Berkman news

Nieman Fellows selected for class of 2014, 16 May 2013

amar — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:48:43 +0000

In selecting the Nieman class of 2014, Ann Marie Lipinski, NF ’90, curator of the Nieman Foundation, was joined by Amanda Bennett, executive editor of the Projects and Investigations Unit, Bloomberg News; David Joyner, NF ’12, vice president for content, Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. in Birmingham, Alabama; Nicco Mele, lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and author of “The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath”; the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s managing director Colin Maclay, research director Robert Faris and manager of community programs Rebecca Tabasky; and Nieman deputy curator James Geary, NF ’12, and Joshua Benton, NF ’08, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab.

via News Article.

Beware Batch Processing Of Kids: Ed Tech Expert – Education – Online, 13 May 2013

amar — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:02:33 +0000

It’s hard not to get hepped up about education technology. The combination of perceived need for an immense rethink of public education and our belief in the huge potential of technology seem made for each other. But there’s a dark side to the hype, warned Justin Reich, co-founder of EdTechTeacher and a Berkman Center Fellow conducting research on the field.

via Beware Batch Processing Of Kids: Ed Tech Expert – Education – Online.

Should university students use Wikipedia? | Education | guardian.co.uk, 13 May 2013

amar — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:59:35 +0000

The greatest strength of Wikipedia is that its contributors can chose which area they want to write about, which, in theory, means they only produce content where they are most qualified to do so. Harvard University’s Professor Yochai Benkler says this explains why Wikipedia has succeeded where other more traditional business models like Microsoft Encarta and Encyclopaedia Britannica have failed.

via Should university students use Wikipedia? | Education | guardian.co.uk.

SLS News | Phillip Malone to Direct New Juelsgaard Intellectual Property and Innovation Clinic at Stanford Law School, 13 May 2013

amar — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:13:59 +0000

Stanford Law School today announced the appointment of Phillip Malone as professor of law and director of the new Juelsgaard Intellectual Property and Innovation Clinic of the Mills Legal Clinic. Malone will join Stanford in July 2013 from the Harvard Law School, where he is currently clinical professor of law and the director of the Cyberlaw Clinic at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

via SLS News | Phillip Malone to Direct New Juelsgaard Intellectual Property and Innovation Clinic at Stanford Law School.

Nathan Heller: Is College Moving Online? : The New Yorker, 20 May 2013

amar — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:22:18 +0000

William W. Fisher III, a professor at Harvard Law School, has been experimenting with ways to split the difference. This spring, Fisher is teaching his first online course, CopyrightX, through edX. But he’s also a casual student of the medium. Fisher’s field is intellectual-property law—he was among those to represent Shepard Fairey and his “Hope” poster—and he works a lot on rights in the digital age. I met him one morning in his office, which had a standing desk and an ergonomic keyboard in one corner. At one point, Fisher’s Portuguese water dog, Nica, wandered in. He explained to me that he has reservations about MOOCs.

via Nathan Heller: Is College Moving Online? : The New Yorker.

Gasser appointed professor of practice, 6 May 2013

amar — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:14:26 +0000

Harvard Law School has announced the appointment of Urs Gasser LL.M. ’03, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, as a Professor of Practice.

via Gasser appointed professor of practice.

BBC – Future – Technology – Phone-powered mesh networks to connect in a crisis, 1 May 2013

amar — Fri, 03 May 2013 18:25:19 +0000

Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Internet Law at Harvard University, thinks that one solution would be to create a new type of “mesh network” – where phones find a way to connect to each other when regular connections go down. Apps could be built in these networks, which allow civilians with resources that connect with and help others.

via BBC – Future – Technology – Phone-powered mesh networks to connect in a crisis.

Measuring the unintended consequences of drones | Marketplace.org, 1 May 2013

amar — Wed, 01 May 2013 15:33:17 +0000

Regular contributor and Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain joins Marketplace Tech host David Brancaccio to explain his take on drones and their unintended consequences.

via Measuring the unintended consequences of drones | Marketplace.org.

Susan Crawford: High-speed Internet’s Elizabeth Warren | New Republic, 30 April 2013

amar — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:12:34 +0000

Telecom regulators don’t usually have public followings, except perhaps among other telecom regulators. But as soon as rumors began circulating that Julius Genachowski planned to resign as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission FCC, petitions appeared on sites like BoingBoing, Reddit, and Daily Kos calling on President Barack Obama to appoint a 50-year-old law professor and former administration official named Susan Crawford as Genachowski’s successor. It’s not hard to see why she has acquired an enthusiastic fan base in these precincts of the Internet. With an appealing blend of earnestness and feistiness, Crawford is set on turning the sorry state of broadband and wireless services in the United States into the biggest populist outrage since Elizabeth Warren went after the banks.

via Susan Crawford: High-speed Internet’s Elizabeth Warren | New Republic.

Opinion: Why bogus AP tweet tricked us – CNN.com, 25 April 2013

amar — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:52:21 +0000

When The Associated Press appeared to tweet Tuesday that there were two explosions in the White House, we were right to believe the news, even though it turns out that the AP Twitter account had been hacked. There were no explosions; the tweet was false. But believing the AP is not where we went wrong. Our occasional believing false reports should awaken us to the dangers of literalism.

via Opinion: Why bogus AP tweet tricked us – CNN.com.

3D printing chocolate is a cool idea, and someone is trying to patent it – Quartz, 24 April 2013

amar — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:36:57 +0000

Kit Walsh, a lawyer at the Cyberlaw Clinic, says that challenging that particular patent is not really about chocolate, but about the idea that chocolate is just another material that can be melted and later solidified into new shapes. “If you let people get patents on every material that has those properties, you’re going to occupy 3D printing,” he said over the phone from Cambridge, MA.

via 3D printing chocolate is a cool idea, and someone is trying to patent it – Quartz.

Your own news platform | Harvard Gazette, 22 April 2013

amar — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:39:28 +0000

To Judith Donath, a faculty fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Friday’s regional lockdown had one clear result: the creation of a widespread, unified community during an event that, not too long ago, would have left many feeling alone, isolated, and more than a little worried.

via Your own news platform | Harvard Gazette.

