Technologies of Politics and Control - User contributions [en]

Final Projects

2012-05-08T18:42:19Z

Aditkowsky: /* Submissions */

{{AssignmentCal}}

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===Submissions===
'''Name''': BSK342
'''Title''': Alternative Online Destinations: A Sample Review and Empirical Analysis.
'''Link''': http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/File:Alternative_Online_Destinations_-_A_Sample_Review_and_Empirical_Analysis.pdf
[[User:BSK342|BSK342]] 14:35, 8 May 2012 (EDT)

'''Name''': Samantha Zakuto
'''Title''': Conduct Unbecoming: Four Case Studies on the Use of Facebook by Public Educators
'''Link''': http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/File:SamanthaZakutoFinalProject.pdf
--[[User:Szakuto|Szakuto]] 11:35, 8 May 2012 (EDT)

'''Name''': Sofia Gunawan
'''Title''': The Grande Jourthreater: A Discussion on Believability in Theatrical Journalism
'''Link''': http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/File:LSTUFinalSGunawan.pdf
--[[User:Harvard212|Harvard212]] 12:23EST, 8 May 2012

'''Name''': Carl Fleming
'''Title''': Khan Academy: Will Online Education Revolutionize (Or Simply Marginalize)
Education for Developing Nations
'''Link''': http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/File:Carl_Fleming_Final_Project.docx
--[[User:Cfleming27|Cfleming27]] 17:12, 6 May 2012 (EDT)

Name: James Harris
Title: “Decentralization of Grassroots Movements in the Internet Age”
Link: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/File:James_Harris_Final_Project_FINAL.pdf
--[[User:Jimmyh|Jimmyh]] 13:01, 7 May 2012 (EDT)

'''Name''': Jeff Kimble
'''Title''': Amazon Awaits Your Feedback
'''Link''': http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/sites/is2012/images/JK_Final_Paper2.docx [[User:JeffKimble|JeffKimble]] 22:32, 7 May 2012 (EDT

'''Name''': Emanuele Dominici
'''Title''': America's Indirect Support of Terrorism: Jihadi Websites
'''Link''': http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/File:Emanuele_LSTU_E-120_Final_Paper.pdf
--[[User:Emanuele|Emanuele]] 07:51, 8 May 2012 (EDT)

'''Name''': Alex Lloyd-Evans
'''Title''': Social Structure and Hierarchy on the Cracked.com Writer’s Forums
'''Link''': Paper: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/File:Alex_LE_Final_Paper.docx Data Tables: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/File:AlexLE_Research_Paper_Stats.xlsx [[User:AlexLE|AlexLE]] 13:40, 8 May 2012 (EDT)

'''Name''': Louis Celli
'''Title''': The Android Revolution - Will Consumers Continue to be Satisfied Living in a Box?
'''Link''': Paper: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/File:Assignment_4_CELLI_Final.pdf
[[User:Louiscelli|Louiscelli]] 13:59, 8 May 2012 (EDT)
 
Name: Alexis Ditkowsky 
Title: Sharing and Collaboration on Pinterest 
Link: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/sites/is2012/images/Spring2012-Berkman-Assignment5-DitkowskyAlexis.doc 
[[User:Aditkowsky|Aditkowsky]] 14:42, 8 May 2012 (EDT)

File:Spring2012-Berkman-Assignment5-DitkowskyAlexis.doc

2012-05-08T18:38:14Z

Aditkowsky:

The Wikileaks Case

2012-04-24T21:27:40Z

2012-03-27T00:03:43Z

Aditkowsky: /* Class Discussion */

{{ClassCalendar}}
'''March 27'''

Digital tools are seen as playing a major part in political activities and revolutions around the world from the Green Revolution in Iran to the recent events in the Middle East and North Africa. In this class, we'll explore the role of the Internet in political organizing, social movements and popular protests, and the potential impact of digital tools on governance.

<onlyinclude>
== Readings ==

* [http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/11/a-new-theory-for-the-foreign-policy-frontier-collaborative-power/249260/ Anne-Marie Slaughter, A New Theory for the Foreign Policy Frontier: Collaborative Power]

* [http://technosociology.org/?p=566INSERT Zeynep Tufekci, The #freemona Perfect Storm: Dissent and the Networked Public Sphere]

* [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2012/exploring_russian_cyberspace Alexanyan et al, Exploring Russian Cyberspace: Digitally-Mediated Collective Action and the Networked Public Sphere]

* [http://technosociology.org/?p=904 Zeynep Tufekci, #Kony2012, Understanding Networked Symbolic Action & Why Slacktivism is Conceptually Misleading]

* [http://blog.socialflow.com/post/7120244932/data-viz-kony2012-see-how-invisible-networks-helped-a-campaign-capture-the-worlds-attention Gilad Lotan, KONY2012: See How Invisible Networks Helped a Campaign Capture the World’s Attention]

== Additional Resources ==

* [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell Malcolm Gladwell, Why the revolution will not be tweeted.]

