Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 67
Posts 41 - 50

Logisches Pisa-Ergebnis

(Logical Pisa result)

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Newspaper | Appenzeller Zeitung
Date | 15.12.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | childhood, research/study, school, social media, texting, word/writing, youth
Summary | The Pisa study shows that Swiss students have decreasing writing and reading skills. This is not suprising considering the high percentage of foreign heritage children in Switzerland, the many national languages and distinct dialects, and the fact that children learn two foreign languages while still in primary school - let alone the dubious influence of new media, texting, social media, and so on.
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Junge schreiben - mehr als je zuvor

(Youths write - more than ever)

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Newspaper | Appenzeller Zeitung
Date | 29.1.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | code-switching, language threat, research/study, school, smartphone, social media, spelling, texting, word/writing, youth
Summary | There is a public hysteria about how youths are no longer capable of spelling correctly or writing appropriately and skillfully. All this is seen to be caused by new media such as smartphones. BUt young people today write far more than previous generations did: they post on social media and text every day. The only difference is that this writing culture is very informal and colloquial. Researchers however assume that one cannot simply state that this spoils their writing skills generally, most students are easily capable of code-switching from informal registers to a formal register appropriate for school.
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Le HTML5 se parlera-t-il avant l'alphabet?

(Will people speak HTML5 before the alphabet?)

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Newspaper | 24 heures
Date | 28.12.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | computer programming, digitized education, school
Summary | A lot of parents would like their children to be able to speak the language of computers. However, Swiss schools do not allow kids to learn how to speak fluently HTML5, Python or Java Script. Switzerland is lagging behind in terms of digital education. In Anglo-Saxon countries, computer programming has been part of primary schools' curriculum for two years. Learning computer programming is useful if one wants to know the logic behind a smartphone, a video game, or a fridge.
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Pour l’accès à une culture générale numérique

(For an access to a general digital culture)

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Newspaper | Le Temps
Date | 19.11.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | computer programming, digitized education, school
Summary | Some people would like to introduce computer programming in school curriculum whereas others are more cautious. The author of the article thinks that it would be useful to teach the basics of computer programming. He distinguishes the terms "digital culture" and "programming". A digital culture concerns one's knowledge about what a VPN is, about Google's algorithms, or about what the introduction of the SwissPass involves. Computer programming concerns the different languages used in the field. Programming is the key to understanding our digital culture.
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Intelligence artificielle: les géants du Web lancent un partenariat sur l'éthique

(Artificial Intelligence: Web giants launch partnership on ethics)

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Newspaper | Le Monde
Date | 1.10.2016
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, law, research/study, threat
Summary | Artificial intelligence is spreading, which can be worrying. Google, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft and Amazon decided to create the "Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society" in order to answer ethical questions, and do more research on the impact of new technologies on society. Another goal of the project is to educate people, listen to them, and be transparent with them. Stephen Hawking thinks that AI could end humanity, and Elon Musk claims that it could be more dangerous than atomic bombs.
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2016: the year Facebook became the bad guy

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 12.12.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, Facebook, fake news, law, threat
Summary | 2016 has been a bad year for Facebook. Many scandals surrounded the company. It became clear that Facebook is now longer just an advertizing machine with access to almost 2 billion people world-wide but that it also curates what news media most of these people perceive - whether Facebook wants to accept this or not. They no longer just have to deal with sensoring nudity and human rights violations content but also fake news. While Zuckerberg denies that the fake news bubbles have influenced the presidential elections, his company at the same time makes tons of money selling exactly this persuasive power to advertisers.
Image Description | The Facebook reaction emojis and dislike (thumb-down) emojis, glasses in front of like buttons, and a man holding a smartphone with the Facebook logo in the background.
Image Tags | emojis, Facebook, logo, male(s), smartphone

Emojis on council tax bills: Council puts crying face on residents' statements

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 14.12.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, law, politeness
Summary | Lambeth citizens are getting emojis on their tax correspondence with their local authorities. To be exact: crying face emojis. One resident tweeted her tax calculations with a crying face emoji next to het balance due. Many find this distasteful since many people struggle to pay their taxes and emojis are just inappropriate for government communication. Emojis are one of the fastest growing languages ever recorded in history and they have surpassed their precursors, Egyptian hieroglyphs, which took centuries to develop.
Image Description | Tweet showing the tax document with emoji.
Image Tags | emojis, Twitter

Creepy start-up asks would-be renters for the keys to their data

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 10.6.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, privacy, social media, threat
Summary | A British start-up company wants to offer a service called "Tenant Assured" where landlords can check applicants' social media background. The individual's social media posts as well as private messages are analyzed and turned into a statistic of how much financial stress that person has based on their mentions of spending, loans, and pregnancies. This could be the future of all hiring processes, they say, because people are willing to give up their privacy for a service they want.
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Scary clown rumors, threats feed hysteria, leading to school lockdowns, arrests

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 6.10.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, law, school, Snapchat, social media, threat
Summary | In the weeks running up to Halloween, many schools and colleges have had attack scares. Students heard over Snapchat or Yik Yak or some other social media platform that a clown was on the prowl at their school/college. These theats always ended up being false but students were worried and so were parents. Schools have to take such threats seriously. The police are being very clear that there are legal repercussions for false attack threats.
Image Description | Clown video and scary clown masks.

Columbia Suspends Wrestling Season Over Lewd and Racist Text Messages

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 14.11.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, school, social media, texting, threat
Summary | Group chats from the Columbia wrestling team leaked and they are so offensive that the u niversity administration blocked the team from participating in competitions until the issue is investigated. Many students express how they are glad the university administration are addressing sexually aggressive behavior like these text messages. A protest was held in front of a fraternity house where some wrestling team members live.
Image Description | Columbia University library.
Image Tags | school

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