Opinion: What Boston suspects taught you – CNN.com, 19 April 2013

amar — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:43:14 +0000

Like many of us, and especially those of us staying off the streets of Boston, I’ve been not knowing things all day. That’s because I’ve been watching the mainstream media as well as my favorite social media. It turns out that not knowing something reveals its own kind of truth.

via Opinion: What Boston suspects taught you – CNN.com.

A Digital Library for Everyone | American Libraries Magazine, 15 April 2013

amar — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:45:58 +0000

Kenny Whitebloom, project coordinator at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society who works on the DPLA planning initiative, said these apps are in their infancy, and that DPLA plans to encourage their development via future hackathons and open calls … Continue reading →

Would you rather have a teacher or a computer grade your schoolwork? | Marketplace.org, 15 April 2013

amar — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:29:01 +0000

Jonathan Zittrain, professor of law and computer science at Harvard, joins Marketplace Tech host to explain how the computer program works and whether it measures up to the human eye.

via Would you rather have a teacher or a computer grade your schoolwork? | Marketplace.org.

EFF and Partners Challenge Six 3D Printing Patent Applications | Electronic Frontier Foundation, 12 April 2013

amar — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 19:58:56 +0000

But, here’s the rub: it’s hard to identify those dangerous applications. And, once you do, it’s even harder to find the right information to challenge those applications during the window that the law allows. So we partnered with the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society and Ask Patents and—most importantly—you.

via EFF and Partners Challenge Six 3D Printing Patent Applications | Electronic Frontier Foundation.

How the DMCA protects printers’ ink and other unintended consequences | Marketplace.org, 8 April 2013

amar — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:07:39 +0000

Harvard Law Professor Jonathan Zittrain joins Marketplace Tech host David Brancaccio to explain the law, called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and its upcoming legal tests.

via How the DMCA protects printers’ ink and other unintended consequences | Marketplace.org.

MOOCs: The future of education or mere marketing? – Future Tense – ABC Radio National Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 8 April 2013

amar — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:31:31 +0000

‘They need not be seen as competitors to them traditional lectures unless the classes are truly of a nature—because of the topic, because of the methodology—that they really don’t need in-person gatherings to do anything,’ says Professor Zittrain. ‘I would think studying for the American bar exam where you’re just trying to figure out a bunch of multiple choice questions, that’s the kind of thing that might well suit itself to a MOOC and there shouldn’t be any in-person classes. But a standard law school class bears very little relation to preparing for that exam, and instead is kind of having the students apprenticed to a set of skills. So for the humanities and for law, it may be harder to do a MOOC that is self-contained.’

via MOOCs: The future of education or mere marketing? – Future Tense – ABC Radio National Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Prototype of Digital Public Library of America to launch in Boston this month – Back Bay – Your Town – Boston.com, 3 April 2013

amar — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:51:51 +0000

Over the past couple of years, much of the work to create the digital library has been happening nearby, at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. via Prototype of Digital Public Library of America to launch in Boston … Continue reading →

The National Digital Public Library Is Launched! by Robert Darnton | The New York Review of Books, 25 April 2013

amar — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 04:44:15 +0000

Answer: no one. We believed that it required private initiative and that it would never get off the ground if we waited for the government to act. Therefore, we appointed a steering committee, a secretariat located in the Berkman Center at Harvard, and six groups scattered around the country, which began to study and debate key issues: governance, finance, technological infrastructure, copyright, the scope and content of the collections, and the audience to be envisioned.

via The National Digital Public Library Is Launched! by Robert Darnton | The New York Review of Books.

Car service app Uber faces driver complaints | Marketplace.org, 28 March 2013

amar — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:14:42 +0000

Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain joins Marketplace Tech host David Brancaccio to explain Uber’s “disruptive” technology and legal battles.

via Car service app Uber faces driver complaints | Marketplace.org.

A Warning to Whistleblowers – On The Media, 15 March 2013

amar — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:38:35 +0000

Bradley Manning still faces the charge of aiding the enemy. Though that charge can carry the death penalty, the government has said it wont seek it. Brooke spoke with Harvard Law Professor Yocahi Benkler who says that a conviction on that charge would still set a chilling precedent for future whistleblowers.

via A Warning to Whistleblowers – On The Media.

Responding to govt requests is a challenge for online firms: Colin Maclay – Livemint, 13 March 2013

amar — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:21:14 +0000

Colin M. Maclay, managing director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, says that companies such as Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. are facing their greatest challenge in responding appropriately to governments that demand user information from them as part of regular practice or to abuse power. In an email interview to Mint on Wednesday, Maclay underscored the policy gaps on the Internet, differences in cyber laws across nations and the forces transforming education, media and technology companies online. He hopes to elaborate on some of these views in Mumbai on Thursday, the concluding day of Ficci Frames,a conclave on the media and entertainment industry that began on Tuesday. Edited excerpts:

via Responding to govt requests is a challenge for online firms: Colin Maclay – Livemint.

The Impact of the Bradley Manning Case – NYTimes.com, 13 March 2013

amar — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:28:03 +0000

Mr. Benkler, a law professor, has argued that Private Manning and Mr. Ellsberg (himself a Manning supporter) played a similar public role, that WikiLeaks behaved reasonably under the circumstances and that the revelations, including American forces’ complicity in abuses by Iraqi allies, understatement of civilian casualties and abuses by contractors deserve recognition, not criticism.

via The Impact of the Bradley Manning Case – NYTimes.com.

Pew Study: 37% of Teens Now Have Smartphones – The Digital Shift, 13 March 2013

amar — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:28:29 +0000

The report is the second in a series of reports issued by the Pew Research Center in collaboration with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. The data are based on a nationally representative phone survey, conducted between July 26 and September 30, 2012. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish and on landline and cell phones.

via Pew Study: 37% of Teens Now Have Smartphones – The Digital Shift.

