Group items tagged

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.

An interesting case of the big three search engines striking an agreement on structured markup data on web pages. If you really pay attention, you can watch the Internet evolve before your very eyes. (Internet Evolution sounds like a nice topic, huh?)

Here's a couple or articles/op-eds on the announcement of Schema.org. One posits it may be a movement toward monopolization of markup data by Google: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/is_schemaorg_really_a_google_land_grab.php ; the other that it's a boost for structured data: http://www.mkbergman.com/962/structured-web-gets-massive-boost/.

Thanks, Rebecca. The first document you listed made my head spin a little bit. I wasn't totally familiar with the importance of a competitor to W3C markup data (I just assumed that Google et al.'s innovation would mean progress), but the polemical suggestions of "land grabs" made me think... wow, this is something to really pay attention to. Now that I'm reading Amanda's latest posts on Google vs. Facebook in a business context, I'm wondering if the big three move to Schema.org represents something like a defensive strategy (maybe even a land grab!) against Facebook jumping into the market. Maybe social media can do a better job of searching the web for relevant documents - an operation, as I'm beginning to understand, depends so much on markup standards (it's news to me that so many different options exist). I'm not sure I really understand what's going on here... but thanks for pointing out the complexities!

Here's a link to the article that JSB referred regarding blogging as a means to create context rather than just content. Sullivan is a terrific writer; I think what he outlines here is blogging at its best. I'm not sure it universally applies because so many blogs I encounter just take up words in space.

some psychological theories that describe and explain online identity formation...describes what parts of our personalities we tend to deliberately share, and how some of our actions aren't as controlled as we'd like them to be

This was very interesting and helpful. I'm looking at online identities for the term project. I never really gave much thought to the idea that your preference for expressing yourself online is tied to your personality.

I recently read about a new Google product called "Me on the Web:" http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/Google_launches_me_on_the_web_to_help_you_manage_online_identity.php. I think one of the most interesting functions, especially in the context of your comment, Suzanne, that actions may not be as easily controlled as we'd like, is you can remove unwanted content from Google search results that relate to you. I am not sure how I feel about that as I feel like you should "own" and be responsible for content you initially put up. Still, being able to remove some search results raises questions not just about individual identity management, but organizational management as well.

I came across this article in First Monday where Erika Pearson compares Goffman's metaphor of performance to Granovetter's strong and weak ties and creates a context in which she discusses the relevance of online identity - The idea that online performance is relative to investment in a given network giving individuals the freedom to explore the function of mediated identities in building nuanced relationships.

Intriguing editorial on how our digital selves are lacking in complexity and narrative. Here's an abridged version of the Kenyon College commencement speech mentioned in the article delivered by Jonathan Franzen, written for the NY Times: http://www.edrants.com/what-jonathan-franzen-didnt-include-in-his-new-york-times-op-ed/.

I never realized there were so many categories of games. Check out the video about the piano staircase, designed to get more people to take the stairs. It's an example of gamification, creating a game that encourages people to buy a product or to behave in a particular way.

Using this definition, "serious games" are the types that we would use in schools to teach a particular concept, while "gamification" is turning anything into a game. It seems to me that many of is in this class would be more interested in the idea of "serious games", unless we were trying to do some sort of public relations effort in our library, which might bring more of "gamification" into play.

I've been having some technical problems starting a new link to a US Depart. of State sponsored Serious Games Conference, so here it is: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/05/164134.htm Further down the page is a link to live streaming of the conference. It really is starting to look like serious business..!

For companies in the telecommunications industry, 2010 has proved to be an eventful year in the regulatory context with the release of the National Broadband Plan by the FCC. Congress intended the Plan to be a long-reaching analysis of what the government and private industry needed to do to achieve ubiquitous broadband access.

I see a lot of the "the Plan recommends" and "the Plan expresses concern"...but it doesn't seem like there's too much in the way of regulation or enforcement.