Berkman Buzz: Week of October 6, 2008

October 10, 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.

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*The Internet & Democracy project asks, is the Internet making a difference in the 2008 election?
*Persephone Miel wonders if geography matters more than gender when it comes to women and math
*Gene Koo offers a new example of a professor stepping outside the realm of traditional publishing
*Max Weinstein presents the National Cyber Security Alliance's Top 8 Cyber Security Practices
*Ethan Zuckerman gives a talk and learns from his audience
*Harry Lewis takes at a proposed law in France that would turn ISPs into copyright cops
*Digital Natives Reporters in the Field: "Insights on Cyberbullying: an interview with a digital native"
*Weekly Global Voices: "Indonesia: Views on the U.S. Financial Crisis"

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"A recent survey by the Wall Street Journal/NBC/MySpace of newly registered voters and lapsed voters has shown that the Internet keeps playing an important role in the current campaign, especially amongst younger people; however, the effect which online news will have on actual voter turnout remains to be seen..."
From the Internet & Democracy Project blogpost, "Is the Internet making a difference to the 2008 election?"

"'Cultural or environmental factors, not intellect, are what really limit women’s math achievements.' This according to a study reported on in today’s Boston Globe. Interesting to me to see that the study draws on the achievements of women mathematicians from countries in Eastern Europe. I find the cultural differences with European women around gender roles fascinating - to me, European women seem more confident and less hung up about positions in public life, yet some female Western European colleagues say they feel that working in technology specifically they are far more welcome in the United States..."
From Persephone Miel's blogpost, "Your daughters can do math (if you believe in them)!"

"'It' is the filthy lucre of publishing royalties. Well, I exaggerate: Here’s yet another example of a professor bucking the publishing system and getting materials out there, for free. Noel Capon, a professor of marketing at Columbia Business School, is releasing 'Managing Marketing in the 21st Century' Radiohead-style: students (or I suppose, anyone) pay what they feel like. That could — and probably is, in most cases — nothing..."
From Gene Koo's blogpost, "Teachers won’t take it any more!"

"The National Cyber Security Alliance, which is coordinating the effort designating October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month, has a list of the 'Top 8 Cyber Security Practices.' This list, although not new to many in the StopBadware community, is a great resource for educating users about the key concepts for staying safe online..."
From the Max Weinstein's blogpost for StopBadware.org, "Top 8 Cyber Security Practices"

"One audience member had the great insight that web users may be moving from a news-seeking behavior to a surfing behavior where they’re often looking for entertainment, not challenge. This is an interesting problem for those of us trying to “sell” international news - do we need to be relentlessly positive? Or connect this sort of news to other types of information likely to be surfed onto - sports, music, celebrity..."
From Ethan Zuckerman's blogpost, "My turn on the soapbox"

"A law is under consideration in France that would require ISPs to be the monitors and enforcers of copyright law. All Internet traffic would be monitored to make sure there was no copyrighted material among the love letters, business plans, and family photos that residents of that nation were receiving. A complete Big Brother state, at the behest of the movie and music content industries. Penalties would range up to losing your Internet connection — and entry of your name on a national registry of persons not allowed to get another. President Sarkozy is all for it..."
From Harry Lewis's blogpost, "French Copyright Koyaanisqatsi"

"In this week’s audio podcast, our Reporters-in-the-Field asked 19 year old UMASS student and New Jersey native, Lisa Epstein, to share her thoughts on the world of cyberbullying. In this interview, Epstein provides insight on how the anonymity of cyberbullies makes one question who her real friends are, and how the Internet acts as a 'big shield' in such situations..."
From the Digital Natives Project bogpost, "Insights on Cyberbullying: an interview with a digital native"


"Americans are afraid of another Great Depression as the Wall Street crisis continues to worsen. Meanwhile, many Indonesians are afraid that the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis will happen again if the U.S. economy continues to deteriorate. Indonesia was badly hit during the 1997 economic crisis. Many people can still remember the huge negative impact of the regional recession a decade ago...'"
From Mong Palatino's blogpost for Global Voices, "Indonesia: Views on the U.S. Financial Crisis"