internet

My last four blogs discussed the impact of the current virus crisis on the digital society. I’m moving for the next few weeks to other subjects, but it’s worth noting that the crisis will have an impact on every aspect of the digital society.

In the current corona crisis, it’s important that we focus on the future as well as on the present. The digital will play a big part in recovery.  

On the 25th anniversary of the Beijing declaration, and to comemmorate International Women’s Day (IWD), we’re revisiting this article by Jennifer Radlof, APC’s Women Rights Programme capacity building lead. Join her in this 1999 journey from Huairou to New York, while encouraging more women to find their “J” spot. The journey continues. Happy #IWD2020!

This week, I’ll comment on a new view of long-term employment and unemployment in the digital age, from Oxford economist Daniel Susskind. A World Without Work, he calls it. I’ll agree with his core arguments but challenge the optimism of his conclusion.

Two things are clear: how much has changed in terms of the technology and how little’s changed in public discourse.

What's happening to employment? Last week I looked at the big picture. This week's focus is on platform jobs, ‘the gig economy’.

Words change their meaning over time – but the words we use have lasting impacts on the ways in which we see things. This week I’m asking what we mean when we talk about the “telephone”.

It’s fifteen years since the World Summit on the Information Society – and the United Nations is pledged to hold a review of what has happened since the Summit in 2025. But are the outcomes of the Summit still relevant today? How should the UN go about reviewing it?