According to survey data, American women consistently score lower on questions of political knowledge than do men. This difference makes women less likely to vote, run for office or communicate with their elected representatives. However, the root causes and structural barriers that explain this persistent gender gap in political knowledge — typically a 10-point difference in surveys — are not well understood.

The Republic of South Sudan became the world’s newest nation on July 9, 2011. Although the Second Sudanese Civil War officially ended in 2005, nearly 40 years of conflict have left South Sudan with substantial economic and infrastructure challenges, ranging from protracted border disputes to a high rate of illiteracy and limited access to clean water.

In response to the controversial 2000 U.S. presidential election, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) two years later. Among its provisions was financial assistance to enable states to replace traditional voting machines — including those responsible for Florida’s notorious “hanging chads” — with direct-recording electronic (DRE) devices intended to be more accurate and secure.

A growing number of studies have examined how search engine and social media activity can be used to document current social trends and predict future patterns. Indeed, research literature has found that activity registered in Google Trends and Twitter chat can help predict various kinds of consumer and social data, including consumer goods marketability, the success of movies pending release and disease outbreaks.