Upcoming Events and Digital Media Roundup

The benefits of Facebook “Friends”: The social capital implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices

Tuesday, June 7, 12:30pm ET, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 23 Everett St., Cambridge, MA. This event will be webcast live.

This talk will provide an overview of research exploring the social capital implications of social network site use. Specifically, I will report on new research that attempts to identify specific Facebook-enabled behaviors that contribute to users’ ability to access diverse perspective, novel information, and social support. This research explores the link between bridging social capital levels and Facebook-related factors such as time on site, the number of Facebook Friends, and a set of behaviors we call “Cultivation of Social Resources.” Nicole Ellison, is an associate professor in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media. Her research explores issues of self-presentation, relationship development, and identity in online environments such as online dating and social network sites. Nicole received her Ph.D in Communication Theory and Research from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California in 1999. Currently she is exploring ad-hoc collaboration in social network sites, for a project funded by the National Science Foundation, and perceptions regarding the acceptability of profile discrepancies in online dating profiles. RSVP Required. more information on our website>

Hyper-Public: A Symposium on Designing Privacy and Public Space

June 9-10, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

Technology is transforming privacy and reshaping what it means to be in public. Our interactions—personal, professional, financial, etc.—increasingly take place online, where they are archived, searchable, and easily replicated. Discussions of privacy often focus solely on the question of how to protect privacy. But a thriving public sphere, whether physical or virtual, is also essential to society. Hyper-Public: A Symposium on Designing Privacy and Public Space, hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, will bring together computer scientists, ethnographers, architects, historians, artists and legal scholars to discuss how design influences privacy and public space, how it shapes and is shaped by human behavior and experience, and how it can cultivate norms such as tolerance and diversity. Confirmed participants include danah boyd (Microsoft Research), Herbert Burkert (University of St. Gallen), Gerhard Buurman (Zurich University of the Arts), Beatriz Colomina (Princeton University) Judith Donath (Berkman Center), Paul Dourish (UC Irvine), Urs Gasser (Berkman Center) Adam Greenfield (Urbanscale LLC), Jef Huang (Berkman Center), Jeff Jarvis (CUNY Grad School of Journalism), Betsy Masiello (Google), Nicholas Negroponte (MIT), Charles Nesson (Berkman Center), Martin Nowak ((Harvard University), John Palfrey (Berkman Center), Julia Scher (Academy of Media Arts Cologne), Latanya Sweeney (Harvard CRCS), Laurent Stalder (ETHZ), David Weinberger (Berkman Center/Harvard Library Innovation Lab), (Berkman Center), Ethan Zuckerman (Berkman Center), and many more. more information on our website>

Kate Hennessy, Simon Fraser University,School of Interactive Arts and Technology

Tuesday, June 14, 12:30pm ET, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 23 Everett St., Cambridge, MA. This event will be webcast live.

Kate Hennessy of Simon Fraser University will present at the Berkman Center Luncheon Series. Details TBA. Kate Hennessy, is an Assistant Professor specializing in Media at Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology. She is an anthropologist and new media artist with a PhD in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia and an MA in the Anthropology of Media from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies. As the director of the Making Culture Lab, her research explores the role of digital technology in the documentation and safeguarding of cultural heritage, and the mediation of culture, history, objects, and subjects in new forms. RSVP Required. more information on our website>

Seth Flaxman & Paul Schreiber on a Netflix for Voting

TurboVote is a service that makes voting by mail and voter registration as simple as renting a DVD with Netflix. Come hear how TurboVote built in two months for spare change what the government couldn't do for any price. The founders (one a former Berktern!) and developer will discuss the project's legal, technical and philosophical issues and how TurboVote will bring democracy into the 21st century. Download the audio>

Miriam Meckel on Drivers of Online Trust

User trust has been identified as a key success factor of online business: A user's willingness to provide personal data is a prerequisite for online transactions. But the qualities that communicate trustworthiness to a user are varied and difficult to parse. Miriam Meckel — Professor for Corporate Communication at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and the Managing Director of the Institute for Media and Communication Management — discusses the results of a recent study of users of online services, and identifies the nine core drivers of online trust. more information on our website>