Digital dilemmas: the unintended consequences of election technology

Digital technologies are increasingly used in elections around the world. Where the resources and capacity of the state are limited, some have argued that such technologies make it possible to rapidly “leapfrog” to cleaner and more credible elections. This article argues that the growing use of these technologies has been driven by the fetishization of technology rather than by rigorous assessment of their effectiveness; that they may create significant opportunities for corruption that (among other things) vitiate their potential impact; and that they carry significant opportunity costs. Indeed, precisely because new technology tends to deflect attention away from more “traditional” strategies, the failure of digital checks and balances often renders an electoral process even more vulnerable to rigging than it was before. These observations are not intended as a manifesto against the digitization of elections; apart from anything else, we argue that the drivers of the adoption of these new methods are too powerful to resist. But the analysis draws attention to the importance of more careful assessments of the problems, as well as the benefits, of such technologies – and to the need for more careful planning in their deployment.     

Digital citizenship? Narrative exchange and the changing terms of civic culture

This article explores the possibilities for new forms of ‘digital citizenship’ currently emerging through digitally supported processes of narrative exchange. Using Dahlgren's (Dahlgren, P. 2003. “Reconfiguring Civic Culture in the New Media Milieu.” In Media and the Restyling of Politics, edited by J. Corner, and D. Pels, 151–170. London: Sage; Dahlgren, P. 2009. Media and Political Engagement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.) circuit of ‘civic culture’ as a model for exploring the interlinking preconditions for new acts of citizenship, we discuss the contrasting outcomes of research at three fieldwork sites in the North of England – educational (a sixth form college), civil society (a community reporters' network) and social (a local club). Each site provided clear evidence of the elements of Dahlgren's circuit (some depending on the intensive use of digital infrastructure, others predating it), but there were also breaks in the circuit that constrained its effectiveness. A crucial factor in each case for building a lasting circuit of civic culture (and an effective base for new forms of digital citizenship) is the role that digital infrastructure can play in extending the scale of interactions beyond the purely local.     

司法的科技应用：两个维度的观察与分析

司法智能化，诸如数字技术的司法应用，具有两面性。在我国，相关问题的研究主要着眼于网络犯罪领域如何利用科技手段打击犯罪，对于政府权力的限制及其相关的法律的正当程序问题，研究与讨论尚不够充分。可以从两个方面探讨司法的科技应用，特别是大数据司法应用涉及的两个维度问题，一是犯罪控制维度，二是正当程序维度，它们在各自含义中体现了实体正义和程序正义的观念。通过对司法技术性问题进行分析，发现我国法院和检察院作为司法机关，对于侦查权的司法控制还有很大的拓展空间，大数据应用为司法机关加强对侦查权的控制提供了新的契机。     

浅析WTO视角下的数码产品零关税政策

2012年5月,以美国为首的76个国家和地区决定启动世界贸易组织信息技术协议的修订谈判,谈判各方决定扩大零关税的数码产品目录范围。必须从各个主体的角度分析零关税的利弊,分析中国数码产品市场和数码产品生产商害怕零关税扩大实施的真正原因,并提出一系列建议来应对数码产品零关税的大范围入侵,努力促进我国转变成为零关税政策的受益者。     

The COLLECTORS ranking scale for ‘at‐scene’ digital device triage

As digital evidence now features prominently in many criminal investigations, such large volumes of requests for the forensic examination of devices has led to well publicized backlogs and delays. In an effort to cope, triage policies are frequently implemented in order to reduce the number of digital devices which are seized unnecessarily. Often first responders are tasked with performing triage at scene in order to decide whether any identified devices should be seized and submitted for forensic examination. In some cases, this is done with the assistance of software which allows device content to be “previewed”; however, in some cases, a first responder will triage devices using their judgment and experience alone, absent of knowledge of the devices content, referred to as “decision‐based device triage” (DBDT). This work provides a discussion of the challenges first responders face when carrying out DBDT at scene. In response, the COLLECTORS ranking scale is proposed to help first responders carry out DBDT and to formalize this process in an effort to support quality control of this practice. The COLLECTORS ranking scale consists of 10 categories which first responders should rank a given device against. Each devices cumulative score should be queried against the defined “seizure thresholds” which offer support to first responders in assessing when to seize a device. To offer clarify, an example use‐case involving the COLLECTORS ranking scale is included, highlighting its application when faced with multiple digital devices at scene.     

数码电子显微镜鉴别手印和字迹形成顺序

对手印和书写字迹形成顺序的检验,是当前刑事科学技术中的研究热点。文章通过对当前采用一种新颖数码电子显微镜鉴别手印和字迹形成顺序的研究,认为这种检验方法无论是鉴定结果的准确性、检验的宽度、快捷和简便程度都较以往的检验方法有较大的进步,特别是它具有能和电子计算机简单连接、方便信息图像存储的特性,更使数码电子显微镜日益成为鉴定中不可或缺的工具。     

Going beyond data collection in ethnography: Options for bridging the gap between researchers and archivists

Abstract

This article investigates options for bridging the missing link between ethnographic field research and archiving. It interrogates the place of archiving in the entire fieldwork process and the roles played by researchers and archivists in promoting access. While a number of reasons explain the gap between research and archiving, the article identifies lack of collaboration as the main challenge. Borrowing from the postmodernist theoretical framework, the article argues that archivists cannot detach themselves from data collection, because the decisions they make are not objective but personal and subjective. The conclusion and main message are that digital technology, in spite of its many advantages, may not deliver all that it promises to data collection and archiving. There is a need to complement digital technology data collection and archiving with traditional archiving methods because of the latter's reliability and cost effectiveness.     

Beyond access: Youth and digital skills

Abstract

There is an increasing growth in access to the Internet among youth, gained largely through cell phones, computer laboratories on campuses, home connections, and connections on personal computers. Also, the availability of social software tools for webpage creation, blogging, and creating and sharing multimedia content has made content creation relatively accessible. But are the youth using these tools effectively? What are the levels of digital skills among this population? This study investigates digital skills among South African university students. Through a survey conducted at ten universities, and two skill experiments conducted at two universities, this study explores the pattern of perceived skills and actual skills, to examine current trends of digital skills among the students. The findings reveal that forms of Internet access, the cost of access, social stratification, and inequalities have implications for the patterns of digital skills, with content creation being a challenge for many youth.     

Scientia potentia est: Making threats of copyright infringement

There has been much debate in the UK as to whether copyright law should have an unjustified threats provision similar to that found in UK patent, trade mark, and registered design law. Unjustified threats provisions for copyright law exist in other commonwealth jurisdictions, such as Australia and India. We argue that all of the existing unjustified threats provisions in the UK are too narrow in their scope. Threats more generally have played a significant role in the development of copyright law, and a provision aimed at ‘unjustified’ threats may paradoxically restrict discourse about the scope of copyrights. We therefore suggest that the best way to proceed is not just to introduce an unjustified threats provision but instead to make clearer what is, and is not, protected by copyright.     

Screens in the sky: SAGE,surveillance, and the automation of perceptual,mnemonic, and epistemological labor

This essay investigates the centrality of the U.S. Military in the process of automating the labor of surveillance. The creation of Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE), an anti-nuclear defense system developed in the 1950s, marked the computerization of the perceptual, mnemonic, and epistemological labor that is necessary for surveillance and is emblematic of screening technologies. The essay situates SAGE in a long history of military surveillance that depended upon media technologies. Building upon the work of Michel Foucault and Freidrich Kittler, it is argued that media are essential for understanding how surveillance is problematized for security.