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Daily Archives: August 6, 2011

Report on Online Security in the Middle East and North Africa

“The Berkman Center is pleased to release Online Security in the Middle East and North Africa: A Survey of Perceptions, Knowledge, and Practice. This report describes the results of a survey of 98 bloggers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) carried out in May 2011 in order to study bloggers’ perceptions of online risk and the actions they take to address digital communications security, including both Internet and cell phone use. Digital communication has become a more perilous activity, particularly for activists, political dissidents, and independent media. The recent surge in digital activism that has helped to shape the Arab spring has been met with stiff resistance by governments in the region intent on reducing the impact of digital organizing and independent media. No longer content with Internet filtering, many governments in the Middle East and around the world are using a variety of technological and offline strategies to go after online media and digital activists. The survey was implemented in the wake of the Arab spring and documents a proliferation of online security problems among the respondents. In the survey, we address the respondents’ perceptions of online risk, their knowledge of digital security practices, and their reported online security practices. The survey results indicate that there is much room for improving online security practices, even among this sample of respondents who are likely to have relatively high technical knowledge and experience.”

Dow Jones circulation chief calculates highlights content for which customers will pay

Poynter: “Writing in the newsletter of the International News Marketing Association, Dow Jones senior vice president of circulation Lynne Brennen proposes five attributes to measure “a consumer’s willingness to pay.” She also assigned a percentage weighting to each. Keep in mind this is a measure not of what people would like to have as they… Continue Reading

The Institute for the Future of the Book

“The Institute for the Future of the Book seeks to chronicle this shift, and impact its development in a positive direction. The Institute is a project of the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California, and is based in Brooklyn, New York. We’re a small think-and-do tank investigating the evolution of intellectual… Continue Reading