Understanding Twitter’s new timeline, the challenges of global data journalism and more in this week's Digital Media Mash Up, produced by the Center for International Media Assistance.
Twitter's new update could bring you into the echo chamber
Twitter is embracing the algorithm. Kind of.
Its users will now be able to opt into a feature that displays "the best tweets first," the company announced via blog post Wednesday. If you do so, the social network will rely on an automated process to surface tweets instead of displaying them in a strictly chronological fashion. Reports from Buzzfeed and The Verge anticipated the change days ago, though both articles predicted it would be a more dramatic overhaul. (Huffington Post, 2/10)
OpenGov Voices: Why data journalism tries, and fails, to go global
In a recent data journalism workshop in Yerevan, Armenia, a young journalist discovered that after years of leading the European Union in the rate of incarceration, with a steady uptick over five years, the rate had suddenly stalled. Not only that, it had dropped. Had a bunch of prisoners been freed? Was there a drastic decrease in criminality in Armenia? Had the criminal justice system in Armenia changed policy or practice in a significant way? (Internews, 2/10)
Telegram: the instant messaging app freeing up Iranians' conversations
As Iran gears up for parliamentary elections at the end of the month, an instant messaging app believed to be used by one in four Iranians is set to play a major role.
Telegram allows users to broadcast to unlimited numbers of people on public channels, with a strong emphasis on privacy protection for its users. It made headlines when it emerged that members of Islamic State were using it to broadcast propaganda. In Iran, however, which has a tech-savvy young population, it is mostly downloaded for reading news, communicating with friends or sharing jokes. (The Guardian, 2/11)
Filming with drones
BBC Academy trainer Mark Batey introduces the benefits, limitations and safety issues associated with drones filming. (BBC Academy)
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Main image taken by Sam Berkhead.
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