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March 31, 2006
Talkr: Creating Audio Podcasts of Your Text Blog Entries
I've just started experimenting with a rather funky tool called Talkr. Essentially, Talkr is a podcast generator for text blogs, and it has enormous implications for people with visual impairments and limited literacy.
When you look at a typical blog, it's mostly text. This may be no problem for many people, but if you're reading skills aren't strong or you don't see well, text blogs can be quite a challenge. Meanwhile, thousands of Internet users create their own podcasts, which are basically blogs containing audio files. Apart from being really cool for everyone, podcasts are particularly useful for people who can't read or see well. But they're not exactly practical for the hard of hearing, either, who would benefit more from reading a text blog. Theoretically, it would be great if every person who wrote a text blog would record a podcast of it as well, but very few, if any bloggers bother to do this.
Enter Talkr. Talkr is a Web-based speech synthesizer that takes the texts of blogs and generates and MP3 file, with a computer voice speaking the text. For people who just want to visit their favorite text blogs and listens to them, Talkr works as blog management tool; you simply add your favorite blogs to your account, and it will create a computer-generated voice mp3 for each entry. Meanwhile, for all of you bloggers out there, Talkr lets you embed a computer-generatd mp3 into each of your blog entries, and supplies you with an RSS feed for them. This means that users can either come to your blog and click a link to listen to the mp3, or they can use iTunes or another podcast management tool to subscribe to the feed and receive each new mp3 file automatically.
Talkr is still a work in progress, but it's fascinated me to the point that I've decided to take a shot at integrating it into my blog. Each of my blog entries will now have a link at the bottom that says "Listen to a computer-generated podcast of this article." Clickling the link will bring you to the mp3 file where you can hear the text being read aloud. (Note: I've noticed that the mp3 files don't work immediately when you've posted a new blog entry; it takes at least a few minutes to generate the file.) For example, here's the MP3 file that was generated by my last blog entry, about race and the digital divide.
Meanwhile, I've also added a new RSS feed that allows you to subscribe directly to the mp3 via iTunes or another podcast manager:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/carvin-audiotext
I will be very curious to hear what all of you think of this tool. The computer voice takes some getting used to - it's also a woman's voice, so don't expect to hear a radio-friendly baritone or anything like that. In practice, though, this tool could be used to help people who experience limited literacy skills or visual impairments, giving them a whole new way to participate in the blogosphere. Please let me know what you think. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 4:43 PM
Race and the Digital Divide: A Current Snapshot
Today's New York Times features an article about the rapid pace of blacks and Latinos bridging the digital divide. The article paints a picture that minorities have made enormous progress in terms of gaining Internet access in recent years.
Studies and mounting anecdotal evidence now suggest that blacks, even some of those at the lower end of the economic scale, are making significant gains. As a result, organizations that serve African-Americans, as well as companies seeking their business, are increasingly turning to the Internet to reach out to them."What digital divide?" Magic Johnson, the basketball legend, asked rhetorically in an interview about his new Internet campaign deal with the Ford Motor Company's Lincoln Mercury division to use the Internet to promote cars to black prospective buyers.
The sharpest growth in Internet access and use is among young people. But blacks and other members of minorities of various ages are also merging onto the digital information highway as never before.
According to a Pew national survey of people 18 and older, completed in February, 74 percent of whites go online, 61 percent of African-Americans do and 80 percent of English-speaking Hispanic-Americans report using the Internet. The survey did not look at non-English-speaking Hispanics, who some experts believe are not gaining access to the Internet in large numbers.
The article goes on to note that the statistics shouldn't necessarily be taken as totally rosy, offering quotes from the president of the Kaiser Family Foundation and myself:
Vicky Rideout, vice president of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, which has studied Internet use by race, ethnicity and age, cautioned that a new dimension of the digital divide might be opening because groups that were newer to the Internet tended to use less-advanced hardware and had slower connection speeds."The type and meaningful quality of access is, in some ways, a more challenging divide that remains," Ms. Rideout said. "This has an impact on things like homework."
In addition, Internet access solely at institutions can put students at a disadvantage. Schools and other institutions seldom operate round the clock, seven days a week, which is especially an issue for students, said Andy Carvin, coordinator for the Digital Divide Network, an international group that seeks to close the gap.
As I note above, the article mentions recent data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project that suggests a surge of access, particularly by Latinos. According to their data, a whopping 79% of English-speaking Latinos access the Internet, beating out African Americans and whites - and perhaps even the Nordic countries, which generally have the highest Internet access rates in the world. However, it's worth noting that this 79% represents English-speaking Latinos only. According to the US Census Bureau, there are around 41.3 million Latinos in the US. Of these, nearly 14 million don't speak English well or at all. It's vital we collect better statistics about this community; otherwise, policymakers and philanthropists might hear a soundbyte that says four out of five Latinos are online and assume the problem is solved. Unless we address those who are most marginalized in our society - those that don't speak English - we're not tackling the problem adequately.
Moreover, it's worth noting that the Pew data looks broadly at Internet access, asking respondents if they use the Internet at all, whether at home, school, work or elsewhere. These numbers are generally higher than the numbers of people who have Internet access at home. The US Department of Commerce's NTIA office has collected digital divide data for over a decade. In their surveys, the most recent of which was almost three years ago, they researched the percentages of households that had Internet access. According to their data, white households were far and away more likely to be online than African Americans or Latinos. For much of the 1990s, Latinos fared better than African Americans, but that pattern appeared to reverse in the year 2000, when African Americans surpassed Latinos.
Why does any of this matter? As I suggested in the NY Times story, people may have Internet access, but if it's not at home, that access may be inadequate. Nearly 100% of US schools are online today, which would suggest that nearly all students would at some point or another have Internet access. But if some of them don't have access at home, they're at a severe disadvantaged when compared to their wired peers. Access through libraries and community technology centers are very important, but they don't solve all our problems, given the fact they tend to have limited operating hours and limited capacity. Some libraries are only open one or two days a week, and for a few hours at a time; imagine asking every kid in that community without home Internet access to complete an online course using such limited infrastructure.
So is it possible that nearly 80% of English-speaking Latinos are online? I have immense respect for the folks at Pew, and they don't have a political axe to grind, so I'm inclined to give them the benefit of a doubt. I'm still scratching my head a bit, but they're the statiticians and I'm not. However, it's still important to take into account the value of at-home Internet access, not to mention issues such as literacy, computer skills and the availability of high-quality, cuturally relevant content. Meanwhile, with each new technological leap, we're facing another digital divide, whether it's the broadband divide, the wifi divide, what have you. As long as there are socioeconomic divisions in our society, there will always be haves and have-nots - and the have-nots are the last to get the latest gear and benefit from it.
