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In his last recorded interview from 1986, astronomer Carl Sagan stated “We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology. And this combustive mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces”. The ignorance, and power, which Sagan was... Continue Reading →
One of the defining characteristics of the Russia-Ukraine War has been the emergence of OSINT, or open-source intelligence. The term itself is not new. Several years ago, the British Foreign Office created an ‘open-source intelligence unit’ tasked with gathering information from online sources. This information would then be used by British diplomats to obtain foreign... Continue Reading →
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 Age of Social Media Is Ending (The Atlantic) ‘Fix your companies. Or Congress will,” Senator Ed Markey warns Elon Musk (The Verge) WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose, Meta India public... Continue Reading →
Throughout history, communications scholars have ascribed varying degrees of power to technology. In the 1940s and 50s, movies and television were viewed as powerful mediums that could alter the worldviews, opinions and beliefs of viewers. Some labeled these mediums as “magic bullets” that could at once impact an entire society. It was for this reason... Continue Reading →
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- Market downturn sparks longest US tech IPO drought in over 20 years (The Financial Times) Clearview AI, Used by Police, Now in Public Defenders’ Hands (The New York Times) VR and... Continue Reading →
In 2012, Craig Hayden published one of the first research papers on digital diplomacy. Focusing on the emergence of social media, Hayden stated that the audiences of diplomacy were fragmented into networks of elective exposure. Some individuals learned about the world by following diplomats on Twitter, others turned to trusted bloggers while still others followed... Continue Reading →
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 →
The digitalization of diplomacy has been closely associated with the practice of public diplomacy. Indeed, early adopters sought to leverage digital tools such as social media, blog sites and virtual worlds to foster ties with foreign populations. Public diplomacy underscored the digitalization of the US State Department that sought to engage with critical Muslim audiences... Continue Reading →
This week I was invited to a Q&A session with university students in Chile. Many questions were asked, ranging from the role of Ambassadors in the digital age to the live-streaming of UN deliberations. Below are questions and answers that may prove valuable to scholars and practitioners of digital diplomacy. Q: Has digitalization led to... Continue Reading →
In his book ‘Risk Society’, German Sociologist Ulrich Beck proposes a theory of reflexive modernity. Unlike other sociologists, Beck is far removed from the utopian vision of modernization as the continuous progress of industry and human thought. Namely he is concerned with the role of scientific knowledge in society. In Beck’s mind, scientific and industrial... Continue Reading →
Exploring Digital Diplomacy 