news 2011

Gender gap shows no sign of closing over the past five years MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (08/11/2011) —Computer science researchers in the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering are leading a team that has confirmed a substantial gender gap among editors of Wikipedia and a corresponding gender-oriented disparity in the content.

Study shows that low-information voters are most likely to be swayed by candidates' appearances. CAMBRIDGE, Mass. The looks of political candidates are a key factor influencing voters, a phenomenon identified by a number of scholars in recent years. Now, a new study by MIT political scientists adds to this body of research by detailing which types of citizens are most influenced by candidate appearances, and why: The tendency is most prevalent among low-information voters who watch a lot of television.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Though pundits and candidates suggest there is too much anger in politics, the emotion does have a potential benefit—it significantly motivates citizens to vote, according to a University of Michigan study. "Anger in politics can play a particularly vital role, motivating some people to participate in ways they might ordinarily not," said Nicholas Valentino, the study's lead author and a professor of communication studies and political science.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. "One person, one vote" is often the rallying cry for democratic reform, suggesting everyone should get an equal say in their government. Yet in some of the oldest and largest democracies, some votes are worth far more than others by design. A Wyoming voter, for instance, is significantly over-represented compared with a California voter.

The difficulties and dangers faced by journalists reporting conflict will be explored by a panel of war correspondents in an event for the Centre for Advanced Journalism at the University of Melbourne tomorrow, Wednesday 11 May. In addition to the dangers posed to journalists, the nature of conflicts has changed, said Dr Fay Anderson, historian and author of a recent book about the Australian experience of conflict reporting.

For the first time, a study shows that the aerial bombing of Vietnamese civilians by U.S. and allied forces was an ineffective, wrongheaded strategy that drove neutral citizens into the arms of the Viet Cong. The study combines two sets of data to reconstruct the Vietnam War late in 1969 - a point at which U.S. forces appeared to have the upper hand in the conflict - to map where bombing occurred and then determine how territory was held or lost.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall/Who in the land is fairest of all?" But unlike Snow White's Queen, many people don't feel better after gazing at their wall mirror. Facebook walls, on the other hand, can have a positive influence on the self-esteem of college students, report social media researchers at Cornell.

Switzerland is not the democracy par excellence as thought, but only a mediocre one and ranks fourteenth when compared with twenty-nine established democracies.