"In this article, we employed communication infrastructure theory (CIT) to analyze Gram Vaani’s (“Voice of the Village”) Covid-19 Response Network in India. We reviewed key CIT components (i.e., storytelling network and communication action context) and their applications in civic engagement,
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health disparities, and crisis mitigation. Our results showed that Gram Vaani’s Covid-19 Response Network merged all three types of CIT application into an integrated whole and extended it to marginalized rural and migrant/resident worker communities in India. In 15 months, 870,000 individuals used the organization’s Mobile Vaani platforms, made 2.5 million calls, recorded 24,880 voice reports, and shared 2,327 impact stories. Taken together, they amplified the voices of the most vulnerable, provided direct assistance, and held government agencies accountable in three major areas: health promotion and healthcare access, livelihood support and working conditions, and safety nets and essential services. We identified (1) storytelling network actors at all levels (micro, meso, interstitial, and macro), (2) enabling and constraining communication action contexts of pandemic community mobilization, and (3) specific impact pathways for different storytelling network actors to overcome barriers and leverage Mobile Vaani as an enabling and empowering communication action context." (Abstract)
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"Plattformen sind mehr als Unternehmen, sie sind die Herrschaftszentren unserer Zeit. Facebook, Google und Amazon ersetzen Marktplätze und öffentliche Räume, doch sie entscheiden darüber, wer sich dort aufhalten darf und welche Regeln gelten. Von Staaten sind sie kaum zu kontrollieren, sie agier
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en selbst wie welche. Mehr noch: Plattformen stellen gängige Konzepte von Kapitalismus, Eigentum und Demokratie in Frage. Michael Seemann zeigt, was Plattformen ausmacht, woher ihre Macht kommt, wie sich mit ihnen umgehen lässt und welche Zukunft sie haben." (Buchrücken)
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"We are at a constitutional moment for the future of the internet. Nation states around the world are launching major new initiatives to regulate the internet, both directly against users and by regulating the companies that provide access to telecommunications infras- tructure and content services.
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The giant technology companies that control the bulk of the commercial internet are themselves under unprecedented scrutiny for the policies they set, the decisions they make, and the choices that go into designing their architecture. In my new book, Lawless, I argue that in this moment of change there is a major opportunity for us all to rethink how the internet should be governed, how power is held to account, and whose values prevail." (Abstract)
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"Social media platforms have become themain channel for people to communicate, access information and share content. A handful of giant platforms dominate the markets and, through a complex typology of conducts, are able to strongly affect users’ exposure to content, violating their privacy, as we
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ll as their freedom of expression and information. Regulators have at disposal a toolbox to fix the problem. This article analyses possible instruments and makes suggestions to contribute to the debate." (Abstract)
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"In the last few years, the world information ecosystem has been flooded by the “fake news” phenomena, augmented by the widespread use of social media. The fragmentation and scale of the new communication tools help spread old ideologies, that uphold racism, homophobia, and oppression. This phen
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omenon particularly afflicts developing countries, because of the persistent inequality and political polarisation. The results of this socio-economic inequality, like the digital divide, high rates of illiteracy and the lack of trust in institutions, pave the way to an expansion of indiscriminate hate as a political tool Christian evangelicism provides a conducive environment for neoconservatism and intolerance. This policy brief analyses the weakest points in Brazilian information ecosystem and demonstrates how that structure created a nurturing environment for disinformation and hate speech before and after the 2018 elections. It concludes with short- and medium-term strategies for governments, institutions and civil society, as well as tech and social media companies that will mitigate the negative societal disturbances of hate speech and disinformation." (Abstract)
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"The study consists, essentially, of two main parts. The first part represents a compilation of country reports for each of the Council of Europe member states. It presents a more detailed analysis of the laws and practices in respect of filtering, blocking and takedown of illegal content on the int
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ernet in each member state. For ease of reading and comparison, each country report follows a similar structure (see below, questions). The second part contains comparative considerations on the laws and practices in the member states in respect of filtering, blocking and takedown of illegal online content. The purpose is to identify and to attempt to explain possible convergences and divergences between the member states’ approaches to the issues included in the scope of the study." (Introduction, page 6)
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