Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 9
Posts 1 - 9

The end of apps is here. Long live chat bots

Hyperlink

Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 31.3.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, texting, threat
Summary | Apps will soon disappear as bots keep rising. Bots are helpful assistant that can chat with you within any app. Thanks to bots, you can book a table at a restaurant, or make an appointment. You just have to write a message (e.g. on Facebook or Skype), and "someone" will text you back. However, bots are not perfect. Microsoft's bot Tay expressed racist and hateful comments.
Image Description | Digital image representing a collage of a lot of apps, screenshot of a computer screen, chart, hand holding a smartphone displaying a conversation, David Marcus's Facebook post, smartphone screen showing how you can add a bot on Skype, and Tay Tweets account
Image Tags | chart, Facebook, hand(s), Skype, smartphone, text, Twitter

Rise of the defrienders: Nine in ten young people have been 'ghosted' by their friend or partner

Hyperlink

Newspaper | Mirror
Date | 6.5.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | smartphone, social media, texting, youth
Summary | “Ghosting” or defriending someone by text or social media is a new phenomenon. It seems that young people prefer using their smartphones and laptops to end relationships instead of doing it face-to-face. The term "ghosting" came from Katy Perry's song "Ghost" where she talks about ex-husband Russell Brand who had not spoken to her after demanding a divorce via text. Thanks to social media and the fact that you can hide behind your phone it is now easier to defriend people by ghosting.
Image Description | Photographs of two hands holding a smartphone, Russell Brand and Katy Perry, a man using his phone and looking at it, a hand holding a smartphone displaying the Facebook icon.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), hand(s), male(s), smartphone

New ideas for treating concussions

Hyperlink

Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 12.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, smartphone, texting
Summary | Doctors are looking into new ways to treat concussions and one of those ways is to stop texting or using a smartphone. Concussion-related headaches are often visually triggered so staring at a screen for hours like many people routinely do does not help heal from a concussion.
Image Description | Hands of a woman placing a football helmet on a boy's head.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s)

Facebook wants to kill off the phone number in 2016: Claims system is from the 'flip phone era' as it reveals Messenger now has more than 800 MILLION users

Hyperlink

Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 8.1.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Facebook, texting
Summary | More than 800 million people use Facebook Messenger. Facebook wants to 'kill off the phone number' and attract even more users thanks to more features. Texting and SMS were flip phone communication styles. Now we can do much more with our smartphones, and new communication styles are appearing. With Messenger, Yes, you can text, send stickers, photos, videos, voice clips, GIFs, and even money to people. You can call people and you don't even need to know people's phone numbers anymore. Facebook also wants to introduce its digital virtual assistant called "M" into Messenger
Image Description | Photograph of Mark Zuckerberg, chart displaying Messenger statistics, illustrations of two smartphones displaying a conversation with "M", and photograph of a finger touching a screen displaying several icons.
Image Tags | Facebook, hand(s), logo, male(s), smartphone, text

Auf nach Münschen

(To Munich)

Hyperlink

Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 18.2.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, research/study, texting, translation
Summary | German car manufacturers are working on voice-operated artificial intelligence assistants in cars which can operate navigation systems, phonecalls, text messages, and music selection. Operating this technology verbally is the most safe option while driving. The voice recognition is now so advanced thanks to lots of research and data collection that it can even understand voice commands in regional dialects.
Image Description | Hand operating a navigation system in a car.
Image Tags | hand(s)

Hohe Ablenkung durch Handy am Steuer

(High distraction because of cell phone while driving)

Hyperlink

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

"Die Flut der Zeichen ist enorm"

("The flood of signs is enormous")

Hyperlink

Newspaper | Stuttgarter Zeitung
Date | 27.9.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, misunderstanding, texting
Summary | The production of signs is in a stage of unprecedented proliferation - everyone partakes in textual production online and so the amount of meaningful signs out there is larger than ever. This is quite interesting with respect to emojis because we have only just started coming up with conventions of their use. We are still negotiating how emoji use can be codified. It is common to think, for instance, that a response without emoji to a message with emoji indicates negative feelings.
Image Description | Emojis and hand gestures.
Image Tags | emojis, hand(s), male(s)

Dear Doc, :-(

Hyperlink

Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 18.1.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, texting, youth
Summary | Physicians report that their children who are away at college frequently text them to ask about symptoms such as throat aches or send them images of their swollen toes, turf burns, or their roommates' rashes. Given the fact that today's teenagers conduct an increasing amount of their social interactions over their smartphones, it is not surprising that they would seek medical counsel through that medium as well. Hospitals are already looking into possibilities of diagnosing certain ailments via digital communication in order to expand medical coverage to remote areas.
Image Description | Illustration of a smartphone taking an x-ray of a foot.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone

Why Handwriting Is Still Important

Hyperlink

Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 31.8.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | childhood, texting, word/writing
Summary | People are outraged after a journalist claims that handwriting is becoming a useless skill. Opponents are referencing instances where writing is unavoidable, such as signing a legal document, or is more appropriate, such as writing love letters or letters of condolence. Learning to write longhand is also very important for children to develop various skills.
Image Description | Black and white staged photograph from Getty: hand holding a pen and writing on a piece of paper.
Image Tags | hand(s)

Page 1 of 1