Berkman Buzz: June 28, 2013

Not all information problems are created equal. Some are resolved with facts and figures plucked from a Google results page, while others require discussion and first-hand, contextualized information. Social research is an essential skill for the 21st century.

Of course, today’s person-to-person, social workplace is not always physical. The challenge for all of us is to seamlessly and effectively integrate physical and virtual research with connections and interactions.

The internet celebrates Wendy Davis filibuster http://t.co/PwZRUEMExk
—Justin Reich (@bjfr)

The State of Florida has an unusual approach to the death penalty. They are the only state where a simple majority on a jury can vote to sentence a person to death. (In most states, unanimous agreement is required.) And they lead the nation in exonerations, where lawyers and activists uncover evidence that someone sentenced to death is innocent, according to an editorial in the Tampa Bay Times. (The figures in the editorial come from the Death Penalty Information Center, which lists 142 exonerations, with 24 from Florida.) In other words, Florida sentences a lot of people to death, and they seem to get it wrong quite often.

I've spent part of the last two days at the MIT-Knight Civic Media Conference, a great festival of ideas pulled together by MIT's Center for Civic Media and the Knight Foundation. Assembled are a group of activists, journalists, policymakers, and hackers, thinking about how they might use technology to create better governments, better policy, and better communities. While school-based education isn't a regular topic of conversation at the conference, I've been finding myself surrounded by many kindred spirits.

How can you read this Apple ad NOT in Don Draper's voice? http://t.co/97UEF72DDV Then read great NYer parody: http://t.co/lOHXAcx55w
—David Weinberger (@dweinberger)

After yesterday’s Supreme Court decisions, I’m just so happy about the progress we’re making.

It seems like progress to me because of the narrative line I have for the stretch of history I happen to have lived through since my birth in 1950: We keep widening the circle of sympathy, acceptance, and rights so that our social systems more closely approximate the truly relevant distinctions among us. I’ve seen the default position on the rights of African Americans switch, then the default position on the rights of women, and now the default position on sexual “preferences.” I of course know that none of these social changes is complete, but to base a judgment on race, gender, or sexuality now requires special arguments, whereas sixty years ago, those factors were assumed to be obviously relevant to virtually all of life.

Yemen is a country in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula rich in culture, heritage, and history, with an extremely friendly and hospitable people.

But that doesn't make the news.

Some Yemenis are trying to change that. Using film, photography, blogging, and social media, they want the world to see Yemen for its rich art, unique architecture, and the breath-taking landscapes and scenery that the country has to offer.