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E-diplomacy: Training and Capacity Development

November 2, 2011 by Jovan

Last week I delivered presentation on training and capacity development in e-diplomacy at the College of Europe conference Challenges facing the 21st century diplomat: Representation, communication, negotiation, and training” (Bruges, 25-26 October 2011).

The presentation focused on a cognitive illusion triggered by a very low entry point into e-diplomacy and a very high bar for making e-diplomacy communication effective. While we can learn to write a blog, or use Twitter or Facebook in a few hours, maximum one day, we need much longer, at least one month, to understand the social media milieu, and much longer still to embed new ways of working into a team or an organisation.  The session also discussed how to develop 'social media credentials' (engaging, relevant content) while preserving 'diplomatic credentials' (avoiding unnecessary political controversies and reducing risk). Click here to read the annotated presentation with the main PPT slides, notes, and reflections from discussion.

Indegree, retweets, and mentions: What does it take to be influential on Twitter?

October 26, 2011 by MaryM

Image by Christian Ferrari - http://christian-ferrari.blogspot.comJust condense your message into 140 characters and launch it into the world. Those who like it might forward it to their friends, some of whom might then choose to follow you. You, too, need to follow others and retweet their messages. And gradually the numbers will add up, and your influence will increase. Sounds simple?

Internet Fraud in Diploacy

December 3, 2011 by Jovan

The Indian Consulate General in Geneva published a notice in the International Herald Tribune (1 December2011) advising the public about a fraudulent website using the Consulate’s name. So far, diplomacy had been generally shielded from this type of fraud, although there were a few examples of misuse of domain names of international organisations (WTO – www.gatt.org).  One of the most lucrative Internet fraud to date has been in humanitarian operations.

E-participation means participate!

September 19, 2011 by Ginger

If we could do just one thing that would make a difference to our communication problems, to our understanding of the world, to the conflict we live in – what should it be? We could bridge the digital divide – dedicate more tools and resources to facilitate increased participation and inclusion in national, regional and global policy processes. One of the strongest resources we have for bridging that divide is e-participation. E-participation brings people into the processes that govern the world, ensuring that the diversity and complexity of voices are heard.

Connecting to the Internet: A survey of Diplo's online students

September 19, 2011 by Hannah

We designed our online learning environment knowing that many of our participants are located in developing countries, including some of the poorest countries in the world. We wanted to ensure that course materials, tools and conversations would always be accessible for all course participants, even those with very slow Internet connections. But the technology for accessing the Internet is changing rapidly, and high-speed Internet access is reaching more parts of the world.

Plug in and learn

September 13, 2011 by MaryM

A couple of surveys from Pew Research Center conducted in spring 2011 have shed some interesting light on online courses and, indeed, on surveys in general. I can't help but wonder had Diplo Internet governance alumni been polled, would the results have been any different. For instance, according to Pew, only 29% of the general public thinks that online courses offer an equal value compared with courses taken in a classroom but that 51% of college presidents surveyed say their online courses offer the same value.

You are what you tweet

August 2, 2011 by Stephanie

Tamás Deutsch, a Hungarian politician and a member of the European Parliament, strikes again. The gist of his Twitter update – in criticism of Thomas Melia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State at the US Department of State – was shrouded in foul language.

I will not go into the reasons and specifics which triggered his reaction. They are detailed in yesterday’s blog post on The Economist. However, it was neither his first Twitter faux pas, nor was he the only politician who hastily tweeted angry messages, bad language and all.

Obama on Twitter

July 16, 2011 by Stephanie

Over 26,000 people took part in a live Twitter Town Hall event dedicated to US President Barack Obama on Wednesday week. They asked the president 40,000 unique questions using the #AskObama – in just 70 minutes.

President Obama was the first President to live tweet last week. His tweet read ‘in order to reduce the deficit, what costs would you cut and what investments would you keep – bo’. This marked the start of an avalanche of questions, comments and retweets. The response was described as ‘amazing’. 

According to TwitSprout’s analysis and metrics, the majority of the questions focused on the space programme, followed by questions on drugs, budget, jobs, tax and education. The event also helped raise Mr Obama’s followership to over 9 million followers. Their comprehensive infographic can be found here.

One Guardian.co.uk journalist observed, ‘the whole Twitter town hall format was a bit of a con – Obama received the questions as tweets but answered them through that most old-fashioned of media: opening his mouth and talking.’ Another journalist from the National Review Online commented, ‘The tweets were filtered by “a Twitter Search algorithm” that aimed to “identify the most engaged-with Tweets,” but were also subject to further filtering by a panel. So no one will have been surprised by the absence of anything particularly damning or controversial.’

In reality, though, whatever the political aim or game, little did it matter for the people. Tweets continued to pour in from all over the world, questions continued to be posted, and the follower count continued to accrue. The numbers showed how eager people were to connect in a direct way with the President. The president used channels which are incredibly popular with young people, and connected through channels on which people of any age are spending huge amounts of their time. Once again, Twitter (and before it, Facebook) gave people the opportunity to be heard, an offer which the people gladly took up. 

Diplomats on Twitter

July 10, 2011 by Stephanie

We might be past that phase where we ask whether diplomats should blog or tweet. Today we might ask, who are the diplomats who tweet? What do they talk about on Twitter? Of course, you need to be following them on Twitter to know.

A good way to start following diplomats who tweet is by following DiplomacyEdu's new Twitter list: @Diplomacyedu/Diplomats-on-Twitter. As I write this, the list (only two days old) is already following 23 diplomats, and counting.   

At first, the aim behind this list was simply to group diplomats on one list to help me follow them, and read their tweets and blogs. But there could more advantages to it, such as, to show that diplomats are embracing social media too, to highlight their efforts in engaging with the public, and to encourage other diplomats to establish their presence on social media.

I'm sure there are many more diplomats who tweet, and that number is on the increase. So, if you're a diplomat and use Twitter, post a comment here or message (or DM) @DiplomacyEdu or @ediplomat. If you know any diplomats who tweet, let us know too!

The ‘send’ button: hit with caution

June 16, 2011 by Stephanie

Many machine operators will tell you that accidents happen when the operator starts taking the machine for granted. The longer the time spent using the same machine, the more dangerously accustomed to it an operator is likely to become – unless safety precautions are continuously observed.

The same rules also apply to computers, e-mail, social media networks, and any other software or application involving a ‘Send’ or an ‘Update’ button. Hastiness, oversight, or plain distraction can lead us to rue the moment we hit that button.

US Rep. Anthony Weiner must have felt exactly the same when he posted his now infamous lewd photo, typing @ instead of D. Without the ‘D’ (to denote that the sender is private messaging the tweet recipient), his tweet went public. Naturally, he panicked the moment he hit ‘Send’:

‘Last Friday night, I tweeted a photograph of myself that I intended to send as a direct message as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle. Once I realized I had posted it to Twitter, I panicked. I took it down and said that I had been hacked…’

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