A note to Magic Johnson, in case he's reading this: You used to be an activist for bridging the digital divide, and now you're saying "What digital divide?" I'd be curious to know what changed your mind. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:16 PM
Post-Game Summary of My Appearance on Radio Open Source
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Chris Lydon live on Open Source last night |
I arrived at the studio just before 7pm, when the program airs live. I sat in the studio with Chris, who was busily jotting down notes for the show, peppering me with interesting questions about the subject. I'd met Chris once or twice at Harvard Berkman events, but this was the first time we'd ever really chatted. You can tell he's done thousands of interviews in his long career; he really makes you feel comfortable. I think it was particularly helpful that I was with him in person. Sometimes I've done radio interviews in which I'm over the phone or checking in via another studio, and the lack of eye contact can affect the rapport of the conversation. So it was great being able to sit at the same table with Chris, microphones bobbing six inches from our noses; it would make for a very comfortable, casual conversation.
I didn't come on for the first 40 minutes; Chris interviewed Spencer Wells of National Geographic and John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin first. This allowed me to observe his interview style and take notes. During music breaks, Chris would talk simultaneously with the control room as well as with me, taking advantage of every moment to prepare for the next segment.
Eventually, it was my turn to appear on air. Chris opened things up by asking me how I started my own family tree odyssey, and the brick wall I hit in terms of a lack of a genealogical paper trail beyond my great-grandparents. I talked about how I learned about genetic genealogy in early 2000 and tracked down the founder of Family Tree DNA, which was just getting off the ground as one of the first commercial providers of DNA tests for genealogical purposes.
From there, we talked about some of the findings I had, including the connections on both sides of my family with the Middle East and northeast Africa. I also talked a bit about my father-in-law, Dave Cornwall, who got tested last year and ended up connecting with other DNA customers who happened to be named Cornwell and shared a similar story of how their families came to America. Chris wrapped it up by asking me what I plan to tell our first child about our family's history and what we've learned from the DNA testing. I said I hoped that it would give them an appreciation of how we're connected to people from all over the world, and that we're all one large human family, all equally deserving of dignity and respect.
The hour was over quite fast - it's amazing how these things fly by when you're into it. Chris said he'd be getting tested soon; I can't wait to see the follow-up show and learn what he discovered.
In case you didn't catch the show, here's the podcast of the full hour. It's about 24 megabytes, so it may take a while to download. My segment is about 40 minutes into the show - not that you should skip ahead or anything. :-) -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:37 AM
March 30, 2006
Discussing Genetics and Genealogy Tonight on Radio Open Source
Tonight I'm going to be a guest on Christopher Lydon's public radio program, Open Source. The show will focus on genetics and genealogy for the full hour; I'll be talking about my own personal experiences with DNA testing for family tree research. Other guests include "Journey of Man" author Spencer Wells of National Geographic's Genographic Project and anthropology blogger John Hawks.
Open Source is syndicated over public radio international. It airs live at 7pm ET/4pm PT in many communities, though sometimes it's recorded and aired at other times. Check their schedule for station air times near you.
Otherwise, you can go to hear the program streamed live over the Internet. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:01 PM
Behold the Power of Digg
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My blog traffic experiences the Digg Effect |
I've been playing around with Digg for a little while now but yesterday was the first time I felt the power of Digg in action. I posted a digg headline about my blog entry on student vandalism of Wikipedia. Previous Digg headlines of mine had only garnered a handful of Diggs, but this story took off. In less than 24 hours the headline received over 800 diggs and 100 comments, placing it on the Digg homepage for much of the day. My blog traffic spiked because of it; rather than getting a modest average of 1,000 page views a day, the blog received over 10,000 page views.
Apart from generating the extra traffic to my site, I was quite happy with the comments posted by Digg members. While some of them were sarcastic or dismissive, many of them were constructive commentary on the subject discussed in the blog entry. I was particularly surprised by the number of students and educators who posted comments about their own experiences with Wikipedia vandalism, including:
"Wow, we made the news! The Timmins school is my school board - and yes, this entire school board, geographically the size of *FRANCE*, shares the same IP for every school in the board. I'm a teacher at this board and spend a lot of time showing my students how to find things in Wikipedia. I was always hoping our board would make the news for technology, but always thought it would be for 'shop' or 'welding'"
"My school was banned from editing Wikipedia because a student conducted a test to see how long it takes to correct information by adding false information. After one student tried it others did too including the library staff, therefore getting the school banned from editing articles. My school doesn't allow us to use it for any research because apparently a few hours is too long for a correction to be made."
"In truth, institutions concerned with the quality of source material choose not to accept Wikipedia because of its lack of quality controls and fact checking. Anyone on the planet can submit articles and revisions, with no party truly accountable for accuracy. The fact Wikipedia is corrected within only a few hours is a testament to how good it is, but the fact that none of it can be trusted as truth or fact is its biggest problem. That is why it should be taken with a grain of salt, and used as only a *starting* place for research."
"My college has been banned. I went to fix an article and it said that my IP had been banned due to multiple acts of vandalism."
"Long ago I put a block in place to stop children from editing (well, vandalising) pages on Wikipedia - as it can be useful as a resource, but there's no need for them to be editing it. However, since our single IP is shared among 50+ schools it can get a bit hairy. I dont want to ask Wikipedia to block us from editing, because it's not my decision to ask Wikipedia to block so many schools. Many other schools don't have the kind of advanced filtering system we have in place that will allow them to just block the editing alone. Kids are kids, they're going to vandalise stuff. It's just not something schools can police on their own."
"I hate Wikipedia vandalism. At my friend's school, as part of "investigative research" to show how inaccurate wikipedia is, some kid deliberately put misinformation in that school's entry. My friend edited it back promptly, but the punk kept editing in the misinfo over and over again, saying that it was proof that anything can be put on wikipedia, even misinformation."
"As IT manager for a school district. I get the displeasure of seeing this kind of stuff happen quite often. I love letting the HS kids have the opportunity to use the internet for learning and seeing new things. Unfortunately, teachers(not all of them mind you) think computer labs are great "babysitters" They go BS with their peers while the kids do as they please. Proxy servers are great, but you can never stop everything:("
"i teach computer class for 3rd - 5th grades. i push and use wikipedia in class ALL THE TIME! however, the district went and bought a (i'm sure) expensive subscription to World Book Online this year. our school district is in need of cash so badly right now. i questioned the high school librarian who initially pushed for World Book as to why they don't use wikipedia. her response was that it's too easy to edit and there is too much incorrect information. i challenged her points, but it was too late anyway. the schools had already forked over the dollars for World Book. i was given the user/pass for World Book and told to teach the kids how to use it, but i refuse. i'll stick to wiki, and i don't give a shat if the administrators would like it otherwise... it's my classroom."
The comments go on and on - 103 of them at last count.
Right now, Digg is set up to focus on high-tech subjects like hardware, gaming, robots and Linux, but the creators of the site have been talking about adding other topics. I'd love to see topics like "education," "human rights," "economic development" or even "digital divide" be added, so it would be more amenable to sharing and debating topics that go beyond traditional geekery. Until then, I'll keep placing my stories under the vague category of "technology" and see what happens. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:28 AM
March 29, 2006
What Does it Mean to be a Technology Activist?
