Entries from Byline Portal tagged with 'Technology'
Putting Dissent on Hold
by Anne Wolf, Good Governance Africa, South Africa - Was it coincidence or was it deliberate? Following the January 2013 terrorist attack at the natural-gas complex in the Saharan town of In Amenas, the Algerian government once again spurned the...
Cyberbullying’s Roots are Offline, Not on a Computer Screen
by Alyssa Wiseman and Samantha Levy, The Globe and Mail, Canada - It’s been a horrible few months, with the senseless deaths of teens Amanda Todd and, more recently, of Rehtaeh Parsons. The devastating deaths of these young women, both...
IEBC Systems Fail: Are We Still The Tech City?
by Andrea Bohnstedt, The Star, Kenya - ‘Thought you’re tech city?’, a West African friend wrote. ‘Yeah, so did I!’, I shrugged my shoulders. No brownie points for guessing that that this was in the post-election week as we watched...
Sing the Body Unelectric
by Lucy Ellmann, Aeon, UK - Electricity is a tyranny of buzzing and chirping demands. Here's to wrinkled clothes, typewriters and life off-grid....
The Women from Kohistan
by Rafia Zakaria, Dawn, Pakistan - The secret video camera, with its sinister ability to capture unwitting and perhaps unwilling subjects in acts of spying, represents a new tool for moral policing that far outdoes the human eye in surveillance....
To Each His Own
by Barkha Dutt, Hindustan Times, India - Social media is not above the law. Nevertheless, a draconian IT law can't have the last word over what we write and how we think....
Video Game Creators Introduce Lifetime Ban for Sexism
by Aja Romano, Daily Dot, USA - In an interview with Gamespot, two of the most prominent women in the industry revealed that next week’s long-awaited release of Halo 4 would not be for everyone: sexists will not be welcome...
Will the Apocalypse Arrive Online?
by Karen J Greenberg, Asia Times, Hong Kong - Cyber is "a new terrain for warfare", Panetta tells us, a "battlefield of the future". So perhaps it's time to ask two questions: In a world of cyber-fear, what has the...
International Day of the Girl: Why Science & Math Programs Matter
by Camille Crittenden, Huffington Post, USA - In more developed countries with the capacity (or mandate) to provide basic educational equality, girls still lag behind boys, especially in their achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)....
"Two Children May Have Died for You to Have Your Mobile Phone”
by Inés Benítez, Tierramérica, Uruguay - Mobile phone users are urged to reflect on the bloodshed caused in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the extraction of one of the raw materials used in the manufacture of these devices,...
Marieme Jamme: Shaping Africa's Tech Revolution
by Robyn Curnow, CNN, USA - Senegalese-born Marieme Jamme is at the forefront of the technology revolution that is slowly transforming Africa. As chief executive of Spot One Global Solutions, a UK-based company that helps information technology organizations gain a...
Is FrontlineSMS:Radio Advancing Social Change in Africa?
by Alessandra Bajec, European Journalism Centre, Netherlands - A free piece of open-source software called FrontlineSMS:Radio has been facilitating dynamic conversations between radio listeners in Africa. Enabling the powerful combination of radio broadcasting with SMS, FrontlineSMS:Radio is empowering and engaging...
Space Junk: Why it Is Time to Clean up the Skies
by Sharon Weinberger, BBC, UK - Debris piling up around Earth that could seriously damage spacecraft and satellites has reached a tipping point. So how are we going to get rid of it?...
Bedtime Stories
by Amalia Rosenblum, Haaretz, Israel - In an ‘instant’ world, where every minute we have to get used to a new boss, new war or new enemy, it’s not surprising we want to see the same TV or literary heroes...
Why Climate-Smart Agriculture Won’t Work
by Khadija Sharife, Pambazuka, Kenya - The push behind the newest agricultural ‘revolution’ is driven by many factors ranging from multinationals such as Monsanto, eager to embed the money-making intellectual property of genetically modified seeds, to that of mega-dam proponents....
Drone Activism Takes to the Skies
by Sabine Blanc, OWNI, France - Drones are everywhere. Originally used by the military, these devices have now been adopted by hacktivists, conservationists, human rights activists, artists and even journalists....
Why Aren’t There More Women in Tech Start-Ups?
by Marjo Johne, Globe and Mail, Canada - “Even when they’re credentialed, women are less likely than men to undertake entrepreneurship in technology,” Dr. Orser says. “It’s also interesting that women who are already working in technology are less likely...
Is the Internet Closing?
by Esther Dyson, The Daily Star, Lebanon - Collective action in the form of government interference is sometimes necessary. The problem is that we are as likely to get bad measures – like the recently abandoned U.S. attempt to enact...
Move Over, Google Earth
by Sonika Lamprecht, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - An unmanned helicopter that will enable farmers to monitor their crops, pastures and stock has been developed, and is being tested, by Stellenbosch University's department of electrical and electronic engineering....
The Digital Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa
by Laila Ali, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Much has been written about the role technology played in bringing social and political change across much of the Middle East and North Africa, but less is known about the technological revolution that...
