The Council of Europe will publish a study that explores the interferences that journalists face in Europe today, including physical violence, threats, intimidation, surveillance, sexual harassment and cyberbullying. The study “Journalists under pressure: Unwarranted interference, fear and self-censorship in Europe” gathers information submitted by 940 journalists reporting from the 47 Council of Europe Member States and Belarus. Carried out by experts Marilyn Clark and Anna Grech, from the University of Malta, the research project is supported by the Association of European Journalists, the European Federation of Journalists, Index on Censorship, International News Safety Institute and Reporters without Borders.
Presented by the Education and Culture Committee – Working group: Good use of digital media within the educational practice: A challenge for formal and non-formal education and a democratic citizenship;
Webinar – April 27, 2017, 19.00-20.00 (Central European Time)
« School on the Cloud: dealing with a paradigm shift in education »
One of the strongest trends in business is a swift towards internet based services.
Everything needed to create fully internet based schools is already invented, it just have to be organized and put into practice.
The webinar will discuss how and why this shift will take place and how the foundations for understanding a school and learning practices will move into a new paradigm.
Réseaux sociaux, big data, géolocalisation, objets connectés… Comment Internet est-elle l’invention qui a le plus modifié l’histoire de l’humanité ?
L’édition 2017 de La Semaine des Médias dresse un panorama du web, de son invention dans les années 1960 à ses projections futures. La série éclaire quelques-unes des innovations majeures de l’histoire d’Internet : réseaux sociaux, smartphones, moteurs de recherche, big data, géolocalisation, objets connectés, etc. Comment et pourquoi Internet est-elle l’invention qui a le plus modifié l’histoire de l’humanité ?
Zaffiria-Centro per l’educazione ai media e Cospe Onlus hanno realizzato il manuale dal titolo « Media education, comunicazione interculturale e Hate speech« , con l’obiettivo di spiegare e contrastare il linguaggio dell’odiosul web, un fenomeno purtroppo sempre più diffuso su Internet, soprattutto tra i giovani.
Il volume è destinato principalmente a educatori e insegnati che nel manuale possono trovare idee ed esempi concreti per affrontare questo tema, a scuola e non solo.
The International Forum “Media Education in Pedagogical Practice: Experience and New Management Approaches” was held in Moscow on March 16-17, 2017. The Forum was organized by the Moscow State University of Education in cooperation with the Eurasian Association of Pedagogical Universities, the Russian Association for the Development of Pedagogical Universities and Institutes, and the Russian Association of Media Educators under support of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science.The event gathered more than 200 participants, including heads and representatives of pedagogical universities from Russia and CIS countries as well as experts on media education and media and information literacy. One of the main topics addressed at the Forum was the management and training of specialists to provide schools and universities with quality media and information literacy programmes and courses.Share a comment.
Today marks 28 years since I submitted my original proposal for the worldwide web. I imagined the web as an open platform that would allow everyone, everywhere to share information, access opportunities, and collaborate across geographic and cultural boundaries. In many ways, the web has lived up to this vision, though it has been a recurring battle to keep it open.
But over the past 12 months, I’ve become increasingly worried about three new trends, which I believe we must tackle in order for the web to fulfill its true potential as a tool that serves all of humanity.
1) We’ve lost control of our personal data
The current business model for many websites offers free content in exchange for personal data. Many of us agree to this – albeit often by accepting long and confusing terms and conditions documents – but fundamentally we do not mind some information being collected in exchange for free services. But, we’re missing a trick. As our data is then held in proprietary silos, out of sight to us, we lose out on the benefits we could realise if we had direct control over this data and chose when and with whom to share it. What’s more, we often do not have any way of feeding back to companies what data we’d rather not share – especially with third parties – the T&Cs are all or nothing.
2) It’s too easy for misinformation to spread on the web
Today, most people find news and information on the web through just a handful of social media sites and search engines. These sites make more money when we click on the links they show us. And they choose what to show us based on algorithms that learn from our personal data that they are constantly harvesting. The net result is that these sites show us content they think we’ll click on – meaning that misinformation, or fake news, which is surprising, shocking, or designed to appeal to our biases, can spread like wildfire. And through the use of data science and armies of bots, those with bad intentions can game the system to spread misinformation for financial or political gain.
3) Political advertising online needs transparency and understanding
Political advertising online has rapidly become a sophisticated industry. The fact that most people get their information from just a few platforms and the increasing sophistication of algorithms drawing upon rich pools of personal data mean that political campaigns are now building individual adverts targeted directly at users. One source suggests that in the 2016 US election, as many as 50,000 variations of adverts were being served every single day on Facebook, a near-impossible situation to monitor. And there are suggestions that some political adverts – in the US and around the world – are being used in unethical ways – to point voters to fake news sites, for instance, or to keep others away from the polls. Targeted advertising allows a campaign to say completely different, possibly conflicting things to different groups. Is that democratic?
These are complex problems, and the solutions will not be simple. But a few broad paths to progress are already clear. We must work together with web companies to strike a balance that puts a fair level of data control back in the hands of people, including the development of new technology such as personal “data pods” if needed and exploring alternative revenue models such as subscriptions and micropayments. We must fight against government overreach in surveillance laws, including through the courts if necessary. We must push back against misinformation by encouraging gatekeepers such as Google and Facebook to continue their efforts to combat the problem, while avoiding the creation of any central bodies to decide what is “true” or not. We need more algorithmic transparency to understand how important decisions that affect our lives are being made, and perhaps a set of common principles to be followed. We urgently need to close the “internet blind spot” in the regulation of political campaigning.
Our team at the Web Foundation will be working on many of these issues as part of our new five-year strategy – researching the problems in more detail, coming up with proactive policy solutions and bringing together coalitions to drive progress towards a web that gives equal power and opportunity to all.
I may have invented the web, but all of you have helped to create what it is today. All the blogs, posts, tweets, photos, videos, applications, web pages and more represent the contributions of millions of you around the world building our online community. All kinds of people have helped, from politicians fighting to keep the web open, standards organisations like W3C enhancing the power, accessibility and security of the technology, and people who have protested in the streets. In the past year, we have seen Nigerians stand up to a social media billthat would have hampered free expression online, popular outcry and protests at regional internet shutdowns in Cameroon and great public support for net neutrality in both India and the European Union.
It has taken all of us to build the web we have, and now it is up to all of us to build the web we want – for everyone.
The Web Foundation is at the forefront of the fight to advance and protect the web for everyone. We believe doing so is essential to reverse growing inequality and empower citizens. You can follow our work by signing up to our newsletter, and find a local digital rights organisation to support here on this list. Additions to the list are welcome and may be sent to contact@webfoundation.org
