Christian Science Monitor

Combating lies and spin during this election campaign has to start with us, the voters. Here's a toolkit of resources.

[Commentary] Hillary Clinton's tech agenda doesn't address the most pressing digital issues. The US deserves a tech platform that defends privacy, protects the public from discriminatory algorithms, and ensures that innovation doesn't just benefit the wealthy. This tech platform is designed around the best interests of the general public – it is time to bring technology under the control of the people it was meant to serve, not the 1 percent who seek to use it to further exploit the unsuspecting and enrich themselves.

1. Glide paths for the sharing economy
2. Digital feudalism, algorithmic discrimination, and financial inclusion
3. Open curricula for education
4. Universal broadband and truth in telecom advertising
5. Micro-generation and smart grids
6. User control over user data and data collection protections
7. Open technology for all public investments
8. Lay the groundwork for intelligent transportation
9. Open standards for health IT and patient access to data
10. Make the US CTO a cabinet-level appointment

[Meinrath is the Palmer Chair in Telecommunications at Penn State and director of X-Lab]

[Commentary] Many people spend a great deal of time thinking about their diets. They try to eat the right foods in the right quantities. Sometimes they may wish they’d made better choices.

Do news consumers spend as much time thinking about the news content they’re taking in via television, print, or, ever more likely, online? What is the quality and quantity of this news diet? Here are some questions a thoughtful news consumer could ask:

• Is this news nourishing me? Does it help me really understand what is happening or is it just intended to provoke an emotional response?
• How does this news report make me feel? Do I come away with thoughts that are angry or hopeless or discouraged?
• Do I go only to a few familiar places to consume news, especially news “flavors” that fulfill my expectations by always confirming what I “already know”? A more balanced news diet might include several thoughtful sources that leave one with thoughts such as “I hadn’t considered that viewpoint before” or “I hadn’t thought about that possible solution.”

With access to a flood of news from around the globe online, people can easily overindulge in stories stuffed with shock or sentimentality. But consuming the right kind of news can inspire better thinking.

A new coalition of Common Core supporters, this time from the higher-education community, announced itself. Its mission: to raise awareness about the importance of the standards and try to counter the spread of misinformation and the growing backlash against the standards.

It's a battle that has become central in the education world lately, and is spilling out into more general debate, as Common Core becomes a key issue in many midterm campaigns.

Recently, South Carolina and Oklahoma have joined Indiana in dropping the standards, bringing the number of states with Common Core down to 43.

Tea Party candidates and many Republicans have started using opposition to Common Core as a sort of litmus test, with many referring to it as "ObamaCore."

On the left, a growing number of educators have raised concerns over the standards for early-elementary grades, and have pushed for a slow-down on Common Core implementation and high-stakes accountability.

And a number of states have announced they no longer plan to use one of the two big assessments being developed to align with Common Core.

From tech engineers and software designers to teenagers and businessmen, many in Gaza were eagerly awaiting a shipment from Palestinian mobile company Wataniya.

The cargo included long-coveted technology to set up a 3G mobile network, the first of its kind in the occupied territory. A sizable part of that shipment, though, never made it.

On April 2, as peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian authorities seemed close to breakdown, Wataniya Palestine CEO Fayez Husseini told the Financial Times that the steel and cement it needed to build its network infrastructure “were not allowed in.”

The block delays Wataniya’s ability to bring its services to Gaza -- services that many had hoped would invigorate the local telecom market by introducing much-needed competition. This case has been particularly frustrating for Gazans, many of whom argue that their IT sector is inherently impaired by inferior networks.

Mobile services like phone banking, which are taking off in some of the world’s poor, rural communities, aren’t on offer in Gaza. Nascent IT entrepreneurs battle power cuts and slow Internet service to conduct business -- delays that make them uncompetitive within the region.

There’s a yawning digital business gap between Jews and Arabs, who are largely excluded from Israel’s start-up success.

This is not simply a matter of access to capital and networks, but also cultural omissions, both within the Arab community and in Israeli society. "We are trying to bridge the entrepreneurship gap.

In the Arab sector, we don’t have any investors or success stories," says Fadi Swidan, who runs Nazareth’s government-backed business incubator and a technology accelerator dubbed nazTech. "We have entrepreneurs that have technology skills but we don’t have the experience.’’

The figures are sobering: Arab citizens of Israel, who make up one-fifth of the population, account for only 3 percent of the technology workforce. According to the Office of the Chief Scientist -- a division of the Economy Ministry that funds and trains tech companies -- less than one percent of its annual budget of $450 million in business research grants goes to Arab-run businesses.

The challenges facing Arab Israeli techies remain formidable. They include discrimination by Jewish employers, a culture not accustomed to the high-risk world of venture capital; and the sheer distance between Arab and Jewish business circles. Another factor: Jewish techies get to tinker with cutting-edge technology while serving in Israel’s military; and establish social connections that pave their way in business after they leave. Then there’s bank financing. Rabei Ibrahim, the founder and CEO of BRF Engineering, one of the few tenants of Nazareth’s new office park, says banks in main Israeli cities are not used to handling Arab entrepreneurs.