Author: SweeneyLi
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Smart speakers as new family members
Rebecca Wald Dec 2022 The popularity of smart speakers Almost everyone has by now heard of Virtual Assistants like Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant that can be installed on smart speaker devices in people’s homes (or, for instance, phones). The most famous smart speaker devices that are currently used are the Google Home devices, the…
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Hey Google! What’s in the news?
Valeria Resendez Gómez Nov 2022 Voice assistants The usage of conversational agents (CAs) such as Google Assistant and Alexa doubles every year. CAs can be used to access information and to consume news via voice by allowing users to (1) decide the news sources of their preference or (2) let the algorithm decide the news…
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How Loud Did They Bark? – The Watchdog Role of Journalism in the Age of Big Tech
Alexandra Schwinges Oct 2022 The past two decades have witnessed a meteoric rise of Big Tech(nology) companies to powerful political players in our societies. To exemplify: every step, from writing to sharing this blogpost alone, involved a number of these companies. The dynamic digital reality we are left with has many people worried. The question…
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Teaching Statistics? Here’s how to make it less daunting for students
Shreya Dubey Sep 2022 From the outside, it might look like PhD-students are only concerned with their dissertation. But, for many, PhD-life includes more than just time for own research. It also includes time for teaching. So, PhD students face the difficult task of being students and teachers at the same time. This is not…
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Into the Dark: Exploring the narrative space of the Dutch Telegramsphere
Mónika Simon Jul 2022 Telegram, the app that some of your friends obnoxiously insist on moving your group chats to – so that you can escape the privacy-evading grip of the “evil “Meta machine – is not exactly an innocent alternative to WhatsApp. While Telegram offers private group chats just like WhatsApp, it also has…
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Fifteen Seconds of TikTok Fame
Fabio Votta Jul 2022 TikTok has rapidly developed from a punchline for jokes about “kids these days” into a social media juggernaut. The speed of this development is unprecedented, even in the rapidly-changing world of social media. The TikTok app was released in the United States in August of 2018. In 2020 it was already…
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The ups and downs of in-person conferences
Rebecca Wald June 2022 Conferences are part of a researcher’s life. Yet, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there have not been any in-person conferences the past two years really. The PhDs at ASCoR were therefore double excited to finally experience an in-person conference this spring. We all packed our bags, hopped on the Thalys, and…
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Past the tipping point: Climate change communication and research in the 2020’s
Robin Tschötschel May 2022 Let’s face it: stopping climate change is one of humanity’s most challenging endeavours. And we are definitely not on the right track to reaching the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Concerned scientists, activists, and politicians alike often focus on trying to convince people that the…
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Pointing fingers in politics
Emma van der Goot Apr 2022 Political campaigns are often filled with negativity and conflict. To convince voters of their qualification for office, politicians are not only concerned with promoting themselves but also with discrediting the reputation of their opponent. This is also called ‘mud-slinging. Prime examples of such mud-slinging can be found in former…
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Who’s watching you?
Daisy Zhang Mar 2022 Do you feel monitored when you are using digital technologies? Most of the people that I’ve asked this question immediately said “yes”. And figures tell the same story: 72% of Americans report to feel that they are being tracked online by advertisers, technology firms, or other companies. The fact is, we…
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