Author Archives: serendipolis

Catalonia in Europe: who will play the game?

Posted on November 6, 2014 by serendipolis

The future relationship with the EU is a core issue in today’s debate about the independence of Catalonia. The slogan of the 2012 rally in Barcelona was “Catalonia, next state of Europe”, echoing the majoritarian desire within the independentist movement … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Catalans step up independence push despite Spain’s firm ‘no’

Posted on September 15, 2014 by serendipolis

By Marta Poblet, RMIT University and Pompeu Casanovas, RMIT University This article was first published on The Conversation on 11 th September 2014 For three years in a row, Catalans have taken to the streets on September 11, Catalonia’s national … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Politics | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Leveraging Big Data in disasters: Working around the clock in Philippines

Posted on November 13, 2013 by serendipolis

[Cross posted at the Money, Data, and Privacy blog] Big data from social media is increasingly used in disaster management procedures. The speed at which big social data feeds travel across the networks has already been leveraged at the early … Continue reading →

Posted in crisis mapping, crowdsourcing, social media | Tagged | Leave a comment

Crowdfunding Culture in Catalonia: The Revival of Civil Society?

Posted on October 7, 2013 by serendipolis

[Updated version appeared in the Journal of Catalan Intellectual History, vol. 7, 2014] When Antoni Gaudi took over the Sagrada Familia project in 1883,  the initially planned neo-Gothic church—which had come into existence by a private initiative in 1860—steadily transformed … Continue reading →

Posted in crowdfunding | Tagged | Leave a comment

On algorithms and croquettes: hashtag battles in Twitter politics

Posted on September 27, 2013 by serendipolis

On 11 September 2013, Catalonia’s national day, approximately 1,600,000 Catalans joined hands along Catalonia’s coastline to form “The Catalan Way towards Independence” a 400-kilometre (250-mile) human chain. The Catalan Way was inspired in the 1989 Baltic Way chain that called … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, social media | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Spread the word: the value of local information in disaster response

Posted on January 17, 2013 by serendipolis

By Marta Poblet and Keera Pullman As dozens of bushfires continue to burn across the country (not least in New South Wales) many Australians find themselves unable to return home while many others have no home to return to. While … Continue reading →

Posted in crisis mapping, crowdsourcing, mobile technologies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Spanish politics: the anything goes culture

Posted on October 24, 2012 by serendipolis

My most admired José Juan Toharia—the renowned sociologist who co-founded Cuadernos para el Dialogo back in 1962 and now presides public opinion research firm Metroscopia—has been providing a series of data-driven analysis on perceptions of Catalonia and Spain since the … Continue reading →

Posted in Law | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Catalonia: independent but united with Europe?

Posted on September 13, 2012 by serendipolis

Marta Poblet and Pompeu Casanovas In the biggest rally for Catalan independence ever, an estimated crowd of 1.5 million people flooded the city of Barcelona with red-and-yellow striped flags on Catalonia’s national day, the Diada. Tax laws and lack of … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Minimal toys, bikes, and appropriate technologies

Posted on August 22, 2012 by serendipolis

Children at play are fascinating to observe. It’s not only that “their games should be deemed as their most serious actions”, as Montaigne famously wrote, but they are the finest examples of serendipity at work. All of a sudden, sticky … Continue reading →

Posted in mobile technologies, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and the ethics of responsibility

Posted on June 1, 2012 by serendipolis

On May 29, King & Wood Mallesons, the International Law Association (Victoria Chapter) and the Australian Red Cross organized an event on “The Responsibility to Protect: Where to from here?” featuring presentations from leading R2P experts Gareth Evans, Damien Kingsbury … Continue reading →

Posted in Human rights, Law, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment