Ed. Note: I’m a space nerd, so bear with me as I try to bring some science to this international communications blog.

During the Cold War, technological advancements in the U.S. and USSR carried a powerful symbolic meaning. Which country would be the first to put a man in space? Or on the moon? Each scientific milestone represented a victory for each country.

But in 1998, the “new frontier” became an arena for pioneering international cooperation when the International Space Station was assembled by space agencies in the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada. By working together in the station, the U.S. and other participating nations are able to make their dollars in space research stretch further and share scientific findings between nations. The ISS has brought about an era of peaceful international communications in science between several countries. But this collaboration has not been all sunshine and rainbows.

As discussed in Daya Kishan Thussu’s book International Communication: Continuity and Change, states that are still developing technologically have a disadvantage, even in the modern era. This was demonstrated in 1996, when Brazil and NASA reached an agreement that would send a Brazilian astronaut to space in return for flight hardware. The Brazilian space program’s poor industrial management ended in a failure to produce the hardware, and NASA chose not to include the Brazilian astronaut. Aside from the political tensions that arose from this, Brazilian exclusion also communicated to political and scientific leaders that supporting advances in the Brazilian space program was futile.

As international communication is fostered through scientific networks, it is important to note how certain nations are left out.

MaryCate Most

New media forms emerge all the time, often catching on with a specific demographic. Snapchat, the social media app in which users can send short videos or photos of themselves to friends, is generally targeted toward a younger audience.

But now, because of the face-changing filters that Snapchat has adopted, documentary filmmakers have found a new demographic that might benefit from this media form: sexual assault survivors.

Because sexual assault and rape is heavily stigmatized in India, sexual assault survivors are often left with no alternative but than to remain silent about acts of violence taken against them. Snapchat can change that. Because the face-changing filters allow users to record live video testimony without being identified, the app works to authenticate Indian women’s stories while maintaining anonymity.

Because Snapchat is an internationally used social media platform, those stories can then be shared with users around the world.

This is not the first time that a new, international media platform has acted as a way for victims of violence to share their stories with the world.

During the Arab Spring, activists took to Twitter to speak their minds about governmental injustice. That platform gave users an opportunity not only to network with others in the same position as them (and, in that case, call for revolution), but also to broadcast their individual view points without censorship from a media outlet or their nation.

-MaryCate Most