Wozniak’s email tax: Good sense or nonsense? | Berkeleyside, 7 March 2013

amar — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:23:05 +0000

Harvard Law School’s Jonathan Zittrain, who specializes in cyberlaw and Internet governance, told Berkeleyside today that an email tax was a “terrible idea.”

via Wozniak’s email tax: Good sense or nonsense? | Berkeleyside.

Schoolyard scourge | Harvard Gazette, 6 March 2013

amar — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:16:47 +0000

The singer said she hoped her initiative, a collaboration with Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, would provide “a transformative change in culture over time.”

via Schoolyard scourge | Harvard Gazette.

Alpha, beta, Zeega | Harvard Gazette, 6 March 2013

amar — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:06:57 +0000

The digital entrepreneurs first worked together years ago on Mapping Main Street, an interactive project created in collaboration with journalist Ann Heppermann and supported by Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Association of Independents in Radio. Jammed into a 1996 Subaru station wagon, they set off along a 15,000-mile journey to make audio and video documentaries of American streets named “Main.” Today, the site invites collaborators nationwide to furnish more stories of America’s Main Streets — an estimated 10,466 of them.

via Alpha, beta, Zeega | Harvard Gazette.

The film that stirred a cause, perhaps | Harvard Gazette, 5 March 2013

amar — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:33:28 +0000

Berkman Center Fellow Ruha Devanesan has been researching the “Kony 2012” campaign and its lessons. As executive director of the Internet Bar Organization, a nonprofit working to improve access to justice through technology, Devanesan has also led the design and implementation of several tech-focused social justice initiatives. She discussed her work on “Kony 2012” during a Feb. 19 talk at the Berkman Center video here and also in an interview with the Gazette.

via The film that stirred a cause, perhaps | Harvard Gazette.

The Dangerous Logic of the Bradley Manning Case | New Republic, 1 March 2013

amar — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:17:45 +0000

After 1,000 days in pretrial detention, Private Bradley Manning yesterday offered a modified guilty plea for passing classified materials to WikiLeaks. But his case is far from over—not for Manning, and not for the rest of the country. To understand what is still at stake, consider an exchange that took place in a military courtroom in Maryland in January.

The Dangerous Logic of the Bradley Manning Case | New Republic.

House committee broadens inquiry into Aaron Swartz case – Nation – The Boston Globe, 28 February 2013

amar — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 18:31:32 +0000

“Any time you’re talking about weakening a criminal statute, there’s always a fear that legislators will appear weak on crime,” said Andy Sellars, a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

via House committee broadens inquiry into Aaron Swartz case – Nation – The Boston Globe.

Nancy Folbre: Trading More and Sharing Nicely – NYTimes.com, 25 February 2013

amar — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:27:48 +0000

Prof. Yochai Benkler of Harvard Law School describes sharing as a new mode of production that is likely to grow in importance over time. Perhaps we should call it a new mode of consumption.

via Nancy Folbre: Trading More and Sharing Nicely – NYTimes.com.

A Presidential step toward cybersecurity | Marketplace.org, 13 February 2012

amar — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:04:10 +0000

In particular, Obama would like to make it easier for the goverment to share information about general and specific security threats with the public, according to Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain.

via A Presidential step toward cybersecurity | Marketplace.org.

Facebook’s Organ Donor and Voting-Drive Efforts Raise The Question — Where Do You Stop? | MIT Technology Review, 11 February 2013

amar — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:10:21 +0000

But the project also raises an ethical conundrum. Once a global social platform wades into social engineering, who decides what desrves such efforts in the future? “I’m not focusing on Facebook in particular,” Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School, remarked at the event. When a site with more than a billion active users can influence what those users do, it means they are “in a position to make choices which we thought were peer-to-peer,” he said. “We absolutely have to think about a framework about how to account for that.”

via Facebook’s Organ Donor and Voting-Drive Efforts Raise The Question — Where Do You Stop? | MIT Technology Review.

Law School Debuts First Online Course | The Harvard Crimson, 31 January 2013

amar — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:01:57 +0000

According to Fisher, 4,100 people applied to take “Copyright,” which is the first and only edX class to have a fixed enrollment. Fisher and his teaching fellows selected 500 students for the 12-week course.

via Law School Debuts First Online Course | The Harvard Crimson.

Disruptions: A Fuzzy and Shifting Line Between Hacker and Criminal – NYTimes.com, 27 January 2013

amar — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:08:28 +0000

“Forty years ago, a hacker was someone who took great joy in knowing everything about computers,” said Susan P. Crawford, a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. “The word was really used in admiration. Now it is used to describe and condemn both professional cyberattackers and amateurs who are swept together within the broad description of the word.”

via Disruptions: A Fuzzy and Shifting Line Between Hacker and Criminal – NYTimes.com.

Study at Harvard law? Just go online | Boston Herald, 27 January 2013

amar — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:07:33 +0000

“It takes me roughly a week to prepare each lecture,” Fisher said. “I’ve lectured on these topics for decades. Preparing one for this setting turns out to be hard.”

via Study at Harvard law? Just go online | Boston Herald.

How to Get High-Speed Internet to All Americans – NYTimes.com, 23 January 2013

amar — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:28:46 +0000

To get there, the federal government needs to pursue three goals. First, it must remove barriers to investment in local fiber networks. Republican and Democratic mayors around the country are rightly jealous of the new, Google-built fiber network in Kansas City, Mo., which is luring start-ups from across the country. And yet in nearly 20 states, laws sponsored by incumbent network operators have raised barriers for cities wanting to foster competitive networks.

via How to Get High-Speed Internet to All Americans – NYTimes.com.

Philanthropy NYU :: Interviews :: Dr. danah boyd: Social Media Engagement, 03 December 2012

amar — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:14:48 +0000

Dr. danah boyd: Media connects people to information and, when its interactive, to each other. The key is to leverage media — and its connection-making processes — to reach people where theyre at and to help gel them to each other and to relevant information when theyre open to making those connections. Peoples needs, attitudes, and mindset shift depending on where theyre at — lifestage, demographics, etc. But the key is to not approach media — and especially not social media — as a one-size-fits-all process.

via Philanthropy NYU :: Interviews :: Dr. danah boyd: Social Media Engagement.

Symposium at HLS marks launch of global network of interdisciplinary centers focused on the Internet and society, 14 January 2013

amar — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:16:51 +0000

On Dec. 6-8, 2012, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, together with seven international co-organizers, hosted a symposium at Harvard Law School titled Internet-Driven Developments: Structural Changes and Tipping Points, convening representatives from Internet and society research centers spanning 5 continents and 22 countries.

via Symposium at HLS marks launch of global network of interdisciplinary centers focused on the Internet and society.

In a hands-on workshop, students use case studies to explore information law and policy, 5 December 2012

amar — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:24:06 +0000

Based on a workshop taught for the first time last spring by Professor Jonathan Zittrain ’95 and John Palfrey ’01, the class presents students with several case studies and asks them to complete team exercises, which include conducting negotiations, writing legal briefs, and drafting policies and legislation. Readings prepare the students to carry out the exercises, while lectures and Q&A sessions with guest speakers help summarize and solidify the concepts.

via In a hands-on workshop, students use case studies to explore information law and policy.

Is Broadband Internet Access a Public Utility? | TIME.com, 9 January 2013

amar — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 19:19:43 +0000

Should broadband Internet service be treated as a basic utility in the United States, like electricity, water, and traditional telephone service? That’s the question at the heart of an important and provocative new book by Susan Crawford, a tech policy expert and professor at Cardozo Law School. In Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly in the New Guilded Age, released Tuesday by Yale University Press, Crawford argues that the Internet has replaced traditional phone service as the most essential communications utility in the country, and is now as important as electricity was 100 years ago.

via Is Broadband Internet Access a Public Utility? | TIME.com.

The new politics of the internet: Everything is connected | The Economist, 5 January 2012

amar — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:21:47 +0000

The anti-SOPA protest started with discussions on blogs and elsewhere, according to Harvard’s Mr Benkler, whose research team has analysed the content of online publications and links between activist websites.

via The new politics of the internet: Everything is connected | The Economist.

What the DPLA Can Mean for Libraries – The Digital Shift, 03 January 2012

amar — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:19:25 +0000

The DPLA, once built and at scale, can help libraries, archives, and museums in ways that we can foresee and in ways that we can’t, today. The DPLA can help bring materials to people through public, academic, and special libraries. The DPLA can also free up time for librarians to spend more time directly helping people. The DPLA can provide access to code and applications that will do extraordinary things for people through libraries. And the DPLA is already providing an open source platform on which others are developing exciting new applications that will help people in ways we can’t predict today—which is the true promise of a generative platform, much like the web itself.

via What the DPLA Can Mean for Libraries – The Digital Shift.

EdX Announces Spring 2013 Courses | News | The Harvard Crimson, 19 December 2012

amar — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:00:03 +0000

“Copyright,” an experimental course to be taught by Harvard Law School professor William W. Fisher, III, will test the effectiveness of integrating teaching materials and technologies on the edX website. The course will look into extant copyright law and the debates surrounding its reform.

via EdX Announces Spring 2013 Courses | News | The Harvard Crimson.

EdX expansion set for spring | Harvard Gazette, 19 December 2012

amar — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:59:38 +0000

In addition, “Copyright” will be taught by William Fisher III, WilmerHale Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Harvard Law School, and director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

“Copyright,” which will explore the law of copyright and the ongoing debates concerning how that law might be reformed, will be offered as an experimental course, exploring different combinations and uses of teaching materials, educational technologies, and the edX platform. Enrollment is limited, based on the belief that high-quality legal education depends, at least in part, on supervised small-group discussions of difficult issues.

via EdX expansion set for spring | Harvard Gazette.

Instagram’s privacy backlash, and the dirty secret of data caps | Marketplace.org, 18 December 2012

amar — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:44:07 +0000

“They’d say, look, it’s extremely expensive to build the hardware, lay down the wires, dig up the dirt required to provide high speed Internet access to Americans,” says Susan Crawford, a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School who argues the phone companies say they have caps so they can pay back all the money they pour into building the net. “We can only do that if we have enough money coming in to fund our operations.”

via Instagram’s privacy backlash, and the dirty secret of data caps | Marketplace.org.

Mass. Court OKs Cellphone Searches Without Warrants | WBUR, 6 December 2012

amar — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:28:49 +0000

Jeffrey Hermes, director of the Digital Media Law Project at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, joined WBUR Morning Edition host Bob Oakes to discuss the ruling.

via Mass. Court OKs Cellphone Searches Without Warrants | WBUR.

The Explosion of 15th Century Printing: A Data Visualization – Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg – The Atlantic, 5 December 2012

amar — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:58:55 +0000

Matthew Battles: The visualization was coded in Processing by our former research fellow Travis Bost. We used Harvard library collections data made available through an API developed by the Library Innovation Lab, a group headed by David Weinberger in the Law Library. This API gave us access to library records, which we searched, downloaded, and cleaned up until we had what we thought was a reasonable representation of editions that actually were printed in early-modern Europe controlling for latter-day reprints, reissues, scholarly editions, and the like; we also sought to exclude Asian materials and items in manuscript.

via The Explosion of 15th Century Printing: A Data Visualization – Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg – The Atlantic.

Tweets of rage: does free speech on the internet actually exist? | The Verge, 04 December 2012

amar — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 17:06:43 +0000

The resulting backlash over the Adams affair and the general discomfort about the Occupy situation highlight perhaps the only real check on Twitter’s ability to control its users: the users themselves. All of our lingering confusion over the First Amendment means the market for these services speaks very strongly when those values appear to be infringed, even if Twitter has the right to do whatever it wants. “I think it’s a welcome idea for Twitter to say that it chooses to take First Amendment values seriously,” says Harvard Law School professor Jonathan Zittrain. “We don’t tell people they can’t speak because of the political content of their views.” The EFF’s Timm agrees, noting that “Twitter is the best of the large services. They try to stay true to the First Amendment as much as possible.”

via Tweets of rage: does free speech on the internet actually exist? | The Verge.

