Defying borders in the Levant: Contemporary dance and the internet

Countries in the Levant have a common culture that values dance, with evidence of dance teaching as old as 1780 BC. Dances, particularly Dabkeh, performed as part of social events to date. Dance in the Levant moved from being participatory in nature to performance dances, particularly after the rise in need to conserve fading heritage due to political events storming the region and causing socio-cultural shifts. These events caused the space between populations of the region to increase, separating the countries more and more, adding hurdles to communication and mobility in the region, particularly between Palestine and both Lebanon and Syria. The shift in dance towards performance art allowed for more creativity and introduction of modern dance in a dance movement that shared roots and expanded with exposure to international dance movements and with online exposure to Contemporary Dance. Dance troupes in the region started experimenting with new forms of dance, what developed quickly to organized efforts and productions renowned worldwide, with the main driver being four leading cultural centres and groups. These centres and groups joined forces under Masahat Network for Contemporary Dance to overcome challenges they faced, financial and societal, utilizing the Internet as the main media for communication and coordination to develop dancing in the region through stronger relationships between individual artists, dance associations, and companies

Internet Walled Gardens: Artificial Internet Limitations and Digital Inequalities

There is a growing body of literature on digital inequalities with an interest in mending inequalities in a world that increasingly relies on the digital by identifying and isolating the factors that predict digital opportunities. However, there is little which addresses differences in Internet access where infrastructural access in terms of availability and affordability is not an issue. In addition, artificially limiting Internet access is becoming normalised, with limitations used liberally as means for control, neglecting the potential implications of such measures. The inspiration for this research came from the small body of knowledge available on the effect of artificial Internet limitations on digital inequalities and the consequences of Internet controls on how people make use of the Internet. This research highlights these potential consequences, whether deliberate or not, and link them to outcomes of Internet use, while shedding light on the effectiveness of such limitations. The research was motivated by a belief in the potential the Internet allows as an open platform for a universe with equal access and opportunities for the people. The first part of the research studied artificial Internet limitations in three communities, Bahrain, Estonia, and Singapore, as a factor in determining digital inequalities through two studies aimed at assessing change in opportunities, measured as differences in tangible outcomes of Internet use, as a function of artificial Internet limitations. The findings showed that artificial Internet limitations do indeed affect digital opportunities, producing lower satisfaction, with achievement opportunities attained when the individual is able to circumvent the controls. The second part of the research is a practical implementation of the model developed in the first part to predict digital opportunities in one of the projects to reach new Internet users, commonly referred to as Next Billion(s). Facebook’s Free Basics platform was chosen as an example. The platform provides access to a set of services without incurring data charges in a form of zero-rating. The innate limitations of the platform were proven to limit the potential for individual to access any content not within the walled garden of the platform with near-zero circumvention potential, leaving opportunities provided by the platform to wither in front of the limitations set. People with access only to that platform remain passive consumers and part of disconnected and excluded communities, as the platform limits the potential for meaningful participation in the network society

Distributed Pool Mining and Digital Inequalities, From Cryptocurrency to Scientific Research

Purpose This paper aims to look at shifts in internet-related content and services economies, from audience labour economies to Web 2.0 user-generated content, and the emerging model of user computing power utilisation, powered by blockchain technologies. The authors look at and test three models of user computing power utilisation based on distributed computing (Coinhive, Cryptotab and Gridcoin) two of which use cryptocurrency mining through distributed pool mining techniques, while the third is based on distributed computing of calculations for scientific research. The three models promise benefits to their users, which the authors discuss throughout the paper, studying how they interplay with the three levels of the digital divide. Design/methodology/approach The goal of this article is twofold as follows: first to discuss how using the mining hype may reduce digital inequalities, and secondly to demonstrate how these services offer a new business model based on value rewarding in exchange for computational power, which would allow more online opportunities for people, and thus reduce digital inequalities. Finally, this contribution discusses and proposes a method for a fair revenue model for content and online service providers that uses user device computing resources or computational power, rather than their data and attention. The method is represented by a model that allows for consensual use of user computing resources in exchange for accessing content and using software tools and services, acting essentially as an alternative online business model. Findings Allowing users to convert their devices’ computational power into value, whether through access to services or content or receiving cryptocurrency and payments in return for providing services or content or direct computational powers, contributes to bridging digital divides, even at fairly small levels. Secondly, the advent of blockchain technologies is shifting power relations between end-users and content developers and service providers and is a necessity for the decentralisation of internet and internet services. Originality/value The article studies the effect of services that rely on distributed computing and mining on digital inequalities, by looking at three different case studies – Coinhive, Gridcoin and Cryptotab – that promise to provide value in return for using computing resources. The article discusses how these services may reduce digital inequalities by affecting the three levels of the digital divide, namely, access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) (first level), skills and motivations in using ICTs (second level) and capacities in using ICTs to get concrete benefits (third level)

