Group items tagged

These are some fun games to be used with young students. Civics (formerly Our Courts) is a web-based education project designed to teach students civics and inspire them to be active participants in our democracy.

Posting this to test Diigo...also because it was a GREAT find - a current study that provides information for both my digital storytelling project AND my group project on ethics....Here's a summary of what it's about. Also was wondering if "Sribd" is another sort of Diigo? The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning, published by the MIT Press, present Findings From current research on how young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. The Reports result from research projects funded by the MacArthur Foundation as part of its $50 million initiative in digital media and learning. They are published openly online (as well as in print) in order to support broad dissemination and to stimulate further research in the Field.

Another article found in my search for information about the "global digital divide." According to the article, last week, the United Nations released a report that "argued that disconnecting individuals from the Internet is a violation of human rights and goes against international law" and that all States should seek to ensure there is "as little restriction to online content as possible." The Atlantic points out, following Wired's Threat Level blog, that the UN report came "the same day that a monitoring firm found two-thirds of Syria's Internet access has been shut down without notice." While access isn't the only factor in the digital divide on a global or a national scale (disparities in information or new media literacy is also a huge factor, for example), I agree that the availability of unfettered access as a matter of government policy is the bare minimum.

It confuses me that it can be considered a basic human right if, for a portion of the population, it's hard to access and at times, can be unreachable. Even though I know it's more what Tom said about it being a negative right, the phrasing just doesn't sit right. Either way, this is a great thing and I'm surprised it didn;t happen sooner.

I had come across this article as well in our group project research, Maggie, and I think that the UN is taking steps to bring the conversation on the right to freedom of opinion and expression into the digital age, as Tom mentions. Article 19 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, in place since 1948, states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." So in the context of the recent shutdown of ISPs by Syria, more generally the use of the Internet as a means of civic and political dissidence, and even the debate around net neutrality in this country, I agree with Maggie that the UN's approach seems to clarify and reiterate unfettered access to information.

The Time Magazine Techland blog reports on theories behind why France banned mentions of Facebook and Twitter on French TV (unless the companies are being reported on specifically). Following French blogger Benoit Raphael (whose French-language blog is linked to in the article), they argue that "both social networks are so ubiquitious as to essentially count as public space."

This seems to parallel (perhaps even extend?) Sarkozy's recent support for building up intellectual property rights and digital rights management on the Internet. Interesting to see what sort of opposition might grow from your example (if any) in light of petitions and other fallout from many civic organizations in his calls for action at the e-G8 summit a couple weeks back: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/defending_innovation_and_net_neutrality_at_eg8_video.php?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4ddffe33e2a44342%2C0

I saw this book listed somewhere (probably a library blog) a while back and it was recommended as a great primer on how technology and Internet learning is actually creating more class differentiation in this country rather than the opposite.