Disruptions: Silencing the Voices of Militants on Twitter – NYTimes.com, 2 December 2012

amar — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:21:38 +0000

“I think it’s as contrary to the First Amendment as openness is the enemy to extremism and fundamentalism,” said Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School and a founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. “The F.B.I. is going to learn more about Hamas and any organizations, by having them operate in an open environment, than if its voice is driven to proxies and underground backchannels, which would inevitably happen immediately.”

via Disruptions: Silencing the Voices of Militants on Twitter – NYTimes.com.

Berkman Center releases report on teens, parents and online privacy, 30 November 2012

amar — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 18:31:09 +0000

In response to their children’s online activity, many parents have joined social networking sites and are actively engaging with their children online. “Teens, in turn, have mixed feelings about being friends with their parents on social networking sites like Facebook,” said Sandra Cortesi, director of the Youth and Media Project at the Berkman Center.

via Berkman Center releases report on teens, parents and online privacy.

How Was Syria’s Internet Shut Down? Experts Explain Online Blackout, 29 November 2012

amar — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:08:27 +0000

Rob Faris, Research Director at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, told The Huffington Post that the “most likely” method used by Syrian authorities to conduct this blackout was to “tweak the routing tables,” essentially blocking the transference of information by sending it all into a cyber “blackhole.”

via How Was Syria’s Internet Shut Down? Experts Explain Online Blackout.

Ethan Zuckerman: ‘Africa’s hackers are today’s world-class tech innovators’ (Wired UK), 26 November 2012

amar — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:14:09 +0000

Most of the innovations that leverage Kenya’s telecoms infrastructure aren’t oriented towards Nairobi techies, but towards the rural poor. M-Kopa is building solar lighting that allows families to power an LED light and charge a phone. What’s innovative about their product is its financial model. Families make a small payment when the system is installed, then pay via M-Pesa to keep it running. Once they’ve made the payments, about the cost of ten weeks’ supply of kerosene, they own it. Because the system can be shut off remotely, M-Kopa bets that it will have to reclaim very few systems.

via Ethan Zuckerman: ‘Africa’s hackers are today’s world-class tech innovators’ (Wired UK).

The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers | Foreign Policy, 26 November 2012

amar — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 17:23:41 +0000

For staring down the Internet’s enemies.

Law professor | Cambridge, Mass.

via The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers | Foreign Policy.

A Twitter law would be unwise – FT.com, 23 November 2012

amar — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:34:04 +0000

Such a broad-based attack on individuals is unwise and uncalled for, even as the injury that inspires it is mortifying. The problem is that what appears to be a trivial, momentary action – retweeting something of interest – can now create or magnify a falsehood as powerfully as if it had aired on national television. If a television station can be held responsible for what it broadcasts, why not the individuals whose collective megaphone rivals that of the BBC?

via A Twitter law would be unwise – FT.com.

Berkman Center Study Explores Parents’ Concerns About Children’s Online Activity | News | The Harvard Crimson, 22 November 2012

amar — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:12:04 +0000

“We live in a quicksilver tech environment, and user behavior in the digital age is relatively fluid, too,” said Sandra Cortesi, one of the report’s authors and a fellow at the Berkman Center. “Actually, I would be surprised if the numbers would not change over time.”

via Berkman Center Study Explores Parents’ Concerns About Children’s Online Activity | News | The Harvard Crimson.

Parents of Teenagers Say They Worry That Online Activities Might Hurt Children in the Future – NYTimes.com, 20 November 2012

amar — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 14:37:54 +0000

The study, conducted by the Pew Internet Center and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, may increase arguments for shielding children from targeted advertising online. Four out of five parents surveyed said they were concerned about how much information advertisers could learn about their children’s online browsing.

via Parents of Teenagers Say They Worry That Online Activities Might Hurt Children in the Future – NYTimes.com.

Parents, teens uneasy Facebook ‘friends’: study – Times LIVE, 21 November 2012

amar — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 14:34:21 +0000

The study, done in collaboration with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, noted that 80 percent of parents whose teens use social networks are themselves users of social media. via Parents, teens uneasy Facebook ‘friends’: study … Continue reading →

Why Cell Phones Went Dead After Hurricane Sandy – Bloomberg, 15 November 2012

amar — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 19:31:14 +0000

At the moment, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) is attempting to legally bar Congress and the FCC from exerting any authority over its networks, claiming that the First Amendment protects the company’s “editorial discretion.” (I am among a large group of current and former government officials who this week filed a brief opposing that startling argument.)

via Why Cell Phones Went Dead After Hurricane Sandy – Bloomberg.

Technology Leaders Endorse Effort to Overhaul Campaign Finance – NYTimes.com, 15 November 2012

amar — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 19:22:07 +0000

The letter to Mr. Cuomo was also signed by a founder of Meetup, Scott Heiferman; the scholars Yochai Benkler, Lawrence Lessig and Clay Shirky; and the founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, Andrew Rasiej, who is the chairman of the New York Tech Meetup.

via Technology Leaders Endorse Effort to Overhaul Campaign Finance – NYTimes.com.

Technology Leaders Endorse Effort to Overhaul Campaign Finance – NYTimes.com

amar — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 19:11:30 +0000

via Technology Leaders Endorse Effort to Overhaul Campaign Finance – NYTimes.com.

Zittrain: Peer-to-peer transactions risk privacy – FierceGovernmentIT, 12 November 2012

amar — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:26:23 +0000

The rise of low-cost, peer-to-peer transactions facilitated by the Internet presents challenges for privacy, yet regulation of it may be difficult due to the First Amendment, said Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard law professor. He spoke Nov. 9 at a symposium on privacy and technology held by the Harvard Law Review.

via Zittrain: Peer-to-peer transactions risk privacy – FierceGovernmentIT.

