The Conversation

Collaborative problem solvers are made not born – here's what you need to know

Written by Stephen M. Fiore, Professor of Cognitive Sciences, University of Central Florida

Group project experience doesn't automatically translate to competence at collaboration.Brooke Cagle/Unsplash, CC BY

Challenges are a fact of life. Whether it’s a high-tech company figuring out how to shrink its carbon footprint, or a local community trying to identify new revenue sources, people are continually dealing with problems that...

Financial woes are at the heart of the NRA's tumult

Written by Brian Mittendorf, Fisher Designated Professor of Accounting and Chair, Department of Accounting & Management Information Systems (MIS), The Ohio State University

Former NRA President Col. Oliver NorthAP Photo/Michael Conroy

The National Rifle Association’s 2019 annual convention in Indianapolis drew around 80,000 gun enthusiasts, an arsenal of firearm-accessory vendors and appearances by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. It also produced an unusual display of disunity at the top.

The...

Data insecurity leads to economic injustice – and hits the pocketbooks of the poor most

Written by Michele Gilman, Venable Professor of Law, University of Baltimore

Facebook allows advertisers to target low-income Americans. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Congress may finally be on the verge of passing a comprehensive federal privacy law after almost a half-century of trying. Even the tech lobby is on board following years of resistance.

The growing bipartisan support for privacy legislation seems to be...

How the world's largest democracy casts its ballots

Written by Poorvi Vora, Professor of Computer Science, George Washington University

About 600 million Indian citizens are expected to cast their votes over a period of 39 days ending May 19, in the ongoing election for their country’s parliament. There are roughly 900 million eligible voters, and the country has typically seen about two-thirds of them turn out to polling places.

I have been working on the security of...

The benefits that places like Dayton, Ohio, reap by welcoming immigrants

Written by Miranda Cady Hallett, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Dayton

One of the Ohio city's many immigrant-owned restaurantsAP Photo/Al Behrman

The Trump administration’s emphasis on immigration has often stoked partisan political battles. Those debates, as loud as they are, sometimes obscure the fact that immigrants are about 14% of the U.S. population.

Immigrants are adjusting and adapting to life throughout...

How air guitar became a serious sport

Written by Byrd McDaniel, PhD Candidate in Ethnomusicology, Brown University

Matt 'Airistotle' Burns performs during the 2017 Air Guitar World Championships in Finland.Eeva Rihel/Lehtikuva via AP

Advertised as the “greatest thing you’ve never seen,” the 2019 U.S. Air Guitar Championships will take place this summer.

Competitors from around the country will don elaborate costumes, construct fantastical...

Is there a 'feminine' response to terrorism?

Written by Mona Krewel, Assistant Professor, Department of Government, Cornell University

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern wore a headscarf to comfort mourning family members after the Christchurch mosque shootings.AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File

After a terrorist shot and killed 50 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responded differently than most leaders have after similar...

At work, women and people of color still have not broken the glass ceiling

Written by Tesa Rigel Hines, Clinical Instructor, American Politics and Public Policy, Purdue University Northwest

Women of color hold more professional and managerial jobs today than they did in 1996.GaudiLab/shutterstock.com

Did you notice the race of your barista this morning? What about the sex of your mechanic?

I have observed that when I shop, most of the employees look like me. When I go to work, most of my co-workers look different from me.

If my...

Uber drivers report 80-plus hour workweeks and a lot of waiting

Written by Michelle Rodino-Colocino, Associate Professor of Media Studies and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Pennsylvania State University

Uber’s upcoming initial public offering may be one of the biggest in history, with the ride-hailing company expected to raise up to US$9 billion.

That’s good news for its early investors and executives, who could reap $1.3 billion from the IPO.

For the potentially hundreds of thousands of drivers who do it as their largest or main...

Shutting down social media does not reduce violence, but rather fuels it

Written by Jan Rydzak, Research Scholar and Associate Director for Program, Global Digital Policy Incubator, Stanford University

It might seem easy to shut off internet services, but it can be dangerous.Olesya Zhuk/Shutterstock.com

In the wake of a series of coordinated attacks that claimed more than 250 lives on April 21, the government of Sri Lanka shut off its residents’ access to social media and online messaging systems, including Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube,...