www.digdipblog.com
Introduction In May of 2014, I published my analysis of the social network of world foreign ministries (MFAs) on Twitter. My assumption was that MFAs would actively follow one another online in order to gather relevant information. For instance, by following other ministries an MFA may be able to identify policy changes in certain countries,... Continue Reading →
Note: This post first appeared on the Global Policy website For over a decade the State Department has relied on social media sites to counter extremist narratives, engage in conversation with foreign publics and shape the global diplomatic agenda. Importantly, the State Department also uses social media to manage America's global image. The need to... Continue Reading →
On August 13th, 2017, Nick Miller published an article in The Sydney Morning Herald titled "Getting it wrong could start a war: Welcome to age of digital diplomacy". The article, which attracted much media and social media attention, proposed that digital diplomacy could actually facilitate war between states. Similar sentiments have been expressed in recent... Continue Reading →
Note: A version of this post first appeared on the USC Center on Public Diplomacy's website Introduction: Data Driven Public Diplomacy Last month, All Azimuth published an article by Bean and Comor titled "Data Driven Public Diplomacy: A Critical and Reflexive Assessment". The article focuses on a report published by the US Advisory Commission on... Continue Reading →
2017 marks a decade since the advent of “digital diplomacy”. What began as an experiment by a select number of foreign ministries has transformed into routine practice for diplomats and embassies the world over. To mark this occasion, I will be publishing a series of working papers. The goal of this series is to reflect... Continue Reading →
Winston Churchill famously stated that "Diplomacy is the art of telling someone to go to hell in a way that he actually looks forward to the journey". Yet diplomacy is also a subtle art. A diplomat must always decide on a message and the intensity of his message. High intensity messages are meant to be... Continue Reading →
Last week British consultancy firm Portland Communications published its yearly Soft Power Index. The Index soon garnered global media attention as France ranked first trouncing America which had to settle for third place. According to Jonathan McClory, author of the Soft Power 30 report, France advanced to the first place thanks, in part, to the... Continue Reading →
On April 5th 2017, the Australian Embassy in Israel and the Oxford Digital Diplomacy Research Group co-hosted a workshop on Digital Diplomacy. The workshop, which was attended by journalists, foreign diplomats and members of the Israeli MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), focused on three issues: utilizing digital tools for communicating with journalists, transitioning from digital... Continue Reading →
Note: This post originally appeared in Diplomat Magazine On 30 MARCH 2017, the Cyprus High Commission and Oxford Digital Diplomacy Research Group co-hosted London’s first Ambassador’s Forum on Digital Diplomacy. The Forum examined the varied ways in which digitalisation has impacted the function of ambassadors, be it in creating new challenges or fostering new opportunities. Notably,... Continue Reading →
Introduction- Narratives, Narratives, Narratives Several weeks ago I began watching a TV show depicting the lives of vampires in New York City. One of the greatest challenge facing these vampires is their lack of ability to gain acceptance from the human population. As the vampire leader summarized, “we lack a compelling narrative”. This week I... Continue Reading →
Exploring Digital Diplomacy 