Berkman Buzz: Week of November 15, 2010

November 19, 2010

What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below.

* David Weinberger liveblogs Juliet Schor's Berkman lunch talk.
* Dan Gillmor mulls over Facebook's latest announcement.
* Ethan Zuckerman shares some thoughts on libraries in the digital age.
* Alumna Rebecca MacKinnon offers suggestions on U.S. Internet freedom policy.
* Radio Berkman 168: Rethinking Music, Part I - Creativity, Commerce, and Policy.
* VozMob (Mobile Voices), co-founded by Fellow Sasha Constanza-Chock, wins a World Summit Award.
* Weekly Global Voices: "Cuba: Fiber Optic Cable May Not Bring Greater Internet Access".

Special note: The Berkman Center has issued a call for papers for the Rethink Music conference, to be held this coming spring in Cambridge and Boston: https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/6456

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The full buzz.

"'Given the magnitude of the climate reductions we need, the wealthy countries of the world are probably going to have to stop growing.' As soon as we get serious about targets, Juliet says, we’ll see that. “Shorter hours of work is associated with lower ecological footprint.” We should create policies that make working fewer hours more attractive to individuals and to firms."
From David Weinberger's blog post Juliet Schor on Sustainability and the Web

"Which is why, despite the overall smartness of the initiative, I believe people should be wary about using the Facebook Messages platform. I don't believe Facebook should dominate people's online experiences, and the idea of the company becoming the de facto online identity holder is downright scary. Before I discuss why, let's look at what the company announced on Monday in San Francisco."
From Dan Gillmor's post for Salon, Facebook's über-communications platform

"Kim Dulin of Harvard’s Library Innovation Lab offered a provocation a week back that I’m enjoying wrestling with. Talking about the future of libraries in a digital age, she offered the stark observation that most research today begins with Google, might occasionally proceed to Google Books or to Amazon, and ends in the library if it looks like the answers are in a book, and that one might borrow instead of buying a book. Librarians would like to reverse this hierarchy, at least in part, and unlock “the good stuff” in libraries for broader audiences."
From Ethan Zuckerman's blog post Backwards, toward serendipity

"Circumvention technology is one tactic to support access to information and online dissent. It makes sense to keep funding these tools, so long as activists are given choice. On their own, however, they are not the silver bullet that many claim. The State Department and Congress need to approach freedom of speech issues strategically, based on a clear understanding of purpose and effect."
From Rebecca MacKinnon's article for the Wall Street Journal, No Quick Fixes for Internet Freedom

The Radio Berkman crew sat down with Allen Bargfrede, a digital music lawyer and Assistant Professor in the Music Business Department at Berklee, and Chris Bavitz, Assistant Director of the Berkman Center’s Cyberlaw Clinic and Clinical Instructor and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School to discuss what the upcoming Rethink Music conference is all about.
From Radio Berkman 168: Rethinking Music, Part I - Creativity, Commerce, and Policy

"With great support of The Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre (ADSIC) as the main partner, the World Summit Award and it’s global network will use 10 its years experience and expertise to answer the main question: “What is really out there in the mobile world, which today might still be inside of a few creative minds, but can become our every day life tomorrow?"
From the World Award Summit's website. Read more about winner VozMob.

"While the cable will improve Internet connectivity and quality for those Cubans who have Internet access, it will not change the status quo of the state’s broader policy on Internet use. In the eyes of the state, the negative social and political implications of making Internet access broadly available to the public continue to necessitate a policy that places strict limits on Cubans’ abilities to access and use the Internet."
From Ellery Biddle's post for Global Voices Online "Cuba: Fiber Optic Cable May Not Bring Greater Internet Access"

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The weekly Berkman Buzz is selected from the posts of Berkman Center people and projects -- http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/planet/current/ -- and sometimes from the Center's wider network -- http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/planet/network/

Suggestions and feedback about the Buzz are always welcome and can be emailed to jyork@cyber.law.harvard.edu