Tech President, The Next Generation | Marketplace.org, 9 November 2012

amar — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:59:38 +0000

Access is another biggie — to what extent is it in the country’s interest to be sure most people get fast Internet. Susan Crawford, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute who focuses on internet access and worked for a time for the Obama Administration, says, “It’s being provided by a few giant companies that are almost laughably profitable, and the cable industry in particular faces no competition and they are actively constraining demand through usage based pricing and data caps so they don’t have to expand their services. Meanwhile, a third of Americans don’t sign up for Internet access because it’s too expensive and the country as a whole isn’t making the upgrade to fiber that many other countries are. This is a huge issue for the country and it’s going to confront this next administration.”

via Tech President, The Next Generation | Marketplace.org.

‘It’s a little bit like Yelp, for democracy’ – CNN.com, 6 November 2012

amar — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:09:49 +0000

Would-be election monitors should be cognizant, however, of state laws about filming and photographing at polling places, says Harvard’s Citizen Media Law Project.

via ‘It’s a little bit like Yelp, for democracy’ – CNN.com.

As Libraries Go Digital, Sharing of Data Conflicts With Tradition of Privacy – Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education, 5 November 2012

amar — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 19:10:35 +0000

“The privacy that libraries traditionally have been preserving is not always valued by their patrons, especially in an age of social networking,” says David Weinberger, co-director of the Harvard Library Innovation Lab, which was behind the Twitter experiment.

via As Libraries Go Digital, Sharing of Data Conflicts With Tradition of Privacy – Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Internet Trolls | On Point with Tom Ashbrook, 6 November 2012

amar — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 16:33:41 +0000

Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. He’s the author of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It.

via Internet Trolls | On Point with Tom Ashbrook.

Sarah Moawad: How Would the Prophet Muhammad Vote? You Might Be Surprised, 2 November 2012

amar — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:10:12 +0000

What does sharia say about the issues that are relevant? What about voters who are interested in whether Islamic law could actually be relevant to the most pressing issues in this year’s presidential election? For the most part, there has been little in the way of authoritative, accessible information. Now, a newly published guide from islawmix offers one expert’s opinion on what Islamic law could have to say about the economy, healthcare, reproductive rights, same-sex marriage and more.

via Sarah Moawad: How Would the Prophet Muhammad Vote? You Might Be Surprised.

Why Some Spread Misinformation In Disasters | Minnesota Public Radio News, 2 November 2012

amar — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:29:18 +0000

Superstorm Sandy turned out the lights along the Eastern Seaboard, but Twitter was ablaze with comments. Host Michel Martin looks at the good, the bad, and the ugly of social media during Sandy, including intentional hoaxes. She speaks with Rey Junco of the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society about why some users spread misinformation.

via Why Some Spread Misinformation In Disasters | Minnesota Public Radio News.

Join EFF’s Efforts to Keep 3D Printing Open | Electronic Frontier Foundation, 24 October 2012

amar — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 14:23:16 +0000

EFF and the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society are working together to use this new process to challenge patent applications that particularly threaten growing 3D printing technologies. via Join EFF’s Efforts to Keep 3D Printing … Continue reading →

Research Reviews: Bullying, (DERN), 04 October 2012

amar — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 20:30:33 +0000

A very simple guide to research between 2008 and 2012 into bullying including cyberbullying has been recently published by The Berkman Center for Internet & Society. The document Bullying in a Networked Era: A Literature Review has been written in a structure and format that makes the task of locating specific aspects of bullying and cyberbullying simple and easy. Bullying in a Networked Era: A Literature Review’ has been divided into two parts: ‘What is bullying’ and ‘What can be done about bullying’. Then in each part, the sections have been organised to begin with a short analytical summary which is then followed by several dot points about significant research findings. This comprehensive literature review of research into bullying is an ideal reference guide for busy educational leaders.

via DERN.

Digital access to knowledge: Research chat with Harvard’s Peter Suber – Journalist’s Resource: Research for Reporting, from Harvard Shorenstein Center 16 October 2012

amar — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:51:13 +0000

Peter Suber is director of the Harvard Open Access Project and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. His new book, Open Access, examines an emerging movement to bring research to everyone who might want to make use of it. Suber envisions a richer online world in which more scholarship is made open, in part for researchers themselves and in part for journalists and other “bridge builders” between knowledge and society to report it, summarize it, translate it into lay terms, make it more visible — and start connecting it with public policy issues or new developments in other fields.

via Digital access to knowledge: Research chat with Harvard’s Peter Suber – Journalist’s Resource: Research for Reporting, from Harvard Shorenstein Center.

Visiting Ancient Egypt, Virtually – NYTimes.com, 2 October 2012

amar — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 18:38:16 +0000

“Until fairly recently the field used to be called ‘humanities computing,”’ said Jeffrey Schnapp, a co-founder of metaLAB at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

via Visiting Ancient Egypt, Virtually – NYTimes.com.

BEV BUTULA: Citizen Media Law Project helps lawyers survive in digital world | Wisconsin Law Journal – WI Legal News & Resources, 1 October 2012

amar — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 13:41:03 +0000

BEV BUTULA: Citizen Media Law Project helps lawyers survive in digital world | Wisconsin Law Journal – WI Legal News & Resources.

LASG kicks off Nollywood Upgrade Project | Daily Times Nigeria, 28 September 2012

amar — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:04:16 +0000

Managing Director, Berkman Center for Internet and Society Harvard University, Nollywood Up Project Advisor, Colin Maclay said, “The Nollywood UP approach to fighting piracy is about creating value. It is a real opportunity to improve the industry and make it more sustainable. The vision of Lagos State Government in sponsoring Nollywood Up is impressive they see that it is important to bring this kind of group together to dive in and chart out the future of the Nigerian Film Industry. Nollywood has the opportunity to develop the next generation model for a creative industry.”

via LASG kicks off Nollywood Upgrade Project | Daily Times Nigeria.

Coming back, looking forward | Harvard Gazette, 26 September 2012

amar — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:29:06 +0000

Jonathan Zittrain, professor of law at HLS and of computer science at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School, said the continued development of the Internet and digital technology has put us at a “rare and pivotal moment” in Harvard’s history. The Law School, he said, is rethinking how its students engage with the great many judicial opinions that form much of the core of the Law School curriculum.

via Coming back, looking forward | Harvard Gazette.

