It’s that time again! I’ve found myself with 15 spare minutes so I’m setting a timer and writing up some of the thoughts that have been whirling around in my head. Let’s go.

You may have noticed over the last few months that ResearchBuzz is including more and more stories from international sources, and not just resources. Instead it’s news about government actions, editorials, etc. Why? It’s because I’m noticing three large categories of change / trends and I think they’re important:

INTERNET ACCESS: Many countries have liberal Internet access policies, while other countries restrict totally what their citizens can access. But what about the countries in between? What about Iraq, which periodically shuts down its Internet access to prevent exam cheating? What about Gambia, which shut down its Internet for elections? What about Zimbabwe, which has very expensive mobile data prices? The UN has declared Internet access to be a human right. How will partial instances of revoked access be addressed?

TAXATION: Many countries and groups, including Indonesia, India, and Spain, are asking Google and other tech companies hard questions about the taxes they’re paying and the way they’re making money in different countries. These questions will only increase.

TRANSPARENCY: Countries are becoming more transparent in unexpected ways. China’s legal system has been making big pushes for transparency. Ukraine is providing more information on government spending and its officials are providing asset declarations. How will this continue? Will the relative transparency across worldwide governments shift, and how much? And what will the activist public do with these new resources.

My fifteen minutes are up and I apologize for the brevity.