Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 62
Posts 31 - 40

What The Fuck

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 16.3.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, law, politics, social media, Twitter
Summary | The social media employee of the police department Mannheim tweeted out information about a seeming terror attack: a car had hit multiple people in a pedestrian only zone. She had tweeted that the suspect had been arrested. Other Twitter users however started aggressively demanding more information about the suspect, i.e. his race, heritage, religion, etc. The social media worker was shocked at how quickly people on Twitter made this a speculative far right-wing political issue and at somepoint even commented "WTF" in response to one of these tweets at her. Meanwhile people on Twitter were outraged that the police Twitter account would use such language.
Image Description | N/A

Paulinas Englischlehrer

(Paulina's English teacher)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 6.7.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | childhood, digitized education, research/study, technology-free
Summary | Linguists are currently working on robots who can teach foreign languages to children. It is a new research field and it is being tested in several childcare institutions and kindergardens. The results show that children learn better when they are emotionally invested and that is the main advantage of a robot versus just a tablet.The robot is more humanoid and responds emotionally (with praise for correct answers for instance). Recent studies say that 70% of pre-schoolers user their parents' smartphones or tablets for more than 30 minutes a day when that should be the maximum screen time (including TV) a child has per day.
Image Description | A girl using the language learning robot.
Image Tags | female(s), school

"Geht mal aus dem Bild, ich google gerade"

("Get out of the picture, I'm googling something")

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 18.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Google
Summary | All innovations at Google include artificial intelligence. So does Google Lens: it enables users to take a picture of anything and get information about it delivered by Google. If one takes a picture of a flower, for instance, one learns its specific name and classification, how to care for it, as well as contact information of florist shops nearby. The image and pattern recognition software needed for such a service is within the realm of artificial intelligence.
Image Description | A Getty image of Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Image Tags | male(s)

"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

Werdet ihr mich streicheln wie diesen Mops?

(Will you pet me like this pug?)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 25.8.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | gender, online dating, selfie
Summary | There are patterns of how people present themselves on Tinder. Most use selfies. They say a lot about being single: not only is one alone in the picture but usually also alone in taking the picture using a mirror for instance. Many people try to appear less lonely by posting pictures with animals. Women very often do the so-called duckface so as to emphasize all desirable features like cheekbones and full lips and often write that they expect the men to contact them first.
Image Description | Getty image of a pug and a dog with dreadlocks.

Heute: Dazugehören

(Today: Belonging)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 16.8.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | (mental) health, smartphone, social media, WhatsApp, youth
Summary | The internet has brought humanity, especially younger generations a lot of stress. A lot more information is now available, for instance about what one could do, and that leads to a fear of missing out on something. People constantly have to check their smartphones so as not to miss a new viral video or a new thread in their WhatsApp chat about changing group hangout plans.
Image Description | N/A

Höre und glaube

(Listen and believe)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 7.7.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Google
Summary | Google have big plans in arificial intelligence. They want to redefine themselves as an answer engine rather than a search engine. Google's AI assistant will be able to understand cryptic questions such as "did Germany win?... and Portugal?" as related to soccer and interpret the context correctly. It will also be able to understand non-native speakers of English such as Google CEO Sundar Pichai with his Indian accent.
Image Description | Getty images of Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google vice president Ben Gomes.
Image Tags | male(s)

Du bist nicht allein

(You are not alone)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 1.4.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | online dating, smartphone, Snapchat, social media, threat
Summary | Smartphones have revolutionized social life. They promise us that we will never be alone again if we stay online. We are always connected wia social media, we can communicate with select people directly by speaking, texting them, or sending them images and video. While we are all digitally connected, we become more isolated face-to-face. On the street, nobody interacts anymore. Smartphones have also begun to be our matchmakers thanks to Tinder and seemingly intuitive swiping which is rather learned in reality.
Image Description | N/A

Sprich mit dem Bot

(Talk to the bot)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 31.3.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, threat, Twitter
Summary | Most big tech companies seem to agree: chatbots are the future. They mean a move from downloading several apps to using just one app that incorporates services (chatbots) from third parties. These third party services are accessible through a conversational interface: chatting with a bot. Artificial intelligence research is making huge strides but is still faulty as the Tay debacle showed. Microsoft let their AI chatbot Tay loose on Twitter to learn how people actually speak. What Tay learned however was mostly racist and otherwise inappropriate so the experiment was ended prematurely.
Image Description | Reuters image of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Image Tags | male(s)

Diese nützlichen Apps gehören auf jedes Smartphone

(These useful apps belong on every smartphone)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 2.2.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | privacy, WhatsApp
Summary | WhatsApp dominates all rankings of popular app downloads. The free messaging app is so popular precisely because almost everyone has it and free messages can be sent to all one's contacts. There are good alternatives for those who value data security more highly, for example Threema or Signal. Other useful apps that everyone should have is a maps app taht can be used offlne, a Clean Master that frees up storage space on the device, and a decent browser.
Image Description | Slideshows showing the apps in use.

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