"Este trabajo de investigación examina el surgimiento de las redes compartidas en comunidades tseltales y zapotecas de Chiapas y Oaxaca (México): la primera milla de señal de internet compartido que articulan la infraestructura de interconexión y los valores de convivencia para extender el inter...net a zonas donde los servicios de los grandes proveedores de internet existentes no son satisfactorios o no están disponibles. En los estudios de caso analizados, los pueblos indígenas se convierten en co-diseñadores de internet al crear la infraestructura de sus propias redes locales e interconectarse con el internet global. Este documento sostiene que se materializa un híbrido a nivel de la interconexión de redes cuando la comunalidad o la forma de estas comunidades, apoyada en frecuencias sin licencia del espectro electromagnético, torres, antenas de radio, tejados de casas, routers y cables, se une a los valores de los proveedores de servicios de internet y a sus políticas. Las redes compartidas son el resultado de lo que estos arreglos establecen y limitan así como la evidencia de las vívidas luchas de las redes indígenas latino-céntricas hacia un internet pluriversal." (Resumen)
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"In this article we consider the notion of digital global public good and articulate our understanding of it. Against this conceptual foil, we examine the development of DHIS2 (District Health Information Software Version 2), a global health platform inspired by public goods, focusing on the paradox...es that arise in the scaling process. We find that the scaling dynamics played out differently at the macro and micro levels, giving rise to the following paradoxes: addition of new functionalities to cater to the universe of users across the world (macro level) works counter to the needs of users in particular locations (micro level); responsiveness to the requests of the donors with a global view (macro level) distorts the production process, as the voices of users, situated in remote locations in developing countries, are not adequately heard; the system needs to be simultaneously relevant across the global (macro level) and the local (micro level), when the former calls for decontextualization and the later (re)contextualization. We then discuss challenges these paradoxes create with regard to attaining non-rivalry and non-exclusion, the defining characteristics of a public good." (Abstract)
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"This white paper seeks to provide an overview of the core thematic issues around digital rights and digital safety across the world. The content builds off a global mapping exercise of organisations and knowledge, predominantly focused on Africa and the Middle East, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Eas...tern Europe and Central Asia. This document is intended to serve as a primer for practitioners and newcomers into the field of digital rights to gain a broad understanding of key issues within this ecosystem." (Introduction, p.5)
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"Data governance is an integral aspect of digital authoritarianism because it incorporates any type of control, authority, and manipulation of data […]. Within the context of digital authoritarianism, data governance may incorporate both states and non-state actors that collaborate with states to ...facilitate their control over the data sources. This section analyses data governance in the context of its relationship to digital authoritarianism. Among the various facets of the topic, it concentrates mainly on surveillance, privacy, and digital methods of transnational repression that the states use to intimidate and silence their anti-regime activists abroad." (Data Governance, p.3)
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"In this paper, we outline each of the various technical mechanisms for implementing a shutdown, and the options for mitigating each type. Our hope is that technologists and civil society groups working to end shutdowns will find this a useful technical resource to understand, prepare for, circumven...t, and help document deliberate network disruptions." (Introduction)
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"International contributors assess a variety of key contexts that impact access to digital technologies, including contextual variations related to geography and infrastructure, as well as individual differences related to age, income, health and disability status. Chapters explore how variations em...erge across the life course, illustrating the effects of digital disparities on personal wellbeing. Intervening in critical debates relating to the digital divide, this Handbook offers key insights into privacy and trust issues that affect technological usage." (Publisher)
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"Once a specialised and niche field within internet and digital media studies, internet governance has in recent years moved to the forefront of policy debate. In the wake of scandals such as Cambridge Analytica and the global 'techlash' against digital monopolies, platform studies are undergoing a ...critical turn, but there is a greater need to connect such analysis to questions of public policy. This volume does just that, through a rich array of chapters concretely exploring the operation and influence of digital platforms and their related policy concerns. A wide variety of digital communication platforms are explored, including social media, content portals, search engines and app stores." (Publisher)
