@polgeonow@mstdn.social
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

polgeonow

@polgeonow@mstdn.social

Editor and lead cartographer of Political Geography Now (www.polgeonow.com). Covering changes to the world's countries, flags, borders, territorial control, and more.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

ajsadauskas, (edited ) to tech
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

In an age of LLMs, is it time to reconsider human-edited web directories?

Back in the early-to-mid '90s, one of the main ways of finding anything on the web was to browse through a web directory.

These directories generally had a list of categories on their front page. News/Sport/Entertainment/Arts/Technology/Fashion/etc.

Each of those categories had subcategories, and sub-subcategories that you clicked through until you got to a list of websites. These lists were maintained by actual humans.

Typically, these directories also had a limited web search that would crawl through the pages of websites listed in the directory.

Lycos, Excite, and of course Yahoo all offered web directories of this sort.

(EDIT: I initially also mentioned AltaVista. It did offer a web directory by the late '90s, but this was something it tacked on much later.)

By the late '90s, the standard narrative goes, the web got too big to index websites manually.

Google promised the world its algorithms would weed out the spam automatically.

And for a time, it worked.

But then SEO and SEM became a multi-billion-dollar industry. The spambots proliferated. Google itself began promoting its own content and advertisers above search results.

And now with LLMs, the industrial-scale spamming of the web is likely to grow exponentially.

My question is, if a lot of the web is turning to crap, do we even want to search the entire web anymore?

Do we really want to search every single website on the web?

Or just those that aren't filled with LLM-generated SEO spam?

Or just those that don't feature 200 tracking scripts, and passive-aggressive privacy warnings, and paywalls, and popovers, and newsletters, and increasingly obnoxious banner ads, and dark patterns to prevent you cancelling your "free trial" subscription?

At some point, does it become more desirable to go back to search engines that only crawl pages on human-curated lists of trustworthy, quality websites?

And is it time to begin considering what a modern version of those early web directories might look like?

@degoogle

polgeonow,
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

@ajsadauskas I still rely on Google's extensive automatically-generated index for certain specialized research purposes (like finding all the news about a specific place from small national newspapers and web forums in other countries), but I totally agree that in general Google Search has lost a lot of its usefulness, largely due to rampant SEO abuse (ads at the top are nothing compared to whole pages of low-quality search results).

polgeonow, to colombia
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

UN's International Court of Justice (#ICJ) ruled this week that #Nicaragua can't claim economic rights to the seabed (#continentalshelf) in zone where rights to ocean resources normally would default to #Colombia.

https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/154/154-20230713-pre-01-00-en.pdf

#seaborders #geography #Caribbean #maritimejurisdiction #maritime #internationallaw #LawOfTheSea @geography @PIL @geopolitics

polgeonow, to random
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

Two weeks ago, military juntas controlling #Niger, #Mali, and #BurkinaFaso announced their countries' "immediate withdrawal" from #ECOWAS, #WestAfrica's regional integration bloc. This is a big deal.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/28/niger-mali-burkina-faso-announce-withdrawal-from-ecowas

But it can't legally go into effect right away...

#geography #intergovernmental #geopolitics #politics #WestAfrica #Sahel #AfricaNews @geography @geopolitics

polgeonow,
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

...last word from 's governing commission is that it hasn't received any official notice of withdrawal from , , and at all. https://www.ecowas.int/ecowas-communique-on-burkina-faso-mali-niger/

It's presumably up for debate whether leaders who took power unconstitutionally in coups even have the legal power to serve withdrawal notice to ECOWAS. Of course, the military juntas are ignoring their own country's laws anyway. But...

polgeonow, (edited )
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

...their lack of legal legitimacy could make it easy for future, constitutional governments of , , and to declare that no withdrawal from ever really happened, if they want to reverse the decision. In any case, it can't take legal effect within less than a year.

polgeonow, to india
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

made waves at the summit it hosted this weekend by using "" instead of "India" as its country name in some English-language contexts. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/modi-uses-bharat-g20-nameplate-not-india-amid-name-change-row-2023-09-09/

"Bharat" is already India's name in most local languages, including Hindi, and is mentioned as a synonym of "India" in the English version of the country's constitution, but hasn't been used in formal international contexts until now.

@geography

polgeonow, to geopolitics
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

Soldiers in claim to have overthrown the country's elected government. https://bbc.com/news/world-africa-66320895

Unless that's quickly reversed or proven untrue, is almost certain to suspend the country's membership.

@geography

polgeonow, to Israel
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

We've revised and updated our #Israel/#Palestine map, and our beginner's guide to the conflict actors and control zones, to reflect the situation just prior to the outbreak of the current war: https://www.polgeonow.com/2021/05/israel-palestine-control-map-west-bank-areas-gaza.html

#conflictmapping #conflicttracking #WestBank #Gaza #geography #geographyteacher #geopolitics #MiddleEast @geography @geopolitics

polgeonow, (edited ) to Philippines
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

#Philippines this week removed floating barrier placed by #China to complete its control over interior lagoon of disputed #ScarboroughShoal in #SouthChinaSea. https://apnews.com/article/china-philippines-south-sea-barrier-scarborough-68163cbe8c5b3ad7844dfecad71bce9c

#disputedterritory #disputedterritories #SCS #geography #geopolitics #maritime #maritimejurisdiction #LawOfTheSea #internationallaw @geography @geopolitics

polgeonow, to Norway
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

#Norway, #Spain & #Ireland say that on May 28 they'll join nearly 3/4 of the world's countries in officially recognizing #Palestine as an independent country. #Slovenia and #Malta say they might soon too. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4nn78r3w3ko

#independence #defacto #defactostates #geography #geopolitics #MiddleEast #diplomacy #Mediterranean #Israel #IsraelPalestineWar @geography @geopolitics

polgeonow, to Somalia
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

Some very sloppy reporting by AFP...