* [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/sites/cyber.law.harvard.edu/files/Mapping_the_Arabic_Blogosphere_0.pdf Etling, Kelly, Faris and Palfrey, Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere: Politics, Culture and Dissent]

* [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2008/Mapping_Irans_Online_Public Etling and Kelly, Mapping Iran's Online Public]

* [http://ui04e.moit.tufts.edu/forum/archives/pdfs/32-2pdfs/Faris-Etling_32-2.pdf Faris, Etling, Madison and the Smart Mob: The Promise and Limitations of the Internet for Democracy]

* [http://rosebellkagumire.com/2012/03/08/kony2012-my-response-to-invisible-childrens-campaign/ Rosebell Kagumire, Kony2012; My response to Invisible Children’s campaign]

* [http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_letter_from_uganda_on_kony2012_20120315/ Sara Weschler, A Letter From Uganda on #Kony2012]

</onlyinclude>

== Class Discussion ==

March 27: Internet and Democracy
[[User:Just Johnny|Just Johnny]] 17:11, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Great analysis in the Social Flow Blog about the Kony2012 campaign. This reading made me realize the two powerful ingredients for the skyrocketing spread of an online message: pre-existing networks and philanthropy tactics. I had seen the video a few weeks ago and felt inclined to participate. I think anything that has to do with children is touching for the people, also for me; but at the same time I was wondering how this campaign, and no others--because injustice is present in a number of cases around the world--succeeded in the gathering of all that people, and these two ingredients led me to the Eureka solution. I think it's very interesting from the marketing point of view, and for sure marketers have analyzed the Kony2012 campaign, as they have done in the social networks.

As for the Russian reading, What most interested me about it was the networked public sphere phenomenon in practice, in which when an issue is considered to be from public importance online activists take action—like the Khimki forest campaign, the drivers’ movement and the Anti-Seliger protests. From my point of view this will continually help in the building of real democracies in which people can participate and their voices are heard. In the Russian case, this shift is happening and having success due to the low level of support that the people have for institutions, and it is something to be expected not only in Russia but also around the world. Not far away, this situation led the Middle East towards the Arab Spring, in which social networks participation was crucial to detonate the revolutions.[[User:Fabiancelisj|Fabiancelisj]] 22:09, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

I had read the Gladwell article before and just seeing his name in the list of readings lead me back to it first (who doesn't always want to read a Gladwell piece?). I also generally agree with his conclusions about the limitations of social media and had arrived at roughly the same place in some of our earlier class discussions. As a result, I feel like my reading of the other materials was mostly through that skeptical lens. I very much agree that the degree of effort, true commitment, and genuine impact is extremely different on Twitter vs. in real life, and while that should be quite obvious it sometimes seems like it gets disregarded during our current age of adoration of social media and Twitter in particular. His explanation of how strong vs weak social connections play into that difference in true commitment was an interesting next step in understanding protest and activism both through social media and in our physical daily lives.

That all being said, I still was very impressed by the #freeMona campaign and its results. I like that the various pieces we read on it acknowledged that it was more or less a perfect storm of connected individuals and important relationships along with Twitter and that Twitter was not the be-all end-all savior in a vacuum, but it still seemed undeniable that this was the power of Twitter in action. The main point to me is that Twitter was used as the connective piece; a hashtag alone did not free her. What it did was inform and motivate a large group of people, and included in that group were a few with the existing power and connections to allow them to call the state department, arrange to send help, etc., and in the end that freed her. [[User:AlexLE|AlexLE]] 13:31, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

Just wanted to share this ''New York Times'' article - "[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/business/media/hashtag-activism-and-its-limits.html?src=recg Hashtag Activism, and Its Limits]" - since it complemented the discussion last week about barriers to entry for digital activism. [[User:Aditkowsky|Aditkowsky]] 00:03, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

== Links ==

Collective Action and Decision-making

2012-03-20T13:17:24Z

Aditkowsky: /* Class Discussion */

{{ClassCalendar}}
'''March 20'''

Mass collaboration and the aggregation of information enable potentially profound changes in business and politics. In this class, we will compare and contrast the transformations in economic life and collective decision-making processes brought on the information revolution. The discussions will also explore the role of open information systems on business and the scope for greater transparency and participation in government, politics and public life.

