Berkman Buzz: Week of July 7, 2008

July 11, 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 University

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*danah boyd discusses best practices in fair use for online video
*Ethan Zuckerman thinks about what the conversation on Darfur means
*CMLP intern Arthur Bright looks at Iran's efforts to make blogging punishable by death
*Doc Searls proposes 10 principles for VRM
*The Internet & Democracy Project examines how camera phones are changing media worldwide
*Digital Natives Intern Jacob Kramer-Duffield ruminates on the differences between social and collaborative spaces
*Weekly Global Voices: "No Movement on Death Sentence for Afghan Internet User"
*Weekly Publius Essay: "Melanie Dulong de Rosnay: Opening Access in a Networked Science"

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The full buzz.

"Fair use is an uber tricky legal issue. It is meant to provide protection for people to use copyright material in limited ways without seeking permission. (For example, fair use allows academics to comment on copyrighted content as part of their work.) The problem with fair use as a legal doctrine is that it's defense-only. Anyone can sue you for violating their copyright and you can declare fair use, but you will still have to pay onerous legal bills to defend that claim. Given the typical economic inequality between copyright holders and fair use practitioners, just the threat of a lawsuit tends to silence fair use practitioners. It's really a sad state of affairs..."
danah boyd, "Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Videos"

"One of the better conversations I’ve had lately was with an old friend who’s now working in Sudan, reporting on local news and politics as well as on the ongoing conflict in Darfur. (Said old friend has asked to remain nameless in this post, as friend is concerned that opinions expressed in this conversation might make it difficult to continue working as a journalist in Sudan.) I asked him a question I’ve been contemplating lately: Why has the conflict in Darfur been able to gain so much media and activist attention..."
Ethan Zuckerman, "Media, reality, representation: what are we paying attention to when we pay attention to Darfur?"

"Online free speech has never been well received by the Iranian government, but now Tehran is just one step away from making blogging on certain topics into a capital crime. Under a new bill approved by Iran's parliament, those convicted of "establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy" will now be eligible to receive the death penalty. The International Freedom of Expression eXchange (“IFEX”), a free speech watchdog, writes that the bill passed on first reading by a vote of 180 to 29, with 10 abstentions..."
Citizen Media Law Project, "Iran Moves One Step Closer to Ratifying Death Penalty for Blogging"

"I’m vetting ten VRM principles here: all grist for next week’s VRM Workshop mill. We’ll be changing these as the workshop approaches, I’m sure.  Note that these apply to management of relations with vendors by customers: the narrowest scope of VRM. The larger topic of relationship managmement (RM) is part of the discussion as well. Obviously there are other relationships — with chuches, clubs, civic organizations, government bodies and so on — where VRM tools apply, but the individual is not a customer. Do we want to broaden things by saying “individual” and “organization” rather than “customer” and “vendor”? I think we’re better off with the former than the latter, but I’m open..."
Doc Searls, "Because principles are good to have."

"NPR recently reported that Morocco’s state-run TV stations have taken a big hit as an increasing number of Moroccan youths prefer to get their news, especially on controversial issues, through online video-sharing networks such as YouTube and Daily Motion. A major reason for this increasing interest in video-sharing networks is the growing use of camera phones, which - as they become increasingly accessible - have become powerful allies with the Internet in revolutionizing the global media landscape. For example, following clashes between protestors and security forces in the southwestern port city of Sidi Ifni, and the subsequent trial of Hassan Rachidi, the majority of young Moroccans relied on YouTube for coverage of the event..."
The Internet & Democracy Project, "Camera Phones: Democratizing the Global Media Landscape"

"I’ve been ruminating for a while now on The Real Paul Jones’ excellent post on the differences between social and collaborative spaces and practices, and the implications: 'This points out the weaknesses of social networks versus networks for collaboration. When using say del.icio.us, I want collaborators for much of my research and teaching and work. But when it comes to say last.fm, I want my friends who share and enlighten me about music. People using FaceBook for work can see right away what I’m getting at. I do feel close to many of my coworkers and they keep me in touch with a lot of things I’d otherwise miss, but I don’t use FaceBook as a work resource — except for those times I need incidental or ad hoc help...'"
The Digital Natives Project, "Social vs. Collaborative Spaces"

"Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh is a journalism student at Balk University in Mazar-i Sharif. He supposedly copied text from an Iranian website criticizing Islam's stance on the treatment of women, and added his own thoughts on the matter—much like a blogger would. For this, the Afghan intelligence services investigated him, and after his arrest a court in Balkh province convicted him of heresy and sentenced him to death. At his most recent appeals hearing, according to Jean MacKenzie at IWPR, Kambakhsh was berated by his own judge: 'Presiding judge Abdul Salam Qazizada has weathered several Afghan administrations. He is a holdover from the Taleban regime, and his antagonism to the defendant was visible...'"
Global Voices, "No Movement on Death Sentence for Afghan Internet User"

"Some researchers can’t use their own scholarship anymore because, in order to be published, they assigned all their rights without being aware of the implications of the exclusive terms of their initial agreements with their publishers. They can’t publish their own articles on their webpages; they aren’t sure whether they can send a copy of the post print to their colleagues or reuse it for a book or in class. Furthermore, their library might not be able to afford the subscription to the journal that published their article..."
Melanie Dulong de Rosnay for the Publius Project: "Opening Access in a Networked Science"