Repressing or regulating? How African states control online activities

Sosiale medier og internett har blitt sett på som gode verktøy for demokratisk deltakelse, som gjør det lettere for innbyggerne å delta i politikken og for kandidatene å nå ut til velgerne. Internett og sosiale medier byr imidlertid også på utfordringer. Det er for eksempel vanskelig å skattlegge nettselskapenes aktiviteter. Sosiale medier har også blitt brukt til å spre hatefulle ytringer og falske nyheter. Parallelt med dette har en stor mengde forskningslitteratur identifisert og klassifisert de ulike kontrollmekanismene stater kan ta i bruk for å begrense aktiviteter på nettet. Denne avhandlingen utforsker afrikanske staters bruk av kontrollmekanismer på nettet ved å fokusere på a) hvilke implikasjoner disse kontrollmekanismene har for borgernes utøvelse av friheter på nettet, og b) under hvilke betingelser kontrollmekanismer på nettet, brukt til å svare på globale utfordringer, utgjør en form for regulering eller en form for undertrykkelse. Avhandlingen bidrar til litteraturen om kontrollmekanismer på nettet ved å kombinere innsikter om politisk bruk av sosiale medier og internett, og om de negative sidene ved sosiale medier for demokratiet. Avhandlingen består av fire uavhengige forskningsartikler. Den benytter seg av en flermetodisk tilnærming. Til sammen gir de fire artiklene et unikt bidrag til feltet, og de understreker at afrikanske stater tar i bruk en rekke ulike kontrollmekanismer for å både undertrykke og regulere innbyggernes aktiviteter på nettet. Det er viktig å ta hensyn til de reguleringsmessige utfordringene afrikanske stater står overfor, samt de politiske systemene i de afrikanske landene. De to første artiklene utforsker hvilke implikasjoner kontrollmekanismer har for utøvelsen av friheter på nettet. Artikkel 1 ("Online censorship and young people's use of social media to get news") viser at høyere nivåer av nedstengning av sosiale medier er tilknyttet større bruk av sosiale medier for å få nyheter. Overraskende nok er sammenhengen sterkere for eldre borgere. Artikkel 2 ("Social media and parliamentary candidates in Uganda", skrevet sammen med Gerald Kagambirwe Karyeija) undersøker hvordan kandidater til parlamentsvalget i Uganda i januar 2021 brukte sosiale medier i valgkampen. Basert på intervjuer og data fra sosiale medier viser artikkelen at sosiale medier ga både opposisjon- og regimevennlige kandidater en rekke muligheter, men at regimets kontrollmekanismer favoriserte regimevennlige kandidater. Artikkelen utvikler induktivt en teori om mulighetsstrukturer for bruk av sosiale medier i valgkampen for opposisjonelle og regimevennlige kandidater. De to siste artiklene tar for seg tilfeller der stater begrunner bruken av kontrollmekanismer på nettet med utfordringer som både mer demokratiske og mer autoritære regimer står overfor. Artikkel 3 ("Revenue mobilisation or repression? Taxing online activities in Africa") skisserer en teori om driverne bak ulike skatter på nettaktiviteter som tas i bruk i noen stater, basert på sammenligninger av Uganda, Benin, Nigeria, og Rwanda. Den viser hvordan både økonomiske og politiske interesser kan forklare at noen stater innfører skatter som pålegges brukere av sosiale medier, mens andre innfører skatter som pålegges plattformselskaper. Mens mer autoritære stater kan være tilbøyelige til å innføre repressive skatter, er det lite sannsynlig at de autoritære statene som har sterke insentiver til å legge til rette for at innbyggerne tar i bruk sosiale medier, vil skattlegge nettaktiviteter. Artikkel 4 ("How African countries respond to fake news and hate speech", skrevet sammen med Lisa Garbe og Lisa-Marie Selvik) kartlegger strategier for innholdsregulering som diskuteres i nyhetssaker fra afrikanske land. Studien viser at tekniske strategier (som blokkering av internett eller filtrering av innhold) er mer fremtredende i stater med lavere grad av ytringsfrihet enn i stater med høyere grad av ytringsfrihet. I stater der den utøvende makten i mindre grad er begrenset av den lovgivende makten, er juridiske virkemidler for å