Berkman Buzz: Week of June 14, 2010

BERKMAN BUZZ: A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations
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What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below.

* Ethan Zuckerman tells Galvão to shut up.
* danah boyd reverse engineers mainstream interest in 4chan.
* Jake Shapiro opines on Apple's no-donation policy for apps.
* David Weinberger is extroverted about his Internet exceptionalism.
* And Doc Searls is still a utopian.
* CMLP reads the FTC's collation of perspectives on saving print media.
* Herdict on motivations for Net censorship in Indonesia.
* Weekly Global Voices: "South Korea: Tensions Went Under World Cup Anesthestia"
* New on Publius: "Moving Beyond One Size Fits All With Digital Citizenship"

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The full buzz.

"It’s a bit of a cliché to say that Americans don’t understand football, and especially don’t understand the importance of international tournaments like the World Cup. But sometimes we literally don’t understand what’s going on. As I write this post, “CALA BOCA GALVAO” is the top trending topic on Twitter. Galvao refers to Carlos Eduardo dos Santos Galvão Bueno, who announces Brazilian national football team matches on Rede Globo, a massive Brazilian television network. As Raphael Tsavkko Garcia explains on Global Voices, Galvão Bueno’s style of announcing is deeply unpopular in Brazil, and Brazilian twitterers have been posting their dissatisfaction: “Cala boca, Galvão” translates as “Shut up, Galvão”, and the phrase has been heavily in use since the global tournament started."
From Ethan Zuckerman's blog post Save the Galvao – the World Cup and good natured global taunting

"Amidst all of this, 4chan has “popped.” Journalists and academics are clamoring to discuss and analyze 4chan. At first, it was all about discussing whether or not this community of 9.5 million mostly young mostly male internet people was evil or brilliant. Lately, the obsession focuses on anonymity, signaling that Chris’ TED talk set the frame for public discourse about 4chan. Both of these are certainly interesting topics. 4chan has created some of the most lovable memes on the internet but /b/tards have also been some of the most nefarious trolls and griefers on the web. And anonymity is a really complex topic that can’t be boiled down to a question of accountability in light of whether or not the anonymous commentator is seen as evil or brilliant."
From danah boyd’s blog post "for the lolz": 4chan is hacking the attention economy

"Ars Technica recently started an interesting conversation on the mixed reaction to This American Life’s use of push notifications in its iPhone app (developed at PRX) to encourage donations by its tens of thousands of users (each of whom paid $2.99 to buy the app). I agree that app developers should use push notifications very sparingly, and they definitely run the risk of negative reactions if the message isn’t clearly tied to the app’s purpose and value. As Seth Lind from This American Life said in the discussion on the post, this was an experiment. Further donation messaging will be in-app, and mostly in the audio itself where Ira Glass can most effectively make the case for why This American Life deserves your support. But the underlying issue is Apple’s wrongheaded policy of prohibiting donations in the first place."
From Jake Shapiro's Ars Technica op-ed, Apple's no-donation policy for apps is a cop-out

"Many of us have taken the Myers-Briggs test to determine exactly what type of personality we have. It places us along four dichotomies: Introversion-Extraversion, Sensing-Intuition, Thinking-Feeling, Judgment-Perception. You can express your personality type by using the first letter of the dominant element of each polarity (with an N for intuition since Introversion in a rather extraverted way claimed dibs on the I). I propose three dichotomies that define your sort of Net personality..."
From David Weinberger's blog post What sort of Internet fanatic are you? (Myers-Briggs version)

"Television is deeply embedded in pretty much all developed cultures by now. We — and I mean this in the worldwide sense — are not going to cease being couch potatoes. Nor will our suppliers cease couch potato farming, even as TV moves from airwaves to cable, satellite, and finally the Internet. In the process we should expect the spirit (if not also the letter) of the Net’s protocols to be violated. Follow the money. It’s not for nothing that Comcast wishes to be in the content business. In the old cable model there’s a cap on what Comcast can charge, and make, distributing content from others. That cap is its top cable subscription deals. Worse, they’re all delivered over old-fashioned set top boxes, all of which are — as Steve Jobs correctly put it — lame."
From Doc Searls' blog post The TV in the Snake of Time

"The Federal Trade Commission—which last year created guidelines to impose ethical standards on bloggers—is now taking on the ambitious task of saving the print media in the Internet era. In preparation for the final in a series of hearings on the future of the news media, the Commission has released a staffreport that makes some pretty bold proposals, including legal changes and even government subsidies for traditional media. The final hearing will be held June 15 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The report carefully notes on the first page that "[t]his draft does notrepresent final conclusions or recommendations by the Commission or FTCstaff; it is solely for purposes of discussion." The Commission issued a subsequent press release to clarify this. The proposals in the report were raised by panelists testifying at the FTC hearings, not generated by the FTC itself."
From Eric Robinson's blog post for CMLP, FTC's Provocative Discussion Paper on Saving Print Media

"Substantial outcry has caused politicians to look back on their old policies regarding the prohibition of pornographic materials and contemplate putting more barriers, both digital and legal, in place to prevent access to what they considering degrading and inappropriate material. With large influence of conservative Muslims in the government in Indonesia, the nation passed a anti-porn law in 2008 that was surrounded in much controversy and debate. It placed strict penalties on those who possess pornographic materials, transport them, or even engage in public performance that may be deemed “sexually suggestive”."
From Alex Fayette's blog post for Herdict, "Peterporn" Sex Tape Scandal leads to talk of more Indonesian Internet censorship

"The sharp tension between two Koreas which had been escalating ever since the sinking of a South Korean warship by a supposed North Korean torpedo attack have momentarily numbed by high emotion that only World Cup can bring. South Korean blogs are now inundating with heartful comments on North Korea's soccer match against Brazil and lauds to a North Korean star player, Jong Tae Se, shoving politics aside for a moment. Yesterday's match between North Korea and Brazil was an unpredictable twist, where North Korean soccer team, who numbered as 105 in FIFA rank scored a goal against the World's number one Brazil team, losing the match only by 2-1."
From Lee Yoo Eun's blog post for Global Voices, South Korea: Tensions Went Under World Cup Anesthestia

"Schools have significantly different needs and ideas regarding on-line safety, much of it dependent upon their experience and comfort on the spectrum of users of digital media to promote student success. It is necessary for schools and communities to work together to demystify the potential uses and abuses of digital media within and outside the school setting. Understanding the potential for cyberbullying, sexting, or other inappropriate consumption and planning for responsible reactions to such is a priority for the community that wishes to harness the potential of the tools while also keeping children safe."
From Matt Levinson and Deb Socia's essay on Publius for the Youth and Media Policy Working Group Initiative, Moving Beyond One Size Fits All With Digital Citizenship

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The Berkman Buzz is selected weekly from the posts of Berkman Center directors, fellows, projects: http://cyber.harvard.edu/planet/current/

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