Diplotech.org

If you currently search for “Election Results” on Google or Bing, you will see an infographic showing up-to-date results of the 2014 U.S. Elections. Both search engines offer a map of the United States colored in accordance to the outcome or likely outcome of the elections (Red for Republican and Blue for Democrat). Both Bing and Yahoo cover three elections: Senate, House and Governor. The information is sourced from the Associated Press – on both search engines. On Google, users have the option to click on the states to find how different districts voted. Picture from Searchengineland.com Bing offers an election trivia and information on where and when to vote.  Picture from  Searchengineland.com It would be interesting to see whether these infographics create more awareness and whether they can influence voters. It is known that live news commentary on television and radio on election day may influence on how the undecided vote. The infogra...

The launch of Google’s new Inbox, a new app and web service that set out to redefine how we organize our emails, has overshadowed another update from Google regarding account safety and email security. Google has added another option to its two-step verification solution: a USB-stick. Let’s first clarify what a two-step security process is. To put it in Google’s own words : “With 2-Step Verification, you’ll protect your account with something you know (your password) and something you have (your phone or Security Key).” Essentially, your password for your various online accounts – ranging from email to online banking – can be hacked in various ways. We have all heard of lists with email passwords floating around in the internet as a result of security breaches. Having only one layer of security is frankly not enough if you want your account to be adequately secured. That is why various online service providers have introduced a second layer. This layer is essentially another piece of i...

Whilst roaming through the corridors of government buildings, one often encounters stacks of paper, old copy machines and rather depressed staff sorting through piles of reports, petitions, legal texts and other bureaucratic texts. The European Union is a well-known example of just how inefficient bureaucracy can get. Every month around 2,500 boxes are transported by five trucks between the EU’s parliaments permanent base in Brussels and its official home in Strasbourg. The estimated annual cost of moving the parliament between the two cities is about 285 million USD . Now, I will not go into the details of why this move is or is not necessary (if you are a EU citizen, you would probably then question the sanity of your representatives). I just want to point out that inefficiencies in governments are costing the taxpayer millions every year. Now, how do we solve this? Estonia, a country not larger than the Netherlands with about 1.3 million inhabitants, is renowned to have one of the ...

Google Trends and Yahoo’s Buzz Index are for many tools that they have known for some time now. After talking to a few local politicians (who, by the way, were still not able to do much more than dial a number on their smartphones), I realised that these insightful tools are actually not very well-known among those who may need it the most for their career: our political representatives. Many countries are experiencing a tendency that constituents are loosing their interest for politics. One of the reasons is that politicians are not embracing the topics that are on the minds of people. As voter participation rates have dropped to all time lows in various countries, some officials are now rethinking how they look for topics that are relevant to voters. Politicians have several traditional options: they can hit the streets and talk, look into survey’s and opinion polls, or just wait for the election – just to name a few. However, today, they can also use tools, such as Trends or the B...

The LEA Project is a new public awareness campaign initiated by the Lebanese Economic Association (LEA). The LEA furthers the economics culture in Lebanon and promotes the exchange of information and research between economists, the government and academic institutions. As such, the LEA deals with socio-economic issues, such as unemployment, workers rights or the cost of living. The new campaign “aims at raising awareness on socio-economic rights in Lebanon and engaging people through presenting possible solutions and Active Campaigns“. The project uses online video platforms and social media to distribute videos displaying key social issues in Lebanon. Examples range from youth unemployment to working women. Here is an example of a video about the latter issue:                                          I have come across the videos in the Facebook news feed and seen various videos ...

The recent interview by VICE with the founders of Upworthy has reintroduced the important discourse about how to filter information in a world where often quantity prevails over quality. The challenge is how to distribute the important information so that it is heard. Most online services – ranging from Google to Facebook to local news sites – have been working on solutions within their distinct fields to customise information to the user. However, some stories never reach the mass despite being important for whatever reason. Instead, the top stories are often fail compilations or a status on what your friend had for dinner yesterday. Yes, this information is indeed important too and, while many may not like to admit it, we enjoy receiving this information. But what about the meaningful and potentially world-changing information? Well, upworthy.com has taken on the challenge to compile this data and put it into an easy-to-use interface. It is like a feed of stories, events or even ide...

Twitter is now offline in Turkey. The step was not approved by all leaders in Turkey. President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Erdogan have been engaged in a rather open debate today - Erdogan defending the ban while Gül continued to tweet during the day, showing his disapproval of the ban. The case depicts once again that these platforms are now used as a proxy during political discourse - rather than a mere communication tool. Politicians can use services such as Facebook or Twitter to argue for freedom of speech or portray them as a source of instability. Arguing for Twitter will get votes from a more liberal constituency, whereas arguing against will often increase support from advocats of the ruling party. Communication platforms are not merely simple mediums of communication any more. They are now themselves used as a tool to form political opinion or justify decisions. Picture Bibliography:  Yes! We Ban!, Erdem Civelek