Surveillance and Citizenship Project
Digital Citizenship and Surveillance Society is an ESRC project based at Cardiff University. It aims to “explore the nature, opportunities and challenges of digital citizenship in light of the governmental surveillance measures revealed by whistle-blower Edward Snowden” . Topics covered include: the regulatory framework of digital surveillance in the UK, news media regulation and surveillance, […]
YouTube Newswire launched
A new Youtube channel in association with social media site Storyful which aims to present verified eye witness citizen journalism films. Main storylines covered will be current news, weather and politics.
Emoji is the fastest growing language
Emoji’s are ‘pictographs. Originally used in Japanese electronic messages, many characters have now been incorporated into Unicode and the launch of Emoj.li. an image only social network has been announced. A recent study by Professor V. Evans, from Bangor University, concluded that it is the fastest growing language in the UK with over 80% using […]
Spare Rib online
British library have launched a searchable digital archive of all 239 issues of Spare Rib, the influential feminist magazine which was published from 1972-1993. The site also has background articles which discuss issues relating to body image, music and women’s rights in the magazine.
Is the Internet racist?
A trending project called worldwhite.net is seeking to expose and use crowdsourcing power to correct, examples of ‘inherent racism in Google image searches’. This follows earlier controversy regarding Google maps and a 2013 Harvard University study which concluded that if you searched for a name statistically more likely to belong to a black person you […]
Social Media + Society – new OA journal
New open access ejournal which will ‘discuss the use of social media in past, present and future societies’. First issue includes an article by Nick Couldry (LSE) on recent trends in research.
Press freedom
To mark World Press Freedom day, UNESCO adopted the Riga Declaration. This affirms the importance of free journalism for sustainable development. Reporters without Borders has an annual ranking of press freedom worldwide. Freedom House annual survey is also out.
How do you access news?
39 out of 50 of the top US news sites now get more traffic from mobile devices than desktop computers. Explore this and other data on the media industry from the latest Pew annual report which also has a useful media indicators database.
Radio and Health
Can radio help improve health in developing countries? A useful case study from BBC media action which examines a radio soap opera by public health officials to encourage good practices amongst mothers in Somalia. The case study includes details of some storylines and impact studies. Some other examples of radio shows and health promotion include: […]
Media in the Age of Cybersurveillance
What is the nature, extent and impact of Internet surveillance on journalism? This question is considered in a new report Watching the watchdogs just released by CIMA (Center for International Media Assistance). It forms part of a wider campaign website which also has blog posts featuring case studies about individual journalists. It was published for […]

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