Silenced Voices: Exploring Social Media Polarization and Women's Participation in Peacebuilding in Ethiopia

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2412.01549v1
• Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2024 14:37:41 GMT
• Title: Silenced Voices: Exploring Social Media Polarization and Women's Participation in Peacebuilding in Ethiopia
• Authors: Adem Chanie Ali, Seid Muhie Yimam, Martin Semmann, Abinew Ali Ayele, Chris Biemann,
• Abstract summary: The study highlights the significant threats of social media polarization and weaponization in Ethiopia.<n>It uncovers the lack of effective digital peacebuilding initiatives.<n>The study recommends enhanced moderation and ethical considerations in algorithmic design gains traction.
• Score: 16.99659597567309
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: This exploratory study highlights the significant threats of social media polarization and weaponization in Ethiopia, analyzing the Northern Ethiopia (Tigray) War (November 2020 to November 2022) as a case study. It further uncovers the lack of effective digital peacebuilding initiatives. These issues particularly impact women, who bear a disproportionate burden in the armed conflict. These repercussions extend beyond the digital sphere, affecting women's socio-economic conditions, safety, and well-being. This reality was starkly evident during the war, where women faced gender-based and sexual violence. The research findings disclose the interface between social media polarization, conflict, and gender based violence. It also reveals the marginalization of women's voice in peacebuilding initiatives. This marginalization in peacebuilding efforts can be attributed to hostile online environments, the digital divide, cultural and societal norms, as well as top-down peace initiatives. The study highlights substantial gaps in leveraging digital media for sustainable peace and empowering women's participation. The unregulated landscape of social media in Ethiopia exacerbates these problems, necessitating heightened demands for accountability, especially from major social media platforms. The study recommends enhanced moderation and ethical considerations in algorithmic design gains traction, underlining the urgency for transparent and responsible social media frameworks. It is also recommended that digital peacebuilding initiatives should adopt a gender-sensitive and inclusive approach to address these complexities effectively and sustainably.

Related papers

• Who Sets the Agenda on Social Media? Ideology and Polarization in Online Debates [34.82692226532414]
  This study analyzes large-scale Twitter data from three global debates -- Climate Change, COVID-19, and the Russo-Ukrainian War. Our findings reveal that discussions are not primarily shaped by specific categories of actors, such as media or activists, but by shared ideological alignment.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-12-06T16:48:22Z)
• Community Shaping in the Digital Age: A Temporal Fusion Framework for Analyzing Discourse Fragmentation in Online Social Networks [45.58331196717468]
  This research presents a framework for analyzing the dynamics of online communities in social media platforms. By combining text classification and dynamic social network analysis, we uncover mechanisms driving community formation and evolution.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-09-18T03:03:02Z)
• Cyberbully and Online Harassment: Issues Associated with Digital Wellbeing [0.0]
  This research synthesizes empirical findings from diverse studies to evaluate how innovative technological interventions contribute to reducing the prevalence of cyberbullying. The study focuses on the effectiveness of these interventions in various settings, highlighting the need for adaptive strategies that respond to the dynamic digital landscape.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-04-29T17:49:49Z)
• Understanding Divergent Framing of the Supreme Court Controversies: Social Media vs. News Outlets [56.67097829383139]
  We focus on the nuanced distinctions in framing of social media and traditional media outlets concerning a series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings. We observe significant polarization in the news media's treatment of affirmative action and abortion rights, whereas the topic of student loans tends to exhibit a greater degree of consensus.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-09-18T06:40:21Z)
• Anonymous Expression in an Online Community for Women in China [1.2031796234206136]
  Gender issues faced by women can range from workplace harassment to domestic violence. While publicly disclosing these issues on social media can be hard, some may incline to express themselves anonymously. We approached such an anonymous female community on Chinese social media where discussion on gender issues takes place. We identified 20 issues commonly discussed, with cheating-partner, controlling parents and age anxiety taking the lead.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-06-16T04:56:56Z)
• Investigating Participation Mechanisms in EU Code Week [68.8204255655161]
  Digital competence (DC) is a broad set of skills, attitudes, and knowledge for confident, critical and use of digital technologies. The aim of the manuscript is to offer a detailed and comprehensive statistical description of Code Week's participation in the EU Member States.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-05-29T19:16:03Z)
• The Ethical Implications of Digital Contact Tracing for LGBTQIA+ Communities [0.0]
  Digital contact tracing has been proposed as a viable means of targeted control in countries across the globe, including on the African continent. This research paper explores some of the ethical implications of digital contact tracing for the LGBTQIA+ community. We propose a critical intersectional feminism towards developing inclusive technology that is decentralised and user controlled.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-08-23T11:54:59Z)
• For Better or for Worse? A Framework for Critical Analysis of ICT4D for Women [0.0]
  As ICT diffusion widens, there is a persistent threat of widening the gender-based digital divide. This paper develops a critical research framework for a gender-focused examination of ICT4D studies.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-08-23T05:42:24Z)
• Survey of Cyber Violence Against Women in Malawi [0.0]
  The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of cyber violence against women in Karonga district of Malawi. The study noted that women experienced various forms of cyber violence such as cyber bullying, cyber harassment, online defamation, cyberstalking, sexual exploitation, online hate speech, and revenge pornography. It was found that women never bothered to report the incidences to the police or community to seek for support due to lack of awareness, cultural and patriarchal factors.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-08-22T18:02:06Z)
• Social Media Unrest Prediction during the {COVID}-19 Pandemic: Neural Implicit Motive Pattern Recognition as Psychometric Signs of Severe Crises [26.447165399064552]
  We present psychologically validated social unrest predictors and replicate scalable and automated predictions. We employ this model to investigate a change of language towards social unrest during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-12-08T17:40:35Z)
• Population-Scale Study of Human Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis and Implications [34.48644183777496]
  Pandemic-related policy decisions need to consider the broader impacts on people and their needs. We propose a computational methodology, building on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, that can capture a holistic view of relative changes in needs following the pandemic. We apply this approach to characterize changes in human needs across physiological, socioeconomic, and psychological realms in the US, based on more than 35 billion search interactions spanning over 36,000 ZIP codes over a period of 14 months.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-08-17T01:21:58Z)
• Fighting the COVID-19 Infodemic in Social Media: A Holistic Perspective and a Call to Arms [42.7332883578842]
  With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, people turned to social media to read and to share timely information. There was also a new blending of medical and political misinformation and disinformation, which gave rise to the first global infodemic. This is a complex problem that needs a holistic approach combining the perspectives of journalists, fact-checkers, policymakers, government entities, social media platforms, and society as a whole.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-07-15T21:18:30Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.