(1) Baardheere (aka Bardhere/Bardera) is northwest of , not south of it.

(2) What the heck does "ADC" stand for? Article doesn't even attempt to explain.

(3) Describing "major offensive" against as "backed by " is a bit of a stretch - ATMIS has been conspicuously uninvolved.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230621-au-force-in-somalia-starts-reducing-troop-numbers

polgeonow, to india
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

Good detailed report from International Crisis Group on the communal violence in 's state, which after months of conflict is "divided into exclusive ethnic zones". Govt troops "now patrol the buffer zone created in between, while the militias that have formed on both sides dig trenches and wait for an opportunity to attack."
https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/india/ethnic-clashes-roiling-manipur-pose-test-indias-modi

@geography

polgeonow, to Ukraine
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

Last week we published another update to PolGeoNow's professional overview map of territorial control in , covering the situation in August. More info: https://polgeonow.com/2023/08/ukraine-map-of-russian-control.html

@geopolitics @geography

polgeonow, (edited ) to Bulgaria
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

We've updated our map of member countries for 's admission into the alliance last month.
https://www.polgeonow.com/2024/04/map-update-sweden-joins-nato.html

@geography @geopolitics

polgeonow, to Dragonlance
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

Two weeks ago we published a subscriber update to our overview of territorial administration in /, with detailed timeline of events since December.

The map is still basically correct today, pending possible Israeli offensive on .

Full map & report: https://www.polgeonow.com/2024/03/israel-palestine-control-map-report-regional-conflict-timeline.html

@geography @geopolitics

polgeonow, to Israel
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

Excellent, serious reporting from journalist Peter Beaumont on casualty numbers and what they do and don't mean. https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/13/gaza-ministry-revises-figures-for-women-and-children-killed

@geopolitics

polgeonow, to Dragonlance
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

Getting caught up with our series of overview reports on the war. This Oct 2023 edition is free for all readers: https://www.polgeonow.com/2024/03/ukraine-control-map-counteroffensive-2023.html

@geography @geopolitics

polgeonow, to Palestine
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

The #Bahamas also recently joined most of the world in individually recognizing #Palestine as an independent country. https://mofa.gov.bs/the-commonwealth-of-the-bahamas-formally-recognizes-palestine-as-a-state/

#geography #diplomacy #defacto #defactostates #MENA #Caribbean #islandcountries #Israel @geography @geopolitics

polgeonow, to Minnesota
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

As of today the US state of #Minnesota officially has a new #flag, after deciding on the change last year. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/05/11/new-minnesota-state-flag-debuts-state-capitol

#flags #vexillology #geography #geographyteacher #NorthAmerica #USpolitics #admin1 @geography

polgeonow, to Palestine
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

delegation gets upgrade to its Observer status at the , as large majority of countries urge for it to be granted membership (so far blocked by US vetoes at ) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68983650 @geography @geopolitics

polgeonow, to Turkey
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

New: Your Complete Guide to 's 2021-2022 Name Change. A plain English explainer on what happened and why, how it started, and how it's going. Full article (free): https://www.polgeonow.com/2024/04/turkey-name-change-to-turkiye.html

@geography @geopolitics

polgeonow, to Argentina
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

#Argentina has applied to become an official partner country of #NATO (different from a full member, and not part of the mutual defense pact). https://time.com/6968884/argentina-nato-global-partner-request-milei/

#geography #geopolitics #military #security #SouthAmerica #intergovernmental @geopolitics @geography

polgeonow, to Israel
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

Conflict-tracker @ACLED provides some data-based analysis of the protests in the US, where news media have mostly focused on anecdotes.

https://acleddata.com/2024/05/02/pro-palestine-us-student-protests-nearly-triple-in-april-acled-brief/

#IsraelHamasWar #Israel #Palestine #protests #USA #politics #geography #geopolitics #politicalscience @geography @geopolitics

polgeonow, to journalism
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

The things I come across while studying territorial control in #Sudan:

Impressively well-researched and organized investigative report from @reuters on who directed apparent campaign of #genocide against #Masalit people in #WestDarfur state last year. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/sudan-politics-darfur-violence/

#journalism #Africa #conflicttracking #armedconflict #war #geography @geography

polgeonow, to worldwithoutus
@polgeonow@mstdn.social avatar

Interesting reporting as always from Mia Bennett of Cryopolitics, this time on the temporary Israeli base that was built in US state of to test defensive space missiles now being used in the .

https://www.cryopolitics.com/2024/04/29/kodiak-pacific-spaceport-complex-israel/

@geography @geopolitics

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