"Museums and archives all over the world digitize their collections and provide online access to heritage material. But what factors determine the content, structure and use of these online inventories? This book turns to India and Europe to answer this question. It explains how museums and archives
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envision, decide and conduct digitization and online dissemination. It also sheds light on born-digital, community-based archives, which have established themselves as new actors in the field. Based on anthropological fieldwork, the chapters in the book trace digital archives from technical advancements and postcolonial initiatives to programming alternatives, editing content, and active use of digital archives." (Publisher description)
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"This report focuses on women and girls using, studying and working in digital technology in five Western Balkan States (Republic of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) and three Eastern Partnership countries (Ukraine, Georgia, and Republic of Moldova). On the su
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rface, these eight countries are well poised to take advantage of the new digital economy, as they have a high degree of digital access and connectivity and populations with strong academic foundations in mathematics and science. In fact, in five of the eight countries profiled, women comprise more than 40 per cent of university graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. However, women’s involvement in STEM in the Western Balkan and Eastern Partnership countries does not translate into strong participation in technology sectors; across all eight countries profiled, the number of women working in ICT industries, founding or investing in technology start-ups or serving as high-level managers or directors in technology companies remains remarkably low. Challenges – ranging from cultural norms and biases to lack of self-confidence and online and offline harassment – hinder girls and women’s full participation. The digital acceleration fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic represents an historic opportunity to transform women’s involvement in technology in the region. STEM education is the first key area that is ripe for change; long before the pandemic hit, demand for digital skills across Eastern Partnership and Western Balkan countries was already prompting curriculum overhauls. While schools across all eight countries are evolving by incorporating digital literacy and twenty-first century skill-building into coursework, education ministries are not doing enough to ensure that girls benefit equally." (Executive summary)
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"The Courage Against Hate initiative has been brought together by Facebook for the purpose of sparking cross-sector, pan-European dialogue and action to combat hate speech and extremism. This collection of articles unites European academic analysis with practitioners who are actively working on coun
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tering extremism within civil society. Hate and extremism have no place on Facebook and we have been making major investments over a number of years to improve detection of this content on our platforms, so we can remove it quicker - ideally before people see it and report it to us. We’ve tripled - to more than 35,000 - the people working on safety and security at Facebook, and grown the dedicated team we have leading our efforts against terrorism and extremism to over 350 people. This group includes former academics who are experts on counterterrorism, former prosecutors and law enforcement agents, investigators and analysts, and engineers. We’ve also developed and iterated various technologies to make us faster and better at identifying this type of material automatically. This includes photo and video matching tools and text-based machine-learning classifiers. Last year, as a result of these investments, we removed more than 19 million pieces of content related to hate organisations last year, over 97% of which we proactively identified and removed before anyone reported it to us." (Introduction, page 2)
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"[...] we tried to identify the connection between anti-vax conspiracy theories and antisemitism, and the way they spread on social media. Eight media monitors from Get The Trolls Out! partner organisations in Belgium (Flanders), Belgium (Wallonia), France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and the
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United Kingdom (UK) monitored Facebook and Twitter in their countries and identified hashtags, private and public groups, and prominent figures who spread misinformation related to COVID-19 and the vaccines. Through these results, they identified antisemitic narratives. The period monitored is from March 2021-August 2021, however, in some cases the period was extended in order to include recent developments. The results of the monitoring exercise are not surprising. Antisemitic narratives are present within anti-vax conspiracies in the countries where monitoring took place. In some countries antisemitism is more subtle than in others, however, it is still part of conspiracist efforts to spread misinformation and fear. One narrative that all countries have in common is an old antisemitic narrative: a group of powerful Jewish people that want to take over the world. In most countries such as Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), France, Hungary, Germany, and Poland this powerful figure takes the form of philanthropist George Soros or of the Rothschild family, who are generally central figures in antisemitic conspiracy theories. In other cases, those powerful secret figures are not named but implied." (Introduction, page 6)
