Berkman Buzz: July 6, 2012

When it comes to using educational technology in the classroom, it seems like every school is doing it, has done it already, or has plans to do it in the near future. Without a doubt, technology in the classroom, whether an iPad, laptop, or online simulation, has the potential to transform education for many students, and, in many cases, is already making great strides. But with the advent of the technology craze upon us, it is important for educators and administrators not to let their excitement for its potential carry them away; technology can be integrated into an educational program, but is not a standalone silver bullet for improving outcomes.
 

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is the latest group to voice concerns over Ethiopia’s increasingly draconian Internet control, even as the government justifies these measures as a safeguard against telecom fraud.

On Monday, CPJ outlined its concern about new sophisticated censorship methods employed in Ethiopia, which the group said may encourage other authoritarian regimes in Africa. According to the Associated Press, the CPJ statement says that “‘the rollout of a far more pervasive and sophisticated blocking system’” started in April to include smaller blogs by exiles and news services, and even individual Facebook pages.”

#UN Human Rights Council endorses net freedom of expression #FOE #netfreedom ow.ly/c2GEl
— Herdict (@Herdict)

Most of this report was researched, written and edited by Weiping Li, James Losey, Tom Risen and Sarah Myers.

The past few weeks have seen promising developments in the use of online journalism to counter official narratives in countries under political upheaval.

The Network for Iraqi Reporters for Investigative Journalism launched in mid-June, becoming the first investigative journalism website in Iraq devoted to stories of “corruption, mismanagement of funds and power across Iraq.” Its articles will be published in Arabic, English and Kurdish. Syrian video activists have also launched an effort to create an online alternative to state-run media. Rami Jarrah, founder of the Activists News Association, hopes the network will transform the activists, who have been using video cameras to document the uprising, into citizen journalists whose work could eventually supplant that of the state media should Syrian President Bashar al-Assad be forced from power.

NFIB v. Sebelius, the 2012 Supreme Court decision rejecting nearly all of the constitutional challenges to the Affordable Care Act, has (at least) two bits of interest to infolaw folks. First, the majority opinion finds that the ACA‘s individual mandate cannot be sustained under the Commerce Clause. Congress regulates all manner of infolaw issues under the Commerce Clause, perhaps most notably trademarks. Second, the Court strikes down the Medicaid expansion provision, finding essentially that it is an unconstitutional condition on Congress’s spending largesse. This is fascinating for those of us interested in how Congress uses its spending powers to shape speech. I’m going to tackle what I see as a puzzle in the majority’s Commerce Clause analysis, with the usual disclaimer: I’m not expert in the structural aspects of the Constitution.

Over the past year, in the US, Italy and other countries, Internet communities have flexed their muscles and demonstrated their popularity and capacity for organizing public opinion, by convincing lawmakers not to pass bills that would have made life difficult for ‘Net service providers and site owners.

Recently, two US Congressmen who were important opponents of SOPA in the House and Senate, Darrell Issa and Ron Wyden, called for and then published a draft Digital Citizen’s Bill of Rights, which they opened for public annotation and comment. (Kudos for the concept and quick turnaround – that’s a more direct engagement of readers than any other political effort I’ve seen recently. But I hope they keep developing the platform, or move it to something more refactorable.)

Must-read: @derekslater on measuring digital creativity in INSEAD/WIPO Global Innovation Index 2012 http://www.globalinnovationindex.org/gii/main/fullreport/files/Chap1/Chapter11.pdf @berkmancenter
—Urs Gasser (@ugasser)

Following the end of the presidential candidates' campaigns, election day was held last Sunday 1 July 2012, from which the next President of the United Mexican States would emerge victorious. Mexicans also elected 128 senators and 500 members of parliament. Citizens went to the polls to vote without restrictions or major incidents.

At the time of writing this post, according to official, albeit preliminary, information released by Mexico's electoral monitoring organisation, the Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE), turnout was at 63.14% with 90.82% of the votes counted. Preliminary counts seemed to favour the candidate Enrique Peña Nieto [en], from the political party coalition known as Compromiso por México (”Compromise for Mexico”), with 37.83 of the electoral vote..