Taran Rampersad has just authored an insightful essay on what it means to be a technology activist. (Yours truly gets a mention in the article, which was mighty nice of him.) I'm going to snip heavily from his essay, since he sums up his train of thought better than I can.
Really - what is a technology activist? This has been something I've been trying to figure out, as it is presently a primary description of me... I joked about it, saying that the 'pay sucks' (and it does), and that there's little room for advancement.Andy Carvin is someone I would use the label on. So is Bonnie Bracey. In fact, when I think about it, the entire DigitalDivide.net is really about technology activism, and it's certainly not limited to that one group. There are technology activists everywhere.
And I still can't quite put a finger on what a technology activist is. At the end of the day, it's a very broad and ill defined area which is a bit scarey, because perception might lead people to believe that technology activism is limited to a select group, when in fact I believe it isn't. I believe that it's a part of the natural course of technology.
For my part, I see it as an issue related to quality of life. I know that a lot of other people feel the same, though most I do know of would be categorized as Digital Divide Activists. Which, of course, gets us to what a Digital Divide Activist is and may help define Technology Activism.
The Digital Divide is pretty hard to divide, by itself, but generally speaking I think we could say it has to do with Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), globalization, and a divide in technology usage which affects areas of development. Just like development itself, the definition of the Digital Divide changes every day.
I suppose that means that Digital Divide Activists are doing something. And in the broader context, technology activism isn't limited to Digital Divide Activism.
Taran goes on to say that technology activism in itself is "a pretty poorly defined area." Generally speaking, he concludes, it means "trying to bring about change with technology."
I think that hits the nail on the head. Being a technology activist and working to bridge the digital divide isn't about putting an Internet PC so we can grow the market for e-commerce, online gaming or entertainment. If that's all we're doing, I might as well start looking for another job. (Wait a sec - I'm doing that already. Scratch that.)
Instead, being a technology activist is something more basic: fostering equitable access to tools that will improve people's quality of life - quality as they define it, on their own terms. For some people, that means gaining access to education for the first time. For others, it's plugging them into the democratic process so they can become a voice for change. Still others, it's making sure that their children have more and better opportunities to prosper than they ever did.
At its root, it's not about the technology. Being a technology activist is being a community activist, a social justice activist, a political activist, an education activist, a development activist. We've got these amazing tools that are revolutionizing the way we all live, learn, earn and interact. Shouldn't everyone have the same opportunity to benefit from these tools, so they too can make a better life for themselves?
That's what it's all about. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 12:16 PM
March 28, 2006
European Commission Report Urges Broadband for All
The European Commission has published a new report urging the equitable deployment of broadband Internet services across Europe. The report, available as a PDF document in English, French and German, examines the current state of broadband in Europe and offers policy recommendations for expanding access.
"Broadband internet connections are a prerequisite for e-business, growth and jobs throughout the economy. Competition and open markets are certainly the best drivers of broadband in the EU," said Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media, in a statement released by the commission. "However, broadband connections must not be limited to the big cities. If the EU and its 25 Member States make a clever use of all policy instruments, broadband for all Europeans is certainly not out of reach by 2010. But the time to act is now."
According to the report, broadband has almost doubled in the past two years. "In October 2005 there were about 53 million connections in the EU25, corresponding to a penetration rate of 11.5% in terms of population and to roughly 20% of households," the report reads. "These developments have been mainly market driven and enhanced by increases in competition." Rural access continues to lag, with only eight percent of households subscribing to broadband.
Exploring the deployment of wireless access, the report states
The emergence of new wireless platforms particularly suited for rural areas is an interesting development. However, it requires that sufficient spectrum is made available, which in turn reinforces the importance of moving to more efficient and flexible forms of management of this scarce resource. The optimal mix of technologies depends on the characteristics of each particular location. The cost of technologies varies according to the number of potential users, the distance of the dwellings from the point of presence, and the presence of the backhaul. A scarcely-populated isolated area may be better off with a wireless solution and a small town with a wireline solution. Some radio solutions require a line-of-sight path which may not always be available in hilly regions.No specific technology option will offer the best connectivity in all situations. The optimum is often achieved by a combination of technologies and solutions. In conclusion, best solutions can only be identified at the local level. Investment and choice should be made on the basis of current availability and effective demand.
Regarding the role of government in bridging the digital divide, the report continues:
Action at all government levels can help to increase coverage in under-served areas. Nevertheless, the assessment of market failures is a difficult task, particularly when there is uncertainty over the pace of broadband deployment. The benefits from government intervention must therefore be clear and substantial, compensating for the risks of undesirable consequences. One risk is that, by picking particular technologies or defining particular services, some government programmes may inhibit technological development. Another risk is that government intervention may distort competition and affect commercial incentives to invest. Finally, given the current gap between coverage and take-up, people may simply not be willing to use the technology.All these risks should be assessed when designing broadband initiatives involving demand stimulation and aggregation, grant and loan programmes, municipal initiatives and competition, etc. The analysis requires policy makers to review reliable broadband data on an ongoing and timely basis. Availability of mapping of infrastructure is particularly relevant.
Local governments are well placed to collect local information and aggregate local demand for broadband services. They know the local topography and may determine the optimal technology mix. They may facilitate the development of local services or launch pilot projects to explore new technologies. They may support the rollout of future-proof high-capacity infrastructure that is open to competitive service providers on non-discriminatory basis.
In conclusion, local/regional authorities are best placed to plan a broadband project that takes into account local needs and technological requirements. National broadband strategies need to be strengthened to involve and reflect local needs. As projects are scattered, local and regional authorities will also largely benefit from an increased exchange of best practices.
Though the report focuses on infrastructure improvement, it does at least touch on broader aspects on the digital divide, including literacy, content and accessibility. "The geographical broadband digital divide is only one aspect of a wider social and economic development issue," they write. "It requires demand-side actions that support skills, accessibility, use of online services, etc."
For more info about the report, visit the Europa website. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 4:50 PM
Hao Wu News Digest
I've created a news digest that collects the latest news and blog entries regarding the detainment of Chinese blogger Hao Wu. The digest includes all blog references to Hao Wu, indexed by Technorati, as well as news stories displayed on Google News. The page is automatically updated several times an hour, so check back to this page regularly for the latest updates. You can also receive this news as an RSS feed. The feed was created using the tool FeedDigest, which also powers my sites Tsunami-Info.org and WSISBlogs.org.
For more information on Hao Wu, please visit FreeHaoWu.org. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:20 PM
Wikipedia Blocks School's Editing Privileges Due to Vandalism
There's been so much talk among educators on whether Wikipedia should be banned from school, that it may come as a surprise to some that a school has actually been banned from Wikipedia.
I discovered the situation this morning, when I was conducting my daily review of my Wikipedia watchlist. For those of you who aren't Wikipedians, a watchlist is a personalized collection of Wikipedia entries that you've selected for monitoring future edits, often because you're one of the editors of those pages. For example, my watchlist includes entries I've created, like Ksar Ouled Soltane and Hao Wu, as well as entries relevant to me personally, like Andy Carvin and Digital Divide Network.
