The emergence of the Internet is one of the most significant leaps in the history of humanity. Information, knowledge and culture are exchanged among masses of people through interconnected information platforms.These platforms enable our culture to be analysed and rewritten, and fundamentally opens our perceptions to a wide variety of concepts and beliefs.
In September 2011, a high-level UN meeting brought together leaders from across the globe to discuss the prevention and control of chronic diseases. This meeting acknowledged that the global burden of preventable health conditions such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes was so immense that if uncurbed, it will cripple global health systems and undermine social and economic development
Print media is dying — at least, that’s the conventional wisdom. Circulation figures show sales of major Australian newspapers have been in consistent decline. And that’s a worldwide trend. In its State of the News Media 2015 report the Pew Research Center said: ‘Newspapers continue to struggle as an industry.’ In the United States, newspaper advertising revenue is less than half what it was a decade ago and daily circulation is down 19 per cent over that same period
In 1981 a young political junkie with progressive sympathies, Joe Trippi, joined the campaign to make Tom Bradley governor of California, and so the first black governor in US history. An alumnus of San Jose University,Trippi had taken in the ‘vibe’ of the incipient Silicon Valley. He suggested using a computer to help track voters and manage the campaign
Shortly after Barack Obama became the first US President to build his campaign around online social media, his new administration held an online ‘brainstorming’ session, seeking ideas for making government ‘more transparent, participatory and collaborative’
The interlocking themes of creativity and innovation are as important for me as they are for anyone engaged in the creative industries. Without great acts of innovation and the wonderful, creative sparks that ignite them, the world we inhabit would be a quite different, infinitely less exciting and productive place
In Australia we cherish the freedom to tell it as it is. It’s part of our heritage, and now ingrained in our culture: we like our facts unfettered so we can form opinions in our own way, and speak up when things aren’t right
The mysteries of passion, love, and how to best live day to day in a couple relationship is one of the most constant subject of conversations. Literature is dominated by these themes and movies make millions from the subject, highlighting how couple relationships are a major source of emotional passion and joy, as well as the deepest pain
The internet has played a key role in the spread of racism, offering opportunities that amplify the reach and potential impact of White power, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamist and ultra-nationalist ideologies and actions. At the same time that racist organisations were discovering, exploring and exploiting the potential of the internet, the international community was recognising the dangers that the technology represented to community wellbeing and harmony
One of the most serious problems facing the world today is the over-abundance of unreliable information, a condition sometimes referred to as info-obesity. Not good. In Too Big To Know, David Weisberger of Harvard calls this a crisis of information. And it seems technology, in particular the internet, may be to blame