Number of Posts: 34
Posts 1 - 10
Wege aus der Peinlichkeit
(Exit ways out of embarrassment)
Newspaper | die Weltwoche
Date | 28.9.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, gender, misunderstanding, online dating, politeness, research/study, texting, youth
Summary | Emojis have entered our communication with no turning back but using them is a minefield of misunderstanding. It is especially risky in the initial stages of texting with a love interest: studies show that people tend to imitate the communication patterns of their interlocutor if they are in love with them. Because women are more communicative than men, they tend to be the ones who are imitated in such a scenario. But men, beware! Do not go overboard with your heart emojis, it's too girly. One should however also refrain from making overly abrupt changes to ones emoji habits as it can seem distanced and elitist if one stops to use emojis altogether.
Image Description | N/A
«Aber wenn man einmal Schweizer Freunde hat, ist es super»
("But once you have Swiss friends, it's great")
Newspaper | Sonntagszeitung
Date | 30.7.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | politeness, texting
Summary | Diccon Bewes, a Brit living in Switzerland has a lot to say about the cultural differences. One difference between the Swiss and the Brits is that while it may be perfectly acceptable to pop in anytime at your friend's house in Britain, the Swiss tend to appreciata a heads-up text message when one might want to pay a visit.
Image Description | N/A
Twitter's new rules: An attempt to #StopHarassment
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 4.1.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, cyberbullying, politeness, threat, Twitter
Summary | Twitter is taking steps to address the harrassment happening on their platform. They are planning to temporarily lock or permanently suspend accounts of users who use violent or hateful language. This is meant to target mainly terrorist organizations but some say that it would unjustly target republicans because negative statements about a minority group could be misconstrued as hateful. Twitter has faced criticism before about censoring republicans more than librerals.
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The Week in Tech: Facebook Live, a More Civil Reddit and Yahoo’s Odd Deal-Making
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 9.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, cyberbullying, Facebook, marketing, politeness, Twitter
Summary | Reddit has for the first time in its existence enabled users to block other users from commenting. This enables censorship of less desirable opinions. Twitter landed the exclusive deal to live stream a football game on their platform, a deal Facebook was initially after since they are better known for their LiveStream service than Twitter. This is a high-profile marketing campaign for Twitter. Also, Yahoo is trying to sell itself.
Image Description | An image of a smartphone showing a livestreamed interview.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone
Study Abroad's Seven Deadly Sins
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 8.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | politeness, selfie, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | The seven deadly sins of studying abroad incude two sins related to the digital realm. First, study abroad students should at best not take a smartphone with them. It will keep them way to connected with their peers at home and the fear of missing out on activities at home will make them text with friends from home rather than meet new people in the foreign country they are supposed to be experiencing. Second, stay abroad students should be conscious of how they take their selfies - they can easily be disrespectful depending on the place and the pose one strikes.
Image Description | Colorful number 1 through 7.
"Wie ist das bei dir?"
("How is that for you?")
Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 14.7.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | misunderstanding, online dating, politeness, threat, WhatsApp
Summary | We are more connected than ever nowadays. There should be no room for alienation in relationships with all those media available to us to communicate. WhatsApp even lets us know when our loved ones were last online and when they read a message. This may sound good at first but it can cause a lot of misunderstandings and jealousy when partners do not respond to messages right away.
Image Description | N/A
Mein bester Freund ist jetzt ein SMS-Butler
(My new best friend is an SMS butler)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 28.1.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, Google, marketing, politeness, texting
Summary | A new text messaging service is available: an SMS butler. It is an actual human who can be contacted via text message at all times to perform little tasks like find out some simple information (that one is too lazy to Google) or order pizza. The former taks is free, the latter one costs a little extra. The butler takes a provision on services that require payment. He is however always very happy to perform his task - whether he gets paid or not. This is indicated by the obligatory smiley face attached to every message.
Image Description | N/A
"Wer ist eigentlich dieser Wifi?"
("Who is this wifi anyway?")
Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 21.7.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | childhood, Facebook, politeness, privacy
Summary | It can be infuriating to try and teach one's parents how to use the computer, the internet, or Facebook because they are so clueless. However, there is no use in getting angry. After all, they managed to stay patient when we learned to ride a bike. Young children today can use modern technology before they can speak. They will be teaching us new technology one day.
Image Description | A man using his smartphone.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone
Hausdurchsuchungen wegen Hass-Postings auf Facebook
(House searches because of hate posts on Facebook)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 13.7.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, politeness, politics, threat
Summary | The Bavarian police have issued multiple search warrants for the residence of people who have posted hateful comments on Facebook. In light of the recent refugee crisis, online hate has skyrocketed on Facebook with many people glorifying the Third Reich. Users who witness such behavior online are encouraged to report it both to Facebook and to the local police. Facebook has however been doing a poor job in keeping hate language off their platform.
Image Description | A tweet by a German government department explaining what a hate post is.
Image Tags | Twitter
Das ist der wohl obszönste Username im ganzen Netz
(This is probably the most obscene username on the internet)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 13.6.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | censorship, politeness, privacy, research/study, social media, threat, word/writing
Summary | Many news media sources now tend to quote opinions from social media users rather than do polls out in the street. It is not uncommon to see an opinion of the "common people" in a newspaper article quoting an obscure social media username. The difference to the traditional technique of asking people on the street is that journalists needed to obtain consent of the people to quote them. One woman has now found a way to avoid being quoted without her consent: she chose a very obscene username including four words which are inappropriate enough so that they would have to be censored in a newspaper.
Image Description | N/A
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