Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 10
Posts 1 - 10

Diese drei Anwendungen sind besser als Whatsapp

(These three apps are better than WhatsApp)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 5.5.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | law, privacy, threat, WhatsApp
Summary | Brazil has just blocked WhatsApp in their country for 72 hours in order to for WhatsApp to share chats with their police in ciminal cases. It is unlikely that something like this will happen in Germany but it is good to know about some alternatives just in case... Especially since WhatsApp is not very trustworthy about user privacy. Threema is a Swiss app that alllows for user anonymity, Slack is a really good app to use with colleagues because files can be saved within group chats, and Telegram deletes inactive chats after a while so that there are no traces.
Image Description | Woman using a smartphone with headphones on the street.
Image Tags | female(s), headphones, smartphone

Mit SMS zum Suizid gedrängt – Junge Frau muss 15 Monate ins Gefängnis

(Pressured to commit suicide with SMS - young woman get 15 months prison)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 4.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | (mental) health, law, texting, youth
Summary | A young woman has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for pressuring her ex-boyfriend to commit suicide via text messages. Although she was not physically involved in helping with his suicide, the woman is held accountable for encouraging him and not calling the police when she knew he was about to commit suicide.
Image Description | Image of a woman crying.
Image Tags | female(s)

Afro-Frisur einer Schülerin wird zum Politikum

(Afro hair of a student becomes a political issue)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 2.9.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | diversity, Facebook, gender, hashtags, politics, school, Twitter
Summary | A black girl at a high school in Pretoria in South Africa was chastised for wearing her hair naturally in an afro. This resulted in a lot of backlash against the school on social media under the hasthag #StopRacismAtPretoriaGirlsHigh. As many as 28'000 people signed an online petition to end racism at schools and major polititians condemned the chastising of wearing natural black hair.
Image Description | A black woman doing another black woman's hair in a salon.
Image Tags | female(s)

Arabische Frauen wehren sich gegen sexuelle Gewalt

(Arab women defend themselves against sexual violence)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 17.1.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | diversity, Facebook, gender, law, politics
Summary | Two women from Palestine have created a Facebook group called "Tuskuteesh" ("break the silence") where they want to give Arab women a space to tell their storiess of sexual violence. Much sexual violence goes unpunished in the Arab world because the perpetrators are often family members.
Image Description | Image of the Tuskuteesh Facebook logo and the cover of a book written by one of the group creators.
Image Tags | female(s)

"Wir können die Demokratie durch Schweigen verlieren"

("We can lose democracy by keeping quiet")

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 3.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, law, politics
Summary | Journalist Dunja Hayali is a strong critic of online hate. It is ever present for regular people as cyberbullying and becomes more problematic when political figures like Donald Trump do it. He routinely debases women, muslims, and Mexicans on Twitter and goes unpunished. Hayali has previously sued people for posting hate comments about her online and one of her cyberbullies has just been charged.
Image Description | Portrait of journalist Dunja Hayali.
Image Tags | female(s)

Soll mein Kind mit dem Handy für die Schule lernen?

(Should my child use a smartphone to study for school?)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 19.3.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | childhood, digitized education, school, smartphone
Summary | Education is becoming increasingly digitized - even in primary school. There are many learning apps on offer that let students practice lessons from school, for instance from math or a foreign language. Educators agree that digitized education is the future but that learning apps cannot replace a personal tutor if children have perform poorly in school. Parents are worried that by letting children do schoolwork on their smartphones the children will spend too much time using digital devices over all.
Image Description | Illustration of a girl sitting at a school desk holding her arm up. The desk is placed on a huge smartphone.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

Die Frau, die ungewollt mit Emojis ein Haus mietete

(The woman who inadvertently rented a house with emojis)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 24.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, law, misunderstanding
Summary | The debate around whether emojis count as words or seriously meaningful content is very heated - not only in academics but also in law. The Oxford English dictionary only reheated that fire by choosing an emoji as word of the year. Multiple law cases have centered on misunderstandings around emoji use, most recently a case where a woman indicated interest in renting a house with emojis (flamenco dancer, dancer girls, squirrel, comet, a victory sign, and a bottle of Champagne). The house owner sued her for using misleading emojis after she decided not to rent the house after all.
Image Description | An image of a woman's hand holding a smartphone and picking out an emoji and a portrait of the Israely judge who worked on the emoji case.
Image Tags | emojis, female(s), hand(s), male(s), smartphone

Hohe Ablenkung durch Handy am Steuer

(High distraction because of cell phone while driving)

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Newspaper | Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Date | 11.4.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | law, smartphone, texting, threat
Summary | Many people text while driving and do not realize how dangerous it is - more dangerous than talking on the phone. The statistics calculated by the German police are not complete they assume that 10% of car accidents is caused by cell phone distraction of a driver. They advocate for a raising of the fines, they are too low now so that people are willing to risk a fine.
Image Description | Image of a woman holding a smartphone while behind the wheel, a totaled car and a portrait of the interviewee (police officer).
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s), smartphone

So erobern Zahnspangen-Mädchen die Werbewelt

(This is how girls with braces are conquering the world of advertising)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 8.2.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | Instagram, law, marketing, Snapchat, social media, youth, YouTube
Summary | A new breed of celebrities has emerged: social media celebrities or 'influencers' as they are called in marketing. These ordinary youths have millions of followers on Instagram, Snapchat, Musical.ly, or YouTube and are attractive to advertisers, not only because of their large following but because their fans feel personally close to them and are more likely to accept advice from them than from a distant celebrity. It is however still illegal to covertly advertise a product without notifying viewers that they are viewing sponsored content.
Image Description | German Musical.ly stars Lisa and Lena.
Image Tags | female(s)

Emoji-Verbot bei der Polizei

(Emoji prohibition for the police)

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Newspaper | Tagesspiegel
Date | 16.10.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, law, Twitter
Summary | In a recent tweet by the Saxon local police, they used an emoji. That is inappropriate. The emoji was of a megaphone. That is distasteful because it depicts complicated matters as simple and light-hearted, almost humorous.
Image Description | Photograph of the author.
Image Tags | female(s)

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