When a Twitter algorithm detects riots, violence faster than police; more about the Cardiff University study

RESEARCHERS in UK’s Wales have come out with a Twitter-monitoring algorithm that can identify riots even before citizens actually report about those unrest to police, according to media reports published in UK’s newspapers and elsewhere. Reports say, the model has recently been tested on the basis of data gathered from Twitter during 2011 riots occurred in the city of London. That the algorithm could identify…

Indian govt should reshape recruitment of IAS and protect them from political meddling: US think tank study

THE Indian government should reshape recruitment and promotion processes of IAS, improve performance-based assessment of individual officers, and adopt safeguards that promote accountability while protecting them from political meddling, says a new paper released last week by US think tank — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Calling for urgent administrative reforms, the paper titled “The Indian Administrative Service Meets Big Data” further says that IAS is hamstrung by political interference, outdated…

Dishonest students in India opt for government jobs, says study; Is it a fair assessment?

INDIAN college students who cheat are more likely to prefer a government job, a new paper authored by two researchers, one each from Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University) and The Wharton School (Pennsylvania University), said. The survey based on a series of laboratory experiments designed to measure honesty, pro-social behaviours and ability on 669 students from Bangalore, has concluded that “the college students who cheat on a simple task are more likely to...

Social Media Black-box for Indian Bureaucrats: How Nirupama Rao can help

ONE social media study of public diplomacy undertaken recently at George Washington University, placed India’s ambassador to US Nirupama Rao at the top of the chart among all diplomats and missions based out of Washington DC. As the research study itself says, Rao is “doing something right” to woo a huge number of followers. But, have the other Indian civil servants treated the technology associated with social media as a “black-box” and…

DoPT's “360 degree” RTI Study to consider information providers' views too

THE DOPT, or the department of personnel and training, will soon commission what it calls a 360 degree study of the implementation of the RTI Act, 2005. Though problems of information seekers are often highlighted, this will probably be the first time…