McArthur’s Digital Media and Learning HASTAC Competition has announced their 2008 Innovation in Participatory Learning Awards and Young Innovator Awards. The awards support individuals and institutions at the forefront of participatory learning:

Participatory Learning includes the ways in which new technologies enable learners (of any age) to contribute in diverse ways to individual and shared learning goals. Through games, wikis, blogs, virtual environments, social network sites, cell phones, mobile devices, and other digital platforms, learners can participate in virtual communities where they share ideas, comment upon one another’s projects, and plan, design, advance, implement, or simply discuss their goals and ideas together. Participatory learners come together to aggregate their ideas and experiences in a way that makes the whole ultimately greater than the sum of the parts.

This is a great award that supports students and teachers of all ages

to think boldly about “what comes next” in participatory learning and to contribute to making it happen.

For past winners, check out the 2007 Winners Hub, featuring projects like Critical Commons, a fair use guide for educators, and Black Cloud, a participatory pollution monitor.

Also check out social media guru Howard Rheingold, one of the winners, who has been running a HASTAC forum on participatory learning on Seesmic. In the Social Media Classroom Co-labrotory, Howard Rheingold explores the idea of participatory learning with the new HASTAC Scholars explores the affordances of SEESMIC (think YouTube video with responses running along the bottom as the video plays to highlight the conversation) as a learning tool.

For more on the HASTAC awards, check out their website and request for proposal.

“The media should ask tough questions; it keeps power honest. It is not the media’s fault if the answers to those questions are inadequate or embarrassing or rejected by the public”: Vexed Bermoothes suspects that Bermuda's new daily “is designed as a political tool rather than an independent news source.”

Hello, my name is André Valle and I will be blogging here in the Digital Natives Blog on fridays. I am a Educational Technologist and undergraduate student at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, interested in researching how different cultures interact with different types of technology, speciffically within the educational environment.

I am now based in Brazil, where I have been living for the past 25 years, and I intend to present to you a different perspective of the Digital Natives concept. In Born Digital, John Palfrey and John Palfrey investigate the Digital Natives’ interpretations of what it is to be connected, they map when this new generation of Digital Natives starts to be born and discuss how they conceptualize the technologies that sourround them, ubiquitously.

Some questions that will drive my blog posts are:

- What is a digital native in places where technology has been developed in a different way, such as developing countries, for instance?
- How to situate the digital natives who have less or no access to technology due to their social or economical conditions?
- How is technology developed according to specific conditions and necessities of a certain area?

To exemplify this concern of mine, I want to tell a story that describes the moment when I realized that we can interact differently with different types of technology.

Sometimes we are so used to the environment that sourround us and the tools that are available for us to do our day-to-day activities, that it is hard to train our observation in order to identify these different layers of interaction.

I was once asked by my grandmother to help her with the task of sending an e-mail. Back then, I was going to leave in Montreal for one year, and she wanted to have the chance to communicate with me by herself. I instantly asked her to have seat and start turning the computer on, which she did exactly as she was taught by her computer teacher. When the computer was ready to work, I asked her to select the Internet Browser and it was only then that I realised that my question assumed a whole lot of premisses that I had never thought of. When my grandmother was trying to select the Internet Browser that I pointed on the screen, I realised that the mouse arrow was actually shaking in a weird and unnusual way. It was only then that I realised that my grandmother did not know how to hold the mouse properly, what demanded an extraordinary effort by her in order to move the arrow.

My point here is the following: obviously, my grandmother does not fit in any of the Digital Natives definitions, but she made me realize that she had to adapt her usual activities to fit them in the computer era, nowadays she knows how to send an email, but she still thinks in a linear way, following always the same path to reach a goal (she cannot understand that we can turn a program off by pressing ALT+F4 or selecting the X on the top-right side of the openned window, she always needs to select File and, then, Close).

While my grandmother had to adapt her way to write, communicate, etc into a computer, I myself remember of the first time I had a computer at home and how my uncle taught me to send e-mails.

My question is: what happens with my cousin, who is now nine years old and, as a baby, had among his toys an old keyboard to play with? How will he interact with the technology that sorrounds him more and more?

In the following discussions, I intend to bring stories that I can find here in Brazil to identify issues related to Digital Natives and their interaction with new technologies. Also, I intend to bring up some stories concerning the Digital Divide, which gets broader as high technologies get concentrated only in hands of some users, while others don’t have any access or don’t want to have it.

- André Valle

This summer, I worked at my first real-world job. Forty-hour weeks, company-provided computer, something resembling an office: the whole shebang. Though I was working at a pretty technology-positive company—Microsoft!—I still quickly discovered that my working habits required some explanation. Fifty browser tabs open at once, music softly playing in headphones, cell phone parked firmly by my keyboard: I can understand why my co-workers might have been curious.

