI, privacy and surveillance, automating democracy, the future of work, and AI and existential risk, among others. Each chapter gives a rigorous map of the ethical terrain, engaging critically with the most notable work in the area, and pointing directions for future research." (Publisher description)
more
"Vexing political questions of power, inequality and coloniality permeate the tech sector and its growing use of global ‘virtual’ assembly lines that see them penetrate even refugee camps in efforts to extract value. As a response, tech companies have been expanding non-commercial activities wit
...
hin a presumed framework of humanitarianism, in part, trying to outweigh the negative implications of unjust business practices often characterised by third-party avoidance of responsibility. This commentary focuses on tech companies’ engagement with people in the Global South – not as recipients of tech beneficence – but as labourers who make tech possible. First, we document why companies are brought into humanitarian crises, and then we briefly chart examples of the practices of tech companies in the Global South. Then, we argue that ‘tech for good’, often presumed as altruistic, instead reproduces an expansive history of questionable corporate social responsibility efforts that sustain inequalities more than assuaging them. We conclude by reflecting on the impact of commodifying compassion for humanitarian helping and argue that tech companies should stop trying to ‘help’ through selfperceived altruistic activities. Instead, corporations should focus on remaking their core business practices in an image of justice, protection, and equal value creation, particularly in contexts characterised by vulnerability." (Abstract)
more
"A recent innovation in the field of machine learning has been the creation of very large pre-trained models, also referred to as ‘foundation models’, that draw on much larger and broader sets of data than typical deep learning systems and can be applied to a wide variety of tasks. Underpinning
...
text-based systems such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and image generators such as Midjourney, these models have received extraordinary amounts of public attention, in part due to their reliance on prompting as the main technique to direct and apply them. This paper thus uses prompting as an entry point into the critical study of foundation models and their implications. The paper proceeds as follows: In the first section, we introduce foundation models in more detail, outline some of the main critiques, and present our general approach. We then discuss prompting as an algorithmic technique, show how it makes foundation models programmable, and explain how it enables different audiences to use these models as (computational) platforms. In the third section, we link the material properties of the technologies under scrutiny to questions of political economy, discussing, in turn, deep user interactions, reordered cost structures, and centralization and lock-in. We conclude by arguing that foundation models and prompting further strengthen Big Tech’s dominance over the field of computing and, through their broad applicability, many other economic sectors, challenging our capacities for critical appraisal and regulatory response." (Abstract)
more