How the US Government Secretly Reads Your Email
by Heather Brooke, Guardian, UK - Secret orders forcing Google and Sonic to release a WikiLeaks volunteer's email reveal the scale of US government snooping....
Best Chance at Life
by Mairead Dundas, France 24, France - Every day, maternal health innovations are improving the chances that babies will survive to see the light of day. This week we take a look at some of the revolutionary research techniques being...
A Prairie Home Education: Alberta Brings Classrooms to the Country
by Kate Hammer, Globe and Mail, Canada - In this patchwork of farms, ranches and small towns, administrators are looking to computers to help them cope with soaring transportation costs, budget crunches and children stuck in transit for up to...
Gender and the City
by Elizabeth Farrelly, The Age, Australia - Alliances between urbanism, feminism and the new connectivity may spell the end of a man's world....
'Ready for Change': Pirate Party Is the Real Winner in Berlin State Election
by Silvia Engels, Deutsche Welle, Germany - Just a few weeks ago, election observers would have hardly thought the Pirate Party, which stands for free wireless Internet service for all, unlimited access to public transportation funded by taxes and better...
Free Laptops and Internet Connection for Children in Uruguay
by Kerstin Eigert, European Journalism Centre, The Netherlands - In an effort to reduce the digital divide, the Uruguayan government has embraced the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative and introduced free laptops and internet access in public education....
Why Digital Privacy and Security Are Important for Development
by Tanya Notley, The Guardian, UK - Digital technologies, such as mobile phones and the internet, provide the development sector with new opportunities to plan and co-ordinate activities, expose hidden truths, and mobilise and engage new audiences. But it's not...
E-government in Italy: A Race against Time
by Claudia Costa, European Journalism Centre, The Netherlands - Even if on paper Italy seems to be on schedule as far as the actualisation of e-government policy is concerned, the situation on the ground as experienced by Italian citizens is...
Libyans Hope Their Revolution Will Also Be Tweeted
by Leela Jacinto, France 24, France - Opposition to Muammar Gaddafi was inconceivable in Libya for four decades. But that was before the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings embraced the power of the Internet. Now Libyans are hoping their revolution will...
Social Media in March in the Middle East
by Beyza Unal, Today’s Zaman, Turkey - Today, what we have seen in states like Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, and Jordan have at least one tenet in common: The people are asking for diminishing inequalities on the basis of the...
Mean Girls Get Meaner Online
by Nechama Brodie, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - Shouting. Swearing. Pushing. Punching. It's not Fight Club, it's an average week at a suburban high school. And the protagonists are predominantly teenage girls....
Australia's Hunt for Missing Flood Victims Goes Online
by Louisa Hearn, The Age, Australia - With many houses destroyed and phone, electricity and internet services cut, normal avenues of communication are closed, causing many concerned relatives and friends to embrace these more make-shift online communities....
Tunisia: The Uprising Has a Hashtag
by Mona Eltahawy, Toronto Star, Canada - So vicious has the Tunisian government’s online war against its opponents been that the Internet activist group “Anonymous” has targeted several government websites in protest at what it says is “an outrageous level...
The True Cost of Your New Christmas Laptop? Ask the Eastern Congolese
by Madeleine Bunting, Guardian, UK - A campaign to clean up electronic companies' mineral supply chains may ameliorate the chaos of ungovernable mining....
New Web Code Draws Concern Over Privacy Risks
by Tanzina Vega, New York Times, USA - In the next few years, a powerful new suite of capabilities will become available to Web developers that could give marketers and advertisers access to many more details about computer users’ online...
Big Continent and Tiny Technology: Nanotechnology and Africa
by Kathy Jo Wetter, Pambazuka News, Kenya - Nanotechnology offers new opportunities of monopoly control ‘over both animate and inanimate matter’, while government regulations worldwide remain completely inadequate to address its unique risks....
Israeli Army's Female Recruits Denounce Treatment of Palestinians
by Harriet Sherwood, Guardian, UK - Facebook images of an Israeli servicewoman posing with blindfolded Palestinians have caused a storm. Now two former female conscripts have spoken out about their own experiences....
Can Social Media Bring Democracy to Middle East?
by Cecily Hilleary, Voice of America, USA - How are social media enabling those most marginalized groups in the Middle East to mature and go into the realization that their opinions count and that they have the ability to bring...
The People's Search Engine
by Christina Larson, Passport, USA - While advocates of net neutrality in the U.S. are wringing their hands this week over whether Google and Verizon are too closely aligned, the Chinese government -- which owns the world's largest wireless carrier,...
National Friend Day
by Iman Kurdi, Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates - Have we forgotten the meaning of friendship?...
War Is No Game, So Why Is It Marketed To Children As One?
by Avril Moore, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - Every year, the Pentagon spends $US6 billion using the latest digital gaming technology for training for the armed forces. This in turn has given rise to an effective recruitment tool called ''militainment''....
The Twitter Devolution
by Golnaz Esfandari, Foreign Policy, USA - Far from being a tool of revolution in Iran over the last year, the Internet, in many ways, just complicated the picture....
