Related papers: An Investigation into Protestware
The success of an on-line movement could be defined in terms of the shift to large-scale and the later off-line massive street actions of protests. The role of social media in this process is to facilitate the transformation from small or…
Popular music streaming platforms offer users a diverse network of content exploration through a triad of affordances: organic, algorithmic and editorial access modes. Whilst offering great potential for discovery, such platform…
Economic competition and deregulation have led to a polarization of societies between a small, increasingly powerful elite and a majority of socially excluded individuals, marginalized and unconnected to political representations. This is…
The right to contest a decision with consequences on individuals or the society is a well-established democratic right. Despite this right also being explicitly included in GDPR in reference to automated decision-making, its study seems to…
Using open-source dependencies is essential in modern software development. However, this practice implies significant trust in third-party code, while there is little support for developers to assess this trust. As a consequence, attacks…
As AI becomes increasingly embedded in daily life, it has been shown to fail critically, cause harm, and spark public controversy, prompting affected communities, workers, and public-interest groups to contest it. Yet how these…
This essay argues that a new form of democracy - an "Emergent Democracy" - will develop as a result of the use of Internet communication tools and platforms such as blogs. The essay explores a variety of tools available and explores the…
In this work we study the dynamical features of editorial wars in Wikipedia (WP). Based on our previously established algorithm, we build up samples of controversial and peaceful articles and analyze the temporal characteristics of the…
Despite defensive advances in the Internet realm, Malware (malicious software) remains a Cybersecurity threat. These days, Malware can be purchased and licensed on the Internet to further customize and deploy. With hundreds of Malware…
Cannabis is one of the most common mind-altering substances. It is used both medicinally and recreationally and is enmeshed in a complex and changing legal landscape. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some software developers may use…
Social media is transforming various aspects of offline life, from everyday decisions such as dining choices to the progression of conflicts. In this study, we propose a coupled modelling framework with an online social network layer to…
In the era of big data, we continuously - and at times unknowingly - leave behind digital traces, by browsing, sharing, posting, liking, searching, watching, and listening to online content. When aggregated, these digital traces can provide…
Online social networks have become primary means of communication. As they often exhibit undesirable effects such as hostility, polarisation or echo chambers, it is crucial to develop analytical tools that help us better understand them. In…
Why have left-wing movements historically integrated participatory art forms (such as murals and protest songs) into their praxis, while right-wing movements have prioritized strategic communication and, more recently, the digital culture…
Social media have been widely used to organize citizen movements. In 2012, 75% university and college students in Quebec, Canada, participated in mass protests against an increase in tuition fees, mainly organized using social media. To…
The adversarial attack literature contains a myriad of algorithms for crafting perturbations which yield pathological behavior in neural networks. In many cases, multiple algorithms target the same tasks and even enforce the same…
Cooperation for public goods poses a dilemma, where individuals are tempted to free ride on others' contributions. Classic solutions involve monitoring, reputation maintenance and costly incentives, but there are important collective…
This thesis presents a novel framework for analysing the societal impacts of armed conflict by applying principles from engineering and material science. Building on the idea of a "social fabric", it recasts communities as plates with…
The digital landscape provides a dynamic platform for political discourse crucial for understanding shifts in public opinion and engagement especially under authoritarian governments This study examines YouTube user behavior during the…
We examine the information security practices of Ugandan climate activists protesting the development of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). We conducted five-week fieldwork in Kampala, Uganda, which included interviews with 13…