What ever happened to old-fashioned “discipline?” This question has come up constantly in my conversations with parents and teachers over the course of my involvement with the Digital Natives project. When parents glance over and see not only 50 browser tabs open on the family computer, but iTunes and a computer game and AIM too—with a book report relegated to a tiny corner of the screen—they’re understandably bewildered. How do kids ever get anything done? “I’m just really good at multi-tasking, Mom,” a savvy student might reply. And, as long as the work gets done, it seems hard to argue with that logic.

However, as a new wave of research on the science of attention makes the rounds of blogs and the popular press, that logic is becoming more vulnerable. In an interview over at Lifehacker recently, Dave Crenshaw discussed his latest book, The Myth of Multitasking. Crenshaw makes a strong distinction behind “background tasking”—reading a magazine while waiting in line, for instance, or listening to music while coding—and “switch-tasking.” Most of the time, when we talk about “multi-tasking,” we’re actually talking about the very costly practice of “switch-tasking.” Every time you switch your attention from one place to another—even from one browser window to another—you take a significant hit to your focus. Though this may seem to be common sense, the science behind the phenomenon is quite sobering. Early in the summer, I attended a talk by neuroscientist John Medina—author, most recently, of Brain Rules—at which he also debunked the “myth of multitasking.” Switch-tasking, he definitively proves, causes you to execute each task more slowly than you would otherwise, with more errors. (Charts and more information here.)

So what, then, is the solution? Specifically, what can parents, teachers, and employers do to help their kids, students, and employees focus their attention more effectively? As a kid, student, and employee myself, I have to say that I believe the solution is emphatically not to limit access—at least not for older teens. Rather, I think the key lies in laying out the facts and discussing strategies. Information overload and the allure of infinite access, after all, are challenges that affect everyone with an internet connection—not just young people. And, though writing a stellar book report might not be a cause compelling enough to warrant total focus, every young person will at some point find a pursuit worth paying attention to. Maybe it’s writing short stories; maybe writing music. Maybe it’s making art. But when that pursuit comes along, they’re going to want to know how to firewall their attention, focus their efforts, and—for once—stop switching. Tools like Freedom, the WiFi-disabler for Macs, can help. But ultimately, no strategy will be effective without the investment of the person executing it. The best strategy, I believe, is actually to help Digital Natives to discover pursuits worth focusing on in the first place. The rest, I think—I hope—will follow.

What are your strategies for “firewalling” your attention? Have you ever staged an attention intervention? What will it take to convince companies to stop venerating “multi-tasking” as a worthy skill? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

“In less than 30 mn, this blog has been subjected to over 50 hacking attempts. This has been going on for the past 4 days or so, around 3 times a day. That is 150 hacking attempts per day. Hmmmm….I wonder why,” asks Iraqi blogger Layla Anwar.

Scheming frame-up, unlawful arrest and bitter escape journey, it’s not the story line of the new season of Prison Break , but a Chinese Police Sergeant’s unbelievable experience against his corrupt superior officer. Since the end of August, a post named “A fugitive sergeant’s diary” has flared and spread among many different Chinese blogs, BBSs and online communities, and finally even attracted attention of the mainstream media, including Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of the government.

Yang Xiaodong (阳晓东), the alleged author of the diary, who proclaimed himself the Criminal Police Commander of Huangchuan County, Henan Province, disclosed a sequence of events that how the higher-ups of the local police intrigued with the gangsters against him for his continuous exposure of their underground crimes, and how he escaped from the house arrest, hiding himself in the mountains and running from one place to another.

A note at the beginning of the diary (excerpt):

…我是河南省潢川县公安局刑警大队长阳晓东。2008年3月份以来，我先后以《警徽下的罪恶》和《一个全国先进公安局的锐变》两文揭露潢川县公安局副局长邬晓辉的违法犯罪及潢川县公安局的多起渎职犯罪，这两文我都是署真名给河南省纪委、信阳市委书记王铁、县委书记焦豫汝、信阳市人民检察院、河南省人民检察院、市纪委、公安部反映过，领导的批示都陆续转到信阳市公安局纪委，4月31号信阳市公安局纪委副书记胡永斌等调查人员到潢川县调查，5月7号就查明了邬晓辉私开赌场，暴力阻碍派出所干警执法一案，但调查组突然中断调查，并给我答复“领导安排暂时不查其他案件”

…I am Yang Xiaodong (阳晓东), the Criminal Police Commander of Huangchuan County, Henan Province. Since March, 2008, I have successively written two reports, The Evil under the Police Badge and A National Advanced Public Security Bureau's Metamorphosis , exposing the illegal activities of Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉), the Deputy Director General of Public Security Bureau of Huangchuan County, and malfeasance of the whole department. With my real name, I sent the two reports to Henan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, Wang Tie (王铁), Secretary of Xinyang Municipal Committee of the CPC, Jiao Yuru (焦豫汝), Secretary of County Committee of the CPC, People's Procuratorate of Xinyang city, People's Procuratorate of Henan Province, Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the Ministry of Public Security of Xinyang city. Then the instructions issued by the leadership were in succession relayed to the Commission for Discipline Inspection of Xinyang Public Security Bureau. April 31 a group of investigators, including Hu Yongbin (胡永斌), the Deputy Secretary of Commission for Discipline Inspection of Xinyang Public Security Bureau, arrived Hungchuan County and on May 7 they had found out the case that Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉) illegally ran gambling house, violently obstructing the work of the police. However, the investigating team suddenly stopped their work and told me “The leadership have instructed the investigations of the other cases are suspended”

