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Berkman Buzz: September 30, 2011

Berkman Buzz: September 30, 2011

A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations

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

* Andrés Monroy-Hernández explores the link between information technology and economic growth
* Doc Searls explains the needs for cars on the Net
* Dan Gillmor reviews Amazon's new Kindle Fire
* The Citizen Media Law Project praises Al Jazeera's embrace of Creative Commons
* Benjamin Mako Hill on science as dance
* Weekly Global Voices: "Zambia: Netizens Start Countdown to 90 Day Change Promise"

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The full buzz.

"We often assume that information technology is beneficial to society, however, this is rarely backed by empirical evidence. Last week in our cooperation reading group, we discussed a fascinating paper by Jeremiah Dittmar that examines the link between information technology and economic growth. Despite the title, the paper is not about the Internet or even computers, it is about the printing press."
From Andres Monroy-Hernandez's blog post, "Is Information Technology Beneficial?"

"Nobody has invented a car for the Net or the Web yet. Browsers could have been cars, but they have remained stuck for sixteen years in the calf-cow slave-master world of the client-server model. That’s not the Net’s model, or the Web’s, either. It’s just what we’ve used for so long that we can hardly imagine anything else. Think about how you feel on your bike, or in your car or truck. That’s what we want online. We don’t have it yet, so let’s invent it."
From Doc Searls' blog post for ProjectVRM, "Enough with browsers. We need cars now."

"When Apple introduced its second-generation iPad earlier this year, then-CEO Steve Jobs used the word "flummoxed" to describe his company's erstwhile competitors in the tablet market. He was right; the competition has been scattered, and mostly inept. Until now? Perhaps so, with Wednesday's launch of the Kindle Fire, Amazon's entry into the market."
From Dan Gillmor's post for The Guardian, "Kindle Fire's challenge to Apple and Google"

"But of all the exhibitors attending the conference, I'd like to drop a bit of praise on Al Jazeera, and not just because they were giving away really nice keychains. While poking around their site and materials at the conference, I discovered that Al Jazeera has been offering up video, photographs, and even full-fledged blog articles for public use under Creative Commons ("CC") licenses since January 2009. This is a truly excellent thing."
From Arthur Bright's blog post for the Citizen Media Law Project, "Al Jazeera's Laudable Embrace of Creative Commons"

"The following selected bibliography showcases only a small portion of the academics who have demonstrated that while it may take two to tango, it only takes one to give a scholarly paper a silly cliche title."
From Benjamin Mako Hill's blog post, ,a href="http://mako.cc/copyrighteous/20110926-00">"Science as Dance"

"Zambia’s new President, Michael Sata, has in the last three elections he has participated in promised to transform the nation in 90 days including putting more money into people's pockets. Now that he has finally been elected head of state, expectant netizens have started the countdown."
From Gershom Ndhlovu's post for Global Voices, "Zambia: Netizens Start Countdown to 90 Day Change Promise"

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Compiled by Rebekah Heacock.

The Berkman Buzz is selected weekly 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.