Berkman Buzz: April 8, 2011
What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below.
* Doc Searls struggles with how to write about the Net and tune it out at the same time
* Ethan Zuckerman muses on the Monobloc (those ubiquitous white plastic chairs)
* The OpenNet Initiative reviews new Internet controls in Russia
* danah boyd shares the challenges of doing fieldwork with teenagers
* The Citizen Media Law Project cheers on British Libel Reform
* Weekly Global Voices: "Iran: Protests for a Drying Lake"
Special note: the Berkman Center is currently seeking a web applications developer and a junior web applications developer. More information is available on our Employment Opportunities page.
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The full buzz.
"Mom used to say, 'Great minds discuss ideas, mediocre minds discuss events, and small minds discuss people.' (Attributed, with some dispute, to Eleanor Roosevelt.) The Net feeds all three, but at the risk of dragging one’s mind from the great to the small. 'What else are we doing on the internet if not asserting our rank?' Alice [Gregory] writes. (Would we ask the same about what we’re doing in a library?)"
From Doc Searls's blog post, "World wide puddle"
"The Monobloc is a reminder that the world is still filled with the local, the unique, the distinctive. Globalization may be homogenizing the world, but most objects still offer some context. The few objects that defy localization deserve some special form of lionization. They’ve achieved a level of design perfection where they don’t require adaptation to be as successful in Africa as they are in suburban America. Dismiss them at your peril – context-free objects like the Monobloc have achieved a sort of global celebrity that few humans could ever hope for."
From Ethan Zuckerman's blog post, "Those White Plastic Chairs – The Monobloc and the Context-Free Object"
"As governments in the Middle East have cracked down on Internet traffic outright this year, Russian authorities have expanded their control over cyberspace in a more indirect manner, employing a voluntary Internet patrol group, paid pro-government commentators, alleged DDoS attacks, and a new surveillance system to increase pressure on Russian netizens."
From Rebekah Heacock's blog post for the OpenNet Initiative, "How Can We Help Miguel?"
"I've been writing about impending British libel reform for almost two years now, putting a post together every time something happens to bring the United Kingdom closer to fixing its quite-literally-backwards defamation laws. "Ooo, the High Court has tossed a textbook libel tourism case," I cheered in November 2009. "Aah, the justice minister has publicly endorsed libel reform," I applauded in March 2010. But now it really looks like libel reform is happening in the United Kingdom."
From Arthur Bright's blog post for the Citizen Media Law Project, "British Libel Reform - Now With Real Proposed Legislation!"
"Dozens of protesters were arrested on April 2, 2011 in Iran's Azerbaijan region in the cities Tabriz and Urmia (northwestern Iran). This time protests were not for democracy and freedom, but instead demands for the government to protect Lake Urmia, one of the world's largest salt water lakes."
From Hamid Tehrani's blog post for Global Voices Online, "Iran: Protests for a Drying Lake"
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Compiled by Rebekah Heacock.
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 buzz@cyber.harvard.edu.