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Myanmar’s digital awakening

Myanmar’s digital awakening. How the internet is shaping communications today R. Marshall, Fulbright Scholar Myanmar Institute of Information Technology Mandalay, Myanmar. Disclaimer.

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Myanmar’s digital awakening

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  1. Myanmar’s digital awakening How the internet is shaping communications today R. Marshall, Fulbright Scholar Myanmar Institute of Information Technology Mandalay, Myanmar

  2. Disclaimer • Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this presentation are the author’s own and not that of the US Department of State or of the Fulbright Foundation. Original title of talk: Digital Myanmar – Left behind but catching up and getting it Right

  3. Myanmar’s Digital Awakening Abstract • A general education course titled ‘Computers: - fact, fiction, fantasy and film’ offered by the author each semester in the US over a seven-year period has been adapted to fit the Myanmar context. • A significant emphasis of the course is on social media, anti- social media, tailored readings and social media experiments

  4. Computers – Fact, Fiction, Fantasy and Film A Self and Society Course

  5. Nature of a Self and Society Course Emphasizes • Reading and Writing • Speaking and Listening • Critical Thinking • Conducting Research • Collaboration

  6. Course Content A kaleidoscopic perspective on the internet, social media, artificial intelligence and digital devices and their impact on self and society.

  7. Digital Myanmar • Three Internet Service Providers – two private, one public • Telenor, the largest (Norway) and Ooredoo (Qatar) • 15-18 million Telenor users in 2017 • Total population 54 million – Only 1 million users 5 years ago!! • CASH economy / Minimal online shopping (airline tickets) • Few credit, debit cards / bank accounts

  8. Myanmar Usability Divide • Lack of knowledge on how to use search features • Uncritical selection of the first search results • many users don't understand how search engines prioritize their listings. • Automatic acceptance of default settings • Lack of initiative and skill to learn • users at the mercy of other people's decisions.

  9. “Facebook is the Internet” • Perception of social media as the internet • 65% of Nigeria, 61% of Indonesia, 58% of India and 5% in the US • Using social media to find news online • 45% in Spain, 38% in Italy, 30% in the U.S. • Suppose the newsfeed segment is eliminated from Facebook. What then? • Specific to Myanmar • TRUE for 85% of the Telenor subscribers • Use it as a search engine too. Not aware of Google, Yahoo, etc. (The search engine default option in FB is its own web site)

  10. ASEAN Internet/Facebook StatisticsSource: www.internetworldstats.com 2018

  11. PRIVATE INFO  PUBLIC INFO • ALWAYS assume ALL of your Internet activity is tracked • Any information posted/shared can and will be used/misused • Fake news, fake research, fake journals, etc. PROBLEMS • IDENTITY THEFT: impacts FINANCES, REPUTATION, etc. • Denial of JOBS, VISAS, HOUSING, LOANS, etc. • Violence directed at INDIVIDUAL / GROUP (ethnic, religious, political) • Manipulation of elections

  12. An Example with GRAVE Consequences Politicians X (incumbent) and Y (challenger) in upcoming election. • Y’s campaign speech: “X is against taxes. Vote him out” • Simple substitution: “X is against taxes. Take him out” • Written textalteration: trivial but easily detected Oral: requires data on facial movements, bodily gesture, accent, stress, pitch, etc.  synchronize Image data and Audio data In Real Time

  13. How is it done? Monkeying Around Three stage process [gather wood, light a match, fan the flames) • Stage 1 - Technical (create the fake news product – the prototype) • Content substitution/insertion/deletion in all media • Stage 2 – Initial publication (use social media) • Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, others • Use all media types (text, audio, video) • Stage 3 – Wide dissemination (use trolls and bots) • Retweet / repost using bots and trolls • Generate significant number of ‘likes’ and ’followers’ • Attain ‘Trending’ / ‘Recommended for you’ status

  14. Sample Readings • Capek’s ‘RUR’ and Orwell’s ‘1984’ • Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ and ‘Brave New World Revisited’ • Morozov’s ‘Net Delusions’ and Wu’s ‘Who Controls the Internet’ • Turkle’s ‘Alone Together’ and McKinnon’s ‘Consent of the Networked’ • Op-eds / news items from major print media • “Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat are eroding our ability to control our own minds.” • “Thirty countries use armies of opinion shapers to manipulate democracy” • “EU fined Google $2.42 billion for anti-monopoly practices” • “Universities Rush to Roll Out Computer Science Ethics Courses” • “The Ivory Tower Can’t Keep Ignoring Tech” • Amazon Erases Orwell Books from Kindle

  15. Coda • “American Express. Don’t leave home without it” [old] • “Smart Phone. Leave home without it” [new] THANK YOU.

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