A group of international volunteers who are using pioneering online research techniques to investigate world events — from Mexican drug lords and crimes against humanity, to tracking the use of chemical weapons and conflicts worldwide.

By teaching machines to understand our true desires, one scientist hopes to avoid the potentially disastrous consequences of having them do what we command.

“I deserve to have a healthy relationship with social media. And I’m working on it.” Writer, producer, and director Nida Chowdhry shares insights on her social media use after deactivating her Instagram account.

“Have you ever held a door for a stranger and they didn’t thank you for it? That’s what it feels like when someone uses your work and doesn’t give you credit or proper attribution.” In this Own Your Content toolkit, Creative Commons CEO Ryan Merkley and others share advice on giving credit on the internet.

“Mostly I am going to sit in silence for long periods, seeing where my thoughts take me, learning (I hope) to accept them as I go. . . . I might even get a cat. If I do, you’ll be the last to know.” Anthony Wilson writes a goodbye letter to Facebook.

“What I do when I look at Twitter is less akin to reading a book than to the encounter I have with a recipe’s instructions or the fine print of a receipt: I’m taking in information, not enlightenment.” Mairead Small Staid explores the work of Sven Birkerts and reading in our digital age.

Austin Kleon on the need to gain a sense of ownership over our online lives: “Back [in 2013], the worst I felt social media did was waste your time. Now, the worst social media does is cripple democracy and ruin your soul.”

Cristian Mihai has been a prolific blogger for years; in this post, he shares his hard-earned insight into the things that can help people build — and maintain — a blogging rhythm and an audience.

“A simple question, posed at eight o’clock on a Saturday night. I got 5,000 comments back.” At the Village Voice, Mikel Jollett writes on music’s power to evoke memory and a sense of loss.

Maria Popova, the founder of Brain Pickings, on how she loathes the term “content” when applied to cultural material: “One can’t ‘own’ any fragment of this complex interlacing of ideas and influences we call culture.”

“Everywhere you look now people are creating glossy narratives about their lives on myriad social media accounts, and the kind of unfiltered ramblings that were the norm on sites like LiveJournal are just a dim memory.” The writer at Tiny Rubies recalls journaling at LiveJournal and how writing online used to be.

“I sometimes feel like we collect different versions of ourselves — and in an effort to fit amongst a particular crowd we pull one of those selves from the pack, like a magician mid-card trick.” Flora at Flora the Explorer contemplates her blogging and social media presence.

Blogger Sherina on finding what to say to her (growing) audience: “Something is better than nothing; as many writers have noted, you can’t edit a blank page.”

“Pushing back on abuse, giving users full transparency about complaints, and being as transparent as possible when we see abuse helps to make it a fair fight for those who put their trust in us as host.”