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Kellie Ramm

How Many Computers Does It Take to Make Contact with E.T.s? - 1 views

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    This resource, an article from the Wall Street Journal, is a more current take on the SETI @home project. It can be more easily understood by the average reader and gives a summary of both the history of the SETI @home project, and information on where it stands today. It also discusses further details of "distributed computing". According to this resource, late in the 1990s University of California, Berkeley scientist David P. Anderson thought that the millions of "often-idle computers"(Gomes, 2006) could be better utilised in distributed computing. The idea behind distributed computing is to take a scientific problem, and then share out the computations required to millions of computers. To test this theory, Dr. Anderson chose the SETI project, and set up SETI@home. Although the search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence was basically an "attention-getting gimic" (Gomes, 2006), it worked better then expected with almost a million users signing up and downloading the required client. Although there are now many other distributed computing projects available, almost akin to choosing which charity to donate to, many users are still loyal to the original SETI @home project. With their accumulated point system, earned by the number of computing hours donated to the project, users are unwilling to move to another project and lose the points they have earned. The current popularity of this project is shown by the 10,000+ members of the SETI @home facebook page (Facebook, 2011), which also demonstrates how many forms of online collaboration often cross paths. This resource describes the SETI @home project in easy to understand language making it a good introduction to the theory of distributed computing (or public-resource sharing) however some of the information seems to contradict that written on the SETI @home about page.
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    SETI@home has also inspired other collaborative shared computing projects. Most notably the Folding@home project conducted by Stanford University (Sony folding@Home 2008). The aim is to analyze proteins in hope of solving various diseases including Cancer. An interesting aspect of the project is its imbedding as a networked technology in the millions of PlayStations 3's around the world. As a user-setting, PlayStations left idle can shift processing resources to working through the protein work packets sent out by Stanford. Like the SETI Project, various teams compete for most work units analyzed. As an addition, Stanford are in the process of publishing peer reviewed results that stem from the completed work (Stanford 2009). Both this and the SETI Project hold technology as the central core of collaboration, but there is a human social factor playing an important role. Highlighted by the the team-play that gathers around the competition to see who is putting the most resources into completing work units. Sony folding@home (2008). The Folding@home™ Distributed Computing Project at Stanford University. Retrieved from http://www.scei.co.jp/folding/en/ Stanford (2009) Recent Research Papers from Folding@home. Retrieved from http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Papers
Kellie Ramm

BOINC: A System for Public-Resource Computing and Storage - 0 views

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    This resource is written by David P. Anderson from the University of California, Berkeley, the original founder of the SETI @home Project (Gomes, 2006) and discusses public-resource computing in more detail. It talks about the benefits of it over grid-computing and goes into more detail about the BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing) Platform for public-resource computing. Public-resource computing (also known as "global computing", "distributed computing" or "peer-to-peer computing") uses available resources on personal computers to do "scientific supercomputing" (Anderson, 2004). It also has the benefit of "encouraging public awareness of current scientific research". SETI @home, one of the most well known forms of public-resource computing, attracts millions of users worldwide and can provide 70 TeraFLOPS of sustained processing, versus approximately 35 TeraFLOPS from the largest conventional supercomputer (Anderson, 2004). The goals of BOINC include: * Reduce the barriers of entry to public-resource computing. * Share resources among autonomous projects * Support diverse applications * Reward participants There are now a number of projects that use BOINC other then SETI@home. These include: * Predictor@home - studies protein behaviour * Folding @home - studies protein folding, misfolding, aggregation, and related diseases. * Climateprediction.net - quantifies and reduces uncertainties in long-term climate prediction based on computer simulations. * Einstein@home - detects certain types of gravitational waves, such as those from spinning neutron stars, that can be detected only by using highly selective filtering techniques that require extreme computing power.
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    By participating in these projects members can feel like they are playing a small part in helping with curing disease, solving global warming, and other world issues. Attracting participants is always a goal of these projects so it's important that these computing programs give no real inconvenience to them. BOINC has a general preference option that allows members to set a number of features including how and when their computer resources are used. This includes "whether BOINC can do work while mouse/keyboard input is active", hours of use, how much disk space can be used, and the network bandwidth. BOINC allows for many different projects to use its systems/setup allowing for smaller research projects to take advantage of the greater computing capabilities. This could potentially in the future help out an unknown research make a global scientific discovery. Anderson, D. (2004). BOINC: A System for Public-Resource Computing and Storage. Retrieved from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1032646.1033223 Gomes, L. (2006). How Many Computers Does It Take to Make Contact with E.T.s? Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115145653496392561-3YTEjOQhd0ZilADHfEf8hoK4BhA_20070628.html?mod=blogs
Kellie Ramm

