Upcoming Events and Digital Media Roundup

BERKMAN CENTER FOR INTERNET & SOCIETY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
February 18, 2009 // Upcoming events and digital media

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TODAY we've got a very special event on Wednesday, 2/18 at 5PM in the Ames Coutroom at Harvard Law School -- Peter Galison, Robb Moss, Jonathan Zittrain, Martha Minow, and Jack Goldsmith will join us for a roundtable discussion following a screening of "Secrecy", a film about the vast, invisible world of government secrecy directed by Peter Galison and Robb Moss. A must-see for those interested in government transparency, public policy, open knowledge, and more. Please join us!

[1] [TODAY 2/18/09] Secrecy: Film Screening and Roundtable Peter Galison, Robb Moss, Jonathan Zittrain, Martha Minow, and Jack Goldsmith (http://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2009/02/secrecy)

[2] [THURSDAY 2/19/09] Harvard-MIT-Yale Cyberscholars with Gene Koo on Video Games and Pro-Social Development, Nick Montfort on Platform Studies and the Atari VCS (Atari 2600), and Eden Medina on Cybernetics and Revolution (http://cyber.harvard.edu/events/cyberscholars/2009/02/harvard)

[3] [TUESDAY 2/24/09] Berkman Center Luncheon Series: "Cultural Convergence: Cosmopolitan Communications and National Diversity" with Pippa Norris of the Harvard Kennedy School (http://cyber.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2009/02/norris)

[4] [WEDNESDAY 2/25/09] Law Lab Speaker Series: "The 'Internet' of the developing world: using GSM networks to secure information" with Ashifi Gogo (http://cyber.harvard.edu/events/lawlab/2009/02/gogo)

[5] [THURSDAY 2/26/09] What is the future of open access? with Peter Suber (http://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2009/02/suber)

[6] [THURSDAY 2/26/09] Test Driven Development with Ruby on Rails with Jon Yurek & Dan Croak of thoughtbot, inc. (http://cyber.harvard.edu/node/5074)

[TODAY] SECRECY: FILM SCREENING AND ROUNDTABLE (w/ ZITTRAIN, GALISON, GOLDSMITH, MINOW, and MOSS)
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2/18/09, 5:00-7:00 PM ET, Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School
Free and Open to the Public. Popcorn and Soda Provided!
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=49492494285
Map: http://map.harvard.edu/level3.cfm?mapname=camb_allston&tile=F6&quadrant=C&series=M

The Berkman Center, Peter Galison, and Robb Moss present a screening of the film "Secrecy", a film about the vast, invisible world of government secrecy, followed by a roundtable discussion with professors

-Peter Galison, Pellegrino University Professor of the History of Science and of Physics at Harvard University
-Jack Goldsmith, Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law at Harvard University
-Martha Minow, Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
-Robb Moss, Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Visual and Environmental Studies Department at Harvard University
-Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

About Secrecy

In a single recent year the U.S. classified about five times the number of pages added to the Library of Congress. We live in a world where the production of secret knowledge dwarfs the production of open knowledge. Depending on whom you ask, government secrecy is either the key to victory in our struggle against terrorism, or our Achilles heel. But is so much secrecy a bad thing?

Secrecy saves: counter-terrorist intelligence officers recall with fury how a newspaper article describing National Security Agency abilities directly led to the loss of information that could have avoided the terrorist killing of 241 soldiers in Beirut late in October 1983. Secrecy guards against wanton nuclear proliferation, against the spread of biological and chemical weapons. Secrecy is central to our ability to wage an effective war against terrorism.

Secrecy corrupts. From extraordinary rendition to warrant-less wiretaps and Abu Ghraib, we have learned that, under the veil of classification, even our leaders can give in to dangerous impulses. Secrecy increasingly hides national policy, impedes coordination among agencies, bloats budgets and obscures foreign accords; secrecy throws into the dark our system of justice and derails the balance of power between the executive branch and the rest of government.

This film is about the vast, invisible world of government secrecy. By focusing on classified secrets, the government's ability to put information out of sight if it would harm national security, Secrecy explores the tensions between our safety as a nation, and our ability to function as a democracy.

* WINNER of the Special Jury Award for Documentary Features, Independent Film Festival Boston
* WINNER, Best Documentary, Newport International Film Festival

More at: http://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2009/02/secrecy

[THURSDAY] CYBERSCHOLARS at BERKMAN
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2/19/09, 5:30 PM ET, Berkman Center Conference Room
RSVP is required (ltsui@cyber.harvard.edu).

The "Harvard-MIT-Yale Cyberscholar Working Group" is a forum for fellows and affiliates of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT, Yale Law School Information Society Project, and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School to discuss their ongoing research. Each session is focused on the peer review and discussion of current projects submitted by a presenter.

This week: Gene Koo on Video Games and Pro-Social Development, Nick Montfort on Platform Studies and the Atari VCS (Atari 2600), and Eden Medina on Cybernetics and Revolution.

More at: http://cyber.harvard.edu/events/cyberscholars/2009/02/harvard

[TUESDAY] BERKMAN LUNCHEON SERIES on COSMOPOLITAN COMMUNICATIONS AND NATIONAL DIVERSITY
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2/24/09, 12:30 PM ET, Berkman Center Conference Room
RSVP is required (rsvp@cyber.harvard.edu).

