COMMENT BLOG

Photo: Cultural Survival The United Nations has declared 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages in order to raise awareness about the importance of linguistic diversity in relation to sustainable development, culture, knowledge, and collective memory....

Migrants charging their mobile phones at Keleti railway station in Budapest in 2015.  Photo: Herbert P Oczeret/EPA Rates of forced migration are the highest they have been in decades. In 2016, approximately 40 million people became internally displaced persons (IDPs)...

Trustworthy news and opinion is the Holy Grail of journalism today. An independent report reviewing challenges facing high quality journalism in the UK has been published. The Cairncross Review: a sustainable future for journalism (12 February 2019) recommends a new...

The 30th birthday of the World Wide Web saw its founder publish an open letter reflecting on how the web has changed our world. He  identifies what must be done to build a better web that serves all of humanity. “The web has become a public square, a library, a...

British Members of Parliament are agitating for tougher regulations to combat fake news. In a report released on 18 February 2019, the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee said Facebook had put democracy at risk by allowing voters to be targeted...

A friend forwarded a YouTube video reporting on an apparent practice in a Central Asian country of abducting women for marriage. My friend was understandably appalled at the violence and injustice, and was asking organizations and friends to highlight it. I didn’t. It...

Last year Australia passed a bill weakening security on the iPhones and software people rely on in today’s digital world. This sweeping law could force tech companies to access encrypted data. Australia is not alone in designing a national security strategy that...

How to prevent social networks from damaging the well-being of young people? Amid a plethora of writings on the impact of social media on young people, a vital issue has surfaced. In “The Guardian view on mental health online: protect the vulnerable” (28 January...

Masculine, feminine, or gender-neutral? For years, the English have avoided saying “he” or “she” by replacing it with “they”. Called the singular “they”, it occurs in sentences such as: “Somebody left their umbrella in the office. Would they please collect it?” “Who...

Data privacy, also called information privacy, is about what data in a computer system can be shared with third parties. Protection laws give individuals rights over their data, imposing rules on the way in which companies and governments use data, and establishing...

Genuine communication is all about creating relationships and building trust. When two or more people meet in person, a conversation or sharing of experiences leaves a mark that outlasts the ephemeral impact of digital communications. When members of a community...