SETI@home - An Experiment in Public-Resource Computing - 0 views

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    This article talks about SETI @home's "design and implementation and discuss[es] its relevance to future distributed systems" (Anderson, Cobb, Korpela, Lebofsky, & Werthimer, 2002). The authors of this article are all staff of the University of California, Berkeley, in the space sciences laboratory. The University of California, Berkeley is the home of the SETI @home program. This resource gives a more in depth understanding of how the SETI @home program, in particular how public-resource computing works to aid in the processing of the data. All members of the SETI @home program are initially required to download the client program. This program collects a work unit from the main server, computes a result, returns this result to the main server, then gets another work unit. This article also shows the mathematics behind how this system gives so much computing power, but basically the more client programs computing the work units, the faster the data is processed. The stringent safety precautions are why this system is assured as so safe from malicious attacks from hackers and viruses. There is no communication at all between the various client machines, with each computer talking directly to the main server. As discussed within, for this to work public-resource computing projects need to attract users to their program, and keep them interested in remaining members. SETI @home uses word-of-mouth from its members, referral programs and mass-media news coverage to attract members. The client program can run as either a "GUI application or a screensaver", and runs during what is normally computer idling time which means that the impact on the user is minimal.
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    According to their 2002 poll the SETI @home user base is heavily dominated by males (93% of all users (Anderson et al., 2002)). This information can help them target market to their users. Some of the user benefits include the use of an online community where members can exchange ideas, and a competitive team/individual scoring system. Research is continuing into how to make this, and other forms, of public-resource computing more reliable and efficient in scientific calculations and discovery. Anderson, D., Cobb, J., Korpela, E., Lebofsky, M., & Werthimer, D. (2002). SETI@home: An Experiment in Public-Resource Computing. Communications of the ACM. 45(11), 56-61. doi: 10.1145/581571.581573
Helen Pidoulas