regulere hatefulle ytringer og falske nyheter mer fremtredende.Social media and the internet have been considered as great tools for democratic participation, making it easier for citizens to participate in politics and for candidates to reach electors. However, the internet and social media also present challenges. For example, the activities of online companies are difficult to tax, and social media have also been used to spread hate speech and fake news. In parallel, a large body of literature has identified and classified the variety of online control mechanisms states can and do deploy to limit online activities. The present dissertation explores African states’ use of online control mechanisms by focusing on a) the implications of these online control mechanisms for their citizens’ exercise of online freedoms, and b) the conditions under which online control mechanisms deployed in response to global challenges constitute a form of regulation or a form of repression. It contributes to the literature on online control mechanisms by bringing in insights from the literatures on the political use of social media and the internet and on the negative aspects of social media for democracy. It is composed of four independent research articles. Methodologically, the dissertation uses a mixed methods approach. Together, the four articles offer a unique contribution to the field, emphasising that African states deploy a variety of online control mechanisms to both repress and regulate their citizens’ online activities. Crucially, they consider the regulatory challenges faced by African states, as well as the political systems in place in African countries. The two first articles explore the implications of online control mechanisms of the exercise of online freedoms. Article 1 (‘Online censorship and young people’s use of social media to get news’) shows that higher levels of social media shutdowns are associated with a higher use of social media to get the news. Surprisingly, the relationship is stronger for older citizens. Article 2 (‘Social media and parliamentary candidates in Uganda’, co-authored with Gerald Kagambirwe Karyeija) explores how candidates to the January 2021 parliamentary elections in Uganda used social media to campaign. Based on interviews and social media data, it shows that social media offered a range of opportunities to opposition and pro-regime candidates, but that the control mechanisms deployed by the regime unsurprisingly benefited pro-regime candidates. Theoretically, it inductively develops the opportunity structure of using social media in the campaign for opposition and pro-regime candidates. The last two articles explore cases when states justify the use of online control mechanisms based on challenges that more democratic as well as more authoritarian regimes face. Article 3 (‘Revenue mobilisation or repression? Taxing online activities in Africa’) sketches a theory of the drivers of the (non) adoption of different taxes on online activities based on the comparisons of Uganda and Benin, and Nigeria and Rwanda. It shows how both economic and political interests might explain that some states adopt taxes that are levied on social media users, while others adopt taxes levied on platform companies. While more authoritarian states might be inclined to adopt repressive taxes, those authoritarian states that have strong incentives to facilitate social media adoption among their citizenry are unlikely to tax online activities. Article 4 (‘How African countries respond to fake news and hate speech’, co-authored with Lisa Garbe and Lisa-Marie Selvik) identifies which content regulation strategies are discussed in news items covering African countries. It finds that states with lower levels of freedom of expression see a higher salience of technical strategies (such as blocking the internet or filtering content) than states with higher levels of freedom of expression. In states where there are fewer legislative constraints on the executive, legal instruments to regulate hate speech and fake news are more salient.Doktorgradsavhandlin

