"This chapter critically discusses how the democratic arena is changing and deteriorating due to the impact of the power of social media platforms. The focus is on the consequences that personalized forms of information and digital affordances can produce, leading to online information cocoons or fi
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lter bubbles that limit the range of political ideas that people can encounter. Then, the threats to democracy and liberty produced by closed online spaces in which people of similar opinions can congregate are discussed. Finally, the chapter analyses an approach to the regulation of social media based on assessing the nature of digital capitalism and how we pay for the digital services offered by social media platforms." (Abstract)
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"Internally Displaced People (IDP) have received less attention in ICT4D research. This study examines how IDP in Africa use mobile phones to enhance their social inclusion. We employed Sen’s Capability Approach as the theoretical lens and a qualitative case study as a methodology. Qualitative dat
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a obtained from 21 conflict-induced IDP in Nigeria suggests that mobile phones serve not only as a self-help commodity to overcome disconnection from their communities but also a means to enhance their individual and collective capabilities, which in turn fosters their social inclusion. However, generating these capabilities depend on the personal, social, and environmental experiences of IDP. With these findings, the study offers contributions to theory, research, and practice." (Abstract)
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"Radio remains overwhelmingly the most common source for news in Africa. On average across 34 surveyed countries, two-thirds (68%) of respondents tune in at least a few times a week. Digital media use for news is growing quickly. Between 2014/2015 and 2019/2021, the share of Africans who get news fr
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om social media or the Internet at least a few times a week almost doubled, from 24% to 43% across 31 countries included in both survey rounds. Urban residents, better-educated citizens, men, and youth are most likely to use digital media in Africa. While use has increased among other groups as well, demographic gaps in digital media use have remained roughly the same since 2014/2015, and even increased with regard to urban/rural residence and education. Africans express broad support for the media's ro in fostering government accountability, and majorities support media freedoms in every country except Mozambique, Tunisia, Cameroon, Morocco, and Tanzania. But most Africans support their government's right to place limits on the dissemination of hate speech, false information, and messages that are insulting to their president. A majority (57%) of Africans see social media as having mostly positive effects on society, while just one-fourth (24%) see its impact as mostly negative. However, while Africans value social media's ability to inform and empower citizens, they also see distinct threats in its ability to spread false information and hate speech." (Key findings)
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"Developed and delivered in 2021/2022, the Digital Media Arts for an inclusive Public Sphere (Digital MAPS) programme brought together three universities, a data science and software company, an international Digital Peacebuilding NGO, as well as 18 country-based media-arts initiatives, to explore l
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ocal responses to affective polarisation – defined as the increasing dislike, distrust, and animosity towards those from other cultural or identity-based groups. As you will read, through Digital MAPS, we worked with young leaders from the creative and media-arts sector, across eight countries in MENA (Libya, Palestine, Jordan, Yemen, Iraq, the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), Tunisia and Syria), providing them with the skills, resources and technology to understand polarisation and depolarisation approaches, conduct their own social media analysis and on the basis of this design and deliver pilot interventions to undercut affective polarisation - whether it be centred on gender, ethno-sectarian conflict, intergenerational conflict or hate speech in general. We hope the information contained here within, will be of interest to digital peacebuilding and digital cultural relations practitioners, policy makers and academics. More especially, we hope it can stimulate a conversation on the intersection between the two and the role of Cultural Relations in addressing the drivers that undermine it." (Introduction)
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"This study sought to assess the hypothesis that age and gender are associated with the VIAMO digital platform usage in our GOAL project UNITLIFE. The study identified significant gender- and age-based differentials in the platform usage. These findings are interpreted as suggestive evidence that mo
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bile phone-based services, while they do offer good platforms to reach underserved communities, they can also generate new inequalities, between age groups and between genders as women and men do not equally access the platforms. There is a risk that certain groups will be left behind by such services. It is evident from literature and our study that barriers to mobile phone ownership and use disproportionately and negatively impact older age groups and women, who tend to belong to the groups that are most likely to be unconnected, such as those who are unemployed or have low literacy levels and are also often affected by social norms which make mobile ownership and use more difficult." (Conclusion)
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"The collection, processing, storage and circulation of data are fundamental element of contemporary societies. While the positivistic literature on ‘data revolution’ finds it essential for improving development delivery, critical data studies stress the threats of datafication. In this article,