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"The paper looks at 6 areas where the EU can tackle digitalisation while strengthening development and democracy at the same time. These are: automated decision-making in public administration; data protection; internet access; accountability and control of tech; a free information environment, and;
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the digital divide. Four broad conclusions emerge from the analysis: The global nature of digitalisation, combined with the local impact of its consequences, places all the challenges and possible responses outlined above in a sort of operational middle-ground, a policy arena where the multilateral and the bilateral must converge to deliver results that do not undermine each other. Arguably, this is what will ultimately determine the success or failure of ‘geographisation’: the capacity of EU Delegations to develop fruitful partnerships with partner countries to jointly tackle the most pressing global challenges – not only digitalisation, but also climate change, migration or inequalities – while responding to the most urgent needs of their populations." (Executive summary)
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"This report is meant to share the experiences and lessons of local media practitioners globally, and to build a community for networking and support. It’s about telling their story in their own voice – and helping all involved learn from one another. By talking to both new digital start-ups and
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traditional media in transition, this report identifies how media builders in different circumstances understand and meet the challenges they face. Comparing and contrasting experiences from different parts of the world provides both lessons that can be copied as well as warnings about the need to understand how different regional and national conditions impact success. From there, the report draws practical recommendations for news media leaders, for media support organizations, and for the IPI global network." (Introduction, page 4)
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"This research investigated how media representation of a violent conflict influences the attitudes towards refugees in a host country, by using Syria and Yemen as a comparative case study. A literature review on this topic suggested that much research pointed out that media representation influence
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s the attitude, but less information was found on how this exactly influences the attitude. This is problematic because negative attitudes can have negative consequences for people living in the conflict zone and refugees in the host country. The aim of this research was to provide new insights in the connection between media representation and the attitude towards refugees. It focussed on the under-researched topic by answering the question ‘How does media representation of a violent conflict influence the attitude towards refugees in a host country?’ In order to answer this question, I used mixed-methods, collecting primary quantitative and qualitative data. I investigated the quantity and length of news articles, conducted a critical discourse analysis by analysing the social, discursive and linguistic practice, did a visual data analysis by looking at the images, the production and consumption, and conducted a cross-sectional survey among Dutch people." (Abstract)
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"To what extent do structures and conduct of leading news media correspond with requirements of contemporary democracies? Based on a root concept of democracy and several empirical indicators, the Media for Democracy Monitor (MDM) delivers a panorama of the news media’s performance regarding freed
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om, equality, and control across several countries. In 2011, the MDM analysed 10 democracies. Ten years later, it covers 18 countries worldwide and pinpoints essential strengths and weaknesses during this decade of digitalisation. Around the globe, news are highly attractive to users, and the journalistic ethos of watchdogs and investigators is paramount. On the downside, journalistic job security eroded over time, and gender gaps both in content and employment patterns remain strikingly excessive in most countries. Volume two contains all countries analysed for the first time in 2021: Belgium (Flanders), Canada, Chile, Denmark, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, and South Korea." (Publisher description)
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"Die SIM-Studie stellt einen grundlegenden Situationsbericht zum Medienumgang Älterer in Deutschland mit einem speziellen Fokus auf digitale Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien dar. Hierfür wurde im Zeitraum vom 22. März bis 31. Mai 2021 eine repräsentative Stichprobe von 3000 Personen