PCT and beyond: toward a computational framework for ‘intelligent’ communicative systems

Recent years have witnessed increasing interest in ‘intelligent’ autonomous machines such as robots. However, there is a long way to go before autonomous systems reach the level of capabilities required for even the simplest of tasks involving human-robot interaction - especially if it involves communicative behavior such as speech and language. The field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made great strides in these areas, and has graduated from high-level rule-based paradigms to embodied architectures whose operations are grounded in real physical environments. What is still missing, however, is an overarching theory of intelligent communicative behavior that informs system-level design decisions. This chapter introduces a framework that extends the principles of Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) toward a remarkably symmetric architecture for a needs-driven communicative agent. It is concluded that, if behavior is the control of perception (the central tenet of PCT), then perception (for communicative agents) is the simulation of behavior

Why Are Women with Leadership Certification Not Pursuing School-Level Leadership Positions

The purpose of the present study was to understand why women with leadership certification do not seek formal administrative roles. More specifically, the study examined why women with leadership certification choose to pursue a program in administrative preparation; assessed the reasons certified women educators are not moving into formal administrative roles; and identified conditions and structural support systems that these women need in order to help them transition to formal administrative roles. In order to answer the study\u27s major questions, the researcher employed a qualitative research approach with thematic analysis as a major strategy. The researcher then conducted an in-depth interview with ten educators who obtained leadership certification but are currently in teaching positions. The study\u27s findings largely converge with those of other researchers that suggest that the glass ceiling concept regarding female advancement has diminished; however, there are numerous factors which impact women\u27s decisions to pursue or accept formal administrative roles. The women who participated in this study found leadership programs to be doable while working and raising a family because many of the programs were offered at a local or convenient site. Time, family obligations, isolation, stress, travel, student discipline issues, lack of role models, paperwork, love for teaching, and politics were cited as major reasons why women do not move into administrative positions. The results of this study also indicate that districts often lack formal structures to assist individuals who desire to move into administrative positions. The study was unique in the sense that women are consistently pursuing leadership certification, but the themes that emerged from the participants\u27 interviews are decisive factors as to whether or not they will enter into a formal administrative role. Not only are the results of this study valuable to women interested in leadership positions, but they are also very beneficial to school districts as they seek to fill administrative vacancies. Based on the data, school districts are presented with ideas of how to possibly restructure leadership positions in order to make them more attractive and doable for those who also desire to preserve their family structure. While providing opportunities for interested personnel to transition from the classroom into leadership positions is important, the establishment of support systems to ensure success for those who have moved into leadership positions is of equal importance. These are key components that are often lacking for aspiring leaders. Due to their convenience, on-line courses and satellite campuses are major attractions for individuals who long to pursue leadership certification. This study provided recommendations for school districts and universities as they seek to promote women\u27s advancement in educational leadership

Semantic Selection of Internet Sources through SWRL Enabled OWL Ontologies

This research examines the problem of Information Overload (IO) and give an overview of various attempts to resolve it. Furthermore, argue that instead of fighting IO, it is advisable to start learning how to live with it. It is unlikely that in modern information age, where users are producer and consumer of information, the amount of data and information generated would decrease. Furthermore, when managing IO, users are confined to the algorithms and policies of commercial Search Engines and Recommender Systems (RSs), which create results that also add to IO. this research calls to initiate a change in thinking: this by giving greater power to users when addressing the relevance and accuracy of internet searches, which helps in IO. However powerful search engines are, they do not process enough semantics in the moment when search queries are formulated. This research proposes a semantic selection of internet sources, through SWRL enabled OWL ontologies. the research focuses on SWT and its Stack because they (a)secure the semantic interpretation of the environments where internet searches take place and (b) guarantee reasoning that results in the selection of suitable internet sources in a particular moment of internet searches. Therefore, it is important to model the behaviour of users through OWL concepts and reason upon them in order to address IO when searching the internet. Thus, user behaviour is itemized through user preferences, perceptions and expectations from internet searches. The proposed approach in this research is a Software Engineering (SE) solution which provides computations based on the semantics of the environment stored in the ontological model