随后，我举报的多起案件被泄密。由于我举报的案件涉及黑恶势力，涉及地方公安机关弄虚作假贪污国家财政经费以及多起骇人听闻的渎职犯罪遭到了被举报人邬晓辉、涉案的公安机关、被举报的黑恶势力的疯狂的打击报复：“黑道”上匿名电话威胁；“白道”上邬晓辉更是利用侦查权对我手机、住宅及社会关系实施监控，同时又找说客谈条件：“只要不继续告可以给50万元”，期间邬晓辉更是利用金钱和多种社会关系摆平了各级领导的批示。直至现在，邬晓辉及涉案的黑恶势力成员都没有得到处理。信阳市检察院副检察长李洪卫亲口给我说：“阳队长，你一定要注意安全，不是我们不查，有难言之隐”…

Subsequently, many cases I reported were deliberately leaked out. Because those cases were related to the criminal underworld, the embezzlement of the public security organs and horrible dereliction of duty, Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉), the involved public security organs and criminal forces began their crazy revenge on me. The “black world” threatened me by anonymous calls, while the “white world” Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉) took advantage of his powers to monitor my cell phone, house and social relationships, and in the meantime sent lobbyist to buy me off, “As long as you drop the charges you can have 500 thousand yuan (73 068.5 US dollars)”. Moreover, Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉) greased the palm of the leadership at all levels by cash and various relationships. Until now, Wu Xiaohui and the relevant criminal forces haven't got any punishment. Li Hongwei, the deputy chief procurator of Xinyang People's Procuratorate, personally said to me, “Sergeant Yang, you should pay attention to your safety. It is not that we don't want to look into those things. We are just powerless”…

…7月25日夜11时许，潢川县公安局局长润道宏通知我到党委会议室谈话，我如约到达了党委会议室，时有市公安局纪委副书记胡永斌、市纪委一室工作人员周启新，他们佯装询问我举报一事，突然涌进10余名武警，10余名市局派来的警察将我团团围住，随即周启新便说代表市纪委对我“双规”…

…Around 11 p.m. of July 25, Run Daohong (润道宏), the Director General of Public Security Bureau of Huangchuan County, told me to go to the assembly room of Party committee to have a talk. I showed up on time. While Hu Yongbin (胡永斌), the Deputy Secretary of Commission for Discipline Inspection of Xinyang Public Security Bureau and Zhou Qixin (周启新), official of the Municipal Commission for Discipline, were pretending to inquire into the reporting affairs, about 10 armed policemen broke in and completely surrounded me; with that, Zhou Qixin (周启新) announced that he representing the Municipal Commission for Discipline executed “Shuanggui” on me…

…由于是莫须有，我拒绝在双规决定书上签字，并拒绝配合双规措施，他们把我拖进一辆大巴里秘密从潢川县公安局抓走。由于这次迫害明显是以夺取我的生命，对我封口而来的，因此我选择了必须逃亡。8月1号我从双规关押地逃走，8月2号潢川县公安局非法将我通缉上网，8月3号以来潢川县黑恶势力经邬晓辉安排已派二批杀手赴上海、北京等地寻机对我暗杀，我的生命安全已处在极度危险之中。为唤起警察的良心，为追求法律的公平、公正，我已做好了牺牲的准备，同时我将举报信原文及逃亡日记在网上发布，一旦遭遇不测也可作为证据使用。我更相信千百万网友的声音可以呐喊出正义、公平、民主和进步，可以震慑贪、腐，让我们共勉吧！

… Because the charge was unwarranted, I denied signing in the judgment and further cooperating. They dragged me into a van and secretly moved me out of the police station. Obviously, they were trying to seal my lips and take my life, so I had to choose escape. August 1 I broke out of the house where I was detained; August 2 the Huangchuan Public Security Bureau illegally listed me as wanted; Since August 3, Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉) with the criminal forces of Huangchuan county has sent two groups of killers to Shanghai, Beijing etc. to assassinate me. My life is in extreme danger. To arouse the police's ethical conscience and stand firm for the justice and fairness, I have been ready to sacrifice myself. Meanwhile, I have published the letter of accusation and my fugitive diary on the Internet. Once I suffer from misfortune, those materials can also be used as evidence. What's more, I believe the voice of millions of netizens will bring justice, fairness, democracy and social progress, and face the corruption and malversation down. Let's encourage each other!

