Berkman Buzz, week of December 1

A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations.  If you'd like to receive this by email, just sign up here.

What's going on... take your pick or browse below.

*Doc Searls recognizes that open silos aren't free marketplaces.
*David Weinberger considers the setbacks of media literacy programs.
*Dan Gillmor addresses continued use of video news releases.
*Ethan Zuckerman extols digital media immortality.
*Dave Winer contemplates Web 2.0 ‘bubble’ burst.
*Tim Armstrong examines Zune criticisms in Grokster context.
*Daniel Haeuserman advocates asking back.
*Rebecca MacKinnon evaluates technology's influence on diverse groups.
*MediaBerkman Video: Nancy Hafkin on Empowering Women in the Knowledge Society

The Full Buzz


"...Yet there is. We continue to believe, as both producers and consumers, that silos are okay. And worse, that a 'free' marketplace is one where you get to choose the best silo...We see this in the US today with our 'choice' of services from phone and cable carriers. We even think the Net itself is a grace of telecom and cablecom carriage. After all, those are the guys we pay to get it. Those are the guys who have gradually increased our connection speeds...."
Doc Searls, "Wake Up, Neo"

“...I came away realizing why media literacy programs often bother me. Frequently, the idea even is that we have to teach our children how to recognize the Internet sites that are as reliable and safe as what they'll find in a library. That's a useful skill, but the overall picture is wrong. If you want to know what's going on in a field, the static and credentialed sources generally aren't where you want to go. The credentialed sources are great for certain types of information—the solid and stolid facts, the commoditized information, the boring truth—but the real intellectual action is usually occuring in the blogs, newsletters, and forums. Confining students to the credentialed sites is likely to kill their interest and enthusiasm…”
David Weinberger, “The Safe Harbor Theory of Media Literacy - and Two Discussions About the Net and Teaching”

“Two media and marketing watchdog groups issued a new report showing that the use of unlabeled VNRs by local TV 'news' programs was continuing even in the face of heightened scrutiny. The report, from Free Press and the Center for Media and Democracy, was an updated litany of behavior that runs from queasy-making to flat-out unethical. No doubt, it’s lamentable to cheat the viewers in this way. The practice should stop, pronto. But does it justify serious government intervention? Here’s where we can have some doubts…”
Dan Gillmor, “Video News Release Sleeze: Not a Government Matter”

“The smartest people in broadcast media are looking for ways to extend the lifespan of the content they create. It’s not a surprise they’re taking advantage of digital immortality as part of the process. My friends at Radio Open Source produce extraordinary radio shows five days a week. These shows used to have a lifespan of an hour - Chris and crew have worked hard to stretch the lifespan of their show in both directions. They invite their community to brainstorm new shows with them, getting people involved with and excited about the programs before they air. (Excited? The comment thread for one of these shows has 413 entries, and it hasn’t hit the airwaves yet…)”
Ethan Zuckerman, “Media Lifespans, or How to Make Your Photos Live Forever”

“I almost wrote a piece yesterday saying that since the Web 2.0 companies aren't going public, they're safe from busting in a visible, dramatic way. I almost said it will be hard to tell when the bust comes, it'll be softer and slower, you won't hear a crash or even a pop. But I was wrong, and today we got the first rumblings of the shock that will signal the end of the bubble…”
David Winer, “Bubble Burst 2.0”

“So long as Apple knew that the iPod could be put to substantial non-infringing uses (such as playing authorized downloads from the iTunes store), it didn’t need to worry that the iPod was also capable of infringing uses (such as playing mp3s swapped over a file-sharing network). Grokster puts Microsoft in a very different position from Apple. Under the Grokster inducement test, the courts are empowered to look very closely at a company’s internal records for any indication that it knew and intended for its product to be used to infringe copyrights…”
Tim Armstrong, “Zune stinks? Blame Grokster”

“...I sent the spammer a request pursuant to Art. 8 Data Protection Act, mainly because I wonder how he got my email address, but also because requests like mine are apt to make spamming horribly expensive: It is hardly conceivable that these requests can be processed automatically. So, if only a small percentage of spammees 'ask back,' they can make spamming prohibitively expensive, and probably even drive a SME out of business. …”
Daniel Haeuserman, “Data Protection Special #1: Information Right Attacks”

"...Why am I writing about all this at such length? Because I've been thinking a great deal lately (in between packing and winding up various projects before I move to Hong Kong) about the question of how policy and business choices affect the extent to which the Internet is or is not transformative for different kinds of people.  Hafkin's work is important because it highlights how - if we really want technology to make the world a better place for everybody - spreading computers and Internet access around as widely as possible is certainly a start, but it's probably not going to be enough."
Rebecca MacKinnon, "The power of Cyber-Grannies: Gender equality and the Internet"
MediaBerkman, video of Nancy Hafkin's talk.

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