Anonymous and the global correction - Opinion - Al Jazeera English - 4 views

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    The online protest group 'Anonymous' use web based networking and collaboration tools as effective ways to support and achieve their collective goals. This article follows the technological and social conditions that have shaped the groups innovative use of the internet as a tool for political protest. Like the author states, "as the social, political and technological environment has developed, some have already begun to explore new options, seizing new chances for digital activism"(Anonymous, 2011). In many ways it is hard to see how decentralized networks of like-minded protesters can achieve political change. While Anonymous are aware of how "a loose network of people with shared values and varying skill sets (providing) substantial help to a population abroad is seen as quixotic"(Anonymous, 2011), recent campaigns in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya are generally recognized as highly effective and indicative of what is achievable when collaborating on real world projects via web-based networks (see, Keane, B. 2011). Like Wikipedia and other mass-collaboration projects, it is a global network that drives Anonymous' influence. For example, anonymous use tools such as 'Low Orbit Ion Cannon'; or 'LOIC' (see, Arthur, C. 2010), allowing people from around the world to collaborate together. LOIC enables the group to carry out "distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, involving thousands of computer users who request large amounts of data from a website simultaneously, overwhelming it" (Anonymous, 2011). Online systems of mass-collaboration are proving to be productive and influential vehicles for social or political change. To understand their success we need to acknowledge how the "technological infrastructure that allows these movements has been in place for well under a decade - but phenomena such as WikiLeaks and Anonymous have already appeared, expanded, and even become players within the geopolitical environment" (Anonymous, 2011).
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    How one man tracked down Anonymous-and paid a heavy price While Anonymous may have seized "new chances for digital activism" it remains subject to investigations and attacks both on the group's concepts and any individuals that can be identified. Its aim to achieve political change through civil disobedience leaves individuals open to prosecution and persecution if identified. This article looks further at attempts to infiltrate Anonymous. It becomes a contest between those seeking to expose the real identities of the Anonymous activists and the activist's responses to these attacks. This article describes one such conflict. It is not clear from the article just what the result was and it is implied that publicity was the aim for an attempt to gain Government Internet Security contracts. The interesting point is that a loose gathering of diversely motivated activists is as vulnerable to cyber attacks as the targets they attack. In a private e-mail Barr is quoted to have said :"They think I have nothing but a hierarchy based on IRC [Internet Relay Chat] aliases!" he wrote. "As 1337 as these guys are supposed to be they don't get it. I have pwned them! :)" (Andersen, 2011) The article claims that from leaked e-mails it attained the full story of how Barr infiltrated Anonymous, used social media to compile his lists, and even resorted to attacks on the codebase of the Low Orbit Ion Cannon-and how others at his own company warned him about the pitfalls of his research. What is 'pwned'? "Pwned" means "to be controlled against your will", or "to be defeated by a superior power". The noun version is pwnage. The "pwn" expression originated in the 1980's from the word "owned". It was used to describe when a hacker would take remote control of a server or another computer. The use of "p" to replace "o" was simply a misspelling at first, but the spelling stuck as a stylistic point. (Gil, 2011) What is 1337? "H
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    What is 1337? "Hacker "Sp33k" for leet, or elite. Originating from 31337 "eleet" the UDP port used by Dead Cow Cult, a hacker group, to access Windows 95 using Back Orifice, a notorious hacking program." (Urban Dictionary, 2011) Works Cited Andersen, N. (2011, March). How one man tracked down Anonymous-and paid a heavy price. Retrieved April 12, 2011, from ars technica: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/how-one-security-firm-tracked-anonymousand-paid-a-heavy-price.ars Gil, P. (2011). What is 'pwned'? Retrieved April 10, 2011, from About.com: http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/p/f/pwned.htm Urban Dictionary. (2011). Retrieved April 10, 2011, from Urban Dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=1337
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    Low Orbit ION Cannon This hacking tool can be downloaded free of charge by anyone from Source Forge. (abatishchev, 2011) This is interesting as it will probably be illegal for anyone to use the tools to "impair the operation" of a computer which includes servers. According to reports on the Source Forge you should note that the program may include Trojans. There is a clear warning: USE ON YOUR OWN RISK. WITH NO ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES. In Great Britain for example anyone who uses Low Orbit ION Cannon would be likely to have committed an offence under Computer Misuse Act 1990. Specifically: "This subsection applies if the person intends by doing the act-(a)to impair the operation of any computer;(b)to prevent or hinder access to any program or data held in any computer;(c)to impair the operation of any such program or the reliability of any such data; or(d)to enable any of the things mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c) above to be done." "A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable-(a)on summary conviction in England and Wales, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both;(b)on summary conviction in Scotland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both;(c)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or to a fine or to both." (Computer Misuse Act 1990, 1990) Works Cited abatishchev. (2011, January 23). Low Orbit Ion Cannon. Retrieved April 11, 2011, from SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/loic/ Computer Misuse Act 1990. (1990). Retrieved April 11, 2011, from legislation.gov.uk: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/18/section/3
