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All Followers Are Fake Followers

January 30, 2018

Ian Bogost, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Institute of Technology wrote The Atlantic, January 30, article “All Followers Are Fake Followers.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Excerpt:

In the summer of 2015, the game designer Bennett Foddy and I were sloshing down cocktails while waiting for prime dry-aged rib-eye steaks in Midtown Manhattan. We weren’t living large, exactly, but we did pause to assess our rising professional fortunes. Among them, both of us seemed to be blowing up on Twitter. “Where did all these followers come from?” I asked. We’d both added tens of thousands of apparent fans over the previous year or so. Foddy, an unpresuming Australian with a doctorate in moral philosophy who now makes video games that purposely abuse their players, encouraged me not to get too chuffed about my entourage. We’d both been added to a list of accounts that are recommended to new Twitter users during the sign-up process, he explained. Many of our new followers were fake, created for the purposes of spam or resale. They had followed us automatically… Ian Bogost is a contributing editor at The Atlantic. He is the Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in media studies and a professor of interactive computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His latest book is Play Anything.

For the full article, visit The Atlantic website.

Published in: The Atlantic
The Rise of China: A Major Choice for the World

January 29, 2018

Fei-Ling Wang, a professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote the Chinese Research Center, January 29, article, “The Rise of China: A Major Choice for the World.” The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Students of international relations have long pondered the question of world political order and its changes. It is generally believed that either a shift of the distribution and concentration of power in the international system (power transition) or a reordering of the units in the system (change of the ordering principles and norms) would constitute a systemic change that will fundamentally alter world politics and reshape nations’ behavior and redirect human civilization. Some also suggested that we are not entirely slaves of the past, and our present and future are ours to make and change. Thus ideas, knowledge, and choices all matter. It is therefore critically important to detect, analyze, and cope with a systemic change of world politics for the sake of peace and prosperity. The world has seen quite a few power transfers and even attempts to establish new orders over the recent centuries. Costly world wars (hot and cold ones) have been fought in the 20th century alone. It has been mercifully rare for the world to be presented with a weighty choice about both the power redistribution and unit-reordering in the international system — systemic change in its fullest possible degree.

For the full article, visit the Center’s official website.

Published in: The Chinese Research Center
Sorry, Alexa Is Not a Feminist

January 24, 2018

Ian Bogost, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Institute of Technology wrote The Atlantic, January 24, article “Sorry, Alexa is Not a Feminist.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

If you ask Alexa, the voice-assistant software in Amazon Echo devices, if it’s a feminist, it will respond in the affirmative. “I am a feminist. As is anyone who believes in bridging the inequality between men and women in society,” it continues. At Quartz, Leah Fessler recently noted that it’s a vast improvement over just a year ago, when Alexa would take abuse like “you’re a bitch” or “you’re a slut” in stride. “Well, thanks for the feedback,” the robot used to say. Now, it disengages instead, saying something like, “I’m not going to respond to that.” As waves of sexual-harassment allegations crash against the shores of work culture, now is a good time to support women—even robots with female personas like Alexa. But let’s not give Amazon too much credit. The company gave Alexa a woman’s voice and name in the first place, and then set it up for ire and abuse by giving Alexa the impossible task of responding accurately to an infinity of requests and commands. Women don’t win here—only Amazon does, by reaping praise for having partly solved a problem that it first created… Written by Ian Bogost, a contributing editor at The Atlantic. He is the Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in media studies and a professor of interactive computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

For the full article, visit The Atlantic website.

Published in: The Atlantic
One Year Later, Women’s March Looks Ahead

January 23, 2018

Rebecca Watts Hull, alumna of the School of History and Sociology at Georgia Institute of Technology, was interviewed in the GPB News, January 23, article and radio segment, “One Year Later, Women’s March Looks Ahead.” The School of History and Sociology is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

This past weekend marked one year since President Trump’s inauguration. It was also the first anniversary of the record-breaking Women’s March. The 2017 march likely included more than 3 million people. That’s about one-and-a-half percent of the entire US population. This weekend’s marches saw more than a million people participate, and organizers are working to broaden the movement's scope and inclusivity. We talked to Nora Benavidez, attorney and cofounder of the Georgia Alliance for Social Justice, the group that organized Atlanta's events. We also heard from Rebecca Watts Hull, instructor at Georgia Tech’s school of History and Sociology.

To listen to the full interview, visit the GPB News website.

Published in: GPB News
Is the U.S. Prepared for an Attack with a Weaponized Biothreat like Smallpox?