As I perused my watch list, I saw there had been a change to the entry for the video blog Rocketboom. On a previous occasion I'd caught someone vandalizing that entry, so I added it to my watchlist. So it came as no huge surprise when I discovered that the entry had been vandalized again, using a word that I won't mention so this story won't get blocked arbitrarily by school district Web filters. Fixing it was easy - I simply reverted the entry to its pre-vandalized state. But the vandalism annoyed me enough that I felt it was important to post a warning on the vandal's user talk page, which is sort of a notice board that each Wikipedian has to dialogue with other Wikipedians.
Reviewing the page, it became clear that they had a long history of vandalism complaints - so much so that their IP address had been banned on several occasions, preventing users of that computer from making further edits. Throughout the talk page there are warnings from other Wikipedians saying they must cease vandalizing the website immediately. Most interestingly, though, there's a note at the bottom of the page from one of the people behind the IP address in question:
Hi, this IP adress is that of my schools. Please dont block us from wikipedia complety, but do go ahead to block us from editing.
As it turns out, the IP address is owned by a school in Canada, with many students and teachers sharing the same Internet access point. If you review the list of all edits made from the address, you'll find dozens of instances of vandalism going back to November 2002. They've managed to vandalize pages ranging from Gaia Theory to the 1995 Quebec Referendum to even the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake.
It's quite understandable for Wikipedians to want to block this IP address to prevent any more vandalism on the site. But it makes me wonder just what, if anything, about Wikipedia was being taught in the school where all of this took place. Since I didn't find any constructive edits made by the IP address in question, my guess is that there was no curricular activity in which students were encouraged to examine Wikipedia critically. In many ways, this incident should serve as a teachable moment for this school and others. Wikipedia is far from perfect, but that's what makes it such an interesting tool when it comes to teaching media literacy. By democratizing the role of editor, Wikipedia raises important questions regarding credibility, the wisdom of crowds vs the sovereignty of experts, trust and anonymity, among other topics.
Students and teachers should debate Wikipedia and even contribute to it; remember, it's a work-in-progress, not a finished body of work. But all too often, the debate over Wikipedia's merits is left among the educators only, with students left out of the conversation and operating on a simple directive: don't use it. By ignoring Wikipedia rather than teaching critical, responsible uses of it, schools are practically inviting students to edit Wikipedia at their own peril. We should be preparing students for constructive participation in the Read/Write Web; otherwise it might as well be the Read/Vandalize Web. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:42 AM
New Wikipedia Category: Digital Divide Activists
Taran Rampersad recently posted a message to his blog about the fact that he's recently been added to Wikipedia.
While reading the discussion on his Wikipedia entry's talk page, it occurred to me that there wasn't a category on Wikipedia for listing entries about digital divide activists. There are probably more digital divide activists in Wikipedia than I realize; just searching for a few Digital Divide Network members and other colleagues I found several including Bonnie Bracey, John "maddog" Hall, MS Swaminathan and Randal Pinkett. (I'm in Wikipedia as well.)
So, I went ahead and created a new Wikipedia page for digital divide activists.
This page is automatically updated whenever a wikipedia entry has a tag added to the bottom of the page designating that entry as a digital divide activist. For example, I was able to add Bonnie's name to the list by editing her wikipedia entry and adding this code at the bottom:
[[Category:Digital Divide activists|Bracey, Bonnie]]
As you can see, the format is fairly simple; you just edit the last section of it to include a person's surname, followed by their first name. So if you know of anyone who's a digital divide activist and happens to be listed in Wikipedia, please feel free to add this category tag to their wikipedia entry so they will be added to the digital divide activists page. And if you know a well-known activist who should be added to wikipedia, please feel free to create a new entry from scratch - the more the merrier.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:37 AM
March 24, 2006
Turkey Trip Cancelled
I'm no longer going to Turkey. My mom is ill and she's up here in Boston for surgery next week. Some things in life are just more important.
Posted by acarvin at 9:38 AM
March 22, 2006
Nancy Willard's MySpace Adventure
Online child safety advocate Nancy Willard recently had the opportunity to visit the headquarters of MySpace.com, the extraordinarily popular online community that's been a lightning rod for controversy in recent months. Nancy posted a summary of her visit to my WWWEDU discussion forum; she was kind enough to allow me and other list members to repost her report. Here's the full text of what she wrote.
On Monday, I had a personal visit to MySpace headquarters. They invited me for a meeting to seek my guidance on responding to Internet safety and responsible use issues. I want to report to you on what I saw and what I think. I think the members of these three discussion groups know that I am quite apt to speak my mind. ;-)I will tell you I was impressed by the efforts MySpace is taking to address the recognized Internet safety and responsible use concerns and believe in their sincerity.
Here is what I witnessed and was told:
When abuse complaints come in, they are sent to a special team of responders who have had specific training in addressing abuse issues. There is also some specialization within this team.
They have specific procedures to promptly respond to legal subpoenas. They showed me the chart of the numbers of subpoenas and it is increasing exponentially each month. Incredible chart.
They have one staff member, a young man, who is assigned to work with school discussion groups and school concerns. They have public groups associated with schools on their system. There are currently 25,000 +- They seek a student from the school to serve as a moderator and try to pick a student who appears to them to be a "school leader" based on an application. The moderator's job is to contact MySpace if any issues of concern arise. I think it will be very helpful for schools to find out whether there is a public group for the school and who the moderator is. It is likely that the public group will attract the school's "in-crowd" and that other groups of kids within the school may set up their own public or private groups. (This would be fascinating sociological research.) A staff person who has a good relationship with the student moderator could contact this student and simply offer any assistance, should the need arise. This needs to be done respectfully -- in support of this student's leadership potential. Reviewing the comments in this discussion group will provide insight into the school community from the eyes of some of the students.
This MySpace staff person also works with administrators and school resource officers if they contact MySpace about a school concern. I have spoken with a couple of school resource officers who have had dealings with MySpace and they told me they were very pleased with the quality of the response and service. This young man appeared to be very sincere and competent -- but also very young and without any actual school experience.
He and his supervisor reflected some concerns with the manner in which school officials were contacting them. One major concern -- which I am going to take some significant actions to address -- is that sometimes administrators contact the company for assistance but the administrator cannot tell them the specific location of the concerning material. Why? BECAUSE THE ADMINISTRATOR IS BLOCKED FROM ACCESSING THE SITE! This is outrageous folks and will have to be promptly addressed. A parent calls the school and reports "My child is being threatened." I saw some material that makes me concerned about possible suicide." or the like and the administrator, counselor, or school resource officer can't go to the site to make an assessment. This is unacceptable. I am going to try to work through the US Dept of Ed and other channels to alert schools to get this situation changed. These three staff positions in each school must have override rights and capabilities. This is essential. (And I am embarrassed that I did not detect this as a concern earlier.)
