For Earth Day this year, NASA invited people around the world to step outside to take a “selfie” and share it with the world on social media. NASA released Thursday a new view of our home planet created entirely from those photos.
The “Global Selfie” mosaic was built using more than 36,000 individual photographs drawn from the more than 50,000 images tagged #GlobalSelfie and posted on or around Earth Day, April 22, on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+ and Flickr. The project was designed to encourage environmental awareness and recognize the agency’s ongoing work to protect our home planet. (more…)
So oft die Europäische Union auch abgekanzelt wird – in den letzten beiden Wochen fanden einige Entscheidungen auf verschiedenen Ebenen der EU statt, die aus netzpolitischer Sicht erfreulich sind: Das Europäische Parlament entschied für die Netzneutralität, der EuGH kippte die EU-Richtlinie zur Vorratsdatenspeicherung. Vielleicht bestätigt das doch die Wichtigkeit der anstehenden Wahl des Europäischen Parlaments im Mai. Dass diese Entscheidungen aber nicht ausreichen, wir selber mit unseren eigenen Widersprüchlichkeiten und denen des Internets umgehen müssen, lesen Sie in unserer Presseschau.
The uncertainties surrounding the long-term prospect of democracy being fully embraced by North African nations embroiled in the Arab Spring rebellions are the focus of a fascinating new book.
The book, called ‘Party Politics and the Prospects for democracy in North Africa’, explores whether traditional political parties have adapted in response to growing demands for democracy in the region in recent years.
Author Dr Lise Storm, a Middle East expert from the University of Exeter examines whether a less authoritarian approach has been integrated, or whether existing parties have simply reinvented themselves to meet today’s expectations. (more…)
Bundestagsabgeordnete, die mit ihren Smartphones im Plenarsaal sitzen und ihre Meinung zu dem Gesagten noch während der Sitzung twittern, sind zum Alltag geworden in der deutschen Politik. Im Gespräch mit dem Politik- und Digitalberater Martin Fuchs wird deutlich, wie dieser Trend die politische Debatte beeinflusst und wie die demokratische Meinungsbildung durch soziale Medien profitieren kann – wenn sie ernst genommen werden.
politik-digital.de:Social Media sind im politischen Alltag der Bundesrepublik angekommen. Wie sind die Entwicklungen in der jüngeren Vergangenheit zu bewerten?
Martin Fuchs: Diese Entwicklung steht eng im Zusammenhang mit der sich verbessernden Verbreitung des Internetzugangs. Auf dieser Grundlage haben soziale Netzwerke eine größere Reichweite erhalten. Darin sehen die Politiker ein großes Potential, ihr Metier wieder attraktiv zu machen. Zum einen nutzen sie diese Plattformen dafür, um ihre Meinungen zu verbreiten. So tritt der Abgeordnete in direkten Kontakt zu den Bürgern, was den politischen Diskurs positiv beeinflusst. Zum anderen sind diese aber auch eine Möglichkeit, um Meinungsforschung zu betreiben. Allerdings ist es zeit- und auch kostenintensiv, zum Beispiel wenn Personal für diese Aufgaben eingestellt werden muss. (more…)
Lady Gaga enables followers to embrace their awkwardness while deepening the perceived relationship they feel they have with the celebrity
COLUMBIA, Mo. – According to recent statistics, more than 175 million tweets are sent daily, and 11 accounts are created every second on Twitter. One celebrity who boasts the highest amount of global subscribers is singer Lady Gaga who enjoys more than 40 million Twitter followers. Now, University of Missouri communication researchers have found that online social media gives users an outlet to embrace their differences and provide emotional support to others while deepening perceived relationships they feel they have with celebrities. (more…)
Eighth graders didn’t have Facebook or Twitter to share news back then, in January 2004. Bekah Sosland, 14 at the time, learned about a NASA rover landing on Mars when the bouncing-ball video on the next morning’s Channel One news in her Fredericksburg, Texas, classroom caught her eye.
“I wasn’t particularly interested in space at the time,” she recalled last week inside the spacecraft operations facility where she now works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “I remember I was talking with friends, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed this thing bouncing and rolling on a red surface. I watched as it stopped and opened up, and it had this rover inside.” (more…)
UD faculty use Twitter to enhance classroom experience
The University of Delaware’s Alexander Brown, instructor of business administration, and Anuradha Sivaraman, assistant professor of business administration, believe that using Twitter for their courses helps keep the classroom discussions contemporary and increases class participation.
“It’s a good way to source material for classroom discussions,” Brown explains. “If you run a class where you want to engage students with current content and keep things contemporary, Twitter is the way to go.” (more…)
Halloween and October Festivities See Six Retail Subcategories in the Top 10 Political News Sites Continue Growth as Americans Keep Tabs on Government Shutdown
RESTON, VA, November 22, 2013 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly ranking of U.S. desktop web activity at the top online properties for October 2013 based on data from the comScore MMX service. Several retail subcategories were among the top-gaining in October as Halloween and other festivities took place. Americans also frequented Political News sites as major stories such as the U.S. government shutdown and debt ceiling deadline made headlines. (more…)