Up to now, Sergeant Yang's fugitive diary has been updated from July 26, the first day of the house arrest, to August 13 when he fled to Fuyang, a city in Anhui Province. Because of the massive reproductions among the blogs and BBSs, no one knows exactly where Yang published his diary or whether there is someone else who helped him do the updating work. Even so, according to 3 blogs (Links: 1, 2, 3) which many bloggers linked to, It's very likely that the diary was firstly packaged into one post and then updated in different blogs every 6 or 8 days. All the 3 blogs were established in Blogger and dressed by black style.

Although Sergent Yang's legendary and tragic experience has won most Chinese netizen's strong support and deep sympathy, an inescapable question naturally arouse before everyone concerned. Is it true? Will the story maker behind the curtain suddenly jump out and exaltedly shouted that you are fooled? To avoid that situation, some cautious netizens began to further investigate the information revealed by the diary. Surprisingly the officials mentioned do exist, and Wu Xiaohui (邬晓辉), the most important role in Yang's depiction, was even found in the official website of Huangchuan County.

Da Dida, a blogger in bullog.cn, through web cache collected more to prove Sergeant Yang's identity:

google.cn提供的“潢川县公安局领导 阳晓东”的查询结果截图

The screenshot of the search results of “The officer of Huanchuan Public Security Bureau Yang Xiaodong (阳晓东)” by google.cn

潢川县政务门户网站提供的潢川县公安局部门领导（http://www.huangchuan.gov.cn/showpage.asp?id=71）截图

The screenshot of the leadership list of Huangchuan Public Security Bureau from the official website of Huangchuan government （http://www.huangchuan.gov.cn/showpage.asp?id=71）

google缓存提供的潢川县政务门户网站曾经发布的潢川县公安局部门领导在 2008年8月22日 16:29:38 GMT 的快照截图

The previous leadership list of Huangchuan Public Security Bureau provided by the official website of Huangchuan government. The screenshot was taken at 16:29:38 GMT, August 22， 2008 by google cache.

According to the screenshots in Da Dida's blog, it's clearly that until August 22 Yang Xiaodong (阳晓东), the name of the fugitive sergeant was still in the leadership list of Huangchuan Public Security Bureau. (Somehow the link of Google cache has been updated to August 31 now, but Baidu cache also saved a similar screenshot which can prove Yang's identity)

A report published Thursday by CCVIC has further proved Sergeant's Yang's diary, but it also discovered a totally new edition of the same story, which again made the whole thing much more complicated.

Idée Labs, the “technolgy playground” for image identification and visual search software company Idée, updated their Multicolr Search today to include 10 million CC-licensed images pulled from Flickr’s interesting images pool. The simple interface allows you to search Flickr according to a specific color palette (up to 10 colors total), shooting back 50 image sets that are aesthetically stunning.

Below are two purple/yellow palette sets taken from Idée’s announcement - the first image has a greater presence of yellows while the second emphasizes purples:

Check out Idée’s post about Multicolr Search to learn more about the tool or, better yet, experiment with it yourself. It is a ton of fun and a great way to find some really beautiful CC-licensed images.

Yesterday, the New York Times published an article titled “Free Music Downloads Without the Legal Peril ” in which they gave CC a nice plug:

Creative Commons is a site that helps copyright holders decide which rights they want to share — for instance making songs free for personal use and distribution, but not for sampling or commercial use. The five-year-old organization said it had licensed about 1 million songs, and lists them at creativecommons.org/legalmusicforvideos. One user of Creative Commons, the eclectic radio station WFMU-FM, posts legal in-studio performances at freemusicarchive.org.

The article mentions some other free music alternatives (such as promos on iTunes and Amazon MP3) and although it doesn’t exactly nail what we do - we haven’t licensed any songs ourselves, that is all thanks to YOU in the CC community - it is great to be featured regardless.

Attention citizen media advocates and organizers! Our next CC Salon in San Francisco will focus on CC in the realm of citizen media, and this time, we’re trying something a little different: we’re making an open request for presenters! With so many organizations and projects currently tapping into a more democratic and open approach to information sharing, we feel this is a perfect time to spotlight such innovative approaches to media.

The Salon will be held on Wednesday evening, November 12, just post-election, a fitting time to explore the ways in which Creative Commons can help facilitate the exchange of ideas (political or otherwise) through citizen journalism and other forms of media. Presentations should be 10 to 15 minutes long, allowing time for questions and discussion at the end, and may include a variety of media (including film, sound bytes, power point, etc.). We will accept presentation requests until September 30, at which time we will choose two that we feel best exemplify a spirit of open and shared culture.

Be sure to spread the word to citizen media organizations and projects that are either located in the Bay Area or have representation there. 

For more information and to submit a presentation request, please send an email to salon@creativecommons.org.

