Tech help after Cyclone Idai
A website in English and Portuguese is launched to help find missing people after Idai. Also is the World Wide Web becoming more centralised?
As the death toll across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi rises following Cyclone Idai, families are desperately trying to find missing loved ones. To help reunite families, the International Committee of the Red Cross has launched a dedicated digital website in English and Portuguese. We hear about the difficulties of gathering this data when there is no electricity in some places, let alone connectivity.
Decentralising the Web
Following 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web we look at how the web may change in the future. A network where so much data, money and control resides in a handful of huge tech companies seems at odds with that original vision of a ‘distributed hypertext system'. Given that much of the world is on one social media platform, uses one search engine and shops at one online store – the world wide web of today looks remarkably ‘centralised’. But could it be decentralised?
Bee Virus Music
Imagine a music track that keeps glitching, but the faults are intentional and the sound files have deliberately been corrupted. The track itself is based on a virus that is threatening some populations of bees and it is now part of an installation just outside London. Visitors are kitted out with wearable technology that transmits the corrupted WAV between themselves, which simulates the spread of the virus and raises awareness of the increasing threat to bees.
Social Media President
Hashtag #Bolsonaro Persona Non Grata has been trending on social media in Chile in recent days during the visit of Brazil’s far-right leader. This time controversy came following a lunch where the dress code for women was 'short skirts'. The social media response to this request spread quickly, with some delegates refusing to go and is just one of many controversial posts on social media linked to the Brazilian President's account.
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
(Photo: Tropical Cyclone Idai lashed Mozambique. Credit: Getty Images)
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- Tue 26 Mar 2019 20:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet & Europe and the Middle East only
- Tue 26 Mar 2019 21:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service Australasia & East Asia only
- Wed 27 Mar 2019 05:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet & Europe and the Middle East only
- Wed 27 Mar 2019 06:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean & South Asia only
- Wed 27 Mar 2019 07:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
- Wed 27 Mar 2019 11:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service West and Central Africa
- Wed 27 Mar 2019 15:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service Australasia
- Wed 27 Mar 2019 18:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia & West and Central Africa only
- Sat 30 Mar 2019 16:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service News Internet
- Sat 30 Mar 2019 23:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service except Americas and the Caribbean
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Digital Planet
Technological and digital news from around the world.