countries | ResearchBuzz: Firehose

January 25, 2021

Cherwell: Oxford study finds social media manipulation in all 81 countries surveyed

Cherwell: Oxford study finds social media manipulation in all 81 countries surveyed. “A report published by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) has found evidence of organised social media manipulation campaigns in all 81 countries surveyed in 2020, a 15% increase compared to last year’s report. The study points to the rising influence of ‘cyber troops’. This refers to social media accounts that spread doctored images, use data-driven strategies to target specific sections of the population, troll political opponents, and mass-report opponents’ content so that it is reported as spam. These accounts can be either automated or human.”

September 20, 2020

Down to Earth: New database shows how large rivers form the basis of global borders

Down to Earth: New database shows how large rivers form the basis of global borders. “Rivers have historically provided humans with fresh water, fertile land and food and have, thus, formed the bedrock of several civilisations. A new database, however, quantified how rivers were used to divide land and form international, national and local borders. Rivers make up 23 per cent of international borders, 17 per cent of the world’s state and provincial borders and 12 per cent of all county-level local borders, according to the Global Subnational River-Borders database.” The dataset is available here.

New Resources 0

June 1, 2020

Jerusalem Post: New website acts as database of coronavirus rules in 84 countries

Jerusalem Post: New website acts as database of coronavirus rules in 84 countries. “Developed by David Tabznikov, an Israeli ‘digital nomad’ currently based in Serbia, the website will allow users to see the policies of each country; whether its borders are fully or partially open, and if mandatory self-isolation rule is required as well as where that self-isolation should take place. In addition, municipal or regional restrictions within countries can also examined by users, which may include the status of public transportation in the area and police roadblocks.”

COVID-19 0

February 15, 2020

Washington Post: Google redraws the borders on maps depending on who’s looking

Washington Post: Google redraws the borders on maps depending on who’s looking. “Google’s corporate mission is ‘to organize the world’s information,’ but it also bends it to its will. From Argentina to the United Kingdom to Iran, the world’s borders look different depending on where you’re viewing them from. That’s because Google — and other online mapmakers — simply change them.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0

January 5, 2020

Big Think: You can now drag and drop whole countries to compare their size

Another late December good thing I missed from Big Think: You can now drag and drop whole countries to compare their size. “Is Texas really bigger than Poland? Does Russia stretch further east to west than Africa does north to south? And how big a chunk of Europe would the U.S. cover? If you’re losing sleep over questions like these, you’ll find relief at… a web tool designed to provide answers about the relative sizes of countries (and U.S. states).”

Useful Stuff 0

July 19, 2018

MakeUseOf: 7 Helpful Websites for Learning About the Countries of the World

MakeUseOf: 7 Helpful Websites for Learning About the Countries of the World. “Though the world holds nearly 200 countries, most of us haven’t visited more than a few. Knowledge of our home nation comes easy, but have you ever wondered about the culture, society, or history of other countries? We’ve gathered a set of websites for learning about any country you have interest in.”

Useful Stuff 0

March 2, 2017

Vice: Silencing the net: More governments want to kill access to Twitter and Facebook. Here’s how to beat them.

Vice: Silencing the net: More governments want to kill access to Twitter and Facebook. Here’s how to beat them.. “Governments don’t have an internet kill-switch within reach — they need the support of telecoms operators to pull off a shutdown. By issuing a court order or legal request, government authorities can require telecoms to implement a block list of select sites or even disconnect certain locations from internet access. Telecoms providers are bound by national regulations and license agreements, so few companies decide to go rogue on government requests.” The headline is a bit misleading – the article is more about the technical aspects of how governments can cut off Internet access and what some ISPs are doing about it.

Security & Legal Issues 0

February 23, 2017

Mashable: Facebook has 200 new flag frames and is still way behind Snapchat

Mashable: Facebook has 200 new flag frames and is still way behind Snapchat. “Facebook just added almost 200 national flags to its Profile Frames feature, giving users an extra chance share their national pride with all their friends—or just make everyone quickly scrolling through their feeds double-check if their phone screen has a smudge when the flags fly past.”

Tweaks & Updates 0

September 4, 2016

Network World: Which countries have open-source laws on the books?

Good stuff from Network World: Which countries have open-source laws on the books? “… it’s become increasingly common over the past decade or so to see laws being passed to either mandate the use of open-source software or, at the very least, encourage people in government who make procurement decisions to do so. Here’s a map of the status of open-source laws around the world, via the magic of Google Fusion Tables.”

Research & Opinion 0

March 23, 2016

Google Maps Changes Borders Depending on Who’s Looking at It?

Wow: Google Maps apparently changes country borders depending on who’s looking at it. “Author Ethan R. Merel points out that ‘if a border is disputed by two or more states, the border as seen on Google’s services will adhere to the beliefs of Country A when accessed from within that country, while simultaneously adhering to the beliefs of Country B when accessed on its local servers.’”

Research & Opinion 0

Down to Earth: New database shows how large rivers form the basis of global borders

Jerusalem Post: New website acts as database of coronavirus rules in 84 countries

Big Think: You can now drag and drop whole countries to compare their size

MakeUseOf: 7 Helpful Websites for Learning About the Countries of the World

Mashable: Facebook has 200 new flag frames and is still way behind Snapchat

Network World: Which countries have open-source laws on the books?

Google Maps Changes Borders Depending on Who’s Looking at It?

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