Our working definition of a digital platform (with a hat tip to Harold Feld of Public Knowledge) is an online service that operates as a two-sided or multi-sided market with at least one side that is “open” to the mass market
Platforms
Welcome to the information blender
Seemingly from the first moments that members of Hamas began their attacks over the weekend, murdering and kidnapping hundreds of Israeli civilians, the internet erupted into a state of informational chaos. Different posts and platforms offered competing versions of what was happening on the ground. Horrific images and videos proliferated.
Shentel taps Render Networks to streamline fiber construction
Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) is employing Render Networks' construction management platform to handle the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) expansions for its Glo Fiber brand—which offers multi-gigabit broadband internet access, live streaming TV and digital home phone service in183,000 households across Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Render's platform will be used in all markets where Shentel is building, and is already in three markets right now. The network construction platform leverages geospatial, task-level data for automation.
How AI can put mistakes into overdrive
A new study of more than 750 strategy consultants showed that AI helped them produce better content, more quickly in many tasks—but the consultants were "less likely to produce correct solutions" by attempting tasks of similar difficulty which fell outside the AI model's capabilities.Of the consultants asked to develop new ideas—a challenge within GPT-4's known capabilities—those who received both AI access and guidance "consistently" performed better than those given AI access only.
Elon Musk ditches X’s election integrity team ahead of key votes around world
Elon Musk, owner of X (formerly known as Twitter), ditched his team working to prevent disruption to elections after the European Union (EU) announced the platform had the highest proportion of disinformation in three European countries.
Kids Online Health and Safety Request for Comment
Preventing and mitigating any adverse health effects from use of online platforms on minors, while preserving benefits such platforms have on minors’ health and well-being, are critical priorities of the Biden-Harris Administration.
How Elon Musk Came to Influence the Fates of Nations
Elon Musk’s international influence poses an interesting problem for the US In a world where geopolitical leadership depends increasingly on technology, Musk ought to be one of the US’s most important assets. And yet he is a de facto independent actor. Musk owes his influence not to the control of oil, capital or private armies, but of technologies vital to economic competitiveness, national security and public opinion. NASA and the Pentagon depend heavily on Musk-owned SpaceX to get into space.
Real Girls, Real Lives, Connected: A global study of girls' access and usage of mobile internet
Limited global research exists about girls’ and boys’ access to and use of mobile phones. For girls, access is much more diverse and colourful than simply whether they ‘have’ or ‘have not’ got a phone. Access is often transient, and diverse ownership, borrowership and sharing practices are flourishing. Boys are 1.5 times more likely to own a phone and 1.8 times more likely to own a smartphone. They're also more likely to use phones in more diverse and internet-enabled ways than girls. Girls are going to great lengths to gain access.
Streamers launch first official trade group
The world's biggest streaming companies are coming together to launch the industry's first coalition, the Streaming Innovation Alliance (SIA). The streaming industry has faced few regulatory threats over the past decade, but that's changing as more television consumption moves to digital. The new group is led by two former policymakers acting as senior advisers: former Representative Fred Upton (R-MI) and former Democratic Federal Communications Commission Acting Chair Mignon Clyburn [a member of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Board of Directors].