Topic: Cultural Convergence: Cosmopolitan Communications and National Diversity
Guest: Pippa Norris of the Harvard Kennedy School

Societies have experienced a flood of information from diverse channels originating far beyond local communities and even national borders, transmitted through the rapid expansion of mass communications, including new ICTs. Rejecting Cold War ideas about the threat of ‘cultural imperialism’ developed half a century ago, arguments about the ‘Coca-colonization’ of world culture which were fashionable during the 1990s, and contemporary fears about the loss of cultural diversity, this study develops a new theoretical framework for understanding the multiple firewalls limiting the reach and impact of cross-border information flows.

We theorize that the expansion of cosmopolitan communications will have most impact on societies characterized by integration into world markets, freedom of the press, and widespread access to the mass media. Parochial societies lacking these conditions are less likely to be affected. Moreover within countries, many poorer social sectors continue to lack the resources and skills necessary to access the mass media. Important social psychological learning processes also serve to protect enduring values and attitudes. By neglecting the role of these firewalls, the risk to cultural pluralism arising from the spread of cosmopolitan communications has commonly been exaggerated. The study provides multilevel evidence derived from the World Values Survey 1981-2007, covering more than 90 nations worldwide, to support this thesis.

This event will be webcast live; for more information and a complete description, see the event web page: http://cyber.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2009/02/norris

[WEDNESDAY] LAW LAB SPEAKER SERIES on THE INTERNET OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD
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2/25/09, 12:30 PM ET, Berkman Center Conference Room
RSVP is required (gleslie@cyber.harvard.edu)

Topic: The "Internet" of the developing world: using GSM networks to secure information
Guest: Ashifi Gogo, Dartmouth College

It is widely accepted that a large portion of the developing world will interact with mobile phones long before working on computers. Today, over 2 billion mobile subscribers are connected in the developing world, with an estimated 1.3 billion more to get connected by 2011. There is a growing demand for information services on GSM akin to those found on computers. This talk will showcase a number of innovative services, discussing system architectures that provide levels of security analogous to well-known standards for internet transactions. Such an overview of upcoming services and innovations around mobile phones should provide lawmakers with a vision of the future as they update legal frameworks to handle the needs of tomorrow's commerce and increased interaction with emerging markets.

This event will be webcast live; for more information and a complete description, see the event web page: http://cyber.harvard.edu/events/lawlab/2009/02/gogo

[THURSDAY] WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OPEN ACCESS?
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2/26/09, 12:30 PM ET, Pound Hall 100, Harvard Law School
RSVP is required (rsvp@cyber.harvard.edu)

Topic: What is the future of open access?
Guest: Peter Suber

Peter Suber will talk about what may lie over the horizon for open access to science and scholarship. Come join in some informed speculation on the future of OA journals, repositories, books, and policies.

This event will be webcast live; for more information and a complete description, see the event web page: http://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2009/02/suber

[THURSDAY] Test Driven Development with Ruby on Rails
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2/26/09, 12:30 PM ET, Berkman Center Conference Room
RSVP is required (lleahy@cyber.harvard.edu)

Topic: Test Driven Development with Ruby on Rails
Guest: Jon Yurek & Dan Croak of thoughtbot, inc.

Does your software meet the objectives of your organization? When your software changes (and it will), does anything break?

Poorly tested software increases risk of damage to an organization. Test Driven Development (TDD) and Agile methodologies minimize that risk. It moves risk to the very beginning of the software writing process.

Jon & Dan will show us how to use TDD with Ruby on Rails to write software that works today, works tomorrow, & is easy for teams of developers to read & change.

thoughtbot is a consulting firm that develops Ruby on Rails web applications for clients ranging from venture-backed startups to Fortune 500 companies. Formed in 2003, thoughtbot is based in Boston, MA and is privately owned. Everyone at thoughtbot codes.

More at: http://cyber.harvard.edu/node/5074

DIGITAL MEDIA: Watch and Listen
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Did you miss this week's luncheon talk? Catch up with Berkman videos, podcasts, pictures, and dig in to our archive at http://cyber.harvard.edu/interactive.

-Berkman Luncheon Series with JONATHAN ZITTRAIN and the HERDICT TEAM on "Herdict: Verdict of the Herd" http://cyber.harvard.edu/interactive/events/luncheon/2009/02/herdict.

-CHRIS RILEY of Free Press on "Comcast, Bittorrent, and Net Neutrality" http://cyber.harvard.edu/interactive/events/2009/02/chrisriley.

-RADIO BERKMAN with DAVID WEINBERGER interviewing JONATHAN ZITTRAIN on Herdict.org + JUDITH DONATH on how our conversations on email and blogs might look if they manifested themselves in the real world, as works of art.

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BERKMAN CALENDAR
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See our events calendar if you're curious about future luncheons, discussions, lectures, conferences, and more: http://cyber.harvard.edu/events. All of our events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.

ABOUT US
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The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University was founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development. For more information, visit http://cyber.harvard.edu.