In The News

Putin, ISIS, Ebola: How Globalization Harms Us More Than Helps

Melik Kaylan October 16, 2014
Upheaval over geopolitical rivalries, religious strife and disease raises questions as to whether greater interconnectedness is destabilizing the world. Melik Kaylan, writing for Forbes, suggests that Russia’s President Putin is at the helm of a worldwide reaction against globalization: “The multicultural poly-sexual utopia without borders that American-style globalism sells as a matter of...

Complexity Marks Asia’s Use of Social Media

Thomas Crampton October 13, 2014
Myanmar is reengaging with the world, a sudden immersion in the era of social media. “Using the benefit of hindsight from social media adoption in other Asian countries, it is safe to predict that Myanmar will benefit in terms of education, accountability and transparency,” writes Thomas Crampton, of Ogilvy & Mather for GlobalAsia, who examines social media trends throughout Asia. “There will...

Facebook and Gmail Face Blacklist Under Russian Web Laws

Roland Oliphant October 7, 2014
Russia has demanded that Western internet companies like Gmail, Facebook and Twitter register with Russia’s communication watchdog group and create servers that Russian officials can access. Officials have warned that companies that do not comply will face sanctions and, as some westerners expect, possible expulsion. The big companies fall into the net of Russia’s “blogger laws,” imposed in...

Jihadists Leverage Social Media to Condemn US-Led Airstrikes

Matthew Hillburn October 3, 2014
Islamic State extremists rely on social media, specifically Twitter, to critique US airstrikes in Syria and Iraq. Tweets show graphic images of civilian deaths, exaggerate IS military success and issue threats to civilians of specific nations. Verification of the report or a reason for such deaths is impossible in the war zone. The jihadists also criticize Arab nations participating in the air...

Europe's Muslims Stand Up to ISIS With Public Protests, Twitter Campaign

September 26, 2014
The world has more than 1 billion Muslims and the vast majority reject that the Islamic State terrorists represent their faith. “From Norway in the far north to Germany and France, Muslims have taken to the streets to denounce the IS militants controlling large areas of Iraq and Syria who they say have hijacked their religion and terminology to spread hate and breed violence,” reports Agence...

Hunger Games Salute “Catching Fire” in Thailand

July 8, 2014
Fiction meets reality as anti-coup demonstrators in Thailand are using the hand gesture made famous in the movie The Hunger Games – as a sign of resistance against a brutal regime: “The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian post-apocalyptic future in the country of Panem where the wealthy Capitol rules over 12 poorer districts,” reports the Express Tribune. Protesters assign multiple levels of...

US Secret Service Wants Sarcasm-Detection Tool for Twitter

Sophie Curtis June 23, 2014
Understanding the tone and trends of social media is essential in the modern world. The US Secret Service monitors the short, fast messages in search of security targets and has put out a request for proposals on a software system that can analyze social-media data with the ability to "detect sarcasm and false positives," reports Sophie Curtis for the Telegraph. “As well as detecting...