SISummer11

A review of the book, "Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright" - perhaps a fair use for dummies - academic edition.

"The state librarian of Kansas, with the backing of state attorney general's office, is planning to terminate the Kansas Digital Library Consortium's contract with ebook vendor OverDrive and is asserting the bold argument that the consortium has purchased, not licensed, its ebook content from OverDrive and, therefore, has the right to transfer the content to a new service provider."

Americans who illegally download songs and movies may soon be in for a surprise: They will be warned to stop, and if they don't, they could find their Internet access slowing to a crawl.

Ug.

Maria Pallante Appointed Register of Copyrights Register's Testimony: Promoting Investment and Protecting Commerce Online: The ART Act, the NET Act and Illegal Streaming Register's Testimony: Promoting Investment and Protecting Commerce Online: Legitimate Sites v.

posting for nadine

This is an interesting article which highlights how large companies failed in the social media world. Because Web 2.0 is a fairly new concept, there are new "rules" for businesses to follow, or they may face damaging results.

I think part of it is that the mistakes are made more glaring because they spread so quickly. That Motrin campaign might not have caused such as backlash if it appeared in women's magazines - even though it might have angered the moms, the response isn't as instantaneous and it doesn't build momentum in quite the same way. This was an excellent collection of articles, in my opinion, from the Economist last year. Most of the pieces came down on the side of social media as an opportunity, but it did talk a little about the loss of control, and worry about unforseen instances like the Domino employees. http://www.economist.com/node/15351002

I can't believe we're fourth on the list of facebook "hours." I would have definitely thought Americans were first!

The adoption by community organisations of ICTs has facilitated improved communication and services to their client groups. However, many such groups do not have adequate and easy access to affordable, impartial and non-biased ICT support and advice. The e-Rider project aims to provide mobile, technical computing advice and support to not-for-profit community and voluntary organisations in the Wellington region.

This site is just a little blurb itself, but it links to a number of other resources for presentations that I think may be of interest to the class, let me know what you think!

Continuing the "We are all cyborgs" discussion from Amber Case this past unit, I'd like to share a blog that focuses on our relationship to the Internet and technology. Browsing the page I found that the Twitter hash tag #cyberology lends to some really great resources too: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23cyborgology.

LJ blog about social & digital media

This book review seems a good companion to Justin's post below on artificial intelligence/human-computer interaction. The reviewer ties three different books together under the theme of how humanity seems to be integrating itself with its digital machines - including discussion of brain-computer interaction (whoa.) and Google's search algorithms or "contouring."

The section on the ideological dissemination of information as it relates to Google is eye-opening (and really worrisome). I think when we talk about Singularity, "fear" will continue to be at the center of our discussions. For some, the biological integration with machines is just too radical to fathom, though the daily use of the Internet is now commonplace. I think we can rightly call certain technologies "external minds" (@ Mary, above) - so it's really not so much the shifting sense of what are bodies are as it is the effect - or danger - of increasingly personalized information certain technologies host that should be cause for concern.

Later in the article she talks about the same concepts as Jesse Schell, in terms of racking up points for online activity, though she draws the conclusion that your information will be sold to advertisers. Really a fascinating article!

There are currently huge riots happening in the virtual world of EVE online, a science fiction massively multiplayer online game, after the publisher changed the in-game currency, making clothes for players' avatars cost 20-25 USD a piece and space monocles cost 68 dollars. Also, the game has a parliament that meets in Iceland. woah!

It sounds like these gamers on on the verge of an epic win...obviously demonstrating their ability to change virtual worlds by way of impending cultural collapse. This makes me rethink Jane McGonical's talk. I was assuming all positive outcomes when applying the collaborative game play concept. Now I wonder what the likelihood is that simulations of real world scenarios (like ending world hunger) will produce not just a failed result but possibly create even bigger problems.

The article I want to bring into the digital divide class discussion this week is about a project that is "creating Internet networks for eastern Afghanistan whose main components can be built out of trash" such as boards, wires, plastic tubs, and cans. Most importantly, the networks built "can be deployed by anyone anywhere where local infrastructure will not permit a conventional network" (they can even run "off-grid" via car-battery).

A paper on smart mobs (a group centered around an online social network, unified by a cause or goal, who have a time frame to accomplish said goal) and social capital and authority gets established and transferred

Cleverbot is conversational AI software . It doesn't quite pass the Turing test but "talking" to it can nonetheless be a little eerie, and it's fair to say that Cleverbot is an example of how machines/programs will become even more anthropomorphic. Plus, it has a pretty irreverent sense of humor.

Public Policy Institute study shows the gap for broadband access in the home is higher in Latino communities in California; 50 percent do not have access to Internet at home.

Increasingly, Latino and African-American teens are using cell phones as their main device to get online

From my local (Austin, TX) paper. I thought this quote was particularly interesting: However, Watkins says he's becoming increasingly concerned with what he calls the participation gap. If teens are using their phones to consume media such as music, videos or sports scores instead of creating their own artistic works or engaging in discussions, are they really experiencing all the Internet has to offer? "If mobile is the primary access point," Watkins asks, "is that a quality experience that's similar or equal to Wi-Fi on a laptop? Rather than just a mobile entertainment device, are they using (cell phones) for citizenship and engagement?"

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Blogging and tweeting might be among the last hobbies you'd list for a homeless person, but some down-and-out people have embraced social media in such a way that it's actually garnered them needed assistance -- everything from food and diapers for children to counseling and housing.

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned Jaron Lanier or this book, but a friend just recommended it and I was looking up to see what his views are like. It seems that the book, among other things, talks about having to have a self before we begin to share it. Are we disregarding the complexities of life with social media? Are we demonstrating to people that we're living rather than finding personal meaning in life? But I really need to look into it a bit more and I'm not quite sure what I think yet. He's a preeeetty interesting character, that's for sure, with a different take on things. Anyone read this? What do you think?

An article on books in the iCloud - some interesting information on the information being fed back to publishers and Amazon.