Today, the new Ushahidi site launched, marking the era of the distributed human rights campaign. Just as Wikipedia allows for the wide-scale participation of collecting the world’s knowledge, Ushahidi now allows for anyone, anywhere, to participate in reporting violence, atrocities and human rights violations. Internet scholar Yochai Benkler calls this phenomenon ‘commons-based peer production’, but what does it really mean?

Until now, campaigns for northern Uganda or Darfur relied on tiny elites in those places to speak for those facing violence. Today, with simply a mobile phone, anyone can actively report incidents of violence to a truly global audience, making it harder for perpetrators to face impunity.

I’ve written and spoke about Ushahidi before. The project started in the chaotic and sad days following the 2007 Kenyan Presidential campaign, when violence escalated out of control in Kenya’s Rift Valley. Then, Ushahidi was an ad hoc tool to allow Kenyans to use mobiles to report incidents of violence, which would then be published on a Google maps based website.

Today, Ushahidi released a platform for use whenever and wherever the next human security disaster erupts. As one of the lead develops, Erik Hersman, recently told me, “Just like a blacksmith, we want to make the hammer, not tell people how to use it.” It is exciting to think that whatever the next emergency may be, decent people will be empowered to both spread the word globally and and keep the perpetrators accountable.

Cross-posted to In An African Minute.

The political tension in Lebanon is escalating to critical levels with each passing day. The latest helicopter downing by Hezbollah managed to add more conflicts between the politicians and the citizens as well. Intense debates and political opinions can be seen everyday on the evening news and now on the blogosphere too. Local bloggers armed themselves with their personal opinions and analysis, taking the “battle” into their web spaces.

Tigermarks' opinion on the current situation in Lebanon focuses this week on General Aoun’s recent comments and press releases post the helicopter downing:

Of course, he is throwing this out there to try to overshadow the Hezbollah killing of the helicopter pilot, whether by mistake or intentionally. He wants his supporters to focus on something else so he cooks up some more rumours and false claims of corruption against the March 14 block. Meanwhile corruption continues to fester in all parts of the Lebanese state and Hezbollah continues to play army in any part of Lebanon it wants to and continues to be the last word on whether we are at war or not.

Targeting the Lebanese Force's recent campaign in the opening of his latest post, Bech writes about the Maronitism and what he perceive as a sign of the downfall of its a political agenda:

Now here comes the interesting part, early in the war, the Lebanese Forces, then a rising organization under Bashir Gemayel, proceeded into killing most of ‘the Tigers’, in effect removing potential rivals on the “Christian arena”. Dany Chamoun was spared till much later, assassinated along with his two little sons, wife, and dog, though maid and daughter could hide in closet. His daughter Tamara vehemently accuses Samir Geagea then and now leader of the LF of having perpetrated the act.

Hanibaal's frustration found its target in the newly elected Lebanese President, Michael Suleiman. Hanibaal posts this news article calling the new president a traitor and a pro-Syrian:

“Slime” was appointed by the Syrian occupation as chief of staff of the army, and when the Syrian army was being evicted out of Lebanon in 2005 by the Lebanese people, this [President] followed his Syrian masters to Anjar to bid them farewell and tell them how sorry he was that they were leaving…How can he be anything but a traitor?
There are no men left in Lebanon - only traitors and more traitors.

The Owuet Front’s blogger N10452 defended the Lebanese Forces against recent claims accusing them in the past to fight against the Lebanese army:

It has come to my attention many people still think that the LF were fighting the Lebanese army back when Aoun was in command. This major misconception is very much exploited by Aounists and lately by Hezbollah who was trying to innocent himself from the murder of Army pilot Samer Hanna by showing the ‘atrocities’ the LF did to the army almost 20 years ago.

Bart Peeters at In the Middle of the East commented on two recent published reports about the political and military situation in the south of the country and draws back the attention to the helicopter incident:

In Lebanon itself, meanwhile, a Hizbullah fighter last week mistakenly downed a helicopter of the Lebanese army, mistaking it for an Israeli one, thereby killing an officer and wounding two soldiers. Considering the Lebanese army owns a whopping total of 3 (three) helicopters, and Israeli aircraft are violating Lebanese airspace on a daily basis, this is not as far-fetched an explanation as it might sound… In any case, Hizbullah has owned up to its mistake and voluntarily handed over the 20-year old fighter to military police. Nevertheless, various parties in the country predictably continue to try and spin a lot out of the incident.

The ban on the popular social networking website Facebook has been lifted in Tunisia since yesterday 3 September 2008 after a massive protest by Tunisian Netizens. Tens of Facebook groups protesting the ban have popped up in recent weeks surrounding this issue. But, according to Al Chourouk newspaper, the President Ben Ali intervened personally ordering the lifting of the ban and restoring access to the website.

