Berkman Luncheon Series

Making large volunteer-driven projects sustainable. Lessons learned from Drupal

Dries Buytaert, original creator and project lead of Drupal

In this talk, Dries shares his experiences on how he grew the Drupal community from just one person to over 800,000 members over the past 10 years.

Berkman Luncheon Series

The Growth and Decay of Shared Knowledge

Dennis Tenen, fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society

In this talk, Dennis will discuss our intuitions about knowledge domains and the methods by which such intuitions could be modeled empirically. Along the way, we will have the chance to unpack the "information as organism" metaphor, to construct taxonomies of epistemological lifeforms, and to consider evolutionary pressures on knowledge systems.

Berkman Luncheon Series

The Promises of Web-based Social Experiments

Jerome Hergueux, Berkman Center Fellow

In this talk, Jerome Hergueux will engage the audience in a discussion about the specificities, limitations and promises of web-based behavioral experiments for advancing social science research.

Berkman Luncheon Series

Designing for Remixing: Computer-supported Social Creativity

Andres Monroy-Hernandez, Berkman Fellow & MIT Media Lab

In this talk Andres Monroy-Hernandez presents a framework for the design and study of an online community of amateur creators. This event will be webcast live at 12:30PM ET.

Berkman Luncheon Series

The Spanish Revolution & the Internet: From free culture to meta-politics

Mayo Fuster Morell, Berkman Center Fellow

In the context of multiple crises – ecological, political, financial and geopolitical restructuring – large mobilizations are taking place in several countries. In the Spanish case, we have seen some of the largest demonstrations since the country transitioned to democracy in the 70th with massive occupations of public squares, attempts to prevent parliaments functioning and citizen assemblies of thousands of people taking place in spring and autumn 2011. The presentation will be based on a qualitative research analysis and aims to open up a debate on the similarities and contrast between the Spanish case and the mobilization that emerged in other places (such as Arab Countries, Iceland, Greece, Portugal, Israel, Chile or New York City).

The Penguin and the Leviathan: How Cooperation Triumphs over Self-Interest

Yochai Benkler, Berkman Center Faculty Co-Director

In his new book, Yochai Benkler uses evidence from neuroscience, economics, sociology, biology, and real-world examples to break down the myth of self-interest and replace it with a model of cooperation in our businesses, our government, and our lives.

Berkman Luncheon Series

Almost Wikipedia: What Eight Collaborative Encyclopedia Projects Reveal About Mechanisms of Collective Action

Benjamin Mako Hill, Berkman Center & MIT

Benjamin Mako Hill will present some preliminary findings from a qualitative, inductive, case-study based analysis of 8 early projects to create online collaborative encyclopedias.

Berkman Luncheon Series

The Online Laboratory: Taking Experimental Social Science onto the Internet

Dave Rand, Berkman Fellow & Research Scientist at Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics

In this talk Dave Rand will describe how to go about designing and running experiments using Mechanical Turk, some successful experiments that have been run (mostly involving cooperative social dilemmas), and the lessons learned thus far.

Berkman Luncheon Series

Preliminary Conclusions from The Industrial Cooperation Project

Carolina Rossini, Berkman Fellow

Carolina Rossini, Berkman Fellow, will report initial findings and conclusions from the Industrial Cooperation Project...

Berkman Luncheon Series

Kudunomics: Information and Property Rights in the Weightless Economy

Sam Bowles, Santa Fe Institute, Behavioral Sciences Program

Sam Bowles will discuss how an evolutionary model and computer simulations will show how systems of property rights might respond to the challenges of the weightless economy.