Social Media

On Cybersecurity, Crowdsourcing, and Social Cyber-Attack

Social media is responsible for much positive change in the world. But these new tools can be used by bad actors to foment strife and undermine stability, as seen during violent incidents in the Assam state of northeast India in July 2012. Cybersecurity efforts must take into account the growing potential for cyber-attack using social media, where hoax messages are incorporated into a stream of otherwise legitimate messages, and understand how quickly mobile apps and text services can disseminate false information.

Rebecca Goolsby

The Science Beat: Has Quality of Reporting Improved or Declined?

In a world increasingly driven by scientific and technological breakthroughs, are we getting the information we need to understand the rapid changes and choices we face? And as print space dedicated to science decreases, have online sources emerged to fill the void? To survey the landscape of science journalism, we spoke with Curtis Brainard, Editor of The Observatory (http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/), the Columbia Journalism Review’s “lens on the science press.”

Roundtable Discussion on the Future of U.S. Global Media

In any given week, from North Korea to Iran and across the Middle East, from China to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar, through Africa and India to Russia, Belarus, Central Asia and Cuba, 165 million people—equivalent to more than half the U.S. population—tune into the radio and television programs of U.S. International Broadcasting (USIB) by satellite, Internet and in some cases cooperating local radio stations. After more than half a century, Congressionally- funded U.S.

Directions:

Directions to the Wilson Center

Pew: Arab Publics Most Likely to Express Views Online

Arab social media users are more likely to express their opinions on politics, community issues and religion than others in Europe, Latin America, the United States and Asia, according to a new survey by Pew. In Egypt and Tunisia, more than 60 percent of surveyed users share their political and religious views online. Less than 40 percent of European and U.S. users share their political and religious views. The following are excerpts from the report with a link to the full text at the end.

Facebook Sheikhs: Egypt

By Garrett Nada

Egypt’s Facebook sheikhs reflect the growing diversity within Islam. The new tech-savvy sheikhs range from rock-star street preachers to Salafi populists. Even the old clerics are finding they have to be hip to keep their flocks. Their television shows, broadcast on popular satellite stations, compete for viewers—generating new rivalries over who controls the Muslim message.

Africa UP Close

New HAPP Occasional Paper: A 21st Century Vision for U.S. Global Media

The Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program is pleased to announce the publication of an Occasional Paper, “A 21st Century Vision for U.S. Global Media,” by Wilson Center Senior Scholar A.

A 21st Century Vision for U.S. Global Media

The Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program is pleased to announce the publication of an Occasional Paper, “ A 21st Century Vision for U.S. Global Media,” by Wilson Center Senior Scholar A. Ross Johnson and R.

2011 Social Media + Emergency Management Camp: Transforming the Response Enterprise

Authors: Clarence Wardell III and Yee San Su, CNA. Editors: Lea Shanley and Aaron Lovell, Commons Lab, Science and Technology Innovation Program, Woodrow Wilson Center. Written and published with the support of CNA, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, CrisisCommons, and the Wilson Center.