Berkman Buzz: Week of December 8, 2008

December 12, 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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*Corinna di Gennaro gives us a peek into this week's Internet & Politics Conference
*Doc Searls attempts to connect from LeWeb in Paris
*On the Internet & Democracy blog, Chris Van Buren asks whether the Internet weakens democracy
*Dan Gillmor announces a new era for the Pulitzer Prize
*Sam Bayard looks at two MySpace student speech cases
*David Weinberger tips his hat to the New York Times
*Publius Essay: "From the Bottom-Up: Using the Internet to Mobilize Campaign Participation" by Dana Fisher
*Weekly Global Voices: "Mexico: Shoeshiner Uses YouTube to Increase Business"

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"A group of McCain and Obama campaigners, academics, activists, bloggers and journalists have gathered for two days at Harvard at a conference organized by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society examining the role that the Internet has played in the the 2008 US election. Parts of the conversation were under Chatam house rule, nevertheless here are some highlights of the lively discussions that have taken place.  Some preliminary outputs of the meeting can be found here in essay format and other Berkman colleagues have blogged about the event here and at the Internet and Democracy blog..."
From Corinna di Gennaro's blogpost, "the Internet and politics: analyzing the 2008 US election"

"I don’t envy providers of wi-fi at conferences. Nor do I envy anybody else in a risky business, even when they charge a good buck for it. But I do appreciate them. I forget the name of the outfit that provided wi-fi at PC Forum in days of yore, but they delivered the goods. Wi-fi nearly always worked there. Bravo to Esther and her suppliers. We miss them. On the other hand, wi-fi at most conferences sucks rocks. There are all kinds of reasons, usually boiling down to demand hosing supply. Sometimes it’s because the hotel just doesn’t have the pipes for it. Sometimes it’s incompetence, equipment failure, software failure, or some combination of the three..."
From Doc Seals' blogpost, "Toward accountable conference connectivity"

"Check out this provocative and fascinating piece by Evgeny Morozov of the Open Society Institute. The central question it raises, whether the Internet is really a force for democratic change, is as complex as it is necessary to ask. Cyber-savvy young voters (see also our coverage of 'Born Digital'), kindled by Obama, may have heralded a civic reawakening for America, but as Morozov rightly points out, one should be cautious about overstating the internet’s power as a catalyst for an activist citizenry, especially in authoritarian countries. As Morozov sadly notes..."
From the Internet & Democracy project blogpost, "Internet Weakens Democracy?"

"The people who run the Pulitzer Prizes, undoubtedly America’s premier journalism awards, have taken some useful steps into the 21st Century with new rules that welcome online-only entries. From the official rules (PDF): 'Entries for journalism awards must be based on material coming from a text-based United States newspaper or news organization that publishes—in print or online—at least weekly during the calendar year; that is primarily dedicated to original news reporting and coverage of ongoing stories; and that adheres to the highest journalistic principles. Printed magazines and broadcast media, and their respective Web sites, are not eligible...'"
From Dan Gillmor's blogpost, "Pulitzer Prizes in the 21st Century"

"The Wall Street Journal Law Blog and the Legal Intelligencer report that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has before it two appeals testing the limits of school authority to punish student speech on the Internet.  The two cases have remarkably similar facts, but the trial courts that decided them came to completely opposite conclusions. In Layshock v. Hermitage School District, a Pennsylvania school district suspended high school student Justin Layshock and ordered him to finish high school in an 'Alternative Education Program' after he created a fake MySpace profile for his school principal, Eric Trosch..."
From Sam Bayard's blogpost for CMLP, "Federal Appeals Court Examines Two MySpace Student Speech Cases"

"At first, all the links on the site pointed to more of its own content, except for ads, as if the NYT was the only place ever worth reading. Then the NYT took a big step backwards with the Times Select program, locking its most valuable content behind a pay wall. But the Times saw that, although they were making money, they were losing influence. So, they came up with Times Topics as a place where we could point our links, enabling the NYT to climb up the Google rankings. And they unlocked their oldest archives, which is a great social boon..."
From David Weinberger's blogpost, "NY Times evolves lungs and stubby legs"

"During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, both parties aimed to mobilize volunteer armies of supporters to help get their candidates’ elected. The campaigns ran 'meetup-style' components of their Websites for volunteers to take action: McCain Nation and MyBarackObama.com (which was termed 'MyBo' by supporters). This election was the first time that such e-tools were made available through a national campaign to mobilize and engage local people. Although both campaigns aimed to enhance participation, the differences between the specific components of the sites had an effect on the functionality and usability of each site…'”
From Dana Fisher's Publius essay, "From the Bottom-Up: Using the Internet to Mobilize Campaign Participation"

"It is easy to distinguish Juan Luna from other shoeshiners in downtown Monterrey, Mexico. His stand, located at the intersection of Escobedo and Padre Mier, has a sign inviting passers-by to search on YouTube and on Google for his video titled, The Shoeshiner with Two Brushes. 'It was my idea,' he explains while attending to one of his clients. 'The idea was to promote myself to reach more people. Break free from old customs...'"
From Eduardo Avila's blogpost for Global Voices, "Mexico: Shoeshiner Uses YouTube to Increase Business"