Berkman Buzz: Week of February 7, 2011

What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below.

* Ethan Zuckerman explores media coverage (and the lack thereof) of the protests in Tunisia, Egypt, and Gabon
* The Citizen Media Law Project and the Cyberlaw Clinic First Circuit support the right to make cellphone recordings of police
* Dan Gillmor argues that the Huffington Post should pay its bloggers
* David Weinberger wonders if Egypt's revolution would have been leaderless sans social media
* Joseph Reagle analyzes Wikipedia's gender gap across countries
* Weekly Global Voices: "Ghana: Want a new constitution? Text 1992"

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The full buzz.

"It’s easy to understand why revolutions make for good television – they’re the most visible form of political change, and when they reshape governments previously considered unassailable, they’re a profoundly engaging and hopeful narrative. A revolution in Egypt is particularly compelling, as the nation is the most populous in the Arab world, and the cultural heart of the region. But not all revolutions are blessed with this level of attention. The West African nation of Gabon is experiencing a popular revolt against the rule of Ali Bongo Ondimba, son of long-time strongman Omar Bongo, president since October 2009."
From Ethan Zuckerman's blog post, "Tunisia, Egypt, Gabon? Our responsibility to witness"

"With the help of Harvard Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic, the Citizen Media Law Project and a coalition of media and advocacy organizations submitted an amicus curiae brief last week to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in a case involving a lawyer who was arrested for using his cellphone camera to record on-duty police officers. The case, Glik v. Cunniffe, stems from an incident on the Boston Common in October 2007. Plaintiff Simon Glik witnessed police arresting a man in the park. Glik recorded the arrest using his phone's video camera and was arrested for violating the Commonwealth's Wiretap Statute (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272, § 99), which prohibits the "secret" interception of wire and oral communications."
From David Ardia's blog post for the Citizen Media Law Project, "CMLP and Cyberlaw Clinic Urge First Circuit to Affirm First Amendment Right to Make Cellphone Recording of Police"

"The Huffington Post’s home-grown content, for the most part, has been especially notable for its low cost to Huffington: low as in free. Although some actual paid journalists work for the organization, her blogger network is an amazing achievement; she’s persuaded untold numbers of people to write for nothing, to have their names on the page as compensation for their labor."
From Dan Gillmor's blog post, "Huffington Should Pay the Bloggers Something Now"

"A question: We’re going to be arguing forever about the role and importance of social media in the Egyptian revolution, but I want to ask a smaller question: Would the Egyptian Revolution been leaderless without the presence of social media? I ask this as a genuine question. And I understand that I don’t know how leaderless it was."
From David Weinberger's blog post, "Freedom for Egypt: Some tweets, a thought about a future of journalism, and a question"

"It appears a lot of Russians gender declare. One of the odd things with the survey from which the famous "13%" is derived is how many Russians participated. Maybe they are less than shy in identifying themselves with Wikipedia? I've also heard it said that the Japanese Wikipedia is characterized by a lot of anonymous contributions because of issues of power distance and face. I wonder if this would also relates how many people there declare their gender? I'll post an update if I get that data."
From Joseph Reagle's blog post, "Comparative of 'gender gaps'"

"In December 2010, Kobina Graham discovered just how much was riding on the social media project he had been working on. At the launch of the Constitution Review Commission’s text campaign he was told ‘This is the first campaign of its type in Ghana. If it works, it will be a model to follow. If it fails it will be held up as the reason why we should never do social media campaigns in Ghana again.’ No pressure."
From Fiona Leonard's blog post for Global Voices Online, "Ghana: Want a new constitution? Text 1992"

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The weekly Berkman Buzz is selected from the posts of Berkman Center people and projects and sometimes from the Center's wider network.

Suggestions and feedback about the Buzz are always welcome and can be emailed to rheacock@cyber.harvard.edu.