==Assignments==

[[Assignments#Assignment_3:_Project_Outline|Assignment 3 due]]

<onlyinclude>
== Readings ==
* James Surowiecki, [http://www.randomhouse.com/features/wisdomofcrowds/excerpt.html Wisdom of Crowds (excerpt)]
**[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/22/books/review/0523books-mclemee.html?ex=1400644800&en=43bc95eb638bfed2&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND NYT Review]
* [http://ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=1125 Ethan Zuckerman's blog review of Infotopia] Great summary of the issues in the book.

== Optional Readings ==

* [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fciteseer.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fdownload%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.59.9009%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf&ei=IHRnT8TLOe-00QHH5YSHCA&usg=AFQjCNERO0GwXWc7DLWZwSaqnjjjMTWMYg Divided They Blog] - a paper showing trackbacks between political blogs, mentioned by Ethan Zuckerman in his review of Cass Sunstein's Infotopia
</onlyinclude>

== Class Discussion ==

March 20: Collective Action and Decision-making
[[User:Just Johnny|Just Johnny]] 17:11, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Even though group intelligence is more difficult to measure than individual intelligence, I do believe that a crowd can outsmart a genius. Imagine for example, if a very intelligent physicist is isolated and only surrounded by other physicists, he/she maybe outstanding in this field, but is limited to what he/she can do. However, when allowed to collaborate with cell and molecular biologists, chemists, mechanical and electrical engineers, medical doctors, veterinarians, etc… a physicist learns to conduct cell mechanics, biophysics, molecular and biochemical experiments, and has the potential to solve health problems, such as coming up with a drug to relax airway smooth muscle cells during an asthma attack. When a group of diverse individuals collaborate, they can solve problems that they otherwise cannot solve individually. The internet has allowed this collaboration to increase globally through technologies such as Skype and E-mail. In some instances, group intelligence depends on its structure and dynamics. For example, Megan Garber, from Nieman Lab, reported that MIT researchers found that “[g]roup intelligence is correlated…with emotional intelligence, http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/05/mit-management-professor-tom-malone-on-collective-intelligence-and-the-genetic-structure-of-groups/. The researchers concluded that a group is more intelligent and is more likely to solve difficult problems when there are more women in it. Simply placing very smart individuals together in a group does not make a group smarter.
When I think of a very intelligent individual or genius, I think of my lab principal investigator, who has the ability to lead his lab members and make important decisions. However, he would have not made an informed decision without hearing the lab members deliberate. [[User:Qdang|Qdang]] 15:52, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

I like the connection between the reality of crowd intelligence in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" or marble-jar guessing and the concept of blog aggregates and online communities. It seems like this is a good argument against the dangers of cocooning at some levels. While a given blog/website community is likely there because they all subscribe to a certain set of interests or views, at least you know that if you're going to a big one you're probably getting the very best and most cohesive expression of those concepts. It may not make them right, but it adds value to them as a tool for educating yourself. Aggregates also will provide a balance to the problem that 1 or 2 of every group of 50 people will actually be more accurate than the group at guessing the number of marbles... but only in that one specific trial. If you follow one blogger religiously you are susceptible to their blind spots and moments where they were simply wrong. If you follow a collection of sites and blogs you will be exposed to the correct answers to most questions; whether you realize which is the correct answer is up to you haha. [[User:AlexLE|AlexLE]] 14:04, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

The articles that we had to read for this week were very interesting to me. I really enjoyed how the first article focused on statistics regarding various experiments and “Who wants to be a millionaire”, a program which I personally loved watching. Even though I respect and find very interesting the point made regarding the percentages being higher and closer to the correct answer for groups and less accurate for individuals, I don’t agree. Math and Statistics aren’t my field and I must admit that I’m not very good at any of them but I feel off the top of my head that it is quite obvious that a group would obtain a higher and more accurate score than an individual because the general population or “average Joe” is likely to get fairly close to the right answer which can be higher or lower but of course adding all the higher scores to the lower ones, I find it to be mathematically obvious that we shall obtain an approximately correct average score. Therefore this being said I find the “Condorcet Jury Theorem”, mentioned in the third article to pretty much respect my personal opinion on the subject. In conclusion I very much enjoyed these articles and I find that in some way these theories emphasizing on group work and force are exactly what Democracy is about. [[User:Emanuele|Emanuele]] 18:12, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