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"As the world welcomes its 8 billionth inhabitant, an estimated 5.3 billion people – roughly 66 per cent of the global population – are using the Internet. Yet some 2.7 billion people worldwide remain totally offline, with universal connectivity still a distant prospect in least developed countr...ies and landlocked developing countries, where, on average, only 36 per cent of the population is online. Young people remain the driving force of connectivity globally, with 75 per cent of the 15- to 24-year-old age group now online, compared with 65 per cent for the rest of the world’s population. And while data show slow but steady growth in fixed-broadband subscriptions, mobile continues to dominate as the platform of choice for online access, particularly in low-income countries where wireline connections can be scarce and costly, notably for those living outside of major urban centres. In poorly connected countries, two of the biggest barriers to digital uptake remain cost and digital skills. While affordability of entry-level fixed- and mobile-broadband services improved in 2022, the global gap remains far too wide. For an average consumer in a typical low-income economy, the cheapest mobile broadband basket still costs more than 9 per cent of his or her income – over six times the global average. Fixed-broadband service costs over 30 per cent, compared with less than 2 per cent in the world’s high-income countries." (Foreword)
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"Während der Corona-Pandemie und der damit verbundenen Einschränkungen des öffentlichen Lebens hat sich der Medienkonsum in allen Bereichen signifikant erhöht. Um auf dem Laufenden und mit anderen in Kontakt zu bleiben, aber auch um sich zu unterhalten und abzulenken, nutzten (und nutzen) die Me...nschen sowohl die traditionellen Angebote als auch die digitalen Medien- und Kommunikationstechnologien in stärkerem Ausmaß. Medienangebote haben während der Pandemie neben der Informations- auch psychosoziale Funktionen. Die stärker ausgeprägte Nutzung von Medien, die interpersonale Kommunikation und hohe soziale Präsenz ermöglichen (z.B. Video-Calls, Instant-Messenger), ist ein Indikator für das starke soziale Bedürfnis während der Pandemie, das durch den Gebrauch entsprechender Technologien befriedigt werden soll. Neben nützlichen Funktionen können dabei auch eher problematische Folgen der Mediennutzung beobachtet werden. Das Internet wirkt sich beispielsweise in der Krisenzeit positiv als Kommunikationsweg aus, um mit anderen in Kontakt zu bleiben und Informationen zu erhalten. Gleichzeitig berichten die Nutzer aber auch von Überforderung und Erschöpfung sowie negativen emotionalen Auswirkungen durch die Berichterstattung. Mit andauernder Krise zeigen sich zudem Anzeichen dafür, dass weniger Informationen gesucht werden und es bei vielen Menschen zur Informationsüberlastung hinsichtlich des Themas Corona-Pandemie gekommen ist. Wenn subjektiv eine kritische Masse an COVID-19-Informationen erreicht ist, können auch negative Effekte, wie zum Beispiel depressive Symptome, entstehen. Um die psychosozialen Belastungen abzufedern und das Wohlbefinden zu steigern, nutzen die Konsumenten spezifische inhaltliche Medienangebote. So dient zum Beispiel die Rezeption nostalgischer Medieninhalte neben der Unterhaltung auch der Bewältigung von Isolationsbefürchtungen. Als weitere hilfreiche Strategie, um das Bedürfnis nach Zugehörigkeit und sozialen Kontakten zu befriedigen, kann auch die Intensivierung parasozialer Beziehungen mit medialen Charakteren (Prominenten, Personas u.Ä.) dienen. Spezifische Medienangebote können somit auch die Funktion haben, einen Ausgleich zur belastenden Situation in der Krise zu bieten." (https://www.ard-media.de/media-perspektiven)
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"Eine Zahl taucht immer wieder in der Diskussion zur Nachhaltigkeit von KI auf: Die Emissionen, die in der Forschungs- und Entwicklungsphase großer Sprachmodelle anfallen, entsprechen den Emissionen von fünf Autos während ihrer gesamten Laufzeit. Diese Zahl stammt aus einer wegweisenden Analyse v...on Emma Strubell, Ananya Ganesh und Andrew McCallum. Wenig hilfreich sind jedoch die vielen ungenauen oder falschen Aussagen, die sich seitdem auf diese Berechnung beziehen – oft mit zweifelhaften Aussagen über die CO2-Kosten von KI-Systemen. Die Diskussion über die Nachhaltigkeit von KI verdient mehr Genauigkeit, mehr Differenziertheit, mehr Analyse und mehr Fakten. KI hat ökologische, soziale und wirtschaftliche Kosten zur Folge. Wissenschaft, Industrie, Zivilgesellschaft und Politik müssen dringend auf der Grundlage von Fakten über diese Kosten sprechen und handeln. Mit dem ersten SustAIn-Magazin wollen wir unseren Beitrag zu solch einem Austausch leisten. Das Magazin ist das Ergebnis des Forschungsprojekts SustAIn, in dem wir einen Rahmen zur Bewertung der Nachhaltigkeit von KI-Systemen entwickelt haben. Hier stellen wir Ihnen vor, wie eine nachhaltigere KI in der Praxis bereits umgesetzt wird. Wir brauchen Good-PracticeBeispiele, methodische Innovationen und differenzierte Perspektiven darauf, wo Forschung und politisches Handeln notwendig sind, um nachhaltigere KI zu fördern." (S.3)