The Social Stakes of Interoperability, 21 September 2012

amar — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:07:03 +0000

The stakes have never been higher for interoperability, a topic taken up by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser in Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems. The ability for systems to interconnect is closely related to efficiency. Economic arguments suggest that advancements in interoperability increase competition and innovation. Think of the 19th-century development of a standard gauge interconnecting railroads across the vast expanse of North America or, more than a century later, the standardization that allows us to exchange e-mail across different types of applications and hardware devices. Not surprisingly, companies sometimes prefer proprietary approaches that limit interoperability and lock in users for competitive advantage. But consumers usually want technological systems to be able to seamlessly exchange information.

via The Social Stakes of Interoperability.

Technology | Academics | Policy – New Report Released: Bullying in a Networked Era from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 24 September 2012

amar — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:33:29 +0000

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society released a report this week on bullying in a networked era. The research presents an aggregation and summary of recent academic literature on youth bullying –both online or “cyberbullying” and bullying that occurs offline. The purpose of the report is to “translate” scholarly research for a public audience. Parents, caregivers, educators, and practitioners interested in expanding their knowledge of bullying-related issues will find this report provides a solid introduction to the growing body of research literature on online and offline bullying.

via Technology | Academics | Policy – New Report Released: Bullying in a Networked Era from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Bullying Research Continues | News | The Harvard Crimson, 21 September 2012

amar — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:32:45 +0000

“Bullying is a multi-faceted phenomenon full of nuances,” Executive Director of the Berkman Center and co-writer of the review Urs Gasser wrote in an email.

via Bullying Research Continues | News | The Harvard Crimson.

On Web, a Fine Line on Free Speech Across the Globe – NYTimes.com, 16 September 2012

amar — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:48:20 +0000

“Companies are benevolent rulers trying to approximate the kinds of decisions they think would be respectful of free speech as a value and also human safety,” said Jonathan Zittrain, a law professor at Harvard.Unlike Google, Twitter does not explicitly address hate speech, but it says in its rule book that “users are allowed to post content, including potentially inflammatory content, provided they do not violate the Twitter Terms of Service and Rules.” Those include a prohibition against “direct, specific threats of violence against others.”

via On Web, a Fine Line on Free Speech Across the Globe – NYTimes.com.

Google blocks YouTube clip only in Egypt and Libya – Chicago Tribune, 13 August 2012

amar — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 14:45:34 +0000

“They’ve had a number of years to be thinking about free speech issues,” Harvard law professor Jonathan Zittrain said.

“I can see them trying to keep an eye on the longer term and not wanting to go down the slippery slope of entertaining more and more demands to take things down. That can be corrosive in the longer haul.”

via Google blocks YouTube clip only in Egypt and Libya – Chicago Tribune.

Video controversy and YouTube’s bottom line | Marketplace.org, 12 September 2012

amar — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:43:43 +0000

Yochai Benkler: We have to be careful that the concern over the violence doesn’t lead us to give up that anybody can communicate with anybody else from anywhere to anywhere. Jonathan Zittrain: They may be more like the phone company. … Continue reading →

HLS appoints four 2012-2013 Innovation Lab Experts-in-Residence, 12 September 2012

amar — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:41:34 +0000

Clinical Professor Phil Malone, who directs the HLS Cyberlaw Clinic, said: “I am thrilled that these distinguished entrepreneurs will be sharing their expertise and wisdom with Harvard students working at the i-Lab. As we engage HLS students in the i-Lab both as innovators and as providers of legal services to i-Lab users through our Cyberlaw and Transactional Law Clinics, these new EIRs will serve as valuable mentors and inspiring examples.”

via HLS appoints four 2012-2013 Innovation Lab Experts-in-Residence.

Hoping To Pass On Your iTunes Collection? Good Luck : NPR, 04 September 2012

amar — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 12:41:22 +0000

Robert Siegel talks with Jonathan Zittrain, co-director of Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, about what happens to your iTunes library when you pass away.

via Hoping To Pass On Your iTunes Collection? Good Luck : NPR.

Twitter’s Chief Lawyer Defends Free Speech With Revenue in Mind – NYTimes.com, 03 August 2012

amar — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 15:23:41 +0000

Jonathan Zittrain, one of his former professors at Harvard Law School, called it both a challenge and opportunity for Mr. Macgillivray, widely known as @amac, his handle on Twitter, and one that could influence the Internet industry at large.“If @amac can help find a path through it, it may serve as a model for corporate responsibility for an Internet where more and more code and content is governed by corporate gatekeepers,” Mr. Zittrain said via e-mail.

via Twitter’s Chief Lawyer Defends Free Speech With Revenue in Mind – NYTimes.com.

Peter Suber: Free and Open | berfrois, 24 August 2012

amar — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:31:59 +0000

We could turn the question around: Why remove any restrictions at all? The answer is to share knowledge and accelerate research. Barrier-free access helps readers find and retrieve the research they need, and helps authors reach readers who can apply, cite and build on their work. Knowledge has always been a “public good” in the theoretical sense that consumption doesn’t deplete it (it’s “nonrivalrous”) and consumption is available to all (it’s “nonexcludable”). OA makes knowledge a public good in practice.

via Peter Suber: Free and Open | berfrois.

When Competition Is Cooked, Consumers Are Toast | Wired Business | Wired.com, 15 August 2012

amar — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:41:21 +0000

Bottom line: The companies involved in the transaction can credibly claim that the deal itself is not going to change the facts on the ground for most Americans. Without “merger-specific harms,” and with an impressive display of bureaucratic sleight-of-hand – FCC got the spectrum part of the deal but DOJ got the joint marketing arrangements, and the two agencies have different statutory authority and DNA, leading to lots of finger-pointing and careful behavior – the companies will avoid being interfered with unduly by the feds.

via When Competition Is Cooked, Consumers Are Toast | Wired Business | Wired.com.

