MediaBerkman

The always-on, simultaneous society in which we have found ourselves has altered our relationship to culture, media, news, politics, economics, and power. We are living in a digital temporal landscape, but instead of exploiting its asynchronous biases, we are misguidedly attempting to extend the time-is-money agenda of the Industrial Age into the current era. The result is a disorienting and dehumanizing mess, where the zombie apocalypse is more comforting to imagine than more of the same. It needn’t be this way.

Douglas Rushkoff — teacher, documentarian, journalist, and author — discusses insights from his recent book Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now with David Weinberger and a live audience at Harvard.

Also in ogg for download

More info on this event here.

The always-on, simultaneous society in which we have found ourselves has altered our relationship to culture, media, news, politics, economics, and power. We are living in a digital temporal landscape, but instead of exploiting its asynchronous biases, we are misguidedly attempting to extend the time-is-money agenda of the Industrial Age into the current era. The result is a disorienting and dehumanizing mess, where the zombie apocalypse is more comforting to imagine than more of the same. It needn’t be this way.

Douglas Rushkoff — teacher, documentarian, journalist, and author — discusses insights from his recent book Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now with David Weinberger and a live audience at Harvard.

Download the MP3

…or download the OGG audio format!

More info on this event here.

Improvisation theories, drawn mostly from jazz, have increasingly been applied to entrepreneurship, new product development, and other fields, but rarely, if ever, to journalism. Yet journalism is an industry built on improvisation, from the actions of reporters out in the field, to the deadline work of editors and page designers. More than that, it is an industry that needs a new framework in order to survive.

Laura Amico — a Nieman-Berkman fellow in journalism innovation and founder of Homicide Watch — presents her preliminary ideas on improvisation theory and jazz in news development, arguing for a journalism framework that builds new culture out of improvisation.

Also in ogg for download

More info on this event here.

Improvisation theories, drawn mostly from jazz, have increasingly been applied to entrepreneurship, new product development, and other fields, but rarely, if ever, to journalism. Yet journalism is an industry built on improvisation, from the actions of reporters out in the field, to the deadline work of editors and page designers. More than that, it is an industry that needs a new framework in order to survive.

Laura Amico — a Nieman-Berkman fellow in journalism innovation and founder of Homicide Watch — presents her preliminary ideas on improvisation theory and jazz in news development, arguing for a journalism framework that builds new culture out of improvisation.

Download the MP3

…or download the OGG audio format!

More info on this event here.

ICT for development (ICT4D) scholars claim that the internet, radio, and mobile phones can support development. Yet the dominant paradigm of development as economic growth is too limiting to understand the full potential of these technologies.

Dorothea Kleine translates Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach to development –- focusing on a pluralistic understanding of people’s values and the lives they want to lead — into policy analysis and ethnographic work on technology adaptation to show how technologies are not neutral, but imbued with values that may or may not coincide with the values of users.

Dorothea Kleine — Senior Lecturer in Human Geography and Director of the interdisciplinary ICT4D Centre at Royal Holloway, University of London — discusses this and other insights from her recent book “Technologies of Choice: ICTs, Development and the Capabilities Approach.”

She is joined by Nancy J. Hafkin — formerly of the UN Economic Commission for Africa — as a discussant.

Also in ogg for download

More info on this event here.

ICT for development (ICT4D) scholars claim that the internet, radio, and mobile phones can support development. Yet the dominant paradigm of development as economic growth is too limiting to understand the full potential of these technologies.

Dorothea Kleine translates Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach to development –- focusing on a pluralistic understanding of people’s values and the lives they want to lead — into policy analysis and ethnographic work on technology adaptation to show how technologies are not neutral, but imbued with values that may or may not coincide with the values of users.

Dorothea Kleine — Senior Lecturer in Human Geography and Director of the interdisciplinary ICT4D Centre at Royal Holloway, University of London — discusses this and other insights from her recent book “Technologies of Choice: ICTs, Development and the Capabilities Approach.”

She is joined by Nancy J. Hafkin — formerly of the UN Economic Commission for Africa — as a discussant.

Download the MP3

…or download the OGG audio format!

More info on this event here.

What does talk of cyber war mean for our liberties? The United States has a new military command for cyberspace, with the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) as its commander. At the same time, the Secretary of State has announced that the “freedom to connect” is an aspect of fundamental human rights and has criticized countries that attempt to filter the Internet. Computer networks remain insecure, as sensitive data is leaked or stolen at increasing rates.

In this talk, Timothy H. Edgar — visiting fellow at the Watson Institute and Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center — examines the legal powers available to addressing network and computer insecurity and their impact on privacy, civil liberties, and other fundamental values.

Also in ogg for download

More info on this event here.

What does talk of cyber war mean for our liberties? The United States has a new military command for cyberspace, with the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) as its commander. At the same time, the Secretary of State has announced that the “freedom to connect” is an aspect of fundamental human rights and has criticized countries that attempt to filter the Internet. Computer networks remain insecure, as sensitive data is leaked or stolen at increasing rates.

In this talk, Timothy H. Edgar — visiting fellow at the Watson Institute and Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center — examines the legal powers available to addressing network and computer insecurity and their impact on privacy, civil liberties, and other fundamental values.

Download the MP3

…or download the OGG audio format!

More info on this event here.

For decades, policymakers and futurists have heralded digital tools as essential to the the future of learning. Has the moment of disruptive transformational revolution finally arrived? If we are at a watershed moment, what futures are available to us?

Justin Reich — visiting lecturer at MIT, Berkman fellow, and educational researcher — discusses the intersection of technology, free-market ideology, and media hype in U.S. education reform.

Also in ogg for download

More info on this event here.

UPDATE: a bevy of notes, slides, and tweets from this event

For decades, policymakers and futurists have heralded digital tools as essential to the the future of learning. Has the moment of disruptive transformational revolution finally arrived? If we are at a watershed moment, what futures are available to us?

Justin Reich — visiting lecturer at MIT, Berkman fellow, and educational researcher — discusses the intersection of technology, free-market ideology, and media hype in U.S. education reform.

Download the MP3

…or download the OGG audio format!

More info on this event here.

UPDATE: a bevy of notes, slides, and tweets from this event