Opening up the fuzzy front-end phase of service innovation

The “fuzzy front-end” (FFE) of innovation begins when an opportunity is first considered worthy of further ideation, exploration, and assessment and ends when a firm decides to invest in or to terminate the idea (Khurana & Rosenthal, 1998). Since such an early phase is often characterised as being highly uncertain and unstructured, scholars have suggested that uncertainty must be reduced as much as possible during the FFE to achieve success in innovation (Frishammar et al., 2011; Moenaert et al., 1995; Verworn, 2009; Verworn et al., 2008). Although openness has been proposed as crucial to innovation success (Chesbrough, 2003; Chesbrough et al., 2006), little effort has been put into studying its role in reducing uncertainty in the FFE of service innovation. To address this gap, the current study aims to examine the effect of “openness competence” within the FFE – i.e., the ability of a FFE team to explore, gather and assimilate operant resources from external sources by means of external searches and inter-organisational partnerships – on the success of service innovation. It will also identify the key dimensions of openness competence.This mixed methods study is comprised of two main phases. In the first phase, we interviewed 12 informants who participated in the FFE of 6 distinctive online service innovations. The data were analysed through a services-dominant (S-D) logic analytical lens. The case findings together with the extant literature were used to develop a formative second-order construct of openness competence, and to form a series of hypotheses concerning an “open service innovation” (OSI) model. In the second phase, a total of 122 valid survey responses were collected and analysed using a partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique with the aim of validating the proposed OSI model.The key findings of this study include the four dimensions of openness competence within the FFE, namely: searching capability, coordination capability, collective mind and absorptive capacity. A FFE team’s IT capability was identified as an antecedent of openness competence. Further, we found that openness competence is positively associated with the amount of market and technical uncertainty being reduced during the FFE. Contrary to our expectations, the impact of openness competence on service innovation success is direct, rather than being mediated by the degree of uncertainty reduction. These findings offer several implications for research on open innovation and on the FFE. Additionally, by identifying the key dimensions of openness competence, the current study provides guidance to front-end managers as well as presenting new areas for future research

Evidence from the education and training policy

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Since the European Council in Lisbon, the use of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) and OMC-type processes have become widespread across policy areas of the European Union, and also spilled over to non-governmental actors. This PhD thesis will compare and contrast two examples of OMC-like governance in the field of Education and Training which so far have been under-researched, namely the Open Method of Coordination in E&T and the Framework of Actions on the lifelong development of competencies and qualifications by the European social partners. In order to explain the creation, functioning and impact of these forms of governance, different European integration theories are tested on how they explain the results. It is expected that different theoretical approaches can explain certain aspects better than others. To fully understand all of these aspects of OMC-type governance, the combined use of rationalist and constructivist approaches is promoted. The results will show that OMC-type governance is a third way between intergovernmental and supranational policy-making and significantly contributed to the deepening of E&T policy at EU level, while at the same time guaranteeing national sovereignty, leading to a new form of integration. This thesis argues that OMC-like tools are able to serve diverse interests with respect to speed and nature of European integration. By being soft and flexible policy-tools, OMC-like tools are ideal for sensitive policy areas with very diverse national situations and represent rather a complementary form of policy-making than an alternative to the Community Method. Consequently, European integration theories need to adapt to the possibility of EU policy-making methods that are neither purely intergovernmental nor fully supranational and lead to new types of integration. OMC-like tools also illustrate the need to return to the ambition of grand theories i.e. explaining the whole picture, without relying only on one theory but rather using various approaches in a complementary fashion

Annotation, exploitation and evaluation of parallel corpora

Exchange between the translation studies and the computational linguistics communities has traditionally not been very intense. Among other things, this is reflected by the different views on parallel corpora. While computational linguistics does not always strictly pay attention to the translation direction (e.g. when translation rules are extracted from (sub)corpora which actually only consist of translations), translation studies are amongst other things concerned with exactly comparing source and target texts (e.g. to draw conclusions on interference and standardization effects). However, there has recently been more exchange between the two fields – especially when it comes to the annotation of parallel corpora. This special issue brings together the different research perspectives. Its contributions show – from both perspectives – how the communities have come to interact in recent years