While I have spent so long reading about how technology is making life miserable for migrants \u2013 I\u2019ll get to the ISD report later \u2013 it was heartening this week to read how technology is helping them.<\/p>\n
RUTH was fascinating to learn about. An algorithm that can help match migrants with sponsors is a great feat. I\u2019m also interested in learning more about \u201cAnnie MOORE\u201d and matching migrants with employers. It seems that hopefully this system could be applied to migrants from other countries. Perhaps could this help ease the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border? The systems discussed and those two articles certainly seem more effective and efficient than what we\u2019ve read about in the past few weeks concerning those border crossings.<\/p>\n
I greatly enjoyed reading the articles where I read\/heard directly from journalists (like you!) covering the war. My favorite thing we read all week was from Lindsey Hilsum:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stayed at the Menorah Hotel in the Jewish Centre. As Putin claimed to be \u2018de-Nazifying\u2019 Ukraine, we thought it would be a bit of an own goal if it was hit by a rocket. They also served very good cheesecake.\u201d<\/p>\n
I like the bits of humor dispersed throughout this piece, like that quote or people making comments (not compliments) about her age and appearance. It adds humanity in the stories covering this inhumane war. I also appreciated the context given in the BBC piece, especially the stories from Russians that gave perspective to the kinds of sentiments they grew up with (e.g. \u201cA chicken’s not really a bird; and Poland’s not really abroad,\u201d or that Prague is \u201cours\u201d). It was interesting to hear about how the misinformation had spread to them as children.<\/p>\n
Speaking of misinformation (segway!), I really appreciated the ISD study \u2013 for my thesis purposes, not for the world. The fact that TikTok actively promotes those search terms, even the misspellings of phrases they block, is appalling.<\/p>\n
I spoke with a fact-checker at PolitiFact who works with TikTok (as well as Meta) to fact-check their content (see my article from this week), and he told me that PolitiFact\u2019s work can result in the post\u2019s downgrade in the algorithm, but not necessarily being taken off. That doesn\u2019t, though, explain why violent rhetoric was allowed to stay on according to the ISD. Additionally, the \u201cinvading army of sleeper cells\u201d conspiracy theories and personal information of migrants should be taken down and posters punished.<\/p>\n
The demonization and misinformation spread on social media platforms is evident from this study \u2013 and we\u2019ve seen how it\u2019s not the same level for Ukrainian refugees. It might be interesting to study different sets of migrants and see the differences in misinformation spread about them. In any case, it\u2019s all bad, and I hope that there is a way to broaden the digital programs that allow the Ukrainians to escape the violence in their land to other migrants fleeing violence in their land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While I have spent so long reading about how technology is making life miserable for migrants \u2013 I\u2019ll get to the ISD report later \u2013 it was heartening this week to read how technology is helping them. RUTH was fascinating to learn about. An algorithm that can help match migrants with sponsors is a great<\/p>\n