MySpace has a text monitoring system that they use to detect possible concerns, including under age members, gang text or symbols, threats, and the like. They remove 1800 to 2000 under age profiles per day that they have identified. They also review all of the images posted on the site soon after they are posted. This is a monumental task -- not a job I would want. The images are on a screen that the reviewer can control. That has the facility for the reviewer to indicate that the image or the profile of the person posting the image should be deleted. They review videos prior to posting -- taking miscellaneous screen shots from the video. This level of review is not going to take down provocative pictures (eg Britanny Spears-like press photos).
They have new instructions on their site that provide guidance for parents seeking to remove the profile of their child. http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/misc/RemovingChildProfiles.html. This situation presents some difficulties. If they responded to every request that appears to come from a parent to remove a profile, someone could impersonate a parent for the purpose of bullying. Or they could get into the middle of a custodial parent dispute. My assessment is that the way they are proceeding is the only possible way to address the concern.
The MySpace folks are very interested in the fact that I am working on a book for parents, because they really want to see more parents engaged in appropriate parenting. I think MySpace is really doing a lot to address the safety and responsible use concerns. But parents should not expect MySpace or any other web site to do their job for them!!! These sites are not babysitting operations.
MySpace staff appear to have a good understanding of the concerns and are reaching out to me and others to seek even better ways to address the concerns. The see increased education of parents and youth as the answer. The challenge will be to get parents and youth to pay attention.
There are some significant social issues involved with these kinds of online activities that will absolutely require education and parental involvement. Actually, they will also require massive social change to really work, but I am not holding my breath.
Teens are clearly using places like MySpace to establish social status. How do young males establish social status? By posting manly, daring images and information that demonstrate independence and bravery and by being listed as a friend on as many profiles of "hot girls" as possible. And how do girls establish social status? By posting sexually provocative pictures and titillating information that attracts the attention and friendship links of manly guys. How does any teen attract attention? By posting hot, intimate information. The teens who are into playing these games are the ones who are most likely playing these games on places like MySpace. These are the same kinds of games that are going on every day in the hallways of middle and high schools. Some of the students are really into playing these games and others are not. My hope is that we can find better ways to use these environments for more socially beneficial uses. How about getting online teens focused on tasks that would seek to alleviate problems associated with poverty in third world villages?
I am going to be working on a brief document for schools that addresses some of the things I think they should be doing in relation to these communities -- starting first with override privileges.
Thanks again to Nancy for allowing me to republish it.
Posted by acarvin at 3:33 PM
Research Study: Internet Access Spreads While Computing Power Gets Concentrated in Wealthy Countries
This week, the Seattle Times had an interesting article about a new study (pdf) on the international digital divide. The study, published by the World Information Access Project at the University of Washington, suggests that Internet access in general is spreading throughout much of the world, while computers and servers are being concentrated in wealthier countries. And the level of concentration has increased over the last 10 years, despite recent efforts to bridge the divide.
"That's pretty surprising, because we expected open markets to bring technology all around the world in an even way," noted Philip Howard, assistant professor of communications at UW.
From the article:
He directed a team of 30 students who analyzed 10 years of data from the World Bank and other sources to compile the World Information Access 2006 Report.From 1995 to 2005, they found, the supply of computers, Internet hosts and secure servers became more narrowly distributed among a core group of countries.
Mobile phones and Internet access, by contrast, proliferated to become more evenly distributed around the world.
Perhaps the most telling part of the study is reflected in the cost of Internet access in different parts of the world. For example, I often hear people bragging about the proliferation of cybercafes in Africa and other parts of the developing world, pointing to this trend as a sign that the digital divide is narrowing. But when it comes to how much money the average person has to shell out for access, the study paints a worrisome picture. For example, while an hour of Internet access at a New York City cybercafe while cost the equivalent of six percent of a local patron's daily income, access in Lagos, Nigeria would cost the average user a whopping 75% of their daily income. "In the rich cities, an Internet user who spends $1 actually gets more out of their experience and finds more Web sites in their language," Howard said.
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Percent of Average Daily Income Spent on One Hour of Commerical Internet Access, 2005. Source: World Information Access Project 2006 Report |
The article continues:
While poorer countries tend to get computers much like hand-me-down clothing, cheaper mobile technology has spread relatively quickly."Most people around the world will experience new information technologies through their mobile-phone browsers," Howard said. "Computers are still priced out of reach for most people."
That leads Howard to question whether the right strategy is to build a $100 computer that links people in a network, as Massachusetts Institute of Technology is doing with its One Laptop per Child project, or a mobile phone that computes, as Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has suggested.
The infrastructure and policies of the developing world seem better suited for mobile phones, Howard says.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but think I come down on the Microsoft camp," Howard said.
That is, with one caveat: He thinks the mobile devices should be based on the open-source software Linux.
While I agree with Howard that mobile phones will be medium that carries Internet access to many new users in the developing world, I'm frustrated by the article pushing the canard that bridging the digital divide is a matter of deciding between policies promoting mobile phone access OR policies promoting low-cost computers. In my mind at least, there is no technological silver bullet to the divide.
Different communities have differing development needs, depending on their circumstance. It doesn't make sense to promote a single tech solution as the One True Technology that will unite all people in a global development group hug. A Senegalese farmer ready to bring his crops to market would benefit from having a handheld device such as an Internet PDA or an Internet mobile phone in order to get the latest market prices, so he can determine how much produce to bring and where. (The Manobi Time to Market project in Senegal is already doing just that through mobile phones and SMS text messaging.) Meanwhile, a small business incubator in Zambia would benefit from providing young entrepreneurs with laptops, given the amount of spreadsheets, business proposals and marketing plans they'd each have to create as their businesses are nurtured. (Sure, you can do spreadsheets and Powerpoints on some mobile phones already, but have you ever tried ditching your computer for a week and using a phone for all of your productivity needs? Try it and let me know how it goes for you.) And in countless other communities, community radio still remains the best way to get information out quickly to a large audience.
The research conducted for this study will undoubtedly lead to many important debates about the progress we're making in bridging the global digital divide. I just worry that even more media outlets and policymakers will buy into this Spy vs. Spy-like technology debate, when there's simply no one device that will solve all the world's ills. The more tech options we have, the more potential solutions available for each development context... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:08 AM
March 21, 2006
Going to Turkey This Weekend
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Istanbul, photographed by me in 1999, distorted via Photoshop in 2001. |
This will be my first overseas trip this year, and my third visit to Turkey. I'm really excited about it - if I were forced to name my favorite country in the world to visit, Turkey would certainly be a finalist. I plan to blog, podcast and vlog as often as possible, so please drop in and follow along... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:55 AM
Dr. Dre Barn
It would seem that gangsta rapper Dr. Dre is getting in the suburban strip mall business. No sign of Eminem or Snoop Dogg at the store, though. I can see the slogan already: "For chronic discount shoppers only." -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:44 AM
March 20, 2006
China Must Release Global Voices Contributor Hao Wu
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Download a Hao Wu badge for your blog! |
This morning I heard the shocking news that Global Voices contributor Hao Wu has been detained by the Chinese government.
