Topic description and stories

Solidarity drives online virality in a nation under attack, study of Ukrainian social media reveals

01 Oct 2024

While divisive social media posts get more traction in countries such as the US, a new study shows that celebrating national unity is the way to go...

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Search engine data reveals Russian discontent after invasion of Ukraine

17 May 2023

Russian military mobilisations saw huge spikes in anti-regime web searches, according to a study of search trends from Google and Yandex.

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Man using internet

Researchers to track impact of lockdown on alcohol, gambling and pornography use

12 May 2020

Is the lockdown leading us to drink more alcohol or spend more time gambling online or watching pornography? Researchers today launch a survey aimed...

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ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Viral charity campaigns have a psychological 'recipe' and all-too-brief lifespan

13 Feb 2017

New work focusing on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge reveals very brief shelf life of such viral campaigns, and suggests the nature of ‘virality’ and...

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Combating cybercrime when there's plenty of phish in the sea

21 Oct 2016

As more and more crime moves online, computer scientists, criminologists and legal academics have joined forces in Cambridge to improve our...

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Stroke survivors face ‘invisible impairments’ to return to work

06 Apr 2016

‘Invisible impairments’ can make it difficult for stroke survivors to maintain a job, according to a study from the University of Cambridge and Queen...

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Lightsaber lessons

Return of the new gods: Jedis, auras and online witch schools

24 Oct 2014

Research by a digital anthropologist is looking at how new religious movements are harnessing online platforms. These ‘invented religions’ take...

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Bee

Online resource to support the work of biodiversity conservation organisations

01 Oct 2014

A free online resource, launched today (1 October), will help conservation organisations share expertise and tools, aiding them in addressing some of...

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SOCCs appeal: online learning versus the classroom

13 Aug 2013

MOOCs – or massive open online courses – have been touted a cure for the education sector’s ills by some, but merely the latest symptom of it by...

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Anonymous

Pirate utopias: a history of digital distribution

30 Apr 2013

How the ‘Hacker ethic’ almost killed the music industry, then helped save it, but might spell the end of ownership as we know it.

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Graphic from mypersonality app

Digital records could expose intimate details and personality traits of millions

11 Mar 2013

Research shows that intimate personal attributes can be predicted with high levels of accuracy from ‘traces’ left by seemingly innocuous digital...

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Online privacy

Privacy by design

18 Oct 2012

New research aims to ensure that we can exploit the full benefits of the digital world and still protect our online privacy.

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