How an Amazonian Tribe Is Mastering the Modern World
by Juliane von Mittelstaedt, Spiegel, Germany - The Surui people from the Brazilian rainforest are fighting to stop the destruction of their homeland. But instead of bows and arrows, they are using the Internet, GPS and Google Earth....
Green Supporters Want West To Help Iranians Access Internet, Uncensored Information
by Golnaz Esfandiari, Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic - Human rights activists and supporters of the opposition Green Movement in Iran are increasing their calls on the United States and other countries to help Iranians access an unfiltered Internet by...
Body of Evidence: A Radical New Approach to Forensic Pathology
by Laura Spinney, The Independent, UK - Virtual cadavers, needle-wielding robots – and not a scalpel in sight. Meet the research team behind the 'virtopsy', a radical new approach to forensic pathology...
These Virtual Connections Are for Real
by Eva Bartlett, IPS, Italy - "I've learned most of what I know about photo editing and graphic design via the Internet," says Emad, 27-year-old film-maker and editor. In Gaza, this sort of thing has become usual in a different...
China’s Lords of Misrule
by Xiao Shu, Index on Censorship, UK - The face of China’s internet reflects the political system – repressive and chaotic....
In Some Corners of the Web, Pirates Serve as Curators of High Culture
by Navneet Alang, This Magazine, Canada - From the start, we knew the web was going to change things. What we possibly didn’t realize was, unbeknownst to many, new modes of cultural exchange were being born that replaced blind consumption...
Cellphones the Latest Tool in Africa's Fight against HIV
by Susan Njanji, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - Cellphones may become a key weapon in the war against HIV/Aids in Africa, allowing counselors to reach greater numbers of people, says the chief of the United Nation's Aids agency....
The Faces of the Digital Divide
by Megan Tady, Save The Internet, USA - The “digital divide” sounds so faceless, so placeless. Who are these supposed people without an Internet connection in today’s day-and-age?...
Crisis Mapping Brings X-ray Style Clarity to Humanitarian Response
by Astrid Zweynert, Reuters, UK - In the chaos that usually follows a natural disaster, taking the time to create maps may seem low down on the priority list when a rapid response is key to helping to save lives....
'SMS Divorces' Cut Tajik Migrants' Matrimonial Ties To Home
by Farangis Najibullah, Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic - Tajik migrant laborers looking for a convenient way to cut their family ties to home are employing a method that bridges technology with Muslim tradition. One word, "talaq," sent by telephone...
Remember the Right to Communicate?
by Jane Duncan, South Africa Civil Society Information Service, South Africa - "All shall call." This phrase was popularised by Pallo Jordan in the mid 1990's, and became a catchphrase of telecommunications transformation in South Africa. It echoed the idea...
Scanning the Horizon of Books and Libraries
by Amy Goodman, Truthdig, USA - A battle is raging over the future of books in the digital age and the role that libraries will play....
Is Google Violating Women’s Rights?
by Masum Momaya, AWID, Canada - Google Inc.’s recent restrictions on ads for abortion services in fifteen countries raises questions about the influence of search engine provider policies on freedom of information....
Getting to a Better Grasp of the Language of Diseases
by Esther Dyson, Daily Star, Lebanon - Last week, a company called Complete Genomics announced 10 new customers for its genome-sequencing service....
Up in E-Smoke?
by Dena Rashed, Al-Ahram, Egypt - Can electronic cigarettes or medication help smokers quit smoking?...
Cellphones 'a Tool to Cut Food Costs'
by Lynley Donnelly, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - Can owning a cellphone make a bag of grain cheaper for a poor consumer or mitigate the impact of a food crisis on a country?...
Microsoft Versus Venezuela
by Tamara Pearson, Venezuela Analysis, Venezuela - When software is not free, there is a massive inequality of power....
Could Twitter Influence the German Election?
by Petra Bornhöft, Spiegel, Germany - Ever since the German presidential election result was posted on Twitter before being announced officially there has been growing concern that the September election could be influenced by leaked exit polls. Politicians and opinion...
Tiny Troubles
by Carole Bass, E Magazine, USA - How nanoparticles are changing everything from our sunscreen to our supplements....
In the Name of National Security
by Sevanti Ninan, The Hindu, India - Under a new proposed Bill, the government is arming itself with the power to block websites without the right to be heard. Why is no one talking about it?...
Smile! The U.S. Sees You Coming
by Tonda MacCharles, The Star, Canada - High in the sky, down on the ground, agents with high-tech tools guard the border....
Wired Less: Offline in L.A.
by Megan Tady, Internet for Everyone, USA - With high-speed Internet – or broadband – costing $40 to $60 per month, many people in Azusa can’t afford the connection or a computer. Azusa, with its primarily Latino population, has a...
The ‘Twitter Revolution’ Has Begun – What Next?
by Leela Jacinto, France 24, France - Anti-Communist protests broke out in Moldova following high-tech activism via Twitter, Facebook and SMS messages. But with police crackdowns and nearly 200 arrests, organisers now have to undertake low-tech organising....
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