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nothing like ICT related article hot off the press!

I found a similar article from the UN sharing how cell phones and texting was used during a recent election in Kenya to limit riots and other unsafe activities. Though not used for either candidate the initiative did save lives and destruction of public areas by quickening the response times of police.

The internet being cut off in Egypt is just unprecedented. What are people reading and what sources are they following? Here's an interesting article about how it was turned off: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/01/egypts-internet-blackout-unprecedented.html also, it's interesting how one small company is still providing service and how people with international calling plans can use foreign dial-up providers. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/01/despite-severed-connections-egyptians-get-back-online/70479/

In many ways, this is just one more pundit (and we know how much attention they can get by being contrary), but he does provide a counterpoint to much of the enthusiasm over the democratizing effects of social media.

Argues that Terms of service (TOS) agreements have implications for the political and legal structures under which our virtual selves will function. Also, the Wall Street Journal has actually been running fantastic series of investigative reports on this topic, called "what they know": http://online.wsj.com/public/page/what-they-know-digital-privacy.html

There's so many examples of info on the internet being considered as "evidence." This was struck me as really surprising. There was another piece about insurance companies doing similar tactics in the LA Times this week: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-facebook-evidence-20110125,0,4304729.story

Fascinating defensive of new social media in journalism and a critique of those who miss the good old days. Reminded me of the book "The Good Old Days, They Were Terrible". from the article "At an individual level, I think the "distracted Americans" scare will pass. Either people who manage to unplug, focus, and fully direct their attention will have an advantage over those constantly checking Facebook and their smart phone, in which case they'll earn more money, get into better colleges, start more successful companies, and win more Nobel Prizes. Or they won't, in which case distraction will be a trait of modern life but not necessarily a defect. At the level of national politics, America is badly distracted, but that problem long predates Facebook and requires more than a media solution. "

Savvy techies are finding ways to circumvent politically motivated shutdowns of the internet. Dissidents get around government shutdowns of the Internet via range-extending antennae, satellites, microwave ovens' radio waves, short-range radio stations, and converting digital computer data to analogue radio signals and back to computer data again.

Article looks at the ebooks business in Europe, where it is still in its infancy. Not many readers available, and very little content in other languages besides English. There are legal and economic issues for pricing and licensing of ebooks.

I was just going to add this here. I debated whether to cite it on one of my pages. They also mention the example of the music industry.

This center explores how ICTs foster/hinder freedom, democracy, human rights & development.