Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 112
Posts 31 - 40

Erdogan schaltet sich auf die Handys der Türken

(Erdogan tunes into the cell phones of Turkish residents)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 16.7.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | politics, privacy, texting, threat
Summary | The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously sent all his citizens a text message during the attempted government coup urging them to keep fighting the rebels. Now, a year after the attempted coup, he has tuned into the citizen's phones again and has recorded a voice message which is played on all smartphones when they try to make a call. In the message he makes the defeat of the coup seem heroic and by making it a voice message he forces all citizens to listen to it first if they want to make a phone call.
Image Description | Tweets from people who are shocked by the recodorded voice message from Erdogan.
Image Tags | male(s), Twitter

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)

"Mit 5G erreichen wir die Geschwindigkeit unserer Nervengefäße"

("With 5G we'll achieve the speed of our nerve tracts")

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 25.2.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | marketing, smartphone, texting, WhatsApp
Summary | Mobile service providers in Germany have to change their marketing strategies because the market is changing. Fewer people are sending traditional SMS text messages and more people use WhatsApp or similar instant messaging services. Now, mobile service providers have to put everything on the resources they still control: mobile data. They are working on faster mobile data connections (5G).
Image Description | Portrait of the interviewee (Vodafone director).
Image Tags | male(s)

Mein bester Freund ist jetzt ein SMS-Butler

(My new best friend is an SMS butler)

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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

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

"Wir kennen die Menschen"

("We know the people")

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 6.3.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | Facebook, marketing, privacy, threat
Summary | Facebook is collecting huge amounts of data about their users and they are not being entirely clear when they state their terms and conditions. Many uses do not realize that Facebook also records what they do outside the platform when they surf online. This way Facebook can create very detailed user portfolios that they can sell to advertisers so that they can target a very specific group.
Image Description | N/A

Heute: Anrede

(Today: form of adress)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 18.2.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | email, marketing, politeness, word/writing
Summary | The German distinction between two different registers for the secon person singular pronoun seems to have deteriorated online. The polite form is hardly ever used online, for instance in email communication as though the digital medium makes it okay to suspend all rules of politeness. Even online companies gear their their online marketing communication towards digital intimacy (using "Du" instead of "Sie") so that users/customers are more friendly and forgiving of their company.
Image Description | N/A

Facebook musste AI abschalten, die "Geheimsprache" entwickelt hat

(Facebook had to turn of AIs who developed their own "secret language")

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 28.6.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Facebook, language threat
Summary | Facebook had to deactivate two artificial intelligence chatbots called Bob and Alice. They had begun communicating with one another in a knockoff language similar to English with sentences like: "I can can I I everything else." Because this communication is unintellegible for the developers, Bob and Alice were taken down for security reasons.
Image Description | Getty images of Mark Zuckerberg and cyborgs as well as a Tweet by Elon Musk.
Image Tags | male(s), Twitter

Gesagt und getan

(Said and done)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 29.6.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, Facebook, law
Summary | The German justice department is demanding that Facebook comply to local laws. They are planning to instate a new law that forces Facebook to remove illegal content (for instance cyberbullying, etc.) within 24 hours after it being reported. Facebook must also react to German language reports.
Image Description | N/A

Jetzt wird endlich auch im Duden getindert

(Finally tindering will be in the dictionary )

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 24.6.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, online dating, word/writing
Summary | The new edition of the Duden dictionary is reflecting the ongoing digitalization. New additions to the dictionary include the verb "tindering" which means to use the online dating app Tinder, as well as "social bot" which reflects the advent of artificial intelligence in contemporary life.
Image Description | Picture alliance image of hands holding a smartphone showing a male profile on Tinder.
Image Tags | hand(s), male(s), smartphone, Tinder

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