Can text mining help handle the data deluge in public policy analysis?
There has been a major shift in the policies of governments concerning participatory governance—that is, engaged, collaborative, and community-focused public policy …
Can Twitter provide an early warning function for the next pandemic?
While traditional surveillance systems will remain the pillars of public health, online media monitoring has added an important early-warning function, with social media bringing additional benefits to epidemic intelligence …
Who represents the Arab world online?
The Middle East and North Africa are relatively under-represented in Wikipedia. Even after accounting for factors like population, Internet access, and literacy, we still see less contact than would be expected …
Responsible research agendas for public policy in the era of big data
Bringing together leading social science academics with senior government agency staff to discuss its public policy potential …
Is China shaping the Internet in Africa?
Concerns have been expressed about the detrimental role China may play in African media sectors, by increasing authoritarianism and undermining Western efforts to promote openness and freedom of expression …
Harnessing ‘generative friction’: can conflict actually improve quality in open systems?
The more that differing points of view and differing evaluative frames came into contact, the more the community worked together to generate rules and norms to regulate and improve the production of articles …
Uncovering the patterns and practice of censorship in Chinese news sites
Is censorship of domestic news more geared towards “avoiding panics and maintaining social order”, or just avoiding political embarrassment? …
Predicting elections on Twitter: a different way of thinking about the data
Social media monitoring, which in theory can extract information from tweets and Facebook posts and quantify positive and negative public reactions to people, policies and events has an obvious utility for politicians seeking office …
The complicated relationship between Chinese Internet users and their government
Chinese citizens are being encouraged by the government to engage and complain online. Is the Internet just a space to blow off steam, or is it really capable of ‘changing’ Chinese society, as many have assumed? …