Internet etiquette can lower kids’ risks: Parents’ values, oversight help protect against online dangers – KansasCity.com, 20 August 2012

amar — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 13:43:16 +0000

“When it comes to Internet usage by youth, some adults might indeed overreact or overprotect their kids,” said Urs Gasser, author of “Digital Natives” and executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. “Much of it might have to do with a lack of understanding what happens online and what the benefits of the Internet are, but also where the real problems are.”

via Internet etiquette can lower kids’ risks: Parents’ values, oversight help protect against online dangers – KansasCity.com.

Wedding digital with traditional | Harvard Gazette, 15 August 2012

amar — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 13:40:53 +0000

Bost’s invention, which is still in the “proof of concept” stage, was on display at openLAB_Summer, an Aug. 9 showcase sponsored by metaLAB at Harvard, a Kirkland Street collaborative research laboratory under the umbrella of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Organizers called the dozen offerings on display “summer projects and propositions, experiments and explorations.”

via Wedding digital with traditional | Harvard Gazette.

The Copyright Treaty That Won’t Die – On The Media, 03 August 2012

amar — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 20:52:34 +0000

Over the past few years, a global pact meant to curb online piracy and the trade of counterfeit goods called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, has been negotiated in secret. After popular outcry it seems ACTA may not materialize. While 9 countries and 22 European Union member states have signed on, none have ratified it, and last month, the EU parliament roundly rejected it. Brooke asks Harvard Law Professor Jonathan Zittrain if ACTA is actually dead.

via The Copyright Treaty That Won’t Die – On The Media.

Ensuring open access for publicly funded research | BMJ, 8 August 2012

amar — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:48:53 +0000

On 16 July 2012, three major announcements transformed open access policy in the United Kingdom. The Research Councils UK RCUK announced a stronger version of the open access policy it originally adopted in 2006.1 2 The UK minister of universities and science announced that the government had accepted most of the recent open access recommendations from the Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings that he appointed last September informally called the Finch group after its convener, Janet Finch.3 4 5 Finally, the Higher Education Funding Council for England HEFCE announced plans to require open access to research submitted to the next Research Excellence Framework in 2014.6

via Ensuring open access for publicly funded research | BMJ.

Twitter confronts ethics of commercial pressures in wake of Guy Adams ‘mess’ | Technology | guardian.co.uk, 03 August 2012

amar — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 18:34:09 +0000

Jonathan Zittrain, a specialist in internet law at Harvard, thinks the commercial pressures Twitter is now coming under are not dissimilar from the incentive a magazine might feel to pull articles that could upset a major advertiser. “It sounds like Twitter is trying to articulate, and enforce, the kinds of editorial separation that reputable magazines have long embraced.”

via Twitter confronts ethics of commercial pressures in wake of Guy Adams ‘mess’ | Technology | guardian.co.uk.

Berkman Center Looks at Ebooks in Libraries | American Libraries Magazine 01 August 2012

amar — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 13:14:01 +0000

David O’Brien, Urs Gasser, and John G. Palfrey Jr. of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University recently released a briefing document, “E-Books in Libraries.” Drawing from a wide variety of sources, the document does an excellent job of summarizing the status to date of library ebook lending.

via Berkman Center Looks at Ebooks in Libraries | American Libraries Magazine.

Times Higher Education – Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems 19 July 2012

amar — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:56:34 +0000

Fortunately, John Palfrey and Urs Gasser have thought about the wider implications of this and many other threads of interoperability – threads that reach into every corner of our lives. Interop is a thorough, thoughtful and timely analysis of where we are, how we got here and where we might be headed if we want to get the maximum benefit from interoperability without paying too high a cost in the process. Standards, for example, can have a hugely beneficial effect in the promotion of innovation, but generally this is most advantageous where they are open enough to enable a free market. Standards that are overly restrictive can slow and stifle the impact of new thinking on the technical environment and the marketplace.

via Times Higher Education – Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems.

The Strategic Tool Of Working With Others Or Not | Fast Company, 2012 07 17

amar — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:26:56 +0000

The Strategic Tool Of Working With Others Or Not | Fast Company.

Jonathan Zittrain On Chairing The New FCC Open Internet Committee | TPM Idea Lab, 1 June 2012

amar — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 17:15:35 +0000

“My hope for a summer meeting is to develop an agenda for our work, and to deploy the large and diverse membership — 21 people — in ways that let us take up more than one task at a time,” Zittrain told TPM.

via Jonathan Zittrain On Chairing The New FCC Open Internet Committee | TPM Idea Lab.

Accel, Breyer Capital and Polaris Join Harvard-Area’s Experiment Fund – Kara Swisher – News – AllThingsD, 26 June 2012

amar — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 20:35:43 +0000

New advisers were also added to the Experiment Fund, including former Harvard Law School professor and former director of the Berkman Center John Palfrey, Facebook co-founder Andrew McCollum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Hugo Liu, as well as an ex-officio post created for the current president of Harvard Student Agencies.

via Accel, Breyer Capital and Polaris Join Harvard-Area’s Experiment Fund – Kara Swisher – News – AllThingsD.

Videos of student projects from Jeffrey Schnapp’s “Library Test Kitchen” course | Harvard Magazine, 15 June 2012

amar — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 20:27:35 +0000

These are the questions that students in the course “Bibliotheca II: Library Test Kitchen,” taught by professor of Romance languages and literatures Jeffrey Schnapp, tackled this past spring, and that culminated in a variety of student projects that “define new dimensions of the library experience.”

via Videos of student projects from Jeffrey Schnapp’s “Library Test Kitchen” course | Harvard Magazine.

Can We Be Too Connected? A Harvard Scholar Explores Interoperability | Xconomy, 22 June 2012

amar — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 14:44:04 +0000

If you’re fond of delicious ironies, as I am, there’s a new book that will leave you positively gorged. It’s called Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems, and last week I got to speak with one of its authors, Harvard Law School professor John Palfrey.

via Can We Be Too Connected? A Harvard Scholar Explores Interoperability | Xconomy.

Palfrey and Gasser book launch: ‘Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems’ video, 13 June 2012

amar — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:42:04 +0000

Palfrey and Gasser discussed their theory of interoperability, which they have described as “the art and science of working together,” and offered real-world case studies and examples. via Palfrey and Gasser book launch: ‘Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly … Continue reading →