Rebecca MacKinnon writes:
Hao Wu (Chinese name: 吴皓), a Chinese documentary filmmaker who lived in the U.S. between 1992 and 2004, was detained by the Beijing division of China's State Security Bureau on the afternoon of Wednesday, Febuary 22, 2006. On that afternoon, Hao had met in Beijing with a congregation of a Christian church not recognized by the Chinese government, as part of the filming of his next documentary.Hao had also been in phone contact with Gao Zhisheng, a lawyer specializing in human rights cases. Gao confirmed to one of Hao's friends that the two had been in phone contact and planned to meet on Feb. 22, but that their meeting never took place after Gao advised against it. On Friday, Feb. 24, Hao's editing equipment and several videotapes were removed from the apartment where he had been staying. Hao has been in touch his family since Feb. 22, but judging from the tone of the conversations, he wasn't able to speak freely. One of Hao's friends has been interrogated twice since his detention. Beijing's Public Security Bureau (the police) has confirmed that Hao has been detained, but have declined to specify the charges against him.
The reason for Hao's detention is unknown. One of the possibilities is that the authorities who detained Hao want to use him and his video footage to prosecute members of China's underground Churches. Hao is an extremely principled individual, who his friends and family believe will resist such a plan. Therefore, we are very concerned about his mental and physical well-being.
Meanwhile, Ethan Zuckerman has set up a website about Hao Wu's detention at www.freehaowu.org. Please help spread the word and join Global Voices in demanding his immediate release.
For more information, please email freehaowu@gmail.com. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 4:23 PM
March 17, 2006
My Article in School Library Journal
School Library Journal has just published a feature story of mine in their latest issue. It's called The Gap, and it examines how the digital divide, as a policy issue, has fallen off the radar screens of politicians and the media, while marginalized communities continue to be left behind.
Some highlights from the article:
This year, 2006, marks the 10th anniversary of the advent of the digital divide—a major societal challenge that, sadly, has been pushed aside and forgotten in recent years.Rewind to 1996: middle-class Americans were just beginning to explore the possibilities of the Internet as a tool for education, civic engagement, and entertainment. Yet less affluent citizens, lacking the necessary skills and exposure, did not enjoy the same access to these opportunities.
The so-called "Digital Divide" made prominent headlines that year when high-profile pundits, from President Bill Clinton to network news anchors, popularized the term in addressing the growing inequities that appeared to accompany the technological revolution. Today, however, you're not likely to hear much mention of the digital divide on the news or your favorite political blog. As with other political and social issues, conversation about the digital divide ebbs and flows—and for several years now we've been wallowing at a low watermark....
... Unfortunately, the digital divide is rarely addressed as a major policy issue in America. But as the U.S. struggles to improve its schools, while dragging its heels at improving our national broadband infrastructure, countries like India and China are churning out highly skilled young people for their workforces. At the same time, Nordic countries and Korea deploy ubiquitous Internet access. Other nations are creating government ministries to spur technological and educational innovation, while American digital divide policies have fallen off the docket. America is losing its competitiveness because we're not making the necessary investments in education and infrastructure.
Fortunately, there is still positive work being done. The federal e-rate program continues to enable low-income schools and libraries to connect to the Internet, while nonprofit and private sector entities invest in local and national efforts dedicated to bridging the gap. Meanwhile, copyright initiatives like Creative Commons ease the way for people to publish their own content for broad public use. And open courseware initiatives from universities, such as MIT, are making some of the most coveted curriculum freely available, whether you can afford to attend the brick-and-mortar institutions or not....
Here's a link to the full text of the article in case you're interested in reading it. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:55 PM
Name that Name: Web 2.0 vs. Star Wars
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Wedge, meet Qoop. |
Here are a couple of freebies to get you started: Wedge is the name of a Star Wars character. Qoop is not.
The other 41 words in the quiz, including barada, kiko, bossk, brakiss, trumba, eskobo, callista, favoor, nuvvo, jango, meebo, pando, jarjar, nilo, oola, lulu, padme, agatra, sebulba, oyogi, renkoo, watto, yedda, greedo, django, zoto, panaka, riya, dooku, reddit, tarkin, daala, congoo, ning, thrawn, lando, squidoo, wicket, collectivex, tagyu and goowy, are up to you.
Full disclosure: I managed to get 32 of them right, though I have a feeling it's more due to my hyper-absurd knowledge of Star Wars movies than an award-winning expertise in Web 2.0 esoteria.
Hat tip: Heather @ Blogspotting
Posted by acarvin at 2:52 PM
March 16, 2006
A Menace Most Fowl
"They came down the hill and followed us," she explained, recounting the frightening incident. "As I was walking faster, they'd walk faster."
"I heard a sound behind me -
"And then I felt the turkey's claw on my back."
So said Brookline resident Marianne Lee in a front-page story in the Brookline Tab entitled Turkeys on the Attack. Even though Brookline is surrounded on three sides by the urban jungle of Boston, we apparently have a turkey problem. Families of these sizeable birds are roaming the back streets of Brookline, emboldened by people who've taken to feeding them in recent years. Ever eager for edible handouts, they're now getting brazen and approaching people - and most people, it seems, do not like it.
Residents like Marianne Lee have complained to animal control but haven't produced any results. There's not much they can do, since the birds are endangered. About a year ago, though, I watched in wonder as a troupe of turkeys trotted across the street from our apartment. Eventually, an animal control officer drove by and dealt with them the only way he could - chasing them onto the roof of a church so they'd become someone else's problem.
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Video of some Brookline turkeys strutting their stuff. |
Posted by acarvin at 6:10 PM
Fighting Copyright Ignorance with Comic Books
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The new comic book Tales from the Public Domain: Bound by Law?, produced by the Center for the Study of the Public Domain. |
The Center for the Study of the Public Domain, in an effort to educate content producers about the realities of copyright, have published an amazing comic book called Tales from the Public Domain: Bound by Law? The comic book, available in various digital formats as well as on paper, is an entertaining, highly informative about the often-confusing world of copyright law.
The book follows the story of a documentary maker putting together a film about life in New York City. ("Trapped by a STRUGGLE she didn't understand.... By day a FILM MAKER... By night she fought for FAIR USE!") As she's gone around and captured scenes for her film, she's also picked up incidental uses of other people's work - a saxophonist playing a song, a sign in the background with a company logo, public TV screens showing images of Bart Simpson. These scenes are a reality of modern life, yet they're a nightmare for documentary producers. As the comic book notes, one producer was forced to remove footage that featured someone whose mobile phone ringtone happened to be the theme to the movie Rocky because they couldn't afford to pay the song's publisher $10,000 for including it. In other cases, important works like the civil rights documentary Eyes on the Prize get locked away for years because the producers couldn't afford to pay for the clearance rights of incidental music. (Thankfully, Eyes on the Prize will finally air again on PBS this fall, after years of fundraising to pay for clearance fees.)