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we demonstrate that datafication has been happening continuously through history, driven by political and economic pressures. We use historical examples to show how resource and personal data were extracted, accumulated and commodified by colonial empires, national governments and trade organizations, and argue that similar extractive processes are a present-day threat in the Global South. We argue that the decoupling of earlier and current datafication processes obscures the underlying, complex power dynamics of datafication. Our historical perspective shows how, once aggregated, data may become imperishable and can be appropriated for problematic purposes in the long run by both public and private entities. Using historical case studies, we challenge the current regulatory approaches that view data as a commodity and frame it instead as a mobile, non-perishable, yet ideally inalienable right of people." (Abstract)
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"Im Jahr 2022 richten 13 Organisationen aus Umweltschutz, Digitalpolitik, Entwicklungspolitik und Wissenschaft gemeinsam mit einer engagierten Community die zweite Konferenz für Digitalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit »Bits & Bäume« aus. Denn wir sind überzeugt: Es braucht politische Veränderungen,
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damit die Digitalisierung besser zum drängenden sozialen und ökologischen Wandel beiträgt. Uns vereint ein integratives Verständnis von Nachhaltigkeit sowie der Wille, eine Zukunft zu gestalten, in der der digitale Wandel eine positive Rolle einnimmt und Mensch, Lebensgrundlagen und Umwelt unterstützt und schützt. Gemeinsam fordern wir die Bundesregierung, die Europäische Union und politische Akteure weltweit dazu auf, unsere Forderungen zügig umzusetzen. Uns ist bewusst, dass die Forderungen nicht alle politischen Veränderungen abdecken, die erforderlich sind, um eine transformative, nachhaltige Digitalisierung zu gestalten, daher müssen gemeinsam mit der Expertise der Zivilgesellschaft weitere Maßnahmen entwickelt werden." (Präambel)
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"Waarneming.nl is the largest nature observation platform in the Netherlands, with over 70,000 users contributing data on biodiversity through their website and mobile applications. Using Waarneming.nl as an example, the theoretical exploration in this article offers a new lens to look at platforms
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for nature observations. Users of Waarneming.nl read and write digital traces of encounters with other species, creating a ‘hybrid experience’ of nature, where digital and physical information are intertwined. As physical experiences become scarcer in threatening times of species endangerment and extinction, Waarneming.nl should additionally be understood as a place to memorialize lost nature. By conceptualizing Waarneming.nl as a digital 'lieu de mémoire' (‘place of memories’) and a place where hybrid experiences of nature are inspired, this article reflects on the positive and negative consequences of such platforms for humans and their multispecies relationships." (Abstract)
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"The year 2018 marks the first year in human history in which a majority of the world's population are now connected to the internet. This mass connectivity means that we have an internet that no longer connects only the world's wealthy. Workers from Lagos to Johannesburg to Nairobi and everywhere i
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n between can now apply for and carry out jobs coming from clients who themselves can be located anywhere in the world. Digital outsourcing firms can now also set up operations in the most unlikely of places in order to tap into hitherto disconnected labour forces. With CEOs in the Global North proclaiming that 'location is a thing of the past' (Upwork, 2018), and governments and civil society in Africa promising to create millions of jobs on the continent, the book asks what this 'new world of digital work' means to the lives of African workers. It draws from a year-long fieldwork in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda, with over 200 interviews with participants including gig workers, call and contact centre workers, self-employed freelancers, small-business owners, government officials, labour union officials, and industry experts. Focusing on both platform-based remote work and call and contact centre work, the book examines the job quality implications of digital work for the lives and livelihoods of African workers." (Publisher description)
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"Welche menschlichen Eigenschaften machen sich die Entwickler von Facebook oder Tiktok, Snapchat, Twitter oder Instagram zunutze, damit wir uns an sie binden, auf ihren Seiten verweilen, unsere Timeline pflegen, Beiträge liken, retweeten oder Kommentare posten? Welche kommerziell oder manipulativ n
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utzbaren Einblicke in unsere Vorlieben, Sehnsüchte oder Ängste gewinnen sie aus unseren Daten, oft, ohne dass uns das bewusst wäre, und wie geschieht das? Christian Montag forscht an der Schnittstelle zwischen Psychologie und Informatik. Anschaulich zeigt er, mit welchen Mitteln Social Media tief im Menschsein verankerte Bedürfnisse – nach Anerkennung, Bestätigung, Zugehörigkeit – für ihre Zwecke instrumentalisieren und warum diese Rechnung bei so vielen von uns aufgeht. Montag verurteilt die Strategien der Tech-Konzerne nicht pauschal und beleuchtet auch hilfreiche Einsatzmöglichkeiten. Es geht ihm um ein Bewusstsein für die potenziell gefährliche Macht der Internet-Plattformen, die sie mit ihrer dominanten Rolle sowohl im Alltagsleben der Einzelnen als auch in gesellschaftlich-politischer Hinsicht erlangt haben." (Verlagsinformation)
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"From September 2020 to January 2021, 253 trainers delivered the FactShala training program to 23,347 adults in communities across India. The FactShala media literacy training program launched by Internews […], is an effective mechanism for spreading media and information literacy and building res
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ilience to misinformation within communities experiencing exponential growth in access to and use of the internet. Internews commissioned the Centre for Media Studies to conduct a comprehensive impact evaluation of the FactShala training in July and August 2021. This report outlines the findings of that study. The key objectives of this study are to: 1. Assess how far FactShala improved trainees' awareness of and ability to identify online misinformation and disinformation; 2. Determine how far FactShala motivated trainees to share this knowledge with others; 3. Capture best practices in curbing misinformation and disinformation at the individual, organizational or community level; 4. Provide insights to help design or improve future training modules, curricula and capacity-building sessions." (Executive Summary, page 11-12)
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