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    A loosely organised group of hackers is targeting oppressive regimes and says this is just the beginning (Anonymous, 2011). Anonymous presents a mechanism for socio-political change, using the available technological infrastructure that also facilitates such movements as WikiLeaks. This opinion piece, hosted by Al Jazeera, describes an evangelical movement in protest against what they perceive to be oppressive establishments, as governments or institutions. They consider themselves a movement for digital activism, and in this article focus almost exclusively on the plight of the Tunisian people, with mentions of attacks on the Church of Scientology and WikiLeaks, and the Australian government following the introduction of internet censorship laws (Anonymous, 2011). The article reads like a resume of Anonymous' achievements, and the motivations behind their actions, such as the WikiLeaks release of material exposing atrocities perpetrated by the Tunisian government provoking participants in the Anonymous network to attack via distributed denial of service (DDoS) non-essential government websites and replace them with messages of support for the Tunisian people (Anonymous, 2011). Such activities require the concerted efforts of collaborating individuals across a potentially widely dispersed online network. When compared with GetUp!, a community-minded tool for promoting activism for campaigns relevant to Australians, or Avaaz, a global community-minded campaign tool, the Anonymous movement, though also created with the best intentions, still reads in this article as taking matters more directly into their own hands, with limited accountability. The article uses such language as 'information warfare', 'revolution', and 'attacking', and endorses the breaking of laws to achieve what members of the movement believe in; '[t]here is a reason, after all, that those of us who have seen the movement up close have dedicated our lives to what it stands for, and have even vio
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    One of the problems with digital activism is that the internet is a tool that can be accessed by many people, cross-border and across many different countries. What might be acceptable practice and perfectly legal in a country like Australia, might be liable to prosecution in countries like China where the government censors not only the internet, but people in general. Freedom in countries like Australia is taken for granted. Other countries might not enjoy this freedom, and when people try to access content that is politically sensitive or illegal in their country, questions are raised about who is providing the illegal content, and the person accessing the material can be liable to prosecution. Internet laws are also changing rapidly, and it is very difficult for people to keep up with the constantly changing landscape of laws that are evolving and reshaping. While there is a need for activism, an awareness or a better understanding of the potential for breaking the law needs to be clearly understood when posting politically or socially active sensitive material online. There is a real danger that activities that are legal for people surfing the web in Australia are not legal in other countries, and the implications this can mean for people not only posting material, but those reading and interacting content, especially if they have to by-pass traditional methods of accessing the internet to get through to what they want to read, hear or see. Louis-Jacques, L. (2003). Legal Research on International Law Issues. Retrieved from http://www2.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/forintlaw.html
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    Digital or online 'Hacktivism' has a perception of existing as a natural extension of more traditional forms of protest. Being that the Internet has moved on from being a relatively static information source and into a dynamic realm where regulation and social policy is conducted by governments, protesting has struggled to find its place. An example of collaboration gone astray can be seen in the story of 22 year old Matthew George. In October 2009, in reaction to the Australian Federal Government's attempts to legislate an Internet filter Matthew volunteered to let his PC take part in a denial of service attack on government websites. In collaborating with other PC's Matthew thought "We hoped to achieve a bit of media attention to why internet censorship was wrong..." (SMH 2011) Charged and bought before court, the hacking was not seen as protest by authorities but more akin to cyber-terrorism. Whilst the 'real world' allows avenues for protest, as in registered street marches...the Internet has no such outlet, with the exception of self-publication on forums and social media. This has led to a situation where online collaborative protest seems to lead frequently to vandalism in the form of denial of service attacks. Meet the hacktivist who tried to take down the government (2011) Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/technology/security/meet-the-hacktivist-who-tried-to-take-down-the-government-20110314-1btkt.html#ixzz1L9cdAeuE
Chris Johnson

