"In this Ericsson Mobility Report, we continue to describe the evolution towards the Networked Society. Between 2015 and 2021, the Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to increase at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23 percent, making up close to 16 billion of the total forecast 28 billion
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connected devices in 2021." (Page 3) "The number of mobile subscriptions exceeds the population in many countries. This is largely due to inactive subscriptions, multiple device ownership or optimization of subscriptions for different types of calls. This means the number of subscribers is lower than the number of subscriptions. Today there are around 5 billion subscribers compared to 7.4 billion subscriptions." (Page 5)
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"The global expansion of the Internet is frequently associated with increased government transparency, political rights, and democracy. However, this assumption depends on marginalized groups getting access in the first place. Here we document a strong and persistent political bias in the allocation
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of Internet coverage across ethnic groups worldwide. Using estimates of Internet penetration obtained through network measurements, we show that politically excluded groups suffer from significantly lower Internet penetration rates compared with those in power, an effect that cannot be explained by economic or geographic factors. Our findings underline one of the central impediments to “liberation technology,” which is that governments still play a key role in the allocation of the Internet and can, intentionally or not, sabotage its liberating effects." (Abstract)
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"The current study explores the influence of communication variables on human rights protection. The effects of international and domestic mass communication and digital media were assessed among global social, economic, and political factors. The statistical analyses on a sample of 101 nation state
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s over the most recent decade reveal several important findings: (a) top-down, internationally initiated human rights discourse and monitoring were not as effective as bottom-up, domestically initiated human rights dialogues; (b) access to the Internet and access to a mobile phone have different effects on human rights performance, and Internet availability played an especially important role; (c) economic development, political system, and population size are powerful predictors of nations' human rights performance, but a large population size diminishes the effect of economic development; and (d) economic development can moderate the effect of political context on human rights performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed." (Abstract)
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"At least 419 million people are blocking ads on smartphones (this number excludes content blocking apps, in-app adblockers, and opt-in browser adblockers). There are twice as many mobile adblockers than desktop adblockers. Mobile adblocking is most popular in emerging markets, such as China, India,
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Pakistan and Indonesia. 36% of smartphone users in Asia-Pac are blocking ads on the mobile web. 22% of the world’s 1.9 billion smartphone users are blocking ads on the mobile web." (Page 4)
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"To many in the media, Internet governance seems to be an issue far removed from their daily life and work. This misconception can have substantial consequences. The Internet is fast becoming the infrastructure for all communications between media and citizens. If journalists and media freedom activ
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ists do not get involved in the debates about how to govern the net, it will be left to governments and private companies to define the rules for our public arena." (Introduction, page 9)
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"This report provides an overview of a decade of killings of journalists, media workers and social media producers, between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2015. The extent of the risks faced by those exercising their right to express opinions and disseminate information is demonstrated by the figure
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of 827 killings recorded by UNESCO over ten years. To this, one needs to add the numerous other violations endured by journalists, which include kidnappings, arbitrary detention, torture, intimidation and harassment, both offline and online, and seizure or destruction of material. Overcoming all these threats is needed for measuring progress on the Sustainable Development Goal Target 16.10 on ensuring public access to information and protecting fundamental freedoms within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This Report is focused exclusively on the worst violations, i.e. the killings of journalists, in line with the IPDC Council’s 2008 Decision on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, which was reinforced by subsequent decisions in 2010, 2012, and 2014." (Executive summary)
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"Encryption is a hot topic in the current global discussion on Internet governance. This research delves into the subject, to outline a global overview of the various means of encryption, their availability and their potential applications in the media and communications landscape. The research expl
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ains how the deployment of encryption is affected by different areas of law and policy, and it offers detailed case studies of encryption in selected jurisdictions. It analyzes in-depth the role of encryption in the media and communications landscape, and the impact on different services, entities and end users. Built on this exploration and analysis, the research provides recommendations on encryption policy that are useful for various stakeholders. These include signaling the need to counter the lack of gender sensitivity in the current debate, and also highlighting ideas for enhancing “encryption literacy." (Back cover)
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"The handbook seeks to shine a spotlight on media organisations that have prioritized gender equality within their organizations, leadership teams, and within their audience, and as a result, have seen a positive return. At best, we hope these stories inspire media to take concrete action to priorit
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ize gender equality and inclusion in their management structures and newsrooms. At the very least, we hope they start a broader conversation around this important subject." (Introduction)