“The internet: to regulate or not to regulate?” Submission to House of Lords Select Committee on Communications' inquiry

In early 2018 The House of Lords Select Committee on Communications' began an inquiry into how regulation of the internet should be improved, taking into consideration how the internet has transformed global interaction, information gathering and educational/entertainment consumption, and how it opens up new opportunities but also presents challenges. This is the written submission of University of Cumbria Lecturer in Law Ann Thanaraj (along with other members of NINSO, Northumbria Internet & Society Research Interest Group), in response to the invitation to submit written evidence to the inquiry

The internet: to regulate or not regulate

This submission was prepared in response to a call for evidence launched on 29 March 2018 by the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications entitled “The Internet: To Regulate or Not to Regulate?”. The broad inquiry sought evidence to explore how the regulation of the internet should be improved, and to consider whether online platforms which mediate individuals’ use of the internet have sufficient accountability and transparency, and whether they use fair and effective processes to moderate content. This collaborative response, prepared on behalf of NINSO (The Northumbria Internet & Society Research Interest Group), provides recommendations in relation to the wide range of issues raised by the Committee. The key themes that are highlighted by NINSO to be addressed by any reform are effective user education and the power imbalance between the platform and user. NINSO recommends that an empirical, holistic, evidence-based approach should be applied which is tailored appropriately to the size and resources of the platform as well as the context of the situation

The three levels of digital divide in East EU countries

This article brings to light significant insights into the three levels of digital divide in the particular setting of East EU. It discusses and analyses indicators related to the spread and use of the Internet (first level of digital divide), the level of digital skills (second level of digital divide), and digital services used by citizens in East EU countries to improve their quality of life (third level of digital divide). The article specifically focuses on the third level of digital divide, by analysing, on a macro level, three tangible outcomes, namely eGovernment service completion and use, eHealth in terms of seeking health related information and interacting with practitioners online, and eCommerce. Data from Eurostat, including digital scorecard and other reports, showed clear discrepancies among countries of East Europe, as well as distinct difference between some countries and overall European Union averages, suggesting the existence of two groups of countries, one as high performance in terms of services offered and high growth in terms of use, and the second is at medium performance in terms of services offered, and low in terms of growth and use

Weaponisation of Access, Communication Inequalities as a Form of Control: Case of Israel/Palestine

This chapter looks at forms of limiting access to communication technology as a method for maintaining control within colonial practice. Controlling powers induce and maintain digital inequalities to strengthen its control and manage possibilities of harvesting powers of communication technology towards emancipation opportunities and acts of resistance. The case under study is a look at power relations in Israel/Palestine, describing how Israeli control of communication technology in Palestinian territory, in its different forms from controlling access to infrastructure and media, to surveillance and control of online practice and the message, is contributing to oppression of people under occupation. The practices discussed are then put into a perspective of power relations to describe it as an act of weaponisation of access, calling for policies to address it within global Internet and freedoms landscape

Digital inclusion in Jordan: Opportunities and hurdles

A look at digital inclusion in Jordan, a country with a plan towards economic and social development facing uncommon factors of refugee inflow, and laws limiting Internet openness and keeping the state in control of what the people access and use

Bypassing localities: shifting Internet access to join intercultural communication

Internet users resort to using proxies and Virtual Private Networks (VPN) to masquerade access and Internet activity to appear as if they are accessing the Internet from a location other than theirs, and possibly hide their activity from local network operators, ISP, and even government, to bypass immediat Internet limitations, and access the open Internet. Or so I thought, until data collected for my research on Internet artificial limitations and how they affect tangible outcomes of Internet use, showed an interesting aspect that shifted my attention. I have collected data from Estonia and Bahrain, two countries that are similar in terms of demographics and Internet penetration, but sit on the opposing ends of Internet freedom and openness scales. It was expected that people in Bahrain would have higher use of proxies and VPN to circumvent Internet limitations and information controls, however, data from over 100 users in each country showed that users in Estonia use of proxies and VPN reach 60%, a rate 10% higher than it is in Bahrain. This triggered a research question that I am trying to answer in this submission, why would people with open and unfettered access to the Internet use circumvention tools to bypass their localities this significantly. The submission tried to find this out by a follow-up survey and interviews with people from both countries, crossed with a look at limitations as perceived by users. Moreover, try to outline motivation for people to invest in effort, and sometimes money, to bypass their local Internet, and access websites and services through other geographical locations, in a manner that would shuffle geolocation of users, redefining access maps. This issue is suspected to be affected by intercultural communication that motivated users to channel their presence through other localities, to shift their location in response to intercultural communication needs. The research is quantitative in essence, with possible interviews to obtain in-depth points of view