The question is, who's in the right? When does the incorporation of someone else's creative work into a new work constitute fair use, and when does it cross the line?
Page after page, the comic goes through examples of producers who've found themselves in difficult circumstances because they allowed themselves to get pushed around by big-media lawyers - even when their use of someone else's content is justifiably fair use. It's intended to give producers confidence when it comes to using someone's content in a fair use context, explaining when the law is on their side and when it isn't.
The comic book also practices what it preaches by being publish under an attribution-noncommercial-sharealike license from Creative Commons, which is also explained during the course of the story. This particular copyright license means that anyone can redistribute or re-work the comic book as long as it's for noncommercial purposes, they cite the producers of the book, and that they pass along the same basic copyright rules to their own license. My blog uses this same license, so that allows me to share some pages from the book without having to ask permission or worry about interpretations of fair use:
The Center for the Study of the Public Domain is doing a tremendous public service by publishing this comic book and making it available for free over the Internet. Perhaps Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals, whom they quote in the book, said it best: "Overprotecting intellectual property is as harmful as underprotecting it. Creativity is impossible without a rich public domain.... Overprotection stifles the very creative forces it's supposed to nurture." -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:53 PM
March 14, 2006
Kenyan Parliament Website Launch Still Hamstrung by Reticent MPs
A couple of months ago I posted a blog entry regarding the shutdown of the Kenyan parliament website due to the fact that members of parliament were uncomfortable with their biographical information being available to the public. According to a new story on AllAfrica.com, the showdown continues.
Most parlimentary websites around the world generally include basic biographical information about their legislators, but in Kenya, many MPs were embarrassed by the fact that their official bios showed they'd only completed a limited amount of education. Their embarrassment led to a delay of the official launch of the parliamentary website. (The site was actually live at the time, but they removed all the content from the homepage so you couldn't poke around. Here's an inside link in case you want to poke around.)
Last fall, the clerk of the parliament tried to rectify the situation by requesting that all 220 MPs submit a bio that they would find acceptable for public scrutiny. "The biographical information is required as a matter of urgency," the clerk stressed in his letter. Despite the ample time provided to them, nearly one out of five MPs - 40 of them - still has yet to submit a biography. This has forced the parliament to delay the launch of the site yet again.
"We were ready to launch the website before the State opening, but our hands are now tired by the 40 MPs," parliamentary public relations officer Mike Ngwalla said. "This is a very sensitive issue and we do not want a repeat of last year's outcry which forced us to suspend the service." In the meantime, a visit to the parliament website continues to read, "Thank you for visiting the Parliament Website. We are currently updating this site. Please bookmark this site and visit us shortly."
The website's notion of "shortly" is quickly turning into a farce. While other East African nations have done relatively well at establishing an online presence for their parliaments, Kenya's parliamentary website continues to be stymied by politicians unwilling to share their professional qualifications publicly. Perhaps it is time to reactivate the website, with a note on the homepage listing the dozens of MPs who haven't complied with the information request. A little public shaming might go a long way in getting them to understand that being a public servant also means being public about their qualifications for office. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 1:26 PM
March 12, 2006
Happy Independence Day, Mauritius!
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Video montage in honor of Mauritius Independence Day. The Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius is a veritable paradise, but is going through hard times due to an outbreak of the mosquito-borne illness, chikungunya. Since the disease has scared away a lot of tourists, I thought I'd put together this montage celebrating the country's 38th anniversary since independence. The five-minute montage features footage taken from all over the island, including its beaches, national parks, pilgrimage sites and the national dance known as sega. For more on Mauritius, visit my Mauritius diary and photo gallery. -andy |
Posted by acarvin at 3:59 PM
March 10, 2006
Fon: The Global Wifi Network
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A video conversation with Martin Varsavsky, the founder of Fon, at a presentation he gave at the Harvard Berkman Center on March 3, 2006. Fon is a global wifi network of individuals ("Foneros") who provide free or low-cost wifi in their neighborhoods. If they choose to offer wifi for free, they in turn can access any other global Fon hotspot for without charge. Foneros who charge for the hotspot can only charge $2 a day, sharing the revenue with local broadband providers. The video is just over seven minutes long and 40 megabytes. If you prefer a smaller, low-resolution version, please cut and paste one the following URLs into your browser: Medium size (15 megs): Small size (2 megs): |
Posted by acarvin at 2:30 PM
March 8, 2006
New Website Explores Africa's Need for Internet Fiber
The Association for Progressive Communications has launched a new website to promote East Africa's dire need for an international submarine cable that could provide affordable broadband Internet access.
This web site, FibreForAfrica.net, has been put together to provide basic information about international Internet bandwidth in Africa, its costs and the existence of monopoly access to it. Bandwidth is the means through which Africa as a continent communicates with itself and the rest of the world. APC and the other orgs that have put the site together believe that the high costs of international bandwidth on the continent are an obstacle to the its social and economic development. APC writes in its press release:
Africa currently has to pay for some of the most expensive bandwidth in the world. The region currently only has one major international fibre cable (SAT3) that connects countries in West and Southern Africa but East Africa has no fibre connection. Fibre connections usually mean cheaper prices than satellite for volume traffic but because of the monopoly structure of the SAT3 consortium, its operators have kept prices high.All this will change if the proposed East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) cable is built as it will connect countries on the eastern side of the continent and if this new capacity is offered in a way that maximises use and lowers price.
read more | digg story
Posted by acarvin at 4:01 PM
Cape Town Libraries Now Connected to the Internet
This week, Cape Town became the first South African metropolis to offer free Internet access at all of its libraries. The public library access to the Internet is part of the Smart Cape Access Project begun more than three years ago. Quoting the article:
Congratulating the City of Cape Town, Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool said: "By taking the lead in this province and in the country, to improve access to ICT to all its citizens, the City of Cape Town has enabled access to government information, thereby ensuring all citizens form part of an all inclusive and development-oriented information society."City of Cape Town deputy mayor Gawa Samuels said local government had responded to the challenge of making lives better by forming partnerships with the private sector and exposing residents to IT.
"Initiatives and innovations like this are helping our city and members of our communities to deal with the challenges of creating jobs and opportunities, reducing poverty, combating HIV/AIDS and getting access to social and community services," Samuels said.
read more | digg story
Posted by acarvin at 11:15 AM
March 7, 2006
Is Creative Commons Broken? Hardly.
Alex Bosworth recently posted a provocative essay about Creative Commons, the online initiative attempting to simply licensing options for original works published on the Internet. Bosworth argues that Creative Commons isn't working for a variety of reasons, including the fact that there are too many versions of the license and that no one ever makes use of them.
He makes some interesting points, but I don't buy his argument that no one can actually make use of the licenses. Countless people use the licenses for adding someone else's media to their work. I've lost track of the number of times I've utilized CC music in my videos and podcasts, not to mention reprinting CC-licensed essays on my digitaldivide.net website. And rarely a day goes by where I don't hear from someone wanting to use my stuff and reconfirming if something is CC licensed.