Anonymous hackers take on the Church of Scientology - 13 views

You may like this article Keith http://www.news.com.au/technology/anonymous-vows-payback-for-sonys-case-against-playstation-3-hackers/story-e6frfrnr-1226033974414 The Chriso

anonymous hackers DoS Cyber Crime Net308oua-2011

tim findlay

The eRevolution - 1 views

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    This article is presented on famousboggers.com a blogging site dedicated to academics publishing writing on current events. In this article Mohamed Osam (network and computer engineer) talks about the technological factors leading up to the revolution in Egypt. The "eRevolution" was sparked by a group of young activists on Facebook, they were pushing for reform on freedom and social injustice (Osam, 2011). These Facebook groups attracted more than 85,000 protestors via group posts, and comments, while communicating heavily on twitter and sometimes cell phone SMS services (Osam, 2011). Other Facebook groups were initiated before and during the protests to support the logistics and the massive demonstrations that erupted all over Egypt. The "Rasd News Network (R.N.N)" Facebook group was one of the main contributors to the revolution, sending protest updates, news updates and politician and media reaction (Osam, 2011). With such a public outcry the Egyptian government shut down all Internet communication in Egypt, but by this time things had already escalated beyond the governments repair (Franco, 2011). After a few more days of the increasing number of protestors, high national and international pressures, and a total of 18 days of protesting, Omar Suleiman (the recently appointed Egyptian vice president) resigned his position (Franco, 2011). This article brings up interesting points around the effects of online collaboration and communication. What is the future for these types of online political movements? The factor that seems to be most interesting is the fact that there was social action and results gained by taking the fight online just as offline. The power of online collaboration has obviously proven its point with these recent events in Egypt, so where too next? Could this type of political movement be a stepping-stone for further political activism or just like many other tools be used for both positive and negative behavior? Some see this as
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    being a dangerous example on creating unrest and instability in society. All these questions can only be answered in time, but it does make you think about social media in a completely different light, representing the power and capability of these platforms to gain exposure and organization to a vast audience. References Osam, M. (2011). The eRevolution. Retreived, April 13, 2011. From http://www.famousbloggers.net/the-erevolution.html Franco, J. (2011). Egyptian government orders Internet blackout amid protests. Retreived, April 13, 2011. From http://www.techspot.com/news/42194-egyptian-government-orders-internet-blackout-amid-protests.html
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    Quote: On Jan 25th, 2011, the world for the first time has witnessed a revolution that brilliantly leveraged the power of social networking tools to overthrow a corrupt regime. Facebook, twitter and blogs were all used to mobilize people all over Egypt (Osam, 2011a) . This article can be related to mine in different ways. From further research, the organisation that I have used in this project Avaaz, has also aided to Egypt's cause and is still aiding toward Egypt's plight. In one way, they are seeking one million signatures on a partition called Stand With The People of Egypt, where they hope to "... end three decades of repressive rule" (Avaaz.org, 2011a). This petition includes links to also promote it through the use of Email, Facebook and Twitter to spread the word. Concurrently, Avaaz has also helped Egypt with a petition to stop Mubarak taking "... billions in stolen public money with him" (Avaaz.org, 2011b). Avaaz needed to collect 550,000 signatures, which they were successful in collecting. The author Muhamed Osam wrote the article, The eRevolution (Osam, 2011a), using a variety of sources and incorporates links to them. Osam has written a few other articles, and is very popular in social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others. His biography states that he is "A network engineer and a security specialist with a BSc degree in Computer Engineering, MS in Computer Networks, MBA in International Business and MS in global management" (Osam, n.d.) I agree with Tim Findlay's thoughts as he concludes that, "... it does make you think about social media in a completely different light, representing the power and capability of these platforms to gain exposure and organization to a vast audience" (Findlay, 2011). These organisations and the use of social networking tools do seem to make the world a smaller but better place.
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    References: Avaaz.org. (2011). Stand With The People Of Egypt. Avaaz - The World in Action. Retrieved from https://secure.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_egypt/?fpla Avaaz.org. (2011). Freeze Mubarak's stolen fortune. Avaaz - The World in Action. Retrieved from http://www.avaaz.org/en/mubaraks_fortune/ Findlay, T. (2011). eRevolution on Diigo - oua_net308_2011 group. Retrieved from http://groups.diigo.com/group/oua_net308_2011 Osam, M. (n.d.). Articles by Mohamed Osam. The eRevolution. Retrieved from http://www.famousbloggers.net/author/mohamedosam Osam, M. (2011). The eRevolution. Retrieved from http://www.famousbloggers.net/the-erevolution.html
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    This is a great article that describes the technological and social influences that allowed millions of people to network and collaborate online during the protests in Egypt earlier this year. It shows how many citizens of Egypt successfully used various online services and tools in maintaining communications and mobilizing massive group actions throughout this time. The author explains how this was "the first revolution sparked, managed and orchestrated by social networking, by Facebook, twitter, blogs and YouTube"(Osam, M. 2011); and questions any potential harm that may arise from such seemingly powerful tools of social and political change. This supports the article 'Anonymous Uses Collaborative Document Sharing Tool for Social Survival' that I have posted to Diigo. These works investigate the widespread use of both public and anonymous web services in the coordination of information, communications and group movements during social and political protests in the Middle East. They show how these platforms were used as flexible networking and collaborating tools which effectively reached large numbers of people. While the Anonymous article focuses on the creation and distribution of their 'Revolution Survival Guide' for Tunisians - using tools that allowed "simple, free, and publicly "anonymous" way(s) to share and collaborate on information" (Clay, K. 2011); the Egyptian protests were initially "sparked by a group of young activists on Facebook"(Osam, M. 2011). These different networking and collaboration platforms were successfully used as social and political tools against oppressive regimes. References Clay, K. (2011). Anonymous Uses Collaborative Document Sharing Tool for Social Survival. Social Media and Technology. 25th of February 2011. Available from: http://www.lockergnome.com/social/2011/02/25/anonymous-uses-collaborative-document-sharing-tool-for-social-survival Osam, M. (2011). The eRevolution. Retreived, April 13, 2011. From
Alan Beazley

Voice tweets sidestep Egypt web ban. (February 1, 2011). ABC News online. Retrieved A... - 2 views

