Berkman Buzz: Week of November 22, 2010

What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below.

* Doc Searls explores agency and managing personal data online
* Dan Gillmor navigates Netflix's new streaming-only scheme
* David Weinberger discusses new developments in net neutrality at the FCC
* Radio Berkman interviews Joseph Reagle on Wikipedia's culture of volunteerism
* Weekly Global Voices: "Tanzania: NGO 2.0: Reflections on the year of blogging"

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The full buzz.

"Personal autonomy on Facebook only goes as far as Facebook lets it go. Same with every other 'social' system run by an entity other than yourself. They put a lid on your agency. You are not free. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with social systems, or structures, or even with businesses that want to control your choices. I am saying that agency has been AWOL from the market's table. And bringing it there is what we're doing with VRM."
From Doc Searls' blog post "VRM as Agency"

"I just downgraded my Netflix account, and will be sending the company $7 less each month than I've been sending for several years now. Why? Because Netflix is moving fast to live up to its name -- to become an online video-streaming operation instead of the DVD-rental outfit it's been -- but in the process it's raising prices while making its service worse, in key ways, for longtime customers."
From Dan Gillmor's post for Salon, "Netflix's streaming push: Charging more for less"

"While FCC Chair Jules Genachowski has hesitated so long on Net Neutrality that he’s lost his legislative majority, explaining that he’s trying to balance the financial interests of providers who have already been heavily subsidized and given near monopolies, and who nevertheless have given us an unevenly distributed sub-par infrastructure, one of the other four commissioners is standing up without equivocation for an Internet equally open to every idea."
From David Weinberger's blog post "Copps shows gumption at the FCC"

"Joseph Reagle has just completed an exhaustive study of the resource entitled Good Faith Collaboration: The Culture of Wikipedia. The book sheds light on how tens of thousands of volunteers overcame great obstacles—lack of scholarly experience, and nearly insurmountable differences in viewpoint—to build a culture that, in spite of all reason, works. Joseph, a Berkman Fellow, sat down with David Weinberger to share some key insights from his research."
From "Radio Berkman 169: Wiki’d"

"Daraja is a Tanzanian NGO, which aims to make local institutions more responsive to the needs rural communities in Tanzania. The mission of Daraja is to empower communities and local institutions, and build their capacity to work effectively together to reduce poverty in Tanzania. After blogging for one year, Ben Taylor, the Executive Director of Daraja, decided to reflect and share with the world the lessons they have learned."
From Ndesanjo Macha's post for Global Voices Online, "Tanzania: NGO 2.0: Reflections on the year of blogging"

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The Berkman Buzz is selected weekly from the posts of Berkman Center people and projects and sometimes from the Center's wider network

Suggestions and feedback about the Buzz are always welcome and can be emailed to rheacock@cyber.harvard.edu