One last reminder that we are hosting the latest CC Salon LA tonight (9/3/08). Details below:

• WHO: Xeni Jardin, Tech Culture Journalist + co-editor at Boing Boing, Casey Caplowe, Creative Director at GOOD Magazine
• WHAT: Discussions of openness in journalism with live music provided by Vosotros
• WHEN: Tonight, 7:30PM - 9:30PM
• WHERE: FOUND Gallery in Silverlake (Google map)
• PRICE: Free entry and free drinks
• NETWORK:Upcoming // Facebook

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Ukrainiana and Foreign Notes discuss Ukraine's newest political crisis.

This week Google threw its hat into the photo-commons ring with by announcing its newly upgraded Picasa Web Albums service. Users of Picasa now have the option to individually license their photos on the site under any of our six licenses, and can also set their profile to default to a particular one:

Just look for edit button next to the “All Rights Reserved” text on the right side of any photo page, and the “Photo Usage & Licensing” section in your profile settings (requires Google Account) to set a default license.

Joi Ito, CC’s CEO, recentlly sat down with Business Week to discuss Creative Commons, our mission, and how our licenses work the way they do. The article has an obvious focus on the business potential of CC licences but touches on the implications our licences have in the arts and education as well. It’s a great write up and hopefully gives a bit of context about where we are right now and where we are headed in the near future.

Outside of CC, the article talks at length about Joi’s upcoming photography book, FREESOULS. FREESOULS features photography Joi has taken over the past year of individuals, both well known and lesser known, that had few or no images of themselves publicly available under a CC licence or in the Public Domain. The book and the images therein are being released under a CC BY license and many of the photos already available online under the same terms.

Hopefully, everyone that supports CC also knows that we’re a non-profit organization. As such, we rely on individual, corporate, and foundation support to sustain our operations. This past spring, CC submitted a proposal called Assessing the Commons: Social Metrics for the New Media Landscape to the Social Science Research Center (SSRC). This grant would fund CC and Giorgos Cheliotis of CC Singapore and the National University of Singapore to conduct research on the “global patterns of CC license use, as well as develop metrics showing penetration and impact of open licensing, per jurisdiction and globally.” Sadly, it was denied, but they saw great promise in it, along with a number of other projects.

Because they saw so much promise in projects they were unable to fund, they decided to start their Honorable Mentions page. They are using this hub as a way to pitch these projects to other interested foundations. Check out our project, and feel free to pass it along to anyone you think might be interested. To indirectly support this project by supporting CC’s operations, please visit our donate page. 

Here in Cambridge the days are growing shorter, the temperature cooler, and tens of thousands of students have descended on the Boston area for the start of another school year. In that spirit, I’d like to share our research plans for this fall here at the Internet and Democracy Project.

We have completed a number of case studies that we will release in the coming weeks. This includes an analysis of the impact of the site Ushahidi, blogs, and SMS on post-election violence in Kenya. Second, we will release a case study on last year’s largely Internet driven protests in Burma, which ultimately failed to lead to political change but whose long term impact remains unclear and debatable. Third, a series of three cases by Urs Gasser and his team at St. Gallen University on the the impact of the SmartVote project, E-Voting, and politicians’ blogs in Switzerland.

We have also been busy this past summer with research into both the Arabic and Russian blogospheres. This work follows our groundbreaking case study with our friend John Kelly on the Iranian blogosphere, which we have translated into Persian and will share in the next week or so. We will participate in a Harriman Institute event at Columbia in October to discuss the Russian blog research, and also plan to release case studies on both Arabic and Russian blogs before the end of fall. Look for sneak peeks here on the blog.

Of course, we will continue to blog frequently and welcome and encourage feedback, news, and contributions from readers that are already doing great work in this zone. You can always access all of our case studies either in the publications box on the right hand side of this blog, as well as the the publications section of the Berkman Center Web site.

Today we’re hosting the third installment of the Digital Natives Forum Series: Youth & Civic Engagement. We’ll be discussing the question “How can digital media tools enable youths to motivate one another to create meaningful change?” with a number of fantastic presenters approaching the issues from different vantage points. Come join us in Cambridge, or check out the webcast, and join us in the IRC or on Twitter!

Along with Dr. Sunshine Hillygus, Keli Goff, Nasser Wedaddy, and Judith Perry, Paul Selker, Director of Outreach and Communications at Obama Works, will be discussing ObamaWorks with us today. Earlier, summer intern Nikki Leon talked to Paul on camera about how online interaction can breed offline activism.

Obama Works is an independent grassroots organization that helps Obama supporters in neighborhoods across the country to organize community service events. The group was founded in early 2008 by a group of Yale students who were inspired by Barack Obama and felt that the energy surrounding his campaign could be channeled to do more than generate votes.

In this video, Paul Selker (a recent Yale grad and one of the group’s earliest members) discusses how the organization came together, how they use the web, and what role the internet has played in enabling people of all ages as activists. Produced by Nikki Leon, with camera work by Kanupriya Tewari, and audio engineering by John Randall.

