Video - Lectures

Jillian C. York on Violent Online Political Extremism

March 17, 2017

Is it possible to guarantee users online safety while also guaranteeing the right to freedom of expression? If there are limits to be placed on speech, who decides? In her keynote lecture of the VOX-Pol summer school on topics in violent online political extremism hosted by the Center for Media, Data and Society at the CEU School of Public Policy, Jillian C. York examines these questions, and looks at the current state of freedom of expression on the Internet, as well as the grave threats it faces.

Online News Startups in France and the US

March 17, 2017

Online news startups are widely seen as important vehicles of journalistic experimentation. Yet the degree to which startups take hold vary substantially by city and country. In his talk, Matthew Powers, Assistant Professor at the University of Washington explores the reasons for these differences by looking at representative cities of two different media systems: Seattle (US) and Toulouse (France).

Social Media and Crowdsourcing in the Conflict in Ukraine

March 17, 2017

Digital platforms play an increasing role in crisis situations, particularly in military conflicts. In his talk, Gregory Asmolov examines the role of social media and crowdsourcing in modern conflicts.
Gregory Asmolov is a PhD candidate at the Media and Communication Department of the London School of Economics. His research investigates how information technologies constitute the role of digital users in crisis situations.

Web Tracking with Chinese Characteristics

March 17, 2017

Tim Libert (Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania) highlights how surveillance on the Chinese web is more a result of free-market capitalism than authoritarian imperative. The degree to which users are surveilled on 500 popular Chinese websites has been investigated using a computer based in mainland China. Despite what one may expect in an authoritarian context, significant evidence of direct government involvement in large-scale web tracking has not been found. However, extensive third-party tracking by private companies has been discovered.

David Kaye on the Global Challenges to Freedom of Expression

March 17, 2017

In his public talk hosted by the Center for Media, Data and Society at the CEU School of Public Policy, UN Special Rapporteur David Kaye discussed global threats to freedom of expression. He was introduced by Sejal Parmar, Assistant Professor at the CEU Department of Legal Studies.