3 readings I like No. 11
Dear all,
Welcome to this week’s newsletter!
Regular weekly link review duties resumed on Friday. I will keep it short + sweet today, so these are this week’s mid-week readings:
What Oil, Satellite Technology and Iraq can Tell us About Pollution
Among the findings of the case studies is evidence that pollution from oil refineries is drifting over a number of Iraqi towns and cities, while damaging oil spills and leaks appear common around oil pipelines and infrastructure. What the data shows is how pollution in Iraq can be visualised as well as persistent issues with oil wastes and dumps in the vicinity of refineries.
Ollie Ballinger & Wim Zwijnenburg for Bellingcat. Granted, this is a bit of nerdy start & the article is long, detailed + full of satellite images, but it is an important case study on how to use open source technologies, how to do + copmmunicate research differently-and how devastating oil production is on the environment in Iraq!
“I wanted to buy a marine aquarium”: Why people around the world are flocking to OnlyFans
Drenton said that social media has helped create a trendy, uniform Kardashian-esque look that many influencers mimic in order to succeed. But as on other platforms, OnlyFans creators have also found an audience by occupying unique niches. Ris said one of her greatest strengths is how she appeals to the local context in Southeast Asia.
Vittoria Elliott for Rest of World. I like stories that challenge common categories of “global” & “local”, that show how new platforms are adopted in different cultural contexts and new opportunities for creators; but the article also highlights the problems the inevitably come with “platform capitalism” and sometimes it seems a bit like a casino where in the end the house always wins…
Decolonial Humanitarian Digital Governance
Often in humanitarian/development work, we are fire-fighting the now — the problem right in front of us. We design solutions and interventions aimed to problem solving what is immediately in front of us without necessarily assessing three things:
- The complexity of the system in which that issue lives
- Just as rights are not static, neither is harm. What is the current and future theory of harm that might arise out of that solution/intervention
- What might be the impact of the solution/intervention on future generations and on our planet
Aarathi Krishnan for the Berkman Klein Center with an excellent overview over current “digital humanitarianism” debates!
Have a great week, keep in touch & check out this great new open access book!
Tobias