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    This ABC online article highlights some important aspects about the use of social-media and the role it played organising, coordinating and documenting Egypt's 2011 uprising. Firstly, the initial ban of web services such as Facebook and Twitter was an indication of the Egyptian government recognising the power, connectedness and participatory nature of social-media . In an attempt to silence the demonstrators and to avoid a repeat of the 2009 Iran revolution, Egyptian authorities took it one step further and not only blocked certain web site but completely shut down access to the entire world-wide-web (Stone, 2009). This act alone illustrates the fragility of the Internet, despite its decentralised design. Literally, with the flick of a switch, Internet Service Providers acting on government instructions blocked web access within the country. It can be argued the political protesting in Egypt would occur with our without a social-media influence; however, it is still important to examine the length Egyptian demonstrators went to in order to circumvent the Internet block and continue to take leverage from popular social media services. An example is the use of 'voice-to-tweet' - a cooperative development by Google, Twitter and an online voice provider called SayNow. This innovation allowed Egyptians to call a telephone number and leave a message which would automatically be converted to text, published on Twitter and tagged with #Egypt. This example highlights Twitter and new media being used for collaboration and participation; specifically between citizen activists and journalists around the world. Much like the Internet, news media was also blocked within Egypt and reporters faced the same communication challenges as everybody else, this workaround however was an effective way for Egyptians to stay connected and ensure their stories were continuing to be voiced to the eagerly listening global audience. Stone, B. (June 15, 2009). Social Net
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    This article dated 1 February 2011 announced a new service whereby voicemail sent to several mobile numbers could be converted into text messages and subsequently posted to twitter with a special hashtag appended. The hashtag #egypt served to organise the received tweets into a searchable topic. The service was developed by Google in consultation with Twitter and a third application, a social online voice platform called SayNow. It aimed to bypass the Egyptian government's shut down of the Internet and to facilitate the free speech of Egyptian protesters and the dissemination of information. In an article written for the Guardian on 3rd February 2011, Patrick Kingsley mentions the Egyptian government shutting down both Internet and mobile access. Egyptian protesters, however, refused to give in and "improvised by using dial-up connections"(Kingsley 2011) that continued to enable this new "speak to tweet" technology" (Kingsley 2011). There appears to be a dialectic at play whereby protesters make use of new technologies to communicate and collaborate and the government responds by blocking access to the technology being thus used. Protesters then find alternative ways to access the technologies that facilitate their communication and collaboration. The Egyptian government's actions to stifle what it considers dissent, led Shervin Pishevar, founder of the Open Mesh project, to begin work on developing small, easy to conceal, mobile routers that can create "mesh networks between people with computers or other wifi-connected devices and others with these pocket-sized routers, so the information can hop along until it can find someone near enough an uplink to the outside world to get the information through" (Meadows 2011). Open Mesh routers are still in development, but promise to create an alternative avenue for protester communications, one that will be more difficult for governments to shut down.
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    REFS: ABC News (2011). Voice tweets sidestep Egypt web ban. Retrieved from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/01/3126626.htm Kingsley, P. (2011). Inside the anti-kettling HQ. Retrieved from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/feb/02/inside-anti-kettling-hq?INTCMP=SRCH Meadows, C. (2011). Open Mesh Project seeks to use mesh networking to promote freedom. Retrieved from: http://www.teleread.com/net-related-tooks-from-search-engines-to-blogware/open-mesh-project-seeks-to-use-mesh-networking-to-promote-freedom/
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    Don't call it a Twitter revolution just yet is the message from Kravets in his article on recent protests in Egypt. "It's about years of repression and dictatorship. Revolutions existed before Twitter and Facebook," said Issandr el-Amrani, a Cairo writer and activist, said in a telephone interview from Tunisia. These important statements bring closer a situation in the Egypt and what role played Twitter during recent protests raging through Egypt. It is known fact that the technology has always been linked to political activities. People always find new ways how to communicate as long as it is fast and reliable for the information to get out to public either locally or worldwide. It is no surprise the Twitter provided communication link to people in Egypt and between Egypt and the rest of the world while Egyptian government shut down the Internet and its attached SMS and VOIP phone coverage services during the protests. As stated by Cairo writer and activist, 'revolutions existed before the Twitter' which is correct and revolutions will exist after the Twitter's life is over and will be replaced with something new that may offer its communication services when needed.
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    The events that unfolded during the uprising in Egypt are a good example of how flexible and mobile social networks can be in relation to effective communication between members of society. Through the Egyptian government shutting off all Internet connections collaborative efforts were made by both Twitter and Google to still allow information to be distributed throughout the country. As stated above, the speak-to-tweet services were available in which voicemail messages were left and then converted into text messages, which were then posted via twitter (ABC News, 2011). This is a great example of how devices can be implemented and used to adjust to the situation at hand. In one of my previous posts I talked about the United States becoming concerned around social media's effectiveness in relation to social protest, in which they have made plans to impose legislation to create a 'kill switch' to re-create what the Egyptian government previous did, cut all lines of Internet communication in times of political disturbance (Grubb & Moses, 2011). The elements that unfolded in Egypt after the lines of Internet communication were cut is a good example of how other devices can be implemented for information to be distributed amongst society. It is not as simple as cutting off an Internet connection and assume that collaborative communication will cease. Just as the US government has seen the warning signs of the power of social networks, society has also seen the weakness in relying on a national Internet service. 'Mesh' Networks as I previously stated in another post are currently underdevelopment for mobile phones in which there is no central device, instead each node is equipped with radio communications which acts as a relay point to other nodes, placing the pressure off obtaining a connection from a main server (Gedda ,2010).
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    References: ABC News (2011). Voice tweets sidestep Egypt web ban. Retrieved April 17, 2011 from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/01/3126626.htm Grubb, B; Moses, A. (2011). As Egypt goes offline US gets Internet 'kill switch' bill ready. Retrieved April 17, 2011. From http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/as-egypt-goes-offline-us-gets-internet-kill-switch-bill-ready-20110131-1aah3.html Gedda, R. (2010). Mobile Phone Coverage Expanded Via 'Mesh' Networks. Retrieved April, 17, 2011. from http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/352948/mobile_phone_coverage_expanded_via_mesh_networks/.
Alan Beazley