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ab 60 Jahren telefonisch befragt. Zunächst zeigen die Ergebnisse der SIM-Studie 2021, dass Seniorinnen und Senioren in Deutschland durchaus über ein reichhaltiges (Geräte)-Repertoire zur Mediennutzung verfügen: In allen Haushalten ist ein Fernsehgerät vorhanden, auch ein Radiogerät gehört bei fast allen (91 %) zur Grundausstattung. 83 Prozent haben einen Internetanschluss, 78 Prozent W-LAN. Im Besitz eines Computers sind drei Viertel der Haushalte (77 %). Ein Smartphone ist bei 72 Prozent vorhanden und auch ein Tablet ist in fast der Hälfte der Haushalte verfügbar (48%). Die Ausstattung spiegelt sich auch in der Nutzung wieder: 94 Prozent der befragten Personen sehen jeden oder fast jeden Tag fern. Auch das Smartphone wird von 63 Prozent der Personen ab 60 Jahren täglich genutzt, von zwei Fünfteln sogar mehrmals täglich (41 %). Jeder Zweite nutzt täglich einen Computer (51 %). Knapp jeder Dritte ein Tablet (30 %). Angesichts der hohen Zahlen beim Gerätebesitz und deren Nutzung verwundert es nicht, dass für einen Großteil der Befragten auch die Internetnutzung mittlerweile zum Medienalltag dazugehört: 81 Prozent geben an, "zumindest selten" online zu sein. Allerdings ist ein Alterseffekt erkennbar: Sind es bei den 60- bis 69-Jährigen 92 Prozent, zählen sich bei den über 80-Jährigen nur 51 Prozent zu den Onlinerinnen und Onlinern. Auch das Geschlecht (Männer sind häufiger online als Frauen) und der formale Bildungsgrad (Befragte mit Abitur/ Studium sind häufiger online als mit Haupt-/ Volksschulabschluss) spielen u.a. eine Rolle. Auch konkrete Online-Aktivitäten wurden im Rahmen der SIM-Studie 2021 untersucht. Bei der Frage, was die befragten Onlinerinnen und Onliner im Internet machen, kristallisieren sich vor allem vier Tätigkeiten heraus: Knapp zwei Drittel nutzen täglich WhatsApp oder vergleichbare Dienste (64 %), etwa jede/-r Zweite informiert sich zu aktuellen Themen/Nachrichten im Internet (53 %) oder nutzt Suchmaschinen (50%), über E-Mail kommunizieren 42 Prozent jeden oder fast jeden Tag. Kommunikation und Information/Recherche scheinen also wichtige Motive zur Nutzung des Internets durch Ältere darzustellen. Bei der genaueren Betrachtung des Informationsverhaltens zeigen die Ergebnisse außerdem: Das Thema ist entscheidend für die Wahl des Mediums. Steht bei der Information über "Aktuelles aus der Welt" oder das "Thema Corona" das Fernsehen bei 61 bzw. 49 Prozent der Befragten als Quelle an erster Stelle, punktet die Tageszeitung bei der Information über "Regionales" (52 %). Zur Beantworung "konkreter Problemstellungen" (43 %), Informationen zu "neuen Produkten" (40 %) oder "Gesundheit und Pflege" (26 %) wird vor allem das Internet herangezogen." (https://www.lfk.de/forschung/mediennutzungsstudien/sim-studie-2021)
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"This update to the RSF report “Taking Control? Internet Censorship and Surveillance in Russia” (published in November 2019) focuses on the period between the 2019 elections and the parliamentary elections in September 2021. It describes how the Kremlin has severely restricted press freedom and
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freedom of expression over the last 18 months, the pressures independent journalists in Russia now face, and how these conditions are nurturing self-censorship. Under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, the Russian parliament rushed through a slew of new laws in 2020 and 2021. Under the new provisions, almost any news website or individual can be declared a “foreign agent” – a designation that massively obstructs or even completely prevents their work. People can be charged with defamation simply for making a general statement such as “the police are corrupt”, and in the worst case face multi-year prison sentences. The authorities can use the “fake news” label to block information that contradicts the official version of events – including reports on conditions in hospitals or on the demonstrations in support of opposition politician Alexei Navalny." (Overview, page 5)
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"This companion brings together various concepts used to analyse dimensions of media disinformation and populism. The companion is theoretically and methodologically comprehensive and features various historical and critical approaches providing a full and incisive understanding of media, misinforma
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tion and populism. It is both interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary consisting of contributions from scholars analysing aspects of misinformation, disinformation and populism across countries, political systems and media systems. A global, comparative approach to the study of misinformation and populism is important in identifying common elements and particular characteristics, and these individual essays cover a wide range of topics and themes, with contributions from both leading and young scholars. The distinctiveness of the companion is its encompassing of a variety of subject areas: Political Communication, Journalism, Law, Sociology, Cultural studies, International Politics, and International Relations." (Publisher description)
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