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"La Defensoría del Público asumió el desafío de impulsar a emisoras de gestión pública y de gestión privada con y sin fines de lucro para que adopten el camino de la coregulación creando sus propios códigos de ética y manuales de estilo. Estas guías pueden partir de la definición de la c
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omunicación como un derecho básico inalienable y de reconocer la necesidad de transmitir imágenes y mensajes inclusivos y no discriminatorios, que respeten la dignidad de las personas, para contribuir a mejorar la comunicación y, con ella, la mejora de la vida en general, la convivencia como comunidad y, por ende, la construcción de una sociedad inclusiva. De allí que en estas páginas, la Defensoría procura aportar y sistematizar herramientas existentes a nivel nacional e internacional para brindar instrumentos acordes a los desafíos del paradigma de la comunicación en Argentina: la concepción que la comunicación como derecho humano le plantea al campo de los medios audiovisuales." (Introducción)
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"For over a decade the international development community has been exploring how the use of digital technologies, including tools like the mobile phone, can extend the reach of development. At the same time, development organizations have grappled with how to use these technologies to make their ow
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n work more participatory, sustainable, and effective. The results have been mixed. Some projects have succeeded, enabling improved and sustained access to information and services that previously were out of reach for marginalized populations. Other projects have failed, often due to preventable reasons, resulting in hundreds, if not thousands of projects being unable to scale. In the late 2000s, several donors and multilateral organizations began talking about failure in using digital tools to support development. Soon, sets of principles, lessons, and best practices started emerging, beginning with the UNICEF Innovation Principles in 2009. One year later, a group of mHealth implementers and donors independently developed a different set of principles known as the Greentree Principles. The Principles for Digital Development (Principles) were created through the integration and refinement of these two previous sets of principles. Since June 2014, members of the international development community have convened through a dozen meetings to discuss the Principles in detail. This report is the synthesis of those and other events at which the community talked about what it means to put the Principles into practice. It identifies common barriers to the Principles’ successful implementation and suggests resources to help overcome these barriers." (Executive summary)
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"This annual report presents a global and regional overview of the latest developments regarding information and communication technologies (ICTs), based on internationally comparable data and agreed methodologies. It aims to stimulate the ICT policy debate in ITU Member States by providing an objec
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tive assessment of how countries have performed in the field of ICT and by highlighting areas that need further improvement. One of the core features of the Report is the ICT Development Index (IDI). This year’s results show that nearly all of the 175 countries covered by the index improved their IDI values between 2015 and 2016. During the same period, stronger improvements have been made on ICT use than access, mainly as a result of strong growth in mobile-broadband uptake globally. This has allowed an increasing number of people, in particular from the developing world, to join the information society and benefit from the many services and applications provided through the Internet. This year, for the first time, the Report also shows countries’ rankings according to their improvement in IDI value. The results show strong improvements in performance throughout the world; a number of middleincome developing countries in particular are reaping the benefits of more liberalized and competitive ICT markets that encourage innovation and ICT uptake across all sectors. Despite these encouraging developments, we need to focus on the countries that are among the least connected in the world. Urgent action is required to address this persistent digital divide if we want to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For example, the Report shows that in some low-income countries, between 20 and 40 per cent of people still do not own a mobile phone and that the gender gap in mobile phone ownership is substantially higher." (Foreword)
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"This study examines media coverage of the 2011–2012 famine in Somalia by the websites of BBC News, CNN and Al-Jazeera. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative content analyses, it explores why coverage of the famine began as late as it did, despite ample evidence of its inevitable unf
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olding, as well as the manner in which the famine was explained in popular news accounts. The study surveys famine-related news reports for evidence of four paradigms present in the current literature on famine and its causes, through which the famine could have been understood: as a Malthusian competition between population and land; as a failure of food entitlements; as critical political event; and as an issue of criminality. The findings include an overwhelming reliance on Malthusian explanations of famine, and noticeable under-reporting of the famine – despite ample evidence – until it was formally declared as such by the United Nations." (Abstract)
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"Wie verändert sich die Welt abseits von Europa in dieser Zeit großer Fluchtbewegungen? Welche Regionen stehen – auch für die EU-Diplomatie – im Fokus? Was passiert in den Herkunftsländern? Und welche Sichtweisen bestimmen dort den Diskurs über Flucht und Migration? In diesem Band werden Hi
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ntergründe erläutert sowie Schlaglichter auf die Lage an zahlreichen Schauplätzen geworfen: auf das Zusammenspiel von Schmugglern, Milizionären und Dschihadisten in der Sahara, die Perspektivlosigkeit im Iran, das tägliche Sterben in Aleppo, die Gewalt gegen die Bevölkerung in Tschetschenien oder die Verhältnisse im sudanesischen Khartum, das zu einer zentralen Drehscheibe für Flüchtlinge aus Ostafrika geworden ist. Die Autorinnen und Autoren zeichnen ein facettenreiches Bild globaler Umbrüche und Dynamiken, das die Tragweite der Herausforderungen erahnen lässt, denen sich die Herkunfts- und Transitländer ausgesetzt sehen." (Klappentext)
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