Berkman Buzz: Week of April 14, 2008

April 18, 2008

BERKMAN BUZZ:  A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations.  If you'd like to receive this by email, just sign up here. The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School

Week of April 14, 2008

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What's going on...take your pick or browse below.

*Ethan Zuckerman takes us out to the (user-generated) movies
*Diana Kimball reshapes our image of the blogosphere
*Persephone Miel highlights Tim Robbins' call to action for broadcasters
*Charlie Nesson blogs on inmate-run radio in Jamaica
*Sam Bayard discusses Oregon's attempt to claim copyright on its statutes
*Weekly Global Voices: "Venezuela: The Simpsons Not Welcome Anymore"
*Weekly Berkman@10: "Reality re-check: Will the Internet draft the next president?"

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The full buzz.

"While my colleagues seemed somewhat interested in those arguments, what captured everyone’s attention was the phenomenon of YouTube video at fellows’ hour. David Weinberger somehow made a segue to Senator Mike Gravel’s exceedingly odd campaign video where he covers 'Helter Skelter'..."
Ethan Zuckerman, "Video Night at the Berkman Center"

"We often talk about the “blogosphere” as a singular entity—a hive mind, almost, that reflects the beliefs, activities, and interests of its participants. When we assume that this supposedly singular entity can tell us something about “global youth culture”—or, indeed, about any culture—we immediately run into problems..."
Digital Natives, "Beyond Lie Dragons: Delimiting Blogospheres"

"Well of course the inaudible name was Tim Robbins who brilliantly skewered the commercial broadcast media in his keynote Monday. It is a classic right up there with the Colbert Press Club speech, an absolute must-read. The full text is at the Huffington Post, full audio at Broadcasting & Cable, and cellphone video at ar-d.com..."
Persephone Miel, "our pornographic obsession with celebrity culture"

"i am listenting to rubin in the morining live from tower street general penitentiary, kingston jamaica, FREE FM signal coming from the SET lab at tower street through FLOW to a UNESCO Caribbean portal to my machine and to my earphones..."
Charlie Nesson, "FREE FM - rehabilitation radio"

"Just last week, I was ruminating on the viability of state claims of copyright in government records. At the time, I was pretty confident that a state wouldn't be crazy enough to claim copyright in its own statutes, both because caselaw suggests this would be legally invalid and because it would be shoddy public policy. Now, the Legislative Counsel Committee of the State of Oregon has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Justia, a free online resource for judicial decisions and statutes, claiming that Justia's posting of the Oregon Revised Statutes violates its copyright..."
Sam Bayard, "Oregon Claims Copyright in Its Statutes -- Well, Sort Of"

"It seems that the Venezuelan government does not care much for Matt Groening’s show, “The Simpsons.” The American TV show, very popular for over ten years, was banned recently on one of Venezuela’s private networks by order of the government. Apparently some complaints were received at the government’s controlling agency for media because The Simpsons was being aired at 11 am...'"
Global Voices, "Venezuela: The Simpsons Not Welcome Anymore"

"Organize your neighbors, it's time for a (re)viewing party. As part of the Berkman Center’s ongoing tenth anniversary celebration, Berkman@10, we’re retrieving some multimedia classics from our past..."
Berkman@10, "Reality re-check: Will the Internet draft the next president?"

Join us May 15-16 for what promises to be a unique gathering of Internet luminaries, cyberlawyers, entrepreneurs, activists, geeks, media makers and journalists, students, and more. The Berkman@10 Conference offers a chance to reflect critically on the last ten years of the development of the Internet and to look ahead to the crucial questions we face in the next ten years of cyberspace.
Register here.