Kravets, D. (January 27, 2011). What's Fueling Mideast Protests? It's More Than Twitter. - 1 views

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    Kravet's Wired online article details the role social-media services such as; Facebook, Twitter and YouTube played in the 2011 Egypt political revolution. The primary focus of his article suggests the uprising was the result of years of oppression and dictatorship, not simply a Twitter or mass media revolution as some have labelled it (Bergstrom, 2009). Kravet does acknowledge the link between technology and modern upheavals by using the example of the fax machine and the role it played informing the world of the Tiananmen Square massacre. At the same time, he still emphasises that social-media and communication systems are used as an effective way of coordinating protests and political gatherings. A quarter of Egyptian citizens have Internet access; therefore, it can be said that social media is a powerful channel activists could utilise - in conjunction with leaflets and spontaneous amalgamation - to effectively facilitate organisation of the masses. Activists also used social media as a way of gauging the scope of their proposed protests by encouraging Facebook users to confirm their attendance. Prior to the Internet being blocked, one particular organiser had 80,000 confirmations for a January 29, 2011 demonstration. After the Egyptian government's initial block of popular, social-networking services (prior to the entire Internet being shutdown in Egypt) protestors took leverage from a variety of technologies such as; web proxies, VPNs and smartphone applications to gain access to Facebook and Twitter. Again this demonstrates the importance these tools play in information sharing and mass collaboration. Bergstrom, G. (2009). Egypt: The First Twitter Revolution? Retrieved, April 4 2011, from http://marketing.about.com/od/crisis_communication/a/egypt-mubarak-power-in-social-media.htm Kravets, D. (January 27, 2011). What's Fueling Mideast Protests? It's More Than Twitter. Retrieved April 5, from http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/
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    [Please note: This comment is in two parts due to Diigo restrictions on length] Thanks so much for adding this link Alan. I was amazed at how social media was used in helping to organize protests against the repression of the Mubarak regime in Egypt recently, yet saddened by the fact that the Egyptian Government erased Egypt from Global connectivity by shutting down the Internet across Egypt (Kravets, 2011b). As Kravets (2011b) heard from one reporter "The Egyptian government's actions tonight essentially wiped their country from the global map." What was most interesting however was how Kravets (2011a) explained that only one quarter of the Egyptian population had access to the Internet. Most of their revolution was organized the old-fashioned way via word-of-mouth, pamphlet distribution and the spontaneous gatherings of people intent on making a stand against Mubarak and his dictatorship (2011a). However despite Kravets reporting that perhaps this revolution would have occurred whether there was social media activity or not, the fact that the Egyptian government blocked access to the Internet, means that the world outside Egypt may not know what is happening until after the event - and therefore it may be too late to send assistance of any form. More importantly for the rise of social media and protests, the blocking of Egyptian Internet by their government highlights the fact that the power inherent in Internet-related social media activities was recognized. [Please navigate to the next comment]
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    [Continued from previous comment] In terms of my chosen topic of Flash Mobs, much of what occurs in public view is usually the result of months of planning, organizing and collaborating via emails and social media networks. If a Flash Mob is organized without Internet usage (both before and after the event), the impact would not be as great and therefore the issue highlighted by that activity would not have the desired global impact. The curious thing about Flash Mobs however is that they are usually organized without a cause and as such are simply a way to create a spectacle in an urban space (Molnar, 2009). Social media definitely assisted the people revolution in Egypt earlier this year, but until more of their population can gain access, organizational tools will be relying on the more traditional methods of leaflet distribution and gathering crowds street-by-street. Thanks again for sharing this article Alan - it definitely