The fact that you can customize your license is a major strength, in my mind, rather than a drawback. It's not like there's an infinite number of licenses combinations that would make the whole thing meaningless. Sure, there are 18 licenses availalbe, but some are media-specific (like the sampling license), and others, like the Developing Nations license, are country specific. I think it's important for people to decide whether or not they want others to share alike, or if they should cite you, or if you want to be notified if they would like to use your work commercially. Putting together the combination of rules that's right for you is what makes CC so powerful.
I'm also puzzled about this mystery as to what "commercial use." Isn't commercial use simply any kind of use intended to make a profit? That seems rather straightforward to me. If a school or museum contacts me and says they want to use one of my videos, I tell them they don't have to ask, since I've already licensed them so they can be used for noncommercial purposes. Meanwhile, I regularly get contacted by PR firms and graphic designers who want to use my photos in a pamphlet or poster or something. Their interest is clearly commercial, and my CC license informs them they'll have to negotiate with me directly.
If you haven't read his essay, read it. I would have posted excerpts here on my blog, but Alex doesn't use Creative Commons - his blog states "© Copyright 2003-2005 SourceLabs, Inc. All Rights Reserved." Technically, this means I would have to get his permission to post anything of his on my blog. If he had used a Creative Commons license, that wouldn't have been the case.
Creative Commons broken? Hardly. I think it's just getting warmed up.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 1:17 PM
Gizmodo's Phake Photo Phun
The technology blog Gizmodo is currently having a contest for the best fake tech product. They asked readers to submit images of non-existent technologies they'd like to see appear on store shelves, and now you can vote for your favorite. Some of them are products that could become a reality, such as a high-def video iPod or a two-screen Motorola Razr. Others are just intended to be funny - and they usually take aim at the iPod. My two personal favorites were the iWedge and the iStool:
Voting continues through this Wednesday. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:24 AM
March 3, 2006
Pakistan Blocking Bloggers Because of Bush Visit?
Over the last few days, Pakistani bloggers have been reporting through the Global Voices email list that the Pakistani government is now blocking all access to Blogger.com. This particular blogging tool is one of the most popular in Pakistan - all blogs ending with the domain name blogspot.com are managed using Blogger.com - resulting in large numbers of bloggers no longer being able to update their blogs.
Some bloggers are beginning to speculate that the virtual blockade of Blogger.com is directly related to President Bush's visit to Pakistan this week. With so many Pakistani bloggers critical of Bush, perhaps the government decided to place a gag order on them so they could roll out the red carpet without any "embarrassing" critiques from the local blogosphere.
Others wonder if the timing of the move is just a coincidence, and simply the first signs of a larger censorship campaign by the government.
"Truth is - it may have very little to do with Bush's visit," writes Indian blogger Neha Viswanathan on the Global Voices e-list. "The anti-Bush protest has hardly found a voice online. I really do think this might be the first of other blocks. This might be on a very experimental basis to see how far they go. The Pakistani govt has hardly had any dialogue with bloggers at all. "
"The other theory is of course the one on Danish cartoons- which is likely," she continues. "But there is so much content on that outside of the blogosphere (the limited one at Blogpsot) that it doesnt' seem to fit together. I wouldn't be surprised if the govt of Pakistan comes up with an IT censorship policy."
Pakistani bloggers are still pondering the motivation behind the censorship campaign. "I have communicated with several bloggers and friends back in Pak[istan]," writes UAE-based Pakistani blogger Omer Alvie. "So far there's no resolution to this problem. Bush's visit in Pakistan is resulting in protests, strike (in Lahore city) and curfew areas in Islamabad. The feeling among bloggers is this is all rather suspect. Neha, might be right this might be on experimental basis. I feel this a a precursor to what the government can do in the future."
Given all the rhetoric Bush has been spouting about free and open democracies in the Islamic world, I wonder if Mr. Bush would take a moment with Pakistan's President Musharraf this weekend and remind him of the connection between democracy and respecting free speech. If he doesn't, I'm sure Pakistan's blogging community will find a way around the blockade and make the point themselves. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:39 AM
March 2, 2006
Bathtub Antics
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Early morning play time with our orange tabby, Winston. For some reason, he associates our bathtub with play, so whenever he really wants to play a game, he jumps in the bathtub and waits patiently. Music by Kevin MacLeod. |
Posted by acarvin at 12:16 PM
March 1, 2006
Wikipedia Surpasses One Million Entries
A few minutes ago, Wikipedia reached a major milestone, surpassing one million articles for the first time. As it turns out, I was logged in working on some new Wikipedia articles, including the Buduburam refugee camp, the Tunisian Berber village of Ksar Ouled Soltane, and ghorfa, the Berber term for a vaulted granary cell. Unfortunately, I missed posting the one millionth article by a few seconds; it seems my ghorfa entry was somewhere around 1,000,005, give or take.
Either way, it's amazing to see Wikipedia reach this important milestone. And I'm proud to have authored around .0003 percent of it today. :-) -andy
Posted by acarvin at 6:16 PM
More People Know American Idol Judges than the First Amendment
A new survey by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum suggests that more Americans are able to identify the judges on American Idol than remember the five freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Only about one in four Americans (28 percent) was able to name more than one of the five fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. Meanwhile, more than four in 10 Americans (41 percent) could name two of the three Idol judges and one in four could name all three. "Unfortunately," they noted, "just 8 percent of Americans could name at least three of their First Amendment freedoms."
(Before you read any further, test yourself and see how many you can remember. I nailed all five - guess I can thank Mr. Deppner's American History class for that.)
Which one is more familiar to you?
Most people - more than two out of three in the survey - were able to remember that the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech. But it's all downhill from there, as respondents struggled to remember the other freedoms. Here are the percentages of respondents who remembered each freedom:
- Freedom of Speech (69 percent)
- Freedom of Religion (24 percent)
- Freedom of the Press (11 percent)
- Freedom of Assembly (10 percent)
- Freedom to Petition for Redress of Grievances (1 percent)
"These survey results clearly demonstrate that many Americans don't have an understanding of the freedoms they regularly enjoy. The Freedom Museum is designed to inspire people to understand and value their freedoms," said Dave Anderson, executive director, McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum. "The Freedom Museum will present freedoms in not merely a historical context, but in modern day examples, allowing people young and old to relate to modern day freedom debates."
Additionally, the researchers through in a few other "freedoms" just to see if people thought they were part of the First Amendment. "About one in five Americans (21 percent) agreed that the First Amendment granted them the right to own and raise pets, something that isn't discussed anywhere in the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights. One in five also believe that the right to drive is guaranteed by the First Amendment, although the car was not invented for another 100 years."
Something is most definitely wrong with this picture. Yet I wonder how many Americans can name all the First Amendment freedoms and at least five of the current American Idol finalists? Let's see - there's Ayla, Kinnik, Ace, Brenna.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 12:27 PM
