Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 48
Posts 1 - 10

Facebook’s censorship of Aboriginal bodies raises troubling ideas of ‘decency’

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 23.3.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | censorship, diversity, Facebook, gender, law
Summary | Facebook does not mind showing Kim Kardashian’s cleavage, but it didn't allow images of topless Aboriginal women. Major social network platforms are led by capitalism, and although they claim they want to create global and equal platforms, not all stories are treated the same way. As a result, On Facebook, images of famous women naked are okay whereas images of other women around the world are deemed “inappropriate”.
Image Description | Photograph of four Aboriginal women
Image Tags | female(s)

Teaching Bronx Students the Language of Computers

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 22.2.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | computer programming, digitized education, diversity, game, school, youth
Summary | The Bronx is offering their local students computer programming classes - many more than average schools. The students in the Bronx are learning to code so that they can create the technology of the future rather than just consume it. A group of students presented an app they created to investors in Manhattan: it lets users post videos showing police brutality and makes an interactive map of where the incidents happened. Users can also play a game on the app in which they have to avoid ficticious police gun shots.
Image Description | Three male students of color holding a presentation.
Image Tags | male(s)

The big myth Facebook needs everyone to believe

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 28.1.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, diversity, Facebook
Summary | With its huge number 1.5 billion users, Facebook struggles not to impose American ideologies on the majority of their users, 80% of whom are not from the USA. Facebook claims not to promote culturally specific moral positions but just provides a neutral space for people to connect. This statement has shown to be faulty when Facebook made the mistake to suggest to their Spanish users that bullfighting is controversial enough for it to be reported as inappropriate content. Bullfighting is, however, a federally acknoledges national heritage in Spain so there are definitely American moral judgments being imposed here. Facebook should admit to the fact that they help shape public discourse.
Image Description | iStock photo of a Facebook-like hand symbol holding money and a screenshot of an image posted on Facebook.
Image Tags | Facebook, hand(s)

From a papacy that clicks, prayer picks via video

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Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 7.1.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | diversity, politics, social media, translation
Summary | Pope Francis is using most known social media platforms to get his messages out in multiple languages. Even prayer apps exist. Most recently, Pope Francis has advised Catholics to engage in open dialogue with people of other faiths to counteract the current political climate of opposition and fragmentation.
Image Description | N/A

Facebook's 'ethnic affinity' advertising sparks concerns of racial profiling

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 22.3.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | diversity, Facebook
Summary | Facebook's new feature called “racial affinity" allows marketers to taget specific groups. The feature allows advertisers to categorize users in terms of their interests, but it also categorizes them in terms of related racial groups. The tool is only available in the US and is seen as a tool allowing advertisers to segregate by race.
Image Description | Screenshot of the movie Straight Outta Compton.
Image Tags | male(s)

Headscarf emojis not an option – but teenage girl fixes that

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 14.9.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | diversity, emojis
Summary | Rayouf Alhumedhi is a 15-year-old teenage girl who lives in Germany. After noticing that there was no hijab emoji to represent Muslim women, she sent a proposal to Unicode. When she was asked why she wears a headscarf, she said that she actually feels liberated; she can choose what she wants to cover, and this way people see her past her beauty and for her knowledge.
Image Description | Five emojis representing different options for the "headscarf emoji"
Image Tags | emojis, female(s)

San Francisco Police Chief Releases Officers' Racist Texts

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 30.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | diversity, law, politics, texting, threat
Summary | The San francisco police officer's racist text messaged were released. He now has to take racial bias training and all criminal cases that he and the recipients of his texts who are also police officers worked on have to be revisited. It is important that authorities react when they detect racism from police officers out in the open because they have the licence to kill when necessary and racial bias may cause them to see necessities where there are none.
Image Description | A police officer.
Image Tags | male(s)

More Racist and Homophobic Texts by San Francisco Police Are Found

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 1.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | diversity, law, politics, texting, threat
Summary | Text messages of a San Francisco police officer showed highly offensive language about various races, enthnicities, and LGBT people. Now all criminal cases this particular officer and the officers receiving his messages have worked on have to be reopened and examined for injustice due to racial and other bias.
Image Description | Police officer.
Image Tags | male(s)

Benefits of Study Abroad: ‘My Students Return Transformed’

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 12.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | diversity, selfie, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | In response to the article “Study Abroad’s Seven Deadly Sins”, this university educator agrees that inappropriate selfies and ever-present smartphones are an issue among study abroad students. She however emphasized that such articles are not helpful at this time of heightened anxiety about rising nationalism and that students must instead be encouraged more strongly to go study abroad.
Image Description | N/A

Blind Facebook users 'see' photos

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Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 5.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, diversity, Facebook, Instagram
Summary | Facebook has a new function that is meant to make the predominantly visual platforms of Facebook and Instagram more inclusive to people with visual impairments. The new software uses artificial intelligence to tell blind users what is in the images. It is not perfect yet but the image recognition can identify simple things like specific sports, etc.
Image Description | Screenshots of Facebook feeds with the image content captioned.
Image Tags | Facebook

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