Group items tagged

Interesting article from The Economist about applying distributive creativity and group piecework to journalism. "Under the rubric "My Boss Is a Robot" they are testing whether it is possible to draw on the sort of distributed creativity that the internet has made possible-and faddish-to perform the equivalent of journalistic piecework. To start with, the group has chosen to bash out the kind of article with which Babbage is all too familiar: a write-up of a newly released scientific research paper. Rather than assign the task as a whole to a single person, their system will try to tease apart and outsource different elements of analysis and production."

interesting demographic info on users of top social networking sites

And here's the report itself. I look forward to reading this with a critical eye.

This is an organization that publishes credible statistics and research reports on internet usage

Great place to find stats of internet use and demographics

I've seen their director Lee Rainie speak a few times as the lead keynote at Computers in Libraries. He is such an amazing speaker, I keep going even though each year he pretty much gives an update on their research into internet usage.

This (long) report discusses the use of ICTs in the medical field, primarily IN the human body

I'm not sure if I would characterize this topic as being part of social informatics. Cochlear implants, insulin pumps, and spinal chord devices, just to name a few of the devises, do have interactive measures with the human body. However, social informatics is the study of how ICTs affect people's relationships and aspects of their social contexts. Although these devises influence the lives of their users, this article mainly discusses the ethical implications of using these technologies and the regulations that need to be developed to standardize use.

Well, interestingly enough, some of my undergrads over the years have been fascinated by RFID implants and the ethical implications of those actions. It is possible that a simple little think like an insulin pump, or any kind of pump would have an impact on one's actions and lifestyle. See this amazing talk by Charity Tillman-Dick: http://www.ted.com/talks/charity_tilleman_dick_singing_after_a_double_lung_transplant.html

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

"The Atavist has captured new ways to present long-form content for the digital age, mixing multimedia presentations and deep, engrossing articles." Article written by David Carr, although Nick Carr might like this because it understands that "The Web is good at creating short and snappy bits of information, but not so much when it comes to long-form, edited, fact-and-spell-checked work."

reminder to everyone - today the NYTimes goes behind a paywall, and you will only be able to read 20 articles a month for free. But if you click on this article through diigo, it shouldn't count against your 20. I've heard conflicting reports whether NYTimes digital will remain free for students, or if they will get discount on the $15/month rate. I can't find anything official on the web right now. Has anyone else heard anything?

Online censorship is the norm thorough most of the Middle East and North Africa. These governments are using software developed in the US and Canada. Report from the OpenNet Initiative, part of the Berkman Center for Internet and Societ

On April 1, 2011 Project Tomorrow released the report "The New 3 E's of Education: Enabled, Engaged and Empowered - How Today's Students are Leveraging Emerging Technologies for Learning" at a Congressional Briefing held in Washington, DC. Their survey revealed that e-textbooks are not yet widely used in the K-12 environment.