broadened my insular world and I look forward to reading about more current events regarding Egypt now that I have this background information. REFERENCES Kravets, D. (2011a). What's Fueling Mideast Protests? It's More Than Twitter. Published by Wired January 27, 2011. Retrieved April 12, 2011 from http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/social-media-oppression/ Kravets, D. (2011b). Internet Down in Egypt, Tens of Thousands Protest in 'Friday of Wrath.' Published by Wired January 27, 2011. Retrieved April 12, 2011 from: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/egypt-internet-down/ Molnar, V. (2009). Reframing Public Space: Flash Mobs and the Futility of Contemporary Urban Youth Culture. Retrieved April 12, 2
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    I found Kravet's article interesting, particularly as I have been focusing on civil unrest and protests in Europe and the Middle East myself. Kravet acknowledged the link between technology and modern upheavals by using the example of the fax machine and the role it played informing the world of the Tiananmen Square massacre. In the last two hundred years technology has continued to facilitate communication - we have gone from print media to telephone, radio, television, and now of course computer technology, making the dissemination of information easier and more widespread. There is no doubt that social media is an effective tool in mobilizing and engaging citizens, but as Kravet says it is more than Twitter fuelling the Middle East protests. Peter Dahlgren, in Van de Donk et als "Cyberprotest: new media, citizens and social movements" (2004), summarised the role of the internet in the political arena. He said "we should avoid becoming obsessed with just the communication technology itself...we need to include in our analytical horizons the complex ways in which ICT's interplay with the dynamics of social movements, as well as with mainstream political structures and contemporary cultural trends that frame these movements" (Dahlgren, in 2004Van de Donk et al, p.xv) Thanks for sharing this article Alan. I can only imagine the wealth of scholarly articles and research that will be published in the next few years on the use of social media in political protests, its certainly an interesting topic to research. REFERENCES: Kravets, D. (2011). What's Fueling Mideast Protests? It's More Than Twitter. Published by Wired January 27, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2011 from http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/social-media-oppression/ Van de Donk, W., Loader, B. Nixon, P. And Rucht, D. (eds). (2004) Cyberprotest: n
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    The article is interesting, but i just wanted to touch on the statements that were raised around communication after the Internet had actually been shut off. I was fascinated to read about how society can mobilize and use the resources that are available in times of need. Using third party proxies, organizers were able figure out ways to bypass the Egyptian Internet filters and to be able to once again access Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other Internet sites (Osam, 2011). Despite the Internet blackout, landline communication was never blocked; Egyptians found another way to access the Internet through landlines dial-up Internet services and fax services. Egyptians living outside Egypt were receiving faxes through regular landline phones, by using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technologies they could convert the fax image into text contents, and post the contents, news and updates into Facebook, Twitter and different blogs (Sutter, 2011). This convergence in technology just goes to show that these types of situations cannot be simply shut off by closing down all Internet connections within the country. As an indication on how fast online communication services are popping up into the spotlight, Google in the meantime launched a new service called "speak2tweet", which allowed Egyptians to call a regular landline number in Cairo and speak their tweet to an IVR/Voice recognition system. The speak2tweet system would then convert the caller voice message into a text tweet (Osam, 2011). References Osam, M. (2011). The eRevolution. Retrieved, April 13, 2011. From http://www.famousbloggers.net/the-erevolution.html
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    Sutter, J. (2011). The Faces of Egypt's 'Revolution 2.0'. Retrieved, April 13, 2011. From http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/02/21/egypt.internet.revolution/index.html
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