Berkman Buzz: Week of October 27, 2008

October 31, 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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*John Palfrey argues that the digital literacy of the next U.S. president matters
*Rebecca MacKinnon announces the Global Network Initiative and considers its future
*David Ardia describes how citizen journalism can help keep the U.S. election fair
*Steve Schultze discusses redistributing the electromagnetic spectrum
*Digital Natives intern Sarah Zheng thinks about what can and can't be learned from Internet popularity
*Ethan Zuckerman looks at the blogginess of the Christian Science Monitor and the future of international news
*The Internet & Democracy Project introduces us to a cool new political video barometer
*Publius Essay: "Forward with Fiber: An Infrastructure Investment Plan for the New Administration" by Doc Searls
*Weekly Global Voices: "D.R. of Congo: Blogging From the War Zone"

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"One of the questions Americans need to ask over the next few days is whether a self-described computer 'illiterate' can lead our nation effectively in the 21st century.  There are few greater contrasts between John McCain and Barack Obama than on the issue of how comfortable they are with the culture and technologies of the digital era. Young people in America ride to school in the same yellow buses and play in the same parks as their parents and grandparents did.  But the way they are learning and socializing is radically different.  They shape their identities via Facebook, MySpace, and cell phones.  America’s youth are growing up in a hybrid world: part analog and part digital..."
From John Palfrey's blogpost, "The Risks of a Digital Blindspot"

"A few people have called me asking 'does this thing have any teeth' or 'is this thing more than just a figleaf for companies to get congress off their backs?' Organizations like Human Rights Watch, Human Rights in China, Human Rights First, and the Committee to Protect Journalists would not be putting their reputations behind this thing if they didn't think it was meaningful. That said, the initiative must prove its value in the next couple of years by implementing a meaningful and sufficiently tough process by which companies' adherence to the principles will be evaluated and benchmarked. If there is a rigorous process that rates the companies' behavior, then investors who care about social responsibility, and users who want to know how trustworthy a given company is compared to others, can make more informed choices..."
From Rebecca MacKinnon's blogpost, "The Global Network Initiative"

"Yesterday, I read an article in the New York Times describing the fears some voters in Duval County, Florida have that their early votes will be lost and never counted.  I found the article deeply disturbing.  It wasn't because it surprised me that people fear their votes won't be counted (that fear has some precedent in Duval County, where 26,000 ballots were discarded in the 2000 election), but because it brought into focus for me the apprehensive feelings I've been having about the upcoming election.  I have this nagging feeling that something . . . well, terrible . . . is going to happen.  At bottom, I'm concerned that the election isn't going to be fair.  That the voters' will will be thwarted..."
From David Ardia's blogpost, "The Role of Citizen Media in Ensuring Fair Elections"

"Even dry policy wonks occasionally find themselves engaged in timely cultural commentary. Thus, we are thrust into debate with country music legends, heavy metal stars, and mega-church leaders. This is the domain of electromagnetic spectrum -- that ephemeral public good that is as essential to modern life as the air we breathe. The FCC is set to decide what to do with the vast, unused swaths of spectrum between television channels in its open meeting on Election Day. When the rest of the country is paying attention to an historic contest for the ultimate game of King of the Hill, the Commission will be deciding how we are to share (or hoard) one of our most unappreciated public resources..."
From Steve Schultze's blogpost, "White Spaces and Red Herrings"

"In some ways, the Internet is a giant popularity contest. Worth is assessed by Google PageRank – a formula based primarily on how many people link to a site. Every news site prominently displays the most read, most commented, most e-mailed stories. Social news sites such as Digg, reddit, and del.icio.us exist as an aggregation of what is popular around the web. Another level up, PopUrls serves as an aggregator of aggregators, displaying all the most popular headlines from other news-sharing sites..."
From the Digital Natives Project blogpost, "Popularity v. Quality: Assessing Information Quality in a Commercialized Internet"

"A few years back, I observed that the Christian Science Monitor, a small paper with a strong focus on international news, published in Boston, was one of the “bloggiest” papers in the world. Despite a small paper circulation - now roughly 52,000 - it’s frequently cited by bloggers, usually pointing to their rich international coverage, delivered via eight overseas bureaus and a large contingent of foreign correspondents. Due to business pressures and a changing print journalism market, the Monitor is embracing its bloginess and becoming one of the first newspapers to shift away from print. Currently a weekday paper, the Monitor will stop producing print editions in April 2009 and focus resources on their website, as well as a daily email edition..."
From Ethan Zuckerman's blogpost, "CSMonitor and the future of international news"

"John Kelly and the other brainiacs over at Morningside Analytics have created a great new political video barometer at Shifting the Debate. Using link and social network analysis of the US blogosphere, similar to what we used for our Iran blogosphere study, you can see what the most popular videos in both the US conservative and liberal blogospheres are, how long they have been around, how many bloggers link to them from each side, as well as how many folks have viewed each clip. It’s updated every six hours, you can also see how certain videos rise and fall over time. For example this clip of the old ‘wassup’ crew appears to have emerged in just the last day but is already the most linked to video on the liberal side (I have to admit, I was living overseas when this ‘wassup’ ad was a thing so probably don’t get the cultural references others might, but still enjoyed it)..."
From the Internet & Democracy Project blogpost, "Cool New Political Video Barometer"

"In 1803, Thomas Jefferson presided over the country’s first economic stimulus package: the Louisiana Purchase. For a sum of $23 million and change, the U.S. doubled its territory and became a world power. Wouldn’t it be cool to do a deal like that today? We can, through infrastructure investment — not just in roads, electrical service and water systems; but in fiber optic connections to nearly every home and office. Nothing could do more for the economy while costing less..."
From Doc Searls' essay for the Publius Project, "Forward with Fiber: An Infrastructure Investment Plan for the New Administration"

"The following are eye-witness accounts of bloggers based in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo about the situation in the area following fresh clashes between rebels, government and UN forces. The situation in Goma: 'The situation is degrading fast. There has been a lot of shooting in town until about 40 minutes ago. Since then, there is silence. You could hear a pin drop. Rumours are rife, but there are some confirmed reports of CNDP rebels on the outskirts of town. MONUC is evacuating their staff to Rwanda...'"
From Ndesanjo Macha's blogpost for Global Voices, "D.R. of Congo: Blogging From the War Zone"