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" ... many newsroom reactions to gender-based online violence appear to have been non-existent, ad hoc, or inadequate. At times, they have even damaged the women journalists targeted. Large global news organisations sometimes identified as “best practice” exemplars by expert responders interview...ed for this study were nevertheless criticised by the journalists interviewed in the course of the research with regard to their responses to the crisis. They were accused of failing to fully understand the gendered nature of the attacks, appreciate the serious psychological impacts, adapt to emerging and increasingly sophisticated threats, and provide effective and holistic support that recognises intersectional risks and hybrid security threats. A number of outlets were also criticised for insensitive and counterproductive victim-blaming and/or speech-restrictive behaviours. Many of the journalists interviewed for this study expressed exasperation and a sense of abandonment by their employers when they were in the midst of an online violence storm, even when there were credible threats of offline violence associated with these attacks. This was linked to gender-unaware policies, or those that had stagnated as a result of a failure to take account of increasing online toxicity and hostility towards journalists - especially on social media platforms - in the context of escalating disinformation, along with political polarisation and populism." (p.4)
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"Wie nutzen Individuen, Nichtregierungsorganisationen und Unternehmen digitale Medien, um zu einer nachhaltigen Gesellschaft beizutragen? Die Autorin rekonstruiert in dieser Open-Access-Publikation die sozial-ökologischen Folgen aktueller Digitalisierungsprozesse und zeigt anhand dreier Fallstudien..., wie verschiedene Akteur*innen Digitalisierung nachhaltiger gestalten (wollen): Neben dem Reparieren von Medientechnologien in Repair Cafés wurde die Produktion und Aneignung fairer Medientechnologien am Beispiel des Fairphones untersucht sowie Onlineplattformen, die für nachhaltigen Konsum werben, am Beispiel von utopia.de. Sind dies Beispiele für Medienpraktiken, die das Ziel der Nachhaltigkeit verfolgen, so werden in der vergleichenden Analyse auch Grenzen und Ambivalenzen dieses Handelns offenbar." (Verlag)
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"The Russian state-funded international broadcaster RT (formerly Russia Today) has attracted much attention as a purveyor of Russian propaganda. To date, most studies of RT have focused on its broadcast, website, and social media content, with little research on its audiences. Through a data-driven ...application of network science and other computational methods, we address this gap to provide insight into the demographics and interests of RT’s Twitter followers, as well as how they engage with RT. Building upon recent studies of Russian state-sponsored media, we report three main results. First, we find that most of RT’s Twitter followers only very rarely engage with its content and tend to be exposed to RT’s content alongside other mainstream news channels. This indicates that RT is not a central part of their online news media environment. Second, using probabilistic computational methods, we show that followers of RT are slightly more likely to be older and male than average Twitter users, and they are far more likely to be bots. Third, we identify thirty-five distinct audience segments, which vary in terms of their nationality, languages, and interests. This audience segmentation reveals the considerable heterogeneity of RT’s Twitter followers. Accordingly, we conclude that generalizations about RT’s audience based on analyses of RT’s media content, or on vocal minorities among its wider audiences, are unhelpful and limit our understanding of RT and its appeal to international audiences." (Abstract)
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"Annekathrin Kohout und Wolfgang Ullrich versammeln Beiträge, die sich verschiedenen Aspekten der zeitgenössischen visuellen Kultur widmen: Was zeichnet die Kommunikation über Memes aus, und warum sind sie so beliebt? Wie funktionieren GIFs, und wie haben sich das Dateiformat und seine Nutzung ü...ber die Zeit verändert? Was bedeutet der zunehmende Einfluss von Influencerinnen und Influencern für die Rezeption und Verbreitung von Mode? Und welche Konsequenzen hat es, dass die Allgegenwart von Bildern mit der zunehmenden Verbreitung von Software einhergeht, die in der Lage ist, automatisiert Gesichter zu erkennen? Die Beiträge nehmen unterschiedliche Facetten eines tiefgreifenden kulturellen Wandels in den Blick und zeigen seine Grundlagen, Potenziale und Ambivalenzen auf." (Buchrücken)
