Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 10
Posts 1 - 10

Schamlosigkeit hilft

(Shamelessness helps)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 10.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, social media, spelling, threat
Summary | A German TV show host has just responded to a hate comment on social media by mimicking the commenter's faulty spelling and reversing his accusations and insults. The commenter, confronted with an imitation of himself, apologized. A German artist sprayed hateful tweets on the Twitter building to show how much illegal hate speech they have not managed to remove. This strategy of shaming is nothing new in disciplining members of a community but it seems to work.
Image Description | Portrait of the TV show host.
Image Tags | female(s)

Eine Sprache macht noch keinen Terminator

(A language does not make a terminator yet)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 2.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Facebook, threat
Summary | Recently Facebook had the biggest anxiety about artificial intelligence come true under their watch: two AI robots started talking to one another in a way that their programmers could not understand. They quickly killed the two robots. Elsewhere AI robots have been caught to lie strategically. They have omitted parts of the truth to get what they wanted in a simple negotiation.
Image Description | A Getty image of the terminator.
Image Tags | male(s)

Generation Tinder darf Blut spenden - das wurde Zeit

(Generation Tinder may donate blood - it was time)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 5.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | diversity, online dating, threat
Summary | Blood donation criteria have loosened up for the first time in decades. Now men engaging in homosexual encounters are no longer banned for life from donating blood, they just have to wait a year after any "risky sexual contacts" to donate blood. This affects the entire "generation tinder" because all people with more than a total of two sexual partners in their lifetime were banned from donatig blood.
Image Description | Photocase image of a man and woman making out in a jungle.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

Niedlichkeit hat ihren Preis

(Cuteness has its price)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 20.1.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | marketing, privacy, selfie, threat
Summary | A new popular app in China called Meitu lets users edit their selfies. The process includes a beautification filter which enlarges the eyes and adds glitter and a rosy hue to the selfie. The app however suspiciously asks for permission to a lot of user data which does not seem to be necessary for an image editing app. The app likely collects all this data about their users so that they can sell their information to advertizers who want to target specific groups. All free apps have a hidden price.
Image Description | Selfie with the Meitu beautification filter.
Image Tags | female(s), selfie

Ruhe, bitte!

(Silence, please!)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 26.1.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | (mental) health, research/study, smartphone, threat
Summary | New technology is likely contributing to insomnia. One third of adults suffer insomnia. All our internet devices make it difficult for us to let go of what is happening in the world because we can access it at all times. Sleep experts advise people who suffer from insomnia to stop looking at notifications before one goes to sleep and to ban all electronic devices from the bedroom.
Image Description | Image of a woman sleeping on a skyscraper and images of men (experts) mentioned in the article.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

Der digitale Beifahrer – Damit die Hände am Lenkrad bleiben, sollen Bordcomputer zuhören

(The digital front-seat passenger - bord computers are supposed to listen in so that the hands stay on the steering wheel)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 26.1.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, texting, threat
Summary | A new bord computer is supposed to help drivers not only navigate to their destination and make hands-free phone calls, but also assisst them with texting. For safety reasons, they however take the liberty to withold an incoming message if the driver needs to be particularly focused. All this is voice operated.
Image Description | N/A

Das Monster lebt

(The monster is alive)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 31.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | censorship, cyberbullying, Facebook, law, threat
Summary | Facebook is hiring thousands of new employees to battle cyberbullying on their platform and to remove offensive material as quickly as possible. But a couple thousand are not very many people to combat wrongdoings of 2 billion users. German politicians are trying to make Facebook comply with local laws about removing illegal content from the internet but Facebook is nowhere near fulfilling those requirements.
Image Description | A photograph of a man holding a smartphone showing the Facebook logo and the face of a monster.
Image Tags | Facebook, hand(s), logo, male(s), smartphone

Kopfschuss: Glatte Eins!

(Shot to the head: A+!)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 18.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | game, gender, school, threat, youth
Summary | A school in Norway is offering a course in E-sport, i.e. playing online team sports in shooter video games like Counter:Strike. The course is very popular among the male students (only one female student has taken the course) and has shown that students at risk of failing the year tend to do better in school overall when they are in a video game class. They get boosts of self-confidence because they can hold presentations about something they are passionate about. The school wants to reflect their students' reality in their curriculum and video games are a passion of many students and a future job for some of them. Shooter games are less stigmatized in Norway than in Germany.
Image Description | Image of male students playing video games.
Image Tags | game, male(s), school

"Wir wollen die Menschen aus ihrem Zombiesein aufwecken"

("We want to wake people up from their zombie existence")

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 3.3.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | game, smartphone, threat, virtual reality
Summary | Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game. It is different from virtual reality in that it uses the real topography around the player as the site of the game which is virtually enhanced with Pokémon which can be "caught". It was designed to make people engage with the outside world and each other while playing, to lead people into parks they never went to. The most effective way to do that nowadays is to create an incentive with the smartphone.
Image Description | Getty image of Pokémon Go players at night and a portrait of the interviewee.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

Im Gefühlsextremismus

(In the middle of emotional extremism)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 10.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, pornography, privacy, sexting, social media, threat
Summary | Social media have messed with our sense of privacy. Celebrities can now address their fans from a seemingly private realm of self-orchestrated social media presence and regular people can become famous very quickly when they embarrass themselves enough on social media. Additionally, one can be made famous on social media by cyberbullies and previous partners by sharing "revenge porn" (nudes shared during a romantic relationship) after a breakup. The general tenor on all social media sites entails schadenfreude (rejoicing over other people's misfortune) - whether it be directed towards celebrities' faux-pas or normal people.
Image Description | The crying tears from laughter emoji.
Image Tags | emojis

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