First POST: Targeted
BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, April 27 2015
The digital humanitarian response to the earthquake in Nepal; the NYPD monitors children as young as age ten on social media; how Wikileaks crossed the line between transparency and an invasion of privacy by posting the Sony Pictures emails; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Cloudy
BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, December 12 2014
What the Internet is not; new analysis of public opinion on net neutrality; how cloud backup apparently foiled a police coverup; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Platforms
BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, December 8 2014
How #BlackLivesMatter and #ICantBreathe are spreading worldwide; why users shouldn't trust Uber; platform cooperativism vs sharing economy; and much, much more. Read More
Ushahidi Provides Journalists With Instant Real-Time Crisis Data
BY Onnik James Krikorian | Wednesday, August 20 2014
Ushahidi's CrisisNET platform provides reporters with accurate and timely data culled from social media (credit: Ushahidi)
Times have changed since Ushahidi first launched its crisis mapping platform in the violent aftermath of the 2007 elections in Kenya. With the use of social media now widespread, so too has the way in which many media, international organizations, and local NGOs now work. Ushahidi has had to go social. Read More
First POST: Angry News Feed
BY Micah L. Sifry | Wednesday, July 23 2014
How Facebook's News Feed may be accentuating negative political polarization; new tools for visualizing political corruption; how posting your cat's photo online gives away your location; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: New Bosses
BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, July 14 2014
The battle over the UK's emergency surveillance legislation gets hotter; Color of Change goes after Congressional Black Caucus members over net neutrality; deep thoughts about self-driving cars and Amazon; and much, much more. Read More
First POST: Which Half a Glass?
BY Micah L. Sifry | Wednesday, February 12 2014
Was "The Day We Fight Back" a boom or a bust?; understanding how the NSA tracks people's physical locations; using Facebook to protest "Third World" schools in Los Angeles; and much, much more. Read More
A Brazilian State Takes Open Data To Another Level
BY Jessica McKenzie | Wednesday, November 20 2013
Screenshot of visualization of average monthly wage for occupations in Minas Gerais
The Brazilian state Minas Gerais has launched a new data visualization tool called DataViva, which is meant to help government officials, the private sector and Brazilian citizens understand big data. Although it is the product of a state government, DataViva covers the formal economy of all of Brazil.
Read MoreGoogle Ideas Map Shows What Cyber Warfare Looks Like Today
BY Jessica McKenzie | Monday, October 21 2013
DDoS attacks on October 21, 2013
A swirling vortex hovers over Washington D.C. and brightly colored dots pour into the city from above. Elsewhere—in China, France and Brazil, for example—less impressive streams penetrate their capital cities as well. What looks at first glance like an image from the classic alien attack film Independence Day is actually a new visualization from Google Ideas and Arbor Networks. Called the Digital Attack Map, it depicts Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks around the world and will be updated with new data on a daily basis. The map was launched today as part of the Google Ideas' “Conflict in a Connected World” summit.
Read MoreFirst POST: Losers
BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, October 4 2013
Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers:: The secret list where Ted Cruz plots strategy; The American Prospect gives Jim Gilliam a full-length feature profile; Bitly shares real-data traffic data for the top 40 media sites in the US; and much, much more. Read More