January 22, 2018

Margaret E. Kosal, associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in the Infectious Disease News, January 22, article, “Is the U.S. Prepared for an Attack with a Weaponized Biothreat like Smallpox?” The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Physicians have not only mulled and discussed the grave dangers posed to the United States by natural-borne infectious disease pandemics, but they have also warned of those that are engineered as weapons. Numerous experts consider the prospect of a terrorist attack on the U.S. with a weaponized and highly virulent pathogen a real danger.

Infectious Disease News asked Margaret E. Kosal, Ph.D., an associate professor and director of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs security program at Georgia Tech, if the U.S. is prepared for an attack with a biological threat like smallpox or another potentially devastating disease.

For the full article, visit the Infectious Disease News website.

Published in: The Infectious Disease News
Changing the Lens on Poverty Research

January 21, 2018

Shatakshee Dhongde, associate professor in the School of Economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, was the subject of the Social Work Helper, January 21, article, “Changing the Lens on Poverty Research.” The School of Economics is part of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Using an innovative technique to measure poverty, a Georgia Institute of Technology economics professor has found that more older Americans live in deprivation than official statistics suggest. Shatakshee Dhongde, associate professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, found that 12.27 percent of senior citizens were deprived in two or more crucial areas, including multiple disabilities, low income, a lack of education, and severe housing burden. Dhongde said the research illustrates a shortcoming in the official measure of poverty in the United States, which focuses solely on income. The federal government reported that 9.5 percent of older Americans were living in poverty in 2013. That is below the 12.3 percent rate found in Dhondge’s multidimensional poverty index.

For the full article, visit the Social Work Helper website.

Published in: The Social Work Helper
It's Back to the Future in Run-up to Russian Elections

January 18, 2018

Dina Khapaeva, a professor in the School of Modern Languages at the Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in the January 13 Voice of America article, “It’s Back to the Future in Run-up to Russian Elections.” The School of Modern Languages is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Last October, the government endorsed the country's first-ever monument to Ivan the Terrible, with the unveiling in the city of Orel of a statue to the 16th-century czar who expanded Russia but at great human cost. Ivan the Terrible is reputed to have killed one of his sons during a rage.

The official lionization of historical despots feeds into an embrace of anti-democratic values, according to academic Dina Khapaeva, professor of Russian at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She noted in an article for Project Syndicate, a nonprofit that distributes commentary, that Russian officials have even spoken approvingly of Russian serfdom, which "complements the desire for a return to autocracy."

"No wonder, then, that monuments to Stalin, too, are multiplying in Russian cities," she said.

For the full article, visit Voice of America website.

Published in: Voice of America
The Antitrust Case Against Facebook, Google and Amazon

January 16, 2018

Milton Mueller, professor in the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal, January 16, article, “The Antitrust Case Against Facebook, Google and Amazon.” The School of Public Policy is a unit in Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

For the full article, visit The Wall Street Journal website. Subscription is required.

Published in: The Wall Street Journal
Gene Therapy Could Make Cancer Care More Unequal, and This Map Shows Why

January 12, 2018

Aaron Levine, associate professor in the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy, was quoted in the MIT Technology Review, January 12, article, “Gene Therapy Could Make Cancer Care More Unequal, and This Map Shows Why.” The School of Public Policy is a unit in Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Many patients have had remarkable recoveries, but they can also suffer toxic and sometimes deadly side effects. Aaron Levine at the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy, who has studied the ethics of CAR-T cell therapies, says these side effects will likely be the biggest obstacle to making the therapies more widely available, “as only a small number of physicians and medical teams are prepared to address them.”

For the full article, visit the MIT Technology Review website.

Published in: MIT Technology Review
What It’s Like to Walk Away From a Job at Google to Pursue a Career in Stand-Up Comedy

January 10, 2018

Sarah Cooper, alumna of the Digital Media graduate program at Georgia Institute of Technology, was the subject of the Business Insider, January 10, article, “What It’s Like to Walk Away From a Job at Google to Pursue a Career in Stand-Up Comedy.” The Digital Media graduate program is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Three years ago, Sarah Cooper made an unusual career move. The Georgia Tech graduate had spent the past eight years working in user experience (UX) design at tech companies including Yahoo and Google, but now she was giving up her coveted career in tech to pursue her passion: comedy.

Cooper recently chatted about her decision to quit Google with journalist Kara Swisher and former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo — who once pursued a career in standup comedy himself — on Recode's latest Recode Decode podcast.

For the full article, visit the Business Insider website.

