Berkman Buzz, week of February 2

BERKMAN BUZZ: A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School
Week of February 2, 2007

What's going on... take your pick or browse below.

*David Weinberger wonders why "The media just can't help themselves."
*Urs Gasser shares his thoughts on "the mobile identity challenge."
*John Palfrey looks at Viacom, Youtube and boundaries overstepped.
*Doc Searls discusses Public Media 2007.
*Ethan Zuckerman connects mobile phones and argiculture in West Africa.
*Rebecca MacKinnon "On becoming an 'Edublogger'."

The full Buzz:

"During the hottest days of the Dean campaign, I traveled on the press bus for a bit and found myself talking with two well-known reporters, for Newsweek and the NY Times. In the course of the conversation I asked them how it happened in 2000 that there was endless media coverage of Gore as a liar when that was itself a lie orchestrated by his opponents. They shook their heads and admitted they were spun, and vowed it wouldn't happen again."
David Weinberger, "The media just can't help themselves"

"In the context of digital identity in general and user-centric identity management systems in particular, I’m especially interested the question as to what extent the issues related to mobile ID are distinct from the issues we’ve been exploring in the browser-based and traditionally wired desktop-environment. Here’s my initial take on it..."
Urs Gasser, "The Mobile Identity Challenge - Some Observations from the SFO mID-Workshop"

"Jim Moore has received a cease and desist letter from Viacom for a home video that he shot. The DMCA’s Section 512 has a provision that allows for counter-notification for people, like Jim, who believe that their works that do not infringe copyright have been taken down without cause."
John Palfrey, "Viacom's Cease and Desist Letters ... for a home video?"

"I'll be speaking at IMA's Public Media 2007 late next month in Boston. Details pending.  Meanwhile, I'll be making connections between VRM and public broadcasting. Specifically, I like the challenge of coming up with simpler/faster/better ways for public broadcasting's listeners and viewers to pay for the programming they like."
Doc Searls, "Public Speaking."

"I was reading the Economist on my flight to DC this evening and was thrilled to see my old friend Mark Davies featured in an article about his new project, TradeNet. Mark is one of the key figures in Ghana’s IT scene. After retiring from the dotcom world in 2000 (he was one of the founders of Metrobeat, which became part of CitySearch), he poured his energy into the founding of BusyInternet, a remarkable cybercafe and business incubator in downtown Accra. In more recent years, Mark has been helping to build software businesses in Ghana, working with programmers around the world, but especially focusing on African software developers. Given the model I started Geekcorps with - encouraging local IT entrepreneurship - I can’t help but be a fan."
Ethan Zuckerman, "Tradenet - how mobile phones might revolutionize agriculture in West Africa."

"Last Friday I was fortunate to sit in on a seminar given by a fellow University of Hong Kong professor Daniel Churchill. He is in the Faculty of Education's Division of I&T Studies and his work focuses specifically on the use of new technologies in education.
Daniel was nominated for an EduBlog Best Teacher Blog award, primarily for his class blog, Interactive Representations of Information and Knowledge.  He said that the student work in that particular class was of unusually high quality. He also said that the same class brought him the best student evaluations in his teaching career at HKU."
Rebecca MacKinnon, "On Becomin an 'Edublogger'."