Publications

Anonymity, Autonomy, and Discourse in a Hostile Environment

"Arab Religious Skeptics Online: Anonymity, Autonomy, and Discourse in a Hostile Environment," authored by Helmi Noman, is the sixth paper in the Internet Monitor special report series, which focuses on key events and new developments in Internet freedom. The report analyzes the content, discourse, and structure of three prominent Arab atheist web forums and examines the relationship between the networked information economy and the emergence of religious skeptics in Arab cyberspace.

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The Internet Monitor project's second annual report—Internet Monitor 2014: Reflections on the Digital World—is a collection of roughly three dozen short contributions that highlight and discuss some of the most compelling events and trends in the digitally networked environment over the past year.

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Social Media Sentiment in the Euromaidan Protests

"Russia, Ukraine, and the West: Social Media Sentiment in the Euromaidan Protests," authored by Bruce Etling, is the fourth paper in the Internet Monitor special reports series, which focuses on key events and new developments in Internet freedom. The paper analyzes content from a range of online Russian- and English-language sources, including both social media (Facebook, Twitter, and forums) and traditional media, to explore sentiment in the online conversation about the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine last winter.

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This paper explores interdisciplinary approaches to privacy in long-term longitudinal studies of human subjects. Long-term longitudinal studies collect, at multiple points over a long period of time, highly-specific and often sensitive data describing the health, socioeconomic, or behavioral characteristics of human subjects.

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This paper provides a snapshot of key aspects of a diverse—and heated—law, policy, and implementation debate that is taking place in the rapidly evolving cloud-based ed tech landscape as of early 2014. It aims to provide policy and decision-makers with greater information about and clarity around the avenues available in evaluating privacy options.

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The Role of Blogs, Mainstream Media, and TV in Russia’s Media Ecology

"Blogs as an Alternative Public Sphere: The Role of Blogs, Mainstream Media, and TV in Russia’s Media Ecology," authored by Bruce Etling, Hal Roberts, and Robert Faris, is the third paper in the Internet Monitor special report series, which focuses on key events and new developments in Internet freedom. The paper uses data collected from thousands of blogs, mainstream media, and TV sources to examine the role of Russian blogs within Russia's media ecosystem.

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“Cloud Innovation and the Law: Issues, Approaches, and Interplay,” authored by Berkman Center Executive Director and Harvard Law School Professor of Practice Urs Gasser, draws from and builds upon previous contributions by the author and his collaborators from the Berkman Center’s cloud computing initiative.

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This research brief, prepared by the Berkman Center’s Youth and Media project for the co-organized Berkman Center and Consortium for School Networking working meeting on student privacy and cloud computing, presents empirical data on student privacy attitudes drawn from a series of focus groups conducted across the country between February and August 2013.

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A (Selective) Review of Methods and Metrics

"Measuring Internet Activity: A (Selective) Review of Methods and Metrics," authored by Robert Faris and Rebekah Heacock, explores current efforts to measure digital activity within three areas: infrastructure and access, control, and content and communities.

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An Overview of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

This overview of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was produced by Harvard Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic in advance of the Student Privacy Initiative's April 2013 workshop, "Student Privacy in the Cloud Computing Ecosystem."

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Peter Suber and Stuart Shieber release the first print edition of a guide focused on recommendations for university policies on open access to faculty research.

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Applying Interoperability Theory to Analyze the Expansion of “Open311”

Following the four primary applications of interoperability theory laid out by Palfrey and Gasser, this paper is organized into five Parts: (1) Part One introduces the topic; (2) Part Two establishes interop as “high level theory,” considering its utility both as a frame and an organizing principle; (3) Part Three utilizes interop as a descriptive lens to examine the emergence of 311 (a precursor platform) and Open311 in recent years; (4) Part Four applies interop as a predictive tool to consider emerging issues as Open311 expands; and (5) Part Five draws on interop as a normative device to conclude that while Open311 is moving toward optimal levels of data and technological interoperability, efforts must now be made to increase human and institutional interop; policymakers should employ both regulatory and non-regulatory mechanisms to do so.

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