University teachers suspended, employees sacked: in #israelPalestine, the authorities punish the slightest expression of support for Palestine on social media. In the course of a week, at least 170 people have been arrested for their online activities. https://www.972mag.com/israel-gaza-war-political-persecution/
The full Publizistik special issue "Data, Archives and Tools: Infrastructures and Resources for
Communication and Media Research" edited by @strippel, Silke Fürst, Erik Koenen, Dimitri Prandner, Christian Schwarzenegger, and me is now available online (open access): https://link.springer.com/journal/11616/volumes-and-issues/68-2. It includes articles in German and English on various exciting tools, infrastructures, and other resources for communication and media research. #commodon @communicationscholars
Investigation by The Insider on Russia's enhanced filtering capacity - protocol-based blocking - and how it evaded sanctions to procure the equipment this requires.
As someone who has really wanted to see #journalism thrive on Mastodon, esp local, independent, & noncommercial journalism, this 🧵 is alarming. Thanks @ZekuZelalem for laying it out:
☠️ On Saturday 14 Oct, I will be on a panel with @pirateradiomap and Stephen Dunifer:
Walking the Plank in the United Stages: Stories of Un/lawful Radio Transmission
We'll be virtual for the in-person event. If anyone on here is in #NSW & interested in #PirateRadio#MediaActivism, come check it out! Free to register
A proper, in depth, documented dive into articifial intelligence as seen by those who shape it. Proper story by @TheAtlantic, and #LongRead really worth your attention.
"Drawing on fieldwork in Costa Rica and a transnational feminist digital organization, Shokooh Valle explores the ways that feminist activists, using digital technologies as well as a collective politics that prioritize solidarity and pleasure, advance a new feminist technopolitics"
Interesting PhD position at the University of Amsterdam to work with Gulnaz Sibgatullina, e.g. addressing how digital media platforms facilitate the dissemination of anti-imperial discourses (country focus within Central Asia/Russia/Eastern Europe open)
Great follow up from The Insider on recent SovFed statements about more aggressive measures to restrict VPNs that enable circumventing censorship in Russia (again illustrating SovFed is not the place where to expect tech expertise...).
Worth translating if you're interested in the topic of VPNs in Russia.
Klimarev bursting some bubbles on Russia's ability to fully disconnect from the global internet:
"Им (власти) нужен будет какой-то интернет всё-таки, иначе как нефтью торговать? Они нефтью в российском интернете, что ли, будут торговать? [...] Еще нужно покупать что-то на том же AliExpress."
Fully agree with Klimarev that preventing Russians from using VPNs to access restricted resources (e.g. by limiting search results or protocol-based blocking) is impossible. At the same time, Russia certainly can be successful in making it much harder for most ordinary citizens.
Hello everyone, please support my Visualise Your Thesis entry by watching my video on this link. People's choice award is based on number of views, so please feel free to watch many times 😁
"As we approach the next election cycle, there are questions about how journalists can best responsibly engage political candidates who deploy disinformation, misinformation, or gaslighting techniques."
"As we approach the next election cycle, there are questions about how journalists can best responsibly engage political candidates who deploy disinformation, misinformation, or gaslighting techniques."
For the offline component of the 4th edition of our teaching partnership, the Digital Constitutionalism Network is in Padova this week with brilliant students from University of Padova, Dublin City University and University of Bremen
The intensive week of lectures and group work in Padova builds upon the virtual component before the summer. To learn more about the Blended Intensive Programme coordinated by the Digital Constitutionalism Network, check out the blog post on the virtual part.
The BIP is organised by Claudia Padovani, Andrea Pettrachin, Edoardo Celeste and Dennis Redeker with contributions by various members of the Digital Constitutionalism Network, including Mauro Santaniello and Marianne Franklin
Interesting new paper from Philipp Dietrich on the development of Russia's VK social media platform into a 'super app' to increase state surveillance and the dissemination of propaganda.
I had the pleasure of learning about this research when visiting DGAP earlier this year, glad to now see it published.
Freedom House has kicked off promotion for the launch of the 2023 #FreedomOnTheNet ranking on 4 Oct.
As a primer, have a look at our recent article with @tanyalokot on how competing rankings have shaped global understandings of what internet freedom is (and isn't)
Since both the uses of the internet and discussions about what freedom means in relation to it have developed so rapidly, ranking organisations have had to continually respond to these developments, negotiating their authority in relation to other actors in their field.
As we approach the annual media event that surrounds the launch of FoTN, our article can serve as a useful primer for what internet freedom rankings can - and cannot - tell us.