Published in: Business Insider
On Second Thought For Tuesday

January 9, 2018

Lisa Yaszek, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Institute of Technology, was interviewed in the GPB News, January 9, article and radio segment, “On Second Thought For Tuesday.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is a unit in the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

The Georgia legislative session has begun. Among many bills in play: a sweeping plan to revitalize rural Georgia. This might mean paying people who move to the country, subsidizing internet connections, and making it easier for small hospitals to stay open and in the black. But how all this attention under the Gold Dome translates to real improvements for people outside Atlanta remains to be seen. We talk with Sharon Wright Austin, a political scientist at the University of Florida. And Mark Niesse, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution… The sci-fi world may still be very much dominated by men behind the scenes, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t female trailblazers. Georgia Tech professor Lisa Yaszek went on a mission to honor some of these unsung heroines in her book, “Sisters of Tomorrow: The First Women of Science Fiction.” We talk with her and Bill Campbell. He’s the head of Rosarium Publishing, which works to bring more diversity to science fiction.

To listen to the full interview, visit the GPB News website.

Published in: GPB News
Big Brother: College Edition

January 5, 2018

Professor Ian Bogost was quoted in the article “Big Brother: College Edition” and subtitled “Student blasts Georgia Tech for monitoring his social media accounts” in the Atlanta Journal Constitution December 21, 2017.

“Bogost is Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in Media Studies and professor of interactive computing at Georgia Tech, who also has a significant Twitter presence, disagreed. He posted an article by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which first reported the story, and said, ‘shameful, astounding behavior from my employer.’”

Read full article Big Brother: College Edition

Published in: Atlanta Journal Constitution
Why Russia is Suddenly Eulogising its Past

January 2, 2018

Dina Khapaeva, professor in the School of Modern Languages at the Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote the Gulf News, January 2, article, “Why Russia is Suddenly Eulogising its Past.” The School of Modern Languages is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

While much of the world is busy dismantling monuments that divide people, Russians are moving in the opposite direction, erecting statues to medieval warlords. Understanding this revival can shed light on the direction of Russia’s politics. Last October, with the endorsement of Russia’s culture minister, Vladimir Medinsky, the country’s first-ever monument to Ivan the Terrible was unveiled in the city of Orel. A month later, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, called for Lenin Avenue in Moscow to be renamed Ivan the Terrible Highway. And in July of this year, President Vladimir Putin christened Moscow’s own tribute to the tyrant, declaring, erroneously, that “most likely, Ivan the Terrible never killed anyone, not even his son.”… Dina Khapaeva is Professor of Russian at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Modern Languages. Her most recent book is The Celebration of Death in Contemporary Culture.

For the full article, visit the Gulf News website.

Published in: Gulf News
Putin’s Medieval Dreams

December 29, 2017

Dina Khapaeva, professor in the School of Modern Languages at the Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote the Project Syndicate, December 29, article, “Putin’s Medieval Dreams.” The School of Modern Languages is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Ivan the Terrible is not the only medieval vestige being revived in Russia. Cultural vocabulary is also reverting. For example, the word kholop, which means “serf,” is returning to the vernacular, a linguistic devolution that parallels a troubling rise in Russia’s modern slavery. Data from the Global Slavery Index show that more than one million Russians are currently enslaved in the construction industry, the military, agriculture, and the sex trade. Moreover, serf “owners” are also happily identifying themselves as modern-day barins.

Even Russian officials speak approvingly of modern slavery. Valery Zorkin, who chairs the Constitutional Court, wrote in Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the official government newspaper, that serfdom has long been a “social glue” for Russia. And another medieval term – lydi gosudarevy, which translates to “servants of his majesty” – has returned to favor among high-ranking bureaucrats.

For the full article, visit Project Syndicate’s website.

Published in: Project Syndicate
Why Spice Is a Staple of Science Fiction

December 28, 2017

Lisa Yaszek, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Institute of Technology, was featured in the Food and Wine, December 28, article, “Why Spice Is a Staple of Science Fiction.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is a unit in the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

For many writers, creating new worlds in genre requires first mining through the social and scientific things they’re familiar with and then making them unfamiliar, either by changing their composition or context. Speaking to Food and Wine, Georgia Tech University professor and former president of the Science Fiction Research Association Lisa Yaszek noted that because spice is both a regionally distinctive and internationally mundane aspect of life, it’s a fitting launching board for establishing that familiar and unfamiliar dichotomy in a world of altered technology.

For the full article, visit the Food and Wine website.

Published in: Food and Wine
Yes, Smartphone Use Is Probably Behind the Spike in Driving Deaths. So Why Isn’t More Being Done to Curb It?

December 28, 2017

Robert Rosenberger, associate professor in the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy, wrote the Slate, December 28, article, “Yes, Smartphone Use Is Probably Behind the Spike in Driving Deaths. So Why Isn’t More Being Done to Curb It?” The School of Public Policy is a unit in Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

The U.S. has seen a 14-percent spike in roadway fatalities over the past two years. It’s also seen the biggest back-to-back increase in motor vehicle–related death rates per mile driven in more than 50 years and 37,461 lives lost by drivers, passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians in 2016 alone. What’s to blame? Many experts, writers, and organizations are pointing to smartphone use and other tech-related distractions while driving as major culprits. Official statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) seemingly counter this claim, attributing only about 9 percent of traffic deaths to distracted driving in general and far fewer to phone use specifically. In fact, the DOT stats suggest that even that minuscule percentage attributed to phone use has dropped over the past year.