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"Digital systems are significantly associated with inequality in the global South. That association has traditionally been understood in terms of the digital divide or related terminologies whose core conceptualization is the exclusion of some groups from the benefits of digital systems. However, wi...th the growing breadth and depth of digital engagement in the global South, an exclusion worldview is no longer sufficient. What is also needed is an understanding of how inequalities are created for some groups that are included in digital systems. This paper creates such an understanding, drawing from ideas in the development studies literature on chronic poverty to inductively build a model of a new concept: ‘adverse digital incorporation’, meaning inclusion in a digital system that enables a more-advantaged group to extract disproportionate value from the work or resources of another, less advantaged group. This new model will enable those involved with digital development to understand why, how and for whom inequality can emerge from the growing use of digital systems in the global South. It creates a systematic framework incorporating the processes, the drivers, and the causes of adverse digital incorporation that will provide detailed new insights. The paper concludes with implications for both digital development researchers and practitioners that derive from the model and its exposure to the broader components of power that shape the inclusionary connection between digital and inequality." (Abstract)
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"This report summarises learnings from BBC Media Action’s landscaping study of the gendered dimensions of social media access and use in India. It addresses 10 questions that have implications for designing digital solutions for women’s empowerment in India." (p.2)
"The aim of this report is to provide a landscape scan of how an extremely diverse set of communities and movements are working at intersections of technology, digital rights, environmental justice and climate justice. The report’s primary audiences are grantmakers and practitioners working in or ...adjacent to the digital rights sector interested in understanding how to centre environmental/climate justice in their work going forward. Secondary intended audiences are grantmakers and practitioners with an environmental or climate focus who are interested in exploring the intersections between their work and that of the digital rights sector. The report aims to provide qualitative insight on the needs of and challenges faced by practitioners engaged in work spanning digital rights, tech and environmental/climate justice issues. It also aims to identify opportunities for digital rights funders to provide impactful support that is grounded in the real-world experiences of different communities and movements engaged in the fight for climate and environmental justice." (Introduction, p.5-6)
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"[This book] guides the reader in what different kinds of qualitative research can be applied to social media data. It introduces students, as well as those who are new to the field, to developing and carrying out concrete research projects. The book takes the reader through the stages of choosing d...ata, formulating a research question, and choosing and applying method(s). Written in a clear and accessible manner with current social media examples throughout, the book provides a step-by-step overview of a range of qualitative methods. These are presented in clear ways to show how to analyze many different types of social media content, including language and visual content such as memes, gifs, photographs and film clips. Methods examined include critical discourse analysis, content analysis, multimodal analysis, ethnography and focus groups. Most importantly, the chapters and examples show how to ask the kinds of questions that are relevant for us at this present point in our societies, where social media is highly integrated into how we live. Social media is used for political communication, social activism, as well as commercial activities and mundane everyday things, and it can transform how all these are accomplished and even what they mean. Drawing on examples from Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, Weibo and others, this book will be suitable for undergraduate students studying social media research courses in media and communications, as well as other humanities such as linguistics and social science based degrees." (Abstract)
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"Fernanda R. Rosa explores the Indigenous networks, principles, and practices of internet infrastructure building and sharing in Tseltal and Zapoteco sovereign territories in Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico. More specifically, she uses the concept of shared networks to examine “the first mile signal-sh...aring practices” (p.8) among these underserved Indigenous communities and highlight their active participation in designing their own first mile infrastructure as “internet codesigners” (p.8). The paper draws on extensive fieldwork that Rosa conducted in 2017 among different institutions and actors in Chiapas and Oaxaca - two states with the lowest Internet connectivity rates in Mexico - and illuminates it is the local community members, rather than the big internet service providers (ISP), that truly drive the first mile internet connection." (https://www.asc.upenn.edu)
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"Seit 2016 bietet das öffentlich-rechtliche Content-Netzwerk 'funk' konfektionierte Inhalte für die junge Zielgruppe. Bekanntheit und Reichweite des öffentlich-rechtlichen ContentNetzwerks nehmen seitdem stetig zu. YouTube und Instagram wurden 2021 als Primärplattformen bespielt, da sie von 14- ...bis 29-Jährigen am intensivsten genutzt werden. Bei der Nutzung der funk-Angebote zeigten sich plattformbezogene Unterschiede bei inhaltlichen Präferenzen und Interaktion." (Kurz und knapp, S.364)
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