I realize we'll probably dig deeper into the topics of collective action and decision-making in the "Internet and Democracy" classes but I'd love to have a longer reading list on this topic. If anyone has any additional recommendations, please share. Thanks! [[User:Aditkowsky|Aditkowsky]] 13:17, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

== Links ==

Assignment 3 Submissions

2012-03-20T02:58:06Z

Aditkowsky: /* Submissions */

{{AssignmentCal}}

This assignment is due on March 20. Grading for this assignment is on a 5-point scale; late assignments will be docked 1 point for each day they are late (assignments submitted 4 days late or later will have a maximum grade of 1 point).

Please make sure the name of your file includes your name (example: Name_Assignment3.doc) to avoid overwriting someone else's assignment. '''Upload your file here: [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/Special:Upload Upload file]'''

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*Name:
*Description:
*Link to your outline: (the file you uploaded)

If you have trouble finding the file you uploaded, check the [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/Special:ImageList list of uploaded files].

==Submission Instructions==

*Name:
*Description:
*Link to your outline:

Optionally you can use a new template to create a title box for your assignment. In order to do this use the following format:
<pre>
{{AssignmentInfo|Name|My assignment description|Link to your file}}
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==Submissions==
{{AssignmentInfo|Jeff Kimble|Assignment 3: eCommerce through the lens of Amazon|http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/sites/is2012/images/Jeff_Kimble_--_Assignment_3.doc}}

{{AssignmentInfo|Alexis Ditkowsky|Assignment 3: Collaborative Boards on Pinterest: Clearly Not a Primary Function of the Site|http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/sites/is2012/images/Spring2012-Berkman-Assignment3-DitkowskyAlexis.pdf}}

Assignment 3 Submissions

2012-03-20T02:57:33Z

Aditkowsky: /* Submissions */

{{AssignmentCal}}

This assignment is due on March 20. Grading for this assignment is on a 5-point scale; late assignments will be docked 1 point for each day they are late (assignments submitted 4 days late or later will have a maximum grade of 1 point).

Please make sure the name of your file includes your name (example: Name_Assignment3.doc) to avoid overwriting someone else's assignment. '''Upload your file here: [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/Special:Upload Upload file]'''

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==Submissions==
{{AssignmentInfo|Jeff Kimble|Assignment 3: eCommerce through the lens of Amazon|http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/sites/is2012/images/Jeff_Kimble_--_Assignment_3.doc}}
 
{{AssignmentInfo|Alexis Ditkowsky|Assignment 3: Collaborative Boards on Pinterest: Clearly Not a Primary Function of the Site|http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/sites/is2012/images/Spring2012-Berkman-Assignment3-DitkowskyAlexis.pdf}}

Assignment 3 Submissions

2012-03-20T02:56:55Z

Aditkowsky: /* Submissions */

{{AssignmentCal}}

This assignment is due on March 20. Grading for this assignment is on a 5-point scale; late assignments will be docked 1 point for each day they are late (assignments submitted 4 days late or later will have a maximum grade of 1 point).

Please make sure the name of your file includes your name (example: Name_Assignment3.doc) to avoid overwriting someone else's assignment. '''Upload your file here: [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/Special:Upload Upload file]'''

Once you've uploaded your file, please link to it following the format below:

*Name:
*Description:
*Link to your outline: (the file you uploaded)

If you have trouble finding the file you uploaded, check the [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/Special:ImageList list of uploaded files].

==Submission Instructions==

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==Submissions==
{{AssignmentInfo|Jeff Kimble|Assignment 3: eCommerce through the lens of Amazon|http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/sites/is2012/images/Jeff_Kimble_--_Assignment_3.doc}}
 
{{AssignmentInfo|Alexis Ditkowsky|Assignment 3: Collaborative Boards on Pinterest: Clearly Not a Primary Function of the Site|http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/is2012/sites/is2012/images/Spring2012-Berkman-Assignment3-DitkowskyAlexis.pdf}}

2012-02-16T18:11:51Z

Aditkowsky: /* Submissions */

Assignment 2 Submissions

2012-02-16T18:05:35Z

Aditkowsky: /* Submissions */