For more on Digital Natives issues, come back next week for new multimedia, and check out recently released Born Digital, and the reactions.

Havana-based Generation Y blogs about the Cuban diaspora and their “portion of fear”.

We are very pleased to announce that the ‘First Roundtable on the Introduction of Creative Commons licenses in the Russian Federation’ will be organized on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 between 16:30 and 19:00 in central Moscow. The roundtable will be chaired by Anton Nossik (SUP) and Syb Groeneveld (Creative Commons Russia).

Creative Commons International has been working with almost 50 local Creative Commons jurisdiction projects to port the licenses to their respective Copyright legislation. However, the CC licenses have not yet been ported to the Russian Federation. With the support of Syb Groeneveld (CC Ambassador for the Russian Federation) and his initiative to revive the discussion by hosting a first roundtable with IT and IP experts, we hope to get the porting process in the Russian Federation started in the near future.

Details can be found here: 

To date, the CC-licenses have not been ported to the Russian Federation. This does not mean there is no activity or interest in CC. The opportunity of introducing CC licenses in the Russian Federation has been studied. Various public and private institutes have organized well-visited lectures on the topic and the first companies, institutes and artists are planning to work with the Russian license. However not much progress has been made to start the adaptation and localization of the licenses to Russian law.

This Roundtable will therefore bring together a small group of legal, Internet and policy experts to set an agenda on the introduction of the licenses in the Russian Federation. The outcome should be a broadly supported six months roadmap towards introduction of the licenses and, where possible, a division of the tasks to be conducted in this process. Although places for the event are limited (max 12 people) please contact Syb Groeneveld and let him know if you are interested in the event by sending an email to syb at creativecommons dot org.

As international criticism continues to pour in over the government's attempts to control the media, Vexed Bermoothes says: “The Premier’s excuse that newspapers are not the best media outlet for Bermuda is wearing a little thin as news leaks out that the Premier’s close allies have invested several million dollars in setting up a competing paper.”

A State of Emergency in Bangkok was declared yesterday by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej following a violent clash between pro and anti-government protesters.

Members of People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have camped inside Thailand’s Government House since last week. They are demanding the resignation of Samak.

The political situation is still volatile but it seems life goes on in Bangkok and the rest of Thailand.

Bangkok Pundit advises foreign governments not to overreact in issuing travel advisories:

“My advice is you are more likely to suffer an injury in a traffic accident - particularly on a motorcycle (not wearing a helmet, driving drunk, and driving in the Islands of course add to the risk) - than to suffer any injury from political violence in Bangkok.”

The Bangkok Bugle is more worried over inaccurate reporting from overseas media:

“There's been no noticeable difference to any other day, except that some of my staff were late because the morning traffic was heavier than usual.

“The road outside my office is certainly quieter than normal for a lunchtime. That could be down to any number of reasons including the closures of nearby schools. But my morning has been very normal; it's business as usual at the moment. What worries me is inaccurate reporting from overseas media.”

Susan Loone from Malaysia observes:

“Public transport workers have joined the demonstrations demanding for the prime minister to resign. And public transport was a big problem for many of our colleagues this morning.”

Bangkok life appears normal, notes Christopher G. Moore:

“This morning and early afternoon driving on Bangkok streets everything appeared, on the surface, normal. People were shopping, eating in restaurants, walking on the streets. But across town in the area around Government House, a different story unfolds. If the story were a noir novel, then it is at the point in the story, where the abject bleakness and despair descends as the main characters seek a final confrontation.”

Wassup Nat? tells readers not to worry too much about the state of emergency:

“Nah… don't worry too much about it. It just sounds worse than it seems. If no one told me this morning, I wouldn't even know it. Still had to work today!

“View from my office window. See - traffic still as normal. Except that there's a police stationed there. Though, I don't know why he was just checking on random motorbikes rather than cars.”

Many government employees have joined the protests but most workers decided to report for work. Go East, Young Woman writes:

“Some protesters labor unions are striking, the buses are almost not running, they are threatening to cut off power and water to police stations and government office.

“The construction workers still showed up to make noise renovating another condo on my floor, however.”

Everything is normal, insists Gay Boy Thailand

“Everything is normal in the Silom area where I live.

“Chalerm said his university Rajapat will be closed for three days. It seems most other schools are closed too.

“Chalerm talked about a curfew but I don’t think that one is announced. Chalerm thinks the army will appear on the streets here like they did in 2006.

“The yellows (PAD) want to disrupt public services such as electricity, transport and airports. So far they have done this in other parts of the country but I have not noticed any difference in downtown Bangkok.

“I am not too concerned about the situation. I believe it is more controlled and orchestrated than it looks.”

Good news for moviegoers. The ongoing Thai Short Film & Video Festival would not be cancelled.

