In a recent ISA conference panel, I argued that now is the age of nostalgia. Throughout the world we are witnessing an insatiable longing for the past. In the post-Brexit haze, the UK craves the influence and power of its defunct empire; in Turkey neo-Ottoman sentiments have transformed a President into a Sultan; Americas have... 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- MEPs call for European AI rules to ban biometric surveillance in public (TechCrunch)Who Would Volunteer to Fact-Check Twitter? (The Atlantic)Twitter begins analyzing harmful impacts of its algorithms (The Verge)Can CLUBHOUSE Keep... Continue Reading →
Is it Time to Abandon State-Centric Approaches to Public Diplomacy? Summary of ISA Roundtable
During the 2021 International Studies Association conference (ISA), I had the opportunity to partake in a roundtable Chaired by Nick Cull and Nancy Snow. The two have just recently finished editing the 2020 Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy. Authors who contributed to the handbook, including myself, were asked to reflect on how Covid19 has influenced... Continue Reading →
Sputnik Tweets Its Way to Legitimacy
Now is the age of nostalgia. Throughout the world we are witnessing a yearning desire to return to the world of yesteryear. The UK seeks to return to the Empire’s last stand in WW2. In Eastern Europe, populist leaders promise to resurrect a mythical past while in the West, there are those who long for... 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 →
Monday’s #MustRead 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- Here’s a Way to Learn if Facial Recognition Systems Used Your Photos (The New York Times)The tyranny of passwords – is it time for a rethink? (The Guardian) US sets out... Continue Reading →
UAE Ambassador to Israel Makes Positive #Digital Impression
On the 17th of February 2021, the UAE’s Ambassador to Israel took to Twitter for the first time. In a tweet published in both English, Hebrew and Arabic, the Ambassador promised to strengthen ties between Israel and Emirates by ‘fostering peace, understanding and prosperity among our people and across the region’. Within 48 hours of... 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- The biggest technology failures of 2020 (MIT Technology Review)Misinformation dropped dramatically a week after Twitter bans Trump and some allies (The Washington Post)Inside a Pro-Huawei Influence Campaign (The New York Times)Facial... Continue Reading →
Biden’s 100 First Tweets in Office
The term ‘First 100 days’ in office was coined by US President Franklin D Roosevelt and referred to a windfall of legislation that Presidents promote during the earliest days of their administration. In Roosevelt’s case, the first 100 days were used to introduce 15 bills all meant to alleviate the Great Depression through ‘New Deal’... 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- Disruptive Innovation 2021: These 15 big ideas are most likely to change the world (ZDNet)The Tech That Will Invade Our Lives in 2021 (The New York Times)Why a dawn of technological... Continue Reading →