A paradox, by nature, is hard to grasp. It is a self-contradictory statement that at first seems false, or misleading. George Bernard Shaw’s most famous paradox is that ‘youth is wasted on the young’. This is seemingly contradictory for how can youth be wasted on those who are youthful? Shaw was of course referring to... Continue Reading →
Will Digital Diplomacy Lead to the Extinction of Diplomats?
Dead Clade Walking. These three words shook the foundations of the scientific world several years ago. It relates to a theory which argues that some Dinosaurs survived the asteroid impact which triggered their extinction. Notably, the Dead Clade Walking theory did not argue that extinction did not occur, but rather that some Dinosaurs survived the... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- Hey, Facebook, I Made a Metaverse 27 Years Ago (The Atlantic)The Technopolar Moment (Foreign Affairs)Analysis: Can Hybrid Diplomacy Work? (Oxford Institute for the Study of Diplomacy)Biden’s new cyber czar is pushing... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- WHO says Covid misinformation is a major factor driving pandemic around the world (CNBC)Can Technology Help Weed Out Disinformation Online? (Gov Technology)How can Singapore partner big tech to fight fake news?... Continue Reading →
Putting the P back in PD: Networking with the New Middle Ground
The advent of digital diplomacy was closely associated with the practice of public diplomacy. The State Department first migrated online to converse with Muslim internet users and establish new ties throughout the Middle East. The Swedish MFA created the world’s first virtual Embassy in order to interact with global computer users while the Israeli foreign... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- China’s rulers want more control of big tech (The Economist)Who Is Making Sure the A.I. Machines Aren’t Racist? (The New York Times)China builds advanced weapons systems using American chip technolog (The... Continue Reading →
How MFAs Celebrated International Women’s Day Online
Comment: This post about International Women’s Day was written from a man’s perspective. It is thus highly likely that the analysis in this post would benefit from the insight of women. I encourage women readers to comment on this post and offer their own analysis of the tweets analyzed below. This insight will be integrated... Continue Reading →
Algorithms as Audiences
Diplomacy’s digitalization has advanced at a remarkable speed. MFAS, once defined as archaic institutions who lack the communicative culture to adapt to new technologies, have launched virtual Embassies, created smartphone applications, built blog sites, established big data units and have taken to writing their own algorithms. While not all digital initiatives have ended in a... Continue Reading →
How Will Covid19 Impact Diplomacy’s Digitalization?
When researching digital diplomacy, one soon realizes that every foreign ministry (MFA) has undergone a unique process of digitalization. The digitalization of the US State Department rested, among other, on the appointment of two digital enthusiasts- Alec Ross and Jared Cohen. Canada’s digitalization was facilitated by a change in administration as the Trudeau government urge... Continue Reading →
Leveraging Big Data During Pandemics
Last week I had the opportunity to interview a software analyst working for one of the world’s most popular search engines. The analyst is part of a crisis response unit whose main task is to offer answers to Covid related queries. To do so, the crisis response team must gather reliable information from all over... Continue Reading →