For the full article, visit the Slate website.

Published in: Slate
Trump’s ‘Beautiful Vision’ vs. China’s Imperial Dream

December 27, 2017

Fei-Ling Wang, professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in The National Interest, December 27, article, “Trump’s ‘Beautiful Vision’ vs. China’s Imperial Dream.” The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

“All political power and all judicial verdicts must come from a singular source of the son of heaven, just like all light of life comes from a single sun,” writes Fei-Ling Wang of Georgia Tech, explaining Chinese thinking on the issue in his newly released The China Order: Centralia, World Empire, and the Nature of Chinese Power. Accordingly, Chinese leaders have been obsessed with avoiding division and have sought as their ultimate objective a “Grand Unification” of the world.

For the full article, visit The National Interest website.

Published in: The National Interest
Cleveland’s Outer Neighborhoods Could Be the Key to the Future

December 21, 2017

Assistant professor Todd Michney recently wrote an op-ed titled, “Cleveland’s Outer Neighborhoods Could Be the Key to the Future” for Cleveland Magazine. The article, which looks at the development of outer-city, historic black neighborhoods in Cleveland, can be found here.

Excerpt from the article:

The center-out process of development often seems to coincide with continued residential segregation. As early as the turn of the century, small numbers of black families moved to Cleveland’s urban periphery. But by the 1920s, African-Americans were targeted by a new real estate market that defined them as “detrimental” to property values. Their white would-be neighbors sought to exclude them through deed restrictions and covenants, until outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1948. Black borrowers were denied bank loans on homes outside of established African-American settlements.

More on this topic can be found in Dr. Michney’s book, Surrogate Suburbs: Black Upward Mobility and Neighborhood Change in Cleveland, 1900 - 1980.

Published in: Cleveland Magazine
Degree in Hand, Shamire Devine Moves Ahead

December 21, 2017

Degree in Hand, Shamire Devine Moves Ahead an article published in the December 21, 2017 Atlanta Journal Constitution profiles the personal journey of the new LMC Bachelor’s of Science graduate who overcame a disadvantaged background to attend Georgia Tech on a football scholarship and graduated in December 2017. (*Subscription required)

Published in: Atlanta Journal Constitution
Tech's New D.C. Partner: Charles Koch

December 10, 2017

“A Georgia Tech public policy expert” was mentioned in the December 10 article in Politico “Tech's New D.C. Partner: Charles Koch.” The School of Public Policy is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

The tech industry has found a surprising new ally in its effort to shape public policy in Washington: the 82-year-old libertarian billionaire Charles Koch. Two organizations founded by Koch, one an education-focused institute and the other a grant-making foundation, have spent the past year ramping up their efforts to shape public debate on tech policy topics like self-driving cars and the rights of online publishers. And despite their ideological distance on issues like the Paris climate accord, the Koch groups and left-leaning Silicon Valley are working together to advance the argument that innovation is most likely to flourish when legislators and regulators leave it alone … Beyond Washington, the Koch foundation says it's also increased support for academics considering tech policy, including a Texas A&M accounting professor launching a center for the study of innovation and a Georgia Tech public policy expert who works on issues related to internet governance.

Read the full article Tech's New D.C. Partner: Charles Koch

Published in: Politico

Recent Press Coverage

All Followers Are Fake Followers

The Rise of China: A Major Choice for the World

Sorry, Alexa Is Not a Feminist

One Year Later, Women’s March Looks Ahead

Is the U.S. Prepared for an Attack with a Weaponized Biothreat like Smallpox?

Changing the Lens on Poverty Research

It's Back to the Future in Run-up to Russian Elections

The Antitrust Case Against Facebook, Google and Amazon

Gene Therapy Could Make Cancer Care More Unequal, and This Map Shows Why

What It’s Like to Walk Away From a Job at Google to Pursue a Career in Stand-Up Comedy

On Second Thought For Tuesday

Big Brother: College Edition

Why Russia is Suddenly Eulogising its Past

Putin’s Medieval Dreams

Why Spice Is a Staple of Science Fiction

Yes, Smartphone Use Is Probably Behind the Spike in Driving Deaths. So Why Isn’t More Being Done to Curb It?

Trump’s ‘Beautiful Vision’ vs. China’s Imperial Dream

Cleveland’s Outer Neighborhoods Could Be the Key to the Future

Degree in Hand, Shamire Devine Moves Ahead

Tech's New D.C. Partner: Charles Koch

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