My Life in Bangkok on how Bangkok operates in bubbles:

“Here in the business district, there is no inkling of protests - except for the affect on the Thai economy and stock market. But physically, no sign of distress. Near my home? life goes on as per usual. Sunny bright days in Bangkok.”

Power and water have been cut off several times. Pink Hearted Passages writes:

“Businesses are doing strange things too, like some buses who were told they couldn't raise the prices recently by the government, have taken advantage of the chaos to do just that….I have lots of friends who are frustrated and stuck with missed / canceled flights but that seems to be the worst of it so far…..we are being told to expect some blackouts and already the water has been shut off a couple times (strange retaliation by government?)”

The Ramblings of a Byron lives outside of Bangkok:

“I think the government tried to shut down the internet here last night, (to avoid anyone spilling the plans for declaring a state of emergency this morning), and my pay TV service is down. It's all very reminiscent of the 2006 coup. I believe there was a newscast where the PM announced his plans for the state of emergency, but it was Thai language and a Thai TV station.

“So anyways, because I don't really go to Bangkok or live in a tourist'y area, none of it really affects me, (or at least it isn't yet).”

My Thai Life agrees that Samak should resign:

“Yep, seems that there are huge protests going on in Bangkok and Phuket and they closed the Phuket airport. All this for the sake of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej who in my humble opinion should step down. He seems to be causing more bad than good but again, it’s just my opinion.

“What will come of these politics in Thailand? I know that I will won’t leave and that this is my home. Thailand will survive this political instability and believe me, people will still continue to come here.”

SilapaJarun.com believes the government orchestrated the violence to justify the declaration of a state of emergency:

“It's clear that Samak engineered this violence to justify declaring a state of emergency as well as a curfew and the possibility of using deadly force against supporters who have unmasked him, his administration and his daddy Thaksin.”

He adds that the real battle is in the courts:

“While everyone is watching protests—the truth is the fight is in the courts. Both Samak and Thaksinhave several court cases coming up nevermind the fact that Thaksin's wife is an escaped convict.

HaPPi like a HiPPo shows why use of violence to disperse rallyists is unjustified:

“The protesters look harmless. Some of them only have an umbrella for self defense, and the rest have nothing more than a yellow “Ku Chart” head band. They're not even charging ahead, just sitting there.”

Inside the protest camp, Newley Purnell observes:

“Despite the fact that gatherings of more than five people have been prohibited, the protest felt much like a carnival: protesters clad in yellow — a color that represents their beloved King — stood in front of a large stage and listened to various speeches. Others relaxed under tarps and clapped, chatted, and snacked. Riot police stood by a few blocks away.”

Many foreigners in Bangkok are secretly supporting Samak, yet many local citizens want the prime minister to step down. absolutelybangkok.com discusses this issue:

“I cannot help but feel astonished at the fact that many foreigners in Thailand quietly side with the Samak government, whereas most Bangkokian Thais condemn the Samak government downright instinctively, naming “corruption” and “bad” as the main reasons without being able to list proper arguments and facts.

“What do foreigners not see what Thais see. Fed by different media outlets, are farangs just not truly aware how deep the divisions and hate in society really are?”

Its time for the King to intervene. New Mandala writes:

“Worryingly, while his majesty’s government is under siege, the king and his privy councillors have maintained a detached public silence.

“He usually stays away from politics but the king is interventionist when it suits.

“What the king says undoubtedly matters. However what goes unsaid can be just as important.

“The king is silent again. Not one word of disavowal. Not one attempt to restrain the mob that protests in his name.

“Today the king should not wait for more ordinary Thais to suffer the consequences of brinksmanship. The People’s Alliance for Democracy is goading the Samak government to over-react. With the real possibility of more bloodshed in Bangkok in the days ahead, the king’s silence is baffling. His lifelong reservoir of charisma is no good to his people if he does not call off the anti-democratic provocateurs acting in his name.”

Pictures of the street clash that led to the declaration of the state of emergency were uploaded by Matichon. Thailand Jumped the Shark posts video clips.

Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society (where the idea of CC originated) will be venturing out of Cambridge, MA in order to celebrate the release of their newest publication on Sept. 15th at Hotel Vitale, right here in San Francisco. Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, explores many of the key issues at the intersection of new technology and young people, including privacy, safety, creativity, learning, civic engagement. Details are below and we hope to see you there!

Book Talk and Reception:
Monday, September 15th, 2008
6:00PM, to be followed by a cocktail reception.
Free and open to the public, no RSVP required

Location
Hotel Vitale
8 Mission St
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 278-3700
Directions and map

The book talk and reception is generously co-hosted by: David Hornik of August Capital, the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, Creative Commons, Tod Cohen of eBay Inc., the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Stanford’s Center for Internet & Society, and Meg Garlinghouse of Yahoo! Inc.

Valery Dzutsev notes on a rumor that “shortly before his killing Magomed Yevloev was about to start the campaign for collection of signatures among the Ingush for secession