Berkman Buzz: August 26, 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.
* Joseph Reagle defines nerds, geeks, and hackers
* David Weinberger embraces the "un-frameability of the Net"
* The Citizen Media Law Project examines whether the BART cell phone shutdown violated free speech protections
* The Harvard Library Innovation Lab interviews Susan Hildreth of the Institute for Museum and Library Services
* Andrew McAfee explores Steve Jobs's legacy
* Weekly Global Voices: "Trinidad and Tobago: State of Emergency, Day 4"
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The full buzz.
"The terms "geek," "nerd," and "hacker" arise frequently in my work and settling upon a common understanding of these words is a challenge: each has varied meanings and they are sometimes used interchangeably. However, I try to use them distinctly."
From Joseph Reagle's blog post, "Geeks, Nerds, and Hackers"
"It’s clear that we don’t know how to explain the Internet. Is it a medium? Is it a culture, a subworld, or a parallel world? Is it a communication system? We bounce around, and we disagree. Nevertheless, I am not as worried about our lacking the right framing for the Net as are some of my friends and colleagues."
From David Weinberger's blog post, "The unframed Net"
"In its Aug. 20 letter, BART officials distinguished a train platform from a traditional public forum, such as a park or sidewalk. “BART has designated the areas of its stations that are accessible to the general public without the purchase of tickets as unpaid areas that are open for expressive activity upon issuance of a permit subject to BART’s rules,” they wrote. If this distinction is made, BART can legally restrict all speech on train platforms so long as their policies are view-point neutral. If the distinction is not made, however, any policy they enact to limit speech will be judged using far more rigorous constitutional tests."
From Justin Silverman's blog post for the Citizen Media Law Project, "BART Phone Blackout: Did the S.F. Transit Agency Violate Free Speech Protections? Part 2"
"Some might assume that libraries and museums have outlived their purpose. When every book and archive can be recreated and reinterpreted digitally to create an incredible user experience, how is the physical and human infrastructure of the institution still necessary? It’s a challenging question, but libraries and museums aren’t finding themselves replaced by the internet, as the cynical might assume. In fact, their roles as curators and archivists are becoming more important than ever."
From the Harvard Library Innovation Lab Podcast 006: From Brick and Mortar to 1s and 0s
"Jobs and Apple have done the best job of answering with their products the question posed by wiki inventory Ward Cunningham: What’s the simplest thing that could possibly work? As I’ve stressed before, most technologists / nerds / geeks don’t think this way — they think that success comes from cramming in features and functions, bells and whistles."
From Andrew McAfee's blog post, "Steve Jobs’s Legacy: The Best Answers to the Most Important Question"
"Four days into a state of emergency declared by the government of Trinidad and Tobago to combat rising crime, the public's initial surprise and confusion over the emergency provisions — which include a nighttime curfew over most of the country's urban areas — have given way to closer scrutiny of the authorities' strategy."
From Nicholas Laughlin's post for Global Voices, "Trinidad and Tobago: State of Emergency, Day 4"
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Compiled by 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.