PHI-base update: additions to the pathogen–host interaction database

The pathogen–host interaction database (PHI-base) is a web-accessible database that catalogues experimentally verified pathogenicity, virulence and effector genes from bacterial, fungal and Oomycete pathogens, which infect human, animal, plant, insect, fish and fungal hosts. Plant endophytes are also included. PHI-base is therefore an invaluable resource for the discovery of genes in medically and agronomically important pathogens, which may be potential targets for chemical intervention. The database is freely accessible to both academic and non-academic users. This publication describes recent additions to the database and both current and future applications. The number of fields that characterize PHI-base entries has almost doubled. Important additional fields deal with new experimental methods, strain information, pathogenicity islands and external references that link the database to external resources, for example, gene ontology terms and Locus IDs. Another important addition is the inclusion of anti-infectives and their target genes that makes it possible to predict the compounds, that may interact with newly identified virulence factors. In parallel, the curation process has been improved and now involves several external experts. On the technical side, several new search tools have been provided and the database is also now distributed in XML format. PHI-base is available at: http://www.phi-base.org/

Data-driven campaigning and democratic disruption : evidence from six advanced democracies

Data-driven campaigning has become one of the key foci for academic and non-academic audiences interested in political communication. Widely seen to have transformed political practice, it is often argued that data-driven campaigning is a force of significant democratic disruption because it contributes to a fragmentation of political discourse, undermines prevailing systems of electoral accountability and subverts ‘free’ and ‘fair’ elections. In this article, we present one of the very first cross-national analyses of data-driven campaigning by political parties. Drawing on empirical research conducted by experts in six advanced democracies, we show that the data-driven campaign practices seen to threaten democracy are often not manifest in party campaigns. Instead, we see a set of practices that build on pre-existing techniques and which are far less sophisticated than is often assumed. Indeed, we present evidence that most political parties lack the capacity to execute the hyper-intensive practices often associated with data-driven campaigning. Hence, while there is reason to remain alert to the challenges data-driven campaigning produces for democratic norms, we argue that this practice is not inherently disruptive, but rather exemplifies the evolving nature of political campaigning in the 21st century

Fake News & Twitter Wars: Media & Politics in the Trump Years

The Behind the Book series presented by the Maloney Library, Fordham University School of Law, April 5, 2017. Professor Jessica Baldwin-Philippi, Fordham University, and Professor Zephyr Teachout, Fordham University School of Law, discuss the relationship between political campaigns and the media and their publishing experiences. Father Eric Sundrup, S.J., America Magazine, moderates. Introduction by David J. Goodwin.https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/behindthebookvideos/1003/thumbnail.jp

#GE2017: Digital media and the campaigns

The chapter focuses on the different approaches taken by the Conservative and Labour in terms of digital campaigning. The well-financed, targeted advertising-based Tory strategy is contrasted with the more organic, pro-Labour efforts involving a diffuse group of online left-wing activists. A critical two years had elapsed in which the former did not innovate whereas the digital media environment in the political realm responded to and changed in the light of the installation of Jeremy Corbyn as party leader. The growth of an influential network of pro-Corbyn websites is contrasted with the apparent shortcomings of the Conservatives’ rival operation