Stay-at-home Workers: The Global Rise of Hybrid and Online Working from Home Bill Dutton and Patricia Esteve-Gonzalez The impact of lockdowns and working from home initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic has been substantial on such issues as who works from where. Our global survey of 7,330 respondents spread across 133 countries found that hybrid work … Continue reading Stay-at-Home Workers
Internet and Everyday Life
Empowering Public Access to Information: Read News Critically but also Source Information
The public are being constantly warned about the risks of fake news and misinformation on social media, the internet, and even some broadcast television outlets and newspapers. Should you abandon social media or only read the elite press or what? My suggestion is to read or view the news critically but don’t rely only on … Continue reading Empowering Public Access to Information: Read News Critically but also Source Information
Raising Awareness of Social Media for Positive Social Change
My colleagues and I involved with the World Internet Project (WIP) are looking for some inspiring initiatives in the use of the internet and social media for effecting positive social change. A thesis by Ms Emilia Askari in the College of Education at Michigan State University alerted me to this potential, and discussions within WIP … Continue reading Raising Awareness of Social Media for Positive Social Change
A Crisis of Incivility
Restoring civility in politics could be central ...
Social Media and the Post Office Scandal
Social Media Might Have Saved Many from the Post Office Horizon Scandal From 2000 to 2014, Post Office Ltd, a publicly owned company, accused over 700 hundred sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses, the individuals running small local post office operations in the UK, of false accounting and theft of revenues. An inquiry has determined that the evidence … Continue reading Social Media and the Post Office Scandal
Robots: Commentary by A. Michael Noll
REIN IN THE CLOUD REJOICE IN THE ROBOTS [The following commentary is authored by A. Michael Noll, and posted with the permission of the author. It illustrates the disagreement among experts on the social implications of new technologies, such as robotics, AI, cloud computing, and the Internet, demonstrating the value of continued research on the … Continue reading Robots: Commentary by A. Michael Noll
Get Back to the Classroom
Get Back to the Classroom Given continuing uncertainties about the COVID pandemic and its variants, it is understandable that many universities are not in a position as yet to commit to in-person, face-to-face, teaching and a return to normality on college and university campuses. This is particularly the case for those individuals – teachers and … Continue reading Get Back to the Classroom
Participating in an Advisory Board: Five Principles
Having created and served on advisory boards in a number of organisations and countries, I've begun to see some principles that can guide others serving on an advisory board. I am not a management consultant nor an expert on advisory boards, but as I try to think through my own experiences on boards, I thought … Continue reading Participating in an Advisory Board: Five Principles
Private Emails Are Not (Yet) a Thought Crime
Private Emails? A Personal Perspective on Politicizing Norms of Communication In Orwell’s 1984, Winston Smith opens himself up to accusations of thought crimes for walking onto a street with a shop where he could buy pen and paper. In 2021, politicians and even the UK’s Information Commissioner wonder if ministers are guilty of some criminal … Continue reading Private Emails Are Not (Yet) a Thought Crime
Flawed Economics Behind Online Harms Regulation
The Flawed Economics of Online Harms Regulation I am not an economist, but even I can see the huge flaws in a recently published “cost/benefit analysis of the UK’s online safety bill”.[1] My immediate reactions: The author, Sam Wood, of 'The Economics of Online Harms Regulation' in InterMEDIA, begins with an argument that the pandemic ‘[feuled] concerns … Continue reading Flawed Economics Behind Online Harms Regulation