Berkman Buzz: July 29, 2011
A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations
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What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below.
* Christian Sandvig's assigned new media fast raises questions
* Doc Searls urges Microsoft not to sell Bing
* The MIT Center for Civic Media interviews Jesse Shapins of MetaLAB at Harvard
* The OpenNet Initiative reports on the first Internet users to be charged under France's three strikes law
* David Weinberger points to plans for higher college network speeds
* Dan Gillmor talks Google+ one month in
* Weekly Global Voices: "Zambia: Facebook Group Leads 2011 Poll Debate"
Note: The Berkman Center is hiring a Clinical Instructor to join our Cyberlaw Clinic team!
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The full buzz.
"I just received a fascinating comment in my teaching evaluations from last year. On the back of the eval form there is a free-response section where people are invited to make constructive suggestions about the course. The results are usually fascinating, but in a bad way. Or in a puzzling way."
From Christian Sandvig's blog post, "Avoiding New Media: Impossible?"
"Here’s a suggestion for Microsoft: Don’t sell Bing. Sell Bing-based services directly to users — and fight Google where they’re weak: with personal attention and support."
From Doc Searls's blog post, "Earth to Microsoft: Don’t sell Bing."
"I had the opportunity recently to speak with Jesse Shapins of MetaLAB at Harvard, co-founder of Zeega, a new platform for creating interactive documentaries and inventing new forms of storytelling. As the Zeega team have just been named a Knight News Challenge winner, I thought it would be nice to get a better sense of their innovative platform and what they're planning for the fall."
From Audubon Dougherty's blog post for the MIT Center for Civic Media, "Zeega: An Interactive Documentary Platform"
"A high school teacher who claims not to know how to download music and movies is among the first ten people in France who face disconnection from the Internet over alleged illegal file-sharing."
From Simon Columbus's post for the OpenNet Initiative, "France to disconnect first Internet users under three strikes regime"
"The plan to provide ultra high speed Internet connectivity to universities (mainly in the heartland) is exciting. And it’s got some serious people behind it, including Lev Gonick and Blair Levin."
From David Weinberger's blog post, "Gig U"
"It's been a month since Google launched its not-Facebook and not-Twitter social network. Despite some signs of a slowdown in growth – and some thorny issues around ease of use and terms of service – there seems little doubt that Google has created something that could stand the test of time."
From Dan Gillmor's Guardian piece, "Google+: the tweet smell of success"
"Can a Facebook group, 'Zambian People’s Pact', tip the Zambian elections due in the next few months against the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD), which has been in power for 20 years now?"
From Gershom Ndhlovu's post for Global Voices, "Zambia: Facebook Group Leads 2011 Poll Debate"
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Compiled by Rebecca Tabasky and Rebekah Heacock.
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 buzz@cyber.harvard.edu.