op ed – Derek Ruths

June 18, 2020

Canada’s proposed contact-tracing app takes the right approach on privacy

I published an op-ed in the Globe and Mail taking a look at the announced Canadian government supported phone app COVID Alert, privacy concerns and potential benefits. Across Canada, people are taking measures to protect the rest of society: maintaining safe distances while waiting in line for stores, wearing masks and working from home. In a progressive society such as...

analysis/media/op ed

April 14, 2020

Quarantined? Learn to code!

Snacks, time, and the internet. Everything you need to learn to program (Resources at bottom of article) This article is also available on medium. I spent many of my formative years in a small oil camp on the island of Sumatra — the big rocket-shaped island in the Indonesian archipelago. That’s where I first learned to program computers. There wasn’t anyone there my...

op ed

April 9, 2020

Canadians’ united response to COVID-19 makes a difference

Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic stands in marked contrast to that of the United States, and the crisis seems to be helping to unite Canadians like no other event in years. The Media Ecosystem Observatory recently launched a research project, surveying 2,500 Canadians between March 25 and 31. When we analyze the data, we find no differences across partisan lines in...

analysis/media/op ed

Category: op ed

Canada’s proposed contact-tracing app takes the right approach on privacy

Quarantined? Learn to code!

Canadians’ united response to COVID-19 makes a difference